Tempest: Book Two of the Terran Cycle

by Philip C. Quaintrell

  The council looked to one another for a moment, mixed expressions of concern and disbelief. A silent conversation took place between the veteran councillors as they judged his words.

  “There is a vessel transporting the next rotation of supplies to the dig site,” Brokk’s voice sounded like he had swallowed a handful of stones. “It will dock at Ch’ket and await your arrival. We would like for you, along with the Ambassador here, to accompany them to Trantax IV. You do seem to have better luck with ancient relics than most, Kalian Gaines.”

  He was referring to Naveen. Conclave scientists and philosophers had studied The Wall for thousands of years and never made any progress with it. They had assigned it to a precursor race that no longer existed. Kalian hadn’t even been on Naveen for more than a day when he unlocked its true purpose. He had a few genetic advancements the Conclave scientists lacked, however.

  “We will leave immediately.” Kalian didn’t really know what they could learn from the cube. They hadn’t applied many resources to discovering the secrets of their own cube, let alone one in such good condition. Either way, they had to go, if only to ensure the Conclave didn’t meet the same fate as the Terran. “Could you inform Captain Fey on the Gommarian that we will not be returning for the time being?”

  “They will be so informed.” It was Telarrek who answered from the back of the room. He had obediently remained silent throughout the meeting and Kalian was eager to learn how much the Novaarian already knew regarding current events.

  “Then this council is adjourned.” Elondrasa rose to her full height, reaching over seven feet with the golden headdress.

  “Thank you for your time. I hope this will be the beginning of a new dialogue between our people,” Kalian said before bowing as he nudged Li’ara to do the same.

  Xydrandil scuttled ahead leading them back to the shuttle with Telarrek following behind.

  “Thank you for your time?” Li’ara repeated mockingly.

  Kalian smiled at the jest as the doors sealed the Highclave away behind them. “This could be a good thing, for all of us.” He kept his voice low.

  “Nothing is ever good where a cube is involved,” she replied in an equally hushed tone.

  They entered the hangar to see Naydaalan practising combat manoeuvres with his staff before he realised they had returned. He quickly stood to attention as his father passed him boarding the craft, his staff planted next to him. Xydrandil remained behind watching silently as Naydaalan prepped the ship and engaged the thrusters, his robes flapping from the engine’s output.

  They departed the domed platform while Telarrek ordered his son to set a course for Ch’ket. Kalian looked out of the view-port, stealing a last glance at the sizable shipyard housing the Conclave’s newest and largest vessel. It was quickly eclipsed by Cerula which eventually became a bright speck on the monitors as they arrived back in orbit around Ch’ket. Telarrek informed Naydaalan of everything that had transpired with the Highclave before joining Kalian and Li’ara in the main cabin.

  “Naydaalan is docking the ship in the Cyphon ring,” Telarrek offered. Kalian easily recalled the information he had on the enveloping rings of Ch’ket, and knew the Cyphon ring paralleled the planet’s equator. “The cargo transport is already in the port and awaiting our arrival.”

  “Did you know about the cube?” Kalian asked outright.

  Telarrek raised his long head looking back down on him. “I knew Trantax IV had been recently quarantined and that there was a potential Terran connection. I did not, however, know they had found a cube. The discovery is troubling.” The Novaarian looked to his left as the Cyphon ring encompassed the entire screen of view. Hundreds of vessels could be seen unloading materials and crew while others were transporting various parts for ships on the other rings. From this distance they could easily make out the details on the Translifts that connected the many rings to the planet’s surface. They were thicker than any Conclave ship Kalian had ever seen. The end was concealed within a dense cloud cover, but he could see the giant shaft filled with multiple Translifts, big and small, as they continuously shot up and down.

  “Why did you never tell them about our cube?” Li’ara asked.

