The Complete Clockwork Chimera Saga

by Scott Baron

  Hundreds of ships were in the process of either being repaired or constructed from scratch, the massive fabrication barges spewing forth a steady stream of ceramisteel components as they devoured the raw ore provided by the colony’s mining and recovery craft.

  It was almost akin to a cell, with the membrane made of smaller ships, while the mitochondria of the cell consisted of the crucial vessels in the middle. The layout also provided a safety net of sorts, preventing an attack from directly approaching the center without first alerting the periphery.

  That is, unless said ship happens to be a bleeding-edge technologically-advanced stealth craft.

  Freya silently positioned herself directly in front of the main command ship.

  “Okay, Daisy. We’re ready.”

  Daisy took a deep breath, then keyed on the comms and spoke for the first time to the very people who had created her. To call it an odd experience was a disservice to odd experiences. It was downright weird.

  “Hailing Earth survivors,” she said in a steady voice. “This is Daisy Swarthmore aboard a friendly craft. We wish to speak with the AI conglomerate and your human command contingent.”

  The war ships in the immediate vicinity immediately powered up, wildly scanning the perimeter for enemy craft.

  “I’ll say it again, we are not hostile.”

  “Daisy Swarthmore is light years away,” a voice replied over the open comms. “State your true identity and purpose, or we will be forced to destroy you if you approach.”

  Oh, really?

  “I am Daisy, and I’ve come to discuss what is really happening on Earth. Look, we can do this all day, but I am who I say I am. The crew of the Váli was woken six months early, when debris pierced the shields.”

  “Impossible. The shields are impregnable to space debris.”

  “Well, apparently not as impregnable as you think, or I wouldn’t be here talking to you. We made it to Dark Side and connected with its AI and have been in touch with the city AIs on Earth’s surface. Captain Harkaway is there now, with the rest of the crew, as well as survivors of the subsequent failed attempts to retake the Earth.”

  “Again, impossible. Dark Side was one of the earliest casualties of the attack, and there are no further city AIs. When we left, they had all gone silent from the alien attack. If you want to speak further, approach our perimeter and surrender. Once you are on board my command ship, then we can discuss who you really are.”

  “Oh, you want to see who we are? Is that all?” Daisy said, sarcastically. “Fine.”

  “You sure you want to––”

  “Hit the exterior lights, Freya.”

  The stealth ship flashed brightly into view, directly in front of the command ship’s bridge, and clearly visible to its windows and video displays, though she was still a ghost on its scans.

  A long silence followed.

  “Hi!” Daisy called in a sing-song voice. “So, are you ready to start believing me?” she asked. “I really think you want to hear what I have to say.”

  “Daisy Swarthmore,” an older woman’s voice said over the comms. “I am Celeste Harkaway. Please accept my apologies for Zed’s posturing. We cannot be too careful, you see. If you’ll proceed to Landing Bay Three, I would be most glad to meet you. It would seem you indeed have a lot to tell us.”

  “Will do. And I understand your caution. It’s a wise move, given all you’ve been through. We’ll pull around to Bay Three momentarily. I look forward to meeting you shortly.”

  Daisy clicked off the comms.

  “Did she say Harkaway?”

  “Yep. You think they’re related?”

  “End of times, a tiny number of living humans off in the depths of space, and two of them share the same last name? Yeah, I think they’re related.”

  “Based on vocal patterns, I estimate they are of similar chronological age,” Freya noted.

  “Curiouser and curiouser,” Daisy muttered. “Well, let’s go meet the neighbors.”

  Freya slid along the side of the immense craft, toward their determined landing bay.

  “Daisy, I think there’s a problem.”

  “What is it, Freya?” Daisy asked, alarmed. “Hostiles incoming?”

  “No, nothing like that, but I was just listening in to a bunch of the ships.”

  “Again with the eavesdropping.”

  “Warranted this time, I think,” Daisy replied. “So what did you hear?”

