The Tethys Report (The Rise of the Chirons Book 1)

by Rian Davis

  “We both know that’s not going to happen,” I said sadly. “You could help them, you know? Instead of doing all this killing, you could do some real good things.”

  “What did I say about the morality talk? I’m not interested. You live, you die—that’s it. That’s what the world has come to. There’s nothing after we die, just like there was nothing before it. Maybe the Chirons have some answers, who knows?”

  “So that’s your plan. You’re going to try to look at their technology to find out the secrets of humanity. Then when you’ve harnessed their power, you can speed things up and clear everyone out so that you and your fellow Gaia can claim the Earth for yourselves.”

  “Something like that,” he replied. “There are quite a few details that you don’t need to know about both in the plan and its execution that will remain hidden for now. But make no mistake, we are going to be the ones who inherit the Earth. Don’t worry, we won’t harm those we won’t have to. All of the poor yeoman farmers, those whose lives were made difficult by the ‘do gooders’ you choose to protect, we won’t actively seek to harm them at all.”

  “But what are they going to do if say, the European nations collapse? Who is going to provide them trade and energy to water their fields, water their plants produce the food they eat? Floods and drought will still afflict them. Now they’ll have to face them alone.”

  “Everyone will have to face those problems. We aren’t going to save them either. That’s not our mission. We’re merely here to make sure that the ones who should inherit the Earth shall, and the meek and the weak will not. That is all. It’s already been happening. Look around you. Those people back in Florida? Where do you think they’ll be in twenty years? The children will either die off or move to the city to provide some useful function. If they aren’t useful they’ll die of starvation. We’re not doing anything radical here. No, we’re actually the only sound change agent that makes sense in an already cruel world.”

  “But you won’t allow the most people to survive, only yourselves. You’re going to kill far more to save far fewer.”

  “And that is how nature intended it,” he said smiling. “You’ve had your fun. We’ve got to get going now. The ice cap is closing up. Dark season is upon us.”

  He turned to the men who held their guns pointed at us and said, ”It’s time for my fellow soldiers to take out my little friends here. Try not to damage the suit he is in. I don’t care what condition the two inside are in once the smoke clears.”

  I knew talk time was over. I didn’t wait for them to attack. Instead, I moved forward to charge, experiencing for the first time how fast the suit could go. I had been able to navigate propulsion through the difficult lake below with few problems. I found that flying through the freezing air was far easier. As I leapt to take flight, I felt that Z4 was in motion as well.

  Chapter 19

  All twenty-five soldiers fired simultaneously at me, despite the order not to harm the suit. Loud metal clanging noises mixed with the cold, dry sound of the furious winds that blew onto us at a temperature that was approaching minus fifty degrees due to it already being nighttime. The soldiers were all in white uniforms that were insulated from the cold. This might have been a problem with normal vision. I was easily able to track them with the suit.

  “I’m going to return fire. Here goes nothing.” I fired from the electrometric gun on my fists and struck three soldiers in the middle, hitting them with enough force to knock three of them down. The damage was showing strains on the shields. I moved to ameliorate the force from the bullets by shifting to the left but did not avoid too many shots as they were very good marksmen. The soldiers began to aim more carefully, especially at my head. I heard sounds of strain coming from the suit.

  “I’m going to have to be more aggressive,” I said to Z4.

  “Good. I was starting to get worried. I’m going to have to do the same.”

  I didn’t want to harm them. I didn’t want to harm anybody, which was strange since I was a soldier. I knew I had to do it, however.

  “I’m not confident in maintaining my ability of maneuvering in flight, Z4.” I flew through the air trying frantically to avoid their bullets. I knew that my shield would easily protect me, but I was afraid of expending too much energy to block them.

  “Just do it like you did in the water. It shouldn’t’ be too different.”

