by Mars Dorian
“Looks like the workers repaired the damage fast enough before anyone could notice what happened.”
“So what do you think, Aida?”
“I don’t have enough data to make a valuable assessment.”
“Can't you make an educated guess?”
“It’s not in my programming to make guesses. But as far as I can tell from the intel you acquired today, it looks as if the citizens are in denial of yesterday’s attack.”
Understatement of the day.
“Exactly what I’m thinking. And there’s only one person who can help me out.”
Back in the porter, RX took the fastest highway to Evergreen’s center and looked for Norma, the leader who didn’t lead. After searching and questioning from house to house, he found her strolling around the hexagon complex which harbored the commons. The elderly female placed trays on the tables and looked up when RX entered the hall. Norma looked neither pleased nor surprised.
“You look troubled, Rex.”
“Someone bombed the fish refinery yesterday and not a single citizen noticed it.”
Okay, that wasn’t the smoothest introduction to his assessment, but RX was tired of repeating the same questions. It was time for answers—or maybe not. An invisible question mark popped up over Norma’s face.
“Bombarding? That’s a loaded term. Are you sure it wasn’t an accident?”
“Accident? Do seafood refineries tend to blow up around here? If that’s the case, you may want to catch a different kind of fish.”
She didn’t spot the sarcasm.
No one did.
Instead, she brushed off his criticism with fading interest.
“Structures are prone to malfunctions.”
RX moved into her private space.
“I found shell craters on the surface and saw holes in the walls before they collapsed. These didn't come from internal causes, Norma. The holes resulted from high caliber shells fired from great distances.”
The Norma’s face morphed into a grimace.
“I appreciate your interest, but please leave these matters to us.”
“I just want to help you, it’s the least I could do. Military matters are my strength.”
“Again, I appreciate your desire to help us, but in Evergreen, we don’t use your violent approach.”
Right, you use mass ignorance and naïveté.
RX wanted to verbalize those words badly, but he was in no position to be pretentious. He was still a guest in this colony. Albeit a concerned one.
Norma rested her hands on his shoulders. The grip felt stronger than expected.
“Enjoy your day, Rex. Eat some good food, go out and soak up the sun. You will soon realize that problems, in the rare instances they occur, take care of themselves.”
RX nodded and thanked Norma for taking the time to talk to him. He walked to the hall entrance and felt her stare piercing his back. Out on the street, he looked up the cloudy sky and pondered the elderly woman’s last words.
Problems take care of themselves.
RX served hundreds of missions in orbits and planets alike. Met dozens of colonies and challenges, and there’s one thing he learned from all of them.
Problems never took care of themselves, especially not the ones that involved shell fire.
34
Night creeped again, and instead of meeting up in the commons, RX joined Bloom, Toyler, and a platoon of his noisy offspring for dinner.
Same old.
Bloom set the dishes and told everyone to sit down. The selection was impressive: sea meat puree served with herbs, grilled sea meat pieces and cold sea meat slices for dessert. Strange as it sounded, RX got used to the fishy flavor. Some of the pieces actually tasted good.
Go figure.
Anyways, he watched Toyler and Bloom demolishing their food plates. The children were even worse, if that was even possible. A horde of raptors that ravaged the dinner table. RX’s taste quickly vaporized. Despite the voracious appetite of the Evergreens, most stayed thin.
RX only saw few fatties around, back at the commons. But these were among the fattest humanoids RX had ever seen.
Go figure.
RX put down his fork and spoke over the munchy crunchy noises.
“Do you think everyone’s happy here?”
Bloom gulped down a chunk of sea meat.
“Of course, why wouldn’t they be?”
“Well, citizens from my world hold grudges for different reasons. Most of them deal with socio-economic problems in a peaceful way, but some radicals choose acts of terror to express their frustration. They blow stuff up.”
“Not in Evergreen.”
“You sure?”
He could hear her heartbeat rise.
Ba-dum, ba-dum.
“What are you saying?” Bloom said.
“I’m wondering whether there are people within the colony that hate Evergreen.”
“That’s impossible. We care about everyone, and everyone cares about us. There’s no need to inflict harm.”
“Most wouldn’t, but I’m just saying—some. You know, a vocal minority.”
She growled.
“No, no one. Evergreens never resort to violence, it’s not part of who we are.”
Now Toyler chimed in, causing half of his food to stumble over his lips.
“We do what’s asked of us. It’s as simple as that.”
RX wasn’t quite convinced.
Everyone around here began to sound like a political mouthpiece.
“No offense, but having sex all day and slacking off isn’t everybody’s dream life. Some people want more.”
The Evergreens both looked at RX with mouths full of food and ferocity.
RX could tell the aggression surged, but he didn’t mind.
In contrary, he enjoyed it.
All this peace jabber pissed him off.
