"Who's coming for us and why do you want to stop her?" Fiolas asked. He had never seen Andromeda look so worried.
She looked straight past him and looked at Keisha, "It's the fifth iteration. They've caught up to us somehow. I don't know how and I don't know why. She's somehow found us here and I think she's looking for Henear."
Keisha walked towards her, "Calm down Anj, we can figure this out. How do you know she's found us? Did she contact you?"
"She interrupted my dream. I have this lovely dream with this man with dark hair, and we go walking in a garden. Andromeda the fifth waltzed right up to us and told me she was coming. She had blocked me somehow too. In previous loops, we were able to transfer our memories every time another iteration appeared. This time there was no syncing, no transfer of information. Nothing." The lights flickered in the room and Andromeda flickered in and out.
"She also said they captured Keisha and Zayd all those years ago and they're working for her now." Her voice was reaching panic levels and the lights continued flickering.
"Andromeda," Carter stood up, "I'm going to go to your room and check on you. It seems like something is happening to the ship again. I'll meet you there with Zayd." Andromeda nodded affirmative and clicked off. The lights immediately returned to normal.
"It's happening more frequently." Carter pointed at the lights, "I've been getting reports of short bursts and flickers from all over the ship and they've been ramping up. I have a theory they're all related to Andromeda."
Fiolas looked up at his friend, "What makes you say that?"
"I can't confirm every case, but there have been several instances when Andromeda was having a strong feeling and the flickers happened. The first one was when the Mina's were diagnosed. The second time was when Keisha got hurt. As soon as the doctor typed in what happened the whole ship had a flicker." Carter put his hands on his hips and shook his head.
"I'm going to bring in Zayd on this, he knows the Pytheas better than anyone else. If something is going on, he'll know how to help." He said to Keisha.
"Good idea, let me know what you find out." Keisha replied. Carter strode out of the room and Keisha and Fiolas were left alone.
"What should we do if she's right?" Fiolas asked.
"She's always right Fiolas. That's what worries me."
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Binard couldn’t believe it, he was getting yelled at by the Andrew Torvalds. He knew getting a job at the governor’s office was totally going to be worth it. This guy was such a legend where Binard grew up he even had a poster of him. Maybe he could get him to sign it?
“Excuse me? Are you even listening to me kid?” Mr. Torvalds was talking to him. He needed to listen. Binard stood up a little bit straighter next to his desk. Binard didn't have an office per se, but as the Governor's personal assistant his desk sat in the foyer of the Saltec University right outside the door to the Governor's office. Most people had appointments, but Andrew Torvalds had just walked on in and demanded to see the Governor.
“I’m sorry Mr. Torvalds, could you say that one more time?” Before he could apologize anymore Governor Gelbert slammed open his office door.
“Binard! What is going on out here?” The old man was losing his hair but Binard was probably one of the only people tall enough to really see it.
“Sorry sir, Mr. Torvalds is here to see you, sir.” Binard tried to look small but failed miserably as he could touch the ceiling just by raising his hand.
“Well then, let him in. Don’t let him keep having a tantrum out here in the lobby.” Governor Gelbert walked back inside. Mr. Torvalds gave a harrumph at him as he walked past him. “Why don’t you come in too Binard, I think this may involve you.” Binard swallowed hard and pushed his red curls out of his eyes. He ducked under the door and closed it behind him.
The two powerhouses stared at each other in the dimly lit office. Governor Gelbert was an old softy and had various couches strewn about his large office. Bookshelves lined the walls along with pictures of the previous governor's Saltec had.
Mr. Torvalds broke the silence. “Governor, I requested those finance reports on Derensay’s exports a week ago. I used to be able to request a report and I would have it within the day. What’s in this report that you don’t want me to see?”
This is amazing. I get to see the great Mr. Torvalds at work on a big expose. Strange he couldn’t get his report though. He should have access to all of that. Mr. Torvalds face softened as he looked at Governor Gelbert and then at Binard.
“What do I not know?” he asked.
Governor Gelbert motioned to Binard, “Well sir, you should have access to that report through your personal log-in to Henear’s online portal.” Mr. Torvalds looked at him like he had spoken in another language. “You should be able to access it from your computer sir.” His two superiors shifted in their seats and looked at the floor for a bit before anyone said anything. “Would you like me to show you how sir?”
“Yes please.” Mr. Torvalds said it in almost a whisper. “Shreya, Ms. Perez, my previous assistant, would always print out the reports for me including reports she thought I would find interesting.”
“How long has she been gone Tor?” asked Governor Gelbert matching Mr. Torvalds softened tone and sat on the edge of his heavy desk closest to Mr. Torvalds.
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“Two weeks.” He closed his eyes and rubbed the temples on his head. “I always loved having Shreya around, but with her gone…” his voice faltered and he sunk his head into his hands.
“Loved having her around, or loved her?” Governor Gelbert looked at Mr. Torvalds and raised his eyebrows. The look on Mr. Torvalds face was all the answer he needed.
“Tor, you need a new assistant. You are a wonderful writer and I enjoy sharing the table at the top of the Floating Eye, but you are fairly worthless at any mundane task. When you hired Shreya on we all saw a substantial increase in not just your productivity but in the way you dressed, the way you worked, even the way you walked. We all saw your affinity for her, and I can’t replace how lovely she was. I can, however, give you a new assistant.”
At this, the governor nodded towards Binard. “Binard has been my assistant for the past 6 months and has proven himself to be extremely adequate. He is from Wilea and has expressed his interest in repaying a debt to you. He is clearly not as lovely to look at as Shreya, but few are. He can help you in whatever this new quest is you’ve drummed up for yourself.”
