by Drew Avera
“Is anyone there?”
“Deis?” It was a different voice, more masculine, but not threatening.
“Yes, I’m Deis,” he answered the haunting voice.
“Where are you?” the voice asked.
He looked around, making eye contact with Malikea who looked just as frightened as Deis felt. “I’m on the ship, the Replicade.”
“So am I,” the feminine voice said from behind him, but sounding closer than before.
He turned to face the person speaking, but no one was there. “Where?”
“Is it safe now?” a small voice said, a whisper that spoke to his soul.
He heard two familiar voices answer with a “yes” and then the static disappeared and in its place was a blue sphere of bright light containing three bodies.
“What is that?” Malikea asked.
Deis stared, eyes wide, his heart pounding in his chest. “It’s Anki and Brendle,” he said, watching the details of their features come into existence as if they were being stitched together from the fabric of the universe. Next them was a small girl, no more than nine or ten years old. He did not recognize her, but she stared into him as if she was studying him, learning him, becoming a part of him. She gazed back at him with what looked like his own eyes, yellow and reflective.
“Who are you? How is this happening?”
Brendle turned within the sphere, his hand touching the edge of it like glass, looking into his eyes. The look on his face suggested he was just as surprised as Deis, which told him that neither of them knew exactly what was happening. “Her name is Carista and she needs our help,” Brendle said. His voice sounded peculiar, almost like it was an echo to Deis’ ears.
Malikea stood next to him, reaching out to touch the sphere. “It’s beautiful,” he said.
“How can we help her?” Deis asked.
“We must take her away from this world,” Anki answered, her voice not sounding entirely like herself.
“But where?”
“Anywhere,” the girl said. Her voice trembled with fear, her eyes drenched in tears as he looked at her.
“All…all right,” Deis said.
With his words the sphere disintegrated and the three forms became fully visible in the cargo bay, no longer inhibited by whatever energy was contained within the sphere.
Anki stood, looking around mesmerized. “What happened?”
Deis, confused, shrugged his shoulders. “I was going to ask you that as well.”
Brendle knelt down next to the girl as she lay unconscious. “She said she needed our help,” Brendle said, checking for vitals. “She’s still breathing, but I have no idea what we are up against. I don’t even know how we got here.”
“I don’t either,” Anki said, placing a hand on Brendle’s shoulder. She looked at Deis. “What did she say to you?”
“She didn’t. I only spoke to you and Brendle,” he replied.
“She was using us to talk to you,” Brendle said. “She was controlling us somehow.”
“Are you sure?” Anki asked.
He looked up at her. “I wasn’t at first, but when I couldn’t pull my gun away from those men and I was filled with the urge to shoot them, I realized those weren’t my thoughts. I looked in her eyes and saw my own eyes looking back at me.”
“I saw that too,” Deis said, but my eyes when she asked for help.
“What is going on?” Anki asked, trembling.
Brendle stood and looked at Deis and Malikea. “We need to get this ship ready to launch. I don’t know how long it will take for the people searching for her to find us, but I’m pretty sure I know what they’ll do once they do find us.”
“I’ll get the drive online,” Deis said, looking to Malikea. “Can you give me a hand?”
Malikea nodded and both men ran for the bridge.
9
Anki
In the medical bay the only sound Anki could hear was the constant beeping of the machines as they monitored Carista’s vitals. Everything looked all right, but the girl was still unconscious. Whatever happened that cause the three of them to teleport from downtown Tharsus into the cargo bay of the Replicade had really done a number on her.
“How is she?” Brendle asked as he walked into the medical bay. He no longer wore the jacket and street clothes he was wearing before and was now in his standard gray coveralls that all of the crew tended to wear while underway. Anki hadn’t thought to change, she was too worried about the mysterious girl with the astonishing power that she could not seem to comprehend.
“Still no change,” Anki replied.
“You look like you could use some sleep,” Brendle said smiling.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Anki turned and stared him down coldly.
“Hey, I was just kidding.”
“I doubt it.”
Brendle backpedaled. “Seriously, I was kidding. I was kind of hoping I could lure you to bed, maybe settle in for the night, if you know what I mean.”
Anki grinned after she turned away from him. Tonight was supposed to be date night, but of course it all went to hell. “I’m just messing with you, but I do think someone should stay here with her in case she wakes up.” Her mind was flooded with all kinds of information that seemed to have been transmitted into her brain. Everything was in intermittent fragments as trying to piece it all together was giving her a headache, but she felt she owed it to the girl to help her. Whatever that meant.
“I guess you have a point about that.”
Anki sighed and closed her eyes, the light of the medical bay making her headache worse. “Who’s flying the ship?”
“I left Deis on the bridge, but I programed some coordinates to take us beyond an asteroid belt about midway through this system. We should be out of range of any standard tracking systems until we can get a handle on what’s going on. I do think we’re in some serious shit with this girl, though.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, look at that,” Brendle said, pointing at a marking on the upper portion of the girl’s ear. If not for her lying down, her hair would have kept it covered.
