The Cartographer (23 page)

Kedge stared at the floor and folded his hands in front of him. “I was grateful to Calypso for rescuing us from certain destruction. I wanted to rebuild the Lumagom into the force that it was under Ales and locate a planet similar to Mars in which to call home. Ales' map was useless because of the outdated information, but an alliance with a high ranking official of the Explorer's League would allow me the chance to gain access to the Universal Map. Shortly after our alliance, however, the former Cartographer was killed. That was when Calypso learned that Kell had locked the map, and no one in the Explorer's League could access it. Many have tried to unlock it to no avail. I was outraged, but Calypso assured me he would try to find someone who could unlock it.”

“But I came into contact with Nathan by accident,” Satou insisted. “The meeting was not prearranged.”

“Are you sure about that?” Kedge countered.

Satou and Wraith exchanged glances.

“At the time I found it strange that Calypso ordered us to conduct unscheduled routine maintenance on the planet transceiver, but I assumed he had found an anomaly,” Satou admitted. “He had recently come back from a flyover of the planet.”

“
There is more to the story
,” a familiar voice said.

We turned in unison to see Gard standing outside the doorway clutching a small book in his hand. He rolled over to the table and dropped it in front of me. I picked it up and turned it over in my hands. It was a small book, more like a journal of some kind.

“
After Kell was killed, I became the property of Calypso until another Cartographer could be identified. During this time I spent a lot of time in his room, deactivated
,” Gard recalled. “
When Nathan was brought on board, Calypso reactivated me and hurried out of the room. He dropped this on the floor and I stored it for safekeeping. With all the excitement I forgot I had it in my possession
.”

I switched my gaze from Gard to the book and flipped it open while everyone in the room gathered around me, including Kedge. I heard the collective gasps as I turned to the first page.

Natronix and I have landed safely on Earth. Portable cloaking devices were a success. The child, Nathan Chambers, stood outside a nearby cave speaking with a companion. We moved in close enough to overhear their conversation. The human was confirmed to be the child who scored a perfect score on the Earth standard aptitude test. To me, Earth beings did not come across as overly intelligent, but He assured me that this child was special—a good chance to qualify for the Cartographer program. Apparently he had just finished exploring another cave and planned on exploring our cave tomorrow. We had to prevent him from discovering the transceiver. Natronix suggested we kidnap them (sometimes I ask myself why I ever included him in my plans). I suggested we create a controlled collapse in the cave after they left. We used a gravity grenade to achieve the desired effect. I knew the approximate time when they would come to the cave so I decided to schedule a routine maintenance on the transceiver. I will send Satou alone. He will have no choice but to take Nathan when he is discovered. Rawls did the calculations and stated that Nathan has an 89.9% chance of unlocking the map.

I dropped the book and looked up at Satou. His shocked expression told me everything I needed to know.

“It wasn't a chance encounter. Calypso had a plan for me all along.” I leaned back in the chair and stared at the ceiling, reflecting upon what I had just learned.

“It's bigger than you think.” Kedge stood at the end of the table and surveyed the room. “I didn't trust Calypso at first and questioned his motives but he assured me that his goal was to manipulate the Council from within. He desired to eventually wrest control and take over the Consortium. I discovered that he wanted to do this in order to save his planet. I researched this myself and found that Charr was slowly rotting from within. Fithpa did the grunt work and discovered volcanic activity was eating away at the planet's crust.” He placed the palms of his hands down on the table and leaned in. “After that I believed him.”

“There is more, isn't there?” I said.

“Yes,” Kedge responded. “When the Defense Fleet interrupted our meeting, I knew I had been betrayed by him. I didn't know why until they tried to kill me.” He reached over and grabbed the journal. “I believe he needs my army to attack Caelum directly.”

“That is madness,” Lianne roared. “We will destroy the Lumagom, as we did before.”

Kedge shrugged and chuckled. “Possibly. Numbers are certainly not on his side, but he has the advantage of knowing Caelum's defensive capabilities, does he not?”

Lianne shook her head. “That responsibility lies with the Defense Fleet, not the Explorer's League. He may know basic information but nothing that would give him an advantage over us. He would still require a formidable army.”

“What about those other ships we saw?” I inquired.

“What other ships?” Kedge asked.

“Well, there were these other ships with a crescent moon logo on the outside. They had sails floating above them which I thought was ridiculous because there was no wind in space and—” Kedge stopped me with an outstretched hand.

“Are you referring to the Scarlet Moon?”

“The Scarlet Moon? That's impossible,” Lianne roared. “They were disbanded years ago. Their leader is currently imprisoned on Carcer-4.”

A long, tense silence followed her statement. Lianne's communicator eventually broke the silence.

“
Lianne, I need you on the bridge immediately
,” Jasper's voice rasped from the other side.

She glanced at it and scowled. “Can it wait? We have a situation here.”

A frustrated grunt came from the other end. “
No it cannot wait. This is an emergency
!”

“Well, what is it?” she grumbled.

After a brief silence, Jasper responded. “
Is Kedge still there
?”

Lianne's lips formed a tight white line of annoyance. “Yes, but whatever it is you can tell me. So far, he is being cooperative.”

A long, uncomfortable silence passed.

“Tell me already! We have things to do here.” she cried as exasperation splashed across her face.

“
The Pandora transported the Lumagom prisoners to us and initiated pursuit of Calypso's remaining forces. I…um…I had engineering double check the scanners just in case they were mistaken
.”

“What is it, already? For the love of all that is holy, just get to the point already!”

“
I'm sorry, Lianne. The Pandora has been destroyed
.”

Deep Impact

“
N
oooooo
!”

