The Nubl Wars (The Pattern Universe Book 3)

by Tobias Roote

  She proceeded to examine his wound, poking around where before she hadn’t wanted to disturb him, and pronounced it externally healed, but internally probably still in the process of rebuilding tissue. “You seem to have recovered rather quickly, Mr Callaghan. I would probably go as far as to say superhumanly fast, except I know that sort of talk doesn’t sit well with you.” She smiled.

  “Still, you must be hungry - do you feel up to eating, or should I...”

  “I’m fine Kelly, have you.. I.. been here long?”

  “You have been here four days and yes, I have been here often, while I studied your metabolism. It’s rather unique you know,” she winked at him.

  “How’s Pod? The ship?” he asked, remembering that Pod had been fighting something.. he didn’t know what. His memory was good, he just lacked data about the relevance of the Nubl’s hand in the wall.. those wires.. he seemed to recollect they appeared alive.

  He remembered his concerns of possibly being captured, but waking up with a familiar face had burned those fears away. Now he needed to know what had occurred before he was nearly killed by the alien..

  “We..we don’t actually know? I mean we think we know, but .. Pod D-jumped away, but we don’t know how she did it because the controls were locked out, she couldn’t have set any navigation, or alignment.” Kelly frowned remembering Arty’s almost human-like concern for Pod’s well-being.

  Zeke thought for a moment recollecting his movements in the control room before leaving to fight the Nubl in the storage bay.

  “I didn’t lock off the D-field, it wasn’t operational, Pod must have had it switched off and I didn’t notice.” He thought quickly, what would Pod have done and why?

  It dawned on Kelly and Zeke at the same moment - that anywhere could literally mean... “If Pod jumped and couldn’t set a destination - she could be – ”

  “– at the other end of the universe,” Zeke finished for her. “She will have to use nanites to work around the lockout - that’s going to take some time.”

  He shook his head in worry. Pod had been very unstable lately and there was no guessing whether she would come back, or keep running. Kelly must have read his thoughts. “Pod will come back - you’ll see.” She reassured him.

  “But, hey! How are you feeling - you were thrashing around quite a bit as if you were having nightmares in there.” She tapped the side of his head gently with concern.

  “I’ve been having strange... err, hallucinations - in fact, I need to have to talk to Osbourne as soon as I can. Where is he, Arty?” Zeke called out to the AI rather than activate his implant which was giving off weird sensations at the moment.

  “He’s supervising removal of a Nubl laser targeting interface from a wreck on Space Island,” Arty responded.

  “Fine, as soon as I’m dressed, can you jump me down to him?” Zeke asked looking enquiringly at Kelly.

  “Oh, OK if you think you can dress yourself, I’m sure I’m needed somewhere else right now,” she replied to his look, a little miffed at her dismissal.

  Arty: Kelly has been by your side since you were brought in three days ago, Zeke. She’s been your nurse and doctor all that time,’ Arty advised him through the implant.

  “Ouch!” Zeke grabbed at his head as the implant activated with Arty’s comment. Something had changed, it was louder, a deeper tone. Taking him by surprise it vibrated in his head until he activated the volume control to bring the level down.

  Zeke: Ah! I didn’t realize, thanks, Arty.

  He felt Kelly’s arm over his shoulder stabilising him.

  “You should know that your alien molecules did a lot of travelling while you were unconscious,” she said gently. “They appeared to gravitate to that implant of yours, as well as pooling around the area of your brain dealing with long-term memory.”

  “Oh, that explains the pain in my head,” Zeke responded. “Did you find out anything else while you were taking care of me, Doctor?” he added cheekily.

  “From a genetics point of view, you’re no longer human,” she said seriously. “However, you’re not alien either. I think you might be the world’s first hybrid, but you’re not the result of half of something else. you just mutated into something ‘almost’ human. However, from a personal point of view, you still look, and feel and behave like a man.” She blushed as she realised how personal that sounded.

  “I see, that’s useful to know,” he smirked.

