The camera panned back to Vorlar. ‘Perhaps your friend Dr Henning Dal can fill you in – he should know very well.’
Tredd glanced at Henning. He looked like he was about to say something, but Vorlar cut in.
‘With regard to letting us in,’ he said on the screen. ‘You have five minutes. If you do not come out with the girl by then, we will force our way in and get you. Your time starts now.’
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
JILL CLOSED her eyes as Tristram’s face disappeared from the main screen. She felt a sudden chill, realising she sat alone at the command bridge of a G-class Assault Command Ship, as the screen changed to a live tactical combat map, and Vice Admiral Vorlar Block and his crew prepared for a large-scale land-based assault. Right beside her, Berossus hung down from the heavy chrystallium clasps above his head, his feet just above the ground, and murmured to himself without paying attention to anything around him.
In her mind, she tried to hold on to the image of Tristram, but it kept fading away. She felt comforted by seeing his face, however bleak the situation was. And she was determined to see that face again.
Vorlar spoke with his tactical analytics officer and, to Jill’s disdain, turned around to face her. ‘Commodore Conrad, what do you think? Will he come out with the girl?’
Jill shook her head slowly.
‘We think so too,’ he said, turning to his officers. ‘Standby to infiltrate the facility. It is imperative we get the girl alive. Anyone else who stands in our way is a renegade and must be destroyed.’
Vorlar was going to strike down innocent civilians to get to Aino. Without hiding the contempt in her voice Jill said, ‘Are you serious? Striking a peaceful community with full force? You are nothing but a terrorist.’ If she only could, she would’ve slapped him.
He spun around. The muscles in his jaw tensed as he pursed his thin lips and his grey face grew warmer in hue. He drew the Hotblade from his belt, started towards Jill, and engaged the fire-bleeding blade. He swung it up above him and ran towards Jill, his face contorted with rage.
Jill gasped, squeezed her eyes closed, and turned her face away.
When she opened her eyes again, Vorlar glared at her, the bleeding blade frizzling between them. He hissed through his clenched teeth, ‘I am not a terrorist. Understood?’
Jill swallowed, but kept the eye contact. Regardless of how he tried to intimidate her, his stare could do nothing to her.
Vorlar straightened himself and disengaged the blade. He pushed it back to his side and said, ‘Say that word one more time and I won’t halt the blade.’ He turned around and stomped away from Jill towards the command seat.
Jill thought about it, but refrained. He would deliver what he had promised. Instead, she said, ‘Admiral Atamian will suspend you for attacking a peaceful community.’
Vorlar stopped. ‘We’re not striking a peaceful community.’
Jill raised her eyebrows. He was going to attack a religious community, Avalon, wasn’t he?
Vorlar chuckled. ‘If they’ve kept up the operational capabilities deployed within those facilities, they can defend themselves. You will see that we are not shooting flies with a cannon. They will fight back – and that’s why we brought enough cannons.’
‘Operational capabilities? How would they ever—’
‘Dr Dal’s got metal under his crops. Avalon is the former ops centre for Project Renascence, founded by Dr Dal Senior and the Dawn Alliance Research Labs a few decades ago with the idea of developing a new breed of a human leader,’ Vorlar said with a sneer. As he spoke, the screen showed a visual representation of the analysis of the defensive capability of the compound – shields, cannons, missiles, you name it, even robots. ‘Fitting name, the revival of something great that has been dormant within. However, their results never matched the hype, and were soon deemed unsuccessful and unsafe for the population at large. Research Labs stopped funding the experiment and placed restrictions on what they could do. Though that didn’t stop the Dals from applying their wealth to run the compound as a ‘religious community’ – they’ve even gained the status of an independent state. Aino is the top product of the Project Renascence, but there are many others too. You were one, Bounty is one, and so is Parkes.’
So, an old Dawn Alliance scheme to alter human beings had been run in a paramilitary compound close to her home even before she was born. That’s why she had become… affected. But she was not the only one with superhuman powers. She had never even thought of Tristram having such a quirk, nor Eddie, or anyone else for that matter. She always thought she was the only one who was a freak.
