Progeny (The Progenitor Trilogy, Book Three)

by Worth, Dan

  ‘I think you can safely assume that that’s a given, though you’ll need a new XO now Commander McManus has been re-instated as Captain. Hawkwood’s given him command of the Leyte Gulf.’

  ‘A good ship, sir. He’s earned it. I was thinking to promote Lieutenant Commander Singh to be my XO. He’s a first class officer.’

  ‘There’s still a lot to do, Michelle. Although the Shapers tore themselves apart, thanks to the actions of those aboard the Shining Glory, there’s bound to be some of them still out there, lurking in some godforsaken corner of the galaxy, and then of course there’s the K’Soth civil war still rumbling on and well, the rebuilding effort is going to take some time. We need to keep pirates in line, stop them capitalising on vulnerable systems, police the trade lanes and...’

  ‘Business as usual, sir?’

  ‘Business as usual, Admiral Chen,’ Haines replied. ‘Come on, don’t look so glum. You were on the winning side twice in the last couple of years. That’s as many as I managed in an entire career.’

  ‘Yes sir. I know that.’

  ‘Of course,’ said Haines, conspiratorially. ‘I may have something else to offer you.’

  ‘You know,’ said Isaacs, reclining on the gigantic double bed. ‘I could get tired of five star service after a while, and Paris.’

  ‘Really? I always used to say you should take me somewhere nice, for a change. They say when you’re tired of Paris, you’re tired of life, or something,’ said Anna, taking another sip of her champagne.

  ‘That’s London, and I think I’ve seen enough art galleries to last a life time. You know, I always thought that when I hit the jackpot I’d go on some sort of month long bender somewhere exotic with expensive drinks and cheap women.’

  ‘They have those here too. Not that you’re going to find out, are you hubby dearest? Even if they do keep approaching you because you’re a famous hero of the Commonwealth.’

  Isaacs groaned with mock anguish.

  ‘Makes you wonder what sort of attention those two archaeologists get. Journeying to the galactic core and helping to save everyone from the Shapers ranks pretty highly as far as I’m concerned. Still, I’m a famous heroine of the Commonwealth, so you know, I get offers too from time to time, especially when I tell people about how we rescued everyone’s new favourite academics from Rhyolite.’

  ‘Yeah, I must remember to use that one,’ said Isaacs, and Anna playfully punched him on the arm.

  ‘Anyway, you once said that you wanted to see the sights of Earth properly and it beats crashing in space-port hotels. It also beats being crammed together in your ship eating ration packs three times a day and it beats being shot at by god knows what every bloody day. It smells a damn sight better as well,’ she said. ‘When was the last time you had that thing valeted?’

  ‘The Profit Margin is a beautiful ship, which has saved my arse and yours more times than I care to remember.’

  ‘Well I’m glad you still have an arse, dear. Really I am,’ said Anna reaching around and goosing him. ‘So what do you want to do with all this money? The Navy were very generous, I think. Ten million credits is a lot of money. We can’t blow all of it on holidays and parties.’

  ‘We can’t?’

  ‘No. Look, I mean have you ever thought about settling down, you know “us”.’

  ‘Settling down?’

  ‘Yes, we have enough money to live wherever the hell we like. Buy somewhere nice, have a couple of kids, you know, normal stuff except with ten million in the bank.’

  ‘Yeah, normal stuff...’ Isaacs looked thoughtful.

  ‘And with that much cash we can buy more ships, start our own proper business, instead of this living around the edges shit we’ve been pulling for years, and you can still fly whenever you want. Come on Cal, how about it?’

  ‘Well,’ he said. ‘Alright, I’ll think about it. What was that first thing again?’

  ‘Buy somewhere nice.’

  ‘And second?’

  ‘Have a couple of kids.’

  ‘Yeah,’ said Isaacs. ‘Let’s do that first.’

  He grabbed hold of her and kissed her.

  Katherine and Rekkid lay on the grass in the sun, the half finished bottle of wine between them. Across the river Cam, the ancient stones of Kings College basked in the warm summer’s day. Students from many species ambled by, with bags and rucksacks filled with books and datapads, chatting together in dozens of languages both human and alien. Some cast furtive glances at the two half drunk figures sprawled a short distance away. Their likenesses had been emblazoned across all media for the past few weeks ever since they had returned from the centre of the galaxy via the Arkari wormhole and told their incredible story to a waiting galaxy still wondering what happened to the Shapers and who had hailed them as heroes. This time, the Arkari had backed them up on every detail, although some aspects of what they had discovered had been withheld for the time being.

  ‘Ah, I’ve missed this,’ said Rekkid, shielding his eyes against the sun.

  ‘What, sunshine, fresh air, vegetation, other people who aren’t trying to kill us?’

  ‘No, decent booze,’ he replied, holding up the glass so it caught the light. ‘One of the true signs of a decent civilisation is its ability to produce delicious things that get you pleasantly drunk.’

  ‘Is that the title of your next paper?’ said Katherine, refilling her glass.

  ‘Well it’s a start, and a lot safer than some of things we’ve studied of late. Think about it: take Earth’s history: the Greeks – big wine producers, the Romans – ditto, the British - beer and whisky! I could go on.’

  ‘You generally do. Presumably this theory is applicable to the Arkari as well?’

