The Bright Image

by Tim Niederriter

  "Don't be so hasty," I said, "We need that aeon now if we're going to restore Elizabeth."

  "Restoring cleans is just a legend," said Lena. She glanced at me, then at Sarah. "Right?"

  I shook my head.

  Rebecca turned to Lena.

  "This may be difficult to explain," she said. "But actually, we know how to do it."

  "And who the hell are you?"

  "Rebecca Waters, meet Lena Essen." I motioned to the girl. "Rebecca used to be a clean."

  Lena's eyes went wide.

  "You aren't joking."

  "Not remotely," Rebecca said.

  Sarah looked at Elizabeth.

  "If we can help her, we have to try."

  "I agree," I said.

  "We'll use every resource we have. She isn't just a business partner," said Sarah.

  "She's a friend," I said.

  Sarah frowned at me. "Right."

  The light ship flew back over the refugee district. I messaged my team, telling them I might be late in returning. Then, I reached out to my people at BrightNet, telling them to expect a big information transfer from Sarah Harper's group. We had more than one story to break. People had to know cleans could be restored because one way or the other the world was about to find out the truth.

  I rode between Elizabeth and Rebecca, hoping it would be enough to save my friend. The aeon killer had struck hard. In the night, the cold closed in around us. I would have liked to go back to Lotdel Tower, but that didn't look to be in the cards for now. Kamuek turned the ship toward Harper Headquarters.

  Unregistered Memory, Rebecca Waters, Harper Headquarters

  Rebecca hated waiting, especially when it meant more danger headed her way. The Harper Headquarters, despite towering glass walls and steely doorways patrolled by armed private security forces, just didn't feel safe that night. Rebecca didn't like the way Sarah and Lena looked at her, as if she was some kind of thing, following her admission of once being clean.

  She sat on a bench outside the bathroom Jeth was using. Ryan and his team were scanning from their light ship. Thomas had taken Celsanoggi to a regenerator downstairs. Rebecca wondered if she should tell any of them about who she used to be.

  "Jeth," she said to herself. "Sooner or later you can't be the only one to know."

  An elevator bell dinged on the opposite side of the hallway from the bathrooms and Rebecca.

  Sarah Harper stepped out of the opening doors, having taken Lena and Elizabeth downstairs for the staff neural doctor to examine them. Sarah nodded to Rebecca, arms folded.

  "Tonight is far from over," she said.

  "I know," said Rebecca.

  Outside, wind howling, heavy rain fell all along the northern portions of the city.

  I rinsed the mud from my face, looking in the mirror at a man who really needed sleep. I finished in the bathroom, a place wholly inadequate to make me feel clean. As I joined Rebecca and Sarah in the hall outside, Thomas and Celsanoggi stepped out of the elevator. Her cuts remained visible in a few places through her torn clothes. With the black fluid gone, the bleeding had stopped. I couldn't help but wonder at the nature of that terrible black ichor.

  Celsanoggi leaned on Thomas, one arm about his shoulders. She must still be seriously weakened to need his help, given the physical capabilities of aeons. She still wore the sentry mask. Sarah and Rebecca looked at me.

  "Any ideas for a plan?" Rebecca asked.

  Sarah frowned, arms folded.

  "You retrieved memories before--Start there."

  I nodded.

  "For starters, we need to find the aeon murderer's tree. For that, we either need eyes on her or some way of finding her home garden."

  "That presumes she's from the city," said Celsanoggi.

  "It seems likely she is," said Sarah. "What motive could she have for attacking otherwise?"

  "If she's a rogue from the wilderness." Celsanoggi shook her head. "We likely will never be able to reach her tree."

  I scowled.

  "Those things out there are aeons. You already knew it."

  "They are similar to us, yes."

  Sarah's frown deepened.

  "How many secrets do you aeons keep from us?"

  "Many. Suffice it to say, this is one of the largest. If we are to fulfill our roles as protectors of humanity, trust between us and humankind is required."

