“Colonel, the dais is yours. Monitor the installation crew at NR7 station. It’s the last one, Colonel. We need to fill the gap quickly.”
“I’m on it, sir,” Joosten said.
Valentin grabbed Sam by the arm and dragged her deep into the ship to a private office.
“You have two minutes,” he said. “Go.”
“I don’t have time to tell you all the details, but hear this, Valentin. I know the Guard is a powerful enemy and you’re fighting for survival. But even if you win, it might not matter. Valentin, you have a deadlier enemy than the Guard. At the first opportunity, they’re going to come for you. Then they’ll come for all your people. They’ll betray you because they don’t want to share this world with you.”
He tightened his jaw. “What are you rambling about?”
“I saw it the first day I arrived. You told me. Things aren’t right here. They aren’t right between you and your brother. You know what the hybrids really want. In your heart, you know this.”
“It’s none of your concern, Samantha. I tried to protect you from them. Why are you doing this?”
“What do you know about the Jewels of Eternity?”
“Wait, what?”
“Have they ever spoken to you?”
“No. James is their conduit.”
“So, you don’t know the whole story. Valentin, they spoke to me. They showed me everything. Their origin. Their destruction. I know what they’re planning to do here. Please, Valentin. This is the end.”
“End of what?”
Even as the next words arrived, Sam struggled to believe them. Yet as she spoke, the grief of the fallen J’Hai filled her heart.
54
M ICHAEL REFUSED TO SLOW DOWN for anyone. He walked as fast as the ever-changing terrain allowed. The DR29 provided extraordinary night vision, a tool his companions lacked. Five hours, twenty-eight minutes nonstop. He heard their complaints – especially from Aldo, who had not pushed himself like this in decades. Michael didn’t expect the old man to make it the distance; even if he did, Aldo would be physically defeated and perhaps a liability. He was relieved when the former fleet commander stumbled to the ground and cursed, holding his left quadricep.
“Cudfrucker,” he said three times. “I should have known better.”
Maya raced to his side. “How bad is it, Aldo?”
“It just seized up. Damn extract. Makes you feel unbeatable when you’re wrong, but it’s no cure at my age.”
“Brontinium extract? You’ve been taking supplements?”
“Small. Occasional. Watered down.”
“You still had some after all this time? How?”
Aldo laughed through his pain. “I’m a greedy bastard, that’s how. Certain descendancies have had unofficial access to reserves. Fortunately, Aldo has a few friends out there.”
Michael didn’t care about Chancellors hoarding brontinium. It was simply another item on his endless list: Why Chancellors are Assholes. This was taking too much time.
“Bottom line, Aldo,” Michael said. “Can you keep up?”
“I could with a break.”
“How long?”
“An hour should do the trick.”
“Not a chance. Time’s running out, and we’re not far away. I estimate we got two hours before dawn.”
“Wait, what?” Maya said. “You haven’t said a word in the past hour. How do you know we’re close?”
“DR29 sweep. I’ve picked up their settlement. It’s eight and a quarter K. I think we might catch a break and find transport sooner.”
She pointed to Aldo, who was massaging his leg.
“Transport? Michael, that’s what he needs. When were you planning to tell us?”
He shrugged and let loose the truth.
“I wasn’t unless you asked. Sorry, but I’m doing my best to keep my brain from exploding. I’m still trying to sort it all, and I do it best when I’m walking. We need to go.”
“We’re a team, Michael. Will one extra hour make a difference?”
“Enough to get Sam incinerated. This shit is bigger than anybody realizes. We can’t measure the future in days anymore. It’s down to hours, maybe minutes.”
She softened her tone, falling into Maya the Counselor mode.
“Then now is the perfect chance to make us understand what is at stake, Michael. Five hours ago, you said this was ‘the end’ and never explained yourself. Bring us into the light. Please.”
“Fine. I’ll try. But only if we walk. Look, Aldo. I’ll carry you.”
Aldo raised a hand and commanded both of them to shut up.
