The AI looked to have shut down for a couple of seconds after the revelation concerning the Avatar. To an artificial intelligence, that might as well have been a lifetime. Now, having come to terms with it, the AI was going into offensive mode. Li’ara knew he was communicating with the Novaarian ships, coordinating an orbital strike as well as activating the Outpost’s defences. She had already warned him against a strike, fearing the blast would hit Kalian as well as the Gomar. It had been Telarrek who had assured her the ships were accurate enough to distinguish between targets.
“I’d be more worried about them killing us,” ALF had quipped.
It hadn’t occurred to her that the beams could reach them so far underground.
The complex shook briefly as the Gomar took out a door that failed to open for him. Newly constructed cannons slid out of their housing to rain green energy down on the dark armour. Every shot stopped short of its mark as they were absorbed and converted into a new energy. The Gomar unleashed the stored energy in the form of a massive ball of plasma. The pin-head camera in that area burned out along with the cannons and half of the next door.
“You need to stop that, he’s just getting stronger!” Li’ara argued.
“We need to wear him down. Trust me, this isn’t my first time.” Li’ara was aware that the version of ALF she was speaking to was most likely a low percentage of his entire intelligence. Either way, she had to accept that this tiny percentage still had a higher IQ than her and that he had led the Terran to war against the Gomar.
She still didn’t trust him.
“We will face him,” Telarrek said, as he and Namek removed their staffs from their back and the room shook, cutting out the panoramic hologram.
“You must evacuate this room immediately.” ALF gestured to the newly translucent door. “His progress has compromised the integrity of the surrounding bedrock.”
The ceiling opened up, with jagged cracks stretching from the direction of the Gomar. They hurried from the room as dirt began to fall from the new fissures.
“This way.” A new hologram of ALF was suddenly standing at the other end of the corridor gesturing to his left.
The previous monitoring room collapsed behind them as the walls and ceiling imploded under the pressure. Li’ara had a feeling the AI had deliberately dispersed the nanocelium to weaken the structural integrity. It might not stop the Gomar but it would slow him down.
Namek paused before continuing to retrieve two of the gravity bombs from his belt. The bombs exploded halfway down the corridor, ejecting a dozen ball bearings that stuck to everything. The distortion zone now covered at least twenty metres. After a couple of minutes, ALF directed them into a room which had been configured into another monitoring station. Along the way, they had all used their gravity bombs to set various traps. They could see the Gomar had been forced to take a new path around the previous monitoring room.
“How’s Kalian?” Li’ara asked impatiently.
The engulfing hologram lit the room with the desert sun as Kalian danced across the room with the female Gomar. The camera had to pan out to keep track of them using their telekinetically enhanced speed. Li’ara winced as the beast waded in, taking Kalian to the floor before using him like a rag doll. She continued to breathe when Kalian hit it with organic plasma giving him room to move.
The light of the hologram dimmed to compensate for the brightness of the sudden bombardment. Beams made of every colour hammered into the desert around them kicking up storms of sand and rock. Four beams landed in quick succession in a random pattern, each one missing the mark. Li’ara span to ALF with a questioning look.
“Every time they lock-on their targeting system falls out of alignment,” ALF explained while stroking his holographic beard. “They must be using a mesh.”
A new image appeared from the point of view of a Novaarian cruiser. The Gomar craft and the Fathom were clearly visible, but Kalian and the others were black dots that moved across the image. Dozens of target locks overlaid the hologram, pinpointing the Gomar and Savrick before being thrown to the side. Eventually, there were enough targeted zones to make out a circumference around the ship. Li’ara could now see that ALF was trying to find out how big the area was and that the epicentre of the mesh was clearly the craft.
“Kalian, can you hear me?” ALF asked.
“Busy!” Was the only reply they received.
The hologram highlighted the measurements between the craft and the edge of the targeting zone.
“Then just listen. You need to force them beyond fifty metres of the craft. Only then can they be targeted by the Novaarians.”
There was no reply to ALF’s instructions but they saw Kalian scale the beast and bury three punches into its face.
“Can he knock out the electrical grid on their craft?” Telarrek asked.
“I calculate that Savrick will step in if he feels the threat of bombardment. Kalian will have to handle him after I take care of the other two.”
Li’ara was not so sure of the AI’s plan. Forcing the two of them from the safety of the craft would not be easy.
“The first trap has been triggered,” Namek stated, as he watched the Gomar struggle to orientate himself.
Every time he found the new ‘floor’, the gravity well would change causing him to fly off into another wall or ceiling. By the time he made it to the other end, ALF had engineered six hard-light copies of himself.
“That should buy us some time,” ALF said before vanishing into stardust.
Roland wasn’t happy with his new role as liaison between the aliens and the humans. Captain Fey occupied the central chair in what Esabelle had told them was the new command centre. He didn’t understand most of what the crazy woman said but the captain wouldn’t stop with the questions. Initially, there had been a long silence and some awkward tears from her and the lead scientists regarding the fate of humanity. After telling them the group had formed a few committees on how to tell the rest of the population, Roland wasn’t terribly interested.
