by Geoff North
“Alderamin Plague,” Strong said. “That was the official name given to the disease. It’s picked up dozens of other names over the centuries—Slime Disease, Black Death, Crawling Sickness. It goes on and on.”
Drac repeated the only word that meant anything to him and his crew. “Alderamin… The Hunn were responsible? They attacked Artemus’s shuttle?”
“It wasn’t an attack,” Edmund said. “The plague was searching for transport. Looking for ways to spread itself further throughout the galaxy.”
“They found it,” Gertsen added grimly.
Edmund continued. “The Artemus shuttle was never found. It’s believed he set the ship to self destruct, but not before he sent this transmission on a video drone towards Sol. In 2399 the drone was intercepted by Triton Base Colony. After that… well, the old saying goes that the rest is history. Look for yourselves what happened to human civilization after Triton Base.”
The holographic image of Artemus’s final seconds was replaced with the colony city on Neptune’s moon. Captain Drac and Vin Vir watched the disease spread. They saw Titan Colony destroyed, its entire population wiped out in a series of nuclear strikes attempting to contain the plague. It didn’t stop there. The entire Sol system fought to contain the spread.
“The disease was finally contained and destroyed on Mars,” Edmund said after the final video ended. He slipped the small disc back into his tunic breast pocket. “But the entire Sol system had started to fall. The plague itself never actually killed anyone. It transformed its victims, changed them into something… different.”
“Metamorphosis,” Strong explained. “The Alderamin virus bonded to human DNA, transforming its victims into hybrids. Physically they still appeared human, but their minds were lost to the disease. Paranoia took hold after that. No one knew who was pure, and who had become… unclean. The first Worlds War broke out as a result. Humankind almost destroyed itself in an attempt to purge the species. We spent hundreds of years tearing down everything we’d built, warring with our neighbors, bombing our cities.”
Vin looked at Drac, and the two shared a silent moment of understanding. The age-old question of why Earth had never tried to contact Ambition in the last seven centuries had finally been answered.
Edmund carried on after the doctor. “But we didn’t destroy ourselves completely. Civilization bounced back. Earth slowly recovered. We colonized the outer planets and moons once again. The Republic of Sol Planets was born, protecting its citizens and re-establishing order.”
Drac held one scarred finger up. “Wait a minute, back up a little. You said it was the first Worlds War. Has a second conflict broken out?”
“It’s about to,” Edmund said grimly. “The Sol system may have recovered, but the threat remains. Alderamin hybrids made it to Earth, and some of them are still there to this day. They’re seated high in our planetary governments, and some of us suspect ROSP central command has been compromised. We’ve been ordered to take Retribution into the Alderamin system and wipe out the threat once and for all.”
“Commander?” Gertsen interrupted. “We were ordered?”
Edmund grit his teeth together. Stealing Retribution wasn’t information he’d planned on sharing with the crew of Ambition. He never should’ve allowed the lieutenant to come with them. “Yes, we were ordered by one of the highest ranking ROSP officials, Admiral Corwin Barret.”
“Barret has accompanied us on the mission,” Strong said. “He’s given Alexander command and retained a position as our second. It’s more of a consulting role than anything.”
A communication whistle sounded. “Captain Drac,” Nash’s voice called out. “Another shuttle has just launched from Retribution.”
Drac walked over to the window and stared out over the massive warship suspended in space less than two kilometers away. A bright point of light appeared against the hull. It moved towards Ambition, taking form and growing larger.
Edmund was now standing beside him. “That will be SIC Barret. He’s coming onboard with my chief engineer, Lieutenant Kelly. I didn’t think you’d object to a couple more Retribution officers coming over.”
“Sure, no problem.”
Edmund leaned in closer and spoke in a softer tone. “Forgive me, Captain. I never should’ve said your ship was the cause of the Alderamin Plague. Further research eventually uncovered the disease had been sent from the Alderamin system a long time ago, perhaps tens of thousands of years before Ambition’s original mission began. It would’ve eventually found its way to Earth without Artemus’s aid. But now that it’s here, now that Earth is still threatened by its existence, I trust I can rely on you and your crew to help us destroy it completely?”
