Heretic

by Philip C. Quaintrell

  Li’ara’s features became serious again. “The Shay is escaping. Len, can you track Gor-van’s ship?”

  Roland couldn’t keep the expression of surprise off his face. Even through the pain, and the eel was excruciating, he still had a thousand questions he needed answering. The bounty hunter didn’t hear his partner’s response, but apparently, Li’ara could hear the little Ch’kara in her ear.

  “We need to go.” Li’ara faced Roland again. “Are you going to be okay?”

  Roland fought through the pain to find the wittiest answer he could. “Well, I’m a little tied up right now, so…”

  Li’ara looked back at the dark figure, just too far out of Roland’s sight. With a wave of his hand, the shackles around his wrist snapped open and the eel was peeled off and thrown aside with a squeal. Roland groaned in pain and fell to the floor, landing in a pool of his own blood and sweat.

  Roland looked up at Li’ara’s beautiful face, her red ringlets cascading over her shoulders. “How are you..?”

  The world was becoming smaller and darker by the second, until Li’ara crouched over him, filling his entire vision. Then she was gone, leaving Roland in the dark.

  Chapter 12

  Jedediah Holt perched on the end of the desk in his office, just off from the Paladin’s bridge. He looked out of his window and gazed upon the Nautallon, off the ship’s starboard bow. Marvelling at the alien ship was easier than dwelling on the speech he had just given to the thousands of people in the vessel’s hold. Notifying them of the incredible time difference and the developments on Earth and Century had been met with mixed reactions.

  There were many who had burst into tears, seeking comfort from their loved ones or simply crumbling to the floor. Though many had boarded the ship with their families, hoping to make a fresh start on Century, there were still thousands who had come alone, or with friends, or were simply working. In one speech they had discovered that everyone they ever knew, loved or cared about was dead and that any descendants they might have had were killed in the Gomar attack.

  The captain’s heart broke for them all, especially his crew. Sam had lost her parents, Maloy his wife, Markovich his brother. The list went on. None of them had time to mourn, however, as Captain Fey had advised everyone be put on suicide watch since her people had lost many to this. His crew had been called upon to provide a sense of strength and unity for the civilians to rely upon.

  All Jed wanted to do was be alone and weep for his lost family.

  His sister Christine and her two daughters, Louise and Elizabeth, were gone, whether they lived a long and happy life or not, they were simply gone. He would never see them again. Christine had lost her husband when the girls were young, leading to Jed having a more active role in their life. He had loved those girls as if they were his own. The three of them must have gone on believing he was dead. It was a despairing irony that everyone on Earth and Century was gone, but those aboard the Paladin were now the ghosts.

  He needed time to think over everything and come to terms with life’s drastic change in direction, but Jed could feel Captain Fey’s eyes boring holes in the side of his head. The older captain was sitting on the small couch with her legs crossed; her body posture told of how relaxed she was, as well as superior. Her level of calm was a testament to the kind of life Fey and her people had been living for the last year - and Jed was still trying to wrap his head around everything they had gone through. To Captain Fey, this was apparently just another day.

  “It’s not going to sink in overnight,” Fey commented, with the faintest hint of a sad smile. “In fact, it might never sit right with you. This isn’t just a new world I’m asking you to accept, it’s a whole galaxy.”

  “A world would make it a little easier…” Jed pinched his eyes, the weight of all the people onboard slowly setting in.

  Captain Fey frowned. “We’re working on it.”

  Jed’s hand moved across his neck and found the metallic dot behind his ear. He fought the urge to dig his finger in and rip it free of his skin.

  “These people, they aren’t like your people. They aren’t scientists or engineers. They aren’t accustomed to living in artificial habitats or looking at the unknown with wonder. They’re farmers, artists, accountants, doctors and most are families. There are at least a thousand children on this ship. Not only do these people have no home anymore, but they don’t even have a world, a civilisation, history...” Jed could feel his frustration and grief rise to the surface in the form of anger. “The Conclave is beyond massive by your own words! How do they not have space on any world or even a world going spare?”

