Chapter 06: Drs. Kim and Tsukishima fulfil their obligation to the ISAF in the civil war of the Jezebel system - part 1

1: Summons

Lightning cracked the sky. An army of gray clouds slowly marched over Sanmachi, indiscriminately unleashing volleys of heavy rain onto the city below on what would be an otherwise normal Monday morning. Lauren jogged from the train station to the entrance of the Citadel. The start of the spring rainy season had caught her by surprise. Lauren normally rode her bike from her apartment to the train station but because of the rain, she had to take the bus. 8:58, Lauren knew she would be late, the question would be how late. As she neared the main entrance, she slowed her jog to a brisk walk. She noticed that without the usual crowd of officers, the main entrance was actually rather wide. She took the opportunity to walk through the dead center of the entrance for reasons she couldn’t identify but also so that she could be as far from the Peacekeeper robots as possible which stared at her until they identified her by pinging her badge at which point they ignored her to her relief. The lobby was uncharacteristically quiet, her footsteps echoed against the reinforced ceramic walls. She entered an elevator and keyed in floor 23, block E7. The elevator whisked her up, slowed, changed direction, accelerating backwards gently, slowed, then resumed its upward climb.

Lauren hopped out of the elevator and walked up to the door of room 019. She pushed the PING button on her ID card and the door slid open.

All four of the other members were gathered around the center room table. They all turned to look at Lauren, cluing her in that something was afoot.

“Geez, I didn’t know you guys would be so worried about me,” said Lauren, leaning her umbrella in the corner.

“You don’t realize how right you are,” said Jethro, turning on the coffee maker.

“Why, what’s up?” said Lauren walking up to the table.

“This,” said Ashley, tapping the smart sheet on the table, “it’s an officer requisition notice.”

“The ISAF Terrarum is requesting 2-3 experts in first colonization era technology for deployment this Friday,” said Morgan, “you’d best just read the statement.

Lauren rotated the sheet so she could read it:

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12019-04-33 ---- Doc ID: 7143 8668 1300 5006

Inter System Armed Forces: Terrarum

Knowledge Corps Office of ISAF Liaison

Knowledge Corps Officer Requisition Form

Conflict: Jezebel System Attempted Succession - ID: HF 7150 CW 1700

Requisitioner: Gen. Eric Albritton (45th Intersyst Army)

Requisition Type: Subject Experts, Field Experts

Deployment Type: headquarters, potentially front lines

Mission start: 12019-05-03 (Daiterra time), 12019-13.1.25 (Universal time)

Expected Mission Duration: 1-2 weeks (Daiterra), 168-336 hrs (Universal)

Compensation:

To research group: $121,917

Per officer: $12,032

Commence Body:

The Intersyst Armed Forces 45th Intersyst Army, for the purpose of ending the conflict in the Jezebel system of the Hondur cluster of the Human Federation, requisitions 2-3 highly qualified specialists in first colonization era human history and 1 highly qualified specialist in Human Federation contemporary fringe system studies.

Initial investigations by the 45th Intersyst Army research team, in consultation with the Waverton University of Jezebel History Department, have identified several structures from the first colonization of the Jezebel system that are capable of reporting the position of every human/youmen/purian on the populated hemisphere of the planet, even in the presence of standard sensor countermeasures. The sensor network has been observed to be operational. However neither side of the conflict has demonstrated the ability to interface with the system. The strategic advantage of access to the data the network is theorized to provide has been deemed sufficient motive for the requisition and endangerment of Knowledge Corps officers. Two to three (2-3) highly qualified specialists in first colonization era human history, specifically with the use and repair of period technology, possibly near the front lines, are requested from the Knowledge Corps for this purpose.

The 45th Intersyst Army research team, in consultation with the Waverton University of Jezebel Anthropology Department, have concluded that this conflict is most likely driven by a self-sustaining cyclic rebellion pattern. One (1) highly qualified specialist in Human Federation fringe system studies is requisitioned to coordinate efforts between the 45th Intersyst Army research team and the Waverton University of Jezebel Anthropology Department, with temporary legislative power, to break this cyclic rebellion pattern. The requisitioners note that this specialist will most likely only have work within the central command headquarters.

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Lauren looked up from the document when she finished reading it.

“‘Potentially front lines,’ potentially front lines,” said Jethro emphatically, so much so that he almost missed his cup as he poured his coffee, “don’t you think that would be something that is worth knowing for certain?”

“I think we can safely take it to mean that they should be prepared to go to the front lines,” said Morgan, pulling the paper to her side of the table.

“Hah, yeah, for given definitions of safe,” said Jethro, walking back with a purple coffee mug with the words “University of Kairexa, Rodira Alumnus” in hand and returning to his seat. Miguel got up and went to the coffee maker.

“What do you mean by ‘they’?” said Lauren, “have you guys already decided who is going to go?”

Jethro took a sip of coffee, “The requisition form asked for two ‘highly qualified specialists’ that know how to use and repair old tech. You and Ashley are the ones in this group that best fit that bill.”

“Hey, is that my coffee mug?” asked Ashley.

“It was the only one that was clean,” said Jethro, “I mean, if we’re talking about who theoretically could go, Miguel and I together can repair and interface with old tech, but I think you’ll agree with me that a dad shouldn’t have to go to the front lines.”

“You guys are lucky that I am feeling slightly more excited than terrified at the moment,” said Lauren pulling the sheet back to her side of the table.

Miguel came back with a coffee mug, this time Morgan got up.

“Still, I feel bad that you kind of don’t have a choice because our group is so small,” said Miguel, “when I was a Scientific Officer in the Experimental Weapons Division, people volunteered to go.”

Jethro tried to pull the sheet over to his side but Morgan slammed the sheet down with another smartsheet. With a flicker, the top sheet copied the bottom sheet, Jethro pulled the bottom sheet the rest of the way to his side. Morgan sat down with a cup of tea in her hand and set her smartsheet on the table so that Ashley could read it.

