by R. E. Weber
‘Orientator?’ said Theo, surprised.
‘Do you not recognise me?’ said Orientator flatly.
‘Oh yes, I mean…I erm.,’ stuttered Theo. ‘…I didn’t expect to see you here. What’s going on? Where am I?’
‘This will be explained…’
‘…to you soon,’ said Theo finishing the sentence. ‘Yeh, I kind of guessed.’
Orientator stared at Theo silently for a moment. Then he turned and strode quickly away.
‘I’ll just follow you then, shall I?’ said Theo sarcastically.
Orientator stopped and turned to look at Theo, cocking his head to one side. ‘I would have thought that would be obvious to you by now,’ he said. Then, without waiting for a response, he turned and walked on.
Theo smiled as he followed Orientator. Despite his surprise, it was nice to see a familiar face in this otherwise strange place.
After several minutes, they finally arrived at the entrance to another room, either side of which were two Polisian guards holding portable scanners.
‘Stand in the circle in front of you,’ said Orientator.
‘Yeh, yeh, I know the drill,’ said Theo, dutifully stepping forward and standing still while he was scanned.
‘Cleared for access. Step to your left.’
Theo stepped to one side while the second guard repeated the process on Orientator. Once they had both been cleared, the doorway opened and they were escorted through into the room beyond.
Once inside the room, Theo looked around in amazement. They were in a huge, circular, white room, at least two hundred meters across by about thirty meters high. Dotted around the room in seemingly random locations, were about half a dozen or so grey circular columns, each perhaps six or seven meters wide and as tall as the room itself. Elsewhere, there were maybe a hundred beings of various species, clustered together in small groups. Some of the groups appeared to be deep in conversation, while others were gesturing towards three-dimensional images and talking animatedly. Others still, seemed to be demonstrating equipment or tools of some sort while others looked on.
Looking across to the far side of the room, he noticed that one of the groups appeared to be engaged in what looked like some sort of mock fighting, and so, curious to see what was happening, he turned on his companion’s zoom to take a closer look. There seemed to be two Polisians standing facing each other while several other beings looked on. One of the two Polisians was standing perfectly still, and the other, which was standing about three meters away, pulled out some sort of short rod from its belt and seemed to flick a button. Suddenly, a long spike burst out of the rod, forming a lethal looking, stabbing weapon about a meter or so long. Then, without warning, it lunged forward with the weapon, thrusting it hard towards the other Polisian. For a brief moment, it looked like the Polisian standing still might get badly injured. But then the weapon glanced away sideways, accompanied by a shower of white sparks as if hitting some kind of invisible shell. The attacking Polisian stepped back, grasped the weapon with both hands and lunged forward again, this time aiming for a different part of its body. Again, the weapon was deflected away. The attacking Polisian tried several further similar moves, but each time the response was the same: the weapon glanced away sideways as if deflected.
The two beings stood upright and uttered something to each other, which Theo couldn’t hear. The attacking Polisian then flicked the button on the rod, withdrawing the spike. It clipped the weapon back on its belt, stepped backwards and paused for a moment. Then it launched itself hard towards the other Polisian. But as it hit the invisible shell, the attacking Polisian didn’t just glance off it like the weapon had. It was hurled bodily backwards, in what looked like slow motion, before hitting the ground with a resounding thud. For a moment, it lay there on its back, clearly dazed, and Theo wondered if it might have been injured. Then slowly, and looking a little stunned, it lifted itself into a sitting position and looked up towards the other Polisian, which had already stepped forward and was holding out its arms to help. After it had hoisted the stunned Polisian to its feet, the two creatures stood and faced each other, dipped their heads lightly, then turned to speak to the other beings. What had he been watching? Had they been testing some sort of personal shield?
