The Agathon Book 3: Sword Of Stars

by Colin Weldon

  Yal’Ren, in its young female host, stood at the end of the deck next to the huge hangar bay doors. Jack and the others had un-cloaked themselves and were standing with their long grey arms folded uniformly behind their backs, looking on.

  “Well?” Jack said moving closer.

  “Give me a moment,” replied Yal’Ren as it examined its hands. It had fought Carrie’s abilities, had felt the energy as it had impacted its own defences in the lab all those weeks ago. Their fight had proven at least one thing. That, at the time, Carrie’s emotional state was directly linked to her energy discharges. That had, however, changed significantly since then. She had controlled it. Harnessed it. Yal’Ren clenched its hands and closed its eyes. She was in there. It could still feel her, but she couldn’t see out. Couldn’t know what it was doing or where it was. It opened its eyes and looked over at a stack of coolant tanks. It spread its hand out and lengthened its arm. Focusing on releasing the power inside this mutated body. There was a silence in the hangar bay as the grey aliens looked on. Several seconds passed. Nothing happened. It pulled its arms back and glared at the slim white fingertips.

  “I don’t understand,” it said looking over at Jack.

  “Neither do I,” Jack said.

  There was a bleeping noise from a device attached to one of the nearby grey aliens’ head. He immediately moved over towards Jack and whispered in his ear. Jack looked over at Yal’Ren.

  “We have a problem. A Ruthenium vessel has been detected at the rendezvous coordinates,” Jack said.

  “That’s impossible,” said Yal’Ren in Carrie’s voice.

  “Evidently not. We must prepare for an engagement,” Jack said.

  “That may not be necessary.”

  “You think they will believe that you are her?”

  “I can guarantee that they will,” Yal’Ren said.

  “You don’t have full control of Carrie,” Jack said.

  Yal’Ren used the facial muscles of its host to glare at Jack.

  “I will,” it said.

  ***

  “You’re crazy!” said Carrie standing at the draw bridge to her fortress.

  The vision of her mother stood beside her with her arms folded neatly behind her back.

  “No, I’m dead, not crazy,” Jennifer said smiling at her.

  “I can’t go outside. Look what’s out there. It controls everything. It will get in here easily,” Carrie said.

  “You’re not going to defeat it in here, Carrie, you need to meet it on its ground. Besides, it’s busy right now. It’s up there trying to recreate your abilities to impress the others,” Jennifer said.

  “What? How can you know that? Can you see through its eyes?” Carrie said.

  “Yes, I can. Remember, Carrie, that I’m now as much a part of this thing as anyone it’s ever absorbed. It’s not fully aware of it. I was a by-product, but it lets me see. You can defend yourself in here, but you can’t attack and you can’t escape,” Jennifer said.

  Carrie moved away from the drawbridge and back into the main courtyard waving her hands in the air.

  “I go out there and I’m just as dead as you are. What am I anyway? A memory? A thought? Fuck!” Carrie said clenching her fists.

  She was furious. She wanted to tear the world apart.

  “I can’t take that risk. I have to find another way to get this shit out of my body,” Carrie said as her mother leaned against a tree.

  “Right now, it’s figuring out how to access your powers,” Jennifer said hunching down and picking up a flower.

  “What?” Carrie said.

  “Your powers, it’s trying to figure out how to access them. It hasn’t figured out yet that there’s a direct bond with your mind. The very mind that is currently hiding away in this fortress,” Jennifer said, “But I am telling you that as soon as it figures that out, it’s going to launch an assault on what’s left of your mind and it WILL get in here. It’s only a matter of time,” Jennifer said.

  Carrie thought about it for a minute.

  “There has to be some way I can see what he’s looking at? Can’t I get access to any part of my own brain without it knowing?” Carrie said.

  Jennifer began plucking the petals off the daisy she was holding.

  “Possibly, but you would still be in the same predicament. Still here. Carrie, you need to go on the offensive,” Jennifer replied.

