"It's not possible!" Tara whispered in horror.
"I'll keep that in mind," I replied. "Let's go—they're right in the hot zone! It was a diversion, to get us out of the way!" We hustled, Gildron and I on point, leaping into an open elevator. Tara and Willard jumped in after us and we started up, icy air rushing past, safeties off, the psybloc grenade clutched tightly in my left hand.
A thunderous blast rolled through the ship, then a series of titanic cracks, the shock waves buffeting us. The elevator stopped smoothly.
"Got you! Got you, you green slime!" We burst off the elevator and charged down the corridor, throwing ourselves right at the target, still on the tacmap, three glowing O's. I was working myself into a killing rage even as I realized they had set off our grenades and that they must be torn, shredded, spitting flames, dying.
Another deafening blast, another mighty fist of air. "The welded door has been breached," Sweety reported. The corridor was crackling electric blue flames right up ahead. I tossed the psybloc grenade ahead of us as we approached. It exploded, dazzling white-hot actinic rays. We walked into it and the corridor was wreathed with smoke.
An O appeared.
It turned as we approached, looming over us out of the smoke, not even in armor, something in its arms. It was tenderly holding the corpse of its comrade, one of the O's we had killed. Our eyes locked for just a frac and it stood there weaving in the smoke, cradling the dead, blinking wet alien eyes. It was such a human gesture that I sucked in my breath in surprise. But that wasn't going to stop me—I was a mad dog, and nothing was going to stop me. I fired, auto canister x. The wall erupted behind the O, and phospho tracers ricocheted all over the corridor. The dead O danced in his comrade's arms, riddled yet again. But the live one—he stood there unhurt, untouched. I whimpered.
"No life signs!" Sweety added ominously.
Tara fired auto canister x and the corridor wall behind the O disintegrated, splattering us all with burning globs of liquid cenite. Tara's white-hot canister darts flashed right through the O as I watched, stupefied—right through it!
The O hugged its dead comrade closer, then freed one great spidery arm and gestured to us. A mighty nova exploded in my face, dazzling me, ripping open my brain. I fell into the light, clawing helplessly at nothing.
###
Crackling stars danced all around my head as I struggled to retain consciousness. I twitched on the deck, gasping for air. Tara and Willard and Gildron were down, too, Tara struggling to raise her head, her E gone, Willard squirming behind her, Gildron stunned, sprawling face-down, mouth open, a fine smoke drifting past us, charged with fiery ash. The door to the O's death room came into sight, the doorway glowing, flames licking up the wall, the door blown half open, fused to the frame.
And as I watched, another O stepped out of the doorway cradling an alien body in its arms. The first O was already disappearing down the corridor with the first body. They were recovering their dead! A hot thrill of pride and admiration shot through my heart. I can't describe it, but it was just as if I was watching soldiers of the Legion risking their lives to recover their dead, in the face of the enemy. It didn't make any sense—the dead were dead. But it didn't have to make any sense, to us—it was what the Legion did. I felt the same for those Omni troops, recovering their own, no matter what. And suddenly I wanted them to do it, I wanted them to succeed. It wasn't going to stop me from trying to stop them, but I hoped to Hell they made it.
I spotted my E on the deck and tried to reach it, but my limbs were out of control, twitching wildly.
"…holos, repeat holos," Sweety said. "These O's are artificial energy images, source unknown. They are projecting vac force! They have the power to affect material objects."
Tell me something I don't know, Sweety! I was on my back flapping my arms, trying to crawl to the nearest wall for some leverage. Gildron stood up. He still had his E.
"Fire, Gildron! Fire!" I was pleased to see I still had my voice. But Gildron did not fire. He just stood there, loosely holding the E at waist level.
Another O paused by the door. Smoke swirled lazily around him. I had lost track of events—I believe there was another O, carrying away the last body, but this one was not carrying anything. An officer, I thought—supervising.
My skin crawled as I focused on his awful head. He wore some kind of chest protector and he was clothed in a dark metallic material. He looked at Gildron.
Willard cried, crawling towards Tara. I can't say I blamed him. Tara twisted her body around, trying to find Gildron.
"Don't fire, Gildron!" she shouted. "Put down the E!"
"Fire, Gildron!" I countered. "Shoot him!"
