Ghost of the Argus

by E. R. Torre

  “What we’re looking for is at the top,” B’taav said.

  Nox felt a chill. B’taav moved as if he knew where he was going.

  Inquisitor Cer eyed the disheveled desks, broken monitors, and computers. At times she outran Becky Waters, her eyes taking everything in while stopping and checking each piece of wreckage.

  Becky Waters held back. Rather than the old and broken equipment, her interest was on Inquisitor Cer. It took a while before Cer realized this.

  “There’s nothing here,” Cer said. “I had a feeling…”

  “A feeling?”

  “It was more than that,” Cer said. “I needed to come down. I needed to come down with you.”

  Cer’s eyes opened wipe. Her face was filled with apprehension.

  “What aren’t you telling me?”

  Becky Waters lowered her weapon.

  “What are you feeling now, Inquisitor?”

  Cer opened her mouth and was about to say something. Instead, she thought. She felt.

  “Something strange… yet familiar,” Inquisitor Cer said.

  “You’ve felt it before?”

  “Yes.”

  “A premonition?” Becky asked.

  Cer was startled by the words.

  “You… you know?”

  “It’s nothing mystical.”

  “Implanted memories,” Cer realized with a start.

  “If Spradlin’s agents could create a person whose body can fight nano-probes, they could surely implant a few thoughts into their head.”

  Cer’s hand came to her mouth.

  “How much of what I’m thinking is my own? How much of it comes from Spradlin and his agents?”

  “Spradlin is many things,” Becky said. “He’s a first class manipulator and he has no problem sacrificing lives for the greater good. I worked with that bastard for years and there were times I couldn’t tell if he was a hero or a fucking villain. But he saved humanity and now he’s making sure we stay saved. It’s why he left Nox and me behind. It’s why he sent you two here. But sending you does not ensure you complete your mission. Those premonitions you feel are gentle nudges designed to keep you on task.”

  “Do you have them?”

  “I don’t know,” Becky said. “I don’t think so. Not anymore.”

  “Are you willing to sacrifice yourself for Spradlin’s cause?”

  “I’m willing to sacrifice myself to destroy an evil that has no place in this universe,” Becky said. “Now, think. Is there anything else you feel?”

  “There is something,” Cer admitted.

  “What?”

  “I feel we’re not where we should be,” Cer said. “Not exactly. And we’re not doing what we should be doing.”

  “What should we be doing?”

  “Guarding the building’s entrance,” Inquisitor Cer said. “Making sure none of the machines make their way inside. Give them… give B’taav and Nox time.”

  Becky Waters’ eyes shone in the darkness.

  “If you feel we need to guard the building’s entrance, we guard the building’s entrance,” Becky Waters said.

  Inquisitor Cer lowered her weapon. She knew Nox and B’taav had to do their work.

  So too did Becky Waters and she.

  57

  Inquisitor Cer and Becky Waters returned to the lobby.

  For a second Cer thought of continuing up the stairs. Nox and B’taav were up there, somewhere.

  B’taav.

  As much as she didn’t want to, she needed to leave the building. She had to go outside and…

  Wait for them.

  Inquisitor Cer checked her watch.

  “We’re down to twenty five minutes,” she said.

  Upstairs, B’taav climbed faster and faster while Nox strained to keep up. If it wasn’t clear to her before, it was obvious now: B’taav knew where he was going.

  They were past the seventh floor, then the eighth.

  At the ninth and final floor, B’taav abruptly stopped.

  The Independent and the Mechanic stood at the end of the staircase and before a large double door.

  “This is it,” B’taav said. “Can you feel it?

  Nox was silent for several seconds before answering.

  “Yes.”

  B’taav opened the door.

  Outside, Inquisitor Cer and Becky Water looked into the night’s darkness and at the ruins of the Big City.

  “What do you see?” Inquisitor Cer asked.

  “Plenty of movement,” Becky replied.

  In the distance, she spotted enormous black shadows rising from the ground. The earth rumbled as the creatures emerged from it and stood fully erect. Desert sand and debris rolled off their bodies. Some of the creatures were as large as the buildings that once filled the area.

  “It’s an army,” Becky Waters said.

  The creatures flexed. They checked their limbs and stretched their joints.

  They took their first steps.

  “They’re moving in.”

  Inquisitor Cer heard the sound of the howling wind and knew the dust storm just behind the creatures had grown into a hurricane. Dust and sand whirled around them. Above, the metal tentacles that encased Earth were almost all lit up. They spun around faster and faster. It wouldn’t be long before they were fully powered.

  Suddenly, faint lights came on from the army of robots. For the first time Inquisitor Cer saw what until that moment only Becky Waters could. The robots were indeed an army. On the front lines were the smaller units. Behind them were a second, taller group and behind them the giants.

  “They waited for us to guide them here,” Cer said. “They couldn’t see the wires, they didn’t know what Spradlin left behind. Now they know. Now—”

  Cer’s eyes opened very wide.

  “If they get hold of B’taav or me they’ll learn everything about the Empire,” she said.

  Becky Waters checked her weapon.

  “After that, they’ll no longer need your ship,” she said.

