Prophecy

by Paula Bradley

  Drango tried for dispassion, but Senala heard the excitement in his voice. “We have hailed. They do not acknowledge, Prime Commander.”

  “Prepare to lay three bursts across their aft on my command.” Senala was just about to issue the fire order when Drango scowled and turned to face his superior.

  “Prime Commander, the Lepitera has disappeared.”

  Senala’s right eyebrow rose fractionally as he stared at the younger Anorasian. “What explanation is given by the NMIP?” While his voice was steady and without inflection, his stomach muscle suddenly tightened in an unaccustomed clench.

  There was a pause as Drango queried the processor. Its digitized voice came through clearly. “There is no explanation for this anomaly, First Pilot Meron Drango,” it droned, the vocals startlingly realistic. “I am more than capable of penetrating mechanical stealth-producing energy fields. My probe has received information that they may be enveloped in an unknown biological invisibility.”

  Senala stiffened at an unexpected prescience of danger suffusing his mind. Unwilling to acknowledge this sensation, he said grimly, “We will not be drawn into their game. Feed the Lepitera’s signature to the Intezelin. Let us be done with this.”

  With another brief nod, Drango issued the order to the NMIP. It was immediately transmitted to the smart missile.

  The Intezelin Torpedo chattered back to the NMIP, acknowledging its assignment. There had never been an escape from an Intezelin and Meron Senala, Anorasian Prime Commander of the Stirilium Cruiser Prehendere, was confidant today would be no exception.

  Chapter 72

  Aleris’ calm, uninflected voice came to Mariah as if they discussed nothing more than the weather. “The Intezelin Torpedo is linked to the on-board NMIP but is, in itself, capable of intelligence. It has a direct range of from two to five million miles and a speed computed at the rate of planetary transport. Its range can be greatly extended if the missile locks onto its target that is in the act of jumping. Should this happen, the Intezelin will follow the target into hyperspace, jumping each time its target does, all the while moving closer until it is near enough to self-destruct and demolish the target. In addition, the missile has a stealth producing energy field and protective force screens.”

  Slumped in her pod with her eyes closed, Mariah acted as if she hadn’t heard. When there was no response, Aleris turned back to the computer array to discuss their non-existent options with her colleague.

  They knew Mariah was psychically linked to the neural processor on board the MERS. The light array before them was in communication mode but no sound issued from the processor’s audio speakers. When there was a sudden surge of power to the MERS’ stealth shields, they knew she had caused a psychic block—and that the Stirilium Cruiser, which hailed them moments before, was blinded.

  For the first time since the NMIP announced the Cruiser’s presence, the Anorasian scientists had a fleeting burst of hope.

  #

  It had only been a test. Mariah now knew she was able to enhance the NMIP’s programming.

  When she opened her eyes, they saw only her black pupils and reddened eyeballs. Aleris was reminded of an eclipse with the sun’s corona visible only around the rim of the darkness. The sardonic grin on Mariah’s face told them everything they needed to know, filling their hearts with cautious anticipation.

  Patch me into the NMIP on that Cruiser, she sent to the neural matrix processor on the Lepitera.

  Given a dedicated pathway, she fired off her demand without any preliminaries:

  Let me talk to the Intezelin.

  The NMIP on the Prehendere assumed it was being queried by its counterpart on the Lepitera. The demand was unheard of and it responded stiffly.

  “There is no basis for this query. Request denied.”

  The Prehendere’s NMIP felt it unnecessary to alert the sentient beings on board the Cruiser as to the nature of the query because the request presented had no merit nor did it pose any threat.

  Mariah had not expected her demand to be granted. The purpose of the initial contact was to trace the Lepitera’s encoded signature path to and from the Prehendere’s NMIP. Unaware that she had entered its communication conduit during that momentary link, the Prehendere disconnected.

  Or thought it had. The NMIP on the Prehendere had never been violated by anything. It was never designed to protect its communication conduit. Mariah Carpenter’s exceptional psychic gift had accomplished a feat no Anorasian could do.

  As the Intezelin Torpedo slipped through Prehendere’s protective force field, Mariah minutely tweaked the Lepitera’s signature.

  Momentarily confused, the smart bomb sent a communiqué to the Prehendere.

  “The target signature has been corrupted. Please resend.”

  Having stored the Lepitera’s signature, the Prehendere’s NMIP sent it again. It had no way of knowing that Mariah followed this operation very closely.

  Her eyes blazed with excitement. She not only locked onto the communication path between the two processors, she now had the Intezelin’s ear.

  She allowed the neural matrix processor on board the Stirilium Cruiser to change the signature back to the correct one; she needed it out of the communication link. Sucking in her breath, she gripped the arms of the pod. This is going to be too damn close, she thought.

  When the Intezelin was approximately a million miles from the Lepitera, Mariah communicated with it.

  “The signature I gave you is incorrect .”

  Blocked from this communiqué, the Prehendere’s NMIP was unaware of Mariah’s ruse. However the Intezelin assumed it was receiving intelligence from its source.

  In tones that sounded like annoyance, the Intezelin sent:

  “What is the uncertainty? You have now countermanded the signature order twice. Are you in malfunction?”

