by Trevor Gregg
She sighed, “Yes, I do know. I have seen it, though much of it was beyond my understanding.”
“The Epsilon Computer, Leicara, now’s the time to take us to it,” Kyren began.
Benjam interrupted, “Kyren, my timeline was wrong, the shift could come at any moment.”
Kyren was surprised at Benjam’s despondent tone. But, it was bad news indeed that they were out of time. They still had so much to accomplish, and a Kirugi to fight. And Alis to save. At least the robot was stolen.
He had warped it to the Azorian home world, in the forests outside the compound. It was programmed to defend itself but wait for him. A complex encryption algorithm protected against unauthorized access. They would have to deploy it when the Kirugi arrived. They needed to be there. If any eggs escaped, it would be impossible to contain the spread.
“Okay, so our time is even more limited. Leicara, you’re going to take us to the Epsilon Computer. Then we’re coming back for Alis,” he said emphatically.
Benjam smiled but Leicara frowned.
“We’ll take the warp gate to where I’ve hidden it,” she said, pointing the gate hovering in the blackness, framed by stars, “Skotinicene, please take us through the gate to my hidden location.
“Indeed, we shall go,” Skotinicene replied cheerfully. “Welcome new companion Kyren.”
It was Skotty!
“Hey Skotty, great to see you again!” he replied. “Oh, wait, we haven’t met yet.”
“Indeed, we are strangers, at least until now,” Skotty replied.
The ship began to fly toward the warp gate, reaching it and passing through. Leicara seemed entirely unaffected by warp sickness, while Kyren spent a few moments reeling. Even Benjam’s eyes lost focus briefly during the transition.
“What, no warp sickness for you?” he asked Leicara once his head cleared.
“Well, no, actually. I’ve never suffered from it.”
“Interesting, are all your people so?” Benjam questioned.
“No, I’ve just always been unaffected by it, I don’t know why. Perhaps it has something to do with…” she trailed off, then focused on the viewscreen.
“It’s there,” Leicara said, pointing to the green and blue planet the warp gate was orbiting. “Skotty, take us in to the preloaded coordinates. Follow the flight path I’ve provided exactly.”
“Affirmative,” Skotty replied.
They landed in short order. Kyren and Benjam followed Leicara out into the bright sunshine. Knee-length green grass blanketed a rolling field, devoid of trees or any structures. Just like the planet where Tharox had found it. But where was the Computer?
“Leicara?” Kyren asked tentatively.
“Just wait. I don’t know how to explain it, I don’t know why I can do it,” Leicara said, as if admitting a weakness.
“Do what?” he asked, puzzled.
“This,” she said, raising her arms and closing her eyes.
The very air shimmered before them. Reality was undulating and rippling, and soon began to disintegrate. As the world before them fell away, a new world was revealed. Before them stood the mighty fortress containing the Epsilon Computer. It looked the same as it had when they confronted Tharox.
Tall buildings, built of a black metal that was cool to the touch, were adorned with fine circuitry and tiny electronic components.
“What was that, Leicara?” Benjam piped curiously.
“I can make things disappear. But like they never existed. Yet they still do, and I can bring them back. Unfortunately I think that means the Halifax will be able to find us now.”
As if on cue, shapes streaked into the planet’s atmosphere, trailing great streamers of fire behind them.
“I think we should hurry,” Kyren suggested. “Leicara, take us to the Computer’s central chamber, and fast!”
“Hang on, I need to do something first. We may need him,” Leicara said, turning to a terminal and hastily programming.
“What are you doing, Leicara?” Skotty questioned.
“Bringing you with me,” she replied. “I’m encoding you onto this data core.”
A minute later, a data core ejected from the reader. She grasped it’s handle and twisted it free. She placed it into a pocket in her robes. She broke into a brisk trot, leading them into the small compound, to the central tower. They entered and followed the passageway at the other end down below. Some twists and turns and they arrived at the same amphitheater-like room where they had faced off against Tharox, what felt like a lifetime ago. The catwalk stood before the abyss and cables hung down from the ceiling in great loops.
