Chapter 5
The next few months passed without incident. I learned to control my strength and speed, though there were still a few slip-ups. Enough that I had a reputation around the Academy. I had already rejected offers from the track team, the wrestling team, the advanced combat team, and even a curious elite unit called E Club. By and large, people left me alone. They waited until I was apparently out of earshot until they started mumbling about me.
There was one exception. Of course there was one exception. Cadet Elle Singh. She had latched onto me that first day, and no matter how hard I tried to shake her, she would always return. There was a part of me that admired her tenacity, but the rest of me kept reminding myself she was the daughter of Admiral Singh and was a dangerous acquaintance.
She wasn’t the only one of Admiral Singh’s children showing interest in me. It seemed her brother would make up any old excuse to see me.
I ensured my grades in all my classes put me in the top percentile but never the absolute top of the class. I had to maintain good marks and good discipline if I was to graduate in a position to influence the Coalition. Yet I had to keep reminding myself I couldn’t be too good. Too good would bring undue attention.
For someone who had endured 450 years of internment, I found the prospect of having to wait for the next five years before I could begin to make my mark on the Coalition torture. I wanted to make a difference today. I wanted to start absolving my sins right now. But unfortunately I had to head to class.
Today there was a surprise guest lecture. I hadn’t bothered to look up details of what it would be about. It was in xenobiology class, and I could pass that particular unit without attending a single lecture. There wasn’t a race in the Milky Way I hadn’t met before, nor one I hadn’t fought.
I walked up the steps of the lecture hall, spying an empty seat off on its own. I didn’t take it. Instead, I quickly ascertained where Cadet Elle was, and I walked over and sat beside her. There was no point in sitting on my own. Elle would simply move to sit next to me.
I’d learned over the past several months that she was irrepressible.
She offered me a large smile as I sat down and an unnecessary wave considering I was right next to her. I returned the smile. It was getting easier, or at least around her it was. You tended to get a lot of practice with smiling around Elle Singh. It was about the only thing she could do right.
Somehow she was still in the Academy, and in many ways, that might have something to do with me. While she tended to be okay on the academic side of her study, her physical fitness was still below par. I had helped her out where I could, even teaching her simpler throws and attacks more suited to her size and weight ratio. This had only reinforced to the cadet that I was her best friend. A term I couldn’t even begin to comprehend.
“Oh my God, this class is going to be so exciting. I heard from my brother the guest lecturer is Doctor Ing.”
I looked at her blankly.
“You know? The Academy’s foremost expert on spacers?”
I didn’t move a muscle, at least not outwardly. Inside, I clenched like someone had hit me in the gut. I forced a smile. “That sounds interesting,” I said in what I hoped wasn’t the fakest tone in the galaxy.
“Interesting? Are you crazy? It’s going to be amazing. You know what a spacer is, right?” She questioned me. “It’s just that some people still think they’re a myth. I don’t know how you could actually think that, considering how much damage they’ve done. I suppose they’ve been operating for so many years that they’ve become legendary to so many races.”
I didn’t say a word. I sat there and concentrated all my energy on maintaining a blank, controlled expression. Fortunately, soon enough the class started. If I had known we’d be discussing my race today, I wouldn’t have come. I would have concocted some infection with my implant so I could skip the lesson.
I couldn’t change that now, and I judged it would be more conspicuous if I suddenly stood up and raced out. So I would have to endure this.
I settled my eyes somewhere on my desk, and I did not raise them even when the lecturer entered the hall.
…
Jason Singh
“It’s just this way, Doctor,” I said in a polite tone as I gestured toward the lecture hall. The students were already seated, half of them looking bored and the other half were ecstatic. Clearly, word of the surprise guest lecture hadn’t spread through all the recruits yet. If the assembled cadets knew they were about to get one of the most interesting talks of their careers, they’d be bouncing off their seats.
“Thank you, Lieutenant,” the doctor said in a polite tone before waving and walking out onto the podium.
Kluver, who’d helped me escort the doctor, leaned in to stare past me. “How come you’re stuck on escort and babysitting duty?” He asked as he watched the doctor launch into his introduction.
