The Lost Star Gate (Lost Starship Series Book 9)

by Vaughn Heppner

  Thus, as her Spacer body, the transduction and other powers did the sleeping Old One’s bidding, a final spark of self watched as the cylindrical container neared the star gate.

  -95-

  “Now please, if you would, Galyan,” Valerie said from the command chair. “Begin firing the disrupter cannon.”

  The Adok holoimage hovered beside the captain’s chair. He stared at the Omega Nebula nexus with its discs and ports.

  The starship was close to the silver pyramid. At Valerie’s orders, Keith had returned to a hangar bay with his shuttle. Behind Victory, the advance guard of the Swarm horde was minutes away from their long-range firing distance. The crew of Victory had just about run out of time.

  The great antimatter engines in the starship built up power. The disrupter cannon was primed and ready to fire.

  Galyan aimed. The destructive yellow beam burst from the cannon, striking the nearest hull of the ancient nexus. The Builder-made hull resisted for a moment, and then it began to crumble under the annihilating power of the disruptor ray.

  That tripped several processes.

  In the advance ships of the Swarm fleet, messages began to fly back to the Hive Masters. Quick orders raced ahead to the lead vessels.

  Almost immediately, the advance motherships accelerated faster toward the alien starship. Their actions told one thing. They wanted to destroy the vessel that was attempting to annihilate the great machine that forged hyper-spatial tubes.

  The second action was inside the nexus. Despite his dreaming state and actual distance from the battle, Ghar-Yon-Tog was aware of the assault primarily due to Mako and her attachment. The Old One thrashed in his dream for an answer, and he found it almost immediately.

  His dream reality turned on the little Spacer. She used her modified powers amplified by the Old One’s mind.

  Inside Victory, Galyan turned to the lieutenant. “Valerie, there is an outside source battling me. It is shutting down the disrupter cannon.”

  The lieutenant had leaped up as the disrupter beam stopped striking the nexus. She turned to Galyan. “What did you say?”

  “The electronic interference is coming from the nexus, Valerie. I am powerless to countermand the cease firing order.”

  “Fix it!” Valerie shouted.

  “I do not know how,” Galyan said.

  Valerie stared at the holoimage. As she did, her mouth opened. Slowly, the lieutenant closed her mouth. She whirled around.

  “Weapons officer,” Valerie said, “activate the antimatter missiles. Send them at the nexus. We’re going to destroy it while we can.”

  “No,” Galyan said. “Do not do it. The captain is still in the nexus.”

  “Do it, Weapons Officer,” Valerie said sternly.

  The weapons officer hesitated a moment longer. Then, his fingers blurred over his board.

  ***

  Mako still towed the giant cylindrical container toward the star gate. She felt exhausted, was exhausted by what she had done to Starship Victory.

  Now, fear bolted through her. Antimatter missiles accelerated for the nexus. She would die soon under their annihilating blasts.

  Ghar-Yon-Tog also realized—in his dream state—that he was about to lose the key that would allow him to awaken after many millennia. The knowledge of that loss had weakened his power over the key.

  Mako wondered what she should do. She wanted freedom, but she did not want to die. The question did not last long, nor her ability to choose.

  Ghar-Yon-Tog resumed control of her body, although he did not reach the small spark of self in her mind citadel.

  The Spacer bent her head, and she used more Old One-amplified modification power against the enemy. She adjusted the antimatter missiles’ targeting computers. It took several seconds of concentration—then the body of Mako 21 gasped and slumped unconscious from serious over-straining of her abilities.

  ***

  Aboard Victory, Lieutenant Noonan watched in dismay as the huge antimatter missiles began sharp turning maneuvers. They no longer sped at the nearby nexus, but swerved aside and continued turning.

  “Are they targeting us?” Valerie asked.

  “No, Valerie,” Galyan said. “They are going to speed past us. I suspect they are heading for the Swarm advance guard. But there are too few missiles to make any difference against them.”

  “Use the neutron cannon on the nexus,” Valerie said.

  “The neutron cannon does not respond,” Galyan said. “The thing in the nexus has shorted it for the time being.”

