by Jerry Aubin
passphrase
He assumed this was a silly guess with zero chance of success, but he figured he had to start somewhere. He focused his mind on submitting the text and got a response.
Invalid passphrase. Try again yes/no?
Zax racked his brain for any word or phrase he imagined Mikedo might have used, but every attempt resulted in the same negative response. What information hid behind the encryption of her message? It had to be something important or otherwise she wouldn’t have bothered to encrypt it, right? Zax’s hopelessness threatened to reappear so he turned his attention away from the message and breathed deeply with his eyes scrunched tight in an effort to will away another bout of tears.
Zax returned to the note and studied the header again. The message was from Mikedo and included a timestamp which detailed when she sent it. Something about that timestamp gnawed at Zax until he solved the riddle—the message coincided with riding back from the surface in the Marine transport. Sending this note was Mikedo’s last action before she died!
Zax thought back to that fateful trip. They had gotten on the transport and the major told them to settle in for the ride to the Ship. Zax and Mikedo went back to their compartment and she focused on doing some work before the medic came in with their immune boosts. After the weird back and forth between Mikedo and the medic, she finally accepted her injection and then Zax received his. He wanted a quick nap, but Mikedo said one final thing to him before he closed his eyes. It felt like a weird, random compliment at the time, but he recalled now how she had been insistent he listen and remember exactly what she said.
I absolutely believe you will do great things.
He focused on the encrypted text and submitted that as the passphrase. Success! The garbled text shimmered as the letters and numbers rearranged in his vision and transformed into Mikedo’s final words.
Zax,
If you’re reading this, it means my fears were warranted and I’m dead. What hurts even worse than knowing I’m about to die is the fear my decisions and actions have put you in danger as well. There’s nothing I can do now to protect you other than share what little information I have to help you chart a better course of action than what I chose.
Almost as soon as the medic injected me, I understood something was wrong. The injection was normal at first but then burned as it made its way through my veins. I would have stopped her from administering your dose, but she had already done so by the time I figured out something was wrong with mine. You are sleeping peacefully in the chair next to me and it appears you’re fine, so I’m guessing it was only my injection that was tampered with.
When you found that fighter I was at a loss about what we should do. I’m so incredibly sorry I failed you when you needed me most. I was convinced any information revealing there are other humans traveling the stars was dangerous—both for the Ship and for us as individuals. I know you didn’t accept my rationale when we were back on the planet, but I’ve got three pieces of information to share which I hope will convince you.
The first two come from the bizarre conversation I just had with the Flight Boss. I expected him to be shocked when I described what I found, but he wasn’t. He calmly asked for details about what I had seen, and then shared information which made it clear why he wasn’t surprised by my report.
It started with our visit to the last white dwarf and the battle we had there. I know you were in Flight Ops that day, so you probably remember how the Boss consulted with Alpha about the origin of the unknown fighter when Vampire relayed it might be human. Alpha confirmed it was, but advised the Captain and the Boss they should not share this fact with anyone. The AI was worried the news would cause problems on board.
A few days later Alpha’s concerns were proven correct. A series of full-blown civilian riots were triggered by rumors the Ship had encountered a human spacecraft. You might remember how this disrupted tube service one day during training. The AI had accurately predicted these riots, but more importantly had gone even further and asserted they would evolve into an outright revolution if there was ever definitive proof of other humans.
Zax was surprised to hear the story about the human spacecraft had reached the civilians, but he shouldn’t have been. Since the rumor had made it all the way down to younger kids like the Gammas, it had clearly spread far and wide. He didn’t understand why anyone would riot over it or why Alpha thought it might be so disruptive as to start a revolution. He attributed his lack of understanding to the fact he’d never stepped foot in any of the civilian parts of the Ship and had zero clue about how those people actually lived. He wished Mikedo was still around to answer his questions and help him make sense of it all. He focused on her final words once more.
You already know the third piece of information, Zax, but I’ll say it again to reinforce its importance. I’m dying.
What did I do wrong? I told you to keep the discovery a secret. I told you we shouldn’t share it with the Marines or anyone else, but instead I would tell the Flight Boss. I did and now I’m dying. The Boss was insistent with his questions about your involvement, and I think I convinced him you don’t know a thing, but I don’t think you should trust your life to my instincts any longer. If the Boss or one of the other Omegas was willing to kill me over this, then I’m guessing they won’t hesitate to get rid of you too if they ever have reason to believe you know anything.
The only way you can be truly safe at this point is to make the information public. Alpha believes knowledge of these humans might be dangerous to the Omegas’ control of the Ship, but there’s no way it’s reasonable for you to sacrifice your life in exchange for maintaining their status quo. We all signed up for the Mission of saving humanity—not for allowing the Boss and the other Omegas to retain command through any means necessary. Once everyone on the Ship knows about the human fighter, there won’t be any reason for you to be seen as a threat. I wish more than anything I had called the Marines over when we were on the planet. With their helmet-cams transmitting to the Ship and being viewed by dozens of people in real-time, it would have been impossible to hide any of this.
