Keltan's Gambit: Chronicles of the Orion Spur Book 2

by Michael Formichelli

  He heard a discharge of air and felt pressure against his arm.

  “You cannot move,” the man said. Cylus felt a cold, iron grip on his arm. Colors danced through his vision, and then he was falling.

  The room spun around him. He felt himself hit the ground, and the blow freed him from his paralysis. He gasped air into his starved lungs, his eyes watered—and he found himself floating on the bridge of the Fukuro-. Ben and Lina had him by the arms and legs, holding him in place while Captain Fukui pressed the nanomed injector to his shoulder.

  “I’m all right,” he said after a moment. His body shook, covered in sweat, but he knew that what he said was true. He had to repeat himself two times before they let him go. Lina and Ben helped him back into his seat.

  “What happened?” She focused on him with her sky-blue eyes.

  “I think I would say I was dreaming, but it felt more like a memory. I was watching the images you were sending us, and then I was in a room. It looked like the design on the Queen Gaia, and I was listening—” He stopped when a shudder ran through him. It took a moment to calm himself. “I think I knew what we would find here. I heard people talking about it before. There was a VoQuana involved. I saw him.” He shook his head.

  “There were no VoQuana on the Queen Gaia, Cylus.” Lina frowned.

  Ben moved back to his seat on the other side of the bridge.

  “I don’t know. Maybe it was just a vision or a waking dream—but felt so real.” He couldn’t shake the feeling that what he experienced was true in some way. “I knew that we would find this place dead. Why, though, I can’t really remember. It’s all shadows in my mind, but I think maybe that’s why I had Captain Solus in my planner.”

  Lina looked incredulous. “That’s not possible. The VoQuana are locked onto their worlds under quarantine. Daedalus wouldn’t let them out.”

  “Excuse me, but—” Captain Fukui said, drawing their attention. “—many spacers I’ve met talk about the VoQuana. There are rumors out on the fringe systems near the Sagittarian Republics that tell stories about how the VoQuana are no longer contained.”

  “What?” Lina paled.

  “Perhaps they are just rumors, but he might be right about the VoQuana. I haven’t personally met one, so I can’t say for sure. What would you like to do now? Shall we go down to the planet surface, stay in orbit, or leave the system?”

  Lina pressed her lips together.

  Cylus felt something stir in his head. They came here for answers as to what Zalor was hiding and found an entire colony dead. Though he had a feeling that it was connected to his enemy, and his strange vision-memory had indicated so, that wasn’t proof of anything.

  “We came here for evidence of something we could hang Zalor with, and we’re not going to get that up here,” he said.

  “So we go down there?” Captain Fukui asked.

  He nodded.

  “How do we make sure what killed the colonists won’t get us? We don’t know what did it.” Lina scowled.

  “I scanned the atmosphere. The moon down there is arid, which is why I think those that died in the streets mummified instead of rotting. The ship didn’t detect anything toxic in the air, so whatever killed them may have been destroyed by the environment,” Captain Fukui responded.

  “But it could be a pathogen, or something that wouldn’t turn up on the scan,” Lina said.

  “It could be. We have envirosuits on board. They should protect us. We just need to be careful not to get a puncture. The sanitizer in the main airlock is cutting edge technology so I doubt we’d bring something back onto the ship. We should be fine,” Captain Fukui said.

  “I have to go down there. I have to see if there’s something we can use,” Cylus said.

  “You’re sure?” Lina looked at him.

  “I have to see.” He nodded.

  “I’ll take us down,” Captain Fukui said.

  The turbines of the Fukuro- fired up, and the four long lumps in her hull flowed outward forming a quartet of wings as they headed down for the moon below.

  “Here, no one leaves the ship unarmed,” Captain Fukui transmitted, handing a nylon gun rig with a gauss pistol to each of them. Ben, accepted it and slung the rig around his waist in one, smooth motion.

