by Joshua James
“That’s awesome. Can I watch with you?” asked Ada.
“Cool.” Francesca moved over on the bed and made room for Ada.
Ada had meant to just console Francesca, but after a few minutes, she realized dumb fun was exactly what she needed.
Eight
Some people say knowledge is power. For Ben, knowledge was a curse. Back before the terrorist attack in Annapolis, before he’d lost two limbs and his mother, he was given something, a drive, containing information that only he had and didn’t know what to do with. How did he warn LeFleur and the Perseverance about aliens from the stars coming to destroy humanity? How did he even believe that himself? And that was only the beginning.
“Should we share the neural implants we got from the Oblivion?”
“We don’t even know what’s on them,” Morgan said.
“I think that’s a chip we wait to play,” Ace agreed from the cot, picking at his toenails.
Ben sat on the floor of the cell in the Perseverance’s brig. He had made the mistake of offering the only cot to Morgan, who’d declined, and that opened the way for Ace to hop in without second thoughts.
“Great work on all this by the way, Cap,” Ace said.
“I try,” replied Ben.
“You know the best thing about all this? It’s so much easier hunting down those Oblivion assholes here in this cell. Right here, from this wet seat on the floor, I can pick em off one by one.” Ace mimed aiming and firing a sniper rifle. “It’s the best place really, the most effective.”
“I’m glad you’re so pleased.” Ben stood up. He groaned a bit, as his knees ached from sitting with them bent in front of him on the floor for hours.
“Though I guess it ain’t really your fault. It’s our fault for bringing you aboard.”
“I wasn’t really ever a fan,” Morgan said.
“Thanks for that vote of confidence,” Ben said, genuinely wounded.
“Just calling it like it is,” Morgan said, and Ben believed her. She was a lot of things, but she wasn’t one to blow smoke up anybody’s ass.
“You never had the heart for this. You’re just an angry kid trying to get revenge for his momma,” Ace said.
Ben felt something snap inside himself. “Do yourself a favor,” he said. “Shut your mouth before I put you out.”
Ace smiled and stood up. “Knock me out, huh?” He hopped down from the cot and strutted over to Ben. “And exactly how do you plan on doing that?”
Ben knocked Ace out with one metallic punch to his scarred face. The loudmouth was out for a few seconds before coming to on the floor. He was dazed, tried to get up, but fell back down. Blood drizzled down from his nose.
“Bastard,” Ace said, still woozy, as he wiped the blood from his nose. “You used that damn robot arm.”
“Didn’t know there were rules.”
“There are always rules,” said a deep voice from beyond the bars.
Ben spun around. There were four armed AIC soldiers on the other side of the bars. One of them had three sets of restraints in his free hand. He was the one talking. “Here is the only rule, Mr. Saito. Do as you’re told or get shot. Do you understand the rules?”
“Seems pretty clear,” Ben said as a man stepped forward to shackle him. Anything that got them out of this cell was a good thing in his mind.
“That’s just one rule,” Ace said as he got up and sat on the cot. “Get your story straight, asshole.”
Morgan stood up, yawning, as one of the soldiers was putting the shackles on her wrists.
“Up! The captain wants to see you lot,” said one of the soldiers.
“Looks like we’ve been called to the principal’s office,” said Ace as he and his fellow crew members were led through the halls, out of the brig, and into an elevator that took them up to the operations room of the Perseverance.
“You lied to me,” said LeFleur when she turned to face Ben.
“Did I?” Ben asked, wondering how she could know about his knowledge of the planet-killer aboard the Atlas. Maybe they had found it, or a portion of the components.
LeFleur stood above a table that holographically projected a section of space, stars, planets, and all. The operations room was filled with AIC duty officers, all staring at the newly arrived Ace, Morgan, and Ben.
“I don’t think so,” Ben said, answering his own question.
