Mission: Attack on Europa

by V. A. Jeffrey

  “True. It is good to see the pure and elemental teachings of our peaceful father coming back among the people.” It seemed a strange thing. A deity of peace for whom people treasured weapons? I wanted to know more. But something about this monk, his voice, a quality in it bothered me. Was this the disgraced prefect Tulos mentioned the last time I was here?

  “Are you sure about this?” He probed again.

  “I am sure. For now.” They went on to talk of other things and I heard footsteps as they began to walk back out into the hall. I quickly closed the door behind me and disappeared down the secret corridor before anyone saw me.

  What significance did the gristone sword have anyway? What was it supposed to do? Who was this Pemanu person? He gave me an odd feeling. I had no idea why but I'd learned over time that I had better pay close attention to such feelings if I would survive.

  Worker mechs paid me no heed as they went along their own duties cataloguing and organizing the many gadgets and machines, alien and human-made, in the room. It was a familiar place. Almost like a home away from home. I slowly passed down the aisles looking into boxes, crates and bins. I could hear a low hum coming from inside one of them. I turned a corner and found the source of it. I'd seen it before. It was the lantium mini-core reactor. It was sitting inside a containment field case and what looked like a gaseous, viscous element was glowing with bright blue light. It looked as if somehow it was in working order, ready to be inserted into a ship's engine. To the side was a panel and as I read the information on it, it seemed to be some diagnostic stem scanner that was being run on the machine. I wonder if she got it working again and what she'll use it for? I wandered around the room looking at other machines. It was like a smaller, odder version of Odd Parts Lab. I saw what looked like a metal cube about the size of my fist. It's metal was a dark silver color. A tiny green light blinked every so often on its top. I stopped and examined it. I counted the seconds till I saw the green light blink again. Every ten seconds it blinked. I picked it up and looked it over. I saw several fingertip impressions. As I ran each finger along the impressions to try to unlock the device each of impressions would glow yellow but nothing would happen. I was intrigued and engrossed in this thing when I felt a presence approaching. I turned around just in time to see Tulos.

  “Tulos! Just the person I wanted to talk to.” Tulos's strange violet eyes widened.

  “Oh?”

  “Yes. It's been too long.”

  “It has.” He seemed to frown a bit. “You seem. . .different.”

  “How?”

  “I don't know. I am not sure how or what it is. You have a presence I had not sensed before.” I said nothing of my experience on Langrenus for I suspected that was probably what he was speaking of, though he didn't know it.

  “Yes. Things have changed.” I said quietly. He looked out through the window over the city.

  “A new city has risen in its place, a place separatists can call home.”

  “How do you feel about that?”

  “I am a rebel and a sentinel. But I have to say that the more I see and hear about the progress of Ophir the more I think I may become a separatist. One can't be alone forever. Culture, family, clan and tribe is important in life. Those things are paramount for purpose and meaning for me. But, I suppose I only speak for myself.” I nodded appreciatively.

  “I miss my own family back home. Those things are very important. I worry what this will do to us, my being away from them. I truly do worry. When I actually have time to think about it.”

  “Yes. Mine are. . .gone now. My family elders have passed on. Those of my genetic strain, the Gerian Miku people are dying out. I am the only one alive of our clan and family name and genetic ancestry. I have yet to find others of my tribe. I worry that if I don't act soon the family name and clan Talen of the Etil tribe will be erased from the universe. They traveled all the way out here, gave birth to me, borne along on the Mothership only to die out, except me. It is a great weight I carry and I, too, worry over it. It is a crime in our culture to let your family name die out. A crime against nature.”

  “Do you think of getting married?”

  “I do. More and more often these days. But we have a battle on our hands. What if I die out here or on Europa? Before I find a mate and have children? Or what if I take a mate and have children and then the Black Fleet finally arrives through some trick of technological magic and we are all executed anyway as rebels? Besides, courtship is a long and involved process among many tribes. It can take up to two the three years before a female of the Etil tribe will consider marriage and that is after she finds a particular male whom she finds attractive, eligible and capable of providing the necessities of life for a family.”

