Darkest Reach

by Eric Warren

  “Still. I find it curious. But then again you are a society of contradictions.” The door to the weapons lab slid open and they stepped inside. The missile was being delivered by two small hover drones that had come from the other direction.

  “Well, he’s good to his word,” Cas said. “Shall we get started?”

  35

  Work on the missile proceeded quickly. Zenfor had managed to locate the probes; they were still transmitting from deep within the tear in space, though the information coming from them was plagued with interference. Cas kept his eyes on Tempest’s internal sensors, making sure no one was checking on them. He was confident Box could keep them occupied in the event they did start to question his and Zenfor’s disappearance, but on the other hand Greene might just think Cas was helping her cool off. Though he did find it interesting they weren’t being consulted for any other possible solutions to the problem. Maybe Greene’d had enough of Cas’s input. Maybe he no longer saw any value in his suggestions after the fuck-up with the shuttles. Whatever the reason, Cas hoped they could hold out until the work was done. Because then things would get really complicated.

  “You realize that by building this weapon for you I am breaking my own rule, correct?” Zenfor asked as she was hunched over the weapon.

  “What?” Cas asked. He hadn’t been paying attention. Had she been talking this entire time?

  “This weapon uses Sil technology, something I expressly forbade myself to offer you. But the situation has changed, and I now see I can’t survive without giving you this. I want you to understand the significance.”

  “You’re preaching to the choir,” he said, still absently watching the internal sensors.

  “What does that mean?”

  He glanced over his monitor. “Oh. It’s an old colloquialism. It means you’re telling me something I already know.”

  “Yes. Well, you knew it before and decided to ignore it.”

  “I know.” Cas returned his attention to the sensors. “Humans have the unique ability to ignore things even when they’re right in front of their faces. If it doesn’t fit with what we’re expecting, we have a bad habit of disregarding it and moving on.”

  “It’s an inefficient use of life,” she said.

  “I’m not sure I’d go that far. Surely your people were the same, at some point in your distant past.”

  Zenfor scoffed. “My people have been through turbulent times as well, but nothing like what is in your history. Or even your pre-history.”

  “Let me guess, you walked out of the oceans on Thislea completely in harmony with everything around you.”

  “Not—” She turned; her attention drawn by something off to her side. “What is that?”

  “What?” he asked, leaving the internal sensors.

  She examined one of the screens containing information from the probes. “The probes are picking something up. Something inside the tear itself. Another audio transmission.” She leaned in closer to adjust the gains.

  It had to be the creature again, hadn’t they already confirmed no one was left alive in there? Or was it possible…did he dare to hope?

  “Tempest are you out there?” a female voice said. Cas’s heart leapt into his throat. It was Suzanna. He sprung forward, all his attention on the screen.

  “Is that—?” He found he couldn’t catch his breath. They needed to get to another shuttle. They had to find a way in there to get her.

  “Are you out there? Help us.” This time it was Grippen. Somehow they’d survived.

  “We have to notify the captain!” Cas jumped up, but Zenfor grabbed him by the arm. “What are you doing? We can’t destroy it while they’re still in there.”

  “No,” Zenfor said. “Look.” She pointed to one of the wavelength patterns of the voices coming through. “That’s not Commander Blohm. Or Captain Grippen. This pattern matches the same one we recorded when ‘Captain Morrow’ spoke to us. It is using their voices.”

  No, they were still in there. They were still alive and Cas would find a way to reach them. “I’ll get Box,” he yelled, headed for the door. “Don’t fire until we get back.”

  “Caspian!”

  He stopped just before reaching the door. Zenfor was right. As much as he didn’t want her to be, he knew she was. It was nothing but another ruse. Cas balled his hands into fists and used all his willpower to stop from hitting the nearest solid object. This creature, this…thing, whatever it was, it was insidious. And he realized as fascinating or unique as it might be, he hated it. And he wanted nothing more than to destroy it for good.

  “I’ve never encountered anything like this,” Zenfor said. “The types of beings that inhabited the space beneath were confined to one dimension, not split between them like this. It’s almost as if this creature clawed its way out of its own dimension into this one.”

  Cas returned to her. “But no one has ever logged it before. There was never any mention of it in any of the search logs for Iphigenia and they scoured this area.”

  She leaned in. “Perhaps it only comes through every twenty-seven of your years to lure a ship in, then disappears again.”

  Cas was trying to clear his head, but it was clouded of thoughts of Suzanna falling into that darkness. “You think the creature will return to its realm once it has Tempest?”

  “I assume so. It would explain why no other ships have been trapped or even found this area.”

  “So, what? It takes a ship then uses that ship’s crew to call for help? To lure in its next meal?”

  “It may be more sophisticated than that. We know this creature has a high level of intelligence. It obviously originated in the other universe, through that tear. Its food source is probably there as well. I think it lures these ships in for another reason.”

  “What on earth could it want…or need from us?” Cas asked, exasperated.

  “Information. This may be how this creature learns about the universe around it. It doesn’t destroy the ships; we know that much because we’ve found no debris. But what if it absorbs them in some way?”