“What does it say?” Anki said as she moved a magnifying glass over to Carista’s ear. It was a series of lines similar to a barcode, but the lines were arranged in opposing directions. The final space was a numeral three. “Do you think that means she is the third version of whatever she is?”
Brendle shrugged his shoulders. “I honestly have no idea, but if she’s been tagged then I doubt they will give up looking for her.”
“The real question is who are they?”
“Yeah,” Brendle said as he exhaled. “I don’t know the answer to that and I have to admit I’m kind of scared to find out. If not for Carista pulling us out of that situation, I’m pretty sure those men would have killed us in the street; even with the crowd surrounding us.”
Anki thought back to the incident. The whole time she had been focused on the girl and then the guns, but what about her surroundings? “Did you notice that no one in the crowd looked at us during that whole ordeal?”
“I did notice. What do you make of that?”
“I’m not sure, but I do remember bumping into people and making eye contact with them before we came into contact with Carista. After? The only people we interacted with were those two men. Everything else made me feel like I was on another plane of existence.”
Brendle stood quietly for a moment. “So we weren’t where we thought we were?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t think so.”
“That’s strange.”
“You’re telling me.” Anki leaned over and checked over the girl again, trying to find a way to make herself useful.
“Did you feel out of control at all during that time?” Brendle asked.
“Only the whole time,” she answered. “It was like time slowed down, and my senses experienced everything differently. I could hear things I wouldn’t normally hear. And I felt unusually afraid, like if they t
ook the girl then I might be in danger as well.”
“Me too,” Brendle said.
Anki thought for a moment. “It’s like she was using us as an escape route.”
“I was just thinking that, but for the life of me I can’t figure out how she could have done that.”
The temperature in the medical bay seemed to drop suddenly. The beeping of the monitors stopped and gravity felt stronger as if the Replicade was increasing thrust. “What’s going on?” Anki asked, gripping the bedrail in order keep her balance.
“I’m not sure.” Brendle held onto the foot of the medical cart, bracing himself by spreading his legs and shifting his center of gravity.
Goosebumps formed on Anki’s bare skin and shivers ran down her spine. Something wasn’t right, she thought. Her eyes darted across the room, looking for something that could tell her exactly what was going on. The ship seemed to lurch forward, but the only thing that shifted in the medical bay was Anki and Brendle. It’s happening again.
“I‒” She started to say something, but movement caught her attention. She looked down at Carista and saw that her eyes were open. The girl canted her heads towards Anki slowly; her eyes wide and full of fear. Anki felt every bit of anxiety that she could read in the girl’s face and then she realized the girl was holding onto her for dear life, crushing Anki’s arm with an unnatural amount of strength.
“I’m scared,” Carista said softly. Her voice was hoarse and weak, but Anki could hear a sweetness to it, an innocence. “Where am I? Don’t let them find me.”
“There’s no need to be afraid,” Anki replied. Brendle stepped next to her and gazed down at Carista. The girl looked up and tried to push away.
“No.” Her grip tightened on Anki’s arm.
“What’s wrong?” Anki asked, tears forming in her eyes from the pain of Carista’s grip. She wanted to cry out in pain, but the girl’s fear took precedence. “No one here will hurt you.”
The girl’s grip loosened slightly, but she still tried to back away from Brendle.
“I think she’s afraid of men,” Brendle said. The discouragement in his voice painted a bleak picture in Anki’s mind of what this strange girl must have gone through. “Maybe I should step out until she calms down; give you a chance to talk to her.”
Anki turned to face him. “All right, but don’t go too far.” She was nervous being in Carista’s presence. Never before had Anki experienced a person with such strength and power. The fact she was afraid made her all the more dangerous. All it would take is the girl freaking out and they could end up somewhere outside of the ship, in vacuum.
Brendle touched Anki’s shoulder lightly as he turned to step out of the medical bay. The farther he moved away from Carista the more at ease she became. Maybe he was right, Anki thought as she looked at the girl, tears streaming down her face reflecting the bright lights of the medical equipment.
“You’re name is Carista?”
The young girl looked up at her, eyes wide, frowning. She nodded and looked away.
“My name is Anki.”
“I know,” Carista answered without moving her lips. The experience made Anki’s heartbeat quicken. It is so unnatural to have someone else’s voice in my head. “I’m sorry,” the girl said out loud.
Anki forced a smile, trying not to let any thoughts of fear enter her mind, knowing Carista could read her thoughts and possibly feed off of Anki’s fears. “I’ve never met anyone like you. I’m sorry if I seem afraid.”
She stared back into Anki’s eyes. “Everyone is always afraid,” Carista said. “And their fear makes me afraid.”
People always fear what they don’t understand.
“That’s what they said.”
Anki was taken aback, caught off guard as Carista replied to her internal thoughts. “Who are the they you refer to?” Anki asked.
Carista shrank back, fear causing her pupils to dilate. “They are the ones who owned me, controlled me.”
“Were they the people you were running from?”
“No,” she answered. “But they would have taken me back to them.”
Anki was piecing together Carista’s past in her mind. The men in black chasing her down, the label inked into her ear, the power she seemed to possess. CERCO?
