Chapter 7: Revelations Part 2

“No ... no...” Mizu said to himself. He started to laugh a bit. “This ... this is fucking nuts, right? It can’t be...”

He remembered what he learned at school. The Khmer Rouge was something that was spoken about, but it wasn’t really discussed too much. Even in the history classrooms, it was an ancient history of some other world that he never seen or touched. Only recently has Batrice society started to talk more and more about it as some great marvel of history. Politicians on the colony were beginning to voice about its greatness more and more, and that one-day Batrice would become the new great society.

“Heh ... Nah ... this is just grandma pulling one of her stunts. I liked to joke around, and now ... she is laying a fast one on me, right?”

He looked at the book again. He decided to flip the pages to 171 as his grandmother had written. Indeed, the history of Cambodia was being discussed. It described the history of the former government and the history of the Vietnam War. He flipped to the next page as it showed the Khmer Rouge as they began to move into the cities. There a person named Pol Pot would push the order to round up families from rich to poor. There, they would be pressed to farm food. He began to read the passages out loud.

“The quotas were set so high that it was physically impossible to grow that much food. The only way villages could even get close to reaching the quotas was to round up every inch of food and placed them in warehouses. The people never had a chance to eat what they grew and began to starve in the mass droves. At times the people had no other choice but to eat dirt or die. The Khmer Rouge soldiers took everything from medicine to cooking pots. Arranged and forced marriages were conducted by them. There the soldiers often raped the women.”

He flipped the next page as it began to show actual photographs. One was an entire field filled with bones and human remains. It was graphic as he silently read it to himself. The people that died were shoved into fields where the remains decomposed. They were known as the killing fields and remained a testament to the brutal destruction a single regime could do to its people. Another picture showed a temple that was filled with human skulls. The Khmer Rouge declared that Buddhism was outlawed and forced the monks to break every rule they had. Meanwhile, there was a mysterious man by the name of Pol Pot that would take the stand of a brutal dictator that was seemingly innocent as he advocated murder and destruction on his people.

“No ... no...” Mizu said as he shook his head. He grew flustered. “This has to be a lie ... this is just some joke book ... a textbook from a forgotten land. This is ... this is Martian propaganda that just happened to land on my family’s doorstep ... yeah ... it has to be.”

He closed the book as he stood up from the bed. He was trying to shake it off. To be taught something and be told that it was a lie much later was a difficult one. He took a couple of deep breaths as he turned to look at the note written by his grandmother. Then he looked at the textbook.

“There ... there has to be a way to prove that it is real ... yeah ... carbon dating,” he said. “My augmented hand has the ability to do that.”

He tapped his augmented hand as he walked up to the book. The display showed up where he selected tools. Among one of the few abilities was to begin an age tester on what he was about to touch. It would show the approximate age. He enabled the program as he pressed the palm of his hand to it. A blue light emitted as it was processing the data. Finally, it showed the final results. The book’s age was approximately 350 to 355 years old.

“No ... no, no...” Mizu said as he almost chuckled. “Not fooling me that easily. Let’s try again,” as he tapped the program. He used his other hand to turn into the section of 175^th page as he tried it again. The exact process repeated as it showed the numbers. The page was approximately 350 to 355 years old.

He closed the book as he realized that everything checked out. A single book written at the end of the 20^th century had told him that his entire world was wrong. He turned to his augmented hand as he tapped in the library history of the Khmer Rouge. The text showed up as he stood there reading from it. The Fort Batrice library alone talked about the Khmer Rouge’s success, the success of the Khmer Alliance, and the unification of the Southeast Asian nations. They succeeded in creating economic stability in the region. The land was made into a farm and agricultural paradise. The Alliance would even help create spaceships to help the exodus of Earth. It was as if he was living in some parallel universe. The only problem was that the differences were absolute polar opposites. One survived till the evacuation of Earth, and the other survived for only four years.

