Shadows of Olympus (Universe in Flames Book 6)

by Christian Kallias

  Chase didn’t answer right away. He looked pensive.

  “I don’t like gambling with any of our lives, Ares, you know that. But in less than five minutes we’ll have run out of time. The only way to ensure Gaia 2 doesn’t take over the planet in the short term is to have these two work on a solution from within while we find the help we need to retake control of our own space. I wish there was another way. I wish we had more options. But right now, risking their lives isn’t really any different from what any of us are going to do in the future.”

  “I guess you’re right, but I wanted to make sure you knew the risks. I’ll get them now. Do you need me to bring anyone else back this time around?”

  “No, just hurry back. The moment you’re done we’re going to pay a visit to your father.”

  “Swell,” said Ares, “I can hardly wait.”

  * * *

  Chase looked at the viewport from the bridge. Sarah and Ryonna were next to him.

  “What are you thinking, Chase?” asked Sarah.

  “That it may be a while till we get back here.”

  Sarah put a hand on his shoulder and attempted a smile. Chase took her hand and squeezed it affectionately.

  “Ryonna,” said Chase, “how much time do we have left?”

  “About a minute or so.”

  Chase made a bleak face for just a moment, then closed his eyes. He accessed the Hope’s jump systems, made sure every jump-capable ship left in the fleet was slaved to the Hope’s engine and, without a second thought, activated a hyperspace window.

  When he opened his eyes, the image of Earth was no longer there. The fleet was in hyperspace, on its way to Droxia.

  “Now what?” asked Sarah.

  “Now we do whatever it takes to survive. I’ll need you to captain the Hope while I’m gone.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “To Olympus, with Argos.”

  “You should take Chris as well.”

  Chase didn’t like the idea, but he could use whatever help he could get. They needed to secure more powerful new allies and fast. If Chris could help in this endeavor, then Chase should at least consider it.

  “Yeah, okay, I’ll ask him to come with us. I’ll protect him, I promise.”

  She smiled at him and kissed his cheek. “I know you will, Chase.”

  * * *

  Chase entered cargo hold five, which had been retrofitted as a temporary lab for Argos. He looked at the medical bed where his son rested while machines scanned every inch of his body.

  “Please tell me you have good news,” said Chase.

  “I wish I had,” said Argos. “Whatever he did to himself, he didn’t really think about the long-term effects. It’s going to take a while, and the sooner I get my hands on my bio-engineer, the better. I did find a way to slow down the aging process a little, though, thanks to her.” Argos waved towards a containment tube with Admiral Thassos floating inside a purple liquid.

  “That’s better than nothing, I guess. Why is Chris unconscious?”

  “I had to sedate him. He wouldn’t stay in place and I need him still while I map every part of him. He’s full of life, but he’s also just a boy, so lying in a bed without moving an inch wasn’t his forte.”

  Chase smiled, but the smile was soon replaced by a frown. He hadn’t been there for the birth of his child, even though it wasn’t a birth in the conventional sense. And he’d already looked like a young adolescent when they first met. He wished he could have been there to train him, to watch him grow, no matter how little time that had taken. He felt sad, but he put the thought to the back of his mind. There was no way to change the past, so better not to linger on it. Still, a wave of sadness permeated him for a few minutes as he looked at his sedated son.

  “Would you like me to leave you alone with him for a moment?” inquired Argos after what had seemed an eternity to Chase, lost in the moment.

  “No that’s fine thanks, Argos. How much have you managed to slow his aging?”

  “By a factor five. He will still mature to be an adult in a matter of weeks, instead of days.”

  “That’s already something. It will allow you both to accompany me to Olympus.”

  “About that . . .”

  “What, Argos?”

  “Any chance we could train a little before we get there? I know we agreed I need to fix your son’s condition, but . . .” Argos let the words hang in the air.

  “How long will your nephew be out of it?”

