NEBULAR Collection 1 - The Triton Base: Episodes 1 - 5

by Thomas Rabenstein

  With a glance at the screens, Vasina saw how quickly the ship was racing toward the icy surface.

  »Don’t talk nonsense, Herkales. Follow me to the exit. We don’t have time for recriminations.«

  She was the last one to leave the small ship, which continued to fly for several kilometers until it reached one of the southern continent’s icy glaciers, where it crashed and exploded.

  Vasina, Herkales, and the two surviving guards slowly floated toward the icy surface.

  A breakthrough

  »It’s the same as with the Globuster’s radio shield on Quaoar. The Globuster Lord has isolated Earth from the colonies and outer stations, but he obviously doesn’t want to sever his own channel to the Globusters. We can take advantage of that. Our comm-link can use the Globuster frequency as a carrier.«

  »That’ll work,« Toiber Arkroid acknowledged. It’s good to know we’ve still got some aces up our sleeves. What’s happening on Earth?«

  Hayes squinted.

  »Trondheim in Norway was completely obliterated. No hope for the fifty thousand inhabitants. Rescue teams have just reached the city. The devastation is ghastly!«

  Haynes lightly shook his head. Arkroid was speechless. Hayes looked at him and shared his feelings.

  »It’s not your fault, Arkroid. I would have ordered the attack too. No one could have known how useless our weapons would be.«

  »If we hadn’t provoked him, maybe the Globuster Lord would have spared those people. Why Trondheim?«

  Hayes shrugged his shoulders.

  »All we know is that Leukonen was born there. Bio-readings indicate he’s still under the Soulwalker’s influence. Could be the Globuster Lord extracted the name of the city from his memory to make an example of it.«

  »What about the orbital stations?«

  »There were no survivors. As a precaution, I’ve ordered the immediate evacuation of all remaining stations close to Earth.«

  »How can we help Leukonen?«

  »We’ve sent an armed rescue team to take up positions near the Stinger. We don’t dare approach much closer than five kilometers. The weather conditions are catastrophic and we don’t want to provoke the Globlord to launch further attacks. The men from the special commando will form as near to a ring around the object as possible given the terrain and weather and keep their eyes peeled. If Leukonen manages to escape, then we’re in a position to help him. If any of our men is taken over or even start acting funny, then every soldier has explicit orders to immobilize them by any means.

  Arkroid’s voice was heavy with discouragement.

  »Very well, I don’t have any brighter ideas myself. We want to help Leukonen, but we can’t put more men in danger. The Globuster Lord probably has capabilities and weapons we can’t suspect.«

  Hayes nodded agreement but added, »We’re at war, Arkroid, the first war for Humanity in a long time. Nobody wanted this.«

  The Merinian couldn’t argue with the admiral’s assessment. He inclined his head in acknowledgment and went on.

  »I’ll keep this channel open and discuss our options with the crew. Are there any reports from the outer posts?«

  »Donald Day has so far not reported any flight movements or reactions by the Globusters. The Shenzhou and the Ryan are in orbit around Triton and if necessary they can begin evacuation measures. The entire solar system is on full alert!«

  A high pitched call tone interrupted the briefing and Arkroid told Hayes to stand by. Marco Applos’ face appeared on the video screen.

  »Oh, it’s you! What’s so important that you have to call me?«

  The paleontologist looked deeply concerned.

  »Arkroid, come to the sick bay, please, as soon as you can. There are developments …«

  »Atkins?«

  Applos acknowledged.

  »He’s well. The doctors were able to break through his mental blockage. What he has to say sounds unbelievable!«

  »I’ll call you back later,« Arkroid announced quickly and broke the connection with Hayes,

  Without further delay, he headed for the sick bay.

  A mere miserable Human

  Pilvi Leukonen felt his strength slowly return. The Globuster Lord had not taken over control of his body again and the researcher instinctively suspected that this had something to do with the strange piece of jewelry which he held pressed against his chest.

