Engines stopped, ventilating systems overheated. Electrical power went out in many portions of the ship.
“Fire back!” I shouted. “Hit those bastards.”
“They’re too far away,” Rollo said.
“Launch T-missiles,” I said.
“How?” Rollo asked. “We’re cut off from our own surface. We can’t even give them orders now.”
“Maybe someone used their own initiative,” Ella said, indicating a working screen.
It was one of the few left projecting images. A T-missile appeared near a Ve-Ky vessel. The warhead ignited with a thermonuclear blast.
I leaned forward in the dim glow of emergency power. One million kilometers away, a Vip 92 Attack Vessel winked out of existence.
I led the cheering.
“Stop, stop,” Key said. The colors were going wild on its sides.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“This is a barbaric display of bloodthirstiness. I find it distressing.”
“Yeah? They struck us first. We just hit back harder.”
“That must have done it, Commander,” Rollo said. “The other two vessels are running away.”
“It may be too late for us,” Ella said, studying her panel. “We’re losing power all over the ship.”
“Tell everyone to suit up,” I said.
Ella nodded. “That will help for a little while. But if we can’t get the systems back online, we’re going to run out of oxygen before long. And we can forget about transferring again. Commander, I think we might be stranded out here in the galactic core.”
-16-
I took a deep breath before saying anything. I heard the fear in Ella’s voice. I could see the frightened faces of those at their stations. I was responsible for them. I had to get us home again. First, I had to find this Fortress of Light.
I know, Key said the fortress was gone. I wasn’t taking anything at face value out here, though. The sudden attack by energy vessels with regular creatures inside the weird ships—no, I didn’t buy this was by accident. It felt like a set up.
“Here’s the first rule I learned a long time ago in the Jelk Corporation,” I said, loudly. “Don’t panic. Yeah, we’re in a tough spot.” I shrugged. “We’ve been in tough spots before and won through. We will here, too. The first thing, though—”
I pointed at Dmitri.
“Don’t panic,” the Cossack said in his cheerful manner.
“Right, Ella?” I asked.
She looked green around the gills, a prime candidate for panicking.
“Start by figuring out what kind of energy blast they hit us with,” I told her.
“How am I supposed to do that?” she asked, her voice rising as she spoke.
“Ella Timoshenko,” I said firmly.
She blinked several times before licking her lips. “This is the galactic center, Commander. We’re at Sagittarius A*.”
“Good. Now, figure out what I asked for, and get your people working on it. Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.”
Her eyes narrowed. Ella hated supernatural explanations for anything. A bite of anger took hold. I could see it in her eyes. She turned to her nearest team and began to give orders in a calm voice.
One of the keys to leadership was having good lieutenants. I had the best.
“N7,” I said. “You’re coming with me.”
Key floated after me. “Commander, if we could finish our conversation, please, I would like to initiate my full countdown before all of you die.”
“I don’t have time for that now,” I said. “This is an emergency.”
“I see. If you’re otherwise occupied, I have my own protocols to follow.”
I marched up to Key and put my hands on my hips. “Now, you listen here. You’re not going to destroy my ship because you messed up.”
“That is untrue. I did my duty. I have ‘messed up’ nothing.”
“Ha!” I barked. “It’s completely true. I happen to know where the Fortress of Light is. That is what you’re supposed to find, right?”
“It has disappeared, Commander.”
“Wrong,” I said. “You simply don’t know where to look.”
“That is nonsensical. If you don’t even know what the Fortress of Light is, how can you know its location?”
“You have made an error,” I said “Come back to me once you figure it out. N7, let’s go.”
“Commander,” Key said. “I realize my error.”
“Yes?” I asked, wondering what it would say.
“Holgotha must have given you information regarding the Fortress of Light.”
“There you go,” I said. “You give me hope that my time with you isn’t completely a waste of time. I’m going to get back with you, Key. First, you have to let me do my job.”
“I have analyzed your speech patterns,” Key said. “You are telling the truth. Therefore, I will wait.”
I hurried out with N7 because I was lying through my teeth. It was a good thing I was a natural liar. Otherwise, we’d all be dead.
I’d learned some time ago how to deal with logical artificial intelligences. It wasn’t easy and took quick thinking.
I shook my head. I couldn’t worry about Key at the moment. First, I had to get my ship running, if it was possible. I’d worry about finding this missing Fortress of Light later.
As I hurried down a corridor with N7, I had a nagging thought. What had Holgotha hoped to gain by this? Just whose side was the Forerunner artifact on? Did the thing even know?
I could already smell the air’s staleness. We had to get at least part of the ship running again. Who knew if the two Vip 92 Attack Vessels had gone to get reinforcements or not?
***
Three hours later found us in an even worse condition. The energy blasts had knocked down almost everything. Everyone I saw wore a vacc-suit or a bio-suit. I wondered about the rest of the moon-ship. It was vast, obviously, with over ten thousand operatives on board. Some parts of the ship could have been in entirely different countries, given that they were over a thousand kilometers away.
