Log 1 Matter | Antimatter (4 page)

Next, and maybe he should have done this
first, he checked under his bed. A container with documents? How
big could it be? He lifted the mattress and then the solid base. He
paused and then laughed as he saw it. With another smirk at his
lack of addressing the obvious first, he saw his first hurdle—large
hurdle. “Problematic.”

That he’d been assigned this pod indicated
that the crew knew he was supposedly special. So should he use
that? He checked the operation to the planet first. Deliveries.
Cargo. He had been told the missions would not be what the junior
director of special ops described as ludicrous. The more risk the
operative had to take the less likelihood of success, and higher
risk of being caught. His mission had been ranked 2 out of 50 so
maybe he should feel insulted. No, they had matched it carefully to
ensure he would have an easy time. Plus, factoring in the crew and
his fears, Jamie knew they’d chosen right for him. However, they
couldn’t account for the unaccountable and that’s why they had all
the training they did. Jamie hoped none of those unaccountable
things would ruin his first mission so made two backup plans
anyway. His comms beeped and when he checked, Major Karr had
already approved the volunteer hours so by the time he went for
something to eat, he was told to stop by logistics to pick up
special ident tabs that would allow him access to cargo holds and
medic labs. Through the hatch was a store room, with a white front
bench. Jamie stood at the counter and a cheery face popped up from
below the other side and then hands that held a parcel. As the lean
male stood, he also placed a tablet next to the parcel.

“Here you go, sir. Four tabs but you need to
watch the restrictions. They have some times and locations that you
can’t enter.”

“Thank you, Private.”

“This package”—he tapped a finger on a
parcel— “contains the overalls you need to wear in cargo, they slip
right over your uniform, and the lab suit. You need to strip and
dress, go through the decontamination chamber, and follow the usual
protocols. Someone will take you on a tour of the labs with the dos
and don’ts.” He glanced through his list on the tablet. “That’s it,
sign here.” He twisted the EBrain so Jamie could have a quick
check.

“I’ll just inspect the parcel.”

“Very good, sir.” With an efficient movement,
the private opened the parcel; Jamie ran a quick inventory then
pressed his finger to the screen to give an SNA sample. The private
rewrapped the parcel and pushed it towards him. Jamie dropped it
back to the Ritz before heading to the mess.

Minutes later, Jamie lined up in the mess
hall for food and listened to those who chatted and laughed in
line, and to those already seated. Few were out of their black
overall uniform and those who were had some other uniform with
insignias. He chose his food, most of which had been placed behind
special transparent sliding doors, and turned to view his options.
When a dark-haired and eyed, attractive male smiled and waved him
over, he checked to ensure that the wave was intended for him. The
male’s grin and nod encouraged Jamie to join him, so he strode over
and sat with him.

“Hi, I’m Marc.”

“Jamie.” He sat and forgot that his bench
style chair was bolted to the flooring. Silently moaning
embarrassment, he also hated that he’d sat with his back to the
open space. Marc’s back was to the closest wall where he’d have a
better view and protection.

Marc resumed after a grin and ate his
mountain of food, while he eyed off the sparse selection on Jamie’s
tray. Jamie ignored him and picked up his fork to try the stir-fry
he’d opted for. Marc’s face was pale like his neck and hands,
angular and broad.

“Food’s pretty good on the Repco. Captain
doesn’t like complaints about the necessities in life, and that
includes tasty food. Just so you know”—the black eyes twinkled— “we
all know you’ve been assigned a DEP.”

“The Ritz.”

“Well, expect comments.”

Jamie just nodded and ate. After a few
moments of companionable silence, his initial hunger passed. He
didn’t want to put on any weight so didn’t finish his plateful.
“What do you do on board?”

“Lab rat. Are you going to eat that?”

Jamie shoved his plate across. “I volunteered
some hours in the lab.”

“Keen. Good thing you’re already deemed a cut
above us cruds as volunteering makes you look like an arse
crawler.”

“I don’t care what it makes me look
like.”

Marc grinned again. “No, I don’t suppose you
do. The benefit of not being stuck on this tub for five years.”

Jamie grimaced. To date he’d been moved
around enough to hold his interest. Five years on board the
Repco?

