Chaos Quarter

by Welch, David

  Now what?

  -First words spoken on Mars by a human being

  Troezen, Alshain System, Alshain Prefect, Free Terran Commonwealth

  Standard Date 1/6/2507

  Troezen wasn’t welcoming by most people’s standards—well, this part wasn’t at least. Closer to the southern pole than the equator, Fort Eblis sat in the midst of a vast, cold prairie. Rolling hills, covered in waist-high grass, stretched around them in every direction. Brisk temperatures, in the low-fifties, were interrupted by strong gusts of wind that sent the grass rippling in great waves. The sun loomed large above, but it did little to warm the emptiness around him.

  But to Lucius it remained heaven. He watched wildlife mill about in the distance. Many of the species were familiar. He’d hunted many as a noble in the empire. Bison bunched in a large herd on a nearby hill, several thousand grazing the long grass. Scattered groups of elk seemed to orbit around them. Around a creek at the base of the hills, scraggly trees rose to resist the wind. Fallow deer darted in and out from cover.

  Other species looked familiar, but he couldn’t place them. He lifted his wrist to see the watch-console Rex had ‘appropriated’ from the base and flipped through images of animals. A particularly large deer, crowned with a gargantuan set of antlers, grazed alone on a hill-top to his left. It was either an Irish Elk or a Stag-Moose. According to the computer, both were extinct species from Earth’s past, recreated through genetic engineering. He squinted to get a better look.

  “Hey, there’s freakin’ elephants over there,” Jake observed. The man was standing, but had the relaxed tone-of-voice usually reserved for a person in a hammock. Lucius looked from his lawn-chair. True to the cyborg’s word, a trio of mammoths tore up vast bales of grass and stuffed them into their mouths.

  “Magnificent…” Lucius whispered.

  “You see that?” Chakrika said nearby, in a high-pitched voice. She held up an indifferent Quintus, turning his head so he could see the mammoths. Quintus’s eyes weren’t up to focusing at that distance yet, but that didn’t deter Chaki.

  She walked over to Lucius, plopping down in the empty lawn-chair beside his. He turned from the console and took his son from her. Quintus shook his fists energetically and settled into the crook of his father’s arm.

  “They didn’t like you?” Chakrika asked.

  Lucius shook his head. He was only ten minutes out of a six-hour-long “informal meeting” with the External Intelligence Division and bet he’d have to sit through a few more.

  “I am uncertain. One seemed to want to like me, provided I told him everything I knew about Imperial naval doctrine. The other seemed to wish I was a spy sent from the empire so he could gut me alive,” Lucius explained.

  She squeezed his forearm reassuringly.

  “You should have made up a story,” Chakrika chided gently.

  “I am no liar,” he replied. “Even when I should be.”

  She laid her head against his shoulder. Jake shifted to his left.

  “Hey, look, there’s grass over there,” the cyborg said and conveniently walked away. He whistled as he wandered off.

  “Assuming I’m not gutted by Rex’s countrymen…”

  “What is it?” Chakrika asked, sitting up to face him.

  “I want to marry you,” Lucius declared.

  She smiled softly and returned her head to his shoulder. She cleared her throat dramatically and put on her best fake, British-sounding accent.

  “Assuming you are not gutted alive, I accept,” she declared.

  He rolled his eyes at her dialect.

  “I do not have a ring,” he spoke suddenly. “I have not planned this out yet, but—”

  “A ring?” she asked. “Is that your tradition?”

  He relaxed back into his seat, hugging Quintus closer.

  “I got all worried for nothing,” he said. “What, exactly, do your people require of a potential husband?”

  “My father would pay you a bride price, to convince you to take on the burden of supporting me,” she explained, disgust thick on her voice.

  He was speechless, not sure how to respond.

  “Besides,” she said warmly. “You already gave me a son.”

  He met her lips instinctively. Quintus, bundled against the cold, looked on sleepily. Jake clomped around in the distance, paused, saw what was happening, and called out.

  “Whoa, there’s even more grass over there!”

  He stomped away to investigate, a knowing grin on his face.

