by Frank Carey
"Copy that. How do we get out there?"
"The freighter. Clio!"
Clio and her fellow immortals appeared out of nowhere, both she and Minnie were wearing cammo fatigues while Horus continued to wear feathers.
"This way," Minnie said. The station shook as they headed down the corridor. "The Prohedron has arrived."
They turned a corner and ran into three units which had trapped a group of escapees behind a barricade. Kel flamed them, causing all three to explode. "Get the hell off this station," he yelled at the other group as he and his ran past. More shaking. More impacts. The immortals stopped and stared into space, even the owl. Clio ran over to a viewer embedded in the corridor wall and placed her hand on it. The viewer shimmered as an image formed. Kel and Matt gasped. The image was from a camera mounted on the enclosure wall. It showed the ship hovering in front of the portal. An abomination was emerging from the disk, flowing out of it and filling the space between the portal and the ship.
"By Poseidon's beard!" Minnie whispered. "Someone has unleashed the Kraken."
"I thought the Prohedron was made up of only units," Matt said.
"We all did," Kel explained. "I think we were wrong. We need to hurry."
They ran down corridors toward where the Yosho was docked while station personnel ran by in the opposite direction.
Clio stopped them in front of a double-door pressure lock labeled "Dock 6." Pressing a button on the jam next to it opened the door to show the Yosho Maru waiting inside. "Matt, you and Horus prep the ship for takeoff. Clio, Minnie, with me. We have to make sure the drives are still aboard," Kel said as the five of them ran toward the ship.
"STOP!" someone yelled. This was followed by several warning shots. Kel and the others stopped and turned to find Kellen and Sheila standing there with guns drawn. They were alone and disheveled. "Where's our daughter," Kellen ordered.
"With the emperor," Kel said. "You do know that she's completely mad."
"It's a phase. She'll grow out of it," Kellen said. "Do you know what your friend has done?"
"He opened a portal just as you asked. You do realize that wanting something and having it are two totally different things," Kel replied.
"I thought you could control that thing," Matt noted. "It's not our fault that you're inept."
He and Kel fist-bumped.
"I think it’s time we kill you all," Sheila said.
Kel noted that Horus was gone—probably prepping the ship—while Minnie and Clio positioned themselves between their friends and the Hardies.
"Puhlease," Sheila said. "Savannah told us about you immortals and your non-interference bullshit, so stop trying to bluff us."
"Hey, what does this do?" Horus said from behind them. Kel turned and saw the immortal holding a portable beacon in a clawed hand, it's display showing it set to the lure frequency.
"Don't activate that, fool! You'll kill us all!"
Horus tapped it, causing it to strobe. "Ooops, my bad."
A dozen units streamed in through the open doorway and headed straight for the Hardies. Sheila screamed and closed her eyes, but opened them when she heard explosions. She looked and saw the smoking remains of the units strewn about the docking bay. She and Kellen then noticed the blue light filling the room. Turning, they beheld Matt, his eyes and chest crystal burning blue so bright that it hurt their eyes only to glance at it.
"Get out!" he said in a voice that shook the deck. His companions gave him room as their faces filled with awe and fear.
"What are you?" Kellen asked as he grabbed his mate.
"Death," the Logash said as his eyes flared. The Hardies ran out of the room, leaving the others to stare at their companion.
"That's new," Horus said as he crushed the beacon.
Matt's eyes and chest crystal returned to normal intensity as he dropped to one knee.
"What the hell happened," Minnie asked as she ran over to keep him from hitting the floor.
"I... I think I called for help," he said.
"What does that mean?" Clio asked as she grabbed him by the other arm.
"I honestly don't know. It's not like this body came with an owner's manual."
"Come on, we can check him when we're underway."
After dragging Matt to an upright position, the five boarded the Yosho and prepared for takeoff.
"One drive is still connected and the other two are still in the crate," Kel said as he and the others came forward from the aft hold. "Matt, how are you doing?"
