The Valkyrie Returns (The Kurtherian Endgame Book 7)

by Michael Anderle

  What does that mean? “Free?”

  Bethany Anne sought the words to explain what was as natural as breathing to her. It means that you are no longer subject to the control of anyone else. You were not obligated to give any help, much less your lives. I have saved your consciousnesses, and from here on out, you will be given whatever you need to find joy in your new existence.

  Sean ignored Bethany Anne’s promises. So by your definition, you can’t tell us what to choose.

  Bethany Anne smiled and shook her head. No. Neither would I want to.

  Sean lifted his hands the way he’d seen the humans do when dismissing something they didn’t want to engage with. We chose to sacrifice. My people were the first to be free. We will serve. We will become one with the technology as the metal human described to the human who builds. We will help free the others who are still slaves.

  Bethany Anne frowned. Eve? She’s not a human. She’s a digital lifeform in an android body. And no. I will not accept your service. You have given enough already.

  Sean worked to make his face match hers, to show his displeasure at being rebuffed. But I choose it. How are we free if we cannot exercise our choice?

  Bethany Anne’s eyes flashed again. How am I free if everyone wants to die for my cause? There is a balance between personal freedom and the good of the group.

  I don’t understand, Sean admitted.

  Neither do I all the time, Bethany Anne admitted gently. But I believe you understand better than you think. You are the leader of your group, yes?

  He nodded.

  Okay, so say there was something that had to be done for the good of all.

  Like facing a foe much larger than yourself, Sean offered.

  Bethany Anne paused, seeing she was going to talk herself into supporting Sean’s argument for unconsidered action instead of illustrating her point. I’m not sure that works. Let me try this a different way. As a leader, do you take the risk yourself, knowing your failure means certain doom for your people? Or do you make a considered choice in how you approach the problem and use your resources—your people—to overcome the obstacle?

  She fixed Sean with a stern smile. We as leaders have to make the right decisions for everyone.

  Sean mirrored her expression again. The goddess will return once she has rebuilt from her losses. I have been inside the group mind of her soldiers. I have listened to the humans who are tasked with providing Etheric-enabled technology. They need time you do not have if you are to prevent more deaths. The Collectives do not fight. The Bakas fight too much between themselves to overcome their subjugation.

  His face moved through a series of emotions too quickly for Bethany Anne to make them out. We are small but powerful. We fight smart, we calculate, and we do not act irrationally. Personal sacrifice means little to us.

  Bethany Anne’s nose wrinkled. There’s not much I can say about it now. I get the need to protect your people. Right now, I’m caught between the freedom of my people and the need to have them stand against Gödel’s army.

  Sean considered her words for a moment before replying. I don’t understand why you have brought me here, but to refuse to put us to use is a waste of the lives we gave. Understand that our ancestors elected to leave with the goddess to save the majority of our population from the fate we endure. The good of the many must always outweigh the needs of the few.

  Bethany Anne narrowed her eyes, taking all of it in until Sean’s last statement. I understand. You are community-minded, like a few of the species I have encountered in this part of space. I don’t agree with your view of the Collectives. You must have stepped into the Etheric before they joined the fight in the factory. They are fierce. As for the Bakas, removing the cancer at the heart of their society has united them. They fight for each other now, not with each other.

  She tapped her lips with a finger, wondering how she could give these tiny warriors what they wanted without endangering their minds. Maybe… Yes. I have an idea. If you are truly determined to be part of this war, how would you feel about being merged with the technology we create using your gift? I’m not entirely comfortable with it, but I would do whatever I could to make it so you can retain some sense of your bodies.

  Sean was clearly confused.

  It’s like this, Bethany Anne explained. If I have your permission, I will have your genetic material infused into six special sets of armor, which I want to give to my most trusted fighters. This armor would normally have an EI, a digital program designed to communicate with the user, but I would have your six minds plugged into the systems instead.

  We would operate this armor? Sean asked.

