Chapter 1: Base Chicago Town

Twenty three years later on planet Rubicon…

They were always testing me. That was something I'd learned to live with. There were written tests, oral tests, and trials by fire in the air. They wanted displays of knowledge, skill, aptitude and art. They recorded each result, and sent the records on to Irene where the Alpharus system's Overlord Huresa resided.

So I wasn't surprised when my ghoulish tutors, Merchaur and Systile asked me to the Chicago Base Testing Chamber that morning almost year ago. The Chamber is a small room, with only a chair for furniture. It doesn't need anything more. The chair has a contoured back and seat which caresses you like one of those girls in town on a hot night. But it's cold, and there is no love involved. The chair has millions of sensory conductors that feed information to the nerves, and take data about you in return.

As I walked into the room the two blue silk robe dressed tutors were adjusting wires in the wall near the control booth. Merchaur pointed a liver-spotted finger at the chair. "Sit down, Perry. This won't take long."

I glanced around the room. "What's on for today?"

"Just something we want to show you," Systile said.

"What?"

Merchaur finished with the wire and turned dials. "It's a mission from the old days. You're required to experience it."

"Overlord's orders?" I asked.

"Yes."

I sat back and let them wrap the straps around my wrists and ankles. Thatwas the part I hated. It made me feel helpless. It was meant to. They fit the headset over my hair, and hooked the sensors in. We were ready.

They went to the door. Merchaur glanced back at me and said: "If you need anything-"

"If I need anything you'll probably know it before I do."
"Yes, of course."

The tutors went to their monitors. I felt the tiny sting of electricity when Merchaur flicked the switch. The test chamber faded. Suddenly I was in the skin of another man, and he was in control. He didn't even know I was there. After all, he was just a memory tape of a man who had lived at least a century before.

He was the pilot of an attack ship. The ship wasn't so different from the one I flew almost every day. I scanned the controls, recognized them, and adjusted my thoughts to them. Not that it would do much good. We were high above a planet, and eleven other ships were grouped around us. I heard voices on the radio. From the conversation I understood that I was in with the lead pilot. I watched him. That was all I could do.

"Think they see us, Captain?" said a radio voice.

The next sound was jarring. It sounded as if it came from within my head. I could even feel the vocal cords work, but I knew they weren't my own. Thevoice was smooth, yet it conveyed a tension that it shouldn't have. "I think that satellite picked us up," It said. "If I don't make it it's Dennenberg's turn." Don't ever think you can't make it. That was the first rule my mentor Durk had taught me.

"Ok, Captain," said the other voice. "But you come on back."
"I'm planning on it."

One hand pulled a lever. The ship raced ahead of the others, then we dovetoward the orange mass of land. The planet swallowed up the viewscreen, and green sea disappeared. I felt gravity pull like a wanting mother. For a moment all things shook. That was the last kink of reentry that they'd never been able to iron out. We came out gliding at an altitude of twenty thousand meters. Below us I saw two flashes of light. I assumed he saw them too. I felt his nerves tighten. There was a roar off to our left. His hands moved slowly, then more slowly. I wanted to shout at him, scream at him: "Go, you bastard! Go!" But I had no mouth.

Copyright © 2006 Tony Teora