Rise of Refuge

Chapter 3 - Stress

Annette sat with her head in her hands. She had a tension headache behind her eyes. The engineers responsible for putting into production the designs created R&D were warring with R&D. They had been sending emails and leaving messages arguing they each needed more of the resources necessary to both departments. Annette was ready to fling her desk screen out the window. She stood and prepared to lift dramatically her hands and her desk.

Carl entered just before Annette let loose with her telekinesis. “Chief your ten-thirty is here.”

“I have a ten-thirty?” Annette’s stress wound up another notch.

Carl smiled and held up his hands, “Relax, I can smell your stress. Your appointment isn’t on your calendar. I set up an off the books appointment with Max Xandari. He is going to give you your first official lesson on time travel in practice.”

Annette sat back down. “When?”

Carl smiled and pointed through the glass of her office to the elevator where Max stood and waved at them. “Now.” Carl whipped the jacket that marked the wearer as a prime off of its hook near the door. Angela had given it to Annette years ago, and she had barely worn it. Annette took it from him with a squealing giggle. As she slipped it around her shoulders and put her arms through the sleeves. Carl smiled, “Go on.”

Annette zipped through the office to the elevator. She held her hand out to Max. He smiled at her, took her hand, and led her into the elevator. They stepped inside and Max teleported them to Room 52. The near infinite white expanse of what the factors called Room 52, was actually the substance of a trans-dimensional life form called a Middle of Everywhen, or MOE. Room 52 was the sole point of arrival or departure for field factors.

Today, Annette was a field factor. She giggled at that thought. Max led her by the hand past the banks of medical check points for reentry med checks. They reached the area assigned to departure. Portable screens full of field bulletins annotated by incoming factors surrounded the area. Annette scanned the bulletins intently. “Do we need to know any of this, Max?”

Max smiled, “We are going pretty far back, into the time right after the Inter-dimensional Empire fell. It was pretty chaotic. Stay close!” He opened his mind to Annette and showed her the practical application of temporal mechanics calculations. She had learned the theory involved with teleporting through time, while training to become a factor. Max finished the calculations and teleported them both into the past. He released her hand and began carefully checking out their surroundings.

Annette quickly took in the post-apocalyptic dystopian vibe of the world they arrived on. The large buildings of the city were in a semi-ruined state. Serious battles had obviously happened there. The sky scrapers stood, scorched, their glass and concrete melted, partially shattered. In the foreground, wooden and corrugated metal shacks filled the areas not piled with rubble or obviously used for travel.

“Come on,” Max ordered.

Annette followed him as he wove his way through the shacks. They emerged into an area that looked like it had once been a large fountain. A platform had stood across the far end of the rim of the fountain. The fountain was full of dirty, disheveled people. On one end of the platform was a guillotine. There was what looked like a family of seven tied to a metal rod near the guillotine by their wrists. A group of men milled around on the other end of the platform near a microphone. One walked up to the microphone.

“We found the degenerate Galactics in our midst. Today we will end their influence! Let the executions begin!”

Annette frowned and looked to Max for what to do, “Are we going to let them execute those kids, and their parents? What did they do?”

Max frowned, “Can’t you smell?” Annette suddenly remembered the scent suppression cream. Maybe coming into the field with one of her senses deadened was a bad idea. Max shrugged at her, “They are briaunti. The rest of these people are human. After the empire this whole planet is rightfully paranoid about anyone with powers.”

“Are we going to help them?”

“Yeah, wait here,” Max pushed his way through the crowd and Annette watched as he placed several explosive devices. Annette recognized them. He set them to inspire shock and awe. They also built up a good smoke screen. Max set enough to turn the area around the fountain into a smokey mess. “Come on,” Max led her around to the far side of the fountain, very near the bar where the family was tied.

Max pulled a blade from one of his pockets and showed she should do the same. Annette retrieved a small pocketknife from her prime factor jacket. Max pressed a button on a tiny remote and all the explosives he had set went off at once. While it distracted the crowd, and the smoke obscured the area, Max climbed up onto the platform and began cutting the family’s bonds. Annette followed his lead.

