by Marc Stevens
“I think I have it figured out now,” Klutch called to us. “It is a sequence, but I am not sure about the third button. I will push it now!”
The portal promptly disappeared. Klutch let out a whoop.
“I know how it works! Wait where you are, and I will activate it again.”
The portal reappeared on the opposite side once again. I held my finger up to Tria, and she shook her head. I ran as carefully as possible back to a point I could see Klutch.
“Throw something into the opening!”
When I turned to look at Tria, she was going down over the opposite edge. Klutch picked up an oblong piece of unknown equipment and tossed it in. It disappeared. The Troop Master and I stood staring with big smiles on our faces. Tria stepped out of the portal with the piece of scrap in her hands and we were shocked she would do such a thing. I wanted to be mad as hell at her for pulling such a stunt, but it was the obvious next step. I decided it was my turn. Tria stopped me when we saw a red band around the edge of the opening start blinking. She gripped my arm tight and for good reason. The band blinked faster, and then the portal disappeared.
Klutch had been timing the event. “Commander, the portal was active for three minutes unless I push the third button, then it terminates immediately.”
I wasn’t sure what would happen if the portal closed while someone was in it but figured it couldn’t be a good thing. Red seemed like it was pretty much universal for a no-no. We needed time to study this thing, so I decided we should go back to the shuttle and get back to Alpha Base as soon as possible. The idea struck me that next time we came to look around, we would do so slowly and bring both transponders. We had spent about an hour and a half digging in the salvage, so by the time we got back, the Grawl should be gathering. Hopefully they had some luck finding items of interest.
We pulled up in front of the security station, and the Grawl were already loading the shuttle with their finds. Sushi walked up to me.
“Mr. Myers, several of the security teams reported unusual flashes of light emanating from the back of the storage area. Is all well?” Sushi inquired.
Sushi was being politely nosey. I knew the security station had excellent surveillance coverage of the storage area. There was no doubt in my mind he saw some or all of what transpired. But he and his people were solid allies. Even though I would have liked to keep the device a secret, I was not willing to deteriorate the trust we had built between our races. Telling petty lies when faced with certain knowledge of the truth was something that was practiced more often than not on the planet of my birth. As one of the very few examples of my race running loose in the galaxy, I was not going to be known to my allies for exhibiting that characteristic.
“We found some very interesting tech among our salvage,” I explained. “We are going to take it back to our base and run extensive tests. Once we have determined it is safe to operate without fear of dangerous repercussions, we will disclose the nature of our studies with our allies.”
My statement netted me the desired effect. Sushi smiled.
“Mr. Myers, all our interactions will be kept in the utmost of confidence. I look forward to hearing from you.”
Rather than try to shake his oversized hand, I bowed. Sushi’s smile grew larger, and he returned the gesture. We boarded Eagle One, and I took the controls for the flight back to the Legacy. This made my passengers exceptionally happy; Klutch not so much. We exited the Sig base and made a high-speed vertical ascent toward the Legacy. When we were within tow beam range, I killed the gravity drive, quickly arresting our forward velocity. Justice locked on to us and pulled the shuttle into the hangar bay.
“Justice, are you going over the data we have on the portal device?”
“Yes, Commander. The interdimensional gateway device is an amazing piece of technology. It creates a tear in normal space-time that is so miniscule I did not detect its use. The short-term duration of the portal suggests a very limited range. We need to study it in real-time lab testing. I hypothesize it is only able to access cavities closest to the field emitter. While the device can give us a distinct advantage over our adversaries, it can also be dangerous to the users. We need to determine if opening a portal to the void could decompress ship spaces.”
That very same thought had crossed my mind.
“Is the DEHD core charged?”
“Yes, Commander. We are ready to jump on your order.”
“Take us home, Justice!”
I was relieved that Justice was back to his old self. Having a new toy to occupy his processors could deflect some of his scrutiny to more useful pastimes. I found his interest and close observation of my sexual interactions with Tria very annoying. I still did not know what to think about his extended period of speechlessness. The thought slid from my mind when my surroundings turned brilliant white.
When the Legacy returned to normal space-time, Justice had nothing unusual to report, so we made a beeline for home. I made a cursory inspection of the Grawl’s finds. They reported loading several different pieces of equipment onto the sleds. Graf abandoned them all when one of the science teams discovered parts of what appeared to be a large missile or torpedo. What made it unique was that it was exactly the right diameter to fit the Legacy’s torpedo launcher tube. The Grawl had to use gravity jacks to load the pieces on all the remaining sleds. It partially filled the cargo bay, which was another reason the Grawl were happy I was pilot in command for the return trip to the Legacy. A large number had to give up the relative safety of their seats to accommodate the parts of the weapon. The scientists had asked the nature of our find, and when Tria told them, they lost all interest in the missile and sat wide-eyed and gawking at the compact portal device. Klutch was not only disappointed he was not piloting the shuttle, but he was a little miffed that no one made a single inquiry concerning his discovery. He sat on the cargo bay deck with his arms crossed, brooding and giving off the unsavory odor of his displeasure.
