Conspiracy Unleashed

by L. Danvers

  Agent Taylor went ahead and said her goodbyes and wished them well before she returned to the vice president’s estate. There, she and the other agents would communicate with them from the control center in the basement.

  After she left, the five of them dispersed into their respective rooms, taking time to settle in and compose themselves before departing on their mission.

  Cal gulped down the acid fighting its way to the top of her throat. She needed to sit. She plopped herself on her bed, hugging herself as she looked about the room. It was tiny, but it got the job done. There was a nightstand with a lamp and a closet filled with uniforms and gear. There was a private bathroom, too.

  She pulled her necklace out from under her shirt collar and twirled the locket between her fingers.

  “I can't do this without you, Quinn,” she whispered.

  The sour feeling in the back of her mouth dissipated. Thinking of Quinn gave Cal a feeling of reassurance.

  She changed into her uniform. She willed her fingers to stop trembling as she secured her utility belt around her waist. She checked her wristband and was surprised by how much time had already passed.

  She went to the sink, turned on the faucet and allowed the cool water to pool in the palms of her hands. She splashed it against her face and patted herself dry with the hand towel. She pulled her long, raven hair into a high ponytail. Cal took a deep breath, stood up straight and lifted her chin.

  “Stellix crew to the main cabin. Stellix crew to the main cabin,” Commander Ahmadi announced over the speaker system.

  It was time. Cal’s soul felt like it wanted to leap from her flesh. She felt exhilarated. She was departing on a mission in space. It was incredible. Cal took one last look in the mirror and grinned as she shook her head in disbelief. She left her room, headed down the curved hallway and found her way to the main cabin.

  She was the first person to join the commander. She took her seat without saying a word. He was far too focused to have his thoughts interrupted by pointless chitchat. Flynn came in next and typed away into the control panel. Sam and Britt walked in together and had just sat down when Agent Taylor appeared on the holographic projector in front of the window. She stood in a room with twelve other people staring at an assortment of computer screens and three dimensional holograms.

  “As we discussed,” Agent Taylor began, “I will be your main point of contact here at the control center. Today, you will make history. The five of you will be the first humans to trek such a great distance across the universe. Though I understand this is an exciting adventure, remember your objective is to secure evidence of intelligent life on another planet. Be sure to keep a detailed log in the server. We don't know what you will find in your explorations, but we want you to know we will be here for you every step of the way. And remember: fortune favors the brave.”

  “Fortune favors the brave,” they repeated to her, and with that, her image disappeared.

  Commander Ahmadi glanced around the main cabin. “Prepare for the slingshot maneuver. O’Boyle, the coordinates, please.” He looked to Flynn, who nodded and entered in the series of digits for the planet Prixine.

  Twenty.

  Nineteen.

  Eighteen.

  The five of them buckled their seat belts and made sure they were secure as a deep male voice from the control center counted down. It was hard to believe it was happening. Their training and education had been leading to this moment.

  Twelve.

  Eleven.

  Ten.

  Cal watched in awe as Commander Ahmadi activated the cube. He didn't have to think about what he was doing. It was second nature to him.

  She bit her lip as she tried to keep from screaming at Britt to stop tapping her foot.

  Three.

  Two.

  One.

  The Stellix rumbled. Cal clasped her hands around the ends of her chair’s armrests, squeezing so hard her knuckles turned white. A heavy force bore down against her chest. She tried leaning forward, but the weight of the force thrust her against the chair. Everything became fuzzy and distorted. Colors oozed together, and the entire main cabin stretched like a rubber band.

  Snap!

  The five of them were thrust forward. Their seatbelts stopped them from splattering against the large window. Their heads whipped back, some harder than others. Britt and Flynn rubbed their necks as Commander Ahmadi said, “That went better than expected.” The two of them fired disbelieving looks at him.

  “Is that it?” Cal asked.

  “No, not quite,” Commander Ahmadi replied. “Remember our training? Slingshots like that one only propel us so far into space. The ship has a maximum number of lightyears it can jump at a time.”

