by M J Dees
"How do we know this is not a trick?" asked Sevan.
"Use your marbles, Sevan. I have had plenty of opportunities to dispose of you and yet you are still here. Trust me."
"Won't the president know we are going to Aitne, he might send word ahead and try to stop us?"
"Not if we get to them first. Daxu? Can you connect me to Aitne?"
"Straight away," Daxu headed for the communications panel and handed Barnes a communicator.
"This is the executive ship of chief officer Barnes," Daxu said.
"Prison mine Aitne," came a voice.
"Leader Barnes wishes to speak with the Chief Warden."
"One moment."
There was static on the line for a couple of moments.
"Chief Warden Pequan," a voice interrupted the static.
"Pequan? This is Barnes. I'm on my way to Aitne now. When I get there, I need to collect two inmates in your care," Barnes nodded to Sevan to give him the names.
"Ay-ttho San An Wan and Tori D'Veloo," Sevan spoke close to the communicator.
"Did you get that Pequan?" Barnes asked.
"Yep. You might want to wait till the first one wakes up. We're not going to wake her."
Sevan laughed.
"Another thing Pequan. There was an attempt on my life at Future, it's been overrun by the resistance. I would advise you to ignore any messages from Future, especially if they claim to be from President Man."
"Understood."
Barnes nodded at Daxu who ended the communication.
"Let's hope that does the trick," said Barnes. "And let's hope that your friend is already awake before we get there. Daxu, can you get me the looter settlement on Daphnis?"
"I'll try."
"Otherwise just get me my platoon leader in the concession there."
While Daxu was trying to contact Daphnis, Barnes said he would get something. He returned with a device which Sevan recognised as the mechanism the professor had used to communicate with the looters.
"I have your platoon leader," Daxu said.
"Vorta? I'm on my way to Daphnis, can you communicate with the looters? Get them to have the Mastery of the Stars ready by the time we get there."
Sevan couldn't hear Vorta's replies but he judged by the reaction of Barnes that they were positive.
*
When they arrived at Aitne, Ay-ttho and Tori were waiting for them. Ay-ttho wasn't thrilled about sharing the same ship as Barnes and was unconvinced about his claims to want to help them and to return Mastery of the Stars, repaired. She sat in a chair and sulked.
Tori was suspicious but was still eager to help.
"Warden Pequan said he had received no communications from Future," said Barnes. "I wonder what President Man is playing at?"
"Maybe he has his hands full with the exodus," said Daxu.
"He doesn't have hands," said Sevan. "He's a ball of gas."
They wasted no time but left straight away for Daphnis.
*
As they approached Daphnis, Ay-ttho was cheered up by the sight of the Mastery of the Stars in orbit. Daxu brought the ship in to dock alongside and locked the doors in place.
When the doors opened Platoon Leader Oggan Vorta was waiting. Ay-ttho rushed past him onto the Mastery of the Stars.
"Ron!" she shouted as she entered the ship.
"Welcome back," the unmistakable voice of Ron replied.
Ay-ttho's relief was obvious.
"Any news from President Man?" Barnes asked his platoon leader.
Vorta shook his head.
"No communication from the republic at all?" It surprised Barnes to see Vorta shaking his head once more. "Sevan? You, Tori and Ay-ttho take Mastery of the Stars to the Doomed Planet and report back to me if you find anything. Daxu? Pelou? Do you want to go with them or do you want to stay?"
"I'll stay here if you don't mind, Barnes," said Daxu. "I have a lot of catching up to do since we last met."
"Right, well no time to lose. You get off and let me know as soon as you reach the Doomed Planet."
Sevan felt awkward, wondering whether he should thank Barnes. He just nodded before turning to join Tori and Ay-ttho who were already on board the Mastery of the Stars and were on their way to the bridge.
"Hello Ron," said Sevan as he walked through the corridors.
"You took your time," Ron joked.
"I got sidetracked," said Sevan. "I suppose you want me on the weapons system do you?"
"I think Tori can take that role."
"Oh great, cheers. What would you like me to do?"
"You can just relax, Sevan."
"Thanks."
Sevan slumped in a spare chair on the bridge and contemplated his return to his home planet, the Doomed Planet. He hadn't felt very welcome there when he left but he was looking forward to going back even if he couldn't be sure what he would do when he got there.
They passed through the first portal and in the distance; Sevan could see the black hole he had imagined would swallow him. It was only once they had passed through the second portal that Ay-ttho noticed that something was wrong.
"What is it Ron?" she asked.
"It's not there."
"What's not?"
"Nothing. Nothing is there."
"Nothing?"
"Nothing."
"What do you mean, Ron? Do you mean Tomorrow has gone? Have they moved the station?"
"No...well...yes. The station is gone. Tomorrow has gone, but so has the planet."
"What do you mean?"
"The planet, the Doomed Planet. It's not there anymore."
