“What do we do?” Ariah sat back, concern etched across her beautiful features.
“We chase it down and find another way to bring it down.” Vox was already redirecting power levels to the engines.
“Wait!” Li’ara shouted. “We can't just leave the Sentinel to fall into the planet. That kind of atmosphere will crush it.”
Vox turned from her station. “If we waste time saving them, we risk the death of every human. A few human lives are more precious than those of a few aliens.”
“They do have World Breakers onboard…” Roland pointed out.
That gave Vox pause. The Gomar knew that it was the only way to destroy the hulking ship, but it also meant killing their pursuit. They were hunters, after all, trained by Savrick to seek and destroy, nothing more.
“Wait wait wait…” Ch’len held his stubby hands out. “Even if we do stay and help or borrow a world breaker or whatever… How exactly are we going to help a sinking ship?”
They all turned to the viewport where the Sentinel, surrounded by debris, was slowly falling into the gas giant’s atmosphere.
“He’s got a point,” Roland agreed. “It’s a little big to tow…”
Vox sighed and looked from Garrion to Ariah. “Not for us.”
Within minutes, artificial gravity and the inertial dampeners had been restored and everyone was in the hold. The Rackham had been placed above the gas giant, directly over the falling Sentinel. Roland threw his long coat aside, feeling the heat and the sweat that quickly built up when one thought they were going to die. He stood now, side by side, with Li’ara and even Ch’len, who found the whole plan hard to believe.
Three of the twelve Gomar took Malekk aside and crouched low over his body. Of the two faces Roland could see, the Gomar were deep in concentration since they were keeping the infected Terran subdued on their own. Sef stood the furthest away, in front of the ramp, with eight of his brothers and sisters behind him. They had discussed their strategy for all of ten seconds, each apparently understanding perfectly what was required of them.
The ramp dropped down, exposing the vastness of space before them, or at least it would have, had the gas giant not inhabited the entire view. The turbulent planet churned, as a hungry god, ready to devour the Sentinel. One of the Gomar, Roland hadn't a clue which, was keeping a barrier erected at all times, preventing them all from being turned inside out. Apparently, they needed to see the Sentinel to help their concentration, since their abilities weren't refined enough to pull off the incredible feat blind.
“Together…” Vox’s confidence and determination were inspiring - and something of a turn-on for Roland.
He really hoped they weren't reading his mind at this point.
As one, the eight Gomar reached out, as if they could actually grab the green ship. More than one of them was dragged across the floor in their bid to pull the ship upwards. They were literally fighting the gravity well of the biggest planet in the system.
“Holy shit…” Roland was nudged by Li’ara and given a scornful look.
Many of them grunted and shouted out, not dissimilar to Roland when he lifted weights or took a particularly big shit. Sef held up both of his hands and shifted his broad shoulders, his entire frame now on an impossible angle towards the floor. One of the females, Roland had yet to be introduced to, dropped to her knees with her arms outstretched and an expression of agony to match.
The Sentinel tumbled end-over-end, as the top of the planet’s atmosphere engulfed it, licking the hull with lightning. In moments it was completely hidden beneath a thick layer of stormy weather, where the pressure would slowly go to work on reducing its considerable size.
A Gomar on the edge of the group dropped to the floor, unconscious, with a nosebleed. It was only seconds later that all but Sef were on their knees, struggling to maintain any grip on the Sentinel. The three Gomar, surrounding Malekk, had left the infected Terran and joined in the effort to lift the doomed ship. Roland hadn't noticed and wondered how long they had been assisting. If Malekk woke up there would be nothing he or Liara could do to stop him. Without thought, one of his Tri-rollers was in his hand.
“Keep… going!” Vox shouted over their combined strain. Still, the green hull was nowhere to be seen.
The three Gomar had dropped to their knees now, their energy already depleted from containing Malekk. Sef stood defiant, a giant among gods. His face visibly shook from the effort he exerted. It didn’t matter however, Roland could see where this was going. The planet would devour the Sentinel and Telarrek and Uthor with it, not to mention the World Breakers and any chance of stopping the enemy ship. The Gomar simply weren't refined enough to achieve such a feat.
