“New plan,” Telarrek said, hefting his rifle. “We find a transport and take back the command tower ourselves.”
One problem at a time, the Novaarian thought. One problem at a time…
Chapter 10
Kalian flew through space, enjoying the lack of resistance and the opportunity to push his abilities to their limits. At these speeds, he was able to propel himself beyond Evalan’s gravitational pull and that of its two moons in less than a minute. Only when the planet was the size of his thumbnail did he spot ALF’s housing unit with his eyes, though, of course, he could easily find the hunk of nanocelium anywhere in the solar system with his eyes closed.
Flexing his back to find a more comfortable perspective, Kalian began to slow down and take in the view properly. Against the backdrop of the local star, ALF’s housing unit was not as he remembered. The cube that the AI had once resided inside was now something more akin to a battleship. The nanocelium had altered its structure and elongated it to resemble a C-Sec Nebula-Class battle cruiser. The hull remained a dull bronze, but its surface of cogs and intricate patterns had been replaced by sharp angles and visible cannons.
Upon his approach, a port opened up on the bow of the ship and internal lights highlighted a small chamber. Kalian floated inside and waited for the port to close up behind him and the atmospheric pressure to equalise, before disabling his helmet and gloves. The door in front of him parted and he strode into ALF’s newly refurbished home.
“You like?” the AI asked from his throne-like captain’s chair.
Kalian cast an eye over the makeshift bridge, noting the similarities to many C-Sec vessels. ALF had no need for the workstations or even a crew, yet the AI had still gone to the effort of recreating everything as if he did. Little quirks such as these were what reminded Kalian he wasn’t dealing with a robot, but a living being with unique flairs of his own.
The most peculiar thing about this AI, however, was his appearance. Only Kalian and Naydaalan had seen ALF’s true form, a lanky human-looking man fused with strands of nanocelium. His green skin was patched with grey and his beard and hair were made from nanocelium. It was the eyes that always got to Kalian. Two crystal blue eyes, illuminated by the binding process with artificial lights behind the retinas.
“It’s a little… tactical.”
ALF stood up, towering over Kalian. “I thought it might allow me to blend in with the Conclave vessels a bit better.”
“Blend in?” Kalian repeated. “You’re not allowed to leave the system. If you want to blend in, make yourself look like a moon."
“I believe the Highclave have already mastered that look with the Marillion.”
Kalian couldn’t disagree with that statement. The golden moon-sized vessel that carried the Highclave around wasn’t exactly designed to blend in so much as disrupt a planet’s gravitational field.
“To what do I owe the pleasure?” ALF asked, waving his hand across one of the walls and expanding the bridge’s size. “I was beginning to think you weren’t talking to me anymore.”
“I’ve been busy,” Kalian replied. “Though, something tells me you’ve been keeping an eye on me.” There was no doubt that ALF had every one of his lenses focused on New Genesis.
“Have you spoken to the Gomar about removing their Harnesses?”
Kalian dropped his head. “They don’t trust you. At all.”
The AI cocked his eyebrow. “Have I not proved myself?”
“It’s kind of hard to trust someone who keeps so many secrets.” Kalian stood before the giant with his arms folded. “First you led me to believe that my ancestors created you. Then I learned that you seeded the Terran Empire, having taken our DNA from another galaxy where humans were bigger and more primitive. Oh, yeah, and you’re one of the very things that’s been trying to wipe out every iteration of my species since time began.”
ALF pursed his lips. “Well, it’s always going to sound bad when you say it like that.”
“How else is there to say it, ALF?”