  Carrie laughed.

  “Go on the offensive? Says you, look what good that did you,” Carrie said noticing a surge of anger brewing.

  “You’re angry,” Jennifer said

  “How could you not have known standard quarantine procedures?” Carrie said, “It’s the most basic scientific principal around a new organism found anywhere. You went in, not knowing what you were dealing with and started experiments? Were you crazy?”

  Carrie’s voice echoed off the courtyard walls. She didn’t expect the surge of emotion that came seeping through. She was furious, livid, everything all at once.

  “You left me alone!” Carrie growled out of gritted teeth.

  Her hands were gripped into tight fists.

  Jennifer watched her. Silently. She knelt slowly and picked up another daisy. She walked over to Carrie and stood in front of her, handing her the flower. A single graceful tear made its way down her cheek.

  “Use it,” Jennifer said.

  “What?” Carrie said looking at the image of her mother through a blur.

  “Use it. Being angry with me isn’t going to save the others. Hate me, but use that hatred for something useful, goddam it. Turn it against that!” Jennifer said pointing to the black sky.

  “I’m sorry, Dice, but we don’t have time for this shit. Now get up and stop feeling sorry for yourself. I didn’t raise a cry baby. I fucked up and died, that’s on me, and I’ll pay for that mistake forever. I’m okay with that, I really am, because I know you’ll destroy this and when you do, you’ll not only save yourself, but you’ll be saving me an existence that you can’t imagine. So, listen to me very carefully. I love you, but get off your ass and get to work, or so help me God, you’ll not only have to deal with planet killers but with me as well. And trust me you don’t want that,” Jennifer said taking the daisy and placing it neatly behind Carrie’s left ear.

  Carrie couldn’t help but raise a smile. She stood, took a small step towards her mother, and embraced her. She was warm. She felt real, smelt real. Something about the smell of her hair was so familiar. Jennifer reciprocated and gave Carrie a hug she could have lived in for the rest of her life. A happiness she had not felt in such a long time flooded through her veins. Then it was over. Jennifer released her first, pulling back and placing her forehead onto Carrie’s.

  “Now let’s go kick some ass,” Jennifer said.

  CONTAINMENT ROOM

  Dr Tyrone Tyrell sat with his back against the smooth white wall staring at nothing. It had been like this for hours. His captors, whoever or whatever they were, seemed to want him to starve to death. He racked his brain trying to remember what had happened. Fragmented images that made no sense were scattered through his mind. He was lost. He remembered that. Lost in a black void being chased by a monster, and then he was here, looking at Carrie Barrington, or rather what used to be Carrie Barrington. The Black had been inside him. He knew that much. It was a sentient organism. A living sentient organism. Far from the puddle of lethal goo that sat in his lab for all that time. How had he not seen it? How had he survived? Every human that had come into contact with it had been killed and dissolved. What was different about Tyrell, about Carrie? An image of Carrie entered his mind, a strange image of her flying around space with energy coming out of her hands. Was it just a hallucination? He was in a recurring nightmare where all answers equalled zero. He closed his eyes and tried to make sense of it. Earth had exploded. He remembered that. He remembered e
xploring the volcanic planet, he remembered seeing Jerome Young there. The strange stone artefact. Something about crashing, the lab, suffocating, dying, then nothing.

  How had he known that?

  He remembered the endless night, the sounds of voices echoing off a black void. There was something else. Memories that were not his own. Had he seen Jennifer Barrington? Her face was there. Had he spoken to her? There were other visions. Visions of magnificent cities, of a race of tall grey aliens, of cataclysmic battles in space and endless fleets of strangely shaped ships exploding all around him. Memories that were not his own. He tried to filter through the sudden wave of things going through his mind. Messy images, disconnected. He tried to focus. He asked himself a simple question out loud.

  “Where are you, Tyrone?” he said to the room, “where are you?”

