The Navigator

The Navigator

Part One: Deserting

It was something of a quiet day at the U-NAF naval academy on Brakion Two. The long, clean, white, neo-artdeco halls of the academy were filled with the latest batch of students, fresh out of basic training operations, three months into their life in the military. It was a rest day, or so most people thought of it. They didn’t have class, nor did they have more hands-on training. Instead, they were tasked with being tested in three regards. They were not told what the test was for, and they were told to not think about what the test could be, merely to complete it.

Aaron Talfax etched his name onto the testing paper. He found the use of paper tests odd. All of his testing in school had been done on digital tablets, and the basic assessment he took when entering the navy was similar. Aaron merely considered it an anachronism. He figured they were looking for the best and brightest the military had to offer. He figured he’d need to end up being that person. He had been a rare student in his teenage years. Straight As, and a bachelor’s in xeno-communications and linguistics by seventeen. Had been on the cover of no less than five small time magazines in his hometown; there were only five magazines in his hometown.

Aaron never liked the attention in his youth, he always preferred the quiet of a book, in a small nook. He smirked, amused with his own thoughts. He eyed around the room, it was a large classroom, filled with students in chairs not unlike those the college classes he loathed at sixteen. It was a fancy room, once with a nice wood rim, and a detailed arched ceiling. It was a pleasant space, well lit, but not so bright as to give Aaron a headache; something he was rather prone to. Medical imaging showed no material reason why, however. He figured had had bad luck, allergies, or maybe he was simply overstressed. He twirled his pencil in his fingers. He sighed as he looked at his arms. Overtop his dark tan skin was curly black hair. He had, over the course of his life, grown to hate that hair. It felt weird, looked weird, and grew back faster than he could shave it. Something about it felt almost infectious on his body.

Aaron’s eyes dropped down to the desk, and finally onto the first set of questions, simply labeled, “Baseline Information Portion of Altair Personality Matrix.” Aaron rolled his eyes, he’s already done a dozen tests like this in his life, and each was as miserable as the previous. His eyes tracked across the sheet to the first question; who is the General Secretary of the United Terran Confederation? Simple; Aaron marked D; Heather Wilde. The next question, what is four to the power of two? Aaron furrowed his brow before marking C; sixteen.

Question by question Aaron became more perplexed. He knew the answers to the questions, but, increasingly, they were seemingly asking more and more pointed questions, from general knowledge, to spaceflight, to the dynamics of interstellar travel. Each question was easy enough to answer, but the questions increasingly asked about Liminal Space.

Finally, on question thirty five, Aaron gave pause, “To pilot interstellar starships, specially trained ‘Navigators’ must psychically create paths through Liminal Space. What is Liminal Space? Short Answer.” Aaron’s eyes grew wide as he realized what the test was; the Navigator Screen. Aaron had only heard snippets about the Navigator Screen, but, as the name implied, it was meant to catch potential psychics for training to become Navigators.

Aaron scribbled in his answer to the question; “Liminal Space is a region of spacetime layered ‘atop’ our own reality that allows for faster than light travel by use of distance manipulation drives commanded by psychically powerful Navigators.” Aaron sighed as he scribbled in the rest of the test. He was the first to stand up in the entire room, something he honestly expected. He marched to the front of the room, and handed the proctor the sheet of paper. The proctor handed it off to another man, who himself then began to grade the paper.

The proctor smiled, “Mr. Talfax, please follow Madam Mystrum down the hall.” The proctor, a man a bit taller than Aaron motioned to a woman who stood by the room’s doorway. He could’ve swore she was not standing there when he stood up from his desk.

Aaron nodded, his face was devoid of it, but he had a sense something was afoot. The proctor did not refer to her by rank, and Madam was not common parlance on Brakion Two. Aaron looked at her, his eyes stained as he made out the woman; she couldn’t have been a U-NAF naval personal. The woman wore a blue and purple fancy uniform with black thread decoration. Behind her a cape slipped down her back. She wore a fancy jacket and skirt over simple, almost practical pants. Over her left breast was an insignia; that of the Navigator’s Guild. The woman herself was something around five foot six, rather rotund, with long brown hair that flowed over her cape, almost mimicking its flow in the air. She was about Aaron’s age, maybe a little older, and yet, she carried herself with a graceful wisdom Aaron considered beyond his own.

