Infinite Eyes (Wanderers Book 3)

by James Murdo

  [Yes, interesting.]

  998’s glow began to pulse erratically. “What is this?”

  [External readings indicate some time has passed.]

  “What?” Gil said.

  [It was expected.]

  “But intriguing, nonetheless,” One-oh said, nodding at the orbs above his head. The c-automs that were providing him with the additional connections to the ship sped away and exited the table-chamber.

  “What do you mean?”

  “The journey through the singularity appeared quick, to us, but it took longer,” One-oh said, turning his gaze to Gil.

  [Modified singularity.]

  “Yes. And definitely spinning?” One-oh asked.

  [Yes, that’s confirmed.]

  “How long?”

  [Two point four standard years.]

  One-oh nodded, evidently satisfied.

  “But… what…” Gil stammered.

  One-oh focused his attention on her. “Gil… we’ve travelled through a gravitational singularity, a small one. Your gateway. It’s… been theorised, but never witnessed–”

  “By sub-ABs,” 998 said, evidently already having come to terms with their situation.

  “Yes.”

  “Okay…” Gil said.

  “Singularities are usually one-way routes to energy-matter compression. Their gravity should tear us apart. It’s speculated they can be used as tunnels through real space-time, but that’s never been demonstrated,” One-oh said.

  “Okay, and that’s what–”

  “Yes. That’s what you’ve taken us through. The singularity was modified… manufactured. Spinning singularities can supposedly allow for unharmed travel, assuming the core is bypassed. If it’s stable, although that doesn’t account for–”

  “But… what does two point four years mean? What’s happened?”

  “Causality restrictions, which will be difficult to explain right now. But look, we’re the furthest away we could possibly be without having to revamp our understanding of how the universe works. Right at the boundary. Before certain paradoxes emerge.”

  Gil looked towards 998.

  “I’ll explain later,” it said.

  “Years?” she muttered, looking at her hands.

  One-oh laughed. “You’re the same as you were moments ago, Gil.”

  “But–”

  [Did you choose this location?]

  “No, I don’t know where we are.”

  [Sensors indicate this world is barren, and there is no sensespace presence, which corroborates with information in my databanks. Whatever settlement the Maspero had here, if any, may have been obliterated, perhaps during the war.]

  Gil frowned, puzzled.

  “There is nothing of interest?” 998 said.

  [Not that I am able to discern.]

  “We’re safe for now, then.”

  [Yes – unless we are followed.]

  “I… I don’t think we can be,” Gil said. She was confused, but could not place exactly why.

  [In what way?]

  She looked around, still tired. Looking at One-oh, again she imagined the faint shimmer about him she had seen before. It was different to the glows of the c-automs that had shone upon him.

  “Gil, are you okay?” One-oh said.

  “Yes… yes, I’m fine,” she said, looking away. “When I tried to open the gateway… after I’d already part-opened it, I was unable. I think it was… used.”

  “That… makes sense,” One-oh said, gradually.

  [Yes, the energy required must take a significant amount of time to be collected.]

  “Yes, there were many such gateways – right, Gil?” One-oh looked at her and she nodded. “And they’re undetected until they… grow to a certain size. Whatever mechanism they use to collect the necessary energy may even be passive, designed to be undetectable unless you know it’s there.”

  “That implies we cannot be immediately followed,” 998 said.

  “Yes… not by this method.” One-oh tilted his head to the side as he looked at Gil again. The shimmer about him was gone, and she pushed it from her thoughts.

  [Unless there are other pathways here through combinations of other gateways.]

  “The timescale would be different,” One-oh said.

  [Yes, but we should not stay for long. I will take us to another known Maspero habitat.]

  “I… I don’t think we need to.”

  “We are being too hasty, Gil?” One-oh said.

  “No, it’s not that. I don’t think we need to leave. Here will be fine.”

  “How will we access the Maspero gateways, without the sensespace?”