  Unsure of myself, I fired an extra magnetic burst to fly away much quicker than before, and found it much easier than I had expected, and even easier at first than moving through the water. Air is much easier to fly through. I rose up to a distance of ten meters and started firing in longer bursts. Z4 fired too this time. It was his first aggressive action. Our attacks pushed back ten of them. The rest started to take cover now. There were twelve left. Two had panicked and started to run. Alex who had been observing the whole time from his Snow Cat ordered two men with long rifles to shoot them. Their bodies crumpled in the distance. Ten were now left. They seemed to take the hint that they shouldn’t stop fighting.

  At that moment a dark form appeared above us all. It looked like a giant metallic squid. It used propulsion rockets to maintain its height.

  “What the hell is that?” I said.

  “Unknown. It seems to be some kind of large aircraft with enormous power and weapons I’m not familiar with. There are numerous smaller ships inside. It’s a carrier of some sort.”

  “Greetings. I am Tethys,” a voice said. It was neither male nor female. “I thank you for your ability to challenge me thus far. It has been quite profitable for me. But now your time is at an end.”

  “At least it’s polite,” I said.

  “It’s definitely AI.”

  “Yes, it’s one of their super AI drone carrier ships. I didn’t know they speak like this. They’re notorious for killing large numbers of people. They call it ‘cleansing’ of course. They’re mostly used in repressive countries. Though I wouldn’t be surprised if they were used by my government. Since the media now is pretty much controlled, it wouldn’t surprise me at all.”

  The AI carrier ship hovered menacingly in front of us. Its massive form measured at least thirty meters all around, not including wingspan. Below it, the ten remaining soldiers gave up their efforts to shoot us. They withdrew, and even Alex didn’t seem to object as he backed away too. Everyone knew what the ship was capable of. It was just us left.

  “If COG has these things at its disposal, then we’re in big trouble.”

  “This is my last warning, Jake Bloom and Alan Aspect. Do you submit to my authority?”

  I looked over at Z4. He simply hovered in the air in silence.

  “Where is Jen?” I shouted. I knew my magnetic wave enhancers had amplified my voice, but I also knew that the AI carrier ship would already be able to hear what I said.

  “I understand your response as a negative. Prepare to meet my judgment,” it said.

  “Jake, watch out,” Z4 said.

  The energy burst came so fast, I barely had time to respond. Luckily, I had powered up my shield to quite a level that I was spared destruction. Instead, the attack knocked me back until I took evasive maneuvers.

  “Your suit’s power is being used. Although it can replenish from the earth’s magnetic sphere, flying and absorbing the hits at the same time can’t go on forever,” Z4 said while he maneuvered next to me. He was under assault too. “I’m getting hit now quite hard. Try to do something to reduce the strain or I few we’ll be in big trouble.”

  “I understand,” I replied. “I’m going to try to take the fight to Alex. Where is Jen? I don’t detect her?”

  “I’m not sure as well. It’s possible they’ve hidden her somehow.”

  With the carrier ship still firing smart missile and its ion cannon at us both, I moved towards the Snow Cat Alex was in by flying through the air. Bullets were hitting me at the rate of about two per second from the carrier and remaining ten soldiers who had begun to fire from covered pos
itions. I shot a force wave to test it out. I huge blast of static electricity shot out from the entire suit at the soldiers, smashing all of the ones who were bunched together. Only three remained, but then I caught a huge burst of an emp pulse head on.

  “Oh my god. This thing is more powerful than I imagined. My shields are down.”

  “I’ll pick up the slack,” said Z4, firing at the carrier. I fell to the ground near where I had fired at the soldiers. I was sickened to see the ruined bodies on the snow. The three who remained still did not give up and shot at me. I held my attack for the moment.

  “I can’t find Alex. He must have a way of jamming us.”

  “I’m pointing out his last location on your screen. Please have a look.” Z4 for the moment kept the thing distracted.

  I saw the outline of the Snow Cat he had been on. But it was not there now. I moved for it. That’s when I saw the helicopter.

  “He must be on that. I didn’t detect it before. What’s going on? How is he blocking us from seeing him?”

