by Reiter
“Forgive my inability, nyaka,” Dungias thought as he coughed up blood. He could only feel his head and left hand. “It was my better… in every way… but I fought it… as best I could. Forgive your inept Traveler, my love!” Dungias closed his eyes as Kiason’s foot came down and stood at the flooring near the young Traveler’s head.
“Most impressive,” Kiason said as it staggered back to the wall of the lift car. Dungias could hear the self-repair circuits working furiously and Kiason laughed. “But all you managed to do was delay the inevitable.” Dungias chuckled, confusing Kiason who took hold of the battered and dying Malgovi. “And here I thought you were above clichés.”
“N-n-no… just above… y-y-you,” Dungias whispered. “It was… only… a delay!” Kiason’s body convulsed as the electromagnetic pulse Dungias had programmed traveled throughout the ship, killing all the circuitry it touched.
Kiason shuddered as the energy wave tore through its body, causing all systems, one by one, to either fail or explode. It sang out in pain, dropping Dungias to the floor, and all the young Traveler could do was simply lay there, watching the automaton slowly die… knowing its death would not be a solitary event. That knowledge did not lessen his pleasure.
“Perhaps… not so inept, eh, my love?” he thought.
“For my kommis,” he whispered as a tear rolled down the side of his face. “For my Laejem!”
To look strife, torture, prison, popular odium, face to face! To mount the scaffold, to advance to the muzzle of guns with perfect nonchalance! To be indeed a God!
Walt Whitman
(VIII)
An eerie stillness often accompanied the darkness… as if to acknowledge there was death, even if only on the most insignificant level. Still it was felt. Angoro Figurehead felt it, walking the dark corridors of the warehouses. It was, without a doubt, the worst feature of being a security guard of a very private company. There was no trace of Post Eden Incorporated that Angoro could find on the telnet. He had even called upon the jockey prowess of his granddaughter to assist in the matter, but all she had been able to uncover was the leasing agreement for the warehouse property where Angoro worked. The rather generous income vouchers had cleared though, and the matter had been nearly completely forgotten. It was only walking of the Night Rounds that had reminded him of everything!
“Sometimes I wish they paid me less,” Angoro whispered as he walked down the stairs. “That way they could hire another person for this shift. Sometimes.” Nearly at the bottom of the stairway, Angoro was able to catch himself when his communicator went off and he tripped down the last three stairs. He drew his stunner and spun around, again, nearly falling and fired once. The smudge on the wall would never again rear its ugly head on his watch!
“Dammit!” he exclaimed, holstering his weapon and quickly fumbling for the combination of his radio, telephone and computer.
“You there, Figurehead?” a voice came across the radio.
“Yes, yes, yes… I’m here,” he responded, finally getting a hold of himself and the machine. “I am on the 0220 Rounds.”
“Then I guess we can say this call is fortuitous,” the voice replied. It was too garbled to truly make out who it was on the other end.
“I am barely reading you,” Angoro notified. “… I’m going to need the password for this line.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” the voice muttered.
“I’m sorry, send again.”
“Detroit,” the voice replied. “… one, nine, three, six. Verify and respond.”
“My response is Toronto,” Angoro said, waiting for the party on the other end. A high-pitched tone sounded and a small green light flashed on his device. Angoro breathed a sigh of relief and brushed back his short gray hair before opening the line. “Verified. What can I do for you?”
“I need you to go to the elevator,” the voice requested as the transmission was boosted. Even with a clear signal, the voice was distorted. “Once you’re inside, place your comm into the bottom slot of the panel.”
“I’m on my way,” the security guard said and Kaila leaned back from her console. She shook her head at having to go through the security check.
“Then again, it’s probably the most excitement that old geezer’s had in quite some time,” she thought, allowing herself to smile. She checked her immediate area and then used the surveillance net to locate the only three people who had access to the chamber in which she was sitting. Survaysi was still in her bed and dead asleep. That is what Kaila expected all three women to be doing, given the hour of the day. However, Aleesha and Shuronne were apparently of their own minds, which meant they did not have to make things easy or simple for the operative. The former was pacing back and forth in her room, deep in thought about something, while the latter drilled in the Recreation Room. She had worked up a decent sweat, but it did not look like she was winding down.
“What an effect that old man has,” she thought. “… on all of us! Survaysi comes the closest to male-type thinking, and feels she has to keep up a brave face. One of these days I’ll have to tell her that I can see right through the façade. Aleesha looks like she can’t sleep ever since I came back and gave them my report along with the delivery of the two Chevs that were guarding Killington.
“Darlin’ it won’t matter how hard you hit that bag,” Kaila whispered, watching Shuronne Jassity work out. “… there isn’t a punch-kick combo in existence that will wipe your mind of a traumatic Freund memory!”
Kaila received the signal that Security Guard Figurehead was inside the elevator car. She keyed in Hanvashi’s passcode and the doors closed. The elevator went down and the guard started looking around frantically.
“It’s alright, Figurehead,” Kaila assured the man. “These are the sub-levels underneath the property.”
“Do I have clearance for this?” Angoro asked as the elevator continued to descend.
