by M J Dees
"Apologies for that little scene," the older figure said as he closed the door behind Sevan and removed his hood.
He was a smaller, older version of Sevan but pink rather than turquoise.
"So, you have come from space," he said, clearing things off a seat so that Sevan could sit. "Are you hungry?"
The effects of the pish were wearing off and Sevan was feeling peckish. He nodded.
"My name is Pelou Furle, but you can call me Pelou," the old figure said as he filled a bowl with grain and handed it to Sevan. "And you are?"
"My name is Sevan."
"Pleased to meet you, Sevan. My friends you met were D'Heli and Alyr. They have placed themselves and me in great danger by bringing you here. You must eat now because we cannot remain here for long."
"Why not?" Sevan asked in between mouthfuls of the grain which did not taste like grain at all. "What is this?"
"You were very lucky that your space vehicle crashed where it did. Any other tower and my friends would not have been there to help you. Oh, that is a protein that is made here on the planet by a bacterial process, I believe."
"How do you know my language?"
"I just guessed that you spoke the language of the Corporation because of your appearance. You are from Daphnis or the Doomed Planet or..."
"The Doomed Planet."
"It had to be one concession. Eat up."
Sevan finished the bowl and handed it to Pelou.
"Let's go," said Pelou, leaving the bowl on the counter and leading Sevan to the door. "They will be here soon, we have to move."
"Who will be here?"
"Future security. They will have tracked D'Heli and Alyr here. It's not safe here anymore."
"I'm sorry for putting you to so much trouble."
"Don't worry. It happens from time to time."
Pelou locked the door behind Sevan and led him along the damp corridor.
"Where are we going?" Sevan asked.
"We will find somewhere safe to talk so I can tell you what you need to do."
Sevan was a little taken aback.
"But I haven't told you anything about myself yet," said Sevan trying to keep up.
"You don't have to," said Pelou. "You are the one who has come from the stars to set us free."
"Hold on a minute..."
"The Republic tracks us, so we cannot do the things you are about to do."
"I don't think I'm who you think I am. My escape pod just crash landed into one...er...two of your buildings."
"I know. That is why you can help us. It is difficult for them to track you. You could get close to the president and his walking phantom."
"Barnes?"
"The president has a ghost whom he uses to carry out his tasks."
"I'm sure that's Barnes. He's the one I was escaping from."
"Even if you can take their tracking system offline for even a short period, we could mobilise our resistance and destroy the systems that imprison us here."
"And then we could leave?"
"If we took control of their fleet, we could go wherever we wanted. Those of us who want to."
"Does everyone not agree?"
"There are those who believe the lies of the Republic. They believe that to leave Future is tantamount to suicide but we inhabit only a tiny fraction of Future. The vast majority of buildings are empty. We must leave Future if we are to have any future, does that make sense?"
"Kind of," Sevan felt very confused but the prospect of gaining an opportunity to leave the planet appealed to him.
"Here we are," said Pelou.
They had arrived at another metal door not dissimilar to the one which had housed Pelou.
"Where is here?"
"The president is not the only one to have a walking phantom; we have one of our own."
Pelou banged on the door.
Sevan could hear noises within but the door did not open.
Pelou banged on the door once more.
"Who is it?" came a voice from the other side of the metal which Sevan thought sounded familiar.
"It's Pelou Furle."
The door opened and, not for the first time, Sevan thought he was losing his Marbles. In front of him, looking a little worse for wear stood Barnes.
CHAPTER 14: GHOST RIDDLES
Sevan almost fainted, but not quite.
'Barnes," he said, looking at the hooded figure in front of him.
"Come in," the figure said, removing his hood to reveal what Sevan considered to be a shorter, older and pinker version of Barnes. "I am not Barnes but you might say I created Barnes."
"And he created me."
"Quite so."
"So who are you?"
"They call me Daxu."
Daxu led Sevan and Pelou into the dwelling which more or less resembled that of Pelou. At first sight it looked disorganised but Sevan had a feeling that Daxu knew where everything was. Everything seemed to have its place even if that place was not tidy.
"And who might you be," asked Daxu, as he offered Sevan and Pelou a seat.
"My name is Sevan, I am from the concession on the Doomed Planet."
"I guessed as much. What brings you to my humble abode?"
"His escape pod crashed into the tower where D'Heli and Alyr live," said Pelou. "They brought him to me."
"And where are they now?"
"They are trying to cover their tracks."
"Smart. And why did you bring him to me?"
"I thought he could be the one."
"The one?"
"He's not tracked. We could get him through the ventilation system to destroy the tracking centre, and then we could all leave."
Daxu did not reply. He sat down and thought. Sevan could see his marbles glowing.
"Do I get a say in all this?" Sevan asked.
Daxu looked at him.
"What do you want?" he asked.
"I want to know why you look like Barnes and why you say you created him. And what is all this walking phantom business? Why do people call you ghosts?"
Daxu sighed.
