Micah Trace and the Shattered Gate

by Eric Swanson

  “I’m fine.” Eaton protested in a hoarse whisper. As Gale continued to check readings and measurements from his machines, Micah sough to distract him.

  “Eaton.” The Mimic repeated the old Hybrid’s name until Eaton turned toward him. “Tell me more about Earth, Eaton.”

  Over the next hour, Eaton talked through as much as he recalled of Earth and its people: the massive network of Orbital Defense equipment, interesting tidbits about their entertainment and culture…

  Eventually, the anecdotes and jokes slowed along with Eaton’s breathing. The last hour of Eaton’s life was spent holding the hands of Micah and Gale, one on each side of his bed. As his final moments approached, he could do little more than lock eyes with them as he tried to convey a lifetime of emotions through shining, tear-filled eyes.

  Some of those tears fell across a smile Micah would never forget as Eaton’s last breath left him.

  Calmly, quietly, Eaton’s eyes shut for the last time.

  In a flash of realization as he stared at Eaton’s lifeless face, weeping once again, Micah knew that he couldn’t live on Ceres any longer. Micah wanted to reunite with his ancestors, breathe the air of his people and help them connect with the stars.

  Garreous’s Lab

  0900 Hours

  Dark hallways in old buildings always unnerved Susa. Juxtaposed with the fact that she was raised in the Pillar, one of the oldest known structures on Ceres, her discomfort seemed odd. Her floor length robe, black with a soft velvet purple lining, swept the floor with a soft sound with each step. Her shining blue eyes swept the quiet corridor then fell to the Carer to her left, dressed in bright white.

  “Shellai, does it ever feel like your robes glow in the dark?” Susa asked with a warm smile.

  The young Royal wasn’t entirely wrong. The Carers who surrounded Susa as she walked all wore almost obscenely white robes and hoods, the uniform of their order. In the shadowy hallway of the old Physics building of the Royal Pillar University, Shellai and her cohorts very nearly shone among the shadows. Shellai returned the Princess’s grin with a shy smile of her own. Her wide, dark green eyes twinkled with what little light came off faux torches on the dark stone walls. Curls of deep red-brown hair fell around her face and moved a bit with her hood as Shellai walked.

  “As often as we’re here, Princess, one would think I would acclimate.” Shellai looked down at her robes then craned her neck toward some of her Carer colleagues around them. Shellai pinched a bit of her robe between two fingers and pulled it up toward her face a few inches. “I cannot say that I have.”

  The pair laughed softly as they continued down the corridor. Raised together since toddlers, Susa and Shellai thought of each other as sisters, Royal station really not a factor.

  “Are we here so often?” Susa asked with a knowing smile. The pair shared another smile as they moved toward a doorway which tossed light into the hallway.

  “Oh, certainly not…” Shellai shook her head with an exaggerated expression. “Have many of the arrangements for the wedding been completed?”

  “The principal actors have been selected.” Susa joked with another grin. “Aside that… I’m afraid not.”

  Quiet understanding hung between the young women for a moment.

  “He’s a good man.” Shellai said. Her tone sounded like the final point made in a lengthy discussion.

  “I know, Shellai.” Susa replied. Susa recalled the last drawing she’d received from her husband-to-be: a charcoal caricature of Tobiah. Hot air, twirls of steam and smoke, came from the cartoon’s mouth. After a lengthy discussion of the Hybrids and their place in Ceran society, the future spouses found more common ground than cause for argument. Susa smiled thoughtfully for a moment as she stepped into the light which spilled from the doorway.

  “Here we are…” Susa stepped into the room and turned back to Shellai with sharp white light splashed on her face. “I’ll be out shortly.” The door creaked shut and settled in with a soft click. The light from the doorway snuck out under the heavy wooden door, the hallway substantially darker now.

  Crouched over a monitor, Garreous squinted at the screen and leaned too near it for comfort. He thumbed through a document on a pad laid to his right by swiping the pages by. Splaying two fingers to zoom in on something on the pad, the young genius focused his sparkling green eyes on a chunk of text for a beat.

