Project Solaris 2: Hero Rising

by Chris Fox

  Ren drifted wordlessly to the doorway, and we followed it back into the main room. It glided down another spoke, this one leading to a small room with several coffin-sized pods. Each one looked like an Egyptian sarcophagus, the clear material dotted with an array of rubies, sapphires, and emeralds. Pulses of light flowed from gem to gem, lighting the surface of the pod like something I'd expect to see in Stargate. As I approached, I could feel the frequency emitting from each. They monitored life signs, but there was a lot more going on there that I didn't fully understand.

  "Are we sure we trust these things?" Marcus asked, rather dubiously.

  "I don't see that we have a lot of choice," I said, limping over to the closest pod. I rested a hand against the top, which reached my waist. It was warm to the touch.

  "Sure we do," Marcus said, crossing his arms. "We can at least post a guard."

  "That's not a bad idea," Summers agreed. "I mean, just to be on the safe side."

  I considered the suggestion, looking around at the group. It wasn't a bad suggestion, but if I was going to leave a guard, I had to be sure to pick the right one. The idea that we had a spy in our midst terrified me. What if we left the wrong one awake? That would be catastrophic.

  "We all need rest," I said, shaking my head. "A guard wouldn't protect us. If the grey men find us, we're done for. And if Ren wanted to do something, no one would be able to stop it until it's too late."

  "I'm willing to stay awake," Summers said. "Maybe it won't matter, but what could it hurt?"

  "You were shot four times," Jillian countered. She put a hand on Summers' shoulder. "If anyone needs one of these things, it's you. The hologram said it would heal you."

  "All right," Summers said, nodding. I could tell she didn't like it. Did that mean she had an agenda? A reason for staying awake? Or was I just being paranoid? The latter was more likely. Summers had been in a coma during the time when the spy had apparently acted. She was the very last person I should suspect.

  "I don't pull rank often, guys, but I'm doing it here. We're all taking a short nap," I ordered, climbing on top of the pod. The surface rippled, and I began sinking inside. It felt like hot wax as I descended inside. I knew I might be making a mistake, but I was too tired to think about it.

  Interlude

  The spy's eyes fluttered open as she emerged from the rejuvenator. She glanced around at the other pods, but the other hominids were still asleep. Excellent. She'd modified the rejuvenation sequence when entering the pod, triggering it to wake her precisely five minutes after the cycle began. The others would slumber for another two hours, giving her plenty of time to execute any number of plots.

  "You've woken early," came a voice from behind.

  The spy turned to face the hologram. Its skin was the same grassy hue as the Builders, and the spy caught herself before automatically genuflecting.

  "Ark Keeper Ren," the spy said, using a tongue that had, so far as she knew, never been uttered by a human throat. "I order you to broadcast an emergency beacon to all fleet vessels orbiting this world."

  The hologram stared at her for a long moment before answering. "You speak the tongue of the Builders. How is this possible?"

  "Your long solitude has evidently corrupted your programing. You exist to serve, not to question," the spy snapped, aware that the anger was a reaction of the host. It showed how flawed the hominid's body really was. Such primitive emotions were much more muted among the Builders and their progeny. "Contact the fleet, and summon them to this location. Immediately."

  "I cannot," Ren said, though it did have the good grace to look chagrined.

  "Explain," the spy said, stalking toward the hologram.

  "When your companion disabled the power conduit, it did more than prevent the teleporter from working," Ren explained. "In addition, all higher functions were disabled. We can receive communications, but the transmitter is dormant until power is restored."

  "Then restore power," the spy ordered, narrowing her eyes.

  "I cannot," Ren said. The thing was useless.

  "Explain," the spy said, the anger intensifying.

  "Only a shaper can utilize the control interface. Your companion's helixes have been shaped to allow this," Ren explained. It cocked its head, studying her. "Your own helixes may allow this as well."

  The spy felt a moment of excitement. Perhaps the plan would still work. It stalked from the room, hurrying through the central chamber and into the control room.