Then he saw it.
The bow of the green hull poked out from the stormy surface and continued to rise. Li’ara gasped, but not at the sight of the Sentinel. Malekk had found his feet in Roland’s moment of distraction. Instead of killing them all, however, he stood behind the Gomar with his own arms outstretched, adding to their magnificent pull. Roland was already levelling his Tri-roller when Li’ara pushed his arm down.
“He’s helping,” Li’ara whispered, barely able to believe her own words.
The Sentinel continued to rise until its entire body had been lifted from the planet. Soon it was free of the gravity well and levelled out before the Rackham. The Gomar turned around and stared at Malekk, who cradled his head and ignored them. Bar two, the rest of the Gomar stood up and began to circle Malekk, pushing Roland and Li’ara away.
“Help...me..” Malekk’s voice was different, more organic somehow. “I don't know how long I can…” The infected Terran dropped to his knees and cried out in agony. The parasite was winning back control. “You have to… kill me!”
Sef stepped forward and slammed his armoured fist into Malekk’s face, ending his pain.
We need to resume our guard over his mind. Sef’s voice held no trace of his visible exhaustion.
Li’ara was already keying in commands to the wall-console. “Sentinel, this the Rackham, respond.”
There was only silence on the other end, leading Li’ara to ask for a response again and again.
“This is the Sentinel.” Telarrek’s voice finally came back. “We have many casualties... and even more fatalities.”
“What happened?” Uthor came over the line, sounding somewhat dishevelled.
Li’ara looked out over the exhausted faces. “The Gomar saved you.”
Roland whirled his finger around. “World Breaker… extinction of humanity…”
“High Charge, we need one of the Sentinel’s World Breakers as soon as possible. There’s a hole in the enemy’s hull and we still have enough power to chase it down.”
“Consider it done, but do not linger any longer than you must. The Marillion will be along soon to assist us. You must destroy that ship, Miss Ducarté. I fear that once it is done with your people, it will move onto my homeworld.”
“We’re on it.” Li’ara was resolute in her reply.
Roland sighed. “If I help to save the galaxy one more time, my whole reputation is going to be in tatters…”
24
Kalian soared through the air, comfortable inside the bubble of telekinetic energy that enveloped him. He had successfully managed two more jumps since their arrival on Hadrok, but he had contained the teleportation to the planet rather than jump around the system. Whether he was comfortable yet or he just wanted to defy ALF, he wasn’t sure. Every time, the machine had required maintenance and Kalian had required some time to collect himself. It was getting easier though. With the added energy from ALF’s ship, the jumps were almost becoming enjoyable. The universe suddenly felt very small to Kalian.
In between the jumps, Kalian would take to the sky and revel in his new found power. Any fear of heights was quickly conquered by the confidence that swelled within him. Naydaalan had voiced his concerns about such unorthodox downtime, insisting that he spend it in meditation. The only co
nclusion that Kalian came to, however, was that the Novaarian was spending too much time around ALF.
Flying through the sky made him feel free more than anything else. The burden of getting them home, saving humanity from the Vanguard or even just getting his head around ALF’s secrets. The fact that an alter ego of the AI had been responsible for the creation of the Gomar was unsettling, but learning that even the Terran had been just another artificial design, as humanity had been, was mind-bending - and this was coming from a man who was currently flying five thousand feet above the ground.
While in the super subconducer, Kalian had taken the opportunity to look into ALF’s organic mind and explore more of Evalan, their true birthplace. The Terran and indeed the human population had been engineered to be smaller in stature due to Albadar’s size. From what Kalian could tell, that was the only difference. Their planet had been beautiful, without a single man-made eyesore on the horizon. The indigenous population had yet to master such ways of living when ALF came across them. But just as Earth had been destroyed and Albadar rendered uninhabitable, Evalan was no more. It seemed that everywhere humanity put its feet, the soil beneath it would be tainted and destined for destruction. Perhaps with the Conclave looking out for them and their new world, a new way of living could be found.
