by Tobias Roote
He looked over to see Ship’s foot thruster smoking, but still operating. Zeke’s first shot had damaged it, leaving the AI unsteady.
“I see your mutation has evolved some interesting features I wouldn’t mind having the time to study, but I think you got me, Zeke. I had best ensure that doesn’t happen again,” Ship chuckled.
Zeke heard the familiar sound of a shield activating.
“What! Not man enough for a fair fight, Ship?” Zeke teased, but he was worried. He glanced at his green skin, heat was dancing off his chest and he felt uncomfortable from the build-up his body was absorbing. Just how many of those bolts could he take?
The Queen, who had been standing next to the throne now moved slightly, putting her hand nonchalantly on the arm. The action went unnoticed by Ship, who, considering himself impregnable, wasn’t paying her any attention. A mistake, as he would quickly realise. The throne very quietly hummed in a low-key activity. Zeke could feel the vibration as he leaned against it for cover. Remembering that Celnista had said weapons would be useless in its presence, he wondered if she was activating it? How long before he wouldn’t be able to use his blaster. The Nubl turned, as if cowering away from Ship, keeping her actions as non-threatening as possible.
Zeke couldn’t wait for events to unfold. It was time to bring this to a quick end, he needed to find Pod, and Ship wouldn’t be happy now until Zeke was dead. Zeke couldn’t afford for the AI to jump away either and ambush him somewhere else. His instincts told him that the Queen was not going to be a problem one way, or another. Decision made, he hefted his sword and got the balance right in both hands, then looked over the throne at Ship who was currently observing his foot, and the throne at the same time. The thruster was no longer smoking. It looked as if it was repairing itself and would be functional again very shortly.
Focusing on a point six feet behind Ship’s floating body, Zeke ‘jumped’. He hoped Ship wouldn’t expect it as only Pod knew he could jump independently, unless, of course, Ship had observed him in his prior altercations. Even then, he would have assumed Pod was directing his jumps.
He materialised directly behind Ship and whilst still completely forming, spun on the spot as he had before with the Queen, bringing his arms up and the sword out in front. By the time he was fully materialised he was in range. As he swung round, the sword connected with Ship’s legs, taking off the first and damaging the second. Ship’s suspended body collapsed to the ground, thrusters and AG motors no longer working, but still spinning off independently, across the deck under the last vestiges of power.
Zeke tried to follow through with another swing but, Ship’s arms came up to blast him, the double bolts of plasma enveloping his body in white-hot heat. His sword hilt melted in his hands forcing his body to absorb additional energy.
When the glare of the plasma bolts had faded Ship had vanished.
Zeke dragged himself up from the ground, his alloy impregnated body pinging from the cooling air as it absorbed energy and forcing his body temperature to incandescent levels. He needed to lose heat fast, but didn’t know how. He thought about Space, visualised it and ‘jumped’.
- 29 -
Back from the Brink
The transition into non-physical form was amazing. Now that Zeke had grown accustomed to jumping wherever he wanted, he no longer felt apprehensive, so took in more of his surroundings. He soon realised that the energy his body had absorbed was creating a new phenomena - mental expansion in Space. He could see further than just the locality where he had jumped. This time he had jumped much further out, but could zoom in visually, although he wasn’t quite sure how he actually managed that in this new state. He could inspect any physical object within the breadth of his awareness. Much like a zoom on a telescope, except he was physically there, not looking from a distance.
The Alacite in his body was also a power source, he realised. Every time he had been hit by a power weapon, his body had absorbed and stored it. Now, his ability to reside anywhere had been increased exponentially. How long for, he had no idea and again wasn’t intending to test it out any time soon. This time he found it easier to remain focused and homed in on Pod again, searching her out from the mixed signals he was receiving from the Throne-ship
He found her at the other end of the vessel in an area that could only be classified as an electronics laboratory. Given that the Nubl were all about electronics it figured this would be the equivalent of a medical room. Ship was there, he had engineers assisting him in repairing his damaged limbs. Damn! These robots were hard to kill when they are able to self repair or quickly attach replacement limbs.