  Cas’s eyes went wide. He turned to the display that showed the physical form of the creature, focusing on the hardened mountainous region they’d seen in the initial scans. A quick spectral analysis revealed they were composed of galvanium, cyclax and an abundance of proteins and carbon. “They’re there. They’re part of the creature.”

  Zenfor turned his attention to the screen. “Are you thinking that is what happened to them? They were transformed in some way?”

  “Maybe. I’m not sure. But those are Coalition metals. And I would bet the concentration of carbon and proteins is what is left of the people it killed in pursuit of…information. They are part of it now. And maybe that’s how it’s able to absorb their voices.”

  “An interesting hypothesis,” she said. “I wish we had time to test it.”

  “I don’t want to test it. I want to kill that thing. Then kill it again for good measure,” Cas said, narrowing his eyes. “Is the missile almost done?”

  She returned her attention to the project. “Close. Only a few more minutes. And you’re right. Attempting to study the creature would only lead to more deaths. Obviously it can’t be reasoned with.”

  No, it couldn’t. And they were about to use illegal technology to make sure it never trapped anyone else ever again. Cas couldn’t believe he was back in this position: willingly disobeying a direct order because he thought it was the right thing to do. Why was it every time he disagreed with an order he took it upon himself to break the rules as he saw fit? Who came along and anointed him the ultimate authority on morality? But deep down he knew he wasn’t wrong; this was the correct course of action, even if it did go against Coalition standards. It was a completely different problem from Rutledge. In that case he’d made a moral call to defend what he thought were the Coalition’s most-cherished values. And for some officers, such as Captain Greene, they probably were. But Greene was on the opposite end of the spectr
um; ready to sacrifice everything for those values, rather than see the bigger picture. Cas shuddered. For a short moment he realized what Rutledge must have felt like on the bridge of the Achlys, watching his first officer disobey his orders and put the very future of the Coalition at risk. It wasn’t an association he relished.

  “I believe it’s ready,” Zenfor said. “As long as it detonates close to the creature it should obliterate it and seal the tear at the same time. But the ship will need to move away immediately upon detonation. Tempest’s engines are fast enough we should be able to outrun the shockwave that will decimate this part of space. Assuming the electromagnetic field will be disrupted the moment the creature is killed.”

  “I’ll let Box know.” Cas tapped his comm again to turn it back on. “He can take the controls in an emergency if necessary.”

  “I was impressed by his piloting skills,” she said, shutting the various hatches and ports on the missile itself.

  “He’s been that way ever since I met him, always good with a ship.”

  Zenfor picked up the missile, hoisting it under her arm. Cas didn’t even want to guess how much it weighed, though he doubted he could manage it even with two arms. “We need to get this to missile launch control,” she said.

  “Deck fifteen,” Cas replied. “It’s mostly automated, but there are a few technicians down there who make sure everything runs smoothly.”

  “Then perhaps your commission will be needed once again.” She smirked. He almost laughed in response, it was so rare to see her smile.

  He tapped his comm again. “Box?”

  “Here.”

  “Status?”

  “I’m on my way back to the bridge. Xax just sent one of her biological samples down to weapon control. They’re about to load it into a missile to fire.”

  Cas turned to Zenfor. “We need to hurry. If we can get them to replace that missile with this one, Greene and everyone else on the bridge won’t know it’s not the biological weapon. They won’t try to shoot it down before it reaches the creature.”

  “You better hurry, boss. I think Commander Diazal might be getting suspicious,” Box said.

  Cas opened the door back into the corridor, checking both directions. It was empty. “Why do you say that?”

  “Call it aluminum intuition,” he replied. “Whatever you’re doing, hurry.”

  “Thanks.” Cas switched off the comm again. “Can you run with that thing?” Zenfor nodded. He could only hope they wouldn’t cross paths with anyone—at least not anyone of consequence on the way there. But the crew should be at their battle stations, no one should be aimlessly wandering the corridors. Regardless, they didn’t have a choice. “Let’s get this done,” he said, breaking into a trot down the hall with Zenfor right behind him.

  36

  Evie surveyed the bridge. Everyone was worried; it was evident on their faces. But no one had cracked and they’d all remained professional even in the face of what was almost guaranteed to be certain death. The biological weapon idea had come from Lieutenant Uuma, though Evie didn’t expect it to have much of a chance of working. If the creature was smart enough to lure them in like this, it was smart enough to defend itself against anything that might infect it. She still couldn’t believe such a creature existed. And for nothing other than bad timing they were going to die here, trying to keep it from taking any other ships. Such was the life of a Coalition officer.

  But it wasn’t the life she wanted. She’d wanted to complete the mission. To find out what Andromeda really was. And she wanted to see her father one more time. Even if he didn’t know who she was, he was the only family she had left. But it seemed like the universe had dealt her hand, and closing up old wounds wasn’t in the cards. She also hated going out like this; guns blazing and for no reason. She’d wanted her death to have meaning. To make a difference somewhere. She supposed if the Coalition ever found their data probe they’d know. And Tempest’s sacrifice wouldn’t be for nothing. But no one would remember Commander Evie Diazal. She’d be another name in a list of a hundred and seventy-one souls who were lost on this day. And then she’d fade into obscurity; no one to mourn her. No one to remember her.

