Devon awkwardly glanced up at the second floor where he and Savanna Levens used to work. Their office window was broken, easily viewable by the sharp pieces of glass that hung all around the big window frame—the middle portion gone. Just below their office were shards of glass sprinkled upon the clearing—the remains of the explosion that rocked the office many days ago.
Devon rubbed his knee, remembering the pain from the landing he ensued after jumping through that busted window. If it weren’t for the Suficell Pods in the infirmary that repaired his knee, who knows how long Devon would have been out of commission.
Chase surveyed the area. “This is Sphere 6. Sphere 8 is the capital and that's where we need to be. We should have walked more westerly.”
“It's another day’s walk. We can hop on a Sphere 6 hovertrain and be at Sphere 8 in forty minutes,” replied Devon.
“That's assuming that hovertrains are functioning.”
“Let's hope. I don't want to walk for another day.”
“Why? Afraid a deer might get ya?” joked Chase, gently punching Devon on the shoulder.
“Not a deer. A rogue Matrona Guardsmen perhaps. I'm not worried about anything in the biosphere. It's what's outside of it that worries me.”
Chase massaged his temple. It was true. They had no idea what lay beyond the doors to any of the Spheres. But of all the Spheres, Sphere 6 was probably the safest since its inhabitants were loyal to Savanna and Savanna never gave up on the truth—that Admiral Byrd was innocent. Maybe Sphere 6 had sympathy for the Brigantia and Taranis Guard, who had risked their lives to take over the biosphere and protect the Admiral. It was a giant hope and one that Chase felt he was relying on too heavily.
Walking alongside the wall, they came to the door to Sphere 6. Chase took out his ID card, and held it up. “I hope this still works. If it does, then anyone who wants to find me will know exactly where I am. I wouldn't say this is the smartest idea but it's all we got.” He swiped the card on a console next to the door. A beep sounded and the door slid vertically open. A brief breeze swept around his body and he smiled his charming public smile and gestured graciously to Devon. “Shall we?”
They hadn't been outside of the biosphere in nearly a week, and seeing a world of ebb products—streets, buildings, and sidewalks—was very disheartening. It really wasn't beautiful at all on this side of Matrona. But with disappointment came relief. It was quiet. The streets and sidewalks weren't their usual, busy state.
“What time is it?” asked Chase.
Devon shrugged. “Maybe dinner time or sleep time? Are we that far off on our clocks?”
“Maybe,” replied Chase.
“Shall we act...normally?” responded Devon.
“You? Normal? Impossible.” Chase winked. “The hovertrain station is this way. Come on.”
∞
Prime Director Zim Nocki sat in his office, staring at his Holographic Display Console, hoping to change his fate. He knew he'd die somehow, if not by Shanraing and the Kien Alliance, then by Lien-L himself, unless he was able to change Lien-L's mindset. But a traitor is a traitor and Lien-L probably wouldn't see Zim in any other light.
He put his fingertips on the keyboard, stroking letter after letter, typing his last hope, exposing Shanraing and letting Lien-L know of her plans.
A knock on the door startled Zim. He panicked and pressed transmit, sending his unfinished communication and shut off the HDC. He moved out of his seat and leaned against his desk. “Come in, Shanraing.”
The door opened and the eight-foot-tall woman walked in—a full seven inches taller than him. Her long strides were graceful, like an athlete. He marveled at her beauty and at the same time wanted to spit on her face for what she had done to him. He was a changed man for a short while, but snapping out of it wasn't too difficult, especially when he quickly realized he had sealed his fate by taking orders from this woman.
She touched his HDC. “It's warm.”
Zim nodded. “It sure is.” He grinned, then walked over to his office bar, something he used regularly. “Want some mead?”
“You know I don't touch that stuff.” She sighed. “I thought you'd changed.”
He opened a bottle and a loud pop sounded in the room. “I did...for a moment. You signed my death sentence, Shanraing.”