  “Hmm, right, my nephew,” repeated Argos uncomfortably. “A few hours, until I have a complete holographic representation of his body turned into a computer model that I can use in simulations. Once this is done he can go. I will just need to monitor his vitals, so I’m installing, with your permission, some nanites into his bloodstream.”

  The mention of nanites made Chase cringe. Could Argos be trusted? What if he installed a microbomb inside Chris as he did with Sarah? While Chase didn’t sense any more hatred in Argos, he wasn’t someone he could blindly trust. Even if it wasn’t long ago that Argos almost sacrificed himself to save his life.

  “I shouldn’t have to tell you this, but if you try anything on my family again . . .”

  “Oh I know, brother, I’ll be dead before I have time to wonder what happened. I’m not that stupid. By joining your merry band, I’ve definitely sealed my fate with yours now, for better or for worse. But I understand why you can’t trust me yet.”

  “Trust takes time, but you’ve gained some today. Thanks for taking care of Chris. Now come, let’s see what we can do about powering you up a little before we meet Zeus.”

  C H A P T E R

  III

  Chase teleported them both aboard the training ship, with Gaia.

  “That’s a neat trick,” said Argos. “While teleporting has been achieved by very select Furies in the past, I wasn’t aware it was something that could be learned. I thought you needed to be born with it.”

  “Perhaps that’s the case. Perhaps I just needed to know how to access it.”

  “That would make sense.”

  “Which would mean it’s entirely possible you can get that power as well. We share almost the same DNA, after all.”

  Argos smiled. “That would be something.”

  “First we need to work on your speed, and then your stamina.”

  Before Argos could answer, Gaia’s avatar combat robot walked through the door.

  “Hey, Gaia,” said Chase.

  “Hello, Chase, what are you doing here? I’m afraid Spiros isn’t here. I’ve tried to contact him but I can’t seem to find him anywhere.”

  “Right, we forgot to tell you. I sent Spiros to Earth’s surface before we left Earth space. We need him to find a way to either convince Gaia 2, like he once convinced you, or defeat her altogether. Aren’t you linked with the rest of your AI on Earth?”

  “I was while we were in orbit, but now that we’ve entered hyperspace, I’ve lost the link. This body was not equipped with a subspace transmitter sufficient for the link to be kept at such distances with Earth’s shield up. Until we return to Earth, you’ll have to be content with only a fraction of my AI matrix.”

  Her avatar looked at the ground.

  “Are you alright, Gaia?” asked Chase.

  “Don’t mind me, Chase, I’m just sad that Spiros isn’t here, and a little concerned too.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that. We’ll do our best to get back to Earth and restore things. You have my word on that.”

  “Thank you, Chase.”

  Argos snarled.

  “What is it now, Argos?” asked Chase.

  “Why do we care about the emotions of a tin can, exactly?”

  “Gaia is more than merely a machine, Argos. She is sentient like you and me, and I’m pretty sure she could kick your ass on the battlefield as well.”

  “Let’s not exaggerate the gap between our power levels. No tin can, no matter how advanced or sentient she is, would be power
ful enough to bring me down.”

  “Why don’t we give that assessment a test?”

  “Chase, I’ll turn this thing into recycling material. Is that what you want?”

  Chase turned to Gaia. “Do you have what you need to rebuild yourself another body if what Argos says is true?”

  “Yes, Chase,” answered Gaia. “My partial matrix is saved in this vessel’s database. I can create many avatars, and we also have a few battle bots left, those I used to train with Chris.”

  “Very well,” said Chase with a smirk, before turning to Argos. “You’re up against Gaia. Show me what you can do.”

  Argos cracked his neck and fingers as they walked into the shielded arena. He looked at Gaia with disdain. “Give me your best shot, tin can,” said Argos, not waiting for an answer.

  He extended both his palms in front of him and fired a dozen small, red fireballs towards Gaia. She deflected them all except the last, which she decided to block with her hand. She consumed its power within her own circuits.

  “Impressive,” said Argos reluctantly.

