The Agathon Book 3: Sword Of Stars

by Colin Weldon

  Tyrell moved towards the wall and placed his hand on the mechanism that turned the wall from a solid state to a semi solid state allowing people to move through. Nothing happened. He tried again. Same result. He looked back at Aron.

  “It’s locked,” Tyrell said.

  Aron moved over to the wall and tried the device for himself. Sure enough, the wall remained in its solid state. He glanced back at Maya who was watching them both quietly.

  “Okay, well, that’s not usually a good sign,” Aron said.

  “I tend to agree,” Tyrell said reaching his hand up and rubbing his temple.

  He closed his eyes momentarily and frowned.

  “You all right?” Aron asked.

  “Just a headache,” Tyrell said.

  “Why would they lock us in?” Aron said, “talk to me, Tyrell.”

  Aron’s voice was showing urgency in it that he had not noticed since the events on the space stations. Tyrell turned to him.

  “We’re going to need help,” Tyrell replied.

  Aron looked back at Maya.

  “Then we need to get to India,” Aron replied.

  ***

  Carrie watched the skies. Her body in the real world was on the bridge watching Jack swirl his fingers in mid-air. It had re-entered the ship after floating around outside for a while. As far as she could tell, it still couldn’t access her powers. She watched as Jack studied sensor data from inside the ship.

  “He’s gotten out,” Carrie said to Jennifer smiling.

  “Yes, he’s a stubborn one that Tyrell. I learned quite a bit about that man from being inside his head you know,” Jennifer said.

  This peaked Carrie’s interest. She watched the skies carefully. She examined the schematic for herself and took a step forward.

  “They’re locking down the ship?” Carrie asked.

  “Yes, they can’t have Tyrell running around the place causing all sorts of havoc, I suppose,” Jennifer said.

  Carrie turned to Jennifer and gave her a look that questioned her almost jovial response.

  “Well, Carrie, there’s no use us getting in a panic. There’s nothing you and I can do from in here until you leave this fortress and expel The Black from your body.” Jennifer said.

  “What happens to it when it’s without a host?” Carrie asked.

  “Same as when we first discovered it. It reverts to its gelatinous state. It has a small range of movement. It can attract itself to a host and can move if needs be, but it takes a tremendous amount of energy to do so,” Jennifer said.

  “How do we kill it?” Carrie asked.

  “Well, that’s the tricky part. Extreme heat will do it, maybe a full burst of your electrical energy,” Jennifer said.

  “I tried that when I first discovered Tyrell was infected with it. It formed a barrier around his body. I barely made a dent,” Carrie replied.

  “That was then, this is now. You have more control and you haven’t tapped into your true potential,” Jennifer said.

  “I have a question,” Carrie said, “If I get it out, if I kill it?”

  “What happens to me?” Jennifer said.

  Carrie nodded.

  “I’ve been gone a long time, Carrie. To be frank, you’ll be saving my soul,” Jennifer said.

  Carrie felt a sense of darkness take hold in her stomach. A weight of responsibility she didn’t want. It was becoming too much. She looked back up at the sky and watched the outside world. She felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Jennifer smiling at her.

  “Dice, we really don’t have time for this. I love you, always have, now you have to leave,” Jennifer said.

  “I love you too,” Carrie replied.

  She took a breath.

  “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

  21:

  THE SIENNA CLARK

  “The humans are secured on deck sixteen,” said Jack as Yal’Ren looked on at the schematic. It wasn’t all concerned about the passengers. All it wanted was access to Carrie’s abilities. It couldn’t understand why they weren’t working.

  “We rendezvous with The Agathon in thirteen cycles,” said another one of the aliens next to Jack. Even Yal’Ren had come to refer to his creator as Jack. An odd thing to do, but nevertheless, there it was.

  “Status of the Ruthenium vessel?” Jack asked.

  “It seems to be holding position relative to The Agathon,” said one of the aliens reaching up to a control panel and manoeuvring some floating virtual buttons.

