‘I should be returning to Dawn Central, too. I’m Sofia Kvantström. We got the same posting; you should have it there.’
The sub-lieutenant checked his handheld screen. ‘No, you’re not aboard this one.’
Frowning, Sofia pulled up her device. ‘Yeah, it’s here—’ She stopped.
‘What is it?’
She looked up from the device. ‘It’s been changed just this morning.’
Henning pulled up his own device and confirmed his posting. It was still to Dawn Central. ‘What do you have?’
‘I’m to stay in Spit City,’ she read from the screen, ‘for an undefined time, to continue taking measurements on affected locations and any new occurrences.’
‘Let me connect with her.’
‘Sir,’ the sub-lieutenant said. ‘Our schedule—’
‘This won’t be a moment,’ he said and dialled Belinda Killock on his handheld device. In a moment, her face appeared.
‘Keep it quick,’ she said. ‘We have a lot going on.’
‘No problem, just wanted to say that warrant officer Sofia Kvantström has done an exceptional job—’
‘That is good to hear,’ she said with a bright smile.
‘And to confirm if her posting is correct.’
‘It is, I just changed it today. I need someone to be down in Spit City, and if as you said, she’s done a great job, she’s the perfect—’
‘But, excuse me, ma’am, I need her.’
Belinda seemed surprised. ‘You need her… for?’
Henning paused; he hadn’t really considered his words. But perhaps his subconscious was telling him something. And now that he thought of it, he reasoned it was because they worked well together. But that, or the feeling from his subconscious, wasn’t a valid justification. He said, ‘For running some tests on the data, to confirm my hypothesis.’
‘I understand,’ she said. ‘It’s great you work well together, but for the bigger picture it’s better that she stays. She has already uploaded all the data, and I will grant you one of our local scientists to help analyse it.’
‘I’m not sure that’s—’
‘Almost forgot!’ she said, with a sudden lift in the pitch of her voice. The camera turned and showed Jill Faith waving at him beside her. ‘She can help you out with confirming your hypotheses, right?’ Jill nodded at this.
‘Even so, I would ask you to please reconsider.’
‘You have my orders. Over and out.’
Her picture disappeared from the screen, and Henning pushed the device back into his breast pocket.
‘Guess this is it?’ Sofia said.
‘For now.’
‘It was a pleasure serving with you, sir.’
Immediately upon arriving in Dawn Central, Henning went to Aino’s school. The Mercury Heritage School was smaller than most, but it was the best. It was close to the Spire on the city’s side and held beautiful grounds and dormitories for students; many well-off folks sent their children there, even from across the galaxy, but for Henning it was a convenience. For just studying, Aino would have done well on a terminal screen, but he wanted her to have human interaction and meaningful activity, which the Mercury Heritage School provided.
It was also the safest place for Aino to stay.
With his robot suitcase following him, he passed the security, and smiled upon entering the school grounds. With its lush greens, flowing water, and chirping birds, it was an oasis in the middle of dark metal structures.
He found Aino walking out of the main building with a number of other girls.
Seeing him, she smiled, said something to her friends and ran to him. He took her in for a big hug.
‘How my little girl has grown!’
‘You were only gone for a few days.’
Henning laughed. ‘But still you’ve grown, and I did miss you.’
‘Missed you too,’ she said, and waved to her friends, who started walking away. ‘When will we go back to Avalon?’
‘It was a good trip,’ he said, ‘but I need to have some discussions here in the Central about Avalon, and I hope it won’t be long.’
‘Maire and Jeena won’t be there.’
‘They’re your friends?’
‘Uh huh.’
‘They won’t be in Avalon, but you can always stay connected via Dawn Net—’
‘It’s not the same.’
‘No, but in Avalon you’d have your old friends, and perhaps make some new ones.’ Even though he knew things wouldn’t be the same, it would be a new start and, in the end, better for everyone.
‘I haven’t seen Jonas for a long time.’
‘There you go,’ he said. ‘I’m to report back to the headquarters, why don’t you go with your friends and I’ll see you at home later?’
‘OK!’ Aino said, and ran to catch up with the others.
The school yard was beautiful—some of the plants were real—even if it was a garden inside a metal box in space. In Avalon, everything would be real.
Upon heading up to the Spire, Henning found Belinda Killock and Jill Faith in a meeting room with most of the wall screens displaying lush forest views. The screen in the middle had a different view: something resembling a strategic map of the Dawn-controlled space.
Seeing him enter, Belinda flashed a quick smile. Jill was smiling too, but her smile extended to the eyes. She looked younger than he remembered, perhaps due to the good air down in Nanira.
‘Good to see you, Jill.’
‘You, too,’ she said.
‘And how’s Tredd?’
Her smile disappeared. ‘He’s still down on Nanira, taking it easy.’
Something had happened between the two of them, and it was a shame Tredd wasn’t there, but he didn’t want to pry. Jill was an asset, especially as it seemed she was in Killock’s favour.
Henning let the robot suitcase roll to a corner and walked up to Belinda.
‘I want to talk about Avalon.’
‘OK, but first we need to get you up to speed.’
