by J. D. Tew
My training was aboard the Uriel, and my access to King Trazuline’s secrets was minimal, due to our intermittent exposure. I knew that eventually the king would reveal this information to me, but I had to be patient. I said, ‘So it seems they do this behind the back of Zane and try hard to maintain the secrecy of it. Not much can be done without Zane knowing, but fortunately for us, he is easily distracted by other ill-calculated projects that he thinks helps him with the war.’
I frowned. ‘Why is this option not recommended?’
“Well, for one, if Zane finds out about this one mission, you’re dead meat.’
‘And if he doesn’t find out?’
‘The Sepherans who undertake this risky transport have to be fully committed. If not, they will botch the teleport and end up as space dust. Do you want that fate for Lincoln?’
I gulped. Teleports were always more risky than the snail mail of intergalactic transport—travel by ship, without your body disintegrating. And if Lincoln wasn’t willing to make the teleport, well, that was a no-brainer. ‘No, of course not. What is my other option?’
‘The other way is really just a shot in the dark and probably our only chance. Pritok commands a cloaked freight ship every so often, ostensibly to deliver parts and equipment to customers. But the real purpose is to smuggle hordes of Sepherans, to join Trazuline and the Opposition. But that was before. Now Pritok is a declared war criminal, so all his authority over any flights has been revoked.’
I pause, trying to jump ahead. ‘But…’
‘But he knows contacts. Contacts who still can command ships. They’ll do it for him, but they won’t be telling anyone. So, to get Pritok to do this, you’ll have to overcome the layers of classified information, and find a way to communicate with him. Most of his covert allies who do still have ships are on the planet Foita.’ He puffed out his chest in pride.
I knew Nilo’s original home was on Foita, the ice giant, the home of the Rangiers—his race. ‘Do you think I can find Pritok on Foita? I need to ask him to do this for me. I don’t think I can ask Lincoln to do that teleport, especially when we’ll both probably be fleeing for our lives.’
‘Yes, I think Pritok is on Foita. You didn’t hear it from me,’ Nilo muttered darkly, his eyes deadly serious. Yet, Foita isn’t easy to enter, as the atmosphere is very dangerous—it will overpower any ship not specifically adapted for it.’
More and more, I was already regretting losing Nilo from my crew. He had valuable intelligence, plus impeccable piloting skills. My outburst was almost a whine. ‘How can my crew and I navigate this atmosphere without burning to a crisp?’
Nilo smiled at me. ‘You’ll find a way, Theodore.’ He peered at the giant screen in front of him, then back to me. ‘Oh and one last thing: these Urilian ships are almost always equipped with tracking. I don’t know how you will do it, but you need to find the tracking device on this ship and destroy it. Before Zane finds this ship and destroys us.’
‘What?’ I asked, concerned about the tracking.
‘I’m kidding. I destroyed the tracking device instantly, after the hijacking.’ Nilo had his hand on my shoulder while he playfully landed a fist in my side. ‘I had you going pretty good. I also activated the scrambler. So all nanocom access from outside sources will be blocked. The only communication can be through the inboard hologramicon.’ The hologramicon was the device that I used to contact King Trazuline.
‘You sure did. Alright…’ Just then, something buried within the recesses of my memory was nagging away at me. As if possessed by a chuckling demon, one word escaped my lips. “Ranvier!” I shouted!
Nilo squinted as he looked at me. His eyes opened wider in astonishment, as if he knew exactly what I was pushing at, but he dared not prompt me any further.
‘The Caves of Ranvier!’ I shout to him. ‘Trazuline told me about them. He was babbling about giant mollusks who can talk, and…’
‘No way!’ Nilo said, backing off. ‘Trazuline was insane, if he said that to you!’
Now Nilo was walking away from me, his shoulders hunched as if he were back to being a kid at his mother’s house and concocting a scheme to raid the candy jar. Intrigued, I ran after him, then tackled him with the gusto of a minor league football player. After we both fell to the floor, he pushed himself off the floor, and noticed my wild-eyed look. ‘What’s gotten into you?’ he asked.
