by Isaac Hooke
“But I thought with Chrysalium, anyone can Siphon as much as a Volur?” Tane said. “You can draw enough to make a starship jump, after all. It doesn’t make sense that they wouldn’t let you into their ranks.”
“Chrysalium is certainly the great equalizer,” Sinive said. “And the Volur do allow its use on your person, as part of their qualification testing. But the Volur have a rule. If you have to wear more than ten ring-sized pieces of jewelry to Siphon as much as the weakest Volur without Chrysalium, then you can’t be considered for their ranks.”
“That has to rule out a lot of people with the ability to Siphon,” Tane said.
“It’s definitely a large portion,” Sinive said. “Last I heard, ninety percent of those who could Siphon didn’t qualify.”
“That has to hurt their recruiting efforts,” Tane said.
“The Volur don’t seem to mind,” Sinive said. “They seem happy to maintain the status quo. And the TSN doesn’t seem overly concerned, either. In fact, they prefer the current reject ratio. It allows them to fill out their ranks of jump and gunnery specialists, minor Essence warriors, and battle mancers. I have a feeling the TSN had a big say in the Volur qualification rules, in fact.”
“I don’t even know what a battle mancer is,” Tane said. “And my chip certainly isn’t filling me in.”
“It’s a step up from Essence warrior,” Sinive said. “Mancers are a division of infantry. While Essence warriors fight on the frontline, mancers stay back during combat. They have different specialties. Some act as healers. Some as jumpers—opening and closing distortion tunnels on the field of battle. Others apply different buffs and shielding to the troops around them. Still others offer ranged attacks. Mancer is the closest to Volur one can get in the TSN. And only the most powerful are selected for those positions. Essence warriors are a step below in terms of power. Jump and gunnery specialists are at the bottom of the list, the weakest of the bunch, consigned to starships.”
“Sorry to hear that,” Tane said.
“Don’t be,” Sinive said. “As a jump specialist, I get to Siphon the most Essence of them all, more even than most Volur ever handle, thanks to the Chrysalium content found in most ships. Of course, there’s also a higher chance of permanently burning the Ability out of me. The risk is a small price to pay, because I tell you, the feeling of power you get when Siphoning Essence through the hull of a starship… it’s unmatchable. Inside a ship, when I’m in the jump chamber, I feel invulnerable. I feel… so free.” She sighed, staring off into space. “This power inside of me, it’s what allowed me to get off my planet in the first place. Exploring space, seeing the galaxy, it’s always been a dream of mine.”
“Mine, too,” Tane said. “I just never got to do it until now. And when I get to Talendir, I probably never will again.”
She grabbed his glove and squeezed. “You’ll get to do it. People like us, we make our own destiny. We don’t do what other people want us to do. Sure, we have temporary setbacks, and moments when we actually have to work for living to keep our dreams alive. But in the end we pull through. Because we’re willing to do whatever it takes to achieve our dreams.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Tane said. “I would have probably stayed on my farm if the aliens hadn’t attacked. I’d have married my childhood crush and remained on Galtede Serpentis for the rest of my life.”
“But would you have been happy?” Sinive asked.
“I don’t know,” Tane said. “In some ways.”
“And what about your dream?” Sinive asked.
“Seeing the stars?” Tane said. “I would’ve booked a space cruise at some point, maybe interstellar. And that would have been the extent of it. You want to know why?”
“Why?” Sinive said.
“Because I couldn’t Siphon,” Tane said. “Getting into space permanently was predicated on that Ability. I had no means to support that lifestyle on my own.”
“Maybe I was wrong about you,” Sinive said quietly. “You struck me as someone who made his own destiny. Not that there’s anything wrong with sitting back and being a passive observer in life… many people do so, especially you Outrimmer types. But myself, I’ve always fought hard against the hand fate dealt me. And I do whatever it takes to achieve my dream, always keeping my eventual goal in sight.”
“And what goal is that?” Tane asked.
