Log 1 Matter | Antimatter (51 page)

Breathing harshly, she tried to get control
over herself.

Her eyes adjusted. It wasn’t as dark as she
thought. To her left was a wall, to her right were shelves, Empty,
she thought. Getting up, her legs felt weak. “Breathe, Ara.”

She moved around feeling her way, hugging the
blanket around her. The room was bare, attached furnishings only.
Maybe they knew of her tantrums. She giggled again. Sitting back on
the bed, she shimmied back, leaning on the cold wall, and pulled
her knees up. There was almost no noise, but no noise sometimes was
too loud. She dozed off and woke to a smell.

Jerking awake, she slithered into the corner
fixing the blanket around her.

The room was lighter.

On the table near the far wall was a tray.
She stared at it for several minutes, trying to ignore her stomach.
She ate when stressed and pulled her finger from her mouth.
Studying the blanket, she noted the thickness, softness, and
warmth. Her captors did not mean to kill her just yet but she
couldn’t identify the material in hopes of identifying those who
dared kidnap her.

Hunger and stress won out. Moving slowly,
stopping at every imagined noise, she pulled the tray onto the bed
and ate the offerings. It was a meal of meat, vegetables, and even
dessert. The water was crisp and tasteless, filtered evidently.

Looking around, she noted that, to the left
of the table, along the wall, was a line in an arch shape. With the
blanket around her shoulders, she put the tray down, and ran her
fingers along the crack. There was an indent in the wall beside the
crack that she ran her finger along. The door slid to one side
revealing a small bathroom—shower, toilet, and basin. There was a
towel, so the bathroom ran with water. Working the finger pads, she
managed to get hot water and the steam was pulled up and out.
Stripping, she stood under the hot jets of water finding tubes of
soap and hair products. Worried about water restrictions and
allocation, she fingered the pads and the water stopped. She opened
the cubicle finding her blanket and clothes gone. Shit.

Looking around, she discovered a pink towel,
thankfully large, and wrapped it around herself. There was a
smaller towel for hands, but she used it for her hair. There was
probably a way to air dry her hair but she didn’t want to turn her
back to the door. Drying first and rewrapping the towel, she peeked
out. The bed now had linen, and a thick cover. The room was warmer.
The tray had been taken away but more water had been delivered. A
bag was sitting on the bed. Her bag. No doubt they had cleared it
of anything useful. Walking out, she dumped the contents onto the
bed—clothes, a reader, and socks. No shoes.

Smart. It would make it harder for her to run
away.

Pulling on underclothes, soft pants, a top,
and then socks, she checked all the bedding hoping to find some
clues to where they came from; there wasn’t a design by which to
identify an artist, so she climbed into bed. Exhausted. But as her
head touched the pillow she couldn’t sleep, instead she found
herself staring at the hatch. She didn’t want to sleep with her
back to the door. After a few hours of staring, sleep finally
claimed her. Upon awakening, she finally had the ability and
attempted to send out an emergency call to the Cardinal Unit, then
Maya, but nothing. No data burst confirming her imminent rescue. To
her shame, earlier fear had made her impotent. She smelled food
again. Breakfast it seemed.

Days dragged on with her cabin lights dimming
and illuminating, telling her the time—or false time. She began to
read all her books again for a few moments disappearing into
another world. There were no public announcements, never did she
see anyone after that initial time, and she grew bored.

Finally, on the sixth day, there was a new
vibration. And a thud. Ara threw her things back into her bag and
waited. At first, she paced up and down then sat on the bed, her
legs jumping up and down. The lights went out, and the hatch
opened. Her plan to run out and at least get an idea of where she
was didn’t work. Light blinded her and by the time she stood, the
bag went over her head. She was lifted and carted away. Her captor
stepped over several things and then the footsteps changed, softer
sounds, hums were different, smells … like space station air, but
too quiet. They moved into an enclosed space, her captor was
silent, and smelled only of soap; the movement was down then out,
left, right, around—that was odd—then in. She was placed down and
left alone again. She assumed she was alone.

