Legacy of the Argus

by E. R. Torre

  “B’taav?” she said.

  Cer was at B’taav’s side. They both had smiles on their faces.

  “How you feeling, Independent?” Nox said.

  “I’ve been better,” B’taav said. “You?”

  “I’ve been worse,” Nox said. “But I wouldn’t have survived this long without you, Independent. Never thought I’d need help from your kind. You know what that means, right?”

  “What?”

  “From now on, you’re going to call yourself a Mechanic. How else do I keep my well-earned reputation for being a pain in the ass about these things intact?”

  B’taav extended his hand and, after a momentary hesitation, Nox grabbed it.

  “I’m honored to be called that,” B’taav said.

  “Damn straight,” Nox replied. “And as a bonus, we’re not inside each other’s heads anymore.”

  “Heaven forbid,” B’taav said.

  Nox laughed and released B’taav’s hand. Weak though she still was, she pulled Catherine closer.

  “He’s right, you know. I’ve got all my thoughts back, nice and private. Neither he nor that other son of a bitch can listen in.”

  “That son of a bitch is over here,” Spradlin said.

  Nox saw the boy in the medi-chair and shook her head.

  “I take that back,” she said. “This is one hell of a fucked up dream.”

  “The dreams are over,” Spradlin said.

  “I know,” Nox said and smiled. “And I’m really glad all of you are out of my head. I wouldn’t want you to know what I’m thinking. Not right now.”

  Catherine Holland held back more tears.

  After five millennia, Nox gave Catherine Holland a long, passionate kiss.

  95

  Two days passed while Nox, B’taav, and Nathaniel recovered.

  Soon they were on their feet and itching to do something. Anything.

  Becky Waters called a meeting in the ship’s lounge and it was there that Raven found them.

  “We need to talk,” Becky Waters said as he entered.

  “About?”

  “The Prototype’s planetoid. We need to see if Saint Vulcan is still alive and, even more importantly we need to make sure the Prototype and his machines are no longer a danger.”

  “I’ve considered this,” Raven admitted. “But given the nano-tech involved, who should go there?”

  “I’m immune to nano-probes,” Cer said. “As is B’taav.”

  “Which makes you and B’taav far too important to send on this trip,” Raven said. “If there are any of the Prototype’s nano-probes still alive on that vessel or anywhere else in the Empires, you two will provide us with the information we need to inoculate others against it.”

  “I have the most years’ experience dealing with these creatures,” Becky Waters said. “I’ll go. I’ll take the Xendos and scout her interior, see if anything is left.”

  “I’m coming with you.”

  The words came from Paul Spradlin. The boy faced Raven.

  “Don’t let this body confuse you, I have even more experience than Becky dealing with these creatures.”

  Cer addressed Becky Waters.

  “You sure you can fly the Xendos?” she asked.

  “I’ll manage.”

  Raven thought about that. Finally, he nodded.

  “Keep your space suits’ audio and visual systems on at all times,” Raven said. “We’ll monitor you from here. Even more importantly, be careful.”

  “I have no desire to make this my first and last trip into outer space,” Spradlin said.

  Raven eyed Spradlin and added:

  “All right, let’s see if we can find a kid sized space suit.”

  96

  The Cygnusa’s thrusters activated and the battleship moved away from the machine world’s ghostly form, past the machine world itself, and near the Prototype’s planetoid.

  In the bridge, Raven focused on a monitor to his side which displayed the interior of the Xendos. Becky Waters and Paul Spradlin were seated beside each other. Becky Waters manned the controls and, from the look on her face, wasn’t entirely comfortable doing so. Paul Spradlin sat very low in his chair, almost comically so, and had to crane his neck to see above the ship’s controls.

  “Xendos, this is Becky Waters. Can you see and hear me?”

  “We can, Xendos,” Raven replied.

  “All right,” Becky Waters said. She drew a very deep breath while looking over the controls. “Permission to leave the Cygnusa.”

