Progeny (The Progenitor Trilogy, Book Three) (15 page)

              ‘Wouldn’t that be like admitting defeat?’ said Rekkid.  ‘We’ve come this far by ourselves.  I’m sure Mentith’s people have got better things to do at the moment than ferry three hapless academics a mere kilometre or so.  How would that look?’

              ‘You have a point,’ Katherine agreed.  ‘Okay, come on, let’s scramble for it.’

              Once more, Steelscale led the way, clambering to the tops of the highest rubble piles to spot easier paths for his colleagues.  The three archaeologists plotted a zigzag path amidst the crazily angled rubble until their radiation detectors began to beep shrilly.  Panicked, the three of them back-pedalled until the devices ceased their warning signals.  Gingerly, Steelscale held his detector at arm’s length and began probing the edge of the radioactive zone.  Evidently, it encompassed the ravine between two smashed buildings they were now standing at one end of.

              ‘So, it looks like this place was nuked after all,’ said Rekkid.  ‘Ten thousand years is a long time, but these isotopes must take a lot longer than that to decay.  I guess rain and wind must have dispersed a lot of it over time, but down here in these sheltered spots they still remain.’

              ‘Looks like we might need that shuttle after all,’ replied Katherine.  ‘We can back-track and find another way through, but there could be dozens, even hundreds of these hotspots.  I don’t know about you, but getting radiation poisoning wasn’t on my list of things to do today.’

              ‘Yes, I think you’re right,’ said Rekkid.

              ‘There is another way,’ said Steelscale.

              ‘There is?’ said Rekkid.

              ‘Yes.  I could... I could carry you both on my back if you wish.  I am able to climb over the rubble, avoiding the sheltered areas where the radioactive material is likely to be hiding.  I can easily cope with the weight of your bodies.’

              ‘Why thank you Steelscale, that’s very generous of you,’ said Katherine.  ‘Are you sure you don’t mind?’

              ‘No it’s no trouble.  Just don’t... just don’t
tell
anyone about this.  In my culture... it’s embarrassing, acting like a pack animal for others.’ His normally russet scales rippled with orange pigment for a second in embarrassment.

              ‘We won’t tell, Steelscale,’ said Katherine.  ‘Your secret is safe with us.’

              Katherine clung to Steelscale’s torso as the K’Soth leapt and scrambled across the broken terrain, scaling massive, slanting blocks in a single leap and hurtling at breakneck speed along narrow ridges and angled, cracked surfaces.  She could feel the sheer animal power contained within the K’Soth’s muscles, the coiled spring of his long, flexible spine, the strength of his mighty legs, the toes that, tipped with wicked, hooked talons, sought purchase on the slightest crevice or ridge to catapult them onwards and the solidity of the muscles in his upper body and forearms as he pulled himself up and over fallen rubble.  It put her in mind of riding on the back of a big cat from Earth, albeit one covered in an armoured skin of dark red-brown scales.  The harsh environment of the K’Soth home-world had made Steelscale’s people into formidable predators before they had escaped its bonds and unleashed themselves upon the galaxy, seeing all other races as potential prey.  Steelscale, and a few others that she had met, were proof that not all K’Soth could be tarred with the same brush, but still, his raw physical strength was a reminder that he was quite capable of tearing them both apart without a second thought if he chose.  Quite how men and women had fought the K’Soth at close quarters and survived was a mystery.  It was a terrifying prospect.

              Rekkid sat behind Katherine, hanging onto her with one hand and onto Steelscale’s equipment harness with another.  After a few moments of riding she realised that the Arkari had screwed his eyes tightly shut behind his re-breather and seemed to be muttering something.  Knowing Rekkid it was probably an endless stream of expletives in a number of different languages.

              Occasionally, their radiation alarms started to beep, and Steelscale immediately changed course, leaping away in a different direction to take them away from danger.

