Vasina nodded slowly.
»I think, I understand what you mean. You can’t just manipulate the time and watch from a distance what happens next, just like the director of a play who instructs his actors.«
Bennett nodded and pointed his finger at Vasina to emphasize his point.
»Whoever has intervened, must do it again and again, because not the person becomes part of the future, rather the future becomes part of the individual!«
Vasina had become pale when she understood the meaning of Bennett’s thoughts.
»Toiber Arkroid seems to be trapped in this vicious circle. We have already received various indications that he had changed the course of time.«
»The Techno-Cleric also spoke of massive interventions in the timeline which needed to be corrected,« Langlo added.
»If Toiber Arkroid really wants this, he must have seen something terrible in this possible future,« Vasina concluded with trembling lips. »He told us, before he left the Solar System with the Techno-Ferry, that he could not stay because he didn’t see Lai Pi and himself in this future.«
»This might mean that he doesn’t belong to the timeline, which he sees or wants to see, but he’s, nevertheless, shaping it,« Bennett remarked, which caused goose bumps on the arms of his teammates. »The Techno-Cleric or the Oracle, as the Phookans called him, apparently tried or is still trying to achieve the same thing. But the robot, or whoever sent him, is interested in a different future than Toiber Arkroid.«
Friedberg cleared his throat and said with a hoarse voice, »Thank you, for the valuable information and assessments. Peleus did not underestimate your qualifications. Since I now understand your intentions better, I would also like to refrain from proceeding against you because you disobeyed my direct orders.«
Friedberg looked at the four cadets with a stern look.
»Let’s come to the second reason for this meeting. I’d like to begin by giving my thanks and the thanks of the GCC for your prudent and correct conduct and behavior. You have shown far-sightedness and perseverance in a situation that would have made other people desperate. You have also significantly contributed to establishing a peaceful first contact with the Phookans and probably seen things on Neptune which no other Human had ever seen before.«
Friedberg reached into his side pocket and produced four silver ribbons, which he offered to the cadets along with his hand.
»Here are your new shoulder sleeves. I congratulate you, Mission Specialist Langlo, Mission Specialist Bennett, Mission Specialist Samura and Pack Specialist Kel-Nar!«
The four newly appointed mission specialists took their sleeves, which were now part of their epaulets, with trembling hands. The excitement was written in their faces.
»You will return to the Marigold and report to Peleus to complete your training,« Friedberg commanded. »You already embody the honorary code of our mission specialists today, which is why we have promoted you. I hope it won’t get to your heads.« Friedberg smiled briefly, then said, »Dismissed!«
After the four specialists had left the conference room, rejoicing on the other side of the airlock, celebrating their promotion, Friedberg knit his eyebrows and remarked, »It’s not over yet!«
Vasina shook her head in agreement.
»We have averted the Great Tremor, but there still appears to be a threat waiting for us in the future. Otherwise, I can’t explain Arkroid’s activities. The fact that there’s an opponent also makes these events more mysterious and sinister.«
»We urgently need answers! When does the Atlantika set off for her planned expedition to Scutum-Crux?« Friedberg inquired.
»Immediately,« Vasina reassured him. »Right after this meeting.«
34 - Expedition to the Sacrificial Suns
By Thomas Rabenstein
Techno-Center
The slight feeling of dizziness immediately faded as the new reality manifested itself around Vasina. The Progonaut Queen was suddenly standing on a large area. Marble-like stone plates with deeply engraved golden symbols adorned the floor of this vast space. Tower-high statues bordered the square. The gloomy figures, carved in stone, glanced fiercely down at Vasina. Vasina was offered a scenery that did not really fit with the inhabitants of this artificial planet and was probably a relic from the past. A little farther away, futuristic buildings reached high into the sky as if they wanted to touch the holographic clouds that passed by according to a predetermined program. No building resembled the other. The city seemed as if the architectural ideas of the entire galaxy had been realized here.
I know this place. I’ve been here before, she thought mesmerized.
The Progonaut Queen looked up, blinked at the artesian matrix, high in the zenith, and deeply breathed the oxygen-containing air.
