The Voyages Of The Seven (The Star Agency Chronicles Book 2)

by R. E. Weber

  THE VOYAGES OF THE SEVEN

  The Star Agency Chronicles Book 2

  R.E.Weber

  THE VOYAGES OF THE SEVEN

  Copyright ©: R.E.Weber

  Kindle Edition

  Published: November 2015

  First Published: August 2015

  Publisher: Richard Weber through Amazon KDP

  Cover Art by The Cover Collection - http://www.thecovercollection.com

  All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise transmitted without written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. You must not circulate this book in any format.

  Contents

  Prologue

  1 – Athonesis Report

  2 – The Journal of Theo Logan

  3 – Guiding Hands

  4 – A Delegation from Ch’Dath

  5 – An Interesting Day at the Office

  6 – The Ascent

  7 – Icefall

  8 – Girl on a Ledge

  9 – Conspiracy Theories

  10 – Event Horizons

  11 – The Raltath Incident

  12 – The Deconstruction of the Heart

  13 – The Miracle of Flight 1549

  14 – The Eternal Ocean

  15 – Sink or Swim

  16 – She’s the One

  17 – A Day in the Life of the Ice Maiden

  18 – Mulha Ran

  19 – The Impossible Creature

  20 – Unilateral Action

  21 – Fall Back

  22 – Impossible Manoeuvres

  23 – The Three Heavens

  24 – Friends Re-united

  25 – First Command

  26 – The Other Journal

  27 – Ghosts

  28 – Executive Request

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  A note from the author

  About this book

  About the author

  Also in this series

  Glossary

  For Leonard…

  Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most... human.

  Prologue

  With a piercing squeal of its rusty breaks, the old bus drew to a halt in the gravel layby, outside the spectacular walled monastery, high in the Troodos Mountains of Cyprus. Moments later, its doors creaked open to reveal a group of eager tourists, who were led down the steps and away from the bus by a tour guide, holding up a plastic, Greek Cypriot flag so she could be more easily seen. Once the gathered tourists had moved away towards the monastery entrance, its two remaining occupants – a taller than average, six-year-old boy and an elderly lady dressed in the traditional black garb of a Greek widow – slowly descended the steps and remained at the roadside until the bus had pulled away.

  Without waiting to be asked, the young boy pulled a folded walking stick out of his shoulder bag and snapped it open to its fullest extent. Then he held it out towards the elderly lady, who grasped it in her bony, wrinkled hand and planted it firmly on the ground to rest for a moment and steady herself.

  ‘Are you ready now, Grandma?’ said the young boy in Greek, once he had satisfied himself that the old lady looked well enough to walk.

  Without a word, the old lady took a few wheezy breaths and began shuffling towards the monastery entrance, with the young boy walking slowly by her side, gently supporting her other arm. Manoeuvring around several piles of melting snow, they reached the ornately decorated entrance. The boy pulled out a ten euro note, handed it to the ticket attendant and waited for change. Then they proceeded through into the open courtyard beyond.

  For a moment, they stopped and looked around them at the beautiful arched walls and gold frescos gleaming in the late morning sunlight. Then the old lady lifted her arm and pointed to a doorway across the courtyard.

  ‘This way, Cristos,’ she croaked.

  The pair walked slowly across the courtyard and through a door held open by a smiling member of staff, who attempted to help the old lady through but was brushed casually aside with a wave of her finger.

  Once inside the chapel, it took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the darkness after the glare of the morning sun, but once they had, Cristos looked around, wide-eyed and stunned at the sight that met his young, innocent eyes. Every wall and ceiling in the chapel was adorned with the most beautifully ornate images he had ever seen – paintings of clothed and semi clothed religious figures, many of who had gold discs surrounding their angelic looking faces. Some were standing in front of fortresses or castles, while others were on river banks, reaching out towards figures on the opposite sides. Others still were cradling angelic looking babies, whilst one figure – a bearded man – on the wall closest to him, was pinned, spread eagled to a large wooden cross, his head lolling to one side, looking at the ground with sad eyes.

  ‘The saviour,’ whispered his grandmother, who had been standing quietly by his side, watching Cristos stare in amazement at the spectacular chapel.

  ‘Why is he stuck up there on that cross, Grandma?’

  ‘He suffers for us all.’

  ‘But why?’

  ‘For our sins.’

  ‘What are sins, Grandma?’

  ‘When you do wicked things and think wicked thoughts.’

  Cristos stared for a moment at the painting of the man on the cross. Then he turned and looked towards the front of the chapel. Hanging above the central aisle were several large golden chandeliers, each holding maybe two dozen lighted candles, which were flickering eerily in the half-light of the spectacular chapel.

  Without waiting for Cristos, his grandmother walked towards the altar, and she had almost reached the front before he had noticed and rushed dutifully to her side to help steady her frail legs.

