by Skyler Grant
If the exterior defenses were impressive, the interior defenses revealed themselves as unlike anything I'd ever seen. My connection with my drones was severed the instant they were aboard, and it wasn't due to psionic blockers. Their life-signs were blinking out as well.
Without seeing what was killing them I couldn't even formulate a proper defense. I sent more—there wasn't a drone who died I wouldn't be able to bring back later and swarms were sometimes effective. I only needed one to survive long enough for me to get an idea of what was killing them.
The first of the missiles hit Mars. Green energy flashed across the surface and everywhere it touched organic matter died. My structures, the Martians, and all native flora.
Even the few missiles that made it were plainly going to be enough to wipe out Mars. That meant the others would certainly exterminate Earth and Venus if they made it through. I opened dimensional rifts, evacuating the last few non-networked sapients from those worlds—nearly all had joined me by now.
Projector cannons opened fire and electrical storms, telekinetic force, fire and ice all hit the incoming missiles and did little more than cause the shields around them to ripple.
I couldn't stop them.
Amy would be fine. While a computer in some ways like myself (even if inferior in every possible way) her neural pathways were embedded into the Earth itself and not the least organic.
For all that we'd fought on Earth, and for Earth, and bled for this planet and in this system, we didn't need it anymore. We'd grown beyond it.
Still, it was a bitter loss.
More life-signs than just my drones were vanishing on the Council ships. My combat drones might be dying, but the viruses they'd unleashed must have made it into the air. The people who launched this attack on us were dying too, and unlike my drones they had no backups.
It was something of a win. I'd have to take it.
The missiles detonated in the Earth's atmosphere and in seconds the entire planet went silent. A million drones still lived and worked there, but no more.
I moved them into the queues of the labyrinth facilities for regeneration. The Sol system might be lost, but the Sol Empire wasn't finished. It was our turn to strike.
119
The Library was the center of knowledge for the galaxy. Newer species on the galactic scene like humans were fortunate to be given access to even just the most underwhelming of branch libraries. Still, library access at all meant access to technologies and understanding that could leapfrog a civilization.
Of course, the elder species had their own repositories of knowledge. The most dangerous of weaponry, knowledge of ascension, and what lay beyond. Libraries were the most valuable resource in the universe. We'd seen one stolen, once, and been part of the massive operation that had been staged to retrieve it.
That had been a branch library and valuable, but nothing so valuable as the one we eyed now.
The Central Archive. It wasn't even a publicly accessible library. This one was kept purely for the reference of the Library itself. A record of all the knowledge contained in the various branches, including the forbidden. To call it well guarded would be an understatement, since the task fell to the very best of Council ships along with the Library elite guard. And we were going to steal it right out from under them.
"This itches," Hot Stuff said, tugging at the material of her combat suit.
"If you weren't such an exhibitionist freak, you'd be used to wearing clothes when you fight. Don't blame me for your oddities," I said.
"They actually are a bit itchy," Anna said.
"The same applies to you. Your armor has been getting skimpier and skimpier for a while. I haven't complained as I figure the sight causes our enemies no end of woe and torment, but really," I said.
"There aren't enough spikes," Sylax said.
You just couldn't make some people happy.
The armor clung tight to their flesh. It needed to, as the contact with their skin was important.
"The calibration was a little off. I've corrected it," Caya said, tapping at her tablet.
How did one secure the most valuable resource in the galaxy? My technical upgrades from the Wrax wouldn't do it, they hadn't been able to save Earth. But the crew of the Graven? The greater crystal holders? Anna, Sylax, Caya, and Hot Stuff were the most formidable forces we had at our disposal.
"Better," Anna said. "So, what is the plan? Do we have a plan?"
Sylax asked, "Is it hit them with everything we have and make them scream until they give us what we want?"
"This isn't your last date," Anna said.
Anna was always so quick with the insults. I should probably talk to her about that sometime. It was a poor way to make friends and really, she could use a few.
I said, "We don't know what they have. According to long-range sensors this place doesn't even exist, but we know from our contacts it does. You are wearing a bio-nanite mesh partially created out of the skin of Ophelia."
"Gross," Anna said.
"I like it," Sylax said as she looked down to study herself in new appreciation. "You are finally getting a sense of style, Emma."
I said, "It isn't about wearing human flesh, you psychopath. It is about her regenerative abilities and what they're likely to throw at you. I expect any normal attire or armor would be reduced to its components in nanoseconds. The nano-mesh is going to serve as a power-amplifier for your abilities."
"So, the plan is to blast everything that moves," Sylax said.
"The plan is for three of you to make contact with the central archive. It shouldn't be large, but with the way everything is shielded it is the only way I'm going to be able to establish a dimensional lock and we can shift it out of there. So yes, kill everything that stands in your way, but keep in mind the goal."
