by Dan Worth
‘Something like that, yes.’
‘Not that we have any choice of course.’
‘True.’
‘I don’t like it all,’ said Steven. ‘The Commonwealth is letting it own greed get in the way of common sense, again. If the Arkari find out about this they’ll be livid. There’s no telling what damage it could do to our relations with them.’
‘Well, you could argue that this was always going to happen,’ said Katherine. ‘The Arkari have held back technologies from us from the very start. By making something forbidden they made it twice as desirable. It was only a matter of time before someone tried to steal.’
‘My people have been in space far longer than anyone else still around this part of the galaxy,’ said Rekkid. ‘I hate to sound patronising, but if they held things back I’m sure they had their reasons.’
‘This is only going to get worse though isn’t it?’ said Steven gloomily. ‘If the rebuilding process after the war led to the Commonwealth moving toward rapacious economic strategies….’ Rekkid raised an eyebrow. ‘Look, I was on Urranakar okay? I’ve seen what they’re prepared to turn a blind eye to. As I was saying, if they’re prepared to adopt such aggressive economic practices in peace time, it makes you wonder what lengths the government will go to with a full scale war on its hands. I reckon they’ll do almost anything for any sort of advantage. We’ve caught the K’Soth on the back foot for now, yes. But they’ll rally eventually, and then we’ll have a hell of a fight on our hands.’
Peering through the small windows, Katherine could just about make out the four artificial islands floating above the desert surface. As they drew closer, she could see that the dust between them boiled under the influence of their fields as the Arkari ship was brought up towards the light for the first time in a hundred centuries.
Chapter 32
Varish had concealed himself behind the dead planet; a freezing, ice-wrapped world that still orbited the cold cadaver of its parent star in utter darkness. He had positioned himself so that he could peep around the curvature of the world, using the gravitational lensing produced by its mass to pick up signals from areas of space directly occluded by it. He had also taken care to carefully re-shape his shields to maintain his stealthy profile.
He watched the assembling fleet in the space around where the wormhole had terminated. Around a thousand of the massive craft had now gathered. The size of cities, they hung there expectantly. Huge and terrible they called to one another in the night.
Varish used his passive sensors to analyse their transmissions. He was desperate to learn whatever he could about these ships. Any information he could gather would be vital to the Humans or the Arkari or whoever he could reach on the other side of the wormhole, if he could reach them.
Were they his own people? Was this hellish place where they had ended up? Had they been eking out a living for billions of years in total darkness? He doubted that. The Bajenteri had built the portal and had used it to choose their destination. Unless something had gone catastrophically wrong, it wasn’t them.
Who then? The Arkari - the ones that had been banished long ago? He accessed the copy of the Khostun’s log that he carried and compared the catalogue of the ancient Arkari language to the transmissions he was receiving. He applied his full computational power to the snatches of data that passed between the alien ships.
Eventually he found a match, and the full realisation of what was about to happen hit him. Maran planned to provoke an invasion. By tempting the banished Arkari with an opportunity to escape their purgatory he intended to wreak revenge on those who had cheated and imprisoned him. He intended to make the Arkari Meritarchs face their own past in the most brutal way possible. He intended to punish those who had come to the world he claimed godhood over and despoil it. He intended to kill them all.
Varish had to warn his friends.
Chapter 33
Beklide sat on the bench with the holo-projector cupped in her hand, replaying the images it contained over and over. She was sitting in one of her many retreats; a chamber she used as an office that overlooked the number one docking bay of the Gigarethme halo. The docking bays covered the outer surface of the slender ring shaped structure that girdled the planet and could berth literally millions of ships between their cradling arms. The Arkari had had to start numbering the bays somewhere and this was it, the number one bay of ring segment one. It was customarily reserved for VIPs and other dignitaries, and currently it held Mentith’s ship, the Shining Glory.