That’s if we ever get a new world, Kalian thought. He suddenly had the wild idea of transporting everyone across the galaxy and inhabiting a forgotten world of the Terran. That was after they disabled whatever traps Savrick had left behind. How he would transport over a hundred thousand people, he had no idea.
As his thoughts began to drown in responsibility again, so too did his flight drift ever downwards, until he found himself touching down outside ALF’s ship. They were on the other side of Hadrok now, thousands of miles away from Esabelle’s first home. The fields of red grass were nowhere in sight, but the ship now sat on the edge of a giant lake. Thankfully, for Naydaalan’s sake, there had been some alien form of edible fish in the water. Kalian had declined the food, stating that ALF’s machine was keeping him perfectly sustained. Naydaalan had voiced his concerns on this as well, believing that nothing could replace traditional nourishment. The Novaarian’s protests had given Kalian pause, as it dawned on him that with every passing day he felt more and more apart from the rest of the galaxy, and yet he had never been so connected to it.
One of the twin suns was just beginning to touch the horizon, while its sister continued to shine high above them. Naydaalan was going through his routines, practicing various Novaarian fighting techniques. ALF was inside, as he always was, tinkering with the machine’s next upgrade. Considering he had been locked away inside a volcano for thousands of years, the cyborg had no gumption to explore the outside world.
“Caught any fish today?” Kalian called over to Naydaalan, who shook his head with disappointment.
Kalian smiled, hoping that would be his answer. With a single, outstretched hand, he felt for life within the lake, ignoring the plant life and the constant flow of molecules. The fish stood out immediately, their collection of molecules far more complex than that of their surroundings, though they were oblivious to his attention. Kalian flipped his hand, palm upwards, and lifted three alien fish from the depths of the lake. He was moments from breaking their necks when ALF called out from within his ship.
“Come quickly!” he yelled.
Both Kalian and Naydaalan ran through the over-sized doors, abandoning the fish to live out their lives. ALF stood in the centre of his ship, manipulating dozens of machines at once with his hands outstretched as if he were a conductor. Above them, all floated the broken cube the AI had been using to spy on the Conclave. New tubes of nanocelium were disconnecting and reconnecting at different ports, hidden inside its bronze husk.
“What’s wrong?” Kalian asked, unaware of any danger around them.
“Something is happening in the Conclave.” ALF had the same faraway expression his holographic counterpart always had when learning of something no one else could see. “Malekk has failed to kill the Gomar.”
That was good news, but ALF’s look of concern didn't offer much hope.
“Is he dead?” Kalian had to know. Only the Gomar had the power to kill Malekk since he was on the other side of the galaxy.
“The cubes don't know,” ALF replied. “One of them has activated their Starforge and…” The AI gasped quietly. “The Vanguard has entered Conclave space.”
“Where?” Naydaalan asked, all four of his fists clenched.
“Arakesh.”
Kalian’s face dropped. “The habitat. It’s going to destroy the habitat!”
ALF lowered his arms and cupped his wide jaw. “They risk much by exposing themselves like this. The element of surprise-”
“Isn't needed when you know you’re already more superior than your prey.” Kalian was pacing now. “They aren't afraid of facing the Conclave in a straight fight, especially if it means they can wipe us out first.”
Naydaalan stepped between ALF and Kalian. “I still do not understand why they would risk anything by targeting the humans. The Gomar are a threat, and yourself, but the humans on that habitat are powerless. They must know this.”
“It’s not just the abilities ALF gave us,” Kalian explained. “It’s our natural resistance. They’re afraid of being infected, or at least the big three at the top are. They have the perfect drone army under their control, each one a member of their original race. Any interaction with humans has the potential to undo that. Our natural resistance has the power to set them free, creating….” Kalian looked at ALF, the perfect example, “chaos.”
Something about his own explanation didn't sit fight with Kalian. ALF was unable to provide a suitable answer for humanities natural resistance to nanocelium.
“We have to get back, now.” Naydaalan fixed Kalian with his golden eyes.
