Giles Kurns_Rogue Operator Read online

  Lorraine studied her spiritual sister and slowed the conversation down to broach the real issue as she saw it. “You think she is reckless,” she offered, “but really, you need to remember, Bridgette, she’s just a scared child with abilities that everyone is fearful of. It can’t be easy for her.”

  Bridgette shook her head, grabbed her mug and turned back to the tap to refill it. “It’s not easy for me, dammit!” she cursed, still wired from the fright.

  Lorraine tried again. “Come on, take a minute and sit. Regain your calm,” she insisted.

  Bridgette gulped some more water and then put the mug back on the counter. “I have no calm to regain at this point,” she insisted, storming back across the convent kitchen. “Besides, I can’t leave her alone. Ancestors knows what chaos she’ll create unsupervised.”

  And with that she flounced back out.

  Lorraine scratched at the side of her head, then hauled herself to her feet again. She wandered over to the kitchen sink, rinsed the cup out, dried it and put it back on the shelf. As she headed back to the other counter she could hear Bridgette shouting at the girl again and the muffled sound of crying. She shook her head in pity. It wasn’t her place to do anything about it, and if anything, the way that Sister Bridgette had the ear of the elders, that girl — or any of her allies — wouldn’t stand a chance anyway.

  Sister Lorraine sighed and went back to preparing the vegetables, feeling sad but helpless about the girl.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Orn System, Moon Ramachandra, Visitor Center

  The Scamp Princess touched down gently in the ship port a good distance from a few, much larger ships.

  Giles was the first one to step foot on the asphalt. He looked off into the distance, noticing the size of the other ships. “You forget how small we are in the Scamp,” he remarked as Arlene stepped down onto the ground.

  “Yeah,” she mumbled, “but you know, dear, size doesn’t matter.” She tapped him patronizingly on the shoulder and started walking in the direction of what could only be the main Visitor Center. Beno’or followed Giles, chuckling. Giles glanced at him, scowled almost imperceptibly, and then started walking alongside him as Scamp closed up the ship.

  The pair walked in silence following behind Arlene. Giles pointed at a warning sign as they stepped onto the walkway that would take them safely through the rest of the shipping port.

  Low atmosphere: Do not stay in the open for more than 60 minutes at a time.

  - Ramachandra Visitor Center

  Beno’or nodded, then looked up. “I guess they only partially terraformed it. Enough to provide a semi-atmosphere but not enough for them to grow crops and such like.”

  Giles nodded. “I guess they don’t want people setting up home… or shop here,” he mused.

  Beno’or raised his eyebrows. “It would appear not.” He paused a moment before broaching another subject. “So tell me something, Mr. Kurns. If you and Arlene aren’t an item, does that means she is… erm… how do you call it in your society?”

  Giles started grinning to himself. He turned his head up to Beno’or as they walked together without actually pulling his eyes up to meet with his. “You mean, is she single? Available? … for courting?” he suggested.

  Beno’or looked confused, and then more confident. “Yes. I believe… yes. I think that’s what I’m asking.”

  Giles grinned broadly, this time turning to Beno’or and punching his arm playfully. “You like Arlene?” he jested.

  Beno’or looked confused. “Of course. She’s a fascinating woman.” It was almost as if Beno’or couldn’t understand why anyone wouldn’t.

  It was Giles’s turn to look confused. “I didn’t think Zhyn found Estarians attractive.”

  Beno’or’s manner had returned to that of a sage one. “The Zhyn people are wide and varied in their preferences. Why anyone would look at Ms. Bailey and not find her attractive is beyond me though.”

  Giles shrugged, a new excitement charging his gait now. “Well, I never expected this when we came to see you,” he muttered, half to himself.

  Beno’or slowed his pace, forcing Giles to turn back to him and pay attention. “You still haven’t answered my question though,” he prompted brightly.

  Giles smiled. “Ah, no… I mean yes. She is single. You may court her, if she is agreeable,” he added dismissively, as if it were a much smaller detail.

