Reborn (The Cartographer Book 2) (6 page)

“Well, there was a person in the room with me. He seemed human except for his eyes. They were a color I had never before seen, sort of like lilacs. He told me his name was Solomon Corvus before he stabbed me in the stomach.”

“Corvus?” Kedge mused and looked past me, as if the name alone held some hidden meaning.

“What do you think it means?” I asked.

He folded his hands underneath his chin, deep in thought. “I'm not sure. It could mean nothing or it could mean everything.”

“Wow, are you always so full of answers?” I retorted.

He narrowed his good eye and shrugged. “There is a reason for my visit today, and it's not to provide answers to riddles. I'm here to warn you.”

“Warn me?”

He lowered his voice to a whisper, as if the walls would hear what he had to say. “I do not trust Meta.”

“Why is that?”

Before he could answer a knock came from the door. He looked at me with concern and I hurried over to the viewport.

Wraith stood outside with a box in his hands. He seemed to struggle with breath, as if he had just completed a marathon. I opened the door to see his normally pale cheeks flushed.

“Sorry for bothering you, but Satou insisted I bring this to you immediately,” he said breathlessly before shoving the box in my hands. “I have to get back to the weapons locker before Lianne and Embeth take everything not welded to the floor,” he grumbled before leaving.

“Hey wait a minute,” I started, but he was gone.

I sat on the bed and turned the box over in my hands. Kedge watched me with only mild interest when I opened it. Inside sat a four-inch wide, black metal bracelet with an octagon-shaped socket embedded on the top. Embedded in the socket lay a familiar object—the disk containing the Universal Map. I yanked it from the box, knocking loose a note which had been attached. My hand shook a little when I opened it, fearing the worst.

Nathan, sorry I couldn't give this to you personally. I designed a mobile computing device that will attach to your wrist and allow you to bring up the map anytime as a three dimensional holographic image. The metal is flexible and should slide over your hand and conform to your wrist. To activate the map, flip the switch along the side.

-Satou
.

I tossed the note in the box and examined the bracelet. To the right of the socket I found a tiny green lever. After slipping the bracelet on, I flipped the switch. Suddenly the room was bathed in green light as the map sprang to life three inches above my wrist. It was no bigger than a laptop screen but I could still read the locations and designations clearly. I guided the screen past planets, stars and galaxies with the tip of my finger as if the holographic image was an actual computer screen.

“Well, that's interesting,” Kedge mused. In my excitement I almost forgot he was in the room.

I flipped the switch again and the map vanished. “Yeah I suppose it is.” I leaned back in the bed and fingered the bracelet. “Why don't you trust Meta?”

His look of curiosity vanished. “His decision to invoke Helios Protocol came a bit too quickly I suppose.”

I sat up. “What do you mean?”

“Although the Consortium had been my enemy for centuries, I never underestimated their intelligence. Their wisdom seemed to always put them one step ahead of the Lumagom. I may be no Erudite, but I do realize a more reasonable solution could have been reached,” he explained.

“I thought we were working on it?” I countered.

Kedge frowned. “He still resists the idea. His precognition leads me to believe he is holding something back. I have been around a long time, Nathan. Too much war and too much death have prevented me from trusting so easily,” he lamented.

I narrowed my eyes. “So what are you getting at?”

“He has seen something. Something he does not want us to know.”

“That is all well and good, but I am about to travel to Earth with a member of the Council to try to find Calypso and prevent a war. Why would he send us there if he is focused on destroying it?”

Kedge looked away. His monocled eye made a hushed buzzing sound as he focused it on the far wall. “I don't know.”

“Maybe we should tell someone? Someone like Lianne or Satou,” I offered.

Kedge shook his head. “I'm afraid my confidence in your friends isn't as high as yours. They are all part of the same organization, one that has already been torn by treachery. I don't trust them. They are ripe for more treachery.”

“Why come to me then? I'm one of them now.” His accusations didn't sit well with me.

He stared at me for a long time. His eyes peeled away my clothes, skin, and bones. It was as if he peeled everything away to stare into my soul.

“Not yet,” he muttered ominously. “You are too new to have been infected with the corruption. It has been something that has been festering for some time.”

“I don't believe it. I would trust some of them with my life. Satou, Lianne, Wraith…,” my voice trailed off.

“You are still young, Nathan.” He reached up and picked mindlessly at the metal plate in his throat. “I am not saying they are all victims of the same corruption that poisoned Calypso.” He paused before adding, “Just be careful who you trust.”

He started toward the door but I grabbed his arm. “What about you, Kedge?”

“Excuse me?”

“Can I trust you?” I narrowed my eyes with suspicion. I found it hard to believe a centuries old killer who once led the Lumagom did not have some sort of hidden agenda.
The irony would almost be comical if the situation hadn't been so dire.

He stood up and made his way to the door. The question lingered in the air and he paused briefly as if to answer it before opening the door and walking out. The question fell to the ground unanswered. His statement, however, continued to linger.

Just be careful who you trust
.

The Prince and the Pauper

“The President is awake.”

Lianne stood in the doorway with a grim look chiseled on her face. She was dressed in the familiar golden armor of the Defense Fleet. My heart sank when I realized she was prepared for battle.

“Just a security precaution.” She noticed my concern and comforted me with a smile. “I don't want to take any chances.”

With a nod I followed her to the Medical Lab. While we strolled the cavernous halls I chose to keep my thoughts to myself. Kedge's words haunted me. A guy I didn't fully trust telling me to be careful who to trust—the irony would have been comical had it not been for the seriousness of the situation. We stopped in front of the lab and Lianne turned to me. Judging by the look on her face she seemed to sense my angst.

