by Richard Sosa
Rik came out of his thoughts. “What?”
“The stupid part. Never mind. These are the pilot training modules,” tapping on her devise, then showing them to him, “you can practice piloting one of these things while imprisoned. The screen will be virtual and if you place this bud,” she hands him a small earbud, “in your ear, the training will go faster for you. This will communicate with your central nervous system. You will need to move both your arms and legs to involve your entire body in the training. Wear comfortable clothes. Practice at night when you can focus.”
Rik rolled the small earbuds in his hand and gently nudges her in the ribs. “In prison? You said I was safe from being locked away now you’re the lying ‘corgi’ bastard.”
“Korpe. You’re a Korpe bastard.” Iris said confused.
“Oh, I thought you were calling me some kind of a dog.”
“What’s a dog?” Iris frowned.
“Really?” he frowned as his translator struggled to work on the word, “it’s one of those terms that’s not important. Look it up later. Do you have any martee? I need to think.”
Iris repeated, “marteeee? What the hell is that?”
“It’s a hot drink,” he stopped and looked up thinking to recall a translation, “doltreck, blostjer, java, habuo, lacra-tish... martee. I don't know what you call it here.”
She smiled. “A drink. I know, you must not have slept well. Yep, we go out for dol-ve because I sure as hell I am not making it.”
Rik laughed. “That’s what I didn’t have when we were getting intel from the religious radical person that tried to kill me at the park,” Rik smiled at Iris, “you’re a card.”
Chapter Thirteen
The outdoor café was shaded by trees and awnings and the street was active with people talking, meeting, sharing data through hand-held units, laughing, and working. Some were inspecting Rik and even smiling at him. The sky was clear. Vehicles glided silently above the streets. Rik scanned around at others and up into the sky.
Iris touched his throat and he jumped back from her poke. “Didn’t mean to startle you,” she waved her hands and her eyes were wide with surprise, “calm down, its O.K. Don’t…I am not going to bite.”
He smiled back and she reached forward again more tentatively than before and touched the vibrating translator on Rik's throat.
“Can you say, ‘my name is Rik’?” she put up her device to record, “I am experimenting.”
“My name is Rik.”
“O.K.” she inspected the result on her screen, “now say, I eat ka-haal dung with Dol-ve.”
“I eat ka-hall... dung, with…What?”
“You sound so stupid.” Iris laughed loud.
Rik looked around because others were smiling at them. “I am not playing this game with you anymore. You’re laughing at my expense.” Rik watched her eyes dance with laughter, and he couldn’t help himself, he laughed as well.
Lieutenant General Dask approached unnoticed. As if appearing instantly he stood over them. “You gods damn shit. When were you going to get around to talking to us?”
Startled, Rik and Iris looked up at him. Rik tented his hand over his eyes and kept his expression flat. “Do I know you? We’re busy here. Send me a meeting invite.”
General Dask stared down at him then turned to inspect Iris. “How dare you two just walk away from me. You’re the types that attract,” he looks over at Iris, “we know all about both of you. Smartasses. Delinquents,” he read his writ unit screen and looked directly at Iris, “you’re commissioned now soldier, you’re acting like a child.” Iris saluted crisply and sat up straighter.
Rik fought the urge to put his fist in Dask’s face or run or both but instead anger boiled inside his chest especially seeing how he looked coldly at Iris. “Hey, asshole, I said we’re busy.” People around them were watching the discussion escalate but Dask was unconcerned about the citizens around him. Rik sized him up for a fight. “You’ve been spying on us?” his voice raised, “what are you doing sneaking around like a pervert staring into our windows? Why don’t you leave us alone and go about your business?” Rik made a shooing away motion.
Dask watched his hand and now knew what the gesture meant he turned on Rik with a cold deadly stare. “The stupid politicians will eventually figure out what to do with you. When that happens, they are going to want someone to bring you in. I’ll be coming for you. You better hope it’s me because someone else will take you away for good. Do you understand?”
