by Jim Spencer
‘O aye. When you retire.’ one of them joked. Arion felt somewhat uneasy about having to burn a body. The others had a point, if it was dead, why cremate it, wouldn’t that cause more poisonous fuels to go up in the air? It was bad enough the air had a higher amount of phospane, don’t add more to the formula. Though in all honesty, even he, with all his influence in the cabinet couldn’t change the high chancellor’s decision, so they all accepted this as the vehicle drove around the outer rim and between the corpses throwing oil, until they were a safe distance away. Once they were, a simple torch was lit and thrown in the oil, as they drove away, back to their original spot.
*
‘I wonder what happened to that crack you experimented on?’ Cordell asked Arion.
‘I’m not too sure. It’s been about a day now.’ Arion had almost forgotten about that. After some persuasion, they all agreed to stay one last night and try to find the spot where he left his glass container. It was a simple device that acted as a greenhouse, taking in all natural rays to produce food. They made their way back to the wilderness and found the container laying down, having not been touched.
‘It seems the same,’ one of them said.
‘Open it, let’s see!’ Patrick asked. He obliged with a nod and found, to his astonishment what looked like half a seed. ‘That’s a bit weird,’ Patrick exclaimed loudly.
‘I think if I leave it another day, the seed might complete itself.’
‘And you sure there was nothing underneath this at the time you did the experiment?’ Cordell asked.
‘No definitely not,’ Arion answered. Cordell shook his head as if trying to clear it.
‘What’s up?’ Arion asked.
He didn’t answer at once, but sighed loudly before saying,
‘I think I’m getting too old for this.’
*
They sat there camping in the outdoors, Cordell having received permission from headquarters to keep an eye out for any malicious attacks that may come from the Nargus. As unlikely as that was, it gave them a reason to stay one last night in the wilderness. Arion didn’t want to admit it, but he felt more at home in the outdoors. There was something about the air that felt…natural. That was the best he could describe it. Cordell got off the intercom and sat down.
‘We’re good for one night,’ he informed him.
‘What did the chancellor say about Lloyd?’ Arion asked him.
‘Nothing, I just said the Nargus got him. He’ll be honoured of course,’ he said this more as an afterthought than anything that deserved to be done.
‘You didn’t like the guy, did you?’ Arion asked. After Cordell said nothing, he explained what Patrick had told him. Cordell nodded.
‘Nice kid, Patrick. Bit slow, but brilliant with a gun. He’s got me out of many a tight spot.’
‘He never said anything about saving you.’
‘That’s because he’s not arrogant like Lloyd was.’
They were silent for a few moments as they looked up. The moon had just gone past its full eclipse, but it was still extremely bright. They had their spherical locators on the lookout, so a distant red light could be seen also. Eventually, Cordell spoke,
‘Why did you do it? Experiment with the GOD particle I mean?’
‘Oh. Well, I’ve never really considered why,’ he answered, truthfully, ‘I suppose I was curious to see if it could cure any kind of disease.’
‘And has it?’ Cordell asked.
‘I don’t know yet. I’ve only just got it to work. I can’t manipulate it that well yet.’ Arion shrugged.
‘It is crazy though. I mean, you realise this changes the whole scope of science.’
‘I know.’
‘There’s something else I wanted to ask…’
‘Oh yeah?’
‘How did you know the formula could kill people?’
‘I was experimenting with a lab rat and accidently killed it.’
‘Experimenting on animals. I’ve never really agreed with that,’
‘I must admit, I don’t like it either. But sometimes it’s the only way.’
‘So, what happens to lab rats that die?’
‘Oh the rat isn’t dead’ Arion responded, before he could stop himself.
‘What do you mean? You just told me you killed it?’
‘Well, that’s the interesting part. I used the formula again and was able to revive him.’
Cordell sat there, mouth slightly agape as he took in this new revelation. Finally, he said,
‘That’s a joke, right?’
‘No, dead serious. I can show you when we get back’
‘So, say if…’
‘You wanted to revive Lloyd. Yes, I could do it, even now.’
‘My god,’ Cordell shook his head.
‘This is GOD’ Arion replied, ‘Or a small atom of that power anyway.’
‘That’s the crazy part,’ he sighed heavily as if trying to calm himself after a major sparring session.
‘You ok, Cordell?’ Arion asked him.
‘Actually, no. Here we are talking about manipulating our very own being. Doing God-like activities as if it is an everyday occurrence. So, no. I’m not ok.’
‘That makes two of us,’ Arion spoke.
‘You don’t seem tense.’
‘I hide it well. I have a theory though. As long as the brain is somewhat intact, it should work. If they have none left, or if they’ve been cremated, then I’m not sure if it works.’
They were silent for a moment, before Cordell said,
‘Well if we were able to revive cremated ashes, then that would be crazy.’
*
The next day they found that the half seed was still the same as before. Arion concluded that it was enough for them to start researching growing food again, something which he had always preferred doing, rather than synthetically processed food. It would take a while, but this invention could help to build the earth again and bring a dying planet back to life. Of course, this was all conjecture and would still take some time to decipher to make sure it did work, but one thing was true. His career was made.