“Yeah, that’s how I feel about it, too.”

Jamie met the dark eyes with some
amusement.

“We’ve got a good sporting bay here. I’ll
show you around if you’d like?”

Jamie knew he wouldn’t get any sleep anyway
and nodded. A good workout would burn off the calories he just ate.
He started on his salad and ate his bread roll while Marc chatted
amicably about life on board the Repco.

“Did you like the greeting in the Ritz?”

Jamie drew a blank for just a moment and then
snorted. “Did I want to eject?”

Marc laughed. “That’s it. A nice little
welcome from me. We all get one and now it’s your turn for the next
newbie. I’ll send you the list so you can see who’s next in
line.”

Jamie nodded. Pranks were encouraged in the
cadets but he didn’t think it was a great idea on board a ranger.
What if Levan had been female and Jamie had decided he’d rather
eject than stay on board? He hid his grin. After they returned
their trays, Marc led him to the rear of the ranger and up a few
decks. Jamie had been surprised that Marc was just over six foot
and considering how much the male had eaten he was lean. Marc
sauntered around while Jamie strode. Around the walls were stripes
of orange with closed hatches along the way with numbers and room
idents.

He followed Marc to the end of the
companionway and a large hatch lay open. “If this is closed, don’t
enter. It means the top tiered officers are in here or there’s
something on that’s not an emergency. If there is an emergency the
big arse light will flash on and you’ll be deafened by the array of
sirens. Had those yet?”

“Yeah.” Jamie’s eyes opened appreciatively at
the assorted equipment, the sparring stations, the roster for
classes, the sectioned off rooms for squash and other sports.

“You can sign up for any teams; they’ll want
to check you out. There’s a nutrition bay and fat monitor.” Marc
was pointing around the massive area. “Not that you need that.”

“I like to keep under five percent.”

Marc eyed him off and raised a dark eyebrow
at Jamie’s brisk tone. “Okay.”

They walked around the area and Jamie signed
up for some teams, and he booked various equipment and machines for
over a week. He sent the information to the Ritz.

“You’re jumping on a bike now?” Marc gave him
a surprised look.

“Is that a problem?”

“No.” Marc changed the screen to his account
and
“
moved” his bike
next to Jamie’s. It seemed like Jamie was to have more of Marc’s
company. They changed into some standard sports shorts and tank
tops, took towels and cleaning gear. Jamie set the bike for warm up
and then random hill climbs. Marc set his for speed after the warm
up. As they sat and began their programs, Marc chatted.

Jamie almost asked him to let him have some
peace but Marc raised an interesting topic. “Heard of Dark Matter
Beings?”

“Ah, no.” Yes, but Jamie kept his knowledge
guarded behind several neural ramparts. It surprised him how
quickly his current mission abutted his real mission.

“You will. There are also Energy-matter and
Antimatter Beings and they want to embrace us, the Matter-matter
Beings, with their loving arms that will zap us, dim us or cancel
us out.”

For a moment Jamie thought Marc was
bullshitting, but beneath the humor were grains of truth. He
laughed anyway.

“It’s my job to acquaint you with the Three
Empires and Grands.”

Jamie almost broke his pedal stride but
resumed. He glanced across at the male, who was now pedaling
faster. “Okay.” After a few moments Jamie asked, “And?”

“And, not now. I’m busy.”

Jamie had to laugh at the grin that appeared
on Marc’s face. “Later then?” The program clicked and he rode
uphill.

“Later.”

“Later” proved to be six shifts later, in a secure
part of the clean, white lab. Jamie was staring at the bizarre
chemical structure that hovered in front of him. Marc joined him
and leaned in close. “Now, just pretend we’re chatting about the
image in front of you. You look properly puzzled, which is good.
The Three E&Gs are structured civilizations complete with
import and export laws, visitation policies, and interbeing
relations. Oh, before you ask, the Empire is the place, the Grands
are the people.”

“I’d imagine their visitation policies are
stringent.” He thought of Antimatter Beings visiting other matter
beings. Not a great combination.

On cue, Marc grinned. “Yeah, not so bad with
DM and EMs but the AMs are a problem. They have special buffer
zones and barriers covering vast regions of space. Forget macro,
think ginormous humongonoid.”