  "Trust?" Sarah's eye twitched. Her face flushed and she glared at the impassive mask. "You expect us to trust you now? You couldn't hide the truth forever."

  "It wasn't my choice, or any single aeon's choice to hide the truth. We agreed to that secret very near the beginning. Truth. I agree with you. We were fools to think we could keep up the charade indefinitely."

  "Truth." Sarah snorted. "And you won't show your face."

  Celsanoggi reached for the straps of her mask.

  Thomas put a hand on her arm.

  "Are you sure?"

  "Certain, yes."

  He let go of her arm. She removed the mask. Sarah inclined her head toward Celsanoggi.

  "You? A minor aeon."

  "Formerly of the military light fleet," said Celsanoggi. "I know all too well how it feels to be betrayed by my superiors. At a place called Chicago, a ruin of a once-great city, Thomas and I fought to hold back the wild stars. I piloted a light ship. He served in the infantry attached to my vessel. We fought crawling plant weapons, along with slaved beasts and rogue stars there. It was a standstill, but I saw something from my ship before we retreated from the barriers that kept the rogues in until recently. It appeared as a cylinder of light that reached to the sky."

  "What does this have to do with what happened tonight?"

  "The rogues could have sent advance infiltrators with the refugees. It is possible the one we fought tonight arrived at the train station among the humans. However, there is another possibility, a more frightening one."

  "What's that?" I asked, my voice sounding foreign to my ears.

  "The pillar of light I saw—I think it came from some kind of transportation device. The light appeared, and enemy troops vanished. When the light died enemies I thought gone appeared in the midst of the forces under my ship. If they are moving to attack the city, it is possible this teleportation device could deliver agents here."

  Sarah's eyes widened.

  "We have to tell military command."

  "I have relayed everything I just said to you to Detective Carter. He is contacting Colonel Cannwald as we speak."

  I glanced at Sarah.

  "We need to hurry and find this rogue star. Once the colonel deploys his troops, we could lose all hope of getting Elizabeth's memories back."

  Rebecca shot me an incredulous look.

  "We can't fight her on our own, Jeth."

  "We won't," I said. "I just met some people who can't wait to strike back at the rogues."

  "Refugees?" Thomas arched an eyebrow. "You sure that's a good idea?"

  "The people from Fort Wayne still have their militia and leadership intact," I said. "And they're right where we need them already."

  "Alright," said Thomas. "But we need to get them ammunition that can actually kill rogues. Lucky for us, I've had part of my research team working on some tools for the past few weeks."

  Sarah unfolded her arms.

  "I can help spin this to the press. Jethro, can you contact your network and set up an interview as soon as possible?"

  In answer, I closed my eyes and reached out. When I finished communicating with the secretary at BrightNet, I turned to Sarah.

  "They'll be ready for you in an hour."

  "Good. Now, get going." She nodded to me. "Elizabeth will be safe here. You four take the light ship and find that rogue star."

  "Thanks," I said.

  "Don't squander my investment in you two," Sarah said. "I've lost enough tonight as it is."

  "I'll do everything I can," I said.

  Rebecca rose from the bench.

  "And I'll keep them aliv
e." The look in her eyes was cold, determined. "I think I know some people who can help us take on a rogue star as well."

  Within thirty minutes we were back in the refugee district. On the way, I relayed what I could to Jeanine Myles, her aunt Trisha, and the former Mayor of Fort Wayne, Angela Watts. As I suspected, they had their people in motion before Kamuek flew the light ship in low over the canal to drop us off.

  Dark water surged at the banks, high but I doubted it had crested, given the continuing rainfall.

  The hunt to find the rogue aeon took place on countless levels of sense and neural networks, on the ground, and in the air.

  I met my news team at our hotel. Luckily, only one of the Kowalski brothers appeared drunk after the blood bar. I hoped the others weren't simply hiding it better.

  "What happened?" asked Samantha. "You sure left in a hurry. And you're back almost as fast."

  "Big news. You want to break it?" I said and started explaining the situation.

