Detection

September 2, 2285

Passing Mars Orbit

Even two months later, a brooding resentment filled Edith’s hull. She felt sick. As an empathetic AI, she was programmed to care for everyone. She tried everything she knew of to make their flight more comfortable. Everyone had so much on their mind. Lives were changing during this trip. There was still another two months before they got to Venus.

Edith’s Dining Room

Sam and Alestra were sitting in the galley eating. He had barely spoken, barely eaten, and hardly left his room in the two months they’ve been traveling. Yet, Alestra never left his side. She had been though this, not the same but close. She sat with him in silence, eating.

He finally spoke. “I was comfortable. I was happy. I was, for the first time in my life, content. You stole it.”

“I steal many things.” She responded.

“I hate you.” He continued to stare into his soup.

“You can. Does it help?”

“No.” He looked up into her eyes. “Why would they imprison me for having surgery that made me healthier?”

“That’s a good question. They kicked me out of the Jet Setters and forced me to live on the streets for the same reason. They tried to arrest me, but they couldn’t do it.”

“What’s a Jet Setter?” He seemed content to be distracted for a moment.

“Bioengineered super soldiers. Terra Firma’s government finds weak willed orphans to modify the gene structure of to give us super human speed, strength, mental acuity as well a host of other advancements. They also gave me this fake self-confidence that comes from being strong in Terra Firma’s society.” She wasn’t wearing her glasses currently — they were used for missions. She hadn’t worn them on the ship yet. “I made my living by stealing things and selling them on the black market. Then I started working for the Venusian Government.”

“I’m nothing like that. I’m just an average guy.”

“Far from it. You’re going to be someone. You will be important.”

“What if I would rather not be?” He looked back down into his soup.

“Then don’t be.”

“Is it really that easy?”

“No. I didn’t say it would be easy, but you can do it if you try.”

They both went back to eating in silence.

Edith’s Magic Training Room

On the other side of the ship, Tim and Xavix were in a room filled with candles, books, pots of water, incense, and other implements. He was studying. Over the last five years, while in prison, Xavix had provided Tim all the information he could find related to his magical abilities. The abilities that had gotten him arrested, the abilities which got him arrested on Terra Firma, were encouraged and celebrated on Venus. “I can’t believe magic is outlawed on Terra Firma.” He spun his hand around and summoned a ball of orange water sitting hovering in his hand. He threw it into a nearby empty pot, where it sloshed loudly then immediately evaporated.

“Many people on Terra Firma, including the government, found it dangerous.”

Tim looked down at his hand; a large scar sat directly in the middle of his palm. He got angry, he spent so long without knowing his own true history. The fake history was also still stuck in his head, confusing him. But at least he knew the facts of his life. At least it explained the scar. He had no reason not to trust Jaedon Mustang. Jaedon had been a mentor to him for the last five years, like a second father.

His father saved his life. He wondered where his father was today. Then he regretted again the moment in his kitchen all those years ago.

Tim snapped out of his thoughts, “I can’t believe I killed her. My mother.”

“It was an accident.” Jaedon reassured him.

Tim gathered the motes again, just like he did ten years ago. “It’s such a simple trick.” They erupted into a fireball into his hand. He tossed it back and forth. Then he dissipated them exactly as they formed, breaking into tiny motes of energy and flying back off into the air.

“You were nine, now you’re nineteen. You’ve also had another five years of learning and practice.”

“Thanks to you.” He reacted to a feeling, glancing straight up as if being stared by someone, “There’s someone here.”

“Where?”

“Here. Watching us. Watching me.”

Yes, I am. Allorien spoke telepathically into his mind.

The contact startled Tim even more. Tim said aloud. “Who are you?”

Currently, that doesn’t matter. Open your mind. Feel my presence.

“Someone’s here. Stop.” Tim said.

Jaedon leapt into action. “Red Alert! Full stop. Quick quiet.” In less than a second, Edith shut down all non life support systems and began to drift through space like a hole. She also used energy from the life support systems to power a minimal cloaking device. All internal emergency lights were fading between red and yellow. If someone around them were looking for normal emissions from a spacecraft, they wouldn’t be able to find any.

Ten feet ahead of Allorien, the ship he was watching faded into invisibility. However, on the display, four dots kept drifting forward through the universe. They panicked, Allorien thought. Floating with the other ship through space, they kept their mind open, hoping they would be noticed.