  “Permission granted,” Raven said. “Would you like us to use the gravity hooks to help you out?”

  “Let me give it a try,” Becky Waters said. “If I scratch any paint, you can bill me later.”

  “You’ll do fine, Becky,” Cer said over the communicator.

  Becky Waters flashed the camera a grin.

  “Do I look that nervous?”

  “Maybe a little,” Cer said.

  Becky Waters looked at Paul Spradlin.

  “Don’t worry,” she said. “The ship’s nano-probes taught me the basics of flying this ship.”

  “I hear them too,” Paul Spradlin said. “They’re telling me you should absolutely not pilot this ship.”

  “They’re just having fun with you,” Becky Waters said. “Who knew microscopic machines could have a sense of humor?”

  The Xendos’ engines came to life and the ship lifted a few feet off the ground. It turned and moved across the landing bay and toward the exit door. That door slid open, revealing the darkness of outer space.

  “It’s just like riding a bicycle,” Becky Waters said. “A fifty ton bicycle.”

  The Xendos flew past the open doors and was on its way to the wreck of the Prototype’s planetoid.

  “Tell me the truth,” Becky Waters said. “You didn’t think I’d make it out of the landing bay.”

  “The truth?” Spradlin repeated.

  “I can take it.”

  “I never doubted you. Not for a…”

  Spradlin let out a laugh.

  “Who am I kidding? I didn’t think you’d make it off the ground, much less out of the landing bay.”

  “Remind me never to ask for your honest opinion about anything ever again,” Becky Waters said. “Just so you know, these ships have excellent auto-piloting and anti-crashing systems. I could have pressed a couple of buttons and let the ship take itself out.”

  “What would be the fun in that?” Spradlin said.

  A sly smile appeared on Becky Waters’ face.

  “Exactly.”

  “I haven’t seen you smile like that in such a long time,” Spradlin said.

  “Haven’t had much to be happy about.”

  Spradlin nodded. He looked away and, hesitantly, said:

  “Did you find out what happened to Jennifer Alberts?”

  “After the Exodus, she was well cared for but… she was old and very sick. She didn’t last long. She passed away in her sleep not quite a year later.”

  Becky Waters noticed Spradlin wipe a tear from his eye.

  “You knew?”

  “That she was the end of the Spradlin and Waters bloodline?” Paul Spradlin said. “Yeah, I knew.”

  “Why didn’t you say something?”

  “Back then, you didn’t want to talk to me about much of anything,” Spradlin said. “Much less…”

  “Our bloodline ended with her passing,” Becky Waters said. “But yours did not.”

  Spradlin straightened up.

  “You’re talking about… about my family from Arizona? What did you find?”

  “Many generations of offspring,” Becky Waters said. “Some lived very successful lives while others did not. Some were happy while others endured tragedy. Some took advantage of their time in the light, some squandered theirs. I have their information on a file. If you want it…”

  “I do,” Spradlin said. His voice cracked with emotion. “Becky… thank you for doing this.”

  Spra
dlin was silent for several seconds before saying:

  “I’m sorry I forced you into this life and then forced you back. After that accident, maybe I should have… maybe I should have just let you go and not turned you into this… this…”

  “Thing?” Becky Waters said.

  “After losing Samantha, I couldn’t bear losing you. But I had no right.”

  A ghastly smile appeared on Becky Waters’ face.

  “I was angry about that for a very long time, Paul,” she said. “I spent so many years hidden away, from people. From society. I blamed you for that. I wondered why my life should matter more than so many others.”

  “I made it matter,” Spradlin said. “Because… because I loved –love– you so damn much.”

  “Hell of a relationship,” Waters said and laughed. “Never can seem to find that one quiet moment.”

  “Maybe after all this, you and I take a vacation. I might even let you drive.”

  “I like the sound of that,” Becky Waters said. “But I’m not into little boys, General. You’ve got some growing up to do.”

  “I’ll get right to it.”

  The Xendos slowed as it approached the planetoid wreckage.

