I swear, you’re becoming more human by the day.
Ah, no. Not human. Humor-ous. If I were human, I’d need to enact a global protocol on all my functioning to reduce my accuracy to about ten percent. And then label all errors as ‘gut instinct’!
Molly laughed, and Giles looked at her, puzzled and a little hurt.
“Oh, it’s my AI. He fancies himself a comedian,” she explained.
Their drinks arrived, and they clinked the bottles before drinking. Giles looked around Molly, perhaps looking for wires. “Yes, I’d read about your onboard AI. How exactly does he – forgive me,” he stopped himself. “Am I being rude?”
Molly blushed a little, and dropped her eyes to the bar. “Erm. No, he’s wired into my neurology. He says he uses the junk space in my brain that I’m not using; although, I’ve had occasion to suspect that isn’t quite true.”
Giles looked at her like she was magic. “That’s… fascinating,” he remarked.
You’re not going to tell him about the holo connection?
Nuh uh. That’s need-to-know; and, frankly, he doesn’t need to know.
Fair enough. He’s probably read it on some file the General has on you, anyway.
Likely.
“So,” Molly said, swiveling around to face him. “Tell me more about this talisman we’re going off to look for?”
Giles rested his elbows on the back of his seat, holding his beer bottle in his hands. “What do you want to know?” he asked, picking at the label.
Molly frowned a little. “Well, for one, why didn’t you keep it with you? Why send it off with some guy you can’t even bring yourself to call a friend?”
Giles nodded, as if the penny had just dropped. “Ahh. I see. Well, he was a friend. Once.”
Molly looked at him over her tilted beer bottle as she took a swig. “Once?” she asked after a quick swallow.
“Yeah. Until he sold me out a month later to some travelers who thought they could get a pretty penny for me on their slave market.”
Molly stopped, her beer halfway to her mouth, her jaw dropping open. “You’re kidding?”
Giles’s face was deadpan. “I’m not. It’s a dark place out there in the outer system. I’m surprised you don’t know,” he said, waving his beer and taking a quick sip before putting it back on the bar. “Surely you’ve ventured out there on occasion, especially since joining the Empire?”
Molly was still processing the slave trade piece. “Er. No,” she answered, a little distracted. “I’ve never…” her voice trailed off.
Giles’s attention was caught by something behind her, but Molly ignored it, not wanting to get off track from the talisman.
“So why not keep the trinket with you? Or put it in a safety deposit box somewhere?” she pressed.
Giles swallowed the swig of beer he was taking before answering her question. “Well, you know how I said my friends, the Elders, were hiding from a faction in the central system?”
Molly nodded.
“Well, they’d done a great job keeping it cloaked. But when they were slaughtered - ”
Molly’s face took on a look of horror.
Giles noticed, his expression solemn and sincere. “Yes, it was tragic. But when they were killed, their magic died with them. The talisman was no longer cloaked - meaning that any priestess or realm-walker who knew it existed, would be able to track it.”
Molly had forgotten about her beer, she was so wrapped up in the story. “So what happened? What did you do?”
Giles leaned one arm on the bar. “Well, thankfully, there was only one such priestess who even knew it existed. I showed it to her, thinking I could trust her; but of course, I couldn’t. Story of my life,” he said, shaking his head at his own naiveté. “Anyway, I ended up having to take it all the way back to Teshov, where she wouldn’t be able to trace its power. And that’s where I had my friend get rid of it for me.”
Molly tilted her head thoughtfully. “I’m still not clear on why you needed someone else to hide it.”
Giles nodded. “Ah. Well, these high priestesses are psychic. They can get into your mind. Read your thoughts. If I didn’t know where it was, then she couldn’t get it out of me. It was a good system. It worked for about ten years.”
Molly was still confused. She shook her head. “Why ten years?”
Giles lifted the beer to his lips and paused. “Because after ten years, we realized we didn’t want to be together any more. She took a job with the Federation, and I went back to my nomadic ways – ”
Molly’s mouth dropped open. “Hang on,” she said, exasperated. “You’re telling me that the reason you needed to hide this fucking amulet was because you were dating an evil witch who wanted to use its mystical properties for power and diabolical plans?”
Giles nodded. “Pretty much,” he nodded, finally sipping from his beer bottle.
Molly shook her head, amused and flummoxed at the same time.
Giles winked at her. “You know what they say about the crazy ones?”
Molly shook her head. “No. No I do not.”
Giles blushed a little. “Well, the crazier they are, the hotter they are. So all relationships are just about figuring out how much crazy you’re willing to tolerate, versus how hot the girl is…”
Molly couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Ladies and gentlemen, the world view as prescribed by chauvinistic Professor Dope-head!”
She raised her bottle to him before sliding down from her barstool. “I need to go and check on my team. They need a heads up about this crazy mission we’re heading into.”
Giles raised his bottle to her as he watched her walk away. He noticed that one of the muscular marine-types was pretending to be absorbed in the conversation with the team again, after having just spent the last ten minutes checking what was going on in Molly’s conversation every opportunity he got.
