Short Story: DMZ

[packbat]

Lt. Waverly squinted through his HUD monocle. It was supposed to register all anomalies, and he was sure it was malfunctioning. Quietly, he counted the seconds between the regular flicks of reflection off the distant asteroid as it spun, for three cycles, for four, for...

He flicked on his radio. "Coyote Station, this is Border Control No. 12, come in."

"Border Control 12, this is Coyote Station. Report. Over."

"Coyote Station, I'm noticing an irregularity in Demilitarized Zone Octant 12.65A, request permission to investigate. Over."

There was a pause. "B. C. 12, we show no irregularity in that octant. Recommend that you remain on station. Over."

Waverly squinted. Were the station instruments all out of order? Well, he was closer, maybe.... "Coyote Station, I'm observing a change of angular momentum on an asteroid in that zone, request permission to investigate. Over."

A longer pause. Then a new voice: "B. C. 12, switch to encryption Alpha 4, over."

Waverly started. Amazed, he entered the day's seven-digit authorization code, and pulled out the code keyboard. He quickly typed, "border control 12 ack", and pressed "Send".

After a moment, the reply came, "permission granted transmit system feed crypt alpha 4".

Waverly sat shocked. Alpha 4 was practically a one-time pad system – encrypting a full system feed in it was more than just unheard of, it was downright insane.

"confirm system feed crypt alpha 4", he typed.

"confirmed system feed crypt alpha 4 proceed" came the reply, almost instantly.

He stared for a moment. "proceeding", typed Waverly, numbly. He hesitantly flipped the six switches needed to redirect the feed through the Alpha 4 line. He swallowed.

"Lieutenant Waverly, proceeding to investigate..." his throat was dry, he swallowed again, "...to investigate anomaly in Octant 12.65A."

"proceed" appeared on the console.

Reaching for the controls, he keyed in the course.

---

As he approached the asteroid, his sense of surreality grew. His hand twitched on the joystick, reaching for absent missile switches. He knew that no armed weapons could be allowed in the demilitarized zone, but the logic behind the ban seemed to make less and less sense as he neared the object.

There was no question about instrument failure now. While before he could only suspect an irregularity based on the timing of the reflections, as he approached he began to make out symmetric plumes of gas drifting away from the asteroid. He watched as another pair fired, slightly changing the spin of the rock. The HUD showed nothing.

"Coyote Station, my HUD is not recognizing the angular momentum changes of the asteroid. I suspect it has been compromised. Over."

"acknowledged", answered the console.

The range closed. Waverly tried to think – what was this thing doing here? Why was it rotating? If it had never released the gas ... but what if it had to? He ran a quick spectrum scan on one of the plumes.

"Coyote Station, I am observing superheated gases being released by the asteroid – I think there may be some sort of station in there."

"acknowledged", answered the console. "change course to orbit asteroid", it continued.

"Yes, sir," said Waverly. He glanced down to type in the course.

A spark from the asteroid caught his eye. He looked back up.

"Holy sh...."

---

    Dear Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Waverly,

We regret to inform you that your son, Lieutenant Edward Waverly, was killed in
a navigational accident while on a routine border patrol mission when an
undetected meteoroid struck his vessel's passenger compartment.  We offer our
most sincere condolences for your loss.

Captain Zachary Devereaux, U.E.N. Border Patrol

Comments

[chanlemur.livejournal.com]

...and the conspiracy continues. :)

Nice little self-contained read here. I like sense of speed you get out of the final narrative lines before the coda.

[packbat.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I was worried that I might not be able to convey that sense of speed without losing the plot point there – I'm glad to hear it worked.