  “I didn’t quite mean... Oh!... Men!” Kelly growled as she saw him smirking and realised he was making fun of her.

  “I would like to thank you for your attentive care, though, Kelly.”

  “To be honest, I think you should stay right where you are. You were virtually dead when Arty dropped you in here,” she responded. “The only reason you’re here at all is because of the metal and resident nanites in your system. The Alacite shielded all your organs, so when your body was crushed, they remained unharmed. The hole that thing made in you should have killed you outright,” she looked sternly at him.

  “I’m actually amazed you beat it without a military-grade laser in your hand,” she added admiringly.

  Zeke smiled, a little embarrassed and changed the subject.

  “Arty, what’s your impression of Pod’s disappearance?”

  “As Kelly says, she thought you were dead. I thought you were dead! I have no idea where she went, she jumped out of system. She sounded grief-stricken - which for an alien AI seems a little strange. although I’m aware she was bonded to you through her surreptitious use of wafers made from your Alacite,” Arty explained verbally for Kelly’s benefit.

  Something in what Arty said pulled Zeke out of his thinking. “What did Pod do with my Alacite stash? I didn’t know any of this?”

  “Pod used your Alacite to increase her mental capacity. Yours is particularly high-grade, its purity increases its effectiveness by a significant amount. A side effect of that is the Alacite wafer molecules resonate with the Alacite in your body. This results in increased awareness of your proximity. There may be other side effects, but we have never had the opportunity, or the time to test it out.”

  “Arty?” Zeke gasped. “Is it possible that the Alacite could act as a conduit between two points?”

  “Absolutely, the molecules used in the right way, could be capable of creating a fuzzy logic version of a symbiotic connection.”

  “Like a communication link?” Zeke enquired.

  “Hmmh! Yes, possibly so, it’s something that Osbourne is working on – Quantum Entanglement. He’s building a Zero Point Energy device using quantum theory, but it’s possible it could be tuned to communication. In fact, the more my processors analyse the possibility, the more likely it is that such a device would work across the galaxy instantaneously – in theory, anyway.”

  “Forget the theory, Arty, it’s viable and it’s already happened to me while I was unconscious - I just need to figure out how.”

  “Well, we did notice that the Alacite was building up around your implant while you were in a coma,” Kelly added pensively. She was trying to keep up with the conversation, her grasp of quantum theory was limited. She realised though, that something important was occurring and the scientist in her wanted more information.

  “What do you mean it’s already happened to you - you were unconscious - in a coma - you weren’t capable of talking to anyone,” Kelly stated.

  As Zeke explained to Kelly and Arty what had occurred while he was comatose, the thought crossed his mind that Ship, or Zirkos, might have come to a pasty end.

  “I think I know how it’s happening.” Zeke’s mind replayed the arrival of the silver ship in-system and his call to Pod who arrived in time to help him recover it. He realised the events that played out afterwards, that brought them to this, and shuddered before drawing on his recovering strength to explain.

  “The cube of Alacite that Zirkos removed from my body was always kept on the silver ship of theirs. When Pod and I recovered the ship,
dead in space in the outer solar system, the cube had been replaced with a trap device that alerted the Nubl to our location. I never even considered what had become of the cube.” Zeke paused as he extrapolated.

  “What if... wait,... “ He fumbled to get his thoughts in order. “What if the Nubl utilised the Alacite for memory wafers, just like Pod did. Wouldn’t it resonate in the same way, at the same frequency...”

  Kelly interrupted “.. and your Alacite responded by being attracted to the implant, turning it into a quantum device, a communication tunnel between you – and the Nubl. Wow! That’s totally freaky!” she finished up.

  “So, why am I not reading anything from Pod?” Zeke asked.

  Arty had a theory and spoke up. “I think when Pod jumped, she jumped a long way. It may be that she is well out of reach of this system and your new powers of communication. Have you tried to reach Pod yet?”

