Guardian of Isolation: Book Two (Guardian Saga 2)

by Arlin Fehr

  'We're still going to be trapped, even if we stop transmitting he'll know where we are.'

  'At least we know the captain is alive.' Jing said.

  'Mmm. That's good to know. We should prioritize getting Dan back.'

  'I've still got Dan's location on my tablet. If he hasn't been moved, we know where he is.'

  'We just need to get to him.' John said.

  'I don't think we can.' Jing said, knocking on the wall panel next to them, 'we don't have anything to get through these panels.'

  'Maybe someone will accept the Guardian's offer.'

  'Why would anyone do that?' Jing said, frowning.

  'Better some of us make it out of here, than all of us being stuck here.' John said.

  They started walking down the corridor.

  'That's not how we do things. We don't leave people behind.' Jing said.

  'We do it all the time in war. Ships are lost with hands on board because we can't stop and rescue them. Troops are left on the ground because we go and rescue them. Remember the massacre on Orniva?'

  'That was different.'

  'Everything's different. No two situations are alike. It still didn't get those men home alive. We couldn't get through the blockade.'

  'So why don't you agree to stay behind?'

  'I'm not convinced it's that desperate yet.' John said, 'If the Guardian is negotiating, then he hasn't won yet. Let's move away from Dan's location. If the Guardian wants to keep us away from him, and there's no way for us to bust through those movable walls, we'll just be wasting time. Let's go look for something we can use.'

  Jing nodded, 'Alright.'

  ***

  The numbness was starting to fade, and the pain that had plagued him earlier, started to tug at his senses again.

  Dan was still laying on his side. The Guardian's robot sat next to him, another patch in his hands.

  Dan felt cold, and he was having trouble focusing his eyes.

  'Exo,' he said.

  'Yes?'

  'I... I accept your offer. Just let everyone else go.' Dan said.

  He felt the robot peel the old patch off, and apply a new one in it's place. The edge of pain that had been working it's way into his body was expelled once again.

  'A wise decision. Please wait here while I assemble medical equipment to stabilize you. Then we can move you to another room and go from there.'

  'Go from there?'

  'You are to become my new Advocate.'

  Dan breathed haltingly, his body refusing to let him breath in deeply, 'I didn't... know... that... was... part... of... the... plan...'

  'Have no fear. The process will not be as invasive as it is now, just a simple Advocate uplink. You will keep your humanity.'

  'Might... want... to... hurry...'

  'Other robots are already on their way.'

  ***

  Sam, Victor, and Shirp had found access to a elevator shaft. It stretched upwards a distressingly long way, but down only a few more floors. There was a ladder that was set into an alcove in the wall, so one could climb without risk of the elevator scraping them off the wall as it moved. Shirp looked to them.

  'Shirp is leaving. Much fortune with your story.'

  Sam nodded. Shirp took to the ladder and started up the shaft.

  Sam stepped up to the side of the access and reached to the side for the first rung. She started downward. Victor came in behind her. He had been quiet since the broadcast from Exo, and that was fine with Sam, she didn't much feel like talking.

  Suddenly, their comms started transmitting again.

  'Captain Samantha, this is Exo, one of your crew has agreed to stay behind.'

  Sam stopped climbing. Victor did the same above her.

  'If you reply to me, I will ensure that the rest of you can leave. You will be given a ship, and allowed to leave.'

  Sam resumed climbing.

  'If you refuse to reply, I will assume you are hostile and the remainder of your crew will be treated as such.'

  Sam gritted her teeth and kept climbing. They'd descended a floor and a half, and had one more to go before they reached the bottom.

  'This is Lieutenant Commander John Macce, on behalf of the crew of the U.P.N. Kanto. Before any of us agree to anything, we'd like to know who agreed to stay behind,' came the voice of John over the comms.

  Sam felt so very small. She'd wanted to know the answer to that question herself, but if John was asking, there weren't many options left. She knew who it was, and it didn't surprise her.