“I know there are many records of me saying that this group is so niche that we’re more in danger of running out of funding than we are of dying, but looking at this requisition form, I’m kind of surprised that there haven’t been more cases like this,” said Jethro.

“I think that has more to do with the field research team not being able to identify that there is a need for our expertise than these sort of conditions not arising,” said Morgan.

“Do we have to take this mission, ignoring the question of money?” asked Ashley.

“A research group is obliged to provide officers if their group is specifically called out by name,” said Miguel, “this form didn’t do that but once they realize that we are the only group that fits the bill, they will surely call us out by name.”

“What if we all call in sick?” said Jethro.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Jethro,” said Morgan, “you know that Youmen are never sick for more than three days and the average purian will only get sick two or three times as an adult.”

Jethro hung his head and pressed on his temples, Lauren had never seen him think so hard. He suddenly looked up

“What if we were all injured?” he said, “can’t go to the front lines with a broken leg.”

“Personally I’d rather go to the front lines than break my own leg,” said Lauren.

“Everything you’re suggesting would reflect poorly on our group, Jethro,” said Morgan, “even now, upper management questions whether we belong in the Knowledge Corps. It’s really thanks to Dr. Meiss being so good with people that we’ve made it this far.”

“I’ll say that just by fulfilling these summons, we won’t have to worry about justifying our place in the KC for a while,” said Miguel.

“Maybe you’re reading too much into this,” said Ashley holding up the smart sheet, “this is our first military summons after all, maybe they always say ‘potentially front lines.’”

Jethro scoffed. “I doubt it,” he said.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this but you just need to relax, Jethro,” said Morgan. “Here,” she got up, “don’t worry about filling out all of those travel expense reports today. I’ll fill them out, you use that time to listen to your favorite music and unwind.” Morgan got Jethro to get up and walked him towards the workstations then closed the curtain behind him.

Morgan turned to Lauren and Ashley, “you two have a lot to do between now and Friday: you need to pack your flight cases, check in with the Armory, get vaccinated, obtain proof of no illnesses, sort out your travel arrangements with the Logistics Office, and if the gravity is stronger on Jezebel you should also be going to the gym as much as you can.”

2: Preparations

The armory was a dirty and stuffy place compared to the clean and finished interiors of the rest of the Citadel. Various weapons in different states of disassembly were strewn about the work benches and the assorted mills, lathes, and saws smelled of grease and lubricant. Ashley and Lauren noticed all of this as they walked in.

“It’s not everyday you get an AO down here,” proclaimed the purian machinist at the desk upon their entry. “Do you have work tickets or are you just admiring?”

Ashley and Lauren put their phones on the desk showing their work ticket scan codes which were immediately picked up by the overhead camera. The machinist looked at his monitor.

“Okay so just some vest and sidearm adjustments,” he said to himself. “Gimme your vests and sidearms and please don’t just leave the sidearm in the holster.”

Ashley and Lauren hung their blazers on the wall, put their sidearms on the desk followed by their folded vests.

“Perfect, now just sit tight and don’t touch anything,” the machinist took a universal pen that was clipped into the dense mat of hair below his pointed ear and started making marks on the front of the vests.

“This vest is so small it is actually cute,” he said as he made marks on Ashley’s vest. Lauren could tell that Ashley was doing her best not to snap at the machinist since her usual cheery smile was replaced by a completely stoic expression.

The machinist handed the sidearms to someone else further in the shop and then set to work securing each vest into a machine. He pushed a button and the whole top half of the machine came down onto the vest and stayed there for about five minutes. Meanwhile the other machinist was disassembling the pistols and replacing almost all of the internal components.

When the vest machines opened up, the vests had a flap added to the front that covered the sternum and throat. When Lauren put on her vest she noticed it was slightly heavier and stiffer.

“Your vests now have reflective ceramic plates inside them for small laser rounds and protection against armor-piercing ballistic rounds,” said the machinist, “know that if they get cracked by a ballistic round, they won’t reflect laser beams as effectively as before.” He handed them their sidearms which were also heavier.

“Your sidearms are now upgraded to have armor piercing capability, I’ll tell ya, this is a lot of kit, where are they sending you guys?” asked the machinist.

“That’s classified,” said Lauren holstering her side arm and putting on her blazer, “have a good day.”

Ashley and Lauren stepped back into the white hallway.

“So rude. I hate it when my biases against people that are purian are reinforced,” remarked Ashley, “sorry, I just had to let that out.”

“You’re alright,” said Lauren. She consulted a smart sheet that she pulled from her blazer pocket, “okay where next?” asked Lauren.

“Let’s see, we got vaccinated, we got our tickets sorted out as well as these sweet guides to the Jezebel system,” Ashley held up a smart sheet displaying a montage of sweeping vistas from Jezebel, “and we just got heavier vests. All that’s left is getting our flight cases.

* * *

On floor 9 of the Citadel was the artifact block formally known as blocks A1 through A3. These blocks were home to clean rooms of various sizes, all of them blindingly white and so well lit that few shadows were cast even after 21:00 when most of the hallway lights had gone into low power mode. Not even the smallest screw or dropped bead could be lost in these rooms. Lauren was working in a small artifact room with a large black box on the center of a large carrel of about the same area as the dining room table she shared with her roommates in grad school. A magnifying lamp was positioned over the box and a monitor was displaying an HTG page on various types of capacitors. Lauren deftly removed tiny screws one by one with a universal driver, depositing each one into a labelled cup of a large egg carton before making a note on a nearby smart sheet. Three sharp knocks came from behind Lauren. She turned around to see Neil standing at the visitor window. Lauren put her index and little finger and to the side of her head as she pulled her phone out of her bag. She called Neil and put her phone on speaker mode.

“I didn’t expect to see you in a cleanroom suit,” said Neil’s downsampled voice.

“Yeah, the Knowledge Corps doesn’t mess around when dealing with artifacts,” said Lauren.

“But they still use egg cartons,” observed Neil.