“I assure you, you did.” LeFleur made a couple swipes of her hand. Three digital wanted posters were displayed above the table. Each one had a member of the Lost’s crew on them. Under their pictures were bounties listed in standard credits. “How else can you explain this?”
“I never lied about that,” Ben said. “I just never mentioned it.”
“It says here, Mr. Saito, that you and your friends are wanted for killing a DC police officer. That is a hell of a lie of omission.”
“Wait…you said no killing cops,” Ace said. “You telling me that you were wasting those bastards and didn’t let me have any fun?” He wasn’t upset with the situation, just that his blood lust was hypocritically censored.
“It’s complicated, Captain,” Ben said. “We, that is to say, I didn’t mean to kill anyone. But things happen. I didn’t think our troubles concerned you.”
“Many things ‘concern’ me. But you’re right; your issues with the law in UEF space don’t involve us. Still, it leads me to wonder why you felt the need to kill a police officer. What were you doing back home that necessitated escaping the law by any means necessary? What are you and your crew, really?” LeFleur was unflappable, as were her fellow officers, who all judged Ben’s crew with their icy stares.
Ben started to respond, but was quickly cut off.
“Think before you speak. Another lie, even one of omission, and you and your crew will be jettisoned out to join the debris field.”
In spite of the seriousness of her statement, Ben felt himself smiling. He glanced over at Ace and Morgan. Ace was scowling at him. Morgan was looking straight ahead.
Ben could only reply with a single word. “Revenge.”
Nine
“I beg your pardon?” LeFleur asked.
“All three of us lost something,” Ben said. “Family. Friends.” He held up his own arm. “Actual body parts. Lives that mattered. All to the cult of the Oblivion.”
LeFleur eyed him up and down. “That doesn’t really answer the question.”
“Sure it does,” Ben said. “We don’t want anyone else going through what we’re going through. Nobody should have to live like this.” He shrugged, glancing at Ace.
Ace took as an opening. “We hunt and kill all the members of the cult we can find. It’s as simple as that.”
Ben didn’t really think it was as simple as that, but Ace was defiant as LeFleur eyed him up and down.
“Simple as that, yah? We have some on board who believe in the Abyss. We have others at home, including women and children. Would you hunt down and kill them too?”
Ace looked like he might agree to that, so Ben stepped in.
“Of course not. We’re hunting down the radicals, the dangerous ones. And their leadership. But if I may be so bold, Captain, you might want to look into those who believe in the Abyss on board your ship.” Ben lifted his arms, hoping to accentuate the metallic one. “You never know when there are sleepers, wolves among the sheep.”
“I assure you, Mr. Saito, that there are no ‘sheep’ on my dreadnought. Why are you really out here?”
“I told you. I’m looking for my father and the Atlas. That’s the truth.”
“With all due respect, ma’am,” Morgan said, addressing the captain for the first time, “why did you call us up here? I doubt it was to just to discuss wanted posters and cults.”
“You’re right. That’s not the only reason I summoned you.” LeFleur walked around the table over to Ben. “This case of your father’s ship, the Atlas, it grows more curious by the second. Take the debris field out there. We found a hefty amount o
f unnatural radiation out in space. It indicates that there was detonation of a nuclear weapon. That combined with the other wreckage tell us that there was a fight.”
“No kidding,” Ace said. “Why did you guys attack them?”
“What makes you think we attacked them?”
Ace guffawed, like LeFleur had just told him that folding space wasn’t possible. “Why wouldn’t you?”
“I recognized plenty of the debris out there,” Ben interjected, trying to make a slightly more useful point. “I’m sure you have as well. Pieces of AIC Interceptor fighters. Those are pieces of your ships.”
“Yet we have no record of any AIC unit, fleet, or fighter group being dispatched to attack the Atlas,” LeFleur said. “Our fleet was actually assigned to come out and meet them, escort them to Vassar-1.”
“Still, those are your ships.”
“Like I told you earlier, yah, we’ve all seen no end to deception on both sides in this war.”
