Back when Earth existed there was an abundance of knowledge; books, paper, and records dating to the very beginning of mankind. Of us, our origin, and our home. The collapsing star burnt it all away with its heat.
A planet soaked in its rich history gone away in a crumble of rocks without a single sound. But we remembered, it was all we could do. Recall the vivid greens from our memories and rebuild. That was exactly what we did. We built day and night, tirelessly because we knew that should we stop even for a single moment, we might not live to see the next day.
Rome wasn’t built in a day.
…or something along those lines?
I cannot recall, I wasn’t there when it was said nor was I lucky enough to read it. But it is something my commander used to say a lot while we dug, and in a way, it always made sense because it took centuries to build her, our city.
…
“The City! There she is! Praise the planets.” Kellan crowed in happiness as the cabin broke out in relieved sighs, laughter, and cheer.
“We made it lads. We made it.” Jensen’s voice boomed.
“Not all of us,” I said quietly, the commander’s seat loomed large in its emptiness. The silence in the cabin became deafening as we looked at one another.
“Hey, come on now. We all know what it is that we signed up for. Freedom to Breathe, remember? It’s all that matters now. Right?” Kerin spoke, her face pinched in worry. She was expecting a breakdown, no doubt.
She was right, we needed to focus on right now. We could break later.
“Yea, yea you’re right,” I smiled trying to ease the tension a bit before continuing briskly, “Alright guys let’s follow our protocols, in lieu of the commander’s passing along with our second-in-command, I Revan Amontis, the Third Handler claim interim command position.”
“Aye.”
“Hear. Hear.”
“Agreed.”
Everyone nodded in acceptance, and I continued feeling more confident knowing that no matter what, the crew will always have my back.
“Alright, Kellan how much Oxinophilicate were we able to grab before the explosion?”
“We got two full crates and another half-filled crate.”
“That’s great, have it stored properly for dismount. Be careful about the temperature switch, we don’t want any more accidents. Jensen, get the remaining crew lined up, we will need to show the BMA’s the full list of lost personnel.”
“Aye, Sir. I’ll get right to it.” He growled quietly, with a look of pride in his eyes. Out of everyone here, Jensen had always been like a father figure to me.
“Kerin. Pull up all the ship logs and have them ready to go. They’ll want to have a look at it. I have the D.I.G.G.E.R command records with me. Let’s get going!”
Everyone dispersed immediately and got to work. The ship rocked gently as the transfer pod latched in and we were anchored to the main dismount patch.
I sucked in a deep breath and prepared myself to face the BMA’s.
“It’s alright man. You’re doing great.” Kellan whispered from beside me.
I looked over at him and smiled.
“Captain.” He mouthed back and winked.
I rolled my eyes and looked over at the walkway as it lit up with a cool blue luminescent glow and a squad of officers started approaching us.
“Everyone, get down from your ship and have your papers ready!”
“Here we go.”
…
The lights of the city burned into my retinas as I scanned the horizon, the multiple Suns; Callisto and Artemis lit it up in a pale glow as some of the sectors prepared for the night. The large city spun slowly on an axis to mimic daylight and nightfall.
She was a magnificent creation to behold, mankind’s greatest achievement. Bhaillemorien, the city. Our last hope.
…
Bhaillemorien is a floating mass roughly the size of the Moon interconnected with separate units attached by tubular sections of varying lengths. The construction began when the very first Space Station had to be dismantled to house more people, eventually they had to scavenge for ores on other abandoned planets to build their world. Large domes cover the surface; to regulate and filter the air further creating the illusion of a planet.
To stabilize its massive weight from careening off into space due to loss of gravity the scientists made sure to build it in proximity to Callisto, the larger of the twin Suns.
Water posed a problem during the initial days when Bhaillemorien was a mere singular floating disc, but the scientists soon found a way around that by asking the engineers to manoeuvre the city close enough to exploding stars, their implosion generated a massive enough reaction to provide them with the water they use till this day.