“Only the best will do Neil,” said Lauren, dropping another screw into the egg carton. “This black box is the, well, black box of a human colony ship launched at the beginning of the first colonization wave by the Americana government. The ship never reached its destination and was found drifting in a nebula during a deep space Astratum rendezvous, way too far from any of the known first colonization targets.”

“That’s comforting,” said Neil, “considering you’re going on a ship to the same place.”

”That was a long time ago and interstellar travel has come a correspondingly long way,” said Lauren. She lifted the metal plate she was removing screws from and pulled the magnifying glass closer to the circuit board inside, “dammit, all the capacitors are dried out here too.”

“How is this going to affect our leaving?” asked Neil, looking at his watch.

“It’s going to make it earlier,” said Lauren, turning off and unplugging the soldering iron. She started to put tools into sockets in the table, “there are too many dead capacitors to deal with tonight, so I’ll just deal with it when I get back. I’m going to close shop and then take off this bunny suit, I’ll meet you in the common room.” She slid the smart sheets into a sleeve which she stuffed into her bag along with her laptop. She keyed in a code on the carrel and a panel slid out of a recess, guided by rails on the walls of the carrel until it completely sealed off the workspace. She turned off the lights and made her way to the airlock.

* * *

Lights flitted through the interior of the Allegre train as it sped its way through Materia. Neil and Lauren sat together and watched the city go by. Since their grad school days, they’ve had a tradition to go to a different place in the city as dictated by a book Neil bought titled 3000 Special Corners of Sanmachi. They didn’t plan to visit all of the listed places. Their tradition took place in the last hours of the day simply because they were both guaranteed to be done with work by then. This also had the added benefit of limiting their search to the 300 places listed in the “After Hours” section of the book.

Lauren was sitting on her hands and swinging her feet as she rocked back and forth, “so where are we going this time?”

“The Moonlight Cafe, (located somewhere in D1 of the map) it has the vibe of a human antiquity era old world cafe and only serves non-caffeinated drinks, to help you sleep better I guess,” said Neil reading from his phone.

Lauren’s eyes lit up, “How have I not heard of this?”

“What, are you a big fan of herbal tea?” said Neil, smiling with a sidelong glance.

“Not that, the antiquity era theme,” said Lauren, laughing.

The buildings surrounding the train fell away as it entered a bridge over a river, the various lights from the buildings lining the river plus the multi colored spectacle from the towers of Markova were suddenly visible. The reflection of the river plus the interruptions from the truss of the bridge resulted in a kaleidoscope of lights playing across the dimly lit interior of the train, Lauren quickly pulled out her phone and snapped a few pictures in various directions while Neil watched her.

“The next stop is ours,” said Neil, leaning to one side to put his phone in his pocket.

“Cool,” said Lauren, reviewing her photos.

After disembarking from the train, Neil and Lauren boarded a tram that took them further west. When they got off the tram, they were greeted by a breeze blowing in from the west which made the night air fragrant with the scent of the flower fields of the mountains. Lauren took a deep breath in, “wow! The floral breeze is so strong today. Smell it Wu!” said Lauren, stretching her arms over her head.

“We are also just closer to the mountains than we normally are,” pointed out Neil as he sampled the air. “The street addresses are kind of wonky here so we need to be on the lookout for a blue lamp in front of a shop.”

“Like that one?” asked Lauren pointing at a narrow storefront, its windows giving off a dull glow while the rest of the facade was illuminated by the ghostly blue light of the lamp above the door.

“I think so? They shouldn’t be closed,” said Neil taking out his phone, “Hey! Don’t just cross the street on a red light!”. Lauren power walked to the lamp. Neil watched her peek into a window she turned around, waving her hand over her head, “They’re open, Neil!” she shouted. Neil put away his phone and waited for the green light before crossing the street.

Inside, the cafe was brighter and warmly lit while the air had the faint smell of various herbs.

“This is great Neil,” siad Lauren, looking around, “they even use real incandescent lamps which were the dominant form of lighting in the beginning of the human antique era. They could have also used fluorescent lights but I guess they didn’t because those don’t have the right level of warmth for the mood this cafe is going for.”

“Oh they even have a chalkboard sign,” said Lauren, running her finger on the black slate and inspecting her finger, “believe it or not, even though coffee shops of this period had access to digital signs, there was a very strong art scene where cafes, and some restaurants, would create new artwork, on a chalkboard, every day.”

“Why would they do that, “said Neil skeptically, looking at the ceiling and the ceiling fans, “does their menu change so much each day that they can’t use the same artwork?”

“Well, the artwork was partially intended to attract customers, to help with this the artwork would be about things most everyone knew about and would sometimes be very topical,” said Lauren looking at the series of blue filtered images on the monitors displaying the different drinks for sale. At the register a Jordie robot was standing and staring at the two impassively.

Lauren walked up in front of the Jordie, “can I get the Melontonin iced tea?”

The Jordie pressed some buttons on a bulky console which beeped a few times before displaying a number, “sure thing boss, that will be $5.75. Would you like that to go?”

Lauren shook her head and approved the charge request on her phone and turned to Neil, “oh my god, they even have an antique cashier setup.”

“Wow, how did they get anything done with machines that large?” replied Neil, he turned to the Jordie, “I would like to get a small Mint Coco.”

“Ok, that will be $3.50,” said the Jordie, operating the antique transaction machine, “Your drinks will be ready shortly, please make yourselves comfortable..”

Neil and Lauren chose a booth to sit at, taking off their laptop bags and setting them next to themselves on the wide, plush seats.

“So you go to the battlefield in two days.” said Neil.

“Yeah, it’s terrible!” said Lauren, “I lose my whole weekend. Couldn’t we leave, like, two days later?”

Neil was unamused.

“Oh, you meant about the battlefield part, not the two days part,” said Lauren, realizing they were going to have a serious conversation. “It’s gonna be okay,” she assured him, “no matter how stormy and cloudy the sky looks, there is always a bright blue sky just above it.”