Everyone was more than happy to debark the shuttle. All found someplace to be other than in proximity to the Troop Master. I shook my head and decided I would bolster his dinged ego.
“Klutch, I want that weapon ready to go. Give it a thorough inspection to make sure it is still safe and in proper operating condition. You will be bringing it on the upcoming mission!”
That seemed to snap the Tibor out of his glum mood and would undoubtedly bring the air quality on the Legacy up a notch or two. He gathered up the weapon and the power packs, then headed to the science lab. This made the Grawl much happier as they unloaded the collected salvage and moved it at Graf’s direction to the inspection area of the artifact building. We had a large number of artifacts collected from the Prule ship in a makeshift lab. The new finds would join the rest in what was getting to be an overly crowded storage area.
The need to build a larger lab was looming on the horizon. I could also foresee the need for additional scientists and engineers. My science teams had been divided several times already, and it was probably degrading their capabilities. We had the credits to easily make those future goals a reality; our next mission would determine whether we needed to. I frowned in frustration because I was once again letting doubt creep into my mind. Justice picked up on it and pinged my implants.
“Commander, perhaps another round of sexual combat with Tria would allay any misgivings about your upcoming mission. I have noted with great interest that it does not matter if you win or lose; it still elevates your sense of well-being to levels previously never recorded.”
I flinched and gritted my teeth. If the evil robot was trying to get me to think about something positive, he succeeded. I was now wondering if I should continue my goal of finding the proper orifice on the Legacy to shove my combat boot into.
“Justice! The only thing I want from you at the moment is your assessment of the portal device. We need to know its capabilities and limitations!”
“Commander, the device is indeed of Guardian origins. Its co
nstruction closely matches that of the transponders. It has no obvious openings to access and appears to be made of the same unknown materials. The operation of the machine is straightforward as exhibited by the Troop Master. I believe it was intentionally designed that way to accommodate various levels of intelligence. Our available data suggests the Sentinel races had a large number of allies.”
I could not help but prickle at Justice’s intended or possibly unintended swipe at my primitive background. I was, after all, the product of a backward-thinking world from a lonely backwater in the galaxy.
“Justice, could you please just give me the facts and leave out the speculation!”
“Of course, Commander. A flashing luminous band around the portal indicates its duration is about to expire. Operators have thirty seconds to make use of or evacuate the portal after the device alerts you to imminent closure. My observations have also revealed its limitations. The crimson fluorescence also alerts the user when it is unable to complete a portal. It rapidly flashes, then the portal quickly closes. Testing indicated it was able to access voids in all directions out to one hundred feet. The device is also a choke point, able to check the environmental conditions that are present around the operator. You will be capable of entering the void through the device without fear of decompressing your location. Attempts to span greater distances through solids failed one hundred percent of the times tested. In overhead applications, my transferred sensor device was deposited directly to the side of the portal. Unfortunately, using it for downward access, you are subjected to whatever fall might be waiting on the opposite side of the portal. The wearer of the device is capable of terminating the portal at any time by pushing the lower control button. I have made several attempts to recover sensors that I purposely terminated portals on, and all attempts have failed. All telemetry ceases upon closer of the portal. I speculate they are stranded in one of the infinite dimensions of interdimensional space. The device is an extremely valuable military asset, but as with any alien machinery, it should be used with considerable caution.”
I snorted in derision, thinking I should have practiced that tidbit of brilliant logic right after coming into contact with Justice. That thought also presented me with the very real scenario of an ornery one-eared wolf, teaching his whelps how to clean their teeth on my bleached white bones. I looked around and saw Tria leaving the artifact lab. The irritating AI was not one hundred percent correct on one point: I was not a good loser. For whatever reason, Tria seemed to pick up on the vibes I was giving off. She turned and walked directly at me. A silly smile planted itself on my face, and my stride quickened. I had no intention of losing for a third time in a row.
7
I was reaching for Tria’s outstretched hand when Justice tipped over the ever-present bucket of piss that must be perpetually hanging over my head.
“Commander, I have an IST transmission from the Operative. She is demanding to speak with you now. I have twice informed her you are unavailable, but she continues to send transmissions. If it were not for the growing urgency and volume of her requests, I would have gladly shut down the devices.”
