The Messenger Box Set: Books 1-6

by J. N. Chaney

  Amy turned wide eyes to Dash. “The Archetype uses a black hole as a power source?”

  He shrugged. “Apparently. I don’t pretend to understand the details, though.”

  “The next iteration of the Creators’ innovative energy is in those molds across the bay,” Custodian said. “They are yet unused, but I can tell you that they will not be silent for long.”

  “What are they for?” Dash asked.

  “Those on the left side are standard ship replacement parts. This facility can make any part for any craft in the registry. Indeed, I can upload the schematics for your ship, the Slipwing—with your permission, of course. With enough power and material, every replacement part installed in your craft will be a near-permanent upgrade.”

  “Huh. A lifetime warranty.” Dash gave an enthusiastic nod. “I like the sound of that.”

  “As long as your life doesn’t end,” Viktor grumbled.

  “Let me have my moment, okay?” Dash said. “What other parts can this place make, Custodian?”

  “Fabrication is not limited to merely parts,” Custodian answered. “It can also craft weapons. Specifically, the Forge is on the cusp of being able to manufacture siege guns, and plus-light missiles with truly devastating yields. With some additional power—and Dark Metal—the next level of creation will be Lancets.”

  Dash glanced at the others, then said, “Okay, I’ll bite. Lancets?”

  “Small attack craft with light armor, a heavy punch, and incredible speed. They have proven virtually impossible to hit with standard weapons of any kind, save gravity disruptors, which the Golden used primarily on stars. The Lancets were too small for the Golden to fight individually, but when they came together in formation, the Golden did not hesitate to use their own version of the Lens on them, often to deadly effect.”

  “What happened to these Lancets?” Leira asked. “Are there any left?”

  “No. But in the time I have been waiting for the Messenger to arrive, I have run subroutines that have added design elements to the Lancet that will make them even more effective in future battles. Rest assured, short of using a Lens, the Lancets will be superb, almost undefeatable, short-range attack craft.”

  “Yeah, I was waiting for that,” Conover said.

  “Waiting for what?” Custodian asked.

  “A flaw,” Conover said, shrugging. “This Lancet sounded too good to be true. You give up range in favor of speed and weapons.”

  “Every weapon is a compromise of sorts,” Custodian replied. “The Archetype is a notable exception, and that is why I have brought you here—to see the true purpose of this place and possibly to give you something that I do not need, but you do.”

  “Which is?” Dash asked.

  Custodian’s answer was short but carried great weight. “Hope.”

  They moved deeper into the fabrication bay. It struck Dash that this place, by itself, would make just about every shipyard in known space obsolete. Since conventional ships—that is, the ones not created by the Unseen—didn’t use Dark Metal, there really was no end to the parts and components that could be manufactured here. The same would be true for Unseen tech, for which the only choke point seemed to be Dark Metal stocks.

  As they walked around the tall central tower and its profusion of radiating pipes and conduits, Dash said, “So the Archetype was made here, right? Which means it could make more of them?”

  “Yes,” Custodian replied, “with a sufficient supply of Dark Metal.”

  Dash gave himself a nod. Yup—a supply of Dark Metal was the choke point for sure.

  “Okay, we keep throwing that term around, Custodian,” Viktor said, eyeing something that looked like a massive overhead crane with myriad fittings for gripping parts. “What, exactly, is Dark Metal?”

  “It is a synthetic material created by the Golden in the first iteration of the war. Its manufacture involves the use of dark energy, together with alloys fabricated with very specific combinations of metals arranged in unique and precise crystal structures. The specific technical details are complex, involving physical and chemical principles with which you would be wholly unfamiliar. In essence, it represents the core of both the Creators’ technology, as well as that of the Golden. In fact, the Meld that joins you to Sentinel and the Archetype, Messenger, is basically an expression of the properties of Dark Metal—and that is itself only a small part of its potential.”

  Dash held up a hand. “That’s all very well and fine, Custodian. We don’t need all the specifics right now. If Viktor’s interested, he can do some homework on his own time.”

