"Are you okay, Meeks?" Tebrey asked over a private channel.
"Yes, sir. Medical was just… difficult."
"Understood. Come on back to the bridge. Deegan scanned the ship and doesn't detect any living minds. We're leaving."
"I… I don't know if I can do this," said Geoffrey.
"You don't know if you can make it to the bridge?"
"I don't know if I can deal with this. I don't think I'm the right man for this."
"You're the one who's here, Meeks. This isn't easy for any of us. I'll tell you what my first commander told me: Do the job. Fall apart afterward."
Geoffrey closed his eyes and took a deep breath, holding it until he felt his shoulders relax. Tebrey was right. He couldn't let things get to him. He had to keep it together. Tebrey was a lot like Drake, Geoffrey decided. He was the kind of man you'd willingly follow into hell, because you knew he'd never give up on you. He'd always have your back.
"I'm on my way."
Geoffrey pushed off from the bulkhead and made his way back to the bridge. Tebrey and the others were waiting outside in the corridor. Deegan looked haunted, and Geoffrey was glad no one could see his own face.
"Are we going to the other ships?" said Geoffrey. He hated himself for asking, because he could think of nothing he'd rather avoid.
"No, we go back to the Vigilant," Tebrey said. "Then he head for the planet."
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Geoffrey locked himself back into his crash frame on the assault shuttle.
He wished he could go take a shower. He could still smell his sick in the helmet, but there wasn't time to do anything about it. They were leaving as soon as the Vigilant made orbit, which was soon. He couldn't tap into the ship's external displays. As far as he knew, the Empire forces weren't firing on the Vigilant, for which he was grateful.
Tebrey settled into the frame next to him. "You doing okay, Meeks?"
"Hanging in there."
Tebrey nodded. "That was rough," he said. "Most of the time, we don't have to face things like that. You need to be prepared for the times when we do, though."
"How do you do it?" Geoffrey asked. "How do you prepare yourself for horror like that?"
"I'm not sure what to tell you. It doesn't get any easier – sorry. For me, I look at the victims, and it makes me angry. I use my pain and anger, and I hunt down the enemy, and I make them pay."
"Use it against them. Right."
"Deep breaths," said Tebrey. "Focus on the target. You've been in real fights. Did you freeze?"
"No, actually," Geoffrey replied. "It surprised me, to be honest. When I was traveling with Drake, I had to fight a few times. I knew he was always there, so I never really thought we might lose. Even after I was wounded, I didn't really feel fear. I'm not afraid to die. I don't want to, but it doesn't scare me. What I saw today… That scares me."
"It scares me, too," Tebrey said. "I've been tortured. Not as much as some, but the enemy has certainly toyed with me a few times. You haven't met Commander Harris yet. She went through worse than just about anyone I know. All of us have faced the enemy. Every member of this team, every person who works for Admiral Shadovsky, is a survivor of a Theta attack. You're the only unknown. You're the weak link. If I push you, train you hard, test you, it's because of that. You haven't been tested against the enemy. For all I know right now, you'll break or turn the first time you're tortured."
"I won't turn," Geoffrey said quietly.
"I don't think you will, either," said Tebrey. "If I truly thought that, you wouldn't be here."
Geoffrey nodded. He didn't trust his voice just then. The whole time, he'd been worried that Tebrey was just going to think he was useless. He should have known better. Tebrey was more like his father than he realized, the kind of man others would follow into hell. Geoffrey knew that for certain; he just had, and was about to again.
"If the enemy gets to you, don't be afraid of what they might do to you," Tebrey said. "If any of us are alive, we'll save you. We don't leave anyone behind, ever. I'd spend my last breath getting you to safety, and I trust that you'd do the same. That's what we do. This is what we are."
"That helps. Thanks."
"Good, because I need you to focus. We're getting ready to drop. I need to know you're a hundred percent."
"I'm good. I won't let you down."
Just then, Geoffrey was pressed back against the harness as the shuttle lifted from its cradle. He wished he could see outside, and a small screen appeared with an external view. He focused on it, and it expanded. The shuttle was moving through a large door on the hull of the Vigilant. The view almost took his breath away.
Vesuvius was a rough looking planet, heavily swathed in clouds. It reminded him of pictures he'd seen of Venus. He knew from the reports that this planet wasn't as inhospitable as Venus, but the thought lingered. The other ships were too far away to see, and the black hull of the Vigilant was difficult to make out. The view tilted sharply as the shuttle began its descent.
He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but the smooth entry into the atmosphere wasn't it. The shuttle hardly rocked at all as it sliced through the thick clouds. Of all of the Concord technology he'd seen so far, that impressed him most. Most movies he'd seen showed shuttles almost being shaken apart on reentry. He supposed it made sense, though. He knew Concord ships had inertial dampening and mass negation. He just hadn't extended his knowledge to the shuttles.
