by Jack Halls
☥
By the time the party started, Gideon had forgotten all about the malfunctioning armor and the strange debrief. Since he’d missed the last party, he was determined to have a good time at this one.
The park was once again lined with white canopies and strings of lights. Dozens of holographic tables dotted the lawn, each one displaying information about Valkyrie that they’d gathered and analyzed since their flyby a month and a half ago. In the center of the park, a large hologram depicted the planet and its moons. The spinning globe was overlaid by real-time weather patterns, bringing the world to life.
Gideon spotted Takomi over by one of the displays, and he made his way toward her. He hadn’t talked to her since the simulation earlier that day, and was determined to ignore what Joseph had said and act normal around her. As he approached, however, his heart rate jumped.
She smiled as Gideon took a spot next to her at the display table. “Check this out, Gid. They’re already analyzing different sites to colonize.”
With a series of pinches and swipes, she manipulated the small holographic globe in front of her. Different spots were marked with yellow dots, all of which hugged the equator, far from the large ice caps at the poles.
“What do you think? Should we put the colony on the beach or in the mountains?”
Gideon shrugged. “We’re going to have two colonies, so we could do one of each.”
“Yeah, but where would you rather live? I want to live on a tropical island and spend all day at the beach.”
Gideon laughed. “I don’t think there’ll be a lot of time for lounging around. We’ve got a whole world to explore.”
“That’s true. I can’t wait.”
Gideon took a turn manipulating the hologram. Suddenly, someone pushed their way between the two of them. Gideon was about to say something to the rude newcomer when he saw it was Connor Hallows. The flight instructor placed a piece of paper on the table in front of them, then turned and left without ever making eye contact.
Gideon unfolded the paper, revealing a simple message.
Padre’s house. Soon as you can.
Gideon looked up at Takomi. “What do you think it means?”
She shrugged. “It must be something to do with... you know.”
Gideon nodded and stuffed the note into his pocket as they walked away from the table and made for the edge of the party. As they were leaving the ring of lights, Gideon looked up, and his eye met Joseph’s a few yards away, near one of the pavilions. Joseph smiled, then winked and raised his glass. This earned him an eye roll from Gideon as they left the light of the party and snuck away to the nearest autopod station.
Padre’s house was so small it was really more of a hut. It was the smallest house in the biosphere, and though the humble dwelling was made of rough-cut timber, the building and yard were lovingly maintained. They walked past rows of flowers and up the stone steps to the front door. No light shone through the small windows.
Takomi raised her hand to knock, but the door opened before she could. Inside the dark entryway, they could just make out the priest’s silhouette.
Padre poked a head out and looked past the two of them back the direction they’d come. He put a finger to his lips and tapped his bare wrist, then pointed to their wristcoms. Gideon and Takomi removed them and handed them to Padre, who waved them inside.
Gideon jumped as he turned a corner and ran into a huge figure. Vincent Uritumbo stood in the shadows as he peered through the windows at the street outside.
After placing the wristcoms in a large, insulated box, Padre finally spoke. “Sorry about all that. Something’s come up.”
“You should’ve warned us Vincent was right there,” said Takomi. “I about had a heart attack.”
Vincent smiled but didn’t take his eyes from the window. “It’s good for you.”
Padre motioned for them to sit down as he took his own seat around a circular wooden table. Even in the dim light, Gideon could tell the inside of the house matched the outside. Simple, clean, and unadorned.
“Connor’s here,” said Vincent before they’d settled in.
A moment later, Connor snaked through the door without a sound, then sat at the table next to Takomi.
“I’m fairly certain we weren’t followed.”
Padre nodded. “I wasn’t too worried about that. If someone did, they’d risk being spotted and compromising themselves. No, they’ll wait a little longer before they strike.”
Gideon flinched. “What are you talking about?”
Padre turned to him and Takomi. “The saboteur, or more likely, saboteurs, have struck again. More malicious code, this time infecting the Sentinel Armor. From the looks of it, the code lies dormant in the suit’s memory, waiting for an uploaded command to shut down the system, effectively locking the user inside.”
Gideon’s jaw dropped. “So that’s what happened to Raj today.”
“Exactly,” said Connor. “Sentinel Armor has redundant fail safes to keep it from malfunctioning. When Veronica and I saw Raj stuck in his armor, we were both shocked. After you cadets left, we took the armor to Commander Devereux, and he found a subtle code that caused the system to freeze up.”
“We were lucky that Raj’s armor froze when it did,” said Padre. “From what we can tell, the code is meant to hide within the software until someone sends a signal to shut it down. We think the saboteur planned on organizing a coup, then, when the opposition was all suited up and ready to defend themselves, they’d send the signal and basically turn the Sentinel Armor into a cage. If Raj’s suit hadn’t frozen prematurely, we would have only found out after it was too late.”
The implications of that made Gideon feel sick. “So what now?”
“The good news is we can erase the code and program defenses against future attacks. The bad news is it takes a long time. We have to do it one suit at a time, and we haven’t figured out a way to involve other engineers in the process without alerting them to the fact that there is a saboteur on board.”