  “Ah. Right.” She had no idea what he was talking about. She dozed off during this part of training.

  “So we’ve entered the Quintex Galaxy,” Sam added, glancing at her over his shoulder as he spoke, “but we have a ways to go before we reach Prixine. We have to rely on good ol’ traditional spaceflight for the rest of the trip. How long would you say we have, Commander?”

  “A day or so, I would guess.”

  “So,” Britt jumped in, “we’re free to walk around now, I assume?” Commander Ahmadi nodded. “Thank God,” Britt said. Her seatbelt gave a click as it unlocked. She stood and stretched out her arms. She cupped her hand around her neck as she headed toward the large window. “Come on!” she called out to Cal. “You’ve got to see this.”

  Flynn and Sam joined them.

  “Whoa,” Flynn said, shaking his head. He adjusted his rectangular frames as he stared out at the great expanse.

  “I have to ask,” Sam said, looking down at Flynn. “What’s with the glasses? Why don’t you wear corrective lenses? I mean, you use the computerized ones.”

  “I like them,” he said.

  “Me, too,” Cal added, patting him on the back. “Flynn’s always been an old-fashioned kind of guy. They suit him well.”

  “Thanks.”

  Sam didn’t press further. He shifted his gaze to the window, and the others did the same. Cal was about to make the mistake of pressing her fingers to the icy glass again, but she thought better of it. Instead, she stood there, trying to take a mental picture. She wanted to remember everything about this moment. A smile swept across her face. She thought of the people on Earth, the people who had lived before them who looked up at the night sky and wondered what untold secrets the universe held. And here she was, about to find out firsthand.

  A few hours passed as the crew took in the wondrous sights. They dreamed about what they would find on Prixine and how long they would stay there. They talked about their families and imagined what they would think if they were here with them.

  Commander Ahmadi got choked up talking about his daughters. They were only six and four, and it was evident to everyone that they and his wife Farah were his whole world. He blinked away the tears as he spoke their names aloud—Etty and Laila. He didn’t talk about them much. It wasn’t because he didn’t love them. In fact, it was so hard to talk about them because he loved them and missed them so much. She’d seen him step away to call them a couple times at the estate, but his heart grew heavier with each conversation, until he stopped calling altogether. Someone who didn’t know him better would have thought he didn’t care, but Cal understood why he stopped reaching out to them. She hadn’t called her parents once since she left home. It was too hard to lie.

  He sniffled. Needing a moment alone, Commander Ahmadi suggested the others take this opportunity to grab some food. He asked Sam to bring him a bite to eat. He said he didn’t care what it was, but he wanted something fast. He was starving.

  Sam, Cal and Britt made their way to the dining hall. Flynn joined them and took a seat, burying his nose in a thick book with worn, yellowed pages. It was one of the same books he’d grabbed before bringing Cal to the estate. He was almost done with it. Cal held back a grin as she watched him scan the pages with impres
sive speed. She enjoyed watching him read, as weird of a thing that was to admit. Most people their age downloaded digital copies onto their FlexTabs or listened to audio versions. But that wasn’t Flynn’s style. He was an old soul, and in that one regard, he reminded her of her dad. She appreciated that Flynn kept her grounded. That was a good quality to have in a friend.

  After grabbing a quick bite for himself, Sam left to deliver Commander Ahmadi a meal, leaving Cal, Britt and Flynn to themselves. Flynn kept sighing as the women talked and laughed together. They took the hint and left to find another place to hang out.

  “I don’t mean to be nosy,” Britt said as they walked down the hall, “but I have to ask. Is something going on between you two?”

  “Who? Me and Flynn? No, no. We’re friends.”

  “No, I meant Sam,” Britt said. “Oh, don’t act so surprised. I see those googly eyes you make at him whenever he’s in the room.”

  “Oh,” Cal said, worrying her face was turning bright red. She hadn’t told Britt or Flynn about her and Sam’s relationship. She wasn’t sure if it was a relationship. It wasn’t like they went on dates. They talked. And kissed.

