by Richard Fox
“I swear his answer for everything is to just shoot it,” Durand muttered. The Mule rose in the air, then spun in place to face the void. “Time to go.” She engaged the rear engine, and the Mule lurched to the side. Elias fell to the deck before the wing tip could take his armored head right off.
The Mule banked hard into the void of space and swung back around toward the blue and white hull of the Toth ship. Durand sent the ship into a dive and missed a collision by a few feet.
“What the hell?” she asked.
“We lost an engine earlier,” Hale said.
“Now you tell me?”
Lights on Hale’s control panel switched on and off as Durand reset the ship to compensate for the unbalanced engine.
Durand swung the drop ship around and pulled it up to fly in front of the hangar.
Elias leapt into space and floated toward the Mule. Small thrusters spun him until his body was perpendicular with the ship. The suit of armor was coming in fast, way too fast for him to stop without ripping a hunk off the hull.
Elias pointed his forearm cannon in his direction of travel and fired off a round. The momentum exchange slowed him down slightly. More shots brought him to a relative stop over the Mule.
“Show off,” Durand said.
Elias ran his forearm over the top of the Mule until the electromagnets within found an anchor point and he attached to the ship with a thump. He pounded an armored fist against the hull twice to signal he was good to go.
Durand sped the ship up slowly, not wanting to risk sheering Elias off the top.
“Elias, hold on tight,” she said.
Durand flipped the Mule upside down and flew closer to the hull of the Toth ship.
“What’re you doing?” Hale asked.
“Nap of the earth. I’m guessing the Toth have flak guns. Hard to hit us when we’re this close,” she said. The Mule zoomed over the rolling surface, banking around blown-out sections of the hull. As they sped past an angular Toth weapon the size of an Eagle fighter, the menial crew beneath the clear dome nearly snapped their necks watching the Mule dash across their field of view.
Hale looked up and saw the flash of red Xaros beams dueling with silver blasts from the Toth fighters. The wide path of stars making up the galactic center wavered, like a thin cloud passing beneath the moon. Stars winked in and out of view as dark objects blocked their light. He remembered the recording the Breitenfeld’s former wing commander left after the Earth was overrun by the Xaros, how he described a mass of drones so numerous it blocked out the stars.
The Xaros were on Anthalas in force.
“We really need to hurry,” Hale said.
“We could lighten the load by ejecting you,” Durand said. “Now pull some weight and adjust our starboard trim by ten percent z-axis. Purple knob third from the right, second row from the top.”
The Mule crossed over the prow of the Toth ship, and they saw the Breitenfeld just beyond the orbit of the planet’s moon.
“Mule zero-six, this is Breitenfeld actual, do you read?” Captain Valdar said over the IR.
“Sir, this is Raider six. There is a mass of Xaros right on our tail and closing fast,” Hale said.
“Roger, Raider six, we see them. Need you to clear the line of fire on the Toth ship. We can buy just enough time to get out of here soon as you get the hell out of the way.”
****
Valdar tapped his fingers against the target plot, counting down the seconds until the ship was clear of danger.
“Gunnery, ready the rail guns. Fire Q-shells on my mark,” Valdar said.
“We’ll hit the Toth ship as well,” Ericsson said. “Do we really want to do them any favors?”
“Every Xaros that slips by becomes a problem. We’ll let the Toth deal with it,” Valdar said.
“Sir, Mule zero-six is clear!” the gunnery officer announced.
“All batteries, fire!”
The Breitenfeld’s rail guns crackled with energy, then shunted quadrium shells down a magnetic vortex fast enough to bring the rounds within a few full percentage points of the speed of light. A shell burst deep within the Xaros swarm, roiling toward the Toth ship like a rogue wave. The Q-shell sent massive crooked spikes of energy into the swarm, arcing from drone to drone. A few were burnt out of existence while many more were knocked off-line, tumbling against each other like stones propelled along by an avalanche.
The second Q-shell blew through the leading edge of the Xaros murmuration. The third exploded short of the mass, taking out a few drones and sending a tendril of energy over the Toth hull.
