ALF stared at him for a moment. “Yes. In the blackout, I was unable to track him and the baby. Of course, I now know he fled to Hadrok, a planet on the outer edge of the empire. He hid there for many years...” he sighed at the thought. “When he finally resurfaced, he had amassed a great following of Gomar that believed they were being repressed. I don’t know everything he did in the years of his exile but he learned things, old things I thought long buried. I believe his first creation was the armour. He designed it to counteract the Harness, giving them a measure of control. They couldn’t do everything the Terran could do, but they didn’t need to. He mastered his abilities around the art of destruction. He taught his followers the same.
“When they attacked, we were not prepared. Every Gomar fought for his cause. They were embedded in every infrastructure on every planet. We were attacked from all sides.
“The first years of the war were the most devastating to us. The Terran had no idea how to fight; I had spent millennia making sure of that. He built weapons I hadn’t seen since the early days of my creation. The Eclipse was the worst. I don’t know where he dug up the designs for that weapon but he used it to destroy whole systems like he did your own. The next four hundred years were spent in a war I saw no end to. Even if we did win, the Gomar would continue to be born into society. The Terran lost a lot of what they were over the course of the war.
“We had no way to fight back. They had no world they called their own. I scorched the surface of Hadrok but they didn’t care. The Gommarian was all they needed. Only once did we get an agent aboard, the Avatar himself in fact.” Seeing the quizzical faces, ALF waved his hand. “Later. The information we received was invaluable but it came all too late. The Avatar was never heard from again, killed by Savrick no doubt. The information he gleaned told me the worst. I had always theorised how he was able to control the ship without me, the nanocelium had only ever responded to my connection.” ALF looked disgusted at his next thought. “That monster had plugged his own daughter into the Gammorian’s processing unit. All that potential I spoke of? He was using it to power the most destructive tool in the galaxy. By pushing her limits with a constant source of energy, she was able to bend space and time to push the ship through subspace. I thought the Terran was millennia away from realising that potential.
“But like I said, it was all too late. They were winning and the end of Terran life was in sight. So we made plans.” The hologram changed to that of a ship, similar to the head of a spoon in shape. “I am only a part of the whole, a third in fact. At the start of the war, I tried to factor in every potential outcome. One of the outcomes involved separating myself from the Criterion. Having achieved this, I was transported in the Tempest across the galaxy with a team of my best scientists. We had to use a ship instead of a Starforge since we didn’t actually know our destination. With a Starforge we could have crossed the event horizon instantly, rather than travel through subspace for years. Our mission was simple; ensure the survival of the Terran species.”
Kalian had a falling sensation in his stomach. He couldn’t be right about what he was now thinking.
“We found a habitable world with a young star and primitive wildlife. With our technology, it wasn’t hard to recreate the life you call human.”
There it was, the biggest question humanity could never answer; what is the meaning of life? And now he knew. Human beings were simply a backup plan to ensure the survival of the oldest DNA in the galaxy.
Li’ara’s face was blank. Coming to the same conclusion as him, they were both in shock. All that history now felt so artificial. He wondered briefly if Terran history had started the same way, having gone through the different ages of industry and evolution.
“That still does not account for the uniqueness of Kalian in comparison to the rest of humanity.” Telarrek had picked up on the timelines.
ALF had stated it took the Terran over a million years before they developed evolutionary advantages. Humans had only been inhabiting earth for two hundred thousand years.
“We didn’t just drop two Terrans onto Earth and tell them to start making little Terrans.” ALF went on as if the concept was simple. “We wanted to give Terran life another chance, but with some tweaks. We first changed the evolution of a creature with the closest DNA to Terran. Once that was achieved, we altered the rate of evolution to hurry things along. The key was to place a dormant gene in all of them with an accelerant. As evolution progressed, this accelerant would become active throughout the generations, slowly increasing the amount of the brain they could access. I’m sure if you look through your history you can find a plethora of individuals that all displayed incredible talents others couldn’t.”
Kalian promised himself to go through that list later.
“The process took a long time. But to a species that doesn’t measure time like you do, it was inconsequential. It was decided that an outpost would be established in another part of the galaxy. When you were ready, you would find this place and I would point you home.” ALF looked away. “Of course that was depending on us winning the war and having a home to return to. Since I have received no data package in the passing time and Savrick is here...” He sighed as he waved his hand at the hologram, ending it all together.
“So you lost the war but succeeded in your backup plan. So why is Savrick here?” Li’ara had switched back on to current events.
“Having spent so long here, creating your kind, the Terran I brought with me grew restless. They wanted to know how the war was going. I warned them against returning, the knowledge of Earth and your kind was a dangerous thing to deliver to the Gomar. I’m sure by now you have grasped the level of hate Savrick and his kind has for you. I believe it derives from the Terran motto, ‘we are forever.’ It was said to remind them of their immortality, especially during the war. It was supposed to make them feel strong and enduring; that no matter what Savrick did, they would survive. It only amplified Savrick’s hate. It highlighted the fact that without those suits of armour, the Gomar was doomed to die.