“We’ve been out here for hundreds of years. Our people are tired, and they want to go home. They want to go to Earth. Not much sense taking them there if it doesn’t truly belong to us anymore.” Drac turned the scarred side of his face towards Edmund. “We’ll offer whatever assistance you require, Commander.”
Vin was still seated at the table with Strong and Gertsen. She had heard most of what the two men were discussing, and it wasn’t good. Ambition had spent generations travelling to a war most of them never really wanted, or that anyone truly understood. She stared glumly at Captain Ly’s books. Now they were about to do it all over again.
Chapter 21
The Daedalia Planum government complex was the biggest building in all of Deimos City. The terra-forming plant on the city’s outskirts was ten times the size, but Loke didn’t count it as an actual building. The atmosphere-generating factory was spread out over a much larger area, and it consisted of dozens of structures connected with transport tubes and glass walkways. Loke knew this because he’d been there on a school field trip the year before. He also recalled how automated the plant was. Sure, they had met scientists in white coats and workers covered in red dirt, but there were a lot more computers and robots running things than real people. Daedalia Planum was in Deimos City’s heart, and there weren’t any robots zipping around doing the work. He’d never seen so many people in one place. Loke had never set foot inside the twenty-story structure until ten minutes ago, and now he was hopelessly lost, less than thirty feet beyond the main doors.
It was busy, busier than Loke thought it would be. Men and women were rushing through the lobby and down multiple corridors. They were carrying cases, pushing carts filled with file folders and machines. It’s because of the evacuation, Loke guessed. More of the chimneys have stopped puffing their smoke, and everyone’s leaving for good. A fat man dressed in an expensive looking suit barged past him, knocking Loke into the wall. He grabbed instinctively at the bulge in his coat pocket. The last thing he needed was the gun falling to the floor and going off. Not here. Not yet.
A grey-haired woman seated behind a monstrous desk in front of him called out. “Hey, kid! What’re you doing here? Children aren’t allowed in the building without adult supervision.”
Loke moved towards the desk slowly, trying to think some excuse up along the way. It had taken all his remaining nerve to leave Charm behind and enter the building on his own. He hadn’t even thought of what he’d say if he got this far. Something, dummy. Tell her anything.
“Does your mom or dad work here?” The woman asked.
“My uncle,” Loke blurted out. “I’m looking for my uncle August. He’s like a majesty or something.”
The woman smiled. “Hegstad has a nephew? I didn’t think he had any relatives living on Mars, never mind right here in Deimos City.”
Loke nodded. “He does, and I don’t live in Deimos City. My family’s just visiting from Pavonis province. My Dad sent me here to see where Uncle August works. He says it’s good for me to learn all I can about Mars before we all head off to Earth.”
“Your father should’ve come with you.”
Loke shrugged helplessly. “I guess… It sure would be nice to see my uncle’s work place today if I could. Dad will be mad if I leave without seeing
him.”
The woman considered it for a few moments, and finally threw her hands in the air. “Why not? The whole place will be empty in a few more days. Security isn’t that big of a deal anymore. Magistrate Hegstad can be found on the fifth floor. Take the elevator up, turn left. His office is the second door on the right.”
Loke nodded, and remained planted in front of the desk.
“Did you get that, son?”
“Yes, ma’am. Fifth floor, left turn, second door to the right.”
“So why are you still standing there?”
“Where’s the elevator?”
Her eyes narrowed, but the smile remained. She pointed directly behind him. “Right there. You were leaning up against it a few seconds ago.”
Loke looked over his shoulder at the lift alcove set into the wall. “Thank you, ma’am.” He backed away awkwardly, thumping into the double doors a few moments later. They opened. Loke stumbled in, pressed the large number 5 on the panel, and waited for the doors to close. They shut silently without anyone else coming in after him. Loke sighed a huge breath of relief. His fingers slipped back inside the coat pocket. They wrapped around the cool steel handle of the weapon as the lower floor numbers dinged by.
