Chapter 3: Chapter 2. Ceres
Damian wasn't happy about becoming a babysitter for the new generation. But he could blame it only on himself. His last missions on Earth were by no means successful. They didn't fail completely, but the result was far from what he wanted.
It didn't make him truly weak – but he got really close to that. He was in the group of candidates for this position, and he was chosen by a lot.
Now he was returning back to Ceres, though it had only been three years since he left it. His only resolve was reminding himself that it wouldn't last long this time. He'd stay for a year – and then return to Earth again, with a second chance to prove his worth.
Time was very slow in space. With the portholes blocked, he couldn't watch the movement of the ship, and it was impossible to feel it while inside. It was as if he got stuck in a really huge tin can, lost in a pitch-black tar where no-one would find him. He was drowning here, not flying.
Damian could have spent this time in artificial dream, just like his only companion on this ship. He chose not to, because he didn't want his life to depend on the board computer's decisions if something went wrong. Besides, after his last missions, he wanted to dedicate more time to training.
To entertain himself, he was reading books, watching movies or studying the packages sent to Ceres on this ship. On some days he was so bored that he was almost ready to wake his companion up – but couldn't.
And not only because his companion was a fourteen-year-old boy, who would hardly make a good interlocutor. Most importantly, he was a normal human, and the conditions on the ship would probably kill him in a matter of hours. That was the price of using the increased speed that allowed reaching Ceres in a month.
Damian was okay with it, but he wasn't human anymore. And the kid would suffer serious damage before he got a chance to go to sleep again. So he was spending the journey in a special life-support capsule.
This long flight was actually one of the precaution measures in guarding Ceres. Terrorists couldn't get there the same way, they didn't have those kinds of space vehicles – and didn't have the pilots capable of leading them through the asteroid belt.
He knew all of that, but it didn't make his solitude any fun. That month felt like a year to Damian, and the day when the computer warned him about approaching the belt was like a long-awaited holiday. The powerful engines began to shut down one by one, making the speed drop slowly. Soon the ship reached the speed that permitted opening the portholes. Outside, in the eternal blackness, Damian could see the grand silhouette of Jupiter, the red planes of Mars and the gray net of asteroids, where Ceres shone proudly.
He remembered the admiration he felt when he first saw it. He knew that the universe was endless, but knowing it and seeing this felt very different. His heart was trembling in his chest, and he felt like a tiny grain of sand lost under a giant's foot. The world outside the porthole was timeless, absolute, unlimited. It was really hard to see Earth from here, which brought the feeling that the blue planet didn't exist. Only the memory of it gave some point of balance in the infinite space.
The asteroid belt was another line of Ceres's defense. No autopilot could lead the ship through it, since the humongous pieces of rock were moving all the time. That's what the pilot was for. But before getting down to that, Damian had to wake the human up.
That boy was the first to come to Ceres not for becoming a hybrid, but for mere observation. Damian didn't like the idea: they were creating a serious threat to their secrets! Unfortunately, he was just a level six hybrid, too unimportant to influence such decisions.
He reached the capsule where the future curator was sleeping under mat glass. It was an average kid, tall for his age, quite athletic, but a bit too thin. His hair was brown, and Damian had never seen his eyes open, so he didn't know their color. He didn't really care, because this top student already irritated him. But he had to follow the instructions, and he initiated the awakening process.
The boy woke up fast. The lid barely finished lifting when he opened his eyes and started looking around in shock. He pulled the breathing tube out of his mouth and inhaled the dry air of the ship deeply.
Damian just watched him. He stood a couple of steps away from the capsule, his arms crossed over his chest.
"Relax, I wouldn't hurry if I were you," he advised. "This air is fitting for you, but it's still thin. If you don't calm your breathing, you'll end up with a major headache."
"Who are you?"
The question was quite naïve, since Damian wore the gray uniform of a hybrid. But the boy had barely woken up, it was still hard for him to think straight.
"Damian, level six."
"Are you a hybrid?"
"No, your fairy godmother! Wake up, cadet, we're reaching Ceres soon! Your task is to put the space suit on and come to the cockpit, I'll be waiting for you there."
"Yes, sir!"
