The Chronicles of Aallandranon - Episode One - Ant-Lion (5 page)

“
If
I didn
’
t volunteer, somebody else would have.
There
’
s no coincidental story that brings me
here.
”
She said.

“
All
right.
”

“
I’
m not stingy about
getting tipped, so don
’
t hesitate to do so.
”
She
beamed.

“
Even though Earthen money is completely useless and
you
’
ll
probably never see Earth again?
”
He inquired.

“
We
’
re still using Earthen currency on the
ship,
”
she glanced at him over her shoulder as she filled up a
glass of beer for one of the other patrons.

“
Security to Doctor Tabith,
”
someone said over
Jonathan
’
s communicator, startling him.
“
You might want
to come to Engineering. It
’
s about
William.
”

“
On
my way.
”
He said through his communicator as he slid his bar stool
back. He dropped a few dollars on the counter and headed for
Engineering.

“
Night.
”
The bartender said.

Jonathan entered Engineering. Ralph Vidar, the head of
Security, met him near the reactor alcoves.
Jonathan
’
s eyes flicked to the black band on
Ralph
’
s arm as Ralph matched Jonathan
’s
stride.

“
Sorry to bother you, but Chance Trillian reported some
disturbing behavior on William
’
s part. When we got
here, we stopped him from detonating one of the
reactors.
”

Fear
bubbled inside Jonathan
’
s chest. He and William had trained in the Venus
Academy together twenty years earlier. The two
weren
’
t best friends, but he couldn
’
t imagine why William
would try to sabotage the mission just as they were getting
started.
“
Did he say anything?
”

“
Said he would only talk to you. He
’
s in the
Lock-up.
”
Ralph said.

“
I’
ll go find
him.
”
Jonathan said, starting to leave.

“
Before you go, there
’
s something else you
should see.
”
Ralph motioned for Jonathan to follow.

Ralph
led Jonathan to the reactor alcove nearest to the back of the
Engineering hall, and shined his wrist-light onto the wall beyond
the reactor.
“
It
’
s over
here!
”
He yelled over the whir of the reactor
’
s incessant
ionization.

Jonathan surveyed the area Ralph
’
s light revealed.
Written upon the wall were complex physics
equations
–
some, Jonathan recognized, involving variables from their
current course. A lot of it looked like chicken-scratch because
he
’
d
obviously written it frantically, but some parts looked like the
coordinates to a specific location. Jonathan ducked out of the
alcove.

“
He
could have killed us all.
”
Ralph said.

“
Another five minutes and he might have.
”
Jonathan found the
nearest terminal and investigated the settings.
They
’
d
been rebooted to an earlier checkpoint, probably by Chance. He
watched the video feed from the last two hours, and watched as
William Mason used a terminal to input potentially lethal settings
for the back reactor. He looked calm and steady, like he knew
exactly what he was doing. Chance entered Engineering when the
Reactor reached three-quarters of the way to overheating, having
heard the computer
’
s warning.

Jonathan stepped away from the computer and turned to
Ralph.
“
I need to talk to William, but first take me to
his room.
”

Ralph
led Jonathan to William
’
s room and opened the door using his master
key-card. The room was militantly clean. The only oddity was the
blinking red and white light at the top right of
William
’
s computer terminal, indicating that he had both missed a
crucial appointment and had unread messages. Jonathan stepped
inside, inspiring the lights to turn on. He paced the room, pausing
with his back to the interface terminal. Ralph remained in the
doorway, observing Jonathan
’s
interest.

“
Dreamscape: connect.
”
He said. The lights dimmed as the
program loaded. The ceiling became a neon white bulb.
“
Show me everything for William Mason.
”
Two files appeared on
the omni-screen.
“
First
file.
”

The first file was from six days prior. A
green mist floated over the endless blackness of space as numbers
and quandaries rushed through the air too quickly for Jonathan or
Ralph to see. The sound of a violent river crashed through the room
from the speakers in the walls. From the mist, the narrative
focused on the face of a man with rugged unkempt facial hair
sprouting from his cheeks. His eyes were a piercing gray as he
concentrated. He clutched his hand to the side of his head in an
attempt to focus harder.

“
You
must....
”
The man spoke, but the sound of the water became unbearably
loud.
“
The ship! The ship!
”
He strained.
“
Before
it
’
s
too late!
”
He disappeared within the green haze, but the river
remained. The motion of moving forward took the unconscious eye and
hurled the camera above the complex mathematical expanse of a
massive black-hole, ripping and sucking everything into
it
’
s
emptiness. The camera dove into the abyss and the dream
ended.

