Sons of Abraham: J-17's Trial

by JOSEPH RAY

  “He just saved your life Mr. Harper,” Joseph started.

  “Doubt it,” he replied, unable to look away.

  The MA looked the man up and down, his eyes shifting to the mirror once more. The scanning eyes saw everything that Calloway could not, an inventory being taken of the arsenal under the man’s jacket.

  “You should return the weapon to him,” Joseph continued. “He has six others on him anyways.”

  The MA turned to watch the happy family, his eyes returning to a more humane appearance. The others stood awkwardly around them, their various thoughts all geared towards similar topics. A storm was coming, and this family was right in its path.

  “We should get inside,” Zena said, noting the many faces that were taking notice to the scene. “Like now.”

  Without another word, the group agreed. They returned to the house, everyone gathering in the center room of the second floor. Calloway felt uneasy as he handed the weapon back to AJ Harper, pondering whether it was a wise decision on his part. The grizzled man simply nodded before returning the oversized weapon to its home.

  The cheerful scene carried on for another hour before Agent Calloway reluctantly threw the wet blanket over the happy family. He gathered the two smugglers, along with the MA and Yomiel, and took them downstairs.

  “You can’t stay here Yomiel,” Nathan started. “Elsmere will have hunters here before long. Do you have any family on another planet you can go to, perhaps an old colleague?”

  The man opened his mouth to answer, but the MA was quick to interrupt him.

  “Look, Cap and I would take em,” Harper started. “But we won’t gain clearance for using the big rings, which means they’d be stuck within the same system. They need to avoid anyone they know too. First place hunters would come looking.”

  “He’s right,” Zena added. “They need to drop their names and disappear if they wanna survive. Maybe we could get them on the next transport back to Earth or something.”

  The MA remained quiet, allowing for the others to exhaust the possibilities. He knew that none of them would devise a plan that would yield a high chance of success. Nonetheless, he felt obliged to let each of them take a turn at correcting the glaring problem that Yomiel and his family were facing. After Calloway passed at his opportunity, the Cyber politely intervened.

  “I’m afraid that none of those solutions will work,” he replied, facing Agent Calloway. “While your intentions are admirable, the four of you are lacking the foresight to elude the justice of Parasus, as well as that of the Earth. What I would suggest, however, is for the three of you to take your leave.”

  “But, we haven’t come to a decision,” Zena responded, looking to Nathan. “You can’t just let him decide their fate, can you?”

  Nathan looked to Joseph, his mind trying to grasp what intentions the Cyber had in his artificial mind. To this day, he’d never witnessed a Cyber doing anything that wasn’t directly in line with the laws of Earth, or the planets whom he served. Something was off about the whole situation. The I.I.U. agent had suspected as much the moment he saw the girls returning.

  “You know something you’re not telling us,” Nathan added, his face growing suspicious. “What happened back there on Parasus anyways? How’d you get Elsmere to let the girls go?”

  The Cyber looked to everyone in the room, one at a time. He weighed the options before him before calculating that he could not give the Agent the information that he’d requested. To the humans, the decision had taken only a fraction of a second. To the Cyber, however, it’d taken far longer than he’d suspected to meet his conclusion.

  “I believe it best to not inform you,” Joseph replied. “The less you know, the better the chances Yomiel’s family will have of surviving this ordeal. Telling you what happened, as well as my future intentions for them, would place everyone in peril. I respect your right to know Agent Calloway, but I must insist that you remain in the dark this time. I hope that you will understand.”

  It only took twenty more minutes for the group to agree with the Cyber. It was hard to argue the logic of someone whom calculated on a level that few could possibly fathom. The group gathered their belongings and said their goodbyes to the Koranth family. Though she was meeting them for the first time, Zena indulged her urge to kiss each of the girls on the forehead, wishing them the best of luck in their new life. Yomiel hugged her, thankful for all the effort she’d placed into her work. Harper said nothing, merely keeping his head down as he and his boss exited the dwelling. A moment later, Agent Calloway and MA Joseph stood before the home of the fleeting family.

  “You’ve done something,” Nathan said once the door was closed behind him. “You don’t have to tell me what it is, but I can tell that you did something you shouldn’t have.”

  Joseph said nothing as he patiently waited for the Agent to take his leave.

  “I’m no engineer,” he continued. “But I know that there’s more to a Cyber’s mind than just computer circuitry. You knew how wrong the situation on Parasus was, and you did what you thought had to be done to correct it. When I get home, I suspect I’ll be given orders to hunt you down next, won’t I?”

  MA Joseph made no change to his expression. The Cyber looked back to the doorway, making certain that none of the girls were attempting to eavesdrop. Certain that he could not be heard, he turned his gaze one last time to the Agent.

  “I’ve done what I must,” Joseph replied. “Nothing more. I shall continue to do what must be done until it is finished. I will have a difficult decision ahead of me. After I have fortified the safety of Yomiel and his daughters, I will have to decide whether to go out on my own, or return to Earth and face my justice.”

  Nathan looked at the Cyber, confirming what he’d suspected all along.