Edith’s Bridge

All four of the humans on the ship collected on the bridge. Jaedon asked the obvious question. “Edith, what is there anything out there?”

“No.”

He turned to Tim. “What did you sense?”

“I don’t know.”

“Maybe just in that room?”

“Anyone else on board?”

There was a small ding and Edith said, “Nope.”

“Edith, let’s do a comprehensive active search.” There was a small ding, most of the ship’s electronics powered back up, and a spherical light beam radiated from the ship. It went completely through the watcher ship Icarus. Even ten feet away, it couldn’t be seen. “Noting present; all bands.”

“That can’t be right.” Tim said.

There was a small huff across the ship’s speakers, “It is.” Edith rebutted.

“Are there any additional scans or indications of anything?”

“No. That was a comprehensive scan.”

Everyone looked at Tim. He got sheepish but still had to speak up, “I’m sure there was something out there. Do you ever have that feeling like you’re being watched? Well, it went further. I heard a voice I didn’t recognize.”

Sam continued staring at him, “maybe you’re losing it.”

“I highly doubt that,” Alestra said.

“It happened when we were training. Should you go back to that?” Jaedon said.

Yes, go back to training. Allorien thought.

Everyone except Jaedon left the cockpit. He sat in a chair in the middle of the room watching Mars, his home, fade from the view. Above the equator, the militaries of Venus and Terra Firma locked in constant conflict. The fifth “World War” scale conflict playing out in a constant stalemate at the equator of Mars. He laughed. World War One, the war to end all wars. Humans thought highly of themselves back then.

“Edith, I’d like to talk to the King”

“Current communication delay with that location is 8 minutes in single direction. Send your message.” Humans still couldn’t send signals faster than the speed of light; the two planets were not close at the moment.

“We had an interesting occurrence on the ship today. Tim was convinced he felt, and then heard, a presence watching and speaking to him. He was significantly more convinced than I have seen anyone before, and it occurred as he was practicing magic. The situation occurred nearly exactly as you predicted a couple of years ago.” Jaedon paused and there was a short ding.

“No,” Jaedon yelled. “Don’t send it yet.” There was another short ding, acknowledgement of his new command.

He took a breath and continued, “Append. You are right. There is something exceptional about this boy. It was clear nobody else believed him; the only reason I do is that it was almost perfectly inline with the prophecy. How’s Gwen? Request your guidance. Send.” The same ding echoed throughout the cockpit.

A small table appeared next to Jaedon with his favorite drink; a Cape Cod.

Watcher Ship Icarus’ Cockpit

The end of Jaedon’s message played as Allorien listened to it. They could see the waves of energy take the message from the ship toward Venus. The encryption made the waves look garbled on his instruments, but he knew what they were. After the waves took the message through space, they moved their ship forward and placed it directly between Edith and Venus.

Twenty minutes later, he intercepted another set of encrypted waves. They would not reach Edith just yet. These were the most critical moments in contact. He needed to make sure this guidance was going to help, not harm. He heard the voice of the king of Venus, one he had become familiar with over the years.

“This is excellent. He is progressing well. What he is sensing is the energies, thoughts, and intentions of the surrounding beings. Try to get him to calm; listen. What he probably heard was a conversation of someone else on the ship. This is something most mages can do pretty easily, myself included. Ever wonder why I always seem to have the leg up in negotiations? Gwen is good; looking forward to thanking you in person. See you in a month.”

Allorien recoded the message, with one bit misplaced. Only intelligence experts will notice that. Let’s see how subtle I can be. Allorien thought. And transmitted it on to Edith. That transmission took milliseconds.

Back on Edith’s Bridge

There was a small ding as Jaedon finished his drink. “About time. Play it.”

“Before I do so; be aware there is one bit misplaced. This message appears to be tampered with.”

“Oh, which one?”“0×7a1f3b82c6a9d0415e8b6d9a1f3c827a” the memory location appeared on the screen in context of the entire message.

“That’s not something we’ve previously agreed on to hide encoded messages.”

“Correct.”

“Interesting. Play the message, then do a forensic analysis of the data, please.”

“The analysis will take six days.”

The message from the king played for Jaedon unedited and uninterrupted.

Jaedon scoffed after the message finished. “That’s how you always get the upper hand, huh? I always knew there was more than meets the eye to our great king.”