  Fey leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees. Jed felt guilty for his outburst; it was clear to see that this particular problem had haunted the captain since their violent entry into the Conclave.

  “They fear us, putting it simply. The things the Terran can do, the things Kalian can do. When the Gomar arrived they wrought more destruction in the Conclave than they’d seen for thousands of years. The death toll wasn’t anything like what they did to us, but it was high.”

  Jed shook his head in an attempt to get his head around it all. “The Gomar? They’re also the Terran, right?”

  “A portion of their society who couldn’t control their abilities. ALF fitted them with Harnesses to keep everyone safe, but all it did was cause a rift that ultimately led to civil war.” Fey’s expression told of how ridiculous it all sounded.

  “I’m going to need this explaining at least a hundred more times. It’s hard enough getting my head around the fact that Earth isn’t where it all started, let alone trying to understand some civil war between an ancient race of… superhumans with abilities.”

  Commander Vale’s voice came over the comm speakers. “Commander Vale to Captain Holt.”

  “Go ahead, Sam.” Jed was happy for the interruption. He could feel a migraine coming on.

  “The… engineers have finished and another alien has come aboard. A smaller one. They want to explain what happened to the Paladin.”

  “They already know what went wrong?” Jed found it hard to believe that the four aliens had not only fixed the drive but also discovered what caused the massive error.

  “Apparently it’s obvious…” Sam replied sarcastically. “They’ve set up some kind of display in the ready room.”

  Jed looked at Captain Fey before responding. “We’ll be right there.”

  Captain Holt was careful to avoid the more populated areas on the way to the ready room. Almost everyone onboard had wanted to ask him a hundred questions each after his speech in the hold. He had given them all the information he had, as honestly as he could, with the promise of more information when it became available. Jed had been hesitant to explain the radiation leak, wanting to avoid panic, but it would be impossible to omit since most would require medical attention.

  “The Paladin looks to be a great ship,” Captain Fey commented casually, clearly trying to strengthen any bond between them.

  Jed was happy for the small talk however, it was distracting and he hated awkward silences. “I bet it’s nothing like what you’re used to. I can only imagine what advances were made in our absence.”

  “Not as many as you would think really. Just the usual; fitting the software into smaller and smaller components. My last command was the Hammer, a brute of a ship - still, nothing compared to what the Conclave has. A point proven when the Laronians blew it to space dust.”

  “Laronians…” Jed chewed over the name, trying to recall Fey’s description.

  “Blue, very fine scales. They probably have the closest resemblance to us.”

  Jed found it hard to see how anything that was blue with scales could resemble a human being. “If you say so…”

  The ready room was already filled with occupants when they arrived. Two of the six Raiders had taken up positions outside the door, with Colonel Matthews and the other three stationed inside, occupying the corners with their weapons rested
at their waist. The four Shay were busy with a variety of tools and alien datapads, all producing a colourful holographic display. They were working with Chief Grenko in an attempt to connect their devices to the screen that took up most of the far wall.

  Jed noted Sharon Booth and Jim Langdale sitting at one end of the table, obviously comfortable among the aliens. Lieutenant Worth, who looked more at home amidst the UDC personnel, accompanied Sam, who walked around the long table and greeted them both, along with a small alien Jed had never seen before.

  “Captain,” Sam turned on her side to introduce the alien, “this is Ch’vork, the Nautallon’s chief engineer.”

  “Greetings of peace, Captain Holt.” The alien came up to his navel in height.

  Jed wanted to reply immediately, as was polite, but he found himself taking in every detail.

  Ch’vork wore a similar red and black uniform to the others, but across his chest and back was a mechanical apparatus that looked somewhere between a steam engine and a Solar Drive. The air around his head shimmered, but not enough to distort his squat little head and pale features. Sunken black eyes stared up at the captain, expectantly.

