Legacy of the Argus

by E. R. Torre

  “What about heat signatures?” Becky Waters said.

  “We looked for them,” Lieutenant Sanders said. “We could not find any.”

  “They were there,” Becky Waters said.

  “I’m certain they were. But they’re not there anymore.”

  “What about signs of life?” Raven asked.

  “Couldn’t find that, either.”

  “An ice world where there shouldn’t be one and a ghost signal that lures us here but stops as soon as we arrive,” Raven said. “If that doesn’t sound like a trap…”

  “There’s no sign of any other ships or offensive platforms,” Lieutenant Sanders said. “There’s no sign of anything.”

  “Whatever Vulcan planned, it will happen,” Cer said. “Catherine Holland is certain.”

  “She is, but I wish she could be more definite,” Raven said. “What about the Wake?”

  “Lieutenant Daniels reports the scavengers are healthy and the Wake is mostly repaired. All remaining major damage will be addressed in the next week. What’s left will require docking at a repair port.”

  “The Displacer?”

  “The Wake’s technicians still haven’t been able to reactivate her,” Lieutenant Sanders said. “Sir, if we can’t unlock her…”

  Raven nodded. He pressed button and the main monitor at the end of the room displayed a galactic map. The Cygnusa’s position was highlighted by a red dot and another system at the bottom right of the monitor was highlighted with a yellow dot. He pointed to that dot and said:

  “If we can’t unlock the Displacer, we must look at our options,” he said. “That’s the Exspecto System. It’s the closest system with a Displacer to our current position. It will take us ninety five years at full speed through normal space to get there. If we don’t get the Displacer working, that may be our only viable option.”

  “Can the Cygnusa and Wake become generational ships?” Cer asked. “More importantly, do we have enough supplies to make such a trip?”

  “We do not lack for supplies,” Lieutenant Sanders said. “However, neither this vessel nor the Wake were designed for such extended trips. The odds of making it to Exspecto safely are… they’re not good.”

  “And that’s assuming the Prototype ignores us,” Becky Waters said.

  “We’ll need to fully investigate the feasibility of generational flight versus building some kind of rudimentary Displacer Unit,” Raven said.

  “Given the material we have at our disposal, such a project is likely beyond our scope,” Lieutenant Sanders said.

  “Check out the possibility anyway,” Raven said.

  “Understood,” Lieutenant Sanders said. “Give us a week and we’ll have an idea of which option is best.”

  “One week,” Raven repeated. “Given the length of time it would take to reach Exspecto, not very much to ask at all.”

  Raven folded his arms across his chest.

  “Anything else?”

  Before anyone could speak, an alert flashed on the view-screen and Weapons OP Hamilton appeared on the central monitor.

  “Sir, you are needed in the bridge.”

  “What is it?” Raven asked.

  “I’m detecting very strange energy readings.”

  “Show us,” Raven said.

  The monitor went dark before displaying a map of the Elicia System.

  There were several energy spikes illustrated on it.

  “Oh no,” Lieutenant Sanders said. “Those are interdimensional corridor energy spikes. It’s… it’s the Prototype.”

  “Red alert,” Raven said. “We’re heading to the bridge!”

  The first interdimensional corridor appeared four hundred thousand miles from their location.

  It was circular and the lights within it were brilliant and filled with colors. The slipstream darkened momentarily and then, through it, appeared a massive warship.

  “It’s the Prototype’s planetoid!” Lieutenant Sanders said.

  “Send a message to the Wake,” Raven said. “Tell them if they get the Displacer working, they are to flee. They are not –I repeat, not– to wait for us.”

  Raven faced Cer.

  “Any advice?”

  Cer shook her head.

  “I’ve never faced anything remotely like this.”

  The Prototype’s planetoid was in bad shape. Large parts of its hull had buckled and were black, the result of taking massive damage from Saint Vulcan’s solar system killer.