Neil looked at the table. Faint clinking of dishes from behind the counter was audible. Lauren wondered why he was taking so long to respond, Neil usually plans out the entire conversation before he begins speaking.

“You were expecting me to be more worried,” said Lauren.

“Order for Neil,” said the Jordie. Neil got up to retrieve his drink. He came back with a stout glass mug filled with a light brown liquid permeated throughout with tiny green bubbles and topped with a light foam.

“Yes, I expected you to be more worried because I think you should be more worried.” Neil took a metal straw out of his bag and stirred his drink with it. “You’re going to a warzone, soldiers with more training than both of us put together have died and never saw it coming.”

“What good is worrying going to do? It’s not going to change the fact that I have to go or that it’s our duty to go when called upon.”

“Excessively worrying won’t do any good,” said Neil, “a little bit of concern makes one behave more cautiously. By anticipating the worst case scenario, you won’t be surprised and caught off guard when something bad happens and will be able to react to it.”

“Order for Lauren,” called the Jordie. Lauren got up and went towards the counter. She brought back a tall glass of dark green liquid topped with a lighter green foam. Lauren set the drink down and started digging through her bag.

“The way I see it,” continued Lauren, “is that the things that I could worry about are either small enough that it doesn’t matter that they happen or are so big that they are beyond anyone’s control. Aha!” Lauren triumphantly pulled her metal straw out of her bag.

“Your way of seeing things leaves a big gap in the space of things to worry about,” observed Neil.

Lauren sipped her drink and thought. Neil was not one to push his ideas onto others and she couldn’t remember the last time he had been this insistent.

“Okay, I’ll try to be more careful on this mission,” said Lauren.

“Try or will?” questioned Neil.

“I will be more careful on this mission by acknowledging the dangers inherent in it,” said Lauren clearly,

Neil’s stern features changed to that of relief. “Thank you,” he said, “so tell me more about this mission. They need you to repair some sort of radar?”

“Yeah!” said Lauren, glad that the conversation had shifted, “it’s really interesting. I was reading the full requisition form, this first wave era radar network has huge range and can even see into areas normal radar can't, such as in areas of high electromagnetic interference, but it can only detect people. Any idea how that could work?”

Neil rested his chin on his hand and stared into space for a moment, “I don’t know about the long range part, but I remember reading a paper a while back about how bio wielding can be used to detect animals living around power lines which makes me think this radar system is a huge network of bio wielding machines. Also the fact that it can only detect people strongly suggests that it is using bio fields. The paper I read never made it past laboratory tests because scaling it up required too much energy if I remember correctly.”

“What do you mean it required too much energy?” asked Lauren, tilting her head.

“Oh that’s because… you know what, I am going to send you that guide to wielding I made for the outreach program that I told you about on our first day at the Knowledge Corps. I think it does a good job of explaining wielding beyond the basics that everybody learns in school.”

Neil took out his laptop and typed away for a few moments, “there, I sent you the doc. Let me know what you find out on your mission.”

“Thanks! Will do!” said Lauren, “you ready to go home?”

“Yeah, let me cross this place off our list and then let’s get out of here,” said Neil.

“Sounds g—” Lauren yawned, “oh my god, I’m so sleepy all of the sudden.” Lauren leaned forward and rested her head on her arms folded over the table. “I don’t know what’s…” Lauren looked at her empty glass. Her drink must have actually had the sleep hormone melatonin in it. “I was wondering why the cashier asked me if I wanted this drink to go,” Lauren yawned again.

* * *

5:25 pm, the penultimate day of the work week, and the last day before Ashley and Lauren embarked on their mission, the mood at the Historical Technologies Group’s office was subdued. Lauren was reading the document Neil gave her. Jethro was standing and typing away carefully. Ashley was scrolling through the mission debrief, resting her head in her hand. Morgan was organizing the common area, and Miguel was taking inventory in the parts room. Jethro tapped Lauren on the shoulder.

“What’s up?” Lauren took off her headphones. Simultaneously, Ashley moved one earphone off her ear.

“Take this,” he handed Lauren a micro-computer, “it has my version of a universal decrypter. Gets you through most FHCE password gates. You might have to mess with the options a bit before it works though.”

Lauren looked at the micro-computer. It was very obvious that Jethro got it for free at a conference. “The Federated Academies 301st Conference on Computer Science and Engineering at Arcturus Planetary University” was printed on it in grey text on a purple background, the colors of the Federated Academies.

Ashley had completely removed her headphones, “sounds like you’re really worried about our rookie, Jethro.”

Jethro put his hands in his pockets and shrugged, “yeah, I’m kinda worried, you guys are about to go to a bloody warzone. I’d give you a copy too but you’ve already told me that you think my decryptor was, ‘garbage’ I believe was the word.”

“That’s because when you tried to demonstrate it to me, it corrupted your hard drive. Sounds like it also wiped your memory,” retorted Ashley.

Jethro chuckled, “hah, you’re right, that did happen. But let me tell you both, it has improved massively since then.”

Ashley leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms, “that’s not saying much,” she turned to Lauren, who had been looking back and forth during the entire conversation, and pointed at the micro-computer, “I’d be careful with that.”.

“Hey, I’ve just tested it on my computer, if that’s what you’re—” Jethro was mid sentence when Morgan poked her head through the curtain: “kids, time for roundtable. And keep it down, some people are trying to work.”

The three junior members filed into the common room and seated themselves. Miguel was already seated with some spare parts and tools in front of him.

“For this round table, Jethro, Miguel, and I wanted to wish you two good luck on your mission and that we will hope for your safe return,” said Morgan, “we also wanted to give you some things to help you on your mission, which I gather Jethro has already done.”

“Yes, I gave Lauren my decryptor,” said Jethro, he turned to Lauren, “you better come back with that micro computer, it’s the only good one I’ve got.”

“Miguel, are you ready?” said Morgan, looking up from her laptop.

“Yep, Ashley, give me your sidearm,” said Miguel extending his hand.