»Welcome to Techno-Center, Highness of the House of Atlantika,« a friendly voice sounded, next to Vasina.
Smiling, Vasina looked to the side and nodded at the Techno-Cleric.
»Thank you for the kind welcome. It’s good to be here again, even if the occasion is cause for concern. What is your name? How can I address you?«
»My serial number is 62420,« the floating robot replied, pulsating slowly.
Vasina smirked.
The silver sphere responded promptly, »Of course, you can give me an alias if it helps to ease our communication.«
»Can I call you Spufur?« Vasina asked.
The Techno-Cleric hovered a little closer.
»What is the meaning of this word? I never heard it before.«
»Spufur was a maconian cub, which I loved dearly when I was still a little girl on Atlantika. I miss it as much as my home-world.«
»It’s an honor for me,« replied the Techno-Cleric friendly.
»You know why I came to you?« Vasina asked.
»The Collective of Techno-Clerics had been informed before your arrival,« confirmed Spufur. »You want to make sure that the Techno-Twin is still at a safe place.«
Vasina nodded affirmatively.
»Normally, your word would have sufficed, but I decided to make a personal visit before the Atlantika leaves the Solar System for Scutum-Crux. My stopover in the Neptune system came just at the right time.«
»I understand your motivation,« Spufur answered kindly. »As a spokesman for the Collective, I can assure you that the unknown Techno-Cleric, who served as Oracle for the Phookans, is not part of our Collective and can’t be identical to the Techno-Twin.«
Vasina’s golden eyes darkened.
»Perhaps, we need re-evaluate some of the past events.«
»What are you referring to?« Spufur wanted to know.
»We thought the Techno-Twin was an agitator, sent by the Dark Brotherhood. The Techno-Twin was acting like an agitator and tried to manipulate the programming of your people, but there is a significant difference between his actions and those of Morgotradon.«
»The agitators of the Dark Brotherhood were controlled individuals. They all were organic beings and not robots,« Spufur followed Vasina’s train of thought.
»Exactly,« she confirmed. »Although Morgotradon had enormous technical resources and abilities, which he could have obtained only from the invaders from the Parasite Galaxy, he couldn’t create a Techno-Cleric. He didn’t have the resources or knowledge. The events on Neptune, which were attested by four former cadets, who are now mission specialists, allow a further conclusion.«
»You mean the alleged manipulations of the timeline, of which the unknown Techno-Cleric was talking about,« Spufur concluded.
Vasina nodded.
»Such activities are even more dangerous than an open attack because they are done in secret. Attacks on the timeline are more subtle, intangible because most of us don’t know the future, let alone the alternatives to a possible future. You don’t have a starting point and don’t know where you must intervene pre-emptively. If one doesn’t find out by chance, no one would know that such manipulations exist at all. Things that happen are accepted as destiny a
nd not as avoidable events.«
»You suppose that the unknown Techno-Cleric wants to divert the existing timeline?« Spufur concluded.
Vasina looked serious.
»It looks as if the Phookan Oracle wants to establish very definite future. The Phookans were to occupy the Neptune System and the moons, which would inevitably have led to a military conflict with the Solar Union and the GCC. We worry that this possible, alternate timeline and the resulting future would not please us.«
»I share your concerns,« Spufur confirmed.
Just before Vasina, a bright energy field flared up. It was oval shaped and looked like a door.
»Follow me through the transport field,« invited Spufur kindly, hovering forward. »I want to reassure you and allow you to inspect the Techno-Twin.«
Vasina took a step toward the energy curtain, walked through it, and entered an entirely different area.
»A micro portal, « Spufur remarked. »Even if it doesn’t appear like it, this is a high-security prison. The Techno-Twin is incarcerated here and continuously monitored.«
»Can I talk to him?« Vasina asked anxiously.
