by Crucible
’s Telemetry Lab reported. “It’s large enough to be a laboratory facility.”
“Acknowledged, Pegasus,” said Morgan. “Map us a route to it.” Outside, and a couple of kilometers away, Johnny Rook had strayed a few meters beyond his assigned patrol perimeter, into a field of tall pinkish sort-of-like grass-but-tougher. He had to do the same thing Ing had done in the ancient euphemism.
As he was closing the access gate on the front of his battle pants, he happened to look toward the town. There was a strange desolate beauty to it. He remembered as a child overlooking the town of Armstrong, a similarly-sized city on the edge of Sapphire’s Great Nef desert. The surrounding landscape was similarly scrubby, and the hills in the background had that same anvil shape to them. He realized this was the first time he had stood on a planet since his family had taken leave on Independence, but that had been to a beautiful and luxurious seaside resort. Nothing like this at all.
He hoped his parents were safe back on Pegasus.
He turned away from the town, to check out the forsaken landscape that stretched away to the horizon. He watched the ruined moon rise above a ruined bridge into a ruined, cloud-wrecked sky. If he concentrated hard, he could almost look at the scene from another vantage point and see himself as part of the landscape, or better, the landscape as a backdrop that he stood in front of, covered in tactical gear.
And he looked, he thought, pretty damn good.
Then, his movement detector went off. It was a slight thing, a tick, really, in the northeast sector of his patrol zone. He touched his COM Link. “Rook to Lt. Taurus, I think I just saw something.”
“Something?” Taurus asked.
“Motion detector gave me a blink,” he reported. “I’m going to check it out.”
“There’s nothing detected in your zone, Rook.” Or, for forty kilometers in any direction apart from us, she could have added.
“I’m going to check it out anyway,” he said. “Maintain link.” Chapter Twelve
Keeler – The Underdecks
The heavy, reinforced blast-hatch hissed open. “Whoa,” said Driver.
A huge gash extended thirty or forty decks into the ship and thirty or forty meters across, revealing a cross-section of smashed decks and bulkheads illuminated in strobes and flashes by hundreds of crackling power conduits.
“How do we cross that?” Trajan asked out loud.
“We’ll have to go around,” Driver said.
“That’s at least fourteen sections we’ll have to get through, half of them blocked by wreckage,” Trajan argued.
“I don’t think we have another choice,” Driver shrugged.
Christmas looked over the scene thoughtfully, and after some seconds pointed to a broken cross-beam two decks below that stretched part-way across the hole. “We can climb down, cross on that beam until it intersects with the lateral cross-beam over there. We can drop down to the next deck, and shimmy across that beam, the one lying at an angle. Then, when the angled beam intersects with the deck below, we can make our way along that ledge of debris until we reach that ladder. We climb up four decks, and we can cross on that partially intact catwalk.”
“Aye, and Taurean Chimera might fly out of my rectal cavity,” Trajan exclaimed.
Christmas cocked his head, “That’s a curious expression.”
“I’m not into that,” Muffy told them. “But I am a sex slave.”
“Where did you pick it up?” Christmas demanded. “Does that expression come from one of the worlds your ship called on?”
Trajan had to think about it. “I can’t remember. Which must mean, I picked it up in the Chronos Universe. Whenever I can’t explain something … I blame it on the Chronos Universe.” Since returning to Pegasus, he could have added, he had blamed the disappearance of several pairs of socks on the Chronos Universe.
Without waiting for consent from the others, Christmas had begun lowering himself to the first beam. Muffy followed him. Driver and Lear secured themselves to it with makeshift rappelling belts. “Tell me of the Chronos Universe,” Christmas asked, balancing himself on the beam.
“Were there women there?” Muffy asked.
“I remember one big silver one,” Driver answered as he tentatively stepped onto the beam.
“Did you have sex with her?” Muffy purred.
