Chapter 10: Deepa

Martha tapped the activation sensor and established connection. Geha did not use an Avatar connection.

“Martha, I managed to get away from the ones that tried to capture me again, but this is not why I am calling. I wanted to let you know that I am trying to get back into Freespace.”

“Geha, Sister is alive.”

“I am glad, it appears I gathered enough of her and it appears there was enough life in her for them to keep her alive. What will they do to her once she can be regrown?”

“Geha, she called me. She is hiding on Earth. It appears she somehow managed to restore herself.”

That was news to Geha, Martha instantly noticed. Then her blonde friend said. “You have been real friends indeed, but neither she nor I belong on this side of the Union. Your authorities have kept me in some kind of facility, no doubt to eventually drag me before a Union court, charging me with piracy and all. You know what they do to pirates, right?”

Martha nodded, not really realizing she did. “What does this mean? We promised to help each other.”

“Sometimes I think letting go is the best help. There is nothing here for me, there is nothing for you where I want to be and I doubt there will ever be anything anywhere for Sister. I’ve made up my mind, not that I know how to get into Freespace.”

“Geha, we...”

The bronze-skinned woman slowly shook her head and interrupted her friend. “It’s better this way. Goodbye, Martha.”

The connection was terminated before Martha could say anything else.

Was Geha right?

To her surprise, the cabin doors that were supposedly locked, opened and Mortimer Evans stood in the door frame. “High and mighty Dr. Martha Masters, we thought we lost you and low and behold you did not end up on the Silver Swan.”

She opened her mouth and stared at the small man. “Dr. Evans, what are you talking about?”

“You claim to be so smart Dr. Masters, yet you are as naïve as they come. At first, we thought you were more dangerous than anticipated. It was believed that you saw through it all and killed Dr. Erine, but perhaps it was your farming friend. He does have a lot of expertise in Green Hell life forms after all and how to use them.”

“What are you talking about? I don’t know Dr. Erine and I want you to leave my cabin.” Martha remembered that she was a telepath. All her life she had suppressed her psionic ability, foremost because of the PSI laws and because her abilities weren’t that strong, to begin with. But ever since she had been exposed to the conditions of the Hidden Forests of her home planet, her abilities had increased. Unconsciously and out of a force of habit that had been formed in decades of neglecting her abilities, she still limited herself, but with the ominous words of the small man she did reach out. That silly little man who amused her at best when she had met him the first time now frightened her.

She recalled the odd behavior of the Ranger, the thinly veiled concern of the big black man and if she paused for a moment to think, that mysterious Dr. Erine did come to Green Hell with the specific goal to meet her.

Mortimer Evans smiled at her, but it was a cold smile. “So you are going to Earth to meet up with the Experiment, perfect.”

Her psionic abilities reached out and encountered a psionic mind shield. In itself, not an uncommon thing. A wide variety of mind shields were offered almost everywhere and completely legal, however, she remembered the training she did receive as a girl still on Phantas and could feel Mortimer’s shield was strong. While she wished she had paid more attention to these things back then, to encounter it now made her remember that Mortimer did not have one when he came to Green Hell. Back then it was accidental, as she brushed his mind while expanding her mind towards the Lightning Bolters and of course immediately focused away from the small man.

A sense of fear got hold of her. “Who are you and what do you want?”

“You know who I am, Dr. Masters. It was your report and your husband’s testimony that exposed my little white lie about my piloting abilities that ended my career with the Institute and of course the charges the Science Corps pressed. At first, I wanted revenge, but hearing you were killed by pirates was just as good. Can you imagine my disappointment to learn that you managed to survive and even come back?”

“I don’t even recall what happened to you, after that crash. Did you arrange the pirate attack?”

“Of course you don’t recall, I was unimportant and simply beneath you. As was pretty much everyone, I might add.” He rolled his eyes. “You are even dumber than I expected. You are not naïve Dr. Masters. You are blind and stupid, unable to apply even the most basic common logic. Oh, I wish I could have arranged something like that, but even if I could have why waste such resources? I would have settled for throwing you in an Ants Nest. I have very basic, perhaps even animalistic desires when it comes to you, Dr. Masters. However, there are those who are very interested in your associates. The friends you made on Alvor’s Cove. Especially the Experiment of course.”

Some of what the small man had in mind seeped past his mind shield, fueled by sexual desires, hinting at a fate she escaped even in the slave pens of Kukur Nurop. She did not realize that she was slowly moving away from the small man. “How do you know where I was? How do you know about Sister?”

“You are not serious, right? You told everyone where you have been. You approached a dozen Anti Slave groups, inquired about this Geha and the Experiment. You didn’t keep your ordeal a secret, Dr. Masters and even you should be able to realize how unique your red-skinned friend is. Was it not her they were after even while you were on your little odyssey? You claim to be a scientist, but I find your lack of curiosity quite telling. Have you not wondered why you ended up in Union Space of all places?”