Turning his attention away from the mock fighting, Theo happened to glance up and see that another Polisian was hovering in mid-air about twenty meters above the ground, totally motionless. Then, as he watched, the Polisian seemed to just vanish into nowhere. Startled, he looked around to see where it had gone. Then he noticed that it had re-appeared several meters away. Again as he watched, it hovered motionless for a few seconds, before vanishing and re-appearing almost instantaneously on the other side of the room. Several times, the same thing happened, almost as if it were teleporting itself around the room into seemingly random locations. But the more Theo watched, the more he began to see something else. It wasn’t actually teleporting at all. It was just moving very quickly. Extremely quickly. Almost too quickly for the human eye to detect. Theo smiled to himself. This new world never ceased to amaze him.
Then he happened to glance at one of the half dozen or so grey circular columns that were dotted around the room. He hadn’t paid much attention to them as he’d entered the room, but now as he stared at the column, he suddenly had an odd feeling. It hadn’t been there before. Of course, he couldn’t be certain because he hadn’t been paying much attention. But the more he looked at it now, the more he was convinced that he would have noticed it. They were, after all, pretty hard to miss. Curious, he zoomed into the column to examine it more carefully. Then, as he scanned its featureless surface, suddenly and to his amazement, it just seemed to shimmer and vanish into thin air, and several beings that had been hidden inside the column, turned and walked away. Secret meetings behind magic walls. What was this place?
One by one as each of the beings in the room noticed Theo, they stopped what they were doing and stared at him, and he suddenly felt very uneasy. Sensing his unease, Orientator, who had been standing silently to his side allowing him time to take in the view, gestured towards a gathered group in the centre of the room.
‘Proceed,’ he said.
Relieved, Theo began to head towards the group, and the other beings that had been staring at him, gradually turned away to carry on with their work.
‘What is this place, Orientator?’ said Theo, glancing around the room as he walked. Orientator didn’t answer immediately, but as they reached the gathering in the centre, he stopped and turned to face Theo.
‘I am surprised that you don’t know the answer,’ said Orientator.
‘But how on Earth would I know where we are?’ said Theo.
Again, Orientator didn’t answer, and just as Theo was about to launch into an angry speech about how he had been woken in the middle of the night, without explanation, and dragged to a base that wasn’t even listed on his companion, one of the other Polisians from the gathered group, who had noticed Theo, stepped forward and dipped its head lightly.
‘Welcome, Theopolis James Logan,’ said the Polisian. ‘Welcome to Star Agency Command.’
‘Star Agency Command?’ said Theo, confused. ‘I’ve never heard of it.’
‘That is surprising,’ said a familiar voice, which seemed to be coming from nowhere in particular.
‘Erm, hello, First Mentor. Where are you?’ said Theo looking for the familiar glowing column, but not finding it.
‘Ah that is the question,’ said the disembodied voice.
‘Are you always this cryptic?’ said Theo.
‘Not always,’ replied First Mentor, ‘but often.’
Suddenly, a shimmering wall, similar to one he’d seen moments ago, dropped down around the group of gathered beings, and within seconds it had surrounded them completely.
‘Privacy engaged,’ said a voice as the wall touched the floor.
Theo looked back at the shimmering wall. He could still see the other beings outside, busi
ly going about their business. But now their images were blurred and the sounds of their voices had been reduced to a faint murmur.
‘Please sit down,’ said Orientator, gesturing to a row of seats, which had just appeared out of the floor in front of them. Theo made his way forward and sat down, taking the centre seat of the row. The remainder of the gathered beings then took their seats around him.
‘Can they hear us out there?’ said Theo.
‘They cannot,’ said First Mentor. ‘We have a one way privacy shield engaged.’
‘Oh,’ said Theo. ‘Clever.’
‘Anyway,’ said First Mentor, ‘may I also welcome you to Star Agency Command.’
‘Erm, I still can’t see you,’ said Theo, looking around the room. ‘I’m not sure where to look. We humans like to kind of see who we’re talking to.’
‘If it helps,’ said First Mentor, ‘I can make myself visible.’