I shrugged my shoulders, trying to keep my true reaction to myself. Why was I stuck on escort and babysitting duty, showing guest lecturers around the Academy or shepherding dignitaries through town? It was a very good question, one I couldn’t answer. The fact was, my true mission was going nowhere. It had been several months since Admiral Forest had pulled me into her office and given me my new directives. Directives even my mother didn’t know about.
While the rest of my friends thought I was an ordinary member of the combat forces, I wasn’t. I was the latest recruit to Admiral Forest’s top secret intelligence program. While her spies were often sent out to the Borderlands or to the colonies or anywhere else they could gain information on the Coalition’s ever burgeoning enemies, I was still on Earth. Not because the admiral doubted my ability. Far from it. According to her, she’d given me one of the most important missions to come across her desk.
There was a spy on Earth, possibly even in the Academy, and they were passing top secret, highly sensitive information about the Coalition’s capabilities and defenses onto the Kore Empire or anyone else rich and obliging enough to pay for it. My job was to track that spy down, to catch them before they could do more harm. The problem was, there were no leads or at least none that had led anywhere, other than to dead ends.
It could be anyone with sufficient clearance – absolutely anyone. That’s why Forest had entrusted this mission to me and me alone. Apparently, she even suspected people in the upper echelons of the Academy. Technically, babysitting and escorting lecturers and dignitaries was part of my mission – the Admiral wasn’t kidding when she’d said it could be anybody with a connection to the Academy. And any one of the VIPs I kept showing around could be a contact or a potential customer.
Doctor Ing continued to introduce spacers, his voice booming out across the auditorium as he spoke of how insanely dangerous they were.
Fortunately, I’d never faced one. I knew people who had, though – my mother was one of them. She’d almost lost her previous ship – the Chronos – to them. According to her firsthand report, they were one of the most brutal, mindless enemies she’d ever confronted, and she’d been at the forefront of the Rebuilders saga a few years back.
“There is little we know about the spacers. Unfortunately, we’ve never been able to capture any to study them. Alive, anyway,” the doctor continued in a rumbling tone that would have captured the cadets’ attention even if he wasn’t talking about one of the most fascinating topics in the Milky Way. “What we’ve learned is fascinating. They appear to be a race of subspace aliens.”
“What does that mean?” One enterprising recruit piped up.
The doctor, far from being put off by the interruption, seemed thrilled.
This guy was clearly big on theatrics.
“They have some biologically mediated method of interacting with subspace. From eyewitness reports, we know they are capable of point-to-point transportation over a limited distance. It’s nothing compared to an actual matter transporter aboard a cruiser, but it is still a significant feat for a biological entity. They
can also store things in subspace, or at least that’s my theory.”
“Why are they so adversarial?” Another recruit asked.
“Now this truly is a fascinating question.” Doctor Ing slowly placed his hands together as if he were praying, and shot the whole crowd a meaningful, serious look. “It’s my theory they are mindless weapons being controlled by some external force. Some of my colleagues don’t agree with my belief, but they have not studied spacers as extensively as I have. From the dead members of this race we’ve been able to study, their armor and accessories have all been different, save for two metal bands that wrap around their wrists.” The doctor brought up his hands and cupped his wrists as an example. “We have no idea what kind of technology those bands are, but from dissections we know they send incredibly fine biological wires throughout the spacers’ whole body, congregating in their brain and up their spine. While some of my colleagues believe these bands and biological wires are methods the spacers use to control their subspace interactions, I disagree. Though their biology is alien to us, there are enough similarities with other races to conclude that these wires proliferate in such a manner as to suggest they exert control over everything from speech faculties to movement. Which begs the question. If spacers are one of the most powerful enemies you are likely to face as a Coalition soldier, just who or what is behind them? The rare report from agents within the Kore Empire suggests that for the right price you can hire a spacer.”
“From who?” The talkative cadet asked.
Doctor Ing shrugged his shoulders. “I must admit that these are mostly rumors, but if the sources are correct, and if you had the money and gall, you could hire a spacer from the Hole Sect.”