“I hate to break it to you, but someone fired artillery-grade shells into one of your refineries. Frankly, I still can’t understand why nobody gives a shit about it.”
“Language,” Bloom said, “please. Watch your tongue, we have kids around.”
Ah yes, the little raptors. RX almost forgot about them, which sounded absurd, given the cacophony they unleashed.
RX pushed the tray away and intertwined his hands.
“You know, I could patrol the outer districts in case something happens again. My APEX is starting to collect dust. And the thruster is almost repaired.”
“That’s cool of you, man, but there’s really no need to,” Toyler said.
“We never had any problems. And even if we did, they were quickly solved.”
RX eyed Toyler.
Gave him that Prove It To Me stare.
“By whom?”
“The community, of course.”
Of course.
RX stretched his neck. He wasn’t going to win any negotiation awards today, so he slipped out of the controversial topic. Well, almost.
“What are you guys doing tomorrow?”
Besides porking each other.
The two Evergreens shrugged.
“Whatever comes up.”
“Do you never follow any schedule?
“No,” Bloom said.
“Then how do you do what’s required of you? How can you run a colony without any pre-planning?”
“We just know,” Toyler and Bloom said.
Right.
“Well, I’m heading to bed. It’s been a long day.”
“Rest well,” Bloom said without looking up.
Her half-empty plate seemed to demand all of her attention.
RX waved Toyler and his loud offspring units goodbye. Walked out the structure and looked for a vacant house for the night. No one was outside—the entire section remained silent and forsaken.
These colonists.
Despite their off-putting ideology, they seemed to function as a community.
Everyone knew what to do, and when do to it, despite any pre-p
lanning.
RX couldn’t yet figure out their modus operandi, but he guessed Norma had something to do with it.
Soon, he’d find out.
But now, sleep called.
RX found an empty Evergreen house and entered through the wall-opening. Unwrapped his uniform and crawled into the organic bed. Waited for the silence to settle in and stared at the dark ceiling.
Time for a little Aida-versation.
“How are the main thrusters?”
“Almost operational.”
“Good. What about the drones?”
“Ready.”
Swell, swell.
“Let me map out a route around the north-eastern section of this colony. I want you to do a full sector sweep. Alarm me if the drones pick up any suspicious activity.”
“Roger that. Anything else?”
“Keep the APEX on standby. Something tells me I’m going to need it soon.”
35
RX was looking forward to his sleep, but it didn’t last. He soon opened his eyes when Aida’s voice rang.
“Say what?”
The AI’s message flanked him from nowhere.
“I’ve lost the drone. It was shot down.”
RX’s mind onlined. He climbed out of his bed and stood up. The morning rays shone through the organic walls of his house.
“By whom?”
“I don’t have enough data. But I know the location where I lost contact. It’s four and a half kilometers to the north of Evergreen.”
Up up north.
Land of the attacks.
First the fish, now the drone.
Looked like not everyone was a pacifist in ‘paradise’.
Either way, he’d find out more.
RX wrapped the uniform around his body. Did five hundred pushups on the ground to shake up his circulatory system.
Today was the time of answers.
36
Another day in paradise.
Another day…
Where the sun sent her brightest rays and browned the colonists.
Where the rain rivered down the ruins and got swallowed up by the organic houses.
Another day in paradise where curiosity rubbed RX’s conscience. He couldn’t remember how many days or weeks he had already spent in Evergreen. Time turned into a soup where memories mushed together. So he walked the grounds of the inner colony section and summoned a porter to check out where his drone had been shot down. The second it showed up, Bloom and Toyler crossed his path.
For some reason, they always found him at the most inopportune time.
Internal target system.
RX gave the two Evergreens a half-assed salute and passed them.
Bloom stared at RX with expecting eyes.
“Rex, have you forgotten?”
“What?”
“We were supposed to go to the southern reach. I wanted to show you our nature.”
“Maybe tomorrow, I have something else to do.”
“Like what?”
“I lost something in the northern section.”
Bloom’s voice dropped to subzero.
“Lost what?”
“A little…tool of mine.”
Toyler chimed in.
“Maybe we can help you find it.”
“That won’t be necessary. I’m much faster on my own, believe me.”
Bloom pressed his hand. Her grip was unusually tight. Too tight for a woman her size.
“Please, I was looking forward to this day. You can look for your tool tomorrow. I promise no one is going to steal it.”
RX needed both his hands to escape her grip.
“Maybe tomorrow. We can check out the southern reach anytime.”
‘Cause nothing ever changed ‘round here.
Toyler stepped in.
“Don’t be a meanie, man.”
RX had it with this guy.
“Try and stop me.”
Toyler stood like a statue cemented into the ground.
RX assumed his fighting stance but kept his arms down.
Just a bit of teasing.
Before the beating.
Toyler did not get the aggressive hint.
“Well, Rex’s right. We can check out the southern reach anytime.”
Wuss, RX thought.
