by R. E. Weber
‘I’m surprised at you, Theo. What’s the first rule of espionage?’
‘Dunno,’ he replied sheepishly.
‘Spy on your friends as well as your enemies. You never know when they might change sides.’
‘I’ll take your word for it, Rubes,’ said Theo with a forced grin. ‘I don’t really know about things like that. I…’ Shut up yelled his inner voice. Don’t overcompensate.
‘And so you should,’ said Ruby, smiling.
‘S…so, this delegation – are they coming for a closed negotiation?’
‘Yes. I don’t know what it’s about though. If it’s a closed negotiation, I usually only get told just before it starts.’
‘I suppose that’s because there’s less chance of word getting out that way.’
‘Something like that.’
For a moment, they sat in silence, their thoughts elsewhere. Then Ruby rose and turned to face him.
‘Well anyway, I’d better go. I’ve got a banquet to prepare. See you in two por?’
‘You bet ya.’
Once Ruby had left his quarters and the doorway had closed behind her, Theo sat down on his bed and stared angrily at the floor. ‘Stupid, stupid, stupid’, he said out loud, slapping himself hard on the forehead. Conversations involving the Star Agency with non-operatives, rare as they were, made him feel uneasy. Blowing his cover would be a very bad idea indeed, even to his best friend. Especially to his best friend.
Theo stood up, took a deep breath, opened his operative self-training menu and selected Concealment practice, interactive agent, lesson 4 – general conversation practice.
‘Must do better,’ he grumbled as the images from a simulated scenario began to form in front of him. Much better.
Then as the scenario started playing out, it occurred to Theo that he was training himself to become an accomplished liar – a trait he’d always hated in others. How had it ever come to this?
*
Even before he had arrived in Ruby’s quarters that evening, the wonderful smells drifting down the corridor told Theo that tonight’s feast was going to be extra special. And as he entered moments later and saw his six friends sitting crossed legged around the floor, staring in amazement at the food in front of them, he knew that he was in for an amazing evening. Not only did the food look and smell wonderful, it was also floating in mid-air, just as it had been the year before when they’d eaten in Open Space: the stunning restaurant at the top of the central core of the station. Ruby always seemed to know how to make their time together extra special.
‘Late as always, dude,’ said Weng, whose once chubby cheeks had given Theo a great excuse to poke fun at him, but were now sinking rapidly inwards, revealing a trimmer, more athletic young man.
‘Well, you know me. I always like to make an entrance.’
‘Hey, I’m not complaining, mate, it means more for the rest of us. I’ve already eaten yours. Ruby said I could… ouch,’ yelped Weng as Ruby elbowed him in the ribcage.
‘Ignore muscle brain, here. I’ve saved you some. Come and…’
‘Hi, Theo,’ interrupted Larissa. ‘Budge up, Abs. Make room for Theo.’
Theo glanced at Ruby and noticed that the corner of her mouth had curled in irritation.
‘Hi, Lari,’ he said as he sat down next to her and plonked a kiss on her cheek. ‘Como vai?’ He didn’t even look at Ruby to check her reaction to his Portuguese greeting. Who was she to tell him who he could be friends with, anyway?
‘This food’s amazing,’ said Abs. ‘Compliments to the chef.’
‘No probs,’ replied Ruby, tapping Abs lightly on the back of his hand.
Theo took a small pastry parcel of spicy Polisian vegetables out of the air and took a hungry bite out of it. It was, as always, delicious.
‘Yeah, you’ve surpassed yourself, Ruby,’ said Larissa.
Ruby glanced at her and flashed a brief smile. ‘Anytime.’
Theo looked at Weng, who winked at him before cramming the remainder of his handful of food into his mouth. Then he curled up his fist, leant towards Theo and held it out towards him. Theo responded by repeating the gesture, and their fists butted in their now obligatory sign of friendship and brotherhood.
‘You da man,’ said Theo grinning. Weng just nodded and winked again as he chewed on his food.
