Legacy

by Philip C. Quaintrell

  He wasn’t quick enough.

  Before Roland could take the next tunnel, a blue crystal struck the back of his armour and burrowed into his shoulder. It was the first time anything had punctured his myopallic vest and drawn blood, and the force of the impact threw the bounty hunter forward. He slid down the wrong tunnel, firing his Tri-Rollers back the way he had come. More crystals hit the floor around him, but the Intrinium rounds from his own guns forced the Shay to duck into an alcove.

  “Son of a bitch…” Roland quickly picked himself up and took cover around the next corridor.

  The crystal in his shoulder was at an awkward angle, preventing him from pulling it free. Frustrated and pissed off, the bounty hunter fired blindly down the tunnel, hoping to give himself some more time. With his free hand, he removed the nanocelium blade from his waist and swiped it over the crystal, taking most of its length off. He was still left with a chunk in his shoulder, but at least it wouldn’t get in the way now.

  “You’re one persistent asshole!” Roland yelled, firing another salvo of Intrinium rounds. He looked down the corridor he had been forced to take cover in and consulted his map. “Shit!” he hissed. He was being pushed farther and farther from the pyramids juicing the Crucible.

  Three more crystals reduced the corner wall beside his head to rubble. He cursed again and made his way down the new corridor, more than aware of the pain that was beginning to make itself known in his shoulder.

  “Roland…”

  The bounty hunter sighed at the thought of Ch’len’s voice being the last thing he heard before this Shay put him down for good. “I’m a little busy, Len. I thought we were done with the talking thing.”

  “I’m receiving reports through the Forge’s comm system.”

  “You’re supposed to be fixing it, not watching the data streams.”

  “Evalan is under attack.”

  Roland rounded another corner before the next crystal could take off his head. “Dammit, Len, you’re not telling me anything we didn’t already know! This is all part of the plan, remember?”

  “The fleet’s not doing so well, but they’ve dropped Shay on to the surface. They’re all over New Genesis…”

  That sobered Roland. “Have they evacuated to the Boundless?”

  “Not all of them, but Roland… there are many of them, the Shay that is. Even the Gomar can’t keep them all at bay.”

  Roland gritted his teeth seeing his options shrinking dramatically. Pushed farther away from the Crucible’s energy source, he knew it would take another thirty-four minutes to reach. How much more devastation could the Shay and their nanocelium overlords cause in that time? Then there was the issue of what he would do when he finally found the pyramids. Could he destroy them? It was more likely that this Splicer-wielding alien would put a crystal in his back before he figured out how to blow it all to hell.

  “Okay, Len…” Roland took a breath. “New plan.”

  “If it’s getting off this planet, I’m all for it!”

  Roland calculated the quickest route back to the Rackham. “Keep tryin’ to fix the Forge, Len. It’s the only way either of us is getting off this planet.”

  With his Tri-Rollers in hand, the bounty hunter swung around the corner and dashed across the T-junction while firing at the Splicer. Crystals exchanged with Intrinium rounds and tore the walls, ceiling, and floor to pieces. Roland dived to get across the gap as fast as possible, but he still took a crystal to the leg.

  He roared in pain. “Son of a…” His last word was lost in a groan as the injured leg took his weight again. He was down to his last plan now. It had to work.

  The new limp was highly irritating, not only because he needed to reach the Rackham as soon as possible, but also because this Shay refused to leave him alone. Roland dropped timed grenades, mines, and poured round after round into the tunnels behind him, yet, still, the Splicer nearly killed him at every turn. The bounty hunter rounded the next corner and caught the crystal poking out of his thigh on the wall.

  He swore, yelled, and hit the floor.

  “Come on, soldier…” he spat. “Get up!”

  The Splicer was coming, its metallic feet clicking against the cold floor. Lying on his back, Roland could see the inlet carved into the ceiling allowing a multitude of pipes to run through the installation. Hiding had never been his preferred choice, but it was also a skill he had taken on during his training years back on Earth.

