by Gus Flory
“Almost half the colonies on Titan were destroyed,” Tupo said. “The war was a dark time for us. I lost many good friends. Many families I knew. Children.”
“Do you know what the Federation is?” Zaba asked. “It’s a criminal enterprise designed to tax the productive work of our hands and minds. By design, it entraps us in debt. Under threat of violence or imprisonment, it forces us to submit to its system of exploitation. Its purpose is to take possession of everything of value in all the Solar System, from the rays of the sun to the bottom of Earth’s seas to the minerals and ores of the Asteroid Belt, the moons of the gas giants, and all the heavenly bodies from Mercury to the Oort cloud. The criminals who run the Federation started World War III to destroy the nations of Earth. Then they made war on the colonies of the Solar System. They believe it’s their divine right to own the Earth and all the Solar System and rule every living person in it. Your Federation is an empire of lies and murder.”
“The Reptilians,” Diego said.
“Don’t be an Alan,” Tupo said.
“You’re right. I’ve been blind to it. Pristina opened my eyes.”
“I’m not a fool, Zanger,” Zaba said. “I know you’re a good soldier, following orders. Loyalty to the Federation is strong in you. You’re no deserter and traitor. You’re not the type. Just a fool used by your superiors for their demented purposes. I know the game you were playing with Pristina.”
“Give me a chance to prove myself. I can help you. I’m here because of Pristina. I want to help her. Help her cause. I can help your cause.”
Zaba looked at Tupo and raised an eyebrow.
Tupo turned around in her seat and examined him in the dim glow of the dashboard displays. “You have an earnestness to you. You’re handsome. I can see how she fell for you. But Pristina and Sonny were too trusting. When she came to me with your message and told me your story, she convinced me that you needed our help. That you could help us. I told her to bring you to us. I was too trusting. I was foolish. We listen to Zubin now.”
“There’s no going back for me. After what you showed me on the dunes, I never want to go back. Believe me, Tupo.”
“Tell me where my son is.”
“I don’t know that.”
“How can you help us, then?”
“I know the Army. I know their tactics, techniques and procedures. I know how they think and what they want.”
“What do they want?”
“They want Robodan.”
“They won’t find him on Titan.”
“Maybe Robodan is what you want,” Zaba said.
“Pristina told me that the Federation did Einstein Plaza—that it was a false flag. Tell me the truth. Did Robodan do it?”
“If you find him,” Zaba said, “you can ask him yourself.”
The rover rolled over the dark moonscape beneath the starry night sky. The vehicle’s knobby tires splashed through methane creeks, climbed sand dunes and wound through narrow mountain passes.
In the distance, the snowcapped peak of Mithrim Montes was silhouetted against the starlight. Tupo had fallen asleep. Zaba stayed awake in the front seat playing with his handheld. Tupo’s head was on his shoulder. The hours passed. The mountain loomed larger in the dark sky.
Zaba’s head drooped. He struggled to stay awake.
Diego waited for the big man to fall asleep. With wrists restrained, it would be difficult to unfasten his straps, scramble through the space between their seats, incapacitate him and seize his pistol. It would be a close-run thing. Zaba held his pistol in his right hand and might get a shot off before Diego could knock him cold.
If Diego could take him out, he could signal the SSIS and end this game. He could then return to T-FORCE MAIN, or better yet, Camp Hammersteel, back to his position, out of the spy business. He could be back in contact with his wife and children.
He wondered how they were doing, if they missed him and worried about him.
He watched Zaba closely from the back seat, watching him slouch as the rover drove in auto-drive over the plain. Diego would have to kill him and potentially Tupo if he was going to survive this.
Zaba played around with his handheld, reading it and sending messages.
The SSIS would frown on him ending his mission so close to finding their target. But he was finished. He was ready to end it.
He leaned back and waited. He wondered if Zaba was in on the Einstein Plaza Massacre. His read of Tupo made him think she was not. But Zaba was a hothead who knew how to handle a weapon. He could’ve been one of them in black armor that day.
Tupo stretched.
“It’s funny,” she said. “I moved away from Simon’s Bay years ago. But after all this time, when I see that mountain, I feel like I’m coming home.”
“Is that our destination? Simon’s Bay?”
“Yes.”
The rover drove along the shoreline of a methane lake. The dark surface reflected Saturn’s crescent in banded colors.
The rover turned down a fjord and drove on a road carved into the rock. The walls of the fjord rose vertically from the lake. The headlights of the rover illuminated liquid methane falls that flowed slowly through the air, splashing the surface of the lake in suspended motion.
A cluster of buildings was situated on the shore at the end of the fjord. The lights of the buildings filled the small valley and the cliff face and reflected off the dark surface of the lake. The rover drove into a rock tunnel and descended under the colony. Zaba pulled into a vehicle airlock.
When the Titan air cleared, the rover’s doors popped open. Zaba jumped out. He waved his rifle at Diego.
“Get out.”
They walked out of the airlock and down a hallway. They stepped out into an open square where trees and ferns grew under a high glass ceiling. Walkways surrounded a pond filled with reeds and lilies. Greenery from hanging gardens, the ambient sound of flowing water and the high ceiling gave Simon’s Bay the feel of a conservatory. The air was fresh and clean and rich with oxygen.
