“We found an old lost communication from near Proxima. Can you tell us the date?” I asked, sipping the hot beverage.
Jade set the cup down. “Arlo…”
“What?” And it hit me. “Play the distress call.”
The communication was a video, and there he was. My grandfather, standing front and center. “I am Captain Preston Lewis, of the expedition vessel Obelisk. We entered Proxima Centauri a day ago and have been followed by an unmarked vessel since the moment we arrived. They’ve failed to acknowledge any transmissions from us, and I fear they are potentially hostile. If this message reaches anyone, know that Proxima is not safe. I repeat…” The camera shook, and the angle shifted toward the viewscreen as an alarm rang out. People ran by, taking positions on the bridge.
The camera showed the enemy ship filling the viewscreen. Long tentacles flowed in front of it, pulsing bright red. More people walked by the camera, and it stopped moving, showing Preston standing in the middle of the expedition ship’s bridge, shouting orders.
The feed went dark.
“That’s it?”
“It is.” Jade started it from the beginning.
“Pause it!” Holland yelled. Jade obliged, and he shoved her arm aside, taking the controls into his own hands. “There.” He pointed at the screen, and I saw the resemblance. “How is she…”
“Holland, is that your mother?” Luther asked.
It was her. The woman from Bryson’s room devoted to his wife’s memory. “Holland, did you know your mother was lost with Obelisk?”
He backed away, slowly shaking his head. “I don’t understand. Dad told me she died in a boating accident near SeaTech. I was only a year old.”
“I was supposed to be on that mission,” Luther said nonchalantly. We all turned toward him while he drank his coffee. “What?”
“You’re saying you were part of the Proxima mission?” I asked quietly.
“Sure. I was young, highly sought after by Lotus for a security officer role. But in the end, the CEO wouldn’t let me go.”
“Okay, so let’s get this straight,” I said. “Bryson Kelley’s wife was on Obelisk. My grandfather was the captain. You were supposed to be on the ship… There’s no way this is all a big coincidence.”
“I agree,” Jade said. “And my grandfather was Luna’s CEO at the time. They built Obelisk.”
Everyone stopped what they were doing. “I guess you forgot to tell us that part,” Luther said.
“Wait…what?” Holland asked.
“I’m Jade Trevors. Niece to Erik.”
Luther sighed deeply. “This keeps getting stranger.”
Holland just stared blankly. “Dad always told me that Mom loved space…that she was an adventurer. She spent hours looking out at the stars from the island, wishing she could explore them.”
“Sorry you had to find out like this,” I told him.
“I have to contact Dad.” Holland attempted to message his father, but all efforts failed. Eventually, he gave up and just sat staring at the screen.
“I’m beginning to understand Bryson’s obsession with Proxima,” Luther said. “You saw the room.”
“What room?” Holland asked.
Luther returned to his seat. “Nothing, kid. Let’s get focused. We still have Sage and Lotus to deal with.”
____________
I daydreamed memories of an old digital puzzle I’d played with as a child. My parents worked long hours, and after my sessions in the Sage schooling system, I had a lot of free time. The pieces were the same as when I was a child, and they scrolled by me. I tried to grab at them, to slide their 3D holographic pieces into the proper place, but they wouldn’t move.
The memory shattered, dispersing into a million pieces when I remembered seeing the distress call. They’d encountered an alien vessel, and the thing had looked terrifying. Were those beings related to the ship I’d discovered, or perhaps the ones Jinx had found watching our every step? No wonder I’d been thinking about puzzles. I was living one right now.
Jade prepped the system for the alterations on the Core boosters, and I read over the message we’d received from a distant world. Level Dark. Destination: Refuge. Location unknown. Assault imminent.
What did it all mean? With no answers forthcoming, I set to the final leg of the Race, urging Pilgrim forward at top speed for another couple hours, until Neptune displayed like a huge ball in my viewer. Ships were all around, gathered near the gargantuan craft holding the CEOs and Board. Hundreds, maybe thousands of people were occupying it, waiting for the outcome of this Race. Every Primary wanted to control Proxima, but after the distress video, I wasn’t sure they’d be welcomed there. For the moment, it was a three-ship race.
