Pendulum: An Aes Sidhe Novel

by A. Omukai

  “Come in.”

  Deirdre gripped the handle and pushed the cold steel door open. The room was small, dominated by an enormous desk. There were no windows. The commander sat behind it, as expected. However, there were other people inside, people she hadn’t expected to see, people she had hoped not to see on this occasion.

  Cold sweat formed on her forehead and the palms of her hands. She closed the door behind her, cleared her throat, then wiped her hands on her trousers. She looked from person to person. The commander, then the three Druids, then back to Armstrong.

  “You know why you are here, Lieutenant MacBreen.”

  She nodded.

  “Seeing you act like this today was very disappointing. I’d expect better from you, especially considering who your parents are.”

  Her parents, of course. It was always her parents. Any time she messed something up, they would bring them up again. Over ten years at the academy, with various teachers, tutors, and they would still always mention her parents.

  Her mother had died when she was fifteen, her father five years ago. All this time on her own, yet she still hadn’t managed to escape their long shadow. This mission was a chance to prove her worth, and to make a name for herself. All she wanted was to get out of this room as soon as possible, meet the new crew, go on board, and be on her merry way out of the solar system.

  If distance in time didn’t do the trick, maybe distance in space would.

  “Regardless of your parents, as an officer of the agency, you are expected to show some discipline. When a superior speaks, you listen. You don’t talk. You don’t giggle. Your attention belongs to your captain, or in this case, me.”

  “I know. I am sorry, Sir,” she said and gnashed her teeth.

  Her face got hot again, for the second time in such a short time. She couldn’t stop it. A hopefully unnoticeable shiver ran through her body. Her eyes wandered to the Druids again, then returned to the commander, stayed on his face for a second, then went down to her feet. Deirdre couldn’t meet his gaze right now. She had messed up, but her regret came too late. She couldn’t go back to fix it.

  A voice came from her right.

  “As a druid, know that every lapse of concentration can have fatal consequences. If you are impatient during a ritual, you might kill everyone on your ship.”

  Wade’s voice was high-pitched and grated on her ears. It had a nagging sound and an unsettling quality. This was the first time she had heard him speak, and it would be the last time, if she could help it.

  Deirdre looked up and turned her head towards him. He stood in the middle, the short, fat, middle-aged man with the shining, bald head. His robe was ornamented and embroidered with trees and acorns. The golden embroidery contrasted nicely with the dark brown of the gown. It was way fancier than the attire of his colleagues, but something about his air made the robe fit him perfectly, or at least fit his unnerving voice.

  She had no response. He hadn’t asked her a question, anyway.

  “I would have loved to work with you on board the Mag Mell, however, I doubt you can serve as a navigational officer. You are dangerous for yourself and your crew. Having you mess up and kill everyone on my ship would damage our druid circle’s reputation too much.”

  Even Armstrong seemed surprised.

  He raised his eyebrows, cocked his head, cleared his throat and spoke.

  “Those are harsh words. I would like to hear more, Mr Wade.”

  “A druid has to focus for extended periods of time. Attention to detail is extremely important. If you get something, literally anything wrong, energies can get out of control, a jump can turn into something completely different, into an explosion, or worse, something that kills slower and more painfully. This child has proven that she doesn’t have the mindset I would expect, and rightly so, of a druid. She can barely hold herself together. Just look at her.”

  Armstrong’s eyes wandered over her face. She could feel his gaze physically on her skin. Nobody spoke a word. She could hear a needle falling on the soft carpet. The only sound was her breath and the blood running through her veins.

  “What do you say?” Armstrong asked, looking at the other arch druids.

  Sidheag O’Brien didn’t say a word, but the look in her eyes wasn’t friendly. Not outright hostile, but she didn’t approve of either Deirdre’s behaviour or Wade’s total rejection. She didn’t move at all, like a statue, yet vigilant like a cat, ready to pounce. Deirdre wouldn’t want her as an enemy.

  Brilann stared at something in the distance no one else could see, somewhere in a world not visible to human eyes. He didn’t say a word either. Instead, his hand stroked over his beard slowly, as if in thought.

  “I would hate to lose a talented young agency member. However, I cannot allow an officer with a discipline problem on board the ship, on an official mission, risking danger to lives and material,” Armstrong said.

  Wade nodded, looking pleased with a tiny smile on his round face.

  “If one of the arch druids in attendance will take you under their wings, and take responsibility for your actions on board their ship, I might give you another chance.”

  Nobody said a word.

  Reality hit her like a sledgehammer in the face. If nobody came to her help, she would sink, and everything would end right now. Not only had she studied for over 20 years, given up her childhood, gone through hardships, she had also been willing to sacrifice her home and her life on Earth in service of humanity.

  Not to say she had done it selflessly, but still.

  Would they throw her away like this, like a used tissue, for something so trivial?

  Why be so overly strict? This seemed to her like an extreme overreaction.