Some cafe customers were openly concerned and stood up from their seats. Rik watched the concern on people’s faces, and some were recording the event, but he gave Dask a level stare while Iris was frightened. His anger surfaced. “You don’t frighten me. You’re a pompous man with a uniform. Get the hell out of my face.”
Dask looked at the group of soldiers waiting on the corner and gestured to them. “You'll understand. You must come with me. Now.”
A large contingent of soldiers walked into the outside patio area, people stood up and moved out of the way and Rik’s coffee spilled on the table as they grabbed him roughly and hauled him off his chair. Iris stood back shocked. Citizens began taking streaming content and photos of the incident. A skinny geeky person stepped up to Dask and said. “You can’t just come in here like that, where are your Four Seven B Seven papers?
Dask pushed the man violently to the ground. “Get the hell out of my face.” Rik used the opportunity to shift his weight and pushed two soldiers off-balance, a third one stumbled back as he took a punch directly on the face from Rik left jab. Dask’s fist pounded Rik’s back and a soldier caught the side of Rik’s face with the butt of his rifle. Rik stumbled to the ground on all fours. He pulled his thin tube unit and pointed it at Dask, set on kill, but it didn’t work. His head jerked back as soldiers grabbed his hair and pulled him off balance. Dask looked down at him. “Get your ass up, we’re taking you in.”
The soldiers held Rik’s arms and they walked without speaking with Dask leading the way and Iris behind them. As they cleared the café area Captain Rejeam from the Marines Seven-Seven stepped in pace with the General. “We have the location secure now and I am not identifying any other threats in route,” the Captain glanced back at Iris and watched her for a moment, “we don’t know who has compromised her and the data. This Rik fellow is a loose end in that situation.”
Dask occasionally surveyed Rik and then searched around the troops monitoring his flank. “Captian, stay on it.” The soldiers flanked Rik giving him sideways glances. Rik was trapped but his mind raced with a way to escape but not without Iris. After a long silent march, they approached a grey building that sat in the center of an open compound. The large concrete building was a brutalist structure with no indication of its purpose. It appeared to be built mostly underground with deep supports of gray ceramic steel, small narrow windows, and hardened concrete walls.
Iris walked up next to Rik and pointed. “That’s the Military Services Bunker Twenty”
Rik jumped. “You scared me. I thought you were back there. What are you saying?”
Iris wrinkled her forehead. “A bunker.”
“I know what a bunker is. Why are we coming here?”
Dask looked back at them again and then directed a team of soldiers to fan out as if expecting an ambush. The group stopped for a moment while soldiers positioned themselves and cleared areas. The Captian waved to Dask and the rest of the contingent moved into the open bunker compound.
“I’ve been here a few times,” Iris informed Rik.
“What?”
“Just to section one when I was being reprimanded.”
Rik watched the soldiers break off, he whispered to her, “I am going to make a run for it.”
“Why? You won’t get too far.” Iris pointed to a sign.
Rik saw the sign on the wall LEVEL ONE CONTAINMENT and instantly tried to struggle to free himself from the soldier’s grip. Other soldiers stepped up to restrain him. Dask didn
’t notice the commotion. The group abruptly turned and moved through a large bunker door and climbed into a large freight elevator. The door closed and Rik’s escape plan vanished. His stomach tried to climb up his throat as they dropped hundreds of Germt-feet below the surface. Iris had the same ashen expression with eyes wide. The doors opened and they walked directly behind Lieutenant General Dask's bulky frame passing saluting soldiers.
Iris spoke to Rik's back. “You should move out. My gut tells me I needed to kick you out of my house on the first day. You’re a lot of trouble waiting to happen.” She noticed the blast-proof ceramic steel composite doors and cabling with dim lights leading through tunnels in various directions, “never been here before.”
Rik noticed that she was afraid, and he grabbed her hand, “don’t worry, you’ll be fine.”
