Log 1 Matter | Antimatter (45 page)

The antagonist suspected some trap.

But as the time ticked by she sensed danger
growing as it became apparent she was on her own. Panic threatened
to seize her, were her guards using her like bait? Those arses! The
sensation built inside her, and she readied to lift into HaV when a
shimmer told her the ranger was dropping its cloak. As a rush of
heat swept through her body, having left it too late, a massive
ranger dropped out of HaV close by. Another monitor with the OV, or
outview, and holo showed her that they were moving fast. The ranger
re-cloaked and Cardinal Unit sent a data burst to say she was in
the clear. That was interesting, Maya could locate cloaked rangers
but the Cardinal Unit couldn’t. There must have been limits on the
programs it could run.

“This is Eagle KE4KI, Captain Walon. Are you
in need?”

“This is Seeker KE2AK, Captain Katron. I am
just about to enter HaV, all is in the blue.”

“Confirm all in the blue?”

“Affirm, all is blue. Thank you,
Captain.”

“You’re welcome, Ara. See you soon.”

She flushed hearing Kavela’s voice at the
end. She signed off and lifted into HaV, nicknamed Lift and Go or
LAG, not Drop and Go or DAG. Ara grinned. As she traversed up
through the dimension, she considered the danger but quickly dashed
to the toilet. Had she, because of Maya’s connection, been able to
utilize the Cardinal Unit in two ways, as a Pure-Gen and through
Maya herself? Was that a weakness and now that they were called to
the Planet of Law, Maya couldn’t afford to have that weakness
known, afraid of what Ara might do with it?

“For goodness’ sake, Ara. Get a grip.” She
splashed water over her face in the tiny bathroom. She stared at
herself, the blue eyes wide and clear, the hair tied back neatly,
the clear, pale skin a little translucent. “You’re getting
paranoid.”

And then she remembered Kavela’s delivery.
Hangar crew had placed a container in her lab for her. He said he
had scanned it, worried over the contents. No doubt, her guards
checked it too.

She checked her course. “All good. Let’s see
what Kav has delivered. It’s all very mysterious, and I’m talking
to myself again. Great.”

The rather large container was sitting on the
floor and she sat on a crate in front of it. Running a hand over
the surface, she felt it tingle. She sensed the Strike. There was a
design on the top, circular with a triangle and lines from left to
right. She stared at it. “Like sheet music! What does that mean?”
Unlatching the solid container, she opened the lid, and stared. Why
were they here? There was a note from Kav. “Be careful Ara, it’s
Chaos. More precisely, seeds. They are called Quadrazaads.”

“Ara?”

She jumped and almost fell. “Trickster! How
are you coming on board while I’m ranging and in HaV?”

“I’m sorry. You weren’t supposed to get those
yet.” He walked over, deactivating his portal and knelt in front of
the chest. “I can do many things others can’t.”

“Right.” She looked back at the seeds. “I
never asked what Quadrazaads were exactly.” She said wryly, “It’s a
good thing I don’t plan on becoming a detective.”

“Chaos Seeds, always come in four.”

She sighed. It was going to be one of those
one-sided Trickster conversations as he pointed out obvious things.
There were four seeds sitting on four silver like trays, not on
brown feathers like Trickster’s Quadrazaads were. They were no
bigger than her thumb, encapsulated in some kind of embryotic sac,
thicker than Trickster’s were. But other than that they looked
similar. One was bluish, one was red and orange and felt warm, the
other was sparking energy, and the last one was red hot and blue
cold. She accessed her brain—and sniggered over her language use—to
remember from school that Chaos was supposed to be inside the
Cardinal Unit. It was creation material.

How could this be that? She didn’t bother
asking Trickster, he liked her to “work” things out. But if matter
was too high, the CU might eject the—she tried to remember that
boring class where she was the only pupil because it was some old
Pure-Gen lesson—eject the Chaos Unit, which meant nothing could be
created anymore. Probably a good thing considering that meeting
she, Caleb, Bel, Jes, and Terzon had stumbled upon. Many called the
CU Maya or “the Maya”, but Ara knew that was wrong. Tekko had told
her Maya was inside the Cardinal Unit, like a heart or something.
And then she tried to remember the conversation when at Delario’s
and Aud had said something about Jungar and logs they had received.
Chaos Unit needed people to use it, and that was Jungar.