“He has come to end your race because you represent that motto. He finds the idea of Terran life abhorrent, no matter how devolved it is. I imagine your DNA is even more offensive, Kalian. You are a raw but fully functioning Terran, you are the end result of the gene accelerant.”
Finally, he had an answer for his significance. He was one of many unknown genetic divergences designed millennia before his birth. It was a fluke of circumstances that he was the only one alive at the time of Savrick’s attack. It could easily have been one of the others Telarrek had mentioned from centuries ago. And now he remembered where he had heard it. Savrick had said that motto to him back at the Conclave, though somewhat ironically it seems.
“Though I do not have confirmation, I believe it is apparent that upon their return, the Tempest was captured by Savrick. How much he learned from them I don’t know, but it couldn’t have been your location or it wouldn’t have taken him so long to find you. Two hundred thousand years is a long time to scour the galaxy, even for a Terran. I can only assume they were in Rem-stores, stasis chambers, for the majority of the journey.”
It was all so much to take in at once. The answers to so many questions, and answers he couldn’t have imagined. Despite this new found knowledge, Kalian only had more questions. In fact, he wasn’t sure he would ever run out.
“You’re all exhausted,” ALF suddenly declared. “Trust me, nanocelium doesn’t lie.”
The thought made Kalian itch.
“I have prepared rooms for you all. Sleep well, tomorrow we begin. And by tomorrow, I mean in six hours.”
He knew it had been ten seconds since he lost consciousness. It was always ten seconds. Roland sat back in his chair and felt blood trickle down the right side of his face. He tentatively examined his scalp and found the cut in his hairline, it didn’t hurt yet. He experimented with his other facial features and discovered his nose was broken, which did hurt, along with a cut bottom li
p and a potential fracture in his cheekbone.
He had the rationale to understand he was in shock. He knew from training and experience that it would slow him down and dull his senses in a hostile environment. He quickly removed a small cylinder from his belt - another item procured from the Fathom - and pressed it into his neck. A sharp hiss issued from the object as adrenaline entered his bloodstream. He felt the energy become almost too much to handle. Remaining seated was no longer an option, he had to get moving.
He hit the switch over his chest and the straps retracted. He stood up feeling the pain across his chest in the same X shape as the straps. He knew the bruising would be bad and wondered if he had fractured any ribs.
The cockpit was dark, illuminated by an overhead emergency light that blanketed everything in blue. His first reaction was to find his guns, which were still holstered to his thighs. He felt better feeling their weight in his hands. Movement in front caught his eye as Ilyseal began to stir. He noticed she was covered in some kind of jelly that had burst from the now ruined console. He looked aside and noticed the same of Selek. Ilyseal pushed herself back in her chair using her upper arms, her right lower arm was hanging lifelessly and dripping dark blood.
She glanced at Roland before removing a circular patch from her belt. Ilyseal placed one on her lifeless arm and one on Selek’s shoulder. The patches instantly vacuum-sealed against their skin, delivering whatever alien drugs they contained. A moment later Selek inhaled a deep breath as he lay half over the console. Ilyseal began to wipe the jelly from her face and shoulders and Roland noticed a score of cuts and bruises across her skin. Roland assumed from the look of the exploded console that the jelly was some kind of shock absorber that activated in a collision.
“Did we make it? Are we inside?” Roland asked.
Ilyseal offered him a patch but he declined, unsure of the alien toxin.
“We would be dead otherwise.” It was Selek who answered.
The Novaarian sat back in his chair revealing a swollen left eye that now covered the golden swirl within. One of his fangs was missing along with a cut that ran up his left cheek.
“We have new problems now,” Ilyseal interjected. “Before the Starrillium went critical our sensors only detected seven hundred and ninety-six invaders. We do not know how many split from the ship to Naveen but we should assume there are at least a dozen or more left.” Roland couldn’t stop smiling despite the pain in his cheek and lip. They had succeeded in killing, no, obliterating hundreds of those bastards in a single blow. There may only be a dozen left, but he liked those odds; besides, how hard could it be to kill just a dozen of them?
He stopped laughing as they all heard the external noise. The viewport was still covered by the outer shield, leaving them blind to their surroundings. It dawned on him how truly massive this ship was; how the hell were they going to find them? The silence was broken by the cockpit door sliding open to reveal the three remaining warriors. Roland lowered the gun he had instinctively raised. He had to hand it to these Novaarians, they could take a beating. The warriors looked better than them in their protective golden armour.
The view behind them was unbelievable. One of the four arcing spikes that mimicked the Valoran had penetrated the ceiling of the craft. Sparks continuously flowed out of a conduit in the back corner, where the hull had crumpled in. It looked to Roland as if the exterior arc had broken off in the tunnel and taken the hull and a couple of Novaarians with it.
“The ramp will not descend, my charge,” the lead warrior stated.
Roland moved past them to investigate the hole; it was obviously oxygenated, as they hadn’t suffocated yet. Anyway out through the hole was blocked by an internal wall of the hulking ship. The question was how far down the tunnel had they gone? He was just thankful the missile had worked otherwise they’d be like a fly on a windshield.
