by Isaac Hooke
“I think it’s safe to conclude there was indeed only one,” Harlequin replied. “If this is a device capable of time travel, no Phant would want to be left behind when the timeline changed. Assuming it will change, of course.”
“You dudes seriously believe this bug has the matching Acceptor it needs for time travel?” Bender said.
“While the evidence seems to point to that,” Surus said. “None of us really knows.”
“We can only hope it doesn’t,” Manic said.
“You can, maybe,” Fret said. “But me, I already know this Phant has the Acceptor it needs. Once the Phant reaches that ship, our current timeline will cease to exist. Along with myself, you, and all the Argonauts.”
“Bro, I’m going to kick your morale-leaching ass when we’re back aboard,” Bender said.
“There won’t be any ass left to kick,” Fret said.
“Yeah, no doubt,” Bender said. “You’ll probably shoot it off yourself.”
“Oh-oh,” Lui said. “Looks like we’re going to have to issue evasive maneuvers. They’re firing at us.”
“Who, the shuttles?” Rade said. “I thought we disabled their cobras?”
“No, the Marauders,” Lui said.
“But we took out their weapons systems!” Manic said.
“Partially,” Lui said. “Their Vipers and Hellfire tubes, anyway. But they still have mag-rail point defenses.”
Given the immense speeds those mag-rail slugs traveled at, one hit would completely obliterate a Hoplite: shields, armor, and all.
“Evasive maneuvers,” Rade ordered.
Electron began randomly firing left and right lateral thrusters so that the mech zigzagged as it advanced. The other Hoplites moved similarly. Those maneuvers, in conjunction with the evasive actions of the enemy, made it even more difficult for Electron to acquire a target lock on the engines of the enemy shuttles, and in moments the craft were making docking runs with their respective Marauders.
Rade continued following the yellow-highlighted shuttle. The docking bay doors of the destination Marauder were opening.
“We have to dock with that Marauder before the ship fires its mains,” Rade said. “Activate jumpjets, Argonauts. Full burn!”
Rade squeezed the thrust trigger and let loose. Electron continued automatically zigzagging the Hoplite, though the AI minimized the lateral maneuvers as Rade passed inside the sight lines of most of the point defenses. So far all of the Hoplites had avoided those incoming mag-rail slugs, some of which had begun detonating.
“They’re using explosive slugs,” Harlequin said.
“Nice,” Lui said.
“I finally hit the engines of the target,” Electron announced. “When the craft decelerated to dock.”
“Not that it matters now,” Lui said. “They’ll be able to drift inside on momentum alone.”
Rade kept releasing propellant, accelerating, closing with the shuttle. The target passed inside the Marauder, and the hangar bay doors began to close.
Rade entered a few seconds afterward, his mech easily fitting through the doors. He slammed the reverse thrusters and rammed into the deck hard as the artificial gravity pulled him down; momentum carried him across the polished metal until he smashed into the far bulkhead and bounced off.
Bender’s mech plowed into Rade’s, and Tahoe’s came right after. The other Hoplites similarly crash-landed, forming a pile-up around him. Fret came last, smashing into the bay doors, which had closed to a width slightly narrower than his mech. The Hoplite’s impact tore away one of the bay doors before the mech plowed into the remaining pile-up.
Rade clambered to his feet, attempting to get his bearings in the large hangar bay. Since the target shuttle had no way to reduce its impetus with its engines offline, the craft had similarly crashed into the bulkhead; it had apparently impacted a large telemetry drone upon entry, which had dragged the shuttle off course so that it hit a few meters from Rade.
The lifepod, secured underneath the shuttle by a grappling hook, was open. There was no sign of Jackal.
“Electron, see if you can find Jackal,” Rade said.
“Its comm node is still active,” Electron said.
On the overhead map a dot appeared, moving rapidly into the interior of the ship.
“I’ve taken the liberty of downloading the Marauder Model II blueprints, so that a complete map of the interior is already available,” Electron said.
“Good boy,” Rade said.
