Progeny (The Progenitor Trilogy, Book Three) (66 page)

              ‘You let the Akkal through,’ said Katherine.  ‘They found a Progenitor ship in their home star system and it brought them here.  According to the accounts that we uncovered, they were allowed to enter.’

              ‘...and yet make no mention of encountering the Progenitors themselves,’ whispered Rekkid.  ‘Don’t you think that that’s odd?’

              ‘The Akkal were of the Progenitors, yes?  Your system records indicate that you discovered this?  Then they were allowed to enter, as befits their status,’ the Collective replied.

              ‘And what of Arkari, Humans and K’Soth?’ said Mentith.  ‘Even now, our people fight the enemies of the Progenitors.  The Shapers are making war on our worlds even as we speak and the knowledge that we need to defeat them may lie within.’

              ‘It is true.  The Shapers are enslaving and destroying civilisations across the galaxy once more, they must be stopped,’ said Eonara.  ‘I was involved in their creation.  It is my responsibility to atone for that mistake and to assist these people.  Please, I assure you that they are telling you the truth.’

              ‘Then let us ascertain that for ourselves,’ said the Collective.

              Something reached out then, gripping the
Shining Glory
and its occupants with an unseen force.  Katherine, Rekkid and the others suddenly found that they were unable to move or even speak.  They were locked in place, capable only of shallow breaths.  The Collective’s avatar regarded them impassively.  Katherine felt as though she were under a lens, being scrutinised as closely as one would a microscopic organism as the cold intelligence of the AIs of the Defence Collective peered into her, examining her and the rest of the crew at a cellular level.  It scanned the innermost workings of their bodies and minds, and unravelled the secrets of Katherine’s DNA and the similarly complex molecular chains within the cells of the Arkari and K’Soth on board.  Meanwhile, Eonara permitted the databanks of the
Shining Glory
to be laid bare and in seconds the Collective knew everything about the ship, about its purpose, about the history of the people who had built it and their long struggle to become the technologically advanced star-faring culture they now were and the war they were now engaged in.  It cross-referenced what it found with the memories it glimpsed within the brains of the crew to satisfy its suspicion that such things could be falsified.  They felt the tendrils of the Collective’s sensor probes inside their minds, scratching around like rats in the walls of a building, flicking through their thoughts like an impatient historian inside a vast library of dusty volumes.

              Finally, as suddenly as it had seized them, the Collective released its grip.  There was a gasp from around the bridge as all present struggled to take a breath.

              ‘You spoke the truth,’ said the Collective. ‘You may enter the Great Sphere.  The Arkari and the human are most welcome.  We will watch the K’Soth closely, however,’ it added, with a note of menace.

              ‘The K’Soth, why?’ said Katherine, regaining her composure.

              ‘They are not trustworthy, there are certain things...’

              ‘Steelscale isn’t like the rest of his people.’

              ‘Perhaps.  We were tasked with preserving the purity of this place against the predations of... barbarians.  The K’Soth will be admitted since their numbers are small. We are not unreasonable, but they must be watched, all the same.  We will activate the Shadow Gate and we will cease to target this vessel.  You may proceed.  We welcome you back to the Great Sphere of the Progenitors.’

              With that, the Collective released the ship from its control.  The silver male figure with the flowing beard began to collapse and reform itself into the ship’s cat.

              ‘What did he mean by “we welcome you back”?’ said Rekkid.  ‘We’ve never been here before.’

              ‘Eonara has,’ replied Katherine.  ‘I think he was addressing her.’

              ‘Either that or the damn thing really has gone senile.’

              The ship’s cat shook itself as the bridge displays came alive again.  Ahead of the vessel, the portal at the centre of the Shadow Gate had come alive, its shimmering surface alive with shifting light in white, blues and greens, like looking into the bottom of a clear, fast flowing river in brilliant sunlight. Radiance flooded from the portal, bathing all before it in a soft luminescence.

              ‘Ship, take us in,’ Mentith ordered, and the
Glory
began to accelerate steadily towards the waiting portal.

              ‘You ready for this?’ said Rekkid.  ‘This ought to be worth seeing.’