“To own my own ship, of course,” Sinive replied. “And answer to no one but myself.”
“It’s a good goal,” Tane said.
“And what about you?” Sinive asked.
“My only goal now is to survive,” Tane told her.
“A bit shortsighted, isn’t it?” Sinive pressed.
“I don’t really have anything to look forward to if I get out of this alive,” Tane said. “Seriously. When I get to Talendir, the Volur will probably hide me away somewhere the TSN and dwellers can never find me. I’ll never see space again.”
She tapped the bottom of her helmet, as if wanting to touch her chin. “Maybe we can convince Nebb to take you on. The hours are bad, and the pay even worse, as you know. But you get to stay in space. I’m sure we can figure out a way to smuggle you away from Talendir. Or maybe make some sort of switch before the Volur and her Bander deliver you.”
“Even if you could, I wouldn’t do that to you and Nebb,” Tane said. “You’d be hunted for the rest of your days, your profiles added to a permanent TSN and Volur watch list. Your smuggling days would be over.”
“We could all take on new identities…” Sinive said. “But you’re right, it would be a lot of work. One slip up and we’d be done for. Plus we’d probably have to trade in the Red Grizzly for a different ship.” She sighed. “Nebb wouldn’t buy it.”
“There you go,” Tane said. “You shouldn’t expect too much from him. He is a smuggler, after all.”
“And I’m his smuggler-in-training,” Sinive said. “Someone who saved your life.”
“You did,” Tane agreed.
“Nebb has never betrayed a client before,” Sinive said. “Which is another reason why he wouldn’t go for any plans to smuggle you away from the Volur, at least not until we deliver you to Talendir.”
“Well, that’s not going to happen now,” Tane said.
“He’ll find us,” Sinive said. “I know he will. Nebb’s always been good to me. Well, other than that soon to be rectified issue with the pay. As I told you, he’s like the father I never had.”
“You never met your real father?” Tane asked.
“No,” Sinive said. She glanced at him, and smiled sadly behind her faceplate. “Get this: I was conceived at a sperm bank. My mother, at the sprightly young age of sixteen, had the wonderful idea of having a baby. And you don’t know my mother: once she sets her eyes on something, there’s no way anyone can change her mind. She wanted to have the child of a Volur, hoping that such an offspring would pull her and her child out of the clutches of basic pay, so she rolled up to Reproductive Technologies Incorporated and asked where she could sign up. They matched her with a Volur donor, and twenty-five years later here I am. I didn’t quite achieve everything that my mother wanted, and in fact caused her more than my fair share of heartbreak, but in the end she was happy for me. I promised her that once I bought a ship, I’d take her to explore the galaxy. I only wish I could have achieved that in time, before I lost her forever…”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Tane said.
She chuckled wanly. “Don’t be. We’ve all got our troubles in this universe. I’ve shared mine. I don’t know why. You seem like a good listener, I guess. But I definitely don’t want to hear about your troubles.”
“I’m afraid I’ve already told them all to you,” Tane said.
“I suppose you did, at that.”
Tane continued observing the main entrance for the next half hour, but didn’t spot any movement out there.
Sometimes he idly studied the dark threads emerging from his arms. He observed that
the filaments were at a much more level angle than when he was aboard the Red Grizzly in orbit, or even when standing upon the shipyard at the top of the skyscraper. It was almost as if the dark fibers were trailing away toward some location in the city. Toward the dwellers?
He reviewed some of the eyesight footage captured by his chip, and paused the playback at the time he ran away from the dwellers. The threads remained relatively horizontal, like now, but floated away from the aliens at an angle. Even when the Graaz’dhen had taken him, the threads continued to point away, though at that point the strands were angled slightly upward, as if reaching for something on the surface of the city. Certainly not the alien mothership: the filaments didn’t have a steep enough angle for that.
Interesting.
He pointed out the odd behavior to Sinive, and told her what he had observed on his eyesight recordings.