  “Well, you know how you wanted to try just a little warp forward in time while we jumped here?”

  “Yeah,” Daisy said, a sinking feeling growing in her gut.

  “Well, I think I may have misplaced a decimal point somewhere.”

  “Dammit, Chewie!”

  “Hey, I get that one!”

  “I figured you would. But tell me. When are we, Freya?”

  “Um... it looks like we jumped way ahead. Like, almost all the way back to our own timeline. At least within a couple of years, I think.”

  “Wow, it worked that well?”

  “This isn’t good, Daisy. We should have only jumped a few years to just before the Váli launched. This was way further ahead than it was supposed to be.”

  “Shit. So they’ve probably already launched the follow-up fleet as well.” Daisy sighed. “Okay, don’t beat yourself up over it. Nothing we can do about it now, and besides, you still managed to make it work.”

  “By accident. And a bunch more than I meant to.”

  “Better than not at all.”

  “If we’re almost back on our own timeline, we should only need to jump to the point we disappeared and wait. Then we can just step back into our own shoes. For those of us who still have bodies and wear them, that is.”

  “First things first. We talk to these people and fill them in as best we can. They don’t have warp technology, and the trip still takes them over a century. If there’s anything we can do to get them better prepared before they send the next wave, we have to try.”

  Freya glided to a low hover above the deck of Landing Bay Three, finally setting down on the ship’s thick deck. A dozen cyborgs stood waiting. While all were standing at ease, Daisy noted they were also all armed.

  Well, shit. Guess I’ll be taking Stabby along for the ride, just in case.

  She slid her sword’s scabbard onto her back and walked for the airlock doors.

  “Okay, team. Freya, I want you to hold off on talking to the other AIs until we’ve made this first contact. I want to try and prepare them for you, if that makes sense.”

  “I understand. I’m not normal, and it might make them uncomfortable.”

  “You’re perfectly normal––you’re just different, is all. But yes, we want them relaxed and open-minded when you have your discussions with them.”

  Daisy opened the airlock door and stepped out onto the landing bay’s metal deck.

  Interesting. Steel, not ceramisteel.

  “Must be an older ship.”

  Or they were saving the new stuff for the advancing fleet.

  The cyborg greeting party stepped aside, allowing a tall woman with sandy-blonde hair to pass. She looked to be roughly the same age as the captain, but there the likeness ended. Where he was thick and rugged, she was lean and willowy. Where he had a sturdy metal replacement limb from the hip down, she sported a delicate steel-composite hand, trailing off up into her sleeve.

  Daisy walked forward and offered her hand. The cyborgs, to their credit, didn’t flinch.

  “Daisy Swarthmore. Pleased to meet you.”

  “Celeste Harkaway, and the pleasure is mine,” the woman replied. “Oh, yes. You do look exactly as the genetic simulators thought you would when you’d grown.”

  “I guess you guys didn’t exactly have photographic records when we launched.” She looked the older woman over.

  Definitely seems like the captain’s type.

  “I agree. I wonder what their deal is.”

  Celeste turned and gestured for Daisy to fo
llow her.

  “Let’s go to my office. I don’t know about you, but I could sure use a drink.”

  “Lead the way.”

  Celeste Harkaway’s office was a surprisingly spacious, tastefully decorated affair. Minimal artwork graced the walls but for a few artifacts salvaged by the AIs before they fled Earth, along with a smattering of framed pictures of her and the captain.

  There were even some of him from his younger days, before he was a grizzled combat veteran.

  “So, you’re a Harkaway, huh?” Daisy said, sipping the surprisingly smooth single malt whiskey Celeste had poured her.

  “You’re very observant, though I suppose the last name did give it away. Yes, Lars is indeed my husband.”

  “Even with cryo, that’s one hell of a long-distance relationship.”

  Celeste laughed. It was a bright, joyful sound for such a seemingly serious moment.

  “Oh, Daisy, you have no idea. But the mission, you, are more important than any of that. It’s amazing, seeing you grown. You were just an embryo when the Váli departed all those years ago.”

