“So, what are you proposing I do, Diana Ten?” he asked, “Invite this dangerous man into my shuttle?”
“What’s he shouting?” I asked.
Without the window opening at all, the voice of the man entered the room.
“My dad was trying to help your people who were injured. Your people shot him even while he tried to get a doctor. We both came out here to meet you because we’ve been interested in your metals and ceramoid for generations. Why’d you have to kill an innocent man?”
“Who initiated the attack?” I asked, “I thought you said they started it.”
The captain simply stared at the screen. He offered no reply or even an acknowledgement that I’d asked him a question.
“Are you doing that weird ‘transmitting’ thing again? How do you talk to each other without doing anything?” I asked, frustrated at their secret communication techniques.
“I’m sorry, Diana. I can see how this would seem rude. Yes, I was communicating to several others including two witnesses of the other shuttle’s communiqué and it appears the Mystic may be telling a bit of truth, though indeed, the battle was started by those you called The Guard,” the captain stated, “I will try to refrain from visual image communications around you and your people if this makes you uncomfortable.”
I shook my head, “I just don’t understand it or half of what you say anyway. It doesn’t really matter.”
“It does matter. I have one of the Indentures escorting the Mystic aboard as we speak. If you’ll be so kind as to follow me to the rear of the shuttle, maybe you can help me in determining where this young man fits into all this.”
April 9, 2377
The CEO’s image was being broadcast to the whole world. All eyes and ears now belonged to the USSC.
“I’d like to thank you all for joining in today. I’m sure you’ll find this worth your while. We at the USSC are very pleased to announce two great advancements that have come from the both the Pioneer Investigation and from the actual crew of the USSC Pioneer,” the CEO said, smiling broadly into the homes of more than ten billion people worldwide.
“The Jump Drive that sent the Pioneer to the Beta Hydri System was actually a success, but in a different way than we realized. It served as something of a time machine, transporting them nearly a thousand years into the past. Although this wasn’t the intent, it still made the mission into a success nonetheless,
“Here’s what we know right now. The planet circling Beta Hydri can and does support life. We know this from the Hydrus Signals we’d been receiving for decades. We know the people there speak English and now we know why. They are the descendants of a thousand year old colony that the USSC established there. We’re pleased to announce that the USSC now has quite a foothold established there,
“What does this mean, you ask? The USSC has been in debt by over a billion dollars for quite a long time, and we’ve lacked the funding for future endeavors. Now however, we have the means to pay that debt by whatever Hydrus has to offer. It would be a safe bet that there’s plenty to be mined on our lands there and beyond that, it’s probably a safe bet that we have plenty of property to sell to those who wish to start a new life in a binary star system. Starting tomorrow, we will begin selling slots on the next ten cruisers headed for Hydrus. If you wish to relocate there, the prices will start at $100,000, but this price will be cut in half for those willing to do a ten year Indenture mining the planet,
“Just this morning, we sent a tachyon message to the cruiser we have in orbit there. They will have the duty of establishing a ground base for the USSC. I’d like to welcome the assistance of any other countries that wish to take part in this wonderful opportunity. Today is just the beginning.”
The CEO ended his message and turned to those seated in the room.
“So, how do you think the Australian’s will react to this?” he asked.
“I have a feeling half the world is going to go ballistic and we’ll probably start hearing some angry comments across the board. But this won’t change anything. We have a colony established already and we’ve probably laid claim to a large portion of the planet.”
- - -
Tachyon Text Sent 02:14 4/9/77… USSC to Captain Reiss: Search for definitive evidence that population are all descendants of the Pioneer Colony... also try to establish a USSC ground base for follow up ships... send results of valuable mineral scan.
7
Braxton
Blaze Continent
The dragon was definitely not a living creature. I understood that now as I was being led through a large room full of seats, then into a much smaller room with three sofas surrounding a square table. The two guards who escorted me into the room had me sit down with my hands planted in my lap. They remained by the doorway, never taking their eyes off me. I was sort of surprised that they seemed to understand the meaning of my glove.
The door opened again, this time to allow three fairly ordinary people to enter the room. One was a very pale-skinned man with long black hair, the other a man of equally pale skin with blond hair that didn’t really match his brown beard. The final was a young woman probably a few harvests younger than me, with beautiful blonde hair that was tied back into a tail. She had the typical tan skin-tone of everyone else in Blaze. I wondered for a moment if she wasn’t an alien at all.
“Welcome to my shuttle. I’d shake your hand, but I don’t think that would be quite wise of me,” the black-haired man stated as he took a seat on the sofa across from me, “My name is Captain Chris Reiss, this other gentleman is our legal advisor Stone Rodgers, and this lovely lady is Diana Ten from the continent you call Green.”
I looked to the woman who was now sitting on the sofa to the right of me, feeling a bit shocked that I wasn’t the only one from Legacy in this room.
“My name is Braxton Three and I’m a prospective geologist, a current archaeologist under my father’s tutorage which…well… and I’m also a forced Mystic,” I replied, “Are you the Metal-Masters? By that, I mean, did you guys build those two cages out there?”
