Quantum Trigger

by Trevor Scott

  31

  Liam pulled his blaster from its holster as he and the crew approached the crashed Kurazon ship. He tugged a pair of goggles down over his eyes to avoid the settling dust. Through the darkened lenses, he could make out the coarse metal hull, bits of jagged metal splintering out everywhere he looked. He turned his gaze skyward. He was beginning to see the top of the ship come into view through the sandy haze.

  The Kurazon vessel was easily a hundred meters tall and perhaps three or four kilometers long. The ship was alive with sparks as wires and power conduits lay broken and stripped. Fires sprung up along Liam’s left where the rear engines had crumpled. Liam and the crew approached the side of the ship, closer to the front than the back, where an opening two stories tall was cut out from the hull. His auburn cloak swayed in the breeze, flapping around his knees when he stopped to marvel at the impressive vessel.

  Nix pointed a claw toward the front of the ship and said, “If there’s anything to find, I think the bridge would be a safe place to start.”

  Liam nodded and started toward a massive opening in the side of the hull. Bars of metal jutted down from the top of the hole like a broken cage with tendrils of steel bent awkwardly up and away from the hull. Liam stepped through the opening, avoiding all manner of debris on the ground, and entered the dilapidated ship. Saturn, Ju-Long and Nix followed close behind him, their weapons pointed out in front of them.

  An overwhelming odor of burnt electrical equipment combined with the smell of molten metal and fried corpses wafted up to Liam’s nostrils.

  The opening led into a cavernous center hallway that ended abruptly where they’d blown out the lower levels. Their footsteps echoed against the cold metal walls as they stepped across thick grates that served as the flooring. The metal was dark, nearly black in color. It was hard to say whether it was made that color or if it had merely seen too many years of use. Liam removed his goggles and kept his eyes peeled for bodies. So far there’d been none. A fact that worried him.

  He moved cautiously toward the front of the ship, winding his way through corridors that seemed unnecessarily tall and wide. Liam remembered the figures falling from the vessel. From so far away, it was hard to say just how big the Kurazon were.

  Liam stopped and turned to Nix. “What do you know about the Kurazon? Have you ever seen one?”

  Nix swallowed hard, showing far more fear now than his earlier confidence would have suggested. “Not exactly,” he replied. “Only stories.”

  Liam frowned and then continued to walk down the dank hall, lit only by the energy pulsing at the end of his weapon. He asked quietly over his shoulder, “How do the stories go?”

  “It is said that the Kurazon were an offshoot of the Ansaran and Dinari races, diverging hundreds of thousands of years ago, but they were cruel, horrid creatures. Their tribe was banished to a faraway world where they evolved over tens of thousands of years into what they are today, adapting to their environment. Monsters. Seven meters tall with flesh suited for their cold and dismal world, hardened against the frozen tundra. There are tales of them eating Ansarans and Dinari alike, ripping their flesh from the bone in their fury.”

  “Lovely,” Ju-Long remarked.

  Saturn turned toward their rear and shined the light from her weapon down the enormous hallway. “Is there any truth to those tales?”

  “Who knows,” Nix said with a shaky voice, tightening his grip on his weapon. “But if anything is left alive in here, I suggest you shoot first and spare yourself the pain of finding out.”

  For the next several minutes, the only sounds in the corridor were from their footsteps and from the pulsing of their energy weapons. Liam stopped at the head of the hallway. The hull was crumpled all around, blocking their path. The grated floors were now covered in sand seeping up from the surface.

  Nix stepped up to what Liam guessed was a ladder, only it was far too large for that to be possible. Each rung was the size of Liam’s arm. The hands that would have to grip those would be bigger than his head. Nix pointed his weapon up the shaft, lighting it with its faint blue glow. “Looks like it’s up then.”

  Liam moved toward the ladder but stopped short. He heard a noise behind him; the sound of dripping water. When he turned around, his eyes widened. He lit up the wall with his weapon’s glow to confirm it. Deep purple fluid dripped down the wall, emanating from the grates above. Now that he was aware of it, Liam noticed the metallic scent of blood wafting down from the ceiling.

