Tethered Worlds: Star in Bankruptcy

by Gregory Faccone

  “Have you finished the scan yet?”

  “Almost. Please hold off a little longer.”

  The enemy horsemen entered the intersection, spied Barrister's firewall and started forward. Aristahl ordered his horseman to gallop behind and detonate. The tremendous explosion caught the other two in its radius and a hemisphere of white energy flattened a circle of terrain to inactivity.

  “Did you get it?” Aristahl asked.

  “I am not positive I did, sir. Sorry.”

  “We do not have the time or cycles to fight through that wall. How about a literal classic? Trojan horse.”

  “Not exactly a new innovation, sir.”

  “Are you developing a sense of humor at long last? Come now. It is a mindless virus. Cook up two counterfeit static torpedoes. Big ones.”

  Barrister, one of the greatest compies this side of the TransVex strained at what would normally be effortless. Then two samurai horseman exited his firewall.

  “Please protect them, sir. I had to reduce their durability for the sake of the ruse.”

  “They look good. Let us hope their firewall agrees. I need more troops and a blunderbuss-man.”

  Aristahl cantered his two faux samurai up the same path the real ones had taken, although this time troops were running on either side, dispatching ninjas and being dispatched. He was careful to safeguard the blunderbuss-man. With a final surge of troops from Barrister the field up to the enemy's wall was cleared.

  The blunderbuss-man ran up in anticipation. The entrance misted and enemies rushed forward. The blunderbuss fired at point blank range and the entire entrance erupted with vertical flashes of white.

  “Go now,” Aristahl ordered. The faux samurai trotted up to the entrance like they belonged. Their short wait was rewarded when suddenly it misted to admit them. “Left and right. Find the weakest points. Quickly now.”

  “Enemy wall information accessed.”

  After a few seconds two terrific booms shook the ground. Cracks spread across the rock wall allowing shafts of light to shine through. The entire length shattered in cascading failure. The rocks blew outward, turned in fragments of light, and disappeared.

  “There, not so difficult.” The second security firewall beckoned from across terrain much like the first section. But the ground began to rumble, then shift. It undulated, taking new shape. Forming a three level field of rocky tunnels and warrens. “Ah. So the game is being upped.”

  The terrain had become trickier with the addition of another dimension. Enemy ninjas began advancing on the lower level without sufficient cover. He had to hurry troops to a middle level ambush area, and sent two blunderbuss-men as backup. But only half the ninjas entered the ambush, and they seemed ready for it, grabbing what little cover was available and fighting a drawn-out, but hopeless battle.

  Aristahl noticed curious movement around the flanks. “Bring the blunderbuss-men closer just in case. The enemy will not win trickling single forces forward, although they may be able to pick off some of ours.” As his units coalesced, a warning tingled in his head, then moved to his stomach. “Show me the trickling troops.”

  “Interference fog is preventing details.”

  Ninjas on indistinct close-ups were moving as if carrying something. Finally two positioned behind them were clear enough to be seen carrying a rope pulsing with light.

  “A loop! Disband our troops. Have them spread out to the flanks.”

  But the two ninjas brought their ropes together and the loop around his troops was complete. It lit with the brightness of metal fire. The middle tier territory caught within the loop erupted with crackling current. Trapped troops writhed a couple seconds before breaking into light and vanishing upwards. The blunderbuss-men lasted a little longer before bursting into hemispheric explosions.

  “Sorry sir. It is frustrating only being able to serve you with a fraction of my power.”

  “The enemy is acting strange, Barrister. Different. Either it has developed intuition, or...”

  “Yes, I am reading similar changes all the way up the line. I believe a human is now countering us.”

  “On the Jetty?”

  “I cannot tell yet.”

  The loop fried all within it longer than necessary before finally dissipating. In its wake two mounted samurai galloped toward Barrister's fort. They were larger than any yet seen.

  Aristahl compressed his lips. “We need two torpedoes ASAP.”

