Altered Destiny

by Trevor Gregg

  Slamming the creature against the wall, he repeatedly drove its’ head into the wall until it stopped squirming. He dropped the limp body to the ground and retrieved his rifle. He exited the maze into a large courtyard ringed with rubble. Weapons fire rained down, forcing him to stumble back into cover.

  Intense fire continued, keeping him pinned down. He could hear them advancing on his position. He thought, soon they would be in range to toss a…

  Tink, tink, tink. A fist sized metal sphere bounced into the hall where he was hiding. Without hesitation he kicked it, bouncing it off the wall and back out into the courtyard. The firing stopped as the Crevak scrambled away. The grenade detonated, sending a warrior flying into the corridor Tharox was sheltering in, its body shredded by shrapnel and burned severely.

  Pressing his advantage he whirled around and immediately located targets. Several troops were climbing to their feet, attempting to bring their weapons to bear.

  “Die fuckers!” he screamed and ended them.

  A shape darted into the corridor behind him and he whirled to fire. Something in the back of his mind stopped him, as he recognized Kyren.

  “Whoah, easy big guy,” Kyren said, putting his hands out. “We have to go, we have to go now. They’re scrambling fighters, we’ve got to get airborn before they get here or we’re all toast.

  “No, I’m not going with you, I’m going to keep killing Crevak,” Tharox explained.

  “You can’t possibly take all of them out,” Kyren said, still not swaying him.

  “Doesn’t matter. I’ll kill them till I can’t kill anymore,” Tharox’s face was flushed, a mask of rage.

  “But you’ll die, you’ll be overwhelmed eventually,” Kyren stammered.

  “The price I pay for my vengeance, that it is,” was his dismissive reply.

  “No, come back with me. We’ll get out of here, let the Consortium know, and they’ll come put the hurt on these scumbags,” Kyren pleaded.

  “Doesn’t matter, I need their blood on my hands, I need to avenge my family,” Tharox growled, finally.

  Choosing another tactic, Kyren asked, “Are you really going to leave Isa all alone?”

  “Isa’s dead,” Tharox choked out.

  “No, she lives on in your BII. You’ve still got her, at least her mind,” Kyren pleaded.

  “Again, doesn’t matter.”

  “It does matter. She’s not going to leave you behind. We are not going to leave you behind.” Kyren sounded odd saying it.

  “She’ll be destroyed by the Crevak. Can you let the last shard of your wife die at their hands? Will you let them kill her again?” Kyren begged again.

  This gave him pause, but still he said, “you need to leave, take her away and keep her safe.”

  “You know that won’t happen. The others won’t leave us, they’ll stay, and the Crevak will find them. They’ll be killed, or worse, enslaved. Isa will be at their mercy,” again, Kyren’s pleas were failing to move him, the rage burning in his heart too great.

  Then somehow, the rage faded, and Tharox realized how foolish he was being. Isa was all he had, bur more importantly, he was all she had. He couldn’t leave her. He realized the thought pained him as much as losing his family had.

  “We need to go, now,” Kyren urged.

  “Okay,” he said, hesitating one last time.

  Then he followed as Kyren broke into a trot, heading back the way they came. They reached the ship and found Benjam standing in the airlock. He waggled his tentacles and cried out as Isa fired up the thrusters. They dashed up the ramp and into the Radiant Star even as Isa began lifting off.

  “Isa, we need to get out of here, and fast,” Kyren instructed as he scrambled into the bridge, Tharox following closely.

  “Fighters are inbound!” Alis cried, watching the targets marked on the viewscreen.

  The main engines roared to life and the Radiant Star shot through the maze of destroyed buildings, rapidly gaining speed. The rear viewscreen showed three midnight blue dart-shaped fighters pursuing.

  The ship streaked on through the city, attempting to lose the fighters to no avail. The main engine thrust increased and the ship rocketed into the sky, the fighters following.

  “Isa, prepare to jump as soon as we are in orbit and can maintain a stable vector,” Alis instructed.

