The Agathon: Reign of Arturo

by Colin Weldon

  “Understood,” Barrington replied looking at Chavel.

  “Are the colonists healthy, Aron? What’s the general well-being of those still alive?” Meridian said suddenly.

  “Apart from being used as lab rats, most are in good health. Food and energy are rationed, but the hydroponics work well on the stations. It’s one of the most heavily guarded sections and anyone who attempts to enter it without authorisation is shot on sight,” Aron said.

  “I see,” Meridian said looking horrified.

  “Got it, sir,” Chavel said, “according to these readings the stations are thirteen light years from our current position.”

  “How long before you could mount a rescue, Captain?” Aron said.

  Barrington looked at Chavel. He already knew the answer.

  “Six months,” Barrington said.

  There was silence on the comm system.

  “Shit,” Aron said.

  “Well, we have to do something,” said Meridian.

  Barrington tried to think. He was delighted that at least they now had a fix on their position, not that it would do them much good, if what Elstone was telling them was true.

  “Aron, I think it’s best right now if we discuss your tactical options. My crew is highly trained in tactical combat situations and I think the only thing we can do right now is help you with some sort of battle plan. We have discovered coordinates to a planet that may be a link to everything that has happened, and if we are to find a new home world, we need to follow this lead,” Barrington said.

  “We can’t just abandon them Captain!” Meridian said raising her voice enough to break the boundaries of polite conversation.

  Barrington turned to her and frowned. He needed to have a little chat with her after this.

  “Not now, Chase,” he snapped back at her.

  She instantly recoiled into her seat and took a breath, nodding.

  “Aron, we are going to figure this out, okay? You are not alone. Now everyone, listen up. I want you to tell me exactly what sort of weaponry is available to you and also what the combat capabilities of this Kandinsky ship are, and any other space faring vessels you have access to,” Barrington said looking at Boyett and Chavel and giving them a nod to pay attention.

  “Okay, Captain, you have my undivided attention,” Aron said.

  The briefing lasted over three hours. When it was over, Barrington bid Aron farewell and promised to check in with a member of Aron’s crew, a woman named India Walder, every two hours to keep apprised of updates. He dismissed his crew and ordered them back to their stations on the bridge, asking Meridian to stay behind for a talk. They sat opposite each other in the quiet conference room.

  “Drink?” Barrington asked her.

  “Constantly,” she replied smiling.

  He opened up a small cabinet and took out an unopened bottle of whisky.

  “Secret stash?” she asked.

  “Only for special occasions,” he said smiling and pouring her a drink.

  He took a sip and let the liquid warm his body.

  “I’m sorry about Carrie,” Meridian said straight off the bat.

  Barrington looked into his glass.

  “She’s not dead, Chase,” he replied.

  Meridian looked sympathetically towards him as if he was in denial.

  “She’s not,” he asserted again, “I don’t know how I know, I just know. The readings of the explosion were strange. Boyett found some strange gravitational readings, like the ones the ship exhibits when the FTL ring is deployed at full rotation. I think Tyrell took her somewhere.”

  “What?” Meridian said sitting up, “are you serious? Where? I want to see the readings from the explosion.”

  “Of course I was hoping for your input in the matter, but I think we both needed a little time to process what was happening. Chase, we can’t do that again. I need you. The ship needs you. No matter what this fucked up galaxy throws at us, we have to be able to handle it. You need to learn to deal with it, Chase. I know this has hit you hard, but it’s time to move on and get back in the game with me,” he said.

  He saw a tear form in her eyes and placed a hand on her shoulder.

  “Carrie needs you too,” he said.

  She took a shaky breath and tried to control the outburst that was coming. She nodded and finished what was left in her glass in one gulp. She blew a big breath out of her parted lips and looked at him smiling.

  “You know myself and Kyle are married,” she said.

  Barrington smiled sitting back in his chair.

  “Everyone knows, Chase, it was the worst kept secret in the colony,” he said.

  Her mouth opened in genuine shock.

