Hallowed Nebula Read online

  The crystals were sending and receiving data once again. The rogue EVE that lived inside the data crystal with red tape was active and seconds away from regaining control of the ship.

  9 Foster

  Downtown Core

  Veromacon, Aervounis, Luminous System

  October 31, 2118, 08:30 SST (Sol Standard Time)

  Foster exhaled in relief when she noticed how quickly Aervounis’ sun had begun to set. Nineteen-hour day cycles will do that. What was once bright light, strong enough to cause damage to human eyes, became a dimming glow that painted the Aryile built office towers and condos a beautiful gold from the setting sun.

  With the sunset, came lower temperatures, it felt like a hot summer day, rather than a blazing ordeal in the middle of Death Valley. Foster’s shades remained on her head, partially buried by her brown hair cut short when she and the crew of the Carl Sagan had vanished for sixty-eight years.

  Like most diurnal species, the sun dipping beyond the oceans ahead meant it was time to head home, and sulk that the day was over, as indicated by the trains with fewer passengers aboard. To a human in this world? It meant you could step outside without the environmental restrictions wreaking havoc on your body. Foster, and quite possibly all humans that came to Aervounis, in some way felt like an undead creature, coming out when the sun was down, retreating to her hiding space when it rose. How the first generation of Hashmedai, back before the two groups sought to wipe each other out, that were uplifted by Radiance and brought to live on Aervounis’ Polar Regions survived, baffled Foster. Hashmedai were more sensitive to the light and heat than humans, by a long shot.

  Odelea was kind enough to show Foster around the city and point out the areas that had come under attack by the Draconians when they first arrived in the galaxy. Radiance was quick to restore some of the damaged areas of the city, though the two had encountered a few passages blocked off by floating holographic warnings written in the Aryile and Radiance languages stating that those parts of the city were still condemned.

  After two and a half hours and four trains, Odelea led Foster to a cluster of luxury high-rise homes in the city’s upscale district. The building the two stood before had been shaped roughly like a giant ‘U’ seemingly made entirely of glass with balconies hanging off its sides. Every balcony had leaves of tropical plants hanging off its sides, and a swimming pool within the center of it. According to Odelea, swimming pools were a staple of Aryile living, no household was without one. Given the blazing hot air, Foster totally understood why, as for turning one’s balcony into a miniature forest, she didn’t.

  An elevator, that carried the two up seventy or eighty floors, Foster didn’t exactly count, brought them to the residence of Ienthei, the Aryile representative on the council. Ienthei was the only member of the council present. Between that and the fact he secretly asked her and Miles to speak with him in his office, and Foster came to the conclusion that a backroom deal was about to be laid out before her, one the rest of the council wasn’t aware of. Why else would he have asked her to come to his place to talk and nowhere else?

  Ienthei’s suite was just as green as his balcony outside, and the jungles of one of the larger land masses off to the east. The man loved his collection of plants, and they, in turn, loved the water he finished pouring into their pots just before he faced Foster and Odelea.

  “Welcome,” he said, greeting them. A second figure entered from one of the back rooms, an Aryile woman. Foster assumed it was his wife until she realized they looked similar, complete with blonde hair and untanned fair skin, while the scales on their neck and arms were the same bright green. “This is my dear sister, Queenea. Co-founder of the Souyila Corporation,” Ienthei finished.

  Queenea smirked at Odelea’s skinny frame, muttering some words to her in their language before addressing Foster. “Pleased to meet you, Captain,” Queenea said with her thick Aryile accent. “I hope Odelea has been representing Souyila well aboard your ship.”

  “She hasn’t blown us all to kingdom come yet with wacky science projects,” Foster said. “So, yeah, I’d say she’s been a good member of my crew.”

  Ienthei led them out to the balcony, it felt like moving through a forest from his suite. Foster even had to brush large and lush tropical leaves out of her way as she followed. The four sat next to his pool at a patio table adorned with fruits and vegetables of Aervounis origins. They looked like balls and ovals of pink, green, purple, and red colors. Foster stuck with the purple colored sphere, hoping it would taste like a plum when she bit into it. It didn’t, not even remotely close.

