by Jake Bible
“At least all this interest tells us we’re at the right facility on the first try,” Nimm said. “We could have struck out here and had to go to a different one which ups our exposure out there in the galaxy.”
“Less chat, more move,” Roak snapped.
They made it to the end of the corridor and Yellow Eyes activated the door controls. The doors slid open and all they could see were stairs that wound down and down and down into a dark chasm.
“Yeah, it’s a long way down,” Yellow Eyes said.
“How long?” Hessa asked.
Roak took a light stick from his belt, cracked it, and tossed it out into stairwell.
“I’m guessing half a kilometer,” Roak said as he peered down at the seemingly endless set of stairs.
“The moltrans unit won’t be able to penetrate that deep,” Hessa said.
“It won’t need to,” Roak said.
“Roak, we can’t get the quantum drives all the way up these without some seriously heavy grav lifters,” Nimm said.
“We don’t need grav lifters,” Roak said and faced Nimm. “Not with synthetics like yours. And Yellow Eyes is pretty Eight Million Gods damn strong too.”
“Oh, no fun, man,” Yellow Eyes. “I may have to sit this one out. My belly aches.”
“Tough.”
Nimm glared at Roak.
“You knew you might need me to do this, didn’t you?” she asked.
“Maybe,” Roak said. “Hessa? If we get the quantum drives up to this point, can the moltrans take over from there?”
“Yes,” Hessa said. “I can’t scan where you are, but the moltrans is a whole other technology. I can lock on using comms.”
“See, Nimm, she can lock on using comms,” Roak said.
“You bastard…”
28.
“Bishop must have had a lot of confidence in his microwave hall,” Reck said. “Because that was too easy.”
“Easy?” Nimm grumbled as she took several deep breaths. “Explain how climbing hand over hand across a ceiling over what I had to assume was a wormhole portal that could have taken us anywhere in the galaxy, was easy? Oh, and the tank of Gorborian sharks? You enjoyed that?”
“Once you figured out where to walk across the water, it wasn’t really more than a stroll,” Reck said.
“You couldn’t have given us a heads up?” Nimm snapped at Yellow Eyes. “Hey, look out for the wormhole. Look out for the Gorborian sharks.”
“I didn’t really notice them,” Yellow Eyes said with a shrug. “Sometimes I move too fast to pay attention to what I pass. I’m not a machine, man.”
“Shut up,” Roak said. “Focus.”
Before them was a decent-sized room, but far from vast. In the center of the room, surrounded by a bunch of spinning lasers, as Yellow Eyes had said, were the quantum drives. Roak had his head cocked and was listening to the boop boop sound that echoed around the room.
“I know that sound,” Roak said. “I’ve dealt with that sound before.”
He began to pace back and forth.
Yellow Eyes looked like he was going to interrupt Roak’s pacing, but Reck smacked him upside the head and he closed his mouth.
“How do I know that sound?” Roak muttered. “Hessa? Can you hear it?”
“I can, but my database is not bringing up a match, Roak,” Hessa said. “I can try a wider search, but that means going outside my database and connecting to the closest galactic system. That would risk exposing us.”
“Don’t do that,” Reck said.
“I know the sound. I know it,” Roak said. “Where have I heard…?”
Roak’s shoulders slumped.
“What? What is it?” Nimm asked.
“Roak? What did Bishop do?” Reck asked.
“It’s a dance,” Roak said, his voice close to fury. “A Cervile dance. Hessa can search every database, but unless she knows where to look, she won’t find this one. It’s part of the marriage ritual for the Cervile royal line.”
Reck laughed. “Bishop used a Cervile marriage ritual dance as part of his security? Roak? He did this to fuck with you. He knew one day you’d be coming for these files.”
“I doubt this was the original set up,” Roak said. “He did it when Father got to him. He sent bots or a crew or someone to reprogram the final security protocol before he was consumed by Father’s mind.”
“Then Father must know how to get to these files,” Reck said. “So why bother?”