“The cages…” he repeated, “Oh, you mean the building frames? We didn’t build those, but yes, it was our people. None of it makes any real sense to us, but I definitely recognize those structures.”
“I’ve dedicated my life to the study of your metals and ceramoid,” I said, “I’d love to learn your metallurgy methods. I’d love to-”
“Please, if I may,” the captain said, raising his hand, “I’m in a sticky situation right now where I need some answers to protect the rest of my crew, both here on this shuttle and in orbit above. I’d be glad to share any of our technology with your people, but we need to take care of the problem at hand first.”
I couldn’t understand fully half the words he spoke and his rapid speech made it all the more harder. It sounded to me like he was willing to tell me what I wanted to know, but that I first had to help him feel safe.
“I didn’t shoot the rocket at your shuttle and to be honest, I think it was downright stupid of the Guard. It was an unprovoked attack,” I stated, “I saw the whole thing.”
He nodded, then looked over to the man beside him.
“That’s good to know,” Stone stated, “That shuttle was not on a mission of violence. Its crew was sent to investigate the remains of the Pioneer Colony.”
I just stared stupidly at the man, then turned to Diana.
“Can you understand these people? You’re from Green, right?” I asked.
A smile appeared on her face, but it looked like she was fighting it. She nodded subtly, then turned to the captain.
“You guys have a very fast speech compared to our own,” she said, by means of explanation to the captain, “And you have many words we’ve never heard of. I can get the general idea usually of what you’re saying, but it’s not easy.”
“Thank you,” he replied to Diana, “This is actually why I have you here. We may need some help communicating. I’ll definitely make a poi
nt to talk slower.”
“Are you guys from another planet?” I asked.
“Yes, we’re from the planet Earth in a completely different star system. One of our ships carried those ‘cages’ here, but we thought it happened more recently than it appears. Do you know how long they’ve been here?” the captain asked.
“My father guessed at more than five hundred harvests, though we only have documented proof of at least three hundred and twenty. It was mentioned in the writings of Douglas Seven whom we know lived about three hundred harvests ago.”
“Harvests…” the captain nodded, “I’m going to assume that’s the equivalent word of ‘years’ for my people. That’s good information, though still confusing.”
“I have a confession,” I stated, “One I’m not proud of.”
Stone leaned forward, clasping his hands together. The captain nodded, but said nothing.
“After the Guard attacked your people, my dad ran to go help them. We both didn’t understand the motives of the Guard and we definitely didn’t want to see anyone suffer. My dad told me to run and get a doctor. I was about to, but then one of your people came out and started shooting,” I said, looking down at my hands, “I didn’t blame them one bit for shooting the Guard. Heck, I wanted to shoot them myself.”
I shook my head, remembering the vision of my dad, completely ignorant of the violence happening around him. He had his hand pressed on the thigh of one of the aliens, probably trying to stop the blood flow. He was too busy trying to save lives to concern himself with the people dropping around him.
“They shot your father,” the captain said.
I nodded.
“I know it won’t make a lot of sense, but we come from a violent planet. In a world of violence, we have a lot of laws we have to follow that are supposed to prevent future violence,” Stone said, “One of those laws demand a life for a life. If that rocket killed ten people in the shuttle and there were only nine Guards…”
“No, that’s not good enough,” I said, embarrassed suddenly by the tears in my eyes, “My dad was trying to stop the bleeding of one of your people. My dad should have been heralded a hero – not shot for trying to help.”
I felt the familiar tingling building up in the pit of my stomach again as I recalled the images of that day. I slid my hands under my legs, hoping no current would go through my arms.
“Your power?” the captain asked, nodding toward the unusual way I was sitting.
“I can’t control it. Some people can, but I don’t know how. I couldn’t control it the day my father was shot,” I said, closing my eyes and making a conscious attempt to calm my breathing.
“Are you a danger right now?” Stone asked.
“No,” I replied, keeping my eyes closed, “I got the tingling feeling, but it’s fading. Besides, it would be my own butt that would fry if I couldn’t control it.”
“Can you remove the glove?” the captain asked.
“No, mine is riveted on,” I said, “If I had a surge without the glove on my hand, I would burn or electrocute myself in an equal amount as my target.”
I finally opened my eyes and breathed out a sigh of relief.
“I’m sorry for what I did to the shuttle and whoever was inside and I accept the consequences of my actions, but I don’t think I deserve any punishment,” I said, “But if my life is called for in order to prevent you from taking out your wrath on my people, I’m willing to offer it.”
Diana snickered, looking at me with an expression that I couldn’t quite understand. That captain turned his attention to her probably equally as confused by her response.
“I’m sorry,” she said, shaking her head, “I just… I might have some preconceived notions about the people of Blaze that might be wrong.”
“Don’t apologize. As the saying goes ‘Legacy hates it’s Mystics’,” I replied, “I’ve never been too fond of the freaks myself.”
She laughed at that, getting a grin also from the others in the room. I have to say though; I loved the way she was looking at me right then. I could almost feel her pleasant gaze entering me.
“I just assumed it was the Guard who were the civilized ones and the Mystics who were savages,” she admitted.