Cordell sat down in the main hanger bay as they all made their way in, praising Arion upon his discovery. Their attitude towards him had quite changed over the past few days. They began as somewhat hostile, but now embraced him more as a brother. Arion concluded it was down to him showing everyone he could give a hit; as opposed to only take one. Either way, he was happy that he had made some new friends, something which had always been difficult due to his constant working schedule.
‘What you thinking?’ Cordell asked him.
‘That I’m probably set for life.’
‘Yeah, probably. Well, I think now it’s time to go home and tell them the good news.’
‘Yeah, a home that feels constrained.’
‘I know what you mean. The outdoors is much better. Hey, I’ll be going on a mission soon. Kind of a peace talk with the tribe country. You’re welcome to come along if you want.’
‘Is that even allowed?’ Arion wondered aloud.
‘Oh please, I’m a Field Marshall. I’ll make it possible. Besides, I could use the company.’
‘Sure, I wouldn’t mind.’ With that they made their way into their hangers and drove back home.
*
They left the vehicle outside, parked near a bush. The dip they had gone past a few days earlier seemed to have crumbled somewhat, so going through would be practically impossible. Leaving it parked on the side, Arion bid farewell to Cordell, who gave him his comm radio, in case he ever needed anything.
‘I don’t need this.’
‘It’s just to stay in touch,’ Cordell responded, and waved him off when he declined. He kept the radio with him, which was on its own frequency, though he didn’t know that. As they came inside, Tali greeted them and went straight to Arion.
‘How’s dad?’ Arion asked him.
‘Oh, come now. You’ve only just arrived, you need to res
t first. You’ve got a big day tomorrow.’
‘Still, I need to know,’ he asked, as he bid a final farewell to Cordell and the others, who cheered him away. As they sat in their transporter, the air felt somewhat synthetic to Arion. Maybe it was the first time he had noticed it, but it was odd. Tali spoke,
‘I’m afraid your father isn’t too well, my lad.’
Arion didn’t speak immediately as he digested this information. Finally, he said,
‘I thought his condition was getting better.’
‘The cough has finally stopped, which is good, but he seems to have developed…something.’
‘Like?’ Arion pressed.
‘I’m not sure.’
Arion almost laughed as he said, ‘What do you mean you’re not sure?’
‘Look kiddo, I don’t have the influence I used to. When you left, Atan took him under his wing. Said he needed to vest in his interest.’
‘That can’t be right.’
‘I know it’s not, Arion. I’m powerless, I haven’t seen him for days and he seems to be quarantined.’
‘Tali, what the hell is going here?’ This was beginning to get worrying, leaving Arion fearing the worst.
‘I’m afraid, no one really knows.’
Silence again, as Arion tried to take in this information. Finally, after a full minute, he spoke again,
‘What do they think it is? Can Atan be trusted?’
‘I honestly don’t know, my lad. Do you have a plan B?’
Arion sat in astonished silence as he tried to comprehend what was happening here. Suddenly his world was crashing around him. Then, something occurred to him,
‘There is one crazy idea but I don’t want to do it.’
‘Well whatever it is my lad, you better think of something fast.’
He arrived home at this point and slowly went into the house with Tali, who explained that his family were here,
‘I simply couldn’t say no with what’s happening. They’ve been visiting your father every day, trying to help as best they can.’
‘Don’t they know what’s wrong?’ Arion asked again, in disbelief.
‘I’m afraid not. We’ll find out the results in a couple of days from now.’
‘I want to go there.’
‘No Arion. It’s past visiting hours. We’ll go in the morning. In fact, I’ll personally escort you myself, ok/ Now let’s go inside. I know you’re not fond of them, but you need family right now.’
Chapter 8
Everyone was sat down, either on the sofa or the floor itself. One of his aunts came up to him and hugged him, crying as she did so. Once she let go, he sat down and got the lowdown of what had been happening over the past two weeks. Since he had gone, many tests had been performed on his father to determine the cause of his cough. Only now had they narrowed it down to an issue with the stomach.
‘This is crazy. Shouldn’t they have told me?’ He asked, more pointedly towards Tali.
‘I couldn’t my lad. I tried. It was impossible to get communications out once you got out.’
‘It’s ok, we’re all here,’ his uncle mentioned to him.
‘Thanks.’ He had to be grateful, for who else was there to help him? He needed someone to look out for his father now. He told Tali that he would make it to the council tomorrow morning, to report on proceedings.
‘Arion, you don’t have to do that now.’
‘No I want to. Get it out of the way…just in case.’
‘Don’t talk like that, my lad. It’ll be fine; they’ll be getting the results in the next couple of days. You can report then.’
‘No, I’d rather do it tomorrow morning. For now, I want to see dad.’
No one rejected him and they all offered to help him get there by giving him some of their credits to get through to the hospital. Of course, he didn’t have the heart to tell them he didn’t need that. Instead Tali took away the need by offering to take him there instead, which he gladly accepted. Some of his relatives came along anyway, which was fine, for now.
*
‘Your Dad will be fine, don’t worry Arion,’ his uncle, Dorion told him.
‘Thanks,’ he said again, not knowing what else to say.