  “Hi…” he finally managed. How was Sam so comfortable among them? Jed realised she was probably using all of it as a distraction from her parents.

  “My engineers are preparing a simulation to show you exactly what we believed happened to the Paladin. High Charge Uthor will also join us momentarily.” Ch’vork removed a small disc from his belt and walked back to the table.

  “Excellent,” Jed replied, absently. It took him another moment to fully grasp what Ch’vork had said. How was Uthor going to join them? He was bigger than every door on the ship!

  “We are ready,” one of the Shay announced.

  Grenko’s exhausted pallor reminded Jed how hard he had been working the engineer since they dropped out of sub-space. The man had barely slept, desperately trying to fix the Solar Drive and repair the radiation leak. The captain would be sure to allocate him some serious R&R when they had the opportunity, though what that would look like in this new world, he had no idea.

  Ch’vork threw the small disc from his belt on to the floor, where it sprouted three legs and projected an almost life-size hologram of Uthor. Jed was impressed with the life-like quality of the image; the Raalakian could have been in the room with them.

  “Greetings of peace, Captain Holt.” Uthor was still looking down on him.

  “Greetings of peace, High Charge Uthor.” Jed decided to use the phrase he continually heard from the Conclave aliens.

  Jed, Sam and Captain Fey took their seats side-by-side, while Colonel Matthews remained standing beside the hologram of Uthor. Grenko appeared more than happy to take a seat on the end and watch Ch’vork lead the presentation.

  The screen came to life with a computer-generated image of space, overlaid with a blue grid pattern. A select number of stars expanded, decorating the black canvas with giant, yellow spheres.

  Ch’vork cleared his throat, an oddly human thing to do in Jed’s opinion. “Now, as you can see, this is a typical flight plan through sub-space.” A red line appeared horizontally across the screen. At one end they could see a blue dot that represented Earth, and the other end was their current position. “This particular path is the one that you should have taken, in order to avoid other planets, moons, asteroids and stars. Had your navigation systems calculated this jump, it would have taken a couple of months to make the journey.”

  “So why did it take us over two hundred years?” Sam asked.

  “What do you understand about time?” Ch’vork asked without condescension.

  “That it’s precious.”

  Jed tilted his head to glance at Sam’s arm. He didn’t need to look her in the eyes to get his point across. Everyone was beyond frayed at the edges by this point, but patience was still required, and respect was expected.

  Ch’vork bowed his head, conceding. “None more than the crew of the Paladin understand that. I shall explain it as simply as I can; I realise not all present are engineers.” The Ch’kara turned back to the screen. “These yellow spheres represent stars, scattered throughout the patch of galaxy between Earth and here. Now each of these stars has an effect on time, even in sub-space.”

  The grid shifted into a three-dimensional model to show the Paladin in sub-space, with the top half of the screen demonstrating reality and the bottom half representing sub-space. The various stars were spread out, creating an effect that looked as if someone had dropped a series of balls on to a sheet of fabric, and where the balls lay, the fabric dipped.

  Ch’vork continued, “The curvature you see around the stars represents the effect their gravitational pull has on sub-space. All nav-comms plot courses around stars specifically to avoid the effects of this curvature. In sub-space, the gravity from the stars, or black holes, can alter the perception of time. The closer one gets to either, the slower they perceive events - though, to the observer, nothing has changed.”

  Grenko leaned forward in his seat. “This isn’t exactly new information…”

  “Maybe to you Chief,” Sam replied. “All I know is that Maloy pulls the lever and the Paladin moves.”

  Jed silenced them both with a hand. “Perhaps a simple explanation would be best. Please continue, Ch’vork.”

  Ch’vork’s stubby hand played over the holographic display on the tabletop, altering the image on the screen. “From what we can piece together from your navigational array, as well as the chronometer built into your Solar Drives; this has been the flight path of the Paladin.”

