Kartega

Tubes of vacuum packed frigger eggs spread out across the docking bay as Sid frantically tore apart the Neostar shipment. Her fingers dug through the packages, pushing them out of the way until she had cleared the capsule of all its contents.

“Where is it?” She shouted, rushing over to inspect the mess on the floor. “He said it’ll be here!”

Sid had been counting down the minutes to the arrival of the shipment and lunged on it as soon as air control stabilized and it was safe to open the dock doors. She ripped through every piece, hoping to find the valve Colton was supposed to deliver. When she was done going through the contents, she rummaged through them again — and again, and again — until all that was left was an unruly mess of a dock and a breathless Sid on its floor.

“He said,” she gasped, “it’ll be here! Where is it? Why is it not here?”

Her fist met with the metal grate beneath her and she let out a scream as she continued to pummel the floor. Sid’s eyes were stinging from the tears, it had been days since she felt anything but dry discomfort and she swatted at the wetness in between hits. Did Colton forget to pack the valve? Why would he do that? He knew how important it was; she’d asked him for one for weeks now.

“Where is it?” She gasped in between tears, “Where is it?”

Her hands were shaking, red welts already forming from the blows. Unsteadily, she opened her palms and patted the tear stained flooring beneath her. It’s alright, it’ll be fine. I’ll just call him and ask him to send one right away. Tell him it’s urgent. She pushed herself up to stand and dusted off the debris trapped in her suit. Still breathless, she kicked her way through the remnants of the food and headed for the observatory.

“Rusty! Get a line out to Colton! I need to speak with him immediately!”

“YOUR CALL WITH THE NEOSTAR ORDER GENERAL IS NOT SCHEDULED AS PART OF TODAY’S ACTIVITIES. WOULD YOU LIKE FOR ME TO CHECK THE CALENDAR AND LET YOU KNOW THE EXACT TIME OF YOUR NEXT APPOINTMENT?”

“I don’t care if it’s not scheduled, Rusty! Get him on the line! Now!”

Sid punted a pack of concentrated fruit paste, splattering the blue substance all over the wall. This was not the time for following rules, too much was at risk. She knew Colton wouldn’t be pleased with her interrupting NSO business but he left her no choice. She needed to get a hold of him.

The sound of her footsteps echoed down the corridor as she made her way to the observatory, slamming doors in her ascent to the top.

The back of her suit was drenched with sweat but whether it was from fear or anger she couldn’t be certain. As she sped up her steps, her palms danced against each other, letting the sparks of electricity she created flash against her skin until it looked like she was holding a massive ball of fire. “Don’t use your magic, Sid. It’s not safe, Sid.” She teased, expanding the electrical shots into an even larger mass.

Her fingers tingled from the sparks, each one sending a jolt of energy back into her body. “The only thing that isn’t safe is this piece of space garbage you trapped me in, Colton! And you better help me fix it!” She yelled down the corridor before dropping the hold on her magic and taking off in a sprint up the stairs.

“Again, Rusty.” Sid sighed, exasperated from listening to the repetitive sound of the comm trying to connect the line.

“COMM LINK ESTABLISHED. ATTEMPTING SIXTH WAVE OF COMMUNICATION.”

The screen blinked rapidly in front of her face as the beeping of the signal intensified before silence enveloped the observatory. Sid stretched out her legs and let her eyes wander to the glow of Neostar in front of her. She used to love having a three sixty view of the star as her ship circled around it; it felt like they were caught in a dance, a moment shared between lovers. What was the name Colton used for slow dancing on his home planet? Waltz? Another dumb word, Sid thought. The star’s Waltz felt excruciating to her, slowly moving in its usual path, as if completely unaware of the danger she was in.

“One more time, please,” she huffed.

“COMM LINK ESTABLISHED. ATTEMPTING SEVENTH WAVE OF COMMUNICATION.”

“You don’t have to count them every single time, Rusty!” She spat.

