by Simon Bown
Weedon became aware of Sutton frantically re-programming the targeting software. He shouted a worried reprimand. “Keep your mind on the fight, this is no time to re-programme the computer.”
Sutton typed one more command into the system. For the slightest moment a communications laser reached out from the chaotic star-ship and linked with a deceptive torpedo. It ceased its movement and shutdown all defensive routines leaving a clear avenue of attack open to the Mezzyima.
Weedon was exasperated. “You broke the torpedo. You broke the bloody torpedo!”
Three plasma spheres changed course and passed the torpedo on a direct path to the star-ship. Weedon fought the controls as he made a desperate attempt to keep the spheres on the opposite side of a fissure. Three torpedoes accelerated from the star-ship to intercept the rapidly approaching menace. A Mezzyima ship made a course correction to bring it on a direct route past the dead weapon. Sutton smiled. A nova bright flash of light lit up the field of battle as the torpedo’s anti-matter detonation vaporised the Mezzyima ship. All three balls of plasma dissipated.
“Yes.” Weedon screamed his excitement. “Sutton I love you.”
The remaining Mezzyima ships formed a star configuration, thin plasma beams emerged from every ship and connected with every other tracing a startling spiders web of energy. At the centre a shaft of intense plasmatic energy leapt out and chased a chaotic path through the fraught arena of battle.
Weedon studied the terrifying vision on his display and talked quietly as he felt the blood drain from his face. “Sutton. You have any ideas?” He asked.
Sutton did not reply. She was once again working at the targeting systems. A myriad of laser beams left the star-ship and danced amongst the melee re-programming the left over torpedoes. The weapon’s detonations occurred within milliseconds of each other. All the expanding shockwaves met and bonded to form a devastating wall of destructive force.
Weedon strained the ship’s engines to bring it to a halt behind a large spatial fracture. He activated the crew protection routines. Weedon and Sutton pushed the back of their heads into the headrests and seized the handles by their thighs. A gravity net reached from numerous directions and gripped them completely where even their internal organs were protected. Weedon and Sutton waited in silence, seconds seemed as minutes as their anticipation gripped them and stretched time.
Weedon opened one eye, checked the threat analysis display and quickly closed it. “Here it comes.” He said.
The blast wave whipped around the fracture and struck the star-ship with a massive force, the deafening crack set Weedon’s ears ringing out a painful high-pitched tone. Red crisis icons lit up across every display. Emergency alarms competed for attention as the ship’s systems collapsed one after another.
The Mezzyima did not attempt to engage in battle with Teafu after he left the building. His use of telepathic energy had for the moment proved too powerful. He searched deep within himself and set up a new telepathic shield. He could not and would not allow himself to be so easily subverted again. The success of his telepathic protection up to this point had left him complacent and he had suffered the consequences. He was angry the coercive Mezzyima telepath had so elegantly infiltrated his mind. This planet was now useless and he must destroy the base to prevent any Mezzyima or Amalgam security forces access. Allowing them to rummage through the base might give away too much information and leave them vulnerable.
The three Mezzyima craft in orbit closed into a tight group and descended into the atmosphere.
Teafu took shelter in a shop doorway and looked up to see the Mezzyima ships appear out of the clouds. The speeding craft set off several sonic booms before reaching a low altitude and slowing to search for Teafu. People on the streets gazed up in disbelief at the Mezzyima trespassers. Many of the population were slowly coming out of their homes and overcrowding the narrow streets. The crowds responded with anger at the unwanted visitors arrogant disregard for the policy of the colony. Panic set in close to Teafu, he took advantage of the situation and mixed in with the crowds to make his escape. The three ships rotated around each other gaining speed. Their formation expanded outwards and as they searched for Teafu hundreds of red plasma beams connected the ships to the surface with brilliant momentary shafts of light.
Teafu found shelter on the edge of town and waited for the Mezzyima search to expand beyond the hidden space plane. Heavy rainfall had soaked through his clothing and left him cold and uncomfortable. The weighty, coarse material of his shirt irritated his skin and he found himself constantly scratching. The wait was short as the search expanded further into the distance. He left his cover to follow the mud track that would take him out of town.
