by Mark Wandrey
“You? Or us?”
“I didn’t want to volunteer you.”
He gave her his signature cute smile and a wink. “Wheresoever thou goest, I shall always follow.”
“Thank you,” she said.
“Anyone else?”
“Cherise, Pip, Kal’at, and two squads of Var’at’s soldiers.”
“Starting to sound familiar. What about Ted and Bjorn?”
“Ted has too much responsibility at the university and with Chosen R&D for the Rangers, as does Var’at with his people. Bjorn is not what he used to be.”
Aaron nodded. “He’s slips a little more every year. He’s still Chosen, of course, and I hear they keep him busy with scientific work, but it’s mostly ‘creative’ stuff with little hard science.”
Minu knew that. Bjorn was nearly eighty, and his mind was going. Even with the codex, there was no technology available to reverse the effects of aging. Mortality was something even The People had not conquered.
“When do we leave?” he asked.
“I made a list of the supplies we need, and we’ll ferry them up in a Phoenix tomorrow. We should be ready to go in a couple of days.”
“What does Jacob have to say about this?”
“He probably wouldn’t like it, which is why I didn’t tell him.” Aaron nodded and shrugged. “Frankly, I couldn’t give two shits what he thinks.” Aaron chuckled and nodded again. “Still, I have to send him a message before I go. And I know he’s not going to like it.”
“How long is this little expedition going to take?”
“A few months? Not sure.”
“And what about the baby?”
She patted her tummy. “The baby is fine where it is. Doc said it would be at least four months before I need to take it easy. We can do a lot of traveling in four months, especially at fifteen thousand times the speed of light.”
* * *
They spent the night in their small Tranquility apartment. They talked, ate dinner, and discussed Minu’s plans for the upcoming trip. She apologized for not telling him everything about her father’s logs and journals, but only after telling him everything she’d learned from Director Porter and Ted.
“I understand,” he told her, sincerity written all over his face. “He was your father, after all.” She gave him a little smile. “No more secrets though?”
“I want to be done with secrets,” she admitted. “I want it all to finish.”
She looked down, but her mind was looking outward, past the stars, into deep space.
Are you out there, Father? Are you still alive? Did you leave purposely and find a place to hide? Did it all become too much for you to keep to yourself? You have become the secret keeper, and I want the answers.
Her father only held a mere handful of the secrets. How many more were scattered among the various species of the Concordia? She didn’t have the keys to those secrets. However, she did have the keys that allowed her to follow the breadcrumbs left by her father, and she suspected they would lead to him.
They made intense, passionate love that night, knowing they were safe within the bosom of humanity’s power.
Afterwards, as Aaron snored gently next to her, Minu rested a hand on her stomach and silently thought about the baby that grew inside her. She tried to come to grips with the knowledge that the mission carried risks, but all their futures might depend on it. Too many secrets had no answers. Humanity was stumbling in a dark cave, its floor covered with spikes and landmines. It desperately needed the bright light of truth to show them the way out.
She was off as soon as the sun was up. She’d gotten more than enough sleep for the full day ahead. She first stopped at a general goods facility the Chosen visited regularly in the industrial sector of the New Jerusalem capital, Tel Aviv. The warehouse manager looked at the list she gave him and scratched his head. “Normally these requests come from the logistics people at Steven’s Pass.”
“This is a private request.”
“I’m sorry, I thought you were here in your official capacity as a Chosen.”
Minu avoided looking down at her Chosen jumpsuit with the two golden stars on the sleeve. She hadn’t worn it in months. When she dressed after showering that morning she saw the barest hint of a bulge under her washboard abs. She was just over three months into her pregnancy, so it was about time. Still, she’d almost been in tears as she turned sideways and surveyed the growth. “People are going to think I’m getting fat!”
“I’m planning an exploratory expedition of my own.”
“Oh, I think I understand. What account do you want me to bill this to?”