Belinda and Jill proceeded to brief him on the attacks in Dawn Central and the other locations. The Remolans and the Ver had targeted the navy leadership with a number of simultaneous hits through similar portals, as he and Sofia had witnessed in Spit City.
‘We’ve got the data from Ms Kvantström,’ Belinda said, and pulled a representation onto the screen. ‘We were just analysing it. You said you had a hypothesis—what did you think?’
He glanced at Jill. ‘Remolans have got in bed with another old form of evil.’
Belinda tilted her head. ‘Huh?’
‘The creatures you saw,’ Henning said, pointing at one picture which declared the creature unknown, ‘are Veerings, the smallest of the Ver. Soon they will have the Vernaga come through, then the Vereen. They possess the capability of interdimensional travel.’
‘So, they’re not Remola. How do you know this?’ Jill asked.
‘My father fought these creatures a long time ago. He thought they were sealed outside of this world, but it seems Nenetl has offered them a door. Make no mistake, they are the likely reason for the appearance of the black portals.’
‘Are you sure?’
Of course he was sure, he had seen the creatures with his own eyes. He winced. ‘As I said, it’s my best hypothesis.’
Belinda looked at Jill, and said, ‘See if we can find any data on Ver.’
‘Yes, ma’am,’ Jill said, surprising Henning with how well they were getting along now. Last time he had seen these two together, the air between them was frozen.
Jill sat down and peered into the embedded screen on the table.
‘So, about Avalon…’
‘The old site of the project on Eura, yes?’
Henning nodded. ‘I hear the navy is planning to leave the site.’
‘That is correct. We have everything we need.’
He wanted to ask about the missing children; he was sure Belinda knew, but this was not the right t
ime. ‘I would like to make an offer.’
‘An offer?’
‘I will exceed whatever the Initia government is willing to pay for it.’
Belinda stepped around the table. ‘You know it’s not about money, but perhaps we can find a way.’
‘Tell me.’
She walked up to Henning and tucked her hair behind her ear. ‘Perhaps we could trade Avalon for information.’
‘What kind of information?’
‘Through your research, the work you did with cloning, and the application of deep energy, you are very knowledgeable about the most important aspects of what we are trying to accomplish with Project Renascence.’ She walked towards Jill.
‘Of course, I’m happy to talk things through—’
‘No,’ Belinda said, and stopped. ‘I’m thinking of something more thorough. A complete brain dump.’
‘Are you serious? No way.’ Henning tried to remain calm, even though her request was outrageous, and she knew it.
Belinda stepped behind Jill, who was still working on the screen. ‘It’s up to you. No brain dump, no Avalon.’
For a moment, Henning could find no words. He had practiced his pitch and was prepared to negotiate money and his own time, but this he hadn’t seen coming. Complete brain dumps were done on convicted criminals, and their privacy rights were waived. ‘I will think about it.’
‘Don’t take too long.’
Jill looked up. ‘You going?’
‘I’m done here,’ Henning said. ‘Let’s catch up when you’re available.’
‘Sure thing,’ she said, and smiled at Belinda, who was rubbing her shoulders.
Henning called his suitcase to follow, and the door swooshed open in front of him. He had a decision to make.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Jill stood on the Dawn Central command bridge. Officers were busy communicating across the Dawn and tending to the management of the central command. The attack on the navy leadership had happened across posts, but the void of leadership was filling quickly with vice admirals and commodores rising to the occasion and taking control over their superiors’ areas. In Dawn Central, Belinda and Jill were in command, at least for the time being. Around them was an elite team of officers.
She couldn’t sit still, so she stepped over to Belinda, who peered into the big screen before her.
‘The situation is escalating,’ said Belinda.
‘How many?’
‘Out of the more than three thousand five hundred recorded black portals, twenty-one, and so far, they’ve been on the fringes, like the mining colony at Tulejo. It’s less than one percent of them, but already the situation is bordering on a humanitarian crisis.’
After the attack on the leadership, there had been more creatures of darkness coming out through the portals, and wherever they went, they attacked everyone on their way, killing innocent civilians by the hundreds. ‘How do you fight an enemy like that?’
Belinda stared at her for a moment with an expression Jill was unable to decipher. ‘The stuff you found about the Ver was useful—’
‘But it’s not much,’ Jill said.
‘It’s still helpful to understand what we’re up against.’
‘It bothers me that we’re sliding into the biggest war we’ve ever faced, and the navy is crippled. There’s no frontline, and there’s nothing we can do.’
‘We have marines stationed by every portal in every major city; just like last time with Grangar—’
‘Last time—’
‘We learned a lot about the Remola that we can use now,’ Belinda said, interrupting her. ‘Speaking of the Ver, any other sources we could tap into?’
Jill paused. ‘I have a feeling Henning knows more about them than he’s letting on.’
Belinda smiled. ‘Great minds think alike. That’s why I asked him to open up for a download of his brain.’
‘You think he will do it? You have no plans for Avalon?’
‘No, no. I couldn’t care less about that spot of land. We got everything we could, and if there’s anything else, it’s in his head. But as long as it’s dear to him, it’s useful as a bargaining chip.’
