by Greg Dragon
Camille was not a seeker—her Vestalian racial line being Filan—so she did not possess the sight. This had not stopped the Geralos from trying other things on her to test her limits. The memory of it was patchy and distorted, but it made her angry. She closed her eyes to calm herself. She was safe now. She had survived the worst that they could dish out and she was back with her sanity in place, and her fires raging to Jump wherever needed for her to kill the Geralos.
Wiping her tears with the end of her sleeve, Camille turned off the console. She walked to the door and touched the panel. She was in a tiny clinic but she didn’t recognize any of the people there.
“Commander Yan!” A young man in a powder blue 3B suit ran over to help her, but Camille waved him off with a smile and showed him she was able to walk.
“The Supreme Leader asked me to alert him as soon as you were back from stasis, so if you wouldn’t mind staying on this floor I will do so now, ma'am.”
Before Camille could stop him, the man was on his comm, talking to Rafian. She smiled at his professionalism and willingness to follow orders, then took to testing out her body by walking fast, running, then somersaulting down the hallway. The doctor was frightened, begging her to slow down as she bounced off walls, throwing out kicks and punches, shadowboxing. Camille no longer heard him. She wanted to make sure she was back in Phaser shape and ready to bring the fight to the Geralos.
As she spun quickly to do a spinning hook-kick, her leg narrowly missed a ducking Tayden Lark, who moved in on her person and laid her on the ground with the slight touch of her hands. Camille was not used to anyone taking her down so easily and while she knew Tayden to be extremely formidable, she had always thought herself the better warrior.
“How in the hell did you do that, Tay?” Camille asked as Tayden pulled her up from the ground with a wink.
“Ha! You and I have never sparred, Cammy. You have some catching up to do. We have grown a bit more ‘knowledgeable’ in your absence and there are a few things I have to show you.”
The way that Tayden said the word “knowledgeable” made Camille regard her curiously. “Exactly how long have I been in this clinic, Tayden?”
“You were brought here about three weeks ago. I am sorry, Camille. We tried everything we could to fix what they did to you, but the trauma would have killed you if we’d left you in your original body.”
Camille pulled Tayden in and hugged her tightly as she thought about how they’d grown so distant prior to her arrest. Tayden Lark had been a true friend to her when she was stuck in limbo on her first jump and Rafian was with Marian in a distant galaxy. Tayden had saved them all and here she was again, present when needed most.
“I love you, Tayden.” Camille said it in such a genuine way that it broke Tayden’s heart.
“You’re my sister, Cammy. There are only seven of us left over from the original class.”
“I’ve been a bratty little schtill, haven’t I?”
“Yes…but never to me.”
“Well, I have a lot of apologizing to do, especially to Marian. I am going to take advantage of this second chance and be a proper Phaser commander instead of the angry little girl I was before. I put our group in jeopardy by getting drunk and allowing my emotions to get the better of me. Let’s not even get into the fact that the Phaser Commander himself risked his life to pull me out of my own schtill after everything I had done to him. I…I am humbled.”
As she said this, Marian ran forward from where she stood from a distance, listening to the two women catch up. She embraced Camille warmly and the two wept freely as they understood each other more than they could admit.
In the distance, Rafian observed Camille making up with his wife and decided that he didn’t want to ruin the moment with his presence. He still did not know how to move forward with them after his talk with Tayden, but he wanted to see Camille up and about with his own eyes. To see her happy put a painful lump in his throat and he moved before any of them could see him.
Exiting back into the elevator, he descended five floors, then retreated to the lobby where a Meluvian Phaser by the name of Laern was chatting up an injured recruit.
“How long have you been waiting here, cadet?” Rafian asked the girl as he approached them, studying her injured hand that she held wrapped in bloody bandages.
On instinct, she made to stand and salute with her damaged hand, but Rafian rushed over to stop her and then backed up, shaking his head at her for trying.
“Oh, not long, Commander!” she said. “Please forgive me for not saluting. The med-droid did tell me not to move, so I am trying my best to obey her orders until she says differently.”
“Do you think I would rather you hurt yourself further just to salute to me? No need to answer; I appreciate the gesture. What is your name, recruit?”
“Milla, sir, Milla NAL.”
“What were you before the dark education, Milla?”
“A pilot, sir. I was the top ace on my ship. The Rendron.”
Rafian looked over at Laern with slatted eyes, then looked back at the girl. She couldn’t be more than nineteen years old and her dark hair and emerald green eyes stood out in a wonderful contrast against her pale complexion. She was definitely attractive and like many of the newer males that had graduated to become full Phaser agents, Laern was taking advantage of his rank by using it to convince recruits that sex with an agent could do wonders for their blooming career. This annoyed Rafian to no end and he had dished out the harshest punishments for anyone he caught doing it. Laern knew this and as he watched Rafian glaring at him, he didn’t know whether his career would be over or his arm would be broken.
“Milla, did Laern here tell you about the time he slept with a Xinoc prostitute from Hiyt?”