I don’t have to do this. There’s still time to back off.
Maybe blue skies and deep oceans wouldn’t be such a bad thing to see. He glanced down at the breather mask still hanging against his chest. The air was clean on Earth, too. That was another thing going for it. No government could come along and turn it off. He knew it would make his sister happy if they moved there. The whole family could settle in York City.
Clean air. Blue skies and endless oceans. No starvers.
The doors opened, and Loke stepped out onto the fifth floor. Another woman standing at a coffee machine turned and spotted him. Her hair was grey too, but she wasn’t smiling. “How did you get onto the elevator without authorization? What are you even doing here?”
“Uncle August,” he said quickly. “I came to see my uncle, August Hegstad.”
She sneered at him distastefully, but Loke sensed it wasn’t because a child was wandering about in a government installation. Hegstad must have had that kind of effect on more women than just his mother.
“Down that way, second—”
“Second door to the right,” Loke finished for her. “Thank you.” He jogged the rest of the way, realizing his final opportunity to flee from the building and start a new life on Earth with his family had passed. Loke rapped softly on the door. No one answered. He knocked harder.
“Come in, the damn thing’s never locked.”
Loke turned the handle and walked into Magistrate Hegstad’s office. The man was sitting behind a desk even bigger than the one down in the main lobby. His feet were propped up on its surface, his hands laced together across his great gut. A glass bottle half-filled with brown fluid and an empty glass were the only objects on the desk, besides his big feet.
He squinted across the expansive room, his head weaving slowly back and forth. August focused in on the small visitor. “A kid. You’re just a goddamned kid. Why aren’t you in school?”
He said jush instead of just. Arnsh instead of aren’t. Loke and his sister had seen more than just starvers growing up in the back streets of their poor district. There were plenty of beggars too, and a lot of them mispronounced words the exact same way. August Hegstad wasn’t only relaxed at work—he was drunk.
“School’s closed,” Loke answered. “For good.”
August shifted in his chair, and pulled his feet off the desk. He poured another drink into the glass. “Yeah, I suppose it is.” He took a big sip, swished it around thoughtfully between his cheeks before swallowing it down. He stood up, tossed a handful of greasy dreadlocks over his shoulder, and studied Loke more closely. “Hey, I know you, don’t I?”
Loke’s hand was shaking inside his pocket. “I live in the Lowell district, block three.”
August walked around to the front of his desk, nodding. “Thought I recognized you. You’re one of Tarrace’s little shits, aren’t you? What’s your name, kid? Logan? Lopey?”
“Loke, sir. My name’s Loke Edmund.”
August finished the drink and moved slowly towards him. “What’re you doing in Daedalia Planum, Loke? You come all the way here to see me?”
Loke backed into the open doorframe. I can’t do it. I just can’t. His hand fell out of his pocket. The gun remained tucked inside. “I came to talk to you about my mother.”
“What about her?”
“There’s a room hidden under our house with hundreds of weapons. My Mom’s a revolutionist, sir… She’s a terrorist.”
Chapter 22
A small Hunn stood next to Sulafat, tightening the straps on his wrists to the arms of the chair. Another one behind him lowered the metallic brace over the top of his skull. A third Hunn stood before him, holding an instrument resembling a drill in its little grey hands. Do not fight the procedure, it said telepathically. That will only make it worse.
He had been brought with three of his people into another immense dome-shaped area. Hunn-ephei surrounded them, half-sitting, half-lying, on white benches arranged in circular rows that seemed to stretch on forever. There were hundreds of them, thousands.
Sulafat could no longer move his head. He moved his eyes to the right as far as they would go, and saw another grey being fastening restraints over Tor Emin’s left wrist. Wez Canis was seated beside Emin, and Hadar Cen next to him. They were the second group of human captives to undergo their first treatment of deep mind probes. Jule Adeen was there with them, standing not all that far away in an aisle between the endless rows.
