Lithia wheeled her luggage down to the Ruins of Moscone on Howard Street and Fourth. Her intricately woven canvas bag wasn’t fooling anyone, she wasn’t from down here, and the people around knew it. The Ruins of Moscone were a particularly dangerous place; it was in the heart of the Undercity where no light from the sky could reach. Lithia kept vigilant as the people eyed her, sizing her up for what they could steal, or worse.

She knew that this place was once a beacon, a world’s fair, of the west’s technological innovations and trends but several decades ago the Magdalenes had stepped in, reappropriating the complex for themselves.
The facilities were built deep into the ground, three and four stories. The main complex housed a massive cavity the Magdalenes used as a hangar. It was the only place big enough to house ships the size of Lithia’s.

As Lithia descended into the complex, she could see High Priestess Tarja and Cade waiting by an entrance to the main Hangar. Walking up to them, Tarja turned around and spoke, “I’m glad you’ve decided to aid us. I don’t know what we would have done without you.”

Hastily, the three of them proceeded inside and down a series of stairs and walkways. They came to a set of reinforced airlock doors. Lithia placed her hand on a palm reader sitting on a pedestal a few feet from the entry way. She normally kept her family’s ship in the hanger just beyond these doors. Uncle Amir, Aunt Petra and even Bobby had access to it but no one but Lithia ever had reason to use it. Aunt Petra had been trying to get her to sell it for years, saying it was little more than a flying bathtub that was going to start needing serious maintenance soon but Lithia couldn’t bare to part with it. In many ways it was literally her home away from home and she wasn’t about to part with it, especially when she could justify keeping it by doing supply runs to Mars and Titan for the Magdalines.

After scanning her palm, the doors unlocked and slowly swung open. Behind them was a massive hangar nearly the size of a stadium and was easily three stories tall. Ships, cargo haulers, and planet hoppers of all shapes and sizes filled the hollow. They sat quietly in the dim light, waiting for their pilots to return.

“Lithia’s ship is the largest we have here. It’s the only one capable of making it to the Frontier and back.” Tarja informed Cade.

“Then I really am lucky she’s decided to help me.”

“Lithia, I had a few days’ worth of supplies, fusion rods, and food stashed in your cargo. I’m only sorry we can’t spare more. I know how uncomfortable journeys like this can be.”

“We’ll manage. Thank you.” Lithia replied.

The three of them walked down long rows of ships, snaking around the vessels on a makeshift path that led them to the far end of the large open room. There, in the back, was a long-range cargo transport.

The craft was large, it had two long, aerodynamic, arms that reached out from the main hull that were angled downward at forty five degrees. These arms were designed to open up and grasp large cargo containers for ferrying in between star systems if need be. At the base of the arms was the habitation area that resembled an old passenger aircraft and housed everything from an internal cargo hold to sleeping quarters. Off the back end of the ship were a set of wings that helped the craft fly through an atmosphere and doubled as thruster arms while in space. The ship had been designed to house a single family if needed. If the crew rotated, you could fit seven to ten people fairly comfortably,. Lithia’s family had never had more than the four of them on it so she had always found the vessel quite spacious.

“It should still be able to make it to the Frontier,” Tarja said. “We’ve taken good care of it over the years.”

Lithia, Cade and Tarja approached the ship from the front, walking down the space between the two long arms to a ramp that ascended up into the ship. The ramp itself was nearly thirty feet long, giving them the impressions of walking up a long stair case. This was not a place to be if you were afraid of heights.

“You really know how to fly this thing?” Cade asked.

“I guess you’ll find out,” Lithia teased.

Lithia keyed the unlock code into the door. A moment later the lights turned green and the door split down the middle and slid open. Cade looked up to the name painted above the door, “Amaranth . . . The beauty that never fades,” he recited.

Lithia stopped Cade from ascending up the final stretch of the ramp and into the ship. She looked him dead in the eye, or at least as much as she could past his sunglasses, “Wait a sec. You said you could help me get custody of my brother and pay me enough for us to get off this world. Before I let you in, I need some guarantee. I need you to make good on your end of this bargain.”

