Aynsefian

Zarasena, still in my arms, is not convinced. Her head is quietly, resignedly, against my chest. Her body is almost limp.

“No, Lanemu, I have to die,” she says, slowly. “We can’t escape the MGC and you know it.”

We can. I split timelines. We die in one, live in other.

You split timelines? she says, incredulously. How can we be in two places at once?

I glance at Anathusa and Jinekali. They will have to wait for a translation.

Our fate lies with this small, wispy haired, ancient looking Aroventian. I’m hanging on his every word.

I take timeline where we all die. I put it in minds of MGC. We stay here, they take empty body caskets back. They think we are in there. They have fun time when they get back. No bodies. We’re gone by then. Into Aynsefian.

Back to Aynsefian? I ask. I want to go home.

Yes. Into cave. You understand later.

Yes, I remember: the cave shields us from detection. But why don’t we go to Inconflencia?

I explain later. Lanemu is sounding mildly irritated with me. I will stop this line of questioning. Survival is the most important thing. Home comes later. I’m still recovering, as well, from the revelation that my past was all a lie. Who am I going to be going back home to? It hurts a little to think now that I have no family back there. There’s a major part of me that doesn’t want to believe it.

My thoughts return to the present, and what Lanemu is proposing to do.

You can do this, really? I ask. If so, you’re amazing.

I do it. Never done before, but I do it.

Zarasena breaks away and explains the new plan to Anathusa and Jinekali. She seems to be recovering quickly from her previous melancholia. I’m lost in thought for a moment.

You’ve never done it before, I say. But others have?

Yes. We do before. Only if special circumstances. Like now.

IR84U lives too, Lanemu? asks Zarasena, who has wandered back over to us.

No. Must crash in both timelines.

Zarasena’s face drops at this. She was obviously hoping for perfect solution.

“Nikse?” says Captain Fen. “Back to IR84U please. As fast as you can.”

“Yes, Captain,” she replies.

Nikse lifts off the ground and rises to the top of the cliffs. Then she starts quickly moving back the way we came, towards the cave entrance. I feel acceleration instantly. Cruise mode is not required this time. The cave whizzes by. It takes less than five minutes and we’re in sight of the exit. She slows, and we exit the cave carefully, into the strong winds again.

IR84U, sitting on the planetary surface, looms large in Nikse’s front window. This time he is not the terrifying, imposing ship that he was when I last saw him. This time he is a source of strength and, as strange as it seems to me, a friend.

His storage bay doors are open already. Nikse cruises in quickly and lands softly. We are back inside the womb. For now.

“Thanks Nikse. We’ll talk later. Good job,” says Anathusa.

Zarasena is stepping away from me.

“Wait,” I say. She turns at this, regarding me with patience and calmness. She’s all business now, but she’ll hear me out.

I want a future where I can sit peacefully with her. In some easy chair somewhere back home. On a warm balcony, light and calmness everywhere. No worries, no pressure, no threats to our safety, and definitely no injustice. I want to just hold her. No need to speak. Just be with her. I want all of this to be over, so that we can make that future happen.

I’m scared, though. I’m placing all my faith in a little Aroventian, who tells me that the love of my life will die and yet live, at the same time. This is what I want to say to Zarasena. But I can’t. I must not let her know that I have doubts. I must help her believe, even more than she is able to on her own.

“I love you,” I say, taking hold of her hand. “I can’t wait until we can be together in peace, after we achieve our escape.”

At these words, her eyes sparkle, her mouth opens slightly and her cheeks flush a little. I swear she knows the scene I was just visualising and wants it as much as I do. I feel a rush as she looks at me this way.

“I love you too,” she says softly. “I want that very much. I will do my best to make it happen.”

He gaze lingers on me for a few more moments, and then she lets go of my hand. With that, she is gone, rushing ahead and into IR84U’s interior. I follow her, watching her retreat into what for her are familiar surroundings.

For me, it is totally foreign. This is like no ship I’ve ever seen before. This particular corridor I’m about to step into is quite wide and has high ceilings with walls of various shades of blue, grey and white. It’s absolutely gorgeous. The MGC must have skilled interior designers to come up with such appealing colour combinations. It has a peaceful, almost oceanic feel to it all. Hard to believe that this is a ship that captures other ships and drops them on foreign planets, leaving them to die.

Now I get to meet IR84U for the first time. I feel a little like I’m meeting Zarasena’s father. Will I measure up in his eyes?

