"The impediment to action advaces action. What stands in the way becomes the way."
Aurora was looking at the statistics of her tests at her holographic display when the door rang. ”Come in,” she said. She swivelled her chair around, away from her desk to face the door. Her apartment was small but larger as she was used to on cruisers and carrierships. The apartment had one large room that acted as both living space and kitchen and then at one end two smaller rooms, the bathroom, and the bedroom. Her desk was on the opposite side of the door. The door opened on her command and through it walked an android. It was humanoid but it was neither man nor woman. It was coated in a dark grey hue and its head was faceless. A curved screen was there instead, with two cold blue dots that were supposed to resemble eyes.
“SL. Aurora, I am Chief-Inspector G. Grant and you are to come with me,” said a computerized voice. The android turned about 180 degrees and walked back into the hallway.
Aurora was baffled for a moment and shook her head. ”Were is inspector Eran? Sir,” she asked as she jumped off her chair to follow, grabbing her gloves from the cabinet next to the door. She was dressed in the skinsuit she normally wore in her pilot-life-support suit. The suit was dark blue and grey with white. White boots and gloves.
“Inspector Eran is delegated to a different case, I have assumed his duties,” said the disembodied voice, “That’s all you need to know.”
”Why? And why are you not here in person?” asked Aurora, wondering why he was send off the case and why Grant was here as an android.
“I am the one who asks the questions, refrain from doing so in the future. All you need to know, I will tell. But for your second question, and be content with this one answer I will give you, I need to be at multiple places,” replied the android, which kept a steady pace through the hallways and corridors of the research facility. Until stopping for a door, where armed guards stood to watch. They were heavily armed and armoured.
Excessive, thought Aurora. This was a military medical research facility, why would they need an armed guard. Grant passed the guards without being stopped, but the door did not open for her. The android touched a password in the control and the door opened. They stepped through it and once the door closed, the android began speaking again.
“The same day you crashed upon that planet; a space-observatory had a strange reading. Its readings are similar to your radiating signature. An exploration team was sent to investigate the signal and they found something… It is a lacrima of some sort, but we cannot get any information out of it other than the signature reading. We want you to use your new abilities and try it,” said the Chief-Inspector as it walked into a room.
In the room were four other guards. At one end of the room was a mirror, which was likely a one-way window. From the ceiling came different arms with tools and sensors, hanging above a table with a large slab of crystal. Aurora looked at it. She removed the glove from her right hand and reached out her hand but stopped. She looked at Grant. Cold eyes stared back but remained silent. She placed her fingers upon the lacrima and quickly retracted. It was cold, colder than she had ever felt before. It was intense than in the shadow of the vacuum of space. It felt wrong. ”Am I asked to do this or ordered?” asked Aurora, looking into the glowing blue dots.
The android was silent for a moment. “It is an order,” it said coldly.
Aurora clutched her hand into a fist, it began to glow iridescent in different hues of gold, blue, red, and purple. Somewhere a signal went off, beeping. She placed her hand upon the lacrima. Nothing happened. She unleashed an energy blast. The lacrima, which first had been opaque, became transparent. There was a young woman in there. Then the lacrima shattered. Aurora took a step back. The crystal then turned to dust. Leaving the woman upon the table, surrounded by a pile of coarse sand. ”What does…,” Aurora could not finish her sentence before being interrupted by Grant.
“Leave, that’s an order.”
Aurora hesitated.