Ray took another sip of his pitch black coffee but his eyes never left the display in front of him. It showed him three windows, side by side. Profiles of three men.
Leonard Hydal, age fifty one. Graduated as an accountant at the age of twenty four. Worked at various companies on different planets. Last entry, the termination of his contract at the Moonlake city central bank on Illia fifteen years ago. After that, no more entries. Until nine months ago, the public Home Employment database started listing him as ‘Senior Administration Officer’ of the City Eight public affairs.
Erramus Khan yielded no records in any available database. Open searches found references to the name as an actor, but even if it were the same person, Khan was likely a stage name of sorts. Ray could only find a single blurry picture of a man who resembled the fortune teller from Atlas IV. His real identity remained unknown.
Finally, Ray Chelsea, Earth Sphere military captain. Deceased. Died at the age of thirty two during the skirmish at Farpoint Delta on the sixth of May 3896.
He clenched his fists upon seeing his own page. A profile picture showed a prouder, more confident looking version of himself. Perhaps a part of him really had died that day. He closed the last window and rearranged the two others to cover the entire screen. While he was surprised to find that a copy of both Earth Sphere and FPA employment databases were available on Home it was still insufficient for him to find anything of value. If there was a connection between these two men and himself, he wasn’t going to find it this way. He needed far more info and a better way to process it.
Ray got up from his chair and picked up his coat laying on the floor next to him. He headed outside into the hallways, down the stairs and to the streets.
The fake skyline above city eight had gone dark and the temperature had dropped to about ten degrees Celsius. Regularly placed lampposts provided ample light. The area was deserted and the sound of Ray’s footsteps stood out against the quietness of the night. Only when he arrived near the rail station did Ray finally spot some other people in the distance, but he paid no attention to them. The automated train lines ran twenty four hours. Central docks were his destination.
Ray sat comfortably on the empty train. Despite it being too dark to see anything he kept looking outside through the window. He could only observe some clusters of lights and as the train moved away from the city these became more and more spread out, until they stopped appearing all together. After a period of complete darkness occasionally a vague green light started blinking in long and slow intervals, revealing some of the surroundings and it became clear the train was passing through a tunnel.
“Central docks entrance Eight. Final stop.” a robotic voice announced. Ray could feel the train slowing down and rose up from his seat. The platform outside looked different from the ones in City Eight that he had gotten used to during the day. While the city employed a monotonous gray stone-like material for all the stations this one had white tiles covering all of the floors and walls. He got out and looked around to locate the exit. No one else had left the train and no one else stood waiting for it on the platform. To his right he spotted a sign with a black upwards pointing arrow and headed that way. As he approached he noticed that there was an escalator behind the corner. “Dock entrance”, a smaller sign indicated.
As the escalator went up the walls transitioned away from the white tiles into metallic plates. Ray arrived in a large open and brightly lit lobby. Despite the vastness of the space it still gave off a cramped feeling, like he had walked into an excessively large shipping container. In front of him stood several rows of self service kiosks grouped up closely together with a lot of empty space surrounding them. To the left he could see a large white counter. He presumed that one would be manned only during the day. In the far back he saw a hallway leading to the left.
Ray walked straight ahead towards the first kiosk in range. Its screen turned on the moment it registered his presence. The interface displayed on screen closely resembled the one used on Earth Sphere stations, which greatly surprised him. He entered and backed out of a few menu items to confirm his suspicion. The kiosk was running bootleg Earth Sphere software. Ray now quickly went through the menus, selecting items before they fully loaded on screen. A small camera eye near the top of the device scanned Ray’s body to validate his identity. A moment later a message of approval was displayed and a small metal coin was dispensed out of a shelf at knee height. Further instructions were provided on the display but Ray walked away with the coin without reading them.
Following the hallway leading left he found that it widened and had a series of heavy metallic lift doors on both sides. Each door was marked with a large blue number. None of the doors had any buttons, however a small pedestal with a display on top stood in the center of the area. “Insert coin” it said, with an arrow pointing downwards. Ray inserted his coin in an opening on the pedestal’s side. The display changed, “Door 5”. As he approached the door, it opened before him. He entered the small lift, large enough for six people at most. The door closed behind him and after a brief delay the lift started it’s descent. Ray leaned against the lift's right wall and looked around but there wasn’t much to see, it was just a small claustrophobic box. On the panel near the door there was but a single orange button that read ‘emergency’. After moving downwards for about fifteen seconds the lift came to halt and the door opened again.