  * * *

  “What is your name?” asked a jittery, dark-skinned Intel guy. He seemed to hum with nervous energy as he worked down his checklist of questions.

  “Second,” she replied. Rex smiled at the answer, sitting beside her. Jittery Guy and an anorexically-thin woman sat across from them. The woman didn’t speak, just watched and occasionally jotted something down on a piece of electronic paper.

  “That’s an adjective,” Jittery Intel guy replied.

  “It is also a noun,” Second said matter-of-factly. “And my name.”

  “OK, what is your last name?”

  She looked over at Rex.

  “Do I have a last name?” she asked.

  “Not that I know of,” Rex replied.

  She turned back to the Intel guy.

  “I do not have a last name,” she replied.

  “But you do have a first name, somehow,” Intel guy replied sarcastically.

  “I was formerly second to the ambas—”

  “Yeah, I read Lieutenant Vahl’s ‘report.’ Surely your parents gave you—”

  Rex sighed, “If you’d actually read the report you’d know she has no parents.”

  “All of my bodies were grown in a Breeder. Rex chose to make my former designation my name,” Second explained.

  Jittery Intel Guy just stared at her and blinked, disbelief etched on his face. He moved to speak again, but stopped when the door opened.

  A man in a civilian suit stood in the door. Rex recognized him instantly: Mr. Jones from the External Intelligence Division. He got here quickly.

  “You are to cease debriefing the lieutenant and any members of his crew,” Jones spoke. He walked in and handed a sheet of electronic paper to Intel Guy. He scanned it carefully, then shrugged and handed it to his associate. As she looked it over, Jones motioned for Rex to follow him outside.

  He left, with Second following, unordered. Jones noticed.

  “Ma’am, if you’ll excuse the lieutenant and me…”

  Second stared at him blankly.

  “Find Lucius and Chakrika; stay with them,” Rex told her. “Don’t talk to anyone else.”

  She paused, probably puzzling over in her mind if she wanted to obey.

  “What about Jake?” she replied after a moment.

  “You can talk to Jake,” Rex spoke. He would have to explain literalism to her. Second nodded and walked away. Jones watched her go, more than curiosity in his eyes as her perfect figure disappeared around a corner in the hallway.

  “She’s the clone?” he asked.

  “Not a clone. Just…grown,” Rex replied.

  Jones turned back. He had a folder in his hand, a stack of electronic papers inside.

  “Your report was interesting reading,” Jones stated.

  “I’ll bet,” Rex replied.

  “Were it not for that body and the chunks of biological spaceship we recovered, we’d have passed it off as insane ravings,” Jones spoke.

  “And I wouldn’t have blamed you,” Rex agreed.

  “Anyway, I have good news and bad. Bad news is that the same ship I took here also brought along Commodore Gutierrez,” Jones informed him.

  Rex exhaled heavily, his fists clenching.

  “He came all this way for a little old lieutenant?” Rex asked, a sardonic lilt to his voice.

  “Well, hate can do powerful things to a person. Seeing as he is your superior officer, he is expecting you in the base commander’s office f
or a private debriefing,” Jones spoke. “At this very moment.”

  “Well that should be fun,” Rex groused.

  “Yes,” Jones said, removing a piece of electronic paper from his folder. “It should.”

  He smirked, handed the electronic paper to Rex, and took his leave. Rex took a minute to read it and smiled broadly. He was going to enjoy this.

  * * *

  Commodore Gutierrez was a tall man with a tan complexion and graying hair. He sat behind a vast oak desk, busily writing on an electronic paper as Rex walked in. Rex watched the man’s scrawl resolve into neatly typed letters as he wrote.

  The commodore ignored him and continued writing.

  “Should I come back…sir?” Rex asked.

  The commodore sighed and pushed the paper aside.

  “Sit,” he spoke, not noticing Rex’s lack of salute. Or not caring.

  Rex moved to a chair in front of the desk. He relaxed back into the chair and crossed his legs. He tucked the folder from Mr. Jones next to him, against the arm-rest. The commodore noticed, but said nothing.

