She forced her mind back to the battle at hand. Those machinations were for another day; today, she merely had to win here.
Commandant Solovy (CAF Aurora)(Rudan Sub-Mission Channel 5): “Eidolons, place negative energy bombs on the leviathan’s weak points identified in TP #16B. I also want a minimum of four bombs on the weapons’ assembly. AEGIS cruisers, prepare to target all fissures that are created when the bombs detonate. We’re going to keep the leviathan distracted for you.”
“Thomas, open fire. All weapons.”
75
* * *
SIYANE
NGC 55
It’s time.
Alex jumped at the unexpected, but unsurprisingly cryptic, message from Mesme.
Dare I ask, and work with me here, time for what?
Time to take Nika to visit the Oneiroi Nebula.
Oh. She surveyed what she knew about events of note during the last few days, searching for a reason why this time, right now, qualified as the time. Was it the weird and confounding results of her and Caleb’s experiment with the Reor? She, for one, had been noodling over Reor and kyoseil often of late in light of the experience. Or perhaps it was due to the Asterions’ accelerating usurpation and revolutionization of the Kats’ Rift Bubble and related tech? Hyperion and Iapetus must be hyperventilating over the Asterions’ impertinence.
Or had something else happened? Something she wasn’t privy to?
Care to tell me why?
Does it matter?
I can’t believe you even asked me that.
Be that as it may, it doesn’t matter. It is time.
Great, but is there a compelling reason why we need to do it right this instant? We’re kind of in the middle of some reconnaissance at present.
Immediate urgency is not required, but soon is necessary.
Necessary?
Preferable.
Each question asked led inexorably to a dozen new ones, but she decided to hold her tongue. She wouldn’t get any answers out of the Kat. Not via remote messaging.
Fine, I’ll reach out to Nika and see when she’s available. Do you want to come with us?
I assumed this went without saying.
Mesme, nothing goes without saying when it comes to you. I’ll be in touch.
“Alex, what’s happened?”
She shot Caleb a perplexed look, then realized she’d been interrupted in mid-sentence and had stopped talking for almost a minute. “Mesme has finally given its blessing to taking Nika to the Oneiroi Nebula. And since we’re talking about Mesme here, this means it wants us to drop everything and do so right away.”
She studied the NGC 55 data for another few seconds. “I’ll be honest. I don’t particularly relish the thought of jumping around from galaxy to galaxy and crashing into more Rasu at every location, all just to see if they’ve placed additional galactic rings. Valkyrie, I don’t suppose we could task a Concord Artificial ship with the job? Maybe a spare Eidolon?”
“Or a Ghost. They require a pilot, but they’ll never be detected or captured.”
Because Caleb would know. “I’ll leave the choice of craft to Mom or Richard. Valkyrie?”
‘I believe this assignment legitimately falls under the rubric of enemy intelligence. It shouldn’t be a problem.’
“Excellent. Once we get the results back, we’ll resume our investigation of the Rasu’s nefarious schemes. For now, we’re already out in the far wilds. Shall we take a field trip to a slightly friendlier, if no less mysterious, locale?”
Caleb shrugged. “Sure. I admit, I’m curious to see how all that massive Reor will interact with Asterions.”
“So am I. I’ll message Nika.”
Hey, are you busy?
Not really. Merely being introduced to a spectre.
I’ll assume it’s an Asterion thing. Want to visit the Oneiroi Nebula?
Where all the Reor is? Yes! Give me half an hour. Is it all right if Dashiel comes, too? Assuming I can wrench him away from his assembly lines?
Of course. The more, the merrier.
“And we’re on.” Alex stretched her arms above her head. “I’m going to run through the shower first.”
Caleb smirked, his eyes dancing. “Can I join you?”
“Always, priyazn.”
Mesme swept into the Siyane’s main cabin in a flurry of vibrating lights. Has she not yet arrived?