  Viktor gave Dash a wry smile and a nod. “I think I will.”

  “In the meantime,” Dash went on, “what I think we’re getting from this is that we need Dark Metal to make more Unseen tech here, including more Archetypes. We don’t have enough, though, so we would have to arrange to get more. But it’s more a Golden thing than an Unseen one, so if we try to make it, it’s going to be a long, slow process.”

  “That is essentially correct.”

  “So we need to salvage it,” Conover said, “or even steal it from the Golden.”

  “Kind of like how the Unseen stole it from them in the first place,” Amy said. They turned to her, but she raised her hands. “Hey, I’m not judging. That was just an observation. I’m glad they stole it from those Golden assholes. And I’ll happily steal more.”

  “Again, that is all essentially correct,” Custodian said. “Indeed, with sufficient Dark Metal, it would not only be possible to complete more Archetypes, but to manufacture even more powerful weapons and systems which were conceptualized by the Creators, but never actually constructed. However, we do not possess sufficient Dark Metal for that. The small amount you were able to salvage from the Golden probe, Messenger, will allow for some relatively minor upgrades to the Archetype, which itself remains incomplete.”

  “What do you mean, incomplete?” Dash asked. “Do you mean there’s more than just power cores missing from it?”

  “The power cores themselves incorporate Dark Metal. Some of those were manufactured even after the Archetype was rendered dormant, which is why they were dispersed to remote outposts. The Creators saw it as a means of confounding the Golden. To answer your question—yes, there are components and capabilities that could be added to the Archetype, should sufficient Dark Metal be obtained.”

  “And by obtained, you mean gathered up the same way Dash did from the wreckage of that probe,” Leira said.

  “Once more, that is correct.”

  “So we’re going to be looking for Golden tech,” Dash said, nodding. “Especially damaged or destroyed Golden tech.”

  Conover caught his eye and nodded. “Like the sort of tech you might find in an ancient battlefield full of wrecked ships.”

  “And now you understand the context to the decision you must make about that distant signal,” Custodian said. “There is a good chance that the debris from that ancient battle will contain Dark Metal—potentially significant quantities of it. If that could be retrieved and brought back to this facility—”

  “Then we could get all of these machines running, make more parts for the Archetype, or maybe even make new Archetypes,” Dash finished, looking around at the silent facility.

  “Lancets, too,” Leira said. “Or maybe even some of those even more powerful things Custodian hinted at.”

  Dash looked around the fabrication facility one more time, then turned to his friends. “Okay, gang, that seems to clinch it, doesn’t it? We need to go to that battlefield, see what’s there, find all the Dark Metal we can, and bring it back here.”

  “That would be the hope Custodian was talking about.”

  They all looked at Kai, who’d said it after quietly listening to the whole exchange.

  Dash gave him an appreciative nod, but turned to Viktor. “You’re kind of the devil’s advocate in the group, Viktor.” As Viktor opened his mouth, Dash raised a hand. “I’m not complaining. In fact, you ju
st keep right on doing that—pointing out the downsides to the stuff we plan. It makes us less likely to miss something that’ll bite us later. Anyway, Viktor, what do you think about doing this?”

  “Actually,” he replied, “I have to agree it’s probably our best course of action. Like Kai said, it gives us some hope we might not otherwise have. I think what Custodian’s really saying here is that all of this amazing tech around us is basically useless without more Dark Metal.”

  “Aside from manufacturing ordinary spacecraft parts,” Amy said.

  “Right. So, yes, I think we really have no choice but to check out that old battlefield, because it’s probably our best chance of getting our hands on the stuff.” Viktor rubbed his chin. “We just have to remember that something has come at least partly back to life there. Something quite likely powerful, and dangerous. And it doesn’t just represent a threat to us. Remember that there seems to be a settlement there, too.”

  “Indeed, it would be tragic to inadvertently put those settlers in the way of harm they have no hope of defeating,” Kai said.