  “SAMI, play Fermi in Gold.” Garreous commanded and after a familiar soft tone, light electronic rock began playing from speakers in the lab’s ceiling.

  Her approach now masked by the music, Susa crouched a bit lower and padded toward Garreous softly. She stopped a couple feet behind him and slowly brought her hand near the side of Garreous’s head. Slowly, Susa brought her pointer finger back behind her thumb and stifled a giggle as she let the finger fly.

  Garreous yelped and leapt away from her as her digit struck his ear hard. He turned in as defensive a posture as someone with no training could manage, a look of (mostly) fear and anger on his face.

  “Too slow.” Susa mouthed, sure he wouldn’t hear her over the blaring music. They laughed loudly together for a moment before Garreous stopped the music. Susa wiggled her head from side-to-side in mock triumph, then pumped her fist before another laugh.

  Both sets of eyes sparkled as they met through the laughter. Susa leaned in for a quick hug and Garreous stepped in and pulled her close. As they embraced, both closed their eyes and slowed their breathing to a peaceful pace.

  They held each other for almost half a minute in silence.

  As Garreous and Susa pulled apart, both parties’ eye lids fluttered half-shut, as only pheromone-soaked young peoples’ eyes can. After a moment too long spent locked in a sleepy stare, Susa cleared her throat.

  “So, what are we working on tonight, Genius of the Pillar?” She stepped around Garreous and began reading the equations and notes on his screen and the tablet to its side. “You know, every time I begin to believe I’m reasonably gifted intellectually…” Susa whispered absently while staring at the monitor. She turned to Garreous with a flash of a smile and continued. “I read something you’re working on or, even worse, something you wrote and my illusions of genius are shattered!”

  “I’ve read most of your writing, Susa.” Garreous said as he stepped back in front of his work around Susa. “The idea that you view that gift as somehow inferior to whatever I am is laughable. All I am is someone who understands more building blocks of the universe than most. It doesn’t make me special. It just makes me someone who decided to closely study something few take the time to know deeply…”

  “Uh huh.” Susa nodded with a sarcastic, overstated eye roll. She flashed another smile as the young genius turned toward her and Garreous reflexively returned it. “Got it. You’re just a guy who reads a lot, is that it?” She laughed again as she lightly pushed his shoulder with a small closed fist.

  “Your writing creates… People, whole worlds…” Garreous said with no small amount of wonder in his voice. He took a step nearer to Susa after he gestured grandly.

  “And your work might take us to other worlds.” Susa shot back, while that smile still beamed toward Garreous. “Can we stop this now?” She asked. A light tone and loving gaze masked the seriousness of her request.

  They stood inches from each other once more. Unable withstand Susa’s (somehow) kind resolve, Garreous dropped his eyes to the floor before spinning around and back to his work. “Of course, Princess.” He used her royal title often during conversations like these, as a reminder.

  Susa got the message Garreous sent to himself as well.

  “Always back to that.” Her smile faded, though just slightly. Susa disliked reminders of her station and its obligations, especially during the scant private moments she and Garreous shared. “What are we going to do, Gar…” She began before she stepped right behind the quite distracted physicist. Her left hand, decorated with ornate nails painted in tiny crème and white floral patterns, sett
led on the back of his neck as Susa came to his right side. “About us?”

  For a moment, Susa and Garreous stood side-by-side, both staring through the theories and formulas on the transparent monitors at the wall behind. Susa laid her head softly on his shoulder and Garreous bent his neck slightly, so their heads touched.

  “This is all we can ever be, Sooz.” Garreous whispered her nickname known only to him. “You’re getting married.”

  “I don’t want to marry him.” Susa murmured back, plainly. She took a deep breath in frustration and reveled in Garreous’s scent. For as long as she could recall, Garreous washed his hair with a soap intended for industrial workers to cleanse harsh chemicals from their hair. It smelled faintly of burning wood and Susa thought of Garreous every time she sat before a hearth or in the winter months when the Pillar was lined outside with massive, crackling torches.

  “He’s a good man.” Garreous could scarcely speak while encouraging Susa along this path. He squeezed his eyes shut.

