Corruption, p.15
Corruption, page 15
part #1 of Deus Vult Series
“Ever since the so-called philosopher’s stone was brought to Earth over one hundred and thirty-five years ago, mankind has been sending drones and manned crews into deep space hoping to find the source of the stone.”
“And none of them returned,” I said thinking of my brother.
“Yes. I believe that man holds the key to finding out what happened to them. He has the strongest connection to the crystals; he can sense them.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: NANA
It was just as I had remembered it last. Quiet and cold despite the heat outside. This was a small room with no windows, none of the rooms here had them. The room contained a single bed, a chair, and a small tray table you can slide to the bed to make eating easier.
“Nana. Come over here.” Her brown hair used to have illustrious curls but now it was loose and stringy, she used to be fit, a health nut who jogged every day and now she was thin and frail. Her body was being eaten right before my eyes and there was nothing I could do, but pat her forehead with cool water. She struggled to breathe; hell, every damn day was a new struggle.
The patients who ended up here in this cold, lonely room were the lost and forgotten. The nurses nor the doctors came to this section of the hospital. Only kind volunteers who assisted the family in the changing of the bedpans and dumped out the vomit buckets. Every once in a while, some new doctor would come to examine the patients, one was some asshole who claimed he had a cure, for the low price of 400k per dosage of twelve. Can you guess how many people went out there and killed and sold their ass for that money? Only to discover much later as their sick relatives were choking on their own blood that he was nothing but a snake oil salesman.
As another kind gesture of the state of New Cali, to protect us from being taken advantage of, they locked the ward down. They permitted only the families to enter at their own risk.
Let’s call it what it was. The state had given up on them, they just wanted those poor fools to die already, die and get out of the news. To die and be forgotten.
I did as my mother said. She beckoned me to her, her weak finger urging me to get closer.
“Yes, mother?”
The sticky slimy film coated my face.
“I want to see him before the end.” She said to me, her voice cracking.
It transitioned to my mother sitting in a room with a large window overlooking the hospital courtyard, the difference in what money could do. The color had returned to her face, her hair was growing full and healthy again.
I had entered with a large basket of fruit, actual fruit! Something we hadn’t had in ages.
She looked at me, eyes red with tears, she had been crying.
“I know what you did.” She said before dragging the blade across her throat.
Goddamn, not that fucking dream again!
I thought I was over it! I never thought I would be glad to see this same old ceiling again. Just when I thought I was sick and tired of this ship something had to remind me I was better off than before.
I took off my now clean albeit sweaty tank top and panties and switched into a clean and dry set.
Getting something to eat was usually the next step in forgetting about that moment. It was like I was still there and that sickly sweet stench was coating my clothes and seeping into my skin.
Being stuck on a ship for months with a hot guy who doesn’t want to fuck you, now that’s the real nightmare. Sometimes we played cards, I couldn’t believe he never played blackjack before. I thought everyone played that game at least once, even some rich boy.
Other times we argued over stupid shit and then we’d go to our little hidey holes and sulk for a while, and then there were times when we just avoided each other, no malice, no bullshit attempts to force a conversation. Just two souls drifting in space. Or three, if that project is even a human being.
I contemplated when to spring it on him that I have all the data from the Project, but I knew not to do it here. The last thing I wanted to do was watch my back with no escape again. A shiver ran down my spine just thinking of that ordeal, it’s funny how it felt more like a dream than a memory like it happened to someone else.
Call the village band out, bid me goodbye
Everybody stand outside and cry
Never thought so many, thought me so dear
I'd be happy any place but here
One-way ticket, take me anywhere
Northbound, southbound, I don't even care
I know the grass is greener there…
Now, these were the moments I loved the most, playing some old song on the loudspeakers, the two of us dancing and smiling in our own world—
“Oh shit!” The wooden bottle of sand wine hit the floor and rolled spilling the liquid as it did.
And like that our little party was over.
Theon turned off the music and was the first to approach that…thing as it stood in the doorway to the lounge. The plain white shirt and pants hung on his frame.
“You’re awake, good.” Theon gestured for him to enter. “How are you feeling?”
He looked to me for a moment and then back to Theon before dipping his head away, struggling to speak.
“You don’t have to talk if it’s too much of a strain.”
I had to hold myself back from saying anything snarky and I would be damned if I walked past it. Theon told me about the possibility that he wasn’t the one who killed everyone on the station, that it was that strange squad that did it, but he killed Tamika when she tried to plant the tracking device on him when we were trying to lure him to the airlock. I remained behind Theon a frazzled mess just waiting for him to escort that thing out.
“Can you understand me? My name is Theon Muraoka. I saved you from that lab, they were doing terrible experiments on you, keeping you prisoner.”
“Danger.” He merely replied looking past us both toward the window.
Flashes of lights, too many to be considered stars was giving us a show. But I knew it wasn’t a joyful spectacle.
