by Dani Hoots
“When did you figure out she was part of the Empire?”
“Right away. A girl that cold, hiding her emotions from everyone only could come from the Pandronan Empire. I played along until I knew she would do something. Then I confronted her and promised to help her make a link between Recar and the Pandronan Empire. We agreed to a promise to keep our government in exchange for letting them know if any resistance activity emerged.”
“So we can blame you for the massacre that happened a couple months back,” David eyed Jack sharply.
“You all know that Recar’s independent. Don’t bring your war to us. Now, enough about politics, tell me about Sanshli. I want to know more.”
“Oh, did she tell you what we were doing?”
Jack shrugged. “Just mentioned the name. I’m not sure what exactly is going on.”
I thought back to all the things I said to Jack. I never mentioned Sanshli. I knew he would never believe me. So where did he hear about it? I listened further to the conversation.
“Hers and Rik’s father left them clues to find it. Apparently he was a strong believer that it could bring back the peace in the galaxy. I doubt she even believes it, even with the books we found. But she is the only one who can translate them. Then the last piece we need is on Ttkas, which is why we are headed there,” David explained as he laid his cards down and smiled. He had won the round.
Jack chucked the rest of his cards on the table. “I still think it’s a suicide mission.”
David collected all the cards. “Yes, but as you pointed out, with your help we will be able to land there a lot easier than if we were without an authority figure.”
“I said I think it will help. I’m not promising anything.”
“But it is still in our best benefit to have you with us,” David shuffled. “You must really care for her.”
“I do. It isn’t every day you meet a girl like Cadi.”
“I’m surprised she shows you any emotion. She is known for her cold-heartedness,” David shuffled some more.
“That’s why I love her. She needs someone to love her. Ain’t that right, Cadi?” Jack’s eyes peered at the door.
I stepped inside the lounge area. “How long did you know I was there?”
“Long enough.”
“Should you be out of the med room? Your injuries were bad, how are you even walking?” David gave me a look of concern, which wasn’t surprising after the ordeal I had just been through.
“I’m fine,” I stated as I sat down next to Jack. “I see David got you playing card games with him.”
“He wanted to play,” David defended as he placed the newly shuffled deck on the table and left it alone. He knew I wouldn’t want to play any more games and that I wasn’t in the happiest of moods.
Seconds later Amanda rushed into the room. “I left for a second and she’s gone!” she realized I was in there. “What are you doing up? You need to be under medication. How did you even get this far?”
“I’m fine,” I stated automatically.
“No, you aren’t. You have a serious stomach injury and bullet wounds in your legs. I need you back on your meds or you could reopen the wound,” she started to grab for me.
I grabbed her by the wrist and eyed her sharply. “I’m fine.”
“Arcadia, let her go,” Rik stepped into the lounge.
I grinned. “Well, if it isn’t my brother who was going to leave me to die.”
“I had every right to, didn’t I?”
I let go of Amanda’s wrist. “I suppose.”
“Let me at least look at your wounds,” Amanda slowly started to reach for the bandages. I grabbed the bandages and ripped them off. Nothing but a scar showed.
“Happy?” I asked.
Everyone gaped at the wound, questioning the possibility of how it was healed. Jack didn’t take any notice. He had seen it all before.
“How... how are you healed?” David finally broke the silence.
“I heal faster than most. Probably some side effect from the drugs they poured into me at the Kamps. Speaking of which, where are my gloves?” I had never gone this long without wearing gloves; it was starting to get on my nerves. It was as if covering my hands could make me forget everything I had done.
“They were covered in blood, I had to throw them out,” Amanda explained.
My eyes narrowed. “You did what?”
“I threw them out. You don’t need them here.”
Jack laughed. “Bad move. Cadi don’t take her gloves off for nothing and I do mean nothing. She thinks my clocks are kinky.” I shot Jack a look. He held up his hands in defense. “Just backing ya up.”
“So,” Rik changed the subject. “How many times should you have died?”
“Five. Six counting this time,” I answered.
“Don’t forget that incident with Ralph,” Jack added.
“Oh, right. Seven then.”
Rik took a seat at the table. “So that is how you have survived this long, mission after mission. You’re immortal.”
I shook my head. “I’m not immortal. If someone stabbed me through the heart I would die. Cut off my head, any wound that would kill you in a second would kill me also. If I have enough time, I can heal the wound. It takes a while, which brings me to my next question, how long have I been out?”
“A day,” David answered.
“So,” I leaned back in the chair. “We still have four more days until Ttkas.”
“Three actually. We got the engines working at top performance and found a shorter route to travel by without getting caught,” David went on.
“Good, the less time the better. Then we can beat the P.A.E.”
“You all can talk about this stuff; I got to take a rest. If I knew she could heal herself so well I wouldn’t have stayed up all this time to make sure she was fine,” Amanda tossed her hand up and started to leave. “Wake me if there is anything urgent.”
