Sonata in Orionis (Earth Song Book 2)

by Mark Wandrey

  The shelter was not at all like what the Chosen described. It was made of ceramic concrete of the kind manufactured on some distant Concordia world and shipped in containers with pre-made forms, ready to pour and harden in minutes. It also wasn't on a hill, of course, instead nestled down next to the river. As Minu and her group approached, a Chosen sitting by the door stood and met them a few meters away.

  "Congratulation," he said with a smile, "you've done excellently."

  "Thank you, sir!" Minu cried after they all gave a celebratory yell. "Are we the first?"

  "You’re the second group to arrive," he told her and looked over his shoulder. Standing in the doorway was the absolute last person on the planet she expected to see.

  "What took you so long, daughter of the First?" asked Ivan Malovich with a devilish grin on his pointy face.

  Chapter 7

  Julast 16th, 514 AE

  Frontier Space, Unknown Star System

  More than two weeks of constant escape and evasion was taking its toll on Chriso's squad of Chosen. The planet turned out to be only nearly Bellatrix normal. Considerably higher than normal traces of chlorine and methane were an unwelcome surprise. According to their instruments, it wasn't lethal in the short term although their bodies would build up concentrations over a longer period of time, such as they were now spending. To be safe, Chriso had them using metabolic filters and that meant consuming power. And power was one thing they were running out of.

  "Isn't there a single capacitor left with any juice on this foul-smelling rock?" one of his men cursed and kicked aside the remains of a discarded pile of EPC. Nearby, young Eric was methodically using an instrument to check a few of the discarded EPCs.

  "What are you up to?" Chriso asked the young man.

  "These little displays on the EPC are not designed for any real accuracy," he said without looking up. "I remember when my family got their first electric converted tractor. I was about six. Anyway, the tractor had a little device called a gas gage to tell you how much alcohol was left in the tank. First thing I noticed was how funny it seemed that this ultra-advanced piece of tech used a meter so similar to that old analog gage."

  Chriso leaned over to look at the EPC Eric was testing. Shaped like a half-meter long capsule, it was composed of a black-colored dualloy shell to protect the equipment inside. Printed on the side in four different Concordia script was the model and capacity of the EPC. An EPC of this size when fully charged would hold enough power to run a small village for weeks, or a factory for a couple days. They were also a utility power cell often found in larger vehicles. The little solid state bar graph that displayed the charge had one red bar showing.

  "Looks like it's empty to me."

  "The trick is the gage," he said and tapped the red bar on the display.

  "It says it’s empty too."

  "Sorta," Eric laughed, and went back to hooking up his instrument to the power coupling on the EPC, "Look at one of those lying over there," he said and gestured with his head to a pile a couple feet away. Chriso walked over and picked one up. He noticed right away that the power graph didn't even have the one red bar.

  "So this one is even emptier?"

  "Maybe, maybe not."

  "Are you trying to piss off your boss?"

  "No sir, sorry. Like I said, we got a tractor that ran on EPC when I was a kid. We quickly learned that empty didn't really mean empty. These EPC are pretty complicated on the inside with all kinds of systems to control the release of energy in a safe way and to make sure it delivers a static level of output down to the last erg." He showed Chriso where the interface port opened and how he was attaching wires. "These things, like most Concordia tech, are designed to interface with all other Concordia technology. The first thing that happens when you plug it in, is it finds out what it will be doing. How much energy draw, how quickly, how often, etc. The power bar displays the EPC’s ability to provide the load it is being demanded to produce, otherwise it’s worthless because of no reference point. We found out that when an EPC is empty on the tractor, we could move it to the barn and plug it into the incubators and it would then show about twenty percent charge!"

  "Lower power demand?"

  "Exactly! Well, the ones with blank displays are really dead. So dead that they don't even have a couple ergs left to run their own status displays. And that is such a small amount that- well, never mind. Any EPC with a live display is an unknown; it depends on their last use before being unplugged."