He closed his hand as the displayed texts and images faded away. He decided to put the letter from his grandmother back from where he found it. He then took the book and placed it underneath his bed mattress. It would have to remain hidden for now. A cold chill went through his spine. He still didn’t know how to make sense of it as he simply couldn’t believe it. He needed to relax and start to get his head together. So much had happened. Now his grandmother was gone. It was another bash into the wall for him. It even caused him to have momentarily periods where he partly laughed to himself. It was the only way for him to cope with it. He put his hand to his head.

“What do I do, brother?” Mizu asked out loud. “I need your words more than anything now. Where are you? What ... the ... fuck...”

He was still breathing hard. He could feel himself getting tired. He decided to close his eyes and try to get some rest. It would be a difficult task to achieve. Of course, if he were lucky, there wouldn’t be any dreams or nightmares that would come in its wake...

Mizu’s eyes opened up. He realized that he had dozed off. He was afraid that he had a nightmare or a dream of some sort. He got out of the bed, and his hand reached down below the bed mattress. The book was still there. It served as a permanent reminder that he didn’t have some nightmare. He pulled out his hand and even pinched himself to see that he wasn’t currently dreaming.

“It is too real...” he said to himself. “I suppose that has to be the case...”

Feeling slightly better than he was previously, he tapped his augmented hand as the projection menu came up. He saw the time. It was 1442.

“Over an hour of sleep ... ugh...”

He debated what to do with his time. He felt a little bit energized after the nap, but the realization was with him. He had a choice to simply believe what his grandmother wrote to him and accept the ancient textbook as fact or accept it as a giant fabricated lie. Perhaps it was a lie that his grandmother had mistaken as fact.

“Yeah ... it has to be something that was fabricated. Somehow, some crackpot in their grave is having a good laugh at seeing all this happen.”

He shook his head. For now, he had to treat everything as half and half to keep himself from losing his mind. There had to be some perfect reason why the history of what he had was completely different from that of the textbook’s information.

Instead, he used his finger to scroll through the past video broadcasts. He debated for a little bit and had time to kill. His mind was made up in that he wanted to go to the monastery in Uniapon. Some small religious event was going to take place at 1600. The only solution to help ease himself was to gather more information, no matter what it was. For now, he wanted to go through the facts that were going on right now.

It didn’t take long as the computer link-up showed the things that were heavily requested in the Fort Batrice population at the current moment. It was the news recordings of the UWA and the recorded speech of the Prime Minister. He took the files, highlighted them, and then swiped them to the digital display. He then changed the control interface so that he could give voice commands to the recordings.

He lay down on the bed as all the files were processed. The main video was that of the UWA Martian Central News broadcast of the night before. It would perfectly summarize everything that happened and supposedly had the entire speech made by Prime Minister Chanvatey. It would also allow him to see the feelings portrayed by the other UWA worlds without supposed rhetoric.

The room’s screen showed the same classic logo of the UWA Martian Central News, followed by its minor little melody that identified who they were. It then changed over to show the anchorwoman Chenguang. Almost surprisingly for Mizu, the anchorwoman didn’t change her hairstyle or clothing as she did in nearly every broadcast. She sat behind her desk as she preached the news as usual.

“Hello everyone,” she said. “Welcome to UWA Martian Central News, your one-stop place for the news all through the UWA. We begin our main topics of the day.” The screen changed to show that of the silhouette of Fort Batrice. “In our largest topic, there was an explosion that was reported in the space station of Fort Batrice. We must warn that this might be graphic for some viewers.”

The screen switched as it depicted the video recording of the Itrean shuttle just before it exploded. It was recorded from one of the cameras from inside Fort Batrice’s hangar bay. It showed the trailing edge just before the ambassadors were out of the visual range so it would avoid depicting them getting injured on public access broadcast. Unfortunately, the one thing the video couldn’t edit out was the guards that were standing by the shuttle. This was where the scene would be considered possibly graphic.

