Amongst the Immortals

by Luigi Robles

  “Really, Kya? You just had to tell her where I was, didn’t you? I expected more from you.”

  No response. There were only three more knocks on the door.

  “Come in,” Pycca said, feeling her eyes roll to the back of her head.

  The door opened and Larissa let herself in. She approached Pycca slowly.

  “I saw you leave the bridge abruptly. I just came to check if everything was alright.”

  Pycca’s less than polite tongue yearned to be unleashed. She wanted to shower Larissa in boiling hot words, but instead she said the politest thing that she could think of. “What a question to ask considering the situation we’re in.”

  “Yeah, you’re right. I’m trying to keep it together, Pycca, but I can assure you that I’m also in distress.”

  “So, you came here to complain about our job? Because if you did, I have better things to do.”

  Pycca knew that she was being mean, but she also knew that there were a few lower levels of mean that Larissa wouldn’t be seeing today.

  “I’ll be straightforward about it then,” Larissa said as she stiffened.

  “Good, let’s have it.” Pycca got up to face Larissa.

  “I came here to talk to you about Fain.”

  “What about him?” Pycca felt her face and ears get warm at the mention of his name.

  “Please don’t be coy. Everyone on this ship knowns. Better said, everyone in ESAF knows that you have a thing for him, and he has a thing for you. I was just the one idiot who didn’t notice it, because I was too busy noticing him.” Larissa blushed. “I just came to tell you that there’s nothing between us. If anything, there’s respect and a healthy friendship. Whatever Fain thought he felt for me, or I for him, got buried in the last few months. But you know it’s impossible to bury something that felt so real just like that. Things still linger. I just know he isn’t for me. He’s for you.”

  Pycca didn’t say anything, although she liked what she was hearing.

  “And I hope you know that you can count on me if you need someone to talk to about anything that doesn’t involve him. I’m here for you as well as the rest of the crew. Maybe someday I’ll find my someone, but until that day comes, I won’t worry about it.” Larissa smiled slightly.

  Pycca nodded.

  “I won’t begin to talk about what happened down on Doka,” Larissa continued. “I think you and Fain have a lot to talk about first. I just came to take myself out of the picture, so you can at least have one less thing to worry about.”

  “Thank you,” Pycca said softly, and she felt a sense of calm wash over her body.

  “I’ll just head back to the bridge. There’s a lot that we must unravel about our recent visit. But do remember what I told you.”

  “I will. Thanks for letting me know. I’ll be a little while longer. I just have to clear my head, then I’ll join the flight crew on the bridge.”

  “Take your time,” Larissa said as she headed out of the levitation room. “I’m sure it will be a few hours before we have to submit a report. See you there.”

  Pycca did nothing after Larissa left the room, she just sat back down on the floor near a levitation machine and leaned against it. She would only be a few minutes more.

  “Well, that could have gone a lot worse,” Pycca murmured, at the same time trying to relax. “A lot worse.”

  Once everyone in ESAF was aware of the situation, Sodenia and the rest of the fleet went into full patrol mode, working twenty-four-hour shifts while undergoing heavy modifications. Pycca had suggested either removing or modifying all receiving antennas on all of the ESAF ships to avoid an Immortal taking over. Truman had taken Pycca’s suggestions to heart on the recommendation of Kya.

  Now instead of the ships having permanent radiating and receiving antennas that would convert the signals into their proper waves, they would have mechanical and fully dislodgeable receiving antennas. This meant that the outgoing and incoming signals wouldn’t be located in a single nodule; instead they would be separated into two, with the incoming side being able to completely shut down mechanically. It was a lot of work, but thanks to Kya’s Anvelins and Pycca’s engineer corps, they were able to retrofit all 1,634 antenna nodules in less than two weeks.

  For Pycca, the task had been a breath of fresh air, as it allowed her to keep her mind busy and not think of Fain. But in the days that followed, once all the work was done, she couldn’t help but go back and think, and she hated it. She knew that she had to get off the ship.

  Pycca was one of the first to leave after a three-week patrol. The truth was that she had a lot to resolve on her own, and continuously seeing and trying to avoid Fain wasn’t helping. Their encounter with the Immortals and Fain’s willingness to sacrifice his life in order to protect others, including herself, had shaken her to her core.

  Fain didn’t contest her desire to leave; he simply nodded at the request. Though she hated the fact that she was leaving him up there with Larissa, she knew that this was something she needed to do. She wasn’t so much worried about the Immortals, or at least she didn’t think that they would be showing up anytime soon. For reasons unknown, the Immortals had stopped all attempts at communication via glitches. There was nothing on Earth, or on Doka or anywhere else the ISCO was in communication with.

  So, what was he thinking? Pycca got lost in thought as she descended through the space elevator. It was way too easy for him to agree with that stupid machine. He could have died, and we would have gained nothing. The thought of Fain dying in order to protect them made her eyes watery. She wanted to stop her thoughts, but she found it to be impossible. It all kept washing over her. And then what about me? So, he dies, and then what about me? Just screw whatever I feel for him? Just let it all go, because that’s what heroes do? They all die in the end?

  “Bullshit,” she said through gritted teeth and pounded on the glass.