“Kien has plans for you. He sees things in you that could benefit all intelligent life in the Universe. You have a way with people and a way to convince others to find your truth. Once you see the real truth—that life encompasses all of us and that we are all truly one—then I think the Knights Templar of the Great Brotherhood of Light will embrace you with open arms.”
Zim chugged down a big gulp, then waved his big hand in the air dismissing what she just said. “None of that made any sense. I know the Knights Templar—and those other words are nonsense. The Great blah blah blah?” He burped. “Anyway, the truth of the matter...” he laughed, showing yellowish-red mead stained teeth, “is that you killed me. I wish to rectify that.”
“What were you doing on the HDC, Zim?” she asked, though knowing full well what he was doing.
“I was searching the vid channels, and yes, watching myself spill my guts to the population,” he lied with a straight face, something he did with considerable expertise.
“And was I right?” questioned Shanraing.
He took another chug of mead then wiped his mouth. “Right about what?”
“I told you that the humans would applaud you for telling the truth.”
He shrugged. “How in the Guild would I know? You've kept me under your wraps and away from them—”
“To keep you safe from Lien-L.”
He slammed the bottle on his desk, shattering it, holding the broken neck of the bottle in his hand. “That's what I'm saying! You've killed me, woman!”
“Have a little faith, my friend. You're not dead and that's because you're with me. If you weren't with me, then Lien-L would already have your head.”
Zim went to his desk and sat in his chair, his fingers forming a steeple. “Not anymore. I told him everything.”
“I know,” she replied. “I'm not stupid. Plus, he's not stupid as well. He cares nothing about your safety and already has hit men looking for you, so you're dead if you leave my protection. I'm the only chance you have. He's played this game many times and has more ‘Plan B's’ than you could shake your finger at.”
He avoided eye contact and his face reddened. “Now what?”
“Well, he now knows you're in your office, so we leave immediately and get you underground until I can set up an escape craft and get you off this starbase.”
“Who did he send to kill me?”
“It doesn't matter, Zim. We are observing all Spheres on the starbase and my Knights Templar Guard won't have too much trouble with them.”
“Who...did...they...send!” He slammed his fist on his desk, rocking the HDC back and forth.
Shanraing crossed her arms. “Payson.”
Zim dropped his head on the desktop. “I'm dead.”
“Your chance of staying alive is minimal, yes. But with me, it is still a possibility. Death is easy though. It's not something to be feared.”
“Uh, okay, miss riotous one. Take me to your leader,” he said sarcastically.
She walked to the door. “He's on planet Aurora. Follow me and we'll find your escape.”
∞
It was too quiet inside the hovertrain station.
“This is a little creepy,” said Devon. He glanced at the gigantic clock hanging at the far end of the station. “It's 4 PM—usually a madhouse by this time.”
Chase didn't respond. Instead, he was surveying the room. The last time he was in public he was nearly killed, shot many times by phaser fire. It was practically a miracle that he was walking, let alone alive. Not seeing any obvious danger, Chase walked to Sphere 8's ticket booth and approached the very bored man fingering the keypad of an HDC.
Chase tapped the counter. “Two
tickets to Sphere 8.”
The man behind the counter nodded and pressed some buttons on the HDC. “Why is it so quiet? Where is everyone?” Devon inquired, trying to sound casual.
Chase nudged Devon's shin with his foot. If they were going to blend in, then asking odd questions wasn’t a good idea. Had they been on the outside of the biosphere after the attack had occurred, then they would know why it was so deserted on the streets and quiet in the station. They had to act as if they were in the know, whatever the “know” was.
The man behind the counter gave Devon an odd look. “What do you mean, sir?”
Chase stepped in. “He hasn't been out since the whole attack thing. I'll explain it to him on the hovertrain.”
The man leaned forward. “Yes, it's been the shits ever since. The economy has crashed. No one's doing anything. There was a couple of days that people were out and about, giving their patriotic spirit to the economy, but soon after they all went back inside—scared that another attack is imminent.”
