Black Sun (Phantom Server: Book #3) (5 page)

I touched a sensor, disabling my suit’s security harness. I was just about to get up when a premonition of impending danger assaulted my nerves.

The signal had come from the probe still left outside. One of the many asteroids was on a direct collision course!

It crashed.

The walls of the crevice began to close around my ship. The force field throbbed. I heard a screeching sound as the ship’s stabilizers were being compressed into its hull.

My mind writhed in agony under the direct neurosensory contact with the ship’s systems as if it was my own flesh being crushed.

My mind crashed. Mercifully, it expired.

* * *

Gradually I came round.

The data I received from my implants was sparse. The area around me was saturated with radiation. My mangled Condor drifted amid the rocky remains of the destroyed asteroid. Not a single active power implant within the scanners range, meaning that the Founders’ device was no more. We’d lost it for good.

My mind expander kept piecing data together, connecting the ship’s surviving modules. I managed to stabilize the reactor at 10%. One of the force field generators offered all of 0.3 megawatts. This was all the protection I currently could offer against radiation and any further impacts.

I wasn’t going to give up so easily.

I set the communications automatic repeat to
Call Relic
and switched to manual controls. I had to get out of this cesspit. Then I’d have to scan each and every one of the asteroid’s fragments while I still had time. Very soon Avatroid’s fleet would be here. You never know, the Founders’ artifact might have simply been deactivated with the impact.

I steered the ship slowly and gingerly past the larger fragments until I entered a safe orbit around the swirling mass of debris.

Liori’s Condor drifted nearby. I sent some nanites on board her de-energized ship with a dozen micro nuclear batteries I’d robbed from the survival kit. They were going to activate the on-board scanners. With two sets of scanners, I could finish the job much quicker.

An incoming call, finally! I had the frigate on the line. Judging by the signal’s bearings, the Relic was still heading for Argus!

“Zander? Where are you?” Jurgen’s hoarse voice sounded first, followed by a murky image. He looked even more gaunt and weary than normal.

“I’m at the asteroid. It’s been destroyed.”

“So it’s the end of us, then?” he asked bluntly.

“I’m just trying to scan it. I’ll stay here for as long as it takes. How’s everything?”

“The Haash have respawned. They’ve lost their
yrobs
. The Wearongs are dead. The children are all right. Their room was well protected. What do you want us to do now?”

“Just don’t lose hope.”

“Is Liori with you?”

“She is. Her cybermodule’s been damaged. She’s incommunicado at the moment.”

“Zander? I think the artifact is ruined.”

This wasn’t an easy conversation. “If I don’t find it, we might try to contact the Oasis.”

“The hybrid? You think he might help?” Jurgen’s voice perked up. “Do you want me to go there and speak to him?”

“No. I’ll give him a call from here. I have Oasis within my direct line of vision. You take care of the Relic. Do whatever repairs are necessary and check the life support. Give Charon a ship: let him go collect the fragments of their
yrobs
. I’ll take care of Liori’s Condor. Tell Charon that I’d also appreciate his bringing any fragments of the Raiders he can find. We need to study them.”

“Just what are you hoping for? Tell me!”

He'd lost all optimism. I could read it in his stare.

“If the artifact’s destroyed, we’ll have to build something similar,” I added a note of confidence to my voice. “Between my Mnemotechnics and your Technologist skill, we might come up with something.”

Jurgen sat up. “Then you should come back! No good wasting time taking stupid risks!”

“There’re loads of fragments of various devices here. I’ve never heard about most of them. I’ll keep searching for the artifact while leveling up my skills. Creating artificial neuronets will demand a very high Mnemotechnics level.”

“Avatroid’s fleet is coming,” Jurgen reminded me.

“I know. Which is why I’m asking you to take care of the frigate. I want you to dock her to the station and camouflage her signature. Tell Vandal and Foggs to check the Technologists Clan’s quarters and search the debris for any data storage devices they might find. The Founders’ technologies are the key. When I’m back, I’ll need any information that might help me to level my skills and abilities.”

“Zander, all this rushed leveling will kill you.”

“It might,” I snapped. “Then Liori will have to finish it for me, won’t she? Enough of this, Jurgen. We’re losing time. Let’s each of us do his own job.”

“Very well. As you say,” he sounded anxious. “I’ll keep communications open just in case.”

“Just please don’t bother me with the basics. You can take care of them yourself.”

* * *

As we spoke, the nanites had finished patching up Liori’s Condor. I sent it the instructions to join in the scanning of the asteroid fragments.

The mnemonic load indicator surged into the orange as my mind began receiving data from two combat scanning systems.

Translucent schemes of various devices drifting in space flashed before my eyes: some floating on their own, others bejeweling angular slabs of rock.

I switched data collection to background mode and opened the abilities tab. In all honesty, we stood very little chance of ever locating the artifact. But apart from that, the Outlaws’ base had been literally stuffed with equipment. Most of the already-discovered devices belonged to the Founders’ technosphere. I’d never studied them before. In just a few brief minutes of data collection, my Alien Technologies skill had already grown two points.

This was a good start. Still, too early to celebrate. I kept replicating nanites over and over again, then sending them deep into the mangled mines toward the surviving rooms of the ancient installation. Soon they would begin streaming more data; in the meantime I could finally take a breather.

I injected myself with a dose of combat metabolites. My mind cleared somewhat. The mnemonic load indicator reluctantly crawled into the yellow zone.

I switched on the long-distance communications. The far-off spark of the Oasis station glimmered on its grid. Obeying my mental command, the optical multiplier kicked in. The image zoomed in, gaining detail.

