“Terraforming?”
“More than that.”
“The domes on the Poniga world, the Architect built those didn’t it?”
“Yes, one of many examples of how it uses their power to control the evolution of all planets in this system.”
She pointed upward directing Pierce’s eyesight to the edge of a temporal bubble, one that encompassed the platforms and everything below them including the cities of the Undine along with the surface of the oceans floor. He looked closer to see what she saw. The ships above the platforms looked almost as if they were frozen in time, unmoving. Fish that swam past them toward the ships stopped moving instantly as they crossed the threshold of the temporal bubble. The rippling waves also looked as though they came to a near standstill beyond the bubble they had been inside.
“This is the answer to your questions,” she said to him.
“Another shield?”
“It’s a temporal sphere, generated by abandoned technology from the goddess. Time outside of the sphere accelerates at the same speed the universe does. Inside, however, time accelerates at a slower rate.”
“Time dilation.” Pierce gasped in shock. “My god. That explains it.”
Nereid demonstrated another example by creating a plume of air bubbles within the waters that surrounded them. The bubbles rose up and outside of the time dilation dome and then stopped moving. Only they didn’t really stop, but rather time was accelerating so fast from their point of view, that anything beyond the time dilation dome appeared to have come to a standstill.
“The Architect simply slowed time on the worlds while it went to terraform them.”
“That’s why there’s so much life in the system,” Pierce said. “The planets here, due to the time dilation, are much older than the stars they orbit. I suppose that explains the name ‘The Architect’ they designed the worlds in this system.”
“This planet is different from the rest however. It is the only one with its, as you call it, time dilation still active.”
“And not encompassing the whole world, why is that?”
“The Architect controls the technology used to operate them, he is using it as a means to control our people.” She directed his attention to the platforms above them. “You are familiar with the Lyonria correct?”
“Was wondering when that name was going to be used.”
“We study and deconstruct their relics with these facilities. It’s a process that takes years . . . centuries. The time dilation speeds it up in the eyes of the Architect.”
“Amazing, what sort of things have you discovered?”
“It’s all taken away by the Architect, including our people that learnt anything of value.” She frowned and spun away from the platforms, tilted her face back down facing the city in the darkened oceanic abyss. “So, it is not an amazing experience. It’s a death sentence since those people are never to be seen again.”
“I’m sorry; I didn’t know it was that bad.”
“The Poniga are in a similar predicament, they are forced to excavate Lyonria ruins and artifacts their whole lives while worshiping the Architect or serving in its army. Their people were carefully bred to perform specific tasks.”
“Slavery,” Pierce slowly muttered. “What you’re saying is your people and the Poniga are slaves.”
“We tried to rebel, but without ships and the Undine and Poniga not working together it’s impossible.”
“The two of your people share the same burden, you need to work together to overthrow the same power that binds you.”
“There’s too much bad blood between us. My fellow sisters rely on Poniga males for reproduction over our males.”
“Right, the more you crossbreed with another species, the more your kind evolves.”
“And the increased chances of a Nereid like me to be born, though I’m the first one to be born here.”
“That’s why Poniga males were forbidden from not having a wife, it was to deter young men from being lured by your kind.” He looked to the skies past the seemingly still rippling waves and paused. “My god, I’m an idiot.”
“How do you figure?”
“We’re in a time dilation bubble, time moves at a faster rate inside here. I’ve been here for at least two years. How much time has passed beyond the bubble since my arrival?”
“One year here is equal to one Earth day beyond.”
Pierce began to smile in a way Nereid had never seen since she first met him or saw via engrams of others that interrogated him. “I’ve only been gone for two days! Yes, yes! My ship, it might still be around, I just assumed it was destroyed or left the system since there were clearly no signs of its crew exploring this planet.” Pierce placed his hands across Nereid’s shoulders and excitedly asked. “Tell me, what does it take to cross the time dilation bubble?”
“It’s forbidden, unless you are meeting with someone from other worlds to trade or are confirmed to be truly loyal to the Architect.”
“Or lure a male.” His smile grew brighter. “I need to get back to my ship. Can you help me do it?”
“As I said it’s—”
“You said yourself you need ships to aid in a rebellion, we could help. And from what it sounds like my people already encountered the Architect forces, so like it or not, your enemy is now ours. Help me, so I can help you, please.”
NEREID HAD IGNORED all telepathic messages her superiors had sent her over the last two days. She couldn’t bring herself to show them what she experienced, and became worried that traces of McDowell’s memories might bleed into the engram despite her best efforts to keep it secret. Her superiors and the elders, while their intentions were focused around the preservation of the Undine people, it was achieved by appeasing the needs of the Architect. Earth, humans, the empire, McDowell’s memories, and the development of her unwavering devotion so the Architect could have a Nereid in their ranks, that’s all they cared for, and at one point so did she, until another way out was discovered.