He tapped his desk nervously, “Tor, I see the writing on the wall. Things must change and I believe you are that catalyst. Binard will be a faithful assistant to you, he has my full trust. Once you hear his story, I've no doubt you will fully trust him as well. My office will be glad to assist you in any other matter you require.”
Tor glanced over Binard, he was a tall scrawny kid with red hair and blue eyes. He had freckles on his face and looked only slightly more put together than Tor did himself. The biggest difference was at least Binard had clean clothes on. Tor looked down at his own stained shirt and gave a heavy sigh, “Thank you, Ivan.” He stood and placed his hand on the governor’s shoulder. “I have a feeling I’m going to need all the help I can get.”
Tor looked over at Binard, "When do you think you can start?"
Binard put his hands up, What is happening?
"He can start immediately." Governor Gelbert got up from the side of the desk and sat on his chair, "One favor before you go, Tor?"
"Sure."
"Stop by the linguistics department on your way out? They've been bothering me all week with a request for your skills on a particular problem. The way they harp on about it, you would think they stumbled upon something to save us all." He rolled his eyes and waved them out the door.
“Sir?” Binard’s jaw was agape, “Am I to just leave? What will you do? Who will be your new assistant?”
“Remember what you told me in your interview?" Governor Gelbert gave him a knowing smile, "I have many people at my disposal Binard. I shall be just fine.” The governor replied.
“Yes sir. Thank you, sir, it’s been an honor.” Binard stood to shake his hand, but the governor turned his chair around to take a call, so he decided to just leave the room.
Mr. Torvalds was waiting for him back out in the foyer.
"So, do you actually want to work for me, or did the governor just give you away for a reason?" Mr. Torvalds asked him.
Binard started putting his personal effects in a box, "I may have mentioned you when I first interviewed for this job." Binard felt his face get warm. "I mentioned that I wanted to get into government because of you."
"You're from Wilea huh?" Mr. Torvalds asked him.
"Yes Mr. Torvalds, sir." Binard stopped and swallowed hard, "You saved my sister by exposing what those bastards in Derensay did to us. You changed what they did and my sister gets to live because of it. So I joined up, maybe one day I'll get to save someone else's sister."
Mr. Torvalds nodded his head a few times and looked up at him and smiled. “One thing kid, never call me Mr. Andrew Torvalds or anything so formal from here on out. Tor only.”
“Yes sir.” Binard grinned, Tor rolled his eyes and they headed down the huge hallways towards the library.
Binard raced to catch up, "Tor, sir, the linguistics department is to the right."
"I know." Tor kept walking at a fast pace.
"Didn't Governor Gelbert say the linguistics department wanted you though?" Binard carried his box and kept looking back towards where the linguistics department was.
"Yes, he did." Tor said. They continued walking. The halls of Saltec University were lined with murals showing all the sector's history. The hall to the library had the largest mural on it and Tor stopped in front of it.
"You know what this is?" Tor asked him.
"Yeah, it's a mural about the founders of Henear." Binard looked at it and shrugged.
"Obviously, what else can you tell me about it?" Tor looked expectant. Binard felt like he was a student being grilled by his teacher for an exam.
Binard turned and figured if he was going to be treated like a student, he'd show Tor what kind of student Binard could be. "OK, over here we have Kline Tempus and Charlotte Rose, they were the founders of Derensay and Saltec respectively. Rumored to have been in a relationship even though they couldn't be more different. Kline Tempus built the Floating Eye and The Estate on Derensay the two nicest buildings on all of Henear. No one knows how he did it. No one even knows how they're still standing. The guy was a genius."
Binard was on a roll now, "Charlotte Rose," he pointed to a beautiful woman with a book in hand, "built up the Saltec University and believed in order for our new colony to survive we would need to be researching and pushing the boundaries. She'd hate to see how much information was lost when Aeolia fell." Tor nodded his head to keep going.
"Here, we have the leader of the Aeolians, Anna Katopodis. History buffs say she was fierce and brilliant. Not much is known about her because she wrote her personal memoirs in an ancient earth language, not the Standard Chronos Language we all still speak.
"Next to her is David Sturletto, he founded the Sturletto Mining Corporation. He took it upon himself to discover all the geological secrets Henear's only landmass has. He didn't really know what he was doing though and it wasn't until Zorjac took over and renamed it that we finally got something useful out of the ground."
"And last, but not least?" Tor asked.
"That's the founder of Wilea, Corvus Leanthal. He was the second-in-command after Anna Katapodis. He lived a simple life and didn't do anything besides just take care of the livestock they brought down." Binard looked at Tor, "What's with the history lesson?"
"The five of them started it all, they told the people there was a ship called the Pytheas that would be checking on us every twenty years and would help us." Tor looked at the mural intently and pointed at something in the sky that Binard had never seen before. It was hidden in the various colored clouds that defined Henear's sky. It was grey and looked like a huge circle with various rings about it.
"What is that?" Binard asked.
"The mythical Pytheas. Tell me Binard, have you ever heard from the Pytheas?" Tor asked.
"No..." Binard felt nervous for some reason.
"Neither have I, and I'm 40. The Pytheas should have checked in at least once in my lifetime." Tor frowned and furrowed his brows. "Remember this, no one is coming to save us. People want to believe that here at the end of it all, the Pytheas will come and save the believers. But that's not happening. If we want this planet to survive, we have to do the work."
"You don't believe in the Pytheas?" Binard asked him.
"Maybe they dropped us off here, but they're gone now. If they know people are dying on the surface without air and they have a way to breathe air on their ship, or whatever, then why aren't they helping?" Tor turned from the mural and started walking towards the library, "I'm going to save this planet Binard. Are you in or out?"