by Tony Healey
51.
"I went to see him. Walked straight into his office and gave my argument that if the war had ended, why the hell were we continuing to develop a breed of soldier that was ethically and morally questionable, at best. He merely looked at me, waited for me to finish ranting, then cleared his throat.
"I waited for him to start shouting, but it didn't happen. He looked calm, passive. He said, 'What would you like me to do? Terminate our hybrids?' I have to admit, he had me there. I'd not thought about what would happen to the soldiers we'd already created. So I told him we could find a remote location and allow them to colonise it. Call it an extension of the project.
"He wasn't having any of it. He got up, wandered back and forth in front of me, arms folded. Talking calm as a cucumber. 'All this time, and you want me just to stop the project. I'm afraid I live in the real world, Doctor Kingston. This war has ended, but one day there will be another. And we'll need our new, improved army of fighters. Project Prometheus will continue with or without your help.'
"I didn't know what to say. I asked him if he was kicking me off the project, and he simply shrugged and said, 'Take it to mean whatever you like.' So I left. Contacted a few friends I had in the science division, and got assigned as head of this facility. I vowed to do some good. To reverse the devastation wreaked by the Sun Hammer all those years ago, and the affront to mother nature we'd developed through Project Prometheus. That's why I started work on Renewal. I never heard from either Kerrick or Dajani again."
52.
She concluded her reverie then watched as Jessica got up. "Where are you going?"
"I have to think," Jessica said, hand to her mouth.
So, it was Kerrick all along. The whole reason for Grimshaw's new appointment elsewhere, most probably. To stop their investigation. They shouldn't have been assigned to the Enigma in the first place, but because the operation had been so top secret, Clarke and Grimshaw simply weren't aware of the Union having dealings with the Enigma prior to the Defiant's assignment.
It all made sense now.
"What will you do?" Kingston asked.
Jessica turned around. "Can I use your communication relay?"
"Of course, this way," her Mother said. She led her from the room.
*
Admiral Grimshaw rubbed his eyes as he shuffled to his own personal communication station. The beeper continued to drill in his brain. The alert sign flashed up on the screen, winking in and out.
INCOMING TRANSMISSION, it read. Grimshaw authorised the connection.
"Admiral?" Jessica asked. He hadn't expected to find himself looking straight at her again. Not so soon, and not at such a late hour either.
"Jessica . . . I hope this is good. It's the middle of the night here."
"Oh. Sorry sir. I thought you'd want to know we have discovered the culprit behind Project Prometheus, and our own current predicament. It's none other than Admiral Kerrick himself."
"I'd like to say this comes as a surprise, Captain King . . . but it only confirms my suspicions. I have a good instinct for things like this, and I smelled a rat the moment Kerrick was assigned to replace me," Grimshaw told her. "But what proof do you have?"
"Doctor Kingston is willing to put herself forward as an expert witness into the events surrounding the first clandestine mission to the Enigma," Jessica said. She glanced to the side, registering Kingston's shocked expression.
"Good news," Grimshaw said. "I will head to Station 6 immediately to arrest Kerrick myself. Please ensure you get a recorded statement from Kingston, detailing specifically Kerrick's role in all of this. I want it to be airtight."
"I will sir."
*
Across the gulfs of space, Grimshaw smiled at her. "Good work, Captain. You've done me proud. Rest assured I will see that all charges against yourself, and your crew, are squashed. In fact, I will demand an official commendation for your efforts. You've done me proud, kid. I know if your Father were still here . . ."
Jessica looked down. Suddenly her eyes felt as if they might fill with tears. "Thank you Admiral."
He cut the signal from his end. Jessica moved away from the console. To her complete surprise, she felt Kingston's hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Jessica said.
"I'm sure Andrew would have been very proud of you," the Doctor said. "I cannot tell you how much I regret not being a part of your life. I hope it's something you'll let me rectify from now on. Because I do want to be in your life, Jessica. If you'll let me."
She looked up at her Mother. The tears were there now. She moved in, embraced her, felt it all gush out. They stood holding each other like that for what seemed the longest of moments.
Kingston chuckled through her own tears. "I take it this is a yes then?"
Jessica nodded. They parted, she had a little laugh of her own as she dried her eyes. "By the way, I know you didn't say beforehand, but I need you to do this."
"I know," Kingston said. "I was a little surprised you offered me up as a witness, but what the hell. The man should answer for his actions, correct? There's no way I could deny my daughter this, when it obviously means so much."
"Thank you again," Jessica said. "And you're right, it does mean a lot. I came here angry. Bitter. Wondering how my life could've got turned upside down like it. But now, it feels like something's fallen into place. A part of me that seemed incomplete for so, so long."
"Don't mention it."
"Anyway, what am I going to call you?"
Kingston chuckled. "What d'you mean?"
"Do I call you Mother, Doctor . . . what?" Jessica asked.
Her Mother studied her for a moment. "Call me Ivy."
"Ivy. That's an old name," Jessica said.
"So's yours."
The door burst open. Doctor Caise stormed in, followed by both Hawk and Gentry, with two other staff members behind them. The two at the rear both held weapons.
