The umbilical passageway connecting the vessel to the heart of the station wasn’t built to take such huge loads and broke away from the side of the ship, but not before a small crustacean attached a tiny limpet against the side of the Dominator’s hull. The bio-android was swept away as the umbilical broke up. The unfortunate creature ended up fried by the starship’s reverse thrusters, but in its tiny little mind, it was able to find satisfaction in completing its mission.
Large sections of the surrounding cavern were breaking away from the planetoid and spinning off into the void. Several pieces smashed against the side of Dominator’s hull, shaking the whole ship. Kallke was terrified that an impact would hit something vital and the starship would be wedged half in, half out, of the cavern. Happily however, their vessel began to gather momentum and cleared the huge doors just as the 2323 computer managed to wrestle back control of them. The vast orifice began to close once more, but Dominator was free. The starship rotated on its axis and moved away from its prison.
Tallok took the lead as the group moved rapidly through, what appeared to be, a leisure complex. They passed through workout rooms equipped with various exercise machines and enclosed ball courts. It occurred to the mutant, that everywhere was clean and the equipment well maintained. The psychotic machine that ran the planetoid made sure that Extremity City was kept in an orderly fashion, regardless of the fact that the computer had massacred the people who had once lived there. Somehow, he found that more eerie, than if the place had been derelict and full of cob-webs. Extremity Station was a world of sick horror, hidden under a veneer of antiseptic order. Tallok couldn’t wait to get off the place—he just hoped the old Terran’s plan would work. It would be a lonely place to die otherwise.
The group moved down into what was obviously a foyer, or reception area for the complex. The decor was warm and pleasant with pastel shades. Large illuminated panels displayed three-dimensional photographs of multi-coloured star clusters, and worlds, that must have belonged to the humanoids who had constructed the outpost so long ago.
Tallok’s heart sank when, as they descended some stairs, there in front of them stood the image of Nimue. She stood in the same priestess’s gowns as those worn in the temple and she held out her hands imploringly toward Gulag. It seemed as if there was just no getting rid of the bitch.
‘Son! Don’t do this! You don’t belong with these sinners!’ the image whispered in the thinning air. ‘You belong with me! Together we can continue God’s work! Please, I beg you, don’t leave me here alone!’
Tallok saw the confused, distraught look on the clone’s face. Gulag’s mind was still befuddled by the effort of bringing the transporter down in one piece and the 2323 computer was trying to capitalise on this. One look at the clone’s face was enough to make him realise that the plan was working. Gulag still had a sick fixation with the bitch.
The mutant opened fire with his assault rifle, but the shells passed straight through the image and chewed up the wall behind.
‘Hold your fire Tallok!’ Myrddin told him as he pulled the clone along, one arm over his shoulder. ‘It’s just a hologram. Ignore it and push on. We’re running out of time!’
Tallok did as he was told and carried on across the foyer, passing straight through the hologram, which was still holding its arms out to Gulag. It sent a shiver up his spine; there was something about the look on her face that told him that this was something more than just a hologram. He found it hard to believe that a computer could replicate the total look of despair in her eyes.
Myrddin allowed one of the troopers to help the clone, as he led the group out of the leisure complex and down into the subterranean levels, guided by his mental map. They moved rapidly through tunnels containing power and water conduits, some of which had cracked after the impact of the nuclear warhead. The pressurised water became vapour as it left the damaged pipes. The air was now so thin, the water boiled instantly. None of this seemed to concern Myrddin, despite his lack of environment suit. He gamely pushed on apparently breathing normally and unconcerned about the huge temperature variations they were encountering in these lower levels. The rest of the group couldn’t help but notice this seemingly miraculous behaviour and muttered between themselves about the Terran’s mythical powers. Gouny eventually had to tell them to shut-up.
