by Kord Stone
Jason asked, “Why would a single ship pose a problem? These TDS ships seem to be very durable.”
“Calia is concerned because Anukan was rumored to be one of the Imortum outposts, and the location the ship is in was covered in water until well after the Lantins fled the planet. She believes the old ship could be some of the ancient Imortum technology down there,” Justin said with a frown.
Jerren said, “I’m going back to my ship, and I’ll see if my AI knows anything about that ship down there. Call me when we’re ready to question them.” He swept his hand toward the three in stasis, then said, “Is there any way they can use the disk in her head to connect with the ship’s systems at all if they wake up?”
Jason laughed. “No, Alise wasn’t sure how they connected to the other ship, so she removed the disk completely. And even if they wake… There, now it won’t matter.” Jason had closed his eyes a second and when he opened them, each of the medical beds was encased in a cocoon of bars.
Jerren looked at Jason. “Good, I won’t be happy until they’re no longer with us. Especially her.” He pointed to Enyali. “I’ll see you later.” He patted his brothers on the shoulders and headed back to his ship.
Justin wondered what it was about Enyali that darkened Jerren’s mood so much, then thinking of everything she had done and thought she had done to their family, he understood. Looking at their prisoners Justin said, “I think I would have put them in an enclosed steel box if it were me.”
Jason chuckled. “I would have but I was worried they might die before I have a crack at questioning them.”
“Good thinking. I think it’s time for me to head back as well.” Justin gripped his brother’s shoulder and said, “Be on your toes big brother.” Then he walked away.
Justin was sitting at his console and Calia at hers when the energy spikes began. “Jerren how much longer until your charge is complete?” Justin called out.
“We have just completed, one second… We’re out of range… Now.” Jerren replied.
Calia called to Alise, “Initiate GMP in three…two…one.”
The moment they made their second pass, the pulse extended through the planet and the planet’s magnetic core flipped. After that, all man-made energy readings from the planet ceased. Calia smiled at Justin. “That did it…” She looked down at her display and launched a probe. “I want to have a closer look at what they were repairing down there.”
The probe descended the shaft for nearly a thousand feet before she finally located a passage leading into the massive cavern that housed the ship.
“Wow, that thing is huge… Did they build it in there?” Justin asked in astonishment.
Calia shook her head. “No. It is as I feared. I think that is an ancient Imortum ship. From what I can tell from these sensor readings, it appears to have crashed in the lake that was there, and over the years was covered in sediment before the water was cooked off the planet. It looks as if it has been recently excavated.”
She must have seen the confusion on his face because she said, “Well recently in our timeframe. I would say by the molecular decay on the tunnel, they made it down to the ship tens of thousands of years ago.” She looked back down at her console then said, “I have performed a scan on the ship’s hull and dated it… That ship is only nine hundred thousand years old—”
“Only?” Justin scoffed.
Calia chuckled. “Yes, when you consider this ship is a lot older than that one. The only data I have to estimate the age of this ship is the activation date of my AI program, and that was over three million linear years ago. All of the data from before the Lantins took over has been removed. But my activation date is still in there.”
“So what does that mean for us?” Justin asked a little nervously.
She sighed. “That ship may be a lot more advanced than these TDS ships are. If it is, we have to make sure it does not fall into the wrong hands.”
Justin slid his seat beside hers and watched as she tried to perform a detailed scan of the ship.
“My sensors cannot penetrate the ship’s hull. There is still an energy charge on it that is repulsing my signal… This ship has the look of a warship though. As you see, the visual imagery shows it to be armed with an excessively large number of weapons. They are well beyond the technical capabilities of the Lantins when they lived on Anukan though. Actually, I do not recall in my nearly four hundred thousand years of service with the Lantins ever coming across any ship this well-armed,” Calia stated.
Justin thought the answers about the ship were close to him but he couldn’t quite grasp them. “Can you tell what kind of engine it’s using?” he asked.
