Synthesis

by Rexx Deane

  ‘Reports of my demise are greatly exaggerated,’ Duggan said. ‘Now, what’s this lunacy I hear about you moving everyone to Achene? There’s nothing there but gas.’

  Cullen’s expression became as flat as his tone. ‘You know that’s not true, and we both remember what it looked like before.’ His eyes sparkled.

  Sebastian recalled what the medic’s journal said about Cullen’s behaviour – he certainly had the look of the Possessed about him. He muted the comms. ‘Possessed.’

  Duggan blinked once, slowly, and un-muted the channel. ‘Yes, you’re right, Cullen. It’s covered with trees. Intelligent trees that I’d rather you not kill. Can we at least talk about this first?’

  ‘No, and their intelligence is the reason we have to go there and cut them all down.’

  ‘You’re not making any sense. Why would you intentionally kill them?’

  As the goliath drew closer, Sebastian made the first move and brought the Ultima Thule between the Iceni and Achene. There was no way the colonial freighter could outmanoeuvre the little ship, even if they wanted to.

  Cullen paused, seeming to consider his reply carefully. ‘Get out of the way, Duggan. You’re not stopping us. We’ll ram you, or shoot you down. Your choice.’

  ‘Do what you will, Cullen, we’re not moving.’

  The Iceni accelerated.

  Chapter 43

  Aryx looked up as Tolinar burst into the orchard, dishevelled and breathing heavily.

  ‘Are you okay?’ he asked.

  The alien took several gulps of air. ‘Sebastian and Duggan have taken your ship to intercept the Chopwood colonists.’

  Aryx stood a little too fast for the mobipack and staggered against a tree. ‘The colonists are back? What should we do?’

  ‘We do not know. If Sebastian and Duggan fail to stop them, they will land here and bring destructive force upon us. Shiliri and the others will be too preoccupied to maintain control over the animals. It would be safer for you to leave our world now.’

  ‘We can’t go back to the comet – I don’t know how to get in!’

  Janyce put a hand on Aryx’s shoulder. ‘We could go to Chopwood. At least the colonists won’t go back there.’

  He relaxed a little. It made sense – the place was familiar enough.

  ‘If that is your plan, you must hurry. The colonists will arrive soon. Two of the Folians have already transferred to the moon and will protect you from the flies.’

  Janyce grabbed Erik by the hand and pulled him up. ‘Come on, kiddo, we’ve got to go.’

  The four made their way back to the landing site and Aryx approached the stealth-black runner and opened the cockpit. He’d only ever seen them in documentaries about Earth’s astronautical history – it was like getting into a museum exhibit. The open cockpit was more spacious than it had looked from the outside.

  ‘Luckily there’s room for the three of us if Erik sits on your lap.’

  Aryx got in the front and Janyce climbed into the rear seat, followed by Erik. She extended the belts to encompass the boy and strapped herself in.

  The main flight control was a cross between a joystick and partial steering wheel – it all seemed so archaic. Where was the acceleration and yaw control? ‘Oh no …’

  ‘What’s wrong?’

  ‘It’s got foot controls!’ he bellowed. ‘I can’t control the damn thing with these legs – I can’t move the feet!’ He buried his face in his hands.

  ‘Uncle Aryx …’ Erik said, shaking his shoulder. ‘Mamma can fly it.’

  ***

  The runner lifted off the ground uneasily. Aryx had changed places with Janyce so she could pilot the ship and he now sat in the back, gripping the armrests tightly while it wobbled from side to side. Erik, sitting on his lap, giggled.

  ‘You’re certain you know how to fly?’ Aryx asked.

  The ship wobbled again as Janyce nodded. ‘Mike taught me a bit … Now, how do these foot controls work?’ She pulled back on the steering-wheel-joystick and the ship bucked upwards.

  ‘Don’t do that! They’re the yaw controls – the leftmost pedal fires both the port stern and starboard bow retrothrusters simultaneously, turning the ship to the right. The other does the opposite.’

  ‘And the middle one?’

  ‘Acceleration. Push it with your toe to slow down, like a brake, and your heel to speed up.’

  ‘That’s wacky.’

  ‘I know. I didn’t design the bloody thing. Even if I had, I still wouldn’t have let you drive!’

