The Agathon: Reign of Arturo

by Colin Weldon

  “Escat, I have the chancellor,” Aron said.

  “Yes, I know,” Escat replied.

  Aron suddenly realised that this was Escat’s chance to take out the garbage and make his move. Clever.

  There was a moment of silence on the comm system. Aron could feel how thin the air was becoming. He had to think fast. He muted the comms system.

  “Is the sub light drive still operational?” he said to India.

  India checked her control panel and looked back at Aron nodding. He activated the comm system again.

  “You’re a soldier, Escat, spare my crew,” Aron said.

  “Sorry, Aron, collateral damage. Nothing personal, you realise. Strictly business,” Escat replied.

  He could hear a smugness filtering through the transmission. He frowned and felt a vengeance creep into his soul.

  “Fuck you, General,” he said without thinking and deactivated the comm system.

  “Nice,” said India.

  Aron smiled at her. The door to the flight deck opened and Oliver entered. He was covered in black smut and bruises.

  “Ollie, we need to get everyone in the escape pod. Quickly,” Aron said.

  “It only carries three, maximum four” Oliver said.

  Aron looked at India. Her face dropped. She suddenly realised what he was thinking.

  “Now, just hang on a second,” she said.

  “India, get everyone on board the escape pod. The chancellor and I will be staying to give a small present to the General,” Aron said.

  “All due respect, but fuck that. I’ll do it,” India said turning towards Aron.

  “That’s an order, India!” Aron said forcefully, “we don’t have time for your crap now, do as I say!”

  India recoiled and looked behind her at the group.

  “Ollie, tell me the sub light is okay,” Aron said.

  “She’ll fire alright, but don’t count on her for a long journey,” Oliver replied.

  “I’m not going on a long journey,” Aron said turning to the flight controls and activating the engines.

  He suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned and saw Florence looking at him softly.

  “Please, let me do it,” she said, “I am begging you. You have a daughter who needs you, Aron. She needs her father. I have been dreaming of this moment my whole life. I implore you. Please don’t take this away from me.”

  Aron looked into her broken eyes and felt the same need for sacrifice he had felt from the letter left to him by Thomas Greenly. The air was getting thin. He had to act quickly. There was a tenderness in her touch and serenity that she had come to her end. He looked at India who just stared at him. He took a breath and looked back at Florence. He nodded looking back at his flight controls. He set a course and prepped the engines to activate.

  “Just press here when we are clear,” he said pointing to the controls, “thank you, Florence.”

  She leaned in towards him and kissed him on the cheek.

  “No, thank you, Aron, from all of us,” she said.

  He nodded, getting out of the flight chair.

  “Let’s go,” he said to the group. They gathered themselves and began to leave the flight deck. He stepped over Arturo who was still lying on the ground.

  “Goodbye, Chancellor,” he said as they all left.

  He took one final look at Florence and smiled at her as the doors of the flight deck closed.

  Florence was feeling lightheaded. She watched the control panel, waiting for it to inform her that the escape pod had been launched. She leaned against the chair and looked at Arturo. He suddenly moved and groaned, turning onto his side. She saw his bloodied face and smiled at him. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the large shape of The Kandinsky as it floated past the window. It would not be long now. She tried to imagine what it would feel like to have no pain. She looked at Arturo who was staring up at her.

  “Good morning, Chancellor,” she said.

  “What are you doing?” Arturo groaned.

  There was a bleep from the console behind her telling her that the escape pod had been launched. She only had a few seconds before The Kandinsky would see it and lock on its weapons, but she wanted to look into Arturo’s eyes one last time.

  “I am taking us on a little trip, my love,” she said reaching behind her and activating the sub light engines.

  Arturo looked around and saw that they were alone. He sat up slowly.

  “This is my gift to you,” she said hearing the sound of the engines vibrate below her.

  She knelt beside the chancellor and placed her hand on his shoulder.

  “Oh, and by the way,” she said looking into his disoriented eyes, “FUCK YOU!”

  The stars began to distort as the sub light engines activated. For a moment she saw a flickering of light as the ship launched itself towards The Kandinsky engaging its last voyage. She suddenly heard the sound of a brief explosion as the flight deck was filled with an intense fireball. She felt a burning sensation all over her broken body and then a white light. And then nothing.

  29

  Targlagdu Core

  “It’s got some sort of shielding!” Carrie shouted as she continued to circle the cube ducking and diving to avoid the bursts of energy that kept firing at her.

  She had been at it for nearly fifteen minutes now. Her back ached, she had taken a direct hit when she had hesitated the second time, which sent her spinning into a protruding beam.

  “You have to disable its energy matrix, Carrie,” Jack said in her ear.

  “The last one didn’t have one!” Carrie shouted as she narrowly missed being hit again by a pulse of light.

  “It probably wasn’t expecting you, now it does,” Jack replied.

  Carrie sighed and looked around trying to get her bearings. All she could see was a storm of energy forming over the cube’s surface. She would not last much longer if she could not get a decisive shot at it. She looked around at the surrounding mechanical cave walls. It all looked the same. Miles and miles of twisted cabling and strange metallic shapes, strewn over a mangled surface.

