Destiny Stone (A.I. Destiny Book 4)

by Timothy Ellis

  "Lock out all the manual controls, so they can't do anything with the ship."

  "Done. What's next?"

  "I've activated the combat droids. They'll be armed, and on their way to meet the boarders, in a few seconds."

  "I'll keep trying to alert Snark and Patters."

  "At least we know where they are. The first task of the combat droids will be to secure them, and Brindle."

  They left the AI mode continue, as they followed what was happening on board the ship.

  Combat droids armed with stunners and pulse rifles began to work their way towards the crew.

  Forty Six

  Jamie, Anna, and Sissness peeked around the door.

  On the ice before the door were creatures which had seemed to come out of nowhere. And what creatures? Two webbed feet, two flipper feet, stout bodies, erect centaur torso, looking like three armed not-penguins. Jamie and Anna both immediately thought of penguins, from stories they'd heard about the old Earth, and the South Pole. These were unusual looking Penguins indeed.

  While they didn’t stand erect, their upper bodies gave the impression of being upright, with bird heads and beaks. The third arm was a flipper appendage, but the other two arms had fully capable bird claw-like hands. White fronts with black streamlined backs, they were part sea creature, part land creature, with thick fur-like feathers covering their bodies for warmth.

  They were slightly larger than Sissness.

  At least fifty or more of the creatures were standing in a rough semi-circle around the doorway. While there were no obvious weapons being held or aimed, they had some kind of utility belts with pouches for various implements, devices, and technology.

  Jamie, Anna, and Sissness stood in the open doorway for a few moments. There was a collective drawing in of breath from the crowd of not-penguins, and then their upper bodies stooped forward in a sort of bow. Not being able to stand the cold any longer, they activated their suits to cover them completely again. They then emerged from the doorway, and strangely, it remained open.

  The three of them stood awkwardly for a long moment, before one of the not-penguins moved forward in an awkward waddle come paddling slither on the ice.

  It spoke in a language the team’s translators couldn’t handle. A string of beeps, clicks, and quacks came forth from the lead penguin. He finished, and there was an awkward silence.

  Anna held out her hands in an 'I am unarmed and will not hurt you' gesture. She rapidly found the right menu item in her PC, and her spoken words now were broadcast out loud.

  "I am Anna, and these are my friends. We won’t hurt you. I'm sorry we must hide our form from you under these protective suits, but we cannot tolerate the cold as you do. We came to see the ark."

  The response was not what she expected. The lead penguin registered a surprised expression, and the others gasped collectively again. They all bowed back down, and the leader came forward.

  Sissness was working her translator program, to get it to adapt to the language.

  More birdcall chirping followed. The lead not-penguin was waving their arms, and the third appendage paddled rapidly. He turned, chirped and quacked at the group, and one of the other not-penguins waddled and slid forward. It swung a backpack off its back, and rummaged inside. He handed the leader something resembling a tablet and earbud.

  The translator program on Sissness’s tablet, started to translate the not-penguin speech, albeit with some holes for non-translatable concepts.

  "….it is with great awe…you visit us repeating…we bow to the… who have opened the Great Storehouse. We are humble servants to you…"

  Sissness made some adjustments, and pulsed the updates to Anna and Jamie.

  "Thank you for your kind comments," Anna extemporised, hoping they were kind, and the not-penguin leader squawked, and nodded rapidly.

  "No, it is we who thank you. For many centuries we have been Guardians of the Great Storehouse, without being able to enter. It is the foretelling in our lore, you would return, and open the way for us, as Guardians, to access but safe keep the treasures in the Great Storehouse, on behalf of the other species of this world."

  "A foretelling?"

  "Yes. We have passed down the story through generations of the coming of the gods, and the Anna Stassier Rona Movar, and her return. You are her. You are like she was described, with only two legs and arms, and tall, and with the long black, err, mane."

  "I am Anastasia Romanova."

  Anna thought it was lucky she hadn’t cut her hair.

  The leader bowed, and the rest of the troop followed. Anna felt slightly uncomfortable at all the bowing. Jamie also stepped forward.

  "This other Anastasia. Did she access the Great Storehouse?"

  "Yes. She could, but there was another with her, who was not able to cross through the doorway."

  The leader shuffled his feet and flippers.

  "What is it?" asked Jamie.

  "There was a great slaughter." The others all cooed together at this. "Though the foretelling promised us the return will lead to the re-opening of the Great Storehouse, and the reward to our people for our steadfastness. It is true. You have come, and you have opened the door where only the last Anna Stassier Rona Movar had. This time, we will be granted access."

  "We are sorry for the past," said Anna, almost angrily as she thought of Vasily.

  But she realised Anastasia had found the clues, and would have taken the stone to the Scylla system in the footsteps of the gods.

  "This was not your doing."

  The leader gestured to the other not-penguins, and immediately a group waddled over to the side of the doorway, and they started to use implements to unearth a cache just under the snow and ice.

  "And now, we celebrate!" exclaimed the leader, enthusiastically.

  He repeated it in the chirps to the surrounding not-penguins. A great squawking cry went up.