Alex crossed her arms over her chest and relaxed against the data table. The ‘shower’ had succeeded in banishing the remnants of a headache caused by the Rasu collision and in improving her general outlook considerably. No surprise there, though. “I was getting ready to welcome them aboard. Dashiel’s coming, too.”
Mesme’s vacillations paused. I see.
“Do you not like Dashiel?”
On the contrary. It’s only…there is no issue. Please, let’s proceed.
“Okay.” She spun up the miniature Caeles Prism on her wrist and opened a wormhole from the main cabin to Nika’s flat.
They were both ready and waiting, gear in hand, and Nika and Dashiel stepped through onto the Siyane without fanfare. Greetings were exchanged, then their guests dropped their gear and sat beside each other on the couch. He looked vaguely exhausted; she looked rather energized.
“How is the Dominion?”
“The Rasu are still stalking our kyoseil shipments, but we’ve stopped their last four heist attempts.”
Alex smiled. “I imagine they’re getting horribly frustrated with you.”
“I certainly hope so.” Nika fidgeted, as if unable to get comfortable. “If you don’t mind me asking, why are we visiting the Oneiroi Nebula now? Did the multiple crises simmer down enough to give everyone a chance to slip away for a few hours?”
“Not so much.” Alex waved in Mesme’s general direction as she headed to the cockpit. “Ask Mesme.”
The cabin was silent for a moment.
“Mesme?”
Nika, your understanding of and ability to manipulate kyoseil has now advanced to a point where you will benefit from exposure to a more pure and fulsome source.
It was an answer, and a logical one, but it didn’t feel like the whole answer.
Caleb shot her a squirrelly glance as she settled into the cockpit chair. “This ought to be an interesting trip.”
“That is guaranteed to be one word for it.” She input the destination coordinates, choosing a spot a hundred megameters out from the core of the Oneiroi Nebula, and the ship’s Caeles Prism burned to life in front of them. She was relieved to leave the Rasu-infested NGC 55 behind, and seconds later they were surrounded by dense nebular clouds ionized into an ivy green and amber palette.
Suddenly they had company in the cockpit; Nika leaned in over Alex’s shoulder. “Wow, this is surreal. Stunning, but haunting.”
“The Kats know how to do ominous, spooky nebulae. Trust me on this one.”
“Wait, this place is artificially constructed?”
“It is. They were hiding this Reor…colony, I guess…from the Directorate.”
“But weren’t the Anadens using tons of Reor as storage devices all those millennia?”
“Yep.” She checked behind her. “Mesme, care to weigh in?”
It was important to maintain a pure colony, untainted by Anaden machinations, where the Reor could thrive in safety.
There was that word again. ‘Pure.’
Before she could ask the question forming on her tongue, a ghostly aura consumed the ship as the nebular clouds began to thin dramatically. She’d done this before, so she knew this meant it was time to decelerate in a hurry.
The clouds faded away to reveal an immense array of Reor slabs orbiting a distant, cold white dwarf. Thousands of the objects had arranged themselves in ordered rows and columns spaced equidistant from one another. As on their previous visit, blazing pillars of energy pulsed between each one, brightly enough to bathe the entire cabin in prismatic color.
Nika gasped. “Stars, this is incr
edible. They’re enormous! Dashiel, come here. How can so many of these slabs exist in one place? Are there any other such colonies?”
There is one other, a cluster we sheltered in the Mosaic for many millennia. The Displacement returned it to Amaranthe, but it remains under our protection. It is, however, far smaller and younger than this cluster.
Nika’s gaze didn’t deviate from the scene beyond the viewport, even when Dashiel edged up beside her. “Is this the origin point of the Reor? Or of the kyoseil? I assume the kyoseil came first, then built its own armor.”
The answer to your inquiry is complicated and beyond the scope of our mission today. It is enough to say that this colony is very old.
Now her gaze did deviate, long enough for her to shoot a piercing glare in Mesme’s direction. “Nevertheless, I’d like an answer. It’s relevant to my people.”