  The ship jolted to the left and began to tumble.

  ‘Don’t use the pedals like that in atmosphere!’ he shouted. ‘Use the stick-wheel! Fly it like a plane until you get into space!’

  ‘Sorry!’ She let go of the controls.

  ‘Don’t do that, either!’

  ‘Mamma!’ Erik’s cheeks bulged and his face turned a strange colour.

  She grabbed the controls once more. ‘Sorry!’

  ‘Just hold it straight – and hit that stall button over there that’s flashing. Jesus!’

  She fumbled about while the ship spun, until her fingers hit the correct button. The ship automatically levelled out and she pulled back on the stick-wheel again.

  ‘You can use the middle pedal but wait until the atmosphere light goes out before you use the others.’

  She nodded her head emphatically.

  The ship slipped through the upper atmosphere and illusory gases in a matter of moments. Stars filled the view; the atmospheric manoeuvres light went out. An alert sounded.

  ‘Scanners have picked up weapons discharge several thousand kilometres away,’ Aryx said. ‘Stay away from there. It looks like they’ve encountered the Iceni. Head straight for Chopwood.’

  Janyce steered the craft in the direction of the moon and dug her heel in.

  Chapter 44

  The giant, steely bullet-bulk of the Iceni accelerated towards the Ultima Thule. Cullen’s intimidating glare disappeared from the screen as Sebastian cut the comms.

  ‘We can’t discuss tactics with him on-screen.’

  Duggan raised an eyebrow. ‘Tactics? So, you have a plan?’

  ‘I’m going to hold here until the last minute to see if they stop. Beyond that, I have no idea.’

  ‘You’d better think quickly, then – they’re almost on top of us!’

  Collision alert warnings flashed on the console. More pressure. ‘Shut up!’ Sebastian hammered the controls to mute them and sat gripping the manual joysticks. ‘I’m going to play chicken.’

  Duggan clamped down the helmet on his pressure suit.

  Sebastian quickly fastened his own and put his hands back on the controls.

  ‘Ten seconds to impact.’ Wolfram said.

  ‘Alright, enough of the tense countdowns.’

  His thumb hovered over the thruster control. The Iceni headed straight towards the ship; if it didn’t slow down, it would plough through the Ultima’s starboard side, and they would either break apart or remain mounted on the Iceni’s nose-cone like some Wild West trophy on the bull bar of an old truck.

  ‘Two …’

  He pressed the button. The engines fired, forcing the occupants back in their seats, and the ship bucked to port with a jolt. With a high-pitched, metallic nails-on-blackboard squeal, the Iceni clipped the tail end. Sebastian grimaced, half expecting explosive decompression at any second.

  They stared out of the window as the silvery metal of the Iceni’s hull disappeared.

  Sebastian blew out his cheeks. ‘That was close!’

  ‘What now?’

  ‘Ah. I hadn’t thought past staying alive!’

  ‘I have an idea,’ Wolfram said. ‘I’ve been probing the ship during our contact with it, and I believe I can access part of the on-board computer system.’

  ‘Can you stop them?’

  ‘No. The communication system is not tied in to the navigation computer. I may, however, be able to transfer a subset of my core proces
sing routine into the communications computer.’

  ‘This is no time for playing computer chit-chat,’ Duggan snapped.

  The SI’s creativity hit Sebastian like a brick to the face. ‘If Wolfram can transfer part of his processing to the Iceni, we could use the probe railgun to launch a lump of carbyne at the cockpit—’

  ‘—and he can purge Cullen from right inside their ship!’

  ‘Exactly,’ Wolfram said. ‘Their computer’s processing power is not great, but I believe if we can get close enough, the combined capacity of both their computer and this unit may be enough to trigger the thaumatic effect. You will need to re-open communications when we are in proximity.’

  ‘Where’s your carbyne?’ Duggan asked.

  ‘In the hopper by the airlock. It’s what you nearly tripped over coming aboard. I’ll go and load some into the launcher.’ Sebastian got up and turned to leave the cockpit. ‘Shit! I’ve just remembered, it’s unstabilised!’

  ‘There’s no time to do that now. We’ll have to vent the air from the ship whilst you transfer it. It was a good job you suggested the suits.’