Leaving them to it, Roland and Ilyseal convinced the Laronians to help them retrieve the remaining crew of the Gommarian. Each one weighed a ton in all the armour. He avoided the explanation of Esabelle’s presence, promising to explain after the psychopaths had been rounded up. True to her word, she had known where to find them and where to store them.
“These are Rem-stores.” Esabelle had explained that the vertical tubes were used for long space flight.
Picking the heavy bastards up hadn’t been easy but, eventually, they managed to fit each of them in. Unlike before, the ship now possessed multiple touch screens and interactive holograms where they would expect to be. Using these they could activate the stores and effectively freeze the occupants.
“I have reconfigured the interior for human use.”
Had she redesigned the entire ship, just for them?
Leaving the masses to their grief, Roland had accompanied the captain and two of her crew to the bridge. She naturally resumed her position in the central chair as he was forced to tell her everything he knew. Ilyseal filled in the missing blanks or the bits he had been too drunk to remember, but he had to explain it since none of them possessed a translator. The tricky bit had been Esabelle since he didn’t really know what to say. She now wore a loose fitting outfit that had been provided by some strange portal in the wall outside the bridge. At this point, he wasn’t questioning anything the ship could do.
“I am, or was, the pilot of this ship - the Gommarian. I have modified the ship for your people and you will have full control of it after we arrive at Nova Prime. Until then the controls are locked, even to me. I will explain more when I meet, Kalian Gaines.”
There was that name again. What is it with this guy? He noticed the Novaarians scanning everything, including Esabelle, as Ilyseal nursed her injured body. Before the armoured git had been disabled by Esabelle, Ilyseal had been thrown about quite a bit.
“We have been attacked and tak
en prisoner by two different ships. I am done taking orders from anyone, young lady. You will relinquish this vessel to me immediately under the authority of the United Defence Corps.” Captain Fey looked like a woman on the edge, somewhere between crying and attacking.
“There is no United Defence Corps, Captain. The human beings aboard this ship most likely comprise the entirety of your race. Food and supplies have been provided in the hold, I suggest you and your people take the time to recuperate before you meet Conclave authority.” Esabelle’s words had been a matter of fact, with no hint of emotion.
Being clear that Esabelle wouldn’t budge, the captain and her companions filed out of the bridge with sour expressions. He noticed how wary they were of the overly tall Novaarians and especially the scaly Laronians, who had sent along their highest ranking officer.
Roland took the captain’s place in the command chair but failed to get comfortable with the state of his ribs. He ignored the itch on his nose, not wanting to touch the broken cartilage.
“Is there any chance you happened to build a bar?”
Kalian could feel it now, like static in the air. It emanated from their craft in waves, creating a protective bubble around the area. The border might as well have been on the other side of the moon, however. Warnings were going off in his head as various receptors informed him of broken ribs, torn muscles and some internal bleeding around his spleen. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep this up.
Lilander had removed a blade from her armour that snaked into a needle point. He managed to dodge and counter the first six attacks until she eventually cut through his barrier and slashed his cheek. It was becoming harder to maintain a permanent barrier over the top of his skin and suit. If he produced organic plasma his barrier dropped, if he increased his telekinesis he moved too slow and lost some awareness. He couldn’t keep it all up at once.
He was forced into being creative with his telekinesis to keep his attack protean. More than once he was able to move the beast’s arm or leg to cause damage to Lilander. It never lasted though, they were simply better. He couldn’t seem to get out of the beast’s reach or completely avoid Lilander’s blade. He retreated into his head, searching frantically for a solution. Some lesson he had overlooked, a fighting technique he hadn’t taken the time to master, anything. Collating information his mind had been collecting, he understood the tremors below his feet. The Gomar was tearing through the Outpost.
He could see the beast advancing as if he were watching on a monitor in his head. Every second to the beast was a minute inside Kalian’s head. He focused on the thought of power, raw energy in its most universal form.
Fire.
He recalled any and all uploaded information concerning combustion. His mind was flooded with data on exothermic chemical reactions and oxidant agents. In his case, he was surrounded by an abundant source of oxidants. He could recall the lesson in which the Avatar, as the teaching construct, had taught him about exothermic internal reactions. His body could self-heat to generate the initial reaction that could then be released through the pores of his skin. Using telekinesis, he could then vibrate these molecules causing ignition. He had to try.
He emerged back into reality, much the way a ship leaves subspace. The beast barrelled into him causing more laughter from Savrick. This time it didn’t let go but instead wrapped its giant arms around his waist and squeezed. Kalian yelled in agony as his pain receptors kicked back in with his loss of concentration. He slammed his arms down on the beast with a telekinetic barrage but it refused to yield. He saw the heat waves around his hand as it generated the required reaction. He vibrated the molecules in the air until a quick spark suddenly became a glowing star in his hand. The effect became more light than actual heat but it was all he had.
