Interstellar

by Bob Mayer

  As they made their way they found more bodies. Paric halted next to Lion’s Road, keeping one hundred and sending two hundred troops across to fan out on the eastern side.

  “It will storm soon,” Gorm said, sniffing and looking up at the darkening sky as clouds were gathering. “It will be good weather to fight in. Dark.”

  “Any weather is good to fight in,” Paric said, trying to regain some of his bravado.

  “Remain still,” Drusa said, her voice calm, but insistent.

  “What—” Paric began but she hushed him.

  “A visitor approaches,” Gorm said in a low voice.

  A large four-legged beast appeared amongst the tree trunks. Its hide was draped with a thick gray-black coat of fur. Its shoulders were five feet tall. Its snout was blood-stained, lips pulled back, revealing an impressive row of teeth and fangs.

  “Thank you for your assistance,” Drusa called out, walking toward it, her hands outstretched.

  More large forms appeared in the shadows of the forest behind it.

  “I hope they are on our side,” Paric said in a low, harsh voice.

  Drusa reached the lead wolfram, her eyes level with its. “Isengrim.” She put a hand on the side of the beast’s head. She remained still for several moments, as did the wolfram.

  Then the ones behind it bolted away to the south. They were out of sight in an instant. Isengrim took off to the east, flitting through the trees.

  Drusa returned to Paric, Gorm and the remaining warriors next to the Lion’s Road.

  “All the wargs south of the wall are dead,” she informed Paric.

  “Where are the Wolfram headed?” Gorm asked.

  “The pack is going home,” Drusa said. “They have done their part.”

  “Start the fires,” Paric ordered his lieutenants.

  All through the forest, on a line just a mile south of North Wall in the forest, the members of Paric’s unit lit fires as if a massive host was settling in for the night.

  *****

  Trat-monar went to knee as Horus rolled up in his chariot. The Airlia looked about, saw the pile of cut down trees next to the moat. But no progress on an actual bridge.

  “Report!” Horus demanded.

  “We cannot get a support that will stand, Lord,” Trat-monar said. “The water is too swift. The gap too wide to cross without support.”

  “The craft that landed inside,” Horus said. “What can you tell me of it?”

  Trat-monar gave a brief description from his closer view of it, which added little to Horus’s knowledge other than to confirm it was the Watchers. He looked to the north. Where was Anubis? The talon could take out that craft and then—

  “Lord.” Trat-monar was pointing to the south. Smoke from numerous fires was rising up across the width of the valley, not far inside the edge of the forest.

  Horus frowned. None of his scouts had reported back, yet it appeared a large force had occupied the forest along his entire front and was encamping for the night, perhaps for a battle in the morning? Or it could be a deception and an assault would be launched right away?

  “Forget the bridge,” Horus ordered Trat-monar. “Prepare your men for battle.”

  As he turned to ride east to the Toll Tower, movement at the top of Wormehill caught his attention. The gray spacecraft rose up, vertical. Clear of the tower, it accelerated forward and at an extreme angle that portended breaking orbit. It swiftly disappeared into the dark, roiling clouds overhead.

  Horus shook his head. That was Amun and Osiris’s problem. His was in the forest to the south. He rode back along the North Wall, shouting encouragement to his troops.

  His exhortations were met with varying degrees of a lack of enthusiasm as the mercenaries stared in dismay at the vast number of plumes of smoke rising up into the dark clouds.

  Only the wargs remained stoic, their fear tamped down by their programming.

  NORTH SEA, EARTH15

  Anubis flew the talon high, just below the storm clouds. From this altitude she could see all of Atlantis and its seven walls to the south. The oceans on either side of the continent were visible, stretching out to the horizon. Anubis was startled to see a fleet of warships and cargo vessels slowly approaching on the ocean to the east, crawling just off the coastline. Approximately fifty ships, flying an array of ensigns indicating they came from Southren.

