by Selina Brown
Why didn’t they render her unconscious?
She chided herself, this way she could look for opportunities to escape. No wonder her guard refused her requests to go out on her so-called missions. Why hadn’t she paid more attention and listened to Diane? Typical that Ara’s mind was so clear now. She was jostled down, and then something covered her, something warm. She was pushed back onto a soft surface, and then her hood taken off. It was dark, she couldn’t see and panicked a little until a hatch opened, light filtered through from a passage, and a wide figure stepped out and closed the hatch.
Breathing harshly, she tried to get control over herself.
Her eyes adjusted. It wasn’t as dark as she thought. To her left was a wall, to her right were shelves, Empty, she thought. Getting up, her legs felt weak. “Breathe, Ara.”
She moved around feeling her way, hugging the blanket around her. The room was bare, attached furnishings only. Maybe they knew of her tantrums. She giggled again. Sitting back on the bed, she shimmied back, leaning on the cold wall, and pulled her knees up. There was almost no noise, but no noise sometimes was too loud. She dozed off and woke to a smell.
Jerking awake, she slithered into the corner fixing the blanket around her.
The room was lighter.
On the table near the far wall was a tray. She stared at it for several minutes, trying to ignore her stomach. She ate when stressed and pulled her finger from her mouth. Studying the blanket, she noted the thickness, softness, and warmth. Her captors did not mean to kill her just yet but she couldn’t identify the material in hopes of identifying those who dared kidnap her.
Hunger and stress won out. Moving slowly, stopping at every imagined noise, she pulled the tray onto the bed and ate the offerings. It was a meal of meat, vegetables, and even dessert. The water was crisp and tasteless, filtered evidently.
Looking around, she noted that, to the left of the table, along the wall, was a line in an arch shape. With the blanket around her shoulders, she put the tray down, and ran her fingers along the crack. There was an indent in the wall beside the crack that she ran her finger along. The door slid to one side revealing a small bathroom—shower, toilet, and basin. There was a towel, so the bathroom ran with water. Working the finger pads, she managed to get hot water and the steam was pulled up and out. Stripping, she stood under the hot jets of water finding tubes of soap and hair products. Worried about water restrictions and allocation, she fingered the pads and the water stopped. She opened the cubicle finding her blanket and clothes gone. Shit.
Looking around, she discovered a pink towel, thankfully large, and wrapped it around herself. There was a smaller towel for hands, but she used it for her hair. There was probably a way to air dry her hair but she didn’t want to turn her back to the door. Drying first and rewrapping the towel, she peeked out. The bed now had linen, and a thick cover. The room was warmer. The tray had been taken away but more water had been delivered. A bag was sitting on the bed. Her bag. No doubt they had cleared it of anything useful. Walking out, she dumped the contents onto the bed—clothes, a reader, and socks. No shoes.
Smart. It would make it harder for her to run away.
Pulling on underclothes, soft pants, a top, and then socks, she checked all the bedding hoping to find some clues to where they came from; there wasn’t a design by which to identify an artist, so she climbed into bed. Exhausted. But as her head touched the pillow she couldn’t sleep, instead she found herself staring at the hatch. She didn’t want to sleep with her back to the door. After a few hours of staring, sleep finally claimed her. Upon awakening, she finally had the ability and attempted to send out an emergency call to the Cardinal Unit, then Maya, but nothing. No data burst confirming her imminent rescue. To her shame, earlier fear had made her impotent. She smelled food again. Breakfast it seemed.
Days dragged on with her cabin lights dimming and illuminating, telling her the time—or false time. She began to read all her books again for a few moments disappearing into another world. There were no public announcements, never did she see anyone after that initial time, and she grew bored.
Finally, on the sixth day, there was a new vibration. And a thud. Ara threw her things back into her bag and waited. At first, she paced up and down then sat on the bed, her legs jumping up and down. The lights went out, and the hatch opened. Her plan to run out and at least get an idea of where she was didn’t work. Light blinded her and by the time she stood, the bag went over her head. She was lifted and carted away. Her captor stepped over several things and then the footsteps changed, softer sounds, hums were different, smells … like space station air, but too quiet. They moved into an enclosed space, her captor was silent, and smelled only of soap; the movement was down then out, left, right, around—that was odd—then in. She was placed down and left alone again. She assumed she was alone.
This time Ara pulled off the hood, seeing the bag on a bed and a larger room before her. Walking around, she looked through the cupboards, drawers and bathroom, tried out the small sofa, tried the hatch, kicked the door, and looked around checking for sensors. On the wall to the left of the hatch was something, she studied the patch. There had once been something there. Probably safely procedures. In truth, she had no idea how long she had been taken. Ara sat on the bed, again drawing her legs up, wrapped her arms around and rocked back and forward. She was drifting off to sleep, leaning on the back wall, and kept jerking awake as her head fell to her chest. Startled, she blinked her eyes, realizing there was a male in her room. The male who had looked at her with such hatred. He was dressed in dark blue slacks, a white shirt, and dark shoes. There was nothing threatening in the way he looked, but the hatred was just beneath the surface.