"I'm OK. Don't know what happened back there. Weird," he said as he activated the lifters. "Strap-in. Oh, and could someone cycle the main lock?"
Clio waved her hand. "Inner door opening," she said as the large inner door of the docking bay opened. Matt floated the Yosho into the lock. Once inside, Clio closed the inner door and opened the outer. "You are now free and clear to navigate."
Matt took the Yosho out. "How are you going to find this test area?"
Matt pointed at a blinking dot on the scanner display. "That's Kel's scanner ring. I really need to get one of those."
"Hey, am I crazy, or are all the units following us?" Clio asked.
"Interesting," Kel said. "They're all heading back to the test area. What the hell? Minnie, how's Gus doing?"
"You can tell?" Matt asked.
"Yes, just like Clio can tell how Kel is doing. No doubt Morey is attuned to Savannah, gods help him. As for Gus, he's angry. Very, very angry."
"How much longer?" Kel asked.
"Three minutes, tops," Matt said. "It's coming into view now."
They looked out the forward windows and saw the geodesic sphere. It began to glow.
"Something's wrong," Minnie said. "We have to hurry."
More of the units sped past them, ignoring the Yosho Maru and its passengers. Thousands of units headed toward the test sphere as the Yosho struggled to keep up.
Alarms went off in the cockpit as the forward windscreen darkened. "Gus!" Minnie screamed as the universe blinked.
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
Kellen and Savannah hurried Gus down a corridor lined with airlock hatches. Finally, they stopped at one flanked by two Goranthi guards. "In here," Kellen said.
"Tell me Savannah, how did you get so good at lying to people? You had me and Matt totally convinced of your sincerity. What's your secret?"
"Conviction of purpose. You said you and Matt. What about Kel?"
"He tried to warn us about you," Gus lied. "I've never seen anyone pity another person as much as he did you. It was sad. He is truly worried that you may be the shape of his daughter. I can see why. You need to be truly insane to follow the shit your father threw at you."
She slapped him across the face. "How dare you!" She raised her weapon and pointed it at his head while making a show of adjusting its power.
"Savannah!" Kellen yelled while taking her weapon away, disarming it before handing it back to her. "Go make sure our other guests are squared away."
"But, Father!"
"Go!"
She holstered her weapon before walking back up the corridor. "She gets it from her mother," he said as he opened the door.
"What? The psychosis or the sociopathy?"
Kellen glared at him then gestured for him to enter the lock. On the other side was a small ship, its pilot a wingless male Sokuhl. Once they were seated, the craft took off and headed into space. "When did you know she was lying to you?"
"When she called you a god. I stopped trusting her story when she told us about you leaving her on an abandoned ship in another universe. Parents who would do that would do anything at any cost."
"I read through the history stored in the Memphis probe's database copy. Your government would have never helped us even if it meant the elimination of the swarm from your universe."
"Yeah, we have a thing against genocide. No offense, but I don't think the creator planned for an ending like the one you envision."
"Really? What about your End of Da
ys, Armageddon, the Great Transference, to name a few."
"Read deeper. Those events are brought on by external forces, not some mad man listening to voices from the great beyond. If you want to die so badly, why not just step into an airlock without a suit and set it to quick cycle."
"So, you have a thing against mass death. I find this odd considering your past."
Gus looked at him. "I know, how about we both use the airlock to atone for our sins and past indiscretions? I'm game. How about you?"
"You're bluffing," Kellen said, unsure about this turn of events. "Those people you killed, they were your family."
"No, Glant and his associate killed my family, I just enabled him. I never tried to save myself. I planned to join my family as soon as I prepared the ship for the long sleep. I never expected to survive. It was just bad luck that Starguard was so close. No, I should have died twenty years ago and again when I saw Glant on Alyson."
Kellen just looked at him. They rode the rest of way in silence.