“Wha?” said Ashley, confused.

“I’m going to install a mod on it,” said Miguel. Ashley unholstered her gun and placed it in Miguel’s outstretched hand. Miguel removed the battery, took one of the screwdrivers in front of him and removed the laser aperture, took a slightly larger aperture, screwed it on, and replaced the battery. All the while Lauren and Ashley watched closely.

“Your gun can now auto-aim by a few degrees,” he said handing it back to Ashley along with the old aperture, “it’s not gonna pick targets for you but it’s good for canceling out shaky hands if you’re really nervous. You should test it at the firing range before you leave.” Ashley looked down at the gun in her hands, still processing what was just given to her.

Morgan cut the silence, “unfortunately, I don’t have anything as useful practically as Miguel or Jethro’s gifts but I’m sending you my personal notes on the history of the galactic area that the Jezebel system belongs to, which includes a section on the Jezebel system itself. It might help you understand the locals and the rebellion better. In any case, I hope these gifts either serve you well or that you have no need for them.”

“Thanks guys,” said Lauren, “I’m sure this decryptor will come in handy, and I’m sure the notes will help us too.”

“Thank you all,” said Ashley, “I sure hope we won’t be needing our guns.”

* * *

Lauren lay in her bed. After getting home, she finished packing, made dinner, threw away all her perishables, read some of the documents she received, and turned in for the night early. Normally she would spend the rest of the night tinkering with her latest electronics pet project, slow-reading whatever book she had recently picked up, or walking around the nearby park, but tonight she did none of those things. Lauren stared at the ceiling and thought about all the things that had happened in the past few days.

She thought about how the machinist was surprised at the upgrades she and Ashley received. She thought about the round table session from earlier that day and the gun upgrade Ashley received, and how Morgan said she hoped that they wouldn’t need the gifts they received.

And she thought about her conversation with Neil. She had been thinking about Neil’s uncharacteristic insistence that she change her behavior. Of all the things that had happened, it was her conversation with Neil that made her suspect that this mission might be completely different than anything she had faced before. But new situations were exciting to her. Lauren was excited to ride a military vessel through the cosmos. She was excited to visit a completely different planet. And she was most excited by the prospect of being able to help people, just as her role models did for her planet. And yet, somewhere, Lauren had this vague sense of dread. As if she felt like she should be scared, should be worried, of something, but she knew neither for why or of what she should feel that way. Lauren tired of looking at her ceiling, rolled over and fell asleep.

3: Travelling

4:30 am.a phone beeped loudly for a few seconds before being shut off by Lauren who had woken up moments before. Within moments she was in her uniform, with her bags, and out the door.

Lauren was on her second Allegre train on the way to Sanmachi Central Station. In the window across from her, formless dark shapes flew past with the occasional streetlight flitting by providing a reminder of the speed the train was travelling at. Ahead, the rainbow of lights from Markova beckoned.

Lauren left the Allegre train platform and walked through the massive main hall of Sanmachi Central Station. Despite being in the dead of night, there were still many people passing through, most of them space travellers on their way to or from Denavita City. An automated voice droned on the intercom announcing that her train was now boarding. Lauren lengthened her strides as she made her way to the maglev boarding platforms.

The interior of the maglev reserved car was plain yet luxurious, so much so that Lauren dozed off shortly after sitting down. She awoke to find the conductor standing next to her. Lauren produced her ticket on her phone. After the conductor passed by, Lauren looked out the window. She was unable to see anything close to the train and instead watched the lights of distant buildings slowly move by. The last of the outlying cities of Sanmachi flitted by and was replaced by the dark abyss that shrouded the farms that surround the Sanmachi greater metropolitan area. Lauren took out her laptop and headphones to continue reading the documents she had received related to her mission and which despite her best efforts, made up a growing list.

* * *

Lauren looked up from her laptop. She took off her headphones and looked out of her window. The train was now on a seemingly endless bridge in the middle of the ocean. The sun was steadily climbing and was now high enough to light up the sea causing the horizon to sparkle. Lauren looked at her watch, 8:00 am, perfect time for breakfast. A robot trundled down the aisle peddling food. Lauren purchased a liquid meal from the robot and went back to reading, sipping occasionally from the meal bottle.

* * *

Lauren’s focus was interrupted by an announcement over the PA system. “We are now arriving at: The Denavita City Travel Nexus. We are now arriving at: The Denavita City Travel Nexus. Doors will open on the left side. Doors will open…”

Lauren took a moment to stretch, the muscles in her neck had become tight from reading without moving for so long. She rubbed her eyes which felt tired from scanning back and forth across her screen. Lauren had tried to preread for the entire train ride but was forced to switch to normal reading for more than half of the ride as she found the exercise exhausting.

She put away her laptop and took herself and her bag to the nearest door.

The Denavita City Travel Nexus iss technically a hub that connects all the forms of planet-bound transport with the space elevator. Around the central building that contains the anchor for the space elevator, six other buildings are arranged that connect to it: the intercity passenger rail station, the cargo rail station, the airport, the seaport, the spaceport, and the local transit hub.

However it is much more than a center of transportation. To Denavitans, the Nexus is the heart of the city, everything that goes on in Denavita City is somehow related to the Nexus. As Lauren made her way out of the railway branch of the hub, more and more of the Nexus’s functions revealed themselves. Walking through a glass walkway, Lauren looked down to see port workers and robots in brightly colored vests directing the flow of shipping containers, passing them through scanners, and periodically conducting inspections. Looking to her left, Lauren saw an Arcturan midfreighter taking off from the spaceport, the white, orange, and blue stripe on its side indicating that it was a level 1 express goods freighter, hence why it opted to land on the planet’s surface rather than dock at the low-orbit station. To her right, Lauren saw a fleet of busses passing through the local transit hub, each bus an island in a sea of people. Above the bus bays, several monorail lines converged on the hub.

“Lauren... Lauren!”

Lauren glanced behind her to find Ashley running up to her.