He stepped outside into a vast open space, in front of him he could see the Amy Dee and beyond that he recognized the exit that he had taken when he had first arrived. To both his left and right the docking area reached further than his eyes could see. There was a lot of empty space and Ray guessed that this docking area was not even at half capacity. He paid no further attention to his surroundings, walked up to his ship and ascended the small staircase that led to its entrance. A brief scan and vocal confirmation opened the door for him.
Despite not having spent much time on the ship he still felt a sense of familiarity when he entered. His shoulders dropped a little, he took his hands out of his coat pockets and his walking became more relaxed. Ray headed directly for the bridge where he took place in the central captain’s chair. “Start ship in standby mode.” he said.
A faint bell sound confirmed his command.
“Welcome back.” Amy’s voice greeted him.
Ray just nodded, “I’m gonna need you to do something. Try to connect to the station's network using standard Galaxy net protocols. As far as I understand you should be able to find something that responds to that.”
“Confirmed.” Amy said, “the service identifies itself as Galaxy Net and appears to be compatible though not identical.”
“Good. I want you to launch two search requests. One for Leonard Hydal, you’ll find him in the Home Employment database. And one for Erramus Khan who I couldn’t identify myself. An older man, in his sixties at least, his name is likely to be an alias. Perform an open data analysis to find out if they are connected or have something in common.”
“Request is too vague.” Amy replied.
Ray thought for a moment, “Search for connections between them. Related to fortune-telling, tarot cards or other mysticism.”
“Request is broad but possible. Systems are not optimized for large free-form searches and analysis. This may take up to four hours depending on the available information.”
Ray took a look at the clock on the nearest display, it was two thirty AM. “Right.” he said as he got up from his chair. “I’ll leave you to it. Wake me up at ten.”
“Confirmed. Goodnight.” Amy said.
“Goo-.” Ray instinctively started. “Thanks.”
He preferred the bed in the ship over the one from his apartment. The mattress was firmer, the pillow harder and the blanket thinner. Poorer in quality, but closer to what he had been used to in the military. He found himself wondering if he had made the right choice coming here to Home. If there had been a path that he had missed somewhere among the way. He looked at himself in the mirror and involuntarily started comparing his current self to the profile picture he had seen earlier. Did he really look that different? Had he really changed? There was more energy in his eyes now then there had been the days and weeks before and he knew this wasn’t because of the caffeine. His instincts told him that tomorrow would be an important day. He got into bed and turned off the lights. Despite the anticipation he fell asleep almost instantly.
***
When Ray was woken up the next morning by an annoying music jingle he immediately jumped out of bed. The sound stopped as he did. He quickly got dressed and headed directly to the bridge.
“Good morning.” Amy greeted him. “I’ve made a report on the search reports and analysis for you to read, but I can give you a short summary if you want.”
“Give me the summary.”
“Right.” Amy started. “Disclaimer first, this station stores a partial copy of the Galaxy Net, so doing another search with full access would have yielded more detailed results. Still, I was able to find a connection. All of the sources on this are considered unreliable but I have found multiple reports, blog posts and articles describing a group of people that supposedly possess real supernatural powers. There is never any real evidence to this claim and all of the information is second hand, but multiple unrelated sources tell a similar story.”
Ray, who was still standing listened with great interest, “Tell me about this group.”
“It is referred to as the Seven Sages of the universe, or just the Seven Sages. Members vary by source but both of the names you specified appear multiple times. Though Leonard Hydal used an alias Stefan Brimmison. It is possible that Brimmison is his real name, but there is insufficient data to confirm that. In total there are twelve other names that appear as members of this group, though each source is clear that the group only has seven members. Members of the group are said to have the ability to see into the future. There are a few descriptions of mind reading, the ability to cause hallucinations and to talk to the dead. Despite pages referring to these people as a group there is no indication that any of the members ever met or knew each other. As far as I can tell the grouping was done mostly by occult enthusiasts communities, without them interacting with the people they were describing.”
