Faster Than Light: Babel Among the Stars

by Malcolm Pierce

  *

  Seth’s heart thundered in his chest as he slowly unrolled fragile paper on the desk in front of him. Even in his wildest dreams, he’d never thought he could make it this far. The document in his hands was one of the rarest and most valuable in the entire galaxy. Only a few dozen people were ever allowed to see it.

  He stared at the design specifications for the power cells of the Heilmann Drive. It was one of the least important parts of the device, but it was still protected as a state secret.

  Before Seth could even see the first words on the blueprint, he felt a hand on his arm. It was Commissar Absalom. “I don’t think I can let you do this,” he said. “Why do you need to see this anyway? This won’t tell you anything.”

  The two men were standing in a large starship repair bay near the center of the German Zone. This was the only place in the galaxy that a Heilmann Drive power cell could received maintenance.

  It had only been a day since Seth was sitting in a jail cell, wondering if he would ever see freedom again. Now he was part of the operation to enforce the Spatial Preservation act. He’d already been formally introduced to the press, where he was identified as the man who charged the stage during Chairman Stephens’s public assembly.

  Before the press conference, Chairman Stephens spoke to the reporters. And he lied. He told them that he’d personally spoken to Seth in prison and that Seth had a lot of questions about the Spatial Preservation Act. These were questions everyone was asking, so he decided to appoint Seth as a temporary civilian liaison to the Republic military. Seth would review the work of Phaer Absalom and his team and report directly to the people through weekly bulletins.

  Seth had never said anything about weekly bulletins, but it was too late to go back now.

  “You promised me access to everything,” Seth replied. “You told me I could see whatever I want. Besides, you’re right. This won’t tell me anything. I took a physics class once in primary school. That’s it. This is well over my head.”

  “Then why?” Absalom growled. “You are wasting our time.”

  Seth looked over at him and smiled. “People think you’re destroying the plans for the Heilmann Drive. If I see them, I can tell everyone that you are doing no such thing.”

  This confused Absalom. “Why would we destroy the plans? The plans are not doing anything to harm the galaxy by themselves.”

  “I’m just the messenger,” Seth replied. His hands were shaking. He wanted to unroll the paper so badly that if Absalom made him wait any longer, he might just go crazy.

  Absalom looked up towards a man standing near the back of the room. He was a large figure with neatly-trimmed salt and pepper hair. Seth was introduced to him when they arrived at the repair bay. He was Dr. Kyle Richmond, one of the supervisors of the facility. “You!” Absalom barked. “Tell me, will Mr. Garland be able to understand what these plans say?”

  Dr. Richmond laughed. “I have advanced degrees in engineering and physics. I barely understand them. Hell, I’m even the one who transcribed them from the originals. We just do what they say, and it always manages to work.”

  “Fine. Go ahead, Mr. Garland.”

  Seth hastily pressed the paper to the ground. He slowly unfurled it, marveling at what he saw. Dr. Richmond was right. It didn’t make any sense. He could tell that it was a series of drawings of the power cells, but they were accompanied by numbers and specifications and equations that were so far out of his depth that they might as well have been in a foreign language.

  It didn’t matter. These plans were part of the Heilmann Drive. He was actually seeing the design documents for the device that allowed man to spread across the stars. It was almost too exciting for him to concentrate. But he had to concentrate. He had a job to do, and if he failed then the humiliation of joining the Republic military would all be for naught.

  “What if he sees all the plans?” Absalom suddenly asked.

  Dr. Richmond hesitated. “What do you mean, ‘all of the plans’?”

  Absalom sighed. “By the time this whole charade is over, we’re going to let him look at each piece of the drive. I don’t know why we are going to do that. But I suppose he has a point. He can tell everyone that we’re not burning the blueprints.”

  “Wait... He’s going to see all the design docs?”

  Seth gritted his teeth. He wished they would both stop talking. It was distracting him and that was the last thing he needed. He couldn’t tell them that. It would only arouse suspicions.

  “Do you think that’s a danger?” Absalom asked. “Like you said, he’s an amateur. And he will always be under my supervision. He’s not going to steal the plans.” The commissar looked over at Seth. “He’s not stupid.”

  Dr. Richmond shrugged. “It’s just unprecedented. I... I want to see all the design docs. I’ve always been so curious how the compression modules could work so efficiently without overheating. Their architecture must be so intricate and so perfectly structured...”

  Seth was done. He’d seen enough. Now it was time to look like he hadn’t done anything at all. “That’s why you don’t get to see them, doctor,” he said. “Because you could actually do something with them.”

  “Are you satisfied?” Commissar Absalom asked.

  “These are the real plans,” Seth replied. “I’ll make sure to include the fact that they still exist in my first weekly bulletin.” He let go of the paper stretched out on the table and walked away. He resisted the temptation to look back once again. He had to trust himself.

  Absalom shifted his weight to his good leg and started limping towards the door. “Good. I can’t wait to get back to the base.” He grimaced, stopped in the middle of the repair bay, and took a deep breath. He was in a lot of pain.

  Seth waited patiently at the door for the commissar. Dr. Richardson, however, rushed forward to try and help. “Here,” the doctor said, offering his arm. “Let me--”

  Before he could even finish speaking, Absalom grabbed his wrist and shoved him away. “Don’t touch me!” he growled. “I can make it on my own.”

  Richardson backed off immediately, creeping towards the far wall. Then he just stood and watched as the commissar slowly made his way to the door.

  Seth repressed a grin. He’d only known Phaer Absalom for two days, but already he’d proven to be very different from the Republic officials Seth was used to dealing with. Absalom didn’t care for anyone’s help. He did everything on his own. He planned all of his team’s operations from the top down. This philosophy extended to everything in his life, even his nagging injuries.

  Most people in his position would have amputated their leg, replaced it with a bionic limb, and never looked back. Absalom refused. The bones in his leg were shattered, held together with steel screws and miniature gravity wells. It was medical technology that had all but been abandoned since the advent of realistic replacement limbs. His muscles were warped and atrophied, strengthened only by regular physical therapy that Absalom administered himself. It was like he held his body together by sheer will. And even with that to overcome, he became one of the most powerful people in the Republic.

  Despite himself, Seth respected the commissar. The Republic was full of people who’d given up on doing something great with their life. Absalom never gave up on anything. That was something worthy of admiration.

  And it almost made Seth feel bad for betraying him.