Warden: A Novel (17 page)

“Look at them, Calif,” Draly said. “What if he’s telling the truth? These two are clearly not Olin,
or
Exile.”

“The
Le’sant
was lost,” Calif stated with confidence. “The colonists wrote about it in the books. You know that, Draly.”

“But who knows what they wrote
before
that?” she said. “The generation that had power…back when the machines still worked.”

“That is the ancient past,” Calif said dismissively. “Whatever these two are, they are not from the
Le’sant
.”

“I can prove that I’m telling you the truth,” Barent offered, directing his comments toward Calif since he seemed the more skeptical of the two.

“How?”

“I have something in my pocket that will show you exactly who I am, and where I come from.”

Calif looked unsure, and regarded Barent’s face closely for a moment before speaking. “Keep an eye on them both, Draly.”

“What are you doing, Barent?” Tana asked under her breath.

“On the way out of the tomb, I grabbed something that might convince them we’re telling the truth.”

Calif relaxed his bow and slung it over his back, and then Draly compensated by waving the tip of her arrow back and forth between Barent and Tana—keeping them both in her sights.

“It’s in my front pocket,” Barent said.

Calif stepped forward and cautiously stuck two fingers down inside Barent’s jacket, withdrawing a small white rectangle. He stared in Barent’s eyes as he did so, watching for any hint of treachery, and then Calif took a step back and looked down at the plastic card.

“SERGEANT BARENT,” he read aloud. “TORVUS SPECIAL SECURITY FORCES.”

“And?” Barent prompted him. “What does the rest of that ID badge say?”

“ASSIGNED…STARSHIP LE’SANT.”

Calif held the card up to Barent’s face to compare the likenesses. “But that’s not possible. Even if the
Le’sant
did survive, you’d be long dead by now. You’re lying.”

Barent knew he was losing him and decided to take a more direct approach.

Forgive me, Tana.

Just as Draly swung the tip of her arrow away from him Barent kicked Tana to the ground, spinning Calif around by his shoulder in the same move. Draly’s arrow sliced through the air—just missing Tana’s head as she hit the dirt. But by the time Draly knocked another, she heard Calif’s voice call out and held her draw.

“Draly! No.”

She looked over to find Barent holding a knife at Calif’s throat. “Drop the bow,” Barent instructed her. “Or I drop him.”

With Draly distracted, Tana drew her pistol and pointed it at her. “Put the bow down,” she said. “We’re not going to hurt you. I promise.”

“Calif,” Draly pleaded. “What about Ilin? We can’t just let them…”

Barent relaxed his knife and reached down to take the ID card. He held it up to Calif’s face and twisted it in the light, showing him the embedded three-dimensional photo. Then he slid his finger across one corner of it and the card spoke Barent’s name and ID number out loud, in his own voice.

“Look at it,” Barent told them both. “This card is real—complete with voice-print identification. We
are
from the
Le’sant
.”

Draly looked confused, and Barent saw some of the tension release on her bowstring. She stared over at Calif. “How could they produce something like that? The machines haven’t worked for generations. What’s going on, Calif? I don’t understand.”

“Your machines don’t work?” Barent asked.

“The
Olin
has been powerless for hundreds of years,” Calif answered.

Barent released him and slid his knife back into its sheath. Calif jumped back and smoothly drew his bow again, pointing an arrow at Barent’s chest.

“Are you insane, Barent?” Tana said.

“You still have your gun,” he replied. “And besides, I think it would take more than a couple of arrows to put me down.”

Calif raised his bow a little higher. “Not if I put one in your head.”

“Let me show you one last thing,” Barent said. “I think it will finally prove to you that we’re telling the truth.” He reached over his shoulder to grab the plasma rifle.

“Slowly!” Calif barked. His expression hardened, and he held his arrow pointed at Barent’s face.

Barent carefully slid the rifle out to the side, keeping the barrel pointed down at the ground.

“Easy…” he said. “Don’t be alarmed.”

He pressed the active switch on the weapon and it sprang to life. Glowing blue lines ran up both sides of the barrel, accompanied by a low hum.