She took care of the children, a young girl and an even younger boy. Once loose, they ran to their parent’s and wrapped arms around them. Max began slapping emergency return tags on the family and Annette cut free a very tall young man who seemed just a few years past his metamorphosis. Their eyes met. The deep, almost icy blue of them snared Annette. She could smell just a tantalizing hint of his healthy briaunti pheromones. Max slapped an emergency return tag on his back and then tagged himself and Annette.

The next thing Annette was aware of was a jarring, jumbled sort of teleportive yank pulling her the long way through space-time. Refuge resolved itself around Annette. She nearly fainted from the sudden disorientation of it. The young man seemed to sense her distress and clutched her to his chest to keep her from falling.

Max was at her side in an instant, “Chief?”

Annette regained her footing and pushed reluctantly away from the young man, “I’m okay Max.”

The young man smiled at her. His well-tanned arm muscles rippled as he lifted his hand to push a stray hair from Annette’s face. “My name is Teo. Is yours Chief?”

“No, that is my job, my name is Annette. We should go get scanned in.”

Max was already guiding the rest of the family to the nearest medical checkpoint. Annette took Teo by the elbow and steered him to follow. The medical scans showed no infections or contamination. “Chief, I’ll call a housing coordinator for them.”

Annette still stood possessively close to Teo, “No, That’s okay Max. I’ll see to their housing.” She smiled at Teo, “I can handle that.”

Max eyed her, “We have an appointment tomorrow to discuss your field observations. I’m going to go check in with Yllera.”

Annette nodded randomly in his direction. She was already planning on settling Teo and his family very near her own quarters. “See you then.”
- - - - - - - - - - - -

Illeria was in denial. She denied she was Illeria Kavry even to herself. Illeria had honor. She had a family. She had a twin. Hillary Sampson had nothing. She had no one. She didn’t even have a world to call home. How could Kadin just leave her? He walked away. Then Hillary had fled the world; leaving the friends she had made to become zombies.

Naturally, when Hillary slept, she had nightmares. A mindless version of her brother reached for her. His dead eyes tried to swallow her. She ran randomly through an endless forest, blinded by tears. Hillary awoke with tears flowing down her face, again. She blotted her eyes and smeared filth around on her cheeks. She hadn’t showered in a while. The plastic-draped cardboard box she lived in didn’t include bathroom facilities. Hillary pushed off the ratty blankets that kept her warm and crawled out into the alley.

She grabbed her sign and pulled her knit cap down over her ears. She despised winter. She had never really experienced it until she arrived on earth. Her tribe had raised her speaking galactic, that was what intergalactic civilization called English. That gave her a slight leg up since her arrival. Though there was a slight language barrier. The English slang was sometimes difficult to comprehend, but she managed.

Hillary walked to the corner where the alley met the street. She sat on the sidewalk and held up her sign, “Homeless, please help.” The sign included markings that only the extra-human senses could pick up, “Displaced galactic needs help!”

Occasionally humans would throw her a few coins, even more rarely a galactic might telepathically address her. She usually got as far as telepathically telling them she was Kaviri and the galactic would frown with disgust and walk on by. That was until a tall brunette, blue-eyed man stepped up to her.

“So where are you from,” He asked vocally. Telepathically he asked what she was.

“Wegonga, I am Kaviri,” Hillary answered telepathically and smiled weakly.

“Kaviri?”

Hillary frowned, she hated explaining and then having them turn up their noses, “We are descended from a man named Kavir, who had once been a marine organism and an Agurian woman named Yllera.”

“Really? I know Yllera, and about what happened with Kavir. I didn’t know what happened with him after she returned to Sanctuary. Their offspring established a new species?” The man asked.

“My name is Hillary. Actually it is Illeria Kavry. I was banished with my brother and...” Hillary shrugged.