  Beno’or seemed satisfied and picked up his pace. The pair walked together again in silence, each one amused at the others’ take on the situation.

  Soon enough they arrived at the Visitor’s Center. Arlene had ducked inside ahead of them and was already reemerging, dodging small groups of school children and tourists.

  “All looks very standard,” she reported back. “The temple is up that way,” she said, indicating a path alongside the building that seemed to head up a grassy mound to something beyond. “I reckon we should check it out at least,” she suggested, despite her skepticism.

  The two men agreed and once again allowed Arlene to take the lead as she strode on ahead of them.

  After a short distance there was a tourist information sign that listed all the other moons in the system.

  Arlene paused, then beckoned for the others to hurry up and join her. “Hey, check this out,” she called over to them. She pointed at the list, which filled the white tablet on a black metal mount fixed to the rocky ground.

  1 Mona

  2 Badar

  3 Qamar

  4 Tunkay

  5 Aku

  6 Badru

  7 Purnama

  8 Aibek

  9 Jericho

  10 Ramachandra << YOU ARE HERE

  11 Marama

  Giles chuckled to himself. “I guess the school kids and tourists don’t have a Scamp on hand to keep them informed,” he commented, raising his eyebrows comically.

  Arlene bobbed her head in amusement. “We certainly are lucky to have someone to remind us of these details!” she agreed. “Especially the technicalities of what constitutes a planet!”

  Beno’or ran his fingers over the printed lettering. “This is interesting.They all have some translation to the word moon,” he explained.

  Arlene looked impressed. “How many languages do you speak?” she demanded playfully, one hand on her hip.

  Beno’or chuffed, looking a little embarrassed. “I’m afraid it’s not natural learning,” he confessed. “I have a language translation chip which holds about 2300 different languages. It allows me to hear and speak about 200.” He shrugged. “Not quite as noteworthy, eh?”

  Arlene smiled generously. “Hey, when you need a translation it doesn’t matter how you know the language! Believe me.” She glanced over at Giles, who was nodding in agreement as she kept talking. “We’ve been in enough scrapes to know that it’s the end result that matters.”

  Giles turned his attention back to the sign, frowning. He was studying the diagram next to the numbered list realizing that they were labels of the position of each of the moons. He put his finger over his lips thoughtfully, one arm across his chest.

  “Arlene,” he said, turning to her without taking his eyes from it. “Doesn’t it remind you of that Doctor Who episode where they had the planets taken out of time and space and put together in a holding pattern in a self-sustaining gravitational machine?” He pointed at the diagram, his face still deadly serious.

  Arlene rolled her eyes, leaning closer to Beno’or. “It’s an Earth cultural reference, I believe,” she explained to him. “Only two people in the whole Federation have actually watched those archives.”

  Beno’or smiled his wise smile. “I take it Mr. Kurns is one of them.”

  Arlene sighed. “Sadly, yes,” she confirmed. “Molly is the other.”

  Beno’or chuckled, as he and Arlene started walking again, leaving Giles still studying the plate. The temple was now visible just the other side of the mound, in the shallow rocky valley.

  “You know,” Arl
ene mused, “if this were the real resting place for the talisman, you would think that there would be some feeling of power or magic around.” She visually scanned the area as if the temple wasn’t her main focus.

  Beno’or looked down at her, a hint of amazement on his face. “And that’s something you’d be able to feel?” he asked.

  Arlene nodded matter-of-factly. “Yeah, I would think so. But I’m not getting anything.” She paused for a moment. “Nothing at all,” she qualified.

  She sighed, stopped walking, and looked around, seeing Giles wandering up to them.

  He glanced up at her, his hands in his pockets as he ambled. “What’s up?”

  Arlene wrinkled her nose. “I think we’re in the wrong place,” she told him. “I could be wrong, and this talisman could be cloaked like your elder friends did to the other one, but… I think I’d sense something. Especially since we know what we’re looking for.”

