Interzeit: A Space Opera (24 page)

Nol, lost in the mob, forgets everything, the dancing and music reaches a
n
inescapable point within him, his energy is too high, supernova imminent, he runs through a clear patch of the red orb and jumps with all of his strength.

He hurtles upwards with surprising speed, bending and flowing through the taut lines of gravitation
al
intermingling. He slaps against fellow travelers unapologetically like a drugged fueled pinball. In fact as he flies around everything seems to take a more spherical perception. Fractally
moving
downwards the
Lunarium
is
,
and all its contents within must logically be
it
as well.

He comes to a rough stop on a lime planetoid next. He dusts himself, looking around. He laughs at the chaos, and is soon melted back within the moment
, u
nable to take control of his body back from this mad gravity.

Soon the laughing forms of Iza and
Lei
come
coursing down on the world as well. Hands clasped
,
they spin around wildly like a two per
son helicopter
.
S
lowly
they
crash
land
onto the surface. He wanders away from the mob to check on them. They both seem caught in a
n
endless loop, laughing at each other.

“Nice of you to drop in.”
Nol comments, standing over them.

He helps them to their feet, becoming infected with their laughter. They dance mindlessly for a short time before Iza interrupts things.

“So, there’s a specific set of points set up here. You can just fall through them like a channel. It runs the entire area, and then deposits you back where you started.”

She hopped backwards trying to eyeball her trajectory, sinking in, getting ready.

“Just follow me up okay?”

They rallied behind her. She gets a small start,
then
bounds upwards. They sail after her. They
fly through the melting chamber
in a
n
unev
en V-formation. Their forms melt into the space, flashing with the colors of all the moon bodies, lasers and streaks of lights bouncing off of all the flinting orbital humans.

Flying out to the far reaches of the Lunarium, slingshotting back in around the pull of some yellow rubber moon, coursing and figure eighting through its siblings, the music changes
pulsing
a more frenetic and impulsive beat, they land on the purple moon.
The only one of its kind.

Slightly larger than the others, the trio wanders around finding piles of unoccupied cushions scattered, Lei throws herself, pratfalling onto the softness.

“Woo,” she hums, “I feel sick, definitely sick.”

“Hold it together Miss
.
”
Iza
says, dropping down next to her.

“This isn’t it.” Lei says,

“What?”
Iza
asks,

“This isn’t the where we started.” Lei says,

Nol
sees the cushions as a pointy pile of tiles, he leans into them cautiously
, testing out their safety before finally letting himself go.

Exhausted,
half-sick, over-stimulated
, they all lay together in a semi-catatonic daze. The planets move, and spin with the music. The tendrils of gravity grip and release them with the subsequent pulses of bass, lapping over like inky ocean waves.

Lei has
the overwhelming feeling of being in space. She is there only she isn’t, she watching herself from the third person. She peers down onto her dark hair, seeing through it, wires, and circuitry busy buzzing, and transmitting. Her plated metal skin cuts through the vacuum swiftly, sailing past the beeping signal lights drifting around her.

The further she falls, the more and more debris comes ripping off her chasis. Whole plates, frayed pieces of wire, hanging on corroded components scatter around
flying towards infinity’
s crumbling karmic pull. Slowly she degrades to a wireframe. The blueprints only, a outlining of an idea, this outline flies freely, escaping the gravitation channel drifting through matter and light as though they are the same.

It
us
breaking and re-arranging into a mass incomprehendable, until

“Lei!”
He hums, shattering the hallucination.

Her eyes realign to reality, switches and brain functions shifting back toward towards the symbology of language, and names.

She glances at Nol, and smiles.

“Water?”
He asks
,
she’s not completely sure what he means.

“Sure,”

He helps her up.

“Where’s Iza?” She asks

“Don’t worry, she’s a goblin, you can only see her when she wants you to.”

Lei accepted that, so they wandered through the writhing dance moon searching for something. Eventually they did find a large fountain on the other side, people splashed through its lower hanging layers
laughing, and debauching.

They wade into this place, the water quickly rising up to their chests. Convinced that the water down here was probably of an unsterile content, they pull themselves up the stone layers to higher ground.

Fighting against the small water flows rushing over the edges took teamwork
.
T
he slippery, yet soft stone provide
d
little traction in their current clothing. They get two layers up, s
lowly thinning away from people
.

They make it another layer up before settling for good enough
. Together the two feast
on the fountain water from one of its many cresting water flows.

“It tastes good!” Lei exclaims.

Nol agrees blubbering through the spray with enthusiasm. The cold water seeps through them both, cleansing and awakening them out of the deeper layers of their trip. They relax in the small high fountain
tier. Mindlessly taking in the moment, they disappear in the stream completely.

This continues for several eons. Time and reality moves forwards, their small constructed moon system orbiting and orbiting, flowing and changing with the millennia.

Suddenly a familiar goblin drops down on them from the next higher tier. Laughing, she interrogates them.

