Odyssey (The Spiral Slayers Book 3)

by Rusty Williamson

  Looking off to the right he noticed something strange. A trench that seemed to run for as far as he could see. He had the pilot move closer. Now over it, he could see that it was about 150 yards across and ruins could be seen around it and even within it. It was as if the Slayers had used a weapon they had not seen yet, a beam that ran across the land gorging much shallower but wider troughs of destruction. Then he noticed something else, pieces and lengths of what looked like a huge broken cable ran down the center of the trench. The trench led into what had to be the main section of the city for tall buildings appeared. Then they came to the large structure that had been detected from orbit. It had been a huge metal pyramid that had to be a mile on each side. A fourth of it was gone; a crater was at the center of the structure. Stranger yet, was that the trench led right up to a center of the structure cutting through the crater.

  As they circled Adamarus contacted the Nemesis as well as the other drop ships and it was soon apparent that the trench ran all the way to the sea then, unbelievably, picked up again on the other side. It ran a quarter of the way around the planet.

  Adamarus wanted to land, but there was no place to set down. In this area, the ruins of buildings and debris covered every square inch of ground. The pilot found a vacant spot to set down about a mile away on the border of an area that had not been destroyed. The landing was rough as the ground gave way several feet after they touched down then settling for many minutes. The pilot kept the lifters active ready to lift off again, but the ground stopped giving and seemed to support the ship. To be sure she pulled up a few feet and set back down. Finally, she killed the engines.

  As a courtesy, Adamarus included the pilot in the group of eight that would leave the ship. In a vacuum suit, Adamarus was the first to set foot on the planet. He stood on what looked like concrete for a few seconds looking around then was startled when suddenly he dropped down another foot. Whatever it was had turned to dust under his boots.

  Moving cautiously, they spread out from the ship. It was very eerie, none of them had stood on a planet in years. Looking at the ancient buildings with only the sound of the wind was a daunting experience.

  No one spoke as Adamarus led them down an empty street. No cars, skeletons, trash… nothing but dust. Doors and windows had merged with the walls of the buildings and Adamarus realized that everything he was seeing was petrified.

  Finally, an opening allowed them to enter one of the buildings. A mound of dirt lay within. They climbed it and turned on their suit lights. The room was empty, the walls were bear with just a trace of what might have been pipes running up them. They proceeded through three more rooms, all the same, and came out again on the next street.

  The street wound down a hill with the same square buildings lining it and from here he could see the city stretching out until, in the distance, it seemed to merge with the broken clouds above.

  There was nothing to see here and he ordered the party back to the ship but as he turned something caught his eye. About a block uphill the buildings stopped and the area was flat for maybe half a mile. In the center was a mound of dirt. It was the shape… damn, Adamarus thought, it was some kind of ship.

  The closer they got, the surer everyone was that they were looking at a very large ship made to leave the planet. From its size and shape, it was probably designed to carry cargo into orbit.

  The large booster rockets were well defined but like the rest of the ship, they were seemingly encased in rock. They tried to break some of it away but could not.

  As they circled it a large building came into view. Large open doors faced the ship. Like the first building, dirt had gathered just within forming a small hill. They entered it and climbed over the mound of dirt and turned on their lights. There in the back, half buried, they found it.

  None of them could believe their eyes.

  ---

  “What do we do?” Radin asked Adamarus. The landing party that had found the artifact, as well as the senior officers, were gathered in the conference room back on Nemesis.

  Adamarus ran his hands through his hair and shook his head. He was tired and confused; his mind had turned to clay, much like the buildings below on the planet he thought with a weary sigh. And the artifact!? The impossible artifact. He seemed to be blocking that from his thoughts.

  Darin, head of the computer section was studying the images of the artifact. He leaned back and tossed the pictures on the conference table and asked the question everyone had been thinking. “We all know what this is or looks like anyway -- Lord knows we’ve seen thousands of them… so, did these beings also build a Whiteship to hunt down the Slayers?”

  The artifact was a Gatherer. No one knew how they worked but they had been the devices that had come from Nemesis at Farnom. A larger form had transferred the bio-sphere domes from Amular to Nemesis.

  Darin was a smart one, “The wide trench with the cable running down the middle of it was definitely the remains of a skyhook. As for the Gatherer, it could be like a… oh a test tube or hell, a shovel. One design works best, so it is universal.”

  Adamarus nodded, “I’ll talk to Bugs. Hm,” he pursed his lips, “evidence so far indicates that, one,” he held up one finger, “this planet was attacked by the Slayers. Two,” a second finger went up, “a partial attack on their star occurred, and three,” third finger, “a Blackship was grown here that lost one of its Gatherers.” He rubbed his eyes, “So, this is exactly like Amular and… how can that be?”

  Adamarus went to the listening chamber and confronted Bugs but the Loud was only surprised and said it had no answers. It offered an equally plausible theory that the Slayers’ Blackship had been damaged while attacking the star interrupting the attack. However, it was the Slayers who grew another Blackship because their original one had been damaged.