  “For a tin can,” added Gaia.

  “My thoughts exact—” He never finished his sentence because

  Gaia was on top of him in the blink of an eye. She landed her knee deep in his left cheek, sending him flying against the arena’s shields that illuminated blue for a brief instant as Argos impacted into them. He then crashed to the floor but got up quickly, holding his bruised cheek and ego. He saw his own blood on his palm. Soon, the arena was filled with crimson light emanating from Argos’ body. Bright red lightning bolts danced around his body and his eyes flashed red.

  “Now I’m pissed,” he said as he spat a little blood on the floor.

  Gaia made a derogatory hand movement, waving her metal fingers in a motion suggesting she was ready and willing for Argos to show her what he could do, which seemed to anger him even more.

  He launched himself at Gaia with all his might, unleashing punches and kick combos with great efficiency. While some of them landed on Gaia, briefly lighting up her green shields, she blocked most of his attacks. It went on like that for quite a while, both trading blows, when a low thrumming permeated the arena.

  Argos felt his body become extremely heavy all of a sudden, and it reminded him of what he had felt when Arakan had punished him for not destroying the Iron Fire as ordered. The memory stung and Argos became a little afraid.

  “What’s this? What’s happening?” he asked.

  Chase’s voice echoed from the speakers. “Sorry, it took me a while to find the controls. The gravity in the arena is now five times that of Earth.”

  “What? Why?” exclaimed Argos.

  “You wanted me to train you, right? Well, this is how I trained on my own. Let’s see how long you can go head-to-head with Gaia at this setting.”

  And the answer was, not long. Within minutes Gaia had taken a large advantage and Argos barely managed to hit her anymore. He spent most of his time dodging and receiving powerful punches across his body.

  An hour later, many more bruises had appeared on his body and much blood had been spilled in the arena. But he was getting used to the new gravity settings and was going toe-to-toe with Gaia, and even getting the upper hand, even though he looked in bad shape. His aura was still shining brightly and Chase could tell that he was getting stronger with every minute of training. Faster, in fact, than it took him to progress. That was a good thing, Chase thought. He could use a stronger Argos by his side.

  “Chase!” shouted Argos, “Double the gravity.”

  Chase smiled. Argos was really motivated to progress as fast as possible. He entered a few commands on the control room’s console to set the gravity inside the arena to 10 G.

  Once again the balance of power was reversed and Gaia was now more powerful and faster than Argos, thanks to her avatar’s anti-gravity modules.

  “Would you like me to heal you?” asked Chase over the comms.

  The question distracted Argos and he received a flurry of blows from Gaia that sent him flying and crashing fifty yards away.

  “Ooops, my bad,” said Chase with a chuckle.

  Argos took a little while to get back to his feet as large amount of his Fury blood spilled to the floor. He looked towards Chase through the viewport in the arena with murder in his eyes. He intensified his energy and a wave of bright red light engulfed him for a second. When it vanished he had no more bruises.

  “I can heal myself just fine, brother.”

  “I can see that.”

  Argos didn’t look that beaten now, and Chase could feel he still had a lot of juice left in him. If there was one thing Argos was very good at, it was power management. While Chase was now in another league power-wise, he had to admit Argos was a master at managing his pool of energy.

  Argos still had trouble anticipating all of Gaia’s moves, but he was learning her combat strategies fast and, the more time passed, the less overwhelmed he got. Now, he could even land some powerful attacks of his own every now and then. Chase found it fascinating how fast his brother was counteracting the gravity field. It had taken him longer to get comfortable working at 10 G. Argos had done it in only a handful of hours.

  Argos dodged the last wave of attacks from Gaia and stopped fighting. Gaia looked at Chase.

  “Is there a problem, Argos?” asked Chase.

  “I understand the importance of such physical training, but when I asked you to train me, I didn’t expect to trade blows with a tin can all day long, no matter how advanced it is. No offense,” added Argos, looking back at Gaia.