Eventually, he led them to a small service passageway that apparently descended, but this was an illusion. In fact, the passage actually led upwards, towards the surface of the planetoid. Within the main caverns artificial gravity kept everything rooted to the surface of the interior. Had there been nothing but the gravity created by the mass of the planetoid itself, then the attraction would have been toward the centre of Extremity Station as with any normal moon or planet. However, there had to be a point where the effects of artificial gravity wore off and the natural gravitational forces took effect. That point was a few metres into the service tunnel. They’d begun descending into the tunnel, then with a sickening lurch to their perceptions they discovered that their descent was in fact, an ascent. For a while Tallok was worried that several of the group, all of whom were inexperienced in the effects of space and gravity, were going to chuck into their sealed suits. Happily, although a few of them went very pale, himself included, none threw up and the group pushed on. Gulag also appeared to be more with it now and he was moving under his own steam.
Everything appeared to be going well until, nearing the airlock which lead directly to the surface, they came to a junction with another conduit. There in front of them, blocking the way, they found a horde of the strange crab-like creatures waving their claws and mandibles at the humanoids.
‘Holograms again?’ Tallok asked the Terran on his comm link.
‘Not this time,’ Myrddin answered despite the fact that he had no comm link of his own.
‘Oh shit!’ Tallok responded as he opened fire. The other mutant fighters opened up almost simultaneously and the first few crustaceans exploded in a mass of shell and gore. However, there were more of the bio-robots which clambered over the slaughtered remains of the others and began to advance on the humanoids.
Gulag, finally aware of what was happening around him, called out, ‘Keep moving, keep moving! If we stay here they’ll storm us until all our ammunition's gone, then they’ll rip us to shreds! We’ve got to keep moving!’
Taking the lead once more, the clone aggressively moved toward the advancing crustaceans. The others hesitated for a moment then followed him. Their combined Firepower was devastating within the close confines of the tunnel. One after another of the planetoid’s drones was ripped to shreds. To Gulag’s relief, he noticed they were slowly pushing their attackers back, but they were being hindered not just by the sheer numbers, but by the remains of those they blew away. The tunnel was becoming blocked with the grisly remains of the crustaceans.
Gulag was reluctant to use explosives within the close confines of the conduit. A grenade might clear the passage in front of them, but there was a good chance that it would also damage the tunnel itself and bring the roof down. They had no choice but to keep moving forward, wading their way through the slippery gore. After what seemed to be an age, they finally managed to battle their way to the junction with the other passageway, but it was here that the fighting became really intense. Now they had to fight crustaceans from two different directions.
The fighting became close quartered with the beleaguered humanoids fending off the multiple claws and mandibles of the crustaceans. In a spurt of aggression Gouny pushed forward into the adjacent tunnel, her assault rifle blazing. The Mosorak troopers that formed her unit followed her, intent on supporting her actions. For a short while it looked as if they might succeed against the horde, but then her weapon juddered to a halt, her ammunition entirely depleted.
As soon as her assault rifle stopped spewing shells the crustaceans were upon her. A claw crushed her helmet and a powerful pair of mandibles ripped her environment suit to shreds. Gouny never even had
a chance to scream. The troopers hesitated at the sight of their officer being torn apart and that hesitation was sufficient for another crustacean to swipe them with its weapons. Within seconds two more Mosorak troopers were dead.
Myrddin saw what was happening and moved into the adjacent tunnel before the drones could advance on Tallok’s mutants and Gulag. There were fewer crustaceans in the tunnel that led to the airlock and Gulag appeared to be winning that battle. However, it would be all for nothing if they were caught between two hordes.
Gulag saw what the Terran was doing and mentally called out to him, ‘What are you playing at Myrddin? You’ll never keep that lot at bay!’
‘You’re winning there Gulag,’ the ancient replied. ‘Keep pushing on! The airlock is only a few metres further up that passage. I’ll keep this little lot busy!’
‘How?’ the clone demanded.
‘I know what I’m doing! Now go!’
