Interzeit: A Space Opera (12 page)

He falls unconscious
with his clo
thing
still on. Dreamlessly he wakes up, the clock indicates it’s the late afternoon, although the day is as meaningless here as in space.

He wanders the halls until he finds a service worker of some kind at a desk. He speaks with them, and learns of his entitled leave for the day. He gladly accepts, riding the elevator up to the surface.

He hits the surface, the sun’s brightness blinds him for a few moments,
he
blinks rapidly
while
wandering out into the street.

They let him go without any escort or paper work. The entire process has been almost completely absent of waivers or any agreements, paper or digital.

He doesn’t have an extreme objective in mind, simply glad to be away and to have his ionics connected to the outside worlds.
Eventually he finds himself in a holocafe.
Space station theme of some
kind.
Tiny floating stars and planets crash and float around each other in the space, the patrons
clipping
through the light holograms casually.

The menu has the standard Earth adaptation of space products, mankind’s products of the outer system (Although most of these are imported from as near as
the Moon
, if not
just
grown on Earth). He has the gray leaf tea. It comes warm, and overly sweetened. The drink courses through him, he browses the net for the latest news, rumblings of terrorist cells on Earth, evil strongholds hiding somewhere out in the drift. A hidden enemy, he sipped more tea. It seemed to flicker some of his nerves and neurons back to life.

He grabs a refill after finishing, after about half of that, the
stimulant
process grows stronger, and he takes the rest t
o go. He locates a park on his i
onic wrist terminal, and makes a day of traveling there. Various low power hoverbikes zip over the park, the topiary layer of which has several platforms and rest areas installed for them to lounge in.

Nol pr
efers the ground to such things
, and sits by the lakeshore. Ther
e
a
re a
few boats and hydroboards on the large glittering surface, but it was mostly calm. The brief waves rolling in and out in tiny intervals on the shoreline.

The sun comes down too soon, and he relaxes against a tree, fading into the night sky. The shining diamonds of space are obfuscated by the large buildings and lights jutting greedily into the sky. Reluctantly he know
s he must leave, or return
, maybe both.

No matter which it is, it means an early morning, so he walks slowly out of the park, and trudges into th
e street. The streets are dream—
like, e
ver since the attack on
Turi
a
zon
,
the ni
ght life has been less active
, even in a place like Carpentaria
.

There are die hards in every community, but the open vulnerable escapism in the streets was ebbed by the tra
gedy, suffering a
doldrum
,
if only for a temporary amount of time.
He wandered the emptyish streets in a daze. His mind
feeling
glazed over
still
.

It was only too late his senses tingled, his past panic and paranoia re-emerged. Seconds later a cloaked figure pulls him into an alleyway. Nol struggles weakly, and the cloaked figure bashes his head into the concrete walls.

Dazed, the person reveals their face, a pale gaunt man, the typical profile of a low gravity upbringing. He continues rocking punches into his gut, pinning him against the wall.

“You were a fool to oppose us Tomson,
” He
mutters gleefully.

“Who are you?” Nol yells, and kicks him off.

His assailant stumbles backwards, drawing a weapon from his side. It’s the quintessential
Kuipterra
n side arm, fear and dread fill him.

The cu
rved handle, and trigger, forms
into
an
emitter port, with a click of
a
switch the energetic blade materializes, the hilt hums into a loud buzzing. The noise reminds him of the test capsule, a cold sweat breaks on his forehead.

“For Maxelus!”
He yells loudly, and charges in with the blade.

Nol flinches, certain of his coming death. A dark blur falls from the rooftops, crashing into his attacker.

He is launched into a corner with a loud oomph.
The
Kuipterra
n with his black and white suit turns and looks at Nol with surprise. The attack
er
tries to gather himself, and Polystratus sets upon him. Grabbing him by the arm, he flings him overhead as though he were a kite, smashing his head down on the stone ground.

Still holding his arm taut, Polystratus steps his booted foot in it, snapping it with a soft crunch. The man screams through the concussive haze.

