Odyssey (The Spiral Slayers Book 3)
Page 20
“There’s more,” d-les said, “much more but the short version is your friend Bugs is not who it says it is.”
Adamarus nodded grimly, “Okay.”
“There’s more. Whitehall.”
“General Whitehall?”
“Yes,” d-les said, “He planted the bomb that destroyed the Umbrella ship and wounded Bugs. Also, he’s not who he pretends to be.”
“How can you know all of this?”
“Everything is in the Archive if you know where to look.”
“We looked.”
“Hm… actually, in this case, it’s what’s not there Adamarus. Before the explosion, Whitehall is missing for an hour.”
“That’s proof of nothing he could have been in the men’s room.”
“We investigated further. We took a sample of his DNA. General Whitehall’s primary DNA matches Whitehall’s… but also a Congressman De Bella. Do you know that name? Actually, we know from the Archive that you do.”
An identity transplant, Adamarus thought. The man who tried to kill me, Evelyn, Leewood, Harington and President Wicker!
---
In the next galaxy, the Blackship had completed its part in their con job. The Harvesters could handle it from here.
The Blackship vanished in a wall of fire and, using the quantum wormholes, it jumped from there and reappeared in the next galaxy just outside the central black hole on the opposite side from Nemesis.
It immediately entered the central black hole and vanished from sight. It would wait for them.
---
Whitehall’s secretary was at lunch and so he was getting his own coffee from the lunch room. Holding his coffee cup, he turned to leave when he heard Adamarus voice in the hall.
“Radin, check his cabin, I’ll try his office. Remember, draw your sidearm. Don’t fuck around.”
“I won’t.”
Whitehall frowned. He dropped his coffee cup in the trash the peeked out of the lunch room and down the hall. He watched Adamarus go to his office door, draw his sidearm and burst in. Oh shit, he thought.
He immediately took off down the hall in the opposite direction.
Where to go? Then, he had an idea.
---
Adamarus heard the request for him to report to the bridge. They were about to enter the event horizon. He’d have to leave Whitehall until later. He raced to the bridge and dropped into his seat.
Nemesis approached the event horizon then entered. Her own event horizon popped and vanished. She began making her way to the center.
---
Whitehall hated hiding, but he didn’t know what was going on. He entered the codes to The Spore then locked himself in.
He flopped down into a passenger seat and caught his breath. It smelled new inside the million-year-old ship. How could that be?
He needed to think. He also needed to eat. He’d skipped lunch. He went to the ship’s galley and came out ten minutes later with a ham and cheese sandwich.
---
Nemesis was two-hours away from the center where the singularity they needed awaited. Adamarus put Radin in charge and made for the listening chamber.
All the way there he fumed. What in the world was going on? Why would Bugs lie? What did it mean?
“Bugs,” Adamarus said angerly. “Why did you lie about the stellar flare. Why did you hide all information on a man named Paladin? Where are the Loud really from?”
Bugs didn’t answer for a moment, then, “Adamarus, we are from so far away that we don’t remember.”
---
Radin’s brows furrowed, “What’s that above the singer? Maximum magnification.”
The bridge stared in shock.
Radin thumbed his com, “Admiral Maximus to the bridge. Red alert. All hands to battle stations.”
Dora said what no one else would, “Oh my God, it’s the Blackship!”
---
“… we’ll talk about this when I return!” Adamarus said angerly to Bugs and he turned away and make for the bridge. He knew what it was. What else could it be? The Blackship was waiting for them at the center of the black hole. It had somehow out maneuvered them and they were fucked.
As soon as he was in the corridor, he yelled, “Take me to the bridge!”
The floor rose up engulfing him. Metal seemed to spin around him and wind came from somewhere… the turning metal melted away into the floor and he was standing next to the captain’s seat.
The bridge crew stared wide-eyed. Some had seen it before, others only heard of it but still.
Adamarus dusted off his shoulder and sat. “Status?” He could see the hologram, it was just as he’d thought.
“It’s just launched staple ships… 400 of them.”
“ETA?”
“Fifty minutes.”
“Scramble first and second fighters and launch,” Adamarus ordered. “Estimate time to intercept.”
“Thirty minutes.”
“Scramble third and fourth but hold in place.” Adamarus wanted to get out there in a fighter but tried to put the urge out of his mind.
The minutes crept by.
Then, they raced by…
“We’ve engaged…”
“Lost four… two more…”
“Our weapons are having no effect on the staple ships.”
“We got one.”
The battle was not going their way. And it was getting worse. Adamarus was about to order a fall back when one of the staple ships broke apart. In the twisted expanding metal, a creature appeared.
It was a Loud with legs and a stretched out boney head.
Radin whispered what no one else would say, “The Loud are the Spiral Slayers!? How can that be?”
“Their ships are disengaging!”
It was true. All the staple ships suddenly turned and raced for home.
“It’s the gravity gradient and time dilation,” the science officer said. “They had to use incredible power fighting the main singularity as well as the Blackship’s counter balance. Going back they face the same problem. Out here we don’t have it so bad.”
