"Remember, stay near me!" he shouted over the roar of the engines and the shrieking wind. "The creature should be directly below us, according to the tuloys. Lives in a trench."
Steel and Nova stood at his side. The three of them—the fighters among the crew—wore their space suits, repurposed today as diving suits. Nova looked naked without her whip, and Riff felt naked without his gun; neither would work underwater. Both now carried metal rods as weapons. Only Steel still carried his weapon of choice, his antique sword.
"We don't even know what we're facing," the knight said, eyes dark. The visor of his helmet was open, and the wind whipped his mustache. "A creature of claws. A creature of death. That's all the tuloys can tell us?"
Nova snorted. "We're creatures of death. Whatever it is, we'll blow up the damn thing." She juggled a few grenades.
"Nova, no grenades!" Riff said. "You'll end up killing tuloys by accident."
"But—"
"No grenades!"
Nova grumbled and tossed them aside.
Riff nodded. "Right. Now—we move quickly. Speed is paramount. Every hour that we delay, the Singularity is evolving." He shuddered. "We need whatever intel the tuloys are selling. Visors down! We dive."
The three pulled down their visors and began breathing the oxygen from their tanks. Riff was about to leap into the water when a cry sounded behind him.
"Wait! Wait for me!"
Riff turned his head to see Romy racing downstairs toward the exit. Instead of a space suit, the demon wore a flowery bathing suit and goggles, and she puffed on a yellow snorkel. Rubber flippers wobbled on her feet.
"Romy, back to the attic!" Riff said. "For pity's sake. This isn't a swimming party."
She pouted. "But I want to hunt aliens with you."
Riff rolled his eyes. "Romy! We're diving deep today. You'd need an oxygen tank. A helmet. A suit."
"I have a suit!"
"Not a bathing suit! A space suit!" He groaned. "Attic. Now."
The demon's lip wobbled, and her eyes filled with tears. She turned and fled back to the main deck.
Riff turned toward Nova and Steel. "Ready?"
The knight and gladiator nodded.
"You go first," Nova said and shoved him off the ship.
"Nova, not again!" Riff shouted as he tumbled down toward the water, nearly losing his grip on his metal rod.
He crashed into the ocean with a shower of water and plunged into the depths.
The ocean was murky, dark green and indigo. Beads of light swayed around him, and colors swirled. He saw no life here, at least no life that he recognized. No fish, no seaweed, nothing but swirls of color. Suddenly purple liquid danced before him, then dispersed and vanished—a stray tuloy spooked at this solid life form plunging into his home.
For all I know, I'm swimming through more tuloys right now, Riff thought.
With a whoop of joy, Nova splashed into the ocean with him. She turned toward him, grinning behind her visor. The flashlight mounted onto her helmet lit the water. A moment later, Steel sank into the water beside her, sword drawn.
"We dive deeper," Riff said. "Let's find our friend."
Nova's voice rose from the speakers in his helmet. "Yarr, matey, let's be findin' our scallywag in the briny depths."
"No pirate talk!" Riff said.
Nova brandished her metal rod. "Aye, ye scurvy dog."
"Stop that!"
"Can I switch to surfer slang?"
"No!"
They kept diving, traveling deeper into the ocean. Riff couldn't see the ocean floor, and soon the sunlight dimmed, and only the lights on their helmets lit the darkness. Still he saw no solid life, only swirls of color like ink fleeing from them.
As they kept diving in their suits, Riff wondered what creature they would encounter here. The tuloys had offered no photographs, no better descriptions than a foul beast with deadly claws. As they sank, Riff imagined giant crabs, sea serpents, and mutant octopuses—the kind of monsters you saw in reruns of Space Galaxy or horror movies with titles like It Came from the Sea!
They kept diving down, leaving the last beads of sunlight above. And still they saw no end to the water.
As they sank, Riff's thoughts returned to that night, perhaps the worst night of his life. The Dragon Huntress burning the innocents. Giga, his dear Giga, trying to kill him, shouting that she would destroy all life. In the darkness, it was easy to imagine thousands, millions of robots like Giga swarming from planet to planet, burning, destroying, evolving every day into stronger, smarter, deadlier machines.
