by C. S. Harte
“They might be under the influence of Mimic parasites. We need to determine when a Mimic is controlling a human from the inside.” He rubbed his temples. “I wonder if Inoke can tell.”
“I don’t think he can.” Meomi shook her head. “With Elidia, he had no idea until it was too late.”
“Take another look at the still you sent me.” Thorne gestured his hand excitedly. “Do you notice the colossal arch above the blue sphere? Everything in that room was so massive, I didn’t notice it the first time. The arch and sphere combined make me think of a gateway.”
“Gateway to what? Another planet?” The image of the shiny black cube popped into Meomi’s mind. “How would that even work? Like a wormhole?”
“Could be.” Thorne pinched his face. “It’s just a hunch for now. The swirling blue sphere could be the power source.”
“No, no, wait.” Meomi’s jaw opened wide. “That might explain how the colonists of Antel came to this planet. Whisper was right…”
“Looks like I missed a few things being in here.”
She recounted Whisper’s theory regarding the disappearing town of Antel to Thorne.
“Interesting, but they are not our priority,” he said. “We have one crucial objective right now. Survive and get everything we’ve learned to Fleet High Command.”
“I agree but…” Her eyes pointed down. “Even if we could, who could we give it to? Who could we trust that isn’t compromised?”
“There are factions within Fleet that can be relied upon. At least, that’s what I’ve been told.”
“I hope you’re right then.” Meomi clutched at her chest. “And I hope Whisper will come for us. I believe she will. If you’ve seen the things she could do, you’ll believe too.”
“For our sake, for the sake of the Commonwealth and for all of humanity, I hope you’re right.” Thorne grimaced with pain.
15
Meomi and company waited three days for Whisper to rescue them. She never came.
Thorne’s health appeared to be failing each day. He wouldn’t discuss what the Voidi did to him before Meomi arrived, only noting that it was extremely unpleasant.
Inoke spent most his time curled into a ball in the corner of his cage. As a telepath, the sadness and suffering of the thousands of Fleet sailors appeared overwhelming for him. He had spoken little since the capture, answering all questions with monosyllabic responses.
Without sunlight, the batteries of Meomi’s Tempest suit had no way to recharge. Thorne and Inoke faced the same problem in their Obscura suits. They switched to power saving, minimal activity mode with their helmets off. It was a stopgap, but the only option available to them. They had one, maybe two days left before the batteries completely drained.
With so much unknown about their captors, the relationships of the Voidi to the Mimics, the technology they had access to, and the reason for keeping so many Fleet Officers, the team had no other play than to observe and learn. They listened to the stories of the other prisoners.
Most of the captives had no idea how they came here. The officers remembered going to sleep and waking up behind bars. Some had been there for years. All divisions and levels of Fleet were represented — admirals to ensigns and researchers to pilots. At first glance, the people and stations seemed random. More likely, the pattern had yet to reveal itself.
Thorne and Meomi discussed how it would be possible for the thousands of officers to go missing without the rest of Fleet noticing. After considering the size of the Commonwealth Fleet — the largest military force in the history of mankind with tens of millions of personnel — they believed it was not only possible but probable. Meomi recalled countless orders that defied logic. Ones that placed the Cerberus in more danger than necessary. They also considered more officers were compromised than the ones imprisoned due to the Mimic ability to control human thoughts. Elidia was an example of this type of control.
“Fleet High Command can't be trusted anymore,” Thorne said. “There’s no doubt in my mind. The question is how far up the central nervous system does the infection go?”
“Not just how far up, but how wide. There are crew members from every ship here. There might be one Mimic on board every Fleet ship in the Commonwealth Navy,” Meomi added. She gasped as she remembered an important thought from what seemed like a lifetime ago. “The 5th Navy.”
“Compromised,” Thorne said matter-of-factly. “Unfortunately, the outcome will be a slaughter.”
Meomi shook her head. “Thousands of ships, over a million lives.”