  "So one of these others might still have quite a bit of juice left in them?" Chriso suggested. Eric gave him a thumbs up.

  "Probably not a lot, but considering that we just need to recharge our guns, metabolic filters, and a few other things, it won't take much."

  "Smart man, good work, Eric. Let me know if you strike pay dirt." The boy beamed ear to ear and continued working.

  Chriso stood and stretched his aching inner thigh muscles after squatting next to Eric. He shook his head that at only forty he should be in such a shape. The life of a Chosen demanded a high cost paid in your youth and vigor. A short walk took him to the window of the building they were occupying and a wonderful vista of the city below.

  The world once held a thriving civilization of beings who must have been not too different from humans. The buildings resembled most Concordia architecture, only differing in fewer and smaller windows, and the complete lack of stairs. Instead, each building used gradually sloping ramps spiraling up the center of structure. There were similar structures of varying heights spread out in all directions. He examined the material the wall was made of and marveled at how little deterioration there was. All indications were that this world was abandoned for several hundred thousand years now and the structures showed little degradation and only rarely structural failures. The wall he was staring at looked slightly pitted and had a few tiny cracks. The ceramic concrete displayed amazing resistance to the tests of time. Even the windows, transparent crystalline matrices of aluminum alloys and plastics called moliplas, were still perfect with the exception of the occasional crack. Everything the Concordia made was created with time in mind. Except their spaceships and computer memory. Chosen scientists were puzzling out that last one. What a strange conundrum.

  Most of his squad was scattered around the room catching naps or tending to equipment. None of them seemed at all concerned and for that he was glad. In all his years as Chosen, then as First, he'd never found himself in such a dire situation. A hostile alien species had him cornered on an out-of-bounds world. Chriso knew his men expected him to have a plan, and this random movement through the ghost city was part of it. The truth was he was desperate to find a way out. He'd found no further evidence of what drew him down here. Now he just needed a lifeline. An old shuttle, a portal that could be reconnected to the network, anything to give him an option other than fighting his way to the only off world portal up in the station, where they waited to kill them.

  "Chriso," he heard the voice from his headset.

  "Go ahead."

  "Another snake flier up here," the Chosen observer said from the roof, "traversing a search pattern about two kilometers east."

  "Back where we were last night," Chriso mumbled. The snakes showed an incredible ability to find the tiniest trace of their passing and follow it like a trained kloth. They tried to leave as little evidence of their passing as possible. They carried bags full of used ration packages and other garbage. Humans needed to defecate and urinate, and it simply wasn't practical to carry that around. They dug deep holes and filled them in when they moved. And still the snakes kept finding their trail. He'd considered using an EPC to incinerate the waste, but they had almost no power left anyway. "Everyone better get ready to move," he said aloud. More slowly than when their flight started two weeks ago, they awoke and prepared to leave their short-lived hideout.

  "Got one!" Eric cried out in triumph. Chriso walked over and looked at the results. The gage registered a factional but noticeable
charge. Not enough to run a house for a day, but enough for their needs.

  "Great job, now we need to run."

  Eric looked down at the half-meter long case of the EPC and made a face as he considered lugging the monster with them through the cities ruins. “It'll take a bit of time.”

  "Dump it into one of our pack cells and let’s run."

  "We'll lose about ten percent."

  "Can't be avoided," Chriso told him. Eric nodded his head and a few seconds later the energy was secured and the younger man was ready to go.

  "Confirmed they have our trail," said the lookout on the roof. This time they were all listening, since Chriso roused them. "It's tracking in, ETA two minutes."

  "Noted," Chriso said, making sure they left behind no evidence of what they had done, "monitor them for another thirty seconds while we egress, then meet up at the rally point."

  As they raced down the buildings ramp, Chriso considered strategy. If they could find more EPC and have enough time to harvest power, they could mount a defense. There were three shield generators spread among them which he had yet to use because of their power situation. Their pursuers, the T'Chillen, would be momentarily surprised were they to bring the shields into play. It was only a trick though. He desperately needed other options.