Carista tensed with fear, probably hearing Anki’s thought of the name that strangely entered her mind out of nowhere. She took that as a sign that she was onto something, and having a name meant they could possibly trace the organization or whatever it was. “Were they trying to make you a weapon?”
“I don’t want to hurt anyone.” Carista replied, her voice sounding like she was on the edge of tears.
That answered that question.
“You’ll be safe with us,” Anki said, placing a comforting hand on Carista’s arm. She patted her arm for a moment, the girl’s face red and teary eyed, but she muffled back the sobs with a strength that was beyond her age. Anki’s heart was breaking as she watched the girl, confused and utterly alone. How would I feel if I was in her situation? I’m afraid and I don’t have people coming after me. Anki bowed her head, maintaining silence and giving the girl some dignity as she wiped tears from her eyes. Anki knew she would not want to watched if she was crying. Emotions were a solitary thing on Luthia.
“They will find me and make me kill,” Carista said, breaking her silence.
Anki looked at her and narrowed her eyes. “Not if I can help it.” She meant every word. This girl was under her protection and she would stop at nothing to ensure no one ever hurt her again.
Carista looked up sadly, her lips trembling. She paused, holding back her thoughts, before they seemed to become too much for her to hold inside. “They’ll have me start with you.”
Anki looked at the girl, shocked. “How do you know that?” she asked nervously.
Carista stared at her with cloudy eyes. There was a tinge of amber growing brighter in them as Anki gazed into them. “I’ve seen the future,” she said. “They have showed me things about myself that I never want to see, but I have been powerless to escape them.”
Anki’s heart thudded in her chest hard enough to make it hard to breathe. “The future hasn’t happened yet.” Those five words were the only act of defiance she could make at Carista’s argument. She knew where those thoughts were coming from, but she had to have hope that CERCO was not powerful enough to write the future into existence. Otherwise, they were all doomed.
10
Ilium
The bulkheads of the Hamæråté were crawling with anticipation as Ilium made his way up to the bridge. They had finally received orders to meet with the rest of the battlegroup and had three Greshian days to rendezvous with the King Slayer. As the flagship of the battlegroup, the King Slayer was the newest piece of technological military superiority added to their massive fleet. It was no wonder why they were decimating their enemies with steadfast resolve. Ilium’s mouth watered as he thought about commanding a ship with the kind of fire power that the King Slayer boasted.
Beyond the typical automatic point defense countermeasures, three mag-rails, and forty cannons, it also featured a laser array four times as efficient as the array on the Telran, with the capability of destroying an entire planet in the matter of minutes instead of hours. Never mind the fact it was also capable of jumping without the use of a Service Station, though the capability was limited to a short distance. It was still a feat the Greshian Empire could use to their military advantage; especially considering the growing hostilities in the Shiveih Sector. With the kind of weapons and capabilities available on the King Slayer I could bend this entire galaxy to my will, he thought as he stood outside the bridge and looked at himself in the mirror. The first tuft of gray hair was forming along his temple, though he was still young. Stress aging, just another sign that this life is not for me, but something better awaits.
When Ilium entered the bridge, he found about a dozen of his men standing around, arms crossed, as they watched a news fee
d stamped with the Greshian Navy’s emblem embossed in the lower right corner. Whatever this is, this is an official report, Ilium thought as he took a position behind everyone else. They hardly seemed to notice his arrival, but given the context of the situation playing out on the screen, he immediately understood why. Two Greshian captain’s images were displayed with the date of death written beneath their names. The date was for today. Ilium knew neither of them, but the likelihood of two commanding officers dying in the same day could mean only one thing, that someone was standing up to Greshia. Well, I’ll be damned, he thought as the reporter continued her report. He watched with masked enthusiasm.
“The latest report shows that the GNS Remault and the GNS Pouwt were destroyed as Shiveian rebels went on an offensive strike. This, after several weeks of deliberation with peace talks after Minister of State Brean Mala initially agreed to swear an oath of allegiance to the Greshian Empire. This upset was caused after Mala was assassinated and the interim Minister of State refuted Mala’s position. The strike was delivered as Greshian Ambassador Greil departed Shiveih in his personal transport. The GNS Remault and GNS Pouwt were destroyed protecting the ambassador and the members of the crew will all be awarded the Severast Medal of Valor posthumously.” The news report filled the bridge as three large monitors displayed the carnage near Shiveih. It was the first time Ilium had seen a strike made by another military that actually had the capability of doing damage to Greshian ships. That was part of the reason the King Slayer was being sent to the Shiveih Sector and Ilium could not wait to meet the call for violence. The only answer to their defiance was total annihilation.
“You had your chance,” Ilium said as the news report turned off. All eyes turned on him as he took his seat on the bridge. “This is what we are called to do in service to our great empire. Greshia will not tolerate defiance. She will not condone the actions of inferior races as they rise to stand against us. We will conquer them and their people, place our feet upon them in victory, and boast proudly of our seat of power.” Ilium pointed across the room to each individual standing there, anger flashing in their eyes at the news of their own people dying at the hands of a planet of savages. “You are the administers of justice for our people.”