by Karl Beecher
Tyresa and Ade exchanged glances. Something was up.
"Is there a problem?" asked Colin.
Tyresa coughed. "What do you remember about being in that cave?"
She took Colin step-by-step through the journey: revealing the doorway, traversing the tunnel, finding the chamber with the artifact. He confirmed remembering every step, albeit through the haze of his delirium at the time. But he remembered nothing between collapsing in the chamber and waking up just now. The dream probably wasn't worth mentioning.
She filled in the blanks, revealing how she and Ade had hauled Colin back to the ship after he'd collapsed and whacked his head against the artifact. Colin stroked a fresh bump on his forehead. Great, another shining beauty.
"Are you sure you don't remember something," said Tyresa. "Are you sure you weren't conscious at some point?"
Colin shook his head. "No. I couldn't have been. I was dreaming."
This perked her interest. "Dreaming? About what?"
He recounted his journey through space and meeting with a long-dead English character actor. Strangely, this seemed to excite Tyresa, who pressed him for details on what Alec Guinness had told him.
Colin fluttered his lips and tried to remember. "He said something about joining with my mind, that this was a comforting avatar chosen from my own memories. He was about to explain something…"
Tyresa stepped closer. "What?"
"Nothing. He didn't get a chance."
"Nothing?"
This didn't seem to please her.
"He mentioned something going wrong," said Colin. "Then he just disappeared."
"Are you sure he said nothing else?" She grabbed at his collar. "Think!"
He peered nervously at the clenched fist below his jaw, then shook his head.
She looked at her own hand, then let go. "Sorry," she muttered.
Colin swallowed. "What's the great interest? It's just a silly dream."
"Maybe…"
Once again, Tyresa and Ade exchanged glances.
"Perhaps, ma'am," said Ade, "now is an appropriate time to explain."
She nodded. Colin's gaze flickered between them. The mood in the room had turned odd.
"Explain what?" he asked.
She paused a moment, then took a deep breath. "This might sound like a strange question, but are you familiar with the theory of spacetime-warp fields generated by negative energy-inducing quantum interactions?"
Colin squinted at her. "I think I was off school the week they taught that."
"I thought not." She nodded to Ade, who activated the large wall-mounted screen. "In which case, I'm at a loss to explain this."
A complicated, hand-drawn diagram appeared on the screen, an intricate sprawl of boxes, arrows, and mathematical symbols. It looked like something a mad physicist would draw after a particularly good LSD trip.
"You're at a loss?" said Colin. "It gives me a headache just looking at it."
Tyresa gave him an earnest stare. "But you drew it."
"Me?"
She nodded. "Between getting back to the ship and waking up a moment ago, you went into something like a seizure and started chanting some meaningless babble. I didn't know what you were saying, but then we noticed you seemed to be sketching with your hand in mid-air. So I stuck a stylus in your hand, stood you in front of the screen, and you drew this."
Colin was stunned. "That's impossible. I don't even know what that is."
"It's a pretty accurate diagram explaining the concept of faster-than-light travel using negative energy-induced warp fields. It's roughly the same principle that powers the engines in most starships." She nodded once more at Ade. "You also drew this."
Ade brought up a second sketch. At first, it appeared to be a random assortment of dots all over the screen; much more plausibly attributable to Colin. On a second glance, however, the pattern of the dots didn't seem totally random.
"Stars?" he guessed.
Tyresa nodded. "Yep. In fact, if you line up this sketch with a view of space from the Solo star system at a specific angle, those dots match up perfectly with the stars."
"Incredible." Colin noticed something on the sketch. "One of the stars is circled."
"Uh-huh. You did that too. That just happens to be Alcentor, the closest star to Solo."
Scrawled in the corner of the sketch were several concentric circles and a load of numbers. Colin pointed them out.
"I'm not certain," said Tyresa, "but they look like they're identifying a specific planet and some coordinates on its surface. I presume a planet in Alcentor."