“The probes scans are inconclusive, but the energy waves I saw building up just before we performed the GMP appeared to be artificial gravitational waves emanating from the planet. So I would surmise they have a gravitational drive aboard the ship.”
Justin had an ominous feeling building in his gut. “Did your visual scans locate a hatch or point of entry on the ship?”
She magnified the scans. “Yes, here, they appear to have added a hatch on the forward bulkhead… Why?”
He knew she was not going to be happy about what he was about to suggest. “I think we need to get aboard and secure or destroy that ship.” She looked as if she were about to argue but he headed her off. “Something doesn’t feel right about that ship. We need to inform the others. Maybe we can get some information out of Gebb-Atum, then plan an assault and maybe a demo of the ship.”
Calia looked at the probe’s data and said, “I think you are right. I am going to keep a close eye on that ship. You need to find out what you can…” She activated the communications and said, “Jerren, you need to meet up with Justin aboard TDS 1 as soon as possible. It is time.”
“Okay, Calia, I’m on my way,” Jerren replied.
She nodded to Justin and he bent down to give her a kiss. “I’ll be back in a bit. Wish me luck.” Justin turned and hurried off the ship.
Calia wanted to keep any advantage they might have and called over to TDS 1. “Alise, we need to perform a GMP on Anukan again. How long until you are ready?”
Alise seemed a bit startled by her request. “One minute, what is wrong?”
“We are not sure yet. Justin and Jerren are on their way over, and Justin can explain what we do know. I would just feel safer if we do another GMP as soon as possible…and I think we should be prepared to do it again if needed.”
Alise’s voice sounded a bit nervous as she said, “All right, we are ready in three…two…one.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Justin boarded TDS 1 and found Alise, Jason and Jerren waiting on him. He explained about the ship he and Calia had found with the probe and told his brothers they needed information about what was being done with the ship, in addition to the whereabouts of the other family members, and whether Gebb knew about any other dark matter bombs. Jerren confirmed their suspicions about the ship from what his AI had told him, so they agreed that they would head down to the ship after questioning Gebb and his wife and attempt to destroy it if necessary. Justin followed as Jason led them down the corridors of TDS 1 to medical.
Alise was walking with Justin, Jerren and Jason into the medical unit, instructing them on how to sift through the memories of their prisoners. “They will not be like the people on Earth are now. They are a little more evolved, and depending on the subject, it can take several attempts to retrieve the information you need. The best way is to prod the memory to the forefront of their thoughts. If time is of the essence and the subject is difficult to read, then multiple questioners can cause the subject to lose focus and memories can be seized more easily.”
Alise looked at Justin and he nodded in understanding.
Jerren spoke up, “I think I should be the first interrogator, and Jason should be the second. Eneria gave me a tip on questioning Gebb. Do not use his first name. Apparently it infuriates him. Just call him Atum-Shu. I didn’t draw t
he correlation but Atum means son of and Atem means daughter of.”
Justin aske Jerren, “Is your AI doing all right?”
Jerren frowned and said, “Her name is Eneria, and she’s still having difficulties, but at least she’s willing to help us. Anyway, Jason and I have experience with this kind of interrogation method.”
Jerren asked Jason, “Are you all right being on this end of the interrogation?”
Justin figured that Jerren must have seen the reservations in Jason’s expression because he added, “We will only use intimidation, nothing physical.”
Jason nodded and Jerren continued, “Alise, since you have more experience reading minds, I would like you and Justin to stand out of view and try to access the information we need.”
Jerren smiled at them and said, “With our eyes glowing like this and with these outfits on, we look like the Imortum. I think we should use it to our advantage. It didn’t work telling Enyali the truth, so I say we embellish…in the old Lantin language. The binding process seems to have opened my understanding of the language. Do you know it?” Jason nodded and Jerren continued, “Remember…do not use his first name, just Atum-Shu.”