Ray walked back and forth around the bridge. It was certainly far more information than he would have found himself, but he wondered what good it did for him.
“Full report is available for you to read through. All sources, documents and pages have been sorted in a human readable format.”
Before he could reply, a faint vibration coming from the COM unit distracted Ray’s thoughts. He slightly raised his arm and the unit projected a small screen upwards at eye height.
“Incoming call from Aurora Nightingale [voice only]” it said.
“…Accept call.” Ray said.
“Good morning.” he opened.
“Good morning. I’m at your apartment... but you’re not here?”
Aurora’s voice sounded worried, which in turn alarmed Ray.
“I’m on my ship, what’s wrong?”
“I want to talk.” she replied.
“I can be there in thirty minutes. Or we can just talk like this.” Ray said.
It took her a few seconds to answer, “Can we meet in district 23A? It should be on your way back home when you take the train.”
“Sure…”
“I’ll wait for you at the park there. When you leave the station just go straight ahead, it’ll be on your left. Can’t miss it.”
“Alright, I’ll be on my way.”
“Thanks, I’ll see you there.”
While he welcomed the opportunity to talk to her, something felt off about the way she spoke. With just a few sentences she sounded like a different person from the woman who had guided him around yesterday. Ray was curious to hear what she had to say, he could always read through the rest of Amy’s report at a later time.
“Leave the ship on standby.” he said.
“Acknowledged.” Amy replied.
With that said he made his way back to the central docks train station. Before boarding he confirmed on a map that district 23A was indeed a stop on the way back to his apartment. He was no longer alone on the train ride, but only a handful of people got off at his stop. Ray made his way outside and found himself in an area surrounded by tall apartment buildings. The roads were set up in a grid and as instructed he just started walking straight ahead.
Just like Aurora had told him, there was an open area on the left side of the road where they had landscaped a small park. A shoulder height fence built out of metal bars and a thin railing followed among the pavement and guided him towards a small entry gate. Beyond, a winding gravel path led into the park itself. Bright green fields of grass welcomed him. Further down, near the middle of the park, the path took a sharp turn to the left before vanishing into a dense section of trees. As he followed the road he found himself slowing down a bit to appreciate the peaceful surroundings. It got noticeably darker underneath the trees, the path became slightly narrower and continued on straight for about twenty meters before bending to right where it led to another open area. He spotted Aurora sitting on a wooden bench near the end of the straight part. She was looking at a small patch of flowers on the opposite site of the road.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Thank you for coming.” she greeted Ray as he sat down on the opposite end of the bench.
“You sounded quite worried earlier.”
Aurora straightened her back against the bench’s railing, “This place helps me calm down usually.” she said.
“But not now?”
She sighed, “I’m not sure.”
Ray didn’t reply, he couldn’t think of anything to say and at the same time felt that just giving her some time might be the most appropriate. While the scenery around them was serene there was an aura of tension coming from Aurora. Her posture appeared relaxed but the tone of her voice was uncertain.
“When you examined Leonard’s body yesterday, what did you think?” she asked.
Ray looked at her, unsure of what to make of the question, “I’m not a doctor, but I didn’t see any visible injuries, so I’m guessing a heart attack or something of that sorts.”
“Heart attack?” she asked.
“Historically a somewhat common cause of death for older people. But in the last two hundred years or so most people get preemptive surgery around the age of twenty so it’s rather rare these days.”
“I see…”
“Why are you asking?”
Aurora looked around her, as if inspecting the area before answering. “Something is bothering me about your ID.”
“Leonard was my boss. I’ve worked under him for the past four months. He wasn’t the easiest person to get along with but he was always a very diligent worker. I didn’t think much of it at the time. But considering what happened, I thought that it was weird for him to hold on to your ID card. Like it didn’t make sense that he would keep it at his apartment. He would either have offered to bring it to the admin center himself or he would have had some courier pick it up. Him asking us to visit his personal apartment just isn’t right. But really it makes no sense for him to have had it in the first place.” She took a deep breath, “So last night I decided to do some research of my own.”
She pulled out a small metallic looking card out of her pocket and offered it to Ray.
“It was the admin center. I don’t think Leonard ever had the card at his home.”
