by Colin Weldon
Aron took another step back, but kept the gun trained tightly on the chancellor’s lightly bobbing head. Arturo coughed and stood up straight looking at both of them. His demeanour suddenly changed. He became calm. He stared at Aron with cold eyes.
“What exactly is your plan, hero of the colony?” Arturo asked, “a new world awaits us, you fool. Don’t you understand?”
“You were going to kill us,” Aron said.
“Was going to?” Arturo said smiling.
Arturo suddenly took a step towards Aron.
“You are a resourceful man, Aron. I can respect that. Why don’t you and Vishal just quietly come with me to The Kandinsky and we can discuss the future of the human race. We all want the same thing here,” Arturo said.
“Take another step and it will be your last, Chancellor,” Aron replied.
Arturo looked at Vishal.
“And you? The saviour of our race. Without that man’s mind right there, we would have suffocated decades ago,” Arturo said.
His voice began to rise.
“Maybe,” Aron said, “but that’s not something you need to worry about right now. I want you to move your guards away from The Unity and clear a path for us, all the way to the airlock.”
“Are you insane?” Arturo said.
“I just found out that you stole my daughter and that for her whole life she has been plugged into a machine. Yes, I am insane. Now send your guards away before I really lose my temper,” Aron said through gritted teeth.
Vishal remained silent. Arturo seemed to think about it, but finally raised his hands.
“Very well, Mr Elstone, on one condition,” Arturo said.
“What’s that?” Aron said.
“I want to speak to The Agathon, IF we make it to your ship,” Arturo said.
Aron thought about it for a moment.
“As you wish, Chancellor,” Aron replied.
25
The Void
Carrie emerged from the fireball of metal fragments. The orb had been huge, at least five times the size of the smaller ones. It had been slower though. A single hit with her electrical energy bolt was not cutting it. She had been flying around the floating ball for the last half an hour dodging a variety of beams being directed her way. She had to admit, she was becoming quite adept at handling herself in zero gravity with this advanced space suit. She manoeuvred quickly and began to refine her hand movements to make fast adjustments to her trajectory and direction. Jack and Tyrell watched her from a distance as she battled the attacking alien technology. In the end, it took a continuous pulse of all her energy, directed at the centre of the orb, as she flew straight at it. She thought at the last second about pulling away from its surface, but she began to see large cracks forming in its surface, so she continued her kamikaze approach. The sphere blew apart as Carrie travelled straight through its centre tearing it apart from the inside out and emerging from the other side. She felt the heat of the explosion all around her body, but distanced herself from it in time, so as not to get incinerated.
“Excellent,” Jack said over the comm system, “Let’s return inside, shall we? We have much to discuss.”
Carrie watched the fireball fizzle out, leaving a large debris field floating towards the planet surface. She was out of breath. The last burst of energy really took it out of her and she was exhausted. She watched as Jack and Tyrell made their way to the transparent space station then slowly fired the jets from her feet and followed.
“I want to go back to my ship,” she said suddenly.
“Come inside, Carrie, and let us talk about it,” Jack said waving her inside.
A few minutes later and she was standing inside the main hall of the space station. Her faceplate retracted into a rear compartment in her jumpsuit and she began breathing normally. The air tasted sweet inside the space station. She could not place the taste, but it was like some sort of exotic fruit. Jack looked up at the clear glass dome and waved his hand around in a circular motion. A grid of stars appeared from thin air and began swirling all around them. A few seconds later, a small pinpoint of light emerged.
“There,” Jack said pointing to the speck of light, “that is your ship.”
Carrie looked up in wonder. It was incredible. This race was thousands of years ahead technically. She wanted to learn so much about them, but she had to warn The Agathon.
“I will allow you to return to your vessel, but you must do something for us,” Jack said turning to look at her.
“What do you mean,” Carrie replied.
Jack smiled revealing his sharp teeth again.
“You must help us with the Targlagdu threat,” he replied.
Carrie began to feel a knot in her stomach. She had the feeling she was never going to see her father again.
“Hang on, those things are the size of planets. It was fun playing with your little toys out there, but how am I supposed to deal with thousands of robot planets?” she asked flabbergasted.
“Those are my conditions,” Jack said suddenly, lowering his lips and letting the smile, if it was a smile, dissipate.
Carrie looked at Tyrell.
“You just gonna tag along and stand there?” she said.
Tyrell looked at Jack.
“I assure you we’ll be doing more than simply tagging along,” Tyrell said.
Carrie sighed and looked at the floating holographic stars. There was suddenly a small bright light blinking close to The Agathon.
“What is that?” Carrie said looking at the images.
Jack and Tyrell looked up at the blinking light. It was a few stars to the right of where The Agathon was. Carrie knew it was light years away, but it was less than a third of a metre on this floating representation of the galaxy. Jack waved his hand up and touched the blinking light. Alien writing began to appear in mid-air. It looked like it was a computer readout with sensor information of some sort. He turned to Tyrell.
“I’m not sure she is ready for this yet,” Tyrell said.
“For what?” Carrie said.
Jack turned to Carrie.
“That is a Targlagdu vessel,” Jack said.
