A. Warren Merkey

by Far Freedom

  “He is real,” the guard said.

  “I have confirmed identities on both of them,” another guard said. “This one is Admiral Igor Khalanov. That one is Doctor Phuti Mende! You are deceased, Doctor Mende! Admiral, you are aboard the Navy starship Freedom!”

  “Doctor Mende isn’t dead,” Iggy said. “We’re both aboard the Freedom. Could we perform an experiment before we go?”

  “Remain where you are,” the guard ordered. “The museum is now under a security alert. You cannot be who you are.”

  “I often feel that way,” Iggy remarked.

  Everyone in the room reacted as Iggy brought out his cryptikon. If Iggy was real, was this a real cryptikon? The guards looked from one cryptikon to the other, the one in Iggy’s hand and the one they could walk through to reach Iggy and Phuti. While the guards tried to decide what to do, Iggy manipulated the artifact and a view of the farmlands of the Freedom appeared. People walked into unseen museum walls attempting to venture out into the farmlands. Others tried to hold the floating cryptikon but couldn’t feel it. A guard tried to confiscate the cryptikon from Iggy but couldn’t grasp it.

  “Arrest them,” the senior guard ordered.

  They put restraints on Iggy and Phuti. “This will do no good,” Iggy said.

  “We have orders from the museum overseer,” the guard said. “Come with us.”

  “Which way?” Phuti asked.

  Two of the guards pointed in two different directions. Except for the cryptikon display, they couldn’t see the museum. They saw Essiin museum patrons enter the starship image through a ship bulkhead and halt, confused.

  “That way,” a guard said.

  Iggy and Phuti walked to the bulkhead with the guards, who carefully tested its solidity. The guards in front of them passed through the bulkhead; Phuti and Iggy could not. The guards behind them pushed them, to no avail.

  “You’re hurting us!” Iggy complained. “Stop! We’ll leave you now if you’ll stop pushing us into the bulkhead!”

  The remaining guards tried to pull them through the bulkhead, their disembodied arms yanking on them. Iggy became more annoyed and wrestled away from his escort. He made the view of the Freedom‘s farmland dissolve. In a few strides back through the disturbed crowd he reached the other cryptikon and stopped museum contact. Their restraints disappeared when the Essiin museum disappeared. They stood again in the starship beyond the galaxy. “Fascinating,” Iggy said with deliberate calm. “It’s well beyond fascination, of course.”

  “We need to see Patrick,” Phuti reminded him.

  “I’m almost getting used to magic.” Iggy handed Phuti his cryptikon. Iggy made the commands to connect with Patrick’s cryptikon. They walked into the image of the small starship stateroom and saw the old man in the bed. They also smelled him.

  “How can the molecules of this reality interact with our sense of smell?” Phuti wondered, wrinkling his nose. “And how can we turn it off?”

  “Wake up!” Iggy shouted.

  “This doesn’t look good.”

  Iggy touched Patrick, shook him gently. The old man opened his eyes. He squinted, rubbed his eyes, looked up from his bed. He reached out a trembling hand. Phuti took it.

  “You again,” Patrick said to Iggy. “No women?”

  “Only Phuti and me this time.”

  “Do you have anything to drink? I’ve been out of Scotch for about a hundred years.”

  “No, we’re not here yet.”

  “Well, where the hell are you? I know! I’m just dreaming!”

  “Be calm,” Phuti said. “We are real. We hope you are real. You must stay alive until we can get to you.”

  “We need you to move your cryptikon to the bridge,” Iggy said, “so we can discover where you are.”

  “I can’t move, lads. Take it yourselves.”

  “I don’t know if we can.”

  “If you can’t try, then leave my dreams!”

  They turned to find the cryptikon on a desk. Phuti reached down to touch it. He couldn’t move it, not even feel it.

  “Sorry, Patrick, we can’t move it.”

  “Alas, then! It was good to hear voices again who weren’t my usual nightmare spirits.”

  “He has a data terminal on the desk,” Phuti said. “Can you operate it?”

