Forever Series 4: The Forever Quest

by Craig Robertson

  He shrugged.

  “I’m so much more of a pussy than I knew. Cry baby bail on my peeps when the going gets tough.”

  He spun on me angrily, only to see me pointing at him as if to say gotcha.

  Slowly, like an iceberg melting on a cold day, he started to giggle. That finally broke into raucous laughter, which I joined in on. Soon, we were hugging each other like the long separated brothers we weren’t.

  “You are such an asshole,” he said to me when we settled down.

  “That makes you one too.” I held up one then two digits to be annoying.

  “Me too.” He grabbed my fingers and held them gently.

  “So, how can we stop the Berrillians?”

  “Not easily. This time they’ll come in greater numbers. They’ll spread out over a huge distance, attacking ten thousand worldships.”

  “Do you even know why the most hostile species in existence would work with a petty crime boss? Eat him, yes. Work closely with him, no,” I asked.

  “They’re using him for the time being. Soon, they’ll destroy him and his petty empire. They hate humanoids too much to cooperate for long.” He was quiet a moment. “Who knows, maybe they want the worldships for themselves and are accepting his help to acquire them?” He stared into nothingness a few moments. “I know the Berrillians. They returned in my timeline just like in this one. They wanted two things then and now. To find the Deavoriath and to rule the galaxy.”

  “Did they find them?”

  “No,” he looked over to me. “Neither did I.” He held up his hands to show no command prerogatives.

  “What happened, there at the end?” I wasn’t sure it was fair to ask him to relive those dark days, but I was curious.

  “We sent whatever fleet we could muster to meet the Listhelons near Saturn’s orbit. They blew past that line of defense like it wasn’t there. After that, it was like shooting fish in a barrel.” He paused. I think the pun was a gut punch. “Sapale and I stayed on Earth. When their main fleet hit…” He paused again. “When their main force hit, it was a bloody massacre. They landed and did horrible things, then they retreated to space. All they had to do was pin us down and let Jupiter do the heavy lifting in terms of extermination. That’s exactly what happened. Billions of humans were forced to watch Jupiter swallow them up.”

  “How’d you two survive?”

  “We didn’t.” His head dropped. “I did. Sapale didn’t.”

  “Christ, I’m sorry I asked. Look, forget about—”

  “Those Ark ships didn’t really have offensive capabilities. After what little I had was gone, there was nothing we could do. Sure, we could ram one of ten thousand ships. That would’ve changed nothing. We made a run for it a week before the collision. We made it past the first line of fighters, but one of their cruisers in orbit hit Ark 1 as we cleared the upper atmosphere. The ship held together, but there was an explosive decompression.”

  He stopped speaking. I didn’t press him. He’d said enough.

  But I escaped. Al and me. No humans survived, but a couple asshole computers did. I decided I’d do exactly what I ended up doing.”

  “You couldn’t have known you’d succeed.”

  “I had to try.” He sighed. “Anyway, back to the topic of Berrillians. Over the centuries I battled those big cats repeatedly. They spread like the disease they are and came to rule most of the galaxy.”

  “And the Deavoriath never raised a finger to save the galaxy?”

  “If you didn’t have those,” he pointed to my hands, “I’d have sworn they were extinct.”

  “They’re not, just very stubborn.”

  “Apparently so. I was a pain in the big cats’ asses, but never much more than that. By the time I returned to find you, they pretty much ruled everything.” He shook his head. “Man can they be ruthless. It’s really hard to imagine.”

  “I can’t believe it.”

  “What?”

  “That time travel is possible. All those physicists swore it was impossible, and it turns out it isn’t.”

  “It is.”

  “It’s what?”

  “It’s impossible.”

  “But…no. You’re going to tell me it was magic?”

  He nodded yes.

  “But then it’s possible. Maybe it does take magic, but time travel is doable.”

  He shook his head. “That’s not how the universe works. Magic is contrary to the forces and laws of nature. Without it, you can’t time travel because time travel is impossible.”

  “I…”

  “Give it time, son.”