Ray’s eyes widened as he took his ID card and studied it, as if expecting to find something suspicious about it. He started fiddling with the card in his right hand while thinking if it meant anything. “So what do you make of this? Couldn’t it just have been a mistake or misunderstanding?”. He immediately realized that he did not believe this himself.
“I… I don’t know. I checked the logs… I.. There was even a log entry left by Leonard noting that the card was ready for pickup at the center.”
Both of them sat quiet on the bench, thinking. A faint creaking sound disturbed the silence and interrupted Ray’s thoughts. The area seemed as empty as when he had sat down but when he looked behind him his heart skipped a beat. He spotted a tiny red dot of light marking the back of Aurora’s head.
Ray immediately sprang up from his seat. With a single step he reached over to Aurora.
“Get down!” he yelled, as he pushed Aurora down and moved his own body to shield her.
There was no sound but they could feel a tremble in the air right before something impacted the side of the bench. Aurora’s body recoiled in fear as splinters came flying off the bench’s backrest.
“Run!” Ray ordered. He pulled her up and pushed her forwards. “Trees! Zigzag!”
They dashed across the path into the dense treeline, weaving their bodies in between the trees. Ray glanced behind him but saw no one. “Straight ahead.” he instructed as they sprinted across the open grass. Aurora hesitated as they neared the fence. Ray accelerated past her and vaulted over. She couldn’t jump as high, but Ray reached out with both arms and pulled her over. A clang of metal impacting metal startled them as a bullet hit the fence’s railing. They ducked and ran to the left where the fence ended and the solid wall of an apartment building began.
Without hesitation they took the first turn left.
“Shit.” Ray cursed when the turn put them in a narrow alleyway. But there was no choice but to press forwards.
At the end of the Alleyway they ended up on a larger open road again. Tall apartment buildings on both sides but still no one else in sight. Ray’s gaze swept the area looking for cover but he could not find any.
“Idea.” Aurora spoke in between two heavy breaths. She pointed towards a building on the other side of the road.
They crossed the road as quickly as they could and Aurora guided them into one the buildings. Their footsteps echoed loudly through the empty corridor. At the end a sharp turn right led them to an open area with two lift doors at the end. Aurora slammed buttons next to them, the displays on top indicating that both of them were descending from the top floor. Behind them they heard a door opening, followed by running footsteps approaching.
They briefly looked at each other, “Stairs.” they both spoke at the same time.
A heavy third door to the left of the elevators led to the stairwell. They bolted up the stairs, skipping multiple steps with each leap forward.
“Top floor.” Aurora gasped.
When they passed the fifth floor sign they heard the door opening behind them and a third pair of footsteps started chasing them.
They arrived at the twelfth and top floor. Ray pushed open the door, Aurora ran past him. Straight ahead was a bulky glass door with a scanner on the wall next to it. Aurora took out a card and swiped it in front of it. The door unlocked with a loud click. Behind, the hallway continued on for a short distance. Three metal doors were lined up against the left wall, all with separate card readers next to them. Aurora unlocked the furthest one using a different card.
A narrow entry made its way into a single bigger room. The place was empty save for a single closet standing at the far back. The light coming through the large window at the back reflecting on the white walls and floor made the room exceedingly bright. Gasping for air, Aurora sat down against the wall, as far away from the door as possible. Ray kept standing, but he was also panting.
He pressed his ear against the door and deliberately slowed down his breathing. Footsteps approached at a slow, walking pace. They paused for a moment. Then he heard a loud click. Ray retreated to the back of the room and looked around. He tried opening the closet, but it was locked.
Rumbling sounds came from the hallway followed by several loud clicks.
“Shit. He’s forcing open the doors.” Ray cursed quietly.
He opened the window, it was large enough for him to fit through. He looked outside and noticed a narrow windowsill, but beyond that he couldn’t spot anything to stand on or to hold on to. Looking upwards, he noticed that the edge of the roof was reachable for him. He crawled through the window, his hands reaching for the roof while the tip of his feet balanced on the windowsill. His hands firmly gripping the roof’s edge, Ray pulled himself up. Aurora hesitantly approached the window. Her entire body trembled as she briefly glanced downwards. She carefully put the right foot through the open window and looked up. Ray was hanging over the edge, reaching down with his arms. “Hurry, I’ll help you up.”