Trajan closed his eyes and stepped onto the beam. Then, he realized it would be better if his eyes were open. He felt Driver’s reassuring hand on his shoulder, opened his eyes and stepped out. He began to speak. “When we discovered the StarLock Chapultepec, we could only get a connection to one other StarLock, which was called ‘Chronos.’ Captain Driver and I were sent through. When we reached it, we discovered Chronos had been built in a completely different universe, and connected to eight other universes, where it somehow synchronized all the StarLock activity in all of them.”
Christmas continued to walk nonchalantly across the beam. Muffy was equally well-balanced. “Go on,” he prompted.
“There were ships there from all different eras… past, future, and the different universes,” Trajan Lear recalled. “We met men from Colonial Days, from the Crusades.”
“I thought you said your memories are incomplete,” Christmas prompted. His walk across the beam had made it look easy. It seemed to shudder under every step Trajan took, and it took even more effort not to look into the yawning chasm beneath.
Trajan Lear explained. “Some memories we managed to capture in the days after we returned by writing reports. And some images are pretty strong, like the Silver Lady, a sapient machine that ran the place.”
“How strange,” said Christmas.
Trajan Lear’s face was tight with fear as he stepped into a large space with a 200 meter drop beneath him. “It’s slippery… the thoughts are like… like you can see them, but you can’t catch them. I think we’re not allowed to know the future. Not even Matthew, and he’s…” Trajan stopped himself.
Christmas swung out on the beam, jumped, and landed on the one below, he continued to work his way across the chasm. Muffy dropped down and he caught her.
He had crossed the beam by the time Matt and Trajan had reached the point where they had to drop down, This involved detaching the rappelling gear. Trajan Lear undid Driver’s, and then Driver undid Trajan Lear’s.
“Don’t look down,” Christmas suggested.
Trajan Lear had no intention of doing so. He lowered himself toward the beam with eyes tight shut until his feet made contact with it. He did not let go of Driver’s arm until he had found his footing.
As Driver lowered himself, Trajan Lear went on. “When we got back to our own universe, we discovered only some days had passed, when it was two years for us. And it’s weird, because while we were at the Chronos station, we accidentally got trapped in an artificial universe the ancient humans had constructed, and we thought we spent several decadays in it, but we got out and less than a Planck second had passed. Commander Keeler wanted us to write a report of everything that had happened. Captain Driver undertook to draft the report, while I went on a mission to a planet called Aurora — that my mom almost blew up.”
“Your mother?” Christmas asked.
“TyroCommander Goneril Lear,” Trajan specified.
Christmas grunted. “Several of our crew worked under her. From what I have heard, that sort of behavior is not surprising.” He had reached the trickiest part of the crossing, shimmying up a beam that went up at a forty-five degree angle.
“Anyway,” Trajan said again. “When Flight Captain Driver sat down to write the report, he found it hard to remember details.”
Driver specified. “It was like trying to remember a dream you had a long time ago,” he said. “Half of my report read… ‘And then, we were attacked by something. I’m not sure what, but I recall being very frightened, and something about a man with a big pointy hat.’” Trajan Lear paused. He also remembered a man in a pointy hat, but not the significance.
There was
also a memory of a boy who wore a heavy coat with no shirt underneath who told him of something important he had to do. “Even now, it’s not that I remember things, but I remember remembering them.”
“Like perhaps the way a dead man remembers life,” Christmas suggested wistfully. He had reached the ledge and was easing onto it. Driver was focused on not falling off the beam he was crossing, and reluctant to say anything.
“Are you suggesting we’re dead?” Trajan asked. “Because I don’t think I’d be afraid to die right now if I were actually dead.” Trajan had reached the angled beam. Slowly, deliberately he unhitched his line from the other beam, and wrapped it around the angled one. He happened to look down into thirty-three broken decks of falling space, edged by jagged debris. A shadow of a memory brushed his mind, something from that other universe; a deep, deep pit with terrible things poised to rise out of it.
