The answer was obvious. It has been right under Tinaya’s nose the whole
time. It wakes up next to her every day, and it does this thing where it
puts her clothes on for her in the morning. Obviously she can do that
herself, but Arqut did it to be romantic and chivalrous one morning during
their honeymoon, and it just sort of stuck. Now she sits there like a doll,
and lets him move her around as needed. Unless she’s in a hurry, then she
turns into a real girl. But the point is that he’s the one who should be
Ship Superintendent. He knows just as much about the new form of government
as she does, and contributed to the initial concept a great deal. She wants
to leave a life of service behind, or at least take a break from it. In a
few years, she may decide that she wants to go back to Park Management, or
just work in the Bridger section. But soon, it will just be time for her to
relax. She believes that she’s earned it.
“We don’t want to appoint a superintendent,” Council Leader Addison explains
to her. “We want it to be an elected position this time.”
“I see,” Tinaya says. “What’s the term limit?”
“No term limit. The winner should expect to remain available for a lifetime.
Their duties will wane in such times that they are not needed, but should
they be called upon later, they will return to the conversation.”
“I see,” Tinaya repeats herself. “Well, on a personal level, how do you feel
about my idea?”
“I think Arqut would do a fine job,” Addison replies.
“But what?”
“But nothing,” Addison says. “Why does there have to be a but?”
“There’s usually a but.”
“But...” Addison begins.
“Here we go.”
Addison continues, “...I think we should stop saying the word but.” She
smiles. “I really mean it, that’s a great idea. I have no issues with him,
and I have no conditions to place upon it. If he can secure the vote, he can
have the job.”
“I figured you would have someone else in mind, like perhaps someone who
would turn out to be a traitor, and then I start to suspect that you’re a
traitor too, and by the time I realize that you’re not, you’re killed in a
semi-heroic act of self-sacrifice?”
“You’ve been watching too many Earthan movies.”
“More like reading the historical records of this very ship.”
Council Leader Addison nods, and then it looks like she’s had a new thought.
“Oh, no, what is that face all about?” Tinaya asks.
“But...that rule against an incumbent campaigning still applies here. The
Superintendent is obviously not the same thing as the First Chair, but I
still think you can’t advocate for your husband. I think you must distance
yourself from the whole thing. If he wants to run, he’ll have to do so
without you. Or me, for that matter, because it would be almost as much of a
conflict of interest.”
Tinaya nods, and then looks over at Arqut. “What do you think?”
“I think I don’t love people talking about me as if I’m not in the room,” he
says.
Tinaya puts a quizzical look on her face, and turns back to Addison. “Did
you hear someone say something?”
“I don’t know that I did.”
Arqut rolls his eyes.
“Seriously, what do you think? You seemed amenable to the idea last night.
Were you just saying that to appease me?”
“No, I think it’s a decent idea too,” Arqut answers. “I’ve always felt like
I could do more. It wouldn’t be dissimilar to what I did before, when I
represented the government during discussions between two or more
departments.”
“You certainly have the necessary experience,” Addison agrees.
Arqut thinks about it some more. “Okay, I’m in.”
“Great,” Addison decides. “Then you need to leave. Or I do. We have to let
you fly on your own, little bird.”
Arqut nods. “I know some people who might be able to help run my campaign. I
don’t have to move out of the stateroom, though, do I?”
“It’s perfectly fine to live with your wife,” Council Leader Addison
clarifies. She taps on her watch, and disappears.
“I have to get to a thing, but I’ll see you tonight for dinner, okay?”
“Okay.”
She kisses him on the lips, and then teleports away too.
When Tinaya crosses over to the Bridger section, her handler, Spirit is
waiting for her. “I wouldn’t go in there if I were you.”
“Where, the entire Bridger section?”
“Yes,” Spirit says. “They’re mad at you.”
“For getting married?”
“No. Well, yes, but we’ve already talked about that. They’re mad about you
dismantling the Chair system. They’re not finished with you.”
“Well, I never learned about the Three Bears War, so I guess the Bridgers
and I are even.”
“It was not our responsibility to tell you that. It’s the crew’s. You know
how it works. How many secrets did Captain Yenant keep from First Chair
Ebner, or especially Ovan Teleres?”
“I don’t know how many. They’re a secret!”
Spirit nods. “Look. We can’t stop you from coming over to this side. Once we
gave you access, you have it for life, unless you do something so bad that
you’re locked up in hock for the rest of your life anyway.”
“Okay...”
“But you are no longer welcome here. I’m sorry, you’ve been kicked out of
the program. You’ve been a great help to us. You’ve given us solid
information, and helped protect both ships, ensuring the safest of its
passengers, and the continuity of the mission. Unfortunately, your services
are no longer required.”
“Good.”
“This is what you wanted,” Spirit states.
“Yes.”