  A pincer of the Great Alliance that had not been anticipated. It seemed that this Cetic commanded more than her spies had reported.

  Anubis considered the strategic situation and decided the ships and the troops they carried weren’t an immediate threat. It would take hours before they reached the harbor. The Hegemony army would be arriving in Atlantis shortly, if they hadn’t already, and they could handle any landing from the excellent defensive positions along the outer walls. Better, she could wipe that fleet out on her way back after helping Horus stop the ground forces of the Great Alliance. A double victory. The only drawback was how many humans she would have to kill and how that would affect the new Tally.

  Anubis accelerated to the south, slowing as she went over Atlantis. The city was strangely quiet and almost empty. There was no sign of the Hegemony army.

  Anubis keyed the transmitter. “Amun? This is Anubis?”

  There was no reply.

  Anubis brought the talon to a hover above the Citadel-Tower. “Amun?”

  No reply.

  She looked to the south. Cursed. She could land the talon in the courtyard in front of the Sphinx, but it would take precious time to exit and go up in the Tower to find out what was going on with Amun.

  She’d deal with him when she returned. She switched the transmitter to reach a different receiver. “Osiris?” There was only static.

  Anubis flew south.

  LIONS HEAD, ATLANTIS, EARTH15

  Moroi ran her hand over the nuclear weapon, amazed that so much power could be contained in something so small. At least that’s what Arcturus had told her. There were a dozen in this chamber of the duat along with a rack of Airlia power spears.

  Arcturus had instructed her how to detonate it if need be. He’d emphasized the ‘need be’. A last resort. The other elders were waiting on her. She picked one of them, whom she considered the steadiest, and told him how to initiate the weapon, but only to do it under the circumstances as prescribed by Arcturus. Then she helped herself to a power spear, indicating for the other elders to also arm themselves.

  She led the way to the next chamber. Rows of deep sleep tubes. Peering inside one, Moroi saw the face of an Airlia, peaceful, relaxed, in that darkness where time went by without notice.

  “Cut the power,” one of the elders suggested.

  “Too easy,” another said.

  “Leave them be,” Moroi ordered. “For now,” she added.

  She exited the duat into the Roads of Rostau.

  WORMEHILL TOWER, EARTH15

  Arcturus didn’t watch the Enan depart. Events were escalating and time was short. He took the spiral stairs into the bowels of the tower and entered the laboratory. He activated the Tesla computer and quickly checked the situation via the Msats.

  Smoke in the forest from a diversion; a smart move by Cetic. The Great Alliance was deployed on the high ground outside Seventh Wall. The fleet was approaching the harbor from the southwest. The Hegemony army was out of the way, too far to the south to be a factor, the lead units just now turning onto the east-west trail. Horus was in the Toll Tower, waiting for what he anticipated would be an assault from the forest. The talon was over Atlantis in a hover; as he observed it moved south, toward North Wall.

  Arcturus shifted to the Sentinels.

  The mothership was on course for this planet, still decelerating. No sign of any other interstellar starships coming out of FTLT.

  One thing at a time.

  Arcturus sent a command through the interface with the Tesla computer.

  The floor rumbled, then the center portion opened with wood panels folding outwar
d, one of them passing within an inch of Arcturus, who didn’t react to the near hit. A Tesla coil, twenty feet in diameter rose on the center pole. As it passed Arcturus, a similar opening appeared in the ceiling above, the ground floor level of the tower. The pole was also extending at the very top, through the center of the tower, as the coil rode it upward.

  This was the reason the top third of the tower no longer existed. A mistake while an experiment had been conducted using the coil, thousands of years ago. The lesson had been learned and adjustments made.

  The coil continued its journey, through the floor above and the next, sliding on the pole. He stopped the coil just before it reached the break in the tower, keeping it hidden inside. But he kept the pole going to its full extension, six hundred feet above ground level.

  Via the Tesla computer, Arcturus could ‘see’ three hundred and sixty degrees from the sensor on the top of the pole.