“So what are you saying?” Sinive told. “Those threads of yours are trying to lead us somewhere? To whoever holds your puppet strings?”
“I don’t know,” Tane said. “But it’s worth investigating at some point.”
“I’m not so sure that’s the best idea,” Sinive said. “We should wait here until Nebb finds us.”
“Maybe so.” Tane returned his attention to the floor-to-ceiling window and gazed at the street below. “But you know what? I keep expecting to spot drone scout from the Red Grizzly. I stare out this window and I wait, and the minutes tick by, and the scouts never come. At some point we have to admit to ourselves that Nebb and the others aren’t going to come. That the dwellers are going to stay here until they find me. The Red Grizzly, if it hasn’t been destroyed, will be forced to stay well away.”
“What are you trying to tell me?” Sinive asked. “That we’re doomed? And you call me the pessimist...”
“No, only that we have to keep moving,” he replied. “But first of all, the best thing we can do right now is find an armament shop. One that keeps actual inventory on hand. Or at least has samples for customers to try before they get their purchases created on 3D printers.”
“I wonder if 3D printers work in this universe?” Sinive said.
“With our luck, no,” Tane said.
“Okay, so, weapons,” Sinive said. “How about a shooting range?”
“Perfect.” Tane pulled up his overhead map. Once again he hoped it had the latest updates.
Tane did a search on shooting ranges and the map indicated a nearby candidate. So far so good.
“Okay,” Tane said. “Looks like we have a hit in a small retail mall three blocks away.”
“I see it,” Sinive said. “The buildings in this part of town aren’t connected to the pedway system. We’re going to have to take a street level route.”
“Hugging the building exteriors, of course,” Tane said.
“Of course,” Sinive agreed.
“After we get some weapons, I want to follow these dark threads,” Tane said.
“I’d rather start making my way back to the shipyard,” Sinive said. “Even if the dweller ship is still overhead. It would be good to know, one way or another, if we have any hope of rescue.”
“If the Red Grizzly is destroyed, you mean?”
“Basically,” Sinive said. “And if that’s the case, we’ll cry a few minutes for the loss of our friends, and then settle in for the long haul. We’ll have to find oxygen canisters, and food, in addition to weapons. All of that is more important than following those dark filaments of yours, in my opinion. Especially considering the damn things will probably lead us into a dweller trap.”
She was probably right. It was doubtful he would find anything that could help them, and the strands probably did indeed lead to some sort of trap. But then again he would be remiss not to check. His curiosity wouldn’t let him back down. But he decided not to fight her on the issue for the time being.
Tane clambered to his feet.
Sinive remained seating. Staring out the window. “I don’t want to go out there again.”
“I know,” Tane said.
“Do you?” she looked at him, then lowered her gaze. “Before we go, promise me something.”
Tane kept his mouth shut, not wanting to promise anything until he heard just what he was agreeing to.
“Promise me you won’t leave me here, no matter what happens,” Sinive said. “Promise me if I die, you’ll take me back. Don’t leave my body here for these creatures to devour. I’ll do the same for you.”
Tane rested a gloved hand on her shoulder assembly. “Look, I’m afraid, too.” He paused at the lie. “I think.”
“What do you mean, you think?” Sinive asked.
“I don’t know,” Tane said. “I mean, I know I should be. But for some reason, fear feels muted here in the Umbra. I should be terrified, but I’m not. It’s more like… a slight anxiety. I think it’s because, well... all of this, it’s just… overwhelming. Almost unreal. A few weeks ago I was just a farm boy minding my own business, tending to hydroponically grown crops, maintaining a few farming robots. Now I’m running for my life in an alternate universe, hunted on all sides by aliens.”
“And you’re not afraid…” Sinive said. “Liar.”
“Listen, heading back out there isn’t going to be easy for me either, believe me,” Tane said. “But we can’t stay here, and you know it. At the very least we need weapons. And like you said, we have to find out what happened to the Red Grizzly.”