“I AM SIMPLY NOTING THE CALLS FOR YOUR RECORDS,” the ship echoed, “SEVENTH ATTEMPT- NO ANSWER ON THE RECEIVING END.”

“If we can’t get a hold of Colton, we’re as good as dead. Do you get that?”

“I’M SORRY, I DO NOT UNDERSTAND YOUR REQUEST. I HAVE NOT BEEN PROGRAMMED WITH A CODING SEQUENCE FOR DEAD.”

“Show off,” she said under her breath, “again, please!”

“COMM LINK ESTABLISHED. ATTEMPTING EIGHTH WAV–”

“Shut up, Rusty!” She screamed, throwing her hands forward. A burst of energy shot from her palms and barreled at the small comm on the table in front of her. Before she could stop it, the bolt of lightning cannoned the device. Sid watched as the comm burst into sparks of orange, red and yellow. Fuming for a moment before the screen above it disappeared and the comm device let out a puff of smoke; fried.

Sid looked down at the charred box in front of her. “No!” She cried and leaped forward, her hands reaching for the few wires that seemed to have been left intact. “Rusty! Try again!”

“EIGHTH WAVE OF COMMUNICATION WITH NEOSTAR FAILED DUE TO A COMM LINK MALFUNCTION. I CANNOT ESTABLISH A CURRENT LINK OF COMMUNICATION WITH THE RECEIVER. ALL COMM SYSTEMS ARE DOWN.”

“What have I done, Rusty?” Sid cried.

“I CANNOT BE CERTAIN UNTIL I RUN A FULL DIAGNOSTIC OF THE SYSTEM BUT IF MY PRELIMINARY CALCULATIONS ARE CORRECT, YOU HAVE DISLODGED THE INTERNAL WIRING OF THE INTEGRATED AUDIO SYSTEM.”

Sid held up a handful of blackened wires, “You think?”

Her legs buckled. She slowly slipped back into the chair, letting her head hang heavy in her hands. This time, she’d really messed things up. Colton told her not to use her magic. He told how dangerous it could be. And what did she do? The first time she got angry, she fried the only way she had of communicating with him. The only way she had to send him a request for the missing valve. The only chance she had of salvation.

He’ll figure out something’s wrong. He’ll figure out something’s wrong when he can’t reach me and he’ll come here. He’ll save me.

“Right, Rusty?”

“RIGHT. SOMETHING THAT IS TRUE OR CORRECT TO THE FACT.” The ship ran off the definition of the word, “THE BEST OR MOST APPROPRIATE CHOICE FOR A PARTICULAR SITUATION.”

“Let’s hope so, Rusty. For the love of the star, let’s hope so.”

Blue light illuminated the observatory as Sid flipped through the videos on the large projection in the center of the deck. After her outburst with the comm earlier, she’d decided to take a break and get ahead in her studies, hopeful to get her mind off the trouble she was in. Sid spent hours trying to come up with yet another temporary solution for the valve malfunction. The problem with temporary solutions was just that; they were too temporary. A makeshift rotator would not give her enough control over the carbon dioxide production and fusing the valve in place would only render it useless. Sid had run through possible fixes a million times in her head and the answer was always the same; she needed a replacement part. She was furious with Colton for leaving her stranded; even more furious with herself for not reminding him to send it on their last call.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered and patted the grate beneath her folded legs, “I really messed things up this time.”

Her eyes scanned the videos again, landing on a telescreen recording of a Starblade being attacked in the train dock of one of the domes. She tapped her finger to the projection, shifting it to the front of the video loop. “When was this screened, Rusty?”

“THE RIOT IN THE SOUTH-EASTERN DOME WAS TELESCREENED LAST MONTH.”

“What happened?”

“A JUNIOR STARBLADE WAS ATTACKED BY RESIDENTS OF THE DOME WHILE PATROLLING THE TRAINS. THERE WERE SEVEN CASUALTIES TOTAL.”

“All Domers?”

“SIX RESIDENTS AND THE PATROLLING STARBLADE.”

“They killed him?”

