To Well And Back (The Deep Dark Well)

by Doug Dandridge

  “I am so happy that you are reunited with your lady,” said the young Commander of the Suryan contingent. “But I think we need to deal with other considerations at this time.”

  “Right,” said Watcher, standing up and looking down at his woman. “And I think we need to get you out of that metal trap you are in.”

  Pandora nodded and the suit began to open up at the nano-seams. It caught at the arm and leg joints that had been welded shut by laser blasts. Watcher squatted by her side and extruded a small saw from his left forearm, quickly cutting through the metal. He pulled the joints apart, and soon she was out of the suit and standing.

  “They hurt you,” he said, looking at the torn bodysuit that showed a multitude of cuts and bruises. He looked at her chest, frowned and pulled aside the ripped fabric. He roared in anger as he saw what they had done to her breasts. “I will kill all of them,” said Watcher, his heart raging, the little bit of Vengeance still in him rising to the fore. “I will go to their home system and leave it a wasteland.”

  “You will do no such thing,” said Pandora, wrapping her arms as far around Watcher’s armored suit as possible. “I know. I hate them too. But we will not commit genocide because of what a few sorry assholes did to me. You hear me?”

  “I hear you,” said Watcher. “I…”

  “How touching,” said another voice, one neither recognized. “But since you have already committed Galactic genocide, I have no doubt you would do so again.”

  Watcher looked up to see a quartet of armored figures standing thirty meters down the corridor. The suits looked unfamiliar, unlike any he had seen, but he could tell they were of advanced tech, if not quite as much as his own.

  “And who might you be?” asked Watcher, holding on to Pandi and watching as more of the armored figures came into the corridor.

  “I am Colonel Joshua Mitsubishi of the New Galactic Empire Marines,” said the armored figure. “And I am here to arrest you for crimes against the Galaxy. You would do well to come with us without a struggle. I am ordered to bring you back alive. Nothing was said about the people with you, but I would just as soon kill them all for guilt by association, you monster.”

  “He’s changed,” said Pandora, struggling to get past the arm that Watcher was holding her in place with. “That was not him. It was that damned station computer, and the Vengeance persona it created.” She glared angrily at the trooper, and Watcher was glad at that moment that she was not still in her battle suit.

  “His guilt or innocence will be determined by the courts,” said the cold voice of the Colonel, in a tone that let Watcher know they had already determined him guilty of the crime he committed five thousand years before.

  A shot was fired, one of the Suryans determined to not let these people take their rescuer. The laser blast hit the suit of the Colonel, and was reflected off its field and surface like a flashlight from a mirror. The particle beams that reached out to hit the Suryan were not deflected, and turned the man into an expanding cloud of steam that burned into the flesh of those around him. Screams of pain and surprise came from those so burned, and no one else raised a weapon at the newcomers.

  Watcher raised his particle beam cannon, which he was sure would blast through the protection of the officer. At the same time he tried to sweep Pandora behind him.

  “If you fire we will vaporize the woman,” said the officer, his own weapon pointed at Pandora.

  “What do you want of me?” asked Watcher, lowering the barrel of his cannon.

  “Remove yourself from that suit and come with us,” said the man, keeping his barrel firm on Pandora.

  “Don’t do it, baby,” said Pandi, trying to get around the arm he was holding her with. “Don’t go with those bastards. They’ve already found you guilty.”

  “I can’t see you be destroyed,” he said, at the same time contacting her link to link. [Come after me, as I came after you. I know it is only yourself, but I know you will find a way. The Donut will give you the means, if you follow our plan to the next logical step.]

  With a thought Watcher opened his armored suit and stepped out. One of the men came up to him while others kept him covered with their weapons. The man placed magnetic cuffs on the wrists of the superman and made sure that they were set. “Do not try to escape,” said the officer in charge, his weapon now pointed at Watcher. “Remember, we can come back here and destroy this fleet, and the woman with it. Now come along.”

  Watcher took one last look at Pandora as he was being led down the hall, wondering if he would ever see her again. Maybe I’m paying the price for my past crimes that I am supposed to pay, he thought as they led him into another corridor and toward their shuttle. This could be Karma. Keep the faith, Pandora. Remake the Galaxy, the way we have spoken of, whether I am with you or not.

  * * *

  Pandora felt the burning in her eyes as the tears rolled down her cheeks, watching the man she loved being led away like a common criminal. But it wasn’t him, she thought. Not really. Can’t they see that? She shook her head, knowing that they hadn’t. After all the craziness she had seen in this Galaxy, she was sure it wouldn’t matter to a people who had already made up their minds.

  “We need to get back under cover, my Lady,” said the young Commander in charge of the Suryans. “The Nation Marines are starting to press again.”

  “Maybe we should just surrender,” said Pandora, looking into the eyes of the young woman, her hopeless feelings controlling her thoughts. “All of this is for nothing.”

  “I know my people are not going to surrender again,” said the Suryan, glaring down the corridor. “And I know you won’t either. Watcher is expecting you to come get him. I know he is. And getting captured by these fanatics is not a good start to that mission.”

