Shards of Eternity

by John Triptych

  “No, no,” the other man said. “We didn’t have time.”

  “Good,” Baz said before pulling the trigger once more.

  The three other men with him stood in front of a sealed free-standing display in the middle of the room, waiting.

  Baz keyed in his throat microphone as he walked around the growing puddle of blood on the floor. “We’re at the display area, Commander. No onsite passcode changes to report.”

  The shutters surrounding that particular display suddenly slid open, revealing two long pieces of scintillating crystal shards suspended side by side behind a transparent aramid frame. The fragments seemed to glow with their own inner light, as if powered by some unseen energy; the radiant hues would continuously shift to different color palettes, like a pair of tiny rainbows illuminating the twilit hall. The effect on the viewer was both strange and captivating.

  One of the other men turned to look at Baz. “How do we open it?”

  Baz snorted. “What do you think? Smash the damn display so we can get to the spaceport already.”

  10 Double Cross

  Two hundred thousand klicks away from Angkor Delta, three ships had already gone past the suddenly inoperative defense grids facing a dark matter field and headed towards the planet at high acceleration. The Tiburon resembled a hammerhead shark with giant glowing fins as she led the small fleet followed by the arrow-like Stiletto, with the much larger Nepenthe bringing up the rear.

  Inside the Nepenthe’s battlesphere, Spacer Sergeant Oana Florescu grimaced while operating the helm controls. The gravity pressure felt like three anvils on her chest. “We’re close to five-gee acceleration, Captain, but the Tiburon is going close to six.”

  Commander Creull sat a few meters behind her. “Vega is one hell of a greedy bastard. He thinks he can get all the cash cards before we get there.”

  Captain Dangard keyed in the com-link channel on his armrest. “Janice, you okay?”

  The voice coming from the com-link belonged to Janice Gwynplaine, captain of the Stiletto. “Other than a New Bali gas floater parked on my chest, I’m fine. What’s up?”

  “Vega seems determined to get there first,” Dangard said. “Any thoughts?”

  “If he thinks he can grab all the loot and run off with it, he’s in for a surprise,” Janice said. “My ship can out-accelerate him. Dun and I set our engines up to go to seven-gees if necessary.”

  Dangard raised an eyebrow. “Seven? You sure your body could take it?”

  “Probably not,” Janice said. “But it will give us enough time to launch a broadsides and disable his ship. He’ll be all yours after that.”

  “Okay, keep him in your scopes,” Dangard said. “We’ll keep an eye on the system defense ships.”

  “You got it, Lucien. Over and out.”

  Creull stared at the tactical display on her console. “As expected, the defense grids were shut down. One thing I don’t get though.”

  “What’s that?” Dangard asked.

  “If Vega’s cracker is so good, why didn’t he just use the grids to target the system defense ships too?”

  Dangard shrugged. “Maybe he didn’t have time to write the proper codes. Who knows? Anyway, we should make planetfall in under an hour.”

  “Nothing from Strand’s strike team as of yet,” Creull said.

  “Are you getting anything from the planet?”

  “Got a message from Karana,” Creull said. “She said everything’s going fine. The other teams are in the process of finishing up as we speak, so they don’t have the time for a sitrep yet.”

  On the Angkor Museum’s upper levels, Duncan Hauk crouched down behind a vending machine until he saw two panicked technicians run past him. The moment the corridor was deserted again, he peered out at the slightly opened door ahead of him. “What’s in there?”

  “According to the map, I believe that’s the AI server room,” Sappho said.

  “I need to get to a stairwell or a functioning elevator, not a computer room.”

  “The emergency stairwell we passed had a lot of people using it,” Sappho said. “They might get suspicious if you went in there.”

  Hauk cursed. “We gotta do something to help the LT out and warn him.”

  “I have a suggestion for you,” Sappho said. “Before Zeno left us, he saved a file in my memory banks.”

  The boy frowned. “Did he infect you with another malware?”