A low, worried murmur crossed through the cadets. They wouldn’t know too much about the secretive Kore Empire yet, but they would have heard about the Hole Sect. A shadowy group of criminals who many believed controlled the Empire like puppeteers. Their influence supposedly poisoned that whole region of space and even spread out into the Borderlands and the Barbarian sectors.
To be honest, anything said about the Hole Sect was hearsay. There was no evidence about that group – just stories. In fact, a large chunk of Doctor Ing’s lecture was hearsay. His theory about the spacers being controlled was unique in the field. Most of his colleagues felt there wasn’t enough evidence to assume anything other than the fact the spaces were one of the most dangerous enemies the Coalition faced. Though they weren’t on the level of the Barbarians or the Kore Empire, they were still a massive threat. Thankfully, however, they were rare. If you cobbled together all reports of spacers, it seemed as if there was little more than 50 of them. If there were a whole race of them, no doubt they’d have control of the whole galaxy. But at a little under 50, they were a terrifying if manageable threat.
After a dramatic pause, Doctor Ing moved on to discussing the individual spacers in turn.
He started with her. The one spacer everyone knew, because she, more than any other of her kind, had done the most damage. Even if you didn’t know what a spacer was, you knew her name. In some circles, it was like invoking the angel of death.
“Axira,” Doctor Ing’s voice thundered through the auditorium, “Is the worst by far. Though I should say was – there hasn’t been a single sighting of her for over four years.”
I stood a little closer to the door, watching the show.
“Where’d they get this guy from?” Kluver said, wrapping his hand on the datapad he held. “I don’t remember having lectures this exciting when I was a recruit.”
“Hmm?” I wasn’t listening. My eyes quickly skipped over Ing as he practically danced across the stage with enthusiasm. Instead, I searched the crowd. Soon enough I found her – the curious Em.
She was sitting next to Elle – or more probably, Elle had sat next to Em. The elusive Em didn’t strike me as the kind to willingly sit next to someone as talkative and excitable as my sister.
“Axira,” Doctor Ing continued, “Was a scourge throughout the Kore Empire, Barbarian Space, the Borderlands, and even the Coalition. She has arguably taken more lives than any other Spacer, downed more ships, claimed more planets, and destabilized more star systems.”
“Hey, Jason, what are you looking at?” Kluver leaned closer and searched the crowd over my shoulder, his bright green face scrunching up in concentration. “They’re just first-years; they’re all too young for you,” he joked as he leaned back and patted me hard on the shoulder.
His move shook me out of my reverie, and I straightened, compulsively neatening my tunic as I did. “Nothing.”
“Yeah, okay,” Kluver sniggered, “Anyhow, we’ve escorted the great Doctor Ing here. I really don’t think the top brass expect us to hang around for the whole lecture.”
“You can head off – I’m kinda interested.”
“In the content or whoever the heck you’re staring at in the crowd?”
“Both,” I answered honestly. I gave Kluver a brief wave as I focused my attention back on Em. She wasn’t paying attention to the lecture. While everyone around her was staring at Ing in interest – this being the most interesting topic they would have come across yet – she was staring at the desk in front of her.
Though she was far away, she wasn’t that far that I couldn’t see her desk was bare.
“I like to make these lectures interactive,” Ing’s voice became louder as he stopped pacing the podium long enough to pause in one spot, “So, any questions yet?”
One kid in the front row stuck his hand up. “Are we ever actually going to come across any spacers, sir?”
Ing paused dramatically before offering a stiff puff of a laugh that echoed like a gun blast. “If you’re lucky, son, no. You never want to meet a spacer. If there was a spacer in this room with us, not a single person would escape. Heck, I imagine one could take out the Academy before we could mount a decent defense.”
“If they’re that powerful, why don’t we hear more about them?”
“They mostly stick to the Borderlands and the border of the Kore Empire. You do hear reports of spacers operating within Coalition space, but rarely.”
Every member of the audience was staring at Ing in rapt attention, several cadets practically leaning out of their chairs in their enthusiasm to get closer.