  Yes, she had done something disrespectful, but it was not as if she had endangered anyone’s life.

  All she had done was being silly with a friend for just a few seconds, over the course of a long hour filled with dry and boring speeches, which didn’t even have any new content. She had heard it all before, many times, at school, from her peers, from the teachers.

  It was unfair!

  Not even a second might have passed, but it felt to her like a minute.

  She couldn’t bear the silence in the room. If no one spoke up on her behalf…

  “Well, it seems like–”

  “I will give the girl a chance.”

  The voice was hoarse, but not unpleasant. She looked up again, searching for the speaker. It was obvious whose voice this was, but she wanted to see his face.

  “Brilann, are you sure?”

  Wade sounded outraged. Whether this was a show to save his face, she didn’t know, and frankly, she couldn’t care less. She would not forget that he had tried to kick her out and ruin her life.

  “Have I ever spoken when I was not sure, young man?”

  Wade didn’t answer. Now it was him who stared at his feet. Deirdre felt schadenfreude, but gave her utmost to not let her face show emotions this time.

  “Very well then,” Armstrong said.

  He stretched his back, sitting upright, shoulders back, chin up. “This then settles it, for now. I will leave her to you, Brilann. You know what you’re doing.”

  The old arch druid said nothing more. His gaze had returned to unknown depths in space and time.

  The dark grey sky of her mood ripped open, and a ray of hope shone on Deirdre’s face. It looked like she was saved, at least for now, but she would not forget.

  She stared daggers at Wade for a moment, then looked at Armstrong with a questioning expression on her face.

  “I hope you are sufficiently shocked, Lieutenant MacBreen. You will not get a second chance, keep that in mind. You are dismissed. Finish whatever business you might still have, then meet with the others of your crew once you get your notification.”

  She showed him a salute.

  “Yes, Sir!”

  Turning around and having only the door in front of her, this time from the inside, with the expec
tation of cool, fresh air in the corridor, she felt light once more.

  ***

  She sauntered down the corridor. Just where did she have to go? Thirty minutes, he had said, and the first ten had already been stolen from her. Hopefully, Maya and she would end up on the same ship. The chances were three to one. On which ship would she be on? Not the Mag Mell, that much was already clear. The Mag Mell was Ward’s ship, and she had been assigned to it before. Looking at it this way, she had dodged a bullet there. Her mentor was Brilann now.

  So where was Maya? She couldn’t use most of her system’s functions on board of the space station without endangering its operations - or so they said. If that was true was not the point, the outcome mattered, and the outcome was her wandering about on this structure that rivalled a decently sized town on the planet in size. Like the ship she would be on, the Ad Astra comprised a core element and a rotating ring which provided artificial gravity. The usable space was gigantic. She didn’t have any data, but she was convinced she could walk for an hour without rounding the ring and being back where she started.

  A group of people in fleet uniforms stood clustered like a bunch of grapes at the entrance to one room. As she came closer, she saw that these were not the same people she had met during the speech. They were station personnel, or other members of the agency, possibly the next generation of recruits to be trained. Apparently, parts of the training was now conducted in space on this relatively new installation.

  She stopped and turned around. Where was she anyway? She’d been walking without paying much attention to her surroundings, in thought, and now she stood here without the help of the navigation function of her system. Getting lost on a space station, how unbecoming for a navigator. She chuckled. There had been no information yet on where to meet, who to talk to, or anything she could use to orient herself. She shrugged and closed in on the group of people.

  “Any idea how I get to a lobby or something?” she asked.

  One member of the group, a Fir Bolg who was almost as broad as he was tall, turned around and frowned, but at least he didn’t turn back.

  “You’re in section B, inner corridor, outer ring,” he answered.

  Good to know. It didn’t tell her anything, though.

  “Yeah, so…?”

  He narrowed his eyes for a second as he eyeballed her from head to toes.

  “You’re one of the crew members, aren’t you?”

  This was not a question, it was him talking to himself. She nodded anyway.

  “Then you’re completely wrong here. Your people are on the inner ring somewhere. Much closer to the star port in section E.”

  “What direction?”

  He grinned, as if he was confronted with a special kind of idiot.

  “Why don’t you ask the station?”

  The guy irritated her. Not only didn’t she like his grin, now his tone also angered her. Or maybe she was just still pissed about earlier and shouldn’t let it out on this man, who just tried to help her.

  “What? I mean, how would I do that?”

  “Station! Show me the way to the star port.”

  He gestured at empty space.

  “The station now sent me a guide signal. I can follow it until I reach the port, or… Station! Stop guidance.”

  He cocked his head and his grin turned into a milder smile. She returned it and showed him a nod.

  “Thanks, you just saved me.”

  “You’re welcome, ma’am,” he said with a sloppy salute and turned back to whatever it was he had stared at before. Deirdre couldn’t see it, everyone was taller than her, but she didn’t have time to satisfy her curiosity now, anyway. According to her clock, her remaining time had shrunken by some more precious minutes, and she still had to find Maya, to either rejoice with her, or to say goodbye.