“There, go up there and speak, it’ll answer,” Leicara instructed.
Kyren stepped forward and tentatively spoke, “Computer?”
“Epsilon Computer is here,” the mechanical voice replied.
“Will you answer my questions, provide me the information I require?” he queried.
“Affirmative.”
“First…” Kyren began, but couldn’t finish, as the entire structure shook.
“There went my ship’s engine, looks like it went nova. The Halifax reapers will be here soon enough. We’ve got no way out,” Leicara said desperately.
“I’ve got our exit covered,” Benjam squeaked confidently.
“Good,” Kyren said, trusting the details were covered.
Kyren turned back to the abyss. “Okay, so…”
A strange thing happened before he could finish his sentence. The world around him wavered. Reality oscillated, buzzing and blurring. It was familiar. It was exactly the same phenomenon he had witnessed in the messages they had left themselves on the data core.
“Uh, Benjam?” Kyren asked.
“Yes, that does mean to hurry, at least according to the message. We don’t have much time,” Benjam said apocalyptically.
55
Variables
Kyren was now standing in front of an omniscient computer. It was also responsible for turning Tharox into a villain and unleashing the hordes of dragoons and reapers upon the galaxy. But in their altered timeline, the computer didn’t exist. So he needed to get what he could before they shifted. He unslung his rifle from his back and looked around cautiously.
“It makes sense now,” Benjam exclaimed excitedly.
“What does?” Kyren asked impatiently.
“The reason my calculations were off. They didn’t take into effect Leicara’s ability, and what it might do to the stability of the timeline.”
“So how much time do we have, Benjam?”
“Not long, I’m afraid. Days, maybe less,” he replied grimly.
“Okay, well, I better get to this. Computer?”
“Yes?” it droned.
“Can you show me the fight with the Kirugi. One egg escapes. Where is it heading?”
“Analyzing query,” Computer replied. “Negative, the Kirugi are all destroyed.”
Hmmm, how was he going to find out where the last one was heading? Wait, this was the altered timeline, he thought. He would need to ask the computer in the timeline where the computer had ceased to exist. But how would you do that if it didn’t exist. But it did exist, they had seen it as Leicara’s power had shifted time. The computer currently did exist in both timelines.
“Okay, Benjam, how do we get to the other timeline?” Kyren asked
“Leicara, can you do what you do at will?” Benjam questioned.
“I think so, let me try,” she replied, extending her hands and concentrating.
Suddenly, reality blurred again and Kyren felt a moment of vertigo.
“We’ve shifted timelines, I believe,” Benjam informed him.
“Okay, let me try this now. Computer, the Kirugi, one egg escapes. Where does it go?”
“Affirmative. Without my intervention, one will escape. Prepare for download,” the Computer responded in a monotone.
A wall of thought and memories hit him like a wave. He staggered but caught himself, using the butt of his r
ifle for support. Pictures, sounds, and impressions flooded into his mind. It was like nothing he had experienced before. It was as if the memories were originally his, not just viewed like a vid, like with the rho’kar. It was more like the evgalian’s touch, but without the feeling of viscous black oil in his head.
He remembered where the Kirugi egg was traveling to. It had homed in on humanity’s homeworld, a planet called Earth. He now knew where it was going. Then a tremendous blast shook the facility, causing the cables hanging down in great loops from the ceiling to sway.
But now they knew. He had no time to peruse the memories he now held. The Halifax were closing in and he had yet another thing to accomplish. He had realized what he would need to do, in order to set the future right.
“Okay, let me try this. Computer, am I one of your variables?”
“Affirmative, you factor into my future calculations now that I have been able to scan you,” it replied in a monotone.
“I want you to remove me as a variable,” he instructed.