After she left, I looked up at Rik. “She was worried about me?”
“She’s a doctor, she worries about all her patients no matter who they are,” he explained.
“Interesting,” I straightened back up in the chair. “Now, shall we discuss how we are going to get on Ttkas without getting shot out of the sky?”
“Right,” David pulled out the map that Father had left us. I had already deciphered the clues my Father had left me on the map that indicated where the book should be located. “By what you translated, it looks like the location of the book is on the opposite side of the planet from where the armory and factory is located.”
“Thank goodness,” Rik interjected.
“Yes, thank goodness,” David agreed. “But if the P.A.E. beats us there, the security for the whole planet will triple if not more. If we get there before them, it will be a bit easier. If we get there at the same time as the P.A.E. then, well, we don’t want that to happen.”
“Because we will get killed with the rest of them?” I stated more than questioned.
“Pretty much,” David spoke before anyone could argue with me about all the P.A.E. that were about to get slaughtered in this war. “Goal is that we beat them there. As I already mentioned, I plotted out the fastest way from Recar to Ttkas so hopefully we make it in time. The P.A.E. left two days after us but we had to make that detour to Recar which put us a day behind them. Luckily we have a ship that can go the straight route there and not worry about running into any other ship, especially Class Five ships. The P.A.E. will have to be wary of travel routes for Imperial ships that go from planet to planet. This will put them behind a couple of days.”
Jack straightened his jacket. “So good thing I’m here. I’ll be able to land us once we reach Ttkas. Say I’m in need of some materials and land on the mining side of the planet. A couple of you can come with me to purchase material while the others go looking for this book of yours.”
“Will and David can go with you. Arcadia, Amanda, and I will look for the book,” Rik suggested.
“Right, now we just need to figure out where the book is. We know it is on the mining side of the planet. However, Father did a good job of hiding the identity of the exact location. So far, all I can tell is that it’s in one of the old abandoned military bunkers from when the Second Republic reigned. Since then, they have been abandoned and the people moved to the other side of the planet so they could focus on mining,” I pointed at the map.
“So, the question is which one?” Rik leaned back in his chair.
I studied the map even further. The rest of what Father wrote made no sense, just some random symbols that had no meaning. I pondered on what he could have meant by them. Father was always big on secret messages and codes that make no sense at all. At first, I would think I understood the pattern of his code but then it would change abruptly.
A thought struck me. “What was Father trying to say at the end of the message he left us. The reason he coded the map.”
Rik pulled out the hologram disk and set it on the table. Fast-forwarding to the end, he played the message. “...can never be too careful. I don’t want anyone else to know about it. Especially after what I learned about the e...” and the message ended again in static.
“Rewind,” I ordered. Rik rewound it again.
“...after what I learned about the e...” static again.
“After he learned about what? Sounds like he is saying Empire,” I asked myself.
“Maybe he learned something about the Empire. How corrupt it is perhaps? Some secret thing they are doing?” Rik proposed.
I ran my fingers through my hair. “Something that I wouldn’t know about though. I am the Emperor’s shadow, I know everything there is, all the secrets. At least I thought I did.”
“They could be searching for this legend, too,” Jack shrugged.
I shook my head. “That doesn’t make sense. Why would they search for something that can destroy them?” If the Emperor knew about Sanshli, he never said anything to me.
“Maybe they are searching for it so they can destroy it before it can destroy them,” David stated. I nodded. This seemed to be the most logical explanation but there was something we were missing. Something that none of us would expect.
Will entered the dining hall. “Why wasn’t I invited to the party?” he saw me. “Why aren’t you in the med room?”
I shook my head. “I’m fine. Just a minor wound.”
“No it wasn’t, I saw you. You were covered in blood.”
“I’m fine now, so let’s get on with this,” I gestured to the map.
Will sat down across from me. He gave me a quick scowl then turned back to Rik. “What have we got so far?”
We quickly gave him an overview of what we had figured out so far.
“But we still don’t know if the last book has a map in it or if it connects to these three or if there is a hidden map. So far I haven’t found anything that these books could help us with. They just state the history of the war over and over again,” I flipped through the pages of one of the books. “I will keep working on it but it doesn’t look promising. I am hoping the fourth book will be the key to unlocking everything.”
“But what if it doesn’t have the answers? What if it is exactly like these books? Then what?” Will asked.
“Then we will figure out what my father said in them.”
“Or will you just betray us? Turn us in, or even kill us if you feel like?”
“Will...” David began.
“Shut up, David. Why are you so blind? Rik, you know her better than we all do. Why do you trust her on this? Why didn’t you just leave her bleeding to death on Recar?” Will looked at Rik but he stayed silent. “Huh, Rik?!”
“He wanted to,” I interjected. “I faintly remember an argument between you and Jack before I passed out. What persuaded you to let us on board?”
Rik pondered on how he was going to answer. “Jack threatened to tell the Imperials where we were going and he could land-lock us.”