»Unfortunately, that’s impossible,« Spufur regretted. »You’ll soon see for yourself why this is like that.«
Vasina looked around attentively and followed Spufur hesitantly. The big hall seemed to be completely empty. Each step on the reflective metal floor echoed several times. Spufur led her toward the center of the hall. At the bottom of the hall’s center was a striking, golden relief, which reminded Vasina of a fire-breathing dragon. Even before Vasina could reach and admire the work of art, she felt an invisible hindrance which seemed to envelop her body. Her long black hair appeared as if it were statically charged. The image in front of her eyes flickered for a second to form anew. Just a couple of meters away from her, a bluish, dice-shaped energy field appeared out of nowhere. Right in the center of the field, she saw the Techno-Twin.
»What was that?« Vasina asked surprised. »Did we step through another energy field?«
»We have crossed a potential barrier, which elevates this particular space onto a higher plane. Around us is an abstract space, whose reality has a limited stability. If the conservation field, that is containing the Techno-Twin, should fail one day, the potential of this level would collapse automatically and extinguish this reality.«
»A double backup,« Vasina praised. »What happens to the Techno-Twin or other people who are inside this abstract space?«
»They are losing their existence,« Spufur said in a muted voice.
Vasina pressed her lips together and gazed at the preservation field.
»This field … does it also have a temporal component?«
Vasina had been subjected to a similar field for almost a million years and wanted to make sure.
»What did the investigation of the Techno-Twin reveal?«
Spufur seemed slightly unsettled, although such an emotion was not possible with a perfect robot.
»This is a zero-time field. The Techno-Twin is still the same as on the day when he was locked up,« Spufur replied.
»You didn’t examine him, interrogated or disassembled the robot?« Vasina wondered.
»Even if the Techno-Twin tried to manipulate our basic programming and thus attacked our code, which would be the worst possible crime in the eyes of the Creators, he is still like one of us. To open his shell is immoral and forbidden!«
»Do you really feel that such an action as immoral, or is it part of your programming?« Vasina asked.
»Both,« Spufur answered freely.
»Then disable the preservation field and try to interrogate him. He may reveal his masters to us, or we could find out where he came from,« Vasina demanded.
»I’ve already said he’s like us,« Spufur repeated. »Where he came from is unclear, but he has the same abilities as my brothers, and he could sneak back into the Collective. If we disable the conservation field, then no time has passed for the Techno-Twin, and he would either continue his actions or simply escape and vanish somewhere in the Milky Way. He represents a great danger to the integrity of the Collective, so we can’t give in to your demands.«
Vasina’s golden were glowing.
»Spufur, do you understand that this Techno-Twin may have the answers to a whole series of urgent questions? I can understand that an in-depth investigation frightens you. Give him to us, and we’ll see what we can find out.«
Spufur withdrew from Vasina. His voice sounded more reserved than before, when he said, »At the same time, you release him from the conservation field, he’ll break through any barrier within seconds, destroy your ship, kill the entire crew, and disappear somewhere in the galaxy. Perhaps, he would return after a while to put his original plan back into action and endanger Techno-Center.«
»He’s not that powerful,« Vasina rebutted. »At the end, he’s just a robot. He has limitations!«
»He can do it because I could,« Spufur explained calmly. »My brothers and I are bound by the Cosmic Moral, the Techno-Twin isn’t. Don’t hope for mercy when he’s escaping his confinement on board your ship.«
Vasina paled. For a few seconds, she just stared at the Techno-Cleric. Then she whispered, »I think, we still don’t know enough about each other.«
»This is not correct,« Spufur replied calmly. »We know everything about you and the Progonauts.«
Vasina blushed for a moment.
»Unfortunately, your visitation time on Techno-Center is over,« Spufur said after a minute of silence. »We wish you a safe flight to Scutum-Crux, and hope you’ll find what you’re looking for. One of us will accompany you if you don’t mind.«
Vasina took another quick look around and then nodded.
»Okay.«
The Mission
When Vasina entered the big hangar, which was formerly intended for shuttles or large auxiliary ships and now served as an assembly hall, 750 men and women rose at once like a single person. Vasina was admired and respected. The status of the ruling class of the planet Atlantika was unbroken. She was still the ruler of the hearts, even though the planet Atlantika and the other worlds of the once mighty Progonaut Empire probably no longer existed. Many of the Progonauts on board the ship still had their difficulties in dealing with the temporal effects to which they had been exposed.
