The Revenant: A Military Sci-Fi Series (Hunter's Moon Book 2)

by Walt Robillard

  “Thank you, Doctor Muller. While I always enjoy the hospitality at the Palladium Tythian, I look forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight.”

  “Of course. Right this way.” The doctor said.

  Singh called over her shoulder. “Romulus, give my regards to that stuffy old boss of yours. And as always, thank you for your hospitality and your discretion.”

  Romulus affected a nearly imperceptible bow. Taking his leave back to the elevator, he left the miracles of science bordering on mysticism to those more interested in daring its use.

  Singh stripped from her clothing without modesty, accepting a robe from the doctor. She entered a mechanical pod, inclined at an angle for her to rest against once she stepped inside. Doctor Muller offered her a steaming cup after she was settled in. “While we have you here, I was wondering if I could pose a question, Ms. Singh?”

  “You just did.”

  “My apologies,” the doctor said, passing over the tea.

  “Ask your question, Doctor.”

  “We've had considerable difficulty adapting the technology for our own use.”

  Singh took a sip of the tea, noting how the taste of citrus and honey contrasted with the beverage's sharp aroma. “You have to follow the protocols. It's not like driving down the street. Your travelers need to be trained for this. Short jumps and short duration on station in familiar surroundings if you take my meaning. The human mind is sensitive to such complicated technology.”

  “Of course,” Muller said. “Thank you, Ms. Singh.”

  Before taking another sip, Singh asked, “Have any of the other Host come through?”

  “Only one other. He said you were family.”

  “Ah. Yes, that's accurate.” Singh handed back her cup. “Thank you for the tea. It's the little kindnesses we remember and most appreciate through the ages.”

  The doctor nodded. “What is that old saying? Be kind to everyone lest you have attended angels, unaware.”

  Singh winked at her as though this was no more difficult than getting her teeth cleaned. The chamber closed over with a ceramaclear cover, hissing to a pop with the environment being closed out. A halo descended over her head during the chamber's rotation to horizontal.

  Lifting up a data slate, Dr. Muller pointed to the technician across the room. “Archive backup data and execute cypher-cast.”

  There was a pressure wave inside the medical pod. Singh took a deep breath, slowly exhaling though parsed lips while counting backwards from ten. The ceramaclear canopy pulled back, venting gasses spilling onto the floor like fog. Toes touched a stone surface. Singh pulled the foot back for a moment, always marveling that this part was still surprising to him.

  “Welcome back, sir,” came the digital voice across the room. “Your robe is there, along with your coffee and a slate on the state of affairs since you left. Your meal is just there, but if truth be told, sir, it looks dreadful.”

  “Sayella cooking again?” Singh said, reaching for his coffee. After stretching his muscles, he brought the cup to his lips. He found the change in taste, smells, and sensation fed over the course of a few minutes did wonders for adjusting the mind to a new location in a different body.

  “She has murdered several meals in your absence in an attempt to poison her family in very creative ways.”

  The lights to the chamber came up, revealing the torso of a sleek looking bot suspended in the air by repulsor. It was alien looking, of a much different design than was common in the CORAL or the Frontier. Most were industrial in appearance, typically lacking any fanfare of fanciness. The model floating across the chamber had glowing accents and sculpted filigree, imbuing an almost ethereal appearance. Its head was back-lit, outlining the skull in a ghostly glow that hinted at a soul.

  Singh raised his cup in salute. “Good to know. I'll take a ration pack on the move. Ingram, prime the ship and upload to the onboard intelligence core. I want us ready to go within the hour. We have work to do.”

  “Of course, sir. Don't we always?”

  Five

  Baby Doll pulled under the overhang of the cliff side, tucking herself into the hanger. The cut in the rock had been fashioned by the Raastrider Corporation to facilitate logging on Tythian. Unfortunately, the company had abandoned the lucrative operation at the aggressive insistence of local tribesmen causing repeated damage for cutting down sacred groves. Their loss had been the team's gain.

