Rebels of Jupiter

by Russell Beideman

  “That’s very interesting.”

  “Yeah, now how about that free mug you said you were going to give me?” Darvin asked, getting a little cheery since he had drained half of his current beer so far.

  “Here you go, sir,” Daniel said to Darvin, putting emphasis as he said sir. He placed in front of Darvin the empty mug he was cleaning. “One free mug for the day.”

  “You’re kidding?”

  “What? I did say one free mug right?”

  “I just worked twelve hours straight. A crisis of twelve hours.”

  “And I had to sit my fat rear end behind down over here because that Emergency Signal wouldn’t let me go to my home.”

  “You sleep in the apartment above this place. Who is the gigantic jerk now?”

  “Still you, Darvin. Still you,” Daniel said and chuckled as he grabbed another mug to clean. Everyone had left the bar when the Emergency Signal was turned off, leaving Daniel and Darvin alone.

  Darvin kicked back the rest of the beer in one go, slamming down the mug for good measure. “Well then I got more work to do. Chief is expecting me,” Darvin said, getting up to leave. He grabbed the clean mug as he walked towards the door.

  “Where you taking my mug?” Daniel asked, stopping his wiping of the mug in his own hand as he watched Darvin leave.

  “It’s my mug remember? You’ll get it back later Daniel,” Darvin said with a chuckle as he left the bar, hearing Daniel cursing to himself over his poor choice of words when he thought he had Darvin for once.

  Darvin walked down the street, accessing his Biocomp for a stimulant. He had been up and active for over twelve hours, some of it hard fighting. Other parts of it boring as he and Exsid walked from place to place. They were still short on patrol cruisers because the Commonwealth Marines had commandeered many of the remaining ones that were not blown up.

  I miss my cruiser, Darvin thought to himself as he remembered the scene in his head. A Rebel had blown up his car with a mini-rocket. He wondered if the wreckage was still there.

  All of a sudden, Darvin remembered that inside of his cruiser he had a physical picture of him and his father during the time he was learning how to play Grav ball in Little League. It was one of the few copies that Darvin had left and had not accidentally destroyed yet. Still a mile out from seeing the Chief, Darvin had a new personal mission after he handed off the vial.

  Seeing that it had been almost an hour since he last spoke with Exsid, and that Darvin did see him jogging when they parted, Darvin decided to call Exsid to check up on him. Using his Mindcursor, Darvin selected Exsid and patched a call to him over the Central Net.

  Exsid’s avatar appeared onto Darvin’s Exovision. “Something wrong Darvin?”

  “No, just checking up. Can you give me a sit rep of your situation currently?”

  “You asked that pretty mildly. Getting tired?”

  “Thirteen hours on straight, running on stims. What you think?”

  “There we go. That’s the Darvin we all love.”

  Darvin shook his head a bit, internally laughing at Exsid’s comment. “Yeah, yeah,” Darvin replied.

  “I’m still at the hospital. Just standing next to Betty and reviewing what we saw at the ruins of the station,” Exsid said.

  “Those Marines still there?”

  “Yes, and they are helping out with the doctors.”

  “Who is in charge of them now?”

  “A sergeant was field promoted. I think they are waiting for reinforcements. But from what? Asteroid Belt is two months travel away.”

  “They got a secret base we don’t know about?”

  “Wouldn’t doubt it. Commonwealth has a big military budget for the pirates after all.”

  “They figure out anything over their missing General?”

  “No word yet. Or at least they haven’t told me anything yet. They seem to have a couple of places in the Ring that they are using as outposts.”

  “Fun,” Darvin said nonchalantly. “Well what’s new with you?”

  “I’m a dad.”

  Darvin nearly tripped over himself. “A what?” Darvin stammered out.

  “The insurance wouldn’t cover the cost to fix Betty. Her parents are both on the list of the dead from the Rebel attack. So I legally adopted her.”

  “You’re crazy. You don’t even know what it’s like to be a father.”

