by Mark Wandrey
Minu realized she was sitting on the floor of the apartment crying, the knife lying in front of her and the contents of the bag scattered about. She didn't remember flinging them around the room, which was obviously what she'd done. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" she asked herself in the empty apartment. She slammed first one fist then the other onto the floor. One hurt when it hit, the other cracked the ceramic tile.
She made a fist with her right hand and held it up to her face. Even more than the damage to her psyche the cybernetic arm reminded her of the life long effects of the Trials. “The Trials are a unique experience, Minu. They change you in ways you spend the rest of your life trying to understand.” Her father’s words echoed in her mind as she sat on the floor. Then the words of a nurse came as well. “I have an uncle who was in the Trials twenty or so years ago. He was so messed up afterwards he doesn't talk about it very much.”
Minu looked at the cracked tile and hoped no one was home in the apartment below. She examined the cybernetic and found no damage. Good solid Concordia engineering. "I wonder just how tough it is," she said to herself as she got up from the floor and brushed dust from her black Chosen jumpsuit. She decided she wasn't doing anyone any good bawling like a little girl.
Minu rode the lift back down to the office and returned with a stack of collapsed boxes. She assembled them and started in her mother’s room, working methodically to pack away a lifetime of memories and possessions. It wasn't the time to decide what to get rid of and what to keep. Her father still might return.
Minu meticulously labeled each box with the room it was packed in and a detailed manifest. Precision was a Chosen trait. She only paused to relieve herself and make lunch (dry sandwich made from a few things still edible in the fridge). As she was packing her room she stopped when she found a golden chain holding a single beautiful half karat sapphire. It made her smile as she remembered happier times. Minu lovingly packed it in one of her mom’s jewelry boxes and then in with her extra things to be stored.
Finally as the sun was setting she stood in the doorway next to several tall stacks of boxes. She'd transmitted instructions to the facility staff that they were to be stored away. Nothing more remained to be done. This was the only place she'd ever lived. It was where her earliest memories resided. That place over there was where she'd taken her first step. That bit of wall still showed a slight discoloration where she'd painted a picture with markers. And there was the chair her mom was sitting in when...
Minu buckled the belt around her waist, the knife and scabbard riding high on her right hip. It was a year since she wore it last and the weight was still comforting, familiar. Kind of like a friend she'd been missing and hadn't realized was gone. She bent over and picked up the duffel holding the few things she would need and opened the door. She locked the apartment and walked away without a backward glance.
Chapter 2
September 5th, 515 AE
Eastern Industrial Complex, Serengeti, Beezer Leasehold
"This is Chosen Minu Alma, human, in service to the Tog, requesting a conference with warehouse master Kl'kl'taan." Minu waited while her translator turned English into Beezer.
"I hate coming to Serengeti," Cherise grumbled beside her. Minu just nodded. Of course Serengeti wasn't the real name of the planet. The Chosen had a long tradition of assigning their own names to most planets. Especially considering their real names were often completely unpronounceable by human vocal cords. Since the Beezer resembled a bipedal bison and their world was an endless plain of grass with occasional rolling hills and forests the name was a no-brainer to the first human visitors. They’d been raised on stories of earth which included the vast plains of Africa. Many worlds were named after places on earth. Minu stood with Cherise outside a huge goods warehouse a short trip from the capital city of Serengeti. The city didn't have a name that she was aware of, as it was the only real city on the world. The Beezer preferred living in small agrarian groups.
"Chosen Minu Alma," the speaker said finally, "Kl'kl'taan is unavailable at this time."
"Son of a bitch," Minu spat.
"I do not understand your query into the siring of Kl'kl'taan's forbearers." Cherise snorted and Minu gave her a dirty look.
"Please inform Master Kl'kl'taan we were here for the third day and we are still awaiting the consignment promised the Tog on invoice number…” She rattled off a long number in tongue bending Concordia script.