  Evie glanced over as Box re-entered the bridge.

  “Report, Mr. Box,” Greene said, not taking his eyes off the screen ahead of them. They’d ceased all weapons fire for the moment, but the engines were still being strained to their capacity. Their last hope was this missile; though by seeing the resignation on Greene’s face, Evie could tell he didn’t think it would work either.

  “Dr. Xax is transferring the materials now, sir. It should be ready in a few minutes. They told me they’d send you a comm when it was ready to fire.”

  “Very good. All hands, maintain your positions, we’re not going down without a fight.”

  Evie watched Greene from the corner of her eye. He was capable, dedicated and above all else, a man of high integrity. Zenfor had suggested a way out of this, a way they could all survive. And Evie couldn’t say it in the conference room, but on some level she agreed with her. Even though it was against one of the most basic Coalition tenets, shouldn’t they use a way out if they had it? Coalition ships didn’t carry trans-dimensional weapons; the only ones the Coalition had any access to were in a stronghold orbiting Osiris, and there weren’t that many. But Zenfor had made it sound as if she could make one herself. Didn’t they have a responsibility to try? Despite the consequences?

  After all her years in the Coalition, Evie thought she might be seeing what Cas had been talking about. Speaking of which, where was he?

  She caught Box’s optic, and motioned for him to follow her to the other side of the bridge. He glanced at Ronde in the pilot’s seat, who was trying to keep the ship together and away from that…thing as long as possible, but he’d been fighting the controls for some time now.

  “Can I help you, Commander?” Box asked in an uncharacteristically sweet voice.

  “Where’s Caspian? And Zenfor? I haven’t heard back from him regarding her.” It had only been forty minutes since she had stormed out of the conference room and he’d chased after her. But it couldn’t have taken him that long to find and catch up, could it? She knew he wouldn’t fathom putting her in the brig, but she’d at least thought she would have heard something by now.

  “They went to…uh the bar, I believe. The extenuating circumstances of their impending dooms convinced them to share a drink together before we all perish in a nightmare scenario none of us can truly fathom.” His yellow eyes blinked rapidly. Cas told her the pattern of blinking often betrayed Box’s emotions, though she had no clue what they were telling her now. And she wouldn’t be surprised if Cas took Zenfor down to the bar, Kor knew he spent enough time there himself.

  “Do you know why his comm isn’t working? I’ve tried a few times to reach him.”

  “I wouldn’t know, Commander. I just happened to pass them on my way to sickbay.”

  “But sickbay is on fourteen. The bar is on twelve. How did you pass them?”

  Box straightened. “I…accidentally went to twelve by mistake, then took a different hypervator back up. There. That’s plausible.” Evie’s eyes narrowed. “I mean, that’s what happened.”

  “Box.”

  “It’s Mr. Box now.” He straightened a bit more.

  “Box, tell me the truth. Where is he? What’s going on?”

  “Dammit,” he whispered. “I didn’t have enough time to think of a cover story. You didn’t give me enough time.”

  “What’s he doing? Tell me now.”

  His eyes blinked a few more times. “I wish I could, Commander, but I don’t know. He wouldn’t tell me his plans. He only told me to distract you and the captain if you came asking about him. Which…I probably shouldn’t have said.” He rocked back and forth on his metal feet. “I guess it’s going to be a few lashings for ol’ Box,” he said in an accent Evie had never heard before.

  “Did he say where he was going? Or anythi
ng about—” Of course. It was obvious. He and Zenfor were going to use the trans-dimensional weapon. What else would he need to cover up?

  “Commander, is something wrong? Other than the fact we’re all about to be killed horribly?” Box asked.

  She glanced at the captain, who wasn’t paying them any attention. His focus was on his own work and maintaining the morale of the bridge crew so everyone didn’t fall apart when it mattered. Her first inclination was to tell him, in fact it was her duty. He would be able to put a stop to it. She was bound by Coalition regulations to inform a superior officer of any breach of security or possible subterfuge on her ship. And yet…she hesitated.

  Evie shouldn’t be doing this. She should tell the captain immediately. What was wrong with her? Not only was she violating the oath she’d taken when she graduated from the academy, she was violating the personal promise she’d made to herself to never put her own self-interests above those of others. The Coalition banned trans-dimensional weapons for a reason, it wasn’t up to her to decide whether they should be used or not. So why was she just standing there?

  “Commander, you look like you are in distress. Do you need to go to sickbay?” Box asked.

  “Huh?” She’d forgotten he was even there. “No, I’m fine,” she finally said. “I just…need to talk to the captain about something.”

  “You sound unsure,” he replied. “Are you conflicted?”

  “No,” she said. “No, I’m not.”

  37

  They’d made good progress so far, having traveled the corridors without running into anyone yet. He’d seen Crewman Tes walking ahead of them but she’d gone in a different direction, leaving the rest of the large corridor free. And somehow Zenfor wasn’t showing any signs of fatigue yet, despite the huge missile under her arm, though she had switched it to the other side.

  “If you drop that thing it won’t go off, right?” Cas asked.

  “I won’t drop it.”