‘We will not see each other for twenty-five ch’ha,’ said Lara suddenly, causing everybody to stop talking and stare at her. It was rare for Lara to address the group as a whole, much less start a conversation without being prompted.
‘Y…yeah, that’s like a whole month,’ said Theo, still a little startled that she had spoken.
‘Thirty-three point seven five Earth days to be precise,’ replied Lara, flatly.
‘Yeah, I know, it’s a long time, isn’t it? Don’t tell me you’re gonna miss me?’ said Theo.
Yet again, all eyes were focused on Lara.
‘Ruby will miss you more than I will,’ said Lara stonily, her eyes flicking briefly past each of them without holding their gaze. Everybody stared at Lara, speechless.
Weng gulped down the remainder of the food in his mouth, reached over again towards Theo, who reciprocated, and they slapped each other’s outstretched hands. ‘Hell, we’re all gonna miss you, buddy,’ said Weng breaking the embarrassing silence.
‘Yes,’ said Abs quietly. ‘I really enjoy our parties. But we have to face facts. They cannot continue forever. Our lives are becoming busier. That is why we have to cherish these times and the friendship we have. I’m going to miss you, Theo. I’m going to miss all of you.’
‘The seven,’ said Weng, holding up his hand.
‘The seven,’ they repeated together, their hands meeting in the middle – a gesture they had so often repeated. However, as their hands touched, Theo became aware, just briefly, of a little finger brushing gently against his own. Looking to his left, he caught Larissa staring back at him – her smile like a burst of electricity coursing through his body. Without even realising it, a huge grin appeared across his face. And for a moment, Larissa was the only person in the room.
As the group withdrew their hands, Theo tore his gaze away from Larissa and looked back at Ruby. But instead of her customary scowl, a weak, sad smile met his gaze. Something had changed. And whatever it was, he didn’t like it one little bit.
*
As the sun rose from behind the massive asteroid, its light caught the edge of the huge Titan class warship, revealing the vessel in all its glory. Yet despite its imposing size, the vessel was dwarfed by the asteroid, which was at least twenty times its length and ten times its height: a solitary body, drifting alone in deep space, tinted red from the light of the distant, bloated, red giant star.
As the red sun rose into view, the vessel’s commander stared silently, impassively, at the vista unfolding in front of him – his face a picture of powerful, yet understated, military authority. A veteran of twenty-seven years’ service for the Affinity Navy, Commander Nalhas Mah, a native Polisian, had seen more sunrises than he cared to remember. Yet he knew that, this time, something was different. The decision he had already made and was about to act upon, would change his own life and possibly the lives of every being in the Affinity forever. However, it had to be done – there was no other choice. It was the right thing to do.
The commander took a deep breath and released it slowly through his slanted nostrils with a faint warbling noise. Then he strode towards a closed cubical in the corner of the room.
Request strong room access, command authority, alpha seven six three gamma.
The commander held up his hands, and a scanning beam flickered across his palms and then his eyes, which instinctively dropped white inner eyelids to protect the retinas from the intensity of the beam. He lowered his hands as a doorway appeared in the cubicle. Then he stepped through the doorway, which disappeared immediately behind him.
Once inside the strong room, aware that no other members of the crew would be able to penetrate
its security, the commander opened a command interface, selected a halnor command sequence and waited. Moments later, as planned, the interface became scrambled and unreadable for about a minute. Then it re-initialised exactly as it had done before, except for an extra menu of commands entitled simply Tamraz, which loosely translated as the English word Rogue.
*
As Theo lay on his bed that evening, he smiled to himself as he thought back to the conversations that had taken place earlier. To anybody who did not know Lara, her comments about Ruby missing him more than she would, might have seemed at best, a little too honest, and at worst, downright rude. However, Theo knew her better than that. Whereas most people had at least some form of filter to stop inappropriate comments from passing their lips, he knew that no such thing existed for Lara. Whatever conclusion she came to regarding any given situation, was often said out loud without any apparent thought as to whether or not it was suitable. And although her comments had taken Theo and the rest of the recruits a little by surprise, he knew that they shouldn’t have. Indeed, the very fact that she had spoken at all made Theo smile. That she had bothered to calculate how much she might miss him was reassuring to him. They were almost becoming friends, which was the last thing he had expected when they’d first met, a little over a year before.
