Keltan's Gambit: Chronicles of the Orion Spur Book 2

by Michael Formichelli

  “Gettin’ closer. I don’ think we’ll keep this position much longer without a fight.”

  “I intend to avoid that.” He came here to help Setha and get out, not fight the war. “We’ll have to move soon.”

  “You know I work for your zaubermaus,” she said.

  “My what?” Ichiro frowned.

  “Your lady-friend,” Commander Armstrong said with a slight smile.

  “I was not giving you an order.”

  “All the same.” She shrugged.

  He suppressed the urge to respond. They were coming up on his intended destination, and it would be a waste of time to have an argument with the headstrong mercenary leader.

  At the northern edge of the camp three of the hover-skiffs he brought down from the Musashi-maru awaited. Long, flat craft floating on a red haze of dark energy, they were meant for moving about heavy cargo. With only a small podium-like control port towards the rear, and a light-duty aegis field generator on each side, they were unfit as armored transportation. They could probably take a few hits, but not more than that. If he’d thought he was going into an actual combat situation, he would have asked Mizushima, the commanding officer of the Musashi-maru, for something heavier. Now he wished he had.

  Two of the three skiffs had a sextet of jinzōbushi on them. Each black-armored robot held a gauss rifle in its hands and would serve as his protection for this short trip out of the camp. On the central skiff two jinzōbushi stood beside Setha, and Tengu. He felt his heart beat faster at the sight of her. She held a Savorchan metal staff called a “sarkh” in one hand, leaning it on her shoulder as she watched them approach with keen eyes. In the morning gloom, he could just see the haze of the green light cast by them. Dressed in her traveling clothes, her ankle-length mane of black hair undulated in the air behind her despite the lack of a breeze. It was a display he found both exhilarating and terrifying.

  “Do either of you care to accompany us?” Ichiro asked.

  Agent Khepria looked over the assembled company of robotic troops. “Where are you going?”

  “Eckortaan Setha has an errand to run to the Savorchan temple. I thought it might be interesting to see the place in person.” And after four years of being apart, and the last few days being so busy, I want some time in her presence that doesn’t involve sleeping, he thought.

  “I think my talents are best suited seein’ to our defense.” Commander Armstrong looked up at Setha, received a nod, and walked off without another word.

  He looked back at Agent Khepria. Her ears twitched while she worried her hands together. As much as he wanted to be alone with Setha, the sight of her moved him. What she must be feeling now was akin to what he felt when he was apart from his love, that was obvious. He noted that there might be something more to her relationship with the Praetor and made a decision.

  “Why don’t you come along? Praetor Graves will probably be back by the time we return. A distraction will make the time go faster.”

  She looked at him for a moment, and nodded. “Okay, I could use a break from the lab.”

  “Mamiya-san, how about you?” He turned around.

  “I recommend someone keep an eye on the Commander, if that is agreeable with you?” He bowed his head.

  “A good idea.” Ichiro nodded. He walked up to the center skiff and handed one of the jinzōbushi his helmet before accepting its hand. The machine pulled him up with ease and returned the helmet. Mamiya-san bowed and turned back towards camp.

  “He’s got a machine’s loyalty,” Setha said in her strange, carrying whisper. “And a human heart. In many ways the CELs are the opposites of the Abyssians.”

  He moved next to her in the center of the skiff. Tengu barked once, and wagging his tail, licked Ichiro’s proffered hand. He returned the greeting with a few strokes on the meter-tall canine’s head. The jinzōbushi hauled Agent Khepria aboard by her arms.

  “In many ways, perhaps you’re right about the Abyssians.” He nodded. “What about your Abyssian? He seems different.”

  “He is,” Setha’s chin shifted forward.

  “Will I need a sidearm?” Agent Khepria asked, moving to join them.

  “Arm her,” he said. The jinzōbushi who helped her aboard handed her a gauss pistol from the holster on its waist.

  “Thank you,” she said, tucking it into her belt.

  “Move out,” he ordered.