  Jack looked at Yal’Ren.

  “You should have disposed of Tyrell,” Jack said.

  “He may still be of some use.”

  “How did he know how to disarm the door mechanism? He has retained memories from the bond?”

  “It would appear so,” replied Yal’Ren.

  “We should kill him,” said one of the aliens to Jack’s right.

  “The humans pose no threat, they’re isolated within the ship, and as for Tyrell, let him run around the lower decks. Our focus should be on the Ruthenium ship. We can transport the whole lot of them into space if needs be,” said Yal’Ren.

  Jack glared at Yal’Ren

  “Very well, he is your responsibility. As is accessing the powers that lie within your human host. We can end the Ruthenium and Targlagdu threat and retake our place within this galaxy,” Jack said, “finally.”

  Yal’Ren nodded, “I’ll be in the cargo bay.”

  ***

  “Okay, now what?” Carrie said as she stood in the courtyard of her fortress, “you think we should just drop the draw bridge and fight it out?”

  Jennifer smiled.

  “Not exactly, no,” she replied.

  “The Black is everywhere, it’s an ocean out there. I doubt very much he’s going to just let me jump in and swim,’ Carrie said.

  “Carrie,” Jennifer said placing her hands on her hips, “what’s out there is only in your mind. It’s not real. You’re not real. Right now, you’re a construct of your consciousness trying to protect itself. Yes, The Black inhabits your body in the real world, but this is consciousness. What’s out there is thought. Only thought.”

  Carrie looked up at the sky. Her real body was walking the corridors of the ship. She suddenly realised that her mother was right. This was her mind. Her creation.

  “But The Black has control of everything outside this fortress,” Carrie said.

  “Does it?” Jennifer said, “why? Because you’ve built imaginary walls to keep it out? Those walls aren’t real, Carrie. Tyrell didn’t know what he was dealing with,” Jennifer smiled, “but first you need to create a diversion. A big one. You need to blow this place sky high.”

  Carrie furrowed her brow.

  “And if I can’t get back?”

  “What difference does it make? You can’t stay here forever, and the longer you do, the more you’ll believe that this is the only reality you can survive in,” said Jennifer.

  Carrie took a breath and looked around at the years of building and rebuilding the only place in her mind where she felt protected from the onslaught of the outside world’s thoughts.

  “Fuck it,” she said.

  She was done hiding.

  “Okay, so how do I blow up my own fortress?” Carrie asked Jennifer.

  “Explosives,” Jennifer said smiling, “very large explosives.”

  Carrie reciprocated her mother’s smile. She felt a deep connection with this manifestation. A warmth of familiarity, of trust and love she couldn’t explain. Carrie glanced at the inner walls and then to the courtyard.

  “PETN should do the job, with maybe a little C4,” Carrie said raising her hand, “there,” she said pointing to a corner wall.

  A second later a large metallic barrel appeared to materialise from thin air. She looked to the oppos
ite corner.

  “And there,” she said pointing.

  Another large metallic barrel appeared.

  “And there,” she said looking up onto the flyover crosswalk.

  On command, another appeared. She continued with this until there were fourteen barrels spread out at strategic locations throughout the fortress.

  “Okay, now we fill them up,” she said raising her arms in the air.

  The barrels wobbled slightly as their interiors filled with the explosive material. She raised her hands again and small control panels appeared on each one. She looked down at her hand as a cylindrical device appeared with a single red button placed at the top protected by a plastic flip cover. She looked at Jennifer and showed her the device.

  “Detonator,” she said waving it in mid-air.

  Jennifer nodded looking around at the explosive set up.

  “Well, it looks like there’s enough there to blow a hole in a small moon,” Jennifer said.

  “I hope I don’t blow a hole in my brain, I’ve grown attached to it,” Carrie said moving past her mother and over towards the steps leading up to the walkway on the upper levels.

  “Only one way to find out,” Jennifer said.

