The man folded his arms in response and raised an eyebrow. “His assistance?”
“He and I were going over the messages I decoded. He wanted to hear more.” There's some truth to that lie, thought Devon.
“Messages?”
Devon nervously scratched at his forearm. “Well, I decoded some messages a while back about a poison that was going to be unleashed on all of us—”
The man held out his hand, interrupting. “I'm Sergeant Tucker. You have some balls, son. I heard what you did in Savanna Levens' office, you know, jumping out of the window and all. You held on to those documents regardless of the pain you were in. You quite possibly saved us all from a terrible death.”
It was Devon’s turn to be caught off-guard. He wondered if all of the military personnel in the lobby were listening and might break into applause at any moment. But Devon took the man's outstretched hand and shook it, nearly collapsing to the floor from the guy’s strong grip. “Thank you, sir.”
“No, thank you for your service to every man, woman, and child on Matrona.” Tucker let go of Devon's hand. “And, no. I can't tell you where Manning went. Classified.”
“What? Classified? But they just found out about Zim recanting the charges against Admiral Byrd.” He gestured to Zim's image on the screen. “What can be classified so quickly?”
The man became stern again. “Classified, Son.”
Devon's shoulders fell with disappointment. He wasn't going to get anywhere with this guy.
“There you are!” someone barked, pulling Devon away from Tucker. “I need your help. Follow me.”
It was Prime Overseer Chase Byrd, grabbing Devon by the arm.
“Where are we going?” questioned Devon.
“You'll see.”
Chase led Devon down a hallway and away from the chatter of the crowd surrounding the vid monitor. Turning a corner, they went into a brightly lit room with a large table in the middle of it. Devon stopped at the head of the table, staring at papers spread all over it.
“What's this?”
Chase's eyes gleamed. “This is what I wanted to show you. I'm piecing it together and I need you to use your magic on this puzzle.”
Devon tugged at his lower lip. One of the papers closest to him was labeled, Ebb Quarries. This was uninteresting, but Devon read the first couple of paragraphs anyway to appease Chase. After a few moments he looked at Chase. “It explains how to mine ebb. Why do you need my help with that?”
“I don't need help with mining,” replied Chase. “After reading all of that boring trash, you finally arrive at this page.” Chase grabbed one of the pages off the table and shook it. “Lumus II.”
“Yes, your uncle was talking about that a day or two ago. What of it?”
Chase placed the paper on the table and picked up another one, which he began reading out loud. “Starhawk Transports group 5, which includes Starhawk Transport V76, V77, V78, V79, V80, V81, and V82, reports on day 5 of each week, 0700 hours, to Ebb Quarry Warehouse 9, located on Lumus I. Here they are to load 3.8 tons to 4.3 tons of ebb. All Starhawks must leave Ebb Quarry Warehouse 9 and head to Outpost Settlement 18 at 2100 hours on Lumus II and unload ebb tonnage. The day following, at 0700 hours, Starhawk Transports must deliver new material to target destination 'U'. Starhawk Transport group 6, which includes Starhawk Transport V83, V84, V85, V86, V87, V88, V89, and V90, reports Outpost Settlement 18 at 0800 hours to extract unwanted ebb remnants and transport to Sphere 1, Starbase Matrona, 1100 hours.” Chase cleared his throat and took his eyes from the paper. “Starhawk Transports take off from a Lumus II facility, but where do they go from there?” He shuffled through several papers on the table. “I can't find any explanation of where it is actually delivering the mining goods. All we see is destination 'U', but not where that actually is or why they are going there.”
“And, what is new material and ebb remnants all about?” asked Devon.
“Yup.” He snatched another paper and waved it in front of Devon's face. “Read.”
Devon grabbed the paper, titled, “Crystals and White Powder Gold.” He scanned four paragraphs, and then froze. “What the...”
Chase nodded. “Yes. They separate the gold and crystals from the ebb, then load crystals on some Starhawk Transports and gold on the other Starhawk Transports.”
“That's great and all,” said Devon, “but, they say that they turn the gold into powder?”