“What are you doing, Kyren?” Benjam began, but paused. “Aha! You were not in the Computer’s future predictions in the original timeline. That is what kept Tharox from seeing you, from predicting your actions. It’s how you were able to thwart him.”
“Variable removed. You may collect it on floor thirty seven, bay L-one, slot seventy three,” the computer informed them.
“Leicara, can you take us there?” Kyren questioned.
“I think so. It would be the under-deck levels. There’s an elevator nearby, I think,” Leicara replied, heading for the doorway.
Again, Kyren felt the vertigo as everything in his vision shimmered.
“What did you do, Leicara?” Kyren asked.
“Nothing, that wasn’t me,” she replied fervently.
“I think we have destabilized the time stream. That shift would mean we are again in our altered timeline, with the Halifax. We need to get to your variable and extract it, but it must be done from the original timeline, Tharox’s timeline,” Benjam attempted to explain, making Kyren’s head nearly explode.
Kyren heard them skittering along the floor before he saw them. Reapers! Those damn death-bots that Tharox had deployed so long ago were advancing on them now. Kyren dashed forward and hit the door control. It whooshed shut just as rounds tore into it, thankfully stopped by the door, but leaving dimples in the metal where each round impacted.
“Lock it, quick!” Kyren instructed.
Leicara quickly keyed the lock sequence as more rounds deformed the door. They would get through soon, he knew. Looking like they were trapped, he looked around desperately for a way out. Then he spotted the chasm. He knew, because he had gone over the edge, that there was a massive support structure below. Pylons and crisscrossing beams composed a structure that was climbable.
“This way,” he cried, dashing to the edge.
“Oh dear, they’re nearly through,” Benjam cried as a massive pounding on the door began.
“Go, help Leicara down,” Kyren commanded.
Benjam began to assist as instructed, moving frantically. The door buckled and huge rend opened up. Kyren snapped his rifle to his shoulder and fired, concentrating the pulses of energy on the newly opened gap. It bought enough time for Benjam and Leicara to get over the edge.
The first reaper burst through the door, fracturing it and sending the pieces clattering to the ground as it scrambled into the room. Kyren walked his fire across the bot, focusing on the main body. To his surprise, the blasts punched through the bot’s body, eliciting a shower of sparks and flame. It crumpled to the floor as the next one skittered into the room.
Realizing he would soon be overwhelmed, he dropped to the deck and rolled. As he cleared the edge, bullets tore through the air above him and thudded into the deck where he had been. As he went over the edge he was grateful the deck plate shielded him from the rounds. He knew his armor would likely be like paper to those ultra-high velocity rounds.
But his relief was short-lived. He felt a moment of sheer terror as he began to fall. Scrabbling at the beams, he attempted to find purchase. But his hands slid, he couldn’t find anywhere to grip on the smooth surface. He reached for another beam and missed. He felt vertigo as he hung by one remaining hand. His rifle dangled from its strap, thumping against his side. And then he was falling, stomach lurching as gravity yanked.
56
T-Minus Five Minutes
Suddenly, a tentacle wrapped around Kyren’s wrist, arresting his momentum. Benjam turned the fall into a swing, delivering Kyren into the scaffolding beneath the platform. His hands grasped support rods as he clung to the column, heart hammering in his ears. Benjam and Leicara also clung to beams. Panting, he took a moment to recover. As he rested, reality shifted again.
“What timeline are we in, now Benjam?” Kyren inquired.
“Tharox’s timeline,” Benjam answered.
Benjam motioned with the tip of his tentacle, pointing down. There were enough hand and foot holds to make the climb possible. But it would be a long way down. Kyren gathered his courage and began the descent.
They reached the bottom many minutes later. That would mean the bots would have had ample time to propagate throughout the complex, at least in the altered timeline, as Benjam had called it. That would mean the Halifax were going to capture the Computer. He knew that would be bad, and knew he had to do something about it.