Shortly, they docked with the sphere. While the pilot waited, Kellen walked Gus out to the waiting ship. "We've programmed the coordinates of the chamber's center into the freighter's NAVComp. When you arrive there, call us and we'll walk you through the next steps. Remember, you try anything smart and this part of our universe, and yours, goes boom."
"Copy that," Gus said before entering the ship and locking the hatch behind him.
"You better, Storen," Kellen said as he returned to the shuttle. Once inside, he ordered the pilot to take him to the control center's airlock. "It's show time."
###
Gus sat in the pilot's seat and placed the scanner Kel gave him on the console next to him. He then killed as audio and video feeds originating from the ship. "Scanner, load Logash biocrystal signature into shield modulation data bank. Prepare to modulate shields."
"Working... Ready."
He checked the cockpit layout. It was identical to ones he had worked with back in the League.
"Drive control, recognize Gus."
"Working... Recognized," the drive control computer said.
"Release all locks. Authorization Giselle."
"Authorization accepted. Locks released."
"Drive control, activate portal generator. Set to standby."
"Working... Standing by."
Gus strapped in, then activated the ship's engines and thrusters. Setting the main real-space engines to idle, he brought the thrusters online and floated the ship off the deck he was sitting on. "Now we wait."
He didn't have to wait long. "Gus, this is Kellen. You are go to proceed to the staging area."
"Copy," Gus replied as he engaged the main engines and proceeded to the center of the sphere. When he arrived, he called in. "I've arrived. What now?"
"Activate portal then standby."
"Scanner, report on conditions near ship."
"A beacon sitting thirty meters aft of this ship has activated."
"Probably a lure. Record beacon signature and feed it into the comm system, then standby."
Working... Task complete."
"Activating portal, roger," Gus replied over the comm. "Drive control, activate portal, full power."
A glowing white disk formed a hundred feet in front of the River’s Edge. As it stabilized, thousands of swarm units emerged. Ignoring the River’s Edge, they proceeded to attack the geodesic shell of the containment structure.
"Scanner, time to containment shell failure?"
"Three minutes."
"Drive control, increase portal generator power to one-hundred twenty percent," Gus ordered.
"Working..." The portal grew in size, allowing even more units through.
"River’s Edge, shut down, I repeat, shut down," Kellen ordered over the radio.
"Right," Gus said while turning off the comm system.
"Sir, the beacon has stopped broadcasting," the scanner reported.
"Copy that. Computer, broadcast pattern stored in primary buffer, full power, continuous loop, on my mark. Mark!"
The lights dimmed in sync with the broadcast. Even more units swarmed in.
"Warning, containment breach, containment breach," Scanner reported.
Gus activated the aft cameras and watched as thousands of units left containment and headed toward the station.
"Warning, large body incursion dead ahead."
Gus looked up and saw a horror larger than the River’s Edge, its surface covered with writhing tentacles and the wreckage of countless ships. "Who summons me?" A booming voice asked over the comm system.
Gus sat back and stared at the abomination. Finally, he answered it. "I did, Gustav Curran, son of Nelson Curran. Identify yourself."
"I am Prohedron, and I bring death. I cleanse the universe of all life. Why do you summon me?"
"To destroy you." Gus said. "Drive control, collapse gate and scram the engine. Scanner, activate FTL drive and feed energy output into shield generators. Feed biocrystal signature into shield modulator. Set shield output to one-hundred fifty percent. Standby."
"Working. Ready."
The hull rang as units battered the shields. Gus looked outside and saw units streaming into the enclosure, each heading toward the River’s Edge. Gus keyed the mic. "Prohedron, did you ever wonder what your victims felt like? Well, now you'll know." He reached down and activated the shield modulator. Light poured into the ship as hundreds of units exploded.
Gus said a prayer of passing as the hull rang as pieces of units rained down. Death was only moments away.
And the noise stopped, though light continued streaming in through the windows.
"Nice job, Gus." Bob said from the lounge. He was wearing a Hawaiian shirt, khaki shorts, and deck shoes.