              Eventually, they reached the foot of the ziggurat.  Katherine and Rekkid dismounted and thanked Steelscale, who stood panting from his exertions, thick tongue lolling between his knife-like teeth.  They stood looking up at the structure.  It was faced with some sort of jet black material that had survived the bombardment and the long decay of millennia remarkable well.  A few of the blocks that formed its smooth exterior had cracked or had fallen away, but other than that the building appeared remarkably undamaged.  It, like the temple they had investigated earlier, was covered with carvings.  Though they were high up on the structure, they showed the same, squat humanoid figures engaged in what appeared to be both scenes of worship and of war.  Figures could be seen battling with one another on the ground and in the heavens.  Elsewhere they were depicting kneeling as if in supplication.

              ‘What do you suppose this place is?’ said Katherine. ‘A place of worship, or a military installation?  It’s decorated like a temple, but it’s built like a damn bunker. I can’t see a single window in this place and it’s survived a nuclear explosion that took place only a short distance from here.’

              They walked around the base of the ziggurat, trying to find a way inside.  Eventually they found the entrance.  A shallow ramp led up to the building, but the entrance was barred by massive blocks of the same black material.  Each must have been originally moved by machinery within. Obviously weighing many tonnes, the blocks were unmoveable without the use of heavy equipment.

              ‘Looks like we’ll need the help of the
Glory’s
ships after all,’ said Katherine.  ‘I don’t see us getting inside unless we can lift these blocks out of the way.  Rekkid?’

              Rekkid hadn’t heard her.  He was transfixed by the carvings above the main entrance.  It was a repeat of the image that they had found earlier within the temple, but in this case it was complete.  Divine rays were streaming from the centre of an elaborately carved circle to touch the figures all around it.

              ‘Look! Look at the writing!’ said Rekkid, pointing a shaky hand at the carvings.  Below the image was a line of indecipherable alien script, the local language of the planet’s former inhabitants that they had seen elsewhere.  Below that was another block of characters.  There was no mistaking the complex geometric forms.  The language was that of the Progenitors.

Chapter 9

              At the edge of the solar system, out beyond the Oort cloud, space rippled gently as the
Profit Margin
slipped back into real space.  The vessel hung for a moment, flimsy radiator panels extended in a broad X like the wings of some bizarre insect.  They glinted dully in the weak light from the distant Sun, visible as little more than a slightly larger background star here at the cusp of interstellar space.  In the infrared spectrum, the
Profit Margin’s
radiator panels shone brilliantly as they dumped excess heat from the ship’s drive.  Thrusters in the nose fired briefly and brought the craft to a dead stop.

              Isaacs sat, hands poised over the ship’s controls as Anna scrutinised the displays from the ship’s scanning equipment.

              ‘Anything?’ said Isaacs, tensely.  ‘Have they noticed us?’

              ‘I’d be surprised if the detection arrays in the system haven’t picked up something, but it’s a question of whether the operators know what they’re looking at, and if they see us as a threat. If they do, they aren’t reacting,’ said Anna.

              ‘What ships can you see in the system?’ said Isaacs, checking the drive readouts for any abnormalities.

              ‘Just a second,’ Anna let out a low whistle then said. ‘There are a
lot
of ships in the Solar System.’

              ‘How many is a lot?’

              ‘Well, just around Earth I’m picking up a couple of hundred capital ships of all classes.  There’s a lot of activity in Jovian space too, particularly above Io where Galileo Station ought to be.’

              ‘What do you mean by “ought to be”?’ asked Isaacs.

              ‘Well, as far as I can see from here, it isn’t there anymore.  The traffic control beacon isn’t showing up and there’s a whole bunch of ships in the vicinity.’

              ‘Jesus,’ replied Isaacs, and shook his head in disbelief. ‘Are they a rescue party, or did they destroy the station?’

              ‘Impossible to say at this distance.  There are quite a few warships hanging around there though.’

              ‘Of course there’s no way of telling if any of these ships are friendly or not.  Hell, even if we found a few names we recognised there’s no guarantee.  They could have been taken over if the Shapers have beaten the Commonwealth here.  Are any of the ships the same ones we encountered in Hadar or Spica, the ones that Cox was commanding?’

              ‘Nope,’ Anna replied and shook her head.

              ‘Well that’s something.  It’s not exactly a cast iron guarantee that they’re on our side though.  We need to get closer and have a look at these guys, and then get the hell out of here if they turn out to be the enemy.  I don’t suppose there’s any sign of Shaper vessels in the system?’

