The Messenger Box Set: Books 1-6

by J. N. Chaney

  “When you have finished gathering it, Messenger, and have returned to The Forge with it, then allow me to show you,” Custodian said.

  Dash couldn’t help hearing a note of certainty in Custodian’s voice, and the knowledge gave him a flare of the most dangerous drug known to man: hope.

  Between Sentinel’s snark and Custodian’s confidence, Dash was beginning to see that he hadn’t inherited a legacy of machines. He’d joined a culture, older than humanity, and it had the same goal.

  Ending the Golden.

  4

  Dash raised an eyebrow at Leira. “That system the signal is coming from might be inhabited? What evidence do we have?”

  They were on their way back to the engine room from the docking bay. Dash had deposited the probe fragments containing all the Dark Metal he could find in another storage area, then returned to the bay the Archetype shared with the Slipwing. Custodian reported that the next events were nothing short of the act of creation—Dark Metal being turned from flotsam to weapons, all courtesy of the Forge.

  Leira and Viktor, who’d been waiting in the Slipwing in case Dash needed their help with the probe, were now striding along with them.

  “Leira? Evidence?” Dash repeated as they walked. She been quiet for a long moment.

  “Your ship is the one that told me that, Dash.”

  Dash glanced at Viktor. “The Slipwing had gained sentience? She’s a strong personality, but I didn’t know she could think on her own.”

  Viktor smiled. “Well, she and your ship did have a near-death experience. Maybe they’ve bonded.”

  Dash gave a good-natured snort. “If a near-death experience is all it takes to get a ship to start talking to you, the Slipwing and I would be married. I’m guessing it’s the data banks, right?”

  Leira nodded. “The data bank is turning out to be a treasure trove. Well, there was an anthro survey from a few years back that mentions GC67854-AS2 being inhabited, and that the settlement is called Gulch.”

  “Gulch.” Dash thought for a moment, but coming blank, he shrugged. “New to me, but not the ship. Follow me.”

  He started for the engine room again. It seemed unlikely that the Slipwing, whose creaky, old computers were like counting on your fingers and toes compared to the sophistication of Custodian and Sentinel, would possess data they didn’t.

  “I’d always meant to stop my database subscription, but never did, so the updates must have continued over the years,” Dash said. “That means contemporary data, and that means I need Sentinel and Custodian in these data banks yesterday.”

  “I have already begun sifting the Slipwing’s database for additional information we might find useful,” Sentinel said. “Dash, are you aware that there are several pictures of women in various states of undress on your hard drive? I can find no purpose for such data whatsoever.”

  “That’s, um—research,” Dash said. “For a project.”

  “Project Libido?” Leira asked, giving him a sideways glance.

  “As a gentleman, I won’t dignify that comment with a response other than to say, Sentinel, please don’t delete my, ah, research files,” Dash said.

  “I have taken the liberty of arranging the files according to the women’s appearance and bust size. Did you know that—”

  “That’s enough. Good. Thank you. Let’s move on. Lots to do and all that—a war to win, and so on,” Dash said, studiously looking away from Leira with a blank expression.

  “As you wish,” Sentinel said. Leira snorted, and Viktor gave him a knowing grin. The air was merrily tense, and Dash looked to the ceiling for a moment before a grin crept to the corners of his mouth.

  Sentinel already knew lots more about him than he’d likely ever have shared with anyone to begin with, thanks to the Meld. So he said, “Sentinel, have you ever accessed my ship’s entire database? As in, right down to the machine code?”

  “No. I have only accessed those parts of your ship’s data that were necessary for particular purposes.”

  “Well, that’s an oversight. Go ahead and retrieve all of it. There might be a few things in there you don’t know—like the fact that the system where that signal’s coming from is—”

  “Potentially inhabited by a settlement known as Gulch.”

  “Oh. You already knew that then.”

  “Yes, you already mentioned it. I have also retrieved the information from your ship. There are several million new data-points included in it that I have now added to my own stores of data.”