Driver had made it to the next handhold, he reluctantly paused to answer. “I know this may sound irrational and completely illogical,” he prefaced. “But, I have an idea that time does not really exist in the Chronos universe, except within the Chronos Starlock. It’s why the ancients built Chronos, to synchronize the other Starlocks in a universe outside time. In any case, because there is no time, nothing really happens there, so there is nothing really to remember.”
There was a brief spark in Christmas’s good eye. “There are Ancient Teachings of a place between Heaven and Hell, where nothing happens, and the souls of the dead await judgment.” Trajan had made it to the ledge. There was nothing here on which to hook a line. He would have to cross on his own strength and balance.
He balanced himself, and carefully made his way across the ledge.
And then they were on the other side.
“Let’s take a break here,” Christmas suggested. “And I’ll tell you more of our voyage.”
Pegasus Primary Command
The Main Bridge of Pegasus was busy but calm – what with the ship not currently being under attack and all. In the midst of coordinating comms with three ground teams and four Aves, Shayne American was irritated to note an inbound call from Goneril Lear. She alerted Commander Keeler in the Command Suite. “TyroCommander Lear is hailing us from the Secondary Command Center on Keeler.”
“You mean Acting TyroCommander Lear,” Keeler grumbled. “What the Hell does she want?”
“I suggest you ask her,” American told him.
This annoyed the commander for some reason, but he said nothing. “Put her through.” His conference suite was at the rear of the bridge and looked out over the rear flight decks, and far below that, the burning atmosphere of the planet. An Aves was returning from Keeler.
It made him think of all the times he had read of real war, and the times Pegasus had been attacked, but this was the first time he had felt part of a war, felt the weariness grinding against him.
He took a seat an activated the holovator. “Acting TyroCommander Lear, what are you doing in SC-2?”
“My team is restoring command and control functions,” she answered. “Especially the primary Braincore. Having intelligence on-line will greatly facilitate repairs. I should also inform you that we have uncovered evidence that Keeler was sabotaged. The command and control lines to the primary Braincore have been physically severed. The saboteurs may still be on-board.”
“We have sent warfighters and Watchmen to secure the ship,” Keeler told her.
She touched some controls on her console. “I haven’t been apprised of the status of operations. How many casualties has this mission cost us so far?” Lear demanded.
Keeler grimaced. “Twenty-Two when Kate was ambushed, four technicians lost when we blasted Keeler out of the atmosphere, two more lost in miscellaneous accidents, six personnel unaccounted for… including TyroCommander Redfire and Flight Commandant Jordan.”
“My son is also among those unaccounted for,” Lear said accusingly.
“I am very sorry to hear that,” Keeler told her with absolute sincerity. “I could dispatch additional Search and Rescue Teams to Keeler if you think it will help.”
“The deck he was on was crushed because of the structural damage that resulted when you blasted this ship out of the atmosphere,” Lear snarled. “I hold you personally responsible for his death.”
Keeler sighed. “It was the only way to keep Keeler from crashing into the planet.”
“Blasting Keeler out of the atmosphere was reckless,” Lear scolded him. “Was my son’s death worth salvaging this empty ship, worth the loss of those lives?”
“We didn’t have time to formulate a better option,” Keeler told. “Are you criticizing me? I mean, if we hadn’t… you’d be dead now, wouldn’t you?”
“Prime Commander, I am criticizing your command of this mission,” Lear told him. “I believe your incompetence had resulted in the needless deaths of many of the crew on a mission that was neither wise, nor necessary. I challenge your fitness to command, and I intend to make that challenge formal when I return to Pegasus.” Keeler felt hot rage pumping out of the rage center in his brain. He tried to maintain a calm demeanor, but could not quite pull it off. “I think you should return to Pegasus immediately.” Lear glowered at him. “Right now, I am the only thing preventing this recovery mission from being a complete and utter failure. So, if you can spare any additional Watchmen or Warfighters from the dangerous combat situation you created, send them here, and you can remove me.”