  “Perhaps a woman from another tribe?”

  “Ah,” he said wistfully. “I am not opposed to such a pairing, but many females prefer males of their own tribes. There are some who might consider me but they are hard to find. They have been conditioned that way. It stems from our savage past when males would root out a village, town or city, kill all the males and kidnap the females of a rival tribe and force them into a life of the worst sort of slavery a female can face. They are taught that males of other tribes are the enemy, even though that practice stopped centuries ago. Old memories die hard.” We were both quiet for a few seconds.

  “We have hard choices no matter what decision we make Tulos. But I really feel that if we can get Will back, we have a fighting chance.”

  “Yes, yes,” he said slowly. “The hive wire mind. Yes. That was unexpected.” I smiled.

  “We have Sworda to thank for that. He gave it to me.”

  “I must thank him personally if I ever see him again. What do you have there?” He asked, looking at the metal cube in my hands.

  “I don't know. It's intriguing to me. I don't know why.”

  “Genevieve has been studying, foxing and working with the mini-engine core so much that she hasn't had much time to examine much else when we're here. I do think it's some kind of cipher. I've never actually seen one until she found it.”

  “Where did she find it?”

  “We were on a hunting expedition with a group of other rebel and separatist sentinels at the foot of the mountains nearby, between Hecates Tholus and Elysium Mons. We were rooting out an enemy hideout. After we destroyed the hideout she found it in the wreckage. They tend to be Realm issued. The thing is, whatever secrets they hold we can't get to them. It's a very, very old version of a cipher, I think. She found two of them. After trying many times to decipher it the first one self-destructed. So we have hesitated to continue our explorations with this one.” I turned it over in my hand.

  “Come. Let us go and explore the city,” he said.

  “A visit to one of the dynashan's here?” I asked. He grunted an affirmative.

  “Allow me to get my armor. I will meet you at the third level bay. We'll take a small shuttle.” As he left I studied the cube again. It seemed to me that if this object held secrets, no matter how arcane or old from the Realm, that they would be a goldmine of information.

  That could have been my survivalist self talking. What secret did it hold and even if I could get to them, would I understand them?

  6

  The administrative building where the Syzygy Head Tribunal, basically the only law-giving judiciary body in the city, held their councils was, as I expected, stuffed with people. A wave of babbling tongues in many different languages, in a wide-spanning, cavernous room. The lines were impossibly long.

  Kind of like Multnomah County Courthouse back home.

  All of the common human universal tongues were spoken here, including Hanga and others I wasn't familiar with. We checked in our weapons at the security station before being allowed to proceed. After that we entered the vast crush of people, alien and human, waiting for their own hearings to be called up. We waited for about two hours before we were called. The clerk, a young, thin Glia male held up his small data pad as h
e called our names.

  “Well that seemed fast considering how many people are still waiting.”

  “Yeah,” said Diamond, still looking struck with wonderment. Tulos glanced at me briefly.

  “Sentinels receive preferential treatment. After all, we've kept Mars safe from invasion,” he said. Genevieve and the rest of us followed the clerk through a doorway which led to a long incline that sloped downward beneath the main level to another large room. Five tribunal members were seated behind a table built on a dais. Before them were computer consoles and holo screens.

  “The tribunal will see you now,” he said in a clipped, peremptory voice and he left back up the incline. In the dimness I made out around the perimeter of the room three imposing security mechs stationed at each wall. Glow globes hanging near the ceiling brightened, giving us more light to see by.

  “You are team G3?” Asked one of the judges I presumed to be the head judge as she was wearing a long, two-pronged headpiece. She was a Suwudi female who looked ancient. Her eyes were yellowed and watery.

  “Yes, madam,” said Tulos, stepping forward. Tall, stately with a quiet authority, he always had a regal bearing in how he carried himself.

