Inheritance (Rise of the Empire Book 5) (16 page)

Chapter Twenty-Four

November; Year 53 of the Empire – Mars

“Is it working?” Adrian asked one of the techs standing to his left.

“For now. The liquid is solidifying at an acceptable rate, and the materials are being incorporated within the predicted range,” she answered over the comms, as they were outside on the surface of Mars.

In front of them was a massive, round black pool of liquid with a diameter of almost one hundred meters. It was only a part of the construct; belowground was where most of the facility stretched.

“How long will it take?” Adrian asked.

“Some parts go slower, others faster. Building the engines, for example, is tricky. But all together, we are looking at fifty hours,” the tech responded.

“I guess that that is amazing, considering that it is building an entirely finished shuttle all on its own,” Adrian commented.

The tech didn’t respond. Instead, she focused on the holographic display in front of her. They had been trying to crack one of the technologies from the sphere that would eventually allow them to build entirely finished ships in a matter of hours. They had the copies of many technologies from the sphere. Not the entire database—it was too large, and they couldn’t even begin to fathom their more advanced stuff—but this particular technology looked similar to the 3D printers, and the shuttle they were now building would rise from the liquid resin fully formed. But beneath the pool was the massive factory that provided the liquid materials needed for the shuttle’s construction. It used light, oxygen, and electric currents to shape and build according to blueprints provided to it. The tech was amazing, but was still nowhere close to what Adrian wanted. He tried to control himself as he knew that it was impossible for them to start using the technology on the same level as the People had. They needed time to learn how and why it worked. But his plans were long reaching, stretching for hundreds of years into the future.

Adrian sighed, then turned and started towards his shuttle.

“Get us home, Iris,” he said once he was inside and had removed his helmet. The shuttle turned on and slowly lifted off the ground, and Iris appeared in front of him.

“The new Sentinel should be arriving soon,” Iris said.

“Aileen, yes. That makes four of us who have psionics in the Empire,” Adrian said.

“You don’t sound all that happy. What is it?” Iris asked.

“It’s nothing,” he started. “I just thought that by now we would have had more people with the psionics. We have only just started to trigger the change in embryos.”

“You planned on having people who could teach others how to use them before you started doing that,” Iris pointed out.

“It took me too long to learn, and it took longer than I anticipated to teach others,” he said regretfully. “Perhaps I’m not a good teacher. Clara and Mei are doing well, and I taught them all that I know, but they are still not on the level where I want them. They are ready to teach others, but they are not really at the level that I wanted them to be in terms of skill and power.”

“It will happen on its own terms, Adrian, you can’t force the issue. And Clara and Mei will be ready by the time that the next generations grow up. And they will improve as they teach others, much like how you did.”

“Right. Well, at least we are finally ready to leave and start looking for the Ra’a’zani,” he said.

“Fifteen years of peace, and already you are looking to start another war,” Iris said disappointedly.

“They took human slaves with them when they left. We cannot leave those people in their hands; too much time has already passed,” Adrian told her. “And we have a promise to keep. The Ra’a’zani will pay for what they had done to our birthplace.”

“They haven’t come back to Sol in fifty years, Adrian,” Iris argued. “And you have no idea where their territory is. For all you know, it could be on the other side of the galaxy.”

“That is why we will go out and explore, seek out other races, and find information about them,” Adrian said.

Iris rolled her eyes and disappeared.
“Fine. I know that I can’t change your mind, but don’t come running to me to save you when we run into another race like the Sowir, only with bigger guns,”
she added in his head through his imp.

“We can’t keep to ourselves forever, Iris,” Adrian told her aloud, but she didn’t respond. She no longer inhabited the wrist unit that Seo-yun built for her. Adrian had thought that it was too vulnerable, so during the procedure that had upgraded his body, her core and holographic projector had been implanted inside his arm, with only a small one-centimeter orb outside of his skin acting as the projector.

They spent the next ten minutes in silence as they neared Olympus Mon, the home of the Sentinels and what they called the Sentinel Fortress. The large complex was finished, although a great majority of it was empty. In time, as more Sentinels were trained, it would be filled up. For now, there were only people from Warpath that worked here. At some point, they would become the support staff for the Sentinels.

The shuttle lowered slowly down to the massive platform that opened and allowed the shuttle into the hangar. Adrian took his helmet in hand and walked out of the shuttle. He nodded to people working around the hangar, and started walking deeper inside the base. He rounded a few corners and finally reached the practice hall.

He opened the doors and entered. Immediately, he felt something speeding towards his head. He moved a step back and used his power to telekinetically deflect the heavy rubber ball upwards. Then in one smooth move, he pivoted around his right leg and threw his helmet towards his attacker, pushing it faster with the telekinesis. The helmet struck his attacker in the shoulder, making her spin as she dropped to the floor, where she rolled from side to side, groaning.

“Oh, that’s so not fair,” whined Clara Bengtsdotter, a two-meter-tall blonde Amazon woman, one of the best Sentinels in Warpath, as she rolled on the floor.

“How did you know that I was coming through this door?” Adrian asked curiously as he started walking towards her. The practice hall had many entrances, and she had attacked the moment he’d entered.

“We bribed the hangar workers to let us know when you arrived,” she groaned out with her eyes still closed.

Adrian grinned, and then as he almost reached her, he froze. “Wait…we?” he asked just as he felt someone move behind him. He quickly turned and saw Meifeng Zhao jumping towards him through the air from one of the wall platforms. He grabbed her telekinetically and was about to throw her aside when he felt Clara jump back up and move to attack him. She released a kinetic blast from her hand, and Adrian allowed it to hit him. He let it pick him up from the floor, and as he twisted in the air, he swiped his arm towards Clara, sending Mei’s petite form crashing into her. Then, with a well-placed kinetic blast to the floor from both his hands, he straightened and landed on his feet.