“But if no one here trusts you, except for me, you won’t be able to
investigate it for corruption anymore.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Don’t be. Some of our best spies have been suspicious of our intentions. We
encourage them to question authority. Ever since the Bronach Oaksent
incident, we’ve been a lot more suspicious of ourselves. We don’t want
people who will just blindly follow every order to the letter. You’re
supposed to make your own decisions. But there is a limit to that
flexibility. According to the high officers of the Bridger section, you’ve
crossed beyond the boundary. Congratulations, you’re free to relax now.”
“Thank you?”
Spirit smiles, and holds up a tablet. “I think you’ll be fine. You’ve
reached 101% contribution. This means that your score is the highest it
could possibly be, and can never go back down. It’s locked in place, even if
the government later adjusts the parameters. You’re safe...unless, again,
you do something so unforgivable it lands you a life sentence in hock.”
“Cool beans. So this is it? We’ll never meet again?”
“I’m sure I’ll see you around.” Spirit steps into the corridor, and lets the
hatch close behind her.
“I didn’t think you left the Bridger section. Avelino only did a few times.”
“This is true, but I’m no longer employed by them either. I quit.”
“You quit? Why?”
“I told them that I would if they let you go.”
“Why weren’t you bluffing?”
Now Spirit smirks. “A seer told me to leave. I don’t know where I’m going,
but I’m never going back in there.” She jerks her head towards the hatch.
Don’t cry for me, Argentina. I’m as sick of my current life as you always
seem to be. I’m ready to go try something else.”
Captain Lataran Keen suddenly steps up to them from down the corridor.
“Good, because I got somethin’ for you both. We have a hostage situation.”
“A hostage situation?” Tinaya questions. “Where?”
“Verdemus,” Lataran answers. She tries to take Tinaya by the hand.
Tinaya keeps her hand away just in time. “What is a Verdemus?”
“It’s the gateway planet,” Lataran says before adding, “the one where we’ve
been getting all of our paper?”
Tinaya looks over at Spirit, who grimaces slightly. “I told you, there are
things that the crew doesn’t let you in on. It’s tradition to leave the
civilian government in the dark about things that don’t happen in the
residential sectors.”
“I’m different.” Tinaya faces Lataran again. “I’m different,” she repeats.
“We’re friends. You could have told me that we left people there.”
“Sorry. There’s no excuse, but you’ll have to yell at me later. I really
need you right now. The hostage-taker will only speak to the First Chair.”
“Where are we going?” Tinaya demands to know, still not taking the Captain’s
hand. “How do we transport back and forth from this Verdemus place?”
“The Mirror Room,” she answers. “We installed the backup mirror on the other
side, so the portal is open all the time, unless we need the main one for
something else.”
Tinaya never knew that there was a backup mirror either. She thought she
knew pretty much everything, because of her connections. If she didn’t find
out about something by being a spy, then it should have been from her time
as the First Chair, and if not then, then she could have uncovered any
missing information from all of her unauthorized hacking. She’s
slipping...or maybe she’s never been as good as she once believed. “Fine.
I’ll meet you there.”
Just before Tinaya teleports away, she hears Lataran start to ask, “Where
are y—”
She’s back in her stateroom. “Arqy.”
He turns around. “Hey, hon. That wasn’t long.”
“You were right, we still have access to the planet. They call it Verdemus.”
“Because it’s green?”
“I’m about to go find out. Someone’s been taken hostage, I guess. They’re
asking for me. I never thought I would go off world, but in case it ever
happened, I’ve been prepared.” She walks over to her dresser to open the
bottom drawer. “I swiped these from the Bridger section. I don’t think
anyone noticed.” She reaches deep into the back, and unlatches the hidden
panel. When her hand comes back out, she’s holding two flat fern green
cases. She holds one of them tightly between her middle and ring fingers.
She holds the other one loosely between her thumb and index finger, and
shakes down to let the glass slip out into her other hand. “Time signal
mirrors,” she explains. She hands Arqut the other mirror, so he can take it
out. She holds her own in front of herself so he can get a look at her
pretty face. “You can’t turn them off. It always shows you what the other
mirror is seeing.”
“What is this for?” Arqut peels a thin film off of the back that Tinaya has
never noticed before. She didn’t spend that much time with them. They were
always meant to be used in an emergency, like this. He swings the film over,
and sticks it onto the other side. The image from its partner mirror is
gone. Now it’s just a regular reflection.
“Oh. I guess they can be turned off. But there’s no sound either way.” She
peels her own lid off, and flips it over to the other side. “I’ll just say
it’s a makeup mirror.”
“You don’t wear makeup.”
“Please.” Tinaya frames her jawline with the back of her fingers. “No one
believes that about me, even though it’s true.” She starts to take her
clothes off so she can put on something more durable and outdoors-worthy.