“Calif…” Draly said.

“I see it.”

“We
are
from the
Le’sant
,” Barent told them. “And there is more power there than you can possibly imagine.”

He shut the plasma rifle down and slung it over his shoulder again, and then Barent helped Tana up from the ground as the Olin lowered their weapons.

“Are you all right?” he asked her.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she replied, rubbing her shoulder. “But somebody just kicked the shit outta me.”

Barent grinned. “It was for your own good.”

“But I still don’t understand,” Calif said softly.

“How is any of this possible?” Draly added.

“It’s a long story,” Barent said.

And then he gave them both a reassuring smile.

“Is there some place we can go and talk?”

Sergeant Dura leaned out from the dark alleyway and motioned to his men across the street. Then he kept an eye on the perimeter as they pulled the door open and rushed inside the apartment building.

The Middle District was quiet this evening—the streets more or less deserted—and the hourly police patrol had driven through the area just a few moments earlier, making the timing of the operation perfect. Dura looked up to see a light come on in an apartment on the fourth floor, and then it flashed off again just as quickly.

Good,
he thought, understanding the message behind the prearranged signal.
He’s in there.

Three minutes later, Dura’s two soldiers exited the building again, dragging a hooded, half-clothed man along with them. The pair shuffled back across the street with their burden to rejoin Sergeant Dura, and then all four moved deeper into the alley.

“Take it off him,” Dura ordered.

One of the Wardens nodded, and then reached over to snatch the covering from their captive’s head. There was fear in the man’s eyes as the hood came off, but when he saw who had abducted him it quickly turned to confusion.

“Sergeant Dura?” he said, surprised at the identity of his captor. “What is this? What the hell’s going on?”

“Hello, Greywin. I need to ask you for a favor.”

Greywin looked at the three heavily armed Wardens and his fear came racing back. He knew something wasn’t right; he could feel it.

No
, Greywin thought to himself.
Something is very, very wrong.

“Couldn’t you just, ahhh, ask me tomorrow…at the barracks? Why all of
this
?”

Dura studied the man’s face carefully. “You really don’t know, do you?”

“Know what? I’m not a Warden, and I’m sure as hell not in the Intelligence Division. I’m just a communications officer. Remember? They don’t tell me anything. Can I go back to my apartment now?”

“Actually,” Dura replied, “I think you can. I’ve changed my mind about killing you.”

“Killing me?”

“Everything’s going to be fine,” Dura assured him. “Just relax. I’ll let you go…I promise. Right after my favor.”

Greywin looked at the dangerous trio again and made a quick decision.

“Anything you need, Sergeant. Of course. Anything at all.”

“Excellent.”

Dura pulled a field transmitter from his pocket and handed it over to Greywin. “I need override access to all of the military communication channels.”

Greywin pushed the transmitter away and his eyes went wide. “Are you insane, Sergeant? I can’t possibly—”

Dura’s face hardened as he leaned forward—interrupting him. “Then maybe you’d like to return to my kill list?” he said menacingly. “I have a vacancy, right up top.”

Greywin gulped. “I meant to say, of course. Of course, I’ll help you. I’ll do anything I can.”

“That’s better.”

Dura passed the transmitter over again and Greywin took it this time—without hesitation—logging on to the datanet with his secure credentials. As one of the chief communications officers for Le’sant’s military and police organizations, Greywin had complete access to everything—encrypted or not. Dura had worked with him in the past on a few operations, and knew
exactly
what he was capable of.

It’s why they were here.

“You realize, of course, that anything you broadcast will be monitored and logged,” Greywin told Dura. “And believe me, I
don’t
want to know what you’re up to—”

“No. You don’t.”

“…
but
, if the Collective doesn’t approve of your actions, and somehow I get the feeling they won’t, you’ll be shut out of the system within two or three minutes.”

“That’s all I need,” Dura replied.

“Then it’s done,” Greywin announced. He handed the device back to Dura, tensing up as the Warden examined his work.

