Essence: Book 1 - Septima

by Nick Braker

  “I did,” Alta said, walking away.

  She’s still pissed from getting slapped by a human. Huh? Glad I don’t say these things out loud.

  Alta descended the stairs.

  “Is Alta upset with you?” Joliza asked.

  “Yeah. I’ve been a bit out of sorts lately,” Troy said.

  An awkward silence kept either of them from saying anything as they watched Alta enter her office below.

  “How are your friends doing?” Joliza asked, changing the subject. “They refused to come in for a checkup. I’d like to examine them, make sure the cloning process does not produce anything unexpected.”

  “You expecting problems?” Troy asked, staring at Alta’s office door through the metal latticework.

  “No, but that is the nature of unexpected,” she answered, laughing.

  “Huh?” Troy said, distracted. “Oh. Yeah, I guess so. Sorry, Alta is upset with me. It’s bugging me.”

  Alta’s mood did bother Troy and he felt an apology was necessary.

  No. Let it go. Remember how she treated you?

  “Checkup?” he said, still distracted. “They... should... get looked at. Uh--”

  “Alta really is bothering you,” Joliza said.

  Troy wrenched his eyes away from her office door.

  “Not really,” he said, trying to cover his actions. Troy turned to Joliza. “I have to keep the peace, wondering what my next move is to mollify her.”

  “Your fr--”

  “Friends,” Troy finished. “Yeah, get them in here for a checkup. They need, well, I need to be sure they’re okay.”

  She nodded as Troy left. Why was Alta bothering him so much?

  Chapter 10

  CAIDEN

  Pira - Four Days Later

  Troy left the complex, stepping out into the Piran winter. Snow was falling but the wind that so often accompanied it did not blow. The flakes floated gently down, covering the ground in a pure white coat of fluffy ice. The early morning hours on Pira were generally the quietest and today was no exception. The Piran’s day started similar to his old home world of Earth. The rays of the sun gave the light needed to begin another day. Artificial light at night was forbidden and the complex had a blackout order based on the setting of their Piran sun.

  The rays of this orange-tinted sun had not yet crested the horizon, leaving the area dark and whisper quiet. Troy enjoyed the Piran weather now and it was only at times like these that the headaches would ease. The quiet and the cold almost completely relieved the headaches he suffered daily. The snow covered the tops of his boots as he stood there wearing a thick coat, pondering the last four days.

  Five nights ago, Troy had assigned the job of getting his friends their own quarters to one of the Pirans named Bleah. He had also asked her to look into finding a job for Hayden that would take advantage of her computer skills. Bleah had jumped at the chance to help Tohmas and took the job like it was the single-most important thing in the universe. She had told him that it would be easy to get the new humans a place to stay but that getting Hayden a job within the complex would take several days at least.

  All of them act as if everything I ask is a direct order and they willingly do it.

  Troy was well past simply liking Pira. He loved it here and he couldn’t see himself leaving but he felt strongly that he needed to. This wasn’t his war nor was it his responsibility. Troy wanted to get all of them off this planet but there wasn’t anywhere safe to go. If Alta’s comments were true, Earth was next. He shook his head, trying to clear it. He couldn’t make up his mind. Troy wanted to get away from Pira but not at the cost of leaving these people behind. He also wanted to go back to Earth but it would be suicide if he did. Was it a hopeless cause? Was there something more important to do?

  Yes.

  Troy put his hand to his head, rubbing his eyes.

  What was I thinking? Oh yeah, I was thinking about my friends.

  Three nights ago, Troy had checked on his friends. He knew them well enough that he couldn’t let them sit around and do nothing. They would eventually get into trouble, so he had decided to offer them training. Surprisingly, they had jumped at the opportunity and, for the last several days, Troy had managed to keep them busy.

  He had assigned them to Caiden, a Piran male, who was Septima’s military training commander. Caiden trained the Piran people in the art of killing, Reptaurans in particular. Troy had found that Caiden lacked a certain ruthlessness that came naturally to humans. On a technical level, Caiden could teach others to use a weapon or to fight hand to hand but he failed miserably in creating a level of passion for killing that Troy felt they needed to win this war. Teaching pacifists to kill without changing them was a recipe for disaster. He would need to address that with Septima and get her to let him work with Caiden.

  His friends were clones and that troubled him. Strangely, the more he interacted with them, the more he convinced himself that this essence process was real. The cloning he could understand but the transfer of the uniqueness of a person, AKA their consciousness, wasn’t possible. Cloning only created a physical copy of the original but, contrary to movies and books, a person’s memories did not come along with the process. They couldn’t be copied. Troy needed to understand the additional steps of extraction and then insertion. The device Cienna had used pulled something from a living creature and then stored it in an ordinary vial. Whatever is was could be kept and used later to infuse everything that made someone truly unique - memories, personality, feelings, emotions and instincts - into a living receptacle like a clone.

  Holy hell, there is a lot I do not know about this place. I’ll think about it later.

