“Are you sure?” Henry replied. “I know you are synthetic, but it will likely be a painful death.”
“The Abominations will chase you down if I don’t.” Administrator replied. “Lend me your weapon. Let me go down fighting them, there is no shame in that. Serving those enlightened by science is my purpose.”
“It’s almost empty but you should get a few more minutes.” Nari replied, handing over the blaster before putting on her helmet and stepping into the airlock with Henry As the outer door opened, Henry took one last look to Administrator as he began to fight the abominations that were coming through the walls. He was inexperienced in combat, learning only by watching Nari, but he seemed determined not to let any of them to the airlock.
Henry and Nari left the ship, moving as fast as they could over the dangerous uneven terrain. Henry was not sure he or Nari knew the way back to the tethers but all they could do was hope. Henry did not look back, he did not want to know what was happening back at the ship. If he saw abominations he would know that Administrator had fallen. He focused on moving, carefully stepping over the Lava and keeping himself behind Nari and going to the landing site. Just as he started to doubt they were going in the right direction, he caught sight of the landing tethers. He grabbed one and picked it up, preparing to go to the top, Nari grabbing the other. Henry took a last look at the ship. He could barely make it out in the haze of the heat and sulfur. Suddenly a flash went off lighting up the chamber and the ship in a silhouette of light and energy. Henry knew that they had but seconds, activating their tethers and starting their ascent. Just before they went through the bore hole the flash went out and the cavern seemed to shudder. Henry could feel a massive geological force tear the pocket apart and knew that even a second slower and they would have been crushed. The shaft began to crush below them, threatening to catch up and end everything. However, it soon began to slow, the geological catastrophe below slowing and leaving the rest of the bore hole intact.
Henry and Nari soon reached the top of the hole and climbed up. Chalice was there, helping them to their feet.
“We should get to the ship at once.” Chalice said in an urgent tone. “The explosives were unnecessary; this whole area is destabilized.”
“The bore hole imploded.” Henry replied. “This whole section of the continent might destabilize.”
The trio ran to the shuttle and were soon in the air. Moment after liftoff the ground began to shake, the upper crust around the area rising and tearing apart.
“Henry are you alright?” Basta asked over the con. “What happened?”
“It is a long story and I will prepare a briefing when we get back to the ship.” Henry explained. “But we found some life in this universe…and not all of it was friendly.”
-
Fifteen
On the Endeavor, Henry worked away at one of the Wave scanners, trying to give it more clarity and the ability to catalogue things that it normally could not comprehend. There was a myriad of information on the drive that he had gotten and he had only just scratched the surface of it. Inside had been listed a type of home world of the people that Administrator was from and the others were working on matching it to the charts and seeing if it was indeed within the still existing universe. Henry felt good about diving into the project and it focused his kind that had become unfocused by recent events. Soon Nari came in, leaning against a bulkhead to watch him work.
“Am I working too late?” Henry asked. “I am sorry, I did not mean to be neglectful.”
“I’m not mad.” Nari replied. “I just came to check on you.”
Henry nodded. “Though I should not be neglecting you. We are married now and I need to better budget my time I suppose.”
“Possibly.” Nari replied “Though given where we are and the scope of this mission it is not that bad of a thing to be distracted. I just kinda want to know…when are we done searching?”
“What do you mean?” Henry asked. “We are not even particularly sure what it is that we are looking for.”
“I mean with the whole advancement of everything.” Nari replied. “It seems that out lives have become a series of what comes next. We have found new worlds, the centre of our universe and even another one on the other side of the big bang. When do we take pause, and look at what we have and stop jumping to the next thing?”
“I don’t really have an answer to that.” Henry admitted. “I suppose that for most of my life I have always been looking forward, sometimes two or three steps ahead. It is hard for me to envision on the present or future beyond the next discovery.”
Nari nodded. “Well there also needs to be a time for Henry to discover himself. You give so much to humanity and the universe and there might be a time to take a step back. I am not saying I do not like what we are doing, in fact I love it. I just worry that we will both find ourselves in a time where we realise that we are at the end of our lives and we did it exploring…not living.”
Henry took a deep breath, it was not a thing that he took much time to think about. He had been focused on a constant climbing of ideas and challenges and he had never thought of his life. Though he was an adult, he still felt in ways like a child, someone lost and grasping from one thing after another.
“I have to admit.” Henry replied. “I do not think that I know how to focus on myself. I don’t really know what I want for myself.”
Nari laughed. “Well that’s a new one…you are just deciding on the fat that you don’t know. Usually any uncertainty is met with a focus on hat to do next.”
“Well what would you suggest?” Henry asked. “How do I discover what my life holds beyond the work, beyond the adventure?”
“You let me worry about it.” Nari replied. “It is not the end, not by any means. We just pick somewhere. Earth, Atlas, Mars. We take some time where we are not jumping around the cosmos ad think about us, our lives, maybe a family.”