Jamie chuckled.

“We’re now classified as plain, old, boring
Matter Beings, or MBs, but, as I told you before, I think it should
be Matter-matter Beings but no one asked me. Anyway, we were made
inside what they call the Core, which we call the Horizon. The Core
is where life comes from, a natural pocket of Chaos energy and
matter.”

“Um… What of the Maya and the Cardinal
Unit?”

“Contrary to popular Aryan beliefs, the Maya
is the brains; the CU is like a big arse life arc with zillions of
templates for species and making shit. Chaos is held in the CU but
it draws on the Core so may have a big pump and when Maya pulls up
in her CU, she says, ‘Give me six liters of Chaos so I can churn
out a PuG.’”

Jamie laughed. PuG was a cheeky term for the
highest race, the Pure-Gen, the only Gen to be fabricated by Maya
herself.

“The thing is MBs are bit of an accident,
unwanted children, which I think is horse crap, and we’re being
contaminated by Chaos the longer we hang in the Core, so the Three
Empire and Grands are going to be approaching the Aryan Government
about joining as the Fourth Empire and Grand move to a safe
location. We all huddle around the Core, where we use Chaos to do
stuff.”

“Okay. Sounds … grandiose. What’s it to do
with me?”

Marc changed the holo-image.

Jamie jerked back at the scary looking
microbug.

“With your industriousness already noted,
they want to slot you in as a cultural attaché of sorts. They want
you to observe the initial meetings.”

“And you?” Jamie wondered if this procedure
was usual, he’d have to check in with his handler.

“I’m another attaché. There’s four newbies
all up to attend the real attachés, they want us in at the
beginning. We’re slotted for the Sentinel Program.”

How coincidental, but he kept his snide
thoughts to himself. Jamie eyed him off instead. “One for each
E&G?”

Marc flashed him a grin. “Quick, aren’t you?
I’m an EMB, known as the Aether. Almost. I was born in the buffer
zone on a rocky planetoid so less Aether than some. Each Empire has
a buffer, as I mentioned, which for me was essentially less of the
energy state and more general matter, the bit in the middle becomes
the buffer zone, neutral areas.”

“And DM and AMs?” He studied Marc, aware of
his own schemas, adapting and putting Marc into a new category. He
had thought when their hands touched it was chemistry, but it must
have been because he was an Energy Being.

“Tartarus is dark matter, and Erebus is
antimatter. Don’t get them confused with the four Chaos
Beings.”

“What?” Jamie hadn’t heard of Chaos Beings
before except in legends and kids’ stories.

“Never mind.”

Jamie studied him for a moment before
deciding to follow up later and returned to the topic. “I’ve heard
those terms … from Earth.”

“Ah, remember Earth gets its terminology and
myths from Aryans and us, not the other way around. Dribs and
drabs, mostly skewed on that planet. Ever wonder why Earth time is
the same as the Planet of Law and space?”

It didn’t take a genius. “A deliberate act to
remind the Avatara that Earth, while experimental, is a part of
Aryan Society.”

“Yeah, real subtle, huh?”

Jamie shrugged. It upset him that the Avatara
were responsible for Earth. He shoved those thoughts aside. “So,
where’s the rot?”

Marc grinned. “Where it always is, lies have
been told. There’s another … race … claiming the Core is theirs.
They want to stop us from huddling around the Core and keeping
Chaos to ourselves.”

“Not the Maya and CU?”

“No, that’s what is confusing. They claim the
Core exists for them alone, and Matter Beings of any state are
mistakes to be corrected.”

“Corrected?”

“Eliminated we think.”

“Ah, this is why it’s not common
knowledge.”

“Imagine it. Worlds would fear.” Marc glanced
around at a noise but it was a machine turning off and on. “My
security net will open up again. At the moment you just need to
know you are an attaché for MBs. The rival race calls themselves
the Vakar and they leave, we don’t know why, for long periods of
time, return to refresh or maybe to breed, but upon returning from
one of their pilgrimages they found us in the Core, and three other
being states around the Core, closing up around it and they were
not happy.”

“How do they travel around?” He needed to
know what Marc knew.