  He had only moments to jump up and hoist his weight horizontally to become one with the length of pipes, but he also had a leg that refused to stop bleeding. Using his good leg, the bounty hunter jumped up and, with strong arms, he gripped the pipes and pulled himself up. It took everything he had to lift his injured leg and wrap it around the pipes. It hurt like hell and he had to focus in order to keep his agony silent.

  The Shay entered the tunnel. The Splicer rifle was held at hip height, ready to spray the width of the corridor with deadly crystals. The alien’s body, which had once been a surgical combination of pale white skin and shiny cybernetic augments, was now writhing with nanocelium. The nanites had pierced the flesh and connected to the augments from head to toe. There was also a lot of biological damage from the Intrinium rounds Roland had slugged it with, not to mention the grenades that had littered its body with shrapnel.

  The bounty hunter remained very still as the alien walked underneath him. He was also very aware of the blood dripping from his injured leg. Roland could see the red liquid pooling in the creases of his trousers. A rogue drop ran down the seam and threatened to fall on to the Shay’s bald head. He waited anxiously, wondering why the Shay had yet to move on. He needed the alien to move, now.

  The drop of blood fell free from his trouser leg as the Shay took its first step. The sound of its metallic feet on the floor masked the splash of the droplet that fell behind him.

  Roland held on to his sigh of relief and waited until the Shay had made another turn and exited the tunnel. As quietly as he could, the bounty hunter dropped back down and placed his head against the wall as the pain came rushing back. He slid down until he was sitting on the floor where he could better inspect the crystal protruding from his thigh.

  With one hand, he patted down his belt searching for the portable med-kit. He had nothing that could fix the wound, but he did have some med-foam that would fill up the hole in his leg. Of course, he had to remove the crystal first…

  Roland removed an empty pouch from his belt and placed the rough leather between his teeth. He would need to internalise all the pain to avoid yelling out and bringing back the Shay. Holding the med-foam ready in one hand, Roland delicately closed his other fingers around the crystal. He counted to three in his head and yanked the crystal clear of his leg.

  He couldn’t close his eyes any tighter and he couldn’t tense his muscles any more than he already had. The blood running down his leg, however, brought his attention to the next problem. Biting down as hard as he could on the empty pouch, Roland laced the med-foam capsule into the wound, where it quickly expanded, filling the jagged gash, and hardening to seal it up.

  The bounty hunter breathed for what felt like the first time since he had ascended the pipes. Sweat dripped down his face and arms, running into the small cuts he had accumulated in his brief fight in the control room. Still, none of them stung like the wound in his thigh.

  Limping was easier without the crystal in his leg, but the Shay was still inside the tunnels somewhere, hunting him. The sound of the infected hordes could be heard echoing down almost every corridor as he approached the smoking exit. His escape had been slowed by the need to check every corner before moving on; if any Shay caught sight of him, he wouldn’t make it back to the Rackham before they chased him down.

  Even the dark storm clouds of Shandar were bright in comparison to the tunnels of the Crucible. Roland waited by the smoking ruin that had been the main doors and scanned the area between the Rackham and himself. He hadn’t seen the Splicer-wiel
ding Shay for some time, but the flat land of debris in front of him appeared to be clear of targets.

  He limped into the hammering rain and around the fallen enemy craft. The Rackham was a sight for sore eyes. The ramp was still extended, inviting him into the warmth and comfort of his home. The journey across the flat ground was tense, sure that he was of his hunter’s indomitable will. Hitting the command to raise the ramp was a moment of relief, but he didn’t stop to watch it fit back into place; he needed to reach the bridge.

  “Len, give me an update.”

  The Ch’kara sounded exhausted. “I… I think it’s over, Roland.”

  The bounty hunter entered the bridge, dripping rainwater everywhere, and happily fell into his captain’s chair. “What are you talking about?”

  “I can get the wormhole to open, but only one way…”

  Forgoing the preflight checks, Roland had the Rackham taking off vertically within seconds. “Let me guess,” he said, “we can go through the Forge, but no one from the Brightstar can come down here.”

