OMEGA Brutal

by Stephen Arseneault

  I raised my hands to my forehead. "The only thing you have accomplished here today, Darba, is to make me an enemy of Tamarins. As I said, I cannot afford to be locked up. There is a war going on and I am needed on the front lines. The New Alliance will come here and they will squash your puny corporation. They can put those twelve thousand warships from Odenta in orbit around any one of your planets without any warning. It's a war you will lose and lose badly."

  I stood and walked to the door leading back into the board of trade chambers.

  Darba looked on in terror. "What are you doing?"

  I replied, "I'm going to plead my case to your board. If they won't listen, well, then you are all idiots."

  As I walked through the chamber door I had to shake my head at myself. Had I just called the ruling council of the Tamarins idiots? I reasoned I had spent way too much time around my Human cohorts.

  I stopped in front of a startled board of ministers, enabling my arm pad as a translator. "Ministers, I don't believe you have been given the whole picture. We are at war. And when I say we, I mean my people and the Tamarins. We are both at war with the New Alliance. They destroyed fifty of your warships at Odenta, they will destroy many more when they arrive here. And believe me, they are coming.

  "The contract in question today was minuscule as compared to what I have offered your people. Not only will your profits for ore commodities soar, but we can offer some protections from the New Alliance that are far beyond what you can do for yourselves. War is coming here to Parmesen and you need our help!"

  The board members sat in silence, staring down at me. The doors at either end of the chamber burst open and armed soldiers soon had me subdued and lying on the floor.

  I said, "Joni, don't do anything rash. I don't want to hurt anyone."

  I was lifted to my feet and then shoved forward, back out into the hall. I glanced over at Darba Wampros. The mortified look on his face told of what I could expect at the sentencing. The hearing was swift, with the prosecutor asking for and receiving the people's due. I was to be executed on the morning of the fourth day following. It was not the outcome I had expected.

  For three days I sat in my cell without a word from Joni. On the morning of the fourth, my cell door was opened and an escort of armed soldiers filed in. I fought the urge to fight, as my speed and strength would be unmatched in such tight quarters. As we reached the end of a long hall, Darba Wampros was standing with a guard holding each of his arms.

  Darba said, "Your actions have consequences, Mr. Beutcher."

  The two guards then escorted Darba away. His hands were cuffed behind him.

  I was then taken before a large, fortified door. I reasoned the execution room must be on the other side. As the door began to open, a bright stream of sunlight shone in. The guard behind me pushed for me to proceed. As I walked into the glare I squinted my eyes.

  To my surprise, I was pulled to a stop and my restraints removed. I was again pushed forward, away from the open door. As I looked across the way into the bright sunlight, the image of the Jess filled my vision. The ramp was down. I walked aboard.

  As the Jess lifted off, Joni blinked in. "That took some doing. They really didn't want to give you up."

  I replied, "What happened? How did you convince them?"

  Joni smiled, "I kind of wrecked their warship. No one was hurt. I then took the Jess and ran during the confusion. They almost caught me with one of their tractor beams, but I managed to counter it enough to get away. After that, we moved the Ares to a spot about ten hours away.

  "I came back with the Jess and a string of probes, giving us comm, and Garrett and Jack began transferring Tamarin warships out to Odenta. After we had swept about forty of them away, they were happy to turn you over."

  I replied, "Do they know their people are OK?"

  Joni smiled, "They will in about five minutes. That will put us out of their range."

  I leaned back in the copilot's chair. "Thank you for keeping a cool head and getting me out of there."

  Joni nodded. "While you and I were busy, Jack and Garrett opened a portal to Odenta and did a deep scan. I left a message with the ships we sent to Odenta for them to pick up their cargo. The platinum stockpile was complete with about 20 percent overage and the palladium was at 85 percent. All just sitting there waiting to be taken. My uncle had no use for those metals in his campaign, so he left them. The Tamarin could have gone back and picked it up without incident before the contract was due."