The AI shrugged. “I don’t know. How about… a genocidal species of artificial intelligence tried to wipe out your ancestors but one of their own formed an intimate bond with your people and betrayed his own kind to save them? That same heretic then fled across the cosmos, fearing not only for his own life, but also for the lives of a people who couldn’t defend themselves. After finding them a new home, he altered their genetic code to ensure they were strong enough to defend themselves should this genocidal wave of artificial intelligence return. And then, after tragedy struck a second time, the heretic once again crossed space and made certain humanity had a third chance at thriving, only to be confronted by a child who considers himself a history teacher…”
Kalian managed to contain his smile. “Well, when you say it like that…”
Nanocelium tentacles snaked out of the high ceiling and plugged into ALF’s back, though their purpose was beyond Kalian. “Any secrets I have kept were for a good reason calculated by factors beyond your comprehension. I revealed the truth when you were ready for it, not a moment sooner.”
Kalian nodded along. “Then I hope now is a good time to tell me about the nanocelium coursing through everyone’s blood.”
The AI tutted. “It took you long enough to find it. I was expecting this conversation a month ago.”
Kalian rolled his eyes. “Just get to the explaining part, ALF.”
The tentacles detached from his back and the AI took his seat again, his crystal blue eyes fixed on Kalian. “The current population of Evalan is a hundred and seven thousand, three hundred and twenty-six. Of that, seven thousand, eight hundred and forty-two lived on board the Gommarian for an extended time. While they lived inside that ship, everything they came into contact with was made of or replicated by nanocelium.”
Kalian added, “A very small number of them were treated with nanocelium for medical reasons as well.”
ALF waved the comment away. “Irrelevant. The nanocelium would have already been inside of them by then. The extra boost would have just temporarily accelerated their healing.”
Kalian shook his head. “Then how was the nanocelium already inside everyone?”
The AI tilted his head. “Did you not hear what I said? They spent all day, every day, touching things made of nanocelium. You know better than most how small an individual nanite is.”
Kalian looked away for a moment, his Terran brain working through the conundrum. “The nanocelium passed through their pores…”
ALF smiled. “You’ve got it! Imperceptible to sight, every surface they touched lost a few million nanocelium, wiped away by oily hands.” The AI rubbed his fingers and thumb together. “Since then, they’ve all come into contact in some way with the passengers of the Paladin. The nanocelium moves in the same way as bacteria does.”
“But why?” Kalian asked. “What’s their purpose?”
“To enhance, of course!” ALF turned to his right, where unseen emitters produced a holographic image of the Criterion, the AI’s nanocelium factory during the days of the Terran Empire. “You have to remember; the nanocelium inside everyone came from the Gommarian, which in turn came from the Criterion. It’s pure, uncorrupted nanocelium. Not the twisted stuff that they made, designed only to obey the Three.”
“The Three?” Kalian echoed.
ALF appeared genuinely disturbed. “The three heads that control the whole. Evil bastards, you’d call them.”
Kalian closed his eyes, finding it hard to believe that there were yet more revelations. “I thought They were one organism?”
“Millions upon millions of AI make up the single organism,” ALF said, “but the Three were once biological beings, though I imagine they’ve long forgotten their original forms. They control the rest.”
“But not you…” Kalian observed.
“Not me,” ALF agreed. “The base coding in my nanocelium was restructured once it bonded with the natives of Evalan. Cleansed, if you will.”
Kalian could feel that he was getting closer to the heart of another secret. “And there’s another mystery you’ve shied away from answering, ALF: why does my ancestral DNA have the power to break down the base coding of the nanocelium from them?” he asked.
ALF smiled, no doubt aware that he was being unravelled. “For the same reason the nanocelium is currently improving the human condition. It’s simply obeying its…” The AI stopped, his face dropping into one of concern.
“What is it?”
“Something’s wrong on the surface,” ALF replied, his eyes vacant. “Evalan is under attack!”
Before the AI could finish the sentence, Kalian had already covered his head and hands with the nanocelium from his exosuit. If ALF had any more to say, he didn’t hear it. The nanocelium walls formed a perfect hole for Kalian to fly out since he wasn’t bothering with the airlock. The sudden pull from the vacuum had no effect on ALF, who remained perfectly still as if he was fastened to the bulkhead.
