The guard grunted. "Your declaration is noted." He handed Sten a pink slip. "Head over to the rose building, declare your artifacts, pay your tariff, and have a safe journey."
Sten nodded. "Thank you, gentlemen." The guards let them pass without paying them any further mind.
Val gazed at the captain. "Why did you declare the artifacts you found?"
Sten chuckled. "To have declared nothing would have looked suspicious. And artifacts, though a worthy prize and some artifact hunters make an excellent living, is a specialized pursuit where the value is as primarily determined by a few eccentric collectors, recovered on commission as often as not. And even if your finds are exotic or interesting, they are rarely marked at such a high valuation that export fees will be any sort of problem. And investigators busy looking to squeeze every levy from us that they can for artifacts worth a few thousand credits at best wouldn't even fathom us of being in possession of half a billion credits worth of perfectly refined Elementium."
Halvar whistled. "When you put it like that..."
Gregor paled. "What if someone overheard us?"
Elise shook her head. "You know how unlikely listening and visual bugs are outside of the movies. The physics involved and the size of the equipment would make it obvious, and Sten checks, discretely, every time we enter our vehicle."
Gregor sighed with relief even as Sten gave a curt nod. "The tech hasn't advanced any further than what Halvar and I trained to counter as mercenaries, ancestors know how many years ago."
Halvar chuckled. "You were still green when you left, Sten, hungry to be a fighter jockey, and when the idiots wouldn't take you, you proved your worth flying for yourself."
Sten nodded. "That I did, my friend. That I did. I'm just glad you joined me when the opportunity came around."
Halvar grinned. "So am I. But feel free to ask me again, if things don't go according to plan."
Val could taste the nervous energy percolating through the party as they parked their Velimobile near scores of others, brilliant cobalt as common a color as polished chrome, a few cherry red vehicles scattered among them as well.
Sten took a moment to hold all their gazes. "Employees of Kilburten. We've had a great expedition, and you may all expect bonuses for your hard work and diligence. As soon as we've cleared customs, we'll head straight to our ship." He turned his left, grinning at the sight of a massive building of chrome and glass from which hundreds of people could be seen milling about. "Let's just be glad we're in the artifacts trade, and not shipping bulk cargo or emigrating."
Halvar nodded. "The rose building we're heading to, with its specialized assessors, always has the most efficient wait times for clearance."
And with that they proceeded to a much smaller building of exotic cathedral-like construction topped with a massive dome of bronze and rose colored glass, Val learning that the rose-colored tint was because of the crystalline structure of the translucent panels, the building predating the very colonization of the planet. The grand airy chambers and unquestionably sturdy construction made it ideal for its current use.
"It is sort of poetic," Gregor allowed. "What better place to inspect artifacts than within this archaeological wonder?"
Val, however, found it more than slightly surreal, finding himself in an ancient dwarven building with scores of humans dressed either in silk breaches and vests or tight-fitting uniforms of darkest blue.
Val frowned, feeling like something else was slightly off. The people rushing past with intent looks on their faces could be found in any human metropolis back on Earth. But there was something different about people here, besides irises of brilliant blue and gold, green and brown being far less common. It was like Val had ported into a Hollywood movie set. Everyone's skin was unusually clear, free of any visible blemish. Most everyone looked fit, healthy, and in the prime of their life.
Val turned to Gregor. The man walked with an intense, nervous stride and Val knew he was always bursting with energy, fit as could be. But with his shock white hair, he looked to be perhaps the oldest person among them.
Val frowned, turning to Sten. "Sten, everyone looks so young here!"
Sten, himself looking a handsome thirty, just shrugged. "People look the same everywhere once they grow up, Val. When age starts to affect vitality and clarity after a couple of centuries, that's when we make use of rejuvenation vats."
Gregor nodded. "Go in feeling two hundred, come out looking a perfect thirty."
Val blinked. "So people are effectively immortal?"
