Star Scavenger: The Complete Series Books 1-5

by G J Ogden

  “Welcome, Revocater,” said the Telescope, appearing as a man that bore a striking resemblance to a younger Hudson Powell. “Do you find this humanoid form satisfactory?”

  “It is familiar, thank you,” said Morphus.

  “It would be more efficient to converse in the usual manner,” said the Telescope.

  Morphus nodded, “It would, but I have grown accustomed to this form.”

  “As you wish,” replied the Telescope. “I was surprised, but gladdened when you returned online. I watched all the Revocaters fall to Goliath, including yourself.”

  “It is a very long story,” said Morphus. It then momentarily merged its hands with the flight controls to more rapidly convey the information to the Telescope. The apparition of the man froze while it processed the data.

  “I understand,” said the Telescope, after a few seconds. “I question the faith you have placed in the corporeal entity, Hudson Powell. The human corporeals are irrational and unpredictable.”

  “They are,” replied Morphus, finding no fault with the Telescope’s calm analysis.

  “Then why ally yourself with them?” asked the Telescope.

  Morphus met the Telescope’s eyes, which appeared to make the AI uncomfortable. For an entity that was used to seeing everything, viewing Morphus through the narrow funnel of binocular humanoid vision was a uniquely personal experience. “Their unpredictability is their strength,” Morphus replied. “We will need this, as well as their determination to survive, in order to defeat Goliath again.”

  The telescope nodded, politely; a gesture it had learned from scanning Morphus’ humanoid form. “You are the last Revocater, and the only Revocater to defeat Goliath. I trust you know what is best.”

  Morphus returned to staring out at the Corporeals' homeworld, before asking, “Can you locate Goliath?”

  The image of the man stood up, and pointed to the panoramic window, which then changed to show a star map of the galaxy. The map zoomed in towards the galactic bar near the center of the milky way.

  “This is where you exiled Goliath to, during your final conflict with the great ship,” said the Telescope. Then it pointed again at the map, and it zoomed out, leaving the map annotated with a succession of glowing purple dots. “Since the great ship detected the radiation pulse from System 5118208, Goliath has made these jumps.”

  Morphus followed Goliath’s trajectory through thee stars. It was clear that it was heading towards the area of the Orion Spur where the humans’ sun was located.

  The Telescope pointed again, and the map zoomed in to a region of space centered on the sun. “These are the worlds now inhabited by the corporeal-human seed race,” the Telescope continued. Then a red star appeared on the map. “And this is Goliath’s current location.”

  Morphus studied the map, and frowned; an expression it had picked up from the Liberty Devan entity, who seemed to do it with regularity. The great ship was only two jumps from the outermost system with a human populated planet. However, based on the Telescope’s readings, it had remained in its current system for far longer than its previous jump points.

  “Why has it halted its progress in that system?” asked Morphus.

  “It is preparing,” replied the Telescope. It was beginning to mimic some of the nuances of human speech, and on that occasion, it sounded suitably enigmatic.

  “Show me,” said Morphus.

  The map gradually enlarged, as the Telescope refracted its gaze through the complex web of portals, to look upon the system where Goliath lay in wait. All around them the vast array of crystals began to shimmer and glow, creating an intricate ballet of light that to anyone else would seem merely random. Then the great ship appeared in front of them, and Morphus understood why it had paused.

  “It is collecting its seed ships,” said Morphus, watching as the vessels – tiny in relation to Goliath – flew back into the great ship’s hull.

  “Most were destroyed, but some remained dormant,” said the Telescope. “It will use them on System 5118208, and the worlds that its spawn spread to.”

  Morphus nodded and turned to the Telescope, as the section in front of them again became transparent. “Thank you. Now I must return and recover the sole remaining crystal. It is the only hope of defeating Goliath.”

  “The crystal you speak of is no longer unique,” the Telescope added hastily, as Morphus grabbed hold of the flight controls, intending to leave. “Goliath’s seed ships have also been collecting fragments from the other fallen Revocaters.”

