The day the new Hake Leader, Rimdar, first appeared at the Site of the Seven Scrolls, every Sheek war-flyr on Shamonj had either broken down, or, in cases in which they had been unoccupied, gone up in flames. Thus Barth DeManth, Chief Detective of the Sheek War Agency, found himself crammed into an aging class B civilian flyr with a team of Sheek soldiers and specialists, the back of the flyr packed with cases of evidence and data disks. They were bound for the Site of the Seven Scrolls to publicly confront Rimdar with the evidence gathered against him. The craft flew noiselessly over the region of Selfar even as warnings came in from the Sheek Authority that all flights across the southern regions were to be grounded due to the strong storms of fire and lightning which were becoming more and more prevalent as the newly formed volcanoes spewed propane into the atmosphere from the heart of Shamonj.
Barth was standing near the front of the flyr next to the technician Shebarr, trying to make sense of what Shebarr had just told him.
“You mean to tell me Quinn and Rimdar are aliens?” he asked.
“No, no, they are not aliens. Rather, they are working for aliens. Or someone in contact with aliens.”
“There is no such thing as aliens. This conclusion is preposterous.”
“Rimdar himself will be our proof… he will have no choice but to turn himself and his accomplices in, for the Hakes will turn against him. All of the evidence points to the same result.”
“We have sent satellites throughout the system, pointed our telescopes at distant galaxies, and never have we seen aliens. Even if there was such a thing, how could mere Hakes have reached them?”
“Ah, but it is the Sheeks who enabled this. It was the Hykalondicate experiments, you see.”
“At Filstar Labs? I knew there was a connection!”
“You yourself discovered that Quinn bears an astonishing resemblance (an exact face match, in fact) to a Hake subject, Yog Kanorr, who vanished in an experiment long ago. It was reported on the news that the Hykalondicate effect was discovered accidentally by a few graduate students earlier this month. But this is not true. It would be more accurate to say the effect was rediscovered. Yog Kanorr was the first of many who vanished as a result of these early trials. But the experiments were seen as failures–the subjects seeming to have spontaneously combusted. At the time, the Hakes and Sheeks were in a tenuous peace, and the public was in an uproar over the death of cash-strapped citizens in experiments that seemed to be producing no fruit. So the formulae for Hykalondicate and Hykalondicore were forgotten, and the data filed away and never reviewed… until this week.”
“I have seen the foto comparison. While it is true that Quinn and Yog look uncannily similar, it can only be a coincidence. They lived in different eras.”
“Ah, but this is where the filed data comes in. I took the opportunity to review the other subjects who disappeared in those early experiments.”
“And?”
“There are others who seem to have come back to life after disappearing long ago. One is Carr Bha’Vae.”
“I remember his foto. He was an oboist, wasn’t he?”
“No, but that’s beside the point. Have you seen the fotos going around the media of Rimdar?”
Barth closed his eyes and pictured the grainy image he’d last seen taken by paparazzi in the City of Selfar. His eyes popped open. “Impossible!”
“Our technicians have done a full digital comparison. Rimdar and Carr Bha’Vae are the same Hake. And worse, their first Leader, Ertius, matches another! Look, here are the results. No one has seen these except me and the technicians who processed them, all of whom are with us to serve as witnesses before the Hakes. As soon as I saw this data, I understood the significance and rushed our team to Seoltin to pick you up.”
Barth examined the results. “But the time difference! What happened between when they disappeared and returned?”
“This is the part you will find difficult to believe. I would not suggest such things as I am about to, except for the overwhelming evidence we have collected for you to sign off on and present to the Authority for prosecution. I need Rimdar to fill in a few details, but as best I can determine, somehow the Hake volunteers in the Hykalondicate experiments were either teleported to or intercepted by aliens. Wait, hear me out!” Shebarr saw Barth's incredulous expression, and hurried on. “Decades passed between their disappearance and return. What happened to them between, I can only guess. But in each case, their arrival coincided with great advances in Hake weaponry. Ertius led the first successful rebellion against the Sheeks, building the entire city of Kaspari from the ground up. Quinn was able to turn the Sheeks back for many years with a suddenly strengthened Hake fleet. Rimdar has rendered our war-flyrs and guns useless in minutes, across the entire planet.”