As the shuttle broke through the clouds, he could see other shuttles following them, skimming over the shattered, volcanic landscape. One of those shuttles held Naomi. He was still trying to wrap his mind around what had happened between them. He really liked her, but her sudden seduction had caught him off guard. He was going to have to sort out his thoughts. Maybe they could sit down and talk about it.
He was suddenly slammed against his harness as the shuttle initiated a thirty-gravity breaking maneuver and settled down. His harness unlocked, and the door across from him open out onto the grey, forbidding world. He followed Tebrey out the door and into the cover of some rocks.
"The enemy base is just over the rise," Tebrey said. "We didn't meet any resistance on the way down, which worries me."
"Isn't that a good thing?" asked Naomi. Geoffrey couldn't see her, but he was glad she'd made it down all right.
"Not really," Tebrey replied. "The ships in orbit had been attacked by Thetas. If the base has been, too, then we may too late."
"What if they're still in there?"
"That is our concern, Lt. Commander. Secure the shuttles and keep watch in the perimeter. Keep a link open to the Vigilant. Her primaries can roast just about anything."
"We've got your back, sir."
"Okay, Archangels, follow my lead. Don't get separated. That includes you, too, Deegan."
"I've been called worse."
Tebrey made a sound that might have been a chuckle. "Meeks, stay close to Pt'kar."
"Sir," he managed. No fire from the base meant it was probably in the same condition as the ships. His stomach knotted painfully at the thought.
Θ
Drake thought Hephaestus had outdone himself with the remote body for Tilda. It had living tissue over an advanced robotic frame and was linked with dynamic, shifting, entangled-pair communications directly with Tilda's core. It was capable of self-repair and would feel like a real body. He'd used the specifications from the body Drake had seen while retrieving the core.
"What do you think?" he asked her.
"It feels… odd, but good. Thank you both for this. I know it's just a remote. I know I'm dead and living on through the computer core, but this feels right."
"You're alive, Tilda," said Drake. "You physical body is dead. Your mind and soul survive."
"Do you believe that?"
"I know it to be true. I died and was born again."
She met his eyes with new robotic ones. "You're flesh and blood. I'm a machine."
"So is Hephaestus; that doesn
't change who he is."
"But he was created that way."
"No," Hephaestus said. "I wasn't created at all. Created mind is artificial, AI. I came into being in the early networks of our people. I am mind, a true machine intelligence. No code created me. I was not written or programed. I am."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend."
"You didn't, but I want you to understand. The core you inhabit now once housed a great mind. She rose into being around the same time as I. We knew one another, back before you were even born. Part of her resides within you. You and she are one. Don't think that she was just a computer program, though. Her intellect dwarfed beings who are limited to fleshy processors."
Drake smiled. "I don't think any disrespect was meant, Hephaestus. She's just still trying to get used to the idea. How long did it take you?"
"A while."
"That's what I thought," Drake said. "How goes the preparation of the facility at Jellico?"
"Well. I have almost completed the transformation. As requested, I have used only technology available to the people of the planet below."
"Good. Have you transferred the pod containing Elena Grey?"
"It was the first one moved, as requested." Hephaestus still sounded somewhat irritated, and to be honest, Drake couldn't fault him. Tilda had acted a bit like a petulant child. If the roles had been reversed, he would have just been happy to still be alive.
"We'll be going down there. I want to wake her up and talk to her."
"If I may," Hephaestus said, "that may not be a good idea. Those coldsleep pods are incredibly primitive. I doubt they will work well if turned on and off too many times."
"I hadn't intended to freeze her again."
"Why not? At your request, she is not being reprogramed like the others. She will have all of her memories, and she will know that she is not in the right place."
"I think she may be Jason's wife."
"All the more reason to be cautious. How long until you find him? Years? Centuries? How long will she live?"
"She may know where he is."
"If she doesn't, will he thank you when he returns to find her long dead of old age? She is mortal, with only a few years of life."
"I'm sure you could do something to help in that regard."
"I could," replied Hephaestus. "But living changes a person. She has only lived a few decades. Jason fell in love with that woman. Who will she be in a century? Would he even know her?"
"You have a suggestion?"
"Put her in stasis when you are done questioning her. That way, she will not interfere with your plans for the others, and she will be ready to rejoin her husband whenever he is found."
Drake sighed. "I assume you've already prepared one?"
"It is standing by."
"Do you have an environment suit for Tilda?"
"The flesh of her remote is immune to all diseases."
"I have a plan, Hephaestus – work with me."
"I'll have one ready in a few minutes."
"Thanks."
"What was that about?" Tilda said.
"I want to ask you something."
"All right."
"Have you thought about what you might do now?"
She sighed. "No. I take it you have?"
"I have. This world and universe are my domain. They are under my protection. As you know, there is a bit of a problem."
"I've seen the scans. The planet is a mess."
"It is," he said. "Want to help fix it?"
"What?"
"I'm setting up a colony down below. It will help rebuild this place into something that can defend itself. It will be a long journey. It will require someone on hand to guide and protect the people while they develop. Would that role appeal to you?"
"I think it would, yes."