“Oh my god, what happened to your hair?” asked Lauren, waving her hand around where Ashley’s two ponytails used to be.

“Oh right, the hair. I had to cut it. It couldn’t fit under the combat helmet when I went to the firing range so I had to get it cut at Personnel Services last night,” said Ashley.

“Shame, it looked so nice,” said Lauren. Ashley grinned.

“Anyway, I knew we had to be on the same train but who thought we would be at opposite ends?” said Ashley.

“I was wondering where you were, I thought you might have gotten an earlier train,” said Lauren.

“Pshh, earlier than 5:30? Now that is just too early,” said Ashley, “it’s 10:28, we should get a move on.”

“But our elevator doesn’t leave until 11,” said Lauren.

“Yes, but we’re in an early boarding group, so we’d best get there early.”

Ashley and Lauren continued walking through the walkway until they reached the central chamber of the Nexus. At the center, six house-sized tubes passed through the ceiling and into the floor. Surrounding the tubes was a ring of security checkpoints. Each station used a full suite of electric and wielding scanners to screen people and luggage going both in and out for weapons but more importantly for potentially invasive species. Surrounding the security ring was another ring of check-in and customs stations. The chamber was spit into two floors, one for inbound and the other for outbound traffic, nonetheless, thousands of people streamed through the level that Lauren could see. Peacekeeper robots patrolled different areas in pairs. Multiple voices echoed over different intercoms directing travellers to follow these lines or those lines in an effort to make the flow of people more orderly.

After much weaving through crowds, almost losing each other twice, and going through security, Ashley and Lauren finally arrived at elevator dock 09 just in time for their boarding group to be called. When stepping onto the elevator, Lauren looked down through the space between the platform and the elevator car to see dock workers loading containers onto the lower half of the elevator car. Ashley and Lauren walked up a few flights of stairs to the top level of the elevator car and took their seats. The interior of the elevator was decorated with bright colors intended to contrast with the darkness of space that it would pass through. Shuffling and clicking could be heard as passengers stowed their luggage in the under-seat compartments and buckled in. The seats were arranged radially in typical fashion with the outermost ring facing the windows. However, the seats were staggered such that Lauren and Ashley could see the windows from their middle ring seats despite the elevator car being fully booked. A few moments later a voice came over the intercom, “Seal airlocks, crew standby for track engagement.”

The doors hissed shut and the whole elevator car started moving with a slight jolt as it crawled along the station’s tracks.

“Crew standby for ascension.”

The elevator car aligned itself with the bottom of one of the six elevator shafts. Cogs from the car engaged with three racks on the sides of the shaft and the car slowly ascended, picking up speed in the vacuum of the elevator shaft. The car continued to rise and the opaque walls of the Nexus fell away revealing an aerial view of the city.

The intercom came on again, “standby for electromagnetic engagement.”

The cogs disengaged from their tracks and the car started accelerating rapidly, propelled by the electromagnetic coils in the elevator shaft walls. The car passed through the cloud layer in an instant and the sky gradually changed from a light sky blue to a deeper navy.

“It sure is pretty up here,” remarked Ashley.

“Sure is,” said Lauren, “you know what I think we should do now?”

“Continue reading?” said Ashley.

“Yup,” said Lauren. They both took their laptops out of their bags. “How much have you read?” asked Lauren.

“Let’s see…” Ashley looked at the ceiling, “the extended mission description, the Jezebel system travel guide, and, half a section of Morgan’s notes. How about you?”

“I have also read the extended mission description and, like, one chapter of the travel guide. I looked at Morgan’s notes, does that count? Oh and I’ve also been reading a document made by my friend that he thinks might explain how the radar system works,” said Lauren, “you read a lot, did you preread all of it?”

“About 90% of it. I know what you’re thinking. Prereading becomes less draining the more you do it so just take your time and don’t push yourself,” said Ashley, “okay, I am actually starving, I’m going to go to the cafe. Wanna come?”

Lauren laughed, “sure, why not?” she closed her laptop and put it back in her bag, Ashley did the same.

Two and a half hours after lunch, Ashley and Lauren were still reading documents. The intercom turned on: “Crew prepare for final deceleration.”

Lauren temporarily felt a little lighter as the car decelerated more aggressively than it had starting at the halfway point. The windows went dark as the elevator car entered the bottom of the Denavita Space Station. After a series of vague motions as the elevator car was routed through the bowels of the station, Lauren and Ashley were looking at the receiving bay of the space station.

The two Archival Officers exited the elevator bay and found themselves in concourse 1F. The space station was in the rough shape of a stout hexagonal prism. Each side of the prism had its own concourse labeled A through F. The space station was made up of 4 levels total: level 0 was shared docking and facilities for station maintenance craft and small cargo ships carrying level 2 express goods such as food and packages, level 1 serviced passenger ships, level 2 was dedicated to cargo freighters, and level 3 was reserved for military vessels. The inner wall of the concourse was made up of shops and elevator unloading stations while the outer wall was made up of shops, wide windows, and entrances to piers that radiated from the space station like spokes on a wheel. Between the two walls was a thoroughfare with a short hedge creating two lanes of foot traffic. Although there were many people in the space station, the atmosphere was more leisurely as spacecraft stayed docked with the station for a while giving passengers plenty of time to board at their own pace. Lauren looked at her watch.

“We don’t need to be at the staging area for almost an hour,” said Lauren, “what do you feel like doing?”

“Let’s go to a cafe!” said Ashley with a glint in her eye, “this way, I have a specific one in mind.” Ashley took off, almost running into a passerby. “I’m so sorry!” she said, barely stopping.

Spaceports, being interplanetary in nature, are one of the few places the average person (of a developed planet) can get a chance to visit businesses that otherwise only exist on some faraway planet. The Aspesi Cafe was one such shop. Ashley was still describing it to Lauren by the time they made their way to the multi-leveled shop in concourse 3D.