  The metal comb had a blue glow and was surrounded by a strange glowing aura. Its cold light somehow seemed to warm him. He had managed to use the central elevator, leaving its energy field only when he had reached the glacier’s surface. Leukonen now knew that the Stinger extended far beneath the ice. He didn’t worry about how the alien technology, like the lifting field, worked, he just accepted it. He wanted only to escape the Stinger and this awful place and its evil inhabitant. Even the spidery robots that swarmed outside the Stinger, blindly doing who-knows-what could not deter him. He was relieved to see the open entrance and knew he had escaped.

  Leukonen ran out into the storm-whipped landscape heedless of the cold and wind. Fear that the Globuster Lord could reclaim him at any moment lent him unsuspected strength. He could barely believe it when that failed to happen. The researcher fought his way for three hours through the storm, ice, and snow. He had to stop several times to rest and rally his strength. At one point, Leukonen sank into the snow all the way to his chest. Digging himself out took long, painstaking minutes. When his strength finally began to fail, he looked back and saw that he had put a considerable distance between himself and the Stinger. He felt safe.

  Exhausted, the Norwegian fell into a deep drift and struggled to work his way back to the surface. He crawled to a more stable surface and laid gasping, lungs burning, arms and legs leaden. He glanced back toward the Stinger. The light at its tip flared more brightly. The clouds seemed to be rotating faster than ever.

  »Yes,« Leukonen laughed loudly. »You’re angry, aren’t you? Angry that I escaped! A mere miserable Human!«

  The researcher’s movements grew feebler. Leukonen didn’t care. If he died here, then he would die the master of his own spirit and body. Alone … but free.

  Slowly, the cold crept through his protective suit and tugged at his strength.

  Freezing to death isn’t the worst way to die. I’ll just fall asleep and fade away, the researcher thought. He let his eyes close. When he opened them again a long time later, he was nearly dead. Were those three figures moving through the curtains of snow, staggering toward him? He lost consciousness.

  Golden eyes

  Atkins appeared alert and clear headed. He sat up and smiled at Arkroid. Applos and two doctors flanked the bed where they could continuously monitor his life signs.

  »You’re looking well,« Arkroid greeted his colleague. »So what are you doing lounging around here when there’s work to be done?«

  Arkroid’s attempt at joking couldn’t conceal his depression. Not while the threat of the Globuster Lord lay heavy on his shoulders.

  »Sammy was under some sort of mind block created by the Soulwalker. We managed to break it with drugs and depth hypnosis. We think that Sammy will fully recover,« one of the doctors explained.

  Arkroid nodded wearily but thankfully.

  »Not only that, but the depth hypnosis revealed some amazing information!« Applos cut in.

  Arkroid looked at him expectantly.

  »He can’t remember all of it, but Sammy tapped into some information on a subconscious level while he was under the Soulwalker’s influence. The doctors believe that there must have been a partial fusion of their minds.«

  »What did you find out?«

  Applos cleared his throat.

  »The Soulwalker’s revelations seem to be borne out by events. It … he … must have just awakened from a coma, a kind of paralysis which he was put into, according to him, by Humans.«

  »Go on!« Arkroid ordered. If that were true …

  »There were no people on Antarctica a million ye
ars ago. The continent was as lifeless as it is today. Mankind, according to our best estimates, was still in its infancy somewhere in central Africa, and that’s not even sure.

  Arkroid was utterly confused, and it made him irritable. He glared from Atkins to Applos. »This is no time to push me, Applos!«

  »The Globuster Lord was thinking about a woman …«

  »… the same woman Sammy was talking about?« Arkroid interrupted. Applos seemed to be contradicting himself, but in some astonishing way it was all starting to make sense.

  »The Soulwalker was enraged over a particular woman. It seems he hadn’t been able to take over and dominate her. The high and mighty Globuster Lord could only watch helplessly as she forced her way into his body …«

  »His body? «

  »We believe he means the Stinger.«

  »The Soulwalker doesn’t possess an organic body?« Arkroid asked. His eyes narrowed. The implications of that were fantastic.

  »Well, possibly. Either his original body is inactive or he’s a personality who inhabits the Stinger. He calls it his replacement body.«

  The Merinian scratched his scalp, his mind racing.