“Because it means I’m the only one that can retrieve the files,” Roak replied. “Unless a private operator company or GF squad happen to have a Cervile from the royal line on their team.”
“Cerviles from the royal line would never debase themselves that way,” Nimm said.
“No, but I happened to debase them for them,” Roak said. “I was briefly married into that line. And I know the dance.”
“Oh, this is gonna be good,” Reck said.
“Hold my rifle,” Roak said and handed the weapon to Reck. She nearly dropped it as she started to shake with laughter. “Knock it off.”
Roak stepped to the edge of the laser-protected perimeter. He waited as the boop boop echoed in the room. Then he started to nod in time to the rhythm and shook out his hands.
He took a step. Shuffled right. Took two steps forward, a step back, shuffled left. Roak repeated that move until the sounds switched then he changed his dance steps to fit. On and on he went, gaining ground with each change of what must have been music. There was a lot of backtracking within the dance, so it took close to twenty minutes before he reached the first quantum drive.
“Nothing’s happening,” Reck said. “The lasers are still there. The sounds are still booping. What’s going on, Roak?”
Roak stood just inside where the lasers were spinning, his back resting against the quantum drive. He pointed at the others.
“Were you watching?” he asked.
“We were all watching,” Nimm said.
“Closely,” Reck said and laughed.
“Good. Then do the same thing,” Roak said. “Dance your way here. All guests of the wedding are required to do the same dance after the royal family has completed their turn.”
“Uh… I wasn’t watching that closely,” Yellow Eyes said. He blurred and was next to Roak. “But I have a way around that. Too fast for lasers, man.”
“Nimm. Reck,” Roak said and smirked. “Your turns.”
“I was watching, but there is no way I can remember all that,” Nimm said.
“I can,” Reck said, her laughter all dried up. “Damnit. Watch me, Nimm. Pay attention.”
Twenty minutes later, Reck was standing next to Roak and Yellow Eyes. Twenty minutes after that Nimm had joined them, although her enviro suit had a couple of scorch marks on it from when she’d flubbed a few steps.
“Fucking Bishop,” Roak mumbled.
Everyone stared at the lasers. They continued to spin. The sounds continued to boop. One by one, Roak, Reck and Nimm turned to stare at Yellow Eyes.
“Really?” Yellow Eyes asked. “Are you sure?”
“There must be scanners in this room that log who completes the dance. You haven’t,” Nimm said.
“Roak? Man? Come on!”
“If I had to do it, then you have to do it,” Roak said. “Get back there and start from the beginning.”
Three hours later, a nearly sliced and diced Yellow Eyes stood next to the others as the lasers disappeared and the boop sounds finally stopped. Yellow Eyes studied his body and frowned.
“You know all this damage catches up with me at some point, right? I’m not invincible,” he said. “And now I have to help carry very heavy quantum drive towers back through all that crap and up top so Hessa can moltrans them into the ship.”
“You expecting a trophy?” Roak asked.
“No, but a little thank you at the end of all this would be nice,” Yellow Eyes said as he wrapped his many arms around the first quantum drive. He lifted. Or didn
’t lift. The drive tower didn’t budge. “Huh. Wasn’t expecting that.”
Nimm put her hands against a different drive and pushed. Her legs drove hard, but the drive tower stayed put right where it was. It didn’t scoot even a millimeter.
“These are stuck in place,” Nimm said. “There has to be one last active security measure.”
“This was designed for you, Roak,” Reck said. “What would Bishop leave you as the final step?”
“I don’t have clue,” Roak said. He glared at the quantum drive towers. Luckily, all of their rifles had been left outside the laser perimeter or he would have shot the Eight Million Gods damn things. He thought about walking back to retrieve his rifle to do just that, but restrained himself. “Honestly. I didn’t know this would be set up specifically for me when we got here so how would I know what the last step is?”
“Let’s think like Bishop,” Reck said. “He’s been forced to betray you and is taken over by Father, right? He managed this in what we have to consider were his last days. What would you want most if you were dying?”
“Not to die,” Roak said.
