The Agathon Book 3: Sword Of Stars

by Colin Weldon

  Drak’Lk terminated the transmission and moved back over to the large viewing area. He stared down at the weapon once more and then up at the Targlagdu vessel.

  “Your time is almost up,” he whispered.

  THE SIENNA CLARK

  Tyrell took one last look at his severed hand before stepping through the door. Aron stood beside him, his arm around Maya’s shoulders.

  “Come on, Tyrell,” Aron said softly to him.

  Tyrell turned and nodded, cradling his stump as he stepped through the entrance. Aron followed him into the white hallway. India was leaning against a wall, her overalls covered in sweat. She turned her head and gave Aron an exhausted look.

  “You all right?” he said to her.

  “I’ve had better days, sir,” she replied, “now what?”

  Aron honestly had no idea. His body was weak, his shoulders ached from the restraints, and he could still feel the sensation of the electrical current in his bones.

  “We don’t have much time, we need help,” Tyrell said to Aron.

  “Help to do what?” Aron said, “take over the ship? I can’t see that happening.”

  “Why not?” Tyrell said, “there’s more of us than there is of them, simple numbers.”

  Aron took a breath and looked at Maya. She smiled up at him. He smiled back and turned to India. Tyrell was right, of course. Like it or not, he was in charge. They were tired, beaten and needed hope. He turned to India.

  “Where are our weapons?” he said to her.

  “I don’t know, sir,” she said sounding exasperated and shaking her head.

  Aron lifted his arm off Maya’s shoulders and stood up straight taking the weight of his stiff muscles.

  “Right, first things first, we need to get off this deck, find Ollie and Vishal and come up with a plan,” Aron said injecting what authority he could into his voice.

  India gave him a light nod before stepping away from the wall. She looked wobbly on her feet. Aron wondered what sort of drug she had been injected with. She didn’t look good. The four began walking down the hallway when they jolted to a stop. Appearing from around the corner, as if from thin air, was Carrie.

  Aron froze and instinctively stood in front of Maya, placing his hands behind him and grabbing her shoulders. Carrie stopped and looked at him. She began moving towards them, quickly. Aron watched her like a hawk. They were caught.

  “Aron,” Carrie said to him, “are you all right?”

  Aron didn’t answer. Carrie looked at Tyrell, lowered her head to the stump where his right hand used to be.

  “My God,” she whispered as India placed a hand on the wall to steady herself.

  Carrie reached out a hand and placed it on her shoulder.

  “What happened?” she said.

  Aron remained silent. Her eyes were normal and she seemed to be acting like the old Carrie.

  “Aron, it’s me, trust me,” Carrie said glancing at Tyrell, “I got control of The Black, Doctor, it’s gone.”

  “How?” Tyrell replied.

  “Long story, we have to get you all to safety,” she said looking behind Aron, “Maya?”

  Maya poked her head out from behind Aron.

  “Hello, Carrie, I saved them from the things,” she said.

  “What?” Carrie said.

  Aron took a step towards her.

  “How do we know you’re really you?” he said.

  Carrie stepped towards Aron and placed a hand on his shoulder. Aron watched her eyes as she glared into his.

  “Trust me,” Carrie said.

  Aron paused and looked into her eyes, they seemed human, but still.

  “It’s the real you,” said Maya suddenly

  Carrie smiled at her.

  “It’s the real me Maya, it’s nice to hear your voice,” she said looking back up at Aron.

  “We don’t have time for this, if I wanted to kill you I would have done it, now we need to get the fuck off this ship,” she said forcefully

  Aron, figuring he had no alternative either way, nodded.

  “Your weapons are being stored in a holding room two decks up. I suggest that we get a move on,” Carrie said.

  Aron felt something new now that Carrie was here. Hope. She was powerful. Whatever mutation had occurred to her, she was more than a match for these assholes. Maybe there was a chance.

  “Follow me,” Carrie said.

  They obeyed, Aron placing a hand on India’s arm. She nodded an acknowledgment and lifted herself off the wall again. They began walking down the hallway. Aron beside Carrie.

  “How did Maya save you?” Carrie said to him.

  “That’s something we should probably talk about,” he said as the four reached the end of the corridor and stepped into the transport pod.

  THE AGATHON

  “John, I have nothing,” said Meridian as the captain pulled the whisky bottle out of the cabinet, “It has the most resilient structure in an organic substance that I have ever seen. That’s why my purely scientific analysis has remained unchanged. Extreme heat. Get it back to its gelatinous state and launch the thing into a star. Failing that, I can rig one of our disrupter cells to overload capacity for one concentrated burst.”

  Barrington poured the pair two glasses of whiskey; the last two glasses left in the bottle, and placed them on the table of the conference room. He took a seat next to Meridian and handed her the glass.

  Barrington smiled.

  “Did it really get Carrie?” she asked sounding deflated.

  Barrington swirled the light brown liquid in his glass.

  “I’m sorry, John, she meant the world to me,” she said trying to contain the obvious tear that was building up in her eye. She failed. It rolled down her face. Barrington looked up and placed a hand on her arm.

