Protector

by Luke Norris

  “Good, we can visually inspect them when we arrive.”

  Whatever was going on on that moon was high tech. It had taken out the best tech in her arsenal, without leaving a trace. With every meter, Rieka put between herself and the moon she felt slightly more at ease.

  The moon had been orbiting the planet for a long time and had seemingly posed no threat to the inhabitants. In fact, E.T.’s and U.W.F. ships had been in the vicinity for a long time, it was only once her drones were boring through the surface that the strange disappearances occurred. Almost like a defense mechanism.

  Whatever it was on that moon, it was not actively engaging anyone. Rieka was trying to categorize this in her mind. Yes, it was definitely a threat. Unknown technology that rendered state of the art second-stage tech useless in seconds was dangerous. However, it was not seeking out conflict and had been this way for a long time. According to Tin, the orbits from the two other moons, and tidal ecosystem on the planet had been stable for tens of thousands of years. She could categorize this to ‘dormant threat’.

  The landing craft grew larger and took form ahead as Rieka approached. She slowed until positioned directly underneath. The bike raised up into the capsule, sealing itself and becoming the floor. Her seat morphed back into the flight seat. Several drones shot past in the direction of Tin, but a dozen stayed and flanked the landing craft. In the flight seat Rieka could endure much higher G-forces, and soon they were moving at tremendous speed around the planet towards Tin.

  “Bring up the examples of this technology that have been found elsewhere, for comparison!” Rieka requested as she inspected the chemical breakdown of the moon sample. The physical specimen, one of the two remaining drones had brought back, was not larger than a fingertip, but enough for Tin to perform a complete analysis. The enlarged data was displayed in front of Rieka as she stood in the flight deck.

  “Here are three others that people have found for comparison,” Tin said, adding them to the hologram in front of Rieka.

  It was instantly apparent they were from the same strange composite. The translucent crystal-like rock.

  “The patterns are consistent with the other samples.” The composite had molecular arrangements not found in any natural element. Rieka was looking at these samples zoomed in many times, and it was not a naturally occurring phenomenon she was seeing. Second-stage nanites, like the ones Rieka had in her blood, were impressive, but the level of molecular engineering she was looking at made her feel like a first-stager.

  “Tin this is some kind of technology,” Rieka said. “It’s so far beyond our own tech, that it looks like rock to us. Can you comment on what it might do?”

  “Rieka, I cannot speculate if this is technology at this stage. I can tell you, the only records I have of a composite of this nature in the entire federation, are the three other samples displayed in front of you.”

  “Those samples found by others were broken, just remnants, of something. But that moon out there…” Rieka leaned in closer to the hologram, studying the intriguing design, “I think it’s made of the same stuff. That entire moon. What’s more, unlike the other examples found I believe it’s still operational. And is still doing… whatever this technology does. It perceived my drones as a threat because they were drilling.”

  “I cannot speculate if this… ”

  “Is technology,” Rieka finished his sentence “Yes, but I’m telling you now, Tin. That’s exactly what it is.”

  She looked thoughtfully out up at the vista of the planet, considering for a moment. “But the problem is, there is no way in Triton’s black center that I’m going back to that moon.”

  13

  JUNGLE CAT

  Rieka made several visits to the planet over the next few weeks while being forced to wait and let her arm heal. Most of this time was spent alone in remote jungles with mighty waterfalls, or on beaches of uninhabited islands with powdery sand and lapping turquoise waters.

  It wasn’t official yet, but the United Worlds Federation was about to open this planet to Terras. These idyllic pockets of paradise would become destinations for Terrasians.

  She looked at the thundering jungle waterfall, across the swirling brown river waters. Gusts of humid air hit her, and she freely let the waves of mist and spray wet her face. She could feel the spray on her bionic arm, but the sensation was different. This was why she wanted to keep her organic body parts.

  “Extend!” Tin instructed. It was another one of the almost continuous physiotherapy sessions, to recover full range of movement as the nerves healed. “Take hold of the pipe, and close each finger around it one by one.”

  Rieka slowly closed her grip on the pipe she was using. She would get it right this time. But once again she heard the distinctive sound of fatiguing steel being crushed. The pipe was mangled. The bionic arm had power on a scale that her brain was not used to. She had quickly learned if she exerted a forceful grip it could completely crush even this first-stage steel.

  Adjusting for day to day life was part of the training Tin was going through with her. She had to know the limits and capabilities of the limb, especially when interacting with other people. Both ends of the spectrum were needed, she might be helping a child where delicate touch was required or battling a pirate where the other extreme was needed.

  “I have measured significant improvements in motor function control, Rieka. I am satisfied with the healing. You will be able to enter slow-time and hibernation in the next few days.”

  Rieka was silent watching the waterfall. It was so peaceful here. She could just stay here, hidden away on an outlying first stage planet on the corner of the Terrasian federation. Nobody would find her, would they? Mind you, by now she had so many U.W.F. body parts that she was probably like a human tracking beacon for them. But that wasn’t what was stopping her. If she stopped, it could mean millions dead. She was a protector.