“Yeah, and I’d always go to the one in the spaceport around Kairexa every time my big sister went back to Mendovica for university. My mom was like, ‘oh Ashley, you’re such a good sister, taking Tima—’ my sister's name is Tima, ‘—taking Tima to the spaceport everytime.’ Don’t get me wrong, I love my big sister, but being able to get the faerie-bean bahulu made the four hour elevator ride much more tolerable.” Ashley paused to reminisce, then her expression became serious, “they’re so bad for you by the way.”

Lauren stretched her arms now that they weren’t constrained by the space elevator seats. “It must be pretty good if it was worth a space elevator ride. Is this the place?” asked Lauren.

They were standing outside a quaint, two-story cafe which appeared small relative to the high ceiling of the concourse. The floor was tessellated with various jewel tone flagstones, potted plants hung from the ceiling, the tables were made from flemish glass supported by wrought iron, and the counter was made of a dark stained wood save for the refrigerated display case which contained an enticing array of pastries. The smell of roasted coffee and nuts issued from the cafe.

“It is! Oh my god, I’m gonna get it anyways, do you want to split an order?” said Ashley, already walking towards the counter.

“Sounds good to me, just as long as it doesn’t put me to sleep,” said Lauren.

“What?” said Ashley, intrigued, “sounds like you have a story to tell.”

Ashley ordered at the counter, then the two found a table on the second level. They parked their suitcases next to the table and seated themselves in the wrought iron chairs. Lauren looked around, the cafe was a mix of people either starry eyed and excited about the journeys they were about to go on, and those exhausted from travelling halfway across the galaxy, unable to sleep due to the ship’s vibrations, and were either sleeping with their faces on the table or staring into space with soulless eyes.

“Unrelated to my story: we should buy some space sleep aid after this,” said Lauren.

“Good idea,” said Ashley, “but do go on with your story.”

“Ah yes,” said Lauren, “what happened was my friend and I—”

“Is this Neil?” asked Ashley.

“Yes it is,” said Lauren, impressed since she was sure that she almost always never referred to him by name. “Neil and I went to this cafe in Materia that had a similar style to this place, not quite as antique, that specialized in non caffeinated drinks.”

“Like what?” said Ashley.

“Well I got this drink called Melontonin because I like melon, but as you might be able to guess from the name, it put me to sleep after a while.”

“It had the sleep hormone melatonin in it?”

“Exactly.”

“So this cafe’s thing is about helping people sleep?” guessed Ashley.

A Yuri robot drove up to their table and placed a pair of bundled napkins and a plate of star-shaped pastries on their table, extending its spine fully to make up for its short wagon-like lower body. The thick rim of their table changed from being a black and white stripe to solid green. With a whisper, it drove away and into a dumbwaiter to return to the ground floor.

“That was definitely the goal of that drink,” said Lauren handing a bundle to Ashley, “but the rest of the menu was just things that wouldn’t keep you up.”

“Sounds like a nice place to work late,” said Ashley, “how did you get home?”

“Neil told me he tried to order a strong coffee for me but since they don’t sell coffee, he had to wander the streets for a bit until he could find some vending machine coffee.”

“What a good friend,” said Ashley, “I feel like Jethro would just leave and say something like, ‘Sanmachi’s such a safe city, the worst that could happen is you wake up with neck pain.’” She took a bite from one of the pastries. “This is everything I wanted it to be,” she said with relish, “you should try one!”

Lauren picked up one of the pastries from the plate and went to take a bite from it. Before she even put it into her mouth, the complex aroma caused her mouth to water like a Pavlovian dog. When she did bite into it she was struck by the unique but balanced flavor profile. At the same time, her adult sensibilities told her that what she was eating was incredibly indulgent and to be enjoyed sparingly.

“Wow,” said Lauren after finishing her bite.

“I know right?” said Ashley, proud to have introduced such a sublime dish to someone. “It’s quite a funny dish, actually,” she said, “the faerie bean is normally very bitter but also very healthy. But by combining it with a lot of sugar, it is robbed of both of these qualities.”

“I’m guessing it takes a lot of sugar to allow the underlying flavor to shine?” ventured Lauren.

“You don’t want to know,” said Ashley, “I looked it up one time and let’s just say that it’s a once a month sort of deal.”

“That actually reminds me of the citra-melon cake we had a while back at Miguel’s house,” said Lauren, “I think I alluded to this, but I’ve had raw citra-melon juice and I think that barely counts as edible.”

“Judging by that machine Miguel and Jethro were playing with, I’d say it took more than a few cups of sugar to make that juice palatable,” said Ashley, “what do you even do with raw citra-melon juice anyways?”

“When I had it, it was presented as a palate cleanser,” said Lauren.

“Where was this?”

“At Palace Amezial.”

“Isn’t that the supposedly authentic Hyperian restaurant that opened in Markova a while back?”

“That’s the one. And it is the real deal according to my friend from Hyperion.”

“I love purian cuisine,” said Ashley, taking another pastry, “it’s so varied compared to youmen food. Although having said that, I guess I can’t say that I love all purian food because I haven’t tried that much of it.”

“Is there a specific reason why the number of youmen dishes is so small relative to human and purian?”

“We used to have more dishes, many more,” said Ashley, “but a long time ago, at our ‘Turning Point’ it’s called, we consolidated the number of dishes so that the dishes one cooked was something all youmen had in common with each other.”

“Turning Point?” asked Lauren.

“It was a lot of things but most significantly it was the last time we ever fought amongst ourselves,” said Ashley, “you should read about it after we’re done with this mission.”

“I actually have another question about youmen food I was hoping you could answer.”

“Of course.”

“Let me give some context first,” said Lauren, finishing her bite, “when I was going to college on Plei, my friends and I would sometimes go to restaurants with my friends. And being in the capital, we had the option to go to youmen and purian restaurants which we did a lot because the food was especially delicious at those places. However, when I came to Sanmachi, I then had the option of having more authentic youmen and purian food. But whereas the purian food turned out to be much better, the youmen food—” Lauren thought about how to phrase what she was about to say politely, “—was, well, underwhelming.”

