"I just had another dream," said Arnold, rubbing the back of his neck with his right hand.
"I noticed," replied MacPherson. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"I don't think I have any choice," replied Arnold. He concentrated for a moment. "It was more vivid than the last one and... some things were different."
"Different how?"
"It started with the image of the rectangular box. Only this time the box wasn't completely opaque. I could see something inside. Then there was a brief image of a Custodian holding a hand weapon of the same kind we saw in the video from Murmansk. This was followed by one of the visions of a bad future."
"No good future?"
"None at all."
"Any idea what was in the box?"
"No, it was too indistinct to make out clearly. The rest of the dream, except for the Custodian, was much like the others."
"What do you think it means?"
"It could be an indication we're running out of time, maybe? Or it could mean we're getting close to deciphering the Sentinel inscriptions?" Arnold shook his head as if to clear it. "I hate the dreams, they're profoundly disturbing. I wish I had seen what was inside the box."
"Maybe we'll be able to see after we finish this next activation sequence," said MacPherson.
"Perhaps," replied Arnold. "The image of the Custodian, though, has me deeply concerned."
"Are you going to be alright?"
"Yeah. I feel a little drained, but I'll come out of it. I guess I'd better go to bed tonight, eh?"
Chapter 18. Morning Coffee.
Central Planets, Nova Philadelphia, October 7, 2676.
Madam Miriam Love awoke with a start after having another disturbing vision. From the condition of the bedclothes, it was obvious she had been thrashing about in her sleep. The dreams, which had stopped for about a month, had not only come back, they'd been more frequent and more intense during the last week. As her mother had trained her to do, she ran the images through her mind while they were still fresh and made some notes on her tablet.
The rectangular box had again appeared at the beginning of the dream, but this time she had been able to resolve the faint, indistinct outline of some kind of object inside the box. With no reference to show how large or small the box in the dream was, it was impossible to speculate on what the object might be. This part of the vision was followed by a fleeting glimpse of a monstrous six-legged creature carrying what almost had to be a weapon, before the vision cut away to depict one of the really awful futures. She recorded her impressions of the dream as quickly as she could before the images faded. She knew Ellen Dawson would be calling just after first light.
It did appear whatever needed to be done to channel Mankind's future onto the proper track hadn’t been accomplished yet. The fact that this dream showed some kind of horrifying alien, followed by one of the particularly bad futures, made her think Professor MacPherson's Expedition might have failed at what they were supposed to do or was close to doing so, although there was no real evidence either way. Miriam wished those people would somehow get a message back to them, but with the ship having journeyed to who knew where, communication was impossible.
Just as Miriam predicted, Ellen Dawson contacted her on her personal tablet a little after seven am.
"Miriam? Did you have another vision just an hour or so ago?"
"Yes, Ellen, I did."
"What did you see?"
"Very much the same as the last vision, the one with the outlined box. Only this time I thought I could make out something inside."
"Did you see some kind of horrible monster?"
Miriam had been going to break that news gently, but it now appeared she wouldn't have to. "I saw that too," she said.
"I had the same dream," said Ellen, her voice rising in excitement. "I couldn't see what was inside either, but it looked like whatever it was, was brown or gold, maybe both."
"Now that you mention it, I would have to agree."
"What was that horrible creature?"
Miriam decided that the truth was the best policy. "I honestly don't know," she said. "I'll need more time to investigate that."
"I understand," said Ellen, "but we do need to talk. Can you meet Everett and me for breakfast in an hour? He has some questions for you too."
Miriam had a brief moment of panic. Senator Dawson was a powerful and important man. As part of the package, he also had a rather formidable presence. Meeting with him was always difficult for her, and it seemed he was always expecting answers she didn't have; however, there was no way she could shirk this responsibility. "Our usual coffee shop?" she asked.
"Yes, if that will be okay?"
"No problem. I just need to freshen up a little and throw on some clothes. See you in an hour."
"Thank you, Miriam." Ellen sounded relieved.
A Maglev branch station was just a couple of blocks from Miriam's apartment and the coffee shop only a short walk from the main terminal in the middle of the city, so she had time for a quick shower before she got dressed. The trip downtown took about a half hour. She tried to organize her thoughts and ratchet up her courage while on the train, but as she walked the short distance from the central terminal to the coffee shop, she had to admit she'd made only scant progress. With some relief, she saw the senator and his wife weren't in the shop yet. Good, at least she hadn't kept them waiting. She ordered a latte' and waited near the bar until it was prepared before taking it over to a table in the far corner of the little shop, and then sat next to the wall where she could keep an eye on the entrance.
The little cafe was a throwback to an earlier time. There were real, professional Human barristers behind the bar, and they could expertly prepare the entire range of coffee-based beverages using freshly-ground beans and the highest quality ingredients. The food was also excellent, but Miriam wasn't hungry and ordered just the latte'. Prices in the upscale shop were steep but the food and drink were easily worth the high cost.