Newborns could hardly believe this isn’t a real planet; the lush forests and lands told a different story after all. What made even the scientists stumble was when life grew on its own in certain corners of the city, creatures never before seen on Earth swam in the streams and darted between the luminescent grass. Something otherworldly.
It wasn’t just the creatures that had evolved, mankind changed too. Their persistent space travel demanded far more from them than their bodies were willing to give, so they evolved. Longer limbs with a more flexible bone network along with a set of lungs capable of breathing the more potent form of Oxygen they now needed to survive.
But that wasn’t the only thing that changed.
In the last few centuries, Bhaillemorien faced its worst battle yet, the battle to breathe. Though they had found the Oxinophilicate, obtaining it was becoming far too dangerous and the rich considered their lives all too important to put on the line. So, a solution became necessary.
This is where the city broke into sectors.
The scientists and engineers considered their brain power far too valuable to be squandered off in doing menial tasks so instead they decided to cast a vote on the ones most expendable and least beneficial to the city.
After all, it was only for the greater good. The chosen ones were provided with two choices; either they mine for the Oxinophilicate or they will be cast out of the city due to not being of any benefit to it. Faced with these odds, they decided to dig.
Freedom to breathe became their fighting words. Every day two out of ten units never made it back and that’s a good day.
This was when Bhaillemorien broke apart into pieces and branched off into sectors since the influential ones did not want to associate with the poor Dig Specialist Unit (DSU). The primary sector was labelled as the Primary Unit or as is better known, Primonir. Bhaillemorien’s most powerful and wealthiest can be found here. With the largest surface area, the highest security, and the best possible technology, Primonir is the crowning jewel of Bhaillemorien.
Primonir is the central unit to which the remaining sectors are anchored, this allows Primonir primary access to all remaining units and allows them to monitor the remaining units. The Bhaillemorien Authorities (BMAs) main unit is also housed in the lower levels of Primonir. Mankind even managed to police space.
The next valuable sectors are the Scientist and Engineering Units, each provided with an equivalent amount of space and access. Though they are frequently at each other’s throats they still work together to maintain their seats of importance. It is said that, if there’s any way to step closer to Primonir, then these Units are your only way but getting past their recruitment tests without access to Primonir University, is next to impossible.
The Lawmaker Unit is the next sector, it’s one step below the Scientist and Engineering Units but still a respectful and modest Unit where one can live with their head held high. Next is the Interspace Navigational Unit or better known as InterNav Unit, the glorified “map-readers” is what the Primonir’s Lords call them but without their accurate sense of direction and pathfinding abilities, Bhaillemorien would have been lost to the asteroids.
Each sector is fitted in with their independent market, entertainment unit, med-bay, and educational institution, with the BMA’s having a separate access to answers crisis calls.
The farther away we move from Primonir the smaller the size allotted to the sector becomes, and the surprising fact was that the DSU was not the smallest sector. There was a sector far more detested and feared than the DSU, and it was called the Others.
Placed the furthest away from Primonir, all Bhaillemorien citizens ignored the existence of Others. That’s how the city functioned on most days, by turning a blind eye towards most injustice while continuing to survive.
The only thing that mattered was pleasing the ones on Primonir, because should the worst come to pass and if Bhaillemorien fails then there exists a switch which when pressed allows Primonir to detach selected sectors and function without them, causing them to careen off into deep space.
…
“Where are your papers?!” The BMA yelled at us as they rushed to grab the crates of Oxinophilicate that Kellan and the rest of the crew had placed on the pathway. The scientists began their scanning and decontamination procedures on the crates, spraying can after can of chemicals on their precious find that they never worked for.
“Store it properly officers! Do not drop it or bump it!”
“Careful now! Careful!”
Sighing and ignoring all the noise, I handed over the papers to the officer closest to me who wrinkled his nose at my dust-covered hands and took the paper gingerly between his fingers, scanning it quickly.