  Her eyes went from narrow to wide, to wider. If things had been less dire, I might have felt triumphant at her expressions. Who am I kidding? What triumph that reached my mind at being able to impress Samantha was clouded with guilt and worry. Elizabeth was counting on us all.

  I wouldn't let some monster devour her. I'd rather die than lose anyone to that mental assimilation again. I didn't mention these thoughts to Samantha.

  Layne nodded to me.

  "Phil, give me the keys. I'm driving."

  "Shit, man. You sure I can't?" Phil slurred his S-sounds.

  Layne nodded.

  "Damn straight."

  Phil handed his brother the keys to our news van.

  I rode shotgun, carrying a backup pistol Alesia had lent me back on Kamuek's light ship.

  We moved out.

  Unregistered Memory, Thomas Fenstein, Candlegrove Heights

  Thomas tapped his foot as he and Celsanoggi ran through the security checks at Candlegrove. Once they were through, they went immediately downstairs to meet with Onoggotos. He hoped the weapons Onoggotos had prepared would be useful. To hear Celsa tell it, there could be more than one rogue star out there tonight.

  A chill crept down Thomas' spine at that thought as the elevator took him and Celsa to the research floor. They entered the lab, passed yawning technicians, and found Onoggotos watching them approach.

  "Shit, twice in the same day. Must be pretty serious."

  "It is," said Thomas. "We need the weapons you've been making."

  Onoggotos' pale face went paler still.

  He motioned them further into the lab, his usual gregariousness gone.

  Unregistered Memory, Ryan Carter, Candlegrove Heights

  While Fenstein and Celsanoggi went downstairs to contact research, Ryan and his team, except for Kamuek who stayed with the ship, met Balancar upstairs. The black-clad aeon governor nodded to him from the opposite side of an atrium lit mostly by flickers of lightning from the skylights above.

  "Detective," said Balancar. "I hope you have goods news, contacting me this late."

  "Good and bad news," Ryan said. "But you know the worst already."

  "Another aeon is dead." Balancar's face was grim. "What is the good news?"

  "We know the face of the rogue star who killed her, and we can link her to Dalmanno, too."

  "A good start. But we must apprehend the killer."

  "Look in my mind. I have her face memorized," said Conner.

  "Brace yourself, sensocycler," said Balancar.

  He turned toward the heavyset man. Conner shook once, wobbling on his feet. He blinked blearily.

  "Done," said Balancar, but his face went from grim to agonized. "No...Fiusontha. I had hoped never to see her again, not in the city, not in my mind."

  "Fiusontha?" Alesia said.

  "A failed experiment," said Balancar. "Mine and Sudhatho's."

  Alesia started toward Balancar, a scowl forming on her face. She kept a hand on the grip of the pistol at her belt.

  "She's yours—?"

  Ryan held out an arm to stop her. He focused on Balancar.

  "It's your turn to tell the truth, governor."

  Balancar sighed.

  "It's a sad story. Sudhatho and I once worked together, him as a military mind, me as a concerned administrator. We both predicted the current crisis in aeon reproduction. I was mistaken, then, but I will accept the blame for her. Fiusontha was our attempt to create an aeon from genetic blending. Four aeons contributed their ichor. A human woman carried her to term for us. But the child was wild, a disaster, stronger than any aeon born before."

  "Will aeon-stopping ammunition work?"

  "I don't know. We sent her west, and I thought she was gone from our lives forever, a lost daughter I wished we could have saved."

  "Who were the other aeons who contributed their DNA?" Ryan asked.

  "Does it matter?" asked Alesia through clenched teeth.

  "I think it could," said Ryan.

  Balancar hung his head, the ichor in his palms glistening under a flash of light from the sky.

  "Besides Sudhatho and myself, there was his mate, Yashelia, and another...Tohamaya. But she’s gone. She died a few years ago."

  "Four aeons," said Alesia. "And you made a monster."

  "I'm the only one still standing after all of this, but I will take responsibility when this is all over. You have my word, detectives."

  Ryan nodded and then turned his back.

  "You better believe it," he said softly.