  “Well, thanks for the encouragement Darvin,” Exsid said as his avatar shook its head and sighed. “I did look after you when you were a child.”

  “Some help you were. You’re still insane.”

  “I heard you the first time,” Exsid said, sighing again. Darvin was starting to become like a short song set on repeat with a broken power button and no linked interface. “Anyways, what is new with you?”

  “I have a mug,” Darvin said, smiling.

  “I don’t want to know how or why. Just tell me you made it to the Chief already.”

  “I’m about a half mile out right now.”

  “You’re kidding me…”

  “Nope, I’m almost there.”

  “You are going to get us in so much trouble Darvin.”

  “Oh, you know you love me.”

  “No, I seriously don’t.”

  Darvin paused for a minute, dodging some pedestrians walking down the avenue. People were getting out more and more now, trying to resume a normal day of life. “I left a photo of me and my dad in my cruiser,” Darvin said seriously.

  “You mean the one destroyed in the park?”

  “Same one.”

  “It has probably been picked up by the cleaning bots.”

  “It’s a cruiser. It’s marked for non-disposal.”

  “True, will you at least stop by the Chief first?”

  “Yeah, I am a quarter mile out right now,” Darvin said, walking past a group of three teenagers. “Did you enjoy your jog?”

  “What?”

  “I saw you start off a minute after you…” Darvin said but stopped. Exsid’s avatar winked out of his Exovision suddenly. Without any warning, Darvin noticed that his connection to the Central Net was severed. “Oh come on…” he muttered quickly. He was right outside of a coffee café and ran inside. Darvin had replayed the events before when right before his cruiser was destroyed. His Central Net connection was severed right before he was attacked by the Rebels. But back then he had noticed this detail until right before he walked up to the plant.

  “Hold on a second,” Darvin muttered to himself. The Rebels were marching people into the actual plant. He brought up a minimap into his Exovision of the Inner Area of the Ring. He was about three miles away from the plant. But the Central Net was down. He couldn’t get in touch with Exsid or ask for back up. And Darvin knew he was facing a possible Rebel attack again. Nothing knocked out the Central Net unless it was military grade jamming equipment. And the Rebels did that before. He knew they were coming back. But where would Darvin go first? The cruiser for the picture or to the water treatment plant? Did time matter? Suddenly, Darvin felt like he shouldn’t have been walking the whole way back.

  ***

  Something poked Matthew’s lower ribs, causing him to shift uncomfortably a bit. He groaned a bit as the poking increase in pressure. Matthew arched back suddenly as something let loose electricity into the same spot, shocking him back into consciousness. With his head drooping down Matthew let his eyes open a bit and tried to comprehend where he was and what was happening.

  “Good, he’s awake. Someone shoot him up for me,” Matthew heard someone say. He felt his left arm become colder a bit inside and things got a lot clearer. “Good, thank you. Now leave us. Go try to wake the others.”

  Matthew tried to feel around himself, taking in his surroundings. However, as he tried to move all he could find was a small amount of wiggle room. Opening his eyes more, he saw he was strapped to a nearly vertical table with a blinding light five feet above his head and shining right down onto him.

  As Matthe
w turned his head towards the person who talked he noticed that he could barely make out the person, his skin seemed to be as dark as the rest of the room. He saw the faint outline of a man and it seemed that he was the only one there, but Matthew could not be sure. The light above his head was shining right into his eyes, causing him to see spots wherever he shifted his eyes.

  Without any warning, the table rotated to a horizontal position and slammed to a stop. Matthew’s stomach felt like it flipped itself a few times, with his synthetic breakfast threatening to come up. “Now,” Matthew closed his eyes as he heard the man say. “I want you to answer some questions of mine.”

  Matthew stalled for a second, a flashback of Yuj’s eyes playing out in his mind. Rage filled him again at the unnecessary death of someone who was practically still a kid. But all that came out of Matthew’s mouth was a coarse and dry cough. After the hacking subsided, Matthew managed to say, “Water.”

