by Adair Hart
Evaran handed his UIC to Max.
Max tilted his head, and the UIC hovered over his hand. A blue light connected his hand to the UIC. After a few moments, he handed it back to Evaran. “The last known locations of the crystals have been uploaded into your ship.”
“Where are they?” asked Andia.
“There is a crystal on each colony ship that fled the ancient Kreagan home world during their mass exodus event,” said Max. He gestured with his free hand, causing an image of a rectangular white crystal to appear. “The crystals will look like that.”
Evaran scanned the rectangular crystal with his ring.
“And where are these colony ships now?” asked Andia.
Max smiled. “You’re quite the inquisitive being.” He faced Evaran. “The locations are where they had planned to go. I don’t know where they would be now. It’s a start, though.”
“So we should get the base first, then, from the ancient Kreagan home world,” said Andia.
“Not quite. As your Kreagan friend here can verify, you need all three crystals in it for it to be able to be moved. Otherwise, it’s like it is in a fixed point in space,” said Max.
Rakar nodded. “He’s right. We need to get the crystals first, especially since we now have the location of them, then go to the base. There is a military outpost built around it there.”
Max half grinned. “Kreagans need to be more like you.” He looked at Evaran. “You seem to understand these exotic energies and matter. I’m sure you can figure out a way to detect the crystals.”
“After we get the first one, I will research that,” said Evaran.
“How do you know all this?” asked Rakar, shaking his head.
Max smiled. “I am older than you might think. Who do you think was the information broker back in those days? Of course, it was a lot easier when there was less deathlight activity.”
“You were an information broker?”
“At one point, yes. I let others take the role. The current one is a survivor of a deathlight-purged world. Last of his kind. He particularly doesn’t like deathlights or species that worship them as gods.”
“Like us.”
Max nodded.
“You must imprint your personality on them,” said Emily.
Max tilted his head. “Perhaps. I do have a charming personality.”
Evaran nodded. “Thank you for the information. We have a lot of work to do it seems. I wish you luck in your new journey.”
Max smiled and handed the UIC back to Evaran. “Your UIC will now work to give you more detailed information on biological life. It will emit a red light instead of blue. A gift.” He rushed forward and hugged a bemused Evaran. “I don’t know what you are, but I’m in your debt.”
Dr. Snowden rubbed his chin. He struggled to comprehend someone as powerful as Max owing a debt.
The female humanoid winked at Evaran. “Should I stay out here in case you return so quickly again?”
“We will meet again, I am sure.”
The female humanoid hugged Evaran, and then all four matter mages walked back into the cliff wall. The crack they came out of then sealed up, leaving no presence it was ever there.
Evaran gestured to the ship. “It would appear we have a long journey ahead of us.”
Evaran and V walked up the Torvatta’s ramp, with Emily, Rakar, and Silva in tow.
Dr. Snowden noticed Andia staring at the ground. He walked up to her. “You okay?”
She raised the right side of her lips. “Yeah. I just feel so … small. Matter mages, Evaran, and the great selector. Beings that exist on another level of ability. All this advanced technology. All this knowledge. Just makes me feel insignificant, and all our politics seem so petty.”
Dr. Snowden put his arm around her. “You’re Fredorian, and more importantly, you’re human. We will adapt.”
Andia tilted her head at Dr. Snowden, then nodded and smiled. “Yeah, you’re right. Let’s go.”
Everyone assembled in the conference room and took their seats.
Evaran pushed a button on the table console, causing a projection to shoot up showing the three rectangular crystals. “These are the three crystals we need to find. According to Max, these are the last known locations.” A swipe of his hand across the table console caused another hologram to shoot up over the table, showing a galactic map with two dots marked and a long line highlighted. “They are based on the current era.”
Andia scrutinized the hologram. “One of those locations is Kreagus.”
