The Icarus operative - 13. Thirteen

Civilian Trading Ship Persephone

Travelling to Launchhole RS II in the Rivulak System

Covenant Year 329

TWENTY FIVE DAYS BEFORE THE ARREST

Doctor Melaree had asked Captain Bristow to join him in the infirmary as soon as he’d gotten the results of the tests he had run on Espinosa. He’d been at it the whole day, trying to avoid Jay Aodhagán as much as possible. After all, he had been kind of a jerk to the guy. But truth was he’d gotten really pissed at having been left halfway true. The tests on Espinosa, however, had proven a welcome distraction and a way to put his mind off of things for a while. Now, he had some padnics with some of the results all over his desk, but most of the relevant data was in his main screen, located on his desk.

The infirmary on the the Persephone, his infirmary, unlike Melaree’s personal quarters, was a clear example of tidiness. The silver blue color was predominant in most of the walls and the instruments, the cupboards and the desk. There were a couple of medical beds attached to similar arcs with several buttons and monitors on them. Medical pharapernalia lay here and there through the room.

Captain Bristow came in with that particular walking of hers, and smiled as soon as she saw the doctor sitting across from his desk.

“So,” she said.

“So,” Rharthza said looking up at her and standing as he smiled, “Please, come in, Auri.”

“I gather you’ve got some news for me, am I right?”

“Oh, indeed! Please, come this way,” he said signaling her to come around the desk so he could show her the data on the main monitor.

Auriel positioned herself behind Rharthza and looked at the medical screen over the doctor’s shoulder, where different cuts and takes of a brain scan in different colors were displayed.

“Take a look at this, Auri,” Rharthza said, pointing at a specific section of the scan, “It’s the last of the many scans I performed on our guest.”

Auriel looked at the scan intently, but it wouldn’t tell her anything. It was not like she was close to understanding medical stuff, but she had had her good share of brain scans in the past. Right then, she didn’t really know what Rharthza was expecting her to see in the scan other than a brain.

“Can you …?” she started.

“Oh, by all means, Auri!” he answered, “What do you see on this area of the scan?”

Auriel flipped her forelock, sort of squinted and then spoke. “I know I’m not a doctor, but I’ve seen many scans before. So it might be I’m going blind, ‘cause I don’t see anything …”

“Precisely,” the doctor said and then signaled her to have a seat on the empty chair across from him, “Cause there’s nothing to see at all …”

“Meaning?” she asked.

“It’s been a long time since the last time I saw something like this Auri. I’ve been around it for some time after the tests, an’ there’s only one place where I’ve seen this kind of results in a brain scan.”

“And that would be …?”

“Blankslates.”

Auriel Bristow looked at the Doctor, a big question mark in her facial expression.

“I’m not sure I’m following you.” she told her medical officer and friend.

“I know it might sound horribly farfetched, but ‘tis the only explanation I can come up with,” he said, confusion all over his face even as he explained it, “This man is a blankslate.”

“A blankslate?”

Rharthza rolled his eyes at the Captain as he said: “An operative whose mind has been erased?”

“I know what a blankslate is, Rhar, it’s just I never thought I’d have one on my ship.”

She stood from where she’d been sitting for the past moments, and walked around sickbay, back and forth as she said, “So, he was telling the truth after all … He truly doesn’t know anything about his past or himself.”

“I can vouch for that, or better, the tests can. So far as the scans and tests go, he was indeed telling the truth regarding his memory, all right.”

“Rhar,” Auriel said with that particular frown she displayed when in deep thought, “correct me if I’m wrong, but, wasn’t blankslating technology a shadow thing?”

“You are and you’re not wrong, Auri. It is a fact that it was the Shadows who created the technology which made blankslating possible in the first place. However, rumor has it that Covenant Intelligence replicated the process and have used it ever since.”

“That would only make sense,” she added, “since Shadows haven’t existed for the past what … century or so?”

“That is a fact too. Then again, there’s this urban legend that they have continued to operate covertly, even when the Covenant disbanded them so long ago.”

“Either way, if that’s the case …” Auriel said, more to herself than to her interlocutor.

“What?” asked Rharthza, “What is it?”

Auriel kept pacing back and forth around Melaree’s sickbay, with that expression in her face which usually meant she was gathering her thoughts.