However, although the friends had enjoyed a very pleasant evening together, something still troubled Theo. When he’d caught Ruby’s eye just after they’d made the sign of the seven, there’d been an expression on her face like nothing he’d ever seen. Ruby had always been strong, determined, steadfast, and a loyal friend. She spoke her mind and argued her point, often angrily, or at the very least, robustly. Whenever Ruby was upset, you always knew about it, usually by the expression on her face. However, the look he had seen that evening was new. There was sadness in her eyes – and resignation, as if she had given up on their friendship. Was it perhaps Abs’ comments about their lives becoming busier, implying that they would be seeing less of each other? It was certainly possible. However, Theo knew in himself that he would never let that happen. Their friendship meant more to him than anything, and he knew that he would never let the two of them drift apart. But did Ruby perhaps not feel the same? Her expression had suggested that she did not. It was as if a sudden gulf had opened between them.
Then something else occurred to Theo. There had been a moment just before he’d looked at Ruby, when his hand had made contact with Larissa’s – a moment when a warm and pleasant glow had enveloped him. Had Ruby picked up on that moment and gotten the wrong impression? Theo wasn’t sure.
*
Warning: engine core overload detected. Uncontrolled chain reaction, imminent. Vessel, unsalvageable. Shipboard protocol 5, initiated. All personnel abandon vessel without delay. Repeat, all personnel abandon vessel. Evacuation to minimum safe distance of ten hotah, required.
Commander Nalhas Mah watched from the isolation of the strong room as the ship alerts scrolled up his companion feed. He knew that the twenty-two strong crew would be making for the escape pods, and would soon be racing away into the darkness of deep space to escape the titanic explosion that was about to take place.
Personnel evacuation, successful. Strong room isolation, rescinded. Initiating halnor command sequence, overload.
From the vantage of the second command pod racing away from the cruiser, Sub Commander Raltess Ham watched the video feed as the vessel’s engine core began to vent plasma and fall out of control towards the huge asteroid. The view was somewhat distorted due to the electromagnetic disturbance caused by the plasma, however what happened next was exceptionally clear. A blinding flash emanated from the surface of the asteroid, and an energy shockwave rippled out in every direction, hitting the sub commander’s pod moments later. Despite the pod’s shields holding, the force of the blast kicked the pod into a spin, and it took several seconds for it to regain attitude control.
Still shaken from the blast, the sub commander opened the pod tracking menu on his companion and then selected Establish status, all escape pods.
Tracking non-functional came the terse reply. The pod’s tracking system had been damaged by the blast.
Communicate, continuous, command crew.
‘Crew of the Zehur, Omega one, report in immediately, in pod order.’
One by one, each of the crew responded until all that remained was Pod 23 – the commander’s pod.
‘Commander Nalhas Mah, respond.’ There was no answer.
‘Pod 23, respond immediately.’ Still nothing.
‘Sub Commander, Officer Deltoth Mah reporting.’
‘Officer Deltoth. I did not request further communication with…’
‘Commander, my tracking system is still active. I have located each of the escape pods, with the exception the commander’s. The pod did not leave its berth.’
‘Officer, Relhan Tak, reporting. I concur with Officer Deltoth. The commander’s pod remained in its berth.’
The sub commander remained silent for a moment, his stony gaze lost in the stars. Then he re-opened communication with all the escape pods.
‘This is Sub Commander Raltess Ham. Commander Nalhas Mah is lost. As of N.C.P.S.N 2997.4.12.13.1, I am assuming command of the crew of the Zehur, Omega one. Recovery beacon activated. Recovery expected in thirteen por. All command crew to remain in current location until the arrival of the recovery vessel. Command override initiated over all escape pods. Life-support systems set to minimal levels. All crew members to initiate immediate deep sleep to conserve life support.’
