by Eric Warren
“I need a favor. You’re my last hope.”
***
“Lieutenant Ronde, are we interrupting you?” Greene asked as he sat in the captain’s chair. The voice startled Izak so bad he jerked his head back to the captain.
“No, sir.” He’d listened to Page’s request, thinking he was insane. Wasn’t Izak in enough trouble as it was? And hadn’t Page lied to him about the whole thing with Blackburn? Maybe not lied to him, but deceived him. If that was the case why would he ever consider helping him again?
“Prepare to depart,” Greene said, looking straight ahead.
Izak tapped the controls, setting the course Ensign River had plotted. But his mind was on Page’s call. Already his heart was hammering about the thought of returning to Sil space. The traitor—Cas—had gone in by himself and now they were going after him. And all this after they’d nearly lost the ship the first time. What could be so important the Coalition was willing to risk an entire ship and her crew? Page didn’t know; he was convinced Cas was working against them. But Izak wasn’t so sure anymore. Anyone with a head on their shoulders knew it was suicide to go into Sil space, much less go in alone. And if Cas had been working with them wouldn’t they have destroyed the ship already? Or were they out there waiting, with Cas by their side, telling them all sorts of Coalition secrets?
None of this made sense. Maybe Page was right, maybe he was a threat. Izak wasn’t stupid; he knew Page had used him. So where was the proof?
“Engineering reports ready, Captain,” Blohm said from behind him.
Greene gripped the arms of his chair, leaning forward. “All hands, this is the captain. Alert level four. Everyone to designated battle stations. Spacewing fighters prepare to depart.” He glanced around the bridge, Izak watching him. Both the Captain and Commander Diazal seemed calm, as if this was just another day. While he was a nervous wreck. The commander had essentially given him a pass. Maybe that was because they needed him for this mission or maybe it was because she really didn’t believe he was at fault. But he was. “Deploy the emitter and let’s make this happen,” Greene said.
Ronde focused on the screen in front of him and moved the ship into position, scanning the space where they’d left the undercurrent the first time. His comm pinged again causing his heart rate to shoot up.
“Ready?” Ensign River asked, startling him. “You okay?”
Izak wiped the sweat from his brow, shooting her a quick glance. “Fine. Ready.” His fingers moved over the controls as if on autopilot, sending them into the undercurrent. The ship lurched and space began speeding past them at an accelerated rate.
“Twelve minutes to Sil space,” River said.
He couldn’t do this. And it couldn’t wait. There was no telling what Page might do now he wasn’t answering his comms anymore. Izak turned around in his chair.
Greene’s eyes flashed to him. “Yes, Lieutenant?”
“Sir, Lieutenant Page is attempting to contact me. He’s asking me to wipe the internal logs of his movements.”
Commander Diazal’s eyes went wide and she jumped up, running over to Zaal’s station.
“Have you?” Greene asked, his voice severe.
“No, sir, but I should have told you when I got the first request. Before we made the jump.”
Greene turned to Evie. “Where is he?”
“I’m not sure,” she said.
He turned back to Izak. “I thought you said you didn’t help him.”
“I didn’t! I never accessed the internal sensors, you can check.”
Zaal spoke. “He’s correct. No one on the bridge has altered the internal sensors. However, sensor control on deck five has been altered. But I cannot tell by whom.”
“Why didn’t it show up?” Greene demanded.
“Because we were too focused on leaving,” Evie replied. “And it’s a good bet he’s been to one of the weapon lockers.”
“But those are coded only to open to active security personnel,” Izak said.
Evie turned to him. “I doubt you’re the only ‘friend’ Page has on this ship.” She ran for the hypervator doors.
“Commander?” Greene said, turning in his seat.
“He’s going to kill Box if we don’t do something. I don’t know who we can trust in security,” she yelled back.
“Dammit,” Greene said as the doors closed. “We should have just thrown him in the brig.” He glanced at Izak. “Anything else you need to tell me, Lieutenant?”
He bit his lip. “I think the commander is right. I don’t think Page will stop for anything now.”
33
“I believe I have underestimated you,” Kayfor said as they traversed the corridors. At some point he’d let go of Cas’s arm and allowed him to walk on his own, though Cas was still so focused on seeing where he was going he hadn’t paid much attention. The interior structure of this ship was something to behold. It was as if every time he entered the corridors they had changed on him. Despite the fact they had walked more than far enough to return back to where he’d been held. And they’d only seen one other Sil in the journey: standing outside an egg-shaped door. Cas hadn’t bothered to ask.
“Why, because I didn’t die in your dungeon back there?” he asked.
“Exactly. As I said, not many escape judgement. I haven’t seen it in a few hundred regulations.”
“What is a regulation?” Cas asked.
“Equivalent to two-point-three of your years,” Kayfor said.
“How long do Sil live?”
Kayfor kept his “gaze” straight ahead. “It doesn’t matter. What does matter is we reach the consul so we may resolve this discrepancy.”
Cas turned to him. “What is going on with this ship? Why does it seem bigger on the inside? And why is it every time I leave a room I’m in a different place than where I started?”