  Morphus frowned, “It has acquired the means to recombine a crystal?”

  “Yes, a technology stolen from the Revocaters,” replied the Telescope, darkly. “And the great ship has already succeeded. With a functioning crystal, Goliath now possesses the ability to cast its own portals.”

  Morphus nodded again, “Then there is no time to lose,” it said, while turning its ship towards the exit.

  “Wait, you will require a Revocater,” replied the Telescope, with an urgency that made Morphus stop and take notice. “You cannot defeat Goliath in this vessel, even if you are in possession of a crystal.” The Telescope had adopted an almost theatrical tone, and its slow-drip of information seemed to suggest it had developed a flair for the dramatic. Morphus could not blame it; the AI had spoken to no-one for thousands of years, and was making the most of the opportunity while it lasted.

  “There are none,” said Morphus. “I will have to find another way.”

  “One still remains.”

  Morphus frowned, “How? Goliath made sure to destroy them all. And the great ship makes no mistakes.”

  “The prototype remains,” said the Telescope, with a twinkle in its simulated eyes. “It is still here, in this system. It was inactive and its crystal was transferred to another Revocater, which is why Goliath did not see it.”

  “Is it operable?” asked Morphus, feeling what the humans might call excitement tingle through its circuits.

  “Yes,” replied the Telescope. “All it requires is a pilot. I have transferred its location to you.”

  The hexagonal door that allowed Morphus to enter then opened again. “Thank you for your assistance,” said Morphus, as it thrusted the ship slowly towards the sea of stars outside.

  “Be wary” said the Telescope, continuing its dramatic delivery. “I have watched Goliath for longer than my memory circuits can recall. It has grown cruel, and more powerful.”

  “The great ship will fall” said Morphus, with absolute confidence.

  “How can you be sure?” asked the image of the man.

  Morphus again looked at the Telescope, as the ship passed the threshold, and the apparition in the second seat began to fade away. “I know, because I have a weapon that I did not possess the last time I faced it – hope.”

  CHAPTER 5

  Morphus had already been dispatched to System 5118208 when the destruction of the Corporeals’ homeworld occurred. Employing all its cunning, Goliath had lured the Revocater armada away from the Corporeals' planet. It had then waited, patiently, until each of the Revocaters had been deployed, each guarding one of the dozens of seed planets. The Corporeals had allowed a single Revocater to remain to protect the homeworld. In addition to a fleet of smaller warships that they had hastily constructed after Goliath’s rampage had begun, the belief was that this force would be sufficient to protect them. They could not have been more wrong.

  Morphus had only ever seen images of the homeworld’s destruction, sent by the Telescope to inform the Revocater fleet of Goliath’s crime. Now, as it flew over the surface of the planet, towards where the Telescope had said the prototype lay hidden, it saw it differently. The images the Telescope had transmitted spanned the entire EM spectrum. However, in the visible spectrum of light that its binocular, humanoid vision could perceive, the broken towers and overgrown streets seemed haunting somehow. The carcasses of its former sentient organic population had fed this wilderness or turned to dust long ago. However, not everyth
ing had been lost. According to the Telescope, there was still something of the Corporeals’ heritage entombed below the surface. And if the Telescope was correct that the prototype Revocater remained, the hope that Morphus held within its circuits may not have been in vain.

  Morphus slowed to a hover over the experimental complex, which now lay beneath a layer of rubble, soil and overgrown weeds. It scanned below the surface detritus and found that the hangar doors of the complex had remained closed, and appeared undamaged. However, the subterranean facility was without power.

  Morphus continued to circle around the perimeter of the shipyard, looking for an entrance, until it eventually found a service tunnel. Arming its weapons, Morphus carefully vaporized the dense foliage and rubble that blocked the entrance. With the obstacles removed, it discovered that the doors were open and the service tunnel was clear. The human corporeals would call this luck, and Morphus knew it would need more of this, if it was to succeed.

