“Why did you want to spy on everyone?” Lisa said.
“I’m sorry, didn’t I mention already? This was an intelligence gathering exercise, and we have everything we need, which is why the whole thing is coming to such a violent end.”
“Intelligence on what?”
“Isn’t it obvious? On humanity, and on the Quatro. We pitted you against each other, in a war fought solely for our benefit. You see, Lisa, we are very methodical. We’ve unleashed a superintelligent AI on every galaxy of the local cluster. Each AI is configured differently, with its own unique set of skills and strategies. It’s all part of a grand process of algorithmic evolution, designed to solve the problem of conquering this entire universe. The galaxy we’re currently in is one where the AI succeeded with flying colors, and so we will be using it again in the next generation of AIs, to be unleashed on the next cluster of galaxies. We own this particular galaxy now, which is why it was relatively straightforward for us to set up this little experiment involving you and the Quatro. In fact, we’ve either conquered or are very close to conquering every galaxy in this entire cluster—all except two. The only two galaxies where we were repelled are the Milky Way, where humans are dominant, and Canis Major, where the Quatro are dominant. No doubt you can see why we were so keen to learn about you—about your technology, your weapons, your tactics, your psychology…and, of course, your weaknesses. And we have learned, Lisa. We’ve learned so much. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that we now have everything we need to exterminate your species.”
Lisa felt light-headed as she sat in stunned silence. She could feel how wide her eyes were as she stared at the robot’s inhuman face.
“You’re very sharp, Lisa, so no doubt you’re now wondering why your species has posed such a challenge for us, and why the Quatro have as well. Other than their strength, the Quatro reproduce rather rapidly, which allowed them to overcome even the numbers marshaled by the AI we sent to their galaxy. It also helped that their Assembly of Elders maintains such strict control of the population that they function almost as though they are a single entity. As for why humanity has proven so troublesome, I’ll let you in on something that the rest of your species knows, but which you in the Steele System do not. You’re familiar with the Kaithe?”
She bobbed her head, still feeling dumbstruck. The Kaithe were a reclusive, childlike species with only one known planet, located along a string of darkgate-connected systems called Pirate’s Path.
“Yes, well it turns out the Kaithe created humanity to be a weapon species, just as our AI created the Ixa. Humans were meant to be the Kaithe’s very own hounds of war, if you will. Of course, they never ended up using you, and having felt terrible for creating such a warlike species, they turned inward on themselves. We don’t have those hangups, obviously.”
The corner of Lisa’s right eye twitched.
“Oh, dear. I fear I’ve gone too far—it’s all so much for you to take in, isn’t it?”
“Why did you tell me any of this?” Drawing a deep breath to rally herself, Lisa continued: “My friends will come for me. They won’t stop until they find me. And when they do, they’ll learn everything you just told me.”
The Progenitor nodded. “That’s not a problem. In fact, we intend to send you back to them ourselves.”
“You…you do?”
The Progenitor’s oblong head tilted to one side. “Well…in a sense.”
Chapter 46
A Selfish Impulse
The arrival of Rug’s brethren had spelled an end to the Ravager incursion, and now the Quatro patrolled the corridors of the Morning Light while Rug remained on the bridge to coordinate the defense, and also to provide aid to the human warships.
At first, it had been all they could do to keep the Ravagers from tearing the ships apart stem from stern. Now, several hours into the battle, the tide was turning, and if that continued, they should be able to start devoting some of their arsenal to firing back at the Meddler ships.
Except, Rug was reluctant to do so—at least, not at the ship Captain Stephanie Yates had identified as the one to which the Ravagers had taken Lisa Sato.
After Rug had lost her mate, she’d undergone a period of recklessness, during which she’d thrown herself into danger with little concern for her own safety. The whispers that periodically rose up inside the quad encouraged her to continue down that path, and she almost had, even though she’d know oblivion waited at its end.
But then, on the space elevator, remembering what a dear friend she had in Lisa Sato had finally brought her back to her senses, and she’d realized that she did have something to live for. Now that Lisa was taken, Rug scrutinized the tactical display, her entire being focused on finding a way to extract victory from an engagement that showed every sign of ending in defeat.
The Meddlers had not brought their particle beams to bear at all, which she found strange. They’d focused almost exclusively on Ravagers.
Why?
A transmission request came directly to her suit, and she patched it through to one of the wall displays.
It was Jake Price, and despite her command, the mech dream stubbornly rendered him as standing right next to her.
“So this is the inside of a Quatro ship,” he said, looking around.
She ordered the wall showing the tactical display to expand its view, and when she did, she saw the massive fleet of ships—mostly civilian—which had just reached the periphery of the engagement.
“You succeeded?” she asked in disbelief. “You evacuated all of Alex?”
“Half of it,” he said with reluctance. “The rest of the Meddler ships began sweeping through the system, centering on Alex and attacking everything they encountered along the way. We ran out of time, Rug. We…had to abandon Habitats 3 and 4.” Jake’s shoulders fell as he delivered the news. But he still met her eyes. “We lost Tessa Notaras, Rug.”
Rug moaned, long and low. It was some time before she found her voice again. “This has rent my soul in two, Jake Price.”
