Death to the Imperium (Imperium Cicernus)

by James McGovern

  A few hours later, when Alyce had already gone to bed, Tekka retired to bed and lied awake in silence. He had never slept much, even when he was a child. Somehow, he didn’t seem to need as much sleep as ordinary people. He stayed awake all night, listening to the sound of the engines.

  Chapter Ten

  They were now very close to their destination. Alyce and Tekka had navigated the ship towards the Farron system, which was a popular shopping destination for wealthy space tourists. They landed on a parking asteroid, and one of the robots took their ship away for temporary storage. The group then took the shuttle to one of the planets in the Farron system, which was called Clothes Direct. Glitz grimaced as the shuttle took them to the planet. He hated shopping, especially on tacky planets like that one. What kind of name for a planet was “Clothes Direct”? As the shuttle took them closer, Glitz could see Tekka staring grimly out of the window.

  “You don’t like shopping either, eh?” Glitz said.

  Tekka shook his head. “I hardly see the purpose of such an activity. Shopping is a pursuit which steals the hours, dulls the mind, and empties the wallet.”

  “Too bad it’s necessary,” Alyce said, slightly amused by Tekka’s poetic epigram. “Like I said, wearing our Imperial uniforms to Chaos is too risky. We need to change into something less… official.”

  Doland raised his eyebrows. “I don’t know… I quite like a bit of shopping.”

  Tekka frowned at him. Eventually, the shuttle landed, and they got off on Clothes Direct. The entire planet, which was around a quarter of the size of Homeworld, was covered by one large super-mall. They entered the mall through the nearest entrance. A series of guided transport pods stood empty, waiting to be used. Alyce approached one of the information terminals and glanced at the directory of stores on the adjacent screen.

  “Right,” she said, tapping her pocket. “This place is huge, so keep your communicators on you at all times.”

  Glitz instinctively felt the pocket of his uniform. The communicator was slipped into a purpose-made pouch. The last thing he wanted was to be stranded on the wretched planet.

  “Can we make this quick?” he said.

  “I’ll do my best,” Alyce replied.

  She selected one of the stores—which was called “Sullivan’s”—from the directory, and the option blinked yellow. The guided pod opened, and the four of them climbed inside. It was comfortable and roomy, and the seats were upholstered luxuriously. The guided pod, which had a vidscreen in place of a window, played advertisements as it flew them to their destination. They arrived, and stepped out of the pod. Glitz looked around. The store was stylishly decorated, with smart wooden floors, black mirrored walls, and bright directional lights that seemed to give everything sharp definition.

  “Been here before?” Doland said.

  Alyce nodded. “Once, when I was a little girl. I was going through a rebellious phase.”

  Glitz frowned. What did she mean by rebellious? What was rebellious about visiting a clothes store? He looked around again, making a closer examination of the clothes that were hanging on nearby racks. Everything seemed to be black… and made of leather… Glitz started to have a bad feeling about the place. Then he looked up at the logo that was glowing on one of the black walls. The word “Sullivan’s” was printed in red text beneath a large purple eye.

  “For the love of space!” Glitz said. “This is a Proteist shop!”

  “That’s right,” Alyce said, grinning. “Why? Not embarrassed are you?”

  “Why would you even bring us here?”

  “Simple. We need a good cover story in case we get captured by the enemy forces. What better disguise could we wish for? We’ll tell them that we’re just a bunch of Proteists—we’ve bought a rundown ship and we were looking for a quiet spot in the galaxy to practise our… religion.”

  Tekka nodded. “It is a good idea.” But Glitz could tell by his expression that the idea was distasteful to him.

  “Fine,” Glitz said, shrugging. “Let’s get kitted up.”

  There was nothing particularly scandalous or embarrassing about the actual clothes worn by Proteists—members of the religion had a predilection for black leather, but a lot of non-Proteists also wore such clothing. The main embarrassment for Glitz was to be inside a Proteist shop. He moved around quickly, as customers dressed in black roamed around, picking out garments. He didn’t spend too long choosing his outfit; he was eager to get out of Sullivan’s as quickly as possible. Settling on a black leather jacket, a pair of black jeans, and some plain boots, he took them over to the checkout and waited for the others. They seemed to take forever. When they finally arrived, Alyce paid for all of the clothes with an Imperium-issued credit bar.