The massive, graceful vessel faced Beklide in her office. This side of the ring was currently facing away from Gigarethme’s parent sun, Arkula, so that the ship appeared to lurk in the darkness, currently only visible as a faint outline and a patch of occluded stars. Some of the stars moved. The fleet was gathering.
The interior of Beklide’s chamber was a direct contrast to the cold mechanical vista visible from its windows. She had arranged for it to be filled with plants. Creepers and vines adorned the walls and ceilings whilst rich ornamental borders and hanging baskets filled the nooks and crannies left by the sparse furniture. It was dark in the chamber, but the air was filled with the heavy scent of night flowering blooms. The only light came from the faint starlight outside and the flickering illumination from the projector that played on Beklide’s face as she contemplated it.
The door chimed politely.
‘Come,’ Beklide called, her eyes barely moving from the images.
In the bright narrow oblong of the door stood a silhouetted figure, who now entered the room and joined Beklide on the bench. It was Mentith. He examined the images floating in the air in front of the Fleet Meritarch for a moment before speaking.
‘Still reviewing the data from our long range listening posts?’
Beklide nodded. The images in front of her were replaying the battle around Maranos over and over at an accelerated speed. She had watched the deaths of thousands a dozen times in the past few moments. She switched to other images, images that portrayed schematics of the disposition of Commonwealth and K’Soth forces and their recent movements. A livid red dot marked the Fulan system.
‘I just wish there was another way Irakun,’ she said. ‘But I fear the worst. Tell me that we are doing the right thing?’
‘We are doing what is required, not what is right. If the Banished succeed in emerging from the portal, and they shall, then the Shapers will have scored a great victory. Look at these fleet deployments; the Commonwealth would suffer disastrous consequences if our lost brethren were to appear in their midst. They cannot hope to stop them. We must step in to do the job. If we are too late to stop them in time it would cripple the humans’ campaign against the K’Soth and prolong the war indefinitely. It might even turn the war in the Empire’s favour if enough Commonwealth ships were lost or even merely scattered or diverted.’
‘I know. It’s a terrible game of numbers isn’t it? Exterminate the Dendratha in order to save hundreds of billions from the other races. It’s a pity that we can’t destroy the portal and leave the planet intact.’
‘The planet is the portal, essentially. Anything less than total destruction leaves the risk that the portal could repair itself in time.’
‘And I suppose that attempting to reason with the entity that controls it is out of the question?’
‘It cannot be reasoned with. Maran is insane. Given time perhaps we could re-program his thoughts, but we would need years of dedicated research merely to gain access to his systems. The computer technology employed by the Progenitors is still far more advanced than our own, despite the centuries that have passed since our last attempts.’
‘So I gather. No luck in drawing out the Shaper agent?’
‘I’m afraid not. The opening stages of the war have made intelligence gathering at such levels virtually impossible. Lorali, it has to end here. This is only the enemy’s opening move in a much greater game. We cannot let them score a victory so early.’
‘V
ery well,’ said Beklide, her voice unsteady. ‘Let it be done. I just hope you and I can live with the guilt that through our misjudgement we condemned an entire star system and everyone in it.’
‘My conscience is clear.’ He turned and looked towards the window. ‘See,’ he said. ‘The first of the dreadnaughts has arrived, we can get underway soon.’
Beklide looked and saw the stars blotted out by the leviathan, its seemingly endless kilometres of hull describing a graceful form the size of small nation. Its edges glinted softly in the light now creeping around the edge of the planet. It was beautiful and terrible, like an angel of death. Beklide could look no more. Her vision had become blurred from the tears welling in her eyes.
Chapter 34
Katherine stood on the observation deck and watched the desert boil between the platforms. The near invisible energy fields plunged deep down from the floating structures into the dust, shifting the particles so that they parted around the buried wreck as it was lifted from its tomb on the bedrock below. The tonnes of fine dust rose to the surface before cycling back down in hypnotic patterns of convection. A deep rumbling resounded from the churning desert.
