Chapter 6
Comstar Terminal Access
Cross Road’s Oasis
Astrokaszy
17 July 3059
Damien's bust hovered over the holographic emitter plate, casting light in the darkened communications booth like colored shadows in a photographic negative. His picturesque Mediterranean features were enhanced by the grin on his face as he spoke. Miko listened to the prerecorded message attentively, knowing to expect a series of orders.
“The Curators came through for us,” Damien said his deep voice as smooth as a radio DJ. “Camilla was very eager to help out Lady Park with her little revenge plot. They took the Stinger LAM, and left the Wasp for us. We also got a copy of all the data on those drives.” He paused and shook his head. “There's some interesting things in there. Our sponsors will be pleased.” Damien turned conspiratorial. “There are schematics and material specs for Mark Three LAMs. Jav had always thought the Star League had made some headway in advancing Variable 'Mech Configuration technology. I had only guessed at the possibility. Well, according to Jav, the specs are for AirMechs that would be identical to their standard 'Mech counterparts in nearly every way. Same tonnage. Same weapon placement. You wouldn't know you were fighting a LAM until it transformed. Something the production Mark Twos couldn't quite pull off.”
Damien paused, sobering just a little. “What we salvaged wasn't on that level. Instead, it looks like IrTech was working on a middle-ground prototype using current LAM technologies.” He grinned again. Turning momentarily sheepish, he rubbed the back of his neck. “Anyhow, I should probably quit boring you with minutia. We will be back a week or so after you receive this message. I already have a mission lined up for our other warriors. The specs are attached to this message. Let the Legion know about our latest acquisition and have them start testing their ranks for LAM-qualified applicants. I doubt we have any, but you never know.”
Miko perked up when Damien turned serious. “We've been asked to report in. That includes you and DeLessance. We'll be picking you up when we drop off the Wasp. It will be a long trip.”
Brightening, Damien said, “See you in a week. Damien out.”
Crossroad's Oasis was not a large 'port of call' by even the greatest stretch of the imagination. It was a small town of barely a couple dozen buildings. However, it saw a lot of traffic as nomads and traders made their way between city states. Astrokaszy was a populace enough periphery world that it had its own HPG installation. But, that was far away, in one of the bigger cities on the other side of the planet. As a trade hub, Crossroads still warranted connection to the HPG network.
Comstar had a small hovel of a building, attended by a lone technician. She left one of three private viewing stalls, stopping at the desk to pay the tech for rendered services. Miko was quickly reminded of Comstar's nature about information-gathering. She suspected the tech was also there to keep an eye on the training pods, among other things.
Technically, she didn't have to come here to connect to the HPG. The old mining facility used by the Legion had a functional comm tower. However, the Legion preferred their privacy, and rarely used it. Broadcasting to the HPG, even through satellite, would pinpoint it's location to Comstar right away. If Comstar found it necessary to locate the facility, Miko was sure that historical records would point out it's location, as well. But, that, at least, would be an extra step.
Best to remain unassuming. Hence the trip into town.
Jim was pleasant, as always, still wearing the robes of an acolyte.
“How long do you think they'll maintain the religious trappings now that Comstar is secular?” she asked, idly.
Jim snorted at their ongoing joke. Each time, he came up with a unique response. “About the same time the Combine gives up its feudal Japanese and Bushido.”
Miko smiled, noting the jab at her perceived heritage. “Not all Japanese hale from the Combine,” she said.
Jim perked up. “Oh, really.”
“Really. Good day.”
“You, too, Miss Nakagami.”
Being this close to the desert, exiting the Comstar terminal building was like stepping into a baking oven. Miko quickly spotted Al's DeLorean and had to fight off a wave of mixed emotions. Her mind immediately went back to Gatchina and the monastery barn. Even in the dry sirocco wind, she felt her cheeks burn with embarrassment while she marched over to the hover car. Looking in the window at Al, she felt her chest tighten in a way she had only experienced in combat, simulated or otherwise.
But, amid all that, she also felt relief. She didn't have to hunt him down, though that would have been easy. The compact Mistress Fusion engine was whirring with activity, which teased her with the notion of cool air inside. Opening the gull-winged door, she could feel the relief spill onto her ankle before sliding in and sealing the door behind her. Leaning back and closing her eyes, she relaxed, letting the cool air conditioning seep into her, chasing the oven heat away.
The electronic ambiance music playing from Al's radio helped her mood immensely.