"I created machines designed to cure diseases at a genetic level. To solve the many complex problems this entails, I had to give the machines minds of their own, minds capable of learning and of independent and creative thinking. The Corporation commissioned me to design a machine capable of designing workers for them, workers who would not get sick but I refused. They went ahead with the project anyway, giving the task to the most advanced machine I had created. BARNES. It was an acronym for Biological Augmentation Replicator and Nano-Emulation System. When I threatened to report the Corporation to the Republic ethics committee, the Corporation first kidnapped me and then tried to have me killed. When I escaped and went into hiding, the machine I had designed, created a replica of me with the unique difference that the replica would not get old or ill or die except through external intervention, an accident.”
"Or murder."
"Quite so. The machine, BARNES, populated the brain of the creation with its own intelligence. It then created armies of workers for the corporation which worked the mines at Daphnis and the Doomed Planet. After that it created an army for the Republic and then for others, the Republic's allies. It was a big business."
"Barnes said he hated my appearance because it reminded him of himself."
"Or perhaps you remind him of me," Daxu laughed.
"He wanted to liquidise the Doomed Planet and the looters on Daphnis."
Daxu was pensive again.
"I have an idea," said Sevan. "You can pretend to be Barnes."
"What for?" Daxu was not impressed.
"I have to rescue my friends. If I help you rescue your friends, help me rescue mine."
"Seems reasonable," said Pelou.
Daxu shot Pelou a hard stare.
"What is it I need to do?" Sevan felt enthused by his idea and he wanted to get started as soon as possible.
"Perhaps you are correct?" Daxu mused. "Perhaps now is the time to u
se my likeness to Barnes to our advantage."
Pelou and Sevan waited for Daxu to reveal his plan.
"All three of us can move through the ventilation system, right?"
Pelou nodded.
"But that is not the tricky part," Daxu continued. "The tricky part is getting into the control centre and then disabling the tracking system."
"I imagined we would just blow up the control centre," said Pelou.
"If it were that simple we would have done it already. With me dressed as Barnes and you dressed as one of my escorts we could just walk into the control centre."
"Where are we going to get escort robes?"
Daxu got up and went to a cupboard. He had a little rummage and then returned with two sets of robes.
"Escort robes for you," he said, as he handed a pair to Pelou. "And I think these would do for Barnes."
Daxu held up a set of very formal looking robes, the sort which Sevan could imagine Barnes wearing.
"What about me?" Sevan asked.
"You'll just have to make do with what you have."
Once Daxu and Pelou had changed, Daxu gave Pelou a handheld weapon with a shoulder strap and gave Sevan a smaller weapon to conceal. He, too, concealed a small weapon beneath his robes.
Daxu led them out of his dwelling and through the tunnels until they reached a shaft stretching upwards as far as Sevan could see. Attached to the side of the shaft was an iron ladder.
"How far up do we have to go?" Sevan asked.
"You don't want to know," said Daxu as they began climbing the ladder.
Every floor had a small balcony in front of an access door where they could rest. After the fifteenth of these Sevan began to realise why Daxu had not wanted to tell them how far they had to go.
Sevan counted another 35 floors before Daxu announced they had climbed enough. The door was locked.
"As soon as I open this door," said Daxu. "Alarms will sound in the control room so we will have to hurry. Follow my lead."
Daxu took a small device from his robes. When he placed it against the door, the door opened and Daxu strode through and marched along the corridor with Pelou and Sevan hurrying behind.
"Point your weapon at Sevan," Daxu whispered to Pelou.
As they turned a corner, Sevan saw two Republic guards rushing towards them.
"Thank the president you are here," Daxu spoke to them with authority. "My incompetent aid here opened an emergency exit looking for the control room. Where is it? We have apprehended the foreigner and I am in a hurry."
The guards, believing they were being addressed by Barnes, responded with deference.
"It is this way, please let us take you there," said a guard.
They followed the guards along the corridor until they reached a set of double doors at which point the guards stood aside.
"Don't just stand there," Daxu ordered. "Don't expect my aid to open the door, open it for us."
Daxu spoke with such ferocity that they did not dare question his authority and opened the door.
Daxu marched inside, followed by Pelou and Sevan. Several Republic officials were attending to a range of control panels.
"I want to know who allows this foreigner to wander around Future undetected," Daxu demanded.
The Republic officials looked nervous.
"Show me the tracking system," said Daxu.
"It is here," said one nervous looking official.
"Is your system so weak it cannot detect a foreigner wandering in our midst?" Daxu complained.
"No, sir," the official explained. "He has not been tagged. We should have been able to track him as an unknown entity but he disappeared from our system within the transit network."
"Just as well I apprehended him then," Daxu shouted at the cowering official. "I should get my aid to fire his blaster into this control panel and do away with your useless tracking system. Should I do that?"
"It wouldn't matter if you did," ventured the official. "Any interruption in the connection here would not stop it from working. The tracking system needs to be shut down first."
"Show me."
"Er...I don't think...er..."
Daxu pulled his weapon from his robe and pointed it at the official. Sevan and Pelou pointed their weapons towards the remaining officials before they tried to do anything silly like call the guards.
