by Colin Weldon
There, filling every corner of her vision, was a turquoise blue planet. One solitary ring of ice and rock circled its equator. It was gigantic. What she thought was a thin atmosphere at first, became what looked like a solid piece of perfectly formed glass, completely encasing the entire planet. She was sure that it had to be close to the mass of Earth’s own sun.
“Impossible,” she said quietly to herself.
Light from a nearby star bounced off the glass casing, forming numerous rainbow like colours across its surface. It looked like a rare gem being displayed to a cosmic collector.
She turned to Tyrell and placed a hand on his arm.
“Tyrell,” she said giving it a gentle push.
Still no response. She tried again, only this time slapping his face.
“Tyrell!” she said raising her voice.
He stirred, opening his eyes. He mumbled something she could not understand before coughing and looking at her. His eyes looked normal. They looked at hers with confusion, and for a moment she thought that maybe The Black had lost its control over him.
“Doctor Tyrell?” she asked.
“Help me,” Tyrell whispered.
Carrie began to sense the old Tyrell’s thoughts as they flooded into her mind. There was terror, loneliness and fear. They lasted for only a few seconds as they faded into nothingness. His eyes filled with black fluid and turned colour once again to the familiar look of The Black. The old Tyrell was gone.
“Carrie,” he said sitting up straight and looking out at the planet.
She did not answer. The old Tyrell’s panic and desperation had raised the hairs on the back of her neck.
“We have arrived,” he said smiling.
“Where are we?” Carrie asked looking down at the navigational computer. It was displaying an error flashing red at the bottom of the screen.
‘Cannot locate star fix’
She frowned and tried rebooting the system.
“Your computer will not be able to find our location, Carrie,” Tyrell said looking calmly at her.
“That’s not possible, Doctor,” she said.
Tyrell smiled.
“Turn the shuttle around and see for yourself,” he said.
Carrie did as he asked and fired the manoeuvring thrusters to turn the shuttle so that it faced away from the planet. She stared wide eyed into the darkness. There was a single nearby star glowing yellow in the night sky. Nothing else. No planets. No stars. No nebulae, no nothing.
“Where are we, Doctor?” she said looking into Tyrell’s black eyes.
“Between galaxies, Carrie,” he said.
“What do you mean?” she said not believing it.
“The last hiding place of the others,” Tyrell said.
She looked back at the emptiness and suddenly felt more alone than she had ever felt in her life.
“That’s not possible … you mean another dimension?” she said.
“No, Carrie,” he replied, “We are in the void. The space that separates galaxies themselves. This lone star is the only solid matter that exists,” he said.
She could not believe they had travelled that far. To have left their own galaxy and reached a point where nothing existed but this one planet, was beyond her comprehension. Yet, there she was. She turned the shuttle craft around to face the planet once more as the emptiness was starting to make her feel nauseous.
“We couldn’t have travelled that distance in this shuttle,” Carrie said, “How will we get back?”
Tyrell pointed to the planet through the front facing windows.
“There are far bigger things for you right now, Carrie,” he said, “you need to bring us down.”
Carrie looked at the planet and began her scans of the surface. She had analysed hundreds of planets while under the supervision of Tyrell before the world had ended, but this one was different.
“I am not getting readings, Tyrell,” she said looking at her computer.
She was sensing something from the surface, but could not make out what it was. There was definitely something looking at them. She felt like she was in a dark room surrounded by strangers with all of their eyes fixed firmly on her. She closed her mind to it. After she had been nearly killed by the last planet she had connected to, she thought it best to go it alone for the time being.
“Bring us closer,” Tyrell said.
Carrie frowned and turned to Tyrell. She had had enough of being led and suddenly felt a real sense of anger towards the alien being that had killed her mother. She turned to the computer and suddenly shut down the engines and quickly locked out the controls with a fractal encryption code. The shuttle went quiet as the hum of the engines ceased. She turned in her chair and looked at Tyrell folding her arms. He looked at her with his black eyes and raised an eyebrow. She reached under the console and pulled out a pulse gun and aimed it at his head. Chavel had made sure to let her know where all the weapons were on the shuttle craft. She suddenly felt a longing for him.
“Right,” she said, “Let’s talk.”
Tyrell looked down the reflective surface of the barrel of the gun and turned to face her.
“What are you doing, Carrie?” he said calmly.
“I want answers, Tyrell, or I am going to end this right here and right now,” she said.
Tyrell smiled. She wondered if the black alien fluid now coursing through his veins even knew what a smile was. The real Doctor Tyrell almost never smiled and she felt unnerved. She gently rested her finger on the trigger. Tyrell placed his hands on his lap and gazed gently into her eyes.
“And then what Carrie? Head for home? It could take several billion years. Long time to be in a shuttle all by yourself. That is, of course, unless the Targlagdu finds you first. Which it will. Believe me, it will. Will you land on the planet? The others will not open the shield without making contact with me first. You could try it yourself, but they do not like outsiders and will probably vaporise us anyway in the next several minutes if they do not hear from us. But go ahead. Shoot me. Then you will never know what you really are. What your true nature is,” he said.