  They then went into the customer changing area. Glitz entered one of the booths and got changed into his new clothes, placing his Imperial uniform into the incineration chute as Alyce had instructed. When he had changed, he glanced at his reflection. He had to admit that he looked pretty good. His usual choice of clothing was limited to brown work trousers and a Vellorm jacket, but the leather suited him surprisingly well. He stepped out of the booth and waited for the others.

  Tekka emerged next, wearing an all-black leather suit, along with black Cyclone shoes. The suit was an excellent fit, but he looked rather uncomfortable. He usually wore loose-fitting, comfortable clothes. Then Doland came out, wearing an ostentatious jacket with encrusted gems. It looked far too big for him, and the overall effect was pretty ridiculous.

  Then Alyce stepped out of the changing rooms, and Glitz was speechless. She looked amazing. She was wearing a fitted leather jacket, along with a black leather skirt and a tight black blouse. The black material clung tightly to her skin and emphasised her shapely breasts. For a moment, Glitz just stared at her.

  “You look… nice,” he said.

  Alyce smiled condescendingly. “Thank you. Now, let me make one thing clear. Although we’re pretending to be Proteists, there’s to be no funny business on the ship. Don’t go trying anything on. We’re all professionals.” She glanced at Tekka, who still looked uncomfortable in his new costume. “That includes you, Tekka. I know how much men like leather, but don’t go coming on to me. It’s against regulations.”

  She was obviously trying to embarrass him, but Tekka simply stared at her with a cold aspect and stony face. Alyce shrugged and walked over to the guided pods, and searched for the shuttle bay in the planet’s directory.

  “She looks so hot,” Doland murmured longingly, with a hint of hopelessness in his voice. He knew that he would never be able to attract a woman like Alyce Wickham.

  “Yeah, she does,” Glitz admitted, staring at Alyce, feeling a familiar stirring of passion. He glanced at Tekka, who was staring at the floor, seemingly immune to Alyce’s charms. “What do you think?” he said, nodding to Alyce.

  “She looks fine,” Tekka said perfunctorily. “A very convincing Proteist.”

  Glitz rolled his eyes. “Yeah, but come on. Look at her. You’ve got to admit that she’s beautiful.”

  Tekka paused, frowning slightly. He had never really appreciated the concept of beauty. He understood the principle—that an aesthetically-pleasing object was supposed to provoke some kind of emotional reaction—but he had never felt such a reaction himself.

  Doland frowned. “You’re not… I mean… you do like women, right? You aren’t…” He tailed off, staring at Tekka.

  “If you are asking whether I am a homosexual, then no. I am not,” Tekka replied simply.

  “So… have you ever had a girlfriend?”

  Tekka nodded. “Yes. In fact, I was married.”

  Glitz was suddenly intrigued. The old adage that said there was someone for everyone really seemed to be true. Visions flashed before his mind of a female version of Tekka, another cold and analytical genius. “Really? What was her name?”

  “Her name was Nim.” For a second, Glitz was sure that a flash of sadness passed over Tekka’s features,
but before he could press him any further, Alyce spoke again.

  “Come on, you three. Back to the shuttle.”

  ***

  They returned to their scrapyard ship, which Alyce had decided to christen the Wreck, due to its origin and appearance. The journey to the planet Chaos had been estimated by Tekka as a three-week flight. Alyce and Glitz were mainly in charge of the flight computer, with occasional help from Tekka. There was very little Doland could do to help. He found it ironic that he had been asked to go along on the mission. Their escape from Malus had been almost entirely thanks to Tekka; Glitz and Doland had played simple parts in the plan. Tekka had been the mastermind. And now, because of Tekka’s genius, they were all being forced to travel to the planet Chaos to face an unknown enemy. Doland didn’t have any skills that would be useful to the mission. He was a salesman, and he had entered such an occupation because it was easy. He hadn’t wanted to become a doctor or an engineer—those jobs were too difficult. He hadn’t paid much attention in school, and he knew very little about basic physics, let alone astronavigation. Now his ignorance might cost him his very life.