I saw various vessels from each of the Primaries but couldn’t pick out any from SeaTech. Maybe Bryson was mingling with the other executives. Still no sign of Eclipse, which surprised me. They should have been visible on the radar, but their element of surprise would only work if they weren’t seen from tens of thousands of kilometers away. She would have made sure their arrival was concealed.
We were in the homestretch, with under thirty minutes to the final checkpoint. The Ring wasn’t visible yet, but I could almost see the dot of orange out there, taunting me to win. Time went fast now, each minute feeling like a second.
“We can do this, Arlo!” Luther called supportively.
“Are the boosts prepared?” I asked, but Jade didn’t respond. “Serrano, where are you?”
“She’s in Engineering.”
Her voice carried through the ship’s speakers. “Arlo, we have a problem. Maybe not a problem, per se…”
“What is it? Can we pull this off?” I asked, smiling at Holland.
“There’s…this ship has some serious weapons. It’s concealed, but not connected. Bryson essentially...created a killing machine.”
“Here? I thought you saw the blueprints, the technical designs.”
“Why would we have guns?” Holland asked.
“That’s a good question,” Jade answered. “These aren’t listed anywhere. I only saw the barrels and charging ports when I opened the floor panels. I don’t know what he expected the Racer to be, but…”
“This changes everything. Maybe we’re not here for a Race,” Luther said.
“Can you hook them up after we win?” I asked her through my dash speaker, and she said she could.
A bright light flashed ahead, and Lotus began hurtling toward the Ring. They were going for it. Full overdrive. In my estimation they were too far out for that move, unless they had information I didn’t.
“This could be over quickly!” Luther shouted from his feet.
Varn and I were nose to nose, and I almost expected him to duplicate Lotus’ action. But he didn’t.
Lotus flashed again and went dark. They were still ten minutes from the finish line. “Jade, prepare for the transition. Send all secondary sources to the Core in five…” I counted down, glancing through the viewer to see Sage’s ship beside us. The Ring was huge, a welcoming opening into victory, and I imagined the feeling of winning this thing, and entering in first.
Jade worked her magic, and we sped up, the Core processing the power into the thrusters. The ship shook, the dash and pilot’s seat vibrating. It rose through my bones, my teeth chattering as the Ring grew closer and closer. With the gravity flipped off, some forgotten materials floated in front of my face, and I batted them away with an arm.
Sage threw themselves into overdrive as Lotus had, but I knew it was too little too late.
We were a couple of minutes from the end. Victory would be ours. Lotus was behind us, and Varn pulled Sage ahead, frying his couplings.
“Patience,” I whispered to myself, knowing Sage could blow out at any moment.
The final checkpoint was so close, I could almost touch it. I glanced to the dash, seeing the distance to our arrival counting down quickly. Two kilometers would go fast.
“Go, Arlo!” Luth
er shouted.
“You can do it, Captain.” This from R11.
“Don’t let him win.” Holland’s voice was low, but it cut through the noise of the ship.
My vision centered on the Ring, and then it happened. Sage’s thrusters burst blue, and they slowed. Pilgrim shot by them, and we entered the final checkpoint in first place.
Everything was silent for a moment, until the Ring exploded in a series of bright holographic fireworks. SeaTech’s logo appeared underneath the lights, and I pumped my fist in the air. “We did it! We won Space Race!”
The team cheered from their positions, and Jade unclasped, floating from her seat in the zero gee.
But our celebration was short-lived.
The spark of light was so bright, it nearly scorched my retinas, and for a second, I thought it was more celebratory flashes. Then the light faded, and Pilgrim’s alarm sounded. At first, I thought we’d damaged the ship; then I realized we had a visitor.