  “Then why do we see five here?” She snapped.

  “These two,” he motioned at me and Diamond, “are only lately come. On our request for help. They are auxiliary members of the team.”

  “Auxiliary members?” Croaked one of the other judges, a Miku male. He tugged at his tentacles and made a wheezing sound as he tapped on his datapad.

  “State the names of all of the main members of this team.”

  “Genevieve Boleyn of Earth, myself Tulos Talen of the Etil tribe and Rychik Na of the Yukav tribe,” he said.

  “And the names of these other two?” Asked the head judge, gazing at Diamond and me through narrowed eyes. I cleared my throat.

  “I'm Robert Astor of Earth and this is James Jenkins. Of Earth.” The judges appeared to be writing something up on their data pads and whispering with each other. One of them finally looked up and the head judge nodded to him.

  “So, please, again reiterate your issue.” Genevieve then took over and did so, asking also for my input. I retold of the attack as soon as we'd landed near Dorwe.

  “Our android was stolen right from under us.”

  “Androids are very important technology. I doubt you'll get such a fine machine back from them if what you say is true,” said the head judge, unhelpfully, I decided.

  “Has the other team filed anything?” The head judge asked the other judges. They shook their heads.

  “No one has come forward to make a counter claim as of yet on this matter, then. They had twenty-four hours to do so if they wished. It is unusual for anyone to file such complaints these days. Did anyone get a recording, a visual or audio witness or any other identification on the thieves?”

  “Yes. It was the Sigra gang. Their ship is an overhauled assault fighter called the Corrupter. I saw it and so did Rychik,” said Genevieve.

  “They are quite well known around here,” said one of the judges. They were silent for a few minutes, convening with each other and then the head judge looked up from tapping on her datapad again. She fixed us with a grim stare.

  “I'm afraid we cannot use force. We do not have the power to do much these days unless we are dealing with petty criminals. We can only issue verdicts. It would be your job to seek justice in some other way, since you have filed the complaint.” I was mortified and felt my anger growing. Diamond looked equally upset over this announcement.

  “So all is lost then?” Complained Diamond.

  “No. Here are your options. You can choose to involve the local authorities. They may make a raid on them if they deem the evidence of theft sufficient and if they deem it worth their time. But it will take weeks before the authorities are able to do anything, if they choose to. You may call for another hearing to summon the Sigra gang and have them brought here, if you have the money and power to do so. Naturally, that would require a lot of brute force. It may or may not be successful. What do you want to do?” She asked. The judges stared calmly at us. I was in shock and not sure what to say. Genevieve, Tulos and Rychik seemed unperturbed by this announcement.

  “How much time is there for us to file a summons?” Genevieve spoke up.

  “You have another twenty four hours.”

  “But that will take forever! We don't have that kind of time!” I whispered furiously.

  “Shh! I know.” She glanced at me and then faced the tribunal.

  “We will withdraw.”

  “What?” I exclaimed. She put her hand up to silence me.

  “Is there anyone on the team who wishes to speak on the matter?” As I opened my mouth Genevieve quickly spoke up, squashing any outward protest from me.

  “No! He does not wish to speak.” She turned and looked at me sharply, her eyes growing bright with intensity as her orange iris rims grew larger.

  “It is done then,” said the head judge. She raised a thin, wrinkled arm to indicate that the meeting was adjourned. We went back up to the main hall which reminded me of a zoo, collected our weapons and went outside.

  When we got outside my fury erupted.

  “How could you? I don't understand what the hell this was supposed to be about!” I could feel my face turning bright red. “What a damned waste of time!”

  “Yeah, this did seem like a huge, stupid waste of time,” said Diamond.

  “Look! I have another plan,” she said impatiently.

  “What plan?” I demanded.

  “If we go forward with this in public, though the law may be on our side it will provoke retaliation from them. They may react by destroying Will.”

  “That can't happen!” I said.