  The envirosuits they wore were black with the Mitsugawa crest displayed on the shoulders. The suit’s air-tight smart-fibers cinched themselves against every millimeter of Cylus’ body like a second skin. He felt its built-in breather membrane attach itself to his face. His UI indicated the suit could also run in “sealed” mode by means of the two flexible air tanks on the back of the unit that dug into his shoulders when he shifted his weight. He also found the bug-like eyes of the hood annoying, but he was stuck with them as there was no other style of e-suit on board.

  Captain Fukui showed up in the main airlock with Lina wearing her gun rig over the thick, skin-tight attire and started the cycle to open the outer door. Cylus held up his hands and tried to speak, but found the e-suit did not allow his jaw to open far enough to actually form words.

  I don’t want it, he messaged the captain about the gun. Ben will keep me safe.

  “We are in hostile territory, Baron.” Captain Fukui offered him the weapon again.

  “I must concur with the captain, master. You should be armed, just in case.” Ben was also dressed in an e-suit. Though he didn’t need the air, it would protect his body from the grit and perhaps prevent him from carrying back whatever killed the colonists.

  Cylus shot his servant a betrayed look. Lina took her rig and strapped it on with ease.

  You’ve done this before? He would never have imagined she would have the interest or the opportunity to acquire such a skill.

  “I’ve practiced with a pistol before,” she transmitted back.

  “Take the rig, please, Baron,” Captain Fukui transmitted.

  He conceded, grasped the heavy apparatus by the offered strap, and slung it around his waist as he saw Lina do. He missed the buckle end with his other hand and it flopped back down against his thigh. His second attempt went somewhat better, but after he buckled the rig something felt wrong. The holster was pressing into his thigh the wrong way, making it impossible to draw the gun.

  “Let me do it.” Lina reached down and unbuckled his rig, then re-slung it and cinched it tight around his hips. She knelt down and fastened the thigh strap that held the holster in position, and tugged on it to make sure it was secure.

  “Are we ready?” Fukui asked.

  “Oh, hang on,” Lina picked up a satchel from the floor and slung over her shoulder. “The sampling equipment and scanner.”

  Captain Fukui nodded and the ramp descended onto the poly-ceramic surface of the landing pad outside. The moment the outer airlock door dilated open the hiss of the ship’s aegis filled his ears. The wind storm was blowing strong beyond it, creating a screen of caramel-sand static. They descended out beneath the long body of the ship. The landing pad was unyielding beneath Cylus’ soles, and he could feel it wrestling with the suit’s thermal regulators to leech the heat from his body.

  Captain Fukui led them out through the aegis field and into the maelstrom of ice and dust beyond. The field altered its frequency to allow them through the moment they came into contact with it—a feature of the link between the ship’s computer and their implants. Every hair on Cylus’ body tried to raise up against the pressure of the smart-fabric as he passed through the charged barrier. He shivered and stumbled in the shifting, particle-laced wind that met him on the other side. It tore at his body and crackled against his suit as the icy sand struck its surface.

  The were on one of the landing pads within the settlement. Though they could not see further than a meter ahead, the colony’s Cyberweb node was still working and overlaid a ghostly image of the surrounding structures in their field of view. The pad was one of six in a cluster, and the projection indicated that only one of the others had another vessel on it. Around them drum-like buildings and n
arrow towers rose from the rolling landscape. They were connected by long, zig-zagging tubes thicker than Cylus’ body.

  Captain Fukui headed for a group of short, pedestal-like computer terminals at the edge of the pad near a staircase leading down to the street.

  Where are you going? he messaged.

  “I thought we might help ourselves to some deuterium fuel while we’re here. I will just need to hook up the feed to the ship and hack the access codes to bypass the payment syst-”

  “Override code 75328-Gamma,” Lina cut in.

  “You know the override codes to the fuel pumps here?” Fukui stopped walking.

  “This was my adoptive father’s colony. The codes are likely being tracked, but so what if they know we’re here now? Well be long gone by the time a ship arrives,” Lina responded.

  The image of Hagus’ bloated, purple face flashed in Cylus’ head. He shook it away, feeling paradoxically ill and excited again.

  “Thank you. Please don’t let me delay you. I’ll catch up after I refuel the ship.”

