The Cartographer’s Rebellion

 Lakshmi’s calls to stop echoed throughout the corridor. She was too late. Mendelsohn had already left the space station.

Exhausted, Lakshmi careened to the end of docking bay 913, crashing into the railing and knocking the wind out of herself. The view from 913’s elite location would traditionally have been wondrous. Isolated at the pinnacle of the extraneous Europa Space Station port, the translucent shield doors up above opened into a luminescent view that melded the edge of Jupiter with the dazzling reflections of humanity’s countless station’s that now surrounded the planet. But it was the view of what sat inside the station that drew Lakshmi’s attention at this moment. As Mendelsohn flew off, his private galley left behind a nearly empty spaceport. There was a minimal, disparate assemblage of ships on Europa, each held together by hyper glue and prayer.

Europa was not prepared for war, no matter what claims the leadership of Enceladus had promised to Ambassador Mendelsohn. Lakshmi’s dash had likely come at the cost of her job in the transpo department, but her failure to catch up with Mendelsohn may have cost the colony of Europa its existence.

The hopelessness of the station’s pseudo-fleet left Lakshmi feeling weak. Her selfishness had slowed her down, and now these people were doomed because she had been concerned about maintaining personal diplomatic relationships. She stepped away from the railing, trying to catch her breath. She needed to speak with Rin. Rin would know what to do. She trained her eyes on the mid-levels of the port, searching for any of the entertainer’s associates that she might recognize from Rin’s get-togethers. But as Lakshmi scanned the decks, she was startled out of her thoughts by a metallic pounding approaching from behind.

She turned to find two huge men sprinting down the corridor straight for her, their plodding footsteps reverberating throughout the passageway. Panicked, Lakshmi’s instincts told her to run, but she had nowhere to go but over the railing. At least against the massive men she had a slightly better chance than a hundred yard drop. Lakshmi whipped out a utility tool from her belt as the two men came to a standstill in front of her. Anxious for the men to make their move, Lakshmi’s fingers twitched at her side. But the men just stared, weapons in-hand, forcing her to make the first step. She let out a scream and leaped forward, incapable of waiting any longer.

The men evaded her with ease, and Lakshmi fumbled into an awkward somersault as she dove between them. She lost purchase of her tool and stumbled out of her roll. Now past the men, she saw an opportunity to run and took it.

At the far end of the corridor, a dock worker went about her typical menial tasks. As Lakshmi ran, she tried to call out to the worker, but Lakshmi’s screams caught in her throat as something struck her in the back, sending her body into convulsions as she collapsed on the floor.

In the distance, Lakshmi could just make out the dock worker heading off to the next station, blissfully unaware, as Lakshmi blacked out.

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Lakshmi awoke, curled up in a sweaty ball, surrounded by the vast, blackness of space.

A string of profanities flowed from her mouth as her mind told her she was dive-bombing through nothingness.

Until she realized that she could hear the sound of her voice.

She tried to unfurl herself but she was paralyzed.

Lakshmi looked around to discover that she was trapped in a cell. The room provided just enough space to either stand or lay down, but neither comfortably. Each surface that surrounded her was made of a thin glass, save for the wall she leaned against, which was actually a door, freckled and whitened with age and exposure to light. In the center of the door sat a small black screen.

Lakshmi continued swearing until an abrupt beeping noise interrupted her. She looked up to find that the screen had turned on and a woman was staring down at Lakshmi.

“Good evening, Ms. Sharma.” The woman greeted Lakshmi with a pleasant voice, her harsh suit and loosely styled hair creating a whirlwind of contradiction.

“I… Who the hell are you?” Lakshmi’s confusion and discomfort got the better of her as she managed a meek response.

“Well, I’m glad to see your inquisitiveness has not left you Ms. Sharma, but those sort of questions are what got you into trouble in the first place, are they not?”

The woman paused for a second and Lakshmi turned away, trying to hide her contempt as she ran through the list of who this woman might be. She wasn’t from the transpo department, and wasn’t a part of Mendelsohn’s team as far as Lakshmi knew. Someone from Earth trying to torture her for information? Lakshmi wished Rin were there. Rin knew everyone.

The woman continued, “Who I am is not important here. Our potential shared cause is. Unfortunately, you have put your personal interests in front of the citizens of Europa. Now, with most people, we wouldn’t care. If an ice-picker thinks their gambling addiction is more important than our resources then we need to take care of them, but we do not actually care about that specific ice-picker. We can replace that moron in an instant. But you? Well, your skill set is a little more difficult to replace.”

Lakshmi looked back into the screen with a half-smile on her face, the woman’s verbalization of Lakshmi’s skill giving her confidence.

“Yeah, I’m pretty good at what I do.”

“Agreed. That’s why you only woke up feeling as though you were drifting through space instead of actually doing it. We need you to help us deal with the Enceladus Rebellion. From the inside”

Lakshmi was about to tell the woman she might not even have her job anymore, but caught herself.

