A New Divide (Science Fiction) (10 page)

              I originally
walked out to the railing, so enticed by the wonderful essence of the air that I failed to notice that Helena had been out here all along. When she spoke up I almost dropped my glass over the railing.

              "Hey. Whatcha doin'?"

              "Shit! You! You scared me!"

              "Maybe if you wouldn't walk around so starry-eyed and oblivious, I wouldn't have."

              "Yeah. Maybe. This place is a lot to take in, you know?"

              We stood in silence there for a little bit, taking in the night air. I could never think of anything to say to her, which is why I am glad she always had something worthwhile to tell me.              

              She moved over closer to me and pointed towards the glowing reef in the ocean over the crystal lake's flowing cliffs.

              "See that? In the water over there? The glow from the shoreline?"

              "I was curious."

              "It's the coral reef. The different coral plants are communicating with each other. Bioluminescence, its mating season. I always thought it was a really romantic scene. You'll certainly never see anything like it anywhere else in this system."

              "You sure won't."

              "You're not very conversational, are you, Collin?"

              "You should know—I have been through a lot these past few weeks, since you are assigned to study me."

              "I knew about you before I came here to Remora. I watched you play every game for two seasons."

              I smiled and looked from the ocean, down into my nearly empty glass, and shook around the capsulette that rolled around the bottom of my drink.

              "Really? So you weren't born here?"

              "No, I'm from the independent world of Farfalla. I came to the Remorans a few years ago when the PGL civil war reached our home there, it got ugly. I know pain too, Collin. You are not the only one who has seen the true damage we humans do to one another. But yes, Collin King, number 19, started out as a forward rush, moved to jumper in 1532 D.E.—and you've been the MVP for the last four years."

              "Now all of it is gone."

              "No, you learned from it. I am sure you can go back to gravball if you wanted to—but would you really want to?"

              "It would be familiar, but I can't. I can't stop thinking about my people. I want to help. I want to stop the man who destroyed everything I knew. Now I know nothing, lost in the struggle for my identity."

              Helena paused for a second and then moved closer to me and touched my chin up so I looked directly into her beautiful eyes. "So many men are so obsessed with being great, serving out justice, like you and Arcoh, or leaving something behind. You want to know something?"

              "What's that?"

              "It's all bullshit, none of that matters. Not the material things like money, or status. If you want to learn what it is to be great, follow us on this great expedition. I really think you could find your place among us."

              I turned around and pressed my back against the railing. I was intrigued that someone had finally begun talking about the Good Commander's future plans.

              "What is this great expedition?"

              "Remora is a place comprised of individuals who wanted to change the world. And they all did, in their own way. That's why they live in peace and harmony with everything around them. Mark wants to expand Remora's idea of a Triangle Society around Eden, but I don't think he quite understands the gravity of that request."

              "So what about you? What did you do to change the world?"

              She looked away from me and smiled as she gazed into the star-drowned sky. I haven't seen so many stars since I visited Rayden's countryside as a boy.

              "I live on Dilo. I am not a citizen yet; I was only brought to Remora to meet you."

              "Why me though? Just what the hell is so special about me? This stupid reaction sure has all you nerds interested."

              "You are not a stupid reaction, you are an answer to a question that mankind has asked for a very, very long time."

              "Whatever. I am so tired of hearing this shit," I muttered as I lit up the cigarette Virgil gave me earlier. Helena then walked up directly next to me and pulled it out of my mouth.

              "You are childish. You have to start really thinking about who and what you want to be. What do you want to be, Collin?"

              "How the hell am I supposed to know when I don't know anything about myself!"

              "You will learn tomorrow, I promise."

              "What do you want to be! You want to expose my condition? So you can live in this paradise?"

              "You have a very negative opinion concerning my motives. You want to know what I want?"

              "Yeah. I said that. That was a question, I didn't stutter."

              "All I want is to be happy for the rest of my life, as if that were so much to ask for."

              I took a step back, had to catch my breath—she stole it. It wasn't just that she was beautiful, she was smart, and I actually felt like I could trust her. Then she would say things like that. Those words stayed with me, like a scar from before the genome, I would carry those words with me for life.

              She ran her soft hand down my arm continuing to study my tattoos; I could not help but ask her the question.
              "Why are you so interested in me?"

              She smiled and backed up slightly. "You have this presence to you, I can feel it. You've already inspired billions upon billions of people, making history in the PGL. You can't let that go to waste. I just know we launched this expedition to find you. Arcoh stumbled upon you by—"

              I gently removed her hand from my own and gave her my direct attention.
              "Unfortunate coincidence—let's leave it at that; Helena, I'm not what you are looking for."

