Dark Rivals_Age of Expansion_A Kurtherian Gambit Series

by Amy DuBoff

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Ava eyed yet another dark passageway looming before her on the Dyon ship. Are you sure this is the right way?

  >>You’re looking at the same map in your mind that I am. If you have another suggestion, by all means, make it.<<

  Tensions had been running high as Ava raced through the alien vessel. Just when she felt like they were making progress, she’d realize that they’d gone in a huge circle.

  The ship was changing around them. She didn’t know when it happened, but one minute a passage would be open to her, and the next it would be gone. While she kept trying to witness it happening to see if there might be a way to stop it, she had yet to be looking in the right place at the right time.

  A small blessing, at least, was that the swarm of particles that had been following her when she first entered had finally dissipated. However, a dozen or so specs were still following her movements, perhaps to keep an eye on her. As long as they stayed away from her face, she could ignore them.

  Sorry, Ruby. This is just really frustrating.

  >>I know, but whining won’t get us to our destination any faster. We need to get that communication relay in place.<<

  That’s what I’m trying to do, but these fuckers have other plans, she thought to herself.

  The fact that even Ruby was getting the AI-equivalent of anxious had Ava on edge. The mission was supposed to be straightforward: get in, follow the path, install the tech, and get out. Now she couldn’t even follow a path to her destination. She wasn’t sure what was worse… that she didn’t know the way in, or that she had no idea how to get back out.

  The mission comes first.

  It was her mantra, and it was even more critical with the fate of her home system on the line—and every system the Dyons may visit thereafter. Failure wasn’t an option.

  Ava halted. We need to try something different.

  >>What do you suggest?<<

  Have you looked at how the passageway openings are changing? Is there any pattern?

  >>Let me see.<<

  A hum filled Ava’s mind as Ruby’s attention was drawn away from cancelling the environmental effects of the Dyon ship. The whispers she’d first heard on their approach in the pod beckoned at the edge of her consciousness.

  >>Hmm, it isn’t as random as it seemed,<< Ruby said after a minute. >>It appears that sections of the ship are rotating rather than transforming. The sections are on a grid, and those pieces will slide around like a puzzle.<<

  What’s the purpose of that?

  >>Well, it’s proving to be an effective means of keeping an intruder from getting where they are trying to go.<<

  Ava’s heart dropped. Or it’s directing us to where they want us to go.

  >>I don’t like that hypothesis.<<

  Yeah, can’t say I do, either. Ava eyed the three directions she could go from the intersection. Can you use the movement pattern to our advantage? Can we beat it?

  >>I haven’t been able to make a clear determination yet.<<

  As long as we stand still, that gives them time to plot against us. We need to keep moving. If Ruby wasn’t going to make a suggestion, then Ava would need to follow her instincts. And her gut told her to go left—deeper into the ship.

  She ran through the mouth of the dark passage, the pool of illumination cast from the light on her suit dancing across the rippled surface. The oppressive quiet, aside from her own footfalls, and the rock-like material all around her gave the impression of being underground in a cave, rather than on a spaceship. Then again, when the ship was the size of a planet, maybe that distinction was meaningless.

  The three-meter-wide passage opened into a fifteen-meter-diameter cavern with an overhead twice the height of the previous chambers Ava had been inside. Rather than the two-direction fork she was used to seeing, there were three options in addition to the one she had entered from.

  In her ‘keep moving’ efforts, she dashed across the open space, toward the leftmost passage.

  >>Wait,<< Ruby stopped her. >>There’s something different about that direction.<<

  Different is good, right? We want to break this cycle.

  >>There are heat signatures I can’t explain,<< Ruby said. >>I don’t think we should go that way.<<

  Fine, then what do you suggest?

  >>Straight ahead. I believe there’s a vertical shaft you can jump down. We need to get to a lower level.<<

  Okay, Ava conceded. She altered her course to head for the passage directly across from where she’d entered the chamber.

  The passage narrowed from three meters to two after the entry.

  Why does this feel like a funnel of doom?

  >>You jest, but…<<

  Ruby!

  >>I’m positive we’re not walking down the esophagus of a giant space worm, so at least there’s that.<<

  How very reassur—

  Ava stopped short at the lip of a steep ramp. Is this that shaft you were talking about?

  >>The very one,<< Ruby confirmed. >>Good news is that you should be able to easily climb back up, at that angle.<<

  Getting out is a good thing. Ava peered into the darkness below, shining her light on it as best she could. Detect anything that will result in instant-death or impalement if I slide on down?

  >>I don’t think so.<<

  Ruby, you need to work on your phrasing. Ava returned to her human form, thinking it best that she not have claws to unintentionally impale herself with if she landed hard, and then took the leap.

  She skidded down the steep incline along the rippled rock. The frequency generator worked against her; with it keeping the rock from getting any traction on her, she had no friction to slow her down.

  By the bottom of the three-story slide, she was going way too fast.

  Oh, shitsnacks.

  The bottom was in sight. She brought her knees to her chest and pivoted into a horizontal position, tucking her limbs in to roll as soon as she hit the stone floor. She braced for impact.