  “Exactly. The binary axle is broken, which has screwed with the navigational boards. I don’t have the parts I need to fix the axle. I hate to say it, but the only option is for us to go through back to the Brightstar, pick up the parts we need, then fly back down here and replace it.” The Ch’kara paused. “I sure as shit don’t want to do that.”

  Roland tried to ignore the pain in his leg and set the course he needed. “I might have another option,” he said.

  There was an edge of hope in Ch’len’s voice. “Have you found the generators? Please tell me you’re about to blow that whole place to hell and we can go through the Starforge.”

  “Not exactly…” Roland brought up the Rackham’s menu for weapon systems.

  “I don’t like the way you said that,” Ch’len replied, now with an edge of fear in his voice.

  “You’ve got eighteen minutes to get that Forge working, Len. If the wormhole isn’t open by then… we’re both dead.” Roland hit the command that readied the missile tube in the Rackham’s underbelly.

  “What?” Ch’len replied frantically. “What the hell are you doing?”

  “Oh you know, just blowing up the planet.”

  There was another pause on Ch’len’s end as the little alien put his plan together. “You can’t be serious, Roland? You can’t launch a Planet Killer! It might work against a ship, but the Rackham doesn’t have the launch capabilities to pierce Shandar’s crust! What happened to blowing up the generators?”

  Roland instructed the ship’s AI to prepare the Planet Killer for deployment. “Everyone’s running out of time, Len, and they’re all counting on us to shut down the Crucible. This is the only way.”

  “Everyone’s counting on C-Sec you stupid ape! They were going to send down a team to do that! We’re just supposed to be the ones who activate the Starforge!”

  “That’s still the objective, Len. Only now, if you don’t get it working in the next… seventeen minutes, we’re both going to die on this rock.” Roland looked out of the viewport to see Ch’len and the Forge below before the Rackham shot by, leaving them behind.

  The Ch’kara sounded distracted. “That’s… I don’t know if I can get it working in that time.”

  Roland looked down at the console, where the countdown was ticking away. “What do you mean, Len? I thought you just said we could go through to the Brightstar, not the other way around.”

  “Well, yes,” Ch’len replied, frustrated. “From what I’m looking at, I can see that’s the case, but I haven’t actually opened a wormhole yet. I’ve still got three circuit boards to repair and a Nalaxian crystal that needs realigning.”

  Roland replied as slowly as he could. “Len, I plan on flying back at maximum speed. If that wormhole isn’t open I’m just going to fly through an empty hole. Then we’re both dead. Or I might just fly up and take my chances against an exploding planet. Either way, there isn’t going to be time to stop for you. So. Fix. The. Damn. Forge.”

  “I’m already working on it as your stupid lips jabber on!” Ch’len fired back. “How are you going to launch the Planet Killer without the power of a battlecruiser, genius?”

  Roland checked out the data from the navigational array. “The Marillion made a hell of a bang when she crashed. The impact has opened up a web of fissures in the ground. The Rackham’s found one thirty kilometres deep. I just need to launch it into there and get my ass back to you as quickly as possible.”

  “That fissure’s got to be a mess, Roland,” Ch’len pointed out. “Getting back out of it could take some time.”

  “I’m not going inside of it,” Roland explained. “I’m just going to shove the Planet Killer down its neck.”

  “This is nuts…”

  The bounty hunter couldn’t ignore the pain in his leg any longer. He had time to find some pain killers while the Rackham’s AI took over monitoring the flight path. Getting out of his chair wasn’t easy, but he made it to the door at the back of the bridge.

  “Just get it done, Len.”

  Roland hit the door command and it opened to the sight of a Splicer X1levelled at his face.

  “Oh, shit…”

  Chapter 32

  Kalian looked up from the console to the flaring lights beyond the massive viewport. The space battle was very different from this distance compared to how it looked through the external monitors of the battlecruisers. It could almost be called beautiful from the Starforge’s position. The console, on the other hand, showed a chaotic and bloody battle that claimed hundreds of lives a minute.