Cade nodded as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a credit chit. The credit-card-sized device was the nearest thing to a physical currency the Helix Network had. It was used for moving digital currency safely when you couldn’t do it electronically.

“There’s more than enough on here. You won’t be disappointed. It’s all yours,” he said. She was going to have to take his word on it since she had no way to check the amount at this moment, she didn’t have to like it though.

“I’ll transfer your brother’s custody over to you as soon as we reach the Frontier.” Cade continued.

Lithia stepped out of the way, letting him proceed inside the ship.

“Good luck… Both of you,” Tarja called from where she had stayed standing at the base of the ramp.

The ramp lead Lithia and Cade into the ship’s main cargo hold. The cargo hold was a sizable room itself, being large enough to hold plenty of supplies or even a smaller, two seater, craft if need be. A lift in the back would take them up to the command deck.

After dropping her bag in the main galley, Lithia proceeded to the cockpit. As she stepped through the cockpit doors her shoulder brushed up against a little set of dolphin windchimes. They were just like the set that hung from the family’s porch when she was a child back on Venus. This one didn’t make as much noise though, it only jingled during takeoff and landing. The sound helped ease Lithia’s worries every time she heard them, and even now she smiled a bit as she stilled them with a hand and moved to the pilot’s chair.

Tarja, still standing at the base of the Amaranth’s embarkation ramp, signaled to the hangar’s control room. A massive door above the Amaranth began to yawn open and the amber lights from the city above came flooded in. Tarja stepped away from the ramp and walked back to a safe distance in front of the Amaranth, looking up at Lithia through the front of the cockpit.

Lithia went through the pre-takeoff sequence and after a few switches each of the three stations in the cockpit came to life. She pressed a final button, causing a set of pedals and hand controls to emerge from the helm computer. The chair and controls reconfigured themselves to fit Lithia like a glove. The lights on the outside of Amaranth turned on and the ground began to vibrate and the air began to thrum as the engines powered up. Tarja took a couple steps back as the air from the lift engines caught her robe. Lithia waved goodbye to her, wanting to thank her for this opportunity but figured there’d be time after she had returned. Lithia watched her mouth the words “Godspeed.”

The antigrav system sparked up. A couple bolts of lightning discharged off the bottom of the ship’s hull and snapped against the landing pedestal it rested on. Lithia retracted the Amaranth’s landing gear and the ship held itself in midair, slowly drifting back and forth.

Lithia pulled back on the controls as afterburners began to slowly thrust her ship upward toward the open doors in the ceiling. Lithia hovered momentarily over the Ruins of Moscone picking a flight path that would take her out from this lower level to the Upper Terraces above her and up into the sky. It was going to be tricky, her ship hadn’t been designed to maneuver through the tight spaces of San Francisco and she was going to have to if she was going to get out over the bay.

Holding the controls like an extension of her body, she skimmed along the underside of the Terraces, trying to avoid the massive pylons and seismic stabilizers that held it above the water. It didn’t help that it was raining topside. Water droplets battered the cockpit glass as Lithia piloted the craft between the two cities.

Cade stood silently behind her, watching the view outside the cockpit as they flew between the pillars of the city. Lithia could see how green and polluted the water beneath them was as she maneuvered the Amaranth out toward the Golden Gate Bridge. Past it was open sky where she’d be free to ascend into space.

The Amaranth blasted by under the bridge and it’s tourist markets, flying amongst nearly countless other craft out toward the ocean where she could make a clear break into the atmosphere. A row of lights on the cockpit display beckoned Lithia to fall in line behind other departing ships as they went higher and higher, the City of San Francisco shrinking in the distance behind them. Up through the clouds, up through the stratosphere, up through the rain and the wind of the world until all that was left was the serene calm of a new afternoon and the warming sunlight that came with it. It was a beautiful sight until it faded as they left the planet’s grasp.

