by M. R. Forbes
He hadn’t told her he was planning to leave her there yet. He wasn’t sure how she would take it. The three-day jump from Earth to Gamlin had given them plenty of time to bond, and once she had opened up to him, she had opened up completely. He had taken on the role of both her mother and her father at the same time, one that he had found he minded less than he ever would have thought.
In fact, he didn’t want to leave her. Like her mother, he also didn’t have a choice. Abbey was counting on him to enlist Don Pallimo and rally his mercenary forces around the Republic resistance against the Nephilim. They needed every asset they could get, and the bridge of a warship about to engage the enemy was no place for a child, even one as mature as Hayley.
She would be better off on Gamlin, safe in the Don’s care.
She put her tray down opposite him and sat. She had skipped all of the healthy food, instead opting for some kind of sweet-smelling, thick soup.
“Do you even know what that is?” he asked, pointing at it.
“It’s from Tro, sir,” she replied. “Cam Stew.”
“Spelled s-t-u, I’m sure,” Olus said, reducing it to three letters. “Did you get any sleep?”
“Yes, sir,” she said. She had refused to drop the formality, even after multiple requests. He figured it was comforting to her. “Six hours. Are we close to Gamlin?”
“We should be there within the hour,” Olus replied.
“Do you think you can convince Don Pallimo to fight?”
“I have a feeling I won’t need to do too much convincing. Gloritant Thraven crossed him in a way that he’s already proven he didn’t appreciate, and while the rest of the Republic might be on the defensive because of the Gloritant, I think the Don is itching to get involved. He had to know that Thraven wanted you, which is why he wanted you, too.”
“It isn’t the best way to be wanted, is it, sir? A pawn to use against my mother?”
“Not typically. I wouldn’t worry. You’re safe with me.”
“And you’re safe with me, sir,” Hayley said, smiling.
She had brought up the fact that she saved his life a few times. He didn’t think it was to gloat, but as a way to prove to herself she was capable of handling all that she had been forced to go through over the last few days. He was impressed enough with the way she was handling the loss of her father.
“Good morning, Captain,” Sergeant Coxie said, approaching them with his tray. “Good morning, Hal.”
“Good morning, Sergeant,” Hayley replied. “How are you?”
“Another fine day as a Hauler,” Coxie replied. “Do you mind if I sit with you?”
“No, sir,” Hayley said, sliding over so the Curlatin could fit beside her.
“We’ll be dropping out of FTL within the hour,” Coxie said. “The Mangrove was supposed to continue on, but the Don asked us to stick around for another cycle, just in case. He wasn’t sure whether or not we would be able to make delivery, considering the state of things.”
“Does he know something we don’t?” Olus asked.
“Thraven has hit a couple of Hauler ships already. Someone must have told him we took you on.”
“Individuals are dying because of me?” Hayley asked.
“Not because of you,” Olus replied. “And not because of your mom, either. This is war, Hayley. The enemy doesn’t need extra reasons to attack.” He looked back at Coxie. “You’re sure Gamlin is safe?”
“Safer than anywhere else these days,” Coxie replied. “The Don keeps himself protected, and nobody outside of the Haulers knows he keeps his headquarters there. Even within the Haulers, it isn’t common knowledge.”
“The good news is that it will be that much easier to get the Don into the fight,” Olus said. He noticed then that the Sergeant had also taken the Cam Stu and nothing else. “How can you both eat that stuff?”
Coxie grumbled a laugh. “Have you tried it?”
“It’s delicious,” Hayley said, taking a spoonful of it. “Are you coming down to the surface with us, Sergeant?” She spoke with her mouth half-full, her words muffled.
Coxie nodded. “I asked for my squad to descend with you while we make the transfer. You’re in good hands with my team.”
“I know. You saved our asses once already.”