  “Let’s see.” Iggy touched the control surface and the display responded. “We

  358 Far Freedom need your login, Pat.”

  “My what? Are you barbarian spies, trying to break into our database? We have informants to protect. I’ll never tell you!”

  “Pat, do I have to twist your arm?”

  “How about a woman? I can pay handsomely for a nice one. Don’t know what I’ll do with her.”

  “Will you tell us your login or not, you lecherous Scots drunk?”

  “I can respond to praise when I hear it!”

  Iggy got the login and password from Patrick.

  “Can we download?” Phuti asked.

  “I’m calling Direk,” Iggy said.

  Section 025 Zakiya Explains the Mission

  “If everyone will find a place to sit,” Horss said, “we’ll get started.”

  Latecomers hurried to gather their lunch from the buffet. Several hundred uniformed crew and civilians sat around tables that held their food and drink. All others on the ship participated by shiplink. Zakiya, Sammy, Direk, Jamie, Iggy, and Aylis sat with Horss at the head table.

  “Admiral Demba,” Horss said. He sat and Zakiya rose to speak.

  “I need to apologize. If I leave anything out, please consider it covered by a blanket apology. I apologize for waiting so long to explain things to you. Because of this delay, I’m afraid you’ve received too much incorrect information through rumors and other wayward channels of information.” Sammy sat next to her. She placed her hand on Sammy’s head, gently made him tilt his head back so she could look at his face and smile. He returned her smile. He stood up. “I apologize for not introducing you to Samson. I call him Sammy. I guess we all call him Sammy, since he probably has met most of you. He likes people and he likes being famous. I’ve asked him not to talk to anyone about some of the things he’s experienced but, knowing Sammy, I suspect he’s one of those wayward channels of information I just mentioned.

  “Some of the things he could tell you should frighten you, if you could believe they were true. I found him on Earth. He was alone in the wilderness of Africa. He was close to dying of hunger and injury. He’s a perfectly normal boy who has suffered horribly, and you can see he’s survived quite well. What is so abnormal about Sammy is that he didn’t exist in the genetic records of the Mnro Clinics, nor does he have any known relatives, living or dead. He and I survived a remarkable adventure together, and even though it bears on what is to come in this meeting, I don’t want to tell you about it at this time. It’s complicated and rather unbelievable. I’ll compose a narrative as soon as I can and publish it to the ship’s database.”

  Both of them sat down but Zakiya continued to speak. “The remainder of this meeting will also be difficult for me to render into palatable pieces of information. You will have many questions, too many to answer in this meeting. Please write them to me. All questions and my answers will be posted in the ship’s database.

  “I’m gratified for your response to the impromptu data show produced by the Marines when we moored at the Five Worlds. I believe you made the correct choice by staying on the Freedom. I can’t promise you complete safety but I know you gave the Five Worlds a chance to avoid conflict with the Navy.

  “You know by now that Aylis Mnro is with us. She’s been my closest friend since the time we served together in Deep Space Fleet. You know that Admiral Khalanov and Phuti Mende are also my friends and colleagues on the crew of the Frontier . There were four other crew members of the Frontier , all of them dear to us. One of them was my husband. Another of them was married to Aylis.”

  Zakiya stopped, looked downward at the table and pondered one
more time the decision to reveal certain personal information. It still seemed necessary but it was contrary to everything Navy life ingrained in her. ” Some of you will have noticed that I’m often pensive. Perhaps I’ve rudely ignored you. It isn’t intentional. Even sitting here speaking to you, I have moments of forced introspection. I have, in my body, auxiliary memory devices that were highly experimental at the time they were installed. They are not detectable by any security scan or by most medical scans. They allow me to remember events of long ago in vivid detail, so vivid that I’m often captive to their reality. They also made me fall back in love with my husband. This was a man I loved from a distance for three decades, never believing I had a chance to be his wife. Now I’m reliving the best moments of our brief time as a couple. Perhaps you can almost imagine how powerfully this affects me. I lost him more than two centuries ago. I must confess to you that what leadership skills I may possess could be compromised by this.