“How do we use that to our advantage?” Adamarus asked. Nemesis couldn’t fire any of her weapons without placing her black hole in the Basin and she couldn’t do that inside the event horizon.
Adamarus needed to talk to Bugs. Evelyn wanted to come along too. On the way, Adamarus stopped by the armory and got the biggest gun he could find.
When they got down there, Adamarus set the gun by the entrance. “You wait here, let me see what mood it’s in.
“Okay.”
Adamarus went in.
Bugs was waiting for him, “You have done an excellent job as a Helper. As your Harvester I am proud, but now it is time for you to end and another Helper to take over. Goodbye Adamarus.” Bugs lashed out with one of his two remaining tentacles at Adamarus. It was so fast Adamarus had no time to react. The 30-foot tentacle smashed through the soundproof glass and smashed into Adamarus. He was flung back against the back wall.
Evelyn charged in with the gun and skidded to a stop.
Bugs was recovering its tentacle.
Evelyn said, “Fuck you Bugs” and fired.
---
Radin watched the Slayers within the hologram. The Blackship was above the central singularity. Above the Blackship was its much smaller but closer singularity controlled by four of the Blackship’s tentacles to balance the gravitation forces. The other four tentacles reached down toward the prize.
Evelyn and Adamarus entered the bridge. Adamarus’ head was bleeding.
“Status?” Adamarus asked.
“The Blackship’s going for it,” Radin said.
But the Blackship only lowered one arm into the monster. Another of her arms pointed at them.
“Oh shit,” Adamarus said.
A beam of pure white light came from the extended tentacle and right at Nemesis.
“Prepare for impact,” Adamarus yelled. He expected the entire ship to blow ap
art. Instead, they heard and felt nothing.
Then the alarms went off.
Chapter Sixteen – Journey’s End
“Gravity is entropy. Everything cools down, everything slows down. When standing on a planet, point downward…time is moving slower down there (time is simply the measurement of the relative speed of physics). Point upwards, time is moving faster up there. The slower activity ‘down there’ is eroding the faster activity ‘up there’ pulling everything… down, cooling down, slowing down, falling down.”
The Stow named d-eli
Source: The Archive
“Damage report,” Radin hollered.
“The beam hit and took out one of Nemesis’ tentacles. We’ve lost control of our black hole.”
“On hologram,” Adamarus said.
The normally circular form of the singularity controlled by four tentacles was gone. In its place was an out of control monster. The circle had broken like a rubber band stretched too far and now the end was snapping back at them.
---
The singularity had snapped and now was an unstable string. It stretched out then snapped back and hit itself and splintered into millions of gravity threads. These whipped away from Nemesis but then snapped back and the lethal gravity threads came down on the top of Nemesis’ sphere… right on top of the bridge.
The threads were only one eighth an inch in diameter but thousands of feet long. Where they touched the hull, it liquefied and was sucked up. Then they penetrated deep into the ship.
---
Adamarus heard a high-pitched whistle coming from his right rear followed by a scream. He leaned forward and looked back. At the starboard traffic control station, a woman held her hands over her mouth and stared wide-eyed at something. Then Adamarus saw it. A thin line reached from the floor upward to the bridge overhead. Then the bottom of the line lifted up from the floor and retreated into the overhead. Adamarus smelled burned metal.
Bam!
Adamarus’ head jerked forward. Right between Radin’s station and the science officer’s another line reached down into the floor! It was more a blur than any color. Then, bam, bam, another and another all grouped together. Then, after a moment they quickly rose and were gone leaving a burning smell, holes in the floor and ceiling and the hissing sound of the atmosphere until the nanites fixed each hole.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Evelyn screamed. Adamarus looked over, a line had hit the console in front of her.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Screams and yells came from all around the bridge.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
One came down on the left shoulder of the officer sitting next Evelyn. This time the line turned shades of red and white. The officer jerked and trembled for a second then, as the gravity thread sucked out his insides his skin collapsed inward. His head jerked around and hit the thread and blood splattered everywhere.
Another line dropped into the console in front of Evelyn. The communications console was exploding in electrical sparks and was smoking.
Evelyn jumped up and ran towards the fire extinguisher but a line dropped in front of her, and she fell to the floor.
Both Adamarus and Radin were on their feet.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Adamarus looked to the right. Three threads had hit in front of the communications station. They were coming in groups.
Bam! Bam!
Two slammed down on either side of Radin.
Radin and Adamarus looked at each other.
Bam!
It came down on the top of Radin’s head. The line turned red. Radin’s eyeballs were sucked in. His whole body collapsed inward and fell.
Adamarus felt the shock roll over him. Radin had been his best friend for more normal lifetimes then he could calculate.
Bam! Bam!
He heard Evelyn scream and his head jerked towards her. She was still on the floor, and two beams had come down around her one missing her by a foot.
Bam!
The third came down between her legs.
“Evacuate the bridge,” Adamarus yelled. To Evelyn, he held out his hand and hollered, “Don’t move!”
