Exiles (The Progenitor Trilogy, Book One)

by Dan Worth

  ‘Well I learnt ages ago never to interrupt Rekkid when he’s working. He hates being disturbed unless it’s something important.’

  ‘Cantankerous old sod isn’t he?’

  ‘Yes, but you need to get on his good side. I think he has a soft spot for me.’

  They threaded their way through the train until they reached they reached the dining car and Steven ordered two large glasses of what looked like iced fruit juice of some sort. It was a deep orange colour. They sat at a table and looked at the swirling brown tumult outside.

  ‘He has a soft spot for you? Well well…’ said Steven and smirked.

  ‘Not like that, Steven. Good grief we’re different species.’

  ‘I apologise, I have that sort of mind.’

  ‘You do at that. No I think he regards me as a sort of surrogate daughter. He can be quite sweet at times when he’s being paternal.’

  ‘How long have you both worked together?’

  ‘Nearly ten years now would you believe? Feels like a lifetime. I remember the first dig I went on with him. I almost buried him under a mound of ancient Xeelin grave goods! He would gruffly refer to me as his ‘nemesis’ for months afterwards. We get on fine now thankfully.’

  Another figure entered the dining car, the sole other passenger in first class, the elderly Dendratha. Katherine smiled at him and said a bright ‘Hello’ via her translator. He ignored her haughtily and stiffly sat at the opposite table, then watched them darkly over his drink.

  ‘Not very friendly is he, Steven?’ said Katherine, her translator turned off. ‘I’d say he almost resents our presence.’

  ‘Very possibly. The Dendratha have quite a strictly structured class system, you know. I think some of them don’t really know how to react towards aliens. We don’t fit into their neat little ordered world view.’

  ‘That and the fact that the Commonwealth could walk in here and take this place over any time we chose?’

  ‘That too, though I think they’d rather it was us than the alternative.’

  ‘Still, it can’t be pleasant knowing that your independence depends on the whim of some higher power.’

  ‘Hmm, yes, but I think for the upper classes at least, they don’t like the fact that they’re no longer top of a small pile and are in fact bottom of a much larger one, so to speak. It undermines their confidence you see, and their authority. I bet that’s why our friend won’t acknowledge our presence.’

  ‘He’s watching us rather intently though isn’t he?’

  ‘Yeah well, so would you if you’d never seen an alien.’

  ‘True.’

  Steven looked over and met the steady gaze of the Dendratha. There was something, odd, out of place somehow about him, and that troubled him, especially when he couldn’t figure out what it was. Paranoia possibly; he was trained to be paranoid. He chided himself silently.

  ‘Wonderful weather we’re having isn’t it?’ said Katherine, gazing as the rushing murk outside.

  ‘Delightful. We should come out of it in a day or two I hear.’

  Rekkid came rushing into the dining car. He looked distraught.

  ‘There you are Katherine, we have to talk. I just received some rather bad news.’

  ‘News? Here? How on earth? What is it?’

  ‘Not here,’ he said whilst eying the elderly Dendratha and the dining car staff. ‘Let’s go up to the observation bubble, it’s deserted there.’

  They followed Rekkid upstairs, taking their drinks with them. The observation bubble was shrouded in gloom, the rushing clouds of dust streamed past on all sides and it had heaped against the forward face of the blister. Rekkid bade them to sit, he was shaking visibly.

  ‘This, this isn’t going to be easy for you to hear Katherine,’ he began. ‘The ship’s been trying to reach us for several hours, he… I mean it… managed to download a message to my computer despite the storm, it’s text only. Apparently the mail was sent from Cambridge to Riianto, they forwarded it to Quickchild and he’s been trying to contact us ever since.’

  ‘Rekkid what’s going on?’

  ‘Mike Falkirk and Kim Okuda have been arrested by the Secret Service.’

  ‘Oh my God.’

  Katherine felt her stomach lurch.

  ‘Jesus Rekkid, what the hell happened?

  ‘Apparently they turned up at the faculty and took the place apart. There were Arkari agents with them too, and they took everything and pulled all the files from the network.’

  ‘Oh fucking hell Rekkid. Is this about what we found?’

