‘Copy that.’ Deira was straight into agent mode, willing and able to follow Josh’s orders. Her force field flared on – a pale blue, almost the same colour as the laser.’
‘That’s the effect of the mentalic blocker nullifier.’ Josh did a last-minute check to be sure she was completely protected, then looked to her for confirmation. ‘Ready?’ She nodded. ‘Okay. Folding on my mark. Three … two … one … mark!
Chapter 39
Sol dropped through the hatch onto the bridge. His quick peek had already established that there were two El positioned directly in front of the blocker console, and he’d already decided how he was going to deal with them. He didn’t want to kill any more El if he could avoid it, but he had no scruples about severely disabling them, knowing that they’d be as good as new after a few hours in the regeneration chambers.
As soon as his feet hit the floor, he spun to his right and launched himself at them, slicing their legs off below the knees. They collapsed in a heap, screaming in agony, and he leaped over their fallen bodies and slashed at the blocker, turning it into a heap of steaming metal. Then he turned and faced the rest of the crew.
The initial shock of his appearance had faded by now, and the remaining El were drawing weapons and advancing on him. He grinned and tried to open a portal to fold away. Nothing happened. He tried again, but it was no use.
‘The blocker’s still operational,’ Chard said.
‘You don’t say.’ Sol’s grin turned to a snarl as he faced his enemies. He knew now that his gamble had failed. Sama had outwitted him, and the only question in his mind was how many of these sons of bitches he could take down before they got him. Surrender didn’t even figure in his thoughts until a smoothly smug voice came from across the room.
‘If you surrender now, no harm will come to you.’
Sol looked for the source of the voice and found it in an El who was slimmer and slightly shorter than the rest. As if to compensate for his lack of size, he held himself rigidly upright, carrying an undeniable aura of authority that appeared to hold the others in thrall. He walked slowly, his gait somewhere between the prowl of a big cat and the sinuous glide of a snake. As he made his way towards Sol, he was almost palpably oozing contempt.
This had to be Sama, Sol realised, a nasty-looking guy who, despite his apparent confidence, ensured he stayed within an encircling group of El – presumably, a personal bodyguard. Sol smiled to himself and cast a quick glance back at the El whose legs he’d just amputated. Sama wasn’t about to take any risks of something similar happening to himself. Like many of his type, he was inherently a coward. Sol stared at him with as much disdain as he could muster.
‘So, you’re the new head honcho,’ he said. ‘I expected somebody … I don’t know … more imposing.’
Sama bared his teeth in a grimace that Sol took to be an attempt at a smile and stopped a couple of metres away, his eyes never leaving Sol’s laser.
‘I thought there might be more of you. I also knew you’d try to destroy the blocker and the weapon. Unfortunately for you, the console you’ve just destroyed was neither.’
‘What happened, buddy?’ Sol said silently to Chard. ‘You said that console was the blocker.’
‘I’m sorry. I clearly made a mistake.’ Chard sounded confused. ‘I was certain it was.’
Sol had only heard the AI sound like this once before, during the asteroid destruction mission. It was unusual in the extreme and pointed to something being badly wrong. He rapidly examined his options but didn’t appear to have many. Sama had deliberately kept out of range of his laser and the other El had their swords drawn and were watching him closely. Sama was clearly enjoying himself. He continued smiling as he poked at the console Sol had just destroyed.
‘This is from my cabin. It’s an automat. The blocker you seek occupies the automat’s previous position.’
‘That’s why I couldn’t detect any signs of it in the cabins,’ Chard said, in a resigned sort of way. ‘It’s been very effectively disguised as an automat.’
Sol puffed himself up and stared defiantly at the El, wondering if he could milk something out of this situation. ‘Thanks for that information. My remaining colleague will have heard that. I think your blocker will be slag very shortly.’
Sama’s confidence didn’t falter. ‘Oh, I don’t think so. I’m quite sure there are no more of you. I say again, turn off the laser and surrender.’
