The Bone Job
Julius Fisbon was a thousand miles from the nearest city, the Tieg capital, more than a mile deep in a cavern below the paradise-like shores on the Eastern sea board, accompanied by what must have been the best looking Tieg female-equivalent that the world had to offer. He was quite depressed.
Her name was unpronounceable and he silently questioned himself about her skills as a guide. From what he gathered, she was as close to a female as the Tieg race could get. They were bi-pedal and somewhat human in a gnarly and grotesque fashion. Without the benefit of a lower jaw, Julius had observed them consume meals in a fashion resembling an insect and a whale. Food was digested externally and nutrients strained through a membrane behind their upper teeth. It took him several days of close inspection before he was able to piece together a class structure headed by a clave and based upon various physical characteristics. It was his own conjecture, and he didn't think he was completely accurate, but thought it was enough to get by.
Julius was lucky, though. Despite their grotesque outward appearance, the Tieg let on as a remarkably friendly race. He could only guess how they would react if they knew that he shared the face of their enemy: humans. The Tieg were intelligent and had developed intergalactic travel, extending the reach of their small world to several other habitable systems. The Panthera Corporation, seeing this as a threat to a rich belt of ore they had their eyes on, sent in a strike force to obliterate the race from those systems. That had been Julius' first and only experience with Panthera's new combat strategy utilizing behavior modification. He had been the only pilot to return.
He increased the luminosity of his hand held lantern and bathed the cavern in its sterile glow. Streaks of blue and gold rippled through the polished high rock walls, reflecting the condensation that dripped from above. The guide looked flustered and cowered.
"There," Julius said, pointing to the far end of the cavern. He pointed, his unrecognized language drawing only a blank gaze.
The guide shied back, but on Julius' insistence, followed him.
Five other pilots had gone into cryogenic sleep when the Tieg fighters attacked. Julius had watched as they were picked off one at a time.
One of the fighters had crashed into an ocean near a large city. Julius took his time investigating the trajectory and exploring the carefully detailed memories at his disposal, courtesy of the madness Panthera had infused into his mind.
As he walked closer, he could see the shattered cockpit of the fighter that pierced through the cavern ceiling. There was no way that anyone could have survived. Julius sighed to himself and turned around, walked back towards the entrance of the cavern.
The guide provided a look that could only have been questionable.
Julius reached in his pocket and removed a packet of small, sealed letters, muttering to himself as he returned to the open air. "Mark, Christopher, Jake, Louis, Aaron." He gripped the letters tightly in his hand. "I knew your names because we awoke from the sleep. We promised each other we would return to see if the others managed to survive. It has taken years, but I have returned." He wiped tears from his eyes. Julius had shed more tears in the ten years since the encounter over Tieg than he thought any one man or woman could cry. "I have letters and keepsakes from each of your wives and families. Our mission was never publicized and it was hard explaining to them why you died. Panthera tried to keep me from returning, so that this race would never know what we looked like, but you were my friends and my family for those brief moments we shared together."
The rest of the journey through the cavern was spent in silence, interrupted by random musings from the guide. When they left the cavern, Julius walked out towards the ocean.
The Tieg ocean was indeed a beautiful sight. Julius had collected several videos, but his appetite for the beautiful shores was not sated. He walked into the open water and dipped the letters into the mauve, sulfurous liquid. "Good Lord, and Jesus Christ, our Savior, I ask that you welcome these fine men into your Kingdom. They were loving husbands, good sons, and devoted countrymen. I do not know of their particular beliefs, but now beg that you see them safely on their new journey. Let them know no more suffering, let them feel no more pain."
Julius raised his head, threw it back unto the open sky. "I am overwhelmed and shed these tears out of joy, knowing that you love us so very much." Once more, he dipped the letters into the water and then let them go. He finished his prayer with the sign of the cross and then took a step back and looked into the water. So many nights had been spent thinking of this moment, rehearsing what would be the right thing to say.
The edges of his eyes began to cloud and his mind struggled to remain above the primal world of the meadow.