  “It will take approximately seventy-seven seconds to reach altitude,” Isa replied. “Fighter craft are keeping pace but not gaining on us.”

  “You’ve got some speed, Isa,” Alis said with admiration while watching the viewscreens and vector readouts intently.

  Tharox watched as the atmosphere faded away and the blue of the sky transitioned to the dark of space.

  “The fighters are breaking off, but the light warships are moving from orbit to engage,” Isa warned.

  “Jump us now, Isa,” Tharox rumbled, and the ship winked out of existence.

  36

  Don’t Do That Again

  “Tharox dear… DON’T. EVER. DO. THAT. AGAIN,” Isa said angrily as jump sickness began to wear off. Benjam recoiled as the words thundered in the small space. He turned to see Tharox, head hanging low, not speaking.

  “Do you hear me! I know I need you because I’m a ship, but I need you for so many other reasons,” Isa said, this time without heat.

  “The need for vengeance overwhelmed me. I’m sorry, Isa,” Tharox replied, tone submissive.

  “Well, now that the unpleasantness is over, let’s have introductions. Who are your new friends?” Isa said, suddenly amiable.

  Benjam let Kyren do the introductions, motioning to Janeala, Akrus, and each of the refugees in turn. Seven in total. Out of sixteen. Benjam was horrified at what had happened. But he was thankful that they had at least saved some of them. And Janeala had survived, that was miraculous. Within her, the Knowledge Archive had a chance to live again someday.

  “Kyren, I’m uploading the data from the Archive to Isa,” Alis said, touching her wrench’s control panel.

  “Good, let’s get cracking on this Crevak disguise deal,” Kyren replied. “Isa, bring up the data, start sorting. Prioritize the more recent accounts.”

  “Sorting, searching, and bam!” Isa said, reports occupying every inch of the viewscreens.

  “Shit,” Kyren admonished. “That’s gonna be a lot of reading.”

  “Not necessarily,” Isa said cheerily. “I’ve read them all, and I can distill it down for you.”

  “Of course you can,” Benjam heard Alis mutter under her breath.

  Seeming to ignore her remark, Isa launched into her summary, “A Crevak disguise of true efficacy can be achieved only with the pinnacle of pre millennium-war tech. Other methods are crude, and far less effective.”

  “Okay, so what is this tech?” Kyren questioned.

  “The device is called a katerwan. It is pre millennium-war tech, so it is incredibly advanced. A tiny device, the katerwan is capable of not just disguising the user, but transforming the user. When the device is used, it actually rewrites the possessor’s DNA, rendering the disguise impenetrable.”

  “Sounds great, but where do we get one of these katerwans?” Kyren responded.

  “That, I don’t know,” Isa responded, regret evident in her voice.

  “Well, I might know a place,” Tharox interjected. “I don’t know if they’ll have it, but they might be able to point us in the right direction.”

  “Who? Where?” Kyren asked curiously.

  Benjam almost didn’t want to hear the answer. It didn’t matter where it was, he knew. Wherever they were, trouble would find them. But yet he wouldn’t have chosen to be anywhere else. There was just too much danger out there in the galaxy. At least he could rely on Kyren and Alis. Elarra too. And even Tharox, it would seem.

  “There’s a marketplace, they deal in pre-war tech. Very exclusive but I think I can get us in there,” he explained. “It’s on the edge of the Boneyard.”

  “What’s the Boneyard?” Kyren asked
.

  “It’s in the outer arm, past the Perseus Arm. Your neck of the woods, Junoval-boy,” Alis said, punching him playfully. “But seriously, we’ve been there before.”

  “Uh, but what is the Boneyard,” Benjam squeaked hesitantly, fear spilling into his gut at the ominous name.

  “You mean Pygar?” Kyren asked.

  “Yes, Pygar was within the Boneyard. It is a sector of space where only the wreckage from the Millennium War remains. The worlds bordering this region are lawless, controlled by warlords or pirates. The Consortium is unwelcome there,” Elarra interjected.

  “It’s lovely, let’s vacation there,” Alis said snarkily.

