Raines nodded. “I believe that facing your fears can be a source of true enlightenment. That’s how I choose to live my life as well.”
“So, you don’t worry about the Novum?” Jake asked.
“Novum is a word from an ancient and largely forgotten language,” Raines said. “It used to mean ‘new thing,’ but people now use it to describe everything from the monsters of the deep to the event that caused the Fall.”
Jake nodded his head. “I thought it was just a kid’s word until I joined Coal’s crew. At night, the older crew members would sit around the galley, telling stories of creatures larger than the biggest transports lurking just beyond the border, waiting to devour anyone who tried to cross, things like that.”
“Fear of the Novum is simply fear of change,” Raines said. “What you heard were manufactured fables, created by our ancestors and enhanced by our government to instill fear.”
“For what purpose?”
Raines leaned in close. “To keep us from escaping a prison of our own design. Do you know why our borders are armed? They didn’t use to be. When I was young, both the perimeter border and the ceiling grid were just sensor nets, put there to alert us if something tried to enter the colony. Now, if you venture beyond a thousand kilometers from Capitol City or try to ascend past a thousand meters from the seafloor, your ship will be destroyed, no questions asked.”
“Those defenses are for our protection.”
“Protection from what? Since I’ve been alive, those so-called defenses have obliterated five of our ships. Countless lives were lost just because they strayed too close to our borders. Moreover, in all that time, not a single thing from the outside has ever tried to cross the border into our colony. They’re keeping us from leaving under the guise of protecting us from something that doesn’t exist.”
“So you don’t believe in monsters?”
“Not out there,” Raines said. “The only monsters I know of are inside Civica’s borders—human monsters that knowingly instill fear in the masses, simply to keep us from learning the truth.”
“What truth?”
“That there is something out there beyond our borders. Something important.”
“What?”
“Listen to me, Jake,” Raines said, his voice turning grave. “Forgetting all of the stories and lies we have grown up with, all that we know of the Pre-Fall world has to be inferred from the ancient technology that we occasionally stumble upon. Carefully analyzed, they tell us that our Earth Colony ancestors were far more advanced than we are today. They were masters of fusion power, and with it, they overcame most of the plagues of humanity, including greed, hunger, poverty, and war, and even began creating new life forms in their own image.”
“Betas,” Jake said, remembering his earlier conversation with Nia.
“Yes. Then, some sort of catastrophic event, which we call the ‘Fall of Man,’ forced humanity to evacuate Earth Colony, and travel far across the ocean to our new home.” He leaned in closer to Jake. “Are we so self-important as to believe that the residents of Civica are the only surviving descendants of that once-mighty people?”
“They tried to find out once,” Jake said. “When I was a kid, they went outside the border to look for other colonies.” As he said the words, he saw a strange look appear on Raines’s face.
“That was the Compass Expedition,” the older man said. “It was our one attempt to explore some part of the sea beyond our borders, to test some of the theories of the scientific community. Four ships loaded with extra batteries and supplies, sent to the north, east, south, and west, to search for signs of human life.” He looked at Jake. “Did you know anyone on board, son?”
“Both of my parents,” he admitted. “There was a lottery for deckhands, and they put their names in. They both worked in hydroponics, and neither had stepped foot outside the city in their whole lives. I remember they were so excited when they found out that they were both selected for the westbound ship. They talked about nothing else for the days leading up to departure. They kissed me goodbye and said they would see me in a few weeks, but...”
Raines put a hand on Jake's shoulder. “I'm sorry that I didn't make the connection with your name earlier. I actually knew both of your parents, Jake, and I’m truly sorry for your loss. I can assure you that it was a well-planned mission. I...I knew all of the scientists involved with the project, and I know that every precaution had been taken. The captains were instructed to travel in straight lines away from the colony and return well before they reached their Rubicon point.”
“Rubicon?”
