They walked out onto the first level, and Adamarus heard someone say, “Officers on deck,” and the 23 members of the temporary bridge crew—all at their stations—stood at attention.
Adamarus looked around then walked to the Captain’s seat, and placed his hand on the back. There was another seat placed slightly next to it and set slightly back for Leewood. He looked to the first officer’s station…the same arrangement. “As you were,” Adamarus said, and the crew sat down.
Bugs raised his manipulators indicating the familiar bridge, “You should feel right at home.”
Adamarus, Leewood, Radin, and Harrington took their seats.
“Bugs,” Adamarus motioned to the large spherical cavern before them, “What’s the purpose of that?”
“Holograph.” Bugs walked over touched one of the controls on the arm of Adamarus’ seat, and the lights dimmed. Within the 500-foot chamber, the walls vanished, and stars appeared. In the center, Farnom floated. Around the planet, blue lines indicated the orbits of the gas giant’s moons. Iceis could be seen as a very bright orange star.
“Wow,” Adamarus said truly impressed. It was like the bridge was floating in space.
“Watch this,” Bugs said. It did something with the controls again and the entire bridge seemed to move outside of Nemesis then it rotated and looked back at the Whiteship and its orbit around Farnom. “There’s more, but we can get to that later. Right now, we need to depart for Amular immediately.”
And so, they did.
---
Two years later Nemesis made orbit around Amular. The once purple and green planet had been a uniform gray since the battle. Underneath the ashen clouds, the entire planet was a poisonous wasteland… with one exception. The thousands of contiguous domes the Loud had built to preserve the planet’s biosphere.
The project had preserved 52 percent of eukaryotic celled life but, more importantly, they’d saved non-mutated bacterial life—all in all, enough to be regenerative.
The Loud had used the trenches carved out by the Blackship’s energy beam attack in their dome design. Then they put the nanites to work building contiguous one-mile square domes that could develop opened up to each other but that could be isolated and sealed off for transfer.
Nemesis parked itself in geosynchronous orbit above the thousands of domes. Then a hole opened in the Whiteship on the side facing Amular. The hole was miles across. Then a large object came out of the hole. It looked just like a Gatherer, the same bent teardrop shape but it was much larger—at least 200-feet in length. The thing dropped down into the atmosphere slowing as it reached Amular’s surface. Then it dropped down into the trench for 300-feet, halted then burrowed sideways under one of the domes.
Meanwhile, a second giant Gatherer had departed from Nemesis and was dropping down to secure the next dome.
The dome, under which the first Gatherer had placed itself, was sealed off. The Gatherer under the dome was multi-tasking: its lower half grew downward as it converted the earth and rocks to energy and other matter. Its upper half was stretching upward securing the 300-feet of earth and rocks below the dome for transfer. When the Gatherer’s upper half reached the dome, it merged with it.
After about ten hours the most amazing thing began to happen. The dome, the 300-feet of ground below it along with the Gatherer acting much like the Loud’s gravity-bar all slowly rose up. At first, it crept upward so slow that motion was not evident but then it went faster. It hit an inch a second and kept accelerating. The dome rose up, then, after it, the 300-foot column of rock and dirt followed.
Around it, other domes were starting to rise and a steady stream of Gatherers streamed down from the Whiteship.
Finally, rising fast now, the Gatherer came back into view pushing the column of dirt and the dome upward. Then the entire assembly, looking much like an old rocket ship—except there was no column of fire beneath it—lifted away from the surface and rose into the sky still picking up speed. It left the atmosphere, headed for Nemesis then it entered the hole it had come from.
Behind it, other domes climbed towards Nemesis as more Gatherers departed.
It was a slow process as each dome took about a day to transfer. The process, even though staggered would be going on for almost two years.
---
The Basin—thought at first to be a mathematical fluke—was not really a place or dimension as much as a quantum orientation. In this quantum orientation energy could not interact with anything. Placement in this state was always temporary, the amount of time depending on the energy used to place it in that state. However, more energy could be applied to hold the state for longer periods of time—a very flexible affair especially since you could draw that extra energy from the energy being held in the Basin.
The Loud had been testing the math and self-made interfaces and controllers to reproduce the process. Nemesis had this capability but the Loud needed to understand the process to initiate it and control it.
They felt they were ready.
It took over two years for Nemesis to collect the domes from Amular. Those plus millions of tons of water and rocks and dirt to build and initiate the human’s biosphere. Each of the pieces where carefully put into place. They would need a deep configuration for it would need to regenerate and last millions of years.
An energy source like the sun would be needed with a day/night cycle equal to Amular’s. Mountains, rivers, a large salt sea, marshes as well as clear-water lakes were needed to support micro-biospheres. It would have to have the weather to create wind and rain to circulate the water. Techtronic simulation would be required to recycle carbon and other elements. And rhythmic gravitational variation emulating Amular’s moons would be needed to create tides. All of this was not done by Nemesis but rather by the Loud who had extensive experience in deep biospheres from their own interstellar ships. It was a massive undertaking.
Finally, three-and-a-half years later, all was ready. The giant hole on the underside of Nemesis closed up basically saying ‘enough.’ The Whiteship had lost weight—its diameter had shrunk by 14 miles.
