Pax Imperia (The Redemption Trilogy) (62 page)

“Yes Senator,” Miller sighed, refusing to meet his gaze. Instead he was wondering what the hell Radec was doing, as he couldn’t jump this close to a star. The wormhole would be too unstable. It was suicide.

Yet somehow Captain Miller doubted that was what Radec had in mind.

*****

Jon watched the wormhole start to form. Growing larger and larger, it began to rotate, the spin caused by the gravitational singularity at its centre. A gravitational singularity that was entirely artificial, caused by the massive wormhole generators from inside the ship.

Such a wormhole was only ever designed to grow large enough to encapsulate the diameter of the ship. However, this one had already grown to twice the size of the
Invincible
and was still growing larger by the second.

The next jolt to hit the ship did not come from any enemy warship, but instead the swirling wormhole forming directly ahead. Having grown to a large enough size and mass to start to affect the surrounding region of space, as space-time started to curve around it. The result?

Gravity.

Jon activated all the remaining reverse thrusters, only used when the ship was about to enter a space dock. They offered limited manoeuvring when the main engines were off-line, or completely destroyed, as in the case of the
Invincible
. Hopefully they would buy the ship a few more minutes, as the next tremor shook the ship to its very core.

Absently noting the other ships had ceased fire, his eyes were totally fixated on the sight ahead of him, as the wormhole grew larger and even more unstable. The light from the surrounding stars began to bend, the result of the gravitational lensing effect, as even light started to become affected, desperate to escape from the effects of the gravity clawing at it.

Eventually even it started to lose the fight as, with a sudden burst of X-rays, the event horizon started to form, delimiting the point of no return. Slowly, inch-by-inch, meter-by-meter the
Invincible
was being drawn towards that swirling maelstrom, which had now turned completely black, as no more light was able to escape.

A black hole.

Ever since their discovery many centuries before, they had inspired awe and terror in equal measure. An inescapable doorway to some other place, where nothing could escape, not even light. They had often been compared to doorways to the underworld.

“Now I have opened the door, your time for retribution has come,” Jon uttered aloud, sight firmly fixed ahead. “Come and take your vengeance.”

Just as Elsie had forewarned him, his army was just waiting for his command and, with the portal now opened to them, they didn’t need to be commanded twice. For what nobody had ever considered was that, while the laws of quantum physics suggested nothing could escape from a black hole, the same laws did not necessarily apply to the souls of the dead.

And they came, summoned by his command. Slowly at first, one at a time, then in pairs, then in groups and then in their multitudes.

*****

The massive jolt knocked everybody to their feet; none could remain standing, as the
Revenge
was knocked sideways by the impact from the gravity waves.

“What the hell was that?” Malthus cried out desperately, on being tossed to the floor like a discarded rag doll, as forces far more powerful than him started to come into play.

“Massive gravity distortions all around us,” the officer called out frantically. “It’s as if a massive wormhole is forming all around us, but far larger than I’ve ever seen before.”

“But where?” Malthus demanded.

“There,” another voice shouted, a horrified expression on the speaker’s face. He pointed at the view-screen, which displayed a most terrifying sight. For the screen had been showing the rapidly growing shape of the
Invincible
, as the
Revenge
had been quickly closing the distance between the two, and it still showed the ship, but that was all. For all around them, one by one, stars were winking out of existence. As if, as easily as one blew out a candle, the Great Maker had simply reached out and extinguished them, they went dark.

“What is happening?” Malthus cried out in fear. “The stars, they’re vanishing, disappearing. But to where?”

“It’s not the stars that are disappearing, it’s the light from then,” Miller stuttered, petrified with sudden understanding. “It is the
Invincible
.
The ship was not generating a wormhole to flee with, but one to destroy us all. For it is not a wormhole at all—but a black hole, one that Radec has summoned to devour us all.”

“Contact the
Invincible
,” Malthus screamed. “Radec must stop this insanity before he kills us all.”