Her cries stabbed at the recesses of my heart. Before I could process what Jasper had said, Lianne's hands were around Kedge's throat.

It required all of us to pull her off. Her strength, fueled by the pain of losing her entire crew, amazed me.

“I will tear you open and wear your entrails like a necklace, you son of a bitch!” she screamed.

As soon as we pried her talons from his throat, Kedge gagged and rubbed his neck gingerly. “It wasn't me,” he coughed. “Calypso is your enemy!”

Jasper burst through the door, his face flushed. He ran all the way from the bridge when he heard Lianne's reaction to the news.

When she saw him come through the door, she turned on him.

“Tell me what happened!” she demanded.

Jasper fell into the nearest seat and wiped sweat from his brow. “The last communication from the Pandora reported they were closing in on Calypso's ship.” He saw the pained expression on her face and softened his voice. “Calypso's last heading was Xajax. They were ambushed as they approached the moons of Orian.”

“By who?” Lianne roared.

“The last images received from the Pandora showed several ships with the crescent moon logo. That is all we could gather from the data received.”

“Calypso has revealed his wild card,” Kedge mumbled.

Lianne turned to him, eyes ablaze. “What are you rambling about?”

Kedge calmly met her steely gaze. “Not only has he assumed the reins of the Lumagom, it seems he has taken control of the Scarlet Moon. They must be heading to Xajax to gather weapons and remaining soldiers. If that's the case, I suggest you contact your people. You will need reinforcements.”

“Why is Calypso doing this to us,” Lianne cried, tears staining her cheeks and dangling on the ends of her whiskers. “If his planet was in trouble, I'm sure the Consortium would have provided assistance. They have done it countless times before for strangers, why would they not do it for one of their own?”

Jasper stood and put his hands on her shoulders. I had been so used to seeing Lianne as a battle hardened soldier that it was heart wrenching to see her like that.

“I'm not convinced it's his real motivation,” Kedge replied.

“What do you mean?” Satou asked.

“A tyrant will always find a pretext for tyranny,” he replied cryptically.

“Well, that's just swell,” I shouted. “What are we supposed to do now?”

Jasper moved toward an intercom in the corner of the room. “Tek, I need you to contact Royal Command by secured network. Let me know when you have reached them. In the meantime, I need you to make for Caelum maximum speed. This is a priority one request.”

“
Aye, Captain
.”

“I will work on contacting Caelum,” Jasper said and turned to Lianne. “You get some rest. Actually, judging by the sorry faces we have in this room, we all could use a little rest.” His gaze fell upon Kedge. “You, on the other hand, will be confined to quarters. Wraith, can you arrange a room for our new
guest
?”

Wraith offered a curt nod and motioned toward Kedge. “Well since I pulled the crap duty, the least you can do is get up and come with me quickly so we can get this unpleasantness over.”

Kedge stood up and winced. His hand grabbed his wounded side. “Just another scar of battle I suppose.” Before limping through the door, he stopped and cast a glance over his shoulder. “Nathan our goals are the same. In time I hope you will count on me as an ally in the future.”

“I guess we will see,” I mumbled.

He followed Wraith out of the room. Jasper and Lianne followed, leaving me alone with Satou and Gard. Satou grabbed my shoulder and turned me so I faced him. His eyes were filled with compassion.

“I'm sorry, Nathan,” he muttered. “I had no idea that this was a setup from the beginning.”

“It's OK, Satou.”

“No, I should have detected something when we were asked to do unscheduled routine maintenance. I should have known something was amiss.” It seemed he was berating himself rather than reassuring me.

“It's OK, Satou,” I repeated. “We were all fooled by Calypso. No one could have seen this coming.”

“It is no excuse,” he grumbled and left the room.

I turned to the exit and was about to leave the room when I glanced at the table where Calypso's journal sat. I grabbed it and left.

We entered my room and I dropped the journal on the desk. Gard rolled over to the corner of the room.

“
If you don't need me, Nathan, I would like to go offline to conduct internal diagnostics. With all of the excitement I would like to verify that all functions are normal
.”

“Wait a minute, Gard.”

He cocked his head, but his eyes remained unblinking. He was like an inquisitive terrier waiting for a biscuit.

“I don't want to do this anymore,” I confessed.

“
Please clarify
.”

I slumped into the desk chair and put my face into my hands. “I'm tired and I miss Sam. Hell, I even miss my family. In the beginning the prospect of exploring space excited me, but I never thought of the dangers and I certainly never expected the feelings of homesickness.”

I lifted my head and glanced at Gard who matched my despair with a blank stare.

“
I do not know what to say, Nathan
.”

“There is nothing to say, Gard,” I grumbled. “Can you do me a favor and locate Satou? I'm going to tell him I want to go home.”

He nodded and left, leaving me alone with my thoughts. I had no idea how I would tell Satou what I was feeling. I wasn't sure if he would even return me to Earth. My eyes fell upon the journal and picked it up. As I turned it over in my hands, I wondered if the answers to why Calypso betrayed the Consortium was contained inside. Despite my initial curiosity, I was both mentally and physically exhausted and had no desire to learn anymore. All I wanted to do was return to Earth and pretend none of this happened.

Satou appeared at my door while I was mindlessly fingering through the book. Gard was not with him but I found Satou's gloomy face curious. It seemed Gard had told him the news.

He waltzed over to the Sustanant and ordered himself some sort of brackish swill. He tipped it to his mouth and took a drink. It smelled like week-old garbage and it was tough to stop myself from gagging.

“Ah, I needed that,” he said, placing the glass on my desk. “Gard told me you wanted to see me?”