Grinde Galaxy Chapter 10

 

Chapter 10

“I’ve recommended you for officer’s school.” Isac turned to me, sitting in his console chair. “You’ve shown yourself to be brave, intelligent, and resourceful. I think the Empire would do good to have you in a higher position.”

“Sir, I don’t deserve your praise.”

Isac scoffed. “Don’t denigrate yourself. You’re a lot more than you look on the outside.”

“Does this mean I’ll stop being your squire?”

“Sadly, yes.” Isac turned back to his console. “But it’s for the best. The Empire needs great soldiers and officers in its fight against the zenos. Not just the synth, but the groks and deadmen too.”

“Sir.”

Isac waved his hand. “When the Atlas enters the orbit of Illum, you’ll be leaving on a shuttle. Make sure to take care of everything before you leave, because you aren’t getting back on board.”

“Sir.”

Isac sighed. “It’s been a short while, Mythe. I hope your future will be brighter than mine.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“You’re free to do what you want until we leave the warp. I’d say that will be in about half a cycle.”

“Sir.” I turned and left the cabin.

Allen: Are you ready to oblige me?

Me: Yes. You wanted me to find the chronomicon, right?

Allen: Glad you remember. Our time is running out. If I don’t get my hands on that device before you leave, I’ll never get a chance again.

Me: You’re staying here, right? On board the Atlas?

Allen: No. I’m following you off this ship. I’ve been sleeping on board this cruiser for far too long.

Me: Okay. I get it. We’ll find the chronomicon and then we can play it by ear.

Allen: I’ll do what I can to help.

I walked a bit until I found a deserted corridor that also contained an air vent. After looking both ways, I climbed in.

Me: Allen, do you think you could give me an estimate of where the object is?

Allen: You can try the treasure room.

Me: Got it. I’ll hack the map.

I opened a few programs on my interface device and recovered as many maps of the ship as I could. The digital safety of the Atlas’s core file system was abysmal. It hadn’t been maintained in years, possibly decades. Everything was falling apart.

I found the location of several treasure rooms.

Me: Which one do you think it’s in?

Allen: I can’t tell. Try them all.

Me: Understood.  

I climbed around in the ventilation network until I came to a small vent that overlooked a treasure room.

This room didn’t look like it had any treasures stored in it. It was full of bland crates and a couple old weapon systems.

Allen: I’m running a scan. Try not to move.

A wave of blue light spat out from my interface device and swept across the room.

Allen: Nothing. Try the next one.

Me: What, exactly, is the chronomicon?

Allen: A piece of equipment that will allow me to access the Cloud.

Me: Explain.

I began crawling through the vents, heading to the next possible location.

Allen: It will also allow me to manifest physically in real space.

Me: That’s good?

Allen: Aren’t you tired of communicating like this?

Me: I guess so. What story will we tell other people when they see you?

Allen: We’ll figure that out when we get there.

Me: You’re pretty on the fly for an advanced Tolk AI.

Allen: You flatter me.

I made it to the next treasure room. Allen scanned it again.

Allen: It’s in there.

Me: Do you want me to—

A flash of light extended from my interface device and illuminated a single small crystal in the corner of the room. The crystal lit up with a blazing display of lightworks. A portal formed, and a ravishingly beautiful woman stepped out of the mist. She was wearing plain grey clothes with a single white line. Her hair was pure white and her eyes were grey.

I almost fell out of the ventilation shaft. “Holy hell.”

The girl, who I assumed was Allen, cracked her neck. “Oh, hey, Mythe.” Her voice was gentle, almost like silver in the air.

“I thought your form would be, you know …”

This “Allen” stretched her arms. “It’s nice finally having a physical form. What, were you expecting something else?”

“You’re a girl.”

“Hm?” Allen appeared confused. “Am I—” He/she paused. “Oh, yeah. You homo sapiens are a two gendered species? Ah, well, I like this form. I’ll stick with it.”

“Um, then, what should I call you?”

“Whatever you want.”

“Al … Alice? No … Aeon. That’s more like you.”

“Aeon. Meaning, a very long period of time. I like it. Allen was just a temporary moniker anyways.”

I slid down from the grate in the wall and landed in the room, brushing off my pants. “Well, you can’t be crawling around the vents like that.”

“I wasn’t expecting to.” Aeon waved her hand and the door to the treasure room opened.

“What the hell?” The treasure room guard suddenly stood up, wide eyed.

Aeon waved her hand. “Password A-LK-BI-56. All hail the Emperor.”

“Oh, yeah, you’re the maintenance guy. Um, girl.” The guard shrugged. “You were supposed to be here yesterday. What took you so long?”

Aeon shrugged, smiling sweetly. “That’s for my boss to know.”

We walked past him. Aeon flicked her finger and a pass card appeared in her hand. “I’ve enrolled at the same officer school you were planning on going to.”

“That was ridiculously quick.”

“Now that I have access to the Cloud,” Aeon cracked her neck, “My capabilities are much expanded. Oh, and I’ve taken a look at that orrery you worked so hard to obtain. I’m sad to tell you this, but that thing’s data has been corrupted. Well, I’m sure they’ll figure that out eventually.”

