Legacy of the Argus

by E. R. Torre

  “I will,” Cer said.

  For several minutes they were together and stared at the view-screen and listened to the buzz of the distress signal.

  “We’re nearing the mid-way point,” Inquisitor Cer said.

  Soon, the auto-pilot would initiate the long deceleration and eventual orbit around the planet.

  “Much as I love your company, you should get some rest.”

  B’taav nodded. He felt the weight of exhaustion and, for a moment, wondered if he had the strength to rise to his feet.

  “I could stay right here, you know.”

  “You could but your body insists otherwise.”

  “You’d be right about that,” B’taav said and smiled.

  He got to his feet and stretched.

  “Until we meet again, dear lady.”

  The Independent embraced Inquisitor Cer and they kissed one more time.

  “We’ll make it through this,” she said.

  B’taav released her and walked to the bridge’s exit. The door slid open automatically and the Independent lingered there a moment.

  Behind him, Inquisitor Cer focused on the instrumentation before her. After a few seconds, she looked back.

  By then, B’taav was gone.

  72

  B’taav entered one of the Xendos’ main corridors.

  He intended to go straight to his room and bed but realized he was hungry. He decided to visit the ship’s forward deck and get something to eat.

  The Xendos’ forward deck was a tinsel glass enclosure filled with tables and computers. It was used by the crew as a recreation area and dining room.

  B’taav expected to find Becky Waters and Nox there. They spent the last couple of days in that section of the ship, studying Phaecian and Epsillon Empire history and culture while becoming acquainted with modern technologies. Learning came easy for them as their nano-probe infused bodies allowed them to retain information at a much higher rate than the average person could.

  B’taav stepped into the lounge and found Becky Waters sitting behind one of the computers.

  Becky Waters was a large, powerfully built woman with black hair that showed the first hints of gray. Her eyes were metallic silver spheres and the skin of her exposed arms were torn in places, revealing machinery below. How much of the rest of her body was machine instead of flesh was a mystery known only to her.

  “Hello,” B’taav said while walking to the food dispenser. He ordered a protein meal and pulled it from the dispenser’s drop, took a bite, and faced the lounge.

  He realized Nox was not there.

  “Any changes in the signal?” Becky Waters asked.

  “None, though I’ve determined it’s older than we first thought.”

  “Oh?”

  “I checked the earliest files in the Displacer’s memory. They suggest the signal was there but her system classified it as ambient noise, going back at least a thousand years before being reclassified to a distress signal.”

  “Interesting,” Becky Waters said. “It’s hard enough to imagine the signal is a thousand years old, much less double that. The Phaecian Empire, at least what existed of it back then, was not capable of making such a flight through regular space. There’s no way a Phaecian ship could be here.”

  “Neither could an Epsillon vessel,” B’taav said. “Yet the signal is there and it has to be from a vessel that made its way here, however improbably, well before the arrival of the Displacer.”

  “Making it even more of a mystery.”

  B’taav leaned against a chair and stared out the windows at the front of the lounge. Like the main view-screen in the bridge, the pale bluish-white dot was at the dead center.

  “I can see the planet quite well, you know,” Becky Waters said. “Not as well as the Xendos’ cameras, but well enough. It’s a cold world. Covered in ice. There are heat sources.”

  “Really?”

  “The Xendos’ computers will eventually pick them up but don’t get too excited. They could be the result of natural conditions. Perhaps even volcanic activity. Then again, they could be the result of something… else.”

  Becky Waters smiled. Her smile was eerie in the dim light.

  “But you and I know the planet’s icy surface presents an even greater mystery. She orbits close enough to the sun that she shouldn’t be iced up to begin with.”

  “I know,” B’taav said. “But given our distance and the incomplete readings, I didn’t want to speculate.”

  “Nothing wrong with a little speculation,” Becky Waters said. “We have a planet covered in ice which shouldn’t be there and a distress signal coming from that general area that can’t be there. If you have a planet which is frozen over yet her orbit should not allow her to maintain such a state, one must assume the ice covering her surface is an artificial creation. Why would anyone freeze up an entire planet?”

  “Because something under the ice needs to be kept cold?”

  “Computers and engines create heat. Lest they overheat, they have mechanisms in place to cool them down. Perhaps those heat sources I saw represent some kind of machinery.”

  “What kind of machine needs an entire planet to keep it cool?”

  “A very large one,” Becky Waters said.

  The lounge grew very quiet for a few moments before Becky once again spoke.

  “There’s something I wanted to ask you. When you got close to Nox. Did you… did you talk to him through her?”

  “Spradlin? Yeah. I did.”

  “What did he tell you?”

  “He told me there were nano-probes similar to those created by the Locust Plague within the Empires,” B’taav said. “I was poisoned by them before making the trip to Earth.”

  “Did he mention me?”

  “No,” B’taav said. “But I could tell he wanted to. I don’t know how to explain it, but your presence was felt because it wasn’t there.”

  B’taav finished his protein mash and realized he was again sweating.

  “You’re feverish.”

  “No. It’s just that—”

  “You haven’t asked about Nox,” Becky Waters said.