“Getting back to Thraven,” Coxie said, looking at Olus. “The Republic loyalists are being hammered by the Gloritant’s forces. It doesn’t help that he’s got the Outworld Governance convinced that he’s on their side and he’s going to help them remove the Republic threat once and for all.”
“It also doesn’t help that he’s been sabotaging Republic assets for years,” Olus said. “General Kett is trying to help re-enable communications through a Galnet backchannel, but he has to make close-range contact to do it.”
“And who is to say Thraven won’t bring down the Galnet?” Coxie said.
“The Galnet is too big to fail,” Hayley said. “There are millions of distribution routes.”
“But they all have to go through transference satellites,” Olus said. “There are thousands, but it isn’t an impossible number. And, reducing the transference potential would eventually create a bottleneck that would stall communications. The only reason he hasn’t is because he’s using it, too.”
“I don’t understand why we don’t crash the Galnet, then?” Hayley said. “If the Republic already can’t communicate, why not frag Thraven?”
Olus looked at her. “It’s not a terrible idea. But unfortunately then we would have no way of coordinating our forces, and right now we need to get the resistance organized. That isn’t to say it wouldn’t be an option later.”
“I understand,” Hayley said.
“Sergeant, you mentioned the Outworld Governance,” Olus said.
“Yes. Why?”
Olus considered. Maybe there was an opportunity there that he hadn’t considered. He would have to discuss it with the Don.
“I have an idea. Perhaps the Don can be even more helpful than I originally thought.”
3
The planet Gamlin was what the Republic OSI called a ‘blackball.’ It meant that the world was home to a lot of individuals who had at one time or another been caught up in activity illicit enough and important enough that it had caught the OSI’s attention. It didn’t mean all of the residents on the planet were criminals. Hardly. But Gamlin was where the Republic sent snitches, informers, and whistleblowers to disappear, providing new digital identities, and in some cases new physical ones in the form of expensive surgery.
Why Gamlin of all places?
Because of Korvin Layle.
He was known as the Prince of Tools. A recluse whose simple inventions had earned him an undocumented fortune, which he used in part to fund a private militia that defended the planet. Not from violent invasion, but from surveillance both internal and external. Olus had often told his team at the Office of Strategic Intelligence that Gamlin was where intel went to die.
Layle was a genius, but he was also more than a little paranoid, especially when it came to the idea that his ideas might leak out into the greater Republic. The rumors held that he worked alone, surrounded only by synths and bots that had been programmed to keep a tight lip on anything and everything related to his personal life. It was said he slept in a bed with a pleasure bot, but never used it for its intended purpose. It had also been reported the few times he had been seen outside of his compound it hadn’t really been him at all. Some people believed he had perfected synth technology and AI to the point that his creations were indistinguishable from humans. Some people even believed half the population of Gamlin was composed of the fake individuals.
And then there was that other rumor. The one that Olus had only heard whispered once in his life, passed on from the prior director of the OSI to the Prime during a fundraiser over fifty years ago. It had been stated off the record, as conjecture not fact, but as the shuttle carried him and Hayley down to the surface, he couldn’t help but wonder i
f the greatest secret in the galaxy had nothing to do with the war between the Seraphim and the Nephilim.
Was it true that Korvin Layle was Don Pallimo?
He supposed he was on the verge of finding out.
“It’s ugly, sir,” Hayley said as the shuttle descended toward the planet.
Olus looked out the viewport beside her. Gamlin did look ugly from here. It was a mountainous planet, coated with a layer of dark rock that made even the vast oceans appear soiled from orbit. It was heavily surrounded by thick, dark gray clouds that drowned out a good portion of the light passing in from twin red dwarfs nearby. It was hardly a paradise, though the capital city of Dent was impressive enough to draw a fair bit of tourism.
“It’s not so bad once you get used to it,” Coxie said.
“You live here, Sergeant?” Hayley asked.
“No. My home is still on Curlat. But I have spent downtime here between tours. The planet doesn’t get a lot of direct light, but Dent is something else.”