That was it, then. Last throw of the dice had failed. Now, all Sol had to do was consider whether to oblige the El Captain and surrender or go out in a blaze of glory. At that moment, a familiar voice rang out. It came from the far end of the bridge, behind the remaining El, who had move forward to surround Sol.
‘I suggest it’s you who should consider surrendering.’
Sol recognised that voice. How could he not? But he couldn’t think of any way it could be here, at this moment. ‘Dee?’ he murmured, unwilling to believe his own ears.
Deira stepped forward, force field glowing and laser blazing blue-white. The El nearest to her turned and raised their swords. She didn’t move, apparently perfectly confident in her position. Sol wondered what the hell was going on. How had she got here? Whose PWC was that? Most of all he wondered why she’d put herself in danger like this. Of course, he knew. She’d done it for him.
Sama didn’t seem put out in the slightest by Deira’s sudden arrival.
‘Ah, so I was wrong. There is another one. You should have gone after the blocker like your colleague here suggested. You must know you can’t win. You’re heavily outnumbered, and I have reinforcements already heading back here.’
‘So do I.’ Deira was smiling at Sol’s obvious confusion. ‘In your own time, Tao.’
Immediately, three portals formed, and nine young agents stepped through, force fields on and lasers drawn. They rapidly spread out to surround the El. Sol remained in the centre, alert and combat-ready.
‘No!’ Sama shouted, spittle flying from the corners of his mouth. ‘This isn’t possible.’ Then, before anyone knew what he was contemplating, he leaped upwards, disappearing through the still-open hatch that he’d carefully positioned himself under. There was the sound of wings unfurling and flapping, and then nothing.
The El who were left stared around in confusion. In theory, they still outnumbered the humans by two to one, but they had developed a healthy respect for these fast-moving creatures whose lasers had already taken such a toll on their comrades. One by one, slowly to begin with, and then in a rush, they dropped their weapons, and raised their arms in surrender. The agents came forward and secured them, hustling them to the far end of the bridge and forcing them to their knees in the corner.
Sol holstered Chard and hurried over to Deira, who couldn’t seem to get the grin off her face.
‘Hi hon!’ Miss me?’
‘Did I ever! Come here.’ He threw his arms round her.
‘Not in front of the children.’ Deira pushed him away with a laugh. ‘Come on, Sol, get a grip. The mission isn’t over yet.’
‘But how? How did you get here? And how come the mentalic blocker’s off?’
‘Oh, I didn’t do it all on my own. I had a little help.’
‘Huh?’
There was a pale-yellow flash of light and Josh appeared immediately behind Deira.
‘Hi Dad!’
‘Josh?’
‘Yeah, it might look like Josh 2 but it’s really me.’
‘Josh! Son!’
Sol stepped around Deira to get to Josh, and there then followed a series of hugs and backslaps that seemed to go on forever – and might well have if Deira hadn’t put a stop to it.
‘Come on you two. Keep it until later. We still haven’t captured Sama – and this isn’t over until he’s in custody. There’s no telling what he might do.’
As if to confirm her worst fears, Sama’s triumphant voice came over the speakers.
‘You’re too late. I misled you about the status of
the weapon. It’s been complete and primed for the last couple of hours and I’ve just completed the arming sequence. Your precious Founders have only three seconds to live …two …’
Josh disappeared.
‘one … uhnnnn.’
‘What was that?’ Sol said. ‘Has he fired it? Have we lost?’
Josh reappeared in a flash of yellow.
‘All done. The weapon’s destroyed.’ He frowned. ‘I’m afraid I had to kill Sama.’
Sol stared at him as if he’d just witnessed a magic trick.
‘How’d you do that?
‘Oh, just mentalics – as it’s supposed to be.’ Josh’s face brightened again. ‘Shall we get down to the stasis chambers and free Micha? I thought you might like to do that, Dad.’