He was about to approach the hangar bay’s airlock when the rear ramp of the crashed shuttle fell open. Soldiers in jumpsuits emerged, opening fire.
Rade swung his shield into place and aimed his cobra over the topmost notch. He zoomed out to maximum and centered the targeting reticle over one of the tangos and squeezed the trigger, burning a hole clean through the opponent.
The other Hoplites joined in and the team made short work of the shuttle crew.
Rade hurried to the airlock. It could fit his Hoplite, but just barely.
“We’ll have to pass through one at a time,” Rade said. “TJ, hack in.”
TJ approached. “Give me a moment.”
Rade glanced at the overhead map. Jackal’s dot was still moving deeper into the ship.
“The Phant hasn’t shut down the comm node yet,” Lui commented.
“Maybe it’s a diversion,” Tahoe said.
“Or it could be that the Phant isn’t familiar with our model of Centurion,” Manic said. “The combat robots we faced aboard? They were all Sino-Korean. Some of their components are in different places, including the comm nodes.”
“Then how did it know where to remove Ms. Bounty’s comm node?” Rade asked.
“All Artificials have their comm nodes located in the same area,” Harlequin said. “The sternum.”
Rade gazed at the hatch, waiting for it to open. “TJ...”
“Almost there,” TJ said. “Model IIs aren’t all that different from the Model Is, exploit-wise. And I’ve had a lot of practice, as you know.” The Argonaut was a Marauder Model I.
A moment later TJ said: “Got it.”
The airlock opened and Rade stepped inside. The door sealed behind him; atmosphere rushed within, and then the inner hatch opened. He immediately moved into the passageway beyond.
He encountered resistance immediately in the form of four Centurions, but he terminated them momentarily with his cobra, keeping behind his ballistic shield.
Rade waited until Bender appeared behind him, then proceeded forward.
“We’re going ahead,” Rade said. “Bender, watch my six. The rest of you, join us as you’re able.” The others would come as fast as the airlock allowed them, Rade knew.
He advanced down the tight passageway, pursuing Jackal’s dot. The shoulders of his mech occasionally scraped the bulkheads on either side, and his metal head sometimes dinged the overhead, even though he was essentially crouching. It was very claustrophobia inducing. Fortunately he was accustomed to claustrophobia, having spent a career cooped up inside the cockpits of mechs.
Defenders occasionally engaged, either Sino-Korean Centurions, or human crew members, usually in jumpsuits. The enemy took cover behind bends in the passageway, or in scuttles, or side hatches. Rade was occasionally forced to dig in behind his shield, but usually for no longer than ten to twenty seconds. Thus he was quickly able to make his way forward, heading toward Jackal’s dot marked on his overhead map.
Breach seals often blocked his path, and at first Rade had to tap in TJ to open them. TJ’s experience with the Argonaut was paying dividends, because after the third door TJ was able to grant Rade root access to the seal system, and Rade was able to override the doors by transmitting a passcode each time.
The dot representing Jackal came to a halt in a rather expansive chamber the blueprints labeled cargo bay three.
Rade faced the greatest resistance yet as he approached that compartment; ten combat robots forced him backward, and he took cover aroun
d the nearest bend. He aimed his scope past and picked off the robots in turn. Bender joined him, crawling his mech underneath Rade’s so that he could fire at the same time.
In about thirty seconds, Rade and Bender had reduced the opposing Centurions to rubble.
“I’m guessing they weren’t expecting us to bring our mechs in here,” Bender said.
“Probably not.” Rade squeezed around the bend and hurried forward.
He reached the compartment and tried the door override code that TJ had sent him. It worked the first time.
Rade hurried inside, cobra and shield at the ready.
“You’re too late,” Jackal taunted. The robot stood on an Acceptor that dominated the middle of the compartment. The Centurion was still wearing a jumpsuit, but the fabric was covered in black and green stains, with several rips and gashes of varying sizes marring it. The faceplate was smashed, and a large, toothlike bone protruded from the rear of the helmet.
