by Drew Wagar
‘But?’ Rebecca prompted. ‘I can hear it coming, where’s the ‘but’?’
Coyote leant back again.
‘You know what your problem is?’ he said
‘I’ve got a hold full, anything specific?’ Rebecca demanded, glaring at him.
‘You don’t know when to back off,’ Coyote fired back, a touch more aggressively. ‘That’s why I beat you back at Biramedi. And if you don’t figure that one out, you’re going to end up as a fine dust in orbit around some forgotten star someday.’
‘I don’t need this lecture right now…’ Rebecca interrupted angrily.
Coyote let her have it. ‘And I’ll lay good credits on that’s why this guy of yours dumped you…’
‘Frak you!’ Rebecca snarled.
Coyote continued, undeflected. ‘A guy like that one you’re talking about, he’ll want to keep you safe. If he can’t… because you keep putting yourself in the firing line… what’s a guy to do?’
Rebecca stared at Coyote, her face crashing from anger to confusion and despair. He saw her bite her bottom lip, her eyes downcast.
‘The last thing he said to me was to stay safe.’
‘And you’ve got yourself into the most dangerous place you could be. Again, by all accounts. Real caring of you. Can’t blame him for not being able to handle it.’
Rebecca lapsed into silence.
‘You need to decide what it is you want,’ Coyote advised, slowly getting to his feet. ‘You can be Elite if you want, you can have your man. Not sure you can have both. Better for all of us if you make up your mind.’
He left a silent and pensive woman, staring at the bulkhead, deep in thought.
Rebecca picked up her comm-tab and stared at it for a long time, twisting it around in her hands. After a while her expression hardened. She stood up, having made some kind of decision.
She took a deep breath.
Four hours of fruitless searching had revealed nothing. Daddyhoggy’s library taxonomy bore no resemblance to anything Jim had encountered before. It wasn’t organised alphabetically, numerically or even chronologically. Daddyhoggy termed it ‘Eclectic Efficiency’; Jim viewed it as almost totally and utterly random.
It was also frustratingly slow. There was no assistance. You had to physically locate the book in a huge lexicon, which itself was broken down into volumes and hence into issues. The library was divided into nooks, roosts and nests, in a peculiar semi-hierachical branching structure that clearly made sense to those with avian roots but left Jim’s head spinning.
Once you had a location the task was just beginning. You had to physically find the book, retrieve it and then work your way through tomes of various ages, some of which were in poor condition or written in the same obscure language as the peculiar Thargoid utterings.
Once Jim had put a book back in the wrong place after missing a tenuous ‘twig’ in the lexicon. Daddyhoggy nearly expired on the spot.
Jim had also been hampered by Daddyhoggy’s insistence that only one book was handled at a time. When Jim complained the big bird simply looked at him with horror.
‘I refuse to be party to any endeavour which causes violence to be imposed upon these revered texts.’ He’d announced.
Jim spluttered back ‘What?’ for the umpteenth time, bewildered once more.
‘We must accept the books in the manner for which they were intended, giving them space to express themselves to us.’
‘We’ve been searching for hours!’ Jim shouted back. ‘And we’ve nothing to show for it!’
‘Not so,’ Daddyhoggy said, ruffling his feathers. ‘We have eliminated a large number of places from our search with remarkable success.’
‘But…’
‘Consider carefully. We cannot find this item as an event or an individual. Yet we have a number associated with it. We’ve found numerous references…’
‘All circular,’ Jim complained. ‘They all assume the reader is familiar with whatever a Vulgate is. But we’re no closer to working out what it is!’
‘Then we must adjust our mode of thinking,’ Daddyhoggy said.
‘And how do we do that?’
‘With a modicum of patience my dear fellow! Along with a certain amount of lateral thinking. You’ve given me a clue…’
Jim regarded Daddyhoggy for a moment.
‘And?’ he demanded after a few moments silence.
Daddyhoggy sighed. ‘I should have requested more than a modicum, clearly…’
Jim flopped down in a chair dejectedly.