  To her surprise, the slide deposited her on a squishy, fibrous floor similar to the covering on the bottom of the pit where they’d landed the pod.

  She rose to her feed, unharmed. Well, that was convenient.

  >>Um, Ava…<<

  She snapped her head around to look behind her. Glowing eyes were peering out of the shadows in every direction.

  >>I think I figured out what those heat signatures were on the upper level.<<

  Fuck, Ruby! What are these things? She snatched her multi-handgun from its holster, her arms outstretched and ready to fire.

  One of the creatures stepped into the pool of light radiating from her suit. Slinking forward on all fours, it was two meters long and stood as high as Ava’s chest at its shoulder. The skin was coarse, mimicking the texture of the stone walls, and its four orange eyes bore a similar glow to Ava’s own when she was in her Hochste state. Its wide jaw was curled back into a menacing snarl, exposing ten-centimeter-long fangs.

  >>I believe this must be the result of one of the Dyons’ previous ventures into genetic modification. They made guards for themselves, to stop any fleshy intruders who might make it past their other defenses.<<

  Fucking perfect. Ava readied to pull the trigger and the closest creature advanced.

  >>I don’t think that handgun is our best shot here,<< Ruby said. >>You wore that armor for a reason.<<

  Ava returned the weapon to its holster. You’re right, I did.

  Adrenaline coursed through her, and she gave into her raw emotion. Claws extended from her own fingertips, and her face contorted again into a snout with fangs as sharp and deadly as the ones around her. Coarse, protective hair covered her exposed skin. She was ready for battle.

  Ava dove for the lead creature, slashing her claws across its face. They sliced through the creature’s eyes, splattering blood across its rough skin.

  Holy shit! Why haven’t I been using these claws in battle all along?!

  >>Probably because you n
ormally don’t want to eviscerate things.<<

  Oh, right, that.

  The lead creature recoiled from Ava’s assault, snapping its jaws in a blind attempt to grab her hand.

  Ava brought her arm around and raked her claws across its throat.

  It yelped in momentary pain, then dropped to the ground, dark blood pouring from its wound.

  Another snarl called Ava’s attention behind her to her left, and she dove to the side just in time to avoid another creature’s lunge for her.

  How many are there? she asked Ruby, having not tallied the eyes peering from the darkness.

  >>With each creature having four eyes, there are eight. That matches the thermal readings from your suit’s sensors.<<

  Okay, then seven more to go.

  Ava rolled to her back and skewered the second beast as it completed its charge for her. She hurled it to the side as a third joined the fight. The beast snapped at her, spraying spittle in her face as thick saliva oozed from its jowls.

  Guess the suit doesn’t repel these guys, too.

  >>They’re biological, not a construct of the mineral used to form the rest of the structure.<<

  What I wouldn’t give for a face shield right now! Ava wiped the back of her left wrist across her slobber-covered face, using her right hand to jab claws into the creature’s muscular neck.

  It yelped with surprise, recoiling enough for Ava to slip out from under it.

  She leaped to her feet and slid her claws down the side of its neck to bleed it out before it could attack again.

  Three down.

  Two more vaulted toward her at the same time, one for her legs and another for her neck. She instinctually turned sideways, and the action of the assault around her crawled to slow motion.

  With her new perception, she was able to twist her legs out of harm’s way, bringing up her right knee in a powerful thrust to knock the bottom creature off-balance so it would fall into the path of the top assailant.

  Her time perception returned to its normal flow, and the two creatures collided with a yelp, just as she’d intended. She was about to finish them off while they were dazed, but searing pain radiated from her left calf.

  Ava looked down to find that another creature had darted from the shadows to sink its teeth into her.

  She plunged her claws into the base of its skull, splattering blood across her face. Its jaws opened, and the lifeless form toppled to the side.

  The two creatures who’d initially attacked her had regained their bearings, and rounded on her while the one remaining beast she had yet to engage stalked her from behind.

  Ava faked them out—taking one step forward as though to attack—but she ducked and pivoted to go for the one behind her. She slid across the floor and drove her fingers into its chest as it lunged. The carcass continued forward on momentum, offering a shield for Ava, and she twisted back to her feet to face the two creatures charging her.

  They leaped over the body without missing a step, their eyes fixed on their prey.

  >>Duck!<<

  Ava listened to Ruby without hesitation.

  The creatures had already leaped, unable to change direction midair.

  Time slowed down for Ava as they passed overhead. She brought her hands up and plunged her claws into their sternums, opening them up the entire length of their bellies as they passed overhead. Blood and innards spilled over her in a hideous, dark red wave.

  The bodies collapsed on the ground behind her.

  Cautiously, Ava rose to her feet, wincing as she put weight on her injured leg. Was that all of them?

  >>I don’t see anything else on the thermal,<< Ruby replied. >>That was good fighting.<<

  Ava looked down at her wound. Though I didn’t get out unscathed.

  The puncture wounds from the fangs were deep, but the rest of the damage was superficial. With her new healing abilities, they wouldn’t take long to close.

  >>I’ll be on the lookout for any more. Can you walk?<<

  Yeah, just a flesh wound, Ava replied while shifting back into her human form. We need to keep moving.