  “Sounds good,” Lina messaged back. “Shall we, Cylus?” she turned away from the captain.

  He tripped on something when he tried to move towards the staircase. Ben caught him before he fell, but his foot throbbed from the impact.

  “Are you all right, master?” Ben asked, his vocalizer uninhibited by the tight suit.

  I’m okay. Just my pride is bruised. He looked down at what he tripped on.

  It was a dead colonist. The flesh was dessicated to the point where it displayed the contours of the bone beneath through tears in the oil-stained overalls. The dried lips were pulled back tight, exposing the teeth in a painful looking grin.

  Ugh, Cylus messaged.

  “The local Cyberweb isn’t going to project objects in the landscape. It’s only sending a navigational aid, not a live feed of what’s around us. The colonist’s cerebral implants went dead when the heat left their bodies, so they won’t show up on the projection either. We’ll have to watch our step,” Lina transmitted, moving close to look.

  “Perhaps you should allow me to take the lead I shall inform you of hazards,” Ben transmitted.

  Cylus nodded.

  “He’s alone. Must’ve died up here in one of the storms.” Lina knelt down beside the corpse and retrieved a narrow device from her bag. She jammed it into the dead man’s neck and held it there for a few seconds. She connected Cylus to the feed coming from the device’s built-in sensors and a bunch of data scrolled through his vision—none of which he understood until it got to the last line:

  [ANALYSIS POSITIVE FOR HUMAN MUSCLE AND SKIN TISSUE, TRACE AMOUNTS OF ANIMATE NANOMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS.]

  “There isn’t enough here to make a positive identification of those nanomachines. We’ll need to find another body.” She shook her head.

  From what we saw from orbit, I don’t think that’s going to be an issue, he transmitted back. His stomach burned with the thought. Hunting for dead bodies was not something he was looking forward to, but if it led to Zalor’s downfall he knew he would do whatever it took to get what they needed.

  They continued on at a slow pace into the colony streets. Every so often they came across a cluster of desiccated bodies tangled together in macabre scenes of cruelty and violence. Some had weapons frozen in their hands, others had them thrust into or through their corpses. The positions of more than a few bodies made it clear that torture and random murder were commonplace during the colony’s final days.

  “Mind the corpse,” Ben said from ahead of him when they came to the main street.

  What? Cylus messaged a moment before he walked right into a body hanging from a lamppost. He nearly regurgitated in his suit as he fell back away from it.

  “Apologies, master,” Ben said, coming back to his side.

  Tell me you’re getting something from all this, Cylus sent to Lina between abdominal convulsions.

  “I’m only getting trace amounts. They’re adding up, but it looks like the long period of exposure, and severe dessication, have destroyed a lot of the artificial molecular structures in their systems. This must have happened a while ago. We’re going to have to bite it and get a sample from something a bit, ah, wetter.” Lina sent.

  At first Cylus didn’t know what she meant, but then the image of rotting bodies within the colony’s buildings came to mind. He doubled over, feeling the bile flood into his mouth. He puckered his lips shut and fought the heaving urges until they subsided. He couldn’t imagine a thing more unpleasant than vomit in a skin-tight e-suit.

  Lina and Ben stood beside him until the convulsions ended.

  “I’ll go do it. You two wait out here.” She sounded ill at the prospect, but he was in no condition to argue. He nodded and sat down on the sandy ground. She pressed her hand into his shoulder, then moved on and disappeared into the storm.

  Within minutes he realized they should have gone with her. The wind and the crackle of the particles bouncing off of his suit swelled in his ears. He felt himself shiver and tense inside. It wasn’t long before he was seeing shadows of nameless creatures lurking about between the ghostly projection of the colony buildings. He placed a hand on the heavy pistol resting on his thigh and realized that he had no idea how to use it. He saw such things done in Cyberweb dramas, of course, but as to how one aimed and fired such a weapon he was completely ignorant. At least he had Ben with him. With his faithful servant at his side, he probably didn’t even need the weapon.

  Ben, do you see anything moving over there? He pointed to a nearby alley between two buildings. For a moment he thought he saw something move through the duststorm.

