Heart Of The Machine (Soulmates Book 2)

by Don DeBon

  Leon watched as the chair in front of him changed shape. The high back receded into itself while the armrests likewise shrunk into the base. The whole thing resembled a big ball of black dough someone was kneading. He knew that someone were the nanomachines. Dakarth had applied a thick, black liquid material to several locations inside and around the chair. At first only the applied areas started to shimmer. Then the material spread engulfing the entire chair, reforming it as per their instructions.

  The chair's back returned higher than before and a ring the size of Aleshia's head formed at the top, mounted on a slide allowing it to move up and down when needed. The armrests equally returned, though more rounded shape. The seat itself became thicker increasing in padding. The shimmer had stopped and Leon reached for the opening in the back but Dakarth stopped him. "No, it issss not ready yet. The circuity inside is still being built." His eyes drifted down to the control device in his hand. Several minutes later a talon twitched and he smiled. "Now it is done."

  Leon stepped forward and pulled off the newly built back of the chair. Inside he found the electronics. Or what he assumed were electronics. Most of the area inside looked more organic than normal circuity. His worries grew when he failed to recognize a single part. "It looks good," he said in an up tone, which was the opposite of his feelings. "But I'm concerned an overload might harm Aleshia. I built in a lot of safety systems and backups."

  Dakarth smiled. His thin Lytherian lips parting ever so slightly. Walking around to the back, he pointed to several points in the system resembling brown fuzzy blocks. "They are inhibitors."

  Leon cocked his head. "Inhibitors? Like a fuse that will blow before it harms Aleshia?"

  He nodded. "Something like your fuses, but much more advanced. They have the ability to regulate the excess energy and route it around to other areas that are not in surplus."

  "But what if there is no place for the extra to go?"

  The Lytherian engineer smiled. "My friend it is not a concern. They can absorb and store vast amounts of energy in their molecular structure for when it is needed. Or it can be dissipated elsewhere as an option."

  "Elsewhere? Such as?"

  "There are many, but one possibility is to feed it back into the main power system, augmenting it. This can increase the rate of fire in your weapons for example. Although, the energy can be directed anywhere."

  Leon whistled. "Impressive. And yet you haven't been able to beat the Celloids?"

  "Well, keep in mind we didn't have these developments at the start of the war. But the reason for continued difficulties, they learned to increase their replication rate. Even with our developing technology, they continue to come very close to overwhelming us. I fear at some point they will succeed."

  "Hence the change in your methods," Aleshia said.

  Dakarth nodded. "Yes. However, while we can replace the equipment with relative ease, replacing our lost people is far more difficult."

  Leon's eyes shut fast then opened slowly as a chill went up his spine at the thought. "Of course. I am surprised you still contemplated waiting this long."

  "We could last for another couple of centuries by our estimates. The Celloids, up until now, have been very precise in their attacks. We could almost predict, up to one of your minutes, when the next attack would occur and how many ships would show. Nothing caused them to deviate. Until they learned of you. That aspect is a bit of a mystery." He gestured to the chair with a long finger and the talon at the end twitched as he looked at Aleshia. "Would you like to try it out?"

  Leon again gazed at the strange innards of the chair. "I am not sure—"

  "Trust me. She is in no danger. And she can stop the system at any time by pressing this button." As he pointed down to the right armrest, a hidden compartment slid back and large red button, the size of three fingers, emerged."

  "It is even red," Leon joked.

  Dakarth blinked. "Am I in error? I believe it how you label important items with?"

  "No, no, you did fine." He sighed. "I guess we do need to test this out."

  Aleshia pushed past him and sat in the chair. "Leon you worry too much. If he wanted to harm me, I would know about it."

  "That is not what I—"

  "Meant, I know. And I am thankful you are watching over me. But I'm sure this will be fine." She sat back and the silver ring descended onto her head. The chair itself began to glow around the base. She closed her eyes and her mind reached out. She watched as the Lytherians planned the defense of Earth, the ships moving in a net formation adding to the scanning ability of each ship. "Minerva, what is the power level?"

  "21.5% of previous maximum."

  "Wow and I get this much now? Amazing."

  Dakarth smiled as he turned towards Leon. "I told you it would be much better. Yes?"

  Leon nodded. "You did. But in my defense, I was flying almost blind in the design."

  "You did very well. Far more than I would have expected. But your interface to the crystal was inadequate."

  His eyes went wide. "Inadequate?!"

  "Forgive me. Bad choice of your words. How could you have known, its technology is very different from yours. If the roles were reversed, I doubt I could have done as well."

  "I see," Leon said. He opened his mouth to say more but Minerva beat him to it.

  "I think they finished the cannon upgrades. I can now access them again."