“So, what? You think they spent the years between their disappearance and arrival consorting with aliens?” Barth was ready to bash the technician over the head. “And even if there were aliens, why would they be helping an inferior species like the Hakes?”
“My guess is the aliens are using the Hakes as a front to subdue the Sheeks, and once we're under control, the Hakes will be next. Rimdar probably doesn’t even know their motive–who can tell the mind of another intelligence? Do we understand the V’hogel or Rabadon? In any case, the aliens cannot be up to anything good, and there isn’t anyone on this planet, Hake or Sheek, who’ll let Rimdar live after finding out he's an alien puppet.”
“Tell me more about your Hykalondicate theory. It seems pretty farfetched. What makes you think Yog Kanorr and these others were sent off to aliens, rather than killed, as the lab results state?”
“Until our experiments with the green chair, we never would have considered teleportation. At first, we thought that maybe, uh, there really was an afterlife or something like that. But looking at the data, we've come to what is most likely the truth. The Hykalondicate opens up a new dimension of space-time, translocating the treated subject instantaneously. We have worked out the math… the subjects found themselves on or in the immediate vicinity of our neighboring planet Condar, where apparently, the aliens rescued at least three of them. Again, we need Rimdar to find out the details.”
“Just because they were teleported to another planet and showed up later with new names and weapons doesn't mean they met aliens. You have yet to prove the existence of this new species you keep referring to.”
“Your statisticians have deciphered portions of the documents which Quinn carried in his suitcase. They believe the writing to be an alien language, for it matches no known code or grammar on this world. Further, they consist primarily of coordinates for interstellar destinations, descriptions of distant planets and aliens, and schematics for technologies unheard of by Sheek or Hake. The entire team is on board this flyr, ready to present their findings to Emperor Gaelen once we have Rimdar translate the remainder of the document.”
“Gaelen is dead. I assumed you’d figured that out. Didn’t the Hakes use that green chair–it must be some sort of weapon–to bring down the Gaelen at the latest Battle of the Zone? The emperor was in that flyr and the Hakes must have known.”
“Gaelen’s dead? A pity, though it explains a lot. I don’t know what brought down his flyr, but I don’t think it was the green chair. First, the chair is not a weapon, and second, from what we’ve deciphered of Quinn’s documents, he never even had the green chair. Its role in his plans completely backfired.”
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“What do you mean? Didn’t Quinn bring that stupid chair to the battle?”
“You're going to love this… Quinn never had the thing. Do you remember the experiments we were doing in Filstar Labs? The chair has been moving around erratically ever since it first appeared, for both us and the Hakes.”
“What is it supposed to do?”
“The science is remarkably similar to the Hykalondicate experiments. The chair is activated by varying concentrations of heat or radiation, serving as a teleporting bridge across space-time. It can change the velocity of objects around it, as well as move on its own. However, it seems to be defective. According to Quinn’s documents, it was supposed to appear in his war-flyr before the battle began, and he was going to use it, and this part we do not understand, to somehow turn the tide of the war. But the chair was late, someone shot down the Gaelen, and by the time the chair dropped into The Zone, Quinn had fled for the Burning Wilderness and the battle was over.”
“I don’t suppose you’ve found it, have you?”
“As a matter of fact, yes, we recovered it from a playground south of the Port of Helskay where some schoolchildren reported a green object had been chasing geese. It's in the back with the rest of our evidence; the scientists are keeping an eye on it. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re moving at approximately six hundred nots, a speed unattainable by this civilian tub. We think the boost is coming from the chair’s interference with the fabric of space-time around us.”
