Elysium Shining

by Terri Kraemer

  Tong-Chang got up from the couch and joined them. She said, “Did she say why they’re after me?”

  “She said something about stabilizing their wormholes, and that they have a scientist from Earth. It didn’t make any sense to me, but she said there were others the Hulda’fi could turn to if they couldn’t have you. I think she hopes this will set them back in their efforts to grab you to the point that they make plans for someone else. She wants you to be safe, or so she says. Dasos, brother, please say something to us.”

  He groaned and left for his room, leaving the unopened beer on the counter. He still had the paper, however.

  * * *

  Inside of the police station, the captain was talking to a pair of officers regarding an assignment that, Dasos was bound to admit, was not his business. Dasos marched over to them. He knew one of the two officers as the one mentioned by that note.

  “Ah, good morning, Cadet Thalassas,” said the captain. “You were not expected until this afternoon I believe.”

  “I hope I’m not interrupting anything too important,” Dasos said. “Captain, I’m going to need a word with you in private.”

  “I was on my way to my office. Join me. Gentlemen, you are dismissed.”

  Dasos and the police captain walked through the halls of the station. In one room there was a couple filing a report with an officer at their desk, possibly about a missing son or daughter. That was happening too often of late. If the note tucked away inside of his belt pouch was any indication, then Dasos was beginning to see a dark pattern involving those insurgents. Cults were a nasty business as it was, but for so many of the missing kids to be potential kidnap victims was appalling.

  The station housed many men and women in uniform, but not one of them was truly equipped to face this growing situation.

  Within the captain’s office was an air purifier to keep down the dust and sweat smells. The captain stood in attention in the middle of the room, nodded to a few points around him, and then turned on the machine, which ran silently.

  “Close the door, will you please?” the captain said.

  Dasos obliged without question and waited for the captain to be seated before approaching his desk.

  “Now then,” said the captain, “what does this seem to be about?”

  “You recall my report about my sister fighting Soror Valide at the masquerade a few weeks ago?”

  “Of course. I have it on good authority that your sister is learning martial arts at an exceeding pace, as well. What about it?”

  “Last night, Soror Valide found her again, allegedly.”

  “Is that so? It sounds to me like Zoi’ne has already made an impression with the wrong people. Was your sister hurt?”

  “That is the strange thing about this, sir.” Dasos brought out the slip of paper and placed it on the desk. “Soror Valide, if it was indeed her, gave this to Zoi’ne to give to someone of authority. I checked the writing, sir, and it’s not Zoey’s or anyone else we know to be alive.”

  The captain examined the note. It had the name of one man, an account number, and the words “Insider, Trullwick Police” written on the bottom.

  “You say it was Soror Valide that gave us this information?” the captain said. “This is a serious allegation, but it lines up with the little that I know. I’m curious as to why the infamous leader of the Kroke Team would become a turncoat, and now of all times.”

  “Zoi’ne isn’t entirely sure herself, sir,” said Dasos. “She thinks Soror Valide might know Tong-Chang, and want her to be safe and sound.”

  “That might confirm the Hulda’fi being after your friend if this is true. There are too many pieces missing from this big, nasty puzzle of ours, however. Very well, I will investigate this account and put a covert watch on our man. If this checks out, then I will call you in to help with further investigations. It will shame me to have to do this, but the consequences will be far worse for all of us if I do nothing. We will act accordingly should anything come of it. Thank you for bringing this to me, Cadet Thalassas. You are dismissed.”

  * * *

  It was the weekend, but Zoey was in a basement level of the college library. She sat at a computer with nothing on it that resembled the Internet, but it held a massive database of articles from the planets and races of the Hoshi-Lacartan Alliance.

  Today, before work, seemed like a good time to research the Fjorfolias or the Hulda’fi to see what she could find about either one, or both. The trail on the latter was longer than Zoey could see, but she was only getting started. From what she could tell, the rebels had humble beginnings, cut off from the rest of society, for many years.

  The current article she was perusing, however, was about Chan-Yeol being the first half-Aelf, half-Ginserei, to ever reach the rank of admiral. There was a picture of him looking barely any younger, and next to him was his wife of ten revolutions at the time, with no children of their own, who looked no younger than Fe’remene did today.

  Zoey studied the entire article, looking for the date when this article had been published, or the picture taken. She was interrupted in an instant, then, when her old phone dropped into view and stopped.

  She looked up and saw Tong-Chang waving the device. It looked brand new.

  “It’s done, love,” she said.

  “You fixed the screen,” Zoey said.

  “Oh, I did more than that. You can now charge your cell-comm through any of our power outlets; I even tested the new charger so it has some life in it. The battery is new, and can last more than a day or two like your old one did. My question, now, is if you want to join your mom’s comm service, or mine?”