  “I cannot complete them before those two arrive at my walls.”

  “Then two squads, each with two blunderbuss-men. Quickly now.” Aristahl surveyed the landscape. “How can your vast power be so hobbled? Nothing on this Jetty can even sit in your shadow.”

  “Someone has coded much of the Jetty into an array. The design not only co-opts local processors, but binds them together acting as, dare I say, an Octal's violator AI.”

  Through some baiting tactics of his own, Aristahl played on the zeal of their opponent who was too anxious to score a hit with those super samurai. They took incidental fire along the way, but near the walls were ambushed by the two pair of blunderbuss-men. The torpedoes ruptured, spewing streaks of light, but the explosions were less than they should be...

  “If we are to move this forward—” Aristahl was interrupted by two giant creatures forming at the heart of the two torpedo explosions.

  They were slug-like, with multiple pairs of legs. Their segmented bodies were comprised of shiny red armor. They thrashed about, destroying everything they touched, and moved toward Barrister's first firewall.

  “Penetrators. You surely would have seen that coming had I been able to provide you with better information.”

  “We have stepped into a scheme more elaborate than imagined,” Aristahl said. “But I doubt they are prepared for us. Pull your real wall back on the left side and generate a convincing facade. Leave a bastion proxy in there for our over-anxious opponent. How are your no-mans-land defenses on the right?”

  “Solid, sir.”

  “Alright. It is time to prepare a little turnabout.” Aristahl shook his head and got to work between the walls. “Someone believing they can beat the brain of Equisterra like this is as deluded as the poor Bitlord.”

  The right side was hit first. Wood splinted under the mammoth bug's onslaught. The left side, just a facade, crumbled quickly, but a gaping maw was revealed underneath. It pulled like a collapsed sun. One could avoid bastion proxies with careful advancement. Their opponent was not careful.

  The slug realized it was caught, but too late. It dragged its feet, chewing up the terrain, but could not stop its fall into the pit. The cogitation of a bastion proxy was prepared ahead of time. Calculating an on the fly escape was untenable. The slug roared down into the pit, sheared apart as it was crunched. A blast of light burst from the opening into the sky, then the bastion proxy faded.

  “Destruction complete,” Barrister said, with a touch more justice in his voice. “Preparations ready on the right.”

  The other penetrator proceeded with more caution, eventually breaking down the wall. It moved in, facing groups of troops who fell back in waves rather than be destroyed. The monster just looked to destroy, it never saw the troops slipping around its flank. They were carrying a rope with energy coursing through it.

  “Now Barrister.” The rope came alive, crackling as if made of lightning. Everything within its circumference was fractured into pieces of light. The slug came apart from the ground up, until its roaring head was silenced. “A loop for a loop.”

  But a daunting stretch of three-level terrain still lie between them and the second security wall.

  “Shall I generate more troops?” the AI asked.

  Aristahl brought up VADs and checked information not directly linked to the thresh.

  “You know, Barrister, perhaps we have been going about this the wrong way. I believe it is not Kord's nor Jordahk's approach that will win this day. The Jetty's computer systems are old and lack the latest security.
Our opponent has been taking advantage of that. We need to as well. We need to out-crack him.”

  “But sir! Me crack a legitimate system?”

  “Access the files of Jordahk's friend. That Cranium fellow. I surmise he has much of use to us here. Quickly now.”

  “Yes, he has many exploits that can corrupt the Jetty's systems.”

  “Will you need me to create new functionality?”

  “No, I can do it.”

  “Do not sulk, Barrister. Our cause is just. And turnabout is fair play.” The three-tiered terrain came alive with ninjas and cannoniers. In the distance two Samurai began a slow trot in their direction. “We are not playing their game any more. Take the ground out from under them.” The lower tier shook until its surface cracked and blackened. The upper tier darkened and began to crumble away in chunks. “Leave a strip above for our units. Is it taking too much out of you?”

  “Only my pride,” the AI answered.