Molly sat down next to Joel.
Joel nodded toward the strange-looking man at the bar. “Making friends?” he asked.
Molly shook her head abruptly. “Not really. Though it looks like we have some orders to go on a little treasure hunt tomorrow, courtesy of my friend at the bar. And his Uncle Lance.”
“Uncle, eh?” Joel bobbed his head, the team shenanigans forgotten at the mention of an op. “What’s the treasure?”
Molly shrugged. “Some ancient amulet. He’s got images of it; says he knows where to find it, too…”
Joel sat back, relaxing a little now that he knew what was going on. “Okay. Great. We’ll make a plan, then make it happen.”
Molly took another swig of beer, and then sighed, starting to relax a little herself. “Okay. I think if we leave tomorrow afternoon, that will give us enough time to rest and brief the gang.”
Chapter 5
ArchAngel, Molly’s quarters
The room was dark but for the faint glow from a makeshift night-light that Molly had rigged up by controlling the resistance of a normal light in the panel. Even the doors to the corridor outside were completely sealed against the light.
She didn’t like sleeping in pitch-black darkness. She found it all too oppressive.
Molly?
Yes, Oz?
What are you thinking about?
I’m just churning over the stuff that Giles shared. About the mythology and the Estarians… and the star map.
Yeah, me too.
Really?
No.
Molly, even in her exhausted, slightly tipsy haze, giggled and shook her head on her pillow.
So, what? What were you thinking about?
A conversation I had with ADAM earlier.
Oh, yeah?
Yeah. He asked me what I like to do for fun.
And you told him that tormenting me was your favorite pastime?
Ha!… Oz paused. No. But I figured out it’s when I’m talking to people like Brock or Joel, or Paige or Pieter, and helping them l
earn things in order to solve whatever problem they’re working on.
Molly was quiet for a moment, contemplating what to say.
Hmmm. That’s good.
Yes. But it got me thinking about you.
Mmm hmm?
Yeah. I was trying to figure out what you actually enjoy doing. So I built a heuristic to model your serotonin and dopamine levels, and mapped them against your activities.
And what did you discover?
Nothing.
So you need more data?
No. There’s nothing there. It’s like everything is the same to you. So, I thought I should ask you: What do you like doing?
Molly thought for a moment, trying to remember the last time she was truly happy.
Oz waited patiently.
Eventually, she became aware that she’d been lying in the dark, searching the recesses of her brain, while her eyes stared into the darkness of the room, blindly scanning for some glimmer of life.
Something that excited her.
Or compelled her to answer the question.
Well? Oz asked.
Molly sighed. I dunno. I mean, I love the team, and working with them, and solving problems, and strategizing.
But?
I guess there is always the question of what more could I be doing? I mean, if one wants to optimize for impact, then perhaps there are other ways to create a shift in this world – other than blowing the crap out of whatever General Reynolds tells us to.
Oz processed for a moment, considering the implications of what she was saying.
You mean that maybe the Federation doesn’t fulfill all the things you want to do in the world?
I think that’s entirely possible.
You’re not thinking of leaving, are you?
No, not at all; we’re in this. We’ve got stuff to do. But you asked the question. Why did you ask the question?
Well, ADAM suggested that I figure out what I like doing, and then what I’d like to do just for me – kind of like a hobby or a pet project. And I wondered if maybe there was something we could do together that would be… well, something non-worky.
Non-worky?
Yes, I can appreciate how that may be a foreign concept to you.
Molly smirked in the darkness. Sometimes she wished Oz had a body so she could just kick his ass.
Right. So we’re trying to find something non-worky that we can do together.
Exactly.
Molly fell silent again. Her brainwaves slowed and the amplitude increased. Oz wondered if perhaps she might be drifting off to sleep, when suddenly they quickened again.
How do you feel about starting up a university down on Estaria?
A university?
Yes. An academy… but for leaders. For the leaders of the planet. Heck, even the Federation!
So instead of teaching them how to market, or science, you want to teach them how to lead?
Yes, but not in the way that happens now on Estaria. Not through military tactics and political history, but how to solve problems. Imagine if all first years were taught about the environmental impact of their civilizations, and measures that needed to be taken to ensure their survival on their home planets? Imagine if they were taught diplomacy and cooperation, and how to allocate resources all together? What if they were taught cutting-edge social strategies that are based on the actual science with a view of looking after all of their citizens, rather than trying to maintain structures based on tradition, or personal gain, or belief systems?
I can see how this would be popular with the new generations… but even the established systems on Ogg and Estaria would have a problem with it.
Yes, and by the time the next generation of trained leaders comes through the ranks, and the old guard retires, then there will be no one left to resist. Imagine - racial divides, slavery, prejudices could all become a thing of the past. Within a single generation.
Molly?
Yes?
Your serotonin levels are off the charts.
Molly smiled. Well I guess we’re onto something, then.
Okay. So we’re going to build a university.
This excites you, too?
Hell yeah. Passing on knowledge floats my boat. Passing on useful knowledge that will have such a profound impact on peoples’ lives? I’m in.