“My name is Jayson. I bet you get a lot of crap about your species. The Tanerians have a way of making anything to do with Agurians a distasteful subject in polite galactic company. I can’t say there wouldn’t be a stigma where I come from. Kavir didn’t exactly ask Yllera if she wanted to reproduce and he caused some bad blood when he kidnapped her,” The man whispered aloud hunkering down next to Hillary. Her heart sank. He was effectively telling her she really had no place to go. “Where is your brother?”

Hillary couldn’t hold back the tears, “He abandoned me.”

Jayson nodded sympathetically, “I have been unpopular in my time. It can be even harder when family won’t stand by you. I think I could find you a place in my people’s home. It might be a little hard at first...”

“She is ours!” Kadin yelled, appearing out of nowhere. Hillary’s heart leaped and then sank. The plant had even more fully infected him. She sensed he had appeared out of jealousy at the sliver of hope Jayson was giving her.

“Ours?” Jayson leaped up, “There is only one of you!”

“We are one!” Kadin reached for Hillary a thorn lined vine lashed towards her from a slit at the base of his wrist.

“Not again!” Jayson’s hand wrapped around her other arm and he pulled her away from Kadin. “Your brother?” Hillary nodded. “Do you want to go with me or with him?”

“You,” Hillary sobbed.

Jayson acted immediately. He teleported them both to a nearly infinite white expanse. A few billboard like monitors stood in a cluster some distance from them. There were medical exam tables lined up near the space’s one doorway. Jayson drug Hillary into a line waiting to stop at one of the exam tables.

“What is this place? I have been nowhere like this.”

Jayson eyed her, “It is just a MOE just like where Intergalactic Councils set up their administrations.”

“MOE?” Hillary felt extremely out of her depth. What little she knew of galactic society she had learned from another homeless Galactic on earth.

“Middle of Everywhen, it isn’t important. What is important is that you tell me everything you know about what happened to Kadin,” Jayson seemed somewhere just the terrified side of intrigued.

“We were living on a colony world. People started disappearing so Kadin, and I went out into the forest to investigate. That was when it infected him. He turned away from me and ran into the forest. I left that world and have been hand to mouth since,” Hillary answered.

Jayson nodded and drug her out of the line and took her straight to a recently vacated table, “Tina, scan us in and set up a new isolation room. We may be dealing with Riiad.”

“Is she infected?” The woman asked with alarm.

“No, she’s Kaviri, as in descended from Yllera and Kavir… I actually read your memo. An R4 infected her brother. That would mean three parts are integrating, wouldn’t it?” Jayson asked.

“I will call the chief and set up an appointment to talk with her,” Tina nodded.

“Excuse me, but what is this place and who are you people?” Hillary blurted.

Tina smiled at her while running scanners over her, “This is Refuge. We are the factors.”

“Factors? Really?” She was in awe. These were the people that had defeated Kavir at least twice. He had been in awe of them. They were where he had learned of honor to instill it in his children. The Kaviri were who they were because of the factors.

“You’re impressed? I thought you knew little about Galactics,” Jayson stated.

“You aren’t just Galactics, you are THE Factors. Kavir was quite taken with you,” Hillary argued.

Tina’s eyes opened wide, “You are both clean.” She wheeled over a door-sized frame and pressed a button on the frame. A shimmering mirror-like event horizon appeared. “Through here, please...”

“Illeria,” Jayson stated.

Tina nodded, “Through here please Illeria. This will take us to an isolation room. Despite your scans showing you’re clean, it would be safer to quarantine you for a short while. Plus, the isolation rooms are more comfortable than most temporary housing. You coming, Jay?”

Jayson nodded. Tina waved another woman to take over her medical station. Then she stepped through the portal. Hillary followed, and Jay brought up the rear. The room was white. A media screen and cupboards filled the wall except for a door. The wall to the right had a bathroom door. The wall behind Hillary had a bed set against it, and the area to the left had a small eating area and a recliner.

Tina walked over to one cupboard she tapped the door which turned into another screen. “This is the delivery cupboard. You can tap through the menus and order what you need, food, clothes, books, whatever.” Tina also showed her the remote control for the media screen.