“War.” Theon groaned. “And they’re not far from us.”
“Great, that’s just what we need, right now.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: THEON
One month and a half later
The observation deck was the perfect place to get a look at the battle, that dragonfly ship destroying the Baphomet was the first time I’d ever seen a ship destroyed by cannon fire, and the attack was the first time I’d ever seen a battle between ships up close. I was too busy trying to find a solution, fearing for my own life, and preoccupied with losing everything to take it all in.
Now, I was an outsider, this battle had nothing at all to do with me so I could sit back and enjoy it. The scope on the Doku allowed us to get a good view on the dog fight of what looked like a small Chinese two-seater fighter and two light corvettes draped in Russian colors.
“What the hell is going on here? I thought China and Russia were allies, now they’re fighting each other?” I watched the corvettes remain on the fighter’s ass, the fighter dodging the projectiles coming its way at a hair’s breadth. They were moving closer and closer to us, too damn close for comfort.
The Doku Hasu was a stealth frigate that I kept a simple white with black patterns and blue stripes. But it could change its colors to mimic any country or corporation active in space.
“Rico! Activate IP Cross colors!”
“Yes, sir.”
The Interplanetary Cross was a designated neutral organization, strictly humanitarian and all about the rescue, food delivery, and even medical care to everyone fighting the war. They had no friends and no enemies and therefore couldn’t be bribed nor coerced into rejecting aid to any ship which called upon them for aid. However, they weren’t immune to the harsh tactics of war. Both sides have destroyed their ships, their people killed, and yet they never refused aid to those in need to where there is, for the most part, an unspoken rule not to harm them.
“They’re gonna blow us up for sure!” Nana paced taking her eyes off the Project.
“Using cross colors is our only chance to get them to leave us alone.”
“That fighter is pinging us,” Rico announced over the intercom.
We headed down to the bridge to answer the call. The two ships barreled in our direction. “This is the IP Cross on our way to Kratos Station. Whoever’s not turned into space dust we’ll offer aid to.” I announced playing my part.
“Hey, you humanitarians better get out the way before you get shot down!” The gritty voice barked over the comms. The fighter swerved past us dodging the missiles coming right for us.
“Rico, prepare evasive maneuvers.”
“Already on it.”
I sat down in the cockpit acting as the copilot. “You two better get strapped in or—” I didn’t have time to finish when we dipped low causing Nana and the Project to tumble forward.
“Crap!” Nana yelled gripping hold of me digging her nails into my skin.
“Hold on.” Rico said spinning us around to avoid the second projectile. “I think they want us out of the way permanently.”
“Then fuck them. Get me in position to fire on the Russian vessels.”
“Are you sure? The IP Cross ships are not fitted with weaponry. Firing on either vessel would not be wise. We also need to keep a low profile so I recommend--”
“I don’t care. They’re the ones trying to kill us! Ping us with a black code! And—”
The fighter charged right for us when the world warped around us, the stars blended into a streak. The tunnel blocked all forms of light, its pressure unbearable.
I opened my eyes, my head throbbed. I had blacked out!
We were away from the fighter and positioned behind the Russian Corvettes.
“Fire!” I ordered barely capable of lifting my head.
The ship denigrated into debris while the other had dipped toward us. But was spinning out of control and away from us after taking a hit from the Chinese fighter.
Rico’s voice was nothing but static, the ship had stopped moving and the lights flickered. I unstrapped myself from the pilot’s chair and stumbled to my feet.
Nana fell to the floor shaking with blood pouring from her nose.
“She’s hemorrhaging!” I lifted her and carried her through the navigation center where the Project had fallen out, and to the med bay and placed her inside of the tube, which was an all-purpose medical station. I set it to scan and auto repair leaving it up to the A.I while I rushed back to the navigation room to grab the project. He groaned and soon opened his eyes, otherwise okay. “Can you get up?” I asked treating him with kid gloves.
“I—I’m fine.” He strained over the words.
“Rico? Answer me?” I yelled looking up at the ceiling for some odd reason, the last thing we needed were to become sitting ducks out here when the station was two weeks away. The lights flickered, and the voice was static once more.
Whoever flew that fighter hailed us again.
“What do you want? Just be lucky we’re not in the position to loot you.” I replied hoping to get rid of that fighter ASAP. If he thinks I’m a pirate and get as far away as possible as that was the best outcome.
“Hm.” He scoffed. “I’m not the one to spit in the soup of the man who saved my ass so I’ll forget about you being a pirate and just say thank you.”
“You don’t sound Chinese.”
He cut off communication and flew away. That was strange, an Aussie trying to disguise his accent to sound American while flying a Chinese fighter. Hm, none of my business, it’s not like I was in the position to go chasing after them.
The lights whirred to life.
“Theon?” Rico’s voice was now clear.
“What was that?” I said touching my damp nose and spotted blood on my fingers.