Aurora started to step outside, Ray took her forearms to stabilize her and pulled her up slightly so her hands could reach the roof’s edge.
After hoisting her up Ray anxiously paced around the edges of the building until he found another open window on the other side. Carefully he climbed down, legs first, into an unknown room. He then helped Aurora inside as well.
Once inside, Ray quickly closed the window and pulled the curtains in front of it. They had entered someone’s bathroom. White stone tiled floor and walls, a shower and some unopened bottles lined up underneath a small sink. Aurora once again sank down on the floor.
They waited. Above them they heard loud thudding sounds approaching. Their gazes followed the steps as they walked over them. They paused for a moment, Ray held his breath as they did. The steps resumed and faded away in the distance. Ray and Aurora remained motionless and alert, their eyes not leaving the ceiling. The sounds did not return. Both of them let out a deep breath of relief as their heart rates gradually slowed down.
Then the door to the bathroom slowly opened.
“WHAT th… RAY!?”
Melanie stood in the door opening, completely dumbfounded.The two of them stared at each other briefly in utter surprise.
“I’ll explain. But we need to call security services right now.” he said.
“They’re on their way.” Aurora spoke slowly with an exhausted voice. “I texted them.”
“Are you two OK?” Melanie asked. “Let’s get you two to the living room, I’ll give you a glass of water and you tell me what’s going on?”
Melanie let them into her living room and offered them a seat at a four person table in the center of the room. Much like Ray’s own apartment it was only sparsely furnished. She poured them a glass of water and took a seat herself.
No one took initiative to speak and the room remained quiet. They sat in silence until a bell sound announced that someone was at the door. A small display on the wall above showed three armed men dressed in a dark blue uniform standing outside. They didn’t wait for confirmation, the one in front swiped a black card in front of the door and it opened up for them. Two of them entered while one remained outside.
“Are you all safe?” the officer in front asked.
“We are.” Ray answered.
“We’ve already reviewed security footage and are aware of the situation.” the officer said, “We’ve been ordered to escort you to a secure location. Questioning will happen later.”
Ray and Aurora got up from their chairs and started walking towards the door.
“Miss, you’ll have to come too.” the officer addressed Melanie.
Ray had expected her to object or at least say something but Melanie said nothing and also walked towards the door.
In the hallway it became clear that security had deployed far more than just three officers. On their walk towards the elevators Ray spotted six more standing guard in different corners. On the ground floor and outside several more were patrolling or investigating. It made him wonder just what Aurora had texted to make them escalate the situation like this. Or maybe something more was going on.
He didn’t get much time to look around further as the officer guided them into the back of a PHT. The setup was similar to the one he had been in the day before but this one had windows on the sides. He could see the vehicle rise above the apartment buildings and fly away. To his surprise, they kept rising and kept moving further away from the city center. City Eight itself was surrounded by large metal barriers that went all the way up to the ceiling. Several openings led into tunnels that provided access to other parts of the station. The PHT flew through an opening near the top of the barrier and passed through a narrow and dark tunnel. There it took a turn left and they entered into what looked like an underground parking garage. Other PHTs stood parked in rows around them while theirs made its way for a special reserved spot near a door.
They didn’t get to ask where they were being led to but the inside of the building gave them the impression of a hotel. They walked though brightly lit and carpeted hallways with numbered doors on both sides at regular intervals. They took one set of stairs downwards and approached a room at the end of the hallway.
Two guards stood by the door, dressed in plain clothes but visibly armed with assault rifles. Only after they scanned the escorting officer’s ID card did they move aside to let them in. The room they entered was vast and open, the faintly orange tinted light shining on the fake wooden floor gave it a relaxing atmosphere. The centerpiece of the room was a long wooden table with an imposing glass chandelier hanging above it. In the right corner stood a brown leather sofa, large enough to seat at least ten people. The walls around it were entirely covered by displays.
“You’ll have to wait here.” the officer said. “But you can relax. We’ll have guard by the door at all times. Feel free to use any of the available facilities, you can use the food machines, the entertainment systems and there are three bedrooms here as well.”
“Alright.” Ray said.
The officer turned around and exited the room.