  “Why do I have these memory augments? It’s true to say this mission began before I lost Alex, before Aylis knew she would build the Mnro Clinics. At some point we realized it would take a long time to accomplish this mission. We had to forget those things which would threaten our security and jeopardize our plans. We had to program ourselves to move ahead without knowing exactly what we were doing or why we were doing it. But we eventually needed to remember. The remembering part has been dangerous and unpredictable. And much too enthralling. With some modifications these memory units should become a standard part of the Mnro Clinic treatment. As an anthropologist I can appreciate the possible consequences of such technology in the continuing story of the human race. I digress.

  “How fantastic this must seem to you. I know it does to me. But this is the easiest part to believe. Now we turn to magic. Please forgive the dramatic words but you will shortly understand. Iggy?”

  Iggy rose, reached into a uniform pocket, and brought forth two cryptikons. He set them to float in the air. They began to drift with the air currents. Everyone in Zakiya’s audience had maintained a respectful silence, even when what she said should have made them react. Now they could not restrain themselves. People began to stand up and utter words and sounds of incredulity. The commotion spread away from the floating cryptikons in a wave of rising bodies and excited voices.

  “Feel free to examine them if they drift your way. For those of you with a poor vantage point I will state that these artifacts are cryptikons. We’ll make them available for everyone to inspect after the meeting.”

  Iggy sat down. Zakiya’s smile disappeared. She skimmed a list of questions Horss had already compiled for her. She waited for the commotion caused by the cryptikons to ebb. She resumed speaking when it became obvious it would be a long time before quiet would return to the meeting room. She had the advantage that everyone could hear her by shiplink.

  “The cryptikon - the one in the Essiin Museum - was so named because of its iconic beauty and the mystery of its purpose. We know at least one purpose.” The audience quieted a little at the mention of purpose. “It provides communication in real time and at any distance. More than that, it provides a level of perception that is tantamount to traveling to the place you are calling. Not everyone is able to activate a cryptikon. Admiral Khalanov and Doctor Mende may be the only humans with the ability - or with the permission - to do so. They discovered them. They also discovered beings who were possibly the makers of the cryptikons. We were allowed to keep four of the artifacts, and we decided to keep them secretly. Our reasons for doing that may have been in anticipation of their future importance to us, but we don’t yet remember enough of our history to be sure.”

  Zakiya paused to consider what to say next. She saw that Sammy ate everything on his tray and looked at the food that remained on her tray. She gave it to him. Aylis offered him some of hers and helped him transfer it. The hunger he suffered in Africa might remain with him for a long time.

  “We Deep Space explorers kept a number of discoveries secret. In most cases it was due to a desire to preserve a location for future study, to protect it from unwise exploitation. In some cases it was to protect our own species and our own culture. We made decisions that affected billions of lives. Our ship was probably the most successful exploration ship and retained the most secrets.

  “Then came the formation of the Union and the birth of the Union Navy. It was a strange time in history, filled with hope, yet somehow threatening. We returned from exploration to find Deep Space Fleet disbanded, exploration funding removed, and the new Navy exercising great power to make the Union viable. Many of us joined the Navy and discovered a new breed of military officers who were ruthless beyond reason. Alexandros Gerakis made the tactical and strategic error of trying to bring this cadre of powerful people into the open, where they could be brought to account. He didn’t realize how numerous they were or how pervasive their influence. They would do anything to retain their positions, including murder. Coincident with this was a rise in unexplained losses of commercial shipping in the outer reaches of the Union, particularly toward the galactic hub. I suspect it continues to this day, the statistics hidden by the Navy. Soon after, all traffic toward the frontier was regulated by the Navy, and no ships were allowed to go beyond the borders of the Union.

  “My husband and three others, those others who sailed with Aylis and me on the Frontier, set out to find the connection between these Navy murderers and the silent loss of ships on the frontier. This was after we suffered attacks obviously aimed at removing us from the Navy.