“Weird. But I'm glad we have it back. What do you think Quinn planned to do with it, if it isn’t a weapon?”
“As I said, we have no idea. Quinn's documents only say that its disappearance is what caused the Hakes to lose their last battle. Perhaps Rimdar will know, but it seems Quinn assumed it had been destroyed or much further away than it really was, for he fled The Zone and hid in the Burning Wilderness while he waited for Rimdar's arrival. The chair itself was picked up by a Nomad Salesman and passed hands until it came to us.”
Barth thought back to his studies of the battle scene and the destroyed Gaelen. All indications were that a bomb had been snuck aboard the flyr. “I need to review the scene of the crime. I assume you have the data from the destruction of the Gaelen?”
“Yes, it's right here.” Shebarr brought up the fotos, and Barth examined them closely.
“You say the green chair has something to do with motion. Would you say that when it moves, it moves from one point to another instantaneously, without passing through space between?”
“Yes, that’s the general idea. Teleportation.”
Barth’s finger wandered over the pictures as he zoomed in. There was the scene of The Zone, covered with charred shrapnel from thousands of wars. In one foto, bits of the Gaelen were strewn about, and the green chair sat pleasantly atop the ruins.
“When we ran the computer models, they revealed that some sort of bomb had been smuggled into the engine compartment of the Gaelen. But what if it wasn’t a bomb? What if it was the chair that had come into existence inside the engine? I don’t know what that thing is made of, but if it can bend space-time… surely it could bring down a war-flyr.”
Shebarr's eyes opened wide. “You're right! Quinn was waiting for the chair… but it appeared in the wrong flyr!”
“And we know the chair is indestructible; the Filstar scientists proved that quite conclusively. It survived the explosion, falling to the ground without a scratch, appearing as if it had been left there for a foto contest.”
“If the chair fell to The Zone before Quinn bailed, why didn’t he pick it up?”
“He had no idea that’s what happened.” Barth’s mind was running wild as he processed the information. “According to the recordings we took, up until he bailed, he still thought one of his pilots had shot down the Gaelen. His only goal was to get out of the Zone before we found and questioned him.”
“Because we would learn about the aliens if we got hold of his suitcase.”
“Right, but now he’s dead.”
“This is why we must question Rimdar. Our case against him is impeccable. He is clearly a pawn for alien schemes. No Sheepel will show him mercy when the evidence is revealed.”
“I still find the thought of aliens difficult to believe.”
“The evidence is there. Rimdar will be forced to admit the truth.”
Barth looked out the window. A bolt of lightning surrounded by a pillar of fire hit the plain a half-mile away, and the ship shuddered. Rain was falling harder and harder, and the sky was thick with yellow clouds. “Is this weather normal for Selfar?”
“It is unheard of. More alien wizardry, no doubt. Maybe an effect of the strange technology they are using to thwart our war-flyrs and silence our guns.”
“What if we are unable to fend off this power? What if the Hakes do not join us against the aliens, even if they find out the truth? What if they already know?”
Shebarr frowned. “I cannot imagine the Hakes keeping such a secret from us, but if they are allied, then the Sheeks are doomed. We are no match against them; for even if the Hakes join us and we fight this power side by side, we may only be delaying our doom until the aliens arrive in force.”
Barth stared at the charred plains, covered with bubbling mud pits and great cracks where the ground had been rent. “Only three weeks ago, this planet seemed so beautiful. Now, it reeks of fire and war. As soon as we deliver Rimdar to Seoltin, I will retire and teach history. And I will definitely keep that green chair in my study, be it alien or not. It will go nicely with my wallpaper.”
“I would not be contemplating wallpaper at such a time as this.”
The two swirled in surprise.
“Who are you?” exclaimed Shebarr, furrowing his brow at the stranger. “How did you get aboard this flyr? Barth, he's not one of my crew. Do you know him?”
