The Light-Field

  ‘If am wrong then nobody gets hurt,’ Starman granted, although he knew he wasn’t wrong. ‘But if I’m right, I die … so please humour me, and re-test the output of the turbine at full velocity for half an hour and you’ll see that it is too powerful for this fuselage.’

  Mr Hunzo was speechless. Zeven assumed they had not tested the turbine for that duration yet, or he would have got an argument.

  ‘Now these are more like it!’ Zeven spotted a couple of all-terrain hover-bikes in the same hangar and took the opportunity to change the subject. He hurried over and jumped on one, and Mythric followed. ‘May I?’ Zeven asked for Hunzo’s permission and their tour guide emerged from his thoughtful daze to nod.

  ‘You just —’

  Before Hunzo could explain the ignition procedure, Zeven had started his bike; the motor was near silent as the bike floated up to hover in the air at about knee height.

  Mythric, having watched Zeven start his vehicle, followed suit and proceeded to pursue Zeven around the hangar bay.

  As the bike’s air jets were churning up so much dust in the hangar, Hunzo opened the hangar door to release the pair of them; Mythric and Zeven did not hesitate to grab the opportunity to go for a joyride.

  They sped along a wide tunnel designed to launch aircraft, which was smoothly paved and brightly lit. Sunlight was streaming into the tunnel up ahead and, as they approached the opening into the canyon proper, it became apparent that the tarmac was ending and there was no ramp down to the canyon floor! Despite this, Starman continued to speed up.

  ‘Are you fucking insane?’ yelled Mythric, as he hit the brakes and watched as Starman went shooting off the ledge high above the canyon floor.

  Starman cut the power to his vehicle and it dropped like a stone as he remained firmly seated upon it. At the halfway point of his death plummet, Starman restarted the engine and the ignition boost broke his fall, whereupon the bike went shooting off through the canyon for a way, before gliding around to come to a stop. When Zeven spied Mythric still up on the runway, he yelled, ‘Well, come on!’

  ‘I’m supposed to be saving your life, not getting killed with you,’ Mythric shouted back.

  ‘It’s an all-terrain bike,’ Zeven reasoned. ‘Just make sure you have a good run up so that you clear the cliff face.’ Mythric appeared undecided and Zeven was annoyed — he really wanted to speak with his new partner alone, and in the middle of a deserted desert canyon seemed the perfect place. ‘Don’t be so gutless!’

  Mythric disappeared from the edge of the runway above, and after some time, when Zeven still found himself alone in the stifling heat of the canyon floor, he felt disappointed. Taren sent me a dud … there’s no way this partnership is going to work. The pilot had resigned himself to taking a ride on his own, just to get some air flowing past his body, when the sound of Mythric’s elated shout drew Zeven’s attention backward, in time to witness his new partner hurtling through the air on his vehicle.

  ‘What was I thinking?’ The sight made Zeven smile broadly. ‘Taren is never wrong.’

  Mythric hit the ignition and safely came to hover; he seemed surprised to be alive. He recovered quickly and came to a stop alongside Zeven. ‘There is gutless, and there is cautious — I am the latter,’ he advised and accelerated into the canyon maze.

  Zeven took off in hot pursuit. ‘Don’t kid yourself, old man, you’re as crazy as me!’ he yelled as he passed Mythric.

  ‘You’d better hope I am, if you plan on pulling many more stunts like that!’

  ‘I’m full of them.’ Starman grinned.

  Despite the heat, the near-death experience and his partner’s suicidal tendencies, Mythric could not bring himself to be annoyed — the ride was just too exhilarating.

  ‘Well, at least your arse won’t be sitting around getting fat on a beach,’ Starman chided in challenge, and accelerated up a rocky mound. ‘Yeehaw!’ He cut the engine, swung the bike up into a vertical forward flip and restarted the air jets to land safely.

  When Zeven looked back to get Mythric’s reaction to his stunt, the man was shaking his head.

  ‘Your parents must be nervous wrecks!’

  Zeven’s good vibe vanished. ‘I wouldn’t know.’

  They rode through the canyon a little more, until the tall canyon walls narrowed to provide a stretch of ground shielded from the sun. Zeven stopped his bike and hopped off.

  ‘Hey, sorry about the parent thing —’ Mythric attempted an apology but Zeven waved him to silence.