  “You were assigned to clandestinely acquire information on the Non-Aligned Quarter and the regions beyond the Achaean Confederation. Was this not made clear?” Gutierrez began.

  “Nobody was made aware of the fact that I was Commonwealth,” Rex replied.

  “You led a powerful enemy to within our borders,” Gutierrez spoke.

  “And Captain Ishimura blasted the crap out of it, sir,” Rex pointed out.

  “Which this…‘Perfected Hegemony’ might consider a provocation,” Gutierrez countered.

  “Did you see a jump drone launch?” Rex spoke. “Or are you just worried that one hundred years from now, their freak buddies back home will get their radio messages?”

  “Ambiguity can kill, lieutenant,” said the commodore.

  The man went silent for a moment, bringing out a new electronic paper. He skimmed it for a few seconds.

  “There are other ‘troubling’ aspects to your mission. This striped woman, ‘Chakrika,’ does not even possess a rudimentary education. What moved you to make her a member of your crew?” Gutierrez asked.

  “Nobody out there has a rudimentary education. I was given control of choosing a crew, and I made the best of it, sir,” Rex replied.

  “Was she the best? Or simply the best-looking?” Gutierrez said sarcastically. “Everybody likes a taste of the exotic, but the fleet cannot afford to have such things clouding the judgment of our officers.”

  “Whereas nepotism is perfectly fine,” Rex snapped.

  The commodore’s head shot up, the first sign of emotion creeping into his face.

  “Your implications are inaccurate and insubordinate,” Gutierrez spoke. “Your time in the Quarter does not excuse you from respecting your superiors.”

  Rex smirked. The commodore’s brow furrowed a bit more.

  “Explain to me why we should not begin investigations into your loyalties, lieutenant,” Gutierrez spoke, calm and collected.

  “Are you serious? I nearly get myself blown up crossing the asshole of Explored Space to fulfill my mission and you think I’m disloyal?!” Rex spoke, leaping from his chair.

  “You brought onboard a Commonwealth vessel a known Europan nobleman—”

  “Former Europan nobleman!” Rex snapped. “Does anybody here fucking read—”

  “Sit down lieutenant!” the commodore bellowed.

  They stared at each other for a long minute, before Rex slowly sat back in his chair.

  “Europan nobles have been known to ‘adopt’ more open life-styles to infiltrate their enemies. How can you be sure he is not doing the same?”

  “I’ve fought with the man for three months.”

  “Making him familiar with our technological abilities. And you infused him with medical nanobots that the empire would kill to possess. If this man is hiding—”

  “This man fired on an Europan frigate!” Rex interrupted.

  “Another potential disaster. If they learn that he was operating under the orders of a Terran officer—”

  “Don’t give me that crap! They fire on our ships every day!” Rex asserted.

  Gutierrez’s face went red, his arm trembling with anger. Ready to explode, he held his tongue, breathing heavily to vent his anger.

  “You will face summary judgment for the insubordination you’ve shown here today,” Gutierrez spoke.

  “I seriously doubt that,” Rex replied.

  Gutierrez raised an eyebrow and kept going.

  “You have also kidnapped a member of this ‘Hegemon’ society,” the commodore spoke.

  “I liberated a slave,” Rex spoke confidently.

  “What you had done to this ‘Second’ and the possession of this girl both could be seen as acts of aggression,” Gutierrez spoke. “Did you consider that risk when you took custody of this woman?”

  “They’ll grow a replacement for her,” Rex spoke. “And they will act as if none of this has happened. Did you read the part of my report mentioning how the Hegemony is extremely reclusive and maintains a reputation of fear amongst the Chaos Quarter? Admitting they lost one of their own, his assistant, and a warship to a rival is not something they’re going to broadcast across the universe.”

  “You speculate on psychology with an enemy that, by your own description, is no longer ‘truly human.’ You assume to know their thought patterns,” Gutierrez spoke.

  “I had the pleasure of listening to one brag about his greatness shortly before we killed him. I don’t care what they’re polluting their DNA with, they’re all too human,” Rex replied.