“I’m just trying to figure out why a blankslate would’ve been put under my tracks … According to what we saw on the holochip, he was sending himself to look for me in case he was caught, which he did. But we don’t have any clue as to who his captors were or why he was blankslated.”

“If he found it necessary to record the holomessage for himself, he knew he was in danger of being caught, all righty.”

“However,” Bristow said coming and going, “it wouldn’t make any sense for him to be caught, blankslated and then allowed to keep his ID and the holochip …”

“That is very true too, Aur …”

“Unless …”

“Yes?”

“Unless the Covenant had a reason to allow him to reach me …”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, but what if the holomessage was a fake? What if Espinosa was a volunteer agent for … whatever his mission might be?”

“We don’t have any score to settle with the Covenant, now, do we? Or did I miss something?”

“We don’t and it doesn’t add up. The question would then be what purpose The Covenant could have to send him my way?”

“Well, that if we assume it was the Covenant who did this.”

“What do you mean?”

“There could be some truth about the shadows, for all we know.”

“If we don’t have any score with The Covenant, I fail to see how we would have it with the Shadows If they exist at all.”

“Wait!” Rharthza said.

“What, Rhar?”

“We did have that one thing with The Core, remember?”

“You mean the one with The Watcher?”

“Yes, yes. That one time we went to Kalandar transporting Sergeant Whatshisface …”

“Ni’sugah?”

“Him, yes.”

Auriel dropped herself on the chair across from the doctor’s chair.

“It’s been some time now, Rhar. Every lose end connecting us to Ni’sugah and The Watcher was eliminated …”

“So,” he added placing the scan pad over the other tests and looking intently at the Captain, “I guess that’s one fine mistery we’ll have to solve, Aur.”

“This doesn’t make any sense …”

“It doesn’t.” Rharthza admitted.

“There’s something else we’re not considering,” Auriel Bristow said as she walked to the other side of the room.

“What’s that, Auri?”

“We both saw the message on the holochip. It was himself recording the message and asking himself to look for me, for my ship …”

“So?”

“So, if he wasn’t a volunteer agent, and he was genuinely being chased by either covenant officials, or shadows, how did he know to look for me? Why would he send himself my way?”

“Might it be Espinosa’s closer to someone you know or might have known?”

“I don’t see how.”

Auriel stood up again and started pacing around the room as a caged lion while the doctor looked at her, trying to find out whether that bright brain of hers was coming up with some answers. Suddenly, she spoke, making Rharthza jump.

“We need to dig into the why. Is there a way we can know where the chip came from, Rhar?”

“I don’t think so, Aur,” Rharthza said scratching his chin, “if it is Covenant craft, the chip components will most likely be untraceable. Same if it is Core. And if it is indeed Shadow manufacture … well, then things will get much more complicated than that.”

“Okay” she said as she sat down and brought her hand in a fist to her mouth in a pensive gesture, “I’d appreciate any suggestion you might have.”

“I’ve nothing right now,” Rharthza said, “but I’ll think about any possible options.”

“No matter how crazy they might seem.”

“Got you on that.”

“Then I’d say we should consider this a closed matter, at least for the moment.”

“Are you sure o’that?”

“Well,” Auriel shrugged, “I don’t think there’s anything we can do about it, at least not while some other information can add up to it, or while you can come up with another feasible solution. So, why bother?”

“So, we give it a rest?”

“I think we should,” she said, “at least for now.”

Rharthza nodded.

“Auriel …” he said.

“Yes?”

“There’s something else we haven’t considered and we should …”

“What is that, Rhar?”

“He could be a sleeper …”

“Do you think that’s a possibility?”

“From my vantage point, Aur, anything is a possibility. If he was a sleeper, though, we might not really know until it’s too late …”

“If he gets triggered to complete his mission …” she added.

“Which could be just about anything, Aur. I think he should be kept captive until we’ve learnt more about him …”

“I’ll get back to you on that …”

And having said so, the Captain walked away, leaving the doctor to his own thoughts. Most of the times he thought he knew Auriel almost as he knew himself, But at times like this one, Rharthza found out he didn’t really know his long time friend as much as he usually liked to believe.

****************

There weren’t that many people in the mess hall, because most of the crew were attending to their different chores as they were en route to Launchhole RSII.

Arthur and Sasha were sitting on one of the small tables having coffee and playing dhargnam with Merrilyn. Truth was she had never been that good at playing card games, and she had always found dhargnam to be a rather complicated game. But she was truly enjoying the company of the Ahmoses, even if she’d lost every single hand in the game.