“What?” Carrie said raising her voice.
Her pulse quickened.
“How far away is it from the ship?” she said stepping closer to the map.
Jack turned towards the image.
“Just over half a light year,” Jack replied.
“Is it moving?” Carrie asked.
“It appears to be moving in the direction of your vessel,” Jack said.
Carrie looked at Tyrell.
“How far!” Carrie said, her voice no longer able to hide the panic.
“A half a light year,” Jack said.
“Can you get me back to my ship?” Carrie asked.
Jack looked at Tyrell.
“Carrie, there are far bigger things here than-” Jack began.
“Get me back to my ship and I’ll do anything you want, please, you want to know if I can save the universe, then let me save my ship. They won’t survive that thing; they have no weapons. Get me back there and help me save them!” Carrie said walking straight up to Jack and looking up at his large almond eyes.
“I’m not certain that our ship will be able to reach your vessel in time,” Jack said.
“Try!” Carrie said in an almost threatening tone.
Earth One
Aron was a little surprised at how easy it had been. He had expected a firefight all the way to The Unity, but the halls were cleared and it had been a straight and quiet walk all the way to the airlock. Arturo had requested all Colonial Guard personnel to report to the Red Tribe colonial zone, as there was a fictitious riot. That included the guards from outside his own office. They had taken a little more convincing and a threat from Arturo, but they had eventually obeyed. It gave Aron a few minutes, anyway, to try and launch the ship. They stepped through the airlock and walked inside the ship. Arturo walked ahead of Aron and Vishal brought up the rear. The
airlock sealed behind them and Aron felt his ears pop at the change in pressure. Arturo had been silent the whole way down to the main hangar bay. A few times, Aron thought he had muttered a few words to himself, even hearing him laugh slightly, but that had been it. He trained his weapon on Arturo’s lower back and kept it there as they stepped inside. India Walder was waiting for them. She looked tense.
“Okay,” she said to Aron, “welcome aboard, Chancellor.”
Arturo did not respond. He looked behind at Aron and smiled.
“Really? So this is your big plan? You and the rest of the rats are going to have yourselves a little revolution?” he said quietly.
Arturo turned back to face India.
“You must excuse me, my dear, I seem to have forgotten your name,” he said.
India frowned and moved closer to the chancellor.
“Easy, India, let’s get him to the flight deck,” Aron said seeing a familiar look in her eyes. A look that, not long ago, had led to Aron being covered in another man’s blood.
India continued to move towards Arturo. “India, let’s move now!” Aron said, raising his voice to a level that got her attention.
She looked at him and nodded turning to the side and raising her arm.
“This way, Chancellor,” she said leading the way.
“Where is Florence?” Arturo suddenly said, “you have not killed her, I hope, that would simply be barbaric.”
Aron found Arturo’s tone to be chilling. He was almost jovial. It was clear at this stage that the rumours of his mental condition were well founded. He was erratic. Disconnected somehow. There was no response to his question.
They arrived at the flight deck and were met by Florence who was standing at the hatch. Aron saw instantly that she was shaking. There was a ferocious anger in her eyes. Arturo looked at her and smiled.
“Ah, Florence, they have you too, how delightful,” he said.
Florence walked over to Arturo slowly. Aron saw a small tear release itself from her right eye. He kept his weapon trained on Arturo at all times. If he tried to hurt her, he would fire without hesitation.
“I brought them to you,” Florence said, “I led them to you, my dearest. You will not hurt anyone else, anymore. I have seen to that.”
Arturo’s smile faded and his eyes widened.
“Take a seat, Chancellor,” Aron said directing Arturo over to a pull out platform, behind India’s flight chair.
Arturo was still looking at Florence.
“This is how you repay me?” he said to her, lowering himself into the chair.
“Report,” Aron said to India, still watching Arturo in the seat.
“They have locked their starboard guns onto us, we’re not going anywhere right now,” India replied looking out the forward windows.
“What’s your big plan then?” Arturo said to Aron.
“Well, Chancellor, first things first,” Aron said, “you are going to hail Escat and tell him that I have agreed to grant you access to the communications relay. Tell him that you are on board The Unity and to follow us to the coordinates of the first relay buoy, to get a better signal. Tell him that you are voluntarily on board this ship and to stand down his weapons lock on us.”
Arturo frowned.
“You think the general is a fool?” Arturo said to Aron, “he’ll blow this ship straight out of the cosmos.”
“For your sake, let’s hope he doesn’t do that, ay?” Aron replied. “India, patch us in.”
India climbed into the flight chair and activated the comm channel. Aron looked at Arturo.
“Don’t do anything stupid, Chancellor,” he said raising his weapon and placing it against Arturo’s temple.
The chancellor’s mouth formed a strange grin. There was a chirping sound from the comm system as the channel was opened.
“This is The Unity calling The Kandinsky, please respond,” said India.
There was a momentary crackle, then Escat’s voice quietly responded.
“Go ahead, Unity,” Escat replied.
Aron looked at Arturo. He watched his eyes closely, trying to sense if he was about to go all kamikaze on him and blow the whole plan.