This time Ara pulled off the hood, seeing the
bag on a bed and a larger room before her. Walking around, she
looked through the cupboards, drawers and bathroom, tried out the
small sofa, tried the hatch, kicked the door, and looked around
checking for sensors. On the wall to the left of the hatch was
something, she studied the patch. There had once been something
there. Probably safely procedures. In truth, she had no idea how
long she had been taken. Ara sat on the bed, again drawing her legs
up, wrapped her arms around and rocked back and forward. She was
drifting off to sleep, leaning on the back wall, and kept jerking
awake as her head fell to her chest. Startled, she blinked her
eyes, realizing there was a male in her room. The male who had
looked at her with such hatred. He was dressed in dark blue slacks,
a white shirt, and dark shoes. There was nothing threatening in the
way he looked, but the hatred was just beneath the surface.

“Ara, my lovely. I want to talk about an
alliance.”

He actually picked at his nails as he said
this, and Ara tried to see his energy but something was blocking
her attempts.

“That, my dear, is me. Now, be a good girl
and behave.”

“An alliance with who and for what?”

“With me and for life.”

“And you are?” She was proud how strong her
voice sounded.

“You may call me the Viper.”

“‘The Viper’ or will just ‘Viper’ do?” she
asked facetiously.

His mouth twitched trying not to smile.
“Viper.”

“And your friend in the climbing hall?”

“Cobra.”

“Two Snakes.”

“Three actually.”

So Ara managed to think clearly enough to
test him, and Trickster’s knowledge. But she was thinking of
herself in the third person. That wasn’t a good sign.

“His designation?”

“Krait.”

“I see.”

“Do you?”

She cringed. “Not really. Look, can’t you use
the normal channels? Send me an email?”

He smiled. “I could but this is more
dramatic.”

“So, do I get to leave this room and attend
an important meeting?”

“Hmmm, no. This kidnapping isn’t my doing.
I’m just taking advantage of it. A little distraction for your
guards and the Tuan.”

Her heart thudded against her chest.
“Wouldn’t this be drawing attention?”

“Yes, but it is also masking my presence, and
who would think I’d be here now?”

“Right, I’ll remember that tactic.” His
cunning ways frightened her.

Viper moved closer to her. “Don’t be afraid,
I’m not going to hurt you.”

Ara thought there was a “much” or “yet” at
the end of that sentence.

“If I told you that there is another world
out there, a world in which you could be happy and free of pain,
suffering, and have a strong voice in how things are run, what
would you say?”

It wasn’t what she was expecting him to say.
This wasn’t about the Genocide Vote. “I’d want proof, and want to
know what happens to this current world.”

He took a chair from the table setting and
placed it closer to the bed. “There is no proof because the system
is new, starting up. You’d be there with me and others to build a
new society, a new family, a new empire.”

Ara had seen the faults of Aryan Society,
more so of late, but it sounded ridiculous. “And how many others
are invited?”

“A few million, trapped against their will.
Abused in a sense. Wronged.”

Ara noted the pain on his face. “And those
here in Aryan Society?”

He looked confused for a moment; his narrow
features became bird like with intensity. “This society isn’t the
only society, Ara.”

She frowned, thinking of the other Cardinal
Units and Mayas. “And what will happen to this world?”

He shrugged. “It’s dying; can’t you see
that?”

Chewing her finger wasn’t helping so she
moved to the end of the bed, and dropped her legs down. Studying
his face, she saw he was serious. She had wanted this opportunity.
She opened her mouth but he raised a finger.

“I can give you the one thing no one else can
give you.”

She almost snorted in disbelief but her heart
stilled at his next words.

“You are key to our success, Ara Katron. I
can tell you why you are the Mobile Unit, who you work for, why you
are their Vanguard, and why Korbet has inserted himself so neatly
into your life.”

She swallowed hard. “Why are you here?”

“Because you had your memories wiped, I feel
badly for you that you don’t know what’s really going on. But we’re
are working on that, you will know soon enough.”