Semyon Zalicker was having a glass of iced tea sitting on the other small table and chatting with Swift. Merrilyn had asked them to join the game, but they’d thanked her and had kept to their conversation.

“Dhargnam!” shouted Arthur uncovering his hand.

“C’mon!” said Merrilyn dropping her hand to a side, “It’s not fair! How do you manage to dhargnam every single hand!”

“I’ve been gifted with a preternatural luck for card games!” Arthur said smiling at Merrilyn.

She giggled as she looked at both the Ahmoses.

“I think is time for me to withdraw from the game and fetch us new cups of coffee, or I’m gonna lose more than my dignity in this game!”

She stood from the table and went to her kitchen to get the coffee ready. She was pouring the steaming liquid in the cups, when she noticed something happening in the mess hall. She left the cups and went back into the dinning room to find Sasha bending over the table and grunting.

“Oh, my God!” she said and ran to the table where moments before she’d been playing with the cousins.

Arthur was already by Sasha’s side and trying to steady him. Sasha turned to look at Merrilyn, an evident look of pain in his face. He was all red and all the veins in his face had swollen to a point where she could see each one of them. He looked as if he was having a seizure, his hands and fingers twisted, as well as his legs. Both Semyon and Swift had jumped from their table and were also next to the Arthur Ahmose.

“How can I help? How can I help?” Merrilyn asked once and again as Sasha kept contorting and grunting, now on the floor of the mess hall.

“I’ll get the doctor!” shouted Semyon over the crowd.

“NO!” Arhtur shouted, “It’s okay! It’s just a medical condition! I just need to get him to his bed and give him his medication!”

Merrilyn looked at both Semyon and Swift askance, but she did not say anything. Semyon moved closer to Sasha, in order to help Arthur seize him. Arthur, kneeling by his cousin’s side, looked at him in the eye and talked to him.

“Sasha, look at me, look at me!” the younger Ahmose struggled to focus his sight on his cousin. His body jerked violently, and his contorted mouth drooled saliva. “It’s gonna be alright. Look at me, it’s gonna be allright.”

Arthur’s words seemed to have a calming effect on Sasha who kind of relaxed, even when his body was still convulsing. Arthur and Semyon were able to then carry the young Ahmose to his quarters, Merrilyn and Swift following them closely. When they stepped inside the room and placed Sasha on the bed, Arthur thanked Merrilyn, Swift and Semyon and asked them to leave. All three crew members felt disturbed at his impolite way of asking, but understood that what had happened had not been very pleasant and something the Ahmoses had probably tried to keep private given the embarrassing nature of the young man’s condition.

Merrilyn walked between Semyon and Swift, on their way back to the messhall, carrying looks of shock on their faces. They walked for some seconds before Merrilyn found the courage to start the conversation.

“Odd, now, wasn’t it?”

“T’was odd,” Semyon concurred, an expression of sympathy and sadness on his face.

“Not that odd, if you ask me,” Swift volunteered, “It did seem like the kind of thing one might want to keep private.”

“I thought it was odd,” said Merrilyn, “And d’you know what’s odder?”

“What?” asked Swift.

“That he did not want us to go get Rhartza. I think the doctor might’ve been of assistance.”

“I don’t think it was odd,” Swift replied, “I just think the guy did not want to embarrass his cousin more than he had done it for himself. I think it’s a common thing for something like that to happen. It seemed to me that Arthur knew exactly what he was doing, like he’d done it many times before today.”

“That’s true. I do think it’s kind of embarrassing,” Merrilyn said, “And it’s sad, you know? Sasha being so young and handsome … and having such a condition …”

“I know,” Semyon said, “Life’s a bitch, they say.”

“Well, it’s not like it’s the end of the world,” added Swift, “people do learn how to live with their disabilities.”

At that, both Semyon and Merrilyn got speechless. They both looked at Swift, his short figure walking next to them. Merrilyn felt a pang of compassion, ‘cause she understood being a little person might have been hard at some point of Swift’s life.

“I …” she started.

“It’s okay,” Swift said, “I’m pretty comfortable with who I am, even if there’s still stupid people who might judge me because of my height, or my short legs, or what some people call ‘my funny face’ … I don’t care anymore.”

“Well if it helps,” Merrilyn said, “I think you’re a great person. And handsome too.”