“No, I get what she’s saying,” Nimm said. “Think of it like being on the battlefield. What does a dying soldier want? If you have fought hard and it’s all over, what do you want most of all?”
“I’m still alive,” Roak said. “I’ve never been dying on a battlefield.”
“But you’ve been around the dying!” Reck snapped. “Stop being stubborn! Think about it!”
“They want their loved ones to know they love them,” Nimm said. “Every dying soldier I’ve held in my arms wanted their loved ones to know they loved them.”
“So I tell Bishop I love him? Not happening,” Roak said. “I’m not dying here so why would I say that?”
“Forgiveness.”
They turned to look at Yellow Eyes. He shrugged.
“That’s what else the dying want,” Yellow Eyes said. “Forgiveness.”
“Forgiveness? For what?” Roak asked.
“Well, for those of us with consciences, we want to be forgiven for all the bad we’ve done to others,” Yellow Eyes said. “Kick the bucket with a clean slate.”
“Damn. The yellow guy is right,” Reck said. “I’d never ask for forgiveness, so I get your confusion, Roak, but he is right. A lot of dying beings ask to be forgiven.”
Nimm nodded.
“But Bishop is dead,” Roak said. “I can’t forgive a dead guy.”
“Try, man,” Yellow Eyes said and patted Roak on the shoulder. He pulled his nub back fast. “Uh. Just try.”
Roak growled low in his throat for a good five minutes.
“Um, hello?” Hessa called. “What’s going on? Why isn’t anyone talking? What’s Roak doing? Someone tell me something.”
“We’re waiting for Roak to stop being a coward and forgive Bishop,” Reck said.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Roak, just say the Eight Million Gods damn words!” Hessa shouted.
“Fine!” Roak shouted back.
He cleared his throat, rolled his head on his neck, and raised both middle fingers to the deep darkness above the quantum drive towers.
“Hey, Bishop! I forgive you, you duplicitous son of a bitch!”
Absolutely nothing happened.
“Maybe without flipping him off?” Yellow Eyes suggested.
Roak lowered his arms. “Bishop! I forgive you!”
Absolutely nothing happened again.
“And that was a huge no,” Roak said. “What other ideas do you…have…?”
“Roak?” Reck asked. “What is it?”
“That asshole,” Roak said. “That sneaky little asshole.”
“Strange way to rephrase forgiving him,” Yellow Eyes said.
“No. I’m not here to forgive Bishop,” Roak said. He lifted his middle fingers again then let his arms drop to his side. “He’s supposed to forgive me.”
“For what?” Reck asked.
“For this,” Roak said and cleared his throat. “Bishop? If you are listening, sorry I finally got you killed. You always said I’d be the death of you and you were right. Technically, it was Father that killed you, but he was only there to get at me. I’m fucking sorry, alright? You didn’t deserve to go out that way.”
“Was that so hard?” Bishop’s voice echoed through the space.
Then the floor began to shift and move. And rise.
29.
“Don’t bother trying to talk to me,” Bishop’s voice said. “I’m programmed only to hear Roak’s apology for getting me killed. This isn’t an AI or any type of back and forth protocol. Oh, and don’t worry about the other facilities that are housing my files. If they were still intact when you got here, they aren’t now. A message was sent to a comm signature that has triggered their self-destruction. At this moment, you are in possession of the only copies of my contact files. Use them wisely and don’t kill anyone I wouldn’t kill, Roak. Good luck, asshole!”
“That was kind of touching, man,” Yellow Eyes said.
The floor had become a platform and that platform was slowly rising up into the darkness. Then the darkness was broken as rings of lights flickered on to reveal a tall shaft the same width and breadth as the platform.
“Oh, one last thing, if you’re on the planet covered in magma, because I really have no way to tell where this is happening since I’m dead—thanks again, Roak!—you might want to know that there is no protection protocol when the top of the shaft opens. These facilities are very expensive to build and the energy shielding needed would have put the whole thing way over budget. In short, it’s about to get very hot in a few minutes. I hope you have a contingency plan for this, asshole!”
