Tethered Worlds: Blue Star Setting

by Gregory Faccone

  She had never planned to fall in love; she had things to accomplish. Yet somehow, Arh-Tahl bored through her indifference and stubborn resistance. Then love was there, and she didn't even know when it had started. She wouldn't resent their differing abilities, roles, and even war strategy. Arh-Tahl could do things, amazing things. It took great effort for her to accomplish anything even close. Yet her relationship with him opened her eyes and gave her opportunity. She felt unworthy of such good fortune.

  Her short tenure as a Centurion was filled with many battles. She refused to show weakness, and let none see, especially Arh-Tahl, that her mind was growing weary, that the great forces she brought to bear upon her enemies were threatening to pull apart the fabric of her thought. She dared not think what that meant.

  She followed a curious scientum nurse down the halls of one of their underground hospitals. She loved the feel of Numen. The air, the gravity, the way it reinvigorated her. Some great Sojourner builders enjoyed working underground, where they could tap the solidity and power of the earth. She could appreciate that line of thinking. Perhaps someday, she could also become a great builder.

  An annoyance intruded upon that thought. Why was the hospital using a scientum nurse? Were there not enough mystic nurses to do the job? An irrational spike of anger burned in her mind. She felt it physically within her head and had to force calm.

  "Have you been adopted by this hospital to act as an orderly or tech?" she asked.

  "Madam, I've been acting as a nurse in this facility since its founding," the robot said. It's voice was slightly tinny. She noticed the nurse had a retrofitted module of platinum and palladium affixed to its head.

  The light of the hospital, designed to be soothing, gave her no relief. They turned toward a custodius ward, and worry tried to invade her fragile calm. She thought her husband was doing better than the deep care offered in such wards.

  "Nurse, why is my husband still in a custodius ward?"

  "Madam, your husband is under timelock care. We like to perform such treatment in a custodius ward, space permitting."

  "I will talk to my husband, nurse."

  "Madam, you may call me Torious. His timelock care is complete. In most cases conversation is possible shortly after revival."

  They entered a long room with subdued lighting. The rounded ceiling displayed the sky of Numen, and from the central walkway, the walls appeared transparent. She saw patients, unmoving in medical couches. Her husband was in one of the large chambers at the end.

  "I can find him from here, nurse."

  Torious continued forward into the chamber. The woman followed. From within, the walls were opaque, but the ceiling still open to the "sky." The nurse unfolded instruments and moved toward Arh-Tahl whose face was innocent and calm in repose.

  "What do you think you're doing?"

  With one arm, she pushed the robot back with greater strength than she intended. It slammed into the wall. Her husband wouldn't be trifled with. She had no fear of robots and was ready to call upon forces great enough to crush it.

  "Madam," the robot said with a short burst of static, "my doctor is dead, but I assure you I'm fully capable of concluding someone's timelock."

  Pain burst in her head. She gripped it, staggering to a wall for support. The robot was sizing her up, she could tell, even through the agonizing haze.

  "Madam, may I suggest you see Alb-Sone Whaye, who is also in this facility?"

  "Stow it! It's not the Onus." She had to get a hold of herself before Arh-Tahl was returned to consciousness. "Just do your job, nurse. Smelt it up, and I'll crush you to powder." She stepped outside, behind the one-way walls. The nurse ran a quick self-diagnostic, recalibrated systems, and began working on her husband.

  He looked so peaceful. It was something beyond the artificial slowing of timelock care. Arh-Tahl had a solid core. He was at peace with himself and slow to anger. She envied it. She needed it. When they were together, she had more of it.

  "Mirror VAD."

  Duer-Rhanna Scharr looked at her image. The months without Arh-Tahl had been hard, and the war wasn't going the way she thought it should. She ran fingers through her long, white hair. Her features were prominent and sharp. While she had never thought of herself as "beautiful," Arh-Tahl made it known, in his own subtle way, how much he appreciated her willowy, slender look. "A noble amongst the elves, out of the ancient lands." It didn't sound so silly when he said it.

