Untold Stories of a Galaxy - Kysaek: The Beginning
Central

Act 3: Kysaek - In the centre

“I wonder how much longer it will take,” Kysaek murmured to herself as she opened her eyes. The journey had been going on for a long time and she would have loved to rest, but brooding kept her awake.

The others slept and lay close together in the cramped quarters, as there were no beds or other lying options than the floor. Dios and Kuren took up most of that space and served as a cubby for Thais and Re’Lis. This was definitely not a five-star trip, but at least Thais had used the tickets to get this separate cabin on the cargo ship, or rather an empty storeroom.

However, the room here was already luxury. If, on the other hand, Kysaek thought of the cargo holds and corridors of the ship, where almost every inch was used as seating or storage space. A dense crowd that barely left room to walk, although she really wanted to go for a run to clear her head. Here, crammed in like this and in the presence of others, Kysaek just couldn’t do it - I have no idea what to do, she mused.Up to here and after Central everything was planned and organised by Thais and suddenly she can’t and doesn’t want to anymore? And now I am supposed to carry on? I don’t understand. Try as she might, she couldn’t think straight in here.

That’s why she stretched her legs outside the chamber, confinement or not, but thinking quickly became easier and she again gave serious thought to the suggestion, no, the demand, that she should decide the fate of the group from now on. On the one hand, Kysaek’s knees trembled at the responsibility and she was afraid of disappointing the expectations placed in her, which was probably tantamount to death. Strangely, though, it was also an incentive for her, the desire to make sure everyone was safe. Besides, Thais had encouraged her further before sleep, reminding her of the story at the PGI compound when Kysaek took the lead without any ifs or buts and did what she should and could, even saving innocents, even though it went against her primary order. Did she have what it took after all? Was she just not used to it? Did she underestimate herself? They were questions that drove Kysaek to a wider holoscreen that existed in place of a window, for windows of glass, no matter how thick, were rare on ships. They were too weak to stand up to the infinite darkness of space and its pitfalls. Energy shields and steel, on the other hand, were.

There was nothing to see of the actual black space at the moment, however, because the transporter was currently travelling along a dark route and was thus surrounded by a tunnel of fast-moving, bright red energy, the so-called dark energy. Simply considered, one could call it the roads of the galaxy or compare it to the roots of a tree, but whatever one called it - the dark routes were the cornerstone of every interstellar civilisation and expanding and travelling over great distances, free of significant time loss, was impossible or an absurd expenditure of resources without them. The routes, their energies, were the ying to the yang, the opposite to gravity, allowing an exponentially faster pace than the speed of light, far from earlier believed science.

Kysaek didn’t care about these details, though, and she thought of the last thing Thais had said before she went to bed - true potential is only revealed in the face of the greatest adversity. You either grow from it or break. On the one hand, the thought scared her even more and yet it was uplifting. After all, the situation could not be greater in terms of hardship and life has never been easy and would not get easier. If we get caught, it’s over either way! Hiding from it and falling is even worse than not trying. Yes, suddenly there was her impulsive nature, the ability to take things on and stand up for herself and others. Maybe it was also a bit of cockiness. And if I’m already given the opportunity to try something, I don’t want to hide!Kysaek grinned at herself, for she was wearing her bio-layer under which she hid her true face and hid in that sense. PGI can kiss my ass and we’re going to make it really hard for them!For her, it was decided - Kysaek was going to take the lead and find out if she was going to break or grow. As soon as everyone was awake, she was going to tell them. Now, though, her eyes were so heavy that when she returned to the chamber, she fell asleep without a problem.

“It’s time to wake up,” Thais murmured with a shake of her shoulder. “We’ll be there in ten minutes.”

Kysaek wanted to sleep on. “Well, I’ve got five minutes then.”

“And miss the sight of Central? Please. The rest are already out.”

She didn’t want to get up, but Kysaek knew there was something to Thai’s words. She knew Central and remembered how overwhelmed she had been on her first visit, but the images in her mind desperately needed refreshing. “It’s okay, it’s okay.”

Kysaek and Thais weren’t the only ones on their feet, though, as there was a dense crowd outside the cabin. This made it hard to get a good look at any of the holoscreens, but Thais had considered that. “This way Nora.” she said, slowly leading Kysaek through the crowd, much of which was besieging the still-closed ship exits.

For this reason, even though it was a diversion, the holoscreens inside the transporter were largely clear and at one of them stood Re’Lis, Dios and Kuren.

“How much further is it?” asked Thais.

Re’Lis replied. “Central is still a dot, but it’s getting bigger and bigger and the ship traffic is already much heavier.”

“There aren’t that many so far,” Kysaek interjected, taking a closer look.