  »Let’s just go back to this mysterious woman … who was she and where did she come from?«

  »We don’t know where she came from, but tapping Sammy’s memory allows us to construct an image of what she looked like. The Soulwalker has a vivid memory of how that woman looked. She must have faced the Soulwalker at least once.«

  A hologram formed the image of a young and wonderfully beautiful woman.

  Arkroid whistled.

  »This is unbelievable!«

  »Say that again!« Applos answered. »And according to the depth hypnosis, she belonged to a people called the Progonauts.«

  »Progonauts?« Arkroid replied. »Never heard of them!«

  »We have no knowledge of a culture by that name, anywhere in Earth history. We’re beginning to believe that everything we know is only the tip of the iceberg.«

  Arkroid couldn’t repress a smile while he stared, fascinated, at the image of the exotic beauty.

  »She wears some type of jewelry and has strange symbols on her skin. Are those tattoos? They remind me of Asian symbols … her eyes are fascinating.«

  »They’re golden,« Atkins whispered.

  »As far as the symbols are concerned, it could be a mere coincidence. We’re still analyzing them but so far no results. The Asian cultures did not yet exist then. It’s more important that she could apparently surprise the Globuster Lord, deactivate the Stinger’s technology and sink the object deep under the Antarctic ice. We have no idea how she accomplished any of this. All we know is that the Soulwalker has apparently woken up from his artificial coma and is in an terrible mood.«

  »Whoever she was, I don’t believe she is Human,« Arkroid said broodingly.

  Applos looked at him without understanding.

  »What do you mean?«

  Arkroid didn’t answer that question.

  »The Soulwalker is an overseer. His task is to drive us back and keep us under lock and key. We’ve already broken some kind of taboo by leaving our planet. He intends to reverse all our advances into outer space. He must have come out of his coma some time ago, but his consciousness wasn’t fully activated until the Shwakan arrived. Scorge’s ship has a unique signature that tripped an ‘awake’ alarm.«

  »Well, that gives us a time span of at least 1,500 years, since the Shwakan’s first visit didn’t cause an incident,« Arkroid reasoned.

  The Merinian turned to Applos, grated, »Find out who this woman was. Her past is the key to defeating the Globuster Lord … and just maybe the solution to the whole Globuster riddle. Call me as soon as you get anything.«

  Arkroid stalked out of the room, hesitating only to grip Sammy’s shoulder encouragingly.

  My princess

  There were new developments on Earth. Arkroid assembled Hayes, Applos, Atkins, and most of the scientific staff and the leaders of the Union government via conference link.

  »This meeting takes place under a highest state of security. We have reason to believe that even over this special channel, our enemy can eavesdrop on us,« Hayes opened the conference.

  »Pilvi Leukonen was found three kilometers from the Stinger through his implants and evacuated. The poor bastard was more dead than alive. He’s still under intensive care. Leukonen claims to have been taken over and released by the Soulwalker. The bio scans from his sensors support this.«

  »Did the Soulwalker let him go?« Arkroid wanted to know.

  »No,« Hayes answered. »He says that a strange piece of jewelry he found inside the Stinger gave him the strength to escape.«

  »A piece of jewelry?« Arkroid asked, astonished.

  »A metal comb with engravings of unknown symbols. Here’s a picture.«

  Arkroid’s and Atkins’ jaws dropped as the image formed.

  »We’ve seen that before, Admiral. In a memory image from the Soulwalker, obtained through Sammy Atkins. This jewelry was once worn by an unknown woman.« The Merinian called up the computer image.

  Now it was Hayes who gaped.

  »Who’s this woman?«

  »Unfortunately, we don’t know, but we probably have to thank her that the Soulwalker left Humanity alone during the last million years or so. I doubt we’d have been allowed to develop this far if he had anything to say about it. The Globuster Lord is a guardian, or more accurately a warder, an overseer over Earth, but as much as he likes to paint himself as a Lord and ruler over the Globusters, he has to answer to somebody more powerful. Atkins recalls him thinking of his ‘Creators’. There are beings in the background who give the orders,« Arkroid explained.

  »Leukonen mentioned the term ‘Brotherhood’ and something about ‘agitators’,« Hayes added.