  The Mechanic known as Nox was a veteran of the long ago Arabian War conducted on Earth. Along with Becky Waters, the two were the last remaining humans left on Earth following the Exodus. They could not leave the planet because of the fear the nano-probes in their bodies could be taken over by the Locust Plague. With the alien fleet destroyed, that was no longer a concern. The two spent millennia in cryogenic units, only to be resurrected by the arrival of B’taav and Inquisitor Cer.

  “Where is she?” B’taav asked.

  “She’s sick,” Becky Waters said.

  B’taav stared at Becky Waters but she no longer paid attention to him. Shadows covered her face while silence filled the lounge. The shadows spread, covering her entire body until all was dark.

  Behind him, a light flashed. It was the third planet in the system. It was calling him. A siren call he could not ignore…

  B’taav awoke and frantically looked around.

  He was in his bed.

  The Independent let out a soft moan and found his body and the sheets covered in sweat. He felt so very hot.

  Something’s wrong.

  “Lights,” he said.

  The lights came on, revealing his small, empty room. B’taav moved to the edge of the bed.

  She’s sick.

  B’taav checked the time. He had four hours left before his shift on the bridge began.

  He got to his feet and reached for clothing draped over a chair. He put on his black suit and exited the room.

  B’taav needed to clear his head.

  He took a long walk, as long as was possible and lapped around the ship’s corridors, moving in circles and going from floor to floor.

  When he reached the third level, he spied the doors leading to the Xendos’ forward deck.

  The tinsel glass front revealed a field of stars.

  B’ta
av stopped just outside the forward deck’s entrance. It was very dark within and the bluish-white sphere they were flying toward stared back at him.

  “Becky?” he said. “Nox?”

  There was no answer.

  In his mind he heard the static of the distress signal.

  B’taav stepped to the elevator and, when its doors opened, entered.

  The elevator door closed and for a moment B’taav was plunged into complete darkness.

  He felt movement. Something –someone– was beside him.

  “Hello?” B’taav said.

  There was no answer.

  B’taav reached out. His hands touched air yet he knew someone was there, standing only a few feet—

  The doors opened and outside light illuminated the elevator’s interior.

  It was empty.

  B’taav exited and the doors closed.

  The bridge was exactly as he left it hours before but Inquisitor Cer wasn’t there.

  “Cer?” B’taav called out.

  He approached the ship’s control panel. Apart from the fact that Inquisitor Cer wasn’t there, everything was in its place. He looked up at the main view-screen and the pale bluish-white dot.

  She’s sick.

  The voice was male and B’taav recognized it.

  Paul Spradlin.

  B’taav walked on unsteady feet.

  He was somewhere else. With someone else.

  His thoughts were fragmented and it was hard to sort through them. The cold air was gone and it was very hot. Stifling

  Where are you going? What are you doing?

  He made his way to the crew quarters and walked through that corridor.

  He sensed movement around him, in the shadows, yet when he looked saw nothing.

  You’re alone, he thought yet knew that wasn’t entirely the case.

  He stopped before the door to his room. It was open and the room dark. His bed was empty.

  B’taav walked on, stopping before the door to Nox’s room. He knocked. There was no answer.

  “Nox?”

  Still no answer.

  He pressed a button beside the door and it slid open.

  Before him was absolute darkness. He sensed she was there, somewhere.

  “Is he talking to you?”

  The voice was Nox’s. She sounded hoarse, exhausted.

  “Yes.”

  A light appeared before him. It grew stronger until B’taav was forced to close his eyes.

  When he opened them, he was in another part of the ship.

  He stood before the door to the Xendos’ medical station.

  B’taav felt another chill.

  The Independent gathered his strength and opened the door. Instead of the medical station, he stood before a steep staircase that led down into darkness.

  He took the steps down. Down and down. Too far. He stopped.

  When he did, it appeared before him. Another door.

  He opened that door and found a room. It was empty except for two cots. There were people lying on each of them. They held hands.

  They were B’taav and Nox.

  B’taav was no longer in the Xendos.

  He stood in the middle of a desert plain. Hot air whipped around him.

  Nox was a few feet away. She was much younger, little more than a child, yet carried a fearsome looking rifle and her clothing was heavily armored.

  “Nox?” B’taav called out.

  She ignored him and set her rifle against a rock. She then removed her jacket and helmet.

  Nox had short black hair. There were three blue stripes tattooed above her right eyebrow. The tattoos identified her as a child soldier in Earth’s Arabian conflict.

  “Spradlin’s talking to me too,” she said. “He’s trying to control me.”

  Nox was no longer a child. She moved forward, past B’taav, and to a parked motorcycle. She ran her hands over it. As she did, parts of it faded away.

  “Knew my machine like it was a part of me,” she said. “Now I’m having a hard time remembering…”

  Nox rubbed her eyes.

  “Spradlin’s nano-probes are fighting for control,” she said. “It’s a fight only one of us will survive.”

  73

  Becky Waters stood just inside the Xendos’ medical station.

  Her body was eerily still and her metal eyes were upon the two cots before her. B’taav lay in one of them and Nox in the other. They held hands. The Mechanic’s face was pale and her eyes sunken in.