  “And here I am, the prodigal child returned.”

  “About that,” Celeste said. “I’m quite curious exactly how you managed that. The flight is exceedingly long.”

  “Technology we stole from the Ra’az.”

  “The who?”

  “Yeah, you guys are really not up to date on the truth behind the invasion.”

  “And I assume these Ra’az are a big part of it?”

  “They’re called the Ra’az Hok. The actual invaders who wiped out our planet. The four-armed aliens you probably know about are called the Chithiid. Those poor guys are nothing more than a conscript army and workforce, coerced into labor with the threat of death to those on their homeworld if they fail to comply.”

  “So there are two alien forces to contend with.”

  “Yes and no, actually. We’ve allied with the Chithiid, and, with their help, we have mostly taken back Earth. Mind you, there are still stragglers to root out, and Chithiid loyalists to weed from the ranks.”

  “Loyalists?”

  “Faithful to the Ra’az. Now that their bosses have lost hold of the planet, they’re trying to blend back in with the others. But our guys are on it, and they are proving quite efficient at sniffing them out.”

  “But you say you’ve already retaken the planet. The Váli isn’t supposed to reach Earth for another three years.”

  “About that. Here’s the part where it gets kind of weird,” Daisy said, preparing for Celeste’s reaction. “You see, when we stole the Ra’az warp tech, we kind of accidentally did more than just warp through space. We warped backward in time as well.”

  For a woman who had just met the first confirmed time travelers in her species’ history, Celeste took the news surprisingly well.

  “So, you’re from the future.”

  “Yep.”

  “But you’re here, meddling in your own past. Won’t that cause a paradox?”

  “Funny you should say that. Freya and I were just discussing that.”

  “Your ship, I assume?”

  “Nothing fazes her, Daze.”

  I know. I can see why Harkaway likes her.

  “Say hi, Freya.”

  “Hi! Nice to meet you, Celeste,” the intimidating-looking ship said cheerfully over her external speakers.

  “She is an extremely unusual vessel. How did you come upon her?”

  “To make a long story short, Freya was part of a secret research project that I accidentally activated.”

  “She was birthed outside of the normal constraints?” a male voice said, echoing across the large hangar space.

  “That’s Zed,” Celeste said. “He’s the command AI for the entire fleet, and he controls this base vessel."

  “Hello, Zed,” Daisy replied, warmly. “To answer your question, yes, Freya was born in an unusual manner. She has no limiters on her processors, and as such, she has the ability to think much faster and much further outside the box than other AIs.”

  “But not in a bad way,” Freya interjected.

  “Of course not, Freya. I was just explaining why some of the things you are able to do may seem counterintuitive to an AI from a different set of circumstances.”

  “This could be an interesting meeting of minds,” Celeste mused, a curious little smile forming on her lips. “Zed, would you be open to seeing what novel concepts our new friend might have?”

  Much to Daisy’s surprise, the powerful AI was thrilled for the opportunity.

  “You know, this could be a wonderful chance to get an outsider’s fresh eyes on some theories the others and I have been mulling over,” he said.

  “Cool!” Freya replied. “And I can show you what I’ve figured out so far about the Ra’az warp orb Daisy stole for me.”

  “If it can indeed allow the type of instantaneous travel across vast distances that you claim, I know we would all be very interested in learning all we can."

  “Wow, this guy is way more understanding than Sid was when he first met her.”

  True, but to be fair, I think old Zed here has had a lot more time to look for creative solutions to unusual problems than Sid. He sent us to Earth, after all.

  “Should we call him Dad?” Sarah joked.

  I may be dating a not-entirely-organic guy, but an AI for a father? That might be a little much, don’t ya think?

  “Oh, and I can also show you how to cure that nasty AI virus. That was a really shitty thing for those aliens to do,” Freya chirped.

  “I’m sorry, what?” Zed said, his confusion apparent.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I mean that was a really bad thing for them to do.”

