“Shit,” Molly muttered again as the pair bounded down the front steps, two at a time. “Well we will just have to come back to see him again tomorrow. Just to remind him of the good decisions he made today. And maybe expand the scope of our questioning in the future, see if the asshole is planning on hitting anyone else.” She shook her head. “Clearly I didn’t see that coming.”
Within minutes the two were clear of the Senate building and striding across the street to the alley where they had parked the pod. Sean had suggested that they mix up where they parked each time to reduce the possibility of someone noticing them. After all, showing up every day in this kind of technology, and trying to remain undetected, was no mean feat.
They’d slowed to a normal pace, mingling in with the crowd before slipping quietly into the darkened alley.
“So how are things going with Karina?” she asked, making idle chitchat.
Sean glanced at her sideways waiting for her to get into the pod first. The pod hood opened and she hauled herself up before turning and looking at him, pointedly waiting for an answer. “She settling in okay?”
Sean scrambled to engage the correct part of his brain to answer a non-operational question. “Yeah,” he confirmed, hauling himself up and settling into the bench seat next to her. “Yeah, she seems to be doing fine. Happy now that she gets to participate in the missions and stuff. And of course the gang have been great including her in things like the holo games, and she’s even training in the gym with Jack a couple of times a week…”
Molly smiled politely. “That’s good to know.” She hesitated as if she wanted to ask something else. “And you…? You’ve no regrets over, you know… bringing her on board?”
Sean looked at her strangely for a moment, processing the question. “Well, obviously it’s been a bit of a game changer. We’ve both had to adapt… But, no. No regrets.”
He looked out of the window as Molly programmed the pod to take them up to Gaitune. Molly noticed the distant look in his eye and observed him, waiting to see if he was going to elaborate.
He felt her watching him. “And especially since it might all be over… I mean, what have we got? A matter of days? Ten at the outset, before it all… Well you know. It’s taken me this long to realize that life has more meaning when you share it with someone else.” He chuckled lightly. “Never thought I’d hear myself say something like that!”
Molly’s jaw set. “It’s going to be okay. We are going to sort this out, and it’s all gonna be fine. No one’s gonna die. It’s all going to be okay.”
Sean shrugged. “I don’t know, Molly. We’ve had a good run of things. I’ve had a good long stretch in the Federation too. But all good things come to an end at some point, and I just don’t know how we can stop this before it becomes too big a problem.”
Molly frowned at him. “Well then if you really think that, why are you working so hard to stop it from happening?”
“Because that is what we do,” he told her, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “That is how we define ourselves—by what we do. We don’t just give up, even if there is only a tiny little bit of help. We keep going and keep trying, we keep pushing it and maybe, just maybe, we might get lucky.”
It was Molly’s turn to look out of the window with a distance in her eye as the pod shot up into the stratosphere and beyond, the planet disappearing beneath them in a matter of moments.
They rode in silence for several minutes, the blackness outside wrapping them in the safety of space, as if protecting their anonymity from the rest of the world now that they had completed their mission.
Eventually Sean spoke. “What about you and Joel?”
Molly did a double take, then hesitated, looking for some words to keep him at bay with. “What do you mean?” she asked, cleverly buying herself some time.
“Well you know… There’s always been something between you two. And given you may only have a few days left before it all ends… Haven’t you thought about at least talking about it with him?”
Molly’s gaze was directed out of the window again, watching the blankness of space passing them by. There was silence in the pod for several minutes. Sean started to assume that she just wasn’t going to answer.
“I just don’t know how to have a conversation with him. Not now. I think it’s been too long.”
Sean chuckled lightly. “I really don’t think that can be an issue. Just talk to him. He’ll make it easy for you.”
“Why? Have you guys been talking?”
“Not recently. But you know there are some things that just don’t change. No matter how long it goes between us talking about it.”
Molly nodded, acknowledging the advice that Sean was clearly trying to give her. “Okay. I’ll see what happens.”
Sean gave her a stern look.
She held her hands up. “Okay, okay, I’ll do my best. Sheesh.”
Sean relaxed back into the seat and went back to looking out of the window.
Maybe he’s got a point?
Not you as well, Oz.
Life is short…
I haven’t got the energy or headspace to argue that right now, Oz. As I told Sean, I’ll see what I can do. Okay?
Okay.
And with that the pod tilted its trajectory and curved in towards the base on the other side of Gaitune. As they neared the big rock, they could see the hangar doors opening slowly for their arrival.
Chapter 2
Aboard Glock’stor Ship # 597
The bridge was unusually quiet.
There were no orders being issued. The navigators and the pilot weren’t speaking in a constant stream of mathematical jargon. There were no communications channels to deal with. There was just idle chatter and the hum of computers.
It was all rather eerie, as far as Trev’or was concerned. He hadn’t seen the bridge so quiet since the time someone broke the Admiral’s favorite mug, and even that had been the calm before the storm.
Beside him, Ruther was giving him a look, like he knew exactly what was going on in Trev’or’s head and was silently beseeching him not to do anything about it. Trev’or blinked at him innocently before turning to face the Admiral in the command chair.
