by Jack Halls
“Okay, say we can get some armor. Then what? The second we climb through that hole, someone’s going to spot us. CENTCOM’s always crawling with people.”
“We wait until everybody leaves.”
“There are shifts around the clock. How are we supposed to get everyone out?”
Gideon smirked as he started walking again. “We’re not going to get everyone out. Valkyrie is.”
CHAPTER SIX
CENTCOM
SAVE FOR A few guards and engineers monitoring vital systems, every soul aboard the Leviathan was gathered in the large central park in the biosphere, just up the river from the cemetery. The climatologists had engineered the perfect evening, with a light breeze and comfortable temperature. White canvas pavilions ringed the park next to stately oak trees strung with lights.
In the center of the ring, a huge hologram depicted Valkyrie, updated in real time as the Leviathan approached. After a century and a half of drifting through the Void, they were finally getting a close-up — at least in galactic terms — of the planet they soon hoped to call home. Later tonight, the ship would zip past the planet at close to twenty-five kilometers per second. Every camera and spectrometer aboard the ship was furiously gathering as much data as possible as they hurtled toward it.
In a few hours, they would be speeding away again, past Valkyrie and into a close orbit around her star. A few rocket burns later, they would come into an orbit matching that of Valkyrie, and three months from now, Leviathan would meet up with the planet and fall into orbit.
Despite the festivities, Gideon sat alone on the outside of the gathering. Two weeks had passed since the funeral, and watching everyone drinking and dancing while they celebrated the final chapter of their journey cut him deeper than he’d expected. But that wasn’t the only reason his thoughts were elsewhere.
Somewhere among the revelers, Takomi was biding her time, waiting for the moment of their rendezvous. He’d done everything he could to convince her to stay out of it, but in the end, she’d threatened to turn him in if he didn’t involve her. Truth was, he was glad to have someone to confide in.
“Not interested in the party?”
Gideon jumped in his chair and whipped his head around. Commander Devereux was standing uncomfortably close, staring down at him with the party lights reflecting in his eyes.
“Commander,” said Gideon, and he scrambled to stand up. “You surprised me.”
Devereux raised a hand. “Don’t stand up. I didn’t mean to disturb you. Just found it interesting you were alone, that’s all.”
Gideon sat back down, but had to sit sideways to look at Devereux comfortably. “I was just thinking about what my mom would think of all this. It’s still hard for me to accept that she’ll never see Valkyrie up close.”
It was true, but it was also an excuse. Gideon had used the same line several times already to get people to leave him alone, but Devereux just nodded and continued to watch Gideon with his hard eyes. “I knew your mother a long time. She was smart.”
“She was.” Gideon wasn’t sure how else to respond. He glanced at his wristcom, partly to see how much longer until he needed to meet up with Takomi, and partly to signal to Devereux that he wasn’t up for conversation.
Instead of taking the hint, the commander pulled out the chair next to Gideon and sat. Hiding his exasperation, Gideon turned to face the party once more.
“You’re going to love the sunsets,” said Devereux as he settled into his chair.
“The sunsets, sir?”
“You Voidborn have never seen a proper sunset. We tried to engineer one, but could never get it quite right.”
“Oh, yeah. I haven’t really thought about that.”
“We would have pictures of the surface by now, but all our satellites and rovers were destroyed in the blast. Replacements won’t be ready until we reach orbit.”
“Uh huh.” Gideon already knew that. Everyone knew that. He checked his wristcom again. “If you’ll excuse me, sir, I need to use the restroom.”
“Of course.” Devereux stood with Gideon. “No need to ask my permission.”
“Thanks,” said Gideon. He nodded to the commander and walked away in the direction of the nearest bathroom. When he reached the small building, he glanced back. Devereux was still watching him. Gideon checked his wristcom once more as he turned the corner around the building, nearly running straight into Takomi.
“Watch it,” she said, glancing around to make sure they were alone. “What did Devereux want?”
“Don’t know. He was acting a little weird. I think he was trying to comfort me or something.”
“Comfort you? Commander Devereux?”
“I guess. He acted like he was worried about me being alone, and he was trying to tell me about sunsets.”
“Why would he tell you about sunsets?”
Gideon rolled his eyes. “I’ll tell you later. Are you ready to go?
“Yeah, let’s get out of here.”
After checking to make sure nobody was watching, the two of them slunk into the trees surrounding the park. For a few minutes, they picked their way through a grove and emerged a dozen yards from an autopod station. Once they were satisfied that no one was around, they sprinted for the station and jumped into the first pod.
☥
Twenty minutes later, they were ascending the lift at the stern of the biosphere. When the doors opened, they stepped out into the low gravity of training level 6. A few bounding steps later, they stood next to the door to the training facility.
Gideon crouched down, weaving his fingers together and holding out his palms to receive Takomi’s foot.
“What do you think the chances are that it’s still open?” she asked as she placed her foot in his hands and braced herself on Gideon’s shoulders.
He hefted her up and launched her to the lip of the roof. She caught it and easily pulled herself over in the low gravity.
“Pretty good,” he said as Takomi leaned over the edge of the building and held a hand out for him. “I was the last one to leave, and I don’t imagine Ms. Drexel is real diligent about checking the skylights before she locks up.”
