Ceteroquin: The Path is Set

This is the sixth part of The Trapping of the Ceteroquin. This story appears in full in M/U's 2020 speculative fiction anthology, Demiurges and Demigods in Space, Vol. 1 and will be run as a serial online every Tuesday and Thursday for the next couple of months and each entry can easily be found here. To read this in its entirety, along with all of the other brilliant pieces included in the collection, you can obtain paperback and PDF copies in our store, with Kindle versions available on Amazon.

They completed the last hyperspace jump and entered the final stage of their travel. This meant the end of downtime; all were now expected to report for preparatory duty. 

Once again clad in their modest ship attire, they gathered around the control room table. This time, there was relative quiet. Each of them had, in their own ways, spent the intervening time in precisely the manner each of them most needed. 

The only thing left to be done was to attempt to follow the instructions they had been given. At worst, this would be a disaster. It was not very likely, but it certainly could prove fatal. Death was always a possibility for all. At best, it would be a test and trial that they might prove able to pass. This was how it needed to be in order to ascend to the next course of life, the next stage of immersion in the Mystery. 

Their approach would be simple. Arrangements had been made for the bulk of the crew to operate a pop-up market-fair, offering their artisanal wares (including Molly’s bread) along with priestly services and counseling. Their contacts had made quite accommodating arrangements for this market-fair, but the space would not be available until the second day. For the first day, everyone was free to explore the nearby areas of the massive orbital station and take in any and all available delights. In fact, they were more or less instructed to do so, in keeping with their standing as a traveling band of raucous entertainers. The Blue Striper was not the most glamorous or well-maintained vacation destination, but it did have a solid reputation as a slightly run-down, just-past-its-prime place to have a great time. Casinos were abundant, as were countless forms of round-the-clock competitive games and sports, complemented by enough options for pleasure and vice to satisfy the vast majority of tastes. 

Everyone, that is, except for the Captain, Laura, and Ben. They, too, would be expected to make a perfunctory appearance at the top casinos and lounges, at least on the first day. The Captain, according to custom, would be required to exchange pleasantries with whichever local luminaries showed any interest in welcoming a small but minorly famous group of performers (who would not be performing). Once these obligations were satisfied, their sole focus would be on the actual rendezvous itself, making a true attempt at fulfilling a set of orders that nobody expected to be able to fulfill – at least not as planned. 

In light of the danger, everyone was required to check in aboard the ship at a designated time in the mid-morning and then again prior to the evening meal, allowing for free and full enjoyment of nightlife within some measure of reason. They could afford no chances, and coded messages were revealed for use in the event of several possible emergencies. 

If the three of them failed to appear and no message was received, the crew was to wait no longer than fifty hours. After that point, the crew was to assume the officers lost, abort the mission, and shift priority to saving the ship and the remaining people on it. Nick would assume interim command, and they would charter an erratic course – to avoid or at least identify pursuers – that ultimately led to a more friendly sector of space. There, they would await new instructions.

Hopefully, it would not come to that. The ship had gently descended onto one of the huge orbital station’s docking areas; as they concluded, they all realized the ship was stationary. Silently, with slight solemnity, they looked at one another around the table. 

It was time now to walk into the trap, together.