  “This world is filled with good men.” Susa said. “I should be allowed to select which of those good men I spend my life with…”

  Susa lifted her head and turned to face Garreous. Slowly, he turned as well.

  “You have a duty to every other person on this planet to someday be their Queen.” Garreous said. He sniffled lightly and a tear rolled down his right cheek. “I’m one of billions. I can’t take you away from them.”

  “But Gar-“ Susa stopped when Garreous turned away from her. Several tears slid down her face and the princess wiped them away with two fingers.

  Susa’s robe brushed against the stone floor as she moved closer to Garreous. Once more, her hand rested on the back his neck.

  “You have to marry Peeksar. You have a duty to fulfill.” Garreous spoke without facing her. He couldn’t. Garreous drew a deep breath and held it for a beat. He still faced his work and the wall behind it. “I have a duty to fulfill as well. I’m leaving Ceres.”

  “No.” Susa responded automatically, emphatically. She stepped around him and stood between Garreous and the monitors, the scattered data pads. “I am a sitting Royal. That which I—” Susa began to cry as she spoke and her voice drowned in her tears for a moment. “—that which I forbid does not happen.”

  “Susa.” Garreous whispered her name again and finally lifted his face to meet her weeping gaze. “I—”

  “You. Can’t. Leave.” Susa paused between words, half for emphasis, half because her breath wouldn’t come in time as she sobbed quietly.

  “If I can give our people the stars, if they have room to spread out…” Garreous spoke quietly but with steadfast conviction. “If I can figure out this technology, figure out these gates… I can give us peace. Real peace. Us, hybrids, whoever else is… out there.”

  As full realization settled onto the young Princess, her bright blue eyes issued fewer tears. Over the course of a handful of silent moments, Susa collected herself and resigned to their separate fates.

  “So your duty takes you to a broken gate beyond the stars,” Susa wrapped her arms around Garreous and drew their faces together. “And mine to a throne beyond the sea.”

  Garreous nodded and rested his forehead on Susa’s, slightly bent over. Both closed their eyes again and began breathing in time with each other. Susa opened her eyes, intent upon memorizing every aspect of Garreous’s face. Softly, she kissed his cheek.

  “We could…” Susa spoke with hesitance, almost breathless. She kissed Garreous on his lips. Lightly, he returned the kiss. “Still have tonight.”

  “No.” Garreous’s eyes snapped open and his deep, bright green eyes met Susa’s, seriousness in them. “We have each other. Whatever becomes of us after this moment, we will always have this bond. I will not dishonor you outside the bounds of marriage… I cannot.”

  Susa smiled then nearly laughed.

  “Garreous…” Susa shook her head and hugged him more tightly. She rested her head on his chest. “Your mind and your honor betray your body.”

  “They betray me entirely, Sooz.” Garreous pulled her closer and squeezed. He tightly closed his eyes and tried to fight back more tears. He whispered once more: “Entirely.”

  The Sanctuary of Ahma

  1130 Hours

  In the early years of his life, Eaton’s face was seen by precious few. Like Micah years later, it was a closely guarded secret and led to Eaton establishing a persona based solely upon his actions. During the Third Filan War, stories of his daring and valor spread through Ceran and Hybrid military circles alike. Eaton was dispatched on a handful of covert missions, during which the King was sequestered for safekeeping without his Mimic on-planet. Trained in several espionage and infiltration skills as part of his Mimic preparation, Eaton was more prepared than most of his Ceran counterparts to engage in black ops missions requiring stealth.

  Eaton’s prowess in tight situations led to repeated requests for his presence on missions of grave importance. Near the end of his time as a Mimic (and King Trey’s reign), rumors abounded of a second Royal Mimic around the Pillar, but nothing was ever confirmed or even documented by Royal recordkeeping. The first response of the more level-headed to anyone promoting the Second Mimic conspiracy theories couldn’t marry the rumor with a timeline which made sense. Even if the King decided a second mimic was necessary, how would that Mimic have been anywhere near old enough to be of use to the Crown during Eaton’s deployments?