“Everything looks in order, Sir!” He yelled over to another officer who made his way toward us after signing off on the crate.
“Who are you, boy? Where is Commander Norii?”
“I am Revan Amontis, the Third Handler claiming the interim command position in lieu of Commander Norii’s death, Sir!” I thumped my chest and clicked my heels in respect, my crew followed in suit.
“What happened to him?”
“He stayed behind Sir, to save our lives when the D.I.G.G.E.R malfunctioned.”
“The D.I.G.G.E.R malfunctioned? How is that possible?” One of the scientists asked, looking at how the other scientists stood behind, watching him, it seemed he was the one in charge.
I shot Kellan a look, he looked as surprised as I felt; the scientists never acknowledged us.
Shaking off the surprise I continued briskly, eager to get all this over with and to head back home, “Yes Sir, we were digging at our usual location when one of the D.I.G.G.E.Rs main blast drills got caught down the excavating site, triggering multiple gas pockets which caused the entire site to collapse down upon us. Commander held on to the controls till the very ground melted, giving us time to escape.” I finished as the exhaustion settled down on me thicker than any coat I ever wore.
“The entire site? What do you mean by an entire site?! You fool! Do you know what you have all done? That is an entire site of Oxinophilicate laid to waste!
“But Sir-!”
“Enough! I don’t expect someone like you to understand the importance of what we are doing here. Just try to do your jobs better.” He growled.
I could only stand there and nod as I swallowed my anger and disgust.
“You, there! Fetch the crates and follow us!” The scientist continued to grumble under his breath and walk away, his team of flies still buzzing around him.
The officers soon cleared our papers and allowed us to leave after that. I kept my answers short and to the point, not wanting to attract further attention or problems. After the last sign and nod, I finally let myself relax, the rest of my crew gathered around me as I gave them orders to head home.
“Well, that went well,” Kellan muttered as we watched the officers walk away, a few of them still keeping an eye on us.
“Yea, it would have been smoother if the Commander was still there, I’m sure,” I replied.
“You did the best boy. Not like those fools care if he is there or not. You saw them. They jus’ sad the site is gone. What do they know what happens there?” Jensen growled under his breath angrily. The other muttered in agreeance.
“We all know that Jensen,” Kerin whispered soothingly.
“So, what do we do now?” Kellan asked, his face pinched in exhaustion.
“For now, we all head home, get some sleep and first thing in the morning we head over to the homes of our fallen friends and deliver the news to their families. They deserve to know.”
Everyone nodded in acceptance and started moving towards the travel shuttles to DSU.
“It’s going to be one depressing conversation.” Kellan sighed.
“It’s the right thing to do. I’ll be there when you talk to the Commander’s wife.” Kerin chimed in.
“Sure. But go grab some sleep first. We’ll wait for you at the station.” I told her as Kerin hugged us both and left to board the Inter-Nav shuttle. We waved at her as we watched her leave.
Stretching and yawning, Kellan and I boarded the last shuttle to DSU and all but melted into our seats.
“She is going to be heartbroken… You got a plan?” Kellan asked.
“None at all.”
…
“Are we sure?” The Lord of House Vulcan asked, his fingers steepled in thought.
“Yes, my Lord. The ship’s interim commander stated as such.” Stuttered the High Scientist, the sweat dripping from his brow in nervousness as his eyes darted from chair to chair.
“Hmm…most… dissatisfactory,” Drawled out the Lady Neaven of House DuVille, her voice a sibilant hiss, “were there any significant losses?”
“Er… you mean other than the commander my Lady?”
“No, you fool! The crates! The ships! Things that WE, the LORDS are supplying!” Lord Killian of House Gill roared.
“No… no… my Lord, they managed to get the crates securely along with the ship.” He spoke in a rush, his voice a nervous squeak.