"I taught him well," Sensei said while getting water from the ship's galley.
"Sensei?" Gus said. He unlocked his harness and joined the two immortals. "Sensei, is it really you?"
Sensei gave a small bow. "Yes, Gus, it is I. I came to say goodbye."
"Where are you going?"
The aged immortal nodded in the general direction of the station. "Here. I have much to do."
"I don't understand."
Sensei looked at Bob and bowed his head. "Sensei, here, used to go by the name Coeus, the Titan god of intellect. He was, is, and always will be he who teaches us all."
"Titan? The progenitor of the immortals?" Gus asked.
"He's my uncle," Bob explained.
"Why are you here, in this ship?"
"To save you," Bob said. "You have fulfilled your destiny as the Oracle has predicted. The Prohedron is dead, or will be in the next few milliseconds. You can now go back to your universe and return to your life..."
"What plarking life are you talking about? My family is dead, and I killed them. I should never have given Glant those codes. I should have let him kill me. Instead, I lived, and they died. I have no one. You know what we call lone Storens? Dead."
Bob got up and walked up to Gus. "You have no say in this. You won the fight, and the prize is life. You want to die? You want to screw with the lives and emotions of all the people you've helped over the last twenty years? All the people who call you friend? Then do it on your own time. Oh, and what about Neta? She loves you as much as you love her. Want a family? Start one. One to prove your father wrong. Show him how it's supposed to be done."
Bob had no idea what to say. He watched Sensei walk around the bar to take Bob's place. "Gus, what you did today was difficult, but now you face the impossible—a normal life. Get out of here."
Before Gus could answer. Bob touched his shoulder and the universe winked out.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
The crew of the Yosho Maru found themselves, and their ship, parked next to another ship in a room lit by work lights and strewn with hardened plastic transport cases of various colors. If one looked closely, one could see "Ventos Primed University" stenciled on each container. No one milled about. The room was devoid of life.
Gus was the first to awaken. Stretching and rubbing his eyes, he surveyed the view out the forward windows before picking up Kel's ring. "Scanner, where are we?"
"Working... Quantum spin signature of exterior structures suggests that we have returned to our universe."
"Computer, ship's status."
"Working..." a different voice replied. "All systems in normal-standby mode."
"Our cargo status?"
"Four fully configured dual-drive units—three functional, one scrammed."
"Gus!"
He turned and found himself in Minnie's arms, being hugged to death. He was able to squeak-out, "Hey, Minnie," before she could crush his ribcage.
She released him, then looked him over. "Any injuries?"
"Naw. Just confused."
"My head!" Matt said as he regained consciousness. "Where are we?"
"We're back in our universe," Kel said from the intercom.
"Where are you?" Gus asked.
"Horus, Clio, and I are in the lounge. We've got the League fleet inbound."
"Well, we can't do anything until they get here." He looked out the window "No hatch. This is going to be interesting. At least the portal is closed."
He transferred the comm to the lounge before grabbing Matt and heading aft. On the way, he thought about what Bob and Sensei had said. He realized he had a great deal to think about.
###
Bob looked at the wizened Titan. "Did you know he had all that guilt bottled up inside him?"
"I prefer the term 'Contained." Yes, I knew, but it drove him more fiercely than anything you or I could have said to him. He never realized that he was never alone in all these years, that his friends and clients were his family. You showed him that, Nephew. You should be proud."
"I am. Thank you, Uncle." He looked around the cabin. "Ready for the next step?"
"No, but that has never stopped any of us."
The two disappeared as time returned to normal, and the Prohedron exploded around the ship, destroying it in an instant.
###
Kellen, his family, and their followers stood as a group on the deck of one of the large docking bays of the station, surrounded by people who were once their prisoners. Kellen looked at his captor and yelled, "Finish this shit for we grow bored." Unfortunately, his sentiment was not shared by others in the group.