  B’taav and Nox walked through the doors leading to the ninth floor.

  They found a large, empty hallway. At the end of it was a metal double door.

  “We have to go through it,” B’taav said.

  The stairway exit closed behind them. They kept their weapons at their sides for they knew they weren’t needed. At least not here.

  They walked to the doors and paused. B’taav raised his hand and laid it flat on the door’s surface.

  “Ready?”

  Nox nodded.

  B’taav grasped the door’s handle.

  Nox felt a surge of energy, a feeling that things would soon be over, one way or another.

  We’re here, General Spradlin. Why don’t you show yourself?

  His voice, usually a whisper from somewhere deep in her psyche, was remarkably still. Whatever he had planned, whatever he intended, it was going to happen here and now.

  B’taav applied pressure to the door’s handle and felt a latch click. The door’s hinges groaned as if a soul wailing in pain. The door opened.

  What they saw beyond it made them gasp.

  58

  Inquisitor Cer ran to the desert vehicle and climbed onto its hood.

  Becky Waters’ silvery eyes took in the sights around them and silently made calculations as to how long it would take before their position was overrun. The clouds of dust continued growing. Incredibly, the largest of the metal beings was followed by a group even larger than them. They moved slowly, gaining speed as they progressed, until the mass of rusted metal was a violent sea.

  “We can’t stop this,” Inquisitor Cer said.

  The metal warriors, the muscle of this long dormant alien race, moved as one. Inquisitor Cer looked up, at the sky. She couldn’t see any of the drones.

  “We have to call down the Xendos,” Inquisitor Cer said. “We have to get out of here.”

  “How far away is your ship?”

  Inquisitor Cer checked the remote panel o
n her sleeve. She shook her head.

  “It’s close but…” Inquisitor Cer bit her upper lip. “Fifteen minutes. What about Nox and B’taav?”

  “We have to make time,” Becky Waters said.

  “You got nukes hidden in the trunk of this thing?”

  “Order the ship down,” Becky Waters said. “We’ll do what we can.”

  The room beyond Nox and B’taav was enormous and very, very cold.

  Lights came on.

  They revealed walls filled with ancient computer equipment that hummed with life.

  B’taav stepped deeper inside and Nox followed closely behind. She felt the vibration of ancient fans.

  Was it all here before? she wondered.

  Though still active, some of the machines were damaged. Parts of their outer cases were melted and strange, multi-colored cables snaked through them, leading up and into the ceiling.

  “Parasites?” Nox said.

  “Could be,” B’taav said.

  “Maybe the aliens hacked into these machines.”

  “Or maybe Spradlin hacked into the aliens,” B’taav said.

  Nox stared at the other side of the room. There, a large glass panel opened into an equally large room. Or did it?

  Nox walked to the panel. The room beyond it looked to be on a different plain. It was as if they were staring into a funhouse mirror or—

  “It’s a monitor,” Nox said.

  The image on it was incredibly sharp. The room displayed on this monitor was filled with what appeared to be funeral caskets. They were lined up and spread out into the distance. There were a staggering number of them.

  “Where is the image coming from?” B’taav asked.

  “No place I’m familiar with,” Nox said.

  B’taav lifted his hand. He pressed it against the monitor and strange symbols appeared. They illuminated every one of the caskets. B’taav pressed one of the graphics and the screen changed. It displayed an image taken from directly over one of the caskets. They realized it was a dark cryogenic unit not unlike the one Nox and Becky Waters used during their millennia long sleep. This one was significantly larger, created to contain something at least eight feet in length.

  B’taav again pressed his hand against the monitor and the image zoomed in on the casket’s side. He slowly pushed his finger up and, as he did, the image shifted until they were looking at the casket’s upper half. On it was a rectangular window and, beyond that, a shadowy form. Inside the casket was an alien creature.

  It took a moment for them to realize what they were seeing.

  “It’s them,” Nox said. “The actual Locust Plague aliens. Can we get a closer look?”

  B’taav pressed down on the monitor and the camera zoomed in even more while compensating for the darkness. The skin on the creature’s face was emaciated and its eyes withered away and gone. It had long black hair and a slender build.

  “A female,” B’taav said.

  Her bony arms were crossed in front of her chest.

  “A dead female,” Nox added.

  B’taav slid his hand and the monitor’s image changed back to the initial, more distant view of the room. B’taav pressed the symbol over another of the caskets and the creature within was displayed. It was just as withered as the previous one.

  “Another,” Nox said.

  B’taav moved to other caskets. Every one of the aliens within them were dead.

  B’taav tapped on the monitor and navigated the camera to the end of the room and out into a long corridor. The corridor walls were illustrated with colorful alien designs. There was no sign of movement and poor lighting. B’taav guided the camera further down until it reached another door. He moved past it and into another large room filled with stasis chambers. He visited the one closest to the camera and found the creature within was also dead.

  B’taav pulled the camera back into the corridor. He took a sharp right turn and entered yet another corridor. A dim light came from the end of it. B’taav guided the camera toward that light and was shocked by what he saw.