‘They’re electric too?’
‘Unlikely,’ Vorlar said as he paced around Jill’s chair. ‘Fascinating that you had no idea about your friends. Every one of you have something special in your genetic make-up that makes you quite different from the Joe across the corridor.’
Vorlar’s constant moving around bugged Jill and increased her anxiety, especially because she could not move at all. ‘How do you know all of this?’
‘My mission – after the Starcrasher is secured – is to seek the affected, expunge their capabilities, and transfer them over, if they are useful. Something is coming our way, and the leadership wants to harness every relevant capability.’ Vorlar stepped away from Jill, observing the bridge from the position of command, resting his hand on the captain’s seat.
‘Relevant for what?’ Jill asked, her voice weak.
Vorlar’s Dresnean ears must still have heard her, because he turned his head. ‘Classified information, SL1 and above only.’ He walked up to the Lieutenant on squad control and peered at his screens from behind his back. The officer continued as if he wasn’t there.
‘Can you even tell me, what are these capabilities you speak of?’ asked Jill.
Vorlar turned away from the screens and smirked. ‘Queer things… A woman could melt certain metals by touch, one could communicate with birds, and another had sticky fingers – mostly useless crap.’
I should have used my useless crap on you when I had the chance, Jill thought. Now that her ability was neutered, she regretted not using it directly on Vorlar. ‘Like mine was?’
Vorlar stopped right before her, looking down. ‘Yours is better applied by machinery. Even if you did pack a punch, a simple electric nightstick could produce more power.’ Vorlar turned around, and started taking slow steps towards the big screen. ‘I will have your power captured in due time. Until then, the adaptobots in your bloodstream keep it at bay, just like they keep you sitting there.’
There was no way for her to fight the bots inside her, not when she couldn’t even lift a finger. However, her friends still had a chance. Jill strained to look up at Vorlar. ‘What about Tristram, what does he do?’
Vorlar snorted and walked around her. ‘You’re hoping he’ll save you. He does do something – moves fast. It kept him alive through his time as a recruit. Whatever it is, I’m going to obtain it. I’m going to stop you freaks and harness your power. Whatever it takes.’
Surely Admiral Atamian doesn’t approve this. Jill felt her neck muscles ache as she tried to follow Vorlar’s movement around her. ‘You don’t have the authority to attack. The code—’
‘The code, the code… You think this is the first time the code has taken a backseat? You think I stood by the code when I pushed back the ODD? You think I let the code restrict me from using nanobots to immunise myself against tranquillisers? You think I became the youngest vice admiral in the history of the Dawn Alliance Navy by abiding to every line of the code? The code is a guide, a suggestion. The end will always justify the means. When we’re done here, I will be celebrated for protecting the realm from crashing stars, from freaks like you, and from the unforeseen terrors that may lie beyond… and soon I will take my place as a fleet admiral,’ Vorlar said, stopping in front of her, raising his chin and looking into the distance like he was proud of himself.
Even if Jill didn’t share all of
his views, she had respected him for his professionalism and for upholding military values. By now that respect had completely evaporated. ‘You’ve broken the code to get ahead before and would do it again, against everything we believe in… to what end?’
‘You’re so naive,’ Vorlar said, walking between Jill and Berossus, poking the big man as he went. ‘There’s not a single admiral or fleet admiral who hasn’t done it, and look at them, they have the ultimate power at their fingertips. The Chief of Military controls the Dawn Alliance. Think it’s the cabinet? Think again. They’re just puppets. The Chief of Military has power over everything, and it will only be a matter of time before I take over. You need to know the rules, but also how to break them.’
Suddenly a guttural sound burst from Berossus, grabbing the attention of both Jill and Vorlar. It was like he had responded to what Vorlar said, but it wasn’t any language Jill understood. Perhaps it was no language at all.
‘What’s wrong with you?’ Vorlar asked, staring at Berossus and pressing his lips into a line so thin they disappeared.