  Not quite, Bethany Anne told him with a smile. The human wearing the armor would be in control. You would be the living interfaces between them and the armor's systems. So, say you were part of John’s armor, and he wanted to destroy an enemy emplacement. The old system would have him pull up an interactive menu, and he would choose the option for the weapons he wanted to use. With the new armor I have in mind, you would be connected to the armor’s systems and able to activate what he asked for with a thought. You would know what he needed and anticipate it.

  Sean considered the thought of being part of a whole as entirely natural, even if he wasn’t sure how it would feel to be large like the human wearing this armor. We would be part of a new kind of group mind. One that united the human and Bl’kheth in a single purpose?

  >>You could look at it that way,<< ADAM cut in. >>I'm done rebuilding the others and adjusting their minds so they can fully understand English. They will be joining you shortly.<<

  I was wondering why Sean was finding it so easy to understand me. Bethany Anne glanced around the empty space and wrinkled her nose. Can you do something to make this space a bit homier for them before they get here?

  >>What?<< he inquired.

  Bethany Anne waved a hand. I don’t know. Just make it so they aren’t so traumatized when you drop them in here.

  You could start by taking us inside, Sean suggested. It’s not natural to be so exposed.

  Bethany Anne’s mouth turned up at the corner at the way he raked the space above their heads with his gaze. It’s probably going to take a while, but you don’t have to worry about being snatched by a predator. This world is yours, and yours alone.

  >>Have any of you ever seen your homeworld?<< ADAM inquired, thinking to recreate a long-lost home for the Bl’kheths.

  No, Sean replied. We have only memories of shining cities and amethyst waters passed down through the generations.

  >>Keep talking about it,<< ADAM told him. >>I’m getting a visual.<<

  Sean continued his description, and Bethany Anne suddenly found herself standing on a covered bridge spanning verdant riverbanks. She tested the marble and found it solid, then leaned over to look at the purple water. How beautiful, she remarked.

  >>And not one bit poisonous to you,<< ADAM told her. >>Although in reality the planet would be inaccessible to humans without protection.<<

  Sean stared in wonder as the world came into being. How are you doing this? he marveled. It is exactly as I pictured it.

  In the background, buildings appeared to make up a skyline filled with steeples and minarets, all cut from the same creamy marble as the bridge. No two buildings were alike.

  >>I’m going to bring the others in now,<< ADAM informed them.

  Go ahead, Bethany Anne replied. She pulled her gaze from the city. You have your group mind, right? The others won’t be freaked out to find themselves here once you explain.

  >>I can remain and help them get acclimated,<< ADAM offered. >>You, however, are needed out here.<<

  Bethany Anne sighed. Let me guess, another shitstorm just got started.

  >>Got it in one,<< ADAM replied.

  21

  Bethany Anne got out of the Vid-doc and found John and Tabitha waiting for her. She looked from John’s impassive face to Tabitha’s barely concealed anger and saw the situation was serious. �
��What’s up?”

  Tabitha spoke through gritted teeth. “That data you sent me. Marcus isn’t wrong about there being something fishy going on in the buffer zone.”

  John didn’t need to read them to know there was a problem when the reports from Tim to Peter spoke of an incremental increase in people arriving to set up homes on Devon. “Even the Skaines are making a run from the colony they have there,” he informed Bethany Anne. “What the fuck scares a Skaine?”

  Tabitha cut in, unable to hold back. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m concerned for the Skaines who can’t leave the colony. We should go take a look at the situation.”

  Bethany Anne considered everything she had to get done before Federation troops started arriving in the Interdiction. While it was all urgent, taking a step back might prove to be the thing she needed to come to better solutions. It had helped with Sean and the Bl’kheths, that was for sure.

  “That’s a rather large area of space to cover,” she told them. “We should start with the colony. You know the Skaines aren’t likely to help each other when the shit hits the proverbial impeller. While I’m perfectly happy for the fighters to get their well-deserved comeuppance for their assholish natures, I won’t leave females or Skainlets in possible danger. Get the Sayomi ready to leave, John. We’ll be heading out as soon as I get done checking in with BMW.”

