by M. R. Forbes
Reza's face flushed, and he lowered his head. "Thank you," he replied.
"This system isn't networked, right?" Gabriel asked. "We aren't broadcasting how to make upgraded phase modulators to the entire bek'hai command?"
Zoelle laughed. "Of course not."
"I was able to update some of the sequences to make more efficient use of the organic compounds in the Dread tech. There is still going to be one limitation."
"What's that?"
"We can only push the modulation to a limited surface area at any given time."
"Which means what?"
"The shields will be cascading," Reza said. "Parts of the ship will be vulnerable as the modulation fields move around the hull."
"That doesn't sound good, Reza," Gabriel said.
"I know. The problem is that if we feed too much power into too much of the hull at one time, the lek'shah will break down and lose integrity."
"That sounds worse."
"Yes."
"You figured all of this out in two hours?"
"I have a good partner."
Gabriel glanced at Zoelle. "I thought you were more of an astrophysicist?"
"I've had fifty years to learn as much as I could," she replied. "I'm not anything special, Gabriel. Just a younger model of an older woman, who committed herself to saving not just humankind, but all of the innocents caught in this war and the wars that preceded it."
"Do you mean that?" he asked, wanting so much to believe it, but finding himself still skeptical. As he should be.
"Yes."
Something flashed behind them. Zoelle turned toward it immediately, approaching one of the smaller assemblers. The front of it slid down, revealing a small, cylindrical device. She picked it up, holding it out to Reza.
"We will scan it for a match," she said as he took it.
He nodded, removing the rifle from the table and placing the cylinder down on it. The blue light turned back on, sweeping across the device. It repeated the motion a dozen times, and then a holographic reading appeared above the cylinder.
"An accurate reproduction," Zoelle announced.
"Yes!" Reza said. "Where can we bring it to test it out?"
"Engineering. The main links to the conduits sending impulses through the hull are there. It will take some time to update the systems to utilize it. Much longer than it took to duplicate the design."
Reza looked disappointed. "I was hoping we could get this done today. Wouldn't that have been a treat for the General?"
"I thought you were running on fumes?" Gabriel asked.
"I was until I got involved with this. A good technical challenge is the best way to wake up."
"Why don't you go and get some rest, Reza," Zoelle said. "I will begin the work to integrate the modulator with our existing systems. You can check my work when you return."
"Uh, I don't know," Reza said.
"Go ahead," Gabriel said. "I'll stay here with her. We need you at full brain capacity."
"Okay," Reza said. "Don't do anything exciting without me, deal?"
"Deal."
TWENTY-TWO
"SO, I TALKED TO my father," Gabriel said, as he followed Zoelle through the starship to wherever engineering was located.
He had dismissed Diallo from her guard duty, sending her back to Colonel Choi. They would need to assemble another team to search for more mothers hiding in the shadows before anyone else got killed by them.
"What about?" Zoelle asked.
"Why he thinks you're my mother."
"I am your mother, Gabriel."
"Yeah, that's what he said. You can't blame me for being a little less accepting."
"I don't. It is perfectly understandable."
"Good. I want you to tell me what happened. How you came to be here, on this ship, and fifty years younger than you should be. I want to know who you are, but I also want to know who you were before." He almost told her that Tea'va thought she was full of it, but he held that part back.
"Before?"
"Before you remembered that you're Juliet St. Martin, not Zoelle dur Tuhrik."
She paused for a moment, her expression dimming. "I'm not proud of who I was."
"Why?"
"I feel as though Tuhrik programmed me to be the opposite of who I really am."
"Programmed you? I think you need to go back a little more. What happened?"
"The Dread captured me. They brought me to one of their facilities and gave me the genetic test to see if I would make a good clone. When I passed, they sent me to the Dread capitol, the Domo'dahm's ship. He saw me there and was intrigued because I was calmly defiant. The others they had taken, they cried and screamed, or were silent and distant. I looked him in the eye. I stared at him while he stared at me. I prayed to God to have mercy on him. He thought I was interesting, and took me as his own."
