by Luigi Robles
“I’m coming back.”
Pycca sighed in resignation. She knew there was little she could do now, and especially from her current location. Fain had been smart in getting the fleet here half-empty and then emptying it out completely. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have gotten to go alone; there would be too much opposition.
“Destroy one or two of them for me,” Pycca said as she wiped tears off her cheeks.
“See you soon.”
The gravity aboard the Jones slowly returned back to normal, and Pycca landed softly on the metal floor. Though she couldn’t care less about her landing at this point.
“Don’t make me wait too long,” Pycca said, sobbing.
No response.
“Did you already leave?”
No response.
“Are you there?”
No response.
The door opened behind Pycca, and she heard footsteps approaching. She didn’t bother to look back; she had a feeling that it could only be Chey.
“Chief Evans, you were able to restore gravity back to the John Paul Jones.”
Pycca simply nodded as she pulled out a rag from the tool bag now hanging from a magnetic tether to clean her face.
15
Machines
Fain didn’t have the heart to keep on talking to Pycca; it felt heavy and loaded with guilt. He was a world away from being convinced to stay, so he left for the machines’ territory. Sodenia quickly reached the theoretical maximum and was well on the way. The countdown timer appeared alongside the course; it would be less than ten minutes before he reached the machines.
Quiet settled in the now empty ship, along with Fain’s doubts and fears. He feared not returning to Earth, losing the battle, and most of all losing Pycca. Though he was keenly aware that to fear was to be human, and that same fear would keep him wanting to go back to Earth alive.
“I never thought this would be so hard,” Fain said to no one in particular, but he knew Kya was listening. “It took everything I had just to say goodbye.”
He sighed.
“May I?” Kya’s voice sounded in Fain’s command center.
“Of course,” Fain said warmly. “If there’s anyone that can, it’s you.”
“I know it’s hard saying goodbye; I get overloaded with emotion just thinking about it. But that’s just it. You see, when we think of goodbye, we think we aren’t going to see that person again. There’s always a chance of that happening, and it can be totally out of our control at times. But there’s also the other side of that coin—it’s possible that we will see them again; it’s possible the goodbye only means see you later. I believe that our thoughts are directly connected to our actions and outcomes. In other words, believe that you will see them again, truly believe, and you will.”
Kya’s words sent an electrifying surge through Fain.
“We’ll be back to Earth in no time, right, Kya?”
“That’s right.”
“You know what I was thinking?”
“Since there is absolutely no possible way to know what another person is thinking, no, I don’t know. But please do tell.”
Fain chuckled slightly.
“OK, so besides all that,” Fain said. “When we get back to Earth, after all of this is over, we’ll ask Truman for a long vacation, and maybe, if you want, we can search for your own house or apartment. What do you say?”
“Sounds like a plan to me, although I have to say that your apartment looked cozy. I might like something like that. But I’m happy that you’re offering that to me. Maybe I can also be in Neo LA, so that I can visit you from time to time.”
“I’ll be looking forward to that. But first, let’s not let our ancestors down, and especially let’s not let humanity down. Let’s give it everything we’ve got.”
“I’m ready,” Kya said as she took in a deep, audible breath. “Switching to analog and taking control of all weapons, though I’m not sure I can control them all at once. Readying drones.”
They approached the t-minus one minute mark.
“Here goes our shot,” Fain said, paying close attention to the timer. “Shields up at full power, weapons hot. Turn off all incoming transmissions and lock the devices. If we get attacked, fire at will.”
“Got it.”
Fain’s heart kept increasing its pace as he waited for the timer. Those last forty-three seconds were the longest seconds he had ever lived through. He had his hand on the FTL lever, and when the counter got to t-minus three seconds, he slid it back to zero. The space around them slowed and materialized, revealing the machines’ space territory.
At once, the enemies were highlighted on the spherical screen, a mere 73,000 miles away. At that point in time, there were 2,641 Immortals and three larger ship-like machines surrounding one massive planet-like structure with what had to be millions of orbiting satellites. The machine territory was dark, the stars around were scarce, and even the machines appeared to be unmoving.
“Though come to think of it,” Fain said, “this doesn’t look like a force capable of ending all biological life in the galaxy.”
“Perhaps it’s because the majority of their forces are already doing just that.”
“And then again, why would they need to keep a large force standing by? Who do they need to fear?”
Fain then saw the opening he had seen back in the scrap drone transmission. He counted in his head until he saw it again—an opening in the satellites circling the massive structure. Twenty seconds separated each opening.
“Let’s not waste any time; creatures, civilizations, could be dying right now,” Fain said as he accelerated Sodenia towards the opening, trying to time the speed as best he could. “Get the Fate cannons ready.”
As Sodenia accelerated, the Immortals began to move towards the speeding ship in large clusters.
“Of course, it’s not going to be easy,” Fain said, concentrating on his end destination. “Looks like we are going to have some company soon. Don’t let them get near.”
As Fain closed the distance, the many hundreds of clusters of Immortals began to glow.
“The enemy appears to be accumulating energy,” Kya said hurriedly. “Perhaps getting ready for an energy blast. Perhaps it might not be wise to wait to be attacked.”