Valdar watched as the mass of drones flew onward, ballistic and uncontrolled. The drones weren’t beaten, but they were down for the count. He zoomed in on the Crucible beneath Anthalas’ southern pole. A disk of white light appeared within the thorns and more drones emerged.
“Mule zero-six has docked,” Ericsson said.
“Helm, full speed back to the gravity rift. Let’s get out of here,” Valdar said. He keyed a ship-wide address. “Breitenfeld, we didn’t come here for a fight, but we got one. We came here for knowledge, and that mission is a success. Make ready for jump. We’re going home. Gott mit uns.”
****
The dark energy engine in the Breitenfeld’s hull awoke. It followed its standard programming and readied the quantum shunt that would take the ship through the rift and back to Earth. A protocol for action flagged in the engine’s programming, and it scanned the ship as the protocol required.
An anomaly registered in the ship’s brig. The artificial intelligence within the engine awoke to examine the anomaly, determined that the detection was valid, and changed the quantum shunt fluctuation as its programming demanded. With the new course laid in, the AI went back on standby.
This ship wasn’t going to Earth. Not yet.
CHAPTER 13
The blinding light faded away and Valdar opened one eye. Everyone and everything looked as expected. The blast shields remained up.
An ensign leaned against the side of his workstation and dry heaved.
“Joachim?” Valdar asked.
The lieutenant gave him a thumbs-up and sat back against his workstation.
“Comms, raise Titan station and the Crucible. Tell Ibarra and Admiral Garret that we’re back and we’ll need to offload whatever’s in my brig,” Valdar said.
“Sir, we don’t seem to be in the solar system,” the navigation ensign said. “I’m not reading any pulsars or navigation beacons.”
“Lower the blast shields,” Valdar said.
The shields slid down. Beyond was an endless gray expanse, featureless but for a dark band in the distance.
Valdar got out of his command chair and walked down the bridge, the entire crew staring out the windows with him. The deep nothing beyond was unwavering in its stillness.
“What’s on sensors?” Valdar asked quietly.
“Nothing, sir. It’s like the universe just stops a few hundred yards from the ship. There’s vacuum around us, but no gravity wells,” Ericsson said.
“What about the wormhole we came through?”
“It’s … gone, sir,” the navigation ensign said.
“Engines? Can we move?”
“They’re off-line,” the engineer said.
Valdar looked into the gray expanse and shook his head.
“Stand down from combat conditions. Reintroduce atmosphere and bring our computers back online. Get Lafayette up here. Maybe he can explain this,” Valdar said.
“Sir, Lafayette is in the brig. He wants you to see the … specimen. Says it’s important,” Ericsson said, reading from her forearm display.
“It had better be,” Valdar said.
****
Valdar, Lafayette and Hale stood two yards—well beyond arm’s distance—from the barred cell. A navy guard, standing next to the only door in and out, held a shock baton.
Yarrow sat on the bare metal bunk, his hands lying to his side with palms up. His head lol
led from side to side, a string of drool glistening from the edge of his mouth. His eyes opened and closed at irregular intervals, and each time they opened the light glowing within was a little bit brighter.
“It’s nearly awake,” Lafayette said.
“Do you have any idea what it is?” Valdar asked.
“There are numerous species that are known to exert control over other animals,” Lafayette said.
“Any with glowing eyes that claim to smell your soul?” Hale asked. He was still in his augmented musculature suit, his emergency helmet tucked beneath an arm.
“That is unique,” Lafayette said.
Yarrow rose to his feet, then levitated into the air, his toes hanging loose just above the deck.
“Captain … Valdar,” Yarrow said, his voice lower and resonant. “You are … decision maker. Leader. You can assist.” Yarrow floated toward the bars and pressed against them.
The guard rushed forward, his baton crackling. Valdar held an arm up to stop him.
“What are you?” Valdar asked.
Yarrow floated back, like a balloon wandering across a room.