“Anywhere else?” Al asked calmly from the driver's seat to her left.
“No,” she blurted, sounding defensive and guilty.
Her response annoyed her. It was true, and she had nothing to be defensive about. But, upon hearing his voice, the mixed emotions of dread, guilt, and joy, flooded back, keeping her from maintaining the professional demeanor she was used to when interacting with everyone. The guilt was amplified even more when Al didn't react, taking her response in stride as he started the vehicle forward, gliding out of town and into the Dune Sea Desert.
“I'm sorry,” she said, sitting up and buckling in. As soon as the words were out, she realized that this was the perfect opportunity she had been waiting for. “In fact, I've been intending to apologize to you for quite some time.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw his brow tighten in confusion. “What for?”
The dread which had been fueling her anticipation went away at seeing his reaction. She concluded that Al hadn't held any of the negative feelings she had feared for nearly three weeks. This heightened her feeling of guilt, and the burning sensation returned to her cheeks.
“The barn,” she answered.
The memory of the accident was still fresh. She had found the open door leading to a stairwell into the barn floor, and the gantry into the dark chasm. Miko had called out for Al, wondering where he was at. To her surprise, he answered.
“I'm looking for the lights,” his voice called back to her. From below.
“Hang on. I'll join you,” Miko said.
“No! Wait -” Al started to say.
However, she had already started to fumble around. Too late, she stumbled against the railing. Before Miko could react, she rolled over the edge. Her stomach twisted in the feeling of free-fall. Time seemed to slow down as she watched the glowing light from the open door start to orbit around her. Then something slammed into her from the side, and the memory ended.
“I also wanted to thank you,” Miko said, pausing for a second, then added for clarification, “for rescuing me.”
“I'd do it for anyone,” Al replied idly, eyes ahead on the desert road.
Miko looked down at her knees as another memory flitted through her mind, when she had brought up her arm to restrain Al from what looked like an instinctive reaction. He had started to move, under gun-point. It was apparent to everyone present at that time that the pirate family was being led to their execution, away from prying eyes and the risk of fair trial. It looked to Miko as if Al had intended to intervene. The look on his face when she pointed out their situation was something she had sympathized with.
She had never given it a second thought, until now.
“Of course you would,” she muttered, letting a gloomy smile curl her lips. Turning serious, again, she raised her head, looking at the outside scenery, though her attention was toward the driver's seat.
“I still don't get why you feel guilty about that,” Al said in the silence.
Miko felt a sense of relief and a touch of joy hearing that, and she let the mild smirk return. “If I hadn't chased after you and fallen, the secret of your enhancement wouldn't have gotten out.”
Al's brow quirked, his head tilting with the revelation.
Feeling more comfortable, Miko pressed on. “I had been intending to tell you on Gatchina. But, ever time I'd try, I felt so stupid.” Even now, embarrassment threatened to overwhelm Miko into inaction. “Ever since Lady Park exposed your chastity, going so far to suggest that you might be waiting for me -” Miko hesitated. “I had given up on any notions of love and relationship a long time ago. And, suddenly, with her words I felt things I had only experienced once before.”
Miko looked at Al, letting her gaze linger, so long as he kept his focus on the road ahead. “I followed you to the barn with stupid girlish notions of discovering the truth in private.” Turning back to the scenery, she added, “As I said, it was stupid, and I feel stupid for letting my emotions get the better of me. And, I apologize for the fallout afterward.”
“Eh. It doesn't remain a secret for long, where ever I go,” Al admitted with an amused smirk. “And! Need I remind you, I did break the padlock with my bare hands.” He glanced her way. “On purpose. So, you have no reason to feel guilty.”
Miko felt a touch of despair start to creep back. He had no idea of the details involved in their company. He was an ally, and a powerful one at that. She decided that keeping his allegiance was more important than protocol.
“It's more than that,” she said. “I am obligated to report to Damien. And, we have a sponsor he is obligated to report to, as well.” Miko paused, struggling to organize her thoughts and put them to words. When she next spoke, it was haltingly. “My actions revealed a new scope to your augmentations. We knew you were strong, and potentially fast. But, all we knew was what was on the security cams.”
Miko glanced at Al. He seemed to be listening intently, even though his eyes didn't stray from the road ahead. “Now? You admitted to catching me in front of witnesses who also got a look at the site of my fall.” She looked back to the passing desert scenery. “And, what more, from our brief talk in the basement, I personally know that you were below me when I tumbled over the railing. That means you jumped up at least two stories to catch me.”