Despite her fear and the frightening images that leaked past the man’s mind shield, she cursed herself for agreeing with Mortimer. Why did she not ask these questions? And he was also correct in stating that she didn’t leave out many details of her ordeal when she spoke about it. Back in her home, the first ten chapters of a book recalling her ordeal in even greater detail were stored in a simple file with the aim of publishing it.

“I’ll scream, there are others on this ship.”

“It is a big ship and those who are in charge made sure we will be undisturbed. Now, planet Earth is an old world with lots of places to hide. Where are you going to meet her?”

“She isn’t on Earth. I am meeting Sam Brown there, he knows the details.”

“Oh, you are not even a good liar. Besides, there are recording devices here in your room. Now I am going to interrogate you specially.” Mortimer produced a small Neuro Ripper.

Sam was not in the best of moods as he went to a restaurant to have a bite to eat. The Silver Swan would soon reach Spindlar Hub and he would not have much time. The next Space-Train would leave for Sol-Hub only thirty minutes after the Silver Swan was to arrive.

Sam was not even sure why he wanted to get there so fast. Charles would not arrive there any time soon, and even with his robot friend, what exactly was it he wanted to do?

The smartest thing would have been to simply take the next available trip back to Harper’s and return to Green Hell. Screw Martha and whatever she was up to, he didn’t owe her anything really. Technically, he was still Roy’s legal guardian and Roy would soon be an adult anyway. Martha had treated her son like an unwanted bio-experiment for the longest time. Paul Masters had divorced his wife and cared even less about Roy. The only member of the Masters family he cared about was on his way to becoming a Marine, making him as proud as though Roy was his own flesh and blood.

But she came to him for help, and because of his damn sense of duty and loyalty, he could not refuse.

That she was in trouble, he had no doubt; the only question was just how deep.

The Silver Swan had a great number of restaurants and eateries. The choices ranged from the finest five-star dining to full automated Vend-Matics dispensing snack food.

He didn’t feel like fancy dining but neither did he want a printed burger or something like that, so he settled for Arthur’s on D-Deck promenade.

Just as he settled into a booth and swiped the menu field active, a human man in a gray business suit simply took a seat across from Sam. The black-skinned former marine kept looking over the menu without apparent alarm and said. “You know, I’ve killed people for lesser things; I was certain I recognized your ugly mug when I boarded this fancy bucket.”

“What a surprise to see you here, Master Sergeant Brown.”

“Don’t BS me, Commander Carr. I didn’t like you much back then and we never have been the best of friends. I also do not believe in coincidences especially not when it involves you. Are you tracking me?”

“Technically not you specifically, but rather your female friend, but we do know you chased after her in Freespace and there are those who wonder just how much you know about it all.”

Sam ordered two rib sandwiches and a drink; then he looked up. “And what makes you think I will tell you anything? You are crowding my booth and you are already annoying me; don’t add to your problems by spoiling my appetite.”

“Why so hostile? You are a Marine and I am Military Intelligence, we are on the same team.”

“You and I were never on the same team and besides I am retired. Now beat it.”

The other man lost much of his false friendliness. “We are at war, Master Sergeant. You can be activated at any time and there are those who can attach you to any branch deemed necessary for the war effort. Besides we know you play with RAvE, so you are not exactly retired from everything.”

Sam put his right arm on the table, revealing his Com Unit was active. “And there are those who will hear what you just said and can overrule anything you or whoever you want can come up with.”

The man Sam identified as Major Carr didn’t like that, as was obvious in his face. “He is Navy and not a Marine, he has no jurisdiction over you.”

“Wonder what he will say, hearing this.”

“Listen, Marine. I am indeed a Commander and no matter what you think you are, I outrank you and you have been reactivated. I hereby place a gag order on you. You are not to speak about this to anyone and you are assigned to my command.”

“You have not properly identified yourself and I have not seen any official documents or orders that compel me to comply.”

Carr produced an order-chip. “Here it is. Check it out, do what you need to do to confirm its validity.”

“Until I have done so, buzz off.”

The NAVINT Commander glared at him. “We will see each other soon.” Then he got up and left.

Sam didn’t feel like eating as his meal arrived. He was not afraid of the Commander, but he knew then Martha was involved in something even deeper than he feared.

“Where have you been?” Faragon, the Drach asked as Roy returned to their dorm.

Dirmon, the Petharian also came closer. “We thought you were kicked out or something. No one knew anything, ever since you were sent to the Captain.”

Ken pointed at Roy’s rack and foot-locker. “It was so weird, especially since they didn’t move your things.”

Before Roy could even answer the first question, Mike the Tyrannous tried to keep his strong voice as quiet as possible. “You would not believe the scuttlebutt. An Attikan from Charlie swears he saw you with the Eternal Warrior himself. Complete nonsense of course and they have ridiculed him ever since.”

