The Agathon: Book One

by Weldon, Colin

  Transfer to manual, he thought and removed the device. He turned to Llewellyn, who was manning the FTL ring deployment station on the opposite side of the gangway.

  “Amanda, let’s do a test on the ring,” he shouted across to her. “Here’s the tricky part,” he said to the captain. “If we can’t sync the ring up, we won’t have any protection against the increase in the gravity distortion.”

  “We don’t want that now, do we?” said Barrington with a smile.

  “No, sir, we do not,” he replied. Emerson had only known the captain a short time, since transferring from the station. He could not always read him, but trusted his judgement. He noted he had recently kept the crew at arm’s length and projected total authority on the decks in a cold and confident manor. The crew responded to this well and given the dire nature of what was about to happen, Emerson thought it an effective command strategy. Project strength and control at all costs. Any crewmembers that he thought were beginning to lose it were snapped back to reality with a personal cattle prod up the ass.

  “Spinning up FTL ring. Stand by,” said Llewellyn. There was a creak and popping on the hull. Everyone looked up at the walls and ceiling of the engineering bay. Emerson felt the deck plating begin to vibrate. The sound of a large machine coming to life filled the silent room. He looked at Barrington.

  “She always does this; the mechanism was locked into place a little tightly. The first few runs may scratch the paint.” Barrington didn’t answer. He had his eyes combing the walls around him.

  “Barrington to bridge,” he said.

  “Boyett here, go ahead, Captain,”

  “Charlie, we are spinning up the FTL ring. Can you confirm normal movement visually, please?”

  “Yes, sir, she’s off and running. All systems check out up here. I am showing her at twelve percent and holding steady.”

  “It must be a hell of a sight from outside the ship, Cap,” said Emerson.

  “A hell of a sight,” repeated Barrington. Without warning one of the displays behind Llewellyn burst into a chorus of sparks. She was thrown off kilter and hit the deck to avoid the discharge. The vibrations ground to a halt and the lights in the engine room began to flicker. Emerson hit the emergency shutdown protocols and the deck went quiet.

  “What happened?” said the captain, not flinching from the explosion in the console.

  “Looks like we blew a relay. Amanda, you okay over there?” She gave them a thumbs up and righted herself, waving wafts of smoke out of her face.

  “Status of the FTL ring?” asked Barrington.

  “She’s dead in the water right now, sir. If she blows a relay like that while we’re at a hundred percent, the distortion will tear the ship apart,” he said gravely. Barrington’s face changed.

  “We have less than twelve hours, Mr. Emerson. How long to right the problem?”

  “I’ll get right on it, but I could really use Doctor Tosh’s assistance at this stage. Where is he?” Emerson had been trying to figure out why Tosh hadn’t joined him at a much earlier stage in the engine room and was starting to wonder if the old bastard had hitched himself a comfortable ride on the space station through all of this.

  “I believe they are on their way. Just get on this problem and I’ll send him down to you straight from the airlock,” replied Barrington.

  “Yes, sir.” Barrington turned and made his way towards the rear of the engineering deck.

  “I want updates every twenty minutes, Mr Emerson. Use whomever you need on this. All other priorities are rescinded. Get her working!” he shouted, without turning his head.

  “You’ll have ‘em, sir,” he said.

  The door hissed behind the captain and he stood in the corridor of the ship.

  “Fuck it,” he whispered under his breath. He placed a hand on a bulkhead. “Come on, don’t let me down,” he said. A crewmember gave him a curious look and nodded to him as he passed to enter the engine room. He made his way through the deck and into a nearby lift.

  “Deck eight,” he said. The lift took off and deposited him on the requested deck. As the doors opened he was greeted with a flurry of activity. There were colonists from the planet surface rushing about the place with equipment and supplies. He paused outside the lift and made eye contact with some of them. They stopped and looked at him. They looked worried. Most of them were scientists on the planet and had never seen anything close to combat. None of them had expected anything like this and there was a need for him to be much larger than he really was. He nodded in their direction and offered to help one of the biologists with a heavy case of what looked like computer components. She was a young, petite woman by the name of Charlotte King. She seemed unsteady with the weight of the case.