Morgan frowned. “But you should be able to figure it out pretty quickly, right? I mean, there are transponders. Data identifiers.”
LeFleur waved away Morgan’s statements. “All can be faked where there’s enough will. It will take weeks to figure out what really happened here.”
“Weeks?” Ben said incredulously.
LeFleur shook her head. “To convince all factions on the AIC council to form a consensus, it will probably take months.” She put her hands on her hips and rubbed her chin. “However, they’re on Vassar-1, and I’m here.” She glanced at the man next to her, who Ben hadn’t even noticed. He appeared to be an aide of some kind. He handed her a flat data board that she waved her hand above, and a three-dimensional field of information appeared.
“Two days ago, a UEF outpost on the edges of known space, Magellan 5, was attacked,” LeFleur said. “Reports from survivors say that it was attacked by an AIC force. Again, there is no record of any AIC unit, fleet, or fighter group being dispatched to attack the colony.”
“So you have a rogue force,” Ace said. “What’s that got to do with us?”
“We couldn’t figure out how or why these attacks were happening, or who was perpetuating them. Then we got this mayday message early this morning.” She looked at Ben. “I believe you know the man who sent it.”
She waved over the data board, and this time an enlarged video still image popped up of Ben’s father, Captain Lee Saito.
Ten
Ben almost fell down backwards when the video message came up. His father looked a bit beaten up. Static and other interference made reading his expression hard, but his mannerisms were just as Ben remembered them.
“This is Captain Lee Saito of the UEF Atlas. I hope this message reaches someone, anyone who can help us. We were ambushed, and our ship has been disabled. The surviving members of the Atlas crew have taken refuge in Sanctuary Station 33. Coordinates accompany this message. I am asking for immediate aid and rescue. The situation is dire. This is Captain…” The message automatically replayed.
Ben took a moment to process what he saw and heard. He saw his father, heard his father, but something inside him didn’t accept it. If he was being honest, he’d expected to find his father dead, floating in a rudderless ship somewhere in space. Now that he saw proof that his father was alive, he had trouble accepting it.
“What do you make of that, Mr. Saito?” asked LeFleur, carefully examining Ben’s reaction.
“I, uh…when did you…what channel did this come in on? The message? How did you find it?” Ben gathered himself. He fought back the tears that started to pool in his eyes.
“It came in on the emergency band. At first, we considered that it might be a ploy from pirates to lure us in. We don’t accept UEF transmission handshakes out here, so there was no way to authenticate it. But our comms team worked on it and verified the sender’s identity, or at least, that it was far beyond the sophistication levels of pirates, yah.” She crossed her arms and looked at Ben. “As far as I’m concerned, that’s your father.”
She looked at Ben expectantly.
“It was him,” Ben said. The happiness he felt caused him to be almost light-headed. The old man was alive!
“You’re sure?”
“He sounded like he had a stick up his ass. Gave away minimal information over the emergency beacon while confirming the status, location, and situation.” Ben nodded. “Textbook. That’s him.”
LeFleur looked like his answer actually pained her. “Fair enough,” she said at last, her voice an octave lower. Her eyes really were penetrating. Ben could see why it was hard to get a lie past her. She waved the video away. “That wasn’t the only message he sent. We got this one early this morning.” She hesitated, making eye contact with Ben. For the first time, her face seemed to soften. Then she looked down and activated the video.
This one was quite different from the first. Saito appeared distraught. There was screeching in the background that sounded like something animal, wild. Behind those were screams. It was an unsettling soundtrack.
Saito turned to the camera of the video. He was crying, something Ben had only seen his father do once before in his life, and that had been at Ben’s hospital bed when he told him about the death of Ben’s mother. His father took a moment before speaking again.
“I…I’ve been thinking a lot, the last couple of days. What does it mean to be human?” Saito raised his hand up to his face and seemingly investigated it. Each digit looked to be fascinating to him. He laughed, a nervous laugh, exposing bloodstained teeth. “What makes us human?”