Jason nodded again and said, “Everyone ready… Here we go.”
A moment later Gebb opened his eyes and began shouting, “How dare you—”
“Silence, Lantin! … Explain what you were doing in our battleship!” Jerren snapped out with a scary reverberating tone to his voice.
Gebb looked down the length of himself to see who had spoken, “Who do you think…”
Recognition must have set in because he stared unbelievingly at Jerren.
“Why have you unearthed that which is not yours?” Jason barked.
Gebb turned his head to see the new speaker and they could hear him swallow hard at the stern angry glare focused on him.
“You left and we didn’t think you would mind,” Gebb said, sounding uneasy.
“Atum-Shu! What happened to your people?” Jerren growled.
Justin could feel that Gebb was trying to come up with a story when Jason shouted, “Answer him!”
Gebb turned to answer Jerren’s question and Jason barked out another. “What were you planning to do with our battle ship?”
“Atum-Shu! Why were you making dark matter weapons? It is forbidden! Answer my questions!” Jerren shouted.
Justin could tell Gebb was grasping for a way to keep from losing his train of thought, and he began sifting deep into Gebb’s memories.
Gebb’s face was getting redder by the second. He turned his head and must have seen his wife and daughter encased by bars on their beds because he snapped, “What have you done to them?”
Justin and his brothers, along with the AI all knew what Gebb and his family had done to Elgon’s family and the Lantin people, and they had no pity for Gebb.
“Their fate depends on your answers…ATUM-SHU!” Jason growled, sounding contemptuous.
Justin was sifting through some seriously sadistically cruel shit in Gebb-Atum’s mind and forced himself to dig deeper despite the revulsion he was feeling.
Gebb said, “My name is GEBB-ATUM—”
Jason raise his voice and said, “Kill the old one!”
Gebb’s eyes flew toward Jerren who began to radiate and crackle with electrical arcs. When he moved in Nuit’s direction, Gebb lost his composure. “Stop! I’ll tell you everything.”
“Speak true, Atum-Shu, for if I sense a single mendacity, she shall die in front of you,” Jason said with menace in his voice, and Justin couldn’t help but shiver at the tone.
Jerren moved back to Gebb’s side and drew his attention. “What were your intentions with our ship?”
Justin could feel Gebb’s apprehension and could feel his fear, and knew he opted to tell a half-truth, “We meant to use it for protection. I swear.”
Jason growled, “Why are you and your family producing dark matter weapons? They are forbidden. Your King Atlas was instructed to never delve into those weapons lest he incur our wrath! We sensed a dark matter detonation. We located and secured the other weapons orbiting Serqalin and tracked Atem-Nuit and Atem-Tefnuit to your location.”
Gebb replied quickly, “Atlas never told us it was forbidden. I swear it—”
Jason cut him off. “The rest of the Lantin people, what happened to them?”
If Gebb had the ability to move more than his head, Justin felt for sure he would have been squirming on the table like a worm on a hook.
Jerren snapped, “Where are the other dark matter weapons?”
Gebb seemed relieved at the change of subject. “There is only one other. It’s on Terra, where the other ship like this one is. I swear that’s all of them.”
Jerren’s body seemed to pulsate with energy as he asked, “What reason did you have for forcibly removing the stewards of this vessel and installing your daughter?”
They knew all of the ships were identical and knew he wouldn’t know the difference.
Jerren snapped, “Well? Explain your actions!”
Justin could tell he was battling to find another half-truth, and not being able to, he tried to pass off a complete lie.
“Baelentus informed us of the disaster at Lantis. He knew Enyali had a binding disk from the ship she was on with her husband Hyais, and he thought she would be able to reactivate the disk using his as a template. We tried but it would not work… Something went wrong and Baelentus died. We manually integrated his disk’s neural processor into Enyali’s binding disk and it let her take over this ship. We only wanted to help.”
Jerren looked as if he were about to explode and Jason changed the subject. “Where is the rest of your Ennead?”