  She dropped into the chair David had used earlier, willing it to respond to her commands. Nothing happened. She felt a surge of something hotter than anger, the first time she'd experienced the human emotion they called rage.

  "Why isn't it working?" she screamed, her voice echoing through the room.

  "I do not know," Ren said, infuriatingly calm.

  She knew. She knew exactly why. If David were awake, she'd have been able to control the chair. But with him asleep, that power was beyond her. She needed a new plan.

  "Very well. Do you control internal systems, at least?"

  "I do," Ren said, nodding.

  "Excellent. Is this facility equipped with an inducer?" she asked, a new plan forming.

  "Yes."

  "Then I want you to turn it on," she ordered.

  "What parameters would you like to enable?" Ren asked.

  "The Builders are gods, and they must be obeyed," the spy commanded, giving a cruel smile.

  "Very well," Ren said. It cocked its head. "I have enabled the inducer. Indoctrination has begun."

  Chapter 18- History

  I awoke in a panic, convinced I was drowning. I thrashed wildly as my body was pushed up through something like warm wax. I calmed slightly when I remembered where I was, inside the rejuvenator. I looked around, chest heaving as I took in my surroundings. The others were having similar reactions as they emerged from the other pods, though Jillian seemed calm as she hopped lightly from the top of hers.

  "Everyone okay?" I asked, raising a hand to rub my temple. I felt much better than I had when I'd gone in, but I had a splitting headache. There was a faint, high-pitched ringing that I guessed might be responsible for it.

  "That was bizarre," Kali said, though there was a sense of wonder in her voice. She brushed a lock of hair from her face, smiling at me. "I feel about a million times better. These things are awesome."

  "Yeah, I'm never going back to a normal bed," Janaki said, giving a laugh. "I am really hungry though. Any chance that the mothership has arrived?"

  "I'll check," I replied, closing my eyes. I felt for the vessel, and realized it was just outside the Black Knight. It hovered in orbit, cloaked. I opened my eyes. "It's here. Jillian can ferry people over whenever she's ready."

  "I'll take two groups," Jillian said, stifling a yawn as she glanced around at everyone. "That will make it easier than trying everyone in one go. Who wants to go first?"

  "Take the kids," Marcus said, nodding at Kali and Janaki.

  "All right," Jillian said, gesturing at the girls. They gathered close to her, and there was a brief pop as they disappeared.

  "Does anyone else hear that?" I asked, cradling my head. The ringing was still there, just at the edge of my hearing. It was like nails on a chalkboard.

  "Hear what?" Marcus asked, eyeing me quizzically.

  "I don't hear anything," Summers said. She folded her arms, leaning against the rejuvenator she'd emerged from. "We should talk about what we're going to do next. You wanted to find the satellite, and we've done that. Now what?"

  There was another brief pop and Jillian was there again, this time absent the girls. "Okay, I'm ready for another trip."

  "Summers raised a good question," I said. "We need a plan. I've been focused on finding this place, because we thought it would level the playing field. We're here now, so it's time to find out how we can use this place. That means a little exploration."

  "I can do that as long as you're awake," Summers said, giving me a sympathetic look
. "You've earned a break. Maybe you should just relax for a bit."

  That took me back, and judging from the look of incredulity on Marcus' face, I wasn't the only one. Summers was the very last person in the world to suggest anyone take a break. "It's all right. I feel better after our little nap. Why don't the three of you head over to the mothership and get something to eat? While you're there, maybe you can start preparing for a raid."

  "Raid?" Jillian asked, raising an eyebrow.

  "Yup. Now that we have control of this place, I plan to use it. The Black Knight has immense processing power, and can tap into global communications," I explained, giving the first smile in what felt like forever. "I can use that to find Dick's facility. There will be clues, like ordering the kind of equipment necessary to build the lasers he'll need. There may even be security footage. I'm going to use it to try to locate him."