  “No,” Sappho said. “It was an exploit intended to take control of simple AI units. Zeno always liked to tinker with these software programs to help out the crew in operations like these.”

  “Are you saying we could hack the robots in this museum?”

  “Yes, it’s possible, since the AI servers are in the room in front of you.”

  Making his way towards the door, Hauk pushed it open and peered in. Nobody was inside. “Okay, now what?”

  “Head over to a control node,” Sappho said.

  After closing the door behind him, Hauk hurried to a console situated at the far end of the room. A series of readouts indicated the status of all the robots within the complex. “I’m standing in front of an interface now.”

  “Link the merger jack so I can inject the exploit into their system,” Sappho said.

  Tilting his left wrist, Hauk pointed his smartcom device towards the console’s optical sensor. In less than a second, the readouts changed.

  “Accessing,” Sappho said. “Oh, it seems the controller module for the security bots has been locked out. This is very unfortunate.”

  “So we can’t control any of the security bots at all?”

  “I’m afraid not,” Sappho said. “I’m sorry, Duncan.”

  A new scheme suddenly popped up in the boy’s mind. “Wait, try the other control systems. Have they all been placed on lockdown too?”

  “One moment,” Sappho said. “It seems only the armed robots, com-links, blast doors, and the automated transports have been locked down by Vega’s cracker. He has control over the important ones via the command link from the main security room, and not even Zeno’s simple exploit can do anything about it.”

  For the first time that day, Hauk’s lips formed a genuine smile. “But not everything’s locked down though. I’ve got an idea.”

  With his back pressed firmly against the command chair’s grav-cushions, Captain Toto Vega grimaced while looking down at the embedded catheter in his right forearm. Everyone on the Tiburon’s bridge was in a similar state. as the anti-gravity drugs helped to ease the intense gee forces trying to crush their fragile bodies.

  Tilting his head slightly towards the communications officer, all Vega could utter was a pained croak. “We getting anything … from the strike team yet?”

  “Nothing yet, Captain,” the communications officer said.

  “We got lancers fired at us,” the helmsman said. “The four defense ships are trying for an orbital intercept course.”

  “Tactical,” Vega said. “What are the others doing?”

  “The Nepenthe is decelerating in order to try and get within engagement range of the defense ships,” the tactical officer said. “But the Stiletto is staying close to us.”

  Gwynplaine is keeping an eye on me, Vega thought. Damn her.

  “If we stay on our present course, we’ll take some hits,” the helmsman said. “We’re accelerating too fast to maneuver. Their lasers are already ablating parts of the hull.”

  “Stay on course,” Vega said. If Karana didn’t succeed then I’m done for.

  “Stiletto moving off,” the tactical officer said. “She’s going to try and intercept the lancers fired at us.”

  Despite the crushing pain in his chest, Vega smiled. You are so predictable, Janice. That’s why I chose you.

  “Cap, I got an encrypted com-link signal from the planet,” the communications officer said. “It’s Baz.”

  “What are you waiting for? Open it up,” Vega said.

  Baz Wilkerson’s voice was soon heard ov
er the audio channels. “Captain, my team has the shards. We’ll be launching in under two minutes.”

  “Good job,” Vega said. “Is Karana with you?”

  “No, sir. She told me she’ll try to make sure there’s nobody who could stop us down here. Should we wait for her?”

  “Negative,” Vega said. “She’s expendable. Launch right away and synch your helm controls with us so we can match heading and velocity for an intercept.”

  “Yes, sir, launching now.”

  Garrett Strand scowled as he stood in front of the still-closed blast doors around the vaults. He tapped his ear piece. “Karana, come in, over!”

  One of the youths in his strike team stood to one side while using his wrist smartcom to try and get the solid dividers to open up, but his efforts were having no effect. Four others were huddled behind cover as they kept watch at the service corridor behind them.