Pod was unable to communicate, Zeke realised, as he pushed himself through the hull of the ship close to where they were. The power in him surged as it concentrated its output where he needed it. This taught him something else, that he could direct aspects of himself without moving from his position in space.
He looked at what was once Pod. The remnants of the emergency capsule was now a jumble of parts. These were hooked up to the power source. One cable linked it to an interface that Ship was in the very act of inserting into his own chest.
Zeke acted compulsively without consideration of the consequences. Knowing instinctively that once that connection between the two AIs was completed, Ship would complete the process of dissembling Pod in seconds, and his AI would cease to exist. Whatever Zeke did now needed to happen instantly.
Concentrating on being a conduit for transfer, Zeke was elated as the objects that were the operating sections of Pod disappeared from the desk unit they were on. The interface never made it to the point of connection. He could feel the components in his hands, as he held them, in stasis, while he thought about what to do. Pod might be safe while he dealt with Ship, but could he deal with the malign AI while in his current state. If he re-materialised now, what would happen to Pod.
Zeke looked to see what his enemy was up to. The silver AI that was now Ship hadn’t moved, but then Zeke realised he didn’t need to. He was connected to the Throne-ship, and through that, the Nubl fleet and through their sensors, all of local space. Ship would now be using every means at his disposal to track Pod and Zeke down. If Zeke re-materialised Pod anywhere, would Ship find her if she wasn’t connected to anything? He couldn’t take the chance. He had to wait until Ship committed himself to a plan.
He didn’t have to wait long before the Nubl fleet around him began to move, all together. Zeke pulled back in Space until he could see the overview and recognised that Ship was directing them to a specific location. The human fleet - he had found them.
So, that was his game! Attack the fleet and force Zeke to come to their defence. Well, how about that! Ship had learned some battle tactics and understood humanities failings. Ship obviously realised that either Zeke could keep Pod and hide, and lose the fleet, or come out and fight Ship.
Zeke had a much better idea.
He zoomed in on his ship hidden in the debris of Beta station and re-materialised Pod. The jumble of parts were strewn in the same position, but now on the deck of his ship.
He then re-materialised himself and quickly squatted down to pick up the operational part of Pod, the brain and power supply. He took the interface cable and connected it to the ship’s main computer. It would take Pod time to realise, and longer to do anything more than communicate with the computer.
Zeke felt his energy levels were good, so he returned to his transitional state and headed for the Throne-ship He knew how to finish this war and it would end now.
He reappeared on the bridge of the Throne-ship and directly in front of the throne.
The Queen sat on it, but didn’t see Zeke. He wondered if he had actually materialised, but looked down, and seeing his mottled dark green body, knew he had. Her attention must be driven inward as she interrogated the throne, which actively hummed. He couldn’t link to it, but didn’t want to, at least not for the moment. He rationalised that if he dealt with Ship, the Queen might regain contr
ol of her fleet, and call off the attack, but he wasn’t 100% certain of her. He debated jumping both her and the throne out into space, but then he would just have to deal with whatever new leader evolved out of the millions of ships out there. He would give her a chance, but first he had to deal with Ship.
To jump back into space to the AI, he needed to visualise him. Nothing happened.
He tried again, this time walking further away from the throne, in case it was affecting his ability to de-materialise.
Ship walked through the gangway in front of him, both blasters aimed directly at Zeke’s chest. Not again, Zeke thought. He continually underestimated the AI and knew that whatever happened next, Zeke was going to be the one hurting.
“Don’t bother trying to escape, Zeke - I have placed a null field around the ship, nothing can jump in, or out,” he said, continuing his approach, both legs fully restored to working, but with no sign of the thrusters and AG he had used before, maybe they couldn’t replicate them, but Zeke thought that unlikely.