“Have you ever seen gold or crystals on Matrona or on Lumus?”
Devon frowned. “I've never been on Lumus.”
“Okay, but have you ever seen it anywhere?”
“Of course not. No one has. We've only known them as colors, not as an actual ingredient in ebb, or elements, or minerals, or whatever they are.”
“Exactly.”
“What is destination 'U'?” asked Devon.
“That's what I want you to find out…and more,” muttered Chase.
Devon put his fingers over his lips, thinking. “I could cut into the main frame again and run program Distinguish. Maybe we'd find some more information from the junk data, if it's still filtering out.”
“Lead the way,” ordered Chase.
“Now?” Devon sat in a chair next to the table. “Can we sleep on it?”
Chase shook his head.
“Why the hurry? Everything is getting better by the moment.”
“I'm a politician and we are supposed to be in service to the people. They have a right to know and if the junk data—”
Devon cut Chase off, finishing his sentence. “If the junk data stream empties completely, then we may never know. Is that what you're going to say?”
“It's true, isn't it?”
“In a sense, yes, but data is never completely gone. However, it is very difficult to find an encryption that is old, let alone be able to decode it.”
Chase grabbed Devon's forearms again, pulling him to a standing position. “Let's go.”
“Where to?” asked Devon, following Chase out of the room and into the hallway.
“We're going to find an office with a working computer. Where better to find one than at Zim's office?”
Are you crazy? retorted Devon in his mind.
To Chase, it was perfect. It would give him a good reason to do something outside of the infirmary for the first time in what seemed to be weeks, but most importantly he may run into Nyx.
Perhaps she will be there again? Any opportunity to see her and converse with her would be a dream come true.
∞
Royce, the man Payson left behind to secure Payson and his soldier's escape, fingered his weapon, eying the prisoners in front of him. He giggled, talking under his breath, then stared directly at Admiral James Byrd. “Why does life throw us all of these obstacles?” he queried.
Admiral Byrd showed his palms, shrugging. “In which manner are you speaking? Perhaps you need to change the way you look at things?”
Royce spit on the ground in a fury, then thought about the Admiral's statement and abruptly calmed. “I'm listening.”
In many cases, Admiral Byrd had taken the advice of Fleet Admiral Revel Sune—his old mentor—to heart. His words of wisdom helped Admiral Byrd grow from a young pup to a healthy alpha—at least that's what Admiral Byrd had hoped he had become. When in a bind, however, James hadn't always remembered Sune's sacred advice, but in this situation he decided to echo Sune's words: “An obstacle is an opportunity to learn and grow from. Yes, they are challenging and can be problems in your current circumstance, but they will constantly repeat if you don't find a way to overcome them.”
“Alright,” said Royce. “Payson left me in charge to watch over you slugs. So, I call the shots...literally. What do you do when someone is about to shoot you?”
The Admiral tilted his head. “Meaning?”
“I shoot and you die. So how do you overcome that obstacle?”
Sergeant Manning moved toward Payson, along with some other Guardsmen, wanting to somehow reliev
e Royce of his weapon.
Royce immediately changed targets. Manning was now in his line of fire.
“Halt,” ordered Admiral Byrd, stopping his men from further progress. They would shield the admiral if they had to, something that he didn't want. “Hold fast.”
Royce grinned. “Again, Admiral, how do you overcome this obstacle?”
“I don't know. Perhaps it's my time, just like a lot of young men and women that have died in the past few weeks.” The admiral's face became grim. “Maybe it was their time to leave life and enter into the next. So if you shoot, then there might be a positive from that sudden challenge or obstacle. I don't know.” He held up his index finger. “I know one thing for certain.” He paused, clearing his throat. “You pull that trigger and you'll follow my death with your own. And probably about a second later.”
“Oh?” replied Royce.
“My men here are loyal to me, not because I'm someone to fear, but because I love each and everyone of them like they are my own sons. I would gladly give up my life for theirs in a heartbeat and if you for one second think I'm scared to die for any of them, then you're believing that silly lie you keep telling yourself. They will rise against you in a rage that you have never seen.”
