THE FOREVER GENE (THE SCIONS OF EARTH Book 1)

by Dean, Warren

  Numerous variables which could be programmed into the star drive, such as the size, shape, speed and position of the vortex, determined the size and destination of the wormhole which would be created.

  "Approximately eight minutes to acquisition," Harry reported.

  Vitaly quickly calculated the quadrant they needed to reach and adjusted the ship's speed and course accordingly.

  Katya double checked their course, but was distracted by a flash of light on one of her auxiliary screens. She looked and saw that it came from a visual of the Moon, which was receding rapidly into the distance. She swiped the picture onto her main screen and watched in surprise as Chang's shuttle detached itself from a docking bay and came after them.

  Earthworm was not built for speed in ordinary space and the much smaller, faster shuttle would catch them easily before they could acquire the wormhole. What it intended to do when it caught them wasn't apparent. As far as she knew, it was not armed. But then again, this was the shuttle which had arrived full of soldiers.

  "Colonel," said Vitaly.

  "Yes, I see it. How manoeuvrable are we, Vitaly? Can we evade it?"

  "I don't think this ship was built with evasive action in mind."

  "No," she acknowledged, "Nor fitted with any weapons. Harry, is there any chance of bringing the acquisition forward?"

  "No, Katya, it is not a process that can be accelerated."

  Suddenly Chang's voice came over the external com. "Colonel, I have despatched my shuttle to escort you back to base. This is your last chance. The shuttle is armed with smart-missiles. If you do not change course immediately, I will order it to open fire. The missiles will not destroy the ship, but they will disable it and we will have no difficulty retrieving it. Despite your reckless actions, my offer still stands; if you return voluntarily, you will be returned to the brig unharmed. If not, you will face full sanctions for your conduct."

  The connection crackled and spat as the forces which the star drive had set in motion began to interfere with the transmission.

  "We cannot dodge smart-missiles, Colonel," said Vitaly.

  "I know," she said as her mind raced. Once the missiles were launched, their guidance systems would target the ship no matter what it did. "How much faster can we go, Vitaly? Can we reach the acquisition quadrant ahead of the missiles?"

  "I think so, but then we will overshoot. We will have to begin the acquisition process again and the shuttle will have plenty of time to catch up with us."

  "I understand. Do it."

  Vitaly didn't argue, and she felt the ship leap forward.

  "Shall I abort?" asked Harry.

  "No, do not abort," she ordered.

  "But Katya, we are going to overshoot. Surely we should recalculate?"

  "We have to dispose of the smart-missiles first, Harry. Don't worry, we will calculate a new vector soon enough."

  Chang's voice returned over the com, now badly distorted. "This is your last warning, Colonel. Reduce your velocity and change course now. You cannot outrun my shuttle. If you do not comply, I will order it to launch its missiles."

  Transmission was now so bad that she could hardly hear him. She didn't bother to respond. "Vitaly, how long will it take for us to reach the acquisition quadrant at our current speed?"

  "Four minutes, ten seconds."

  "And if the shuttle releases its missiles now, how long will it take for them to reach us?"

  "About the same, Colonel."

  "Harry, how long will it be until the wormhole opens?"

  "About five minutes, Colonel, but it isn't an exact science. We are dealing with elemental forces here."

  Hans interrupted. "Katya, I don't know what you are thinking, but I don't see how we are going to escape the shuttle. The wormhole is not going to be open by the time we get there. We are going to overshoot and then we will be at the shuttle's mercy. Why don't we just enter the wormhole as planned?"

  "Because the missiles will follow us in and their guidance systems will continue targeting us."

  Sixty more seconds, don't shoot for sixty more seconds, she prayed silently. It was closer to forty-five when she saw the tell-tale flash of the first missile launch. It was followed closely by another.

  "Vitaly, if there is any more speed in this ship, now is the time to find it," she said. He swiped energetically at his touchscreens, diverting every bit of power he could find to the thrusters.