“I’m aware. If we lose them all in one battle…” his voiced trailed.
“Many of the captains suspected something was wrong. Especially with the naming of someone unknown and inexperienced to the Fleet Marshall position.” Meomi lowered her head. “I accepted him without question.”
“You did nothing wrong, Captain,” Rayfin said, finally joining the conversation.
“It doesn’t have to be a mistake for someone to die.” Meomi covered her face. “I wish I made the best decisions at the time, but I feel like I’ve done everything wrong. I don’t know how to fix any of it.”
“That’s the nature and responsibility of command, Captain Hana.” Thorne slumped in his cell. “You can make the best decisions, and the outcome could still end up catastrophic.” His breathing grew more erratic. “We’re still alive. The fight isn’t over yet.”
Two Voidi entered the holding area. They opened a cage with a Fleet Admiral inside using a device that dematerialized the metal bars. The admiral didn’t resist when they took her away. She seemed too malnourished and weak to fight. After the Voidi left with the admiral, the bars condensed back in place.
“These aliens are more advanced than us.” Rayfin lowered his chin to his chest. “They have so many technologies that are far ahead of anything we have. Maybe even more advanced than our Katok allies. I believed Fleet High Command when they said the Mimics would be pushovers.” Rayfin shook his head. “Part of me was even excited to fight aliens instead of chasing smugglers through slums. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“This conspiracy has been going on for a long time now,” Thorne said. “Before the battle on Gosi Prime, Mimics have been systematically replacing key members of Fleet’s hierarchy for at least five years. I believe preparation for such an act would take decades at least.”
“How do you know this?” Meomi asked.
“Ostia Station,” Thorne said. “The first thread of the conspiracy unraveled there.”
“You’re talking about that edge outpost in the Scuti system?” Rayfin asked. “The official report said the Commander of Ostia sabotaged their own defenses. You think he was being mind-controlled by a Mimic?”
“I never believe the official accounting of the events.” Thorne’s eyes glazed as he talked. “Too many inconsistencies. Lael, was in a nearby system when it happened. Having teamed up in previous missions, she trusted me enough to share her knowledge of the events leading to the fall of the station. Many of the key points have been doctored on the official report.”
“Whisper seems to have a knack for being near all the key stories involving Mimics,” Rayfin quipped.
“You have no idea her resourcefulness.” Thorne covered his mouth as he coughed. “According to Lael, the Ostia Station officer-in-charge, Commander Nolan Barick, was vastly out-manned and out-gunned yet he kept control of the station long enough to transmit vital intelligence on the Mimic invaders. When Lael showed me the original videos instead of the Fleet-altered one, I started my own investigation. The facts aligned with Lael’s version of the story, not the official version. I then became convinced of a conspiracy.”
“The Ostia Station attack was over five years ago. Five years!” Meomi slammed her hand on the bottom of her cell. “If everything is true, we are so far behind in the fight. I can’t believe we’ve been blind for so long! The Commonwealth is in much greater danger than I thought…”
“Not to discou
rage you, but I feel we might be much farther back than you can imagine,” Thorne said. “They’ve started this war long before we realized we were in one.”
“Don’t worry about me, I’m already way past discouraged.” Rayfin sighed.
“It seems that with each new stone I turn over in this mystery, I find deeper connections between Fleet High Command and Mimics,” Thorne continued. “If my theories hold true, we are decades and thousands of steps behind. Humanity may have already lost.”
“I’m still alive.” Meomi’s body trembled as she spoke. “If we’ve lost this war, then I’m going to be part of the resistance. There are hundreds of billions of humans throughout the galaxy. Controlling all of us is impossible. The Mimics will suffer each day they occupy our planets. I will fight them until I kill all of them or they kill me first. I’m not the only one that feels this way.”
“Right on! I’m there with you, Captain!” Rayfin’s voice peaked.
Another pair of Voidi Warriors entered the holding area. They targeted an elderly captain who fought back. The Voidi smashed his head open and dragged him away, leaving a bloody streak through the prison.
