Universe of the Soul (29 page)

Adri merely raised an eyebrow in challenge.

Apparently, her intimidation practice while in the military paid off, for the kievian woman hissed, “
Agazi umpotil!
”

“My, my, I think I hurt her feelings,” Adri grinned fiercely to herself as the kievian whirled back around in an attempt to ignore her.

No one else was willing to bid against Adri after her wanton display, thinking that she had far too deep of pockets to contend with. Giselle Kobane was sold to Adri for thirty thousand credits. The auctioneer gave her the same line as before, although he looked a little disappointed. Giselle was prodded off stage in the same direction as her sister.

A headache of galactic proportions was brewing inside Adri's head. She whirled around and began heading for the door. “Come get me when this flesh market is over.”

“I'll keep a lookout for our Viara Karkeldel.” Blair touched her shoulder in comfort and faded away somewhere into the crowd.

Once back out into the relative quiet of the foyer, Adri's headache began to disperse. She leaned against one of the marble pillars and closed her eyes, trying to relax and stay alert at the same time. When the pain had at last faded back into a manageable throbbing, she tried to figure out what had just happened.

She'd just purchased her two worst enemies. Out of a sense of foul play.

She'd just magicked up without thinking, and could have completely broken her cover. Not to mention almost breaking some Commonwealth citizens.

By Danwe, she'd just
bought
two people! With what money?

Did she even have any money?

What was she going to do with two…slaves? She didn't even like the institution!

As her mind whirled with the new problems she had just handed herself, Blair re-emerged. “The auction is over.”

“Already?”

Blair frowned. “It's been nearly an hour since you left. The bidding over the first officer was…lengthy.”

“Oh,” how long had she been standing here? “How are you feeling, Blair?”

The young man shrugged. “I feel the agony and the despair of the victims, and the elation of the buyers. It's sickening, but I managed to shield myself from most of it. And you?”

“Better now. Did you find out anything about Karkeldel?”

“Yes,” Blair replied. “She bought the first officer.”

“So she'll be in the back getting her prizes then, huh?”

“I would assume so,” said Blair in so strained a tone that Adri had to raise an eyebrow in question. Blair sighed, “Rael, the kievian who competed with you for those two officers…that was Karkeldel.”

“Figures. Let's go,”

Blair fell in step beside her. “Um…Rael, how are you paying for your…purchases?”

Adri hunched her shoulders. “I'm thinking about it.”

“I have enough, but that will leave us with precious little once we get to wherever you're heading.”

Adri stopped and whirled around. “You have over seventy-eight
thousand
credits on you? What do they pay you to be a freaking monk on that planet?”

“Nothing,” Blair replied, with a hint of a reprimand in his stoic voice. “But I did some side betting while you were talking with Bathus about the transports. I discovered I have a…knack for cards.”

Adri decided to refrain from accusing him of cheating, considering he was paying for her to possess the Kobane sisters, without even asking her intentions. “Come on then, ‘Cardmaster.' We need to get out of this joint.”

I remember the first day at the Academy. I was hyped up and tired at the same time. I hadn't slept the night before, so excited to finally be old enough to make my own decisions. Eight years of feeling like a stray government dog had almost been too much to bear. But I had made it. I had toed the line (at least in public) and had kept my grades up at school. Unlike some of my ward mates, I had stayed out of the Pit, or juvie, so my record was clean. The day I turned fifteen, a legal adult, I walked into the Advance Force recruiting station and signed my name away.

Adrienne Elizabeth Rael

Joining the Advance Force was the first decision I had been able to make for myself. Since the day mom and dad died and Mandy was sold off, I felt in control of my own destiny. It was a heady feeling.

Basic Training was tough for everyone, I was told that day. Even those who joined the military by way of elite connections have to pass through the six weeks of archaic strength and endurance building. I discovered later that this is the only place where all personnel are at the same level. Children of nobles and orphans like myself had to deal with the same trials, the same frustrations, and were rewarded with the same prizes. It was here, I was told, that futures would be determined within the Service. Prove yourself, and you could go places. Officer training, if you were capable. Specialization in a given field, if you proved gifted.

For the top percent, there was a chance at captaincy.

