On the Run

 

The first stop was on a remote world- Harkoon. A colony ship was there, unloading habitation modules and sundries, preparing to establish a colony that would be self sufficient. They had everything, these ships- well, almost everything. What they didn't have could be brought in on ships like the Radiance. 

Two days this stop. 

The colony ship was large, blue and red ights twinkling in the night, great cranes and grav pods handling the unloading. It was a cold world, or at least the part they were experiencing, as they stood atop the ship, several hundred feet above the ground. They could hear machinery and the bustling activity belied the stark nature of this world. 

A Gate had been found- this one was active, opening at intervals, sometimes disgorging strange creatures. That was a problem. Each Gate was a doorway, a shortcut in the fabric of timespace. You can't just open doorways anywhere. Some shit didn't belong in other places. Atmospheres, creatures that were fine one place but would annihilate another. 

The Gate, however, didn't care. 

It was unknown what made one Gate active when others were dead. 

Anna looked out over the scene below- habitation pods being lowered, a cavernous cargo bay slowly being unloaded. The Radiance was a speck compared to the great colony ship. They had come a great distance- they were quite out in the galactic outskirts. She thought back to the meeting before they left. 

Eric and Andreas. She'd been there, her and Gillian. 

"Apparently Paxus got too hot?" said Andreas. 

"Do you have any thoughts on who- or what- is behind this?" Eric asked. They were referring to the assassination attempt the night before. 

"I don't," replied Andreas. "None of my contacts are talking. Do you think it's a good idea going off world?" 

"Well, not sure."

"Moira thinks..." Anna had begun to say. 

"Moira. Do you trust her?"

"Well, I probably shouldn't trust... anyone. But I do."

"I think Moira is the one who enabled you to get back. So I don't want to engender doubt. I just..."

"Moira says I show signs of tampering. Mental suppression. Implantation of memories, or memory tampering. How do I know what's real?"

They were uncomfortably silent. 

Anna was roused from her reverie by a noise. A loud crash from below. She shivered, looking down. A crane had hit something. 

"We should get out of the wind," Eric said next to her. She nodded and they went below, Karis ahead of them. They were becoming comfortable with the captain and his mate. People coming and going. A busy ship. 

"Will we get a chance to scout the Gate?" 

"Not sure. It might be wiser to keep low."

The moons were setting as they came to the observation area. They could see over the frozen plain below from here. It was beautiful in its own way, all the activity on what had previously been a quiet world.