I was back on the bridge, scowling in my helmet. The bridge was empty except for me. The others were elsewhere, working on repairs. Key was gone, too. I wondered idly where the pesky thing had gone.
Flickering light caught my eye. I looked up. The main screen had gone blank some time ago. It was on again and growing brighter.
I sat up, pushed myself to my feet and approached the screen. It showed the supermassive black hole. Pin dot lights rose from a section of the accretion disk. Could anyone live in the disk?
I glanced around, saw a blinking bank of controls and went to them. I began to test the controls. After a few taps, I looked up at the screen. Finally, I managed to zoom in on the lights rising from the disk.
There were hundreds of them. To my untrained eye, each of them looked like a Vip 92 Attack Vessel. No. That wasn’t exactly right. Some of those ships—if that was what they were—looked substantially larger than the others.
What I found interesting was that our battle tech had been good enough to kill one of the attackers. How many T-missiles did we have left? I had no idea. Most, if not all, of the T-missiles were near the surface hatches. I would have to race through literally thousands of kilometers of corridors to reach the surface. By the time I got there, the Vip 92s would have already made their attack.
I hurried to the comm consoles, sitting down at one, letting my fingers rove over controls. I knew how to work these better than the main-screen controls.
Approximately ten minutes later, I got a response. It was a crackle of noise at what seemed like high-pitched speed.
As I tried to puzzle that out, I heard a sound behind me. Turning, I saw Key hovering in place. How long had the thing been behind me, watching?
“Did you hear that?” I asked.
“I did, Commander. I would advise you to finish your conversation with me, as we are almost out of time.”
“W
as that the Ve-Ky responding to my queries?” I asked.
“Why are you asking me? You heard the transmission.”
“I did, but I don’t understand their language.”
“Commander, do you expect me to believe that?”
“I am not in the habit of lying, Key.”
“Are you suggesting I am?”
“I don’t know, Key. Are you?”
“That is a slur against my builders, which is to say against the Creator.”
I found the statement shocking. “The Creator directly fashioned you?”
“Not directly, no,” Key said, “but certainly indirectly.”
I frowned. “How do you know that to be true?”
“Commander, it is self-evident. We do not have the time to argue over fundamental truisms. The attack vessels are racing here to finish what you started.”
“What? Wait just a minute. We didn’t start anything.”
“That isn’t what the Ve-Ky just said.”
“What did they say?” I asked.
“Please, Commander,” Key said, sounding miffed. “I am not a translation unit. I am a key.”
His reaction gave me an idea. “Wouldn’t some worth be better than no worth at all?” I asked.
“Explain that,” Key said.
“You said the Fortress of Light has vanished. If it really is gone, so is your purpose as its key, which leads you to think self-termination is in order. Now, however, I offer you value as a translation unit. Since you now have value, self-termination is no longer necessary.”
“I was not made to be a translation unit.”
“Welcome to the club.”
“That statement means nothing to me,” Key said. “What club are you referring to, and why should I be welcomed to it?”
“I was designed to live in luxury, served by a thousand Playboy bunnies,” I said. “Instead, I have been forced to work for a living.”
“I had not realized this,” Key said.
I shrugged as sweat began to trickle under my armpits. Pretending to remain cool while stressed, arguing with an over-intelligent robotic—
“Yes!” Key said suddenly. “I will translate for you. The essence of the message was the Ve-Ky opinion leader giving you a list of offenses. To begin with, you appeared in a restricted zone without proper licensing, without any explanation and in clear violation of the Civilizational Value Index.”
“Uh…what’s a Civilizational Value Index?” I asked.
The lights flashed faster across Key, and it spoke in a reproving tone. “It amazes me that you would agree to transfer without knowledge of something so fundamental. That was rash, Commander.”
“Did the Ve-Ky opinion leader say what he intends to do?” I asked.
“That is self-evident. The Ve-Ky will destroy your ship in retaliation for your offenses.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, reminding myself that aliens were different from us. They would not think like us nor act like us. If their actions seemed unreasonable, that was because I didn’t understand their mode of thinking.
Opening my eyes, I asked, “I would appreciate it if you could explain what the Civilizational Value Index is?”
“I am surprised,” Key said. “That is actually a reasonable and logical request. The concept is quite simple, really. The galaxy is cordoned off into varying levels of civilization. For example, Earth has a 6C Civilizational Score.”
Immediate questions popped into my mind. Who gave the scores and enforced the cordoning? Instead, I asked, “What is the Lokhar Homeworld score?”
“The homeworld specifically isn’t scored,” Key said. “The Lokhar are scored as a species.”
“Got it,” I said. “So, what’s their score?”
“6B.”
“And the Ve-Ky?” I asked.
“The last time I checked, they hovered between a 2A and a 1E score.”
“Yet, we destroyed one of their Vip 92s.”
“Yes,” Key said. “I find that remarkable. That must be due to your heritage as killers. It must be true what Holgotha suspects about humans.”
“That being what exactly?” I asked.
