In the Year of Our Lord 2202 by Edward Lee

Author:Edward Lee [Lee, Edward]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781944703769
Publisher: Necro Publications
Published: 2019-07-09T05:00:00+00:00

(III)

The accessmains hustled with activity, as the ship’s intercom blared: “This is the C.F.S. Edessa requesting permission to dock at Threshold 6.”

“This is Custom’s Corp, free-drift utility station Solon. Welcome, Edessa, and thanks be to God. Permission to dock granted. Autoguides are activated.”

“Roger, Solon.”

During all sub-light launches and retros, most of the regular crew strapped themselves to flight chairs in one of the ship’s four launch coves. Sharon had sat with Tom for the short turbulent duration, but her mind seemed diverted. All this strange stuff all of a sudden. Attacks on the ship, bombs planted in cadavers, elemental data-relays from the Extrasolar radio telescope, and now this bizarre business with the Red Sect’s cryptic deity.

Surkulik, she thought.

A demon of inversions.

A demon of false faces.

What puzzled her most was the simplicity in deciphering the demon’s true name: a crude reversion. It seemed to defy the very nature of the Red Sect itself. For hundreds of years they’d kept every aspect of their terrorist agenda secret. No one knew their base, their leaders, their official formation. Beyond random murder and destruction, no one even knew their objectives. Yet the name of the deity they worshiped was deciphered with ease.

And now this most recent crux.

Text deletions in a simple historical data-bank. Why?

And Tom’s observation as to why they couldn’t find out more about Surkulik: Maybe somebody on this ship doesn’t want us to.

Sharon didn’t really believe that; it made no sense. She struggled, though, for an explanation.

“Wow, we sure got here quick,” Tom said, unbuckling his chair straps.

“What did you expect at just under three billion miles an hour?”

As they debarked into the central main, he glanced behind him. “Where’s your new roomie?”

“What?” Sharon came back, distracted.

“The civvie chick with the big—”

Sharon shot him a reproving glance.

“—mouth,” Tom finished.

“I don’t know,” she huffed. Was she jealous? What a preposterous thought! “She must’ve gone to a different launch cove. So, you don’t really believe that Brigid is a remote-viewer?”

The comment left Tom flustered. “Let’s just say that she made some compelling points. I know stuff like that exists…it just gives me the creeps. Besides, I don’t trust Civilian Branch.”

“Why not?”

“They get Federate benefits that regular Army doesn’t. They’re all on the take. She reminded me of one of Federate Intel’s sexual operatives.”

Sharon didn’t understand him. “A sexual—”

“A sex-op. They’ll plant these girls anywhere they want, under a phony occupational cover. They’ll seduce guys, see if they reveal classified info.”

“Have you…ever been seduced?” Sharon asked and immediately regretted it.

Tom’s frown was plain. “Never by a sex-op.”

What did that mean? But irrelevant curiosities burned in her. Tom was handsome, strong. She wondered about his sexual history but didn’t dare ask.

Again, the intercom: “All first- and second-shift personnel may debark at Air-lock 4. Excluding Security Corp personnel.”

“Looks like you have to stay,” Sharon said.

“To hell with that,” he told her. “I have a three-day pass. Let Matthew and the rest of those busted humps walk sentinel duty. Are you going onto Solon?”

“Why not? I’ve never been.”

“I’ve got a better idea,” he said.

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