Nereid made up her mind. She wanted to experience freedom for real and not just by reliving old memories from McDowell, and getting Pierce back to his ship was the key to making that happen. She swam to the central palace and took one last glance at the city before she entered, musing if she’d ever see it again. And if she did, will it be a city of a spacefaring species her people once were during the age when the goddess was alive to guide and protect them.
Inside, she paid no mind to the many Undine guards that hovered next to the various hallway entrances she swam through. She arrived at an armory deeper inside, and used her clearance to gain access to a stage two Voelika. Voelika’s resembled a long staff outfitted with cybernetics that enhanced the psionic gifts of the user. Both ends of the staff were decorated with green translucent ornamental sculptures that resembled the wings of a dragon. The sign of the goddess.
The Voelika began to emit orange light as she held onto it, and then strapped it to her back. Her legs and arms furiously stroked and kicked through the waters bringing her body to the holding cell where Pierce had been for the last two days. As she got closer, she noticed several guards swimming through the halls, their heads moving about with a sense of urgency, searching for someone. Probably searching for her she figured, since she ignored all telepathic communications directed to her, and now suddenly arrived at the palace while still refusing to speak with anyone.
To her surprise two guards stood watch over the entrance to Pierce’s holding cell. Two guards that swam over to her holding their Voelika staffs in both hands, obviously ready for combat. “The elders have been looking for you,” one of the guards said telepathically.
“I’m busy,” Nereid said, and tried to push past them.
The Voelika’s of the two guards crossed, forming an ‘X’ in front of Nereid, blocking her path. “They insist you see them at once with your report,” the guard said.
“Later, I must talk with the human,” Nereid said.
“We have orders to arrest you
if you resist. You must report in at once.”
“I don’t have anything new to report.” A lie of course, Nereid hoped they would be stupid enough to believe it. “I may, after I speak with him.”
“You are a poor liar,” said another telepathic mind behind her.
Nereid spun around and saw another Undine guard swim closer to her along with an Architect soldier outfitted with undersea armor. The presence of the Architect forces inside was confirmation that the Architect considered her and Pierce to be top priority in its plans. And it was confirmation that the first engram orb she submitted might have had traces of McDowell’s memories on it after all. And if that was the case then they knew she had critical knowledge of Earth, but with most of it locked away.
“Do not let the human poison your mind with its lies,” the third guard said. “Report everything you have discovered with us at once.”
Nereid looked at the Architect soldier, its breathing apparatus provided it with fresh air to breathe into its helmet. Architect soldiers were always confusing to her, inconsistent. Some didn’t require any breathing devices such as the ones who routinely patrolled the city, while others like the one in front of her, armed with his spear and shield, did require air.
Her unmoving composure forced the third guard to draw his Voelika, while the Architect soldier hid behind his shield and extended the tip of his spear next to her. There were four targets, four weapons pointed at her, and only two options for her to handle the situation. Give up and accept their terms and throw away freedom like the elders had been doing. Or take a stand and fight, as a human would do.
She held her hands out, her Voelika flowed into the palms of them via her telekinesis and a quick and decisive underwater psionic battle ensued. The Architect soldier and the guard with him were pushed backward into the hallways, their bodies becoming slower as she slowed the particles inside of the water around them, causing it to crystallize and freeze. The two remaining guards were dealt with via shattering the barrier protecting Pierce’s cell. It was a calculated risk as rushing water gushed into his place of sanctuary for the last two years. However, the sudden and unexpected flow of water rushing backward into his cell and draining out from the halls threw the two guards off balance. Her psionic barrier prevented the rushing currents from taking her away, her body lunged forward into his cell as the raging waters began to fill it up and wash the two guards around. A telekinetic pull yanked Pierce toward her and into her barrier, seconds before the waters swept him up for good.
She battled her way outside into the city, her psionic powers doing most of the work. Lucky for them, most of the psionic Undine had been assigned to defend the elders, so the battles easily swung in their favor. The tradeoff was, however, the hordes of Architect soldiers from above descending toward them. All of them heavily armed, all of them ready to make her suffer like past Undine that tried to rebel. None of those Undine however had been a Nereid, she was about to find out if her enhanced psionic powers combined with Lyonria modified human genes were enough to fight for freedom.
The intensity of the fight caused Nereid to piece together more fragments of McDowell’s memories. She vaguely began to remember the wormhole he, Pierce, and Kingston had traveled through when they first arrived on this world. Someone that went by the rank Master Chief had contacted him when her mother had psionically mind-controlled McDowell, putting him in a trance.
Time moved slower outside of the time dilation field and therefore the Master Chief should still be on her way to them, trying to follow in their footsteps. Nereid used the might of her mind to move her and Pierce’s bodies through the ocean, up toward the edge of the time dilation field and toward the shallow region of their ocean world where the wormhole resided.
She sensed the temperature of the waters around them increase to extremely hot levels. Hot enough to cause her barrier to flicker as roaring bubbles appeared from the corner of her eye. She looked back and saw the reason why. Architect grunts were behind and closing fast, their lasers were capable of underwater usage and had the effect of heating the temperatures of the water where the beam traveled to a boil. Returning fire at them was not an option. Their escape relied now on her ability to keep the psionic barrier up and her telekinesis pushing them forward and past the blockade of ships above them.