“How about you let me out of my cell then? I’d be happy to talk.”

The woman nodded her head, feigning thought before speaking again. “Yes. I will have the guards open the door for you.”

Lakshmi’s upper body smashed into the floor as the door opened, removing her support. Dazed, Lakshmi tried to roll over, but couldn’t. A pair of guards, a man and a woman stood above the sprawled-out Lakshmi.

“We can help with that newly-acquired ailment too.” The woman watched inquisitively from the half-opened door’s screen. “We have already arranged a meeting for you in a couple of minutes. We would prefer that you be able to walk in of your own accord, but if you are not going to cooperate, we are happy to carry you in. It is very important that you earn our trust, Ms. Sharma.”

Lakshmi’s gaze drifted back towards her body as she stared at her helpless limbs. And then she threw up.

Golden chunks all over her stomach and legs, Lakshmi didn’t even have the energy to swear.

“God damnit.” Her captor still possessed it though. “Well, I guess you have found a way to avoid meeting our terms. Congratulations, Lakshmi.” Speaking to the guards, “inject her now and get her cleaned up for her appointment with Captain Chong.”

The screen turned black, as Lakshmi continued to stare at nothing in particular, eyes glazed over.

Lakshmi tried to look up as the guards moved in on her, but her eyes couldn’t focus. Lakshmi’s face felt as though a magnet was pulling it through her skull and into the ground. She struggled to stay conscious. Voices rang hollow in the background. Empty words drifted past as she began to fade, her senses all but gone.

And then a jolt to her left temple.

Her hearing came back instantly as a woman’s deafening voice tore through Lakshmi’s consciousness.

“-her up, come on. We’ll inject her again once she’s clean.”

Lakshmi opened her mouth to call the guards off, but the utterances sounded more like a call for help than a threat. Weak, blind, and completely helpless, Lakshmi was hoisted off the floor and into a hard metal seat. Her body slumped over, Lakshmi started to be able to wiggle her fingers and smell the puke all over her. The seat glided forward as the guards took her down a lengthy hallway.

At the end of the hall, they took a hard turn into a small room and the male guard stepped in front of her as the doors shut behind them.

He hit a button and tried to slide back behind the seat, but got tripped up, stumbling onto Lakshmi’s outstretched, puke-ridden legs.

The sudden pressure jolted Lakshmi upright, and despite her blurred vision she decided to make a move. Lakshmi thrusted her body toward the closed doors, just as the room dropped, and the elevator began carrying the trio downstairs.

The male guard slammed into the doors as Lakshmi flipped on top of him. Grunts echoed from both, as the female guard yelled out at them.

Lakshmi flailed her arms, reaching for anything, unable to see clearly in the monochromatic elevator. The now-empty seat lurched down at the base of the elevator doors as Lakshmi was pushed up by the male guard. A crunching sound erupted from below her and a spray of blood spit across Lakshmi’s face. The male guard screamed as he was hammered by the weight of the seat.

The female guard yelled out too, this time in terror at her own actions. Rolling down off the man, Lakshmi pushed the seat back where it came from, cutting off the female guard’s scream mid-exhale. Lakshmi kept pushing, a squelching sound now coming from the woman until a series of cracks exploded from her and the seat lurched back again. Lakshmi crashed back with it, falling face first onto the floor and into a pool of blood.

Lakshmi scrambled, away from the seat and into a corner, where the male guard lay opposite her, whimpering.

Lakshmi sat soaked in blood, puke, and sweat, the world now a red-stained blur. She wiped the blood from her eyes to discover that her visual acuity was finally returning.

And suddenly she wished it wasn’t. The male guard lay in tears, pushed up into a corner, his arms covered in blood, and one of his legs abandoned by the elevator doors.

Lakshmi stared in horror at the limb, not daring to see what had happened to the other guard. And then the doors opened and the one-legged guard opened his mouth to scream, but nothing came out. He tipped over, mouth agape, lost to shock.

Lakshmi sat frozen until finally she peeled herself off the floor, strands of blood still connecting her to the glossy metal. Her senses all returned to her, she poked her head out of the elevator. With nobody in sight, she exited, taking slow, squelching steps past room after room until she found a dead end with a pair of huge double doors. Lakshmi turned to retreat, but the double doors flew open and a slight man greeted her.

“Ms. Sharma, good evening. Oh…” The man was thrown by the state of her being, but continued nonetheless with a frown now displacing the cheery professionalism of his initial words. “Captain Chong has been waiting for you to start the meeting. If you would please take a seat, the gathered members of the new board can begin speaking on the terms of how to quell this rebellion against the motherland.”

Mendelsohn had done it then. Europa and Enceladus were going independent of Earth and they were going to do it with violence.

Lakshmi stepped into the room, confused and exhausted, but willing to do what was necessary to stop the war.