by Unknown
But Val just shook his head, “I don’t like anything that crawls!” he answered looking even more annoyed than before.
“I can’t believe how unprofessional they are all here?!” Timor started to talk again as soon as the Capitan XIXO rushed off leaving them alone.
“If we were in the Capital, they would have got demoted a long time ago. But here, far way, I guess they do whatever they like. What else did you notice that was very strange?”
“Oh, where do I start…The biggest part of the ship seemed to have not only destroyed in explosion but have been burned from the inside of the ship. It was not only an attack from the outside or a collision with an outside object. See how the outside is not burned anywhere, but look at that burned metal from the inner wall. It was not only explosion but a tremendous heat.”
“That’s true.”
“I just don’t know…I have no idea how long it will take us to reconstruct this ship with all these little pieces.”
“Well, we’ll get some help from engineers who designed this ship. But you are right, there is just so many small parts scattered here. Let’s see if we can speed this up. You go through parts that lay over there, over where those investigators are, and work on that half. Try looking for any kind of clues you can find and start scanning everything you seem important so we have something we can work with right away. And I’ll go over these ones here. Let’s meet in the middle.”
Val decided to trust his appendices opinion. He seemed quite sharp, and might prove very useful indeed.
They spent long hours in that dome, going over thousands of pieces, trying to put them together in their minds, and make sense of what happened. Val was pleased to see at least 10 groups of investigators rushing in with mobile scanners. He was also happy to see that hundreds of files, mostly scans of the debris, suddenly started to appear in his communication pod.
Afterwards, when his feet started to hurt and his brain turn to mush, he decided to wave over to Timor, “They are working here now…We’ll let them do that. Let’s get some brake.”
“We need to take a step back, clear our heads. And then look at it all again. Maybe then we can make sense of it all.” He told Timor who seemed as equally tired as he was.
Val declined police escort and, questing what Timor would enjoy a great deal, decided to go back to the space station.
“Might as well enjoy the views on a clear day like this, right?” He asked Timor who seemed pleased with the idea.
But the day was almost spent with the sun slowly disappearing. Soon the night will engulf this part of the planet. But Timor didn't mind that at all as he said how it would be very exciting to see the place light up with all the cities on islands beneath.
They set, almost alone, at the observation deck, eating seafood sandwiches they picked along the way.
“Can I ask you a personal question, Chief?” Timor suddenly interrupted a long silence.
“Sure.”
“Were you always an investigator?”
“No, of course not. I only start doing it about 120 years ago.”
“I guess you got far during that short time.”
“Well, it is not such a short time. Investigators actually do not last that long. Besides, I was very diligent in my early years, very motivated, I guess.”
“You’ve done very well for yourself. I hope I can do the same. And I bet your salary is even better than the captain’s. So, why do you choose to be in the body that is at least 50 years old? You even have grey hair?!”
Val smile came uninvited, “ I went through 100 some bodies in my lifetime. Having another young one does not mean that much to me as you may think.”
“Nut, I’ve noticed that almost everyone who is of any influence chooses to have young bodies. It is almost like a fashion, to only have a young body is-“
“It is very fashionable...With young body you show how rich you are, how you can constantly afford another new body. That is why you draw a lot of attention from women in the Capital.”
“I do?”
“Yes you do. It is certainly not for your ears that stick out like that. They do not realize that it is your original body and that you have never transferred.”
That made Timor smile innocently.
“I, myself, feel good in this body I have, and the outside opinion does not matter so much. I think I will keep this body for a long time. I actually chose the same body the last few times. It became me. I even bought the full rights for it. Nobody can use it without my prior permission.”
“Wow, that is incredible! Didn’t know anybody can do that.”
‘Anybody’, Val smiled.
“It costs a small fortune, but, yes, it can be done.”
“I guess you are just the opposite of those famous people who sell the rights for their bodies so people can be just like them...I guess you like to be unique. Hum, I like that. Now that I think about it `I would like to be unique too.”
“Don’t worry, you already are.”
Maybe it will be the last body I ever have, thought Val to himself, feeling indifference slowly return to his state of mind. But there are still a few more things I want to do before I call it quits.
“Have you ever had a family before?” Timor interrupted again, “I know, they told me, you don't have one now. But it seems you've been around for a long time.”
“Yeah, I’ve been around for a long time...And, yeah, I had a family before...More than one to tell you the truth.
“My last one...We even applied to have a child…I even had a child, a boy.”
“What happened?”
“That's another personal question, and when you said 'a question', I didn’t know you meant ten questions going for hundred, going all night long it seems.”
“I’m sorry.”
“That's okay...all of that was a long time ago, when the empire was still young.”
“Sorry, didn’t mean to bother you.”