  She touched the wall, and graphics showing the annoying scientum nurse's actions were superimposed. Arh-Tahl lay within a series of cylindrical fields, being deactivated sequentially from the outside. After what felt like an hour, though it was likely not more than 15 minutes, Arh-Tahl's eyes opened. The medical couch tilted forward, and he looked around with natural movement and platinum/iridium eyes. He belonged among the stars, not confined in custodius.

  "I'll monitor him from out here," the nurse said, trundling out.

  The mirror VAD winked out. She stood straighter and banished agitation. Arh-Tahl could see through her as easily as she peered through the one-way wall. She wouldn't add to his burdens. He turned his head suddenly to look straight at her, his eyes not stopped by a mere opaque wall.

  How does he do that?

  She walked in, smiling, holding back emotion. His abdomen was covered, and his right arm missing below the elbow, but his left hand met hers. She entwined her long fingers around his, and was filled immediately with a love and stability she couldn't explain. It was more than could be resonance transmitted. After wordless, private communion, they eased into conversation.

  The news wasn't good, but she delivered it straight, as he would want. He had been conscious for brief periods earlier, so much of the news was no surprise. She wanted to thank him for saving her life, but thanks was one thing he was not good at receiving. As a playful tactic, she talked about her ship instead.

  "You saved the Corona. That was a crazy maneuver. You're not roaring into battle anymore in a starfighter. This isn't your old colorful band."

  "It is amazing to me the extent they will go to beat a Centurion," Arh-Tahl said. "I just sought to even the odds." He said it with the barest hint of a mischievous smile, and her affection warmed. "Where is the Aurora?"

  She hesitated, but only for a second. He was such a student of her that trying to hide things only made them cast a larger shadow. "We had to leave it at Beuker. It was in no shape, even for towing." Arh-Tahl seemed disappointed, although not at her. "They have plenty of raw materials there. I believe they were setting up a bay inside the khromathyst mine. No one will be able to spy on it. Your ridiculous grease monkey insists he can restore downhill capability given enough time."

  "Lack of confidence is not one of his faults," Arh-Tahl said with a hint of wryness.

  His playful banter was too much. He had almost died. Maybe he was dead. It burst from her. "Don't you understand how long it's been? How you worried me? Both the Corona's and the Aurora's entrop was down. You were... in no shape to activate juvi sleep. We had to put you in cold coma. It was the only thing we could get quick enough. I... I wasn't sure anything could be done."

  She jerked her head to one side, forcing herself to get a grip. He held her hand tighter.

  "We limped back to Aner Betera," she continued. "I heard there were Khromas there. They took you in the Mad Sailor's ship. You were gone, off to their new playground in the Asterfraeo, with no word."

  She closed her eyes, refusing to allow the pain in her head to return. She forced calmness again, for there was nothing to be angry about. Her husband was back. They had restored him. When she opened her eyes, he was staring through her, seeing what she was wrestling with.

  "I do not know exactly what happened, or where I was," Arh-Tahl said. "I was within, or beneath, a great mountain. My father brought me back from the edge, but his power was not enough. I think The Spirit also intervened."

  "I didn't think there was anything his power couldn't overcome."

 
; "The ways of the Khromas are beyond full understanding, even mine. How much more The Will and The Spirit in concert?"

  At times, Arh-Tahl spoke of his own father as if a stranger. They bordered on a sensitive subject, but circumstances were such that she felt it necessary to delve in.

  "Why won't he bring his power to bear on the front lines? With him at the vanguard we could crush their nearest systems! Why are we letting them dictate this war, hiding behind static defenses?"

  He looked at her patiently. Patiently! Misplaced anger welled up within her, but his grip tightened, somehow helping it to fade. The Sojourners were not unified regarding overall strategy. Even the Khromas, to whom most looked, were apparently not in full agreement. Only The Strength, and perhaps The Mass, from what she heard, thought to go on the offensive.

  "Let us defend those who pledged themselves to our cause," Arh-Tahl said. She could not move him from his stance. "Can we not hold our lines long enough to make an orderly withdrawal? Space is big, Duer-Rhanna. Why not move to that 'playground' you spoke of, make our own way, and unify behind lines we can defend?"