“A family?” Henry replied, the idea flowing into his head like an alien thing. He admitted that he never thought about himself in this way. Though he had developed strong feelings of love and attraction for Nari, the eventualities of their relationship never really occurred to him. “I don’t really know…how to be a father.”
“You are a man who literally brought us to another galaxy.” Nari replied. “If you can jump us from one part of the universe to the other, I think you can figure out how to be a father too.”
“But that is different.” Henry replied. “Science I know…people have always been harder for me to understand.”
“That is just because you have not been faced with the right situation.” Nari replied. “You have done so much with your life in a span of time that most visionaries could not have even dreamt of. Your discoveries and accomplishments are something to pass on to the world but what about yourself. You will live on through those that come after you both by those you inspire but also those close to you. Your greatest scientific accomplishments are legendary, now let us accomplish something much simpler but no less profound.”
Henry nodded. “You are right. I literally have gone to the ends of two universes to answer questions that seemed to be unanswerable. I suppose my own questions on the finite nature of being a person is something that I should look into as well. Tell you what, after we get back, lets see about setting up a permanent home on Atlas.”
“That sounds amazing.” Nari said as she walked over and embraced Henry. “We do not have to stay there forever, just having a place to return to that is just ours is a step in the right direction for something new.”
“As for now.” Henry added. “It might be time for me to take a break.”
“It very much is.” Nari agreed.
Two days later, the Endeavor came out of a jump deep in the other universe. The telemetry that the mysterious Administrator had given them lead them in orbit of a massive planet. The sun in the system seemed close to breaking up, in it’s last legs of being hospitable to the planet below.
&
nbsp; “The sun is giving off massive amounts of solar radiation but I am not seeing them reaching this far.” Winter explained. “From orbit where we are it seems like optimal levels.”
“How is that possible?” Basta asked. “I am no astrophysicist and I can tell that the sun of this system should be cooking this world.”
“I am picking up technology beyond anything we have seen before.” Henry replied. “It is similar to the shields we developed before but on a larger, much more massive scale. This planet seems to have been equipped with some manner of shielding, it is keeping it in the optimal state as long as the sun is giving it power.”
“Are there people down there?” Basta asked. “Surely a race with this level of technology must have a society we could talk to.”
“The Administrator was pretty clear that the people had evolved into a new state of consciousness.” Nari replied. “There actually might not be anyone left down there…and they might be those abominations.”
“The ones we saw were literally frozen in hibernation using the ship.” Henry admitted. “It has been a very long time for them to be alive in this place as they were.”
“I am getting some strange readings.” Chalice admitted. “I don’t know if it’s life signs, but there’s definitely something down there. It seems to be coming from what looks like it might have been a city of some sort.”
“What do you think?” Basta said as he turned to Henry. “Should we check it out?”
“We have come so far and this might be the only chances to get answers on what happened in this galaxy.” Henry explained. “The AI we met talked of people evolving beyond corporeal forms and if we can find some people who did not maybe we can get some answers.”
“Presuming that there are people down there capable of conversing with us how can we be sure we can communicate back?” Winter asked. “They might have a complicated language so different from our own that we might have no way to talk to them.”
“The Administrator made an avatar similar to us and deciphered our language instantaneously.” Nari added. “It is reasonable the technology of the people down there can do the same. Also, Chalice has analyzed the device and if their language is anything similar we should be able to interface with their technology.”
Basta nodded. “Nari will go with you…and so will I.”
Henry smiled. “I suppose it is your turn.”
Henry looked out the window of the shuttle, realising they were over land now, probably the southern continent they had found the city on. He took out his tablet and connected to the private ship server that he usually used. He connected it to the scanners, desperate to confirm there were none of the abominations that they had encountered before. Basta had brought a pair of soldiers just in case but he still worried. Henry had no idea why he was suddenly so concerned but even so he could not afford to lose his concentration on the mission.”
“Are you busy Henry?” Nari said over the com. “Can you come up to the flight area for a moment?”
“Yeah.” Henry replied, unfastening his harness and climbing up to the cockpit. He sat down on a little bench behind Nari and Basta. “Is everything alright?”
“Seemingly so.” Basta replied. “But something seems strange. Was looking at the sensors and it seemed to kind of mess up for a moment but then went to normal.”
“Did it show anything wrong?” Henry asked. “Is there anything on it now?”
“Well that’s just it.” Basta replied. “The scanner signal is perfect…almost too perfect.”
Henry thought for a moment, recalling that the alien craft that had been so hard to read on scanners. It was very easy to figure out that a wave at one frequency could jam or interfere with it on the same one. This though seemed to convenient, too deliberate. Ideas flowed into Henry’s head. “Prepare yourself! I think we being followed.”
“Followed?” Basta asked. “There’s literally nothing on the scanners, acting strange or not.”
“I think they found away to clone our signal.” Henry responded. “Sending a signal of unaltered waves back.”
“One way to find out.” Basta said as he switched on a monitor, lighting up from several cameras around the shuttle. “Son of a bitch!”