“No. Michael, this is your mission. You’re best equipped to handle it. I’ll get in the way. If you know where the settlement is, drop the coordinates on my admin stack. I’ll catch up when I can.”
“Don’t need to,” Michael said. “Follow the river. You’ll come to a sharp drop in elevation. You’ll figure out the rest from there.”
Aldo nodded. “Simple enough. Maya, look after this fine young soldier. Make sure he doesn’t leap too far too fast.”
“Here,” she said, providing Aldo with supplies and the glow pod. “You’re certain this is what you want?”
“I am.” He examined the sky full of stars and sighed with a measure of satisfaction. “I actually made it back here. I’ll be damned. Take care of yourselves. We’ll share notes in a day or three. Yes?”
Michael shook his hand. “Thank you, Aldo. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you.” He offered Cm. Cabrise a side-nod, which was reciprocated. “We gotta go, Maya. Keep up.”
Michael reset the DR29 and his emotions then pushed forward, at first oblivious to whether Maya followed. The convex gradient latched onto activity two kilometers north of the settlement. A handful of people clustered around an unfamiliar device. Machines hovered nearby. Rifters. We have to get there.
If they ran, they’d make up for lost time. But what of Maya? She was a warrior when she had to be, but an athlete? A body built to run for miles? He didn’t want to chance another delay. A couple hundred meters beyond Aldo, Michael heard footsteps close behind.
“It’s just as well,” he told Maya, maintaining a steady pace. “He would have gotten himself killed where we’re going. If I hadn’t seen you in action, I’d be wondering how to keep you safe, too.”
Maya caught up and walked abreast.
“I don’t disagree, Michael, but you need to tell me what we’re walking into. What did you learn earlier? You said that tower showed you the truth about everything. If you don’t start talking now, I’m turning around, and you’ll be on your own.”
“Yeah, look. I’m sorry. It’s just … I’ve been trying to make sense of it all, and I’m about to lose my shit inside this helmet. OK, look. When the Jewel was with you, it talked about its purpose. You said it told you about the algorithm of life and predicted all paths would intersect here. Right?”
“It did.”
“OK. And it said they were created a million years ago and have been traveling the universe ever since. Right?”
“Yes.”
“Anything else? Like, say, why they left their home world?”
“No.”
“That’s what I thought. And if I’m right, they ain’t been too keen on sharing that information with many folks. Maybe not even James. Especially him.”
“What do you mean, Michael?”
He put his thoughts in order and prepared to enter crazy town.
“I was there, Maya. I was literally there. A million years ago, more or less. I saw the destruction of a race of people called the J’Hai. They were immortals. At least, they thought so. But something happened at a genetic level. They began dying. So, they looked for answers. Sound like a certain class of assholes we know?”
“Possibly. Go on.”
“They created an energy source they thought might heal them. I’ll give you three guesses, and the first two don’t count. At any rate, it was promising, for a while. B
ut the J’Hai didn’t realize the energy source they manufactured was sentient. The Jewel energy bonded with them, learned everything about the J’Hai, all their collective knowledge and wisdom. The Jewels decided they knew best how to make the J’Hai greater than ever. But they didn’t agree on how to accomplish it.”
“Wait. The Jewels were talking to each other from inside the bodies of these J’Hai?”
“The Jewels split into two factions. One believed in advancing the J’Hai with breakthroughs in interstellar and interdimensional travel to give their immortality greater meaning. The other focused on galactic conquest. Like I said, the Jewels were sentient, and they were a form of pure energy. Devastating energy.”
Maya moaned. “Berserkers.”
“There was a civil war. Most of the J’Hai refused to merge with the Jewels. They thought it was an abomination. They chose to die, if no other cure was found. The Jewels were bonded to less than ten percent of the population, but the ones focused on conquest demanded full compliance. They wanted armies of millions of Berserkers. The passive Jewels tried to reason. Those J’Hai offered a deal. The Berserkers could have one of the J’Hai’s colonies for their own. They gave generous conditions: Never fight a J’Hai world, but the rest of the galaxy is yours to do with as you see fit.”