  Jamie, Anna, and Sissness were swept along by a group of not-penguins, and almost herded over to where the cache was being revealed. Jamie turned to Anna.

  "I think we’d better call Seasprite, and update them."

  "Yes. They’ll be wondering what’s happened to us."

  Jamie opened a channel to the ship. There was an immediate response.

  Seasprite informed them of the current situation, which left Jamie in disbelief.

  "What?" asked Anna quickly, seeing his face.

  Jamie took Anna slightly aside to the now revelling not-penguins, who were consuming what looked like spirits out of canisters.

  "They’ve been boarded."

  Anna tried to keep her expression neutral, and failed dismally.

  "What?" she said again, somewhat redundantly.

  "Some alien muscle-types have boarded Seasprite. The computer doesn’t say how, just it has locked them out of the controls, but they are trying to get around this. Snark is in contact with Seasprite, but in hiding."

  Anna tried to digest the information, but was struggling.

  "What do we do?" she asked finally.

  "We get back there. Seasprite is the only way we can leave this system." He smiled at the not-penguins who were beckoning them over to the refreshments. "We can’t lose her. Perhaps we can fight them off?"

  "With what?" said Anna. "We’d be captured for sure. Or killed."

  "We have our belts and weapons, and if we move fast, we can fight off the intruders even if we take some hits, but at least we have a fighting chance."

  "They’ll know we’re coming," Anna countered.

  "We can’t stay here."

  The leader had come up to them and offered them some kind of dried fish, and some of the canisters. Anna pointed to the still open door, and they moved back inside. With the door open, the temperature was still cold, but out of the wind, it was bearable for a short time. They shifted their suits to allow their heads to be uncovered, and politely bit into the fish, which was powerfully overwhelming, and Jamie took a tentative sip of the liquid in the con
tainer. He spluttered and wiped his mouth.

  "Firewater!" he rasped, as he got his breath back.

  Anna looked at her canister doubtfully, and sniffed. She recoiled. The not-penguin leader cackled, and nodded rapidly and excitedly. Sissness was obviously enjoying the fish, but hadn’t touched the liquid.

  "We’d better make our excuses," said Anna, still smiling at the leader.

  "We never get to stay to meet the locals, and enjoy ourselves," said Jamie wistfully.

  "We must say farewell," said Anna to the leader.

  "Yes, but first we enjoy!"

  "No, we need to leave now."

  She explained the situation in broad and vague terms. The leader was crestfallen. He collected himself.

  "You must check we can open the door ourselves," he said, his voice full of urgency.

  He was adamant. He led them back to the doorway. They closed their suits, walked out again, and shut the door. The leader put two hands against the door, and pushed hard. At first nothing happened, but then it moved slightly. He pushed as hard as he could, and the door pivoted open just enough for him to go through. He had the same success at the inner door, and he entered into the echoing space beyond, followed by some of his troop.

  There was a great quacking, cooing and chirping from the penguins inside. Anna, Jamie, and Sissness saw an opportunity to leave, although it was extremely rude of them.

  "Maybe we can come back," Sissness said, hopefully.

  The rest of troop were crowded around the door, looking in, or still enjoying their feast.

  When they turned to go however, the ones outside made a collective squawking noise, and pulled them backwards towards the door. One waddled inside. The leader soon waddled out as fast as he could, and made his way over to where they were surrounded.

  "Our new friends, we’re sorry to see you go, but I understand why you must. You must return to us. Thank you once again for opening the way for us, as guardians of the treasure within."

  "It is a treasure," agreed Sissness. "We will try to return."

  "May the Great Ice Hunter protect you."

  The leader waved at his troop members, and they did a little dance of farewell. The team left, looking back and waving. The not-penguins were still dancing with joy.

  The light was starting to fade. They hurried as much as they could in the cold conditions. The light from the open door of the ark, faded behind them as they strode forward towards the danger ahead.

  Forty Seven

  "You will tell us how to release the controls."

  The muscle-thing leader was leaning over Brindle, who was propped in the captain’s chair.

  Brindle didn’t like being threatened, but she didn’t have much choice in the matter. She quivered all over with fear. What could she do? She didn’t know anything at all about the controls. And they looked like they wouldn’t take no for an answer.

  The Muscle-thing’s eyes bored into her. The eyes were red and multi-faceted, and because there were so many of them, it was hard to focus on the face.

  "I don’t know how to work the controls. I never learned. I’m just the ship’s cook!"

  The muscle-thing lost all patience, and struck her across the head with a backhand swing, causing her suit to shift into protection mode. Its third arm under its mouth was a cudgel. It started to swing it as well. The blow knocked her sideways, and off the chair entirely. She sprawled on the floor.

  The muscle-thing stood over her in disgust. This puny cat being was useless. He picked her up by the scruff of the neck, and placed her back into the chair.

  Brindle tried to think, but her head was spinning, and she felt sick. The pain was getting worse.

  She opened her mouth to speak, and the suit shifted to allow her to.

  A muscle-thing trooper appeared in the doorway and saluted, by slapping one arm on a muscly thigh.

  "Sir! We are engaged!"

  "What?"

  The leader had to turn to address this new situation.

  "An army of…" the soldier struggled to finish the sentence. "We’re engaged by an army."