The space around Terra Luna was packed with ships. They were coming and going in all directions. Lithia did her best to keep the Amaranth in one of the transit lanes which was highlighted by her cockpit display. The ship moved faster and faster as they got further away from Earth. The moon was lit up with all the stations and people that lived there. To her amazement there was even a massive military vessel in orbit, its emblem read “Enigma”.

The Amaranth came to the end of the transit lane. Every vessel in front of Lithia’s began to engage their sprint drives and disappear into a beam of light and shortly it would be their turn.

“There should be a blinking light on the terminal behind you,” Lithia said to Cade, “Go ahead and press it. Then follow the instructions.”

Cade sat down at the controls and input the vector and trajectory solutions that were needed for the ship to move into FTL.

Lithia waited until the last ship in the line ahead of her had vanished and Earth flight control gave her the all clear before she pulled back on the throttle and pushed forward a series of levers. The pinpoints of starlight outside the cockpit stretched into long needles as the ship shot off faster than light.

Lithia engaged the autopilot and swung around in her chair to face her passenger, “There. That wasn’t so bad. Taking off was always the easy part for me. Now… how about a tour of the ship?”

Cade followed Lithia out of the cockpit and back into the hallway of the command. She gestured back to the doors behind her, “You’ve seen the cockpit. I’m gonna have to ask you not to go in there without express invitation.”

She continued by pointing over to the door to the main galley, “That’s the common room, slash mess hall.”

She took Cade further down the hall and through another set of airlock doors to a rotating engine core; “That’s the ships beating heart. The engine was replaced a few years ago and this one doesn’t have as many light years on it. It should have no problem getting us to the Frontier and then getting me home, but should we have a problem there it is.”

Back in the galley, she pointed to a short staircase that descended through another set of doors, “Down there are a number of sections of the ship we won’t be using for this ride so please stay out of them.”

Lithia lead the way back into the command decks hallway and through a final set of doors. Inside was a small cramped room with three, person-sized tubes. “These are the sleep pods. They’re not terribly comfortable, but they’re the only way we’re going to make it all the way to the Frontier with the supplies we have. Mean’s we’re gonna be sleeping for most of this trip.”

“That’s fine.” Cade replied.

Lithia walked over to the sleep pod controls and noticed something strange. If the image on the display was correct there was somebody in the far right tube, but who? Who the hell would be trying to stow away on her ship? A sudden rush of fear washed over her causing the hairs on the back of her neck to stand on end. Was somebody trying to follow them?

“Wait a second…” she said to Cade, a slight trepidation slipping into her voice.

“What?” he inquired.

“There’s someone onboard with us…”

Cade’s constant neutral expression washed away to something approaching concern. He locked his focus on the last sleep pod in the room and shifted into a low crouching stance, “Get that pod open…”

She didn’t know what Cade was planning but something told her she would be safe as long as she followed his orders so she slowly inched her way over to the pod, not wanting whoever was inside to hear her coming. With one fluid motion she pulled on the release lever. The pod tilted upright, and the glass slid open. Bobby spilled out onto the floor, “It’s me! It’s me! Don’t hurt me!

“What the hell are you doing?” Lithia yelled, “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

“You didn’t think I was really going to let you leave without me were you!?” he yelled back.

“I can’t believe you, Bobby! What the hell is wrong with you!? I’m turning the ship around!” Lithia said, turning to walk back to the cockpit.

“No, don’t!”

“We can’t,” Bobby and Cade said simultaneously.

“You can’t come…” she said to Bobby before whipping around to face Cade, “He can’t come with us. My aunt doesn’t even know we’re gone! She’s gonna flip out. I wouldn’t be surprised if she already called the cops.”

“We can’t turn back now.” Cade said.

Lithia sighed not knowing what to do.

“I won’t get in your way.” Bobby said, “Promise...”

“It’s not about being in the way, Bobby… You weren’t supposed to… I can’t believe you! I’m turning us around now. End of discussion.”