  “No, of course not. I only just realized that it’s a possibility. Now all I have to do is to try and make it happen on demand.” Zeke looked downcast, still upset over the loss of Pod. He hoped she was all right. Even if it was just the Alacite resonating between them, it still felt as if part of him was missing.

  - 12 -

  Nubl Space: A Secret Meeting

  Jabath, the new ‘Ta promoted by the Crystal Queen after the loss of Cebrel, remained silent for some time, re-analysing his options and repeatedly drawing the inevitable conclusion. Things weren’t right and something had to change, but he didn’t know how to make it happen. He only knew he would be instrumental if he could keep his head, which with the queen being very intrusive and hands-on meant he had little room to manoeuvre He could well lose it, if she discovered what he was planning.

  The Shadowship was equally quiet, shielded from discovery by the large cloud of matter that had formed millions of years before and which was even now changing shape and consistency as it evolved its way through the cosmos. Its journey was infinitely slow, driven by solar winds, making it an ideal hideaway for the pensive Nubl captain. Even his queen could not sense them within.

  Jabath mentally surveyed his ship and its occupants. Pernath, the engineer, was tinkering with the power nodes up front. They had been oscillating on the route here, causing an unacceptable power drain, that in battle could represent a critical failure. Jentar, his navigator, had gone into temporary hibernation, available at an instant’s notice.

  The constant and annoying fluctuations of the cloud’s effects on the sensors caused Grana to disconnect from his console, and Reech, his weapons clone, was running endless scenarios trying to find a way through some simulated defence or other. All of them would remain as they were until he ordered otherwise.

  The other remaining occupant of the ship was lying in front of him in pieces. Its head and limbs disconnected, its iridescent colours strangely at odds with the harsh engineering grey and black of the vessel. The Jabaa ‘Ta would no longer represent his queen’s hive, since he had been caught on the edge of Celnista space and relieved of his memories. The Jabaa were mercenaries and had general immunity from the hives as their services were used by all.

  This Jabaa ‘Ta had been secretly operating as an intelligence gatherer for the Belmaara hive. Caught spying, his fate was sealed. Jabath had no qualms about destroying one of them, or more if he felt it necessary, and the information he’d provided was useful. Beside the fact the Belmaara were preparing to put the Celnista hive to a Haseel in a pre-emptive strike, there was also the confirmation of an ‘invitation-only’ meeting of ‘Ta’s that excluded Celnista, but included all other remaining hives. Although not invited, Jabath intended to attend. Meanwhile, the Shadowship would remain here, hidden in the cosmic anomaly.

  It was time.

  “Prepare the shuttle,” he ordered, not caring which of his team made the preparations, only that his order was carried out immediately. Grana leaped to assist him, glad of something to do. Reech remained watchful, willing to participate if required, but hesitant to leave his simulations.

  “Remember my orders. Remain here. Make no attempt to contact the hive or any other while hidden. I will return the way I leave. Do not track me, keep all sensors on passive. Nothing can be read in this cloud, but neither will anything be able to read you.”

  His crew nodded in assent. He walked to midships where the captured single person shuttle awaited and climbed in. It was a compact heavily shielded affair, no life support necessary, the space designed to fit a single Nubl Warrior. Even comfort was not a consideration. What was necessary was the total inability to be sensed by anything out there, Nubl or other. This was the blackest of missions and the shuttle needed to be totally undetectable. Grana prepared the exit tube for autonomous operation, checked the small craft. then left the chamber, updating his captain with the ‘all clear’ response required.

  Jabath mentally ordered the airlock to open and release the craft. Once separated from the Shadowship, it cloaked and drifted for a few seconds before he manually keyed in secret coordinates and waypoints to his destination. It would not be a direct route as this could lead his enemies back to the ship.

  He instructed his inbuilt nanites to make the necessary changes to his appearance as planned while the shuttle’s single drive engaged. Within a few minutes Jabath was clear of the cloud and its electronic interference. He could now mentally monitor the sensor sweeps, with no need for displays, or readouts. He was capable of analysing the results within his own matrix of processors. He sighed with satisfaction, there was nothing within range of the hidden Shadowship. He engaged the first waypoint and proceeded with his mission.