Kalian hurtled through space, a silent missile heading for Evalan. Punching through the planet’s atmosphere had his suit glowing bright orange with flames licking at his hands. The sonic boom was far behind him by the time he shot through the clouds and saw New Genesis. Inside his helmet, the suit was relaying information and highlighting the areas in the centre where Intrinium fire was being detected. Seven Shay, all engineers recently sent to work on the static Starforge, were scurrying about the city centre, firing wildly at anyone in the open.
A small team of UDC personnel had taken cover behind a transport vehicle. Their return fire was sporadic, hoping to match the erratic movements of the Shay, but they were yet to score a successful hit. Four humans and three Novaarians lay dead between them, their bodies strewn haphazardly in the street.
Kalian landed hard. His impact devastated the gelcrete road, forming a spider web of cracks. Where any sane person would back off or run away from such display of power, the Shay advanced on him. Every bolt of Intrinium that struck his exosuit was absorbed by the nanocelium, happy as it was to consume energy of any kind. Kalian strode over to the nearest Shay and unleashed that extra energy with a casual backhand. The alien’s head twisted unnaturally and took the rest of its body with it as the extra energy propelled the Shay into the adjacent wall.
Five more of the Shay engineers broke from their cover and attacked as one. Kalian reached out with his mind and clamped their throats shut. There wasn’t much that surprised him anymore, but seeing five Shay continue to run and fire at him without breathing was definitely a shock. Absent of expression and oxygen, the aliens focused their fire on Kalian.
As irritating as the assault was, Kalian wanted to get to the bottom of it before they were punished for the deaths they had caused. That was when the Gomar showed up. Kalian held out his arm to stop them, but it was too late. Vox tore through two of the Shay like a ship moving at light speed, scattering their limbs in every direction. Kovak landed directly on top of another, grinding the alien into the gelcrete under the weight of his bulky armour. The sisters, Nadreen and Nardel, dispatched a further engineer each, seemingly clearing the area of the threat. Kalian erected an invisible shield to prevent the streams of blood from soaking him.
The silence that hung in the air after their deaths only lasted a moment, when more rounds exploded around Kalian. The last Shay was half way up a building, its fingers and feet digging into the wall. He ignored the Intrinium and examined the engineer above him. As alien as the Shay had always appeared to human eyes, the dark veins and strands of nanocelium worming in and out of its body were unmistakable.
Kalian held out one hand and stopped the Gomar from obliterating it and, with the other hand, he telekinetically gripped every part of the Shay, immobilising it. He yanked it from the wall and brought it down to the street, where he could better examine the infection. Those who had taken shelter around the streets slowly emerged, always curious of Kalian and the others.
Ignoring the onlookers, Kalian maintained a hold over the alien and kept it floating in front of him. Using his free hand, he slowly drew it back and telekinetically pulled on every single nanite inhabiting the Shay. It was a surgical use of his power, one that the Gomar were still incapable of performing. The engineer gargled and squirmed as the black powder floated out before them, coalescing into a small sphere that fit perfectly in Kalian’s gloved palm.
When the last nanite melted into the sphere, he released the Shay, leaving the corpse to fall to the ground. Still in his helmet and armoured gloves, Kalian extended his index finger and commanded a probe to shoot out of the end. He inserted the probe into the metallic sphere and waited for the readouts to flow over the inside of his faceless helmet.
“What is it?’ Vox asked as Sef and the other Gomar dropped out of the sky.
Kalian absorbed the information as fast as any computer. “It’s nanocelium, but not like ours. It’s identical to the samples taken from Malek and Professor Jones.”
“It’s corrupted,” Kovak stated.
With the sphere still in his gloved hand, Kalian commanded his exosuit to absorb the other glove and expose his bare skin.
“What are you doing?” Vox grabbed his wrist. “You’ve seen what it can do to Terrans and humans.”