Hillary tapped at the delivery cupboard for a few moments and then nodded, The truth was this room was more luxurious than anywhere she had ever lived. A bathroom all to herself? Clean white sheets? The room was a happily comfortable temperature and humidity.

“Okay, we need to make our reports now, but I will be back to see you later today,” Tina stated. She stepped out the door in the media wall, and Jayson followed waving goodbye.

Hillary went into the bathroom and stripped out of her clothes and began showering. She was sure she should have ordered something clean to wear, but couldn’t stand the idea of staying filthy one moment longer. Fortunately, there was an over-size fluffy robe waiting for her on a hook near the shower.
- - - - - - - - - - - -

How could Annette take the day off? Her taking the day off wasn’t what Carl was angry with. His anger stemmed from what she had did with her day off. Annette was giving a guided tour of Refuge to that useless refugee family she and Max had brought in during her one time travel lesson. The sharp, hard point of Carl’s anger burned towards the young man, Teo.

Somehow in just minutes that boy had done what Carl hadn’t been able to do in years. Teo had stolen Annette’s heart. Carl sat at his desk obsessively following Annette’s tour through remote cameras. Annette was tripping over herself to get close to Teo. Teo only had eyes for her. Carl’s guts ached watching them.

“Sir,” Charity Dawson, one of the people responsible for prioritizing the needs and reports of department heads, had practically snuck up on him.

“Yes, Charity?”

“There is a situation in medical. We have a first contact situation, and Tina urgently wants to make a report, in person,” Charity blurted. She was practically hiding behind her rather large pop-pad.

“Have her meet me at the entrance to the isolation section,” Carl stated. He waved off the voyeuristic obsession on his desk screen and picked up a lockable pop-pad. As second in command, he was the bare minimum as a welcome wagon for a first contact situation. Carl pushed out of his desk chair and stood. He swung his blazer off the back of his chair and pulled it on.

Then Carl teleported to the medical isolation section. It took a few moments for Tina to arrive. Her expression was sour when she did. “Carl, the news is not good. At least three R groups have combined.”

“R groups?” It took Carl off guard.

“I thought your job was reading my memos and passing them on to Annette. R groups- the designations given to the various elements of a Riiad collective. Surely you have heard of Riiad, being it nearly took over the multiverse!”

“Yes, I know that! Which R groups and what does this have to do with our first contact?”

“Kavir, the Agurian Plague, and a parasitic vine, also known as R groups 1,7, and 4. The first contact is with a species that is the embodiment of the combination of group 1 and 7. We are dealing with Kavir and Yllera’s descendants, The Kaviri.”

“Kavir, was he the one that infected us using the slimy slugs?” Carl frowned and shivered. He remembered the sensation of being a guest in his own body. Without Annette’s quick action, he and most of Sanctuary still would be. No, if Annette hadn’t stopped Kavir, Sanctuary’s population would be dead because no one would have built Refuge and everyone inside of Sanctuary would have died when in its destruction.

“Yeah, the slugs,” Tina grimaced.

Carl didn’t know why she was so disgusted. It hadn’t taken her over. “Okay, where is this Kaviri?”

“Iso 8,” Tina gestured for him to follow.

Carl did his best to shove his distaste for Kavir to the bottom of his thoughts. This Kaviri individual wasn’t Kavir and bore no responsibility for his inexcusable actions. Tina stopped outside of isolation Room 8.

“Here she is,” Tina gestured. Then she palmed open the door. Ah, so Tina didn’t quite trust her either if she was locking her in. Carl stepped inside, and Tina followed. “Illeria, this is Carl Miller, he is the assistant director of this place. I need to get going. I have other duties.” Tina bowed out and left.

The woman in the room was fairly pretty. Her hair was long, wavy, and vibrantly strawberry blonde. She had chocolate eyes. Carl imagined if he didn’t only fixate on Annette, he might have found this girl more than mildly attractive.

She smiled timidly at him, “Pleased to meet you, Mr. Miller. “

“Pleased to meet you, Illeria. Do you have a family name?”