I’ve attached video footage from my helmet-cam to this message. It shows the human spacecraft and has detailed shots of the cockpit—including the picture of Earth. I didn’t know why at the time, but I lied to the Boss when he asked if I had any video or pictures. There’s no sound and I kept you out of the frame at all times so you can maintain the story you were never there. The only way to guarantee your safety is to figure out a way to get this evidence spread far and wide.
One last word of advice for you Zax—don’t try to carry this burden on your own. I know you like to be independent, but I think it would be a mistake for you to try to solve this predicament all by yourself. I told you earlier not to share this information with anyone, but I’ll amend that now and suggest you tell one person—Kalare can help you think this through. That girl thinks the world of you and will do anything she can to help. Together you two are an amazing team, and if there is any hope of finding a way out of this situation then it rests with the two of you working together.
Goodbye, Zax. I said it before and I will say it again. I absolutely believe you will do great things.
Tears streamed down his face and Zax’s heart beat like crazy, but now it all stemmed from gratitude and excitement rather than his earlier despair. He had received exactly the help he needed from a most trusted and yet unexpected source. He still didn’t have any final answers, but at least now he would be able to enlist Kalare to help shoulder the burden of all the questions.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
What I'm about to tell you will sound insane.
Zax woke the next morning to an abnormally quiet Zeta berth. He sat up and discovered it was empty. He checked the time and was shocked by the realization he had overslept (one hundred demerits). Not only had he missed breakfast, but he was also going to miss out on lunch if he didn’t hustle. He had to skip the shower (fifty demerits), but
a short time later he walked into the mess hall and spotted Kalare sitting in their regular spot. He filled a tray and sat down across from her as she acknowledged him with a grin and spoke.
“Good morning there, sleepy-head! I was going to wake you up, but I know how stressful things have been for you these past few days and figured if you managed to sleep through reveille then you deserved some extra rest. You look like you just woke up. Did you just wake up? That would be amazing! Do you know what time it is? Have you ever heard about anyone sleeping all the way until lunchtime? I’m surprised they can’t send electric shocks to our bunks to make sure something like that doesn’t happen, though I should probably—”
“I’m sorry, Kalare, but I need you to be quiet.” She seemed a little hurt but stopped talking and waited while Zax took a couple of deep breaths before continuing. “What I’m about to tell you will sound insane. I’m sorry I haven’t told you any of it already, but Mikedo made me promise I wouldn’t share the story with anyone. I’m only telling you now because I got a message from her last night saying I should.”
Mikedo’s name had the desired effect and Kalare became intensely focused on Zax. He checked their surroundings again to be sure no one was nearby and quietly launched into his story. “I discovered a human spacecraft on the planet during the recon mission. Mikedo was afraid the Omegas would be upset if the information became public and convinced me she should tell the Flight Boss she was the one who found it and I knew nothing about it. A few mins after she had that conversation with the Boss, she was dead.”
Saying the word “dead” caused Zax’s voice to catch, but he fought off the emotion as he knew it was critical to remain calm. “I was afraid the Boss had done it at first, but you told me I was being paranoid. I saw how torn up he was about her death and decided his involvement made no sense and everything had just been a horrible coincidence. Then we went back down to the planet and got attacked by Cyrus.
“It was not bad luck Cyrus showed up when he did—while you were still outside the shuttle, he shared how someone from the Ship sent him a message and told him we would be there. That pointed the blame in the Boss’s direction again and my worries were all but confirmed in a message from Mikedo I finally opened last night. She sent it to me right before she died. She knew almost immediately after they gave her the immune boost she was being murdered and believed it was most likely the Boss.”
Zax stopped to gauge Kalare’s reaction. She stared at him with her mouth open for a moment until her jaws started to move like she was attempting to speak. No sound came out and she soon gave up and instead gazed off across the mess hall with her brows knotted in concentration. Zax took advantage of the pause in their conversation to take a few bites of lunch. He was famished and it was his favorite—noodle day.
Finally, after a few mins, Kalare managed to speak. “I have a million questions and don’t quite know where to begin. You’re right—this all sounds insane. I guess I should start at the beginning of your story. What makes you so convinced the fighter you discovered was human?”
The disbelief was evident in Kalare’s voice, but Zax couldn’t blame her. “Mikedo’s note included some video she took which I can show you later. In the meantime, here’s what I saw.
“If you glanced at the spacecraft you would think it was one of ours. It was roughly the same size and shape and the design was extremely similar. The real key for me was the cockpit. The writing inside it was human. I couldn’t decipher it because the alphabet included some different characters, but a lot of the letters were the exact same as ours. Finally, there was a plaque inside the cockpit which had a picture of Earth on it. A fighter which is similar to ours but actually comes from an alien race—maybe. An alphabet which looks very much like our alphabet but actually comes from an alien race—maybe. An alien race with a picture of Earth displayed inside one its fighters—maybe. All of those things found together but actually from an alien race—impossible.”