‘This item,’ Daddyhoggy began, ‘must have been sufficiently well known for these authors to expect their readers to be completely familiar with it. Given we are dealing with a pre-technological civilisation in our current frame of reference, what can we infer from the nature of the audience we are considering?’
Jim blinked. ‘They were writers, could be anything…’
‘But…’ Daddyhoggy replied. ‘These are not just writers, these are historians, chroniclers. Men of renown for the time. We see them referring to each other, elevating and quoting each other with reverence and respect… a most worthy approach.’
‘They were quoting each other’s works,’ Jim said, leaning forward. ‘They were familiar with the books of the time. Books written by their peers!’
Daddyhoggy and Jim looked at each other and spoke simultaneously.
‘It’s a book! We’re looking for a book!’
Daddyhoggy flapped his wings in excitement.
‘Rather fortunate we’re in a library, I would say!’
Once Udian’s leg had been repaired he began supervising the re-arming of the naval missiles aboard the four ships. Coyote had been engaged in repairing as much of the damage to the Dark Star as was possible during the time available. It was a traditional vessel, not a bio-ship and didn’t benefit from the remarkable recuperative powers of the more modern ships. By the time Udian had finished loading the ordnance, the Dark Star was at least flight worthy, even if it wasn’t back to full strength.
Coyote looked across at Udian as he completed the checks on the Spectre. Udian had taken more time over the enigmatic ship. Coyote could see he had been examining the Thargoid derived drive unit for some considerable time, using some kind of portable scanning equipment on it.
‘Problems?’ Coyote asked.
‘No,’ Udian replied, without acknowledging Coyote in any other fashion. ‘I had some concerns over the interaction between the drive unit and the bio-weapons. The woman might not appreciate having her ship disassociated around her if one of the bio-weapons decides she is a target.’
‘The Thargoid drive?’
Udian nodded. ‘Its signature is very similar to a Thargoid vessel. I thought it best to make it an exception to the targeting protocols.’
Coyote rubbed his chin.
Make sense. I just don’t trust you, my metal amigo. Then again, I don’t trust our little senorita either…
Coyote’s primary concern had been the hull breach on the Dark Star. He could live without some of the other equipment until they could reach a station for more comprehensive repairs. He couldn’t afford for the hull to cave in during the way back out. He rested a hand against the cold hard exterior of his ship.
Hold together old friend, don’t listen to that metal monster…
Derik came down the cargo ramp of the Spectre, a frail looking Rebecca holding the lizard’s big arm for support. Coyote turned with a faint smile.
‘Hey, good to see you back in one piece. Mostly.’
‘Mostly Harmless, I think you mean.’ Derik said, with a grin. Rebecca wrinkled her nose at him.
Rebecca stared around the cargo bay, taking in the smashed and scattered corpses of the Thargoids.
‘You boys always leave such a mess.’
‘You should see my pad back on Tionisla after a party,’ Derik said. ‘This is nothing.’
‘You got the bio-packs?’ she asked.
‘Already loaded,’ Co
yote replied. ‘Almost ready to go. Four apiece. Everyone gets to play.’
Udian turned and swiftly crossed the bay. ‘We must leave immediately. There may still be Thargoids aboard. They won’t take long to find their way in here. Catechism cannot be left to fall into their hands.’
‘What’s the plan then?’ Derik asked.
‘We leave and I trigger the self-destruct,’ Udian replied.
Rebecca let go of Derik and stood up straight.
‘Thanks for saving me,’ she said, looking at the big machine.
‘Thanks are unnecessary.’ Udian replied dismissively.
‘I mean it,’ Rebecca said. ‘Thank you…’
‘You mis-understand,’ Udian said. ‘My actions were motivated by the need to retrieve the bio-packs, not to preserve your existence. I would have acted no differently had you not been there.’
Rebecca blinked but continued. ‘You believed me too… ’
‘Indeed,’ Udian replied. ‘It was fortunate for you that you told the truth. Had you failed to do so, I would have extracted that information from you despite the objections of our companions.’
‘That’s what you think…’ Derik said, in a low voice.