Sulafat called out to her. “Your people aren’t at war with the Hunn. There is no treaty between the two planets. The Pegans are controlled by them.”
“That’s not entirely true, Captain. There was a war. It lasted hundreds of years. As the centuries dragged on, and the casualties climbed, my people decided it wasn’t worth the cost. The work exchange program was developed. My people were allowed to continue existing. The Pegan system is still ours… under Hunn supervision.”
“Your people are cowards.” Sulafat snapped. “There is no freedom in the Pegan system.”
“There’s still tension between the civilizations. Pockets of Pegan resistance remain to this day.” Jule offered him a tiny smile. “But eventually even those rogue factions will come around.”
“You lied to us.”
“Would you have agreed to remain on Pega as prisoners if you knew the whole truth? Isn’t this for the best, Captain? Your ship left our system in one piece. Thousands of Ambition people are still alive, headed back to your home world. Your sacrifice won’t have been for nothing.”
The Hunn standing in front of him approached with the drill. It placed the end against Sulafat’s temple. There was a grinding noise, followed by a brief stabbing pain, and then everything went black.
He was back in his private quarters on Ambition, seated at the end of the conference table. The Hunn Prime was sitting at the other end.
You need bigger chairs in your subconscious. It shifted uncomfortably in the tiny seat. Sulafat could see its massive knees poking out from either side of the wide table. I’m going to be visiting often, you can at least make me comfortable… make me feel at home.
The window had been replaced. Sulafat looked out over a blue world wrapped in swirls of white. “That’s Earth.”
Yes. I want to go there some day. You’re going to help get me there.
“I won’t.”
Quit fighting, Ly. In a sense, I’m already there, a part of me at least. You and your people can bring me—bring us—all the way.
“We’ll do no such thing.”
I’m in your head. I can see your thoughts. You will not allow the rest of your people to come to any harm. Resist me, and I will kill them all.
“Go to hell.”
“That’s the spirit, Sully.” Sheratan Ri
es was sitting next to him now. “Tell that big bag of grey shit where he can go.”
“You’re back. I’m not surprised. Thought I was losing my mind until the others shared their experiences.”
The Hunn Prime pounded a mottled fist into the table. Who’s back? You’re doing it again, Ly! Speaking to someone I can’t see.
“Don’t look at me, Sully. Don’t speak to me directly. Look that thing in its ugly face and pretend I’m not here.”
Sulafat shrugged at the Hunn Prime. “Talking to myself again. Like I said, it’s a bad habit.”
We’ll correct that during our sessions.
Sheratan slid out of her chair and stood next to Sulafat. She wrapped an arm around his shoulders and whispered in his ear. “Good. Keep nodding your head. Pretend you’re hearing everything it’s saying, but listen to me.”
Sulafat nodded.
“Excellent.” She leaned in closer and kissed his cheek. “I won’t leave you again. I won’t leave Hadar. I won’t leave Tor and Wez. I’ll stay with you the entire time as we steal a ship and escape from this awful planet.”
Sulafat wanted to ask her how, but knew he couldn’t mouth the words. Sheratan must have sensed this. She squeezed his shoulder and placed her other hand on the Pegan heart brace attached around his chest. “This is how, Sully. It’s been with you the entire time.”
***
Tor Emin was in the Black Hole. The Ambition lounge was busy. Every chair, every booth, and every stool at the bar was filled with Hunn-ephei. Ma Ades was there too. She was moving from table to table, gathering up empty glasses and bottles, and leaving full ones behind for her thirsty patrons. Tor grinned. He had never seen the place so packed, never seen the woman literally run off her feet.
Tell us your darkest secret.
Tor looked away from Ma and peered down at the little Hunn-ephei scrunched up beside him in the booth. Its massive black eyes blinked up at him questioningly.
“Piss off.”