“Use your staffs.” Selek pointed to the floor, where the ramp was supposed to activate. “But be quick or the heat will overwhelm us.”
All three warriors immediately set about their task, removing their staff from the holstering on their armour. After they extended, each one positioned them over the floor with the cylindrical extensions pointed down. They all covered their eyes as three intense beams of bright blue energy sunk into the alien metal. Within a minute they had cut a rectangular section out of the ramp, which fell several feet onto a small set of steps.
The heat had indeed been overwhelming as the staffs sucked the oxygen out of the air. Roland wiped the sweat away but still couldn’t see anything beyond the steps below. The warriors each removed an orb from their belt before scrunching them up and dropping them through the hole. The phosphorus light they expelled was harsh in the darkness that surrounded them. After the three dropped through and removed the cutaway panel, the others followed. The orbs moved ahead highlighting an empty square room with a circular door at the end.
Looking up, they could see the craft had flown through the entire length of the tunnel, filling its width completely. The pointed end was caved in where it crashed into the chamber; the wall had taken no damage in the impact. The surface of the craft was burnt and smoking from a combination of the supernova and the missile. The air rippled around it as the metal began to cool.
From the looks of the layout, Roland assumed the armoured beings would ascend the steps and somehow fly through the tunnel; it was like a human torpedo-tube. A closer inspection showed the walls and floor to be bronze plating with lines of hieroglyphs running down them all. Selek and Ilyseal held out the bracers on their upper arms.
“This is incredible.” Ilyseal was looking at the feedback on her arm. “It is still trying to gather all the data. This ship must have taken a hundred cycles to complete.”
Selek used both of his lower bracers like a combined keyboard. “If only we could have got the Valoran’s sensors inside this ship.”
The Novaarians looked at one another in concern for their fellow crew. Had they survived the nova? For all they knew, the massive ship could have deployed some new weapon to destroy the escape pods. They approached the circular door as the orbs hovered around them. The door was void of any access panels. Before they could voice their confusion, there was a sound beyond the metallic port. It reminded Roland of an earthquake as if the walls were moving around on the other side.
All at once the sound stopped and the circular door uncoiled into the walls. The orbs continued their journey through the door, lighting up a long corridor that came to life with overhead spotlights.
“I don’t suppose any of you have one of those little blue drinks, do ya?”
The Novaarians tilted their head at the odd request.
Savrick occupied the central chair of his new craft like a king residing on a throne. The bulky ship had four large engines at the rear that emitted a constant hum he could feel through his feet. He reminded himself to input new ship designs into the pilot’s databank, preferably ones with speed. He pushed his senses out, filling the tiny vessel with his mind. He could feel every nanocelium that formed the ship, including his seat. With the feedback, he was able to map out the ship in his brain, aware of every structure and its unit of measure.
He had performed this tiresome exercise several times since this slow journey began, out of boredom mostly. He was accustomed to long journeys having been in the Gommarian for so long, but he didn’t like the space on the tiny ship. He had nowhere to go and it didn’t help sharing it with the cumbersome beast. Via his link, he had commanded the goliath to remain in the hold below. Pushing himself into every crevice of the ship, he found Lilander resting in the engine room. She was sitting on a conduit while reconfiguring her blade into a different size and shape.
Sef was directly in front of him, where he maintained control of the ship’s systems. He was in the pilot’s seat towards the front of the open plan bridge, surrounded by bronze holograms and golden readouts. It felt so primitive to be in a ship that required such piloting skills. Before their depar
ture, Sef had downloaded the skills the Gommarian’s pilot deemed necessary to control the craft. The hum of the engines reminded him of the conventional fuel they were using. Without the pilot, they were reduced to using a similar craft to the rest of the animals this side of the galaxy.
His thoughts lingered on the Gommarian pilot for a moment. His head split as he battled with himself over the decisions he had made so long ago.
Esabelle...
Her name was like a blade in his heart. He had poured all his goodness and love into her the second she was born. And there it had remained ever since, leaving the empty shell he now felt. He knew nothing but rage now. A rage he had aimed at the Terran for a lifetime. He took a breath to contain his anger; it would only slow them down to unleash it on such a small craft.
He thought through his reasoning for the way he had imprisoned her. She had been too out of control as a child. Without control of his own mind, he had no idea how to teach her. He regretted that she spent her childhood on a wasted rock like Hadrok, but its population was sparse and it had a complex cave system to hide them both. Connecting her to the Gommarian had saved her really. He turned his thoughts away from the Gommarian and its true maker, it was a gift after all, and he had accepted it willingly. Without it, she would have no doubt killed herself by accident and they would never have won the war.
Elandar had created the perfect world for her mind to occupy, keeping her safe from the horrors of the war. She had been his greatest weapon against ALF and the Terran in the end. He was actually proud of how powerful her mind was; that she could control the nanocelium without the artificial intelligence. He hated that he had only seen her grow into adulthood as she lay suspended in the pilot’s chair. He thought of her mother for just a fraction before the holograms fluttered in front of Sef. The hum of the engines stuttered before continuing their cycle. Sef turned in his seat and Savrick flicked up his hand in apology.
The Terran Cycle Boxset Page 37