For a moment they just stood idly until Melanie decided to walk over to the seating corner. She let herself drop on the sofa.
“I think I’ll go rest. I… need to clear my mind for a bit.” Aurora said.
He watched Aurora approach the doors on the left side of the room before deciding to join Melanie in the seating area. He felt he owed her an explanation of what was going on.
Melanie seemed relaxed, she curiously looked around the room while fiddling with a strand of her hair. Ray took a seat some distance away from her.
“Sorry for getting you involved.” he said.
Melanie looked at him and shook her head, “What even happened to you?”
Ray gave her a brief rundown of his past two days, including how he met Aurora, Leonard’s death and the situation with his ID card. He left out mentions of Aurora’s vision, the tarot cards and his own research.
“First the attack on our way here, and now you get shot at again… seems like you attract trouble.”
“...I really wish I didn’t.”
“Are you… ok?”
“I’ll be fine.” Ray sighed as he readjusted himself on the sofa, “How about you? Are they allowing you to stay here now?”
“I’m not sure...” Melanie replied, “They just shoved me in some apartment, told me to stay inside and didn’t explain anything. Said they’d get back to me when they did background checks and stuff.”
“I see. I hope it works out.”
Melanie looked behind her at the closed doors on the opposite side of the room, “Is she gonna be alright?”
“I don’t know. But there’s something about her, something about the way she acts that makes me think she’s been in danger before.”
They chatted for a little while longer, discussing their impressions of Home, with Melanie asking some questions about the tour Ray got. Eventually the conversation stalled and she started playing around with the entertainment system. After browsing through the menus she found that it had an old drama show from her home planet. While not his normal way to pass time Ray didn’t mind watching it with her as there was little else to do. ‘The bankrupt lawyer’ was a story about the struggles of the youngest son from a poor family seeking to become a lawyer because he believes that his father was wrongly convicted. While he liked the main character’s drive, Ray quickly got bored of watching the slow narrative and the excessive time spent on seemingly minor characters. He took a glance at Melanie who was fully engrossed and decided not to comment.
About forty minutes later, nearing the end of the first episode Aurora reappeared and silently joined them on the sofa. When the ending credits started to roll both Ray and Melanie turned their attention towards her.
“Feeling better?” Ray asked.
“A little. Still a lot to wrap my head around.”
“Yeah. Take your time.” Ray said.
“How do you two know each other?” Aurora asked.
“Well.” Ray started, “We basically met on our way here.” He told Aurora how he met Melanie and David and what had happened to them on their way.
“Come to think of it.” Ray said, looking at Melanie, “How exactly did you end up with David?”
“Oh…” Melanie sighed, “I work, well worked, as a server in a bar so I could pay for my studies. While I was just having a chat with him a bunch of armed guys stormed in and demanded that we hand him over. It got chaotic really quickly and David for some reason pulled me with him during his escape. I was too panicked to really think straight at the time. Later he told me he feared that they might think that I was somehow involved with him and that he wanted to protect me. Something along those lines.”
Ray and Aurora nodded understandingly.
“I lived in a shady part of town so seeing armed men wasn’t too unusual, but still, never thought I’d be involved like this.”
“By the way was that the bankrupt lawyer you were watching?” Aurora asked.
“OH! You know it?” Melanie’s demeanor changed instantly as she leaned over slightly in Aurora’s direction.
“I’ve seen a few episodes, but never had the time to follow it.”
“We can keep watching right?” Melanie asked.
Ray shrugged, “You might as well, who knows how long we’re gonna be here.”
They spent the following hours watching the show. Melanie and Aurora both immersed by the story while Ray frequently lost focus, closed his eyes or looked around the room for a bit. He nevertheless kept on sitting. At Six PM still no one had come to talk to them or inform them of what was going to happen. They decided to have dinner together. Everyone took a different meal, but they all ended up sharing a blueberry pie dessert that Aurora had found on the menu.
Finally at five minutes before seven, the sound of the door opening caught their attention. Elisabeth Tritor walked in. Her makeup couldn’t hide her tired expression, and the visible wrinkles on her forehead made her look significantly older since Ray had last seen her.
“Mister Chelsea.” she said, “Please come with me for a moment, we have much to discuss.”