‘Charmed I’m sure,’ Rebecca’s eyes narrowed. ‘You still protected me in the corridor.’
‘For my own benefit,’ Udian responded. ‘I needed a clear firing solution. Do not mistake pragmatism for sentiment. Board your ships, I will set the destruct countdown.’
He strode off, leaving Rebecca nonplussed, staring after the departing machine.
‘Ignore him,’ Derik advised. ‘He’s just pissed that he couldn’t do everything himself.’
‘He did save me,’ Rebecca said, softly.
‘I wouldn’t count on it,’ Coyote grumbled. ‘He serves himself, the rest of us are just along for the ride… ’
‘No,’ Rebecca answered. ‘You don’t understand.’
All of them turned as a thud echoed through the cargo bay, something was on the other side of the airlock door they had fought their way through.
‘Get aboard now!’ Udian roared from a control panel at the side of the bay. ‘No more delays!’
Coyote, Derik and Rebecca sprinted back towards their ships.
Rebecca jumped into the Spectre’s pilot’s chair and buckled in, firing up the engines and avionics. The familiar astrogation console lit up immediately. She grabbed the control stick with her good hand. On the viewer she could see Coyote’s and Derik’s ship likewise readying for departure.
‘Self-destruct enabled in one minute,’ a computerised voice announced. Rebecca saw Udian sprint back and board his own vessel; the Hammer powering up a few moments afterwards. All four ships lifted off the bay floor and retracted their landing gear.
‘All set?’ Rebecca asked.
‘Good to go,’ Derik called back
‘Claro. Green across the board…’ Coyote responded.
‘Self-destruct enabled in 50 seconds.’
Rebecca looked up at the overhead bay doors. They were still closed.
‘Udian?’ Coyote prompted. There was no response from the machine creature.
‘Self-destruct enabled in 40 seconds.’
‘Udian! Open the frakkin’ doors!’ Derik shouted. ‘What you playing at?’
The Hammer abruptly powered down again, settling back down on the bay floor.
‘What the frak are you doing?’ Rebecca demanded.
‘The bay doors are jammed,’ Udian’s voice responded. ‘The Thargoids must have intercepted the command codes.’
‘Then cancel the self-destruct!’ Rebecca cried.
‘Irreversible.’ Udian replied.
‘Oh joy!’ Derik’s voice yelled across the wide-band. ‘You don’t think it might have been a really great idea to have checked we could get out before triggering the big-bang? Do I always have to be the brains around here?’
Daddyhoggy fluttered down from one of the ‘nests’ high up in the rafters of the library, he settled down on the floor, making a big show of smoothing his feathers back into place.
‘Well?’ Jim demanded.
‘Sad news.’
‘Sad?’ Jim asked.
‘The book is out on loan.’
‘What!’
Daddyhoggy nodded. ‘Yes. Worse, it’s overdue. I will have to start drawing up the paperwork for a fine immediately.’
‘Forget that!’ Jim fired back. ‘Haven’t you got a copy?’
‘A copy?’ Daddyhoggy blinked in surprise. ‘Why would I want I copy when I have an original?’
Jim stared in exasperation. ‘So we could maybe… read it now?’
‘Oh, that’s not necessary.’
‘Yes it is!’
‘No it’s not. It’s a common book, you may even have heard of it. A religious tome, going by many names. Deuterocanon, Atilegomena, Apocrypha, Torah. But its common name is Bible.’
‘Bible?’ Jim echoed in surprise. ‘That’s a creation myth account isn’t it?’
‘I believe so. Rather popular in the time frame we’re discussing, in fact its adherants didn’t fade out until well into the twenty second century as you measure time. It’s effectively a collection of books, a library in miniature. Each one is divided into chapters and verses. A rather unimaginative classification system but there it is.’
‘And why would the Thargoids be quoting the Bible?’
‘Perhaps our numbers will give us the answer,’ Daddyhoggy replied. ‘Here, I have a modern translation to talon.’
The big bird dropped a small book onto the desk. Jim picked it up. It was bound in some-kind of leather, with a simple engraving of a ornate cross on its cover. The text was translated into standard Galcop encoding.
