by Ryk Brown
“Our precise location will have to remain a mystery a bit longer, I’m afraid,” Michael replied. “I have only been cleared to move you to phase two of your quarantine period.”
“You can’t tell us where we are?” Birk wondered.
“Quarantine period?” Cuddy asked.
“Yes. It is standard procedure for new recruits. It is necessary to protect the organization,” Michael explained.
“You’ve been cleared?” Birk asked, suddenly realizing the implication. “Then you’re not in charge of the resistance?”
“Me?” Michael laughed to himself. “Hardly. I am simply your handler for the induction process.”
“What is the induction process?” Cuddy inquired as they continued walking.
“The resistance is only a week old,” Michael replied. “Our numbers are few and we are widely scattered. In fact, none of us really knows how many of us there are. My job is to put you through a vetting process to ensure you are not Dusahn spies or sympathizers who might turn us in.”
“So, the resistance isn’t really a resistance just yet,” Birk surmised.
“If you are asking if we have committed any acts of aggression against the Dusahn, then the answer is no. The only thing we are guilty of is the collection of weapons dropped to us by Na-Tan.”
“But Na-Tan is dead,” Cuddy said, adding, “isn’t he?”
“Yeah, we saw his body on the news,” Birk added, “from the memorial service on Earth. He’s even got a major spot on the Walk of Heroes. They don’t do that for you unless you’re dead.”
“I argue none of what you say,” Michael replied as he turned left at a fork in the trail.
Birk stopped. “I’ve been that way, Michael. It’s a dead end. Just a rock face. A nice waterfall but nothing else.”
Michael stopped and looked back at Birk and Cuddy, smiling. “Indulge me.” He turned to continue, picking up where he left off. “I too believed Na-tan dead, but the leaflets prove otherwise.”
“Dude, they’re just leaflets,” Birk insisted. “Anybody could have made them.”
“Did you notice the characters along the bottom edge of the leaflets?” Michael inquired.
“The ones that were barely visible?” Cuddy questioned.
“Yes.”
“Just a meaningless string of characters,” Birk dismissed. “I figured they were a printing error, or something.”
“They were not an error,” Michael insisted. “It was an encrypted message. A quote, actually.”
“How did you decrypt it?” Birk challenged.
“It was encrypted using an old Corinari algorithm,” Michael replied. “One that we are quite familiar with.”
“What did it say?” Cuddy asked.
Michael stopped again, turning back to face them. “The price of freedom is the blood of those who seek it.”
“That sounds familiar,” Birk admitted.
“It should,” Michael said as he continued down the path. “It was Na-Tan who said it.”
“In his speech,” Cuddy realized. “The one he gave after defeating the Yamaro…on the Walk of Heroes!”
“Precisely.”
“That still doesn’t prove that he’s alive,” Birk countered.
“No, it does not,” Michael agreed. “But it does give us hope. And hope is the most powerful weapon imaginable.”
“Na-Tan said that, as well,” Cuddy pointed out. “In that very same speech, in fact.”
“Which still proves nothing,” Birk argued as they walked.
“It matters not if Na-Tan is alive or dead,” Michael said. “What matters is that someone out there is trying to help us take back our world. Someone is risking their lives on our behalf, and without being asked to do so. Whether they are trying to tell us that Na-Tan is alive or whether they are merely using his name to inspire us to fight; what matters is that we take action.”
“So, because someone dropped a bunch of leaflets saying Na-Tan is alive and dropped a few weapons along with them, you’re all willing to risk your lives?” Birk asked in disbelief.
“You’re here as well, are you not?”
“Well, yes, but we’ve hardly risked our lives.”
“You risked your lives by trying to contact Anji,” Michael pointed out.
“It was his idea,” Cuddy told him, gesturing toward Birk.
“We were desperate. We needed credits,” Birk defended.
“You could have declined Anji’s invitation to join.”
Neither Birk nor Cuddy had any reply.
“There is an old Earth quote from many centuries ago,” Michael said, speaking more loudly to be heard above the sound of the waterfall they were nearing. “‘All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.’ We may not yet know what we will do to try to drive the Dusahn from Corinair, but we do know that we will not stand by and do nothing.”
They followed the trail around a large formation of boulders, coming to a large pool of water at the base of a tall rock face. A stream of water about five meters in width poured from the top of the rock into the pool. It was a tranquil setting, one that Birk had already witnessed during his exploration of the area.
“I told you,” Birk said. “Dead end.”
“This place is great,” Cuddy commented. “Why didn’t you tell me about it?”
“I did,” Birk replied. “You were too busy with that damned data pad to care.”
“We could have taken a bath here,” Cuddy insisted.
“Unwise,” Michael said. “There are goran lizards in these pools. Not big ones, mind you, but big enough to take a sizable chunk out of you.”
“Can we go back now?” Birk asked, already turning around.