§
It took some time for things on the El ship to return to normal. Micha and his loyal crewmates took a little longer than usual to recover from a second round of stasis, but once operational again they were much relieved to find the stasis chambers now contained the one-time rebels. The young agents purloined a cabin where they could let their hair down and relax for a while, sampling some of the more exotic items of food and drink available from the El automats. Meanwhile, Deira, Sol, Josh and Tao joined Micha in his cabin. He was effusive in his thanks.
‘I have no words to express my gratitude. You’ve restored my ship to me when I had lost all hope.’
‘You’re very welcome.’ Deira was sitting in one of the self-regulating chairs sampling the El version of Tequila. It was very impressive, almost as good as the real stuff. ‘The most important thing is that Sama’s weapon’s been destroyed.’
‘Sterilizing sub-quantal space did seem rather a drastic solution,’ mused Micha,’ though in a strange sort of way, I could understand the motivation.’
Deira looked worried. ‘Genocide?’
‘No, clearly that’s unacceptable. I meant the desire to achieve a final solution that would allow us to go home again. Now we’ll need to remain here to police the Way and prevent the Founders from escaping.’
‘Yeah, about that.’
This was the crunch point, the time to inform Micha about the new data they’d obtained and how it affected the El mission. Deira wondered how he’d take it. After all, his entire life had been built around exactly the opposite concept. Hell, even if he could be persuaded, there was no guarantee the rest of the galaxy would concur. Micha could obviously tell there was something up because he put his bourbon to one side and gazed at her intently.
‘What is it?’
Deira received encouraging nods from the others so just went for it.
‘I’m afraid your generations-long “police action” was based on incomplete information. You neglected to include the consciousness waveform in your calculations, and it changes everything. We’ve discovered that the Founders must be extracted – and extracted quickly – if the universe is to survive. My PWC is transferring the calculations to your data repository even as we speak.’
Micha looked suitably shocked but tapped a jewel that hung round his neck. The thing was some form of data processor and projected a holographic screen in the air, the sub-quantal functions scrolling down in response to his light finger movements. He sat engrossed for some time before finally shutting the thing down.
‘I’m almost convinced. I’ve sent the equations to my science officer for a second opinion. I don’t anticipate he’ll take long.’
Well that’s good news,’ Sol said. ‘At least, I hope it is. One thing I’m not clear about, though, is why us?’
‘Would you like to clarify that?’ Micha smiled. ‘Unfortunately, I’m not mentalic.’
‘Uh, sorry. What I meant was, why does it only seem to be humanity that can act as a way out for these Founders? I’d have thought there’d be many possible outlets in a place as large as the universe. Is it just us?’
‘I asked the same question of Barth,’ Josh put in. He paused for a moment as he thought back. ‘He didn’t give me an answer.’
‘Well,’ Micha said, ‘though my organisation has monitored thousands of mentalic-capable cultures from all over the galaxy, none of them have been able to open the way. It does appear to be just you – and I have no idea why that should be.’
‘And here we are, a tin-pot race out on the galactic rim, parsecs away from anyone. How did you even find us?’
‘Now that, I can answer. It was because of your religions.’
‘Excuse me?’ Sol was completely baffled by this, and even Josh leaned forward, eager to hear what Micha had to say.
‘You are the only race in the known universe that indulges in religious activity. Not only do you indulge in it, it appears to be central to everything you do. You’re obsessed with it.’
‘Nobody else has religion?’ Deira mused.
‘Nobody we know of. It appears that there is some inexplicable link between humanity and sub-quantal space – and I’m not referring to how Josh and Tao can move in and out at will. There’s something fundamental in the human psyche that connects individuals to happenings in that place, and such happenings result in the development of religious activity.’
‘I was told that occasional individuals throughout history have been able to access sub-quantal space the way Tao and I do,’ Josh said. ‘The Founders mentioned “The Nazarene” amongst others.’
‘That’s true. We know of the occasional mutant who had the necessary hole in their infra-low and the ability to use it. Most of them were completely unequipped to deal with what they found, but their so-called teachings still resulted in the formation of cults, some of which became more widespread.’ Micha gazed solemnly at Josh for a moment. ‘We also know that events in sub-quantal space echo through time – both forwards and backwards. The backward echoes of future events can be extremely potent memes. If picked up by relatively backward societies, they can form the bedrock of religious development.’
