The Veil Rising

by Brandon Ellis

  Chase patted his uncle on the shoulder. “Like I said...he's announcing your innocence.”

  The admiral was about to turn and hug Louise, forgetting about their strife, but stopped when he heard Zim say her name.

  “Captain Louise Stripe?” Zim was responding to a woman's question. “I don't know if she was in on it or not, but I know she seemed very close to Admiral Jenkyns. She wasn't part of the original plan, though. When we asked her if she'd co-operate by lying during an interview, she assured us that she would.” He laughed. “She of course did just the opposite. She started to spill the beans before we could stop the camera and forcefully stop her.”

  “Forcefully?” asked the woman.

  Zim nodded, then shook his head. “No, it's not what you think. I didn't kill her. I had my way with her, and—”

  The vid screen switched from Zim to an empty podium with the Starbase Matrona symbol.

  Admiral Byrd turned around to look at Louise, but upon eye contact, she turned and briskly walked away, head down, into the listening crowd. For a moment, he thought he saw a glistening in her eyes as if she was holding back tears. He put his hand on Chase's shoulder. “I'll be back. I'm going to ask Louise what Zim meant by forcefully.”

  As he started to follow Louise, the crowd noticed that he—their admiral—was in the room. Hands clapped his back and men cheered, congratulating him as he pushed away the arms and handshakes, nodding and thanking as he desperately searched for Louise. Swallowed by the crowd, he gave up, shook hands and gave hugs to people he barely knew. He wanted them to stop and help him find Louise. He needed the truth. He couldn't trust her if he didn't have that. Trust was their bond. It was something they'd always had between them...until now.

  “Louise!” he yelled, and everyone quieted, looking around. When she was nowhere to be seen, he remembered something... Payson! The elite soldier had stated that Louise was lying. Payson may not have been correct as to what she was lying about, but he knew she was definitely holding something back.

  He looked for Manning to go to Payson's cell, but was interrupted by Zim's voice again. A dozen shushes filled the room as it stilled.

  Zim was now standing at the Matrona podium with sadness in his eyes. “We've been playing that vid and yes, that was me.” Shame was written all over his face and his shoulders were drooping like a whipped dog. However, there was also a certain lightness about Zim, something the admiral could relate to—the weight had been removed.

  “I'm ashamed by what I have done. I didn't recognize any of you as sentient beings, but more as a herd of animals to be used and slaughtered.” He coughed into his hand, clearing his throat. “I've told you about the attack and about Lien-L, who had orchestrated this grand scheme from the very beginning of your race's development, here on Starbase Matrona. I told you why you mined for us on Lumus and I spoke of Admiral Byrd's innocence.”

  He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and dabbed at his eyes. “It's been 16 hours since that recording was made. During that time I have had little sleep and a lot of time to reflect. When I was first introduced to the concept of revealing the truth, I mocked it. The idea was absurd to me. It sounded crazy and would mean my death. But, because of what I have done in the past and what I was planning to do in the future, in my heart, I had already died. I came to realize that the only absurdity was me. I had committed untold atrocities to a countless many and I didn't care.” He raised his fingers, mimicking quotes. “I was just doing my job.”

  He shuffled his feet. “And, the last task of that job was to kill you all by poisoning you through the air and waterway systems. That was to occur three days from today.” He looked deeply into the camera. “That has now been canceled. All of the poison will be collected and jettisoned into deep space. From this moment forward—”

  Someone shook the admiral's shoulder. “We have a problem.” It was Manning.

  “Now what?!”

  “Payson and the prisoners are making a racket and demanding to see you.”

  The admiral creased his brow, then gave a nod. “Alright. Gather some men and show me the way.”

  Manning signaled a dozen of his men to follow. He asked the admiral to get behind them as they exited the lobby and marched down a hallway to halt in front of a large elevator. Manning pressed the elevator button and led them inside, making the Admiral enter first.

  “Stay in the back, Admiral.” He handed the admiral a phaser. “Just in case.”

