A New Divide (Science Fiction) (6 page)

              "Admiral Andrews, power down the gravity weapon and pull back the clouds; we're heading home."

              The bright light began to cease. I looked closer and saw that it was a giant cylinder, but it moved almost like it was alive. Seven colossal half-planet-sized wings swirled around it; it almost looked like an angelic octopus in the sky. The wings were like tentacles reaching out into space. I did not see them at first because they were emitting a beautiful rainbow of light, blending in with the planetary nebula. Upon closer observation I saw that a gigantic harness was built around the core of this strange object. The harness contained many thrusters and even a half-light reactor at its stern.

              I thought if this weapon could truly manipulate the atmosphere of an entire planet, then these Remorans were capable of things far beyond the reach of any human in Eden. Unless of course it was not made by humans, so I had to ask the Good Commander.

              "What the hell is that thing?"

              "We call it the gravity weapon."

              "What? What in the world is it?"

              "Whatever it is, we only know the basic operations of it, even after five hundred years of study. We found it in the depths of the Remoran oceans."

              "It's a weapon?"

              "Not necessarily. It's a tool. It uses its giant wings to utilize the hidden dark energy that holds this universe together. Its capabilities are, unequivocally, boundless. In this instance we used this alien artifact to create an interplanetary storm."

              "Wow . . ."

              "It's quite a sight to behold, isn't it?"

              I tried to comprehend the power of this artifact. I wish I would have had more time to bask in its glory, but then Commander Wyman's transmitter alerted us. "Commander Wyman, sir? General Zachary Wright has boarded the ship and he requests your presence."

              "Copy that. Well, Collin, shall we?"

              We made our way back to the elevator and into the carrier's main hallway. General Wright awaited Commander Wyman on the bridge. He was shocked, to say the least, when he saw me with Commander Wyman. I was glad to see I was not the only one who had made it out of Rayden One, before it fell to the earth.

              "Collin, you're alive?"

              "Mr. Wright!"

              I saw after he made his way up the ramp that he was in a hovering wheelchair. He had lost both of his legs. Apparently his departure from Rayden One went horribly wrong, he was one of the few survivors from the dropship they picked up back in the hangar. Nonetheless, he was ecstatic to see not just a fellow Outlander, but a Raydenite. We had learned that Minerva had suffered the greatest losses of any world, and it was predicted that only less than 5 percent of its former citizens were still alive. I ran up to Zach and he proceeded to shake my hand. "I'm glad to see at least one of us escaped the capital in one piece. It's good to see you alive and well. What about your teammate Mickey?"

My smile faded as I remembered how Arcoh had murdered him in cold blood right before my eyes. I shook my head in disappointment. Although I was also curious as to if any of our former leaders had survived.

              "What about the president, or the cabinet?"

              He gave me the same look as we had both realized how much we had lost over this month's devastating events. Mark stepped up and shook Zachary's hand in an attempt to break our somewhat somber reunion.

              "What will you do now, General?"

              "Well, it won't be 'General' for much longer. The survivors of the Raydenite race are to appoint me as their leader. Seeing as I am the last remaining cabinet member, and I wouldn't be much use on the battlefield without my legs."

              Zachary looked up towards Mark and cracked a smile.

              "Commander Wyman, on behalf of our people I would like to extend my eternal gratitude for what you Remorans have done for us on this day."

              "Peace and equality should belong to all, my fellow comrade."

              Zach nodded his head and he diverted his eyes over to me.

              "Well, I must attend to my people. We have a lot of rebuilding to do."

              Mark placed his hand on Zachary's shoulder and showed his compassionate nature. "We will help you in due time, I give you my word."

              Zach responded as he continued to stare at me with his constant smile. I always wondered why he was able to smile all the damn time. "I have already told your lady admiral many times, but you have forged an alliance whether you accept us or not. We will always be ready to assist you in any endeavors you decide to partake in."