Jungar—what a stupid name.

Feeling pleased that she remembered that
conversation, she studied the seeds again and spotted a blue
flower.

“Oooh.” Reaching down, she touched it and it
melted into her skin, like a tattoo. “Um—” She looked around at
Trickster who sighed and stood.

“I must go and see about this
development.”

“Wait—” she looked up at him and he squatted
down, this time in long pants and top “—I have someone spying for
me.”

“Balin.”

“Yes.” She was annoyed that he knew. “Balin
told me that Pen lost her baby naturally, but that someone tampered
with records to make it look like someone had.” Her voice broke.
“Why would someone be that cruel?”

“I don’t know, Ara.”

“I think you do, well, maybe not.” She
considered his life, and his almost innocent ways at times. She
sensed he was very young.

He touched her arm. “Ara, I don’t know why
they could be that cruel.”

She wiped her eyes. “I know. I don’t
either.”

“Their motivations are blurred. The endgame
unknown.”

She believed him; she had to believe him
because she was so very afraid if her instincts were wrong. She
wanted to beg him to tell her who they were but she was sure he
wouldn’t.

He stood again. “I must leave.”

“Alright, you’re not angry with me?” Now why
did she ask him that?

“No. I will see you soon.”

“Trickster, I seem to take time to forgive
and time travels differently for me, in terms of things that affect
me. Is that normal for someone like me?”

He bent down and touched her face. “It is
normal for someone like you.”

She smiled in relief then but saw something
in his face; it looked like disappointment. She stood. “Trickster,
what’s wrong? Should I give them back?”

He moved up a little closer to her and leaned
in. She felt his breath on her cheek, and his lips touched so
gently. “Keep them. I wanted to give you the ones I was
growing.”

“Oh.” She felt a little warm. “We could
swap?”

He brushed his lips over hers in the gentlest
kiss she ever had. They both sighed.

“I will keep them for you, Ara.”

“I’d like that, Feathers.”

Ara turned back to the seeds, feelings of
excitement rose even as she touched her lips, remembering his sweet
kiss.

Her own seeds!

She turned to ask him something.
“Trickster?”

But he had gone and she hadn’t heard or felt
the portal.

“Damn, I wanted to ask why would someone send
me an entire collection?” Because she was the Mobile Unit? To what?
Chaos? To Dusty, Lusty … err … Rusty and Crusty? Because Trickster
helped a filament of each connect to her on EL?

Kav’s note said the flower was fresh,
“perhaps Chaos keeps it fresh.” So, if he picked it up, and he
would have, why was it now on her arm and not on his? She lifted
her hand, sniffing at it, it smelled too!

The center of the flower was a dark …
hole.

How odd. She put her finger on it but jerked
back, falling off the crate onto the floor when she felt an
outpouring of great sorrow. Feeling foolish, she righted the crate
and sat back down. Again, she carefully put her finger over it and
pressed. There was a strange pressure. She gave it a quick double
tap and grimaced. “It’s not a bloody mouse, Ara.”

Ara looked back at the seeds.

Inside she could see movement as the energy
was fluctuating. They were arranged on oval plates, and she noticed
each plate was a certain height from the base, and they were not
just in a square formation. “Hmmmmm.” A pattern emerged and she
decoded it easily. “Nyx again, who is that?”

Iota

Station: The Welken

Galactic System: Cradle

Planetary System: Planet of Law

Ara’s four-day trip was uneventful after the initial
excitement of finding out Korbet had told her to follow a special
secure route while she was in HaV. He didn’t say why but uploaded
everything she needed.

“Why only four days?”

“It’s a special shortcut.”

“I see.”

But it was Korbet, and so far he’d only been
kind to her. Her Seeker had travelled this route as well. He even
thanked her after. She smiled knowing he’d see it on his monitor as
mainly teeth. She heard his laugh.

“Why thank me?”

“For not arguing with me.”

“I’m a good girl.”

He snorted with amusement. “It must be
frustrating being the baby. You’re a cheeky one.”

