Rebellion in the Shadows

Two nights later, I was on another shift of watching endless video feeds in the blue room. The thin metal chair was uncomfortable, but it was a good thing. As it was, half the night was trying not to fall asleep. If it had been in a giant comfy chair that I could really sink into, the only thing I would watch would be the back of my eye lids.

“Anything interesting?” Kirtis’s voice startled me awake, I must have drifted off after a few hours.

“Nope.” I said. He was here to relieve me and started clicking through the many screens. I stood up to stretch and watched him go through the many videos.

“Whoa, go back, go back!” I said. Movement caught my eye. It was the outside of my room. A giant man stood next to the door. He wasn’t doing anything but standing and waiting.

“Zoom in! That’s my room,” I said. When he did, the man turned around and I saw his face clearly; Zarleque. I grabbed my uniform jacket from the back of the chair and started towards the door.

“Where are you going?”

“To talk to him!” I said irritated that he was slowing me down.

“No way, it’s the middle of the night and he just shows up after weeks of missing? Why doesn’t he send you a comm? Why creep like this? Something isn’t right,” he said.

“Kirtis, what if he is in trouble?”

“He’s not.”

“I’m going. My shift is up and he’s at my room anyway,” I said. My thick uniform jacket was left unbuttoned and I hurried out of the blue room with Kirtis following.

“You serious?” I asked when I saw him behind me.

“It’s smart. Arwago would tell you to bring a friend,” he said. He was probably right, but I would cut off my own right leg before admitting that.

“Fine,” I said.

When we got close to my room, both of us slowed down and watched as Zarleque stood as still as statue next to my door.

“Zar?” Kirtis asked, still half way down the hall. I shoved past him.

“Zarleque, where have you been?” It was relieving to see him here, even if it was the middle of the night. Under any other circumstance, I would have hugged him but his stiff body language told me that wasn’t a good idea.

“I was on assignment, for the WFF cargo fleet. We had a large shipment go to the polar region. I have been setting it up.” Zarleque said.

“So, why are you here now?” Kirtis asked, accusations of ill intent were written in his tone and he got a quick glare from me.

Before Zarleque could answer, I said, “Come in to my room, we can talk.” The door opened with a swish, and all three of us stepped through. My burla went straight to Kirtis’s feet to beg for attention but we stood silent in the center of my front room waiting for the man to explain himself. The silence was overwhelming.

“You want some water?” I asked to Zarleque, desperate for something to do.

“No.”

“Why are you here?” Kirtis asked again. Zarleque clenched his jaw.

“I was hoping to borrow a book from Talaya,” he said.

“What book?” We both asked at the same time.

“Journey From Earth,” he answered. My heart dropped. The book Arwago gave me wasn’t for lending out.

“I don’t have it anymore,” I said, that was a lie. It was right on my bedside table. Kirtis took a step closer to him.

“Did you need anything else?” he asked.

“I need that book and I know it’s here, in your bedroom,” he said, his arms flexed, and I could see a large vein in his bicep pulsate with his quick heartbeat. Zarleque was a big man, if he decided to attack me, I wouldn’t be able to keep the book from him. I looked at Kirtis, almost pleading for him to help.

“I think you should leave,” Kirtis said to him when he saw my face. Zarleque’s whole demeanor was wrong. He wasn’t the type to demand things, or flex on a person. No, he’s whole appearance at my room had Master Guardian written all over it.

“Not without the book,” he said. A knock on my door had us all snap around. Zarleque sprang on Kirtis as soon as our heads were turned. I ignored the door and jumped onto Zarleque’s back. He already had Kirtis by the throat. The scars were a dark purple, his breathing already cut off, but his eyes showed fire. I wrapped my arm around Zarleque’s neck pulled it tight. Kirtis got loose and punched him in the gut. I squeezed harder. Zarleque clawed at my arms, trying to break free. When that didn’t work, he flailed around the room. Kirtis launched at him again and we all crumpled to the floor. Zarleque still struggled, but his attempts grew weaker and weaker. I didn’t let go until Kirtis yanked on my arm.

