by Ryk Brown
The man that had taken the major’s rifle handed it to their leader, the man that had refused to give up his weapon. He looked over the major’s close-quarters automatic weapon, intrigued by its design. “You are obviously not Jung,” the man said. “The Jung do not use projectile weapons—unless, of course, you are simply trying to appear to not be Jung.” He looked at the weapon some more.
“If I were only trying to appear to not be Jung, wouldn’t it make more sense for me to carry a weapon like yours?” the major asked. “One indigenous to your world?”
“To my world?” The man laughed. “This is not my world. Nor is it his, or his, or his,” the man said, pointing at each of his men. “Actually, he was born here, so I guess it is his world.”
“That wasn’t the point I was trying to make,” Major Waddell said.
“I understood your point,” the man answered as he handed the weapon back to the other man. He stepped closer to Major Waddell, squatting down in front of him to speak face to face. “Who are you, and what planet do you claim as your own?”
“My name is Waddell, and I am from the planet Corinair.”
The man looked at the Major, rubbing his beard. “I have not heard of this world. What star does it orbit?”
“Darvano.”
The man shook his head. “I have not heard of Darvano, either. Of course, there are many stars in the sky. One cannot know them all, I suppose.” He looked the major over. “Whose uniform do you wear?”
“Alliance.”
“Alliance? What alliance?”
“Between the people of Takara, the people of Corinair, and the people of Earth.”
“Earth? Now that is a planet I have heard of.” The man looked at Loki. “And you? You are with this alliance as well?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Are you from this place, Corinair, just as your friend here?”
“Not exactly.”
“You speak differently than he does.”
“We’re not from the same world, just the same region of space.”
The man stood and walked towards his men, speaking to them in hushed tones. Loki tried to understand them, but they were speaking in their own language. Finally, the man took two steps toward them. “You say you wish to speak with a man named Garrett.”
“That is correct,” Major Waddell answered.
“And why would you expect to find him in this cave, of all places?”
“This is where I met him before,” Loki said. “A few weeks ago.”
“And why do you wish to find this man?”
“We wish to speak with him.”
“About what?”
“We were hoping he could help us.”
“Ah, I see,” the man said.
“Do you know Garrett?” Major Waddell asked.
“Perhaps,” the man said, squatting down in front of the major again. “But how do I know that you are telling the truth? How do I know that Garrett would want to speak with you?”
“He gave me something,” Loki said as he started to bring his right hand down from his head. He suddenly felt the gun barrel in the back of his neck again and saw two more guns pointing at him from behind the squatted man. “It’s in my belt in the back of my pants,” he told them. He felt someone pull up his camouflage shirt and pull the small knife and its protective sheath from his pants. The man tossed the knife to his leader, who was still squatting in front of Major Waddell. The man pulled the knife from its sheath and inspected the handle and the blade, taking note of the decorative carvings on both portions. If he recognized them, he did not show as much by his expression. For a moment, Loki was sure they were going to be executed on the spot.
The man stood again. “I will take you to see Garrett,” he announced, holding up the knife to indicate that it was the reason he was doing so. “However, your clothing will draw suspicion. We can travel along the trails until we reach the village, but then we must find you suitable attire before you can enter. There are many who watch for any opportunity to gain favor with the Jung. You two are such an opportunity. During this journey, you must do as I say without hesitation. If you do not, I will have you killed. I will not allow either of you to put me or my men in danger. Is this understood?”
“Of course,” Major Waddell said. “Can we put our hands down now?”
CHAPTER FIVE
“I wasn’t able to transfer as much breathable air as I’d hoped, sir,” Devyn said over the comm-set. “The pressure in the command deck just isn’t high enough, and we don’t have any powered pumps available on your deck.”
“So how much time does that leave us?” Lieutenant Commander Kovacic asked.
“With eight of you, maybe a few weeks, but I have another idea, sir. If one of the civilian techs up there can link up a data pad camera with my monitor here, I might be able to talk someone there through some workarounds to try to prolong your life support.”
“Is that possible?” he wondered.
“I won’t know until I get a good look at exactly what systems have been installed in the bridge’s environmental support system bay.”
“Is it accessible with the rest of the command deck depressurized?”
“Yes, sir. It’s actually part of the bridge. Most of it is in the forward starboard corner behind the view screen shell. It’s accessible via a hatch on the starboard side behind the auxiliary console.”
“I’ve got a better idea, Ensign. Why don’t you come up here and take a look for yourself.”
“Sir?”
“I was joking, Ensign,” the lieutenant commander said.
“Sir,” Ensign Hartson interrupted, “she could, you know.”
“What are you talking about?”