“You do now,” Kaila replied as she keyed in a few more commands.
“Command acknowledged and accepted,” the computer reported and both Angoro and Kaila heard it. “Personnel has been scanned and entered into the classified database with all standard authorities assigned.” Kaila ignored the message as it was the response she was expecting. Angoro, on the other hand, was ready to scream if the lights flickered. The announcement came not only as a surprise, but something of a shock, as it seemed his list of responsibilities had just grown.
“What does that mean?”
“You really need to relax there, Figurehead,” Kaila said in a calming voice while pulling up the bio on the guard. “This is just standard procedure.”
“Standard for what?!” Angoro said as he pushed the button to make the elevator stop. His descent continued.
“Standard for the sort of person who probably doesn’t want their real name to become public knowledge, right Francis?!” Kaila said sharply, breaking from her normal tone. She did not have time to babysit this man. Her timetable was tight enough already. “There’s always two ways to do things, Frank: the easy way and the hard way. Which way do you want to cut it?”
“Oh my sweet Lord!” Francis Freeman thought, focusing on the phrase ‘cut it’ more than anything else. It was the sort of lingo used in the community of cardsharps; a community that Angoro had hoped he had put well behind him. “They know about the rider! How did they find out about that?!
“I can play along, boss,” Angoro said in a voice that trembled less than before.
“Glad to hear it, Mr. Figurehead,” Kaila said as the elevator stopped and the doors opened. “Proceed forward and take the third left. It would be very helpful if you could move it along fairly quickly.”
“You got it,” Angoro replied, moving at a steady jog.
“Not bad,” Kaila said before opening the microphone on her end. “That’ll do, Figurehead. Much appreciated.”
Angoro made the turn requested of him and it brought him to a set of double doors. His brown eyes strained to make ou
t the lettering on the door, but it was not a word so much as it was some sort of categorization.
“Go to the panel on your left and place your right palm against it,” Kaila directed and, as she expected, Angoro looked at the keypad at the right of the door. But she did not have to say the instructions again. Though he was slightly confused, the man was competent enough to follow very clear directions. When he touched the bare wall, the panel formed a seam in the middle of the section and the small doors opened to reveal another keypad. “Believe it or not, it’s six, six, six… then pause. Seven, then pause. Three, three then pause. And finally, six, six.”
“That spells ‘open’?” Angoro guessed as the doors to the chamber hissed and lowered slowly into the floor.
“Well, look who’s showing he knows a few things old school!” Kaila smiled. “Yes, that is exactly what you spelled out. Head inside and hit the only green button on the control panel.”
“And after that?” Angoro asked as he approached a device that too much resembled a coffin for his tastes.
“Depends on the condition of the contents,” Kaila replied, checking the surveillance cameras once more. Everything seemed to be in place… save for… “Just how long can a person pace in their room?” she thought, keying commands to search the entire ship. She caught an image of Aleesha just outside Kaila’s room as the door was opening slowly. “She’s a sly, old fox!” the assassin thought as she smiled. “But she’s showing her age if she thinks I would be up to any shenanigans in my own room! Still, that cuts down on my time.”
“Conditions of the contents?” Angoro asked, finding the green button. He decided that he did not want to press it just yet.
“Of course, Figurehead,” Kaila replied, sounding calm again. “If medical assistance is needed, you won’t be able to call the local paramedics, you know!”
“Oh, right!” Angoro replied, sighing in relief, reaching forward and pressing the green button. Kaila then sent the command to close the doors to the chamber and lock out any changes.
“Sorry, Francis,” Kaila said as she started to close off communications. “Right place, wrong shift. If it’s any consolation, your wife and two sons will be taken care of.
“Show time, Stewart,” Kaila said, deactivating her screen and folding up her comm-board. She stuffed her paraphernalia into her backpack and started climbing up the wall closest to the bed. She was into the airshaft with the grate welded back into place when Aleesha entered Shuronne’s room.
“Ozone,” Aleesha whispered as she leveled her scanner into the room and took readings. There was definitely activity of an electronics sort recently, but according to Engineering, there had been no spikes in power usage on this entire floor. “Locate Shuronne Jassity,” Aleesha commanded.
“Recreation Center Number Two,” the computer replied.
“Length of time in that vicinity?”
“One hour, forty-seven minute and twelve seconds. Mark.”
“Locate Survaysi Graham,” Aleesha commanded. “… and give length of time as well.”
“Officer’s Quarters, Room J. Two hours, two minutes and forty-one seconds. Mark.”
“Locate Kaila Montrose, same parameters.”
“Officer Montrose has left word she does not wish to be disturbed,” the computer reported.
“Noted,” Aleesha snapped back. “My command still stands.”
“Observation Deck, Third Level. One hour, forty minute and thirty-nine seconds. Mark.”
“I need a full scan of this room and list the report as my eyes only,” Aleesha commanded as she turned to leave. She opened a line to the bridge. “This is Wohler.”
“Commander,” the crewman replied. “Per your instructions, we did find record of a transmission sent from the ship and received at a Pole Satellite near the Terran Triangle.” Aleesha sighed and dropped her hands to her sides.