As they drew closer to where the Doomed Planet had been they realised it was true, the planet had gone.
"It must be a mistake. Have you checked the coordinates?" said Ay-ttho.
"There's nothing wrong with the coordinates," said Ron. "We are in the right place but it's not here."
"Do you think the president got here first?" Sevan asked.
"Sevan you are so naive," said Ay-ttho. "Ron, establish contact with Barnes."
"Putting you through."
The communications panel crackled.
"Sevan, so good to hear from you. Are you missing me already?" it was the voice of Barnes.
"The Doomed Planet is not here anymore," the urgency in Sevan's voice was clear. "Do you think the president got here first?”
Sevan could hear Barnes laughing through the crackles.
"Ah, Sevan. You make me laugh. I know it's not there. It hasn't been there for a while. I destroyed it with Tomorrow while you were messing around in that medical ship of mine. I'm on Tomorrow now, we are getting ready to destroy Daphnis, if you hurry you might just arrive in time to see the fireworks."
"You lied to me."
"What amazed me is that you believed me," Barnes laughed.
"Why? It doesn't explain why you didn't just kill us, again."
"You had me outnumbered on Future but I was having such a good time lying to you I thought I'd let it play out. The thought of you seeing that your planet had been destroyed was too good to resist. I'll kill you another day, Sevan. Don't worry."
"No, you're not Barnes," Sevan filled with rage. "I will find you and I will kill you."
Again, Sevan could hear Barnes laughing through the crackles.
"Turn that off, Ron," Sevan demanded.
The crackles stopped.
"What now?" asked Tori.
"Now we go and kill Barnes," said Ay-ttho.
*
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CHAPTER 1: FIRST IMPACT
Sevan was not happy. He sat on the bridge of the freighter Mastery of the Stars and looked out at where his home planet should have been.
"How does Barnes destroy an entire plant?" said Tori, once a Republic trooper, now sitting in the weapons seat on the bridge. The same seat Sevan held before Tori arrived. Sevan is still angry that his seat on the bridge was given to Tori.
"The space station Tomorrow has enough firepower to destroy a planet and now Barnes has taken it to Daphnis," said Ay-ttho in the pilot's seat.
Sevan had no problem with Ay-ttho sitting in the pilot's seat. Sevan was no pilot, the scratched metal on the side of the Mastery of the Stars bore testimony to his attempt to get the freighter out of a hangar the first time he had attempted to escape from Barnes.
He no longer had any desire to escape. Sevan wanted to find Barnes and kill him in revenge for destroying his home planet, and he knew that Ay-ttho shared his desire.
"Even if we can get to Daphnis before he destroys it, how do you intend to stop him? He has the largest space station in the system and there are three of us in an old freighter," said Tori.
"Four if you count Ron," said Ay-ttho, referring to the ship's navigational computer.
"Thank you," said Ron.
"How could you believe Barnes' ridiculous story?" Ay-ttho complained to Sevan.
"It wouldn't have mattered if I hadn't," Sevan protested. "You heard him, he had already destroyed the Doomed Planet when we were messing around on that medical ship with your brother."
"He wasn't my brother."
"Well, if I hadn't had to rescue you I wouldn't have had to leave the planet."
"And a great job you did."
"Well how else did you expect to get off that prison planet? Do you think we could have done that without Barnes?"
"Stop fighting, you two," Tori interrupted. "None of this makes any sense. Barnes has had many opportunities to kill us and yet he keeps letting us go. Why?"
"Yeah," Ay-ttho agreed. "I don't buy this whole wanting to see us suffer deal."
"What about President Man?" asked Tori.
"What about him?" said Ay-ttho.
"Do you think he and Barnes are doing all this together?"
"How should I know?" Ay-ttho complained.
"I've just realised something," said Sevan, staring out of the observation window back to where his home planet should be. “The Giant Cup is gone.”
"You know it was never a giant cup?" asked Ay-ttho referring to the silvery moon which Sevan's people on the Doomed Planet worshipped as the giant cup of an unseen deity.
"I know, but still," Sevan felt a bond with the Giant Cup even if it wasn't actually a giant cup. He had seen it in the sky his whole life.
"I guess the Doomed Planet has lived up to its name," Tori joked, but his smile dropped when he saw Sevan's angry expression. "Sorry."
"I don't understand why Barnes would destroy his own creation. I mean, we were all created by Barnes," Sevan mused.
"What did you say BARNES meant again?" Tori asked.
"Daxu said it stood for Biological Augmentation Replicator and Nano-Emulation System," said Sevan.
"Who'd have thought Barnes was a machine?"
"Well, he's not anymore. He created the biological version of himself as an experiment before creating us."
"What do you think has happened to Daxu?"
"Barnes has probably already killed him," said Sevan.
"He wouldn't kill his own creator would he?"
"It wouldn't be the first time. Daxu went into hiding in the first place because the Corporation was trying to kill him."