If Sil sighed, Cas would have sworn that had been the noise Kayfor made. “It’s hard to explain to non-Sil. Your perception of space and time is different. Think of this ship as a gateway into an interconnected series of pods. You are not actually on the ship, you are in these pods. And the corridors connecting the pods are…dynamic. As the ship moves in regular space it translates to a corresponding location change for the pods. The corridors have to change and adapt. It is an interconnected network of units.”
“You mean to tell me we aren’t actually in space right now?” he asked.
“No. We are in the space beneath. You have creatures on your world who stick their snouts out of the water while the rest of them remain below. Think of the ship like that. The part you encountered, the “ship” is a way we access your dimension. Everything you see around you is what lies below. Consul Zenfor is above, so we have to return the top where we can access it again. Sometimes the journey is long. Other times it is short.”
Cas was flabbergasted. No wonder the Sil didn’t want to anything to do with other species; they had access to different dimensions. He now understood why they paid the Coalition little attention; especially if most of their society was here, in what Kayfor called the space beneath. “Is this where you’re from?” he asked.
“It is where we developed,” Kayfor said. “We found this dimension over ten of your millennia ago.”
“Were you around? Back then?”
“No,” he replied.
“Is this why everything is so dark? And why you don’t have windows?”
“There’s nothing to see in the void,” Kayfor replied, sending a shudder up through Cas’s spine. The more he learned about this place the less he wanted to do with it. He’d feel much better as soon as they were back in regular space. “This place troubles you.”
Cas shone the light against the walls with their purple hue, trying to imagine what was beyond them. How had these corridors been constructed if there was nothing beyond? What had been here before? “It isn’t what I expected,” Cas replied. “But why do the corridors change?”
“The physics of the space ben
eath are too complex to go into at the moment. But remember my analogy. It is more appropriate than you may realize.”
“Do you mean this ship…is alive?” Cas asked.
Kayfor’s purple aura pulsed. “We’re close. Prepare yourself to make your case.”
Cas shone the light ahead of them but couldn’t make out anything different. How could Kayfor tell where they were? It looked just like everywhere else they had been.
They passed through what felt like a fog and Cas found himself in a place he didn’t recognize, but which felt familiar. The darkness was gone and he was on the bridge of a ship, or at least the Sil equivalent of the bridge of a ship.
A great big clear bubble showed a complete view of the surrounding stars and he felt himself relax for the first time since arriving. The bridge itself seemed to be on a wide catwalk suspended in the middle of the bubble without any supports except where it was connected to the back wall, though there was no door behind him. All of the purple interiors he’d become accustomed to were gone, replaced with more traditional ship bulkheads and stations.
Four Sil stood on the bridge. One on the very front, close to the bubble but still a few meters away from its surface; two more to the left and right respectively, and in the center stood Consul Zenfor, “staring” out into space.
“Pregūn Kayfor,” she said. “What is this about?”
“The judge has deemed you were hasty in your evaluation, Consul. He asks you make another before he renders judgement.”
“What?” Zenfor yelled, spinning around. Cas took a step back, despite the fact she still had no facial features. But it was as if he could feel her gaze boring into him once more. “My evaluation was resplendent.”
“Your evaluation was tainted. You did not allow him to explain,” Kayfor said.
“He does not need to explain. I understand the situation and I understand he is nothing more than an infiltrator. He needs to be dealt with. Especially after that escape attempt.”
Cas stepped forward. “Consul, if I—”
White spots exploded in his vision as he was thrown backward. He felt himself skid along the floor until his back hit the wall. For a moment there was no pain until the rush of it bloomed all over his face. He blinked a few times, allowing his vision to re-adjust. Zenfor stood over him with Kayfor to the side.
“Consul, the judge will not approve your request if you continue to taint your argument,” Kayfor said, boredom in his voice. Cas pushed up on his elbows, shaking his head and hoping she hadn’t done any permanent damage.
“I will not listen to Coalition lies, and neither should you. You’re too smart for that.” Zenfor turned her back on him, “looking” back out into space. “I don’t have time for this. Their ship is on the way back and we are preparing a surprise for them.”
“Proof I’m telling the truth is on that ship,” Cas said, though it hurt his jaw to speak. His entire body ached. Had she even hit him?
If Tempest was on her way back, then he didn’t have much time. If he couldn’t convince Zenfor of their intentions before they arrived he had no doubt she’d destroy the ship. If his assumptions about their justice system were correct, she had proper cause this time: sending an infiltrator into Sil space.
“We could download their database,” Kayfor suggested, raising one of his long arms with his palm up. “Confirmation would—”
“I’ve heard enough,” Zenfor said. “Get him back down to isolation. If the judge won’t deal with him I will, after this is done.”
“I know now why losing a ship is such a high crime,” Cas said. “They’re sacred, aren’t they? They’re living beings and my people killed one.”
Zenfor turned on him. “Our ‘ships’ have the same rights as any Sil. When your people removed the crew and ejected them into space, the ship died, its body beneath disintegrating. What your people took back with you was nothing but a shell. We live in concert with our ships, one does not exist without the other. Your people killed one, and for that there must be a penance.”