“How long is it going to take?” asked Takomi.
Padre shrugged. “If we don’t get some help from outside the Order, we’re looking at one, possibly two months.”
“We’re putting together a list of engineers we think we can trust with the secret,” said Connor. “But even with a dozen programmers working with us, we’re still looking at several weeks of work.”
Gideon raised one eyebrow. “Well, that’s not too terrible. I mean, it’s not great, but it’s not the end of the world.”
Padre leaned forward and looked at each of them in turn. “We’re going to need your help with this. Can we count on you?”
Gideon nodded. He looked over at Takomi, and she did the same. “We know a little about programming,” she said. “If somebody shows us what to do first, we should be able to help.”
A bright smile flashed across Padre’s face. “That’s good, cause we’ve already made arrangements for you to move into CENTCOM. This way, you won’t get too bored.”
“Move into CENTCOM?” said Gideon. “What for?”
“A couple reasons. For starters, it will be easier for you to work from there, but mostly your parents want to keep you safe.”
Gideon scowled. “You realize my mom was killed in CENTCOM, right?”
Padre gave a slow nod. “You’re right, but the alternative is for you to be home alone half the time. We’re only just beginning to understand how dangerous our enemies are. We still have no idea who’s behind the explosion that killed Monica and Byron, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that we have several conspirators on our hands, perhaps dozens.”
Gideon’s eyebrows shot up. “What? How is that even possible?”
“It’s hard for us to admit we’ve been blind for so long, but we can’t deny it any longer. We have to be careful with who we trust. The conspirators could be all around us.”
“There’s a scarier possibility,” said Vincent from his post at the wi
ndow. They all turned toward the sound of his rumbling voice.
Vincent didn’t look away from the darkness outside as he spoke. “The Order could have a traitor in its midst.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Contact
EVEN AFTER TWO weeks of sleeping on a hard bunk in CENTCOM’s crew quarters, Gideon still couldn’t get comfortable. Typically, his grueling training in the morning followed by hours of Sentinel Armor debugging in the afternoon and evening was enough to wear him out, but tonight he tossed and turned until he couldn’t stand it anymore.
The clock next to his bunk read 0330 as his feet touched the cold metal floor. After a few seconds of searching for his slippers, he gave up and shuffled barefooted to the door. Despite his best efforts, the door screeched as he opened it enough to slide through. He didn’t bother to close it again, and he continued down the dim corridor.
Safety lights came on as he approached, then turned off again when he’d passed. Without thinking about it, he found himself walking toward the observation deck.
A three-meter thick security bulkhead on air bearings hissed open, and he walked through it and into the curved room. At a more decent hour, the empty tables and benches would have been packed with people, all staring out the wall of glass that took up one side of the room. It was the only place on the ship where one could look upon Valkyrie with their natural eyes, separated from the alien planet by a few centimeters of polymer glass and the empty vacuum of space.
Half the planet reflected the light of the system’s star, glowing blue and white, with splotches of brown and green. The few times Gideon had visited the observation deck, it had been crowded and noisy. But as he took a seat in front of the glass, the only sound was the low hum of the machinery deep within CENTCOM and Gideon’s own breathing.
“What are you thinking about?”
Gideon jumped, turning his head to see Takomi had snuck up on him. She stood in the doorway, illuminated by Valkyrie’s reflected light, making her look as mysterious as the unknown world outside the window.
“I guess I was wondering what it’s going to be like on Valkyrie.” He put his hand against the glass. “So you can’t sleep either, huh?”
Takomi nodded as she walked over and sat next to him. She leaned forward and rested her head in her hands with her elbows on her knees. Gideon looked down at her back, surprised to find that he had a strong urge to touch her. He sat on his hand instead.
“Do you ever get scared?” She spoke without looking up at him, and he caught a hint of fear in her voice. The urge to touch her, to comfort her, came back stronger than before.
“Scared of what?”
She shrugged. “Just scared in general. Everything’s going to change, Gid.”
“I thought you were talking about being scared of monsters and aliens.”
She elbowed him as she looked up and grinned. “Well, that too.”
“It’ll be a while before we have to worry about it,” he said. “They’re saying we’ll spend over a year in orbit before anyone goes down.”
Takomi nodded but didn’t say anything. They both stared for a while without speaking, mesmerized by the glow of Valkyrie. Before long, Gideon’s eyelids grew heavy, and he had a hard time keeping his head up.
Gideon dozed, jerking awake as his head fell. “I’m exhausted. I think I’ll go get some sleep.” He stood, but Takomi reached out and grabbed his arm.
“Stay with me a little longer.” Her hand was warm and soft, touching him in a way she never had before. He found he missed it as soon as she pulled it away.
The two of them leaned back on the bench, and Takomi angled ever so slightly into him. His chest tightened, and he tried not to exhale too forcefully. It came out as an awkward wheezing sound, which led to a fit of coughing.
Takomi looked sideways at him. “Everything okay?”
Gideon nodded, swallowing hard as he did so. She laughed softly, giving him a playful shove, then settling into a position slightly closer than she had been a moment before.