  The screen now showed a wavy red line starting from Earth, curving around almost every star between the planet and their current location. The ship appeared to have zig-zagged across the cosmos for more than two hundred years.

  “Your proximity to these stars,” Ch’vork continued, “is the reason none of you have aged. You were only in sub-space for a couple of days by your perception, but in reality, you have been travelling for centuries.”

  Jed sat back and studied the image, dismayed. “Do you know what caused this?”

  Ch’vork hesitated, looking at Uthor’s towering hologram. “Sabotage. We found the partial remains of a human inside the conductor chamber.”

  “Goddamn separatists…” Ava muttered behind them.

  “Whether he intended to die in the act or not, we may never know,” Ch’vork said. “But between the heat and the subsequent radiation leak inside that chamber, there isn’t much left of him now.”

  Jed suddenly felt as if the universe was against him. “You’re saying we were flung two hundred and fifty years into the future because of another human being?”

  “That would appear to be the case, yes.”

  Sam turned to Jed, but she had no words to express how she felt. If she was anything like him, the commander would feel cheated. It was a hard thing to accept, made all the harder with no one left to punish. It was natural to seek out the source of such tragedy and focus on revenge, but there was nothing any of them could do with the news except move on. Duty demanded it.

  “We have succeeded in repairing the damage,” Ch’vork added in a lighter tone. “The Paladin’s nav-comm is now connected to the Solar Drive. We can refuel it and give you the coordinates to Arakesh.”

  Jed looked at Captain Fey for clarification.

  “It’s the Raalak homeworld,” Fey explained. “It’s where our current habitat is located.” The older captain looked to Uthor. “Though, space might be an issue now.”

  The Raalak bowed his head. “It is being reviewed.”

  Jed was already thinking of his next speech to the masses. How was he going to explain that everything that had happened was a result of sabotage?

  The Shay standing beside Ch’vork caught the captain’s eye, distracting him from current concerns. The alien dipped its head into one robotic hand as if suffering from a migraine. The engineer stumbled at the same moment the other three gripped their hea
ds in equal pain. Ch’vork steadied the nearest Shay by the arm and inquired about his health. Jed could feel the Raiders in the room physically tense. Colonel Matthews nodded at the two in the far corners to close the gap.

  “Is there a problem?” Captain Fey asked.

  Her lack of fear helped Jed to assess the situation, taking her cues around the aliens as an indication of how he should respond.

  That was a mistake.

  As one, the Shay stopped nursing their heads and stumbling around. The alien closest to Ch’vork removed, what appeared to be, some kind of advanced screwdriver from his belt, and drove it down, directly on top of the Ch’kara’s head. The metal rod killed him instantly, squirting blood onto the ceiling. The closing Raiders lifted their rifles, ready to put holes in everything that wasn’t human, but the Shay reacted faster. Their robotic and organic limbs tackled the rifles away, while at the same time, throwing the two Raiders across the table as if they were no lighter than pillows. Now two of the four Shay were in possession of high powered rifles, while the other two were wielding engineering tools.

  As the gunfire erupted, Sam, Fey and Jed ducked to the floor, while simultaneously flipping the table to use it as cover. The corner turned over and caught Jim Langdale in the face, knocking him unconscious. Grenko lept at the Shay in front of him but soon found himself flung against the wall with a sharp tool protruding from his shoulder and another in his thigh. The Shay backhanded him before Colonel Matthews put several rounds into its head. Blood exploded against the walls and Grenko as the Shay crumpled to the floor.

  Within seconds the two Raiders from outside were bursting into the room and opening up with their own weapons. Jed covered his ears against the thundering guns of four Raiders and two Shay. Colonel Matthews grunted and collapsed to the floor behind them, blood oozing between the plates in the armour around her gut. The gunfire became staggered after a few seconds, quickly followed by close quarter fighting. Jed looked up in time to see the remaining three Shay run from the ready room, all with a rifle in hand.