One by one, the power levels in all the pods dropped to minimum, and each of the crew drifted into a deep, long, self-induced sleep.
4 – A Delegation from Ch’Dath
In almost total silence, the black transportation craft – which bore a striking resemblance to a gigantic spider with its legs folded backwards – dropped out of the low clouds above Polisium Central and continued its slow descent towards the circular landing pad on the edge of the city. Silhouetted against the gleaming snowscape, it hovered above the pad for a moment while three spindly landing struts folded themselves into position. Then it dropped slowly to the surface, coming to rest in a flurry of powdery snow.
Directly beneath the centre of the ship, a large circular hole appeared, and then a platform rose up through the hole, carrying three Polisians encased within a shimmering, domed force-field. Once the platform had risen to ground level, a narrow black chute descended from the belly of the vessel, through the force-field and down to the surface of the pad. A light appeared at the base of the chute and seven insect-like creatures exited and greeted the waiting Polisians. Then the platform sank back into the landing pad and out of sight of the surface monitoring feeds. The delegation from Ch’Dath had arrived.
*
Standing outside the circular conference centre on the edge of the city, Ruby stood nervously behind Paltoor Tan Shah, her eyes squeezed shut in deep concentration as she recalled the detail of her pre-conference briefing.
Remain still. Show no emotion. Do not speak unless directly addressed, by name. Listen carefully. Observe every single reaction. Remain by Tan Shah at all times – you are her eyes and ears. Set companion conversation mode to private.
Ruby had attended many such sessions before, however something about this one seemed different. The delegation had made only the briefest of contacts with the Paltoor Council beforehand, explaining nothing of their reasons for calling for the conference – only that it was with the greatest urgency that it was to take place. Often, Ruby had been called to greet arriving delegations with Tan Shah, sometimes even being asked to board the arriving vessels to greet them personally. However, this time, the arrival of the delegation had been at best, private, and at worst, downright secretive. And it was this secrecy that made Ruby nervous – a feeling she believed was also shared by Tan Shah, even if her face was a model of stony, restrained emotion.
A whoosh of warm air startled Ruby, and she opened h
er eyes to see that the corridor leading into the conference centre had appeared. Without speaking, Tan Shah walked slowly, almost regally, through the doorway and down the corridor into the conference sphere. Ruby followed close behind.
The private conference sphere stood at the edge of Polisium Central, connected to a large pyramidal building by a series of transparent, suspended tubes. It was approximately fifty metres across and encircled with nine walkways at varying heights around its inner wall. The wall of the sphere, although transparent from the inside, was opaque from the outside, allowing for the total privacy that many delegations demanded. Connected to each of the walkways, at regular intervals, were a series of circular platforms about five metres in diameter, each of which were for the use of a single visiting delegation. On the opposite side to Ruby and Tan Shah were a group of seven H’th’hka, who appeared to be talking among themselves. Even from a distance of fifty metres, Ruby could clearly hear the clicks and squeaks of their unique language.
Tan Shah walked to her left and then stepped onto one of the circular platforms, with Ruby following. Looking towards the other platforms, about a third of which were occupied, Ruby could see a delegation from every species in the Affinity, as well as several other groups. The platform to the right of Ruby’s was occupied by a delegation of Polisians, one of who was wearing a ceremonial cloak and carrying a large staff. Zooming in, Ruby quickly recognised Vice Governor Manorlak and her deputies. For some reason, it seemed that the gathered delegations consisted largely of females – at least those species which had females or the equivalent. If Ruby had been in a lighter mood and Theo had been around, she would have no doubt joked that only women could be trusted to be diplomatic. Today, however, humour was the last thing on her mind.
As Ruby watched the various delegations in attendance, the lights dimmed and a wave of silence descended. Then a large, translucent image of Vice Governor Manorlak appeared in the centre of the sphere.
‘Requesting silence in respect of our honoured guests. This closed, priority alpha conference has been called at the behest of the H’th’hka homeworld council – the lack of a prior agenda and the attendance of representatives from all member species, being specifically requested.’