The hybrid was neither our friend nor foe. He was a synthetic identity, an AI pieced together by the Corporation out of the dead players’ neurograms. He was, intrinsically, the result of a chilling otherworldly experiment that brewed fear and resentment.

When we’d last met, he publicly declared himself the opposite of Avatroid, announcing his intention to restore Oasis to its original glory.

Still, it looked as if it hadn’t come to anything. The skeleton of the ancient station was still dark and gloomy — not a sign of any repairs in sight. There was one other thing I couldn’t understand: why hadn’t the hybrid even attempted to help the Eurasia? I knew from experience that his technological skill at least equaled that of Avatroid. He could have thwarted the Phantom Raiders’ attack — and still he hadn’t lifted a finger to save the defeated Colonial Fleet.

I activated the communications with Oasis. The only things that the hybrid seemed to have restored were the locator tower and the transport beam control devices associated with it. He'd apparently used those ancient alien systems in order to spy on the Eurasia fleet and listen in to their command frequencies; he’d even managed to beam me up to the Eurasia station with the orders to bring him Genesis: an ancient planet-forming device safely stashed away on Darg.

Never mind. This wasn’t the right time to rake up recent developments.

A green indicator lit up on the control panel. I had a connection with Argus; still, no one seemed in a hurry to answer me.

Whatever had happened to the hybrid? Why wouldn’t he speak to me?

When my Darg mission had been over, I couldn’t help wondering why he hadn’t claimed Genesis’ scanner files that I’d made. Those were indispensable for him to restore the station. Why hadn’t he tried to buy them off me or even take them by force?

Now I understood: he’d had nowhere to hurry to. He knew about his own true nature — and certainly about our desperate situation. In case of my death, the neurograms of my disintegrating identity would return to the Corporation’s server where he’d immediately be granted access to them.

He wasn’t our friend. Oh, no.

“Zander... what is it?” I could barely recognize his voice through the interference. “What do you... want?”

That was weird. There were no obstacles in the laser transmitter’s path capable of distorting or diffusing its signal. Could it be the hybrid? He seemed to have blocked the video channel. His speech was slurred and faltering.

“I need you,” I said. “I know that you need the Genesis files in order to restore Oasis. I’ll give them to you. In return, you must teach me to build artificial neuronets.”

“Not interested,” he said, wheezing as if his every word was a physical struggle.

“Why? Tell us!” Jurgen butted in. “Don’t you understand we have children on board?” his desperate voice rose to a scream.

“I... don’t... care. I... won’t help... anyone. I have... my own... problems...”

The communications indicator blinked and went out.

I sat there, gasping. “Did you hear that?”

“I did,” Jurgen echoed. “What a piece of shit!”

“Never mind. Forget him. It wasn’t meant to happen. I’m sure we’ll know everything when the time is right.”

“Zander?” Frieda chimed in. “Any news? What did the scan show?”

“I haven’t found the artifact yet if that’s what you mean. My levels keep growing but not as fast as I thought they would. The scanners keep bringing lots of interesting stuff but nothing we can use at the moment.”

“Arbido seems to have an idea,” Jurgen joined in.

You’ve received a new level!

Your Mnemotechnics skill has grown 1 pt.!

Your Alien Technologies skill has grown 3 pt.!

You have 2 new nanite activation codes available!

“Sorry, Jurgen, can it wait until I’m back? I’m a bit busy right now.”

“Very well. You do what you can.”

* * *

I opened my character’s characteristics.

The rapid developments of the last few hours had forced me to ignore system messages. My mind barely registered them, dismissing their contents.

Within that time, I’d destroyed the shipyard, smoked about a hundred drones, downed five Raiders and was constantly busy with nanites.

No wonder I’d grown 12 levels.

My Robot Technician skill which I’d received way back on Argus and which had grown 3 pt. during my memorable fight with Dargian pythons, had now risen another 50%.

The question remained, was this information worth anything anymore?

The ambiguity of the situation was quite unsettling. On one hand, once I’d learned the truth I’d stopped paying the same attention to the char’s characteristics as before. On the other, I was contradicting my own logic still putting my faith into the abilities I knew I had.

The truth had to lie somewhere in between. I wouldn’t be surprised to discover some real-life skills integrated into the game interface.

At the moment, all I was interested in were nanite activation codes. They were definitely real. I knew that from experience!

Mnemotechnics Skill

Current level: 25

Abilities available:

Replication, 15

Steel Mist, 5

Object Replication, 4

Piercing Vision, 3

Integration, 2

Breakdown, 5

Plasma Blast, 5

Differential Nanite Control, 3

Disintegration, 10

System Failure, 5

Advanced integration, 2

The Call, 1

Self-Sacrifice, 1

Plasma Lash, 2 (requires a generator built by Object Replication)

You have 2 new nanite activation codes!

You have 19 characteristic, skill and ability points available!

On Liori’s advice, I’d boosted Disintegration already during our battle with the Raiders. As a close-range weapon, it was truly lethal — but as it had turned out, using it required a powerful ship with excellent shields.

We couldn’t even fathom the true potential of these ancient alien technologies. Even at my current level of Disintegration, we could have deterred the Raiders’ attack had I been on board the Relic and had it had enough energy to power the shields. I was beginning to understand that Founders’ ships didn’t really need any cumbersome weapon systems which were a pain to operate. All they needed was a well-trained crew with advanced nanite control skills. The range of nanite application was so broad one couldn’t even imagine all the possibilities it offered.