The meadow. That one word filled his mind with such vile hatred that he wanted to retch. The Panthera Corporation had sent him into combat with the understanding that he would know no fear nor remember any pain. They had been only partially correct. He could remember the primal lusts and fears interweaving with instinct and his humanity. All of space was only one giant meadow upon which the Panthera's predators fed. When he awoke from cryogenic sleep, the meadow was just on the other side of concentration. Madness was so dangerously close.
He let his hands dip into the pungent water, thinking of the difficult times that followed. Panthera had wanted him dead. Perhaps they still did. And when it looked as though they would get their wish, Julius found that the meadow could be more than madness, but an extension of the mind. By carefully controlling his perception of the meadow, he could see both the primitive and the evolved characteristics of anyone around him. When he was in the meadow, he was stronger, faster, and deadlier than anything around him. That is what they had wanted, wasn't it? The officials and doctors who had come to end his life found that guns, walls and shields meant nothing to the predator called man.
Julius had wanted to die, but his promise, the commitment that brought him to the Tieg ocean this day, was his reason to live. Somewhere in the meadow, he had found this reason. And he had found God. He took his prayers from several different faiths, but his intentions were the same. Believe and you would be saved. Be true unto each other.
"How hungry this predator grows when hate is bottled up inside," he whispered to himself. And then there was nothing left to say.
Julius left the water and returned to the drop point where he had left his shuttle. He had no reason for remaining on Tieg.
After returning in the shuttle to a transport he had taken from the Panthera Corporation, he stowed the equipment he had brought to the surface and sat down in the small cockpit. Having no one to communicate with on the surface, thus spending enough time with his thoughts and away from human contact, he negotiated a deep space connection with the nearest outposts.
It took over an hour for the outpost personnel to receive and process his request, and then send a reply. "Outpost three nine seven two has received and processed your request. Stand by." Communication protocols and instructions embedded in the transmission were fed into the ship computer. "Specified host negotiation in process. Estimated time until reply: five minutes. Stand by."
Each Earth outpost was equipped with powerful communication equipment which made them vital to maintaining contact between the various galaxies. Communication speed between a computer on a planet and an outpost was relatively quick, although relaying that signal with a ship in another system took substantially more time. When the network was established, he queried his home computer for recent messages, deleted most of them, and then sat back to ponder over two that caught his attention. One was from a close friend in regards to Panthera, the other from the company itself.
Julius expanded the body of the message sent by his friend.
An unshaven face consumed his monitor and said loudly, "Brother Fishbone! Long time no see!"
Julius grimaced as his friend, Brent, went into an extended monologue about the moral decline of the universe and how he felt that he wasn't contributing enough to the decline. Brent had hung the "Fishbone" moniker on Julius at the time of their first meeting and it had managed to disseminate through the local galaxies to everyone he didn't like. And Brent called any priest or holy figure of any denomination brother or sister.
He fast-forwarded the video message until Brent took a breath, and Julius rewound it several seconds and started playing it again.
"You'll probably still be in cryogenic sleep when you get this, maybe even on your way back. But I heard this over the wire and wanted to let you in on it." Brent leaned in close to the camera and whispered, "Panthera pulled out another survivor."
"Good God," Julius whispered. It was the news he had been waiting to hear. It was one of the reasons he had risked the voyage to Tieg in the stolen transport. To find others like him.
"So, get this," Brent's video continued. "This guy wakes up, completely discombobulated, and you know he's been through all nine levels of Hell and a couple bonus rounds, and they promise him the same wonderful compensation I remember you telling me they offered you."
"My source was a bit sketch on the hows and whys, but apparently this guy was given the corporate run-around and he just loses it. Wipes out an entire security team like it was nothing." Brent stopped long enough to scratch his face and pick his nose. "But after you, I guess they got smart. They have him in isolation .."
Julius had enough. He stopped the video and felt the meadow creep in on the edges of his vision. He contemplated going in, but focused himself until it receded. Brent's transmission was almost a year old and he was six years out from Panthera's head quarters. The message from Panthera now occupied his thoughts.