  For a moment, the pair stood in silence, staring at the stunning gold-leaf paintings behind the altar and the trail of worshippers moving slowly from left to right, occasionally kneeling and making the sign of the cross invisibly across their chests.

  ‘Why are they doing that, Grandma?’ whispered Cristos.

  ‘They are asking for forgiveness.’

  ‘Why, what have they done?’

  ‘They have sinned.’

  ‘Have they been bad then?’

  ‘We all sin. We are all bad sometimes.’

  ‘I don’t sin, Grandma. I’m a good boy. That’s what you keep telling me.’

  ‘Yes you are, Cristos. You are a good boy. But we all have bad thoughts sometimes, even you.’

  ‘Even you, Grandma?’

  ‘Even me, Cristos.’

  Cristos continued to stare at the chapel, mesmerised. Everywhere he looked, gold seemed to be reflecting back at him, almost as if it were lit from within.

  ‘Is that real gold, Grandma?’

  ‘Yes, it is.’

  Cristos looked around him, puzzled.

  ‘But I thought gold was expensive?’

  ‘It is,’ said his grandmother abruptly.

  Cristos looked away to one side, his mind clearly elsewhere. Then he turned back to his grandmother. ‘But the people in the village – you said they were poor, didn’t you?’

  ‘Times are hard, boy,’ said the old woman.

  ‘But the church is good though, isn’t it?’

  ‘Only God is truly good. Th
e church just tries to follow God’s example.’

  ‘So why don’t the people who work in the church sell all the gold and give the money to the poor people in the village? Then they would be good, wouldn’t they?’

  ‘That is not for a boy such as you to decide,’ said the old woman, clearly irritated at her grandson’s impudence.

  ‘It’s wrong,’ said Cristos, suddenly raising his voice, so much so that several worshippers stopped what they were doing and turned to look at him angrily.

  The old lady took a deep breath to calm herself. Then she smiled back at him. ‘You are young, Cristos. And the Universe is much more complicated than you can possibly imagine.’

  However, Cristos didn’t say anything. Instead, his mind began to drift away, as it often did, to a place more distant and alien than his grandmother could possibly imagine. A place where everybody was fair to everybody else, and nobody suffered or starved while others lived in luxury and riches.

  1 - Athonesis Report

  ‘Governor Tallus, I trust the moment finds you in acceptable wellbeing?’

  ‘It does, First Mentor.’

  ‘I am gratified. How may I assist you?’

  ‘I have reviewed the preliminary report into the Athonesis incident involving Operative Logan.’

  ‘Good. Is the content of the report acceptable?’

  ‘The report is, as I would expect, factually correct. However, there are several points which require clarification for my needs.’

  ‘Of course. Continue.’

  Governor Tallus retrieved the report notes he had compiled earlier and scanned the list for a moment before responding.

  ‘First of all, with regard to the device which generated the power disruption field, I noted that you were able to determine the point from which the field was triggered, yet were unable to locate the device itself, despite being deep underground and shielded from the base explosion.’

  ‘Correct.’

  ‘Can you suggest an explanation for this anomaly?’

  ‘I believe the device underwent a total matter to energy conversion in order to generate the field. In essence, it became a pulse of energy, leaving behind none of its original form.’

  ‘Is this possible?’

  ‘Theoretically, yes. However, we have been unable to construct such a device.’

  Governor Tallus poured over his notes once more, before continuing.

  ‘And in the matter of the distress call and the subsequent alert, can we be certain the Star Agency secure logs have not been tampered with in any way and that the events detailed are accurate?’

  ‘Yes, I believe that is a safe conclusion.’

  ‘Good. So we are certain that the distress call was received by the Star Agency prior to the launch of the rescue mission?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Yet the individual who received the distress call and raised the coded alert has yet to be identified?’

  ‘Correct. And to pre-empt your next question, I believe the only reasonable conclusion is that the message was relayed by a self-annihilating, limited facsimile – in essence, an artificial intelligence designed for a specific purpose, which was then able to destroy all traces of its existence from the Star Agency computer node.’

  ‘But does this not in itself constitute unauthorised tampering with the node logs?’

  ‘No. If you recall, such facsimiles have been used before. As I recall, one particular use was authorised by yourself, was it not?’

  For a moment, Governor Tallus stiffened in irritation. Then after a sharp intake of breath he responded.

  ‘And you will no doubt recall that I also requested the removal of such facsimiles. Was this not completed, as requested?’

  ‘It was. But there was always a possibility, however remote, that one might have developed an ability to mask its presence. In essence, it could have remained undetected within the operating system core.’

  ‘Then it appears we may need to accelerate the development of a new core.’

  ‘I would concur.’

  ‘I would be grateful if you could oversee the development yourself. Any reasonable additional resources will of course be made available, if required.’

  ‘I will proceed without delay.’