  Nemesis left with no further discoveries or answers. For reasons no one ever figured out, Bugs status was somehow diminished by the incomprehensible find. It made everyone edgy and suspicious. It was too much of a coincidence. Too crazy in its implications. How could it be? That was the question haunting everyone.

  And Bugs had no answers. And the Loud were interweaved in Amular’s story. Here was a story, the same story, seemingly without Loud. What did it mean? No one knew.

  Chapter Thirteen - Evolution

  “Evolution keeps going whether you like it or not.”

  Floyd Woodworth

  The Advancement of Our Species,

  A Historical Perspective Volume 11

  Source: The Archive

  After 111 years experienced time--1.2 million years ship time—Nemesis had traveled 132.5 million light years and the 4th galactic group was in sight. It contained three spiral galaxies—a small, a medium and a large—and also one huge irregular galaxy. The large spiral was active, plasma jets erupting from both poles. One of the jets was hitting the small spiral full force undoubtedly killing any life.

  Adamarus was on the bridge with his full crew.

  “The Blackship is headed for the large spiral,” Radin said.

  “We’ll take the small one since it’s already dead.”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  Adamarus nodded, “Slowly, we’re making ground on them. Radin, kindly lay in our course and let’s go. I’m off to my stint in hiber-sleep. Radin you have the con.”

  “I have the con,” Radin said.

  Adamarus waved, “Probability fold in your favor.”

  Radin, replied with the newer shorter version, “Fold in your favor.” Sort of like singularities and singers… less words, less syllables, more efficient.

  ---

  Before Adamarus had to return to hiber-sleep he visited the Stow.

  The Stow had been evolving for about 1.5 million years and North Peak was now a high-tech city. The Stow never spread from North Peak and maintained strict population control.

  d-eli met him and they entered a small tunnel. Light came from the walls. After a minute they entered a large cavern.
Mounted in the middle was a large machine. “Is that a Tachyon scope?”

  “Yes, our first one. We are starting to translate the super speck. It is a very exciting time.”

  Adamarus was shocked, the Stow were ahead of the humans now. “How long have you been doing this?”

  “About a hundred years.”

  Adamarus was confused, “I see. And the Tachyon scope… I don’t understand d-eli.”

  “The Tachyon scope shows the passing. You will see.”

  Adamarus was led to a room where a Stow sat in the corner. She looked up.

  d-eli said, “Adamarus this is d-gig, d-gig this is Adamarus.”

  She looked at Adamarus and said, “I am honored that you will be watching my passing.”

  Adamarus didn’t know what to say.

  d-gig looked at d-eli and said, “I am ready.”

  d-eli led Adamarus out of the room and over to the Tachyon scope. Two screens were set up. One showed d-gig in the room, the other showed the normal green swirls of Tachyons.

  d-gig got up and stuck her stinger in a hole in the floor then yanked tearing it off. She then dragged herself to a corner to die.

  After a moment she shuttered and passed.

  A green streak flashed across the Tachyon scope.

  “d-gig’s energy has passed,” d-eli said.

  “Does this always happen when something dies?” Adamarus asked.

  “Only with self-aware creatures. Self-awareness creates a pattern which resides in the brain. Upon death, this pattern turns to a form of energy. Other animals who are not self-aware release no energy when they die.”

  “Hm… wonder if humans and Loud do the same thing.” Adamarus said.

  “We have no proof, but we are certain you do,” d-eli said. “A human or Loud death would have to occur to find out.”

  “I see. Where does this energy go?”

  “It leaves the Atrium, after that, we have not been able to track it.”

  “I see,” Adamarus only partially saw.

  “We believe it is a very significant discovery.”

  ---

  Adamarus was lowered into his hiber-pod and sleep took him…

  And Adamarus dreamed…

  It was 20-years before the Loud had contacted Amular. A regional war against the El Asfar Pirates was in progress. Then Lt. Commander Adamarus Maximus was a trainer with trainees on an exercise.

  Two hundred miles above Amular’s surface nine Hellcats maintained a tight v-formation as they slowed to Mach four.

  The planet spread below them, but little could be seen. Amular’s orange dwarf sun Iceis was now above the horizon, still, most of the planet was in darkness. Below the sun, a thin brilliant crescent, the details of the planet lost in the light reflected from the clouds and ice. Only small parts of the purple ocean could be seen where small orange clouds cast long shadows across its surface. The long peninsula the Hellcats were following was still lost in indistinct gradient separating day and night.

  From the lead Hellcat, LCDR Adamarus Maximus announced “Atmospheric entry in two minutes. Loose formation in three, two, one, now.”

  The v-formation spread evenly until the Hellcats were separated by a hundred yards. Then they tilted and dove down toward the planet. Two and a half minutes later their hulls started turning red as they entered the atmosphere. At 3,000 feet they leveled off at Mach two.

  The training mission was out of Dunes Space Port almost a thousand miles to the North. This exercise had carried them South and very close to enemy territory. Knowing they were invisible to sensors, the Hellcats continued South until the enemy’s Dark Mountain fortress became visible on the horizon. This time of year, covered with snow, Dark Mountain was actually bright orange.