  It was going to be close, but the desperate gamble might work. If the star drive was working properly… and if the wormhole opened in time. She sat back within her console and breathed deeply. There was nothing more that she could do.

  She checked on the progress of the approaching missiles. They looked awfully close already. Time passed agonisingly slowly.

  She looked back and forth between the chronometer on one of her screens and the visual of the roiling mass of matter and energy towards which the ship was hurtling. It was like watching a miniature black hole forming. She couldn't help wondering whether the astrophysicists really knew what they were doing. How did they know that their calculations were correct? They had only been tested in simulation. She decided not to ask; if they were all about to be killed in some half-formed celestial tornado, she didn't want to know about it.

  "Don't go through the acquisition quadrant, Vitaly, we just want to slide past."

  He made a minor course adjustment. The missiles and the trailing shuttle followed suit.

  She glanced at the others to see how they were handling the pressure. Vitaly was concentrating ferociously on their course and speed. Everyone else was staring at the opening wormhole in horrified fascination. The simulations they had all seen in training did not begin to do justice to the real thing.

  "How long until we reach the quadrant?" she demanded, wanting to break the tension that had gripped everyone on the bridge.

  "One minute, thirty-four seconds," answered Vitaly instantly.

  "How long will it take the missiles to reach it?"

  He punched away at some calculations. "Two minutes, thirty."

  About sixty seconds difference. Would it be enough?

  "Harry?"

  "Two minutes, twenty."

  "You can't perhaps...?"

  "No, I can't speed it up," he snapped.

  No one moved or spoke as the ship neared the dark mass ahead. It began to form itself into an enormous funnel, its open end facing them. The funnel was completely transparent and they could see that it had a long tail at the other end, stretching away into the distance. The entire face of the funnel was a giant vortex, spinning fastest at its centre. The vortex began to sink inwards, centre first, spinning faster and faster. By the time Earthworm skated across its face, it was a gigantic whirlpool poised to swallow them whole.

  She found herself holding her breath until they had cleared the far edge of the vortex. Then, gulping in air, she checked on the progress of the missiles. They were already half-way across the face of the vortex, speeding after the star ship at a velocity it couldn't hope to match. They were just seconds away.

  "Acquisition complete," said Harry.

  The whole ship shuddered as the vortex dissipated and the wormhole opened. Its gravitational pull was not very strong, relatively speaking, but it was strong enough to latch onto objects passing right in front of it. Earthworm was already far enough beyond the rim of the opening to be able to resist its pull, but the missiles weren't. They began to slow and gradually change course, attracted remorselessly by the dark rift in space. Their guidance systems fought to get them back on course, but they couldn't resist the superior force that had them in its grip. They fell away from Earthworm, diminishing in size until they became lost in the darkness.

  She breathed a sigh of relief, closing her eyes for a second. Then she swiped urgently through her screens, looking for the shuttle. Whoever was on board was about to die horribly.

  By the time she found it, the pilot had realised the danger. It made a sharp ninety-degree turn, he
ading directly away from the wormhole. It was too little too late. The doomed vessel's momentum took it across the face of the opening. Its engines, already at full power in its pursuit of Earthworm, had nothing more to give. It fought for forward momentum, but couldn't escape the gravitational field. It slowed and then stopped; hanging motionless in space for what seemed an age, before beginning to slide helplessly backwards. Faster and faster it went, eventually losing orientation and tumbling end over end into the maw of the wormhole.

  She continued watching until it disappeared from view. It wasn't built to withstand the forces it was about to encounter. It would be smashed to pieces in a few seconds, its crew obliterated. She set her jaw. After what she and her companions had been through, she felt no sympathy for the people on the shuttle.

  "Close the wormhole," she ordered Harry brusquely. They could keep it open, change course and enter it as planned, but she decided not to risk it. The longer a wormhole remained open, the more unstable it could become. And she didn't want to run the risk of colliding with an unexploded missile or the wreck of the shuttle, remote as that possibility might be. It was safer to acquire a new wormhole.