  “You’re right, of course,” said Pandi, wiping the tears from her face. “Time for me to get off the pity pot. Get me a weapon, and I’ll be right proud to fight beside you.”

  The Commander smiled and led Pandora off. But Pandi had to stop every once in a while and look down the corridor, wondering if she would ever see Watcher again. And what she would do without him. Change the Galaxy, that’s what, she thought. Daddy didn’t raise no quitter, and I’m not about to start now.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time. Abraham Lincoln

  Watcher looked with interest at the shuttle as they brought him aboard. It was very advanced, he determined, only about two hundred years or so behind the tech of the Donut. Of course two hundred years could make a world of difference, and they were a thousand years advanced on his enemies and allies. Pandora will find a way, he kept telling himself. She has to.

  But he also thought that he might need to make his own escape, and everything he could learn about this enemy would aid in that plan. He doubted there was anything in their tech base that he couldn’t figure out, couldn’t work as well or better than his captors.

  “Don’t think you’re going to get out of this one, Monster,” said the tall Colonel, his helmet retracted and his blond stubbled head exposed to the light of the compartment.

  “Why do you keep calling me that?” asked Watcher, looking levelly at the eyes of the man. “The events you talk about happened over five thousand standard years in the past. Why does your civilization hold onto such old hates?”

  “Because we grew up in it,” said the man, leaning forward, his gauntleted hands clenching like they wanted to be around the neck of the superman. “Because we were taught in history class about how you had destroyed the civilization of the ancestors, and sent the Galaxy into a new dark age. Because it is our destiny to restore that civilization, and you, as the symbol of its destruction, must be destroyed,”

  And I’m dealing with a new set of fanatics, thought Watcher, looking in the hate distorted face of the man, recognizing madness. Maybe not the ones I would like to be in charge of the new civilization, but looking at their hardware I migh
t not have a choice. Unless Pandora can come through.

  Watcher sat back in his seat as the shuttle pulled away from the Nation battleship, living up to his name as he observed everything around him, waiting for his chance.

  * * *

  Pandora aimed the hyper-v launcher and let go the missile. It took off like a streak of light, hitting the Nation Marine in the chest and blasting his suit and body away in a cloud of red. She ducked as another Marine took her under fire, then back flipped out of the line of sight. Without her suit she did not have the strength or protection she possessed with it. But her enhanced speed and agility actually allowed her to maneuver much more quickly. As long as I don’t come between a round and what it would have hit, she thought, reaching down for the last hyper-v launcher of the half dozen she had brought out here.

  “We’re being squeezed, Pandi,” said the voice of the Suryan Commander. Pandi smiled at the voice. It had only taken a dozen tries to get the woman to stop calling her My Lady, or other names she really didn’t feel fit her.

  “How bad?” she asked over the com that was linked into her implants.

  “Really bad,” returned the woman. “I give them maybe another five minutes till they break through the sternward corridor. And we have a lot of wounded here that need attention, fast.”

  “Still want to fight to the end?” she asked, almost afraid of the answer.

  “Of course,” answered the woman over the sound of an explosion. “Of course. I think capture by these fanatics is definitely a fate worse than death.”

  “Good,” replied Pandi, looking around the corner then ducking back with a blurring motion as shots cracked past her ear. “Then that’s just what we’ll do. Been nice knowing you.”

  “As well,” answered the officer, then a series of shots and explosions rocked the link. “My Gods,” said the woman in an excited voice. “My Gods.”

  “What?” asked Pandora, wondering could have elicited that reaction in the middle of a battle they were already losing.

  “I don’t believe it,” said the woman. “I can’t believe what I’m seeing.”

  Pandora shook her head, wondering what was going on and not getting an answer. The firing and yelling to her front alerted her that something was happening there as well, and she prepared herself for the worst, getting the last missile ready to fire. She prepared, then moved around the corner, the launcher ready to go. She dropped the weapon as a sight she hadn’t expected met her eyes.

  * * *

  “I’m glad to see them go,” said Admiral Miklas Gerasi, watching as the enemy ships opened their holes into the hyper-dimensions and left. The red space flecked with black dots was visible for a moment, then the holes closed up, and there was only the field of stars that inhabited normal space on the viewer.

  “But they took the Abomination with them,” said the Tactical Officer, looking back at his Admiral.

  “And they can have him,” said the Admiral, grimacing. “I’m sure he will fare just as poorly from their gentle mercies as he would from ours. So good riddance.”

  “And what about the woman?”

  “I want her captured alive, if possible,” said the Admiral, still wanting to see her dead, but realizing that now they needed her to gain them control of the station. She’s the only one that can gain us access to that place now. And we need that tech now more than ever, with competitors like this New Galactic Empire out there.

  “Admiral,” called the Security Chief, a voice the officer really didn’t want to hear. “We have a situation in the stern.”

  I really hate that term, situation, thought the Admiral as he frowned. It never means something good. And he soon found out it didn’t this time either.

  * * *

  Three of the large suits were walking her way, one stepping over the bodies of the Nation Marines they had blasted through. The suits had a familiar look, and it didn’t take Pandora more than a moment to realize that they were Ancient technology, same as the suits that were found on the Donut. Watcher had modified his and her suits, brought them up to an even more modern spec. But those Ancient suits were still much more advanced than anything the Nation had. Or those of the New Galactic Empire.