              Mark smiled as he made his way towards the command center with General Wright but the general moved towards me in his chair as Mark passed by him.

"Oh. Hey, Collin!"

              Wright approached me and reached into his pocket.

              "I may never get another chance to do this." He pulled out a set of first edition gravball cards and handed a pen to me. I smiled at the irony of this gesture, for the first time in a long while I felt a great comfort in my heart. "Could you do me the honor, Mr. Iceman? The greatest player the Rayden Comets have ever seen."

              "Of course, Zach."

              I signed the cards and handed them back to Zach. We felt a mutual relief between us. Even though Arcoh had not been captured on this day, at least that little moment gave me the closure I needed to try and put it behind me. "Our people will be happy to know that you're alive, Collin."

              "Give them my regards, General."

              "I shall, and hey, if you ever feel like going back to gravball we could sure use you. This will always be your home, Collin, and you know we will always treat you like family."

              I was tempted by his offer, and to tell the truth, I probably would have happily considered it, had I not been so curious to travel to Remora. I felt a strange sense of wonder in myself and in these Remorans, so I declined his offer.

              "In due time I might take you up on that, General, but for now I need time away from all that has happened here." We stood in silence for a minute basking in the moment of closure I felt we had both gained, and then Zachary saluted me.

              "Long live Rayden!"

              A single tear streamed down my face as I repeated his gesture and spoke from my heart.

              "Long live Rayden. And never forget—some things are always worth fighting for."

              "Wise words from a great man. Good luck, Mr. King."

CHAPTER 5 - ALL WE LEAVE BEHIND

             
Finally,
the calm I had been waiting for had arrived. I never thought it would happen. My state of misery and despair had finally come to the end, thanks to the good will of the Remoran Protectorate, and their Good Commander.

              Although I had finally attained some piece of mind away from the indescribable horrors of Salaran captivity, I couldn't help but think about what I had learned about myself—and the trouble I would have adjusting to an entirely new life.

              I became angry just thinking about it, always so angry at everything. I knew nothing of the world outside my walls. It was only until they burned to ashes that I would see just how ignorant I truly was.

I rubbed my neck as I sat in the bed within the Alexandria's infirmary wing. The doctor scrolled through his holographic display upon his band and constantly shot glances at me, which annoyed the hell out of me.

              "Hey, Doc, I know I'm pretty, but I need to leave."

              The doctor cracked a smiled and continued to scroll through his medical reports.

              "Things to do?"

              I looked down and sighed. "Time to think."

              "There will be plenty of time for that, Mr. King. We need to discuss something."

              "Okay. What?"

              "Aren't you curious as to how your leg is no longer broken?"

              "I figured you guys—"

              "No, we 'doctors' had nothing to do with that."

As soon as Mark had won his battle, he ordered his armada to return to
Dilo
.
Dilo
was the largest moon of Remora, and home to the humans who guarded the sacred planet of Remora, the headquarters of the Remoran Protectorate, or the Remoran Expeditionary Unit. I fell asleep shortly after my talk with Wright and when I awoke a day later, my leg had healed, and I found myself talking to this doctor.

              "Mr. King, if you have any questions—"

              "You have no idea."

              "Ask away."

              I looked to my forearm and saw the tattoo, the tainted skin—the light was faint, but it still moved and swayed in the same pattern. I wanted it gone.

              "Get rid of this tattoo on my skin."

              The doctor then sighed and turned off his holoband. He adjusted the eyepiece he wore and adjusted his chair towards me.

              "We tried."

              "And?"

              "It's not a tattoo. That is your skin, it's an imprint; we tried to remove it, and when we did it broke a very expensive machine."

              "Well, I don't feel bad about that, but how can my skin just . . . change color, instantly?"

              "Well, it only stretches from your torso below your neck, above your waist, and before your wrists. This err mutation . . . has always been there, but you needed a trigger to see it."

              "Thanks for calling me a freak, Doc."

