Chase the Darkness

A Science Fiction Novel

Kitty Schooley

Chapter 1
“Captain! Something’s wrong,” the helmsman said, trying not to sound too disconcerted.
“What is it, Ensign?”
“We’ve docked on the spaceport, but we’re not moving along the conveyance.” The interplanetary space transport was supposed to move along a conveyance system which did routine maintenance via robotics and optical scanners. Cargo areas were emptied and loaded onto the shuttle. At the last station, any passengers were transferred from the transport ship to the shuttle. The ship would then disengage and leave for the next stop.
“Any messages?” the captain asked the communication system engineer.
“No, sir. All communications between the space port and EM-3 have been shut down.” EM-3 was the official name for the moon colony. The pilot who discovered this system, and consequently this moon, in a more romantic time nicknamed it Elysium. The name stuck in spite of the times changing.
“Can you get them back up?”
“It might take a while, sir. Usually they initiate communication. We just hook into it when we dock.”
The captain was fuming. Nothing out of the routine had happened in years, and now something was happening on his watch. “Commander! What do you make of this?”
“One moment, sir,” I said. The captain was as capable as I to retrieve the information. He just liked the self-importance of giving orders and having them obeyed. I was the first mate of the second crew. The first crew was in hibernation sleep. We had been in stasis for the first six months after leaving Earth.
I touched the back of my neck, feeling the short fringe of hair there. That was where I believed my SCI chip was. Touching was unnecessary. It was just a reassuring affectation I had developed. Internal manipulation was what counted. And that required no more than one synaptic impulse to engage. No more than one of my own neurons communicating with another.
My SCI chip was one of the most advanced pieces of military equipment technology had developed. It stood for Surveillance Communication Interfacer. Older models required outside enablers to switch them on from the outside. Mine needed only an impulse from my own neural network. I was also unencumbered by opti-enhancers--an eye piece attached to a head band. My SCI chip used my own biological optical system to produce an image, or my own aural system to produce auditory information. It could be disconcerting if one wasn’t used to it. I was, and I was proud to have a piece of equipment available to few. Only captains and certain government officials had greater capabilities.
It couldn’t have been clearer to me if I’d had a twentieth century computer terminal in front of me. “Sir, the whole space port was disabled from the ground months ago. The override codes are… in the possession of the governor. We can’t bring anything up without them, unless we get them to bring it up on the surface station.”
“Lieutenant? Anything more?” he queried the communications officer again.
“No, sir. The ground station seems to be abandoned. All communications links to anywhere on Elysium have been disabled.”
“Keep trying. Commander Evesen? Get a landing party together.”
I probably knew better than anyone on the ship who would be the best for such a mission. I knew better than the Captain, and he suspected it. “Yes, sir.”
“And, Commander, I’m going with you.”
“Sir, permission to disagree.” I continued on without getting permission, but his status required I ask. “One of us should remain on board. If something should happen…we’re the first and second in command.”
“I’ll leave orders to bring Captain Peters out of stasis if we don’t return in twenty-four standard hours. Lieutenant Evans is fully capable of taking charge until then.” He was referring to our security officer.
In truth, I had wanted to take Lieutenant Evans with me. He was preferable to taking Captain Kerr Brent. We mistrusted each other. I believe his wariness of me began because I was the youngest first mate in Earth Government Astronautic Service (EGAS). He suspected my means to rising in the ranks were reproachable. I had to admit myself; his suspicions were not without grounds. Although by the letter of the law, I had done nothing illegal.
“We’ll have to take one of the ship’s shuttles. The space port shuttle has been disabled along with everything else.”
Captain Brent glared at me as if I had just said the stupidest, most obvious, statement. I was not aware he knew until that moment. He was that hard for me to read. In my peripheral vision, I could see Evans shake his head. He sided with me, but could say nothing. “So, don’t you have some arrangements to make, Commander? Dismissed!”