  ‘Don’t mention it,’ Starman suggested. ‘Ever.’

  ‘Good-o, I won’t.’ Mythric remained seated on his bike and wiped the sweat from his brow. ‘We could have brought some water.’ He was still grinning with childish delight, until Zeven manifested two ice-cold bottles of water and tossed one to him.

  ‘That explains what I do.’ Zeven decided to be right up-front about it. He drank some water, then poured some over his head.

  ‘You’ve got PK?’ Mythric was stunned. ‘That’s rare.’

  Zeven nodded to acknowledge that he was aware of that.

  ‘Just space? Or have you mastered time and dimension as well?’ Mythric queried, seeming rather more calm about the news than most people would be.

  ‘I’ve shifted through time and space, and I do believe into a different dimension on a few occasions … but I didn’t really have any control in those instances.’

  Mythric whistled to emphasise how impressed he was, and then raised both brows as he considered. ‘That explains a lot … like how you could know Hunzo’s turbine is too powerful for his craft, or how you could have known the Timekeeper for years without me finding out.’

  Zeven held his arms wide to concede he had nothing left to hide, and seated himself back on his bike. ‘So how about you, Mythric, what do you do?’

  Mythric cocked an eye, surprised that Starman could be so up-front about his psychic skills. ‘Up until two weeks ago, nobody else in the galaxy even knew I had a Power.’

  ‘Nothing to be uptight about,’ Zeven stated his view. ‘Pretty soon, it’s going to be all the rage.’

  Mythric found this amusing and probably slightly delusional. ‘Does it really matter what I do? I mean, you obviously have the power to re-arrange the universe, I can’t even imagine why the Timekeeper bothered sending me.’

  Zeven grinned. ‘Because she thinks I’m young, dumb and full of … myself, most of the time.’ He rolled his eyes and drank some more.

  ‘You are aware that PK is a trait of the royal Phemorian line?’ Mythric said.

  ‘Watch it, Mythric, you’re heading toward that no-go topic again.’

  ‘Sorry.’

  ‘Besides, I’m not telling you my life story, if you’re not going to share with the group,’ Zeven chided. ‘I’ll trust you, because the Timekeeper does, but it would be helpful to know what you’re skilled at.’

  ‘I have many skills and they are all at your disposal,’ Mythric granted.

  ‘But you’re not going to tell me what they are?’

  ‘I can fly just about anything, I have extensive communication, navigation and weapons training, I’ve —’

  ‘I meant psychic skills, Mythric,’ Zeven stated the obvious.

  ‘I have trust issues,’ the older agent admitted openly. ‘Wait until you are my age and see how open you’re willing to be. I’ve seen firsthand what they do to people like us.’

  Due to their persecution in the past, there wasn’t a psychic living who would openly admit to having a Power. So Zeven wasn’t really surprised; he knew he was one of only a handful of psychics who had managed to outsmart the system, and that made Zeven braver than most. ‘Well, I’ve seen firsthand what people like us can accomplish when we band together. And believe me, not all the fear and loathing of the Powers in the United Systems will prevent the revolution that is coming. However, the last partner I had took five years to tell me he was telepathic, so —’ He shrugged. ‘As long as you will use whatever your Power
is, if needed,’ Zeven reasoned, and Mythric nodded to confirm he would, ‘then I’m good with that.’

  ‘Agreed then.’ Mythric was glad to have that settled. ‘And just in time for our pick-up.’ He noted a government recon unit come round the corner of the canyon.

  ‘You think they’re looking for us?’ Zeven was surprised.

  ‘Put your hands above your heads and step away from the vehicles,’ a voice boomed out over the loudspeaker of the official vehicle.

  The two men looked at each other and grinned as they climbed off the bikes and placed their hands on their heads.

  ‘First day here and already in trouble,’ Mythric commented, obviously thinking this did not bode well for their future partnership.

  Zeven was amused. ‘We’re not in trouble … I’ll handle this.’

  ‘Must you?’ Mythric appealed.

  Zeven served him a sideways glance that entreated Mythric to have a little faith.

  The recon vessel came to hover in front of the renegades and did an about face. From the rear a ramp dropped down to the ground and Mr Hunzo emerged, accompanied by several armed agents. The agents had their weapons pointed at Zeven and Mythric as Hunzo rushed over to check on his bikes. ‘Are you mad! These are the only two prototypes in existence, and they were not designed with abseiling in mind!’