  “Well fuck!” she said.

  They laughed together for the first time in months. It felt good.

  23

  The Void

  Carrie was slowly floating away from the glass dome. She had stepped off, not really knowing if she was ever going to be able to get back in. There was no tether. Jack had simply instructed her to let go. Tyrell and Jack were already free floating away from the domed space station. It looked like a glass mushroom from the outside. She was terrified. There was no way to get around it. Jack had assured her that the material she was now wearing could provide life support for her indefinitely. The strange black material was practically skin tight and felt like silk. Aside from the initial embarrassment of how the second skin made her look practically naked, she obeyed the alien and walked around getting used to the material. It really did feel like a second skin. She had free range of motion and even her fingertips felt like they were uncovered. There was a thin sheet of what looked like glass, but clearly was not, covering her face and head, which melded seamlessly into the rest of the suit. She had to admit, it was an incredible design. The interior of the cloth was warm, internally heated somehow. It felt like she was wearing a wet suit and going for a swim. Tyrell and Jack were both wearing similar space suits and were calmly floating straight out in front of her staring at her.

  “Do not be afraid, Carrie, remain still,” Jack said in her ears. There was obviously a comm system built into the highly advanced suit somewhere, although Carrie could not figure out where any electrical components could have been.

  She floated away and watched as the enormous planet rotated below. In the darkness above, the view of the distant galaxy against the pure black backdrop was breath-taking. Its spiralling arms filled with billions of stars streaked across the black sky as they expanded into nothingness. She looked to her left and screamed. Tyrell was suddenly beside her. Just floating there.

  “Shit, Tyrell! You scared me, how the hell did you do that?” she said trying to calm her heart.

  Tyrell smiled.

  “Follow my instruction, Carrie, it is important that you pay attention or you will spin out of control and end up impaled on the shield,” Jack said.

  Carrie looked at the clear glass shield that covered the entire planet. It looked like it was inside a bubble.

  Astonishing technology, she thought to herself.

  “Now listen carefully, the suit you are wearing will respond to very specific thoughts and propel you in any direction using the micro thrusters in your hands and feet,” Jack said.

  Carrie looked at the palms of her hands.

  “Okay?” she said.

  “Now I want you to clear your mind and think about moving slowly in my direction. You will be using your palm thrusters only, so place your arms gently behind you with your palms-”

  Jack did not have time to finish his sentence because Carrie suddenly took off in the opposite direction. At speed. The force of the acceleration propelled Carrie upwards away from Tyrell and Jack and away from the planet.

  “Shit!” she shouted as she flailed her arms and legs sending her into an uncontrollable spin. It had happened so fast that Carrie did not have time to think. She felt the effects of gravity take hold and began to feel dizzy. She focused on her breathing and looked back a
t the planet trying to get a fixed point in space. She straightened out her arms and thought about gently slowing her rate of spin by trying to fire one of her palm thrusters in the opposite direction. She felt pressure in her left palm and suddenly jolted to a complete stop. She was still tumbling, but now only in one direction. She adjusted her hands and tried again. The rate of spin slowed. Her head was pounding as her vision began to return. She put her hands up to the thin glass covering her face and tried to regain her sense of balance. It was nauseating. In the distance she saw two figures approaching her. Tyrell and Jack effortlessly glided through the emptiness, like sea creatures in the depths of an ocean. Streams of white gas gently spewed from their hands and feet. She tried to focus her mind on staying in one place and let herself breathe normally. She had done some anti-gravity training back on Mars Colony One, but nothing like this. She had never felt so vulnerable. Jack and Tyrell were slowing down their thrusters, until they were right next to her.

  “Are you undamaged?” Jack said in a calm voice.

  His large eyes glistened in the light of the nearby star. He floated effortlessly and made small adjustments to his velocity with ease. She was surprised how easily Tyrell was handling himself with the strange space suit, but then remembered that it was The Black and not Tyrell who was controlling his body. She was in the presence of two aliens. The only human within a million light years was her. She suddenly felt backed into a corner.

