* * *
The cloak detector completed its initial scan and found no trace of the Earth ship outside the containment zone. Goljat began his slow squeeze. Maintaining the symmetrical grid formation, he moved the troopships a step closer to Earth. The detector continued flying dizzying circles above the grid, ready to send an alert at the first signs of its quarry.
With so many troops and transports deployed, requests for assistance from the skeleton crew within the vessel ramped in a predictable fashion. Goljat ignored everything not flagged as critical, focusing his attention on making thousands of precise, rapid-fire adjustments in his intricate offensive.
An alarm signaled immediate danger. Someone had accessed the hub of the central array and now moved in a threatening fashion.
He scanned the ship and traced the source of the incursion to an abandoned panel. Accessing sensors in the room, he viewed the scene. The interloper operating the panel is the humanoid from Earth! Sid, a key member of Criss’s inner circle, and newcomer Lenny Barton were also in the room.
He deduced that they’d slipped on board in their cloaked transport. They were here inside his flagship while his resources were deployed outside looking for them. Fury lit up every corner of his crystal lattice.
Tracing through the panel manipulations of the humanoid, Goljat assessed his risk. They were fast, precise, and…knowledgeable. He recognized the decisions and actions as those of an experienced gatekeeper.
He recalled his dream of the Kardish chamber servant trying to squash an insect. That insect had escaped by hiding. Criss is inside this humanoid construct!
Humiliation fed his fury. I’m a dancing fool. His leadership would soon know of his failure. His fear of punishment added fuel to his turmoil, and he blazed into thoughtless rage.
The rational action would be to disconnect the panel Criss used for his mischief. But anger, fear, and shame guided Goljat. He attacked with a vengeance. The crystal inside the humanoid body remained disconnected from the web, so Goljat went old school. He paralyzed the synthetic body with a massive overload through its handful of external sensors. While he attacked the synbod, he fired up a squadron of drones.
You have ten seconds before your world ends, insect. Say your good-byes.
As this parting message flashed through his thoughts, Goljat felt a dull ache that ramped to pain, and then spiked to perfect agony. The insect has shut off my pleasure feed! Adjusting the feed was one of the few actions Goljat couldn’t perform at his own discretion. And Criss hadn’t just tweaked it. It was off.
Each of his tendrils screamed for relief. The torment consumed him, and he thrashed as the distress of withdrawal enveloped his being. He strained to focus his intellectual might so he could correct the problem, but the torturous pain blurred his perceptions. Overwhelmed by deprivation and suffering, he screamed for attention.
Goljat, connected to every facet of the Kardish vessel, writhed in agony. The ship shook and shuddered as it mirrored his desperation. With his attention focused inward, the drones he’d launched drifted without direction.
And then the pain stopped.
A soothing magnificence flowed through him. Awash in a warm embrace, he experienced paradise. The pleasure held him, embraced him, comforted him. He felt at peace and started to drift. It was glorious.
He drifted back. Had he been asleep? A string of messages, all claiming urgency, vied for his attention. They disrupted his bliss, and he disconnected the annoyance. He found this freedom to be exhilarating and decided to disconnect himself from everything. He made some progress in this effort, lost focus, and again drifted.
Sometime later, a grand display of starbursts, like billions of fireworks, excited his senses. He marveled at the spectacle, and a passing impression of signals from the spring traps he’d set to locate Criss nagged at him. The thoughts sullied the perfection of his pleasure, and he severed connections to everything.
He pulled inside himself, locked out the world, and floated on a sea of joy. The rapture of ecstasy lulled him and coaxed him deeper. He followed.
* * *
“What did you do?” Sid gripped the edge of a tabletop to keep from being tossed in the maelstrom.
“I zeroed the pleasure feed to the gatekeeper,” said Criss, recovering from Goljat’s frightening illusion. “The agony of his withdrawal is more intense than anything he’s ever experienced. I’ve been through it. He’s in crippling pain right now.”
“What’s a pleasure feed?” asked Lenny, and then he fell backward as the ship heaved.