  The men tried to let Alyce have her own space during the flight, but somehow Glitz and Alyce couldn’t help getting on each other’s nerves. When he was ten years old and a pupil at the local Primary School, Glitz had formed a strong rivalry with a girl in his class called Dia Foley. He had done everything in his power to annoy her, and Dia had told the teacher about every little thing he did wrong. The pair hated each other, and yet at the same time they felt bound together by the angry passion. Oddly, his relationship with Alyce seemed to be rather the same. Although she irritated him, he couldn’t find it in himself to hate her. The more annoying she became, the more attractive she also seemed to become.

  Although Alyce was not prepared to admit it to herself, she had similar feelings towards Glitz. The man was handsome, rugged, sarcastic and selfish. And she found him irresistible. Somehow, the fact that she knew a relationship with him was virtually impossible made her even more annoyed by his actions. Little things he did—like snoring loudly from the other room, or picking faults with her course correction—infuriated and exasperated her beyond belief. She couldn’t wait to finish the mission and get away from the man, but a tiny, unacknowledged part of her wished that the mission would never end. But such a feeling was inappropriate for a captain of the Navy, and so she pushed it to the back of her mind, suppressing the idea.

  After a long journey, and several arguments, the Wreck had finally entered the vicinity of space known as the Badlands. This was a part of the galaxy that was still largely unoccupied. A few pioneering explorers, such as the legendary Dorian Night, had visited many of the local planets, but no significant settlement had ever been carried out.

  “We’re in the far reaches of the Paradonian Sector,” Alyce explained. “We’re close to the planet.”

  It took only a few minutes for her to locate the planet. Alyce brought up an image of the world on the main scanner. The picture was fuzzy and unclear, but they could see a dull sphere, broken by a chasm of fire. Doland shuddered at the sight of the forbidding world, thinking of General Blaize’s comments about the planet Chaos—that it was a world populated by vicious wild animals, and ravaged by fierce meteorological phenomena.

  “I don’t believe it,” Alyce said quietly, staring at the scanner.

  She had been prepared to meet almost anything when they arrived at the planet. She had braced herself to encounter at least one hostile ship, perhaps of a terrible unknown alien race. But she had not expected to see… that.

  “What?” Doland said, staring at the picture. All he could see was the planet. “What is it? What are you looking at?”

  Tekka was smiling slightly; he had obviously noticed the same thing as Alyce.

  “What?” Doland looked confused, looking from Alyce to Tekka.

  “Nothing,” Alyce said.

  Doland shared a bewildered glance with Glitz. They felt almost like Tekka and Alyce were enjoying a private joke at their expense. What were the pair so surprised about?

  “Oh, use your brain,” Tekka said. “The First Naval Lord explained that the planet Chaos was being orbited by a mysterious ship. So where is it?”

  Glitz finally understood what they were driving at, and felt a little annoyed with himself for being so slow. Of course. They had been expected to be greeted by an enemy ship; that was the whole reason for obtaining the scrapyard ship and the Proteist disguises. But not even a single satellite was orbiting the planet.

  “Perhaps the ship landed on the planet…” Doland pointed out.

  Tekka shook his head. “I scanned. There are no large energy signals on the planet, which means no ships. I can, however, detect some advanced machinery—I am not yet sure of its purpose.”

  Glitz turned to Alyce. “So what’s the plan now?”

  Alyce frowned, thinking for a few moments. “We will land on the planet, as per the mission brief. Of course, we will find that part of the plan a lot easier now the ship has apparently deserted Chaos. We will try to find any clues or important data. We still need to find out who the ship belonged to, and what they wanted. Our mission is the same. We should just have fewer obstacles now.”

  Doland felt like arguing that the mission should be aborted, but he kept silent. He was grateful for the absence of the enemy ship—he hadn’t much liked the idea of being blown to pieces.

  “Right,” Alyce said. “I’m going to make the landing.”