“Yeah, next it will be the job market that will hit the toilet,” said Chase.
“It's starting already. I may lose my job if people don't start taking the hovertrains again. This is crazy.”
Tickets came out of the HDC and Chase handed the man his bulva card for payment. When the transaction was complete, Devon and Chase went up an elevator to wait on the platform for the hovertrain.
Chase licked his lips and a slow smile started building on his face. “Did I ever tell you about Nyx?”
“Yeah. When you were recovering from your phaser wounds. Remember? We were roommates in the infirmary.”
“I told you about her?” asked Chase, leaning against a rail guard, a barrier between them and a potentially fast moving hovertrain. “She was so sexy. Words can't describe the connection...no...the magnetism we had.” He clenched his fist in front of his chest.
Devon rolled his eyes, then recollected similar feelings he once had for a girl. “I know the pain.”
“The pain?” He shook his head furiously. “No, no. Ecstasy. You haven't experienced it, then.”
“It's painful when the connection is there and you know you can't ever have it. That's what I'm saying.”
Chase frowned. “What the Guild happened to you, man?”
Devon bit his lip. “Nothing.”
“Fess up.”
Devon's eyes brightened. “She was my dark-brown-haired goddess. Her name was Daf...” he hesitated, and lifted his shoulders. “She was down on Lumus when this whole thing started.”
Chase looked down at his feet, remembering that's where his ex-girlfriend Crystal was during the terrible incident. “Oh, I'm sorry. Were you with Daf for a long time?”
“Nah...like a day,” he snorted, grinning.
The hovertrain approached, and hovercar after hovercar passed them until the hovertrain finally slowed and stopped.
“There's our ride,” said Chase. “We get one of the middle cars.”
There were only a few people in the car, probably going to Sphere 8 as well. Chase and Devon each took their seats and the hovertrain shuddered, then sputtered forward.
Traveling from Sphere 6 to Sphere 8 in a hovertrain usually took forty minutes, as long as the train was going a constant 200 miles per hour without any stops. It wound through the Spheres on a magnetic track fifty feet in the air, nearly hugging the windows that lined Starbase Matrona, giving the occupants of the hovertrain an incredible view of their place in the Universe, and if the current Sphere they were riding in was facing planet Lumus, then they would see the red planet looming below.
At least, that's how it used to be.
Today Chase and Devon observed the eastern strip of a round, green planet—the planet that Starbase Matrona had jumped to in order to escape the attack that had killed hundreds of thousands. The governance had named this planet Tanza.
“Look at that thing. I wonder if it holds an atmosphere,” wondered Devon.
Chase shrugged. “We won't be here for too long, I don't think. So don't get attached to it.”
“Wouldn't you like to explore it?”
“I would like to explore Nyx,” replied Chase, with a wry smile.
“Well, you explore Nyx while I go down there and fly around.”
“You ever been in a starfighter or any craft?”
Devon shook his head no. “I've never been off Matrona. You?”
Chase's breathing slowed as memories took over. He glanced at his hands. “In Star Guild Academy I was a starfighter pilot. If I hadn't moved on, I would be space debris out there with the rest of my friends.”
“I guess you got lucky,” responded Devon.
“I got injured.” He grasped his arm. “Wrestling injury in the Star Guild Annual Games. And I was winning when it happened.”
Devon ran his hand through his hair. “They would have sent you to the Suficell Pods for recovery, right?”
Chase nodded. “Right, and I recovered quickly. But afterwards, the intense g-forces while doing a maneuver in my starfighter made my arm feel like it was going to explode. It was unbearable. So I was discharged with help from my uncle. Then—well, you know the rest.”
“You became the best politician in the history of the governance.”
Chase laughed. “It had only been two weeks since I was elected and put into office when the attack happened.” He pondered for a moment. “But maybe I would have been the best ever.” He put a thumb up and winked.