              ‘Of course I am,’ replied Katherine, with an excited smile on her face.  ‘I wouldn’t miss it for the world.’

              The
Shining Glory
plunged into the portal and emerged into brilliant sunlight.

Chapter 39

              ‘So what now?’ said Isaacs, as the camouflaged bay doors slid shut behind them and they followed the
Profit Margin
as it was dragged inside the Hidden Hand base by a couple of heavy agricultural tractors.

              ‘Now, we go into lockdown,’ Maria replied.

              ‘What, you think a painted door is going to confuse the Shapers?’ Isaacs scoffed.  ‘I admire your optimism.’

              ‘That door is heavily disguised and insulated.  It’s indistinguishable from the air from the rocks that surround it,’ Maria replied.  ‘Assuming, of course, that they never saw you land.’

              ‘Well I can’t guarantee it, but I hit the deck and flew as low and as fast as I dared.’

              ‘I can vouch for that, it’s a wonder that there aren’t tree branches stuck to the underside of the ship,’ said Anna. ‘Cal may be a crazy bastard, but he’s the best pilot I know.  If anyone can shake them off, it’s him.’

              ‘Well, like I say, in the meantime we sit tight and make sure that you weren’t followed.’

              ‘In that case,’ said Steven, interjecting. ‘Perhaps you and Commander Baldwin could use the time to bring us up to speed on what’s been going on down here.  I have a mission to complete, and I don’t intend on hanging around for longer than is necessary.’

              ‘And what is that mission, Agent Harris?’ said Baldwin.

              ‘I need to know what happened to Admiral Haines, Commander and - if possible - I need to get him out of here.’

              ‘Follow me,’ said Baldwin. ‘We need to talk in private.’

              In private turned out to be in the depths of the subterranean base.  Maria and Commander Baldwin led them through the small hangar with its ragged collection of craft and into a series of tunnels that burrowed deep into the hillside.  They passed hollowed out chambers that had become makeshift homes for the survivors of Port Royal.  The occupants had divided up the larger spaces with crates and sheets of wood and metal. Other, smaller chambers had been converted into habitation quarters long ago, when the base had operated as a haven for smugglers, but these had proved insufficient to cope with the large number of new arrivals. The caverns resounded with voices in a mixture of languages and the scent of cooking wafted down the halls.  The Hidden Hand had managed to recreate something of what they had lost when their former home had been destroyed, but it was a pale shadow of that place, and to Isaacs’ eyes, the people looked frightened and desperate.

              ‘This place is huge,’ Isaacs commented after several minutes of walking past storerooms now almost empty of goods.  ‘I find it hard to believe that you guys built all of this just for smuggling?’

              ‘No, it was already here.  We just moved in a few years ago,’ replied Maria.  ‘These tunnels go on forever.  We haven’t mapped them all and we just refurbished the upper levels to use as a smuggling base a few years back.  We don’t know who built them.  They’ve been here since before humans arrived, that’s for sure.  All we know is that they’re a good place to hide and there’s something about these caverns that makes them difficult to detect and interferes with sensors, something in the rocks, maybe.  There are ruins all over this moon in the deep jungle if you look hard enough.’

              Isaacs looked closely at the nearby wall.  There were faint carvings there, worn smooth over the long centuries: entwined and leaping simian figures and complex interlocking patterns.

              Eventually they reached a series of chambers that had been converted into offices.  They were filled with mis-matched cheap furniture, computer gear and assorted detritus and cabling had been roughly fixed to the carved rock walls inside plastic ducting.  Maria locked the door behind them and they sat on the group of chairs around a battered wood-effect table. 

              ‘We think Admiral Haines is still alive,’ said Baldwin.  ‘But he’s in the hands of the enemy.’

              ‘Shit.  Do we know where?’ said Steven.

              ‘Somewhere in the capital, we think.  Exactly where, we don’t yet know.  But Admiral Morgan appeared on local news channels just this morning and claimed that they had captured him.  It may be a lie, but it’s one that they’re sticking with.  Here:’ she worked a small datapad and passed it to Steven.  A clip showing Morgan hosting some kind of press conference outside the former governor’s residence was beginning to play.  The sound quality was tinny and faint- a result of the cheap device’s poor quality components - and they had to listen hard to make out what Morgan was saying.