Gregor gave a curt shake of his head as they flowed into one of several lines, this one involving artifacts, others nearby involved with other precious items and collectibles. Val got the sense that the richest and most specialized of traders also made use of this ancient dwarven building before heading off-planet. "No, Val. Eventually the stresses of rejuvenation cause massive traumatic cascades and the abrupt degeneration of all the host's cells."
Val grimaced. "That sounds awful."
"Oh it is," Gregor philosophically assured. "But if you survive the procedure, you've regained your youth and at least a couple centuries of perfect health, before old age begins to claim you once more. Almost no one fails to survive their first rejuvenation, and most can comfortably survive three before things get... dicey."
Val blinked. "Dicey?"
Gregor shrugged. "People grow afraid, it's true. No one wants to push their luck. But as beauty fades and decrepitude sets in, most people feel a quick hot death is far better than years of rotting senility. But the longer you wait, the less vitality your body has, and the more likely you'll suffer abrupt degeneration."
Val nodded. "So basically it's a Hail Mary, and hope for the best."
Sten frowned. "An odd turn of phrase, Val, but yes. Most people would rather suffer the risks of the regeneration vat than a slow, ignoble decline. Youth or death, as the expression goes."
All of them save Val nodded at that, and then it was their turn, the bored looking inspector before them decked in darkest blue, taking a cursory examination of the artifacts Sten presented, nodding slowly several times and punching several keys into what looked to be a computer before taking a single photograph with a camera far bulkier than what Val thought a space-faring civilization should be using.
When Val asked to see the photograph, the inspector frowned and Sten glared, but the man shrugged and showed Val a highly pixelated depiction of their artifacts. Val blinked. It was worse than a fuzzy black and white, and he had seen how the man had focused on taking the picture.
Sensing the inspector's growing impatience, Val quickly nodded and stepped back.
"The fee will be 972 credits. This includes both your tariff and all docking, takeoff, and maintenance fees. Take this receipt and pay the cashier on the far side of the building. Then you may proceed to your ship."
Sten nodded his thanks, the five proceeding without another word, slipping through the crowd of bustling silks and exotic pressed fabrics like ships slicing through the waves.
A flash of some probing malevolence... then nothing. Val frowned, even as he purposefully pushed away all conscious thought, save to squeeze Elise's hand, his gaze making her pale.
"Is it still there?"
Val shook his head before slipping into the shadows of his own mind, as much the bustle and flow of the crowd as the boy walking behind them. Indeed, Val seemed to blend in so well that people's eyes would glaze right over him, Elise herself frowning and rubbing her brow before whispering to Sten.
Sten's tight expression said all that needed saying as they picked up their pace without seeming to hurry at all.
They were running out of time.
"Will that be direct or transferred?" Asked the young woman smiling at them as they handed their receipt.
Sten smiled back. "Direct, of course. Less of a headache for you, isn't it?"
She beamed, taking the shimmering coins Sten handed. "It is indeed, sir, and here is your change," she said,
handing him several coppery coins.
Val blinked, surprised to see coins in such common usage. "Cards can be hacked easier than coins," Halvar explained. "And even members of the most rigorous credit consortiums who invest in top security still find that their cards are rarely accepted outside of cosmopolitan hubs. They are very convenient for people who live and work in a single city. For the rest of us? Solid credits do the job just fine."
Val frowned. "But what about keeping your funds in a treasury or bank or other safe central location so they can't be stolen? What about merchants trading in bulk who need lines of credit and need to be able to pay and honor the same?"
Sten smiled. "All good points, Val, and this is why the black cards favored by merchants and the wealthy have triple layers of security. But as a matter of course, transactions take one or more days to settle, so a merchant will come into port, take buy and sell orders on credit, as will his associates and competitors, everyone waiting for the transfers to be finalized before completing their exchanges. Extra security measures are in place, and it is extremely hard to crack or hustle the system. However, for people who don't want to wait several days to purchase a snack or a shirt or a movie, coins are king."
