Untold Stories of a Galaxy - Kysaek: The Beginning

“Really, a great escape route Tavis,” Kysaek complained. Apart from Dorvan, she was the only one exposed to the nauseating smells of the sewers because the filtration of her helmet had somehow been damaged after the slide. “I didn’t want to know what it was like to be almost up to my neck in shit again so soon.”

“Exaggeration, you’re only up to your knees,” mentioned Tavis, who continued to lead the formation and had the glow of all the weapon light cones at his back. “And you’ve been in the same situation recently? Then you’re doing something wrong and it’s not my fault.”

Yes, Kysaek hadn’t forgotten that the whole trouble had started the same way and she thought it was a bad joke that her equipment was failing again. Luck was probably not with her when things got really dirty, but she almost blabbed to the Palanian. “It’s been a while, but I guarantee this won’t happen to me a third time and sewers are off our list from now on.”

“You sure?” retorted Tavis, amused. “Maybe you’ve just found your true calling.”

“I don’t dignify that with a syllable. Enough with sewage.”

“You said earlier you were in trouble with PGI too?” asked Dorvan unconcernedly, simply jumping to a new topic. The giant complied with his rescuer’s instruction and stayed close to her. “”What are you particularly good at, Nora?”

“Weren’t you listening just now?” asked Tavis rhetorically. “Getting dirty is her thing.”

“Nora’s more of a magnet for trouble,” Thais commented from the end of the chain. “And that’s probably the worst of all talents.”

Unlike Tavis and Thais, Dorvan’s words didn’t sound like a bad joke. “Someone who causes trouble is certainly a real danger to PGI. Then it’s no wonder the company wants you.”

“Speaking of PGI,” Kysaek jumped in. “You are free my big friend and so are your fellow prisoners. Time you told us why you are so damn important and we are here now. What does PGI want from you? Are you to hack the stock market or what?”

“Foreign currency is hardly important to the company. It was different with Reed, but you already know that.”

“Stick to the point.”

“Sorry,” Dorvan replied kindly, speaking freely, almost innocently. “You saved me as agreed and even the others, but you could be evil, calculated and only out to find out what you want and then leave me behind. So I will not speak until I am completely sure.”

The davoc was straining for her, but Kysaek still pulled herself together. “You do realise that we could leave you either way, or even kill you once we know what we need?”

“If that is true, you would indeed be evil and I had better Silence. That’s what makes me valuable and keeps me alive.”

“That’s good Nora,” Thais interjected sarcastically. “Soon you’ll have him ready.”

Kysaek wasn’t sure if Dorvan was just playing the friendly fool or if he might turn brute at any moment. She wasn’t blind, after all, and had felt the guy’s strength when he jumped with her. “He’s being honest with me and I’m merely reciprocating.”

“That’s very kind of you,” Dorvan agreed. He closed all three eyes and bowed his head.

“It’s been fun, but will you be finished back there soon?” asked Tavis. He was far from thrilled by the constant conversation, for the Palan was responsible for navigating the underground pathways. “All this talking is irritating and we’re close. According to the plan, there should be a crossing in four hundred metres. It’s not far from there to an exit.”

“Plan,” Kysaek grumbled. The drains of Themis were sometimes better and sometimes worse built, modern steel and makeshift stone. But the cartography was consistently unreliable and a good half of the sewer routes were wrong so far. There were no reliable landmarks either and either it was suspiciously quiet or the tunnels rumbled and flowing water from all directions, tempting one to believe in a new path. Nothing was helpful and that’s why Kysaek was in favour of disregarding the map. “Normally we should be out by now. I think we’re better off relying on our hunches.”

“It’s definitely not the nicest place,” Thais understated, but still she saw the good. “I don’t know why you’re so upset, though. The bombs did their job, or was there any sign of anyone following us?”

“Not that,” Tavis shook his head. “But remember, we shouldn’t get lost down here and there’s more than just Reed or PGI. Genra swarms, mudworms and kabonors are not something I particularly want to encounter here.”

“Mudworms,” Kysaek chuckled.

“I’m glad that makes you so happy.”

“I’m sorry, but it made me think of when I was little,” Kysaek mentioned, reminiscing. “My mother used to say that if I didn’t brush my teeth and clean myself properly, the mudworms would come through the sink and bite me. They would love the dirt and smell it, she used to say.”

Thais was helped by the talk. “So, did your mother have any success with that? Were you good?”

“My teeth were always brushed, but only in the kitchen. Man, I was afraid to be alone in the bathroom for a long time.”

“So your talent for trouble is even innate and your mother was your first victim.”