  There was a clattering sound behind him followed by a curse, so he turned to see what happened. In his haste to pack, Eric hadn't properly secured one of his energy sensing instruments and it slid from the light fabric backpack as he slung it over his shoulder. The device clattered down the ramp and Chriso caught it as it rolled past.

  "I'm sorry, sir," Eric apologized as he caught up and took the device back. He flipped open the cover and turned it on to be sure it was still working. All the displays lit up and information started to march by.

  "No harm done," Chriso said and patted him on the arm, "the Concordian know how to make things tough."

  "But sir, look at this!"

  Chriso leaned in to look at the technical data and tried to puzzle out what it was saying. "Some sort of energy signature?"

  "Yeah, about ten kilometers away, just on the edge of the sensor’s range."

  "Probably one of the T'Chillen fliers."

  "Can't be, sir. They use EPC like most vehicles, and this is picking up a generating source. A neutrino neutron flux, to be precise."

  "Fusion generator. The Concordian haven't used those big generators for eons,” Chriso said under his breath then glanced nervously at Eric, afraid he'd heard. Eric looked at the display and tapped some controls, unaware of what Chriso said. The older man let his breath whistle out between his teeth. He didn't dare let this out of the cage too soon. “So you sure it's operating?” he asked the boy.

  "Well, I've never seen one in person. During classes on Herdhome the teachers mentioned that high power generators have to be shielded from neutrino leakage because they can damage genetics in high enough concentrations, like deep space cosmic radiation. If it's this far away, and I can still read it, it's either so screwed up its leaking background radiation, or it's running."

  "Won't the snakes know about it?"

  "Maybe, maybe not. They might be so busy smelling our poop they aren't looking for this sort of thing." Chriso smiled and thanked him again for a job well done. This was further proof that the Trials were too hard on the intellectuals. Chosen tended to be all brawn and craftiness, and little pure intelligence.

  "We have a new destination," he told them over the radio, "Eric is sending the coordinates. We'll take a circumspect route to planetary east. Scouts out."

  Everyone acknowledged the orders and moved ahead in continuing confidence that their boss knew what he was doing. Chriso tried to contain his excitement. A fusion power generator, still working? It had to be what he'd been looking for, it just had to be.

  Chapter 8

  Julast 6th, 514 AE

  Cascade Mountains, Unknown Location

  Minu slept huddled close to Cherise in a shelter constructed of two halves and inside a sleeping bag also made from two halves. It was very cold in the small valley with the rumbling river nearby. Likewise Cherise's cuddly body was very warm. As soon as the sun rose over the rim of the valley, they were all out of their tents to catch its life-giving rays.

  When they'd retreated to the relative warmth of the tents last night, a grand total of forty-two candidates arrived at the rendezvous site. Minu shuddered as she thought about the hundreds already weeded out. Every one that arrived after Minu's group wore between one to six additional drags depending on how late they arrived. The Chosen manning the station possessed a seemingly limitless supply. Now, looking around at the other kids in the morning, many fresh from a night huddled under trees or in the open, she knew quite a few more wouldn't make it through the second day.

  Minu helped Cherise pack their gear up while the boys emerged from their own tent and began to do the same. She smiled when she thought of them huddled together during the night, wondering if that made them feel nice. Somehow she doubted that. Like Cherise said, boys were wired differently.

  "Have a nice night, daughter of the First?" she ignored Ivan as best as she could, deciding it wasn't worth her time to play his games. Just like the night before, he laughed at her and went back to his group of toadies.

  After the shock of his presence wore off the previous night, she realized it wasn't some trick or special fix arranged by Ivan's powerful father. It just happened that he was the right age for the Trials the same as she. There were so many back at Steven’s Pass it was no surprise that she missed spotting him. Still she wondered if he'd spotted her while she stood there, naked as the day she was born. The thought was not a comforting one.