“We’ve seen what a whole cube can do to us,” Kalian corrected. “Even then, the corrupted nanocelium could only take control for so long. I want to see what happens when a small amount of it is exposed to our DNA.”
Vox didn’t appear convinced, but a look from Sef made her release Kalian’s wrist. He placed the ball in the palm of his bare hand and extended a probe from his gloved finger. The ball was cool in his hand, unthreatening in every way.
“Can you feel anything?” Garrion asked, his eyes fixed on the ball.
“No,” Kalian replied from within his helmet.
Inserting the probe provided the answers he was looking for. The data streamed across his visor, giving him detailed images of what was taking place inside the sphere.
“I can see the differences between the nanocelium in the sphere and the stuff my suit’s made of,” he explained. “Their core programming is similar, but the alterations in the ball are profound enough to make them different.”
“Is it attacking your cells?” Garrion asked. “As it did with Malek and the Professor?”
“It tried, yes. But the few cells it absorbed were quickly replicated inside the sphere until my DNA became part of the code.” Kalian could see the base coding change from bottom to top as his unique chromosomes corrected the alterations. After a few more seconds, the entire sphere was made of nanocelium that bore no differences to any of their exosuits. “It’s harmless now.” He threw the sphere into the air and caught it again.
A scream from behind the group drew their attention to the Shay bodies. A woman grabbed her daughter and ran down the street, her panic quickly infecting everyone.
Vox’s face dropped. “What the…?”
Kalian couldn’t believe his own eyes either. All six of the Shay that had just been pulverised by the Gomar were putting themselves back together from each other’s body parts. The process was relatively slow, but they could all see the aliens’ hands reaching for the fallen weapons.
Kovak was the first to jump into action, grabbing the nearest Shay with his bare hands and ripping it in half again. Kalian rolled his eyes when Vox and Ariah joined him, stomping and telekinetically pulling the engineers apart.
“That’s not going to work,” he said. A flick of his finger sent every enemy weapon flying down the street, buying them more time before the renewed attack could begin again.
“What do you suggest?” Vox kicked a stray arm that was crawling over the ground.
Kalian dropped his helmet back into his suit and turned to look at the dead Shay he had separated from the nanocelium. He lifted the sphere so they could all see it. “We need to extract it from their bodies.”
The other Gomar stopped tearing the aliens to pieces
and stared at Kalian. Sef stepped in and gestured for the others to leave the re-forming bodies alone.
We cannot do that.
Kalian met the big man’s eyes. “You could,” he countered.
A palpable silence fell over them and Kalian was happy to leave it there. He wanted them to seriously think about it while they watched him extract every nanite from the Shay. The back powder was lifted into the air from every one, its removal pulling at their bodies. One by one, they stopped writhing and lay still as the nanocelium coalesced into small spheres above them.
“Kalian!” Li’ara was running down the street with Commander Vale. “You need to come to the council building now.”
As elating as it was to see her running on her new leg, Kalian caught the sobering sight of the dead humans and Novaarians as she passed them. Coupled with the alarm on Li’ara’s face, he knew something far worse was taking place elsewhere.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“This!” Li’ara waved at the Shay bodies as she tried to catch her breath. “This is happening everywhere! All over the Conclave!”
Kalian looked back at the Shay and the spheres floating over their bodies. “They did it,” he whispered. “They activated the Crucible…”
“That thing on Shandar?” Vox asked. “I thought it was under lockdown?”
“Evidently not,” Commander Vale replied.
Li’ara’s brow furrowed and her eyes glazed over. “This is it, isn’t it?”
Kalian nodded, though most of his efforts went into keeping his heart rate steady. “The war has begun…”
Chapter 11
Roland looked from his console to Len’s, waiting impatiently. The Valkor’s size was swelling in the viewport and the Rackham would be ready to dock any minute, yet the C-Sec comms officer remained silent.
“Why would there be no response?” Colonel Matthews asked, standing by the edge of the viewport.
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