  “Yeah, those are all good points,” Dash replied. “Custodian, can you tell us anything more about that system from your deep scan? About the signal, or the wreckage, or the colony?”

  “I unfortunately have little more information to provide.”

  “That’s okay,” Leira said. “I have an idea, Dash, about how we can learn more about that colony, and we don’t even have to leave the Forge to do it.”

  He narrowed his eyes at her. “How could you possibly do that, when all of this Unseen super tech can’t?”

  “Simple,” she replied, grinning. “I’m not going to use Unseen tech.”

  Dash gave her a knowing smile. “I like the way you’re thinking.”

  Dash leaned over Leira, trying to see past her shoulder at the Slipwing’s comm display. It was just like old times, he thought, being jammed into the cockpit like this. And that gave him a bit of a pang. He and the Slipwing had been through a lot, but he felt like he’d been neglecting her of late, like a kid with a shiny new toy in the Archetype, no longer interested in the time-worn old one that had taken him through so much.

  He reached across and touched a structural member arching across the cockpit roof. Don’t worry, old girl. I haven’t forgotten you, he thought.

  “There,” Leira announced, pointing at the display and leaning back. “I thought there might be more on the Needs Slate.”

  Dash studied the data Leira had retrieved. Sure enough, the Needs Slate—a real-time bulletin board advertising jobs that couriers like him and Leira could bid on—had several jobs related to the settlement called Gulch. More importantly, these included background information on the place.

  “Good idea, this. Checking the Needs Slate is—well, commerce never sleeps,” Dash said.

  “I think we’re all getting a little too wowed by all of this alien super-technology,” she replied. “We can’t forget our own stuff can still be valuable.”

  “There’s a lesson here, true.” Dash reached past her to scroll through the entries. “Okay, so almost ten thousand people in Gulch. It looks like they live in a series of connected, communal domes that keep out the…aw, crap, jungle again?” He scowled. “We just did jungle. Almost lost Conover due to the terrain. I’d hoped for something more manageable.”

  “That’s not the most important part, Dash.” Leira tapped another entry. “Here, look at this. A cargo broker has posted a job ferrying orbital stabilizers to Gulch.” She looked at Dash. “You don’t use orbital stabilizers on a planet’s surface. You use them in, well, orbit. That means this settlement, Gulch, is going to put something up around their planet. A space station, probably, based on the number and type of stabilizers. They probably want to get access to more deep-space traffic.”

  “That being the case,” Custodian said through the Slipwing’s comm, “there is a good chance whatever Golden technology has reactivated in the system will act in accordance with their imperatives. It will, if it can, seek to immediately destroy the settlement utterly.”

  “Well, I guess that makes it pretty simple,” Leira said. “We have to go to Gulch now, don’t we? We not only need whatever Dark Metal we can scrounge, but we have to help Gulch avoid being wiped out.

  Dash gave her a resigned nod. “Which means I guess we’re going back to the jungle after all.”

  6

  As soon as the Archetype dropped out of unSpace, Dash fixed his attention on the heads-up, letting the Meld augment his situational awareness. He saw the Slipwing not far away, which was good; he saw nothing else that seemed to be an immediate threat, which was better. More importantly, he was able to locate the signal that had brought them to Gulch in the first place.

  “Hey, wait a second.” He cocked his head at what the data was telling him. “That signal isn’t in space. It’s coming from a planetary surface. The one with the settlement.”

  “That is true,” Sentinel said. “It is emanating from a point in its northern hemisphere, on the edge of what seems to be a barren region of desert bordered by lush jungle.”

  “Why did I think it was in space?”

  “There actually is a considerable amount of space-borne debris. It would be difficult for your technology to detect it as distinct from the usual detritus found in a star system, such as asteroids, comets, and patches of dust and gas. However, the signal clearly does not originate in space. Remember, the resolution from the Forge’s deep scan was limited, so there was considerable uncertainty regarding its exact location. I would remind you that gaining more information about it was a significant part of why we came here,” Sentinel said.

