Lake had again spent his time in the cell learning more about the GDA and especially Dasos. He knew it was presently Stadio 3, a period – or month – during the Kryo (winter) on Dasos. So, he was not surprised to find how cold it was as they were transferred from the government flyer and into the Kordoni terminal.
The look of shock on Herez’s face, however, he found quite amusing.
There was a very light, almost dusty, snow falling over the capital. It reminded Lake of his ski chalet, built into the side of Blackcomb Mountain overlooking Whistler in the Canadian Rockies.
Good for powder skiing, he thought.
The memory soon faded as they were both herded straight through a side door to avoid the throng of locals waiting for their ascent into space. They avoided the customs post and were marched through the back of the building and into an airlock of what appeared to be a maintenance carriage for the elevator. It was smaller than the public carriages and was only designed for six passengers, along with a multitude of servicing machinery and tools.
Lake and Herez sat side by side, strapped into the small fold-down seats attached to the central core of the carriage. It launched as soon as the two guards were belted in and catapulted them up the elevator string with enormous acceleration. Without the artificial gravity field, they’d all have been squashed flat against the floor.
‘How long does the ascent take?’ said Lake to the guard sitting to his right.
‘Around twenty-eight minutes,’ came the translated reply.
‘Shit,’ said Lake, quietly.
Herez looked over at Lake with a concerned expression.
‘Shit, what?’
‘This thing travels straight up at over four thousand miles per hour.’
Herez’s eyes opened wide and he turned back to stare out the window. There was no sense of speed as the little carriage moved upwards, almost silently; it had disappeared into snow cloud only seconds after launch.
The carriage suddenly lit up as they arose from the cloud and Lake squinted in the bright starlight that flooded in.
The view was spectacular: he could see out across the cloud tops with a range of snow-capped mountain peaks showing through in the distance. A few kilometres away, a tiny dot appeared out of the cloud below them. It rapidly grew into a small ship and Lake watched as, instead of passing by, it slowed and matched the speed of the carriage, sitting about a kilometre away.
The guard sitting next to Lake appeared alarmed by this and started communicating rapidly into his helmet microphone. The translator was turned off, but Lake could see he was getting quite agitated by the proximity of the small ship.
The alarms made everybody jump and Herez looked at Lake with fear in his eyes.
The two security collars around Lake’s and Herez’s necks were flashing red and it was these that were making all the ear-splitting noise.
The guard sitting next to Lake unclipped his belts, jumped up and touched the electronic key to both Lake’s and Herez’s collars, grabbing hold of them both and then diving for the airlock control. He threw the collars inside as soon as the door was wide enough and slammed the airlock closed, quickly punching in the code to open the outer door. The collars whipped out of the airlock as soon as the door cracked open, due to the pressure difference, and Lake heard two dull thumps as the collars detonated, followed by a rattle of shrapnel hitting the floor of the cabin.
‘What the bloody hell caused that?’ he shouted, glaring at the standing guard, who was watching the small ship closely.
‘The collars’ security codes were compromised and overridden at short range,’ he said, continuing to stare out at the unidentified ship.
‘Was it them?’ said a very scared-looking Herez, pointing at the ship.
‘We believe so.’
‘Don’t you have a ship that can intercept them?’ asked Lake.
‘Two minutes away.’
Three fist-sized holes appeared in the window opposite the four of them and the standing guard was slammed back into a tool rack.
The sudden decompression of the cabin sucked him back and, this time, smashed him into the window.
Lake could see that part of the guard’s arm had disappeared when it was hit by the laser bolt and blood was pouring from the wound. It was immediately sucked out of one of the other holes and away in a pink mist. A couple of the tools, loosened when the guard hit the rack, succumbed to the decompression and whipped across the cabin, striking the window so hard that it finally failed.
Window, guard and tools disappeared in a split second, a faint scream from the guard fading immediately into the maelstrom passing outside.
With the whole window gone, the rush of air going out soon ceased, only to be replaced by a rush of freezing air coming in.
Lake, Herez and the remaining guard gritted their teeth against the icy gale and stared out, looking for the small gunship that had moved away to avoid the debris spewing from the carriage.
The first thing they noticed was that the carriage was now descending. Oxygen breathers popped out of a small panel beside each seat. As they sucked in the life-saving gas, the small gunship swept up from below and turned to face them again.
