The Agathon: Reign of Arturo (38 page)

Her voice was shaking. Barrington looked up at the monster.

“Let’s hear it,” he said.

The comm system crackled. Then they heard it.

“Tar … Gla ... Gdu!” said a low deep baritone mechanical voice.

It sounded like the growl of a huge animal. It sent a shiver up Barrington’s spine. The comm system clicked off. The bridge went
deathly silent. He could feel the fear in his crew, as if it was part of the air itself.

“We’re being pulled in, Captain,” Chavel said quietly.

“Options?” Barrington said again.

The bridge went silent for a moment, then Boyett turned to him.

“Sir, we could vent the plasma from The Betty and detonate it with a directed burst from the dorsal thrusters. Maybe the explosion would disrupt the force of the beam,” she said.

Barrington smiled at her. She was nearly ready to captain this ship herself. Nearly.

“Nice try, Charly, but an explosion that size would tear a hole in the hull. And we’d lose our ability to jump to light speed,” he said.

Boyett looked at him.

“I don’t think jumping to light speed is going to matter, sir,” she said looking into his eyes.

She was right of course. Barrington thought about it for a moment.

Fuck it
, he thought.

“Okay, Charly-” He began to say before Chavel interrupted him.

“Captain, I have another contact on the sensors,” he said.

Barrington looked over at the young man.

“What?” he said.

“Yes, sir, it came out of nowhere, looks like another ship of some sort,” Chavel said looking at his screens.

“Can we get a visual?” Barrington said.

The vibrations under his seat began to grow as the engines struggled.

“Yes, sir,” Chavel said activating one of the screens overhead.

The screen next to the one showing the terrifying planet lit up and showed the object gracefully gliding against a backdrop of stars. It was white and shaped like a perfect octahedron. It was huge. Its smooth perfect lines glistened in the light as it rotated on its axis.

“What the hell?” Barrington said to himself, “position?”

“It’s coming up fast, dead ahead, sir,” Chavel said looking up in awe at the strange craft.

Barrington’s heart sank. They were now surrounded. It was probably a backup craft of some sort, come to finish off the job.

“Sir, I am reading a small object on an intercept course from the direction of the vessel. It looks like it deployed from the object. It looks like-” Chavel started to say, but stopped.

“Looks like what?” Barrington said.

“Eh … it looks like a person,” Chavel said looking around at the captain.

Barrington leaned forward in his chair.

“Engine room to bridge,” Tosh’s voice suddenly said on comms.

“Go,” Barrington replied.

“John, we are red lining down here. We’re looking at a breach if we don’t shut down,” he said.

Shit
, Barrington thought.

The captain sighed. There was nothing he could do now. He thought about letting it go and allowing the engines to overload, but something inside him would not allow it. He suddenly felt something in his mind. Something familiar.

“Shut them down, Tosh,” he said suddenly, “David, I want a visual on whatever that is.”

“On it, sir,” Chavel said activating another view screen overhead.

The screen flickered to life and began following the small object Chavel had just detected. At first it just looked like there had been an error. There was nothing on the screen. Or whatever it was, was so dark that they could not see it.

“I can’t see anything,” Barrington said.

“Yes, sir, the sensors are correctly locked to whatever it is passing the ship,” Chavel said.

Barrington looked at the screen.

Father
, came Carrie’s voice clearly inside his head.

He stood from his chair and looked at the screen as it showed nothing but moving stars. His mouth opened and his heart stopped beating.

“Carrie?” he said out loud.

Chavel and Boyett both looked at each other.

“What?” Chavel said.

Hold on, father, get ready to move the ship
, Carrie’s voice said in his mind, as clearly as she was standing beside him. The captain froze and focused his thoughts.

My God, is that you?
he replied in his mind.

Surprise
, Carrie replied.

The dark image overhead suddenly lit up with a bolt of light. The familiar arcs of electrical energy that they had seen before. There was an explosion at the centre of the screen showing the mechanical planet. A small fireball erupted from its centre and moved outwards.

“Captain, the opposing force has stopped. The beam no longer has us,” Chavel said.

Barrington hesitated for a moment, but his training kicked in and he slammed his fist on the comm panel.

“Engine room, I want full power to thrusters right now or we’re all dead,” he said forcefully, “Charly, get us clear of this thing.”

Go, father, get the ship to the far side of the planet. I’ll see you soon
, said Carrie in his mind.

Barrington stood looking at the mechanical planet looming ahead.

“Charly, get the ship to the far side of the planet,” he said to her.

“Aye, sir,” she replied.

The engines came to life as Boyett began to pilot The Agathon away from the incoming monster. On the view screen overhead they watched as more bolts of light came from the blackness. More explosions lit up the view screens as the bridge went silent. All they could do was watch.

Carrie flew past the ship. The last time she had been this close to it from the outside was when she was in a shuttle craft with David orbiting Mars. She could only marvel at its beautiful construction for a
moment before turning her attention back to the monster. Her first shot had taken out the beam that was holding the ship. She watched as The Agathon manoeuvred past her and began powering away from the Targlagdu. She bathed in the feeling of happiness at contacting her father’s mind again. If what she was about to do killed her, then at least she got to feel his presence one last time. She looked forward towards her target and took a breath. The jaws of the planet were wide open, which made finding its heart easier. The detailed schematics of the beast had been drummed through her by Jack and Tyrell for hours and now it was up to her. She increased the power in her leg thrusters and flew directly towards the planet sized alien machine. She opened her mind to the gargantuan creature. It responded immediately with a booming mechanical voice.

Tar … Gla ... Gdu! it said, so loudly, that it made her turn her head away from the planet and wince.