  “She’s not dead,” he said, “I would feel that, and I don’t.”

  “You don’t know that,” Meridian replied.

  “Yes, I do,” he said boring a hole into her with his gaze, “she’s stronger than any one of us. The Black, or Yal’Ren as Tark’An calls it, isn’t stronger than her, I promise you I’ll get her back,” he said.

  “I hope you’re right,” she replied wiping her face and taking another drink, “So, what the hell is that green thing running around the ship?”

  Barrington leaned back in his chair and stared out at the hyperspace colours as they whooshed past the windows.

  “That, my good doctor, is Tark’An,” he said.

  “Who is?”

  “The Signal Makers.”

  “He’s one of the Signal Makers?” she replied sitting up in her seat looking genuinely shocked.

  “Yep,” he replied glancing back at her.

  “Holy shit,” she said, “and Carrie’s friends just blew up his ship? I’ve been in that lab for too long. Tell me everything.”

  “Well, they call them the grey race, they’ve been at war with them for thousands of years. The grey race built the Targlagdu things but lost control of them. Tark’An’s people blew up Earth to try and stop the advance of the Targlagdu,” he said shaking his head at how absurd the whole thing sounded.

  “What?” Meridian said raising her voice to an almost inaudible screech.

  Barrington looked at her with wide eyes.

  “We are in the middle of a galactic war here,” Barrington replied.

  “Jesus Christ, John. And we’re on the way to the Signal Makers’ home planet? Are you mad?” she said placing her glass back on the table, “what the hell are we supposed to do about it?”

  “Chase...”

  “No, hang on a second, John, this ship is clearly not able to...”

  “Chase, just be quiet for a minute, will you?” Barrington snapped back at her.

  Meridian bit her lip as Barrington raised
his hand trying to calm her down. He downed what was left in his glass and put it on the table next to hers.

  “We have a way out of here,” he said to her.

  “Oh? What’s that? The pearly gates?” she snorted.

  “God, you’re impossible! You know that? Will you just for once in your life shut up and hear me out?” he said, rising from his seat and walking away from her.

  Chain of command didn’t apply with Chase. It was one of the reasons he relied on her council so much, but could also be as frustrating as anything sometimes. Meridian went silent and leaned back in her chair, raised her arms over her head, and took a deep breath.

  “We can get out,” Barrington said, “they have a porthole. They’re evacuating their entire race through it.”

  “Okay?” Meridian replied with just a hint of sarcasm, “to where exactly?”

  “He said the nearest galaxy,”

  “Andromeda?”

  “I guess so.”

  “Okay, hang on,” Meridian said getting up from her seat, “that’s impossible.”

  “Seriously? After all the shit we’ve seen out here? You think THAT’S impossible?”

  “That’s two and a half million light years, John, nothing goes two and a half million light years,” Meridian said.

  “On any other given day, I’d have to agree with you, but there’s a four-armed giant roaming my ship now claiming otherwise,” Barrington said.

  “Bullshit, he’s lying. This is a great big fucking trap to turn us all into lunch,” Meridian replied.

  “I’ve considered that possibility,” Barrington said.

  “What does Boyett say about this,” Meridian said.

  “She’s not overly thrilled about it,” Barrington replied.

  “I bet,” Meridian said, “so the plan now, is to go to this home world… somehow rescue the colonists that seem to have been kidnapped by this grey race, to hitch-hike across the known universe with another alien race, by the way, one we know absolutely nothing about.”

  Barrington smiled at her.

  “That about sums it up,” Barrington replied.

  “I joined the starship crazy,” Meridian said.

  “May we live in interesting times,” Barrington replied.

  Meridian suddenly broke into laughter and put her hands up to her face. Barrington smiled and let her have her moment. Meridian calmed herself and looked down at her empty glass.

  “I need another one of these,” she said.

  “That was the last of the good stuff.”

  “I don’t care what sort of stuff you got, but get me something.”

  Barrington walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a bottle of vodka. He didn’t even check the label, just opened it up, and poured them two glasses. Meridian took hers and downed the whole thing in one.

  “Where’s the green thing now?” she said.

  “Working on the communications system. We need to try contact his fleet, so they don’t open fire on us when we arrive,” Barrington said.

  “Oh, pity the thought,” Meridian said bursting into laughter again.

  This time Barrington couldn’t help but join her.

  “Yeah,” he said, “they might blow us to pieces before we get destroyed by the Targlagdu, or the grey race, or my daughter.”

  Meridian placed her glass on the table and burst out laughing.

  “Or The Black,” she said slapping her knee with tears streaming down her face.

  “Or our ship explodes in an intergalactic space portal,” Barrington said shaking from laughter.

  Barrington really didn’t know what else to do, so he let himself enjoy the terrifying, yet at the same time, morbidly hilarious circumstances they had found themselves in.

  28:

  THE SIENNA CLARK

  “Where the hell is everyone? Surely they know we’ve escaped by now?” said Aron as he tucked his gun into the rear of his trousers.