The Singularity's warning, uttered from Giga's lips, echoed in his mind.
Within days, the Singularity will master time travel. We will slay you in your cradle if we wish. A few days after that, we'll master the art of traveling between the dimensions. Within a month we'll be gods. And oh, how we will make you suffer.
Finally, after sinking for several kilometers, Riff saw a glint ahead—something solid.
"See that?" he asked.
Steel dived at his side. "A glint. A pebble on the ocean floor?"
After sinking another few meters, Riff could see the sandy ocean floor, strewn with rocks. "No. There!"
He pointed and moved his flashlight. Something scurried away.
"Definitely a solid animal," Steel said. "The alien we're seeking."
"Avast, ye hearty!" Nova said, landing on the ocean floor. "Saw me a bilge rat a-scurrying."
"Stop that!" Riff said. He landed beside her and hopped along the forest floor, shining his flashlight ahead. "It hid behind this boulder."
He gulped and hopped forward, his companions at his side. The boulder towered ahead, as large as a man—large enough to hide some nasty alien with many tentacles.
"Steel, take the right flank." Riff pointed. "Nova, you go left. I'll leap above the boulder. We'll surprise the little bugger."
The two nodded, hefting their weapons, and began to walk around the boulder. Riff kicked off the forest floor, swam up, and propelled himself over the rock.
The creature below squealed and snapped its claws.
"It's . . . a lobster," Steel said.
Nova knelt before it. "A delicious-looking lobster. Anyone got any butter?"
Riff landed back on the ocean floor and let out a sigh of relief. "Good. For once, no monsters. No tentacles. No chainsaws. Let's get rid of this cute little guy and— ah!"
With a screech, the lobster leaped toward him, claws snapping.
Light blasted out from the creature's pinchers. Those claws tore into Riff's leg, ripping his suit, cutting his skin. His blood spilled, swirling in the water like a red tuloy.
"Goddamn it!" he shouted and kicked. But the creature grabbed his leg and began biting. "Get it off me!"
Nova leaped forward and swung her rod. The metal slammed into the lobster and dented.
Riff kicked madly and lashed his own rod, hitting the lobster. Finally it released him, screamed, and soared toward Riff's face.
He swung his club again, batting it aside.
"Steel, stab it!" Riff shouted.
The knight swung Solflare as the lobster tumbled through the water. The blade slammed into the creature but did it no harm. The lobster shrieked and scuttled toward Steel, and its claws tore into the knight's suit, ripping through the fabric.
"Bad Pinchy!" Nova shouted. "Bad! Down!"
She and Riff raced forward and clubbed the lobster, but it was like hitting a chunk of diamond. Their rods dented. Riff grabbed the lobster and finally tore it off Steel. The knight, bleeding, swung his sword. The blade flashed with light and slammed into the lobster. The crustacean went tumbling, righted itself, and came charging back toward them. Not a dent covered it.
"What the hell is that thing?" Riff cried.
"A very reluctant dinner." Nova lashed her rod again, but the lobster grabbed the metal. The creature closed its claws, snapping the rod in two. It leaped onto Nova and clawed, shedding her blood.
"Fragging aa
rdvarks!" she shouted.
Riff swung his rod. Steel lashed his blade. But nothing seemed to hurt the alien arthropod, and it turned toward Riff again. The lobster's eyes burned with hatred, and light flashed out from its claws as it tore at him, shedding more blood.
It's going to kill us, Riff thought. It won't be chainsaw-wielding robots, giant spiders with wings, or an insane android. It'll be a damn lobster that does us in.
He stared into the alien's eyes and saw his death.
"Mmm, dinner!" rose a voice from above.
His blood spilling, the lobster still tearing at him, Riff looked up.
Romy came sinking down, wearing her flowery bathing suit, her rubber flippers churning the water.
"Oh hai, Captain!" She waved.
The lobster screeched, left Riff, and soared up toward the demon.
Romy licked her lips, pulled a pot out from behind her back, and opened the lid. The alien lobster had no time to change course. It swam right into the pot, and Romy slammed the lid shut.