“Sir, yes sir.” Aaron spoke slowly, almost mournful. He had heard things about the Navigator’s Guild, how they could manipulate other’s minds with their own thoughts and feelings. They weren’t evil as an organization, but they were far from innocent. There were rumors spread, in Aaron’s youth, that the guild manipulated the government’s will to their own desires. Whether it was true or not, it scared Aaron.

He walked to the woman who extended her hand to him, he took it, and gave it a good shake. She wore black fingerless satin gloves with purple lace overtop her pale hands. She smiled as she looked up at Aaron. The man was six foot two, though he felt far shorter in her company. Her smile was a soft one, curling in her plump cheeks, forming dimples Aaron found safe, cute, attractive even.

“I was told I would be meeting you, Mr. Talfax.” She turned towards the door and began to walk, “Follow me, I would hate to disrupt your comrades.” She motioned, and Aaron followed her out the door into the hall. They walked down it for a time before reaching a door that led outside. She pushed it open, and motioned for Aaron to step outside. He did as she asked. “You’ve made a name for yourself, Aaron.”

“Have I?” He took a deep breath of the cold winter air. It was no more than negative ten out.

“Follow me, our transport is awaiting.” She avoided his question, something he expected, though perhaps not so directly.

“Transport?” Aaron paused.

“Yes, to the local Navigator’s Guild site. I know you’ve picked up where this is going.” The woman turned to him, she smiled again. It was warm enough to make the chill of the air recede for a moment.

“I’m getting an inkling, but I’d like you to explain to me why I’m going there, please.”

The woman nodded, “Oh, of course! Apologies, this is my first time doing this.” She paused, and thought for a time before returning to the moment, “There was bloodwork, and then genealogy done on you, and everyone else in that room, standard procedure, screens all sorts of things.” The woman sighed as she examined the complex brickwork, and tall, linear windows of the looming structure behind them. It was built out of concrete and steel, though the facade mimicked the surrounding post-artdeco and neo-victorian buildings of the city.

“They all came back clean.” Aaron narrowed his eyes.

“Except one.” The woman let out a deep sigh, allowing a puff of steam to be released. “It showed there was a good chance you’re psychic. When I walked in the room, I instantly sensed your presence, through the Liminal.”

Aaron nodded, “What was the test for?” “Oh, nothing, merely as a pretense to gather all the possible psychics in one room.” She giggled in a way that Aaron found cute, “You know, you completed that test faster than most people read through it.”

“Does that make me psychic?”

“No, what makes you psychic is your grandfather, if I hazard a guess. He was a Navigator for the guild. A very good one.” The woman looked at Aaron, and cocked her head, “Your mother was in this same situation when she was in the navy.”

“She was no Navigator, though.”

“No, she was not. She refused to walk through the door with the Governess who was sent to retrieve her once she realized what was happening. She knew it wasn’t her fate. You, however, realized what was happening before you even finished the test.” Aaron suppose that’s why his mother was always paranoid of psychics, she had instilled that paranoia into him from youth; that they were out to get her, and by extension him. Yet he couldn’t help but feel a certain safety in the woman who stood before him now.

“What if I refuse?” Aaron’s legs stiffened, his eyes strained.

“Then you can walk through the door we just came out of, and return to your quarters here. Act either as if this meeting never happened, or tell all your friends of it, it matters not to me, nor does it matter to the guild.”

Aaron simply stared at the woman, “And if I accept?”

“You can learn how to traverse the stars.” She cocked her head and smiled, “It’s quiet, nice, lonely at points, but what life isn’t for someone like you?”

“Someone like me?”

“A genius.”

Aaron scoffed, “Genius; I’ve heard it said a dozen times. None of them were convincing.”

The woman smiled even more, “Humble too,” She chuckled, “It’s rare to find someone so smart yet humble. I’m simply making you an offer, Aaron, you can stay here, in the navy, become a commander, maybe a captain or even a low level admiral one day. It’s a pursuit, one I may consider ignoble, but a pursuit nonetheless.” The woman smirked, “Or, you can come with me, and learn to cross the stars, learn to see past reality’s walls.”

Aaron knew the official government line on psychics, the only way to be one legally was to serve the Terran Intelligence Command, or to be a Navigator. Free roving psychics were as dangerous as they were unpredictable, uncontrollable. He knew his mother had been stiffed many promotions, and was oft target of harassment during her time in the Navy. She was always bitter over it. Aaron figured his fate would be much the same if he followed in her trail. “If I go back I’ll be doomed to obscurity, won’t I?”

“I can’t say what the Navy will do with you. I can only say, you hold great promise.”

