Technology Demonstration Fair on Zylistia 2206 AD
“This technology could be the most important discovery in travel since the lightspeed engine.” The crowd in the large auditorium applauded. Daniel did too; he couldn’t help but applaud— it was ingenious, even if he was only here to keep an eye on his suspect, the Javaine Lady Ana. The Superluminal Warper was a new type of Aquainian-designed engine that could improve space travel efficiency and reduce travel time by eighty percent, not just impressive, but downright remarkable.
It seemed like the Aquainians had found their place— maybe everyone had, well, everyone but the Zytoc, and that boded trouble. The Aquainians below seemed proud— proud that their ancestors had been oppressed, enslaved, and killed on this very ground, but now, a generation later, they had been invited to this fair as equals.
It was common knowledge that if you wanted industrial products or spaceships, you went to Earth. If it was furs, spices, gems, or rare metals you desired, you went to Marquesh. For advanced tech, everyone now knew to head for Aquainia. Massive metal deposits of iron, aluminum, and gold were on Yi’up, whose nasty inhabitants were now beginning to realize how rich they could become by allowing interstellar corporations access to their home. Only the Zytoc had yet to ‘find their niche.’ Perhaps that was why the people grew angrier and discontented each day. And for sure, that was why Daniel was here.
The lady Ana said something to her attendants, and the whole group rose to leave. Daniel elbowed his partner in the ribs, “Shane, I’m going to follow. You stay here for the party afterwards, keep your finger on the pulse of things. Something suspicious is happening.”
Shane shrugged, “I’m not going to be able to gather much, I’d rather keep up with her. She definitely knows something.”
Daniel stood. “I think we need to know a little more about the Zylistian Government’s interest in the Warper.”
Shane shrugged, “Be careful.”
Daniel cracked a smile, “You know me, Shane, I’m not careful.”
Daniel followed the trail of people who surrounded Lady Ana. He walked quickly with purpose, the way most Zytoc walked. Even if they were no longer the aristocrats of the stars who had enslaved a mass of Aquainian serfs to do their bidding, they still walked with a bit of dignity.
Pride and dignity were the most interesting and prominent aspects of Zytoc culture. There were hardly any crimes in Zytoc. They were too proud to commit a crime. Most deaths came from the numerous duels of honor that happened every year. The Zytoc, unlike other species out there, had no cultural, belief, or value connections to Earth. That is probably what made Earthlings so afraid of Zytoc. How do you begin to understand a people who think it makes sense that the person whose toe is stepped on needs to apologize to the one who stepped on it, when your culture is the polar opposite? Daniel contemplated how these small factors complicated his mission as he walked purposefully towards the exit.
He was a vain young man and wore an elaborate set of Zytoc-style robes tailored to fit the much smaller and stockier human build. He kept them absolutely spotless and even added a few chains and tassels that other Zytoc wore. Yet beneath those innocent, if fancy, clothing, he wore the armor and weapons of a Solite.
The Solite was the most advanced and dangerous group of secret operatives in ASA (the American Space Administration, founded by the militarization of NASA after the Zytoc attempted to invade and were defeated), carrying out in precise, quick operations, everything from assassinations to spy missions. He had on the most advanced anti-laser armor, which could supposedly stand up under several rounds of gunfire before finally cracking, and carried all the gadgets he might need for the job. He had every weapon from a knife to an energy grenade concealed on his body, and he knew how to use them all. Yet all that aside, Daniel felt very out of his depth.
The Zylistian Government had been losing its ships for the past year and beginning to hint that they thought it was Earth. The Zytlistian ships were mostly huge, hulking, bulky monstrosities. Low on weapons and high in room to carry soldiers. The Zylistian government made a few newer, smaller ones recently. When Zylistia invaded Earth and failed, the Zytoc claimed that all of their evil leaders were in the attack, and now that they were gone, the people of Zylistia were prepared to be friends with Earth. Earth responded by demanding that half of the space military remaining (after what Earth had obliterated) be relinquished over to ASA. ASA destroyed them and recycled them into the first ASA cruisers. All that was left was a small fleet of ships that did nothing but ‘patrol’ and hand out propaganda all over the planet. Until recently, that is.
So far, six of their big old ships and ten smaller newer vessels had disappeared from space, and accordingly, ASA sent Daniel and Shane to find out what was going on, posing as businessmen here to buy a shipment of the Warper. However, upon arriving, Daniel immediately noticed a lack of panic on the part of the military. Instead, they were putting more money into building more ships and funding more experiments with the Warper.