“There are a couple of EVA suits in the port-side, engineering maintenance airlock in the EVA prep room. It was part of the last supply load just before we left. I put it in there myself. I figured Command wanted it there in case someone needed to go outside the ship to fix something.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I thought you knew, sir. You were in charge of the detail.”
“That was two and a half months ago, Ensign. Did it ever occur to you that it may have slipped my mind?” Lieutenant Commander Kovacic shook his head as he keyed his comm-set mic. “Uh, Ensign Oswalt? I may have been kidding when I told you to come up and look for yourself. However, it has just come to my attention that we have a pair of EVA suits on board. In fact, they’re back there with you guys.”
“Sir, if we have a pair of EVA suits, why don’t we just move you all back here?” Devyn suggested over the comm-set.
“There are eight of us, Ensign. There are only two suits.”
“Two is all we need. One person suits up here, brings the empty suit to the bridge, and cycles in through the airlock. Then someone there puts on the empty suit and comes back with him. We just have to do it eight times.”
The lieutenant commander looked at Luis, who had been listening to the exchange. “Well now I just feel stupid.” He keyed his comm-set mic again. “Will that work? That’s a long walk in a heavy EVA suit.”
“We can turn off the artificial gravity anywhere in the ship, sir. In fact, we’ve already shut it down in most of the command deck as well as many of the areas back here to save power.”
“Isn’t that going to use up more air, though?”
“It doesn’t matter, sir. We’ve got plenty back here, and we’ve got scrubbers and oxygen production cells.”
“Who’s going to do all those EVAs?”
“We can take turns, sir. I should go first, though, so I can take a look at the environmental systems up there. If I can fix them, we won’t need to move everyone back here.”
“What do you think?” the lieutenant
commander asked Ensign Schenker, who had become their de facto science expert over the last two months.
“They’d have to stay inside the ship,” he said. “This close to Jupiter, there’s too much radiation outside.”
“Really?”
“It’s at least a kilometer’s walk,” Ensign Schenker reminded him.
“That’s true,” the lieutenant commander agreed. “Inside it is, then.”
“Do we even know if there are connecting corridors between us and them?” Luis wondered.
“There’s only one way to find out,” the lieutenant commander said, keying his comm-set once again. “Suit up, Ensign. It looks like you’re going for a walk.”
* * *
“Nice place you’ve got here,” Jessica commented as they walked through the main room.
Tony looked around the room at the collection of mismatched furniture and boxes of various items he had managed to collect over the last two months during the transition to Jung rule. “It’s not like I could hire a decorator. We were invaded, remember?”
“Where is it safe to sit?” Synda asked.
Tony quickly moved some boxes off the couch to make room for her.
“Sorry,” Jessica apologized. “I forgot. I’ve been out of touch with current events.”
“What did you mean before when you said you were off-world?” Synda wondered as she sat down. “Where were you? On one of the mining stations in the belt or something?”
“Classified,” Jessica told her, attempting to avoid the topic.
“Right.”
“You think Mack’s elbow is going to heal?” Tony asked.
“He’ll be out of commission for a while, but yeah,” Jessica said. “Probably safer for you all that way, anyway.”
“He’s not such a bad guy once you get to know him.”
“Sure, once you get past the killing of innocent civilians,” she sneered. “Now, how were you people trying to make contact with the resistance?”
“Through this net-site,” Tony said, moving toward his net terminal.
“Is that safe?” Jessica wondered. “Can’t they trace your location?”
“Normally, yes,” Tony admitted. “But we’re bouncing through these anonymous, mobile routing servers. There are dozens of them all over the world. People have them in the their cars, boats, you name it. They connect through the sat-net. It effectively hides the transmission source from the Jung. They’ve been trying to defeat it ever since the network started a few weeks after the invasion, but it’s next to impossible since they’re always moving. It’s all encrypted as well.”
“Impressive,” Jessica said. “Give me a piece of paper and a pen,” she told him.
Tony dug through the piles of stuff strewn about, finally producing a pen and a scrap of paper. Jessica quickly jotted down a message and handed it to Tony. “Post this.”
Tony looked at the piece of paper. It was a meaningless collection of numbers, letters, and punctuation marks. “I’m assuming this gibberish will mean something to somebody.”
“Send it exactly as written, spaces and all, and it will.”
* * *
“You will wait in here,” one of the Tanna men instructed Major Waddell and Loki as they entered the large, dimly-lit building. “We have sent for Garrett.”
“How long are we to wait?” Major Waddell asked.
“As long as it takes,” the man said as he turned to exit.
“Are we prisoners?”
The man turned back. “You will not be allowed to leave this building for the time being. If that is what you call being a prisoner, then yes, that is what you are.” The man continued out the door, locking it behind him.
“Then we are prisoners,” Loki surmised.