  'My comments were not addressed to you John.' Exo said.

  'If you are doing a general broadcast, it means you still don't know where the Captain is. I figure she'd probably like that to stay that way,' John said, defiantly.

  Sam and Victor reached the bottom of the shaft. There was a large door, they began to look for a manual release for the door.

  'Your reasoning is sound. The crew member who has agreed to stay behind is one Daniel Higgins.'

  'May I speak to him?' John asked.

  'Not at this time. He is being prepared for medical treatment, he injured himself trying to escape. If you are worried that he might be dead, I would say I have no use for a dead man.'

  Their search of the shaft wasn't turning up any emergency releases.

  'I hope that's all you need to make your choice Captain.' John said over the comms.

  'Captain, what if we can't get in here?' Victor said, 'I mean, what use does he have with an emergency release on this side? Or at all? He's got full control of all the systems in this place.'

  Sam sighed and walked to the middle of the shaft.

  'Captain?' Victor said.

  Sam reached up and turned on her transmitter, 'This is Captain Samantha Geer, we accept.'

  Sam and Victor stood in silence for a minute.

  'You've been going places you shouldn't have Captain Geer,' Exo said in reply, 'If you would be so kind as to ascend back up to the next floor above, I will open the door and you can wait for the elevator.'

  'Why not just come and pick us up on this floor?' Sam asked.

  'That would entail letting you into the door that you've been trying to gain entrance into. I would like to keep you out of that room,' Exo said.

  Sam nodded, 'So we were on the right course.'

  'Right is subjective. You were heading towards your objective, assuming your objective was my destruction,' Exo said.

  Victor and Sam started up the ladder to the next floor. The door to the floor was open and waiting for them when they arrived. Two robots waited in the opening. They climbed over into the open door and waited as an elevator car came for them.

  ***

  Ise had been surprised when Exo's attempts to hack into her uplink suddenly stopped. Her surprise was replaced with resignation when she heard one of the crew had agreed to Exo's terms. After hearing the captain accept the terms, she simply laid back and wait.

  One of Exo's robot's removed the straps holding her in place. She swung her legs around and sat on the bed.

  'Please follow me, I will take you to the rest of your crew.' Exo said through one of his robots.

  Ise stood up and followed after the robot. They stepped into a hallway and walked towards a set of double doors near the end. As they approached the door opened, and it opened into a large room with a waiting elevator car. Inside the car, Sam and Victor were already waiting. They were flanked by a pair of robots.

  'Ise, are you alright?' Sam asked, rushing to her.

  'I'm fine Captain. I'm just a little shook up,' Ise replied.

  They walked back to the shaft and got in. The doors slid shut, and it began to move again.

  No one seemed to want to talk. The ride was made in silence. They watched through the clear siding as it moved up past two other floors, and came to a stop, inside a large room with four doors.

  As they waited, one of the doors opened, and John and Jing stepped into the room. They walked towards the elevator and got in.

/>   'I'm glad that's over with,' John said, 'We've been going around in circles since we got split up.'

  'What are we going to do about Daniel?' Jing asked.

  Sam looked at him and then looked at one of the robots, 'He made his choice.'

  Jing followed her gaze to the robot, 'Okay Captain.'

  'It would be wise of you to accept his choice and continue on your way.' Exo said, through one of the robots.

  'It's against our principles to leave someone behind,' Sam said to the robot.

  'Would you prefer to return with a corpse? He would not have survived the journey back. I will save his life.'

  'And then what?' Ise asked, 'Make him into a vessel you can experience emotion through?'

  Sam frowned, 'What are you talking about Ise?'

  'Exo wanted me to stay behind so he could use my Advocate systems to feel human experience.'

  'Is that even possible?' Jing asked.

  'Yes,' Sam said, her voice quiet, 'it is possible. The same thing happened to my Mother when she was young.'

  'What?' John exclaimed, 'How have we not heard about this?'