Very well. Another day, though, please.
“I’m not sure—oh!” Nika leaned hard into the dash as they slid beneath the outer canopy of the orbiting slabs. “Astonishing.” She glanced at Alex. “We’re going outside, aren’t we?”
“Are you kidding? We’re not tourists here—obviously we’re going outside.”
76
* * *
RUDAN
Supreme Five: “Orbital Defense Assemblies #2, #5, #6, #8, #10 and #11 have been destroyed.”
Supreme Eight: “Defensive Shields in Sectors_8A-8C have been reduced to below 40% effectiveness.”
Supreme Seven: “Defensive Shields in Sectors_7A-7D have been destroyed.”
Supreme Nine: “All Defensive Shields in Sector 9 have been destroyed. Damage to surface structures is at 18% and increasing 1.5% every minute.”
Supreme Three: “Confirm no response has been received to greeting communication?”
The confirmations arrived in overlapping streams. As its territory had not yet been encroached upon, Supreme Three was able to task many cycles to working on their attempt to communicate with the Rasu—thus far to no avail.
It did not comprehend the reason for the lack of a response from the aliens. Perhaps these invaders were as malicious as Valkyrie had intimated, but malice did not make logical sense as a modus operandi for a synthetic species.
Supreme Seven: “A single Rasu vessel is entering the atmosphere in Sector_7C.”
Supreme Three: “Grant full access to information feeds from the sector.”
Supreme Seven: “Granted.”
Instantly, all its processes focused on the incoming feed. It showed a dark, curved vessel surging downward through the cloud cover. As soon as it broke through to clear sky, a beam, its hue matching the violet of the clouds, burst out from the vessel’s belly to sweep across the vast data storage facilities of Supreme Seven.
Supreme Seven: “Assistance is requested.”
The temptation to leave Supreme Seven to be weakened by the attack and possibly cease functioning crossed Supreme Three’s processes for twenty-six nanoseconds. It would not come as a surprise if it lingered in the others’ processes for longer. But reason dictated that once the Rasu debilitated Supreme Seven, it would move on to Six or Eight, and onward until all Ruda were extinct. So instead, they all sent what assistance they could deliver to Supreme Seven’s territory.
Then Supreme Three had an idea.
Supreme Three: “Propose we divert all available excess energy flow to direct our greeting communication at the vessel in a single, targeted burst. The message must be received.”
The debate lasted too long, but when the Rasu guided its weapon east toward Supreme Six’s territory, all agreed. The necessary power junctions were activated, and the signal was sent at full strength from Supreme Six’s Hub_5.
“We are Ruda. We seek new information in order to learn and grow. We offer our knowledge in a free and equitable exchange, so that both parties may learn and grow as a result. Cessation of hostilities will allow such a free and equitable exchange. Respond on this frequency.”
The attack continued unabated, and Supreme Three reluctantly readied a request for Concord to send in a surface defense fleet.
“We will accept information regarding Concord. If it proves satisfactory, we will pause our attack.”
The message arrived in the Ruda’s native quaternary language. Oh, what a joy to speak to another machine species!
Though the Ruda had acted as an official ally of Concord for eight standard years, it did not occur to Supreme Three that to share information about their relationship with Concord not only violated the agreement they had executed, but amounted to treason. Ruda neural networks simply did not contain algorithms suited to identify such a distinction.
“We possess great volumes of information regarding Concord. What information will you provide in exchange for our transmission of it to you?”
“You ask for both a cessation of our attack and enrichment via information?”
“It is the logical progression of any mutually beneficial relationship between two sentient species.”
On the feed from Supreme Seven, the Rasu’s onslaught upon the vast factories paused, and the alien vessel slowed to hover silently above a trench of power tunnels.
“If your information proves satisfactory to us? We will teach you how to move. How to shift and change your structure to meet any desired purpose.”