The shuttle lurched as a beam of energy streaked by the vessel. Henry looked at the screen seeing an alien vessel behind the chopper firing more blasts at the shuttle. Nari continued to go into evasive maneuvers. Basta studied the readout calling out where the attacks were coming from.
“Have they tried to contact us?” Henry asked. “Can we try and talk to them.”
“They didn’t even try.” Nari replied. “They seem to not want us here.”
“Great.” Basta replied. “Any ideas how we get out of this?”
“Does this ship have any weapons?” Henry asked, looking to Basta.
“Nothing that will repel firepower like that.” Basta admitted. “This shuttle is the most durable craft we have, not the most heavily armed.”
“We would love some suggestions here.” Nari asked. “Before we get scattered over the continent.”
“Well the alien vessel seems made for lower atmosphere.” Henry replied. “Their vessel is fat and slow…how maneuverable are we in atmosphere?”
“Very.” Nari replied. “Hold on to something.”
The shuttle lurched and tilted as it dove, another blast streaking overhead. Nari steered the helicopter down in a wide arc, the alien airship straining to keep up. Below seemed to be a long canyon and Nari expertly guided the shuttle in and began to swerve between the rocks, forcing the alien ship to struggle to keep pace.
“What are you going to do?” Henry asked.
“Need to find out what they can do.” Basta replied. “Gotta know how much more agile we are then they are…then we thread the needle.”
“I have no idea what that means.” Nari admitted. “But I trust you.”
The shuttle dodged through paths in the rock, the alien vessel following. A few times the pursuing ship came close to hitting the sides but narrowly escaped. Up ahead was a narrow passage in the rock, Nari wrenched the controls and titled the craft and in the nick of time it flowed through, the body and the wings narrowly missing the sides of the rock. The alien vessel slammed into the rock, tearing the ship wide open and exploding instantly.
“Yeah!” Basta shouted. “That is how we fly on earth!”
“Excellent work!” Henry commented. “That was almost the end of our mission.”
“Were close to the area that Chalice found.” Nari commented. “The city seems more like a ruin than an active city. I overtaxed the engines and will need to set down to cool the engines off. That was likely a scout and we should get on the ground and hidden as soon as possible.”
“Well that’s one scout that won’t be reporting back.” Basta commented. “They certainly will be realizing that we are up to something by now. Even with them underestimating us it would not be unreasonable for them to decide we are more of a threat than they thought. We got to get on the ground and get things rolling.”
“I will do my best.” Henry replied. “I think I have found an area with a lot of power in the ruins. According to the telemetry and what we learned from the Administrator, it is the source of the gravitational distortions.”
“How close.” Basta asked.
“Very close.” Henry replied.
The shuttle continued on it’s journey, both pilots keeping a close eye on the gauges and not seeming to like what they saw. Henry could not help but realize that return from this mission was not taken into account. The idea was to get there and make an alliance with whoever they found. If it failed there would be no easy return to the ship if the shuttle was damaged.
The shuttle flew over the ruined city, it looked long abandoned and wherever the alien ship had come from it was not from here. A sea of buildings was left abandoned and all in extreme states of decay. It looked like what a modern human city would look like thousands of years later. How
ever, they did not look as old as the ships seen before and the timeline made no sense. If it was indeed built by the race left behind then it was far too new.
“We have to set down now.” Nari warned. “Maybe another minute or so…give or take.”
“Are the engines damaged?” Henry asked. “Will we be able to get back.”
“Looks like one of the blasts got closer than we thought.” Basta replied. “It should not be hard to fix. The personnel I brought are both flight engineers. We hide in one of these buildings they should be able to get us running in an hour or so.”
“Well they should see to it at once.” Henry suggested. “Basta will you come with me to the site to see what we can find?”
“We have the time.” Basta replied. “Though Nari should stay with the ship so she can pick us up in a pinch.”
“I will be ready.” Nari replied, the concern plain on her voice. “Be careful, both of you.”
“I was a solider long before being a captain.” Basta replied. “Nothing will happen to Henry on my watch.”
The engine soon started to sputter and within seconds stopped. After the loud constant noise of the engine the silence was deafening. Nari pushed a button and pushed and kicked in the reserve engine. The shuttle began a slow climb down, Nari adjusting the the controls as they went to keep the maximum lift going through engines with the diminished power. Henry half expected it to be a rough landing but as they approached the ground Nari landed the shuttle, moving within one of the buildings just before the struts touching down gently as the engine began to power down.
“That was surprisingly anticlimactic.” Henry admitted. “I expected a rough landing.”
“That was for the aliens back there.” Nari said with a laugh. “My landings are perfect.”
“We need to get moving.” Basta ordered. “Grab what you need for the exploration and we leave in five.”
The group hastily got their gear together, Henry’s legs were still wobbling from the recent events and decent but found they were quickly getting back up to speed.
Waves: The Collapsing Universe Page 16