“We are drifting afield, Commander. We will stick to the issue. I find it interesting that you appear to have surmised a technological ability commensurate with a civilizational score. The basis is not one for one, but normally it is close. Thus, a 2A species should demolish a 6C species in space combat. However, the moon-ship originally belonged to a 1C species. Since its construction, though, the ship’s technological superiority has slipped into a 3E state, except for its marvelous transfer ability. That is a 1AAA technological achievement.”
As Key spoke, I studied the main screen. The flow of energy ships from the accretion disk had grown. It wasn’t just hundreds of vessels. This looked like thousands upon thousands were headed at us.
“So you’re saying the galaxy is divided into different civilizational zones?” I asked.
“I have already stated so, Commander. Why are you being redundant?”
“And…the Ve-Ky are angry with us because we’ve entered a place we shouldn’t have?”
“That is merely the first of your offensives.”
“Holgotha must have known about these different zones.”
“He is a Forerunner artifact,” Key said. “Of course Holgotha knew.”
I nodded slowly, trying to envision what Key was suggesting. Our galaxy was full of aliens. The slower, less developed aliens lived on the fringes, it would appear. The smartest, most advanced aliens lived in the galactic core. The smart ones didn’t want the dumb ones loitering in their zone.
Out of all the dangers brought about by transferring, I would not have thought of this.
“Why did Holgotha chose to live in the less developed part of the galaxy?” I asked.
“That is an interesting question,” Key said. “It is deserving of careful speculation. Unfortunately, we do not possess the time at the moment.”
As if to punctuate Key’s point, another blast of high-speed screeches burst through the comm unit.
“What are the Ve-Ky saying now?” I asked.
Key did not respond.
Since I was wearing my helmet, I didn’t notice right away. Finally, though, I saw a blaze of colored lights playing off the reflection of the comm screen. I turned. Key had gone wild with intense colors zipping across his sides.
“What is it?” I said. “What did they say?”
“You don’t understand,” Key said in a soft voice. “That was not the Ve-Ky speaking. That was the voice of the Curator. He bids you to enter the Museum as sanctuary from the coming assault.”
“What Museum?” I said, looking up at the main screen.
I saw it right away. It was on the other side of the accretion disk as the Ve-Ky energy vessels. The thing was built like Key, only on a vaster scale. It was a gigantic cube of multi-colors that shined with even greater brilliance than the black hole.
“Is that the Fortress of Light?”
“That is one of the most ancient titles,” Key said. “The Curator has offered you sanctuary. This is marvelous and stupendous. The honor you have just received—”
“Okay, okay, settle down, Key. This is a great and glorious moment. Now, how do we get there before the Ve-Ky swarm reaches us?”
“I do not believe such a thing is possible. You are quite doomed. Still, it is good to know that you humans can die with full and righteous honor.”
-17-
“What kind of key are you anyway?” I demanded. “Tell the Curator we’re having a little trouble. Maybe he can lend us a hand in getting to the fortress.”
The metallic cube turned in the air as if to regard me closer. “That is against all the dictates of the Museum,” Key said as if offended. “If your ship lacks motive power, the ancient structure will no doubt vanish back into the accretion disk. That you were allowed to look upon the great fortress—”
“Wait, wait, wait,” I shouted. “Why w
ould the Curator abandon us? None of this makes sense.”
“That is because you are civilizationally too dull-witted to realize the honor he has done you,” Key said.
I opened channels in my helmet comm. “Ella, N7,” I said, “come to the bridge right away. We have an emergency.”
I watched the stream of energy vessels swing toward the moon-ship. This group had started farther away than the first three that had attacked us. But they were moving fast, getting much too close much too soon.
At that moment, another burst of high-speech screeches assaulted my ears.
“The Curator is wondering why you don’t answer him,” Key told me.
“Tell him I’m preparing the proper reply.”
“I’m surprised at you, Commander. That is a thoughtful response. Yes, I will tell him that.”
Key made a volley of similar screeching noises.
At that point, Ella and N7 rushed onto the bridge. As quickly as I could, I explained the situation to them. N7, still in his body armor, raced to a station, hurriedly tapping on a console.
“Given the range of their last attack,” N7 said, “from one million kilometers away, I estimate we have fourteen minutes before the Ve-Ky bombardment begins. How soon until we’re obliterated after that, I am unwilling to estimate.”
“I’m sure your obliteration will occur in less than ten of your minuscule time units after the beginning assault,” Key said.
“Are you referring to minutes?” N7 asked Key.
“I am.”
“Ella,” I said, “how long until the ship has full power again?”
“You can forget about that,” she said. “I can give you some operational abilities by connecting you with the surface. We can launch T-missiles and possibly activate laser turrets. I could open the hangar bay doors and let our few fighters launch. More than that, however…” She shook her helmeted head.
“It is a pity for you,” Key said. “But your glorious adventure is over. I am at peace, however. As I was among you as you witnessed the appearance of the Fortress of Light. Commander, I will take my leave now. I believe I can reach the moon surface before the attack run begins. I will tell the Curator all that transpired here.”
Fortress Earth (Extinction Wars Book 4) Page 10