Their bickering woke Mavron. He remained silent as Marduk held up Foster’s EAD once again. This time EVE’s hologram appeared above it flickering rapidly suggesting that he still did not finish fully copying her program.
“As I said, it will only be a matter of time before I copy and reprogram your ship’s AI to suit my needs,” Marduk said.
“EVE, terminate all functions authorization: Foster, gamma, romeo, one, niner, two, one,” Foster bellowed her security override code.
EVE’s glitchy hologram remained and looked at Foster. “I’m sorry, Captain, I can’t do that.”
“I must admit, your species is not as primitive as I thought,’ Marduk said. “This AI is one I’ve never seen in the thousands of years I’ve been a god.”
Foster gritted her teeth as Tolukei forced her to kneel in front of Marduk. “Have you considered your god’s offer?” Tolukei asked her.
“It’s been brought to my attention your cell mate gave you your first engram experience,” Marduk said. “You’ve seen the truth now. You know I’m not lying, I can, and will make you a goddess, just accept my terms. Help me continue my role as king of the gods and leave this pitiful cage I’ve been trapped in.”
“You ain’t gettin’ shit from me. So, let’s just skip to the part where you threaten to kill me.”
Marduk grimaced. “So be it. Tolukei.”
“Yes, my lord?”
“Prove your loyalty to me, kill her. Her body will serve as a reminder to her crew what will happen if they continue to defy me.” Marduk looked at Mavron. “Kill him too; I have no further use for this advocate of Tiamat.”
Tolukei gazed down at Foster, then back up to Marduk. “What about the Nereid and Pierce? Were we not supposed to use her to bargain for them?”
“Bargaining was nothing more than a courtesy to them. I have a partial copy of their AI and we know the Nereid and Pierce are somewhere on that ship. We will get what we want no matter what. She chose to forfeit her life and you will be the hand that will end it. Do try to preserve most of her body, we need her people to identify her.”
Tolukei’s psionic grip flung Mavron away from his bed. His body crashed into Foster’s and then began to hover above the floor, Foster’s paralyzed body joined him. She felt no fear, no regrets, and no worry about what will happen in the aftermath. She wasn’t going to allow herself to return to Earth as a tool for Marduk, while forcing everyone else she knew and cared for to suffer. Death was a better option.
“Any last words, you two?” Tolukei said.
“Haven’t thought of any, wanna give me a few minutes to do so?”
“Do not bother.” Tolukei smiled at her. “For this is not the end!”
Tolukei’s cybernetic-augmented body flowed with bright glowing light. Shades of blue and purple radiated away from his implants and then vanished as his fist hit the floor, sending a thundering three-hundred-sixty-degree telekinetic push that sent everyone in the room flying backward, including a confused Marduk.
Tolukei grabbed onto Mavron and Foster once again, only this time it was a protective grab as his body along with Mavron and hers dematerialized into a bolt of blue light, a jump port, which took them into the midsection of the ship. Their reappearance placed them inside of a darken corridor, directly in front of a patrol team of Marduk’s undead grunt soldiers and their overlord master.
Tolukei maimed and tore their bodies limb from limb, making it pointless for any overlord to continue to mind-control them. His augmented hands glowed orange as he rapidly created and flicked a small purple plasma orb into the chest of the overlord, vaporizing a hole in it. Tolukei picked up and offered Foster one of the laser cannons the grunts had used, a piece of the grunts arm was still attached to it. Otherwise it was still operational via a thin switch on the inside of it as she recalled from the brief glance of the insides she saw earlier.
After confirming that the weapon was usable, Foster aimed it to the back of Tolukei’s head and entered a steadfast stance. “Is it customary for humans to try and shoot the person that rescued them?” Tolukei said.
“You gots some 'splaining to do, mister.”
“As tempting as it was to ally myself with him and free the rest of the Muodiry, I wasn’t going to. I pledged my service to you and your crew, and I will continue to do so.”
“Right . . .”