The look on my face went from one of anticipation to that of finding out the flavor of fecal matter. The reaction was the result of the evil robot’s comments and the Operative’s knack for calling at just the wrong time. At one time, the IST and Backscatter comms devices seemed like they were must-have tech. I have since learned they are actually a curse perpetrated on me by the Operative to punish me for my primitive Earth boy sensibilities. She could now, on a whim, verbally abuse me like a Throgg from anywhere in the galaxy. While this probably did not start out as that type of communication, Justice most assuredly made it one.
“Nathan! If that defective machine cannot follow command directives when it comes to our communications, my people have the capability of permanently disabling the devices!” Sael barked.
So, it was going to be one of those conversations. If she would have practiced a small amount of diplomacy, it might not have pushed my buttons in all the wrong order. The comms devices really benefited the Operative and her people more than us. I was sure it was just another way for her to keep tabs on our movements throughout the galaxy. Why she would spout such scat when we were actively trying to find ways to help her people left me bewildered and more than a little pissed off. Tria was squeezing my arm as I took a slow, deep breath. The rest of my crew was eyeballing me, probably thinking that I was just trying to calm myself. They were going to be wrong. I was in fact putting a chronological order to the curse words swiftly stacking up on my tongue. Tria made it a waste of time.
“Principal Investigator, we do not care if you shut down the devices, nor do we need you again trying to exert your authority,” Tria said. “At your request, we have been working on ways to get inside the research facility. Something I might add that our trusted leadership on the council has not been able to do! Your careless disrespect and the endless scat you constantly spew at us is undermining our efforts to help you. I suggest you start looking for someone else willing to yield to your command and selflessly put their lives on the line. Justice! Shut down the IST!”
“Affirmative, Tria. All BS and IST communications equipment have been disabled.”
I stood staring slack-jawed at Tria. My intended harangue would have been a cool glass of water compared to the fire she had just shoved up Sael’s ass. Everyone within earshot quickly found a reason to be elsewhere. I was going to step away myself, because I was considering calling the old witch back and giving her another chance to rephrase her last statements. Tria grabbed me by the back of my uniform.
“With all that is going on, my patience has run out! I now more than ever find it is extremely difficult dealing with Sael’s constant meddling. She is becoming insufferable!”
Tria had a point. Sael was back to being a real pain. The way she was picking at Justice was only exacerbating the problem. He was now openly retaliating by blocking her comms, even though I knew he had more than a single reason to do so. I decided to keep my mouth shut rather than say something that might be misinterpreted. Maybe a bite to eat would be the judicious choice given the elevated tensions. I kept a neutral face and invited Tria to join me in the galley.
“I am sorry, Nathan,” Tria said. “I should have remained silent. Knowing Sael, she will take her anger out on you when she has finished dealing with me. She will no doubt be here shortly and will either overlook my indiscretion or bring me up on charges of insubordination.”
“What makes you think she will come here after the ass chewing you just gave her? I know I wouldn’t!”
Trying to lighten the mood helped a little. She now had the smallest of smiles on her face and stood with arms crossed, giving me the stink eye.
“Yeah, I suppose you’re right. Sael isn’t going to take verbal abuse from anyone, regardless of rank, and not have something to say about it.”
Tria frowned at my conclusion. “Sael Nalen is no longer the calm and calculating manipulator she once was. Her emotions seem to be more irrational than ever, and to tell you the truth, I cannot figure out why she continually turns her ire on us. She praises us one minute, then dumps a load of scat on us the next.”
I had to agree. “Could it have something to do with her new rank as Principal Investigator?”
“I have no idea. It wasn’t that long ago she was nothing more than an assassin for the military. Kala Mor Dee never had to worry about anything other than completing her assigned mission goals. Now she has to deal with the demands of our leadership as well as the military council. I suspect when she was told she would be given her freedom to do as she wished with the Fury and her crew, it was at the behest of the leadership council and not the military council. We could be witnessing a power struggle between what remains of the Chaalt leadership and the newly elected military commanders. Sael is caught in the middle.”
I chewed slowly on Tria’s words. That would explain some of Sael’s mood s
wings but not all of them. I knew she was up against a brick wall when it came to ordering us around. She should be well-aware that would never happen anyway. Something else was going on, and it was proving to be a weight the Principal Investigator could not bear. If Sael did indeed show up here, I was going to get to the bottom of it one way or the other. Tria looked at me with those big green eyes, and I could tell she was worried.
“Nathan, I have a bad feeling something is very wrong. We must be prepared to do what others are not willing to do. I sense we are quickly running out of time, and the future of my people is at stake.”
Tria had an uncanny ability to know when things were going to shit. She had me thinking the Prule takeover at the research facility was only part of the equation.