  “No you don’t. I don’t care how old you are, you’re not calling me son, pops.”

  He softly slugged me in the shoulder. “So, what’re we going to tell your guests?”

  “We’re brothers, we’re going to help the humans, and they’re free to join us or not.”

  “Why would they join us? That’s nuts.”

  “I was thinking more that one of them would stay. The other can float home for all I care.”

  “So, you like that Karnean fellow? To each his own. That’s my philosophy.”

  My turn. I slugged him, only much harder.

  “How are you going to get their ship back if they don’t want to go on a quest against unbeatable odds?”

  “Can’t you,” I wiggled my fingers in the air, “you know, poof.”

  “No, I can’t,” he wriggled his fingers, “just go poof.”

  “Why not?”

  “Maybe I’ll tell you someday, maybe I won’t. Just know it doesn’t work that way. It’s very hard, and the cost is tremendous.”

  “What cost?”

  “Maybe someday. Probably not.” He stood and tapped my knee. “Let’s do this.”

  NINETEEN

  The first issue was bringing my guests up to speed to the situation, at least as much as I was willing to tell them. They were pirates, after all. Can’t trust them too much. I explained Varrank’s scheme. I told them about the Berrillians. They’d never heard of them. They nodded and asked questions like they were just some other alien species. After I showed them a holo, they understood better what a force of nature the Berrillians were. I glazed over my escape, saying only my brother rescued me. I offered to take them with me or give them a bunch of gold to buy their own ride. They would think about it.

  The more complex issue was the logistics of location. I was far from home. The worldships were twenty plus light-years away. Azsuram was thirty-five light-years off. Wrath was closer, at four light-years, but the Berrillians had FTL speed capabilities. Unless Davis was going to poof us somewhere, figuring out the timing was a headache. Additionally, at the speeds we’d all traveling, time dilation had to be accounted for.

  The Berrillians could get to the worldships in three years. At maximum speed, I could retrieve Wrath in about that same time. But last time I faced those cats, I had Wrath, and that wasn’t enough. Davis had thumped them soundly, but I didn’t know if he had a faster ship, or if he could pull it off again. If he’d used his magic, maybe he couldn’t or wouldn’t use it again.

  When we were alone again, I asked him straight up. “Can you get us to my vortex or the worldfleet before the Berrillians attack?”

  “Yes, I think so.”

  “Great. Care to expand on that?”

  He seemed reluctant. Why?

  “My ship is fast, but it uses conventional drives. Shearwater is nearly as fast.”

  Not what I wanted to hear.

  “And before you ask, magic is always a last resort. It is never used for convenience or expedience.”

  Less welcome news.

  “I say we retrieve your vortex and go from there. We can alert the fleet.”

  “But Wrath alone couldn’t defeat the Berrillians.”

  “This time you’ll have more time to nip at them in warp space.”

  “Maybe. They might move quicker than we guess though. I could be too late again.”

  “Bas
ed on their current tech, I think our estimates are sound. Remember, I know them well. A thousand years from now, they’d be there in a few months, but not this generation.”

  “Well, I guess that’s as good a plan as any. I’d really like to get back in the cube. It makes travel a breeze.”

  So, it was decided. We would slam the pedal to the metal and head to Balmorulam. Davis summoned his ship, and we stowed it in the cargo deck. Nice ship, but small. That only left the matter of the passengers.

  “So, what’ll it be?” I asked. “Pick your poison.”

  They looked at each other.

  “You say you’re going to get you faster ship. How fast is it?” Karnean asked.

  “Instantaneous travel anywhere.”

  “That’s fast,” replied Kayla wide-eyed.

  “Well, I’m not big on crewing another man’s ship. I’m a captain and would like to keep it that way.”

  “Fine. I’ll give you enough gold to buy two good ships. The shuttle will take you two back to Deerkon. I’ll set it to auto-return after you’re safely down.”

  “The one of us,” said Kayla.

  “Huh?” I said, as my jaw dropped.