“Ara, my lovely. I want to talk about an alliance.”
He actually picked at his nails as he said this, and Ara tried to see his energy but something was blocking her attempts.
“That, my dear, is me. Now, be a good girl and behave.”
“An alliance with who and for what?”
“With me and for life.”
“And you are?” She was proud how strong her voice sounded.
“You may call me the Viper.”
“‘The Viper’ or will just ‘Viper’ do?” she asked facetiously.
His mouth twitched trying not to smile. “Viper.”
“And your friend in the climbing hall?”
“Cobra.”
“Two Snakes.”
“Three actually.”
So Ara managed to think clearly enough to test him, and Trickster’s knowledge. But she was thinking of herself in the third person. That wasn’t a good sign.
“His designation?”
“Krait.”
“I see.”
“Do you?”
She cringed. “Not really. Look, can’t you use the normal channels? Send me an email?”
He smiled. “I could but this is more dramatic.”
“So, do I get to leave this room and attend an important meeting?”
“Hmmm, no. This kidnapping isn’t my doing. I’m just taking advantage of it. A little distraction for your guards and the Tuan.”
Her heart thudded against her chest. “Wouldn’t this be drawing attention?”
“Yes, but it is also masking my presence, and who would think I’d be here now?”
“Right, I’ll remember that tactic.” His cunning ways frightened her.
Viper moved closer to her. “Don’t be afraid, I’m not going to hurt you.”
Ara thought there was a “much” or “yet” at the end of that sentence.
“If I told you that there is another world out there, a world in which you could be happy and free of pain, suffering, and have a strong voice in how things are run, what would you say?”
It wasn’t what she was expecting him to say. This wasn’t about the Genocide Vote. “I’d want proof, and want to know what happens to this current world.”
He took a chair from the table setting an
d placed it closer to the bed. “There is no proof because the system is new, starting up. You’d be there with me and others to build a new society, a new family, a new empire.”
Ara had seen the faults of Aryan Society, more so of late, but it sounded ridiculous. “And how many others are invited?”
“A few million, trapped against their will. Abused in a sense. Wronged.”
Ara noted the pain on his face. “And those here in Aryan Society?”
He looked confused for a moment; his narrow features became bird like with intensity. “This society isn’t the only society, Ara.”
She frowned, thinking of the other Cardinal Units and Mayas. “And what will happen to this world?”
He shrugged. “It’s dying; can’t you see that?”
Chewing her finger wasn’t helping so she moved to the end of the bed, and dropped her legs down. Studying his face, she saw he was serious. She had wanted this opportunity. She opened her mouth but he raised a finger.
“I can give you the one thing no one else can give you.”
She almost snorted in disbelief but her heart stilled at his next words.
“You are key to our success, Ara Katron. I can tell you why you are the Mobile Unit, who you work for, why you are their Vanguard, and why Korbet has inserted himself so neatly into your life.”
She swallowed hard. “Why are you here?”
“Because you had your memories wiped, I feel badly for you that you don’t know what’s really going on. But we’re are working on that, you will know soon enough.”
“Why not just tell me? Why the dramatics?” She already suspected he told the truth considering what she remembered about being a baby in the chamber on Perza Space Station.
“Because we have some investment in the arrangement as well. You will know what’s going on but I dare not say as it will bring your Tuan friend and I wanted to state my case first and see if you will come with me.”
She blinked. Did he mean Trickster?
He stood up and returned the chair. “You don’t have to answer now, of course, this offer for an alliance will stand for some time, but make no mistakes”—his voice became hard—“I will not give up my attempts to change your mind, Ara—”
“Then why not torture me or extract or force me?” Ara could see he wanted to do this but something stopped him, or them. They needed her for something.
“This is the real world, my”—he flushed—“Ara. Not some pathetic little show or novel with simple plots and easy solutions. Now that the issue of Matter | Antimatter has arisen, I will tell you it was the catalyst for the greatest binary opposite issue of all time. Old vs. New.”
“Not fabrication or reconstruction?”
That stunned him, and her.
“You remember that?”
She considered lying but said, “Just the occasional things.” Like king bees on Tatsela, how people should have equal say, and a few other little things that didn’t sit right with her.
“Fabrication | Reconstruction is the reason we are all here, but it’s the Old | New issue that will reveal the outcome. I prefer the New; you, your cronies and benefactor prefer the Old.”
Ara was confused, not sure who they were. “Ah, and while we are here it’s the Crap | Ideal dichotomy?”
He tried not to laugh and gained some control of himself. “There’s simply more for you to see here. You only need to do two things while you are here, experience life and go home…”
Ara froze with the familiar buzzing razzing along her spine at those words “go home”. He didn’t seem to notice her reaction. What did he mean by while you are here?
“…re’s a quick freebie now I’m done. In your own words, to truly understand the nature of the thing you must endure the thing. And one more last freebie, you said those words to Nyx. You and others, you all work for her.”
“The Nature of Conflict.” Ara remembered that from somewhere. “Operational uncertainty is high; the spikes in violence will be unavoidable.”