  “No, master, but the storm is interfering with my sensors.”

  Cylus nodded. Keep an eye out as best you can.

  “Of course, master,” Ben responded.

  Cylus heard something, a crunching sound back down the street where the landing pads were. It made his heart jump.

  Ben, is that the captain coming?

  His artificial turned to face the direction he pointed in. “I am detecting a low-level heat signature, but I cannot determine if it is Captain Fukui.”

  Cylus tensed.

  The storm began to die down after a few minutes. More of the street around him became visible through the shifting dust. He made out the lamppost where he ran into the body on the way over. It hung from a thick cord, swinging vigorously back and forth in the wind, and it was not alone. Two more lampposts came into view as the sand settled. From each hung a body dancing at the end of a string like a doll. The sight turned his stomach again. He resolved to look only at the ground in front of him until either Lina got back, or Captain Fukui arrived.

  His resolve didn’t last.

  Carefully, in spite of himself, he looked up until just the narrow feet of the corpses were visible and tried to see down the street for signs of movement. He made out a shadowy figure approaching through the shifting haze. The motion drew his gaze further up, and he fixed on it to avoid seeing the bodies swinging in the wind. The shadow was bigger than it should have been, much taller and wider. It bore a striking resemblance to—

  Ben! he transmitted in a panic. The scion was dead! It couldn’t be him, not so far from the capitol. The hair went up on the back of his neck.

  “Master?” Ben turned towards the shadow a moment before a loud crack rang out through the air. Ben’s head exploded, spraying him with gray silicar as the body fell back.

  Lina! he messaged, his heart pounding in his chest as he backed up, fumbling with the latch on the gun holster.

  The shadow shifted and a blue flash illuminated the dust-filled air. Before he could process what happened his body seized and threw itself backwards. He hit the ground barely aware of his surroundings. The pain in his head blurred his vision, and it felt like something was cinched around his chest constricting his breathing. He tried to prompt his implant to call for help but he couldn’t manage enough concentration without pain exploding behind his eyes.


  He felt himself grabbed in a vice-like grip by the arm and dragged along the stone street. His head flopped to the side as the sandy ground scratched at his back through the envirosuit. For a moment he thought he saw a second figure approaching from a side-street, but before he could try and warn Lina the darkness closed in.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Ikuzlu City, Kosfanter

  41:2:26 (J2400:3153)

  Cygni could still feel the echo of pressure on her forehead and a vague emptiness in her skull like a chill that seeped in between her ears and refused to leave. She trembled on the slab of fastcrete jutting out from the wall of her cell. When she closed her eyes she saw Pawqlan’s body convulsing in the grip of the pale-skinned monster. The horror played out in her mind—the feeling of pressure, the colors, the ringing in her ears, and the rapport of Thuban Vargas’ gun vibrating her hand. She heard the bullets tearing the pale body of the monster apart, and she knew that somewhere inside herself she still felt the hurt that drove her to take his life. She killed Sinuthros. The monster was dead, and regardless of what happened next, they couldn’t take that away from her.

  For two days she was held in this three by three by three meter cell. She was alone, thankfully, though with nothing to do, and her implant switched off, her concept of time had become fluid. Her only temporal markers were the the meals shoved through a slot at the base of the door, and the regular interrogations conducted by Thuban Vargas. His was the only face she saw since the hothouse on top of AgroWorlds Tower. Why were you there? Who was the Galaenean? How is it you came to be in conflict with the VoQuana? She could recite his questions verbatim in her sleep now. They were always the same, as were her answers. He hadn’t broken her, yet, but he had the recordings and her list of CPAds form her implant. She couldn’t help that. They knew about the VoQuana, and Keltan, and Revenant. In another universe that might make a difference, but here she was sure the CSA wouldn’t do anything but delete her data. It served the needs of the Barony, and the Barony was Baron Revenant’s slave. All things considered, it was a miracle she was still alive, though maybe their plan wasn’t to kill her but to “disappear” her until they were sure she hadn’t given the records to anyone. She hoped Biren and the others were still free. She would never forgive herself if the CSA disappeared them because of her.