  He took a deep breath and opened his eyes, raising his voice to try and drown out the barrage of cluttered visions populating behind his eyes.

  “Tyrone!” he shouted, “Where are you?”

  He took a deep breath and felt a clearing of thoughts. He saw corridors, long white corridors. He saw himself walking through these corridors, talking to someone called Aron. Children and adult humans he had never seen before congregating in a common area. He saw himself speaking to Carrie, saying things his mind had not controlled. He saw this room. He saw the black monster vomit itself out of his mouth and into Carrie.

  Tyrell stood and looked back at the glass tube-shaped tank in the corner. He then glanced over at the now solid door that Carrie, or rather The Black, had used to exit. He tried to focus. He was alive. For some reason, The Black had not liquified him. If he was alive that meant that Carrie could survive it too. He tried to think about where he was.

  The ship.

  How had the ship worked? What was the technology? How could he open the door?

  He had to get out of here and get help, but they would surely be watching him. He knew that. There were visual sensors all over this room.

  How had he known that?

  He needed to disable them, just for a moment. Quietly.

  He thought about this room. Focused on it. Tried once again to clear the mayhem of his fractured brain. He needed to find a power interface. Access to the power grid running to this room. Anything. There had to be something in the sludge that The Black had left behind. Something useful. He turned and looked at the tank again. Something about the tank. Something about an access port behind it.

  He moved closer to it. Slowly shuffling around to the rear of it, he carefully ran his hand over a raised patch of smooth white wall. He closed his eyes and tried to remember.

  The power cells.

  He had to remove the cells and the door would overload and open.

  “Fuck it,” he said placing his hand on the cylinder and pulling it with a jerk.

  It dislodged relatively easily and the lights in the room went off. Tyrell heard a light swishing sound. The sound of the wall becoming porous enough to walk through. He took his chance, dropped the cylinder and ran.

  19

  “Okay, how do we do this?” Carrie said as she looked at her mother. The pair was standing on the upper walkway, which overlooked the main defensive wall of Carrie’s fortress.

  “Look,” Jennifer said, “this is still your mind. Still your body. You have more control and influence than you think. Maybe not right now, but if you flex your muscles a little bit, maybe we can open a window to outside.

  “How can you see the outside world?” Carrie said.

  “I’m already part of this thing, Carrie,” Jennifer replied.

  “Okay then,” Carrie said.

  “Now, what you need to do is focus. The Black can’t get in here. It’s your telepathic ability. The part of your brain that is normally dormant in most, if not all other humans, is active in yours. This gives you an ability in here,” Jennifer said, “So look up.”

  Carrie did as she was told and looked to the black sky overhead.

  “There’s nothing there,” Carrie said.

  “Take a breath,” Jennifer said stepping behind her and placing her hands on her shoulders, “Now I want you to clear your mind and focus on your eyes. Just your eyes. Look outside.”

  Carrie turned to look back at her mother who placed both hands on her face, pointing her face back up at the sky.

  “Come on, concentrate, paint the sky,” Jennifer said.

  “Look outside,” Carrie said aloud looking up at the blackness.

  Look outside.

  Carrie looked up.

  “There’s nothing happening,” she said.

  “Did anyone ever tell you that you talk too much?” Jennifer said, “just relax. Extend yourself. Open up your mind and let it guide you. See your optic nerves, see your eyes, see your eyelids and open them. Feel yourself tunnelling through the darkness.”

  Carrie closed her eyes and did as she was told. She felt her mind open. Extend out through the dark. She saw synapses, pathways of light, bright flashes of electricity as it made its way around her mind. She followed it. Letting herself be guided through the infinite neural connections that converted light to information.

  “Now look up,” she heard Jennifer say.

  Carrie opened her eyes to new surroundings. The sky was ablaze with light. She covered her eyes with her hands. She looked down at the ocean of black liquid surrounding her fortress, allowing herself to adjust to the change, and then looked back up at the sky. She lowered her hand and began staring at the moving imagery. It was Jack’s ship. She was sure of it.