  “Several million? Really?”

  “The vast majority are incident historical data regarding your species, and therefore likely irrelevant. Although I admit the women in bikinis playing some sport called volleyball are interesting. Quite a challenge to gravity.”

  “Um. Right,” Dash said, again in a voice that was oddly neutral.

  Viktor shook his head, grinning. “That’s our history she just called irrelevant. Although I’m glad to see her keeping the files that matter.”

  “Well, it probably is irrelevant to an alien AI,” Leira replied. “Not to mention our current situation.”

  Dash gave them both a measured look, then said, “The only way our history doesn’t matter is if we fail, and I won’t let that happen. Custodian, can you confirm anything about this settlement from the deep scan?”

  “Nothing conclusive. Since your records indicate it is less than forty years old, any radio emissions from the settlement simply will not have reached The Forge, yet. The deep scan is otherwise incapable of detecting any other indications of habitation at this range, particularly given interference from the debris field containing the Golden signal.”

  “Work to clear it, sift the data, and give me your best guesses. If there are people living there, it could make things more complicated if we decide to pay a visit.”

  “Are we going to pay a visit?” Leira asked.

  “We are,” Dash said with finality.

  “Messenger, the others are awaiting you in the engine room,” Custodian said.

  Dash smiled. “Now let’s go see our other surprise, and hope for good news.”

  The new power cores they’d retrieved and installed had finally powered up most of the Forge. Some systems remained off-line, and there were a few peripheral bits of the station that were still dark, but most of it was pressurized, heated, lighted, and generally accessible.

  So, they set off from the engine room on what amounted to a guided tour, Custodian acting as their guide.

  “I kind of got used to thinking of this place as being just the parts we’ve been using,” Amy said. “You know, the docking bay, the engine room, the corridors and compartments in-between. But this”—she gestured around—“this really is huge, isn’t it?”

  They stood on a balcony overlooking a vast space that stretched so far into the distance that it actually curved slightly, conforming to the shape of the Forge’s hull. Custodian had told them it was for storage. A space that dwarfed even the biggest docking bay back on the big space station called Passage, Dash thought, just for storage.

  “Storage of what, exactly?” Viktor asked.

  “Anything that needs to be stored,” Custodian answered, prompting a grimace from the old engineer.

  “Yes. I understand that storage space is used to store things. What I’m asking is, specifically what sort of things?”

  “I am not merely being flippant,” Custodian replied. “What would be stored here is the purview of the crew. I could provide an exhaustive list of such items and materials, but it would take some time for you to assimilate the data.”

  Conover, who’d been peering over the railing at what had to be at least a ten-meter drop to the deck below, looked up. “The crew? There’s a crew?”

  That made them all exchange uneasy glances.

  “Custodian, are there any crew on board now?” Dash asked.

  “Yeah, good question,” Amy added. “Like, in suspended animation or something.”

&nb
sp; Kai, who along with the rest of the monks had remained quietly to the rear of the little procession, spoke up. “Are you suggesting that there might be Unseen aboard this station? And that we might get to meet them?” He sounded more than a little awestruck by the idea.

  But Custodian’s response was a flat denial. “No, none of the Creators are currently aboard the Forge.”

  Kai looked at the other monks, then at Dash. “I’m not sure if we’re somewhat disappointed at not being able to meet those we have revered for the past two centuries, or if we’re relieved. Probably a little of both, actually.”

  The rest of the monks nodded, muttering things among themselves. Leira nodded at them, though.

  “I was once told to never meet your heroes, as they may leave you wanting. I don’t think there’s any chance of that with the Unseen. These are people committed to fighting a war to the bitter end, and willing to do whatever it takes to win,” Dash said, turning to Leira. “Like me.”

  Leira fluttered her lashes and swooned a bit. “Oh, Dash.”

  He patted the air. “It’s okay. I know the effect I have on women, especially when I’ve showered. Which reminds me, I need to shower.”

