by Boris Mosso
—And you’re telling me that this primitive and mysterious capsule had been spinning around space, fivefold at that time? That it has already crossed the dark area, when the larvae probably prevailed in our galaxy’s known and populated planets?
—We could say it that way, yes.
Lena stood up to withdraw, feeling that if she remained one more minute sitting there, she would go to the ground hopelessly. All the Officers stood up at once.
—It’s been a long and exhausting day for all of us, now I should take care of the spaceship. I’ll rest later. Most of you should do the same, since it’s three in the morning according to the fleet’s schedule. We’ll meet here again after we arrive to the area of interest proposed by you, in three more weeks.
Lena turned on her heels and without further ritual withdrew from the control platform. The assistants looked at each other showing very little enthusiasm by the journey that had just begun, while they returned to their tasks with paused acceptance and disappointment.
Renar began to walk towards the bridge’s exit, intercepted by a young woman dressed in the STF’s dark green uniform. Renar hesitated with the amazing beauty of that young woman after seeing her closely for the first time. She studied him minutes before speaking, waiting for him to look closely at her first.
—So, you’re a star archeologist?
—Yes, I am… Did you know that occupation?
—Yes.
—It appears to be the only one on board.
—I already understood that you’re the one taking us to the object, Mister Renar.
—The first objective is to reach Lumina safe and sound… afterwards, one of those eighteen systems should be the right one. Remember that before thinking about the object, we must find the ancestral breed’s home, who launched the capsule into space.
—One hundred million years ago…
—Yes, correct.
—Apparently this is going to be a great adventure. Something to tell my siblings a thousand times, if I get to have them.
—And what exactly would you like to tell them?
—That their mother helped save the galaxy, what else?
Renar couldn’t stop from smiling. The STF was very charming.
—I appreciate your enthusiasm…
—Blesten, third rank STF’s Officer.
—The STF’s … of course, I know who they are. Well, I hope your STF’s colleagues feel the same way; apparently, they didn’t at the beginning.
—Don’t take their hardness to heart. It happens that we’re used to precise and concise routines. In other words: we go forward, or we retreat; we ask, or we shoot, do you understand what I’m saying? All those grandiose numbers that you threw into the air, give us hives… You’ll soon see that they’re excellent Espacian soldiers that won’t doubt about safeguarding the mission and your lives zealously and ferociously, in fact, I’ll look after you personally, Mr. Renar… I already understood that you’re very valuable.
—Well, I can only appreciate your words. It’s good to know that at least we can count on you from the beginning.
—You can count on me for whatever you need, Mr. Renar.
Renar felt somewhat disturbed before Blesten’s words, which were supplemented by a penetrating gaze.
—Thanks, Blesten.
—You can call me Bles, if you wish… my friends call me that way.
—I’ll remember that.
She responded with a marvelous smile and then, said goodbye. While she walked away, Renar watched her until she disappeared through one of the command’s bridge access hallway. He turned around before walking away to see who was still left there. He wanted to exchange some words with Trivian, but he didn’t find him. Doctor Zenda wasn’t around either.
His gaze then crossed with Andra’s, the first Vector’s navigator. It seemed somewhat unusual to hold a conversation with a low rank antimatter technician, who was just withdrawing at that instant, from one of the bridge’s side without seeing her face. She watched him expressionless a couple of more seconds and sat on her pilots’ seat, turning her back on him. Renar raised his eyebrows thinking that he should relax a little if he wanted to do his job well.
All the passengers were possible undercover; therefore, he should be capable of clearly distinguishing which situations presented real threats or which ones didn’t. He still needed to understand who was who, in both spaceships, and learn their routines.
Before withdrawing, he found Lesir standing within few meters away from him. The Special Forces thin soldier of medium height, light eyes and a straight nose, and watching him brazenly at that point, but without speaking to him. His eyes shined with a mixture of disdain and frustration which completely disturbed Renar. Lastly, the star archeologist chose to leave the bridge silently and without looking at anybody else.
7 - Secrets
After four days travelling, the crewmen and passengers got used to the constant uninterrupted star leaps into hyperspace. In the past hours they crossed the galactic spiral arc’s outer side, which placed them officially on the Astral’s outer side.
The scientists shut themselves up in their rooms, coming out from their seclusion only when necessary.
In their spare time they could visit any of the spaceships’ sections or gathered to talk with each other. In one of those moments, Renar headed to Professor Trivian’s rooms after walking a long way throughout the spaceship.
He met with Lagras secretly for countless hours during the past days, analyzing with him, the images of the crewmen’s deployments and activities; being forced to intervene the holographic cameras’ signals and constantly monitoring throughout the spaceship, risking being exposed.
At some point, Lagras told Renar, that he thought someone had been following him slyly one time in the intermediate galleries, by which they also decided to be extremely careful with each other, with their undercover activities. They concluded that, if there were enemy spies in the spaceship, they would try, at the same time, to uncover the Espacian Intelligence agents secretly.