“An old shipper’s term for the ‘point of no return,’ or half-power,” Raines said. “They all should have made it back.”
“But they didn’t. None of them made it back.”
“I know,” Raines answered solemnly. “Civica lost nearly all of its scientists and creative thinkers that year. It was after that expedition that the Council began to grow in power. They cut off funding for all research and banned travel outside the border. In fifteen years, no one has dared to defy them.”
“So obviously, the deep ocean is dangerous. Maybe if my parents had feared the Novum, or whatever is out there, they would still be alive today.” Jake sighed, remembering his aunt who really couldn’t afford an extra kid growing up in her sub-level apartment in the garment district of Capitol City. That’s why he left home early to look for work. “Fear keeps us safe, too, doesn’t it?”
“Everyone feels fear, Jake, but it’s what we choose to do in response to that fear that defines us. I choose to face my fears and learn from them.”
“You would choose to go outside?” he asked skeptically. “Go outside the border? For what purpose?”
“Four ships and over sixty people in the Compass Expedition disappeared without a trace, including several close friends of mine and your parents. Someone should find out what happened to them, don’t you think? Their story deserves to be told.”
“You would knowingly defy the Council’s orders?”
Raines raised one eyebrow. “I’ll ask again: are you planning to turn me in, son?”
“No!” Jake said too forcefully. “I didn’t mean...I just came down to tell you that your granddaughter wants you to come upstairs for dinner,” he said, relieved to have found a quick way out of the suddenly awkward conversation. “And she doesn’t seem to be a patient person.”
“Especially after a few too many cups of my fine coffee,” Raines added with a smile and then patted Jake on the shoulder, the way his father used to. “Good night, Jacob,” he said as he headed through the hatchway.
Genesis 06
When Raines was gone, Jake stood there for a minute, reflecting on the old man’s words. There weren’t many who lived as long as Raines had, which was well over seventy years, according to Nia. Maybe living that long gave a person a different view on life. Maybe it made him question things that everyone else took for granted. Even though Jake was half as old as Raines, what he said did make sense, at least to a point. Parts of Capitol City did seem to be falling apart, and as far as Jake knew, no one knew how to fix the problems. Power consumption was monitored closely and often rationed, and many foods he had eaten as a child were no longer available. But, wasn’t that normal? Wasn’t that simple entropy—one of the laws of physics he had learned in school? Raines implied that humanity had once been able to break that law and actually make things better over time. The idea seemed ridiculous, but maybe it wasn’t.
“Too much!” he said aloud as he went to the forward end of the cargo bay and sat down on the floor. He leaned back against the slanted loading door and could feel the vibration from the water passing over the bow. The textured metal floor beneath him was cold, and he could feel the grit of sand beneath his palms, brought in from the Jumper’s feet. That was quite a run, he thought to himself as he replayed those final minutes in his head. The girl, Jessie, had almost died. They all could have died out there. All for what?
&
nbsp; The mine ship sat silently in front of him, its jagged silhouette reminding him of a cartoon character who is so scared that his hair stands straight out. “Are you something to fear?” he asked the object.
He got up and walked over to the mine ship. Even though it could be a bomb, as he’d suggested to Nia, somehow, as he stood there looking at it, he knew it wasn’t even dangerous, at least not to him. But, how could he know that? He decided that Nia had been right before, in that everyone could use some sleep. He turned to leave but was startled by someone standing right behind him. It was the new girl, Jane Doe.
“Whoa, you surprised me,” he said, taking a step back. She was wearing a thin medical gown but not much else. The skin of her bare arms and long legs glistened slightly in the soft light of the bay. Her long red hair was straight and hanging over her face. Cleaned up, she didn't look like a wild animal any longer.
“Sir-prized,” the girl repeated slowly and carefully as if she were trying out the word for the first time. Her voice was soft but a bit scratchy.
Remembering what Vee had said about her learning their language, he asked, “Do you understand me?”