The sky above had been clear and blue earlier in the day, but now a hot wind was starting up, whipping Katherine’s hair against her face and forming twisting dust devils that danced across the baking desert floor. She shielded her eyes as a gust threw a cloud of particles against the deck where she stood, and hurriedly put on the protective goggles and breathing mask she had been issued with.
She stood and watched for a quarter of an hour more, but the wind was definitely strengthening now. Soon it would be almost impossible to see out here, and even the mask she wore risked becoming clogged. Katherine grabbed the handrail and made her way back along the exposed deck and back inside the structure. She found Steven waiting for her in the cramped confines of the bright, clean interior.
‘Oh, there you are Katherine,’ he said. ‘I’ve been looking for you.’
‘I was just watching the raising, there’s something rather hypnotic about it. It shouldn’t take much longer they tell me.’
‘Look, I wanted to give you this,’ he handed her a pistol. ‘Just in case, you know.’
‘Flowers are more traditional Steven,’ she replied wryly. ‘You keep giving me guns.’
‘Yeah, well. I’m supposed to be in charge of your security aren’t I? Let’s just say I have a bad feeling about all of this.’
‘Well… okay thanks.’
There was a chiming sound, followed by a tinny announcement that the landing pads were now closed and sealed and that flights were temporarily suspended.
‘After all we’ve been through, I’d hate it if anything were to happen to you,’ said Steven.
‘We’re fairly safe here though aren’t we?’ she replied. ‘On a Navy controlled installation in the middle of an impassable desert?’
‘You mean, as safe as we were in Marantis surrounded by all those marines?’
‘Point taken. Listen, have you seen Rekkid anywhere?’
‘Yeah, he took over one of the offices on D deck and said he had to work. The last time I saw him he was poring over that log you two have been carrying around all this time. I’d say he looked worried.’
‘Okay I’ll go and find him, thanks Steven.’ She turned and headed for the lift. Steven watched her go, and then turned his attention to the swirling sheets of dust outside.
Katherine threaded her way through the labyrinth of cramped gangways and stairwells within the structure of the platform. The confined spaces were busy with activity as gangs of technicians and engineers went about their business. Here and there she found patrolling security; marines armed with compact side-arms and ever watchful.
She arrived on D deck and eventually found Rekkid in a small deserted office off one of the side corridors. He was studying the screen of his computer intently, the gently flickering light from the screen illuminating his features.
Katherine stood behind him and looked over his shoulder at the screen. Rekkid had brought up the log to study. The cascaded windows showed various text excerpts, whilst the foremost one was playing the video clip of the portal that the Khostun’s crew had received from a sister ship. There was no mistaking that the image on the screen represented the planet they were standing on.
‘The wreck will reach the surface soon,’ said Katherine. ‘I thought I’d come and let you know so you could watch the raising.’
The Arkari was virtually ignoring her. He grunted a reply without taking his eyes off the screen.
‘Rekkid,’ said Katherine, tapping him on the shoulder. ‘What are you thinking about? Is it something new you’ve found in the log?’
Rekkid eyes remained fixated on the images in front of him. ‘It’s not about something new, no. It’s about what we already know.’
‘Go on.’
‘Maran kept ranting on about how there was some surprise in store for us. Doubtless what he intends to be his revenge on a galaxy that has imprisoned him for so long. We also know that ten thousand years ago the Arkari fought something that came out of the portal that Maran controls. It’s my guess that whatever or whoever it was that was unleashed, that Maran intends to repeat the trick.’
‘Well that thought had crossed my mind too Rekkid.’
‘Quite. But what intrigues me is whether what came through belongs on the other side of the portal, or whether they were merely trying to get back to their home here. To our knowledge the portal has only been entered three times from this side, if we include Varish. The first time the Progenitors used it to escape the galaxy, and if they had any sense, they will have ensured that the wormhole terminated somewhere where they could settle and rebuild their civilisation. The second time was when half of the Arkari were sent into exile with the co-operation of Maran. Since it was intended as a punishment they could conceivably have been sent to somewhere far less pleasant.’