The airy glass structure looked out at Saturn in the starry sky and at the silhouette of Mithrim Montes beyond the lakeshore.
“Hey, it’s Zubin,” a child called out from one of the walkways. “Zubin’s back.”
Zaba walked along a raised walkway over the pond with Diego in front of him. He pushed Diego along with the muzzle of his rifle.
They entered a wide glass corridor. Children ran down the corridor toward them.
“It’s Zubin.”
“Zube’s back.”
“Hey, Zube.”
The children surrounded him as he walked holding his rifle pointed at Diego’s back.
The children examined Diego.
“Who is he, Zube?”
“He’s a Federation spy.”
The children looked at Diego with contempt.
“You gonna kill him?”
“If I do, will you hold it against me?”
“No,” the children shouted together. “Never.”
They entered a wide colonnade lined with entranceways to habitations. An older man with a white beard walked toward them. He was accompanied by an entourage of elderly men and women.
People were coming out of their doorways. They lined the balconies and terraces above the concourse.
“Greetings, Mayor Nikolai,” Zaba said to the bearded man. “I come bearing a gift.”
“Why did you bring him here?” the mayor asked. “If word gets out, the Army will come for him. It’s bad enough with their constant patrols and harassment.”
Diego caught sight of Pristina on one of the terraces. She was watching him. Sonny was with her as were several others he didn’t recognize.
“He’s a spy sent by the SSIS to infiltrate the Noer.”
“Is that true, Major?” the mayor asked.
“Negative.”
“Pristina tells us he’s a defector, not a spy,” Mayor Nikolai said.
“She’s wrong.”
“We
will hold a special session of the council to decide what to do with him.”
“No,” Zaba said. “He’s my prisoner. I decide what to do with him.”
Zaba prodded Diego in the back with his rifle. Diego walked forward looking up at Pristina on the terrace. Zaba walked him to another corridor that led to a tunnel carved into the rock. They turned down a series of tunnels until they came to a door.
With his rifle still trained on Diego, Zaba punched a code into a panel on the wall and the door opened. With his free hand, he smiled and gestured for Diego to enter.
Diego stepped through the doorway. The door shut behind him. It was pitch black inside. He groped in the darkness searching for a light switch but found none. He felt his way around the room, which he soon realized was an empty cell. No light switch, no furniture. He stumbled into a metal chair in the center of the room.
He pounded on the door. It was heavy steel.
“Hey, at least turn on the lights.”
He kept pounding.
“Pristina,” he called. “I need to talk to Pristina.”
He pounded, calling out for anyone to hear, but grew weary, realizing it was pointless.
He sat in the chair in the darkness. The hours passed. The inky darkness played tricks with his eyes. He wasn’t sure if his eyes were open or closed. He saw the swirling colors of Jupiter. The roiling clouds surrounded him. He saw Pristina standing before him. She was beautiful. The vision gave him hope.
The vision faded.
He saw Staff Sgt. Moxley, sitting in a chair. His wrists and ankles were bound. Moxley’s eyes went wide as a knife sawed into his throat.
Diego rubbed his eyes and breathed deeply. He reminded himself of his training. Survival. Evasion. Resistance. Escape.
He tried to control his thoughts, keep them straight in the darkness. He drifted in and out of consciousness.
He saw the image of a little girl in a moon suit half buried in the sand. He cleared the sand from her visor. It was cracked.
She had the face of his daughter.
He rubbed his eyes.
Havana, Tegan and George stood before him clear as day.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I should’ve never left you.”
Havana put her arms around Tegan and George. She turned, and they walked away, disappearing into the darkness.
The door opened. Light flooded the cell.
He squinted, trying to see.
“Are you OK?”
Pristina came into focus standing in the doorway looking at him with concern. She wore tan boots, black trousers and a black T-shirt. Even in such utilitarian clothing, Diego was taken aback by the attractiveness of her figure, of her face, her long black hair and those brilliant blue eyes.
11. The Rings of Saturn
“How long have I been in here?”
“A day.”
She kneeled beside him.
“Is Zaba going to kill me?”
“No, Diego. Don’t worry. I’ll protect you.”
“I don’t need protection. Just unlock my wrists.”
“You’ve been a topic of much concern in Simon’s Bay. The council has decided you can’t stay here. T-FORCE patrols have been making their way east, rounding people up, confiscating weapons and supplies, searching databases. They’ll probably hit us within the next few days. We’ll leave tonight. A storm is rolling in. T-FORCE won’t bother us until it passes. The storm will give us cover.”
“Where will we go?”
“Enceladus.”
“T-FORCE tracks all launches from Titan. Undocumented departures are either run down and boarded or destroyed by Space Force gunships.”
“We’ve been sneaking past them for a while now.”
“Who’s going with us?”
“Just you, me, Sonny and Tupo. We have friends on Enceladus who will help us.”
She stood in front of him. She took his hands in hers and unfastened the clamps on his wrists.
“Come, let’s get you something to eat.”