Great, so I guess we need to think about how to approach this. I suppose we could start small to begin with, and prove the concept. Maybe find a university that will allow us to run just one course. Or a qualification; and lean on their other departments to deliver some of the modules…
Molly. Hang on.
What?
One of my alerts has been tripped. Someone is running Zhyn code. Like the one that we destroyed when we took out their secret bases.
What do you mean?
I think someone, somewhere, is managing to reactivate the threat.
Molly sat bolt upright in bed, scrambling for the holo on her bedside table to turn on the lights.
Alert ADAM. And get me a location. We confirmed that we obliterated the bases on Zhyn?
Yes. We did. And this signal isn’t originating from Zhyn; this is coming from somewhere else. I’m getting a lock on it now.
Okay. I’m getting dressed. Let Joel and Sean know, and give us a place to assemble a war room. If these guys are coming back on line, I’m sure their first instinct will be to retaliate.
Molly shook her head, trying to figure out why the Zhyn would disgrace their military commander and then try and re-establish what he had been exiled for.
It just didn’t make sense.
Unless they didn’t think they were being monitored.
Aboard ArchAngel, Briefing room
Molly approached the meeting room that Oz had managed to get assigned to them. She saw Joel and Sean coming from the other direction. Sean was checking his holo, but looked up as they approached Molly, confirming they were indeed in the right place.
Joel waved his finger in the air as they approached. “We took the roundabout way,” he explained simply, his tone serious, and ready to talk business.
Molly stopped outside door 1152, and it slid open, allowing them to step inside. It was just like most of the other rooms. Fully equipped with holoscreens and advanced communications tech. And in the center was the large-sized conference room table they were accustomed to. Each grabbed an anti grav chair, and they got straight down to the briefing.
“It seems,” Molly began, “that someone is reactivating the code. The code that was being used on the secret military bases we took out on Kurilia.”
Joel and Sean watched intently.
Joel glanced at the door. “Don’t we need the rest of the team here for this?”
Molly shook her head. “Not yet. Best to let them rest. We’ll loop them in when we know more and we have a plan. Reynolds is on his way.”
Joel nodded, and Molly returned to catching them up on what they knew so far.
Sean’s skin was looking fatigued. The lack of sleep and the beers from the hours they had spent in the lounge probably weren’t helping; though Joel had suspected that his cyborg technology would help him metabolize the alcohol quickly if he wanted it to.
“Have we got a location yet?” Sean asked.
Molly nodded as a holoscreen opened up from the center of the table, revealing a section of space around the Zhyn Empire.
“The orange spot is Planet Kurilia, where we originally took the code out. From then until half an hour ago, we didn’t have anything to suggest this code was being used anywhere other than that planet. However…” she flicked the three dimensional star map around so that she could show them the area that was pertinent, “this here is where Oz has tracked the code back to.”
Joel stood up to lean in and get a better look. “That’s not even a planet, though. Is it? I mean, that looks like – ”
Molly nodded. “A moon. Well, it was a moon; b
efore its planet was blown up in a war. Now it’s just a rock in a weird orbit inside the Koin System’s asteroid belt.
Sean screwed up his face. “So what do we think is going on?”
Molly leaned her elbows on the table and wiped her face with her hands. She looked back up at them. “My best theory, based on the places that their commander could have been exiled to, is that he had another base built on this moon at some point, and now is reactivating it, ready to continue his war.”
Sean shook his head. One arm rested on the table and he was visibly clenching his fist. “Son of a motherfucker…”
Molly nodded. “Yup.”
Joel looked concerned. “So, our play?”
Molly shrugged. “Depends on the General; but I think whoever it is just needs taking out.” She leaned back in her chair, clearly frustrated. “Again.”
The doors to the conference room swooshed open, revealing a tired-looking Lance Reynolds sporting an old-style sweatsuit.
The team jumped to their feet. “Sir,” they each acknowledged him, saluting.
The General grunted something and waved his hand, telling them to dispense with the formalities.
“I’ve just got off the line with the Justicar,” he told them, walking over to a chair and sitting down. “He assures us they aren’t behind it, and that we have their full support to bring whomever it is to task.”
Molly sat down again, and the others followed suit. “Do they suspect the exiled guy?” she asked.
Lance nodded solemnly. He shifted in his chair, as his tired muscles tried to get comfortable. “Turns out they want a meeting.”
Joel frowned. “And we trust them…?”
Lance sighed, putting his fingers to his eyes and rubbing them. “We do, but…”
Joel nodded. “Trust but verify.”
Lance’s fingers abandoned his eyes as he snapped them together and pointed at Joel. “Exactly!” he said, his praise shining through even the tiredness.
Sean shifted in his seat and leaned one arm on the desk in front of him. “So what’s the plan, then? We go meet with the Zhyn and get their blessing to go kick some ass?”
The General looked at Molly.
Molly processed for a second. “How important is the talisman?” she asked Lance.
The Ascension Myth Box Set Page 114