by DJ Morand
The feel of the chair was different, not that it did not conform to his weight and body, but the physical sensation against his skin. He decided it had something to do with Echo cleaning it and the rest of the ship. For some reason that felt like a hostile action and a blessing simultaneously. How do women do that? He thought to himself. As he was brooding Zee passed the communications to him. Abel worked through the computer, swiping his hand across the screen and entering codes. While, drawing from his left screen and tossing it to the rightmost screen, he noted a peculiar flux of energy in the port engine. He waved the view screens up away and stood up.
“You may want to take a seat,” he said to Echo, then turned to Zee. “I have an approach vector into the badlands. Seems they weren’’t too happy finding out who we were. I’d expect resistance once we touch down. I’ll guide us in on the vector they gave, but I’ll be damned if I am heading to the rendezvous they’ve set.” He looked pointedly at Echo for a moment, almost as if he was blaming the auburn haired woman. He couldn’t help but notice how beautiful she was, with her soft features and penetrating stare … Flak! He cursed in his mind again. He forced his legs to carry him back to his chair.
“The quantum seats can be adjusted. In the crew berthing there is a handheld command module; I’ll send some minimal authority to it so you can at least be comfortable.” Abel lied as Echo nodded and moved to the hatch.
“Hang onto your hats folks.” Abel finished as he returned to his chair and took control of the ship once more.
“Thank you Captain,” was all Echo said as she returned to crew berthing. Abel nodded his head as she left the deck and sent a secure transmission to the module and a separate notification to Zee. The notification to Zee appeared as text in the Quintarran’’s mind.
Do you think she is trustworthy? I am not sure we can trust her on the ship by herself, but I would rather not risk having her in public. Zee nodded his assent sending a short message back that appeared briefly, but long enough, on Captain Abel Cain’s display.
We can trust her. Abel looked over to Zee who looked back; both knew what the other was thinking, even without further communication.
The Kodiak banked to the port side and began its descent into Eden’s orbit. They would be cutting through the atmosphere in a matter of moments, far more efficient than the sub-orbital vector Zee would have had them on.
It’s not his fault, Abel thought. He made some adjustments to his flight controls and targeted a heading into the Badlands of Eden. At one point the Badlands had been lush forest in the band of the planet’s equator. Now they were desolate wastelands spotted by frozen lakes and harsh landscape. Few willingly traveled to the Badlands, but it was an area that would be secure for the Kodiak.
The ship was shielded against space frost and Abel had little fear of the cold affecting the gunship, so long as they kept the engines primed. He planned to venture into town alone, leaving Zee with Echo on the Kodiak. He didn’t know if the command module would keep her unconscious and he trusted Zee to keep the ship ready.
She might pass for a human in most respects, but the people of Eden are racist glitches, he thought.
Abel did not trust that she would be safe and he still was not sure if he could trust her.
* * *
Edge of the Quintar Prime System: Kodiak: Crew Berthing
2972 ESD - Sunday, November 1st 09:17 hours
Echo Shade walked through the crew berthing and searched for the command module. She assumed this was a ploy to get her off the bridge, more than a concern for her comfort.
What if it was a concern for your comfort E? The thought struck her and made her examine what she thought of Zee and Abel.
If they were genuinely concerned, such as when they had come to rescue her, perhaps she had a chance of convincing them to lend aid to the EFNF. The humans and Quintarrans scattered across the Quintar Prime System needed their help. Echo knew the first Human-EXO war would have never concluded if not for the assistance of Abel Cain and the EXO Shield. She still felt her father made the wrong choice in destroying the shield; the spread of the EXOs revealed that to be truth.
The EXOs were managing to escape the Quintar V even after the shield had been implemented, but it had effectively reduced the number of EXOs escaping. James Shade’s plan had been sound, in theory, and it would have worked, except that the EXOs were far more adaptable than the EFNF knew. It was adaptability that paved the way for the EXOs to escape the shield in the first place.