Meomi lowered her chin. “I thought you said they didn't remove people from the cells? That’s two in a short amount of time.”
“Something has obviously changed,” Thorne said. “When I first arrived here, they placed me in an interrogation room. I was in there for a long time before a Voidi showed up. He had brightly colored armoring like Obik, but it wasn’t Obik. He asked for my name, rank, where I was stationed, who my direct commanders were. I didn’t give him anything beyond my name and rank. The rest was…” He looked away. “Too painful to re-live.”
“You did well, Thorne,” Meomi said.
“All I did was survive.” Thorne looked away.
“You did well…” A lump caught in her throat.
“They dropped me here when they were tired of torturing me.” Thorne coughed. “I’ve been here ever since.”
“Have you noticed they haven’t been adding new prisoners since we’ve been here?” Rayfin asked.
“I have,” Thorne said. “You three are the only people they’ve added to this prison since I’ve been here. It might suggest they are entering a new phase of their plans.”
“What do you think they could be doing with the people they’re taking out of here?” Rayfin hung his arms through the bars.
“Let’s not speculate on things we have no control over,” Meomi said. “We have to find a way out. And we need to do it before they come for us.”
“The only way to escape is with that tool they used to open the cages,” Thorne said. “We either have to get our hands on one or figure out how it works.”
Eight Voidi soldiers marched through the doors.
“That’s a lot of them at once.” Rayfin scampered toward the back of his cell. “I wonder who they…” His eyes bulged out of his sockets. “They’re heading our direction!”
“You don’t think…” Meomi feared to end her sentence.
“They’re coming for us!” Thorne said.
Inoke sat up straight.
“Don’t fight them!” Meomi yelled as she twisted her helmet back on. “Remember what happened to the previous captain who did.”
“You sure?” Rayfin secured his helmet to his suit. “Maybe we could take them with our suits and neuromods. It might be our only chance.”
“No, this isn’t the time,” Thorne said. “But if anyone gets close enough, try to steal the device that unlocks the cages.”
One pair of Voidi opened each cell holding the team members.
Meomi paid close attention to the device as it dematerialized the bars of her cage. The Voidi warrior tapped a button on his wrist which emitted a thin blue beam of light from small holes in his forearm guard. The bars vanished once it connected with the beams. Neither humans nor Katoks had the technology similar to what Meomi witnessed.
Inoke kicked and screamed as they picked him up and carried him. The soldiers increased their violence with each cry.
“Inoke, stop!” Meomi yelled. “You need to stop fighting them!”
The Voidi handling him screamed back in a deep-throated roar.
A second Voidi delivered a blow to the back of Inoke’s neck, knocking him out.
“NO!” Rayfin broke from his captors for a second before a Voidi shoved him to the ground.
“Stop resisting everyone!” Thorne ordered as his guards dragged him by his arms.
Meomi gritted her teeth as she fought the urge to launch herself at her captors. “They’ll pay for that,” she muttered to herself.
16
The Voidi guards walked Meomi and the team into an empty, windowless room. It was a space with only one feature of note — an oval door frame made of sleek black metal, three meters tall, two meters wide, and placed in the exact center of the room. There was no door attached to the frame, only emptiness where one should be. Etched into the trim were groupings of runic symbols repeating inside geometric shapes, across the entire surface.
Meomi peered through the frame to see a rocky stone wall, suggesting they were still somewhere inside the base. Her eyes followed the structure toward the floor where she noticed a subtle detail — it was hovering a few centimeters off the ground. She immediately wondered if this floating doorframe was made from the same technology as her cube artifact. “Do you see the door in front of us?”
“Yes, Captain,” Rayfin said. “I don’t have a good feeling about it.”
“Why’s that?” Thorne asked.
“It’s a floating doorframe without a door inside an alien base. Do I need more reasons?”
One of the Voidi guards tapped his wrist armor.