Maya grabbed his arm. “They gave permission for those monsters to lay waste to the galaxy?”
“Yeah. A non-aggression treaty. We tried those on first Earth. Didn’t work there either. At any rate, the Berserkers rejected the deal. On the day it was to be signed, they unleashed a sneak attack on the capital city. First, a chemical strike to kill the ninety percent who weren’t bonded. Then they surrounded the city with Berserkers and leveled everything. They did the same to the rest of the planet.”
Michael choked up. The unimaginable grief he felt inside in the hearts of the fallen J’Hai broke his concentration. He held it back.
“They fought a war for the next hundred years. The passive J’Hai allied with the non-compliant J’Hai who lived off-world. Their armies were huge. Eventually, they defeated the Berserkers. But by then, almost the entire population was gone.
“Maya, I met a J’Hai up close. We were in a field of poppies. I didn’t understand him at first. But now I know. He said, ‘The dark drowned us.’”
“Huh.” Maya tightened her grip. “I’ve heard that somewhere.”
“Yeah. Me too. Before I crossed the fold with Jamie and Sam. Jamie told us what happened after he died and tried to save us. The Jewel warned him about defying time and space. ‘You do not understand what you will become. The dark will drown them.’ I only remember it because I knew Jamie was spooked. He wondered if he made a horrible mistake.”
“You and Sam are alive, so …”
“But two and a half million aren’t. Fair swap?”
“There’s no reset button.”
Michael smiled. “Apparently, the J’Hai thought there was. The last survivors made it their final act to set the Jewels free with a reprogrammed mission: Find other races and lift them up. Show them wisdom and technology that would strengthen but not corrupt.”
“And the Berserkers?”
“They assumed the new programming would silence the monster. I reckon it did, until history does it always does: Repeat itself. Until a few assholes decided to merge Jewel energy with Chancellor DNA.
“It’s all gone wrong, Maya. Jamie crossed the fold because he thought the Jewels needed to be destroyed. People like him. Berserkers. He was willing to sacrifice himself if he had to. But once he evolved and the Berserker inside took over, he became the same fucking demon that killed off the J’Hai.”
Maya gasped. “I remember where I heard the phrase. It was during one of my dialogues with the Jewel. I didn’t understand at the time. It said, ‘We will show them the way home, and the dark will drown them.’ Home? It’s here. Hiebimini. Isn’t it?”
“Yeah, Maya, and that’s why we’re fucked if we don’t reach them in time. Listen to me. That tower? It’s not the only one. There are eight. They form a concentric circle, a hundred five K from the center of the settlement. It’s a defense system.”
“Against invaders? The Guard?”
“Maybe it could be used that way. I don’t know. But it was built for a different reason. It’s a trap, Maya. It’s a fucking trap. ‘We will show them the way home.’ Think about it. Who is ‘we’? Who is ‘them’?”
She hesitated. “The Jewels have been manipulating us all this time, which means they showed the way. Yes?”
“To whom? James? The hybrids?”
“The Berserkers.”
“Maya, the Jewels recreated this world for the best of reasons. They wanted humanity to start over and be better. They wanted to fulfill their programming. But the Berserkers came back. And now the Jewels who built this world are going to prevent history from repeating itself. They’re going to kill every Berserker and everyone responsible for bringing them back to life.”
“Wait, what?”
“It will start here. The Jewels already know an invasion’s coming. Remember how you said there are actually thousands of them wandering about space? Well, they communicate faster than we can jump across light-years. This is going to be a slaughter. The hybrids, the Guard, and anyone they think is tainted by association.”
“You mean?”
“Sam is a Chancellor by birth. Maya, I just don’t know …”
“But the immortals? They aren’t Berserkers. They’re children.”
“Yeah, well, so are the hybrids for the most part. Ain’t gonna help them one spit. Maya, this is about revenge. These Jewels have been holding a grudge for a million years.”
Maya let go of his arm and slowed to catch her breath. Michael didn’t want to stop, but he understood the necessity.