  “So where is this place?” Kyren asked, turning to Tharox.

  “The planet is called Vargos, and the marketplace gets merchandise directly from the relic hunters that frequent the Boneyard. If these katerwans can be found, it would be there,” Tharox related.

  A loud “ding” sounded over Isa’s speakers. She giggled. How like a person this BII was, he mused, then remembered she was part organic.

  “Looks like the cake is ready,” Isa remarked. “One steaming hot time continuum cake, coming right up.”

  “Oh boy!” Benjam exclaimed. Now he had data to analyze! “Let’s review the data now, Isa.”

  “Isa, can you plot a course for Vargos while you and Benjam work?” Tharox asked her.

  “Of course dear.” Moments later, she replied, “sixteen hours, eight jumps and three warp gates will take us there.”

  “To Vargos, then,” Tharox intoned.

  Benjam was glad they had a while to go. This was an immense amount of data to analyze. It was going to take some time.

  37

  Space Elevator

  Alis watched the viewscreens intently as they approached the planet Vargos, a large crescent of green forests, blue water, and white swirling clouds. When a teenager in school, she had been intrigued by the engineering necessary to craft and maintain a space elevator, so she was eagerly anticipating her first view.

  She thought she could just barely make it out. There! That was it, a thin line reaching up from the clouds, ending in a large station just barely in orbit. She could see what amounted to a huge parking lot, ships docked along the many spires extending from the station. The central core of the station was capped by a clear plexi-steel dome.

  The closer they came, the more detail she could see. She zoomed the viewscreen. There were buildings under the dome, probably several city blocks worth. Below the station, the tether ran down to the surface of the planet, the destination unseen below the cloud cover.

  “We will be docking in a few minutes,” Isa informed them.

  “What’s the plan, Tharox,” Kyren asked.

  “We’ll find the marketplace, find a relic dealer, and inquire about these katerwans.”

  “Benjam, how much longer on your data analysis before you can tell us something concrete?” Kyren inquired.

  “Well, that is hard to tell. It could be soon or we may hit uncertainty and have to re-run models. I really can’t say,” he squeaked his reply.

  “In that case, you stay here and keep working, okay?”

  Isa docked the ship and Alis darted for the airlock.

  “Eager to get off the ship?” Kyren asked her, giving a sidelong glance as he followed.

  “Yeah. I mean, no, I just want to see the space elevator,” she replied.

  “What’s a space elevator?” he asked, looking puzzled.

  “Oh it’s a magnificent feat of engineering, it is,” Alis began excitedly. “A tether, at a minimum of twenty-two thousand miles long, extends from the surface to a facility in geostationary orbit.”

  “Twenty-two thousand miles?!” Kyren questioned incredulously.

  “Yeah, it is kept aloft by the balance of gravitational forces from the surface up to the orbital end. There will be vehicles that climb and descend, shuttling people and goods to and from the ground. It’s more efficient than expending valuable fuel to escape the planet’s gravity well,” Alis continued.

  “Oh, that’s cool, I guess,” Kyren replied, earning a derisive snort from Alis.

  Alis exited the ship and looked around for the nearest directory. The station’s walls were tarnished and corroded, a layer of paint long peeled away, leaving only specks. The floor plates were rough metal, echoing hollowly as they stepped. She spotted a holopanel on the wall a little way down the corridor that contained what she was looking for.

  “Kyren, get a look at this map. Get us to the core, that’s where the transport will be.”

  She watched Kyren examine the map for a moment, then started off down the hall. Alis followed, the others, Tharox and Elarra, in tow. Tharox had left his massive rifle on the ship, but she had seen Kyren tucking the small pistol into his waistband. She had no idea what to expect, but was glad to see he wasn’t taking chances.

  They reached the core and found themselves in a massive underground chamber, an array of huge doors ringing the central shaft. On one side goods and people were being moved out of the giant elevators. The other side was loading up for the trip to the surface.

  “There’s the ticketing booth,” Elarra said, pointing.

