Starship Paradiso (Helltroopers Book 3)

by Isaac Stone

  Horus/Ash slammed the head of his spear against the wooden shield. It was painted in gold, but he didn’t expect the paint to last long once they engaged the enemy. It didn’t matter as he had more shields, equally painted in rich colors, back at his encampment.

  “Good!” he yelled at her. “Let them fear the swords and spears of our people! Let them drink the blood of their own wounds! I will haul off those who survive in yokes and chains.” He was confident of an easy victory.

  “I don’t know about them,” she commented. “This army is different. Have you read the reports sent to us by the spies? The Assyrians have the largest army anyone has ever seen. We will have to be extra vigilant to take our lands back from them. I’m glad your brother is with us today.”

  He looked across the battle line and saw Set stand in place too. He waited for the signal. The one, which would send their first wave into action and destroy the King of Assyria’s army. He didn’t care if the great king had destroyed entire nations, this time he was about to engage the army of the Two Lands. Horus/Ash knew it would be a victory.

  “Your brother and you have not always been on the best of terms,” she told him. Babalon/ Barbara Ann sat down on her portable throne and looked across the plains. They were far from the city both of them loved so well.

  He looked in the distance again. This time he saw a man approach in the royal livery of Assyria. He held something in his hand. It had to be the surrender terms as the man carried a clay tablet. This was all good and fine, his man carried his surrender terms on a roll of papyrus.

  Horus/ Ash waited. He smelled the dry air and felt the heat on his back.

  It was a good day to conquer.

  13

  The Paradiso was around the final methane asteroid Barbara Ann identified as the hiding place of the last beacon. They’d taken the fastest way to it by folding space and made the jump. By now, the rest of Team Omega was used to what they did. They went to the table in the master control room and waited for the destruction of the final Hell Beacon to begin. It was a welcome break from the ultra violent journey through Inferno and Purgatory, though the sheer oddness of it very nearly dwarfed the hard reality that the ship they were aboard had already destroyed two alien invader forces. It was almost too much for the mind to cope with, and yet, they donned their war gear and waited diligently in the control room, their discipline seeing through the worst of it. After what they’d seen of the EAC’s legacy of magic and madness, the idea that a vast spiritual being caged inside a host synth body boning their boss to make tantric energy missiles just wasn’t as strange as it would have been several months ago.

  Ash/Horus/Barbara Ann/ Babalon became one state of awareness. The Unity, as they thought of themselves, entered the perimeter of the methane asteroid and looked through it until the beacon was found. There it was, not too deep inside the ice, which let them know the corporation had buried it after the asteroid was located. They worried it was the result of building ice around the beacon, which would mean the Paradiso would have to blast through the layers to get to it. The star ship had plenty of firepower, but there were limits to what it could do. They worried the power used to send the ship across the system had a limit. Too much energy needed to blast open the asteroid would mean they’d never be able to return to Earth.

  They soon found the trap set for them. The core of the asteroid was built around something else; in this case, it was a cluster of thermonuclear weapons with enough energy to vaporize any ship that came to close to the beacon. They noted an AI set to watch for any intruders. Although the activation of the weapon would destroy the Hell Beacon, it would also wipe out anyone who came to close. The corporation would be able to build another series of beacons in due time.

  Inside the AI, they found awareness tied into the corporation. It was a combination of several of the demons from the other side of the gate. They realized these demons had infested the corporation all the way to the top, and EAC was compromised a long time ago, which explained the twisted logic behind its actions. The corporation was for all intents and purposes a single being and would resist any attacks on its body.

  The Unity did not care.

  Once the thermonuclear weapons were found, it was simple to disable them. They isolated the corporate intelligences and took control of the detonators. The entities in thrall to the corporation were freed and sent back across the gate. The bombs were kept in place as they might have some use later.

  The slip stones, which energized the power packs inside the beacon, were crushed, sending the demons inside them back to the gate as well. Next, the beacon was studied for future reference and dismantled. They were surprised to see the beacon as an older model and carefully copied every component inside it.

  The beacon was no more.

  The entire process took five microseconds.

  Barbara Ann rolled off Ash and sat on the edge of the bunk in his quarters. They’d used it instead of the floor in the master control room for reasons of comfort and privacy. After the crew watched them merge the last time, it was hard to have a normal conversation with any of them. They’d seen something few people in history would ever witness. Not the union of male and female, it happened every second and was documented in every way imaginable. However, to see Ash and Barbara Ann merge into one being that went into action was inconceivable to human understanding. Especially when it involved people they knew.

  Barbara Ann looked up to the ceiling. “Viktor, we need to get to the location of the abyss gate outside the orbit of Pluto. Can you fold space immediately and take us there?”

  “We still have plenty of fuel,” The AI told them from the audio system. “I’ll let the rest of the crew know we’re ready to make the jump. They’re in the main control room recovering from your interaction.” He didn’t appear in the form of a floating head, as it wasn’t necessary to make a personal connection.

  “Get us to the gate as soon as you can,” she told him. “It’s the last item we need to do to end this thing.” She leaned back on Ash.