Minu gave him the account code she shared with her husband which held a considerable amount of the profits from Groves Industries. It was the first time she’d spent a single credit from that account. Even though she owned half the money through her marriage to Aaron, she still felt a little pang of guilt. The man input the code and nodded. “No problem, ma’am. Where shall I have everything delivered?”
“Please have the goods shrink-wrapped, in standard one-meter cube pallets, and hold them. I’ll have a vehicle pick them up tomorrow morning.”
“That’s awfully quick...” he complained, looking over his shoulder at the warehouse which was just beginning to come alive with the morning shift.
“I’m sure a ten percent premium will help cover the inconvenience?”
He smiled from ear to ear and nodded enthusiastically. “Of course we can help a Chosen, even if it’s not a sanctioned operation.”
I figured you’d say that, she thought as she shook his hand. The man was surprised by the three fingers on her hand, and even more surprised at her solid grip. A minute later her aerocar leaped back into the morning sky.
Recorded in her aerocar’s message memory were the responses to her planning emails to her friends. Var’at confirmed his brother and the troops would be waiting. Cherise said she would drop what she was doing and meet her at the Groves Industries spaceport in eight hours. Since Pip already was living on the Kaatan, he would go where it did. And Lilith was thrilled by the idea.
“I get to spend more time observing your gestation of my coming sibling,” was her first response. The girl made being pregnant sound like a science experiment. To her, it probably was.
The last response was from Gregg. It was simple and to the point. “Call and I will come, with a few thousand of your closest friends.” She smiled then shook her head, wondering how she’d earned such loyalty.
She briefly considered flying to Steven’s Pass to tell Jacob in person that Lilith would not scout Planet K because of warnings left behind a million years earlier. The look on his face alone would make it worth the trip. But she decided, given the logistics of finalizing the mission’s plans, it wouldn’t be prudent. It was hard to say how the volatile First Among the Chosen might respond. As the years passed by, he became increasingly difficult to predict. She remembered her father mellowing as First, but Jacob seemed to be doing exactly the opposite.
She wrote an email and stored it in her computer’s drafts file to send later. She also prepared emails to Ted and Bjorn. She felt she owed them an explanation but didn’t want to give them the opportunity to come along. She knew Bjorn wouldn’t care and hoped Ted would understand.
As she flew, she let Aaron know she’d placed the provisions order in New Jerusalem. His acknowledgement arrived just as she landed in the last place she wanted to visit: the Rusk transportation city of Murmansk.
The city was one of the oldest in the Rusk territory and was responsible for the movement of thousands of tons of food every day. She could purchase the supplies she needed anywhere, but not in raw form the ship preferred. It was ironic that the super-advanced technology of the Kaatan was incompatible with the modern, prepackaged foods from Tranquility and New Jerusalem.
“Ve is always happy to accommodate ze Chosen,” the heavyset woman said when Minu entered the dock office. Outside, huge bins full of vegetables and
crates of squawking chickens competed for space as electric forklifts moved them around. Her accent was so thick, Minu had to listen closely to understand.
“This isn’t really a Chosen purchase,” Minu explained.
The woman narrowed her eyes, glancing at the black jumpsuit, but didn’t say anything else, so Minu produced a computer chip. The woman looked at it closely for a moment before turning to a worn computer tablet. Minu was surprised when it powered up and accepted the chip. “This is for private purposes.”
“Zis is a vera large quantity of foods you iz ordering.”
Minu gave her the same account number she’d used to pay for the expedition equipment. The large woman gave her a skeptical look as she keyed the number into an old-fashioned credit terminal. When the results appeared, she seemed only slightly less skeptical.
“Very vell. Vere do you veesh it delivered?”
This rush order cost her an extra twenty-five percent. Minu was still stinging from the treatment when she jumped down from the dock and turned toward her car, only to come face to face with the second to last person on the planet she hoped to see. “Well, well, well, Minu Alma.”