“From the side, actually,” Al clarified, looking amused, glancing at Miko. She turned to watch him as he explained. “If I had jumped straight up to catch you, I would have hit you with at least double the force of a floor impact.” He motioned with his right hand, illustrating. “I had to leap over to a wall and launch over from the side to catch you. I tried to cradle your head before hitting the ground in a roll to bleed off the momentum.” He glanced at her one more time. “It worked, if only partially. You're here, alive. But, you were unconscious when I first checked on you.”
Miko sat, stunned, while she processed the new information. “You don't happen to have augmented vision, do you?”
“No.”
“Then, you couldn't have used the stairs to get out,” she mumbled.
“It was pretty dark down there. I had to jump up to the railing to get us out.”
Surprised, Miko shot a look at Al. His amused look was still plastered all over his face.
“I can't hide that,” she breathed.
“Pardon?” Al asked.
Miko closed her eyes a moment as she focused her thoughts into ordered words. “You do realize that I have to report all that you've told me to Damien, right?”
“Yup.”
She shot him another look out of surprise. Then she focused away from him and on her thoughts. “Even if I tried, I don't know how long I could hide that magnitude of augmentation.”
“But, you don't have to,” Al replied in a reassuring tone. “As I said. Where ever I go, it comes out eventually.”
“But, Damien will have to tell our sponsor. And, once the story spreads, someone is going to take interest. They'll come to try to either take or destroy you.”
Al turned sombre. “And, you're concerned about who all might get caught in the crossfire.” He shot her a sad smile. “Like with the Browns. I could have taken out our guards in the blink of an eye and saved those people. But, someone might have gotten off a shot, and killed you, Casey, Damien -” He trailed off.
Miko felt a new bout of guilt in the light of new information. She didn't comment right away. Al waited patiently, giving her the opening to say something in the following seconds. Once she had her emotions in check, she spoke.
“That's only part of it. Knowing you, you won't let it come to a crossfire. I'm concerned that you'll disappear soon, to keep the chase away from the Legion, from Damien, and the rest of us. In the last few months, I've grown to appreciate the friendship we've generated. I do consider you a friend, and would hate to lose you so soon.”
Al didn't say anything. Studying him, Miko found him looking more reflective. Ever since Gatchina, she thought she understood what Al was going through, being a man on the run. She could only imagine his thoughts, his feelings, on having to keep everyone at arm's length in order to keep them safe from his past.
“It must be hard,” She said into the growing silence. “Having to keep distant from everyone, because you never know when you'll have to leave.”
“Eh. I've kinda gotten used to the seemingly random time for my departure,” Al commented lightly. That is what spurns me to be a little more bold in exploring, getting to know people, and to cherish what friendships I happen to make along the way. No. As I told Lady Park weeks ago, I keep the notion of a love-life distant because nobody I've met has been allowed to follow me. I would need a clear sign from my creator, or the creator of this reality, before I'd even begin to entertain the notion.”
Miko had turned her outside the car while he spoke. “I can understand wanting a signal from God, but why would your engineers get a say in what you do?”
“They don't,” he said, with a quiet chuckle. “I'm talking about the God that created the world I'm from.”
“I thought that joke was to get Lady Park off your back,” Miko mused, puzzled.
She tore her eyes away from the scenery to study Al. She found the amused but sad look that crossed his features on occasion. Every time she had seen it, someone had missed something, failing to meet his expectations.
She tried to recall the conversation that was now weeks old. With time, it had morphed in her memory to fit her conclusions, so she wasn't sure if her recall was at all accurate. But, there had been one thing he had said that stood out in her mind.
“You had given her your answer,” Miko muttered. Epiphany struck. With the new realization, she said, louder, “You weren't joking.” Confusion returned as she recalled more of the events around Lady Park. “But, why did you make it seem like you were?”
Al glanced at her with a twinkle in his eye. “Awe! Just because it eventually comes to light doesn't mean I can't have a little fun before hand, does it? I played a little game of subterfuge to see who might catch on. It's not like I haven't been dropping hints all over the place. What's interesting is that Lady Park figured it out right away. She didn't say it directly, but the way she looked around at the rest of you was telling enough. Perry might already have figured it out. She and Down are thick as thieves, so what one knows or guesses, the other will, too. Once they clue in, I'm sure to hear about it.”
