Beyond (5 page)

Yeah, well, if the whole damn ship blew up it didn't matter where the core was, now did it?

Aimee gave a courteous nod and trailed behind Raja as she marched down the aisle of glass beds. Passing an occupied bed, she saw a middle-aged man deep asleep with a glowing patch over his right eye. He looked like a stellar pirate.

"What is that on his eye?" she asked as they continued past.

"He was blinded during the first strike today. The Korons possess solar rays that will destroy the naked eye. That is their plan. Blind their foes first, and then annihilate them."

"Annihilate?" Aimee's voice caught.

Raja turned around and offered a feeble smile that faltered when the next rumble filled the chamber. "Well, they
intend
to annihilate, but they never succeed. Our warriors are too cunning, and they wear shields over their eyes."

"He didn't."

"The first strike caught some of our
watchers
off guard. That's mostly who you see in here right now.
Watchers."
Raja's hand waved at the sparse inhabitants. "It's when the
warriors
return that this place will get busy." Worry lines poked at the corners of her glossy lips.

"Zak," Aimee hesitated, "he's a warrior?"

"One of our best."
Raja nodded, continuing to amble through the empty beds. There had to be hundreds of them.

"Will he be—" The floor jerked. Aimee grabbed onto an elevated cot for support. When the tremor stopped, she repeated, "Will he be okay?"

"He usually is," Raja assured. "That's why he's one of our best."

They stopped before a bank of flat-topped chairs with spherical foundations. A tablet floated before each seat. The tablets looked like bobbing iPads. "You can stay here for now. Use one of the JOH's if you would like."

"JOH's?"

Raja reached for one of the hovering monitors and drew it close. She tapped on the screen and it came to life. A face stared up at her. Not human, but a synthetic representation of a face. An animation, almost like a cartoon character made from a mosaic of azure glowing crystals. Black cavities in the crystal orb depicted eyes and a mouth. That onyx mouth spread into a smile. "Hello Raja. I am experiencing some intermittent time-outs due to the solar interference from the Koron’s ship."

"I understand." Raja pushed the monitor through the air so that it hovered before Aimee. "JOH, this is—" she arched an eyebrow. "I'm
sorry,
we didn't even have the time to be properly introduced."

"Aimee," she quickly injected.

"JOH, this is Aimee. She is new to the ship. Can you please watch after her for a little while?"

The blue head flickered for a second but the black grin remained. "Oh yes, I've heard about her already. I have so many questions."

Raja turned the monitor around so that it was facing away from them as she whispered, "JOH will spend hours trying to learn from you. He thrives on filling up his data banks, so if you get tired just tap the screen and he'll go away. He's really quite obnoxious after a while," she chuckled.

Aimee felt her throat tighten. To her utter horror, her eyes started to fill with tears. Everyone was leaving her.

The woman grew concerned. "Don't worry. We will be safe. The Korons have tried to attack us before. They never succeed. They won't today either."

To disprove that testimony a muffled explosion clapped overhead. Raja ducked, but rushed an assured look back on her face. "I'll be back to check up on you in a little while. This should all be over soon."

Oh, how she wished it could all be over.

Aimee watched Raja's slim silver suit recede down the aisle and then moved over to one of the glass chairs and sat down. She expected it to be cold, but it was remarkably warm, and it felt like it was padded. It honestly looked like she was sitting in a big, inverted football helmet. She stooped over with her elbows on her knees and noticed her jeans and sneakers which looked so out of place. Peeking up from this crouched position she studied the spacious chamber and watched other
women like Raja administering to the few patients.
The
watchers
.
Hah.
A rather simple job.
How could you miss a ship that size? It didn't exactly sneak up on you.

She jolted when a door appeared a few feet away and someone passed through. The barrier quickly dropped closed behind them.

Well, maybe the ship
could
sneak up on you.

Aimee continued to survey the Bio Ward. It was the size of a circus arena, with a dome-shaped, mirror-plated ceiling. If she squinted real hard she could see a distorted image of herself looking down. The floor looked like black marble, but she never heard the tread of Raja’s boots against it. They weren’t really boots. More like footies attached to the bottom of the suit.
Footies with heels.
Aimee counted nearly twenty patients out of a myriad amount of beds. They were all male, and most of them possessed eye patches.
Watchers
.
If she lived on this ship, she would never be a watcher. She would be a warrior.

Hah, right. She played the clarinet…she didn’t shoot lasers.

Sighing, Aimee glanced at the tablet hovering before her. It trembled in the air each time the Horus shook from impact. She reached for it and guided it closer, gently tapping the dark monitor. A blue
crystalline
head lit up with a black gash that served up a grin.

“Hello, Aimee.”

"Hello," she replied, casting a furtive look to see if anyone watched as she spoke to Sesame Street's futuristic cookie monster.

"Are you going to fill me full of
titillating
knowledge about your planet now?"

Boom
.
JOH flickered and the staff in the Bio Ward ceased their tasks to gape at each other.

"Don't worry, Aimee. The Horus infrastructure is still intact."

Aimee noticed a woman nearby staring at another floating monitor. Even from this distance,
she could recognize JOH's face on that screen as well. The woman gave a brief nod and tapped off the screen.

"Are you talking to other people at the same time?" Aimee asked.

JOH paused and she swore his blue orb wobbled in affirmation. "I am conversing with 3256 people at the moment.
3255 now."

