by Mike Smith
“I understand that the cause of the disagreement was over the Princess? Is that true?” Miranda pressed curiously, as Jon had been reluctant to give out any further details other than what he confessed to during the senior staff briefing.
“The Princess? You mean Sofia?”
Miranda blinked in surprise, sure that she had been imagining what she thought she saw when he uttered Sofia’s name. It had only been in his eyes for a fraction of a second, but she recognised that look instantly. How many years had she spent with Jon, seeing exactly the same look in his eyes whenever Sofia’s name was mentioned? “My God, you’re in love with her too.” She blurted out the accusation before she could even stop and think.
“What? No!” Robert looked up, startled by the sudden accusation.
“You can protest as much as you like, but you cannot hide it from me. I recognise that look. Is the whole damn galaxy in love with this woman? What is it about her?”
For the first time since they had met Robert’s frown disappeared, and was replaced with a softer, younger, more carefree expression. “Her smile? Her touch?” he proposed. “Or perhaps it is her generous spirit and her desire to help others. Do I love her? Perhaps. But I could never compete—not against Jon Radec. You know I spent many months observing the two of them together? I suppose I was jealous of him, of the way that she used to look at him. Each of them would observe the other, when they thought he or she wasn’t looking. The two of them would automatically gravitate to each other. It didn’t matter how many others were in the room, they would always end up next to each other. And when they thought that nobody else was looking, they would just stare into each other’s eyes, as if everything else was forgotten, leaving the two of them alone, in their own little world.”
Robert continued, in a pained voice, “Do I love her? It doesn't really matter because her heart is no longer hers to give. It has belonged to Jon Radec for the longest of time.” Robert sighed, looking up into Miranda’s gaze, expecting to see pity there, but instead finding compassion, sympathy—and understanding? He was suddenly extremely curious about this beautiful woman seated next to him, who already seemed to know him so intimately. “But you don’t need me to explain, because you already know what I’m talking about, don’t you? How do you know?”
Miranda looked aside, blushing, realising that she had already admitted far too much. It was only Jason’s bewildered gaze, looking first from one, then to the other that reminded them that they were not alone.
“I often take a stroll after dinner, would you care to accompany me?” Robert inquired, wanting to find out more about this intriguing woman, and how she could possibly know him so well. Having a sneaking suspicion that the two of them shared a common heartache.
Miranda considered the offer, as she was also curious to know more about the Jon that this man described. A younger one—less troubled, certainly happier. A man that she only saw such brief tantalising glimpses of. Therefore, with a nod of her head, she rose from her seat and departed with Robert.
Jason watched, open-mouthed in astonishment, as the two of them disappeared together. “Well, I’ll just keep myself company then,” he said out aloud to the now empty room.
*****
“So how long have you known Jon Radec?” Robert inquired, breaking the silence that had fallen as the couple walked through the gardens together for several minutes, both lost in thought.
“A little more than two years,” Miranda replied, taken aback by the question.
“And how long have you been in love with him?”
“A-a little less than two years,” Miranda wavered. “How did you know?”
“The same way you did, I guess, when you were asking me about Sofia. I saw the look in your eyes. You knew exactly what I was talking about.”
“I don’t understand—”
“When you accused me of being in love with the princess.”
“You never answered that question, by the way. You just said that you could never compete.”
“Maybe. Anyway I was younger back then, perhaps it was more by way of a childish infatuation.”
“And now?” Miranda pressed, wondering why the answer seemed so important to her.
“I don’t know,” Robert answered truthfully. “Can I ask you a personal question?”
“It depends on the question.”
“What did you do when you realised that he loved somebody else?”
Miranda did not immediately reply, and Robert was beginning to think she was not going to answer the question at all, when in a quiet voice she replied.
“I wanted to hate her for stealing him away from me, but after I met her I realised that I couldn’t. She was no more at fault than I. You cannot help who you fall in love with. What did I do? I love Jon and I wanted him to be happy. So I stepped aside in the end, although it was the hardest thing I ever had to do.”
Robert stared off into the distance long after she fell silent. The sun was just starting to dip behind the horizon; the clouds tinged with a stunning shade of pink. “You shame me,” he confessed hoarsely. “You make me question my own actions, as love cannot be locked away and denied, but should be set free. You are an intriguing person Miss Sun. I doubt that many others would have acted as selflessly as you.”
For he had spent many hours with Sofia over the past few weeks, unable to ignore any longer the pain in her eyes as she desperately asked after her husband. Now, he was wondering if he could be as strong as this woman and let Sofia go. Unfortunately it was not that easy for him. He had been honest with Sofia when he said that the repercussions of doing so could be fatal, not just for him, but all those who depended on him to keep them safe.
Miranda frowned, wondering what Robert meant by those words, but instead prompted him. “Whatever the cost of hanging on?”
“I wouldn’t say whatever the cost, but it does occur to me that we have a lot in common.” Robert grinned, turning around to face her and taking a step closer.
“That we both love another, unrequitedly?”
“Seems like a perfectly good basis for a relationship to me.”
“Aren’t you getting a little ahead of yourself?”