At last, it was time for the final step.
---
Captain Jagger wanted it though he hadn’t really thought it through. Didn’t really see how it would work. The government was tracking it after all and everyone had been told to stay away. But that had been three years ago. And there it was, his freighter Western Star was within reach.
He looked around at his crew, “Adjust course to intercept.”
The crew whooped and hollered. They were going after it.
Western Star changed course.
“ETA?” Jagger asked though he knew.
“Two hours and forty minutes,” came the answer.
“Ah, nap time,” the Captain announced. “Wake me up when we’re there. Jeremy, you have the con,” and he left the bridge and made his way to his quarters.
Jagger was correct, the Navy had been tracking it for three and a half years. But they were tracking over 188,000 different objects all over the star system for various purposes. This was the reason the disaster occurred.
Jagger was awakened as they approached. He dressed and made his way to the bridge. The first thing he asked was “No contact from the Navy?”
No.
Good. “On screen.”
Being black it was hard to see. Dead as a hatch screw, Jagger thought.
“Pull up beside it.”
Once next to it the robotic arm reached out, clamped down and reeled it into the cargo bay. It was not radioactive, not giving off any gases. Except for a small heat spot deep within it was inert. The outer hatch closed and the bay was pressurized.
“Jeremy put her on auto-pilot…let’s all go take a gander.”
The captain led his eleven crew members down to the cargo bay.
There the black 7-foot long object was still held in the clamps of the robotic arm ten feet off the deck.
“Jeremy, kindly lower it and let’s have a loo
k.”
His first officer mounted the controls and the robotic arm came to life. Gentilly the object was lowered to the floor as the rest of the crew walked around it. Jeremy released the clamps and began to retract the arm.
“Whoa! Whoa Jeremy,” Jagger yelled.
Jeremy looked up from the controls. The object was rising with the clamp—it hadn’t released. He halted the arm and rechecked controls. After a moment he replied, “The clamp is…released. Something must be stuck. One second.” He lowered the object back to the deck. “Have a look and see if you can see what’s going on.”
Jagger got there first. He could immediately see something was very weird. The clamps had somehow actually sunk into the surface of the object. It was like they had become part of the object and could not separate.
He brushed his fingers against the surface of the object, and his fingers were sucked into it. Beneath the surface, it felt like ice water. It hurt. He screamed and yanked his hand away, but his fingers would not come out! By reflex, he placed his other hand on the surface to help pull and it sunk in and was stuck! Worse his hands were being pulled in. He screamed, “Help!”
Several of the crew raced over to him. The object had his hand up to the wrist now. Somewhat in a panic, not yet realizing what was happening, two of the crew grabbed the captain’s arm and pulled. One threw himself against the object for leverage and immediately his shoulder and back were stuck. Simultaneously, another used his foot for leverage and it got stuck.
Everyone was screaming and hollaring now. Jeremy raced down from the control station yelling “No one touch it! No one touch it!”
Jagger was up to his elbow now and was screaming, “Cut em off! Someone cut my arms off!”
Another withering scream from the crew member who had his shoulder and back stuck as the object sucked in more of him and he threw his head back in pain and it got stuck.
The other crewmember with his foot stuck was frantically trying to untie his boot.
No one had noticed the hissing sound as the object was also sucking in the atmosphere nor that the object was swelling. So, when the object suddenly seemed to suck in the entire foot of the person trying to untie his shoe, he lost his balance and fell head first into the object. The object just took all of him except his other foot which kicked once before it vanished.
At the same moment, the screaming abruptly stopped from the other crewman as the object devoured a third of his head. He stared blankly into the distance for a moment then another inch was sucked in, and his body started convulsing.
Jagger watched all of this happening right next to him as his arm continued to be sucked in. “Cut them off,” he screamed. It was halfway up his upper arms.
Jeremy had run to the wall to get the ax that was there and was running back.
Jagger gasped, “Hurry.”
Jeremy could not help but notice that the object had sunk into the deck. His eyes went wide and he stopped in his tracks. If it ate through the deck they’d be exposed to vacuum.
“Hurry! God hurry! Cut them off!” Jagger screamed.
Jeremy jerked back to the present and ran to the captain. As he did so, he thought more about what was under the decking…the artificial gravity system…shit! He reached Jagger and raised the ax—there were only inches between the object and the captain’s body—he’d have to aim…
“Do it!” The captain yelled.
Jeremy swung the ax just as the gravity failed, and therefore his entire body moved with the swing, and he missed the captain by a foot. As he floated upward rotating from his swing, he could hear the captain start to scream. As he rotated, he caught sight of Jagger—the object had the side of his chest now, and the captain was shaking violently.
The object, shaped like a bent teardrop, jerked and its larger end opened up and began devouring the deck working its way toward the stern. That was the last thing Jeremy saw as the last of the atmosphere was sucked out, and he passed out.
The Gatherer devoured all of the freighter Western Star and, with new mass and energy, it turned and set course back to Farnom. It didn’t know Nemesis was no longer there nor that its mission was over. Three years later it dove into Farnom.