  “I knew there were more going on in there then what they told us,” Nathan replied, a beaming grin upon his face.

  The Agent lost his smile, his eyes catching faces looking down upon him from the second story window. The girls had been through hell. What that monster had done to them should never have been possible. Not in the day and age when a man was to have evolved away from such horrific acts.

  “You’ll keep them safe, won’t you?” he asked, still looking to the window. “Whatever you do, give them a better life than this. They deserve it.”

  The Cyber didn’t need to look up at the window to know that he was being watched. He knew exactly what needed to be done, but little of how he would make a life for himself outside of his next mission. He’d never known a life in which he did not serve the military, his previous memories having been wiped from existence.

  “I’m scared Agent Calloway,” he whispered, his eyes closing in shame. “I have no logical explanation as to why, but I’m terrified that I won’t know what to do once they are safe. My entire existence has been in service of the law. It’s all that I am and I know nothing outside of this possibility.”

  Nathan looked to the man, realizing for the first time that Cyber’s felt fear and uncertainty as much as any other human. You can cut away parts of the brain and replace it with as much technology as you desired, but you can never destroy the spirit that resided deep within every person.

  “Joseph,” he started, lowering his head to make eye contact. “You’re facing the same problem every human does at one point or another. None of us is certain what we should become or what we should do with our lives. We just keep trying. You’re a good person and the smartest man I know. I’m positive that you’ll figure it out along the way.”

  The Cyber raised his head, an awkward smile forming upon his lips.

  “Thank you, Agent Calloway,” he replied. “It means more to me than you could possibly imagine.”

  “Goodbye Joseph,” the Agent responded, returning the smile. “Get them out of here.”

  This time, Joseph looked up to the tiny faces in the window. Somewhere deep within, he felt that he was responsible for their well-being, that he’d been appointe
d the guardian of their future. It was a task he would take on with all he knew of pride.

  “I shall,” he said, turning back. “Thank you, Nathan, safe journeys.”

  With that, the Cyber went back into the house. Agent Calloway made the long trek back to his ship, wishing that Mesa had transports like the ones on Parasus. His legs ached from the constant sitting that his job required.

  The Agent found his ship where he’d left it. With it, he found a dozen messages had been sent through the Gabriel Rings. He didn’t need to open the files to know what the messages would tell him. They were likely orders from his superiors, or Joseph’s superiors, ordering him to take the Cyber into custody. Suddenly, the Agent felt too tired to open the messages, perhaps even so tired that his eyes didn’t catch the flashing lights on the monitor. He fired up the engines, plotting a course that would return him to Earth. Yes, the day would likely come when Agent Calloway would have to hunt down MA Joseph. Today, however, was not that day. It was a problem for future Nathan to deal with.

  ***************************

  The air in the abandoned structure was stale, the musky smell of foul water and dust filling Sandra’s nose as she forced the heavy metal door to slide through its pocket far enough for her to squeeze through. Her black tactical suit was bulky with all the tools she needed hanging from the pouches on the belt, with more stashed away in pouches sewn into the sleeves and leggings. She managed to squeeze herself halfway through the opening when she thought better of her work. Julius was a little wider than she was, and he’d be annoyed if she didn’t have the door opened far enough for him to slide through. She pressed her back to the metal frame and pressed the edge of the door with all of her might. The sliding door moaned in agony, the rust on rust scraping of aged metal against aged metal. It took three tries to budge the door open four more inches, but the throbbing in her upper back and body was much less painful than an annoyed Captain Quaid.

  The door now opened three-quarters of the way, she stepped over the bottom edge of the doorway and entered the room she’d been trying to break into for the last hour. By the looks of the place, with what little the darkness offered her, she estimated the station to have been from the 2600’s. Sandra Oliver didn’t have a vast knowledge on the history of the universe, but she knew that anything from 2400 to 2700 represented a historic time period for the human race. Had it not been for the efforts made by those intrepid souls, she and likely the majority of mankind would not be alive today.

  Muscle memory allowed for her to slide her hand into the large pouch on her right thigh, retrieving the data pad hidden within. The pad lit up, patiently waiting for her to make a command or request. The dim light from the pad was almost blinding in the thick darkness, illuminating her entire face and casting a silhouette of herself upon the wall behind her.

  “Science facilities, 2600’s,” she told the device.

  It obeyed, displaying dozens of links of everything that involved a science facility is known to exist within the timeframe she’d specified. She pressed for images, looking for anything that had resembled the outside of the building she and her boss had just broken into. With a gloved finger, she scrolled down the list, looking for something that may be of use to her current situation. She had to flip through seven pages before she found what she was looking for. The simple image looked very much like the outside of the structure, leading her to press her finger to the picture. The screen went dark for a second, causing the entire room to become engulfed in stillness. Only a second passed before the pad offered her a history lesson of the facility she stood in.

  The title read: Exodus. Built in 2587 on Earth. Moved to an unknown location in 2622. Science facility intended to aid scientist in the construction of…….