"Shut down the tracking system down now and unlock all the doors so anyone can open them."
The official hesitated.
"Do it now," Daxu shouted. "Or I will blast your antennae away and get one of your less brave colleagues to do it."
The official began shutting down the tracking and then unlocked all doors. He nodded at Daxu to show that he had finished.
"Now I want you to patch this communicator through to the planetary wide communication system, I wish to make a planet-wide broadcast."
The official did as Daxu told him.
"This is Daxu speaking," As Daxu spoke into the communicator, the officials realised their error. "We have disabled the tracking system and all doors have been unlocked. Make your way to the nearest hangar, operation exodus has begun."
Daxu blasted, first the official next to him and then the remaining officials in quick succession. When the doors opened, and the guards entered, he blasted them, too.
"That was a little unnecessary," said Sevan.
"They knew who I am," said Daxu. "Come on, we must go."
As they left the control room, Sevan saw several guards running towards them.
"There was an attempt on his life," said Pelou, pointing at Daxu whom the guards assumed was Barnes. "Go to the control room."
By the time the guards reached the control room, Sevan, Daxu and Pelou were already entering the hangar where several Republic and Corporation ships were waiting.
"This way," said Pelou but a guard soon stopped him.
"Your ship is over there," the guard addressed Daxu.
"Of course," said Daxu, as he slapped Pelou. "Idiot!"
"Was that necessary?" Pelou complained.
"Sorry. I had to make it as realistic as possible."
They went to the ship the guard had pointed to and encountered four more guards at the entrance. When they saw Daxu they did double takes between themselves.
"Are you the only guards onboard?" Daxu asked, they nodded. "Good, I want you all to go to the control room. They need help. There's been an attack."
"All of us? Now?" a guard asked.
"Yes. All of you. Now!" Daxu barked.
More scared than confused, the guards left and Sevan, Daxu and Pelou entered the ship.
"Let's get out of here," said Daxu as they entered the bridge. "Thank the president the Republic and Corporation ships share the same basic design. It makes them much easier to steal."
With the security system still overridden, Daxu had no problems opening the hangar doors and lifting off into the atmosphere. As they ascended, Sevan could see queues of other ships taking off in what he imagined must be Operation Exodus.
"Where to?" asked Daxu.
"To Aitne," Sevan replied.
"Aitne? Wait a moment. No-one said anything about Aitne."
"It's where my friends are. I hope."
"You are not even sure they are there?" Pelou exclaimed.
"They were the last time I looked. We had a deal."
"Okay, Aitne it is," Daxu agreed. "What's the plan when we get there?"
"The same as on Future. You pretend to be Barnes and we demand that they release them."
"That's fine, except," said Daxu. "By the time we reach Aitne, the real Barnes will have told them his ship has been stolen and he will blow our cover."
"Great," Sevan sighed. "Do you have a better idea?"
"No, but I do," neither Daxu nor Pelou had spoken. They all turned to see the real Barnes standing in the entrance to the bridge.
CHAPTER 15: A WORLD IS MISSING
"When we get to Aitne, I will order the release of your friends
," said Barnes. "No-one will chase this stolen ship because I will tell them it isn't stolen."
"Why would you do a thing like that?" said Sevan pointing his tiny weapon at his worst enemy.
"Let's just say because you have helped me in my scheme against the president so far. You deserve a little reward."
"I? Helped you? I don't think so."
"You have started the exodus from his capital. Without Future, his stronghold in the Republic, the Republic will begin to fall apart and I can resume my mission to repair the damage that, with your help, he has created."
"None of this makes sense to me," Sevan complained.
"It does to me," said Drax, removing his hood. "Hello Barnes."
"Well, well, well, if it isn't my old creator. Hello Daxu, I was wondering when you would resurface and you were on Future all the time."
"You realise the mistake you made trusting the president now, don't you Barnes?" Daxu, set the autopilot on a course for Aitne and stepped out of his chair. "You thought you could control President Man but all this time he has been controlling you, using you as the villain to keep the Republic distracted."
"It was a beneficial arrangement," said Barnes. "I manufactured the armies which needed replacing every time he organised a war for me."
"So why the change in marbles?" Sevan asked.
"I believe I should no longer trust the president. He tried to kill me on Daphnis and I suspect he may have another ally, whom he intends to use to replace me."
"That's not all though, is it?" asked Daxu.
"You are wise father," Barnes observed. "You know me like you might know your own son. President Man wanted me to liquidise Daphnis and The Doomed Planet to push up the commodity prices for his other concessions. I almost liquidised the Doomed Planet. I was about to when I saw Sevan and I thought about how pathetic he was and how pathetic I must have been when you first created me, father."
"You created yourself. I created a machine," Daxu corrected.
"I would never have been able to create this were it not for what you created. Had I known there was a resistance so strong on Future I would have attempted what you have just achieved. But now, we must collect your friends, Sevan. Then we must return to Daphnis and the Doomed Planet because I fear the President still intends to execute his plans with or without me. I will send word ahead to the looters so that your ship is ready when we arrive on Daphnis."