  “Thank you, Manning.” Admiral Byrd inspected the gun, seeing that it was metallic and light weight, yet it didn't feel metallic. “Who issued this to you?” It was something he'd never seen before.

  “It's Payson's phaser and packs quite the punch. It's yours now, if you want.”

  Admiral Byrd ground his teeth, not wanting anything more to do with guns. He was sick of fighting, of killing people just to stay alive, and then only to stress about keeping everyone else alive. It was never ending.

  The elevator descended two floors before opening to a dimly lit basement. It was large, about the size of the upper floors of the infirmary, but with a lower ceiling, only a couple of feet above his head. Various doors lined the walls and there was a sign with two arrows pointing in opposite directions, marked “surgery” and “psych ward” .

  “This way, Admiral,” pointed Manning, quickly walking down the hallway to the psych ward with the troop following him, phasers aimed forward, ready for anything. When they turned the corner at the end of the hallway, they could hear a commotion up ahead that sounded like someone kicking a door. Manning halted the group, walked forward and peered around the next corner. He raised two fingers into the air, indicating that two men were approaching in the next hallway, then signaled an instant later that the men were safe.

  Manning whistled softly to the two men. When they returned the proper response, he knew they were aware of his presence, so he returned to stand in front of the escort troop.

  Two guards rounded the corner and nodded to Manning. “They're getting out of control, slamming things and kicking the walls. They want to see—” he stopped, surprised to see Admiral Byrd. “They want to speak with you, sir.”

  “And so they will.” The admiral stepped forward, but the rest of the group surrounded him, then escorted him down the hall. The Admiral thought it was unnecessary to encircle him, but went with it anyway. If he wanted anyone to get hurt, he'd prefer it was him...but then...who would lead the starbase?

  The sounds became louder. Admiral Byrd found himself gripping the phaser much tighter than he needed, so he relaxed his grip. He made sure to keep his head level and his stride strong, as did the soldiers around him.

  They arrived at the psych ward. When Manning opened the door, shouting erupted. As soon as Admiral Byrd walked through, all sounds diminished and the room went silent.

  “Move aside,” ordered Admiral Byrd, but when no one budged, he barked, “Move aside! This time he got movement and the soldiers spread out, guns aimed at the prisoners, cell windows and doors.

  Payson's voice echoed through the ward. “Admiral Byrd, there's something going on out there. We can feel it. It's an excitement, but it's false.”

  Intrigued, the admiral walked slowly toward Payson standing patiently behind the wall of clear ebb with round air holes. Behind Payson, several other men were sitting with their backs against the wall. Payson's face lit up when he saw the admiral's gun. “You have her. You're keeping her safe and warm, I assume?”

  Admiral Byrd disregarded the prisoner's comments. “You feel a false excitement, Payson?”

  “No. The excitement is the symptom of a well planned lie—that's all.” He turned, gesturing to his cell mates. “They feel it too. And so do all of our friends in the adjacent cells.” He cocked his head to the side. “Can you tell me exactly what the excitement is about?”

  Admiral Byrd replied with reserve. “Zim acknowledged that he lied to everyone and that I'm innocent. He also stated that he had full knowledge of t
he attack and when it was going to occur, although I missed that portion of the broadcast.”

  Payson's smile dropped. “I'm glad you've been found innocent, Admiral, but he's not telling the entire truth—we can feel it.”

  “There's a lot going on out there, Payson. What exactly do you feel? Is it Captain Stripe?”

  Payson rolled his neck around, cracking several disks into place, then automatically massaged it. “She's a part of it, yes. But don't trust Zim. He'll still unleash the poison and we need to stop him. We need to kill him.” He gave a side glance to his friends, who nodded in agreement.

  The admiral snapped his fingers. “You'd kill him just like that?”

  Payson grunted. “Yes.” Imitating the admiral, Payson snapped his fingers. “And he'd kill you just like that.”

  “We'll let this play out for a little longer. If, in time, we need to eliminate Zim, we'll give him a public trial for his crimes.”

  “Let us out, Admiral. We'll make it simple for you.”