It was a simple text message: "Fisbon, we have a notion of what you're doing and what recent events may prompt you to do in the future. Our suggestion is don't bother."
He smirked and shook his head. "You still don't understand the hell you've put me in," he muttered aloud.
When the meadow crept back into his vision, he let it come and felt a surge of heat as his rage carried him far into the lush fields. While he still did not understand it on a broader level, Julius was aware of several aspects of the meadow. Beyond having increased awareness and abilities, it afforded him a means of ethereal movement in a fraction of the time it would take in the real world.
The meadow was not small by any means, but it was not infinite either. When he was near Earth, he could see a large pond and mountain to the East. By Tieg, he could see dunes and a rich forest bordering the south. Changing his physical location changed his starting location in the meadow. But once there, he could travel to any corner he wished for as long as he wished. Time did not have meaning in the meadow as long as he did not try to establish any communication with outworld inhabitants, such as humans he might run into. As long as he kept his contact restricted to meadow inhabitants, a few days in the meadow could last a matter of minutes. Of course, it was impossible to determine the passage of time while giving himself over to the mysterious world. And he wasn't sure how time would be affected if he encountered another like him; a human that was consciously aware of the meadow.
Finding another human in the meadow was not easy, especially if it did not want to be found. If the person Brent referred to was suffering physically, it could be almost impossible to locate them.
Julius continued trekking across the meadow well after nightfall. He started to think of what he would say to this other man, if he had remained human after suffering from Panthera scientists. Mostly, he wanted to see them clear of Panthera so they could make their own decisions and try to come to grips with their new life. It was difficult for him to know that there were others like him but that Panthera may have them locked away in isolation, or squirreled away on a distant planet.
As the golden light of dawn spilled over the meadow, Julius paused to look around him. Throughout the night, his nerves had been steadily becoming more tense and on edge. When the sun crept over the horizon, he knew he had found the other man.
Throughout his search he hadn't been prepared to be found.
His keen senses sharpened his reflexes and he dodged a mighty blow aimed at his head. A beast shot passed him and spun about, ready for another assault when it paused. It's ferocity was held at bay and it took on a more human form. A look of uncertainty crossed its face.
"What is your name?" Julius asked.
The beast hunkered down in the brush, though still maintained a human semblance. "I haven't seen anything quite like you before," it admitted.
"Like you," Julius corrected. "We are the same."
The beast was skeptical. "Where did it happen for you?"
"Tieg," Julius said.
"Never heard of it," it growled.
"And I've most likely never heard of the system where you were changed, nor do I know the names of other systems where Panthera forces have struck."
The beast once more began to wane towards a human appearance. "Who are you?"
"Julius Fisbon." Julius took extra care in pronouncing his last name so there was no mistake. "I have a friend who can monitor some of Panthera's secure channels. At the moment, I'm near Tieg."
"Fishbone?" The beast asked, bemused.
"Fisbon. There is no 'h'." Julius corrected.
"Tieg? Is that where I am now?"
Julius shook his head. "No. You are probably in one of Panthera's security complexes."
"How is it possible that you are here?"
"This," Julius motioned about him. "This meadow. I don't know how to explain it, but it is a different existence. Whatever Panthera changed in us allows us to perceive it. It may be what other animals see. I don't know."
"Why are you here?" The beast had adopted a predominant human form and approached Julius. "I've spent years in a cell and haven't spoken to anyone." The man became cautious. "How do I know you aren't from Panthera?"
"If, after all this time, Panthera hasn't figured the meadow out, I doubt they will for a long time."
The man nodded, accepting the explanation for the moment. "Vincent Wagner. It's good to finally meet someone else who knows what I'm going through."
Julius extended his hand, shook Vincent's when he accepted. "I'm sure you've probably figured some things for yourself. I may know a few more, but I admit I don't know a whole lot."