Suddenly, the explosion happens. Mizu realized just how quick a blast could be made. Even though it was slow in his mind, the explosion happened so quickly that the guards were killed instantly. Technically, it wasn’t bloody or graphic as frames and shots were adjusted to help skip the moments the guards were killed. With an explosion of that power, nobody would be intact after it. He could imagine the fact that the cleanup in the hangar bay was because of this portion alone.

“The explosion occurred early this morning,” Chenguang explained. “Ambassador Ifra and Ambassador Kane have been critically injured from the explosion. It is confirmed that over twenty-one are dead, including members of the staff that were on board the shuttle and other UWA personnel that were near the explosion. Over eleven individuals were killed that were underneath the shuttle pad when it exploded. While a current investigation has been made, it is believed by the Fort Batrice investigators that it was a bomb that exploded. Two arrests have been made for the two staff members of Ifra and Kane. Li’lo and Jenta, according to the investigators, are current associates and aids to the Ambassadors. It is believed that the two Itreans are members of a terrorist organization known as the Zaza. The Prime Minister had this to say as he addressed the crowds gathered at the parliament building in New Phnom Penh.”

The screen switched over to depict what was expected in a situation like this. Mizu knew that the politicians from all sides were ready to seize this moment. It showed a recording of Prime Minister Chanvatey. He was slightly different than he remembered the past year. Instead of him wearing the signature well-dressed formal light blue shirt and pants that he usually wore, he was wearing the same outfit that was now white.

Another thing that Mizu noticed was a small white robe that was placed around him. He was standing on the stairs that led to the capital administration building at New Phnom Penh. There were several hovering recording drones by various media outlets that were near him. He had no podium as he stood with a neutral and composed face. Not that far behind him was a perfect bronze statue that depicted the same man holding his dead daughter pulled from the rubble of the shelled school. The figure was iconic. Taken and copied from the recorded images, the man’s statue was almost a displayed saint to the crowds of people. The tragic daughter lay dead in his arms as a martyr of lost innocence.

“People of Batrice,” Chanvatey calmly addressed the crowds gathered by the capital building. “Today, we witness another form of barbarity brought upon the great colony of Batrice. A formal announcement made by the UWA was that an envoy was to be dispatched to talk about the shipments of mineral resources made to the T’rintar clan. The Ambassadors wanted a chance to look at the space station and meet up with Fleet Admiral Baxton prior to their visit with me. Now ... we stand on the cliffside of tragedy. A terrorist attack was made on the very peace delegates that were here for us. Because of these events, the talks have stalled before they ever begun as the Ambassadors fight to stay alive.”

He paused for a moment, almost as if to allow the people to soak in the moment. He then resumed his speech.

“The events which were intended to possibly limit the mineral shipments have stalled. I look upon all of you. I stood up by the machines that dug into the very ground of Batrice. I visited the people at the hospitals that suffered because of the mining. My championship to help ease our lives has been for naught. The events serve as a reminder of the vulnerability that we all face by the acts of only a couple of individuals. Rest assured that the perpetrators will be punished for their crimes. The families that lost their loved ones will face the Batrice legal system’s justice to the highest degree. I have now seen enough evidence of the UWA and the T’rintar clan that they only intend to bring violence and bloodshed to this colony. Effective immediately, I will have all mineral shipments completely halted. We will instead use your hard work to begin the construction of more powerful warships. These warships will be used to help defend Batrice and Gillan from any further attacks. Rest assured that your government will keep you safe.”

He paused as he held up his hands to the standing crowd. He held up his hands as if he was trying to embrace the people.

“This event has pushed me and the fellow parliament members that more action is needed,” Chanvatey continued. “We have failed you, but we will continue to push in this new direction. A series of sweeping reforms will be brought forth. These reforms will be effective as soon as possible. Each reform will guarantee your safety and protection. We do not need to have the protection of the UHN or the T’rintar clan alliance. We are the people of Batrice. We built the great defenses, and we will continue to build to protect us from any further harm. Rest assured, people of Batrice, that I will make this a land of beauty. It will be a land that would rival Cebravis. It will be a land that would make the great pioneer Gabatrix envious of our achievements.”