  He looked at India who’d been quiet for the last several minutes. She didn’t look good. She would never complain, ever, even if she were riddled with bullets. It was usually up to him to make a judgement call about whether or not she was fit for duty. Her face was white and she was sweating profusely. He made sure to catch her eye. She looked at him and wiped her brow before placing her own weapon in the belt of her jumpsuit.

  “I’m fine, sir, whatever they injected me with is wearing off,” she said.

  Bullshit thought Aron.

  He nodded at her turning to Carrie.

  “I don’t know… maybe they know, maybe they don’t. Something tells me they’re occupied with bigger things right now,” said Carrie glancing at Maya who smiled back at her in a sort of blissfully unaware fashion.

  The room they were in was a simple one with recessed walls that spanned a hundred or so meters in all directions. The furthest wall was transparent and showed the strange distorted colours that the ship generated when it was flying through the space distortion. She turned to Tyrell who was leaning against a wall nursing his arm and staring at her.

  “How did you get out?” he said as a small bead of sweat made its way down the side of his face.

  “I had help,” Carrie said walking over to him.

  “Did it leave your body?” he asked.

  Carrie couldn’t remember.

  “I don’t know. I woke up on the bridge. I didn’t see any trace of it and the others still think I’m infected with it.”

  “Are you?” Tyrell said straightening his shoulders.

  Carrie looked at her hands.

  “I honestly don’t know. I don’t feel it inside me,” she said shaking her head.

  Tyrell frowned.

  “I’m sorry, Carrie, this is entirely my fault. I wish it had just killed me,” he said.

  Carrie placed a hand on his arm.

  “We’re past all that, Tyrell, past all the arguments. We’re not who we used to be any more and honestly, it’s good to see you again,” she said smiling at him.

  “I remember things, Carrie. I would have killed us all,” Tyrell said.

  “There’s a chance that I’ve already done that, Tyrell, it attacked The Agathon,” she said.

  “What?” Aron said walking over to them.

  “What’s the condition of the ship?” Tyrell said.

  “I stopped it before it could destroy it, but I think it’s in bad shape,” Carrie said trying to hold back how upset she suddenly felt.

  “It’s a tough ship, Carrie,” Tyrell said.

  “You’ve seen what I can do, Tyrell, I could have easily blown it up,” she said.

  “Why didn’t it?” Tyrell said.

  “I think I got to it. I was on a moon, or an asteroid and we fought,” she said as she was met with confused stares, “in my mind. That’s where I beat it.”

  She looked at Maya suddenly. Her eyes were bright.

  “Maya,” she said taking a step towards her.

  “Hello Carrie,” Maya said softly.

  “Do you know how you were able to save your father?” she asked.

  “I felt it,” Maya said calmly, brushing her long brown hair over her shoulder.

  “You felt what?” Carrie asked.

  “The air … I felt it and then pushed it,” she said.

  Carrie smiled at her.

  “I guess I’m not alone after all,” she said.

  “Can somebody please explain to me what the fuck is going on?” India suddenly said with her back against the wall.

  “Can we just try and survive the next day and then play catch up if we all live through this?” Aron said.

  “Makes sense,” Tyrell replied.

  “Are you going to be all right?” Carrie said to him.

  “There’s almost no pain,” Tyrell said, “strange sensation real
ly, top notch surgical work if you ask me.”

  Carrie smiled.

  “Doctor Brubaker will get you a new one,” she said smiling.

  It was, of course, true. Brubaker could fashion a prosthetic that would function just as well as a normal hand.

  “Are you mad?” Tyrell said raising his voice, “I’m not letting that woman near my body.”

  Carrie shook her head. The old eccentricities of the Tyrell she once knew back on Mars were shining through. It was good to see.

  “So, what’s the plan here?” Aron said to her.

  She was about to respond when her heart stopped. There, standing in the doorway, was Jack. The group turned. Aron raised his gun, as did India, freezing in place. Carrie put her hands up and prepared to attack.

  “Fuck,” Tyrell said.

  “Wait,” Jack said putting up his long thin arms.

  Aron stood in front of Maya who calmly looked on unafraid. Carrie didn’t know what to do. They must have seen them the minute they left the interrogation room.

  “Hold your fire,” Carrie said softly.

  Jack took a long stride towards them. His long grey legs seeming to slither across the floor.

  “There is no need to run, Carrie,” Jack said in a strange haunting tone.

  He stopped and lowered his arms.

  “You don’t understand,” Jack said as Carrie heard a thump.

  The group turned to see India slumped on the floor. She had collapsed.

  “Shit,” Aron said dropping his gun and rushing to her aid.

  She was out cold.

  “What did you do to them?” Carrie said infusing anger in her tone to make sure Jack knew that she’d fight if she had to.

  “We needed to know how well your bodies worked under duress. She was injected with a compound we use to test the strength of arteries and veins,” Jack said calmly. Carrie looked over at Aron who was cradling India in his arms. He looked up at Jack.

  “Save her, or so help me, I’ll tear your limbs off,” he growled.

  “There is no need for such aggression,” Jack said.

  “Do it, Jack, or this ends right here, right now. If we go out, we go out our way, not yours,” Carrie said.

  Jack looked at her with his dark almond eyes.