“A lie and a rage, huh?” Royce's mouth curled into a smile. “I like the sound of that.”
“Do you?” The admiral raised his chin. “You tell yourself that life doesn't matter and that to kill another being is more of a trophy than a sickness. That's a lie. Now imagine soldiers bearing down on you without care of their own life the moment I die. That's rage.”
Out of the corner of Admiral Bird's eye he could see that Manning was slowly going for a small phaser strapped to his shin—a weapon that the Admiral was unaware of until now.
Admiral Byrd continued talking: “I'm sure that if Payson was killed in front of you, you would have that same rage.”
“Grab his weapon,” responded Royce.
Dumbfounded, the Admiral asked, “What weapon?”
“The one your Guard is trying to sneak into his hands.” Royce waved his gun at Manning.
“And when I get that weapon, you then shoot me and act like you killed me in self- defense?” asked the Admiral.
“No. We duel.”
“Duel?” replied Manning. “I'll duel with you. No problem.”
“Keep quiet,” said Royce. “I will have a duel with your Admiral right here. If I should win, then you can go next.”
The sudden sound of the door opening made all heads turn toward it.
“Brigger?” said the astonished Admiral.
Brigger was aiming a gun at Royce. “I'm sorry, Admiral. Didn't mean to step into this but I'm glad I did.”
You're either brilliant or stupid, thought Admiral Byrd. But, impeccable in timing.
Manning unstrapped his gun, then stood, also aiming at Royce. “Put down your weapon, now!” ordered Manning.
Royce, still holding his gun, fired two shots before Manning and Brigger shot their weapons. Two laser impulses from Manning and Brigger punctured Royce square in the chest. He fell backwards, landing hard on his back, dead before he knew it.
Brigger glanced at Manning, then looked over the sergeant's shoulder. He dropped his gun and ran forward, screaming, “No!”
∞
Diana felt good, but not as good as she would have liked. She wanted to feel enraptured, as if everything was going just as she planned. In truth, nothing was going as planned, but she knew it could be worse.
She glanced out of the window of the transport ship she was on. She didn't know the ship's class type, but she understood it was a more advanced Starhawk design. The seats were made for the Nankuani, the race that had attacked her people, and were twice as wide and tall as the seats she was used to. Everything was bigger. Everything was made for giants.
“I assume you're pleased with our agreement?”
Diana looked at the man directly across the aisle. He was handsome and strong in every way. He had a chiseled face and a long beard that matched his flowing blond-red hair. His strong arms and broad shoulders suggested he worked out a little too much. He looked similar to Prime Director Zim Nocki, and she wondered if all the Nankuani had similar features. He was wearing a long red coat with yellow trim that draped to his knees and red pants. A white shirt was underneath the coat, but only the collar could be seen. He had to be almost ten feet tall.
“I'm pleased, Lien-L, but still a little nervous.”
For years Diana and Lien-L were in communication, but it was just today that she actually learned of his name. In fact, today was the first time she'd seen his face, although the voice sounded the same as the first time they spoke.
“Why are you nervous?” asked Lien-L.
“You didn't tell me about the invasion. I understand your motives and science as to why you did it, but speaking candidly, since you didn't inform me of that then why should I completely trust you now?”
“I haven't destroyed your ship, as we had agreed upon several months back,” stated Lien-L.
“Yes. I know.”
Diana had it in her mind that she was going to be taken back to Lien-L's office on Lumus II, past the radiation zone where no human was ever to set foot, and for once see the lake from Robert Rose's painting. Instead, this transport had picked up Diana in secret from Starship Sirona, as expected, and transported her miles away and behind a couple of massive hills, where it landed and was now parked.
Through the window she watched a long and lone piece of yellow grass wiggle in the soft breeze, touching the side of another grass also moving tepidly. These grasses only grew out of the cracks in the Lumus ebb floor and were very rare. It was one of the few plants on Lumus.
“You killed thousands of people, Lien-L.” Diana kept her eyes on the grass.
“This saddens you?” Lien-L leaned forward.