  “I don’t know,” replied Z4. “It’s got me worried too. I’m under heavy assault. I’ll need help very soon.” At that moment, the carrier released about twenty drones, each carried machine guns and smart missiles. The danger was they could swarm us and overwhelm our defensive capabilities.

  “OK. I’m coming back to you. Alex can wait for now. This Tethys is giving us its full attention now.

  “This has gone on long enough. Full capabilities, enabled.”

  “Z4, watch out. They’re coming for you. Back off!”

  “I’m trying. These things are fast,” he said moving directly away from the carrier. I moved towards them both, flying directly at an angle for the carrier, hoping it would redirect its fire at me. It worked—partially. The drones mostly stayed on Z4, but the carrier fired its own missiles and ion cannons at me. I counted four cannons. Their projectile attacks were very fast. I was hit several times, but luckily my shields held.

  I took evasive action after taking some internal damage. Bolts of pain flew through my body. I screamed. The energy had penetrated the shields and affected my health in a very painful way.

  “Z4, we can’t win this. Follow me. I have an idea.”

  “Got it. I’ll try to keep up.” Z4 was flying further away from the drones that were in hot pursuit. I managed to jet a burst of speed past them all towards an area off the Antarctic coast, which I flew towards at a dizzying rate.

  “Just follow me. I’m a geologist. I know where I’m going,” I said sounding more confident than I felt—as usual.

  “Help me out a bit, Jake. I can’t take many more missile strikes. I’ll need time to recharge.”

  “I’m on it. I’ll try to attack some of the drones. It seems the carrier is too slow to keep up. Let’s keep the drones occupied and handle them first.”

  “Got it.” I noticed he was slowing down. The damage was taking its toll.

  “Come here, you bastards!” I said as I fired at the drones from behind. About five took evasive maneuvers to face me, but the rest focused on Z4.

  I managed to knock down about ten drones with quick magnetic bursts that fried their internal circuitry.

  “Where are we going?” asked Z4 once we reached the coast. The cold ocean was crashing against the melting ice, pounding away the coast with every wave.

  “Follow me, we’re going to head for the underground Himalayas.”

  “The what?”

  We penetrated the ocean surface with the drones close behind. Unluckily, they were of the kind that could go underneath the water. In front of us was a topographical grid that illuminated a huge mountain.

  “Head for that underwater mountain.”

  “What’s the plan,” asked Z4. “Our shields are degraded underwater. We can’t take many hits.”

  “Trust me. You’ll find out soon.” The drones closed in firing the missiles, which came at us so fast, I could barely evade them.

  “Follow me. We’re heading for the mountain.” Above me there was a huge splash as the carrier ship entered the ocean. It was coming after us with a vengeance. It fired a continual barrage of missiles and EMP bursts. The EMP bursts were similar to the magnetic beams we fired with our suits, but it couldn’t penetrate the water very well. The missiles were another store as they locked in on us and moved in quickly.

  “We’re almost at the mountain. There’s a hole inside it. I don’t think they’ll be able to navigate inside.”

  “OK I’m right behind you. I don’t think we’ll make it.”

  He was right. The drones were closing in on us. We had about one hundred meters left to make before the hole in the mountain. We were approaching the very top and moved towards the middle of it.

  “Here we go. We’ve reached the tip. Just follow me down.”

  “I’m trying.” Z4 just barely avoided a missile that slammed into the mountain ridge next to us. More missiles followed, and rocks and dust swept past us as we made our ways downward. Several drones disintegrated in the shockwaves of the explosions and others were pummeled by the debris.

  “There’s about twenty of them left chasing after us.”

  “Are we at the hole you mentioned yet? I’m getting worried.”

  “We’re almost there Z4.” I was aware of the presence of the carrier behind us. It hung like a shadow.

  “I can see him now. I’m going after him.”

  “Watch out for the winds. The driver of that helicopter must have been very brave to make this flight.”