  “Station! Show me the way to the star port please.”

  A synthetic, but not unnatural sounding voice startled her.

  “Ad Astra guidance function activated. Destination set to Star Port, section E.”

  A trail of green light headed down the corridor, tracing the path. How convenient. Why had nobody told her about it?

  If she was honest, though, someone probably had. There had just been so much going on, and… she started into a moderate trot, fast enough to carry her to the port in time, without exhausting her and ruining her uniform by making her sweat.

  Deirdre was no athlete, but she was in good enough shape.

  With the guidance system’s help, finding the space port was no problem. She arrived without getting out of breath. Now that she was here though, where was Maya?

  The star port’s lobby was spacious, but unexpectedly bare. A few benches and a separate section with seats and a table, a few plants in the corners. What caught the eye immediately was the transparent wall that let her look out of the station, into open space. Two of the three scout ships were visible from here, not in their entirety, but still - majestic. The blue ball of planet Earth hung over her head, causing vertigo for a heartbeat or two, then she caught herself and took a deep breath.

  She opened her system’s main menu and checked the time. The clock display changed to five minutes left on the countdown she had set earlier, and a notification icon popped up and flashed at the edge of her field of vision. She focused on it. It wandered to the centre of her attention, then opened up on her command.

  “Lt. Deirdre MacBreen, you are assigned to the Tuatha De Danann. Please go to landing gate C and meet Captain Thornhill. You have five minutes. If you need any help, please use the station’s guidance system.”

  She closed it and scoffed. Thanks for the info, whoever sent that unexpectedly short message - after those long talks and speeches earlier, a pleasant change of pace.

  She had already deleted it before checking the name of the sender. Whatever.

  “Station! Show me the way to landing gate C.”

  The trail led her out of the lobby. The transparent map overlay told her that the gate wasn’t that far away. Just a corridor and two corners away.

  She still had no idea where Maya was, and her time was ticking away. Not enough left to go on a search, so her only option was to move now and hope for the best.

  If Maya was on a different team, it couldn’t be helped for now. She couldn’t be too late now. This was her day.

  With renewed conviction, she strode down the corridor, but didn’t run.

  She was an officer on the way to her ship. Adventure Day One.

  3

  Boarding

  A large group stood in front of gate C. The overwhelming majority were humans, but some fae were mixed in as well, albeit only a few in comparison. Less than a handful were from the Otherworld.

  Deirdre straightened her shoulders and stood on her toes, but her eyes couldn’t penetrate the wall of bodies blocking out her gaze. Maya wasn’t among those she could see. Was she inside the crowd, though?

  She noticed that all the crew members here were of low rank, no officers among them. Maya was a lieutenant, she would be with the others from the bridge, if she was even here, so the key was to find out where all the officers gathered.

  She stepped closer and cleared her throat, but nobody reacted to her. Many voices were audible, and they all were louder than hers. This was nothing new for her. She was a head shorter than even the smallest of the human crew, but that didn’t surprise her either. She was still a giant compared to most fae on board, which was good enough.

  She cleared her throat again, in a wildly exaggerated manner, and this time two people turned around. A built guy with the insignia of an ensign of ship security on his chest, and a female marine who wouldn’t lose to him in stature at all. They both looked at her as if she had told an awkward joke, which was probably what she had done, after all.

  “Where do I find the captain?” she asked.

  Both of them showed her a proper salute.

  “The captain is this way,” said the marine and gestured for her to fo
llow.

  The big, athletic woman cut through the crowd like an icebreaker through a shelf of pack ice, leaving a broad channel of open space behind her that was enough for Deirdre to follow without a hurry, before the crowd closed slowly behind her.

  Deirdre didn’t bother looking for Maya in this crowd. She was an engineer, probably the chief of the engineering crew on whatever ship she belonged to. She’d be busy from the start, not able to mingle with her peers much. Systems had to be checked, engines had to be started. Especially since the engineering team had to have all their ducks in a row before they could weigh anchor, or rather decouple the moorings, to start on their journey. Her best chance was to find the captain and ask for a roster.

  “Here we are,” the marine said and smiled.

  She saluted again and disappeared in the crowd, before Deirdre could thank her for her help.

  She looked around. The captain stood right in front of the closed airlock, with two faeries framing him. One of them looked at her out of icy blue eyes, while the other seemed busy with something she held in her hands - a clipboard, maybe? A tablet? From this distance, Deirdre couldn’t make it out. Only a few steps, but the small, winged woman wasn’t much taller than her hand was long.

  “Lieutenant Deirdre MacBreen, reporting for duty,” she said, saluting the captain.

  He nodded, waved her closer and looked at the male faerie.

  “Please lead her to the mentor’s quarters, Fionnlagh.”