  “I’m fine, now what is it you want me to do?” she asked Jack.

  “Retain your balance, Carrie, use your mind to make small adjustments and try and move around us slowly. Just concentrate. Breathe normally, and calmly use your hands and feet to move as if you were in the water,” said Jack.

  Carrie closed her eyes and opened up her mind. She concentrated on the power beneath her and imagined herself gracefully moving. She felt a push from her feet as a light burst of white gas pushed her slowly upwards. She countered the force by placing the palms of her hands facing downwards and gently releasing a light burst of the gas. She levelled out. It was not unlike the atmo suits that she had used, but with a distinct difference, in that she had never used her thoughts to control her movement.

  “Good,” Jack said, “now circle around us. Remember to control your thoughts.”

  Carrie closed her eyes and plotted her course. A simple circle around the pair of aliens in front of her. She tried to imagine her father’s face looking at her and smiling. He would probably have a heart attack if he could see her now. Then she remembered that he probably thought she was dead. She opened her eyes and concentrated. She had to get to the bottom of all this. She placed her hands by her side, and with a thought, she activated her thrusters. A gentle stream of gas propelled her sideways. She adjusted her hands and feet to direct her in a circular motion and glided effortlessly around the two.

  “Good,” Jack said, “now I want to show you why you are here.”

  The large alien suddenly changed his voice into a high pitched array of clicks and screeches. He sounded almost animal-like. He was clearly communicating with the race that inhabited the planet below. Jack and Tyrell looked towards the planet. Carrie’s eyes followed. A cluster of glowing spheres was traveling in their direction. They looked like they had just come from the surface of the planet. Carrie looked at Jack, confused. Looking back at the cluster of glowing balls of light, she saw that there were six of them.

  “What’s this?” she said to Jack and Tyrell simultaneously.

  “Carrie, the fabric you are wearing is designed to do much more than protect your body from harsh environment of open space. It can also focus and amplify energy,” Jack said, “it will allow you to use your focused electrical energy without the danger of perforating one of your rudimentary atmo suits, as you call them.”

  Carrie looked back at the spheres. They were steadily making their way over to their position.

  “Okay,” she said, “and you want me to do what?”

  She was suddenly struck sharply on her right shoulder by something that felt like a pulse gun. It sent her spinning out of control and away from the rest of the group. She grabbed her arm thinking it was on fire. The pain was excruciating. The planet spun in circles as she tumbled through the darkness. The pain subsided and she looked at her arm. Not a scratch. Not even a burn hole. She tried to get her bearings to get a fix on what had just hit her. She adjusted the palms of her hands and gently controlled her rate of spin returning to a stable attitude. Directly in front of her the glowing spheres had split apart and were now in a semi-circle around her.

  “Focus on the probes, destroy them,” Jack said in her ear.

  She suddenly realised that she was being trained. One of the spheres erupted with a bolt of white light hitting her squarely on the leg. The impact sent her spinning once again out of control and the pain of the strike shot all the way up her spine. She screamed in agony as she grabbed her leg. She did not like being toyed with and she manoeuvred her hands again to regain control. Tears began to well in her eyes as her body reacted. She felt a familiar warm energy stir in the base of her spine as she looked at the floating spheres in front of her. They began moving slowly towards her. The semi-circle formation was now a random scattering, as they each changed their angle of attack. She felt a tinge of rage and focused on one of the spheres. She reached her hand up and released a bolt of blue lightning from her fingers. The energy connected with the sphere and it exploded instantly in a ball of white light. There was something different about the power she felt. It was more focused, more controlled, and the energy bolts seemed to come together in one combined ray of light. She felt powerful.

  “Good,” Jack said, “now let’s see if you can hit a moving target.”

