Citadel 32: A Tale of the Aggregate by Merritt Tom

Author:Merritt, Tom [Merritt, Tom]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Subrilliant LLC
Published: 2015-02-23T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9

A lone man walked across a desert scene, his photon gun drawn. He wore a white shirt with a black vest and black pants.

An accented voice yelled, “Hey! Han Solo! Think fast!”

A bolt of fire kicked up dust in front of the lone man, who immediately squatted and returned fire. Suddenly, an implausibly large spaceship rose up above the horizon behind the lone man.

“I told you a million times, Duresh. I was headed to a Halloween party!” said the lone man.

The scene cut to a man standing in the same desert, wrapped in ungainly brown garments with a look of surprise on his face as he dropped his weapon and sank to his knees.

A mechanical-sounding voice spoke out of nowhere, ostensibly from the spaceship’s speakers. “We can still make the party if we leave now, sir— and break a few hyperdrive laws.”

“All right, Trinket. Let’s roll. Just make sure Duresh here won’t bother anyone else, OK?”

A red beam of light shot through the air from the ship. The scene cut to Duresh shaking his hand, his weapon a melted mess at his feet.

The lone man ran back toward the ship as the camera zoomed out. until you could only make out the spaceship, then the planet, and then you zoomed faster through a stellar system, then a galaxy, then a star field.

Credits began to roll. “So what did you think?” Corge asked LeAnn.

“Fine.”

“Fine?”

“Fine.”

“One of the greatest science fiction movies of all time, and you say, ‘Fine’?”

“It was boring.”

“How can you say THAT was boring? That is one of the greatest space battle sequences in movie history ever.”

“Things don’t explode like that in a vacuum.”

“You’re missing the point, LeAnn,” Corge sighed.

“Oh, am I? And what is this essential point I’m missing? That everyone must like what you like?”

“What?!” Corge screeched. “EVERYBODY likes this movie. It has been consistently rated in the top five science fiction movies since before Disconnection!”

“Maybe that’s why it’s boring?”

Corge stared at her.

“It’s old,” she shrugged.

Corge took a deep breath to calm himself before mounting another defense when the station alert rang on his com.

“Yellow,” LeAnn said. Corge stared at her, his eyes blazing coals of offense. “The alert, dummy. It’s yellow. Might be interesting.”

“Oh,” Corge launched the alert. Its text replaced the movie credits on the screen.

“In an urgent session of Assembly, a Vote of Caution was taken on segmented matters. Teams A, 10, B, 75, HAB, 32 and 16B should consult team leaders for altered instructions.”

“What the hell was that?” LeAnn asked Corge.

“A Vote of Caution means a passed measure received enough concern from committee experts to require a delay in implementation while more information is collected. It’s a safety valve against measures that might have been honestly passed before previously unknown evidence could bear on the issue.”

“Thank you, Mr. Textbook. I knew that. I mean, what’s it about? Why is it segmented? It’s not vent related, I know that much.”

“Only one secret session I’ve been to lately. My guess is the Passives got a delay on the machine preparations.

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