“What do you mean?”
“It was constructed into the cliffs of the Dentatis Mountains,” Coxie said. “That’s where it gets its name. Anyway, most cities sit flat on the planet’s surface. A few places, like the Outworld planet Anvil, have built up enough that they’re multilayered, but even then they look like organized cubes. Dent is unique because it's fully three-dimensional, following the flow of the Dentitis all the way to the Sugar Sea.”
“Sugar Sea?” Hayley said.
“The black you see from space is a mineral called Chocolite.”
“It is not.”
“It is,” Coxie said, laughing. “When the Chocolite breaks down in water, it releases glycerol. It has a sweet taste, but it isn’t sugar. You Terrans like to come up with creative names for things that remind you of other things.”
“Does the drinking water taste sweet?”
“No. The glycerol is filtered out. It isn’t good for Terran digestive systems, and Gamlin is seventy-three percent Terran.”
“Oh. Maybe it tastes sweet, but it doesn’t look that attractive.”
“I’ve had girlfriends like that,” Coxie said. He tilted his head, listening to someone on his comm. “If you’ll excuse me, duty calls.”
He moved away from them, toward the front of the shuttle where his platoon was assembling.
“He isn’t lying, Captain?” Hayley asked.
“He may have embellished slightly,” Olus replied. “I believe the stone is called Chlorite.”
Hayley smiled, settling back into her seat. The shuttle continued its descent without interruption, pushing through Gamlin’s atmosphere and heading for Dent. Hayley perked up again as it neared, staring out the viewport in wonder at what had been nicknamed “the Hanging City.”
“This is the coolest place ever, sir,” she said.
“I don’t know about ever,” Olus replied. “But it’s up there.”
He let himself gawk at massive structures tethered to sheer rock faces by wires and posts, at the narrow, hollow cables that connected different areas of the city to one another across deep ravines, and at the flow of external traffic across the landscape, brightly colored craft climbing and diving and zipping through the visually disorganized but compositionally precise architecture that seemed almost as though it had grown out of the mountain.
“What’s that, sir?” Hayley asked, pointing to the tallest peak in the distance, where an amalgam of lights and antennas protruded from a blocky structure that had taken over the mountain.
“The Layle Estate,” Olus said. “And the Amazing Things factory.”
“Amazing Things?”
“Korvin Layle’s company. It makes -”
“The Best Buddy,” Hayley said, smiling. “Yes, sir. I had one of those when I was six. I carried it with me everywhere. I didn’t know this was where the Best Buddy came from. Do you think we’ll get to meet Doctor Layle?”
The question brought Olus back to his previous line of thought. Were two of the wealthiest individuals in the Republic one and the same? He had no reason to believe they were, but could it be a coincidence they were both living here?
“I doubt it,” Olus said as the shuttle banked to the left, carrying them out of view of the estate and heading for the Dent Spaceport. “If he comes out of his lab once a year, that’s considered a lot.”
“Oh. Well, it was cool to see his house anyway, don’t you think, Captain?”
“Yes, it was. The spaceport is equally impressive. It was constructed inside the crater of a volcano.”
“Extinct, I hope, sir.”
Olus laughed. “Very.”
They were silent for a few seconds as the shuttle banked again, bringing the spaceport into view. Hayley stared at it for a moment and then turned to look at him, her eyes suddenly serious, her expression way too mature for her age.
“Captain,” she said. “I know you’re planning to leave me here. I’d like you to reconsider.”
“Hayley,” Olus started to say.
“I know you want to protect me, sir. You and mother both. I’ve listened to you talk to Sergeant Coxie. I know what’s happening out there. You can’t protect me, Captain. Not from them. Not like this. If you abandon me here, you’ll be making a mistake.”
Olus stared at her, locking eyes as they descended into the volcano. He had a responsibility to keep her safe, but was she right?
“Promise me you’ll think about it, sir. And if you decide I should stay behind, promise me you won’t leave without saying goodbye.”