  “No need to be embarrassed. He’s hot.”

  “Yeah,” Cal said as they continued down the hall. “I don’t know. I like him, but I don’t think it’s anything serious.”

  “Mhmm,” Britt teased.

  “What about you?” Cal asked. “Do you have a boyfriend back home?”

  “Me? No. I don’t have time for dating. Well, especially now, but even before, I didn’t date much.”

  “Why is that?” Cal asked. She found this surprising. Britt had a lot to offer. She was smart, confident, strong and beautiful. What guy wouldn’t want a girl like that?

  “I don’t know,” Britt said. “I mean, I get asked on dates, but it’s not a priority to me right now, you know? I have more important things to worry about.”

  “Like what?”

  “My career.”

  “But can’t you have both?” Cal asked.

  Midway through shrugging, Britt and Cal were jolted to the floor. Their ears rang as an alarm echoed throughout the entire ship. A handful of plants from the flushed shelf along the hall tumbled to the ground, sending dirt splattering across the white floor.

  Cal covered her ears with her hands to try to block the noise, but it was too loud to make any difference. She tried to stand, but it hurt when she put weight on her right leg. Britt got to her feet and saw that Cal was struggling. She helped lift her up and hoisted Cal’s arm over her shoulder. She dragged Cal to the main cabin, where Commander Ahmadi and Flynn were already in deep conversation with Agent Taylor at the control center. She got Cal to her chair, and the women listened while Britt examined Cal’s leg. The alarm stopped blaring, and they were able to make out what the others were saying.

  “Yes, Agent Taylor, I have Decker checking on it,” Commander Ahmadi said.

  “Good. O’Boyle, how’s it looking?” Agent Taylor asked.

  “Systems appear to be functioning.”

  “Thank God,” Agent Taylor said. “That would be an absolute shame if the mission had to be delayed because of getting struck by space junk.” Britt’s brown eyes met Cal’s green ones. They were shocked that debris could have caused this. “The real question, though,” Agent Taylor continued, “is where that debris could have come from. You’re the first humans to venture this far. So that means...” Her voice trailed off.

  “We’ll do our best to find out,” Commander Ahmadi assured her.

  The gold screen projection flickered as Sam stormed inside the room.

  “Any news?” Commander Ahmadi asked.

  Sam looked at him and then up at the holographic projection of Agent Taylor in the control room. “A little surface damage. Nothing we can’t fix when we reach Prixine.”

  “Good,” Agent Taylor said.

  “We’ll let you know if there is anything else to report,” Commander Ahmadi assured her.

  She nodded, and Flynn ended the transmission. The holographic image retracted into a tiny dot before disappearing. Flynn looked back and saw Britt tending to Cal’s leg. “Are you hurt?”

  Before he could get to his feet, Sam hurried over and knelt beside Cal. He took her hand in his and asked her what had happened.

  “We were knocked to the ground when the ship was hit,” Cal said. She turned to Britt. “Is it broken?”

  “No,” Britt said. “You’ll have an ugly bruise, though. You’re lucky. It could have been a lot worse. Let’s keep your leg elevated to prevent swelling. Sam, can you go get her some ice?”

  “Sure thing,” he said. He darted out of the main cabin to the dining hall.

  Pain radiated through her shin. She squeezed her eyes shut while Britt continued examining it. She couldn’t imagine how much it would have hurt had she broken it.

  A few minutes later, Sam returned with a bag of ice wrapped in a dish towel. She pressed it against her leg. The ice stung, despite the towel. She tried not to cry. Not in front of Sam.

  “Let’s get you to your living quarters,” Britt suggested. “Sam, do you mind?”

  He and Britt put Cal’s arms around their shoulders and helped her hobble down the hall. They led her through the gold screen, which flickered as they passed through it, and Britt promised she’d be back with some medicine.

  Sam picked up Cal’s pillow, folded it in two and placed it under her foot.

  “Thank you,” Cal said.

  “Don’t mention it.”