  More rumors persisted that photos of the Second Mimic existed, but nothing was ever publicly confirmed.

  The photos which hung in his apartment were cleared by Pillar security after Eaton’s health began to fail and he essentially shut himself in. As an extra layer of security, the genetic scanner built into his doorway was programmed with an exclusionary list. Anyone who entered the apartment and was not on an exceptionally short list of “Pillar Approved” personnel triggered the frames on Eaton’s wall to display a different set of photos, mostly Antisar memorabilia and news-doc covers from key historical events.

  Eaton was buried in his covert ops mask and interred with full military honors.

  His open casket was adorned with a royal purple flag with the seal of the crown in white at the center. The seal was a stylized bird of prey in shape, comprised of three vertical white rectangles. The middle shape was set higher than the pair to the sides and strongly suggested the shape of a regal airborne creature. White stone floors and light-colored wood pews inlaid with white stone symbols of the Ceran faith gave the worship area an airy appearance. The white floor carried into the dark granite in the wall behind the alter and Eaton’s coffin in the form of a miniature Pillar. Like its real-world counterpart, the rough-hewn white rock nearly shone against the night-like background.

  An age-weathered hand laid on the shining metal of the coffin’s side and the fingers brushed the royal purple padding inside the capsule. A black sleeve lined with the same royal purple shade fell to Boleen’s wrist as he moved his hand and turned away from the casket and Eaton’s body.

  “We gather today to pay tribute to a man most know by reputation only.” Boleen began Eaton’s eulogy simply. The holy man stepped toward the assembled crowd and nodded to the Royal Family seated in the front row of the sanctuary. Somber, the King nodded back slowly.

  “This Hybrid dedicated his life to the safety and security of not only the Royal Family,” Boleen spoke with calm reverence and a reminiscing smile. “In life, he was known as Major Mask to most. A daring hero of the Pillar, Major Mask was the tip of the spear for many important missions during the Third Filan War.” Boleen paused and a wider smile came across his face.

  “He disliked that name quite a bit, truth be told.”

  A polite, quiet chuckle rippled through the crowd and faded quickly.

  “He used to tell me it made him feel like a performer.” Boleen nodded lost in more memory and smiled still. “We spent a good deal of time together early in my theological career and he used to ask me how the p
eople of Ceres would react to the idea of a Ceran clergyman spending more time with a Hybrid than with his own Royal Family, those he---” Boleen gestured to himself. “—had trained a lifetime to serve.”

  “I told him no one had taught the Prince nor Princess to play cards yet and that he was stuck with me.” Another polite rolling laugh from the crowd began and died quickly. “We played many different games and talked about every topic imaginable… But always with same deck of cards.” Boleen pulled a small box from his pocket and held it up for the crowd to see. “The only time I was without these cards was when this Hybrid was off-planet, on a mission.”

  A miniature flying camera flew in front of Boleen for a beat to get a clear shot of the wooden box in his hand. The worn container was scuffed and scratched in many places, the wood color softened to the shade of sun baked leather. A small silver clasp held the box shut as Boleen gently held it. He slightly shook it to punctuate his last words.

  The camera returned to its previous location: the rear of the sanctuary, more than fifty feet in the air. It passed over the heads of mourners and observers, Sanballat, Tobiah and their cadre among them in the last row of seats.

  “I’ll bet every Hybrid on the planet is watching this.” Tobiah leaned toward Sanballat and whispered.

  The tall Courtier’s eyes didn’t leave the front of the room while he nodded slowly. “A grander event than most receive…” Sanballat muttered, his disdain for Hybrids laid bare.

  Tobiah’s estimate wasn’t far from the truth. The tiny airborne camera was broadcasting the funeral to every Hybrid block. In most complexes, large gatherings had occurred to watch the proceeding together. Several of the high-profile Hybrid Antisar players had volunteered their homes for fellow Hybrids to use for the viewing. Major Mask was a Hybrid cultural icon whose accomplishments inspired most Hybrids… If he could be so impactful and respected at the highest levels of Ceran society, perhaps it was possible for more Hybrids to achieve the same.