by Reg Franklin
Jennifer frowned, thinking. “Maybe? I’ve never tried something like that. You have to understand, I really don’t know what my limits actually are.”
+Excuse me?+ Lami spoke, startling the two women, they having forgotten she was even there. +If you would like, Jennifer, you may attempt bringing ambassador Ma’ald into my mind in order to test this idea.+
“Are you sure, Lami?”
+The Relex attack was inexcusable. I wish to help.+
“Thank you, Tla-mi-Nga.” Athlé bowed slightly in her bed.
27.
The Hecatomb sat in the path of the asteroid headed for Numenor. Surrounding both the ship and cosmic fragment were a fleet of vessels, all of them loaded with Neuromancers in various stages of training. In the forward observation lounge of the vessel, Simon Peters was using various straps to hold Stragdoc upright in a chair. “Simon, we have thirty minutes until we crash into that thing. Expedience is necessary.” Stragdoc had regained control of his voice and face, but still lacked the control to hold himself upright.
Callixta and Praxus stood to the side, watching nervously. “Will this be safe?” Callixta pleaded.
“Safety is irrelevant.” Stragdoc snapped. “I do this or the planet dies. There is no other option.” Simon began affixing electrodes to his head.
“But...that.” Callixta pointed at the stasis chamber Simon had brought Codex’s brain in. “Why, Paul?”
“I have a suspicion.” He admitted as Simon opened the box, and began attaching more electrodes to the wrinkled mass. “That bitch-queen attacked me from god knows where, by using Codex as a transmitter. More than that, she overwhelmed me. How?” He closed his eyes, breathing deeply. “What if Prelt are naturally psychic amplifiers? Some quirk of biology or evolution that makes any psionic ability directed through them much more powerful?”
“Is that possible?” Praxus gasped.
“We’re about to find out. Take your position, Lord Truk.” Praxus moved and stood to his Emperor’s right. “Open channel, all ships. My Neuromancers, our enemy thinks they can get away with lobbing stones at us. Shall we prove them wrong? All of you, seek out and reach your powers to Lord Truk. Link your minds to his as best you can.” Praxus staggered briefly as hundreds of psychic minds began touching his.
“I-it is done, my lord.” Praxus regained his footing, gritting his teeth under the immense weight his own mind was bearing.
“Now, Praxus. Channel them to me.” Stragdoc braced himself as Praxus relayed the psionic force to him. Pain bloomed in his head. “Yes! MORE!” He lifted his arm to point at the asteroid. “GIVE! ME! MORE!!”
Suddenly every Alphite in the fleet felt their minds being tapped as Stragdoc funneled his command through the alien brain in front of him. Crew members slumped all over the Hecatomb, Captain Vaathek feeling blood explode in her eyes as she blacked out. Callixta fell to her knees, vomiting endlessly. Praxus stood ramrod straight, a look of horror on his face as the force of hundreds was pulled through him.
The bands holding Stragdoc in place snapped, and he rose to his feet. “DO YOU SEE THIS?!” He roared, exultant in his power. “WHEN I FIND YOU, YOU WILL FEEL TRUE FEAR IN THE FACE OF YOUR BETTER!!” Through the viewing port, the asteroid had stopped dead. “AND THEN YOU WILL DIE!!” Stragdoc clenched his fist then, and the rock exploded into millions of shards. The brain of Codex collapsed under the force it had channeled, dissolving into greenish-black protoplasm. And with the conduit severed, so too did the minds unlink. Praxus collapsed to the floor, gasping. Callixta felt herself being lifted before she fell as well, looking up to see her husband, a wild look on his face as he grinned madly.
---
At the same time as her foe was destroying the asteroid threatening Numenor, Jennifer was preparing to enter Lami’s thoughts. “Okay, Athlé, I don’t know if this is going to work. But the best advice I can offer on this is to relax, let your mind wander. Don’t focus on anything in the room, just let your thoughts drift.”
Athlé nodded, closing her eyes, breathing deeply. “Ready, Lami?”
+As I can be.+ Lami’s eyes were bright.
“Okay.” Jennifer closed her own eyes and let her mind reach out. She felt Athlé’s mind floating next to her and took a gentle hold on it.
-Ambassador? Athlé? Can you hear me?
-I am here.
-Okay, we’re going to try to enter Lami’s brain now.
And once Jennifer’s mind plunged into Lami’s, every man and woman in the building grabbed their heads and screamed incoherently. In his office, Kelly Young dropped the ice pack he was holding to his jaw, and howled at the wall. Crews preparing quarters for the Yoth-y’n delegation collapsed into a fetal position, moaning names of long-dead relatives.
Hearing the horror breaking out around her, Jennifer cut the connection between herself and the two alien women. “What the hell just happened?” She gasped.
Athlé was clutching her head in pain. “I..I saw...image after image...people’s lives everywhere.”
Lami collapsed into a chair. +I...what? Am I...are you both all right?+
Jennifer bent over, trying to catch her breath. “Somehow, when we entered Lami’s mind...I touched every mind here! How is that even possible?”