  More interdimensional corridors appeared near the vessel and a small fleet of alien fighter craft materialized. Instead of flying in front of or beside the planetoid, they flew directly at it and rammed the vessel at high speed.

  “What in Hades are they doing?” Raven asked.

  “Sir, the planetoid’s energy readings are improving!” Lieutenant Sanders said.

  “The Prototype is using the nano-probes in what’s left of his forces to fix his ship,” Becky Waters said.

  Dozens more corridors appeared near the Prototype’s planetoid and even more enemy vessels poured through. Each and every ship entering the system crashed into the planetoid.

  With each new wave of ships that merged into their master’s vessel, it strengthened. By the time the last of the Displacer slipstreams opened and shut and the last of the ships merged with the Prototype’s vessel, her readings were near its prime.

  “Sir, we’re receiving a message!” Lieutenant Sanders said.

  The image on the view-screen changed and on it appeared the Prototype. He was in a dark room and sat in a form fitting chair. His face was hidden behind shadows but his eyes glowed red.

  “I see you, Cygnusa,” he said.

  The transmission abruptly ended and the planetoid moved.

  Lieutenant Sanders swallowed hard and faced Raven.

  “Sir, she’s coming right at us.”

  89

  B’taav wandered the deserts.

  He wandered cities old and new.

  He traveled by motorcycle and van, cargo ship and helicopter.

  He lived the memories of Nox and Spradlin. They were vibrant and filled with adventure yet these thoughts fought each other.

  The fight was reaching its end.

  Spradlin’s nano-probes were breaking down Nox’s resistances and B’taav felt the battle was at its end.

  It was at that moment she appeared before him.

  Nox looked just as he remembered her, strong and hard, no-nonsense. She sat beside a rocky outcrop in a sandy desert. At her side was her motorcycle.

  “You need to go,” she said.

  “I won’t abandon you.”

  “You have to,” Nox said. “Stick around much longer and you become collateral damage. I won’t allow that.”

  “I can’t leave you,” B’taav said.

  “You can and you will,” Nox said. She shook her head and smiled. “You know what’s the worst part of all this? Spradlin’s nano-probes aren’t doing this out of malice or spite. You put two plants in a small pot and the strongest one eventually claims the soil.”

  Nox removed her ever present sunglasses.

  “Get out of here before you get hurt, B’taav,” she said. “I’m asking you nice. I don’t want your help anymore.”

  B’taav wanted to say something, wanted to grab her and force her to keep up the fight.

  Before he could do so, a shadow appeared behind him.

  Spradlin was there, crouched behind a bush and looking off into the distance. Before him was an island military base. It looked eerily deserted.

  “Random thoughts,” Nox said. “I’m remembering them as if they’re my own.”

  “Does it… hurt?” B’taav asked.

  “When I was fighting, yeah, it did,” Nox said. “B’taav, you owe me nothing. You—”

  “I owe you my life,” B’taav said. “I can’t just let you go.”

  Nox smiled.

  “You sure you’re an Independent?”

  She got on her motorcycle.


  “Go,” she said as she started the vehicle. “Let me enjoy what time I have left without having to worry about you.”

  In the distance a storm cloud gathered and gained strength. Paul Spradlin got up and walked to B’taav’s side. B’taav expected Nox to attack him, but she did not.

  “That’s not the way it works,” Spradlin said, answering B’taav’s unasked question. “Around these parts we meet, pleasant as can be, and have polite conversations while our nano-probes murder each other.”

  “Why don’t you tell them to stop fighting?” B’taav said.

  “I wish it were that easy,” Spradlin said. “Nox and I are very much alike. We have to be in charge.”

  The storm grew.

  “She’s also right,” Spradlin said. “You need to leave. Go see Inquisitor Cer. She’s worried about you.”

  “If I let go…”

  “Let me handle this asshole,” Nox said.

  Spradlin walked to Nox’s motorcycle and sat behind her.