“What are you doing here?” Nol demands to know,

“Saving you, it seems.” He remarked, “Been tracking this one for days, he’s new to town, an offworlder.”

His leans down, looking over the would-be assassin.
He takes his glove
d
hand, smudging his face. The pale pigment rubs away revealing thin translucent skin.

“This terrorist group,” Nol says, “Its real isn’t it?”

Polystratus answers with his silence. He slaps the person into cogence gently.

“What is the importance of Tomson Nol?” He demands sternly,

The assassin laughs, “He’s in the way…that’s all.”

“In the way of what?”
Nol asks moving towards him.

The assassin smiles, “Our natural right to supremacy. You filt-
“ He’s
interrupted by Nol punching him in the mouth, he pulls his hand away, small cuts from the man’s teeth.

“Who are you? Why are you helping me?” He turns to his unexpected savior.

“I am Polystratus, hand of the crown prince Septis
Calatian
.”

“I remember now,” Nol says, “I saw you with him at one of the crisis meetings…but only once, you’ve been alone since?”

“The prince is busy attending to more urgent matters in space. He is cunning, strikes right to the heart of
things,
you learn such traits with those you serve with.
”

“You didn’t answer why you’re helping me.” Nol insisted,

“The prince…” He answered, “Is cunning, but sometimes headstrong. I felt there was more to the situation here than revealed, and so, I stayed behind.”

“Won’t that be trouble for you eventually?”

“Septis will understand,” He answers firmly, “Especially after we
combine what we have both learned
.”

He lifts up the attacker by his shirt, “I will get answers from this one, if off world groups are behind this, we need to know who is supporting them, even if I don’t like the answer.”

He picks something up off the ground, and hands it to Nol. It’s the emitter blade.

“Keep
this,
you may not be so safe.”

“I’m inclined to agree,” He takes it without protest.

“The top switch turns the blade on, the trigger fires a bolt. It will fi
re with or without the blade on
, so use caution.”

“Thank you,” He says, “I have to get back, excuse me.” He begins to leave,

“Wait!” Polystratus yells, “Why would this one be after you? You’re no longer on the speech and rally circuit, so why attack you now?”

Nol smiled, “We all have our loyalties Polystratus, another time perhaps.”

With that he left
the alley
. The strange alien man gave no attempt at further pursuit or questioning. Looking at the emitter blade, he hoped there would be no “another time”. Nothing seemed to make sense anymore though. How did the assassin know his role in the pilot program? Or was it just a vengeance plotted out for his survival
of the
Turi
a
zon
attack and role as tragic vessel
?
H
e couldn’t put it together.

The schizophrenia of the events
was
too much to re-arrange in any satisfying way, they remained cryptic, their sliding meanings never coming into focus.

The red
mech
descended on her. Silently it rose in a wide arc, swinging around to annihilate the small safety of the escape capsule. Lei’s eyes boiled with rage, watching the inevitable crushing and explosion, her fate sealed.

Without warning a storm of lights rushed
past
, knocking
the
mech
off course. These bright energy bursts coursed over Lei’s field of view like a rush of flocking birds. Their power escalated quickly.
Starting as a minor annoyance,
small fireball
s
hit the
mech
,
it takes evasive maneuvers, jetting around in three dimensions attempting to break the clear firing angle.

The canopy of a large craft floats over
Lei
,
and
blots out the action, firing a fiercesome barrage of energy outwards. Like the rhythm of a drum
,
the flashing lights slow over time, calibrating to an unknown variable in the field. They become meticulous and large beams, shooting off over hundreds of kilometers.

During this firing, she is hailed by the ship.

“This is the ship Naz
er
of the
Kuipterra
n Autocracy, please respond.” A light voice crackled through Lei’s rudimentary communications panel.

“This is Pilot Lei Liang, TST Mechanized Division Alpha…thanks for the assist Nazer.”

“Sounds cold in there.” The voice echoes, “We’re going to pull you into the air lock, do not activate engines.”