“At least she never did anything like that again,” Kysaek winked, but as nice as the memory was, it was quickly causing her more worry than help. She was an only child and her father had been dead for over ten years. Her mother Diana was all Kysaek had left and since her escape, she had had no contact with her. She didn’t even dare send a scrap of word that professed that she was unscathed. It would have put her mother and Kysaek in unnecessary danger, although she also didn’t know whether it was a good or bad thing that she hadn’t found a single video or word from her mother in the news about herself, who was certainly an obvious port of call for the press. She tried to shake off the thoughts of it, but she was starting to feel really sick to her stomach and she couldn’t do it on her own.

“I need a break,” Dorvan said, exhausted. “Can we rest here?”

The hacker accomplished, distracting Kysaek with this questionable request, for she found it was neither time nor place for a rest and her excitement overshadowed her concern. “It stinks, it’s dark, there are dangerous vermin and I’m sure you’re forgetting that we’re being hunted. Are these just grown muscles? For decoration? Can’t you run far with them?”

“My body is the way it is. I didn’t train myself to do it and wearing it is not that easy,” Dorvan mentioned, repeating what he said in prison. “For that, my brain capacity is equal to that of a machine, a utilisation of almost one hundred percent.”

“In that case, I prefer what is not in my head, I have in my legs. A few per cent of your head would do your lungs good.”

“Your repartee won’t change my exhaustion.”

If it hadn’t been for Tavis, Kysaek would have said no directly. “Five minutes we can afford,” the Palanian agreed. The longed-for crossing was near and reason enough for him to put aside his concerns about the canals.

At the bridge, the water fell into a pitch-black crevice, a kilometre-long trench that served as an unseen reservoir for many drainage shafts and where Kysaek at least had two escape routes - forward or back. “But really no more than five minutes,” she said in her eagerness. There was that fire again that she felt burning inside her, giving her more strength than she was used to and had never known before. The flame of zeal, however, was almost too strong and had dulled Kysaek’s senses. The only question was how long it had been like that, because her fellow warriors were clearly denied such energies, and Kysaek realised, ashamedly, that Dorvan was not the only one who could do with a break.

Thais took a seat on a pipe and gave her feet a rest, while Tavis had already reached the point where sitting alone was not enough for him. The Palanian had to fuel himself with retro adrenaline.

Had Kysaek asked for too much, or worse, had she done too little? Am I the kind of person who says more than she does? She had always loathed the thought and this kind of people and Kysaek hoped that the realisation did not come too late, but the strain of the almost continuous stay on Themis exceeded anyone’s limit. She should have been more circumspect with Tavis in particular, as he had had the most and most difficult work. “Are you all right?” she asked unobtrusively. She realised that it didn’t matter if the group had a huge head start. If everyone was too exhausted, it would be of little use and it was better to risk enemy contact with a break but be rested.

“I must admit it’s been a very long time since I’ve had to exert myself like that,” Tavis replied, losing none of his eloquence despite the effort. “Possibly this is a wake-up call for me that I’ve been taking it too easy for too long and the training here is doing me good.”

“Training... You are one to me.”

“Yes, one of the best.”

“And yet quite exhausted.”

“Aren’t you?”

“Can’t say I am, no,” Kysaek replied, finding a possible cause, but saying it softly and not seriously. “I’m sure it’s because of my youth. Fresh twenty-seven, versus Pashalia’s three hundred and forty-one years and your ... ....Forty?”

Tavis responded promptly. He hadn’t expected that. “Forty? You think I’m forty?”

“Not any more. Er, thirty-five?”

“Twenty-nine.”

“Sorry. It’s hard to tell an age with Palanians,” Kysaek said. It just wasn’t as easy as with humans or Davoc. “No wrinkles, no leathery skin. Those bulges under the face and everything else is always so firm.”

“Yes, I admit that from about fourteen to sixty you don’t see anything that tells you our age. It’s only later that the skin gradually turns grey or white and genetic engineering doesn’t help much with my people. We are not made for that. The body can stay fit with aids, but it gives us away to the outside world.”

“Grey or white, like us humans, but we can look much better for much longer thanks to genetic engineering.”

He was quiet, but Tavis gave a short laugh. “Your kind is really refreshing. Yes, we Palanians are beaten on that score.”

“I’m sure we can find something by the Palanians beating the humans,” Kysaek cheered him up, but it had been more than five minutes and after making Tavis happier, she attended to the giant. “Have you got your breath back?”

“In a moment,” Dorvan replied. “This is not my world, I’m afraid. I’m more useful and comfortable elsewhere.”

Kysaek agreed, at the thought of the sewage. “I don’t think this stinking hole is anyone’s world, and certainly not mine.”

“I didn’t-”

“I’m aware of that. It was just something I said,” Kysaek reassured her. She crossed the hacker off the list of people who understood her kind for now. “And you tend to be more useful and comfortable at a kit?”