  “Launch more antimatter missiles.”

  “The launch tubes are now locked,” Galyan said.

  “Isn’t there anything we can do?” Valerie shouted. “I know, launch the strikefighters. Launch the tin cans.”

  “I have a different idea,” Galyan said.

  “Spit it out, Galyan. We’re running out of time.”

  “I can attempt a computer virus attack against the nexus.”

  “That can work?” Valerie asked.

  “It is doubtful, but at least I can attempt it.”

  “Then do it, Galyan.”

  “It will take a few minutes to ready the needed boosters.”

  “Do it. Do it.”

  The holoimage disappeared from the bridge.

  “What about us?” Andros asked. “We have to help.”

  Valerie pressed a comm button on her command chair. She ordered the strikefighter pilots to launch as soon as demolition teams blasted open the frozen hangar-bay doors. Victory might be crippled with the disrupter and neutron cannons out, and the missile launch tubes frozen, but the starship still had some fight left with strikefighters and fold-fighters.

  And if that didn’t work…?

  Valerie sat in the captain’s chair, deciding that if that didn’t work, she would use the star-drive jump and appear inside the nexus, destroying it from within, so to speak. It would be a kamikaze strike, but, whatever it took, she wasn’t going to let the bugs use this nexus.

  -96-

  Three Star Watch thruster-packs spewed hydrogen spray as the four humans inside the nexus sped with velocity down the dark corridors.

  “How much farther is the star gate?” Maddox radioed.

  “What?” Ludendorff asked.

  “The star gate?” asked Maddox. “How far away is it from here?”

  “I-I appear to have made a mistake,” Ludendorff said.

  Maddox groaned. “You gave us the wrong directions?”

  “No, no,” Ludendorff said. “Nothing so easily fixed. Some of the memories I took have been corrupted.”

  “How in the world can you tell something like that?” Meta asked.

  “It is a tedious process,” Ludendorff admitted. “I have been correlating various theories—”

  “Never mind how you do it,” Maddox snarled. “What’s false? What did you tell us that isn’t true?”

  “It concerns the star gate,” Ludendorff said. “Not its position in the nexus, but its existence in reality.”

  “Say that again,” Riker growled.

  “There is no star gate,” Ludendorff said. “It is a myth, a falsehood. I believe Ghar-Yon-Tog has infected the nexus computer-core here.”

  “How can he do that when he’s in stasis and in another nexus?” Maddox asked.

  “I’m sketchy on that,” Ludendorff said. “His dream state is not like our dream state. It can warp reality…sometimes directly and sometimes—”

  “You’re making him sound like some kind of cosmic devil-monster,” Maddox said.

  “Yes,” Ludendorff said. “He is, he most certainly is. But the star gate is a falsehood. I don’t know why he would put such a mistruth in the computer-core…”

  “What? What?” Maddox demanded.

  “It must be part of a larger or bigger gambit,” Ludendorff said. “I doubt the falsehood was meant for our consumption, but for others. Yes, of course, for the Spacer here.”

  “Explain that,” Maddox sai
d.

  “I don’t have enough data to make a coherent theory,” Ludendorff said.

  “We’re missing something,” Riker said. “If it isn’t a star gate, what is it?”

  “It’s some kind of transforming chamber,” Ludendorff said. “The Spacer—oh, now I’m beginning to comprehend. I think Ghar-Yon-Tog goaded the Spacers by promising to turn them into something greater.”

  “So…what’s the point?” Maddox said. “The Spacer is working for a reward?”

  “That is my new theory,” Ludendorff said. “It fits with the diabolical nature of the Yon-Soths, the Old Ones.”

  “A cosmic devil-monster,” Maddox said. “So, Ghar-Yon-Tog has manipulated events while asleep in stasis. I’m thinking awake he’s going to be a hundred times worse.”

  “A million or a billion times worse,” Ludendorff said.

  “Right,” Maddox said. “But…but what you’re saying can’t be right. Is Ghar-Yon-Tog really going to turn the Spacers into something better?”

  “I find that doubtful,” Ludendorff admitted.