“Why not just tell me? Why the dramatics?”
She already suspected he told the truth considering what she
remembered about being a baby in the chamber on Perza Space
Station.

“Because we have some investment in the
arrangement as well. You will know what’s going on but I dare not
say as it will bring your Tuan friend and I wanted to state my case
first and see if you will come with me.”

She blinked. Did he mean Trickster?

He stood up and returned the chair. “You
don’t have to answer now, of course, this offer for an alliance
will stand for some time, but make no mistakes”—his voice became
hard—“I will not give up my attempts to change your mind, Ara—”

“Then why not torture me or extract or force
me?” Ara could see he wanted to do this but something stopped him,
or them. They needed her for something.

“This is the real world, my”—he flushed—“Ara.
Not some pathetic little show or novel with simple plots and easy
solutions. Now that the issue of Matter | Antimatter has arisen, I
will tell you it was the catalyst for the greatest binary opposite
issue of all time. Old vs. New.”

“Not fabrication or reconstruction?”

That stunned him, and her.

“You remember that?”

She considered lying but said, “Just the
occasional things.” Like king bees on Tatsela, how people should
have equal say, and a few other little things that didn’t sit right
with her.

“Fabrication | Reconstruction is the reason
we are all here, but it’s the Old | New issue that will reveal the
outcome. I prefer the New; you, your cronies and benefactor prefer
the Old.”

Ara was confused, not sure who they were.
“Ah, and while we are here it’s the Crap | Ideal dichotomy?”

He tried not to laugh and gained some control
of himself. “There’s simply more for you to see here. You only need
to do two things while you are here, experience life and go
home…”

Ara froze with the familiar buzzing razzing
along her spine at those words “go home”. He didn’t seem to notice
her reaction. What did he mean by while you are here?

“…re’s a quick freebie now I’m done. In your
own words, to truly understand the nature of the thing you must
endure the thing. And one more last freebie, you said those words
to Nyx. You and others, you all work for her.”

“The Nature of Conflict.” Ara remembered that
from somewhere. “Operational uncertainty is high; the spikes in
violence will be unavoidable.”

He smiled tightly.

“What do you mean by ‘others’ and
‘here’?”

“Ah, ah.” The smile was nasty and she was
glad when he activated a techcon with a disappointed sigh. Viper
said to her, “He didn’t come. Too bad, give him my regards, will
you?”

“Thanks for your help,” she said snidely.

He paused and she felt a thrill of fear.

“You may come now, if you wish. Experience
the Ideal rather than the Crap?”

Ara stared at the portal.

Why her captors didn’t run in to find out
about the energy fluctuations she wasn’t sure. Experience life and
go home or leave with Viper?

Iota

Station: The Welken

Galactic System: Cradle

Planetary System: Planet of Law

Jamie looked at the girl; Aven was no girl. She was
an Aether, Energy Being, maybe something more. She was quick to
help Jamie start up the ranger. They ran through the checks and
then Aven did something, the sable engines roared into life and
they took off. Aven glanced at him. “Sorry, I connected to
them.”

“Ah.” In Jamie’s experience, he learned not
to ask too many questions at the wrong time.

“You can range as normal now.” She flicked on
the environmental systems while he checked navigation. “I can only
boost what’s already there.”

Did he want to know? He couldn’t help
himself. “How?”

“I destabilized the black holes for a
moment.”

Jamie reverted to his previous ideal that
ignorance was, in fact, sometimes better.

“Can you take over for a moment?”

She nodded.

Jamie relaxed and leaned back. He tried to
connect mentally to Ara, but it seemed like she was asleep and he
had ignored his neural implant for too long. He cursed himself,
he’d become a weak link in the chain. Had he used his implant more
he would have been able to send a tiny electrical pulse via the CU
to Ara or even extract information. He opened his eyes, trying to
slow his heart rate. Already messages were coming in on his Voice
and ranger comms systems. He had to take a risk.

Turning to Aven, he said, “I’m going to need
your help.”

“I will help.”

“What I mean is that I want to recruit
you.”