“I don’t think so,” Major Waddell said, “not really. Look around. Tools, machinery, metal. This is some kind of machine shop or fabrication facility. There are too many things here that we could use as weapons. There aren’t even bars on the windows.” The major shook his head. “No, they only mean to keep us safe and out of sight for now, probably for our own safety as much as theirs.”
“Then why did you challenge them?”
“Just a demonstration of strength—to let them know that we would object to being detained against our will.”
“I don’t get it.”
“It’s better that they do not see us as being easily intimidated, or controlled for that matter. Trust me.”
“Okay.”
Major Waddell walked around the darkened room examining the tools and equipment. “This is not what I expected.”
“How so?”
“From the way your reports described Garrett and his men, I pictured a more meager existence.”
“What, like mud huts and wood-burning stoves?”
“Maybe not that extreme. This appears to be a considerably industrialized society.”
“Is that so surprising?” Loki wondered.
“Not really, I suppose. I imagine the Jung would have little interest in conquering a bunch of backcountry woodsmen. Of course, it is possible that they were less technologically advanced prior to the arrival of the Jung. For all we know, all this industrialization could be a direct result of the Jung’s occupation of this world.”
The door opened again, and the same man stepped through. He moved to one side of the doorway to make room for another man.
The second man was older with a more commanding presence than the one that had led them from the cave down into the city. He was tall, well dressed, and had a neatly trimmed beard and mustache. He walked toward them with a confident stride. “The young man who bears the name of an ancient god,” the man exclaimed. “I did not expect to see you again, especially not this soon.”
“You must be Garrett,” Major Waddell said.
“That I am,” Garrett confirmed as he reached out and shook Loki’s hand in greeting. “Where is your other young friend, Joshua?”
“He could not come,” Loki explained. “This is Major Waddell.”
“Is he your leader?” Garrett asked.
“I am in command of this expedition, if that is what you are asking,” Major Waddell said.
“I am told you wish to speak with me, that you require my assistance.”
“We seek information,” Major Waddell said.
Garrett looked at the major for a moment, suspicion in his eyes. Finally, he pointed at Major Waddell. “I mean you no disrespect, Major, but I do not know you.”
“You barely know him,” the major pointed out.
“I suppose this is true,” Garrett admitted.
“He’s okay, Garrett,” Loki assured him.
“What type of information do you seek, Loki?” Garrett asked, choosing to ignore the major.
“Do the Jung have propellant storage facilities?”
“I would expect they have many,” Garrett said. “How could they operate without them?”
“Do they have any nearby?”
“Why do you ask?”
“We…”
“We seek to disrupt their supply lines,” Major Waddell said, interrupting Loki, “to make it more difficult for them to deploy and support their forces.”
Garrett eyed the major again. “An odd request.”
“How so?” Major Waddell asked.
“Granted, the strategy is logical. It just seems strange that you would come here to ask me such a question.”
“We thought you might know,” Major Waddell said. “It’s as simple as that.”
“I think not,” Garrett said, tapping his finger to his whiskers on his chin. “To come to the surface of Tanna involves considerable risk, as does attempting to make contact with people such as us. Why not simp
ly send that magical ship of yours to look for such facilities?”
“It is still being repaired,” Loki said.
“Surely you have others.”
“It’s complicated,” Loki said, remembering that the major had warned him to give up as little information as possible during the conversation with Garrett.
“Yes, it always is.” Garrett smiled. “It is the complications that I am interested in,” he continued. “That is where opportunity lies.”
“It is simply a logistical problem,” Major Waddell lied. “We have many such ships, but they are all on assignments, many of them seeking out the very facilities we are inquiring after. We are simply trying to cultivate all possible intelligence sources.”
Garrett smiled. “Well presented, Major. However, I have some reservations.”
“Such as?”
“You claim to be members of a powerful alliance, one made up of multiple star systems, Earth being among them. You claim you intend to defeat the Jung. Yet I have only seen three men and one small ship—an impressive little ship, admittedly, but hardly a threat to the Jung.”
“You might be surprised,” Major Waddell said.
“Indeed, I would very much like to be just that… surprised.” Garrett turned and took several steps away from them before turning around again. “I know of many such facilities,” he announced, “both far and near. But divulging such information carries grave risks to not only myself, but to everyone in this valley.”
“A bit of an exaggeration, perhaps,” Major Waddell said.
“Hardly. You see, Jung justice involves punishing not only the perpetrators of a crime, but also those around them. They believe it places additional pressure on the individual to behave, knowing that his or her actions might endanger innocent people. Most of the people in this city would turn me in to the Jung in the blink of an eye if they thought it would protect them or their families against such broad, sweeping punishments. So you see, you ask a lot of me, and you offer nothing in return.”