  “They would use it as an excuse to take the Gommarian by force. There would most certainly be casualties, on both sides. I believe that both of us working together is the best scenario. Besides, we know the cube on the Gommarian was responsible for the Terran war, but this cube has remained dormant for a hundred thousand cycles. We may learn valuable information from this cube; it may have some answers regarding its makers and their reasoning for targeting your race.”

  “I would worry about why they’re targeting the Conclave,” Kalian commented.

  Telarrek whipped his head back from the view. “Explain.”

  “Well a cube was found on a Terran planet; look what happened to them, to us. Let’s just hope history isn’t repeating itself.”

  Telarrek seemed to look through Kalian as he weighed those words. No doubt they would sit heavy in his mind.

  Soon after departing the craft, Naydaalan led them to the designated hangar. They passed every kind of species the Conclave contained. Some slithered and crawled while others had foot falls that could be felt through the thick flooring. The clothing on all varied wildly in design and colour, or in some cases there was a lack of clothing. It was an enjoyable difference from life on the Gommarian where every encounter was a human one. There was no divide between the species as all interacted with the other, no thought to their different biology and culture. Being the Ch’kara home world it was easy to understand the increased number of their species. Some were working as others were meeting friends and family while their ships were upgraded or fixed. The rings were kept oxygenated since they were widely used by all the races; it was only the planet itself that required visitors to wear breathers.

  Kalian was impressed by how clean and sterile they kept what was essentially a giant workshop. Hover bots whizzed around cleaning spillages and picking up fallen tools, all the time avoiding the constant flow of people. One hover bot floated behind its owner as it tightened a bolt in the Ch’kara’s breather equipment. Kalian couldn’t be sure if it was fixing the gas cylinders or the micro force field emitters; either way the Ch’kara appeared oblivious.

  They didn’t go unnoticed as they passed by. Every individual that saw them stopped whatever they were doing to gawp at the humans. Some quickly disappeared, hoping not to be noticed by the dangerous species, while others moved closer for a better look. Naydaalan subtly removed his staff, reacting to the unwanted attention.

  They eventually found themselves standing in the right hangar with the cargo transport, Dawnlighter, waiting for them, along with an old friend.

  “Greetings of peace...” Ilyseal stood at the ship’s side entrance.

  Telarrek failed to hide his surprise and joy at seeing his old second-in-command. They had worked side-by-side for over six hundred years while they observed and studied the human race. He couldn’t help the high pitched grunt as he launched forward, embracing her, “Greetings of peace, old friend.”

  The Ambassador stood back allowing Kalian and Li’ara to greet her as well; Naydaalan remained to the side, impartial to it all. Instead of the expected Novaarian garb, Ilyseal wore a red tight fitted flight suit, seen on most Conclave personnel.

  Noticing his look of confusion, Ilyseal elaborated. “I am afraid my actions in the Corvus system required an example to be made.”

  Kalian was shocked to hear that such heroic actions could be reprimanded. Ilyseal had led the mission to separate Savrick’s forces, giving Kalian and the others more time to uncover The Wall’s secrets. In so doing she had given the go ahead for Roland’s crazy idea to defeat the Gomar by destabilising the Valoran’s Starrillium. The supernova obliterated the attacking crew and reduced the number of Gomar to double digits.

  “Despite the effectiveness of our counter attack,” Ilyseal continued, “the Valoran�
�s supernova had an interaction with Corvus’s main sequence causing an unprecedented solar flare. Thankfully our early warning to the planet prevented any sub-space travel from being interrupted. Unfortunately, the flare disrupted almost every satellite and communication array in the Corvus system. Some had backup systems but many had their silicon software fried. Along with the disruption to the A.I. hub it cost billions of units to repair.”

  “So what have you been doing?” Li’ara inquired.

  Ilyseal’s red tendrils swished from side to side as she took in the sight of the cargo vessel behind her. “I have been assigned to the Trantax IV project...”

  Telarrek’s visage mirrored his anger and disbelief at her answer. “I shall look into the matter; you deserve better for your service. You helped keep the Conclave safe where so many others would have failed.”