Olus nodded. “Okay, Hayley. I promise.”
4
The shuttle’s ramp extended. Sergeant Coxie took point as they descended, walking out onto Deck C of the Dent Spaceport. To their left, the elevator that carried the smaller craft down into the belly of the complex began to rise to collect another arrival.
“Clear,” Coxie said, doing a visual scan of the area.
Deck C had space for nearly one hundred shuttle-sized vessels, and a handful were arranged in rows on the right side of the lift. Theirs was the only shuttle that had been placed on the left.
Coxie’s team followed behind him; three Terrans and two more Curlatins dressed in civilian clothes, who also swept the area with their eyes.
“ETA?” Coxie said.
“Three minutes,” one of them replied.
Coxie turned back to the shuttle and waved Olus and Hayley down. “A transport is on its way to pick us up and bring us downtown. We’ll make the exchange there.”
“Exchange?” Olus said.
“Don Pallimo likes to keep a low profile. I know he’s on the planet somewhere, but even I don’t know where he’s staying. We’ll drop you in a safe location and retreat from the area. A second group will pick you up and take you to him.”
“How do we know they can be trusted, Sergeant?” Hayley asked.
“We’re already in communication with them and exchanged security keys. They’re legitimate. Do you trust me?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. This way.”
Coxie led them out of a side exit, to a secondary elevator, motioning for Olus and Hayley to enter. Then he and his team surrounded them, weapons in hand. Olus glanced back at the Sergeant, slightly nervous about the activity.
“Expecting trouble, Sergeant?” Olus asked.
“Hal is the highest priority individual I’ve ever transported,” Coxie replied. “I’m not taking any chances.”
The elevator dropped nearly a thousand meters deeper into the volcano before pausing and opening into a large, crowded station. Hundreds of individuals were moving around a central concourse, while vehicles pulled in and paused, picking up passengers and moving out, all of the transports brightly colored and at the same time worn. Coxie motioned them out onto the concourse, keeping them surrounded as they passed fifty meters to the pickup area.
Immediately, a large yellow transport pulled up in front of them, the hatch and ramp sliding open as it came to a stop. The
y boarded the transport and moved away, the entire pickup taking less than five seconds.
“We’re en route,” Coxie said through his comm.
The transport passed through a tunnel and out into the open air of Gamlin, revealing the beauty of the mountain-hugging city up close. While Olus was accustomed to heavily trafficked skies, the layout of Dent caused everything to move in an organized chaos that drew his attention. He quickly made a game out of trying to track a single shuttle from one point to another as they dipped and turned and swung around one another, around buildings, and around crags and cliffs. When he looked over at Hayley’s face he could see she was equally impressed, her eyes wide and mouth open as she tried to take it all in.
Downtown was aptly named, because it rested on one of the lowest peaks of the Dentitis Mountains, sitting only two kilometers from the sea below. It was also a relatively flat section of landscape, suitable for long stretches of walking and landing areas before converting to more lifts and cable cars and shuttles. As they passed over, Olus couldn’t help but note how many bots were moving along with the organic inhabitants. Most were humanoid, but some were more exotic or plain, depending on perspective.
“That’s a lot of bots,” he commented.
“Amazing Things,” Coxie said, as though that explained everything.
To Olus, it did.
“They use the city as a testing ground for their designs,” Coxie continued a moment later. “Most of what you see here will never make it off-world. The residents are used to it.”
The transport hooked around a precipice and sank toward a large depot. It entered a moment later, coming to rest on a concourse similar to the first. The hatch opened and they all disembarked.
“This way,” Coxie said, leading them.
They went from the concourse to a street outside, across to stone entry that led them into a series of tubes that would deliver them up or down. Coxie and his team stayed with them the entire time, though there was no indication anyone had even paid them much attention. The inhabitants of Gamlin were so used to out of the ordinary that it had become ordinary.
