“I really do not like casting Larath as anenemy,” I stated, but it was worse than that. It seemed like theenemy might be the Empire itself, but that could not be true!
“Nor do I, but really it is much worse thanthat. If both of us have had our pasts tampered with, what aboutthe rest of the senior staff? It would seem a given that if Iretired and came back as a different person they should haverecognized me.” He paused there, and then said, “One has to wonderhow deep this cover-up goes, or should I say, how high?”
“So where do we go from here? Obviously, Ihave to get to that planet, at any cost. I do not want to believethat this is how the Emperor wants it to be. I would rather believethere is some evil force operating inside the highest levels ofcommand which is orchestrating all this.” That was such a cop-out.I could see where all the evidence pointed, but I just could notbelieve the Emperor would betray his loyal servants like this.
“In any case, we can be assured that whoeveris behind this means to stay hidden at any cost. The first thing weneed to do is to arrange for you to be ordered off duty, to restand recover from your ordeal. Then we need you to leave a day earlyon your mission, in fact at 0500 hours tomorrow would be best,” hesaid.
“Assuming that could be done, that would tripsuspicions with my team since they are expecting me to make anannouncement at 1800 hours,” was my reply.
“Well that is simple; contact yourreplacement shortly before 0500 hours, saying that the mission wasmoved up, and that he has to take over as of 0515. It would not bethe first time a mission timeline was moved up. No one would bemuch surprised by that,” he stated.
“And how are we going to pull this off? Icannot just leave early; I am still waiting on a squad and shipassignment from Zalith,” I pointed out.
“I can handle that. Zalith and I have had avery good relationship ever since I saved his son’s life. I willsimply tell him that we have reason to believe that the mission hasbeen compromised and that we think the Magi know the missiontimeline. That way he will see the wisdom in stepping it up a dayso that you arrive long before they expect you. He may suspect heis not getting the whole truth, but he trusts me enough not to askquestions.” He turned back to his computer and a smile crept acrosshis face. “It seems that about ten years ago you had a faintingspell which was attributed to working too hard in school andneglecting your diet. They put you on medical leave for a fewdays.”
I looked over his shoulder and saw therecord. I knew that matched the memory I had just unblocked, butuntil that time I had had no recollection of it. “That settles it,we will go with your plan. And since I will be leaving on a stealthmission, I must conveniently turn in that faulty medical alertpatch.”
“Yes, and since it is faulty, there is noreason for me to keep it.” With that he tossed it in the trashdisposal that would quickly recycle it back to raw materials.
“There are many questions still to be asked,but I do not think we would get anywhere tonight. I must get backto my quarters and get some rest; it might be a while before I getanother chance,” I said. After exchanging well-wishes, I left andreturned to my quarters.
As soon as I entered my room, I noticed I hada message waiting from High Command. I went over and played it.
“Commander Vydor, this message is for youonly, direct from the officer of the Emperor. You are not clearedto share this with anyone except your strike team. These new orderssupersede all previous orders. You are not to attempt to contactthe Magi in any way. You will lead your team to steal one of theirplasma cannons and any information you can get with about the fearweapon you reported. Once you have that, you are to get off theplanet and it is to be destroyed. The captain will be told all heneeds to know when the time is right. When you return you willreport back all that you learned only to High Command. The Emperorsends his blessings for a successful mission.”
Great, orders to not speak with the Magi. Howwould I get any answers if I did not? This might turn out to be oneof those orders Dr. Rannor would tell me should not be obeyed.Well, there would be plenty of time to think about that on the tripto the planet. Now I would have to get some rest.
Chapter Ten
As I woke very early the next morning, thefull weight of the mission I was about to undertake hit me anew.This was no longer merely a puzzle to solve but a real mission torun with real lives on the line. It had been easy to ignore thehuman factor but now that would have to change.
What does one take on a suicide mission? Isupposed there was a chance of success, but it did not lookpromising. There really was not much I needed to bring. All I ownedwere a few dusty old books that had been passed down through myfamily for so long that I had no idea where they had come from. Ihad been told one of them was very important. I couldn’t read it;it was in a language that I had never seen in all my years atschool.
I remember the day that my father gave it tome. I had just graduated from the Academy at the top of my class,and I received a message that he needed to see me right away. Hewas suffering from the final stages of Betalian’s Syndrome. I wentas fast as I could. I knew there was very little time left.
Betalian’s Syndrome is one of the few fatalillnesses that we cannot cure. No one really understands what itis, or what causes it. The body just starts to shut down, one organat a time, until the patient dies. It can take years. Transplantsand cyber-orgs only delay the process.
When I arrived at his hospital room, helooked bad, worse than I had ever seen him. I knew that the doctorshad no tricks left to try. “Dad, how are you?”
“Not well, son. I can see the end of the linecoming. It won’t be long now. The doctors tell me my brain isstarting to shut down. I hear you graduated with the highest scoresever in the history of the Academy. Congratulations, my son, youmake your old man proud. Have you chosen your path yet?”
I had to strain to make out his words, as hecould barely talk. I knew better than to try to stop him; he wouldjust waste more energy arguing with me about it. “Yes, Father, I amgoing into Intelligence.”
“Ah, yes, you were always one to play withpuzzles. I never found one you could not solve. Look, I know Idon’t have much time left, and there is much I wanted to teach youyet. In my room, back home, look under my bed. You will find asafe. Inside it is my most valuable belonging. Keep it with youalways. I wish I had time to teach you what it is. Just rememberone thing, the Emperor is not … BEEP BEEP BEEP …”
Suddenly all the alarms were going off. Thedoctors rushed in, and I was forced out of the room by theorderlies. I spent the rest of the night pacing, waiting for newsfrom the doctors. Someone from the Academy called, wanting to knowwhere I was. I had left the ceremony before the end, withouttelling anyone. I did not take the call, I just asked the nurse tohandle it for me. She was a nice older woman. “Don’t worry aboutit, son, I’ll take care of it. You just get some rest, okay?”
Later the headmaster of the Academy came by.“Vydor, you never told me your father was so ill. I had to pullsome strings just to find you. I would have let you skip theceremony to be here instead.”
“No, that would have broken his heart. Hewanted me to be there so badly. I think it is what kept him goingthese last few weeks. I am sorry, sir, for leaving withoutnotice.”
“Forget it, no one could blame you. How ishe?”
“I don’t know, sir. He was trying to tell mesomething, and then the alarms went off, and …” I could notcontinue.
“Stay here, son; I will see what I can findout for you.”
The headmaster was a gentle man, and he tooka personal interest in all his students. He never had any childrenof his own, and I think the school served as a substitute familyfor him.
“They are doing everything they can for him.That is all they can say right now,” he said and took a seat nearwhere I had been trying to get some rest.
A few hours later the doctor walked out towhere we were sitting and said, “I am sorry, we did everything wecould, but he didn’t make it.”
The rest of the night was a haze. All I canremember is that the headmaster took me home and told me that hewas giving me some time off before sending me on active duty.
I found the safe Dad told me about. He nevergave me the combination to open it, but I was able to guess itafter only a few tries. When I opened the safe, all that was insidewas a book, a real book, with paper pages. It