  "We're burning a lot of resources defending those... people at Aner Betera. And for what? Why do you think they're building those enormous colony ships? It's not to fly a couple months into your new playground. They're not turning back. They're pouring every resource into those monstrosities, leaving the bulk of the defense to us."

  The strange culture of Aner Betera embraced mystic and joined their cause early on. But they seemed more interested in modifying themselves than building great fleets. She and Arh-Tahl agreed that their choices were not bringing out the best in humanity, as designed by the Creator.

  "Yes, I suspect you are right," Arh-Tahl said. "But we are obligated to defend them a little longer."

  "We can't be everywhere. Look at your condition."

  "We promised them."

  There was no moving him on topics of honor. While occasionally infuriating, she loved him for it.

  "There are rumors," Duer-Rhanna said, "that even Numen is being prepped for withdrawal." It turned her stomach to see the culture that so empowered her and the Centurion brotherhood being forced to retreat. They were warriors. "I think The Will would endorse offensive actions to delay the inevitability of that day." Arh-Tahl started to speak, but she continued, her tone conspiratorial. "To that end, some of the brothers and I are going to take it to the Perigeum where they do not expect."

  Arh-Tahl shook his head. "I believe the playground, as you call it, is just the start. My father sees a new land, just for us, far beyond. A place where there is no war, our ways can thrive, and the Perigeum can find us no more."

  "Both of you speak of it as if it already exists out there, somewhere. Well I am not living in the 'out there.' I'm in the here and now. There are whole Perigeum flotillas amassing."

  "Yes, we must hold for a time. There are great preparations at work. Will you not wait for me?"

  "Even the Son of the Khromas is delayed by near death." She pulled forth the dry humor he was fond of, and was rewarded with the faintest roll of his eyes. "I would wait, but my brothers will not, nor will the Perigeum." A brief look of sadness touched his face. She would have missed it had she blinked. Then it was gone.

  "Would you consider retiring from Centurion ranks? Become that great builder, and make beautiful, practical things."

  He had a desire for her, and the longing to stay with him almost caused pain in her chest. She turned away. "I believe your father's out there, delaying them as only he can. We only need to blunt them for a few more months, right? Then we can consolidate... Perhaps new paths will be open to us. Find me when the Aurora's ready."

  He would not force her, and she saw the resignation in his eyes.

  "Then let me caution you," Arh-Tahl said. "I saw what you started at Beuker. Ek-Hein's technology is dangerous. There is too great a cost for that resonance power. It needs refining."

  "I thought the situation pretty desperate at the time." She saw him raise a subtle eyebrow. "But I understand. The Corona's been through enough. She needs a break."

  The ward, the entire hospital for that matter, seemed less energetic when she was gone.

  Arh-Tahl sat alone, the curious scientum nurse not having returned. He was grateful for a moment to collect his thoughts.

  Duer-Rhanna was like the heart of a sun, but one whose nuclear energy had been consumed. She was close to collapse, or nova. The mystic malady, whose name he would not even think, was threatening his wife. But he could no more change her course than shift the orbit of Numen. She had to come in of her own will, or her spirit would be broken.

  "But I can protect her."

  Arh-Tahl sensed the scientum nurse beyond the opaque wall. It trundled in. Had it been giving him time to settle his thoughts? Insightful for such a machine.

  "Duer-Rhanna Scharr has little confidence in my abilities," it droned with slight tinniness. "I encouraged her to see Alb-Sone Whaye, as her symptoms seemed appropriate to his area of expertise."

  "You are rather blunt, nurse. What did you say your name was?"

  "Torious v2."

  "Torious? I didn't know they made a second rev of that line."

  "I get that a lot."

  Arh-Tahl was amused by its imitation of dry humor and apparent understanding. Nurses were curious machines that adopted much from their counterpart doctors, often over many decades.

  "How did you come to serve here, Torious?"