  “May I be of any assistance?” a disembodied voice said inside the elevator capsule.

  “No,” Pycca managed.

  “Very well. If I can be of any assistance, gently tap on the window or press the assistant button at your leisure.”

  By Pycca’s estimate, she was around twenty minutes away from reaching the surface of Earth. One of the windows always displayed a map of the current location, but she didn’t bother to look.

  Is this what I want for myself? Pycca returned to her thoughts. To love someone that will ultimately put everyone else before himself? I told him not to… And yet he didn’t hesitate to step towards the dumb machine. Are his feelings for me not strong enough? Doesn’t he care enough to feel the same way? I want to have a family, to be able to grow old with someone, to feel loved until my last breath. This isn’t fair. But then again, when is anything ever fair?

  The universe doesn’t play by our rules. That’s the lesson to be learned here, if being able to venture into space has taught us anything, Pycca decided.

  Pycca knew that no matter what her thoughts were, her feelings towards Fain would remain the same. He made her feel whole again, special, and he made her matter. Fain was also the first person to make her feel normal again, to make her forget about the open doors to the galaxy, to make her feel like humanity would survive. And even in their darkest hours, those things were a constant.

  “Stupid,” Pycca hissed as she pounded on the glass once again, but this time with her forehead. Though she didn’t know if she was calling Fain or herself stupid, or both.

  “May I be of any assistance?”

  She sighed.

  “Play relaxing music.”

  Classical music began playing softly inside the elevator. Pycca didn’t recognize it, though she suspected it was a fairly popular piece.

  Other less stressful things began to make their way into Pycca’s train of thought. She didn’t want to go back to her parents’ at least for the first few days that she was back on Earth. She needed time to herself. But she also didn’t have a place to stay, a place she could c
all her own.

  After losing their home, along with the city, during the first Acram attack, Pycca never really had a place she could call her own. As soon as ESAF was announced to the world, she enlisted and spent most of her days in the academy, training and learning everything she could. She would seldom take voluntary days off; weekends were non-existent for her. Only when it came time for her leave did she allow herself to rest and recharge. She spent the entirety of her leave in her parents’ new home in St. Paul, but she was never able to call that place home. It was nothing like the home she had grown up in.

  She needed a place of her own. But she knew little of the world outside ESAF.

  For a few seconds, Pycca entertained the idea of getting a small apartment somewhere in Neo LA, where she would be close to Fain. She began mentally listing the reasons why living in Neo LA would be a good idea. But she quickly dismissed it after she couldn’t think of more than two or three. Fain was the main reason she wanted to be there. She then ran a mental list of other places she’d like to live, but in the end, it was just impractical, and it all felt like a big commitment on her part. She decided that she would hold off from getting a place until she found a city or town she really loved.

  “Here goes nothing,” Pycca murmured as she turned to sit down on one of the two seats in the pod and pulled out a digital screen. She punched in a search for nearby and quiet fully furnished homes for rent. Tens of thousands of properties appeared in an instant. She narrowed down the search by adding filters until she had about a dozen homes left. “This should keep me busy today.”

  Once she sent the housing list to her task manager, she began to think about the Immortals and her device. Her close encounter with the actual machine she had been searching for by way of glitches in the electrical system gave her all the missing information she needed to track them down. Pycca was sure that once she made an adjustment or two to the device, she would be able to pinpoint the point of origin of the glitches. However, there wouldn’t be a way to test it until the glitches began appearing once more. And if they did appear, the only problem she had left to solve was how to amplify the device’s tracking capabilities through the vastness of space. She had a vague idea of how to accomplish such a feat, but it was something she would need Kya’s help with.

  The feeling of being busy once again let Pycca relax a bit and distance herself from the pressing feelings. She sighed with relief.

  I’m still not talking to him, Pycca thought. Maybe I’ll give him the silent treatment for a week or two, so that next time he thinks about being Mr. Brave and saving the world, he thinks about saving us first, along with saving the world.

  8

  Silence

  Two weeks after Pycca left for Earth, Fain was getting ready to take a small break of his own. Truman and Green had insisted on Fain taking a break from his patrol. In truth, he needed rest. He was mentally and physically exhausted. He hadn’t been resting well since their encounter with the Immortal. The power the machine had displayed and the ease with which it stopped all attacks directed towards it deeply disturbed Fain. He was on edge around the clock, but there was nothing to be on edge about other than constantly thinking an Immortal would show up.

  Not having Pycca around was also giving Fain a hard time, although he understood where she was coming from. But he also knew that he would do whatever was necessary to protect her and Earth. It had to be him. He wouldn’t dare leave that responsibility to someone else. But in this case, perhaps Pycca was right to be upset at him, because, in fact, they did defeat the Immortal. And if he had jumped to the front of the line to die, it would all have been for nothing. Fain made a mental note—no, not a note, more like a mental billboard—to exhaust all possible options before he took that one step forward before anyone else.

  Fain was awake and sitting up on the side of his bed before the alarm in his pillow woke him. As he felt the pillow vibrate gently, he slid his hand over to turn it off. Things had been this way ever since Pycca left.

