“So....your whole body changes?” Cash said, pointedly. “Like, everything?”
Dick gave him a look of disbelief and shook his head.
“Really? That’s what you’re asking about? Yeah, everything. Even my internal organs change, otherwise my heart might explode from trying to pump blood through a body much larger or smaller than my own.”
By the time we arrived back at the transport, Vomero had filled in the rest of the crew about Dick’s unusual abilities. He witnessed the outcome of the fight from the crowd where he was stationed to place our bets. From the moment we stepped through the hatch, there had been a constant stream of questions. Most of them were about people Dick had been impersonating since we all met.
Cash, however, had more intimate questions on his mind.
“Aren’t you afraid stuff might, you know, not go back to the way it was when you change?” he said.
“If I’m being honest, this human form is one of the more boring ones,” Dick replied, “especially in that regard. I’ve got way more forms that I sometimes wish would get stuck. In fact, there’s a couple forms that I use all the time, like the Centuri, and if I concentrate hard enough, I can pick specific parts of my bod--”
“Can we get back on track please?” I interrupted, loudly.
I didn’t need thoughts of Dick’s morphing body parts living rent-free in my head.
“Coward,” he teased.
“Pervert,” I countered.
He faked a wounded look for a moment before winking at me, again. I chose to ignore him completely.
Now that we were back in the privacy of our ship, we needed to discuss Owen’s counter offer and the mission details.
Although privacy seemed like a relative term at the moment. Apparently, we had inadvertently gotten involved with the kind of players who knew things nobody should. Now that I thought about it, though, “inadvertent” also seemed like the wrong word. I doubted people who could practically read minds left anything to chance, and I was starting to feel like a pawn in someone else’s game of chess.
The only comforting thought was that these mysterious benefactors didn’t seem infallible. They had underestimated us once when they made their initial offer, so perhaps we could catch them unawares again.
Gathering everyone into the lounge seating area of the commons room, I handed the data disc to Vomero who placed it on an accent table in the center of the lounge area meant to hold people’s drinks.
“Ready?” he asked. “Remember to pay close attention because we only get to see this once.”
He pressed a finger into the top of the disc. A display of slowly scrolling text appeared in the air above it and an accompanying voice readout began to play.
“The most important relic on Kalo-Mahoi is the Drowned Diadem. Whoever wears it controls the powerful ocean spirit, Acheron. Nobody knows how the Drowned Diadem or Spirit of Acheron came into existence, but it was their appearance that brought the various independent towns and provinces of the Syreni people under the rule of a single monarch who possessed the crown.
“Under the regent’s direction, Lord Acheron became the champion protector of the Syreni people. Fearsome domestic leviathans and ambitious outworld invaders alike fell under his might. As a result, the regent decreed that Lord Acheron could best protect the Syreni people in the deepest portions of the ocean, and so they lived exclusively in the deep oceans for centuries.
“Overtime, however, some Syreni grew restless confined in the deep-water trenches. They pushed toward the shallows and even coveted a life above water, though no land existed above the planet’s ocean surface at the time.
“Nearly three thousand years ago, that changed with the arrival of a powerful being who crash-landed on Kalo-Mahoi by accident. Moved by the kindness of shallow dwellers who offered help in a time of need, this advanced being, known only as Maluna, used a powerful artifact to raise parts of the undersea mountain ranges into the sky before departing the planet.
“As expected, many of the more discontent shallow dwellers worshiped Maluna as a deity and referred to themselves no longer as Syreni, but as Malunites. They desired to venture to these sky islands and establish cities and states independent of the Syreni monarchy. Of course, the Syreni rulers would not allow it, and successive regents suppressed their efforts for hundreds of years.
“Eventually, a civil war engulfed Kalo-Mahoi. It was a bloody conflict that lasted decades. Whole generations of Syreni and Malunites were born, grew and died during the war. Eventually, the aging monarch, King Celedon’s resolve wavered. Despite prodding from his advisors, he had always been unwilling to use Lord Acheron against his own people. Before his death, he signed a peace treaty with the Malunites and granted them independence from Syreni rule.
“For centuries, this was the status quo on Kalo-Mahoi. The Malunites built a thriving culture and independent commonwealth among the sky islands. Eventually, this led to an increase in interplanetary trade that greatly benefited the Syreni economy, as well, which in turn led to peaceful and prosperous trade agreements between the two local governments.
“However, those relations have begun to deteriorate after a more recent discovery that was made sometime in the last few decades. Before leaving the planet, Maluna hid the artifact used to raise the sky islands in a secret location under the ocean, most likely as part of the requirement for the magic used to lift the islands in the first place.
