Back Of Beyond

By Liam Ui Bhriain

A second chance is a difficult thing, more so when it's on Pluto. For the new Solar Constabulary commander on that far away frozen world, they face a difficult new reality. They try to put their past life behind them and come into their new identity after they are reassigned following a violent series of events at their former posting. They are quickly swept up in the turmoil of a young and vigorous human settlement when an accident causing several deaths rocks Pluto. The pressures of command and duty, two things neglected in their past, press hard and harder. Compounding this is the immense distrust and hostility they face from their second in command. Through all of this lives are at stake and an entire world is being fought over by entities who will stop at nothing to secure as much as they can with little regard for the collateral damage.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jul 25, 2022
• ISBN: 9781778098819

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© Liam Ui Bhriain.

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

ISBN: 978-1-77809-881-9

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 1:

A life is shaped by a chain of experiences and decisions leading from one moment to the next unending until the day of one’s death. Therefore, a person’s life can change at any moment, they can cease to exist or become someone new. Some, however, may experience both.

Inspector Sergeant Danlin Liu-Gogh frowned in anger.

If I ‘ad it mine own way I’d ‘ave you put into a deep, dark, zero g with no release date. You fucked it all up.

She spoke in a Martian accent, not the type of accent found amongst the ‘native’ generational labour class but from someone who was born into the red planet’s middle class. She was a member of the Solar Constabulary’s Internal Affairs Branch, and the subject her anger was directed at was a fellow law enforcer with the rank of marshal sitting across from her.

I bet you would, but I’m glad you aren’t getting your way. I struck a deal, and we are all going to have to live with that, the marshal snapped back.

They were annoyed with the sergeant. To them she was one of the overzealous cops that descend from their Internal Affairs office on a mount of righteousness. To them the sergeant represented everything that they, until recently, believed to be wrong with the Constabulary, but then they had a drastic change of heart and perspective set off by a violent chain of events that ended in a death. They had killed someone who was at the top of an IA investigation. The marshal too was in IA’s sights, they weren’t small fish either, but they had come to them and made a deal.

I don’t know what you want me to say or do. We both can’t change what happened, the marshal said as they fiddled with their palm.

They didn’t look in the sergeant’s eyes when they spoke to her.

The two were sitting outside of an automated coffee stop in the passenger departures area of one of Phobos’ lesser-used ports. Despite its lack of popularity, it was still bustling with activity. The two of them blended in with the others in the area, as they weren’t in uniform, instead wearing civilian clothes. The sergeant was, for the moment, the marshal’s handler, tasked with expediting their secretive transfer from the Martian system. The marshal’s lip was throbbing, just as it did in the immediate moments after the blow which split it. The blood had long since stopped flowing, but the pain would remain, undiminished, and they still had that copper taste in their mouth.

You keep minding ‘at. Just take a damned pain killer instead of acting a fucking martyr about it! the sergeant snapped at the marshal. They felt cold suddenly, looking around and seeing their surroundings for the first time since they arrived in the port. They took in the cold, drab, metal walls and bulkheads around the departures area. Phobos had become an orbital platform. With less than two square kilometres of rock left after The Consumption had taken the rest, the platform formed around the remaining rock like a cancerous tumour. It was a far cry from the still rocky and largely sand-strewn surface of Mars that the Phobos platform orbited.

You’re going as far away as is humanly possible. ‘At dark place will almost be at aphelion by the time you get there. Farthest from everything under Sol’s light, the sergeant said coldly to the marshal.

They looked her in the eyes, studying her soft features that were twisted in anger and disgust. They opened their mouth to respond but closed it again. They were tired and didn’t want to waste the effort of arguing with the wall that was Inspector Sergeant Danlin Liu-Gogh. She touched her ear a moment, the comm device in it was speaking something only to her but the marshal knew what it was, time to go, they thought to themself. The sergeant lowered her hand and before she could speak the marshal was on their feet.

I gathered what was being relayed to you, they drawled sarcastically. She looked at them and spoke in her accent.

Your gear’s been put aboard. Take your fucking bag and do us all a favour, don’t ever come back to this red planet. The marshal took up their bag, and as they straightened, spoke to her.