“Shit!” Reck shouted. “Hessa! We need to”—”
“Hold on,” Roak said and held up a hand.
“Good luck, asshole!” Bishop’s voice echoed once more. “Alright, I’m done.”
“I had a feeling,” Roak said. “Hessa? You’ll be able to moltrans the drives and us out when we’re close enough to the top, right?”
“I should be able to, yes,” Hessa replied.
“Should be able to? What does that mean?” Roak asked.
“Well, there will be a very short window from when the platform you are on is in range to when the top of the shaft opens to the outside,” Hessa explained in a voice that was well on the side of condescending. “My first priority is to get the drives into the cargo hold. Those cannot survive the heat of the surface.”
“Fine,” Roak said. “So then you moltrans us next. Or we can walk to the ship when we’re on the surface. The enviro suits held up before and they’ll hold up again.”
“One slight problem with that plan,” Hessa said. “I’ve done some calculations and”—”
“And the shaft isn’t going to open by the ship,” Reck interrupted. “Because the magma has shifted and overtaken what once was solid ground.”
“Correct,” Hessa said. “I was wrong. The planet isn’t young and forming. The planet is ancient and just about over. There used to be an entire continent here only a few centuries ago. Now that I’ve had time to sit here and analyze the geography, it’s fairly obvious.”
“If the shaft opens, then what, Hessa? It fills with magma?” Roak asked. “Fills with magma while we’re still inside it?”
“Yes,” Hessa said. “Unless I can moltrans you all out in time.”
“And you don’t know if you can,” Roak stated.
“Can these suits take direct contact with magma?” Nimm asked.
“What do you think?” Reck snapped. She paused. “Can they, Hessa?’
“No, they cannot,” Hessa replied. “Environmental extremes such as deep space or perhaps a nice inferno like a jungle fire, but not direct contact with the molten contents of the center of a planet that is dying and vomiting up its core. No, the suits cannot handle that.”
“The first no was fine, Hessa,” Roak said. “So we’ll have to time this. How soon
before you can start transporting the drives out of here?”
“About three minutes,” Hessa said. “They should be close enough to the surface by then. There is a two-meter-thick layer of magma over the top of the shaft, but that isn’t much interference.”
“And how much time before the shaft opens up and the magma pours in?” Roak asked.
“Five minutes,” Hessa said.
“Two-minute margin,” Roak said. “We can work with that.”
“We can?” Nimm asked.
“Yellow Eyes goes last,” Roak said and pointed at the being. “No offense, but your body can handle more damage than ours.”
“Handle damage, yeah, man, but not indestructible! Not indestructible!” Yellow Eyes exclaimed. “I keep saying that and I feel like no one is listening!”
“The damage will manifest later, Roak,” Hessa stated. “Magma damage could kill him.”
“It will for sure kill us,” Roak said. “Anyone else have any suggestions? Any hidden options I’m not seeing here? No? Then the drives go first, followed by Reck, Nimm, me, and Yellow Eyes.”
“Ah, you’re gonna stay behind with me, man? Okay, I feel better,” Yellow Eyes said. “Can I get a hug? I feel like I should get a hug since I might die in the next few minutes.”
“Hug me and you die right now,” Roak said.
“Yeah, you’re right. Why ruin the good thing we got going?” Yellow Eyes said.
“I now have you all on scanners!” Hessa announced. “If you could step away from the drives, that will make my job easier.”
Everyone moved to the sides of the shaft. The intense heat from above made the air shimmer. Roak caught Reck’s eye and she shook her head. Yeah, he had no idea if it was going to work either.
“Stand by as I lock onto the first drive,” Hessa said. “Three, two, one. Moltrans!”
“You do not need to say moltrans before transporting every drive,” Reck said.
“I’ll say moltrans if I want to say moltrans,” Hessa replied as one of the drives blinked out of existence. “And it is in the cargo hold! Second one going now!”
A second drive blinked away. Then a third. One after the other, the drives were moltrans’d from the platform and into the ship.
