Naylon handed the disc to Tann. “Yeah,” Tann agreed eagerly. “Like a screen or barrier was in the way,” Tann said as he eyed the device. “Hey! I went through it once without this thing on me and nothing happened. When both of us went through it we were carrying one apiece and that’s when we felt that weird sensation.” Tann carefully placed the object on the desk next to the bunk. “I’m not touching it again. Look what happened to us! It’s like we’re in the past or the future or something.”
“No. It’s weirder than that,” Naylon continued, thinking hard. “Whoever carved out that perfectly smooth tunnel knew they had to use the thing to get through it. Right?”
“How do you know?”
“Well, we’re here, aren’t we? It’s someplace other than the Rylerra we’re familiar with. When we had that device on our person we crossed over to here. Without it, we didn’t. I think you’re right.”
“About what?”
“I don’t think we’re in our universe anymore.”
Tann’s whole face reflected what Naylon felt: complete shock mixed with terror.
Chapter 22
“Olton Avela, Nona Ice Station Rescue,” the large man said to Darreth as he offered his outstretched hand.
Darreth shook it. “Lieutenant Commander James-Po,” Darreth said in return.
Merek was standing next to Darreth and also shook the man’s hand. They both had just watched the small ship land not far from the mouth of the cave.
Darreth was supremely worried. It had been a full day and he had found not a trace of Naylon or his brother. He and Merek had scoured the cavern multiple times looking for anything which might provide any clue to explain their disappearance. They had come up empty. They had deliberately not touched the alien bodies, but had disturbed nearly every square centimeter of the dirt floor in their search. There were footprints everywhere. Naylon and Tann’s footprints had been completely obliterated. It was the most disconcerting situation Darreth had ever been confronted with. By now, they were entirely used to viewing the aliens, but it didn’t provide any comfort to the fact that two of his party had simply disappeared.
Darreth was suspicious that the mysteriously smooth cylindrical tunnel, for lack of a better description for the cutout, had something to do with it, but couldn’t prove it. He had aimed his communications PAD at the device and tuned for every frequency it was capable of receiving, but his effort was futile. The cylindrical area, seemingly cut from the solid rock, emitted no electromagnetic radiation he could detect. There were no wires, antennas, switches, biometrics or anything along the surface of the large stone slab it had been cut from to indicate it was made by human or other hands. In other words, it appeared to be solid rock. All except for the mysterious translucent barrier, like a highly localized atmospheric distortion, in the dead center of the tunnel.
“Where are the other two?” Olton asked. The other three men from his rescue team stood at the ready behind him.
“They’ve, uh, disappeared,” Darreth said. “But there’s more. We’ve, uh, discovered aliens in the cave.”
Olton wasn’t sure he heard Darreth right. “What?”
“Dead ones.”
Protocol was such that incoming ships that didn’t touch down when and where they should caused Olton’s team to go on alert. The mysterious disappearance of the Siaron Viper shortly after the nav sat went offline had given Olton’s manager, Yason Birovich, just enough pause to put Olton’s group on standby alert. Their orders could change in a minute. He had been made aware that the pilot of this particular missing shuttle was a provincial manager’s son. Despite being a good pilot, the son of a provincial manager was considered important enough to keep tabs on. Weather was frequently unpredictable on Rylerra despite the latest weather sensor technology. Thus, Yason made it absolutely clear to Olton that he was to find the passengers or the wreckage ASAP. Olton and his team had earned their pay.
Darreth and Merek were assigned temporary quarters at the ice station, then briefed the rescue team about the details of what happened to them. As far as they knew, pirates had pursued them, fired on them, taken out the orbiting sat, and forced them to make their hasty landing.
Yason was quite concerned about the loss of the sat. There were dozens of ships and FTL comm buoys constantly making runs between Rylerra and Andakar. Commerce had been disrupted but wouldn’t entirely cease. Nonetheless, its loss was bad for business and bad for the one hundred twenty-six thousand inhabitants of the eight domed cities and un-domed outposts on Rylerra, including their station. It would take at least two months to replace the damn thing.
Yason’s big concern now was that their lives would be intruded on by Space Navy vessels, as well as personnel from Andakar, a lot more frequently. They might even demand a permanent berth. He didn’t like that idea at all. Rylerra wasn’t theirs. The two planets were merely trading partners. Granted, they were relatively close as Inhabs went, but it didn’t mean his authority should be bypassed. He would personally speak with Rish Illigan, their Planetary Director, about it later. He figured Rish would be angrier than he. He was counting his blessings that his planet had only raw materials, a few precious mineral resources, and refined ores, which no one would consider worth stealing. After all, the majority of it was bulky, heavy and not much more than a commodity. The logistics of stealing them would be beyond what he could imagine anyway. If Rylerra had to have their own Space Navy even half the size of Andakar’s, they’d all be bankrupt within a year. The very thought of having to maintain a military made Yason sick.
The mysterious part of this whole episode was the missing persons. They weren’t considered dead and they hadn’t been obviously killed. They weren’t even injured as far as he knew. They had somehow vanished. But what made this report impossible to believe was the description and brief vid of dead aliens in a cavern. He was well aware aliens didn’t exist.