  Admiral Byrd replied, “I understand that you want to leave, but I can't allow that at this time.”

  Frustrated, Payson started to breathe heavily, pressing his hand against his head. “Listen. I know you're a good man, Admiral. I know you're on the starbase for a higher reason, but understand that Zim is an evil that needs to be killed. We could have escaped long ago, but we wanted you to trust us. But now...”

  Admiral Byrd felt the phaser in his hand wriggle. When he looked down, the gun pulled out of his hand to hover in front of his face with the barrel aimed at his head.

  “My gun is an extension of me. It holds my DNA. I can command it with the power of my mind to do anything I so choose.”

  Admiral Byrd raised his hands into the air as Manning inched his way toward Payson's cell with his phaser pointed at Payson. “Make that thing stop floating, Payson.” Manning's voice sounded nervous. He'd never encountered a hovering gun before.

  The door to Payson's cell opened, creaking slowly as it slid into the ceiling. More creaking sounds filled the ward as the two adjacent cell doors opened. Then a slow stream of elite soldiers with their arms held up, walked out of the cells to face Manning and his guards.

  The admiral glared into Payson's eyes. “Don't do this.”

  “I'm here to help you, Admiral, even if you don't want it.” Payson nodded to his friends. “Take their weapons.”

  All of the Guards backed up, pointing their guns at Payson's oncoming men.

  “Get back!” shouted Manning.

  A shot was fired. Manning then pulled his trigger several times, aiming at the chest of the closest prisoner who slid under the shots, then swiped Manning's legs out from under him. It took a split second for Manning to realize that he was in the air, and just another split second to land hard on his back, knocking the wind out of him.

  Still holding onto his gun, Manning immediately moved to fire again, but the gun was kicked into the air and caught by the attacker. Then the soldier's knee slammed against his chest, holding him down with a gun pressed to his forehead.

  “Look at your friends,” said the soldier.

  Doing his best to retrieve air into his lungs, Manning looked both left and right. His men were on the ground as the admiral still stood with a hovering gun aimed at his face.

  Payson, seeing that everything was under control, ordered his men to stand down. They slowly inched back, guns still aiming at the Guards.

  Admiral Byrd shook his head. “I'm getting more pissed off by the moment, Payson. Why do this when we can be peaceful about this.”

  “To rid your starbase of evil.”

  The admiral looked at his guards still sprawled out on the floor, each eying the soldiers as they moved away. “That's a piss-ass answer, Payson!”

  “Yes, it is, but true. We're taking over the starbase for the benefit of the populace.”

  The admiral paused. “I'm not following. You're going to run the starbase governance?”

  “No more governance, Admiral—that ship has flown. I'm taking it under my wing to run a pure and ethical civilization...my way.”

  The admiral stiffened. “I—”

  “Enough! We're losing valuable time.” Payson turned his head toward his men and said, “Royce, watch over them. The rest, follow me.”

  As Payson and his men filed toward the door, Payson flicked his index finger and the floating gun flew into the palm of his hand. Then he nodded at the admiral. “Good day, sir.” He stopped and saluted the admiral as his group filed out of the room.

  Manning slowly sat up, looking at the Admiral, then at Royce, who was relaxed and leaning against a wall with a snicker on his face.

  Royce nodded at Manning. “One false move, boy, and...” he pointed his empty hand at Manning while mimicking the act of shooting a gun.

  Manning wanted to crack every bone in the guy's body, but knew it would be him whose bones would crack if he tried anything. Instead, he rubbed the back of his head, feeling a nice bump starting to swell. He moved his eyes back to the admiral. “Well, I wasn't expecting this, sir. I take full responsibility for anything you deem necessary. It was a mistake to bring you down here, sir. I should have known that.”

  The admiral couldn't take his eyes off Royce. “I wouldn't say this trip is over just yet.”

  ∞

  “You had enough rest yet?” Crystal was beaming the flashlight down the tunnel, studying the trail of footprints in the dirt.

  Fatigued and tired, Daf gave her a haughty look. “You hop on one leg for hours and then tell me how you feel, okay?”