“Is this my fault for coming along?” Athlé asked, the pain in her head lessening.
“No. I don’t think anyone’s at fault.” Jennifer stood upright, walking to Lami. “Lami, have the Prelt dealt with psychics before?”
+Never. Only the Lavnabren, as she can touch the minds of her children. But only them.+
And that’s when the penny dropped for Jennifer. “Lami, is it at all possible that she could also touch Quordex’s mind? That he could have engineered that into her?”
Lami’s eyes paled. “So that’s how she did it.” Jennifer growled. “Your species’ minds are some kind of psionic amplifier.”
+B-but you probed us!+ Lami exclaimed. +When we first met! That didn’t happen then!+
Jennifer thought back. “Because I was sweeping the entire room, looking for deception. Such a low level scan must not react. But a directed psionic force, that would become amplified, and unless carefully controlled because you knew it could happen, someone like me would end up probing every mind in the immediate area.”
Chris stormed into the room. “What in the bloody blue hell just happened? Young and more than three quarters of the staff are unconscious, the ones who are awake are screaming that something just attacked their minds, and I would very much like answers!”
Jennifer tried to explain about the Prelt’s hidden ability to enhance psychic actions. “Sweet Jesus on a bloody pogo stick. And you people had no idea you were able to do that?”
Lami shook her head no, looking extremely tired. +Quordex may have. I did not. If it was in his notes, I did not see it.+
“Why were you not affected, Admiral?” Athlé asked quietly.
“Because I was coming back from the Alex. I wasn’t on Earth for...that.” Athlé nodded understanding.
“All right. St. George, I’m going to take the ambassador to see the Relex then make myself scarce. Don’t think I’ll be popular around here. Permission to board the Alex?”
Chris sighed and nodded. “Your ship’s been cleared for docking since this started.” A small chime sounded in his pocket, he reached down and pulled out a phone. “St. George. Yes. Oh hell, shield that vessel and engage the enemy!” He went for the door. “The Yoth-y’n just arrived, followed by about a hundred Vandle needlers.”
It was Jennifer’s turn to sigh. “You want me up there now?”
He looked back, shook his head. “Whatever the Relex were up to is more important right now. We should be able to handle a hundred of those things.” And he was gone.
Jennifer slumped in relief. She was tired of being a tool for others. It was a necessary evil, but she absolutely didn’t have to like it. “You ready, Athlé?”
“As I can be, Jennifer. Hopefully the Relex do not have
a surprise for us the way friend Lami did.”
They could not know that Athlé would be very disappointed.
28.
Chris swore profusely as he piloted his shuttle back to the ship. “Um, sir, are you sure you wouldn’t like me to take the stick?” His pilot, now relegated to co-pilot status, clenched the armrests of his chair with white knuckles as Chris dodged blasts coming from the needlers.
“Just man the guns, son.” Chris barrel-rolled to avoid one of the slender Vandle ships, dubbed needlers for their propensity of ramming larger vessels so the occupant could engage in hand to hand combat.
“Aye, sir.” He gulped nervously.
“Admiral?” Jemma radioed him. “We have two more alien craft arriving. One appears to be the Par’virer delegation based on the Prelt’s information. The other is unknown. It has sustained heavy damage from another approaching fleet of Vandle ships. Sir, these aren’t needlers.”
“Then how do you know they’re Vandle?” Chris forced the shuttle down, out of the path of one of their own ships.
“Sending you a visual, sir.”
“Lieutenant, pull up the image my adjutant is sending on your screen, describe what’s going on.” Chris snapped, bee-lining for the Alex.
“Um. Big pentagons? Kinda greenish? And…”
“And what, son? Spit it out!” Chris snapped the shuttle to port, breaking a Vandle target lock.
“Sir, they’re launching more needlers. Hundreds more.”
Chris stole a glance at the image, and swore. Five large pentagonal vessels, each with a star-like opening in the center, needlers disgorging en mass from the opening.
“You get motion sick, Lieutenant?” Chris growled.
“Sometimes, sir.”
“Then please avoid throwing up on me.” Chris hit the accelerator, now rocketing towards the John Alex as his co-pilot moaned.
---
The damaged ship that arrived with the Par’virer delegation belong to a race called the Opkohc, insectoid creatures resembling centipedes. Like the Relex, they had been a servant race of the Salk’art, but while the Relex had delighted in their position, the Opkohc wore the yoke of slavery. They were a docile race, not obsessed with control or expansion; had things been different, they likely would have remained on their world of Opk, happy in their isolation.
But things were not different. Less than a week before, the Vandleifdulus had left a large asteroid in their system, calculated to crash into Opk. Unlike the Alphites, the Opkohc had no way to stop it. They’d been forced to abandon their world, fleeing en masse.