  “Thank you, Captain, but I can manage. Are we leaving soon?” she asked softly, with large brown eyes that held a fear Barrington knew only too well.

  “Very soon, Charlotte,” he replied assuredly. “Try and get these stowed away safely.” She nodded and moved off quickly in the direction of crew quarters.

  “Captain,” came the voice of Chase Meridian off to his left.

  “Doctor,” he replied. She seemed out of breath.

  “I was just coming to see you.” She pulled him to one side.

  “You know Tyrell has brought a sample of The Black on board? Please tell me you didn’t approve that. That stuff gets loose on board a ship this size and Bob’s your uncle.”

  Barrington suddenly felt a surge of rage. “How do you know this, Doctor?”

  “The crazy son of a bitch let it slip. It’s under containment in his lab but, Jesus, John.”

  Barrington looked at the ground. “Have you seen Carrie?” he said with gritted teeth.

  “No, sir, she was among the last to transport up. I think she’s in her quarters.”

  “I’ll take care of it. Chase, do me a favour and help Charlotte with a case she’s carrying. It looks like she’s going to break a bone if she’s not careful.”

  “Yes sir.” Meridian hurried off and helped the young woman. Barrington took a breath and placed his hand on a comm panel.

  “Barrington to Carrie Barrington.” Silence then a soft voice.

  “Carrie here, go ahead,” She sounded sleepy.

  “Carrie, meet me in Tyrell’s lab immediately, will you?”

  “Okay, give me five. Carrie out.” Barrington turned on his heels and moved with a purpose, hoping to God Meridian had been victim to a practical joke.

  Tyrell’s Lab - The Agathon

  Carrie entered Tyrell’s lab but knew well in advance what she would find inside. She could usually feel her father’s anger from miles away and on this ship she felt everything.

  “I’m sorry, John. Just hear me out,” said a retreating Tyrell, as the captain made a move towards him.

  “Are you crazy, bringing that on board my ship?” shouted Barrington

  “John, just be calm for a moment, will you?” Barrington eased off and took a breath.

  “What’s happening?” Carrie asked, knowing full well.

  “Did you know about this?” her father asked her, as if she had just sneaked out in the middle of the night and not told anyone. She thought about lying but couldn’t. Not to her father. Never.

  “Yes,” she said. She could see the disappointment in him, but more than that the sadness of having been left out of her loop. He placed his hands on his head and walked to the back of the lab where he took a seat next to some soil samples lying on a diagnostic table.

  “Okay, let’s hear it,” he said. Tyrell looked at Carrie.

  “Listen to me, John. This is the only alien organic life form we have ever encountered in the universe. Yes it’s dangerous, but there has never been a single serious incident while it has been in a containment chamber. In less than eleven hours it may very well be the last sample in the uni
verse and I don’t think it’s right to condemn an extra-terrestrial species to extinction, just because we don’t understand it.” Barrington’s eyes widened and he looked at Carrie, who looked at the ground.

  “It’s too important not to allow further study, Father.” He frowned.

  “Are you absolutely certain we can contain this in the ship, without any danger to the crew?” he asked bluntly.

  “I’m certain of it, Captain. I’m sorry you were not informed, but we simply ran out of time,” finished Tyrell.

  “Carrie?”

  “Yes, Captain. I’m sure of it. Doctor Tyrell has it sealed in a vaporisation room. If it so much as twitches, the computer has been programmed to alert either myself or Doctor Tyrell, who can order its incineration in a heartbeat.” Her father looked at the two of them, clearly tired of the debate.