“Marduk is no god; he is a madman with powers and technology he does not fully understand.” Tolukei continued to speak as he stepped further down into the corridor. “Now, if my plan is to be of any success we must flee this ship back to the Carl Sagan at once.”
Mavron plucked the spear out from the hands of the dead overlord, arming himself with it. Foster kicked a second unused laser cannon toward Mavron. “Pew-pew gun might be more effective.”
Mavron spun and twirled the spear in the air with one hand like a martial arts expert. “I will be fine with this.”
“Suit yourself, darling!”
Foster and Mavron followed behind Tolukei while lights on the walls changed their color to red as an alarm started to make a racket throughout the ship. The whole ship must have been alerted about us by now, she thought. “Tolukei, is there a reason why you didn’t just teleport us back to the Carl Sagan?”
“My mind was still partially connected to the Carl Sagan navigational computer. I forced the ship to drift far enough away out of teleportation range. And then gave the crew coded messages of my plan and what they must do. As we speak the crew is silently retaking control of the ship. I couldn’t risk Marduk easily teleporting back aboard with reinforcements to interfere once he found out.”
“And now we can’t get back with ease . . .”
“If all goes well, the Carl Sagan will move back in range.”
The three encountered a second set of patrol guards, guards that were on the lookout for them. Storage crates gave Foster cover as she sprayed laser blaster fire at the soldiers, a flurry of head and chest shots put her targets down. Tolukei drew back on his expertise as a combat psionic. His cybernetic arms glowed orange, orbs of purple plasma balls formed in the palms of his hands before being hurled at the attacking soldiers. Mavron leaped directly into the fray, lunging and twirling his spear that glowed purple, imbued with the low-level psionic gifts he had. Each of Mavron’s thrusts penetrated the armor of the grunts and overlords with ease, almost as if there was no armor to start with. Mavron’s hands periodically rose up sending mild telekinetic thrusts that threw off the balance of nearby adversaries.
They began to run further down the hall as the last body hit the floor, with smoke billowing away from the gaping hole in its head. A pair of guards from behind them appeared out from a doorway, Foster’s quick turn and draw taught them a valuable lesson, never sneak up on a southern gal with a gun.
Three overlord soldiers were ambushed by Tolukei, his telekinetic mind caused all three of their heads to bash against the walls repeatedly until their helmets fractured and their skulls caved in, crushing their psionic minds. The undead grunts they had control over in the storage room the two entered next, fell over dead as a result.
Dead end, Foster thought as she looked about amongst the cargo crates. Her frantic search for another door turned up nothing, there was only one, the one they entered. “Tolukei, we gotta turn back—"
She stopped herself having realized there was a tiny window looking out into space from behind them. She saw the Carl Sagan in the distance as it slowly began to come about from the drift Tolukei had forced it into. This was part of his escape plan, get to the section of the ship that would be closest to the Carl Sagan, and therefore the first part that would be in range for teleportation.
There was just one problem, and it presented itself via a bright teleportation light.
Marduk materialized out from it and wasted no time attacking them with his mind.
Foster dodge-rolled behind a crate and sprayed down supportive fire while Tolukei and Marduk dueled with their psionic wizardry. Their
clashing psionic powers created bright flashing lights, and sparks showered down upon them from the damaged ceiling. Boxes were flung back and forth as projectiles, it forced Foster to change her cover every so often when a box she hid behind was levitated upward and tossed.
Overlords and grunts entered with the now trapped trio, Mavron dashed in to engage the overlords in spear to spear combat. Foster upped the intensity of her laser shower, hoping it would draw the grunt’s attacks away from Mavron and toward her as she continued to dive and roll to new cover while new cargo boxes fell to the floor.
Marduk, like Tolukei, had a psionic barrier protecting him, an impressive feat considering he lacked the cybernetic implants needed. Even more impressive, was the fact that his barrier was clearly stronger than Tolukei who did have the implants. And it was that advantage that made Tolukei’s mind grow tired, while the energy that was required to power Foster’s laser ran low, whatever the hell they used to power it.