“Michael, what can we possibly do to make a difference here?”
“I think we’re living on a wing and a prayer. The Jewels showed me all this for a reason. They’re counting on me to change the equation somehow. It’s insane, but everything that happened the past day can’t be a coincidence. I jumped four hundred sixty-five light-years. I learned I’m immortal. You say I exist outside time and space. An impossible future. I think I’m something the Jewels never expected. So is Sam. But it also means James is, too. I have to believe this, Maya. It’s the end.”
“Of what?”
“Let’s find out. C’mon.”
This time he ran, and Maya kept up.
55
T HEY RAN THROUGH DIFFICULT TERRAIN. Rocky slopes, thick bramble, and another peat bog dared them to pass. The sprint deteriorated at times to a jog, but Maya stayed close. Michael saw the activity north of the settlement ramp up, his DR29 detecting many people coming and going on rifters. The gradient tried to analyze the device being erected, but its design was unfamiliar. Dawn cracked the eastern horizon on a cloudless morning, but Michael and Sam focused on the milky glow dead ahead, rising above a ridge.
“Listen,” Michael said, stopping Maya. “I got an idea how I want to handle this, but I’m not putting you at risk. If shooting starts, I can take care of myself.”
“Understood, but I am not without ability,” she said. “And I’m wearing simul-fabric underneath.”
“Fat lot of good it will do. Simul-fab is designed for live-fire exercises where the explosive web in a flash peg has been nullified. Beyond that, it can absorb stun weapons and bolts from single-round laser pistols. If these yahoos are prepping for war, they ain’t gonna be armed for practice. I know what you can do, Maya, and I’m gonna give you what you need. But I take point. Good?”
“Yes, sir,” she said with a wry smile visible in the dim light.
Michael made up his mind what must be done long before reaching the enemy. Maya wouldn’t understand, and he couldn’t waste time explaining the danger of half-measures.
Maj. Nilsson taught Michael a handful of peacekeeper combat philosophies. Tops among them: The first attack is the final attack.
One assault. Maximum resources. Deadly force. Peacekeepers, he said, did not lose because they did not fight protracted battles.
“What if the enemy is well defended?” Michael asked.
“There is no defense for overkill,” Nilsson said, his reflective tone proof of specific combat experience. “We always respond with overkill. Nothing shakes a man’s confidence like unbridled terror.”
It was a convenient philosophy for a Guard that sported overwhelming numbers and weaponry across a millennium. It hadn’t worked so well lately. A flawed military strategy, perhaps, but a time-saver when it worked. And Michael needed to save time.
To his left, the Bengalese River gained momentum as the current steered toward a massive waterfall two kilometers ahead. This was the highest elevation in the region; from here, the land descended a steady four degrees until ending at a sheer cliff.
They crouched behind a rocky mound thirty meters shy of the enemy location. Hovering drones lighted the workspace. Six children – Michael estimated all in their early teens – operated on a device unlike anything he’d ever seen. The silver, rectangular object was about eight feet tall, twice as wide, vents running along the top and bottom. In the center, a pair of giant round wells reminded Michael of the cones on a speaker system. On either side, protrusions like satellite dishes jutted outward.
“One due east, one due west,” he muttered.
The DR29 found nothing similar in the Guard database. He reset the parameters to test for chemical and radiation signatures.
“I don’t know what the machine is,” he whispered to Maya, “but I know who they are.” She nodded in agreement.
The children wore black and bronze armor that glistened under the drone lighting. Each wore a blast rifle on one hip and a pair of laser weapons on the other. The only difference from the last time he saw them: The helmets were retracted, leaving their faces visible. They used holotools and phasic drivers to shore up the machine.
“What I said about your simul-fab goes double,” he whispered. “They may be kids, but those motherfuckers wiped out a spec-ops team. They’re hardcore, Maya. I got a bad feeling their armor is better than my armor. So, I’m gonna get one chance at this.”
The Impossible Future: Complete set Page 139