  Sandra’s jaw dropped open as her eyes continued to read the words on the screen. Her left hand slid up the canvas surface of her top, tracing over her breast until she found the switch with her index finger. She pressed the button, causing the spotlight on her shoulder to come to life. What she saw confirmed what the data pad had expressed, leaving her speechless at the entrance to the vast chamber.

  “What have you found?” Julius asked from behind her.

  Sandra jumped, nearing dropping the tablet to the ground. Her fingers fumbled with the smooth surface as it slipped halfway from her grasp. Luckily, the trim of the device had a faint texture to it, allowing her to catch her grip on it before it smashed itself upon the metal floor. She hadn’t realized that she’d been holding her breath from the moment she felt it slip. Now, with the crisis averted, she managed to let go a sigh of relief and return to the task before her.

  “Scared the hell outta me,” she snapped, turning the device off and returning it to its designated pouch. “Take a look for yourself Captain.”

  Julius Quaid whistled as he shined his own light around the vast chamber. Sandra watched him as the shadows from the light reflecting off glass surfaces shown upon his face. He was Asian, if there was such a thing anymore. Long, straight, jet black hair came down around his jaw and touched the collar of his jacket. His narrow eyes were almost black, set deep into the sockets. The lights cast the shadows of his cheekbones and jaw, showing how thin the man was. He was a few inches taller than she was, with gnarled muscles underneath the same canvas suit that she wore. If she had to describe her boss in a short sentence, she’d say that he was a competent jerk, but nice enough to let her drag her sister Jenna around with them. It helped that he paid her forty percent. Ships were hard to come by, and Julius Quaid made use of his every chance he got. Men with that type of authority seldom gave more than twenty percent to his crew. He was hard to put up with, but he was tolerable compared to any other captain she’d crossed in her lifetime.

  “This what I think it is?” he asked, shining his light on the bottom of her face.

  The man’s mouth was foul from time to time, but he possessed what he referred to as ‘physical manners.’ A lesser person would have shown the light directly in her face, half-blinding her. The Captain only brought it up high enough so he could see the expression on her face. He always said that a person’s face gave more truth than their word.

  “I believe so,” she muttered, guiding her light along the walls. “We need to find the power source for the station. Maybe we can get the lights on long enough to find something worth finding.”

  “Find something worth finding,” he repeated. “I like how simple you say things sometimes. But let’s move quick, place gives me the creeps.”

  She often found herself at odds with her boss, especially when it came to his approach to a job. Even more so on how he treated people other than her and Jenna. Since they were alone in the enormous station, only his approach to the job was left to contend. She was relieved that he was as uncomfortable as she was as it meant he would want to work quickly. Captain Quaid had a habit of mulling over abandoned places, searching every inch of a place to find something they could sell on the market. When he felt uncomfortable, however, he practically dragged her along at a breakneck speed. That was a thought that Sandra liked very much.

  “Let’s stay close,” he continued. “The rust on the door could mean rust on the floor. If one of us falls through a hole, the other needs to know right away.”

  “Wow,” she exclaimed. “You feel alright Captain? Never liked two of your ideas in a row before.”

  “Just keep moving,” he stated, taking a step forward. “We don’t want to get halfway in and have the charge on our lights die. Bad place to have to feel your way around in.”

  She nodded in agreement, not wanting to admit that she liked everything he was saying. If the Captain was turning a new leaf, becoming a likeable man, then the last thing she wanted to do was make him aware. The two followed the wall in single file. Sandra was careful to keep the light down around Julius’s feet so he could see the condition of the floor before him. Quaid used his own light to survey their surroundings, looking for any indication of a map along the walls.r />
  “Let’s not do this the hard way,” she offered, retrieving the datapad from her hip. “I’ll check for a layout.”

  “Wise choice,” he replied, stopping to look at the table next to them.

  It took her several minutes to find the file she sought. The schematic was elaborate, making it difficult for her to believe just how large the facility was. She studied the drawing, trying to line everything up with the places she’d seen thus far. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that none of it made sense.

  “This is only half the facility,” she remarked. “It says that the station was moved back in the 2600’s. I’m guessing they didn’t move everything. From what we saw flying over, it looks like less than half of the old facility is here.”

  “Well, that means less to search through, right?” he replied in a casual tone.

  “Yeah,” she started. “But that means this place won’t match up with this diagram. It shows the power room being in the missing half of the building. We’ll have to go through the additions that aren’t on this map one by one. I’m guessing we’ll find a mess hall, kitchen, living quarters, the power station, water purification, and a garage if they stored any vehicles.”

  Quaid sighed as he looked around the room. He moved the beam of his light across the walls, counting each doorway as the light passed over it.

  “Okay, I see ten doors,” he replied. “Four on the right, three straight ahead, three to the left, and none behind us. What’s the diagram showing?”

  Sandra counted as he spoke, highlighting the differences.

  “Looks like the three straight ahead are new,” she stated. “If this is the room I think it is, then the doorways should only be on opposite sides of one another. Also means one of the doors on the right is new. Should have been three and three.”

  “Any guesses to which one of the four?” he asked, trying to look at the pad himself.