"Vincent, the reason I'm here is I want to help you get out of Panthera. I don't know if I was the first human changed by their behavior modifications, but I do know there are others. For me, it is a worthwhile effort to try to help others have the opportunity to figure it out for themselves. You can do whatever you want when you're free, but I've taken it upon myself to make sure that you are."
"Why?" Vincent asked. "It is very gracious of you to offer your help and be concerned about my well-being, but it seems like you're being awfully selective. There are a lot of people more worthwhile than I." Vincent looked downcast and placed his palm to his forehead.
Julius extended his hand and set it on Vincent's shoulder. "I'm not one to measure anyone's worth. And I know the pain that is in your heart and your head. I was never really a religious person before I went off on that fateful mission, but when Panthera put this madness in my head, I found God at the same time." He produced a muted smile. "I know, it sounds a bit hokey, but now I believe in the same things that I only use to chide in others. And part of that belief is that I need to do everything that I can to help those who are enslaved or misguided. There are billions who qualify for that, but at the moment, I'm the only one who can help you."
Vincent nodded and looked about him. "I'm not sure I'll find God here, if that's what you mean."
Julius smiled and shook his head. "No, that's just me. If you do, great. I just want to help you get out of Panthera."
Vincent puzzled over Julius then put his face in the palms of his hands. "Whenever I think they are going to start one of their experiments, I come here." He lifted his head and looked across the thick, green grass.
"We'll think of a way to get you out," Julius said.
"You don't have to," Vincent replied.
"I want to."
"Ok then. How?"
It was a good question for which Julius had no answer. He looked at Vincent and then out at the meadow.
"If there are others, they would be in here," Vincent remarked while observing Julius' reflection.
"Yes, but they won't be easy to find," Julius said. "I think it was more luck than anything else that we ran into each other."
"If there are others, will you try to get them out, too?" Vincent asked.
Julius nodded and then looked at Vincent, wondering where his thoughts were leading. "A bit premature to think about it since I'm not sure how I'll get you out."
"Is it?" he asked, raising an eyebrow after posing the question.
"Are you suggesting a mass exodus?"
Vincent nodded. "We're dangerous to them and they know that."
"Under what circumstances did they detain you?"
"It's," Vincent shook his head and then began walking towards the longer grass growing on the horizon. "It's a difficult memory."
Julius followed him. "It would be helpful to know."
"When I woke from the sleep, they seemed quite amicable and supportive. Promised me a lot of money and services, anything I wanted. But it was all a lie." He kicked a rock mid step. "It was just another lie. I didn't know it until I was ready to leave the station. I went to sleep one night and woke up in a cell. Whatever they drugged me with to put me out brought on a reaction and I must have done some damage. At least, that's what they told me." After a moment, he added, "I'm not sure how this helps, though."
"It helps to know their strategy, but also to know you." Julius offered a slight, friendly smile. "We'll have to work well together in order to succeed, and that means knowing as much about each other as possible."
"Panthera isn't going to just give in to the demands of one man," Vincent said.
"Not without a really good reason. What do you know of the system you fought in?"
"I vaguely remember the star charts and features. But they didn't provide any names."
Julius smirked, "They provided us with the names, but little more. If someone started broadcasting the names and dates of their secret military missions to public channels, how quickly do you think they would try to plug the leak?"
Vincent grimaced. "Very quickly. They'd have a fleet after you pretty quickly."
Julius nodded, then shrugged. "When I'm angry, I attack without thinking. But when I fought with the others, we didn't attack each other. If Panthera sent a fleet of behavior-modified soldiers, they may not event see their target."
"Ok," Vincent nodded, "what if it's a few assassins."
"I'd see them coming a mile away," he said matter-of-factly.
"It seems far fetched," Vincent admitted.
"It was your idea." Julius smiled and walked on ahead of Vincent.
The two men walked well into the night and on into the day discussing alternate plans and conditions. But it came down to making sure that Panthera would never be able to imprison another man or woman like them. Julius thought it was a worthwhile goal. Before they parted ways, they decided on a common meeting place; a small spring near a conduit for several rivers and brooks that spanned across the meadow in most directions. It would be easy to find again.