“Would it help if I told you everyone else that was on the ship that attacked yours along with dozens of others died because they tried to reverse engineer your weapons? Weapons they gleaned from that ship?” Cas asked.
Zenfor stood still. “It is not enough.”
“How much revenge do you need, Consul?” Kayfor asked. “Allow the human to make his case then we can move on with this.”
“Make what case? It does not matter if he was there that day or not. This threat he’s come to warn us about, it isn’t as if he even believes it himself, do you, human?” she asked.
Cas stood, his legs almost giving out underneath him. His thoughts betrayed him. Zenfor was right, he had wanted nothing to do with this threat. He wanted nothing to do with the Coalition or protecting it. But people who lived in the Coalition who still thought life under Coalition rule was a good thing. Who still relied on it for their livelihoods and who needed it to protect them. If he turned his back on the Coalition, he turned his back on them as well. And despite the attractiveness of such a prospect, he couldn’t do it. Deep down he was still a Coalition officer, and he had still sworn an oath. It didn’t matter if the organization he’d pledged himself to wasn’t the same one he thought it was the day he began at the academy. He had made that promise to himself and it wasn’t something he could just relinquish, no matter how hard he tried. Deep down, he was a Coalition officer, and it was his job to protect its citizens from all threats. Even those that seemed unbeatable.
“You’re wrong Zenfor. Look at the evidence. If I’d wanted to run, I had plenty of opportunity. I came here in a shuttle with undercurrent capability. I could have gone off on my own and no one would have ever known, because you would have destroyed the Tempest anyway, wouldn’t you? But I didn’t. I came here, I put my life on the line to deliver vital information. Now it is up to you to accept that information.”
Zenfor turned to her subordinate. “He escaped his imprisonment. There must be retribution.”
“In fairness, Consul, he could not breathe.”
Cas turned his attention to Kayfor. “You released my restraints? Why?”
“Because you are correct,” Kayfor said. “You came here unarmed and at the risk of your own life, only to deliver information.” He addressed Zenfor. “He knew he could not beat us, that he had no chance of stealing any secrets and giving them back to his people. When I found him he had picked up his flashlight, and left his weapon behind.”
“I should have you sent to judgement for your insubordination,” Zenfor said, her words seething with hate.
“But you won’t. You know I am right.”
“Consul,” one of the other Sil said, its aura glowing bright. “The Coalition ship is coming through the undercurrent now.”
Cas watched her featureless face. Her aura pulsed with an inconsistent rhythm. “What is your decision?” he asked.
34
The ship lurched into the undercurrent just as Lady Penelope revealed she’d been having an affair with both the butler and the coach driver. Box barely felt the rumble of the grav plating as the internal dampeners adjusted, but his internal systems logged the jump nonetheless. He couldn’t help but be distracted by the fact they were returning to Sil space. Was Cas okay? Or had the Sil already killed him and disposed of his body? He had to be content with the fact he might never know. Without Cas to broker some kind of peace Box didn’t believe any of them had much time anyway. He might as well spend his final few minutes enjoying himself.
He paused the program and put the device down. If he was honest with himself what would make him really happy would to be back in sickbay, helping Xax prepare the triage unit. Or practicing surgery on some cloned material. But he wasn’t sure he could go back.
Box glanced up, not sure why, seconds before the door to his room opened to reveal Page, a wild look in his eye and a standard Coalition pistol in his hand. Box jumped to the side just as the pistol fired, diving behind
the crates he and Cas still hadn’t unpacked.
“You worthless piece of metal! You’re not going to threaten this ship anymore. I’m going to expose you, then they’ll all see I’m right.”
“You don’t want what’s in my head,” Box replied from behind the crate. “It’s nothing but porn and drama.”
Another shot hit the side of the crate, puncturing a hole straight through it which exited the other side close to Box’s side. The crates were useless as cover. He jumped up, making a run for the other end of the room. Two more shots just missed him. “For the ship’s tactical officer you sure are a bad shot. You’d think you’d be able to hit a two-meter tall machine.” He ducked around the corner to the restroom.
“Shut. Up!” Page yelled, firing off three more shots. One came precariously close to the room’s window. Box glanced over. If the pistol’s power was turned up high enough it could destroy that window, then the entire ship’s hull could be compromised now that they were in the undercurrent. He’d heard stories about what happened to material pulled into the current. And he wasn’t keen to experience that as his last moment.
“You’re ruining my show,” Box yelled. “I thought we’d settled this when you tried to have me disassembled.”
“Some people on this ship think you’re more valuable than we are,” Page said, his voice closer. Box estimated he was approaching at one meter per minute. Moving cautiously. He might be able to sustain a hit from the weapon, depending on its setting. Then again it could blow a hole straight through him. And knowing Page he no doubt had it turned up as high as it would go.
“I am,” Box replied. “I can store a hundred times the information and lift twenty times as much. Couple that with my ability to think and feel for myself and you’ve got yourself one obsolete human and one superior robot.”
“If you’re so superior then why are you the one hiding?” Page asked.
Well, if he couldn’t go out watching Lady Penelope at least he could go out with some dignity. He broke cover and stood in the middle of the arch separating the rooms. “If you’re so superior why do you need a weapon?” he asked.