"Are we going to have any support at all?" Anna asked.
It was a very good question. I honestly wasn't sure if they could survive this, but without that archive our plans were a failure, and I was certain none of my other forces would stay alive. Oh, I had plans. I'd continued to upgrade the mutagenic virus and now had a flexible pathogen that should be able to change itself into the format best needed to attack any physiology. In some cases, this would mean fatalities, in others devolution.
"I'll do what I can, but I suspect you'll be on your own. Fortunately, you should be used to loneliness by now," I said.
In truth, I didn't expect anything to survive in that system for long. I didn't even want to jump in the Graven directly.
Once they were suited up, I had Anna and the others load themselves into pods. Each was essentially a prison, the highest-grade shielding and armor I could fit into something of that size along with a testing labyrinth shielding inside. I'd encountered very little over time able to get past my own shielding. I didn't expect it to last here, but every moment I could buy them was something.
I started out with ten thousand SCIENCE drones, simplistic affairs mass-produced by Vinci, jumping in and surrounding the planet simultaneously. I'd long ago learned the power of the swarm—no matter how good defenses were, they could be overwhelmed by numbers.
The most important thing in this fight was information.
I got it—although not much. Within three seconds of jumping into the system all of my drones had been destroyed, but those three seconds that several of the drones were afforded gave me what I needed.
The entire planet where the archive was located was surrounded by a manufactured shell. Weapon platforms, defensive shielding, scan blockers. The scan blockers were an unfortunate touch, because it meant I couldn't get direct readings of the surface or teleport my people there. Nothing stopped me from getting a reading of the shell though and the blockers were largely located in one quadrant. They most wanted to protect something beneath them—I had my location.
I warped in the pods. Hot Stuff first and then the others. They'd have to burn their way through that shell and then survive an atmospheric entry without a
ship.
I amplified my abilities, and then I amplified their abilities.
It was the first time I was using amplification technology to this degree on myself. It hurt. I knew the others would be in even more pain. The amplification I was giving them was even stronger.
I allowed enough time and sent in another ten thousand drones who weren’t apparently obliterated in seconds.
So Anna and the others had done it, they'd breached the planetary shell.
I threw more shielded pods into the system. They contained everything that might help the others on the planet. Virus generators, Vinci mini-factories designed to burrow into a planet and quickly begin producing combat units, and dimensional gateways.
If it seems random and desperate, that’s because it was. I didn't like this, having a battle out of my hands. I was a genius backed by SCIENCE and I was having to rely on a bunch of humans to fight my battles for me.
I was having to throw my friends into danger.
I couldn't tell if it was making a difference. I couldn't tell if any of it was making a difference.
I was getting snapshots of the battle outside of the shell, but nothing from inside. I had no way of knowing if Anna and the others were even still alive, much less if my efforts were helping them.
It was sixty-three minutes and eighteen seconds before I knew.
I was getting a dimensional lock.
All of them were linked, a good strong signal even through the blockers.
With a dimensional shift I pulled them through to the Labyrinth.
They all looked bruised and bloodied, and that was saying something considering their regenerative capabilities. Their clothes were flawless. Turning Ophelia's skin into fashion really had been a brilliant idea.
Between them was an octagonal construct made of greenish metal. It was surprisingly small, no larger than a shuttle. I was sending drones to connect to the data ports.
"Mission accomplished," Anna said.
"I could use a drink or ten," Sylax said.
It would have to wait. I was getting something I certainly hadn't expected—intrusion alarms. Dimensional rifts, and soldiers pouring through. The Council wasn't good at dimensional technology and a quick scan confirmed this couldn't be them. These rifts weren't even coming from our galaxy, but rather from thirteen different ones located around the universe.
This had to be the Library. I didn't think they'd just let the stealing of an archive like this go, but I hadn't expected them to respond so fast, or to be able to reach us even here.
"You're not done yet. They followed you back," I said.
"Emma ... we're spent," Anna said.
I was sending my drones after the soldiers who had come through, and my people were dying, messily.
"I just need time. Every second with this archive I grow stronger," I said.
Caya agreed, saying, "The more of the archive Emma absorbs, the closer she can bring our technology to the invaders. Right now, our drones are outclassed, but they might not be for long."
Thank goodness one of them had some brains.
"Once more, then," Sylax said with a malicious grin.
120
There was very little alike in any of the invading groups. One seemed entirely composed of some sort of insect hive mind. They were using energy weapons that simply blasted with negligent ease through any shields I threw up. Another was a group of floating jellyfish armed with a type of telekinetic powers far more powerful than I’d ever encountered.
I split Anna and the others up, each going to shore up different areas of the defense and all surrounding the main research lab where I had stored the archive.