“Thanks for that,” Swift said and they kept on walking on their way to the messhall.

****************

Sasha was peacefully sleeping and had been for the past hour or so. Arthur, dressed in white linen, was holding a holobook in his hands, reading ‘The nature of the God conflict’ by Rivulan author M’brak Goul. It wasn’t odd, though, for he certainly enjoyed reading all sorts of philosophical books. Lately, he seemed to have caught an interest in Rivulan radicals, M’brak Goul especially.

“Hey, Art,” said Sasha coming back to his senses.

“Hey, kid!” Arthur said tapping the holobook, which automatically stopped projecting. “I was about to have a cup of tea. Care for some?”

“Okay …” said Sasha.

“Are you feeling better?” Arthur asked as he poured his cousin a cup of the infusion, and handed it to him.

“I am now.”

When he’d poured his own cup, Arthur sat down crossing his right leg over his left, and placing his left hand on his right knee. He looked directly at his cousin, who seemed a little bit unease. He smiled and spoke in his soothing yet masculine voice.

“Something on your mind?”

“Well, I was just wondering … do you think Merrilyn or any of the others might suspect something?” Sasha asked.

Arthur looked back at his cousin and sipped, ever so delicately, from the cup of tea he had in his right hand, his manners always those of the aristocrat he was. He placed the cup on the little saucer he was now holding in his left hand and placed both on the desk next to his bunkbed, always careful not to spill the tea over his handmade linen suit, which he’d complemented with a coral nytton shirt and a pale pink silk tie. He uncrossed his right leg, and now crossed the left over it, showing his lovely bostonian-style ivory shoes.

“Now, Sasha,” he said, his voice utterly calmed, “Why would they suspect anything if we didn’t hint there was anything to be suspicious about? So far as they know, you’ve got a medical condition that only I can keep under control. We’ll say you’ve taken your medication and that’s that.”

Sasha, still resting on the bed against the pillows, nodded and sipped from his cup of tea. He did not know why, but his cousin’s voice and attitude would always soothe him.

“I know you feel anxious, Sasha,” Arthur continued, smiling at his younger cousin, “that’s only natural. But remember …” and he paused for emphasis, “We have a mission to accomplish and we will not be able to, if we doubt even in the slightest. We have to keep our manners calm and let nothing slip. We can do this. And we will.”

“It’s getting worse,” Sasha said, “it’s happening with much more frequency than before, I don’t know how much longer we’ll be able to hide it …”

“Sasha,” Arthur said, “Take it easy. We’ll take it one step at a time. For the time being, I think it would be a good idea for you to remain here, in your quarters. I’ll tell everyone you’re embarrassed at what happened and you do not want to talk to anyone.”

“I think that’s a wise idea, Arthur.” Sasha said, and then took another sip from his cup of tea.

What they were drinking was an infusion of Paradisian seashore flowers, commonly called Paradisian bells, and Sasha’s favorite. More than once he’d wondered how Arhtur had always managed to have Paradisian bell tea at hand for he knew Sasha loved it. He still had his doubts regarding the secrecy of their mission, but he always told himself that Arthur was older and much more experienced than he was. If Arthur said everything was fine, then so it was. And he would believe him with eyes closed.

“What we need to keep in mind,” Arthur continued, noticing Sasha was starting to relax. He uncrossed his legs and reached for his cup of tea, “is that our mission is one of utter importance, and we need to see it through. One could say that the entire wellfare of the Galaxy rests over our shoulders right now.”

“I know.” Sasha nodded once again and Arthur smiled.

Arthur was satisfied. It was his job to keep Sasha secluded for the time being, until they stepped on Phinaran soil and he could bring the negotiation he was to conduct to an end.

“All of a sudden you seem quite thoughtful, Arthur,” Sasha observed.

The older Ahmose smiled, the cup of tea between his lips as he finished it, and then stood up from his chair. He kneeled in front of Sasha and cupped his face with his own hands.

“Your well being is my only concern, Sasha,” he said, kissing his cousin on the forehead, “as it has always been since you were born.”

Sasha smiled. He certainly believed in Arthur’s words. And he felt relieved that Arthur had been the one to come with him on this enterprise. He was the cousin he had always been closer to, and the one who had always treated him as a son since he was a baby. If someone would protect him, if someone were willing to give his life for Sasha, he knew that would be Arthur.