  The skiffs shuddered and lifted into the air, staying beneath the branches of the trees as they moved forward. Feeling the wind touch his face sent a shiver down his spine. Setha shifted her weight, putting her willowy body against his. She pulled his arm around her like it was a blanket instead of the armored, inflexible thing it was.

  “That can’t be comfortable,” he whispered with a nervous glance at Agent Khepria. She stood watching the trees roll by from the front of the skiff.

  “It’s fine. I’m comfortable. This reminds me of something,” Setha said. Her sarkh tapped against the shoulder of his armor with a metallic click.

  “Of what?”

  “This.” An image formed in his mind. He saw himself as he was when they met, clean-shaven with his queue tied high, trailing a thick tail of black hair in the ocean wind. He had his arms tucked into the wide sleeves of his kimono, and he was staring at himself—at her, he realized—with a look of total awe.

  “The day we met,” he whispered.

  She nodded. “I will always remember that look. I knew then.”

  “So did I. You ensorcelled me that day.”

  She pouted and smacked his armored forearm. “I could say the same about you.”

  “You’re the one with the weird abilities.”

  “Shush, Ichi-chan.”

  They watched the landscape beyond the edge of the skiff’s platform rise and fall as the vehicles crested each hill. The sway beneath his feet was a familiar comfort after spending so long away from the seas of his home world. The two could not be confused as the gray gloom of the forest was filled with an alien symphony of clicks and cries, and not the song of the sea birds nor the crash of waves.

  Agent Khepria turned towards him, teetering on uncertain legs when she tried to take a step and stumbling forward. She caught herself just shy of a collision and her reflective, amber eyes widened when she saw them. It sent a bolt of panic into his gut to be seen showing affection in public. He twitched beneath his armor but willed himself not to move in any more obvious way lest he shame himself further. Setha must have picked up on his discomfort, because he saw her knuckles whiten as she held onto his arm.

  “Excuse me,” Agent Khepria said.

  “Why?” Setha responded.

  He ground his teeth together at her comment. There was plenty of reasons why, and he was grateful Agent Khepria picked up on the need for an apology. It irritated him that Setha hadn’t, or had decided to ignore it. However, the feeling started to fade almost as soon as it peaked. They were caught, what good was getting upset about it now that the moment had passed?

  “Oh, I—um.” Her ears twitched in waves. “I was thinking about Commander Armstrong. Why did you hire her company?”

  “Setha did,” he said.

  “I needed support. The Reivers knew this planet better than I did when I arrived. They were useful in tracking down the Siren complex, and they doubled as protection against possible hostiles. Now that the Broghites have invaded, they are proving useful in our defense,” Setha said.

  “I detected a signal from the Earth biodome to the Mitsugawa arcology when we were at the memorial last year. It said, ‘fears of Siren confirmed.’ Was that about what we are doing here?” she asked once she regained her balance.

  “No,” Setha answered.

  Agent Khepria nodded. “What was it about?”

  Ichiro cocked an eyebrow. He was preoccupied with Cylus at the time, and his father hadn’t mentioned anything about contact with the biodome. Of course, now he knew they were connected to a large network of Gaian spies, but that didn’t m
ean he knew every deal and piece of information. It was something he would have to go over with Setha later.

  “Finding this planet, and the facility that produced the Siren that killed Mitsugawa Yoji,” Setha responded to the question. He flinched at the mention of his father’s name.

  That seemed to end the conversation for a time. Agent Khepria turned to face forward and sat down on the platform with her arms around her knees. She tapped the metal deck of the skiff with her glove-encased toe-fingers, rolling them back and forth across the deck in waves. He watched, fascinated by the architecture of the five, long digits. The innermost ones on both feet were thicker and cocked at an angle like a half-thumb. It was easy to see how she could use her feet as functional hands in a zero-gravity environment; which he supposed was why the Relaen engineered themselves that way when they abandoned living on planets.

  “Am I going to need to get hand-feet to hold your attention?” Setha whispered to him, causing a hot blush to rise up his face.

