by Rayner Ye
After closing his eyes once more, he adopted the special breathing pattern and relaxed his muscles. “Take me back to that spaceship I just left to complete the mission.”
His spirit-body went nowhere.
“What the hell?” He sat up and looked at the other agents.
They were sitting up on their platforms along the river, too. Their expressions also conveyed confusion. The sprinklers and their aurashields still worked. His body heat rose as he reached for his amethyst pendent. “Still there.”
Their elderly director staggered through the door, leaning heavily on his cane. He limped towards the riverbank. “It’s finished. RRT, time travel, they’re finished.”
“What?” YuFu asked.
“The boy. He did it.”
“Akachi’s son?”
The old man nodded. “Maki’s helped to lock the portals for good. The teleportation and magic’s over. No more changing shape or body-snatching. No more doing it the easy way. We need proper agents again. Trained agents.”
“But what about our mission?”
“I’ve had the Interstellar Police on photon chat, and the vessels are bringing the rescued to Mayleeda as we speak. They’re just putting them into cryosleep.”
“But what about the ones left behind?”
Z’Das shrugged. “They’re thirty light-years from Mayleeda. “There’s nothing else we can do.”
He sighed with exaggeration. “Can’t the Kuanjanese government help?”
“Planet Kuanja doesn’t have a united government. When do the Kuanjanese ever help with anything which doesn’t give them economical gain? Never.”
“A rich Kuanjanese military might help. The slave traders’ ship’s outside their goddamn system.”
“That’s asking for trouble. Anyhow, the traffickers’ pilots will be free to access hyperspeed or tachyon thrust. There’s no way any Kuanjanese space force would catch up.”
“Who’s saying? Markaz has one of the biggest militaries in the—”
“YuFu Tang. That will be enough. The case is closed and so is RRT.”
***
YuFu hunched over his whisky as music and chatter enveloped him at the surprise party Aedre threw for her husband and stepson. They celebrated her husband’s rescue from alien space wizards and the end of time travel and RRT.
As he stared into the glass of amber liquid, YuFu thought about the all missions he’d assisted in as an RRT agent. They’d rescued so many innocents from interstellar human trafficking rings and mafias across the Alliance. Law enforcement had improved a thousand-fold.
But stopping it was the right thing to do. Aedre’s stepson, Maki, did the right thing. RRT caused too many headaches once information about it leaked to the public of planet Old Bilu. The Plan8 Alliance was on the brink of war because of shape-shifting madness and crime. Akachi, Aedre, and Foster had nearly died when aliens from across the borders abducted them because of the unravelling of space and time.
Xuxu’s high-pitched laugh brought him back to the present. He gulped his whiskey and noticed his wife flirting with another man across the way. What did it matter? Their marriage was a shambles. His agent-friend, Foster, nodded in his direction from a sofa opposite. She was a Jerjen, like him. Their ancestors originated from Mayleeda’s northern landmass, Maozong. Unlike him, though, she was brought up as a servant in an illegal concubine training camp, whereas his Jerjen parents had immersed him with their culture from childhood and into adult life. Foster sat beside the metallic android, Three. They beckoned for YuFu to sit with them.
After he lowered himself down into the old-fashioned cushions, Three’s flashlight-blue eyes blinked. He asked in his robotic voice, “What are you going to do now RRT’s shut?”
“Whatever Z’Das says I gotta do, I guess. How about you guys?”
Foster tucked some slick black hair behind her ear. “We’re going on a boot camp. If I do well, I’ve agreed to get cybernetic implants.”
“Wow. A cyborg?”
She nodded and laughed.
“I’m joining Foster in everything she does.” Three stroked her knee with a shiny metal finger.
YuFu’s breath hitched as he gave them a sidelong look. Were they an item? That would be weird; a human and robot. “You’re not gonna become a cyborg too, Three, are you?”
“Ha-ha.” Three’s laugh did not sound human, but YuFu smiled.
“Why would I want flesh? Then I couldn’t face the void of space in my naked body alone. No, thank you. RTT’s finished. No more imagination as a tool. Life’s about to get much harder.”
“So, what’re you doing?”
The robot’s blue eyes flashed from within his cuboid face again. “Join bootcamp, then follow Foster with whatever she does and wherever she wants to go.”
“I thought you were a good fighter.”
As Three discussed all the military skills which he was good at and all the martial arts which needed improvement, Foster slipped away. YuFu noticed her join Akachi and his wife, Aedre, at the bottom of the stairs. YuFu’s gaze followed them up as the robot continued.
***
Foster’s gaze clouded when she entered Maki’s bedroom with Aedre and Akachi. “What are we doing in your son’s room?”