“So, are you going to tell me or do I have to assume you have a bad case of gas?” She folded her arms with a frown.

Be careful who you trust
. Her feline facial features crinkled and the fine whiskers above her lip hugged her cheeks and she studied me. I found it hard to distrust her. She was a starship captain who saved my life.

“I'm just worried about Calypso and our trip to Earth,” I lied.

Her doubtful expression made me shift uncomfortably but she eventually relented and entered the medical lab. As one of the few people in the Explorer's League I could consider a friend it made me sick to lie to her.

I stepped into the lab to find the President sitting on the end of bed fumbling with a translator headset. Several armed Defense Fleet guards stood nearby, watching him intently. Meta stood next to him with his hands on his hips, looking irritated.

“So, run this by me again,” the President said. “Everything Calypso told us was a lie?”

“I promise we have no plans to invade Earth,” Meta assured before moving next to Satou who was too preoccupied with the screen in front of him to notice. Attached to the screen was a flexible strap which connected to the President's wrist.

“Well,” Meta asked.

“It seems to be working,” Satou replied. “I cannot locate any trace of the curse in his bloodstream.”

“Mister President—,” Meta started but the President held up a hand.

“Please, call me Tom.”

“It appears you were infected by a synthesized parasite, Tom,” Meta explained.

The color drained from the President's face. “A parasite? What did you people do to me?”

“We
people
did nothing,” Meta replied with mild irritation. “It was your new friend Calypso and his allies who did this to you.” He circled the bed. “Do not fret. We have engineered a cure.”

The President breathed an audible sigh of relief, but concern remained etched on his face. “How was I infected? Is the country in danger?”

Satou circled the monitor. “It does not appear to be lethal. It may have been administered in a mist form, forcing the subject to inhale it. From that point it metastasized from the sinus cavity into the victim's brain stem. Eventually it makes one susceptible to hypnotic suggestion.”

The President looked weary. “Can you repeat that in English?”

The way Satou cocked his head reminded me of the first time I met him—the look of a confused octopus. I had to resist the urge to laugh.

“I am sorry, is my translator not working?”

The President shook his head. “No, it's not that. Can you just explain it to me without all the medical jargon?”

“Basically, it is a drug which makes a person susceptible to suggestion,” Meta grumbled. “Unfortunately we are short on time and need to continue if we hope to thwart Calypso.”

The President hopped off the bed with a look of annoyance. “Fine, where the hell am I and what do you want with me?”

“Calypso mentioned one thing which was correct.” Meta continued to pace around the bed while he explained. “Your planet
is
being invaded by a hostile force, but it is not we who are your enemies.”

Exhaustion filled the President's face and his eyes sagged when he spoke. “One minute we're being invaded, then we aren't being invaded, then we're being invaded again. Can you people please make up my mind already?”

Meta seemed equally tired. “Perhaps
invaded
is not the proper term. Infiltrated would be more accurate.”

“Infiltrated?”

Meta took a long look at me before continuing. “Earth has been infiltrated continuously through the centuries. It continues still to this day.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, suddenly concerned. The President seemed to share my concern.

“Ever since the attack on Mars, the Consortium took a personal responsibility for the events which transpired. We felt our lack of a response led to the unfortunate events that followed.”

“Attack on Mars? What are you talking about?” the President interrupted.

Meta held up his hand. “I'm sorry, but we don't have the time to explain that,” he said, alluding to Martian history. “To explain the infiltration I can summarize. The humans who were displaced and relocated to Earth lost most of the technology they had acquired on Mars. As Nathan already knows, we installed a transceiver on Earth a long time ago which allowed us to monitor how the humans fared on Earth. We monitored your species' technological progress throughout the years. Unfortunately, your technological evolution took much longer than expected. Through discreet agents we helped you along by providing several advancements to assist with your growth. Electricity, cell technology, combustion engines, jet propulsion, computers and other such advancements had been provided.”

The President interrupted. “Um, excuse me I hate to disagree but we were responsible for all of that.”

Meta smiled with very little humor. “Who do you think our agents are, Mister President?”

“Are you telling me that Thomas Edison was an alien?” I scoffed.

Meta cocked an eyebrow curiously. “Who?”

“Earth records indicate that Thomas Edison discovered incandescent technology,” Satou interrupted.

“Ah, yes. Incandescent technology,” Meta recalled. “I remember reading about that in the archives.” He fixed his gaze on me. “No, Nathan. Thomas Edison was very much human, but Harry Boynton wasn't.”

“Who?” It was my turn to look confused.

“Harry was an agent of Caelum serving within the Universal College at the time,” Meta explained. “He was picked due to his thorough knowledge of humans and his uncanny resemblance to the species. Based on his knowledge, he quickly became a favorite of Edison's.”

I slumped into a nearby chair and rubbed my temples. Even though I had been with the Consortium for months, I still continued to discover new things about them. It was hard to believe all of Earth's advancements were funded in some part by an alien organization and I began to wonder how many people on Earth were actually secret agents of the Consortium. A memory of my third grade teacher popped in my head. She always seemed a bit odd.
Could Mrs. Wentworth have been an alien?

“We must move on,” Meta continued. “The infiltration continues but not only by us. Our agents returned when we observed Earth had begun developing better technology on its own. That didn't stop another, more sinister force, from continuing their observations, however.”