  “Go under, Carrie, it will be near its base,” Jack said suddenly.

  Carrie changed her direction without thinking and dove for the base of the cube. It looked like more of the same, but she decided that maybe she would get lucky. She took a breath and began firing powerful bursts of energy out in all directions. She fired wildly at anything that looked like a separate mechanism that could hold a power source. Explosions erupted all along the length of her firing pattern. Arcs of electricity lit up the surrounding vista in a cold blue light and then she saw something. Like a thin shimmer of light that coated the entire cube. It buzzed and then flicked out. Maybe she had got lucky. She flew outwards, away from the heat of the fireballs and faced the large cube once more. Then she heard the voice again in her mind. As if it had forced its way through.

  “Tar … Gla … Gdu!” it said, as a large cloud of energy formed all over its surface.

  She recognised it and knew it was about to attack.

  “Oh no you don’t,” she said.

  She raised her hands and screamed letting out everything she had in one burst. Her focused electrical energy struck the cube straight on. She heard a crumpling sound, followed by a large popping noise. Then the whole structure erupted from the inside out and blew apart, spouting huge chunks of metal debris in all directions. The fireball began to expand. In her direction.

  “Shit!” she shouted turning her back and trying to get away from it.

  She flew away from the fireball. Her display led the way. She knew this was the part that would be the most difficult. The Targlagdu had sealed her in. She knew that now. She would have to fight her way out or resign herself to a planet sized coffin. She placed her arms out in front of her and began firing.

  The Agathon

  John Barrington stood in the centre of the bridge. His eyes were on the Targlagdu. He had watched in horror as it had closed its eq
uator and sealed his little girl inside. He had been ignoring the alien ship completely. The bridge was deathly quiet. His mind was open. Waiting for some sort of communication from Carrie. It was so quiet. The hum of the engines and computer consoles as they bleeped and chirped filled his ears, like a brass band.

  “Sir, something is happening,” Chavel said looking at the screen.

  Barrington watched. A definite sign of something happening showed on the surface. Possibly an explosion, but it was difficult to tell. Then without warning, a huge fireball erupted from the surface of the alien planet. A large chunk of the world suddenly broke away and drifted outwards from the planet. As if something had burst its way out from the inside.

  “Report!” he said forcefully.

  “I’m reading large power fluctuations at its core, sir,” Chavel said, “its power output levels have dropped by sixty percent.”

  Carrie! he shouted in his mind.

  Miles of blue flames erupted into space from the hole that had just formed from the explosion.

  “Any life form readings!” he shouted at Chavel.

  “Hard to tell, sir, it’s a real mess out there. Hang on,” Chavel replied.

  There was silence on the bridge once more, as they all looked up at the eruptions forming across the surface of the planet.

  “I’ve got something, sir, a single life form reading, headed away from the epicentre of that explosion,” Chavel said.

  Without hesitation Barrington replied.

  “Set a course!” the captain said.

  “Sir, the radiation levels coming from the detonation are too high to remain-” Chavel started to say.

  “Charly, get us over there now!” he shouted.

  “Aye, sir,” Boyett replied, firing up the engines and looking at Chavel.

  And then he heard her.

  Permission to come aboard, father, Carrie said in his mind.

  A wave of emotion flooded Barrington’s mind as his heart sped up in his chest.

  Granted, he replied softly, taking a step backwards and collapsing into his chair.

  The airlock opened and Carrie stepped onto The Agathon. She was greeted by her father and Chavel. They stood looking at each other for a second. Her father’s puzzled look at her space suit was replaced quickly with a warm embrace, as he swept her off her feet and hugged her tightly. She pressed her head firmly in his neck and allowed the feeling of love that they had for each other, permeate through her soul. She could have stayed in this moment forever. She felt a tear fall from her father’s face and land on hers.

  “I’m going to kill you,” he said pulling back and looking into her eyes.

  “Can it wait? I’m kinda tired,” she replied smiling.

  She looked over at David and smiled.

  “That’s some outfit,” he said to her.

  “Comes with the job,” she replied, taking his hand.

  “We have a lot to discuss,” she said to her father, letting their embrace unravel.

  “No shit,” he said, “what the hell is going on?”

  A few minutes later they were in the conference room. Chase Meridian had joined them. Carrie had to struggle out of her embrace for fear that she would suffocate her. A quick briefing had brought Carrie up to speed on the death of Jerome Young and the plight of the rest of the humans, back on what was now called Earth One. She was saddened by Jerome Young’s death. There was so much more to talk to him about. She was sorry she hadn’t caught Katrina Padrosa and blamed herself for not being able to sense that much pain. She had been selfish. Unfocused. She had known there was an evil on board. A broken soul and she had not been able to stop her. Or save her. Carrie told them all about the alien planet that Tyrell had brought her to. About the extent of the Targlagdu threat and about how she was able to disable the alien planet. They all listened intently. Chavel’s mouth had remained open for most of the briefing. When she had finished, there was a moment of contemplation from those at the table. Her father was the first to speak.

  “So, Tyrell is on board that ship now?” he asked her.