  Giles scratched the side of his nose and pushed his glassed further onto his face. “Hmm,” he mumbled thoughtfully. “And what about the land energy? Is there anything at all here that makes this moon special?”

  Arlene paused for a moment, as if checking in on her other senses. Then she shook her head. “Nothing,” she concluded.

  Giles sighed, and turned to look at the trek back to the ship. Then he glanced down at the temple. “Wanna go check it out just in case?” he asked.

  Arlene shrugged. “May as well,” she agreed. She glanced at Beno’or, who opened his hand as if welcoming her on the path and allowing her to proceed. She kept walking, Beno’or at her side and Giles ambling behind them.

  When they arrived at the temple they found it was sealed, with no access points. Beno’or walked up to it and touched the marble. “I wonder if there is a way to date this stone,” he mused. “Or get a reading on how long this structure has been up. It would at the very least give us some insight into which point in history it was decided that this should be the place that the history books would point to,” he suggested grimly.

  Arlene sighed. “Yeah. At least then we’d know for sure it was a decoy…” she agreed. She kept walking round it and noticed there were carvings in the stone just above eye level. Giles saw she had clocked them and nodded. Arlene pulled up her holo and started taking images of the carvings.

  Beno’or stood beside her. “Documenting?” he asked.

  Arlene nodded, glancing over her shoulder before answering in a low voice. “Verifying,” she said with a wink.

  Beno’or raised his chin. “Ahhh,” he said, not really understanding what was really going on.

  Meanwhile, Giles walked the other way around the structure. As he went he glanced furtively around, between checking certain details - knocking on the panels, smelling the surfaces, tracing his fingers in grooves of the odd decorative embellishment in the structure here and there.

  Arlene rounded the far corner and right away could tell he was up to something when he suddenly paused with his back to the structure, standing right up against it. “What are you doing?” she asked warily.

  Giles shoved his hands in his pockets and tried to look casual. “Nothing at the moment. Be a love and wait for the area to clear, then keep watch for me?”

  Arlene sighed and dragged Beno’or out to the front of the structure, tutting.

  Beno’or obliged, glancing back trying to see what Giles was up to.

  “Don’t look,” Arlene instructed. “Pretend to be admiring the carvings or something over here,” she suggested, pulling him round so he couldn’t see Giles anymore.

  “Why? What’s happening?” he pressed.

  A couple of tourists ambled past them, having already had their fill of the temple, and started making their way back to the Visitor Center.

  Arlene shot him a glance. “Giles is what is happening,” she said, her voice pretending to be more irritated than she actually was. Her eyes showed that she was secretly amused and excited by whatever was happening.

  Beno’or chuckled. “It’s like you two have a system down. How many of these missions have you done together exactly?”

  Arlene didn’t even try to guess. “I have no idea. We traveled together, studying different cultures, for years,” she explained. “And of course, sometimes we’d end up in sticky situations we needed to get out of. So we kind of evolved processes for survival.” Her voice seemed a little distant as she spoke, as if she were remembering the good old days.

  “So what happened?” Beno’or asked, intrigued.

  Arlene sighed, bringing her attention back to the present moment. “Ohhhh, I don’t know,” she mused. “Life? Or maybe we just grew apart?” She shrugged casually, glancing back over in Giles’s direction.

  “Ok, he’s coming,” she reported. “Let’s look like we’ve had enough and want a mocha in the on-site mocha shop.”

  Giles approached them. “Don’t let her rope you into a visit to the mocha shop. We’ll never get away,” he said casually, walking past them and ambling on to the path again.

  Beno’or looked amused. “He couldn’t possibly have heard you…”

  Arlene shook her head. “Apparently I’m predictable,” she said glumly.

  Beno’or smiled. “Well, if m’lady would like a mocha in the Visitor’s Center, it would be my pleasure to accompany her.” He held out his arm and Arlene took it with both hands. “Well,” she exclaimed, impressed that she finally got her own way for a change.