  “Water? Ah, must be feeling a little dry from that drip pack we gave you,” the man said, stepping forward closer. Matthew opened his eyes a bit, but could not make out any details of the man’s face as the light was shining down brightly right behind the man. “Creatine monohydrate, Thiamine, Niacin, Vitamin B’s, L-Arginine, and Taurine. Mostly amino acids and vitamins. All of them produced naturally by your adrenal gland, or consumed from foods. But they do suck up water.”

  Matthew felt his feet go up in the air as his head dipped down, the table rotating a bit to where he was at a forty five degree angle pointing down. “Here,” he heard the man say. “Let me give you some water.”

  Water poured over Matthew’s face. A sudden increase of adrenaline pumped into his veins. As his heart rate increased, fear overtook his rational mind. He screamed uncontrollably, not realizing what a mistake that was until water starting pouring into his mouth. Water felt like it was being shoved up his nose as his eyes were squeezed shut. He felt like he was drowning. He felt like he was dying.

  The table quickly rotated back to vertical and slammed to a stop. The water stopped as the table rotated, but the suddenness of the motion combined with the fear created by the water prompted Matthew to throw up his breakfast. He stayed there, strapped to the table, coughing up phlegm and bile after there was nothing left in his stomach to throw up. His hair drenched, water dripped down his face, itching his skin while his hands stayed strap to his sides.

  “Sometimes the old ways remain the best,” the man said. Matthew could swear the man was smiling.

  ***

  Senator Williams popped into George’s Exovision. “George, report.”

  “I am interrogating the prisoners from the riots myself,” George said. Matthew would never hear the conversation. George’s avatar was speaking for his, reading his mind for the response. All George had to do was think of what he wanted to say and subvocalize it. This caused the conversation to be completely private and not for any bystanders to pick up what anyone was saying.

  “We need information, and I needed it an hour ago. I’m in an Emergency Session with the whole Senate.”

  “I will get you your answers, Sir.”

  “George you don’t understand.”

  “Sir, I do understand.”

  “They are talking about war. They think this is all planned by the Islamic Republic. They are talking about invading them.”

  “And you are speaking up against that?”

  “They are talking about genocide, so yes I am speaking up against that. Now get me my damn answers I need or else we are going to have three hundred million lives on our conscious from a religious war.”

  The implications of what Williams was sharing with George hit him. It wasn’t just about fixing what was happening in the Arcologies. Bigger things were afoot. And time suddenly ran out.

  ***

  “Now,” the man said. Straight into the gut the man punched Matthew. With no way to move all Matthew could do was cough and cry out in pain. With tears now flowing out of his eyes, he refused to open his eyes again. “I need to know some answers.”

  “Just ask them damn it,” Matthew heard himself shout out to the man. He heard his voice echo through the room, his voice sounded small.

  “Hey now,” the man said, slapping Matthew playfully on the cheek. “You will speak when I say so.”

  Matthew felt himself sobbing. “Just please. Just ask,” he heard himself saying.

  A hard slap landed right on Matthew’s cheek. The sound reverberated throughout the room as the hit turned a quarter of his face numb. “You will speak when I say so,” the man said more sternly this time. Matthew took the hint and didn’t say a word, but stayed there sobbing from the pain he was in. Water still dripped down his face from his wet hair.

  “Good, you are learning,” the man said, grabbing Matthew’s hair and forcing his head up a bit towards the light. “Alright now. My boss has a few questions. I couldn’t trust anyone else to ask them, so here I am. Lucky you right?” the man chuckled.

  Matthew’s head was jerked down so the man was looking right into his eyes. Matthew just saw spots from the light, he couldn’t tell much of the man’s features. “What religion are you?”

  “Agnostic,” Matthew coughed out, his throat still throbbed. He never really thought about God, but he never argued or believed that He did not exist in some way.

  “What were you doing with Islamic extremists?”