“Talaya! He isn’t breathing!” I let go and jumped up. The door swooshed open and Notawa rushed over. Both Kirtis and I were out of breath.

“What the hell happened?” she said, her hands shaking. “Zarleque?”

She put his giant head into her lap and tapped at his cheek. His eyes fluttered open. They looked at me first.

“Talaya?” His voice was soft and raspy. It didn’t have the same hostility or roughness as ten minutes ago.

“You OK? Maybe we should take you to medical?” Notawa asked. She was checking his calcumat. Other than an alert for low blood pressure, it was normal.

“Yes, because this will be super easy to explain. Two guys fighting in Talaya’s room in the middle of the night.” Kirtis was sitting at my desk chair with a cup of water and Tomma in his lap. His body may have been relaxed but his eyes still showed that fire and didn’t look away from the confused man on the floor.

I shot a look at him to that said exactly what I thought about his attitude, but he was right. We weren’t supposed to out of our rooms after lights out anyway.

“No no, I’m fine, really, if someone could just explain to me what happened?” Zarleque said.

“I kind of choked you a little too hard and you passed out,” I said shyly.

“Ok. But why? Why am I even here in the middle of the night?”

“The book?” I said.

“What book?” He kept looking from Notawa to me.

“Yes, what book could you two possibly be fighting over?” Notawa asked, she was still on the ground watching him closely.

“Don’t worry about it.” Kirtis wasn’t making things easier with his cold stare. Especially when Zarleque was so obviously affected.

“What day is it?” He asked, his expression more confused than when he first woke up.

“It’s Saturday the third.” He looked at his calcumat to confirm the date.

“What’s wrong?” I asked him. He let his head fall into his hands, entirely lost with the information he was collecting from us..

“It’s just... I don’t remember the whole last week, I’m trying but there’s nothing there.” His eyes were frantic.

“Zarleque what do you mean you can’t remember last week? They said you went to the polar region to drop supplies.” Notawa was handling the situation worse than Zar.

“Polar region? No way, I never went to the poles, why would I?” he asked.

“We need to get him to a Corpsman,” Notawa started to guide him towards the door.

“No, we should get Arwago.” With shaky hands I tried to type out a simple digi-message but ended up writing one word.

“Why would Arwago be of any help?”

“You know why,” I said, then turned to Zarleque, “Here drink this.” It was a glass of water. I stayed on the ground with him until there was a soft tap on the door.

“What have we here?” Arwago asked when he walked in the room.

I jumped towards him. “Arwago it’s… it’s Zarleque, something is wrong,”

He softly touched my shoulder, trying to calm me down. “OK, OK. Start at the beginning.” He sat down in a chair next to Zarleque as we explained his odd behavior and his lost memory.

“What’s the last thing you remember?” He wasn’t moving or doing anything just staring into Zarleque’s eyes.

“I went to Master Guardian’s office,” he said.

“That was last week,” I added. He didn’t look over but held a hand up for me to stop talking.

“What’s your name?” he asked, getting even closer to Zarleque’s face.

“Zarleque Antundee” Arwago stayed there uncomfortably long. Then turned so quickly to me it made me jump.

“His pupils are displaying some irregularity, that can mean some sort of brain injury.” Notawa gasped. She was standing in the corner biting her lip, eyes darting every direction.

“Of course, I could be wrong. I don’t know medicine, and I think Tesser would be of more use. She can run a quick brain scan to check for damage. Maybe in the after-hours clinic.” He turned his attention to Notawa.

“Notawa, please escort Zarleque to his quarters for rest. I will take him to the clinic later if need be, maybe all he really needs is sleep,” he stood up to leave.

“But I really think he needs to go to the Corpsmen.” Notawa said, frustrated that no one was taking her seriously.

“That’s an order Privy Mate,” Arwago said.

“Yes, Privy Master of course.” She gave a short salute and walked with Zarleque out of the room.

“Now for you.” The way he said it made me think I was in trouble. It didn’t help that his face was as serious as I had ever seen it.

“What’s wrong?” I asked when they left.

“There’s a few things wrong, first of all; you can’t just summon me for small things like this.”