Evaran half smiled. “Yes, there appears to be one on Kreagus somewhere, but the exact location is unknown.” He interacted with the table console, causing the hologram to change to the long line that was highlighted. “The next crystal appears to be the flight path of a colony ship that never reported in. It is lost in space somewhere or maybe crashed on a planet, but we have a path at least. We should be able to determine where it would be now based on this.” The hologram switched to a galactic map with a solar system highlighted. It then zoomed in to a planet. “The third one appears to be on a rocky planet called Gaziss. Not too much information there.”
Silva snorted. “That third one is in Draidjen territory. They are notoriously xenophobic.”
“We will need to be in and out there. Not much is known of them other than they are the most advanced civilization known,” said Andia.
Dr. Snowden turned his head. “Most advanced? Are they as big as the Kreagan Star Empire?”
Andia shook her head. “That’s the weird thing. They only control a few systems. They never expanded beyond that. No one knows why, but every attempt to work with them has been a failure.” She looked at Silva. “Their technological advantage also keeps out others who would wish to claim their territory.”
“You’re referring to the Holinus incursion. They’re lucky we did not send our full fleet,” said Silva, smirking.
Evaran raised a hand. “Regardless, we will need to be careful. The one with the flight path is interesting.” The flight path showed again for the second colony ship. “If it never reached its destination and just continued in flight, it would be here.” The flight path on the hologram extended out as the map zoomed out. A dot appeared at the end of the line. It showed the ship almost at the edge of the galaxy.
Dr. Snowden scrutinized the hologram. “That’s pretty far out, but not a problem for the Torvatta.”
“Agreed. The first one on Kreagus may pose an issue.”
Emily pursed her lips, then faced Evaran. “Not if we travel in time. If Kreagus was where one of the colony ships landed, couldn’t we just be there when they arrive and search for it?”
Everyone stared at Emily.
Emily half grinned. “I’m just saying.”
“Time travel?” asked Rakar.
Andia half grinned. “Don’t worry. I had the same reaction.”
Evaran narrowed his eyes. “Interesting. That is a solid suggestion. However, any time travel we do must be done with caution, lest we change something that should not be changed. We do not want to interrupt the crystal’s timeline. It may have had an impact on Kreagan history that we are unaware of.”
“Well, there is no history of it that I’m aware of, and I would know if there was,” said Silva with his arms crossed over his chest.
“So we now know where they all might be. Which one do we do first?” asked Andia.
“I believe we should do the second one first. It will take some time to locate it, but should prove much easier to find than the other two. We could use a break for the day while the Torvatta is scanning for it. It will also allow me to calibrate scanners to detect it, which may prove useful for the Kreagus and Draidjen ones,” said Evaran.
“Sounds good to me,” said Dr. Snowden.
Silva, Rakar, and Andia stood up and then headed to their living quarters. Evaran stood and walked over to Dr. Snowden and Emily. “If you do not mind, I would like to try the biological aspect of the UIC on you two.”
Dr
. Snowden shrugged. “Sure, why not.” He extended his hand.
Evaran placed his UIC on Dr. Snowden’s hand. A red light fluctuated under his UIC before stabilizing. Evaran looked around and over Dr. Snowden. “Intriguing.” He grabbed his UIC. “Emily?”
Emily put out her hand, and the UIC stabilized on it almost instantly.
Evaran scrutinized her. “Very interesting results. Okay, I have what I need. Enjoy the rest of your day.”
Emily chuckled. “Wait a minute. What was interesting?”
“Just the first time I have seen an interface like that is all,” said Evaran.
Dr. Snowden glanced at Emily, then shrugged. “Well, I’ll be in the planar cartography lab.”
“I’m gonna hit the holo room and get some exercise in,” said Emily. She hugged Dr. Snowden and then headed toward the living quarters.
Evaran extended a hand toward the research lab. “I am headed there myself. V will take us out to the last known location and begin checking the route.”
Dr. Snowden nodded and walked off to the planar cartography lab.