She nodded. “Un-der-stand,” she repeated, and then added, “Save-you.”
What did she mean by that? “No, I’m fine. I was just asking if—”
She stepped past him and touched several of the symbols on the mine ship, and then stepped back and faced him. “Save-you,” she repeated.
He was about to repeat that he was fine when he heard a hiss right beside him. He turned to see the mine ship split right down the middle and then open itself up, the bottom screeching against the metal floor.
In the center of the object, there was a chair with a flatscreen attached to it. It was quite similar to one of the bridge consoles. The chair was human-sized, and suddenly, he understood why it was called a ship. This thing was meant to be piloted. But, piloted for what? Was it, in fact, a simple mining ship as their navigator had suggested? If so, maybe Raines was wrong for calling it a weapon.
Knowing that he should probably leave the thing alone and go alert Raines and Nia of his discovery, he instead decided to try out the chair for himself. As he climbed inside and sat down, he realized that Raines was correct—facing the unknown was exciting.
While he was investigating the screen in front of him, Jane stepped into the ship, lifted one long leg over him, and then sat down on his lap, facing him. Her nose was nearly touching his, and he could feel her warm breath on his face. “I don’t think—” he started to say, then she pressed something behind him, and the door started to close.
“Save-you,” she repeated.
“Don’t,” he blurted out as the object slammed shut, locking them both inside in total darkness. “Jane, can you please open the door?” he asked calmly.
He felt her breath in his right ear, “Save-you-Jake-Stone.”
“Save me from what?” he asked. Jane answered him by pivoting around on his lap—not any easy maneuver in the tight quarters—then she swiped her long fingertips across the flat screen in front of them. The screen slowly came to life and began to show a view of the cargo bay, but something about it looked odd. Then he realized that it couldn’t be a view from the mine ship itself; the perspective was far too high, as though he were looking at the bay from somewhere near the ceiling.
“You’ve tapped into the ship’s security feed,” he whispered. He reached up and touched the screen. As he moved his finger across the surface, the view tracked with him. He was not only viewing the highly secure feed from the micro-camera mounted in the cargo bay, but he was also controlling it. “The security cameras are tied directly to the bridge. No one can access them remotely. How are you doing this?”
She didn’t answer but again touched the screen, and it changed to a view of the bridge. AJ was still at the helm, and Ash was standing next to her. Again, he was able to change the view angle with a touch of his hand. This wasn’t Jane’s doing, he realized. It was the mine ship. Apparently, the ship’s name referred to data mining, as in security-feed hacking.
“This is a powerful tool you’ve uncovered,” he said, “and I’m sure Norman Raines will be grateful for your help, but now I think it’s time—” The viewscreen suddenly went black, and the inside of the mine ship was plunged into darkness.
He had a sudden flashback of his usual dream; Stacy floating outside of the bridge's forward viewport, inside a Jumper, tangled in cables, hovering over the Rift, her mouth forming those dreaded words. I forgive you, Jake.
Jake opened his eyes and saw Stacy’s face staring back at him. “What the bilge?” he gasped but then realized that it was just Jane. Dim interior lighting had apparently turned on while his eyes were closed, and now they were playing tricks on him. As he adjusted to the light, he realized that it wasn’t his imagination after all; Jane really did look like Stacy, only with a slightly younger, perhaps more innocent face, and red hair and green eyes instead of Stacy’s blonde hair and blue eyes. He felt suddenly overcome with emotion. “Who are you?” he whispered.
She didn’t answer but instead turned back to the viewscreen. It was now showing a rainbow-colored view of the main stairwell from B-deck to C-deck, just outside the medical bay. As brightly colored bodies moved down the stairwell, he realized that the security cameras had switched to infrared and were now showing body heat. That meant that the screen had gone dark because the Wave’s interior lights had turned off. Something was seriously wrong on his ship.
“Jane, you have to open the door,” he nearly yelled. “I need to get out. Right now!”