  Upon leaving Earth, Nox’s deterioration came incredibly quickly. One day she was fine, the next she was feverish and, shortly after that, she slipped into a coma. The medical station’s scanners were unable to explain her condition or prescribe treatment yet B’taav somehow knew what to do.

  He lay down on the cot next to hers, grabbed her hand, and slipped into his own deep sleep. His body, genetically engineered to resist nano-probes, stabilized Nox and her deterioration slowed. It did not stop.

  Inquisitor Cer entered the medical station and walked to B’taav’s side.

  “They keep fighting,” Becky Waters said.

  “It’s what they do,” Inquisitor Cer said.

  “They need… they need to kill Spradlin,” Becky Waters said, though it hurt to say so.

  Inquisitor Cer remembered the moment before B’taav took Nox’s hand.

  The two kissed and B’taav swore he would be fine. Looking at him now, in this bed, she wondered.

  “You’re a bastard, Spradlin,” Becky Waters said. “A ghost that doesn’t know how to stay dead.”

  She rubbed her face. For a day and a night they watched over their companions, hoping to see any signs of improvement.

  At the end of the next day, an alert sounded throughout the ship.

  Inquisitor Cer and Becky Waters entered the Xendos’ bridge and approached one of the ship’s main computers. The alert came from the Displacer they emerged from nearly a week before and which lay three days’ travel behind them.

  Inquisitor Cer read the information on the monitor.

  “Two vessels emerged from the Displacer,” Inquisitor Cer said. “They’re in-system.”

  The ships’ descriptions and identification codes appeared.

  “…it can’t be,” Inquisitor Cer said.

  One of the two ships was the Epsillon Battleship Wake. Schematics from the jump suggested she was damaged and being towed by a second vessel. The HPB Cygnusa.

  Becky Waters tapped the keys before her and information regarding both ships appeared. She poured over the data quickly. When she was done, she understood Inquisitor Cer’s reaction.

  Much more information, the regular news updates from the Empires, arrived through the Displacer. They detailed the latest non-security news from both the Phaecian and Epsillon Empires. Becky Waters read this data as well.

  “Inquisitor, you need to see this,” she said.

  Inquisitor Cer pulled up the information. It described the shadow war thrust into the open between two mysterious alien forces. The war spread from the Epsillon to the Phaecian Empires.

  “Now read this,” Becky Waters said.

  Inquisitor Cer read the next article. It focused on the punishment Inquisitor Raven faced for failing to capture the Xendos.

  Inquisitor Cer was silent for several seconds.

  “He’ll be after you,” Becky Waters said.

  Inquisitor Cer clicked off the news and stared at the main view-screen.

  “Given the distance between us, we could easily disappear,” Becky Waters said. “You’ve escaped the Cygnusa before. You can do it again.”

  “I escaped… at a great cost to Inquisitor Raven,” Inquisitor Cer said.

  “You couldn’t have known what would happen to him,” Becky Waters said.

  “No,” Inquisitor Cer agreed. “But I should have. There were consequences to my actions and an innocent life was taken because of me.”

  Inquisitor Cer shook her head. Her white eyes shined in the
darkness and her jaw tightened.

  “It’s time to end this,” she said.

  74

  A short time before…

  Inquisitor Raven stood in the center of the bridge and faced the main view-screen.

  The interdimensional corridor’s lights flickered wildly. The journey from the Fields was in its ninth minute.

  To his right, Catherine Holland was on her knees and next to the remains of Sergeant Delmont. Nearby was the ashen body of Chief Muses. Security Officers surrounded them.

  “Take her back to the security cells,” Inquisitor Raven said.

  Catherine Holland got to her feet and was escorted to the elevator. When she was close to Inquisitor Raven he said:

  “Is it safe to… to dispose of them?”

  “Yes,” Catherine Holland said. “There’s nothing left. Ashes to ashes.”

  With that, she and the Security Officers left the bridge.

  “Clean up this mess,” Inquisitor Raven ordered.

  Another pair of officers brought body bags and safety gloves. They used a vacuum system to transfer the bodies into separate sealed bags.

  “I want a thorough examination of these remains,” Inquisitor Raven said.

  “Yes sir,” the officers said before they too left the bridge.

  Raven’s attention returned to the main view-screen and the interdimensional corridor.

  “Radiation levels?”

  “Holding in the high safe range.”

  “The Wake?”

  “In place. Gravity hooks are optimal.”

  Inquisitor Raven drew a deep breath and, as he released it, felt the tension leave his body.

  “Look!” Lieutenant Sanders said.

  In the center of the main view-screen appeared a small black dot.

  “Thank the Gods,” Inquisitor Raven said. “All weapons and sensor equipment stand by.”

  Inquisitor Raven tapped his communicator.

  “Lieutenant Daniels, this is Inquisitor Raven,” he said.

  “We see it,” Lieutenant Daniels said. “Exit preparations are in effect. All operating offensive and defensive equipment ready.”

  “Good,” Inquisitor Raven said. “Keep the communication channels open.”