  He smiled as he saw Isengrim sprinting out of the forest to the south. She raced straight toward Wormehill. The wargs were too startled to engage with either arrow or spear. Isengrim reached the moat and leapt, easily clearing the gap. She ran through the gates and into the tower.

  LIONS HEAD, ATLANTIS, EARTH15

  Amun stirred, reluctant to return to reality, but the regress was fading from his nervous system. His eyelids flickered as he regained control of his body. His nerve endings itched terribly, another drawback to partaking. He flexed his fingers. Reached out and touched the control console. The darkened inner wall of the sphere flickered and then displayed images.

  A light was flashing and he tapped it. Anubis’s voice demanding his attention echoed in the chamber. He located the talon, heading for North Wall and he knew she was upset with him but she was always upset about something.

  “Anubis. I’m here. All is secure,” he reported, even before he’d checked.

  “Where were you?” Anubis sounded distracted. She wasn’t a pilot by profession and flying a talon was more difficult than an MDAC.

  “Taking care of things,” Amun lied.

  “What about the fleet that is approaching from the western ocean?” Anubis demanded.

  Amun ran his hands over the controls. Searched the ocean to the north from the vantage of the guardian computer at the top of the tower above his head. “Not in sight yet. How large is it? How many ships?”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Anubis said. “I’ll deal with it before going back to the mothership. There is no sign of the Hegemony army. Have you heard anything?”

  “Negative.”

  “Horus and I will be back shortly. Out.”

  The transmission went dead, for which Amun was grateful. Anubis was always irritating and he hated the brief periods when their tours of duty overlapped.

  Amun scanned from closest out, checking status. The city was strangely quiet, streets empty. As Anubis had noted, there was no sign of the Hegemony army, which was odd. The guardian searched further. Dusk was approaching and storm clouds were percolating overhead.

  Amun sat up straight when the guardian discerned the heat signatures of thousands of humans spread out on the slope of Lions Head, not far from Seventh Wall. How had they gotten there? How had they slipped by Horus and his forces? Amun reached for the transmit to ask Anubis, but paused.

  Let the fools blunder about. He would solve this Great Alliance problem. First the army on the slope, then the fleet once it got into range.

  He got up and went to Excalibur, drawing the sword. He sent the command to power up the grounded talon in front of the Sphinx.

  NORTH VALLEY, EARTH15

  “Destroy the forest and the army in it,” Horus transmitted to Anubis, via the small console in the front of his wheeled chariot. “Then you must hurry to Isis. The Watcher’s ship is headed there. I fear they will try to take over the transmitter or destroy it.”

  “I could not contact Osiris,” Anubis replied. “I believe we’re being jammed. If attacked, he can defend himself.”

  “Yes, but if he gets in trouble, he could activate the destruct.” Horus looked to his right, at Wormehill. “I believe all the rats have come out of the darkness, my dear. Someone is in Wormehill. The Watcher’s ship landed there, stayed for a few minutes, and then took off. But I believe someone is still in there.”

  “The Archaic?”

  “The ghost in the machine Osiris always spoke of,” Horus said. “The entity who caused Isis’s accident? It is possible.”

  “I will blast the army and then the tower, before heading to Isis,” Anubis promised.

  The talon moved over the North Wall, a thousand meters above the Lion’s Road.

  SPACE BETWEEN EARTH15 AND THE MOON OSIRIS

  “There is much this Arcturus fellow is keeping secret,” Markus said.

  “There is,” Bren agreed.

  The Enan was at top speed. Navigating wasn’t difficult since the moon was clearly visible directly ahead through the displays.

  “We are risking everything,” Markus said for the third time since they’d broken orbit.

  Orlock was seated on the floor of the spaceship behind them, staring in wonder at the screens displaying the moon and the stars beyond.

  “We are,” Bren said. “But I almost lost you forever. We’ve been lucky and defied the odds, Markus. I don’t think that luck can continue for much longer. There is something about Arcturus that makes me—” she shook her head, unable to articulate it.