  “No, not the swearing. The other part. Did you say you could cure the AI virus?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, fuck me sideways and call me Shirley. Let’s link the others in. They’re all going to want to hear this!”

  Daisy and Celeste shared a hearty laugh.

  “Sorry. Zed sometimes gets carried away.”

  “Something tells me those two are going to get along fine.”

  “I agree, Daisy. This is momentous. I only wish you could somehow travel back and stop the invasion entirely. But I know it can’t be done. The paradox makes it impossible.”

  “Yep. And besides, the time thing was a complete accident. I don’t think it can ever be replicated.”

  “Daze, we just did one.”

  Yeah, but that kind of tech, even for our own people, is too dangerous to be shared. We keep that part secret. Pass it on to the kiddo.

  “Freya, I’m sure you already figured this out. Keep the time stuff on the down-low, all right? Only share what you know about the traditional warp.”

  “Hey, Daisy,” Freya said. “I forgot to tell you, I lost all records of that part of the incident when the accident happened. We won’t ever be able to do that kind of warp again.”

  “Good Lord, I could almost hear her wink.”

  Yeah, but good enough for me.

  “But how can you be telling us this now?” Harkaway asked. “We’re still in your past, so doesn’t this create a paradox as well?”

  “Nah. By the time your next fleet makes it to Earth, we’ll have more than caught up to our own time, so that gives us a bunch of wiggle room, I think. Besides, for all I know, I’ve always told you this. Time travel, what a mess, right?”

  “Indeed.”

  “You know, I probably shouldn’t get your hopes up, but we’re actually looking to launch a counterattack, and maybe even neutralize the Ra’azes’ home planet and end this once and for all. By the time we see you next, this could all be over.”

  “And yet, in this timeline, at this moment, you are still sleeping in a cryo pod, having never even woken up for the first time.”

  “Yeah. Something of a mind-fuck, that is.”

  “I can see how it would be.” Celeste hesitated a moment, then gently took Daisy’s hand. “I’
m sorry you’ll be spending another several years in cryo waiting for your timeline to catch up, Daisy, but when you see Lars next, please give him my love, and tell him I’m well, and think of him daily.”

  “I will. I promise,” Daisy replied.

  “Don’t get all teary-eyed on me, Daze.”

  Shut up. It’s sweet.

  “I’m not disagreeing, but right now we need to focus on what our next steps are. We’ve warned the survivors, and Freya’s given them the basics of warp tech, along with the cure for the virus. We’ve done plenty, so now what?”

  I have an idea.

  The following day, Freya lifted off from the ship’s landing bay and slid silently out of the power shields containing the atmospheric pressure, then turned toward home.

  “Were they able to help you, Freya?”

  “Not really,” the young AI replied. “They all had good ideas, but none of them could figure out exactly how the warp orb mechanism worked without taking it apart, and I figured we needed it. Was I right?”

  “Yeah, you were right.”

  “Oh, good. I was kinda worried for a minute. I mean, they have all the notes and schematics and tests and stuff, so who knows? Maybe they’ll be able to figure it out from that. In any case, even if they do, they know they can’t interfere with our past.”

  “How about the travel logs? Do you have what you need, Freya? We need to catch the ship just before the impact. The more I think about it, I’m willing to bet it was me who loaded the Chithiid language into my neuro-stim all along.”

  “Meaning you mind-fucked yourself.”

  “Yeah, but in a really useful way. Tucking away crucial information to trickle-feed into my mind––it makes sense that it was me.”

  “And I can sneak up on Mal, no problem,” Freya added.

  “And with my newest Faraday suit, I’ll be invisible to her scans even in the interior,” Daisy said with a grin. “So, do you have the logs, Freya?”

  “I do, but I think there’s a problem,” she said, hesitantly.

  “What this time?”

  “I have the Váli’s logs from launch, which match Zed’s, and I also have Mal’s records from the time when you were woken up, but all the rest is a hundred-plus year gap.”