  As if reflecting her thoughts, Minu saw Ivan and his little group down at the river washing their naked bodies. She tried to quickly look away. Ivan had already caught her eye and turned to fully face her, standing erect and quite proud of himself, body language seeming to say, 'like what you see?’ As human nature seemed to dictate, her eyes glanced down at his crotch completely against her will before she jerked her view away with more emphasis than she'd wished for. Why did boys have to be so grandiose in emphasizing their sexuality?

  Cherise wasn't as easily embarrassed though. She just stared at the boy for a minute before shaking her head and yelling to him. "Water must be quite cold!" He looked down at himself and she laughed as she turned to lead Minu away. "He's a rude one," she said to Minu as they walked the short way to the trees where the boys waited.

  "Runs in the family," Minu agreed. They all said their greetings, each wondering how cold their night was. "I fear it will get colder," she told them.

  "Why do you think?" Pip asked as he fiddled with the contents of his pack.

  "The Chosen is gone." The others all looked at the shelter and just as she'd said there was no sign of him. Sometime during the night he'd made good his escape. Aaron was looking up toward distant snow-covered peaks with a look of dread while the others just seemed to be considering their options.

  "So what are we supposed to do?" Aaron asked. He'd just finished helping their friends pack their tent parts and gear back into backpacks. The other boys were still washing in the river or milling around their improvised camps. Once again, without directions they were lost.

  "Let's see if he left some clues," Minu said and boldly entered the shelter.

  It was as utilitarian on the inside as it was on the outside. A single built-in bunk was attached to the wall on one side, a pair of simple camp chairs sat on another. By the door was a basic Concordia-made computer and under the only window a foot locker similar to the one they'd used briefly back at Steven’s Pass.

  "Not exactly what I'd expect for a Chosen to stay in," Cherise said. Minu knew better. Most people who didn't know the Chosen always assumed they lived in only the best places, with the most expensive lifestyles. The truth was absolutely the reverse. They received modest salary and usually lived in the barracks at the Chosen Plaza or S
teven’s Pass. Most of the ones she knew owned almost nothing. Her lifelong family friend Jovich lived in an apartment maybe twice as large as this space and appointed in almost an identical fashion. She'd always thought their lifestyle was monk-like.

  They all set about searching the room. Not surprisingly, Pip headed straight for the computer. In a few moments they found out all there was to know. The room was empty except for the locker and the computer. The locker was locked, and the computer was blank, lacking even an operating system.

  "Well, this is a waste of time, "Gregg grumbled. Cherise just shrugged while Pip sat on one of the chairs and stared at the computer.

  "There has to be something here," Minu said, half under her breath.

  "Why?"

  "They wouldn't leave us no way out."

  "After what has happened so far, you believe that?" Cherise asked.

  "No, she's right," Pip chimed in. All of them except Minu gave him an incredulous look. "Don't look at me like that. Think about it, they've been downright dirty in their tricks, but there was always an answer, a way to figure it out. We wouldn't have gotten this far without it."

  "Maybe we were lucky," Aaron said.

  "Luck is not a factor," Minu said without really thinking about it. She wasn't willing to admit that they'd gotten this far purely through luck. Deep inside her, she felt the presence of so few remaining candidates suggested that maybe, just maybe, they were going to make it. "No, there has to be something we missed. What about our stuff, is there anything we've missed?" She dug into her bag. The only thing of interest was the little wooden box. "What about this?" she asked suddenly. She'd completely forgotten it and never opened hers.

  "Just has an electronic circuit card," Aaron said glumly.

  "Mine has a micro EPC," Gregg said.

  "Mine has a data chip, but I checked back in Steven’s Pass and there is only a partial file," Pip said, looking around at the others in surprise. Clearly he'd thought like everyone else, that each person got the same seemingly useless article. Minu popped her box open for the first time and found a computer memory chip inside. She held it up curiously. "Shit!" Pip exclaimed and snatched the chip and grabbed the power cell from Gregg. Minu didn't complain, computers were obviously his thing and she was only of average competence with one. In no time at all, he had it up and running.