  Odelea, Ienthei, and Queenea spoke for two minutes in their language while munching on the fruit, leaving Foster out of whatever it was they had to say.

  She grimaced. “So . . .”

  “Sorry, we’re just happy to see Odelea alive and well,” Queenea said to her. “It’s been some time since the attacks.”

  Ienthei sat back, folding his hands together. “Shall we get down to business?”

  Queenea nodded. “Yes, let’s not waste the dear captain’s time further, brother.”

  “I’ll start from the top,” Ienthei said. “There was an assassination attempt at the council, a group stormed into our meeting with malicious desires.”

  “Were they the ones who trashed your chambers?” Foster asked.

  “Yes,” Ienthei said. “The rangers that were assigned to stand watch over us were slain in their homes and their identities taken by members of this group.”

  None of this is my problem, is what Foster wanted to blurt out. But she had a feeling it was going to be especially when she reminded herself that the Kepler was grounded, and they were stuck on the planet. “Who is this group?”

  “We’re still investigating that.”

  “They must really want you guys dead,” Foster said. “They went far enough to figure out which rangers were going to be assigned to stand guard.”

  “How does your father fit in all this?” Odelea said, elegantly depositing the pits of her fruit into a napkin.

  “Our dear father was a legendary ranger that fought the Hashmedai in the war without end,” Queenea replied.

  “During those days,” Ienthei finished for her. “We didn’t have FTL technology, and so, those deployed to the front lines were in cryostasis for decades.”

  “When our father returned from slaying the Hashmedai Emperor at the time,” Queenea said. “Our mother had found another partner.”

  “Of course, her being the foolish woman she was,” Ienthei added.

  Queenea continued. “She neglected to tell him this after they visited the hatchery, to have us born.”

  Foster winced after listening to the twin brother and sister speak, almost as if they shared the same brain, desires, goals, and objectives. One was on the council, the other, co-owner of a powerful mega-corporation. They wanted something, something only Foster could give them, the question was, what?

  “I heard stories like that,” Foster said. “The soldier that returned home from war to find his whole family treats him differently and his woman done gone left him. So, what did he do? Kill himself afterward?”

  “He fought with Dienei, our stepfather,” Ienthei said.

  “Our father was shot and killed outside our home,” Queenea said. “Before the hatchery was finished with our birth.”

  Foster looked at the twins with her arms crossed. “So, you don’t know if he was actually killed then, since none of y’all were born at the time.”

  “It’s the story our mother, Marrea, Dienei, and official reports tell,” Ienthei said. “Dienei shot and killed him in self-defense.”

  “And now after all these years,” Queenea said. “Our dear father has returned.”

  “I didn’t even recognize him at first,” Ienthei said “After all I never met him, only saw pictures. It was the picture of him that I had saved in my HNI is what allowed me to realize it was him.”

  “I have heard some rumors that he fak
ed his death,” Odelea said to the twins. “I admit, I was left with little choice but to help the Celestial Order when I was younger.”

  The Celestial Order, the infamous Radiance religious cult that threw the galaxy into war the last century. Foster and the Carl Sagan’s crew missed out on that as they were asleep during their cryostasis voyage to Sirius.

  The twins spoke again, making Foster wince at their creepy means of completing each other’s thoughts.

  “Every civilization has its rumors and conspiracy theories,” Queenea said

  “Our father being a man that faked his death to work with the Celestial Order was one of many,” Ienthei said.

  “In the end, it was never proven to be the truth.”

  “The official report was that he was killed, and his body buried in the great oceans below us.”

  “Okay . . .” Foster slowly said. “He’s back now. So what?”

  “He knew of the attack and came running in to save us,” Ienthei said. “He also refuses to answer our questions. He claims to know where the attackers are hiding and insists that we allow him, and only him, to bring them to justice.”

  Queenea chimed in, facing Foster with her amethyst-colored amphibian-like eyes. “We think it would be best if you helped our dear father, Foster.”

