Bradford

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  As he watched Duncan walk away with the living killing machine, Bradford swallowed. “Well, that was interesting. And my life hasn’t flashed before my eyes in years!”

  “Let Duncan handle it, sir, just let him work,” Tatrina said softly.

  Bradford nodded and then he looked around, taking in the area before him. There were a few of the deckhands throwing robot scrap towards the edge of the null gravity field. As the parts passed out of the field, they fell into piles of other parts. Looking at them, Bradford started to walk towards it.

  “Sir? Sir Bradford, what are you?” Vivis asked as he heard people walking behind him.

  “Sir, if you aren’t going to talk to it, you should go. I’m sure Duncan will get this done, you can wait down in the capsule. Just follow us and I’m sure that you’ll hear everything!” Tatrina said with a hint of an edge to her voice.

  Bradford felt a scowl form on his face as he kept walking and turned his torso a bit to see over his shoulder. The two women stopped for a moment as something in his gaze must have startled them both into stopping.

  “I made my living before I went into politics in making things. I want to see what this is!” Bradford said with a glare over his shoulder.

  Walking over to the robot parts, he reached down and picked one up. Moving his arm up and down a few times his scowl grew a bit as he took stock of it. “It’s too light.”

  “Sir, what do you mean?” Dalila asked from his right. He looked at her and saw her trying to connect the scrap to a console.

  “I mean this thing is too light! Something this big would have been a lot heavier. Are you sure that everything is offline in this?” Bradford asked as he looked at the scrap in his hands.

  Dalila nodded as she looked at him. “Yes sir, as much as I can be. That’s just part of one of the pyramids as you can see. From what we could figure out, the central sphere is either the engine or the mind. And when they fall, their internal parts are mostly destroyed. So the weight difference is the result of something else.”

  Bradford only looked down at the piece of metal and his thoughts took over his mind. He had a scientist working for his company that had strange ideas. He was one of the best in the sector who could make shipboard weapons, so Bradford had recruited him. That person believed that metal alloys could be made with extraordinary properties. This in his hand might be proof that he was right.

  “Interesting. What I wouldn’t give for a materials lab right now. Just a few pieces of this and we might find!” Bradford said as he looked at the metal, not saying anything about what his employee was working on. It was still just a theory, and it was something that he should keep to his chest for now.

  There was nothing that he could gain from telling any of these people about that scientist. They had been smart and stayed at headquarters to watch the results of one of those experiments. But since the scientists who worked for him were so…….. scared they kept their results on paper of all things. And he hadn’t recorded it, and he didn’t understand half of what the science had been.

  But there was a way to see if there was anything that this line of thought could lead. “Maybe our new friend heard about something like this?”

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  Duncan

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  It took all he had to keep from screaming at the sheer gall of those people. He had dealt with religious fanatics once or twice that he could remember. And each time those people caused him pain and the sheer suffering that they caused others? It was one of the reasons that he was glad to go corporate!

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  “Okay, so then if my people can show that we can wield this Aether, what will they do?” Duncan asked as he looked at Dam’ien’s masked face.

  For his part, Dam’ien’s head looked right at Duncan for a few moments. “It will throw everything that they believe into the light and prove them wrong. But keep in mind, the religious aspect? Those people are a massive minority in their beliefs about the Federation. There are secrets that I can’t say. Secrets that already destroy many of their beliefs. The problem when we’re rescued is the military group I spoke about. They might see you all as a better opponent if you can match them with Aether.”

  “But this might let us survive this mad planet if we can use these abilities?” Duncan mused as he looked at Dam’ien. “Abilities like that way you can move?”

  “That?!’ Dam’ien wheezed out as he looked at Duncan and shook with laughter. “Sir, that’s not a Tech! It’s just a way to move Aether within the body! It’s so easy that children on their first day learn to do it!”

  Duncan looked at the Ancient and felt a headache form. The sheer chaos that kids who could do that were probably capable of. He could only hope that Dam’ien’s people had ways to control them! And the more he thought of how that could be possible, the more he hoped that this was true. It would help clean up his little ‘Mind Controller’ problem.

  “What about other abilities, no Techs? Like someone able to control other minds?” Duncan asked with a hard edge to his voice.

  “Well, yes. There are ways to control beasts and monsters of course, but control over a person? Do not even worry about that. Those abilities are not trained, it’s considered beyond wrong. The last time someone used those to cause harm, they were captured and killed!” Dam’ien declared and Duncan looked at the being and tried to think of how to use that.

  The problem was, that there were no laws about these Aether Techs in the Federation. He had a mind controller that he needed help with who might have lost his mind. That meant that he had to work with this man before him and keep the mind controller alive.