The kid was adapting fast, but it didn't make Damian feel any better about his presence. Now that they'd reached the planet, there was no turning back, so the boy had to act like a true curator, no matter what his age was.
He didn't fail, in fifteen minutes he entered the cockpit wearing full protection suit. It was a precaution for a possible accident. Damian doubted there would be any problems during the landing, but he chose to follow the rules.
"Sit there," Damian pointed at the second pilot's seat. "What's your name? I saw it in your file, but I don't really remember."
"It's Arriz, sir."
"Well, Arriz, get ready – you're about to see our destination."
When the boy followed his instructions and fastened the safety belt, Damian finally removed the protection screen from the main window. He was watching his young companion in the corner of his eye – and he wasn't disappointed.
The boy's eyes, which turned out to be gray, opened wide in astonishment. He was facing the space he had never seen before… Darkness without horizon, stars and giant spheres so close to them. He had heard their names since early childhood, saw the pictures of them, but all of that couldn't prepare him for the glorious reality.
The ship was still moving fast, but in the emptiness of space it felt like floating, giving the people inside a better chance to study their surroundings. Asteroids were passing them by, black and gray, of different shapes and sizes, followed by clouds of dust. The newbie was scared of them: their rough bodies seemed capable of tearing the ship's metal carcass, starting the complete destruction. Damian knew it wasn't possible though, he was good at measuring the distance in space.
Soon Arriz forgot his fears. Once they flew further into the asteroid belt, the obstacles moved out of their way, and they got a chance to see Ceres. Few people on Earth knew how beautiful it really was. The silver sphere was shining in the darkness, like a huge precious stone. A jewel – the size of a planet. The light reflected by its surface looked like a rainbow halo sometimes. Ceres didn't have a single sign of life on it, which made its beauty even more pristine and primal.
"Pretty, ain't she?" Damian smirked. "You're lucky."
"Lucky in what?"
"She's meeting you with good weather. I guess she likes you. The sky is clear today, that's why she's shining. On the days of snowstorms the atmosphere is smoky. She's still impressive, but now she's at her best."
"Why is it shining?" the cadet asked. His eyes were still locked on the crystal hanging in space.
"This planet was initially covered in a very thick ice layer, it possesses large amount of fresh water. We altered the temperatures just enough to make the atmosphere stable, but we don't want to change it too much, and it's not fit for humans. The ice is still there, and it makes Ceres shine."
"It's not fit for humans… and for hybrids?"
"A question worthy of a future curator," Damian laughed. "Hybrids can survive on its surface, but only the higher level ones, six and up. The temperature there is usually lower than minus one hundred Celsius. It would kill a human in a minute, so you'd survive there only in a space suit – this planet is no colder than space. Although you won't have a chance to try it, it's just general information."
"Not like I was dying to make some snow angels there… How did you manage to build the school on ice?"
"We didn't. The soil under the ice is made of clay, and the core is made of rock. Most of the base is hidden there. Some training halls are on the surface, but under the ice. The whole territory of this base has Earth-like atmosphere since level two hybrids are not that different from humans, and there are humans working with them."
"What about the higher level hybrids?"
"They don't live on Ceres. But I'll be staying with you this year; sometimes other hybrids visit the new generation to teach them, but that's rare."
Many people on Earth believed that hybrids actually lived on Ceres. Nobody proved that stereotype wrong. Those who belonged to the Second Breed knew the truth – and that was enough. In the days when terrorists were getting stronger, secret locations became even more important.
They entered the atmosphere, and the boy stopped talking. He watched the shimmering layers of ice getting closer, and the flame was dancing along the ship, greeting them. It probably looked like they were falling to him, and he sat there tense and nervous. But never once did he close his eyes, and Damian liked that.
The landing was actually very simple, just like in a textbook. The perfect weather favored that. All the shaking and flame were part of the local atmosphere, not a critical sign.
They left the main engines on the orbit, only the cargo part of the ship entered the atmosphere, which was no bigger than a passenger airplane – quite a modest size on the space scale. When they passed the upper layers of the atmosphere, Damian turned the ship in such a way that it could land vertically, like a helicopter. It slid a bit when it touched the ice, but then it stopped, hooking itself to the surface.