‘They’ll be all over you!’ the clone protested. ‘This is madness Myrddin!’
‘I’ll be fine Gulag! Please trust me! I know what I’m doing and I’ll be leaving the same way I got here... Now, I said I’d help you escape and I’m fulfilling my promise! ‘ the mythical Terran answered mysteriously. ‘There’s no more time to argue! Go!’
For a moment it looked as if the clone was going to ignore Myrddin’s pleas, but after a brief hesitation he shook his head, turned and concentrated on the battle ahead. Gulag knew that the Terran possessed talents he could only dream of. He just hoped his powers were sufficient to achieve the impossible. But then the borders between reality and fantasy, the possible and the impossible, seemed to merge together in this place of madness. The clone didn’t have the luxury to consider the matter any further, he was forced to concentrate on the battle at hand when a crustacean claw snapped a scant few centimetres in front of his helmet.
Myrddin faced the approaching horde and concentrated his mind and will. He scanned the drones in front of him and soon found what he was looking for. At the rear of the homicidal drones was a taller insectoid. It stood on four multi-jointed legs and watched the advance of the smaller crustaceans through compound eyes. This was what he was looking for; this was the overseer.
The 2323 computer couldn’t control all the thousands of drones that maintained the planetoid on its behalf. There had to be more intelligent androids, with some talent for self-reasoning. Otherwise, the planetoid would find its processing power entirely swamped by Extremity Station’s day-to-day operation. Hence, each group of crustaceans was controlled by one of these bug-like overseers. Myrddin knew that if he took the controller out of the picture, the rest of the drones would be useless.
He opened his mind slightly and the overseer thrust a vicious mental probe at him, which was just what Myrddin was expecting. Rather than raising a mental shield and attempting to entirely block the android's crude attempts at mental domination, he gave way, allowing the probe into his mind. The strength of the attack suddenly increased as the 2323 computer, realising what was happening, put its full weight behind the attack initiated by its minion.
Once more, Myrddin went with the blow, rather than attempt to block it with sheer force. His shields flexed to the pressure of the probe, like the side of a balloon being pushed in by a finger, but they never collapsed. All this happened in a moment of time that had no meaning. In real time, the crustaceans were nearly upon him, but the ancient was prepared for this also.
Myrddin gathered in his will and what little air remained in the hundreds of kilometres of tunnels, rushed toward him, creating a howling gale from nowhere. Flashes of light, like bolts of static electricity, danced off the walls of the passageway as he absorbed energy from all around; from the universe itself. He waited until he was a vessel of power that threatened to overflow. He waited until the crude mental attack from the 2323 computer had distorted his mental shields to their limit. He waited until the crustaceans were descending upon him, their claws and mandibles open in anticipation. He waited until the last possible moment and only then, did he release his will in a blaze of energy.
The insectoid screamed and thrashed its limbs as blue light danced across its exoskeleton. It was lifted up off its feet by the sheer force of the power and hurled to the other side of the tunnel, where it collapsed in a smoking pile. The other crustaceans withdrew from the wall of energy that now surrounded the humanoid and began to irrationally attack each other with their claws and mandibles.
Myrddin could feel the anger and frustration of the planetoid’s sentient computer. Never before had it faced humanoids who could muster power in the sub-ether which matched its own. It was inconceivable, that these humanoids were getting away with devastating one of God’s gardens. The 2323 computer concentrated all its will on just one of the crustaceans, which halted its mindless wandering and turned on the humanoid once more.
The creature kept hurling itself against the wall of energy that had been erected across the width of the tunnel only to be hurled back time and time again. Seeing that his job was done, Myrddin fired one last devastating mental shot across the bows of the sentient computer, smiling with malevolence when he realised the shock and pain it caused the bio-machine. Then he pushed against walls of space and time; concentrated on where he wanted to be and released his will once more. The image of his body became translucent, filled with stars and then finally disappeared.