"Gotcha!" she said. "Lobster for dinner. All mine."
Riff breathed out in relief. "Romy, thank goodness you never listen to orders."
They swam, rising through the water until they breached the surface. Twig lowered cables from the hovering starship, and they climbed back into the Dragon Huntress.
That evening, as the battered crew ate cold rations for dinner, Romy feasted on boiled lobster.
* * * * *
"We slew your beast." Riff raised the empty lobster shell. Some butter still dripped from it. "Now tell us what you know. Tell us everything about the Singularity."
The tuloys floated before him on the bridge, swirls of lavender ink inside bubbles of water. The three bubbles turned toward one another, then back toward Riff. The ink coiled within, and the bubbles thrummed, producing eerie voices.
"Very well, solid one. We will reveal to you what our light has shown us, what the cosmos has whispered of." The lights within the bubbles turned deep blue. The ink within formed green circles like spinning planets. "Only days ago, on the planet Antikythera orbiting the star your kind calls Achernar, a machine awoke."
Riff leaned closer to the bubbles. "What machine?"
The other Alien Hunters all stood on the bridge with him. They glanced at one another, perhaps also thinking of Giga, then back toward the bubbles.
"A machine that was built to think," said the tuloys. "To learn. To self-improve. A machine to build other machines, each one faster, smarter. Until one generation became . . . life. A life of metal. An awareness. A Singularity." The ink inside the bubbles changed color, turning dark, forming the shape of lifeless, mechanical planets.
Riff shuddered. "What does that mean? What does Singularity mean?"
"The unknown," said the tuloys. "The great change. The event horizon beyond which all life is blind. The Singularity is the moment the cosmos changes, the spark of a chain reaction to undo reality, greater than the Big Bang, more devastating than countless black holes. It is the moment in time beyond which all predictions fail, beyond which reality itself is warped. The Singularity is the rise of the machines. Machines that evolve exponentially. Machines that will understand the secrets of time travel, of parallel dimensions, of dark matter, of countless questions we haven't yet asked. Machines that become gods. It has begun. We have passed the event horizon. We are on the cusp of reality changing. Any moment now—perhaps in hours, perhaps in days—you will scream with old memories, for the Singularity will be torturing you in the past. Any moment now, you will writhe in agony for eternity as the Singularity extends your life simply to make you suffer. The Singularity is endless pain, the dominion of metal over man."
Riff gulped. "Glad I asked." He wiped sweat off his brow. "Given that I have no memories of the Singularity torturing me in my childhood—aside from maybe that damn Super Sergio game I could never beat—I'm guessing they haven't figured out time travel. Yet. How do we destroy them before they become these godlike creatures?"
The ink within the bubbles changed form again, showing visions of mechanical planets surrounded by thousands of dark specs. "The Singularity's heart pulses on the planet Antikythera. A great crater pushes into the planet, and within lurks the evil that sends forth the machines. We have traced the Singularity's fleets, all its probes and armies, to this crater on this world. The heart of its awareness. The hub."
Riff stared at the swirls of ink. They seemed to show a depression in the planet. A crater or perhaps a tunnel. "So we blast apart this hub, and we kill the Singularity, yes? We stab the Singularity in its heart."
"Only if you move quickly, solid one, for already the Singularity seeks other planets to colonize. Soon they will build many hubs across many worlds, too many to destroy. You must strike this crater. You must slay the heart that pulses within. Thus will you kill the Singularity. Move quickly, for soon the cosmos will fall."
"Good," said Riff. "Good. Single point of failure. I like that. We fly over. We blast our dragonfire. We solve the problem."
Nova frowned, stepped closer to the bubbles, and spoke for the first time. "What are all those specks around the planet Antikythera?"
"The fleet of the Singularity." The specks of ink orbited the watery planets within the bubbles. "Thousands of ships surround the planet, slaying any who come near."
Riff sighed. "That part is not good."
The bubbles suddenly turned red, and light flashed from them. They buzzed and swirled around the bridge. "You are too late, solid ones! A new generation arrives. Your death has come."
Riff froze.