“Small thing? He was missing, then he shows up demanding that book. What was I supposed to do?”

“We didn’t know he was missing for sure. And what’s this book you guys keeping talking about?”

“Your book, ’Journey From Earth.’ He came in here and demanded it.” His mouth dropped for a second.

“How did he even know about it?” Arwago was thinking hard. His whole face was scrunched in the middle and he looked out over to Kirtis who stopped petting Tomma for a second to show us his palms.

“I never said anything about it to anyone,” he said. Arwago turned his attention to me.

“Me either, it’s never left my room,” I said. A tiny voice in my head said that wasn’t true. Notawa had seen it when he gave it to me.

“This isn’t good.” He walked to my window and looked out with his hands in his pockets. I raised my eyebrows at Kirtis who shrugged.

“Kirtis, I don’t want you to over react.”

“But you need me to leave? Fine by me.” He stood up and Tomma followed him to the door. “See you in training I guess.” Tomma looked at me like it was my fault his friend left, then sauntered to my bedroom to pout.

“What am I supposed to do here? Someone is giving Master Guardian information,” Arwago said.

“How do you figure?” I asked. Arwago left my window and sat in the chair at my desk.

“Lots of reason, but it’s not your concern.” He didn’t talk for a minute but puffed his cheeks and let the air out slowly.

“Is everything ok?”

“Yes and no.” He shook his head and smiled. It wasn’t his normal flash of teeth, more like something to make me feel better. “Tesser told me about your condition. How do you feel about it?”

“Unconvinced,” I said. He looked surprised. I shrugged. “How would you feel?”

“I would be excited. I actually had her run my DNA to check my lineage, I mean honestly half our population could have the anomaly and not even know.” He was sounding almost as crazy as Tesser.

“I doubt it, but I doubt all of it. Wouldn’t my family tell me if we were aliens?”

“Maybe, but not if it is dangerous. Also, I don’t think alien is the right word. Technically speaking, you are still human, just a slightly different version of a human.”

“Either way, I’m not buying it until she has more proof.”

“More proof than a DNA test and physical anomalies?” he laughed, this time his head tilted back and it reached his eyes like normal but I was not amused. “Forget I said anything, it doesn’t matter. What does matter is Zarleque’s mind. I think you’re right, someone messed with it. I am going to put all our resources on this, if they have a way to alter minds… I don’t want to think about the repercussions of that. I should go now and try to sort some of this out.”

“What about my—”

“Your dad? No change. We don’t have a plan yet, don’t ask again. I will keep you in the loop when there’s something.”

“Is there anything I need to do?” I asked. My door swooshed open and he stepped through backwards.

“Nope stay the course.” He walked out the door reading his comm sheet. “And do what you’re told!” he said as he left.

***

Notawa showed up early the next day, as peppy as usual.

“What a night! Thank the gods Zarleque is feeling better. I just left his room, he’s not quite up to studying though. What about you?”

“I could skip it,” I said.

“Feedback from your instructors has been mostly positive, except maybe Santeeg, but I don’t think anyone takes that grump seriously. Anyway, we can probably forget about it for today.”

“You serious?” I asked.

“I’m exhausted and wouldn’t mind a day off.” She was already heading to the door. I nodded.

“I’m tired too, even though I have been sleeping better since they found my dad.” She looked back at me.

“They did? The night ops people?” she asked.

“Yeah, they didn’t tell you? He’s fine, I guess. They are setting something up to rescue him. Anyway, that makes it a little easier to sleep,” I yawned again and sat in my desk chair, already removing my uniform boots.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” She left the room. After she had gone, I realized that she had left some textbooks behind. Since she probably had digital copies of all of them, I didn’t bother sending her a comm.

After a four-hour nap, I flicked through Arwago’s infamous book. There was nothing in it I hadn’t already read and before long I tossed it on the desk. There was no real need to leave my room. Plenty of snacks, and a calcumat full of games and videos would keep me busy. It was the perfect day for pajamas and mindless time wasters.

Tomma had other plans. His howling was going to get me in trouble with my neighbors, so I got dressed and took him outside. The obnoxious noise stopped as soon as his fur caught sunlight. He gave me a look that said, ‘Was that so hard?’ and took off into the grass. Occasionally he would pop back over to my side as I walked the winding dirt path by the trees.