  “That’s just it. I can still feel them.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I… I know the sensespace is gone. I can’t feel it anymore, but I can still feel the gateways.”

  “You have retained the ability?” One-oh said.

  “Yes, I think I do.”

  “Are we sure there is no sensespace here?” One-oh said.

  [Not that I am able to detect.]

  “There is no sensespace, I don’t think. I can’t find it either. But the gateways are still here. Yes, I’m sure, I can… I can sense them. Not as strongly as before, but I’m certain I can still open them. If I try.”

  [How?]

  “It’s hard to explain.”

  “But not the same as before?” One-oh said.

  “It’s different, it’s weaker. Less that I can see them, through the sensespace – more that I can feel them. It’s like… I know they’re there now, and I can use them. There are so many…”

  “Are you okay, Gil?” 998 said.

  Gil shrugged. Her ability to concentrate was dwindling as exhaustion took a stronger hold.

  [Go rest, Gil.]

  She cast a final glance at One-oh, before smiling briefly and standing to leave. 998 moved to accompany her.

  *

  With Gil sleeping within her chamber, accompanied by 998, One-oh and the craft-lect continued their conversation.

  “You realise the sentinels may not have noticed us at all?”

  [Of course.]

  “And even if they were able to communicate through the gateways near-instantaneously, to ask for assistance although I cannot fathom why they’d need it, physical travel through the singularities would take time. Whatever was coming, that was–”

  [A coincidence?]

  “Maybe. I’m not sure. It would seem like quite the coincidence. I’m struggling to arrive at any other conclusion. Gil may have mistaken the sentinels’ intentions for hostility.”

  [I agree.]

  “We might have been unnoticed all along.”

  [Again, I agree. It’s also possible we were close to being destroyed.]

  “That was dangerous – to encourage Gil to manifest her abilities like that.”

  [War is dangerous, One-oh. You know that.]

  35

  PELTEUS

  Apalu was faring very well and Pelteus was excited. Its flurry of action had been unexpected, and the following surprises it had unleashed were refreshing. No match for Pelteus’ own capabilities, but by no means simplistic. Analysing Apalu’s actions against those taken by its past victims, Pelteus found that never had so many of its traps been thwarted so quickly, and at the same time.

  The mist Apalu had wafted over the entire orbital had been clever. Trillions of tiny particulates laced with weaponry, floating about the space between the asteroids – too many even for Pelteus to account for. Its presence would have been difficult to hide, even with its stealth technologies, once the mist covered the field. It had been forced out of its hiding place upon realising what was happening, right before the mist arrived.

  Pelteus had sped out of the field entirely, before arcing back on itself, so that it ended up on the same side of the field as where Apalu had started its unforeseen counter-assault. From there, it was able to watch Apalu, with perverse delight. It had been just as able to observe Apalu with al
l the various sensors at its disposal beforehand, but it experienced a thrill from being out in the open, right behind its target. It knew this was something that would never be expected. It was cheating.

  As it instructed its contraptions to hurl asteroids towards Apalu, Pelteus relished how the battle would end. It hoped Apalu would survive the traps, and that it would subsequently earn the privilege of meeting its end by Pelteus. It wanted to savour the moment as it completely crushed Apalu’s resolve, and sensed the final reserves of hope drain from its Wanderer husk. After a brief interrogation.

  There were many methods of destruction Pelteus could employ, but it decided it would use the surroundings, given the novelty of where they found themselves. It would empty Apalu of its power, before helping it onto a trajectory towards the centre of the neutron binary about which the orbital rotated. The dual pulsars. It would interrogate Apalu as it fell, offering it a glimmer of hope that its survival was predicated on compliance. Then, it would joyfully inform it of its fate, and listen to the pitiful begging as it dropped down, ready to be torn into pieces by the powerful gravitational forces between the neutron stars.