She’s been to the Attic Forest a million times, but she’s never truly been
outside. Almost no one on this ship has. She’s only learned survival skills
academically. School teaches it because, even though no one alive today will
ever reach the Extremus planet, they’ll need to be able to effectively pass
this knowledge onto the next generation, and not because they will see the
planet either, but because eventually, someone will.
“I love you,” Arqut says to her once she’s ready to go.
“Love you too.” They kiss. He grabs her ass for luck. She disappears.
The guard in the Mirror Room does check her for contraband. He doesn’t find
the time signaler, though. Tinaya remembered that her coat has a hidden
inside breast pocket dimension. The zipper is invisible to anyone unless
they hold a particular shade of green light up to it, which she can generate
on her watch. It’s called a spectral lock, and as soon as she gets the
chance, she’ll change it to color combo, instead of singletone. No weapons,
she’s good to go. The mirror technician, which is a job that didn’t need to
exist before, reaches behind the mirror to activate the portal. When she
gives Tinaya the go-ahead, Tinaya follows the security team through. Spirit
crosses over behind her.
Extremus has lighting, of course, but it’s never brighter than it needs to
be to see. Energy isn’t as precious of a resource as it was on Earth in the
20th century, or the early 21st century, but there’s no point in wasting it.
Studies have shown that a lightly used corridor only needs about 100 lumens
to navigate, and rooms need less than 200. Until paper was developed here,
no one ever raised the brightness above that, because devices all produce
their own lighting. The host star is extremely bright compared to what she’s
used to. A security officer notices how much Tinaya and Spirit are
struggling. He takes out a spare pair of sunglasses to give to Tinaya, and
elbows his teammate, who takes out a pair for Spirit. They help her
immediately, and as the group is carefully heading towards basecamp, the
gradient adjusts accordingly until they’re barely dim at all. It’s probably
not that bright by a normally evolved human’s standards.
The officers tense up as they approach the camp. They’ve built up the
infrastructure quiet a bit. An electric fence surrounds the whole area,
which a gatekeeper has to open for them. There must be dangerous animals
around here. They keep going until they’re in the middle of town. The
grounds are completely empty, except for one woman standing patiently in the
middle distance. When Tinaya gets closer, she sees that the woman is chained
up with a line that goes all the way to the building behind her, and through
the doorway. “Report!” the team leader orders.
“I speak for Ilias,” the woman replies. Where has Tinaya heard that name
before? The woman taps on an earpiece in her left ear. “I mean that
literally. I have to say what he says, as he says it. I’m wired up.” Tinaya
does see a wire threaded through the chainlinks. “I’m even saying what he’s
saying right now. This woman is a stupid bitch.”
Tinaya seethes through her nose. “State your demands...Ilias.”
“First Chair Leithe. Thank you for coming. I have immense respect for you,
and I regret having to involve you in this. You were always really great to
my father, and he needs you now more than ever. I want a posthumous pardon
for him.”
“I can’t unilaterally make pardons,” Tinaya replies. She remembers who this
guy is now. Or rather, kid, because he can’t be older than twenty at this
point. It’s Ilias Tamm. Disgraced former captain, Soto Tamm was his father.
“Even if I could, your dad was a member of the crew. That’s a whole separate
thing.”
“I understand that, but I need you to advocate for him. Please, you’re my
last resort here. I have exhausted all other options.”
“Violence was a bad choice,” Tinaya warns him.
“I’ve not hurt anyone yet,” Ilias explains. “I’ve only threatened. And
that’s as far as it will go unless I don’t get what I want. Soto Tamm did
nothing wrong, and it’s time that the ship knows that. It doesn’t matter
that he’s already dead. His good memory deserves to be restored.” Soto Tamm
died in hock a couple of years ago. No one but his family went to his
memorial service.
“When I give the signal,” Spirit whispers, “I need all four of you to run
towards that building to the right as fast as you can, brandishing your
weapons.”
“He’s in the mess hall,” the team leader argues. “We’ve confirmed that.”
“Exactly,” Spirit replies. “Three..two...one, go.”
Not knowing exactly what the plan is, but trusting Spirit Bridger, the
guards run off like they’re about to attack someone who doesn’t exist.
“Where the hell are they going?” Ilias questions through the hostage’s
voice.
Spirit teleports a few meters forwards holding what kind of looks like a
shovel. She jams it into the chain, which hopefully cuts the electric wire.
“Go get him, soldier!”
Tinaya teleports into the cafeteria, and spots Ilias. She barely recognizes
him from the one time she saw him years ago, but he’s holding a gun, so it’s
not that hard to tease him out of the crowd. She teleports a second time,
and wraps her arms around his shoulders, then she teleports one last time.
It’s a blind jump, which means she has no idea where she’s going. She’s just
trying to get as far away from the building as possible. It’s far enough. In
fact it’s too far. But it’s still close enough to see. A mushroom cloud
rises to the sky after a huge explosion. Shit. He was on a dead man’s switch.