  The lead suit retracted her helmet, and Pandora found herself looking into the face of Lt. Commander Dasha Mandrake. The woman smiled at her and gave a short bow. “Sorry we were so late.”

  “It’s always good to see the cavalry has arrived,” said Pandora, returning the smile. “Even if it waits till the nick of time.”

  The Commander’s face went blank for a moment, the sign of going into link, then she returned to normal and looked at Pandora. “We’ve taken the ship. And we should be well on our way to taking the others by now, since most of their Marines were over here, or planetside.”

  “You know they took Watcher,” said Pandi, looking down at her feet. “The newcomers I mean.”

  “We monitored that on the base screen, yes,” said the Commander, throwing an abbreviated salute to the Commander who had led the battle up on the ship. “I wanted to fire on them, but the Admiral wouldn’t have it until we had more information.”

  “Well, they took him, and I’ve got to find out how to get him back,” said Pandora, her eyes brimming with tears. “And I don’t know how I’m going to do that by myself.”

  “Then you won’t have to do it by yourself,” said the Admiral, stepping up in his own suit of high tech armor. “You will have the help of the Kingdom of Surya, no matter how you plan to go about it.”

  “You don’t have to do that,” said Pandi, wishing she hadn’t let those words leave her mouth as soon as they had. She needed help, and didn’t know where else she might get it.

  “Yes,” said the Admiral with a smile, “we do. We are allies. And what kind of allies would we be if we didn’t come to your aid?”

  And you will get lots of new tech to play with, thought Pandora as she smiled back. Well, so what. We need someone we can depend on as we try to remake the Galaxy, and we need to help you defeat those damned fanatics too. So why not bring your kingdom up to the modern age first? I could think of much worse people to do that with. Actually, a couple of peoples.

  “I accept,” said Pandora, sticking out her hand and letting the Admiral grip it in his gauntleted paw. “As soon as we secure these ships we’ll go about getting you and your people up to speed, and get these others equipped.”

  “And then?” asked the Admiral, raising an eyebrow.

  “And then we take the station back,” she said with a cold glare. “And we get some ships under us that can compete with these new boys.”

  Epilogue

  “Time for another one?” asked Watcher as the cell door slid open. They had been trying to wear him down, blaring noise and light while it was sleeping time, depriving him of meals, and constant questioning with painful stimulus. And they’ve gotten nowhere, he thought with a smile on his face.

  Watcher did not require much in the way of sleep. He could go a week without, and only needed a couple of hours every twenty-four at most. He could sleep and dream if he liked, but it was not a necessity. And painful stimulus was not really any better, since he could short circuit his pain transmission pathways at will, though he tried to show enough discomfort so they wouldn’t know that. They had to think he was tough though, taking electrical shocks that would cause any other being to scream its lungs out.

  “It would go so much easier on you if you would just tell us what we need,” said the interrogator, a tough looking man who had the rank of Senior Chief on this vessel, The Implacable, the flagship of the force.

  “Tell you how to access the station,” said Watcher with a laugh. “That seems to be all you would be conquerors want nowadays. While hiding behind a mission of justice.”

  “Shut up, you,” said one of the battle armor suited guards. “It is justice, to drag your sorry ass back to home so everyone can see you break, beg and die.”

  Watcher looked over at the man, reme
mbering the one attempt he had made to break free of these people. That had resulted in all of his guards being in full armor. He could not hurt them with his hands or feet when they were so equipped, and the three he had sent to the morgue had made the point clear that they wanted that kind of protection when dealing with the superman.

  “Still traveling at Hyper VII, huh?” said Watcher, glancing over at one of the guards and using a tone that made the man think he was a primitive.

  “That’s the fastest anyone can go,” said the man in an aggrieved tone.

  “Shut up, Janakowski,” barked the Chief, glaring at the trooper. “Slick,” he said, looking over at Watcher. “I think I’ll give you an extra couple of jolts for that.”

  So VII is as fast as they can go, thought Watcher, knowing his own ships could get up to VIII, four times the pseudospeed of VII. That’s good to know. Very good. And Pandora might be able to catch them before they get to their home. It depends on how far away from the Supersytem their home is, and of that I have no idea. But it was still a ray of hope that he could grab hold of.

  The door to the interrogation room opened, and the shark like gazes of the people waiting there sent a small chill up Watcher’s spine. He composed himself and walked over to the chair, his stride almost eager. He knew these people wouldn’t break him. He had been designed to be the ultimate soldier, and such a soldier never gave out important information to an enemy, no matter what.

  * * *

  Pandora looked over the line of prisoners being led to the Nation’s assault shuttles for a trip up to orbit, where they would become prisoners aboard their own ships. Those vessels had their Alcubierre drives disassembled and thrown into the atmosphere to burn up. The ships were now what in an earlier age would have been called prison hulks, unarmed and incapable of movement. The perfect place to put people you didn’t want to have to deal with, without having to kill them.