Except for Em. She was still staring at the table. Though I couldn’t be sure from this distance, it looked like she didn’t even blink.
Either there was something mighty interesting carved into the smart metal and glass of her retractable desk, or she was distracting herself.
By the end of the lecture, as the cadets filed out, I wanted to rush forward and say hello, but I knew I couldn’t. Lately, I’d been finding any old excuse to see the elusive Em. I wanted to learn more about her, but I didn’t have the guts to ask outright. Then again, neither did anyone else. Without technically being rude, she was the least approachable cadet on campus.
Before I could search her out of the crowd all pouring out the door, Doctor Ing walked up to me and asked, “How did you like the lecture?”
“It was good,” I stammered as I glanced quickly over his shoulder.
Em was walking past, Elle chirping around her like an excited bird. As Em passed the lecturer, she shot him an extremely cautious look, one the lecturer didn’t pick up on as he gesticulated wide and waved my way.
“If you ask me, it is one of the most fascinating topics in all of the Milky Way. A true mystery. If I ever have the chance to meet a live spacer, I won’t give it up.”
That odd comment threw me, and I lost Em again in the crowd. “Ah sorry, Doctor, but if you ever meet a live spacer, presumably the meeting won’t last long.”
“Quite right; good point. But one of these days it is my life ambition to get to the bottom of their mystery.”
I smiled at the doctor encouragingly and nodded down the corridor. “I can take you back to your office.”
The doctor continued to chat to me about his studies,
shooting off some pretty interesting theories. I walked him all the way back to his office and didn’t object when he invited me in for a further chat. It gave me all the opportunity I needed to scan his office for intelligence devices. When he got up and went to the bathroom I even snooped around the datapads on his desk.
Nothing. Of course there was nothing; I doubted Doctor Ing had anything to do with my mission. I was rapidly running out of targets. Several months had passed, and what had I to show for my efforts? Absolutely nothing but a gut full of frustration. Maybe that’s why I’d allowed myself to be distracted by Em so much – she was a thankful diversion from a task it seemed I could not complete.
…
Axira
I remained quiet through the next several lessons, lost deep in thought. Doctor Ing’s lecture had surprised me. I hadn’t been prepared for a frank account of my race and the devastation we’d wrought through the Milky Way. Though of course I was aware of it – I had first-hand experience of what a spacer could do, as the hands that had done those deeds were still attached to my wrists. But it was the act of listening to somebody else describe my atrocities that shook me.
“You’re kind of quiet. I mean, more quiet than usual,” Elle said. “Are you okay? You’re not getting sick, are you? I can take you to the med bay if you’re feeling poorly,” she offered before I had a chance to breathe, let alone speak.
I shook my head, pushing the long black and blue tendrils that constituted my hair over my shoulder. I took care in neatening them, allowing my fingers to distract myself from my thoughts. Rather than talk about the lecture, Elle bounced happily by my side, discussing her plans for the weekend. Despite how clueless she seemed most of the time, I fancied she could be capable of quite astute conclusions, as it appeared she’d figured out I had no intention of discussing the spacer lecture. Hopefully, she couldn’t guess the reason why.
“Do you know what lecture we have next?” She asked in a rhetorical tone.
I shook my head.
“It’s our first introduction to telepathic attacks. It’s a completely new unit, one they’ve only introduced this year. It seems they’ve had too many telepathic attacks on Coalition soldiers of late, so they’re trying to teach cadets how to fend them off. I have no idea what the class is going to be like, but I’m already super nervous.” She showed me her hand, which was shaking. There was little in this world that didn’t make Elle’s hands shake.
I forced myself to flash her a smile and say patiently, “You’ll be fine,” while my thoughts centered on what she’d just said. Telepathic defense? I hadn’t heard about this. If I’d heard about this, I would have pretended I was sick. Again. It seemed this morning was jam packed with things I did not want to face.
Unlike most of the other cadets streaming into our next lecture hall, I had faced telepathic attacks. In fact, in many ways, my 450 years of internment had been one. My mind and body had been laid bare to another. In comparison, whatever stupid tricks we’d learn today would be irrelevant.