“Not really,” he replied, pushing a strand of her hair back behind her ear and staring deeply into her eyes.
*****
Having finished counting the number of tiles on the ceiling, and the number of chandeliers in the room, twice, Jason started to indulge in his favourite pastime—snooping. After all, he had not reached his current status in life without being more than slightly inquisitive.
It was not hard to slip away from the rest of the dinner guests, seeing as the two of them had already abandoned him. He was certain that Robert Calis would not mind him looking around, and of course what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. Anyway he was still curious about this other unknown guest, unable to shake the feeling of déjà vu.
Wandering around the apartments, poking his head around doorways, peering through numerous windows, Jason found countless offices, meeting and reception rooms, and lounges. Nothing out of the ordinary. All completely normal and terribly boring. It was obvious that Robert used these apartments to entertain guests and hence everything was wide open and inviting. All except one unmarked door.
Locked.
For a person of Jason’s temperament, that was akin to painting a bullseye on it and combining that with large, flashing neon signs, complete with pointing arrows, indicating this as a place of interest. As a young boy, Jason had found that it was only behind the locked doors that the really exciting things could be found. Hence, like a moth drawn to an open flame, he wandered over to it, tapping on it experimentally. After all, the easiest way to get through a locked door was to see if somebody would kindly enough open it for you. Unfortunately in this case nothing happened and the door remained resolutely closed and still locked.
There was a keypad sunk into the wall next to the door, which seemed to accept a numeric code, since th
e keypad contained only numbers and no letters. In total there was a possible ten billion different combinations. Jason smiled, viewing it as a challenge.
With a fugitive glance around to ensure that nobody was watching, he punched in a random number and then hurriedly took a step away from the door. The code wavered on the display for a second, before vanishing into the digital ether. Not surprisingly, nothing else happened. No alarms, no hammering of boots to signal the imminent arrival of a security team, nothing. Zip. Nada.
With a broad grin, Jason started rapidly pressing keys…
*****
From the corner of her eye Miranda saw the flash of light. Having spent the past few years with Jon, constantly surrounded by people intent on killing him and, by proxy, her, she did not even hesitate. Catching Robert in a tight embrace, she pushed him off balance, causing them both to topple to the floor. Fortunately they had been following a winding path through the gardens, and Miranda’s quick reflexes had pushed them off onto the soft grass. Still the force of the impact caused the breath to rush out of her lungs. It did not help her breathing much for only moments later to have Robert’s heavy body land on top of her.
Fortunately she mostly cushioned his fall.
“And you’re accusing me of moving too quickly?” Robert wheezed, stunned by the sudden collision.
But before Miranda could reply the bolt from the pulse rifle flashed just over their heads, intersecting where they had both been standing only seconds before. Instinctively the two of them ducked back down, trying to minimise the target for the shooter, each trying to protect the other.
The end result being a jumble of entangled limbs.
“Is there something that you want to tell me?” Miranda demanded, trying to extricate herself from him and reach for the pistol she constantly carried at her side, marvelling at how much her life had changed ever since she woke in the medical bay on Terra Nova almost two years earlier.
“This is not the first time. My mother had a lot of enemies.”
“Charming family,” Miranda muttered, finally managing to release the pistol at her side. “Stay here. I’ll try and find the shooter.”
“I’m coming too.”
“You’re not even armed,” Miranda replied contemptuously.
“Do you usually walk around your own home armed?”
“All the time. Ever since I turned a corner one morning and found myself facing a heavily armed Syndicate enforcement squad that started shooting at me.”
Robert look stunned at this declaration, before recovering quickly and suggesting, “I’ll distract him, and you shoot him.”
“How about I distract him and you shoot him?”
“It’s your gun,” Robert said, but before they could argue further another bolt missed them by inches. Glancing at each other, they made a mad dash for the nearest hedgerow, together.
*****
Jason was somewhat disappointed when it only took him a few dozen attempts. Knowing for a fact that trying a different random combination, assuming a couple of seconds for each attempt, it would have taken years to find the right one, he didn’t even bother trying to guess. Instead, he just entered the various different manufactures’ factory defaults, secure in the knowledge that most people would have forgotten or simply been too lazy to wipe them after inputting their own preferred code. As always, the weakest point of any secure system was the human element. Anyway, having long since ignored the Commanders subtle edict that he needed to get out more he had memorised all the codes, having far too much free time on his hands. Besides, get out where?
It was a vacuum outside of Terra Nova.
The door slid smoothly open, revealing a spacious atrium with a couple of doors spaced equidistant around the edge of the room. The floor was polished marble that caused Jason’s footsteps to echo around the room as he crossed towards the fountain gently bubbling away in the centre of the room. There were statues placed around the room on raised pedestals and, stopping at one, he read the inscription. Some great-grandfather of Robert Calis it appeared. Dismissing the object, he approached the fountain, observing the crystal clear waters with various fish swimming around just beneath the surface. A raised dais surrounded the fountain on all sides, obviously so that one could sit and observe the waters. Jason idly ran his finger over the dais, wondering who might have once sat there, as the entire room was currently deserted. Swinging his gaze around he assumed that these were the personal apartments of Robert Calis and partner; wife, mistress? Knowing for a fact it was none of his business, he nonetheless approached the nearest door, quickly ducking to the side upon hearing approaching footsteps.