  "You can slow us down now, Vitaly. Stand by while I calculate a new vector." She flicked and tapped at her screen, immersing herself in the task. She didn't watch as the wormhole collapsed in on itself; closed by the same process used to open it.

  She finished her calculations, checked them three times, and sent the new vector to Harry. "Acquisition will be on Harry's signal. All personnel stand by."

  "We apologise for the delay, folks," said Hans in an attempt to raise spirits. But his tone was hollow and no-one felt like laughing; least of all Katya.

  In the lull while they waited for Harry, she couldn't help wondering whether she could have done something to save Heller. She didn't notice Hans climb out of his console and come over to her. She started when he spoke.

  "You sacrificed a man," he said sorrowfully.

  "Yes."

  "You have sacrificed men before."

  "Yes, I have."

  She thought he was going to turn away in disgust. But he didn't; instead, he put a large hand on her shoulder and looked into her eyes. "I'm sorry. No-one should have to make decisions like that."

  She scowled, but her heart wasn't in it. His sorrow was genuine, and she found it strangely comforting.

  "Commencing acquisition," said Harry, and Hans hurried back to his console.

  This time, the crew of Earthworm was able to view the celestial phenomenon with less terror and more appreciation. They watched spellbound as the roiling vortex created a cavernous funnel-shaped hole in space, the small end stretching away into the distance. As the vortex gave way to nothingness, Vitaly set course towards its centre.

  Knowing now that the star drive was fully functional, they were a little more confident. Still, after what had happened to the shuttle, a few hearts were in mouths.

  "Acquisition complete," said Harry breathlessly.

  "Take us in, Vitaly," said Katya without hesitation.

  Earthworm's velocity increased a little as it entered the gravitational field. Her co-pilot did not fight its pull and contented himself with keeping the ship steady as it was drawn inexorably forwards.

  She checked for the umpteenth time that she was securely strapped in. They were entering unfamiliar territory. They had all been through simulations of wormhole travel but how close to reality they were, no-one was sure. There was also the danger that the wormhole was not fully formed or that there was an anomaly that they had no way of anticipating. If either was the case, they were all about to share the fate of the crew of the shuttle.

  As they neared the opening, the wormhole seemed to fade away. She had learned that this was an effect caused by the fact that they were entering an area where there was no space. There was literally nothing to see.

  After what seemed an eternity, they crossed the threshold. Then it felt as if the ship had been shot from a giant catapult; an unbalanced catapult which gave its projectile a corkscrew spin. She nearly passed out in the first few seconds. But thankfully the Faerie Folk's ship design was sound. Its mechanisms compensated enough for the violent movement to enable her to remain conscious. There were a few screams from others on the bridge and the sound of someone retching close by. The sound set off her own stomach, and she just managed to pull the suction cup to her face in time to avoid making a very unpleasant mess.

  Then she did her best to concentrate on what was going on. Her external visuals were all blank; the cameras and other sensors having been retracted to save them from being damaged. She tried to check her calculations again but found it impossible to think straight. She gave up and accepted the fact that she was not in control anymore. They would either get to the other end in one piece, or they wouldn't.

  The theory of wormhole travel was simple. The rift in space opened by the star drive was a shortcut connecting two remote locations. A ship entering it travelled from one to the other without crossing the massive distance in between. How it really worked, not even the Faerie Folk knew. Without it, there was no way to travel meaningful distances in space.

  The end of the demented roller-coaster ride was sudden and the relief on the bridge palpable. As they hurtled out into normal space and began braking, she looked at her screen and saw that the trip had taken about four minutes. She could have sworn it was closer to forty.

  "Close it, Harry," she ordered. Having completed the voyage successfully, she didn't want the ship to be sucked back in. If the truth be told, she couldn't face making a return trip until her stomach had returned to its allotted place within her abdomen.