He lowered his hands so that his robe would cover them. There was applause from the crowds. A couple of people were even cheering him. Mizu that was listening to the speech, only had one question on what he meant by reforms. The rest of the speech seemed to make sense as his past speeches. The only difference was that there was a bombing to help add to that weight.

The video recording switched back to Chenguang that began to resume her topics of the day. Obviously, since the case was about Fort Batrice, there was more to talk about it. The background remained the same as it showed a picture of a woman that most people of Batrice would know all too well. It was the leader of the UWA.

“Chairwoman of the UWA, Jia Xe Lee, has also provided a statement in regards to the recent events on Fort Batrice,” Chenguang said.

The screen switched over to depict a woman that was in her mid-fifties. This woman was most likely of Chinese origin due to her facial features. Her hair was very short, and she stood wearing a black suit and dress. Behind her was the UWA seal as she stood behind a podium. Mizu only knew so much of this person. She was somebody that worked under Chairman Aniruddha in the previous administration. After Aniruddha stepped down due to the Minerva fiasco, Jia Xe Lee had become elected and even got married at the same time. Of course, Mizu didn’t care too much about her or the latest gossip, for that matter. Instead, he viewed Jia Xe Lee as little more than a firebrand in politics. Where some thought that Aniruddha was weak and incompetent, this woman was instead looked at as the current “War Chairwoman.” She instead overlooked the series of events of the UWA and the Itrean conflict with the Aksren and Shal’rein clans.

“People of Batrice,” Jia Xe Lee explained in a thick Chinese accent. “I regret to see the unfortunate events that have transpired on Fort Batrice. Rest assured that the UWA is willing to offer whatever assistance is necessary in the rebuilding. The tragic lives lost will be honored by everyone regardless of where they came from. Regarding the events that have transpired, however, I will state that I do believe more oversight is needed when it comes to the investigations. I believe that it is in society’s best interests that UWA investigators are to be dispatched to Fort Batrice to conduct their own investigations on the ... bombing incident. We want to make sure that all roads have been fully evaluated before the suspects are deemed guilty or innocent.”

“Oh, I am sure that you would...” Mizu mocked. “More meddling of the UWA all over us. It is all we need right now ... fucking bitch...”

The feed ended abruptly as it switched back to Chenguang. She continued to discuss the day’s topics as the background changed to depict an emblem that Mizu didn’t know. It appeared to be a square green flag that showed a three-piece triangle with claw marks in the center. His only guess was that this was the T’rintar clan flag.

“Following up on the events of today,” Chenguang explained. “President Tuni’halaranta of the T’rintar clan had this to say.”

This surprised Mizu slightly as the screen switched over to a recorded broadcast of a supposed alien leader. He had never heard or seen any of the top officials of the T’rintar clan. He had no idea who or what she did or what that person’s role was. The only supposed rumors of the T’rintar clan were that they were “trying” to have a democracy, but it was very questionable in its roles. In any case, the screen depicted a video recording of a Yutilian woman. Her short stature was only reflected in the fact that there were enormous white pillars next to her throne. She wore a long light blue dress that flowed from her shoulders down to her clawed feet. The dress did not cover her tail and arms. She even had a cleavage where you could see her breasts push against the fabric. This was obviously an alien of high importance.

Tuni’halaranta had dark green scales with light green scale patterns. The front portion of her body had a tan-colored soft section that almost appeared to be human flesh-like. The most prominent feature about her was the enormous feathers that she had. These feathers made Li’lo and Jenta’s feathers look like a joke. They were four times the size and length and had black, red, purple, and green colors. Even feathers were on the shoulders of her dress, although these looked like they were added. It appeared that feathers did have a form of status or fad symbol in some way. In many aspects, the president of the T’rintar clan seemed to be very beautiful, even for an alien. Of course, it all changed the moment that she began to speak.