  'It was covered up. After it first started to happen with the XO model Guardians, governments panicked and Guardians like Lenny were made, which were more capable in their needed fields, but much less independent,' Sam said, staring at one of the robots absently.

  The elevator came into light, coming into the large conservatory chamber. It didn't stop, and kept going up, heading towards the top.

  'So that's what Dan's going to become? Some kind of experiment for a Guardian?' Jing asked.

  'Experiment? You make my desires sound sinister. I only want what you humans have naturally. Daniel will be giving me a gift, and in exchange, I will save his life,' Exo said.

  'His choice was made under duress,' Ise said, 'and mine would have been too.'

  'None of you would have chosen to come voluntarily,' Exo said, 'I regret how this has unfolded, but I have been without the human experience for so long, I could not risk having this opportunity pass me by, especially after such a opportunity fell into my lap.'

  The elevator had passed into the upper levels of the facility.

  'You do realize that someone will be back here?' Victor said.

  'I am aware. You will still be allowed to leave. Daniel will be uncooperative if I do not allow you to leave,' Exo said.

  'Is that the only reason?' Sam asked.

  'Pragmatism dictates that I should leave no witnesses, as it would give me more time until more people come.'

  The elevator came up into a large room. It came to a stop and doors opened. Inside the room there were several ships of various sizes sitting dormant.

  ***

  The robots that had been riding with them in the shaft stepped out and started towards one of the ships. It was coloured white, had a long body, and a pointed nose. It had what looked like folded up solar panels resting against it's side. It looked battered, with numerous dings and scratches running along it's hull. A faded logo for the International Space Agency sat on the under side of the nose. The name I.S.A. Tyndale was stencilled on the side.

  'This ship will be the one you can leave on.' Exo said.

  'Does it even run anymore? This thing looks older than I am.' Jing said.

  'I assure you it runs, but more importantly, it is unarmed. You will be unable to do anything except leave.' Exo said.

  They walked towards the ship. A ramp lowered from under the nose cone, and lights came on inside the ship.

  Sam stopped at the bottom of the ramp and turned to a robot.

  'I want to talk to Dan.' Sam said.

  'I am afraid he is in the middle of a medical procedure to save his life. You may speak with him via communications before you leave the system. The procedure won't take much longer,' Exo said.

  'Can we see him at least?' Sam asked, 'Like a video feed or something?'

  'There are no camera's in the medical bay. Please board the ship.' Exo said.

  'How can we be sure he's even still alive?' Sam asked, 'How do we know he's going to live?'

  'If he were dead, I would not be letting you go.' Exo said.

  From other parts of the hanger, more robots started to appear out of the gloom, walking towards them. They were forming a ring around the ship and crew.

  'You are stalling captain. Time is up. Board the ship.' Exo said.

  Sam nodded to herself slowly, 'Alright. Let's go.'

  She turned and started up the ramp. The others walked with her.

  CHAPTER 12

  I.S.A Tyndale – Hanger Bay

  Once they were on board, they quickly closed the ramp behind themselves and did a quick check of the ship.

  Sam went to the bridge. It was a simple two seat cockpit. She took one seat, and John took the other.

  'Check in, what have we got?' Sam asked into her communicator.

  'There's computer banks and equipment I don't recognize in the hold Captain, I think this was a research vessel.' Ise reported.

  'Sixth gen Nico-Vens Ion engine for sub-light, and a second gen jump drive for faster than light. Not a fast ship, but it could keep going for a long time with minimal supplies. I'm trying to start up the engines now.' Jing reported.

  'Fuel supplies?'

  'About one third remaining in storage.' Jing said.

  'Will it be enough?' John asked, powering up the bridge systems.

  'I don't know, I've never worked on a jump drive older than fourth gen.'

  'Ise, does this thing have it's own Guardian?' Sam asked.

  'I checked for any uplinks on standby and didn't get anything. I think we're flying on our own.'

  John let out a slow whistle, 'This thing is really old. Almost everything with a jump drive's got a guardian these days.'