Carrie thought about that for a minute. He was, of course, correct. If she killed him now, she was dead herself.
“Fuck you,” she said raising the pulse gun to his head.
She wasn’t being rational and she knew it, but she was done being controlled by this thing. She had just left her family behind and was now thinking it was a mistake.
Tyrell frowned and tilted his head. For a moment, she actually thought she might do it. Several seconds passed between them, then Tyrell raised his hands.
“Okay, Carrie. Please be calm. There is no need for this irrational behaviour. You are a scientist and this emotional outburst is not in keeping with your personality. Lower the weapon and ask me what you want to know,” he said.
She thought about firing anyway. Suddenly thoughts of The Black liquefying her mother enveloped her. Tyrell had explained that it had been an accident. But so what. Maybe she should die. She was a freak after all. An aberration. The Agathon crew feared her now. Maybe she was destined for it. Doctor Tyrell was still alive. His mind was in there somewhere and he was begging for help. She should set him free.
“Carrie, the others know what you are,” Tyrell said, “That is why I brought you here. All your answers are on the planet below.”
“Are they the Signal Makers?” she said.
Her hand was beginning to shake now.
“No,” Tyrell said, “The origin of the signal that destroyed your planet does not originate on this world. The others know where they are. They know what they are. They know what you are.”
“What the fuck am I!” Carrie shouted suddenly losing control.
She could not help it. All these riddles and half answers were driving her crazy. She suddenly felt a familiar tingle run down her spine as the electrical energy within her made itself available to her if she wanted it. Tyrell clearly saw what was happening and leaned back into
his chair.
“Be calm, Carrie Barrington, be calm,” he said softly.
Carrie took a deep breath and let the air draw deeply into her lungs. She felt a tear roll down the side of her cheek and slowly lowered the gun.
“The others once inhabited the world you found me on,” Tyrell said.
Carrie looked at him and let him continue. His voice was calm. She felt the energy inside her subside and let her gaze drift to the view of the planet outside the shuttle.
“You have seen them, haven’t you?” he asked, “In your dreams, you have seen them.”
Carrie looked up at him and suddenly knew what he was talking about. The city on Mars. The bright vast cityscape with great shining towers that reached to the clouds. She had seen them.
“They lived on Mars?” she asked.
Tyrell raised his eyebrows.
“More than just lived on, Carrie. They were the first,” he said.
“First what?” Carrie said.
“First everything,” he replied, “please let me take the controls and you will find out. They have your answers.”
“Not good enough, Tyrell, first what?” Carrie said frowning.
Tyrell looked up at the cocooned planet looming outside.
“Before your race, before the Targlagdu, before what you call the Signal Makers and long before I was created, there were the others,” Tyrell said.
“Why are they here alone? Is this their home world?” Carrie asked.
“No. Here they hide,” Tyrell said.
“Are you one of these others?” Carrie asked.
Tyrell looked at her.
“Not quite,” he said smiling.
There was something off about his smile. It had a sinister quality to it, but it could simply have been because The Black was inexperienced with using human form.
“What are they hiding from?” Carrie asked, “The Targlagdu?”
“The Targlagdu your people encountered in the Aristaeus system were one of many. And they were by far one of the smallest.”
Carrie couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“What?” she said, “you mean there are more of those things floating around?”
“Many more, most are located in a remote part of your galaxy, but for millennia they have been spreading. Your species encounter with them has come far sooner than it should have,” Tyrell said.
Carrie suddenly realised the obvious.
“Why didn’t you tell my father?” she asked.
“You can only run for so long. Without assistance, your people will not survive,” Tyrell said.
Carrie lurched up suddenly and grabbed Tyrell by the top of his jumpsuit pressing her fist hard into his chest.
“You should have told them, Tyrell! They could be flying right into the mouth of one of those things,” she said.
Tyrell looked calmly into her eyes.
“Your anger towards me is doing you harm. If you wish to resume our fight, I can certainly oblige, but we both know how futile that is. Carrie, we must make contact with the others now,” he said.
Carrie wondered if the strength he had shown in his lab could truly match her abilities, but she was certain that the shuttle craft would probably not, so she released him. It was becoming clear that the scale of what was going on was far greater than she could imagine. Now she wanted answers. She was not going to get them on this shuttle craft.
She turned around and reactivated the engines. She took a deep breath and set a course for an equatorial orbit of the planet.
“Where to?” she asked Tyrell without looking at him.
Tyrell typed in a set of coordinates into the navigation computer and relayed the information to Carrie’s flight controls.
14
The Agathon
“My name is Aron Elstone, to whom am I speaking with?” said the male voice on the other end of the comm link.
Charly Boyett sat in the centre seat and looked around the bridge at the other crew members, who had all eyes locked firmly on the lieutenant. She turned to Kevin Ferrate behind her who was shaking his head looking clueless.