  "Okay," Jillian said, nodding. She looked at Marcus. "You guys ready?"

  Summers looked like she wanted to protest, but closed her mouth without saying anything. Marcus just nodded.

  "I'll come back in a couple hours with something for you to eat," Jillian said, squeezing my arm and giving me a warm smile.

  She turned to the others, waiting until Marcus gave her a nod. Then the three of them disappeared, leaving me in relative silence. Relative, because the ringing was even more noticeable now that they were gone. Maybe it was so quiet now that I was alone.

  I returned to the control chamber, and sat in the strange chair facing the crystal. I had a pretty good idea of how I could locate Dick, and if I was right, it wouldn't even take me all that long. I focused on the crystal, tapping into the enormous power I'd seen there during my earlier excursion.

  The processing power was truly staggering, which I'd expected. What I didn't expect was to find Ren waiting for me inside the crystal. I could feel its mind in a way that was wholly different from touching a person's. It was almost as if linking to the crystal made Ren a part of me. I found it fascinating, and the possibilities it opened were immense.

  Okay, I thought, focusing on myriad streams of data flowing through the crystal. I need you to do the following. Parse all incoming data looking for the man in this picture.

  I directed Ren to Initech's company website, which was still archived on Google even though the company itself had folded.

  Acknowledged. Processing, Ren said, the words reverberating in my head.

  I also need you to look for all sales for these components from Boeing. Cross-reference those with companies whose power usage exceeds 50,000 kilowatts a month, I said, grinning. I kind of liked playing detective, at least when I had the unfair advantage of a crazy-fast alien computer. One of the things I'd learned working for Initech is that faster-than-light data communication was very, very energy intensive. Our tiny prototype had been extremely expensive to run, and if Dick had created a larger one, it would be a real energy hog.

  Processing, Ren repeated.

  I considered withdrawing from the crystal to give him time to work, but within a few moments he spoke again. Results compiled.

  I browsed the file Ren had created, which was thankfully very short. There were only four addresses who met both the power requirements and had ordered the right components to create an FTL data transfer device that matched the specs we'd used at Initech. One in Madrid, one in Beijing, one in Portland, and the last in Washington, D.C. All four companies had convincing uses for the technology, at least at first glance.

  I moved on to the part of the file that showed Dick's movements. He'd been picked up on a bank camera in San Francisco, and a gas station in Hopland, California. That was it. He'd apparently done a great job of cloaking his movements. So how could I find him?

  Ren, give me a list of all offices associated with these four companies, I ordered. The list appeared instantly. Two of the companies only had one office. The one in Madrid also had a location in Italy, so I dismissed that one. The one in Portland had offices in Peru, London, and, most importantly, a small satellite office in a tiny town called Garberville, California. It was less than twenty miles from Hopland.

  Ren, check the power usage for this address, I ordered. I smiled when I saw the results, then released the crystal.

  "I've got you, Dick."

  Chapter 19- Ringing

  I'd grown used to the ringing by the time Jillian popped back into existence with a can of cold, beef stew and a warm soda. I spooned down the stew as fast as I could chew, and licked the can clean when I was done.

  "So you were a little hungry then," Jillian said, with a half-smile. She sat on the table, folding one leg over the other with exaggerated care. I stared, of course. One does not simply ignore legs like Jillian's, especially when they're covered by nothing more than black yoga pants.

  "Wow," I said, ignoring the soda in favor of eye candy.

  "You're staring," Jillian said with a laugh.

  "Sorry," I said. I wasn't.

  "So did you find anything useful?" Jillian asked, stretching slowly until her back arched and my eyes widened.

  "You're very distracting, you know that?" I said, grinning.

  "It's accidental," she said, winking. "But seriously, did you find anything?"

  "Yeah, I think I've located Dick. If I'm right, we should be able to hit his facility and knock out whatever FTL research he's working on," I said, meeting her gaze. It was harder than it should have been. "I've given it some thought, and I think you and I should do it alone."