During those first journey days, he saw Lena a couple of times while he worked on the bridge processing coordinates into the Star Arqueological Predictive Regressive Astrodynamics’ program. He barely had seen the other Officers.
Lena looked worried and distant, although she performed her job diligently. The star archeologist hoped to find time to interact with her if he found her by herself somewhere in one of the spaceship’s departments, since he urged to get to know her deeper before arriving to Lumina. He saw the loneliness of her position and distrust on the pile of fantastic revelations poured over her, which were an outpour for the first ten hours of her assignment. He should enhance her courage and support her subtlety, that was also part of his orders.
Enveloped in those thoughts, he suddenly noticed he was reaching his destination, stopping on his tracks in front of the old scientists’ hatches.
—With Professor Trivian.
The doors opened, and the Professor’s voice reached him.
—Come in, Renar, I was waiting for you.
—How are you Professor?
—Very well, thanks. I won’t ask you, since people your age don’t hurt anywhere.
—They both smiled and then the Professor offered him a little transparent glass, afterwards, he grabbed an old glass bottle containing a slight golden color beverage. Renar watched it curiously, as they were containers that weren’t seen very often in that era. When watching the contents against the light, he recognized the bright and translucent golden color of high quality Driac.
Trivian watched him carefully and like many times when he met with him, his heart shrank upon remembering the personal sacrifices in the pursuit of following the driving force discovered hundreds of years ago. The memories of little Renar came to his mind often. It was a silent pain which chewed up his heart for centuries.
Suddenly he noticed that the star archeologists was waiting silently next to a levitator couch.
<
br /> —Do you want to drink something?
—The same thing you’re drinking, Professor.
—Right, it’s an old Driac which I’ve kept in a nook in Lenodon for a long time. It’s more than two hundred years old; an exquisite rareness. It seemed right for me to get it out and bring it with me. I’ve been drinking a little cup per week during decades and it’s very hard to let go of old habits; I still have some twenty bottles.
—Twenty! That’s a real treasure! You never spoke about it in Espacia…
—I got used to secrets badly … my good friend. Besides, we never had the chance. The war and the preparation for our journey, took away all our time. Remember we almost fell asleep at the end.
—Of course, I do. The important thing is that we are now here… already on board. Renar tried it, closing his eyes upon tasting it. A soft warm blow topped his senses by surprise, feeling soft pangs of pleasurable and defined flavors; it was the best he had ever tasted in his life.
—It’s been an inspiration to rescue it from Espacia, it would have been an unforgivable waste to leave this superb beverage.
—That’s what I thought. I have a feeling that it’s the mysterious cause for my longevity… Another drink?
—I won’t decline it, Professor.
Both raised their cups before taking a seat.
—Renar, I asked you to come because I have a couple of things in mind which doesn’t allow me to be in peace, and I preferred to ask you in person. I hope I don’t make you uncomfortable, since I imagine you’ve been very busy investigating the crewmen and on the other hand, supervising the navigation profoundly, following the old explorers’ route, in which I’m included.
—I’m still not finished with the crewmen, I’m reading personal and service files from their birth on. With the spatial route for now, all is going as planned and it’s uneventfully better. The most interesting part will come after we reach the galactic edge.
Trivian appeared to enjoy the star archeologist’s company, he agreed with each of Renar’s sentences and sometimes he even smiled.
—This has barely begun. Now, what you came for.
—You say it, Professor.
—I have a lot of doubts about the procedures you and your agents are going to use in case undercovers are found.
—What do you mean?
—Son… I saw you, Alvian and Lagras during the chase in the Tubular spaceship, before leaving. What are you going to do if you find an enemy undercover here, or if Borlan runs into one in the Vector’s escort?
—Kill him right away and in the subtlest way possible. There’s nothing else you can do with these guys; there’s no way to reason with them, you know that. As soon as they can, they will detonate a neutrons’ grenade or a gamma-bomb, leaving a trail of casualties and damages.
—That’s why I’m concerned, Renar. The pursuit in the Tubular was horrible, it looked like a battle. At the end, if it hadn’t been for Alvian, you and Lagras wouldn’t be here. If the Browns’ spies can detonate their auto destruction explosive device, a good piece of the spaceship could blow up. On the outside, these devices are almost unsurmountable, different from the inside…
—I understand, but we just need to be alert and kill them if they’re amongst us, and before they blow us up in a thousand pieces.
—You should tell Captain Lena. Tell her who you are.
—I have indisputable orders, you know it; besides, she bears too many responsibilities.
—The first impression she had at first after boarding this spaceship, is very different now. The Officers have taken this issue badly. Lena is taking a great burden on herself. You should reveal it to her sooner or later and while you take longer, greater will her anger be; she won’t forgive you. We know her strong character now. You should talk to her about your agents.