“You’re right of course,” Sinive said. “You have a way of comforting people. Did you pay for some empathy skill or something?”
“No,” Tane said. “I got it for free.”
She smiled behind her faceplate. “I was being sarcastic.”
“So was I,” Tane retorted.
She paused. “You’re really not afraid?”
“Right now?” Tane said. “Strangely, no. I’m not sure why. I guess it’s the dreamlike nature of this place. It doesn’t quite seem real to me. A part of me keeps expecting I’ll wait up back in my room on the farm.”
“Hmm,” Sinive said. “Wish I was able to look at it like that.” She sighed. “Okay then. Let’s do this, Outrimmer.”
She had forgotten about her request already. Tane was a little ashamed to admit it, but he was glad. It was a promise he wasn’t sure he could make. If they were surrounded by dwellers and the aliens ripped her apart while he escaped, there wasn’t a whole lot he could do for her. Besides, why did it matter if he brought her back to their own universe, if she was dead anyway? The fact was, it didn’t.
Anyway, he had no intention of allowing her to die in the first place.
When Sinive stood up beside him, she swayed as if she was going to fall and Tane caught her.
“I’m fine,” she said.
“You sure?” he asked.
She nodded.
Tane tentatively let her go. She seemed wobbly for a moment longer, and leaned on the wall with one hand, but the vertigo seemed to pass and she stood straighter.
“You’re good?” he said.
She released the wall and gave him an obviously forced smile. “I’m good.”
His eyes darted to her shoulder and the repair patch that covered her suit there. Was she infected with microcrillia?
And if so, what did that mean?
19
The pair carefully made their way down to the first floor and out onto the street. They kept close to the insubstantial-seeming glass walls of the buildings, and paused at the intersections to ensure the way was clear before dashing across.
Tane kept an eye on those dark threads that emerged from his body. The strands seemed to point in the same general direction, passing into the buildings on his right, or down the street at the intersections. Yes, he was definitely going to follow those filaments at some point. After he armed himself appropriately.
There were vehicles parked on the side of the road here, both land- and air-based, but Tane didn’t feel the need to use any of them. Not yet. He didn’t want t
o draw attention to himself and Sinive, not with that dweller ship lurking somewhere out of sight overhead.
They reached the retail center and proceeded inside past the tiny storefronts. There were several boutique clothing and shoe stores, all with no inventory, ready to print customer requests on demand. In between those storefronts were microbreweries, cafes and restaurants. It was odd seeing plates of food sitting beside full glasses on the tables, with no customers actually present to eat them, as captured during the latest universe “reset.”
“Well if we get hungry, we know where to go,” Sinive commented.
They took a gravalator to the third floor walkway and made their way to the shooting range. It looked like the place also sold weapons—past those glass counters and display cases awaited all the firepower Tane could dream of. He and Sinive immediately split up to survey the vast selection available underneath to them.
“You know, when I was younger, I used to call places like these cum shops,” Sinive said.
“What?” Tane looked up. “Why?”
“Coming here to look at the weapons was almost as good as sex...” Sinive said.
Tane knew exactly what she was talking about, even if most of his experiences regarding sex were of the virtual kind. He stopped beside the first weapon he saw, a beautifully shaped plasma rifle, and immediately reached into his storage pouch to dump the banana crates and spare spacesuits onto the floor. He’d definitely be using the inventory for weapons instead.
He considered dumping his clothes suitcase as well, since he could always buy new gear with any profits from the weapons, but decided against it. Some of his favorite outfits were in there. Besides, he figured he could stuff an extra rifle into the suitcase if he needed to.
Tane kicked at the glass, trying unsuccessfully to break it with his boot. He leaped over the counter and found the latch. Locked.
Across from him, Sinive was having no problem getting access. She’d stop beside a counter, shoot the lock with her pistol, then slide the glass case open without issue. She had already cleared out two weapons, shoving them into her own personal storage device.