Daniel caught up to the group. He’d hoped to talk to Lady Ana at the reception after, but he had to catch her when he could. “Javaine Ana,” he cried, going into a low bow.
The group halted and split, and Lady Ana, Javaine of Zylistia, daughter of Javic (ruler) Geriek, stepped forward. Daniel had addressed her in his limited supply of Yilkish, the language of Zytoc. She, however, answered him in English with just the trace of her Yilkish roots in her accent, adding an ‘h’ on the end of most vowels, “You would address me in our language, and yet use my English name, such an insult I have not heard in a long time.”
“My apologies, Javaine Ana,” he said in English, “I did not know that name was only in our tongue.”
“Most humans do not,” the lady Ana said contemptuously. “You do not usually take the time to learn the customs of our people. Now what do you want, human?”
Daniel hesitated; he had a whole plan for what to say and a brilliant idea of how to say it, but it seemed now to slip from his mind. Lady Ana Javaine of Zylistia humphed contemptuously, “I hope that a human would not run to catch up with a group of Zytoc if he did not have something to say.”
The black wrinkle-like stripes on her gray face narrowed in annoyance. Daniel remembered what he was going to say and stood up, but then he was on the ground again, tackling Lady Ana as a stream of gunfire struck the pavement right where she had been standing.
Her courtiers and attendants ran in different directions, shouting in terror, but Daniel grabbed the much taller alien and tugged her away from the dangerous area. The shots continued to ring out as the gun, which Daniel had spotted on the roof of the Bright Ion (the auditorium holding the technology demonstration), swiveled to continue shooting at them.
Daniel shoved the Javaine in a very un-Javaine-ish manner down a side street. He turned back to the street and yanked down his sleeve, revealing the cuff below that ran like a wrist guard up his forearm. He pointed his hand up towards the Bright Ion’s roof as the gun swiveled, searching. A small barrel slid from a cavity that opened in the cuff’s side. Daniel aimed and fired only once. The gun exploded, and a lanky shape flew into the air, a Zytoc.
Daniel turned back to the very indignant Javaine. “What is the meaning of this, Human?” she asked contemptuously, “And why does a businessman carry such weapons?”
“What happened was I just saved your life, your Javaine-ness.” Daniel growled, grabbing her by her hand, “I need to get you somewhere safe, come on.”
Ana let out a dignified huff and followed him. He pushed her into a seemingly ordinary delivery truck and shut the door. She sat (dignified) on one bench along the wall, while he sat on the other.
“I hardly see how this truck is a safe place. I demand that you take me to my home at once!”
Daniel rolled his eyes. “Well, this isn’t just any truck,” he muttered, crossing the back space to the front. “Also, where do you think I am taking you? You are in danger.”
The truck was certainly not just any truck. Like all Zytoc vehicles, it was in a perfect block shape. All cars were perfect cubes, and all trucks were two cubes put together. Another thing about Zytoc was their obsession with efficiency. This truck was different in the fact that it was reinforced with Jerium-iron armor and carried with
Daniel powered up the vehicle and raced away. Lady Ana made a disgruntled noise from behind. This was likely the first time she had traveled in the back of a truck.
“Do you not find it unseemly to drive this fast down a backstreet, human?”
“No,” Daniel growled, “I find it unseemly to die.”
Gunfire sounded out in the distance. Zytoc weapons were rather primitive, frozen in place around the same time they discovered space travel. They used compressed air to fire off bullet-like projections that could explode on contact, poison the victim, or do anything else you could imagine. Thankfully, they had no lasers.
Daniel swerved into busy streets while bullets still pinged off the back of the truck. Lady Ana fell forward onto the floor and decided she didn’t like it back there. She stepped quickly across the floor and sat in the passenger seat, finally buckling herself in. She glared at Daniel, “Is it not dangerous to have no seatbelts back there?”
Daniel swerved again as bullets bounced off the back. He glanced over at his passenger, “I find it dangerous to DIE! Get down!” He reached over, a knife sliding up into his hand from his wrist band, and cut the seat belt, shoving the Javaine backwards as a projectile shot through the glass from a roof above and scorched the seat next to Daniel.
Daniel’s armor under his fancy robes protected him from the blast, but he singed his hands and hair while ducking away under his flame-retardant cloak. “Okay,” he muttered, “time to get the cops in here!”