"The Corporation isn't Barnes though is it?" Tori argued.
"Barnes is the Corporation these days."
"So what are we going to do?" asked Tori again.
"We will kill Barnes," Said Ay-ttho.
"But how?" said Tori. "Like I said before, the three of us are no match for the Tomorrow station."
"I have an idea," said Ay-ttho. "We might not get to Barnes but I think I might know someone who can. Ron, set a course for Pandoria."
"Pandoria? Are you sure?" Ron was surprised.
"I'm sure. Take us to Pandoria," said Ay-ttho getting out of the chair. "I'm going for a rest."
"What's at Pandoria?" Sevan asked.
"Pandoria is the region's cesspit of scum," said Ron. "We can find all the worst of the worst there. If you want to do something horrible or illegal, Pandoria is where you will find help for hire."
"How are we going to hire anyone?" Sevan wondered. "We have nothing."
"Except the ship," said Tori.
"No, not the ship," Sevan and Ron said in unison.
"Then what?" asked Tori.
"I don't know," said Sevan. "Ask Ay-ttho. It's her idea. I wouldn't wake her up though."
"Of course not," Tori laughed. "You should have seen the mess she made on Aitne when they tried to wake her before she was ready."
"I was there, remember?"
"Oh, yeah." Tori was lost in his thoughts for a moment. "Did you get the chance to ask Barnes why he made you all shades of turquoise and us shades of purple?"
"No," said Sevan, remembering the prejudice that had been shown to those with bluer shades of turquoise by those with greener shades. None of that mattered now that he had destroyed them. "Tori? Do you think the fact that you are a redder shade of purple helped you to get promotion over those with a bluer shade?"
"Of course."
"Why is that?"
"Just the way it is," said Tori.
Sevan wondered why Barnes built such a prejudice into his creations.
"If you’d like to get some rest, too," said Ron. "I'll wake you when we reach Pandoria."
"Sounds like a good idea," said Tori and they both retired to the crew's quarters.
*
Rain was falling heavily on the observation window as Ay-ttho brought the Mastery of the Stars to rest in the only freighter park they could find that had spaces.
“Is there some kind of convention going on?” Sevan asked.
“Pandoria is always popular,” said Ay-ttho.
Wind howled inside the ship as she opened the doors.
“Wear these,” she said, handing Sevan and Tori large work jackets.
“They’re bright orange,” Sevan complained.
“Well, at least we won’t lose you. Take these.”
She handed Sevan and Tori a headset each comprising a tank with nozzles which reached to their air inlets.
“They will help you breathe in Pandoria’s atmosphere,” said Ay-ttho. “It’s not too different to the Doomed Planet but this will stop you feeling ill.”
“It doesn’t stop me from looking like I’ve lost my marbles,” Sevan complained.
As they left the ship, Sevan comforted himself with the thought that at least the headset and jacket would offer some protection from the rain which was falling steadily.
“Should I worry about the rain?” he asked.
“Relax, it’s far safer than the
rain on the Concession. Pandoria is not that polluted. It is the legal industries which pollute the most.”
Ay-ttho went off to negotiate with the owner of the freighter park. It looked like a fungus with four stubby feet and at least a dozen tentacles for arms. Its eyes, of which there were several, hung from stalks which extended from a stem which came out of what Sevan imagined must be its mouth. On top of the stem sat what looked like an upside down flower which seemed to shelter it from the rain.
“Do you think we can trust it with the Mastery of the Stars?” Sevan asked Ay-ttho when she came back.
“Don’t worry, Ron can look after himself,” she said.
Sevan was less than convinced about that, given their recent experience with the Looters on Daphnis.
“How do you communicate with that thing?” Sevan pointed to the freighter park owner.
“You are full of questions today, aren’t you?” Ay-ttho complained. “Everyone understands the language of the Republic credit.”
“Where did you get credits from?”
“I don’t have any.”
“So, how are we going to pay it?”
“We can’t. We must win the credits.”
“How?”
“In a game. Goodness Sevan, you can be very slow sometimes.”
Sevan looked at Tori for support but he just shrugged.
The freighter park was on the outskirts of a settlement which comprised a collection of ramshackle constructions clustered together, separated only by a network of muddy streets.
Ay-ttho approached one of the first constructions where a teardrop shaped creature was hanging from the entrance. It was using one of its two tentacles to place small objects into holes on its side. Occasionally, a shower of debris would shoot out of one hole and litter the entrance. It became agitated as Ay-ttho approached and a flowery dish pointed towards each of them.
“Lopez?” Ay-ttho asked once she had got close.
The creature did not answer, it pointed its tentacles further down the muddy street towards the centre of the settlement.
“Who’s Lopez?” Sevan asked as he followed Ay-ttho further into the settlement.
“Sevan, if you ask me one more question, it will be the last question you ever ask.”