  Becky Waters initiated a scan for energy sources and, after a minute, said:

  “I’ve got something.”

  She pointed to a dark opening on the planetoid’s surface.

  “It’s there, inside the landing bay. It’s where Vulcan’s ship entered. Ready?”

  “Yeah. Let’s go.”

  Becky Waters spoke into her communicator.

  “Cygnusa?”

  On a monitor before Becky Waters was a view of the Cygnusa’s bridge. Raven was at the center of the monitor while Cer, B’taav, Catherine Holland, Nox, and Dave Maddox were seated just behind him and at the back of the bridge

  “We’re here,” Raven said.

  “And listening all this time,” Nox added.

  “Yikes,” Becky Waters said. “All right Cygnusa, we’re going in.”

  The Xendos flew into the ashen landing bay.

  The ship’s lights illuminated the wreckage and revealed a lifeless and inert interior. The walls and floors of the vessel were black. Equipment and machinery were melted and almost formless.

  After flying deep into the landing bay they closed in on the energy reading. Becky Waters landed the ship and shut her engines off. Paul Spradlin spoke into his communicator’s microphone.

  “Saint Vulcan, this is Paul Spradlin,” he said. “Are you there? Can you hear me?”

  The control panel showed a small rise in the single energy reading.

  “Whatever it is, it hears us,” Becky Waters said.

  Paul Spradlin nodded. He again spoke into his communicator.

  “We’re coming for you.”

  Becky Waters and Paul Spradlin headed to the back of the ship and its decompression chamber.

  They put their helmets on and made sure their suits were properly sealed before opening the outer door.

  The two exited the Xendos and walked through the wreckage of the landing bay. Lights from their suits illuminated their path.

  With each step their unease increased.

  “Exploring the unknown and risking life and limb,” Becky Waters said. “Just like old times.”

  “Look,” Spradlin said.

  Piles of dark ash surrounded them. They were thousands of such piles.

  “They look like people,” Becky Waters said.

  “Look at the burn pattern,” Spradlin said.

  “It’s circular,” Becky Waters noted. “It came from that direction.”

  “The source of the energy reading,” Paul Spradlin said.

  They continued forward and, after a while, found a larger ashen figure. This one, unlike the others, retained most of its original form. It looked like an elderly man. His face was filled with unimaginable agony.

  “Cygnusa, can you see this?” Becky Waters said.

  “It’s Overlord Emeritus,” Raven said. “The Prototype. Any… any sign of life?”

  Becky Waters and Paul Spradlin lifted their scanners and waved them over the figure.

  “We’re getting nothing,” Paul Spradlin said. “The Prototype is finished.”

  “Good,” Raven managed. There was both relief and anger in his voice.

  “Look,” Becky Waters said.

  Just beyond that body was another figure.

  It was dark and composed of what appeared to be a liquid glass surface. Within the surface were lights. They flashed, weakly, on and off.

  “Vulcan?” Spradlin said.

  The glass figure had no face. It lifted its right hand and a brighter light radiated from its body. Incredibly, a sealed field formed around the three of them. The readouts in Becky Waters and Paul Spradlin’s space suits indicated there was breathable atmosphere within this field.

  “Hello again, Paul Spradlin and Becky Waters,” the glass figure said. “You may remove your helmets, if you want to.”

  Becky Waters and Paul Spradlin eyed each other before reaching for their helmet seals. Cautiously, they removed them and breathed in the air. It was acrid but, as Vulcan said, breathable.

  “I sense you look… different, Paul Spradlin. Pardon me but my visual displays aren’t functioning well…”

  “I’m in a new body. Your doing?”

  “My doing,” Vulcan said.

  “The Prototype lies over there,” Becky Waters said. “Is he truly gone?”

  “Yes,” Vulcan said. “My child, my sin, is dead.”

  “You grieve?” Paul Spradlin asked.

  “I had little desire to kill my creation yet it had to be done.”

  “How did you destroy the Prototype and his ship?”