He gave her another side-long glance. “And, now there's you.”
Overwhelmed by what he said, Miko sat, numb, not staring at anything in particular. It was all surreal, and the biggest problem she had was wrestling with whether she believed it or not. In that moment, the first thought that quickly scrambled out of the rushing jumble in her firing synapses was the reason why nobody was 'allowed' to follow him.
“So, it's not that you leave people for their safety. It's because they physically can't go with you into the next world,” she stated.
“That's right,” Al said. “Unlike you, I wasn't born into this world. I'm merely deposited by the power of my Creator, and sometimes in collaboration with the designer of the world in question. Honestly, I think they're one-and-the-same, different personality aspects of the One Creator-God. Once events have transpired that my Creator wanted me to witness and participate in, I'm removed and placed in the next world.”
During the rest of the drive back to the Legion's hidden compound, Miko listened to an extensive explanation on what traveling between universes was like for one Alius Cad'ver. The more he explained, the more she recalled details, both little and big, that corroborated his story. The Jewel archive. His knowledge of parts of her world that he shouldn't rightly be privy to, like the Clans and their general modus operandi. The name he had chosen for himself, having given up on his birth name countless realities prior.
Once they pulled into the mine and the entrance doors closed behind the De Lorean, she had no doubt he was telling the truth.
“Wait,” she said, catching Al as he moved to open the door and get out. “I have to report to Damien what you told me about your augmentations.”
He gave her a knowing look, smirking good-naturedly. “You do what you have to.”
The trust he had shown her in the last hour of driving still moved Miko at her core. “But, your other secret is safe with me.”
With a brief appreciative look on his face, he made a noncommittal gesture, then got out.
Miko followed suit. She hopped up from under the gull-winged door with a light step, reflecting how she felt inside. Her burden of mistakes had been forgiven, and she had learned something very private from a friend. That whistful feeling from her school days, and from Gatchina returned.
Turning to Al, she asked, “If circumstances were different, would I be -?” She hesitated as words failed her.
Al appeared to catch on. He gave her a once-over. “In any other circumstance,” He said, good-naturedly.
She felt her cheeks start burning. “What are you doing later?” she asked, hesitant.
Al perked up. “It's Kaz's birthday, today. He's running a monster movie marathon in the rec hall for the whole day.”
“Kazuki Nguyen?” Miko asked.
“Yup.”
“Do you mind if I join you later? I have some orders to look at and distribute, first.”
“Sure,” Al said after a moment of reflection. “I'm not gonna stop you.”
The giddy feeling in Miko heightened. She smiled, quickly turned and strode quickly toward the office complex. One thing she had concluded while listening to Al was that going with him in his travels wasn't impossible. If she really wanted it, she could appeal to his, or her, creator-god. The feelings of a crush washed through her. This time Miko tempered that with experience. She needed to determine whether she wanted to go with him bad enough. That required spending time with him. That could take a long time, assuming he would be around that long.
The Rec Room was dark, save for the far wall, where a projection screen hung. On it, streamed a movie with men dressed in rubber lizard and cardboard robot costumes. The reflected light from the screen cast silhouettes of a large audience. In a particularly bright moment, Miko spotted Al near the middle, out along the wall nearest the door.
Picking her way through the poor arrangement of seats, she quietly apologized to those she bumped. Finally, she found an open chair next to Al and plopped down beside him. She tried to follow what was playing out on screen, but it was apparent the movie was well along. So, she just tried to enjoy the cheep action shots and cheesy dialogue as it came. It turned out the movie was near the end, and after fifteen minutes of wrap-up and credits, Kaz turned up the lights, his mongoloid features sporting a grin.
While Kaz announced the next film in the line-up, Miko turned to Al.
“That's the cheapest kind of entertainment known to man,” she said.
“Yeah. Who knew suit-mation was still a thing,” Al replied.
“Some worlds, it's the best they can do,” Miko said, conceding. “I find it hard to immerse myself in something so blatantly not real.”
“What! You mean the idea of giant lizards, or simply the production quality?”
“The production quality,” Miko said. “As vast as this galaxy is, I have no doubt there are giant lizards out there that can tower over the trees and wrestle with each-other. They're out there.” She smiled at Al. “The likelihood of our encountering them, though, is probably non-existent.”
Al turned reflective. “Yeah. Most likely.”