The shield, as Abel had said at the time, was a temporary measure and if humans did not find a way to work together with the Quintarrans, the EXOs would find their way free of Quintar V. Her father had not listened then and he did not listen when she admonished him for planning to destroy the shield.
The crew berthing area was worse than the command deck, if that was possible, Echo had cleaned the command deck out of sheer irritation, and it looked like crew berthing would be next. She rifled through various boxes filled with computer parts, some very ancient. She wondered where some of it came from.
She picked up a box and examined it. The box bore rust in some places as well as a bit of corrosion around the wiring. She couldn’t fathom the use of it as she turned it over and around. This peculiar box seemed to have writing on the face of it, and a deck that opened manually. The circular shape and the center mount, she did not know what else to call it, gave her the impression of very ancient technology. She put it down and located the command module in the same box.
The command module Abel had directed her to, was a holographic wrist projector. The model was old, like everything else in this box, but she recognized it. The memory returned with a wave of nostalgia as she remembered the implanted holo-projector that Commander Theodore Burns used to wear. She struggled to fight back tears. Struggling with her emotions she forced the module onto her wrist just as she heard a voice behind her.
“I see you found it.” The voice came from the deck above, it was Abel. Echo turned and looked at the lean man, his eyes glinting with a mischievous gleam. She tried to decide if that was his look all the time or just when he was up to something.
“Yeah.” She didn’t feel like conversing.
“Go ahead and turn it on. We’re about to hit atmo.” Abel said. She felt apprehensive for a moment. Why is he so insistent on me using this thing? She thought.
“I’ll be right up. Thank you.” Echo activated the command module and felt a light sting in her wrist. “Ow! What the--”
“Sorry,” Abel began, sounding very apologetic. “It is not very nice; I know. However, I’m not certain I can trust you. Our business here on Eden is,” he paused searching for the proper words, “delicate, and I need you out for the time being. Once we’re off Eden I’ll remove the module. Until then it will keep you in a state of sleep. It should be in full effect in a few moments.”
“Son of--” She had been going to say glitch, but her voice was strained and her speech slurred. Abel was there to catch her before she fell. He felt gentle yet strong. What? No! She screamed in her mind. It was too late, she was succumbing to whatever the command module was giving her. Echo closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep.
* * *
Edge of the Quintar Prime System: Kodiak: Crew Berthing
2972 ESD - Sunday, November 1st 09:30 hours
Abel set Echo into the bunk he normally reserved for himself. He had no untoward ideas about bedding her; his bunk just happened to be the most comfortable on the ship. He watched her sleep for a few moments longer before retreating back to the command deck. As he ascended the ladder he called up to his co-pilot.
“Zee. It worked. How did you know that it would?” Abel called up to the command deck while climbing the short ladder between decks. “I mean seriously man, as soon as she put it on she was out in a few moments.”
“The nanites in the command module are programmed for Quintarran DNA, it stood to reason that since she was at least half Quintarran it would affect
her as I said.” Zee remarked, but obviously still apprehensive about the whole idea.
“Stood to reason? What kind of standing to reason would that be?” Abel asked, now a bit concerned over all.
“Approximately sixty five percent.” Zee calculated quickly.
“Damnit! Zee, you let me walk her into a situation where it was thirty five percent likely we’d end up fighting. One, or the both, of us could have been injured!” Abel felt the fury rising again.
“No.” Zee said simply.
“No? What do you mean no?” Abel demanded.
“It was a thirty five percent chance it would be effective Captain.” Zee explained.
“FLAK Zee! Are you flakking glitched?” He roared.
“Captain?” Zee said in mock confusion, though Abel didn’t know it was a ploy. Zee had found that more often than not the human was ready to believe himself smarter than most everyone. Playing dumb with Abel Cain was easy; it was convincing him that something besides his own desires mattered that presented a challenge.