The transporter was just passing under a massive space station bristling with weapons, an effigy marked by edges and spikes. The Hishek preferred to use such elements in their works and this included an often imposing scale, creating a style that combined features of fortresses, monuments and pyramids. However, this space station was not the destination, although hangar after hangar was still used here in large numbers. Most of the ships, however, were heading for a white dot, the only planet in this solar system, which stood out more and more clearly in space and was growing in size. On their way there, many ships used different routes and although it was absolutely not to be compared with a dense city traffic like on Auranis, sometimes longconvoysformed in the vacuum of space. In between, however, there were other machines travelling in orderly formation. Thousands of militarily equipped frigates and cruisers, even a battleship of a good three kilometres in length, were making their orbits around Central and represented the fleet portion of the Rangers, the planet’s protective force, solely committed to the spectrum. Every major power that wanted to be part of the spectrum had to contribute its share to the defence, in the form of assets, resources and ships. That’s why there was no uniformity in the construction of warships.

But whether space stations, ship roads and fleets - they all paled in the face of the gigantic Central, a city on the white planet whose dimensions were more reminiscent of a small country and it was currently located at a vertex of planetary rotation. The day and night sides collided above the city, dividing it exactly in half. In the shadows, the lights of Central shone clearly and traced their contours meticulously, but only the day side was able to show an explicit representation. One of the greatest eye-catchers was the huge dome in the centre, surrounded by sectors of the city separated by strips of steel wall, enclosing everything all around. Central was like a flower of steel, shining brightly in the darkness.

It had been ten years since Kysaek’s last visit, but to her the mega-city seemed even more vast and impressive. “Simply incredible.”

“Now I’m finally convinced, it’s a good place to hide,” Re’Lis said, fascinated. She had mentioned that she had never been here before and Central’s spell had not only caught her.

“So many possibilities,” Kuren said and Dios followed. “So if you can’t organise something new for us to fly there Nora, then nowhere.”

“I’ll sort it out,” Kysaek replied, but a new toy for the twins was not on her mind now or any time soon. That it was all much more formal and less direct now didn’t bother her, because that was what everyone had agreed on and it was meant to protect the group. What was more important was that she made her role as leader official. “At Central, I’m sure it won’t be easy, but I’ll do my best not to betray your trust in me and I hope you’ll support me whenever I need help.”

“So you will take the lead?” assured Thais.Kysaek put all the will in her voice. “I am.”

“I didn’t expect anything else either,” Talin smiled, immediately putting her new leader to the test. “What’s the plan once we land?”

“Get in and find as good a place to stay as possible,” Kysaek replied, for none of them had made it through the controls yet and finding a sheltered retreat was her top priority. But you didn’t have to be a super-light to do that, Kysaek believed. “You have the most experience Th-,” she cleared her throat. “Pashalia.” She almost called Thais by her real name. “I’m sure you know where to find a more accessible controller and where there are safe places.”

“The control part shouldn’t be a problem. Just the second one I think we need to react to the situation on the ground.”

Re’Lis also wanted something to do. “Do you also have a task for us or are we not allowed to do anything?”

“You stay with us,” Kysaek replied. She didn’t want the group to split up. “I have never been to the lower regions, but we should not split up right away. We’ll take things one step at a time and in a few days I’m sure everyone will have more than enough to do.”

“There might be something to that,” Re’Lis nodded with satisfaction. “We’ll have enough to do now if we have to keep our eyes open.”

There was nothing more for Kysaek to say and arrival was imminent as Central’s foundations rose into the air and the transporter had to fly a good kilometre above the ground to even reach an outer landing platform on the lower side of the city.

It was not far to one of the many checkpoints, although it was a good distance inside the massive architecture and was dominated by an oppressive atmosphere: closed rooms, without a spark of sky or an unobstructed view, the extremely high density of new arrivals and their desperation. That was the prevailing image.

Before the checkpoints, Kysaek still noticed that the amount of makeshift camps or that some had reserved a place on the floor was increasing. There was a lot of begging and this did not leave her unscathed. The oppressive atmosphere gripped her a little.

“By now it’s really bad,” Thais said when she noticed Kysaek’s expression. “That’s what happens when you just postpone problems and don’t solve them, and then people suffer.”

If it was already this bad here, Kysaek could hardly guess what awaited her beyond the controls. “As you said Pashalia - it’s good and bad for us.”

“More good than bad if we do it right, but take a good look around.“

”Look for what?”

“A checkpoint where clearance is quick and there are few or no guards. The fewer the better.”

“Why?” asked Kysaek ignorantly. “Should we sneak through?”

“No, we wouldn’t be able to do that anyway,” Thais agreed. Her plan relied on another fact. “We’ll buy our way in there.”

“You’re talking about bribery?”

“Yes,” nodded Thais, who was very familiar with such things. “There has always been corruption here on Central, but since the war and its end it has risen badly. Especially down here and in Central.”