I’d ask for a salute, but we are trying to be discreet.

Just get out of my sight. Be a different person in this new life you been given, the sergeant spoke insincerely as she remained seated.

They turned away from her brusquely and strode off towards the boarding gate and the gangway to the ship. This is it. Their journey was going to take them at least two years, all of which would be spent in flight sleep. They were being put on the most roundabout journey possible without it taking over five years. Internal Affairs was hoping that while they were traveling those years upon khaos, they would become forgotten as they were disconnected from everyone and everything. Their destination, Pluto, was the farthest place away from everything else. All they actually knew about it was that it was the frontier. There had been a human presence there for over forty years, but the marshal had to admit to themself that it was one of those places in Sol’s system that they had no desire to know anything about, and never intended to go to, even if they were given an official posting to the Pluto Division.

They suddenly became aware that the pack they were carrying with them, slung across their left shoulder, carried their life and their entire being. The thought stopped them dead in their tracks on the gangway. Holy shit. What have I done? What am I doing? They felt in that moment alone: totally and completely. It felt as though they were vented to the void, floating adrift to be destroyed by the simultaneous freezing and burning elements of space. They turned back. The boarding gate was still open, but they could not see much outside of it, just the blurred figures of other people moving around in the departures area. They were trying to spy out the inspector sergeant, see if she was still out there. She’s probably moved to a different position and is waiting for the ship to cast off. She wouldn’t shirk her duty. The marshal was considering making a break for it, darting out of the boarding gate and seeking passage on another ship going anywhere else. Taking them to a life outside of the Solar Constabulary. But they also knew that if they stepped outside of the boarding gate Inspector Sergeant Danlin Liu-Gogh would shoot them down where they stood. IA never let a loose end get away. It had always been whispered throughout the Constabulary that Internal Affairs would kill you if you didn’t follow through on your end of a deal. They dealt in near pacts of blood.

The marshal turned back to the ship’s outer hatch where the gangway led. They swallowed, feeling their throat becoming dry, and suppressed a tear. They felt the pain in their lip throb more. They raised their hand to it quickly, feeling like blood was flowing from it but finding none. They closed their eyes a moment and took a breath. They opened them again, this is on me, and resumed walking up the gangway. They accepted what they were walking away from and into, it was their actions that put them into this situation. They stepped through the outer hatch and didn’t look back.

Chapter 2:

An electrical smell of burnt air was filling their nose, but it was quickly replaced by that of blood. It was a brief reprieve, but now their senses were back; they were aware of their situation and surroundings. The smell of blood filled their nose, the source was their bleeding lower lip. Their mouth began to protest the copperish taste that was beginning to invade it. Spitting out the blood, the cut on their lip felt like it got a bit bigger. Wincing from the pain they wiped their mouth with their suit’s gauntlet. The cold metal of it was graciously accepted by the complaining lip. There was a desk in front of them, strewn across it was a lifeless figure. As they were about to look towards it a bright flash of light assaulted their eyes. Their ears filled with the sound of a hydraulic whine. Their eyes opened more and filled with light. It hurt for a moment and then not. Their eyes were coming into focus, as the hydraulic whining began to subside. Warm air started to pass over their chilled body. It was a strange sensation; they could feel the warmth but it gave them goosebumps. Their body seemed confused as to how to interpret what was happening to it.

Sear? said a low voice. It sounded like it was coming from another room. Trying to speak was difficult and turned to coughing. Their mouth and throat were dry, and the muscles felt almost non-existent. They coughed so hard that they were sure they were going to vomit. They felt gloved hands on their shoulders pulling them forwards, they felt dizzy, but the hands reassured them that they were not going to fall too far forward and land on their face.