“Fire at will.”
It had to be milliseconds after Fain gave the order that Sodenia opened continuous fire, thoroughly lighting up the space before it. It looked like a direct hit on all accounts; there was no way the Immortals could have moved out of the way of all that firepower. And that’s when Fain saw what was really happening. The Immortal clusters were curving the space around them, thus avoiding Sodenia’s firepower.
“You have to be kidding me,” Fain said, exasperated.
“It looks like it’s the basic function of that formation,” Kya said as she stopped firing. “I first noticed it when they took the first hits head-on. Though I kept the fire on them, there was no noticeable disruption in their warping of space.”
“Dammit,” Fain said as he began to maneuver the ship into a spiral approach. “But for now, there’s no sense in possibly overheating, damaging or wasting ammo this early on. We’ll wait for the right opportunity, but if you see one, take it.”
The clusters of Immortals began to fire at Sodenia, getting too close for comfort with the first few shots. The massive beams of energy seemed powerful, and Fain would much rather not find out if the ship could take a hit from them.
“Looks like we’re going to have to cut our visit short,” Fain said as he accelerated the ship. He had planned on making it to the opening within two minutes. He had chosen two minutes to try and better study the enemy, but seeing as every second that passed got them closer to getting hit by the Immortal clusters’ beams, he decided to go all out.
The other three ship-like machines noticed Sodenia and hurled themselves towards the ship. At the same time, the machine planet began to move back. The ship-like machines fired relentlessly and
at a much faster rate than the clusters of Immortals. At that point, it was impossible for Fain to avoid all hits, and he felt the ones that did manage to land as the ship reverberated.
Sodenia countered and fired with its large cannons, but Fain wasn’t sure whether it was having any effect on the machine ships. Then the third machine-like ship joined in, making it three against one.
We aren’t going to survive another approach, Fain thought as he pressed on. Their weapons are powerful.
“Shields are dropping,” Kya said hurriedly.
“Keep them up for as long as you can. We’re almost there.”
As Fain got closer to the machine structure, he noticed that the space between the orbiting satellites and the machine planet had increased drastically, at least doubling in size. Though his chance was still there, the orbiting satellites didn’t change their rhythm as they expanded; if anything they were accelerating. Fain didn’t know if the satellites would form an effective shield against the Fate cannons.
“On my mark, fire the Fate cannons,” Fain said as he ignored everything else, getting dangerously close to the orbiting satellites. He kept approaching at a reduced speed as he waited for the opening he had seen to appear once more. Fain had gotten so close to the machine planet’s satellites that the enemy ships were firing at Sodenia from an angle. “Fire the Fate cannons.”
Sodenia unleashed its prime weapon from a mere two hundred and thirty miles away — a near point-blank distance in space terms. As the Fate cannons erupted, their light blanketed Fain’s entire view, eating up all shadow in sight.
As the blinding light receded, things became clear; the might of the Fate cannons wouldn’t be enough to take down the machine planet. It stood right where it had before the blast, and it seemed as if no harm had come to it. Two out of the three ships that were flanking him, on the other hand, were destroyed. But that wasn’t motivation enough for Fain; the feeling of the impossible task began to sink in once again. He tried hard to fight it, but every bone in his body was telling him to quit. He just couldn’t imagine how anything could survive Sodenia’s Fate cannons head-on. What had worked once before in the past for him was not working this time.
“Did… Did it…?” Fain struggled to ask. “Did it warp the space around the Fate cannons too? Is it the satellites causing the space warp?”
“Dammit” was the only word that came to Fain’s mind as he saw the machine planet pulsing with some form of energy wave.
Unlike Fain, the machines were relentless. All 2,641 Immortals continued their assault on Sodenia, and for the first time since Fain had arrived, the Immortals began to separate. Even the machine planet began to reorganize its satellites as if it was getting ready to attack.
“Fain, we have to move,” Kya said as the machines thoroughly surrounded Sodenia. “Fain?”
“What can we do, Kya?” Fain said, deflated and defeated. “If we can’t even touch their space, what can we do?”
“I think we’ll answer that a little later. For now, we have to move.”
“Where?”
“Fain, quit being an idiot. This isn’t you.”
Fain felt the jolt of speed as Sodenia moved away from the machine planet, crashing into hundreds of Immortals along the way. There was a loud thump each time an Immortal crashed into Sodenia’s already weakened forcefield.
From his view, Fain could see that the ship hull had suffered severe damage in its reckless approach.
“If you don’t move it,” Kya said, “I’m going to have to do it myself.”
Kya kept the ship moving, and the Immortals kept inexorably following it. They were far too slow to catch up to Sodenia’s raw power, but the machines had something else up their sleeve. They began somehow teleporting in front of Sodenia’s path, causing Kya to keep changing course drastically.
“I can’t keep this up for much longer,” Kya said. “At this rate, they will catch up.”
It was already too late; Immortals began breaching Sodenia’s shield and attacking the ship directly. Fain saw the small cannons and turrets struggling to fend off a single one of their enemies.