Berossus replied by growling further and twitching his legs. His face had started to redden.
Jill gulped. Perhaps what Berossus had said was true. Going down, even to the atmosphere of a planet, is going to have an effect on him. That’s what he said. Is he really going to turn into a red monster?
‘Can’t you speak?’ Vorlar said, and poked him again.
Berossus shook himself, and continued to make unintelligible sounds, growing louder and louder.
‘If you can’t speak, then stay quiet!’ Vorlar pointed at Berossus and then dismissed him. Two soldiers grabbed their rifles, but stopped as Berossus became quieter. Still, he continued grumbling, saliva falling from his lips as they moved.
The countdown clock came up on the screen: twenty seconds. ‘Now, the five minutes are almost gone…’ Vorlar said, and headed towards the captain’s seat.
Jill was convinced that Tristram would never give Aino away. He would fight to the end.
Fifteen.
Jill looked up at the big man beside him. ‘Hey, Berossus,’ she whispered, trying not to attract any attention. He was either going insane or turning into a monster. Chrystallium clasps are impossible to break, aren’t they?
Ten.
Tristram will fight back. If what Vorlar said about the facility were true, Tristram would use it. Will it be enough, and could they ever win? Jill hoped they could, even if it meant them destroying the whole of Vorlar’s fleet – and herself as part of it.
Five.
Vorlar sat down on the seat. Jill could only see him from behind, but knew his face held the fire of the coming battle. Regardless of who won, Jill felt her chances of ever seeing Tristram again melt down around her as the final seconds ticked away.
One.
Vorlar glanced at Jill, an evil grin rising up on his face, fire in his eyes. He turned back to the screens and raised his hands up in the air.
‘Commence attack!’
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
‘WHAT IS THIS PROJECT RENASCENCE?’ Tredd demanded from Henning, who was walking back from the screens. The pictures burned in his mind: Jill paralysed, Berossus restrained, the damned doc grinning, and Vorlar taking charge.
Henning stopped by Aino, who sat leaning against a tree with Evie. He took hold of Aino’s hand and turned. ‘You want to take her out to them?’
Tredd did consider it, but threw the thought quickly away. ‘No, but I must know what is going on.’
‘Good. Then follow me.’ Henning stood up with Aino and Evie. He ran to the command station where the ladies in white sat at the controls, and shouted, ‘Code yellow, battle stations!’
Henning’s ladies in white stood up from their seats. They moved swiftly about the office, closing screens, organising files and cleaning away the snacks. In just a few moments they were done.
Henning took Aino by the hand, and led them all out through the door. In the lobby, he requested an elevator. Before Tredd could ask, he said, ‘The tower is not safe anymore. We will go to the underground base. With a code yellow alert, the people of Avalon will retreat down below too.’
‘Are you going to let them attack?’ Evie asked.
Henning stared at the light above the elevator door. ‘They might be bluffing, and I’m going to call them on it.’
‘I don’t think they are bluffing,’ Tredd said. He was certain that Vorlar was going to attack. Without an authorisation it was against the policy, but he would bet it wasn’t going to stop Vorlar. Tredd had seen it in his eyes. The Dresnean wanted to fight. Fortunately, however much he wanted to kill, he needed Aino alive. It could be the edge Tredd needed. ‘Do you have any means of leaving this place unnoticed?’
Henning shook his head, still staring above the elevator door. ‘I don’t intend to leave. In Avalon, we have the means to protect ourselves against any invader, and that’s what I’m going to do.’ Her turned to Tredd with a gleam in his eye. The light above the elevator lit up and the door opened.
Tredd didn’t reply. He remained unconvinced of their chances as they crowded into an elevator. It took them down, somewhere deep below the ground – it was impossible to estimate how deep – and directly to a room that looked like the bridge of a battle cruiser. Young men and women clad in white sat in front of screens that looked to monitor both the premises and the activity outside.
Henning ran in, and turned around with arms open wide. ‘Welcome to the Avalon command centre.’
