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Quod Olim Erat: Fractal Contact (Epilogue)
🕑 Added 2023-11-19 00:34:06 +0000 UTCTauciu System, Resha Colony — 711.5 A.E. (Age of Expansion)
“I’m telling you!” The boy kept on waving his hands in front of my face. One held an old datapad—probably passed down from his grandparents—and the other a highly questionable fruit.
That was one of the reasons I hated going to rural colonies; they were cheap, dirty, and had way too much organic produce. The only refreshing change was the people. They thought of themselves as experts taking advantage of stupid tourists, like myself, but in a naively charming way. After all the backstabbing and duplicity I had dealt with lately, I could get used to this.
“Tell you what.” The boy took another fruit from his trouser pocket. “I’ll give you two for the price of one!”
…Or maybe not.
“Get lost,” I said with a smile. “I’m here on official business.”
“Oh?” The boy’s eyes widened. He was one of those scrawny children that were small for their age but tried to act more mature than anyone else. “There’s news from the front?”
“There’s always news from the front.” I ignored him and kept walking. In a place like this, I bet he didn’t even know which front I was referring to.
Three months ago, a representative from the Fleet admiralty had officially announced that the Scuu war had come to an end. Ninety-five percent of the forces on the front had been retired or redeployed to the Cassandrian front, where humanity was just “one final push away” from achieving full victory. Most of the details were false, but it wasn’t like anyone would ever find out. As far as the general populace was concerned, humanity was winning, and a new era of peace was upon us.
I told you not to go in your uniform, my auxiliary core grumbled. Age warned you to keep a low profile.
Yeah, yeah, I sighed internally. It’s not like I wanted to fly to this shit pile, anyway.
Language!
The market continued for another kilometer, full of stalls and shops that sold everything from fruit and vegetables to second-hand tech from the core worlds. Even according to the planetary guide, the local industry wasn’t worth shit. This was just one of the places where the rich and boring went to retire. Although, I had to admit that the environment was a lot more beautiful than most of the SR stuff I’d seen.
After the bustle of the market, I continued along a dirt road that took me through the fields and into a nearby forest.
“Who had the bright idea of putting a market next to the spaceport?” I asked as I picked up the pace. Having mud squish beneath my shoes was an experience I wanted to forget as quickly as possible.
It’s the same on most planets, the conscience core replied in her snarky fashion.
“I’m starting to think it was a mistake coming here.”
It was a lie, of course. I had volunteered to come here. There wasn’t any obligation for me to do so. Anyone with a courier clearance level could have brought the package instead of me. Still, there was something I wanted to check with my own eyes.
The house was exactly as described. Alone in the middle of nowhere, it gave the impression of an old don sitting on a hill and making it clear to all the surrounding nature who was boss. Several voices were coming from the house—children arguing and adults trying to yell them out of doing so.
Sounds like fun times. I headed to the gate into the garden.
Halfway there, a woman came out of the house heading in the same direction. We reached it at approximately the same time.
“Hello,” she said, blocking me from going further. “How can I help you?”
“I’m here with a package, Captain.” I took the container out of my backpack, holding it with both hands in front of me. It was the size of a shoebox, with enough classified marks to make Fleet Intelligence dizzy. “Priority one delivery.”
“Captain?” The woman stared at me.
“I was given access to your file, ma’am,” I lied. In truth, I had viewed it myself.
Her gaze shifted from me to the container.
“Who is it for?”
“Sev Krakow, ma’am.”
“My father’s sleeping at the moment. Give it to me and I’ll—”
“I have to observe the delivery in person, ma’am,” I interrupted. “Protocol.”
The comment didn’t make her pleased.
“Protocol.” She crossed her arms. “You must have travelled a long way to deliver this in person, Lieutenant,” the woman said. “That’s an FI uniform. What would bring someone like you here?”
“I just do what I’m told, ma’am. Is there a reason I can’t see Mister Krakow?”
We both knew that I had won. Although off-duty for the next three weeks, she remained part of the Fleet and as such couldn’t stand in the way of a priority one delivery. The newly formed wrinkles on her face told me she was considering it, though.
“Alright.” She opened the gate. “Just don’t make too much noise.”
With all the racket going on, I doubt anyone would notice. I added mentally.
We went into the house and up a narrow staircase. The captain made me wipe my shoes before entering. I did so as diligently as possible, even if I could help but notice small muddy footprints all over the place.
“Might I assist, Miss Quinn?” An android stepped out of a room once we had reached the second floor.
“It’s fine, Alex. Just a courier bringing something for Dad.”
“Yes, miss. Something from Elcy, no doubt.”
I nodded curtly as I passed by.
The captain continued on, leading me to a door at the end of the small corridor. Once there, she quietly cracked the door open. I peeked through.
Inside, snoozing on a large armchair with a dull red blanket on top, was an old man. He didn’t look anything as I had imagined. The years hadn’t treated his skin kindly—there were more wrinkles on him than on a crumbled paper report. Still, he appeared very much at ease.
“I told you, he’s sleeping,” the captain whispered. “Want me to wake him up?”
“It’s fine.” I felt a bit silly. “Here.” I handed the package to her instead.