  I glanced at the nav screen as we pulled away from the Parmesen system. "I think the door to any cooperation with them has now been closed. Any chance at an alliance is over."

  Chapter 11

  * * *

  After a short time aboard the Garmon, we once again fired up the portal, taking ourselves to the point where the original wormhole from the Triangulum had been opened.

  Go walked onto the bridge of the Garmon. "I think my limbs are finally working correctly. I can do just about everything I could do before, plus more. Give me another month and these should be better than the originals. Oh, and Anterra is almost finished with the artificial lung. Not that I need it so much anymore, since I don't have to support arms and legs. My breathing capacity is now more than adequate."

  I nodded. "It's good to have you back. What's with the new outfit?"

  Go smiled. "I'm testing out my own version of the bio-gel and filters. I only needed to cover my torso, so it was easier to make. It doesn't have the sodium skin properties that the Human suit has, but I can wear it under a normal battle-suit. It has all the food and medicinal properties as the other. And I can manually control it through my shoulder pad."

  Garrett came over the comm: "Was just listening, and congratulations. Good to have you moving about like normal. Is there any way we can shut down those AIs now?"

  Go replied, "I should have the semi-smart AI ready to test for the Garmon's repair system by tomorrow. After that I think we could shut her down for a while. Although, we might want her to build us a few more of the semis before we do. They won't be able to design anything on their own, but they will be able to command the bots to build just about anything we need."

  Garrett huffed. "The sooner the better. I'm over here with Joni and I keep looking over my shoulder at all the bots, just waiting for them to activate and crush my skull."

  Go said, "I'm working on an isolation chamber for Anterra where she won't be able to communicate with the bots, but I will still be able to pass designs back and forth to her. If I can pull that off, we haven't lost any of her capabilities."

  Garrett added, "As long as you can wire it up so if power is lost she is shut down. I'd be OK with that."

  Go smiled. "I'll be taking every precaution."

  Jack asked, "So where to now, Chief?"

  I replied, "I think we go home. We need to take out that other portal gate... and to make sure Harden's not building any others."

  Jack crossed his arms. "You know, I've been thinking about our trip back. If we pick a spot along the shipping lane the Galorians use for delivering cesium, we might be able to hi-jack a whole shipload—fill up all these bays and we could jump back out here and home again without sweating it."

  I nodded. "I think that's an excellent idea. Joni, why don't you and Go head over and set that up. Jack will pass over the coordinates we're interested in."

  The Jess settled in the docking bay of the Ares. Jack lined the Garmon up in front of the great portal ship. Minutes later, we were parked in the Triangulum. The thought of being home was strange. I wondered how things were in Omega.

  With a day of waiting along the Galorian shipping lane, our planning paid off. A Galorian freighter hauling a large load of cesium ore came into sensor range. Garrett and Joni sped off in the Jess as Jack took the Garmon. I waited patiently aboard the Ares. An hour after a chase began, the Galorian ore-ship surrendered.

  The captain of the ship was brought aboard the Garmon. I watched over the comm as he was
interrogated. With our successful capture of the freighter, we decided to wait. The next ship, even larger, was two days behind.

  Jack came over the comm: "These ships have been underway for three weeks. This one won't be due at Adicus for another four. There's a small colony four days from here. We could sit here stacking up these haulers and then send all the crewmen to that colony in their shuttles. We could have a dozen of these ships under our control in that time. That's at least a dozen trips we could make to that other galaxy."

  Go said, "Yallux."

  Jack replied, "What?"

  Go answered, "The Yallux galaxy. That's what the Odentas called it. That's what we should call it."

  Jack shrugged. "OK, Yallux."

  I said, "I think that's an excellent idea. If anything other than an ore freighter comes this way, we jump. And I'm thinking we jump to Omega."