This wasn't making sense. "Planets?" Colin pleaded. "Warp engines? I know none of this. How the heck did I do it?"
Tyresa shrugged. "I don't know, but clearly that information got into you by some means. Question is, where did it come from? That obelisk you banged your head against is a candidate. You were the only one of us who touched it. If it was, that raises other questions like who put it there and why?"
"The obelisk?" Colin remembered something. "Hold on. You said that obelisk was made of stuff that those aliens used…" He clicked his fingers, trying to recall their name. "The…Predeceaseds—"
"Predecessors."
"Predecessors, right. So, you think I might have been…spoken to by aliens?"
Tyresa folded her arms, as though restraining herself. The look on her face suggested she wanted to believe it despite knowing better. "Spoken to? No, that's not possible. The Predecessors died out a million years ago.
"What about that dream?" Colin protested. "I conversed with somebody. And they put information in my head."
"But what information? Instructions on how to build warp engines. Why tell us that when we have them already? And why direct us towards a planet that people already inhabit? Alcentor is a major Transhacker planet."
"Ah…good point."
"We can't discount the possibility that it was human-made." The words seemed to pain Tyresa as she spoke them. "It's the simplest explanation. That's what we sceptical scientists are supposed to seek after all. True, that artifact was made of Predecessor material, but that doesn't mean Predecessor hands built it. Hell, half the technology in the galaxy is stuff we developed on the back of old Predecessor artifacts."
Then, a distinct change came over Tyresa. A thought seemed to strike her, something that lit a fire behind her eyes. She looked at Colin with an expression that wasn't a million miles away from Brock Hanson's in his most zealous of moods.
She leaned towards him. "However," she said with a growing smile, "it's not impossible that the Predecessors left something behind for us to find. It's not beyond the realm of possibility that they put that obelisk there before they died out, maybe to guide us towards something by putting information into your brain. Which brings me to the next thing…"
"There's more?"
"After we finally got you back to the ship, we hooked you up to the medical scanners. We took a brain scan. Ade?"
Ade flipped to yet another image on the screen, this time a cross-section of a head. "This is your brain, sir."
"I thought I recognised it," said Colin.
The android pointed to dozens of little yellow spots dotted around the brain matter. "The scan shows evidence of some recent, externally induced realignment of electrical and neurochemical pathways, along with residuals of sub-quantum tracers of an unknown nature."
"Yes," said Colin dryly. "That's obvious enough."
He turned to Tyresa with a pleading expression on his face.
"The short version," she said. "is your brain was being…accessed somehow. Some kind of energy which I've never seen before was at work inside that cranium of yours. Maybe it was just scanning, I don't know. But it might have been manipulating too."
"Manipulating?" He rubbed his forehead, wondering whether he might somehow sense a difference. There was nothing new on the surface, apart from those two damned bumps. He didn't perceive any inward difference either, aside from the absence of an unhe
althy feeling. "Is this energy still there?"
Ade coughed diplomatically.
Tyresa looked at him and her smile melted away. "Oh, right, yeah." She looked back at Colin. The fire in her eyes died away. "There's something we have to tell you." She sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. "Well, there's no easy way to say it. It was in the middle of these scans that you woke up and started drawing those doodles. After you finished, you just fell unconscious again. So we hooked you back up to the scanners once more."
Ade brought up the next image: another brain scan, except all the yellow dots had vanished. All but one that is.
The android resumed his lecture. "This is the subsequent scan, sir. The residuals of the unknown energy had dissipated, except in this area around the thalamus, which is where your disease is localised."
"Is localised?" replied Colin. "You mean was localised."
Tyresa shook her head. "We looked closer at that spot, Colin. Now, you've got to keep in mind, I'm no medical specialist, and the equipment we have is pretty rudimentary. But it looks like your disease is still there."
"Still there?" exclaimed Colin. He grabbed at words in a frenzy. "But…my operation…Gunga said he'd…I was cured. You mean Gunga failed?"
"From the looks of it," said Tyresa, "he never even tried."