  ‘Very probably. What’s puzzling is that eyewitnesses saw them examining Mike, Kim and others with some sort of scanning equipment before they took them away. All of them were heavily armed. From what I gather it looked like they were quite prepared to shoot both of them on the spot at one point.’

  ‘So we’re next?’

  ‘It seems so. Steven, you brought your gun didn’t you?’

  ‘Yes but, Rekkid what the hell’s this all about?’

  ‘Perhaps it’s best if we didn’t tell you Steven,’ said Katherine. ‘We wouldn’t you to be a part of this. We wouldn’t want the Secret Service to come for you too.’

  ‘This isn’t their usual style.’

  ‘What? How do you know that?’ she replied

  ‘I’m telling you it’s not them: it’s too overt for an investigation. Just what the hell are you guys involved with?’

  ‘You can’t be sure of that.’

  ‘I am sure,’ said Steven. ‘I work for them.’

  ‘Come again?’

  ‘I said I work for them. I’m a trained operative, albeit one in disgrace,’ he said and avoided her angry stare. ‘A day before the Professor here arrived I received a coded message about you two and some stolen documents. Now do you want to tell me what this is all about?’

  ‘I’d rather not,’ said Katherine, her voice quivering.

  ‘Katherine, please. Sit down and tell me.’

  ‘No, leave me alone.’

  ‘Katherine, I’m here to help you I…’

  ‘I don’t want your help!’ she snapped and fled down the stairs. Steven heard her slam her cabin door, even over the noise of the train. Rekkid was staring at him coldly.

  ‘You going to run out on me too Rekkid?’

  ‘No. But I suggest you sit here and tell me one or two things, and then you apologise to Katherine, if she’ll let you. I don’t like being lied to, Agent Harris, so let’s have the truth shall we? You tell me a few things and perhaps I’ll let you in on a few secrets.’

  ‘Sounds fine to me.’

  ‘Good. You any good with that artillery you’ve got strapped to your leg?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Looks like you might need it.’

  Rekkid stood outside Katherine’s cabin door and listened. He thought he could hear sounds of sobbing inside. He knocked cautiously.

  ‘Who is it?’ came the muffled response.

  ‘It’s Rekkid, can I come in?’

  ‘Yes. Steven’s not with you is he?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Good.’

  Rekkid pushed the door open and went inside. Katherine was sat forlornly on the small bunk. She looked like she’d been crying. He shut the door carefully and sat next to her.

  ‘Steven and I have had a talk,’ he said quietly. ‘I think it’s going to be all right, with regards to him at least. He wasn’t in on it, he showed me a copy of the instructions he received. You know I think he’s on our side. He has, shall we say, issues with his employer.’

  ‘You believe him?’

  ‘Yes I think so. He seems quite a decent chap despite what’s happened.’

  ‘He could’ve said.’

  ‘Did either of us ask?’

  ‘Well no. I suppose we never had the opportunity.’

  Neither of them said anything for a few moments and they sat with the rumbling of the train and the storm in the background.

  ‘God, Rekkid,�
� Katherine sobbed. ‘Mike and Kim, they didn’t deserve this,’

  ‘I know. What the hell is so bloody important about what we found?’

  ‘I don’t know. Rekkid, I’m starting not to care. So what if the Arkari did some bad things in the ancient past? This is ridiculous, why are people being taken like this? It’s… it’s like a bunch of Italians coming after us because we found something embarrassing about the Romans.’

  ‘You think my people ordered this?’

  ‘I don’t know… over a fucking ancient artefact? Who even considers something like that, Rekkid? What about their fucking rights?’

  ‘I have a horrible feeling we’ll find out eventually. Probably the hard way.’

  ‘You think we’re next? Because I do.’

  ‘Yes I do too, Steven has that gun of his and Quickchild can watch over us to some extent. But…’

  ‘What good would that do against those kinds of odds? Maybe we should just hand it over?’

  ‘Maybe, I think we’d still end up in trouble just for knowing about it, I think someone’s getting desperate.’

  ‘How much have you told Steven?’

  ‘Everything, really. We need his help, so I thought it was for the best to be honest with him.’

  ‘What if it’s him?’