They bid each other good luck and then Julius concentrated his attention away from the meadow. As it receded from his vision and other senses, he found himself back in the cockpit of the transport. He checked the clock and was pleased to notice that only a matter of minutes had passed.
Julius made a note of the location of the Tieg system, and then began to write down everything he could remember about the secret mission. He sent in a media query on any information regarding Panthera military actions and public opinion related to those events. The results of the query was slow, as expected, and he took a sauna-shower and ate a meal while waiting.
Feeling refreshed, he sat down and displayed the results of the media query on one of the cockpit displays. He sifted through the conspiracy theories and fictitious claims. At first, he wasn't sure what he was looking for and he found himself entertained, in a darkly humorous fashion, by some of the outrageous claims. Of course, serious attention was not paid to the authors.
He started to draft a letter as a public notice with a copy sent to the general employment at Panthera that included the hard facts of the secret mission over Tieg. Unsatisfied with the results, he began to look over the media query again. As he read through each entry, he tried to substantiate the claims with the few facts he held. It was a slow process, but he made a separate note of any entries that could be supported by other humans who survived the behavior modification.
After several hours, he had two unrelated but interesting news articles debating the use of what the journalists referred as the "Heis-Preston" psychological study. According to the first article, two doctors, Heis and Preston, developed a process by which stimulation to the human brain was enhanced while memory retention was reduced to assist repairs to damaged or transplanted brains.
Julius made a note of the study and made a new query on related information.. The separate article was from a long-dead military theorist who had proposed the use of the "Heis-Preston state of mind" to fight wars, where all parties would operate at maximum efficiency but remember nothing of the experience, reducing war-related trauma.
"So," he mused aloud, "there is now a name to what they did to us."
He continued to read through the articles well beyond the time he should have been sleeping until he found four more articles and several documentaries on veterans and mysterious mental illnesses. One student in cognitive decision making had noticed a strange but predictable pattern in veterans of Panthera-based campaigns. In each case, veterans of certain campaigns would follow a set pattern of responses based on stimulated conditions, each resulting in temporary catatonia.
"The meadow," he whispered. Julius added the name of the student to his list of additional research material.
In another related article, a doctor publically questioned Panthera's use of the Heis-Preston procedure on combatants. Panthera neither confirmed or denied the claims, but Julius noticed that the doctor died several months after the article was made public.
And then he found the article that brought it all together. It was an outlandish claim that no one in their right mind would possibly believe because it made no sense. The author decried Panthera's use of a star system near Tieg because, according to the author, Panthera had sent in a massive force to fight a war of attrition, from which only a few humans survived.
Julius erased his original draft message and began to write a new composition. He began the message with a straight forward address:
To Panthera Corporation,
You have detained the only survivors from countless wars. These wars were fought for systems rich in raw ore and resources, such as the galaxies near the Tieg empire. Every human involved was exposed to a derivative of the Heis-Preston process of behavior modification that has had a lasting impact on their lives. Included are several documents of little account, but when viewed in the context of the facts also provided in this communique, demonstrate a systematic and inhumane practice of barbaric conquest. This has cost billions of human lives, and has resulted in the extinction of countless unknown races.
He decided to play coy with the company at the very end of the communique, so noted it was authored by Fishbone.
Julius attached and cross-references every additional piece of information he was able to find and did his best to support each claim previously recognized as nothing short of preposterous. Before he sent it, he read it over several times and made adjustments until the entire message was nothing short of dangerous. Satisfied, he sent the message and the prayed.
He didn't think it would take long for Panthera to send a threat to him and publically deny his accusations, so he set a course for Earth but decided to remain awake until he was able to get a good idea of where the public thread would lead.
A communication arrived several hours later from Panthera. The message was short and to the point. "We need to meet. No tricks. In the meantime, no more exposure."
Julius laughed to himself and then grimaced. Any meeting was sure to be fraught with trickery, but he could not help but think that it was the only venue to success.