“I’ve been Minu Groves for years, Viktor,” she growled and tried to slip by. A strong hand grabbed her left arm and restrained her.
“You will address me with respect, woman.”
Minu turned, looking at the hand then slowly up into his steel-colored eyes. His goatee was mostly gray, and he was balding. But his father, Ivan Malovich, who stood next to him still had the same pinched, pointy face that made him look like he was always on the verge of yelling. She glanced at the hand again before speaking.
“In deference to your position as a planetary councilor, I’ll give you the respect of a warning.” His eyes began to twinkle, and the corners of his mouth turned up. “But if you don’t take your hands off this member of the Chosen council, you’ll pull back a bloody stump.”
He sneered, but there was also fear in his eyes as he ever so slowly released his grip. Minu carefully controlled herself and resisted the urge to smooth her jumpsuit where he’d touched her. “Now excuse me, Councilor Malovich,” she intoned with the barest of a nod before turning away.
“A word,” he snapped. She turned, real anger beginning to flare. “Chosen,” he added hastily. It was the barest acknowledgment of her station, but enough to satisfy propriety.
“I am in a hurry.”
“It is in relation to your treatment of my son.”
“My treatment?”
“You are holding him back, keeping the specter of a minor incident over his head, to ensure he never has any power in the Chosen.”
It was all she could do not to sputter and laugh in his face. “Minor incident? He started a vendetta with the Rasa! Who knows how many died because of his incompetence?” Viktor’s face blanched and she pushed on.
“The incident with the Rasa was a minor footnote after your earlier provocation of them! You made that illegal trip into the frontier!”
Minu cocked her head. “Illegal trip? It was unsanctioned by the Chosen; that is true.” She pointed at a discoloration on his left hand, an almost indiscernible lightening of the skin.
“The codex I brought back has saved thousands of lives. It cured cancer. Many of the people on this planet have benefited from that.”
He jerked his hand up and covered it with his other hand, unconsciously rubbing the slight scar where a malignant melanoma was treated with codex-programmed nanites.
“The actions I take are almost always in the interest of the Chosen and humanity.” He snorted but looked down. Minu was amazed to see a small measure of shame. “And that is why I wear two gold stars, and your son wears five green ones.”
Minu didn’t look back as she marched to her Aerocar, but she felt his eyes on her, like two scarlet laser beams trying to bore through her back.
Ordering the Rusk supplies was the last step in her planning. Minu took her car into the air, double-checked she had enough power, and set course for Tranquility.
As the car flew itself, she spent time reading through encrypted files in her father’s logs and checking items off the seemingly endless lists she’d prepared. Finally, she admitted there was nothing more to do before they left, so she put her tablet aside. As the autopilot carried her through the upper atmosphere at twice the speed of sound, she caught a few hours’ sleep. She dreamed of her father for the first time in years.
* * * * *
Chapter 2
April 6th, 534 AE
Groves Industries, Tranquility, Plateau Tribe, Bellatrix
As Minu swung the red aerocar through a loop to land at the edge of the main tarmac of Groves Industries’ small spaceport, she saw the smudged form of the Phoenix shuttle sitting just outside the hanger, surrounded by support personnel working on it. With a smile, she realized it was the same one they’d used to rescue Pip and Kal’at on Remus.
Sections of the shinning hull looked new, but otherwise it had the same slim shape and forward-raked wings of the production model. She doubted many would be able to tell the difference between the test bed and the production models.
Leave it to Aaron not to want to burden his company by taking a ship destined for delivery, she thought. This historic craft was headed for a museum, but it would take one last trip to the stars first.
As she touched down on the car’s miniature road wheels, the doors swung upward. Aaron trotted over from the waiting Phoenix. She could see a technician through the ship’s tinted forward viewport, working the preflight checklist. “You already emailed Jacob, didn’t you?” It wasn’t really a question.
“About a half hour before I landed. I didn’t want to risk the emails not going through.”