  “This is so embarrassing.” Cal buried her face in her hand.

  “What do you mean?” He sat on the side of her bed, careful to not touch her leg.

  “We haven’t made it to Prixine yet, and I’ve already been injured.”

  Sam took her hand, leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. No longer thinking about the pain, she wrapped her arms around him, stroking the back of his neck with her fingers. She worried he could feel her heart pounding. Even after all this time, he still made her nervous.

  “Ahem,” Britt said as she walked through the screen projection.

  Cal pulled away from Sam and ran her fingers through her ponytail, trying to hide the fact that they had been caught.

  “Take these,” Britt said. She placed two small purple pills in Cal’s hand. “You’ll feel much better by morning.”

  Sam got Cal a cup of water. She jerked her head back and swallowed the medicine.

  “Well,” Cal said, “I think I need to get some rest.”

  Sam and Britt left. Cal wanted to sleep, but she needed to upload her daily log into the server. She pulled a FlexTab from the nightstand drawer and recounted the day’s events. The medicine made her more and more woozy with each passing minute. She shook her head in attempt to snap out of the daze, but it began to bob. Her eyes became heavy, and she succumbed to the effects of the pills.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Well, well, well,” Flynn said as Cal entered the main cabin, rubbing her eyes. “Look who decided to wake up.”

  “How long was I out?”

  “Long enough for us to make it to Prixine,” Commander Ahmadi said. “I was about to send Britt to wake you up, Cameron. We will be landing soon.”

  Cal made her way to the window to get a better glimpse of the cotton candy-colored alien planet. Her breath caught when she saw it. Two helix-shaped rings that sparkled like diamonds interlocked in an X shape around the planet, which was splattered with wispy purple and white clouds.

  “I have a question.” Cal stared out the window.

  “Yes?” Commander Ahmadi asked.

  “We’re searching for intelligent life, right?”

  “You catch on quick.” Britt snorted.

  “Ha ha.” Cal smiled at her. She shifted her focus back to the commander. “Anyway, if they’re as advanced as we are, wouldn’t they see us coming?”

  “Were you listening during our training sessions, Cameron? We have been over this.”


  “Sorry.” She remembered Agent Taylor talking about this during her first week at the estate, but her brain had been so overloaded with facts and details over the past months it was hard to remember everything.

  “Upon entering the Quintex Galaxy,” Commander Ahmadi explained, “we began transmitting a signal stating who we are and why we are here in hopes of an intelligent species receiving the message and responding to us. We have not received a response, but that does not mean we do not need to explore the planet ourselves. They may not have the capability to decipher the message or respond to us. Or maybe they are ignoring us, or perhaps there are no intelligent life forms inhabiting this particular planet. That is what we are here to find out. But enough with the questions. I need to focus. It is time to prepare for landing.”

  The crewmembers took their seats, strapped themselves in and waited with eager anticipation as Commander Ahmadi rotated the cube, navigating the Stellix into Prixine’s atmosphere.

  The ship rattled. He tried to steady the cube, which hummed with energy. Sam advised him on where he thought they should land, and the Stellix hovered in the air as he lowered the spacecraft to Prixine’s surface.

  “Wait a minute.” Commander Ahmadi thought out loud.

  The ship dropped. Cal tried to ignore the fact that her stomach was going away and kept reassuring herself that everything was okay, but it was obvious the others were having the same doubts she was.

  “Something doesn’t feel right,” Flynn said.

  The Stellix bounced as it touched down, sticking to the surface like it had been suctioned by a vacuum.

  Commander Ahmadi adjusted the cube while Flynn typed into the control panel.

  “The ship’s stuck, isn’t it?” Sam asked.

  The lack of response from Commander Ahmadi was an answer in itself. Sam unbuckled his seatbelt and went to get a better look out the window. He and the others looked out upon the colorful landscape. The surface was like bubble wrap. The ground was covered in giant tan bubbles the size of football fields. Their ship bobbed like a buoy in a pool, clinging to the surface as it bounced.