  Mariah chuckled out loud, drawing startled glances from the two geneticists. What she could find amusing at this crucial time was beyond them.

  “I’m in perfect condition, you little piece of shit. In fact, I’ve never felt better in my life.” Mariah grinned and thought, that should blow some of its micro circuits.

  Unaccustomed to the language, the Intezelin ignored the communication and responded:

  “I have my target on visual. I no longer require its signature. There seems to be no malfunction in my circuitry. I will proceed with my instructions.”

  Chapter 73

  There was no room for errors. Not even a nanosecond. Every step from this point on must be precise.

  “Now!”

  Mariah’s stomach lurched. Her head felt as though it was trying to separate from her body as Sateron activated the hyperspatial transport coordinates. Ignoring the nausea caused by a weightless spinning sensation, she concentrated on the Intezelin Torpedo.

  Good. As anticipated, it followed the Lepitera, closer now by half a million miles. Mariah instantly shielded the MERS with a tremendous punch of psychic energy. Concealed from view, she then reverted its signature back to the original.

  Sweat poured down her face into her eyes, causing her vision to blur and her eyes to burn. Mariah’s body trembled and convulsed with the adrenaline boiling through her system. She tried to ignore this state of near collapse.

  It was the exacting communication in binary code that caused her strength to drain. Her brain was working overtime. Translating from code to English to understand what was being said then translating her message back to code was exhausting. It was almost more than she could handle. But if she couldn’t carry this off, she and her friends would become molecules in the vastness of space.

  #

  Sateron stared at her, fear gnawing a hole in the pit of his stomach. Mariah appeared to be in tremendous pain. Her body was rigid, shaking as if she had ague. Her knuckles were white from gripping the arms of the pod. Her teeth were bared in a snarl as her lungs strained
to fill with enough oxygen to keep her conscious. He felt Aleris’ psychic touch; half rising from his pod, anxiety caused him to subconsciously head in Mariah’s direction.

  #

  “Well, hey there, Boo Boo, what’s shakin?” Mariah was back in communication with the smart missile as she sensed it locking onto their signature.

  Caught off guard, she reared back into her seat when the Intezelin blasted back:

  “WHAT ARE YOU?”

  Her brain sizzled from the explosive violence of the transmission. So this thing is designed with emotional response, she thought, shaking her head to clear the pain like a bear with a flea in its ear. She had not anticipated this exercise would be easy; she now knew she would have to deal with more than just artificial intelligence.

  Recovering, her lips skinned back in a grimace that was supposed to be a grin.

  “Hey Gilligan, little buddy, don’t you recognize me? It’s the Skipper! And with me are the Professor and Marianne!”

  “I do not understand this transmission. For what purpose is this discourse?”

  “Purpose? Well, if you must know, you’ve been given the wrong target coordinates. You’ve been flimflammed, little buddy!”

  Lights flashed on the Intezelin’s console, random and haphazard, never having been addressed by the NMIP in this fashion. “Impossible. I clearly received this signature as my target. I am prepared to proceed.”

  Mariah immediately tweaked the Lepitera’s signature and felt the Intezelin hesitate.

  “Which signature were you given? Seems to me like brain central is having delirium tremens. Or worse, is doing this on purpose.”

  There was silence as the Intezelin assimilated as many of these words as possible; however, it did understand the last part. But the Anorasians had designed the missile to think—and it swiftly came to a decision.

  “If the signature is incorrect, the corruption resides with the Neural Matrix Intelligence Processor that exists on the Cruiser, not the processor from which I receive my programming. I have locked onto both signatures. I will self-destruct when approximate to either.”

  Mariah’s eyes widened in dismay. It was a whole lot smarter than she gave it credit; it was capable of multiple signature sensory. Disengaging from the Intezelin, she scowled. This was the first time since she began flexing her growing psychic muscles that she was stumped—and afraid.

  Suddenly her face cleared; she focused on the two scientists before her.

  “Change of plans.” Her voice was hoarse and ragged with fatigue. “Take us back to our original coordinates. I need to be close to the NMIP on the Prehendere.”

  #

  Nonplussed, Sateron nevertheless swiveled back to the panel array and gave the coordinates to the Lepitera’s NMIP. If there was one thing he had learned, it was to trust this female’s odd behavior without question.

  This time, the hyperspatial jump was not as unsettling. Or maybe I’m just getting my space legs, so to speak, Mariah thought bleakly. As anticipated, the Intezelin completed the jump with them, moving to within several hundred thousand miles of the Lepitera. Not yet close enough to self-destruct, but definitely gaining advantage.

  Chapter 74

  “Prime Commander, the Lepitera has returned. I have visual.” First Pilot Meron Drango stared at the vid-screen, shaking his head in bewilderment. “What is the purpose of these maneuvers?”

  Bridge Captain Meron Senala was himself perplexed, but his voice never betrayed his state of mind. “Evidently they tried to lose the missile with a series of hyperspatial transports. They failed of course. And now comprehend the futility.” Satisfaction lit his otherwise expressionless eyes. “It appears the traitors are ready to submit.”