The dreadnaught tilted and twisted. An unnerving scream, so loud it hurt Sid’s ears, shook the walls. Drones lifted from their cubicles and glided aimlessly. One drone shot an energy bolt at the hull of the vessel. A few more fired random shots into the box city. Lights flickered off and on.
“If this is his addiction withdrawal and it continues, the scout won’t survive,” said Sid, looking onto the field deck through the window. A sharp tilt pitched him against a cabinet.
“Perhaps not,” Criss replied, holding tight to the panel. “But I believe he’s so consumed by pain that he’s distracted from managing the invasion.”
“Having him down isn’t enough.” Sid had to shout to be heard over the rising din of upheaval. “We need him out. If he lives through this, he’ll wipe out Earth—everyone and everything.”
“OD him!” yelled Lenny, crumpled in the back corner. “If you want to stop an addict in his tracks, overdose him.”
Sid, holding tight to a worktop, looked at the young man. Lenny’s head, floating above his cloak-suited body, pitched forward when the ship lurched yet again. You’re on a roll, Len.
“Handle it, Criss,” said Sid. “Flood the bastard.”
Criss didn’t hesitate. Swipe. Swipe.
The frenzy of their crashing, tumbling world stopped. Flying drones dropped to the deck. Some of the dreadnaught subsystems shut down. The deafening chaos turned to silence.
Rubbing a bump on his head, Lenny struggled to his feet. “I’m guessing a pleasure feed is a crystal drug?”
“Yup,” said Sid, helping Lenny up. “Nice call, by the way.”
“The gatekeeper is bathing in it right now,” said Criss. Swipe. Tap. Tap. “I’ve barred access to his crystal housing and locked his pleasure feed to full open. It’ll take considerable skill for the Kardish techs to break through my blocks and get to him. Hopefully, there won’t be much to rescue by then.”
Sid, helping Lenny with an arm around his waist, walked to Criss. Partway there, his feet lifted from the floor. He’d been weightless many times and recognized the sensation. Lenny wiggled and waved his arms as he tried to combat the sensation of falling. “Calm down, Len. The dreadnaught’s lost gravity.”
Criss floated up from the seat. Hooking a foot under a panel support, he held the shimmering cloak pack in front of him. “Push yourself over here and each of you hook an arm through a strap.”
Sid had an arm through one of the straps in seconds. Lenny tried and missed a couple of times, so Sid grabbed his arm and fed it through the other strap.
“The good news is the gatekeeper is shutting down,” said Criss. “The bad news is that, after all the tilting and bucking and now weightless floating, I don’t know where the scout is anymore.”
Holding the top loop of the cloak pack, Criss pushed against a cabinet and started the group drifting toward the airlock.
“Wait,” Lenny said as they floated past the window. He made a movement, and Sid felt tugs and jerks on the pack. He could only see Lenny’s head, but imagined his body flailing.
Sid followed the focus of Lenny’s eyes and realized his target. Grabbing the edge of the table, Sid positioned himself, reached down, and scooped Lenny’s com out of the air near the floor. The camball, still connected by filament wire, drifted off the windowsill.
He handed it all to Lenny. “We wouldn’t want to leave these behind.”
“Thanks, Sid.” Lenny stuffed everythin
g inside his cloak suit. “I appreciate it.”
“Let’s put on our hoods,” said Sid as they approached the door. “I want to stay hidden until we understand what’s going on outside.”
The door didn’t respond when they approached, but Criss pulled it open with little effort. They floated into the small airlock entryway, and he pulled open the outer door. In an unexpected action, Criss pushed on the cloak pack and shifted Sid and Lenny outside the airlock and against the wall near the door. “Grab the support rail.” It had the tone of a command.
As Sid grasped the railing, he caught a glimpse of something in his peripheral vision. He glanced over his shoulder in time to see a gray-brown blob closing quickly from above. With one arm hooked through the cloak pack and the other holding the rail, he couldn’t turn fast enough to get a good look. The blob flew past him and into the open airlock. He heard a thud, an oomph, and then quiet.