"How?"

"How?"
The black eyes flattened.

"How do you speak to 3255 people at the same time?"

"I—I don't know how to answer that." He regrouped and smiled. "So let's talk about you, then."

"And your name is Joe?" Aimee persisted. "Everyone around here has funny names. How did you end up with Joe? That name comes from my planet."
Oh my God, did she just say her planet? Not her town, or her state, or even America...but her planet.

"My name is too long to pronounce in any language. It is a series of symbols of which the first three represent a sound equivalent to JOH."

"So your name isn't really Joe,
it's
JOH."

The black eyes flattened.
"JOH."

"Right," she almost smiled at the blue head. "I'll call you Joe."

The screen flickered.

Computers were the same no matter what universe you were in.

"JOH is useless. I would not look to him for any insight."

Aimee's head snapped up at the voice. For a moment she wanted to shrink back into her seat and drag JOH close for protection. The black line across the lower half of JOH's blue head no longer curved up. He watched her with
unblinking eyes until a hand reached across the monitor and tapped it, obliterating his face.

"So they stuck you in here until all the heroes could return victorious?"

It was Salvan. He stood before her.
She had never heard his tread on the marble floor.

"You are not a warrior," she observed. "You are a watcher?"

Salvan's face pinched in distaste. "I do more important things than either of those menial tasks."

"I realize I am a foreigner, but it seems to me if the warriors return victorious as you stated...that wouldn't be a menial task, right?"

She didn't like the man, so she didn't mind pushing his buttons. "Why are you in the Bio Ward?" she proceeded before he had an opportunity to counter her previous challenge.

"I am—" he glanced around. In profile, he did look feminine with his perfect,
aquiline
nose. "I needed some supplies."

Aimee nodded. "Oh, well, don't let me hold you up. I'm fine."

"You're fine?" A pale blond eyebrow arched. "We are at battle. You are in an environment that has to be a complete shock to your system. You have been abandoned here in the corner, and you are
fine
?"

He moved in closer so that her view was blocked by his lanky frame. She didn’t like being boxed in.

"You appeared to be in shock on deck before Zak hauled you off.” The way he said "Zak" was more like
Seck
. “I don't know why Vodu would turn you over to him. I’m sure Zak released you to the staff and took off as soon as he could. His motivation is simple and insular."

"Which is?" The conversation finally interested her.

"Fly. Fly and fight. It's all he cares about."

That’s two thoughts
. "He was courteous."

Salvan crossed his arms and looked down at her. "Well, I’m just suggesting that you might want to stay away from him.”

"And why is that?"

"I just said. Nothing matters to that man. He does not care about people. He cares about himself."

Well, she sure was no judge of character after having spent only a few minutes with Zak, but if someone seemed to care about himself, she'd venture Salvan was the better guess. Even now he rested his fists against his hips and stood straight as if the correct posture could boost a few extra inches of height out of him.

To her right, the wall opened and Raja appeared.
"Aimee.
I need you to come with me."

Oh, thank God
.

"Salvan."
Raja acknowledged him with a dip of her head, and concealed distaste in her eyes.

"Raja, I can take her. I know you are busy."

No. No. Please. I don't want to go with him.

"She is a woman. I'm afraid where we're going you cannot come along."

A muscle spasm toyed with Salvan's eyelid. After a moment he bowed and retreated. “I will see you later,” he addressed Aimee. His glance flicked up towards the dome and he added, “If we live that long.”

***

“Don’t take him seriously.” Raja placed a hand on Aimee’s shoulder and snapped her other hand at the wall so that they could pass through. “He is ummm—” Raja’s forehead folded into a frown. “He is what you would call, melodramatic.” She nodded and smiled, seemingly pleased with the analysis. “The
last report from Vodu was that the warriors were making great progress and that the Koron’s ship may begin to retreat soon.”

“With its tail between its legs,” Aimee quipped.

Raja frowned again. “That ship has no tail.”

“Never mind,” Aimee sighed.

The room they entered was much smaller than the Bio Ward. It resembled the first-class cabin of a 747 with its rounded corners and oblong windows. The windows did not look out into space though. They either were directed into an adjacent room or they were monitors tracking the movement of other people.

“Here.” Raja pointed at a futon resting atop a glass pedestal. Beside it Aimee saw the first sign of décor in the form of a white vase with a purple blossom sticking out. The pedals of the flower undulated, and even the violet stem seemed to pivot in sync with her movements.
She sat atop the futon and the stem settled back into place.

“That uniform is for you.” Raja nodded at the silver bodysuit lying across the divan.

“Can’t I stay in my jeans? I’m much more comfortable in them.”

“It is for your own safety. We all wear these for a reason.”

“Which is?”
Aimee fingered the fabric and remembered the sensation when she touched Zak’s arm. It felt remarkably like flesh.
How strange.

“Please, put it on and I will explain afterwards.” She stepped towards the curved wall and added, “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Aimee glanced at the windows. “Can they see me?” She watched a man speeding along in a horizontal elevator, his arms crossed and his expression intense.

“You can tap the screen and they will go away. This room is for recovery. More often than not warriors are in here, and they want to keep track of what is happening on the ship.”

“Warriors are in here…recovering?” It was probably a lame question, but she posed it nonetheless. “Recovering from what?”