  Ilyseal appeared almost embarrassed at the praise from her old charge.

  “And you still might...” Kalian added knowingly. “I know you’re supposed to transport us to Trantax IV, but we need to make a short detour.”

  Li’ara gave him a questioning look before a realisation of dread spread across her fair features. “This is not going to end well.”

  Was this what it felt like to be a god? To stand and look down on a planet beneath you, and know it was yours. It was fair to say that Protocorps controlled almost everything Shay. Anything it didn’t openly own it possessed via shell companies and blackmailed puppets. Their reach stretched as far as the capital with influence on every world and political arena. They had sole rights to maintenance and software protection for the Conclave A.I. in every hub. The Shay government didn’t even make decisions, without first consulting the very board members that currently sat behind the head of this galactic conglomerate.

  Kel-var Tionis stood with his hands clasped behind his back as he looked down on the northern pole of Shandar. The view from the top of Protocorps Headquarters was a three hundred and sixty panoramic image of the planet below, and the thousands of super structures that blanketed it. The great storm below was becoming rivalled by the storm brewing among his board members. For all their power they had failed to protect one of their most prestigious members from a lowly bounty hunter. Further still they had been unable to locate the backer behind the bounty.

  Before turning from the beautiful vista, Kel-var lingered on the distant horizon - from his vantage above the planet’s equator. There was still a buzz of activity surrounding Krono Towers, with the many machines and cranes mending the exterior damage. Squads of security vessels hovered at designated zones coordinated by the A.I. ensuring a safe perimeter. Kel-var’s office had been flooded with questions from the media surrounding the attack, but he had left the replies to the PR teams while his own assistants drafted an appropriate speech. He was set to give the heartfelt eulogy at the capital tomorrow before the usual gaggle of reporters.

  “What is the point of all that security if they cannot fend off one bounty hunter?” Sel-gar Verenes exclaimed with some notable fear behind his anger. As the head of CalNet, Sel-gar was well placed for exporting the precious crystals, used for storage memory in almost every piece of Conclave hardware, from the Noonatril system deeper in Shay territory. He spent most of his time lounging in his luxurious housing complex, while he personally observed the Noonatril in the mining colonies. His round frame was concealed beneath layers of white and gold robes, his robotic hands clenched into fists on the table top.

  “Haven’t you seen the footage? It was a human...” Bal-son Narek said the word as if it was diseased. Bal-son was the living heir to one of the oldest family dynasties and wielded a hefty amount of sway in Shay politics. His family had backed the presidential candidate for thousands of years, running their campaign to victory every time. If you wanted the vote for a seat on the Highclave you had to be willing to sit in the pocket of a Narek.

  Arguments broke out across the table regarding the validity of the footage. It was public knowledge that all the humans were in one place under the watchful eye of the Novaarians. What the public didn’t know, that Kel-var and his board members were privy to, was that the humans were living onboard the monstrous ship that attacked the capital planet.

  “What kind of message does this send about us?” Sel-gar continued. “We are supposed to be responsible for the safety and well-being of every world operating under an A.I. hub. How are we supposed to convince the people that we can maintain the Intelligence, if we cannot repel a simple bounty hunter’s attack against one of our own?”

  “Why should we fear these humans? There are so few of them left to pose any real threat.” It was Nal-mev Nargeen that spoke up. Far too often he was concerned with the newest profit margin allowing his sight to drift from their true goals. The slender Shay reclined in his chair appearing bored with the current topic. He was only just within the limits of Conclave law regarding augmentation, with all four robotic limbs and extensive neurological adjustments and organ replacement. Kel-var didn’t give Nal-mev much attention outside of these private meetings; he was efficient enough when it came to controlling Nemtech industries, the sole company responsible for programming the software that bridges the gap for neurological control of all electronic augmentation.

  “They didn’t spend all that time reducing their population to mere thousands if they weren’t considered a threat!” Sel-gar spat back. After the mention of their masters a tension filled the room.

