by Unknown
The trip through the planet’s atmosphere was uneventful, with shields operating at maximum. Orin scanned the planet for topographical and geographical data, as the Saberhawk cruised swiftly at sixty thousand feet.
“I’m picking up twelve large cities with functional energy signatures and many more appear to be on fire or have sustained major damage. It’s like a war is taking place. At this point on the map, sweeping to this area, all these minor cities are destroyed, while those with major structures have sustained heavy damage. Wait a minute, what’s this?�
He tapped the display next to an alert code for the geographical data search. The screen complied by showing a match to the ship’s database. Orin released the information.
“I…I can’t believe it.�
On the screen it read: planet Castai III. He quickly began to look for specifics in the data. There it was. Mt. Vaseer appeared on the data map being compiled from topographical scans of the planet’s surface. He could not have mistaken it for anything else. Orin knew the place he had called home, better than any other location on Castai; and yet, here it was.
This city, upon closer scans, did have a great deal more damage than back home. He keyed in comparison data from his home world and matched them together. Orin could see clearly that this city of Vaseer was actually less complete than back home. Somehow this planet was a duplicate of his home world. By this time the others were anxiously waiting for some indication of exactly what was happening.
“What is it Orin,� asked Tiet?
“This planet is somehow a duplicate of Castai III.�
“What?!�
“I know…but I have already located Mt. Vaseer and confirmed other topographical comparisons. The oceans, the mountains, and almost every major landmark are the same.�
Silence held everyone captive at that point.
“But the Vorn inhabit this planet,� said Dorian.
“We could really use some answers and the Vorn aren’t likely to give them to us. I think we should go to this planet’s city of Vaseer and see if the people on this world left any records.
“The city is deserted according to the scan data. I don’t know what else to do at this point; the situation has changed so dramatically from what we were expecting to find.�
“Well, we better do something. This ship isn’t invisible, you know. Somebody will be shooting at us sooner or later if we just fly around up here,� said Millo. “I vote for Vaseer.�
Tiet and Dorian nodded in agreement.
“Course plotted. E.T.A. is twenty minutes.�
The Saberhawk’s thrusters came to life to boost it away toward the mountain city. Cloud cover was fairly thick and provided good visual cover for the ship, but they knew that most likely they were already being tracked by the Vorn. The question was, could they reach Vaseer and find out what they needed to know before they were intercepted by attack ships?
THE reconstruction of Vale’s body and the construction of his duplicates took a little time even for the automatons and nano-builders at the Spheres’ control; but soon enough the work was complete. At ten hours, fifty three minutes, and twenty seven point seven eight seconds, Vale’s repaired body and his new duplicates came online.
Vale had control over all three bodies at once. His mind combined with that of the Sphere was easily capable of coordinating every detailed action without hindrance. The three androids moved without delay, to join the waiting invasion force.
In one of the multiple launch bays within the huge Sphere, the Vale androids boarded one of the carrier vessels about to launch to the planet’s surface. The drones were miniatures of the Sphere itself. Each attack drone was fully armed with phased plasma weapons and shield generators for defense.
The carrier drones each carried one large surface attack robot, which were more suited to close quarters fighting and rooting out combatants able to evade the airborne attack force. The spherical carrier drone closed around the androids and hovered off the deck of the launch bay to join the other drones already leaving the main ship.
The first target would be a multiple objective. The Barudii ship was on course for one of the ancient cities of the makers, and a large contingent of Vorn forces were on their way there as well.
A Horva of uncommon stature and intelligence sat astride his grevasaur surveying his troops. The General was expecting a mighty victory today. An army of Horva marched with him toward the place where he hoped they could launch a massive counter offensive against the Sphere that had for so many decades been hounding the Vorn. It had decimated their forces at every encounter with the powerful suicide drones it employed, as well as the massive weapons used by the main Sphere itself. General Grod was certain the machine was in orbit around Castai. Sensor scans had failed to locate it, and the orbiting satellites had been destroyed that could scan for its presence.
But now, by employing his new plan he felt confident that not only would they soon have its location but would finally put an end to the destruction. After all, if the Sphere were to eradicate the Vorn, he and his elite Horva would also be included, and he didn’t want their former masters destroyed, but subjugated.
The Vorn were still useful, but they would soon learn who the real masters were. Their resistance to the uprising of his fellow Horva would soon be crushed and the balance of power would rest with himself and his fellow clones.
The General’s command group began to break away from the rest of his forces as they approached Mt. Vaseer from the north. They would make there way up the mountain to a preplanned area that overlooked the valley on the other side. The valley would be the perfect battlefield to have their showdown with the drones and draw them out into the open, so that his plan could be properly executed. One thing about computers, they always made predictable movements; he knew the drones would take the bait.