Roy finally managed to answer. “Captain Perrigo assigned me to a special detail; I can’t give you details guys.” Roy wasn’t exactly lying but he knew if he told them what happened they would never believe him or think of him as a fibber, but no one actually told him to keep this a secret. His recent adventure was not classified at all.

Ken grinned. “Well you didn’t miss all that much I think and tomorrow we go to the obstacle course.”

Roy said. “I must have missed something. I wasn’t here for two weeks.”

Mike shrugged. “Lots of PT, Academic Classes, more PT, Pugil Sticks, a Class on pay and paygrades, Marine Corps Hygiene, then there was a 10 k hike, and did I mention PT?”

Faragon said. “You missed PT that’s for sure.”

The call for lights out came and other recruits complained about them still talking. Not wanting to lose a minute of precious sleep they all fell quiet.

Tanya stepped into the office of her father. All dolled up and as cute as possible knowing full well that this was perhaps one of the only ways into the ice-cold black hole also known as the heart of the mega tycoon. Other than Yvonne, she was the only one who could just waltz into his office unannounced. Even Linda never went there without announcing herself.

The richest man in the known universe looked up from what appeared to be an ancient document.

There were many adjectives associated with that tall man, but no one could ever accuse him of being lazy. Her dad got up early every day and put in a solid workday. There were countless meetings, conferences, physical tours of factories, mines, and many other business ventures. He was never above talking or listening to even the lowest employee. In this aspect, SII was indeed the ‘Good Company’. Those who worked for SII were very loyal to the company, loved working for it, and never had a bad word to say about it.

He looked up and his light gray eyes with the famous black ring around the irises that some people called the coldest eyes in the universe, clearly reflected affection towards the beautiful young woman. “You coming in here like that means you want something; something I might otherwise think twice about, right?”

“It’s hard enough for a teenage daughter to pull the wool over a regular dad’s eyes. I have an immortal father, with the life experience of having had many daughters and the intellect of a Super AI; I need all the edge I can get. You noticing makes me wonder if it is working at all.”

“Of all my children, it is safe to say you are only one I consider my true and only heir. What can I do for you?”

“I came to bring a little sunshine to your office, Dad, checking on what you are up to and to give you a thank you kiss for making me aware that Roy was on Pluribus.”

“I heard you and he left the Assembly and didn’t leave our Pluribus residence for his entire two days leave.”

“We were too busy to leave, Dad.”

He sighed and the face he made was the same one every human father had made when hearing this, ever since time began. “You are serious about this Greenie, I can tell.”

“I am, Dad and you had to at least consider something like this. It was you who told me where he was. Meaning you are keeping an eye on Roy.”

“Indeed, not that this is all that easy. He went beyond my abilities to do that when he boarded the Wurgus ships. But I heard he did well, the Wurgus have applied for membership and it looks like SII will benefit by supplying them with a few necessities.”

“In return for a few exclusive contracts and patents?”

“Naturally my love.”

She came closer and pointed at the old document. “Is this related to the experiment?”

“No, love. I decided to pull the plug on our active involvement. We will continue to do research, especially into the tech side of things, but SII will not go the Necro way.”

“But others still do?”

“Yes, and they are playing with fire. A very special kind of fire.” He pointed at the yellowish parchment on his desk. “Netherworlds are real, daughter and the Final Wall is a barrier not meant to be crossed.”

“You, scruples, and moral boundaries; Dad you are surprising me.”

“Mock it, love if you must. I have no such limitations as you know, but self-preservation and knowing that there are boundaries that should not be crossed has put me to where I am.”

He gestured a high-resolution image of the galaxy into existence. “Almost four rotations ago, a society rose to technical heights far beyond anything we could even dare to imagine. In terms of technology and science they were close to the line between true godhood and the definitions of where existence as we know it ends.

What some scholars call the First Empire, spanned thousands of galaxies. In all their might, with all their advances, they paid the price for trying to breach that final wall and quickly fell.

Countless others since then, civilizations, entities with access to the Power Cosmic, and able to use it by utilizing the Will; they all tried and failed. They all fell and nothing remains.”

Tanya listened to her father, as he rarely spoke about these things and certainly to not too many others.

He saw her understanding and nodded slowly. “I heard the legend of a Techno Mage that created or perhaps became the First Necro King. I don’t know how old this Necro King is or how long he has been trying but his madness and obsession spans many millions, perhaps billions of years, Tanya. They’ve been infiltrating and infesting many civilizations and in all this time and after all these efforts, the Necros are still just a sect and have not mastered or found what they are looking for. SII will research the tech, and develop the means of defending ourselves perhaps, but we will not become a conduit for this sect or participate in it.”

“I understand father and I agree with you, but there is something alive out there: Experiment Vengeance Red. Does its existence not validate the possibility of tearing down that Final Wall?”