by Isaac Hooke
“Looks like it,” Bender said from the passenger seat.
“Then shield Bright One!” Rade said. “Electron, jet us into place.”
Since the high-speed journey through the passageways had first begun, the Hoplites had drifted apart, leaving Bright One’s vessel exposed; the mechs activated their jumpjets and returned to appropriate defensive positions.
Rade aimed through the top notch of his shield and fired at the three approaching transport pods.
He and the Argonauts quickly disabled the incoming vehicles, and soon the inactive machines floated by, bouncing off of the blurry walls.
In a surprise move, one of the glass cockpits opened up as it passed and a glowing Elder hurled itself at Rade, who was unready in the passenger seat of Electron.
An uncharacteristic sense of terror overcame Rade. He ducked as those bifurcated mandibles attempted to chomp into his helmet, and he rammed the butt of his rifle into the alien’s center of mass, landing a kick at the same instant. The Elder flew backward and Rade leveled his rifle at the thing and squeezed the trigger.
Glowing blood spurted into the air behind the alien like a long spear. The lifeless Elder drifted away down the tunnel, its arms and legs limply trailing along behind it.
Rade sat back, his hands shaking badly.
“I believe you just experienced a psychic attack,” Surus said. “Though on a lesser scale to what I received earlier, since your mind is less compatible with these beings.”
“I was wondering why I felt so afraid,” Rade said.
“The Elder in question would have had to have an extremely powerful mind to achieve any influence over you,” Surus said. “The psi-shielding I developed to protect us against the Black Phants likely spared you from the full force of the assault.”
“There she goes, taking credit for something she can’t be sure of again,” Bender said.
“I take credit only for what I deserve,” Surus said.
“Well what you deserve is dinner when this is done,” Bender said. “My treat. We can dine on some roast T-Rex.”
“I’ll pass,” Surus said.
“What if we went out for French fries instead?” Bender pressed.
“No thanks,” Surus said.
“Milkshake?” Bender asked.
“Nope.”
“Hey Bender, your long game isn’t working out so well with her, is it?” Manic taunted.
“Yeah, shut it,” Bender said. “What do you know about game? You rub your clit in the corner all day.”
“Ha, that’s you you’re talking about,” Manic said.
“Harlequin, ask Bright One how many crew there are,” Lui said. “It feels like the resistance we’ve faced so far is a little weak for a ship this size.”
Despite the massive size of the ship, Bright One wrote, most of the vessel is automated. The organic Elder aboard number only two hundred. Including passengers and crew. With another three hundred machines ready to accept consciousnesses.
“So five hundred in total,” Lui said. “I would have expected at least four or five thousand.”
The walls abruptly solidified, their blur subsiding. Artificial gravity took hold once more and the Hoplites became planted firmly to the deck.
We’ve arrived, appeared the text above Bright One’s pod.
Rade and the others stood before yet another shimmering bulkhead. The surface seemed to flow, as if a thin layer of liquid continuously passed over the metal.
Bright One tentatively extended the hanging tendrils of his transport pod toward the wall; the appendages passed through without issue this time.
It’s clear inside, Bright One wrote. Which is odd. Ordinarily the captain would be present, along with the bridge crew. As well as a security team.
“Except the alien they faced was far from ordinary,” Rade said. “Did Surus ever show you she could incinerate organic matter with a touch?”
She did. We developed some defenses against that: these transport pods are protected, for example, using similar technology to what was supposed to shield the nexus. But the bridge crew would not have inhabited such vehicles, since they did not have the advance warning we expected.
“Despite that Surus specifically told you two years ago that this would happen...” Rade said.
As I mentioned, everything was in order. I checked and rechecked all systems. But with the nexus compromised, there was nothing we could do.
“Wait, if Zhidao is in control, shouldn’t there be guard troops or something here?” Fret said. “More of those machines? Or if he’s run out of those metal minions, I’m sure he could have used subterfuge to trick more of the ordinary Elder into surrounding the place. Zhidao knew we were coming. Why would he let us reach the AI core?”
