bewilderment on his partner’s face, as well as the slightly smaller eyes of her sister, who clutched onto her older sibling. Neither of the women was looking at Quaid, their gaze aimed towards something to his right. He didn’t need to think long about the reasons for their fear, nor what it was their wide eyes were fixed upon with such horror. He kept his head still, slowly reaching for the Ruger on his right hip. Something caught his hand, something cold and strong. He tried to force his hand to the pistol’s grip, but he felt the gun pulled out of the holster long before he could blink.
“Now that you’ve returned the ignition key,” the Cyber said. “I believe it’s time we were away.”
3 CHAPTER three
The Hermes passed through the last Gabriel Ring on its homeward journey, the protective shell ship opening to release the smaller vessel. MA Joseph felt the ship rear backward, the result of the reverse shift from the previous ring. The Hermes pulled away from the shell ship, breaking away from the confines of the system-to-system Gabriel Ring. The ship lunged, making the short trip to the interplanetary ring, barely a tenth the size of the larger brother. He wasn’t programmed to understand how the Gabriel Rings worked, only that each one aided in speeding a ship along to the next ring, turning an impossible journey into a relatively short trip. He knew that it was a Cyber who developed the first Gabriel Ring, the same ring he’d just passed through a moment earlier.
One by one, the planets passed by the blue-gray colored ship. He was sad not have been passed Saturn, easily his favorite amongst this galaxy. By the time he’d passed Mars, rather what remained of the dead planet, Earth had started to come into view. The Cyber remarked how grand the planet seemed, with its vast oceans and white clouds. It varied greatly from the other planets, all carbon copies of various aspects of mankind’s original home.
The tiny ship broke the atmosphere, the angle and speed already taken over by the ship’s navigational system. He was skilled at doing this manually, but he opted to let the ship fend for itself. It was difficult for him to imagine a time when he and the ship were not assigned to one another, the two having joined as a single team many years prior. The ship made its final descent upon the Eastern colony, a place once known as Northern Africa.
A crowd was already forming around his quiet vessel, soldiers, and Cybers, side by side, all with rifles loaded and ready. Joseph expected such the moment he’d received his orders to return to base to receive his debriefing over the Parasus incident. He’d scanned his databanks, looking for any past history of Cybers who acted outside of their programming. He had to reach far beyond his own generation, finding incidents of second gen Cybers whose actions were similar to his own. Those actions were always met with strict discipline, a thought that had sent a chill down his spine. He wanted to ignore the order, to remain as a guardian to Yomiel and his family. Wireless access to his processor, however, forced him to do otherwise.
The seal broke on the cockpit as it slid back over the top of the vessel. The ladder formed as he threw one leg over the edge and slowly made his way to the platform below. He barely managed to turn around when the military unit closed in around him, their various weapons aimed at his head. He raised his hands, allowing for the nearest MP to place the shackles on his wrists as another stepped forward and removed his weapon from its holster.
He wasn’t surprised to find that the trial was scheduled for tomorrow. By current standards, such a crime would have been tried and decided on the spot. He could hardly imagine how such trials had lasted for weeks, sometimes months or years far back in mankind’s history. Such things as retrials, mistrials, and appeals had vanished from their vocabulary back in the 2700’s, around the time, that
“Now that you’ve returned the ignition key,” the Cyber said. “I believe it’s time we were away.”
3 CHAPTER three
The Hermes passed through the last Gabriel Ring on its homeward journey, the protective shell ship opening to release the smaller vessel. MA Joseph felt the ship rear backward, the result of the reverse shift from the previous ring. The Hermes pulled away from the shell ship, breaking away from the confines of the system-to-system Gabriel Ring. The ship lunged, making the short trip to the interplanetary ring, barely a tenth the size of the larger brother. He wasn’t programmed to understand how the Gabriel Rings worked, only that each one aided in speeding a ship along to the next ring, turning an impossible journey into a relatively short trip. He knew that it was a Cyber who developed the first Gabriel Ring, the same ring he’d just passed through a moment earlier.
One by one, the planets passed by the blue-gray colored ship. He was sad not have been passed Saturn, easily his favorite amongst this galaxy. By the time he’d passed Mars, rather what remained of the dead planet, Earth had started to come into view. The Cyber remarked how grand the planet seemed, with its vast oceans and white clouds. It varied greatly from the other planets, all carbon copies of various aspects of mankind’s original home.
The tiny ship broke the atmosphere, the angle and speed already taken over by the ship’s navigational system. He was skilled at doing this manually, but he opted to let the ship fend for itself. It was difficult for him to imagine a time when he and the ship were not assigned to one another, the two having joined as a single team many years prior. The ship made its final descent upon the Eastern colony, a place once known as Northern Africa.
A crowd was already forming around his quiet vessel, soldiers, and Cybers, side by side, all with rifles loaded and ready. Joseph expected such the moment he’d received his orders to return to base to receive his debriefing over the Parasus incident. He’d scanned his databanks, looking for any past history of Cybers who acted outside of their programming. He had to reach far beyond his own generation, finding incidents of second gen Cybers whose actions were similar to his own. Those actions were always met with strict discipline, a thought that had sent a chill down his spine. He wanted to ignore the order, to remain as a guardian to Yomiel and his family. Wireless access to his processor, however, forced him to do otherwise.
The seal broke on the cockpit as it slid back over the top of the vessel. The ladder formed as he threw one leg over the edge and slowly made his way to the platform below. He barely managed to turn around when the military unit closed in around him, their various weapons aimed at his head. He raised his hands, allowing for the nearest MP to place the shackles on his wrists as another stepped forward and removed his weapon from its holster.
He wasn’t surprised to find that the trial was scheduled for tomorrow. By current standards, such a crime would have been tried and decided on the spot. He could hardly imagine how such trials had lasted for weeks, sometimes months or years far back in mankind’s history. Such things as retrials, mistrials, and appeals had vanished from their vocabulary back in the 2700’s, around the time, that
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