  The crew was still in their chairs around the table in the master control room. Even Haddo sat. The close proximity of Barbara Ann and Ash made it imperative any one with self-awareness find a safe place to sit. They looked across the table at each other and remembered everything of what took place inside the methane asteroid. Such intense energy, even if it had is source in the beautiful union of two beings, was something akin to radioactive, even if more of a spiritual sort, and it was wearing the crew down to the nub.

  “Simon,” Kris managed to gasp. “Just how close to them do you need to be to them? We all felt what happened” She held onto the table with both hands.

  “A thousand miles,” he told her. “Give or take. It’s why this sort of thing never happened in pre-space-faring history. Imagine the effects if Henry the Fifth decided to conclude his invasion of France with a witch woman. The entire continent would have gone insane.”

  “Not feeling very sane right now,” Costa mentioned. “Too much, we’ve seen. I hope that was the last time.”

  Viktor materialized in front of them in his disembodied head version. Sometimes it worked better than others to pull these stunts. “Sorry to inform you, but please stay seated. We are about to fold space to the Hell Gate near the orbit of Pluto.” The head faded away.

  “There’s your answer,” Jack said to him. “This is far from over, but I expected it.” He wobbled a little in his chair.

  “I knew we were in for a hard ride when the ship left Mercury,” Theo mentioned, “but I thought we’d be fighting. Right now I feel like an observer. A freaking sidekick.”

  “Or a voyeur,” Said Makulah. He was at the table as well.

  They all turned and looked at him in astonishment. “I thought you were in the freezer?” Theo asked. “Didn’t Ash cool you down to save your life?”

  “He did and here I am to greet you,” The big man smiled. “By the way, that freezer sucks. Do anything you can to keep out of it.”


  Before they could ask Makulah how he managed to get out and heal, the too-familiar sense of unease washed over everyone, and the idea of speaking just seemed like too much after the energetic waves that had just crashed against them. The Paradiso was ready to make the next jump.

  The gate of the abyss floated in space on the other side of the Pluto orbit. The Paradiso emerged from the jump a few hundred miles from it, so it was possible to observe the gate up close. It was not the optimal safe distance, but too much would make observation useless. In fact, there was no place in the solar system that was safe from the gate. It had the ability to fold space, as did the ship. The two opponents drifted across from each other and faced off.

  “I have to admit,” Costa said as he looked at it on the screen. “It’s a nice touch, but I expected some kind of stone circle drifting in orbit around Pluto. This one is a bit of a surprise.”

  “They said gate,” Theo pointed out. “When you say ‘gate’, you describe something that resembles a set of doors. Or at least one. Real big ones in this case. Still, not what I expected either.”

  “Yeah,” agreed Kris, who looked up at the screen, “Not my idea of one. Creative, I’ll give them that much, kinda funny really, if you get past all the crazy it implies.”

  “But it is effective,” Jack said. “Simon, can you explain the logic behind this thing?”

  “There is no logic,” Haddo told them. “At least not any that you would understand. The gate operates on its own internal logic.”

  “None of which helps us,” Makulah brought up. “We are still observers in this game until Ash and that women need us. By the way, where are they?” He returned his eyes to the image of the Hell Gate.

  The gate floated by itself and appeared to be illuminated by several thousand incandescent light bulbs. A neon sign at least 100 miles across flashed on and off. “Welcome to the Gates of Hell,” it read, “Your Choice for Action and Adventure!” The gate had a series of bars across it, which blocked the entrance and ticket boot next to it that must be four miles in height. Soon after the jump, they began to pick up an audio transmission from it that Theo identified as Steam Calliope music. The music played nonstop and originated from the ticket booth.

  For some reason, there was no price on the ticket booth.

  It rotated slightly so that the gate always faced the Paradiso. At one point, Viktor attempted to move into position at the rear of the gate, but it adjusted itself so it continued to face the ship.

  “Oh, my,” Barbara Ann said to Ash as he felt the warmth from her body, “Another battle. Good thing it doesn’t involve us.”

  “What the hell?” Costa shouted as they all stared at the screen.

  The gates began to open. This was slow at first, but they picked up speed as the massive iron bars began to swing out and into the universe. There could be no sound in space, but Kris was certain she heard a creak as the gates unlocked and moved outward. She thought the lock made a sound as it unsnapped, but it had to be inside her head. She shook her blond hair and starred in wonder as the neon lights began to flash with rapid speed.

  “Anyone have an epileptic condition?” Theo asked the group. “If you do, it wouldn’t be a good idea to stare at that screen.” He turned away, but everyone else continued to watch.

  The other lights around the gated pulsed as the speed of the opening increased. The lights began to form a swirl pattern that circled around the center and created a halo in the middle. Costa and the other others stared into the black emptiness that was the heart of the gate interior as the doors opened wide. Once they were perpendicular to the rest of the gate, the iron bar doors stopped their movement. Kris felt a click sound in her mind as they locked into position.

  “Here they come,” Makulah observed.

  A second later, a formless mass emerged from the between the gates and flowed outside it with the ship as its target. The mass broke down into several other sections as it snaked its way to the Paradiso. The arms of the mass began to break off and form into shapes that the crew seemed to recognize, but lacked the words to describe.