The radar didn’t reveal anything, but a massive vessel hung between us and the Boardroom. The newcomer was familiar but wouldn’t have been a few hours ago. Long black tentacles stretched in front of it, with four descending wings tilted toward the nose. I assumed it was meant for suborbital travel as well, but it was so enormous, I didn’t know why that would be necessary.
“Jade, get to Engineering! Switch our grav on and connect those weapons!” I called the order out, and she didn’t hesitate.
“I’m on it!” And she was gone.
The Defenders the Primaries had constructed on Mars were there, moving to intercept the mysterious craft. I assumed they were trying to contact it as everyone panicked. The mystery ship made the first move. A tentacle flung out, firing a blast of red fury, annihilating a giant Defender. It was there one second, gone the next.
“How did they get here?” We were all strapped in, so I couldn’t see his face, but Holland was clearly afraid—and for good reason.
The newly minted Defenders fired now, unleashing fury on the other vessel. I let out a cheer at the sight and expected to find it exploding at any second. But their fire ended, and the craft remained unharmed. More Corporation ships neared the behemoth, circling it, but I had a feeling their efforts would be ineffectual.
“We need to do something.” Luther tried calling out, but we’d turned the comm systems off.
“Jade, get us back online. I don’t care what you have to do,” I said into the speaker.
“This’ll just take a minute,” she said from Engineering.
“I don’t think we have that long,” I whispered.
The enemy lingered in silence, dark and threatening. No one spoke.
The Boardroom was helpless, not a war machine by any account. I was sure there were defenses built in, but they wouldn’t be useful against whatever this monster was.
“Captain, I’m seeing movement,” R11 said, and I peered out the viewer at the incoming fleet. It was a mishmash of vessels, and I was shocked to see the numbers in the hundreds. Eclipse had turned Liberty into a real force to be reckoned with.
“My father must be with them,” Holland said.
“If he was smart, he’d turn around and leave before this bastard obliterates us all,” Luther said.
“Any ideas?” I asked the big man.
“We need to find a weakness.”
I stared at the thing, the destructive tentacles wavering through space, and I wondered why the enemy hadn’t advanced. “It’s waiting for something.”
“Witnesses?” Holland asked.
“Maybe.”
Once the comms were up, I took a risk and sent a message to Bello’s ship, Velvet, assuming she’d be in the vicinity. Varn had pulled his Racer around and came to my side, facing the enemy as well.
“Hawk, what is that?” Bello answered the call. Grid was beside her, taking up two-thirds of the screen.
“Bad news. This visitor has already blasted one of the new Defenders, and seems impervious to our technology.” The power had been reset by Jade, and gravity returned, along with our full lights and any other random features we’d cut.
“How is this happening?” Bello asked.
“I need to speak with Eclipse. Where is she?” I asked.
Bello glanced at Grid, and her large husband spoke. “Hey, Hawk. The plan is the same. Stomp the Primaries. Sorry, man. Whoever this is, might be a good thing for us. They’ve already helped.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “Bello, let me speak to Eclipse.”
“Sorry, Hawk.” The call dropped.
“What is the matter with these people?” I slammed a fist on the chair arm. “This thing…”
The hundreds of usurpers directed toward Boardroom. And the fifty or so weaponized corporate ships stayed in their positions, unwilling to move out of the new enemies’ path.
“They can’t do this. We have to work together!” Holland was at the dash, his words hopeless.
“What can this thing do?” I asked Luther.
Jade arrived with a grim expression on her face. “Luther, I attached the CER-1905. You’ll have a lot of firepower. It’s the same tech the Defenders are using.”
“How do you know?” I asked.
“I saw something when I was working at Luna, right before I left. I didn’t think anything of it, but it was confidential, shipping to Sage on Mars. Luna owned the tech for the CER-1905, which is what we’re outfitted with, but Sage wanted to increase the power for a larger range operation. If that’s the case, this gun won’t work against this enemy. But…”
“Can you get on with it? We’re about to be in the middle of a full-scale assault!” My patience had been fried a long time ago.