  A beep came from Dakarth's belt. He whipped the device out and it opened revealing one of his engineers. "The weapons are now online. New emitters along with improved power distribution."

  "And the shields?" Dakarth said.

  "Repairs and upgrades completed as well. Final engine augments are in process and nearing completion."

  "Good, I will be down in a moment to assist." The Lytherian nodded and his face disappeared from the tiny screen. Dakarth looked up at Leon. "Shall we go?"

  "Sure, if the engine upgrades are anything like the chair, it should be something worth seeing."

  "Alas not quite. If we were to do to a full rebuild, the ship would need to be on the ground. But it is possible to augment in place while maintaining enough operation to retain the ship's position. It is a much slower procedure as you can imagine."

  "I do. And I saw in fact. The Defiant had a bit of trouble earlier if you recall."

  "The problems were due to power, not engine augments. And unavoidable in that case. As you said, we do not know the technology as well as you."

  "You know, you guys are really distracting," Aleshia said with her eyes still closed.

  Leon laughed. "Can't wait to get rid of us eh?"

  They walked towards the hatch only to bump into Otis climbing up. "You should have seen it! I watched them reduce a full sized cannon to a liquid puddle and reform it into one massive cannon far bigger than the previous one. The emitters are enormous!" The hatch closed cutting off the rest of the conversation.

  Chapter 18

  Halburn watched out the front window as the Valiant hurtled towards its destination at top speed with the rest of the fleet right behind him. He knew this was a long shot. Deven was too smart to take the risk, but if he wasn't the one giving orders, it might work.

  High above, the Valiant crossed the edges of the Antarctic storm and approached from the north. Below, the storm was more turbulent than normal. He gave the rest of the fleet orders to spread out and surround the other sides of the continent. Each one took up a position at the edge of Antarctica. Once they had encircled the great ice shelf, the entire fleet began moving towards the south pole. If the Defiant and the Nexus were here, he would find him.

  Aleshia sat in the endless quiet of the Phoenix's bridge. The only sound was from the ventilation system giving its usual wheeze. She reached out with her mind scanning the Lytherians and reaching … out … further … and … further. There was something. Aleshia could almost feel it but before she could zero in, she whipped back as if a giant rubber band had stretched to its breaking point.
/>   But when she came sailing back, she went through the Lytherian ships down to Earth, and past the Phoenix whipping out along the Antarctica ice. Aleshia felt something different. Questions, duty, determination. She followed it reaching up above the ice. She shuddered finding ships. Many ships approaching them from all sides. The fleet had found them.

  Aleshia's eyes shot open. "We have a problem. Halburn is here."

  Minerva blinked. "That is not possible. I would have detected him."

  The indicator light above a nearby speaker glowed to life. "I do not see any indications of such a situation," Miles said.

  "He is either outside of your range, or something is jamming his approach. He is on the edge of the storm and is searching for us."

  Deven's face appeared on the large screen. "Miles told me Halburn is here? How is it possible we didn't see him?"

  "We still don't. It is possible the storms are sending out increased ionic activity due to a solar flare. It would mask their approach. But such a flare has not occurred in decades," Minerva said.

  "Any way to confirm this?"

  Minerva shook her head. "I no longer have any functional satellites in orbit."

  Aleshia turned. "Get Dakarth up here."

  "We're already here." Leon's voice came from behind. Aleshia turned to see he and Dakarth entering the bridge, the hatch closing behind them.

  "We have been informed assss to the situation. What is it you require?" Dakarth said.

  "Contact your command ship, see if they can confirm a solar flare." Deven said.

  "Of course." Dakarth pulled the communications device from his belt and opened it. Another Lytherian appeared with a large tactical screen showing behind him. Dakarth spoke with a deep rhythmical hiss. The Lytherian on the screen responded and a second later Dakarth closed the device. "There is a strong flare going on now. It won't get past the shields, but it is blocking our scans in this area of the planet. We cannot confirm if this Halburn is approaching or not."

  Aleshia glared. "Did you doubt me?"

  Dakarth inclined his head. "Of coursssse not. I am only stating we cannot see any approaching attack, nothing more."

  "Let's avoid them," Deven said. "Which direction are they coming from?"

  "All sides. The ships are spread out like a net heading towards the south pole."

  "Not good." Deven leaned towards Dakarth as he appeared on his screen. "How long will our shields last against another attack?"

  Dakarth smiled. "Now with the upgrades are complete, I doubt they can harm you in the short term. However, it is possible a long term one could have unforeseen side effects."

  "Like what?"

  Dakarth shrugged his reptilian shoulders. "I do not know. These are not Lytherian ships. It is impossible to predict every outcome. But I do have a suggestion."

  "Leon turned. Which is?"