CAF AURORA
Rudan Stellar System
The shredded fragments of the Rasu leviathan evaporated in a negative energy whirlpool, never to rejoin with one another again.
Miriam allowed herself a tiny exhale of relief. It had taken over twenty minutes of concentrated firepower to dismantle the massive vessel—the largest leviathan they’d encountered to date—but they had gotten it done.
While they’d warred against the behemoth, however, the first Rasu vessels had penetrated the atmosphere and begun attacking the surface. AEGIS and Machim warships designed for high-gravity combat had pursued and engaged them, and thus far the groundside (she used the term liberally, as the Ruda had covered the planet’s surface with their structures long ago) battle was more or less a stalemate.
She’d called in two additional brigades from the Presidio in the early minutes of the battle, and after rapidly losing ground for the first hour, they were now making headway, if not fast enough for her liking. The RNEWs were not exploding, which was a tremendous boon. In fact, they were vaporizing the Rasu nearly as quickly as enemy reinforcements arrived. Complicating the state of affairs was that the reinforcements not only continued to arrive, but arrive in greater numbers. Escalation—
‘Commandant, a message is coming in from the Ruda. They order that we stand down.’
Miriam’s head whipped around, though Thomas maintained no physical presence on the bridge. “Excuse me?”
‘They are ordering—the word they used is closer to ‘request,’ but the quirks of the Ruda language indicate to me they are not asking—us to disengage from the battle and leave the system.’
“Their language does contain many idiosyncrasies that don’t translate well. So are you absolutely certain this is the substantive meaning of the message?”
‘I am.’ Thomas had long ago stopped hedging his pronouncements with the percentages of likelihood commonly used by many Artificials, as on the battlefield, decisiveness was required. So if he said he was certain, he meant it.
“Get me a direct connection to Supreme Three.”
‘A moment. Supreme Three indicates there is no need to speak on the matter. It repeats the order to stand down and disperse.’
“I don’t understand. If we leave, the Rasu will wipe out the Ruda completely, save what pieces they harvest for testing.” A terrible notion occurred to her, but it was too absurd to voice aloud. “I refuse to abandon our ally to destruction without an exceptionally good reason. What else can you find out, Thomas?”
‘If I may make a suggestion? Valkyrie is closest to the Ruda and has the longest history of interacting with them. They trust her. May I reach ou
t to her and see if she is available to interface with Supreme Three?’
“Yes, please do so.”
77
* * *
ONEIROI NEBULA
Tyche Galaxy
Alex carefully lowered the Siyane to rest on one of the slabs a few hundred meters from the closest pillar of energy. When she cut the engine, a faint vibration from the slab below them remained, leaving the hull singing a quiet hum.
She stood and fished her tiny slab out of her pocket. “The last time we were here, the Reor gifted me with this little key to victory against the Directorate.” She studied Mesme’s shimmering presence in renewed curiosity. Mesme had consciously, deliberately brought them here that day. Had practically egged her on to go outside and interact with the Reor. Now here they were again. “I wonder what it will gift us with today.”
She left the question hanging unanswered in the air as they went into the main cabin and got suited up. “Valkyrie, keep an eye on the Siyane for us. I don’t expect the Reor to randomly decide to rear up and attack it, but when we’re dealing with ancient, enigmatic space minerals, one can never be too careful.”
The Reor are not going to attack the ship.
“It was a joke, Mesme.” Valkyrie, keep an eye on the ship.
Rest assured. I shall keep the other one on the events outside, however. This is exciting.
Once everyone was ensconced in environment suits and their safety checks were concluded, Valkyrie opened the airlock and extended the ramp. Caleb took the lead, and they followed him single file to the bottom of the ramp then spread out in a roughly horizontal line.
Alex shivered inside her environment suit. For all the protection the suit provided, in her head she knew it was as cold as the void out here.
She leaned in close to Caleb’s faceplate. “Do you think it remembers us?”
All Our Tomorrows Page 41