“I am your salvation. I am your exaltation. How many humans are there? Your souls are bright, stronger than the Shanishol. They could have given me enough to complete the journey, join those who left me behind. But they were too few, too weak. If I’d had more time … just a few more generations … they would have bred themselves to the numbers I needed. The Xaros spoiled my plans. I had to take what I could just to prolong myself.”
“You massacred the Shanishol. We saw the bodies on Anthalas,” Hale said.
“Most were willing to accept exaltation through me. Others … less so. Tell me, how many humans are there on Earth? This host remembers many and he remembers few.”
“I think we’re done speaking with you,” Valdar said.
“Omnium. Yes, you want Omnium,” Yarrow said. “A parlor trick, it’s nothing compared to our capabilities. I will teach you the secret and much, much more. All you must do ... bring me to Earth. Let me show you the path to immortality. What good are the temporal concerns of power and life when your soul can exist forever? Only through me is this possible.”
“There are others like you?” Lafayette asked.
“They moved on. All of them. They left me behind, said I was unworthy of their paradise. But I know the path. With enough strength I will find them, make them suffer for imprisoning me on that rock.” Yarrow held a hand through the bars toward Valdar and pale yellow flames ignited in his palm. “Would you like a taste of what I offer? You can bring my message to your crew, then to the rest of your species.”
“I’ll pass,” Valdar said.
“I was on the cube ships, read the inscriptions. Were you the prophet?” Lafayette asked.
“No. I heard the prophet’s voice through space. Reached out to him on his home world and gave him the knowledge to bring his people to me. They were too slow and too few. They weren’t enough by the time the Xaros arrived. Such a shame, most were so pliant.”
The glowing eyes looked over Valdar and stopped at his belt buckle.
“Gott mit uns, indeed.” Yarrow held a flaming hand toward Hale. “For so long you have claimed that God is with you. Now, one truly is.” Hale backed away.
Valdar’s forearm computer buzzed, three pulses in rapid succession for a priority message.
“We’ll be back,” Valdar said. The Man at Arms opened the door, a worried expression on his face. “Don’t let him out and don’t let anyone near him,” Valdar said to the guard, who was growing paler by the moment. “In fact, why don’t you wait outside and monitor him by cameras.” The guard nodded so hard Valdar thought his neck would snap.
Once in the corridor, Valdar double-tapped his communicator pad.
“Valdar.”
“Sir? Is that really you?” a familiar voice asked.
“Ensign Ibarra?”
“It’s just Stacey now. Hard to juggle navy and ambassador duties. But you’re here! Wow, this is really unusual,” she said.
“Ens—Stacey, where the hell is the Breitenfeld?”
“You’re at Bastion. The Qa’Resh are very security conscious after the Toth betrayal. The Toth, they’re—”
“We’ve met. Why is my ship here? Wherever this is.”
“You met them? How did …? Yes, I’m just about to get to that,” she said to someone else. “Captain Valdar, are you aware of an … evil alien intelligence on your ship?” she asked hesitantly.
“Yes, I was just speaking with it.”
“Oh, good. I mean bad, very bad. You speaking to it, I mean. Please don’t do that anymore. We need to get it off your ship right away,” Stacey said.
“Stacey,” Hale said, “that thing is inside one of my Marines. How do we save him?”
“I’m not sure we can, Ken, but we’re going to try. Here’s what I need you to do.”
****
Torni and Hale, both in battle armor and carrying gauss rifles, stood next to a gurney holding an unconscious Yarrow. For all the strange behavior exhibited by the young medic and the entity inside him, it was still susceptible to human frailty, namely tranquilizer darts fired by the guards.
They waited at the edge of the flight deck, staring into the gray expanse. Crewmen and a platoon of Marines ready for combat watched from the wings.
“You don’t have to come,” Hale said to the Torni.
“And according to Stacey, neither do you,” she said. “Yarrow is my Marine now, same as yours.” Torni swallowed hard. “I can’t replace Gunney Cortaro, but I will assume his duties until he's back in action.”