  “Then…wait,” Maddox said, his head hurting. Was Ghar-Yon-Tog still trying to confuse them but doing it in a more subtle manner than before? “The Old One corrupted the computer-core so the Spacers would believe they could turn into something better through a transforming machine. Is that correct?”

  “I don’t know anymore,” Ludendorff said miserably.

  “But that was the trick, right?” Maddox asked.

  “Trick?” asked Ludendorff. “Oh. Yes. I suppose so. The Old One is tricking the Spacers.”

  “Then, the machine we’re heading toward probably isn’t a transforming machine, but is actually a star gate as you originally guessed.”

  “I’m tired,” Ludendorff said. “It’s becoming increasingly difficult to think.”

  Inside his helmet, Maddox’s eyes narrowed. Maybe the closer they came to the star gate, the more powerful Ghar-Yon-Tog’s dream powers became. The Old One was trying to confuse them so they didn’t try as hard or maybe didn’t try at all.

  “How far away is the chamber, whatever it really is?” Maddox asked.

  “I think it is close now,” Ludendorff said.

  “Good,” Maddox said, with bitter determination in his voice.

  -97-

  The body of Mako 21 stirred once more. Unconscious in the thruster pack, it had arrived at the star gate, a huge perfect rectangle of ancient black stone.

  Blinking behind her goggles, the body of Mako unlatched itself from the thruster pack. The huge cylinder she’d dragged here was in place, even though she didn’t recall using the thruster pack to brake the massive thing’s slow velocity. It was here, stopped, in place, ready for her to attach the power lines.

  She pushed off the floor, sailing toward the engine she had brought from a locked area of the nexus. As events unfolded around her, the body of Mako 21 worked furiously. All the while, the last spark of identity hidden in her mind watched helplessly. She’d actually had a chance to do something a little while ago but had flubbed it. With growing bitterness, the last spark of ego-id of Mako 21 vowed to do it right if she ever got a second chance.

  ***

  As Mako’s body followed the directions of Ghar-Yon-Tog’s dreaming will, Galyan, aboard Starship Victory, began his virus attack into the Builder nexus computer-core.

  He was a mere Adok AI, however, an electronic, deified personality driven by half-Builder technology. That meant he was weaker technologically speaking than the master computer-core that ran the Omega Nebula nexus. While it was true that Ghar-Yon-Tog had weakened the great core through various corruptions, it was still more than a match for an Adok/human hybrid computer attack.

  The process was computer fast and unseen by human eyes. The dreaming Ghar-Yon-Tog was vaguely aware of the virus assault, and that caused him unease. There was a possibility this Galyan could jeopardize his plan.

  Thus, the dreaming Old One halted Mako 21. Once more, Ghar-Yon-Tog used her like a weapon, utilizing the wonderful modifications in her Spacer mind and body.

  The nexus computer now reacted faster and smoother than before, and in seconds, it ejected the AI personality of Driving Force Galyan, sealing the great computer-core against further virus attacks of this nature.

  Immediately, the body of Mako 21 went back to work on repowering the ancient star gate.

  ***

  Outside the nexus, clouds of Star Watch strikefighters began zooming at the Builder structure and unleashing their ordnance. Small missiles and shells hammered the silver surface, barely denting armor that had withstood centuries of space debris.

  Starship Victory had maneuvered closer to the nexus. From blasted-open bay doors, hangar tugs towed big antimatter missiles, rushing them into space as fast as they could.

  Lastly, two fold-fighters hovered nearby. Keith Maker piloted one of them. He argued via comm with Valerie, demanding permission to fold into the nexus and attempt to rescue the captain’s party.

  “We need a signal from them first,” Valerie said.

  “Screw that,” Keith said. “Let’s just get it done.”

  “No,” Valerie said. “I’m not sending you to certain death where you fold into an interior structure.”

  “It will be a calculated rescue,” Keith countered.

  “Galyan failed. Now, the nexus knows we’re here. This has just become more dangerous for all of us.”

  “I don’t see how,” Keith said. “The nexus hasn’t done anything against the strikefighters. What do you mean it knows we’re here?”