“Roger,” she clicks the comm. off, she laughs at the twist of fate, as if she has engines anyway.

Her ship is dragged slow
ly into the bottom of the
Nazer
.
I
t is dark in the deep space, surfaces only reflecting the minor glint of the sun. This slick transparency is replaced by a light, St. Peters light calling from above. The ship fold
s
inwards mysteriously
,
allow
ing
this light in, pulling the craft into its after life.

She’s lifted into a tiny bay, sized for a craft only vaguely larger than her own present memento of Tiger West. The floor to the underworl
d closes from beneath the craft. She floats in the small aquarium for a moment, until the shunts open, pressurizes it. The sound of air (and sound at all) returns and the craft slaps the floor roughly.

Lei tears off her helmet, throwing it at her feet. She flips the quadruple redundant release hatches, and the small dash
view of the craft pops open. S
he pushes the transparent metal aside, and stands, her body embracing the familiarity of half G.

Waiting for her at the exit of the aquarium is a lone
person,
they release her, opening it as soon as she reaches the door.

“Are you hurt?” The
slight woman
asks,

“
Not in anyway I can sense
.” Lei answers,

“Excellent, just a moment Ms Liang,”
sh
e replies,

Sh
e waves a small apparatus around her head, slowly working down her body, eventually reaching her toes.

“Very good, very good indeed, we arrived just in time it seems.” They say, “Please follow the arrows, they are waiting to receive you on the bridge sir.”

The small craft hangar opens into a wide corridor, its angular and efficient lay out seems alien to its exterior. It is brightly lit, with genetically engineered ivy and vines coursing along the wall, interweaving into complication holographic illusions of a nature that has never been.

Several maps, and a guiding trail along the floor ensures she finds her way there, avoiding the large branching hallways of choice leading to unknown parts of the craft. She follows the coursing trail on the edge of the floor to a lift.

Lei enters
, the doors close, and the destination selects itself from an indexed soft pad. She is lifted and then shuffled around in various directions, several minutes pass until finally the doors roll open silently.

She is in a narrow hallway leading towards a
door
,
it’s f
lanked on both sides by terminals worked by
Kuipterra
ns
.
T
hey monitor their screens, information and symbols floating by in a slow rain of data.

She reaches the far end, and enters, the door opening up to a large monitor sifting through the blackness, a rough dozen crew are assembled at their stations. A man and woman approach.

The
m
an nods, and the woman steps forward, she is clothed in a blue and white uniform, some thin material draped over her shoulder.

“I am Captain Xuna of the Nazer,” She says, extending her hand.

They shook hands, “We spoke over the comm. channel,” Xuna adds, “We’re lucky to have made it to Vesta in time.”

“I am forever in your debt Captain,” Lei bows deeply,

Xuna bows shallowly in return, and then takes a half step to the side.

Lei looks
back up to the man, in his red
flex
suit
.

“Welcome to the Nazer,
P
ilot Lei
Liang. We are soon to be companions in arms, should the fates turn as they have been
.
”

He aggressively clasps her forearm in his hand, she returns the gesture.

“Is that so?” She ask
s, “
You may have noticed that
I have been disarmed
recently
.”

He smiles, “A temporary set back of mine as well. Not to worry, our claws will be returned to us soon.”

He turned away to the blackness, contemplating,
and then
suddenly he turns back,

“I am Septis,” He says plainly, she does not respond, so he continues, “Septis Calatian.”

“The new crown prince?”
She realizes,

“
That is correct Lei
,” He answers.

“Thank you for the assistance prince, I only hope you were in time to save the Colony.”

“
Hope
…
” he turns away from her pacing in the dark glow of the space view, “When we arrived the perimeter frigates were nearly all wiped out, the colony was left vulnerable. Instead of demolishing the colony the craft was focused exclusively on you. Curious, don’t you think?”

“Not particularly, I stopped several of their attempts on the colony, they were likely going to end me first, and then attack the colony.”