We walked through the ship unobstructed. Every time a guard would try to stop us, Aeon flashed his, er, her pass card and they saluted.

“Your facial expression tells me you are confused.”

“Why did you choose that form?”

Aeon furrowed her brow. “It was calculated to give me as much charisma as possible among your race.”

“But …”

Aeon shook her head. “You appear confused. But I cannot explain this to you any further. Even the cloud does not know much about your species beyond what it takes to exploit it.”

“Exploit.”

“Yes. Your species is a slave race.”

“I heard that before. From the orrery.”

“Yes. Indeed. Homo sapiens is a race who was uplifted in order to serve as labor for the Tolk.”

“And …” I grimaced. “Wow. Okay, so that’s …”

Aeon shook her head. “But you have proven to be an interesting species. Interesting enough for me to want to watch a certain individual.”

“That’s me.”

“Indeed.” Aeon opened a restricted door with a simple pass of her card.

I now knew where I was within the Atlas. “I know where to go from here.”

“Then lead me.”

Aeon and I returned to Isac’s quarters.

Aeon turned away. “I will part with you here for now. You will meet me again when you make planetfall at your destination.” She left me standing there, and a minute later she turned a corner and was gone.

I shrugged, turned to the door, and entered. Isac was sitting at his console, as expected. He turned to greet me.

“Do you have everything packed?”

“Yes.” I sat down on a small chair bolted to the wall. “Is the Atlas going to make planetfall where the academy is located?”

“No.” Isac shook his head. “You’ll be hitching a ride with a trader vessel. The Atlas has other plans. Everything is in order, so don’t worry about the details.” He checked his watch—which was strange, since not many people with access to interface devices used them. “It’s about time for you to board, anyways. I would go with you, but I have work to do. Take this as my farewell to you.”

I saluted. “Yes sir.”

There was a knock on the door.

Isac nodded once. “Go. Be an asset to the Emperor.”

I saluted again, and turned around, opening the door.

Draw was standing in the hallway. She winked at me. “Glad I got to see you one more time before you ship off. I heard you’re going to officer school.”

The door closed behind me. “Yes. I am.”

“Lucky guy.” Draw walked with me through the hallway. “I don’t have the brains for that kind of thing. Being a cabin helper is the only thing I’m good for.”

“You’re not useless. You have a lot of talent.”

“Where?” We passed through a checkpoint, where a sailor simply waved us through. Draw scoffed. “If I had talent, why would I be stuck here?”

“It’s just that no one recognizes it.” We entered the launch bay.

“Well, thanks anyways.” Draw saluted. “I’ll see you on the other side.”

I turned away. “You too.”

A gruff old man with white hair approached me. “You the cargo I’m going to ship to Illum?”

“Yeah.” I held my small suitcase to my chest. “Are we leaving now?”

“You bet we are. I’m not spending any more time than I have to aboard this space hulk.” He waved. “The name’s Greyforthward. You can call me Grey.”

“Okay, Grey. I’m—”

“Yes, I know. Mythe. Now get aboard so we can blow this place.” The door to a small space vessel opened. The vessel was about the size of a small tug, with room for maybe a few tons of cargo or a couple dozen closely-packed people. I climbed aboard, sitting in the seat behind the pilot’s chair.

Grey sat down in the control suite. He flicked a few switches and narrowed his eyes. “Yeesh. You imperial drones sure have a knack for procedure.”

“I, ah, I’m not really one of them.”

“You’re not? Then how the hell did you manage to get accepted to an elite officer’s school?”

“It just happened.”

Grey held his hand against the throttle. “No need to explain. Let’s get out of here.” We lifted off and flew through the Atlas’s landing bay gates.

The planet below us was mostly blue. A single small landmass floated around the equator, and a large space station was tethered to its center.

I held on to the seat of my chair. “Do you know anything about the school I’m going to attend?”

“I thought you would know. Being the candidate and all.” Grey nursed the ship into the atmosphere.

“I have no clue what’s going to happen when I arrive. I don’t even know what the school is called.”

“Well that’s easy. The school is called the Arlington’s Peak Academy.”

“That’s good to know.”

The comms crackled to life. “Incoming vessel, state your purpose.”

“I’m just delivering a package.” Grey turned a few knobs. “You should have been notified of my arrival.”

“Ah, yes. Land at port A-2Z.”

“Sure thing.” Grey took us over the small continent. In a valley near the landmass’s center, a city rose up. It wasn’t nearly the size of a hive city, but it was respectable. It was also surprisingly clean and shining. Two gigantic orbital defense cannons poked above the skyline.

We landed at a busy port, with lots of military vessels coming and going. Just as we landed, I looked up into the sky to see the Atlas jump to warp.

“Goodbye, Isac.” I looked away.

Grey landed us without incident. He pressed a button and the door opened.

“It’s been a short while, son.” He saluted. “But I wish you the best.”

I stepped off the ship and onto the platform. A man in a uniform was there to greet me.

“Cadet Mythe. Come with me.”

I followed the man, not knowing what was going to come next.