Illeria blushed, and tears welled at her eyes. “Kavry,” She answered softly, “But I have been using Sampson. They banished me with my brother from House Kavry.”

“I am sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you,” Carl felt strangely sympathetic.

“You couldn’t know.”

“Why were you banished? If it isn’t too upsetting to talk about,” Carl asked.

“I was on the hunt to prove my fitness to become leader of house Kavry. My twin brother left ahead of me and hunt for me. Our father caught him giving me the sea beasts to bring back. It was a stupid, childish mistake...” Illeria sighed.

“I still don’t understand...” Carl said.

“It shamed us. It proved we had no honor, that we would cheat ourselves and our family in that way...” Illeria answered.

“Honor? From Kavir?” Carl spat insensitively.

Illeria’s face went from shameful sadness to instant menacing anger, “Honor is exceedingly important to the Kaviri people. Kavir learned it from your people, the factors! You shame yourself not considering we might also value honor!”

Carl held up both hands, “You are right. I am being insensitive. There are a few things on my mind that are making me personally bitter. I do us both a dishonor allowing them to color our interaction.”

That seemed to mollify her, “I accept your apology. I understand sometimes events can put you off guard.”

“Thank you for your understanding. In situations like this, medical likes to keep you in isolation at least a week, sometimes longer. After that, if you decide to remain with us, we will need to get you your own permanent quarters. To know what allotment you might qualify for, you will need to know what you would like to do with your time,” Carl said, entering the details he would provide any new resident.

“What do factors do?”

“People with the title factor work to help people. Mostly they work out in the field. Some factors work in administration and information processing,” Carl answered.

“I think I want to be a factor.”

Carl blinked, “There is a training system for that. I will send someone in to give you more information. For now, do you have what you need?”

“Yes, Tina showed me the delivery cupboard.”

“Okay, I have duties to attend to, but I will send a few people in to talk to you over the next several days. They will make sure you have all the information you need,” Carl said.

Illeria nodded.

Carl gave her one more quick smile and palmed his way out. He wondered if she knew they locked her in yet. Out in the hall, he tapped his pad to send Tina a request for more information on the girl, who found her where, and the state of the neo-collective. Then he teleported back to his desk. One tap restored the camera view he had been watching. Annette was no longer in view. It wouldn’t take much to find her again, but meeting Illeria left him curious. Instead, he began brushing up on history.
- - - - - - - - - - - -

Illora had a handful of maps and pamphlets. Her backpack was slung over her shoulder. Around her was the CU campus in Boulder, Colorado. She should meet up with her tour group, but she couldn’t find them. She also had a secondary mission, the real reason she had even decided on visiting this college. One of her best friends, Chloe Nelson, had disappeared on her college tour two weeks ago.

Despite no interest in CU, Illora had to fake a sudden affinity for the college. Her parents had been naturally suspicious. They did not approve of the idea of Illora having any sort of mission in mind. They had spent most of her life telling her stories about being factors, right until she had tried acting like one. Then the lectures on the danger had begun.

Illora looked at her map for the tenth time. She glanced up and thought she saw Chloe quickly following a group of women. Illora dropped the maps and the pamphlets and took off after Chloe. She caught up to her just before Chloe ducked around a corner with the other women.

“Chloe!” Illora grabbed her by the wrist.

“Illora? Get away from here! He’ll see you! Then He’ll own you! Run away.” Chloe loudly whispered.

Out of nowhere a man joined them, “Sister Chloe, who is your lovely friend?”

“No one, she just asked for directions,” Chloe answered, dipping her head.

The man took on a fierce expression, “Do not lie to me Chloe. I always know!”

“Sorry David,” Chloe flinched, “This is my friend Illora, but she has to be going now.”

“No, I have time,” Illora smiled. Chloe frowned and looked at her feet. Illora almost thought she felt Chloe’s anxiety. It was possible she had been experiencing indications that her telempathic abilities might have manifested.

“Then why don’t you join us for a meal?” David asked.

Illora nodded. Like the popping of her ears, she suddenly heard Chloe screaming, “No! Just say no! Run away!” Of course Chloe wasn’t actually screaming.