  “I detected palpitations consistent with apprehension,” Tin said. “Do you fear-tracking the early-traders to the next planet? Are you concerned about the performance of the bionictech?”

  “I was thinking about the last call with Minister Caplan,” Rieka replied. “Verity is most likely dead.”

  “I cannot offer a probability on this, there are too many factors around human nature that make the calculation impossible. However, your intuition has proven to be correct in the majority of situations. So, if you say she is dead, I am inclined to agree with you.”

  “There is something potentially worse,” Rieka said. “If she did survive, which evidence is now suggesting, I can only think of one way that could happen.” She reached down and let the water run between her fingers, and watched it eddy away behind. “She became one of them. A pirate.”

  The thought made her grimace. A father’s lifelong search for a daughter would end only to find out she’d become a sacker of planets. Someone who raped and pillaged entire cultures for personal wealth.

  Rieka had already decided, if Verity really had turned, the minister would not need to learn of this. She would tell him that the trail had run cold, and the last thing she’d heard was that Verity took up with some colonists looking for an unchartered first-stage planet outside of the federation maps. But if Rieka encountered the girl, she would give her the same options she gave the other pirates.

  Rieka could feel that she was on the right trail with this new information, but the outcome would not be good.

  “Okay, your strength control is improving substantially,” Tin said. “Let’s move to reflexes.”

  One of the defender drones rose up and hovered out over the water. It was twenty meters above the surface.

  “Thanks for the heart to heart, Tin,” Rieka laughed. “You’re always such a good listener.”

  It fired an energy pulse at her, designed to replicate a blaster gun, carried by many of the early-traders and issued to their drivers. The pulse would only stun if it hit her core.

  Her arm snapped out deflecting the energy. The b
ionic arm could apparently take direct hits from a real baster, and only damage the synthetic skin. That was self-repairing anyway.

  The drone fired several more shots in quick succession. Rieka deflected two of them and sprang into the air, her bionic legs propelling her high. She simultaneously summoned a ward. It zipped under her feet, carrying her further out over the water, high above the defender.

  She steered the ward drone with micro movements in her feet. The drone calculated the weight distribution, compensating different forces. It let Rieka perform aerial acrobatics, to avoid the stream of blaster shots trying to tag her.

  She preferred to avoid boosting during training. She could train her reflexes at normal speed, and they would serve her better when she sped up.

  She was focused, and already sweating from the vigorous movement. An energy pulse just skimmed her rib cage. She felt the skin numb slightly. She was at her limit but doing it. She performed a summersault, then dashed to the side at an acute angle, towards the waterfall. The torrent of water would slow the drone slightly. Another energy pulse grazed her shoulder.

  “That’s very good, Rieka,” Tin acknowledged. “Your arm’s performance is excellent. I am increasing the intensity level.”

  “No don’t…” a blast hit her directly in the torso, sending excruciating pain through her body, temporarily paralyzing it. She toppled from the ward and tumbled with the raging waterfall to the pool below. She managed to take a breath before she plunged deep into the aerated water. The water darkened around her as she was pushed deep.

  Her instincts let her instantly relax to conserve oxygen. The nanites in her blood were processing the lactic acid, suppressing her urge to gasp for air. She went into an almost meditative state.

  As she hit the bottom, she grasped rocks and waited. Letting herself sink deeper into relaxed meditation. Her mind was the author of her emotions, emotions like panic. Master the mind, and you master your feelings. Feelings like the cold temperatures of this deep pool.

  Her bionic eye registered an energy pulse in the water next to her. The drone was firing blindly into the water. It would eventually hit her if she stayed still.

  She summoned the ward, which had become an aquaboard. She gripped onto it, and let it tow her along under the water, deep under the surface toward the waterfall. The pressure on her back was tremendous once directly underneath the falls. She emerged behind the main torrent. There was a narrow cavity. There was so much water falling that it was opaque. She couldn’t see the defender drone on the other side. It would be hovering above the water hunting for her.

  She stood on the ward and flew upwards behind the falls. There! A glimpse of the drone, stationary below her, poised above the surface of the pool on the other side. It was firing haphazardly into the water, hoping for a lucky strike.

  Rieka launched herself off the ward, diving head first through falls. Water crashed down on her like a hammer, then she was through. The drone instantly detected her. Firing a stream of pulses. Rieka was falling in a suicide dive towards the defender. She deflected each shot with her bionic arm, and crashed into the drone, taking it into the water. She hit the deactivation button on its casing, ending the training session instantly.

  “I got you, Tin,” she panted. “You’re getting slow, old man. I think I need to have you replaced with a more modern computer.” She laughed as she swam back towards the shore. The defender drone emerged from the pool and followed her.

  “I have to work with a protector that uses sarcasm,” Tin replied, “the lowest form of wit. So we both have to make compromises, Rieka.”

  She smiled as she waded on to the bank. “That was a good training session. I have to say, Tin, I’m very pleased with the arm.”

  “I am also satisfied with the results of today,” Tin said. “You can go into stasis sleep now, your body has sufficiently recovered from surgery. You still need training on strength control and usage during boosting. I will wake you early, before we reach the target planet, during deceleration.

