Terrineia

by Brian Whiting

  Orlock watched as Alex let the woman stand on her own. I could have taken a little better care of her, he thought to himself while the man named Alex had pulled something from his jacket. It was small and white.

  “Here.” Iesala said as she reached down to pick up the bone wig.

  “Nevermind we need to move.” Alex said holding the woman’s hand with his left and the white object in his right.

  The four of them walked out into the corridor, Orlock trailing behind. The two guards standing at the far door protecting the airfield pulled out their sticks, the blue tips glowing brightly.

  “I’ll take care of the men.” Iesala whispered.

  “I can’t risk them stunning you and you getting trapped here.” Alex said as he pointed the white object at the guard to the left. The guards looked at him as if they waited for an explanation before they began to swing their clubs.

  Pop.

  Pop.

  Alex watched as both guards dropped to the floor.

  “You killed them! How? Why? They were just doing their jobs!” Orlock yelled as they walked over the bodies and opened the outer door. They all walked outside.

  Iesala stopped in her tracks and faced him almost nose to nose.

  “What part of saving the galaxy don’t you understand? You’re jeopardizing everything you love if you don’t see him complete his mission.”

  He looked at the two dead comrades. His mind was whirling at the technology to bring down two men instantly at a distance. Rumors of that having existed once before sprang to mind but those things never followed them to this planet, so his grandfather once said anyway.

  He wanted to question the story, if he could believe it perhaps he would be willing to help.

  “Which way?” Alex asked.

  Orlock looked as the door began to close, down the hallway. Several people were approaching from the other end. He turned right and began to jog along the building as the others closely followed him. The vehicles that happened to be out of sight due to a small partition wall came into view quickly. They all took an empty seat as Orlock took the controls. Activating the vehicle, he took off at max speed towards the northwest.

  “I heard that someone broke through the northwest portion of the fence today.” Orlock stated as if it were an interesting fact, but he waited impatiently for someone to admit it.

  “That would be me.” Iesala said.

  “Good, point the way.” Orlock knew that it would be likely there would be guards posted at the opening, but there was nowhere else to attempt to get thru the fence. Iesala pointed and they rode swiftly over the smooth concrete like ground. The drive to the fence was uneventful until the base alarms started going off.

  “Just get us out of this base, I know where we can hide.” Iesala looked behind them.

  Orlock took a quick moment to notice Iesala. She was confident, he liked confident woman. If she cleaned up she might even be attractive. He tried to see her form but she returned her attention to the front too quickly and he did the same.

  “The opening is right over there.” Iesala pointed towards the approaching fence line. In front of it was a vehicle similar to the one they were using. Two people were leaning back in the seats with their feet propped up, they glanced over at them but didn’t seem to mind.

  “They might think we are replacements.” Orlock said as he considered driving past them.

  “No.” was all Iesala managed to say as she took the control bar with her hand and pushed it. Sending the vehicle directly into the side of the guard vehicle.

  When Orlock opened his eyes, he noticed his head was bleeding. Reaching up he felt tremendous pain, the tip of one of the spurs on his bone crest had broken off.

  “Hey, everyone ok?” Alex asked.

  “Why in the masters presence did you do that!” Orlock shouted as he considered the condition of the guards and then the street and surrounding buildings on the other side of the fence, worried there might be witnesses. The nearest guard was certainly dead as his disfigured head hung loosely.

  “They would have chased us and we are close to our hiding spot, we cannot afford anyone chasing us.” Iesala said simply.

  Orlock stepped out of the vehicle and followed the others as they passed through the fence which had been bent inward. Large enough to fit one person at a time.

  “Thank you for your assistance, Orlock, but we can take it from here.” Iesala said as she tiled her head towards the nearest intersection.

  “Unacceptable.” Orlock shouted. “I am a traitor, I will not be allowed to go back and expect to live.”

  “We’ll your not coming with us.” Iesala said coming to a halt.

  There was a snap of something down the well lit road, but there didn’t seem to be anything going on. Except the base alarms in the distance continued to blare.

  “I am coming.” Orlock demanded.

  “You have been aiding the empire for your whole life, do you think I’m going to trust you just because you opened a door for me?”

  “There’s nothing there for me in the empire, there’s nothing for anyone. Once they finish furnishing the ship they will leave us here, and I’m not just talking about the common people, I mean everyone.”

  “As much as that sounds like a bad thing, let me tell you something worse. Out there in deep space there is an enemy, a computer that builds more of itself endlessly. Millions of vessels, tens of thousands of planets destroyed. Hundred of trillions of sentient beings slaughtered. They will come like a swarm and blot out your star, day will turn into night. Your weapons might destroy countless numbers of them, but there are always thousands more to take their place. Everyone on this planet will be killed, wherever they take that ship and flee to will be destroyed as well. There is no hope here. I must return to my planet and finish my weapons to kill these things before it’s too late for everyone. Now, are you going to help me or not?” Alex stood and impatiently waited, as he did Orlock’s expressions subtly shifted.