  Garrett remarked. "How about somewhere around Megiddo? Maybe we make that our base of operations. That's if our green buddy hasn't turned it into a tourist destination. What was his name?"

  I replied, "Kerba Skol. He was from Ankor."

  Garrett nodded. "Yeah, he seemed like a good guy. Wasn't looking to rip us off in any way."

  Our collection of ore haulers continued until sixteen ships were parked in a line in front of the Ares. The shuttles with the ship's crews were dispatched toward the nearby colony of Blatten. Blatten was listed as a small, self-sustaining colony of about thirty thousand agrarians. Visits from other worlds were rare.

  The coordinates to Megiddo were entered and the jump made. A second jump placed the Garmon in orbit around the planet. A scan told of a lone ship and small outpost located on the plains where Garrett and I had been with Kerba. We dropped down through the atmosphere, parking the Garmon on the ground next to Kerba's personal cruiser.

  A hail came over the comm: "Who are you and what do you want here?"

  I opened the video feed. "Hello, Kerba. I hope you have been well."

  Kerba returned a stunned gaze. "Mr. Beutcher! Oh, do I have some things to show you! If you can wait a minute I'll be there in my mini-shuttle."

  Kerba looked around himself. "It's been my workhorse for the past year."

  I replied, "You've been out here for a year?"

  Kerba nodded. "After I returned from our first trip, I sold my businesses and my home, purchased enough supplies to sustain myself, and came back out here. Two days ago marked day number four hundred. Oh, this is exciting. You are the first people I am able to share my findings with."

  I tilted my head slightly to the side. "You never told anyone of our find?"

  Kerba returned a sheepish expression. "I didn't think I could trust anyone. This is such an historic find. Those seeking credits would have flooded this planet and stolen everything away before it could be cataloged and studied. Oh, this is exciting. I can't wait to show you what I've found."

  We stood outside the rectangular metal building Kerba Skol had constructed. His shuttle landed and he came scurrying over to where we stood, excitedly wringing his hands.

  After awkwardly attempting to hug Garrett, he turned toward his shelter. "Come with me. I must show you... wait... are you hungry? Pardon my excitement—may I get you something to eat?"

  I held up my hand. "We are fine, Kerba. Show us what you've found."

  The green Ankor wiggled his short arms with excitement as he walked down a dimly lit hallway. We turned the corner into a room filled with stone tables.

  Kerba said, "I'm sorry for the look of the place. I have limited resources and have to make do with what I have. The tables are an improvisation. Oh—"

  Kerba looked us over. "If you don't have radiation suits, you will need them. We are OK inside this building, but you want protection if you are going to be here long."

  I nodded. "I believe we are all covered, but thank you."

  Kerba looked around nervously. "OK, let’s just start over here. These tables are what I found during my first trip when the two of you were here. We have an android foot, and oh... here... I think this is part of a fusion reactor. It's not complete, so I'm not certain how it worked.

  "And over here, I believe this to be an environmental control unit. It took me two days to unearth the whole thing. Cabin air would flow into here, this section contains various filters, electronic, magnetic, and a few technologies I don't recognize. And clean air would exit over here. I know you may not find this as exciting as I do. I sold ECUs as one of my businesses. This would have been far superior to anything I had."

  Go picked up the android foot to inspect it.

  Kerba cringed. "Oh, please be careful. Every artifact here is precious, and delicate."

  Go turned his head one way and then the other as he gazed on the mechanical appendage. "OK, this is kind of scary."

  Garrett asked, "What?"

  Go replied, "This design is almost identical to the one I have."

  Kerba turned. "You have an android foot that is similar? I would love to see it sometime. Did you bring it with you?"

  Go smiled. "Well, yes. I just happened to bring it with me today."

  Lifting a latch on either side of his right boot, Go let his foot slip out. After lifting his leg, the foot was set on the table.

  Go grinned. "I have it right here!"

  Kerba stepped back in wonder. "You... you have an android foot? I mean you have an android foot!"