  “The strikefighters haven’t done anything to truly damage the nexus. That’s why it hasn’t hit back at us yet.”

  Keith didn’t respond to that, although he did say a moment later, “The Swarm motherships are going to be in firing range—theirs—in another two minutes at most.”

  “I know,” Valerie said.

  “That means we’re out of time,” Keith said. “Let me fold into the nexus. At this point, what do we have to lose?”

  This time, Valerie didn’t answer right away.

  “You know I should do it,” Keith said.

  “Not yet,” Valerie said. “We’ll wait a few more minutes.”

  “Why? That doesn’t make sense.”

  “Because I want you to take two antimatter missiles with you,” Valerie said quietly.

  “Oh,” Keith said, getting it. “We’re out of options, aren’t we? This is Suicide King time, huh?”

  “Something like that,” Valerie said. “Get the antimatter missiles attached to your fighter. Tell me when you’re ready.”

  “Roger that, love,” Keith said, trying to sound as cheerful as ever.

  -98-

  Mako 21, under the Old One’s influence, used her Spacer modifications, turning on the great star gate in a process no human could have done otherwise.

  The huge cylinder engine hummed with power and the big rectangular block of black stone shimmered in an eerie manner. Seconds passed, and then, several thousand light-years away, an exact replica of the towering block of black stone activated in a haunted nexus.

  Mako shivered in her spacesuit, and she noticed a tug of gravity at her feet. It wasn’t a powerful source of gravity, but it was there nonetheless.

  The real Mako hidden in a recess in her mind, attempted to move an arm, but she failed.

  There was a heavy, evil chuckle in her mind. Ghar-Yon-Tog toyed with her in delight because the time of his awakening was at hand.

  Mako tried to resist him, but it was fruitless. Her space-suited body began to walk toward the towering edifice of black stone. She made croaking noises, all her body could do as she tried to scream in horror.

  The inhuman chuckling grew into evil mirth echoing in her thoughts. This was a delight to Ghar-Yon-Tog.

  Mako’s arms lifted as she reached out to touch the surface of the towering black stone. Then, she did touch it, with her spacesuit gloves pressing against the alien stone. A horrible sho
ck went through her.

  Her croaking renewed while the surface of the black stone swirled before her. Mako 21’s hands sank into the awful stone. It felt as if some space goblin grabbed her wrists and yanked hard, pulling her entirely within.

  Mako stumbled into the towering dark portal, and she vanished from the Omega Nebula nexus. She tumbled end over end as lights flashed around her. There were roaring comets and slithering things of darkness with yawning mouths. The teeth snapped. Mako screamed, but they swallowed her with ghostly mouths that made her shiver and moan.

  Then, Mako popped out from another towering black stone and she slid along a slick floor. When she finally stopped, she lay on the floor gasping within her suit. She felt exhausted and her mind throbbed with pain. But she dragged herself upright and turned in amazement.

  She was in a vast chamber with great towering statues of alien things in various poses. There were mighty arches around her, leading to different corridors and chambers. One of the huge arches glowed with an evil light. Mako found herself walking robotically toward that arch. She wanted to whimper and hide, but she could not. It was time to unleash the Great One.

  Mako entered an even larger chamber with hundreds of gigantic shadowy machines around her. They towered often two hundred meters or more. This was the revival chamber, and it had been the stasis chamber eons ago.

  Like a timid mouse, Mako’s space-suited body crept toward the master controls. She did not fear the controls, and the pulsating evil of the dreaming master actually weakened Ghar-Yon-Tog’s hold on her mind. It should have been the reverse, but the reaction of her body was elemental and uncontrollable.

  The dreaming Old One struggled to master her, and Mako almost had her second chance. Then the progenitor of the Yon-Soths found the needed control of her flea-bitten mind.

  Ghar-Yon-Tog asserted himself in her.

  Mako froze rigidly as her skin crawled in revulsion. This was horror beyond understanding. She was far, far from any help. She was deep in the Sagittarius Spiral Arm, more than twice the distance she had previously been from the Forbidden Planet.