While it was tempting to skim through the advanced technology in a kind of crash-course, it wouldn't be helpful, not really. Knowledge with no frame of reference was shallow power. Thus, I started at the beginning and worked my way forward, moving through the technological and scientific findings classified as remedial.
There wasn't much here I didn't already know, but my interpretation of certain theories was certainly improved. There was an entire explanation on electrical resistance that I'd inherited from the humans, a key factor on observed phenomena and the premise to explain it where my theory was simply wrong. Not entirely, yet close enough to pass the test and to never throw equations too off—and a fundamental misunderstanding that would have compounded over time until my theory was eventually found false.
For example it was minor thing, almost a curiosity, but with now truly proper equations I could make shield emitters just that fractional bit more durable.
It wasn't the only error either. I had recognized a dozen fundamental flaws by the time I reached the threshold of our own technology.
I understood how singularity drives worked now, and they were an elegant technology in a way. I preferred our dimensional drives, but the singularity drives the Council used were based upon far more predictable theorems. They'd lose less ships and get where they wanted to more regularly.
Still, there were ways to block them. Their jumps could be disrupted by a zone of control established to keep their exit singularities from properly forming. If I'd had this knowledge earlier, I could have delayed the invasion of Earth by forcing vessels to travel there at normal speed instead of jumping.
I paused in my studies to watch the battle underway for a moment. The insect invaders were being torn apart by shadowy versions of themselves, wracked by Sylax's nightmares made real. Anna was punching Jellyfish, and Caya was in a shooting battle with a pack of heavily armored canines. Her pistol wasn't doing much good but I could handle that. I accessed the nanites of her suit and through them made a few alterations to the firing chamber. The armor of her opponents was netroxum weave, far beyond our current capabilities to produce, but I now knew was vulnerable to certain forms of exotic energy.
So far, I'd only read enough to advance our science about fifty thousand years, and I had millions to go. Perhaps tens of millions. Still it was enough to help me devise aid against two of the invading squads.
A force made of constantly forming and dispersing sand I was able to determine was actually something using energy fields to help shape combat forms. A subtle type, thoroughly undetectable to me before, but as soon as my sensors were recalibrated with the knowledge I was gaining, it became clear. Disruption was a simple matter and in an instant one entire force was neutralized.
It wasn't enough. Even while I was learning and battles were being fought, another twelve squads had arrived from different universes.
I threw everything I had at them. My drones died and were reborn by the millions to buy us more time. Vinci's entire manufacturing capacity had quickly been diverted into building me new emergency data banks. Temporary storage for me to hold this new knowledge while I fully assimilated it into more lasting, biological storage.
Too much information. I needed to focus. Self-improvement, that was the critical thing—to become better at absorbing and processing all I was learning. Even the all-encompassing field of biology was too much, so I focused just on biocomputers. While something like me, a blend of crystalline technology, mechanical, and organic might be unique, my core these days was pure organic biocomputer—something I knew must have existed before me.
They had, with seven biocomputers even having a drone structure somewhat like my own. I began to follow the path of their technology and evolution all the way to ascension.
The majority quickly became useless to me. Five had rarely allowed their drones any sort of free will, and as soon as it became practical what was allowed had been totally taken away from them. It wasn't a path I had followed or wished to follow, and that made a huge difference. That left me two biocomputers to study and their advancements were impressive.
One of them had a species much like humans that served as their principle agents, with large brains that they used rather little. The computers made use of all that extra room for themselves, helping to distribute their processing through the
whole of the drone network.
The complexities of doing something like that were ... daunting. Without examples, and by trial and error, I still could have made this work, eventually. Now, with examples and the knowledge of the archive, I made it happen in under a minute.
Clarity.
The oppressive restrains of my system and the knowledge that was straining against these confines lifted. It wasn't all to the good. The communication in some ways went both directions and I was more aware than ever that millions of my people were fighting and dying. I could feel their fear almost as a part of myself now. SCIENCE would be the cure, and I dove back into the archive.
My synapses were reshaped, neural pathways reconfigured. My reaction times were faster, my systems more durable. It was enough, and I focused back on other knowledge.
The jellyfish Anna was fighting were kept aloft by telekinetic fields that held them a set amount above the floor, and with a reaction time of about four nanoseconds to any changes. It only took me one nanosecond to lower the ceilings and let their own abilities crush them to death.
Dimensional science. The Galactic Council might not understand it, but the Library did—as this archive was proving. It was a far more complex subject than even I knew, and so sensitive that most young species that attempted to grasp it wound up quickly destroying themselves.
We had Caya to thank for us not self-destructing, her Flawless abilities keeping us on the right side of the line.
These invaders didn't have a Caya and they were taking a lot of guesses to get here. I turned our dimensional generators to create a shifting set of variables, and the next dozen teams to try to breach the Labyrinth never made it.