He met Vincent once more in the meadow before returning to cryogenic sleep and embarking on the long voyage home. In the seconds before the chemicals put him into stasis, he thought of his friends he had prayed for on Tieg. Their redemption lay at the end of his voyage.
"It is important the you understand our position," the Panthera official said.
Julius had woken near Earth and spent several days making what preparations he thought would be necessary. These included drafting a second message describing, in detail, Vincent's plight, mission, and current residence in a Panthera security cell. He was pleased to find that public opinion had already shifted his way and numerous investigations, some centuries old, had been re-opened based upon his report. It wasn't success, but it was a start.
"The doors to this room are blast proof. Any trickery and you will find escape impossible." The official seemed smug, but very much on edge.
"The catatonia they seem to slip in and out of - " Julius started. He waited for a glint of recognition in the official's eyes before continuing. "It is a place, another world. The same place they were in when they were in combat. When they are in this world, they are immune to most physical harm in this world and their abilities are heightened beyond your comprehension." Julius leveled with the official. "I can kill you and every guard in this room before you realized I ever moved."
The security detail at the far end of the room shuffled and adjusted their rifles, but did not react with violence.
"So, it is important that you understand my position."
"Immune? Rubbish. If you were immune, then we wouldn't have lost so many people."
"Those who belong in the meadow share in its strengths. Everyone else was simply passing through."
The official shifted the topic. "I'm not following your logic. First, you place the entire Panthera organization in a bad position with your broadcast of sensitive information, a treasonous offense I might add. Now, you make threats."
"I will not banter logic or political agendas with you. Panthera dug its grave a long time ago with its secret missions. You must have known this information was bound to get out and that it would bring great harm to the company. Panterha has waged this wars for centuries and surely has entire buildings devoted to dreaming up a way to cover your own butts." Julius folded his hands on the surface of the large wooden table and looked directly at the official.
The official shrugged. "Your demands, whatever they are, cannot be met."
Julius raised an eyebrow. "I am prepared to release additional statements, far more damaging than the information I sent six years ago." Although he only had the one statement regarding Vincent, it was close enough to the truth to pass the stress detectors he knew were monitoring him.
When no response was offered, Julius continued. "I'm interested in an amicable agreement. Release these men, pay them whatever they had been promised, and I will publicize no more information."
"This is a," the official paused in search of the right term, "a delicate situation."
"It is a dangerous situation," Julius said. "For both of us. It is no longer safe for you to hold these men knowing the surface of their abilities, and it is not wise of them to make trouble for Panthera from within or without the corporation."
The official relaxed somewhat. He remained quiet, looking at his hands. Looking up, he said "It was very costly for us to develop this new approach to the Heis-Preston study. However, it is far more costly to wage wars of attrition. Quite frankly, we were ready to release these men, but is society ready to accept them? In short, we will release them. But after that, you can't expect any support or apology from this"
Julius nodded, though did not move or betray any sign of excitement. He waited for any conditions, and though none were given, he felt as though something was being overlooked.
Vincent met Julius on the bridge of a small Panthera scout vessel. The company had made good on some of its promises, but both men were skeptical. They had no way of knowing how many people like them existed in the deepest levels of the security wing. At least until they were found in the meadow.
"Freedom," Vincent mused. "It's a funny feeling."
Julius finished laying in a course to Earth and set the automatic pilot on the scout ship. "How so?"
"I've worked for someone since I left home and I was always tied down. I either had the means to be free, but was tied down to work, or I was free but without the means to survive." He rubbed his hands together and then pushed them through his hair.
"Survive," Julius agreed. "It's one thing to be a survivor, and another thing to be sapient. Perhaps we are a new step in human evolution. We will have to be careful with how we proceed from this point. Whatever we are now, people will see us as a threat."
Vincent nodded and looked out into deep space. "Corporations, governments and militaries have ruled humans for millennia. I don't think people by themselves will see us as dangerous, but people in the upper echelons of society."
"We are, indeed, the lords of our castles," Julius said with a thin, reserved smile. "The predators in our meadow. Wherever we decide to go, there's no getting around that."
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