“Now, now Killian, there is no need to shout. I am sure the High Scientist Lukas knows what’s at stake here. Don’t you Lukas?” Lord Vulcan smiled even as his eyes glittered coldly.
“Yes. Yes. I do Lord.”
“Good. Because if we are to keep breathing… if YOU are to keep breathing, then I’d suggest you do NOT waste crates of Oxinophilicate by entrusting them to fools who cannot get the job done. Two crates are unaccounted for! Do you know how much that will set us back by?! Send them back at once to retrieve the remaining quota.”
“I can’t, Sir.”
The silence in the room was thick enough to be cut with a knife as all eyes were trained on the High Scientist.
“What?”
“I apologize Lord Vulcan, but we cannot send them back, the site is destroyed.”
“Destroyed?”
“What do you mean?”
“Explain, High Scientist.” Lady Daniella’s quiet voice cut through the noise, silencing everyone instantly.
“Yes, my Lady. The D.I.G.G.E.R’s blast drill’s got caught in one of the shafts triggering multiple gas pockets and leading to a catastrophic explosion which led to the destruction of the site.” The High Scientist wiped the sweat from his brows and tried to still his quaking knees as the Lord’s and Lady’s of the high table stared down at him, he was sure to lose his position after this he thought.
“We must have their heads!”
“This is a catastrophe for sure!”
“And what do you propose Lord Dubois? We kill them. Ha! And who could fly your precious ships? More fledglings? I think not. They are seasoned Dig Specialists.” Lady DuVille chuckled as she stared down the Ship Master.
“It is unfortunate, but Lady Neaven speaks true, one Dig Specialist is worth ten in training.” Lord Vulcan muttered as he pondered over the predicament.
“So, what do you propose Deneidier? We do nothing. That expedition was funded by my bank! Now how will you tide over the costs? Those crates are not even half of what was promised!” Lord Killian Gill sneered, “Remember Lord Vulcan, the Intergalactic Bank of Bhaillemorien is not known for accepting credits.”
“Nor will I, for the damages done to my ships.” Lord Dubois interjected as he slammed his fist on the table.
Lord Vulcan considered both men calmly and leaned back against his chair, “Men, you seem to forget who has retained the greatest loss here. Those were my crates, and it was my expedition. And nowhere do I seem to recall me asking for your assistance. You lent your aid on your own, for reasons of your own.”
“Money.” Lady Neaven chimed in with a laugh as Lords Skern and Killian choked on their words.
“If we are done fighting amongst one another, perhaps we can look for a solution?” Lady Daniella said dryly.
“Agreed. Lukas, who did you say is the interim commander?”
“It is a …ah, yes. It is Revan Amontis, Lord Vulcan.”
“Revan… Amontis. Ah, yes. I have heard of him, Deneidier. A most clever student. Drafted into the Dig Specialist Unit right out of the University.”
“It is of no surprise you’d know a worthy student, Neaven. You hardly step foot outside your precious education districts.” Lady Neaven laughed in acceptance.
“Lukas, have him attend the meeting tomorrow.”
Loud voices of disagreement rose at once.
“A lowbred! Are you mad?!”
“In Primonir?! “
“That’ll do gentlemen!” Lady Daniella interjected loudly, “I wish to find a solution, and if this leads to one then I have no qualms about having Amontis here.”
“No disrespect Lady Maern, you are only looking out for your needs, but this is Primonir’s High Table, and we won’t have it defiled.”
“I’ll excuse you this one-time Lord Dubois but do not forget, the weapons that guard you, come from House Maern, let us not test their true loyalty.”
Lord Vulcan laughed as he stood up, “Well said my Lady. Remember gentlemen, we all have a lot riding on each crate, and we need to resolve this, so if someone has a problem with my choices, you’d best learn to swallow it because House Vulcan is the reason you breathe.” He looked at each member of the table, “Dismissed.”
The High Scientist finally let go a sigh of relief as the High Table disbanded for the day.