Rade immediately fired his cobra at the AI core in the chest region of the robot.
Jackal stumbled backward off the Acceptor and collapsed onto the deck.
From the neck region of the jumpsuit, purple droplets oozed forth, dripping into the metal floor.
Rade rapidly disembarked, swinging down to the storage compartment in the leg region of his mech, and removed the arcing stun rifle. He aimed at Jackal, but there was no further sign of the Phant.
Damn thing does move fast.
Rade fired anyway. No Purple liquid bubbled forth.
He surveyed the room, searching for signs of the entity. Nothing.
He returned his attention to the Acceptor.
It looked like any other: a thick, wide disk engraved with Fibonacci swirls, except the metal was tinted red rather than the usual gray.
In front of the Acceptor, a thick pedestal that reached about a meter high held a pyramidal object that Rade assumed was the Time Selector Surus had spoken of. He had seen it once, four years ago, but the memory was vague; even so, it seemed likely that was the stolen artifact. It had been placed into a square notch on top of the pedestal.
Rade spotted several brick-like charges attached to the Acceptor. There were enough explosives there to carve a big hole into the ship.
He hurried to the device and scraped the explosives off one by one, tossing them in turn to Bender.
“Get rid of these!” Rade told him.
Bender threw the charges down the passageway as he received them.
When Rade had removed the last of the explosive bricks, he slumped. He had been extremely lucky those charges hadn’t gone off. Jackal likely intended to detonate them, and if Rade had hesitated even an instant before shooting down the combat robot, likely the Acceptor, and he himself, would have been lost in the blast.
One of the rare times the universe was on my side.
The other members of the team arrived and formed a long line crowding outside the compartment. The mechs on either flank took up guard positions out there.
“What do you want to do with these charges?” Manic asked.
Rade glanced at the overhead map, and saw that Manic’s mech was standing right above the explosive bricks that Bender had tossed from the compartment.
“We could get TJ to try disabling them via the remote interfaces?” Lui said.
“I’d rather not,” TJ said. “Hacking a door is one thing. But an explosive? I’ll be honest with you, there’s a good chance I’d set it off.”
“I can do it,” Bender said.
“No,” Rade said. “Manic, collect them with Lui, and make your way back to the hangar bay. Dump them into space.”
“Roger that,” Manic said.
“Let me through,” Surus said.
The Hoplites in front of her moved farther down the outside passageway, clearing the entrance for Surus.
Her mech, Sprint, joined Rade and Bender in the compartment shortly.
She disembarked her Hoplite and examined the pedestal. Then her eyes drifted to Jackal.
“Is this how you found him?” Surus said, approaching the fallen Centurion. “With his jumpsuit covered in stains, and the faceplate smashed?” She removed the tooth fragment from Jackal’s helmet.
“Yes,” Rade said.
“Did the robot say anything to you before you shot it down?” Surus asked.
“It said: ‘You’re too late,’” Rade told her.
Surus frowned behind her faceplate, then dropped the tooth.
“The Sino-Koreans mercenaries have surrendered,” Fret announced.
“What?” Rade said. “Why?”
“I don’t know,” Fret said. “I’ll ask them.”
“It’s because we’re badass, that’s why,” Bender said.
“It’s likely the AI core of the ship is unshielded,” Harlequin said. “Perhaps the Phant has taken control.”
“And the crew has only now realized the error of their ways?” Tahoe said.
“Exactly,” Harlequin said.
“Then it’s a good thing we’re in control of the hatches,” Rade said, glancing at TJ.
“Yes,” TJ said. “But if the Phant is in control of the AI, eventually we’ll have to get off the ship. It could fly us wherever it wants. Into the corona of a star...”
Rade checked the tactical display, but it had gone dark. He was hoping to remain in contact with the Argonaut and Shaw, but obviously the thick hull occluded his signal. He tried anyway.
“Shaw, do you read? Shaw?”
Nothing.