The hovertrain ride was short and straight, and before they knew it, forty minutes had passed and they were in the starbase capital, Sphere 8. Stepping off the hovertrain and heading out of the station they saw that Sphere 8 was the same as Sphere 6—everything was quiet and empty. They didn't encounter anyone as they strolled toward the capital building.
“I can't believe how quiet it is, especially in the capital,” said Devon, walking up the outside steps of the capital building. “Even the capital building looks vacant.”
“Last time I was in this Sphere, I was shot. So I'm glad there's nobody around.”
“Is that why you've been looking around furtively?” Devon pushed on the glass door and entered into the building, the sound of a jingling bell peacefully echoed in the room—the sound that filled the office every time someone came and went.
“It's one reason.” The other reason was Nyx.
Passing the reception desk, they walked down a hall and to Zim's office. The door was open, but nothing had been messed with. A glass of mead was on Zim's desk and in front of his HDC screen, along with a half broken bottle. He picked up the glass and broken bottle, placing them to the side. Chase gestured for Devon to sit. “All yours. Do your specialty.”
“This isn't my specialty,” replied Devon. “I'm just good at it for some reason. And, I don't need to sit. This is Zim's desk. I'll look like a kid sitting on his chair, reaching up for the HDC and all."
Chase leaned the top of his hip against the tall desk. “Not your specialty? Then, what the hell is? I don't know anybody who could decode all of this...stuff...like you did.”
Devon turned on Zim's HDC. “You haven't met my friends. I'm in a network of fifty people who could decode twice as fast as me.”
“Where are they?”
Shrugging, Devon pressed some buttons on the HDC. “Knowing my friends? Well, they're probably hacking everyone's bank accounts right about now.”
Chase raised his brows. “That's nice,” he said sarcastically. “If this isn't your specialty then what is?”
“You wouldn't believe me if I told you, so I keep it under wraps.” Devon typed in some commands on the HDC.
“Just tell me. If I believe you, then great, and if not, then who cares?” Chase patted Devon on the back. “What do you think I'll do? Laugh?”
The HDC screen changed from the operating screen to streaming lines of data.
“What in the Guild is going on here?” questioned Devon. He typed in some commands, allowing him to access the mai
n frame. “The algorithm is all off, or worse yet, someone or something is changing it.”
Chase peered at the screen. “How can you tell?”
“Do you see how fast the data is streaming?”
“What do you do about it?”
“I hack into the main network and see exactly where this stream is going. From that point, the algorithm won't be erratic at the receiver, so it will be easy to stop.” He paused. “I think.”
Devon linked into the network, and typed in a couple of string-codes. The screen changed to a blinking box and under it was typed, location.
Devon pointed at the screen. “There. It's going to that box.”
“Where is that box?”
“It's not a box in actuality, but that box represents the receiver. It's there that we will get the information. Now, we have to patch into it. Hold on.” His shoulders dropped. “Wait. I see the receiver isn't located on Matrona.” He pinched his lower lip. “It's probably at that Lumus II place.”
Devon pushed the box away with his finger, then a blank white screen appeared. He typed Distinguish.
Instantly, the stream of data blipped back on the screen flowing at a very steady pace, like it usually did. He typed in location of receiver. A moment later classified blinked on the HDC screen.
“There it is again.” He turned toward Chase, asking, “Why is everything classified? It just makes my work that much harder.”
The bell to the lobby door rang.
Chase held up his hand, telling Devon not to speak. He stealthily walked over to Zim's door and peered into the hallway, then ducked back around the office door.
A Guard wearing an orange outfit, similar to the outfits that all military personnel in Star Guild wore stood in the lobby, phaser in hand, staring at the vines of leaves and flowers that climbed the wall. Chase had never seen a Guard wear orange-colored gear before. Nonetheless, this Guard was young and confident, and looked like he meant business.
Star Guild Episodes 10 - 18 (Star Guild Saga) Page 3