They walked through thick blast doors and entered a large room. The Central War Room’s activity, shouting, voices over voices, and machine sounds came through as soon as the doors opened. The light was bright. Monitors were blinking and humming. Many large wall screens were monitoring a familiar small bluish planet that was faint and blurred. Other data was populating on the monitors and science personnel were bent over monitors and tables, conferring and then they noticed the group entering. The room went dead silent as everyone stopped working to watch Dask parade in.
Dask didn’t notice the attention and stopped to peer at a monitor screen, saying to Rik without looking at him. “You said yourself you're from Aoife, from the mountains region, why are you allowing those on the common net to say something different now?” Rik was silent. Dask directed his comments to a woman in a lab coat that approached them. “What do you make of this, doctor?”
Iris whispered to Rik, “Be afraid.” She touched Rik’s arm and he felt her tremble.
Doctor Megs Savan stepped up. Her white coat immediately made Rik feel ill at ease and her hard-faced expression and thin body betrayed someone who worked out and possibly didn’t eat regular meals. Her face was framed with dark hair and an eyebrow that arched up when she was being analytical. Her eyes moved over Rik head to toe as if viewing a lab animal. She carried a data hub and electronic pen and she stared past Rik’s beaten face and then back to Dask. “What do I make of this? I can make many things out of it. Maybe even a brooch. But, the answer that most in science are settling on right now is a seed.” She returned her attention to Rik, her eyes narrowed, “did you have to bring him here by force?”
Dask introduced pointing to each in turn, “This is Rik O something, Doctor Megs Savan, and this is Iris somebody.”
Iris gave Dask a mean glare. “You damn well know who I am.”
The crowd of spectator scientists grew behind them crowding around for a front position. Doctor Megs glared at the on-lookers, “everyone back to work. We don’t know our timeline so keep at it. My drone will record this for all to view later.” The scientists dispersed like children.
Doctor Megs shook Rik's hand. “You call me Megs. We’ve already obviously established that you’re not from Aoife, so we can stop playing games.” She turned to Iris and forced a small careful smile. “Practor?”
Rik was silent. He glanced over at Dask fearful then back to Doctor Savan. Dask suddenly spoke. “What happens to the gignomas?” Rik jumped startled by Dask's voice behind him.
Megs eyed Rik and responded to Dask. “They grow but more like evolve under some type of pre-programming. I can’t figure it out yet. Over possibly thousands of ‘Tri-gram-sl’ cycles. It explains the Sum-aim Loop Theory that Doctor Jamkimb had proposed .5 Gams-ls ago.”
Dask was impatient. “I need answers,” he directed his statement to Rik, “I need to know any edge I can get. Are they coming here all at once? How do I kill them?” He pointed at him, “I think you just made our lives more complicated, right?”
Rik was paralyzed like a deer in headlights and he looked behind him. Megs was also looking at Rik with a hard-clinical stare and said. “Well, if we can get him to say something,” her demeanor changed, and she grabbed a silver pointed instrument holding it like a knife. She ordered harshly. “Stick out your tongue.”
Dask nodded to soldiers who stepped forward.
“Don't hurt him,” Iris screamed, “we'll tell you what you require,” she was instantly held in place by the soldiers before she could intercede.
“No.” He shouted.
The soldiers roughly grabbed Rik's arms and twisted him backward violently lifting him off his feet. He struggled to try to kick at Doctor Megs. She narrowed her eyes. “Hold him please.” She placed the sharp instrument on his chin. Moving it toward his tongue slowly. “Don't struggle or this will be unpleasant. Keep your tongue out.”