“Eh … This is Lieutenant Charly Boyett on board The Agathon, do you read?” she asked.
There was a moment of static.
“I repeat this is …” said Boyett suddenly interrupted.
“Please repeat your last, did you say The Agathon?” said Aron’s voice sounding suspicious.
“Yes, Mr Elstone, I said The Agathon. Are you transmitting from the Jycorp Orbital?” she asked.
“The what?” said Aron.
Boyett looked at Chavel and frowned.
“The Jycorp Orbital? Where are you transmitting from?” asked Boyett.
“My ship is called The Unity,” said Aron.
Boyett looked at Chavel who shook his head indicating he had no idea what The Unity was. Boyett turned back to Ferrate.
“Go get the captain,” she said, “I don’t care if he’s in a coma, get him up here now.”
Ferrate nodded and left the bridge.
“Hello?” said Aron.
Boyett turned her attention back to the front of the bridge. It was an audio signal, so she let her eyes wander around the images of the planet outside.
“Yes, hello, can you tell me where you are?” she asked.
“Is this really The Agathon? We thought you were a myth,” said Aron.
Boyett raised her eyebrows.
“A myth?” she said.
“Yes, I, we, had always heard stories, but I never thought you could have survived for so long,” Aron said.
“How long do you think we have been gone? What year do you think this is?” Boyett asked.
“What year?” Aron asked.
There was a slight crackling on the audio and Boyett looked at Chavel and nodded indicating that he keep an eye on the signal. He waved a hand in acknowledgment and turned to his computer and began monitoring the transmission.
“It is the thirty ninth year of the Reign of Arturo,” he replied.
Boyett frowned, completely baffled by what was going on.
“Mr Elstone, how long do you think The Agathon has been gone?” she asked.
There was a moment of silence on the comm system. “It is hard to know exactly. A lot of the data from the old systems were lost in the war during the Reign of Clark. Some say thousands of years, some say less,” he said.
Boyett leaned forward and placed her elbows on her knees. She was tired. The captain had isolated himself and the strain of being left in command was making her back ache. She missed her parents and she missed Landon Emerson. She was feeling alone and scared and this voice filling the bridge was making no sense. She rubbed her brow and took a breath. Where the hell was the captain?
“Tell me about yourself, Aron,” she said quietly.
Some of the bridge crew looked at her curiously, but she did not know what else to ask. Her mind was spinning.
“I am a pilot,” he said after a moment, “I am sitting here next to India Walder, my second in command and a huge pain in the ass.”
“Hey!” came a female voice.
Boyett looked up.
“There are others with you?” she asked.
“Just three of us at the moment in the cockpit. My engineer Oliver Jones is on the ground under my legs. He’s the one you should thank for our little chat,” he said.
“How many of you are alive? Where are you living?” Boyett asked.
“We live on Earth One,” he replied.
“You found a planet?” Boyett asked.
“Eh, not exactly, no. We still live on the original space stations. What was left after the destruction of Earth. The records of the old world were left intact after the great war. We have been drifting in interstellar space since you left,” he said.
Boyett could not believe it.
“How is that possible?” she asked, “How many of you are still alive?”
“Just over twelve thousand,” Aron replied.
She decided it was time to tell him.
“Aron, when The Agathon first made its FTL jump to find the Signal Makers, there was an error in our engines. It created a time dilation. For us, it has only been a few months since we left The Jycorp Orbital Station,” she said.
“What?” Aron said.
“It’s true, Aron,” she said.
There was silence on the comm system.
“So, let me get this straight. You have a functioning Faster than Light drive?” he asked.
“Yes,” Boyett said.
“That’s why he wants you,” Aron said.
Boyett frowned puzzled.
“Who?” she asked.
There was a moment of silence again on the comm system. She thought she heard the female voice mumble something to him.
“Aron?” Boyett asked.
“Listen to me very carefully,” Aron said, “you are in great danger. We are ruled by a man called Arturo Verge. He is the chancellor of the colony. He has killed more of us than you can imagine. He is insane. He is coming here now in a heavily armoured ship called The Kandinsky. More than likely he is going to destroy The Unity with all of us on board. If that happens and he makes contact with you, you must not believe anything he says to you. He wants your ship. He wants it for himself. The world in which we live in, is in a dire condition. We are slaves. We need your help.”
His voice was stern. Resolute. Boyett knew fear and desperation when she heard it and his tone was thick with it.
“Wait, Aron, just slow down,” she said.
“Listen to me, Charly Boyett,” he said interrupting her, “I do not know how long I have here. Whatever he says to you, do not bring that ship here. You will all be killed,” he said.
There was mumbling on the comm channel.
“Shit, he’s here,” Aron said, “I know you do not know me, nor have you any reason to trust me, but heed my warning. We need your help. If I survive the next few days, I will try to contact you again. Please do nothing that he asks. My people depend on it. You could be our last hope. Do you hear me, Charly?” he asked.