Sear, can you hear me? the voice was louder now. They could make out some sort of accent too, but they had no idea what type. It could have been from one of the Saturnian Stations, or maybe from the Norse Group. They tried to speak, this time managing to form the sound yah, not quite a word but close enough to what they were trying to say. Their accented companion never seemed to mind that it was just a sound and not a proper verbal response. Their eyes were now almost fully adjusted and could make out a figure in their lower field of vision. A strange feeling of déjà vu washed over them, and they began to taste copper in their mouth. Their hand quickly shot up to check for blood, and they were relieved to not find any, but quickly began to gag at the taste their lips had received from their hand. Their skin was salty, and overly so. Spend a long enough time in flight sleep and you begin to develop a layer of salt on your skin from your sweat.

The figure in their lower eye line quickly sprang up and they could fully see now. Their companion in the stasis chamber was a woman, most of her face covered up by a mask and goggles, but her eyes were what gave away her sex.

You nehed toh get washed hoff, are you halright toh stand hon your hown? the goggled figure asked them. They croaked out another dry throated affirmative. Again, not quite a word but it was closer than the last response.

The showhers hare through the blue hlit corrhidor just ther, she pointed to the optically deceiving passage. The blue light from the UV tubes made it seem like it was short but very wide, despite that it was a regulation-sized passenger corridor. With that they felt her hands leave them. They wobbled for a brief second, then began to put their left leg into the air, slowly lowered it onto the cold metal floor. They leaned forward onto it and did the same with their right leg. Once out of the stasis tube they nodded at their reviver, who took no notice; she was beginning to revive another passenger. As they walked down the blue corridor their skin became awash in a feeling that only skin regards as ecstasy as it drank in the UV. Once they arrived in the showers, they ran their hand across the nearest wall censor. Hot water sprayed on to the top of their head, their body shook with one last confused chill and then felt comfortably warm. As the build up of salt began to slide from their skin they began feeling a little embarrassed. The stasis technician had seen them naked; they always hated the fact that you had to be naked in those stasis tubes. They always felt shy when they were naked and others were around but was at least relieved that when you come out of flight sleep you are too busy gagging, coughing, and regaining your senses to feel any sense of reticence over your body. They finished showering and then checked themselves for thaw rot and walked over to the personal storage room. They felt comfortable walking there naked, knowing that no one else was in the area, or awake.

Law enforcement are always revived first when a ship nears their dock. That thought made them realize that they were not the only law enforcer onboard. The technician must have started reviving another. They knew that the ship had made several stops since leaving port on Phobos, but they weren’t sure from which of those stops another member of the Solar Constabulary would have boarded. What they did know was that they were going to be taking up the position of Chief Constable of the Pluto Division. Their new rank carried with it a new name, but that new name wouldn’t be the one that they were assigned before leaving Phobos. Instead, they would simply be called Chief, just as every other Chief Constable is referred to. They began to wonder why someone would want to go to this place, it was after all the most isolated human settled system; it wasn’t just right on the frontier, it was the frontier. Beyond it lay a vast and dark abyss of space with few celestial bodies. But they had no choice, they had to go. They began putting on their uniform. First, they put on an absorbent garment to deal with any bodily waste. Next was the one-piece full body g-suit designed to help keep the body adjusted to standard Earth gravity in the low gravity environments. It was an extremely snug fit, everything from their neck to their feet felt tightly held, only their hands and head were left exposed. The resistance the suit exerted on the muscles helped to keep the body from deteriorating in the unnatural, non-Earth environments the bulk of humanity lived in. Their muscles began to complain as they lifted the lower body’s portion of their uniform’s armoured suit out of the storage locker. Their muscles weren’t ready to take the weight yet, they were still waking up. For such an elaborately complex garment their armoured suit was easy to put on and take off. The weight of it was not bad either, except when you have come out of flight sleep.

After putting their legs through the armour’s lower portion, they began putting their arms into the sleeves of the upper body’s portion of their uniform and pulled themself into it. Everything but their head, neck, and hands made contact with the gel-filled inner layer of the armoured uniform. Then the distinctive thwap sound of the armour’s back sealing itself up rang out. They felt pressed in as the gel layer began to reconfigure and distribute itself over their body. The feeling of the armour’s inner fabric that contained the gel rubbing against their g-suit always bothered them. It felt like a thick syrup was being rubbed onto their skin. Once the gel layer had been equally distributed across their body the feeling stopped.