  “Where you taking me?” he asked.

  “Wherever the road leads,” Nox replied.

  She looked back at B’taav.

  “Tell them…” she began and stopped.

  She drew a deep breath and her chest trembled.

  “Tell them I’ll miss them all.”

  With that, she started the motorcycle and the two drove off.

  B’taav was left alone.

  90

  In the Cygnusa’s medical station, B’taav shook.

  Sweat poured down his face and he winced.

  B’taav released Nox’s hand and, for the first time in a very long time, opened his eyes. He let out a loud groan and Catherine Holland got out of her chair and hurried to his side.

  “B’taav,” she said and helped him sit up.

  B’taav wiped the sweat from his face. When he realized who was with him, he let out a weak laugh.

  “Latitia,” he said. “Or rather, Catherine Holland, right?”

  “Yes,” she said.

  “You owe me a beer,” B’taav said. “A good one, not that Selabro crap.”

  “How did you…?”

  “Never mind,” B’taav said.

  He closed his eyes and took several seconds to build his energy. When he opened his eyes again, Catherine Holland was staring at Nox.

  “How is she?”

  “Not well,” B’taav said.

  “Has Spradlin…?”

  “Not yet,” B’taav said. “Nox forced me out. She didn’t want my help anymore. She didn’t want me hurt.”

  B’taav looked around and said:

  “Where… where are we?”

  “On the Phaecian battleship Cygnusa.”

  “What?” B’taav said. “Inquisitor Raven…”

  “It’s been resolved,” Catherine Holland said. “Cer’s fine.”

  Just as the words left her mouth, the blare of the red alert sounded throughout the medical bay. It shut off after a few seconds.

  “What’s happening?” B’taav asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Catherine Holland said. “Count on it being very bad.”

  She reached for her personal computer and clicked it on. Images from the Cygnusa’s bridge appeared before them.

  “She’s speeding up,” Lieutenant Sanders said.

  On the main view-screen, the Prototype’s planetoid was displayed. Energy discharges erupted from her.

  “What can we do?” Cer asked.

  “Run,” Raven said. “And hope its fast enough.”

  The Cygnusa did just that, using the third planet as cover.

  “If he fires upon the planet, we head to her Moon and hide behind it,” Raven said. “After that, I’m afraid there are no more places to—”

  “Look!” Becky Waters said. “Something’s happening down below!”

  Raven, Cer, and the rest of the officers on the bridge looked at the monitor Becky Waters was pointing to. On it was displayed the third planet. Her icy surface shimmered and steam rose from innumerable points and drifted up into the planet’s atmosphere.

  “The ice is melting,” Cer said. “Is this the Prototype’s doing?”

  “I don’t think so,” Becky Waters said. “I feel…”

  “Look,” Raven said.

  An incredibly large crack developed in the ice along the planet’s equator. It stretched for many miles and widened by the second. Massive vapor clouds rose from below. They swirled around and were driven by hurricane force winds.

  “Sir, the planetoid’s speed is increasing,” Lieutenant Sanders said. “They must have detected…”

  A crackle of energy erupted from the massive vessel. Despite the great distance between the two ships, the energy blast narrowly missed the Cygnusa and slammed into the ice planet’s atmosphere.

  “Keep the planet in between us,” Raven ordered.

  The steam continued to rise while the Cygnusa pulled around the planet. Many thousands of cracks now filled the planet’s icy surface and the retreating ice gave way to a very dark mass.

  “Sir, I’m detecting…” Lieutenant Sanders began and stopped. “It can’t be.”

  “What?”

  “There are metal structures beneath the ice,” she said. “They are artificial creations.”

  “A city? Cities?”

  “It’s much more than that,” she said. “If my instruments are right, there’s an entire machine world underneath!”

  The people in the bridge of the Cygnusa watched in wonder as the planet continued its transformation.

  “I’ve seen this before,” Becky Waters said.