Yet they did. He saw the vid himself.
Zelin Raxi was his next call. Zelin needed to be kept in the loop on anything that might affect mining operations.
“They’re alive?” Zelin tried his best to not sound disappointed. After all, Inandra was not going to like this one bit, he thought with some trepidation. He had experienced her temper more than once.
“We have the pilot and one of the passengers,” Yason reported. “Two of his party have gone missing. But there’s more than just that. I have vid of three dead aliens in the cavern where they took shelter.”
Zelin issued a short laugh.
“Look for yourself,” Yason countered. “He sent the vid along his communication line.
“Impossible. There-there’s no such thing as aliens,” Zelin stammered as he watched. Not only was his little operation a failure, but aliens?
“Apparently, we’ve been wrong.”
The news had already circled both globes before Darreth and Merek had returned to Andakar four days later. Their return didn’t ease Darreth’s mind at all. He was wracked with guilt about not having even a clue about what had happened to his boyfriend. Plus, how could he explain his failure to protect his little brother to his parents?
Rescue team personnel cordoned off the cavern to keep anyone on Rylerra from ‘just happening by’. A thorough survey of the cavern by investigative personnel might reveal some new clues to the mysterious origin of the dead aliens, which, it was speculated, were hundreds, if not thousands of years old. Not a sign of Naylon or Tann was found. No one had a clue what to do next.
Darreth and Merek’s return was greeted with a curious mixture of amazement, relief and suspicion. Clearly, the vids showed that aliens existed. As far as everyone on both planets was concerned, they had discovered what everyone since before the advent of space travel said didn’t exist. Rumors had somehow started that Darreth had made his two companions disappear. Speculation was rampant about why he might want to off his brother and partner. First, it was suggested an accident was being covered up. Then this ‘accident’ was because Darreth had l
et his partner handle the ship and that was why it had crashed, killing an unknown number of innocent bystanders. Many conveniently forgot his report of an unknown assailant pursuing them to the surface of Rylerra. Maybe, the speculation ran, they mentioned this supposed “discovery of aliens” to shift the attention away from the real cause. An unnamed junior officer was even quoted as saying he had seen Lieutenant Commander Darreth James-Po drinking during patrols.
Unfortunately, Darreth heard all of it. Until this incident, not more than a handful of people even knew he and Naylon existed. Now he was practically the talk of the entire planet. And nearly everything he heard was a fabrication.
Squadron Master Yoon Wakanabe, who was both Darreth’s and Rehl’s immediate superior wasn’t all that happy with the speculations either. But he had to take action for the sake of the Navy’s reputation. He grounded Darreth.
“Sir, I had nothing to do with their disappearance,” he argued. “Why are we letting rumors dictate military policy?” Darreth asked.
“Rumors are not part of this issue,” Wakanabe responded. “It’s politics, plain and simple. If I let you continue to pilot patrols, the repercussions will be far wider than just missing people.”
“Sir, I did not murder my own brother!”
“No one said you murdered anyone.”
“No one?” He nearly spit out the words. “How about this article.” Darreth handed the commander a news flimsy with the article’s title in bold letters.
The Squadron Master briefly scanned the heading. “No one at this command says or believes anything of the kind. Those are baseless and false accusations. There’s no evidence of foul play. Naylon’s assistant, Mr., uh, Soliciellio corroborated your story.”
“Then you can’t reasonably ground me.”
“I have to reasonably ground you for the sake of appearances,” he tried to explain patiently, even though he backed Darreth completely. “In fact, you’re not to leave Andakar for any reason until the investigation into this matter is concluded.”
“Which will be when?”
“Four weeks.”
“Four weeks!” he raged. “I’m supposed to sit here when I could be helping find Naylon and my brother!” Darreth said bitterly.
“That’s an order Lieutenant Commander.”
“What about the ship that shot us down?” Darreth demanded.
“An investigation is being held on Rylerra. Don’t expect anything to come of it any time soon though. I’m getting some very peculiar resistance,” Yoon said with an edge to his voice.
Darreth was just about to say something about that.
Yoon held up his hand. “Don’t agit. We’ll get to the bottom of this.”
“Disobedience of a lawful Consortium order, failure to adhere to Space Navy protocols, unauthorized passage into Rylerra’s atmosphere without official entry authorization, and dereliction of duty. There are several other charges as well,” Darreth’s father continued, running his eyes down the list as the two of them sat comfortably in his study.
Darreth rose from his chair. “Who could possibly have produced these trumped up charges!” he said in exasperation. He began pacing, his anger near the boiling point.
“I’ll give you three guesses.”
Darreth shook his head. He had no idea.
“Alarr,” Siloy said flatly.
“She’s in no position to charge me with anything!”
“Quiet down. She’s merely bringing to everyone’s attention how she sees things.”
“She’s blind then. My brother disappeared. She honestly believes I deliberately lost my own brother!”
“I’m sure that’s not what she means. But she’s sent this communication to your commander. I suspect you’ll hear about it later today.”