The planet of Hiyt held a poisonous atmosphere, so while their inhabitants could travel off world and mingle with people from other planets, the sexually transmitted infections that they gave to humans—though involuntary—were enough to impose a strict, “do not touch” reputation amongst soldiers. Laern was a Meluvian and the advancements in medicine on his planet made any disease a mere treatable nuisance, but for any woman to hear that he slept with someone from Hiyt, it was more than a turn off from any future acts of intimacy.
The girl shot a glance at Laern that could have melted steel and the Meluvian flinched with a look of embarrassment across his face. “Commander, please don’t!” he said.
“Do you want to finish the story, or should I?”
The question was a masked version of “don’t you have some work you should be doing?” And Laern knew its intent perfectly. He saluted the commander and nodded at Milla before leaving to see about his missions. Rafian followed behind him to head back to his office, trying to conceal his laughter at the other’s misfortune.
~*~*~*~
Camille YAN sat atop Rafian’s Phantom X12, sunning herself as if she ran the risk of never experiencing the sun’s heat again. She looked down at her young, freshly cloned body and searched her head for memories to make sure that she was indeed herself and not a machine of some sort. She had always been skeptical of cloning and almost thought it to be some sort of trick that was used to keep Phasers in line. But here she was with none of the scars of her past, more energy than she had felt in a long time, and nothing missing in her mind from her short lifetime of experiences. She thought back on the day when Rafian had called her into his office to educate her on the crystals and the various secrets of the Phaser organization, that only a leader would have the privilege of learning. She recalled the easy way in which he’d explained everything and how she had still been skeptical about the entire thing.
He’d been seated behind his desk when she had entered the “white room” as it was called back in the old temple, and he hadn’t bothered to rise and greet her like he always did.
“Glad you could come, Cammy,” he’d said. “Want a Softex to relax?”
His offer of re
laxation pills made her wonder what he was going to tell her and if she should accept it in case it was too much for her to bear.
“No thanks, Raf, I’m ready.”
“Very well, then. One of the final lessons we receive as Phasers is that of the Life beyond Life. Tayden and I learned much of it from Arn’s archives but it only became clear when I was taken into the Maker’s ship and shown telepathically how life, cloning and the magic of the crystals work.”
He walked from behind the desk, whispered into the air and the shiny tiled floor transformed into a cushiony surface. Soothing music began to play through the walls and he took her hand and sat her down on the floor in front of him. The two Phasers sat cross-legged, staring into each other’s eyes. Rafian set his hands on his legs, palms up, and motioned for her to take them. She did as he suggested and she felt a pulse of energy flow through her as he kept his eyes locked on hers and continued talking.
“Do you know what happens when we die, Camille?”
“No, Rafian, and I don’t think anyone knows. I understand that many religions have their own interpretation, but to be honest with you, I just don’t like to think about it.”
“There are several realms of existence,” he told her. “This is but one. The main realm, the one that is beyond our understanding, exists before and after life as we know it. It is a world where spirits, or as we call them ‘souls,’ play. These souls have no form and no memories. They are so innocent and pure that they would seem like children to us if we were able to see or hear them. Periodically, a spirit decides to go into a realm and it chooses almost randomly whether to do so as a single entity or multiple. This is why children are like them in the development stages. We are those spirits, Cammy, but with a physical body we are given memories and experiences which make us into who we are.”
“So you are saying that you and I are separated only by our bodies, births and histories then, Raf? That there is a chance that we could be a spirit that has split itself to make two persons in our realm?”
“Exactly, but it is a lot more complicated, and beyond our human understanding.”
She dropped the formalities and looked at him, concerned. “We could be the same spirit, as in the same person, and this does not bother you? I’m freaking out over here. What does this say about individuality and the religious texts of the ages? Is everything we learned a lie?”
“Cam—”
“As Filans, we are taught that in life we find one true love. We don’t get to play by the same rules as everyone else and I’ve grown to accept it. You aren’t Filan and you like to sleep around, but I chose you. I love you and you know this, just as I know you love me. One lifetime, one lover; that is the law that I know. Ancient books passed down from the makers dictate this. Now you’re telling me that it’s all a lie? What gives you the right?”
He touched her gently on her hand and then brought it up to his lips and kissed it. “I would never try to deceive you in something like this, Camille. You saw when the makers landed and brought me into their ship. You saw how I was when I left and how different I was when I emerged, ready to lead our order?” She nodded at him, enjoying the feeling of his lips against her hand.
“I’m sorry, Raf. Continue. It’s just a lot to take in,” she said.
“It’s okay, Cammy. I was the same way when I first learned it. The spirits are part of a single stream of life; they can choose to be individuals in their realm but they are all part of the fabric of existence. We want to assume that we are special, that when we die we keep our thoughts and start out in another world where we can still remember our parents, family and all of our happy highlights. But when the light shuts out here, the energy that is your life leaves the body and seeps back into the top realm where it can again play with others or choose another life to role play within this world.”
“So what happens when we clone, then?”