  “You made assumptions, lieutenant, and risked our security by doing so!” Gutierrez snapped.

  “If my judgment is suddenly so much in question, why was I sent at all?!” Rex attacked.

  Gutierrez moved to answer, his mouth half-open, ready to yell. He stopped himself at the edge of anger, forcing composure on his frame. Rex smiled at it all.

  “Not willing to admit it, sir?” Rex asked.

  “Admit to what, lieutenant?” Gutierrez replied. His voice couldn’t sell it.

  “That you sent me out there to die and are upset that I’m still alive,” Rex said matter-of-factly.

  “Fleet commodores do not concern themselves with the paranoia of lesser officers.”

  Rex rolled his eyes. The charade was getting old. Best to just bring it out in the open and lock horns, he figured.

  “Your son was an incompetent prick,” Rex declared.

  This time Gutierrez lost it and leapt to his feet. His body vibrated with anger, the waves of rage tightening his face into a seething mask.

  “He should never have passed entrance evaluations or even his first year at academy. He was lazy, arrogant, and inept,” Rex spoke coolly.

  “He was your student. His failings reflect your lack of leadership,” Gutierrez seethed, choking back his anger.

  “His failings? I failed him on his flight certifications four times, only to be overridden by somebody higher up. Now why could that be? How could an incompetent failure work his way through the ranks? Hmmm…it’s a tough one all right—”

  “Your insinuations are out-of-line, lieutenant!”

  “Are they?” Rex spoke and then laughed. “Whew! Thank God for that. Cause if they weren’t, it would mean that whoever kept your son in the ranks was setting the stage for an inevitable disaster. Thank God that isn’t the case!”

  “Are you trying to extend your time in the brig, lieutenant?” Gutierrez spoke.

  “No. I won’t be spending any time in confinement,” Rex replied.

  “I will see to it that you do,” the commodore spoke. “Even if just for your insolence today.”

  Rex removed the folder from its position and slipped the electronic paper from within. He handed it to the commodore.

  “You will see that you lack the authority to take any action against me,” Rex spoke.

  Gutierrez held the translucent pap
er up in front of him, green letters scrolling down the page. The commodore’s finger tightened on the paper, blurring several of the letters near the edge.

  “It appears the EID was impressed with all I brought back, and they got the ear of the president. Amazing he’d issue an executive order for a ‘lesser officer,’” Rex said with a shrug.

  The commodore looked like he wanted to scream, but couldn’t bring himself to do it. Part of Rex wanted to feel bad for taunting him and taking so much pleasure in this, but it predictably was drowned out by the fact that this man had ruined his career and sent him out to die. Rex deserved a little schadenfraude for that.

  Curious, he switched his mechanical eye to ultraviolet. The man’s face ran hot, warmed with the blood of paralyzing rage.

  “Get out,” the commodore finally muttered.

  Rex smirked and slowly got to his feet. Gutierrez’s eyes never left him, starring daggers at him the whole way. Rex stepped out into the hall, a weight lifting from his shoulders. Victory felt good.

  Mr. Jones stood waiting in the hall.

  “How did it go, Officer Vahl?”

  “Kind of anti-climactic,” Rex said with a shrug. “I was expecting more yelling.”

  Jones laughed. They began walking down the corridor.

  “I suppose you’ll be wanting me to do more dangerous stuff,” Rex spoke after a few seconds.

  “Eventually,” Jones spoke. “I think you’ve earned a few months’ leave.”

  Rex nodded, asking, “My crew?”

  “Permanent resident status,” Jones spoke, “They’ll have to live here seven years before they qualify for citizenship. President’s people wouldn’t budge on that.”

  “Even Lucius?” Rex asked.

  “Yes, him too,” Jones spoke. “There was some…resistance to that. But he’s passed three different polygraph systems. That’s convinced somebody upstairs to take the risk.”

  “He’s not a risk,” Rex assured him.

  “Let’s hope you’re right,” Jones replied.

  They reached an intersection. Jones stopped.

  “Enjoy your down-time, Vahl,” Jones spoke. “If you’ll excuse me…”