Occasional lightning mixed with the red flashes of the Mezzyima search creating a stunning incandescent display.
Teafu gave up on his shirt and took it off. The rain had turned the track into a wet, muddy quagmire and he was finding it difficult to make any progress. He took his shoes off and threw them to the side of the track. His bare feet made the going a little easier but still progress was slow. As he neared the barn he sensed that the Mezzyima had given up their land search and he turned to see three black shapes withdraw into the clouds at enormous speed. Even with his telepathic shield in place the Mezzyima would have little difficulty observing a space plane racing up from the surface. If the telepath that had subverted his awareness were still functioning he would not be able to turn their minds away from his flight. He entered the barn and opened the space plane’s entrance ramp. His piloting skills were not on a par with Weedon but still he was quite accomplished. He left the barn at speed and traced a sharp arc into the sky away from the Mezzyima last known position.
Weedon awoke to find himself in total darkness. The acrid smell of burnt out electronic equipment was the only companion to his insistent headache. The emergency gravity net holding his body de-activated as the medical system completed its examination. A red emergency light flickered to life to reveal the true extent of the damage. Sutton lay unmoving in her seat still contained by the gravity net. The medical analysis software flashed an amber warning across Sutton’s condition monitor, Weedon breathed a sigh of relief. He turned to examine the defence status grid, all of the sensors were off line and none of the weapons suite was available. The navigation display had very basic cosmological sensors and he used them to look for a sign of the Mezzyima. After several complete sensor searches he found no sign of the enemy. The blast wave had totally destroyed all the Mezzyima ships. The mass detonation tactic had eliminated the outward threat but left them very vulnerable.
Weedon released Sutton from the emergency gravity net and as she sat upright she coughed a spray of blood over the display panel. He switched off the artificial gravity and transported Sutton to the infirmary. A weightless trail of blood marked the route to the medical centre. Weedon placed Sutton on a bed and activated the medical gravity net. He connected the medical systems and waited for her condition to show up on the overhead monitor. The outline of her body appeared on the display with parts coloured amber, red and green. It was a poor picture; her recovery would take longer than he had first hoped. He felt suddenly empty. Brightwell’s medical status showed green except for his brain functions, which flashed between amber and red. Weedon looked down on Brightwell shaking with furious anger. The life support systems were easily disconnected and as Weedon took Brightwell’s life he spat in his face.
Teafu accelerated out of the atmosphere at seven gravities. The three waiting Mezzyima ships made no move to intercept. Teafu had now learned not to be so blasé and take his telepathic shielding for granted. He pulled the space plane through a sharp U-turn and set a course around the planet and away from the waiting menace.
The eighteen Mezzyima aboard the three ships consulted with Harmony and agreed the most likely successful course of action. As Teafu approached the star-ship the Mezzyima ships simultaneously initiated a gravity jump and with supreme precision emerged
in a formation surrounding Teafu. Glowing crimson plasma streams snaked out from each ship and writhed and twisted across the space plane’s fuselage.
Teafu linked minds with the Mezzyima and found the aliens too receptive. Fearing a trap he quickly cut the link.
The plasma streams thrashed across the space plane and found the small reactor, power drained out through the streams back to the attacking ships.
Teafu quickly surrounded the craft with a telekinetic barrier and shielded the reactor from the energy drain.
Fresh plasma streams lashed out from the Mezzyima vessels and wrestled with the barrier in a storm of glowing scarlet energy. As Teafu extended the barrier away from the space plane the Mezzyima attacked his subconscious with a coercive psychic pulse.
Teafu was unaware of the move until he realised he was becoming less able to control the barrier. He targeted individual Mezzyima one by one with a telekinetic ram in an effort to shatter their collective intensity. The plasma streams ceased at once and Teafu accelerated the small space plane away from the ambush.
Each Mezzyima ship launched three plasma spheres in pursuit.