  It was Theo who spotted them. “They are devils,” he said. “Tiny ones, with tridents. Wow they’re red and even have capes.” His jaw froze as he starred at the screen.

  A horde of little red devils began to fly directly at the Paradiso, each one with a trident aimed right at them. They had tiny faces and red eyes that matched their flesh. Each one had a pointed beard and mustache with sharp fangs that descended out of their mouths. It was a swarm and they couldn’t count the number of them. There were too many.

  For some reason the alarm didn’t sound. Not that it would’ve done any good.

  “You would think who ever built the gate could get creative with these things,” Jack mentioned. “A gate floating in space with a flashing sign over it and now little demons about to tear the ship apart. It’s not the futility of it that bothers me, but the triteness. We are about to get ripped apart by a swarm of cliches?”

  “I wouldn’t be too quick about that final battle assessment,” Kris said. “Look what’s coming the other way.” She pointed to the side of the screen, just out of range. “Hey, Viktor, she said to the AI, “do you think we could get a better view of that thing?” The screen pulled back to show an enhanced field of battle.

  From all sides of the cartoon devils emerged objects of a silver color. They swooped down from all cardinal points and attacked with a classical pattern against the red assailants. It took Costa a few seconds to see what made up the silver clouds. The view closed in so he could see them up close. And he gasped.

  “Angels,” was all he could say.

  Each particle of the cloud consisted of a tiny angel that carried a sword of fire in its hand. They wore robes of silver and their faces appeared to be bronze. These had to be the Enochian angels they’d heard about from Haddo. It wasn’t how anyone pictured them, but the battle about to take place was beyond anyone’s conception.

  “They’re on our side, right?” Jack asked Haddo. All of them were fixated on the screen.

  “I hope so,” Haddo replied. “They’re about to engage the demons, so I must assume they fight for us.”

  “At least against the demons,” Theo replied. “Wow, just like I imagined them as a kid.”

  “Which is why we see them in this form,” Haddo mentioned. “It’s a deep memory and what our minds used to make sense of it all. The end result is the same, our imaginations showing us cliches to prevent our brains from hemorrhaging and our hearts exploding.”

  The stars were blotted out by the explosions of the angels and demons fighting in front of them. It was classic battle tactics with angels using their burning swords on the demons. Demons would attempt to corner the angels, but it didn’t seem to work. The angels were able to out maneuver the demons and counter attack. Every time an angel struck a demon, it exploded in an orange burst of flames. Several times angels were struck by demons and burst into clouds of glitter dust. For a few minutes, after the initial contact, it was hard to say who would be victorious.

  But the angels at last managed to run a double-envelopment attack on the demons. As the demons attempted a retreat, the angels cut them off at the gate and sent them into flames. The demonic horde moved back into the gate while the angels pressed the attack. The last thing they saw of the battle was a mass of angels that pushed the demons back into the gate. When the last of the angels were inside the gate, the iron doors swung shut on them. Kris was certain she heard a clang and the key turn in a lock.

  “Didn’t expect that to happen,” Theo spoke up. Nobody asked which part.

  14

  “Brace yourself,” a voice cried out in the control room. It was Viktor, but without the use of his floating head. “All EMP cannons will commence firing on the gate.”

  “Thought we were done with this,” Costa grumbled.

  The lights blinked in the master control room as the iron bars of the gate began to glow from the heat genera
ted by the EMP pulses. The gate was large enough to allow the Paradiso across, so Kris guessed this was the reason for the assault. She watched the metal bars begin to heat and turn red. Then blue-white. As the EMP blast reached a crescendo, she watched them fly apart from the stress of the bombardment.

  The gate was open and no lights flashed.

  “Time to take the slip stones out of production,” Ash announced from behind them. The rest of Team Omega turned to see him standing in the control room as Barbara Ann stood next to him and held his hand. She was back in her corset and latex leggings.

  “Viktor,” Barbara Ann began, “Advance the ship through the gate now that it’s open. You won’t be able to read anything beyond the black opening, but we’ll be safe on the inside.”

  The gate began to grow in size and they realized the ship had started on its pass through the ruined posts of the mammoth opening. The black void swam up to them as they met it from their side of the gate.

  “Steady as we go,” Viktor responded from the audio system. “What do I look for once we are on the other side? Will I be able to see anything?” The black void was all they could see from their side of the gate.

  “Once you are inside,” Ash began.

  “You will see a floating planetoid made of iron,” finished Barbara Ann.

  “Train all weapons on it,” Ash spoke again, “And destroy it.”

  There was another moment of unease as the Paradiso crossed over to the other side. Kris felt as if they were about to make another jump. It was similar to when she woke from an intense dream, but the reality did not shift. The Paradiso continued to move forward through the ruined gate until they could see what was beyond.

  The stars reappeared and the planetoid appeared in front of them. It was about the size of one of the moons of Mars. On the surface, some kind of automatic mining operation was in progress with large equipment that dug and refined the ore on the surface. They could see clouds of dust rise into the sky.