“He’s on his way here. He must know something is up.”
“Viktor,” she snarled.
“What does that Rusk twit have to do with this?”
“I ran into him in Murmansk. He must have paid off the office woman and found out we were going off-world again.” She shrugged. “How long before we can take off?”
“Just waiting on Cherise.” As he spoke, another aerocar looped in for a landing. Minu recognized her best friend’s forest green car even before it touched down.
“Am I late?” Cherise asked as she grabbed her large Chosen shoulder bag. Like Minu she wore her uniform, three green stars shining on the sleeves.
“Right on time,” Minu smiled and quickly kissed her on the cheek. “But we need to hurry. Jacob is unhappy.”
“When is he ever happy?” she asked but quickly fell in behind Aaron and Minu as they trotted toward the Phoenix.
Her phone buzzed in her ear as they walked. “Chosen Groves.”
“Minu.” it was Gregg.
“Hey buddy, little busy...”
“I know, saw your email. Jacob is gunning for you.”
“We know.”
“Oh, good. Well, I really called to tell you Faye is in labor!”
“Hey, great!” Minu quickly shared the information with Aaron and Cherise, who both smiled and gave thumbs up. “Tell her we’re with her, even if we can’t be there.”
“I will. I suppose I’ll be a few years older when you get back.”
“Hopefully it won’t be like that this time.”
“Do what you have to do, Minu, then come back to us.”
Minu said goodbye and terminated the connection. As the gangway closed, she caught sight of a cigar-shaped Chosen personnel transport dropping toward the spaceport. “Time to go,” she told them.
“Come on. Out!” she barked at the technicians who scrambled to close equipment boxes and remove ground cables. Aaron was already behind the pilot’s controls, and Minu slid into the copilot seat. Cherise took the rear engineer’s seat behind Minu.
“Checklist is complete,” Aaron said mechanically with only a cursory glance at the tablet in place on the console. He stuck a headset over his right ear and quickly adjusted the little boom microphone. �
��Phoenix to tower, AX-2 ready for roll out.”
“AX-2, this is the tower. We have a request from inbound Chosen special flight to hold you.”
“Tell him to hold himself,” Aaron laughed and spun up the ship’s gravitic drive. He flipped a switch and loudspeakers on the shuttle hull boomed to life. “Clear the gravity flux zone, we are lifting off.”
Techs abandoned their equipment and fled. The shuttle’s gravitic drives could turn a man into strawberry jam if caught in the wrong place.
As the shuttle smoothly climbed, Aaron spun it around in place. It tossed a small maintenance truck, caught in a gravity flux, like a toy. The half-ton vehicle bounced off the nearest hanger in an explosion of parts and tools.
“Sorry,” Aaron apologized over the radio as he aimed the nose up and slid the throttle forward. The ion drives roared, and they rocketed upward. The collision radar screamed, and he nudged the stick ever so slightly.
Minu felt her bowels turn to water as the cigar-shaped Chosen transport passed the window close enough for her to see the wide, blue eyes of the stunned pilot.
“You’re going to get us killed one of these days,” she hissed through clenched teeth. Cherise chuckled behind them as she familiarized herself with the ship’s engineering controls.
“May you live so long,” Aaron said in a calm voice as he leveled them off at twenty thousand meters and headed west.
“Should I call Tranquility traffic control?” Cherise asked.
“Why bother?” Minu replied. A slight series of shudders heralded their passage through the sound barrier. They were almost out of Plateau territory. “But it might not be a bad idea to call the New Jerusalem controllers, so we don’t cause any undue concern.”
* * *
The dock workers were getting ready to wrap up their day when multiple sonic booms broke the cool, afternoon calm. Many kilometers outside the busy city center of Tel Aviv, it was rare to hear those booms. It was an even bigger surprise when the sleek Phoenix shuttle dropped out of the sky and banked hard around the warehouse complex, obviously looking for a place to land.