“
That
’
s a pretty bizarre dream.
”
Ralph said.
“
Did the old guy
look like anybody aboard the Enigma?
”

“
He
looked like William,
”
said Jonathan.
“
Play the second
file.
”

The
second file zoomed into a massive sandy city that looked like a
place in the Middle East on Earth, but the buildings
weren
’
t the sort of buildings Jonathan had become accustomed to
seeing during his trips to Baghdad and Doha when he was younger.
They seemed far older. The view zoomed over the the stone
house-tops, over the heads of hundreds of people walking the
streets below. The camera settled into the eyes of William,
presumably, as he was running as fast as he could, jumping and
diving across the rooftops. People were after him. Occasionally, a
face would emerge from the void of his free-run and he would duck,
dip, and dive out of his assailant before continuing his
run.

William landed atop the final roof and stood across from
seven men who wore what appeared to be medieval mail. The man in
the middle wore a different color, and he held his wife with a
blade to her throat. She had long brown hair and sea-green
eyes
…
eyes that had been gouged out, leaving bloody holes in her
face. She was screaming as William fell to his knees. He tried to
get up and save her, but another figure emerged from the building
nearby with his arms raised high. The man wore a crown on his head
and smiled an evil grin. He had short slicked back brown hair and
dark eyes. He spoke, but all that came out was a vibrating humming
as his lips moved. Jonathan and Ralph could hear the syllables, but
nothing specific in the dialogue.

Moving to strike, William dove for the king, drawing what
appeared to Jonathan and Ralph as a sword, but it was impossible to
tell. It didn
’
t matter anyway. William was blown off his feet and the
dream only just caught sight of his wife
’
s captor cutting the
woman
’
s throat
–
crimson blood flooding down her
neck
–
before the dream ended abruptly, leaving Jonathan and Ralph
standing in the empty room in silence.

“
Well
…
that was messed up.
”
Ralph grunted.

“
He
didn
’
t
record anything else.
”
Jonathan said.

“
Maybe he couldn
’
t sleep. I know those dream recorders always make
me nervous. I start trying to analyze ideas, and my mind
won
’
t
stop racing.
”

“
Or
he wasn
’
t sleeping here. Let
’
s go talk to
William,
”
said Jonathan.

Ralph
led Jonathan to the brig of the Lock-up, a division of the Cargo
Hold that had been set aside for crew-members who became unruly or
disturbed the rest of the crew. So far, they
hadn
’
t
needed it, but they also hadn
’
t needed the Medical
Office for anything other than a few routine
shots.

William sat at the back of the room the crew had made out
of the massive storage containers behind a stack of tables. He
looked to have been sleeping, but opened his eyes when he saw them.
As they approached, Jonathan recalled the face of the man from
William
’
s dream. It was hard to envision with
William
’
s lack of facial hair. William was surprisingly kempt for
someone who very nearly blew the whole Enigma to smithereens. His
hands were bound with Ralph
’
s security
bracers.

“
Jonathan
Tabith.”
William hiked himself
to his feet and stretched, popping his back.
“
I was
hoping I
’
d have the opportunity to see the face of the man who has
condemned man-kind to a very miserable fate by creating this
vehicle. If you knew what I knew you
’
d sabotage a reactor in
a heartbeat.
”

“
Help me understand, William.
”
Jonathan approached the
stacks of tables quarantining William to the brig. William said
nothing.
“
Our path is clear of all obstacles and your
dreams have convinced you that I
’
m trying to destroy the
world. In actuality, had your plan to destroy the reactor worked,
we are still within proximity of the Oort Cloud. You may have come
close to destroying our solar system, Earth
included.
”

“
Protecting Earth was never my intention.
”
William dropped to his
haunches and folded his hands together.

Jonathan paced.
“
Tell me something:
this figure from your dreams, are you sure he wanted you to destroy
the Enigma?
”

William looked at Jonathan
curiously.

“
Did
he really say destroy it, or was he talking about something else? I
saw the recording in your room. It was nearly impossible to
decipher what that man was trying to tell you. Perhaps he somehow
sent us a message from the future and you happened to be the
receiver of said message. Since we cannot know of what he was
trying to convey to us, any action to continue or prevent a future
situation is just as liable to cause the situation. Such is the
nature of trying to change the future.
”

William gave a casual snort.
“
I had a lot of
dreams.
”

“
What else do you know?
”
Jonathan asked.
“
Who was the
girl that was murdered in your dream
?
”