‘You tell me. What’s so secret about the Caves of Ranvier?’
Nilo sighed. ‘Okay, you’re officially crazy, I’d grant you that. Alright,’ he said, taking a deep breath. ‘They’re the stuff of legends. Word is that many of our men have attempted to find them, but disappeared.’
I blinked.
He said, ‘Apparently these ancient giant mollusks have some secret to the universe, which is why many have sought them. But they’ve laid many traps in their caves, which is why no one has returned.’
‘But Trazuline advised me to seek them out. Why?’ I was closing off any evasive words he might have at the back of his mind.
‘I dunno. I haven’t been with Trazuline long enough. He’s the one you should talk to.’
I was more talking to myself at this point. ‘He did mention it in the same breath he mentioned Lincoln. Perhaps there’s some connection.’
Nilo held up his hands. ‘Look, you go there. I’m out of it.’
I was starting to yawn. ‘Yup. Maybe it’s a hare-brained scheme after all. I’m going to catch a bit of shut-eye. Wake me up if things get weird.’
‘They’re not already?’ Nilo asked and chuckled. He stared at me inquisitively. ‘Relax, Theodore.’
While the Council governed Foita on paper, in practice, they preferred to stay far away from its frigid tundra. Instead, the Council completely entrusted authority to the Rangiers, who were loyal but weren’t above the odd bribe or two. Thus, the Council was deluded in thinking of Foita as an impenetrable planet as against the Opposition, but the reality is that there was much subterfuge under these layers of ice. And I, for one, wasn’t going to be the volunteer to prick the arrogance of the Council until I was safely out.
Exhausted from all the intense pondering, I went straight to my dorm. I lay on my bed, and situated my head upon my smart pillow or alternatively called DIE, Digital Imaging Elicitor. This incredible ultra-futuristic pillow could adjust firmness, massage your neck, and play white noise or any music of the galaxy. And yes, the acronym was creepy.
It sounded like a heavenly pillow, but there was also a sinister aspect to it.
This smart pillow also functioned much like a Magnetic Resonance Imager that could scan the blood flow and nerve impulses in the visual cortex of the brain once the head rested on the pillow. After the scan, the computer would calibrate and release meticulous systematic electrical currents and adjust temperature to control the blood flow in the brain. It could tinker with neurons to create any visually striking scenario you wished of it. Basically, it created lucid dreams, rich and complex dreams that no one on Earth had ever experienced.
The only possible side effects were headaches, but I never experienced these, and the majority of electric current nodes were placed on the right side of the head to avoid short term memory loss. It was quite fun!
‘DIE. Prepare for dream request… I want to be climbing Earth’s Via Ferrata on the Saguenay Fjord, in Canada. Make it... a cool day, with a slight breeze. Put me at about a-hundred-and-fifty meters above river, and on the cliffs, with all the proper gear of course.’
‘Yes, Theodore. Activating conscious sedation.’ A gentle nose mask ejected from the side of the pillow and eased onto my nose. ‘Please, relax. Close your eyes and breathe through your nose,’ DIE said.
I could feel the nitrous oxide affecting me into a weightless and distant stupor for about thirty seconds; I giggled. The funny smell subsided, as the nitrous oxide returned to oxygen. I felt very distant.
Then my dream request came into fruition. ‘Oh my god! Are you kidding me? This is AMAZING!
!!’ I shouted from the edge of the cliff as the river swooshed below and a stiff breeze, warmed by the summer sun, swept against my blue T-shirt. My harness was tight and chaffing my crotch area, but the minor discomfort was overridden by the majesty of one of Earth’s most spectacular land formations.
I shouted at the top of my lungs, ‘I’m on top of the world!!’ The incredible view of the bay sparked my awe, the salty scent of the water below whisked into my nose, and a Peregrine Falcon swooped near me, landing on a small shelf jetting outward from the cliff. The bird was only a few feet away.
It spoke to me, ‘How’s it hanging?’
The falcon was talking! I was in a state of utopia. I said, ‘Hey bird, fancy seeing you up here. I’m just enjoying the scenery. I could do this all day!’