“At the very least he should have locked us out,” Lui said. “Just like at the last membrane.”
“But he’s seen how easily we can bypass his locks,” TJ said.
“Not to mention how fast we can mow down his minion bitches,” Bender said.
“But still, it would slow us down,” Lui insisted.
“Stinks of a trap,” Tahoe agreed.
“Bender, Manic, enter on the backs of your mechs and clear the place,” Rade said.
A moment later Bender’s distorted voice came over the comm. “It’s clear. Place is dead on all bands, including LIDAR.”
Rade and the others entered with Bright One.
The team resided in a massive compartment. Giant red, floating cages bobbed up and down throughout, reminiscent of buckyballs in the way they formed three-dimensional polygons with several hexagonal and pentagonal faces. The joints were small circles, and the faces themselves were translucent, revealing insides filled with what seemed a yellow liquid. Various shapes floated in that liquid, including collections of tubules and spheres. At the center of each was a large translucent sphere containing a smaller globe nested within.
“Those almost look like animal cells,” Harlequin said. “Disregarding the outer shape, they’re filled with organelles, and even have nuclei.”
“They remind me more of buckyballs,” Manic said.
“You’re both fools,” Bender said. “They’re obviously soap bubbles.”
This is the nexus, Bright One wrote. Our AI core.
“So what do we do?” Rade said. “Randomly fire at these buckyballs?”
Rade aimed his arcing stun rifle at one of the three-dimensional objects and squeezed the trigger. It seemed to have no effect. There was certainly no purple condensation that appeared. And the produced plasma channel didn’t arc. He tried firing at another buckyball, but again nothing happened.
Text appeared above Bright One’s vehicle: Careful. You may damage those who have uploaded their consciousnesses to the nexus.
Rade glanced at the Elder’s pod. “My friend, Zhidao has damaged them already.”
Rade fired one more shot at a random buckyball and then slowly walked forward, scanning the different floating three-dimensional structures.
“I’m not sure it will be obvious which structure Zhidao inhabits,” Surus said. “The buckyballs are big enough to hide the essence of a Phant.”
“If you were a Phant, which one would you possess?” Rade asked her.
“If my understanding of this nexus is correct,” Surus said. “It shouldn’t matter. Possessing one would give access to all.”
“Maybe it’s time for you to interface, then,” Rade said. “If anything, you can tell us where Zhidao is hiding.”
“Let me converse with Bright One for a moment,” Surus said. She dismounted her passenger seat and grabbed the holographic communication device from Harlequin.
“Be quick about it,” Rade said. “We have an asteroid to save.”
The two exchanged a rapid series of messages, and then Surus returned the holographic device to Harlequin and activated her jetpack. She flew between the floating buckyballs.
“The plan is to give Bright One access to the nexus so that I don’t
have to learn everything from scratch,” Surus said. “He has taught me enough to escalate his privileges. In theory.”
She landed on a centrally located buckyball and sat down on top of it.
Rade zoomed in and could see the green drops of the Phant’s native form seeping out of her jumpsuit, leaving behind Ms. Bounty. In moments the liquid intermingled with the yellow fluid inside the buckyball, and then proceeded toward the nucleus, where it vanished.
A message appeared above Bright One’s vehicle a moment later. Surus has obtained control of the nexus, and has upgraded my access privileges. He paused. It appears Zhidao is gone.
He paused again, longer.
Then: We are too late.
“What do you mean?” Rade asked, and Harlequin typed out the question.
Bright One’s reply stunned Rade to the core.
The asteroid has been destroyed by our weapons. There will be no extinction level event.
eighteen
Rade simply stared at Bright One’s pod.
“It was all for nothing,” Fret said. “Zhidao was right. We’re going to have to live out the rest of our days in the past. We can’t return, not now. If we do, as soon as that protective time bubble around the Acceptor vanishes, we’ll cease to exist. He won. Zhidao won.”