"Master Kl'kl'taan will be informed of your visit." The speaker went dead and Minu turned back to their vehicle. Normally she'd be thrilled at the chance to fly around in an Concordia manufactured transport, in this case the downside was having to live in it. The craft resembled a long tube, flattened on the bottom and with a rounded nose of mostly transparent moliplas making it very easy to fly. It was designed to efficiently haul the largest amount of cargo possible through a portal. It wasn't designed to house two humans for extended periods.
"This sucks," Cherise said as they climbed back inside. The seats were already configured to their bodies as they climbed in and the unmistakable smell of lizard made their noses prick as they opened the gull-wing type doors. "Why can't the recyclers get rid of the smell?"
"The guy in the motor pool says this was T'Chillen surplus," Minu explained for what seemed like the thousandth time, boredom made almost any conversation welcome no matter how many times you repeated it. "He thought that the smell was intentional, but couldn't find where it was being injected into the air system. It's probably a fine perfume to the snakes."
"Smells like rotting snake ass to me," Cherise said as she reluctantly closed the door. Being an efficient Concordia design meant the vehicle lacked windows, and it dutifully refused to fly without the doors closed and locked. Once they were seated and Minu keyed in her access code they felt the tingle of restraining fields come on and the power plant automatically hummed to life. As usual Minu drove, and also as usual she decided to forgo the automatic radar controlled pilot. "You're going to get us in a traffic accident, you know that?"
"Oh shut up and sniff snake ass." The gravitic impellers spun up smoothly and lifted the transport gracefully off the ceramic concrete landing pad and into the sky. Only a few meters off the ground and above the forest canopy the warehouse virtually disappeared. "The Beezer sure love to hide things."
"Not much forest on this rock," Cherise noted, "I think they like to make it all look pristine."
Minu steered the craft nimbly through the low rolling hills where the industrial center park was and then out onto the endless plains. Small villages became visible as where the wide avenues connecting them. The Beezer were not ones to enjoy flying very much. They preferred large, slow moving transports with either tracks or more often huge wheels that could navigate equally well on land, road, or even water. There were no real deep oceans on Serengeti, just numerous small shallow lakes and seas dotted the surface.
Before long the capital city became visible in the distance. Here at least were dense concentrations of buildings more than a couple stories tall. It was almost as if the Beezer only grudgingly allowed this intrusion on their pristine grasslands for the sake of dealing with outsiders. In the center of the city was the tallest building on the planet, a sight one could find on nearly every inhabited world in the galaxy. A tall spire, twisted like a drill bit and dotted with landing platforms resembling upturned flower petals. It thrust a kilometer and a half into the sky and was visible from a hundred kilometers away. Inside were hundreds of portals. Bellatrix didn't rate one of the magnificent spires, not yet anyway.
They passed over the edge of the city and were quickly submerged in dense air traffic of all types. Small personal fliers resembling the Chosen's broomsticks mingled with hundred meter long bulk liquid carriers as Minu gritted her teeth and looked for openings. Just because the Beezer preferred to keep their hooves on the ground didn't mean they spurned air traffic entirely. Besides, the city was temporary home to more than a million offworlders, and
many of them with just as strong a dislike of ground transport as the Beezer had of air transport.
"You're nuts," Cherise hissed as they just missed a hulking barge full of refuse.
"It hones my skills," Minu said. "Besides, what can possibly- Ah!" She screamed as another flier cut in front of her. She wrenched on the controls as hard as she could. The impellers screamed and the transport rolled upside down to avoid the other craft. Minu and Cherise had a quick glimpse of a surprised T'Chillen all resplendent in its brilliant body paint of office, shaking a tentacle at them and bearing fangs as they rocketed over it inverted. Minu finished the roll and brought them back on course. "Don't you think he looked surprised?" Minu said with a slight shake to her voice.
"He was surprised?" Cherise demanded, "I think I soiled myself!"