  “Yes,” she replied.

  “Doing what?” he asked her.

  “I really don’t know,” Carrie responded, “what I do know is that Jack has asked me to return with him.”

  “Jack?” Meridian said.

  “Sorry, that’s what I call him. I had to call him something and it was the first name that came to mind,” Carrie answered.

  “So, you just left the galaxy and met an alien called Jack?” Meridian said.

  Carrie smiled at her.

  “Basically,” Carrie responded.

  “What do you mean go back?” Chavel said looking at her.

  Carrie felt the sadness of the young lieutenant and knew this was going to be a lot harder than she had originally thought. She sighed and looked at the table.

  “Father, there are thousands upon thousands of those things swarming the galaxy. You will not survive. I have to help the others in tackling them if there is any chance of our race surviving,” she said.

  “What about the others?” Meridian asked.

  “Their ship is faster than ours. A lot faster as you can probably tell. I think I can get them to travel to the others and bring them to your next location,” she replied.

  “And where is our next location?” Barrington said.

  Carrie smiled.

  “You said you found a star map under the ice?” she said turning to Meridian.

  “Yes,” Meridian said.

  “Well, I know where it is and what it is. It is a planet called Ruthenium. We think it is the home of the Signal Makers. Where we must make our last stand,” Carrie said.

  The room went quiet. Carrie turned to her father.

  “I will meet you there, trust me,” she said.

  Carrie watched as her father placed his hand on hers. He looked at her sadly, but with a respect in his eyes that she had not seen before. He reached over and tapped the comm panel on the desk.

  “Bridge, this is the captain,” he said.

  “Bridge here, sir,” Boyett sa id.

  “Fire up the FTL drive. We’re leaving,” he said smiling at Carrie.

  30

  Earth One

  They drifted for several days before reaching Earth One. Aron could not get the image of the two ships exploding into one another out of his mind. He had not expected the explosion to be as large as it had been. The force of the shock wave had almost destroyed the escape pod. It had caused a fire on board the vessel that nearly suffocated them all to death. Nevertheless, they had made it. When they arrived, having limped back to the space stations, they were met at the packed airlock by members of every tribe. During their trip, they had managed to send a transmission to Earth One informing the leaders of each of the tribes what had happened. It seemed in their absence, they had staged a revolt. The Colonial Guards, with no leader to receive instructions from, were rendered useless. A new sense of power swept through the tribes with the news of Arturo’s death and the destruction of The Kandinsky. People were no longer afraid. They rose up and eliminated the guards taking back the station’s primary control centres, and learning the truth behind the atrocities of the forbidden zone. They were met with cheers. The people chanted Aron’s name and whisked him to the chancellor’s office, begging for him to take over as the leader of their fate.

  It had taken several days to clear the corridors of the damage and bodies, of what had become known as freedom day. Aron spent most of his time in Arturo’s old office waiting. Vishal had assured him that it would be possible to unplug those in the power plant, but that it would take time. The entire colony was running off the power grid and they had to compensate by reducing power and in some cases shutting down entire sections of the space station. There were debates on the subject, with Aron hearing from all the leaders of the tribes. Some wanted to unplug them all straight away, regardless of the consequences, while others believed that they should wait until a new power source could b
e found to sustain the tribes. The situation was getting desperate and Aron felt a great sense of conflict. The sacrifice of a few to save many. There were no habitable worlds within any sort of reachable distance for the space stations. Not for a few thousand years at any rate. The Agathon was months away and they had lost their only sub light ship.

  He visited Maya on a daily basis. He talked with her quietly as she lay sleeping in her tank. He tried to imagine what she would have wanted. To remain plugged in or to take her chances. The answers he was looking for didn’t come, as life began to reassemble itself on board the stations. He was about to lose all hope, when two things happened. While sitting in Arturo’s office late one evening, he came across a data file in one of the sealed drawers in Arturo’s desk. Upon activating it, the face of a woman he had never seen before came on the screen. She looked in her late fifties. Tired. It was a visual recording of some sort. The woman began speaking.

  “My name is Chancellor Sienna Clarke. I am recording this message for future generations in the hopes that our struggle will not be forgotten. For six years we have drifted through the solar system. Our home world, your home world, was destroyed by an alien signal. The impact of the blast destroyed our nearest neighbour and the only human colony on Mars. There was a ship called The Agathon, it was our last hope for survival. It took a handful of us on board and attempted to find the origin of that signal, in the hopes of finding a new world to call our own. That ship and all the souls on board, were not heard from again. Her captain, John Barrington, would not have let us down, so we can only assume that they were unsuccessful and that some tragic accident claimed the lives of all those on board. We will continue on our journey, in the hope that someday, our race will find a new home. There is unrest on board the stations. I fear that a power struggle is taking place as there is a rise in violent incidents. We are holding our first free elections. I hope that whomever replaces me can find a solution to the divisions forming in our people. Find strength in each other and know that we never lost hope in you. This is Chancellor Sienna Clarke,” said the woman.

  Aron watched the recording over and over trying to get a grasp of what had happened. On the day after he discovered the recording, India Walder had come rushing into his new office shouting.