  “I’m done with that lifestyle. I want to ship with you. If I’m not happy, you can put me somewhere with your instant ship.”

  “Yeah, fine,” I stammered, “but it’ll take like three years to pick up my other ship.”

  She battered her eyelashes. “I’m aware of the physics involved.”

  “The biology too,” grumbled her brother.

  “Let’s get to it,” said Davis very businesslike.

  I was happy, to state it mildly, that Kayla was comi…traveling with me. I was as glad to see the last of Karnean. He was too grouchy, and I doubted I’d ever actually allow myself to trust him. So, as soon as the shuttle left Shearwater, I sealed the hatch and hit the accelerator. Kayla agreed to see if she could tolerate four-g’s for a while, so that’s the speed I set. After a few days, she said she was willing to try five-g’s. That was overly optimistic of her. She passed out a couple times and had to crawl places, as walking was too difficult. So, back to four g’s it was.

  Maybe in a few months we’d be going fast enough that I could drop to two or three g’s and not lose much time.

  I’ve waxed philosophical about it before. Long space flights are no fun. If it was going to take us three years, there was no way around it. I did have superior distractions on that trip. Getting to know the almost two-thousand-year-old me was uncanny. Getting to know Kayla, well, it was better that the ancient me part.

  I respected her space. I knew she was in an awkward position, shipping out for at least a few years with me. We’d become pretty close, but traveling like we were put her in a tough position. Hence, I flirted with her continually, but I let her decide if our relationship went from one level to the next. She, it turned out, was quite the level changer. Show that girl a level and, bam, she changed it. No complaints from me. Within a few months, we’d moved in together. Life was good.

  Davis kept to himself most of the time. He took us and our budding romance with a considerable amount of salt. He never gave off the vibe of being an uncomfortable third wheel, and he never was jealous. He always had an oh-the-joys-of-youth look when he saw us together. I guess he’d done it all in his time. Maybe he was done with a lot of things most people took for granted. I tried to draw him out on the subject, but as with most topics, he kept matters to himself.

  Al let it slip that Davis spent a lot of time reviewing the history that his membrane technology made possible. He also liked to study my detailed records of the voyage of Ark 1. Was he looking for subtle differences in our journeys? There had to be some, since he hadn’t found or remembered Oowaoa. I tried to talk to him about it, but he pretended to have no interest.

  I did have an interesting conversation with him a year into the trip. I’d been curious about the similarities between so many aliens and humans. I was always afraid to ask a local, because it would have blown my cover. Davis, on the other hand, had a wealth of experience and was safe to consult.

  “So, you noticed,” he said, grinning. “As close as you are getting to Kayla, I’d say it’s a good thing you two are so…compatible.”

  “That’s not why I ask. I just can’t get over the similarities. It can’t be chance.”

  “Probably not, but in this case, there are a lot of unanswered questions.”

  “So, you don’t know for sure?”

  “I guess I do. I’ve run a lot of DNA analyses on a lot of races. There is an inescapable similarity among the DNA of some groups. Can’t be chance.”

  “So what’s the hard part to swallow?” I remarked.

  “How did the human race spread from planet to planet before they had tools, let alone spaceships?” he asked.

  “Any ideas?”

  “No. Nothing firm, that is. I’ve combed historic and archeologic records from hundreds of worlds. I can’t find a convincing link.”

  “Maybe an ancient race brought them as slaves?”

  “Possibly, but again, there’s no record of that. I would think a highly advanced society would have record of that type of thing, even if it was long ago.”

  “I’ll check with Kymee next time I see him. If anyone knows, it’s him.”

  “Who’s Kymee?”

  “Oh, I guess I never mentioned him, did I? He’s the only Deavoriath I actually consider a friend. He’s their head scientist. I’ll introduce you if you’d like when all the fighting is over.”

  He titled his head back and forth. “Maybe. We’ll see.”

  “What? They’re very different than us, but they’re all right. They’ve always been square with me.”

  “In my time, I’ve heard a lot about the legendary Deavoriath. I have to tell you, it ranges from bad to much, much worse than bad. They were not a kindly bunch of neighbors.”