The next day, Dr. Snowden yawned as he sat on the edge of his bed. He had spent most of yesterday checking out the planar cartography lab. It was as he expected, very high-tech. The room was essentially a miniature holo room. Evaran had shown him the basics of how it worked, before heading off to do some research. Andia had joined him for a bit and filled him in on galactic politics. He was fascinated to learn about Fredorian history and the relationships they had formed, both positive and negative.
Dr. Snowden had checked out the galactic region of Earth and was entranced by the snippets of information on each planet. Although there was not a lot of data, the ones that had data were very detailed. He wondered if they were places Evaran had gone or if the information was just absorbed from somewhere else. He shook his head and headed to the shower. After getting dressed, he went to the conference room. He noticed the room was quiet. Rakar was alone having breakfast.
Rakar nodded at Dr. Snowden. “Good morning.”
Dr. Snowden nodded back and picked up a cup of coffee and some breakfast at the replicators. He joined Rakar at the table. “I’ve been meaning to ask you what a ranger is, exactly.”
Rakar smiled. “A good question. We are a paramilitary force that is elected by the populace. One ranger for every one thousand people. We have special judicial powers granted by the government that put us on par with law enforcement and the military. Rangers are highly regarded by my people. Some do not like the power that the people and government give us.”
“Like Silva,” said Dr. Snowden, chuckling.
“Yeah. He is an inspector and works directly for the government. We actually come from the same administrative sector.”
“I get the feeling you didn’t care for Senator Kraas much.”
“I guess it was kinda obvious. I’ll need to be more careful. It’s a long story. To summarize, I found evidence linking her to illegal activities. I reported it to my commander, and he refused to pursue it. I took it up the chain, and then my evidence disappeared. I was disciplined for it and moved to the reserve for a year to do administrative work. Not really my thing.”
“That sounds horrible.”
“It was. This is my first field assignment since then. She specifically asked for me. Not sure why, though.”
Dr. Snowden narrowed his eyes. “Maybe she knows something we don’t.”
“After Coris, I would agree,” said Rakar, grinning.
They finished their breakfast and headed to the front of the ship. Evaran was in his command chair, and Silva was on the left seating area. Emily and Andia were on the right side with V at the front console. Rakar sat next to Silva, and Dr. Snowden sat next to Andia.
“Good morning. We have made some progress,” said Evaran.
“Do tell,” said Dr. Snowden, gesturing with his right hand.
“The extended flight path crosses about five hundred light-years. The Torvatta’s long-range scanners are about ten light-years, so we have been repeatedly hopping ten light-years and scanning. We just passed the four hundred light-year mark,” said Evaran.
Andia’s eyes widened. “Ten light-years? That’s impressive. Our top-of-the-line ships can only do six.”
Evaran nodded. “Even with the range, it still takes time to process.”
Dr. Snowden scrutinized the galactic map on the right front screen. It had the flight path of the second colony ship, with a dot representing where they were. A bright dot appeared off to the side of the line. The left side of the front screen showed a faint outline off in the distance.
“Ship detected,” said V.
“Interesting. It is not as far as it should be. Something must have slowed it down. Take us in. Perform standard scans when in visual range,” said Evaran.
“Acknowledged.”
Dr. Snowden exhaled sharply as his heart raced. He looked around and, for a moment, soaked in where he was at and what he was doing. He was in space instead of studying it. He grinned as he watched the faint outline of the ship become stronger. He glanced at Emily, who was smiling at him. He figured she knew what he was feeling.
After several minutes, the second colony ship came within visual range and appeared on the right side of the screen.
Dr. Snowden noted that it looked like it was in good shape. The ship was grayish-white and shaped like a long cigar. The bottom was rounded, as was the top, but the middle was flat. The back of the ship had large thrusters, and he could see smaller thrusters along the side. He thought it was an unusual design, but maybe it was optimized for space.
“Performing scans,” said V.