The Void Queen had anticipated this, having thousands of needlers waiting. When the Opkohc had left the surface, they had stopped to watch the rock slam into the surface of Opk, mourning as a race. And the Vandle struck then, almost annihilating the entire species. A handful of ships escaped, but this one had the misfortune of engaging their superluminal drive while a fresh battalion of needlers were close enough to get dragged along. When they stopped initially, it had been in the path of the Par’virer delegation. Ages ago, there had been a war between the avian and insectoid cultures, without a clear victor. The Opkohc had returned to their world, telling horror stories of Par’virer atrocities. This escaped vessel, caught between the Vandle needlers and an ancient foe.
But to their surprise, the Par’virer vessel had defended them. They messaged the Opkohc survivors, saying that they were going to help them get somewhere safe. Just before they departed for our solar system, the Vandle carriers had arrived, and the chase began anew.
Now, as this crippled vessel tried to pull away from the battle, the reclusive Opkohc saw other vessels moving to defend them. This was new for the insectoids, Opk and its people were isolated, unknown to most (including the Prelt), so to see complete strangers move to help them moved them as a species. A message came over the communications array and although they couldn’t understand the human tongue, it somehow buoyed them.
“This is Captain Pierre Kirby aboard the Vigilant. We’re going to help your vessel land on the nearby planet. If you can understand a word I’m saying, we call this planet Mars. I recommend staying aboard your ship until we can get a proper recovery effort to help you.”
As the human vessel grabbed their ruin of a craft with a tractor beam, the Opkohc chattered excitedly, mandibles clicking in their wordless tongue.
---
“Sir, Captain Kirby reports that the wounded vessel has been placed on Mars. They took a pounding, but he doesn’t think they’re in much additional danger.” Jemma announced as she saw her Admiral enter the bridge.
“Thank you, Adjutant.” Chris seated himself in his commander’s chair. “What are we looking at, currently?”
“The Yoth-y’n ship reports they’ve affected repairs, and wish to join the fight. The Par’virer vessel has minor damage, and is blasting needlers left and right.” She checked her readings. “Both the Gieron and Xaodi ships are targeting the large carriers.”
“Contact the Yoth-y’n and advise them to first get their ambassador to the planet. If they need a path cleared, contact Captain Kirby, put him on it. How many needlers are we looking at?”
Jemma’s face blanched. “At least two thousand. With more leaving the carriers.”
“Jesus.” Chris whispered. “Is Ambassador Zath on board?”
“No sir.”
“Contact Earth, get him talking. I want to know if he thinks that queen of theirs is here. Helm, point us at those carriers. Weapons, begin prepping rail gun, I want that thing hot and ready to fire at my signal! All batteries, target needlers, fire at your discretion!”
Chris watched the data outputs on his screen, shuddering in horror as three needlers rammed the Vigilant. More were targeting the Alex, the Xaodi, and the Gieron vessels as they began their run at the carriers.
“Sir! Ambassador Zath states that the Lavnabren is most likely not here.” Jemma reported.
So where the hell is she? Chris glowered. Come to think of it, Zath didn’t even say where she hangs her hat.
“Two needlers have hit, Admiral! Commando teams en route!”
Chris sat up straight. The teams were wearing enough protective gear to shield them from five Vandle’s worth of blood, but…”Engage at a distance only! Do not allow them to enter close combat! I want environmental crews on standby for immediate clean-up!”
Jemma recited the orders into her earpiece, then paused. “Admiral, the Xaodi commander wishes to speak to you.”
“On screen!” Chris turned to his private viewer, and was greeted by an impeccably dressed Xaodi male with blue/white hair and red irises.
“Admiral, I am Fâalta Vren of the Xaodi defense forces. If you bring your ship alongside ours, we may have a surprise for these monsters.”
“What do you have in mind, Vren?”
“I am transmitting scan results of the large ships. The apertures that the small ships are exiting show certain anomalies in terms of readings, can your crew confirm?”
“Jemma?” Chris shouted.
“One moment sir.” Jemma furrowed her brow as she transmitted to various science stations on board. “Confirmed, sir! Astrophysics says the readings are, in her words, ‘completely out of whack’. Stars are showing through that do not correspond to our charts!”
Vren nodded. “We suspect the enemy are generating some sort of space-time rift to move the little ones through. There is no way that that many ‘needles’ could fit aboard.”
“A wormhole.” Chris breathed.
Vren shrugged. “I do not know this word. But if a weapon could be detonated within the rift?”
“What’s the largest ordinance we have right now?” Chris shouted at the weapons station.
“Five-hundred megatons, sir!”
“Load it! Aim railgun for the opening of the nearest ship! Vren, how far in do you think it needs to be?”
“Ideally it should detonate right at the connection point, so just as it passes the far side of the ape
rture should be sufficient. And I would recommend running before it detonates.”
“Weapons control, you heard the man! Calculate and fire on my mark! Helm, reverse engines on the same mark!”
“Sir, the sudden change in direction could cause immense structural damage-”
“It can be fixed! Just be ready!”
Vren glanced off screen. “I have also transmitted instructions to the Gieron, Admiral. As this is your home being defended, we shall fire on your mark as well.”
Chris grinned wolfishly and hit the shipwide broadcast. “All hands! Brace yourselves for a rapid acceleration shift!”
“Ordinance armed and ready sir!” The weapons officer shouted.