  He paused, looking lost.

  »We’re a long way from learning what all that means,« he sighed. »In any case, we have more pressing worries. Leukonen reported a great danger we knew nothing about.«

  »A greater danger than the Stinger?« Arkroid asked disbelievingly.

  The lines on Hayes’ forehead deepened as he answered.

  »Something called a Collector. We don’t know what it is, but the damn Globlord bragged that it’d let him control armies of people.«

  »Atkins talked about a Collector too,« Applos recalled. »Whatever it is, if the Soulwalker uses it to expand his power, there’s no telling what could happen!«

  »We have to attack the Stinger before the Globuster Lord can use that weapon against us. He’s capable of anything.« Arkroid stood, almost shaking with excitement.

  »Leukonen’s body sensors relayed some other relevant data from the Stinger. That’s all I’m prepared to say over this connection. It’s critical that you return to Earth to hear this. I know an approach is dangerous, Arkroid, but we need you here, now.« Arkroid nodded.

  »The Blue Moon will remain at a safe distance and patrol this sector. I’ll attempt a landing by Hawk.«

  »Gotcha, Arkroid,« Hayes said grimly. »Watch your ass!«

  As soon as the connection was severed, Arkroid re-activated the holo image of the unknown beauty.

  Who are you, my princess, he thought wonderingly, and what happened all that time ago?

  5 - Nanobots

  Written by Thomas Rabenstein

  Ayer’s Rock

  Within seconds of leaving the Blue Moon’s hangar, the Hawk went into a steep dive. As the small spaceship met the first layers of the atmosphere, its hull vibrated to the last rivet. Peter Modrov, a decorated pilot and one who knew how to fly the small ship like no other, knew what a risk he was taking with his daring maneuver. It was an acceptable risk with a chance of survival; being hit by the Globuster Lord’s plasma weapon was not.

  Toiber Arkroid was watching the short range radar while listening to the computer’s constant warnings that the wing tips were overheating. The nerve-wracking, increasing hull rattle made Arkroid feel u
neasy, but the Merinian took comfort in the fact that the Hawk’s design had been tested under every conceivable condition. Such extreme maneuvers weren’t typically attempted, but the hull’s integrity had to be able to withstand even this stress.

  The Hawk must already look like a meteor from the distance, with a long tail of fire and ionized gasses trailing behind, Arkroid thought.

  »Everything okay, back there?«

  Modrov had to shout into the comm to make himself heard, as the noise level inside the small ship nearly drowned him out. The strain in his voice was clearly apparent.

  »No contact, so far,« Arkroid answered calmly. He didn’t mention that the interference caused by their re-entry rendered the radar information almost useless. He could only hope that the Soulwalker wouldn’t fire his weapons. An evasive maneuver under these flight conditions would be a pipe dream.

  »No news is good news in this situation!« Modrov joked roughly. Arkroid lay protected in gel upholstery and could barely move his head. The use of one of the invaluable inertial dampers couldn’t be risked on this mission, where it might be lost, and he was painfully aware of it.

  The outboard displays above Arkroid’s head flickered and showed a boiling sea of flames. The Hawk was completely surrounded by glowing plasma, produced by their high re-entry speed into the atmosphere. Any communication with the outside world was distorted if not impossible.

  It had been a long time since such brute force maneuvers had been undertaken. In the early days of space travel it had been very dangerous, as Arkroid knew from historical sources.

  The small spaceship was struck by another imaginary fist. Arkroid’s jaws pressed painfully together.

  Damn! He’s pushing it to the limit, Arkroid thought, fighting to still his rising panic.

  Then the computer’s whining warning signal sounded and Arkroid felt himself slowly become heavier. His body was pressed into the special seat, but the force was only partially absorbed by the gel padding.

  The neuronal computer had taken over the controls at the last second, corrected the Hawk’s approach angle and bypassed the pilot’s controls. The ship’s speed was significantly reduced. The specially shaped bow let the spaceship perform like an atmospheric glider. The flight became quieter as the turbulence decreased. Then the pictures from the outboard sensors became clear.