‘Yeh,’ said Theo, ‘that’d be good.’
About three meters in front of Theo, a small hole appeared in the floor. Then a bright ribbon of light twisted its way up through the hole, closely followed by another and then another. Finally, after several seconds, there were dozens of glowing ribbons of light swirling around in a tight spinning column, suspended just above the floor. As he watched, the column began to spin faster and faster. Then suddenly, each of the glowing ribbons shot out in a different direction and began to dive, spin, swirl and twist around everybody in the room in what seemed to be some kind of incredible cosmic aerobatic display. After about thirty seconds, as suddenly as it started, the display stopped, and each of the ribbons gathered back together in the centre in a tight spinning column. Theo stared back speechless for several seconds, before finally forcing out a few words.
‘Is... is that you First Mentor? I mean, the real you?’
‘What you see is the narrow portion of me that exists in the visible electromagnetic spectrum. There is far more structure to my being than you are able to sense. But in answer to your question, in essence, yes, what you can see is me. Would you prefer it if I formed the more familiar approximation of a human face?’
‘No, I’m ok,’ stuttered Theo, still staring in disbelief at the spinning column. ‘I never knew. I never knew you were so... well I mean, what you really looked like. It’s amazing.’
‘Do you have any idea why you are here?’ said First Mentor.
‘No. I mean, I…. well, what is this place? What is this Star Agency?’
‘The Star Agency Theo is the collective name for the Affinity Government agencies dedicated to countering threats to Affinity. This includes Policing of Advanced Technology, Intelligence Gathering, Counter Intelligence and Advanced Scientific Research programs, all of which are required to remain exclusively outside the Public domain. Star Agency Command is the control centre for all Star Agency operations.’
‘So what you’re saying is that The Star Agency is the Affinity’s Secret Service. Like MI6 or something?’
‘MI6 is a part of your own government’s secret service on Earth, however it is not the whole. In a similar way, there are many sub agencies within the Star Agency, each dealing with different specific threats.’
‘OK,’ said Theo. ‘So what am I doing here? D…did I do something wrong? Was it that fight I got into with the Protah? Is that something to do with this? Am I some sort of threat to the Affinity?’
‘Let me re-assure you Theo, you are not in any trouble. Indeed, far from it, your presence here should be considered an honour. It is in fact the Star Agency that needs your assistance.’
‘Me? How can I help you? I mean, what can I possibly do that everybody else here can’t?’
‘No Theo, you misunderstand me. Of course, there are others more than capable of carrying out the task we have in mind for you. But that would defeat the purpose. We need you to complete this task for us. We need to you to show us how you would deal with it.’
‘But I haven’t even finished my Orientation yet. I’ve still got lots to learn. I can’t even speak Affinity Common that well. I can’t see how I’d be any use to you.’
‘Your command of the language is adequate for the task we have in mind.’
‘Which is?’ said Theo.
‘Your assignment is a low level, low threat mission.’
‘A mission?’ said Theo.
‘Correct,’ said First Mentor.
‘So what are you saying? You want me to be a secret agent or something?’
‘No Theo, this is just a reconnaissance mission. You will be required to observe and gather information only. A full briefing for the mission will be provided, assuming you accept.’
‘So I do have a choice then?’ said Theo.
‘You always have a choice,’ said First Mentor.
‘So when are you planning to send me on this mission then?’
‘If you are in agreement, then the mission will commence immediately.’
‘Straight away? But what about training? Surely you aren’t going to send me on a mission without training?’
‘You already know that which you need to know to complete the task. Any other preparation would negate the value of the mission.’
‘What does that mean?’ said Theo.
‘It means that you cannot prepare for the unknown Theo and we cannot assess how you would react to it. What we need to test are your natural instincts.’
‘But this is a training mission right? A test of some sort? Not a real mission?’
‘The situation presented to you is genuine. It is not a fabrication. It is a low level, low threat mission.’