  He reached out to tell Jeth and the others what he had learned.

  Unregistered Memory, Rebecca Waters, Carlin's Blood Bar

  Rebecca stepped through the door into a bar mostly vacant once more. Natalie glanced up from the table she was wiping off with a rag. Harvey turned toward her from the bar, eyes unclouding from the haze of the network.

  "Rebecca," Natalie said. "What happened earlier?"

  "I'll explain it all as we go. We think there are rogue stars out there tonight, and one of them stole a friend's memories."

  Harvey circled out from behind the bar.

  "What do you need?"

  "Say the word," said Natalie.

  Rebecca gave a satisfied nod and accessed the information Ryan had just sent her. "She's called Fiusontha..."

  The van cut trails through gleaming puddles on the street, windshield wipers working overtime to maintain a view for Layne and me. In the middle seat, Ellen was connected mentally to the refugees out searching for the rogue star. I still hoped there was only one of them, but one was bad enough.

  Over the rooftops to the northwest, the sky was dominated by the dim but omnipresent glow of an energy farm, where burning power hearts shifted like miniature blue and red suns connected to the filling stations by pale tendrils of current. Directly west past the train station, the dam that kept the canal from overflowing stood. With the information Ellen was receiving as our guide, we headed straight for it as fast we could safely drive.

  Cold and loud, wind rushed around us, buffeting the van. We parked in the lot on the refugee side of the canal. I climbed out and then craned my neck to look.

  Through the rain, I glimpsed a black-clad woman standing atop the dam. She did not resemble Fiusontha. I squinted and recognized, with the help of ichor, this was not the rogue star who had cleaned Elizabeth, but the aeon Bayaluggia who I had left from a meeting with Council Member Macroy before I met with the man myself.

  She gazed at my team and I, clearly taking us in, along with the teams of refugee searchers arriving on foot all around us.

  I didn't doubt her appearance here was no coincidence one way or the other. She might be a city aeon, but either she was onto Fiusontha herself, or they could be working together, though I didn’t try to guess why. I scowled in her direction.

  "Who is that?" asked Ellen, getting out the side door of the van beside me.

  "An aeon, but I don't think she's on our side." I glanced at her. "We have to get closer."

&nb
sp; "What do you think she's doing here?"

  "Seems like she's acting as a lookout," said Samantha.

  "A lookout, or a spotter."

  "A spotter?" said Ellen.

  "She could be directing a sniper—But I doubt it," said Samantha. "I've never heard of aeons using firearms."

  I grimaced.

  "Let's not stand here and find an exception." I waved to a group of refugees passing by us. "Hey," I called. "We're looking for the rogue star like you are."

  The lean man leading the group nodded to me. I recognized the profile of Angela Watts' head security officer, Kyle Roland. He looked dangerous, just based on his body language. The fact that he carried a holstered pistol did nothing to contradict his stalking movements.

  My team and I joined Kyle and the other five armed men and women with him.

  More refugees fanned out to block the exit on our side of the canal. I glimpsed Jeanine's face peeking out from under the hood of a yellow raincoat. Most of the others weren't as well equipped for the weather.

  My group reached the entrance ramp of the dam, wide enough we could have driven the van up it. I couldn't help feeling exposed, and once again dangerously on edge. I'd fallen into too much trouble lately. This time trouble had picked me, my friends, and my partner. I once again vowed I would get Elizabeth's memories back, no matter what.

  Shadows cast by a few dimmed light veins greeted us inside the dam's main passage, but we were only inside and out of the rain for a minute or less before emerged on the top of the dam, surrounded by the roar of the storm. I squinted ahead as Kyle's fighters spread out. Bayaluggia had left where she had been standing at the center point of the dam. In her place, stood three wild-looking, rain-drenched figures.

  Missive sent to Rebecca, I focused all my senses. My last dose of ichor had been back at the blood bar. Now, with fading acuity, I could still tell clearly the two women and one man at the middle of the dam's bridge were not human.

  "That's them," said Kyle.