by James Murdo
Cautiously, he walked forwards, until reaching the opened hatch, and looked into the exposed compartment, which appeared about equal in length to what he had previously assumed constituted the entire ship.
“Hello?”
There was no response.
The general design was the same as that of the main cabin. There were three thinner hatches on either side – six in total – in addition to the large hatch at the end. Some beige material, probably a type of clothing, was draped across the floor from the right corner of the end-hatch to the far-right corner of the compartment.
He tentatively stepped into the compartment. At the corner to the very left, right beside him, was a small, silver sphere. He stooped to pick it up. It was heavy. Connection spheres did as their name suggested – allowed for connections to various types of Alliance technologies through holo-overlay interfaces. All Roranians knew what they were. The small number of melds specialising in their manufacture were furiously competitive, as famous for their wealth as their secrecy. It was generally assumed they would become commonplace someday, but for now, each new, slowly-released variant was highly prized, enabling yet more connections with the technologies of other Alliance members. Many of those technologies had no pre-existing analogies within Roranian society.
Tolren put the connection sphere into his pocket.
A sharp sound pierced the quietness. He froze. It had come from somewhere to his left. “I’m Tolren, please…” He retreated slowly, scrunching up his face and cursing under his breath. After all this time running, he had given away his name in a moment of sheer stupidity. Still stumbling backwards, he passed the compartment’s hatch threshold and was now back in the main cabin. “Whoever you are–”
The hatch furthest to the left slid aside. Tolren stopped moving. A Roranian girl walked quickly out, wiping her hands against her sides. She looked at him, cast a furtive glance around the compartment and at the clothes in the corner, and then back to him again. She appeared near to his own age, with long, brown hair, and skin a similar shade, albeit slightly darker, and was very beautiful. She wore similar beige Roranian garb to him.
They both looked at each other. He realised she was also out of breath.
“I… I…” he stuttered, raising his hands feebly as she suddenly ran towards him.
She wrapped her arms around and hugged him tightly, almost uncomfortably so. He was unsure whether to push her off or hug her back. Eventually, she released him and stepped back sheepishly.
“Sorry,” she murmured. “Sorry, Tolren.”
“I…”
“You look familiar,” she said. “And your name… Have we met before?”
He shook his head.
She gestured to the entrance hatch. “Where did you come from?”
“Lillea.”
“Lillea.” She looked down. “That’s so far.”
14
SETTLED CALM
Seremend tapped the controls, showing Tolren the various options. “It’s intuitive, only takes a moment to figure out. Let’s see…” She tilted her head, pausing, before nodding and tapping the touch-sensitive surface, and then stood back. “Let’s try this for you.”
A food packet was dispensed onto the collection tray – light silver, made from what appeared to be standard flexi-polymer. She grabbed it, holding it up to him. It was featureless, aside from a simple pattern.
“The pattern’s a timestamp,” she said. “Simple enough. Resets each day.” She pulled the top apart and passed it to him.
“Are you sure it’s an actual day?” he asked, eyeing the packet’s contents.
She shrugged. “Seems about right.”
“Doesn’t smell too bad. You’ve had this?”
“Of course.” She nodded, watching him.
He put his fingers inside, drawing some food out. She continued to watch with a faint smile as he chewed – slowly, at first, then more enthusiastically. He nodded animatedly. “It’s good!” At the same time, he pressed one foot solidly against the floor. “Soft-graviton technology’s not too bad either, is it? I thought it was still supposed to be experimental.”
She looked around. “If that’s what it is,” she said conversationally. “Hasn’t faltered once, so far.”
He stamped his foot again, lightly, and grinned. “Food… gravity. I could get used to this.”
“Me too.”
“Haven’t you already gotten used to it?”
“What makes you say that?” She looked at him curiously.
“Well, you know what you’re doing… and you’ve been here for some time, so–”
“No, I haven’t.”
“Really?”
She shook her head.
“But your things were all around when I arrived.”
She smiled, although her eyes seemed to dim. “It wasn’t long, a couple of days before you, that’s all. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do until I heard you… I really wasn’t.”
They stared into each other’s eyes. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realise…” He nodded awkwardly, looking down at the packet he was supposed to be eating. He took another mouthful, clumsily dropping some onto the floor. “So, you went there?” He motioned with the packet to the compartment with the six side-rooms. “After this part of the ship took you… here.”
“I found the compartment, just like you.” She hesitated, as though ordering her memories correctly. “But there was no one there waiting for me, I was alone. So, I chose one of the private side-rooms. It wasn’t long before… well, I went to sleep, and then when I woke up…” She looked at the main cabin around them and shrugged. “This was gone. The hatch was closed, and I was stuck.”
“Must have been worrying,” he mumbled through the food, placing a hand politely over his mouth.
“It was. I waited, and then you came.”
“Were you frightened?”
