A muscular, unsmiling man on Zimbardo’s right swung his gaze to the
speaker. “It sounds as if you have a plan, Mr. Zimbardo.” The man was in
his early thirties and resembled a street fighter. His carefully combed
dark hair made him look almost strikingly handsome, but his eyes were
black and humorless.
Zimbardo turned toward the man. “Yes, I have a plan. You, Gebbeth, will
be my chief assistant and the pilot of the _Tartarus_, my personal ship.
I can depend on you. Space Command’s celebration on Mars will be
extremely short-lived.”
“You were always the strong one, Lurton,” said another. “I kind of
always figured you for the real leader, and I always wished it was you
instead of Putnam.”
“Now you got your wish, Bolcher. I’ve taken charge. I’m moving this
asteroid out of its orbit into a place outside the Belt. Here’s my
plan.”
Almost an hour later, the men left the meeting room, smiling, joking,
and stepping lightly. Their fatigue was gone, their discouragement
forgotten.
Lurton Zimbardo was the last to leave. Now that things were moving in
the direction he wanted, he allowed his fatigue to take over. Encouraged
by the support of his assistants, he felt he could rest at last. He
walked down the halls, past various doors and entered an elevator. The
display screen offered only the few floors in use by the pirates but
Zimbardo had another destination in mind. Alone in the elevator, he
punched in a special code which only he knew. When the proper sequence
was displayed, he pressed “Enter.” As the elevator began to move, the
new leader of the pirates relaxed even further. The others would not
know where he was, and he would be undisturbed.
He could barely sense the elevator’s motion. He didn’t know how far into
the asteroid’s interior he was moving, but he knew what he would find
when he reached his destination. The door opened and Zimbardo stepped
out. A quick walk down a short corridor brought him to a double door.
Embossed on the doors was a huge, rich, golden symbol--a lush planet
with about 80% blue oceans, a few continents, and thick cloud cover.
Three small moons were arranged at the upper left, set at the points of
an equilateral triangle. Zimbardo had been intrigued by the design when
he’d first found it, but now he hastened through the doors without
noticing it. He was eager to get into the Chamber beyond.
As Lurton stepped into the room, he gasped. His dozen prior visits still
had not taken the surprise out of the room. Each time he stepped into
the Chamber he seemed to be setting foot into another world; he knew he
was still inside the asteroid but his senses told him otherwise.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account