She pointed at a transport beam ahead, taking his hand as they entered since he didn't know where they were going. Her skin was warm and tingling. She squeezed his hand as they exited the beam, smiling at him.
"I never had to try very hard. Only be me. The Domo'dahm, Rorn'el, grew affectionate toward me. Not in a sexual way. The Dread barely understand sexuality. He gave me more and more freedom. In time, I met Tuhrik, and he began to teach me the ways of the Dread. Meanwhile, they were working to clone me. I became more involved in the process as it continued, giving input to the programming. The Domo'dahm wanted my duplicates to be special, so he would have me throughout his life. Tuhrik and I became close. We spent many hours discussing the future of humankind and the bek'hai. He knew Rorn'el was wrong to kill off humanity."
They reached a larger door. It slid open at her approach, revealing a sea of glowing crystals surrounding some sort of dark machine.
"Our power source, and energy stores," she explained.
"Where are the technicians to maintain all of this?"
"There were none assigned to the Ishur. This technology is thousands of years old, and incredibly reliable. My team was able to handle potential minor problems."
She circled the engines, moving to a separate door that opened when she neared.
"It was Tuhrik who helped me, but his goal was to help everyone. The Domo'dahm, the pur'dahm, they have lost their way over the years. They are setting themselves up, either to be forced to seek another life form or to go extinct. It is a cycle that cannot be allowed to repeat."
"I can't argue with that. So what did he do?"
"He saved me after I died."
"What do you mean, after you died?"
"My body was brought to be processed, broken down into raw materials. It sounds horrible, but it was an honor that no other human ever received. I was to be retired as a true bek'hai would be retired. Only Tuhrik arranged for me to be brought to his laboratory. He had a maturation capsule there, and he put me in it. He knew the healing power it had from his studies with the clones. It didn't only reverse my aging. It brought me back to life."
Gabriel stared at her, a part of him beginning to wonder if maybe she was telling the truth. He couldn't deny that he wanted it to be so.
"Why didn't he tell the Domo'dahm?"
"To what end? To continue the cycle of violence and destruction and genocide? No, he decided that I should wait and that we would work together to fuel the change the bek'hai need. Clearly, I couldn't be alive as myself, and so he subjected me to the programming sequencer, turning me into a clone of myself, as odd as that sounds."
They crossed another corridor until they reached the second room. This one was filled with large conduits and wires, along with a holographic terminal. She put her free hand to it, manipulating the alien writing.
"But what about this clone of yourself? I don't really understand. Clones should all be the same, shouldn't they?"
"That isn't how it works. Even with perfect genetics and programming, all clones are unique to some extent. The un'hai were always more unique than others. They have the closest thing to free will of any of
the lor'hai. When the programming Tuhrik inserted interacted with the rest of me, it made me very cold, very calculating, very hungry for power and control, and willing to do anything I had to in order to get it. I'm not proud of that."
Gabriel felt his heart beating faster. Was she admitting everything Tea'va had said to him? Could it be that Theodore was right after all? "Tea'va told me you couldn't be trusted."
"He was right. Before I remembered who I really am, I couldn't."
"But the fighting. The killing. Juliet St. Martin believed in peace."
"I would never let anyone hurt you, Gabriel," she said, looking at him. "You or your father. I can kill for that, as many as I have to. I'll beg God's forgiveness later."
Gabriel reached under his shirt, taking hold of the crucifix there. He lifted it out so that Zoelle could see it. He was going to ask her if she remembered it, but by the tears that formed in her eyes, he knew she did.
"I'm happy he gave it to you," she said. "I'm happy you're here. That we're all here together."
Gabriel felt himself losing the battle not to believe her. If she were faking everything, she was doing a masterful job. And that was possible, too, wasn't it? The clones could be programmed to do anything. How much of her story was true? What should he believe?
