Through the Abyss

by Daniel Litchfield

  Euphretes walked up to the first door in his line of site, which automatically opened. He passed a series of immense offices and orderly rooms where his subordinate commanders and their staffs worked. He quickly made his way to his new office at the end of the hallway, doing his best to remain unknown and unobtrusive. As he stood before the door, a slit in the wall opened up, revealing a small command console. Euphretes then logged into his Profile to verify his credentials. Assigned at birth and permanently imbedded into the Universal Information System, or UIS, an individual’s profile was a constantly updating birth certificate that stored all of their personal information.

  Profiles contained the family, work, and criminal history of an individual and were only accessible by the individual and whoever he or she delegated to have access. No government or group had complete control of the UIS’s ability to update a person’s profile. In fact, no government could regulate the UIS whatsoever because of its built in protection measures. It was created for the betterment of man, not government. Instead, the updates occurred automatically and continued to baffle experts who couldn’t figure out how the process even played out. Even so, they were grateful it existed. On the other hand, while no one could manipulate someone’s profile, limited access was given to the individual’s Empire in order to allow it to track their criminal history, contact information, and to allow for the individual to remain connected to their Empire regardless of where they were.

  Once the office’s security settings confirmed Euphretes’s credentials, the thick mahogany door granted access by silently slipping into the wall. His office maintained a low-tech design, providing more of a “home away from home” atmosphere rather than an office for the Senior Officer sitting at the desk. Over the years, it became apparent that Commanders rarely spent time in the large work space. So, the office was changed from a working environment to a place of refuge.

  A perfectly hand carved wooden desk sat at the far end. The stunning workstation had all of the Huron Empire’s top animal predators carved into its sides, including the now extinct planet eater species that once joined forces with the Huron family. A new bio-adaptive digital interface stretched across the top to provide a large command console that was capable of handling anything the Commander needed. Grown into the wood itself, the technological marvel was used for more of an aesthetically pleasing affect rather than to boost productivity. Nevertheless, it was unparalleled in either the Natron or Baikal Empires. Behind his office’s heirloom sat an oversized luxury command chair with built in communication and projections systems. The chair was directly connected to the second floor’s primary transmitters, allowing the Commander to conduct meetings with anyone, anywhere in the Galactic Group.

  Euphretes made his way to the desk, his body just now starting to protest the recent abuse it had endured. Now that his Test was over and Neuma no longer needed to pull from his stores of energy, Euphretes found himself utterly exhausted. He stood staring at his leather zero gravity command chair and wanted nothing more than to get lost in its embrace. Unfortunately, he knew that he had work to do before bedding down for the night. After struggling with himself to find the motivation to keep moving, Euphretes typed a command into his desk. Instantaneously, two Personal Assistant Droids came out from a hidden compartment in the wall and assisted Euphretes in taking off his armor. They would later take it to get cleaned and refitted overnight.

  With the weight of the armor off his body and psyche, he walked over to a closet at the opposite end of the room and the door opened automatically as he approached. He was relieved to find a few of his personal clothes and military uniforms hanging neatly inside. Laughing to himself, Euphretes walked over to a large structure at the back of the walk in closet. A rack designed to hold his armor while also providing automatic system updates and small repairs, towered before him. The piece of equipment was empty except for his helmet, which had been kept from him during his Test. Remembering Caruso’s comment, Euphretes checked the helmet’s tracking systems to ensure they had not been tampered with. Clear.

  Thankful to be out of his gear, Euphretes slipped through another door in his closet and stepped into the office’s private bathroom. Stunning black and gold heated marble greeted his bare feet with a pleasant surface temperature of seventy-five degrees. Sensors around the door frame checked his vital signs and after noticing high cortisol levels in his blood, allowed a mild anxiolytic mist to start circulating through the bathroom. A large vanity already filled with his personal hygiene items hovered off the floor, just above a small drain. To Euphretes’s right, a shower, lined with onyx and glass, took up the entire wall.

  As Euphretes stepped into the massive shower, the vanity’s mirror reflected a body void of any fat and rippled with hard earned muscle. His chest was lightly blanketed with black hair, darkening his already tan complexion. A large scar running parallel down his back, just centimeters from his spine, could be seen when he turned the shower on. Suddenly, as he caught the image of the scar in the mirror, a searing pain momentarily shot down his spinal column and nearly dropped him to his knees. Shaking off the sensation, Euphretes closed his eyes and let the hot water cascade over him. His caramel hair, always cut short in a medium fade, whisked away the water as a week’s worth of oils engulfed each strand, refusing to let go easily. The Admiral’s vibrant hazel eyes stared back at him as he looked in his shaving mirror.

  The second in line to the Huron throne had a handsome, almost youthful face that made him appear younger than he actually was. Even with his good looks and incredible physique, his horrible health during his childhood still managed to cast a shadow on how he viewed himself. Out of his self-confidence issues came a horrendous ability to interact with the opposite sex. He often spoke too fast around women and tried too hard to be clever, often making jokes that went far above their heads. Clearly an introvert, Euphretes preferred his own company, which meant Neuma.