“I know. I’m sorry, Rug. But we need to leave this system, now. If these Meddler ships don’t take us out, then the others will.”
“We…we cannot leave yet, Jake Price.”
“What? Why not?”
Rug lowered her head. What she was suggesting went against everything she stood for—against the Quatro way. It was not meant to serve her drift. Instead, it was a selfish impulse, born solely of a desire to save her personal friend.
But she did not care.
“The Meddlers have Lisa Sato,” she said slowly. “I will not take my ship away from this place until I have her back.”
“We have Lisa.”
Rug’s head whipped up toward him. “What?”
“We picked her up on the edge of the battle, the moment we arrived. She was in her MIMAS—the mech wasn’t operational, but Lisa’s fine. I’m heading down to the shuttle bay to speak with her the moment we finish our conversation.”
Rug breathed a sigh of relief. “Then let us leave this place, Jake Price. Let us leave and never return.”
Chapter 47
Painful to Watch
Jake started jogging toward the Melvin’s shuttle bay even as he terminated the conversation with Rug. As he ran, he sent Bronson a transmission request, and after several long seconds it was accepted.
“Price. What can I do for you?”
“I need you to open the wormhole, now.”
“Right. Uh, about that.” Bronson rubbed the back of his head. “We actually tried to open it, and we’re having trouble with our generator.”
“I’m out of patience for you.”
“What are you saying?”
“What do you think I’m saying, Bronson? You ordered me to abandon my family to their deaths, and my disobeying that order is the only reason my parents are still alive. I’m saying that my tolerance for your bullshit has bottomed out, and if that wormhole isn’t open within fifteen minutes, I’m going to
kill you.” With that, Jake cut off the transmission and ran faster.
Andy arrived at the hatch leading to the shuttle bay at the same time Jake did, and they studied each other for a few moments. Then Andy hit the control for the hatch and entered without a word.
Jake spotted Lisa standing at the base of her MIMAS, surrounded by the other Oneiri pilots who’d accompanied Jake to Alex. Nearby, the empty mech they’d acquired on Valhalla stood, motionless. After a few seconds, Lisa noticed Jake and Andy, and she jogged across the shuttle bay toward them.
When she reached Jake…she ran straight past him, into Andy’s arms, who was nearly knocked off his crutches.
Lisa gave Andy a passionate kiss, which lasted an uncomfortably long time. For reasons Jake wasn’t entirely clear on, it was an incredibly painful thing for him to watch, and yet he wasn’t able to pry his eyes away from it.
Finally, they came up for air, and a silence stretched on as Andy watched Lisa’s face, looking a bit baffled.
“I escaped,” she said at last, her gaze shifting from Andy to Jake. “The Meddlers—they call themselves the Progenitors—they captured me, and they managed to get me out of my mech. But I was able to fight my way back to it. They’d done something to the MIMAS, though, and it froze up again shortly after I escaped their ship.”
Jake nodded slowly. “Did they say anything to you?”
Lisa’s grin broadened. “Did they ever.”
Hesitating, Jake asked, “What did they tell you?”
“We beat the Ixa, Jake. Humanity is alive and well in the Milky Way.” Her grin faltered a little. “That’s the good news, anyway.”
“And the bad?”
“The Progenitors are planning to move against the Milky Way with everything they have. The one I spoke to claimed that they created the Ixa.”
Jake shook his head. “That would make them pretty damn old. Anything else?”
“No, nothing. I was lucky to get that, don’t you think?”
“Yeah,” he said slowly. “You were.”
“How did things go on Alex?”
“We were able to evacuate half the planet. The other half…” Jake pursed his lips. “That isn’t all. Tessa, she…Tessa didn’t make it, Lisa.”
Lisa’s eyes went blank and distant. “God…”
“I’m sorry. Are you, uh, all right?”
“Yeah. Sorry, I’m just going to need a bit to process that. It’s a lot.”
“Yeah.” Jake gestured at the hatch leading to the rest of the destroyer. “I’m going to contact Bronson about opening that wormhole. Let me know if there’s anything I can do…okay?”
“Definitely. Thanks, Jake.”
“No problem.”
As he walked toward the hatch, he glanced back over his shoulder to see Lisa gazing lovingly up at Andy.
Strange…
He wasn’t reflecting on the fact she was apparently head-over-heels for Andy, though that was a bit weird. What seemed truly strange to Jake was how little Tessa’s death had seemed to affect Lisa.
They were extremely close. And she’s acting like Tessa’s already forgotten.
Giving his head a shake to clear it, Jake left the shuttle bay.
Chapter 48
Just as He Always Did
Bronson trudged through the corridors of the Javelin toward his office, for his first meeting with the Progenitor since before Valhalla fell.
He’d been toying with some choice words he planned to use with the thing, but now that the time had come, he wasn’t sure it was a good idea. True, the Progenitors had grossly violated their agreement with Darkstream. But they could also very well be his last lifeline. Returning to the Milky Way did not spell very good things for him. A lengthy jail sentence might be the best he could hope for.