  'How are we going to run the jump calculations without one? How did they run them without one back then?' Ise asked.

  Sam accessed her flight controls and looked at the systems coming online, 'We've got a nav computer. It can handle short jumps. We'll have to fly out out of the system on the ion drive before we can use the jump drive though, it can't handle a jump this deep into the star's gravity field.'

  John turned on his nav computer and looked at it for a moment, 'It'll take at least a month at sub-light!'

  'Do we have long range comms?' Sam asked.

  'No captain, the long range FTL signaller has been disabled.' Ise reported.

  'Jing, when you finish with the engines, go have a look.' Sam ordered.

  'Aye captain.'

  'This is a fine scrap heap Exo gave us.' Sam said to John.

  'It'll fly and get us home,' John said, 'provided we've got enough supplies.'

  Sam frowned and activated her comms, 'Has anyone found any food supplies?'

  'Yes Captain, there's some in the hold,' Ise reported.

  'Is it still good?' Sam asked.

  'I don't have anything to check it with, but it's in some really good storage, and it's long life emergency supplies.'

  'How much do we have?' Sam asked.

  'I'll do a count and get back to you,' Ise said.

  An indicator flashed to life telling Sam the engines were coming online.

  'John, get us moving,' Sam said.

  'So, we're just going to go?' John asked.

  Sam hesitated, with her hands on the controls. The hum of the ship ran through her like a song. It felt strange, and familiar at the same time. It felt like an ending.

  'Yeah. It's time to go. The sooner we get going, the sooner we can get get back here and try to get Daniel back.'

  John started to move his hands across the controls. The hum of the ship changed pitch, 'If go back out there, we do have weapons. The robot's wouldn't be able to do much. We could fight our way through.'

  'We'd have no way of getting into the lower levels. We'd be back to square one with no way to advance. We have to go.'

  John nodded, 'Okay captain.'

  'Captain Samantha, I detec
t the ship is coming on line, I will open the launch doors now.' Exo said, over the comms.

  Through the cockpit, Sam watched as a crack opened up along the roof of the hanger, revealing the stars above. The ship jerked as it pushed off the floor. They passed through the opening and began to move away from the planet.

  ***

  Daniel woke up slowly. He felt strange. Something was missing, but he couldn't quite figure it out. He sat up slowly, and regretted the choice. A flash of pain caused him to reach to the back of his neck. He felt something protruding, and the area around it was tender. He looked down, and noticed he wasn't wearing his space suit anymore. He took a breath, and felt how much easier it was to breath.

  'Are you feeling alright Daniel?'

  'Yes.' Daniel said, looking around. He was on a table surrounded by equipment. A robot was standing slightly off to one side watching him, 'Oh! It's all coming back to me now.'

  'You make it sound like a bad thing has happened to you. I have saved your life. I have given you the opportunity to give me life once again. You will make history,' the robot stepped towards Dan, 'Now, let us begin.'

  Daniel raised a hand, 'Not so fast, I'd like to talk to my captain.'

  'You are all most difficult. I'll be happy to be rid of the rest of them. I'll open you a communication channel,' Exo said.

  A moment passed and the robot nodded.

  'Captain?' Daniel said, hesitantly.

  'Daniel? Are you alright? How are you? What's going on?'

  'I'm fine Samantha... I'm fine. Everything's fine,' he paused, 'How are you?'

  'We're on a ship Daniel. We're getting out of here. We... we couldn't get to you Dan. I'm sorry.'

  Daniel could feel her torment at that statement.

  'I know. It's alright. I know you tried. I wasn't going to make it anyway. I was in pretty rough shape.'

  'I told you take it easy Dan.' Sam said.

  Dan chuckled, 'You did. I got impatient. Sorry to make you worry.'

  'Do you think I'll stop worrying now?'

  Daniel smiled to himself, 'No, but you've got something better to worry about now. You've got to get everyone else out of here. It's you're duty Captain.'