  Carrie made her way up the solid stone steps and glanced over her courtyard, the beautiful oak tree at its centre stood proudly. Its leaves swayed gentle in the artificial breeze. She looked behind her to see Jennifer following closely behind. The pair reached the top of the outcropped walkway and Carrie looked again over the barrier and into the sea of black viscus ocean.

  “So, explain to me again why this is a good idea?” Carrie said.

  “Look up,” Jennifer said.

  Carrie did, and watched the images being projected across the sky.

  “Fair point, so I just dive in?” Carrie asked.

  “You need to get your neural energy to the cerebral cortex, focus on that,” Jennifer said.

  “You’re coming with me, right?” Carrie said.

  “I’ll be there. I need to take a different route. Don’t worry about me, Carrie, just get up there, dive and press the button. Focus on where you need to be and let your mind do the rest. Trust me,” Jennifer said.

  Carrie looked at the detonator in her hand and then back up at the images of her body making its way through Jack’s ship. She began to get angry.

  “Fuck it,” she whispered to herself.

  In one slow gradual motion, she climbed up onto the wall and planted herself steadily with her legs just over shoulder width apart. She saw motion down below, a flicker of light.

  “Got your attention, did I?” Carrie said smiling.

  The floating crystal structure emerged from the nothing. Carrie looked up. Her eyes were still fixated.

  “What are you doing?” came the booming voice.

  Carrie looked around to see her mother was gone. A second later a violent impact on the outer wall made her lose her footing and tumble backwards. She hit the ground hard taking the impact on her left shoulder blade. She pulled her shoulder back and winced, pushing herself up and getting to her knees. Another impact from the outside made her plant her hands on the concrete to steady herself as she stood. He knew something, he was trying to catch her off guard. She needed a few seconds.

  “Weapons!” she shouted as she clambered to her feet.

  She heard the rumble as the hatches that contained the cannons opened. She got back on her feet and climbed back on the wall. She glanced down and saw the defences primed and ready to shoot. She took a breath and closed her eyes.

  “Fire!” she shouted.

  She bent her knees and launched herself off the wall and into the air. The cannons burst into a ferocious barrage of fire from all around her. She held her breath and pressed the detonator trigger. A deafening boom ignited, bringing with it a blinding light. She fell, in what seemed like slow motion, as a secondary explosion, this one much bigger, sent a shock wave through the air so strong it sent her into a spinning dive. Her upside-down view of what was once her only sanctuary, now a cataclysmic fireball of stone, was breath-taking and strangely liberating. The fireball expanded outwards and upwards. Carrie turned her head to look away as the black sea approached. She extended her arms up above her head as her body stabilised into a nose dive. She had very little time to think about what would happen next, as her body hit the surface and disappeared into nothing.

  CARGO BAY

  Yal’Ren screamed into the emptiness of the cargo bay. It dropped to its knees as a piercing pain sliced its way around its skull.

  What had she done?

  It searched its mind for her. She was gone. It clasped both hands around its host’s head and screamed again. It had not felt pain before. Not like that. Then it was gone. It took a long breath as the memory of the feeling lingered. It looked up and around. Taking a minute to go inside, back to the fortress, back to her safe. It stayed kneeling on the cargo bay floor. The fortress was gone.

  She blew it up?

  It looked into the blackness, where her refuge had been. Then it felt something. Something different. It withdrew from her mind and focused back on the real world. It looked down at Carrie’s hands, its host’s hands. There was definitely something different. It stood slowly and felt a curious sensation make its way up its spine. It looked over at one of the cargo containers brought aboard by the humans. It spread out its right arm and pointed Carrie’s hand towards it. It focused and felt an energy pulse through its arm. A single bolt of blue lightning erupted from the hand and contacted the container, exploding it and the bulkhead behind it with such force that it knocked Yal’Ren off his feet and sent it flying through the air backwards into the bulkhead behind. It hit the ground, shoulder first, rolling onto its side. It felt the pain receptors in Carrie’s body register the impact. It looked up, pushing itself up on its hands and turned to purvey the damage. It spread its lips and did something odd. It smiled. It stood, and began walking towards the airlock towards the back of the cargo bay, and prepared itself for some proper target practice.