  “Understood, but—seeing that the signal is coming from the planet, and close to the settlement—well, that makes things even more complicated,” Dash said.

  “How so?”

  Dash let out a sigh. “Because I was kind of hoping we could do this quietly.”

  On the way in-system, Dash scrutinized the other planets. Aside from Gulch itself, there wasn’t much to see—two barren, airless rocks, a second terran-type planet with an atmosphere so thick and hot it might as well be boiling water, and a gaseous blob that didn’t even rate the term “giant.” There was, however, one bright blue planet that caught his attention. They came near enough for Dash to observe its ring of ice, which the databank listed as being ice debris, not a solid ring. It orbited the planet at insanely fast speeds, giving that appearance, and though beautiful would have made landing a bitch. Well, that and the unforgiving frozen surface.

  “That’s a lot of debris,” he commented.

  “Likely the remains of other planets,” Sentinel said, “probably destroyed by the battle that occurred here.”

  Dash shook his head. “They’re not shy about cutting loose with the big guns.”

  “Using terminal weapons is the preferred method of the Golden, especially in large battles,” Sentinel said.

  “It was, anyway,” Dash said.

  “Clarify?” Sentinel asked.

  “We have the Forge. We will have Dark Metal. With the plans we have in Custodian’s databanks, I intend to school the Golden on the cost of doing business with us in open warfare,” Dash said.

  “I will help you reach this goal, of course,” said Sentinel.

  “I know you will,” Dash said, smiling broadly. “Listen, from here on out, we’re going to be radio silent. I don’t want anyone on Gulch hearing me talk to you until I’m absolutely ready.”

  “Of course, Dash,” Sentinel replied.

  They decided to leave the Slipwing in orbit. Leira and the others would use a recreated Halfwing, the Slipwing’s shuttle, to descend to the surface. The original Halfwing had been destroyed when Dash slammed it into the comet inside which the Archetype had been hidden, but Custodian had been able to rebuild it from its schematics, and in a matter of minutes, at that. Only a small fraction of the fabrication machinery aboard the Forge had been needed, but Dash couldn’t forget tha
t sudden explosion of activity as the tech went to work, molding and assembling the shuttle while they’d all stood and watched in amazed silence.

  As the Halfwing fell away from the Slipwing, Leira said, “The downlink is good. The Slipwing should be able to keep an eye out for threats up here and alert us via relay through the Halfwing right away.”

  “As long as it’s something the Slipwing can actually see,” Dash replied. His ship had been blind to more than a few threats from both misdirected Unseen tech, as well as that of the Golden.

  “We can only do what we can do,” Leira said. “Unless you want to leave the Archetype in orbit instead.”

  “No thanks. I’d like to keep it close by when we go after whatever’s generating that signal.”

  Dash dove the Archetype toward the planet’s surface, following the Halfwing as she plunged through atmospheric re-entry. Their trajectories took them to Port Hannah, the largest by far of what turned out to be several settlements that collectively made up Gulch and gave the planet its name. The Halfwing settled on a landing pad that had been carved out of the jungle a few hundred meters from the nearest of Port Hannah’s domes, her thrusters blasting dust into the thick foliage. Once she was down, he brought the Archetype to rest in a much quieter and less dramatic landing.

  Less dramatic, that is, for him and his companions. The good people of Port Hannah would probably consider the big mech quite dramatic. Even as he dismounted, he started bracing himself for the inevitable barrage of questions.

  Dash, Leira, Viktor, Conover, and Amy made their way along the path connecting the pad to the nearest dome of Port Hannah. The path was paved with tall, stout fences along either side, apparently to keep whatever lurked in the surrounding jungle at bay. The air hung damp and heavy, feeling even thicker and more oppressive than that on the planet where they’d almost lost Conover in the pit trap. But there was more of a sedate stillness here, as though the mere presence of civilization had tamed the wild character of the jungle somewhat.