  “No, of course not. Don’t be ridiculous, Setha-chan.” He gritted his teeth at the second embarrassment in the last few minutes.

  “Relax, my love. I’m only teasing.” She slid her hand up to his face with cool fingers.

  The moment they touched him he felt tension drain from his body, but Ichiro couldn’t help but continue to watch the CSA agent. He expected her to ask more questions, and this sudden silence was curious. Perhaps he was right about her feelings for the missing Abyssian. It was not really his concern from one point of view, but with what his father predicted would come, and his duty to fulfill his father’s work, he needed allies. It would help to have a good contact in the CSA and the Abyssian Order.

  The gloom lessened as fewer trees blocked the light of Elmorus’ sun. Up ahead Ichiro could see the pale blue of the sky between columns of leathery bark. They would be at the temple soon, and the chance to talk with Agent Khepria, and start to win her to his cause, would be lost in the business she was to conduct there.

  “Speak to her,” he whispered and nudged Setha with his hip. She let go of his arm, taking a step away from him and gave him a questioning look. He nodded, knowing she would sense his intentions as she always did, and Setha sat down between Tengu and Agent Khepria. The cerberai lay its head on its front paws and watched them.

  “Are you worried about him?” Setha asked.

  “What?”

  “Nero. Are you worried?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “I am as well. Did he tell you I’ve known him since I was little?”

  Khepria nodded. “He said you met on Savorcha. He did not mention much more.”

  “He saved my life, and Tengu’s.” She put a hand on the cerberai and rubbed him between his floppy ears. “I owe him everything.”

  “I’m sure he would not see it that way.”

  “He doesn’t, though he feels a great deal of guilt about those he could not save.”

  Khepria cocked her head to the side, her ears swayed.

  “My mother,” Setha said. “He shouldn’t. There was nothing he could do. My father killed her while Nero was unable to act.”

  “Oh.” She looked out into the forest.

  “I understand he is without his Symbiotic Cerebral Computer. You think he should not be alive.”

  “Of course not—not like that.” Her ears danced in the air. “I mean, no Abyssian on record has lived without their SCC. I do not understand why he is alive, but I am grateful for it.”

  “As am I. Do you know what is wrong?”

  “I—cannot say.” Her ears went into a twitching fit.

  Setha nodded and set her glowing gaze on the thinning trees. “If the problem is his SCC, perhaps I can help.”

  Agent Khepria gave her a sharp look. “How?”

  Setha looked back up towards him. He nodded again.

  “I can remove it.”

  Khepria’s mouth dropped open. It took her a moment to recover. “What? That will kill him.”

  “No, it won’t. Nero has not always been an Abyssian. He is different from the others.”

  She bit her lip. “How? Even if that is true, removing Prospero will change who he is. The SCC is part of him; part of his being.”

  Setha was quiet a moment. “I did not mean to offend.”

  “You—no, you do not understand. What about Mamiya-san. He is a CEL.” This time it was Khepria-san who glanced back at him.

  “He has a number of implants.” Ichiro took a step towards them. He did not want to openly talk about what was illegal in the Confederation with a CSA agent.

  The forest now had twice the space between the trees than it did back at the camp. They would be out of it soon. He could already smell the dusky-sweet flowers of the purple reeds native to the area in the air.

  Agent Khepria struggled up onto her shaky legs. “Do you think I cannot tell an illegal cyborg when I see one?”

  He knew members of the group calling themselves cyber-evolved life forms were outlawed in the Confederation, but it was a law set on a foundation of people’s fears. House Mitsugawa had never tolerated fear, and CELs were welcome in Taiumikai space. If this CSA Agent were to report Mamiya, however, things could become difficult.

  He scrutinized her body language as he spoke. “And if he is a CEL?”

  “They are better at software manipulation than even the best CSA agent. Some say they are rivals to the AI’s. If I could get Praetor Graves to agree, would your CEL help him?”

  He blinked. “Really?”

  She nodded. “I would not report him, of course.”