              ‘None that I can see, but of course our on-board sensors can’t pick them up.  We need a data feed from a more sophisticated array, like the one at Port Royal, that’s been modified according to the Nahabes’ specs.  So the Shapers could be lurking in this system, it’s just that we can’t see them.’

              ‘Great.  That doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence,’ said Isaacs.

              ‘Me neither.  Huh...’ Anna’s brow furrowed as she peered at the display, then she added: ‘That’s odd...’

              ‘What’s odd?’ Isaacs replied, leaning over to take a look at the display himself.

              ‘Just for a second, I swear the sensors registered a Nahabe gunsphere in the system.  No sign of it now though...’

              ‘Could be a glitch. A false return off some debris or something.’ Isaacs shrugged.  ‘Still, the buggers can cloak their ships, you know?  Maybe they’re here to hunt Shapers. The Speaker said that the Nahabe were sending a fleet to help Earth.’

              ‘Maybe.  I just hope that they aren’t being hunted themselves.  I saw what happened to the
Uncaring Cosmos
and the
Blessed Nothingness
.  They can take on the Shapers, but they had a hell of a fight on their hands, and they may have got here too late.  In any case, we need to get deeper into the system and find out what the hell is going on around here.’

Isaacs had plotted a looping, indirect course away from Achernar to the heart of the Commonwealth, taking the
Profit Margin
through all manner of backwater systems and little used trade lanes, using the stealth module to mask his ship’s signature when they approached inhabited systems and then dropping out of hyperspace in the depths of interstellar space to dump the excess heat built up in the ship’s drive system.  Finally, he had skirted the mining settlements in the Ross 128 system before heading for the Solar System by making a short jump towards Sirius and then another, back across towards the Sun.  As a feat of creative navigation it was impressive.  Anyone following the ship, if they were capable of tracking its dampened drive signature, would have been unable to guess its final destination until the final jump for Earth.  It was unlikely that anyone would have had the foresight to guess where the
Profit Margin
was going and attempt to prepare an unwelcome reception.  So far, it seemed to have worked.

Isaacs was leaning over and squinting at the sensor display, whilst pulling co-ordinates off into the navicomp.  He adjusted them a few times before he seemed happy and then set about prepping the jump drive and stealth module.

‘Okay, you have a plan?’ said Anna, peering quizzically at her husband, busy over the ship’s instruments.

‘Yeah I do,’ Isaacs replied.  ‘Jupiter’s on this side of the system at the moment, and like you said, there are plenty of what appear to be Navy ships in the vicinity.  Meanwhile, the monitoring arrays at the Pluto-Charon Lagrange point are currently on the other side of the system, making it harder for them to see us.  My bet is that sensor coverage in Jovian space is pretty spotty, what with Galileo Station out of the picture, plus there’s plenty of bodies orbiting the planet that we can sneak in behind and then poke our noses out to take a peek at what’s going on.  If it all goes pear-shaped, we’re not too deep inside the system and escape should be a bit easier.  We’ll have a head start on the rest of the ships in the system and we can use the stealth module to evade pursuers as we head for Arkari space.’

‘Wow,’ said Anna, taken aback.  ‘You really do have a plan then.  I’m impressed.’

‘Yeah well, planning is the reason I’m not sucking vacuum right now in some godforsaken system.’

‘Really?  You’ve been known to cut things a bit fine, you know.’

‘That’s true, I guess, but I’m still alive.  Look you’re going into something like this, you need to plan your escape routes.  Jupiter or Saturn seemed like the sensible choice to jump to on the way over, what with all the places to hide around them, and there doesn’t seem to be too much going on around Saturn, so Jupiter it is. That’s where all the activity is, aside from Earth.’

‘So what now?’

‘I’ve plotted jump co-ordinates that will bring us in from the opposite side of the planet to where Galileo Station ought to be, then we do a short jump to behind the sensor shadow of Sinope, one of the outer moons.  It’s an uneven rock, little more than an asteroid captured by the planet’s gravity, so we should be able to sneak in close and poke our noses out for a look at what’s going on around Io before we head on in.  We’ll keep the stealth module on until we’re tucked in behind Sinope and dump the heat in its shadow.’