*****

The wormhole generators on the
Invincible
started to falter and fail. For they had never been designed to run continuously for so long. In addition, their power output was ten times higher than they had ever been certified for. They were literally tearing themselves apart from within, as nothing could sustain such incredible outputs of energy for long.

The first generator that had begun to fail and shutdown flickered, then glowed suddenly bright, before once again starting to fade, as if a slightly breeze had stirred it’s dying embers. It sparked again, growing brighter and stronger, but still not enough to continue to sustain the energy output. Then the generator blazed with a sudden great light, glowing brighter and brighter. The energy output levels that had begun to fall, started to climb at an increasing rate, exceeding their earlier levels, growing larger and larger, until finally the generator disappeared into a glowing ball of white light.

The scene was repeated up and down the length of the ship, as wormhole generators vanishing, to be replaced with miniature stars, burning brightly. The light from them started to slowly spread out across the length of the ship.

The combined output of the wormhole generators quickly exceeding the energy output of a planet, soon reaching the levels only found in the heart of a star. It took a few thousand souls, glowing radiantly, mere seconds to achieve what would eventually take humanity a couple more centuries of development to even start to approach.

*****

Jon had been calmly waiting for the incoming communication; the only anticipation had been when it would arrive, not if.

“Senator Malthus, I have been expecting your call. From your expression you seem to be somewhat in distress?”

“Radec,” Malthus shouted, all his earlier confidence having long since evaporated, leaving nothing but blind panic. “What have you done? You will kill us all. Stop this madness.”

Jon leaned forward, every trace of amusement wiped clean from his face, leaving only a merciless expression. A Lord fully prepared to deal with his wayward vassal for the last time. “I swore an oath before all the Confederation that I would stop you—no matter the cost.”

“But this is lunacy. You’ll be killing yourself too.”

“A price that I will gladly pay,” Jon nodded in agreement. “Secure in the knowledge that you will be safely locked away in the pits of hell for all eternity. Where everyone will finally be safe from you and your scheming. Your conspiracies and threats all end here, as they die along with you. Nobody will have to fear you ever again.”

“I will give you anything that you desire. Riches, wealth and all the power I can offer, everything you ever wanted and more. I have knowledge that you will find indispensable; with it you could topple planets. You could rule for all eternity, completely unassailable. Your children would rule the Empire for the next five hundred years unchallenged. I can give you anything you wish for. Please. I beg you to stop this insanity.”

The shockwave from the next gravity wave tossed the
Revenge
around as if it were a toy boat setting forth to sail across the wide ocean. The ship was slowly, but inexorably, drawn towards the swirling maelstrom continuing to expand before it. Meanwhile the
Invincible
held firm in the face of such extraordinary forces, as if anchored by the Great Maker himself.

Malthus was thrown to the floor, as he prostrated himself, trembling before the view-screen. On the bridge of his flagship, surrounded by his crew and fleet of hundreds of warships and, standing against them all, just one man, alone, on a doomed ship.

They were all helpless before him.

“I care nothing of your power or wealth.” Jon scornfully discarded Malthus’s offer. “I have never wanted or desired any of it. For where is all your power and wealth now, Malthus? A lifetime spent scheming and plotting to steal both, leaving nothing but a trail of bodies and victims in your wake. Well it counts for nothing now. You cannot take it with you into the next life, and it means nothing when you stand, alone, before the Great Maker. Where everybody is judged equally, irrespective of wealth or power. Meanwhile I am already rich beyond my wildest imaginings, knowing that I have family and friends that love me and will remember my name. My actions and deeds will continue to live on through them, and throughout history. You, however, die alone, leaving nothing to remember you by. Nobody will care for your name, or your family’s. Your name will become nothing more than a curse, a warning to others of what fate befalls traitors and conspirators.” Jon watched on impassively as Malthus’s ship continued to relentlessly be drawn towards the event horizon, its engines at full power, futilely trying to resist the merciless pull of gravity.