  The leader scoffed.

  "Here? We searched the ship."

  "We…"

  "Never mind."

  He strode quickly through the door, the trooper following. Brindle could hear shots being fired. Was it Snark and Patters? They didn’t seem to be prisoners. Otherwise they would be here instead of her. Where were they? What was happening? She looked out of the window at the two other ships in station next to Seasprite. Whatever happened here, they were still in big trouble.

  Forty Eight

  Snark had been checking out a hidden section behind panelling in the hold he'd discovered, while searching for tracking devices. He was in almost complete darkness. Obviously, the hidden section had been created for valuables or trade goods of some kind at some stage, and been forgotten about. Of course, since the original crew were all dead, the secret had presumably died with them.

  He felt the shock through the ship as their shields shorted out and died, followed by the thunks of docking clamps, as another ship docked with them, and the stamp of heavy boots through the airlock and into the ship. Boarded. What the hell had been happening on the bridge? Honestly, you leave things for just a second, and the worst happens. Bloody female cats. He checked the time, and was surprised he'd been away for hours.

  Snark lost no time in contacting the Seasprite computer using his tablet. The computer had already locked the controls, citing some emergency protocol in place for a boarding situation. Only an authorised member of the crew could countermand it. Seasprite was still communicating with him though.

  He'd heard heavy boots in the hold, checking for signs of crew, and had remained still and silent in the dark. If they used heat or life-sign scanners he was done for. He held his breath for as long as he could, until he heard them leave. He assumed they'd left a guard positioned in each part of the ship.

  He hoped Brindle and Patters didn’t let them know he wasn’t accounted for.

  Seasprite also let him know about a platoon of twenty combat droids, already deploying into the ship, from a droid storage room deep down in the ship he hadn’t even known was there.

  Combat droids? What the…?

  Seasprite explained they'd been built since the fabricator had been installed there by the Hunter's Run Diplomatic Mission.

  And when were they going to tell me? Snark raged silently for several minutes. Bloody mop heads! He regained control of his temper when Seasprite also explained Snark could control them through the ship’s computer if he wanted to.

  Snark established an ongoing link to Seasprite, and put the translator bud in his ear, as a way of communicating by audio quickly, as well as typing into his pad if he needed to be silent. They might need to communicate instantly and in a hurry. This was a prime example of why he needed the human's PC in his head.

  Snark listened carefully. His ears could pick up no sounds in the hold itself. He eased the panel door aside, and stepped quietly, on silent paws, into the hold space. In the dim light, he could see no one.

  Where was the enemy? What was the enemy? What should he do? Full frontal assault with all guns blazing? He thought for a moment. Better check the suit weapons were appropriate so as not to put gigantic holes in the hull of the Seasprite. Seasprite showed him an image of one of the droids. They were equipped with stun weapons on their arms, with a heavy weapon holstered on their backs. He indicated to Seasprite to only use stun guns until further notice.

  The combat droid looked roughly human shaped, but almost like an armoured skeleton. They were slightly larger than a human form, with heavy protective armour, and looked exceedingly menacing. He hopefully they could do the job.

  Seasprite sent him a display of where the enemy troops were. One group was on the bridge, and there was a blue dot with them, which he assumed was either Brindle or Patters. Another group was searching the accommodation deck, while a third was in the engine spaces.
/>   He wondered what reinforcements they might have, thinking of those three ships which tried to stop them on the way here. They would have had time to follow them, and initiate this takeover, given they'd wasted their time deciding what to do, and how to do it, before sending the shuttle down to the planet. He had to stop telling himself 'What if', and just get on with it.

  Four sets of five green dots appeared. One group had nearly reached him. Another was heading towards the enemy in the engine spaces, a third was heading for where Patters liked to exercise, so he assumed Patters was there, and it was Brindle on the bridge. The fourth group were heading there.

  Snark went to the internal door to the hold he was in. He listened carefully. There was heavy breathing coming from the other side of the door.

  Damn! A guard posted.

  He waited, watching green dots moving closer. There was the sound of shots being fired, and a thump as something heavy went down. He peeked around the door. Five combat droids were in a semi-circle around both the doorway and the creature they'd shot. He moved through the doorway, and took a good look at their new enemy. It looked very substantial. Ugly. Arachnid-like with strange multifaceted eyes, but muscled limbs, and heavy torso. Snark hated arachnids. He had an irrational fear. Great. Enormous fighting arachnids. He felt slightly sick.

  One of the droids picked up the enemy soldier, and Snark led them towards the brig.

  Warspite nodded to himself. Prisoner secured.

  Forty Nine

  Patters was in the secondary hold, in the middle of a hunting routine, when she heard the shields hit by something big, and the noises of a ship docking, and the airlock being forced. She had little time, but enough to grab her bow and arrow, and think quickly. Fight or Flight? She was unlikely to win any fight, as although she had her belt and additional guns, she knew she would be quickly outgunned. Where was Snark? And what had Brindle been doing? She cursed herself for leaving her there on her own for so long.

  Quickly, she took off the panel to the nearest air duct, slipped inside, and drew the air duct panel to behind her. Flight.