  “Okay, Dice. I’m making you personally responsible for the safety of the crew in this matter. Like you said, we are out of time. Don’t let me down. Doctor Tyrell, they need you on the bridge to assist with the navigational array.”

  “Right away, Captain,” and with that Tyrell walked out of the lab, leaving them alone. They looked at each other for a moment before Carrie broke the silence.

  “It’s important,” she said.

  “What is, Dice?” Barrington replied wearily.

  “I didn’t lie to you. But we both know you would have had no part in bringing it on board.” She saw the look of confusion on her father’s face and felt his fear.

  “There is some connection between us,” she finally said.

  “Between who, Carrie? I really don’t have time for mind games today. If you have something to say to me, just say it. I have never known you to have secrets from me. God knows there isn’t anything I can hide from you. And that isn’t fair, Dice.”

  His earnest point was well made and she agreed with the logic. It was true; there were no secrets between them. Most of the time. Although she had an advantage in that area. She took a seat next to him and put her hands on his.

  “There is something happening to me. I can feel myself changing. I know that I’m different, in some ways, to the rest of you, but there’s something else. A growing power that I’m scared of and I know that there is a connection to that horrible substance locked away in the other room. I’m changing, Father. Manifesting things.” She bowed her head.

  “I can’t explain it yet; I hope we live through this so that I can show you. I’m sorry that you felt lied to,” she said.

  She thrust herself into her father’s arms. His surprised reaction was abated quickly, when she entered his mind and spoke to him in the most personal way she could. Without words.

  “Please trust me. I love you.”

  “Okay, Dice,” he replied with his thoughts. He embraced her like he hadn’t seen her in a thousand years. It seemed to last forever, when they were interrupted by the ship’s general communications channel.

  “Boyett to Captain Barrington. Jycorp shuttlecraft off the port bow.” Carrie pulled back from her father and kissed him on the cheek.

  “Barrington here, on my way.” He stood and made his way to the door, then turned to her.

  “One other thing,” he said with a wry smile.

  “Stay away from that flight jockey. I’ve seen the way you two are. Keep your head in the game. Besides, you can do better.” She smiled, knowing full well he didn’t really mean it.

  “I’ll try my very best,” she said.

  “Hmm,” he replied and exited the lab. As he left her alone in the lab she was hit with a profound sense that somehow she hadn’t much time left with her father. An immeasurable sense of grief consumed her as she tried to fathom how she could go on with her life without him. She was also struck with the feeling that his demise would ultimately be her fault. As the feeling faded, she tried to take hold of where it had come from but the details were fleeting and the images like a flicker of light in the sand. She told herself it was simply a moment of fear transgressing itself onto an already frightened and confused mind, no matter how real the feeling felt.

  10

  Jycorp Orbital Platform

  One hour to impact

  03:00 Martian Standard

  Ryder was holding the restraints so tightly they were cutting into his hand. They sat in a row in the flight chairs in Young’s old office. The sounds of the station’s interior as it shifted its position out of the lunar orbit and into open space reverberated through the room, like a sinking ship that had struck an iceberg. Ellis had given the command to fire thrusters forty minutes earlier, but the station had not gone willingly into the night.

  “Moving a station this size is gonna be a bumpy ride, folks. I can’t guarantee she won’t give us problems.” The transport ships had already left orbit and were slowly making their way out to the rendezvous marker just outside Saturn’s moon Titan. The chancellor sat quietly with her eyes closed but Ryder couldn’t get a reading on her; then again he was terrified out of his mind and couldn’t sense anything very much about anything. The vibrations had been steady throughout the manoeuvre. The ion engines were fired in bursts every two minutes to establish safe momentum before the long burn took hold. There had been damage to one of the antenna clusters during the first turn, but it hadn’t caused any breach within the hull. It had simply broken off and floated away into the dark.