“Yes, the world of numbers and when I have a solitary, safe place to myself that I don’t have to leave.”

Kysaek was about to say like Reed’s prison, but she let that go. “Not to leave? No wonder youre finished so quickly.”

“Normally I just sit a lot and pilot my bot. He does the legwork and is the gateway to the galaxy for me, the real me.”

That was more or less what Kysaek had thought, although the “I” wasn’t part of it. However, an ominous, distant and animalistic rumble interrupted their conversation. “What was that!”

“Sounded like a pretty hungry kabonor,” Thais guessed, on guard. “That one should be too far away for us to worry about, though.”

“Ever fought one?” retorted Kysaek. She had seen the dangerous predator once in stuffed form and that was enough for her....

“Yes, but with more visibility, clearance and a heavy arsenal.”

“We have none of that and keep the distance as it is right now - big.”

The reasonably fit Dorvan suggested in response. “We may be outmatched in direct confrontation, but against the mind no beast is armed. I could retract the bridge to protect us from the Kabonor. Shall I do that?”

“You ask extra if you-.” breathed Kysaek, giving the green light. “Do it.” For the hacker, taking control and retracting the transition was nothing. It was done visually and noisily, but Kysaek saw no other way across in the vicinity and never could a heavy Kabonor jump that far if lured by the sounds.

After pulling in the bridge, Dorvan rubbed his hands together uncertainly. “As soon as I get a signal, I can also call a taxi for us and irritate our pursuers as effectively as possible or book a ship passage for us.”

“We’ve already arranged departure,” Kysaek replied. “But whatever helps and protects us, you can do without asking.” She hoped that was more than clear enough for the Davoc, because the encompassing darkness was starting to make her irritable and Kysaek didn’t want to have to constantly worry about a giant toddler. Moreover, her frustration was growing as the canal did not end as Tavis had planned and the waiting through unclean water and confused paths continued. Even the old-fashioned plans Kysaek found on the walls in some sections were not entirely accurate and the same animal sound kept resonating through the tunnels. “Am I mistaken or is this getting closer?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Thais denied, her thoughts identical to those of her leader. “Kabonors are too heavy. They could never jump that far.”

“But you have to admit it sounds like it’s getting closer, don’t you?”

“You’re just being paranoid and making me nervous with all this talk.”

“Was that a, yes it’s getting closer?”

Whatever was lurking there somewhere, to Tavis it meant one thing. “If you don’t shut up soon, someone or something will definitely find us!”

“Find the exit and I’ll keep quiet all the way back,” Kysaek retorted brashly.

“Is that a promise? I’ll take you at your word.”

“I would promise almost anything right now,” Kysaek pined. She simply had to talk. It made the oppressive atmosphere more bearable for her. “The main thing is that you get us out of here.”

“It can’t be far now,” Tavis estimated slightly uncertainly. “We always have more pavements than water. That must mean there’s an exit nearby.”

The Palanian’s guess sounded logical, for there were more clues than the path. Mounted cable strands stretched more and converged in a tunnel and powerful generators hummed nearby. The tunnels were marked more often and old lights blinked on sporadically after a long time without any sources other than the lamps of the weapons. The problem with the suspected pursuer also took care of itself when one roar became two and everyone looked back in shock. Rumbling and growling, the suspected animals audibly mauled each other and shattered rock. Sinews snapped and bones broke until the fight came to an abrupt end and one sound remained - smacking.

“I guess that takes us off the menu,” Thais commented.

Her joy held Kysaek in check. “Yes, now all that’s left are packs of hoodlums with their guns,” she said. In truth, however, she thought there was something fishy about it. The animal fight seemed to have taken place not far away and how should the first animal have got across the wide and deep sewer crevice so that it could meet a second one? She had worried her companions enough, though, and remained silent. Perhaps she was mistaken and the sewer had made her hypersensitive, though she could have sworn one thing - what little water there was shook with tiny ripples and the vibrations sent dust trickling from the ceiling as if a heavy guardian bot were stomping on it.

“We’ve done it!” said Tavis with relief. “Look, there!”

At last Kysaek read a label, with the most beautiful of words in many languages. “Exit,” she murmured, but first she wanted to make sure the coast was clear. “”Dorvan, you stay with Pashalia and I and Tavis will go and see.“” There wasn’t much for her and the Palan to see, though. There were just a lot of tunnels converging on a staircase going upwards, sealed off with a conventional but heavy, sturdy-looking mesh door. Just melting that away with plasma would take some time. “Can you get that open?”

“It’s not an electronic lock, but it’s all Eldar steel,” Tavis noted. “If I can’t pick the deadbolt, we’ll have to blast away the rock around it.”