The soldiers tightened their grip on his jaw. His head was held forward, and he had an urge to close his mouth tight but noticed the instrument had a clip on its end to forcefully pull his tongue out if needed. She moved the instrument toward his eye. The pointed instrument hummed and vibrated as it moved on his skin along his jawline. Rik watched it in terror without moving his head. Megs stopped the instrument and removed it from his face and docked it into a unit where the scary clip on the bottom of the instrument synced to the docking nipple. The doctor’s monitor came to life displaying charts and a line graph with comparative data and she visually inspected him and then looked at her monitor. She said without lifting her head from her monitor. “Your actions may or may not be doing us any good so why come here?” She examined the data results on her computer, “Put your tongue away,” she continued to tap data into her device and placed a small round metal sensor on his temple, “let's fix your depression while you’re here,” she made quick entries on her IARI and looked at her monitor on the desk. She waved a hand, “Dask release this kid.” Rik was released almost falling to the ground. He closed his mouth and looked over at Iris with a pained expression. She wanted to defend him and said, “He can't control where he ends up it's random, like chaos, maybe or something.”
Megs lowered her glasses and examined Iris while looked over the top of them. “That’s dumb and you know it. There is absolutely no evidence for that conclusion. Why are you hiding facts for him? You are aware of my theory? He’s here intentionally and he thwarts things somehow that will not help us.” Megs turned to Rik. “You said you’re an f-up up and we know that’s not good. Your actions are changing the timeline and the future. Right? Answer me damn you or Dask will be the least of your worries. I can have you committed and locked up. If I don’t get answers to help me solve this puzzle, I’ll have my surgeons crack open your skull and implant electrode splicers so we can help ourselves.”
He cleared his throat and shared a knowing glance at Iris, Rik said breathless, “don’t do that, please. I can help but don’t try to force answers, torture doesn’t work,” Rik composed himself and glanced over at Iris, “she’s partially correct. Maybe my actions can change the future but there are slight instant alterations that eliminate paradox. It's not linear so there are elements of random chaos in every situation. If I can ask, what are Gignomas?”
Megs leveled her gaze on him. “Focus here Mr. Rik spaceman F-up. Are you going to do something to prevent us from defending ourselves? We theorize that you will upset our defenses, so you can get away, leaving us defenseless. We reached those conclusions by enhancing the images of your ‘run-away actions’ and protocol, leaving the planet defenseless.”
Rik said. “I am not here to harm anyone.”
Meg crossed her arms. “Answer my damn question. You’re maddening. That’s not the answer. Time travel is impossible for us, so we don’t know how to ensure you stay and we don’t know how to neutralize your F-up actions.”
Rik said. “There are no F-up actions. That’s what she calls me on the ‘common web’ net thing,” he looked at Iris, “that term is mine for my inability to save my family…my mother on that planet, Da-earra. It has nothing to do with you.”
Iris added. “No, I am pretty sure the record shows that’s
what you called yourself when referring to the invasion.”
“Whose side are you on?” Rik said to her.
Meg inspected her IARI and re-directed. “Talk to me about your time travel.”
“It’s complex in the application of time travel and simple in concept,” Rik cleared his throat, “imagine stepping into a room with thousands of doors and some doors you step into will have you leaving or entering the same room. But you can never be going in or out of the same door at the same time, that’s the paradox. The key is gravity. Gravity makes time travel possible for advanced races but in your world it’s impossible. It always will be. It’s pointless for me to explain it to you.”
“Are you here to prevent us from protecting ourselves so you can escape? Do you have the technology to access places in the gravitonic ‘multiverse’ where gravity can be harnessed to facilitate your escape? We finally translated that word.”
Rik listened to his translator, “multiverse?” Rik came back to the conversation, “No. Doctor, I am not here to thwart your efforts whatever they are. The Lares use data from the Spipeculas to ascertain where the next landing will occur. Without that data, we lose them entirely in deep space. If I can’t get that data, we die with the harrow. That’s how we survive now. My survival is linked to these damn creatures.”
Megs wondered out loud, “why not say that to everyone? That is a perfectly reasonable response.”
Rik was disbelieving. “No. Only if you want to get murdered. I’ve lost everything. I am done. Many Lares stepped out to aggressively warn these worlds and were killed. Hiding is a survival necessity. If my technology was working, you wouldn’t even know I am here,” Rik clenched his jaw, “someone fired at us earlier. I am endangering Iris by being with her. There are already people who want me dead,” He spoke as his eyes assessed Dask’s reaction.