  The external sensors started to come back on line and she was able to see visuals of the galactic landscape. As stars and nebulae became visible; she began checking their positions against the star charts to confirm the ship's location. She started looking for the features of Centaurus A which should be readily apparent. She made out what she thought was one of its radio jets, but it wasn't in the right place. It was also the wrong shape; it should look more elongated. She swiped urgently through more visuals, looking for other features that should be there. She found some, but they were also in the wrong place. A cold feeling settled over her heart.

  She scowled and went through her vector calculations again. They were correct, she was sure of it. According to the star charts, they should be somewhere in the middle of the elliptical galaxy. But the visuals told her that they were near its edge.

  "Katya!" shouted Hans. He had been trying to get her attention for a while.

  "What is it?" she snapped.

  "Gamma 1680 is missing."

  She swiped at her screen again. He was right. The star system they had targeted was not there, nor was its potentially habitable planets.

  She tried to understand what had happened, but she was struggling to think clearly. The voyage seemed to have scrambled her brain. With an effort, she focused on reasoning it out one step at a time.

  Her calculations were correct. She had checked and re-checked them many times. If they had followed the vector she had calculated, they would be in the right place. She asked Harry to check whether the star drive might have malfunctioned. He reported that it had not. Then she examined the data collected during the trip. She could find no anomalies which may have affected the path of the wormhole.

  The only explanation left was that the star charts were not accurate. Her mind baulked at the idea. Its implications were too dreadful to contemplate. If that conclusion was right, then they couldn't use the charts to navigate through space. Even worse was that all other information the Faerie Folk had given them would have to be questioned. Had their motives been as pure as they claimed? Had their gifts really been for the benefit of mankind? Were they even who they said they were?

  She recalled something Hans had said a few months ago; that he believed that their star drive blueprint was deliberately flawed. She had dismissed the possibility at the time; it s
eemed to make no sense. Suddenly she wasn't so sure. Hans had been right about the need to abandon the blueprint. If they hadn't done so, the star drive would still be on the drawing board.

  Which wouldn't have been such a bad thing, really.

  Because then they wouldn't be lost in space.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  A tear trickled slowly down her cheek. Surprised, she reached up and touched it with a finger. Crying, the humans called it. Their tears were usually caused by extreme emotions such as sorrow, distress, fear and, somewhat oddly, joy. They were nothing if not inconsistent, these humans.

  Her people seldom cried. They were physiologically capable of it, but their existence was so ordered, so peaceful and harmonious, that extreme emotions were rare. Crying was generally regarded as a sign of mental illness.

  Vi quickly wiped away the tear. She was not going mad, she hoped, although what had prompted the tear, she couldn't say. It certainly wasn't joy. Facing up to the fact that her lifespan had been considerably shortened was much more difficult than she had imagined. The knowledge that her sacrifice was crucial to the future wellbeing of her race should have been solace enough, but it had turned out to be little consolation.

  Why that was so, she didn't understand. Sadness was not a logical response to her situation and she knew that if she discussed her emotions with anyone at the reproduction centre, she would be labelled as unco-operative, or even unstable. What she really needed was a friend; a human friend to help her make sense of a human sentiment.

  Unfortunately, the only human she regarded as a friend was billions of light years away on a planet full of people doing their level best to destroy each other. She didn't know whether Qara-Chinua was alive or dead. The news her translator friends had been smuggling into the centre for her was getting more and more frightening. It had been five human months since the expedition had left Earth. In that short time the planet's inhabitants had brought their civilisation to the brink of destruction.

  Mongolia and Thailand, the two places she identified most with, had remained relatively stable. But many other nations were not in such good shape. Conflicts raged across the globe, with wars being fought between countries and within countries. A collective madness seemed to have taken a grip of the human race. The fact that two-thirds of it had opted to take the anti-aging serum seemed to have changed its collective mind-set.