He pulled forward, zooming ahead, breaking several traffic laws and breaking the speed limit. As he turned another corner, he ran a red light. Lady Ana climbed to her feet, rather annoyed at Daniel’s disrespect but recognizing that it was not the time for pride, “Is it not safer to follow traffic regulations?” She shouted over the noise of continued guns and the wail of sirens.
Daniel looked over his shoulder and said, “For the last time, I find it safer NOT TO DIE!”
Just ahead of them on the road, three vehicles pulled up into a blockade. Daniel cursed and looked around for another way out. The drivers of the trucks making up this barrier were three Zytoc wearing masks, all having heavy-duty guns. Just before they filled the apparently not as tough as Daniel hoped window full of holes, a glare of light and blast of sound came between them. The explosion spun the trucks away, allowing Daniel to pass through a line of flames.
Shane stood on the sidewalk leaning against the wall of a tea shop, holding out his thumb like a hitchhiker and gripping another energy grenade in his hand.
Daniel stopped, letting Shane climb into the vehicle. “You are sure doing good at the covert part of this mission.” Then he noticed the glass, “That was not as strong as we thought, I guess.” Then he noticed Lady Ana. He looked at Daniel in horror. “What are you doing? Why is she here?”
Lady Ana Javaine of Zylistia stood in a bad mood, holding an overhead strap, “I know who you humans are! You are no businessmen, you are spies from ASA!”
It was almost impossible for a Solite to be famous in his lifetime, or at least while he hadn’t retired. Everything they did from their missions to the weapons they used was classified. However, the Solites themselves were very famous as epic warriors and deadly spies.
“I prefer the term agent, your Javaine-ness,” Daniel said, firing up the engine and pulling away. “But remain calm, we are not here to harm you or your people, we are actually here to help and try to prove that Earth is not destroying any Zylistian ships.”
Lady Ana sat (dignified) on the bench as they drove away. They could hear the sound of cops and authorities investigating the explosion and identifying the drivers. No one noticed the small, beat-up truck pull away.
“Okay,” Shane said, checking the review mirror for any sign of pursuit and using the controls in the front to change their license ID on the back. The truck was capable of switching between seven different IDs. “I get how you rescued her and showed her we were Solites, but why drag her halfway across town in a car chase?”
“I agree, human. What is your name?”
Shane looked over his shoulder at Lady Ana, still standing, and offered her his seat. “My name is Tristan. This is my pal Zeb.”
Daniel frowned in confusion, mouthing: “Zeb? You couldn’t do better?”
Lady Ana looked between them. “You are here because of the disappearance of ships?”
Daniel stared forward unmovingly. “Yep.”
Lady Ana frowned and looked like she wanted to say more, but changed her mind. Daniel pulled up on a curb a block from the royal palace of Javic Geriek Zytoc lived much longer than humans, so Javic Geriek had been ruler for the past 80 years after the military destroyed his uncle Javic Murdar. Daniel unbuckled and turned to her. “Listen, Lady Ana, I’m sorry to say this, but I must ensure you do not speak of us. We have saved your life at much risk to our own, and I hope that proves that we have no ill intentions towards your people.
Lady Ana thought more and then spoke. “I will do what is right. And it seems good to me that I repay you for services rendered. I will not speak of you if you wish.”
Daniel nodded, “Thanks.”
Lady Ana dismounted the vehicle, which was built for the very tall Zytoc. So while she had no trouble, Daniel and Shane always had to clamber down, gripping a handbar for help. She gave a curt bow and swept away, royal fur swooshing. She marched up to the gate, where surprised guards let her in. Daniel waited a minute, then pulled away as Shane sat down.
“I don’t like it,” Shane muttered.
Daniel bit into a Zytoc square. The Zytoc were known for being efficient to the point that all but the nobility ate simple, flavored square prism food. They were supposedly the most efficient way to eat, and they didn’t taste bad; it was just weird. “I don’t like it either, but I don’t complain about my food.”
Shane rolled his eyes, unrolling his own greenish square that advertised in Yilkish that it was: ‘all organic, all yummy’. “No, I didn’t mean the food, I mean the assassination attempt, it doesn’t make any sense, is it connected to the missing ships? Or something else entirely?”
“Maybe because Javic Geriek looks weak because of the ship issue, someone has taken the chance to strike,” Daniel commented, driving slowly and carefully down the road, attracting no attention. They stopped in an alleyway first thing to replace the windshield, and the truck was tough enough not to show much wear from the car chase.