“What are you two wasters doing up here?” Her eyes are blazing and intense, yet distant.

“Uh, we were thirsty.” Nol explains, “We wanted to get the water at the source, up high, right?”

Izanami cackles, “You do know they just pump the water from the bottom up to the top right? That’s how fountains work.”

“Oh,” Lei says weakly, “That makes sense,”

Amused, and slightly disgusted, Iza evaluates her two protégés carefully.

“Don’t worry,” she says finally, “I’m sure it they filter it in the pump or something huh?”

The two nod in agreement. She splashes them both in the face, inciting Lei to gently, but skillfully sweep her into the puddle. They laugh when suddenly the music around them curtails. It comes to a quiet and gentle stop.

Like the cessation of a mass mental signal every looks around for it almost lost, confused. The planets all flicker brightly.
Shifting from the neon diversity of colors, to a harsh bright white light, the whole area lights up clearly.

“What is going on?”
Lei asks
in panic.

The gravity of the planet grows strong suddenly, persuading them to stay seated. Orbital sailors come in harshly, some of them bouncing comically off the fountain in
un
fortunate flight termini.

Everyone is locked into place for several minutes. Their breathing
is
strained under the invisible python grip of the fake moon. They look to Iza for her confirmation. Awaiting
a
verdict they all secretly know, but Nol and Lei have enough ignorance to hope against.

“Yea…” she mutters, “We’re definitely in for it.”

“Well…” Lei says, “I’m high and wet, so that’s something.”

Eventually the gravity returns to a normal level. With the extra breath capacity, their pale machinated moon erupts in protest over the violent interruption. The trio climb
ed
down the fountain
slowly,
the gravity is still wonky, different from when they first ascended up the slippery tiers.

“I’m going to get a running start,” Nol says, “We should split up, and try to escape.”

He bolts without waiting for their agreement to his escape plan.

“He knows we’re all wearing uniforms right? There’s no way we can blend in,”

“He’s just
blasted,”
Iza
answers, “He’ll come to his sense
s
.”

“I hope he doesn’t hurt himself,” Lei says weakly.

“Just give it a minute.”

The commotion among the crowds suddenly breaks, shattering into a hushed reverent tone.
Lei and Iza look at a distance orb moon, and see too the reason for the occasion. Several armed guards, carrying heavy autolasers jump onto the surface.

With ruthless methodology, they search and detain everyone within their grasp, smashing down runners with hard rifle butts.

By the time the
y
move on t
o
the next orb,
Nol
, breathless, hobbles back to them,
sitting, slipping partially into the fountain.

“Huh…huh, they turned off the, the, I don’t know, I can’t jump to the other moons Iza.”

“I know Nol,” She answers, watching
the
Lunar
security work their
way through more civilians.

Nol picks up on this, muttering under his breath whilst trying still to catch it. Helpless to escape, they slowly await their eventual and fated intersection with the law. Nol and Iza sit
forlorn
, while Lei tries the tactic of sobering up as quickly as possible.

She alternates between push-ups and dunking her face in the fountain. Repeating this on an on in what feels like a neurotic eternity.

Finally the system works their way to their planet. Nol stands in resignation, he looks at his fellow pilots, they consign to it as well, and they walk guiltily to the search party.

Nol puts his hands up, the
others following his lead. The search party identifies them by their distinct
ive pilot
jumpsuits
. The five intimidating officers walk towards them aggressively. They are adorned with white and black combat armor, their faces covered with digital sensors built into discrete masks.

Nol leans in, “Sorry about this guys, we were just looking to get out a little bit. I just got here, and hones-“

His words sputter with a loud crack. An office smashed his rifle over the top of his head. The world bounces into starry darkness, and he wakes up on the ground. He rolls over to see them detaining Lei and Izanami roughly. The light alternates between glaring and non-existent. It dims as three
officers
circle around him, closing off his view of the outside world. Their sentinel faces beam down on him with their permanent grafted displeasure.

“A little help here?”
He asks

They oblige him with a sound beat
down. Their heavy boots smash
into him. He curls up from their abuse, balling and covering his head in a panic. The adrenaline is flowing, he feels it. His blood is as well, th
ough he can’t feel that mixing into the still wet clothing
.

He rolls into
a full panic, hyperventilating,
the
blows continue to reign down on him mercilessly.

“Nol,” he hears it, “Why are they doing this
to
you
?”

He ignores the voice, but it grows louder.

“Nol!
I won’t let them hurt you like this! I’m coming Nol, I’m going to stop them.”

“No,” he mutters weakly, “No don’t”

His plea falls on the joyfully deaf ears of the officers.

“Then do something Nol! I won’t let you kill us, do something!”

Something in him
shifts,
his teeth grit almost on their own, flashes of the past, a quick tour of his fatal life spins through him.

He feels
it
in his inner chest pocket, the one thing he has refused to part with this entire journey. He reaches for through the storm, flicking it to life. The purple screeches into its form, Nol spins weakly to his feet.