Interference (ON HOLD)

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The hallway was long and empty, lit by a blinding white light overhead and thick white carpeting that squished beneath her bare feet. She made her way casually towards a doorway near the end of the hall. Her long, pale fingers scratched the side of her head  remembering the feeling of the hair tied to one side against the powerful heat of the Javier Colony. But instead of the thick hair, the fingers brushed the smooth, soft skin of her scalp. A door opened to her right and a girl stepped into the hallway. The white light glowed against her identically pale skin.

“Hey, D,” The girl waved and fell in step beside D.

“M,” She nodded. “How was your last assignment?”

“Dirty.” M crinkled her nose. “Assignments on planets without electricity make me thankful for The Commune.”

“Backwater junction assignments feel like they take weeks to wash off.”

“I’ve decontaminated twice and I still feel dirty.” M laughed, “It was hard work, and swallowed a lot of dirt, but I got it done.”

“Perhaps your next assignment will be with royalty to even it out.”

“From your lips to Mother Eternia’s ears.” M smiled and rubbed at her skin to remove dirt no longer present. “How was your assignment? You were only there for a couple days, right? That’s a short placement.”

“It was quick and dirty. Not dirty like yours, but you know what I mean.” D scratched at the phantom itch again. “I haven’t been on a really good engagement in months. I keep getting these short little assignments. This one was challenging because I had to convince this woman to murder her own child, but it’s getting kind of boring.”

“What was the kid supposed to do?” M glanced at her curiously. The details of other Travellers engagements were always exciting.

“Not entirely sure, but the Master Veils said that was the required interference. It must be bad for the to inject us into the life of someone this young.”

“How did you get her to do it? The mothering instinct is so strong. I hate dealing with parents.”

“It was on Javier. I just fed into the religious delusions and convinced her the kid was evil.”

“You did that in three days?” M shook her head. “Impressive. No wonder the others look up to you, D.”

“If they really thought that highly of me, they’d give me better engagements. I’m so bored lately, I’m really not giving it my best. I should have been able to do that Javier job in less than two days.”

They reached the door to The Hub and let themselves in. Six chairs sat in a circle around a large, glowing orb in the centre of the room. Four of the six chairs were already full. Three boys and one girl, all with skin so pale it was almost translucent, and smooth, bald heads. Each wore the requisite white unitard uniform over their smooth, formless bodies. The material did little more than protect from the bitter winds that occasionally swept through the facility. The room itself held nothing except for the plain silver chairs, the orb, and six handprints evenly spaced along the wall, one behind each chair.

D and M took their seats in the empty chairs and smiled at their fellow travelers. D recognized two of them, but the others were strangers. Life in the Commune was dedicated to work and assignments were handed out based on qualifications and availability. Friendship wasn’t exactly discouraged, but they were home for such a short period between jobs that there was little time to get to know the other members of their order. She and M had only become friendly after they’d been place on assignment together several years earlier to ensure the failure of a factory uprising on a planet in the middle of an industrial revolution.