“Save you,” Jane repeated, but this time much more clearly.
“I’m not kidding around,” he said, struggling to push her off his lap. What thirty seconds before had been a cozy, almost romantic setting, had now turned into a sudden need for escape. “Open the door, Jane!”
Instead of responding, she touched the viewscreen one more time, and the view switched back to the cargo bay. Jake watched as what looked like the entire crew filed in through the portside door and approached his position.
“Can anyone hear me?” he yelled. He tried to hit the sides with his fist, but every surface was padded.
An overhead speaker clicked on, and he heard the conversation inside the bay. “Everyone stay right where you are,” a man’s voice said. Jake couldn’t be sure, but it sounded like the younger of the two Grange brothers.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Nia’s voice demanded. The cargo bay lights came back on just then and Jake’s eyes took a moment to adjust. The screen showed Nia, AJ, and the rest standing together on one side of the bay and the Grange brothers on the other. Both men had their rifles pointed at the crew. “I said, what is the meaning of this?” Nia repeated.
“The meaning should be obvious,” Malcolm Grange said. “You took something that didn’t belong to you.”
“And now you have to pay for it,” Liam added with a smirk.
“You’re part of our crew,” Vee said. “We trusted you.”
Malcolm went to a wall panel and turned on the ship-wide speaker. “Jake Stone, please report to the cargo bay at once.”
As Jake watched from the relative safety of his hiding place, it dawned on him that maybe this was what Jane had meant when she said she wanted to save him. However, how could she have known what these men were planning? Was she on their side, or had she simply overheard their conversation at some point?
“Part of your crew?” Liam asked, walking up to Vee. “Am I part of your crew, little girl?” He brushed the tip of his rifle against her breasts. “They call you Vee, but your name is Vienna, named after some ancient and long-forgotten city. Tell me, Vienna, what is my first name?”
Vee just stood there, not answering the man. He backed up and addressed the rest of the crew. “I’ll let you all go, right now, if even one of you fine people can tell me either of our first names.”
Jake yelled at the screen, “Malcolm and Liam! Their names are Malcol
m and Liam!”
“What are you doing?” Malcolm demanded.
“Just a game, dear brother,” he replied.
Jake was feeling the effects of the confined space now, but he knew it was far more dangerous on the outside. In his frustration, he looked at the two men on the screen and yelled, “Get off my ship!”
“I don’t like your childish games,” Malcolm grumbled. “Get out of here and find Stone. He must be hiding.”
Liam turned his gun toward his brother. “I don’t like the way you always order me around.”
“Point that thing elsewhere,” Malcolm yelled. “I order you around because you are a fool. Like Papa always said.”
“Shut up about Papa!” Liam yelled. “Shut up or I'll shoot you.”
Malcolm turned his gun on his younger brother. "You shut up or I'll shoot you."
“Just shoot each other already,” Jake yelled.
Gunshots echoed in his ears, and both men dropped to the floor. Jake sat with his mouth open. Was someone else armed? Had one of the crew used their argument to get off a shot?
Jane pressed something behind him, and the side of the mine ship began to open. She climbed off his lap, but he was reluctant to step out just yet. Until he learned who had shot the two men, maybe he was safer inside.
“Jake? Is that you?” Raines said as he peered inside the ship. “How did you open this?”
Jake climbed out of the chair and stood up. “Ask her,” he said, pointing to Jane.
Raines crawled into the open ship as Jake walked over to join the others who were gathering around the two bodies. Ash was squatting next to them, checking for a pulse. Then he stood up and addressed Nia.
“They’re dead. Both of them. Shot through the heart.”
“Who shot them?” Jake asked.
“They shot each other,” Nia said, “although I couldn’t tell you why.”
“I think I can,” Raines said from behind them. Everyone turned in unison to stare at the older man.
Novum Chronicles: A Dystopian Undersea Saga Page 5