  The boarding ramp had barely lowered when Fluff bounded out into the jungle. The rest of the crew came out in small batches to store equipment or move grav-bikes out of the ship, away from the landing pad. Kel strolled down with Kat, leading the Chen slicer between them.

  “Here. Sit down. Here's the book, some water, and a nu-bar. Everything a growing gangster needs to get her digital groove on. Flag us down when you have it cracked open.” Kel directed her to a chair beside a folding table they had set up close to the ship.

  “Why me?” Asked the slicer

  “That's simple, my dear,” Kat cooed. “We've been watching you. We know you were instrumental in fabricating these books for the Chen. Not to mention that your boss, or handler, also took credit for your work. Plus, as an indentured servant brought over by smugglers, you really didn't have a choice. According to some of the thugs that Fluff talked to...”

  “Ate? Mangled. No, that's not right,” Kel speculated. “What's the word I'm looking for?”

  “Interrogated,” Kat finished. “According to Fluff, you're still working off the debt for you and your mother. Certain folks around here have a soft spot for that. Break the book open and we help you. We just want to know what the Chen are up to. Your mom is safe for at least a day or two because your handler knows enough to fake it if you don't show up for a bit. But you're not confined. No cuffs. No cells. Hanger is wide open. Only thing you would have to walk through out there are the snakes, a few big reptiles, and the Prava. It's a kind of native predatory cat.”

  “Speaking of cats, Doom-Snuggle's still out there, too,” Kel said.

  Kat inched closer. “You want out of all this? Lasher, the big red guy, he's your best shot at a real life away from Tythian for you, Jiaying.”

  The slicer snorted. “Only my mom calls me that when she's mad. It's Jia for short.”

  “Fair enough,” Kat touched her on the shoulder. “Jia, if you don't decode that book for us we're going to just let the jungle have you. How's that for short?”

  A heavy slam rocked the other side of Jia's table, almost sending the girl out of her seat. Massive hands caught her chair so it wouldn't slide out from under her, righting the girl's astonished face. Now eye to eye with a towering beast, the animal's maw exposed an assortment of teeth longer than her fingers. She braced herself for a roar or worse that was typical of such creatures on all the best docu-vids.

  The beast yawned, patting her head. “Poor frightened human. You scare so easily.”

  Jia was panting, scrambling out of her chair to take in the full measure of this suddenly intelligent brute. It was almost as tall as Lasher, although it was hunched over, walking by a combination of legs and pressing its knuckles into the floor. The beast had heavy black fur with a lustrous red sheen combined with some bare skin on its chest. It was simian of a sort, with a crown of horns radiating from it's head.

  Lasher came back from storing a grav-bike, gipping the ape-thing around the back of the neck and shoulder. It responded in kind, pressing both of their foreheads together in a strange kind of embrace.

  “Hunt was good?” the gorilla man asked.

  “Yeah. Brought you a present. One of Chen's hackers. She helped create the cypher that works the code books.”

  “I thought it was the skinny human.”

  “He was the face. She was the brains,” Lasher said, gesturing to the coder.

  The creature sat on his haunches, pulling his hands up to his chest like a child trying to hide behind a blanket. “She's staring at me. Is she dangerous?”

  The assemble
d crew took a moment to snicker at Jia's expense. Lasher pulled up a chair at the table next to her. “Behind an ICOM, you bet. Right now, not so much.”

  “Did you bring her back here for Fluff to torture?” The creature asked, whispering loud enough for their captive to hear.

  Lasher took a pull from his water. “Not even a little. Jia-for-short is going to decode the book and then she's free to go.”

  “Like the usual ‘free to go’ where you let them walk into the jungle to be eaten, or actually free to go.”

  “Paid for her time and free to go unless she screws with us, in which case, the first one.”

  The beast rolled his eyes. “Oh, aren't you feeling generous today. My name is Tolin, my dear. Nothing to fear from me. I am a tech analyst by trade so if you need anything to help you with your project let me know.” He extended his hand to her after the human traditional greeting.