Gildron dropped the E, deliberately. He stood there like a great stone statue, a mighty man-beast, a great God. The O's hand went up. He gestured towards Gildron. A little star came out of his palm, a hot white sparkling star. It floated lazily towards Gildron, spitting silent sparks, passing right over Tara.
"Look out!" I shouted. "Don't touch it!" Willard screamed and cried, totally hysterical. Gildron stood right in its path, making no attempt to avoid it. The star paused before him, hovering in the air, faintly crackling.
And the O snapped out of existence with a sharp bang. One instant he was there, the next he was gone.
"Omni targets are no longer present within the ship," Sweety reported. The door glowed and smoke hung in the air. The little star hovered before Gildron, blazing away. All was quiet except for Willard's whimpering. He wrapped himself around Tara like a constrictor. I struggled to my feet and recovered my E. I stepped gingerly into the room where we had stashed the dead O's, past the melting doorframe. They were gone—all three of them. I felt good about that—good. I returned to the corridor, still glassy-eyed with shock, and raised my E to target the star.
"Don't you dare!" Tara pounced on me like a bloodcat, forcing the barrel up to the ceiling. "Are you crazy?"
"Are we going to just let it hang there?" I objected. "It could explode!"
"It's not going to explode! I can feel it, from here. It's not going to hurt us. Put the E away, Wester! The fighting is over."
###
"Countdown!" Tara's lovely face shone with excitement. She was activating the drive, trembling with energy and confidence. Gildron was by her side and the little star was hovering right above them. It had her, even then. I knew it was going to transform our lives. I huddled with Willard in a corner of the bridge. I didn't want to go anywhere near the damned thing. Tara had given herself to it, completely. Her visions were a lot grander than mine. All I wanted at that point was to be left alone.
"We would have blown ourselves all to hell, Wester," she said excitedly. "But you were right, about the colors. You were basically right. It's fantastic, what it really is. Fantastic! It burnt a hole in my mind, Wester. It's going to kill me, I know it, but I don't care. I don't care!" She had cried and screamed. Now she was laughing. "Don't you want to know, Wester? I know everything now! You know why the launch was delayed? Why we wound up on the far side of the galaxy? The stardrive is defective, Wester, just as we thought. It doesn't work! Know where they got the D-neg, Wester? Do you want to know?"
"No. I don't. Just get us home, all right?"
"They weren't on their regular drive, Wester. They were on D-neg all right, but for them it was an emergency procedure—an escape. The drive wasn't working, from their point of view. Do you know where they would have gone had the drive been working correctly?"
"No. Another galaxy?"
"No! They would have gone into another universe, Wester. Another universe! That's where they're from, Wester! That's where they got the D-neg! They're visitors from another universe! That's where the O's come from—an alternate universe! Plane Prime, they call it. And our universe is Alternate Two—that's what they call it. They're visiting another universe, here. That's why we were never able to track them, why we never knew where they had come from! That's where they got the D-neg!"
"Deadman."
I was stunned. Another universe! D-neg drive was an inter-universe drive! The secrets of creation were ours, right in this ship. Ours—and the Legion's. I saw it all in a flash. The System was doomed. And the Legion would own the future, forever, triumphant and invincible—assuming we could make our way back and hand over the Ship and the star to the Legion. ConFree had been absolutely right—nothing would stop the Legion, with the secrets of the Ship.
"That's right, Gildron, that's right," Tara was saying. "Lord, he knows it better than I do. Energy, discharge, shields, pros on, antis on, hot report…what's the reading? Deadman, it's so easy—so easy!" Gildron's fingers flew over the controls—he knew exactly what he was doing. It was the Star—it was going to change us all.
"It's a gateway, Wester—a wormhole in spacetime, all the way to another universe. The Omega Spiral was just an emergency escape, for the O's. A gateway—think about it! It's always been theoretically possible to break through, to make your own wormhole into another universe, with enough power. But antimat won't do it. With antimat, you only get sucked into another universe if something goes drastically wrong—if another universe is in the vicinity and you don't know it and you power right in. And if you do that, you don't ever get out. It's the D-neg, Wester. It's real—they've done it! Without the D-neg you could never do it, you'd never have sufficient negative pressure. A grain of D-neg to send you on your way to the future. It's a time drive, as well. And we're delivering it, to the Legion! You stay alert, trooper! This ship determines the future of our species. And it goes to the Legion—nobody else! The first ConFree rep sets foot in here, you shoot him dead. Do you hear me, trooper?" Her face was twitching, and her eyes were blazing. Absolutely right—ConFree's analysis was perfectly correct. We were certainly far more dangerous than the System.