“Maybe I should send my own communication to her. Better yet, have her clear her schedule today so I can have a nice tête-à-tête with her,” Darreth said acidly.
Siloy eased back in his chair. “Son, don’t give her anything else to put on this list.”
Darreth had no real intention of talking with her. He already didn’t like the woman, now she gave him more reasons to dislike her. But his main concerns remained unanswered. What had happened to Tann and Naylon?
Chapter 23
Darreth entered the hearing room and stood at attention. Behind a long curved table against the left wall sat Darreth’s immediate superior Squadron Master Wakanabe, his adjutant Sefana Veoc, and a staff lawyer from the planetary director’s office. Ahead of him, behind a raised bench, was a judge who had been brought up from the surface. He was from the main Space Navy office in Tokaias. To Darreth’s right was a long desk, behind which was a Space Navy secretary.
On the wall behind the judge was the seal of the Andakar Space Navy. Its gleaming gold and blue were prominently lit from behind. The room was carpeted and extremely quiet. Darreth was surprised Director Alarr herself wasn’t present. But he knew she was either watching live or would watch the salient points after the hearing had been edited later for her consumption.
“This hearing will come to order,” the Space Navy secretary said to everyone present. “Please be seated.”
The judge made a brief statement that this would not be an informal hearing but rather a formal establishment of charges. He would be determining the merits of the arguments and make his judgment immediately. Darreth had been led to believe this would be strictly an informal fact-finding hearing. He was greatly concerned now that this was going to be a formal hearing instead. It seemed they were cutting straight to the political chase, as it were.
Darreth sat with as much military bearing as he could on the slightly raised chair. It was hard and uncomfortable. Most likely on purpose, he figured.
Yoon’s adjutant Sefana was Darreth’s defender in this case. He had met with her briefly before the hearing and had been assured that the procedure was standard, would take forty-five minutes at most and was simply to establish a permanent recording of the charges being brought against him. But the rules had obviously changed. The judge had already said so. Darreth was still fuming about the charges that had been levied against him and had decided it was a political ploy of some kind. In the days preceding this hearing, he had done some research of his own and had come to the not-so-surprising conclusion that he had broken no real laws. No, this hearing was for something other than to charge him with trumped up ‘crimes’. As to what that purpose was, he hadn’t figured out so far. Nonetheless, the feel of politics hung heavily in the air.
The planetary director’s staff lawyer was a small man to Sefana’s left. A nameplate on the desktop identified him as Orin Atimlet. Immediately, Orin stood and pulled down the hem of his crisp gray tunic shirt. It was embroidered with dark piping to indicate his office. It seemed to Darreth that the man was not just a corporate lawyer but was going to try to be his judge as well.
“You’ve been advised of the charges against you?” Orin asked Darreth.
“Yes.”
“You are aware that these charges are per corporate and planetary law?”
“Yes.” Darreth told him, only to be on record although he didn’t believe it.
“What do you have to say in your defense?”
“I have already submitted my defense. I have nothing else to add.” Darreth was not required to answer directly to the charges. His defender, Sefana Veoc was going to do the speaking for him. In fact, he was beginning to find this formal tribunal humorous. It was simply for show and had little to do with whether he was ‘guilty’ or ‘innocent’ of the charges. Orin sat down.
Sefana stood next. “I motion that all charges be dropped as submitted in our written copy.”
Orin had also already read their submission. He answered simply. “Denied.”
Sefana calmly expected that response. She continued. “Lieutenant Commander Darreth James-Po was acting in accordance to page 85, section 7d of the Uniform Pilot Code. Section 7d is quite specific with regard to the safety of p
assengers and crew of an interplanetary shuttle. I will submit said passage for the record.” With that, she pressed an icon on the flimsy she was reading from. The passage was immediately transmitted to the flimsy Orin was holding.
Orin read the passage’s mere two sentences, then added his comments. “This statute covers Space Navy personnel only. It does not in any way cover the transport of Citizens.”
Sefana countered. “We submit that the safety of any crew or passengers in a Space Navy vessel takes precedence over and overrides any other law or statute that may otherwise neglect the safety or the lives of any Citizen or pre-Citizen.”
Orin knew that he was on thin ice going into this hearing. He had logged four hearings regarding Space Navy issues in the past. He had lost three of them due to superior arguments from the adjutant’s office and the weakness of the charges. In fact, he was quite surprised he would have to even attempt to defend the law over the protection of Citizens who had been clearly in danger. In his own personal opinion, the Lieutenant Commander deserved a medal, a commendation, and an award for his outstanding handling of the bizarre circumstances he had found himself in. Regardless, he had had no choice in this matter. Director Alarr had been very clear. It wasn’t his place to question her authority. He was merely a corporate staff lawyer assigned to this Inhab. With all due respect to Director Alarr, he would have rather stayed in bed, saving himself from this farce of a ‘hearing’.
Darreth watched in amusement. It was less than five minutes into the hearing and Darreth could already tell that Orin was way over his head. Clearly, this was nothing more than an attempt to either humiliate him or at the very least, embarrass him. It wasn’t working. Darreth tried his best to suppress a very satisfied grin.
The Rylerran Gateway Page 20
