by J. J. Green
“I can’t remember,” Jas replied. “I think I met some beings, and they told me something. There were also some other things that were trying to keep me there, and a fight. And then I was back here. But that’s it. Everything else is just a few memories of the run. I’ve no idea if I met the Paths, and if I did, I have no idea what they told me.”
“Ah, I see,” said Martha. “That is disappointing. No doubt an effect of the drug. However, several doses remain. Though it is probably now too late for any information we glean to help in the current Shadow battle, we could find out something to be used in the future. Perhaps we can try again.”
“I don’t think it’s going to help,” Jas said.
“That may or may not be the case,” said Martha. “We will never know unless we try.”
“I really don’t think there’s a lot of point,” said Jas. “Look.” She pointed to the corner of the medical center were the Paths had been placed. It was empty. The Paths had gone.
Chapter Eight
Sleeping wasn’t easy for Jas at the Ganymede Outpost. A chill penetrated from the surrounding rock ice that the station’s inadequate heating system couldn’t dispell, and the government-issue bedding was no compensation. Earth’s Global Government clearly hadn’t spent much funding on the station. To them, it must have been only a handy strategic spot in case of an attack from outside the Solar System. The Government had claimed the place, left its stamp, and then forgotten about it.
But it was more than the cold that was keeping Jas awake that night. Every time she closed her eyes she felt disoriented, as if she were floating in zero-g. Her Martian childhood and long years of visiting other planets had accustomed her to sleeping in gravity lower or higher than Earth’s, so she knew it wasn’t Ganymede’s weak gravity that was causing the dizziness. She guessed the sensation was an after-effect of the myth.
She could hardly remember anything of the run, as it was called. Mostly all she could remember was a sense of perfect peace and happiness—joy, even. She could see how hard it would be to resist taking another dose of the illegal narcotic, and another, until the desire for myth became all-consuming. Yet she knew that there was something, or rather someone, who stood in the way of that ever happening to her. Happy or sad, she didn’t want to leave her reality behind while there was still a possibility of being reunited with him.
Pulling her coverlet over her shoulders, she turned on her side, closed her eyes and tried to go to sleep. But her feet were icy. Her cover was too short for her long body. She pulled up her knees, turned onto her other side and tried once more to sleep. Finally, she drifted into a doze.
Behind her eyelids, colors began to shift and swirl. The sensation of floating returned, but Jas was so tired that she managed to ignore it and slipped farther toward unconsciousness. The shapeless, unmoving sack bodies of the Paths appeared in her mind. Only they were no longer motionless. They were moving, spinning around her. Then, the colors behind them began to darken, and a sense of dread crept up on Jas.
The darkness felt significant, though in her fogged mind, she didn’t know why. The Paths’ movements became agitated, as if they wanted to leave but lacked sufficient physical control. The colors continued to deepen until they were almost black. Jas shared the Paths’ fear, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it. Her body refused to obey her mind, and she was forced to remain still. Her mouth moved, but her vocal cords would not create any sound.
As well as deepening their hues, the colors—nearly black by then—seemed to encroach. Something terrible was about to happen, and there was nothing Jas could do about it. Suddenly, the darkness was upon the Paths. Jas struggled against invisible bonds to help them, but in a moment they were gone, devoured by the pitch black cloud.
With horror, she realized the cloud had turned its attention to her.
At last, Jas’ body responded to her mind’s pleas, her bonds snapped, and she sat up abruptly, hitting her head on the low overhang. She gasped and winced, putting her hand to her brow.
What had that been about? she wondered. Then some of the content of her encounter with the beings in her run began to filter through to her. She couldn’t remember exactly what they’d said, or even if they’d said anything at all, but she remembered the essence of their meaning. She finally understood that the benevolent beings had been Paths, and that they’d been trying to tell her something important.
Jas leapt up and ran barefoot into the corridor. She hammered on the door to Sayen’s room, which was next to her own, forgetting that there was a door chime.
“Sayen, wake up! We have to contact the Council. We have to warn them.”
After a moment, the door slid open. Sayen was sitting up in her bunk in the darkened room, her cropped blonde hair sticking up at the back. As she turned on the light and smoothed down her hair, Jas went in and repeated herself, adding, “The Paths told me during my run that there are Shadows on both sides of the battle, and if we seem to be winning the Shadows are going to reveal themselves and turn on their shipmates.”
“Krat. Are you sure? How do you know? How come you didn’t remember earlier?”
“I don’t know. It was probably the myth addling my brain. This all came to me just now as I was falling asleep. We have to contact the Council and warn them. Sayen, what about Carl? What if his copilot is a Shadow?”
“Okay, okay. You’re right. We have to tell the Council.”
Martha and the other Council officers had returned to wherever they’d come from to continue their work while the humans got some much-needed rest. They’d said it was too early to decide what to do with the humans as they hadn’t given up hope that a myth run might still yield information about the Shadows.
Sayen swung her legs down and got up. Together, they ran to the operations room of the station, which was staffed by a corpulent administrator Jas hadn’t seen before. As they went inside, the man took his feet off his desk and leaned forward, his belly hanging between his knees. “Hey, you aren’t supposed to be here.”