"Is that it?" Arriz looked around hesitantly. "We're in a desert!"
"Kid, have you been listening? Honestly, young hybrids get it much faster! Keep waiting."
The computer activated the outer heating system, melting the ice under the ship. Soon the space vehicle shifted lower, meeting the pipes that were reaching for it from the base. They were designed for delivering the cargo underground. The process was automated, and Damian didn't plan to watch it, his main task was getting the boy downstairs.
"Follow me," he said, leaving his chair.
Arriz didn't ask any questions and didn't voice his concern. Still, Damian noticed him turning on the life support system of the space suit. That could be attributed to cautiousness, not cowardice though. The kid most likely thought they were going to walk on the surface of Ceres.
Damian could do this, but he saw no reason to overstrain himself, he didn't plan on going out there unless he had a really good reason for it. So he and Arriz walked towards the exit where a glass cube of the platform was already waiting for them.
"Where did that come from?" the kid asked in surprise.
"Don't act like such a civilian, for Christ's sake… There's a special type of ships coming to Ceres. They've been designed by the standards of this planet. Not like we bring food and other cargo here once a year! We do it more often, and the process must be simple and convenient."
Once they were both inside, Damian blocked the elevator, and it started moving down. The time they were above the surface was limited, but still enough for the sun to blind them for a moment. After that the platform hid inside the ice, taking them lower and lower. They passed the light, bluish walls of the temporary mine, which were getting darker with every meter. Then there was a layer of soil, followed by metal constructions of the base.
"We use metal only inside the core," Damian explained. "The mine to the ship is burned anew every time, since the ice keeps moving. Any equipment left there will be crushed."
"I thought you said there were training halls on the surface…"
"There are, but they're large enough to fight the pressure, and we use special systems to melt the ice around them all the time. It's different with those mines though. It's much easier to land the ship wherever it is convenient at the moment and then drill the mines to it."
Finally the platform reached the hall, a spacious room designed in gray color. It was mostly empty, meant especially for meeting new arrivals. And the greeting party was already there.
The face of Laura Konti was quite familiar to Damian. She'd been the headmistress of the school back when he studied here – as well as many generations before him. Laura was a normal human, but she still looked like time had no power over her. She was tall and graceful, with impeccable posture and a gentle face of an aristocrat. The only thing that identified the years passing were the white locks in her long hair.
Beside her stood a man of around forty, not too tall and quite bulky, with wide flat face and very short black hair. Damian didn't know him, but could tell he was facing a human, not a hybrid. And his uniform, black with a couple of white stripes, left no doubt about him being a teacher.
Every generation had its own teachers.
Those two were accompanied by a young girl in white overalls. She was smiling sweetly, but still looked like she needed to get used to the underground base. Her attitude was typical for a young specialist fresh out of university, with no experience at all.
As soon as they left the platform, Arriz took his helmet off and bowed his head slightly in greeting.
"Cadet Arriz Fox, arrived for the internship!" he reported.
"Pleasure to meet you," the headmistress nodded at him. "My name is Laura Konti, I am the executive officer of Ceres and the head of the educational program. You may address me as Lady Laura. It's the first time we're greeting a future curator here. I believe it's a good idea: such an early start of the communication between hybrids and curators. I hope your presence here will bring the evolution to this partnership. Ceres is a very special place, and you need to get used to it. Please, follow Dr. Deshanti, she'll make sure the artificial dream didn't harm you, and she'll inform you about the safety measures on this planet. After that you'll be given a room. I believe we'll have a chance to talk some more today."
"Thank you, Lady Laura."
Arriz followed the young medic without any delay. He wasn't part of the military forces, but the discipline at his academy was just as strict. The teacher whose name wasn't given followed him, leaving Lady Laura alone with Damian.
"I'm happy to see you here again," she smiled at him. "Though I didn't expect that. How was your flight?"
"It was fine. We were lucky… I'll be watching the kids for a while. What's this generation like?" Damian asked. "I'm talking about their general level. Are they strong? Anyone special among them?"
"There is no such thing as a general level for a whole generation," the headmistress noted. "Each one has its heroes. Yours had them too. And it's a pity you didn't become one of them."
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