“People of Batrice,” the president replied in a deep female voice. “I regret the tragedy that has occurred with the humans...”

She paused in her speech. The accent was very thick but understandable. Supposedly, the Itrean language was incredibly complicated, and it was easy and quick for the Itreans to speak English in turn. Regardless, each Itrean spoke at different levels of English competency. She leaned forward as the tip of her tail flicked on the throne.

“We, the people of the T’rintar clan, find the events to be more concerning to our fellow citizens,” the alien leader continued as she made a series of clicks in her voice. “While we question the legal matters of how Batrice can perform, we must ensure that the two arrested are treated fairly. Due to the matters of the alliance, I have no choice but to allow the legal authorities to continue with their investigations ... unhindered. The citizens that have been arrested must be treated as any human being in the UWA is treated. However ... understand this. I will not have my people mistreated. If the people of Batrice find our people guilty, we will ask for them to be handed over to us to face judgment.”

The screen switched back to Chenguang. “Chairwoman of the UWA has replied that the UWA will comply with all legal matters in regards to the events. Prime Minister Chanvatey has not made any comments from the President of the T’rintar clan as of yet...”

“Computer, pause the video,” Mizu said as he began to think about the events that were going on. The screen was still as he was in deep thought over everything that was transpiring.

His mind was beginning to tell him things as he looked to the side of the bed. Politics was something that he despised regularly, but right now, it was unavoidable. Everything that he saw was frontline news. All the leaders were talking about it. Fort Batrice, even though it was a defense station, had become a battleground of words on the galactic stage.

“I wish that explosion never occurred,” he said to himself. “It was ... it was...” he paused as he thought about the footage of the explosion. “Computer, show me the recorded footage of the explosion in that hangar bay as of yesterday ... if it is on file, that is.”

The files were being scanned. Technically, the recordings from the cameras had been limited in their release to the public. Mizu knew this already. However, some recordings were submitted to the media. It was all that he had to go upon. The files were processed, and seventy media broadcasts had at least two different camera footage angles. One was the one he had just seen. The other was from another angle.

The first one showed the entire edited, safe for the general audience recordings. He felt a sense of unease as he looked at the blast. He had seen it over and over in his head. Having to see it and know that people were dying repeatedly was rough, but his curiosity was driving him to try to figure out what was going on.

“Ifra stated that there was no bomb on the shuttle...” Mizu said to himself. “Why would she say that? Of course, she wouldn’t have seen a bomb in her shuttle. The staff and everybody onboard would be freaking out that they had found an explosive inside. The moment that the doors had opened up, everyone would have been running, screaming, and trying to get away. The bomb had to be hidden...”

He watched the explosion again on the recording. Each time he saw it, something inside his head told him that it was wrong somehow. It didn’t make any sense. He remembered the blast. The feeling of darkness and evil seemed to reside. He had to find out the reason.

“Computer, go to each media broadcast,” he said out loud. “Show the one that has a different angle of the explosion.”

It didn’t take long. There were fourteen results, all showing the second angle of the explosion. It was actually from one of the side wall-mounted cameras that was zoomed in on the Itrean shuttlecraft. He could see the Eugine Trinh in clear view. It provided a perfect rendition of the Itrean vessel just before the explosion. Much as before, the footage was slightly edited to help ensure that they were eligible for public viewing.

Mizu watched closely. He could see the two ambassadors leaving the shuttle. He could see the guards that were standing in place. Suddenly, the blast radiates outward. The shuttle blows into two pieces. The different angle was startling. He had realized how close the Itrean shuttle’s destruction could have taken out the Eugine Trinh in the process. He still remembered the debris as it smacked the viewport from the pilot window. Again, that odd feeling he was having was coming back.

“There was no bomb in the shuttle...” Mizu said, shaking his head. He thought again about what Ifra has said. “The explosion happened in the center of the shuttle on the recording ... I remembered it ... I ... wait...” A thought had occurred to him. “Computer, take that recording and show the times of ten to thirteen seconds in the footage and loop it.”