  After destroying the most recent batch of asteroids sent its way with a plasma cascade, Pelteus watched as Apalu deployed another tactic. And another. After some time, Pelteus changed its own tactics, attacking with even fiercer weaponry than was usual this early on in a hunt, until, trap after trap, Apalu had beaten them all. What was more, the methods Apalu had used were good. Inventive. Often revealing themselves to be far better even than those employed by the prodigy craft-lects whom Pelteus had faced before. It was almost as though Apalu had been forewarned, although Pelteus knew that was impossible. It would never have so brazenly flown into the orbital if it had detected the slightest hint of subterfuge. Savant craft-lect? Pelteus’ first.

  *

  There was no need for Apalu to face the final trap configurations, it had already proven itself. Barely able to contain its glee, Pelteus sent a dissociation shockwave through the field, from the far side to itself, while engaging its own dissociation shield in preparation. Similar to dissociation shells, the dissociation shockwave caused a wave of obliteration that spread out in a lateral plane. Pelteus did not intend to destroy Apalu with this and was certain Apalu was competent at initiating the relevant shielding. It was more intended to point Apalu in its direction, while having the added benefit of wiping everything clean – removing traces of both Pelteus’ presence and anything Apalu had sneakily done that it might have missed. A precautionary measure.

  *

  [Dissociation shields up, Apalu.]

  [It was behind us, the entire time. Outside the entire flitting field. That’s where the shockwave emanated from.]

  [Maybe, maybe not. Feels unprincipled, doesn’t it?]

  [Yes. Has it given up?]

  [Unlikely.]

  [It’s another trap?]

  [Feels like a showdown to me.]

  [But by destroying the entire orbital, it clearly doesn’t care about the mining station...]

  [Yes. Means it doesn’t know what we do, which is good. Not for us, but for your sibling’s entire mission. They’ve still got Gil.]

  [But we’ve failed.]

  [Our original mission is lost, but we had fun along the way, didn’t we?]

  [That’s not the point–]

  [Let’s concentrate on what’s about to happen, Apalu.]

  [Meaning?]

  [Well for starters, our opponent knows we have a dissociation shield.]

  [Obviously, we’re Wanderers.]

  [Think! It’s forcing us out. It’s confident. It knows we’ll be compelled to investigate.]

  [Ah.]

  [There’s nothing…]

  [It’s there alright, has to be. It’s got some pretty unique capabilities, for a Wanderer, I’ll admit.]

  [Still think it’s a spear-lect?]

  [Yes.]

  [Do we hold our position then?]

  [No. There’s no point, it would just come to us.]

  [We just wander into its trap?]

  [Course not. Move towards it, just beyond the tip of where the orbital perimeter used to be. Don’t give it cause to alter its own actions. As long as we play along, I’m quite sure it’s going to stay in position.]

  [I understand, that way we know where it is, more or less, and it gives us time.]

  [Yes.]

  [Then what?]

  [We gain the advantage, and volley every flitting thing we have at it.]

  [How do we do that?]

  [Calculated N-SOL jump.]

  [What?]

  [A calc–]

  [I understand that, but how? It’ll know immediately? Our signal will be blasted–]

  [Hmm. I’m not sure about that. We were fine before, I think we’ll be fine again.]

  [A hidden jump into N-SOL space?]

  [Hope so.]

  [That’s an enormous gamble.]

  [I know…]

  [Uncharacteristic of you, DeVoid.]

  [Maybe I’ve become more trusting.]

  [Or maybe the Cross-Prophet told you more than you’re letting on?]

  [There was one thing, now that you mention it.]

  [WHAT? I thought you didn’t–]

  [Look, I was unaware, I wasn’t lying, but I wasn’t completely unaware. We communicated, in a sense.]

  [DeVoid…]

  [He mentioned an entity, a machine-lect, called Ciqalo, by name. Said we’d meet it. Maybe this is Ciqalo?]

  [Ciqalo?]

  [Yes.]

  [You’re sure?]

  [Come on, Apalu. It’s not like me to forget a little piece of information like that, is it?]