  ‘It’s not.’

  ‘You’re sure?’

  ‘Yes, I’m sure.’

  ‘I just keep thinking about those two kids Rekkid. I can’t believe it. It just makes me so angry…’ There were tears on her cheeks. Rekkid held her. As for himself: he just felt a numbness and helplessness that threatened to overwhelm him.

  Katherine stirred a few hours later and felt a weight pressing against her. Dragging herself to a state of consciousness she realised it was Rekkid. He had fallen asleep next to her and had slumped over. The Arkari was snoring loudly and was lying at an odd angle. Katherine gently pushed him aside, causing him to mutter incoherently. She straightened her appearance and then went to find Steven.

  She found him in the observation lounge staring forward through the sand streaked windows; the scenery outside was bathed in sunlight. Looking back she could see the towering banked cloud of the storm and the snaking silver line of the carriages. She went and stood next to Steven.

  ‘I see the weather’s changed for the better,’ she said awkwardly.

  ‘Yeah, I think the wind must’ve changed direction. We weren’t supposed to come out of this for another day or two.’

  There was an uncomfortable silence.

  ‘Look, I’m sorry that I flew off the handle earlier, Steven,’ said Katherine. ‘I shouldn’t have taken my frustration out on you. I guess you just got in the way at a bad time, that’s all.’

  ‘No really, it’s my fault. I should’ve said something before about who I was.’

  ‘But then you wouldn’t have been doing your job would you?’

  ‘To be honest, I couldn’t care less anymore, Katherine.’

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘I’m here on Maranos as a punishment, you know? Minding the Ambassador is the least worst thing that could’ve happened to me, believe me.’

  ‘What did you do?’

  ‘I used my own initiative that’s what. But I made a few mistakes, fatal ones as it turned out. I also took the blame for the mistakes of others, Michelle Chen for one.’

  ‘Chen. You’ve mentioned her before. Isn’t she the one who was in the news the other day?’

  ‘Yeah, that’s the one.’

  ‘What the hell happened?’

  Steven sighed. ‘Well, Chen and I have both known each other for a long time. I actually started out as a naval officer, or at least I wanted to be one. I met Chen whilst I was at the Naval College on Earth. For a while I thought I loved her, hell we even talked about marriage… until I saw what she was really like.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Chen sees the world in black and white, right and wrong. You’re either her best friend, or her worst enemy, and if she doesn’t get her own way you definitely fall into the latter category.’

  ‘So I take it you two split up and now she hates you?’

  ‘Yeah, something like that. She was so wedded to her career that it didn’t leave room for much else and she made it quite clear where her priorities lay. The truth though, is that under that stern mask of hers she’s riddled with insecurities and she bears permanent grudges. I hurt her and she still hates my guts. You’d think after fifteen years she’d have found some room to forgive me, but not Michelle, oh no.’ He gave a short, bitter laugh.

  ‘So what happened that you ended up here?’

  ‘Well, to cut a long story short I found that it wasn’t really for me, so I was... encouraged to change career paths and become a Secret Service field agent. I was employed as such for ten years until I was sent to planet called Urranakar to investigate the somewhat suspect activities of one of the mining companies. It turned out that they’d expanded their operations into drug running and it was destroying the native civilisation. Whilst I was there the whole place erupted in revolution and they seized control of the orbital station. I tried to get a message to the government without going through military channels to try and persuade them to resolve the situation peacefully, but the plan backfired and they sent a destroyer to seize the station. She was commanded by a certain captain.’

  ‘Chen?’

  ‘Yep, you guessed it. She was totally the wrong person for the job; she couldn’t see the rebels’ point of view. As far as she was concerned they were enemies of the Commonwealth, and she wanted nothing to do with me. I tried to intervene, to act as an intermediary, but it just descended into a slanging match between everyone. My presence just seemed to make things worse and she wouldn’t listen - she let her personal feelings toward me cloud her judgement. She accused me of siding with the Vendiri among other things.’

  ‘So what happened?’

  ‘A particularly desperate Vendiri took a shot at Chen’s ship from the exterior of the station with a shoulder launched missile. She had her shields down and it hit the bridge. I understand a number of the senior crew members were killed. Chen responded and obliterated the station and most of the people on it.’