  “None taken. The level at which you’ve progressed today is impressive. I have to commend you for that, even though I’m not a fan of the demeaning way you’re addressing me. But that is irrelevant. If Chase thinks you can be of use to defeat your own people, then I’ll abide by his decision and gladly suffer your peculiar personality.”

  Argos snorted. “I don’t need your congratulations, tin can. But your assistance in helping me train is . . . appreciated.”

  Chase couldn’t help but smile inside. It must have been so difficult for someone as arrogant and proud as Argos to say such things. It would take some time getting used to the new Argos, but it felt good to see he had more emotions other than rage and hatred.

  “Chase?” Argos asked. “If you could please come and trade a few blows with me, I’d appreciate it. I need a change of pace.”

  “Coming,” said Chase.

  A second later he had teleported inside the arena between Gaia and Argos.

  “Thank you, Gaia, I’ll take it from here.”

  “You’re welcome, Chase. I’ll recharge. I’m almost out of juice.”

  When she left the arena and the doors sealed them both inside, Chase looked at his brother.

  “Whenever you’re ready. But I must warn you, you’re not really ready for this. In time, perhaps, and I’m actually looking forward to having a sparring partner on the same level, but it might be best if I take it easy on you for the time being.”

  “No fucking way!”

  “Easy, Argos.”

  “Look, I understand there’s a huge gap in power between us now. And it makes sense not to knock me out immediately, I realize that. But please, just this once, don’t hold back. I want to know what power I can achieve if I work hard enough.”

  “Fair enough. Ready when you are.”

  Argos brought all his energy to bear. His crimson aura tripled and lightning sizzled all around him. His eyes flashed red and his long gray hair, shining with red hues from his aura, floated atop his head. Chase could feel his brother’s internal power grow, much more than when he was fighting Gaia. No doubt he wanted to make an impression and Chase had to commend him for the effort.

  Argos launched himself at Chase as fast as he could, and fast he was. A human would probably not be able to see him move. But to Chase that was still barely more than slow motion, and when Argos unleashed a powerful right jab at him, he was alrea
dy gone. Argos was surprised to find nothing but air and no one in sight at the end of his fist.

  When Argos turned around, Chase was already in midair, executing a flying kick that hit Argos square in the jaw and sent him flying into the arena’s shield. Argos struck the shields with his feet and launched himself back at Chase, feinted a kick, but almost immediately switched for a point blank fireball to Chase’s torso. Chase let it explode without moving away or trying to dodge, but it didn’t seem to hurt him at all.

  Argos flew upwards and unleashed a series of widely spread fireballs. Since Chase moved so fast, Argos spread them wider than he usually would.

  What happened next, Argos simply couldn’t believe. Each and every one of the fireballs he had shot towards Chase was on its way back. Chase was teleporting in front of each and sending it back with a flick of his hand. Some he kicked back, and the last one, probably to show off, was returned to Argos by the flick of Chase’s middle finger.

  Argos deflected most of his own fireballs, but the last one came at him so fast he only partially dodged it and was hit on the shoulder. Smoke rose from the impact. His flesh burned, with melted fabric from his dark clothes embedded in the wound. He felt pain throughout his body, but it was his pride that bore the most pain. Chase had become ten times the warrior Argos had ever been in such a short time. Why was that?

  “You want to know why?” said Chase.

  “What? Are you hearing my thoughts?”

  “Kind of. Just like you seemed to read me very well during our previous encounters, I’m feeling your emotions right this moment. You’re kind of broadcasting them all over the place. I have to make a conscious effort to block them out. Though, right now, I’m interested in what you feel.”

  “I see. Then why?”

  “Simple. I’m not using hatred, revenge or spite as my fuel anymore. I use love. Love for this universe, for all life really. Sure, I’m still angry at times, and it can be a good thing if channeled properly, but it’s also a very slippery slope. I know. I’ve been there and almost killed you because of it.”