“General, this is the chancellor, please stand down the weapons lock on The Unity and prepare to escort us to the alpha relay site. Mr Elstone and his crew have agreed to allow us access,” he said.
There was a silence on the comm system.
“Chancellor, you are on board The Unity?” Escat asked.
Aron watched Arturo carefully.
“That is correct, General. Mr Elstone and I have come to an arrangement,” Arturo said.
Aron did not like the sound of that. He suddenly realised that sentence could have meant several things and could very well have been a code for capture between Arturo and his security staff. He frowned and placed the barrel of the gun at Arturo’s head. He thought about pulling the trigger quickly and just getting it done. At least he would have the satisfaction of knowing he had done it himself, before The Kandinsky blew the ship apart.
“I understand, Chancellor, we are standing down weapons and awaiting further instructions,” Escat suddenly said, “Kandinsky out.”
The comm system went quiet. India looked around at Aron.
“Okay, that was too easy,” she said, “their weapons systems have deactivated their lock.”
Aron looked at Arturo curiously. He was sure that he had just passed Escat a code, but there was nothing he could do about that now. He had to act fast.
“Fire up the engines and get us the hell out of here,” he said to India.
“Roger that,” India replied, getting busy activating the main engines.
Aron looked at Florence who was staring at the chancellor.
“They know,” she said.
Arturo’s grin widened.
26
The Agathon
Engine Room
“How’s my ship?” Barrington said to Tosh walking around the underside of The Betty.
Tosh looked up from his control pad. “She’s in one piece, Captain,” Tosh replied.
Barrington had not had much time to talk with Tosh about Young. They had been close. Very close. The Agathon was their brainchild and if it had not been for Young insisting on Tosh’s presence on Phobos, he would have perished on Earth with the rest of them.
“Did Kevin survive?” Tosh asked.
Barrington nodded placing a hand on his shoulder.
“Just about, Doc is patching him up now, he’ll be fine,” Barrington replied.
There was a gentle vibration coming from the large spherical orb, in the centre of the Faster than Light drive, nicknamed The Betty.
“And Chavel?” Tosh asked.
“That man has more lives than a cat,” Barrington replied trying to smile.
He leaned against a rail and looked out towards the crew in the engine room.
“That’s good, we’re not winning this anytime soon, are we, John?” Tosh said, “our losses are mounting.”
Their eyes met and Barrington saw the sadness that he had been hiding. He thought about Carrie. Then shut it out. He had a job to do. He looked at Tosh’s wheelchair.
“Why are you in a wheelchair anyway?” Barrington asked.
Tosh raised his eyebrows at Barrington’s attempt to change the subject.
“If you think I’m going to let that woman open up my back and replace my spinal cord, you have another thing coming. Some things are not meant to be fixed and I happen to like my chair. I got enough grief about it from Young, I do not need another mother, thank you very much, Captain,” Tosh said returning to his data pad.
Barrington smiled. He looked up and took a moment to look around the impressive engine room. He hated waiting and the check-in time agreed for Elstone to radio in had come and gone. He started running his options through his mind as he watched the crew members going about their tasks.
“Is there some reason you are just standing there, Captain?” Tosh
suddenly said breaking Barrington’s chain of thought.
“Hmm?” Barrington replied.
“Captain, all due respect, but there is nothing you can currently do until we get these engines primed up and ready. Standing around aimlessly is not going to make Aron Elstone call any sooner. You’re going to have to make a decision on our destination, we can’t stay here forever and we can’t go back. We have to keep moving forward, John. It gives people hope,” Tosh said.
Barrington smiled. He reminded himself to try and get to know Daniel Tosh a bit better. He thought about Carrie again. How would she be able to find him if they left.
“We still have a full complement of rescue beacons on board, yes?” Barrington asked Tosh.
“Yes, that we have plenty of,” Tosh replied.
“Prepare to launch one onto the planet surface. I want it activated and locked onto the ship’s locator beacon,” Barrington said.
“Of course, Captain,” Tosh said.
There was a sudden beep from Barrington’s wrist communicator.
“Boyett to Captain,” said Boyett’s voice.
“Go,” Barrington replied.
“Sir, we have an incoming signal that seems to be on an intercept course, can you come to the bridge?” Boyett said sounding strange.
Barrington frowned and looked at Tosh.
“I’ll launch it immediately, John,” Tosh said.
The Agathon
Main Bridge
The lift doors slid open and the captain strode confidently into the room, finding his way to the centre seat and lowering himself into it.
“Report,” he said to Boyett.
“Sir, we are tracking an enormous object, traveling at sub light speeds. It’s just entered the outer markers of the sixth planet in this system,” Boyett said.
“Chavel?” Barrington said looking to get an assessment from the main navigation console.
Chavel looked at his readings.
“Confirmed, sir, I am trying to get a visual lock on it now, but its speed is decreasing,” Chavel said.
“Decreasing?” Barrington asked.
“Yes, sir, we tracked it coming in at sub light, but it dropped to approach vector velocity as soon as it hit the boundaries of the sixth planet. It is definitely coming in our direction. Hang on, sir, I think I have a visual,” Chavel said looking up at the centre screen.