Thrusting his hand into the beast’s face, until he could feel its nose against his palm, he increased the light effect until the beast roared. It dropped him back to earth and Kalian looked up to see the two scorched pits where its eyes used to be. Seeing Lilander’s shock only fuelled Kalian on, he was gaining the upper hand. He released everything, losing his awareness and his connection to the suit as well as his protective barrier. He focused every scrap of energy allowing his spine to build the power he needed. Lilander was coming for him again, it was now or never.
Kalian’s roar was drowned out by his own expulsion of telekinetic energy as it pulsed from every part of his body. The crushing wave slammed into the beast, who in turn clipped Lilander with its giant hand. The beast was hurtled across the desert like the discharge from a gun, carrying with it a tidal wave of sand and debris. Lilander impacted against the Fathom head first, where she crumpled to the ground in an unconscious heap. The beast finally hit the ground just under forty metres away, where it then scarred the landscape for another twenty.
“ALF...” Kalian kept his eyes on the distant creature that was once the Avatar.
Like an angered god the Novaarian ship unleashed a beam ten metres in width. The multicoloured energy shook the ground as it burrowed through, creating a swirling vortex of sand. The beam ended within less than two seconds after striking its target. Billows of smoke rose from the charred crater that would forever mark the moon.
Filling the area with his paranormal awareness, he could tell Li’ara was unconscious and the beast had been reduced to atoms. He dropped to his knee in exhaustion. Wiping the sweat from his eyes, he felt the sting of various cuts across his face and head.
“Well done, little Terran.” Savrick mockingly clapped his hands. “You have come a long way in a short time. Your head must be fit to burst with all that information he’s crammed in there. You’re just a pawn, Kalian. A plaything really. That’s all we ever were to him, to it. Toys for the most powerful child in the galaxy. But I have to hand it to you,” he looked at the broken body of Lilander and the smouldering crater in the distance, “you did beat my best. That has to say something about you, I suppose.” Savrick stood over Kalian, blocking out the sun. “It’s a shame that after today, no one will ever speak of you again.”
Li’ara threw her arms into the air in celebration as the beast was reduced to slag. She looked to the others who appeared more occupied with their own impending doom. The Gomar had switched off the hard-light projections with an electromagnetic pulse and launched himself through the corridors with the gravity bombs. Nothing was stopping it.
“Is there another way out of here?” she asked.
ALF remained silent as he observed the expansive hologram of Kalian. She followed his gaze to see Savrick standing over Kalian. There was nothing she could do. For all of her skills, there was nothing she could do to help him against this kind of enemy.
“There is no other... take cover!” ALF’s warning came just before the room exploded into chaos.
Kalian and Savrick burst through the ceiling like a missile and ricocheted off the floor as they tore into the next room. They continued to blow through the complex, knocking through walls like paper. Li’ara felt the many hands of a Novaarian help her up and pull the debris off her. She tried to breathe through the cloud of dirt and broken rock but could only manage a cough. The complex shook one last time before they left for the surface of the moon again.
“What... was that?” she finally managed.
ALF’s hologram flickered trying to keep cohesion with the damaged emitters. “That was them,” ALF stated flatly.
Li’ara couldn’t quite make sense of the AI’s words. Was he saying that Kalian and Savrick had just rammed through the Outpost? On the other side of the room, the panoramic hologram continued to feedback the footage from above. Hardly believing her eyes, Li’ara watched as they both shot out of the ground with hands around each other’s throats. They slammed into the ground in a tumble of limbs until Savrick ended up on top of Kalian. She watched hopelessly as he pounded Kalian with blow after blow. Somehow, he managed to catch one of Savrick’s hands mid-strike with a telekinetic barrier. Unable to push through, Savrick r
ipped Kalian from the ground and performed a complex series of attacks that ended with a telekinetic push, forcing Kalian into the nose of the Gomar craft.
“Do something!” Li’ara pleaded to ALF.
“He is protected inside the mesh, I cannot...” The AI paused as he no doubt ran through a thousand scenarios in a second.
“What? What is it?”
“The Helion. With the laser-com shut down, I cannot enter its mainframe and take control.”
“Explain.” She needed something, anything that could save him.
“If my nanocelium could be injected into one of the ship’s consoles, I would have complete control of all its systems. Would you do anything to save him, Li’ara?”
A small canister slotted out of the nearest oval column.
“Yes.” She didn’t hesitate.
“Then get me that ship.”
“Li’ara...?”
Kalian couldn’t believe his eyes. It didn’t help that Savrick had just taken him on a ride through the Outpost’s interior. The only reason he still had all his limbs was because of the telekinetic cocoon they had both been wrapped in. He saw Li’ara and Namek run from the broken entrance of The Wall to the Fathom on the other side. How had she survived the other Gomar? And where was Telarrek? He decided not to question it and be thankful she was getting away from it all.
“She will not get far. When I am finished with you, I will find her...” Savrick’s words were like poison in his ear. The very words ignited a fire in Kalian’s mind as he pulled himself out of the crater. Savrick had already climbed out, he could recover quicker, but Kalian didn’t care.
The Terran Cycle Boxset Page 45