  “We all do,” Leira said, a smile tugging at her full lips.

  “Custodian,” Conover said, “as we’ve been walking, I’ve noticed different colors. I saw some of the same colors in the parts of the Forge we’ve been using, but I didn’t have anything to compare them to. Now I do.” He pointed at the enormous storage compartment, particularly at a band of grey stretching along the lower half of the walls. “The bulkheads had blue on them back in the engine room and in the docking bay. Here, they’re grey.”

  “Good point,” Amy said, picking up the thread of Conover’s thinking. “We passed through another section Custodian said was all about environmental control, air and water, that sort of thing. And that was green.”

  Dash saw Conover look a little pleased at Amy’s agreeing with him, but just ignored it and asked, “Is there actually some meaning to those colors, Custodian? Did the Unseen actually color-code their station, or is it just about making the place look pretty?”

  “Aesthetics were not a factor,” Custodian replied. “There is indeed a system to the colors. Blue denotes engineering and weapons. Green is environmental systems and botanicals.”

  “Botanicals?” Leira cut in. “They have gardens on the Forge?”

  “Botanical organisms serve a variety of purposes,” Custodian went on. “They clean and filter air and water, and can provide nutrients.”

  “Ah. Okay, makes sense.”

  “The other levels are even more complex,” Custodian said. “Gold indicates crew quarters, command and control facilities, scanners and sensors, and communications systems. White is medical and biological services and research. Finally, grey is storage, security and fabrication.”

  “Fabrication sounds interesting,” Viktor said. “What can you tell us about that?”

  Custodian’s answer was a cryptic one. “There are other portions of the station with which you must become acquainted first.”

  Dash leaned close to Viktor and, in a stage-whisper, said, “He doesn’t want to spoil the surprise.”

  They carried on, guided by the Custodian. Now that they knew the system of color codes, they were able to orient themselves to the layout of the Forge and its systems more readily. For the most part, the station was arranged in six broad levels, each mostly devoted to one of the color-coded, functional groupings. There was some overlap, though. So, while the level they knew best, the one containing the engine room, was mostly blue and devoted to engineering and weapons, there were a few green, grey, and even white sections.

  Leira had begun trying to map it all out on her data-pad, but she gave up when Custodian generated a translucent, 3-D image of the Forge floating before her.

  “Well that’s handy,” Leira said.

  “Note the blue dot. That is you, Leira, and will always be present as a reference point,” Custodian said.

  “Dash is represented in red,” Sentinel added.

  “Why red?” Leira asked, hands on hips.

  “I’m hotter, of course,” Dash said, turning to stroll away into the next level as Viktor patted Leira’s shoulder, laughing.

  The corridors and compartments went on and on, a vast system of orderly space that defied the imagination. They had to stop and rest twice during their tour, and they were still going to have only seen a portion of the Forge when it was done. The Unseen didn’t do small.

  By the time they were ready to explore the sixth level, they’d all started to flag. Kai and the monks were stoic about it, but Amy looked at the elevator they were about to enter and voiced how the rest of them seemed to feel.

  “I feel like I’ve walked at least as far as I traveled to get here, to the Forge, in the first place,” she grumbled. “At least that’s what my feet are telling me.”

  “There has got to be an easier way of getting around this place than walking,” Leira said as they stepped into the elevator. “Or at least a more efficient way. Imagine trying to get from one end of the Forge to the other in the heat of a battle, or an emergency.”

  “It does seem that a race as advanced as the Unseen would have a more efficient way of getting around than just by foot,” Viktor said.

  “Do they even have feet?” Amy asked.

  Dash nodded, remembering the bipedal, somewhat dog-like beings he’d seen in a memory play-back, shortly after he first found the Archetype. “Yeah, they have feet.”

  “You’ve met the Unseen?” Kai asked, eyes widening.