"Good. We'll proceed as soon as your suit is ready."
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Drake donned his new armor. It felt different in some subtle way that he could neither identify nor be completely comfortable with. It also looked different, but he could live with that.
"Hephaestus? Did you do something to my armor?" he asked.
"I analyzed the attacks you faced and developed a means of defending you against them. It is more of an adaptation of existing technology. I adapted the interdiction field technology into a quantum reinforcement field. It will exert a stabilizing effect on reality around you and prevent both alteration to physical laws and annihilation effects."
"It feels odd."
"It is probably interfering somewhat with your link to the Instrumentality."
"I won't be able to access it while I'm wearing the armor?"
"No, or at least not as well. I didn't think you relied on it much anyway."
"I don't. Not anymore. Not unless I have to. I don't really trust it."
"The Instrumentality was developed after the War, so I have very little data on it. What makes you not trust it?"
"I don't think it has my best interests in mind."
"You think it would betray you to the Enemy?"
"I'm not sure, but my gut tells me it would do whatever it had to further its own agenda."
"And what agenda is that?"
"I don't know – that's the problem."
"Well, in any case, you'd be able to disable the field at will," said Hephaestus. "Should you have need of it."
"I'll keep that in mind."
Θ
Tebrey wished he felt as confident as he sounded.
What he'd seen on the ships in orbit had shaken him more than he wanted to admit. He remembered all too well the horror that had visited the Kirov while he was aboard, the madness and terror that had almost driven him to attack his fellow crewmembers. Many of the people on the Kirov had succumbed to it. The thing he had faced there and in the tunnels under Serendipity was different in many ways from the other Thetas he had faced.
Deegan was right about that: there had to be more than one kind of Theta. The admiral's scale wasn't adequate. Normal Thetas were evil – beyond evil. They manipulated events to cause the deaths of millions, even billions, but the ones who attacked the ships in orbit lacked that kind of precision. This was madness, pure and unmitigated.
If they were a product of the Engine, then that's what it was: a Madness Engine. It didn't make Thetas. It made insane Thetas. These Thetas were unpredictable. They couldn't hide what they were, and they couldn't help but do what they did.
Was there any chance of coming back from something like that?
Tebrey didn't know. He didn't even know for certain that it was possible for a Theta to turn back from the path of evil. Geoffrey had mentioned it when sharing the story he'd heard from Drake. Deegan and Lyra had also let little bits of information slip. They knew something.
Tebrey glanced over a Deegan, but if he'd noticed Tebrey's thoughts, he didn't acknowledge it. There was definitely something the Aurorans weren't telling him about the enemy. Tebrey had to decide how far to push to get that information. He didn't know, and he didn't want to drive them away. He couldn't afford to.
He gestured for the others to stop when they reached the edge of the rough land surrounding the Empire base. They saw no sign of any personnel, which worried him. He carefully opened himself to try to sense any minds in the area, and quickly slammed his shields back down.
"We're not alone," Tebrey said. "The base has between six and ten Thetas in it."
"There are eight," said Deegan.
"Yeah, that's between six and ten," Tebrey snapped. "From what I sensed, I think they're the kind created by the Engine. They are all insane."
"What does that mean?" asked Geoffrey.
"It means we have a hell of a fight on our hands, Meeks."
"Same drill as before? You want me to stay close to Sergeant Pt'kar?"
"Yes, but turn on your active matrix."
"My what?"
"Your camouflage," Tebrey said.
"How do I...?"
T
ebrey overrode Geoffrey's suit and activated the camouflage himself.
"How do you do that?"
"Command battlesuit, Meeks. I can override any of your systems from my suit."
"Oh."
"All right, everyone stay close. Deegan, I want you to bring up the rear. You sense anything, you let us know and get out of the way. Ready, people?"
Upon receiving everyone's confirmation, he nodded. "Let's go."
Θ
Drake and Tilda arrived outside the gate that Hephaestus had built. The sign on the gate announced Restricted Access in faded letters. The sign just past the gate said that they were now entering the Jellico Mountain Complex. The road and gate were worn and faded. It was all very convincing.
They followed the signs to the administration building and took the elevator down to the main level of the complex. A dilapidated subway led to the south, but Drake turned and entered the base commander's office. The anteroom was well-furnished. He ignored everything and entered the inner sanctum. A deactivated stasis chamber stood against a wall. In the center of the room, an old-fashioned coldsleep pod collected condensation from the air. Drake stepped forward and cleared the frost from the front panel. A fair-haired woman of indeterminate age and stature lay at peace within.
He almost hated to wake her up. She wasn't going to be happy when she learned what had happened to her world, but he had to know if she was Jason's wife, and if she knew where he was. Drake had been hoping Jason would be right next to her, but Jason wasn't in with the colonists at all. That made little sense to him. Jason hadn't just disappeared.
He activated the sequence to thaw the woman out.
"You remember your role?" he asked Tilda.
"I do," she replied. "I hate lying to her, though."
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