  “The records of Deep Space Fleet were placed off-limits to public study and eventually were destroyed. But some of us had the foresight to save copies of the operational and personnel records. Phuti and I knew it was too great a loss to human culture to lose these records. Only one place in the Union was eventually able to safely store these records - the Mnro Clinics. The public awareness caused by Alexandros Gerakis was slowly extinguished. Public memory of him was subverted by turning him into a fictional character in a series of entertainment productions. Deep Space Fleet itself became little more than a fictional concept of history.

  “The four men departed Union space long ago. Those of us who remained, along with some of our children, waited for them to return. When too many years passed without their return, we made our own plan to do what we could. This ship is a part of that plan.

  “I apologize for involving you in our personal affair and exposing you to its dangers. I hoped to find some place where I could hide everyone who wanted to be safe. It would take time and involve building another ship, in case we couldn’t return for you. But events have occurred which cause us to move on to dangerous activities.

  “It isn’t the Navy that will endanger us. What you are about to see is a recording I made more than two centuries ago. It’s in the ship’s database.” The lights dimmed and an image formed where all could see. “The object being tracked is the great starliner Titanic . I was the one doing the tracking, from a small merchant vessel. On the Titanic were the first wife and the daughter of Alexandros Gerakis, sailing to meet him in the inner frontier. They were supposed to be with me, not on the Titanic . Alex suspected the Titanic would be in danger. He was correct.

  “I stop the recording here for you to note the first small dots occluding the image of the Titanic. I’ll scan forward slowly so that you can see what happened. There are no pauses. The suddenness of the attackers is real. The disappearance of the Titanic is total. We’ve labeled the enemy vessels jumpships. Like the Freedom, they’re able to jump from point to point in space. It’s from this recording that Captain Direk and his half-brother Pan were able to see what was possible and to eventually duplicate the technology. It was this technology, used in desperation, that allowed Commodore Keshona to attack Rhyandh with three ships and avert what might have been a cataclysmic war.

  “Who operates these jumpships? Barbarians. True barbarians. They rape and pillage without conscience. They enslave. They live brutal lives
and glory in violence. If this sounds like some of our ancestors, it’s because they are us. They’ve descended from the same ancestors. They’re an evil that was apparently spawned from Earth before the Union existed. These barbarians sit in places of power in the Union. I believe Navy Commander Etrhnk is one of them.

  “Why do they not invade the Union? Why do they seem content to infiltrate, to play at despotism, to allow a few starships to disappear in the frontier regions, as did the Titanic? Our ship was, I believe, intended by the Navy to disappear into the control of these barbarians, its stores for plunder, its crew for slaves. There is an apparent synergy between the Union and the barbarians that, paradoxically, brings a stern measure of stability to the Union. If this stability should fail…

  “Sammy and I have seen these barbarians. They call themselves the Black Fleet. Many of them live in a place they call the Big Ball or Oz, a huge space country enclosed by an ocean of water and buried in a dense cluster of stars. I know there are many more space countries where barbarians live or have extensive bases of operation. I know their population rivals that of the Union. I know the volume of space they directly control contains hundreds of human physical varieties, thousands of settlements, even entire human civilizations comparable to Essiia and Rhyandh, far more than our science would have predicted, many more than Deep Space Fleet ever discovered. And there are at least three truly alien races I have actually seen for myself.

  “How do I know these things? Partly from personal experience. Sammy and I were transported through a gate to Oz. But we also have access to information through the use of cryptikons. Please return the cryptikons to Admiral Khalanov. He will show you what they can do.”

  Iggy stood up to receive the artifacts. The crew moved tables to clear an area for the demonstration. The reality of the Essiin Museum cryptikon display room built itself rapidly in the open space, its patrons standing in the Freedom’s meeting room, arrayed around the perimeter of the museum’s cryptikon pedestal. Fortunately, most Essiin were not easy to panic, but they and the Freedom ‘s crew experienced a high level of excitement, discovering they could mingle with each other, feel each other, and converse. One of the crew encountered an acquaintance among the museum patrons, a meeting which proved the two realities were synchronized. When Iggy broke the contact with the Essiin museum, the participants fell silent, perhaps struggling with recovery from the fantastic experience. Iggy was left thoughtful by what he observed.