  Dash looked at the monk as the elevator doors slid closed and it started to move. “No. Not in person, but in a—a digital memory, as real as we might ever know, but astounding in clarity of detail. They’re like canines, but bipedal and six fingered. Obviously, their capabilities surpass any canine we’ve ever seen.” He waved at the Forge around them, brow lifted in consideration.

  “You must tell me what you saw, sometime. My brethren and I would be most interested in knowing more about the Unseen,” Kai said.

  Dash opened his mouth, but Custodian cut him off. “To answer your question, yes, there is a rapid-transit system for moving quickly around the Forge.”

  Amy stuck her hands on her hips. “Are you freakin’ kidding me? And you’ve been making us walk everywhere?”

  “It is not currently—”

  “Online, yeah, yeah.” She glanced at Conover. “Why does that not surprise me?”

  Conover gave a nod. “I agree. Break out the technology, working or not. At least let me take a crack at it.”

  The elevator stopped and the doors slid open. A long corridor stretched ahead of them. Dash smiled wryly as a collective sigh went up and they started trudging along it.

  “Hey, did you guys really think saving the universe was going to be easy?”

  “No,” Leira shot back, “I just didn’t think it would involve so much walking.”

  Sore feet were quickly forgotten, though, when the sheer scale of this sixth and almost entirely grey level became apparent. The long corridor radiated out, dividing into three huge docking bays, the amount of space in each dwarfing any human structure they’d ever seen. Dash recalled seeing them from outside the Forge, but they’d been sealed shut with massive doors. Now, they stood open to space, with force fields keeping them habitable. Each dwarfed the docking bay they’d been using for the Archetype and the Slipwing; to Dash, they looked as though they could each land and launch a battlecruiser. Or three.

  “What is all this for?” he asked Custodian. “There’s a lot of empty space here. Way more than you’d need even for a whole squadron of Archetypes.”

  “This level essentially encapsulates one of the fundamental purposes of the Forge,” Custodian replied. “From these bays, ships and Archetypes can be received, maintained, and launched, cargo can be transported, and point defense weapons can be deployed.”

  Conover point
ed at a large, complicated device vaguely reminiscent of a big particle cannon, mounted on a rail that would allow it to be extended into space. Although it was a sizeable fraction of the size of the Slipwing, it seemed tiny in the vast space around it.

  “That must be a point defense system there,” he said. “And there are a few more. These are the heavy hitters,” Conover said.

  Dash followed Conover’s pointing finger and remembered the pulsing barrage of energy blasts that had erupted from the Forge as the submunitions from the Golden probe closed in on it. “Yeah,” he said, nodding. “They must be all over the station, ready to be deployed when they’re needed, and kept inside when they’re not. Good coverage, too. If my math is right, every quadrant is covered.” He whistled at the thought of so much firepower in one station.

  “No wonder the Golden built things like the Harbinger. These guns could take out a cruiser,” Leira said. “Or more.”

  “Definitely more,” Viktor said, rubbing at his scalp thoughtfully.

  They carried on in silence, in awe at the cumulative effects of the Forge. Custodian guided them to their destination across countless meters of smooth decking, open to the black of space.

  “I knew it was big, but—” Conover trailed off, his voice echoing in brassy tones.

  “Right,” was all Dash managed. “Now this, I recognize.”

  “Hab,” Leira added, pointing to barracks, armories, and food prep as they passed by. There were other spaces that might be communal lounges, but even these were on a scale that left the entire team walking in a state of silent reverie.

  “How many people can this place fit, Custodian?” Leira asked.

  “There are crew quarters for three hundred individuals available at this time, but with expansion, this station can house several thousand people in comfort. There would need to be certain alterations to the system, but nothing that has not been done before,” Custodian said.

  “Before?” Viktor seized on the term. “Before what?”

  “At the peak of the last iteration of the war there was what you would call a full-strength battalion housed here, as well as additional special forces related to the secret weapons division. Ultimately, there were approximately four thousand Unseen operating from the Forge.”