“Good question; I was just getting to that. What the Makers have taught us about life is that the spirit will linger for a few hours after death in hopes that the body can be revived, or as an act of sentimentality for the years spent within that body. When a Phaser dies in this realm, the cloner activates the new body and the spirit chooses to use the healthy one. A spirit only loses its memories once it passes from this realm, so all of your data is kept when you come back into your newer body.”
“I don’t know what to say, Rafian.”
“I know this is a lot to process, but this is how we clone. We must believe in the makers so that we can teach the Phasers who come aboard. One day you yourself will be cloned and it will do you no good to think of yourself as artificial, or anything other than the reality of what it is.”
“I understand.”
When the pair stood up, Camille felt lightheaded. She wished her parents had had the means to clone, and she wondered why the Phasers did not share the technology with everyone in Anstractor. She thought better of it when she thought about the Geralos getting a hold of their cloners and accepted that it was a limited gift, given to their order to use for the betterment of the galaxy.
The memory ended there. Camille’s thoughts lingered on the conversation as she turned over on her stomach, trying to even out her tan as much as possible. The phantom was parked within a valley some miles away from the base where she had flown in, and she was as naked as a wood nymph enjoying the sun that she still could not believe she was experiencing. Rafian had been avoiding her for weeks, and she missed him and wondered if with her new beginnings, she would be strong enough to leave him alone. She didn’t want to think about it and ruin her afternoon, so like every other negative thought that aimed to cloud her mood, she pushed it to the side and smiled as the rays from the sun bronzed her slender, muscular back. I deserve some happiness, she thought and with a big smile and a sigh, she closed her eyes and shut everything out of her mind.
~*~*~*~
The Geralos doctor paced the misty room, looking around for something to do as he tried to keep his sanity. How disgraced would he be to the others when they found out that his grand experiment on the humans had failed and that he had gotten himself captured? He had never seen hate like what he saw in Rafian VCA, and though the human’s skill was impressive, he had a power that he could not comprehend. He also didn’t know where he was, but the gravity he felt was not artificial. Were they on Vestalia?
How could the humans have a base on Vestalia when a quarter of the Geralos military were there? He looked out at the men and women walking around outside of his glass cage and he looked at the other cells that, except for a few that had humans in them, sat empty. There were a number of guards walking around and some were dressed like marine soldiers. It was this observation that made him realize he was indeed on Vestalia and the angry human had managed to set up a base in the heart of their territory.
As he wiped the condensation from his flat, textured face, a familiar shape appeared before him and he realized that it was the man who had captured him. The man was no longer angry but he seemed annoyed. In his hand was a chair and as he walked up to the glass, he placed it on the floor. He sat in it and stared at him for a long time.
“What is your name, lizard?”
The Geralos scoffed at him and then folded his arms defiantly. He hated being called lizard and with the disgrace of losing his station and being captured, he would rather die than give more information to the human. This man was not a friend. He would never be a friend and he hated him without understanding anything about him.
“How did the Geralos know that we had the power of sight?” Rafian pressed on but the Geralos stared back at him with a defiant gaze. “So, you’re going to be a soldier about it now? Do you think that being imprisoned is the extent of what I have planned for you, lizard? You have no clue as to what I can do.” And with that he stood up and slowly moved the chair away and looked around.
“Everybody, get out now! Get out. Lock that door and do not open it until I leave. Do you und
erstand me? This goes for all levels of leadership, including Tayden Lark. I am not to be disturbed in here. Lock that door and place two guards outside of it.”
Once the Phasers had obeyed his command, Rafian turned off all the lights and stood before the cell where its blue light shone out to reveal his large, muscular physique. The Geralos stood up and readied himself. As he looked around to see what could possibly be used to zap, spray, or burn him, Rafian put on a respiratory mask and vanished, appearing inside of the cell, in front of the Geralos, where the mist coalesced and formed water droplets on his suit. He swung a quick fist into the lizard’s jaw and the weakened man fell against the glass and slid to the ground in pain. He was of the upper class in Geral and was not required a tour of duty in the military like most boys—so pain and torture were not things he dealt well with. Nevertheless, he was now in a cell with a human, one who was willing to do anything to him in order to make him answer his questions.
“Hit me again and I will bite my tongue off!” he hissed at Rafian, the gargling sound of his voice box making it sound as if he were about to vomit as he struggled with the words.
“Come here!” Rafian yelled. He grabbed him by the neck and jammed a needle into his throat.
It burned like fire and rendered the Geralos helpless as his body went still.
“Try biting your tongue off while paralyzed,” he said and then stood in front of him, waiting to see if he could do it.
When a few minutes had passed and the Geralos didn’t move, Rafian blinked back outside and grabbed the chair. He then blinked back inside and placed the Geralos on top of it. The prisoner wondered what sort of power Rafian had that allowed him to move quickly through solid glass and walls, but his curiosity turned to fear when Rafian reached towards him and began to touch the bumpy ridges of his head and run his fingers through his hair as if he was looking for something.