“Come this way,” David led. Five minutes later they were in a house just off campus. There were no chairs, couches or other furniture, just piles of pillows and satin blankets. There was a painting of David’s face directly on the wall. Women were everywhere, fawning over David. The ambiance screamed cult.

David gestured for Illora to sit. She sat cautiously. During the walk to the house. The thoughts of David’s other female companions began intruding on Illora’s concentration. “So, what is this place?”

“We like to call this the hive.” David answered. He sat on a pile of pillows very near Illora.

The women departed to the kitchen with thoughts of preparing a meal. David gently touched Illora on the arm. She recognized a strange sensation radiating from where he had touched. She suddenly guessed that he had left some kind of pheromone trail. He wasn’t human. “You should think of joining us, permanently.”

“I am not even sure I am going to come to this college,” Illora played dumb.

“I wasn’t inviting you to the college,” He ran his finger down her other arm. The sensation, supposed to distract her from noticing he was reaching for something beneath his t-shirt. Illora monitored the hand that went beneath his shirt. He had something clutched in it. He reached for her back with it.

A sudden flash of memory that could come from any one victim told her he was concealing some kind of unearthly parasite. Illora leaped away from him. His free hand restrained her, and several women rushed in from the kitchen to help him. Illora felt the parasite coming closer to the base of her spine. She could feel other parasites lodged at the base of the other women’s spines. Panic and a surge of power allowed her to shove out with her mind. Not only did the parasite David was trying to put on her fly backwards into a wall with enough force to kill it, all the women’s parasites ripped out through their shirts and impacted the walls with force.

The women collapsed, and David leaped away from Illora. “You’re galactic? I should have sensed that!” He ran around the room and tried to revive the parasites. Illora went into the kitchen to find and check on Chloe. She was unconscious, as were all the rest of the women. Illora checked the base of Chloe’s spine. The place that had once held the parasite looked raw and oozed blood in a few places.

Illora went back into the living room. David was still trying to revive the parasites. She picked up her knapsack and found her phone. She was about to dial 911 when armed and uniformed men burst into the house from all sides. One man lowered his gun and snatched away her phone.

A second wave of uniformed men entered. Several held scanners, which they waved over all the room’s occupants. The leader of the second wave consulted with his men and then approached the leader of the armed men. They whispered back and forth for a few minutes.

“Cuff that asshole!” The armed leader growled pointing at David. Then he approached Illora, “You better talk quick unless you want to join him.”

“I am not with him! He tried to stick one of those on me! I reacted,” Illora stated.

“Why are you here?” The leader asked. Some of his people were now carrying the women out on stretchers.

Illora pointed at Chloe as she passed by, “I was mainly looking for Chloe. She’s my friend. But if my parents ask, I was totally checking out the college.”

The man laughed, “You have stumbled into an interesting can of worms. If you hadn’t unleashed your abilities, we would never have found that bastard. But, you and probably your parents are undocumented aliens of the E.T. sort. What should I do about that?”

“Excuse me, but I was born here, well in Nebraska. So I am a citizen! Who the heck are you people, anyway?”

The man offered his hand, “Colonel John Johnson, leader of the Joint Terran-Galactic Defense Unit.”

“Joint Terran-Galactic Defense Unit? Since when do Galactics work with humans?” Illora asked.

He laughed, “Since we humans developed a way of traveling across universal barriers and across stellar distances. We call it The Heisenberg Box. You have just drafted yourself and your parents into our unit, by virtue of stopping that asshole.”

“My parents are going to kill me!” Illora groaned

“Why?”

“I am supposed to be keeping a low profile. They were field factors assigned to observe this world until they lost communication with our base and they got stuck here. Then I came along and...” Illora sighed.

“What is a Field Factor?” The colonel asked.

“They are like inter-universal catalysts.”

“I am sorry, young lady. I am afraid I will have to be talking with your parents,” John pulled out a notepad, “Where in Nebraska are you from?”

Illora smeared her fingers down her face, “Lincoln...”
- - - - - - - - - - - -