Still, I didn’t like the idea of someone poking around in my mind. And considering the content of our previous lecture, I was rattled. So it was no surprise that as I sat down with Elle, I hardened my expression, tipped my head up, and deliberately stared out of the window.
I tried to formulate a plan of what I would do once it was my turn. If I were in a better mood, it would be easier, but my thoughts kept slipping back to Doctor Ing and his theories. It seemed he was alone in this galaxy in thinking spacers were there to be pitied as weapons and tools of some other creature far darker and far more hateful. Alone, that was, apart from me. I knew the truth of his theory as fact. A fact gouged into my wrists and mind.
…
Jason Singh
As soon as I was finished with Doctor Ing, I had more babysitting duty. This time I had to admit it was a whole lot more pleasant.
I nodded at the mindair before me. A member of an elegant telepathic race, she had incredibly large pretty eyes that invited you to stare at them all day long. I coughed uncomfortably and tried to neaten down my short hair. “It’s just this way, Hendra,” I stuttered over her name.
“Thank you so much for assisting me, Lieutenant Singh,” she said, my name rolling off her tongue like the tinkle of a bell.
I gave an awkward cough and uncontrollably walked a little faster.
I had no idea what group of cadets I was taking her to, but as soon as we reached the right lecture hall and I leaned my head through the door, I realized it was the same class as this morning. Her class.
I tried not to stare, though a couple of times my eyes strayed and picked her up out of the crowd.
The mindair sat before the class, her golden robes billowing around her, offsetting her luminous blue skin as the sun shone in from the windows behind. “It is important to understand this is just an introduction. This class is intended to introduce you to the world of mind-reading and telepathic powers. For the unfortunate fact is, enemies of the Coalition are now using these grand abilities as weapons against us. Unless you have the opportunity to meet these powers in a safe setting, so that you can learn ways to overcome them, you will be a target.”
I stood by the doorway, my arms crossed as I stared in, watching the class. Though my gaze was usually locked on Hendra, more than once it drifted across the classroom, and of course it drifted toward her. Cadet Em was sitting with my sister, all the way at the back of the class. She looked preoccupied with something, as she always did. If I didn’t know her scores, I would say from her usual complete lack of attention that she was the worst recruit in the Academy. The fact was, she was one of the best, if not the best. Indeed, in many ways, I often felt as if she was measuring her effort, as if she was capable of more, but didn’t want to stand out from the crowd.
As Hendra continued to introduce the class, the rest of the recruits continued to look fascinated.
Back in my day, we’d never had an introduction to telepathic attacks. Then again, back in my day, the galaxy had been a simpler place, hadn’t it? These days it seemed cadets had to be prepared for the absolute worst the Milky Way could throw at them, and then some.
Hendra continued to sit in her chair, the streaming sunlight playing across her golden robes as she brought up her hands and gestured wide. “Today I will offer you a unique opportunity. My race has been known for centuries as healers and counselors. We can enter people’s minds, dredge up fears, and resolve them. And it is the conquering of these fears that will make you not only better recruits but more resilient to future psychological attacks.”
I’d had a few mindairs poke around in my thoughts before, and it was a singularly bizarre experience. I’d also been forced to endure telepathic attacks, but I wouldn’t use the word bizarre to describe them. When a creature tried to force its way into your mind to destroy or harm you, it was one of the most horrible experiences the galaxy could throw up. It was like having a gun forced inside your skull.
All the cadets murmured amongst themselves. Excited at what was about to happen. Well, everyone except Em. She continued to stare off through the windows, looking blank. Either she was paying absolutely no attention and didn’t have a clue what this class was about, or the thought of training in telepathic defense bored her. Indeed, as the class continued, and the first few recruits were asked to join Hendra at the front of the stage, Em didn’t once glance down, despite the potent experience of fellow cadets reliving and conquering past fears. Em was far too focused on the view through the window until it became her turn. When Hendra selected her from the crowd and waved her forward, the usual hubbub of the class stopped. In fact, there was a general sense of awe as Em slowly and carefully took the stairs down to Hendra.