  The freezing Piran morning didn’t bother him but the thick coat did. It was suffocating him, making him perspire. He took it off. The cold no longer bothered Troy and that had prompted him to find out why. Last night, he had approached Septima and Alta about why their people were resistant to the cold. She told him it wasn’t genetic but simply the presence of natural chemicals in their food source that both increased metabolism and added a higher tolerance to the icy winters. The Piran food he ate had ultimately increased his, exactly as Alta stated it would. Being human, his body had taken longer but it finally started adapting the day he took his friends on their tour of the facility. What Troy thought had been a mildly cool day was actually freezing and dangerous temperatures to his three friends. Alta had started to explain the chemical processes involved before Troy intentionally let his eyes glaze over, pretending he was falling asleep. His disinterested look had irritated her and she had thrown him out of her office. Though, for the first time since arriving, Alta’s irritation seemed faked and had an edge of playfulness to it. Was he growing on her?

  Troy felt angry.

  You- I don’t have time to stand around thinking about this shit. I need to get moving.

  ____

  Troy moved through Gen-Pop exchanging greetings with the Piran people who were up and moving about in the early morning sun. There were vast differences between his first visit and this one. The Pirans were hard at work, more so than when he first met them. New life had been breathed into them and Sep’s words from earlier played back in his mind.

  They saw you as their only hope and then they lost you. When you returned from the dead, you became a god to them. They are in better spirits and have worked harder than ever before.

  If they ever found out the truth that he was not the original Tohmas, they’d probably kill him. He stopped in mid step. Twice now, he had formed the thought of being killed by the Piran people. Were his fears returning? He had the same thought the day Sep gave him Tohmas’ ring. Could these pacifistic people do it? He was worrying for nothing again. He looked around for Cienna out of habit before sighing. She would smack him if she saw him sigh. The idea of his fears manifesting again killed his good mood.

  Troy tugged his comm-device from his hip. It was like the one Septima carried when he woke up on Pira. Alta had insi
sted several days ago that he take one so all of them could communicate quickly when needed. He reviewed it for messages and updates, noticing two, one of them from Caiden and the other from Septima.

  “Caiden, you need to learn to spell,” he said out loud though no one was around to hear him.

  Time: 01:61

  Tohmas,

  Chance, Geoff and Lakin have not showed up for training in the last two days. Several of our Piran staff have called in “sick”. Productvity is down dramaticaly in key areas. Something is up. Alta is furious. Septima ordered me to get your advice on the mater.

  Caiden

  What the hell? This reversal in progress must be isolated. The Gen-Pop workers here seemed fine. Several were moving steel girder beams while others worked to prepare food. Some repaired clothing, while more worked at making additional blaster armor. There was nothing unusual here. He changed direction, heading to the outdoor military training sector. It was located on the north side of the complex where he knew he’d find Caiden. He read Septima’s message along the way.

  Time: 01:97

  Troy,

  Would you stop by to talk with Caiden? He could use your help.

  Love Sep.

  Troy deleted the message from her. It felt great that she used his name but he couldn’t risk someone else seeing the message. What was she thinking? He answered his own question. Septima didn’t want to hurt him calling him Tohmas followed by “Love Sep”. She loved him now, not Tohmas. That was more important to her than the risk someone might intercept the text. The thought made him smile. She did love him but part of him felt ashamed of the relationship. She had loved Tohmas, her ex-husband. Were her feelings for him or for Tohmas? Hell, were Troy’s feelings real? Was she the right person for him?

  Troy stood several yards away from the top of the ramp the Pirans had built for target practice. The ramp was roughly 200 feet long and 50 feet wide but it only dipped down 20 feet at its end. Caiden was working on one of his recruit’s laser blasters. The recruit probably broke it or more likely, allowed it to overheat. He waved at Troy from across the range.

  Troy motioned him over after Caiden prepped the recruit and put him back at target practice. The laser blasters started firing again. The sound gave him the impression of rapid fire machine guns with silencers on them. Silencers never completely muffled a gun’s blast and these energy blasters were similar.

  Caiden was larger than most Pirans. He was certainly taller and years of physical strength training had given Caiden his bulk. He had dark brown hair with hazel eyes. His left eyebrow was scarred which left him missing the hair in the middle portion. The scar continued down his left cheek, leaving a curved red line ending right above his lip. Caiden’s history was not a good one, having lost everyone close to him and the war had hardened him. Caiden was always alert and watched his surroundings constantly.

  “Tohmas, Septima asked me to speak with you about your friends,” Caiden said.

  Troy sighed inwardly. He already knew where this was going.

  “What did they do?”

  “Well, bluntly put sir, they are insubordinate and are causing others to be so. Specifically, several of my recruits have begun questioning orders and wondering why these three new people, who they know are human, get special privileges.”

  “Special-” Troy started to say but cut himself off.

  Those three, in tandem, could disrupt anything. They were teenagers but their immaturity was worse than others their age. They needed to grow up.

  “I’ll handle this, Caiden. Thanks,” Troy said.

  Troy really needed to get them to help not hinder and, in fact, he wanted their assistance in procuring leadership for himself. The Pirans needed a single leader, one that would combine the council and their military leader into one role. Would Septima allow it? Hell, would Alta? He was also curious if the council, none of whom he’d met yet, were indeed impotent as Brice had said so many weeks ago. Things had to change and he was the only one who could do it.