“For some reason I don’t mind that coming
from you.” She sighed as she inputted the new data, checked the
parameters and set off. She managed to land on her allocated
spacepad without embarrassing herself. She was a little nervous
when the Planet of Law Controllers contacted her and assigned her
the landing coordinates. She left her special seed container in the
Seeker’s small but secure lab and locked it up tight. The flower
still decorated her arm. She told Korbet about it in case it was a
security risk but their tests were clear.

As she walked up the multitudes of steps
built all around the courthouse sitting on a small hill, the busy
skies above Ara gave the impression of flocking birds. In fact,
hundreds of rangers had exited HaV and flown in and down to the
surface of Planet of Law. Most were shuttles with their main
vessels in orbit. She could just make out those rangers through the
converging flock. The planet was massive considering its low
population but security was tight. She heard what sounded like an
explosion and she turned and looked up.

An Aryan was striding past her. “Not to
worry, Ara. Just our security systems removing any unwanted
guests.”

She stared at his departing figure. Did they
all know her? He turned his head and flashed her a smile without a
break in his stride. They just killed someone, or someones, like it
was everyday stuff. Looking around, no one seemed bothered by that.
As she slowly walked up the long path that led to the grand looking
accommodation block she was assigned to, she saw others porting
around, though a few walked like she did. So much for Mum’s comment
about people not using technology. It was as if a whole new world
opened before her, had Kavela been right after all about her
upbringing?

A voice behind her called out her name. She
turned again and lifted her hand to shield her face from the hot
star. It was Vinicus.

“Princess, good to see you.” He had tied back
his dark hair and his almost black eyes looked serious.

“You too, Vinicus.”

“Do you mind if I escort you or would you
like to experience the entire show as an independent?” He looked
around, waving his hand in the air with a grin.

“Escort please. It was fun getting here but
this all seems a bit daunting.” And dangerous. She waved towards
the massive, pale courthouse made of some sort of sandstone, with
pillars and lush gardens around it.

Vin tapped something on his arm. Within
minutes, others transported around them tapping at their
controllers.

“Your escort, my lady.”

Ara closed her mouth, shocked again to see
it. They were all so casual about traveling around with their fancy
transportals. Ara glanced at Vin and saw his amusement. She said
her hellos to the twelve individuals. Most she had met at a club or
dinner or the meeting at Delario’s. None were kings or queens so
she felt a little more comfortable. They walked with her and
chatted on the way, moving to the left of the courthouse. Mostly
they pointed out various things they spotted or that Ara was
interested in.

“You’ll be inside the actual courthouse, Ara,
with the queens and kings, we’ve all been invited to attend the
courthouse. The other four million, twenty-eight thousand, two
hundred and seventy-eight Pure-Gens will have been assigned to one
of the other eighty domed stadiums. Each stadium has its own blocks
of accommodation. Very much like small units.” He smiled at her.
“Informative enough?”

“Very.” She glanced around again. “How often
does this happen? I mean, it’s a bit dangerous isn’t it, all the
PuGs in one place?”

After the laughter, Vin shook his head. “The
Cradle is one of the most secure locations in Iota. There’s
something in the dimension that makes it so only heavy matter and
high energy Pure-Gens can survive. And since we are all registered,
I’m sure we are safe. To your first comment, not often. However,
each station may book out a stadium and units for events of their
own. Or sporting events. So they are used at least four times a
year.”

“Don’t forget those special ones, Vin,” a
dark skinned male reminded him.

“Ah yes. Some guards are subjected to special
treatment, and are bombarded with matter and energy to allow them
to carry out their duties for short terms. Since the procedure can
only be done inside the Cardinal Unit, and it’s painful, it’s
rarely done.”

Ara saw a few holes in that idea. “If the
planet is so secure why the guards?”

“Other Pure-Gens, Ara. Internal
bickering.”

She shook her head in disgust.

They walked on a wide path that ran along
halfway up to the courthouse. She saw a mass of buildings in a
pocket of hills down below them, behind the courthouse just to the
left. Vin pointed to the closest building. It was a four-story
building made of large stones. There seemed to be four wings
attached to the main central building. Directly behind the
courthouse ran a narrow mountain range like the long stick of an
arrow. Vin led them to the stone building. Inside it was cool and
entertained a grand entrance with grey slate floors, plants, a
central waterfall and comfortable seats in the lobby.