That was what I wanted: to be captain. To make my own rules. I wanted to fight and lead and win. I wanted to prove to myself that my parents could be proud of their daughter. From that opening lecture, I was determined.

Of course, in that opening lecture, with the room full of rookies in our stiff new uniforms, they failed to mention the workings of politics. How sponsorship is needed for the fast track to a good position. How connections will oftentimes supercede qualifications.

But that first day, I felt nothing but elation.

I was free.

O
ut of a life's worth of embarrassments, unpleasant surprises, graceless situations and humiliating outcomes, standing in front of the cage which contained the Kobane sisters took the prize. Hildana's smiled was laced with irony as she greeted Adri's arrival. She was a little worse for wear, her black hair in a ratty braid, circles under her eyes, and her fatigues dirty and stained. The two women stared at each other for several long seconds. Adri folded her arms across her chest. Hildana tapped her foot against the tunsteel bars.

At last, Hildana spoke. “This is awkward.”

“Yep.” Adri continued to frown. “You tried to kill me,”

“I thought I had. How in Danwe's name did you survive crashing onto a planet?”

“Not easily.”

“You are incredibly hard to kill.”

“Thanks.”

There was another pause. “So what happens now?” Hildana asked. “You getting revenge?”

“What for?” Adri smiled fiercely. “I didn't die.”

Hildana snorted in almost-laughter. “Guess not. But you just paid out a year's salary for me and my sister, so I have to figure you have some kind of agenda.”

Adri refused to admit that she was sadly agenda-less when it came to her new slaves. “Just making sure that someone competent keeps an eye on you two.”

“I have a lovely implant here,” Hildana tapped the base of her skull, “That will blow me to pieces if I don't behave like you think I should, so I'm not seeing how we need Lieutenant Commander Indestructible as my master for the safety of the Galactic Commonwealth.”

“You whining already, Kobane?”

“Oh, no, ma'am. I'll be a good little slave,”

It was Adri's turn to snort. “As if. What is up with your sister?” she nodded to Giselle, who sat in silence behind Hildana, her arms wrapped around her updrawn knees.

“Tranqs.” Hildana replied shortly. “They sold her husband off earlier this morning. Made her a little…intractable in the proprietor's eyes.”

Something slick and icy wound around in Adri's stomach. “I'm sorry.”

Hildana blinked at the apology, then shrugged. “It happens. He's a nice guy, I hope he makes it.”

The callousness of Hildana's statement didn't faze Adri. It was a soldier's mentality. While she agreed with the need to keep a mental balance over the constant loss that combat promised, the idea of being in Giselle's place made her want to curl up and cry. And then kill someone.

Blair walked up, interrupting the strange conversation. “I've paid, so we only have that last bit of business before we can thankfully depart.” He handed Adri two small devices that activated and controlled the implants in the sisters' heads.

“Great,” Adri tucked the devices in her pocket absently and looked around for the woman who had bought the first officer.

Hildana eyed Blair in curiosity. “Who's this? Your spiritual guide, or your boyfriend?”

“My doctor.” Adri replied.

Viara Karkeldel was easy to find, and simple to deal with. The kievian woman was signing her name on the action house accountant's holoboard as Adri approached. She narrowed her eyes and hissed when she noticed Adri striding towards her. “
eEraxudsh, agazi,
”

Adri had been called worse in her life, and knew how to deal with people who felt power through name calling. Eyes wide, she said in an innocent voice, “Now, that wasn't very nice. I guess I'll just have to take this package Bathus gave me for you and see what I can get for it on the unsanctioned market.”

As expected, Karkeldel's attitude underwent an immediate shift. “A package from Bathus? You aren't the usual courier. Where's Arkow?”

“There were some shipping…problems. Arkow was forced to take a new route for the next little while. So do you want it or not?” Adri produced the package and waved it in front of the Kievian's face.

With a strange, half angry and half embarrassed squeal, Karkeldel snatched the package. Ripping through the protective sheeting, she peeked inside. Whatever was in there appeared to satisfy her, and she reached into her pocket and produced a slip of simulated paper. “Tell Bathus I'm demanding a new…delivery girl. His new
agazi
lacks,” she looked Adri up and down from her superior height. “Well, she lacks a great deal. Now go on. Shoo, little
agazi
!”