—I can’t reveal my agent’s dual identity, I would put them in danger and it would be disastrous for our purpose.
—You’re wrong about Lena.
—She’ll know when the time arises, if she doesn’t forgive me, I’ll have to live with it. I have orders from Director Umbaga, I can’t do it on my own.
—I know those guidelines as well as you do and from the Espacian Intelligence Director himself at the same time, but the powerful Director is over there, in the Councils’ Spaceship, lost somewhere remote and unknown. Not here, where you can see the young Captain floating with difficulty in the middle of a whole bunch of information and pressure, in which it’s taking her a lot of trouble to stay afloat. Fromdert’s hostility is obvious and other high officers like Estrader and Ribar don’t look so happy either with this journey.
—They’re the fleets’ Officers, everything will be fine.
—I don’t think so, I’ve already seen similar gazes like those from Estrader, or from the STF’s Officer Lesir, during my dozens of years traveling through deep space in the Espacian Fleet’s spaceships.
—I imagine who she is. The day of the meeting she almost murdered me with her gaze…
—Well then, I can assure you that in that meeting an insubordination germ was conceived in several of them.
—With all due respect, I think you’re exaggerating.
—I don’t think so, in the measure that things get difficult, you should help her. She’s going to have serious problems with part of the crewmen. I already lived a similar situation… I can assure you that it’s not pleasant to see the spaceship’s crewmen shooting each other at the space borders and million light years away from their home.
They both remained silent for a few minutes.
Renar approached the transparent screens, feeling upset after confirming the heavy tasks which fell on him one right after the other as the days went by.
Watching the distant stars, he hurried another delicious liquor sip.
Afterwards, he set his eyes on the spaceship’s curvature, towards the stern. It was dark, and he imagined the coldness outside. He thought something moved outside. Unbelieving, he got closer to the screen and understood that there was nothing there. Then he imagined Alvian shooting out again from the Tubular spaceship.
The professor began talking, but he didn’t hear him. He got a sharp pain on his right-side temple that forced him to hold his head, while he saw Alvian spinning on himself in a gruesome and endless stunt, moving away at full speed from the spaceship, upon being ejected and lost out of sight in a few seconds. At the end, he thought seeing his dead agent’s face, distorting when frozen abruptly.
—Renar, are you okay?
—What were you telling me, Professor?
—I was talking to you and you remained there without answering. Does your head hurt?
—No, I’m fine, you were talking about Lena…
—Yes, I was telling you how trustworthy she is, you don’t know it, but I do.
—What…? How can you claim that, Professor? It’s too hard to exclude anybody without a meticulous search of their activities from years ago. Besides, some of them could have been replaced by the Browns the last minute; it appears that these miserable ones can also do it.
—She can be trusted, she hasn’t been replaced by the Browns.
—I also trust her since Umbaga ordered me to, personally, but I’ve already seen my colleagues blown to pieces dealing with trustworthy people also.
—You should believe me and Director Umbaga, I know Lena is not an undercover spy.
Renar sensed something then, asking Trivian directly.
—You’re not telling me the whole truth. You know something else. Maybe it’s time to serve me another cup of that marvelous Driac, while you reveal your secrets. At this point, information not analyzed could cost everyone’s life. Isn’t that what you proclaim? The information’s transparency?
—I’ll give you a little more Driac, but that’s it. Yes, you’re right. I carry a complex and very heavy secret on my shoulders; you’ll know about it at the proper time, you should trust me.
—I trust you like if you w
ere my father.
Excitement overtook the old Professor suddenly. To cover it up, he smiled forcefully before speaking choked with emotion.
—Well… you’ll get a little more of this old liquor from me today, no more…
—If you fill up the glass, I’ll be satisfied and I’ll go to sleep happily for the first time ever, since those damn Browns’ invasion.
8 - Dirva
On the eight-day traveling, Doctor Dirva moved a series of portable automated medical instruments through the hallways’ fourth level, already very close to the infirmary. She found them in the Vector’s medical transport’s manifest and she felt like checking them as a preventive measure. That was the reason she stayed several hours searching in the large warehouses, with two robotic assistants performing all the heavy work.
She then entered the large infirmary premises along with her two robots and a couple of levitator transporters loaded with instruments, when she noticed that Doctor Ribar had apparently received visitors. She stopped at the entrance and focused her eyes, noticing it wasn’t her idea. Something moved away from the medical departments through dark hallways. Ribar interrupted her ponderings speaking to her from inside, while he observed the huge amount of equipment and medical devices in the containers.
—I thought you would only bring a couple of things.
—That was my intention at the beginning. But I’ve spotted a series of devices which should be better having them handy in case of emergency. They could be useful when the time comes. I unpacked a couple of automated vital suspension levitator gurneys and a complete combat area assistance equipment, amongst other things. Maybe it would be appropriate to install another biological systems’ restorative chamber and transfer the cell multi-generator here for the internal organs’ culture.