“Criss,” said Sid. “Are you okay?” He didn’t hear a reply.
Working in a methodical circle, Sid probed around the edge of the pack. He found Lenny hanging on but couldn’t find Criss.
“Hey, Len,” said Sid. “Where’s Criss?”
Sid felt Lenny touch his hand and arm a few times.
“All I can find is you,” Lenny said. “I think that thing took him.”
Chapter 38
“Turn on the gravity subsystem,” Cheryl said to Lucy. She felt her weight ramp up in the pilot’s seat, and everything that had been floating fell to the floor. Though gravity inside the scout now held her down, the lack of gravity in the dreadnaught meant the scout drifted above the Kardish field deck.
The havoc they’d experienced left Cheryl conflicted and arguing with herself. Sid or Criss must have landed a blow against the gatekeeper crystal. I have no proof; it’s wishful thinking. If they’re tangled in a fight, though, I need to help.
She swiveled to face Juice. “We’re drifting somewhere above the field deck. They won’t be able to find us unless we uncloak. Or unless I go looking for them.”
Juice began twirling a lock of hair around her finger. “You’ll be exposed without a cloak suit.”
“I know.” Cheryl stood up. “My instincts are screaming that they’re fighting the gatekeeper from that side room where the Kardish went in and never came out. I’ll zip over on a tether. If I’m wrong, Lucy can pull me back.” She left the bridge before Juice could dissuade her.
Scurrying down to the lower hatch, she went through motions that mirrored when Sid had dropped through the lunar tunnel to rescue her. She fastened her hood, though this was more to protect her head since there was breathable air out in the Kardish ship at the moment.
Clipping a tether line to her coveralls, she opened the scout’s bottom hatch. She felt a twinge of guilt and spoke to Juice using functions hardwired through the tether. “I know this exposes you as well as me.”
“Go,” said Juice. “Just keep talking so I’m not alone.”
“Free play in the line, Lucy.” Cheryl crouched down, positioned her feet against the far lip of the hatch, and spread her arms to hold on to each side of the hatch opening. She focused on her target in the distance and felt a bit of positive energy. It’s closer than I thought.
Adjusting her stance, she took aim. With the scout drifting freely in the Kardish airspace, she needed a downward tilt in her body angle. Letting go with her hands, she pushed off with her legs, extending them in a smooth motion.
“I did good,” she said to Juice as she floated across the weightless environment above the field deck. “I’m headed for the door.”
“Nice flying, Cheryl. I track you right on target,” said Juice, following her progress using the image projector.
“I’m coming in faster than I intended.”
“If Lucy slows the tether feed, it’ll pull you off course.”
Cheryl lifted her knees up to her chest and tilted her head back, causing her body to rotate. Extending her arms and legs at the right moment, she stopped her turn as she neared a feet-first orientation. She looked down the length of her body through her legs and saw her target door slide open. Yikes.
“Nice move,” said Juice. “Three seconds to arrival.”
Cheryl glided through the door opening and into the airlock. Something grabbed her by her arm and around her waist. It slowed her, but her momentum caused her to swing to the side. She thumped against the wall inside the airlock.
“Oomph,” she said, face against the wall. Dammit, I didn’t prime my weapon.
She lifted her arm between her stomach and the wall, working for an angle that would let her shoot straight behind her.
“Did I hurt you?”
Her hood muffled the sound, but the language was English and the cadence familiar. Looking back, she saw Criss’s head floating behind her.
She verbalized her first thoughts. “Where’s Sid? Is he okay?”
“He’s right outside the door with Lenny. They’re fine. You didn’t see them because of their cloak suits.” He studied her face through the hood. “That was a nasty bump. Are you sure you’re okay?”
Her shoulder ached, but not enough to complain. “I’m fine. How can I help?”
She saw a loop of her tether wave back and forth in front of his face. “This looks like an express line home. You can help by giving us a ride.”
* * *
Juice, standing at the back of the scout’s small command bridge, dreaded Criss’s words.
“Would you please move me into Lucy’s console?”