Dura checked the override channel to make sure Greywin hadn’t issued a positioning alert, hoping someone would show up to rescue him. But everything was clean, so Dura sent a warning message out to every Warden in the city, telling them about the Collective’s plan to eliminate them. Then he triggered the emergency assembly protocol.

“That’s it,” he said to Greywin. Dura turned off the transmitter and put it back in his pocket. “Now, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”

“No. But it
will
be when my superiors get a hold of me. Can I go home now?”

“Of course you can. I keep my promises. Just do me one last favor and make sure you don’t tell anyone about this. They’ll find out soon enough on their own.”

“If they come looking for me, I’ll just say that you forced me to do it and then knocked me unconscious.”

“Good,” Dura replied. “You know what? That’s actually not a bad idea.”

“Wha—? Wait!” Greywin exclaimed. “What do you mean?”

“Take him home,” Dura directed his men. And then he pulled a capped syringe out of a side pocket and threw it to one of them. “And make sure he gets a good night’s sleep.”

Dura smiled and Greywin’s already pale skin blanched further.

“A full ten hours should do it.”

As they entered the clearing a little girl ran out of the house, stopping dead in her tracks when she saw Barent and Tana.

“Go back inside, Ilin,” Draly said, emerging from the tree line right behind them. But the girl just stood there—frozen not in defiance, but disbelief.

Barent examined the child with interest, finding that she had the same overall features as her parents. But there was one rather notable exception.

She was smiling.

“What are they?” Ilin asked enthusiastically.

She ran up to Tana and the little girl’s smile grew even broader. “Your skin is so pale. Are you a ghost? I’ve read about ghosts in stories. Are you both ghosts?”

Tana smiled back at her and pointed at Barent.

“I’m not. But he is.”

“That’s funny,” Barent said. “I’m glad to see you haven’t lost your sense of humor.”

“We’re not really ghosts,” Tana explained. “Everyone where I’m from is the same color, more or less. That’s what happens when you have a small gene pool—some of whom were genetically engineered like him, and ended up as white as snow. Add in the environment on this planet, and an extended period of time…”

Tana paused when she saw the confusion on the girl’s face. Ilin was terribly interested in every single word, but had absolutely no idea what Tana was talking about.

“Ah, never mind,” Tana told her, and then they started across the clearing.

If Ilin was disappointed, she didn’t let it show. In fact, her smile never waned as they all filed into the little house. Calif motioned them toward a table near the center of the room, and the others took a seat as he stepped over to a collection of shallow shelves mounted on the wall—all neatly stacked with eating utensils. There was a large window installed just above the shelving, providing an expansive view out over the clearing, and Barent could tell by the bent metal framework around the outer edges that the glass had been repurposed from another part of the ship.

He also observed that the table, chairs, and most of the furnishings were metallic—appearing to be standard colony issue—but the house, the few cabinets and shelves he could see, and a simple sofa pushed up against one wall, were all constructed out of wood. Barent spied two closed doorways off to the side of the main room and determined they probably led to the family’s bedrooms.

Calif returned carrying a pitcher and four cups and poured water for everyone. As he sat down with the others, a rotund cat lazily strolled underneath the table and brushed up against Tana’s leg. It started purring and she jumped, frantically sliding her chair back away from the animal.

“What
is
that?” Tana exclaimed.

“It’s a cat,” Ilin replied. “You’ve never seen a cat before?”

“No. I haven’t.” Tana looked back down at the strange creature and one of her eyebrows rose. “Can you eat them?”

“Why would you eat a cat?” Ilin asked, bewildered.

The little girl picked the animal up and sheltered it under her arm protectively, and then she gave Tana a strange look before carrying the cat to the other side of the room.

“It’s a pet.” Barent chuckled, unable to conceal his amusement.

“What are they for?” Tana asked.

“That particular type can be very amusing…infuriating as well.”

“As I’ve often said,” Calif agreed.

"I heard rumors that cats were included in with the livestock,” Barent said. “But I really didn't believe it. Not until now, anyway.”

“There were only a few,” Draly explained. “And we try to keep it that way.”

“I bet,” Barent said, and then he steered the conversation in a more serious direction. “So tell us about the
Olin
. How many people live inside the ship?”