‘Is it dangerous?’
‘As I have said, it is a low threat mission.’
‘So it’s a low threat mission then. Not a no threat mission?
‘Correct, Theo. We cannot possibly mitigate all risks to you. However if you match or exceed our expectations in this task, it will lead you to a life you cannot begin to imagine. It is of the highest honour to receive such an invitation within the Affinity. It is almost unprecedented for a being such as yourself.’
For several seconds, Theo stared at First Mentor in silence. Had it been planning this mission for him all along? Was that why he had been warned of dangers just before he’d returned to Earth?
‘We do require an immediate response,’ said First Mentor firmly, interrupting Theo’s train of thought.
‘But can’t you tell me a bit about the mission first and then let me decide?’
‘We cannot,’ said First Mentor. ‘Do you wish to participate or not?’
Theo thought for a moment. It was crazy. He didn’t even know where he was going or what he was going to be doing. He could be injured, or even killed. And he’d never even heard of the Star Agency until a few minutes ago. But now they wanted to send him on a mission. But then he had to remind himself that it was Mist telling him all this, rather than a stranger. Mist would never risk his life; at least as far as he knew.
‘Theo, I must press you for a response,’ said First Mentor. ‘I’m sorry, but it is essential that we know now. Otherwise, we will have to allocate other personnel to the task. We need to proceed immediately.’
Theo stood up and looked around him. ‘It will lead you to a life you cannot begin to imagine.’ The words floated in his mind, daring him to throw caution to the wind. Then he turned to look at First Mentor’s newly revealed form in front of him. Perhaps it was trying to tell him something. Perhaps, by showing its true form to him, it was showing him that it trusted him. After all, it hadn’t shown itself to Ruby or the others – he knew it hadn’t because he’d often discussed the matter of its true appearance with them. So perhaps it was an unspoken way of telling him to trust Mist back. He looked around the room at the various beings outside the privacy curtain, going about their business. All those creatures were working for the Star Agency, probably going on missions and almost certainly taking risks. Why not him? He looked up at the Polisian darting around above his head. At the very lea
st he could get to play with some of the amazing technology he’d seen, to say nothing of what he hadn’t seen. If he said no now, how would he feel later? Like an idiot? Or a coward? Or like he had missed out on the adventure of a lifetime? All those days back on Earth when he’d been sat in a classroom, half listening to a teacher droning on about something or other he’d had no interest in, while he’d been dreaming of being somewhere else, doing something more exciting. Now he had the chance, right here and right now.
Slowly, a smile crept across his face. It was madness and he knew it. But he didn’t care. He turned towards the spinning column of light in front of him, which he knew was his mentor and friend. He could barely believe what he was about to say.
‘Count me in,’ he said firmly.
‘I am pleased to hear this, Theo. I will take my leave of you now. Orientator will brief and equip you for the mission. We will meet later on board the transport ship.’
‘You mean, you’re coming with me?’ said Theo.
‘I will accompany you to the drop off point,’ said First Mentor.
‘Cool,’ said Theo.
‘We will reconvene at Mission time PSN: 00:40:00,’ said First Mentor.
‘Until then,’ replied Theo.
Then the hole in the floor opened up, and First Mentor swam gracefully through the air before diving into the hole and out of sight.
‘Right then,’ said Theo, rubbing his hands and turning to face Orientator. ‘Where can I get my hands on a laser blaster?’
*
Suddenly, in front of Theo, the shimmering three-dimensional image of a planet appeared.
‘This is the planet Athonesis,’ said Orientator, pointing at the slowly rotating image suspended in front of him. ‘It is approximately 0.15 the mass and 0.4 of the surface gravity of Polisium. Its atmosphere is extremely thin and is composed largely of carbon dioxide. Unprotected exposure to the atmosphere will result immediate tissue damage and, shortly after, death due to asphyxiation and extreme cold.’