The Admiral was paying more attention to his holoconsole than to anything else at that point, presumably working his way through paperwork he had been putting off. He probably appreciated the relative quiet, all things considered.
“Sooooo…”
Admiral Clor slid Trev’or a reluctant glance. It was a glance that asked if the technician truly wanted to continue with this line of conversation. Trev’or paid that glance no mind, though, and instead simply carried on as he wondered, “Are we sure this really counts as a retreat anymore?”
“Aren’t you supposed to be doing maintenance?” Clor asked flatly. “I’m fairly sure that was part of the order.”
“Multitasking.” Trev’or gestured flippantly at his terminal, where it was running a self-diagnostic program. “I mean, we’ve just sort of been stalled out here for a while. What are we even doing?”
“I’m not at liberty to discuss that with you,” Clor answered plainly.
Trev’or opened his mouth to ask another question, only for Ruther to elbow him sharply in the ribs from his left. Clor was giving him a flatly unamused look. At last, Trev’or fell silent.
Clor eyed them both warily for a moment longer, before he nodded once in satisfaction.
With that, he got to his feet, levering himself out of the command chair and heading towards the nearest door. “I think I’ll take a stroll,” he decided. “Try not to interrupt if something isn’t wrong. And then at least make sure it’s something that requires my attention; that’s what incident reports are for, otherwise.”
“Yes, sir,” Trev’or sighed as he returned to watching the diagnostic results come in on the terminal.
The door opened soundlessly and Clor stepped out into t
he corridor, his steps carrying him towards the mess hall before he was even fully aware of it. It was too late to be lunch and still too early to be dinner, but the mess hall was rarely actually empty. So he didn’t fight it, and carried on his way.
It wasn’t until he actually got to the mess hall that things got a bit weird.
Supervisor Gultorra was sitting at the main table, his boots on the table and his chair back on two legs. He was scrolling through a datapad, attempting to get some work done, to all appearances. To either side of him sat Kalvor and Tulnok, both of them sorting files. None of them were eating at that exact moment, but the trays on the table meant they had been just a short while ago.
That wasn’t the strange part. People worked through meals all the time.
The strange part was the fact that other soldiers were bustling around, in and out of the mess hall. Periodically, they would return to Gultorra to ask something in a low voice, or to shout something rather loudly from the walkways above the mess hall.
“Supervisor,” Clor sighed.
“Admiral,” Gultorra greeted, saluting as something of an afterthought. “How can I help you?”
“What are you doing?” Clor asked. He could feel a headache brewing already, and he dug two knuckles against the corners of his eyes to stave it off.
“I am just readying all of the reports I’ll need to submit when all of this is over with,” Gultorra replied.
“We’re alphabetizing them,” Tulnok added, sounding none too pleased to be doing so.
Clor dragged a hand down his face. “What is everyone else doing, then?” he clarified.
Finally, Gultorra looked up from his datapad. “Everyone has been getting a bit antsy from the inactivity,” he explained, as if Clor had somehow failed to realize that himself. “They’ve been driving me up a wall. The ones perfectly capable of handling higher level work have been sent to do just that. The rest have been informed that my desk lamp needs a new bulb and the first to bring me one gets glowing praise in one of my personnel reports.”
Clor was silent for a moment, waiting for one of the three of them to say that it was a joke. Once it was apparent that no such declaration was forthcoming, Clor pointed out, with resignation, “None of the lights on this ship even use bulbs. I’m fairly sure they haven’t in decades.”
Gultorra gestured carelessly to the next table over, where perhaps a dozen soldiers were gathered. They watched the bustling, but made no efforts to join in.
“Some of them knew from the beginning or just didn’t care,” Gultorra explained. “Some of them figured it out for themselves eventually. All of them have decided that it’s more fun to keep that information to themselves. I’m sure the rest will clue in eventually, but in the meantime I have relative peace and quiet without all of them hanging off my belt loops like needy kittens.”
Clor supposed he couldn’t really argue with that. Rather than try to, he simply sighed, “Carry on, then,” and made his way to a different table. Even if he didn’t intend to be in the mess hall for long, he didn’t want to get trampled by the soldiers still periodically trotting over to Gultorra and then trotting away again.
He couldn’t wait until they were all on the move again.
Hangar Deck, Gaitune-67
“Hey Molly, wait up!”
Joel came bounding across the hangar deck, a workout towel around his neck. His T-shirt was wet in a V-shape on his chest. Molly slowed her pace, allowing him to catch up.
“Careful!” she called. “You’re running in trainers and this hangar deck hasn’t been scrubbed for oil in several weeks.”
Joel slowed to a walk, looking around the floor where he was walking to make sure he wasn’t going to slip in something.
“I was wondering if we might talk later?”
Molly frowned. “Err, yeah sure.” She cocked her head to one side. “Have you just been talking to Sean?” She nodded in the direction of the base gym.
Joel shook his head. “No. Not recently. Why?”