  Ju-Long made a high-pitched noise and mumbled, “Great. Just great.”

  Liam put a hand on his shoulder, making him jump. “Stay focused.”

  Saturn snickered and approached the ladder, placing her small hand on the giant rung. After she’d begun her ascent, she asked the crew in a denigrating tone, “Are you boys coming?”

  Nix looked distraught in the half-light. Liam wondered what had changed since they were on The Garuda. Ever since The Sand’s Edge, Nix had seemed confident in his surroundings. Now he was visibly terrified. The contrast was palpable.

  Liam put a hand over a pipe-like rung of the ladder and said to Nix, “Look on the bright side.”

  “What bright side?”

  “We could have been eaten by Xara. At least if we run into the Kurazon our deaths will be quick.”

  Liam started up the ladder before Nix had a chance to contradict him.

  Ju-Long tried to crack a smile and commented, “I guess that’s called turning a frown upside down.”

  “A strange expression,” Nix replied, swallowing hard.

  Ju-Long climbed up after Liam with Nix close behind, clearly not wanting to be left alone in the dark Kurazon vessel. When Liam reached the next level, he saw Saturn cautiously peering down the hallway in each direction. The dripping blood was louder on this level, echoing off the cold steel around them. Liam could hardly hear his own footsteps over the sound as he stepped away from the top of the ladder.

  When Nix made it up to the top, the crew continued toward the front of the ship. Nix repeatedly checked their rear, growing more edgy the farther they treaded. The corridor bent around several times, becoming smaller as they approached the bridge. Finally, the hallway straightened out and they were faced with a circular hatch more than twice Liam’s height.

  Liam used his weapon’s blue glow to check the outside of the door for a way in. Saturn used her free hand to feel around the frame of the hatch. When she touched it, the door reacted with a shooting burst of orange light that made its way around the frame and then penetrated the center, forming a dozen thin triangles in a wheel and spoke pattern. In an instant, they broke apart and retreated into the frame, folding away like they were never there.

  Saturn held her hand aloft for several seconds after the door opened, fascinated by the unfamiliar technology. Through the hatch the bridge was black save for a few blinking green lights on a couple of the consoles. The glow of their energy weapons wasn’t very useful in the room due to the high ceilings and the distance between the walls. There were a dozen platforms with consoles for the Kurazon crew, raised to varying heights around a central circle which was raised a meter off the floor.

  Liam stepped through the doorway with his weapon pointed out in front of him, treading cautiously, his eyes alert for any sign of movement. Saturn and Ju-Long fanned out to the left and right while Nix followed close behind Liam, watching his rear. When Nix was a few meters past the hatch, the frame glowed orange once more and the dozen metal triangles shot toward the center point, fusing together when the light faded.

  Saturn approached one of the workstations and tried powering on the console. The screen flickered and then slowly grew in brightness until the light shined on her face. Liam’s eyes hovered on her figure for a moment, until she matched his gaze and he quickly looked away, becoming occupied with another console.

  “I think I found something,” Saturn said.

  “What is it?”

  Saturn pointed to her console and said, “Her
e.”

  Saturn toggled a hard switch and the circular pedestal in the center of the room lit up, projecting a holographic image of a planet above it. With its tan color and sparse topography Liam was sure it was the planet Surya. Saturn fiddled with a few of the settings and the image zoomed in, several smaller images populating. They were ships. Dozens of them swarmed around Akaru Colony as though unsure of another attack. She zoomed in again and they saw The Garuda perched close to the downed Kurazon ship, dwarfed by its massive size.

  Nix and Ju-Long made their way toward the center projection, examining it closely. Nix was particularly interested in the image. Liam wondered if the Kurazon technology was as foreign to him as it was to them. His golden eyes glowed in the light from the projection, like two golden orbs of sunlight.