  Because of his lack of popularity growing up, Euphretes harbored a deeply loyal soul. He maintained a few close relationships which he held on to with all that he had and didn’t bother with the hassle of part time, superficial relationships. Someone who strongly believed that peace was not just not a concept, but a mandated right that all humans should have access too, Euphretes hated the fact that he had to create chaos in order to maintain it.

  Allowing the warm water to run down his sculpted body, Euphretes turned his head toward a small interactive screen next to the shower’s controls. Noticing the eye contact, the shower popped the screen to life and started playing the local news. The headline, “Natron Emperor Missing?” ran across the top of the screen. Meanwhile, the anchor talked about the Huron Empire’s current military training exercises, which occurred every three hundred and fifty days. Euphretes’s sleep deprived brain didn’t fully comprehend the significance behind the headline before the words escaped his mouth, “Switch to my relax playlist.” Even Neuma’s fatigue caused her to miss the peculiar story.

  With the soft rhythmic beat tricking his brain to release small amounts of serotonin, Euphretes’s mood lifted. Also designed to reduce brain activity in the hypothalamus and calm the pituitary and adrenal glands, the music could even quiet Neuma’s mood. Euphretes was only a few moments into the second song when the music stopped and the intercom system started signaling an incoming communications request. Emperor Carpathian, Euphretes’s father through adoption, was trying to reach him. Hitting the ACCEPT COMMUNICATION tab, Euphretes said aloud, “How can I help you Sir?”

  The Emperor’s grey, sullen expression burst to life when he saw his son’s face. “I wanted to first call and say congratulations; and that I am so proud of you. I can honestly say that I never had any doubt you would nail your Test and fill the position.”

  Euphretes’s annoyance at his interrupted shower lifted and he returned his father’s smile. “Thank you. It was, fun. But I can see that something else is up, so why don’t you get it off your mind?” Euphretes could feel the shadows w
eighing down upon his father’s aura despite the vast distance between them as if they had a supernatural connection.

  The frown on Carpathian’s face immediately told Euphretes that he would not like what he was about to hear.

  “Sadly, I must insist that I end your shower.”

  Euphretes nodded, knowing the Emperor meant that it would be better for him to be dressed and seated for the news to come. “Good Copy. Can I get a warning at least?”

  Carpathian looked down for a few seconds before regaining eye contact, “I’m afraid I have some bad news. I have an assignment that needs your attention. I will tell you what I can when you get dressed.”

  Euphretes sighed, “Fine, give me a few; I’ll call you from the office.”

  The Warden Admiral reluctantly stepped out of his shower and grabbed a towel. Made out of billions of micro fibers that quickly trapped moisture, the towel completely dried him off in seconds. Moments later, in his duty uniform, Euphretes sat down at his desk and seriously considered not calling back. While a complete hater of procrastination, the fatigue weighing upon his mind caused a momently slip. Instead of typing in his father’s name, another appeared across his desk, Lani N. Natron. As he waited for her to accept his communication’s request, Euphretes’s worn out mind drifted to the time when he was living under Emperor Lesos’s roof. Lani was the oldest of Lesos’s two children and was the closest to Euphretes’s age. More importantly, she was the only real female friend, outside of Neuma, that he’d had. Incredibly alluring when she needed to be, Lani grew up a tom boy and oblivious to her impeccable beauty.

  Euphretes smiled as he remembered when they snuck past their security details and stole two of Emperor Lesos’s Sprint Racers together. Dangerously fast and agile vehicles that left the operator completely open to the elements, Sprint Racers were the closest thing a human could get to flying without actually flying. The pair chased each other for hours, both too stubborn to admit when it was time to go home. They flew hundreds of miles away from the Royal Palace, daring each other to go further. Ignoring Neuma’s warnings, Euphretes had to prove his courage by pushing the limits even further. Before everything crumbled around him, it was the most fun he’d ever had in his life up to that point. Unfortunately, when Lani's Sprint Racer ran out of fuel just as the sun was beginning to set, the thrill swiftly shifted to trepidation.

  Stranded in the middle of nowhere in the arid regions of Esam, Emperor Lesos’s Royal planet, Euphretes and Lani were frightfully unprepared for the elements. With temperatures in the upper ninety’s during the day and dropping to nearly zero at night, they were both under dressed for the night ahead. Euphretes knew the chances of survival were slim unless he acted quickly. Stripped down to the bare minimum in order to reduce weight, the Sprint Racers only came with short distance communication abilities; only adding to the hopelessness of the situation. Without enough fuel to make it to any civilization, Euphretes raced off ahead in search of any form of shelter.

  During his frantic search, he kept punishing himself for being so careless. Neuma did all that she could to settle him down, but in that moment, she started to truly realize that Lani meant more to him than just a friend. While her efforts to appease his conscious helped immensely, Euphretes still tore himself apart with guilt and frustration at his sheer stupidity. Fortunately for him and Neuma, they quickly found a small oasis with some forestry. After hastily inspecting the area, Euphretes raced back to the stranded Lani. He sat her on his Sprint Racer, gave her detailed instructions on how to get to the oasis, and then ran the three miles there himself.