He smiled tightly.
“What do you mean by ‘others’ and ‘here’?”
“Ah, ah.” The smile was nasty and she was glad when he activated a techcon with a disappointed sigh. Viper said to her, “He didn’t come. Too bad, give him my regards, will you?”
“Thanks for your help,” she said snidely.
He paused and she felt a thrill of fear.
“You may come now, if you wish. Experience the Ideal rather than the Crap?”
Ara stared at the portal.
Why her captors didn’t run in to find out about the energy fluctuations she wasn’t sure. Experience life and go home or leave with Viper?
Sub-Log XXXIV
Iota
Station: The Welken
Galactic System: Cradle
Planetary System: Planet of Law
Jamie looked at the girl; Aven was no girl. She was an Aether, Energy Being, maybe something more. She was quick to help Jamie start up the ranger. They ran through the checks and then Aven did something, the sable engines roared into life and they took off. Aven glanced at him. “Sorry, I connected to them.”
“Ah.” In Jamie’s experience, he learned not to ask too many questions at the wrong time.
“You can range as normal now.” She flicked on the environmental systems while he checked navigation. “I can only boost what’s already there.”
Did he want to know? He couldn’t help himself. “How?”
“I destabilized the black holes for a moment.”
Jamie reverted to his previous ideal that ignorance was, in fact, sometimes better.
“Can you take over for a moment?”
She nodded.
Jamie relaxed and leaned back. He tried to connect mentally to Ara, but it seemed like she was asleep and he had ignored his neural implant for too long. He cursed himself, he’d become a weak link in the chain. Had he used his implant more he would have been able to send a tiny electrical pulse via the CU to Ara or even extract information. He opened his eyes, trying to slow his heart rate. Already messages were coming in on his Voice and ranger comms systems. He had to take a risk.
Turning to Aven, he said, “I’m going to need your help.”
“I will help.”
“What I mean is that I want to recruit you.”
“Really?” Her voice held a moment’s excitement, which quickly died away. “I agree.”
He took a gamble since he’d screwed things up anyway. “You’ve been partially vetted but it didn’t really work with you. We didn’t have much success with Marc and the others either.”
She smiled grimly. “I vetted them.” She flicked some toggles. “I know, we’re family. But—I’ve been somewhat shoved aside.”
“Why?”
“Because I started digging into our ‘Three Empires and Grands’. They didn’t like it.”
“And you found links with the Kavakar?”
Her eyes widened. “So you already know something. Yes, I found links. I had to … err … hide out for some time in the CU. It’s rather roomy so I’m not really complaining.”
Jamie stood, wondering if he could track Aven’s movements better now she’d be close. “I’m going to use this back section like a command room. Keep on this course. We’ll be met by Simon.” He decided to allow her to think he didn’t suspect her of anything but being an Aether.
“The Warlord?”
“The very one. The Aryan Government and Military have been notified of the kidnapping. Aside from them we need to keep this quiet.”
She nodded. “Or panic will set in as genocide may trigger antimatter.”
Jamie began preparations. He had vet Aven, after he first met them all, with the other sHes on the cliff. He had nothing to do with Ersen or Sacha’s real parents over the years. But he was right; it was hard to vet Aether. But with Marc and Aven especially, they couldn’t track past a certain point. He trusted his instinct but then questioned his feelings with Vinicus and Zarti.
“Yes, but there is no proof they were a part of it.”
Jamie saw Aven’s head turn slightly towards him.
“Hang on, Diane.” He muted the Voice. “Aven?”
“They’re Vakar.”
“Who?” he asked patiently, aware Aven was struggling.
“Vinicus and Zarti. Ziana isn’t, she’s on board looking after Ara, sorry, was looking after her. That’s when I stopped scanning to focus on the other rangers moving in. It was so close to the planet I sent an anon signal to the Cradle Warlords.”
Jamie checked and was able to confirm that. He unmuted the Voice. “Diane, what’s our ETA?”
“Simon says two hours.”
“Aven, you can still track those rangers?”
She sighed. “No, after I made the call I was cut off by the CU itself. That’s when I realized the Vakar are … inside the CU too.”
“Fuck!” They had to get control of the Cardinal Unit.
He saw her head bop up and down. “I did get one final signal through that went from one of the Vakar rangers towards the Core, where the Bellus meet.”
Jamie’s mind was awhirl.
“Jamie?”
“Sorry, Diane. See you soon.”
Aven had some other ideas though. “You should let Simon handle that side of the kidnapping.”
“And do what?”
“What you are good at, after we get you to the Cardinal Unit. We could meet with the Principals first though.”
“The signal you found. Yes, set it up?”
She didn’t even hesitate. “I’ll try.” She toggled some switches, inputting the Bellus message coordinates. “This is Aven, offspring of the Superlunary sHe Pen and Terance, requiring assistance of the Principals. Respond.”
Jamie left her to it while data was now coming in from Simon’s war-ranger. They were questioning Vinicus and Zarti. Jamie flicked Simon a special signal. His Voice beeped.