“Thinking about the past would be only bothersome and burdensome because of the blame one feels associated with that past. I for one, have a lot of blame associated with things that happened, so, yeah, I don’t like to talk about past.”
“Sorry. My mother always told me that I ask too many questions.”
“Your mother…she is a very smart women. But it's okay. I am just tired and my brain seems to be overworked.”
“Yeah, same here.”
“So, what is it that we know so far about what happened to the cruiser?” Timor asked to change the subject as he noted Val sinking deep into his own thoughts.
“Well, we certainly know what didn’t happen. It certainly could not have been an attack by another ship or that it collided with another ship or undetected space material.”
“Agreed. And all communications seem so normal until they all were abruptly stopped.”
“So that means that everything was working properly until…”
“…Until it all went dark, seemingly almost instantly.”
“Yes. I do not know how much you know about this Krypticus TX-120X type cruiser, but this is extra secure transports engineered against almost anything that can go wrong with it. On this ship, even if a propulsion system is blown and explodes, passengers and the rest of the ship are still supposed to be well protected. They have so many security measures that no system failure of any kind could have done this to it. Everything was done to ensure safety. No system failure or some technical malfunction is likely to do this kind of damage.”
“So what the hell happened then?”
“Well, we know what it seems to have happened… It seems that there had to be multiple explosions for it to fall apart like that. But there are still no traces of any known explosive material that could be involved.”
“You know what else is strange…There also does not seem to be any remains of passengers. That is very strange. No dead bodies, not even body parts, not even traces of blood or DNAs seemed to have been found,” Timor said.
&n
bsp; “Maybe traces of people will pop up as more pieces get scanned…they have to. But you are right…there should be some found already. So where did all the people disappear?”
Val felt his mood raising, sitting there and chatting with Timor. Although, the subject was eerie, he felt good. Until he suddenly didn’t.
“Do you still have your communications?” Val asked suddenly.
“No…No, I cannot connect to anything now.”
“Neither can I, even my implant does not work anymore.”
They looked around, but nobody was around anymore. Even the small restaurant has closed down. They were all alone.
“What’s going on?”
”Don’t know.”
They walked over to the gates but all of them were closed, and so was the police depot nearby.
“Let’s go to the Control Center. It’s three stories down. They have to have someone working there all the time.”
Tickling noise from the distance echoed through the empty passageways. Coming from the crowds of the Capital, looking at completely empty passageway felt very strange.
Val also became nervous. Something was wrong here, he knew, and he gripped onto his gun.
“Are you armed?” He asked Timor.
“Only with a stunner gun. I have no right to carry a full version yet.”
Timor got out his spare gun and gave it to him.
“Just in case - something very strange is happening here.”
The noise of their steps echoed up and down, except for ticking sound that seem to approach them slowly. But as soon as they got in front of the elevator, Val felt his implant communication return as normal. The elevator music broke the silence, and Val could not hear anything coming from the distance again.
“You know, as much as I enjoy space stations, I would feel better if we go down and see about that hotel that the Capitan was raving about.”
“Yeah, that may sound like a good idea.”
Actually, the hotel was a really good idea. The Capitan seemed not to spare any expenses, and the suite they got was the nicest one Timor had ever stayed in.
“I guess this would count as one of the perks,” he whistled as he walked in and saw porcelain flooring and white wood furniture.
“This wood…it's Tirko, no?”
“Yes, the only natural white wood and can only grow in the climate of Rilka. Even the emperor himself could not grow it in his forest.
“You can order some more food. I bet it will taste much better than those sandwiches we had earlier,” he said to Timor’s delight.
Looking at how excited Timor was, childishly excited, Val felt something he hadn't in a long time. For so long, Val was all by himself and to himself. He felt he could not connect with anyone, could not trust anybody, didn’t really feel like confiding in anybody. The last person he was close to died almost 10 years ago. Most people around him, he thought, were only looking out for themselves, looking out for ways to bring him down, to make a room for their own growth. He felt like that for years, and was the main reason he didn’t take on an apprentice until he accidentally went over Timor’s file.
“There is something I have to tell you Timor… “ Val decided to say after a long moment of silence had passed.
“I think I should tell you this so you know exactly what is going on… I do not want this to become a problem later on. I think you should know this…” With every word Val said he noticed Timor getting progressively more nervous.
Maybe it’s a mistake, maybe I should not tell him.
“I do not know exactly what you are getting at, Chief,” Timor said after noting Val’s indecision.
“You see, I really, we really…We really were not send here only to find out what happened to the ship. We were sent here for more reasons than that.”