…
The marketplace was more crowded than usual with a stream of shoppers enjoying their day off after a hard week of work, laughter and the sweet aroma of freshly baked goods permeated the air. Kellan and I made our way through the crowd alongside Kerin who was guiding us as usual through the winding maze of streets with the help of her nav systems.
“There! The group of buildings. The commander’s family stays there.” She exclaimed and turned to look at us, “Any idea how to approach this.”
“We’ll be as honest as possible. It’s the least we can do.” I said and straightened my clothes, we only had very little time to shower and clean ourselves up since we caught the first train here.
“Whatever it is brother, we are by your side,” Kellan murmured and clasped my shoulder; I looked over at him gratefully and we made our way towards the buildings.
“413 right?” I asked Kerin.
“Yea.”
I knocked on the door and waited for an answer. My throat felt dry and my hands sweaty as I tried to form the right sentences in my head, what does a person even say in this situation?
“One moment!” A muffled voice yelled from inside and suddenly threw open the door.
“Yes?” A petite woman in her late 40s answered the door, her dark hair done up in a messy bun and her kind face had a welcoming smile, “How can I help you?”
“Mrs. Norii?”
“Yes, that’s me.”
“Hello ma’am, I am Revan Amontis and these are my friends Kellan and Kerin. We are from your husband’s unit… May we come in?”
“James’s unit? Of course, please come in.”
We entered the apartment, and it was lovely, pictures of Commander James and his family were scattered across the walls. He was loved. He did not deserve this end; his family did not deserve it. The bitterness of the news I was about to deliver coated my tongue and I felt angry at the unfairness of it all.
“Is everything alright?” Mrs. Norii asked, her face pinched in worry.
“Ma’am… I am sorry, there is no easy way to say this…”
…
I could still hear Commander James’s wife’s sobs loud and clear in my ears, loud and filled with pain.
“How do I tell the children? How do I tell them?!” She sobbed and all we could do was simply stand there and watch her cry. I was helpless, all of us were.
“Will there be help? Will we get any help? The children… are young and in school… Will the High Lords grant us anything at all?” And there was nothing I could say because there is nothing that is offered, so long as we dig, we can provide.
“This is bullshit man.” Kellan said for the hundredth time that day, “Those poor kids.”
“They aren’t the only ones Kellan. Others lost their life too.” Kerin whispered as she looked back at the commander’s house.
“Yea well, that’s bullshit too! The least they can do is offer the family something.”
“They will be expected to help the High Table in some way too. Either they dig or they die.” Kerin replied harshly, her face lined with pain.
“And what about the kids? Them too? They aren’t even old enough yet.” Kellan growled back.
“That’s enough. I’ll check in with the DSU if they can arrange rations until the eldest boy is of age. At least after that, he can look after his family.” My mind ran through the possible ways I could get the DSU to pitch in, it wasn’t going to be easy.
“And the others Revan? Don’t they deserve the same?” Kerin asked.
“Yes, but I can leverage the commander’s post, what can I do for the rest, Kerin? There is only so much I can do. The commander sacrificed himself, the rest were collateral, that is how they will view it.”
Kerin clenched her jaw and looked at the ground, she knew there was no other way.
“Come on, let’s take a walk. Talking in circles is not going to help us. We’ll think about it alright. Maybe we find a solution.” I said soothingly.
“They were our crew. Our friends!” Her voice was hoarse as the tears flowed.
“We know. We know.” Kellan whispered as he held her in a hug. I clenched my fist as anger flooded me again, breathing deeply, I restrained myself. I needed to be there for them now.
“Alright, we need-” My voice cut off as I felt a buzz and a beep from my pocket. My pager blinked at me with an unfamiliar red light.
“Another mission?” Kellan asked as Kerin composed herself.
I quickly read through the message, my eyes widening at its contents.
“Revan, what is it? Who is it from? Do we need to go?” Kerin asked.
“It’s from the High Table. They want to see me.”
“Shit.”