  “Is this what I’m seeing?” Carrie asked trying to adjust herself to the disorientating view.

  It was like watching a movie being projected all the way to the horizon. A queasy sensation began to take hold. She had to take hold of the wall to stop herself from falling. She felt a hand on her arm.

  “You’ll get used to it. Remember you can control a lot more in here than you think. You still won’t be able to take back full control until you leave this fortress, but for now you can at least see what’s happening,” Jennifer said.

  Carrie looked back down at the sea of black.

  “Why hasn’t it come back? Surely it knows?” Carrie said.

  “Nope, this one’s just for you, only you can see your sky, it has no idea you have access,” Jennifer said.

  Carrie looked back up. Her real self appeared to be alone in what looked like the ship’s hangar bay. She seemed to be just standing there, looking around at the cargo containers, pacing. She saw The Black look down suddenly at her hands. It turned them over looking at the palms. It flexed her fingers, looked up at a large metal container and stretched her arms out, pointing at it. Carrie turned to her mother.

  “What’s it doing?” she said.

  “Practicing,” Jennifer answered.

  Carrie looked back up at the huge projection overhead.

  “I can’t hear anything.”

  “First things first. We’ve opened the windows, that’s the tricky part. The ears will be easy. Same drill, Dice, close your eyes and let’s see if we can turn up the sound,” Jennifer said.

  ***

  Yal’Ren did not understand. It could feel the mutation in Carrie’s brain and had adapted and bonded itself to it. He had access to every aspect of Carrie that should’ve allowed him to replicate her powers. It became frustrated and stepped onto a transport pod in the centre of the cargo bay and activated it. Its molecules disassembled and then reassembled on the main bridge where Jack and the others were all staring at a three-dimensional floating image in the middle of the room.

  The fortress, it thought to itself.

  She had somehow managed to lock the key to her powers behind those walls of hers. It began to get angry at itself, not fully paying attention to what the others were talking about. Not really caring. It had underestim
ated her. It had to get inside.

  “Are you listening?” Jack said looking at him through his piercing almond shaped eyes.

  “Yes,” replied Yal’Ren in Carrie’s voice.

  It looked up at the floating image of the Ruthenium vessel in close proximity to The Agathon.

  “It would appear our automated defence systems on the planet opened fire on their ship,” Jack said.

  “We should dispose of the humans now. We have no further use of them. You have the body of the girl,” spoke one of the aliens.

  “What point is there in keeping them alive?” said another member of the grey race.

  There was a contemplative silence on the bridge as Yal’Ren looked back up at the Ruthenium vessel.

  “I need more time,” he said, “The integration is slower than I expected. If I am to understand this power, I must be able to adapt to it. A confrontation with both ships could put this body in jeopardy and the stakes are far too great to risk it. The Ruthenium vessel will no doubt have this ship on its sensors by now and whether we want it to or not, it will intercept us. We are in breach of the treaty by returning to this galaxy without notification,” Yal’Ren replied.

  “How long do you need?” Jack said taking a small step towards him.

  Yal’Ren cocked Carrie’s head slightly at the odd threatening nature of the movement. It decided to dismiss it as a human emotion.

  “I do not know.”

  “We reach the human ship shortly,” Jack replied, “a ship, I might remind you, that Carrie had us arm with our own weapons system!”

  “They will not fire on us. Carrie’s father would rather die than risk harming her, that is our greatest advantage,” Yal’Ren said.

  “You are wasting time,” said Jack.

  “I understand,” he said, “then I need to go outside. I need space and something large to aim at.”

  Jack nodded and raised his long grey arm activating a series of floating symbols in mid-air. Yal’Ren looked out of the porthole to see the sudden appearance of stars as the ship dropped out of hyperspace.

  “Go,” Jack said.