  The idea had occurred to Troy last night. He had learned a great deal about how things worked here and it seemed, in their current state, they were doomed to failure without the right leadership. He would be that leadership with or without their approval.

  Chapter 11

  TROY

  Pira - One night later.

  Troy returned to his quarters, knowing that Sep would be there. She was preparing a Piran delicacy for him. Septima seemed excited about the dish and was once again more curious about his reaction to it than eating it herself. It was spicy and heavily salted but it was offset by a subtle sweetness. Some ingredient in the dish actually cooled his taste buds, giving him both a spicy and cool sensation with each bite.

  “Sep, you could make a fortune on Earth with this dish alone,” he exclaimed. “It’s stunning.”

  Septima enjoyed cooking for him and loved to experiment in the kitchen and the bedroom. She was his entirely and the control he had over her made Troy crave her more and she seemed happier with each new test.

  I love it... her.

  Troy rubbed his temples again. The pain throbbed.

  “Still having headaches?” she asked.

  “Yeah, they are getting stronger and the pain medication you give me doesn’t take the edge off anymore.”

  “You’ve been through a lot with the stress of playing the role of a man you hardly know. Perhaps the climate, the lighter gravity, the--”

  “Stop,” he snapped. “You don’t know what I’m going through.”

  Troy’s tone was harsh and accusing. He regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth but she said nothing more. No one else could talk to her that way. She wanted his control but it was the opposite with everyone else. She was the commander in their military force and no one questioned her authority. Septima was brilliant and Troy had learned much about her on a personal level. Her people respected her, with the exception of Alta.

  Troy was certain about the pecking order in this facility. His comment earlier to Alta about Brice was dead on. The council was useless, Alta ran the show from behind the curtain and, though Sep was a respected leader, to Alta she was a figurehead, a puppet to control.

  Troy had plans to fix that and it involved recruiting the only people he knew he could trust... his three friends. Since he had to talk with them about their behavior, he’d kill two birds with one stone.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, finishing his meal.

  Septima nodded, seeming to understand. She watched him get up to leave.

  “I,” Troy paused, “need some time.”

  Troy wanted to say more but his thoughts shifted back to his friends. This was the single most important thing he had to do. He didn’t have time for Septima right now. He picked up his comm-device that Alta had given him and placed it inside the drawer of the end table. Troy didn’t want Alta to be able to track him and his suspicious nature convinced him that was exactly why she had given him the device.

  Time to recruit some friends.

  ____

  Pira - The next day.

  It was late in the evening on the beginning of his third week on Pira. He found his friends in the commissary about to begin drinking. The three of them had rigged a small still, using one of the vegetables grown here on Pira. Knowing his friends, they had seduced the knowledge from one of the Piran scientists days ago and were about to reap what they had sown. He gathered them, reluctantly, together and took them into a relatively unused section of the facility, one level below ground. On several occasions, they had to hide along the way in large alcoves or in between machinery to avoid being seen. Troy didn’t want anyone knowing where they were going because he needed to talk with them privately and not arouse any suspicion. Once they were on the lower level, he found an isolated room. He activated the door and it slid open. The metal lined walls of this room were grimy. In the center of the room was a single metal shipping crate, already open. The place was dusty and obviously unused. No one had been
here in years.

  Perfect.

  “Guys, we need to talk and I think it’s pretty safe here,” he told them, as the sliding bulkhead door closed.

  “Bro, something is wrong isn’t it?” Geoff asked.

  “Sort of,” Troy said.

  Troy paced, rubbing his temples.

  “Something wrong with you?” Lakin asked, concerned.

  “No, just headaches. I’m the only human ever to go through a projection,” he said, not really knowing if it was true.

  “Okay, if you say so,” Lakin said.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Troy asked.

  His three friends exchanged glances. He’d known them all his life. What were they thinking? Geoff stepped up, putting his hand on Troy’s shoulder. Troy parsed through several Rohku moves to defend himself. He considered the possibility this was a ploy on Geoff’s part to get close enough to attack him. He could deflect that arm below the elbow. He’d have to use enough force to break it in order to stun Geoff, giving him time for a quick kick to his midsection. That would give him some freedom to take down Lakin and Chance. Lakin would likely go to his right but Chance would come at him head on. The shipping crate in the center, since it was open, could be used to temporarily knock Chance into it with several stun blows to his head and a strong kick. Lakin would be on him at that point so he’d have to shift left, give himself room for a killing blow...

  Killing blow? What the hell? A fucking killing blow? Where did that come from?

  “Hey bro, are you listening to me?” Chance asked, irritated.

  Troy resisted the urge to shake his head as if clearing his thoughts.

  Wow, Déjà-vu.

  “Troy,” Geoff said. “Simply put, you’ve changed.”

  “I’ve been through a lot since arriving here. I’ve had to grow up. These people need me and I want to help them. They’re going to die without my help.”

  Chance rolled his eyes.

  “Listen to yourself. You act like you can actually pull this off. You’re just a teenage kid from Earth.” Chance paused. “Hell, I can’t believe the words from Earth came out of my mouth.”