Transmigrant - Chapter 20
Copyright © 2024 Stephen B. Anthony
In the end, survival isn’t about who’s right or wrong—it’s about who’s left.
—Katsu Niruku, Anatomy of Power
CHAPTER 20
From the bridge of the Shinobi, Ray watched the video for a second time. Kaylie had stepped away after the first viewing. It was a recording of Alain Bradford’s last moments. A Hispanic man held a dismembered finger. Bradford was asking if there were any surgeons left. After a brief conversation, the man aimed a pistol at the screen.
A popping sound followed, and then the display tilted to the side. The VRD showed an attempt to contact emergency services related to the cardiac arrest of the wearer.
Then Ray heard, “His ship is out there somewhere. If he takes off, we’ll shoot him down.”
“Why would they kill him?” Estia asked, dismayed.
“They know where the artifact is, so they have probably beaten us to it. Plus, they intend to shoot us down if we launch,” Ray said. “But we have a stealth suite, and we’re going to launch, anyway. Engage stealth.”
“Done,” Estia said.
Ray lifted the ship vertically to be only thirty meters above the ground. No trees were at this height, so it was only a matter of staying above the prevailing terrain. He skimmed along the planet’s surface, heading northward, away from Mossley Landing. Two hundred kilometers along, he banked left and flew a low-altitude circle that would lead them back toward the station from the south.
“Plot the coordinates,” he said.
Estia did, but they didn’t make sense.
“It’s in the ocean?” Ray asked.
“Yes,” she said. “The coordinates are in the ocean, but it is almost seventeen kilometers from the southeast dome.”
“So, it fits the distance he told us,” Ray said. “But underwater? I thought it was buried.”
“There’ll be silt on the ocean floor,” Kaylie said. She had returned to the bridge to sit down, but was not looking well. “We were just talking with him last night. He wanted to see his ex-wife again and wanted to retire on Eden. Now he’s just gone.”
“Soto seemed confident that they had gotten what they needed from him,” Ray said.
“Why would he send the coordinates to me?” Kaylie asked. She stared down at her feet and shook her head, not understanding.
“I don’t know,” Ray said.
“It’s possible,” Estia said, “that he only sent the coordinates to Kaylie, or that he sent different coordinates to Niruku. Maybe he was giving us a head start?”
“That’s what I’m hoping for,” Ray said. “I’m hoping that he distracted Niruku.”
“In which case, he gave up his life,” Kaylie said mournfully. “He’d still be alive if we hadn’t gone to see him.”
“We don’t know that,” Ray said. “Whoever this guy is, he was on the way before we talked to Bradford yesterday afternoon. And he was communicating in real time to somewhere in the system. I think Niruku is here.”
“You mean the boss?” Estia asked.
“I mean Kannon Niruku. I think he’s here,” Ray said. “And this Soto guy works for Niruku. There was a familiarity with how he spoke to whoever was on the other end, and I think it was Niruku.”