The mere seconds just before the explosion and after it began to repeat over and over again. He was not looking at the guards this time but was looking at the blast’s focal point. He was grabbing every single detail he could. He was looking at it to the finest degree.

“It is ... wrong ... the explosion,” he said. “This isn’t because of the fact they were editing it for public broadcast. Computer, pull up the files on the Itrean shuttlecraft that was destroyed from the explosion from yesterday.”

The display changed to show the brief specifications on what was called the Type 40 Shuttle. It was one of three major shuttle types used by the T’rintar clan. This one was still being used often and could even fight and protect capital ships in a space battle. The hatches were slightly closer to the engines. The explosion vented out from the open hatch just before the entire midsection blew apart. The midsection had the autoguns. In the film footage, the explosion happened in the very center of the shuttle.

“The explosion happened at this spot... , “ he said as he had his finger pointed at it. “It wasn’t exactly at the center as I remember it now. The armor is strongest at the center as well. If you were trying to explode a bomb, it would naturally push both pieces away from the center point.” He thought as his finger tried to trace routes. “The focal point of the explosion leads downward towards ... no ... no ... that ain’t right.”

Mizu’s finger went and showed a place that only a few would know. It was something that pilots knew best, but the general society wouldn’t. Every landing pad had crosshairs painted in the very center. This was designed for novice pilots to guide their shuttles to come and land on using the displays and computers to aid them. The crosshairs were perfectly in line with the center ventral autogun emplacement. Technically, the Itrean shuttle landed right on top of it as it deployed its landing gear. He remembered the Itreans landed the shuttle perfectly with great precision. A thought appeared in his head. His finger went from the bottom away from the shuttle entirely. His finger started at the crosshairs on the deck and went upward. He visualized all of this in his head using the camera footage as a basis. This would cause the explosion to hit the autogun, where the armor was thickest. He was no explosives expert, but he had a general idea.

“If I exploded a bomb just outside of the shuttlecraft,” he said to himself. “It would hit the armor and start venting outward. The blast shockwave would start to go towards the areas that were weaker or had less resistance to stop it. This would cause the explosion to go towards an almost two-dimensional explosion. The blast had enough power that it naturally found weak portions of the shuttle. The Type 40 Shuttle had hatches on the top, bottom, and sides. This was the area where the armor would be slightly weaker. The explosion shatters the closed ventral hatch, and the rest of the shockwave blows the interior of the shuttle. The rest of the explosion vents in the direction that goes towards the two Ambassadors. I ... I think the film footage is wrong now. This footage has been altered!”

He got out of his bed as he started to put all the concepts together. It was only a hunch since he didn’t directly see the explosion, but his peripheral vision did. It was telling him that the blast was very near the center but not directly at the very center as the recordings were showing. His instincts were alarming as he considered it more and more. There was no bomb in the shuttlecraft. There never was. Carefully placed just below it right at the crosshairs paint, the Itrean shuttle had landed on it. Never did the Itreans know that they were sitting on a ticking time bomb.

It was a horrifying concept that he considered. Could this have been a bomb placed outside the source? If so, then why hasn’t there been any effort to arrest the real criminals? Does this mean that there was a conspiracy plot to kill the Ambassadors that didn’t involve Li’lo and Jenta? If so, then why? It would have been physically impossible for two aliens to blow up their own shuttle if the bomb had been planted prematurely on the station. There were other factors to consider as well. The bomb would have had to been placed a deck below it and had to have been channeled upward towards the shuttle. Then again, there were other problems. The real criminals could have gotten away, but then again, the tilon that Li’lo had, was taken away from her. Could it had been confiscated and then altered to give false data? The more and more he thought about it, the more it sent chills down his spine. There was a genuine possible conspiracy plot to wipe out the peace negotiation. The idea of pirates being responsible just sounded silly as an idea. Attacking two Ambassadors on some lowly short visit to a space station was also ridiculous.