  “And if I say no?”

  “Are you asking if I will blackmail you?” Her pointed ears bobbed in the air. “I am not stupid. I am not that kind of person.”

  She was asking for his and Mamiya-san’s trust. As the head of the House, it was his decision to give it to her, or not, for both of them. Would his father have done so? He wasn’t sure. The CSA was under the control of the Barony, which was under Baron Revenant’s control. On the other hand, she was working with the Abyssian who, as Daedalus’ creature, was beyond the Barony’s reach. Was their bond strong enough to supersede that of her employer’s? Her earlier display of emotion suggested it.

  The light shifted around them as they broke out from beneath the trees. He looked out over a vast expanse of dark-purple reeds. They shifted in the breeze, making the plane ahead of them look like the back of a gargantuan, furry beast. Small, pink and yellow flowers provided splashes of color in the milieu, and the sound of the reeds rubbing together was like a thousand people whispering at once in the breeze.

  “We’re here,” Setha said.

  Agent Khepria turned around. “I don’t see anything.”

  Setha used her sarkh to get to her feet. Tengu remained lying on the deck of the skiff, apparently thinking what was about to happen was nothing special. Striding to the head of the skiff, Setha set the butt of the sarkh down against her shoe and leaned it out to the side. Her flowing cape of raven hair undulated in waves, and the air began to pulse in time with the oscillation. Above the grassy plain ahead of them a spot appeared, darkening into a blemish that grew and twisted as it widened. While the middle became darker the edges grew brighter until they blazed like light through a magnifying glass. Ichiro squinted his eyes, keeping them focused on the shadowy center which was now large enough to swallow all three skiffs abreast. The breeze whipped into a fury by the phenomena and stung his exposed flesh with dust and small rocks lifted from the ground.

  “Now,” Setha said.

  He ordered them forward. The skiffs cruised up towards the spinning hole in space-time conjured by Setha’s will. Agent Khepria’s ears flailed in the wind as she looked back at him. Her eyes polarized into black orbs by her cybernetic implants, and her pale skin turned paler as they closed the distance to the vortex. He took an unsteady step forward in the windstorm, and touched her on the shoulder in reassurance. Tengu, stayed on his belly with his massive paws over his eyes,
but looked otherwise unconcerned. Ichiro nodded at the cerberai for Khepria-san’s benefit, and after a moment she seemed to catch on and relaxed a little. The wind howled as though enraged by the disturbance Setha caused, then fell silent as they entered the spinning maw.

  They emerged a moment later on the other side into a strange environment. The sudden quiet was like a punch in the ear. The field of reeds was gone, replaced by a flat area studded with round rocks in hardened, gray clay. Behind them the dark maw spun itself shut, vanishing into a jelly-like wall with images on its surface too blurry to make out. Only the purple color at its base and the pale blue above gave an indication as to what was on the other side. The congealed dome extended up and out in a great arch, enclosing the whole area. The light shifted around them making concentrated, electric line patterns on the ground as though they were under water. Two-hundred meters ahead of them stood a group of building-sized white objects huddled together like stones in a rock garden. Each appeared to be some kind of seashell to Ichiro’s eyes. Their blank surfaces were twisted into spires and arched into corrugated domes to form eight structures.

  “From here we walk.” Setha turned around. Her eyes were blazing a green so intense that when she blinked their irises could still be seen through the skin. Bright and angry red blemishes stood out on her tattooed face and hands.

  The sight of it made him take a step towards her. “Are you all right?”

  “I will be. Thermodynamics still apply, even when dealing with alien technology.” She shook, leaning heavily on her staff.

  “I have never seen it affect you this way.” Her shaking body made him want to hold her, though he hesitated. “Are they burns?”

  “Yes, as with most energetic transfers the byproduct is heat. The Cephalon nanomachines that allow me to open a gate through the temple’s defenses will heal me in time. Don’t worry.”

  He frowned, but nodded and ordered the skiffs to halt.

  “That was amazing. You did that?” Agent Khepria asked.