  “I was-,” Matthew said but stopped as he coughed. He was promptly slapped in the face again.

  “Answer the question.” Matthew gritted his teeth past the pain. “Speak,” the man said again.

  “I was following my friend. We were going back to my home.”

  “Who was your friend?”

  Matthew hesitated. A few seconds passed when the table suddenly shifted to the horizontal position. “No don’t!” Matthew shouted quickly with fear.

  The man draped a rag over Matthew’s face, and then the water started pouring. Matthew squirmed against his restraints but to no avail. He screamed uncontrollably through the whole event, even though it was only thirty seconds long. “You see, you don’t have a Biocomp. I cannot easily access what’s in your head without damaging you. Nanomeds do amazing things, but they cannot repair the brain after a memory swipe. They cannot bring them back.” The man took the rag off of Matthew’s face and paused for a second. “Hesitate again, waste my time, and the next time it won’t be water. It will be the tools.”

  “No!” Matthew said and began sobbing again. “His name was Yuj. He worked for me. We were just doing a walk out as a protest. It was all supposed to be peaceful.”

  “Then why were you caught at a scene where rioters were clashing with the police?”

  “We were just walking back. We had no clue what was happening.”

  “You were captured trying to attack an officer.”

  “We were hit by the pods. He killed Yuj. He fell right in front of me. I saw his eyes go blank. That’s why I attacked him,” Matthew shouted at the man and started crying. “He was a good kid. He was just a kid. He didn’t deserve that.”

  “I don’t care if he was a good kid or not,” the man said as he leaned up against the table, placing his elbow into Matthew’s ribs. “Was he a Muslim?”

  “Converted, yes.”

  The man paused for a few seconds. “Who was his cleric?”

  “He said it was some guy named Joseph.”

  “Cleric Joseph.”

  “Yes,” Matthew stopped crying and began to sob only lightly.

  “You’re not lying to me are you?”

  “No, I swear,” Matthew started whimpering.

  “Because you would know what would happen.”

  “I swear! I swear I am not lying!” Matthew heard himself yell out as he started crying again.

  “Where is this Cleric Joseph?”

  Matthew started crying hard. “I don’t know.”

  “You don’t know?” the man asked as he placed the wet rag back over Matthew’s eyes.
<
br />   “I don’t know,” Matthew said, resigning himself to the fact that more pain would come to him. The rag fell to the ground with a wet plopping sound.

  “I actually believe you. Thank you Matthew,” the man said. Matthew heard the man’s footsteps and a door shut. Another door slide open and the sound of something rolling towards him grabbed his attention.

  The whirring of servers confused Matthew. Suddenly, a sharp pressure gripped his head as a clamp closed down on it, preventing him from moving at all. He still tried to struggle, but something was injected into him through the same intravenous drip that was used before. His vision started to black out and his body went numb. The last thing he saw before he blacked out was a curiously sharp rotating piece of metal coming right down to his head.

  ***

  “Sir,” George said as Senator Williams accepted his call. The Senator appeared again onto his Exovision.

  “Got any information for me?” Williams asked.

  “Some. From the other three that we captured as well, some cleric named Joseph is orchestrating these riots to some degree.”

  “One man? Any connection to the Islamic Republic?”

  “We don’t know. I looked him up, but we only have a first name. We don’t even know if that’s even his real name. No picture or anything. So we don’t know for sure.”

  “Have you tried relating the search to extremists?”

  “Yes sir. About ten hits popped up, but it could be any of them. We are searching for a ghost.”

  “What are your thoughts on this?”

  “I think its extremists, sir.”

  “Any evidence to support that?”

  “None.”

  Senator Williams’ avatar paused. “The THEL Shield has already been placed on high alert. I am afraid I might not be able to stop a preliminary strike. Get back to your command seat. I need you to lead my Arcology.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Will any of the three prisoners remember anything?”

  George looked back over his shoulder at the door he just left Matthew at. “Not a thing.”