  “No thanks. Come on.”

  Crystal started walking again, which made Daf hop again, and by now Daf's hips and quadriceps hurt more than her badly strained and swollen shin.

  “They tread lightly,” said Crystal.

  Daf frowned. “And...that means?”

  Crystal bent down to examine another footprint. “It means that they walk softly, even carefully, it seems. They must be short and stocky, because their soles are wide and the toes are thick. They also walk toe to heel, instead of the other way around.” She pointed her flashlight at Daf, making her squint and raise a forearm to shield her eyes as she irritably asked, “What're you doing that for?”

  Crystal saw sweat trickling down Daf's forehead and she was perspiring elsewhere. Good one, Crystal. I'm making Daf sweat when we don't have water to replace what we lose. “Let's sit down and take a break.”

  They sat in the dirt with their backs against the tunnel wall. Daf felt her shin. It was hot and throbbing, but it was becoming more numb as time passed. “How do you know they walk softly?”

  “It's more like they're being careful about where and how they walk.”

  Daf chortled. “Obviously not careful enough to cover their tracks.”

  “Yeah, I'm puzzled by that, too.” She patted Daf's shoulder. “I'm going to scout ahead a little ways, okay?”

  Crystal started to get up, but Daf grabbed her arm, making the flashlight clatter to the ground. “No-no-no, you're not leaving me!”

  Crystal picked up the light and said, “I just want to take a peek ahead.” She showed Daf by beaming the light down the lengthy tunnel where it finally curved out of sight. “I'll be right back.”

  “Well,” replied Daf, pushing herself up and struggling as she did so, “I'm hopping behind you, then.”

  Crystal grunted, “Fine.” She wrapped one of Daf's arms around her shoulders. “Happy?”

  Daf awkwardly hobbled along, using Crystal as a crutch until they finally stopped. When Crystal beamed her light ahead, they were both disappointed to see that the tunnel dead-ended, but on the right side of the tunnel there was water leaking down the smooth rock. Crystal traced the trickle up the wall, toward the ceiling. “It's coming out of a hole right up there,” said Crystal. “I wonder—”

  Not waiting, Daf hopped quickly to the water, pulling Crystal along and making her strain to hold her up. She hadn't realized how thirsty she was.
>
  “You think you could make this a little harder?” asked Crystal.

  Daf went limp, pressing her weight onto Crystal's shoulders. “Is that better?”

  “Gee, you're such a pal.”

  Daf chuckled, then took as much weight off Crystal as she could, although she was still using her as a crutch to get to the water. Crystal extended her hand, touching the wetness. “It's cold. Where do you think it comes from?”

  Daf shrugged, then grimaced a little as a pain shot from her shin, up her leg. “I've never seen water on Lumus before and I've been all over the planet...except the radiation zone, of course.”

  Crystal squeezed the flashlight under her armpit with a tight grip, cupped her hands and collected enough to take a cautious sip, swishing it back and forth in her mouth. When nothing horrible happened, she swallowed.

  “Wow! Now THAT's water!” She put her face to the wall and sucked it up and Daf did the same.

  “Are you sure this is good for you?” Daf asked with the beam of light shining in her face as water dribbled off her chin.

  “I see you didn't wait to see if I died first. All I know is that it tastes great. Up until now, the only water we've ever had has been thick and a little milky. This water's clean and fresh, almost sweet, and goes down nice and smooth...soaks right into your body.”

  “Makes me feel good, too,” responded Daf. “I feel my energy coming back.”

  A hollow sound echoed behind them. Crystal instantly aimed the light at the opposing wall and dropped the flashlight when she saw it.

  “What is that?” whispered Daf.

  Crystal slowly bent down to pick up the flashlight, making sure to keep Daf from losing her balance. Daf, however, wasn't paying attention, too enthralled by what she saw embedded in the opposing rock wall of the tunnel. She finally fell backwards, managing to arch her back as she elevated her injured leg in the air before she landed on the ground. She immediately sat up, eyes locked on what looked like a large metal door that was faintly glowing.