But hey, nothing new on that front.
RX climbed inside the porter and looked back through the rear window. Toyler and Bloom glanced at him with the same expression—frozen poker faces.
RX boosted through the inner Evergreen sections, entered the highway lane and accelerated to max speed.
“Aida, can you locate the spot where we lost the drone?”
“Yes, I can mark it on your map.”
The target dot appeared on his HUD. It lay a few kilometers to the north of the colony, far away from the highways and the ruins. RX drove all the way to the meadows and noticed a line of hills near the horizon. He stopped his porter near the point where his drone went missing. Pieces of the machine covered the ground. They spread far apart, scorched by the fire.
Kinetic impactors.
RX inspected the remaining shreds. Judging by the damage, some kind of rocket took it down.
Interesting.
He surveyed the perimeter in a two hundred meter radius, discovered footprints and tire tracks leading over the hills, farther north. RX knelt next to the imprints of the soles.
“Aida, make stills of these prints.”
“Roger.”
She used his amped eye to capture images in hyper definition.
“That doesn’t look like the finger-wrapping stuff the Evergreens wear.”
“You’re right. I’m comparing the prints to the images in my database.”
Didn’t take her long.
“Ah, interesting,” Aida said.
“Spit it.”
“The footprints come from second generation US Corps colonial infantry boots.”
“USC? Are you sure?”
“I’m positive. This model is an outdated version of the standard gear.”
A smile etched into RX’s face. A new question answered itself. The attack on the refinery wasn’t coming from inside the colony. It was caused by outsiders who used USC military weaponry and equipment. Still didn’t give him much clarity, but at least a direction.
The Evergreens faced an exterior threat. So why didn’t anyone tell him? Neither Norma nor Bloom spent one word about the danger from the north.
Didn’t they know?
No, not even the Evergreens could be that green-eyed.
RX pondered whether he should follow the tire tracks over the hills. But with no armor and weaponry, he could be walking into enemy territory. No, as soon as the APEX was operational, he’d survey the tracks safely from the skies.
Plan A.
RX returned to the porter and rode back to the center of Evergreen. Waited all afternoon for Bloom and Toyler to return from their field trip. Three and a half hours that felt like stretched eternity.
Too bad the Evergreens didn’t own any communication device. RX just realized: how did they connect with each other over distances? He never saw them use any external comm systems.
RX saved the question for later, waited in some random house and counted down the tick-tocks. When night knocked, RX patrolled the inner sections of Evergreen and met Bloom at the commons event. The second she sacked into her seat, he flanked her with endless curiosity inside.
“Bloom.”
“Yes.”
“I’m going to ask you a question, and I want an honest answer.”
“What do you want to know?”
RX pursed his lips.
“Who else lives on this planet?”
37
RX expected her usual answer, the What Do You Mean bewilderment, served with her flummoxed face. But this time, she narrowed her eyes. A rare reaction that even put RX off.
“Bloom?”
She seemed to look for the right words.
�
��Why do you have to keep sniffing around? Why can’t you just enjoy your life with us and forget about your investigation?”
RX flicked a glance at Norma on the other table. She engaged in chitchat with her neighbor and ignored him.
Completely.
“Bloom, have you ever seen anyone from the United Space Corps on this planet?”
“No. I only know them through you. Why are you asking?”
“I found footprints and tire tracks near the hills up north. They are of USC origin.”
He focused on her micro-expressions and tried to detect whether she was lying.
“Now if you say the USC had never come in contact with this colony, then how do you explain their foot prints? No one here wears army gear.”
Her face straightened up.
“Maybe one of our ancestors brought them. Our colony was founded by people from many different backgrounds. It’s possible some of them came from the military and arrived with the equipment from their original homeworld. You say the boots were a decade old, well, that makes perfect sense, because that’s about the time our colony was founded.”
Suddenly she knew.
And it did make sense, on some level.
But RX couldn’t buy into it yet.
“Do you have renegade Evergreens that live outside the colony?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because they wouldn’t survive. And frankly, there would be no reason to go astray, not if everything was provided for you.”
Right, because this was paradise.
RX pushed the sea meat away and decided to abandon the topic. He observed the crowds in the commons. Everyone seemed happy.
Every single male and female unit.
Chatting, cracking, crunching.
Ignorance could be bliss, RX thought.
But denying reality always ended in disaster.
"Rex?"
A gentle touch massaged the back of his head. Bloom’s voice dribbled into his left ear.
“I’m sorry about what they did to you.”
“They?”
“The people you lived with and worked for. The people that turned you into a killing machine that knows only war. Have you ever heard of the saying—‘to a rocket, every object looks like a target’?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s you, Rex. You so desperately try to solve challenges with—“
She never got to finish the sentence. A rumble shook up the pillars of the hall. A muffled sound echoed from far away. RX shot up from his chair and listened.