Teafu purposefully input an erratic course for the fourth planet into the navigation computer and activated it. This left his mind free to focus an attack on just one of the Mezzyima vessels.
The crew linked together to form a blockade to stop Teafu’s telepathic attack. The remaining ships closed ranks with the target craft and united with the crew in an attempt to put up a combined defence.
Teafu felt three of the Mezzyima minds melt away and he watched as one of the three ships fell behind into the distance. The Mezzyima globes of plasma lost coherence and dissipated.
The small space plane found a position high over the fourth planet and alerted Teafu it had reached its’ assigned destination.
Weedon found the engineering section difficult to navigate with no lighting. He had spent little time here in the past and didn’t remember the layout. More than once he had knocked himself against a support column or a piece of equipment. He finally found the emergency lighting box and bypassed the safety limiters. He was relieved to find the lighting revealed an engineering section unaffected by the battle. All of the displays came online at once and at last he could get information on the power systems and engines. Two of the main reactors were beyond repair but the third was recoverable with a little work. He wiped Sutton’s blood from his face with his sleeve and opened the reactor access chamber. Weightlessness made the task easier as he worked his way into the tiny compartment and pulled out the burnt components. He paused when he finally received a message from Teafu.
“I will be with you soon. Prepare the ship for immediate jump on my arrival.”
Weedon knew he could not set up a gravity jump. The stress on the damaged star-ship would be too great. He hung in the air, motionless waiting for some form of inspiration. Salvaging good parts from the two dead reactors would probably work but he just didn’t have the time. And anyway Sutton was the engineer Weedon was well aware he was just a pilot.
Teafu’s space plane rocked and shuddered as plasma pulses detonated around it. He had taken control from the autopilot and as his concentration was split between telepathic and conventional combat he was unable to excel at either. He piloted the space plane through a group of asteroids and with a tractor beam took one of them in tow. The asteroid measured approximately four miles in diameter and towing this much mass slowed his pace but he soon regained his velocity. Small rocks holed and pitted the space plane fuselage as they collided and bounced off. Teafu was almost out of options, the Mezzyima had proved much more difficult to beat than he had anticipated. He had one last trick. It was a fair enough gamble, the emergency reactor ejection system came online and Teafu wasted no time in activating it. Explosive bolts expelled the reactor and it fell behind towards the following ships. Teafu fired the space plane’s laser and destroyed the reactor. The nuclear explosion left both of the Mezzyima ships in a helpless state as their movement slowed to zero. Battery power reserves were at maximum, Teafu slowed the space plane to a stop and allowed himself a short period of much needed meditation. He relaxed his mind and searched the local area of space for any more surprises. Instantly he was aware of the large amount of telepathic communication in the area. Harmony permeated the ether with masses of instructions to many people. The Mezzyima had coordinated an armada of ships from many different worlds to attack Teafu. A countless number of designs varying in size and strength arrived close to the planet as gravity rifts opened every few seconds. Teafu stopped counting at eighteen ships. He shut down all non-essential systems and powered up the gravity generator. There was a specific attack plan Teafu had in mind. He focused the electromagnetic lens and locked the gravity beam on the centre of the asteroid. Towing this much mass was not outside the capacity of the space plane’s generator but it was slow to accelerate.
Teafu released the asteroid above the planet at a speed of sixty miles per second. The resulting collision would be enough to destroy the ecosphere and cause a large diversion for his escape. He smiled as he sensed the horror on every mind in the armada. As he accelerated away he searched for Weedon and Sutton.
Several ships initiated gravity jumps into orbit to stop the killer asteroid but it was too late. The large rock plunged into the atmosphere at ninety degrees and was almost brought to a standstill as the enormous atmospheric pressures literally turned the asteroid inside out. Energy equivalent to one hundred million tons of TNT was immediately released directly beneath the asteroid. Devastating temperatures of tens of thousands of degrees instantly vaporized the shattered asteroid and the rock beneath creating a crater one hundred and eighty miles in diameter. A fireball rose from the crater into the atmosphere producing a ferocious burning storm. Mountain sized fragments thrown into orbit from the crater rained down worldwide as earthquakes were felt around the entire globe. Firestorms ignited across the planet and, fanned by the ferocious gales, they joined to form a global inferno sending millions of tons of smoke into the atmosphere.