Chapter 4 The Last Job
An understatement was to say that Mikka didn’t like the last job she just finished. It left a very sour taste in her mouth, the one she tried to wash away with a tall glass of dark ale. She firmly decided that after downing that one, she will have another one, and then another. Maybe she will have all the glasses that would come out of a big keg she bought herself less than an hour ago.
The job was easy, and there were no complications. The money was good as always. So why did she feel all disturbingly empty inside?
She waited for the power of golden liquid to kick in and start messing with her brain waves. It was one of her favorites, Extra Strong Nun's Milk. She could not decide yet if she liked it more because of how strong it was or because the keg showed a bared-chest nun pouring a glass of foamy ale. Remembering her childhood years spend in the St. Vara Convent made her always smile to see a nun looking like that.
Now and then, the nun would look at her, smile and say “You like my stuff, don’t you?”
That also would almost always make her smile, feel better inside of herself. Almost always, except now.
She emptied the glass and right away went for another.
The box she lived in was 10 by 7 steps across. For a long while now, she could actually afford something much better and bigger, but a small space of her apartment kind of comforted her, and with all the security she had installed, it made her feel safe and secure.
Although it looked almost completely empty, if not for a long and dark wooden commode in the middle of it, it was actually a fully functional space, exactly how she liked it. The walls, on her hand touch, opened forward offering a space where she could place her sparkling suite. She looked in the mirror and her gymnastically-masculine body, almost perfect. Longer-than-shoulder red hair seemed all messed up, covering half of her face and the greens of her eyes.
She set her glass on the commode. The commode didn’t seem to have doors but rather severed more as a table on which she would eat or draw, and also as a safe that would open with her wireless key.
She designed it herself, and she would be surprised if she ever run into another one like that on any of the thirty one planets. But the biggest surprise is that she also made it capable of turning upside down revealing the latest state of the art X3000M Xeon Medical Tube.
Those tubes, nobody was manufacturing anymore. And she was fully aware that the tube alone was worth multiple of her whole apartment, and that if the wrong people found out about it, even the toughest box security she installed would not prevent them from braking in and stealing it from her. But that tube was a true life saver, healing her broken bones, minor cuts, even gun-shot wounds, organ failures. She lost track how many times that machine have saved her life.
But right now, it could not help her. It could not fix what was wrong with her, fix her to forget the last job she did, and the scream of the victim knowing he was to die.
The back wall of her apartment was covered by thick, dark glass which would soundlessly and effortlessly open to a small terrace. It was only two by ten steps wide, but that was big enough for her to stretch her sleeping futon on it and sleep below the stars. Only she could not keep her eyes closed.
She stepped out and looked at the marvel of the forest in front of her. It was thick and green, usually very relaxing to look at. Usually, but not this time.
Twenty floors down, the city traffic polluted the air with its noise. People like ants were walking to the park. It was a clear day and she could see the sun that was shining an all of them. She liked that. She closed her eyes just for a second, but it was long enough for memories to kick in, and she swiftly emptied her glass again.
No, she definitely liked her apartment. A view to kill for, she called it.
It certainly beats living in the ground.
No, I would not like to live hundreds of floors underground regardless of how cheap it was, regardless of the money.
Yes, the money. She stared again at the people below, and then realized how a long time has passed since the last time she thought about jumping down and killing herself. She climbed on top of the fence rails, felt the wind play with her hair.
If she jumped right there, would anybody know she was gone? No, not that she could tell. Why was she still alive, why was she still breathing? What was the reason for her existence?
She could just let herself go, and get it all over with, give a peace to her torturing mind at last. Her steps put half of her foot over the edge. The wind seemed to have gotten aroused, excited, and it whistled, pulled her even harder.
Funny, she thought, that was the way she always thought she would die. Regardless how dangerous, death-playing her jobs were, she always imagined dying at her own hand.
Below, a man, maybe a father, was holding his daughter by her hand, waiting for the light to change so they could cross the street. She could see them, saw a playful hop step of an excited child.
Where was her father? When was the last time she saw him? She felt a dagger slashing through her heart, unable to answer, afraid that her memories faded and that she may not even be sure what he looked like.
Would I even be able to recognize him now?
No, she was not ready to think that she might never see him again.
She felt the thirst return, but before she went for her refill and could pour herself another glass, her communicator blinked and ringed.
It could have only been one person, nobody else. She knew.
Oh, no, not today, thought run through her head. I just need a few days off. Just a few days to forget…
The voice that greeted her was lukewarm, mechanic, robotic.
The call, she understood right away, came in as a way to verify if she was ready to accept a new job right away.
She wasn’t.
But then the voice mentioned a number, and her thinking changed in an instance.
The information she started to receive on her communicator was massive and encrypted to the point that her system would need a while to decipher it all. At least an hour it seemed. She was in no rush though. If they were so desperate to mention such number, they would wait.