  "My doctor was neither Sojourner nor imprimatur, but he embraced mystic technology and favored no method over results. It's true he's gone, but he passed much to me, and I'm not without skills. Word came from above that I was to be assigned to your case. It's the only reason I've been allowed to do so."

  That intimated his father had something to do with it. Curious. What an unenviable position, being a scientum nurse in a new mystic hospital on Numen. "Well, I have need to be out of here sooner than standard therapies may allow."

  "Your replacement organs and arm components are only half-grown."

  "Replacements are a luxury I cannot afford. It is time for substitutes."

  The nurse whirred for a few seconds. Undoubtedly, it had witnessed the interaction with Duer-Rhanna. For some reason Arh-Tahl suspected this machine would comprehend.

  "That's against standard protocol, but if you insist, it will be enacted."

  The loose, sometimes overly open AI architecture of nurse bots was not the most efficient way to develop their skills. But the subtleties of human treatment worked best when advanced personalities were flexible enough to interact as well as treat.

  "In the meantime," the nurse continued, "I can work off the main channels, if you will, to start initiating the procurements. My doctor was fond of practical, time-saving procedures."

  It sounded like the physician Torious was attached to for so many years was a refugee. Perhaps from one of the onerous and bloated state run medical systems some of the Perigeum worlds adopted. That was experience not likely found in any mystic nurse programmed on Numen. Arh-Tahl smirked. The doctor must have been quite a character.

  What, am I twelve years old?

  His feelings hearkened back to the weeks after emergence fever, back when he became suddenly self-conscious and had to adjust to looking at himself and the world through maturing eyes.

  "Is she still in the bay?" Jordahk asked.

  "Yes," Max said. "She has not moved since you asked me that two minutes ago."

  Jordahk wasn't going to reprimand Max for the snarky answer. The AI usually only got like that when his admin deserved it. And his admin knew this whole situation could be, and should be handled with more confidence.

  He walked through the corridors of the early war-era mystic scout. He had yet to get used to the quality workmanship—the curves, rounded edges, and smooth, indirect lighting. But at the moment, those things failed to distract him, and there was sweat on his palms.

  "Come on kid, what's the big deal?"r />
  "Ingots, I don't know..." Jordahk stopped in front of the wide, bay double-hatch. "Can you show me the feed from in there?"

  "Wouldn't that be a little ... unethical?"

  "She's just exercising, isn't she? You said she likes to do that a lot. Help me out here a little, would you?"

  Jordahk sensed whirring in his ultra-powerful compy, a machine not exactly under his control. Max and Wixom were having a discussion on the matter. It was ridiculous, and he was about to tell them to forget it.

  "All right," Max said, "but just for a minute, please."

  A VAD appeared. The bay was the only unpolished part of the scout. The drones worked for quite a while fixing equipment, removing debris, and repairing the swath of damage caused by the errant energy beam. A couple of the robots still puttered away anonymously in various corners. The space was relatively large for the size of the scout. It currently housed copious equipment and assorted storage crates. Above a small shuttle was ample, airy space.

  He spotted her atop two stacked crates, near where she had "emerged" into a new life. She was standing on her hands, back facing the eye, completely vertical with toes pointed. She didn't sway or even move. Her long, onyx hair cascaded down her arms and pooled upon the crate.

  She wore a matte black unitard ending just below her elbows. It slipped beneath the treaders on her legs at mid-calf. The entire back of the garment was open, affixed across the top of her shoulder blades. It revealed toned musculature down her spine.

  The garment seemed thick in places, as if padded or armored. A luminescent stripe ran down either side over arms, torso and legs. Maybe it was the feed, but Jordahk couldn't determine the color. The hue seemed to shift.

  The rag-jerk on board the scout really outdid itself.

  On her form, it made a fitting and pleasing presentation, and that was just the backside. His mind relaxed. Suddenly satisfied to just watch her innocently, his mind focused on the subtle mental touches they had experienced previously.

  She moved, the suddenness of the action startling. She sprang off the crate and landed feet together, facing the double-hatch. She examined it intently for a few seconds then turned her head toward the eye being tapped for the VAD. She stared into it, her eyes penetrating.