  Euphretes knew the entire planet would be looking for them but the chances of being found before the freeze of night were low. Searching for water would seem to be the logical first thing to do, but Euphretes was more concerned with keeping Lani warm and alive. With Neuma’s guidance, he took apart the small craft that just barely made it to the oasis and used the electrical circuits to generate sparks. After gathering some dry fuel for the flames, he returned to Lani and started a fire. Miraculously, the little oasis provided just enough dried wood, branches, twigs and leaves to keep them alive.

  Temperatures that night were abnormally low, but thankfully, the desert air was calm, most likely saving both of their lives. Even so, both suffered frostbite and severe hypothermia before the cold relented to the day’s heat. Lani, however, faired far worse, and became completely incoherent for days. It wasn’t until later that next morning that they were discovered.

  Once spotted, Emperor Lesos’s Planetary Police Force quickly got to the pair; still huddled together and unconscious. Despite the vast man power looking for them, it was Esam’s small Planetary Defense Fleet that found the Princess. They used a newly designed tracking system that was DNA sensitive up to eight hundred miles away and could scan a five hundred square mile patch in seconds. The Fleet Commander for the Royal Planet’s defense was itching to use his new toy when he received the word to use the scanner to aid in the search. Designed to find enemy combatants on a planetary surface or pick out hidden Ships in space, he fired up the equipment and found the pair after only twenty minutes of searching. Because it was brand new and had not been used in an official setting, neither Emperor Lesos nor his Staff, ever thought to use it at first.

  Rescue crews raced to the oasis when word came down from the Planetary Defense Scanning and Tracking Program, ending a planet wide panic. Both Euphretes and Lani were rushed to the nearest treatment facility, where the young girl spent four days in a protected state of unconsciousness to facilitate healing. Euphretes, on the other hand, was in and out in three hours; baffling every physician considering the state in which he entered the facility.

  Shortly after Lani was released, Euphretes was called to Emperor Lesos’s office. Not only had Euphretes not spoken to the Emperor since the day he and Lani left with the Sprint Racers, but he had been warned to never step foot into the Emperor’s personal office. People who entered rarely left on good terms.

  Fear gripped Euphretes when his rehearsed knock was immediately answered with the door flying open and a mighty shout immediately following. “ENTER!”

  “That’s not a reassuring ‘enter.”

  “Afraid not.”

  “For once, can you be wrong?”

  “Again, I’m afraid not. But it’ll be okay. Face the consequences like a Champion and the rest is simply out of your hands.”

  Euphretes nervously stepped inside the office; Neuma allowing the flood gates of anxiety to unleash its character sanctifying effects on his future choices.

  The massive room, with its thirty foot circular ceiling, felt more like the bottom of a tower than an office. It was filled with old war and hunting memorabilia. Books, some thousands of years old, filled much of the circular wall. Old leathered couches dotted the floor with modern interface tables between them.

  “Look at this place!” he whispered to Neuma. “It’s like some ancient museum.”

  “I suggest you pay attention, Euphretes!

  “COUGH” “AHEM!”

  The sound of the Emperor clearing his throat jolted Euphretes from his thoughts about history and artifacts. He was unsure what to do, and Neuma was being absolutely silent as she usually was at times like this. Standing at attention seemed like the best course of action at the moment. The Natron Emperor allowed a minute or two to pass, slightly amused at the young man’s obvious distress. Finally, the Emperor stood and Euphretes mentally prepared for the verbal onslaught.

  “What you did was incredibly stupid and foolhardy.”

  Euphretes stood in silence, unmoving.

  “Sit, please,” Lesos directed.

  He waited for Euphretes to cautiously ease himself into a chair and then continued, “Look, I expect this to be a conversation. You are not an Official of mine getting their butt torn apart or a member of my Staff on my hit list; I will treat you like a son as long as you’re under this roof. So, talk freely. Is that clear?” The words were genuine, as was the Emp
eror’s aura, setting Euphretes at ease.

  “Sir, I am so sorry. It was my fault, not Lani’s. I…”

  Emperor Lesos leaned forward in his chair and interrupted the stuttering Euphretes. “Stop, Euphretes, relax. There is not some grand punishment in store for you. I understand. I was young once too. But you’re different, Euphretes. You’re special. And that girl you almost killed, she’s my everything.” Euphretes hung his head, the sting of disappointing a mentor hitting far harder than any physical repercussions.

  Noticing Euphretes’s lack of response, “I expect more from you than that. You are truly a remarkable young man, Euphretes. Yes, you are. And you really have to start realizing that. I don’t think you understand how much it would tear me up inside if something were to happen to you. I would be heartbroken about what the Galactic Group missed out on; what the human race missed out on. You have to really think through your actions, because selfishness will get even the best of men killed. Does that make sense?”