I pulled up the personnel I wanted to assemble at the shuttle on the ship’s communications systems and sent urgent messages to meet at the site within fifteen minutes. As I walked the deck from the bridge to the shuttle launch, I thought about the captain. The one thing that would have helped me to understand him, he would not agree to. How he became suspicious that that was how I gained knowledge of people, I wasn’t sure. Perhaps it was because infrequently the other person took on my affectations and I took on theirs for awhile. I wished I could have been assigned to Captain Peters, who was not only more affable to begin with; he had acquiesced to my requirement more than once during dry dock. It was, however, more prestigious to be First Mate with the second crew, then with the first crew. The service didn’t want all the strongest players on the first team. I sighed. I would just have to do the best I could.
Outside the shuttle were rows of terrain boots. I sat down to remove the soft-soled cabin boots I had on. Space suits would be unnecessary. The atmosphere of Elysium was better than that of Earth. To take time to put on formal landing uniforms would have been unwise in an emergency situation. Our cabin fatigues were serviceable. They consisted of stretchy black pants that fit like a second skin. Someone laughingly called them liquid metal because they did have that shiny surface to them. We had beige ribbed tunics that ended in a waist band. A jacket or vest of heavy rip-stop nylon completed the ensemble.
I was so lost in the act of latching the quicklaces of my boot, I hadn’t notice that others had started to arrive. “Commander? What going on?” Ensign Lang said.
I shook off the musing. “Everyone will be briefed at one time.”
She smiled at me. She wore her hair pulled back, not short like me. I had shared her bed once. It was enough. She was brave, strong, and intelligent. Not easily given to panic. Just the sort of person needed at this time.
The young man across from me smiled. He, too, was one of my victims. Oh, they were willing. They were not even aware of what I had taken from them. No, it wasn’t like taking from them. It was more akin to making a copy. But then most wouldn’t want the information I’d copied from them readily available.
The captain arrived on the launch and everyone stood at attention. “At ease. Is everyone assembled?”
“Yes, sir,” I said.
“Good. We have a situation here. The space port, the communications, and shuttle to EM-3 have been disabled. We are going to the surface to investigate. Commander? Recommendations?”
“Sir, we should put down close to the ground station but not at it, in case there is enemy activity. We should proceed over the surface, attempt to take the ground station if possible, and re-enable it. If not, we will have to return here and send for reinforcements.” He hated me for having the right answer. It was unlikely that there was any enemy activity since we were far afield of any known alien alliances. And we hadn’t been notified of any treaty-breaking activities. But why was the space port disabled and the ground station deserted?
“Sir, why don’t we just disengage, and go for help?” the young man who had smiled at me before said.
“Because we have docked and locked!” You idiot was the unspoken epitaph.
“Sir, permission to explain?” I requested. He nodded begrudgingly. “Once the ship docks and the conveyance mechanisms lock on, the space port has control until it unlocks. Since it is disabled, we cannot unlock from our side. The space port system needs to be brought up. If communications overrides it, we will be notified and be on our way.”
The young man tried hard not to smile. But I knew he appreciated my gentle explanation in the wake of the captain’s reprimand.
We boarded the shuttle, and Ensign Lang, took the pilot seat. That was what I wanted her for. “Evesen, you take the helm,” the captain ordered.
“Sir, Ensign Lang is one of the best shuttle pilots we have.”
“Then you should be, too.”
“Sir?” I thought better of asking him how he knew, but then just said, “Yes, sir.”
We set down without incident. The all-terrain land conveyor was detached and readied. Elysium was a beautiful place, if one was into that sort of thing. Most of the surface was like Southern California on Earth. The climate was mild and temperate. Luscious plants grew. But I much preferred being in space. I was fleeing a legacy on Earth. I had left my family long ago fleeing from it. I had gone into the Academy and the Service fleeing from it. I was uncomfortable with R&R on Earth. So to be reminded of our mother planet was not something I enjoyed, never mind that I was reminded of one of her most pleasant pockets.
“Remember, we are not trying to engage any enemy,” the captain said. “This is reconnaissance.”
I was getting a sense there was no enemy. Not, at least, any alien representative breaking treaties. No, the enemy was much closer. I was receiving unsettling information, and it wasn’t from my SCI chip.