  “Comm service?”

  “Yes. You already had some rudimentary parts doing the same sort of thing as our cell-comms, but working separately as if each function was its own thing. Right now, without joining any service, you can still communicate with most devices, but you won’t be able to do much, no matter how good you are with programming or computer code.”

  “I remember you telling me about something like that back when I started using Il’lyse’s old computer. Sorry, I still haven’t figured out what I want to do about that. I’ve been busy.”

  “You’re fine, love. Now then, what are we researching?”

  “A little bit of everything. Look at this picture of the admiral and his wife.”

  “He was so young. Lady Fjorfolia, though, she looks exactly the same. How long ago was this?”

  “I was about to find out.”

  “Oh, look at the serial number on the article. The last nine digits should tell you the date. Look at the first five of that set, and the two lyurunics before it, and you’ll get the year in relation to our alliance.”

  “That’s good to know. It says, ‘Al-Re-0-0-1-9-2.’ She hasn’t aged at all in the last thirty-three years.”

  “Or more. Stars beyond, I know a lot of people, other Aelfs included, who’d love genes like that. There isn’t even a spot of gray on her blonde head.”

  “What’s this line here about them not having any children of their own?”

  “I think there were rumors that they adopted a few boys and girls, but no one was able to prove anything, one way or the other.”

  “The obvious suggestion here is that their children, if they adopted any, are the members of a now-violent cult. I don’t have substantial evidence of that, but—”

  “Enough. I don’t want to hear any more about them. We have our lives to enjoy. I have at least one I have growing inside of me. I don’t want to think about such villainy if I can help it. I don’t want my babies, however many there are, to know of the awful things their father did. I don’t want them to haunt me like this.”

  Zoey took her into her arms. She looked angrily at the couple on the screen, and she comforted Tong-Chang.

  [ 40]

  Three Weeks Later

  In the southeastern corner of Trullwick was an apartment complex with a view of the bay and one of the docks. Two men
from the police department entered often, but nothing good ever came out of it.

  It was a chilly evening, closing in on hour zero. One of the two men entered the building to confront his buddy. Both men were present, and both men were arguing about the state of their business when the full force of the Trullwick Police Department came down on them. Their accounts had been frozen the afternoon before the meeting, after a painstaking investigation.

  Now Das’ithrios watched both men being taken into custody from the other side of the street, and he wondered if his butt was also freezing as the night pressed on. The men mattered less to him the closer they got to the detainment vehicle.

  “Exemplary work, Thalassas,” said the captain, who approached him.

  “Thank you, sir,” Dasos said.

  “This ran deep. It shames me to know that any of my own officers could have been taking money or orders from the insurgent cult. If you were working for us full-time, Thalassas, then this would have earned you a promotion.”

  “It’s been a long month, sir. Perhaps now we can see about offering some small protection to Tong-Chang instead.”

  “Your suggestion has been noted. I will see what I can do now that we know our efforts will no longer leak into whatever bowels these men once reported to.”

  “Did we not find the source of their orders or pay?”

  “We found space junk that served as proxy relays broadcasting mixed signals. The best that the Allied Peacekeepers can do at this point is deactivate the lot and keep one eye on a few locations in case someone comes to reactivate them. The best that we can do is interrogate these dishonest men. Fitting; it’s a garbage case leading to even more refuse.”

  * * *

  Soror Valide passed the room when she heard Lord Tunderek yell out and kick over a piece of furniture. The two sisters and one brother in the room cowered to one side.

  “Both contacts!” Lord Tunderek said.

  “It is so, darling,” said the Hallowed Lady from elsewhere that Soror Valide was unable to see yet.

  “Their accounts are frozen, so we can’t even take it back. How did this slip under my radar?”

  “I cannot say. It is not the end, by any means.”

  “No, but we have lost valuable eyes and ears on police activity. As we speak, more accounts are freezing across the Elysiums and Ginserei. All I can do in public is watch them and congratulate those forces on their good work as they bring the hammer down on every mole. Now the police will have much more freedom to act without us knowing. Now we will lose track of so many prize-worthy technicians throughout the alliance’s territory. The one we wanted most will not be joining us unless she comes here of her own volition.”

  Deep down, Il’lyse was brimming with joy and poised to jump and dance with it all. Her outward appearance remained cold and firm. “Tong-Chang, you mean?” Soror Valide said, announcing her presence.

  Lord Tunderek turned toward her, furious. Then he sat and let his anger go.

  “You were not supposed to know,” he said. “Not yet.”