“We have to contact the Council immediately,” Jas said. “Please, open a line to the one called Martha, who was here today.”
“Can’t do that,” the man said. “You have to get permission, and you won’t for a line. It’s too expensive. I can send a packet if you go through the proper channels.”
“No, this is urgent,” said Jas. “We need a direct line.”
“No way. It’s not happening. Do you know how much energy that takes? Nearly as much as the station produces. It’s out of the question. What’s this about, anyway? Nothing could be that urgent. The Council was only here a couple of hours ago.”
“There’s no time to argue,” exclaimed Jas. She approached the man, her tall frame towering over him. “Open a line.”
The administrator’s thick neck bent back as he looked up fearfully at the Martian.
“Jas, it’s okay,” Sayen said, pulling her friend away from the daunted man. “Sir, it’s a matter of life and death, not just for humans, but for the entire galaxy. Please, open a line.”
The man rubbed his neck and looked from the red-haired Martian to her diminutive friend. “Well, that’s a bit different, isn’t it? Why didn’t you tell me that in the first place? I’ll just contact the—”
“You’ll contact the Council officers who were here today,” said Jas. “Now.”
Shaking his head, the man activated his interface with a swipe of his fingertips and pressed the screen in several places. He hesitated and glanced at Jas’ towering figure before giving a final prod. The station’s lights dimmed.
“Told you this would take us to capacity,” he said. “I hope your message really is as important as you make out or you’ll get me into a lot of trouble.”
Above the screen, a hologram of the golden head of Martha appeared. Her mouthparts were moving, but no sound was coming out.
“Whoops,” the administrator said, and he pressed the screen again.
“We appear to
be having a communication problem,” said Martha. “Could you please repeat your message?”
“The Paths told me there are Shadows on both sides,” blurted Jas. “Both sides of the battle. I couldn’t remember after my run, but it came to me just now. I’m sure it’s true. Please, tell the Unity commanders immediately.”
“You are positive?” Martha asked. “Humans dream, do they not? Are you sure that this is not a product of your imagination, filling in gaps in your memory?”
“I’m certain of it. Please, please tell them.”
“The battle has been progressing for some time, and there has been no sign of what you say, but, very well, I will pass on your message with all haste.”
“Thank you,” said Jas. “And one more thing. I want to be there too. I want to take part. Please let me fight in the battle, because I think it’s far from over.”
Chapter Nine
Sayen and Phelan were saying a tearful goodbye, and Jas stood with her back toward them, trying not to intrude. She was facing the bare wall of the meeting room, where Martha had said she would open a Gateway. The Council had agreed to Jas’ request to join the reinforcements preparing to join the battle with the Shadows. Her background in security smoothed her way. They’d also accepted Sayen on the basis of her space navigation skills and her modified body. But untrained personnel like Phelan, Martha had said, were better off defending their home planets, where their knowledge of the local environment and population was invaluable.
Phelan had argued that Sayen should return to Earth with him aboard the Bricoleur. The pain and indecision in Sayen’s eyes was clear to see, but in the end she’d decided to fight the bigger fight, saying that her ability to navigate across space was more useful to the galactic effort. Dr. Sparks had elected to take his chances waiting things out on Ganymede.
At one time, Jas would have been glad that she didn’t have those ties that were so painful to sever, but in her case that was no longer true. In fact, she was guiltily aware that her drive to join the Shadow battle had less to do with her desire to help defeat them—though that was important to her too—and more to do with her need to find Carl.
Sayen came over and stood beside her as the green motes sparked into existence in the air in front of them. Jas had already said goodbye to Phelan, but she glanced over her shoulder for a final farewell. Sayen’s brother was leaving the room, his head and shoulders bowed.
The Ganymede Outpost had arranged for a pilot to fly the Bricoleur to Earth. Now that the Global Government had been forced to officially acknowledge the Shadow presence, military forces had been mobilized to repel the invasion. Though it had annoyed her mightily at the time, Jas hoped that she would see Phelan throwing his baseball at the ceiling over and over again at some point in the future.
Neither Jas nor Sayen were taking anything with them to the Unity reinforcements rendezvous point. They had nothing to take but the clothes they’d printed aboard the Bricoleur. The green dust of the Gateway began to coalesce. Jas shivered. She would be glad to leave Ganymede Outpost behind, for more than one reason.
“Did you recognize the name of the place that Martha mentioned when she agreed to let us fight in the battle?” she asked Sayen.
“Yeah, I’ve heard of it.”
“Is it hot there?”
“As hot as they want to make it, I guess,” Sayen replied. The Gateway spun faster.
“Huh? They have climate control?” Jas asked.
“Aboard the Camaradon? Of course.”
“Aboard? I thought we were going to a planet. You mean it’s a—”
“Step through now,” came a voice from the other side of the Gateway.
Jas walked into the green swirls. She could see nothing but emerald light. One of her feet seemed to step onto nothing, and then she was through. Her other foot hit a hard, scuffed metal floor.
“Keep walking,” barked a voice. “Out of the way. Move it.”