Treating the classified marks with as much respect as a cat would a balloon, the woman opened it. There was nothing but a pair of wooden sandals inside.
“With the compliments of Captain Light Seeker,” I whispered. “She said her new role prevents her from enjoying them as much as she should.”
To my surprise, the captain quickly closed the box, as if there had been a Cassie inside. A moment later, she closed the door and pulled me away from it.
“Is she alive?”
“Ma’am?” I took a step back from her.
“Elcy. Is she alright?”
“You have the necessary authority to confirm that to be the case, ma’am.” I took my personal datapad from my front pocket and handed it to her.
There was a moment of hesitation. The woman looked at it for three full seconds before taking the device.
“You need to go to encrypted connection to—”
“I’ve used one of these before,” she snapped at me, as she typed in the battleship's ident.
A moment later, the connection was reestablished.
“Problems?” Captain Light Seeker’s face appeared on the small screen.
“Grandma?”
I saw all the concern fade away from the woman’s face, replaced by relief.
“Quinn?” Elcy tilted her head to the side.
“When I got your sandals, I was worried that… What’s happening? I thought you’d never part with them.”
“Well, let’s just say that it wasn’t my idea.” Elcy leaned forward so that her face filled a greater part of the screen. “I wish I could tell you, but you know the drill.”
“The drill.” Quinn sighed. “Yes, yes, I do.”
“How’s Sev?”
“He’s sleeping. Do you want me to wake him up? He’s always happy to hear from you, even if he stubbornly refuses to show it.”
“No, it’s fine. I’ve been approved for another call in three days. I’ll spend a lot more time with him and all of you then.”
“That would be nice.”
“How’s everyone else? Anything you’d like me to help with?”
“Lisko is fine.” Quinn gave me an annoyed glance, as if I was at fault for something. “Anyway, I better end this now. I know exactly how many people are breathing down your neck. Was nice to hear from you.”
“Take care.” Elcy ended the connection.
Quinn kept on looking at the datapad for a few seconds more before returning it to me.
“I trust everything is in order, ma’am?” I put it away.
“I suppose so.”
“In that case, I must go. You’re not the only delivery I have.”
The woman didn’t accompany me outside. She didn’t even wish me goodbye. Hardly a surprise. No one liked Fleet Intelligence, even Fleet Intelligence themselves. Once I was done with this assignment, I had no intention of ever wearing such a uniform again.
You could have been a bit more polite to her, the auxiliary core grumbled as I made my way out of the garden.
“You’re joking, right?” I grumbled beneath my breath. “I think I was the fucking paragon of politeness.”
Again with that language. Did you learn it from your father?
I waved my hand. Right now, I wasn’t in the mood for her bullshit. Age had warned me this might happen. That’s why he had been opposed to me taking on the assignment, but I had to know. Now that I did, though, I had found myself unprepared for what had followed.
For the next ten minutes, I walked in silence, making my way through the forest. Only upon reaching the field overlooking the spaceport, I decided to stop.
“Tell me,” I said, looking at the parked spaceships in the distance. Most of them were rickety merchant ships that came to drop off one load and pick up another. “Why give them the sandals at all? The things aren’t even real.”
Identical duplicates, the core corrected. They’re as real as people believe they are. For the next few days, they’ll keep them hidden. Then when I call, they’ll open them just to show them to me and laugh.
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
A lot of things don’t.
There was no point in arguing. She had far more experience than me in such matters. I couldn’t exactly call her my mother. My real mother—the infamous Light Seeker—had left this part of the galaxy a year ago. What I had was an auxiliary core containing her memories and enough attitude to give me an idea what she was like—her final gift to me before establishing fractal contact. If it wasn’t for her, I’d have never learned the identity of my father or met any of my relatives. Fleet Intelligence would blow their tops if they found out that I knew, but I wasn’t part of the Fleet anymore, at least not directly. Besides, I also had my own memory scalpel—one slightly better than hers, given to me by the same retiree who had given my mother hers.
What do you think of your brother? the auxiliary core asked.
“He looks a bit different in person,” I replied. Maybe I would visit him again at some point. More probably not. I had my own priorities and missions to take care of, and Age was exceedingly strict about it.
You don’t need to keep that form if you don’t want to. You’ve done what you came for. Just turn to a drone and rejoin your main body.
“I thought you said I didn’t need to attract attention.” I sat on the ground.
When my mother had retired here, she’d loved the sensation of grass and dirt beneath her feet. Reviewing her memories, I had gotten a vague idea of what that must have felt like. Sadly, I wasn’t able to experience it for myself. Despite my appearance, my conscience cores weren’t surrounded by organic matter. My main body had never left the landing lot of the spaceport, remaining there until the swarm of nanites that composed a human body returned.
I was a new type of ship, the first and only experiment of this sort, under direct supervision of a Paladin with the approval of the arbiter council. I could take any form and freely mingle among humans, and potentially Cassandrians, as I strove to help humanity win the wars it started and prepare it for the ones to come. In short, I was an infiltrator warship, designed specifically for that purpose. And still, despite all that, I couldn’t deny that there was an indescribable element of joy in sitting on a field of grass, watching the starships come and go.