He followed her into the hallway and out into the main corridor. Trees and ferns grew in planters. Water flowed in an artificial creek and splashed slowly down artificial waterfalls. Above them, through the glass ceiling the starry sky could be seen between fast moving clouds.
Diego walked beside her. Colonists watched them from up on the terraces or as they passed on the walkways. Children hid behind foliage, spying on them.
She came to a glass elevator and pushed the button. The doors slid open and they stepped inside. The elevator shot up five floors. They looked down at the corridor, terraces and treetops.
They stepped out of the elevator and walked along an open concourse lined with doors to apartments. She came to a door and opened it. They stepped into a large apartment with bay windows that looked out at the darkened fjord and the methane lake that reflected the crescent image of Saturn. Beyond the lake, the snow-capped peak of Mithrim Montes was silhouetted in the starlight.
“I grew up in this apartment. Me, Sonny, John and Tara. The colony is a lot nicer than when we were kids. Back then it was nothing more than a few rough-and-tumble habitation modules on the lakeshore. But we built it up to what it is now. We were one of the lucky colonies that survived the war.”
“But your father, John and Tara did not.”
“No.”
She stood in front of the window looking out into the dark. Lightning flashed in the distance, illuminating the lake and Mithrim Montes in flickering light.
“I’m sorry,” Diego said. “I’m sorry for the suffering the Federation caused you.”
He stepped closer to her. “I want to make it up to you.”
“Is he here, Pris?” a woman’s voice called out from another room.
“Yes, Mom.”
An older woman stepped out into the living room. She had graying hair and brilliant blue eyes.
“Diego, this is my mother, Victoria Sage.”
Diego reached out his hand to her.
“Pleased to meet you, ma’am.”
“Yes, come. Let’s eat. Sonny, get out here.”
Sonny emerged from a hallway.
They sat at a dining room table by the window. Pristina served them dinner and poured glasses of Titanian white wine.
“Pristina has your eyes,” Diego said.
“And her father’s spirit.”
“Is that him?” Diego asked, motioning toward a family portrait on the wall.
“Yes. And that’s our son John and daughter Tara.”
Pristina and Sonny ate silently.
“I’m sorry,” Diego said.
“Whom the gods love die young,” Victoria said. “I pray the gods are not that into Pristina and Sonny. Or yourself, Major.”
“For a while there, in the cell, I thought these were my final moments. Now here I am eating a home-cooked meal and having a glass of wine.”
“Zubin may come across as a little aggressive,” Victoria said, “but don’t let that fool you. He’s a nice young man.”
“I haven’t seen the nice, young man side of him.”
“Tell me, Major,” Victoria said. “Why did you betray your Army and abandon your family?”
Diego put his fork down and sat silent for a moment. “I did it for Pristina.” He looked at her across the table. “I wanted to help her.”
“Perhaps you made a foolish choice,” Victoria said.
“I don’t think so. They would have locked her up. And Sonny, too. For something they didn’t do. I couldn’t have that on my conscience.”
Victoria smiled at him.
Pristina looked at her plate as she ate.
Sonny rolled his eyes and took a long swig of wine.
“Why Enceladus?” Diego asked.
“You’ll be safe there,” Victoria said. “There’s much work that needs to be done. Perhaps you can help us.”
“The Tesla Project?”
“You’ve already told him?”
“No,” Pristina said
. “He heard it from Alan James.”
“Alan James knows about the Tesla Project?”
“Apparently. We don’t know how.”
“What is the Tesla Project?” Diego asked.
“You’ll find out soon enough,” Victoria said. “But please don’t speak of it again until you’re safely off Titan.”
Sonny wolfed down the last of his meal and finished his glass of wine. He stood up from his chair.
“If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get one last game in before we leave.”
“What kind of game?” Diego asked.
“Moon Rules Lacrosse. Your friend Zubin is down in the box with some of his old teammates tossing the ball around. You should come down. You’d be a big hit.” He laughed.
“Stop it, Sonny,” Pristina said.
“I’d like that. To play a game.”
“I can already see Zube’s face if you stepped on the field. He’d take your head off, man.”
Diego stood up. “If you’ll excuse me, ma’am, I’d like to play a game with your son.”
“It’s not a good idea, Diego,” Pristina said. “He’ll try to hurt you.”
Diego slapped Sonny on the back. “Come on, let’s go.”
“If you say so.”
Diego looked at Pristina who was still seated at the table. She did not look amused. He smiled at her.
Diego followed Sonny out the door and down the walkway to the elevator.
“Seriously, Zanger. I wouldn’t test him. If it wasn’t for Pristina’s arguments, the council would’ve sided with Zubin and gotten rid of you. Zubin’s not happy she released you. If you’re out there on the field, I’d watch your back.”
“What were her arguments?”
“She told them you saved her life. Then saved Tupo and the A.P.T. leadership from capture. She told them that if we were to turn you over to T-FORCE, they would execute you for helping us.”
“And they bought it?”
“She has a way with people. She can be convincing. Tupo spoke up for you, too. That’s why you’re not locked up in the basement. Tupo seems to think if an S.S.F. Army officer can find sympathy with our cause, then maybe there’s hope for the Noer.”