  “Why not? It's happened to others before. Above all, we don't want Will destroyed or dismantled for pieces,” said Rychik. He glanced at Genevieve.

  “Okay! What do you propose?” I snapped. Genevieve gazed at each of us square on.

  “We stage a heist to get him back.”

  “A heist?” I asked dumbly. “This is legal?”

  “Who said anything about legal? This is Mars justice. Not Earth. You get your stuff back by any means you can,” said Genevieve. “And this procedure wasn't a waste of time.”

  “Things are not done here the way they are done on your home world. A heist is a perfectly reasonable solution to the problem,” added Rychik. I couldn't believe what I was hearing but it didn't seem there was any other choice.

  “I don't like this at all!” I protested, probably coming off as a petulant rube. I didn't care. Genevieve ignored my protest.

  “We stage a heist to get him back. That's the best plan we've got if we're going to be able to utilize him in the Europa mission. We could go forward with a formal process through the enforcer squad but they will most likely retaliate by damaging Will so that if they have to give him back, they can make sure we can't get him in any usable form.” She glared at me. “Would you want that to happen?”

  “No,” I said unhappily.

  “What is your decision?” Asked Tulos of me and Diamond. “We need a unanimous agreement on this to go forward.”

  “Alright. If that's the only way,” I said.

  “Let's do it,” said Diamond. He seemed rather excited by the idea.

  “Then we are all agreed. We seize him back. We claim our rights as owners of stolen property to take back what is ours,” she said glancing at Rychik. “If we are caught by the authorities, which we won't be, we already have it on file with the Head Tribunal that we were attacked and robbed by well known thieves. The law won't be brought to bear on us.”

  “Is that supposed to help us or something?” I asked.

  “It's Mars justice. It's the best we've got. What will get him back will be our own wits. The process of filing a complaint and going to the hearing is to confirm with the authorities that we are the injured party in this. If anything goes awry w
ith the heist we won't be punished by the law,” said Rychik.

  We went to the big dynashan I remembered last time to map out our next step. As we walked in and descended the stairs one of the female servers near the counter near the shroud smiled at Rychik and raised a long, thin elegant arm. He raised his own hand to her and touched it as if in a sign of affection. Or perhaps a romantic gesture? I don't know. A round of strange tasting ale was ordered for us.

  “It is, on the house, as they say,” she said to us in her charming, broken English. She said something to Rychik in another tongue. Rychik smiled. It was the same server I'd noticed the first time I came here with Sworda.

  The place was crowded. We sat somewhere in the back, at a more luxurious and spacious stone table and seating arrangement. My eyes fell on the magrit feather on the table. We let it be.

  “What is this place?” Asked Diamond.

  “It's a dynashan. Basically a cantina.”

  “And what did we just order?”

  “Stilsi ale. Comes from stilsi seeds, heirloom seeds from Eraut. We're able to cultivate them underground in hydroponic farms. It makes for a spicy, minty tasting ale. Try it. You might enjoy it,” encouraged Tulos. Diamond looked excited. He sank back into his seat, feeling through the wooly material on his seat with his fingers and looking around with great interest.

  “Now. To the business,” I said impatiently.

  “I understand your anger, Robert,” said Rychik. “I know someone who knows where their hide out is located.”

  “You do?” I asked.

  “Yes. They think they are hidden and to most eyes they are. Not to me. They've crossed me in the past. It is just that I did not have the time to pursue the issue. The time has come to rectify grievances. More than one,” he said slyly. We leaned in closer to hear him speak. He lowered his voice. A serving mech came around and set our drinks down and left. They glowed a white pale green and bubbled with effervescence. I took a tiny sip. It tasted like mint, cardamom and pine needles. I wasn't sure I liked it but it calmed my nerves. It wasn't bad but I think I would have preferred jun instead. Diamond watched me closely and then he took a drink. His grimaced as he seemed to hold it in his mouth before swallowing. I grinned. I heard Tulos chuckling merrily, his tentacles quivering.