  “Well we’ve got one here in the camp as a prisoner,” Duncan said and Dam’ien went still.

  “What?! How!?” Dam’ien declared.

  Duncan just sighed and shook his head. “As far as we were able to figure out, the bastard went mad. Then he gained these abilities.”

  Duncan was watching the Ancient, and the moment that he saw him go rigid, he knew that his fears might be valid after all. But as much as he wanted that person dead to keep them from being a problem, he couldn’t. Some laws had to be followed here, or things would be a lot worse once they were rescued.

  “Wait, what!?” Dam’ien asked horror in his voice.

  “Yes, but don’t worry. We’ve got them locked down so they can’t escape. But the bastard went mad Cultist on us, and then his whole escape capsule died to the things out there. I think he might be safe if we can keep him locked away but……”

  “Wait! How long were we all marooned here!?” Dam’ien asked, his voice full of shock.

  “Almost a full week. And the last few days have been hard,” Duncan said. He knew it was the wrong thing to say as the Ancient took a step back in shock.

  “That’s impossible! It takes months to learn to use an Aether Tech! And mind control? That’s advanced by all the records! And you’re saying that they learned and used it in less than a day!?” Dam’ien asked horror in his voice.

  For a moment, it was all Duncan could do to listen to the man before him. Then he realized what Dam’ien had just said and then he felt his eyes widen.

  “Wait, what!?” Duncan exclaimed n horror.

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  Dalila

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  As she tried and failed to get anything from the scraps, Dalila gained a scowl and almost threw it down. She looked at Bradford as he talked to Tatrina, and then she forced her feelings down.

  To have the target whose memories she needed so close but out of her reach was maddening! All she needed was to get Bradford alone for five minutes, and then she could take what she needed. But there were no openings for her to do that! With her working up here, and Vivian as Duncan’s assistant, they were stuck.

  “So there’s nothing you can do now?” Vivian asked from behind her.

  Turning her head, she saw Vivian standing there looking at Tatrina and Bradford as they talked. Seeing her friend’s expression, Dalila suddenly had a bad feeling about what Vivian had heard from Bradford.

  “No, nothing,” Dalila said softly. “I can’t figure out a tech way to break through this thing. It’s like this is missing something that will let me deprogram it. I tried to think of another way to handle this problem, but I couldn’t. I just, this is hard but it's right there!”

  Vivian looked at her and Dalila knew her eyes were locked on Bradford while holding the scrap in her hands up. A trick the Bounty Hunter’s Guild taught to say multiple things at once, something all Hunters of note knew.

  VIVIAN jerked her head towards Bradford and sighed as Dam’ien nodded. “Oh dear. And we’ve been doing almost well enough to come ahead here. Any idea how to handle this? Something to get through the blockage?”

  “I thought about asking our new friend for a knife, but that’s it. It doesn’t change anything about the other problem, but it’s not impossible. We just need to think about this slow and steady,” Dalila said as she looked at Vivian.

  She only got a nod back before Vivian perked up.

  “Oh, Duncan is coming back. Get ready to tell him the good news,” Vivian said with a slow tone.

  Looking up, she saw Duncan walking back towards them, the Ancient at his heels. She stood up and then stopped as she noticed something about Duncan. He was running like he had been told something, something that was going to kill someone.

  “Bradford, Tatrina, Dalila and Vivian, with me! Dam’ien, this is Bradford, once a senator of the Federation. LEONATOR, GET OVER HERE!” Duncan bellowed as he turned and walked towards the place where the hibernation cell was.

  Sharing a look with Vivian as they walked after Duncan, Dalila saw the same confusion in her eyes that she knew was in his own.

  Despite Bradford trying to talk to the Ancient and Duncan, both kept silent.

  Dam’ien looked at the Hibernation Cell and shook his head, his posture showing his disgust and hatred. “So this is what kept me down for so long? What won’t the vile ones make to hurt others?”

  “Yes, well it’s illegal now my good sir! And I was very happy when that bill passed!” Bradford said with a grin.

  Dalila kept from scowling as she looked at Bradford, recognizing the words as his attempt to curry. Again, that was just what the worst politicians would do, and the fact that the Ancient was ignoring him was good.

  “Save it for later, we have problems! Everyone heard this one’s words about how the meat he brought back would help us learn to use Aether? Well, he expected that it would take us all a few months to gain even the barest of hints Aether. What our brainwasher and Terra could do? That would have taken people a long time to even think of doing!” Duncan said with a scowl as he looked around at everyone.

  Dalila felt the world tilt at that. If that was abnormal, then why was it normal on this planet?

  “Wait, what? Then how in the name of the Federation are people able to do that!?” Bradford demanded in horror and anger.