The short trail was full of others doing the same thing. It was a Sunday and while most people would go home, some stayed. Not everyone had thousands of dollars to spend on a drone ride home.

Some had pets and others had company. Seeing couples strolling made me a little lonely. Hiking through the forest was something my father and I did together often. People might think I was a terrible daddy’s girl, but it didn’t make a difference. He was my best friend, even more so than Whyla. She had tried calling me again the day before, and I had ignored it, again.

The guilt aside, I watched Tomma chase bitter birds and molecats who were busy teasing him. Flying just out of his reach. There was a bench along the path, and I sat down.

He couldn’t have really wanted to catch and eat one. He was almost lazily swatting at them. I bet if I stopped feeding him for a few days this little game of his would be a lot more serious. It was almost time to go back inside, when Tomma found a friend. Another burla jumped from the bushes nearby and knocked him over. After a few innocent hisses, they played together. It was very amusing. In fact, they seemed to know each other. Tomma didn’t usually take to strange burla’s that fast. After ten or so minutes they both laid down to bask in the warmth of Tau Ceti, swatting at each other playfully. He let out a low growl as I reached down to scan him with my calcumat. His name popped up as ’Cacao,” and the smartID sent an alert with our location to the owner.

Cacao followed us from a distance. His warning growls and hisses kept me from trying to get close. After a while, I decided to wait in my room for the owner.

“You want a snack Cacao?” I asked when we got to my room. His growls didn’t end at the doorway but I took them both to my kitchen for some dehydrated burla food.

Tomma and Cacao ate side by side with only general hostility so I retreated to my bedroom to give them some space. It was only a few minutes before I got a knock on my door. Kirtis stood in my doorway, his face confused.

“Talaya? You have my burla?”

“I should have known it was yours when it didn’t like me,” I said, stepping aside for him to come in.

“Very funny.” At the sound of his owner’s voice, Cacao peeked up from his food bowl.

“Hey Cacao! Ready to go? Let’s leave this stinky lady’s place and go home.” His voice had gone all high pitched and weird. I smiled.

He looked at me with one eye brow arched. “What?”

“You sound like an idiot.” He shrugged and pet both burla’s while they ate.

“Everyone talks to their animals like that,” he said. His burla gave me another hiss. Kirtis looked at him, and then at me.

“He really doesn’t like you, does he?” Kirtis sat down in his typical spot at my desk.

“You know my room is much smaller than this,” He said while looking around. He tapped a hologram of me and my dad that was on my desk. It flickered once so he stopped.

“You should see Arwago’s room,” I said thinking about his giant window. Tomma had finished his food and was rubbing his body against Kirtis’s leg. Cacao stayed near the bowl, far from me.

“Oh, I have, what a joke right?” It was silent again. There was a funny look on his face, amused but curious. It dawned on me that he might be waiting for something.

“Sorry about the other night,” I told him. He waved his arm. Then went back to petting Tomma at his leg.

“When Zar about strangled me or you had me up until zero-one flying a sim over a game?”

“Both,” I said. His scars flushed a bit and he swiveled in his chair to stare at the window. After a few seconds he asked, “You hungry?”

I crossed my arms, confused over the question. If I didn’t know any better, it was almost like he was being friendly. “Not really.”

Nothing followed, I didn’t know what else to talk about. He swiveled the chair back around, to my surprise, he looked a little disappointed.

“We better get going then,” he said after the long silence. He crossed the room to pick up his burla.

“You don’t have to leave,” I said.

He buzzed his lips, ruffling the fur on Cacao’s head. “Forget about it, I have to study anyway.”

“You could study here?” I asked, he looked hopeful for a second, then shook his head.

“I should go. You ready Cacao?” His voice had gone to that high register again when he spoke to his burla.

Cacao gave me one final hiss as they walked out. The door closed behind them. Tomma waited to see if they were coming back. When it was obvious that they weren’t, he settled for my lap, but kept giving me small growls as if the lack of company was my fault.