  Adamarus was just about to order an about-face ending the training mission when incoming traffic on the encrypted emergency channel interrupted him. “Raven Alert! Raven Alert! This is not a drill! This is AWAC 807. We have visually detected eighteen El Asfar Crossovers emerging from the mountain. I repeat…”

  Adamarus was shocked. The Crossovers were a merger between a fighter and a bomber and eighteen of them was a major offensive.

  The Raven Alert, the highest alert level, continued. “Bandits have assumed a course of two nine-er one seven and increased speed to Mach four.”

  Dillon, the only other veteran on the training exercise said, “Shit, their headed right for Miranee!” Just outside of Miranee was Clark Island, Amular’s supposedly top-secret staging area for their pending attack on Dark Mountain.

  Adamarus increased speed to Mach four and aimed his squadron on an intercept course. The Hellcats were ninth generation fighters. The Crossovers were tenth generation—they could out maneuver and out gun them, plus they would have experienced crews. Except for Adamarus and Dillon, the squadron’s pilots were all trainees just out of basic flight school. He prayed they wouldn’t need to engage.

  Although the Crossovers were a generation newer than the Hellcats, both had the latest stealth technology and so Adamarus’ trainees initially had the advantage of surprise.

  Six Crossovers were destroyed within the first few seconds of the engagement. As the battle progressed, Gee forces were crushing Adamarus Maximus first one way and then another. Frantic reports were coming in over the radio and outside things were happening much faster than any human mind could keep up with. Friendly and enemy ships dove, turned, looped and fired laser cannons all around in a blur of motion too quick to follow.

  He pulled his fighter hard to the right trying to get a missile lock on the enemy ship in front but the ship’s battle computer—which was able to keep up with the action—jerked him to the left instead narrowly averting a collision with a Hellcat diving trying to shake an enemy Crossover.

  Mixed in with the many voices on the ship-to-ship he heard, “I can’t shake him. God damn it! God damn it!” It was Dave, one of the trainees.

  Dave came on again in a panic, “I can’t get him off…” and Adamarus saw an explosion in the distance. Dave was gone.

  “Shit!” Adamarus hollered before he could stop himself.

  The enemy Crossover he was tailing weaved and jerked all over the place. Whoever the pilot was, he was good and of course, the Crossovers had maneuvering advantage.

  “God damn…” broke through the radio chatter. It was Dillon, the only other veteran. “Tell my wife I…” a flash of light lit up Adamarus’ cockpit. Dillon was gone!

  Another frenetic voice came through the chatter, “Son of a bitch! Errrrrrrrr! God Damn! I can’t lose the mother fucker!” This time it was Tony, Adamarus’ best trainee.

  “Fuck this!” Adamarus said under his breath. “Hang in there Tony. I’m coming!”

  “Negative Adamarus!” It was the AWAK monitoring and ultimately controlling the engagement. “Do not break off! Take out your bandit. That’s an order!”

  Adamarus disobeyed and broke off.

  In the haze of the dogfight, Adamarus managed to save four of his trainees for which he received his first Presidential Medal of Valor. However, the bomber he let get away killed over 1,200 civilians for which he would have normally been court-martialed.

  Spittle flew from the mouth of Adamarus’ commanding officer as he pointed at the burning city shown on the video screen and yelled at Adamarus. “Fortunately for you the powers that be say we need heroes so instead of a fucking court martial you are going to get a medal!” And everything turned red.

  Adamarus woke, he took a deep breath and tried to shake off the hiber-dream… old baggage, he breathed in and out, old baggage.

  ---

  Half-way to the 5th galactic group the Stow evolution hit its first major challenge. Adamarus was summoned.

  d-eli said, “Adamarus there have been three recent developments. One, when a creature becomes self-aware certain patterns form in the brain. When a self-aware creature dies those patterns create an energy, we call it awareness energy, and it leaves the body. We have now tracked this energy.
It joins the Tachyon stream and travels faster than light to the nearest black hole. d-bet only knows why but we think it is very important.”

  “But there is more. This awareness energy is new energy, that is, new to the universe’s total energy. It cheats the first law of thermodynamics, the conservation of energy, by pushing a little of the universe’s energy slightly into the past and future at the quantum level.”

  “We believe this is a very significant discovery. We believe that our consciousness may actually survive death.”

  “However, just as significant is that we have translated all but the last two vibrations of the super speck. These last two vibrations are very complex and not at all like the vibrations before them. We are stuck right now. We have no idea how to translate them.”

  ---

  It took the Stow ages to crack the 2nd to last super speck vibration and more time to translate enough of it to get the direction it was going in. As Nemesis approached the 5th galactic group, the Stow delivered the bad news.

  d-eli said, “The last two vibrations were added artificially.”

  “What does that mean?” Adamarus asked.

  “It means that somewhere back in time an intelligent species added the last two vibrations. The last one is unfortunately, the most complex vibration we’ve ever seen and we have no idea what it means yet. It unfortunately, is completely different from the 2nd to last vibration.”

  “The 2nd to last vibration is a message, a warning from a previous universe.”

  “Previous universe? How is that possible?”