  “I’m going to help you.” Orlock replied.

  “Then he’s coming.” Alex stared at Iesala.

  She grunted something and continued towards the nearest intersection.

  “What did you mean when you said they will finish furnishing?” Alex asked.

  “I am a junior master, I was asked my advice on the feasibility of turning a room into a small hanger bay on the ship for one air mover. I toured the ship, just a week ago. It appeared to be complete. I asked my guide if the ship was done, we had built a report during the tour and he seemed a good man. So when he told me, that they just needed to load the last few things and that a secret gathering was in the works, I believed him.”

  “Tsssst! This is terrible news.” Iesala said.

  “What, what is it?”

  “The rebels exist because my grandfather learned of this evil plot and rebelled against the leaders, he was going to tell everyone. He was killed before he succeeded and they took the evidence from him. Without proof, our word means nothing. We have put plans in motion to reveal what we know and let everyone know what our Master intends to do, then we will open the doors to the ship and let everyone in.”

  “There’s not enough space for everyone.” Orlock said plainly.

  “Yes, we know that. But we can set up a free and fair system to give everyone a chance.” Iesala looked him in the eye. “Alex maybe when it’s all over I can see your planet Earth?”

  “Sure, but can we get off the street before we are found?” Alex whispered. There was a flurry of activity occurring on the base but the street remained quiet.

  * * *

  (Maui)

  The Empires famous news reporter Maui Tastic was completing her work for the evening at her work terminal. Soon she would be presenting the evening summary news. Watched by most, if not all, residents of the empire. The empire cultivated her personality from an early age and she had always been willing to do what was necessary for the empire. She was the complete package. Beautiful, intellige
nt, and had a way to serenade people with her words. However, she was not happy with her career. She suspected she was like many other people in the empire. Stuck, with no hope of a real escape. She too, had heard the rumors that the empire was going to take the ship and leave everyone behind.

  After thinking about it, she thought that it wouldn’t be such a bad thing, they could create a real government after they all left. She was tapping her nails on her notepad deep in thought.

  “Feeling adventurous today?”

  Maui looked up at her supervisor. She had always like him. He was direct and never seemed to care if his opinion was contrary to the empires. However, he was a very good liaison to the empire always doing what was necessary.

  “No I’m just getting ready for my spot.” She looked up at her timepiece. She didn’t have all that long.

  “I want you to deliver the summary off site tonight.”

  Maui perked up. “What do you mean, where?”

  “I want you to go to this intersection.”

  Her supervisor handed her a folded piece of paper with the intersection listed on it.

  “Why, I don’t understand –“

  “You will when you get there.” He said and walked away.

  Going off site to deliver the evening news summary was not unheard of. In fact, it occurred about once a week. Only these things were planned far in advance and approved by the empire. To do this last minute stoked her curiosity in powerful ways. Grabbing her notes she darted through her office where a dozen or so others worked to prepare the broadcast for the summary. She went to her cameraman Davi who was sleeping in his seat as was his daily routine.

  She kicked the seat, she didn’t mean for it to be so hard but she was excited.

  “Get the camera and meet me at our rig.”

  “Wait… are you sure?” He wiped his eyes and blinked several times.

  “Yes, hurry I have approval, we are going off site for the summary.”

  Without another word Davi grabbed the large camera and followed Maui out of the building as their co-workers looked on in confusion.

  It was night out but those who worked for the news had special clearance to be out after curfew into about a quarter of the night. She herself had special clearance to be out whenever she wanted as long as it pertained to her job.

  She sat in the vehicle and waited for Davi to load the camera and start the vehicle. The moment he did she handed him the same folded paper and said, “Take us there.”

  “What is happening there?” Davi asked curiously.

  “I really don’t know, we will find out together.”

  Davi gave her a questingly look but knew better than to argue. He knew someone higher up the corporate ladder must have directed her and there weren’t too many rungs above her position.

  It was a long drive and it made them both nervous to learn that the intersection bordered the airbase. They had permission to be out for sure but they were just asking to be harassed by patrols.

  Davi pulled the vehicle close up to a building. Maui suspected the building was a large warehouse. She looked at her timepiece and had a momentary panic as the time to start the summary was awfully close.

  “Why are we here.” Davi asked.

  “I really don’t know.” Maui replied as she looked around the completely boring and uneventful intersection.

  “It doesn’t matter, are you ready we gotta do this.” Davi activated the camera.

  She checked her timepiece to see how many moments before they went live. Knowing he would make made sure the entire intersection was in the view behind her, with the airfield in the far background.

  In her mind she figured her boss had a tip that went bad and now they might have to explain why they broke established protocol and failed to give the empire a heads up on the location change. In an effort to protect herself and her boss she quickly skimmed the topics of conversation today and decided to lead off with one of the lowest priority topics for the evening. A blue light activated on the camera and she did a last moment check of her hair. She reached up and made sure there was no hair hanging on her bone crest.