  "There is one place you can go. Straight up."

  Minerva blinked. "Into space? This ship was not designed for that."

  "Neither was the Defiant," Deven said.

  "That issss true. But with the new shields and engines, it should be possible. The ships are designed to be pressurized. You are even now. It is one place they cannot go."

  Deven rubbed his chin. "It would give us more time. Perhaps I can convince him of what is really going on."

  "The time for deciding is up. I am detecting them at the very edge of visual range," Minerva said.

  Deven turned. "Miles can you confirm?"

  The camera behind Deven focused on him. "Yes I can. Three ships have appeared in visual range. And if my analysis is correct, one of them is the Valiant."

  "Sure you ask him not me," Galina grumbled from the side.

  "But you would have asked me anyway," Miles said.

  "Miles! Hush! I wasn't talking to you!"

  "But—"

  "Never mind!" She sat back with her arms folded.

  "How long until they are in firing range?" Deven asked.

  Minerva's gaze shifted off to the side and back. "Based on when I saw the first ship and then the time between that and when the second one arrived. We have approximately two minutes before they can fire their weapons."

  Deven turned to Galina. "Wait for one minute forty seconds and take us straight up. Minerva is still linked, correct?"

  Minerva nodded. "Yes we are."

  "What? Why so close? Didn't you hear Minerva? Two minutes is approximate! It could be sooner," Galina said.

  Miles camera turned. "That is correct. The time is only an extrapolation. Without our normal scanners, the estimate can vary significantly."

  Deven's image turned and he shot a finger in Galina's direction. "Listen, if we do it too fast, he will never know we were here. And I want him to know."

  Otis raised a hand towards Deven's screen with fingers outstretched. "Umm Boss, why? Isn't it best we avoid him?"

  "You heard Dakarth, he can't hurt us in the short term. If sees us shoot straight up and go into orbit, it may pique his interest enough to listen to me."

  "But he won't know we did. You heard Minerva and Miles. Their scanners are blinded as much as ours."

  "Ah, but I suspect at higher elevation we will be seen. Or at the very least he should be able to confirm our entry into orbit."

  Minerva smiled. "That is very possible. The ionic interference radiating from the storm should be restricted to this and lower levels of the atmosphere. Less than 20 seconds until they enter firing range."

  Deven smiled. "Everyone take a seat. Galina, full power to the vertical thrust."

  She nodded and tapped her console. The lower engines on the Defiant and Phoenix glowed brighter a microsecond before both craft shot straight up. A few moments later Deven watched as a cup floated past his face. "Well, I think we made it," Galina chuckled, "but this is going to make one heck of mess. We never planed on not having gravity."

  Aboard the Phoenix, Otis continued to sit with his ankle on his knee, even though he had floated off of his chair. "Boss, I don't like this."

  Dakarth smiled. "We should have given you an artificial gravity system, but we didn't think you would need it. I will have my men add it."

  Leon floated into a wall and bounced off. "How long will that take?"

  "Twenty of your minutes, perhaps a little more. The new power core is more than half of the system, we only need to line a few connection points to the bottom of the deck plating and direct the force down. But I am surprised you don't have such a system. I have observed you do have anti-gravity devices."

  "Yeah, well, we never planned on taking this thing into orbit!"

  Deven smiled on the screen. "What I would give to see Halburn's face now."

  The Valiant continued on course to the south pole. No one had found anything and Halburn was starting to think he had led them on a wild goose chase. He ran his fingers through his hair. Grey was taking over at a rapid rate despite his age.

  "Sir? I think we have found them," Naud said tapping his console.

  "You think?"

  "Scanners are not working. I can't even pick up our own ships ever since we started heading towards the south pole."

  "Malfunction?"

  Naud shook his head. "Everything checks out. This doesn't make sense. Unless the storms are generating more iconic interference than normal. But if we can't see them, it also means they can't see us either."

  "If their scanners aren't better than ours. And want to make a bet they are?"

  Naud shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. Either way I have found them." He pointed to his screen. The top right corner displayed an enhanced camera view straight head. To their two o'clock, a couple of small dots loomed on the horizon. "Sensors may be out, but there they are."

  Halburn leaned over the console. "Are you sure it is them?"

  "What else could it be? In a stable position that high up above the surface?"

  Halburn made a grasping motion in the air. "We have them! Order the rest of the fleet to converge here."

 
Naud shook his head. "They are too far away. And I am sure they know we are here. I mean, it would be crazy to assume the Nexus hasn't spotted us, even with sensors offline." He paused a moment to point at the enhanced image on this screen. The two dots appeared brighter than before. "And I think we have visual confirmation of their energy output is increasing."

  "How many ships are in range?"

  "Three of us can reach them in under a minute at full speed."