Kysaek had to think for a moment when she heard the word Central before it came back to her. Central was divided into three zones: The lower regions, the middle levels and the high layers. “And at a weakly guarded post you can find venal people?”

“That’s right. I know that trick from smugglers who have done something here and there for the disciples. The fewer eyes, the higher the probability of an open bag.”

Kysaek smirked and asked. “You said probability. Could it go wrong?”

“Could,” Thais admitted, but she didn’t pull a face. “Here, however, it won’t be a problem because, as I said, all they have to do is look around.”

“When I look around, I see a lot of suffering.”

“And few security forces,” Re’Lis noted, and it was true. At certain intervals there were small patrols and clusters of well-armed police forces, looking more like army soldiers, supported by bots. Occasionally there was even a ranger, but against the overwhelming masses of refugees, one could hardly speak of enough security forces.

“Far too few,” Kysaek realised.

Re’Lis was no less experienced than Thais. “A placebo for the masses and public. I saw it more often outside hospitals during the war. It’s supposed to create a sense of control and show people that someone is keeping an eye on them. Most people don’t realise that it doesn’t do much good.”

“As long as the guards don’t have their eyes on our access,” Kysaek said as she selected one of the posts based on the above criteria.

While the rest of the controls were heavily guarded or completely closed, there was one where the guards were merely machines and logins were done in no time. At least a lot quicker than everywhere else. Sometimes people even came back out of the post, which meant they were denied access to Central.

Thais was not deterred by this when it was her group’s turn and she spoke to the Palanian controller in charge on everyone’s behalf. “We are requesting sanctuary in Central,” she said.

“Of course, or you wouldn’t be here,” the Palanian said dryly. He was alone in the intransigent post and not arrogant or dismissive. He was simply acting like a bureaucrat. “How many applications may I note?”

“Five”; reported Thais, since Dios and Kuren counted as two personalities despite their special connection.

Leisurely, the controller noted everything down on his kit. “Five applications. Are they a family or not?”

“Not a family.”

“So a purpose group. Does the same reason for flight apply to all of them or are there different backgrounds?”

“The same reason.”

“Good, good,” comments the Palanian. “That fulfils the first condition on refuge. Now I need your ID cards so we can start the procedure.”

“Sure,” Thais nodded. Instead of the requested ID cards, however, she pulled a foreign currency badge from her pocket and placed it on the table. Her hand covered the credit memory rather symbolically.

“These are not ID cards,” the inspector remarked. “Do you know the difference between ID cards and foreign currency badges?”

“Very well, actually, because I’d rather we didn’t have to show the IDs and get a temporary refugee ID from you instead,” Thais said. If she could manage that, the group would still have the fake ID cards, but they wouldn’t be registered with those on Central and consequently wouldn’t be there.

The Palanian sighed. “Do you still have your IDs?”

“We do.”

“Then it seems I have to explain the laws to you, don’t I?” the Palanian asked rhetorically. “Temporary IDs are only available if you lose your ID cards, with a three to six week waiting period, and if you also meet specific conditions - and since you still have your cards and are unaccompanied by children, for example, you don’t meet the conditions.”

“That is why I am offering you and Central appropriate compensation ...” said Thais, slowly pushing the foreign currency badge towards the controller. “For the circumstances that we are in breach of so many conditions .... a problem that costs, say, two thousand per head?”

Appraisingly, the Palanian’s eyes fell on the approaching hand before he placed his over it and stopped this advance. “I must advise you very strongly to rethink your priorities and how you behave here!” the controller rebuked louder as he deftly bagged the badge. “Take care of your children and find them a good place to live!”

Kysaek smirked. There was no one the Palan had to convince, and total surveillance, such as by cameras or audio recordings, did not exist in such proceedings, as it would have violated galactic rights. Data protection lived on in the present day.

“We’ll do our best,” Thais replied as she got the temporary identifiers and handed them out to everyone - the fivewere now on Central not names but long numbers.

In a lift and surrounded by two dozen strangers, they went down what felt like hundreds of metres and Kysaek was quite amazed that it had worked out so well at the control. Thais had said before the lift ride that not everything had to be difficult and that the worst was yet to come.

A foretaste of this was provided by a friendly, electronic female voice over the cabin loudspeakers.

“Dear travellers, we welcome you to Central and would like to help you find a safe haven. For your own good, you should therefore avoid going into the side corridors at the end of the journey if possible and march strictly straight ahead to your sector. Once there, preferably travel in larger groups and seek out well-populated sections. We strongly caution you not to travel alone or through deserted areas. As a shelter seeker, you should generally avoid unnecessary danger and even though resources are limited, everyone is entitled to basic items and appropriate ration stations are located throughout the sector and are easy to find. I hope this little introduction will be of great help to you and wish you a good day ahead. Welcome to Central.”