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Adamarus glanced up. More threads at the front of the bridge, more red ones. It got Dora and both navigators. Victor threw himself over the console and ran toward Evelyn.
“Stop,” Adamarus yelled but he was too late. Victor ran right into the threads surrounding Evelyn. They sucked him up so fast he was there one moment and gone the next. Then the threads around Evelyn rose up and Adamarus helped her up.
Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!
It was raining threads now. Everyone on the bridge was being killed.
One came down right in front of Adamarus and Evelyn. He grabbed her and dove away. They slid across the floor and came to a stop. One came down in front of Adamarus’ face.
He grabbed Evelyn, held her tight and hollered, “Take us to The Spore!”
The floor came up and engulfed them both but a hole appeared in the top and a loud screeching noise arose. They were being pulled towards the hole! Then the metal cocoon opened up and released them. It went up and they were falling from the ceiling of the Atrium.
The Atrium was being torn apart. A huge hole near the Northwest end was sucking everything into space. The volcano was in full eruption shooting fireballs as far as The Lowland Sea.
They were in free fall, the ground coming up quick. Below them, the dirt and rocks exploded upward and floor-like material reached up and grabbed them.
Again, they were cocooned within the twisting metal traveling fast.
---
In Nemesis City, the quarter of a million people not in hibernation were in a panic. The city was literally vibrating off its foundations. The buildings were starting to fall apart. Fires were breaking out and people were running and screaming through the streets.
Then one wall broke away and opened the city to vacuum and a quarter of a million people died.
---
Whitehall was furious as he went through the ship’s pre-flight checklist. Fools! What made the idiots ever think they could take on the Blackship!
And Whitehall was no fool, someone would be coming to The Spore soon. He had found the armory, tucked a laser pistol in his pocket and now needed to prep for liftoff. Nowhere to go but fuck it.
But why would anyone come? Neither he nor anyone else could escape this situation now. The Spore could not escape the central black hole’s event horizon and when the Blackship fed on the singularity, and it blew, everything—all of Nemesis and The Spore—would be destroyed.
He had all the time in the world… and no time left at all.
---
The metal dissolved around Adamarus and Evelyn and deposited them in front of the ramp leading up to the entry to The Spore.
Adamarus ran up to the hatch and entered the code. It didn’t work! He entered it again…no go.
“Someone’s changed the code,” he said to Evelyn. “Whitehall. This is where he’s been hiding. He’s inside.”
“What can we do?” Evelyn asked.
“I have the hardcode key, so I can still get in, however… he probably has a weapon and… we don’t.” Adamarus looked around.
---
The alert beeped and Whitehall froze. Someone was trying to get in.
He stopped the preflight and ran back to the main hatch. He positioned himself right in front of it and aimed the laser pistol.
He knew a hardcode key existed and that limited people had it.
Idiot! He raced to the side console and turned on the outside cameras.
No one could be seen.
He picked a spot where he could aim at the hatch and see an image of the outdoor ramp.
Still nothing.
Suddenly a form hunched over carrying something ran up the ramp.
Whitehall refocused on the hatch, his laser pistol held out before him.
---
Adamarus had only found a doz
en flairs to use as weapons.
Knowing the outside cameras were probably on and that they had probably been watched the whole time, he hunched over to hide the one flair he carried then ran up the ramp.
As he did distant explosions could be heard and the huge bulk of Nemesis rocked. The ship was dying, falling apart.
He reached the top, entered the hardcode key and then as the hatch started opening, he grabbed the ramp’s rail and jumped over.
---
The hatch opened, and Whitehall fired right where a person entering the code would be standing but there was no one there.
He focused and re-aimed. Come on mother fucker!
---
Evelyn was thirty-feet away hiding behind a remote console.
She saw Adamarus run up the ramp and enter the code then grab the ramp rail and jump over the side but he hung on swinging below the ramp, his feet about six-feet above the floor.
Immediately the hatch started to open and a laser beam shot out the opening hatch passing through the space where Adamarus had been a second before.
She had nine flairs lined up on the console she began firing them at the door as fast and as accurately as she could.
---
Whitehall stared out the open hatch. What?
Something was being fired at him from across the airlock.
The first one came so fast he could not possibly get out of the way. It missed the hatch but another was on its way, and another and another.
He tried to move. Another missed the open hatch and hit the side of the ship. In his hurry, he bumped against a console and cursed. Then one made it inside and exploded a few feet from him. He fell and the laser slipped from his hands. Something else exploded and he covered his face.
---
Adamarus saw one flair make it into the hatch and he aimed and fired his flair into the hatch at the ceiling inside then he dropped to the floor. He grabbed the two flairs he’d left there, ran around to the front of the ramp and up it. He saw Whitehall on the floor reaching for something and he fired both flares at him.
---
Whitehall was reaching for the laser when he saw Adamarus running up the ramp aiming something at him. Adamarus fired and something hit him in the leg and exploded. He screamed and jerked and his hand found the laser.