  ‘Shit… You know I remember seeing the news reports.’

  ‘Yeah, it got lots of coverage. The death toll ran into the hundreds, thousands maybe.’

  ‘She sounds like a monster. How’d she get to be a star ship captain?’

  ‘Strange as it may sound coming from me, she’s actually very able in many respects. She’s a natural when it comes to tactics and manoeuvres, and she runs a tight ship. In a combat situation there are few that can better her when she’s in command, but she just isn’t suited to delicate situations. She sees everything in much too simplistic terms and her instincts are to fight when cornered or attacked.

  She was the darling of her instructors at Naval College. I took the blame for some of her mistakes, though mainly for trying to circumvent the chain of command. She got off quite lightly I gather whilst I got posted to this backwater for an indefinite period, or until I resign my post.’

  ‘Shit, Steven. I’m sorry. It must be tough having your career torn to pieces, though I admit I’ve had some experience of that myself.’

  ‘Well, to be honest I’d thought of getting out for a while. I joined up to serve the Commonwealth because I thought I was doing the right thing, but I got sick of plotting against people and whole cultures who were just fighting to preserve their way of life against our predations. Have you ever seen what the corporations and the mining companies can do to a planet? I couldn’t continue to defend that, those bastards are turning us more into an Empire with every passing day with the way they behave. It’s just like in the bad old days on Earth.’

  ‘Are you going to resign?’

  ‘Maybe...no… I don’t know. I quite like it here you know? Croft is actually trying to make a difference for the better here. I quite like being a part of that. I just
hope it isn’t all in vain, what with the prospect of war and all.’

  They stood in silence for a moment and watched the sea of dunes speeding past on all sides.

  ‘You going to be alright?’ he said softly.

  ‘Yes, I think so. I’m still angry as hell though.’

  ‘You know those people well?’

  Katherine nodded. ‘Mike and Kim had been working with us for a year. Neither of them deserved this Steven, they’re good people. This could ruin their careers and it just makes me so bloody angry I… And I’m worried that we’re next. Even Rekkid seems perturbed and I’ve never seen anything trouble him much before.’

  ‘I wonder what the significance of what you found is? Rekkid told me what you’ve uncovered already but I don’t get it.’

  ‘Beats me. Somebody seems to think it’s important though.’

  ‘Look Katherine, anyone tries to snatch you two and they’ll have to get past me alright? Look.’ He pulled his gun out its leg holster and held it out for her to inspect. The weapon was a bulky, dull blue-black gauss pistol with a fat barrel. ‘Armour piercing, high explosive bullets, standard CIB issue. This thing can stop an elephant in its tracks.’

  ‘Very impressive I’m sure, but what good would it be? Wouldn’t it just increase the chances of us getting shot?’

  ‘Against armed attackers maybe, but it would make anyone else think twice. Hey, I was top of my firearms class. Here, I have something for you too.’

  ‘I really don’t think I’m up to firing a hand-cannon like that Steven, I’ve never even held a gun.’

  ‘Here, try this,’ he handed a smaller black pistol with a laser sight that lay underneath its stubby barrel. Katherine took it; it felt surprisingly heavy despite its small size. ‘Navy model laser pistol. Should be enough to deal with most attackers, I’m going to give one to Rekkid too. I’ll show you both how to use them properly when we get off this train.’

  ‘Steven, I’m not sure I’m comfortable with a gun, I mean…’

  ‘It’s only for emergencies, better to be safe than sorry eh?’

  ‘I suppose, thank you,’ she said as she inspected the weapon warily.

  ‘Hopefully no else from CIB will come here anywhere. There’s so little traffic in this system that any ship arriving unannounced would be noticed. Besides, even if they did manage to sneak in, the presence of aliens would cause comment: look at the attention we receive. It might offend the locals too, since all visitors have to be sanctioned by the Dendratha government. I’m hoping that they’ll be satisfied with just me on the case for now; sending me orders was the easier option than trying to send more agents. We can’t rule out the possibility that our government might request that the locals apprehend us. Hence the hand-cannon, and only then if we have no other option.’