My SCI chip was activated. It was in surveillance mode. “Sir, there are two humans. Fifty meters through the woods. Close to the shuttle landing.”
“What are they saying?”
I grimace at him. If he enabled his chip, he wouldn’t have to ask me. “It seems to be a mother and a daughter. She’s telling the daughter she’s sorry she acted the way she did. It’ll all be better when they get to Earth. The daughter, Elly, was born here and never been on Earth. She says, you’ll see, the Earth is every bit as beautiful.” I bored of the woman romanticizing about Earth. “She’s sorry again. She had to do and say those things because of the governor. He’s sick or something…”
Captain Brent shot a hard look at me. “Get to those two. Detain them. Could be rebels. Could be planning a revolt. Treasonous utterances.”
I couldn’t believe he was serious that a mother and her young daughter might be planning a revolt. I didn’t get that sense at all. But I was duty-bound to obey his order.
When I came out into the clearing with four of my comrades, the dark skinned woman looked as if she’d blanched. Our weapons were on stun, but she had no way of knowing that. “Ma’am, I’m Commander Evesen from the interplanetary space transport Ophiuchus Procellarum…”
“Oh, thank God!” she interrupted my speech, in which I would have charged her with treason. I thought it quaint to hear her invoke God.
“Ma’am you were overheard making treasonable utterances against the governor. It is my duty to inform you of your rights.”
“You’re from the transport? Just take me there. Take me back to Earth. You can put me in prison there.”
I was puzzled. She was way too frightened to be a traitor. I wanted to know how to proceed. If the captain would only enable his SCI chip I could communicate with him. “Sir,” I tried to no avail.
I would pursue my own intuitive investigation, without any contradictory order from him. “Ma’am, please, what is your name?”
“Becky, and my daughter is Elly.” I saw the shy youngster peek out from behind her waist. I smiled involuntarily.
“Becky, why are you here when this place has been shut down? Why did you say those things about the governor?”
“I just hoped someone would be coming today anyway. I know the schedule.”
“We’re outbound.”
“Yes, I know, but I’d rather spend a year and half in space than any more time here.” She averted her eyes. “I know I’ll probably be punished, but the governor has gone mad.”
“How do you know this?”
“I was the housekeeper at the mansion.”
I was moved to comfort this woman, but I knew I couldn’t in my official position. “Ensign Lang, go get the captain and the rest of the landing party. Tell him there are no alien enemies here.”
Becky told me how, approximately six months earlier, right after the last transport left, the governor began giving irrational and contradictory orders. He would shut down power, water, and waste removal systems, and then when he found the governor’s mansion had been affected, he would rescind the order. But the order to shut down the spaceport and the ground station was never rescinded since it didn’t affect anyone until now. When the captain got there, I relayed the information to him. He looked at her warily, but I don’t think he could believe anymore than I that this woman was a rebel or traitor.
We walked to the entrance of the ground station, which was locked. “We’ll have to force it!” Captain Brent said.
“Wait! I think I can decode it.” Won’t this guy ever learn to use his SCI chip, I thought. The entrance gave way easily. However, the communication control panel was locked and did not give way so easily. We had been working for over an hour, consulting with the chief communication system engineer via our personal SCI chips trying to bring up ground communications to the spaceport and ultimately the spaceport itself. The captain seemed content to observe for awhile then started to pace. I could see his mind working. Something happened on his watch, his fault or not it didn’t look good. Plus, it might mean being detained here for awhile, which didn’t please him at all. In that manner, we were alike. We were much happier hurtling through space than on any firm surface. I would never know his reasons for it. He had made himself unavailable to me. I knew what everyone else knew about him. He was a career EGAS man. He had risen up through the ranks to the position he held now by twenty years of hard work. I had achieved almost as much success as he had in one third the time. That he resented me for it took no special powers to discern.
“Evesen!” he barked at me. “What’s taking so damn long?”