Taking a few steps back, he ran forward and leapt at the door, stepping off the door handle for an extra boost. Takomi caught him by the wrist and hauled him over the edge.
“Well, that wasn’t too bad,” he said. They crouched low as they walked across the roof to the first skylight. It creaked as Gideon pulled it open.
“Geez, not so loud, Gid.”
“It’s fine. Nobody’s around to hear it.”
With a fair amount of wiggling, Gideon was finally able to squeeze through the opening. He dangled above the floor for a moment before he dropped down into the dark locker room. Takomi had no problem fitting through the opening and landed next to him a few seconds later.
It hadn’t occurred to them to bring flashlights, and it took a while for Gideon’s eyes to adjust to the darkness. The familiar benches and lockers lined the room. They made their way to their respective lockers and pulled out the Sentinel Armor.
Gideon hefted Takomi back up to the skylight, and she wiggled through. After he’d tossed up their armor and helmets, he waited for Takomi to put hers on. When she appeared again, she was fully dressed for battle.
Gideon took a few steps back and prepared for his second jump. “Okay, don’t pull my arms out of their sockets.”
This time, he had to use one of the benches to launch himself up to the skylight. Takomi’s gauntleted hand grasped his wrist as he flew by, letting him swing to a stop.
“Not so tight. You’re crushing my arm.”
“Sorry,” said Takomi through her helmet’s speakers as she pulled him through the opening. A few moments later, Gideon was suited up in the close-fitting armor and putting on his helmet.
“So, do we take the autopod back or just run?” asked Takomi over the suit’s intercom.
“Better run and avoid the autopod stations. Coul
d be awkward meeting somebody along the way.”
“That’s what I was thinking. I’ve always wanted to run full out in Sentinel Armor.”
Gideon jumped off the roof and walked toward the platform’s railing. “You know what I’ve always wanted to do?”
He looked over the edge at the lake below.
“Don’t even think about it. With the ship’s spin, you’d never hit the lake.”
“The suit could handle it.”
“Maybe, but even if you didn’t break your legs, you might do enough damage to the armor to need repairs. How would you explain that one?”
Gideon stepped away from the railing. “Fine. You always have to be the responsible one.”
“I’m stealing Sentinel Armor and breaking into CENTCOM with you. I don’t think responsible is the right word.”
Even with their Sentinel Armor’s augmented speed, it took longer than they’d expected to reach the opposite end of the ship. They were both winded when they finally did.
Gideon stretched as he caught his breath. “Now I know why they built the autopod network.”
Takomi looked up from her own stretch. “No kidding. Now what?”
CENTOM’s three entrances were guarded, and they stood between two of them.
Gideon looked up at the gaping hole in the side of the complex. “Now we climb.”
The surface of CENTCOM was covered in a series of overlapping armored plates, like the shingles of a roof. Where the plates overlapped, there was just a few centimeters of metal to grab on to. Without the aid of the Sentinel Armor, the climb would have been impossible, but with its added strength, it wouldn’t be a problem.
Gideon gripped the first plate and pulled himself up hand over hand, letting his legs dangle below him. He looked back over his shoulder at Takomi.
“Piece of cake.”
She shook her head. “You’re doing it all wrong.”
Takomi walked over to the wall and gripped the plate like Gideon had, but instead of pulling herself up the wall with her arms, she planted her feet against the wall and pushed out with them. In no time, she passed Gideon and continued up the wall, reminding him of holograms he’d seen of monkeys climbing a palm tree.
Once Gideon had gotten the hang of Takomi’s technique, they made excellent time, and before he knew it, they were at the opening. Dozens of robots worked on repairing the hole, and the teenagers had to move quickly to avoid them. They ducked inside and dropped down to the floor a meter below.
With the help of his helmet’s night vision mode, Gideon surveyed what had once been a large hangar bay. Twisted and charred metal littered the corners of the room, and at the far end, they could make out the emergency bulwark that had sealed the hole leading out into the void. The armored walls of CENTCOM were three meters thick, and Gideon could only imagine the destructive power required to cause such damage.
Takomi walked over to the nearest corner and picked up a charred hunk of metal. “Well, we’re not going to find any clues here.”
What little debris remained was melted and twisted, unrecognizable. Seeing firsthand the aftermath of the explosion that killed his mother made Gideon’s skin crawl.
“Yeah,” said Gideon, trying to hide the emotion in his voice. “Let’s go to my dad’s office.”
“Right. Which way?”
Gideon looked at the exit to their left. The door was twisted and welded shut. The door on their right was obviously new and looked like it should work properly.
He walked toward the new door. “Looks like there’s only one way out.”
The door turned out to be a temporary one and had to be opened with a manual wheel. Each crank resulted in a painfully loud screech, but they had little choice but to open it enough to squeeze through. They decided not to create more noise by closing it again and made their way down the darkened corridor.
Gideon hadn’t accounted for how difficult it would be to find his father’s office. They couldn’t use the lifts, since they were voice activated and required security clearance, so they had to explore each level one at a time, moving between them using service ladders.