"Terrified," Minu replied, “at least we won’t have to smell the snake ass anymore.’ Cherise made a rude gesture and laughed to relieve the tension.
The Portal Spire loomed close and Minu finally relinquished control to the traffic computers and requested a landing spot on the closing Portal Spire. The transport adjusted course and began a precipitous gut wrenching climb.
"Damn it!" Cherise cried out. "And I thought you were bad!"
"Looks like we get a good view today." They'd spent three days waiting on the hermit-like Beezer warehouse master to deliver the promised goods. Both previous nights were spent on a low level landing pad. There was almost no pollution in the city to be concerned with; it was the noise that was unrelenting. Even through the dualloy walls of the transport the city was a constant low frequency rumbling earthquake of noise. This time they were whisked three quarters of the way up the spire before alighting gracefully on one of the gossamer pylons. Once down and the engines shut off they both popped the doors and enjoyed the fresh air.
"I can't even smell the shaggy beasts up here," Cherise rejoiced. Minu got out and walked up to the very edge of the landing pad. A thousand meter fall was only inches away. "I do wish you wouldn't do that..." Cherise moaned. A wind caught Minu's hair, now shoulder length once more after a year of growth, and blew it back in waves. The afternoon Serengeti sun caught it sending flashes or red and Cherise smiled despite Minu's daredevil attitude. The red haired woman’s complete lake of fear and graceful strength was inspiring.
"There’s nothing to worry about," she reminded her friend.
"I know, hover-fields. But I just don't trust them."
Minu turned to look at her and smiled. "Trust the technology," she said and with arms outstretched on either side, she fell backwards. Cherise screamed as Minu began going over the edge. Then with infinite gentleness, an invisible force caught her and nudged her back onto the platform, even moving her a half meter from the edge less she 'accidentally' fall again.
"Damn you!" Cherise shouted and punched the dashboard. She made a face and messaged her knuckles.
Minu was laughing and shaking her head when she saw how hurt her friend was. "Cherise, don't be that way. I was just trying-"
"To get yourself killed?"
"No. I was trying to show you how safe this technology is. Would you trust a steel bridge back on Bellatrix?"
"Of course I would. It's strong and we've been using them forever."
"These hover-fields have been around since before humans crawled out of the cave, and the Concordia use them for everything from cargo elevators to playground safety nets." Cherise looked dubious at best. "All right, I won't mess around like that anymore."
"You better not. What if a circuit blew or something?"
"There are probably a dozen backups."
"A dozen possible things to go wrong," Cherise mumbled and pouted.
"Oh, ye of little faith," Minu said and climbed back into the transport. "So, what's for dinner?"
"Leftovers, same as usual," Cherise laughed. One of the things Minu liked about her friend, she didn't hold grudges. Everything forgotten, they dug into their dwindling supplies.
“Some more sparring later?” Minu asked as they munched nearly stale mutton sandwiches.
“Sure.”
“Going to be a nice afternoon.” Outside the Beezer city hummed and churned.
"I do not understand why they are so eager for this shipment," Kl'kl'taan's translator said in English. It was a little difficult to understand over the bellowing huffs and chuffs of the Beezer language being spoken almost simultaneously.
"I do not question our Concordia masters in these matters," Minu replied then braced herself as her own translator began bellowing in Beezer. The alien looked down at the computer tablet and grumbled low in its throat. Minu took that for the equivalent of a human scratching their head in confusion.
"But we do not have this goods here," it complained. Trying to assign sex to the Beezer was a waste of time. They did have male and female, like most species, but Minu had no way idea how to tell them apart. Hell, for all any of them knew only the males ever went out into public. Or maybe one of the females conducted business.
"What do you mean, you don't have the goods?"
"Well, you must understand we hold goods the Tog send to us here."
"That much I know. What I don't understand is how come this consignment isn't here."
