Chapter 9 - Sea of Venus(1) - MarsL1
Gaius and the boy waved goodbye to Xavier and David as they boarded MarsL1. Punisher had docked at the lagrange point for restocking and consulting Prophesy.
MarsL1 was a massive trade hub. Since the Republic split in the Fracture, the surface of Mars became riddled with restricted air space making it difficult for transportation to stay within legal lines. Most people went to Phobos until it succumbed to a freak depressurization incident.
Since then, MarsL1 and MarsL3 have been trade hubs connecting The Forge and the rest of the empire. From the concentration of consumer electronic goods being shipped through MarsL1, the military decided to consolidate both trade hubs into MarsL1 and place a military base in the trade hub to ensure security. Since then, nearly thirty percent of all consumer goods and fifty percent of all military resources pass through MarsL1 at some point in their lifetime.
One of the biggest reasons traders welcomed the militarization of the trade hub was the introduction of Prophesy, an artificial intelligence that actively predicts the future, including crimes, before they happen. With Prophesy, potential predicted suspects are stopped and treated before being allowed to return to their daily lives. This eliminated the need for manual cargo scans making it significantly cheaper for traders to pass through the station.
Gaius looked around at the large mall like the area that they found themselves in. He looked down at the panel that Dr. O had given him. On it was the name “Patrick Brew.”
Gaius gave the name a look of annoyance and then looked up at the holographic arrows.
The boy noticed two men being escorted by a group of a dozen marines, “What’s happening there?”
“Where?”
The boy pointed and Gaius quickly grabbed his finger, “Don’t point.”
“Okay. “
“Those two are traders from the Republic.”
“The Republic? I thought we try to kill people from the Republic.”
Gaius nodded, “But they can get Hydrogen and Helium cheaply. In the Republic, getting fundamental gases is as easy as walking outside.”
“Then why don’t we just take their gas?”
Gaius laughed, “It doesn’t work like that.”
“If we’re not killing them, why is there a war?”
“I don’t know. “
“Why not?”
“I never really needed to know”
Gaius found the hospital closest to the docking bay and got checked in. A tall man walked into the room by ducking under the door frame, “Good evening. I’m Pat.”
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“Gaius.”
“Haha, a rare name out here.”
“Sure.”
Pat swiped through a panel and frowned, “You’ve got choices.”
“So, what’s going on.”
“You can only get temporary treatment here.”
“Why? Can’t you just remove all the red zones.”
Pat shook his head, “You’ve got three large clumps in your brain.”
“So?”
“It’s in your brain.”
“And?”
Pat let out a frustrated sigh, “You want to get a hemorrhage in your brain?”
Gaius shrugged, “I’ve had worse.”
Pat glared at Gaius, “Look here Mr. immortal. I get transferred out of here in two years. I am not going to let some stupid freak case ruin me. If you want to get better, listen to what I’m saying or go somewhere else.”
Gaius sat there glaring at the doctor.
“You listening?”
Gaius nodded and walked away.
The boy glanced at the doctor who was wearing a very annoyed expression.
“Go ahead, go follow your grandpa.”
“Uh… okay!”
The doctor sighed and returned to his work.
Gaius sat down at a small café with the boy. He ordered a small cup of ice cream for the boy and got himself some biscuits. Gaius looked around, “What should I do.”
“The doctor said we need to go to Venus.”
Gaius was irritated, “I don’t want to.”
“Why not?”
“I-”
“And what does this gibberish mean? Why would you eat pain?”
Gaius squinted his eyes at the piece of paper the boy was holding up, “That’s bread in French.”
“French?”
“It’s an ancient language. Or was one.”
“What do you mean was?”
Gaius ordered some bread through a panel, “It was used but now isn’t. Just like Latin. Their dead languages.”
“But Latin is used everywhere?”
“It’s not spoken anymore.”
The boy paused, “So then is it really dead?”
“Yeah.”
“When is a language dead?”
Gaius sighed and threw the question into a query for a new panel.
“Here, it says a language is dead once it doesn’t have any more native speakers.”
The boy stared at the panel, “Then how is Latin dead? The church speaks it all the time.”
“Huh, it says Latin isn’t a dead language.”
“So, French isn’t dead either?”
“Alright fine. Their ancient languages.”
Gaius looked at the boy, “So what do you want to do now?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, I have no idea either. Great.”
“Huh?”
“Home blew up, military found me, I’m now sick. The world’s just out to get me. Let’s go find a place to crash.”
“Place to crash?”
“Place to sleep.”
Walking into the lobby of the hotel, he noticed a group of marines in full silver armor huddled together over a comically short table. It looked as if they were all squatting on the ground to eat. Gaius held in a laugh as he passed them.
One of them stood up, “Hey Gaius! We’ve been looking for you. Where’re you scurrying off to this time?”
Gaius shrugged, “I’m thinking of heading to Venus.”
The man patted him on the shoulder, “Your daughter has been looking for you quite a bit.”
“Uh… who? Daughter? Me? Um… Ah! Aria?”
“She started running prophesy a few centuries ago. You should probably send a message.”
Gaius winced, “I can do that later. Why are you all squatting on the floor like idiots?”
The marine pointed to three broken chairs in the corner of the room.
“Ah…”
The marine pointed at Gaius, “Anyway, we have orders to take you back to Nexus.”
“Me?”
“The Doctor wants to see you.”
Gaius’s eyes turned red as he fidgeted with his fingers. He didn’t really know how to react, he’d forgotten everything except this feeling of impending doom as if the walls were collapsing in on him, “Sure.”
Gaius and the boy entered a cruiser the next day. It was spacious in each room, but the corridors felt cramped. Gaius asked the other marine, “When are we getting back to Venus?”
“Twenty days.”
Gaius pulled out his little yellow box of cards, “Anyone up for some games?”
On Venus in level 1 district A.
“Kaiser is returning to Venus.”
“I thought we agreed to keep him out of Venus.”
“Gaius is with him.”
“Does Gaius know about Kaiser?”
“No. I never told him.”
“What about the Republic?”
“They sent another offering a week ago. I’ve been holding onto it.”
“Why didn’t you give it to me?”
“Because yo- ARCH ACKK UGHHH *URPP*”
“Ah, I see. You can’t be like this Aria.”
“Yes.”
“We have to stop the Xenos.”
“Yes.”
“I’m going to put Gaius through the prototype. What does prophesy say?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing? Give details.”
“Inflect- ARUGHH.”
“*sigh* Continue the good work Aria.”
“Yes.”