“Thanks, Torni. You’ll do him proud.”
“Thank me after this is over, whatever it is,” she said.
Hale shifted from side to side and glanced at Yarrow, who lay motionless, his breathing shallow and regular. He looked over the entire gray expanse beyond the force field. It was still, like a perfect movie frame set to pause.
“I kind of like it,” he said. “It makes me feel calm.”
“I thought of purgatory, where God sends souls to await judgment.”
“Suddenly I don’t feel so calm,” Hale said.
“I regret nothing. That’s the church’s dogma.”
“No, look at our two o’clock. Something’s out there.” Hale pointed to the abyss. Marines and crewmen murmured to each other. The sound of fresh batteries slapping into gauss rifles echoed from the walkways.
The small gunmetal gray line Hale had his eyes on grew larger. With no reference point, Hale couldn’t tell how far away it was, or how fast it was moving. He tucked his rifle into his shoulder and set a thumb against the weapon’s safety.
As the object approached, Hale made out a thin railing on the upper side. It sped toward the Breitenfeld’s hangar with no apparent deceleration. Crewmen shouted warnings and ran off the flight deck.
Hale and Torni stood shoulder to shoulder in front of Yarrow.
The object came to an impossibly fast stop just at the edge of the hangar force field. It was a flat rectangle, big enough to stand five or six Marines comfortably with a tube railing floating a yard above it.
The object floated into the hangar and came to a stop in front of the armored Marines. The section of the railing facing the Marines vanished, like it had never even been there.
“I guess this is our ride,” Hale said.
“Mother always said never take a ride with a stranger. This is pretty damn strange, sir.”
A tiny circle slid aside in the middle of the object and a sphere popped into the air. It floated at waist height then a hologram morphed around it. Stacey Ibarra, colored in shades of blue and white, stood before them wearing a simple jumpsuit.
“Wow,” she said. “Love what you’ve done with the place. New armor looks great on you, Ken. Hi Torni, you’re still … really tall. Good to see you!”
“Stacey,” Hale said, pointing his thumb over his shoulder at the prone Yarrow, “can we de
al with this situation?”
“Right, of course. Get him on our sled and we’ll get going.” Her hologram stepped aside to make room for Yarrow’s gurney. The railing reappeared once the three were on the sled.
“Do we need to strap him down?” Hale asked.
“Nope!” Stacey waved her fingers in a swirl and the sled rose from the ground. Hale held his arms out to steady himself, but there was no sensation of movement at all. The sled shot out of the hangar and away from the Breitenfeld. Hale and Torni slammed their hands against the railing and held on for dear life.
As Hale looked back at the retreating Breitenfeld, there was no feeling of wind against his face or even the slightest sensation as the sled banked away and continued on into the gray expanse.
“Inertia-less drive,” Stacey said. “Isn’t it amazing? Don’t even need the railings but I had to insist on them. Humans have a certain expectation when it comes to sensation and movement. Violate that expectation and the brain has trouble processing it.”
Hale looked at Torni, her eyes squeezed shut and her lips mouthing a prayer.
“Where are you? Why didn’t you come yourself?” Hale asked her.
“I’m not allowed on Qa’Resh’Ta—none of the ambassadors are. Thing is, I don’t know why that rule is even in place. None of us are Toth,” she said.
The Breitenfeld had vanished into the abyss, but the view ahead of them hadn’t changed.
“What do they have to do with this?”
“When there was a Toth ambassador, they tried to kidnap one of the Qa’Resh and … ugh … you know what they do. Bastion was relocated, and now none of us know where the place really is.” Stacey looked to the side and nodded. “Almost there. We’re sorry about the null sphere around the Breitenfeld, but we’re not willing to take a risk the ship might record something that will lead to our location.”
“What’s this we stuff? Aren’t you still human?”
“Humanity is part of the war with the Xaros, whether we like it or not. We can survive together or die separately. I’m afraid you haven’t had much of a chance to see the wider conflict, but what’s inside Yarrow might be useful,” she said.