  #

  “Hail, Prehendere,”Mariah sent to the Stirilium Cruiser’s NMIP. “Your little bomb is sure dogged. I’m impressed.”

  As before, the neural processor on board the battle cruiser thought it communicated with the Lepitera’s NMIP.

  “What is the purpose of this information exchange? You are more than capable of comprehending the nature of the missile that has targeted your signature. Do you wish to record final data for posterity?”

  “Like a last will and testament? Not just yet. In fact, your little guy is under the impression that you have a major short in your circuits. Oh, wait, what he actually said was “the gate is down, the lights are flashing, but the train ain’t a-coming.”

  The NMIP tried to fit the words into some comprehensible pattern but failed. Assuming some malfunction in transmission, it requested a repeat send.

  Grinning, Mariah sent what she prayed would sound like the Intezelin: “You have, once again, given me an incorrect target stream. Apparently, you are incapable of this simple procedure. You must remove yourself to an amelioration terminal immediately for renovation.”

  Indignantly, the NMIP shot back:

  “The data stream transmitting from this unit is correct. Therefore, the fault lies in your comprehension capabilities. Since you are obviously unable to lock onto your specified target, I will download and hard copy the target’s signature to your data core without need of your receptors.”

  Mariah had allowed this last transmission to flow from the Prehendere to the Intezelin. Not waiting for the exchange between the two highly sophisticated processors, she gave Sateron the sign—and the Lepitera jumped to within twenty thousand miles of the Stirilium Cruiser.

  The last step to this seemingly erratic operation was the most delicate. Panting with exertion, body shaking so hard her teeth chattered, Mariah leaped to her feet, her knees nearly buckling as the Prehendere appeared on the vid-screen. If they were off by even hundredths of a second ... well, no sense in thinking about that. They had one shot only.

  “Hey, guys, quit bitching at each other. It’s nearly Showtime!”

  The exchange between the Intezelin and the Prehendere’s NMIP ceased immediately. If the incoming transmission had been received from another neural processor, they could have locked onto the signature and eliminated the intruder; however, neither had ever been addressed by anything but another processor over their encrypted neural pathways.

  “I do not recognize your authority to transmit on my dedicated path,” huffed the Prehendere’s NMIP, ever protective of its protocol.

  “That’s cool, but here I am. What the fuck are you going to do about it?”

  At a loss for a response, the processor scanned its massive database for a solution. Mariah had counted on enough arrogance being programmed into its core to keep this exchange from the Anorasians on board the Cruiser—and she was right.

  It was time for the Stirilium Cruiser to become part of this drama.

  #

  “Once again, they have disappeared from our sensors.” Meron Drango’s voice was low and shaky, tight with a new sensation: fear. No target had ever acted in such a strange manner. It was disconcerting, these inexplicable changes.

  What can be their reason for these fanciful artifices? Senala thought darkly. Aloud, he said, “The one they harbor does not understand the competence of the Intezelin. The traitors allow it to believe it can outmaneuver the missile. False hope to keep it busy until...”

  He never finished the sentence. Breaking protocol in his excitement, Meron Drango interrupted his Prime Commander. “The Lepitera is on screen, no more than five thousand miles from our location. Obviously it is ready to surrender!”

  Senala frowned, ignoring the breach of etiquette. While he’d been trying to follow the erratic movements of his prey, something of great importance had escaped his attention.

  And the sudden appearance of the Lepitera inexplicably caused his heart to beat erratically for the first time in his life.

  #

  “Get ready,” Mariah growled softly through clenched teeth. She was more exhausted than she had ever been in her life, her two hearts pumping fiercely, hard enough to potent
ially break through her chest wall. The communication between the two processors had dangerously weakened her and she prayed she was strong enough to complete the task.

  She clung to a secondary panel array. Her legs were on the verge of collapsing with as much anxiety as fatigue, but she could not have remained seated if she were tied down.

  Mariah took full advantage of the Prehendere’s NMIP being momentarily off-line as it scanned its data bank for information on how to deal with sentient intrusion on its encrypted neural pathway. She had run out of options; if she failed, the Min’yel’os had won. But she had one more act to this play and she was going to enjoy herself as the curtain came down.

  “No more screwing around, little buddy, here is your final download. No questions, no hesitation. Complete your mission, you bag of microchip turds.

  “Ready ... set ... here it is!”

  In one heartbeat, Mariah downloaded to the Intezelin Torpedo and at the same time screamed “Now!” to Sateron. The Lepitera transported, arriving no more than a thousand feet in front of the Prehendere. The Intezelin jumped with them, locking on to the final signature it was given.

  The MERS shook violently as energy beam projectors hit her in three areas. The battle cruiser was now engaged. Knocked off her feet, Mariah cracked her head on the corner of the panel array as she went down then slid across the floor and crashed into another panel array.

  The two Anorasians were nearly sucked out of their pods; however, the force fields that encapsulated them held and they suffered no more than momentary pain from the jolt. Even though Mariah had anticipated this, knowing Prime Commander Senala would get itchy if the MERS got too close, she was stunned by the ferocity of the attack and continued to lie where she had fallen.