“Okay, they gave me an explanation for their surrender,” Fret said. “But it’s a weird one. They say we’re no longer in human space.”
“Huh?” Bender said. “Da hell you talking about?”
Fret’s mech held up a hand. “Wait. Okay, they’re telling me the planets and constellations are the same. Yet the vessels and bases in the system have all changed. They’re of a design the Sino-Koreans don’t recognize. They believe the system is now controlled by aliens.”
Bender’s mech doubled over with laughter. “Sino-Koreans! Lui, you guys crack me up. The system is suddenly controlled by bugs. That’s hilarious.”
“They also say we’ve attracted the attention of some of these aliens ships,” Fret continued. “Several are inbound. They’ve received what appear to be communication signals, but the contents are gibberish.”
“Ask the captain if he can tap me in to the Argonaut,” Rade said. “I’ll need Shaw to confirm.”
Fret paused.
“Well?” Rade said after several moments of silence.
“Boss,” Fret said. “This can’t be right.”
“What?” Rade said. “What is it?”
“According to the captain, the ships that were with us aren’t there anymore either,” Fret said. “The Argonaut, and the other Marauders, are gone.”
five
Rade wasn’t sure how to answer that. “What does he mean, they’re gone?”
“Exactly that,” Fret said. “They’ve simply vanished, along with all other human ships and bases in the system.”
“Have the captain feed the data my way,” Surus said. “I would like to take a look for myself.”
“So would I,” Lui said. He had returned with Manic from dumping the explosives out the hangar bay.
“Done,” Fret said.
Surus nodded a moment later. “Interesting.”
She returned to the pyramidal object on the pillar. She removed her glove and touched it with her bare hand. Rade saw the green droplets of her Phant essence form around the artificial skin; some of the liquid appeared to seep into the device and vanish.
The green fluid sweated to the surface of the artifact shortly thereafter and was reabsorbed into Ms. Bounty’s skin.
She withdrew her hand and donned the glove.
“Those aren’t aliens out there,” Surus said.
“What do you mean?” Tahoe said.
“They’re the new inhabitants of Earth, who have expanded to occupy
this region of space,” Surus said.
“The new inhabitants of Earth?” Lui said.
“Yes,” Surus said. “The Purple traveled back in time, and somehow its actions resulted in humanity never evolving. I’ve examined the last teleportation point. It was Earth, sixty-five million years ago, near the end of what your scientists call the Cretaceous Period. If I was a betting woman, I would guess the so-called aliens out there are actually the descendants of the dinosaurs.”
“But all the dinosaurs died out at the end of the Cretaceous,” Tahoe said.
“Yes, but evidently not anymore,” Surus said.
Rade stared at the Acceptor. “We have to go back. We have to stop the Phant.” It was the only way to save Shaw and the twins. And the rest of humanity, of course.
“Wait, I thought these teleporters needed destination Acceptors in order to function?” TJ said. “You can’t just teleport willy-nilly somewhere. Wouldn’t that mean a target Acceptor would have to be placed on Earth sixty-five million years ago?”
“That is only partially true,” Surus said. “A target Acceptor needs to be in place, yes, but it can be an ordinary Acceptor. The source Acceptor can also function as the destination Acceptor, but in this case that wouldn’t be of much use, as the Purple would have appeared in deep space.
“Once the target Acceptor is in place on the destination planet, and the number of years to travel backward in time is entered, the system calculates the necessary position in space-time, accounting for the expansion of the universe, the rotation of the galaxy, and the revolution of the sun and the planets around it, and then teleports the contents of the disk to the destination.”
“So you’re saying there is no actual Acceptor at the destination, sixty-five million years in the past, right?” Fret said. “And instead it was placed on Earth in the present time?”
“That’s right,” Surus said.
“Then how does one get back to the present after traveling back in time?” Lui asked.
“The system is programmed to automatically recall the travelers after a chosen interval, for example twenty four hours,” Surus said. “However, the time travelers have to be at the target site when the interval has passed if they hope to return.”