Grod’s second in command, Malec, was personally escorting their special surprise for the forces of the Sphere and controlling the other weapons that would hopefully bring down the massive control Sphere from orbit. Grod looked back over the fifty thousand man army that marched toward the pass around Vaseer with satisfaction. “Victory!�
Those within hearing replied in kind and the cry spread across the entire army. They believed that he was a capable leader and that he would lead them to victory.
Grod had bolstered their pride as elite warriors. They had finally grown tired of being the muscle for the physically weaker Vorn, without ever receiving any of the glory or power.
Grod was their ideal, sitting upon his grevasaur, physically powerful and more menacing in his appearance than any of the other elite Horva.
When the Vorn had realized the danger of intelligent Horva with their greater physical power and tenacious love of fighting, they had gone to cloning a new breed of more easily manipulated Horva that were easy to control. This had been the final insult to Grod and his brother clones.
Now the rebellion was on. Grod prodded the grevasaur he rode upon, urging it on toward the rest of the command group who had begun to ride on ahead with their equipment in tow. The beast moaned deeply as it complied with its rider’s commands.
THE Saberhawk glided smoothly around Mt. Vaseer on approach to the hangar bay on the lower western face of the mountain. On their internal scans of the city, there appeared to be a lot of damage. Obviously the fighting here on this duplicate Castai had been far worse, since there did not appear to be any Castillians left on the planet. Numerous sensor sweeps had not found even one native left alive.
As they approached the massive entrance, it was apparent that the doors probably were not functional. They were shut and pocked with blast marks and several very large holes that went all the through. The Saberhawk would not be able to gain entrance to the city.
Orin tried
several command codes from back home; hoping that maybe the same had been in use in this duplicate universe. The automated systems either weren’t functional or didn’t recognize the codes. At any rate, the result was the same.
“Well there’s not much choice,� said Orin as he looked back at Tiet. “We’ll have to go in and see if we can find anything.�
“I’m in.�
“Me too,� said Dorian.
“Actually I think Tiet and I will have to go alone. We don’t have the time to land and hike back up to the city. We’ll have to drop in here and go through the damaged hangar bay doors. You can’t make the descent from the ship and I would rather that Millo was not left to handle any problems with the ship alone.�
Dorian was noticeably unhappy with the situation, but compliant.
“Millo, please take the ship down into the southern valley until we contact you. Keep an eye peeled for any trouble and get the ship out of danger if you have too. It’s likely that the Vorn will be investigating our arrival. I doubt an old Barudii battleship will have gone unnoticed on this planet. Tiet, you and I will make the jump to Vaseer and see what we can come up with.�
Orin proceeded through the bridge passage and down the short stairwell toward the main entry way to the ship, with Tiet following close behind.
“Tiet!� called Dorian coming after him. Both men turned at her approach. Orin looked at Dorian and then Tiet, realizing they needed a moment to speak.
“I’m going to secure some more gear we may need. I’ll meet you shortly in the vestibule.�
Orin went on without further comment, leaving them alone in the corridor.
“What’s the matter?�
“I just have a bad feeling about you going down there.�
“Don’t worry. Orin watches over me like he was my father,� he said playfully, but Dorian’s expression did not lighten.
“I feel like I need to tell you how I feel before you go,� she said hesitantly, as if searching his face to know his feelings before she continued.
Tiet could hardly breathe; waiting for her next words with such anticipation he could perceive nothing else.
“I have loved you before I even knew you,� she said. “From the images of you as a child, until I first realized who you were in the tunnels; you have been in my most secret thoughts. Now that I have been with you, I cannot imagine being anywhere else.�
She raised her left arm and then pulling back the cuff of her uniform, she exposed the donjarr of her family. Tiet recognized the woven bracelet immediately. According to Castillian customs, it was the woman who chose her life companion and it was signified by the passing of the donjarr to the intended male as a promise of her desire to wed. The donjarr was not a light commitment. It was a binding contract once the male placed it on his own wrist.
Dorian looked into Tiet’s eyes, and he could see her longing to know his feelings about what she had told him. He reached for her hand, clasping it in his own. With his other hand he moved the donjarr from her wrist over their joined hands to rest upon his own, according to the ritual. A tear escaped her swollen eyes, trailing down her olive skin. Tiet pulled her to himself in an embrace they both had longed to have.
“Come back safely to me,� she said as she touched his lips with her own. Then she turned and hurried back to the bridge, before she lost control of her joy at their coming together, and her anxiety at their parting. Tiet could hardly contain his own joy, as he went on to meet Orin.