“I didn’t go about shouting my own name, if that’s what you mean,” she said playfully, causing him to blush. “Twenty-nine races of the Alliance, and we find ourselves here. Strange, isn’t it?” She tapped her fingers one-by-one against the food dispenser. “Fortunately, we have these in our side-rooms too. Whoever’s taken us doesn’t want to starve us, at least.”
“I wasn’t taken,” he said.
“Oh?” She looked keenly at him, clearly waiting for him to elaborate, and then accepting that was all he would offer. “Me neither, I suppose.” She sighed and tapped the touch-sensitive controls for her own selection.
“D’you have any idea why we’re here?”
She shook her head. “Not yet.”
“Well, there could be four others.” He gestured to the other side-rooms. “There’s enough space.”
“Or they’ve been and gone.”
“What makes you say that?”
She looked hesitant. “It’s just possible. That’s all.”
“Hmm.” He lifted the empty packet. “What’ve you been doing with these?”
“Had slaves your whole life, have you?” She laughed and pointed at a handle on the compartment to the right of the food dispenser. “Pull that out – it’s a compression unit.”
He pulled it out and peered down suspiciously. “What happens when we fill it?”
She shrugged.
Tolren yawned, surprising himself.
“You’re tired, you should rest,” she said. “Just don’t take the side-room furthest to the left.”
*
Tolren woke up with no idea how long he had slept, although his stomach was rumbling. The side-rooms had no windows, and were only sparsely fitted with the most basic facilities – a simple surface he assumed to be a flairfold to sleep on, a food dispenser and compression unit, and washing and waste amenities in a yet-smaller additional side-room.
He stretched, rolled off the flairfold, and settled onto his feet. Selecting something small from the food dispenser, he gulped it down in silence while looking around and trying, unsuccessfully, to make sense of his
surroundings. Upon finishing, he disposed of the packet in the small compression unit and left.
It was quiet.
“Seremend?”
She did not answer.
The main cabin was empty, although the pack on the floor caught his eye – his pack. He had forgotten all about his belongings! He rushed over to grab it and began rummaging through the contents.
The rummaging became increasingly frantic. Soon, each of the items from the pack was laid out on the floor around him. His eyes flickered around, searchingly, until he grunted angrily, rose to his feet and strode towards the other compartment.
He banged on Seremend’s hatch door. There was no indication she had heard, so he banged again, harder, and waited.
“Seremend,” he said, loudly. “Are you there?”
A sound from behind startled him, but it was only his pack falling off the chair where he had left it balanced precariously.
“Seremend!” he shouted. “Seremend!”
The hatch door slid open.
“Tolren,” she said, appearing tired and confused. She walked forwards to let the hatch door close behind her.
“Where is it?”
“Where’s what?”
“You know what,” he said, defensively. “You took – where is it?”
Realisation crossed her face. She took a deep breath. “You mean your–”
He interrupted her. “Give it back.”
She glared at him, then turned around and promptly disappeared back into her hatch. A moment later, the door slid open again, and she held forwards the flybo.
“I was only looking.”
“Thank you,” he said, taking it.
“And where’s my connection sphere?” she asked, raising her eyebrows.
“I…”
“Just curious, were you?”
“I’m sorry, I… I didn’t realise it was yours.”
“Well, who else’s would it be?” she asked, putting her hands on her hips.
He rushed over to the items scattered around his pack and picked up the connection sphere. “Here,” he said, handing it back.
“Look,” she said. “You can trust me. I’m not going to steal from you.”
His face reddened – a seemingly frequent occurrence around her. “I… reacted badly,” he said, looking away from her and at the flybo. “This is important to me.”
“You don’t say!” she exclaimed. “Come on, did you really think I’d take something and not give it back? Besides, it’s not like there’s anything embarrassing in there.” She gestured to his pack. “Wouldn’t you have done the same?”
“Probably,” he admitted. “Although I’d have put it back.”
“That’s sneakier!”
He took a step back. “You’ve got a point.”
“That thing–”
“It’s a flybo.”
“Your flybo caught my attention. I was just looking at it.”
“Doesn’t even work half the time.” He threw it up and caught it. “They mess up when others are around, but this was always the only one.” He cursed quietly. “Look – it was stupid of me.”
She stepped closer and punched him light-heartedly on the shoulder. “It was! Well, we’re up now, thanks to you. Hungry?”
“I’ve already had a small snack,” he admitted, following her through to the main cabin.
“First, you’re accusing me of stealing, and then you’re eating without me! Tolren – what’s happened to you?” she asked jovially.
15
OBSERVED REVOLUTION
They were both sitting and watching the stars through the glintsparse window. Seremend was in the main seat, and Tolren sat a little way back, on the floor. Their long conversation was intermixed with pauses as they mused over everything.
“Look… I’m sorry,” Tolren said, suddenly. “About before.”
“It’s okay.”
Tolren exhaled deeply and looked down. “I overreacted.”
“Don’t apologise,” she said, amicably. “I’m just glad we’re here, together.”
Another pause threatened to descend, until Seremend turned to face him, and said lightly, “Hard to tell if we’re moving, isn’t it? D’you think the ship will take us back?”