She'd only taken a few sips of her coffee and managed to calm herself down a little more when one of the senator's two bodyguards came through the door and checked out the shop. Satisfied there was no danger, he motioned to the Dawsons, who had remained in an armored groundcar limousine out front, that it was okay for them to come in. With a bodyguard stationed to either side of the entry, the senator and his wife entered the cafe. Dawson looked around, spotted Miriam and gave her a nod before placing orders for himself and his wife. In a couple of minutes, they were carrying their own cups across the little shop to where Miriam was sitting. She noticed they hadn't ordered any food either.
Miriam stood up and greeted the two newcomers, "Ellen, Senator Dawson, how nice to see you."
"Good day, Madam Love," said the senator. "Sorry about the precautions but, as you know, there's been a lot of unrest among the populace since this affair began. One can't be too cautious these days."
"I understand, Senator. Shall we be seated?"
'Yes, of course," said Dawson. Ellen sat down across from Miriam while the senator took a seat on the same side of the table as the little medium, where he could also keep an eye on the front door.
The senator savored a sip of his coffee and, without further preamble, dove right into the reason they were meeting. "Ellen tells me there were some disturbing changes in the vision the two of you had last night."
"It was different," said Miriam, "and quite terrifying. There was...a hideous creature."
"Do you have any idea what it means?"
"I've been thinking about it since the vision woke me up this morning. I don't really know, Senator, but the image of the monster was followed by one of the most disturbing visions of enslaved people I've ever had."
"Could this creature represent one of the slave drivers, or whatever they are, that are responsible for the invasion or whatever it is that's coming?"
Miriam thought for a moment. "Quite possibly," she replied. "If that's so, then it looks like we might be closer
to that particular future than we were before."
"I was afraid you'd say that," said Dawson. "Mark my words, there will be unrest throughout the city tonight. I suggest you lock yourself indoors and don't venture out." He paused and shook his head, "I wish we'd hear something back from that blasted MacPherson or some other member of his expedition. That pyramid they were fooling around with is involved in this business somehow, I just know it."
"I agree," said Miriam, "It almost has to be." She looked down at her cup. "Do you think they're okay?"
"Unknown," said Dawson. "Security at the Nova York Orbital Station reported a Soviet courier left shortly after they did. We don't know if the Soviets were following them or not, but it certainly is a strong possibility.
"It's been over a month since they left," said Miriam. "Is there some way to check on them?"
"I wish there were," replied Dawson. "We got a report from a Slovenian freighter stating two ships went through the Salazar system and into the hypergate leading to the Sol system. If that was them, it is a total mystery to me why they would want to go there. I tried to get the Navy to send a scout ship or something to check up on them, but the Secretary of the Navy won't authorize the mission. He told me that he'd already wasted enough valuable resources by authorizing two military personnel to serve on the expedition, against his better judgement, by the way. Until we can come up with a damned good reason, we aren't getting any help from the Navy." The Senator shook his head again, "I knew my vote against that Naval funding bill last year was going to come back to haunt me."
"Is there anything we can do?" asked Miriam.
"I really don't know," replied the senator. "There are a lot of bad things going on that are probably related to this pyramid affair. Keep in mind the two of you aren't the only ones having these visions. People on all of the human planets, including the colonies, are also having them with the same public consequences we're seeing here, often even worse." He shook his head. "There're people out there that don't much like our government, or any government for that matter. Some of them are using the fear generated by these visions to gain followers and stir up trouble. I'm beginning to think some of the unrest in the colonies that started over a year ago, is probably connected as well. Even though there weren't any visions back then."
"I had no idea," said Miriam, "but I can certainly see why there would be strong reactions. The visions are very powerful and very disturbing. Don't you agree, Ellen?"
"Oh yes," replied the Senator's wife. "It's easy to see why people would be frightened out of their wits by them. If someone is using them to gain power..."
"Then some kind of trouble is inevitable," said the senator, finishing the thought for her. "As I said, there will be danger out in the streets tonight; roving bands of angry, frightened people looking for something, or someone, to take their frustrations out on. I've got people trying to identify the ringleaders, but so far we haven't had any luck finding them." He shook his head, "It's almost like we're involved in a war, only we don't know who the enemy is."
"I'll pick up a few things at the market and go straight home from there," said Miriam.
"Excellent idea, Miriam, but I'm not taking any chances. You're too important and too visible not to have attracted some of the wrong kind of attention. I'm assigning a security team to keep an eye on you."
"Thank you, Senator Dawson, I really appreciate that."
"You're more than welcome, Madam Love."
Chapter 19. Unwarranted Attack.
Capri, Deep Space, Star system X97610, October 7, 2676.
With the Soviet craft drawing nearer far too quickly for comfort, and the last of the mobile Hordea in the process of boarding, Ariane waited in agonizing frustration for an announcement they could start running.
One of the sessile Hordea, who were incorporated into the living ship and impossible to evacuate, initiated the retraction -- the re-absorption actually -- of the temporary conduit connecting the two ships.