‘Such as?’ Despite having no religious inclination at all, Josh was still fascinated.
‘Well, I’d take you as a case in point.’
‘Me? What have I done?’
‘You gave your physical life to save the Earth as part of the asteroid crisis, then your consciousness entered sub-quantal space. Finally, after three months, you were freed from sub-quantal space. Remember that time periods for your ancestors were frequently distorted – so months could become days, for instance. Ring any bells?’
Josh exchanged baffled looks with Sol, who merely shrugged.
‘Don’t look at me, Son. I’m not following this at all.’
Deira, however, had got it in an instant, and had her mouth formed onto an “ohhh” sound.
Micha smiled, seeing her look of wonder. ‘Would you like to elucidate, Deira?’
‘I’ll put it in a different way,’ Deira said. ‘You gave your life for all mankind and then went to Hell. On the third day you rose again …’
‘No way!’ Josh interrupted. ‘You’re not saying that I …’
‘Your experience is probably the basis of one of your major world religions,’ Micha said. ‘Your actions echoed backwards in time and became conflated with the actions of a local preacher – the Nazarene – who also happened to be a mutant who had visited sub-quantal space. The rest, as they say, is history.’
‘Oh my God!’ Josh gaped. ‘Or, perhaps not,’ he quipped. ‘Who’d have thought it?’
‘This is all fascinating, but we still have a huge problem to solve.’ As usual, Deira was preoccupied with bringing the conversation back to more mundane issues. ‘There are almost sixteen thousand Founders in sub-quantal space, and they all need to be evacuated in the next few months. I’m not sure how we’re going to achieve that.’
‘You’re right,’ Josh said. ‘What did Chayka say exactly?’
‘He wasn’t exact, but he didn’t give us more than six months, and thought we ought to aim for less than that.’
‘Include some headroom, and that leaves us needing t
o aim for four months. Say, sixteen weeks.’ Josh was thinking rapidly. ‘We’ve currently got five agents who could act to shuttle individuals across. The trouble is, I don’t know how many Founders each of us could evacuate in a day. We’d almost certainly need to work in three-to-four-hour periods because the rest of the day would be spent sleeping. Let’s see, sixteen thousand in sixteen weeks …’ He went through some lightning calculations. ‘We’ll need to evacuate about a hundred and fifty per day. Divided by the five of us, gives thirty per day each. So, it all comes down to how long the process takes. If each of us can manage eight to ten every hour, we might just make it.’
‘That’s one every five minutes during the time we’re working,’ Tao put in. ‘That seems like a heck of a workload, when we’ll be shunting in and out of sub-quantal space. I’m not sure we’re up to it.’
‘No, I’m not either.’ Josh looked and sounded unhappy. ‘Do you have any alternative, though? We might get lucky. There are five more agents who might develop sufficiently to help – at some point in the process, anyway. I think it’s all we’ve got.’
‘Haven’t you got anything in that new mentalic-plus box of tricks of yours?’ Sol asked. ‘I’d think there’d be something.’
‘Unfortunately not.’ Josh was beginning to look quite deflated after the high of his recent exploits. ‘Each Founder must be taken out, one at a time, piggy-backed to an agent. There are no short cuts. It’d be nice to simply open the gateway wide – like opening a sluice gate – but it doesn’t work like that, I’m afraid. We’re stuck with what we have.’
At that moment, the discussion was interrupted by Micha’s science officer reporting back on the data he’d been sent. Micha listed carefully then turned to the others.’
‘Your data has been confirmed. My crew have duplicated some of your professor’s work and discovered the consciousness waveform that was missing from our original data. We agree with you. The Founders must be evacuated. It’s a source of intense frustration that we’ve wasted so much time trying to achieve the opposite. However, we will no longer stand in your way. Indeed, if there’s anything we can do to help, please let me know.’
Gods of Titan- The Cosmic Constants Page 33