  “Do you think the next planet will have waterfalls like this?” Rieka asked. Admiring the sight. This was the moment that she decided to stay here, disappear from the federation, and live the rest of her life alone in a remote jungle. She would hide from the U.W.F. and leave behind the role of protector, and life of violence.

  “We are staying Tin!” Rieka declared.

  “Okay, Rieka.” Tin had learned how to respond in these moments. It happened on every planet after a cleanup.

  It was always just a fleeting moment, but she liked to pretend that it was reality for that instant in time. What she would give to be able to leave it all. But of course, she let the idea dissolve. Millions were counting on her. Her life was not her own, she had decided to make the sacrifices to serve worlds that couldn't protect themselves. The selfish life of a hermit wouldn’t bring her peace. It didn’t matter how far away she hid, she would never have peace in her soul knowing she was one of the few who could be preventing terrible atrocities. But just for this moment…

  “Are we still staying?” Tin had become very good at knowing how long Rieka needed to process these thoughts. It was the same ritual every time.

  “No, we are not staying anymore,” she said, standing and stretching her arms out, as a drone blew hot, dry air over her, evaporating the water. She knew it was also doing a scan of her body, to see if she had inadvertently collected any foreign matter in the water.

  Suddenly several defender drones rose up around her and formed battle positions. Strange. She thought there were no people out here. She switched view to one of the defenders, that was hovering high above the jungle canopy. Through its camera she could see herself standing by the bank, flanked by defenders, all hovering around her.

  Rustling of trees indicated something large approaching through the jungle behind her. The heat signature betrayed its position in the thick foliage.

  There were no E.T.s left on the planet. And, if there were, they wouldn’t be foolish enough to approach a protector alone.

  An enormous black cat emerged from the undergrowth. The animal was at least three times larger than her. It slinked toward the water. It hadn’t seen Rieka yet, despite her being only twenty meters away. The waterfall was generating air currents and gusts that were keeping her downwind from the creature. Muscles rippled under the glistening black coat. Two oversized canine teeth protruded down below its bottom jaw. It was beautiful. It walked with graceful feline motion, exuding pure potential.

  “Rieka, it is a male Smilodon,” Tin explained, “approximately ten years old. That is middle-aged, for this particular species. I consider it an immediate threat to you.”

  “Do not engage!” Rieka commanded.

  At the sound of her voice, the cat jolted and spread its stocky legs in a wide hostile stance. It had been taken by surprise. The animal released a high pitched wail which receded to a threatening snarl. He bared his teeth as the lips pulled back in a terrifying rictus.

  The cat raised its head, trying to catch a scent of Rieka on the breeze, assessing if she was quarry, or a potential threat. The creature would be at the top of the food chain in this jungle, he probably had no natural predators.

  The cat stalked Rieka, keeping its body low to the ground, taking several cautious steps closer. Once again he raised his head curiously, sniffing, trying to assess this anomaly in his habitat.

  “Rieka I would highly recommend neutralizing the animal,” Tin said again. At a word from her the animal would be paralyzed.

  “Leave it be,” Rieka said taking a step towards the cat. “Some things in this galaxy are just trying to survive, Tin. It's only acting naturally.” He has no idea that I am actually here to protect him, and everything on this planet.

  As she took another step closer, the cat transferred its weight to the hind quarters and swiped the air threateningly with a huge paw. Extended claws sliced the air in warning. Another howl from the animal mixed with the roar of the water. The conviction of R
ieka’s movements were confusing him, she was not behaving as an animal normally would.

  The beast was no more than ten meters away. Rieka turned back to the water, crouched down and let the water flow past her hands. The cat watched her curiously and eventually decided she was not a threat. It assumed its relaxed demeanor once again, turned and continued slinking to the water's edge, where it lowered its head closed its eyes and began lapping at the water next to her.

  “Human instincts are something I will never understand,” Tin said. “All my calculations were saying the animal would attack. Your intuition is remarkable.”

  The cat paused, and glanced at her for several seconds, then went back to drinking.

  “I’ve seen animals like this being sold on the black market. One E.T. had an entire zoo of exotic animals on board, hibernating in the same room as the drivers. One bed had a person, the next some giant reptile.”

  The thought of early-traders taking such a magnificent beast, and ripping it from its home and natural habitat, made her blood boil. She thought of Verity again. Could the innocent daughter of a Terrasian minister really become such a heartless, profit-driven pirate, that would do such a thing? Rieka had poured over the files of Verity and felt like she knew the girl. Her instincts told her it was not in Verity’s nature. Yet all the evidence pointed to the contrary. Such a conundrum.

  All this speculation was out of character for Rieka—it was something about this case.

  The black cat finished drinking. It looked at Rieka once more, as if to acknowledge the short unspoken peace treaty. Then leaped back into the thick jungle undergrowth. The leaves closed behind it as though it were never there. There was a nostalgia about these fleeting moments on first-stage planets. When she reached her next destination, it would be decades later on this planet. That black cat and generations of its offspring would be history.

  “Alright, if you say my arm is ready,” Rieka said, “ and I can go into cryo-sleep, then it’s time to push void. Bring up the landing craft!”