  Spacer Sergeant Horace Stevens stood behind a support post, his gauss sub-machinegun on the ready. “LT, I got an idea. Why don’t we do a reverse fire hack on it?”

  Strand turned and gave him an incredulous look. “What does that do?”

  “It’s something I was working on back on the ship with Zeno—you know, before he turned traitor,” Horace said. “It basically lets the AI control think there’s a fire sweeping the upper levels and the contents here need to be moved.”

  Strand angrily pointed at the still-closed blast doors. “If you can get them to open then go for it. Anything’s better than waiting around like this.”

  Horace ran over to the other spacer and sent the exploit into the control panel. In less than a second, the outer coverings quickly slid back into the ground, revealing the still-sealed inner entrance to the main vault.

  Strand sprinted over to the optical interface and pushed the audio button. “Let us in!”

  A nervous voice coming from the inside answered him. “Y-you security? W-what’s going on out there?”

  “We’ve got orders to move the inventory out of the vault,” Strand said. “So you need to open up and let my team inside.”

  “I-I’m not sure if I should do that. I got no authorization from the command center.”

  Strand figured it was better to bluff him at this point. “I don’t have time for this. Open up or we’ll blast our way in. We got shaped charges to get through the damned door!”

  “B-but I could lose my job!”

  “You’ll lose your life if you don’t let us in—right now!”

  They all heard a loud click as the main door slid open. Strand dashed inside, his laser pistol at the ready. The interior had a counter fronting a number of large doors leading towards the vaults. He kept his eye on the lone person manning the console in front of him as the rest of his team surged inside.

  Stooping behind the desk was a skittish security officer with a blond crew cut, his thin, trembling hands raised high up in the air. “W-who are you guys?”

  Strand strode forward until he saw the whites of the other man’s eyes. His tone shifted from angry to commanding. “Open the vaults, now.”

  The guard whimpered as he bent down and entered the codes into the console. Within seconds, the massively thick doors behind him slid open.

  Strand gestured at his team to get to work. He didn’t count on Karana’s group being absent and figured it would take more than one trip to get the full haul. “Go, go, go!”

  Horace was the first to run into the interior vaults, and he came back out in less than a minute holding a small duffel bag. “This is all that was in there, LT.”

  Strand stared in disbelief as his subordinate opened up the bag and used his smartcom to make a quick count of the cash cards. Three others from the team walked back into the foyer with similar amounts. One of the spacers even returned empty-handed. In the end, the sum total amounted to no more than two hundred thousand credits worth.

  With his anger coming back to the forefront, Strand aimed the laser pistol at the frightened guard’s face. “Where’s the rest of it?”

  The guard started pissing in his uniform. “P-please don’t shoot me. That’s all there is.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Since last month, the p-planetary government got hit by a corruption scandal,” the guard said. “The public found out a lot of politicians were skimming from these vaults. Y-you guys didn’t hear about that?”

  Strand clenched his jaw. “No. Just get to the point already, dammit.”

  “F-from then on, t-the g-government decided to p-process and move the cash cards out of here every day,” the guard said.

  “To where?”

  “T-to a-all over,” the guard said. “The cash cards in here get into the subway transports and get divided up t-to go to the many banks all across the city. They said it was better to keep everything small so nobody would b-be tempted to s-steal from it.”

  Horace stood beside the lieutenant while scratching the back of his neck in confusion. “Is he serious?”

  Strand let out a deep breath as he realized the awful truth. “We’ve been set up. Let’s get outta here!”

  No sooner had he said those words than the alarm sirens instantly erupted all around them. Strand leapt over the counter and ducked beneath it just as two nearby panels opened up and two security bots came out, weapons firing.

  The other strike team members threw themselves into cover while shooting back, but their hand weapons were no match against the heavy firepower of the tracked robots. The fully armored machines began sweeping through the room like man-sized battle tanks. Two of Strand’s team members instantly went down in the first seconds, mortally wounded.

