The Ninth (4 page)

“Great, the future troopers of the Commonwealth are in the hands of civil servants.”

“Not that civil . . .”

“Or that much service,” Jack finished and burst out in laughter.

“Its great to see you again, Jack.  How long has it been?  Ten years now?”

“Seventeen actually.  I was hoping it wouldn’t take this long, but one can’t force the hands of fate.”

“Seventeen years,” Nathan said in surprise.  “Has it really been that long?  Where did the time go?”  Nathan started to ponder the question before abruptly sharking his head and focusing on his old friend.  “Anyways, I take it this isn’t a social visit.”

“I wish it was, Nathan.  You remember Lazarus?”

“How could I ever forget that?  Whatever happened to that child . . .” he paused and turned horrified eyes on his friend.  “
Jack
.”

“I’m afraid so, Nathan.”

“
Here
?”

“Why do you think you were sent here?”

“I always assumed it was to deal with me quietly.  Exiled to a remote academy with no standing on the fringe of the rim.”

“You know that the both of us know too much ever to free ourselves from Lazarus.”

“I’d heard the rumors but never gave them much thought.  So it survived.”

“Yes
he
did.  I’ve been taking care of him since the incident.”

“While I was sent out here to prepare this place for his arrival.”

“Something like that.”

“I wish someone had told me about
that
part of my job.”

“You’ve done a great job, Nathan.  We couldn’t have asked for a better Administer.”

“I have just one other question.  I’ve heard lots of stories, rumors – are they true?”

“In the worst case he could destroy us all Nathan; we could lose the Commonwealth.”

“Then we’d better do this right.”

Brent found himself surrounded by darkness.  He stretched out his arms and started searching for anything solid.  His boot made an odd metallic sound when took a step.  Looking down, he found the ground was made of a sort of metal he had never seen before.  However, somehow it felt vaguely familiar.  Dancing yellow lights broke the darkness and he was able to see that the metal stretched out as far as he could see.  Shifting his glance upwards, he found the sky dancing with strange yellow flashes.  They looked vaguely like tiny fireflies high above.  He realized their number was decreasing.  He couldn’t explain why, but for some reason he started to grow fearful.

He started to run away from the lights, trying to get away from them.  No matter where he ran, the lights were always above, slowly growing weaker.  He came to a dead stop at the base of a massive structure.  It had the shape of an ancient Egyptian obelisk but it’s size was impossible.  It stretched upwards, piercing the clouds like a spear leveled in defiance of the sky above.  He realized suddenly that the yellow lights were gone, the only illumination left was the dull green that shimmered on the surface of the obelisk.  Abruptly a pale blue light came to life above the obelisk.  Abject terror filled him as the outline of teeth loomed overhead.  Pale blue light seeped out from between the razor sharp teeth as the horrifying maw slowly widened.

Brent awoke with a start.  Wiping at his head he found it drenched in sweat.  He must have had another nightmare.  He struggled to hold onto any details, but the dream was already gone.  It was an endless frustration to wake up knowing he’d had another nightmare but never remembering a single detail.  It had been like that for as long as he could remember.  Brent grew to dislike sleep in general and slept only when his body would refuse to continue moving without rest.  However, his nightmares weren’t the only gaps in Brent’s memories.  Brent made a point of not lingering on it, but every now and then he found himself searching backwards only to find nothing, a great void he could not penetrate.

A light sprang to life in the cabin.  Brent blinked until his eyes adjusted.  It was a small oval space, large enough for him to stand, but just barely.  The walls were solid black metal, no details to be found anywhere.  Only the bench he sat on broke their smooth surfaces.  Leaning back on the bench Brent wondered how long he had been asleep, or, for that matter, how he got into the small room.  Brent remembered being at some sort of hospital, going through endless tests and exams.  Maybe they drugged him, or more likely he put off sleep for too long and collapsed again.  A low grinding sound interrupted Brent’s thoughts.  The wall opposite Brent smoothly slid open and light poured in.

“Fall in, and present pads!”  A voice shouted from beyond the light.

Exiting the room, Brent found himself in a massive space.  The floor was a dull gray with an oil spill or two here and there.  The walls were a gleaming white that had a polished look.  Turning he found he had been in a ship of some kind; it looked like a giant olive.  Brent couldn’t make out any obvious engines or propulsion system.  The entire thing was just sitting in the large room with no indication of how it got there.  Along the far wall several large doorways ringed the room.  People were passing through them and lining up.

“Move it recruits!  I ain’t got all day!” the voice shouted again.