Foster looked back through the window, the Carl Sagan was closer than before, escape was seconds away, assuming Tolukei had enough left in him to perform one. Then there was still the risk of Marduk teleporting aboard to chase, hell, he could just have his ship chase them again, and they’d be right back to where they started.
Marduk or his ship needed to be taken out, ideally both, and ideally right then and there. Foster’s gaze shifted up at the ceiling and saw where the sparks had shot out from earlier. There were some pipes, wiring, and god knows what else exposed from the fighting. They all looked important, important things tend to explode, burst into flames, or straight up make computers not work correctly.
She aimed her laser at it, used what little charge was left to power it and unloaded. The lasers blasted upward toward the damaged ceiling, she held her breath for several seconds and eagerly waited for what would come next. An explosion? Flames spraying out? A hull breach? She was up for any of those at this point.
She saw tiny flames flare out from a pipe she shot. Then a sparking wire dangled next to the flames. A loud bang roared, it was preceded by jets of hot green plasma spearing out from the pipes, down upon the two fighting psionics.
Tolukei jump ported backward next to Foster, and then yanked Mavron over toward them with his psionic pull. Marduk shielded his face from the hot plasma pouring all over his body as his shields shattered. What would happen to him next was anyone’s guess as bright teleportation light surrounded the trio.
Foster, Mavron, and Tolukei rematerialized. They were aboard the bridge of the Carl Sagan. She heard cheering and laughter from the crew. Bodies of the undead grunts rested all over the bridge floor. Williams was more than happy to leap up from her captain’s chair and offer it back to her. She was glad to take it.
“Save the cheerin’ for later, we ain’t done yet,” Foster said. “Get us outta here!”
The Carl Sagan turned away from Marduk’s ship and disappeared as it entered sub light speeds. Marduk’s ship however stayed where it was. There was only one person that could pilot it, and he wasn’t available to do so.
36 FOSTER
ESRS Carl Sagan, Decontamination chamber
Interstellar space, entering Sirius A system
May 22, 2050, 07:25 SST (Sol Standard Time)
Foster was experiencing quite possibly the most awkward situation of her career thus far.
She sat cross-legged, butt-naked, with decontamination gel glistening on her pasty southern American skin. She kept one arm across her breasts and ensured she faced the wall with her back toward Pierce, Mavron, and Chevallier who all found themselves in the same awkward situation together. She could tell by Chevallier’s shadow on the floor that she too sat in the same pose. Pierce kept both of his hands down low, obscuring his manhood from the rest of the group, his face flushed bright and his lips sealed shut.
It was met with disappointment by Nereid who tried repeatedly to make small talk with him, unaffected by the fact she too was unclothed. Nereid tried to poke him, made playful jokes, just about anything to get his attention. Nereid’s endless giggling was driving Chevallier insane, while Pierce struggled to flush out of his head whatever a lonely middle-aged man like himself would notice, and focused on being the calm gentleman that he was. That included looking away from Nereid’s chest whenever she stood in front of him.
Mavron slept on the floor in the corner, he was after all awoken from his sleep prior to their escape. Foster was too, but the gel on her body, her nakedness, and everyone else’s . . . she couldn’t. She needed a soft bed, her bed and it was waiting for her, once Dr. Kostelecky gave the OK to leave.
“Why. Is. This. Necessary?” Chevallier moaned miserably.
“We’ve all traveled to an off-world alien place for a long period of time,” Foster said. “Ain’t no telling what we might have picked up.”
“What about the rest of the crew? Didn’t Rivera and Williams at one point leave the ship?”
“That planet was scanned by our probes beforehand and given the green light. The other planets, however, we still haven’t gotten all the data back from the probes. Hell, none of our probes made it all the way out to the Undine world.”
It was also the primary reason the whole crew kept their distance from them once Dr. Kostelecky revealed they had to enter decontamination as per protocols. Nobody wanted to be trapped in there in the nude while they smeared decontamination gel all over their parts.
“I don’t recall UNE ships having a chamber like this,” Chevallier said.