  “I’ve lived, if such a term applies, for over thirty five thousand years,” Vulcan said. “I adapt and improve. The army I attacked the Prototype with was meant to grind his forces down until I could face what was left of him and take him on. Personally.”

  “You’re injured?” Becky Waters asked.

  “Yes,” Vulcan said. “Beyond repair.”

  Paul Spradlin was taken aback by Vulcan’s words.

  “You scarified yourself for us? Why?”

  Vulcan let out a weak laugh.

  “You still have to ask?” she said. “Over time I viewed the human race as something precious. Something worth fighting for. Something worth saving.”

  The lights within Saint Vulcan’s body dimmed.

  “But I was so alone for so very long, Paul,” Vulcan said. “I faced stagnation and I wanted… I wanted someone to accompany me. To talk to. To make plans with. The Prototype was more than just another nano-probe robot. In so many ways, the Prototype was me. When he was stolen, he learned different lessons about humanity and its place in it. The great divergence. Identical beings with different experiences and memories. What are we if not a collection of both? I hoped for a better end yet it was clear such an end was not to be.”

  “I should have trusted you.”

  “The paths we took made the journey hard, but in the end we arrived at the right destination.”

  The remains of Saint Vulcan looked to her right and the ashen pieces of the landing bay were pushed aside like a curtain. Revealed was Vulcan’s machine world in the far distance and, next to it, the hazy remains of where the planet was.

  “Now watch,” Saint Vulcan said.

  As she spoke, lights moved across her body. A message was sent and a series of bright lights appeared throughout the surface of the machine world. They sped up and moved faster and faster while illuminating her entire surface.

  The energy readings in Paul Spradlin and Becky Waters’ space suits jumped.

  Within the Cygnusa, the light and energy was blinding.

  “What’s happening?” Raven said.

  “I’m not sure,” Cer replied. “The machine world’s energy readings are spiking.”

  “Sir, the planet looks like it’s going to explod
e!” Lieutenant Sanders said. “We need to leave!”

  Raven looked at Catherine Holland.

  “I think I know what’s happening,” she said. “We don’t need to go anywhere.”

  It took only a few seconds for the energy readings to reach their maximum levels and hold.

  The lights across the machine world merged and settled in her equator and directly before the hazy nano-probe cloud.

  Four blasts of intense energy erupted out of the machine world’s surface and formed a single concentrated beam. It shot out into the center of the nano-probe cloud, penetrating and spreading throughout its surface until it lit up like a sun.

  Aboard the remains of the Prototype’s planetoid, Spradlin, Becky Waters, and Saint Vulcan watched the shimmering lights.

  “It can’t be,” Paul Spradlin said. “I didn’t think… I didn’t think it was possible…”

  “What?” Becky Waters asked.

  “My final gift,” Vulcan said.

  “Xendos, this is the Cygnusa,” Raven spoke over the communicator. “Are you seeing this?”

  “We are, Cygnusa,” Becky Waters said.

  What flesh was left on her body was covered in goosebumps.

  The shimmering grew brighter still.

  On board the Cygnusa, Cer was startled by the information on her monitor.

  “It’s an Interdimensional corridor!” Cer said. “By the Gods, the nano-probe cloud has converted itself into an interdimensional corridor the size and shape of a planet!”

  The shimmering was at its brightest before the gas shape darkened.

  “Something’s coming through!” Nox said.

  “Sir, we’re getting a message!” Lieutenant Sanders said.

  “From Spradlin and Waters?”

  “No. From… from within the interdimensional corridor!”

  “Let’s hear it,” Raven said.

  “Cygnusa, do you read me?” a female voice spoke.

  “Who is this?” Raven asked.

  “My name is Laverna DeCastillo,” the woman said. “Please do not be alarmed. Stand by for our arrival.”

  The shimmering energy grew darker as an object materialized inside the ghostly spherical shape.

  As it did, the nano-probe haze spread out and swirled away only to be drawn back into the machine world.