“Captain, the codes are well encrypted. We’ve tried everything we know. We followed through every suggestion of Chief Quinn’s. If it weren’t so frustrating to deal with, I’d say it was a brilliant piece of work.”
“Where’s the woman?” Captain Brent demanded. In our push to get the systems enabled and on-line, everyone had forgotten about our captive.
“Over here,” she said. Becky had no intentions of escaping. She wanted to go back with us.
“You worked for the governor, right? How did all this happen?”
“I told Commander Evesen. He seemed to get sick months ago. Started ordering all kinds of crazy things, things that hurt the goings on at the mansion as much as anything else. The closer you are, the worse it seemed. Regular people on the street, business people, students, all seemed to fare better than government people, military, and household service. But everyone here, in this colony has been affected at some time in the past months. Can’t turn off all the power and not affect everyone. Then he’d ask why we had no light.”
“Who’s at the governor’s now?” Brent asked.
“Just him and his old valet. Everybody who could run off did. I think the military is in hiding planning something.”
Captain Brent was beaming with the information she just gave him. “Evesen! We’re going to pay a little visit to the governor.”
“Sir, I think you should take someone else. Let me continue overseeing the efforts to bring up the ground station.”
“You’re the one I want, Commander.” I could not disobey an order from a superior, not without jeopardizing everything I had worked for. Cheated for, the captain may have thought. I went along reluctantly, leaving Lieutenant Moore in charge at the ground station. We followed Becky’s direction and arrived at the mansion in the land conveyor a short time later.
The place was deserted. I felt eerie entering a compound that should be full of government officials and Earth’s Government Military Service (EGMS) coming and going. Plus, there should have been a flurry of household activity from the mansion's staff. I felt a sense of foreboding. That was illogical, and I assumed it was the oddity of the place being deserted that made me feel that way.
But the captain, my Captain, Captain Kerr Brent was beaming. He looked like a cat about to strike at a mouse he’d cornered.
The old man answered the door. “Where’s everyone?” Captain Brent asked.
“Everyone who could run did,” the bent white-haired man answered. “Been expecting you.”
“Why didn’t someone notify EG central if there have been so many problems here?”
“Why indeed?” the sarcastic old man said. “He shut down all outside communication.”
“One man couldn’t wield that much power that no messages could get out!”
“That’s what I would’ve said six months ago. Thought we had enough checks and balances. Yeah, that’s what I would’ve said.”
Brent tired of the old man toying with him. “So where’s the governor now.”
“Up there,” the man pointed a bony finger toward the stair. “Take a left and then the first right.”
“Evesen, you’re with me.” I would’ve guessed that at this point even if he hadn’t ordered. He hadn’t left me on the transport or at the ground station, either of which would’ve been more logical. I should’ve been more suspicious, but I trudged along after him.
The captain entered the room first and slid to the side with the wall behind him. My first sight of the governor, Governor Albert Clarence, was of him turning his head toward the opened door. He had a maniacal grin on his face. Then I caught sight of the curved piece of metal protruding from his pillow. I, thinking I had sighted the butt end of a weapon, release a blast from my weapon. He would be stunned, his major muscle groups unable to react, but other than that no change. I ran to the bedside and pulled out the piece of metal. The artifact was about five inches and curved. It had five holes, four close together, and one further away on the opposite curved end. I had never seen material like this before. The surface sparkled like a million embedded crystals, but the piece was light weight like shirt cardboard. It was rigid and all the edges were smooth. The holes invited my relaxed cupped fingers of one hand to curl inside. Once I slipped my fingers into place, I heard a voice. “Don’t let it go, no matter what!” I knew that voice from long ago in my childhood.
Captain Brent had walked around to the bottom of the bed, “What is it, Evesen?”
“I thought it was a weapon, but it just seems to be some sort of artifact.” And just as easily as if it had belonged to me forever I slipped it in my jacket pocket. I shrugged off the voice, and turned to the captain. He was rubbing his chin as if in thought.
He pulled the blanket back from the governor. He was clothed in fine, silky pajamas. “Evesen, have sex with this man.”