  The image was zoomed in enough now to see the actual cross-section of the Kurazon vessel, nearly true to scale with its holographic representation. Liam walked over to Saturn and observed the console. There were dozens of commands with indicators written in a language that seemed oddly familiar, clearly related to the writing system of the Ansarans and Dinari, yet indecipherable. He tapped a button on the touchscreen that looked like a ‘T’ with four notches up the stem.

  “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Saturn asked him.

  “Do you?”

  Saturn tightened her jaw and looked up at the projection. The holographic image zoomed in toward the front of the ship, only fifty meters in any direction of the bridge. Four orange dots populated where the bridge would be, followed by a fifth, blinking along with a faint beeping sound to match. Liam thought it must be broken, so he hit the side of the console and a sixth appeared. Soon there were ten. Twenty. A hundred pulsing dots all around the bridge, the beeping noise growing in intensity with every new dot. Liam’s heart pumped harder and adrenaline shot through his veins.

  “Shit,” Liam cursed, raising his weapon.

  32

  Liam scanned the bridge for any sign of movement. Through the relative darkness, he saw none. Nix and Ju-Long stood back to back near the center projection, eyes wide with anticipation. If Nix could sweat, he would have been drenched by now based on his jittery demeanor. Ju-Long meanwhile glistened in the yellow glow of the hologram. He rubbed at his eyes with one hand while keeping his weapon aloft. The beeping had reached its peak intensity, the only noise left in the chamber.

  The dots stopped moving on the projection, hovering there, all around them. Saturn was focused on the console, mashing several buttons fruitlessly.

  “What are you doing?” Liam asked over the beeps, keeping his head on a swivel for the Kurazon.

  “I’m trying to get some light in here,” she replied. “Wait, I think I’ve got it.”

  Dozens of small lights lit up the workstations while overhead lights rained down from the ceiling. The coarse material of the bridge was far too industrial to be considered elegant. In contrast, the workstation’s tech was impressive. Despite the lights, the bridge remained dim, the dark metals of the room doing little to reflect the beams. Along the walls, Liam could see that the room was damaged, but the many thick supports cradled that section of the ship, so its ruin couldn’t compare with the rest of the vessel. Only a few workstations were affected and they shot occasional blue sparks from the screens.

  Liam turned around several times, taking in every inch of the room. The bridge was empty. He lowered his weapon slightly. “Do you think that machine is busted?”

  Ju-Long eased up his shoulders and dropped his weapon to his side, the ball of energy at its tip dissipating into the air. “Had me going there.”

  Saturn tightened her grip on her weapon and backed away from the console, keeping her back toward the side wall. The many dots on the image began to move once again as though writhing all around the bridge. She began to charge a mass of energy at the tip of her weapon. She whispered, “Why is it still beeping?”

  “This doesn’t feel right,” Nix declared.

  Ju-Long nodded, regaining his defensive stance. “I’m with Nix, this place creeps me out.”

  “You know Ju-Long, with all that muscle you’re still afraid of your own shadow,” she said.

  “Don’t start, Saturn. You weren’t so collected when faced with Xara and the disciples.”

  Saturn raised her voice, “For good reason.”

  “Quiet. All of you!” Liam called. He put a hand up in the air and said, “Listen.”

  Over the monotone beeps of the holographic projection, Liam could hear a faint hiss, growing in volume until it began to sound like a growl. What started as one became a dozen, two dozen, more, until the bridge was filled with the reverberations of the guttural sound. The crew gathered near the center of the room, back to back with their weapons facing out.

  Liam still couldn’t make out any movement and could not place the sound over the echoes. A thought struck him and his legs froze in place, stomach filling with ice as he came to the realization. His eyes, shaking with adrenaline, began to crawl toward the ceiling. Liam’s jaw clenched as he beheld the unfathomable.

  He nudged Saturn in the side and held a shaking finger up to the ceiling. After a short protest, Saturn followed his eyes up. She cursed under her breath. Countless yellow eyes stared back at them. Nix and Ju-Long soon saw what the commotion was about and pointed their weapons up toward the ceiling.