  I was in the air approaching the helicopter, moving at a rapid rate of acceleration—perhaps too much so that I would overshoot. Despite my best efforts, I was zig-zagging terribly as the wind was interrupting all attempts at flying straight. I used the visual overlay to navigate the winds currents. It was a problem of turbulence that had not been solved by modern physics. Yet here I was making a path through the cruel wind patterns.

  The escaping helicopter for its part did its best to avoid me. At first it fired rockets at me. Those proved ineffective. Even if there hadn’t been wind, I was too small of a target. After that failed, it tried the machine guns attached to its front. Those proved equally ineffective if not more so since the negative propulsion slowed the helicopter down.

  As I flew more with the Golem suit, the better at controlling its velocity I got. Something inside of me was attaching itself to this suit. I could feel it happening. It was like how fencers say their sabre is an extension of their arms. I could feel myself becoming. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it yet.

  “I’ve gripped the landing gear of the helicopter. I don’t want to hold onto it too much because I’m afraid I’ll damage it. We’re still far away from any base.”

  “I’m detecting a base nearby actually.”

  “It’s not one of ours then, is it?”

  “Probably not. It’s out in the middle of the frozen waste. There’s no shelter from the wind or anything. I can’t imagine they’d have any other purpose than to access the lake.”

  “That base must be where they attacked us from. I wish I had known about its presence from the beginning.”

  “I’ve read your thoughts. Yes, it seems it would have been very helpful. It seems to me that this Kraftberger character is a really shady bloke.”

  “Indeed,” I replied. “Here goes nothing.”

  As gently as I could, I pulled on the helicopter with my Golem suit. It didn’t work out well. The helicopter was like a tethered beast. I was worried I’d rip off the landing gear if I pulled too hard. Instead, I reached for the door. The handle was too small to operate with my grip. It was two fingered, of course. Somehow it could accommodate my five fingers since the two finger space was much larger. It was a strange fit to say the least. Somehow it adapted to my hand too—call me crazy but I felt that way.

  The person next to the door held it tight to keep it closed. I pounded on it with the goal of opening it up. Eventually a hole appeared and I could detect quite a bit of pani
c inside.

  “Jake, we’re close to the base where they wanted to land. I’m picking up some activity. I think they’ve called for help. Other helicopters approaching.”

  At that moment, I witnessed something terrible. On the other side of the helicopter, Jen was forcibly pushed out. I immediately let go and chased after her. Her body disappeared in the mist. She was probably too cold and the pressure was too low to waste breath on screaming.

  “Z4, keep an eye on her. I’ve got to keep focused on her so I don’t loser her.”

  “I’ve got it. At the rate she’s falling, she’ll hit the ground in fifteen seconds.”

  “I’m going to speed up a bit.”

  “Be careful. If you go too fast, you may damage its integrity. This suit is not invincible.”

  “I’ve got it. That carrier is just behind us and—”

  I swerved to avoid more missiles. We were just meters away from the hole that was not yet showing up on my view screen. I knew it was there nonetheless.

  “I have been hit,” Z4 said.

  “Z4 hold on. We’re almost there.”

  He didn’t respond. Instead, he disappeared from my enhanced sensory view screen. I could see nothing with my regular vision of course. I noticed some of the drones moved after him, they’re buzzing machinery disappearing down the watery murk.

  The carrier descended towards me with the perpetual motion of death. It flashed a screen of a face on the front. I had to use the enhanced sensory system of the Golem suit to see it, but it wasn’t a face I could recognize. Perhaps it was an AI rendered image of the Tethys goddess. It had a sweetly calming look, as if I was staring at an image of Mother Mary.

  I slowed down, unsure of what I was doing. Perhaps I was getting lulled into a hypnotic trance. Perhaps not. I sensed the new missiles, more lethal than before. That snapped me out of it. There were enough explosives to take everything else out in the area—not quite nuclear level but something not far behind.