  Go nodded. "Both arms and legs actually. They were severely damaged in an accident. I built new ones."

  Kerba looked over the design. "The similarities are uncanny. How did you come about this design?"

  I stepped in. "We had it designed. Do you have any other android parts we can look at?"

  Kerba nodded. "Yes... yes... over here. I have a table full of them. But none look like the design of that foot. And I found most of these have writing on them in AMP English. I have concluded that the Humans must have had androids."

  Go replied, "Or cyborgs like me. They could have had arms and legs replaced. Would be convenient if you were a warrior. Lose a leg, attach a new one."

  Kerba slowly nodded. "Interesting. I hadn't considered that."

  I moved to a table covered with parts of weapons. "Some of these are definitely blasters."

  Kerba walked around to the other side. "I've identified six types of weapons. Ion blasters are here. Lasers here. This one appears to be a coil gun, although strangely, it looks to be part of a glove. This one is plasma. And this one I believe fires a gravity pulse."

  Garrett remarked, "You said six."

  Kerba nodded. "I have the end of the barrel of one of these. I think these are particle accelerators. And this portion looks similar to the gravity pulse weapon. I can't be certain, but my speculations say it's either a black hole weapon or perhaps a dark matter weapon."

  Garrett asked, "Dark matter?"

  Kerba nodded. "I don't have sufficient material to offer a full understanding of it, but I believe it to be something created when smashing particles together. I have found limited scientific data on it, and it seems that smashing particles is one of the sciences that was outlawed in the AMP."

  Garrett looked at me. "Looks like they were breaking half the laws they imposed on us."

  I replied, "It may have been done to protect us from the destructive power. Until recently, seeing a blaster was rare, even among the security corps."

  I moved to the next table. "What do we have here?"

  Kerba eagerly moved around to the other side, flipping a switch when he arrived. Each of the items on the table came to life.

  Kerba picked up a small cube. "I believe this to be a computer. It has limited abilities, probably a controller of sorts. And it uses only the tiniest amount of energy. My best guess is that it was a controller for one of those android, or cyborg, limbs."

  Go nodded. "I have multiple controllers in each, so that explanation would make sense."

  I pointed to a long thin tube with multiple flashing lights. "What about this one?" />
  Kerba shrugged. "I have no idea. There was debris around it that appeared to come from a ship, but I haven't come to any conclusions about what it might be. For all I know, it could be ornamental."

  Garrett laughed. "Ornamental?"

  Kerba nodded. "Yes. Perhaps a colorful frame around a holo-display of someone's mother. I really couldn't say."

  I moved to the next table.

  Kerba powered down the table before moving to the other side. "Helmets! And this one is intact!"

  Garrett stared at the helmet. "Is that what I think it is?"

  I slowly nodded. "It's dirty and worn, but it's identical to the one we have."

  Kerba grabbed his lower lip with his fingers. "You have a helmet? Please... you must let me see it!"

  Garrett pursed his lips. "Should we tell him?"

  I thought for a moment. "I think we should. He may have already stumbled onto something else that will give us an advantage."

  Garrett smiled. "Good. Because I kind of like him."

  I sighed as I looked at Go. "Your opinion?"

  Go nodded. "I say yes. He's smart. And he obviously has a gift for digging into this stuff. I say we tell him."

  Kerba's eyes darted back and forth between us. "Tell me what?"

  Garrett laughed. "We're about to open your eyes to the big nasty existence that is out there beyond Omega sector."

  Kerba huffed, but in a polite way. "I have seen enough of what's out there. Thieves, murderers, all sorts of perverse behavior. Most people are kind, friendly and hardworking, but there is always an element lurking in the shadows, waiting to prey on the innocent or ill-prepared. It is one of the reasons I enjoy being out here by myself. New discoveries, research... and no one to make fun of my obsessive behavior. Peace and freedom is what I call it."