He was more confused than he had been before. Was it better than doubting?
He looked at Zoelle, trying to find words to express what he was feeling. Only she wasn't crying anymore. She wasn't sad anymore. Her face was pale, her eyes panicked.
"Oh, Gabriel," she said. "Oh, no."
"What is it?" Gabriel asked.
"I'm sorry. Gabriel, I'm sorry."
He felt his own panic setting in. "What?"
"I lied. I didn't know it, but I lied. Talking about it, I only now remembered. When I told Theodore that I plotted the optimal course. That isn't true. I delayed the Ishur intentionally."
"Why?"
A voice suddenly echoed across the room, and throughout the Dread fortress. Colonel Choi's voice.
"Red alert. Red alert. All hands to stations. All hands to stations. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill."
Zoelle's voice was weak when she spoke again.
"I transmitted a message to the Domo'dahm to send reinforcements."
TWENTY-THREE
GABRIEL'S SHOCK VANISHED, HIS instincts taking over as Colonel Choi repeated the red alert.
"We barely have control over the ship," he said.
"I know."
"Where is the comm?"
"Here." She put her hand to a blank side of the wall, and a light appeared.
"Bridge, this is Major St. Martin. Can you hear me?"
"I hear you, Gabriel," Colonel Choi said.
"What's going on?"
"Two Dread fortresses just appeared off the slipstream. They're heading our way."
"ETA?"
"Twenty-two minutes. Where are you?"
"Engineering, with my - Zoelle."
"Well, get your ass up here, Major."
"Yes, ma'am."
Gabriel turned to Zoelle. "Twenty-two minutes. How well can this ship hold up to attack from two others?"
"Without any interceptors and only the main plasma cannon? Not long."
"Damn it." He took a step toward the door. "What about that?" he said, pointing at the modulator in her hand. "Can you get it installed in that time?"
"I don't know. I'm not as familiar with these systems as some of the others."
"We have to try. How can I help?"
"Aren't you needed on the bridge?"
"Tea'va can handle the flying. I don't know what I'm doing yet, anyway. What can I do?"
She nodded, her hand working the terminal faster. She tossed the modulator to him as a small hatch slid open, revealing a power conduit.
"The hard part is going to be programming the systems to handle the modulation. I'm going to cut the power to the conduit. Do you see the capsule joining the wires?"
Gabriel looked inside the panel. The capsule was filled with some kind of gel, glowing a soft blue as the power passed through it. "Yes."
The blue glow faded.
"Pull it out, carefully. You don't want to damage it."
Gabriel reached in, putting one hand around the capsule and another on the bundle. He pulled, flinching as a tangle of wires and deep red fluid seeped from the bottom of it. He lowered the wire to the side of the panel, and then disconnected the capsule from the top and removed it.
"Good. Look at the modulator. It has connectors for the wires on both ends."
Gabriel looked at it, finding the connectors. "There are an awful lot of them."
"I know. You'll need to join them individually."
"In what order?"
"The order doesn't matter. The strands can only carry so much power each; that's why there are so many."
He wondered if he had made a mistake in offering to help as he lifted the bottom bundle and separated the finer threads at the end, and then began attaching them one by one.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"I have to adjust the power output through that conduit so that it will modulate the phase appropriately." She reached up and tapped the comm. "Bridge, this is Juliet in engineering."
"Juliet," Theodore responded. "What are you up to down there?"
"Gabriel and I are working to integrate Reza's phase modulator into the bek'hai systems. Theo, if this works, you'll have cascading shield coverage across the bow of the domo'shah."
"Cascading? As in non-static?"
"Yes. You'll have to adjust course to try to keep the ship angled to deflect the Dread fortress' attacks. They'll try to flank you and get you in a crossfire. Don't let them."
"Affirmative," Theodore replied. "You got that, Tea'va?"