I watched Hendra shoot Em a curious look. “You are guarded, Cadet,” she commented. She hadn’t made this comment with any other recruit, and nor had she used the same curious tone. “Please sit,” Hendra offered as she gestured to the chair in front of her.
Re
luctantly Em sat, undoing her arms and letting them rest by her sides. Though her body looked relaxed, her expression wasn’t. It was tight and hard.
The mindair tipped her head to the side, more curiosity flashing through her gaze. “This will only work if you are relaxed.”
Em looked as if she wanted to say something. She was never rude. Brief, yes, but never rude. Yet now as she considered Hendra, it looked as if Em either wanted to walk out or snap some insult. Instead, she went through all the motions of relaxing: pushing her shoulders down, opening her palms, and letting her knees fall slack as she sat in the chair.
“You must relax your mind,” Hendra said as she took a deep breath, gesturing with her hands as if encouraging Em to do the same.
Em didn’t move.
“If you do not relax your mind,” Hendra began.
“You won’t be able to force your way into it,” Em finished. “It’s when you drop the walls that you allow a telepathic attack,” she continued in a curt, professional tone.
Hendra blinked quickly.
“This class is meant to teach you how to withstand telepathic attacks,” Em cut in, “And I’m withstanding yours.”
Hendra looked thrown. “Cadet,” she began in a warning tone, or at least as warning as a graceful, kind mindair could ever be.
Em didn’t let her finish. “I don’t see how letting you in will help me learn how to keep you out.”
“You must open up to me,” Hendra continued. “I don’t want to push my way in.”
“You don’t want to, or you’re not allowed to?” Em questioned quickly.
I’d never seen her like this. She was challenging Hendra, cutting her down at every opportunity.
Should I do something? Should I walk into the room and tell Em she was out of line?
All this class had to do to pass this unit was learn to keep Hendra out. And it seemed, as I watched Hendra’s hands grip tighter on her lap, that Em had already passed.
“I am here to help you,” Hendra tried again, her frustration peeking through her voice.
“How could an experience like this help anyone block a telepathic attack? You’re creating channels that will make it easier for them to get attacked again. I know how these things work – the first time you let someone like you in, you make a hole. You make it easier for telepathic attacks to occur in the future. So what exactly is the reasoning behind letting you in in the first place?”
Hendra looked completely flustered now. “This class is designed to help you become familiar with telepathic attacks and ultimately help you learn how to rebuff them.”
“Then it’s badly designed,” Em said flatly. “I’ve faced telepathic attacks before, and the last thing you want to teach is how to open up your mind to them.” Em blinked as she said she’d faced telepathic attacks before, and as soon as the words were out of her mouth, it was clear she regretted them. It was clear she’d let something slip. And for a woman usually as controlled as her, that was a surprise.
Her admission made Hendra hunch, her pretty eyes blinking quickly as she directed them to the floor. “Yes, I can feel that you have experience. But what I am offering you is the opportunity,” she continued, “To benefit from the healing powers of confronting your fears, of confronting past demons.”
Em’s expression, if it were possible, hardened even further. Her face looked as if it had been cast from steel. She didn’t say anything; she stared at Hendra.
Hendra rearranged her hands on her lap, and I watched her eyes half close. It was clear she was trying to break through Em’s defenses. But as several seconds turned into a minute, it was also clear she couldn’t do it. After a few uncomfortable blinks, Hendra shook her head. “Very well, if you are going to be difficult, Cadet, I will note this in my report.”
Em stood up. “That’s your prerogative.” She turned and walked away, returning to her seat and somehow ignoring all the stares the other cadets shot her. Elle immediately leaned in and patted her comfortingly on the arm.
I stared. What had that been about? Em had faced telepathic attacks before? Where and how? What exactly had she been before she’d joined the Academy? If she were any other recruit, I’d find the fact she had experience with telepathic attacks hard to believe, but it almost made sense when it came to Em. She had more experience than any of the other recruits, a keener battle sense, and generally better skills.
Why?
What was her secret?