  She took his palm, marveling at the leathery feel of it. A quick shake and she allowed herself to be led back to her chair. Tolin pulled on the back of Lasher's chair, unseating him to rest his considerable bulk on it. He didn't seem to notice the incredible amount of creaking as he deposited his rump beside the slicer.

  They gathered to watch Jia open the book, expecting some instant miracle or trick. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled a pencil and a piece of paper. She counted through anumber of pages, writing down a series of script from one corner. She repeated the process, three more times, coming away four sets of character chains. She ascribed a value beside each one, careful not to hover so her captors could see what she is doing.

  “Very slick,” Tolin said. “Hide the cypher directly in the text at certain points so that only the initiated would understand how to decode. This is Trade-9, yes?”

  Jia agreed with his assessment.

  “If this cypher is correct, this looks like shipments and this is payments. Are these people? The Chen are shipping people like cargo?”

  Lasher slapped his hand onto the table, startling the group. Tolin jumped up to hide behind Kat, who looked alarmed but not scared. Kel's hand went to the blaster pistol under his jacket, scanning for threats.

  “Have you ever dealt with the Marshals Templar?”

  “No.” Jia's voice betrayed her fear.

  Lasher scowled. “Well, you're not dealing with one now, either. The Crucible shows me all manner of things. People's lies are the easiest to see. I'm looking at yours now so if you want to keep playing this game, you can do it out there.”

  He took the book, the page, and the pencil. He gripped the back of her jacket, pulling her out of her chair, pushing her to the entrance to the hangar. She was trembling, visibly unsure of what was happening. When she stood in place looking from jungle to mongrel, he pulled a covered handle from his belt. There was a banshee wail, a scream of energized metal as a power-enveloped whip flashed from the device to slash into the floor. Lasher pulled back, assembling the kite tail-looking strand into a blade.

  Jia closed her eyes. The strength left her shoulders, dropping face toward the floor. The hum of Lasher's Gavoc sword was stark against the vibrant sounds of the jungle. It overshadowed the ever-present noises of the place, before they ceased, like a prisoner holding its breath before an execution.

  Lasher was blunt. “Your choice. You lie, you walk.”

  She slunk back to the table, careful not to look at the energy corona surrounding the flickering blade. Righting her chair, she sat, gathering all of the items taken from her. She opened a pocket in the back cover, revealing a note card. She held it up for inspection.

  Tolin took the card, turning it over in his hand. He rubbed a thumb over it. “Strange texture. Feels like paper but not.”

  Kat took it. “Twin hells, this is littered with nano-tech threaded into the fiber. It's high grade stuff, too. Exquisite.”

  Jia slowly took it back. She placed the card on top of the notebook.

  “Remember. I can see what you're doing in the Crucible,” Lasher reminded her. “That is the only card in the back of the book. I'd bet that it's a one-use item.”

  The pencil hovered over the card. She couldn't help staring at the faint glow coming from the power sword in Lasher's hand. She wrote a series of glyphs on the card. Putting down the book, she pulled the eraser from the pencil to expose a pin. Pricking her finger, she smeared a line of blood down the card.

  A click was followed by the barely imperceptible ding of a unit powering up. Jia took hold of the cover, folding it outward, creating a surface twice as wide. The pages came out, and she folded them onto the table face down. Holographic images floated over them to form an interface. The surface cover became a screen with a symbol for the Seven Seats slowly rotating on it.

  “Symbionic trigger,” Lasher said.

  “That's not a real word,” Kel smirked.

  “It was during the Exodus Wars,” Lasher explained. “Second Exodus War, to be exact. The Exodus Fleet made landfall on a Kai world called Sagero. Mostly a mining colony. Some mercs and Kai security forces teamed with a host of Nakamura family samurai to hold them off. Someone, no one is sure who, placed a signal scrambler in the sector to jam the hyperspace relay. Hypercast to the system became so dangerous, the Core Worlds stopped sending ships. They were on the planet, slugging it out for two years. The Exos used this type of trigger to secure their tech so the locals couldn't use it against them. More than biometrics, you needed symbology, nanites, biology, and power to open whatever it locked.”

  “Can we transfer it?” Kel asked.