  ‘They’ll do that and so much more,’ Zeven assured his supervisor.

  ‘How could you know that?’ the man challenged.

  ‘It’s my job to know, and to push every vehicle I drive to its absolute limit,’ Zeven insisted. ‘Anselm didn’t send me down here because he thought you’d enjoy my company, you realise.’

  ‘I’m starting to,’ Hunzo agreed.

  ‘You ought to be thanking me.’ Zeven dropped his arms, surrendering to reason. ‘I’ve just shown you that this has the potential to be so much more than just another cross-country vehicle. We’re talking the extreme sports market here, which is far more lucrative and prestigious.’

  Hunzo’s temper subsided. ‘All well and good, but you could have gotten yourself killed, and destroyed the prototype.’

  ‘That’s a job lot, Hunzo.’ Zeven knocked Mythric’s arms down to ‘at ease’ as he moved off toward the recon unit. ‘Can we grab a lift back?’

  Hunzo, still perturbed, waved them on.

  ‘Thanks, you’re a lifesaver.’ Zeven looked to Mythric, who seemed surprised as he walked alongside him. ‘I was wondering how we were going to get those bikes back up to the runway.’

  Mythric grinned at him. ‘I feel sure you would have thought of something.’

  ‘Always do,’ Zeven assured, as they headed up the ramp of the their ride back to base.

  3

  AURORA DECADIE — RORY

  ‘Rory, get up, we’re late!’

  The call to consciousness was painful, and so Aurora decided to ignore it — she was having an amazing dream.

  ‘Rory … we’re going to flunk … If you don’t get your arse out of bed and make it to class!’

  Zanthie, Aurora’s roommate on campus, had a booming voice, even when not at full volume. It cut through Rory’s dream state and sped her back to consciousness via a rude awakening.

  ‘Go away,’ Aurora objected and rolled away from her assailant. ‘I can’t do study, class and the band anymore …’

  ‘Sure you can,’ Zanthie insisted. ‘We just need to get our sleeping routine sorted.’

  In her mind Rory was trying to home back in on her dream, but it was no use — she remembered it clearly, but she was not going to be able to return. ‘Ooooh!’ She was aggravated, mainly due to a massive hangover. ‘You’ve been saying that for six months! If we haven’t got the routine together by now, we’re not likely to.’

  ‘But it’s good money,’ Zanthie appealed as she finished getting dressed.

  ‘My point exactly,’ Rory wagered. ‘So why not skip the study and make a living as a rock stars!’ She stretched herself long across the bed — still dressed in the heavily belted leather mini-dress she’d worn on stage the night before. In fact, the entire dress was nothing more than several thick soft leather belts loosely strung together and buckled tight around her.

  Zanthie appeared surprised at her. ‘We started the band so that we could afford to study, remember?’

  ‘Business Management and Communications sucks, Zanth!’ Rory shoved a pillow over her head.

  ‘It won’t suck when you run your own company and make more money than most singers dream of!’ Zanthie pulled the pillow from Aurora’s hands. ‘Get up!’

  Aurora faked a crying fit. ‘Please, just for today, can I check your notes when you get back?’

  ‘No.’ Zanthie put her foot down.

  ‘But I was having the best dream ever,’ Aurora appealed and Zanthie changed her tune.

  ‘About who?’

  ‘No one we know.’

  ‘You’re holding out on me, you know I can always tell.’

  ‘Look …’ Aurora caved. ‘It was some guy I was reading about in the United Systems news a few weeks back. I don’t know why I keep dreaming about him.’

  ‘Who is he?’ Zanthie was intrigued.

  Rory grinned, tickled by the thought. ‘Some hotshot pilot who went missing on Maladaan a few weeks back.’

  ‘Did they find him?’ Zanthie gulped down the remains of her juice.

  ‘Well, that’s the weird thing about it.’ Aurora propped herself up on her elbows. ‘There’s not even been a two-liner on the subject since, no word on the investigation.’

  ‘So, he was good looking, I assume?’

  ‘Oh yeah.’ Aurora snuggled back into her bed to snooze. ‘So can I have a sick day now … please?’