  She blocked out the carnage around her to assess the layout of the new level. It was a mirror of the chamber she’d been in before the passage leading to the ramp—fifteen meters across, with a total of four passageways, one of which was the ramp.

  Which way? she asked Ruby.

  >>Middle,<< the AI replied. >>We’re almost to the access point.<<

  Ava ran forward as best she could on the injured leg, trying to favor it so it would heal faster.

  The middle passage was three meters wide, identical to the other corridors she’d encountered on the strange alien vessel. It extended for nearly one hundred meters before fanning out into a larger cavern with a wave-like rock tower at its center.

  I imagine this is it?

  >>It is. Time to see if it’s connected to the core of the ship.<<

  Ava wiped the blood from her hands as best as she could on the outer thighs of her pants, then reached into her carrying bag to retrieve the signal booster her team had given her.

  Where should I place it?

  >>At the base of that central structure, I suppose. If any component in here has tendrils connecting to other parts of the ship, it will be that. I’ll trace the signal to see where it leads.<<

  Ava put the box in position.

  Bits of rock tried to rise up over it, but the rock disintegrated into particles as soon as it made contact with the tuned shield around the device.

  It’s still so weird to see the rock move like that, she said to Ruby.

  >>I wish we had a safe way to study this lifeform. It’s a unique wonder.<<

  It is. The murdery impulses are a major problem, though.

  >>I can’t disagree with that.<< Ruby paused. >>Hmm.<<

  Ava sighed. I have come to associate that vocalization with bad things.

  >>Well, it’s not good.<< Ruby was quiet for another three seconds. >>Rather, there is some good news. The tracer signal Luke’s team likened to ‘poison’ does work. I’ve been able to trace the network conduits linking this node to the rest of the ship. Unfortunately, it doesn’t connect to the core operating module that controls the defenses.<<

  I thought we were just going to this one so we could get out a signal to the Raven?

  >>Yes, though I had hope we might get lucky. The worse news is that this node doesn’t connect to the communications systems, either.<<

  Ava’s blood pressure rose. Then what the fuck does it do?!

  >>I’m working on that. Nothing about this ship is as predicted. I need a few more minutes—there’s a lot of data to process.<<

  So we’re trapped and still have no way to communicate.

  >>Maybe.<<

  Ava walked in a small circle and took a slow breath. Completing this mission is my first priority, but it does concern me that we keep getting deeper into this ship. We’ve already been in here longer than I anticipated, and at this point, I honestly don’t know how we’re going to get back out in time—assuming we do get the equipment in place.

  Ruby didn’t reply.

  This is the part where you’re supposed to tell me everything is going to be okay… Ava prompted.

  >>Oh, I didn’t expect that,<< Ruby said at last.

  I really can’t handle any more vague statements right now.

  >>I have made a significant discovery about how this ship operates, and extrapolated that to an explanation for the Dyons’ behavior as a race,<< the AI explained.

  Ava stopped pacing. Go on…

  >>In the FDG’s attempts to understand the structure, we have been approaching it like a ship. For that matter, we have been thinking about the Dyons as individuals with their own motivations, as we observed with Nox and Reya.

  >>In reality, though, this ship operates like an organism, not a mechanical ship—except the nervous system is disaggregated in a way I have never encountered before. I had expected there to be one core that controlled ev
erything, but instead there appears to be a node for each major function. I now believe that the Dyon ‘nests’ or ‘pits’ are incubators for the specialized systems. It is where the beings learn to blend together into one voice.<<

  Shit, so calling them a ‘nest’ wasn’t far off… it’s a nursery.

  >>Yes, I believe that would be an apt analogy.<<

  Ava crossed her arms. But what about all the evil shit going on? Possessing Kurtz, Chancellor Heizberg, the plot with the Hochste…

  >>That’s what I was trying to figure out. That plot doesn’t fit with the collective design of a craft such as this. I was quiet for so long because I was running through the scenarios of why that may be. This ship’s design demands a cohesive community to operate it, but none of the pieces on this ship are talking to each other. We have observed strong individualist tendencies at odds with the collective.<<

  Ava wanted to scream at the AI for taking so long to explain. What did you figure out?!

  >>This group has gone rogue.<<

  That was it? The big explanation?

  Ava shook her head. What in the stars are you talking about?

  >>It explains everything. A group within the Dyons decided they wanted individual expression. A scouting party set out to learn and grow—precisely what Nox explained to you. They settled upon Coraxa, a world rich in the mineral they needed to propagate. When the humans and Torcellans settled in the Alaxar Trinary, it was a chance to spread beyond Coraxa. They began growing new nurseries to grow their numbers, launching a plot that would feed them the negative energy they needed to make them stronger.

  >>Except they weren’t alone in their interest to break away from the rest of the collective. They needed to get a signal to their collaborators back home, wherever that may be, and relay that they had a foothold into the rest of the galaxy. This ship may have been waiting hundreds or thousands of years to receive that message. So, the Dyons in Gidyon built the massive transmitter we observed. We had assumed it was pointed inward toward Federation space, but I believe we had it backwards all along.<<