  “It’s almost ready,” ALF called from the centre of the bridge.

  Kalian tore his eyes from the viewport and followed the AI as he moved about the super subconducer. Broad at the top and very narrow at the base, it appeared ALF was working on an upside down spire. The tubes protruding from his back lifted him up and down, left and right, while various tools extended from within his body. Kalian looked at the backboard and armrests attached to the floor beneath the machine. That’s where he would stand. That’s where he would change everything.

  “Why is it taking so long?” he asked impatiently, his thoughts wandering to the streets of Evalan.

  “I need to make sure you get the right dosages of everything,” ALF explained. “Your entire system will need a boost, or you won’t be able to jump back out of there on your own.”

  Kalian sighed. “I should be out there.” He turned back to the viewport. “Or at least in New Genesis.”

  “No distractions,” ALF said in a flat tone. “You shouldn’t even be talking right now. Meditate, Kalian. You need to be strong enough to make the jump inside, survive the bonding process, and jump back out. I don’t want you expending energy anywhere else.”

  Kalian knew that wasn’t exactly the plan as he intended to execute it, but it was pretty close. He attempted to take one last look at the images from the New Genesis feed, hoping to see the last of humanity boarding the Boundless via the Forge. The holograms winked out, and the console went dark before he could see anything.

  “Meditate,” ALF repeated.

  Kalian rolled his eyes and gave himself a telekinetic boost to make the jump up to the first tier above them. He hopped over the rail and sat down, cross-legged, facing the viewport. He didn’t want to do this, even more so since ALF kept suggesting it, but he knew the benefits of connecting with the universe on a particle level. Submerging into the cosmic soup before attempting teleportation would streamline the process for his mind, reminding him that distance was relative when one could walk between realities.

  His Terran mind expanded forth from its physical confines and spread out to fill the Starforge, mapping its every nook and cranny. No bolt, wire, or electrical signal could hide from him. The entire station sounded to him like an anthill, with trillions upon trillions of nanites crawling around at once.

  As an intelligent being, ALF’s brainwaves emitted a frequency into the void that precious
few technologies could ever detect. Kalian focused his mind and pulled the universe into himself, reducing the Starforge to a dot by his perception. The stars closed in, filling his head with solar waves and a hundred types of radiation that blasted across space.

  The battle above Evalan felt as if he were standing over a child’s toy model set. The ships moved far slower than they usually did, enabling him to see every Intrinium and nanocelium round firing through the blackness of space. A variety of ships were in the midst of exploding and bodies were being sucked out into the vacuum, their hands helplessly clawing at their vessels.

  The harvesting ship loomed ominously at the back of the nanocelium armada, edging ever closer to Evalan. Kalian examined the surface of the arrowhead ship, taking in every nanite that comprised its body. The number was so high that his mind converted it into an equation.

  The rest of the universe called to Kalian, its song beckoning him to explore everything and forget his current concerns. It was tempting. He could tell the universe had so much more to show him, so many strange and wonderful things that had yet to be even heard of or seen by intelligent life. The harvesting ship, however, remained prominent in his mind, its purpose weighing heavily on him.

  Kalian let some of the universe go, expanding the harvesting ship to allow him to enter its interior. He swam through the many layers of nanocelium until he passed through a series of chambers, each housing the most peculiar artefacts. It was a museum by his understanding, a room the size of a city that contained beings, gems and even plant life from around the universe. Kalian wanted to stay in the museum and explore what remained of the worlds already consumed by the Kellekt, but his mind could feel the unique signature of three distinct brainwaves.

  He let the universe go some more, and the museum passed from his perception as he dropped farther into the gigantic ship. The next chamber was smaller, more intimate. Kalian’s mind immediately detected the three bodies decorating the wall, concealed within glass-fronted pods. They were human, or at least natives to the original Evalan.