Kalare nodded. “OK—I buy that. Now, I’m not sure I understand why discovering more humans would be such a bad thing, but let’s just trust Mikedo and put that aside for a moment. If the Boss wanted her dead, how would he manage to do it when you guys were still on the shuttle?”
“When the medic came into our compartment she was very insistent Mikedo get the first shot. She said she had orders from the major. The injector was already loaded so it’s possible she might not have even been aware of what was going on. Maybe the major loaded up the shot himself and then told her to be sure to do Mikedo first. Marines don’t argue with officers when it comes to orders. She would have just said ‘Yes sir’ without question even if he had handed her an injector and told her to apply it to herself.”
Zax paused for a moment to reconsider what he just said. “Now that I say this out loud, there’s a chance the major might not have known about it either. When I was in the medbay after my Plug was implanted, I observed how injectors are often filled automatically by the computer. It would have been super easy for the Boss to send a command to the transport’s medstation to fill up an injector with whatever he used to kill Mikedo. Again—if the major got an order from the Boss the first dose was specifically to be used on Mikedo, you can bet he would make sure it happened. As soon as there was any worry about an alien infection, the Boss knew the decision would be to get rid of her body before the shuttle returned and there would be no investigation into how she died.”
Kalare took another min to think about everything as Zax worked on finishing his noodles. Eventually, she spoke again.
“So let’s pretend for a moment it’s the Flight Boss behind this—how would he know to get Cyrus involved and why would he go through all the trouble of sending you down to the planet? Wouldn’t it have been easier to somehow arrange for you to get killed on the Ship? And why would he find it necessary to include me too? Wouldn’t he just send you down there by yourself if he wanted to get rid of you?”
Zax smiled. “Of all the crazy stuff in this whole situation, those bits are what makes the most sense to me. Mikedo would’ve told the Boss about what was going on with Cyrus. He said he was getting constant reports about our training, and the details about why Cyrus would intentionally shred your knee sounds like the sort of thing Mikedo would’ve shared.”
Kalare nodded in agreement and Zax continued. “As for sending us down to the planet to get rid of us, I think that’s easy to understand too. There’s no way he would risk killing me himself. Every unexpected death onboard is investigated to make sure we never have an infectious outbreak or someone roaming around who has snapped. He could try arranging a training accident of some sort, but that would require getting at least one other person involved. Nothing is a secret if it’s known by more than one person, and I bet the Boss wouldn’t want any loose thread hanging over his head.
“With Cyrus, he knew it wouldn’t take any convincing to prompt action. All of the evidence would be down on the colony and no one up here would ever care about it. If Cyrus succeeded in using the shuttle to get back to the ship, the Boss would’ve simply killed him on sight for having escaped the colony. No loose threads.”
Kalare nodded again as Zax drove to his conclusion. “The reason behind killing you is the easiest answer of all. He knows we’re good friends and would’ve assumed I’d share the discovery of the fighter with you. I regret that I didn’t.”
Kalare beamed. “I think that’s the first time I’ve heard you refer to me as being a friend, Zax.”
Zax blushed. “I’m sorry. This friendship thing is new to me. You had practice when you were younger—I’ve pretty much been on my own my whole life.”
“That’s OK, I’m just teasing. It makes me really happy you’re sharing all of this with me. I don’t know what we’re going to do about it all, but I’m honored you think I can assist somehow. I’m even more touched since I know you never ask for help.”
Zax didn’t know what to say so he went with his default, “Thank you.”
/> “You’re welcome. Here’s the first step. After the FTL Transit—hold on—FTL Transit?” Kalare paused for a moment. “We’ve got a Transit here in a little while and you’re eating real food?”
“I know—isn’t it awesome! The instructor told me they programmed my Plug to fix my problems with FTL. It’s so great to not worry about Transits anymore. If I never again taste a nutripellet, it will be too soon!”
Kalare smiled. “That great, Zax. OK—back to the plan—after the Transit we’re going to head over to our meeting with the Boss and I’m going to tell him I’m super excited to accept his mentorship. After that—”
“Wait—what? You’ve changed your mind? Are you crazy? You’ve made it clear to the Boss you weren’t interested in his offer, so you’re in the clear. I’ve just told you it seems like the man has reason to kill you and most likely has already attempted to do so. Obviously you’re going to do the most logical thing with that information—you’re going to pass up your chance to get as far away from him as possible and instead take him on as your mentor. I’m stuck in this situation, but you’re going to jump into it willingly. I just wanted help thinking all of this stuff through—I didn’t expect you to stick your neck out!”
Kalare grinned. “There’s an ancient Earth saying I read about a long time ago that’s always stuck with me. ‘Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.’ Sticking with Flight and letting the Boss mentor me lets me do both of those things at once—how could I say no?”
Zax paused for a long moment and considered his good fortune. The sadness of losing Mikedo would always be there, but he was incredibly grateful some of that hole would be filled by Kalare. “You are insane, but I’m guessing that’s why you’re willing to be my friend.”