Never tried? Colin thought over the last few days. It all started to make sense. The forgetfulness, the sickly feeling, the degrading vision. They weren't the after-effects of surgery. They were the symptoms of his illness.
Oh no.
If Gunga hadn't treated it, then…"You mean I'm still ill? Terminally ill?"
"Hang on," replied Tyresa, "that's not the whole story."
"What's the rest of the story?"
"To be honest… I'm not sure. By rights, you should already be in a coma, waiting to die. But you're not. Look at you! You're awake, you seem perfectly healthy, and your memory is fine. Your disease is still there, but it's encased in some weird energy that is doing… something, I don't know what."
Colin's stomach turned. "I have to get to a hospital."
"Don't worry," Tyresa assured him, "we're on our way to one right now."
"Now? You mean…" He looked over his shoulder where he remembered the sickbay had a viewport. The unmistakeable swirls of warp speed streaked by the window. "So, you're taking me back to Saint Barflet's?"
"No," replied Tyresa. "We going to Alcentor."
"Alcentor? Why not Saint Barflet's? You said they were the only ones with a cure."
"No, we took you there because we knew they had a cure. Other planets might have a cure too."
"You mean you're not sure?" exclaimed Colin. "Then why don't you take me back to Saint Barflet's? We know they can help me there."
"Because it's further away. We're going at full speed, that'll get us to Alcentor in a day and a half. It would take twice as long to get to Procya, and we don't know how much time we have."
The memory of Tyresa's fiery eyes came to mind, lighting up at the possibility of a grand Predecessor find. "And I suppose it's just a coincidence that this treasure trail points towards Alcentor? Sounds rather convenient. Not so much the sceptical scientist now, eh?"
Tyresa looked shocked. "Hey, I resent that. I'm taking a risk hauling your ass to Alcentor. It's a Transhacker planet. When we arrive, presuming we don't get attacked by a patrol ship on the way, we'll likely be arrested. You think I'd risk my life and storm onto a Transhacker planet without a proper plan, just in the hopes of some monumental discovery?"
Colin couldn't believe she was honestly asking the question. "Well, yes," he said.
Tyresa looked as though she was about to argue, but then paused and seemingly thought better of it. "Okay, you're right, it does sound like me. But there's every reason to believe they can help you. The Transhackers are very advanced people. They're famous throughout the galaxy for using technology to enhance physical functions. That includes neural implants. Their knowledge of the brain is exceptional. They're bound to know how to cure your disease. If you won't listen to me, listen to Ade." She turned to him. "Right, Ade?"
"It is…" The android chose his next words carefully. "…conceivable, I suppose, ma'am."
"See!" cried Colin. "Even Ade thinks it's suspect."
Tyresa flung a dismissive gesture at him. "Ah, what do you want to listen to him for?"
"I can't believe this," said Colin. "You're minimising the risk of my disease just so you can follow this treasure trail."
"Woah!" snapped Tyresa, holding up a hand. She was starting to look angry. "I know we're pretty relaxed about ranking aboard this ship, but that doesn't mean I'm not in charge, right? Where this ship goes is my decision. Understood?"
Colin shifted. He couldn't argue with that. And, judging from the look on Tyresa's face, he didn't want to. "Fine," he said in a shrunken voice. "But you're still putting us all in danger. Remember what happened last time we came across a Transhacker ship?"
"I know," she replied. "But that was a patrol ship, a completely autonomous vessel. No humans aboard. They're programmed to be automatically hostile. They only patrol the outer fringes of Transhacker territory, but we're well within the borders now. That means we're more likely to be intercepted by a cruiser manned by a real crew. If… if… we're intercepted, then I can bargain with them and plead diplomatic immunity. We'll come to no harm.
"Besides," she concluded, "we're small and well on our way now. With luck, we won't even see a hostile ship until we reach Alcentor tomorrow."
At that precise moment, as though the galaxy were controlled by a god possessed of immaculate comic timing, a siren began wailing, and red warning lights flashed from the walls.