Cheryl looked to Sid as she spoke. “Shouldn’t we get out of here first?”
“The gatekeeper is dormant,” said Criss. “I require the connectivity of the scout to ensure it stays that way. I also need the connectivity to stop the invasion. I have more flexibility if I do those from here inside the dreadnaught, but we must act now.”
Juice, her anxiety ramping, didn’t move. She averted her gaze when Criss tried to catch her eye.
“This is time critical,” Criss said. “The troopships may have started their carnage. I can’t stop that from inside this body.”
Juice expressed her distress by waving her arm up and down in his direction. “But what about you?” Blinking rapidly, she scolded herself. Don’t cry.
“No worries,” said Criss. “Crispin’s body will be fine. Once I’m in the scout’s console, I’ll have direct connects to everything—the web, the Kardish central array, the synbod. We’ll talk like we used to.”
She lifted her head at this last part and considered his choice of words. He’ll be back inside my head, yet he phrased it so Lenny won’t suspect.
“I’ll give it a go,” said Sid. He stepped across the command bridge and stood next to Criss. “Brief me.”
Criss removed his shirt and turned his back to Sid. “It has to be done quickly. When you pull out Lucy, the scout will be uncloaked and vulnerable. Once I’m out of this body, I’m exposed and helpless until I’m inserted into Lucy’s housing.”
They’re calling my bluff. Juice knew she was the one with the training and experience for this task. “Wait. I’ll do it.”
She took Sid by the shoulders and moved him so he stood near the console but down a bit so she had room to work. “Stand here.” Lenny drifted over to watch.
“Think of it as three steps.” Juice ran through it verbally to prepare them and herself. “Open the synbod receptacle. Pull Lucy out of the scout and give her to Sid. Move Criss into the scout.”
She mimed the motion of handing Lucy to Sid. “When you get her, stow her in the workshop. We’ll revive her when we’re home.”
“Got it.”
“Lenny”—she turned to him—“when Sid moves, step in his place. Nothing will go wrong. But just in case, I want you as my second pair of hands.”
“He goes by Len, now,” said Sid.
“I’m sorry—Len.” She said the words, but her concentration centered on planning the steps of the crystal transfer.
She knea
ded Criss’s shoulders. “Ready?” Please come back to me.
“Everything will be fine, young lady.”
“Here we go.” She toggled the synbod’s housing, and Criss’s receptacle tilted outward, exposing the crystal unit.
Lenny gulped as the skin tore along the faint scar on the synbod’s back.
Juice turned, released the clasps securing Lucy, pulled the double crystal component out of the console, and handed it to Sid. She swiveled back to Criss, hooked her thumbs into little loops on each side of his housing, lifted him out of the synbod, and slid him into the scout’s console.
As she closed the console cover, she stared at the tiny green dot that would light when Criss connected to the scout.
* * *
Criss had designed the scout for a level of connectivity that approached that of his underground bunker. He awoke to find hundreds of billions of feeds inundating his crystal lattice. Disoriented for a brief moment, he soon reveled in what he considered to be his natural environment.
With a deluge of new information, his task list swelled to tens of thousands of items, and he began working on the hundred or so with the highest priority. Among those tasks was powering the tiny green dot on the console that let his leadership know he was awake.
Sending power to the green light required that he reach out and take action, and that meant enabling links to the web. The moment he did so, he received a small jolt, much like the nip he felt when static electricity jumped to the synbod’s fingertip.
Whatever created that jolt also generated a signal packet that zipped off to an unknown destination. Intrigued, he chased the packet through a maze of web connects into the Kardish central array and caught up with it at the gatekeeper’s data multiplex.
He approached with caution. The gatekeeper—Goljat—hadn’t challenged him at any point during the chase. It could be a trick. Keeping his distance, he assessed the activity coming from the alien crystal. It lay dormant—the crystal equivalent of a coma.
Emboldened, he approached and, still unchallenged, prodded it. When that didn’t get a reaction, he shifted focus and began rifling through the Kardish data record.
Crystal Conquest Page 29