"Tenners," I said. I wouldn't mind killing ConFree reps—not at all. I had a few scores to settle with ConFree.
"Are we going home?" Willard asked quietly.
"Yes. We're going home." For the first time, I believed it.
"Why is Cinta angry? Is it angry with us?"
I allowed myself a smile. "No, Willard. She's not angry with you—she loves you."
"We love it," Willard replied. "We love Cinta and Gildron, too."
"Good. That's good." I squeezed him tight. He was a good kid.
"I know so much, Wester," Tara said suddenly. "So much! It's knowledge, Wester—a knowledge star! The secrets of the stars, Wester—it's all there! There's so much, it flashes past, I don't dare go into it, I can't take too much at once. Just a little, just a little taste, and it fills your mind. The O's know so much! Come on over here, Wester—try some!"
"No thanks."
"You have no idea how good it feels! I understand things I was never even aware of before!"
"That's nice."
"We're going right where you want, Wester! It's a good target! There's a strong Legion presence there, and it's so far out there shouldn't be any ConFree drones! I'm going to use their local drive—the local drive, to reach the far side of the galaxy! The D-neg makes a wormhole almost effortlessly, and holds it open easily—and the farther away the target is, in light years, the closer it is to us via the stargate. Antimat alone could never do that. What a kick! I'm not even engaging the inter-universe drive. I know it will work, Wester—I know it!"
"I'm ready." I had been out on the hull, scraping off the rest of the vac leeches and rigging up our commo. We were ready to go—I had even put my smelly tunic back on.
"Sit back, Wester. I'm about to put this baby into D-neg drive. See you on the other side of the galaxy."
"Death."
"Death it is!" And she launched.
###
When we broke into the future, Andrion 2 was just a silver speck in a black field of stars. I knew we had only instants to live, unless our message was received and believed. I was exhilarated to have survived the star jump, all juiced up and trembling with excitement. I had rigged up a line to the hull—the entire ship was one gigantic transmitter, on Legion freqs.
"Legion Andrion Two, this is Beta of CAT Two Four, Twelfth of the Twenty-Second," I announced. "The Omni ship is under Legion control. Repeat, we have just exited stardrive in an Omni ship, now approaching Andrion Two. Do not fire! This ship is a prize of war and is completely under Legion control. There are no O's on board. Repeat, this is Beta of CAT Two Four, Twelfth of the Twenty-Second. Do not fire! We welcome your boarding party!"
Silence, from the Legion. I could feel the beating of my heart. Tara was frozen at the controls, chewing on her lower lip. Willard was beside her. The star floated quietly just over Gildron's head, glowing.
"Don't fail us, Sweety," I whispered.
"One crash starlaunch underway," Sweety replied quietly. "Two…three…six combat invac crash launches from orbit around Andrion Two. Multiple downside targeting systems activating. I detect five combat invac crash launches from orbit around Andrion Three. Deceptors! Starburst! Legion fighters launched and probing—locking on! Combined multiple locks! Downside defensive systems locking on and targeting! Fighters locked! Combat speed! Armament live and locked!"
"GALACTIC NOVA!" The alert boomed through the ship. "THIS IS LEGION COMMAND, ANDRION SYSTEM! WE ARE UNDER OMNI ATTACK! GOING TO BLACKOUT!"
"Legion Andrion, repeat!" I shouted frantically. "The Omni ship has been seized by a Legion unit—we have captured and secured the ship! This is Beta of CAT Two Four, Twelfth of the Twenty-Second, approaching Andrion Two in a CAPTURED Omni ship! We request orbital instructions! Legion, we are not hostile! Do not fire! Repeat, this is a prize of war, acknowledge, acknowledge!"
"Autofire locked!" Sweety warned us. "ALERT! ANTIMAT TORPEDOES LAUNCHED! Repeat, Legion fighters have fired antimat torpedoes, torpedoes are launched, live and locked! I count three, four, six…NOVA! NOVA! ABANDON SHIP! I RECOMMEND ABANDON SHIP IMMEDIATELY!"