‘Don’t worry. I remember this one time when he was younger and used to work in the transports, you remember?’
Arion nodded, he was very young at the time. His uncle continued,
‘There was one time, a guy came over and didn’t want to pay credits. He smacked your dad in the face. But your dad, instead of taking it, he hit him back, threw him to the ground and gave him the most horrid beating of his life. I remember him coming home that day, he was scared. Not of the guy, but of getting sacked, or worse. Luckily the council deemed his action as self defense. He’ll get back up and running, you’ll see.’
Once again, Arion simply nodded not knowing what to say. At this moment, Tali interjected,
‘You don’t mind if I just speak to Arion on my own for a minute, do you, Dorion?’
‘No, no, that’s fine. Take all the time you need.’
Tali thanked him and lifted a small sheet between them. This was designed so that no sound would go out and he couldn’t see them. Tali spoke in a whisper nonetheless,
‘I know it’s a little early, but if you are willing to go to the council tomorrow, then you might as well give me a lowdown on what happened.’ Arion didn’t object and told him what happened over the time they were gone, careful to leave out Lloyd and only mentioning that ‘someone’ got killed during the attack. Both Arion and Cordell had rehearsed the story previously. Once done, Tali simply shook his head. ‘I don’t know what the problem is, or should I say, was with Lloyd. He was always a bit of a loose cannon. But for him to directly disobey an order from Cordell…’ once again he shook his head. Arion continued,
‘Most of the nargus were killed, but quite a few became divided. I’m not sure where they are at the momen.t’
‘That’s ok lad. We’ll find them I’m sure. How far away were they?’
‘About a day’s worth of driving.’
‘Only a day?’ he asked.
‘Yes, why?’ Arion asked, noticing the anxiety in his voice.
‘Let me put it this way. That’s too close for comfort.’
*
They walked into the hospital wing. The building itself was one massive internal dome, surrounded by lights to give it the feeling of daylight. The building itself was situated underground, in the unlikely event that their shields were broken. That way it would be a hospital wing and a shelter in case anyone from tribe country or worse, invaded. As they entered in, an ambulance pod was bringing in a new patient. It seemed like someone had had an accident in the industrial region. That happened frequently. He seemed to be badly burnt, possibly requiring a skin graft.
Following this unhappy analogy, Arion made his way inside, followed closely by Dorion, his uncle. He was constantly trying to reassure him that everything would be ok and there was no need to worry. It almost felt as though he was preparing him for the worst. Arion stayed silent and just gave the occasional nod of the head as they made their way across the lighted hallway. They entered a carrier, which, once the door closed, lifted them to the relevant section they needed to go in. Once inside, Arion went into the ward first.
He found many patients lying down, some looking sickly and others looking depressed, possibly from being in one place for so long. He couldn’t blame them. Hospitals always gave an uneasy feeling to him when he visited. He would hate to stay here for long. Some of the patients were covered by curtains. Tali told him his father was in the end one. Arion went through the curtain and found his father there.
What he found was very distressing. His father seemed to have lost an immense amount of weight. He was practically skin and bones. There was a haughty expression on his face constantly, as if death was lurking close by. But the most surprising thing was that his stomach was huge. He didn’t want to say it, but his father
looked…for want of a better word, pregnant. It was as if he was two months overdue. There was a small scar to show where he had been operated for, possibly the biopsy. Every other part of him seemed like it had been starved, but his stomach was big. His eyes were closed as he approached.
Arion touched his stomach, which felt very tough. Unnaturally tough, as if something was growing within. Possibly cancerous. He didn’t know what to say. Nothing seemed to make sense anymore. As he was contemplating what to do, his father opened his eyes and looked directly at Arion. He didn’t say anything, but his eyes filled with tears straight away. He held his hand, as if he wanted to say something, but no words would come out. However, Arion knew what was on his mind. His father had known of his illness, or something of it, all this time.
*
‘How are you feeling my lad?’ Tali asked him.
‘I don’t know what to say,’ Arion answered honestly.
‘Don’t worry, we have some of our best doctors on the case.’
‘I know. Thank you, Tali.’
‘That’s ok. If you want to, I can delay your meeting with the council tomorrow?’
‘No that’s fine. I might as well get it over with as soon as possible.’
‘That’s up to you, my lad,’ he sighed, accepting defeat.
*
‘Report,’ Atan, the high chancellor began, in his usual sturdy voice, with trained vigour. It was now early morning, his father was still on his mind, but he was focused enough to report on what had happened. He was once again careful to not report against Cordell, giving a repeat description of what had happened. The room was dimly lit, with only the round table and a screen to show the high chancellor. He was too high in stature to be at the proceedings, even for something as historic as this.
‘…Once we had finished our final patrol, we decided to make our way back since there was nothing further to do.’ Arion finished. Silence for a few moments, until Atan asked,
‘It was reported to me that you experimented with the plantations nearby?’
‘Yes, I did. I wanted to see if we could grow food again, using this particle.’
‘And? What were the results?’
‘The plants were revived somewhat. The damage was fairly extensive however. Although I’m sure with further experiments, I may be able to grow food soon enough. I can’t give an exact date though, you understand.’