“THE NSO ISSUED A STATEMENT THAT IN ORDER TO PREVENT CIVILIAN CASUALTIES, HE HAD EXERCISED PROTOCOL 207 AND IMPLODED HIS BLADE.”

“He killed himself? And the Domers?” Sid yelped.

“THE STARBLADE COMMAND HAS ONLY THREE OBJECTIVES. NUMBER ONE, PROTECT THE ARCANE. NUMBER TWO, PROTECT THE QUEEN. NUMBER THREE, UPHOLD PEACE AND ORDER IN THE DOMES.”

“How is suicide and murder peaceful exactly?” She lashed out, unable to understand the reasoning.

“BY TAKING OUT THE OPPOSING FACTORS, THE STARBLADE SUBDUED ANY FURTHER THREAT THAT COULD RESULT IN A HIGHER DEATH COUNT.”

“So, kill seven to save thousands?”

“THAT IS A CORRECT ESTIMATION OF THE CALCULATION. ONE THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SEVEN RESIDENTS WERE SAVED FROM POSSIBLE HARM.”

“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard, Rusty. You said he was junior? So he was just a kid!”

“THE STARBLADE ON DUTY IS REPORTED AS BEING SEVENTEEN STAR YEARS OF AGE. THAT IS TWO MILLION SIX HUNDRED AND–”

“I don’t need the minutes, Rusty. I get it. He was young.” Sid rolled her eyes. “What I don’t get is…”

Her eyes widened and she pinched her finger on the corner of the screen. “Stars! Do you see that, Rusty?”

“I DO NOT HAVE A VISUAL FUNCTION INSTALLED HOWEVER I CAN CALCULATE THE POSSIBILITIES OF A SITUATION BASED ON A SIMPLE EQUATION OF–”

“Never mind! Can you just enlarge the bottom right corner, please!”

Sid squinted as the image parted into countless triangles. Pieces flew off screen, disappearing from view as they hit the borders of the projection. She watched intently as the part of the video that caught her attention reformed in front of her. Piece by piece until she stood, slack jawed, staring at a pair of familiar green eyes. The same green eyes she was drawn to from her last search of the telescreen recordings. The Domer suspect from the so called ‘disturbance’ Colton was trying to hide from her.

“Run recognition software to the suspect in the recording from three days ago.”

The screen split into two, pulling up a still frame of the woman’s face from the previous recording. Code flashed across both screens, pausing intermittently to match a sequence of numbers before continuing to run the check. After a few seconds, which to Sid seemed like an actual eternity, the number sequences paused.

“UPON RUNNING A FACIAL ANALYSIS AS WELL AS BODY TEMPERATURE CHECKS, THERE IS A NINETY-NINE POINT FOUR PERCENT CHANCE OF IDENTITY MATCH.”

“Why was she here? Has the NSO said anything?”

“THERE HAS BEEN NOTHING TELEVISED ON THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE TWO ATTACKS.”

Sid’s head ached. Why was the same woman at both attack sites? And why had the NSO not made the connection? Worse, if they had made the connection, why were they hiding it from the public?

She took a deep breath, trying to calm her rising nerves. She didn’t know why she was obsessing over this matter when there were much more important things for her to worry about. Things that posed a danger much closer to home. But something about this woman made her uneasy. What made Sid even more uneasy was her connection to the attacks. She was present at both scenes. Not just present; front and center, watching. But why attack the trains? Or a junior Starblade for that matter? If you’re going to be starting some sad, little revolution, just go straight for the queen. You’d get nowhere. Worse, you’d get yourself killed over it but at least you’d get some attention. Who cares about some stupid trains?

None of it made sense to Sid.

Out of the corner of her eye, the ring made its majestic rotation around Neostar, sending rays of shimmering yellow in all directions.

“THE CIRCULUM SYSTEM HAS JUST COMPLETED ITS STARISE ROTATION.” The ship announced.

“Right,” Sid nodded and jumped to her feet. “Time to feed the plants!”