“After what I saw today, I think it’s the Guard who are definitely the savages of our world. Mystics might be a bunch of freaks, but all the ones I know do have a conscious and they all live by The Code whether they’ve been to the Academy or not,” I replied.
“I’m sorry, Diana, but I’ve used my visual communication while you two were talking,” the captain stated, “But I had an important communiqué from orbit and besides, I needed to discuss this situation with my fellow commanders.”
“Please consider that my dad was killed right in front of me,” I said, suddenly a little fearful of their response, “Please understand my uncontrolled reaction to that.”
Stone nodded, then turned to the captain waiting for a reply.
“All the people of Legacy are descendants of the people from the planet Earth. Even in the short time we’ve been here, it’s become all the more evident that you all have come from the genealogy of our Colonial Establishment Cruiser that we sent here long ago,” the captain stated, quickly waving off the impending questions on both my and Diana’s lips, “The reason I’m going off in this direction is because my people have come to an agreement. There will be no repercussions for your actions against our shuttle if you’d be willing to submit yourself to a few medical exams. Basically, we’re curious to know how or why you’ve developed this electrical capability outside of the evolution of Earth. And why does this only occur on Blaze, but not on Green?”
“So you’re offering me the life of a sneeberjack?” I asked.
“A sneeberjack?” the captain asked.
“Oh, sorry. We use these animals called sneeberjacks to test our medicines on. Doctors are always experimenting on them because their bodies seem to react a lot like ours,” I said.
“No, I promise we intend to be as non-invasive as possible. I doubt we’d need your services for more than a couple days,” he said, “But it would require a trip into orbit – far above your planet. You’d get to see what Legacy looks like from space, though.”
“I’ll be a sneeberjack!” Diana interjected, “I want to go up there.”
The captain laughed, nodding at Diana before turning to me. I really didn’t know what to say to this, though I did find comfort in the idea of Diana coming with me.
“A free trip to space and a free trip back,” the captain urged.
I nodded, then turned to Diana.
“Only if she comes too,” I said, “I need a witness in case people don’t believe me in the generations to come.”
April 12, 2377
“So, did we get a reply from Captain Reiss last night?”the Colonial Development Chief asked, closing the armored door behind him.
The Tachyon Communications Relay was kept in a separate vault-like room on the basement level of the USSC Headquarters in Cleveland. The United Nations had classified this, the world’s only Earth-based Tachyon Relay, as a potential weapon of mass destruction since it could transmit text-communication at speeds exceeding that of light. Any message hitching a ride on a superluminal tachyon beam would be literally travelling backward in time. While this was beneficial for speedy communication between the stars, it could cause some significant violations of causality if such a devise was abused.
The United Nations monitored all Tachyon communications, no matter how private, to ensure that it was never used in violation of the UN TacCom Law. While the USSC understood the UN need to monitor their communications, this still posed a problem to the security of the USSC. Nothing they spoke to their ships would be private.
“Yes, we actually got a text about an hour ago,” TacCom Ensign Struthers replied, handing a printout to the chief.
Tachyon Text Received 08:03 4/12/77… Captain Reiss to USSC: Fairly certain all here are descendants from
the Pioneer Colony… will test2 subjects from 2 continents to determine relation… Planet, henceforth referred to as Legacy, has many deposits of valuable minerals including larger deposits of radioactive minerals than Earth... Silver & gold in abundance, to the extreme where even 1 “state” uses gold for most of their metal furnishings… we’re not planning to conquistador these people are we?
8
Diana
USSC Foothold
I couldn’t believe that in such a short time, we went from being inside a “shuttle” on the ground in Blaze to now standing inside an unimaginably huge ship far above Legacy. We just exited the shuttle and were now standing inside a giant metal barn – at least that’s the best way I could describe the room we were in.
“Diana, Braxton, please follow me,” the captain said, leading us past nearly a dozen people who were already tending to the shuttle.
“Iron Dragon,” Braxton whispered to me as he pointed to the shuttle where a man was now inserting a thick cable into its side, “I first thought this was a magical dragon from those Minchu novels that I read as a kid.”
“As a kid,” I repeated, wishing it hadn’t made me laugh, “Sorry, you just appear so young to me.”
We slipped through a doorway, then up three flights of stairs before entering a long hallway. I was beginning to wonder just how huge this ship was. The largest ocean-faring vessel I’d ever seen only had three full floors beneath the main deck and two above.
“And you’re better than me, of course. I’m sure everything we say or do makes the people from Green laugh,” he replied, looking a bit frustrated.
“I didn’t mean anything bad,” I said, wishing I had better control over my tongue, “I only hear old people say stuff like ‘as a kid’ when referring to things.”
He shrugged. I noticed he made a point to keep his hands in his pockets as we traversed the long hallways. I was beginning to think that this was just a giant building located somewhere else on Legacy. We continued to pass up more and more of the exceedingly pale people from Earth in these halls, all of them seemingly rushed and intent on a destination, but not intent enough to stare at us along the way.
The Mystic Saga Omnibus (Books 1 - 5) Page 13