Lithia made a beeline for the cockpit but was stopped when Cade grabbed her arm. She looked back at him with daggers in her eyes, how dare he grab her “What do you think you’re doing?” she said, pulling out of his grasp.

“Listen, if we turn around, there is a good chance I will be captured by Lambda. If they catch me, I’m as good as dead.” he said.

“So this is why you needed to get off world so fast? Because you’re wanted!? Great... I’m transporting a fugitive. Might have been nice for you to mention before I agreed to take you anywhere!”

Lithia couldn’t believe Tarja and Cade had not supplied her with all the facts.

“It may not seem like a big deal to you” Cade continued, “but it’s more than likely that you two will be imprisoned while they try to ‘extract’ what exactly I may have told you about my mission.”

There was a pause while Lithia considered her options. “You haven’t told us anything…”

“They won’t believe that.” he replied.

Lithia glared at both Cade and Bobby. She didn’t know who she was more mad at right now. Cade had essentially lied to her, Bobby had disobeyed her and was now making this whole thing more difficult and now she was angry at herself. She had thought if she didn’t go probing and asking Tarja why she needed her to ferry Cade to the Frontier, it wouldn’t matter why Cade needed her help. She felt so stupid right now.

“What’s going on anyway? What are you guys talking about?” Bobby inquired.

Lithia took a deep breath, “Okay… the Magdalenes asked me to bring Mister Trenchcoat here to the Frontier. To Archer’s Agony… That, for some reason, he can’t use the Space Liners. Now I find out it’s because he’s a wanted man.”

“Oh… Okay.”

Lithia swung back around to face Cade, “I did you the courtesy of not asking too many questions. I trusted Tarja, but now I need to hear all the facts.What did you do to get Lambda after you?”

“If I answered that I would be putting you and your brother in danger.” he replied.

Lithia turned away from Cade and her brother and stormed the rest of the way to the cockpit, “I wonder if there is a reward for your arrest.”

Cade sat down in one of the cockpit chairs and ran his hand through his hair, “Okay… Okay…” he said, causing Lithia to turn around and at least hear him out, “Tarja came to me with concerns of major proportions. She and the other mad’nuns were convinced the Helix has been suppressing information. I did some poking around and found that she had been right, but it went alot further than she suspected. I don’t know who, but Lambda, the UPE, or the Helix itself had been editing history for at least the last three hundred years.”

“Why would anyone do that?” Lithia asked.

“I don’t know. But I was able to download a partial log. I’ve got to get to the Frontier, past the Helix Network, and to a man who might be able to help me.”

Lithia and Bobby were stunned, all of a sudden they were in a movie.

“So Lambda’s real?” Bobby asked.

“Yup.” Cade replied.

“And you’re one of their augmented soldiers… Aren’t you?”

“Yup.”

Bobby looked like he wanted to ask the next most obvious question but Lithia answered her brother before he could, “The reason I accepted the job was the priestess asked me to. He promised that if I took him to the Frontier, he could make sure I’d gain guardianship of you.”

Bobby stood there, looking surprised, “I had no idea you were so…”

“So what?”

“So… So... Cool.”

Lithia couldn’t help but bury her face in her palm, “So let me get this straight...” Bobby continued, “The rumors of a super secret organization that biomechanically enhances agents for espionage is involved with suppressing history from the masses, and the one man… No… The one cyborg who can bring down their evil empire is sitting here in this ship. And you’re taking him to the Frontier in hopes of freeing me from Aunt Petra.”

Lithia still had her hand over her face just now realizing how in over her head she had become, “Uh-huh…” she answered.

“Mom and Dad would be so proud of you. You grew up to be so cool!” Bobby smiled gleefully.

“Well, I’m glad you’re having fun with this. Aunt Petra is going to think you were kidnapped or something.”

“But I wasn’t. I ran away.”

“Because that’s better? She won’t know any different. She’s still going to send the cops after us.”

“What does that matter? Lambda’s after us now. Perspective, Lith.”