  22:

  THE AGATHON

  “Time?” Barrington said form the centre seat. He had returned from the conference room with Tark’An and was now staring up at the screens.

  “Eleven minutes,” said Chavel from the navigation console, “I have them on the scope now, sir, they appear to have dropped out of their FTL drive. Approaching at 174,000 kph.”

  “No contact at all, Kevin?” Barrington said looking back at Ferrate.

  Ferrate looked at the captain and shook his head. Barrington glanced at Tark’An.

  “What do you think?” Barrington asked him.

  Tark’An made an odd expression that Barrington couldn’t really work out.

  “This is the first time I have seen one of their vessels up close,” Tark’An said, “it is not possible to predict their coarse of action at this time.

  Barrington noticed Chavel turning and giving him a questioning look. He forgot that he was still the only person who could understand Tark’An because of the neck device.

  “On your toes, people. Charly, make sure you’re ready to get a weapons lock if need be, and be even quicker to get the ship out of here. This may be a bait and run situation,” Barrington said.

  “Yes, sir,” Boyett replied stiffening up and checking her flight controls.

  “Nine minutes,” Chavel said, “they should have made contact, sir.”

  Barrington rubbed his cheek.

  “Mmm …” he replied.

  He turned back to Ferrate.

  “Try to make contact again,” he said.

  Ferrate nodded. Barrington leaned back in his chair and opened his mind.

  Carrie?

  He waited, peering up at the screens overhead. The bridge was silent. The centre screen was now showing the alien vessel approaching them, sliding gentl
y through the void with what was left of humanity. The captain’s mind was silent. There was no response from Carrie. He furrowed his brow and began to run through a set of tactical situations. He couldn’t be entirely sure that both the Ruthenium vessel and Carrie’s new friends weren’t in cahoots. He also wasn’t entirely sure that all the humans, and Carrie, for that matter hadn’t been killed already. He dismissed the thought as useless fear mongering from his mind. Carrie could look after herself. He was sure of that. Mostly. He looked to Tark’An.

  “I need to get those people on board my ship, assuming they’re alive,” he said.

  Tark’An nodded.

  “I will do everything in my power to make sure that you do, Captain,” Tark’An replied folding all four of his muscular arms.

  THE SIENNA CLARK

  “Ready?” Tyrell said to Aron as they stood next to the door to his quarters.

  Aron looked back at Maya.

  “Just stay here, okay, I won’t be long,” Aron said.

  Maya gave him a slight nod. Aron took a breath and turned back to Tyrell.

  “Okay, India’s room is down the hall. That’s if she’s there at all,” Aron said.

  Tyrell knelt and ran his fingers over the smooth white wall. Aron made sure to watch him closely. He had a feeling he would need to know how to do this. Tyrell spread his fingers out and pressed down. An access panel slid open revealing a set of flickering lights and thin interconnected wiring. He reached inside and pulled out what looked like a tiny fuse. The door reacted immediately by shimmering from opaque to transparent. Tyrell stood up.

  “Let’s go,” he said stepping through.

  Aron looked back at Maya.

  “Be right back,” he said smiling to her.

  She smiled back at him and waved. Something in his heart melted. He turned and stepped through the door and into the hallway. It was empty. The soft hum of the life support system filled Aron’s ears. This ship was so different. He was used to broken and exposed conduits back on the old stations, loud air filtration units, people everywhere.

  We’re rats in a maze.

  They walked with purpose down the hallway until they reached the exterior of India’s room. Aron waited while Tyrell opened an exterior access panel and fiddled with its innards. There was a small spark as the wall shimmered and became transparent. Aron looked inside but saw no one. He checked the hallway once more before stepping inside.