  “Trust him?” Orlock interjected. “Moroi and I trust him not just because he saved our lives, but because his advice has always proved correct over the years. We seldom saw him, but when we did, he was of assistance. He is not like any other human, or Nagil for that matter, that I have ever met. He is friend to humans, Nagil, the wolfram. The strange thing is that I am not sure he is enemy to the Airlia. He just disapproves of what they are doing here. He betrays little emotion about them, certainly not hatred.”

  “I am enemy to the Airlia,” Markus said. “And if Arcturus betrays us, he will pay.”

  Bren pointed at the display and the image of Isis. “First things, first, dear. He helped me save you from the wargs. His plan to misdirect the Hegemony Army worked. He is correct that we must stop the Airlia from sending a distress message.” She reached across from the pilot’s seat and patted his arm. “You’re upset because it’s his plan, not yours.”

  “I’m upset because we’re violating protocol by both being on the ship,” Markus said.

  “Perhaps we should focus on our most immediate problem?” Orlock stared at the moon filling the screen.

  ISIS, MAJOR MOON OF EARTH15

  Sensors picked up the incoming spaceship. It wasn’t of Airlia design, yet it was coming from the planet. A quick check confirmed it was the same model that had been found on a Teardrop planet infiltrated by humans from Earth4.

  Given the comm link to the planet wasn’t working, Osiris viewed this development with alarm. He scanned through protocol but this wasn’t covered. There was quite a bit of detail as to actions to be performed in case a Swarm Battle Core appeared, but with the loss of the Sentinels many years ago, the first indication of that event would be when the massive craft came into visual range, which would leave little time to react. Proper procedure was to destroy the base using the ruby sphere powering it. But only after the Swarm landed on the moon, in order to take out as many of them as possible.

  Nevertheless, this was a core routine to follow in response to an enemy craft approaching. A large pyramid on the surface of the moon, between to the underground bunker Osiris occupied and the massive dish, unfolded, with each of the four sides lying back flat on the moon’s surface. This revealed the close-in defense system pulse weapons while the sides had solar panels which generated additional power for the weapons.

  Two hundred meters below the control center, three metal poles held a ruby sphere in place in a chamber. At Osiris’s command, two of the three poles retracted and the power was cut off, leaving the base and weapons reliant on
the solar panels. Five meters in diameter, the multifaceted ruby sphere was the Airlia’s ultimate power source, used to power bases and motherships. This one was dimly lit, indicating the low power draw from the FTL base it had been sustaining. With a slight lurch, the single pole began sliding up the wall of the shaft above the chamber, heading toward the surface.

  Such a seemingly easy maneuver, yet it was the emplacing of a ruby sphere over the bore hole in the Rift which had killed his partner, Isis. One of the cables on the crane lifting the sphere into place had snapped while she was making some adjustments. The strand of metal had whipped through the air and decapacitated Isis before she was even aware something was wrong.

  Faulty equipment? Mishandled crane? Or something else? The ghost in the machine?

  On the surface of the moon, not far from the control center, a hatch opened for the first time in millennia. The single pole reached the surface, then rotated upright, locking the ruby sphere into place.

  Osiris entered the command code, arming the sphere for detonation.

  In the center of the FTL array, the green crystal began to glow in preparation to send a distress message to Fleet.

  NORTH VALLEY, EARTH15

  Anubis halted the talon five hundred meters in the air and halfway between the North Wall and the edge of the forest. She switched the display to thermal. It showed hundreds of fires, spread through the woods. The signature from them was so strong, it blurred out the possibility of picking up the humans that must be surrounding them.

  With the autopilot keeping the talon stationary, Anubis focused on the weapons system. Her long fingers tapped the hexagons on the control panel, designating a series of pulses to be fired, west to east, destroying a wide swath.

  LIONS HEAD, ATLANTIS, EARTH15