  Zanthie appeared torn about letting her friend get away with slacking off.

  ‘Look at me.’ Aurora hadn’t looked in a mirror yet, but she was fairly confident she looked dreadful. She hadn’t removed any of her makeup before crashing out, and she’d filled her blonde hair with gel the night before. She could tell by how her scalp hurt this morning that her bleach blonde shag was all bent out of shape. ‘How long do you think it’s going to take to make this presentable?’

  ‘I’ll catch you later.’ Zanthie immediately conceded defeat.

  ‘That bad, huh?’ Aurora waved her friend farewell, very grateful to put her head straight back onto the pillow.

  ‘Big gig tonight,’ Zanthie yelled back to remind her. ‘The rest of the girls will be here about two.’

  ‘I know …’ Rory groaned.

  ‘Be gorgeous by the time I get back.’ Zanthie backed out the door.

  ‘I will!’ Aurora buried herself under the covers and when she heard the door close, she gave a deep sigh of relief.

  In her mind she conjured the one perfect colour image that she’d seen of the pilot — his straight dark hair falling in his large brown eyes, and his cocky half-grin that revealed a dimple in his cheek — and the vision filled her with delight and intrigue. Rory could tell, just from the look on his face, that he was an adventure waiting to happen, and that’s how she felt about herself too.

  ‘Where are you, Airman Gudrun?’ Aurora rolled on her side and closed her eyes to imagine.

  Zeven and Mythric arrived in Heavensgate and, after a two-week stint in the desert, were more than ready for some rest and recreation. Zeven was almost sorry that he’d given up President Anselm’s apartment and all its attractive helpers, but he was equally ready for some time alone.

  Out at the desert facility, he’d found Mythric to be easy company as a flatmate, and a wise counsel in the workplace. Still, Zeven could hardly wait to be let loose in a vehicle that did not have Mythric’s voice of reason urging caution through a speaker in his ear at every turn.

  ‘You know that holiday you were having, before you got dragged to Sermetica to baby-sit me?’ Zeven queried as they headed for a debrief with President Anselm.

  ‘What of it?’ Mythric attempted not to sound perturbed by the subject.
br />   ‘I could arrange for you to resume it for the week, if you’d like?’

  Mythric waved off the idea. ‘I’d lose half the week in travel —’

  ‘Not if you fly Air Starman, you won’t.’ Zeven winked, but Mythric seemed horrified.

  ‘Although I appreciate the offer, I do not appreciate how candid you are about certain things, which you should not be so blasé about anywhere in civilisation.’

  Zeven cringed, wondering why he even bothered trying to make his partner’s life more exciting. ‘You know, for someone who has no kids, you sure sound like a father a lot!’

  ‘That’s because you’re so bloody immature.’ Mythric calmly rebutted the insult as they headed past Anselm’s rows of secretaries.

  ‘Am not!’ Zeven jested. ‘I’m just more in touch with my inner child,’ he announced in a serene manner, and Mythric finally cracked a smile.

  ‘In touch? Possessed is more like it.’

  As they reached the presidential office, they were immediately shown inside.

  ‘Well, aren’t we honoured,’ Mythric muttered to Zeven.

  ‘I’ll tell you when I see my new wheels.’ Zeven rubbed his hands together, hoping Anselm had not forgotten the promises he’d made prior to his stint in the desert.

  ‘Agent Zeon, Starman.’ Anselm rose and acknowledged them both. ‘You boys have caused quite a stir at the facility, I hear.’

  ‘Hunzo shouldn’t be complaining.’ Zeven defended his techniques. ‘We’ve advanced their research years in just two weeks!’

  ‘He is not complaining.’ Anselm smiled to reassure him. ‘In fact, he sent you a gift.’

  ‘Really?’ Zeven was pleasantly surprised to hear this, as Hunzo had designed some of the most elite vehicles of all time! His mind raced back to his late teens to recall what Hunzo cars had been released around now, and his eyes began to water. ‘Not the Hunzo Borealis Sports Convertible?’ He almost choked on the query, as the possibility of driving the most lusted after car of his lifetime made his heart race. The car was not unlike the Hunzo stealth interceptor, as it was a concept vehicle that had a self-propelling, wind-generated turbine engine; this was the advent of Kestler’s once-theorised ambient energy.