              "Think, Collin. What did you take? Right before the crusaders attacked?"

              Then I remembered.

              "The genome"

              "Precisely. That's exactly what I thought."

              I slammed my fists on my bed out of frustration. "So what can you do! What can you do to fix me?"

              The doctor then laughed and handed me a small vial full of a strange liquid. "You got it all wrong, son, there is nothing wrong with you. Here drink this. It will help you relax, I have a theory as to the nature of your 'condition.'"

              I drank the sweet-tasting liquid as I listened to his tale. It relaxed me to a point where I found it difficult to move from my seat.

              "The genome was discovered during mankind's migration from our depleted motherworld. It was a cure for a virus that had been caused by cosmic radiation. Billions of people died aboard the ships during the plague. They made a discovery, soon after reengineering the makeup of the strange radiation. A cure was generated. And the cure yielded far greater results than a clean bill of health.

              "The Alpha Genome, once taken, will cause a human being to live in perfect health for four hundred standard days—never aging, and never succumbing to illness, but still vulnerable to physical contact. Flesh is still flesh, and the genome makes no difference as to how easily it can tear—only how easily it can be maintained, and repaired.

              "After a while people learned that if the genome is taken once every year, they could grasp a sort of partial immortality. But flesh could still be torn, limbs could not be replaced, and reproductive abilities would cease. If you're shot in the heart, not even the genome can bring you back from death."

              "This is all common knowledge, Doc, can you get to the point?"

              "The Alpha Genome is about as understood as the human brain. It's a reengineered cosmic phenomenon; we clicked it just right for it to do what it does. Now to my point, one out of every one billion people who take the genome will be able to reproduce. Although I've never heard of a child surviving such a birth—except for one. A child born under extraordinary circumstances."

              "I've never heard this story."

              The doctor leaned in close to me and cracked a wide smile.

              "How ironic. Not many have heard this story, but you look just like him."

              "Like who?"

              I jumped out of my seat when a nurse darted into the room and rushed towards us. "Doctor!"

              "What is it, Nurse?"

              "Alberts is flatlining!"

              The doctor then shot out of his chair, and rushed out of the door with the nurse. "Did you give him a genome injection!"

              "Yes, sir! It did nothing!"

              "All right, give me 50 cc's of—"

              Before my curiosity had resided they were gone. Once again I was all alone in a strange and unfamiliar place. So I did what anyone would have done after facing such a dilemma: I decided to leave. I couldn't be in the company of those who rescued me, knowing I would have no way to repay them.

              At the time I did not believe in fate or destiny so I decided to ignore my mutation and continue living my life as I always have: moving forward without thinking about the consequences of negligence.

              I had formulated a plan in my mind. I would follow these Remorans back to their home world, and after that I would jump ship on the GDR capitol of Arcadia and begin a new gravball career.

              I pondered my future as I sat on the medical table of the infirmary aboard the carrier. It was there that I would very soon learn that fate most certainly does exist, and I would come to realize this in ways I never could have comprehended.

***

{>-Legate Ivan Lennin-<}

-The Salaran Citadel-

              Ivan scratched his eyelids as he walked out into the hangar to greet his king. The suns had just risen, and they shone down upon the smoldering carcass of the Hammer. It was a cold winter morning in Salaras.

              When Eden was first colonized the solar system was divided down the middle of its orbiting pattern to best divide the different civilizations, or the "collectives" of the human race. When it was winter in the Kingdom of Salaras, it would be summer in the GDR worlds and on Remora, spring in the Outlander worlds, and fall in the independent worlds.

              The bitter cold only further expressed the damage the Hammer had accumulated. The freezing temperature highlighted the heat coming off its crumbling skeleton. When Arcoh had decided to power down the Hammer's shields in order to break through Minerva's atmosphere, the Hammer suffered heavy damage. The smoke from the hull alone was so thick it could be seen for hundreds of kilometers, pouring out of the mountain base's custom-built exhaust ports.

