Against the Tide - A New Elysium Story [Complete]

14. The Scent of Dead Flowers

Station security officer Becker could feel that he was getting tired.

Just for a second there, he had taken a bit longer to blink, his heavy eyelids scratching across his dry eyes like sand paper, and when he had opened them again, something strange had appeared on his monitor. He couldn't quite explain what he had seen – it was as if the sweep signal had been sent out but been distorted. Warped. As if some of the information had been lost on the way. It hadn't been reflected though – if there was anything out there, he would have seen it light up on his monitor. It was probably a glitch. He made a mental note to bring it up during the next maintenance meeting.

There was no reason for him to follow up on the strange glitch. No unscheduled vessels would have been able to pass these surveillance systems undetected. The systems on Aenara were among the most sophisticated in this sector. After all, this planet was an important place. High ranked members of the Neo-Tokyo elite and wealthy business people came here for vacationing or to conduct their meetings. From the security station in low orbit, he would sometimes look down at that VIP colony, with its tall, crystal-like spires, interconnected by walkways like silver cobwebs that hung between them, and the luxurious white mansions set on terraces at the face of a mountain. The houses were surrounded by lush gardens and artificially planted forests. Some of these people had more living space in their vacation homes than the entire population of some of the colonies he had served on before coming here combined.

But he did not feel envy. These people had worked hard for their wealth, some of them across generations. And he was dedicated to work just as hard, so he would one day be able to afford a house down there, too. Perhaps with a little pond in the garden, or something like that. The pay was good, and in about thirty-five years or so, if he continued his frugal lifestyle, he would definitely be able to move down there.

Becker yawned and forced himself out of his daydreams, that he felt were on the verge of turning into night dreams, and focused on the monitor in front of him again. The strangely distorted signal was long gone.

He was a very diligent man, and good at his job, but Becker had a flaw. Even after the Purge, even after all that humanity had learned about the dangers of modern technology, he still relied on it too much. If he had just lifted his gaze from the monitor for a moment, to look out through the view port of the surveillance deck, he might have spotted something in the distance.

A black droplet detached from the inky darkness of space, and fell down toward the planet's surface, where it dove into a cloud and vanished.

~ ~ ~

Night had fallen on Aenara.

The planet had several small moons, but none of them shone bright enough tonight to reveal the smooth, black shuttlecraft that had landed on one of the terraces. Its engine had been as quiet as a cat's purr and its surface seemed to swallow all surrounding light. The door clicked and slid up with a soft hiss.

The nightly thief was nothing but a shadow splitting from the shadows, and merging with shadows again, as she made her way across the garden through the blooming jasmine bushes. Suddenly, she stopped.

Are you okay? Lars whispered.

He knew that nobody could hear him, but when they were sneaking around like this, he always felt compelled to talk silently – if only so they would hear any noises in their surroundings immediately.

Yeah, I'm fine, Null answered.

She took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of the flowers that hung heavy in the air. It permeated their lungs and seemed to weigh them down like vaporized lead.