“Don’t bother, crewman,” Aleesha said bitterly. “You go any further and you’ll just wind up getting us gridlocked with that satellite. Abandon search and resume your normal duties.”
“Aye, Commander.”
Aleesha turned to walk back to her quarters. Someone had set the camera in her room to monitor her. She could assume that the same had been done with the other three women who had taken claim of the remnants of the followers of Xaythra. They had been on the move for nine days, and it was at least ten more before their fifth rendezvous point; the fifth of a planned eight which would increase their number by at least one hundred thousand and add three ships to their convoy. They were on the run, true, but Survaysi had them looking like a military fleet which kept would-be pirates at bay. Aleesha had been working day and night to make sure that discipline and morale would not lower any further than they already had. The compliment of therapists had cost them a small fortune, but the money they had gained before leaving Tau Upsilon handled that expense easily, and things were beginning to return to normal.
“Much of that is thanks to Shuronne,” Aleesha thought. “I might not like the methods of our assassin, but she has yet to make a bad call. Everyone fell in behind our Chevalierra almost without fail. Even those who do not agree with her respect her. Things could be worse… a lot worse.”
** b *** t *** o *** r **
“Show time, Stewart,” the distorted voice had said and the top of the device folded away from the center, revealing a resting bed for a little boy. He could not have been older than six or seven, and Angoro looked down on him with sympathy. His eyes softened at the sight of the boy as he stirred and moaned against the brightness of the lights in the room.
“Mommy?” Stewart Campbell said as he sat up in the hard, flat bed.
A small door at the foot of the sleeping chamber opened and a vial was lifted into view. Inside the vial was a small, dark fluid, moving about the bottom of the small container. As it came more into the light, the movement increased to where it looked more like a trapped organism trying to escape its confinement.
“What the hell is that?!” Angoro asked.
“It is your invitation,” Freund projected. The assassin had kept her word, and the trade was now complete. Shuronne and the rest of the Xaythra’s former followers would probably remain unaware of the arrangement Kaila had made with the blind entity, but the assassin had been good to her word. “Your invitation to The Moment!”
“What moment?”
“The moment when you will make the decision of a lifetime,” Freund answered. “Of many lifetimes, actually. The question is, will you do what you can for your fellow man, or will you do simply according to the limits you assign yourself?”
“It’s the same thing!” Angoro argued as a slight crack formed in the small vial. The security guard looked at the young boy who seemed transfixed with the creature in the vial.
“The boy will not move on his own,” Freund advised. “He cannot. They have seen to that much. But you cannot delay. The entity in the vial will soon break through the glass and when it is free, it will possess a body. If it possesses the boy, two fragments of an ancient evil will be reunited in human form. If it possesses you, it will dominate your body and you will be made to visit pain, anguish and woe on your fellow man.” The crack grew larger and it appeared the black thing inside was getting stronger.
“That’s the same damn thing!” Angoro exclaimed.
“No, Francis, it isn’t,” Freund projected, sending a sense of calm that was completely rejected by the Angoro’s mind. “But it would appear you have already made your decision. That is… unfortunate.”
“You said if it possesses either of us, it will do evil things!” Francis cried as the vial shattered and the black object, looking very much like living liquid, fell to the floor.
“That much is assured,” Freund replied. “But in the boy, the reach and range of that evil will be interplanetary. Inside you, the range might have covered the district.”
Given the choice of targets, the small entity had little internal conflict on what it should do. Both
were fitting suitors that would keep it alive, as it could not exist in the open air for long. The larger target was more to its flavor, but something called to it from inside the smaller target, and the decision was quickly followed by action. Stewart Campbell gasped as the entity jumped from the floor, crossed the length of the bed, and landed in the middle of his chest.
“The sad truth is this, Francis: you are going to die anyway,” Freund projected. “But now you have doomed the Rims! You will still die, but even in death you will not be able to keep with the count of those who are about to join you.” Francis Freeman fell to his knees, realizing that the words telling him his family would be taken care of were meant to make him feel good. He had failed to ask in what way they would be taken care of, and his shortsightedness was going to be costly… incomprehensibly costly!
“That was a little harsh,” Tolarra said as Freund pulled his consciousness back from the chamber holding Stewart Campbell. There was no need to witness what was about to happen. The old part of Baron Nomed... Neve... whatever name it wanted to assign to itself, was about to join with the part that had seen the newer world of man. Once the contact was secured, the other fragments would feel the repercussions, a sensation that Neve had been assured Freund was unable to perceive. That was a point of information Freund was willing to allow to remain in place. A new player had indeed been added to the board as an old player is returned to the game.
“So, now there are eight,” Freund monitored, finding the points where the impression of the union of child and anti-life could be consciously felt. Now he had them in their entirety and they were blind to his awareness. The prize of this gambit had fallen to the blind one, and now he had to contend with the aftermath.
“Harsh in what way?” Freund asked as he concluded his next stratagem. “He had the opportunity to do his part to try and save humanity, and he failed to make the moment happen!”