‘Oh, crap,’ said Lake. ‘Doesn’t this bastard ever give up?’
The guard to Herez’s left had never stopped shouting instructions to his colleagues and, as it seemed all was lost, the help he’d been pleading for arrived.
The blinding flash came from above, the small gunship shuddered and, in slow motion, fell into two pieces. It rapidly became many more as the ship tore itself apart.
The guard looked across at them.
‘How many more people are going to die because of you? From what we’ve heard, you come from a whole planet full of murderers,’ he said.
‘That’s not fair,’ said Lake. ‘We didn’t start any of this.’
‘You’d better have some convincing evidence of that fact,’ said the guard. ‘There’s a movement that’s gaining strength asking for the removal of your planet. The most destructive, egomaniacal and murderous race in the galaxy, they say.’
‘Completely untrue,’ said Lake, a feeling of dread beginning to churn in his stomach.
When the carriage finally dropped into the terminal building again, it was completely sealed off. Nobody except soldiers were anywhere near the building. They were escorted straight out into the deserted street where a military gunship sat waiting to take them up to Stathmos Vasi Station. It took off as soon as they were aboard, went up to the space station at maximum speed and deposited them into the hands of Station Security in one of the many hangars.
The cells they were allocated were basic but warm, clean, and the food was reasonably decent.
Having been ignored by everyone since their arrival, they were quite surprised when, after five hours, they were allowed out into the reception area and a well-dressed man introduced himself.
‘Good evening, gentlemen,’ he said. ‘My name is Cien’dra – Commander Cien’dra and I’m your allocated defence counsel.’
‘I’m defending myself,’ said Lake. ‘I’m sorry that you weren’t informed and you’ve come all this way for nothing.’
‘I’m afraid that privilege has been revoked,’ said Cien’dra. ‘The case has become too important, now the fate of an entire race is at stake.’
‘What do you mean by the fate of an entire race?’ asked Herez.
‘You were the first of your race to make contact with the GDA. You allegedly declared war, wiped out the crew of a Katadromiko Class Battle Cruiser and committed several other lesser charges. The prosecution will attempt to prove that this was premeditated and that the history of your race on Gaia is, indeed, the sum of a long list of monstrous, abhorrent, genocidal events, going back many thousands of your years. If you are found guilty of this crime, then moves are being put in place for Ek Neou Spora to be executed on Gaia.’
‘What’s Ek Neou Spora?’ asked Lake, struggling with the pronunciation, already afraid of the answer.
‘A reseeding,’ said Cien’dra.
‘Genocide, then,’ said Lake, glaring at Cien’dra. ‘Committing the exact same crime we’re accused of!’
‘No, not when it will save many other races from the murderous, hateful attitudes that seem to have poisoned the minds of some of the lesser intelligent races.’
‘You’re our defence counsel, eh,’ said Lake, laughing at Cien’dra. ‘You seem pretty convinced of our guilt.’
‘I’m relaying what you’re going to get thrown at you in the court. You need to be prepared beforehand so you’re not surprised by anything and have credible answers to their accusations.’
‘Talking of answers,’ said Herez. ‘Have you discovered who was in that gunship?’
‘There wasn’t much left of the bodies, but the blood and tissue samples retrieved are not in our database.’
‘Who the hell are they, then, and why would they want us dead?’
‘We don’t know yet, but we will find out.’
Lake shook his head. He couldn’t believe an organisation this big didn’t know who their attackers were.
‘When do we go back down for the hearing?’
‘You don’t,’ said Cien’dra. ‘The case is being heard here for security reasons and the date is yet to be announced. As soon as I know, you’ll know.’
‘Wonderful,’ said Lake. ‘I’ve got so much to look forward to.’
Herez shrugged his shoulders and mooched back into his cell.
Lake looked at Cien’dra and wondered if he really would make any effort to defend them.
‘You need to do some investigative work, Commander,’ he said. ‘Because Mr Herez and I have been completely set up. If what you’ve said takes place in the future, then you and the GDA will be guilty of the worst atrocity in the history of the galaxy.’
Lake watched as a rather shaken Cien’dra walked slowly away, a smile no longer on his face.