Septis nods at her answer, contemplating, “We came to aid you in your mission
despite
the protest of the Martian Defense Minister, and one Lady Yuriko, a minor figure from the moon of Ceres, know her?”

Lei shrugs
, “
O
ur way of governance is private,
a form of diplomat I assume she was?”

“So it seems,
allow me to
give you a chance to repay your debt to us immediately.”

“How is that?”
Lei
says
growing
tired
.

She
sits at an empty terminal, leaning into a pristine white chair. She faces the prince.

“Was the mission a success, did you find the programmers and engineers who were behind all of this?”

She rubs her pointed chin lightly, “I wish I could say for sure Septis. On Vesta, the intelligence agents ditched me, I located them shortly before the attack happened,
they
were closing in on their target it seemed.”

“Any clue on their current location?”
He presses,

S
he shakes her head, “No. Basil…
did compile a list of crafts that had docked this solar day that they could have potentially entered the colony with.”

“You have them still?” He gets closer,

Lei
nods
her head, “
Certainly
. One moment, let me upload them to the
terminal,”

Septis
leans over her as she works with great interest.

“Good,
” he says, “W
e need to work quickly
.
I have a feeling that whoever they found, they are not long for this dimension.”

They negotiated their way onto the Vesta Minor without any resistance. Their arrival was met with a combination of fear and gratitude from the colonists in the immediate vicinity of the dock.
Things were t
ense, but
the people were glad to not be fighting
.
V
arious ranks of poli
ce escorted him in a wary entourage
.

They requested updates for the crafts
in question
. When they came back, it was found that only
one craft
on the list had
exited
the station
.

Septis
commandeered a small team of investigators for himself, ordering them to search through all the remaining candidates.

There were only n
egative results
. The
Vestians
began creating
missing person’s reports for the scientists
and programmers
in question,
and
things
began coming
together with surprising efficiency,
the local authorities complying
with their requests
without any resistance.

Lei took them back to Pallas Palatine, the floors were blown open in certain sections, a
nd a
small fire had grown into a large one during the panic of the attack. Emergency services had just begun
responding to
the problem in full as they arrived.

“Who knows what happened
here?”
Septis
asked.

Lei helped retrieve records from the area. Compiled with the dock records, the picture of their escape grew clearer.

The videos showed the agents abducting several people with hoods ov
er their heads (The upper level
recording equipment was lost in the fire unfortu
nately). They blasted their way
out, certain cameras catch
ing
glimpses
of them from distressed angles. Stringing together different security footage, they are able to patch together a rough outline of their escape. All
until a lone cargo ship is seen leaving out of the dock during the siege.

“What does this mean?” Lei asked,

“We were d
ouble crossed it seems. The attack
was a distraction,”

“The people who died, were a distraction?” She asked,

“Perhaps it had a dual purpose.” Septis asserted,

“What is gained from senseless killing?” Lei rebuffed,

Septis stared straight through her, “Killing you.” He points affirmatively.

“Hmm,” she pond
ers, “That’s quite an idea…a
conspiracy to kill the Mech Pilots. Are you really sure you can prove such claims?”

He crosses his arms, “Had we not arrived with the Nazer, you would have perished, meaning all of the veteran pilots would be dead.”

“Leaving
one active War Mech,
theirs,
” Lei added, “But for what purpose?”

“We shall see, with that kind of advantage, anything may be possible.”

The declaration hung over the room with a
n
ominous weight. The sign of a new time perhaps, a new reality, emerging out of the uncertainty, a feeling of cynicism ran through his veins.

“What do we do now?” Lei asks him,

He sighs, heavy with uncertainty, “I think it is time to return to Earth,
I
left something of mine there, I should like to retrieve it now.”

“The head corps will be expecting my return as well,” Lei answered, “They will not be pleased with my performance I imagine.”

“I will drop you wherever you please Ms. Liang, they would be foolish to reprimand you for saving these people.”

“It was a sacrifice,” Lei answered, “But perhaps the wrong one, at the wrong time.”