"What is this?" Kingston demanded.
"We found these two wandering about Testing Bay Three," Caise said. "I told them to stay put, but they obviously didn't listen to a word I said."
"We did nothing of the sort. Treating us as if we are sneak thieves." Gentry snapped.
Kingston stepped forward, put a hand on Gentry's shoulder as she addressed Caise. "I've known this man a long while. I can assure you, he's not the type. I'm sure all of this is completely innocent."
Hawk turned to Jessica. "Cap, seriously, you gotta see what's in there. It'll blow yer mind," he said.
"What's he going on about?" Jessica asked Kingston.
"Come on, I'll show you. I've had enough of keeping secrets."
53.
They followed Kingston as she led them through the facility.
"Believe me, Doctor, I had no intentions of letting them see Project Renewal intentionally," Caise said, still furious that he'd been betrayed. "I gave them strict instructions to stay put."
"Oh will you quit it, Doc?" Hawk snapped. "I thought you were cool. But yer not."
"No he is not," Gentry piped in, the first thing he'd said since they were put under arrest. "The man is a dullard."
"I am beyond offended!" Caise yelled.
Kingston turned to him. "Doctor I want you to go and make yourself a pot of tea. And I want you to sit down and drink that tea. Don't come back to me until you've finished the whole pot. Then, I trust, you will be suitably calmed."
"But –"
She waved him away. "Go."
Hawk nodded at Caise as he rushed past in a blur. The Doctor merely ignored him.
"Right. Now that's out of the way, let's get on," Kingston said.
She took them toward a large blast door. It had TB-3 printed on it in big, thick, black stencilling.
"What is this? Are you working on more weapons?" Jessica asked, not able to keep the disappointment out of her voice.
"No," her Mother said. "Not quite." She pressed a button to the side and the door began to rise up into
the ceiling.
Hawk nudged Jessica in the side. "Wait till ya see this."
The blast door lifted fully, and she beheld what was on the other side. Nothing she could think to say would've done it justice. So she simply drew a deep breath and stepped through . . .
PART V
Vengeance and Renewal
54.
. . . into a kind of paradise. A cavern cut deep into the mountain under whose shadow the building rested. It went back for who knew how long, and was impossibly tall. So tall Jessica found it nigh impossible to determine just where the ceiling of the cavern lay.
Sunlight filtered through from somewhere. Perhaps some kind of artificial sun, she thought. Has to be. The sun of this world is far too weak and pale.
The cavern was filled with a glorious, warm glow. Everywhere she looked, there was the greenery of life. Flora
sprouting from every available inch of space, striving to reach where the sunlight, high up in the roof of the cavern.
"What is this?"
"A garden," Kingston said. "A little Eden, if you will."
"How did you do this? Terraforming?" Gentry asked.
Kingston nodded. "Of a fashion. I learned that the same principles behind the Sun Hammer, when reversed, made it possible to terraform on a huge scale. We found this natural cavity within the mountain early on, when constructing the facility. In fact it's the reason we chose this spot in particular. There are several smaller spaces, but this was the biggest. It was perfect to test Project Renewal."
"So how does it work, exactly?" Jessica asked.
"We pumped the area with atmosphere, and the basic elements needed to create all of this. Then we detonated the Renewal device. The reaction reorganised all of the matter inside this chamber into the patterns and forms we'd chosen beforehand. Within hours, it was like this. I'll admit it's all a lot more complicated than that, but you get the picture. I like to call it 'terraforming on an industrial level.'"
"I can see how that'd be true," Jessica said.
"Incredible. So you could use this device on a desolate moon? Or perhaps an asteroid?" Gentry asked.
Kingston shook her head. "Wherever it's used must have a breathable atmosphere, and the right conditions to support this kind of plant life. Obviously the intention is terraform for human habitation."
Or occupation, Jessica thought. She says this is the reverse of the Sun Hammer and I'm inclined to agree. This truly is renewal. Eden. But . . . what if it were used on a populated planet? What then? We drop it on an alien world, terraform it to our own design, then move in? Habitation. Occupation. Isn't it all the same?
"Blew my goddamn mind," Hawk said.
Jessica looked around. Breathed in the air. Despite her private misgivings, it was hard to deny the spiritual power of the place. Standing there, surrounded by so much of nature's best. Feeling the warm sun on her face, the scent of a hundred thousand flowers . . . it was hard to deny Kingston's assertion of it being a little piece of paradise. "Yeah it sure is something," she said, really meaning it.
Now it was her turn to feel proud, this time for Kingston. She'd turned things around. Made a weapon capable of atrocity into something that could be used for some good. It would give a once-fallen planet another chance, another shot at life.
Wasn't that what human beings often craved, too? One more chance to turn things around for the better? To forget the shadows of yesterday and walk into the sunshine?
Maybe this was it. Maybe, she thought as she watched her Mother walk among the plants, her fingertips trailing through leaves and tall grasses. Maybe this is the kind of renewal I wanted for myself. I felt tired. Pegged in. But now I feel as if something's changed. Tomorrow is filled with possibilities.