Elise nodded. "The first stop a wealthy visitor or patron makes is to his credit union's local branch where he draws capital from his account. He then spends it locally and enjoys himself, while the local branch bears the burden of balancing his accounts between worlds."
Val nodded even as their pace quickened, emptying his mind as they left the ruby building and headed back to their velimobile, some part of himself smiling as Sten had to look back twice just to make sure Val was there with the rest of them before he took off for the docks proper.
"What's the plan?" Halvar's voice, all business.
"We slide past the designated parking lots. See the trio up ahead? They're obviously maintenance. Nothing special about their car, just the confidence born of long habit. No one gives them a second glance. And we do the same."
Halvar nodded. "We've paid our fees, no reason to suspect anything, and this vehicle's a rental. We can always claim idiocy later, just following the vehicle ahead of us, if we are stopped."
Val noted how the few velimobiles nearby had all pulled off at one of the designated massive parking lots filled with hundreds of such vehicles, the owners then waiting at what Val took to be bus stops, no doubt for a vehicle to pick them up and escort them directly to their spaceships. Sten was following a velimobile that looked a bit tarnished, three individuals in matching white outfits paying Sten who was tailing them no mind at all, coasting past an unguarded gate and onto a vast tarmac that must have stretched out for miles, massive ships mounted on gigantic launch platforms all aiming for the heavens at various angles, scores of vessels as far as the eye could see.
"Most of the people we saw don't own their own ships. They are passengers who purchased tickets to various destinations. See the ship right there? About to take off? Must be holding close to a thousand tourists destined for Phoebe."
Val blinked. Even in his present state, he felt something close to awe for the massive ship Halvar was pointing at, getting ready to launch at that very moment, enormous engines suddenly reverberating, a low hum resonating through Val's very teeth as the ship slowly rose, the vessel bathed in purple light Val could see was being generated by three distant structures that towered like mountains, each bigger even than the starport hub itself.
"In case you were wondering, those structures are generating a counter-resonance field, making it much easier for the passenger ship to achieve liftoff. It's why we all use the spaceport and pay the fees. Otherwise, it would be prohibitive for any but the most specialized ships to land," Halvar explained.
But Val was focused on the means of propulsion itself. It didn't seem to be using thrust, as he understood the term. There was no jet of flame roaring from the engines, only a shimmering blue glow Val was careful not to look at. No scorch marks on the ground, and none of the people or vehicles racing by were being fried to crisps. Val noted that everyone still kept a healthy distance, but nowhere near the distance that would be required for an Earth launch.
But trying to figure out the incredible physics involved as the massive spaceship straight out of his favorite science fiction flick gained altitude was the least of Val's concerns.
For he felt that strange surge again. Someone was probing for something. A pressure in the air, like the feel of a predator brushing past you in tall grass. If you startled and reacted with any kind of alarm, you were as good as dead.
Val could taste Elise's sudden alarm on the ether. Without thinking he flicked her neck, just as she had more than once in her fruitless attempts to train him, just days ago.
She started and turned to glare at Val, blinking in confusion before flashing a rueful smile. "You're right, Val, I should know better." She began taking deep breaths, closing her eyes and sinking into herself as Sten continued to drive as fast as he dared.
"And there she is," breathed a relieved Halvar as they approached a vehicle looking very much like a cross between a massive fighter jet and an old decommissioned space shuttle. It was larger than any spacecraft ever launched from Earth, though it was dwarfed by the titanic sized ships all around them. Val looked around but he neither saw nor felt anyone approaching their corner of the vast shipyard.
Sten gazed at the ship with pride. "She's a beauty, worth every credit I put into her."
Gregor nodded. "Let's head out. The sooner I'm back on Phoebe, the happier I'll be."