He was already waiting at the main entry ramp to the ship when Tiet arrived. Orin looked him over once; puzzled by the grin on his face, but supposing that something had happened between him and the girl. It did not surprise him and he hoped that all would turn out well for them, but at the moment more urgent matters pressed. He keyed in the safety bypass code, to allow the ship to open the main hatch while still in flight. Millo was hovering about one hundred yards above the mountain’s face where the city’s hangar bay was located. They could see the scarred bay doors below them now.
“Are you ready Tiet?�
“Lead the way,� he said over the engine rumblings spilling into the vestibule.
“The way is down,� he said as he turned and stepped into the open air; quickly plummeting toward the mangled surface of the bay doors below. Tiet followed without hesitation. The two warriors controlled their descent precisely with their psycho kinesis and soft landed on the surface of the hangar doors.
The structure creaked under their weight a little, but appeared to be solid enough. Orin led the way to the largest opening and turned to toss Tiet a lighted headset. He clicked his own headset on to keep communication with the Saberhawk and to provide some illumination of the darkness below them.
“Millo, take the ship down to the valley, and wait there until you here from us. If you encounter any trouble, dust off immediately and we’ll rendezvous later.�
“Affirmative. I’ll be waiting for your call. Be careful.�
Above them, the engines of the Saberhawk whined to a higher pitch and the ship veered away from the mountain on course for the southern valley. Tiet switched on his own headset and the two of them peered into the darkness below them. They could see that the pavement was littered with a lot of debris.
“Look over there,� said Tiet motioning to a large clear area.
“Let’s go.�
They dropped from the edge of the blast hole in the hangar bay door, about two hundred feet to the pavement; soft landing again thanks to their kinetic abilities. From memory, Orin led them through the debris field inside the hangar bay to the control room.
The door was standing open and a thick layer of dust covered the control panels within. Orin looked for the power grid panel and found the cells for all the power and backups were drained to nothing.
“Even after power failure, the successive auto backups would have run for at least six months,� said Orin.
“Maybe, but this looks like about a hundred years of dust,� said Tiet.
“If not more. Well, what have we here…?�
He keyed on another panel lever and several low lights flickered to life in the bay.
“Manual backup, in case the auto systems were down,� said Orin. “These should be connected to solar panels on the eastern face of the mountain. They won’t run down as long as the panels have a descent access to sunlight. Let’s go.�
He led them out of the control room and up a tunnel to a higher level of the city. Tiet followed the swift steps of his mentor, trying to keep his senses alert to any sudden dangers that might present themselves.
This duplicate city had certainly taken a pounding. The ground was littered everywhere with debris. It looked like the Vorn had nearly torn the city apart and yet there were no signs of any bodies. The two men came into an ornate corridor approaching a single room. It seemed familiar to him, though he couldn’t place it exactly.
“What room is this?�
“It’s the king’s quarters. This would have been your home back on our planet. Although I doubt your father was even born when this city was destroyed. I would guess it happened well over one hundred years ago.�
“So what are we doing here?�
“There was a separate computer database in the King’s quarters with its own link to the solar panels. Since they’re still operating, I’m hoping the database is functioning as well. It may provide us with some answers.�
Orin tried the electronic keypad, but there was no response. Tiet quickly ignited one of his kemsticks and sliced an oval shaped hole into the door. He kicked the cut piece inward, and bending down, he went
through the opening. Orin followed and they could clearly see a luxurious abode. It reminded him of home, but it had been so long ago. Orin made his way to a certain place on the rock wall and depressed two separate points that were far enough apart so as to be almost unreachable at the same time. A digital keypad rotated out of the wall before him. It still had power and Orin quickly typed in the words: Barudii, Soone, vaseer 1. A panel slid back in the wall to reveal an information display. A list of categories for searching the database appeared on the screen.
“Good, the code works here too. That means your family ruled here as well, somehow,� said Orin.
“Well, where do we start?� asked Tiet.
“How about with those strange spheres we encountered?�
Orin typed in the word sphere and instantly a list of subcategories scrolled across the display. Among the data entries were schematics and weapon systems capabilities for a massive attack vehicle. It must have measured three miles in diameter and looked just like the smaller spheres they had witnessed earlier destroying the space fleet of the Vorn.
They were shocked to see that it was the long dead Barudii of this planet that had constructed the huge machine. They scanned page after page of data, hardly able to believe what was being stated.
“Hard to believe they built this thing,� said Tiet in amazement.
“To fight the Vorn, or avenge themselves. Either way, a very deadly weapon to unleash on anyone.�
“Yeah, but we never saw this one; only the smaller drones.�
“But you can be sure it’s out there,� said Orin. “It’s probably directly responsible for the destruction of the Vorn space station. It appears they launched it just prior to being wiped out by the Vorn. It was sent to attack the Vorn home world of Demigoth and then pursue the remaining Vorn and destroy them anywhere that it found them.