They felt a wet sensation on their face. It felt like it was coming from their nose and running down their lips. Wiping their face, the cold metal of the suit’s wrist gauntlet touched their lips and gave them another sense of déjà vu. It was startling but this time they felt angry as well. Frustrated, they lowered their arm. They tapped the metal on the wrist-console on their gauntlet and it slid open, the holographic display indicating that the suit’s systems were all online and functioning. They waved their hand over their wrist and the display shut off as the gauntlet closed.

The Chief made their way to the bridge. All ships of this size had a computer alcove on the bridge for the use of Constabulary members who would be inevitably transported upon them. They used them to update themselves on the situations on their new postings. Outside of the smooth, beige-walled and brightly lit corridors of the passenger section of the ship, the crew corridors were a dank sight in comparison. This was the ship proper. Filled with pipes, cables, consoles, and duct work all neatly winding along the ceiling and walls. The soft lighting of the passenger sections was replaced by the stiff shine of yellow-orange crew lights that were accented by the dumb blinking of ceiling or wall consoles signalling their functions and status in a language that only the technicians feign to understand. Any one of those lights blinking in the wrong colour or frequency, or not at all, means disaster. The air will stop circulating, or gravity plating will fail, or every airlock will open venting everyone into khaos. The Chief wondered if any of the consoles were blinking in the proper way.

The corridors continued on, flexing and expanding like the ship was breathing. There wasn’t a soul apart from theirs, given that the only awake crew were those on the bridge and those working on reviving the passengers in the stasis rooms. The Chief took in the solitude of this moment. The dull hums, hisses, and beeps of the consoles, the pipes, and the ducts aside, this was the only quiet the Chief was going to have for a long time. They stopped, standing still in the passageway. The Chief took in several slow breaths staring at one arbitrary spot and then another. They weren’t taking in anything optically, but rather were staring past everything and seeing nothing, their eyes weren’t looking outward but inward as the Chief looked at themself. Their old life and previous self were buried. Everyone they ever knew, they were never going to have contact with again. They in this instant were fully alone. They knew no one and no longer had any ties to anywhere in the solar system. They felt as though they had yet to be born and they were floating in darkness awaiting the beginning of their new life. In a way it was an apt feeling that felt manifest by their presence on this ship moving through the darkness of space toward life anew, a rebirth on this farthest celestial body from the light of Sol. But the quiet had to end and the solace of this moment with it.

The Chief regained themself and continued on to the bridge. The piping and wired ducts increased. It was all converging to the brain of the ship. The corridors began to tighten, and the orange-yellow lights became more interspaced to accommodate more of the ship’s nerve fibres to flow uninterrupted. This created a suffocating claustrophobic feeling in even the hardest constables, miners, soldiers, marines, and sailors, whose lives are spent carrying their environment around with them. For the latter four their lives outside of those suits and environments would be spent in cramped barracks, work camps, or in crew corridors like on this ship.

Finally entering the bridge, the Chief went unnoticed by the 15 crew members working to bring the ship to correct orientation for landing. They all looked as if they were ready to bleed from their eyes due to their intense concentration. The octagonal layout of the bridge was lit almost solely by the holo-console displays. The forward view ports along each bulkhead were overwhelmed by the cream palette of Pluto’s surface but that was slowly being replaced by the stars as the ship rotated to orbit belly parallel to the surface. Captain Ibeh was at the central command console. Her dark skin illuminated by the glow of the multiple holo-screens as she examined the information and work of her crew.

Flying a ship of this size into stable orbit and then bringing it down for landing is hard, more so when the planet you are trying to land on pulls a fraction of Earth’s gravity. In a ship this size the approach to orbit is slow. Arriving too fast would just shoot the ship out of orbit and a wide arc would need to be taken to return for another attempt; but arriving too slow would bring the ship in too soon and possibly at the wrong angle. And this ship was not capable of rapid course correction or compensation. Captain Ibeh stared at the screens and watched over everything with her light green gaze taking in all the bridge. Taking their cue not to disturb the captain the Chief moved to the Constabulary terminal and logged into it. The holo-screen came to life with a flurry of communiques and streams of information. The Chief