Chapter 46: To find a Doctor, Think like a Doctor
"Where is Qashka?"
"...Qashka? I don’t know..."
"Kagu..."
"I swear, I don’t know."
K remained silent, but a muscle in his jaw jumped sharply, betraying the anger simmering beneath his expression.
She’s not lying...
And how do you know that?
...I just do.
"Open Thira’s computer."
Kagu got to work and unlocked the holographic system. Thira’s ID authentication interface popped up but she quickly bypassed it, giving K full access.
He pulled the chair backwards before settling it. His fingers glided over the keyboard as he searched through different entries.
None had anything having information about Thira’s home planet. All that K met was endless lists of specimen records and his health catalogs.
Footage feeds as well.
The times he had spent healing in a cryotube and enhancements made to him. He clicked on one of the videos.
It was one of Thira operating on his back, time-date stamp dated back to about 2 years ago. He looked around the footage to find no attendants close by.
Which was weird because during an operation, surgeons needed their attendants handing them equipment and other supplies.
So why was Thira solely operating him?
You have bigger fish to fry, boy.
He closed the footage and kept scrolling.
Mail exchanges between mainly him and the Admiral. The mails had the details of different Vashki entries, the ones from the battles he had fought alongside his comrades.
"So he was watching the live feeds of our wars..."
"The admiral had him not tell anyone, only Control knows. It was a necessary measure to help them identify the Vashki."
"You think he would know every Vashki we fought?"
"Of course not, just some. A Vashki will always know a Vashki."
She means their strength gauge.
"A vashki variant will always know a vashki variant?"
Yes.
"Yes."
K closed the mail and opened his Stash.
The Stash was like a personal safe folder with its owner’s desired form of authentication.
And Thira’s?
It was packed to the booth!
"Kagu."
"I’m on it."
The first authentication form was a ring signature.
Kagu replicated Thira’s ring.
ACCESS GRANTED.
The second was a fingerprint signature.
Just like she had bypassed the first authentication process they encountered she bypassed this one too.
ACCESS GRANTED.
The third was a quiz.
What is Khae’el’s age?
K frowned and inputted his age.
’19’
ACCESS DENIED.
"Huh?"
"Huh?"
"Your registered age on UDF’s Matyr database is 19...so how is it wrong?"
"That’s what I would like to know."
The authentication process reset and restarted.
If you believe the figure you inputted is correct and this thing says it’s not, try figures higher.
"No shit, Sherlock."
Who is Sherlock?
Kagu restarted the process and left it for K to fill the age questions.
’20’
ACCESS DENIED
’21’
ACCESS DENIED
’22’
ACCESS GRANTED
"Huh?"
"It’s probably a fluke question...you know to throw off any intruder."
"..."
Once again, useless folders filled the Stash.
K rubbed at his temple and kept scrolling, secretly hoping for something.
The folder stretched almost endlessly before a subtly highlighted folder popped into view.
MY DATA_01
Something about Thira?
He double clicked the folder.
The screen went black.
Then...
IF YOU ARE READING THIS, SOMETHING HAS MOST LIKELY HAPPENED TO ME.
EITHER MY PEOPLE HAVE SUCCESSFULLY OVERTHROWN HUMANITY I’VE SPENT YEARS PROTECTING OR HE TOOK ME.
K freezes.
He?
Another line appears.
DO NOT ASSUME I AM DEAD. OR MAYBE DO BUT, HE WON’T KILL ME...NOT YET.
DO NOT TRUST THE LAST LOCATION ASSOCIATED WITH MY SYSTEM.
K’s eyes narrowed
"Thira..."
The screen morphed from black to a swirl of stars.
A planetary map appeared. But instead of showing one location, it displayed three.
One was his home planet, Meredith.
One was somewhere completely unknown. Marked a small red X
The last one was simply named,
ORIGIN
"That is Earth."
Kagu pointed out.
MYDATA_01 PROTOCOL ACTIVATED.
PRIMARY SUBJECT: THIRA
STATUS: UNACCOUNTED FOR
DIRECT LOCATION: UNAVAILABLE
RECOVERY DATA: THREE VARIABLES REQUIRED.
K frowned at the screen. "Three?"
Kagu scanned the screen, small hologram tabs hovering around her.
"There is no stored coordinate."
"Then how are we supposed to find him?"
"We aren’t."
A small pause hung between them.
"We’re supposed to calculate him."
"Huh?"
And then three sets of variables appeared.
...
..
.
FIRST VARIABLE — DIRECTION
The first dataset contained astronomical measurements. Star positions. Planetary rotation. Magnetic-field fluctuations. Radiation readings.
CONTINUITY PROTOCOL
VARIABLE α
MAGNETIC DECLINATION: -17.42°
STELLAR DRIFT: 0.0837°
PLANETARY ROTATION: 17.61 rad/day
RADIATION OFFSET: -4.28°
AXIAL TILT: 23.7°
CALCULATE VECTOR.
At first, it looked completely useless to K. He wasn’t exactly the brightest bulb when it came to things like this, especially when they weren’t really battle related. But Kagu quickly realized the doctor had hidden a directional vector inside the differences between the values.
"We have to calculate the directional vector..."
Her holograms zoomed in and out as equations floated around her.
V_x = r-cos-theta
V_y=r-sin-theta
A graph floated by and disappeared into the hologram.
"217.64’...the directional vector is two hundred and seventeen point six-four degrees."
A line appeared across a holographic map.
VECTOR ESTABLISHED.
K watched the line extend away from Meredith.
"That’s where he went?"
"No. That is only the direction."