  “You still let it go off?” Fain asked in a low voice.

  “Just in case you needed to know what time it was,” Kya’s disembodied voice said, matching Fain’s quiet tone. “How long have you been awake?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe for twenty minutes or so. Hey, wait a minute, don’t you know this? Aren’t there sensors all around the quarters? All around the ship?”

  “I try not to know. You know, there’s that whole privacy thing and all. I only saw that you weren’t on your pillow the second the alarm went off. The rest was just a guess from what you’ve been sharing with me lately.”

  “Ha!” Fain got up slowly and began to stretch. “And all this time I thought you knew everything.”

  “I’m fine without the details.”

  “Is it the same for everyone else?”

  “To a greater extent. I usually never inquire about them, unless there’s something out of the ordinary.”

  “Talking about things out of the ordinary, has there been anything?” Fain longed for a break in the silence, good or bad. He felt that something was brewing, and he wanted to find out what it was before it found him. “Anything at all?”

  Since the one Immortal had been destroyed on Doka, there had only been silence. Before that, there were glitches everywhere, following Fain around and spanning the world in general. It was a phenomenon. But now, not even the ISCO was hearing anything; it was as if the machine they had slain on Doka had been the only one.

  “Nothing except someone was admitted to the medical bay last night with acute stomach pain. It appears to be a severe case of indigestion; the prognosis is favorable. We are still in silence.”

  “What can this be?” Fain asked as he walked over to the food printer. “At first there was all this noise, and now silence. Why?”

  “I haven’t been able to come up with a legitimate answer to that question,” Kya’s disembodied voice said from the speakers in the kitchen. “But I’d be happy to discuss some theories with you later today.”

  “I’d like that.”

  “So, see you on the bridge?”

  “See you on the bridge,” Fain said as he felt a slight smile forming.

  Fain got ready and went about his last morning routine, at least until he returned from his forced one-week break. Once he was ready, he headed towards the bridge.

  August, Larissa and Kya were already waiting for him there.

  “Good morning, Captain,” Larissa said with a bright smile.

  Fain had finally gotten the entire flight crew to stop doing the whole “officer on deck” thing. Now instead of everyone getting up and saluting when Fain walked in, the ones nearest to him greeted him. Kya would make everyone else on the bridge aware he was there by running a message on their task screens in their stations.

  “Morning,” Fain said with a slight smile as he stared at Larissa.

  “You look like crap,” August said wistfully and a little louder than he should have.

  Fain turned towards August with eyebrows raised.

  “I mean good morning, Captain, sir,” August said with a cough. “Sir.”

  Fain simpered and nodded.

  Throughout his time as captain of Sodenia, Fain had made many friends throughout the ship, but mainly he had made friends out of the flight crew. And out of all the persons he considered his friends, August had always come out on top, not only as a best friend but also as his successor. Fain knew that August would be a terrific captain and would someday even surpass Fain in his skills.

  “Are you ready for your leave?” August asked.

  “No, not really,” Fain said. “I worry that I have to leave you in charge of the ship. I worry a lot.”

  Larissa and Kya turned away as August expressed a genuine look of concern. Fain wasn’t certain, but he thought he heard giggles coming from Larissa’s station.

  “Wait, wait,” August said as he held the back of his neck. “You aren’t serious, right?”

  Eora walked ont
o the bridge with two of her officers, Sarah and John.

  “OK, let’s get started,” Fain said as he clapped and made his way to a chair near the center console on the bridge. “We have to go over everything before I leave. Let’s start with the last five reports, and then we’ll go over contingency plans and lastly fast extraction, just in case an unknown enters Earth space.”

  Fain and the flight crew talked for five hours, churning over existing plans and exploring every possible angle they could think of. It was one of the most grueling meetings the flight crew of Sodenia had experienced in a while. But just as Fain predicted, August, Larissa, Eora and Kya rose to the occasion each and every time. Even the rest of the flight crew and Eora’s officers chimed in brilliantly from time to time. Feeling satisfied with the meeting, Fain decided to end it.

  “OK, well, she’s all yours,” Fain said as he got up after an instant of silence. He patted August on the back as he walked right past him. “Eora, Larissa, keep an eye on him, will you?” Both nodded. “I guess I’ll get packing then.”

  Fain made his way to his quarters to finish packing for his one-week leave. In reality, he didn’t have much to pack; he had most of the stuff he would need back in his apartment in Neo LA. Going back to his quarters was more of a force of habit, to make sure everything was turned off. Although he could do that from his wristband, task manager, any screen anywhere on Sodenia, or even get Kya to do it for him, he visually needed to see it. If not, he would have one more reason why he couldn’t sleep.

  “Fain?” Kya’s voice came through his wristband as he entered his quarters.

  “Yeah, what is it, Kya?” Fain asked.

  “Would it be possible for me to come with you?” Kya’s disembodied voice now issued from the speakers within Fain’s quarters.

  Fain had always thought about bringing Kya to Neo LA and showing her around, though he wished it was during better times. He hesitated to respond. A part of him told him that she deserved to experience the world just like any other human could. But the more conservative part of him told him that Kya was essential to any one of their contingency plans.