Diana faced Lien-L. “Imagine your family being destroyed right before your eyes and you were a part of it, or perhaps, you were unknowingly a major player in the conspiracy. That is what I am. So, yes. This saddens me.”
“Your people and my people are different emotional types. I don't feel sadness for anything my family does or doesn't do. In many cases, it is fire in my belly that erupts when I think of my kin and my parents.” Lien-L leaned back. “I have tried to kill my brother many times. He has disgraced my family, which is his death sentence to my mind.” He laughed, then changed the subject as quickly as he started it. “Our agreement is right here.” He pointed to his heart and narrowed his eyes. “Please don't disrespect me by thinking me a liar.”
“I don't think you're a liar,” assured Diana. “I was just not ready for what—”
Lien-L slammed his fist in the armrest of his chair. “You would have stopped my plans, so I couldn't risk telling you the entire truth!”
Diana shrank back in her chair, feigning calm when in fact her heart was now practically beating out of her chest. Lien-L was a bull and probably stronger than one, and could tear her limbs apart with his bare hands. She didn't want to anger this man, especially in person.
She looked out the window in thought before replying. “I would have. You're correct.”
She felt his massive hand on her forearm. “Don't think of me as a bad man. I do for my people what you would do for yours. Only the circumstances are different. Our intellect is far superior to that of your race. We created you not to be better than us in any way. And you aren't. Even if you could have found a way to stop us, we would have outwitted you before long.”
“So, when can I leave this planet with my crew?”
“Our agreement says in five days time. Until then, we will leave you alone.” He paused, rubbing his chin. “However, I think there are a few more training sessions with our infantrymen, so you might feel some more bumps and shakes on Sirona, but nothing more.”
“Okay,” nodded Diana. “And the planet?”
Lien-L tilted his head at the question. “The planet? Whi
ch planet? There are many planets in the vast Universe.”
Diana took out a folded piece of paper from her pocket and unfolded it. It was clearly a page from a bigger document. She began reading: “Upon completion of training exercises and goals performed against the targeted Starship Sirona, Admiral Diana McCoy and all inhabitants inside Starship Sirona will be free to leave the planet Lumus and given free passage to the thrice moon of planet Sultyn 9.”
“And?” questioned Lien-L.
“Is it...beautiful?” She eyed the landscape of Lumus. “Or, like Lumus?”
“Yes, it is much more habitable than this planet, but smaller. It's a moon, mind you, but the temperature is fair and the resources are plentiful. You should have no trouble creating a happy life there.”
“What will my fellow crewmen say?”
“You saved their lives. They will be glad to have served under you, don't you think?”
“They will know I was somehow involved in your invasion.”
Lien-L swatted at the air. “Please. You saved them. You have allowed the human population to continue its gene pool. They may be disgruntled at first, but it is you who they will eventually honor.”
She fingered her paper, trying to erase the image of her people clawing after her, trying to kill her. “Also, our agreement states there will be homes already built there and technology as advanced as our own.”
Lien-L cleared his throat, becoming bored with the conversation. “That is true and you can see it for yourself when you arrive on Sultyn 9.” His gaze flicked upward. “I go no further than this point here. I've even gone further than our agreement and met you face to face.” He turned toward the Nankuani pilot, who was seated in the cockpit. “Our meeting is over. Please take the nice admiral home.”
The pilot nodded and started the ship's engines.
Diana squeezed the paper in her hand. Something wasn't right.
Just trust, thought Diana. He has been good on his word up to this point.
The transport ship lifted from the ground, turned 180 degrees, and flew toward Starship Sirona.
∞
It was about a half-hour walk through the biosphere forest before Devon and Chase entered a clearing, which came up to a wall that circled the entire biosphere. The wall went on for miles; it would take a week to walk the entirety of it. It was built to separate the biosphere from the main roads, dwellings, and workspaces of Matrona—in order to keep the biosphere as pure as possible and away from pollutants. The wall was lined with windows and rose up four stories, stopping where the domed ceiling of the biosphere began.
Star Guild Episodes 10 - 18 (Star Guild Saga) Page 2