Daniel checked a hexapad fastened to his wrist. He tapped the mini-computer a few times before shaking his head and returning his eyes to the road. “We can’t send a coded message through yet, but the news will be all over the assassination attempt and the mysterious rescuers. So ASA will know that much. What is our next move? Did you figure anything out at that party?”
Shane sat quietly in the singed seat, thinking. “No, not much, I did get an address for where the Zylistian government is putting all those Warpers they are buying, surprisingly enough.”
“Let’s see it.”
Shane handed it to him, and Daniel let out a whistle, “Funny thing is, I remember this address.”
Shane glanced at him, puzzled, “From where?”
“I got a piece of intel from an informant here just before we left for the technology demonstration. I forgot to tell you because it didn’t seem important, but that address is a bustling warehouse, suspected to be linked to a field out of town by mag rail. A field where the Zylistian government is launching vessels into space off the record.”
“Are they shipping the Warpers off-world? To where? I didn’t think the Zytoc had any off-world bases. I think they were building one on their biggest moon, but that was it.”
Daniel pulled up in the parking garage across the street from their hotel. “Well, I don’t know, but it is worth checking it out. We’ll go tonight, but for now, I have a meeting with some Aquainian businessmen just to keep up appearances. You head over to the warehouse, scout it out, and don’t get caught. We need to get ready for our call tomorrow night.
• • • • •
In the darkness and silence of the night, two figures moved stealthily but still rather casually down a sidewalk. Shane and Daniel walked one after the other down the sidewalk. The warehouse was just ahead. Shane leaned casually against the fence as if striking up a conversation with Daniel. The cameras in the area suddenly stopped working mysteriously. Or not mysteriously, if you could have seen Shane place the small tool in his robes.
They scaled the fence and the side of the brick and glass warehouse in mere minutes, coming to rest on a large windowsill most of the way up. The window looked into a partition on the main floor covered with a curtain. A scaffold-like structure extended up to the window, with empty and full crates littered everywhere.
“Um, Daniel,” Shane muttered, looking into the boxes and crates below them, “Do you think we lied to the Javaine?”
Daniel pressed his glass cutter to the window after checking for alarms or safety precautions. “No… we still aren’t trying to do anything against the Zytoc government, we want to figure out about the ships.”
“And that involves breaking into a government warehouse?”
Daniel removed the pane and dropped a few feet to the scaffold-like structure below the window. Shane crawled in after, resealing the breach with a handy tool known as a glass welder.
Daniel shrugged. “This is the job. It will probably lead us to some new shipbuilding program, but maybe it will explain about the missing ones along the way.”
Shane shrugged, “Okay, but ASA will be angry if we offend the Zylistian Government. The Zylistians might take our entry into this building as proof that we destroyed those ships and now want to destroy the Warpers they bought.”
“So we’re careful not to get caught!” Daniel whispered, dropping off the edge of the scaffold-like structure and climbing down the bars.
Shane followed him, “I thought you said you were never careful.”
Daniel crawled along more, coming to a wooden platform that gave a great vantage point of the floor through a rent in the curtain, “I’m not.”
The floor below was a mess, empty boxes, overturned trolleys, and Zytoc rushing about, wearing official military uniforms. Daniel surveyed the floor. The only action that anyone seemed intent on was unloading a truck full of big metal boxes. The Warpers, an engine so powerful it could easily take a ship into a hundred times lightspeed, much faster than anything before built aside from a method of Frigii traveling known as vacuum tunneling (The Frigii were a species of advanced alien now believed to be extinct after ASA freed their Marqui slaves. Many pieces of their technology, including some fragments of a vacuum tunnel, ended up on Zylistia).
Daniel looked over his shoulder at Shane, “The military is involved.”
Sane dropped to the rickety wooden floor and glanced down. He let out a breath of surprise. “Daniel, look! The Javaine!”
Daniel followed Shane’s finger to see a long figure standing amongst the chaos. Dressed in her fine robes, Lady Ana definitely looked like she didn’t belong. Another strange detail was the contingent of guards near her, all leveling weapons at her chest.
“Attention, all soldiers of the new regime!” Shouted a very angry-looking officer. His outfit was like the classic Zytoc military garb: heavy helmet, vest, and boots. A thick fire-retardant outfit, almost as strong as metal, coated his body. He wore an air compression grenade rifle on his back. “Our leader, the new Javic, will address us.”
Shane looked at Daniel in alarm, whispering, “A coup?”
New Javic? Daniel thought, beginning to sweat, It looks like we just got in way over our heads.
TO BE CONTINUED…