Gebb looked shocked that they would know his family had formed an Ennead.
“Where?” Jason let loose in a near bellow.
Gebb swallowed hard and Justin could tell he was about to lie again.
“I do not know… We are supposed to meet on Abnearu in two years but I have not seen nor spoken to any of them in over a year.”
Jerren growled, “We know TDS 4 is on Terra and that you have defiled our other ship TDS 2.”
“The one ship was derelict and we couldn’t access it. The hull was too strong to allow entry and after years of trying, our consortium decided to use it as an impact hammer for mining in space. We know about the other ship but the country it crashed in is claiming ownership of it. We had nothing to do with that. I have told you all I know. May we go now?” Gebb finished sounding pathetic.
Jerren held his glowing and crackling hand up. “One more question, how many people do you have on our battleship?”
Gebb hesitated a moment. “Three…there are only three more aboard the ship. We almost had it started when it shut down. I do not know why.”
Jerren said, “We shut it down.”
Justin knew they hadn’t but it felt right to confuse him that way, especially after he had lied blatantly about how and when Baelentus had died. He had seen enough. Anymore and he felt sure he would need therapy the rest of his existence, so he decided to pull out of Gebb’s head and focus on the questioning.
Jason closed his eyes a moment, then he opened his eyes and drew Gebb’s attention. He seemed to lose himself as he recited in a strangely quavering voice. “Gebb-Atum-Shu, you and your family have been found guilty of the following crimes:
“Attempting to gain weapons of galactic destruction to ensure the subjugation of less advanced species.
“The deification of selves and other family members to rule supreme as deities over less advanced species.
“The willful and malicious torture and killing of an honorable and faithful steward of Imortum Time Dilation Ship Five to gain supremacy.
“The sedition resulting in the genocide of the Lantin people.
“And accessory culpability in the torture and murder of Baelentus, Mara, wife of Elgon; Anteth, son of Elgon; Elgon and Baelin, grandson of the line.”
“These crimes be
ing so heinous in nature, only one punishment shall be rendered upon you, your wife and your progeny. The sentence is to be death, carried out in the humane technique set forth by the people you once counted as brethren. Do you have any final words before your sentence is carried out?”
Gebb started screaming profanities and curses. Jason’s arm raised a moment later and Gebb fell silent as he was placed back into stasis.
Justin tried to speak but found he was unable to. It was as if he too was frozen in place. He could see Jason turn to Nuit and a moment later the same strange voice came from Jason’s mouth, reciting the crimes and punishment.
Nuit, unlike Gebb, showed a trace of remorse and she said, “The punishment is kinder than I deserve. I am truly sorry for my actions and inactions.” A moment later, she was back in stasis.
They watched as Jason made his way to Enyali’s side. Her sense of right and wrong was more in line with her father’s, and her belligerent rant was cut short when she too was placed back into stasis. A moment later Jason’s arms flew out from his sides and with a flash, the trio was gone.
Jason then turned around to face them still speaking in the strange quavering voice, and after saying, “Carry out the sentencing,” he collapsed to the floor.
Alise, Justin, and Jerren hurried to Jason’s side. A moment later Inola’s voice boomed, “DO NOT PURSUE!”
Justin’s head was still throbbing but he managed to pull his hands from his temples and look around to see the others were grasping their heads as well. “Damn…do not pursue wha—”
Calia’s voice interrupted him. “She really needs to work on her volume. Jerren, I knew you were still over there so I messaged over to your ship just in case your AI did not hear Inola’s message, but there was no reply.”
Jerren groaned, “Thanks Calia.”
Justin asked, “Calia, what didn’t she want us to pursue?”
“The battleship that just busted out of the cavern on Anukan, I would surmise, since she said that just after it popped out,” Calia said as if it were a normal occurrence to have ships popping out of a planet.
Jerren said, “I’m going back to my ship. Call me if you need anything.”