ALF rested his overly large hand on Kalian’s shoulder. “Are you ready to make such a jump? We haven't practiced one planet to another yet.”
“But I have done it,” Kalian pointed out.
ALF raised his eyebrow. “You almost died in the process. You might recall your organs being in the wrong place?”
“Naydaalan’s right. We have to get back now. There’s nothing else that can stop the Vanguard.”
“And you believe that you can?” ALF asked, incredulously.
“No.” Kalian smiled. “But I know you can. I’ve been having a little look inside this ship of yours. These enhancements you’ve given me allow for a greater insight into, well… everything. I’ve seen the arsenal you have. You said it yourself; you were the old vanguard, before this new one.”
“I am more than aware of my capabilities, Kalian. I fear you overestimate your own. Humanity cannot afford to lose you.”
Kalian could hear Li’ara’s voice in his head - something he thought he had under control. “It’s the right thing, and that’s all we can do… it’s all we should do.”
ALF bowed his head, satisfied with Kalian’s answer. The super subconducer fell back into place and the broken cube disappeared into the darkness above.
Naydaalan stopped Kalian from taking his position with a firm hand. “It took me longer than my father to see the potential in your people and the good they could bring to the Conclave. Regardless of how long I live, the greatest honour of my life will be to have called you friend.”
Kalian responded with a genuine smile. “If it wasn't for the work and trust you and your father have for us, humanity would be in a far darker hole. It’s because of you that I call all Novaarians friend.”
Kalian took his place under the descending helmet of wires and tubes, aware that this next jump might be his last. Even if it was, he was happy to die knowing that he had saved his entire species in the process. In some way, Kalian knew he had come out here to die. A part of him had lost hope and knew that the Terran Empire would offer a fight he might not win. At least this death was less cowardly.
The
faintest of pricks alerted him to the needles piercing his skin, as the tubes wormed under the plating of his black armour. Kalian let go of reality and allowed his consciousness to be pulled down, into the depths of his mind. Flashes of Evalan ran across his vision, followed by scenes from Savrick’s life, both before and after Esabelle was born, and then moments from his own life thundered by and his parent’s faces smiled back at him.
The images disappeared as quickly as they flashed before him. Now he was standing in a familiar white room, one of the walls replaced with the serene horizon of Evalan. The vault door loomed over him, almost surrounding his peripheral vision.
“You know what’s on the other side,” a familiar voice said. Alai, the first immortal, was sitting in the middle of the room, with his back to Evalan.
“Why am I here?” Kalian asked. “I need to jump the ship!” Despite time having almost no meaning with the speed at which he was able to think, Kalian still felt the urgency of his mission.
“If you want to jump, you’re going to have to open that door.” Alai was calm as ever, his long black hair touching the floor.
“I don't need…” Kalian couldn't even think it. “Li’ara will just cloud everything. I won't be able to focus.” He didn't want to deal with her death, not now, not ever.
“Your jumps thus far have been instinctual, mostly based on the memories of others. Now you will need to select your destination, you will have to see it.”
Kalian frowned at his own subconscious. “You’re saying that if I open that door, I’ll be able to see where I want to go?”
Alai smiled. “Life is a series of discoveries. You’ll never know if you don't look.”
Kalian sighed. “You should get a job writing fortune cookies.”
The circular door appeared impenetrable and foreboding, but inside his mind its weight was inconsequential. With a single hand, waved across the surface, the door rolled aside.
At first, Kalian couldn't make sense of what he was seeing. His mind worked at incredible speeds to analyze the view and determine the truth behind it. Initially, he knew it wasn't a memory of Li’ara since she had never been on the Rackham with several Gomar. The entire image was frozen as if he were looking at a real size photograph of an event he couldn't understand. Li’ara was standing on the bridge of the Rackham with six Gomar and Roland, who appeared to be piloting. Beyond the viewport, Kalian could see their pursuit of a giant ship, unmistakably the Vanguard. In the distance was Arakesh, the Raalakian homeworld and the human habitat.
The Terran Cycle Boxset Page 125