The voice belonged to a man in military uniform with several patches.  Not wanting to draw attention to himself, Brent joined the group lining up.  From the look of it, most of the people in the line were about his age, maybe younger.  Brent noticed a few fiddling with something in their pockets.  Reaching into his own pocket, Brent found a strange piece of black paper.  It was about six inches long and four inches wide.  It looked about as thick as a normal piece of paper, but it seemed heavier, and Brent could barely bend it.

“What are you trying to do? Break it?”  A feminine voice came from behind Brent.

Before Brent could move, he realized there was a girl reaching over his shoulder.

“Figures, you’ve not even activated it yet.  What rim world did you fall off of?”  The girl was waving the sheet like a fan.

“Rim world?” Brent asked, puzzled.

“Oh, never mind.  Here, give me your hand.”

Grasping his hand before Brent could react, the girl pressed his thumb into the top right corner of the sheet.  Instantly, the sheet illuminated, words and icons filling the screen.  Snatching the sheet back, Brent started fiddling with the icons on the screen.  It operated like some sort of computer, the icons linking to various menus and displays.

“You’re welcome,” the girl said sarcastically.

“Thank you very much,” Brent said, not taking his focus off the paper.

“Anytime.  My name’s Hiroko.  Yours?”

“Brent.  Pleased to meet you.”

“If you keep playing with your pad like that people are going to stare.”

Pad.  Brent knew that word.  Suddenly, Brent completely understood the device in his hands.  It must have been something he learned in that period he couldn’t remember.  Yet another thing Brent had gotten used to.  Occasionally, random spurts of information would come to him, knowledge he didn’t know he had.

“You okay?” Hiroko asked gently.  “You look a little pale.  I wouldn’t worry if I was you.  They wouldn’t turn you down now.  Once you get to the academy you are pretty much guaranteed to get accepted.”  Hiroko swelled with confidence.

Academy.  That word didn’t mean anything to Brent.  So he didn’t know everything.  Somehow Brent took that as a good sign.

“Thanks, I’m fine.  Maybe I’m just a little woozy from riding in that.”  Brent gestured to the giant olive.

“
You
were the one in the drop pod?”  Hiroko’s voice was filled with surprise.  “The rest of us had to pile into those old transports.  Made the whole lot of us wait an entire hour before they let us dock.”

“Next!”  The uniformed man shouted.

Turning, Brent found a huge gap between him and the line.  He hadn’t even noticed its movement.  Brent sprinted to the waiting man.

“Pad,” the man said curtly.

Handing it over, Brent could hear Hiroko giggle behind him.  The uniformed man pressed a few icons on the pad and read through the information.  One of his eyebrows shot up; his eyes widened a bit.

“It seems everything is in order.  Sorry for my rudeness.  You’ll be part of group C.  Good luck.”  The man’s demeanor had completely changed.

Brent took back his pad and slowly walked away, looking over the information for himself.  It displayed his name, age, height, and weight.  None of it was too shocking.  However, there was an extra line Brent didn’t understand.  It was one word, “Weaver.”

“You sure you didn’t bump your head or something?” Hiroko asked as she grabbed his arm and pulled him down a corridor.  “You are always in a daze!”

“Where are we going in such a hurry?” Brent asked, trying to keep pace before she pulled his arm off.

“To placement of course.  Don’t want to miss that.  You’d doom your career from the start!”

As they rushed down the corridor, Brent could hear the man in uniform shouting for the next in line in the distance.  All pleasantness had drained from his voice; didn’t take him long to get back to his old self.  Rushing down the seemingly endless corridor, Brent noticed other corridors splitting away every now and then.  Each one identical, it wouldn’t be hard to get lost here.

“Do you know where you are going?”  Brent asked.

“You might be clueless, but I for one studied.  I know the layout of this place like the back of my hand.”  Hiroko’s voice oozed with pride.

“Speaking of which, can I have my arm back please?  I promise not to lag behind.”

“Not on your life; I’m not losing you.  We are both in group C, and I won’t have you showing up late and making me look bad.”

Giving up, Brent let himself be pulled along, noting as they passed several others who were all walking calmly.  Eventually they reached the end of the corridor, which opened into a two-story chamber.  Brent noticed there were dozens already waiting in the hall; none of them had had to run.  There was a podium elevated to one side of the room, high enough so it could be clearly seen above the waiting crowd.  The tops of the walls were transparent, with an even larger number of people watching from above in some sort of gallery.

“Where is the rest of group C?” Hiroko yelled.