Finally, Zack contacted her from the airlock area down on deck one, "Everyone's aboard and the airlock door is sealed," he said. "Let's get the hell out of here!"
Ariane didn't need to be told twice. She applied thrusters at full power to get some separation between the two ships before rotating the Capri to port on a vector ninety-degrees away from that of the streaking Soviet craft. The Hordean ship was probably doomed anyway, but Ariane was damned if she was going to be responsible for initiating its destruction starting the process by exposing it to the lethal blast of Capri's reaction drives. As soon as Capri's stern and her three reaction engines reached the desired angle relative to Helianthus, she called engineering.
"Cliff? Give me full emergency power to the reaction drives now! Don't hold anything back!"
"Aye aye, Cap'n, reaction drives to full emergency power. Initiatin' now."
"All hands prepare for emergency acceleration," announced the pilot, hoping everyone had a chance to brace themselves.
Seconds later, the personnel on board the Capri, human and otherwise, were subjected to a violent lurch as the ship's reaction drives flared from idle to full emergency power. Within seconds, the initial crush of acceleration abated as the ship's inertial dampers compensated and the artificial gravity settled back to a normal one g. A half minute later, Zack rushed breathlessly onto the bridge and stepped up on the command dais.
"What's our situation, Captain?" he said, standing between the two pilot stations with a hand on each of the seat backs, his eyes scanning the displays.
"We're heading directly for the hyperlink coordinates Quercia gave us," said Ariane.
"We're already way out in deep space," said Zack. "Why don't we just activate the sublight drive now?"
"We can go to sublight anytime we want, but I'd like to build up as much velocity as possible before we do. That way when we come out of sublight we can get to the hyperjump zone as fast as we can if, for some reason, they're able follow. Normally they'd have a hard time following us in an uncharted system, but they were able to find it in the first place, so we'd be foolish to rely on that." She took her eyes off the command display long enough to make eye contact with Zack. "I think you'd better go and man our weapons, just in case."
"On my way," replied Zack.
As he was leaving, he heard Ariane call engineering again, "Cliff? Prepare to charge weapons."
"Aye, aye, Cap'n," came the reply.
Zack exited the bridge, descended the diagonal ladder down to deck two and headed aft down the offset corridor to the large conference room. He dashed through the door and up to the large cylindrical construct welded to the forward bulkhead, entering the cylinder though the hatch on its side, then pulled the door closed and latched it behind him. Once inside, he negotiated a narrow aisle between two compact racks of robust-looking electrical components to a ladder in the very center of the space leading upwards to another hatch in the ceiling. He quickly clambered up the ladder and went through the opening, closing and latching the vertical hatch behind him. This placed him in the rotating upper section of the Capri's retractable, twin mount pulse beam turret. With practiced hands, he strapped himself into the gunner's chair, instinctively checking the adjustment of the hand and foot controls for the weapon, before calling down to engineering.
"Cliff? I'm in the turret and ready to charge capacitors."
"Aye aye, Lieutenant. Channelin' power to the turret now!"
Zack waited five seconds before flipping the big master toggle on the gun control panel to power up the turret's systems. The intentionally low lighting within dimmed to near darkness before returning to normal. He then flipped a series of switches on the main control panel to initiate the charge cycles on the six capacitors powering the pulse projectors. He'd passed between both banks of these capacitors on his way through the cylinder to the ladder leading upwards. Each rack held three capacitors powering the projector on its side of the emplacement, all of them packed tightly into the limited space beneath him.
Over on the far left-hand side of the console were the controls regulating the retraction/deployment of the rotating portion of the turret. Zack flipped the switch to initiate deployment.
There was a muffled "clunk" accompanied by slight lurch upwards. Zack could hear the deep whine of the lift motors and feel the cylindrical compartment around him begin to smoothly rise. After about thirty seconds, the mechanisms lifting the turret reached their outer limits. He felt another muffled clunk and heard the deep whine cease as the machinery completed the deployment. The turret was now locked in ready position.
While the weapon system was in storage, the projectors were retracted into two protective alcoves built into the front of the turret. These alcoves, each of which was shaped like a cylinder sliced in half lengthwise from top to bottom, were embedded in the curved outside wall of the turret with one arrayed to either side of the central gunner's position.
Just beneath the deployment system controls for the turret, Zack found the complementary set of controls to extend and lock the projectors into firing position. He activated the system and was again subjected to the sound of motors whirring and gears operating as the two projectors simultaneously folded up out of their docking alcoves and locked into firing position. In the meantime, the row of lights indicating the charge state of the six capacitors had all turned green.
"Weapons are ready," he announced. "What's our status?"
"The intruder is still a little out of range to target the Hordean ship if it's going to," said Ariane. "Lucky for us, he'll have to scrub a lot more velocity before he can execute an effective attack."
The Archeon Codex: Guardians of the Galactic Sentinel Book 2 Page 11