"Deto!" I glared out the viewport, convulsed and enraged. "We're dead!"
Tara seized my tacmod and triggered the comset. "Legion! This is Captain Antara Tarantos-Hanna of Starcom, Galactic Information, speaking for Outvac Sector Command! Hold your fire! This ship is not hostile! It is a valuable prize of war, taken at great cost by the Legion! Don't you dare fire!"
"It's too late," I told her. "They've already fired."
Regrets, I thought—so many regrets. I would never see Priestess again. And Moontouch—to have come so close, only to die. But I was too tired to do anything about it. I knew there was nothing at all that could be done.
"Are we going to die?" Willard asked me. I did not answer.
"Antimat torpedoes vectoring in," Sweety reported. "Fracs to impact nine—eight—seven—six…"
"Goodbye, Tara," I said, overwhelmed with sorrow. "We sure as hell tried!"
"I can't believe they're going to do this!" she gasped in horror.
"Two—one—impact!" A metallic bang rocked the ship. I could taste the adrenalin in my mouth. Another! Another! Another, cenite echoes crashing through the corridors. The controls lit up suddenly and alarms shrieked through the bridge, bringing a chill to my skin.
"Impact! Impact! Impact!" Sweety counted off, and I was shaking, waiting for death. Willard was hysterical, terrified.
"OMNI SHIP! THIS IS LEGION COMMAND! YOUR HULL HAS BEEN SUCCESSFULLY PENETRATED BY EIGHT ANTIMAT TORPEDOES! OPEN YOUR EXTERNAL PORTS IMMEDIATELY TO OUR BOARDING PARTY! IF THERE IS ANY RESISTANCE WE WILL DETONATE THE TORPEDOES AND DESTROY YOU! ACKNOWLEDGE IMMEDIATELY!"
"Legion, we are complying with your orders!" Tara replied instantly. My heart was hammering. Salvation! They had set the torpedoes to detonate on command rather than on impact! Perfect! The Legion reacted perfectly, and we were going to live! A crooked grin slowly crept over my sweaty face. I could hardly believe it!
Chapter 18
The Gods of the Book
Downside, I closed my eyes as icy water sluiced over my tortured flesh. The shower was so delightful I could have been in Heaven. But it wasn't Heave
n—it was Alpha Station that had been Alpha Base that had been Zero Alpha, our first zero on Andrion 2. Squad Beta had been on that first drop, our first real combat drop onto an alien world. It seemed like a million years ago.
Stunned and happy, I stepped out of the shower, toweling myself dry. I opened the window port and a soft breeze flowed through the little cube. I had a good view of the station and the starport. An aircar whistled past somewhere overhead, invisible. A puffy film of gossamer drifted just outside, riding the air with delicate wings. We called the creatures air angels. Memories rushed over me.
Perhaps Andrion 2 was my real home—I had made some good friends here among the Taka. More than friends—I had loved a Taka girl, and created new life. I could hardly believe I had returned.
This was a VIP cube—there was a largish table surrounded by airchairs. I sank into a chair, and picked up a Legion tracer from the table. The first thing I had done was to send a message to Beta.
SECRET PERS OPS PRIORITY
ANDRION2/314/06/21-0102
TO: LEGION COMMAND ULDO, 22 LEGION, 12 CER, CAT 24, BETA, PERSONAL FOR BETA ONE OR ANY BETA SURVIVORS.
FRM: LEGION COMMAND ANDRION 2, BETA 3.
SBJ: BETA PERS.
TXT: CINTA, GILDRON, BETA 3 SURVIVED, NOW ON ANDRION 2. SEND NEWS FASTEST ON BETA CASUALTIES, SURVIVORS.
SECRET PERS OPS PRIORITY.
I put the tracer back on the table. I had wanted to add that the mission had been successful, but they hadn't let me. The people who had to know would certainly be informed. I ran my hand through wet hair. It was over at last, for us.
But not for me. I dreaded the news that the response would bring. My mind swirled with images of Priestess. I did not know what I would do if she was not listed among the survivors. I rose from the chair and punched a cup of ice water from the console. A VIP cube—I was not used to such luxury. It made me uneasy.
Slave of the Legion Page 24