Gabriel didn't hear the bek'hai's response. He was sure the pur'dahm understood. He focused his efforts on binding the wires to the modulator.
The time passed too quickly for Gabriel to keep track of. He was halfway through the top end of the modulator when Zoelle announced that they only had two minutes left to make something happen. The ship had already shaken once from a long-range strike that Tea'va hadn't managed to avoid.
"I'm going as fast as I can," Gabriel said, reaching for another of the small wires.
Zoelle moved in beside him. "Here, let me do it." She took the modulator from him, her fingers dancing across it as she laced the rest of the wires to it in less than thirty seconds.
"I think you should have done this yourself," he said.
"I've had a lot more practice. I used to knit your father sweaters. Did you know that?"
Gabriel couldn't help but smile. "No, I didn't." He hadn't gotten to take any of them off of Earth with him.
She finished the wiring, reaching into the panel and slipping the modulator into place.
"What do we do with this?" Gabriel asked, holding up the gel-filled capsule.
"Hope that we don't need it," she replied.
"Juliet, darlin', give me some good news," Theodore said over the comm. "We're twenty seconds from firing range, and the bastards are sending fighters at us."
"Tell Tea'va to get the ship angled and fire the plasma cannon at them," she said, her voice angry. "What is he doing up there?"
Theodore's laughter filled the room. "Tea'va, what in the hell are you doing over there? Mr. Mokri, did you get me my damn fire control?"
"Yes, General," Gabriel heard Reza said. "Take my tablet. Charge status is here; fire button is here."
"Like a damn video game," Theodore replied. "Nice work, Mr. Mokri."
"Thank you, sir."
"We're almost done," Zoelle said. "I'm about to power it up. Remember, we can't control the cascade. It's going to cycle for now, and the Dahms on those ships are going to figure out what's happening pretty quickly. We need to hit them back as hard and fast as we can."
"I hear you, darlin'," Theodore said. "Nothing to do now but pray."
; "Amen," Zoelle said, her hands a blur on the terminal.
A moment later, Gabriel could feel the charge of the energy as it began running through the conduit once more. The modulator began to whine softly, and two of the connectors on top sparked and smoked.
"I don't think it's working," he said, his stomach sinking.
"Come on," Zoelle said, her hands still working the terminal. "It can't handle the power. We need to reduce it. The surface area is going to be smaller than we planned."
"How small?" Gabriel asked.
"It will be just large enough to stop the main plasma cannon if it catches it square in the center."
"With rolling coverage? No pilot in the universe can keep the shields centered like that. What if we keep the power levels up?"
"It will destroy the modulator."
"How quickly?"
"I don't know."
"We don't have a choice," Gabriel said. "Do it."
"Okay. God be with us and have mercy on our souls. Theodore, the shields should be active, but they can't handle the strain for long. Remember, hard and fast."
"Affirmative. Tea'va, bring us in."
TWENTY-FOUR
THEODORE DIDN'T LIKE THE Dread's command dais, even though it wasn't much different than the raised platform on the Magellan. The seat was uncomfortable, designed for a taller, leaner shape, and certainly not adjustable for an old man with no legs. More than that, it was obvious when sitting on it that it was designed to make the rest of the bridge crew feel submissive and small, and he hated that. Each and every soul on the bridge was invaluable to him, even if they were limited in their helpfulness during their first taste of combat aboard the alien vessel.
They had held themselves well in the last two battles. At least this time they had a weapon to fire back at the enemy.
A weapon that could actually hurt them.
And now, Mr. Mokri had pulled a rabbit out of his hat one more time, and along with Juliet and Gabriel had given them some semblance of shields. He knew it was true because, despite the original blackness of the lek'shah armor, it had given way to an even deeper, darker black that he identified immediately as darkspace. It curled and rolled around the hull of the bow like a typhoon, as though they had somehow released a storm on top of the ship. He had been expecting it to be more evenly distributed and as such easier to adjust to, but they would take what they could get.