Zeke backed towards the throne. He needed to be close to it for his own defence. He hoped the Queen had activated its defences already.
Ship was talking again. “Now Zeke, I’m really piqued. I thought Pod was jumping you in and out, but I disabled her and I don’t sense her nearby. Yet something or somebody jumped her away. Was that you, Zeke?” he asked inquisitively.
“Why would you believe there was no another D-field capable ship in the vicinity?” Zeke responded non-committally
“Oh, I checked, and my sensors are exceptionally good. It noticed an anomaly when you removed Pod’s circuits, but it was too large to be a cloaked ship. No, something else is going on, Zeke and it has to do with you, and I intend to find out exactly what it is.”
“Hah! You can try Ship, but you have ended up on the receiving end so far in all of our confrontations. What makes you think you can get the upper-hand?” Zeke answered his challenge.
As he spoke, a grey goo appeared and pooled around his feet. He had forgotten that Ship had many skills and would always be innovative in coming up with ideas to deal with a situation - especially one where Zeke was concerned.
Zeke tried to step away from the soup that was growing and beginning to pour up his legs, but he was held trapped, the nanite horde fixing him fast to the deck. As it moved up his legs, it itched fiercely as the nanites somehow tried to eat into his Alacite skin.
“They should be getting quite busy in a minute, or so, Zeke. They have been designed specifically to extract the Alacite from your body. As you can appreciate, it’s quite a valuable commodity and I am going to have much need for it soon.”
Zeke was beginning to feel a really intense ache as the nanites started biting. He couldn’t tell if they were getting anywhere, but he bent down and brushed off part of his leg. It was black, but so far unharmed. The grey ooze was all over him, faster now, as more of it was generated by Ship from an endless supply. Zeke couldn’t fight back if he couldn’t move away. He was at Ship’s mercy, with Pod disabled and the fleet under attack from the Nubl fleet there seemed no hope.
The aching grew progressively more intense, preoccupying his mind. He began to panic, the nanites making considerable progress up his body. He frantically swept them off him as much as he could. Whenever he scraped them away there seemed to be no damage to the underlying skin, but that didn’t fill him full of confidence when they were slowly seizing his body and turning it into a rigid mass.
They quickly crept up his chest and neck. With virtually no movement possible now Zeke tried to keep his mouth closed in a vain attempt to halt the flow. The nanites just pressed on through, and up his nose.
Soon he was covered in them and couldn’t see, or hear anything as every orifice became saturated with nanites. His lungs filled. It seemed they were even invading his stomach. He knew all of his organs were protected by Alacite, as was his brain. He was transfixed as his body was fully immersed in nanite soup. He no longer heard if Ship spoke, there was just the infernal itching and ache inside and out, as the nanites attempted to eat anything it could of him that was alloy-based.
He was panic struck, unable to breath and expected to black out any second. But something began to happen that had gone unnoticed by Zeke. While he had been fighting on the outside, his body had been working out its own method of defence against this new threat. As a result, his body heat had been rising over the last few minutes while the killers had been invading his system. Now, it prepared to repel boarders.
As Zeke continued to choke on the physical mass pouring into him from every possible place, his body began to suck the power from their little batteries, leaving them dead and totally drained of energy. As the balance of control was broken down, Zeke’s body began to excrete the mass of grey from its internal systems which now gushed out of him in an increasing volume, until he was finally able to move, but only to bend over and silently retch out the infestation through his nose and mouth. He continually coughed, retched and sneezed as his body pushed the last of them out. Within the space of a few seconds Zeke was clear and recovering his equilibrium, none the worse from his experience. His new body seemed to be indestructible
Ship stood silently as Zeke pulled himself erect and brushed off his arms, now back to their dark mottled green appearance. The black dust covering his body was apparently just dead nanites.
Zeke went on the verbal assault. “Hmm, that was fun, Ship? What’s next?” he said with more joviality than he actually felt. He had given up trying to understand what his body was capable of, or what it did. One day he would figure it out, he reckoned - if he lived long enough.