              ‘...a great success for our newly formed Freedom Alliance.  The butcher, Admiral Haines, has been captured in the southern jungles by our special forces.  Haines will be brought before a military court to answer for his crimes; namely the unprovoked attack upon Orinoco Station and the murder of countless innocent civilians.  I would like to pay tribute to our armed forces and intelligence personnel in bringing this wanted criminal to justice...’

              Another image appeared in the corner of the screen, it showed a mug-shot of Haines, his craggy, patrician features marred by bruises and several weeks of beard growth.

              ‘This sounds like bullshit to me,’ commented Isaacs.  ‘Is there any way to tell if that picture is genuine?’

              ‘If it is, then judging by the state of Haines they’ve had him for some time,’ said Baldwin.  ‘God damn it, the Admiral deserves better than this.  He’s a hero to all of us in the Navy still loyal to Earth.  I was proud to serve as his XO, and now...’  She gestured wordlessly at the screen.  ‘We have to get him back.’

              There was another figure in uniform standing behind Morgan and off to one side, his hands clasped behind his back, eyes scanning the crowd of reporters.

              ‘That’s Cox,’ said Isaacs.  ‘I’d know that bald headed bastard anywhere.  I should have done a better job when I shot him out of the sky over Rhyolite.  So it’s true, he did survive.’

              ‘Indeed he did,’ said Baldwin.  ‘Though the man we knew is long dead.  That’s just a shell.  He’s a host to one of the Shaper agents now, we think.’

              ‘Which probably explains how he apparently survived having his ship blown from under him,’ said Steven.  ‘Admiral Chen did her best.’

              ‘We heard.  Despite everything, news still gets through.  Haines chose well when he picked her to lead the defence of Earth.’

              ‘Indeed.  You do not want to back Chen into a corner,’ replied Steven.  ‘Trust me, I have personal experience of the consequences.  So we have both Morgan and Cox here, presumably in Bolivar City.’

              ‘Indeed, Morgan has installed himself in the former governor’s residence.  We think Cox is based there too, though he moves around from place to place.  Haines could be there, or in any number of other locations, we just don’t know.’

              ‘I intend to find out.  So, Commander Baldwin, what’s your story?  How did a naval officer end up working with the Hidden Hand?’

              Baldwin leaned back in her chair, and ran a hand through her long, black hair.

              ‘Well, when the
Lincoln
went down, we all scrambled for the escape pods.  A lot of people didn’t make it, but I guess I was one of the lucky ones.  We crash landed in some woodland near a small farming community to the south of here.  The locals took pity on us and helped us to hide the pod and gave us food and medical supplies.  We didn’t want to stick around in case we put them at risk for sheltering us, but I and six others headed out, looking for an opportunity to get off-world and back to the Commonwealth.  We ran into Maria’s people by accident.  They have people patrolling the perimeter here and we pretty much blundered into one another in the dark.  After that, teaming up seemed to be the logical thing to do.  We’ve managed to find about forty survivors now, scattered across this whole area.  It’s something, but it’s a pitifully small number considering the thousands of officers and crew aboard those ships we lost.  We don’t know what happened to Haines exactly.  Presumably he made it to the surface like we did, but the enemy caught up with him.’

              ‘These people you’ve managed to gather together: how many of them are combat capable?’

              ‘We have a mixture of people, from technicians, to flight officers, pilots and marines, but all of them can hold a gun,’ said Baldwin.  ‘Maria, what about your people?’

              ‘We got all types down here, but we’ve got about thirty people who I’d consider more than capable.  They lack discipline, mind you, but most of ‘em grew up in the wrong bits of space, so they can hold a gun and know where to point it.  But if you’re planning to start a war, we ain’t got the people, and we ain’t got the guns.’

              ‘We can help you there,’ said Anna.  ‘Cal’s ship is stuffed with guns and ammunition.  It’s a little present from Chen.  Enjoy.’