  Tabitha pouted. “Not the ArchAngel? I was hoping to catch up with Natalia.”

  Bethany Anne shook her head. “Not this trip. The ArchAngel doesn’t have Shinigami-class cloaking, and I don’t want to announce my presence when I know for a fact that anyone pulling shit they shouldn’t be will scatter like roaches under a flashlight.”

  “Besides,” John added, “Darryl has Natalia all tied up. Long-distance love’s nothing to get between. Take it from me.”

  Bethany Anne patted his arm as she left. She headed to the Hexagon and took the elevator down to Eve’s sublevel, where her brightest and best had their heads together over a table strewn with paper, abandoned datapads, and small holoprojector units.

  Bethany Anne smiled when Tina, Marcus, William, and Bobcat didn’t notice her arrival. She tiptoed to the table and slipped into the empty chair between Bobcat and Marcus. “How is my BYPS coming along?”

  The guys nearly jumped out of their skin, drawing laughter from Tina and William, who had been back in Bethany Anne’s inner circle long enough not to overreact when she decided to be playful.

  Tina undid her hair and retied it, so the wisps that had fallen into her eyes while she’d been working no longer bugged her. “It’s not,” she admitted with more than a little frustration. “There’s no way to move the satellites into place without gravitic persuasion, and there’s no way of applying said pressure until we break the Etheric-metal barrier.”

  “In short,” Marcus continued, “we’re screwed unless we suddenly get access to a Bl’kheth, since they hold the key to unlocking the ability to take metal into the Etheric.”

  Bethany Anne took a seat. “That’s why I’m here.” She gave them a quick rundown of what had gone on with the Bl’kheths. “I’ve never met any beings so dedicated to making sure the whole were taken care of. Do you know that every Bl’kheth in the factories is descended from an original group who volunteered to leave with Gödel? They tricked her into believing they were the entire population.”

  Tina eyed Bethany Anne, who nodded in her direction. She wiped away the tears threatening to spill with the backs of her hands. “That’s just heartbreaking.”

  “So you called him ‘Sean?’” Bobcat chuckled. “I suppose it’s a good enough name for a tiny hellion. Still, it wasn’t very smart of them to suicide.”

  “Actually, it was the smartest thing they could have done,” Bethany Anne corrected. “Remember, they are thinking of the whole, which to them is anyone opposing Gödel and the Seven.”

  Tina punched him in the arm. “Show some respect for the poor things. They couldn’t have known that we didn’t want to use their whole bodies.” She flashed a sad look at Bethany Anne. “You’re right. There was no way we could have sequenced their DNA quickly, but I’m still thrown that they did this for us. For everyone.”

  Bethany Anne couldn’t agree more. “I’m not the happiest about it either, but it’s not for me to say someone can’t act for the greater good. We won’t let their gift go to waste. I want you four to get with Eve and figure out how to turn what they’ve given us into a defense system that will fry the balls off any Etheric traveler who decides to appear at my front door without an invitation. I won’t have us vulnerable from any angle.”

  She tapped her nails on the table, the sound muffled by the detritus of the meeting. “You should talk to Jean as well. The first thing I want is six sets of armor with Etheric-travel capability, and then I want a way to integrate the Bl’kheths into the interfaces.”

  Marcus’ eyes widened. “Won’t that annoy you? I’d think two separate voices would be plenty.”

  Bethany Anne’s mouth turned up at the corner. “I didn’t say they were going to be part of my armor.”

  William snickered at her tone. “I can’t see Michael being happy about having a voice in his ear, either.”

  Bethany Anne grinned. “Introducing yet another voice into my head is not the most desirable path. That’s why the Bl’kheths are going to be integrated into the Bitches’ armor. I told you I’m not going to waste their gift. Michael and I are already used to operating the advanced armor without assistance. Besides, we do things our own way.”