Aedre shrugged. “It was the only place we could find to chat. The garden’s occupied, and I thought we’d better not leave the house while the party’s still on.”
“Chat about what?” Foster asked.
Akachi stretched an airSphere around them and set it on privacy. Then, he sat on the carpet in a cross-legged position. His redhead wife sat beside him, nodding for Foster to come.
Her knees creaked when she lowered herself to the floor. “So, what is it?”
“Since Maki rescued us from the space-wizards, have you noticed anything strange?”
“Like what?”
Akachi rolled up his T-shirt to expose his muscular, dark-brown chest. From the centre gleamed white light in the shape of a six-pointed star within a circle. “Do you have one of these?”
She scraped a hand through her bobbed-haircut and nodded.
“I do too,” Aedre said.
“Shit.” Foster cringed. “What does it mean? That they can track us?”
“We’re not sure, and we don’t want to find out.” Aedre stretched a coiled lock of red hair until it stretched down to her waist. She released, and it sprang back to join the other fiery curls. “We’ve agreed to never try RRT again. We don’t want to find out what the symbols means.”
“Neither do I.” Foster frowned, then stood and pointed out Maki’s window at the dome in their garden. “But, you’ve got an RTT dome still.” She twirled to offer Akachi a puzzled expression. “Why didn’t you knock it down?” The reason they had bought the house in the mountains, in the first place, was because it stood over a gorge which ran directly from an amethyst pyramid. Any rivers flowing from time portals offered access to RRT, providing it was raining, and you had an amethyst and an aurashield set on rain protection.
“That took time and effort to build,” Akachi said.
“But won’t it tempt you to try again? Especially with the stars in your chests.”
“Would it tempt you?” Akachi stood and waited beside her at the window.
“Not at all. I salvaged my girls from their masters, and you guys rescued my Yasmin from the Firesnake. I don’t need RRT. That’s why I’m going to bootcamp.”
“We won’t use the dome for anything other than chilling out,” Aedre said. “What if the space wizards found us again? It’s not worth the risk.”
“I fear that too. I promise never to try RRT if you promise.” Foster held out her hand.
Akachi gripped it in his large dark one, and Aedre’s stood and clasped their united hands with hers—pale on brown on yellow. They shook on it.
Foster pulled away. “But, what about your union practice?” Aedre was the most spiritual person she knew. Th
e young woman had been going on shamanic journeying for decades. Because of her meditation, she had discovered time travel and RRT. Then, the secret service had got involved, and that was how she met her spy-husband, Akachi.
Aedre kissed Akachi’s cheek. “I’ve promised not to do any form of meditation from this property, because of the magic river and the star in my chest. We’ll only use the RRT dome as a sweat lodge.”
Foster nodded. “Will you only do the physical form of union? The postures and breathing?”
Aedre nodded.
“She meditates elsewhere. Nowhere near the river.”
“Does Maki know?” Foster asked.
“No,” Aedre said.
“Actually, sweetheart, he does.” Akachi scrubbed a hand over his face.
“What?” Aedre wrinkled her freckled head. “You told him?”
He held his wife’s hand. “Crowleen did.”
“How?”
“When we gave her the last key, she sensed it and asked me. I showed her. Maki saw, of course.”
“How did she sense it?” Foster shook her head.
He shrugged. “Said it was because she’d been the Keeper of Key’s for so long.”
Foster bit her bottom lip. “The magic must be profound, then.”
“All the more reason not to delve into it,” Aedre said.
“Well,” Akachi rubbed his hands on his knees. “We’ve made the pact. Let’s stick to it.”
“Maki’s going to be upset we kept it from him,” Aedre said. “I’d better talk to him.”
Foster wondered if they shared her strange dreams.
YuFu
YuFu pressed his palm against the Biluglass shell outside Z’Das’s office. He entered when an arch dissolved.
Z’Das reclined behind his desk, vaping leaf from a pipe. The old man’s orange face looked haggard around bloodshot eyes. “YuFu, YuFu. Sit, sit.” He took another puff on the disc-shaped device and blew out steam. “Now, you understand the magic has gone, yes?”
“Of course.”
The whole of Plan8 was on the brink of war, since commoners discovered how to travel and shape-shift at the speed of intention. But blocking river and rain travel didn’t stop questions circulating about the meaning of life or whether it was some kind of computer simulation.
Z’Das steepled his fingers. “Before you became an RRT agent, you had no training.”
“That’s right. I only used the river and rain transport system to achieve my goals.”
Z’Das leaned forward. His cheeks sagged when he nodded. “I’m sorry. Because the magic has gone, I must let you go.”