‘You mean, you think they were banished to the worst place they could find? The Arkari legends mentioned that they were banished to something called the ‘death plane’ didn’t they?’
‘Exactly.’
‘Like the Soviets on old Earth sending their enemies to Siberia?’
‘Perhaps something along those lines, yes,’ he said and cleared his throat. ‘This is of course pure conjecture. But the fact remains that on the other side of the portal we could, if the exiles survived, have an advanced race with a severe grudge against the Arkari and a xenophobic ideology, coupled with a rogue entity on this side that controls the portal who shares a similar outlook. They could join forces.’
‘Maybe we should warn the Navy.’
‘Who would listen? Like I say this purely a ‘what if’ scenario. There’s no real proof.’
‘The only one of us who knows for sure is Varish, if he’s still alive.’
‘Yes, if. But unfortunately even if he is still alive, he’s trapped on the other side of the portal until Maran decides to re-open it.’
‘And release whatever is waiting for us there.’
Rekkid looked thoughtful. ‘It makes you wonder though. If those Arkari did survive on the other side of the portal, what could a million years of separation do? How different could they be from those who remained, both biologically and culturally? What if they didn’t decline like we did before our renaissance? What if they thrived in their new environment and produced technological marvels that far outstrip our own? Those mechanoids we saw in the tunnel under the temple for example?’
‘Yes,’ said Katherine. ‘On the other hand they could want to kill us all, and use their technological marvels to do it. Those mechanoids were undoubtedly used for combat.’
‘Well… I had considered that.’
They sat together and studied the log some more until another announcement squawked from the platform’s public address system, piercing the quiet of the small room. The two archaeologists were requested to come to the observation deck. It was tim
e, the buried ship was about to reach the surface.
As Rekkid and Katherine emerged from the structure of the platform into the open air they found the exterior of the facility crowded with onlookers. The wind had abated somewhat, allowing all those not now directly engaged in the raising of the ship to emerge into the open air and watch it breach the surface of the desert. In the distance, similar gatherings adorned the decks of the other three platforms.
They found Steven standing by the rail; he was pressing his fingers to the earpiece he wore as he strained to listen to the security comm. channel above the deep rumbling coming from the desert in front of him. Katherine looked and saw security personnel and marines stationed at strategic points over the superstructure. Some watched the crowd, but most seemed to be scanning the sky and horizon through powerful binoculars. Steven saw them approach and smiled.
‘Keeping us safe Steven?’ said Rekkid.
‘For what it’s worth yes, though I’m not sure from what. I just told the few men I have under my command to look out for anything unusual, especially any unscheduled approaching ships or aircraft,’ said Steven. ‘So… I guess you’re pretty excited about this.’ He added, indicating toward the churning dust. ‘You know I’d love to see inside, but I’m under orders to stay here and look after security.’
‘Well, you know…’ said Katherine. ‘We need to be secure aboard the vessel once we go inside.’
‘You’ll be wearing armoured suits for your protection, I can watch from the cameras they carry. Plus, you’ll need someone to relay information from the instruments on the rigs so you can find your way around in there.’
‘Alright, thanks. That’ll be a great help’
‘Look,’ said Rekkid, pointing. ‘Here she comes.’
The desert between the platforms was starting to swell. Pushed upwards by the rising ship it formed a humped-backed dune which rapidly began to collapse. Thousands of tonnes of dust began to flow in great landslides along the flanks of the ship, as it slowly began to reveal itself. It was like a great whale breaking the surface of the ocean for air as the dust flowed from its back like water, exposing its dully silver skin. A cacophony of cheers and applause rose into the desert air from the assembled onlookers as the vessel lifted clear of the dust that had entombed it for so long and floated in mid-air, falls of dirt still pouring from its hull. Katherine glanced at Rekkid and grinned.