  “I know. I’ve gone over most of the records Wrath carries. They’re different now, or at least still trying.”

  He took a deep breath. “We’ll see.”

  “I tried to get them to help us fight the Berrillians, but they wouldn’t. They said coming out of their shell would be worse than anything the Berrillians could do.”

  “Do you believe that?”

  “I don’t know. Tough question. I think they believe it. I would have liked their help. I’d still like their help.”

  “Then ask. What can it hurt?”

  “Nah. It’s only been a few years. For them, that’s the blink of an eye. They’re not ready to act anyway, unless it’s on Oowaoa.”

  “Well then,” he said with a wicked smile, “we’ll just have to do it ourselves again.”

  Another conversation we had to have on our long voyage concerned Azsuram. I wanted to know how he destroyed all those ships. I assumed it was magic, but his reticence to use it suggested otherwise.

  “How did I destroy the ships?” he asked uncertainly. “You were there. I rammed them.”

  “I know you did, but I don’t know how it’s possible. I’ve seen your ship. It’s too fragile to do the job. You could use a membrane, but then how could you maneuver?” I danced a hand through the air. “You twisted and turned like a roller coaster.”

  “I turned my control stick, and the ship went thataway. That’s how the ship’s controls work.”

  “Can’t you give me a simple answer for once? There’s no way to maneuver that tightly if your ship’s in a membrane.”

  “Ah. I see your hang-up. It’s done with gyros.”

  I pulled my head backward. “Gyroscopes? No way. Attitude control, sure. High speed twists and turns, no way.”

  “Why not way?”

  “Because, surfer dude, you’d have to carry gyroscopes bigger than your ship to move that nimbly.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind next time I go on the attack or need to park in a tight space.”

  “You used your magic, didn’t you?”

  “Nope. Simple tech
. The gyroscopes are sophisticated. But their positioning aboard ship is the key. I’ll send you the schematics.”

  “Okay. I guess. Seems like it has to be more complicated.”

  “No. Membrane, gyroscopes, and skill. Even you might be able to learn.” He winked, the jerk.

  Eighteen months into the trip, I decided to come clean with Kayla. She was romantically involved with a robot, right? It was time to tell her. Maybe she’d jump out the airlock when I finished the tale.

  One morning, we were lying next to each other, just being happy together. “I’ve been thinking,” I said as nonchalantly as I could, which was nervous as all get out, “you probably wonder about me.”

  “No. Never. Next subject.” She was such a pistol.

  “Ah, a woman who’s not interested in rumors, gossip, and hidden facts.”

  “That’s me.”

  “He told you, didn’t he?”

  She put on an overly surprised look and replied, “Me? Who? What?”

  “That sneaky son of a bitch.”

  “Which one? Davis or Al?”

  “Davis or Al? Which one told you? I’m surrounded be traitors.”

  “How about this? You tell me what you want to. After that, if the stories are the same, I’ll tell you who to hate the most. Deal?”

  “Conspirators and turncoats. Yes,” I shook her hand, “I’ll talk, then you squeal.”

  “We’ll see. If I’m mad enough at you, that option may be off the table.”

  “No I meant…”

  She giggled as she set her hands on my chest. “I know what you mean, you big oaf. I’m just messing with you.”

  “I know that.”

  “And the story begins…”

  So, I told her. I told her about being an android, my voyages, my age, Sapale, Azsuram, who Davis was, the whole enchilada. I even showed her the probes. Unlike Sapale so many years ago, Kayla didn’t ask for a demonstration. Pity. I’d love to snoop in her head, just a little. When I was done spilling my guts, I asked her if that was what Davis told her.

  “No. He just said you cheated at cards. The rest is news to me.” She held a straight face for ten seconds, then nearly snickered to death. Snot came out her nose and everything. She was such a pill. But she was my pill. Kayla was a keeper. I only hoped she thought I was one too. Love is very costly for us immortals, but Kayla was well worth the pain I was lining myself up for.