They crossed the barrier and their bodies began to adhere to the new rules of the passage of time, rules that the rest of the universe did. The ships that looked as if they had been in suspended animation began to move swiftly, and their weapons ports opened and took aim at them. Nereid held onto her Voelika tight as it glowed orange, infused with psionic energy, energy that escaped out from the Voelika into her body, enhancing her psionic brain activity. She prepared her barrier for an attack and hoped her brain was up for the new challenge.
22 WILLIAMS
ESRS Carl Sagan, Sickbay
Entering Sirius C system
May 22, 2050, 01:10 SST (Sol Standard Time)
“How are our guests doing?”
Kostelecky directed her attention away from the microscope she was peering into, locking her blue eyes on Williams’. “Recovering and speaking in English apparently, broken but understandable.”
Williams and Kostelecky walked over to EVE’s hologram as she observed the recovering Poniga. “Made progress, EVE?”
“I am only able to translate parts of their language, Commander,” EVE said. “If you wish to speak with them you may, and I will do my best to translate between the two of you.”
“Cool.”
“In addition, Commander, I have reason to believe you may be correct in your assumption that the Lyonria had interbred with these people.” A hologram appeared next to EVE, it had what appeared to be text written in a strange alien language. “This is an example of the Lyonria written language I came across while I accessed their technology in the fortress we discovered.”
Kostelecky held up a piece of paper next to the hologram for Williams to see the side by side comparison. “And this here was one of them trying to write a sugar-coated love letter to us.”
“As you can see, like the language, their written form contains several letters from the Lyonria text. In time, Commander, I may be able to partially translate the data that was recovered from the Lyonria fortress.”
“Good work you two, make that your top priority. Learn any of their names?”
Kostelecky gestured toward a female Poniga. “I call her, vive la résistance.”
“Resistance?” Williams said to the Poniga.
The female nodded in regard to his question as EVE began to translate between the two of them. “Yes, we resist the false teachings of the Architect and perverse the true teachings of the goddess.” EVE’s voice was dubbed over as she spoke. “I am called Eisila.”
“I’m Commander Dominic Williams, pleased to meet you,” he said as EVE translated his statement to Eisila. “So, the Architect, who is this?”
“The Architect are the rulers of this system who have been trying to force us to worship them,” Eisila said. “We know they aren’t gods.” Eisila pointed at the dead soldiers Kostelecky and Williams had looked at earlier. “And you do as well it seems. They tell us lies, that their soldiers are ascended Poniga, and that they have magic that prevents them from dying.”
“The captain of this ship was aboard the ship we rescued you from,” Williams said. “Do you know how she got there?”
“Rebecca?” Eisila said.
“You know her?”
“Myself and my brother, Mavron, met Rebecca and comrades of hers on our home world. She was taken prisoner shortly after we were betrayed by our brothers and sisters.”
“Do you know what happened to the others Rebecca was with?” Williams said.
Eisila frowned as her green eyes filled with sorrow. “Do not know, if they angered the Architect, they may be dead,” Eisila said.
The Carl Sagan hadn’t visited and explored all planets in the system, let alone gathered al
l the data from the many probes that were deployed, leading Williams to believe the Poniga did not originate from the ice world around Sirius B; Foster and her team’s last known location. There was no way a civilization was there according to sensor scans, not to mention its inhospitable environment.
The wormhole was most certainly in play here. If the Lyonria structure and the existence of a wormhole on the Architect’s ship was any indication, it’s that there were possibly more wormholes throughout the system, connecting all worlds in a vast network.
“Commander Williams, please come to the bridge,” Chang’s voice played over the intercom.
Williams shrugged. “Duty calls.”
“These folks need more time to rest anyway,” Kostelecky said as she reviewed information on the cracked screen of her data pad.
“EVE, see if you can get them talking more in the meantime about their written language,” Williams said on his way out. “Being able to interface with Lyonria tech might give us an advantage here.”
ESRS CARL SAGAN, Bridge
Entering Sirius C system
May 22, 2050, 01:29 SST (Sol Standard Time)
Williams entered the bridge and sat on the captain’s chair with a new mind-set.
One he refused to move away from as the Carl Sagan crossed into the third and newly discovered star of the trinary system. The crew needed his leadership and he needed them to perform their jobs at maximum efficiency. He was the captain now until further notice.
“What’s our status?” Williams asked.
“Got a signal incoming,” Chang said, checking his computer terminal. What he read on the screen caused his face to light up. “Commander, it’s from Master Chief Chevallier.”
“What the hell? Location?”
“One moment.” Chang began to check the source of the Master Chief’s signal. “Got it. It’s coming from one of the planets in the system, the signal is weak, but it was definitely coming from there. Scans show it’s a world with no solid land.”
The Siege of Sirius: A Splintered Galaxy Space Fantasy Novel Page 21
