by Toni Jackson
Connor followed me into the communications room and stood beside me as I sat down in front of the large system designed for interstellar communications. We decided to reach out to his main base to see what information they might have collected.
“What’s the comm route?” I asked.
“Beta 56g8999.”
Tapping in the numbers, I wondered how many people knew we could communicate with other planets and beings. At least those within a certain range. We waited as a series of beeps and whistles signaled the connection with Connor’s home base. After a final click, a deep voice came over the speakers.
“Aviran Three. Captain Amas here. Is that you Admiral?”
I glanced over my shoulder at him, eyebrows raised. Somebody got a promotion and didn’t tell me.
“Yes. Amas, we have a situation here on Zekas 3. They have 2 Drogos...they were sold by someone to unauthorized recipients and we need to find out why they were brought to this planet.”
A series of colorful curses, in English and a few other languages I didn’t recognize, drifted over the line. “Amas! Control yourself. My sister is here.”
“My forgiveness Admiral. Give me a few centons and let me see what I can find out.”
“You have 10.”
“Aye, sir.” The call disconnected and Connor stood behind me, arms crossed. Neither of us spoke as we waited. I had never seen my brother this focused. He even managed to ignore the comm tech who unzipped her uniform another half inch when we walked in. Exactly 10 centrons, or earth minutes later, the comm lit up.
I barely managed to answer the call before Amas began speaking. “The last information we have is that there was a rebellion on Arsus and that the previous leadership - who initially banned Drogos - has been overthrown. According to all accounts, the new regime has decided that if they control the power to destroy worlds, then they should be worshipped as Gods.”
“There does seem to be a small faction who has decided to work against them, who stole several of the units that had been hidden away. They split up among three planets. We didn’t know which planets, but we can cross Zekas3 off our list. We’ll see what we can find out about the other two.”
There was a pause before Amas continued. “Sir?”
“Yes?”
“Should we alert...Obsidian?”
We both shouted. “No!”
“Under no circumstances do you alert my father. If things reach that level, then I will contact him directly.”
“But -,” Amas started.
“You have your orders. Work on locating the last two planets.” Without even saying goodbye he turned and stalked away from the station.
Sagging in the chair, my finger hovered over the disconnect button. “Amas, this is Terra. See if you can find out what else is going on.”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“I also need you to find out who can bring the dead back to life.”
“Like the Zekas zombie stories?”
“Yeah. A little more than that.” He didn’t know the half of it.
“I will. Expect me to report tomorrow, this time.”
“Great.” I disconnected the call and sat back.
For the first time in years, I was afraid.
Very afraid.
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