“Malunite and Syreni searched for the cave and eventually located it. However, Queen Lethe decided to use Lord Acheron to seize control of it and use it as leverage for better trade and political power. It is believed that destruction or removal of the artifact would result in the collapse of the sky islands, and Queen Lethe uses this threat to pressure the Malunites into unfavorable economic and political agreements.
“It is this situation that has led to the death and tyranny many of you have witnessed during your short time in Veridi. While your role may not be a vital part of a larger plan to end Queen Lethe’s merciless reign, it is a safeguard to make sure resistance efforts are successful should all else fail.
“You already know that your mission is to smuggle something into a strategically sensitive area. The details of your task are such: you will meet three Malunite operatives in the warehouse location already provided to you. They must be smuggled into the designated area inside the palace hub no later than the time already discussed with you. Once they are delivered, your job is complete, and you can leave immediately. They will carry out the rest of their mission alone.”
Nobody spoke while the recording played, unwilling to risk missing some necessary detail. Once the recording ended, however, a loading icon displayed on the surface of the disc. When it reached 100%, I knew the disc had wiped itself clean. Afterward, it seemed like everyone tried to speak at once.
“Lot of backstory, light on the details,” Ryuuk said.
“I feel the whole purpose was to make us sympathetic to the Malunite’s mission,” Dick observed.
“We could have used a lot more advanced notice for smuggling people into our target area!” Cash complained.
“He’s right,” Vomero added, “An item is one thing, three fully grown people requires completely different preparation.”
“Not that we’ve actually made any preparations,” Matthew added, sheepishly.
“Well, I think we were all hoping not to actually have to do the mission in the first place,” I finally interjected. “But it doesn’t look like that’s going to be an option.”
The fact of the matter was, had Owen not paid us a visit tonight, we most likely would have done exactly what he suspected—took off before anyone was the wiser. Things were a little more complicated, now.
“I don’t see why that can’t still be Plan A,” Cash said. He looked around at everyone else questioningly but found mixed reactions. Most notably, Ryuuk and Vomero avoided his gaze. “What? You’re saying you seriously want to stay and get involved with all this revolution mess?”
“What kinda people would we be to turn our backs when someone needs help?” Ryuuk asked.
“Smart people,” Cash said, “Alive people.”
He turned to Vomero, next.
“You too? You’re buying into all this hero stuff and saving the people from oppression?”
Vomero just shrugged.
“You don’t know me well enough to realize this is exactly the type of thing I tend to get involved with,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what part of the galaxy we’re in.”
Perhaps Owen was right. The Syreni and Malunite people’s long history of oppression seemed to bring both Vomero and Ryuuk on board. Now, there was just Cash and Dick to deal with.
“Owen also had another offer for us,” I said and told them about the different avenues of information he had offered up as examples.
“So, they’re willing to hand me the name and location of that bitch assassin in return for doing this job?” Cash asked, and I could tell his opinion about the mission had changed. “That would definitely be worth more than the credits they tried to throw at us.”
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“Part of Owen’s offer included insight into the events that caused us to crash here, namely the attack and the thing in our cargo bay floor,” I added.
“How do we know we can trust any information they give us?” Matthew asked. “Do we even believe they’ll actually give us the information once we’ve completed the job?”
“That’s a good point, kid,” Dick said. “I doubt Owen or his backers know anything about our cargo, or else, they’d be looking to take it for themselves.”
“Which brings me to another important topic of discussion,” I said. “I know you want to keep this all close to your vest, Dick, but we need answers about what that thing is and how you got involved with stealing it.”
Everyone erupted with questions and accusations at once. They hadn’t been privy to the conversation Dick and I shared in the cage. Vomero wouldn’t have heard us from his spot in the audience.
“Okay!” I said, raising my voice to be heard over everyone’s chatter. “Just to catch you all up: Yes, he knew about the cargo and was trying to steal it for himself. No, he did not sabotage the ship, kill the pilot, or arrange for us to be attacked. At least, that’s his story, and, frankly, I believe him.”
Everyone quieted for a moment as they thought about the implications of this revelation.
“How were you planning to steal it?” Vomero finally asked, breaking the silence. “We haven’t been able to figure out how to remove it from the ship safely. Were you planning to just steal the ship?”
Dick gave a long sigh and settled down in a chair. He took a swig of the whiskey he was holding before speaking.
“I didn’t need to steal it completely,” he said. “And I actually had no idea what I was looking for until you guys carved out the floor.”
“You said someone you loved was depending on you to return,” I said. “Were you getting it for them?”
“In a way,” he said. “A year ago, my brother was diagnosed with a terminal genetic disease. We tried everything, medical treatments, magical healing. None of it worked. At best, it just helped ease the pain. He’s just a kid, supposed to have his whole life ahead of him.”