Michael reached into his pocket and pulled out his comm-unit. “It’s so pretty, I believe I’ll take a picture.”
Birk and Cuddy watched, confused, as Michael held up his comm-unit, pointing it at the waterfall to take a picture.
“There,” Michael said, putting his comm-unit back into his pocket. He turned back to look at Birk and Cuddy, smiling. “I hope you don’t mind getting wet.”
Before they could respond, a rusty old metal walkway began to slowly protrude through the waterfall toward them.
“What the hell?” Birk exclaimed, watching the walkway slowly extend across the pool of water. After nearly thirty seconds, the walkway reached their side of the pool, hovering mere centimeters above the shore in front of them.
“Follow me,” Michael instructed. He stepped up onto the rusty old walkway, taking hold of the rails on either side. His first step caused the near end of the walkway to set down onto the shore and he walked confidently across toward the waterfall, disappearing into the water a moment later.
“Unbelievable,” Cuddy said in awe, stepping up onto the walkway to follow Michael.
“You said it,” Birk agreed as he followed his friend across the walkway and into the waterfall, as well.
* * *
Terig sat staring out the kitchen window into the community open space behind their new home. They had only moved in a day and a half ago, after nearly two days of interrogation by the Dusahn. These surroundings were a big change for them after living only in tenement buildings since adulthood.
“It’s going to take a while to get used to the view outside,” Dori said as she entered the room. She kissed her husband on the forehead as she passed, moving to the window herself. “Did you notice the playground over by the grove? There are already children playing out there, this early.” She turned back to the kitchen to start preparing her breakfast. “I think I’m going to like married housing.”
“I already miss Gorson’s,” Terig commented, sipping his beverage.
“The caref
ree single life,” she mused. “I guess we’ll just have to learn to cook our own food now.”
“Cook? You mean stick a package in the oven and press start?”
“No,” she replied, “I mean actually prepare our food, from scratch. You know, cleaning, chopping, cooking, seasoning…all that fun stuff.”
“I hope you don’t expect us to grow it, as well.”
“Aren’t you going to be late for work?” she asked, noticing the time.
“I’m not sure I’m ready,” Terig replied.
His wife looked him over again. “You look ready to me.”
Terig turned to his wife. “Dori, what if I called in sick today? Or maybe for the next few days? I’m sure they’d understand, considering what we’ve been through.”
“They’ll respect you more if you show up as planned,” she insisted. “It could work in your favor. Once they see how strong you are, they may even promote you to director of communications.”
“A bit of a leap, don’t you think?”
“Perhaps,” Dori admitted, “but we have to think of our future. We need to make more money if we want to get our first pregnancy permit.”
“Our first?” Terig said, rising from the table. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
“You know what I mean,” Dori insisted, placing her hands on his chest as he approached. “Now do the right thing and go to work.”
“What will you do?” he wondered, putting his arms around her.
“My new job doesn’t start for two more days, so I’ll probably just get to know the neighbors, do a little decorating, and get us settled into our new home.” Dori kissed her husband and then pushed him away. “Now go. You don’t want to be late.”
“Yes, dear,” he replied. Terig kissed her one more time, then headed for the front door. He grabbed his jacket and exited their home onto the front stoop. The tram stop was just a few houses down and he could see several people already gathered, awaiting the next automated car to take them into the center of Mahtizah.
Do the right thing. Her words echoed in his mind. He wondered if she would feel that he was doing just that, if she knew the truth.
* * *
“Not exactly the kind of shower I was hoping for,” Birk commented as he toweled off.
“What is this place?” Cuddy asked, hanging up his towel.
“An abandoned terrak mine,” Michael explained as he dried off his hair. “This whole range is littered with them. Terrak was Corinair’s primary export when it was first settled. But all mining moved to the asteroid belt once resources allowed.”
“I thought these mines were sealed off because they were unstable,” Birk commented.
“Yeah, didn’t a lot of people die in them?” Cuddy asked. “In cave-ins?”
“Yes, which is why the Dusahn will not be looking here,” Michael replied.
“Are we safe?”
“Many of these mines were used by the Corinari during the Takaran wars. They were reinforced with permacrete and the walls were sealed to prevent degradation. They used them to store weapons and supplies, so the Corinari might continue to resist if we were invaded.”
“I don’t remember anything about a Corinari resistance,” Cuddy remarked.
“That’s because there was none,” Michael explained.
There was an obvious melancholy in his tone.
“When faced with the prospect of Ghatazhak attacks, our leaders opted to accept Caius’s terms of surrender in order to better preserve our way of life. It was either that, or face extinction.”
“Then these mines were never used,” Cuddy surmised. “Were they still stocked?”
“Some of them, yes. Unfortunately, not this one. This one was more of a fallback facility.”
“Then there are others,” Cuddy said.
“I assume so, although I do not know where.”
“And the Dusahn don’t know about them?” Birk asked as he hung his towel up.