She plucked a big pink flower off a stem, lifted it to her nose, breathed its deep, powerful scent with closed eyes.
Renewal.
It felt good.
55.
Kerrick waited for the comm. unit to connect, then sat to attention.
"Admiral."
"Mister Vice President," he said. "It's an honour as always."
The man on the other side was unmoved by the pleasantries. "Get on with it."
He swallowed. "I have intercepted Grimshaw's transmissions. He was contacted from a small planet in the Kaseem Ring. I've sent a ship to investigate. We believe it originated from a research facility on the planet Zac'u."
"I hope I do not have to press upon you the importance of containing this situation, Admiral," the VP snarled. "I grow weary of your ineptitude in this area."
"I know sir, and I can assure you everything that can be done, will be," Kerrick assured him.
"Take whatever measure you feel necessary," the VP told him. "You know what to do. Report back to me in six hours with an update."
Then he was gone. Kerrick rubbed his temples. The head storm was building nicely. A thundercloud over his brain, growing darker with every passing minute.
Grimshaw and his fellow conspirators would have to be made an example of. He scrolled through his contacts on the comm. unit, then hit CONNECT when he found the individual he was looking for.
The chance to turn back, to change his mind, had been and gone years before. His own path in the VP's plans was locked in. He simply had to follow the script, do what had to be done. Even if it meant further headaches.
56.
Admiral Grimshaw hurried through the departure lounge. "Come on, come on," he snapped at the clerk. "You've got the paperwork. I don't see what's holding this up. I'll miss the departure."
"Sir, we're going as fast as we can. The main system is down, and –"
He pushed his way past her. "I don't have time for this."
"Admiral, we have to –" she called after him.
The guards did not attempt to stop Grimshaw from boarding the outbound flight to Station 6. They simply turned the other cheek, made as if they'd not see him do what he did. Sometimes, exceptions are made for superiors, Grimshaw thought. And sometimes that extends to corruption.
He found his seat, settled in with a huff, then turned to survey the rest of the passenger cabin. There were only a few other travellers there. Good. He would not have to endure a cramped flight full of coughing, wheezing people of every different race, species, colour, and creed. It would be a relaxing journey.
Or rather, it should be. But he knew different; he knew that his mind would not let him rest until he got there, several hours from then. He'd be on fire till he slapped Kerrick in irons and had him stowed away in the detainment cells.
He smiled at the thought.
I never liked the git anyway, he thought. Then he chuckled to himself.
"Flight Oh-One-One-Three-Eight departing," the stewards voice said over the speakers. "Please remain seated until further notice. Refreshments will be served shortly."
She then ran through the basic procedures. He'd heard them a thousand times before. If not more. It was all very simple. If something happened that was catastrophic, they were dead. Simple as that. No way around it. A face mask connected to a canister of O2 wouldn't stop an errant asteroid from killing them all.
The sleek vessel disconnected from the side of the station and with barely a hint of thrust they were on their way.
That was when he noticed the briefcase. It sat on an empty chair, the other side of the aisle. Unattended, placed neatly in the middle of the seat as if it, itself, were a passenger. Grimshaw looked left and right to see if anyone would come to claim it. For several minutes he waited, and when no-one did, he got up and walked over to it. He looked around.
"Is this anyone's briefcase?"
All he got in response was a series of shaking heads, or quizzical faces now turned to watch his every move. He looked back down at the case, felt his heart begin to thump in his ears.
"Sir? Please take your seat," the steward said, appearing from behind a curtain.
"Whose briefcase is this?"
She frowned down at it. "Oh I'm not sure
. It's not yours?"
"Would I really be asking you that if it were? Come on, who owns this case?"
The steward asked the other passengers one by one. She came back to him.
"None of them know anything about it."
He carefully picked it up off of the seat. There was a faint sound. Something he'd heard before, in the past. A whisper. He put the briefcase up against his ear, heard the muted workings of the mechanisms inside and realised with sudden horror just what it was he held in his hand.
"Where are the escape pods?"
The steward had an expression of complete horror on her face. She didn't answer him. He snapped his fingers in her face.
"The pods! Where are they?"
"At the rear," she croaked. "We have two."
He moved as fast as he was able, sweat trickling down his forehead as the implication of what he held in his hand dawned on him. He had to get to one of the pods. Put it inside. Get it off the ship. Get it off before –
*
Only moments out of dock, flight 01138 burst apart in a blinding flash that made for a spectacular, if short lived, supernova that dimmed the very light of the stars themselves. Then it was gone, and with it, its precious human cargo. Consigned to the void, back to stardust . . . all that it was just glitter in the black.
57.
"I'd better get back to the ship," Jessica said as they neared the entrance to the facility. The shuttle awaited them outside, now covered in a fine film of dust.
"Perhaps for the best. There's a strong storm on its way by the looks of things," Kingston said.
"I'll go get the ship ready," Hawk said, dragging Gentry along with him.
"Most pleasurable to make your acquaintance again," the Doctor said on his way out the door.
"And to you, too, Wilf," Kingston said. She gave him a wave then looked back at Jessica. "You know, he never changes. The same nut he always was."