"As I say, we store a great many things for the Tog, and sometimes they never come for these things." The Beezer possessed almost no facial expressions to speak of. This one showed a series of ornate golden rings pierced through one massive nostril. They twitched as it searched for words. Minu got the feeling it was embarrassed, or even afraid of her.
"You sold it, didn't you?" Cherise asked, and Minu understood at the same time.
The Beezer stomped one hoofed foot, dragging it across the dualloy floor, creating a shower of sparks. Minu was startled for a second before she guessed by the downcast look of Kl'kl'taan that it was an act of nervousness or even resignation. "You have found me in a difficult place to graze."
"What can I do?" Minu asked and spread her hands. "We must report this to the Tog who sent us to retrieve the goods. Hse will surely want an explanation." More sparks from the Beezer's hoofs and he continued to refuse to meet her gaze, most unusual for the more often belligerent grazers. "Maybe, we can tell them we encountered difficulties?"
The Beezer looked up, its eyes wide and obviously startled. "You would do this for me, a Beezer?"
"Are we not both in service to the Tog?" It nodded its head, not an easy thing when you really don't have a neck. "They can be challenging and demanding masters."
"You are a young species, new to the Concordia, I could tell you stories-" suddenly he stopped and looked around, again nervous. "But now is not the time."
Stories? Minu wondered. That must be an interesting subject for a later time. "We will explain that we were unable to provide a suitable transport to return the merchandise. That should give you several weeks to make some sort of arrangement."
"But how am I to cover up their permanent disappearance?"
"That is not our concern, really." The Beezer chuffed and nodded in an almost human mannerism.
"It is a shame to fly home empty handed," Cherise suggested, glancing casually at the inventory computer dutifully scrolling the contents of the massive warehouses.
"There are no other goods pending shipment to the Tog," Kl'kl'taan said.
Minu glanced at Cherise who gave her a conspiratorial wink. Minu understood. "No shipments? Are you sure there isn't something you forgot to manifest? Maybe a shipment like the one you have 'misplaced' for the Tog. It could even be something we could find useful, or might be valuable to another species. Hard to imagine how much stuff you have lying around a place this big." As Minu talked, Kl'kl'taan went from confused, to curious, to obviously uncomfortable. Minu knew he would catch on eventually. It wasn't like suggesting a payoff would be a new phenomenon to the disreputable warehouse master. After all, he had sold the goods they were here for.
"There might be a few things here that need shipping," he said, h
is translator managing to convey a cool tone of dissatisfaction. "How large would the shipment need to be?"
"Oh, no more than a couple tons." Minu and Cherise stood grinning like a pair of bookends. The dejected Beezer tapped at massive-sized keys in alien script causing a nearby computer to flash and begin displaying an inventory, conveniently in English. Minu watched it scroll for a time, unimpressed with what she saw she sighed. Her translator made a sound like leaking steam. Kl'kl'taan made a sound like crunching gravel and stabbed at the computer again. More selections appeared of a wider diversity and increased desirability. Suddenly Cherise jabbed her with an elbow and mouthed 'number eighty-two'.
"I see it," she whispered back and spoke up so the translator would catch it. "Item number eighty-two is of interest," she said.
"You have excellent taste," Kl'kl'taan said and slumped onto a couch designed for his incredible bulk. It creaked in protest and he moaned in resignation.
The transport lifted smoothly away from the loading dock, utility robots scuttling out of the way as the hatch finished closing. One robot almost got caught in the door and would have if not for its mechanical reflexes. It watched the transport fly into the sky with a reproachful look.
"I hate those model robots," Cherise said as she watched the ground fall away. "Why do the Beezer use them?"
"The cockroach bots?" Minu asked. Cherise nodded her head. "Different tastes, I guess. We've always liked the crabs and occasionally the centipedes. It’s all we can afford."
“Be nice if we could if we could get some turtles. Those are really good bots.”
“Half the higher order species use them for combat. Way out of our price range.”
“We have some dragonflies,” Cherise reminded her.