  The stories didn’t do them justice. Though they were bunched together as they hung from exposed pipes on the ceiling, Liam could tell they were at least four meters tall and made mostly of muscle. They wore sparse garments which were tight against their hardened bodies. The angular faces were reminiscent of the Ansarans, though far removed from millennia of natural selection. The only feature that truly remained of the Mother World were the eyes. Golden orbs of light so much like Nix’s, though so far apart in intentions.

  One of the Kurazon dropped from the pipes, slamming down on the grated floor ten meters from the crew and raising himself up to his full height. His muscular chest puffed out, purple veins pulsing along his tight physique and lining every crevice of his body. The hair on his head was matted and black, slicked to the back with the sweat and grease gained only by neglecting to bathe. Purple brands marked his body, countless symbols burned into his thick flesh. Liam noticed that he favored his right leg, the other was deeply scarred.

  The Kurazon giant stared directly at Liam, his golden eyes locked on and his brow turning downward with fury. His jaw clenched together and he ground his pointed teeth together. The Kurazon’s boxy chest was ornamented with dermal implants and red war paint adorned his face in thick streaks.

  One by one, the rest of the Kurazon began to drop from the ceiling until the center area was surrounded. When the last of them landed, the crimson-faced Kurazon let out a war cry which incited the others. He held himself with the confidence of a leader. Liam raised his energy weapon up toward his chest, a small ball of blue light pulsing at its tip. The Kurazon leader didn’t seem to be concerned, his resolve unwavering.

  Before Liam could release the energy, something flew through the air and knocked his weapon from his hands, clanking and sliding along the floor out of reach. Liam’s eyes turned to follow it. A jagged blade was sticking out of the side and had absorbed all the energy, dissipating it into the air. His eyes returned to the leader, whose glare had intensified.

  The alien spoke with a deep voice that easily filled the massive bridge chamber. “Coward. You would fire on an unarmed opponent? What weak species are you, Outsider?”

  “I am Liam Kidd of Earth,” Liam said, feigning confidence though his moxie was fading fast. “Do you have a name?”

  The Kurazon leader spat at Liam’s feet, prompting an eruption of laughter from the Kurazon Throng. He slapped his large chest with his flat palm and said “Crius, Lord of the Throng. You are unwise to come here, Liam of House Kidd.”

  “We’ve come for the device.”

  Crius looked around and shrugged his shoulders, showin
g two rows of yellowed teeth as the corners of his mouth edged up into a grin. “The Quantum Trigger. You’ll find its power is beyond your puny reach.”

  Some of the Kurazon continued their laughter. Their enormous frames easily filled up most of the room and their broad shoulders often touched merely so they could all fit. Crius dropped his chin to get a better look at Liam, sizing him up curiously. Liam tightened his jaw and made himself look as big as he could, a wasted effort by comparison to the brute before him.

  Liam took one small step forward. His neck was craned so he could still see Crius’ face. “Ragnar must have promised you a handsome deal for you to come out of hiding.”

  His smile disappeared and Crius bellowed a grunt that elicited angry roars from the other Kurazon. “The Kurazon hide from nothing. We fight for honor alone.”

  “It was honorable to attack this colony without provocation? It was honorable to attack our asteroid mine? No, there’s no honor in that. It was cowardly.”

  Every one of the Kurazon roared with rage. Liam began to think he had touched a nerve. Nix grabbed at Liam’s cloak from behind and whispered, “What are you doing? Are you crazy?”

  He put a hand up over his shoulder to signal to Nix that he knew what he was doing. Liam only hoped he was right.

  Crius raised his hand as though he was going to strike at Liam, but when the other Kurazon protested he lowered it.

  Liam took notice and stepped forward once more. “We’re taking the Quantum Trigger. One way or another.”

  Crius looked around to the other Kurazon and laughed from his belly. “You are a fool, Liam Kidd. Look around you. You are in no position to make idle threats.”

  “Your attack on this colony has failed. Your leadership of the Kurazon is in question. I can see it in the faces of these brave warriors around you. If you are a man of honor, you will prove you are fit to lead by using diplomacy.”