“Back?”
“Back to where it took us from.” She swept her arm dramatically towards the spacescape. “Somewhere there.”
“I hope not,” he said. “I don’t think so. What’d be the point?”
“Perhaps we’re going somewhere interesting.” She turned again and flashed him a delighted smile, then looked back. “Or just drifting. Waiting for something to come to us.”
They sat in silence until Seremend broke the pause again.
“Can you still use it?”
“What?”
“Your Alexis-ring.”
“How did you–”
“Seriously? Everyone on Lillea would have had them, come on! Before you all realised how dangerous they were. Too rich for your own good.”
“Not everyone’s like that there,” he said, quietly.
She carried on. “Unless I’m wrong… but you didn’t know how to use a compression unit, so I doubt I am. And that toy… what did you call it… a flybo? Looks very valuable, but it’s not particularly fancy. Strange how the rich have things like that, isn’t it?”
He looked at her cautiously. “I would play with it, with my friend.”
“It was his?”
Tolren turned away.
“Fine,” she said. “You don’t trust me yet, I get it.” She moved off the seat to sit on the floor beside him. “Want to know where I got the connection sphere?”
He nodded noncommittally.
“I found it. And before you go assuming anything – no, I didn’t steal it. It was just lying there.”
“How come?”
“To start with, I’d heard rumours of an unlocked ship just waiting to be… Other people had taken a look for themselves, but it was still there. It hadn’t been taken by anyone. I was curious, thought I’d find out for myself.” She broke off and Tolren looked up. She was holding the connection sphere out for him to look at. “This was next to the ship, believe it or not. Just lying on the ground. I only happened to see it because I nearly tripped over the thing. Couldn’t believe my luck!”
He raised an eyebrow. “On the ground?”
She looked at him disparagingly. “Why would I make that up? Anyway, there’re lots of people who could really use this. Where I’m from, you get by with a smattering of different techs – whatever’s available. It wouldn’t be about trying to connect with a new piece of Alliance tech, just making what we already have work.”
“Can’t have been as bad as Nirloden,” he said automatically.
“It was Nirloden,” she said, ignoring his surprise. “This thing could have been very, very useful – if we weren’t stuck here.” She laughed. “Only problem is, it doesn’t work. No wonder it was thrown away. I’ve no idea if it’s fixable.”
“I’m sorry,” he stuttered. “About Nirloden, I didn’t mean anything–”
She waved her hand. “So, I walked into the ship… this ship, obviously, and the rest is… well, the entrance hatch closed, and here I am. Same as you, I suppose.”
She waited for him to respond.
“Or not the same as you.”
“For me…” He looked down. “I begged the ship to take me.”
“Why’s that?”
Tolren did not reply, instead staring intently at the left side of the curved window. Seremend played with the connection sphere in her hand. “Fine, you don’t have to–”
“Look!” He pointed.
She did, and gasped.
A long, dark structure had appeared outside the ship, blocking out the stars.
“What is it?” Tolren asked, jumping to his feet and moving right up to the glintsparse. Seremend squeezed next to him, pressing her face against the window.
“It’s like a… spike?
”
“A ship shaped like that?” Tolren asked. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Neither have I.”
“There’s the end!” Tolren exclaimed – pointing almost directly in front of them. They craned their necks to look for the other end, but the spike continued for as far as they could see, stretching past them and disappearing into the gloom.
“It’s coming closer,” Seremend whispered. They waited in silence as the structure’s features became more visible. It was not black, but a dark silvery colour, with strange linear and circular grooves adorned across its surface. “What are those?” Seremend asked, nodding further down the spike. “Windows?”
Tolren nodded. “Looks like it.”
“D’you think there’re others there?” She craned her neck to look down the rest of the spike. “I wish we were closer.”
“It’s moving,” Tolren said. “It started higher… It’s moving–”
“It’s coming directly towards us. It’s going to hit us!” Seremend screamed.
Tolren instinctively wrapped his arms around her, and they knelt down. A faint shadow swept through the main cabin. They stood back up slowly.
“Must have gone right past us,” Seremend said.
Tolren turned to face down the length of the ship. “Did we join with it?”
Seremend stared in the same direction. “You think that’s what the hatch at the end’s for?”
“Could be.”
Seremend walked forwards. “Wait,” Tolren said, as she waved him to come as well, and he joined her. “It might not be safe.”
“We’ll find out sooner or later anyway. Come on.”
The large hatch at the back appeared the same, still resolutely closed.
“Nothing,” Seremend muttered. She placed her ear to the hatch, paused, and shook her head. “Nothing at all.”
They continued looking around the hatch area for some time.
“What’s the point?!” Seremend said, exasperatedly. “I mean, what’s going on? Is this a game?”
He touched her shoulder gently. “Something has to happen soon.”
“It’s the not knowing. That’s what’s…”
The floor beneath them began to shudder, as though heavy machinery was in operation. Then the walls and everything else started to rumble too.