“No reason.” She glanced back in the direction of an open pod. “Look, I’ve got to get going. I have a meeting with the university crowd before the end of the day.”
Joel bobbed his head, hanging his hands on the towel around his neck. “How is it going down there?”
Molly shrugged. “Good I suppose. It’s going to be close though… I don’t know if we can get enough votes in to make a difference in time.”
Joel put a hand on her upper arm. “Everything that you do helps. And you’re doing great. I believe in you.”
Molly smiled. “Thanks, Joel.” She started to move in the direction of her pod. “I’ll catch you later.”
“Yeah sure,” he called after her, waving.
She didn’t see him waving because she’d already gone.
Skóli Uppstigs Academy, Spire, Estaria
The pod touched down between two buildings on the university campus. Without waiting for anything to power down, Molly slipped out as soon as the door had opened enough. She scooped her bag from under the seat and was halfway across the quad before the door had closed again.
Hurriedly she entered the door on the far side of the quad and pushed through the old-fashioned double doors and into the corridor beyond.
She could hear voices at the far end coming from the conference room. The scent of freshly brewed mocha filled this wing of the building, too. It was clear that the team were planning to work late again tonight.
Dr. Augustine met her at the door to the meeting room. “Ahhh, Miss Bates, you’re here. You’ll be pleased to know that we got the second algorithm working and Douglas has managed to get a mailshot out to other educational institutions tomorrow morning. Also we have pizza on order. We ordered you a vegetarian supreme.”
Molly slipped her bag off a shoulder and immediately started assessing the project screen which kept track of the various tasks they had assigned. “That’s great. Thanks, Dr. Augustine. And well done, Douglas!” she called over to Prof Lakin. “That’s some good finagling you’ve done there to get these ideas out to other institutions.”
Dr. Augustine and Prof Lakin both appeared pleased with themselves.
“I’ll be giving a presentation there by the end of the week too,” Lakin added.
“Where’s Gareth Atkins?” she asked, making some adjustments to the board and deleting a few items that she’d managed to execute that afternoon.
“I’m not sure,” Dr. Augustine told her. “He might have stepped out for a minute. But he did want me to let you know that he’s managed to secure another candidate who wants to run using our system.”
Molly grinned. “That’s great news! Well done him.”
She continued to catch up with the changes on the board and downloaded a few notes onto her holo. Just then a familiar voice reached her ears. She felt suddenly disoriented. It was a voice she knew… but it was in the wrong place. She racked her brain trying to place it.
Laughter erupted on the other side of the room. She poked her head out from behind the holoscreen to see who else was in mission headquarters. She couldn’t see at first because some of the other professors were in the way. But then Dr. Lakin moved, revealing a very out of place, and unkempt-looking, Pieter.
“Pieter?” she gasped, her shock turning into a smile subconsciously. “What are you doing here?”
Everyone stopped laughing and stared at Molly as if she were speaking in tongues.
“I, err, just wanted to help,” Pieter explained. “But I was struggling to understand the concept of the liquid democracy. Thankfully Douglas here has been filling me in so I can be of more assistance with the campaign. Or campaigns, should I say.”
Molly frowned. “How did I miss that you are on this project?”
“I sent a message to Oz,” he explained quickly, “and he just told me where to show up.”
“Oh I see.” She stared blankly at Pieter for a few moments.
We’l
l talk about this later, Oz.
You seemed busy and it was a minor detail that you didn’t need to be involved in.
Oh, I see. Less of the surprises though next time, if you please?
Of course.
“So what have you learnt about the liquid democracy?” She grinned at him, joining in the enthusiasm that the team had been showing him since he arrived.
“Well, only that it’s the most elegant solution to the problem we have right now. Not only does it integrate with the existing system where you have candidates voted into power, but this idea where every single voter gets to vote on every single issue, and it’s completely transparent… Pure genius!”
Dr. Augustine looked like he could hardly contain himself. “And it looks like our young friend here is going to be able to help us keep everything a hundred percent real-time. This means that if our candidates start using their seat to do things that their voters didn’t vote for, those votes can immediately be rescinded and put elsewhere. Instantaneously! It’s quite amazing really… and probably what we’ve been needing for quite some time now. If we implement enough of these seats in the Senate there would be no way that the-powers-that-be could remain pulling all the strings.”
Pieter grinned in agreement. “Whoever came up with this system needs a pat on the back.” He looked at Molly as if he were giving her the credit.
Molly shook her head. “Oh it wasn’t me,” she confessed quickly. “It was just another idea that I heard at the conference a few years ago at one of these think tank kind of environments. I only remembered it a few months ago when we realized that we were gonna have to change things on the planet quickly… What with our deadline and all.”
Pieter ruffled his hair and reorganized some of his holoscreens. “Well I think I can have the programming completed for the additional piece within a few hours. Especially now that Oz is here!”
Molly grinned. “Oh, I see. You guys only wanted me here so that Oz could help you work on the programming. Not because you actually need me to have an input.”
The Ascension Myth Box Set Page 231