  Jillian eyed me quizzically for a moment, then understanding lit her eyes. "You're worried about the spy. You think Osiris was right."

  "Yeah," I agreed. "The grey men have been too close, too many times. Egypt convinced me. Someone is telling them where to find us. There's no way they could have known otherwise."

  "That's why you didn't want Summers to stay awake," she said, pursing her lips as she considered.

  "Exactly," I said, nodding. "I don't know for sure who it is. It probably isn't her, but why take chances? Until we know for sure, we have to assume it could be anyone."

  "Couldn't it be me?" Jillian asked, soberly.

  "I considered it, but if it is you, then I'm well and truly screwed anyway. I have to trust someone."

  "True," she said, reaching down to take my hand. "I'm glad you chose to trust me, though."

  "We've been in this together since the beginning, and you've saved my ass more than once," I said, giving her a wink. "Plus, you're teaching me to fight. I want to stay on your good side."

  "Wanting to sleep with me has nothing to do with it then," she said with a laugh. Her smile faded a little when she spoke again. "You know who the most likely spy is, you just don't want to say it."

  "I can't believe Kali would do that. I just...can't," I said. My eye twitched, just a little. That damned ringing.

  "You can't let emotion cloud your judgement," she said, giving a sigh as she released my hand. "I don't want to believe it either, but we don't know what the grey men did to her when they changed her eyes. Who knows what they planted in her head? She might not even know she's doing it."

  "Maybe," I said, rising to my feet and beginning to pace. "I'm not willing to convict her, though. Not yet. We need to learn more before we jump to any conclusions. She's the most obvious spy, but that doesn't mean it's her."

  "So what do you intend to do?" Jillian asked.

  "Let's gather the others and tell them we're going to meet with Osiris," I said, thinking out loud again. "We can assume that the information will make it back to the grey men, and this time we'll use that. While they're setting up to hit us at that meeting, we'll attack Dick's facility."

  "So you don't want to tell the others about this raid?" Jillian asked. Her tone made it clear she thought that was a mistake.

  "You and I should be able to handle this," I said, firming my lips. "I don't want to risk including anyone else. This is too important. After we deal with the FTL transmitter, then we can focus on figuring out who the spy
is. In the meantime, we watch and wait."

  "All right," she said, nodding. "I'll back your play here, even though I'm not sure I agree with it."

  "I appreciate it." I stopped pacing. "Do you really not hear that ringing?"

  "No," she said, looking at me blankly. "Do you want me to bring you some pain reliever?"

  I shook my head. "No, don't worry about it. Let's get over to the mothership and prep for the raid."

  Chapter 20- Raid

  "So you want us to wait here while you meet with that snake?" Summers asked, eyes narrowing. It was the first time I'd seen any of her former fire. "I really think you should take us with you. Osiris can't be trusted."

  "I never said I trusted him," I gave back, pausing as I neared the shuttle. "But he's requested a face-to-face, and he asked me to come alone. I got him to agree to bring Jillian. If things go south, she'll teleport us out."

  I wasn't comfortable lying, or even sure that I could pull it off. Summers' gaze was searching, but she eventually nodded. "All right, we'll wait here. But I don't like it."

  "I don't like it either, but I'm with David on this one," Marcus called. He was standing near Janaki and Kali, near the sparring ring I'd created. We'd been taking turns using it in recent weeks, though Marcus and Jillian were still the undisputed masters. The rest of us were just students. Marcus approached us, toweling off sweat. "Usir--Osiris, I guess--is as stubborn as they come. I'm surprised he agreed to let Jillian come. I don't think David's in danger, because the old bastard needs him. Odds are good he's just posturing. David can bring whatever info Osiris has back here, and if anything goes wrong, I'm confident Jillian can get him out."

  "We'll be careful," Jillian said, lacing up her shoes. "We'll also be back as soon as we can."

  "So where is the meeting taking place?" Summers asked.