“Oh never mind. It worked. She’ll be out for a few days. I know you don’t understand why I felt it was necessary, but I assure you it was. She’’d have gone out from the ship at the first sign of adventure. I mean she came looking for us. Additionally, I found a comm buoy in her pod. You know what that means right Zee?” Abel asked.
“I do Captain.” Zee gave him a reproachful look, “I understand the workings of the EFNF sir; you have made sure of that. The communications buoys are new relay points for communications outside of the Quintar Prime system. If they are stretching out again it means that either the EXOs have won or the Exodus Fleet is trying to make contact with the Sol System.” The Quintarran explained.
“You understand why the Sol System needs to stay out of this.” Captain Abel Cain asked, suddenly very intent.
“Yes Captain, I do.” Zee’s face took on the same expression.
“Good, then you understand why Echo needs to stay on this ship, at least until we can drop her off on some world where the EFNF can come pick her up.” Abel said. He feared the ramifications of the EFNF making it back to the Sol System with the EXOs in pursuit.
“Yes Captain, I do.” Zee said, still with an underlying tone of reproach. Abel nodded, understanding Zee’s uncomfortable feelings. Abel turned to his chair and sat down again. He brought up a display and watched as the white washed planet below came into view. The icy tomb that was Eden had spelled doom for a number of unsuspecting spacers.
"Zee," Abel said concerned, "we're about at our entry vector. Do what you can with the plating that isn't locked up." He didn't tell Zee that he feared that their re-entry might prove disastrous.
Serves him right for not telling me about the odds of the module not working on Echo, he thought.
"It's going to be a tough one, I am going to need extra power from the emitters too. There is a bit of potential we could fry," He said meaning there was a near certainty. The entry vector was a near vertical dive. They would be entering the atmosphere at a very dangerous angle. In either case the re-entry would be very short, whether they burned up or managed to navigate it safely.
RETURNING TO EDEN
Eden - Exodus Colony Alpha: Command Quarters
2972 ESD - Thursday, November 5th 06:00 hours
In the past twenty years Mercury Frinz learned to be ruthless, conniving, and most of all a survivor. After the death of his fiancé at the hands of the EXO virus, he had stopped caring about others. When people came to Eden they paid a price. Something for something - nothing for nothing; these became his motto and he lived by it.
He ensured that even the EXOs paid a price for staging on Eden. This world, dead on the surface, held for him a treasure of information, goods, and a thriving black market. Mercury personally held no hate for Quintarrans, but the general population grew to loathe them. When Quintarrans were about, so were the EXOs.
Mercury was not certain of how the hatred had developed; if it was because of their skin; their subservience to the EXOs; or simply because the humans could not find peace in their hearts, but he was certain it worked to his advantage. The EFNF had taken to cooperation with the Quintarrans in the past decade and this further estranged the people of Eden, but this also opened a trade he hadn’t expected. Due to their desire to acquire as many members for its collective as possible, the EXOs began paying for Quintarran prisoners.
The tribute from Mercury and the other leaders of Eden meant they could keep their people safe from EXO infection; although this, in essence, made them slavers. Now, with a larger EXO force moving out of the inner Quintar Prime System, he worried. It was during his pacing and worrying when he received news that would brighten his day.
“Sir.” The woman was thin as a rail and comely, but Mercury did not mind. He made sure his assistants could not distract his more base desires; she is nothing compared to my sweet Talia, he allowed himself the thought before hearing the rest of what she had to say.
“We are receiving a transmission pre-orbit. The transponder reads as an URSA GS-I; the priority flag on URSA--” He raised his hand to silence her and she cringed. Mercury had back-handed her before so it was not without merit.
“I know what priority flag I’ve put on URSA gunships Eileen.” He drew out her name in a rasp. The cold weather of Eden had not been kind to his body. Where he was once tall, proud, and moderately handsome, he was now cool, distant, and near as frail as the rest of the people of Eden.