I laughed. “So you threatened them, Jack? That’s low. I presume you were already leaving without me then?”
Rik nodded. “Yes, we were going to leave as soon as we could.”
“And how exactly would you translate the next book?”
“We would find a way. David could look at your notes and figure something out,” Rik explained.
I glanced at David who was focusing intently on the map, ignoring my gaze. I debated if he told Rik how I threatened him and may have killed him if Damian didn’t show.
“Why were there men after you on Recar?” Rik asked, as if he cared.
“Hm? Oh, you mean Damian? He’s the leader of Nyct. He already had a grudge on me but last time I was on Recar I killed a few of his men. So he made it his sole duty to find me. I don’t know how, but he did. He was prepared too. He had at least twenty men ready for me. I took out a couple but as you know I still let myself get captured,” I told the story.
Will’s lips turned into a grin. “You messed up.”
I shook my head in disagreement. “I never mess up. I let myself get into situations like these. I knew I had a better chance of staying alive if I simply went with him. Then one of Jack’s men ran his car into ours, which led to the stabbing and the shooting and here I am.”
“Interesting story,” Rik commented.
I shrugged. “Meh, I’ve had more interesting endeavors. Probably the closest run-in with death I’ve had in a while. I don’t mind, though. Keeps me on my toes.”
“If only your run-in with death was a little more permanent. Then we would all be a little happier,” Will added. I eyed him carefully.
Before I could say anything, Jack intervened. “Look, I don’t mean to pry but I think we should focus on the mission at hand. Ttkas is only four days from where we are now, right? We need a solid plan of action before we step on the surface. You all understand? We don’t have time for little squabbles like this.”
“Jack’s right,” David said. “We need to figure this out before it’s too late. Otherwise it is going to take even longer to find the next book. Arcadia and I can look over this map and see if we can find any more clues. The rest of you can work on how we are going to land without looking suspicious.”
I nodded. “That sounds good to me. David, do you want to go to the other lounge area so we have more room to spread out the maps and books? Then each group won’t distract each other.” Truthfully, I wanted to talk to him alone so I could find out if he told Rik what I had said on Recar and whether or not he still trusted me.
“Fine,” David stood and started gathering the books and map. I helped him and we left the rest of the crew to talk about landing.
The narcotics had finally worn off and I was able to walk without having to support myself against a railing or a wall. I followed David up the stairs and into the crew lounge.
“This is better,” I remarked as we entered. “Don’t have people arguing back and forth.”
“Most of the arguments are because of you,” David added to the comment.
“Ah, yes, but I don’t start them. Usually.”
David smiled as he laid out the map across the table. I set the books down and took another look at the map.
“So you think there is more to this map besides what I translated? A hidden clue we don’t yet see?” I looked up from the map; he kept his eyes attentive to what he was studying.
“I think so. Otherwise we are going to have an interesting time trying to find it on Ttkas. We should be looking for any type of little mark, anything that could point to where it is.”
David and I searched through the map again and again. Hours passed as we remained silent, using all of our concentration on figuring out what the map provided. The rest of the crew didn’t bother us and we didn’t bother them. We each had our tasks and we each stuck to them. After ten hours of searching, we had begun to grow weary of working the map out.
“Shouldn’t you be using the watch to decode some of this?” D
avid asked.
I had forgotten about that. “Right. No, I don’t need it.”
“You don’t?”
“It was a hoax, it doesn’t do anything. I was just curious to see if you would kill me for it. Seems that you wouldn’t. Besides, I gave it to Jack for this ship. Not sure where he put it.”
“Ah. I knew it.”
I smiled and rubbed my eyes, “I’m beginning to think there isn’t another clue.”
“Patience,” David stated without looking up from the map. “We will find something.”
“You’ve been saying that for hours now.”
“If you want to go rest, go ahead. You did get stabbed and all.”
I glanced over at the couch. “I don’t want to sleep.”
He looked at me over the rim of his glasses. “Because of the dreams?”
“That’s a part, yes.”
“You think I might kill you in your sleep?” he added.
“That thought crossed my mind as well, yes.”
David went back to studying the map. “I won’t kill you Arcadia.”
Deciding he was telling the truth, I stood up and walked over to the couch.
“You know there are quarters you can sleep in right?” he asked.
I lay down on the couch. “I know. This is better.” I shut my eyes.
“I didn’t tell him, you know,” David whispered loud enough for me to hear. I smiled.
After everything, he still trusted me. That was his weakness. I respected his trust, though, I would keep it in mind in the end, but that meant only one thing. Rik was going to leave me on Recar without even knowing if I might have betrayed him. He didn’t trust me; he was only using me as far as need be. I nodded off questioning whether I made the right decision on Recar.
I was awakened by the sound of someone entering the lounge. It was Jack. I peered around.
“Where’s David?”
“Never a good sign for a woman to ask where another man is when they wake,” Jack remarked as he sat down on the edge of the couch.