Divergence

Divergence

     As Sanchez made his way toward the Arch, away from his chesk station, he could hear his Unabox beeping a new message alert.  He shook off the urge to run back and check what the message said and kept moving.  His hope was that Elias had changed his mind and decided not to say anything to Raemus or The Council but he was too afraid to stick around.  There was no way Sanchez was going to risk being corrected.   He jogged down the silvery halls and back to his quarters.  When doors hissed open, he walked in and made an assessment.

     His quarters were in a growing state of disarray since returning from the surface of Titan and he thought how obvious his mental state would be if any of the Elites saw his quarters in this fashion.  Sanchez' quarters were small and typical for those of his station: essentially a metal box with necessities.  He was provided a sleeping bunk, a personal chesk, and a lav-shower.  His uniforms hung at the foot of his sleeping bunk and new uniforms were provided every day.  Sanchez would discard his worn uniform into a chute that was near his waist in height, at the foot of his bed.  While he slept through the night a Noman would receive his dirty uniform, clean it, then send it back to Sanchez' quarters via an automated delivery system.  Sanchez didn't believe he had time to receive another uniform.  He was worried that Gellar had reported his "malfunction" to Raemus and had very little time to make his escape.  He grabbed his utility belt and fastened his Optikey and stunner to it,  then exited.

     He continued his escape by heading towards the shuttle dock at the lowest level of the Calimbus Station.  He intended to take a shuttle to the dock station and acquire an FPC to escape.  While he didn't want to risk additional exposure, he felt that he needed a light-drive vehicle and the shuttles on Calimbus were not equipped for sub-light travel.  After passing through a series of Arches, he accessed the station's magnetovator and descended to the   shuttle dock.  The shuttle dock was small, compared to other Noman outposts, with only 6 shuttles.  He approached the nav-station and accessed clearance for use of his usual shuttle.  The computer security system didn't provide any hints that he was already a fugitive.  He hoped this might be because he timed his departure with his scheduled hull inspection.

     Sanchez entered the shuttle and powered up his systems without any station alerts or security protocols stopping him.  Each step towards his escape, Sanchez grew less scared but more anxious.  He didn't understand why Raemus hadn't been alerted to his escape but was grateful that Raemus' attention was not focused on him.  He almost accessed the security feed to see where Raemus was, but decided not to out of both fear and haste.  Sanchez took control of the  shuttle's thruster controls and guided it out of the dock.  Sanchez' shuttle was a two-person, short range personnel carrier that normally didn't travel as far as he needed to go, but would serve it's purpose.  As he left the shuttle dock, he began to enter the coordinates for the nearby dock station and reviewed his flight path to ensure he had no conflicts.  The coordinates were locked in and Sanchez buckled his safety harness around him. 

     Sanchez looked over the silvery exterior of the lonely Dome Calimbus as he  hovered up and away from the surface of Titan.  He was able to see the giant crater that once held a lake of methane that the Genetians had harvested.  Somewhere in that massive crater was the cave that he and Elias explored and nearly died in.  The shuttle left the atmosphere of Titan and began it's journey towards the dock station that orbited Satyrn's moon, Dione.  As the shuttle cleared the gravitational pull of Titan, it could be seen as a small, metallic egg  against the pinkish hue of Satyrn's largest moon.  It briefly reflected the hazy light of the Sun as it headed towards Dione's orbit and then became invisible against the backdrop of stars.

     Raemus powered down his Unabox as he gave up on trying to reach Sanchez.  He rested his chin atop clasped hands as his brows furrowed.  He had to address this on his own for now and had to choose.  "Do I go after Elias or Emilio?" he thought to himself.  He sighed deeply as he recalled the protocol for this problem.  He stood up from his chesk and rested his hands on his hips as he looked down at his desk.  He considered Elias the more pressing of the two, because his behavior was more brash.  Furthermore, he intended to escape while in plain sight of watch eyes, neuro-scanners, and nano-detectors.  "The Council will know about Elias before I have a chance to do stop him and keep this whole thing quiet.  That son of a bitch is going to cost me dearly for this asinine escape attempt." he muttered to himself.

     He walked over to a shimmering metallic wall and pressed a recessed panel.  The panel opened to reveal a speaker and a keypad inside.  Raemus entered a code and white noise came out of the speaker.  After a moment, two identical voices replied "Here."  In a commanding tone he said "This is Raemus.  Gellar Elias and Emilio Sanchez have deviated and left Calimbus via shuttle."  Raemus paused for a moment and followed "I am going after Elias.  Judging from his erratic behavior, his mind is cascading and must be captured immediately.  I need the both of you to meet me at the dock station on Dione.  I expect Gellar will attempt to return to Genetia and we must intercept him before he boards any public vessels.  This is priority Una.  Drop whatever the fuck you are doing and get to Dione.  Contact me when you arrive."  The speaker responded "Done." and returned to white noise.  Raemus shut the panel and started down the stilerium halls towards the main Arch.  While thumbing his Optikey, he thought about Sanchez and what he might do while on Calimbus but told himself that Elias was the bigger threat. As he passed through the Arch, he looked out one of the plasma windows and saw a shuttle gaining impetus from Calimbus.  He didn't know who the pilot was but expected it to be Gellar Elias.  He stopped at a computer terminal that was normally used for climate control in this sector.  After inputting some personal codes, he accessed the departure schedule for the shuttle bay.  He saw that Sanchez was scheduled for a hull inspection at this time.  Interesting that despite his exchange with Gellar Elias, Sanchez was going about normal duties.  Certainly, the hull on that shuttle would be just fine.  Raemus didn't want to lose a chance to interrogate Sanchez later, though.  He sent a coded message from his computer to the shuttle, ended his session, and continued to the shuttle bay.