  ‘Naturally. Of course this paper will require many hours of diligent study, which I intend to carry out in a variety of locations that also serve food. Would you care to be my research partner, Doctor O’Reilly?’ said Rekkid, and took another mouthful.

  ‘Well, it would be a shame to pass up on this career opportunity of a lifetime,’ she replied, and laughed. They drank some more.

  ‘Being famous is rather fun, don’t you think?’ said Katherine.

  ‘Well the accolades and so on are rather nice, not to mention the limitless research grants, what with us having apparently saved all of civilisation. Well, the Progenitor AIs did, pretty much. In fact, didn’t we cause the problem in the first place?’

  ‘Something like that. I just like walking in a room and seeing heads turn. It makes a girl feel glamorous.’

  ‘Oh people have been staring at me for years, what with me being non-human and everything. Bloody xenophobes, I mean you think they’d never seen an Arkari before. If only I could tell them the truth about where we all come from.... that would be interesting.’

  ‘We really can’t Rekkid,’ said Katherine. ‘They made us promise, remember? People aren’t ready for knowledge like that. Remember the Akkal?

  ‘How could I forget?’ said Rekkid.

  ‘Besides, we don’t know if it’s really true. That data we found on our worlds in the facility on the Progenitor home-world was tens of millions of years out of date.’

  A shadow fell across the two of them. Sitting up to see who it was, they saw a woman in naval uniform silhouetted against the sun. Behind her a short distance away, stood a male figure. She was Admiral Chen.

  ‘Good afternoon, Professor Cor, Doctor O’Reilly,’ said Chen.

  ‘Oh no, it’s her...’ said Rekkid. ‘This is bad news, I can tell... make her go away...’

  ‘Hello, Admiral,’ said Katherine brightly. ‘What can we do for you?’

  Chen was about to answer when the other figure stepped forward.

  ‘Hello Katherine,’ said Steven, moving out of the light so that she could see him properly now. ‘It’s good to see you again.’

  ‘You too, Agent Harris,’ said Katherine. ‘Been in the wars?’ she added, noticing that his arm was strapped up.

  ‘Someth
ing like that,’ Steven replied. ‘You’re looking well. I gather we have you both to thank for well, everything.’

  ‘That’s a little overstating the case, but yes, if you like,’ said Rekkid. ‘Good to see you, Steven.’

  ‘I have a proposition, for you both,’ said Chen. ‘The data that you and the AI known as Eonara recovered from the Progenitor home-world contains the locations of all worlds seeded by them, as well as a map of their gate network that spans the galaxy. We are also exploring the possibility of constructing our own portals. We have the device that the Shapers constructed in Achernar for study. Perhaps one day we can repair the gate network. For now though, Eonara has kindly volunteered to help us explore the surviving section of the network and attempt to contact the other worlds across the galaxy that the Progenitors may have seeded, a program that I have been place in command of. I require the services of esteemed archaeologists with knowledge and experience of ancient alien civilisations and an extensive knowledge of the Progenitors.’

  ‘That sounds suspiciously like us,’ said Rekkid.

  ‘I’m hoping that you’ll say yes,’ said Chen.

  ‘What do you think, Rekkid? Adventure, excitement, a chance to explore the galaxy?’ said Katherine, her eyes shining in the sunlight.

  ‘Well,’ said Rekkid, thoughtfully. ‘I’ll have to think about it.’

  The Shaper home-world was utterly destroyed by the Arkari. After being repeatedly bombarded by the Executioner Cannon until much of the mass of the world had been converted into pure energy, what remained was pounded into dust by the guns of the massed dreadnoughts and then dusted with anti-matter warheads until nothing remained except a fading field of radiation which gradually dispersed into nothing.

  The Shapers themselves turned upon one another across the galaxy as their hive-mind collapsed in on itself. Some survived, and were occasionally glimpsed in the depths of space by explorers and adventurers and it is not inconceivable that perhaps pockets of them still exist in some dark corner of the galaxy, biding their time, building their strength and waiting to strike.

  The Arkari recovered the wreck of the Shining Glory and carefully collected the surviving parts of the ship that had been scattered by its destruction. War Marshal Mentith’s body was never recovered, and it seemed unlikely that he could have survived the near destruction of his vessel. Aaokon’s vessel had taken the brunt of the Shaper barrage and was entirely destroyed. The largest surviving fragments of the great golden craft were only a few metres across. Although Eonara’s AI core was recovered and the data she and Aaokon had unearthed on the Progenitor home-world given to the Arkari and the Commonwealth, much of its content remained classified for several decades and some of it may never be released to the general public. The Shining Glory’s own AI did not survive, although many of her crew were rescued from the wreck, along with a group of terrified K’Soth females, who became inconsolable with grief when they learned that their master, the Lord Steelscale, had met his death on the planet below.

  Of all the items recovered from the wreck, perhaps the most poignant, not to mention the most curious, is what appears at first glance to be a metal statue of a cat, perfect in every detail, and curled around itself as if sleeping.

  The End

  About the Author

  Dan Worth was born in Bradford in the United Kingdom in 1977 and was educated at Hull and Bradford Universities. He has probably worked in every office job known to man at some point and writing kept him sane during his evenings and weekends. He writes for his own enjoyment but even though he now spends his working hours in a job he enjoys he still likes to wander off into his own imaginary worlds during his spare time.

  Also by Dan Worth

  Exiles

  Renegades

  615