  Before them was a large docking bay filled with alien space craft. At its far end was a crystal wall looking into outer space. Beyond that wall was Earth.

  “These images are coming from the Locust Plague’s mother ship,” Nox said.

  The Independent moved the camera past the docking bay and into other corridors. In a matter of seconds they sped past a series of frustratingly empty rooms. They found at least two more stasis chambers and more dead crew.

  B’taav moved on, quicker now, as the passage of time weighed on him. He moved to a clutter filled corridor. Debris was laid in a heap, as if to form a barricade. There was evidence of fire and violence.

  “What is this?”

  B’taav drew the camera close to the debris. He spotted another camera on the wall beyond that debris and tapped on it. Instantly, he had a view from that camera.

  “By the Gods.”

  Lying on the floor on the other side of the debris and cradling what appeared to be a weapon were the withered remains of several alien creatures. The creatures were enormous and their mummified bodies still had the ghosts of powerful, sinewy muscle. The aliens’ faces were twisted into a terrifying grimaces. In many of them, sharp metal teeth were exposed. Charred black blast marks were visible on many of their bodies.

  “They died fighting,” Nox said.

  B’taav moved past the aliens and continued jumping from camera to camera while moving deeper into the alien ship. More bodies were spotted. Most were barricaded in their quarters. All died violently.

  “They’re so emaciated,” B’taav said.

  “They were starving,” Nox said. “Just like Spradlin planned.”

  B’taav moved on, passing the individual quarters before entering a very large corridor that was a picture of chaos. Dark scorch marks, the result of heavy weapon fire, lined the walls.

  “I’ve seen this before,” B’taav said. Memories of the Argus, of the desperation of its crew as they realized they were trapped and doomed, filled his thoughts. When the rations were gone, the crew resorted to cannibalism to survive.

  The Locust Plague were also trapped. Once their food ran out…

  “Look at the stains on the floor,” B’taav said. “It’s where they did the butchering.”

  Skeletons were carefully laid out, perhaps in honor of those who fell… or perhaps to remind themselves of their desperation.

  “Without food, they were forced to feed off each other,” Nox said.

  B’taav hurried on.

  He found quiet, untouched sections along with others filled with incredible damage. He moved through them before finally reaching a central control room. It was enormous and faced an equally large and impressive glass panel overlooking Earth and the metal cage the aliens crafted around her.

  In the dead center of this room was a very large and elegantly decorated chair.

  “Get a closer look,” Nox said.

  B’taav navigated the camera to the chair. There were a series of buttons around the armrest and gold flourishes at its side. As the camera came around, they saw the chair’s inhabitant, an alien creature much like the others lying about the ship.

  Like all the rest, this one was also dead.

  It was dressed in a solid black robe. What appeared to be medals hung from the creature’s chest. Its arms were splayed to either side. One of them held an alien handgun.

  As a final act, the creature used it on himself.

  “The Captain goes down with the ship,” Nox muttered. “He knew all was lost. Everyone under his command, the entire race…”

  “They’re all dead,” B’taav concluded.

  “If that’s the case, what are we fighting?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?” B’taav said.

  “Their machines.”

  “The nano-probes are doing what they were last programmed to do,” B’taav said.

  The wind outside grew more intense as the figures in the dist
ance closed in.

  Becky Waters laid out a line of crude explosives in a circular area around them while Inquisitor Cer kept her weapon trained on the incoming hoard.

  After Becky returned to her side, she reached for a very bulky weapon stored in the desert truck’s trunk. It looked like a rocket launcher.

  “What is this?” Inquisitor Cer asked.

  “Energy weapon,” Becky Waters said. “It fires in a wide burst and should take out a couple of these things.”

  “That’ll buy us –what?– a second or two?” Inquisitor Cer said.

  “How long before the Xendos arrives?”

  “Seven more minutes.”

  “That’s really cutting it close.”

  Inside the ninth floor, Nox stepped away from the monitor and leaned against a wall. She felt a tingling inside her, a feeling she had once before, a very long time ago.

  The room around her blurred. She felt as if she was looking through a foggy haze. The room receded before turning gray. She closed her eyes tight and tried to clear her head. She couldn’t.

  “What is this?” she muttered before opening her eyes.

  Nox’s vision was now clear.

  She was standing in the middle of an Arabian desert village. It was here that General Spradlin’s plans first came to fruition so many years before under the Desert Brigades.

  The village appeared empty.

  “Where are you?” Nox called out.

  A shadowy form stepped out of one of the buildings and approached her side. His body was lean and muscular, his walk clipped and exact. He wore green military fatigues. Unlike the first time they met, he had both eyes. The right side of his face and his right arm were intact. A small smile formed on his lips.

  “Hello Nox,” he said.

  “Hello General,” she replied.

  For the first time since the Exodus, the man who defeated the Locust Plague by destroying Earth stood before her.

  The Unknown Hero.

  General Paul Spradlin.

  59

  A wave of metal beings roared over and past the building. They had rusty, bulky bodies and didn’t appear aerodynamic enough for flight, much less the speeds attained. Strange contraptions at their base swiveled and focused on the desert truck and its two guardians.