  Sebastian activated a control on the console and the hiss of air sucked into the ballast tanks reached their ears as their pressure suits expanded. He switched on the suit comms and headed for the ladder. ‘Bring the ship around while I deal with the powder.’ Something vibrated through his feet.

  ‘They’re shooting at us!’ Duggan said.

  ‘Just don’t get hit. Wolfram, can you keep the shield between us?’

  ‘Yes, but when I connect to the Iceni, it will require all of my processing power and I will be unable to maintain control.’

  Duggan grimaced. ‘By that time, I don’t think we’ll need it.’

  ***

  Sebastian dragged the hopper from the airlock. As he passed through the shield room, the generator bounced on its struts, absorbing a second impact from the Iceni’s cannons. He took a deep breath and made his way past it to the engine section.

  The probe railgun loader consisted of an eighteen-inch diameter hatch protruding from the floor in the corner with a row of chrome spheres lined up on a rack above it. He opened the carbyne hopper and ran his hand over the powdery substance. The railgun was magnetic – how was he going to get it to fire the stuff? He took one of the probes off the rack and examined it: a sixteen-inch diameter sphere, perfectly smooth, except for a crease where the rolled seam ran around its equator – how was he going to open it? Staggering slightly under the force of another impact from the Iceni’s guns, he dropped the probe.

  ‘Damn!’ Too many hits like that would rip the generator off its mountings – then they’d be in trouble.

  He picked up the sphere and turned it in his hands. In the fall, the seam in the casing had dented, revealing a lip where the two halves had been pressed together like the lid of a metal tin. Grabbing a CFD tool from the maintenance chest, he set the device to form a narrow screwdriver and wedged the tip into the gap. Even mustering all his strength, the casing wouldn’t budge. He held the blade in the opening and operated the controls with his thumb, setting it to produce a spanner. As the glowing tool-head changed shape, heat came through the glove of his pressure suit. The handle exploded with a bright flash and he dropped everything.

  When his vision cleared, the sphere had split in two and the sensor package had spilled out. The CFD tool’s power supply and generator had blown, and it lay on the floor in a melted heap. He picked up the sphere-halves and filled them with carbyne powder before pushing the parts back together. Dropping the probe into the open launch port, he made a silent prayer and closed the hatch.

  He re-sealed the hopper. ‘It’s done,’ he said over the comms, and headed back to the cockpit, nearly falling off the ladder as another impact from the cannons landed squarely on the Ultima’s shields.

  Duggan turned in the pilot’s seat. ‘Good work, old boy. I’ll bring her around for another pass. You’d best keep away from the comms – if this works, we don’t want Cullen’s demon returning to wherever the hell it came from knowing you’re involved.’

  Sebastian sat in the seat out of view and took over piloting. ‘Are you ready, Wolfram?’

  ‘Yes. When they answer, I will connect and begin the purge.’

  Duggan hailed the Iceni.

  A red-faced Cullen answered. ‘Do you never give up?’

  ‘Not today, Daniel.’

  Sebastian listened while he dodged the Iceni’s shots. The lights on the cube flashed randomly. Duggan continued speaking to Cullen, but Sebastian’s attention was no longer on the exchange; he was interested only in the echoing that came over the comms from the Iceni’s cockpit.

  ‘Simmons, what are you doing to my ship?’

  He punched the launch button and crossed his fingers.

  The Ultima Thule skimmed over the shiny surface of the Iceni and the tiny spherical probe shot from the railgun. It crumpled on impact as it hit the juggernaut – a precise shot, a snowball-splat on the area directly outside the cockpit.

  ‘What the hell is that?’ Cullen yelled.

  From the Iceni’s speakers, Wolfram’s remote voice chanted, ‘Expurget Exorcizamus.’

  All twelve lights on the cube illuminated.

  Sebastian prayed.

  ***

  Aryx stood at the bottom of the hill inside the Chopwood stockade, with Janyce and Erik beside him.

  They watched the sky. Bright dots had flashed against the afternoon sun and ended a few minutes after they’d landed, but now, an hour later, a bright yellow streak appeared.

  ‘What’s that?’ Erik asked.

  ‘It can’t be the Ultima – it wouldn’t do that on re-entry because of the shield. It must be the Iceni.’