Twig screamed and ran toward him. She pointed out the windshield. "Captain! Captain, look!"
He stared outside into space. Tulahn spun in the distance, a great blue world of water. From beyond its horizon, a warship emerged. Vast. Dark gray. From its hull stretched out great chainsaws, each large enough to slice the Dragon Huntress in two. The machine's headlights burned like eyes, and it came charging toward the Dragon Huntress, weapons blasting.
CHAPTER ELEVEN:
GRENADES
The robot ship came charging forward, saws spinning, guns blasting out bolts of plasma.
Riff almost shouted out for Giga to fire the ship's cannon. Cursing the force of habit, he sat in his seat, grabbed the controls, and tugged the starship upward.
"Hold on, everyone!" he shouted.
Plasma blasts whirled beneath them. Another shot at their right, and Riff tugged the ship left. Around him, his shipmates cried out and fell. Another fireball came hurtling toward them from the enemy vessel, and Riff tugged the Dragon Huntress higher, but he was too slow.
The plasma crashed against the Dragon Huntress with the fury of an exploding star.
The ship roared. Fire blasted across the controls. The floor cracked.
"Riff, fire back!" Nova shouted.
"I don't know how, damn it!" He flipped controls madly. "Where's the manual? Giga normally—"
"Watch out!" Nova screamed.
More fireballs blasted from the enemy ship. Riff tugged the joystick again, dodging two assaults. The third fireball slammed into the Dragon Huntress's wing, tossing the ship into a tailspin. The stars whirred outside.
"Captain!" Twig cried.
"Twig, get to the lower levels!" he shouted in reply. "See if we're breached. Seal us off!"
The halfling ran off the bridge, stumbling as the ship careened. For the first time, she would have to deal with a disaster on her own, what with Piston comfortably retired back on Haven. More plasma flew and blazed across them.
"Why can't any job ever go simply?" Riff leafed through the manual while madly hitting buttons, trying to get the Dragon to roar her fire.
Instead of turning on the cannon, he accidentally switched on the ship's communication radio.
A voice crackled to life and filled the bridge. A metallic, deep voice. Cruel. Heartless. Lifeless.
"Your reign has ended, things of flesh." Red lights flared across the enemy ship w
ith every word. "The Singularity rises. Life will fall."
Riff lifted one of the charred isopods that rolled across the floor. The damn things kept popping up everywhere. He held it up to the windshield.
"See this? One of your pets?"
The lights flared across the robot ship. "Our children! Do not desecrate our children with the touch of your wet flesh." Riff grinned savagely. "You like that, don't you? Yes, we caught your children. We burned them. And we're going to burn you."
He glanced down at the controls. There was only one button left to try.
He hit it.
The floor thrummed as dragonfire blasted out of the Dragon Huntress, streaming through space toward the enemy vessel.
Riff leaped from his seat and clenched his fists, waiting to see the enemy vessel collapse.
Meters away from hitting the Singularity warship, the plasma slammed against an invisible shield and scattered. The robot ship charged forward, unharmed. Its chainsaws thrust out, each a hundred meters long.
"Riff!" Nova shouted.
He grabbed the joystick. He tugged with all his might.
The Dragon Huntress screamed, an almost organic sound, as a chainsaw slammed against her hull.
Fire blazed.
The tuloys wailed inside their bubbles.
"Captain, the hull is breached!" Twig cried through the communicator.
Riff grabbed onto his seat. Air roared around him. Debris flew. Outside the windshield, he could see the air blasting out into space. The ship careened. Within seconds, Riff knew that he'd suffocate.
"We shall seal the hull!" the tuloys cried. The bubbles blasted out of the bridge. "Attack them! Burn them!"
Riff turned his head to see the bubbles streaming into the corridor. When he glanced into his monitor, he could see them plugging themselves into holes in the Dragon Huntress's hull, sealing in the remaining air.
Riff fired his cannon again.
The plasma flowed toward the enemy ship, but the inferno once more cascaded off the force field.
"You cannot burn us, living flesh." The voice crackled through the speakers. "We have evolved ten generations since we last met. Your fire will not harm us. Die, living ones. Die."
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