  Horace instinctively fired the gauss sub-machinegun from his hip, hitting one of the security bots along its side. Despite nearly taking the full burst, the robot’s armored exterior shrugged off most of the damage as it whirled and fired back with a full barrage of lasers and coilguns at its attacker. Horace’s own body armor proved inadequate, and he was torn to shreds before his body even hit the ground.

  The guard standing at the counter was petrified, and he took a stray laser shot in the head and crumpled backwards into the small space where Strand had taken cover. One of the spacers threw a grenade at one of the security bots before she was gunned down. The resulting explosion took out one side of the robot’s treads, disabling its movement, but its weapons remained fully functional as it kept firing at anything that moved.

  Strand yelled out in dismay as his command readouts indicated most of his strike team was dead. He was just about to stand up and go out in a blaze of glory when the room’s fire suppression systems suddenly activated, and two AI-controlled turrets emerged from the ceiling, aimed their nozzles at the security bots below them, and began spraying flame retardant foam. The first security robot had been somewhat damaged by the spacers, and its control module experienced feedback when the expanding foam shorted out its exposed battery module, completely disabling it.

  The second security robot continued to function, but the rapidly hardening foam spray embedded itself into its sensor systems, rendering it unable to sense any hostile targets. A janitorial cleaning bot walked into the room and accelerated to full speed before colliding against the blinded security robot, pushing the heavily armored machine into one of the vaults.

  Strand reacted quickly, using the console in front of him to seal off the still-functioning security bot inside the vault. Once the depository door closed, he turned and scanned the rest of the room in growing dismay while seeing the bodies of his team lying on the blood-soaked floor.

  Duncan Hauk ran into the now quiet room. He had been unable to use his com-links because of the jamming from the security center. “LT, are you okay?”

  Strand could barely look at him. “Where’s Karana and her team?”

  Hauk had tears in his eyes while staring at the bodies of his teammates. “I think I-I know where she is. We need to get out of here, LT.”

  “We’ll go,” Strand said tersely. “Right
after I kill her.”

  Inside the Nepenthe’s battlesphere, Creull roared with rage as a coded message coming from the planet finally made it into their com-link channel. “Our strike team has taken massive casualties. Spacer Hauk relayed a message via Sappho—he says they were set up. No cash cards in the vaults of the museum.”

  Dangard grimaced while studying the tactical readouts on the console beside his chair. They had managed to disable two of the Silvanus-class defense ships, but the Nepenthe was busy fending off the remaining pair. He slapped at the com-link controls on his armrest. “Viniimn, how are we doing?”

  The chief engineer’s syrupy voice answered him over the audio circuit. “We took moderate hull damage, but all the core systems are still working. Minor damage with some of the radiator nodes, so take it easy on the heat buildup.”

  The captain switched over to the Stiletto’s com-link channel. “Janice, I got news for you.”

  Janice’s voice carried a hint of pain due to the intense gee forces her ship was under. “I think I can guess.”

  “Vega’s betrayed us,” Dangard said. “My vessel is busy fighting off the two remaining defense ships. Can you take him?”

  “You got it.”

  “Over and out,” Dangard said before turning his attention to Creull. “Turn and see if we can deliver a broadsides to the pursuing defense ships, and try to pick up Strand’s signal again.”

  “At once,” Creull said.

  On the Tiburon’s bridge, Vega anxiously peered via his console at a shuttle that had lifted off from the planet’s surface as they both began a tight orbital maneuver. Now is the critical part, he thought. We have to maintain a steady course in order to match heading and velocity with them.

  A few of his crewmembers looked up in surprise as the entire bridge shuddered without warning. He could feel the ease of gravity on his chest. They were slowing down. He turned to look at his tactical officer. “What happened?”

  “Puncture in the rear hull,” the tactical officer said. “I think it’s because of the Stiletto, Captain. She’s firing at us. I suggest we begin evasive maneuvers.”