  Soror Valide kneeled before him. “I confess to looking, because you told me nothing. I am sorry you could not take her.”

  “She could very well have been your sister, your second in command in all that you wished to do with her. Perhaps we played our hand too strong when we did. We cannot make the same mistake again.”

  “No, Hallowed Lord, I don’t suppose we can.”

  “Rise, daughter. I have a job for your team. We must act now, and swiftly, before we lose this chance. You will go and fetch someone for me.”

  Lady Tunderek smoked up above, perched on the wooden handrails that had been carved to resemble hawthorn. She said, “Not all is lost. We still have one girl on Elysium IX ready to strike at a moment’s notice.”

  * * *

  Dasos sat outside the bakery with a cup of coffee in one hand and a muffin in the other. It was the last day of the chairs and tables being out before they were put away for the colder months. A patrol car passed by him. Like clockwork now there was a car passing around the park every forty-five minutes at night, and once every seventy-five during the day.

  Suddenly, a Ginserei woman approached him. She said, “Oh, excuse me, might I have a seat here with you?” She carried a handbag the size of her fists combined, but showed no sign of having done business around here despite her formal attire.

  Wow, she was hot. Focus, Dasos. He smiled at her and said, “Please do. What brings you to a place like this if not the baked goods inside?”

  “I might like the view. It’s better than the embassy.”

  “The embassy?”

  “Oh, yes, I arrived from home last night. I came here on official business. I have to say I was not expecting to like so much of what I see.”

  “I might know a place with a better view.”

  “Do tell.”

  * * *

  Why did she remind him so much of Tong-Chang? At least that was a distant, fleeting thought in his mind while the two of them made a mess of his bed. He warded the thought and enjoyed this woman by her own right.

  “This was most unexpected,” the Ginserei woman said once the two of them had calmed down a considerable amount.

  “You’re telling me,” said Dasos.

  “You’re such a gentleman, too. I’m not in my tangouchu, so there was no risk, but you did the gentlemanly thing regardless.” She giggled at him.

  “I still think it would be nice if you told me your name.”

  “That shouldn’t be important now. Today will have to be our little secret.”

  “I’m not the biggest fan of secrets.”

  “At least some part of you was, until now. Perhaps if we gave it enough time then you can be again.” She wiggled her hips as they snuggled. “Alas, it probably isn’t meant to be. My people will wonder where I am soon, and we wouldn’t want for there to be another incident.”

  Her cell-comm rang. The Ginserei’s purse sat outside of the bedroom on the tiled floor. “This was some timing.” She gave him a peck on the cheek, and he let the woman slip out from beneath him.

  Cold, infinite beyond, he thought while holding himself up with his arms, is she an ambassador, or what? Dasos collapsed and flipped over on his back. His ceiling bedroom offered no answers, but he stared regardless. Nowhere did he find any regret for what had happened, either.

  In the other room the ringing stopped, and the Ginserei said, “Hello. Yes, I told you I am safe. That last call was two hours ago.”

  Two hours? He remembered her talking on the cell-comm when they rode the elevator up to the fourth floor, but Dasos had never kept track of the time past that point. He wondered if the woman outside did during all of that time.

  “No, I have not,” she said. “Stars beyond, you sound like my father sometimes. I’m heading back now.” The Ginserei entered Dasos’s room, her cell-comm closed. “I am sorry I have to leave you so soon. My people are so insistent. If fortune smiles on you then perhaps we can meet again.”

  “It would be a pleasure,” Dasos said. “Would you like me to get dressed and escort you down?”

  “I do hope nothing comes of the recent incidents between our peoples. No, you have already done enough. My people will probably have traced my location to this building, and they might not want to see you, should anyone be waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs.” She gathered her clothes and few adornments, and put them back on one by one.

  “What incidents? I thought everything was fine this morning when Ginserei agreed to look into every person who did business with the same bank?”

  “That was a foolhardy decision, and remarkably business oriented for you Aelfs. How would you know this much, and not of the arguments that arose between our people?”

  “I work for the local police department. It was our investigation that triggered the broader scope; largely mine, actually.”

  “Oh? Well, I will have you know that if the search on our end turns up anyone working for the
Hulda’fi then the punishment for them is a swift death. This is not to be taken lightly.”

  “No, it’s not. I loathed every moment that I dug into this case. I refused to believe that one of our own officers would be spies for the rebels. The captain and I confirmed two.”

  “Now men and women are being detained across the alliance territory who should be working to uphold the law. Good work, lover.”

  “Lover?”

  She kissed him again on the cheek. “I should hate you, but I think this taboo thing is kind of fun. Take care.”

  Then the Ginserei woman strutted out of the room.