  “Then calculate a few blunderbuss-men, followed by as many torpedoes as we can manage.”

  The lower tier pushed up, merging with the middle. And only a strip of earth remained of the upper tier. A strip that Aristahl sent their blunderbuss-men and horsemen over. The ninjas fired up in vain, hitting more rock than troops. The cannoniers fared little better. And where enemy fire did become too thick, a blunderbuss-man would jump off the strip into the crowd below and fire. The chained explosions of packed enemy units were spectacular.

  The second security wall appeared to be stripping in thin layers due to Barrister's cracking. Revealed beneath were technical visualizations that broke the veneer. Aristahl sent the three torpedo horsemen into equidistant positions across the wall. The bright hemispheric explosions ate holes all the way through. The rest stripped down into a grid pattern before shattering into light.

  “How can our opponent be so unprepared for his own tactics?” Aristahl asked. “Such hubris. Like the Bitlord.”

  Ahead, a grand, central plateau was revealed. Numerous valleys fed into it. Suspended far off the ground on a tower of iron beam work was a dark shape. Its composition of moving squares covered a bright core whose light peaked out randomly. Tendrils twisted with racing daubs of energy grew off the shape and down every valley. A single, thick tendril emerged from its top and disappeared into the sky. It was the most active with lights flowing in both directions.

  “That is the hub of the infection,” Barrister said.

  “A planted transceiver hardwired into the Jetty? That is how the corruption is so adaptable. Someone on the other end is actively generating whatever is necessary to quash the piddling efforts of local bitsmiths.”

  “If we destroy it, I can send my antidote down every valley, to every galleon, to every corner of the Jetty.”

  Aristahl nodded. “Good. Then let—”

  Suddenly black slabs dropped from the sky. They slammed to the surface and the ground reared from the impact. Thunderous booms filled the attached valleys. The slabs continued falling, forming a maze over every meter of the central plateau. The onyx slabs were as thick as dams, and pulsed with lines of energy.

  “These slabs are already corrupted. Our advantage is neutralized,” Barrister said.

  A laugh cackled down from the core of moving squares. It echoed through every dark maze corridor.

  “Oh, you're good!” a man said. “This has been priceless entertainment, but now it ends. After all, I need to earn my price.”

  A horde of enemy units poured from the closest maze entrance and formed up.

  “Capt. Benziger,” Aristahl said. “Have all non-galleon hands abandon station.”

  Chapter Thirty Two

  Jordahk had made his decision and was burning up space to arrive in time.

  “But what do we do when we get there?” Max asked.

  “Yes, what are we going to do?” Zoraida cracked. “I don't know how you're doing all these tricks, but I won't have my life thrown away because of your misguided bravado.”

  “It's not bravado,” Jordahk retorted.

  “Oh, should I have said foolishness? How about stupidity!”

  Jordahk looked long and hard at one of the gold panels on the command console. The distance to the group of ships embroiled in combat to the death was fast ticking down.

  “Are you sure we want to do that?” Max asked. “Surely Khai steered us away from those systems for good reason.”

  “Can you think of something better?”

  “I can,” Zoraida said. “Turn around.”

  His wrist came alive with a burst of activity.

  “Whoa.”

  Micro-lights danced across the ceramic looking construction of a legendary compy.

  “He lives!” Wixom exclaimed. “Waxad has not been destroyed.”

  “My communication array is being overridden,” Aurora said.

  “Wixom!”

  “A dense coded packet of information is being transmitted to the Aventicia nexus,” she continued.

  Jordahk held the compy up to a face flushing with sudden heat. Frustration from the space battle overflowed into a desire to mete out justice.

  “I told you to never mess with Aurora's systems!”

  In a flash his mind traveled into the machine. The rapidity surprised even him. His presence stood facing Wixom's first firewall. It was composed of the thickest logs Jordahk had ever seen. His presence formed a body, and it raised its right fist in fiery indignation. Energy began to swirl around it. Bright particles and curves of light concentrated, pulling from his own strength. It felt like enough power to shatter a mountain. He thrust his fist forward and the phenomenon coalesced into an arc of force before it. This hemisphere of destruction streaked for the wall, rending asunder the ground along its path.