So, this is it? Is this how it’s all going to end? Fain thought as he witnessed an Immortal destroy one of the small M55 cannons. How did we get here? Why do I feel hopeless all of a sudden? Especially when it’s not over yet. Sodenia still has a lot of fight in her, right? Then Fain remembered something he had overlooked as he neared the machine planet: it was pulsing. Could it be that the planet was literally emitting some form of negative energy that only harmed biological life?
It made perfect sense. If the machines’ sole purpose was to deprive the galaxy of biological life, wouldn’t it be possible that they’d developed specialized weapons?
Maybe that’s the reason why no other being has gotten close to the machine planet, Fain thought. It’s a perfect defense system.
“Fain, we didn’t come all the way over here for this!” Kya said, exasperated. “You owe me an apartment, at least.”
Kya’s words reverberated in Fain’s mind, causing him to think of all the promises he had made thus far. Among them, the promise he had made to Pycca was the one that stood above the rest. He wanted to be with her once again, to continue where they had left off, to spend the rest of his life with her. Then it hit him like a bucket of iced water. Fain was wrong in thinking that the single greatest decision he had made in his life was going after the Immortals. No, that wasn’t it. The single greatest decision he had ever made and would ever make was to be with Pycca. And no machine would stand in his way.
Life was screaming at Fain and burned within him once again as he took hold of Sodenia’s controls.
“Kya, I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened back there, but it won’t happen again.”
“I’m with you all the way.”
“We can still do this.”
As soon as Fain had made up his mind and turned Sodenia back towards the machine planet, the ship itself began to change. His pilot seat sank lower into the floor, and his hands became attached to the console, along with his feet. Extra sets of connections attached to his limbs. Fain began to feel even more control over the ship. “Are you doing this, Kya?”
“No, not at all; this is new to me. The transformations appear to have been trigger by prolonged exposure to the Immortals.”
Could this be the true power the Herrion message had spoken about?
Sodenia’s exterior also began to change. Through the spherical view screen, Fain saw it all. Some parts of the ship, like the maneuvering engines, cannon nozzles, and body flaps expanded, while the wings and several other panels contracted. Even the Immortal that was attached to one of Sodenia’s small weapons had to let go to avoid being crushed by the abrupt change. But the biggest change came to the Fate cannons; they had extended to at least double their former size. The ship had become much more aggressive looking than before, and its shield was fully replenished.
“Woah,” Fain said as he tried to take in everything that was happening.
As the ship completed its transformation, the markers on the enemy turned from green to red. Though it looked as if the Immortals cared little about Sodenia’s transformation, as they kept appearing and surrounding the ship. The Immortals began to fire at them as soon as they got near enough.
“Shall we?”
“Let’s do it.”
Kya unleashed all of Sodenia’s weapons on the Immortals, lighting space on fire all around them. Sodenia’s firepower was able to overpower some of the machines, pushing them far back into space. Many others kept coming, and they kept firing. Fain tapped on the controls and was startled at the amount of power the ship now had. He was easily able to outrun the Immortals, but the machines were persistent, and they kept appearing in front of them, managing to land a shot or two on Sodenia.
“These machines are stubborn,” Fain said. “Even if we outrun or outmaneuver them, we won’t be able to use this fancy trick on the machine planet. We need to get r
id of them.”
“I’m open to suggestions,” Kya said as she kept firing at the enemy.
“We do have a cargo bay filled with those EMPs. Let’s put them to the test.”
“Sending all Anvelins now,” Kya said as some of Sodenia’s firepower receded. This was one of the many instances where having a larger crew on board Sodenia would make all the difference. But instead, all tasks had to be divided between Fain and Kya. “While I get that ready, keep them off us.”
Fain maneuver Sodenia in and out of the swarm of Immortals, though it came at a price. Some of the machines didn’t have the chance to move out of the way and collided with the ship. Some merely bounced off the shields, while others made it all the way through and clung on to the ship.
“Ah… Kya, how are things going over there? Because it isn’t going too well over here.”
“Just a few more seconds,” Kya managed. She sounded hard pressed. “Sealing off the ship and opening cargo doors. Turn the ship to let them have it.”
Fain maneuvered the ship in an upward spiral, emptying the cargo bay of all EMP devices, thoroughly spreading them across the battlefield. Some devices began to cling on to the nearby Immortals, while other devices made their way towards the outlying machines. The Immortals did little to avoid them at first and went as far as to try to swat them away as if they were flies. But once the devices started clinging to them, five or ten at a time, they began trying to avoid them. An impossible feat; there had been some one hundred and twenty thousand of those devices in Sodenia’s cargo bay. To add to the difficulty, the devices were designed as mechanically as possible, with the Immortals’ electronics-controlling prowess in mind. Though even with the devices clinging to them, the machines kept fighting, doing what they could against Sodenia.
“Nearly all of the Immortals are covered,” Kya said. “The timers on the devices are set to thirty seconds after they latch on. Our shields are failing once again. Should I send out the drones?”
“No, not yet,” Fain said. He looked for the machine planet on the spherical screen. “Let’s try to get the devices on all of them. Keep the drones ready.”