Keeler spoke through clenched teeth. “Mr. Duke can handle the repairs, I want you on the next Aves back to Pegasus. If you don’t come back, you’ll be sent for. Keeler out.” He cut the COM Link, and then rested his head in his hands. Some of Lear’s pointed words had found their mark. In retrospect, he could have done more to secure the area before sending teams.
And the deaths of the crew… of every crewmen lost … weighed on him.
Alkema appeared at the hatch, “What was that about?”
Keeler looked up at him. “Lear is upset. Her son is missing … probably dead. I’ve relieved her of her duties.”
“We heard that,” Alkema told him.
“I thought we were on a secure channel.”
“That wasn’t a closed channel,” Alkema told him. “She put you on shipwide. Every person on the ship heard that conversation.”
Fortunately, he was not on shipwide for the profanity-laced aria that followed.
Pegasus – Office of the Watch, Deck 82
Chief Inspector Churchill cupped his long, narrow face in the cup of his hand, and stared incredulously at the message on his COM screen.
He read it, encrypted it, and sent for Watch Officer Sukhoi.
Keeler – The UnderDecks
Christmas pried open the hatch to a cargo hold, where they found a space heater and some ration packs. Driver and Trajan sat down on the deck, and ate … fending off the advances of Muffy … while Christmas scouted the trail ahead. He returned a few minutes later and informed them. “There is a clear pathway for the next six sections. There, we can access a transport lift to the habitation decks.”
As they made their way down the corridor, Matthew Driver asked Christmas. “You never told us how you got your implants. I’d like to hear that.” Christmas began. “On our third voyage, we came to a colony that was listed in our records as Electra, but had been renamed IX-11590 by its inhabitants. The planet was only marginally habitable. Its atmosphere was an oxygen-argon mix, and so thin the planet’s mountaintops protruded into vacuum.
“We discovered no human inhabitants, but the planet had thousands of cities. They were unlike anything we had ever seen before or could have imagined, I thought at the time. The city I visited was laid out in a spiral, the buildings constructed like some kind of fractal, all edges and corners, built of some kind of transparent metal we had never seen before … and that defied close analysis by our instruments
“In place of human inhabitants, the planet was inhabited by thin, ghost-like creatures. They moved quick
ly, running around us like they were in some kind of time frame that was 16
times faster than our own. Although when the sun was high, they would pause, and a fan-like array would spread out behind them.
“Our attempts to communicate were futile. We continued to study the planet, and attempted to find out who these creatures were, where they came from, what alien race they represented.
“Meanwhile, we dispatched a pair of Aves – Agility and Courage – to observe an anomaly orbiting the fifth planet; a small moon, only a few hundred kilometers in diameter, which appeared to be entirely gaseous. Astronomical Survey didn’t think it was possible for a mass of gas with so little gravity to stay together.”
For some reason, this made Trajan Lear think of Prime Commander Keeler.
Christmas went on. “Soon after assuming orbit around the gaseous body, Agility and Courage were destroyed by a massive plasma shockwave. Sixteen crew died with them. Then, the moon left its orbit, and began approaching the colony.
“Because this was something moons also were not supposed to do, we surmised that it was not a moon at all.
“I advised Prime Commander McGyver that we had no defense against the plasma shockwaves, and recommended leaving orbit. TyroCommander West disagreed. At that time, there were 154 of our people on the planet’s surface, and another six in one of the orbital power arrays. We could not abandon them. I argued that if the plasma moon attacked us, the ones on the surface would be the lucky ones.
“McGyver – as he usually did – agreed with both of us. He agreed with me on taking Keeler out of orbit. He hoped a high-speed retreat would draw the plasma moon away from the planet long enough for our personnel to be evacuated. Later, we would rendezvous at the outer edge of the system.
“As Lexington Keeler retreated, we launched five evacuation Aves. Four went to the surface, the fifth, my ship, Happiness, went to one of the orbital power stations.
“But instead of battling us, the plasma moon moved into orbit around the Electra colony planet, effectively cutting us off from our base ship. We were stranded.