Adri didn't bother with a retort. She walked quickly up to Blair and hissed, “Let's get the goods and get out of here.”

Five grueling hours later, Adri at last found herself on a commercial transport shuttle bound for Halieth. It had been a hassle of galactic proportions to secure seating on an outgoing flight for the same day. It didn't help that she had two Belligerent slaves to insure. But simple bullheadedness and military experience rewarded her with four tickets and an immediate departure time. The downside was that these four tickets were for the overflow seating down in the cargo hold below the main passenger cabin. Which meant a chilled room, hard seats and zero amenities that did not involve climbing a narrow ladder to the level above.

From the looks of her companions' faces, no one was complaining. Hildana's only comment to Adri's strange way of acquiring tickets was a thoughtful frown. Adri found herself explaining, “I'm assumed dead. I'd rather not deal with the whole mess of being alive until I can explain myself to my superiors.” There was of course the whole Adept thing, but she didn't trust Hildana.

Her old enemy smiled crookedly. “At least I caused you some inconvenience.”

“Major,” Adri replied, scowling.

Giselle made no comment, although Adri had noticed that the tranq she had been dosed with had worn off. She took in the room, chose a seat and sat, her eyes vacant, but clear. Adri had no misconceptions about her two new companions. If an opportunity presented itself, she was sure both Kobanes would escape, probably killing her for good in the process. Both women were excellent soldiers. Smart enough to sneak into a Commonwealth Advance Force base, lead her into a trap, and raid a warship, leaving optimally placed bombs. Yet Adri was now their “master.” The situation was uncomfortable for both parties, but Adri could see no other course of action than the one she had taken. Besides murder and mayhem. Blair had checked both Belligerents' vital signs before they had left The Sales. Once he was satisfied that both were in good condition, he had resumed his current role as Adri's silent shadow. He now sat across from Giselle in the large, empty room, eyes closed.

Which left Adri and Hildana staring at each other in mutual wariness and curiosity.

Adri was the first to break the silence. “So, how'd it happen?”

“You haven't heard?” Hildana raised her eyebrows in surprise.

“I've been recuperating from crash-landing on a planet. Call me a little behind the times.” Adri replied dryly.

Hildana snorted. “Our ship was hit by a counter raid less that twenty minutes after we had raided one of yours, a
G.C.N. Damacene
.”

Adri's interested piqued at the mention of Carter's ship.

“Most of us were still on the warehouse and docking level, stripping gear, when the
Damacene's
security officer appeared among us. It was the strangest thing that has ever happened to me. All of a sudden he's standing there, ATF to my head, with a dozen of his men surrounding us.”

Here Adri frowned a little, trying to imagine Commander Vortail taking such a risk. It just wouldn't compute.

“He informed us all that a strike team had already attacked and taken control of the bridge, and if we didn't cooperate, he'd have his men download a HD virus through our mainframe and destroy our engines.” Hildana shrugged. “So here we are,”

Impressed, Adri nodded. “How did they get aboard?”

“Stole some of the teleportation emitters that my fallen troops had left behind.”

Adri tried not to gape. “You have
teleportation devices?!
”

“Yeah,” Hildana nodded smugly. “Didn't figure that one out?”

“We suspected…” Adri shook her head at her confirmed suspicions. Poor Duane. He was probably having a paranthian equivalent of a heart attack.

“So how in the universe did you survive crashing onto a planet? Or being blown up or sucked into space? Or dodging a blaster beam, for that matter?”

Ah, truth. Might as well.
“Turns out I'm an empowered Adept. Supernatural genes, you know.”

Hildana blinked, then grunted. “An Adept. Of course. No way I didn't see that one coming.”

Since Adri's own attitude was pretty much the same, she simply shrugged. “Yep. Go figure.” A little sympathetic to her old enemy's look of confused disbelief, she asked, “What were you doing so far into Commonwealth enforced space, anyway?”

All hints of amusement vanished from the Belligerent soldier's face. “We were sent to investigate your people's new secret weapon. Your WMD to rival all genocide attempts on either side thus far.”

“That's insane. The Galactic Commonwealth is opposed to genocide in all forms. We've been at war with your Coalition for decades and have never resorted to more than organized, traditional military combat!” Adri retorted with righteous indignation. “Many campaign plans are rejected annually due to too much potential for mass loss of civilian life.”