The old man, who had been silently observing from the bar and nursing his own drink, wandered over and placed a comforting hand on Dick’s shoulder.
“It’s never easy outliving the people you care about,” he said. Dick just nodded solemnly.
“It was ironic, really,” Dick said. “He’s a changeling like me. He can alter his form down to the DNA like any of us. But the disease just wouldn’t let go. We can’t stay in a form forever, and every time he would transform back, the disease had progressed even faster. It’s like the thing that makes us who we are was killing him.”
“And you think this mysterious cargo might save him?” I asked. It was a logical conclusion since he said he didn’t have to steal the cargo.
Dick nodded, then stood to retrieve his travel pack from one of the nearby storage compartments. He took a data tablet out of if and pulled up something on the screen. Handing it to me, he continued his story.
“A month ago, someone left me this,” he said, simply.
I looked over the document he had stored on his tablet.
“This looks like some type of lab report,” I said, scanning the document. “It details experiments researchers were completing on something they called ‘the entity.’ Organic-based of unknown origin, nearly unmeasurable levels of bio-energy output. Ohhh....”
I paused as I read a passage that had been circled on the lab report. This was what prompted Dick to steal it.
“There were two. The first one revived several dead animal test subjects. Unfortunately, the report says, it didn’t survive the trauma of premature birth?,” I read, confused. “You know it would have been helpful if whoever gave you this document included the whole thing or at least a non-redacted version. This is just bits and pieces.”
“It was enough pieces for me,” he said. “At the bottom of the report, there’s a status log. The second entity was being prepped for transfer to another facility. This transport, date and time.”
“That’s how you knew where to find it but not what you were looking for,” Cash stated.
“Well at least that solves the question of whether it’s biological, as well as why it’s in this containment system,” Vomero said. “Skye and I were thinking it was meant to keep the entity in stasis, but it seems like it’s doing exactly what it appears to be doing, keeping it alive until it can be...born, I guess?”
Vomero jumped up and practically ran to the cargo bay without another word. We all looked at each other in confusion, then decided to follow. We found him squatting over the hole in the floor, examining the contraption.
“The only problem it doesn’t solve is the one we’ve been working on the whole time,” he said as we joined him next to the hole. “How do we remove it without killing it?”
“I don’t need to take it, and I don’t even need it to survive,” Dick said, and everyone turned to stare at him. “If I can absorb some of its DNA, there’s a possibility I can use it to transform into whatever it is.”
“And heal your brother,” I finished for him. “And if you can’t? What if you can transform but can’t do whatever the first one did to heal those lab animals? You only copy abilities that are racial, right? Genetic. What if the healing part is magical or, hell, something else entirely? It dies before you can get it back to your brother. Not to mention, you’ll be killing something that may be the last of its kind.”
“My brother is one of a kind,” Dick said, a sharp edge creeping into his tone. “I care about saving him. It’s unfortunate, but I’m not going to wait on this thing to ‘birth’ or whatever and hope he’s still alive when that happens. I may sound like an ass, but I choose my brother over whatever this is.”
As he finished speaking, the tiny containment chamber in the center of the apparatus pulsed weakly with blue light. Every eye in the room locked on to the container’s frosted glass front.
“See,” Vomero said, whispering for some reason. “I told you it does that sometimes. Though it’s usually orange.”
A second later, the tube pulsed again. In unison, everyone took a quick step back from the hole. This time, the pulse was green and seemed stronger and longer than the first.
“Do you think it...heard us?” Ryuuk asked, continuing the whisper trend.
“Don’t be stupi—” Cash started to say but was cut off as the chamber began pulsing continuously.
The pulsing rotated through the full spectrum of visible colors, growing more frequent and robust with each one. The pulsing spread from the center chamber throughout the various tubes and parts of the support apparatus. The effect made all of the portions of the floor we had ripped up appear to be pulsing all around us.
“What are the chances that this thing just explodes,” I asked, moving as close to the wall near the loading dock door as I could manage.
The others followed suit, moving toward the exits and avoiding the exposed openings in the floor. The pulsing steadily picked up tempo until it was throbbing with the unnerving staccato that usually precluded something blowing up.
“I think we should uhhh...” Vomero said, making a motion with his hand that clearly translated to “get the hell out of here.“
“Yep,” Matthew squeaked and bolted for the door to the hallway. Everyone ese followed suit.
Dick and I were on the opposite side of the cargo bay near the loading dock side. He pushed the open button, and the cargo door started to slowly lower. By this time, the pulsing had become a steady stream of colors accompanied by a constant whir of noise.