  She got to her feet. “I’ll check back with you guys soon. I’m headed out to the buffer zone to take care of the problem you found.”

  “Oh, goody!” Tina exclaimed, turning a bright smile on her husband. “That means you can stop waffling about it and focus on the E-BYPS.”

  Devon, The Interdiction, QBS Sayomi

  John settled into his captain’s chair as Sayomi made the ship ready for a multi-Gate journey. He furrowed his brow at the nonchalance in the AI’s posture as she flitted around the consoles.

  “You’d better behave while Bethany Anne is aboard,” he warned her. “Your shit won’t fly with her. She’ll just have ADAM tweak your personality matrix to bring you in line.”

  Sayomi’s dark lips split in a mischievous smile. “Careful there, John. You almost sounded like you care.”

  John smirked as he shifted his chair into position to activate his holoHUD. “Didn’t say that. Just make sure you don’t piss her off, okay?”

  Sayomi lifted her bony hands in submission. “Consider me a good little subroutine you don’t have to think about.”

  With an eerie cackle, she vanished in a whirl of shadows.

  Tabitha snickered softly. “Jean’s trick backfired, huh?”

  John glanced at the console Tabitha was sitting at and put a finger to his lips. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. That AI has been the bane of my existence ever since I sent her to watch over Nickie.”

  “You could always let Nickie take the ship,” Tabitha teased. “Y’know, since you hate it so much.”

  “Over my dead body,” he replied.

  Bethany Anne appeared on the bridge from the Etheric. “What’s over your dead body?” she asked as she stepped forward.

  Tabitha put her feet up on the console and folded her arms behind her head. “Oh, just John trying to pretend he’s not in love with his ship.”

  Bethany Anne snorted laughter. “Yeah, right.” She pointed out the sour look he was giving Tabitha’s feet. “We all know you can’t be parted from it. Let’s get going already. I don’t like sitting around when there are people in trouble.”

  QBS Sayomi, Open Space

  The Sayomi came out in what looked to be a starless system with six dead planets drifting aimlessly around a dark spot in the center.

  “What'dya bring us out here for, Sayomi?” John asked with some confusion. “This isn’t the Skaine colony.”

  Bethany Anne w
as similarly perplexed. “It’s a pretty strange place to Gate into. There’s nothing here to see.”

  “There's plenty to see,” Sayomi countered without showing herself. “If you look with more than your eyes.” She switched the viewscreen to show a faint circle of energy far in the distance. “There is a star, and it is inhabited—in a way.”

  Tabitha looked at the altered viewscreen with distaste. “Ew. Who goes to all the trouble and expense of a Dyson sphere?” she uttered with the same revulsion in her voice. “There are so many other ways to produce energy that don’t involve the vampirism of your local star.”

  Sayomi’s grave voice rattled the speaker. “I don’t believe this to be an energy-gathering effort. My scans indicate the sphere is not solid, as one would expect from such a venture, but rather it’s made up of millions of separate modules of varying ages and designs. I would hazard that whoever is living in those modules, they have lived this way for generations.”

  Bethany Anne didn’t know anything about Dyson spheres except for the examples she’d come across in science fiction books too long ago to care to remember. “What makes you think this isn’t the last-ditch attempt of some civilization to suck up what energy they can to get the hell out of here?”

  Tabitha wrinkled her nose, her eyes flickering rapidly as she speed-read through everything she could access on Dyson spheres. “This is interesting. The original intention of the Dyson sphere was that it was supposed to be gradually grown, added to generation after generation. Okay, maybe I’m a tiny bit impressed. It makes no sense for a technologically advanced species to put all their efforts into capturing the energy when they can just, you know?” She made a takeoff motion with her hand to demonstrate. Then her eyes unfocused for a moment as she made an attempt with her new ability to connect to the sphere’s shared systems. “Hey, you’re not gonna believe this. I’m picking up that this is human technology. I think we’ve found one of the colonies that went off the radar after we left Earth.”