‘It’s time to wake up, Theodore,’ the falcon said.
‘Not a chance! I love this!’
‘Beunes dias! Wake up, lazy boy.’
‘What! What the hell is Mariah doing here?’ I asked, hearing Mariah’s echoing voice within my dream sequence.
DIE said, ‘Theodore, you will have plenty of time to visit the Saguenay Fjord again.’
‘Fine.’
Mariah switched to a softer tone to address herself. ‘I think it’s morning, but it could be evening.’ Of course, she yelled again just when I thought I could get away with a bit more shut-eye. ‘Wakey-wakey, eggs and bakey!’ There was a faint tap at my door. The surprisingly up-beat tone in Mariah’s voice finally startle-dragged me completely out of lethargy. I took a moment to stretch, and then I answered the door.
‘Why now, Mariah?’ I yelled, with spit flying from my lips like my mother on Earth. ‘I am so incredibly tired. Are you kidding me? This better be good!’
Mariah was standing proud with her hands upon her hips and head slightly tilted upward. ‘You are going to thank me. Follow me, my courageous leader. Geez, I was pounding on your door, you know,’ Mariah said, as she walked with a strut down the hallway. ‘So I was exploring the ship and I saw pretty much everything. Then I started checking cabinets and closet spaces, and that is when I came across this.’ She continued her self-admiration with her chin cocked upward, revealing her nostrils. She extended her arm toward a door about fifteen feet down the hall.
We walked toward it and Mariah pressed a button on the wall next to it. A handle ejected from the button cleverly and she pulled it upward. Like the curtain to a wonderful production, the rise of the slim and ergonomic door alerted us to astonishment just about to materialize. There, before us, was an alien petting zoo, to say the least.
The poor animals! Their pitiful eyes evoked our sympathy as we gazed at the cramped cages enclosing these creatures, which had the misfortune to be brutally captured and placed in squalid conditions. It was a prime case, just screaming out for the intervention of the local galactic humane society.
It was a sort of lab for animal testing. My guess was that with our hijacking of the ship, the animals were even more neglected. Dan, whom Mariah had awoken earlier, heard our chatter, and headed our way to the discovery sleepy-eyed, yet there was a hint of excitement about him.
‘Holy crap! This is the coolest thing ever, is that a blue parrot? Dude, that looks like a parrot, a cockatoo, and a peacock mixed! That thing is awesome!’ Dan yelled.
I told everyone to stand by, as I broke from the huddle of my dumbfounded buddies to find exactly what I suspected to be essential to any Urilian airship, such as the one we were presently on. I ran to the rear of the cockpit, which was just kitty-corner to the captain’s chair. There, I found a familiar cabinet with a purple lever. It was like the lever that I had stumbled upon opening when I escaped the Uriel. This time, I could enjoy the luxury of exploration without the fearful impulse from the impact of interstellar debris and the cannon fire of Dacturon warships. Back when I escaped the Uriel, with a small emergency vessel, I met a robot that saved my life. Its—or rather his—name was ED. ED died on Tritillia during battle. A very resourceful, wise, and intelligent robot, ED probably meant the difference between me being here, alive and well, and or otherwise the misfortune of dying and turning Sepheran and becoming totally oblivious to reality. In short, if it wasn’t for ED, I would have joined Lincoln in his artificial world, living but not breathing, and certainly not alive.
I pulled the lever down slowly as if I wanted to savor the moment like a birthday wish. The cabinet opened, and he walked toward me. Like before, he was half my height, about two-and-half feet, slim, sleek, silver, shiny, robotic, and above all, he was awesome. He had a giant R on his chest, based on the word “Rangier.” Robots such as ED were totally the creations of the clever Rangiers.
‘How may I be of service sir? I am ED-728. I am the seven-hundred-twenty-eighth model made in my series, and my name stands for Emer—’
‘Wow!’ I yelled. ‘No need to speak any further, I know who you are. Emergency Device, yadduh-yadduh! I know what you can do. Listen to me Robot. I am your friend, and you are free to make any choices you want! I don’t care if you’re a robot!’