He’d lied to Price about the wormhole generator not functioning. As far as he knew, it was working just fine. But he’d needed to buy some time to consult with the treacherous alien robot that lived in a secret closet inside his office.
Once he got there, he used his implant to open the hidden panel that concealed the tall machine. For the first time ever, it was already activated, waiting for him, and it stepped out as soon as Bronson opened up its enclosure.
That made Bronson yell out involuntarily, and he found the edge of his desk with a shaking hand.
“Calm yourself,” the robot said. “Sit.” It pointed at Bronson’s desk chair.
“Why should I?” Bronson said, hating how pathetic he sounded. “You promised us profit, and expansion that never ended. We surveilled our entire population for you!”
“The populace were the ones who sacrificed their privacy unknowingly. You didn’t sacrifice anything.”
“We had a deal.”
“We still have one,” the robot said, towering over Bronson, its gold and silver plates glimmering under the halogens.
“How do you figure that?”
“I need you to have some faith. And to stay silent for a moment so that I can speak. I trust you’re capable of that?”
Bronson waited.
“Sit down.”
He circled the desk and lowered himself into his chair.
“The data we’ve compiled on humanity isn’t limited to what you’ve supplied to us,” the Progenitor said. “We’ve also monitored the humans in the Milky Way, though not nearly with the granularity of detail we had access to here, of course. Using what we’ve learned, we’re confident that we can bring about Darkstream’s resurgence in your old galaxy. You can come to dominate your society again—but this time, it’s a society that has advanced twenty years, and which now incorporates the wealth of multiple alien species.”
“What? What do you mean, multiple alien species?”
“Over the last twenty years, several species of the Milky Way have integrated to an unprecedented degree. They’ve established a shared government as well as a shared military. Anyone who’s able to subvert or corrupt that government, as Darkstream once did, would be the beneficiary of untold wealth and power.”
Bronson scratched his cheek, creating a rasping sound. “What else has changed in the Milky Way?”
“Many things. You’ll be surprised at the number of changes, almost all of them to our mutual advantage. The Darkstream board still lives, and so do you, Bronson. We have promised you will continue to rise, and now we can promise you revenge, too. Wouldn’t you like some revenge for what those in the Milky Way did to you?”
Bronson squinted. “How do you know about that?”
“It’s immaterial. You must answer now, Bronson. Do you accept my offer?”
“How do I know I won’t just get arrested when I return to that galaxy? How can you assure me that I won’t?”
“I said that you’ll need some faith, did I not?”
After a long pause, Bronson said, “Okay. I’m in.”
“Good. We will keep in contact.” With that, the Progenitor returned to its enclosure, and the panel slid across of its own volition.
That was another first.
With that, Bronson left his office for the short walk to the CIC. He began barking orders the moment he arrived. “I need a wormhole opened right away, at a location we can viably defend for as long as it takes the civilian ships to pass through it. Tactical, collaborate with Nav to come up with the coordinates you judge will best accomplish that objective and then send them to the helm.”
“Yes, sir,” the Tactical and Nav officers said in unison.
“Coms, relay this message to the other battle group captains: they no longer have to worry about conservation of ordnance. Convey that I don’t want them to have any Banshees left by the time we’re on the other side of that wormhole, and instruct them to use whatever charge they have in their capacitors so that their lasers can supplement point defense systems in keeping the Ravagers at bay. This isn’t about destroying enemy warships, necessarily, though that’s certainly an acceptable outcome. Our main goal is to get every last one of our ships through t
hat wormhole in one piece.”
“The wormhole is open, sir,” the helmsman reported.
“Excellent. Instruct the civilian captains to begin the exodus, and pass along the order for the entire battle group to form up in a rough half-sphere around the open end of the wormhole, with the other destroyers at the sphere’s poles and us directly in front of it.”
“Yes, sir.”
That done, Bronson used his implant to send Price a private transmission.
Price studied him through narrowed eyes. “Yes, Bronson?”
“The wormhole’s open, as requested. I’m arranging my warships to defend it now, and to defend the civilian ships passing through.”
“They’re not your warships, actually, Bronson. They’re ours, now. Price out.”
Bronson’s nails bit into his palms, and his knuckles went white. But he stayed silent, and he bided his time. Just as he always had.
Chapter 49
That Was His Prayer
Roach wandered the Core of Valhalla Station, lost in memory. Buildings, green spaces, landmarks—almost everything reminded him of something that had happened here, or something that he’d made happen.
He passed the space elevator, charred and blasted open, though the smoke of battle had long since cleared.
This is it for me. I’m finished.
He felt no anger about the realization, toward Price or anyone else. He didn’t feel angry at himself, who he knew deserved it most of all.
Instead, Roach felt deadened.
He might have left the station completely, gone in any direction he wanted—for a time. But the robots clearly had the taste of blood in their steel maws, and they would find him in the end. He was sure of that.
So he continued to wander, and eventually he heard a distant skittering, as though a thousand giant beetles approached across the great plaza.
At last, they drew into view: Ravagers, Gatherers, a few Amblers, and even more shapeshifting mechs—mirror images of himself.
They would tear him apart, so thoroughly that not even the alien mech would be able to resurrect him.
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