Ashley started giggling which then evolved into laughter. Lauren hoped that this meant that what she said was well received.

“I’m sorry,” said Ashley, collecting herself, “it’s just that’s essentially what all youmen children say. You see, we have two sets of dishes in youmen cuisine: daily dishes, and occasion dishes. Daily dishes are more balanced and are more focused on their nutritional value rather than their flavor while occasion dishes are made for days of holidays and special occasions and have the opposite focus however they are the ones that get exported. Children always say things like, ‘why can’t we have new year’s food everyday?’ I mean, you don’t have cake everyday right?”

“I see what you’re saying,” said Lauren, “I’m just surprised that it works in practice. I mean, what’s to stop a restaurant from serving only occasion dishes?”

“Not enough people would go to them,” answered Ashley matter of factly, “occasion dishes are always made at home.”

“What if you’re not good at cooking?” asked Lauren.

“There’s always someone in the village that is a good cook,” said Ashley, “Jethro’s occasion dishes are some of the best I’ve had.”

“So I guess it’s a case of ‘you can’t have the highs without the lows?’” said Lauren.

“You could say that,” said Ashley, wiping her mouth. Over the course of their conversation, the two made short work of the plate of pastries.

“Alright,” said Lauren, standing up, “to the drug store?”

“Yes,” said Ashley. She tapped an icon of a dirty plate on the table’s surface. The rim of the table changed from green to yellow. By the time the two were down the stairs, the Yuri robot was already cleaning the table.

The two officers made their way through the concourse to a set of elevators with the sign “Military and Authorized Personnel Only” Ashley pressed the PING button on her badge.

“I’ve always wondered what’s at the other end of these elevators,” said Lauren. The two entered the elevator.

Unlike the rest of the spaceport, which separated cargo and passenger traffic, the military level allowed heavy vehicles and pedestrians to share the same pathways, a decision that was only possible due to their disciplined coordination.

Technically Lauren and Ashley were also taught how to navigate in mixed traffic during their basic training, but they found the real thing to be more intimidating. The concourse they were in was currently servicing two ships: a battleship and the frigate that was going to take them to the Jezebel system. Servicing these two ships required a staggering amount of cargo and personnel. Heavy trucks ferried an endless stream of containers from the elevator bays to the ship loader, a machine that shunted the containers through the loading tunnel, connecting the ship to the station, into the cargo hold of the ship in a tightly packed pattern. The interior of the concourse was white and unadorned save for the brightly colored lines on the ground that dictated where different types of traffic could go.

“We need to get to dock 2,” said Ashley, pointing at the orange number 2 that was next to the loading tunnel on the opposite side of the concourse.

The two of them skirted around the activity in the concourse, hugging the wall until they came across a set of orange lines being trafficked by a mix of vehicles and soldiers. Across the lines was the staging area for dock 2. Lauren waited until for the first break in the traffic then dashed across the lines, eliciting a honk from a truck. She turned around and watched Ashley who waited for a longer gap in the stream of vehicles before crossing.

At the dock they found a purian man in Archival Officer uniform, slightly older than Miguel, seated on a pallet of flight cases reading a smart book. He closed his book and got up as they approached.

“You must be the fringe systems expert,” said Lauren, extending her hand.

“Yes, I am Atid Bledsoe,” he said shaking her hand, “and you two are the first colonization era technology experts, I presume?”

“That’s us, I’m Ashley Tsukishima,” said Ashley, shaking his hand.

“And I am Lauren Kim.”

“I must confess, I didn’t even know that was a field of study let alone that we had a Knowledge Corps unit dedicated to it,” said Atid, scratching the top of his head behind his ear, “I’m from the fringe division of the Delphi Group by the way.”

Ashley and Lauren looked at each other. “Wow, so did you help predict last year’s Primary Parliament member elections?” asked Lauren.

Atid laughed, “Hah, everyone asks about those. We had automated that stunt shortly before I joined so nowadays we just transfer over a few years worth of news articles and hit a button. Of course you can’t tell non-officers that, Archivist’s honor.”

Ashley and Lauren nodded. “Do you know when we can get on that thing?” asked Lauren, pointing through the window at the frigate.

“No idea,” said Atid, “they’ve already loaded dozens of containers as well as a few oversized vehicle containers so I imagine our turn is coming up.”

Being the largest Astratum ship that can land on a planet and defend itself, frigates play the special role of delivering equipment, supplies, and personnel to hostile areas.

“Have the soldiers already boarded?” asked Lauren.

“No soldiers on this one,” said Atid, “or rather not many. This was on my recommendation actually. All of the reinforcements are coming on a cruiser from a human system so as not to give fuel to the rebellion’s species-based propaganda. The usual ‘Intersyst is run by youmen,’ ‘they don’t actually care about us humans,’ I think it’s about time they refreshed their rhetoric if you ask me. In any case, it wouldn’t look good if Intersyst sent a bunch of youmen soldiers.” Atid glanced at Ashley. “Or purians for that matter,” he quickly added.

On a biological level, youmen are significantly more altruistic and sympathetic than the other two species. Their focus on success at a group level and willingness to make personal sacrifices have allowed them to prosper at a galactic level while the other civilizations experience ups and downs. Despite their friendliness to the other species, their constant success has made many members of the other species suspicious or even mistrustful of them.

“I can’t wait to lie down,” said Lauren, changing the subject, “I was told that frigates have couches.”

“You guys do look like you could use a rest,” commented Atid.

“We’ve been travelling for 11 hours,” said Ashley, “how do you do it?”

“I split my travel over the course of two days,” said Atid.

“Why didn’t we do that?” said Ashley, turning to Lauren.

“I wish we did,” said Lauren.

Two soldiers and a few Jordies came up to them.

“We’re going to begin loading the flight cases and boarding the passengers,” said one of the soldiers, “she is going to show you to your quarters.”

The other soldier led them away while the robots began loading up the flight cases onto a hand truck.

* * *