  Barriers of different materials slid in from the sides, and slammed down from above in front of the firewall. The arc shattered the first, blasted the second apart, and bored through the third to impact the firewall like a thunder-crack. Though incredibly strong, it wasn't infinitely strong. The mighty timbers were cracked, and appeared scorched as the force ebbed.

  “What in space are you doing up there sonny?” Jhapa said. “I can feel that from down here. Don't we have enough enemies out there to fight?”

  The additional buttressing fell into place again, albeit a little slower than last time.

  “I can do this all day, Quest,” Wixom said. “Can you?”

  Jordahk knew it was a bluff, but that... that fist of fury had taken a lot out of him.

  “I don't want to destroy you.”

  He was pretty sure that Judicum and Ohrias, housed in the neumenium coupling, would survive. But Max was within Wixom's confines.

  “Before your anger grows too hot and we both end up in something we'll regret,” the AI said, “let me remind you of my agreement with Aristahl at the start of our... partnership. I promised to protect you both as long as it did not run afoul of my master's alpha loop directives. Only he will be able to access the information I've sent. Your secrets are safe from any eyes other than his.”

  Jordahk took a mental step back, centered his thoughts in his forehead using the old Kraytcian technique, and was back on the bridge.

  “Good to have you back,” Max said.

  Zoraida scowled back at him. “What are you, a closet link-head?”

  “Any more alpha loop directives about to kick in?” Jordahk asked.

  “Hard to foresee with him out there. I'm exerting considerable restraint not commandeering the Aurora and pursuing him.”

  “Are you out of her systems?”

  “I am.”

  Jordahk didn't trust the machine. But perhaps the safest place for it was right on his wrist where it could be monitored. Where nothing lie between them behind which to hide. He would attend to Waxad later, for he could never lose hope that there would be a later.

  Somehow the encounter left him with more resolve. The gold panel still beckoned as they approached a desperate space battle fast turni
ng against his side. He thrust a palm onto the panel and counter-rotating circles of Sojourner runes bloomed in the air.

  He had seen them before on Judicum, and the man who traveled by starchair. But deciphering them, unlocking their personal puzzle this way was new. He recalled his father's advice and relaxed, letting the system look at him and allowing the intent of the rune layers to manifest.

  “Are those... What's going on?” Zoraida asked.

  Jordahk could spare no concentration to answer. The runes were complex, and required energy to work through. He understood them only through intuition, and pushed away doubts that it might not be enough.

  “I cannot help you with this authorization, Jordahk,” Aurora said. “You must initialize these systems.”

  It was difficult. The AIs and Zoraida were watching him. He even sensed Jhapa watching him. He didn't need the pressure. Then a layer peeled back, and that success bred more. He started seeing into the cross-keel system. It was lined with an array of grav impellers similar to what he'd seen on the fireship at Windermere.

  Why does the cross-keel run perpendicular to the ship? Why point out to the sides?

  He would understand more at activation. He knew it did something strong, and that's what their outgunned forces needed right now. The rune layers peeled back faster, and connected systems energized. The control stalks pulled at his essence, each wanting the whole him, but only wresting half.

  “These systems are drawing so much.”

  “Cross-keel reactor coming online,” Aurora said.

  The system has its own reactor?

  Power poured in and the cross-keel came alive, distorting space beyond its poles. Dimensional sheering began to create a light show on either side of the ship.

  “We're reconfiguring again,” Max said.

  The nacelles, currently angled down and back, raised to even with the central fuselage. Undulating light traced in front of their leading edge forming flat protrusions. They gripped space with dimensional sheering like an airfoil in atmosphere, and felt as deadly as the avian's cutting edge. The wings desired to spread farther, and the effect wanted to wrap around the front of the ship.