K’s jaw tightens.
"Of course he couldn’t make it easy."
Thank the stars Bak hadn’t dismantled her yet.
Kagu, he meant.
SECOND VARIABLE — DISTANCE
The next dataset was even stranger.
Thira’s old experiments.
Some abandoned.
Some incomplete.
Some containing measurements that seemingly have nothing to do with one another.
Kagu notices something.
They’re all measurements taken at specific timestamps and units subtly fixed behind them.
She matched the units with the common planetary values they were attributed with.
The numbers suddenly made sense.
VARIABLE β
SIGNAL FREQUENCY: 7.8421 GHz
SIGNAL DECAY: 0.0000374 s⁻¹
TRANSMISSION DELAY: 18.763 s
ATMOSPHERIC INTERFERENCE: 4.91%
SOURCE POWER: 2.37 × 10⁶ W
CALCULATE DISTANCE.
"We’re calculating signal degradation over distance now."
She ran the equations.
DISTANCE:
3.847 × 10⁹ km
The holographic line stretches farther.
DISTANCE ESTABLISHED.
K stares at it.
"How far?"
Kagu showed him the number.
His expression faltered.
"That’s outside Meredith’s immediate system."
"Correct."
"Can our ship even reach it? And how long?"
"If properly equipped."
K looked back at the third unanswered variable.
"Then what’s the third variable?"
THIRD VARIABLE — IDENTIFICATION
Language.
Fragments of Vashki symbols, old research notes.
Thira’s observations of K’s biology.
Measurements from the mysterious ’Miwa’ they caught during the clone palava.
Even pieces of information of his religion.
VARIABLE γ
KHA’RII NA VESH.
VESHI NA KHA.
KHA’RII VESH?
INPUT REQUIRED.
"What is up when there is no sky?"
"Yes..."
"Take away the sky and the stars will still exist...stars."
WRONG INPUT.
"Planets? The galaxy?"
WRONG INPUT
WRONG INPUT
"Maybe we’re to calculate Meredith’s circumference? If we take away the sky and we recalculate..."
The calculations were starting to hurt his brain. He was done with them.
"You calculate it then."
Look closer.
"If you know the answer just spill it."
"Hey...I’m still working on it."
Shit!
He needed to control when he spoke out loud to Shira.
Above...not the actual sky.
He read the message over and over.
And then it clicked. Kha’rii could also mean watches from up. They’re weren’t calculating a sky-less circumference or what remained when the sky itself was removed.
Vesh could also mean a place or stand.
K watched the symbols rearrange themselves in his head. One became another.
It was a trick question.
The actual question was: "what watches from above when there is no sky?"
A god.
"A god."
Kagu inputted the answer.
LOCATION IDENTIFIED.
Surface latitude: −13.0047°
Surface longitude: 76.2819°
Blinked beneath the large text.
CLICK.
The entire holographic map shifted and the previously calculated vector and distance lock together.
A red marker appeared and began to blink.
K pulled himself closer to the screen.
"That’s him?"
Kagu doesn’t answer immediately.
The marker pulsed once more, then another message appeared.
RECOVERY SUBJECT: VAE’THIRA
STATUS: —
LOCATION: CONFIRMED
K’s eyes widen.
"It is him..."
Ding!
[[QUEST UPDATE!!!]]
» FIND THE KEPT ONE«
Objective: Locate the missing Thira.
Status: ACTIVE
Location Data: Calculated
Distance: Calculated
Threat Level: UNKNOWN
Hostile Entities: UNKNOWN
Reward(s): ???
Failure Condition: SUBJECT TERMINATION
Time Remaining: —
Additional Information:
The one who was taken awaits beyond the stars.
K swallowed.
"We have to meet with Bak."
"Take my projections! I can’t leave the lab."
The doors to Bak’s office slammed open.
K marched inside without waiting for permission, Kagu’s holographic interface hovering beside him. A cluster of numbers and celestial markings rotated above her projection.
Bak looked up from the reports spread across his desk.
"You were supposed to be resting?"
K ignored him.
"We found him."
Bak’s fingers stopped moving.
For a moment, the room was completely silent.
"Found who?"
K stepped closer to the desk. "Who else if not Thira."
Bak slowly rose from his chair.
"Explain."
He projected the calculations into the air. Three separate sets of data appeared, followed by the Vashki inscription.
"We activated Thira’s failsafe."
Bak’s eyes narrowed.
"Failsafe?"
"He left one in his research system. It wasn’t a location exactly. It was a calculation."
K pointed toward the first set of figures.
"These gave us the direction."
The second set appeared.
"These gave us the distance."
Finally, the Vashki phrase appeared.
"And this gave us the identification."
The hologram expanded. A distant planetary marker appeared beyond Meredith’s immediate system.
Bak stepped around his desk.
"How far?"
K’s jaw tightened.
"Too far to just jump in a ship and get him."
Bak studied the coordinates for several seconds.
"How certain are you?"
"High enough that I’m not willing to sit here and wait."
Bak’s eyes snapped toward him.
"We don’t know what is waiting at those coordinates."
"I don’t care."
"You should."
K stepped closer. "Thira was taken. Whoever took him left those soldiers behind like they were disposable. And I’m not going to sit around while he has answers to my questions."
Bak’s expression hardened.
Kagu’s projection flickered.
TARGET: THIRA
STATUS: ALIVE
LOCATION: CONFIRMED
Bak stared at the final line.
Then he reached for his comms.
"Get me the navigation officers."
Bak looked at him.
"We’re not going after him blindly...but we’re going."