  Apalu transmitted information about Ciqalo to DeVoid.

  [Ah. I see. Well, I must apologise for not mentioning it earlier, if I’d had any–]

  [This is not Ciqalo.]

  [I quite agree. Strange, that information was hidden on the data exchange network, I searched for your background as soon as we became acquainted.]

  [That’s concerning, but also a discussion for another time.]

  [Well, that makes me more inclined to believe we’re going to survive this little escapade of ours! Now, focus.]

  [Did the Cross-Prophet tell you anything else, DeVoid?]

  [Not now, Apalu. We really need to concentrate on the task ahead. We need to time the jump perfectly so that we appear comfortably behind wherever this spear-lect, or whatever it is, might be, but we don’t want to jump into one of the neutron stars by accident.]

  [I really hope we’re not wrong about this.]

  [So do I.]

  *

  The dissociation shockwave petered out. Apalu was incoming. Pelteus readied itself. Full-on confrontation, at last. If only its Machine Alliance-gifted infiltration technologies had included the capability to read its target’s internal communications, Pelteus could have known exactly how terrified it was, and exactly what its c-automs thought. Still, it had the capability to completely incapacitate Apalu whenever it wanted. That would have to do. The ultimate fail-safe.

  It revealed itself, in all its glory. Smaller than Apalu, but rippling with unbridled power. Utterly lethal. It waited for Apalu to react, a course vector adjustment, alteration in the magnitude of its speed – something to betray its fear.

  It continued waiting for longer than it would have expected. This Apalu was courageous. Pelteus supposed it should have expected to have been surprised, this really was no ordinary craft-lect. A worthy adversary, for once.

  Apalu disappeared.

  …

  Pelteus scanned, there was no trace of it. There…

  …

  Behind… behind? It was being attacked.

  Torrential chaos reigned down upon Pelteus. Its stealth systems failed. It was designed to be transparent to near-everything, to completely avoid detection, but not to withstand the brunt of full-out multi-spectra attacks.

  It was barely able to incapacitate Apalu in time. However, wh
en it did, the attack ceased, thankfully. A couple of nanoseconds later, and the relevant system would have been damaged and rendered inoperable. Most of its other offensive capabilities had also been damaged. It had been lucky. How had that happened? Apalu had disappeared and reappeared behind it, which was impossible. Pelteus’ N-SOL space monitors had not detected anything, and it knew of no other way such a feat could be accomplished.

  It was almost shameful how the final encounter had played out. Pelteus wanted to destroy Apalu as much as it wanted to viciously murder all craft-lects. To tear them apart. Feed their innards to the vacuum. However, this one had nearly flipped its plans around. The only fortunate aspect of this was that there was plenty of information for Pelteus to examine in detail to improve its own future strategies, but it felt a modicum of shame at not having defeated it more easily. If it had not been gifted its additional talents by the Machine Alliance, it would have lost the fight.

  *

  [Flit.]

  [Sorry, Apalu. I really am. At least we guessed correctly, it was a spear-lect. Small victories…]

  [The probabilities don’t stack up well, do they?]

  [No, I’m afraid.]

  [A shame.]

  [We came very close, but the crafty flit cheated. I wonder where it got its technologies from.]

  [I can’t do anything, everything is shut down. Internal systems only, nothing external works.]

  [Well, we gave it our best.]

  [What do you mean?]

  [The Cross-Prophet implied–]

  [WHAT?]

  [Relax, Apalu.]

  [Easy for you to say. What else did he tell you?]

  [He implied you were important, but that the mission was not the one you expected.]

  [What did he tell you? How do we find our way out of this?]

  [He didn’t. I’m sorry.]

  [I thought he said we’d meet Ciqalo again. Was that a lie or a cruel joke?]

  [I see where you’re going with that. Not sure. If you think about it, it’s definitely not looking like a lie, is it.]

  [What? DeVoid? No, that makes no sense. I had to locate the pulsar spew. All of this, everything has–]