Kobane sneered. “You actually believe all the PR that comes out of your government's talking heads? Genocide is what this war is coming to, no matter what line you've been tossed, Rael. Both sides know this war will doubtlessly drag on forever at the rate it's going. The only way for one side to win effectively is planetary genocide. Wipe out a few planets, and then threaten the rest with the same fate if they do not toe the line. Simple and effective.”

Adri shook her head adamantly, despite the cold rock that had settled in her stomach. “There's no way to wipe out an entire planet. Scientific speculation on the size of a machine powerful enough to rend a planet's surface is something as big as a satellite moon. No way a project that big remains a secret from the military.”

“Ah, but not if the goal was not to tear the planet apart physically, now is it?” Kobane wagged her finger, a cold smirk on her face. “What if the goal was to simply inject a fast spreading poisonous toxin into a planet's atmosphere capable of wiping out all organic life? Pump in enough and it will spread throughout the water systems in a matter of days, killing every living thing. Within a week, all there is that can move around are machines. Something of that caliber could be much smaller, maybe the size of a large battleship, perhaps?”

Echoes of the rumors Adri had heard at the space mission raced in her head. The tukusan's uneasy murmurings about the Top Men poisoning Undaria, of the undarians having to flee to systems they had never traveled to before. But if this was connected to Kobane's secret weapon she was sent to investigate, then why would the Commonwealth turn on one of its own planets? The cold in her stomach spread through her body. Everything in her denied that the government that she had served and believed in for her entire career, while not perfect, had upheld certain moral standards in its war with the Belligerent Coalition.

“It can't be. You have to be lying.” She had to believe it. Kobane had to be misinformed.

“Full truth Rael.” Kobane replied harshly. “Its even reached us that your precious Commonwealth tested its new weapon on one of its own planets. That's when we decided that we couldn't wait around to further substantiate the rumor. If you were cold blooded enough to test it on one of your own core planets, you certainly wouldn't hesitate to use it on one of ours.”

***

Perhaps it was the intense conflicting emotions brought on by her argument with Kobane. Perhaps it was the tension of trying to rest with mortal enemies laying only a few feet away. Whatever it was, when Adri had finally relaxed enough to fall into a soldier's catnap, she dreamed.

A large white moon, like the one that shone down on her home planet Halieth, hung overhead. It illuminated a wide courtyard, surrounded by an old majestic stone building. She turned to look at the building, and became mildly fascinated with the flickering lights shining through the windows. It was like a thousand candles burning at once.

It was fire.

As if that realization had cranked the volume of her dream, screams erupted from all around. Terrified screams. Death screams.

She whirled around and her foot slid in something wet and dark. Blood. The growing firelight revealed the courtyard to be a slaughterhouse. Blood spattered everywhere; on the cobbled pavement, on the walls, on the trees and bushes. And then suddenly she was no longer alone in the courtyard of blood – she was surrounded by fleeing lights, as brilliant as the spirits in the other realm. These lights were racing to and fro in an attempt to escape the blood and the fire and the encompassing dark. But there was nowhere to go.

Then she saw the boy. A beautiful, pale haired boy with an angelic face and wide dark eyes. The lights fled from him like the angel of death.

His black wings beat faster than the pulse of the lights, and with a look of tragic emptiness on his lovely face, he killed them.

Adri started screaming.

Username: Zultan

File://GC:#000237ugd//confidential//uri

Password: *******

Access Granted

Command: open file to last saved date

It has been thirty-two days since I last saw Dr. Floyd Tarkubunji. Thirty-one days under the direct command of Dr. Morris Waverly of Interstellar Humacom Designs. Twenty-eight days since I was introduced to Cassie's replacement, G.C.P. 07385-series #0344, nicknamed “Eisha.” It is a six-foot sturdily built securicom in what I gather is an attractive female chassis.

I find more stimulating conversation with the lab's beverage machine.

At last I feel permitted to express an opinion I've harbored for a long time. Yet now it is not an opinion, but a theory that has stood against several tests. Humans are very foolish. They do not understand each other, they do not understand themselves, and they certainly do not understand their creations. They go about their lives with an all-encompassing goal of making themselves happy, regardless of the unhappiness they cause others in the process.