His world shifted yet again, and he said nervously, “Benjam, this is bad news, isn’t it?”
“Not necessarily. We could be experiencing a rebound effect due to Leicara’s dimensional manipulation,” Benjam explained.
Kyren considered the two timelines. In the first, Tharox’s time, the computer existed, and was abandoned, waiting for Tharox to find it and unleash its power on the galaxy. He was in the process of removing himself as a variable. The second was a direct result of their actions, caused by their detonation of Benjam’s time bomb.
That timeline had no computer for Tharox to find. But it seems, according to Elarra’s visions, to have set other events in motion. The Crevak obtained the weapon from Skotty station and it seemed, a Kirugi managed to escape the final conflict with the Azorians. And the base ceased to exist. Or did it? An idea formed.
“Computer, are you still there?” he said softly.
“Affirmative,” the voice echoed down from above.
“Does Leicara have the authority to initiate a self-destruct sequence?” he asked the machine.
“Affirmative,” it replied.
“Do it, Leicara,” he demanded.
“Are you sure?” she questioned timidly.
“Yeah, we can’t let it fall into the wrong hands, so we need to do it.”
“Yes, it could be!” Benjam squeaked suddenly.
“What?” Kyren and Leicara asked in unison.
“That’s it. This is why the computer doesn’t exist in our altered timeline. We have to do it. It must be destroyed to prevent Tharox from threatening the Consortium. A time loop was created. Causality has become cyclical!”
“I don’t understand what you are talking about, Benjam, but yes, we need to blow this place.”
“Okay, I’ll do it,” Leicara agreed. “Computer, accept my authorization. Set a timer on the self destruct sequence.”
“How long will the timer be?” the computer questioned emotionlessly.
“How long will it take us to retrieve Kyren’s variable?” Leicara asked.
“Approximately seventeen minutes, from your current location.”
“Okay, twenty minutes,” Leicara said before Kyren could interject.
“Timer engaged. T-minus nineteen minutes and fifty-eight seconds until detonation,” the computer’s mechanical voice came over the facility’s loudspeakers.
Would that be enough time? What happened if they ran into reapers? They had most certainly got their attention. If they had to detour they could end up taking much longer than twenty minutes.
They climbed into the access tunnel and followed it until it ended at another access door. They keyed the controls but it did not respond.
“Computer, why is this door locked? Please unlock it,” Leicara demanded.
The panel went blue and the door slid open, revealing a reaper, its back to the door. Kyren and the reaper were in a slow motion race. Each attempting to bring their weapons to bear. Somehow, Kyren was a microsecond faster, maybe due to the nanites he had been imbued with. He unloaded on the bot at nearly point blank range. He walked the beams up the back and vaporized the bot’s head.
Damn this gun was impressive, he thought, as the bot fell. But considering it had come from the Azorian base, Skotty station, that the Crevak had claimed, it only made sense one of their weapons could defeat their own armor.
The computer spoke its countdown again, “T-minus nineteen minutes and thirty three seconds.”
“Move,” Kyren cried, dashing through the door and down to an intersection. “Which way, Leicara?”
“This way, I think,” she said, sounding unsure.
“Great, you’re lost, aren’t you?” Kyren moaned. “Computer, get me a map or directions or something.”
“I do not have display capabilities in your present location. However I can give you detailed directions. Would you like me to begin?”
“Yes, lay it on me!”
The Computer rattled off a series of directions, Kyren absorbing them and building a mental map.
The second the computer was done, Kyren cried “C’mon.”
Kyren dashed down the corridors, unerringly finding the next step in the directions. He confidently led them onward.
“T-minus five minutes forty two seconds,” Epsilon Computer said again.
They rounded the corner and came to what appeared to be an elevator. Leicara hit the controls and the door slid open moments later. They jumped in and she located the entry for deck thirty seven. Several moments went by and the door slid open. Kyren emerged with a purpose, rifle at his shoulder, nerves taut and muscles coiled.