  “Why us?”

  Ienthei shot Foster smirk. “What is that saying you humans have? Scratch my scales and I scratch yours?”

  “Back,” Foster corrected him. “We don’t have scales.”

  “A pity, your kind, and the Linl, would be much more attractive if you did,” he said. “But, yes. The Kepler isn’t going anywhere. I could use my influence to get the council to vote in favor of the release of your ship and grant you the same benefits your President did for you. Your government may have given you the power to conduct your mission any way you see fit, but we did not, and we partially own the Kepler.”

  And . . . There it is, Foster thought, having sat patiently, waiting for the secret deal to be made.

  “Our father is going to attack with or without ranger assistance,” Ienthei continued again without his twin sister’s assistance. “I’d rather his backup be you. This way us in the council can disavow all involvement with the retaliation strike. And perhaps you can earn his trust. Learn how and why he is back, as we can’t get those details. Even Whisper has no idea, and Whisper’s ability to acquire intel far exceeds that of EISS and the Imperial Assassins’ Guild.”

  Help the council get rid of a few criminals with the aid of a man that came back from the dead, and then get the Kepler off the ground. Foster ran the proposal in her head over and over in silence, while the two ahead of her awaited her response.

  On paper, it seemed simple, except for one detail they didn’t cover. “Ienthei,” she said to him. “You’re just one person with a vote.”

  He grinned as did his twin Queenea. It was like the two shared emotions as well. “We, have our ways.”

  “We?” Foster said, looking at the twins. “Queenea ain’t on the council.”

  “She shares her bed with one of them,” Ienthei said. “Trust me on this, Foster, what we want, we get.”

  “And what we want,” Queenea said, breaking her silence. “Is to sleep better knowing there will not be any further attacks, and to learn who these people are.”

  “All right give me all the intel y’all got,” Foster said. “We’s ain’t a warship, but I do have a Marine, two EDF psionics, and Tolukei at my disposal.” And before Foster forgot, she added. “While we’s here, do any of y’all happen to know the cyberneticist we came to the Union looking for?”

  It was, after all, the primary reason they came to Radiance, to seek treatment for Chevallier.

  “Yes, I heard about your predicament,” Ienthei said. “Admiral Agatha Chevallier’s daughter. I’m afraid we don’t know, however. Someone like that who operated on a Hashmedai? They would get lynched in public, at least here on Aervounis. My guess is they are working in either the Lejorania or Inadrai systems.”

  “Why there?”

  “Those are the nearest Radiance controlled systems to UNE space,” he said. “And from what you claim, that Hashmedai, Avearan, was it? Was living in Sol, correct? Both those systems could be reached via FTL in under a year.”

  There was nothing more to say after that. Foster and Odelea stood to take their leave. She gave the city ahead, seen from the balcony they sat at and which had now fallen under the cover of darkness, a glance. The lights from the buildings and holographic banners gave the city new life in the dark.

  “Well, thanks for the grub,” Foster said, waving goodbye. “We’ll get goin’ now.”

  “Odelea,” Queenea called out to her. “Please stay awhile.”

  Foster took a look back, noting how Odelea’s body language changed, while she reluctantly pivoted back to the twins.

  “Yes, please do, Odelea,” Ienthei said. “It’s been months since you’ve been back. You must miss being amongst our people, no?”

  “Plus,” Queenea said. “Have you gathered all your belongings from your home?”

  Odelea, Queenea, and Ienthei spoke in words of their language. Something they didn’t want Foster to hear, something that made Odelea’s skinny body become nervous as she ran her hands through her wavy burgundy hair.

  Looking back at Foster, Odelea said, “I will meet you back at the Kepler, Captain.”

  “You gonna be okay?”

  “I have to be,” Odelea murmured. “I don’t have a choice.”