  “No,” Jia said. Her voice was small. Beaten. “The system is meant to be closed. Chen insisted that if you wanted to ad anything to the ICOM inside the book, you had to do it manually. They didn't want you finding out what they were up to by getting your hands on one of these,” She gestured to Kel.

  “Well, before this thing self-destructs…” Kat hinted. Her fingers elongated into multiple segments, breaking into a spider web of digits. She clicked on the interface like a horde of angry beetles, watching the screen with her enhanced vision. She recorded every keystroke and kernel of information.

  Jia sat back in the chair, her hands folded in her lap. Occasionally, she would glance at one of the crew. Kel, the former crime boss. Kat, the mysterious, renegade cyborg, and Baby Doll, their ship. The one she couldn't bring herself to look at was the mongrel, Lasher.

  “Did you get it?” he asked.

  “All except one bit behind a partition. It's really locked in there. If I open it, I could end up wiping the drive. Stay or push through?” Kat asked without taking her eyes off the interface.

  Lasher extinguished his sword with a slithering THWIP! “What say you, Jia-for-short?”

  “That stuff is only for the bosses. If you access it without knowing the restraint code, it will burn the system. Might even blow up.”

  Tolin sniffed it. “I don't smell explosives. Although, I didn't smell the nanites either.”

  “After fishing through here a bit,” Kat said, “I think this is Exo-tech. Not the stuff I was use to dealing with, more like legitimate first and second Exodus War stuff.”

  “Is there a power indicator?” Lashed asked.

  “Another hour of up time. It has a solar charger with a kinetic back up function. I could run with it to keep it charged. That would get it away from the rock if you’re concerned with a tracking signal.”

  “Or that pesky explosive she mentioned,” Kel said sidestepping the book with a grin.

  “My vote says to move it from the rock.” Kat said. “I can get a good distance away and then try to break in. Tolin can come with me.”

  Tolin threw Kat a sarcastic look. “Oh, I just love the jungle.”

  “Think this is far enough?” Kat asked.

  Tolin rolled a boulder into the center of the clearing, dropping it into the muddy ground with a SPLOOCH! “We should be good here.”

  “We're overhead in the ship if you need us,” Kel said over the comm.

  Kat set the
book onto the rock. “Here we go.” She furiously began working the keys. There was a ping that startled her.

  “Issues?” Kel asked

  “Yeah. I'm through the partition but now it's trying to access a core function I haven't had to use in a long time.”

  When she didn't continue, Kel prompted her. “What is it?”

  “It has to do with a type specialized communication unique to the Exodus fleets.”

  Lasher broke into the comms. “I have a bad feeling, Kat. Close it down. It's not worth the risk.”

  “I'm going for it.” Kat said.

  There was a flash swallowing Kat into a null space. There was nothing but black for as far as the eye could see, despite the presence of a light source illuminating her. She was standing on something without being able to gauge what it was. “Can you hear me?”

  Somewhere off in the distance, Kel came through. “Yeah, but you sound weird.”

  “Well isn't this interesting,” came a voice of honey covered razor blades. “Now, who might you be? If I had to guess, this would be the broken doll. Katarina, was it?”

  “And you are?” Katarina's voice sounded strange to her. It had become a chorus, possibly dozens if not hundreds of people, voicing her at the same time.

  “Stavros Kenner,” the voice replied. “I have to say, you must have been something in your Fleet days. A pleasure to make your acquaintance. So did the book connect to you or did you force a connection?”

  The blackness of nothing filled with the crisp greens against the rainbow hues of the flora of the depression she was in. Tolin was waving his hand in front of her face, looking worried. She could make out Kel, somewhere off in the distance trying to get her attention.

  “Strange that I can't see you. Stranger still that I can't discern your true voice. Are you Host or Exile?”

  Kat decided to play a hunch. This time, her voice was more bass, powerful and resonant. “Fleet ID, penitent!”

  There was silence. Kenner manifested beside her, looking for where the voice in the interface was coming from. It was strange that he couldn't see her, despite some surreal sense that kept him from walking into his surroundings or Tolin.