“I do,” said Barth icily as he addressed the Hake. How could he forget the face of Nyck, former Data Provider for the Hake Army, whom he’d sought for nearly as long as he’d chased Quinn? “I see you have reverted to your war-loving roots. The outfit of straw suited you better. I thought you were going to become a Wanderer. Twice you have been arrested, and twice you have been freed. Why are you now here?”
“You murdered Quinn.”
“I did no such thing. It was a Hake driving that vehic which crashed, not I. Where is your hoe? Farming is a better occupation for you than detective work.”
“I followed your spy the V'hogel. It took me a while to catch him, but I questioned him and from what he mumbled I deduced the rest. I know now that Quinn was fleeing your men all this time; that you cared not when Hans and I escaped the cell at Filstar Labs, hoping we might lead the spy to Quinn–for knowing that I was Quinn's second in command, you thought I might find him when you could not. This is why you freed me in the first place, and why you joined to me the spy and his unwitting master. I know that you later gave the order to search the Burning Wilderness and drove us to flight, yet cared not if we escaped, for your spy was with us. I only regret that I did not capture the V'hogel before it brought you this.”
Barth looked down at the suitcase Nyck was holding: Quinn's. “How did you get that?”
“It was just lying in the back,” mumbled Shebarr. “I was not expecting any Hakes on this flight.”
“But how did you get aboard?” Barth glared at Nyck. “Do you even know what is in that suitcase?” His eyes widened. “Or are you another one… of them?”
Nyck crossed his arms, gripping the suitcase tightly. “I heard what you said about Quinn. But even if it were true I would still defend him, my only friend. Even if he were a rabadon, I would do this.”
“But why? If you overheard us, then you know that he is allied with aliens! Surely he has deceived you!”
“It is not my place to judge Quinn’s allies.”
Barth’s voice rose wildly. “But this could mean the end of both Hake and Sheek!”
“So? I am disillusioned from these endless wars, and shed no tear for either faction. But it was you who told me there was a Reason for Everything, and I have thought long and hard about these words, seeking wisdom from others and contemplating the answer.”
“You confuse my words. I said everything has a reason, not that there is a reason for everything.”
“It does not matter. I cannot say I have found proof of either. But what I have found is a reason for my life. I owe my life to Quinn who preserved my own and my family’s through countless battles. So now I must avenge his death.”
“Even if he serves neither Hake nor Sheek?”
“Even if.” The flyr was passing over the heart of Selfar, and Nyck knew as well as anyone who had been in the region that the belching volcanoes were daily filling the air with ever increasing amounts of propane. Already Sheeple could no longer smoke their fire pipes, as the output left the smokers with burnt faces and singed hair.
He pulled a fire pipe out from under his coat, lighting it with a swift motion. Shebarr drew a blaster just as quickly, firing at Nyck out of instinct, remembering too late that it no longer functioned. Barth lurched forward to tear the pipe from Nyck, but it was too late. A small ball of fire blossomed and Nyck thrust the flaming pipe at the open suitcase, igniting the paper inside. The fire spread like lightning, drawing fuel from the air, tracing a line to the flyr’s bloated fuel tank. The sky was filled with blinding fire as brilliant trails of white, yellow and green flames shot through the air. Bits of flyr crashed to the burnt plain; not a single Sheepel survived. Nyck would no longer mourn for Quinn. Barth DeManth would not meet Rimdar, would never retire, would never teach history. And no one would resurrect the documents and fotos that told his story and solved his case.
Some days later, a Hake passing by on his way to Talmyn found the wreck and looked over the remains.
“Sad,” said Hans. “A dissident must have put a lighter in his gas tank while he was parked here.” He shrugged and started to move on when his eyes fell on a hint of green gleaming behind a charred bush.
“What's this? Look here! Blessed Honeydew, it's the green chair!” And with that, Hans hoisted the Green Chair upon his shoulder and continued his journey west into the Shamonjian sunset.