Gideon glanced at her, seeing her shining black hair brushing his shoulder, noticing the profile of her face. He had always thought of her face as girlish, but it had changed while he hadn’t been paying attention. It was longer and more defined, a woman’s face. Her skin was fair and smooth. She had a certain smell, familiar, and yet it was as if he was experiencing it for the first time.
He took a deep breath, then lifted his arm up behind her and placed his fingers on her back. Instead of cringing away, as he’d half expected her to, Takomi let her head droop forward so that her hair fell over her shoulders and down around her neck. Encouraged, Gideon let his fingers trail back and forth over her back.
Without warning, Takomi leapt off the bench toward the glass window. “What the hell?”
“I’m sorry,” said Gideon. “I just thought...”
“What is that?” said Takomi, pressing her hands against the glass.
Gideon looked out the window in time to see a flash of white light before it disappeared. When it was gone, a metallic gold vessel took its place, drifting in orbit around Valkyrie. It was long, flat, and streamlined, like a golden arrowhead.
“There’s something out there,” said Gideon, jumping up and joining her at the window.
“I know, but what is it?”
The vessel was difficult to see with the planet in the background. Only a sliver of its golden surface reflected the light from Valkyrie’s sun.
Gideon tapped the glass two times, then placed the index fingers of both hands together and pulled them apart. A square appeared between his fingers, framing the ship. He put all five fingers of his right hand against the magnified image, and turned it like a dial, bringing the vessel into focus.
Takomi stared, open mouthed, and made a small noise. “It’s them,” she whispered. “It’s the Luzariai.”
“We’ve got to go tell somebody...” His words were interrupted by another white flash close to the golden ship. When the light faded, a second vessel appeared. The two ships could not be any more different. Where the Luzariai ship was smooth and metallic, the new ship looked like an insect’s cocoon with spikes jutting out of it at odd angles. It was difficult to judge distances in orbit around the planet, but in any case, it was clear that this second vessel was many times larger than the Luzariai ship.
No sooner had this second ship appeared than it opened fire on the Luzariai. Bolts of lightning shot out from the spikes on the bigger ship and blasted chunks off of the other. The golden ship returned fire with some sort of energy weapon. The hull of the larger ship glowed red in several places, but it was clear that it was not going well for the Luzariai.
Takomi grabbed onto Gideon’s arm. “We have to sound the alarm. We have to warn the crew.” Gideon nodded, tearing his eyes off of the silent battle outside. An earsplitting klaxon sounded overhead. Red lights flashed, and the voice of the communications officer came over the PA. Gideon and Takomi froze in their tracks as they listened. “Full alert, full alert. Possible hostiles sighted. All crew to battle stations. This is not a drill.”
The message repeated itself. Gideon and Takomi looked at each other, then back out the window at the battle. Small vessels came out of the spiky teardrop ship, identical to the mother ship in every way but size. The Luzariai ship allowed the smaller vessels to come in close before it let loose a fierce barrage with devastating effect. Several of them disintegrated under the onslaught, and in response, the bigger ship released another volley of lightning attacks.
Gideon’s eyes were glued to the violence. The golden ship flipped and shot off away from its attacker. The teardrop ship moved to pursue, but the smaller, more agile ship sped away toward Valkyrie. Gideon noticed that neither ship seemed to use rocket propulsion. They simply moved where they wanted to go. The golden ship glowed like a meteor as it hit the atmosphere at full speed. Four of the smaller teardrop vessels left the bigger ship behind and followed their prey down to the surface.
R
eleased from the spell, Gideon grabbed Takomi’s arm and tugged her toward the door.
“We need to go now!”
She tumbled after him, regained her balance, and then ran with him down the corridor. Red lights swirled overhead as they sprinted toward the bridge.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Into the fire
A POLITE TAP at the door roused Tloltan from her sleep. She rolled onto her side and swung her legs over the edge of her cot. “Enter.”
The door slid open, and Ukte stood in the entrance, hands clasped behind his back. Without his Koramoa Armor, it was impossible to ignore how young he was. “Sorry to wake you, Koramoa Tloltan, but we’ve arrived. The ship will be exiting the tunnel within the hour.”
Tloltan stood. “Thank you, Ukte. I’ll join you soon.”
The young warrior bowed his head respectfully, then retreated. Tloltan stretched, hearing old joints pop and groan. Once again, she caught herself thinking she should have stayed behind and sent a younger Koramoa in her place.
We’ve been over this. There was no other way. Stop second guessing yourself.
Tloltan’s eyes closed as she soaked in the last few minutes of peace and quiet. Her fingers absently brushed over the bracer on her wrist. “I know,” she said finally. “I just wish things could be different.”
You of all people should know that’s a dangerous way of thinking.
Her eyes flicked open. “You don’t have to remind me.” She picked up a food packet and left the room, walking toward the cockpit at a leisurely pace as the food packet expanded and gave off steam. She sat in her captain’s chair, opening the packet and setting it on the side table to cool.
She punched a button on her console. “Status?”