‘Two, fifteen, nine,’ Jim muttered. ‘You said chapters and verses. We’ve got three numbers. Book two I guess?’
‘Let’s see,’ Daddyhoggy replied.
Jim thumbed carefully through to the contents page. It was divided into two sections, conveniently entitled ‘Old’ and ‘New’. The second book was listed as ‘Exodus’.
It didn’t take long to find the fifteenth chapter and the ninth verse.
Jim read it.
Frak!
‘Self-destruct enabled in 30 seconds.’
Rebecca saw Udian emerge from the Hammer and move swiftly back to the controls along the hangar wall, rapidly keying in commands into the interface unit. Even from her position she could see red lights flashing in response to his actions.
He can’t open the doors!
‘Self-destruct enabled in 20 seconds.’
‘Can we laser the doors?’ Rebecca demanded.
‘No. Internal shields,’ Udian replied quickly. ‘Standby.’
‘What about missiles?’
‘No!’ Udian snapped, uncharacteristically. ‘You’ll trigger the defensive mechanisms. Standby!’
‘Self-destructed enabled in 10 seconds,’ the computerised voice echoed over the wide-band. ‘Beginning final sequence.’
‘There!’ Udian left the control panel and sprinted back towards his ship. ‘Maximum thrust once you’re out. Catechism has four individual nuclear mines. Alacrity is called for.’
Overhead the bay doors cracked open. The four ships were jolted by the sudden inrush of the gas giant’s high pressure atmosphere.
‘Ladies first,’ Coyote called.
‘Thanks sweety.’
Rebecca fired up the engines and accelerated the Spectre up and out of the bay, closely followed by Derik and Coyote. Rebecca could see Udian’s ship was still on the ground, yet to launch.
Warning! Exterior hull pressure 100 MPa! Tolerances violated!
‘Self-destruct enabled. Beginning detonation sequence,’ the computerised voice announced its final message across the comm channels.
As the Catechism receded behind her Rebecca saw flickers of light flash out in the darkness. Tendrils of energy began to flash across the hull of the huge facility, crackling and twisting acr
oss it. The Catechism seemed to tense, as if trying to hold itself together despite the raging energy forcing its way through its innards.
Udian’s ship launched, blasting up through the bay just as the first detonation surfaced through the hull of the Catechism. Rebecca saw the Hammer silhouetted against the bright glare. It looked alarmingly small and fragile against the bulk of the stricken Catechism.
‘Udian…’
In a split-second the viewer whited out, rapidly trying to scale down the glare of the explosion. The blast wave passed through the superheated gas of the atmosphere, violently shaking the three remaining ships as they tried to flee. It was followed by the terrifying expanding sphere of the combined explosion, a wave of energy incinerating anything in its path.
‘Oh frak,’ Derik commented needlessly, watching the blast front closing on them rapidly.
The atmosphere was still too dense to risk firing the injectors. The halo of the explosion grew behind them, moving swiftly outwards through the atmosphere.
‘Shields to full,’ Coyote snapped. ‘This won’t be gentle…’
The glowing halo caught the three ships, blasting them out of control and shaking them fiercely. Rebecca held on for dear life as the inertia spun the Spectre around. She tried to wrestle the ship back onto something resembling a course but it was impossible. The turbulence was unreal. She closed her eyes, screwing them up tightly as she endured the twisting and spinning movement that threatened to rip her ship apart.
The turbulence abated and she opened her eyes. She saw stars, the atmosphere of the gas giant receding behind her. The Spectre steadied and flew straight.
Survived!
She let out a yell of elation and then checked the damage indicators. Shields were half gone but still intact and recharging. There was no other damage.
‘Coyote? Derik?’
‘All present and correct,’ Coyote responded.
‘Singed my tail but I think I’m ok,’ the lizard’s voice came back straightaway.
Rebecca turned her attention to the rear viewer. The light of the explosion was still blistering through the clouds of the gas giant but each successive flicker was fainter and fainter.