  The spheres suddenly split apart and began darting off in different directions. One of them fired a beam of light towards Carrie. She focused on her legs and fired a quick burst of propellant from her feet sending her soaring upwards and away from the incoming beam. It missed her as she directed her hands towards the sphere, which was arcing around her in the opposite direction. She focused hard, keeping the ball of light in her sights and fired bolts of blue light from both her hands. The sphere exploded. Carrie smiled and looked at the remaining four probes. She decided to attack. They each went in different directions and began travelling away from her as if in retreat.

  “Oh no you don’t,” Carrie whispered to herself as she fired her hand and feet thrusters simultaneously, directing herself towards one of the escaping probes. One of them arced off to her right and began flanking her current flight path ending up directly behind her. She looked back as it followed her. She cut her thrusters and with a quick flick of her wrist, turned quickly and fired a bolt of light from her right hand, hitting the following probe head on. A small blue fireball lit up the darkness as it exploded. She flicked her wrist again and returned to her pursuit of the escaping probe. Its distance was increasing. It seemed to be much faster than she was, so she stopped and took aim with both her arms outstretched. She fired a burst of blue electrical energy in its direction. Nothing. She had missed. She tried again. The sphere was now small. She focused on it, took a breath, and fired again. A few seconds later a small burst of blue light told her she had hit her mark.

  Two to go.

  A sudden burst of pain in the small of her back sent her spiralling through space.

  “Be mindful of your surroundings,” Jack said in her ear.

  She screamed at the intensity of the pain. It was like she was being sliced open by a sharp knife.

  “Fuck you,” she screamed, unsure of who the anger was directed at.

  She wrapped her arms around her chest and waited for the pain to subside. As the feeling of being ripped apart faded, she took a deep breath and tried to shake off the shock. She looked up and saw the last two sphere’s approaching from different directions. She fired her hand thrusters and stabilised herself. She looked at the oncoming blue balls of light. One approached from the left,
the other from underneath her. She positioned her arms in the two directions and tried to track them as they neared. She fired. One explosion lit up the blackness from her left. She repositioned both her arms below her and fired. A second explosion erupted from beneath her. She let out several large breaths and felt a tear trickle down her cheek. She looked back at the planet and the glass mushroom space station as silence took hold.

  “Good,” Jack said in her ear, “now let’s try something a little bigger.”

  Earth One

  Aron sat at Vishal’s desk and listened to the hum of the power cables as they fed the station. Vishal had helped him bring the body of the Colonial Guard down to the basement level of the power station and placed his heavy corpse in one of the equipment storage rooms. Aron was surprised at how calm Vishal had been when they had told him of the murder. Aron kept the handheld weapon tucked neatly in his trousers, in case he decided to turn on him. While he seemed to be on their side, he could not be completely sure. There was too much at stake to give away trust at this stage. He stroked his face and looked at Maya’s pod. Vishal was on one of the upper levels taking power readings from one of the newest additions to the power plant. A two-year-old boy from a family in the Red Tribe. It was hard not to show how sickening the whole process was, and he still harboured an intense anger at Vishal for his role in all of this, but he needed him.

  For the moment he was alone. Watching his daughter in the pod. Studying her quiet expression as he wondered if there would be anything left of her at all, that is, if she ever escaped. He thought about the long talk he had with the crew of The Agathon and what they proposed doing. It was risky. In all likelihood this was a one-way trip, but if he could save her, then it would all be worth it. If he could save them all, then his life would be the least he could give. Florence had left the power plant and was on her way to The Unity to prepare. She had told the Colonial Guard that her escort had remained in the power plant to guard Aron. The ruse would not last long. The Kandinsky was now showing up on the stations long range scanners and was only minutes away from rendezvousing with Earth One. All Aron could do now was wait. India would prep The Unity for launch as soon as Florence relayed all the information. Vishal was the key. He was busy locking down what he could of the pods and placing the power systems into a cyclical feedback loop, to keep them operating for as long as possible if anything happened to the main power grid. Which it would. Aron stood from the chair and picked it up. He walked over to the pod holding his daughter and placed the chair beside it. He sat down and stared up at her.