“Amusing, Zeke, and impressive. Your body defends you from Alacite eating nanites, expels them.” He paused while he circled Zeke, examining his body thoroughly with his sensors. “I see, your skin appears to be permanently that colour, and my readings indicate that your human genetic content is down to approximately 30%, locked inside the metal alloy your body has transformed itself into.
So what are you now Zeke? Not human, and certainly not artificial, or any form of cyborg.” Ship seemed more curious than worried, looking at Zeke as if he was a scientific experiment.
“It appears your mutating Alacite has been the instrument of your evolution. It makes the alloy even more important than I had previously considered,” Ship mused.
He recognised the AIs description of him as accurate, but to him he still felt and thought of himself as human. He wasn’t happy being a green-eyed monster, but it was currently the least of his problems and the source of many of the solutions he needed. He was sanguine about the future. It would take care of itself, or not.
“I still consider myself human even if I am an accident, or scientific curiosity,” Zeke responded.
“Humans are no more, Zeke. You and that pitifully small number of ships are the last. Even the Jenari managed to escape total annihilation. When your species dies out, as it will in the next few hours, these Nubl will proceed to new universes and seek out failing biological lifeforms wherever they discover them. I find there is much I like about the bipedal form of life, but nothing that stirs me to take a biological form as Zirkos insisted on doing. It’s such an inefficient system - all those physical needs.”
Zeke wasn’t surprised. If Ship had spent all this time with the Nubl, it wouldn’t take much for him to see things from their perspective. He was, after all, an artificial being.
A movement behind Zeke brought Ship out of his rambling discourse and he raised his blasters threateningly as the Queen, her activation of the throne obviously completed, moved off the dais and stood next to Zeke. Her Shonkeel was already forming as she turned to him.
“I should draw your sword, human, unless you can kill this thing with your bare hands,” she gestured at Ship as she flipped her weapon up.
“Hah! This is amusing - two mortal enemies, side by side against me, an advanced being that is superior in every way to your races combined,” Ship chortled.
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br /> Zeke wondered if Ship knew the blasters would no longer work now that the throne was fully active and harmonised with the new Queen, or did he have means of overcoming the limiters on the throne’s defences. Zeke thought that Ship may not know the defence existed, as he pulled his sword from the metal wire frame across his back that was all that remained of his sheath. If Ship did not shut down the null field, then he couldn’t jump away either. He was trapped.
“Well, Ship, it’s been nice catching up with old times. It’s a shame you killed Zirkos. That was a step too far in your evolution, I think,” Zeke responded.
As he spoke, he and the Queen both advanced on Ship who was distancing himself from them to better spread the blaster fire. He took aim. Zeke noticed when they were supposed to fire and didn’t, and jumped the distance between them swinging his sword one-handed at the silver AI’s body. For the second time that day, he sliced a leg off, forcing Ship to fall lop-sidedly, with one leg still attempting to balance Ship’s body on the deck. Surprised and without any other form of defence Ship had no option but to take whatever came his way from Zeke’s sword.
Zeke pulled back to hack at the other leg, while the Queen took herself to Ship’s right and swung her very ornate sword downwards, striking Ship between the shoulder and his head. Ship crashed to the deck as his body coordination was severed in the damage inflicted by the Queen. The head wasn’t quite detached, it hung precariously from a few metal fragments and some cables. The Shonkeel came down once more and removed it completely.
As the Queen went to deliver the final blow to the chest, Zeke’s sword flashed and the clang, as the two blades met above Ship’s body, echoed around the bridge.
“You fight me now, after I helped you kill this evil being?” she snarled and stepped back brandishing her sword.
“Apologies, I merely need to remove the memory core intact, it has information on it that I need to recover,” Zeke responded lowering his sword across Ship’s chest signifying no threat, but claiming ownership of the wafers inside.