‘Sir, I am programmed and obligated to fulfill my duty. I will listen, record, and process. I don’t have your file in my cache. Why do you act like we have been acquainted?’
‘We haven’t. I have used a model similar to you. Okay-okay, ED, just relax. You have a job to do. I understand, but I am not your master. I am the commander on this vessel—by pure luck. But listen or ... process this. I have friends aboard this ship that are in need of your help,’ I was waving my arms about like a traffic coordinator from excitement. ‘We have all been equipped with nanocoms, and I need you to reformat my friends’ devices, can you do that for me?’ I asked. It was imperative to ask a lot of ED. I knew from my previous experience with his model, that they were able to operate multiple tasks at once.
‘Of course!’
‘ED, all you need to know is that I really missed you, and even though you’re not my ED, you’ll do just fine. The ED I knew earned freedom, and that is my gift to you, whether you accept it or not!’
‘I am unable to grasp the concept of freedom, master. All I know is that you are one insane character!’ He laughed robotically and scanned me from head to toe. A red fan of light shimmered against the varying surfaces of my body.
‘There is that ridiculous robotic laugh! I love it. I need to introduce you to my friends; my name is Theodore, by the way. Please don’t call me master; battle-buddy or Theodore will do just fine. Let’s go.’
Seeing ED brought tears of adulation to my eyes, and I wiped them away quickly before I arrived near my huddled friends, still near the back of the ship.
I adored ED’s counterpart for what he did back on the planet, Tritillia. He set a standard for heroics; one, which I would abide by for all of my existence. When one has been voraciously thrown to the suffocating choke of doubt, a smidgeon of hope can let loose the veraciousness of valor. With the absence of Lincoln and Liam, the appearance of ED’s robotic counterpart presented me with fresh excitement.
‘Come on, follow me please, you have to meet my crew.’ As ED followed me down the hallway, he always hovered six inches above the floor, even though he was capable of wheeling himself along.
Everyone else was still aahing and oohing over the animals, unaware of our presence. There were ten animals according to the ship’s manifest. The data sheets contained all the necessary information for taking care of the animals. Mariah was thumbing through the digital sheets, when ED and I stepped into her field of vision.
‘Theodore, you have to see this. These animals are amazing! Oh, what is that?’ she asked as she spotted the robot hovering before her.
‘Whoa, dude!’ Dan blurted out as he saw ED. Nilo merely smiled a flash of recognition, himself being an experienced space traveler.
‘Not what, but who! This is ED,’ I said.
‘Wow! Like the robot you were with on Tritillia?’ Dan asked. ‘The one who helped you fight Travis?’ He was full of admiration.
‘Yes! Let me explain. He can reformat your nanocoms so that you’re free from anything that Zane’s programmed into you.’
‘Thank goodness,’ Mariah said, shaking her head as she let out a long sigh. ‘I can’t wait to finally be free from worrying about anything Zane may be finding out about us.’
I exhaled, sharing her relief. ‘Right on. Plus, he can give you a complete physical and he has a great bedside manner. He is better than any doctor you’ll ever find on Earth. I know that from experience.’ Because we were all surgically fitted with nanocoms, which were our own personal implanted computers—courtesy of Zane—ED would need to reformat the devices to avoid detection. My nanocom was already taken care of when I escaped the Uriel. I wasn’t worried about Zane listening in on our communications through our nanocoms aboard the ship, as Nilo activated our ship’s scrambler an hour earlier.
Mariah looked at the robot skittishly and asked, ‘Will it hurt?’
ED interjected by saying, ‘Actually, the technology has been around for over a thousand years, so there is nothing to worry about. There are contraindications, and we will discuss that later. How many of you are here?’
Dan scratched his head. ‘Uh, you’re looking at them.’
ED could not convey emotions, yet we perceived him backing up a fraction of an inch. ‘That’s all of you? For a ship this size?’
‘We have two others, Lincoln and Liam. We’re going to rescue them,’ I said, with determination in my eyes.
‘Understood. Please brief me on who each of you are and where you are from.’