“Sir?” My incredulousness was not born out of prudery. In this age of no unwanted pregnancies and no sexually transmitted diseases, sex was treated as nothing more than an urge to satisfy. It was nothing more than hunger then eating, nothing more than a sneeze waiting then sneezed. Most babies weren’t even gotten that way. They were incubated. Sex was something one did with a friend or co-worker on a coffee break. Attachments were made when children were desired, but even those were temporary.
“Well, that’s how you do it, isn’t it? How you suck information out of people’s minds and turn them to your side? You could find out how all this happened. You could find the codes you’ve been so desperately trying to decode.”
I gave a small guffaw. “Sir, you give too much credence to rumor about my family.” Witches and sorceresses were what my mother’s line had been called. In one age revered, and now objects of contempt.
“Then you have nothing to lose by following my order. And Evesen, it is an order.”
“Sir, the man has no urge.”
“Certainly, a woman of your beauty and experience knows how to give a man an urge.”
I considered for a moment that the governor had been stunned, but I could recollect nothing about how stun settings affected sexual organs, male or female. I glanced over toward the door. The captain had closed and locked it while I was disarming the governor. This was the opportunity Captain Brent had been waiting for in all the time I had served under him. He had been sly beyond belief. Yet, I acquiesced as I was duty bound to follow this man’s orders.
As I released the quicklaces on my terrain boots, I thought. Maybe the governor wouldn’t respond since he was still stunned. I peeled off my cabin uniform pants. Maybe I could have sex without the mind merge. Had I ever had sex without mind merging? I couldn’t recall. Even with women, when it was more difficult to make the connection, I had always had the merge. When I had had trouble because of my power, I simply gave up sex to avoid using the merge. And to my knowledge, no one else had the power. I had learned to control it by trial and error, no one had taught me.
I untied the drawstring of the pajama pants and slid them down beneath the governor’s hips. I bent over and pulled the languid organ in my mouth. It responded immediately. I was distraught that the first hurdle was so easily overcome. With the governor’s organ fully erect, I sat astride it and attempted to hold back a response in me that was a natural as breathing. Ever since the first time I coupled with someone, it was as if someone gave me a neurological map. I could go at will anywhere in the other person's mind, gathering whatever information I needed or wanted. Sex was the only way I knew to accomplish this, but on the other hand, I’d never had sex and not done it. I had explored quite a few neurological pathways in my time, but my captain had not been one to consent to it. He always begged off with “don’t have the urge”. The first time I saw him with someone else a half hour later, I knew he suspected me. I tried to be nonchalant, I had all the information I probably needed to become Admiral in five years.
Captain Brent touched my rump, “Shouldn’t you be moving this?” I hadn’t realized that I had remained still in an effort to remain controlled. Mentally, I was at the gate of the governor’s twisted mind. I didn’t like what I saw, and I did not want to enter. I pushed and pulled slowly and rhythmically. Mentally I held position. I was encouraged. It was going to work. I would have intercourse with the governor until he climaxed and then dismount and report to the captain that nothing had happened.
Suddenly, as if a hand, or perhaps a claw, reached through that mental gate, I was pulled into the governor’s mind. I tried to watch for landmarks as I was dragged into the turmoil. I can only describe his mind and others I visited with the analogy of landscapes. In the governor's, there were black clouds closing in from every horizon. I didn’t even think of trying to retrieve the information I had been sent here for. My only thought was to get out safely. The path I had been pulled down was already closed by darkness. The acrid smell of death and destruction was in the air. Shrieks of despair pierced my ears. A constant evil hiss and crackle accompanied the intermittent screams. I shuddered with fear. I looked over my shoulder. For the moment, his past was uncluttered. Usually I could find a way out through someone’s past, when every other way was blocked. I backed away toward that space, not daring to take my eyes off the specter that was forming before me. But the dark clouds found their way into the space behind me before I reached it. I was sure I was going to die. Before the last point of light closed in over my head, I said a prayer, not knowing if there was a god, goddess, or Great Spirit to hear me.

©2003 Kitty Schooley