  “We shall have to find a new way to market Krono Towers,” Bal-son remarked. “The internal devastation is worse than the exterior.”

  Kel-var didn’t care about real estate; they had entire companies who could handle that.

  “What about the external satellites?” Tu-garn Davorn’s augmented voice boomed over the rest. As always Tu-garn adorned one of his expensive tight fitted suits equal in cost to a small Intrinium-rich planet. Unlike most Shay, Tu-garn preferred his external physical form, opting for internal augmentation. Kel-var knew his entire skeleton had been replaced with Callic-diamond, enhancing his physical strength. “It clearly shows two humans escaping in a manner that should have been certain death. No being could survive that kind of exposure!”

  “I have had the footage verified.” Kel-var decided to wade in and take some control. “There is no trickery, the images are confirmed.” No one talked over him; his presence alone often commanded attention. “There are two humans, one male, and one female. We are still collating all the data, but we do know the two individuals are not those who stood before the Highclave.” After seeing the images from Naveen, Kel-var had created a whole division devoted just to Kalian Gaines. Any current information was scarce since the humans were being kept isolated deep inside Novaarian territory. With the resources at his disposal it had been simple to retrieve the data stored in the Novaarian archives however. They had spent centuries observing them on their own planet, Earth, and had apparently paid close attention to Kalian Gaines. He was the next step in the humans’ engineered evolution, making him the first Terran of his kind.

  That made him dangerous.

  Kel-var thought about the information the Highclave, and even the humans themselves, were in possession of and knew it was sketchy at best. There were only ten individuals in the whole galaxy that had access to the greater truth and they were in this very room, bar one.

  “We need to focus on Ral-vet’s death,” Kel-var continued. “His private terminal was hacked using an untraceable device, but the search data was scrambled. We have to assume they know everything Ral-vet had access to.”

  The board members shared a look of concern. They were the seventh generation to inherit the knowledge of the cube, their prophet, and it was their duty to keep it secret until the appointed time.

  Thinking of the prophet was the only thing that increased the rate of both Kel-var’s hearts. Using his neurological augmentations, he decreased the rate allowing him to keep his calm composure in front of his peers.

  “Do you think they know a
bout the A.I.?” Sel-gar asked with frantic looks to his fellow members.

  Kel-var had never enjoyed the company of the fat Shay. Sel-gar was ruled by his fear and his appetite for Noonatine cuisine. He was weak in the opinion of most but Kel-var had no choice in who sat on the board; their ancestors had found the cube and so it was the lineage of those ten who would continue the great mission.

  “Ral-vet was directly responsible for the central hub on the capital,” Kel-var replied with some impatience for Sel-gar’s obvious question. “I want to know how two humans are travelling freely through the Conclave, and what they want with that information. Who is paying them to target us and why?” he looked over them as they avoided his gaze; they had no answers. In his virtual vision he brought up the most recent report from the division responsible for tracking and studying Kalian Gaines. Their spies had informed the team that both Kalian and Li’ara Ducarté had been transported to the Ch’ket system, for a secret meeting with the Highclave. Of course he already had this information due to Bal-son’s closer sources and Protocorps’ own involvement with the new ship they were building out there.

  “I have it on good authority that the bounty hunter is called Roland North.” The words came from the end of the room where Gor-van Tanar sat. His face was partially hidden by the red hood that drooped over his head and shoulders, only allowing his augmented eyes to shine fluorescent blue in the dark. Gor-van was a valuable member of their organisation, with a finger in every dark corner of the Conclave. Most of his assets worked for him off the books via a trail that would never lead back to Protocorps. He was the legitimate head of multiple transport businesses, but he was also in control of the biggest crime family on Shandar. “He was responsible for the counter-attack in the Corvus system. He planned the demise of eight hundred Gomar in a single strike. I also have reason to believe he encountered a Gomar in combat and not only survived, but won.”