“Hello, Axin Fernea.” A soft male voice greets me as I step inside from Nikse’s holding bay. “I am 84U. Welcome. Zarasena speaks highly of you. Therefore, I am pleased to meet you.”

I’m struck immediately by his gentility. Like his interior design, it’s incongruent with the nature of his mission as a patrol ship responsible for securing galactic borders. Has he been modified also, to make him nicer? I turn and try to find Jinekali, but he and Anathusa are nowhere to be found. It’s only me, Arlyss and Cindlyss. They step inside after I do.

“Hello Arlyss and Cindlyss. It’s an honour to have you on board,” he continues. They simply nod gently in response.

84U comes across as a kind and decent AI, who shows great respect for living beings when he speaks. He also radiates an intense intellect, and thus I can understand why Zarasena must have enjoyed conversing with him for however long she’s been his captain. I never asked her, or I forget how long it’s been.

“I’m so sorry that our time together will be short,” I say, getting right to the point. “I love your captain, even though I haven’t known her long. I know she will be desperately sad... I mean… Uh. I know this whole escape will be difficult for her.” I’m not sure how to say what I want to say.

“Yes it will,” he says.

“I better leave you to talk with your captain about this escape she has in mind.” My words are inadequate given that I know he is going to crash to save us, but it’s all I can come up with. “Then again, I’m sure you’re more than capable of having multiple conversations at once.”

“Yes I am,” he replies. “But I know this is perhaps awkward for you, so I will bid you goodbye for now, and will converse with my captain and her crew. I will light the way for you. I will turn on some red lights to guide you. They will take you to the bridge, where my crew are gathered.”

He’s considerate and thoughtful too. No wonder Zarasena is upset at the prospect of his destruction.

“Thank you,” I say. I feel like I should speak more, but I’m at a loss to find the right words in the situation.

A series of small red lights in the floor do indeed appear. They lead off down a long, curved corridor that looks at least three hundred metres long, maybe more. I’ve seen ships this size back home, but rarely have been aboard them.

The right words are coming to me now.

“Uhm… 84U?” I begin.

“Yes?” he replies, brightly. He’s glad I want to talk more. I like that. I want to get to know him at least a little bit. I can then help comfort Zarasena after it’s all over.

“How do you feel about crashing, so that you can save our lives? It’s a very noble thing that you’re doing for us.”

“I do as I am guided to do,” he replies, cryptically. “I feel it is the greatest service I can ever give. If I die to save living creatures, I have achieved my greatest ever goal that I can calculate or conceive of. The concept of it gives me much joy. I am sad that other IR ships will never know such an honour. Some of them are great friends of mine.”

I nod slowly. “So this is… so this is something you want? You weren’t altered to be more receptive to it?”

“Yes, I was altered, but after the decision was made. No-one has ever asked such a thing of an IR ship before. Zarasena is special. She thought to pose the question to me, and no-one else has ever asked any other IR ship. I checked with some of them.”

“You asked the other IR ships?” I say, somewhat shocked. “Wouldn’t they raise the alarm?”

“Oh no, I asked them hypothetically. I phrased it very carefully. They thought it inconceivable. They will not suspect my captain. They never would. Captains are beyond reproach. Their training and screening processes are far too rigorous for anyone to ever suspect that a captain would sacrifice her own ship.”

“I see,” I reply, pausing for a moment. “Something worries me, though.”

“Yes?” replies 84U.

“How are we going to remain undetected while you crash? Won’t your Retrieval ships, your brother or sister ships, be able to find us in Nikse? We’ll surely be cloaked, but that’s not going to work against the Retrieval ships, will it? They’re designed to get around that technology?”

“Yes, they are. If they knew or suspected what was going on. They would never expect an escape. It has not been tried before, that I am aware of. The surprise element will carry the day.” He sounds convinced. I’m not.

“But we then have to fly away. The ripples in the quantum field will give us away, right?” I don’t know the capability of the Retrieval line ships. 84U almost certainly will.

“Yes,” he replies. “You will have to be clever and use evasive strategies of your own. I believe Anathusa already has a plan in that regard.”

“Yes, she does. It involves me. I’m not…” I stop myself. I must project confidence. “I’m going to fly us through the meteor belt on the other side of YP48197.”

“Good show, Axin. Good show. Manual flying will be difficult to match for a Retrieval ship.”

“Zarasena has told you of Lanemu’s role in this?”

“Yes she has,” he replies. “That concept is beyond me. I trust her to make it happen. For myself, I fear it is not possible. Yet I know Lanemu is capable of things that I am not. If Zarasena trusts him, then I trust him.”