  She could feel Giles glowering from ten yards ahead of them. And she didn’t care. She was ready for a damn mocha after all the sitting around in the Scamp.

  Aboard the Scamp Princess

  “Well, that was a royal waste of time,” Giles grumbled as he collapsed back into his antigrav pilot seat. His face looked weary and kicked his boots off and relaxed back, unmoving.

  Beno’or followed him into the cockpit and sat down in the chair next to him. “Oh, I don’t know,” he mused optimistically, “I rather enjoyed looking out over the rock face savoring a mocha!”

  Arlene was the last to enter. She looked pleasantly satisfied. “Yeah, me too,” she cooed. “Why you looking so glum?” she asked, turning to Giles. “I thought you had a sample to work on?”

  Giles sighed, pulling the tiny cylinder from his pocket. “Yeah. But I already know that temple is a fake.”

  Arlene raised an eyebrow. “Oh yeah? What gave it away?”

  Giles leaned forward, pleased for an opportunity to show off in front of an audience. “Well, for a start, even despite the low atmosphere, there was very little erosion. There was no discoloration gradient either, suggesting it was only erected after the artificial atmosphere went in. Plus, if we were to feed your images into the database I think we’d find that the carvings are from the wrong era from whenever this was meant to be erected.”

  He waved his hand, slouching back again after having to sit up to pull the sample out. “I didn’t even bother to check what they were trying to pass it off as.” He paused for breath. “Everything about it screamed fake.”

  Arlene folded her arms, watching him sternly.

  Oblivious, he kept talking while leaning back and resting his eyes. “I’m betting that this place only got an atmosphere once someone decided there was something worth putting a decoy up for.”

  He opened one eye briefly to see the other two staring at him.

  Assuming they were waiting for more of an explanation, he continued. “If we were looking for something authentic, we’d be considering the temple would have been built around 100,000 years ago. There was no admission about it being rebuilt, restored, moved, etc., as you would expect if this information was being genuinely curated.”

  Arlene opened her mouth to speak.

  “Plus,” Giles continued, eyes again closed, “No entry way!” he declared, one finger in the air now. “That doorway wasn’t just sealed. It was carved. There’s no way in to the temple and no explanation about an underground entrance, which a real tourist attraction would love to
tell their visitors.”

  Arlene closed her mouth, contemplating Giles’s analysis.

  Beno’or leaned towards him over the arm of his console chair, his eyes on Arlene watching for her reaction. “So why do you need the samples?” he asked.

  Giles shrugged. “Confirmation in case Arlene argued with my analysis. Plus,” he smiled, opening his eyes, sitting up and spinning round to look at her finally, “she has fun playing look out,” he chuckled, daring her to deny it.

  Arlene’s mouth opened in protest again. “Oh, don’t mind me!” she exclaimed. “I’m just here for your entertainment.”

  Beno’or interrupted, his hand held up against her outburst in mediation. “On the contrary, my dear,” he told her. “I think what Giles is suggesting was that he is here for yours!”

  Arlene shook her head, smiling at the team banter. “So, tell me clever cloggs,” she said looking pointedly at Giles, “do you think it’s time for me to pull some data from Scamp and see if I can rerun my calculations to narrow this haystack down?”

  “Haystack?” Beno’or repeated, looking perplexed.

  Giles leaned in Beno’or’s direction, building some genuine rapport with the old man now. “It’s an ancient Earth expression, I believe. Something about trying to find a needle in a stack of hay. In this case the stack of hay is eleven planets, though.”

  Scamp piped up. “Except they’re not planets!”

  Giles chuckled. “Alright, alright. So they’d be planets if they were orbiting something. So what do we call them, since they’re effectively orbiting their own center of mass?”

  The Scamp fell uncharacteristically quiet for a moment.

  Arlene raised her eye brows humorously in the direction of the two guys. “I think you’ve stumped him,” she whispered, amazed and amused.