It was with a great sigh of relief that Gulag and the last few survivors of his expedition finally climbed over the remains of the last crustacean and made it to the airlock. The clone called on Dominator’s computer to force the lock open, which it managed without any problem. Whatever Myrddin had done to the 2323 computer, it would be smarting from its wounds for a long time to come.
As promised, Brabazon and Colmarrie were waiting in the shuttle which they’d managed to put down beside the entrance to the airlock. The gravity on the surface was very weak and Gulag was concerned that some of Tallok’s people would end up leaping off into space if they weren’t careful. However Anderson and his experienced marines were on top of the situation and with the help of safety lines, hauled the survivors into the shuttle without incident.
As soon as they were onboard and the cabin re-pressurised, Gulag made his way to the cockpit. ‘Get us back to Dominator as fast as possible Brabazon!’ he demanded. ‘We need to be gone before that damned machine gets back on an even keel. Once it reconnects with the rest of the Starweb we’ll be dead in the water again!’
Josh Brabazon looked back into the main cabin with concern. ‘Where’s Myrddin?’ he asked. ‘We can’t leave without him!’
‘He remained behind to keep the pursuit at bay. Now let’s go!’ the clone answered.
‘What! You mean you left him there alone?’ Brabazon exclaimed. ‘You must be mad! We’ll have to go back for him!’
‘No! He knew what he was doing!’ Gulag retorted. ‘Myrddin gave us the chance to get away—let’s not blow it! Now, launch this bloody thing!’
Brabazon half rose out of his seat, ready to go back for his old friend, but a hand pushed him back down. He looked at Colmarrie in surprise.
‘No Josh,’ she said in a firm voice. ‘Gulag is right; Myrddin knows what he is doing. After all, our old friend was never really here in the first place, was he?’
Brabazon looked into the face of the mutant woman as she continued, ‘I am certain he will be fine Josh. There is no need to concern yourself over the old man. His powers are sufficient to handle the situation. However, we may not be so fortunate if we stay here much longer.’
The wiry Terran scientist thought about what she had said for a moment, then with a resigned shrug he set course for the waiting starship.
As soon as Gulag got onto the bridge of Dominator he made for the captain’s chair and declared, ‘Helmsman steer a course away from that planetoid and prepare to jump to hyper-space. I don’t care where we go so long as it’s away from here!’
Kallke who had returned command to
the clone interrupted from his workstation, 'I’m sorry sir but we can’t do that! We can only accelerate up to about half light speed.’
‘Why?’ Gulag demanded.
‘Because the singularities are still operating below full capacity,’ Brabazon answered, rapidly scanning the readouts of his sensors. ‘The process of bringing the main engines on line was halted when Starweb took control of the ship. Its going to be another twenty-three minutes before we can make any hyper-space jumps!’
‘I don’t think we’ve got that long,’ Colmarrie said, ominously pointing out the unmistakable swirling mist of an opening wormhole. ‘I think we can expect company.’
Three ships of a design never seen before, entered normal space and the wormhole closed behind them. Nearly as large as Dominator, with a menacing insectoid look to them, they made directly for the fleeing starship. They began to close the gap rapidly.
‘It looks like the Starweb has got tired of playing games and has sent the heavy mob after us,’ Colmarrie guessed, studying the layout of the alien cruisers.
‘You think that’s where they came from?’ Kallke asked. ‘You must have really upset them!’
‘They were already upset,’ Brabazon replied. ‘They must have figured the 2323 computer couldn’t handle the situation on its own.’
Gulag leant forward in his couch and stared at the three aggressive cruisers on the main monitor. ‘How long before they intercept us?’ he demanded.
‘Nineteen minutes, twelve seconds,’ came the reply.
Damn, that wasn’t long enough! The cruisers would be on top of them before they could make the leap into hyper-space! Gulag could only think of one thing that would get them out of their predicament. But that meant facing the unthinkable and the clone wasn’t sure he was ready or even able to do that.
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