A comfortable warmth came into YuFu’s face, and he tapped a loose fist against his chest. “Hey. Don’t worry about it. I never wanted to work for the Mayleedian Secret Service. I can finally retire peacefully with my family.” And keep my brother from sniffing around my wife.
“That can’t be the case, either.” Z’Das pursed his lips. “Tanmixan wants you to complete your contract there.”
“Fishing from Tushing?”
Z’Das nodded.
YuFu’s body tensed. His voice dropped in tone. “Tanmixan ruined my life.”
“Tanmixan is powerful and rules the government. It’s always given your family their expensive lifestyle.”
“Can’t I just retire on my secret service pension?”
“None of us could have predicted my RRT division would dissolve.” Z’Das scrubbed a hand over his face. “Metaphysical transportation was too good to be true.”
“What are you saying?”
“MSS can’t afford to give you any more money. But Tanmixan can. It needs you. You were the best fisher.”
“What if I refuse?”
“Tanmixan will wipe your memory again.”
His sweat turned cold, and his muscles quivered. His laughter had an edge. “And replace it with that maniac’s memory?”
“No. You’d remain YuFu.”
He struggled to find words as he thought it over. At least he’d finally forget all the people he’d killed. Forgetting his wife’s affair would be kinder to his mentality. But he’d forget his friends and their superhero rescue missions, too. He also needed money. “How can Tanmixan play with people like this?”
Z’Das shrugged.
“How long do they want me?”
“Just five years.”
“They already took six years of my life.”
“Can I give you some advice?” The old man’s amber eyes glinted in the lamplight like a cat’s. “Don’t hold on to grief and anger. It is what it is. You can’t go back and change it.” He chuckled. “Well, you could have changed it, but the time portals are closed.”
***
YuFu sank in a pit of disappointment as his six kids and wife talked around the kitchen table. When he looked down at his empty plate, he couldn’t even remember eating whatever Xuxu had laid out.
In bed that night, YuFu told Xuxu what Z’Das had said.
She swiped away the movie from her airSphere and pushed herself higher against the bed board. “No. You mustn’t go back and work there.”
He gave a distracted nod. “It won’t be much different from working as a secret agent. Four weeks away, three weeks home.”
“But you weren’t even a proper spy, just an amateur.” She ran yellow fingers through her strawberry-blonde hair. “Harvesting diamonds from Tushing’s atmosphere is much more dangerous. What if you get sucked in one of the storms?”
“Come on. Did you forget I was the best damn diamond fisher in Tanmixan?”
She glared at him. “No, I didn’t. I thought you were a methane rig worker on Tai. And your kids still think that. Aren’t you sick of all this lying?”
His chest tightened as he spoke through teeth with forced constraint. “It’s not as if I enjoy lying. It’s confidential government information. What would you expect?”
She crossed her arms and cut him a stare.
He swept an open hand around their large bedroom, carved within a chalk cliff. “How do you think we can afford all this? On your teaching salary? Tanmixan gave this to us. As you said, I was an amateur agent.” He sighed.
“What are you telling me?”
“MSS cannot pay my pension.”
Xuxu shuffled closer and lifted his hand into hers. “We can move. We can live in a smaller house. We don’t need so much money. Can’t you retire? Be with your family, like you always wanted.”
“We won’t have enough.” He didn’t tell her that Tanmixan would wipe the last seven and a half years from his memory. She’d probably want it.
“Don’t let money rule us. We don’t need to be rich. Please. I don’t want to lose you again.”
“Listen. I don’t have a choice. Baba and Mama won’t live in that retirement home if I don’t take up Tanmixan’s offer. Anyway, it’s only for five years.”
“You could die.” An angry gaze sliced her face. “Five years is a long time. Our kids will become adults. They won’t be interested in having a dad once they get married. Don’t you want to watch them grow finally? Now is your last chance.”
“How can you bring the kids into this? Don’t bribe me with emotion, Xuxu.”
“We can survive on the money we have.”
“What about Lulu’s high-tech fees? How can we afford to put all our kids through education?”
“There’s free education. We live on Mayleeda.”
He grimaced. “You know they’ll have less of a chance at a free institute.” He tried to soothe her rage by speaking with a gentler tone. “It’s not that bad.”
“But—”
“I’ve made up my mind. Baba and Mama need that money, and so do our kids. I need that retirement package.”
“Well, I think you’re stupid.”
He gritted his teeth so hard his jaw ached. “If you miss sex, you can have an affair with my brother again.”
“Everyone
thought you were dead.” Her eyes squeezed into thin amber slits. “Don’t bring that up. You know I regret it. You know how sorry I am.”