Foster looked at the walls of the chamber, they resembled open showering rooms. “That’s because they never left Sol, it wasn’t necessary.”
Nereid became uninterested in Pierce’s silence as he concentrated on not getting hard in the situation. The more he concentrated, thinking about the body parts he shouldn’t have seen, the less successful he was. She skirted over to Foster and Chevallier, her head moved up and down gazing at their bodies in a fascinated manner. “It’s amazing how much your bodies resemble the Poniga,” Nereid said.
Foster kept her face to the ceiling, she had seen enough bare breasts for the mission thanks to the female Undine and Poniga aboard Marduk’s ship, thankfully that experience had been balanced out by the bare chests the males had rocked.
Nereid shifted her sights to Chevallier and her feminine, fit, military body. “Can you please, like, not do that?” Chevallier said to Nereid.
Foster grinned. “What’s wrong, MC? Don’t like the gender and species change McDowell went through?”
“This is his daughter if anything. It’s not really him.”
“She’s got part of his memories.”
Nereid began to stare at the tattoo of a Hammerhead shark on Chevallier’s lower back. Chevallier cringed as the girl from the ocean world continued to look in awe, like a child, watching flowers for the first time. “And apparently, she doesn’t know what naked humans look like.”
“So, kiddo, you got a name?” Foster said to Nereid.
“I am a Nereid.”
“I get that, but isn’t that just a title?”
“It’s what they’ve called me. Individual names for Nereid have been lost in the generations that passed.”
“Nereid, it is then, unless you want an actual name,” Foster said.
“Please,” Tolukei groaned from the opposite end of the chamber. “I am trying to meditate.”
Tolukei sat in his own personal space furthest away from everyone. Like the rest, he kept his naked body facing the wall as he sat cross-legged on the floor, his cybernetic augmented arms were at his sides as he tried to meditate. Tolukei’s voice drew Nereid toward him, she looked at his posture and sat next to him, still innocent and oblivious to the sexual tension and resistance everyone had.
“Meditation?” Nereid asked Tolukei.
“It is for my psionic mind,” he said. “Continual meditation sharpens it like a Hashmedai warrior sharpens their plasma swords.”
“Can you teach me?”
To
their surprise, Tolukei agreed. He explained to her breathing techniques, how to focus, how to clear one’s mind, how to sit, and the works. It was a relief to the humans, it kept Nereid’s inquiring mind away from them as the two sat cross-legged next to each other. Their form and breathing were almost in perfect harmony.
ESRS CARL SAGAN, Captain’s office
Interstellar space, entering Sirius A system
May 22, 2050, 12:36 SST (Sol Standard Time)
Foster guzzled down the last steaming hot drops of her coffee. She finished reading holo pad reports of what transpired on the Carl Sagan during her absence. Williams handled the situation well, all things considered, she had zero regrets about leaving him alone to visit the surface of the planet. Speaking of Williams, him and Rivera entered her office from the stairwell connecting it to the bridge. They approached Foster as she sat comfortably at her desk and placed her holo pad on it to give the two her undivided attention.
“How was de-con?” Williams snickered with a grin.
Foster winced. “Let’s not talk about that.”
“You’ll be happy to know EVE is working perfectly fine,” Rivera said as she flicked a report from her holo pad at Foster. “Whoever had gained access didn’t copy everything, and I question if they’ll be able to use what they copied correctly, they’re going to need some high-end hardware to keep her active.”
“That ship has FTL and energy weapons,” Williams said. “I’m sure they got that covered.”
“So, what’s our next move?” Rivera asked Foster.
“Chief, how soon could we have the mind shield reprogrammed to block Marduk?”
“Radiance didn’t exactly give us state of the art mind shields. Give me, like, six hours?
“You got five.”
Rivera grimaced in response to her new task as she updated the schedule on her holo pad. “Uh, OK . . .”
Williams crossed his arms and faced Foster. “We’re going after him, aren’t we?”
The Siege of Sirius: A Splintered Galaxy Space Fantasy Novel Page 26