They came to a corridor that Gideon recognized. After following it for a few minutes, they came to the doors that opened up to the bridge. They could hear voices on the opposite side, so they hurried to the corridor on the other end.
When they were standing outside the admiral’s private office, Takomi raised her visor and turned to look at Gideon. “Wait a second. Won’t it be locked? I didn’t even think about that.”
Gideon raised his own visor. “Good thing I did.” He tapped the side of his leg, and a small compartment opened up in his armor. From it, he pulled out a single metal key.
“Where did you get that?” asked Takomi as Gideon slid the key into the lock.
“My dad’s never trusted biometric locks, says he’s been alive too long, so he always has physical keys. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve known where he keeps the spares.”
Gideon turned the knob, and the door opened without a sound. He looked at Takomi before he stepped inside. She followed him, and he closed the door with a soft click.
A small desk lamp illuminated the room, casting dramatic shadows on the shelves. After placing his gloves on the desk, Gideon quickly found the leather-bound book with the strange symbol engraved on the spine. He placed the book on the desk next to the lamp. “It looks old.”
“All of these books are old, Gideon.”
“No, I mean really old. Older than my dad.”
Takomi stood next to him and looked down at the black leather cover. “It doesn’t have a title.”
Carefully, Gideon lifted the cover and turned the first few pages. They were surprisingly thick, almost like pliable sheet metal.
He frowned. “There’s no writing at all.”
The first few pages were covered in intricate geometric patterns made up of shimmering colors. Gideon ran the tips of his fingers over the stunning artwork and its subtle texture.
“I think it’s metal, somehow pressed into the pages.”
Takomi placed her fingers gently over the design. “It’s beautiful.”
The next page had a scene of a green landscape with a ring of ancient stones in the middle. It too was made with metal, resembling an opaque stained glass window.
“It’s Stonehenge,” said Takomi.
Gideon leaned in closer. “I think you’re right.”
The next few pages were etched in a similar style, likely by the same artist. One page depicted the pyramids of Egypt, and another looked like Chichén Itzá. Each page depicted some ancient monument or city. Some were familiar, but many were not. Even the Sentinel Armor’s AI couldn’t identify them.
Gideon turned another page, and Takomi sucked in a sharp breath. Several masks, some hideous, others beautiful, stared back at them. There was a roaring tiger, a jackal, and a falcon. Some had horns or fangs. One even had tentacles hanging off of it like a beard. Still others were human, such as an Assyrian warrior, a samurai, and an Egyptian queen. Each one was impressive, and they all seemed to be made of gold.
“What do you think they are?” asked Takomi.
“I don’t know. They’re all similar, but it looks like they’re from different cultures.”
The next page showed the two hemispheres of Earth. There were no borders or markings of any kind, just green and brown land separated by blue oceans. They looked over it quickly, then turned the page again. This time, they both gasped.
“Is that what I think it is?” whispered Gideon.
“It can’t be. Like you said, this book’s got to be hundreds of years old.”
Laid out before them was another map of two hemispheres with familiar continents. Every aionian on the ship would have recognized it immediately. They were looking at an ancient but precise map of Valkyrie.
For a moment, they stared at the page in silence.
Gideon looked up at Takomi. “What does this mean?”
She shrugg
ed. “I don’t know. Aren’t there any words in this book at all?”
He turned the page again, and nearly jumped back.
The image was of a savannah dotted by twisting trees. To one side, a walled city stood on a hill looking over the plain. People were streaming out of the gate and looking up. In the sky, the sun glinted off the golden hulls of three strange-looking vessels.
“What is that?” said Takomi in a hoarse whisper. “Are those...”
“Spaceships.” Gideon’s mouth remained wide open as he studied the angular bodies of the craft. Despite their odd appearance, and the fact that they were completely out of place, there was no mistaking what they were. The huge ships hovered over the scene as if they were preparing to touch down on the plain.
Takomi elbowed him, waking him from his stupor. “What’s on the next page?”
He pulled back the page, as if he expected a snake to jump out of the book. The next painting depicted one of the ships suspended above the earth. A broad ramp led from the hull to the ground below. Lean, dark-skinned people gathered to watch three tall figures clad in golden armor step out of the spaceship.
Notwithstanding their immense height, the beings had human proportions. Each one wore a different mask; a jackal, a falcon, and what could have been the Egyptian god Ra. The latter figure held up its hand, and in its palm was the symbol of the arcs that formed a person.
“What is this?” asked Gideon.
Takomi was breathing rapidly. “It looks like the book is trying to tell us that the Egyptian gods were actually aliens.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“Well, what else could it be? I’m not saying that the book is right, but that’s what it’s trying to say. And don’t forget we saw Valkyrie on the other page.”
Takomi reached over him and turned the next page. The scene was similar to the previous one, but instead of a savannah, the ships were in a clearing surrounded by lush forests. Stepped pyramids rose from the trees in the background, and in the foreground, three of the aliens stood in front of their ship, wearing different headdresses. On the left stood an anthropomorphic jaguar, on the right a tropical bird, and in the center, the face of a serpent ringed with feathers. The humans that had come out to greet or worship them were shorter and stockier than the villagers on the previous page.