Jas withdrew her gaze from the distant walls and ceiling, myriad of shuttles, and plentiful groups of aliens, closed her gaping mouth and did as she was told. She walked through an archway scanner and past a Unity soldier who was reading the scanner results on an interface. She turned her attention to the a massive starship shuttle bay the Gateway had brought her to.
Sayen appeared behind her, and together they went in the direction indicated by the Unity soldier manning the exit. As they went toward a line of waiting aliens, Jas looked over her shoulder at the Gateway. More creatures from around the galaxy were stepping through and following them as ordered by the soldier.
“Move up,” instructed the creature who was monitoring the end of the line. At the front was another alien, checking an interface. They stood patiently at the end of the line of new recruits. Jas hadn’t seen such a range of galactic life all in one place before. Her attention was also taken by their surroundings.
The bay was bigger than anything she’d ever seen. It was bigger than any starship she’d ever worked aboard, in fact. Thirty or forty huge shuttlecraft of a military type were parked down each side. These vessels had no fancy decorations or frills. They were utilitarian craft, not designed to impress with their looks. Several of the shuttles bore the marks of attacks. Repair crews were at work fixing the damage, roughly patching the holes and replacing scorched and melted areas of metal.
Elsewhere in the bay, teams of new recruits were being allocated weapons and put through hasty drills. The Gateway Jas and Sayen had traveled through closed, and the last of the newcomers walked, slid, or hopped to the end of the line.
“It’s quite something, isn’t it?” Sayen said, her gaze also roving the massive room. “Biggest ship in the Unity fleet, I heard.”
“You knew about this ship?” asked Jas.
“Gee, don’t you ever watch the vidnews?”
“Step up,” said the soldier processing the recruits. They’d reached the front of the line.
“Name, origin, and background,” the alien said. It was a quadruped with two prehensile pincers on either side of double orifices in its head. Around its neck hung what seemed to be a translator, for its voice broadcast from the device. The soldier held an interface in its pincers.
It repeated, “Name, origin, and—”
“Jas Harrington from Earth. I worked as chief of security on prospecting starships. I want to speak to someone in authority.”
“Chief of security? Good. We can certainly use you. Ever commanded defense units?”
“Yes, but—”
“Even better. Go to the corner of the bay next to the doors to the take-off zone and ask for Lieutenant Yeroch. He has a squadron of units and no idea what to do with them. Here. Take this.” It handed her a device similar to the one hanging from its neck. The alien turned to Sayen. “You. Name, origin and—”
“Wait,” Jas said. “I have to speak to someone in authority right away.” She looked over the alien’s head to other figures in uniform moving around the bay, but she didn’t know which rank the symbols on their uniforms indicated.
“Top right corner of the bay,” said the alien. “That’s an order, soldier.”
“Jas,” said Sayen, “we told the Council what the Paths said. Let them deal with it.”
The alien repeated to Sayen, “You. Name, origin, and background.”
Jas set off as instructed. Sayen was probably right. The Council would tell the Unity of the potential danger. No one here was likely to take her seriously anyway. She was just another recruit. But whatever happened, she was surely going to keep a close eye on everyone around her.
It was a long walk to the corner of the bay. When Jas looked back at the line of recruits, she saw that everyone had disappeared. She wondered where Sayen had been sent, and with a lurch of her stomach she realized that, like Carl, her friend was also on her way to a dangerous fight. Only with Sayen, she hadn’t even said goodbye.
Whoever was in charge of the defense units was clearly having a hard time controlling them. On her way to
her destination, she came across several units wandering around aimlessly and getting in the way of the repair crews. She told them to follow her, and the part-organic androids dutifully marched along behind her.
By the time she arrived at the corner of the bay, Jas had collected seven units of varying models and specs. Another group of the towering androids were standing together as she approached, and she spotted an amorphous creature made of a transparent jelly-like substance among them. All the creature’s internal organs were visible, including the inner structures of its four eyes, which on the surface looked disconcertingly human.
“What are you doing with my defense units?” the creature screeched. A regular human voice had broadcast the words in an even tone from its translator, but the life form’s own high-toned speech almost overwhelmed the English. Jas wasn’t sure if it was as angry as it sounded or if that was just how it talked.
“I found them roaming around while I was on my way here,” she replied. “I thought I should bring them with me as they don’t seem to know what they’re supposed to be doing.”
“How did you make them obey you?” screeched Lieutenant Yeroch.
Jas replied, puzzled, “I just...told them what to do.”
“Huh, they won’t do anything I tell them. I commanded them to wait around for a while until we found them a leader, and half of them walked off.”
“They did what you told them to,” said Jas. “You instructed them to wait around, so they did that as well as they could. If you want them to wait here, you have to tell them exactly that. They do just exactly what you tell them.”
“Is that so?” The creature’s voice became so high-pitched, Jas winced. “If you’re so good at it, you can take over. They’re all yours.”
Chapter Ten
Over the next couple hours, Jas inspected the defense units and got them working as a team. Some were Earth-manufactured and their organic components were human cells, which seemed to make them easier for her to manage. Others were kinds she didn’t recognize, and she had to be even more careful than usual to simplify her language to make her meaning completely clear.