She raised her hands up to her head to try and contain the presence that had just entered it. She closed her mind. It was too powerful. She looked back up at the approaching world and gritted her teeth. Positioning her palms behind her she activated the thrusters on her hands and felt her body push forward as her speed increased. The giant opening across the equator of the Targlagdu suddenly looked like it was beginning to close. She would be inside before that happened. She flew straight through the giant opening and down inside the surface. It was like penetrating an atmosphere and flying straight into the core of a planet. A minute later she had penetrated its surface and was making her way deep underground. All around her she could see thousands of miles of twisted metallic landscapes crisscrossing the horizon. She could see a million moving parts, all working in unison, as miles of cables and glowing structures pulsated light as she went deeper. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she tried to contain the fear of her almost certain death. She could not possibly be strong enough to complete her task. It was too large, but maybe she could disable it long enough for The Agathon to escape. She had called it a suicide mission, but Jack had disagreed. The ship
that had carried her here from outside the galaxy was powerful, it had weapons. Jack had told her the Targlagdu had developed a defence against those weapons, but assured her he would do what he could when the time came.

She went forward. Clearing her mind as the chaotic interior of the planet surrounded her. She did not look back.

“Visual activate,” she said.

Her glass faceplate lit up with holographic images that leapt out in front of her. A guiding path was laid out in front of her in red. It was more advanced than the heads up display she was used to and it showed her every moving object and obstacle within a thirty-mile radius. All she had to do was follow a guiding light. There were structures up ahead as she went deeper inside the planet. She slowed herself by placing her palms in front of her. She looked back briefly and realised that she was surrounded on all sides by the interior of the alien world. She wondered where all the replicated life forms were stored. She could not detect any. She slowed herself even more and tried to get her bearings. She looked all around her at the astonishing level of technology. It was like being surrounded by a thousand cities. The guiding light told her she was within three kilometres of her target. The cube. The heart of the Targlagdu. She took a breath, plotted her course and increased the power in her leg thrusters. She suddenly reached the top of what looked like a thousand sky scrapers. Manoeuvring to her right, she stopped herself from colliding with the nearest one and made her way past it. She suddenly saw an arc of energy darting between the giant building-like structures. It was like flying into an electrical storm in the middle of a cityscape. There was no ground. The structures seemed to go on forever. Her manoeuvring space began to shrink. The build-up of machinery was making it difficult to navigate with her having to make skilful adjustments to her trajectory, every half second. She had to admit it, she was impressed with how well she was able to handle herself with all the obstacles. Going deeper into the darkness, she suddenly felt the
heat of something move past her. She looked around and saw nothing, but was suddenly struck on her chest by an arc of energy as it passed between the metal skyscrapers. It felt like being kicked in the stomach, as she tumbled out of control, towards the surface of one of the buildings. At this speed she would certainly be killed on impact. She took a deep breath and fired her palm thrusters narrowly missing the razor-sharp edge of the building. She steadied herself. The suit she was wearing obviously protected her from being electrocuted, but the force of the impact shocked her. She gritted her teeth and growled and could feel an anger growing inside her, as a pulse of electricity ran up her spine. She held it, contained her outburst and moved forward.

She was suddenly met with an array of curved metallic pipes and twisted conduits. Without her new alien heads up display, it would have been impossible to navigate, but the holographic images showed her a clear path through it. She manoeuvred through small passages and tight turns digging ever deeper inside the planet.

After several minutes of making the treacherous journey, the cave-like tunnels of twisted metal opened up to a clearing and there it was. She had seen it before of course. She had thought that she had defeated it.

Was it the same vessel that had captured her ship, or was it another one?
she thought to herself.

It didn’t matter of course. She looked at the giant cube as it rotated slowly in its cave-like chamber. She slowed herself to a stop and stared at it. She crept closer. Watching it as it turned. It knew she was there; she was sure of it. Her suspicions were confirmed seconds later when a huge burst of energy erupted from the top of its perfectly symmetrical surface and shot out towards her. She reacted quickly and activated both her hand and leg thrusters to move her out of the way. She took a huge breath and channelled every ounce of energy she had. She reached out and felt the power grow inside her and unleashed a burst of all her power towards the cube. Bolts of lightning
flew out from her hands and struck the turning cube. She held it for several seconds, then pulled back and looked on. The cube continued to rotate. It looked like she had had no effect at all. Not a scratch.

“Oh shit,” Carrie said out loud.

The Kandinksy

Escat watched the view screen carefully. The tactical team of Colonial Guards he had assembled were all in their positions near the airlock, waiting to board the ship on his command and he had placed a floating weapons lock on The Unity. He waited for Arturo’s next transmission patiently. He rubbed his eyes. The blinding headache he had been suffering with for the last several days was growing in strength every minute. Having Arturo on board had been stressful. His strange behaviour had been getting progressively worse as the years went on, but he had never seen him like this and it worried him. He was amazed that his old friend had not had him airlocked following Aron’s escape. He had not slept well. He had been expecting a knock on his door at any moment and for an escort of the chancellor’s private guard to send him into the blackness of space. Arturo was going insane. He was sure of it. His own sickness had preoccupied him over the last several months and he should have paid more attention to it. He should have made a move against him sooner. He suddenly felt a fear inside him. Something not even his terminal illness had given him. A real fear of being a slave to madness. Of living in a world where his remaining days would be filled with a dread, not originating from a fear of death, but of a fear of torture at the hands of his old friend. A humiliating death with no honour. No dignity. That was no way for a soldier to die. He looked at the screen and watched The Unity glide through space and it suddenly occurred to him. He had all his ducks in a row.