He looked at the two sprawled on the floor, Mei on top of Clara, and laughed out loud.

“Nice try,” he said as he walked towards them.

Mei looked up and glared at him. “How did you know where I was?”

“Echolocation,” he said. “And you make sounds as you move through the air.”

Meifeng Zhao grimaced. “Urgh…you couldn’t have had more than a moment’s notice.”

“One moment is all that I needed,” Adrian said.

Clara pushed Mei off her and jumped back to her feet, far more springily than someone who was in a great amount of pain would have.

“Shoulder is fine already, I see,” Adrian commented.

Clara gave grinned at him. “I twisted my shoulder as the helmet hit, cushioning the attack.”

“Impressive reaction,” Adrian said. “Now if only you worked more on your acting…”

Clara grabbed Adrian’s helmet from the floor telekinetically and threw it at his head. Adrian froze it mid-air effortlessly and started walking towards the exit, with the helmet floating behind him. “Well, I just wanted to check up on you and let you know that the new Sentinel should arrive later today.”

“We’ll be ready to welcome her,” Clara said mischievously.

Adrian chuckled and left the hall.

***

The cargo ship dropped out of trans-space and into the Sol system. The incoming trans-station was between the orbits of Earth and Mars, and nearby was a big defense station surrounded by defense platforms, protecting the incoming trans-station. In its current orbit, Aileen’s destination—Mars—was on the other side of the system. She glanced at the holo in the observation deck, and looked at Earth—the birthplace of humanity. Massive storms still ravaged its surface. It was gray and red, as volcanos still erupted across her surface, the last Ra’a’zani crime against humanity. It would be hundreds of years before the storms waned and the volcanos went silent again, and thousands more before it became what it once was.

She watched from the observation deck as the ship moved away from the trans-station and the defense station positioned to be pointed at Mars on a clear line and skimmed to her destination in almost two full minutes. It was unadvisable for ships to use skimming close to other constructs, as a skim created a kind of a ripple in the space around it for a few minutes. Not something that could destroy a station, but enough to wreck computer-based systems.

The ship moved towards one of the dozens of stations in Mars orbit. All the way, Aileen looked at the holo in front of her, at the amount of traffic in system. It surprised her, actually; the traffic wasn’t as dense as in Sanctuary or Waypoint, but it was close. There were thousands of ships here, moving between planets, from Mars to Jupiter and Saturn, where massive gathering facilities orbited the gas giants. There were also large shipyards in orbit around Jupiter’s moons. And then in the asteroid field, a fleet of mining and cargo ships moved about the mining facilities that had been constructed on the bones of those built by the Ra’a’zani. But what surprised her were a few massive constructs close to the Sun. She couldn’t guess at their purpose, but the information on the holo told her that they were massive. The system had much more traffic now than what it had had when the Ra’a’zani were here. It seemed like the Emperor had made this system a priority.

Over the next hour, Aileen transferred from the ship to the station, where she waited for a shuttle to take her to the ground with the cargo she’d brought with her. The shuttle made its way directly to Olympus Mon, which would be her home in the future. After the shuttle entered the hangar and landed, Aileen exited the shuttle and stepped into the Sentinel Fortress.

***

Adrian watched as his newest student exited the shuttle and noticed him waiting for her. She started walking towards him, and Adrian took the time to study her. She was about as tall as he was, at around 180 cm tall. Her black hair was tied back in a ponytail, and she wore a dark red overcoat. She looked fit, more so than a person that wasn’t training, but that was to be expected; she was from Warpath, after all. There weren’t really unfit people in the Empire, at least as far as Nel and Humans were concerned. The mix of their food and the genetic alterations that gave them immortality made it extremely hard for anyone to actually gain unnecessary weight, unless they were actively trying. But those who were training had a more ‘fit’ look.

“Lord Sentinel,” Aileen said stiffly, using his official title.

“There is no need for formalities here, you can call me Adrian. Welcome to Mars,” he said warmly.

She smiled before responding. “Thank you…Adrian.”

“Well, first things first, let’s show you around the base…” Adrian started, and then he felt a telepathic link reach out to Aileen. Realizing what it was, Adrian made no outward reaction as two voices spoke.

“You’re finally here!”
Clara sent out.

“Oh, she really is!”
Meifeng sent immediately after.

Adrian saw Aileen startle, her head turning around looking to see who it was that spoke, but there wasn’t anyone near them. Adrian kept his face straight, pretending not to hear anything. He had done the same thing to Clara and Meifeng when the two of them had first received their psionics.

“Are you alright?” Adrian asked, tilting his head to the side in an inquisitive move.

“Uh…” she started slowly, “I think that I might be a bit tired.”

“She does look a bit pale,”
Mei sent.

Aileen turned her head to the side, looking in the direction where Clara and Mei stood, but her eyes passed over them as the two were too far away and were facing the opposite direction.

“Yes, but that is nothing that a few trainings at our pace won’t fix,”
Clara added.

Adrian noticed Aileen getting more and more agitated, so he interfered.
“Alright,”
Adrian sent,
“you had your fun.”

Aileen turned to look at him and he grinned. “Sorry about that, they were just having a bit of fun. I did it to them when they first got their psionics, and they have been itching to try it on someone else.”

Open-mouthed, Aileen stared at him, and then Adrian gestured with his head towards Clara and Mei, who were waving at her. She turned to look back at Adrian. “That…that was telepathy?” she asked.