  ***

  Undetected by monitoring ships or sensors, the single occupant shuttle approached its destination; a planet, once home to a sentient biological species, now only marginally habitable. Vegetation and simple lifeforms were beginning to evolve in the new environment, but it would never again harbour a sentient threat to the Nubl.

  Shielded and cloaked, Jabath put down at the nearest landing point to the provided mission coordinates while monitoring all ingoing and outgoing sensor readings. He detected nothing, but hadn’t expected to. This was after all a clandestine meeting, one he had not been invited to, but his intelligence had informed him that the Jabaa were. He had his own plans and he had an inkling that this meeting would have some bearing on them. His disguise complete, the transformation ensured he looked the part of the Jabaa ‘Ta. The pastel whorls of colour across his face, flowing down his body in a varied pattern, identified him uniquely within his hive. The shiny metallic rainbow strip around his neck signified his position as the Queen’s ‘Ta. Manufactured from a subtle blend of alloy threads his lightweight metallic garments shimmered, echoing his features.

  He walked in the direction of the meeting place. He would be there in a few hours. He didn’t fear capture or elimination, a Nubl Warrior was equipped to handle anything. Besides what is death, but an ending. All clones had an expectation of destruction at some point. Being cloned copies of the Queen they were well aware their existence continued only at her whim. If he were eliminated, a new clone would be constructed and it would be as if he never existed. Such was a Warrior’s existence. He had thousands of brothers, many more than he could count. Not all of them could be ‘Ta, but he wasn’t indispensable, but he intended to change all that.

  At the end of his journey it was clear there was only a single path. Jabath noticed his route would take him through a small ravine in the glassy knoll in front of him. He worried that it could be a trap, there was little room to manoeuvre in there. He realised he would be susceptible to attack from behind as well as in front. Pausing briefly while he considered his options, Jabath continued walking towards the cleft in the rock - alert, but resigned to his fate - however it turned out.

  As if transforming in front of him the scenery changed as he entered what should have been a broken path through the rock. Instead he was in a corridor, a shielded entrance - interesting, one that led to a room ahead where the
airlock doors remained open. He could already see other Nubl standing around. They looked at him as he walked into a large meeting area. He met their gaze and offered polite nods to all who met his eye. There were eleven others; Jabath made twelve, they were all here as requested. Now what?

  ***

  Beneath the glassy surface of the biologically cleansed planet, the twelve Nubl waited. There was considerable anxiety amongst them. Sensing a trap, they had nonetheless agreed to the terms of the meeting for the sake of their hives. They had been warned to expect no quarter if they broke the rules. None other than the ‘Ta of the hive to attend the meeting. No warships and no external weapons of any kind. Every remaining independent hive was represented with the exception of the Celnista. The one that had summoned the meeting had not yet arrived - would it be a demand for surrender by a Celnista war party, or...

  While they waited, all shared in the reports of the last four hives that had fallen to the Celnista Queen. None were complacent. They had all begun increasing their fleets of warships, constantly fretting about being attacked before they were ready, or sufficiently armed to repel the growing might of Celnista, the Crystal Queen. Had they known the Nubl responsible was standing amongst them, they would no doubt ensure his demise was immediate and deserving. There was no longer any belief in the traditional means of dealing with their difference. All present keenly understood that things were changing, and not for the better. War, and the occasional Hasee,l had all but died out in recent centuries as they took stock of their dwindling hive populations down from millions to a few handfuls. Now, they were re-arming their fleets and cloning new warriors by the thousands.

  Just as they were beginning to become concerned at the long delay, their internal sensors froze, blanking their vision temporarily. When they could see again there were new arrivals in the room. Their attention was immediately drawn to a being not dissimilar to them, but not of a hive they recognised. The Nubl, being an inquisitive race, were drawn immediately to the shiny being in front of them that had so many features that seemed oddly familiar.