“No! I beg you, please, have mercy,” Malthus wailed pitifully, watching, as tendrils of darkness seemed to reach out towards his ship—and him.

“The same mercy that you showed your victims?” Jon ridiculed him. “You have spent your entire life living off the pain, fear and despair of others. You and your family are nothing more than parasites, and it’s time for you to go,” Jon insisted coldly, terminating the transmission.

Malthus could only gawk at the encroaching darkness, a scream torn from his lips, as everything around him was consumed, leaving him in the dark, alone—with nothing but the shadows whispering his name, as they reached out for him.

For at least death was swift and merciful, but the tortured souls fully planned on keeping him alive for the rest of eternity, screaming in absolute agony.

*****

Jon watched, unblinkingly, as Malthus’s flagship was finally drawn into the event horizon. The extreme gravitational forces started to shear the ship into pieces and tendrils of darkness pulled the remains of the ship into the gaping maw of the black hole. Consuming all, until nothing remained of ship nor man.

He released a breath that he had not even realised he had been holding, finally finding himself free. Free of the burden of responsibility, the chains of obligation, his sworn duty to all finally fulfilled. He somehow felt lighter, free of the guilt that had plagued him for so long. He blinked, noticing the dark cloak he had wrapped around himself was gone. He wondered if it had ever really existed, or simply been a figment of his imagination, a physical manifestation of the crushing burden he had been forced to endure.

Looking up, Jon was unsurprised to observe Elsie once again standing at his side, a small smile gracing her lips.

“It seems like throwing rocks was unnecessarily after all.”

“I couldn’t have done it without your help,” Jon thanked her.

“Only a little help. It was still mostly you. It was you that found the way, just like I somehow knew that you would. As always before you have come through in the end.”

Jon was surprised to notice she was starting to glow, before realising it was not just her, but the ship, their surroundings slowly turning white.

“So you have been my guardian angel? Looking out for me?” Jon guessed. Many people had commented to him that he must have one, closely looking out for him, to have managed to survive so long.

Elsie tipped her head back and laughed, a glorious sound, like silver bells echoing through the air on a crisp winter’s morning. “Me? No. I’m no angel. I have neither the temperament nor inclination. Anyway the job is already taken by another. One who is far more beautiful than me, and loves you in a way that I couldn’t divine. But our time is growing short.” Elsie motioned around them, to the ship slowing being consumed by the light. “We are holding the doorway open for as long as we can, but even we have our limits. It’s time for us
all
to go,” she said, giving him a knowing look.

“Go where?” Jon asked surprised.

“Why home, of course,” Elsie pointed towards the dark portal directly ahead of them, which they were slowly, but inescapably, being drawn towards. “That is why we are keeping the doorway open—for you to accompany us.”

“I’m not sure if I can do this,” Jon replied in a hesitant voice, having already observed the destruction wrought upon Malthus’s ship.

“Sure you can,” Elsie reassured him comfortingly. “It’s easy, all you need to do is close your eyes and jump.”

Jon meanwhile stared transfixed at the monstrosity he had summoned, tendrils of fear creeping up and over him. His thoughts were interrupted by the feeling of a warm, soft hand taking his own, and he looked up in surprise into Elsie’s understand eyes.

“We’ll do it together, I won’t let go.”

“You promise?”

“I promise. Any final regrets?”

“I’ll regret dying,” Jon muttered under his breath.

Elsie just laughed. “Remember all you need to do is the close your eyes and jump. I’ll be waiting on the other side to catch you.”

“Close my eyes and jump. I can do that,” he whispered, fixing the images of Sofia and Marcus in his mind, the two things most precious to him, for all time. He would wait for them.

Then he closed his eyes and
jumped
.

*****

From a distance the
Invincible
disappeared into a white light, which seemed to grow from within until it consumed the ship utterly. Glowing brighter and brighter, it became the brightest star in the night sky. It grew so bright that everybody who looked at it had to glance away so as not to be blinded—and then it was gone.