Lithia sighed resignedly. The truth was Bobby and Cade were right. At this point the only thing Lithia could do was keep going. It wasn’t a good solution and she really didn’t like it but it was the only option she really had left.

…

The three of them reentered the sleep pod room some time later. This was going to be their home for a while. All the sleep pods were lit up. A thin, heavy white smoke poured out of vents on the side.

“We’re not actually going into stasis, are we?” Bobby asked, clearly uneasy.

“Yes.” Lithia replied.

“Do we have to?” Bobby whined.

“Bobby, it’s going to take four weeks for the Amaranth to get to the Frontier. In eight days, we run out of food. In eleven days, we run out of air… What do you suggest?”

Bobby looked anxious with his clammy skin and red face. She knew her brother suffered from anxiety, but he should have thought about that before stowing away.

Bobby looked over at his sister nervously, “But... I heard from a friend that his cousin went into one of those things and some sort of squidlike creature crawled in and attached itself to his face and laid an egg in his chest that burst out when he woke up.”

“Bobby… If a creature really wants to lay an egg in your chest, it would do it whether you’re in stasis or not. Do you really want to be awake for that?”

“Lithia! I’m serious!”

“So am I!” Lithia yelled back no longer interested in delaying things any longer. Out of the corner of her eye she caught Cade shaking his head and trying to hide his smirk.

Bobby stood there, anxiously looking around the room for an alien squid. Lithia walked over to the sleep chamber controls, “All right, I’m setting the time to wake us up five hours before we reach our destination. That will give us enough time to wake up and shake off the hypersleep blues before we pass through the gate.”

Bobby hesitated for a moment, taking a deep breath before he climbed in his pod, “Fine… But if I wake up dead, it’s your fault. And I hold one hell of a grudge.”

Cade took off his coat and climbed into a pod. He wasted no time pulling the door shut so Lithia could initiate the chambers.

“I think I’m gonna puke. I get so claustrophobic in these things.” Bobby whined.

“Will you relax? You didn’t seem to have any problem hiding in it earlier.”

“Yeah, that’s before I knew how cramped they are…”

Lithia pulled down on the glass door, “ Relax. You’ll be asleep in the next five minutes.”
Bobby looked resigned, “Okay…”

“Sweet dreams… See you when we get back to earth...” Lithia said as she began to swing the door to his pod closed.

“Wait a sec! Four weeks!?” The pods sealed with Bobby clearly upset. She could hear his muffled arguments through the glass but couldn’t make out anything he was saying so she simply waved at him before moving on to her own pod. She programmed her own sleep pod to wake her up a couple hours before Cade’s. She needed to stay in control of the situation, and being awake first would give her the time she needed to work off the hibernation sickness.

Before climbing in though she made one last stop in the cockpit and sent a message to her aunt. It simply said, “Head to the Frontier on a run. Bobby is with me. He stowed away, and by the time I found him, it was too late to turn back. See you in a month or so.”

Sure she was going to have a lot of explaining to do when she got home, but if Cade kept up his end of the bargain, it wouldn’t matter. Lithia didn’t know if she could trust him, but what more could she do at this point?

As she made her way back to the Sleep pod room her curiosity got the better of her. She couldn’t help but peer into Cade’s pod. He was in deep hibernation, and now with the absence of his coat and shirt, she could see just what he was. His veins were a strange electric blue and snaked across his body. It was pretty clear his left arm had been replaced, as the smoothness of the skin on it didn’t match up with the rest of his body. Everyone had heard of Lambda operatives being enhanced, but she didn’t know anyone who had ever actually seen one. She couldn’t help but feel she was in over her head. No wonder Cade and Tarja hadn’t told her the whole truth. Frankly she wouldn’t have accepted the offer.

There was nothing left for her to do but strip down to her underwear and climb into her own pod. Before she pulled the door close she took a moment to pray for an uneventful ride.

Next Chapter: Chapter 30: You Forgot the Jet Pack...