  10 Rivera

  Lake Geneva, ESRS Carl Sagan Crash Site

  Geneva, Earth, Sol System

  October 31, 2118, 19:16 SST (Sol Standard Time)

  Beads of sweat, spawned by the sudden terror that gripped Rivera’s head, rolled down her forehead. She stared at the red-taped data crystal, the one that should never have been inserted into the AI core of the Carl Sagan, proof that the EVE AI hologram that appeared before Foster prior to their crash landing was the copied and reprogrammed one Marduk created back at Sirius.

  There was a reason she wrote the words ‘DO NOT USE!!’ on it. Why she or someone of the crew did it anyway, she couldn’t remember, as with what happened when they vanished. What Rivera did know, was bad things were going to be set in motion unless she yanked that data crystal out quickly from the tray it was inserted into.

  Like a cat looking at an idle mouse, knowing that if one bad move was made it would run away, Rivera gazed at the crystal. She licked her lips and rapidly went to make the move, reaching over to it, placing her fingers in the perfect spot to reach down, grab, turn, and pull the crystal up and away.

  As she went to make her move, the data crystal tray retreated inside the wall instantly. The act of it retracting inside took a whole second, making her body jerk, and her voice to yelp. She had no idea it was able to move automatically like that, let alone that fast. Rivera went back to the wall, trying to force the tray to spring out. It wouldn’t move. The various panels and trays she pulled away from the wall within the AI core all automatically retracted behind her, creating a series of clunk sounds.

  This ship had a life of its own, and the terrified look on Emmanuel’s face showed he knew it.

  Rivera backed away from the walls slowly. Her chest tightened as she heard other sections of the Carl Sagan power up. “We got to get out of here, now!”

  She looked down at the main section of engineering, having remembered that the raised section where the AI core was had no ladder to reach it. This part of the ship was built with the assumption the crew would be weightless. The two went to find the side handles they used to scale the walls. Sudden rumbles of the ship caused the two to lose balance.

  Emmanuel fell, and his screams were heard all the way down as was the thunk sound he made when he hit the floor. She felt her heart trying to break out from her rib cage and repositioned herself to get a better look at the lower level to see what became of Emmanuel, while still holding onto the wall’s handlebar.
She saw him lift his body up, he was alive. She was relieved.

  “Jasmine?!” he called out, looking for her.

  “Just go!” Rivera shouted down at him. He looked up and saw she was still trying to make her way down. “I’ll catch up with you!”

  Emmanuel darted for the exit to engineering. Rivera continued to lower herself carefully, amidst the random rumbling of the ship. It was almost as if someone was trying to force the Carl Sagan to move and spin the long dormant and mangled habitat ring. She made a number of attempts to contact the rest of the salvage team, begging them to cut the power. When they didn’t reply, she assumed the worst, and that the vengeful AI had awoken.

  She thought about cutting power herself by the time she made it back to the main engineering section and running past a computer station that had booted up. She had her doubts she’d be able to execute the commands quickly enough, she’d be competing against an AI with quantum computing power, which should have fully booted by now. Escape was the only option, and it was also the only thing her panicking mind would let her focus on. Rivera ran for the exit Emmanuel had slipped through ahead her. She saw him standing before it, waiting for her to join him. The opposite of what she asked of him earlier.

  Emmanuel held his hand out to her, in a take my hand motion, not that it would have done any good. He was on the other side of the door they had forced up. When Rivera was a meter away from it, it shut rapidly, and she heard its internal locking mechanisms bolt up. The rogue EVE was trying to lock her inside.

  “Everyone, get to the transport now!” Rivera transmitted via HNI. There was no reply. “Can anyone hear me?”

  “I can,” Emmanuel said, his holographic face appeared in Rivera’s virtual vision. “I’m not sure about the rest, their vitals aren’t looking good.”

  “Can you get to them?”

  “I don’t know where to go—”

  Static turned Emmanuel’s hologram into a distortion of blue and white pixels, and then various error messages flashed. Rivera’s HNI was acting up again. It was the worst possible time to do so. Being locked behind a large metal door that refused to open, and him out of hearing range and probably focused on what’s going on, meant Emmanuel wouldn’t be able to remotely access her HNI and figure out what was wrong this time. She left the access port in her implants open anyway, just in case.