“Well that explains why we faced so little resistance getting here,” Lui said. “Zhidao expended most of his units trying to prevent us from reaching the grav elevator in the first place, and once he destroyed the asteroid, he no longer had any need to stay inside the nexus, or to defend it. He’s probably already on his way back to Earth.”
“There has to be something we can do,” Rade said. “Maybe we can lasso in another asteroid and throw it at Earth.”
“From the memories Surus has shared with me,” Ms. Bounty said over the comm from her position on top of the buckyball. “That won’t work. At least, not in the way you expect. There is only a short window of time in place before the universe resets. For the previous timeline to unfold exactly as before, the impact event has to take place within the next three hours, striking the same spot as the original asteroid, with the same energy. Otherwise the universe will reset, and an entirely different future will unfold. There will be no dinosaurs, yes. But there also will be no humans.”
Harlequin transcribed her words for Bright One.
“More paradoxical rules!” TJ said. “Why three hours and not three minutes, or three days, or three years?”
“I didn’t make up the rules,” Ms. Bounty said. “The universe did.”
“Harlequin, ask Bright One if we can lasso an asteroid in time,” Rade said.
I’m sorry, we won’t make the window. The closest suitable asteroid is ten hours away.
“So that’s it,” Fret said. “We’ve truly lost. Humankind will never exist. Love, hate, wars, peace, culture, our expansion to the stars, none of it will ever occur. The future is gone. History is a blank slate.”
“Shut up, you stupid bitch!” Bender said. “We’ll find a way. We always do. Right boss?”
Rade didn’t answer.
“Boss?” Bender pressed.
Rade stared at Bright One. “How long would your vessel take to return to Earth from its current position in the solar system?”
Less than an hour, Bright One wrote. But our weapon systems can’t duplicate the effects of an asteroid impact. Potentially we could attempt to aggravate a few volcanoes, spewing the skies with fumes to simulate the aftermath of the impact, but given what Surus just said, that won’t make history repeat itself.
“No, it won’t,” Rade said. “But I’m talking about something different. Something more drastic. What if we crashed the ship into the planet?”
There was silence across the team as the Argonauts digested Rade’s words.
“Think about it,” Rade said. “The mothership has got to be at least as big as the original asteroid, if not bigger. We’ll have to play with the speed until we match the impact energy, but otherwise, it should work.”
But what of the repercussions to my own kind? Bright one wrote. This could change my people’s future.
Rade glanced at Surus’ host, Ms. Bounty.
“Don’t the Elder have many ships in this region of the galaxy?” Ms. Bounty asked.
Yes.
“Then I believe this won’t have a big impact on the future of the Elder,” Ms. Bounty said. “This is not a key waypoint in your timeline. The universe will absorb the event. It might seem like a big change, but it is equivalent to dropping a boulder into the river of time: there will be perhaps large ramifications in the short term, but far downstream the effects will be negligible, if even noticed at all. Especially if you’re able to evacuate most of your crew.”
I am hesitant to agree to this. I am not certain the repercussions to my kind will be as small as you say: some of us can see these key waypoints you speak of, but I do not possess such power. Even so, you are right, if we can target the same spot on Earth as the asteroid, and alter our speed to mimic the impact energy of the original asteroid as closely as possible, then it could work. I will have Surus begin the necessary calculations in the nexus.
“Wait, such an impact could have ramifications for our own timeline, much farther down the road,” Harlequin said. “I’m not sure I agree with Ms. Bounty. We can’t be absolutely certain the universe will absorb everything. For example, we could be leaving remnants of alien tech on Earth for future archeological digs to uncover.”
Most of the ship will be incinerated, so little technology will survive.
“We already know an Elder transport pod survives,” Lui said. “Otherwise Zhidao would have never learned the Elder were here in the first place.”
This is true. And that cannot be changed, of course.