  She operated the controls, piloting the ship with precision. As they passed into the planet’s atmosphere, there was a strange disturbance on the flight deck. The lights blinked, and some of the displays were disrupted. Strangely, the chronometer suffered the most interference. The Date/Time stamp fluctuated wildly for a few seconds, before settling along with the rest of the controls. The members of the crew were a little troubled by the disruption, but said nothing. A few minutes later, the Wreck had landed on Chaos. Alyce stepped out first, after making sure that her ZK-88 blaster was safely in her holster. The last thing she wanted was to meet some unfriendly life form and realise that she was without a weapon.

  Her first overwhelming feeling was one of pure disgust. Glitz, Tekka and Doland followed her out onto the planet, staring at the terrible world. Even their weeks spent on Malus had not prepared them for such an ugly sight. Alyce was not an overly sensitive woman—in fact, she prided herself on being logical and hard-headed—but the sight of the atrocious planet almost brought her to tears. It was nothing more than an expanse of grey mountains, broken occasionally by lava streams. There was a bitter smell on the wind, and the trees were blackened and charred. But the really saddening thing was the sight of the animals. A few birds were flying unevenly through the sky on broken wings, crying out as if in great pain. Far away, a large cat-like creature was being attacked by a giant lizard; it was rolling around, bleeding from its stomach, as the lizard made a slow kill.

  Miserable-looking quadrupeds trudged through a river of black slime, apparently searching for food in the mud. As they searched, another giant lizard ran up behind them, tearing the nearest two to pieces. Alyce felt a strong urge to blast the lizard to pieces with her blaster, but she resisted the impulse. She went back inside the ship, returning with three more blasters. She passed one to each of the men.

  “Listen,” Alyce said. “We’ll get this over with quickly. I want to get off this horrible planet as quickly as possible.” She looked at Tekka. “Does your neurochip contain a navigation system?”

  “Of course.”

  “Right.” She pointed at Doland. “You and Tekka travel east, and we’ll travel south. After three hours we will meet back at the Wreck and leave this forsaken place.”

  “What are we looking for, exactly?” Tekka said.

  “Anything. Any possible clues as to why the ship was so interested in this place.” She paused thoughtfully. “You mentioned that you detected advanced technology. Try to find an example
of it, and determine its function.”

  Tekka nodded, and Alyce went on, “But I can’t imagine why anyone would want to come here. I’ve never seen such a horrible planet.” She shivered slightly. “Anyway, see you in three hours.”

  Glitz nodded to Tekka and Doland and followed Alyce as she walked towards the faraway mountains. The terrain was rocky and uneven, and Glitz fingered his blaster uneasily. Several weird-looking creatures bared their teeth at him as they passed them. There seemed to be no friendly life forms on the planet. He glanced behind them; Tekka and Doland were now small shapes in the distance.

  “You sure it was a good idea to split up?” Glitz said. “You never heard of safety in numbers?”

  “That’s quite an primitive phrase,” she retorted.

  “Doesn’t mean it’s not true,” Glitz muttered. “And what makes you think you always need to disagree with me?”

  Alyce shrugged. “I tend to disagree with people when they are wrong.”

  Glitz scowled as they climbed over a large black rock. A tiny rat-like creature was hiding beneath it; disturbed, it raced out from underneath the rock and scurried away. They walked for almost half an hour without seeing anything of interest. Everything around was bleak and featureless. Then Glitz noticed something that seemed conspicuous. He pulled the object out of the ground, brushing off some of the dirt.

  “Is that…?” Alyce examined the object that Glitz was holding. “Is that a skull?”

  “Looks like it.”

  “But… it looks like a human skull.”

  Glitz handed her the skull, and she turned it over in her hands, puzzled. “There are tooth marks all over the bone. Some sort of creature has torn off the flesh—maybe one of those long-toothed lizards.” She glanced around, looking for the rest of the bones. Then she spotted a white shape sticking out of the mud. Alyce uncovered several more bones and scrutinised them. She was no expert on skeletons, but she was fairly confident that the bones were human. She took several pictures of the discovery using her Spectrum arm band, a Navy-issued tool that had many useful functions.