Eclipse continued moving, and I felt the tension through the entire region. Neptune hung behind the Boardroom from my perspective, the huge ship blocking the equator from my line of sight.
“I reversed the polarity,” she said.
“Of what? I don’t understand,” I admitted.
Luther bobbed his head, as if trying to determine what that would accomplish. “Could be a change. The reverse polarity will neutralize some of the energy pulse, but most shields are designed to defend against a specific pattern.”
It was worth a shot. I glanced at the ship beside me and sighed. I tapped the communicator.
“Hawk, what the hell is going on?” Varn was white, his upper lip drenched in sweat.
“You tell me. Sage invite a special guest?”
“Not us. Must be Eclipse.”
That wasn’t true, but I kept it to myself. “We’re not exactly friends, but I think it’s time to work together. This bastard isn’t leaving without a fight. Let’s make them wish they’d never shown up to the party. Is your Core still operational, or did you blow it?”
“We’ve replaced the couplers. I’m no amateur,” Varn said in a huff.
“Then follow me.”
“To do what? We’re just a pair of Racers.”
“You’re pretending you don’t have a hidden CER-1905 on that bird?” Jade asked, arms crossed.
Varn pursed his lips. “You weren’t supposed to know about that.”
“Reverse it. The polarity. We have a plan,” I told him.
He barked an order to someone behind him, and when he stared at me again, his resolve had hardened. “I’m listening. And for the record, congratulations on winning Space Race.”
Twenty-Two
Varn disappeared from the screen, and Jade’s console beeped, drawing our attention. “Arlo, I’m picking up a transmission from Octavia on the Boardroom to one of the fleet.”
“You can do that?”
“Sure. Want to spy?” she asked.
Did I ever. She pushed it to the main viewer, and there were Eclipse and Octavia in split screen.
Holland waved a hand in front of his body. “They can’t see us, right?”
“No.”
“Eclipse…Ellie, this has to end. I’ve already explained my reasoning!” Octavia’s eyes boile
d with fury.
“Little sister, you’re too blind to see your own lies,” Eclipse said.
Sister? I peered at the others, who seemed as perplexed by this as anyone.
“I’m not lying. There never was a merge.” Octavia pointed away. “All we wanted was some fanfare for the expansion into Proxima, though we didn’t expect SeaTech to win this Race.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Eclipse asked.
“Because you never believe me. You only see red when it comes to my role, and the Board. I’m here to make things better, not worse. What happened to your son is not my fault.” This changed the conversation. It had turned personal. Two sisters with deep issues.
“That’s what you always say, but I don’t believe it. Who is this ship? What have you and the Primaries done?” Eclipse was in the same white uniform as before, her hair dusted with gray. Seeing them side by side, it was obvious they were related, but I hadn’t picked up on it earlier. It seemed no one had.
Octavia stared at the corner of her screen, probably nervously watching the tentacled beast. “We have no idea, but they’ve proven their power. I’m not sure what they’re waiting for. I thought they might be with Liberty.”
“There’s no way we’re involved with them. I’m sorry, Octavia. We didn’t come to cut a deal. I owe it to the other corporations to see this campaign through. We cannot return to Earth with things the way they are.”
I squinted as I watched Octavia lean back in her chair, glancing at the viewscreen beside her.
“We merged assets strictly for the sake of expanding into Proxima. We all know we lost Obelisk on that dreadful mission, and we can’t duplicate that.” Octavia’s eyes were red-lined, her head dipping as she finished.
“Whose idea was this? The video feeds, the pomp?”
“The Board’s. But at the start, I suppose it was Bryson Kelley’s,” she said, and we all perked up.
“He wasn’t even a Primary,” Eclipse said.
“I know, but he had the best technology for the Rings and had already created a prototype for the camera drone’s compatibility. It sounded like a reasonable way to disperse the rights, rather than handing them to Under and Sage Industries. We already have enough issues of infighting between the Primaries. This was our way of trying to even the playing field. Space Race was a real contest they could sink their teeth into.”
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