Chapter Three - Nemesis
“The Loud interact with humans via four-foot robot avatars that the huge being’ control from their Umbrella Ships.”
Floyd Woodworth
The Advancement of Our Species,
A Historical Perspective Volume 11
Source The Archive
Three years later…
Location: New Axes Station, The Larger Moon
Nemesis was an artificial animal created by the Spiral Slayers for a single purpose: to feed on black holes. Crewing a ship like Nemesis was like riding a horse. With a horse, the saddle, stirrup, and reins were the interfaces for control. With the Whiteship it was the nerve bundles that’d been tied to the bridge controls.
Nemesis knew how to do many things on her own. Like controlling black holes or, more specifically their singularities. Nemesis could go into any black hole and feed. She knew how to toss her singularities into the Basin and snatch it back again. She knew how to go this way and that and how to cruise along at .99999 light speed. And she also knew how to do some really unique and unusual things. She knew how to fire half a dozen of her own weapons.
Like riding a horse, the crew basically nudged her in the direction they wanted her to go in, and she normally agreed.
Nemesis did not do most things needed by her symbiotic human hosts like electronics, communications, sensors, computers, AI, atmosphere circulation, nor manage the Atrium. This was left for the Loud and humans to accomplish.
---
President Wicker was in his office at New Axes Station conducting the yearly meeting with his special team, and everyone was teleconferencing in on the large screen in front of his desk.
It was a decent size office. The view of Amular was depressing and he normally kept the viewer off. He hadn’t put up any personal stuff… he’d lost it all. Only a picture of his late family adorned his desk.
He took a drink of water as the seconds ticked down.
He missed his old office.
Everyone appeared on the screen before him. He did a mental roll call, all present. “Welcome everyone. I know how busy you all are so we’ll try to get through this…well,” he laughed, “hopefully in one day? First, let me get everyone up to speed on what everyone else is doing.”
“Adamarus, Radin, Leewood, Harrington, and Bugs are still in training with a provisional bridge crew aboard Nemesis which is still in geostationary orbit above the biosphere domes. All four as well as Bugs are teleconferencing from Nemesis and will report on their progress and plans.”
“Professor Woodward is down on Amular in the BDCC (Biosphere Dome Control Center) and has reviewed the current status and projections and will brief us.”
“Doctor Donnelly is here on New Axes but is teleconferencing from the cloning lab with updates.”
“Secretary of War Barrington along with Doctor Evelyn Eden are at Anderson with updates on new hardware and ships.”
“Finally, Vice President Hollingsworth is on the smaller moon dealing with what half a million crewmembers of Nemesis will eat and drink…what you’ll get from the farms and what you’ll synthesize using Loud tech out of… singleton whatever that is.”
Groins came from everyone.
“We’ll start with Bugs.”
The somewhat mechanical voice of Bugs began, “Nemesis is almost ready to acquire her black hole. Adamarus and crew have mastered what’s needed for that step. Our testing of the energy transfer into the Basin is on schedule and should be up to the task by the end of the month.”
Bugs paused. It didn’t need to but did it because the humans did. “We are tentatively planning ten Whiteships to carry all humans and Loud out of this galaxy well before the explosion reaches the Iceis system.”
“To manage the Basin, each Whiteship will carry at
least two Loud—one as a backup in case something happens to one. The backup won’t be needed if an Umbrella Ship goes along and it’s been decided that one of our Umbrella Ships will go with Nemesis. One will go with the fifth ship, and the last will depart with the tenth or last ship.”
“Three more copies of the Archive have been completed and confirmed and are ready to go with Nemesis…one with Nemesis, one in the Umbrella ship and one in the human seed ship.”
“I also want to update you on the human seed ship. A seed ship contains everything necessary to survive on any moderately bio-compatible planet orbiting within a star’s sweet-zone. The umbrella ship is a seed ship for us…we’re preparing a seed ship for humans, and all is on schedule. The Loud don’t use names for our ships, so we are not too creative at coming up with names. We simply called it The Spore.”
Bugs went on about progress and new discoveries made with Nemesis and Whiteships in general finally returning to the main upcoming event, “…so, we steer her to Serena or Aster—Serena is looking better given current locations—and Nemesis should take it from there.”
Next, Amular’s top scientist Bradford Donnelly reported that adding DNA from Nemesis had resolved the DNA problem with cloning the Whiteships. Five were in advanced stages of growth.
Donnelly also reported on the amount of mass left in Farnom’s moon systems; Farnom could birth seven more Whiteships, however after Nemesis took the Serena black hole only the Aster black hole would remain so the Iceis star system could only produce one more Whiteship.
Through each presentation, Adamarus kept looking to Evelyn’s screen, but she kept her eyes averted with a stern almost angry look on her face. Adamarus again wondered what he had done or was it something else.
The meeting went on, sandwiches were brought in, and it continued until late afternoon. Wicker summed up.
“The Marcus star system is where the eight other ships will come from, and Nemesis will seed one or more of that systems ten gas giants. The two others will be used for birthing,” Wicker took a drink of water.
Odyssey (The Spiral Slayers Book 3) Page 5