Aaron narrowed his eyes and sighed, “Can I collect my things first?”

“Of course, though we can send someone for your personal effects, if you’d prefer. If there’s any friends or comrades you’d like to say goodbye to, I’d be happy to let you. You’ll go a long time without seeing any of them, I’m afraid.”

Aaron barely needed a split second to decide, “No, send someone for them, I- I quite honestly don’t like this place.”

“I can understand. The military is… Well, the military.” The woman rubbed her hands together for a moment. Aaron watched in astonishment as a glow began to emit from them. The woman then pulled her hands apart, and, by magic, a small orb of flame hovered between her hands. She cupped it for a moment. She looked up and smiled as she realized Aaron was astonished. “Hehe, never seen magic before?”

Aaron blinked, slow, as if he was afraid the orb of fire would vanish if he closed his eyes for but a split second. “Do you really call it magic?”

The woman giggled, “Yes, we really call it magic- though it’s a universal constant field, all all others. It’s a science- just -science clouded behind mysteries and guesses.”

Aaron chortled, “That’s most groundbreaking science, isn’t it?”

The woman smirked, “I knew I liked you for good reason. Come along, I’d hate to make our ride wait too long for us.” The woman started walking, pausing after only a few steps, “I suppose if you’re coming with me, I should tell you my name.”

Aaron nodded, “I’d appreciate it.”

“Ramona Mystrum, Governess, and Chief Navigator of the Syndicate Starliner Destronia.” She did a bow, and began setting off back down the path. Aaron furrowed his brow as his eyes grew wide. He followed in Ramona’s trail, catching up to her and walking by her side.

“What’s it like, working on a Starliner?”

Ramona smiled, “Oh it’s ok. The food is nice, the view is always killer, the people I could leave, but the Navigator rarely has to interact with the passengers. The other crew is a different story.”

“Hmm, what makes you wish you didn’t work for the Guild?”

Ramona chuckled, “Well, I think it’s probably the visions.”

“The visions?”

“I see things, real things, sometimes fake things, they can be as simple as complex realistic dreams, all the way to seeing my dead grandmother, holding a conversion with her.”

“Like- hallucinations?”

“Yes, and no. Again, some of real events, normal important ones, past or present. I have a friend, Christian man, who claims to have met Jesus. Others are more believable. My own Governess talked to her husband, held whole conversations, kissed, cuddled, loved, and relished a man who had been dead for three decades. When she finally kicked the bucket after a hundred forty years of annoyance, as she has so artfully put to me, she realized that death is only permanent to non psychics. It’s merely another point along a line for us.”

Aaron narrowed his eyes, “You spoke to her ghost?”

Ramona laughed, “In so many words, yeah.”

Aaron’s jaw was slack, “That’s- scary.”

“Not really. They come and go. My Governess came to me still, she introduced me to her husband. You know, they both were from Brakion Two.” Ramona smirked, as she looked towards Aaron, though he got the sense she was looking past him. “I shouldn’t be so coy. That man is your grandfather- He told me about you. He’s watched you progress yourself, from youth. He’s really proud of you, Aaron.”

Aaron paused, “How can I believe you?”

“Your favorite color is purple, but that’s too girlie so you always tell everyone it’s blue. You love Mexican food. You fractured your arm growing up but your mother refused to bring you to the doctor because she was scared they’d test you for psychic ability, so it still hurts every once and while. You-”

Aaron put his hand up, “That’s enough…”

Ramona grabbed Aaron’s hand, “I know this is a lot. But, you’ll see it’s worth it, Aaron. Please, trust me.”

Aaron took a deep breath of the cold winter air. “I want to trust you, but my gut is giving icky feelings.”

Ramona sighed, “You can turn around, you don’t need to come with me.”

Aaron laughed, “And miss out on traveling the stars? Are you crazy? It’s not that I don’t trust you as a professional, or teacher even. As a friend, I’ll need to work up to it.”

Ramona sighed, clearly relieved, “You had me worried.”

“I worry a lot of people.”

Ramona gave a hard laugh as they walked through the gate. It was open, if guarded by four soldiers. Each of them stood at attention, rifles drawn. He nodded to one, and they nodded back. Yet, Aaron felt little in the way of comradery with the man. No, in fact, Aaron felt a sense of finality as he walked through the threshold onto the street. Both that his life was to begin soon, and also end in a sense.

It was liminal in that way;

It was a hallway, not a room.