  “You’re good.” Davi said.

  The light changed to yellow.

  “Good Evening. I am Maui Tastic your source for what’s current. This evening I am at a major intersection of the Empire where goods and services are transported to the ship under construction. Rumors have caught like wildfire that the empire is evacuating and is going to leave everyone behind. Well, as you can see here there is nothing going on. There is no evacuation underway, the goods are not being transported in the middle of the night.”

  Davi looked beyond his eyepiece and was focused on something behind Maui. If she wasn’t live she would have looked herself.

  “In other news, The Master was seen in the marketplace meeting with Master of coin who told him that the produce market is increasing costs as the supply is dwindling due to the recent drought.”

  Davi moved the camera far enough that Maui knew she was no longer the focus of the broadcast. She turned when she heard a loud boom of crunching metal. It appeared that two empire vehicles had collided near the edge of the fence.

  “Tisssst… it appears there has been a collision over there just beyond the fence line.” Maui said as she and her cameraman approached the intersection.

  A soft Pop… Pop was heard.

  “What was that?” Davi muttered.

  Maui looked at him and tried to think of what to say. “I hope our brave comrades in arms of the empire are all ok?” Maui continued to approach and was just starting to cross the intersection when people started coming through the fence line. Muai and Davi ran for a small nearby hedge that was dying.

  Davi refocused the camera on the group standing in the middle of the road.

  “Directional mic.” Maui whispered.

  Davi snapped a dead branch with his foot as he pulled out and attached the long distance mic onto his camera then refocused the camera back on the group.

  “There’s nothing there for me in the empire, there’s nothing for anyone. Once they finish furnishing the ship they will leave us here, and I’m not just talking about the common people, I mean everyone.”

  “As much as that sounds like a bad thing, let me tell you something worse. Out there in deep space there is an enemy a computer…”

  “Are you getting this?” Maui asked hearing the conversation of those in the road.

  Davi gave her the affirmative sign with his free hand.

  As the conversation between those at the fence grew in length it became apparent that this was why she was at the intersection. This would be the biggest story of her carrier. Maui thought about adding some commentary but decided that the story was narrating itself and she should just stay out of it.

  Then when one of them talked about his grandfather, the first rebel, discovering the corruption in the empire, she began to get concerned, not just for her own career or even for her life. But for her people, family and friends. This was devastating news. She checked the camera light to make sure they were still broadcasting. Still going, she thought to herself. Wondering why the empire hadn’t shut down the broadcast yet.

  The shattering news just kept coming but then stopped as their subjects decided to get off the street.

  “Are we going to follow them?” Davi asked.

  “Are you asking me if we are going to follow the rebels to a secret base, are you kidding me?” She stood and began to jog. Immediately she regretted what she had said and turned to the camera once more. “How could we be good citizens of the empire if we did not discover this location and inform the empire of the location to the den of lies.”

  She returned to jogging not believing a word of what she just said. They turned down a small alley in between two warehouses and they followed close behind, still unnoticed.

  CHAPTER 19

  TINDER BOX

  (Alex)

  “YOU BROUGHT A camera team with you!” one of the me
n shouted as he slammed the door.

  Alex spun and looked at two people one holding a camera with a blue light.

  “That’s Maui, shes the empires pet regurgitator.”

  Alex watched Maui look at the camera taking note of the blue light then responded. “I’ll have you know my boss told me to be at that intersection tonight which went against our programming for the evening. Your entire conversation on the road went live to the empire.”

  Everyone stopped and appeared deep in thought. Alex figured they were reviewing the conversation they had on the road like he was doing.

  “This is terrible!” Orlock said faintly.

  “This is supreme! There’s going to be riots in the streets.” Iesala said smiling.

  “She’s right.” The man who had been there when they arrived said. He too appeared to be enjoying the turn of events.

  “Is it still broadcasting?” Alex asked.

  “Recording yes, broadcasting no.” the cameraman replied.

  Alex held onto Alesti as she remained quiet through the conversations going on around her. He took a quick moment to sense her feelings.

  “Are you really from another planet?” Maui asked. Alex nodded his head, and paid attention to the camera now pointing at him, with the attention of everyone else in the room.

  “Yes and everything you heard on the road is true.”

  “What do we do now?” Orlock asked.

  “Nothing… we sit here and do nothing.” The unknown man said.

  “This broadcast is going to enrage and frighten a lot of people.” Iesala said.

  “Yeah, they are going to step up their launch date.” Orlock replied.

  “Do you know when it is?” the unknown man said.

  “It was within a week or so, but if I had to guess now… I’d say before the morning. I bet they are going to enact an early curfew tomorrow and extract the leaders.” Orlock said.

  “You’ve got to stop them.” Alesti whispered to Alex but everyone in the room heard her.

  Everyone was looking at Alex and it made him slightly uncomfortable. It wasn’t the attention, it was that whatever he was about to say would have consequences and he knew it.