     As Sanchez watched Calimbus shrink away, he heard a message alert at the console.  He entered his code and accessed the message, which he saw was coded and from Raemus.  The message read "Emilio Sanchez - you are ordered to remain on Calimbus Dome after you complete your shuttle inspection.  I have intercepted communications between you and Gellar Elias and it is imperative that you remain quarantined on Calimbus until further notice.  This is a direct order.  Do NOT deviate.  Raemus out."  Sanchez sat back in the pilot's chair and exhaled hard.  While he was experiencing a high level of anxiety, he felt better now that he was on his way to Dione.  He leaned his head against the chair's head rest and closed his eyes.  Raemus wasn't coming after him and he could finally relax.

     Sanchez opened his eyes and blinked, then rubbed them.  He had dozed off shortly after takeoff and it was a good thing he entered the coordinates for the shuttle to follow.  He looked at the metal ceiling of the shuttle briefly as his eyes focused then looked out the main plasma window.  As he stretched, he saw empty space but was expecting to see Dione in the distance.  A puzzled expression crossed his face and he reached to double-check his coordinates.  When he accessed the shuttle's navigation computer, he saw the coordinates were completely wrong.  In fact, his entry was nowhere to be found.  "This is impossible." he said to himself.  His navigation computer showed that he was located between Septin and Satyrn, simply floating in space.  He performed a diagnostic but all systems were working normally.  As he ran another diagnostic, he heard a frantic beeping from the pressurization  sensors near the back of the shuttle.  He leaped out of the pilot's chair and ran to check his oxygen levels.  What Sanchez saw was the level of oxygen in his shuttle increasing, over 100 percent.  He tapped on the pressurization gauge to ensure it wasn't stuck but it climbed another thirty percent.  He looked over to the pressurization inside the shuttle and it was also climbing at shocking rate.  Sanchez' breathing started to become shallow as his eyes blurred.  He couldn't see the front of the shuttle clearly and was feeling dizzy.  He leaned against the wall of the shuttle and slid down to a seated position.  He felt his chest burning as his alveoli struggled to work.  He tilted his head back and rested it against the  cold stilerium and began to pass out as a he saw the air shimmer in front of him.  He blinked his eyes and took two hard breaths as the shimmering became more agitated, distorting the shuttle more.  A tearing sound began and increased in volume as it was reverberated in the metal shuttle.  Sanchez winced in pain but was barely able to stay conscious, let alone cover his ears.  The tearing continued to increase in volume until it was almost unbearable, then a flash of white light erupted and disappeared all in an instant.  Then there was nothing.  No noise, no light, no shimmering.  The pressurization warning halted as Sanchez blinked.  He felt relief coming to his lungs as he coughed the pain away.  When his eyes adjusted, he found himself staring at a humanoid figure in a white gown.

     "Emilio, do not fear me." the voice said.  It was a female's voice.  When the words reached Sanchez, they caressed his ears.  He blinked, rubbed his eyes, and re-focused.  The female's gown was layered and decorated with symbols that Sanchez did not know - but were strangely familiar.  "I am here to help you, Sanchez.  I have been watching you and know that you are in danger.  If you let me help you, I can keep you safe while you learn to adjust to your new awareness.  Just please don't be afraid." she pleaded.  Sanchez tried to back up into the walls of the shuttle.  He could smell her through the electricity of her entrance.  It was something he had never smelled before.  The smell was natural.  It was captivating.  She was unlike any female he had ever seen:  She had yellow hair that was long and it hung past her shoulders.  Her eyes were both the same color of green with sparkles of yellow throughout.  Their color reminded Sanchez of the tall grass he played in as a child while in the ACA Recreational Grids.  Her face nearly glowed with an internal light and Sanchez didn't know what caused such a luminescence.  Her skin, however, was completely alien - none of the Genetian skin tones.  "What are you and why are you here?!" he shouted.  "Emilio, please don't be frightened but this was the only way to reach you.  I am not of your people but I will not harm you.  I am a victim of your kind." she said.  Sanchez furrowed his brow.  "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he demanded.  "Emilio, I can't explain right now.  I am here to help but I need for you to pilot your ship to a new set of coordinates.  We don't have much time." she said hastily.

     Sanchez grunted to his feet and walked over the navigation computer and turned to ask her the coordinates.  After entering the coordinates she provided, he was interrupted by an warning message on the screen before confirming them.  "Wait...you gave me coordinates that will take us outside the heliopause - into the bow shock.  Do you know how far that is from here?  What the hell is out there??" he questioned.  "Safety is there, Emilio.  Don't worry about the details, just confirm the coordinates and I can take care of the rest." she replied.  "Trust me."

     The shuttle began to coast toward its destination and moved against the starry backdrop of interplanetary space.  As it adjusted its trajectory and aimed at the edge of the Sol System, light erupted in the shuttle's path.  The light brightened and expanded as tendrils of light shot out from the center like the tentacles of a glowing octopus.  They swayed and danced as the light spun on an axis, growing brighter.  Sanchez' shuttle flew into the center of the swirling light but didn't come out the other side.  Once the shuttle had been gone for a few seconds, the light collapsed and blinked away.

     And they were gone.

© Christopher Robert Dawson 2000-2013