  Janyce’s eyes widened. ‘If they’re coming here, does that mean Seb managed to change their minds about Achene?’

  ‘As far as we know, Cullen was possessed and, unless Sebastian boarded the ship, I can’t see how they would have purged him. We need to be careful.’

  She ushered Erik towards the saloon. ‘It looks like it’s coming down, anyway. Erik, go inside, there’s a good boy.’

  ‘We’d better go in, too,’ Aryx said. ‘If they land on the hill, it’s going to get messy, but I’d like to know what happened.’

  The pair followed Erik into the saloon and took position behind the only glazed window. The evening sky brightened as a great silvery ship eased itself down out of the reddening blue. Its engines threw up dirt and ash from plants cremated beneath its descent, and a great plume of dust rolled through the town, making it impossible to see across the street. All it needed was tumbleweed.

  Erik clung to his mother’s leg while she stroked his hair. ‘Are the people going to hurt us?’

  ‘I don’t think so.’ Janyce looked at Aryx, her eyes asking the same question.

  ‘I think only the leader would be a problem. If Sebastian’s succeeded, he shouldn’t be hostile, but I’m not holding my breath.’ He loosened one of the straps on the mobipack. ‘He’d better get here soon – these are beginning to chafe, and he’s got my chair.’

  The trio huddled in silence and waited for the dust to settle.

  Chapter 45

  Sebastian and Duggan watched the comms intently as the pulse surged through the Iceni’s cockpit. Cullen slumped forwards; his head hit the console with a smack.

  ‘It worked, old boy!’ Duggan said, slapping Sebastian on the back. ‘It bloody well worked!’

  ‘Thank the Gods.’ He relaxed his grip on the controls and pulled the Ultima away from the Iceni. The ship was still firing at them.

  A hammering came over the comms and the door to the Iceni’s cockpit burst open. A man in his mid-to-late-forties with salt-and-pepper hair stepped through. ‘Daniel!’ He raced over to the unconscious Cullen and put a finger to his neck. As he pulled Cullen back into the seat, his head lolled to one side.

  Duggan leaned towards the screen. ‘Kibble? Kibble Vardstrom?’

&nb
sp; Vardstrom looked up at the comms. ‘Duggan? Is-Is that you? What happened to you? We thought you were dead!’

  ‘I’m very much alive, and much older. Now, could you see your way to turning off the automatic weapons, old boy?’

  Vardstrom propped up Cullen and flipped switches on the console until the Iceni’s guns stopped.

  ‘Is he okay?’

  ‘Yes,’ Vardstrom said. ‘He’s not dead, anyway – he seems to be unconscious. What happened? Why was he shooting at you?’

  ‘You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.’ Duggan reached out and dragged Sebastian into view. ‘I’d like you to meet my friend, Sebastian Thorsson. Sebastian, this is Kibble Vardstrom, ancestor to the founders of Vardstrom Observatory.’

  ‘Pleased to meet you, Mr Vardstrom.’

  ‘Please, call me Kibble.’ He shook his head and blinked. ‘Ancestor? What are you on about?’

  ‘It’s a long story – we’ll tell you when we get to Chopwood, if you’d kindly get someone to land the ship there.’

  ‘Cullen was bringing us to Achene. Has the plan changed?’

  ‘It has,’ Sebastian said. ‘He wasn’t in his right mind. You’ll find him more rational when he wakes up.’

  Kibble checked the unconscious man was stable and not about to fall out of his seat, and turned to leave. ‘I’ll get a pilot to bring the ship down. See you in an hour.’ He cut the comms.

  Sebastian repressurised the ship and programmed a descent vector for the clearing in which the Ultima had previously landed. ‘I hope the others are alright on Achene.’

  ‘I’m sure they’re fine. The Folians are very good hosts, if you’ll pardon the pun.’

  He laughed. ‘I’m glad. I couldn’t stand for anything else to go wrong. My life seems to be a complete mess lately.’

  ‘Well, if you insist on working in an interesting place, you’re bound to attract all sorts of chaos.’

  The last of the lights on the side of the cube went dark, and Wolfram spoke. ‘Have we succeeded? Did I accomplish the purging to an adequate degree?’