Around the ship on the front right screen appeared multiple readouts. It showed no life-forms and no thrust from the engines. It had been moving on its inertia. The readout indicated the environment had no air. Several parts of the ship highlighted on the outside.
“Scans complete,” said V.
Evaran rubbed his chin. “The ship interior looks like it has been exposed to deep space. V, take us to the closest cargo bay side entrance near the front.”
“Acknowledged.”
“Rakar, your suit is space-worthy. I could use some assistance in searching the ship. The plan is to get the power back on to startup the artificial gravity, and then we can take our time finding the crystal. I am not expecting any issues,” said Evaran.
“I’m going too,” said Andia.
Evaran nodded. “If you wish. I have several suits in the research lab.”
Dr. Snowden glanced at Emily, who nodded. “We’re going too. No way I’m gonna miss this.”
Silva snorted. “I’ll let you all risk your lives. I will stay here and monitor with V.”
Andia stood up and walked toward the research lab. “Suit yourself.”
Dr. Snowden and Emily followed Andia. Once inside the research lab, they looked around for the suits.
Evaran walked in after them and headed to a room that hung off the back. He gestured toward the room. “They are in there. They may seem large, but they compress down to your form. They also have a built-in temperature shield, like the ones used on Max’s planet.”
They walked into the room and found the suits. Dr. Snowden noticed that the large gray suits looked like a thin layer of semitransparent metal over flannel. The helmet was nowhere to be seen, but there was a sturdy neck collar at the top. He pulled the suit down and ran his hand along it, noting that it felt like plastic. Pulling the sides together caused them to automatically connect. The suit compressed to form fit his body with a whooshing sound. He took a deep whiff as the smell of metal wafted past his nose. It reminded him of the smell created when rubbing a penny.
Evaran walked over to Dr. Snowden. “Your helmet has two buttons on the neck. The left one is to spawn and close it, the other is for the heads-up display, or HUD for short. Your helmet will not drop if the outside environment is hostile, but you can override that by holding the left button for ten seconds.”
Dr. Snowden pressed the left button, and a thin, semitransparent metallic helmet shot out of the neck collar and covered his head. He noticed he could breathe normally and see without any blind spots. Pressing the button on the right caused visual readouts to appear on the inside surface. Looking at Emily, he could see readouts fly off to the side of her. It supported augmented reality. This was something he could get used to. “If I had known the suits were like this, I woulda used one back on that rogue planet.”
Evaran nodded and pointed to a small round device on Dr. Snowden’s upper left chest. “That is an interface toggle button. If you tap it, it will project your linked PSD interface a few feet in front of you. That is the suit’s interface. Certain options will be disabled, but a majority of the functionality is there. Bear in mind that the scanner is in the palm of your left hand. Also, we are all connected to the Torvatta communications system, so we can talk normally.”
Dr. Snowden nodded and looked around. “Wish we had all this on the Krotovore ship.”
Evaran’s eyes softened. “Yes. I built these suits as a direct response to that incident. It would have made things much easier, and if I had planned better, things could have been avoided.”
Dr. Snowden sighed. He could see Evaran was still troubled about the abduction experience. He shook his hand in the air. “I wasn’t implying anything.”
“I know. However, you have an advantage this time,” said Evaran. He walked up to Emily and extended his left hand. “Please place your right wrist in my hand.”
Emily complied.
“You have some defensive options on this suit,” said Evaran. He pressed and held the green wrist button. After a few seconds, a cone-shaped device shot out from the wrist and covered her hands.
“Whoa! What’s that?” said Emily.
“It is a modified version of my repulsing blast. It shoots a beam out that is easy to aim and will push objects away. To retract the repulsing weapon, just press the red wrist button,” said Evaran. He dropped Emily’s wrist and tapped her interface toggle device.
Evaran interacted with the interface that projected a few feet in front of Emily. After a moment, a medium-sized, square, translucent shield appeared, hovering an inch away from her left arm. “That should help a bit.”