About fifteen people raised their hands.  Brent rubbed his ears.  He noted a few in the gallery overhead pointing at them.

“Well, get over here, recruits!” Hiroko shouted even louder.

Slowly but surely the recruits made their way over.  Hiroko and Brent were on the older end of the group with the majority obviously younger.

“We’re not a real squad you know; we don’t need a leader,” one boy complained.

“Yeah, and who died and made you leader anyways?” a diminutive boy added.

“It’ll be you if you don’t pipe down.  I won’t let any of you make me look like a fool.”

“Believe me, you don’t need us for that,” an older girl smirked.

The group laughed; Hiroko flushed.

“Now, now Erin.  Do
try
to play nice,” a tall boy said with an odd accent.  “For better or worse we will have to be together until this is over.”

“Oh, butt out Owen.  I was just having a little fun.”

Brent felt a strange sensation, unlike anything he’d felt before.  A chill ran down his spine.  Brent found himself turning back toward the corridor he and Hiroko had just come from.  Instantly his gaze locked on a particular recruit.  Something about the recruit fascinated him.  Noticing Brent’s gaze, the recruit headed toward the group.

“Is this group C?”  The recruit asked Brent.

“You bet it is!” Hiroko answered, leaning on Brent’s shoulder to see the newcomer.

Apparently personal space wasn’t something Hiroko had studied.  She seemed oddly cold as she rested on Brent’s shoulder.  Brent thought to ask her not to use him as a perch, but it would no doubt be as futile as asking for his hand had been.

“Dante Benedict, reporting to group C,” the recruit stood at attention and announced.

“That’s more like it!  Maybe this won’t be so bad after all.”  Hiroko beamed.

“Man, he’s making us look bad,” Owen grumbled.

“Who’s in charge?”  Dante asked.

“That would be . . .” Hiroko started.

“Not you,” Erin interrupted.

“Speaking of which, who are you?” Owen asked politely.  “I didn’t catch your name,”

“Hiroko Taguchi.  Better get used to the sound of that name.  I’ve got big goals,” Hiroko said, still looking over Dante.

“And an even bigger mouth.  Does your pillar have a name too?”  Erin asked snidely.

Realizing she was still leaning on Brent, Hiroko jumped back a step.  Strangely, the cold sensation didn’t go away.  Despite the fact Hiroko was no longer in physical contact, Brent could still feel the cold.  A couple of the recruits chuckled at Hiroko’s discomfort.

“His name is Brent,” Hiroko said regaining her composure.

“Is he a mute or something?”  Erin asked with raised eyebrow.

“Unlike some of us, he chooses not to waste his words.  Isn’t that right, sir?”  Dante asserted before Brent could answer.

Again the strange sensation overcame Brent.  It was like being in a dense fog that chilled him to his core.

“Waste his words?” Erin asked hotly.  “You saying he thinks he’s too good for us?”

“Not us, just you.”  Hiroko laid into Erin.  “Brent was quite the chatterbox with me.”

Brent opened his mouth to object when a loud chime rang out.  The recruits in the hall all turned their attention to the podium.  Standing there were two men.  The first was a little shorter and heavier than the other.  He wore a finely pressed uniform.  It was a brilliant white that he wore proudly.  The second man wore a solid black suit that seemed to gleam in the light.  A strange insignia was on the left breast of the suit.  He seemed uncomfortable and shifted often.

“Greetings recruits!” the shorter one shouted gleefully.  “I congratulate you all on making it this far.  I am Administer Bloom and look forward to watching you all develop into proud members of the Imperial Armed Forces.”

There was some light scattered applause and a few cheers.

“Today you take your first steps toward a bight future.  Above me you see the division leaders.  They will be judging your performance, and if you measure up, they might approach you to join their division.  Starting off in a prestigious division is a sign of a great career to come, so do your very best,” Bloom continued.

The tall man in black leaned over and whispered something to Bloom.

“Ah yes, an additional note.  You recruits are to receive a great honor.  Today’s placement exams will be a little different than the ones in the past.  Do your best to adapt to the new conditions,” Bloom concluded and walked off the podium, the man in black following closely.

His announcement caused quite a stir.  The recruits started at once murmuring.  High above, the division leaders were equally disturbed.  Brent could make out shrugs and pounding fists; the division leaders had not expected that announcement.  With a sudden tug, Brent was being drug along again.  Without even looking, Brent knew Hiroko was dragging him off again.  Ahead of Hiroko’s charge was a large sign reading “Group C form here.”  A young man in a sloppy military uniform was holding it and was slouching a bit.