  “We’ve seen this before,” Cer said. “That storm on Earth.”

  “It wasn’t just a storm,” Becky Waters said. “Machines hidden below the surface, rising up. We just couldn’t comprehend…”

  “Sir, the planetoid is five minutes away,” Lieutenant Sanders said.

  “Look!” Cer suddenly yelled.

  The once icy planet, incredibly, stopped rotating.

  Then, the massive object moved forward on an intercept course toward the Prototype’s planetoid.

  91

  “By the Gods, imagine the energy required to move such an object!” Cer said.

  As the planet moved the hazy gas from the melted ice, incredibly, remained in place. It was like a ghostly reminder of the planet’s original position.

  “It wasn’t ice,” Becky Waters said, realization dawning on her. “They’re nano-probes. That’s what I felt! The planet’s shedding a thick layer of nano-probes!”

  The machine world slipped past the haze and revealed itself. Bright lights lit up her surface and moved in rhythm. They moved faster and faster as she neared the Prototype’s planetoid.

  “We should be feeling something,” Raven said. “A gravity change…”

  “The planet controls her own gravity,” Cer said. “Even the planet’s moon is unaffected by her departure!”

  The machine world gained speed even as the nano-probe cloud remained still.

  “It will intercept the Prototype’s planetoid in two minutes!” Lieutenant Sanders said.

  “What are you up to Vulcan?” Raven wondered.

  The machine world closed on the Prototype’s planetoid while his vessel slowed to a stop. Sensing an ambush, a new interdimensional corridor was created.

  “The Prototype is trying to run away!” Cer said.

  The machine world shimmered and four large dishes on her surface erupted with incredible energies. A beam slammed against the newly created interdimensional corridor and it disappeared.

  The machine world had disabled the Prototype’s escape route.

  The passengers of the Cygnusa watched as the machine world slowed and stopped directly before the Prototype’s planetoid.

  As large as the creature’s vessel was, it was barely half the size of the machine world.

  The planetoid launched a series of energy blasts that ripped through the surface of the machine world and the machine world re
sponded in kind. For several long minutes they traded wave after wave of fearsome blows.

  The blasts eventually slowed and stopped. Their weapons were spent and the fight had drawn to a tie.

  “Now what?” Raven said.

  The lights from the dishes on the machine world dimmed, then turned off. A single light appeared at that planet’s equator and a tiny vessel emerged from it. It flew directly toward the Prototype’s planetoid.

  “Identify that vessel,” Raven said.

  “Working,” Lieutenant Sanders said. She looked up from her monitor. “Vessel type is unknown. She’s very small. No larger than a personal craft.”

  “Who in Hades’ ship is that?” Raven wondered.

  Raven’s communicator beeped. A message was coming in from the medical bay. On a monitor appeared Catherine Holland.

  “Pardon the interruption, commander, but I figured you would want to know this,” she said. “I recognize that ship. Hades, I’ve flown in it. It belongs to Saint Vulcan.”

  The tiny spacecraft approached the Prototype’s planetoid. Because all offensive weaponry was discharged, her flight proceeded without interruption.

  The ship’s lone female passenger landed the craft in a cavernous bay. A panel on its top lifted and the passenger rose from her seat and exited.

  Once on the landing bay, she got her bearings while low lights coming from somewhere in the distance settled over her and the ship. There was movement in the shadows around her and the woman spotted several thousand nano-probe robots hidden in the darkness. They surrounded her yet resisted the urge to attack.

  The woman addressed her hidden company and said:

  “It’s me, Prototype.”

  The shadowy forms moved closer, emboldened by their overwhelming numbers, yet did not attack.

  “Welcome, Saint Vulcan,” a voice said.

  A low light appeared fifty yards away from Saint Vulcan.

  In it stood the Prototype.

  92

  For the first time in centuries, creator and creation faced each other.

  Saint Vulcan was still while the Prototype slowly approached.