Ship after ship joined the rescue effort as the planet suffered this violent execution. Mezzyima crew connected a complex telepathic link and started teleporting the surviving people from the planet’s surface to the waiting star-ships. Harmony called upon every ship within seven days’ travel to make their way to assist but they had little hope of rescuing even one percent of the population.
Weedon had managed to start up the remaining reactor. He met Teafu at the airlock as he boarded. It was only as they made their way to the bridge that Teafu realised the enormity of the fight Weedon and Sutton had survived.
“What is our status?” Teafu asked.
“We have one reactor that is barely holding together and we are almost out of torpedoes. Sutton is stable but unconscious, with luck she will be OK in a few days.” Weedon replied.
“How did Sutton’s anti-matter torpedoes perform?” Teafu asked.
“Excellent. We had the Mezzyima running in circles.” Weedon replied.
They entered the bridge, Weedon sat in the pilot seat and Teafu sat at the navigation console and brought up a view of the planet.
The asteroid had struck as a cosmic cannon ball, scaring entire continents and blasting much of the atmosphere into space. Impact shock waves continued to circle the globe and push it off its orbit moving it into a hotter, scorching circle of the star. Mother natures’ violent, destructive temperament had shown no compassion for this shattered world and had destroyed all chance of life’s enduring essence surviving. Teafu had truly executed this planet, but no slight breath of guilt or sorrow stirred his being, his empty heart. The total destruction made no impression on him. He accepted its obliteration into his awareness as tiny and without consequence. But of course he was not without consequence, he was the literal agent of the apocalypse.
“I have a way of getting us out of here.” Teafu said. He started programming a route into the navigation system.
Weedon
was shocked when he saw what Teafu was doing. “You’re not seriously going to do that are you?”
“You have to trust me on this.” He finished inputting his course and engaged the autopilot.
The engines started up as the computer took control of the propulsion. Two Mezzyima ships emerged from a gravity jump several miles from their position. The star-ship still suffered constant shearing stress from the gravity eddies emanating from the shattered battlefield.
Weedon shouted over the persistent noise of the spatial pressure. “Two Mezzyima ships are coming after us.”
Teafu looked over his shoulder. “I told you, you have to trust me on this.” He replied.
The star-ship moved through the torn field of battle and accelerated toward a large rift is space-time. The sound of the pressure on the hull increased in volume as the ship gained speed.
Weedon became more and more nervous. “I hope you’re not doing what I think you’re doing. Those holes in space are caused by massive explosive force, they’re not nice, neat openings artificially generated by a gravity drive. You have no idea what will happen to us if we go in there.”
The two Mezzyima ships struggled to maintain a reasonable pursuit across the desperate battlefield terrain.
“I’m setting up a gravity shield around the main life support area to protect us.” Weedon shouted.
The star-ship shook violently as it approached the rift. The volume of noises from the protesting superstructure became almost unbearable. Weedon was very worried his existence was about to end. The noise ceased immediately as the ship entered the rift.
The ship’s entrance into the fissure destabilised the unstable quantum substructure of the rift’s boundary and it collapsed sealing off access from the Mezzyima.
IMMORTAL TRAUMA
Jenson Sollers was glad to be back on the immortal’s hidden planet of Leba Enomi. He entered the office of the head librarian and greeted her with the customary bow. She smiled, stepped close and held his hand. He lifted his head and gazed into her eyes. She was the oldest immortal known to exist and her psychic powers were unparalleled. It always amazed Jenson the amount of knowledge she could pick up from the ether. Serenity permeated his body as a stream of telepathic energy flowed from her. His eyelids closed slowly as her meditative countenance overwhelmed him. She released his hand. A deep breath escaped his lungs and his eyes slowly opened. The room quickly came back to his full attention.