*****
It was still early evening after Robert had apologised for having to cut short their dinner, as urgent business had interrupted him. Sofia had spent some time reading but had quickly grown restless and decided that a walk was in order to clear her head. Not being allowed outside of her personal quarters, the route for such a walk was heavily constrained, actually limited to a walk down the corridor, a couple of loops around the atrium, a short pause, followed by a seat next to the fountain, so as not to tire herself out and to allow her to recuperate in preparation for the few dozen meters back to her room.
However, as the door to the atrium was sliding open, and just as she was about to step into the room, she sighed. What was the point? It was not going to be any different today. The same monotonous boredom she had tolerated for several weeks already, and Robert had made it clear that he was going to be busy for the rest of the evening. Hence, instead of stepping out, she spun around, deciding that a long hot bath and early to bed would be the better solution. She often found herself dreaming of Jon while she slept, and was looking forward to once again being in his embrace—even if it was only in her dreams.
*****
Jason cursed as the door once again slid shut, the footsteps now growing fainter as their owner returned the way that she had come. For Jason was certain that it was a she. He had not had time to take in many details, only seeing a flash of auburn hair and pale skin, but the glimpse had been more than enough to convince him that the occupant was definitely female. Deciding to follow the woman and find out why Robert Calis wished to conceal her presence, Jason took a step forward, only for a firm grasp to pull him away from the now closed portal.
Jason came face to face with a pair of suspicious eyes, one of the many security guards that constantly seemed to be around.
“This is a restricted area. What are you doing here?” he demanded, pushing Jason firmly against the wall.
“Is it? I was just looking for the washroom,” Jason replied, feigned the surprise in his voice perfectly. “Robert Calis encouraged me to have a look around, and the door was open.” He waved at the still open portal that he had first entered through.
The guard looked surprised at the clearly open door, but could not dispute that it was indeed open. “These are his personal apartments and hence off-limits to guests.”
“Well I am very sorry, I didn’t know. I’ll be leaving then.”
For a moment Jason thought the guard was going to argue, and was about to tense himself for the impending confrontation, when suddenly the guard took a step back, releasing him. Motioning Jason towards the door, the guard insisted. “I need to ask that you leave.”
“Of course, of course,” Jason replied mildly, stepping through the door he had entered, noting that it shut firmly behind him. Retracing his steps, he decided that upon Robert’s return there would be some questions he would be very interested in the answer to.
*****
It was not much later when Robert and Miranda returned, both looking harried.
Noticing Jason sitting at the table, alone and obviously bored, Miranda apologised. “Jason I am sorry that we were so long—”
“No problem, I found some things to keep myself occupied,” Jason replied easily, shooting Robert a suspicious glance. Rising to his feet and taking a step closer to Miranda, Jason peered a
t her intently. Leaning forward he plucked a blade of grass from her hair. “I think that you brought some of the garden back with you,” he commented dryly, shooting the pair another suspicious look.
Blushing, Miranda quickly recounted the events that had transpired, finishing with how their attacker had managed to slip away.
“That would’ve been because you two were both too busy rolling around in the grass?” Jason snapped, not quite able to keep the resentment from his voice.
“That's not true,” Miranda protested. “Not that it has anything to do with you. It’s not as if you are—jealous?” Miranda looked at Jason in surprise, noticing the hurt expression on his face.
“As you say, it is nothing to do with me what the two of you get up to,” Jason replied stiffly, shooting Robert another poisonous look. Jason suddenly found that he had a burning desire to find out exactly who this other woman was, and he would then take great delight in telling Miranda exactly who he had found.
Chapter Thirteen
The Relentless, Flagship of the Confederation 8th Fleet, Sirius System
From the darkened room, Jon watched the massive airships rise from the swirling clouds of the gas giant’s thick atmosphere. The 8th Fleet was currently in orbit around one of the many gas giants that orbited the Sirius A primary star. Its fainter twin Sirius B was clearly visible, standing out from the background of stars. Then his attention was drawn to the Helium-3 mining operation that was going on under the watchful eye of the fleet.
The atmosphere of this particular gas giant was the brightest azure-blue, caused by the composition of the upper atmosphere refracting the light from its star, or so Anna had explained several nights before. To his untrained eye it reminded him of an old holo-vid of a pair of hunchback whales rising from the depths of the ocean. However, these were no whales, but massive airships, kilometres in length, rising up by means of their massive envelopes, now full with Helium-3. He watched, enthralled, as the pair of airships docked with one of the massive bulk carriers, which would transport the Helium-3 to every corner of the Confederation. The bulk carrier was equally as impressive, easily dwarfing the Relentless, the largest ship in the fleet, in terms of both size and mass. The bulk carriers were the largest ships in the Confederation, over several kilometres in length. The only ship ever to match them in size and grandeur had been the Imperial Navy flagship the Imperial Star. Thoughts about that ship, which he had destroyed almost two years before, instinctively led to Marcus—and Sofia.