“For a moment, we traveled at 299,792, 458 m/s. Light speed. If it weren’t for me activating the inertia dampeners, you would all be dead.”
“I see. Get us moving again.”
“You certainly don’t stop to catch a breath. I was surprised you had come to so quickly and was lucid enough to give orders.”
“I had the fastest cognitive recovery time according to Aeon.”
“Theon, if I use one of the boosters we should catch up to that fighter and destroy it.”
“What would be the point? The man thinks we’re pirates.”
“We don’t know who he is, and you must assume every ship out here is an enemy. He could issue a report on us right now.”
“And he’ll say we are a pirate ship using IP Cross colors and anyone who pings us will ping a black code.”
“This is a mistake. You chose to intervene--”
“Rico, I admire your intellect, I can’t understand half the shit you’re able to do. But we’re partners, you understand? Partners.”
“Then perhaps you should treat me as such and heed my warnings.”
“Ugh. Just change our colors to a pirate black.” I headed down to the medbay but stopped at the dining room when I heard voices coming from within. Nana was hunched over on a bench looking up at the screen. We were within Earth space and we were picking up the local news from Kratos.
“What the hell were you thinking of playing at being a hero? The news is out, you’re a wanted man.” Her voice was weak and coming out of pained breaths.
They plastered my face on the screen along with a few blurred snapshots of the Doku Hasu.
“She’s right. I get how you …feel, however, I tried to warn you that intervening would be no good for us. You must maintain a low profile. Running away would have been better for all of us, it isn’t just your life at stake, and need I remind you that you intervened without consulting me or her, partner.” He dragged the last word making me feel the weight of my own hypocrisy.
“Why did you fire then?” I asked taking a deep breath and running my hand through my hair forgetting it was covered in my blood until after I had done it.
“Because you gave the order and nothing can be achieved through chaos. You are the captain; this is your ship, and I followed your orders, whether or not I agreed with them is another matter.”
I sat down. I was tired, so damn tired. “This is a hot mess.”
“Yeah, and I’d like to get home safe so don’t make it even more of a mess by trying to be these people’s hero.”
“She’s got a point. We should maintain a low profile. We also need to learn to trust each other a little more so these surprises never happen again.”
“You want me to blindly listen to you when I don’t even know what you look like, and you Nana, who stole data from the lab and never told me about it, you’re probably waiting on your big payday from that, huh? I’m not as stupid or naïve as the two of you think.” Might as well put our chips on the table since these two wanted to lecture me about trust, the nerve they have. Maybe I just wanted to fight to keep myself from feeling bad.
“I told you it was an error to not come in person.” I could hear the shrug in his voice. “But what’s done is done.”
“I don’t mind handing over that data, for a price.”
“I’m paying you enough.”
“You’re paying my leader, not me.” Her breathing was heavy. I wanted to ask her if she was okay, but I would perhaps get told to fuck off. “My brother, I need it for him, he’s sick and needs a transplant.”
“All that tech you have and you didn’t spend it on your brother?” It just sort of came out.
“It was Duke who paid for all this, He wanted me and Tamika at our best for this mission I didn’t ask for this! I wanted my brother to get his implant but Duke is all about the good of the group, what’s best for us collectively. Getting my brother his implant wasn’t it.”
“How much?”
“One hundred thousand credits.”
“Only if the data is worth it.”
I turned my attention on the project, ugh the project, I needed to learn his name. I guess that’s a good place to begin.
“Do you have a name?”
He looked at me as if he didn’t understand what I meant until he said: “Whatever you wish to call me.” His voice less strained than before.
“Whatever I wish? Didn’t anyone name you?” I had said it without much thought and it was too late to take it back.
He looked away a deep hurt in his eyes.
“I apologize,” I whispered. “I can’t keep calling you the project, you’ll need a name.” I tried to think up a name, something that sounded good. “My Godfather was a good man; he saved my life when I was a kid and long after he died, he still made arrangements to take care of me. Taught me how to fight, how to shoot, how to survive. Even though he’s been dead for so long I can’t even remember what he looked like, I still can’t get his name out of my head. I’ll name you Raziel after him. Sorry if you hate it, I just think it’s a nice name.”
“Raziel.” He whispered and then smiled. “You?”
“Theon.” I pointed at my chest.
“Theon.” He repeated.
“What did Aeon do to you, did they kidnap you? Lock you up?” I knew the story; I just needed a confirmation.
He nodded. “Y—yes.”
“What happened at that station? What did they do to you?”
He stroked my cheek like a mother trying to soothe a child. “Family.” He placed his hand on his chest choking on the word. This was probably the most he’d ever had to speak in his life. “They’re coming…”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: THEON
[7600 points]
The holo figure hid behind the blockade, a gun in his hands and ready to take me out. I fired the shot off the glint of metal embedded into a pillar, the virtual bullet ricochet and hit my target.