              "Collin, this world, this galaxy, is ours; if we don't shape it somebody else will. For what it's worth, I think all of humanity would agree that someone like you should shape it over a monster like Arcoh."

              "I just don't know how I could ever gather the courage and resources to face him."

              "Mark has the resources, don't you worry about that. You said earlier you'd follow me anywhere. Is that still true?"

              "I am a man of my word, Helena."

              "Then follow me to the temple, and maybe we can both gain some insight on what to do in this life. Promise me you'll do this."

              "I promise."

              "Then let's go to bed, tomorrow is going to be the longest day of your life. Possibly literally—a Remoran day lasts seventy-six hours."

- ACT II -

THE GREAT EXPEDITION

CHAPTER 7 - WRATH OF THE KING

              I was rudely awoken
by a very loud and persistent knock on my door. I slept for twelve hours. For the first time in weeks I slept.

              They posted me up in the city's only guest housing, reserved for those like Mark, Victoria, and Silas, and people applying for citizenship, in the isolated paradise the people of Remora had created for themselves.

              The room was simply exquisite. Twenty-foot ceilings carved of marble, and lined with limestone pillars. Artwork created by the locals was woven into every visible orifice; this gave the room a very dynamic quality, oh, and how could I forget the view?

              This island on Remora has nearly
perfect
weather; the surface with the breeze stays around twenty-three degrees Celsius year-round. It is always warm and cozy and rains only ever so often. So all of the buildings in the ocean city are built openly. For instance, in my room, when I awoke, roughly ten meters ahead of me, was my balcony. I could feel the benevolent ocean breeze brush against my body as I awoke. The sensation was incredible.

So. Despite the fact I was so rudely interrupted, I was feeling so good after my rest, that I only threw a
minor
temper tantrum. "Collin! Hey, Collin! Wake up! We're running late!"

              "Hold on, damn it! I'm up! I'm up, you idiot!"

              I jumped out of my king-sized bed, in my marble-crafted room, and managed to throw on a pair of pants before I rushed towards the decorated double doors.

              "What! What do you want! I was slee—"

              I stopped in midsentence when I saw that it was her. Helena just simply smiled and cocked her head sideways towards me.

              "Hey. You're up."

              "Yeah, uh sorry about—"

              "Get dressed. We have to get going; we need to eat."

              "Right. One moment."

              I quickly put on my jacket and my specialized boots that Virgil had given to me on the Alexandria. I rushed towards the door, Helena was quick to get us moving.

              We walked down the hallway of the guest house and came across a strange sight. I heard some yelling in the room ahead of us. Then, out of the room ran a very large man, dressed in nothing but his drawers. He covered his chest and ran down the hallway—crying hysterically.

              I recognized him as the man Victoria was talking to at the club the other night. So I was not surprised to see her stroll out of her room wearing black lingerie and shouting, "Where are you going, big boy? We haven't even started yet!"

              Helena covered her expression of laughter and I stared, disgusted, at Victoria as we quickly made our way by her.

              "My god! You are terrifying!"

              "Get out of my face!" She tried to swing at me but missed, and we quickly made our way down the hall and out into the streets.

              Victoria sighed and lit up a cigarette. She had a few moments to enjoy the drag before her holoband began flashing red.

***

[--]

-The Citadel of Angelides-

              There the five of them stood, in shock and awe of the unfolding events before them. Earlier, Victoria picked up a signal broadcasted from the crew that was transporting the gravity weapon. She quickly gathered Mark and headed to the citadel where they could present their problem to
the Triangle
—the founders of Remoran society. They are rumored and considered the wisest individuals in the human race—having been around since the departure from Mother Earth, and the original date of the first Alpha Genome prototype.

              "The crew that was transporting the gravity weapon experienced a turbine failure in their half-light reactor. As a result, they were only able to travel 30 percent of their original speed, taking them three times longer to get to us." Mark began, then nodded towards Victoria.

              "Here's our situation. What you are watching on this screen is one of my soldiers, cowering in a closed space, the feed is live—390 minutes ago, given the distance. They were hijacked by the crusader fleet."

              The Crusader warships roared furiously behind the jacket transporting the colossal gravity weapon. At 37,000 kilometers a second, and with a fully functional half-light reactor, the crusader ships had no issues matching their speed across the open plain of space.

              The crusader ships fired anchors that pierced the armor of the transport. The anchors dug deep into the hull of the jacket, and began to bring the transport to a halt, using the reverse turbines of the half-light reactor.

              This is where the transmission began.

              "They've killed everyone. That's what he said—the engineer you see hiding in the closet."