A message flashed on Meomi’s visor warning her of a drastic temperature drop.
Suddenly, the runic symbols glowed with an intense blue light, the same intensity as the blue sphere from her video recording. After a few seconds, a pattern of flashing emerged where only certain sets of symbols glowed while others returned to their darkened state. The process continued with different symbols — on, off, on, off.
“What is going on?” Meomi asked.
“I count six distinct patterns,” Thorne said. “Going with the gateway theory, my guess is, each set of symbols corresponds to a celestial map coordinate.”
The flashing symbols rotated faster. The room filled with a loud buzzing noise. A tiny white spark appeared in the center of the oval doorframe. It doubled in size with every breath Meomi took in, mirroring her breathing.
To Meomi, the spark seemed alive as ribbons of blue and yellow swirled within the pool of white. The colors expanded and contracted, pulsing, beating. The buzzing changed to a soft humming. Meomi found herself drawn to the dazzling showcase of colors and sound. She believed it spoke to her in between the melody of its arrangement. Her feet wanted to move on their own accord, walking toward the beauty of the source.
“Captain?” Rayfin said.
“Captain Hana?” Thorne said.
“It’s fine." Meomi waved them off. "I have a good feeling about…”
In the blink of an eye, the spark exploded to fill the once empty frame, taking on the characteristic of water, rippling, flowing like a pool.
Everyone jumped back except for Meomi.
“Captain, no!” Rayfin yelled.
“It’s OK…” Meomi whispered. “I can’t explain why, but I feel like it's calling me.” She stepped closer.
“What’s going on with her?” Thorne asked Inoke.
He shook his head. “Her thoughts are hidden to me.”
Thorne tilted his head. “What does that…”
The Voidi guards shoved everyone forward, pushing them toward the light.
“Is that how they’re going to kill us?” Rayfin asked.
“I don’t believe so,” Thorne said. “If they wanted us dead, there are easier ways. We’re missing something…”
“They can’t make us go inside.” Rayfi
n twisted, trying to run away. “You can’t make me go inside!”
The Voidi guarding him effortlessly picked Rayfin up and threw him into the rippling light.
“Rayfin!” Meomi immediately ran after him, jumping into the glowing doorway. All sounds disappeared as she entered. She called out to Rayfin, but her voice melted as soon as it left her lips. Her eyes were met with an explosion of prismatic colors shooting past at barely perceptible speeds. Gravity seemed to have forgotten her as she tumbled and soared, drifting randomly in the unnatural medium.
After feeling like days had passed, Meomi finally saw an image of Rayfin — tiny at first, then as if pulled toward him, he grew larger and larger until the lights faded. She stood next to Rayfin who was lying face-down on a gunmetal gray floor.
A moment later, Meomi heard a popping sound. Thorne and Inoke flashed into the space next to her, appearing in between the blinks of her eyes.
Four Voidi guards joined them from the previous room, materializing with their weapons in hand.
Rayfin pushed himself up and patted his body. “I’m alive! And in one piece!”
“What just happened?” Meomi glanced at her squad. “Everyone OK?”
“Kneel,” insisted a boy wearing a gray robe with a violet, silver-trimmed sash around his waist and matching mantle. “Kneel before Queen Zavo, Uniter of the Twelve Primal Houses of Chorda, Goddess to all Chordan People, Protector of the Old Kingdom and the New.”
Rayfin looked at Thorne and Meomi.
“Do as they ask,” Thorne said.
Meomi and the others dropped to one knee and bowed their heads. Before lowering her gaze to the floor, Meomi sneaked a scan of her surroundings. She saw the darkness of space and the constellation of stars where walls would typically be. In front of her was a grand throne, reachable by ten stone steps. Shadows hid most of the face and body of the person sitting on the throne. Meomi could only make out one crystal blue iris which flared an icy glow. Even with her head bowed, Meomi felt the Queen’s cold stare as a shiver crept up her body.