While Vasina survived in a temporal sarcophagus for almost a million years under the ice of Antarctica, her ship, the Atlantika, had to be freed from the restraints of a temporal confinement. A Kokradian, influenced by parasitic technology also known as degenerated technology had created a temporal anomaly for the ship and the crew from which the Progonauts had no escape. The solar expedition team, to which Vasina belonged, freed them from this yoke and could defeat and banish the Kokradian. A large part of the Progonauts aboard the Atlantika was still ashamed of having been enslaved and dominated by this evil being.
The Queen was accompanied by her shield bearer Tranos, who was also the commander of the Royal Guards, and solely responsible for Vasina’s protection.
On their left, Battle Commander Hellas entered the hangar, a venerable leader, whose golden eyes were sparkling. Hellas had defended the Progonaut home planets against the carrier ships of the Dark Brotherhood a million years ago. If someone asked him about his age, he just chuckled and grinned furtively.
Vasina wore a white, tight-fitting combination to the meeting. Over her shoulder hung a long velvet-black robe, which fell over her back and was decorated with the symbols of the ruling House of Atlantika. Her dark, black hair stood in a beautiful contrast to her delicate and pale-skinned complexion. The symbol of the House of Atlantika tattooed on her left temple could not be overlooked. Completely untypical for a Progonaut woman were her red lips. Vasina had grown fond of Maya Ivanova’s gift and used the lipstick only for very special occasions. Very typical, however, was the arm-length sword dangling from her left hip. The archaic-looking weapon was much more than just an ornament or a ceremonial object. In the
hand of a skilled fighter, the sword became a deadly weapon in close combat, which could cut through a steel beam like a knife through butter.
A loud roar suddenly sounded and echoed through the large hangar. Then, at the same time, fifty fists slammed on hardened breast-armor. Members of the Neo-Sapien Landing Division, assigned to the Atlantika, had assumed position in front of ten small, but fast, auxiliary ships, saluting the Progonaut Queen in their own way. Vasina smiled obligingly and returned the honor with a friendly nod.
The Neo-Sapiens and Humans are reliable allies. Without their help and Equinox’s new FTL-drive, my battleship would not be spaceworthy. Humans, Hybrids, and Neo-Sapiens have offered to complete the team of the Expeditionary Corps. Three different peoples united on a ship. I feel that our fates are inseparable from the events of the past.
Vasina looked around briefly and let her gaze wander over the assembled men and women. Many faces were familiar to her from the times before the deportation of her people.
When Vasina raised her hand, it quickly became quiet in the hangar. Hidden microphones picked up her words to be received all over the ship. She didn’t need to shout to make herself heard.
»This is the first official address to my old and new friends aboard the Atlantika, since our return from Equinox. Many of our faithful companions have left us, waiting for us in the Nimbus of the Milky Way, guarded by Nebular, who, with her divine powers, holds the spiral arms of our galaxy together in a rotating, eternal dance.«
Vasina paused for a moment to let her words sink in before she continued, »We do not mourn, but look forward because we live and decide our own future. The future is in our hands! The day will come when we meet our fallen friends again and celebrate our heroic deeds together in the Nimbus – but not now! Not before this ship and this crew have learned their destiny!«
Approving calls came from the crew in response.
»Before we begin our briefing, I would like to continue an ancient tradition of the Progonaut Fleet and announce good news! A Progonaut girl saw the stars of this galaxy and was born tonight on board the Atlantika. Her name is Zysopha Programia Nephtalfa of Atlantika, the daughter of my distant cousin Darema of Atlantika and her husband Pegos of Persia, the former ambassador of the Persian House’s Royal Court. I congratulate the proud parents and would like to welcome the first Progonaut born on this ship, since the demise of our home-world!«
NEBULAR Collection 7 - Guardians of the Continuum: Episodes 31 - 34 Page 33