There was blood coming from a gash on his forehead that trickled down his cheek. He looked feverish.
Something was wrong with him.
Saito lowered his hand and stared intensely into the camera. Tears still flowed. “Am I…is it the soul? Is that what makes people people, and not just an assortment of meat, bone, and electrical signals? Is it love? I…nothing is as it…monsters masquerading as men. Is that all we are? Don’t come looking for us. We are lost.”
The video ended. No one said anything for several seconds. Ben thought he might throw up. Finally, LeFleur asked, “What do you make of that?”
“I don’t…” Ben closed his eyes hard and tried to rack his brain for an explanation. Parts of the info on the hyper drive he’d been given before the terrorist attacks in Annapolis ran through his head.
Monsters masquerading as men. That was what he’d said. It had to be Oblivion, didn’t it? What else could it be?
Ben couldn’t accept it. He wouldn’t believe that his father had fallen prey to the Oblivion’s plans. “None of this makes any sense,” he said.
LeFleur bent her neck and head to the side slightly. “How so?”
“My father—Captain Saito—he was a rock. I mean, I’ve never seen the man show any other emotions than anger at me, or love towards my mom, but never that. Never. I don’t even know what to call that.”
LeFleur wiped away the second video. The aide reached out for the tablet, but she waved him away. “Can we get the live feed here?”
The man reached over her shoulder and, in an incongruous moment of levity in that moment of sadness and confusion, started arguing with LeFleur about how to bring up whatever she was looking for. Finally, she shook off the aide and handed him back the tablet. “HUD, bring up Sergeant Oren’s live helmet feed,” ordered LeFleur. “Connect and broadcast to Operations holo-projectors.”
A much larger three-dimensional image appeared in the middle of the operations room they were in.
“What’s this?” asked Morgan.
Ben, along with everyone else in the operations room, looked at live footage from an AIC soldier’s—Sergeant Oren’s—helmet camera.
“Site team Alpha Charlie is go. Discovery documentation one,” Oren said perfunctorily. “We’re here inside the remains of what’s believed to be a part of the UEF Atlas, a Dreadnought-class vessel,” said Oren.
It was a little hard to make out where in the
ship Oren was, but Ben eventually figured it out. Through the light of the AIC soldier and the rest of his group, he made out the sick bay.
“It appears we’re outside the doors to the medical quarters of the Atlas. Fournier’s group before us already opened the doors. We’re going to proceed inside,” reported Oren. His light shone through a hole cut through the airtight doors to the sick bay.
Ben, like everyone else in the operations room, had his eyes glued to the video feed. He both hoped for and dreaded what this Oren would find.
Oren’s light lit up the Atlas sick bay. Right away, there were floating dead bodies. From their uniforms it was clear they were UEF Navy. Ben expected that, but had held out some hope that maybe they were evacuated to the front third of the Atlas. His knowledge of the ship told him that it was possible to break the massive dreadnought up into three sections. The back section was where the main engines were housed. The middle section was mostly living quarters, training areas, and the docking bay. Lastly, the front section housed the command deck and the fold jump engines.
“It looks like we got some casualties here, Commander. I count about six or seven people—wait…there’s something else here.” Oren’s camera showed something odd on the floor of the sick bay. Unlike the floating dead people, it was still, static, seemingly adhered to the floor.
“What is that?” asked LeFleur.
“Hold on, I’m gonna get a closer look.” Oren made his way over to the mass on the floor, pushing various medical instruments and trays out of the way. Frozen globs of blood bounced off his helmet’s visor.
Ben glanced over at Ace. With everyone focused on the video feed, no one was watching him or guarding their weapons. Morgan gave Ace a withering glance and a shake of her head. Ace rolled his eyes and returned his attention to the video feed. It was a good reminder to Ben that they needed to find a way out of this mess. And the more they were learning, the more he wanted to make that happen.