“Our leaders destroyed all records of the mines, especially the ones that were retrofitted. Only a handful of Corinari leaders were aware of their locations. We almost couldn’t find this one.”
“Have you guys thought about installing a repeller field over that walkway?” Birk suggested. “Probably save you a lot on towels.”
“And create an energy field that the Dusahn could easily detect from orbit,” Michael countered as he headed through the door.
Birk and Cuddy followed Michael into the next room. There were dozens of lockers on either side.
Michael pointed to the lockers on the right. “Lockers forty-one and forty-two are yours. Among other things, you’ll find a change of clothes in them.”
Birk and Cuddy moved to the right side of the small cavern, reading the numbers on the lockers until they found theirs.
“You both have ID chips, right?” Michael asked as he began to change out of his wet clothes.
“Got them when we started college,” Birk replied. “It’s a requirement.”
“Before you can go out again, we’ll have to reprogram them.”
“You can do that?” Cuddy asked, surprised.
“I thought that was illegal?” Birk commented. A moment later, he realized how stupid his remark sounded.
“I thought they were locked, so you couldn’t reprogram them once they were injected,” Cuddy said.
“Are you kidding?” Michael replied. “I was hacking ID chips when I was a teenager.” He looked at Cuddy. “I thought you were studying computer programming?”
“It’s not like they teach you how to hack government systems in school,” Cuddy defended.
“Cuddy’s not exactly the hacker type,” Birk teased.
“I can hack,” Cuddy insisted. “It’s just that I’m more of an algorithm guy. Efficiencies and stuff.”
“I’m sure we can make use of that,” Michael replied. “After all, inefficiencies are usually where you find exploitable code.”
“You see?” Cuddy told Birk.
“How many people do you have down here?” Birk wondered, ignoring his friend.
“Only fifteen, including the two of you,” Michael replied sheepishly.
“That’s it?”
“It has only been three weeks since the Dusahn invaded,” Michael defended. “Far less since Na-Tan called us to arms. These things take time. We need more than just people. We need weapons, supplies, infrastructure, communications, methodologies, intelligence… The list goes on.”
“Then I take it you’re not going to ask us to pick up a gun and start fighting any time soon,” Birk surmised.
“It is likely that you will never be asked to do so,” Michael said as he donned his shoes. “Putting a gun in your hands would be a waste of resources, same as putting one into mine. There are more ways to fight than with brute force and violence.” Michael stood, looking over Birk and Cuddy. “Are you ready?”
“So, what’s the plan?” Birk asked, also standing.
“I’m not entirely sure, to be honest. You are the first recruits without military training to come here. I guess we could start with a brief tour of the facility, such as it is.”
“Michael, is there any way we could contact our families?” Cuddy wondered. “To let them know we are alright?”
“Unfortunately, we do not yet have secure communications. We can communicate safely between cells, but not through the public networks.”
“I promise I won’t tell them anything,” Cuddy insisted. “You can even listen, if you’d like.”
“It is not that of which I am concerned,” Michael told him. “The public networks use location tracking in order to route calls more effectively. Even with our modified comm-units, our signal would give away our location to the Dusahn.”
“Assuming they are looking for it,” Cuddy pointed out.
“Yes, but the existence of a signal from such a remote location might be enough to peak their curiosity. We must first find a way to mask that signal, or send its initial routing through another location. Unfortunately, I am not up on the current communications technologies. I was hoping that you might be.”
“I’m only a third-year student,” Cuddy said.
“You managed to break into Troji’s comm-unit,” Birk reminded Cuddy.
“Not the same thing,” Cuddy insisted.
“All I can ask is that you give it a try,” Michael said.
“I’d be happy to,” Cuddy assured him.
“Very well, perhaps we should start our tour with the mess hall?” Michael suggested.
“That depends,” Birk said. “Do you have anything other than the rations that were in that shack?”
Michael smiled. “I believe we have a bit more variety, yes.”
* * *
“The loss of the Mystic Empress is a minor issue,” General Hesson insisted.
“She would have made a fine addition to our fleet,” Lord Dusahn disagreed.
“She was poorly constructed, and poorly retrofitted,” General Hesson insisted. “She would have taken far too much time and resources to make battle-worthy.”
“But she would have made an excellent diplomatic envoy,” Lord Dusahn added. “One that we need.”
“I was not aware of any diplomats amongst our ranks.”
Lord Dusahn smiled at his advisor’s attempt at humor. “I was speaking of myself.”
“You are a conqueror, my lord, not a diplomat. Although, I am certain that you could be, if you wished.”
“Our forces are spread thin. There are many worlds in this sector that might be convinced to cooperate with us without the threat of annihilation. Palee is an example.”
“Palee is a world of opportunists and businessmen who make their fortunes through investments and accounting tricks,” General Hesson insisted. “Their only loyalty is to their profit margins.”