The announcement was not exaggerated, as Kysaek could see. At last she faced her destination - the nether regions of Sector Seven.

It was a vast country that could not be completely grasped with the naked eye because of its area and enormous expanses. The only certainty was that somewhere in the far distance there was at least the next partition wall, just as in the two remaining cardinal directions. That and the continuous steel ceiling at a height of almost a kilometre, created the feeling of a galactic giant can, in which a tendency towards moderate darkness prevailed. Sufficient light, however, abounded as there was enough coming from everywhere. Buildings and connecting tracts on the ceiling shone it down, as did the wall sections, the settlements in the sector itself, and then there were the inhabited mega-columns. The colossal behemoths stood everywhere, were as wide as a village and the weight of the sky was on their shoulders.

“Nora, do you have any idea where we are going yet?” asked Dios curiously as she pointed rather ostentatiously towards the mountains of scrap metal

Kysaek took the hint from the eager tinkerer, but she objected. “No, we’re not going there. That positively screams ambush and ambush.”

Still, in Dios the tinkerer was aroused. “But it also screams parts, many, many parts.”

“No, we stick to the plan,” Kysaek agreed. Once the first impression was burned into her mind and she no longer cared about the distinct features, she struggled to make a local assessment. Whether it was the shallow darkness, the rubbish or the feeling of being trapped and in danger, but to Kysaek the nether regions were a kind of technological wasteland. That was all she could see in it at the moment.

“Just wondering where it would be wise to go,” Re’Lis commented indecisively.

She was equally unclear, but Kysaek had to make a decision and think of her own experiences. Twice she had escaped and each time thought she had chosen good accommodation. However, when both went to pieces, she only narrowly escaped and wanted to choose her new base so that it offered safety and good escape facilities at the same time. “We shouldn’t be too far from the wall.”

“Shouldn’t we?” inquired Thais, joking. “You do realise that this isn’t a fortress where the wall at our backs protects us from raids?”

“No it doesn’t. But it is a good landmark and provides opportunities, like when planning escape routes”; Kysaek opined and even though it had been so long since her last visit to Central, she still had many things on her mind. “A lot of maglev tracks run through the wall sections and go in every direction. It also has aero zones for hover wheels and landing pads and flight tunnels for ships, which means we’d be on the public transport network.”

“That exists far away from the wall too Nora. Don’t be completely fooled by the gloom.”

“Good to know, but still I think it’s better if we don’t go too deep into the sector.”

“I didn’t mean to question your decision,” Thais replied, actually liking Kysaek’s decision. “I like your plan with the wall ... yet you are already planning our escape?”

“Purely precaution. We have everything in our hands now and should use what we are given.”

“Precaution, as a doctor would,” Re’Lis said. She was often direct, yet not stubborn in her convictions. “Now the only question is, where exactly should we go along the wall?”

“Excuse me,” came from the side. A Calanian in rags and on rusty, mechanical legs approached. “You are looking for a good place to settle that is close to the Wall?”

Settling was not the plan, but Kysaek guessed that was how the man understood it. “Right. We heard it was better not to go too far into the sector,” she asserted, noticing that the Calanian was crippled. Two of its six tentacles were bisected.

“I’m sure it’s none of my business, but I just got here myself and I’m on my way to Capon,” he told her, stretching his arm in one direction. “It’s about thirty kilometres from here and only a few miles from the Wall. There’s even supposed to be a half-fresh lake and some usable farmland there.”

Clean water and fertile soil were not at all what Kysaek could imagine here and she was wary. “Why do you want to go there of all places?”

“A friend of mine came here two months ago and lives there,” the Calanian smiled. At least it was a smile when this species opened its few fangs so wide you couldn’t see into its maw. “Most of the newcomers are on their way to the city, which is quite manageable.”

The stranger seemed sincere and Kysaek saw no reason why he should lie. Apart from that, there were dozens of people heading in the direction indicated and travelling in large groups was safer. “Thank you for the information.”

“You’re welcome,” the Calanian replied and set off.

Kysaek was in the lead, but she wanted to hear the others’ opinions. “What do you think?”

Dios nodded, while Kuren was verbally in favour. “It’s worth a try.”

“I’ve never heard of Capon,” Thais mentioned. It didn’t faze her, though. “Central is just too gigantic and growing steadily just down here, which is hardly surprising with all the refugees.“In Re’Lis even the doctor was aroused. “Did you see the Calaner’s injuries? And those of the rest who are on their way to Capon? I would have plenty to do there.”

“There and all over Sector Seven,” Thais said. “What do you think, Nora?”

“I say watching won’t hurt,” Kysaek decided. After all, there were more than enough other places she could choose if Capon turned out to be a mistake, and there was one place she had to start with, after all. “Let’s get going.”

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