The ship suddenly jerked to a side, and both cousins spilled their tea all over their expensive suits.

“What the heck?” Arthur said looking angrily at the tea stain on his linen suit. If there was something that made Arthur Ahmose angry, was spoiling a perfect and expensive custommade linen suit.

Sasha’s expression was one of sudden fear and looked at his cousin for assurance that everything was OK. Arthur could not vouch for that, so, instead of assuring Sasha, he walked towards the ICD pad located on the wall, to ask Captain Bristow what the hell was going on.

****************

“Captain?” Aodhagán’s anguished voice came from the engine room through the ICD.

“Yes, Jay?” Bristow answered holding tight to the arms of her command chair, “What the hell was that?”

“There was an apparent halt of the plasma flux to the left nacelle, Sir. I’m running a diagnostic to determine what the problem was.”

The Persephone jerked again and the command crew got ahold of their places. Rodriguez consulted on her keyboard to see if she could help Aodhagán locate the problem, which she couldn’t.

“Jay,” the Captain spoke again, this time with more urgency in her voice, “Talk to me!”

“I’m on it, Cap!” Jay said.

“Jay!”

“Got it!” he replied, “One of the plasma injectors seems to have ruptured, Captain. The fracture was what affected the plasma flux to the nacelle. I’m working on locating the fracture on the ruptured injector as we speak.”

“How come we didn’t know about this injector before we jumped into warp?”

“Before we left Nabï Yünus I ran a full diagnostic on the engines and the WPS, and nothing popped out Captain. I truly don’t know what happened.”

His voice went off for some seconds that seemed like an eternity for everyone on the bridge, and then he spoke again.

“I’ve located the fracture, Captain, but I’m afraid we’re gonna have to shut down the warp engine and go back to impulse while I work on sealing it.”

“Roger that,” the Captain said, and then turned to her pilot, “Athsari, bring us out of warp.”

“Aye, aye, Captain,” answered Rodríguez, and keyed the set of commands to disengage the warp field created by the engine, “And we’re coming out of warp … now!”

“Got that, Jay?” the Captain asked.

“Aye, captain. I’ll start repairs ASAP. Jay out.”

Captain Bristow stood up from her chair and removed a lock of hair that had fallen over her left eye. She looked through the frontshield at what seemed to be the B’dragh Nebula. She like hell hoped her eyes were tricking her, for she was not very enthusiastic about getting close to the Rivulak System. But she knew her cartography rather well.

“Athsari, can you give me our current location?”

“Aye, Captain,” Rodriguez responded doublechecking the coordinates on her monitor, “We are on the right arm of the B’dragh Nebula, Captain.”

“Just our luck!” she proffered as she heard the pilot’s report, “let’s keep moving at impulse speed while Jay works on the injector.”

“Something on your mind, Captain?” Missdon asked turning on her chair beside that of the pilot.

“You bet!” she said.

“Care to share it with your humble main officer?”

“Well,” Bristow started as she took her seat again, “you are aware of the fact that the Rivulak System has been under a lot of political stress as of late, Hadz. Some people are even talking about civil war there, ready to erupt at any moment. Truth is, I wouldn’t like us to be caught in a crossfire. So, the faster we can be done with this area of space, the better.”

As if on cue, the ICD chirped and Bristow tapped the button on the right arm of her chair. “Go ahead, Jay.”

“Captain,” said Jay, not sounding very optimistic, “I’m afraid I have some bad news back here.”

“Yes?” she asked as she looked at Missdon, who also looked at her expectantly.

“Oh, well … uhm … the fracture on the plasma injector was much more severe than I had anticipated, Captain.”

“So … how soon can you have it fixed?”

“Well, that’s pretty much what I wanted to tell you Captain, there’s no way I can fix it. I am working on patching up the injector so it won’t leak plasma, but there’s no way we can jump into warp in such a condition. Our only real possibility is orbiting around the closest system to get a new set of plasma injectors.”

Auriel closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Having to stop at the Rivulak System was pretty much her idea of hell. But there was no way around it; the only thing to do was get in touch with some of her trading contacts in Halan II and hope for the best. Luckily, they would be able to buy the part fairly quickly. From then, they could leave Halan II and move at impulse while Jay worked on replacing the broken injector with the new one. The faster they were clear of Rivulan space, the better.

‘Every problem,’ she told herself, ‘has a solution.’