  ‘Good. I noted that in the matter of the Athonesis star shield, you have yet to reach a satisfactory conclusion as to how its threat detection systems might have been compromised?’

  ‘Correct. This is still under investigation, although I do not expect a definitive answer.’

  ‘Do you have a hypothesis?’

  ‘The most likely explanation remains a root code update. This may also explain how the research station’s node was compromised. However, we have been unable to find any evidence to back up this hypothesis.’

  ‘You are saying that core operating system components of both the star shield network and the research station may have been overwritten?’

  ‘Yes. However, since both were based on obsolete technology, we may never know for certain.’

  Governor Tallus stood up from behind his desk.

  ‘I am of course aware of this. And since all artefacts were removed from the site beneath the research station long ago, it was never deemed of sufficient importance to deploy an updated star shield network around Athonesis. Yet despite this, the Metah Dah believed that access to the station and its resources was important enough to warrant an incursion. Can you perhaps suggest a reason why?’

  ‘I can only suggest that they believed important artefacts remained undetected, and that they might be able to recover them.’

  ‘They believed that with their obsolete technology and limited animal intelligence, they might somehow discover something missed by our investigative teams? If so, their arrogance has risen to new levels.’

  ‘And yet the investigative teams did miss the evidence of damage to the research station’s observation window, caused by an implement composed of a material unknown to Affinity scientists. Evidence, I might add, discovered by Operative Logan – an untrained pre-operative at the time.’

  ‘So you are saying that the Metah Dah discovered something we missed?’

  ‘The possibility remains, however unlikely it might seem.’

  Governor Tallus took a slow, deep breath, then sat down again.

  ‘Then perhaps our own arrogance has led to carelessness and blinded us to the ingenuity of the Metah Dah.’

  ‘Paranoemenos continually exceeds our expectations. I have always said that we should never underestimate him.’

  ‘Or indeed, Operative Logan. Despite his lack of discipline, his abilities continue to surprise.’

  ‘They do indeed.’

  ‘So in summary, can you be certain of the report's conclusion – that of a discontinuity event having taken place?’

  ‘All possibilities have been explored. The conclusion remains the only logical explanation.’

  ‘The only possibility is an impossibility?’

  ‘A discontinuity event is not an impossibility. It is simply an event for which no scientific framework exists.’

  ‘So you are saying that a distress call could have been received before it was sent. That despite the protestation by Affinity scientists that effect cannot precede cause, this is exactly what occurred?’

  ‘I believe the humans have a saying which would describe the situation well. When you eliminate the impossible, that which remains, however improbable, must be the truth.’

  ‘I cannot deny that this troubles me, First Mentor. Accepting the fact that our scientists may not understand all the physical laws of the Universe, the fact that the distress call was received just in time to launch the rescue attempt suggests an alarming possibility, does it not?’

  ‘Indeed. Were a quirk of the laws of physics to cause the message to shift randomly through time, the chances of it arriving at the correct moment to allow a rescue attempt are extremely small. It is more likely, however improbable, that the message was under intelli
gent control.’

  ‘Can you suggest who or what might have the technology to do this?’

  ‘Not as yet. Although the success of the rescue mission suggests the actions of an ally, we cannot rule out the possibility that an enemy might have done this for reasons we do not yet understand.’

  ‘Indeed. Could it be that whoever did this has an interest in Operative Logan? The rescue ships did, after all, arrive just after he sent the distress call.’

  ‘That is certainly a possibility. The circumstances surrounding this mission were unique. Protah Haarrnn Toh took an unprecedented risk in sending an untrained pre-operative into such a situation. Operative Logan might be an easy target for manipulation by enemy forces due to his lack of experience. It may have been in the interests of such an enemy to keep him alive for future use.’

  ‘This concerns me greatly. Whether an enemy or an ally, it would suggest access to advanced technology, detailed intelligence and maybe even the ability to intercept secure transmissions. It might also suggest unauthorised access to the Star Agency node.’

  ‘There is also the suggestion that two different forces were at work: one whose motivation was to sabotage the mission and another whose was to save it.’

  ‘Clearly we will have to investigate this further as a matter of urgency.’

  ‘I concur. I will relay the matter to Commander Haarrnn Toh without delay. How much of this should we relay to Operative Logan?’

  ‘Discontinuity events are deemed Prime Secrecy. This should remain the case. I am sure you will be able to draft a convincing explanation, which will, shall we say, bypass the truth.’

  ‘Of course. Do you have any further questions regarding the content of the report?’

  ‘Not at present, First Mentor.’

  ‘Good. Then I will wish you sleep without dreaming.’

  Governor Tallus stood up once more and looked along the line of paintings on the wall of his office. ‘Your servant,’ he replied simply before closing down the conversation and heading out of his office towards his private quarters.

  2 – The Journal of Theo Logan