  Elarra bought them passes to the surface. They walked through an ancient turnstile that incremented a counter on its tarnished surface. They boarded the passenger compartment and looked for seats. Alis picked a row toward the back and they sat down.

  An intercom came on, “please take your seats. Take your seats, please.”

  Once everyone was seated, the speaker continued, “the duration of the trip is five hours and nineteen minutes. Acceleration will last for several minutes, after which time you are allowed to move about the cabin.”

  The acceleration was mild, and was over relatively quickly. Alis made her way to the window and stared out at the blackness of space. The windows curved along the hull of the elevator car into the floor, allowing her to see straight down. A bank of clouds was lit bright, reflecting the sunlight in a dazzling glow, making her squint.

  Watching the clouds rapidly approaching, Alis’ thoughts drifted to her family. Had her mom survived? What about her father and brother? Had their ship made it? The uncertainty drove her mind to dark places. Tears rolled down her cheeks. Embarrassed, she wiped them away quickly. She had to have faith, had to keep from losing hope.

  Making sure she had erased all signs of her emotional outpouring, she turned back to her companions. She looked at them with affection. At least they had all made it. She didn’t know what she would do if it weren’t for Kyren and the others. Together they had a purpose.

  “…and we should be careful, watch for trouble,” Kyren was saying.

  “Certainly, I agree. The marketplace may be dangerous, this sector is notoriously lawless. The Consortium doesn’t patrol the Boneyard, they largely ignore it. Many local pirates operate from this region, and even Crevak may be present,” Tharox warned.

  “How about you, Elarra? Have you had any visions that might help?” Kyren asked her.

  “Perhaps, but I can’t be sure, yet. I will reveal more as it becomes relevant,” Elarra said enigmatically.

  Alis grumbled to herself as her ears went in opposite directions. They had traveled with her for quite some time, faced challenges together, even died and came back together. Yet Elarra was still as elusive as ever. Couldn’t she just say what she saw and let us interpret, she thought resentfully.

  Alis, tired and emotionally exhausted, returned to her seat, reclining it and closing her eyes. She might as well make the most of the time and try to recharge. It didn’t take her long to drift off.

  38

  Shoktar

  Kyren walked out of the station, into the chill evening air. Shivering, he pulled his jacket tight. They better find some warmer clothes, he thought. Ten-thousand feet in altitude, the air was thin and the nights frigid. The street was busy, but not overcrowded. He waited to spot a human, or at least a humanoid, and asked
for directions.

  “We can walk there it is only a few blocks,” Kyren informed the others after speaking briefly with a green-skinned humanoid with long antennae protruding from its forehead.

  They struck out at a brisk pace, wending their way through the light crowd. They reached the marketplace and Kyren was already shivering. He glanced around and noted the others were shivering too.

  A massive arch extended across a broad street with expansive sidewalks. The way ahead was a maze of streets, lined by stalls, shops, and warehouses. The streets were filled with motocars and motobikes, similar in design to those of Junoval. The sidewalks were crowded with a huge variety of alien beings.

  Kyren recognized less than ten percent of the strange creatures. Humanoids with skin that ran the rainbow gamut were scattered about. But there were far weirder creatures, too. Reptilian things, one that looked like an eight-legged crocodile, turned and grinned at him, exposing short, sharp teeth.

  Finally, there was a saurian, recognizable and familiar. A couple of humans in parkas walked right behind, rifles slung over their backs. As they walked past they gave Kyren a hard stare. He almost ran into something that was four feet tall, sort of like a scaled, gold penguin.

  “Grappa!” it snorted, making a complex hand gesture at him.

  He could only shrug and push on through the throng. He spotted a garment store ahead, and pointed it out to the others.

  “Let’s get some warmer clothes, please,” Alis suggested, shivering.

  “That would be wise,” Elarra said, teeth chattering uncontrollably.

  The garment vendor offered warm puffy parkas, or sleeker, hi-tech bio-suits capable of sustaining body temperatures with only a few layers of nano-weave. Elarra seemed to be more prudent with her cash these days, though. She directed them to purchase the standard parkas.