As soon as the cargo door was low enough for us to jump out, Dick and I launched ourselves out onto the dock, landing in a heap as we each covered our heads and braced for an explosion.
It never came. In fact, the lights and noise died as suddenly as they began. We lay on the dock for a few minutes, letting the adrenaline fade and regaining our composure.
Taking a deep breath, Dick stood then helped me to my feet. We shared a skeptical look before stepping cautiously back onto the now lowered loading platform. Vomero and the others were shuffling back through the hallway door, being equally cautious and curious.
Slowly, we gathered closer to the center hole that housed the containment chamber. A puff of mist and condensation, like a fog, wafted up from the floor. It smelled clinical, but also kind of refreshing. When the fog cleared, I saw the front glass panels of the containment unit were open.
Inside sat a small orb. It was black and smooth like obsidian but shimmered with a faint iridescent light that seemed to come from the inside. The seven of us exchanged questioning glances.
“Should we touch it?” Ryuuk asked.
“Someone definitely should,” Vomero added. “We can’t just leave it sitting there.”
“No way in hell I’m touching that thing,” Cash said.
“That’s what she said,” Dick added, almost as if he couldn’t help himself.
I looked at him. He met my gaze, and I gave a little head bob toward the orb, indicating he should try to pick it up first.
“What? Me?” he said.
“I mean, you’ve got to touch it eventually anyway, right?” I said. “No time like the present.”
Looking around, his shoulders drooped as everyone nodded agreement.
“Fine. I guess you have a point,” he said, crouching down by the orb. “I’m not going to save my brother by not touching it, I suppose. Plus, what if one of you idiots break it?”
Having made up his mind, Dick reached down and grasped the orb gently. It pulsed, startling him into almost dropping it. A collective gasp could be heard and several of us reached like we would catch it. Dick glared up at us and stood, holding it firmly in his cupped hands.
The orb slowly began to glow with a faint yellow light. It wasn’t the chaotic pulse of before, more like the contented glow of a warm hearth.
“Can you, umm...I don’t know what you call it...do your DNA thing on it?” I asked.
“Gross,” Matthew said, and Vomero rolled his eyes at the younger man.
“No,” Dick said. “The outside shell is like a rock. It doesn’t feel biological, and if it is, I can’t detect any DNA to absorb.”
“Maybe you'd have to crack it open to get at the DNA part?” Cash guessed. “I can usually scan things with my eye, like the pilot’s body. But I can’t see past that outer shell.”
“Maybe breaking it open is what the researchers tried,” Vomero said. “Maybe that’s what they called ‘premature birth’ in the report.”
“So, go ahead,” I said to Dick. “Isn’t that what you said you wanted to do? Get at the DNA at all cost? None of us even want to touch it, so I doubt any of us would try to stop you.”
I watched a bevy of emotions play out on Dick’s face as he stared at the orb—indecision, reluctance, frustration, sadness, and, finally, resignation.
I had initially judged Dick as a womanizing jackass who only cared about himself. Admittedly, I had chosen to characterize him that way to circumvent my attraction to him. It grew harder to keep that image of him in my mind, however, the more I had gotten to know him. I’d felt that, despite his desperation to save his brother, he wouldn’t be willing to end an innocent life, possibly the last of its kind, to do so.
“It’s like you said,” Dick finally spoke, sighing heavily. “There’s no guarantee it would work. Plus...I can’t see my brother making a decision like that. Cracking open this thing and killing it on the off chance it could save him. And I know if I did, he’d never look at me the same, whether I could save him or not.”
“So, what? You gon’ just hold on to it an’ hatch it like a mother hen?” Ryuuk asked.
“You can’t take it to him right now, anyway,” Vomero pointed out. “We still have to get out of this mess before we can get back to our lives in the Pact Worlds.”
“True,” I said, smiling genuinely at Dick. “Besides, you heard Owen. If all goes well and his bosses aren’t total asses, they might be able to give us some info on what that is and how to hatch it, or whatever.”
“I’d rethink asking any of them about this thing,” Cash said. “Given its potential, plus the fact that it’s still here and they haven’t tried to take it from us, tells me they don’t know about it. Who’s to say if they did find out that they don’t just kill us all and take it by force.”
“I’m not going to let that happen,” Dick said, resolutely. “I’ll keep it safe even if I have to tear this place down to do it.”
At his words, the orb glowed brighter in his hand. Then, to my amazement and shock, the object that seemed made of hard obsidian seemed to dissolve into his hand and disappear inside him. A faint glow lingered under his skin where it once sat before fading completely.
“Well...that seems problematic,” Vomero said.
Ryuuk nodded and scratched his chin like a professor imparting great wisdom to his students.
“Jus’ as I thawt, it can definitely hear us.”