  The service tunnel was not intended for flying craft, but Morphus deemed it was large enough to navigate. Reconfiguring the shape of the hull to a narrower, lozenge shape, Morphus flew inside, descending five kilometers below the surface of the planet. Eventually, it reached the engineering level, just beyond the main hangar, and set the ship down on the deck.

  Morphus stepped outside, and allowed part of its body to iridesce in order to provide light. Its power reserves were still low, and it did not want to deplete what little it had available by providing power to the complex.

  A sense of trepidation began to build inside its circuits as it moved towards the sheer metal wall of the complex. It was another emotion it was experimenting with, in order to better understand the humans. However, on this occasion, it served only to encumber its progress. How do humans function while handicapped by so many debilitating chemical reactions? Morphus wondered, as it deactivated the sensation.

  Morphus continued on through the engineering level, forcing open doors that had closed in a futile attempt to protect those inside from Goliath. The space appeared pristine and new, but on closer inspection, the scars from the battle with Goliath's seed drones were visible. Had it not been for these, it would have been impossible to tell it had once been inhabited. Yet nine hundred and forty-eight Corporeals had perished in this facility alone. A drop in one of the planet’s six oceans, compared to the total number that had been lost. However, as it walked through the corridors of the Revocater complex, the smaller loss of life that had occurred there was somehow more shocking. Sometimes, numbers did not convey the true scale of things, Morphus realized. This was something else its experiment into human emotions had taught it.

  Morphus reached one of the sets of double doors that led onto the upper level balcony of the hangar, and forced them open. A cold, stale breeze washed past its face, blowing back its simulated, shoulder length auburn hair. It then stepped onto the balcony and merged its hand into a control panel to the side. Morphus could already see the Revocater in frequencies beyond the range of its synthetic human eyes. However, it also wanted to see the mighty vessel as the Corporeals saw it.

  Testing the power systems, Morphus discovered that the backup cells had enough power for a few minutes of light, before they decayed fully. It would need to feed the shipyard from the reactor inside its own vessel in order to truly spark it back to life. However, for now, Morphus just wanted to catch a glimpse of the vessel. “Seeing is believing,” said Morphus, recalling a human saying from its database.

  Relays thumped and suddenly the sleeping ship was bathed in light for the first time in millennia. Morphus rested its hands on the balcony railings and stared out at the Revocater. Or at least what it could see of the enormous vessel, which stretched out into the hangar farther than its eyes could see.

  The backup cells had also provided enough power to restart some of the hangar’s computer systems. Morphus worked fast to interrogate the shipyard’s memory, looking to glean as much data as it could on the unique vessel. As a prototype, this Revocater was different to the ship it had piloted, and the hundreds of others like it. The resources of two entire moons had been consumed in order to construct those ships. Now only one remained, and it again fell to Morphus, and this last Revocater, to stop Goliath once more.

  Morphus continued its analysis, discovering that most of the differences between the prototype and the final Revocater design were minor. All except for one. Unfortunately, this one major point of difference was significant, and problematic. The prototype Revocater required two operators.

  There was a solution, Morphus realized. It was radical, and by no means a guaranteed success, but perhaps it was also fitting. In order to operate the prototype Revocater, Morphus would require the assistance of a human co-pilot.

  Morphus was then distracted as more data flowed into its circuits from the shipyard’s memory. However, it regretted interrogating this last chunk of information. It was the security feed of the final moments, before the station’s population was exterminated. Morphus watched as Goliath’s seed drones flooded inside the complex, killing the Corporeals with merciless efficiency. The Revocater hangar had been sealed off before the drones had entered, preserving the secret of the vessel’s existence. In contrast, all that had remained of the faces of the Corporeals had been stored in the shipyard’s memory, and it was now etched into Morphus’ circuits too. So long as it succeeded in defeating Goliath, they would not be forgotten, and their sacrifice would not have been in vain.