“What about the layer of Iridium that was cast into the atmosphere from the asteroid impact, forming the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary, a geological signature present as a thin band of rock across the Earth?” Harlequin said. “It will no longer be present. Instead, we’ll have a layer of whatever substance the Elder mothership is composed of.”
I plan to send out a distress signal before impact. Within the next two hundred years, a salvage ship will arrive to collect the survivors, along with whatever wreckage remains of our ship and the technology it contains. I cannot promise we will recover everything, but hopefully it will be enough. When the vessel arrives, we can coat the surface of your world with Iridium via smaller, selective asteroid impacts spread out over many years. It should be enough to disguise those elements dispersed by the impact of the mothership.
My only regret is the loss of so much life aboard this ship. Not of the crew, but of the dinosaurs we have spent so many years collecting. The ark will be ruined. I will try to save as many of the eggs and embryos as possible before impact, by having some of my colleagues load them into free lifepods. But all of the adult specimens will be lost.
“Two hundred years until your salvage ship arrives,” TJ said. “That’s a long time to wait. What will you do in the meantime?”
The lifepods are equipped with hibernation chambers. So, like the eggs and embryos, we will hibernate.
“All right, if we’re going to do this, let’s do it,” Rade said. “Bright One, set a course for Earth and engage when ready.”
There is one small problem. Something I cannot handle from here.
“Oh?” Rade said.
The safety mechanisms of the engines prevent the ship from approaching a planet at too high a speed. You will have to make your way to our equivalent of engineering and disable the safeties. I will teach Surus how to do this.
“Will she be able to come with us?” Rade asked. “Or will you need Surus inside the nexus the whole time?”
No, now that I have control, she can leave as soon as I teach her what she needs to know. I am engaging with her now via my interface to the nexus.
“Good,” Rade said. “As soon as you teach her everything she needs to know, tel
l her to return to her host.”
Several moments passed. Finally a green liquid floated from the nucleus of the buckyball far above, traveled through the interstitial fluid to the outer layer, and then began seeping into the jumpsuit of Ms. Bounty, who still resided on top of the structure.
A moment later Ms. Bounty stood up. “I’m back.” Surus activated her jetpack and thrust down to the passenger seat of her mech, Sprint, who was waiting with the team below.
I just detected a lifepod jettisoning. Given its current trajectory, it will land close to our original launch site. It has to be Zhidao.
“Can you destroy it?” Rade asked.
Done.
“That won’t stop Zhidao,” Surus said. “With the lifepod gone, he’ll still proceed on the same heading and speed toward Earth, and when he impacts, he’ll make his way back to the recall site. He will no doubt repossess Jackal along the way, and use the Centurion to expedite his return to the site. We know that the other two Centurions with him do not make it back, likely succumbing to dinosaur attacks.”
“That’s out of our hands now,” Rade said. “We have a ship to crash.”
I have already set the necessary course and speed, based on Surus’ calculations, Bright One wrote. I have also ordered the surviving Elder aboard to evacuate in the lifepods. Those who have transferred their consciousnesses to the nexus are to proceed to robot bodies and evacuate as well. Hopefully that will mean less resistance for your team on the way to the engineering section.
I have also attempted to ease the restrictions on any membrane hatches along the way. The grav elevator is malfunctioning in the area near engineering—Zhidao’s doing, no doubt. You will have to cross one of the dinosaur environments. The glass passageway leading through said environment has been trampled to a pulp, and my readings tell me there are many carnivores within. So it will be dangerous. Afterwards, Surus will lead your team to the closest evac area outside engineering. I have marked that area as inaccessible to the rest of the crew, so there should be enough lifepods for your team when you arrive.
You have fifty minutes before the engine safeties kick in. And another hour after that before we impact the planet. Using the displacement coordinates Surus provided me with, I have programmed the lifepods closest to the engineering section to land near your recall site. The lifepods will travel much faster than our ship, whose momentum has been tuned to provide an impact energy equivalent to the asteroid, so you will arrive some time before the impact.
