The Promise

The Promise
What is the price of a memory? What is the value of a promise?
*
Dean Hardage
*
“Are you sure?”

The blue-skinned alien’s voice sounded like modulated wind chimes, random tones somehow forming a melody.  Or in this case, words.  The oddity of it did not even penetrate Kenji’s mind for he was focused fully on his mission.

“Yes, I am sure.  You have the contract, it’s all in order, is it not?

“Indeed it is,” the chime-like tones replied, “however, I do not fully understand why you would do this.”

“Can it be done, or is it beyond your technology?  I was given to understand that this was almost routine for your people.”

“Again, it is.  That does not make your decision clear.  For what you offer, we could give you a decade, perhaps more.  You seek only a few moments.  This is not sensible and we cannot strike a bargain with a being who is not of sound mind.”

Kenji took a deep breath and sighed.

“Do your people form deep emotional attachments to others?  Do they find fulfillment in making others happy?”

“Yes.  We are an emotional people and we do love our mates and our offspring much, I suspect, as you do.”

“Then understand this.  The moment I seek is of supreme value to me.  As I grow older I find it slipping away and I want…no, I need to experience it one more time.  I want that memory back, fresh and whole.”

The alien’s lidless, totally black eyes seemed to soften.

“Then the bargain is struck.  You may enter.

Kenji walked into the small cubical pod and sat in the low, reclining seat.

“Now relax.  You will feel nothing while your consciousness travels.”

Kenji nodded, or tried to, but the scene suddenly shifted.  He was kneeling beside her bed, her frail hand held ever-so-gently in his.
She was as he remembered, beautiful despite the ravages of the disease, that cursed disease the enemy had unleashed that stole her from him.  This was their last moment together.

“You wish to go,” he heard himself say.

She mouthed the word “No.”

“It is alright.  I will be ok,” he replied, smiling though unshed tears.

She barely nodded but he understood that she was finally ready.

“Then go, my love, but wait for me when you get there.  I must see to one thing but I will be along as soon as I am finished, I promise.”

She smiled despite the incredible pain wracking her body and he leaned forward.  He was still kissing her when he felt the life leave her body.  As they shared the last kiss they would in this world, he wept.

He was back in the cubicle, eyes suddenly overflowing with tears.

“Are you well?  Was it what you expected?”

Kenji could only nod.

“Then the contract is complete.  All of your personal wealth is now ours.”

The chiming voice become quiet.

“Was it worth it?”

Kenji nodded.

“What will you do now?”

Kenji picked up the only remaining thing he owned, a large travel case, before replying The sound of his voice made what passed for blood in the blue-skinned body run as cold as liquid helium.

“Keep a promise.”

It was a short three weeks later that Kenji walked up to the Terminus. Even as he looked at the building the burning knot of pain and anger deep inside his soul flared up. They had come and attacked his world, destroyed it with a genetically engineered disease so they could have its resources. Now, somehow, they were friends, sharing technology, assisting other worlds with their problems.
None of the latter had any meaning for Kenji. All that was in his mind was what they’d done to the only one he’d ever loved. The moments in the past he’d recently re-lived had returned those horrific moments to razor sharp focus.

He looked up at the Terminus building as he sat on a nearby bench. The Bridge they called it, the nearly instant transport system they had built. It was metaphor and fact, a way to close the gaps between worlds and races. Naturally they controlled it, decided what technology went where, who traveled and who didn’t.

As far as Kenji was concerned it was just another method of getting what they wanted, this time with the enthusiastic help of those being exploited. He hefted the weight of his travel case. In it lay his tool of justice, a way to stop what was happening and perhaps insure that it didn’t happen again.

Soon after the Bridge came into operation he began to research the technology, learn the ins and outs of its operation. At first there wasn’t much to go on but he was doggedly persistent. As it become more and more familiar to people bits of sensitive information began to leak out. Kenji had studied everything so that he could make sense of what he learned and determine how best to destroy it. It took him almost fifteen years to make the plan, another seven to acquire the needed materials.

Hefting the bag by its shoulder strap he stood and headed into the Terminus. He passed through the security sensors holding his breath, afraid that the shielding would fail and he would be stopped before he could complete his plan. He passed through without incident and approached one of the agents at the travel desk.

“One for Axis, please?”

Axis was the center of the Bridge network, the hub from which they were all generated, and their home world. The agent gave him his pass after no more than a cursory examination of his travel documents and Kenji walked through the passage toward the portal.

The knot in his soul seemed to loosen and unravel as he approached, the image of his beloved in his mind. He stepped up to the turnstile that counted travelers and, just before stepping through, pressed the side if the case directly above the contact that activated the device. Alarms sounded but they could not stop him before he stepped across the threshold and into the transit space…..

“I’m coming, love.” was his last thought.

On Axis alarms also sounded too late. A mass of ten kilograms of antimatter spewed out of the transit tube and instantly annihilated everything it touched in a nova-like blast of energy. Much of it was carried into the other transits, destroying the terminals at the far end even as the system that powered it overloaded also destroyed itself in another instant and catastrophic detonation. The blasts did irreparable damage to the planet.

A blue-skinned alien time merchant heard the news and could only think one thing. A promise had been kept.