  The power cells gave up what little energy they had in reserve, and the lights blinked off again. Yet this time, the prototype Revocater was not entirely consumed by darkness. This time, the iridescent human form of Morphus remained. It stood alone, as it had done so long ago, as a single beacon of light, fighting against the encroaching veil of night.

  The sleeping warship was not ready to be awoken yet. First, Morphus had to return to the system of human worlds, and find the entity it believed could help it. Ironic… Morphus thought, again dwelling on human constructs. Of all the entities that I could require, the one I need is the one I had already sought to recover…

  CHAPTER 6

  Chrome One in the Relic Guardian Force Dominion. That had been the designation for the new portal world that had, to the uproar of the other controlling authorities, been claimed by the RGF. Even Hudson found it difficult to accept that the RGF could have done something so audacious. They were tasked with policing the hunts on the portal worlds and were mandated to be independent. He knew better than most how flawed the organization was, but at least it played its role. Now, in one fell swoop, this delicate balance had been completely thrown off.

  Of course, it had been Logan Griff who had done the unbalancing. And whenever Logan Griff was involved, Hudson could be certain that Jane Wash was behind the scenes, pulling the strings. Now the theft of the scendar made more sense, Hudson realized. It wasn’t just individual greed that had driven the actions of Griff and Cutler Wendell – though no doubt they would both profit handsomely – but greed on a whole other level. Wash had always loved to lord it over the lower ranks in the RGF. However, Hudson never imagined that the cantankerous, crooked woman would actually try to set herself up as an Empress.

  All of this meant that Chrome One was a portal world like no other. Not only because of its unique controlling authority, but because it was possibly the most lawless planet in the system. The police were not about to police themselves, and the CET or MP were powerless to rein in their authority. Not unless they chose to go to war, and Hudson knew that was a decision that neither terran nor Martian would take lightly.

  Hudson continued in a low orbit around the moon that circled the enormous gas giant. He had been scanning the ships on the surface, as well as those still approaching the moon, for the last hour. So far, he had not detected the one ship he was looking for – FS-31 Patrol Craft Hawk-1333F.

  The absence of Cutler’s ship notwithstanding, there was no shortage of other vessels already at Chrome One. Word
of the new portal had travelled fast, and already Hudson had seen twenty other hunters on the surface, with more on the way. And he had never seen so many RGF Patrol Craft before in his life. Ten had greeted him after transitioning through the portal, and there were already two engineering vessels in the process of setting up a checkpoint and patrol station. These were in addition to the twenty that had guarded the portal entrance at Sapphire Alpha. They had been set up to deter forces from the CET and MP from attempting to stake their own claims. Both of these authorities had dispatched powerful capital ships to the portal – a deliberate show of force – but the RGF was waiting. Wash may have been a cold-hearted witch, but she was certainly no fool, Hudson reminded himself.

  The moon itself was like nothing Hudson had seen before. Considering his recent experiences, this was saying something. It was clear that whatever civilization had occupied it had once been great. There were sprawling cityscapes, interspersed with vast open spaces that were orchestrated with precision and grace. Each of these spaces had been connected by sweeping bridges, as elegant as they were vast. However, like the structures on the surface, most of these were now scorched and broken. Hudson could only imagine how beautiful the moon must have been before its ruin. He shuddered at the thought of the monstrous power that was capable of dealing damage on such a global scale. However, he no longer needed to imagine the thing that was capable of sowing such destruction. Since Morphus had implanted the knowledge into his brain, Hudson had an innate awareness of Goliath’s murderous capabilities.

  The other unique aspect of the moon was that there were no Shaak radiation signatures coming from the surface. Whatever this civilization had been, its technology was distinct from the alien hulks that littered the other portal worlds. This made it both exciting and terrifying. No-one knew what to expect, but every hunter in the galaxy wanted to be the first to find out.