Ade turned to a small wall monitor. "It would appear, ma'am," he cried out above the din, "we are being intercepted by a hostile ship."
16
It was just like old times, if by ‘old times' one meant a couple of weeks ago.
Tyresa wrestled with the Turtle's controls, trying to evade the pursuing Transhacker ship. Ade stood at a nearby console, calling out sensor data and navigation updates. Colin did his bit by racing up and down the bridge with all the composure of a man accidentally falling from the top of a skyscraper.
"Do something!" Colin shrieked, transfixed by the hologram of the Transhacker ship floating above the map table. The huge, grey, wedge-shaped monstrosity was closing in on the pathetic handful of pixels that was the Turtle.
"I told you to calm down," Tyresa yelled back, trying to concentrate and not let the situation overwhelm her. If she panicked, they'd have no hope of escaping. "And I am doing something."
"Whatever you're doing, it's not working," cried Colin. "They're getting closer."
"I know."
"And you said it'd be in weapons range in a few minutes."
"I know."
"And that was a few minutes ago!"
"I know!"
She wasn't used to this running commentary. Before Colin appeared on her ship, the only other person who spoke during emergencies was Ade, but he always remained so calm during a crisis he could have narrated a relaxation tape at the same time.
She made a mental note for whenever ‘battle-stations' was declared in future: Colin's battle-station was the starboard side storage closet.
Still, he had a point. Things looked hopeless. Damn, the cruiser's crew was good. Not only had they located the Turtle, they'd chased her down and pulled the old warp-buffeting trick, colliding their own warp field with the Turtle's and forcing both ships to sub-light speed. Tyresa had tried pulling some counter-manoeuvres of her own, trying to get out of reach and back into warp. None of them had done any good. The cruiser's commander had anticipated them all.
She was running out of tricks. They'd be in weapons range any second now.
Ade spoke up. "Incoming transmission, ma'am."
Well, at least they wanted to talk. The Hacker commander was well within their rights to blast them to pieces. Clearly, they were in a good
mood today.
"On speaker," she commanded.
Ade opened the channel.
"Alliance intruder," came the male voice, ripe with arrogance. "Power down your engines and surrender your vessel. If you do not, you will be fired upon. Further resistance is futile."
Tyresa had one last trick: smooth-talking. However, that was unlikely to work on a Transhacker. You'd have more luck smooth-talking an incoming asteroid into going around your planet instead.
"Transhumanist Cruiser," she replied, loud and confident. "This is civilian vessel SS Turtle on a mercy mission to Alcentor. I have a passenger aboard requiring emergency medical treatment at a specialist facility."
There was a pause before the other commander's voice came back. "This is Captain Mikka Kliez Four-Six-Four of TSS Cruiser Eighty-Nine. Why are you in Collective space?"
"That's a long story," replied Tyresa. "The short version is, my passenger was kidnapped and brought into your territory against his will. I rescued him, and now I'm bringing him to a hospital."
"Then you can tell me the long version of this likely story in person," replied the Captain. "Hold your position until we fix a tug beam on you and bring you aboard."
"But my passenger is gravely ill—"
"Our heading is also Alcentor. We are equipped with a highly-skilled medical staff who may be of assistance to your passenger. We are also a faster ship than you. If he needs medical care on Alcentor, we'll get him there quicker. If this is indeed your mission, why would you resist?"
Why indeed? If only the Captain knew what she'd just found on Solo IV. A Predecessor artif—no, a suspected Predecessor artifact the completeness of which the galaxy had never seen before, along with the possibility of even more to be found on Alcentor.
The next step was vital and needed careful consideration. Visions of the future played out in Tyresa's mind.
In one vision, she surrendered, was brought aboard the Transhacker ship, smooth-talked her way out of captivity and made her way to Alcentor to do some quiet excavation, revealing whatever that Predecessor artef—that suspected Predecessor artifact had guided her towards.