Arcoh left the Hammer and looked on at the thousands of men and women who were working diligently to repair the flagship. Metal welding sparks flew across the catwalk as Arcoh made his way over to Ivan, who was observing the newly visible metal and iron skeleton of the bulky Hammer.

              "How are things in Salaras, my legate?"
              "They tell me that the Hammer had suffered significant damage in the evacuation attempt."
              "Maybe you don't remember. The pain distracted you. They were waiting for us. They had a plan, Ivan."
              "I don't remember. We had a plan too, sire."

              Arcoh responded with a grim look on his face, feeling still in shock of the events that had transpired. "We stood no chance; their entire fleet had converged at the edge of Rayden. We were not prepared to deal with a full-scale invasion. What took us almost a month to complete our mission was ruined in a matter of hours."
              "Well, lucky you brought the Hammer back, sire, and managed to save some six million of our soldiers. How many ships were there?"
              "There were roughly thirty carriers, and some three hundred warships."
              Ivan turned towards Arcoh and broke his collected composure, which he was already trying very hard to maintain.
              "Three hundred? How do three hundred ships end the lives of tens of millions of soldiers!"
              "Enough of your insubordination, Ivan. They had a weapon."
              Arcoh and Ivan continued to walk down the busy catwalk full of scurrying workers. Ivan was beginning to cease his outrage. He was furious at the fact the greatest army in all of Eden had suffered its first significant defeat since Arcoh first took the throne twenty-five years ago. A defeat the people of Salaras would not forget.
              "A weapon?"
              "Yes, Ivan, we have to obtain it."
              "How do you plan on doing that?"

              Arcoh smiled and kept the plan he had to himself as an officer ran up behind him tapping him on the shoulder. "Your Eminence! General Green and the council request your presence immediately, sir! If you will be so kind as to follow."

              Ivan spoke out before they headed towards the edge of the hangar.
              "What is the meaning of this summons, Lieutenant?"
              "I was only told to bring the both of you to the consulate."

              Arcoh smiled and gestured to the young officer. "Lead the way."

              Arcoh and Ivan followed the messenger through the elegant hallways of the Salaran citadel. Gigantic thirty-meter tall hallways built of gold and white iron paved the elegant passage ways of the great army's headquarters. They were lined with statues of previous emperors that rose almost to the circular ceiling, which had been covered in artwork taken from cathedrals of old Earth. The outer edge of these open hallways were lined with massive columns that lined the entire citadel. If one were to stand at the edge of these passageways, the vast plains of Salaras could be seen with all their glory.

              The citadel of Salaras was embedded in the lonely mountain range that overlooked the marshlands leading to the golden city of Caldor: named after the first king of the old-world nation. It was a beautiful city built of golden steel and skyscrapers that commanded the horizon. There was no doubt in the fact that the Salaran Kingdom boasted a very elegant feel to their many occupied worlds. With that elegance came great cost in equality among the kingdom's people.

              In Salaran society there were but three classes of people. The working class made up almost 95 percent of society. This class included everyday people who worked many various jobs that kept the nation in check. All the gears are the same size, move at the same speed, and can be replaced. It was a very easy machine to manipulate. For the most part they all remained at an equal level of wealth. The citizens were also given jobs to do based on each individual's skill set. If any of these citizens felt the need to defect to the GDR in need of personal freedom, the government would remove them, and anyone they had ever known, from society. The kingdom's ruler had complete control over which direction he wanted to move his citizens in. This base has allowed the Salaran Empire to survive over two thousand years, the only one left from Mother Earth.

              These some seventy billion people were brainwashed, through the use of media and propaganda, into believing their way of life was the only way humanity was to survive in Eden. Most of them actually believed that freedom and choice were evil, and they were even tricked into becoming patriotic over their deceiving government. Although that being said, several million people escape the government's influence every year, and defect to the free worlds on the other side of the solar system.