Eden, he scoffed at the name. They had been so eager to name the planet after the fabled garden they had never stopped to consider the implications of why the planet had been uninhabited. That name had stuck though, even after the planet had frozen over again.
Just like the fable, it was abandoned, or had the people been cast out? He didn’t really care, but lately his mind wandered. It is the cold, the desolation, and the desperation; he told himself daily.
“What did the ship have to say Eileen?” Emphasizing her name again caused her to squeak. “Don’t do that! Just answer my question.”
“It was a Quintarran, judging by his demeanor and directness.”
“Do you think it is the Kodiak?” he asked speculatively.
“Sir?” she squeaked again.
“It’s rhetorical Eileen, what did he say, this Quintarran?” he emphasized her name letting her hear the anger in his tone. He enjoyed intimidating people and his secretary was easy to intimidate.
“He requested a landing vector and gave an EFNF code. He seemed agitated we didn’t answer immediately, but as soon as I read the--” He back-handed her this time. She hit the ground with a slap and a hand shakily rose to her bruising cheek.
“I did not ask for an opinion Eileen. Keep it to yourself.” He sneered while speaking her name. He found her tears thoroughly pitiful and just wanted the information she had without conjecture or opinion. Is that too much to ask? He thought.
He crouched down to her level, his face nearly touching hers. He was keenly aware of the stench of his breath. The lack of nutrients on Eden’s surface led to tooth decay and the frail thinness of the people.
He clasped his mouth shut with a click next to her ear, “Now, Eileen, tell me what the pilot said. Leave out any gratuitous details mind you.”
Eileen had told him all that he wanted to know and not an ounce more. Mercury burst from his office in a sprint directly for the traffic control office. The ship he had chosen as his base of operations was one of the newer transport class ships; this one had been the Svetlana. The Exodus Fleet had several of the large ships bearing the bulk of the Exodus Union members fleeing Sol space.
Even though the ship was a threadbare version of itself, it was still state of the art. State of the art in the Quintar Prime system at least; he was not sure about how much the ships had advanced in the Sol system, if at all. As he stomped down the hall the various sections announced his presence in a computerized female voice.
“Lieutenant Colonel Mercury Frinz ar
riving.” The computer squawked. “Lieutenant Colonel Mercury Frinz departing.”
The incessant repetition of the computer as he arrived and departed each section, set his teeth on edge. He had tried once to reprogram the device. He succeeded, but only in changing his designation. The ship no longer referred to him as Ensign Mercury Frinz.
He sought out the traffic controller who had spoken with the URSA GS-I granting them clearance to land. Mercury made a bee-line for the communications center at the prow of the ship. He located the traffic controller and bore down on him like a bird of prey.
“Sir?” the controller questioned, looking perplexed at the intense stare of his superior.
“Any more word from the URSA?” Mercury barked.
“Yes, sir. I just received a text update from its Captain, I was about to call you.” The traffic controller was back-peddling quickly, hoping to stave off the ire of the Lt. Colonel.
“What is it? Who is the captain?” Mercury demanded, his patience thinning and his irritation growing.
“He is using the name Abel Cain sir. I doubt it is--” the traffic controller stammered.
“Move aside Master Sergeant! I’ll handle this.” Mercury slid into the controller’s seat as the Master Sergeant franticly moved out of the chair. His face was a mask of terror. Rumors about Mercury and his temper were more numerous than stars in space. The Master Sergeant wanted nothing to do with discovering any truth to those rumors. Mercury began accessing the console, utilizing the haptic controls, and bringing up data from the station in his office. He closed his fist and tossed aside things he didn’t care to read and focused on the images of the ship.
He knew it was the Kodiak from the scans, the images only confirmed it. He sent a text message to the Kodiak. A moment later the screen displayed his instructions and requested confirmation. He pressed his thumb against the view screen and the message shrank down to a corner, replaced by the word SENT. Mercury stood up from the station.