It was an underground base, and a sophisticated one at that. Tredd realised it was the exact same modular unit the navy used in various ships and ground control centres. Tredd had been to one before, at a frontier outpost on the dark side of tiny rock planet in the Borealis-402 system. But why is there a blasting navy set-up below Avalon? ‘You look like a peaceful community, but you’re running a command centre. What’s going on?’
‘I’m sorry, I hoped there would be a better way.’ Henning stepped up to the command post. Tredd followed him as he continued, ‘This is the home of the Project Renascence. More than thirty years ago, my grandfather worked with a few silent partners in a highly confidential project funded by the Dawn Alliance Research Labs to enhance human ability. They selected Eura as a suitable testing ground, and released the code carriers—’
‘Code carriers?’
Henning winced and gestured at a seat. ‘Please.’
Tredd sat. Leaning back and placing his arms on the armrests, he realised the seat was exactly the same as the one on his ship, when he was still a captain in the navy.
‘Yes, code carriers,’ Henning said, breaking Tredd’s reminiscence. ‘Self-replicating nanobots carrying genetic code with highly sophisticated looping mechanisms… Think of them as viruses that cause turbocharged mutations on susceptible individuals – in this instance, babies.’
Tredd recalled the high numbers of mutations in Eura, and the luckless search for reasons. ‘So it wasn’t Dom’s radiation after all, but you?’
Henning nodded. ‘We were part of it, yes. Avalon was the centre of operations back then. As you should know, there were a lot of birth defects and malign mutations as a direct result of the vast genetic… boost, if you will. There were also many absolutely normal children and completely non-affected adults. But then there were a few children with something out of the ordinary. In Avalon, we have a shelter for these gifted children.’
Behind Henning, Aino crawled under a desk, being chased by Evie right behind her. Being taller, Evie hit her head on the bottom of the desk and they both ended up giggling on the floor.
Tredd wished it was as easy for him to jump in and play. Instead, he thought about the time-lapse. Is it also a result of this experiment? It was beginning to make sense. Now he understood what Henning had meant when he said he was a true son of Eura. ‘We know what Aino can do—’
‘And yourself,’ Henning said, confirming he knew.
‘What else can these folks do?’
‘Most of the changes are very subtle – enhanced senses, such as seeing wavelengths invisible to normal human eyes, electromagnetic control, manipulation of matter, changed physical attributes, better ability to focus… Typically we talk about changes of 5%-10% to the normal, but there are exceptions. I believe you are one.’
Tredd was staring at tactical map on the main screen. Were this bridge module in a ship, you would be able to see outside from behind the screens, but beneath the ground there was only a black background behind the permanently locked screens. He hesitated about giving away his secret, but it was too obvious, so he nodded without looking at Henning. Tredd’s time-lapse was certainly more than a 10% change to the normal, but what about Aino’s? It was on a different scale, a million-fold, perhaps?
‘The Research Labs lost interest in the project when it failed to produce miracles at the outset, and stopped funding it,’ Henning continued, without further mention of Tredd’s abilities. Perhaps he understood the sensitivity of it all. ‘The Eura government booted the bill of healthcare for the failed experiments, and the Dawn Alliance officials concealed any information about their involvement. Forgotten by everyone, we have continued to support the gifted in peace.’
Tredd turned to Henning. ‘So the navy knows?’
‘Yes and no. They gave the Project Renascence very high security classification. Even the unattributed admirals do not have access—’
‘Is Vice Admiral Block one of the attributed ones?’
‘He could be.’
Of course he is, Tredd thought. ‘You do realise that he would do anything to get Aino? Anything…’
‘I do, but I too have a few tricks up my sleeve. While the Research Labs and the navy helped build this place, we have continued to enhance and evolve its systems – we have a bunch of very talented folk, as you might imagine.’ Henning gestured around the bridge, where white clad young men and women prepared for battle just like the navy did. ‘But what we have now is something completely different to what the navy runs, including any digital backdoors and override switches which we have disconnected.’
Starcrasher (Shades Space Opera Book 1) Page 33