  “Don’t worry about it, James, she’ll be okay,” the chancellor said above the noise of the creaking metal. She looked remarkably calm. The Village had begun its burn first, as the smaller of the two stations, and had executed it without any problems. Ryder looked out of the view port behind Young’s desk and caught a glimpse of The Agathon as it stood watch. Its FTL ring was extended ninety degrees perpendicular to its hull, indicating its readiness to jump.

  “Look at that, Chancellor,” he shouted over the noise. They looked out the viewing port at the stalking ship. Clark smiled.

  “If it doesn’t fire, Sienna, it’s game over,” he said sternly. She looked at him and frowned. They glanced back outside the viewing port as the angle shifted. What entered their field of vision silenced them all. An area of space where no stars could be seen. What looked like a planet-sized black hole approached. The mass was surrounded by a haze of greenish crystallised cloud formations, which bounced sunlight into dark crevices on the surface of the rock. It was accompanied by thousands of loose threads of rock and dust, giving the monster a crazed and malevolent approach.

  “Jesus, the size of it,” said Ryder finally. Clark didn’t answer. The surreal view of the planet they had lived on their whole lives now free floating through space defied conversation. Suddenly the space station grew silent. The vibrations stopped and noise levels returned to normal.

  “This is Ellis. Burn is complete. You can walk freely.” His voice came confidently over the comms. They stood from their seats and walked over to the viewing port to see the end of a second world. Small fragments of the incoming debris began to strike the surface of the orbiting moon Demos. The sister moon to Phobos had no human technology on it as it proved to be of little significance to either the colonisation or the signal analysis missions for Jycorp.

  “It’s hitting Demos,” said Ryder. “See?” he said, pointing to the folly of small explosive impacts that were visible even at this distance.

  “I see, James,” Clark responded.

  “Sienna Clark to Ellis,” she said. Ryder didn’t see her hit the comms panel.

  “Go ahead, Chancellor,” came his low voice.

  “Richard, are you sure this distance will protect us from the blast? From up here it looks like we’re cutting it fine.” She sounded worried.

  “Don’t worry, Chancellor, we are travelling at over fifty-two thousand kilometres an hour. Doesn’t look like much, but we’re well out of harm’s way for now.”

  “Thank you, Richard. Clark out
,” she finished. The surface of the moon began to start shooting great plumes of rock and dust into the vacuum, as the impacts of the incoming rock pounded into its surface. Streaks of sunlight lit up various sections of the debris field, as the fragments’ unrelenting attack continued. The comms system chirped.

  “Chancellor, this is Ellis. I am patching through Mr Young on board The Agathon.”

  “Go ahead,” she replied.

  “Sienna?” said Young’s voice. He sounded tired.

  “Yes, Jerome, I presume you’re all watching.” There was a pause.

  “We are. Both Doctor Tosh and Emerson believe that we need to make the jump as soon as possible, as the instability of a core detonation could disrupt the gravitational forces in this area and make it impossible.” Her heart sank. They would soon be on their own.

  “I understand, Jerome. Get your people out of here.” A small meteor shower began to creep across the atmosphere. “Is Captain Barrington with you?”

  “I am here, Chancellor,” he replied.

  “Captain, you have my best wishes,” she said. “I wish you and your crew good hunting and want you to know that our spirits rest in you.” The meteor shower began to intensify.

  “Chancellor, you have my word that we will return for you. Whatever it takes,” he said. Ryder watched as the chancellor’s eyes stared off into the distance.

  “We’ll see you soon, Sienna,” came Young’s voice. The comms went dead.

  “This is really happening, isn’t it?” said Ryder. He was becoming visibly upset and struggling to keep it to himself. Sienna Clark took his hand and smiled.

  The Agathon

  The view screens showed every available angle of the menacing chunk of rock now headed for the surface of Mars. Barrington sat in the centre seat and was flanked by Young and Tosh. Boyett was seated in a suspended flight control console near the front centre of the bridge. David Chavel was seated to her right in a fixed silver metallic chair that was attached to the auxiliary navigation station.