‘That’s good,’ Jill said, wanting to seem like she agreed even though she wasn’t sure. ‘I’m sorry I doubted you.’
‘Don’t worry about it.’ Belinda glanced at the time and became flustered. ‘Oh, my— I need to run to that mobilisation meeting.’
Jill found it amusing how well the navy operated under crisis; soldiers had always been dispensable, but even a sudden massacre of leadership seemed like nothing but a bump in the road. ‘It’s all right. I got this.’
‘Thanks.’ Belinda grabbed her hand-held terminal and started towards the lift, but after a few steps, she stopped. ‘There’s something important I need to show you, and my schedule’s super-packed, but maybe in the evening, at 21:00 hours?’
‘Why not?’ Even though they were on the Dawn Central, after the attack, it was mission time all the time.
‘Great,’ Belinda said, hurrying out.
The attacks were overwhelming. As the extent of the damage unfolded, it became apparent that they were dealing with an unprecedented menace. Jill knew little about the Ver, but that wasn’t the only concern. With everything she had seen, she was convinced that the Ver didn’t work alone—it all smelled of Remola and Nenetl—and now they had started to seep in through the thousands of holes they had created. She was afraid that soon, every portal would march in infinite armies of Remolan creatures.
She wished her intuition was wrong, but that was hard to believe when everything told her otherwise.
Later that evening, Jill walked through the endless corridors of Dawn Central. It had been a long day managing the disorder after the attacks and with the developing situation of invasion through the portals, but Belinda had insisted she would meet her there to show her something important. It was also a good excuse to stop working on the bridge. Just a few minutes before nine in the evening, station time, she stepped into the same private room where Belinda had treated her with Re-Stem. Inside was, as before, the motorised bed surrounded by screens, and the Re-Stem unit in its box in the corner. Belinda was already waiting for her there, tapping a terminal by the wall.
Jill yawned. ‘You wanted to show me something?’
The door closed behind her and, according to the screen beside it, went into a private mode. Belinda turned around, chest forward. ‘How old do you think I am?’
A surprising question, but Jill responded as if on autopilot, ‘You’re about the same as me, thirty-six.’ She thought Belinda was younger, but the way she asked the question implied she was older than she seemed on the outside.
‘I’ll tell you a secret,’ Belinda said. ‘I’m one hundred and fifty-three years old.’
Jill caught her breath. ‘No way.’
‘It’s true, though. I don’t advertise it much. But I wanted to tell you, because I feel we share a bond.’
‘If you’re that old, you must remember the first contact with the ODD.’
‘I do,’ Belinda said, with a sigh. ‘I was doing stretches at home when I heard the news, and it didn’t take long for the terror to spread.’
‘But you don’t look a day over thirty. How’s that possible?’ Just as she said it, she remembered how she herself had looked in the mirror after Belinda had treated her. ‘The treatment?’
‘Well done. I call it the Re-Stem system—it reinvigorates your stem cells in order to prevent and reverse the otherwise inevitable decaying process.’
The world was full of longevity hacks, but none that Jill was aware of could preserve such a youthful vigour over so many decades. ‘How did you get your hands on something like that?’
‘I made it myself,’ Belinda said, with a self-satisfied expression. ‘It’s one of a kind— well, it’s based on an existing health application, and tinkering on it, I stumbled into the effects almost by accident. But that’s all a hundred years ago.’<
br />
The idea of living that long was perplexing. Not that people wouldn’t live until one hundred-and-fifty—many did—but having such a functional and beautiful body. ‘So you’re really over one hundred-and-fifty? How many artificial bits have you got?’
‘I’m all natural, girl,’ she said, and ran her hands down her waist. ‘That’s the beauty of Re-Stem.’
‘Does it bother you at all that most people don’t live so long?’
‘No, living long is all good. At least for now it is, and there are plenty of folks my age around.’ She laid her palm over Jill’s hand, ‘but I don’t know how I would feel at five hundred, or a thousand.’
Jill was about to draw her hand away, but something in Belinda’s touch made her stay. ‘Life could be quite different then.’
‘Different, but the same. You read history?’
Jill nodded. While the manifestation of the things around them had changed significantly, and human bodies had adapted, human nature was, fundamentally, the same as it had been for thousands of years.
‘You’re the first person I’m sharing this with,’ Belinda said, and ran her eyes over Jill. ‘You don’t need it for your looks, because you look perfect.’
As Belinda spoke, Jill found herself blushing. She knew Belinda was into her, but with the way she spoke and the things she was saying, she was difficult to resist.
‘I considered what you said about Remola and the Shades, and that there’s so much we don’t know. The Starcrasher system is limited, unlike you. With Re-Stem, I could help unlock your full potential.’
‘My full potential?’ Jill asked. ‘You mean using E?’
‘After I reviewed the readings from your first treatment, I feel we haven’t yet seen what you’re really capable of. With your full potential unlocked, you might be one of our greatest assets against the interdimensional invasion. What do you think?’
The whole reason Jill had come back to the navy was to use her gift for the benefit of the humanity. And it was difficult to say no. It was as if her destiny was taking the shape of Belinda Killock. Jill had reservations about her motives, but with this, she seemed sincere.
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