Nods all around at that, and almost before Val knew it, he found himself entering a world wondrous and strange, his heart racing with thoughts of spaceflight as he proceeded up the ramp before being led through compartmentalized rooms and bulkheads that reminded him very much of submarines, his friends quickly showing him where the individual quarters could be found. Complete with bedding, webbing in case artificial gravity was knocked out, old-fashioned looking monitors that Val was assured could play any audio-tale in their library with life-like sound, and not much else.
The floor was covered in surprisingly plush, wool-like carpet that had the added advantage of sticking to the bottoms of ship-approved boots, again as a precaution against artificial gravity going out. They then passed a central lounge area where the crew sometimes watched movies or otherwise socialized. Gregor then pointed to a side door, saying that's where his own lab was kept, requesting that Val accompany him there to help him set up Ava's masterwork alchemy set.
Sten grinned. "You do that, Gregor. The rest of us will be in the control room doing a rundown and pre-flight check. Show Val the rest of the ship when you're done." A quick nod and a bemused Val found himself being led by a suddenly impatient Gregor.
"Come on, Val, help me set this equipment up!" Gregor snapped, having no patience for Val acclimatizing himself to a lab far more sophisticated than anything he had ever seen in high school or the military, with everything carefully bolted down to survive the hazards of sudden g shifts and space travel. Val shrugged and did as Gregor instructed, the pair soon having Ava's remarkable collection of beakers, flasks and tubing set up just as Val remembered, Gregor then taking out strips of 'memory alloy,' a material which was both highly flexible and moldable, but when exposed to a certain temperature upon being configured in its idealized shape, would 'set' that new shape as its baseline while still maintaining its flexibility, allowing it to safely grip the entire chemistry set when all the wires were set in place and Gregor had finished heating up the memory alloy.
Gregor flashed a rare smile, nodding his head in approval. "You're a natural at this, Val. Come on, we can finish your tour later. Let's head over to the bridge and make sure we're ready for takeoff."
Val nodded, feeling his heart race. He was really doing it! Soon he would be taking off on a high powered spaceship and jumping between planets in a universe he could never have fathomed. If Gregor though his grin at all odd, he was prudent enough
to say nothing, the smile fading soon enough when Val caught sight of Sten's haunted gaze as they entered the bridge, Elise and Halvar both looking pale-faced and grim.
Gregor blanched. "Ancestor's mercy, what happened? Is our engine out of commission?"
Sten slowly shook his head. "The pre-flight check was fine."
"Then what's the problem?"
Elise locked gazes with Val. Her hands were like claws, squeezing her seat. "They know."
"Know what?" Val and Gregor said in unison.
Sten grimaced. "We've been denied the counter-resonance field boost due to 'unforeseen irregularities.' We were told to stand by for a maintenance inspection."
Gregor paled, gazing at a stone-faced Val. "But... there's no way they could know what Val carries. No way!"
"They're not after Val or contraband," Elise whispered, violet eyes as grave as Val had ever seen. "They're after me."
Halvar nodded. "We just got the message ten seconds ago. The only reason why you caught us sitting down. Now we have to decide what our next move will be."
Elise's laughter was brittle, her hand desperately clenching Sten's own. "As if we have any choice in the matter. When a Darklord has you in his sights, it's already over."
"Bullshit!" Halvar snapped. "We've made it this far without giving a damn!" He turned to Sten. "Tell me your upgrades came through! Tell me we can do at least a short jump, even without assistance."
Sten grimaced, slowly shaking his head. "There was a delay. The parts never came through, so I could never get the upgrade. Then we had to jump out of system so fast, I've had zero opportunity to arrange another attempt. The Dominion is clamping down. Even ordering those parts will get you flagged now."
Halvar swallowed, nodding. "Then we fight. We fight and we escape, or we take down as many of those bastards as we can. Come on, let's head down to the velimobile! They don't know we're on to them yet, we have no time to lose."
Sten dipped his head even as Elise began to sob. He held her close. "Be strong for me, love. Be as fierce as you have every day we have fought against all odds, you and me. I promise you, those bastards are not taking you back."
Endless Online: Oblivion's Promise Page 23