Overdrive (28 page)

Tarquin made his
excuses and headed back to the bridge.

“Anyone hungry?,”
asked Bruce, already ferreting through the packaged meals.

“I’m keen for a
vegetarian” said Ram Terry.

Bruce turned and
eyed the sheep with an evil grin. “Really? I was trying to find you a lamb
curry.”

◊

Fifty thousand
kilometers from Gitane, a pinprick of light, outshining any nearby stars
including Gitane’s sun, winked into existence, rapidly expanding to encompass a
roughly circular space with a diameter of well over a kilometer. The light
faded to reveal the grey nothingness of Nospace. A large ship slowly slid out
of the hole, limping away from the fracture in reality. As its huge Ion drive
nozzles passed through the rupture, the hole closed behind it.

The Areopagite
Valkyrie,
Blazing Trumpet
, had suffered from its encounter with the Nova
burst. Numerous scorch marks had scored its hull and gases were still venting
from punctures not yet sealed by fields. Various sensors had been melted down
to their stumps and it was missing a landing strut.

Entering into a
high orbit around Gitane, the ship’s AI reported 3 weapon locks from the
defensive stations scattered above the planet.

The French
colonists had changed little from their pugnacious descendents on Earth. 
Taking their defensive role more seriously than most other planets, the
Blazing
Trumpet’s
AI was interrogated thoroughly by the planetary defensive
stations before allowing the ship to descend to a lower orbit.

Below the massive
ship, the planet rotated slowly, providing an unparalleled view for any of the
ship’s crew that could be bothered looking. With a diameter of 16,000km, Gitane
was slightly larger than the Earth known by its earliest colonists. Ninety
percent of its surface area was taken up by water, which seemed even more
dominant, thanks to the lack of any continental landmasses. The many islands,
due to the wide spread cultivation of tobacco, appeared as reddish brown
freckles on the blue face of the planet, some of them completely unpopulated
and off limits thanks to the Governments early use of a orbiting crust slicer.
Initially intended to raise more land from the seabed for cultivation purposes,
the crust slicer, much to the Governments chagrin, had merely succeeded in
irradiating large areas.

Still fuming,
Princess Gabriella sat in her command seat on the bridge, contenting herself by
haranguing her flustered and nervous bridge crew.

The ships captain,
nursing a black eye, hesitantly approached her dais and informed her that
Knights Captain Tynan, having arrived 2 hours earlier and already in
geosynchronous orbit on the other side of the planet, wished to speak to her.

“Oh, very well,"
she said grudgingly. “Put him on.”

Tynan’s face
appeared on one of the 2-meter high bridge screens. His handsome countenance
showed some concern. “My Princess. Are you all right? We were worried.”

Gabriella waved
her hand dismissively. “Yeah, of course you were. What do you want?”

Tynan, slightly
taken aback, took a few moments to find his voice again. “Well, I was concerned
for your safety, and, of course, I await instructions.”

Gabriella gave him
a slight smile. “Do nothing for the moment. If the hijacked ship should emerge,
contact us for further instructions.”

“And what about
the Watcher ship Princess?”

“What!”

“The Watcher ship.
It followed from Fever and is in orbit about 20,000kms away.”

Gabriella paused
to consider this development. Unbeknownst to that worthy, Asel was working for the Areopagites. Through Sammael, Gabriella had brokered a deal with Asel’s father,
Semyaza, the chief of the Watchers, promising to share the Overdrive technology
in return for his assistance and support in her upcoming bid for the Areopagite
crown. Inherently duplicitous, Gabriella had no intention of honoring her
promise. Once the Overdrive was in her possession, she would make her play for
the crown, and after securing that prize, would eliminate any would be allies.

Semyaza had
instructed Asel to recover the Overdrive at any cost, although he had not made
his son privy to his arrangement with Gabriella. This suited the Areopagite
Princess for the moment. If any news of this alliance leaked to Metatron, the
physical embodiment of god would utilize the not insignificant forces of the
Areopagite’s to hunt down and destroy her. In the meantime, if Asel should get
his hands on the prize, Gabriella felt confident that his father would instruct
him to hand it over, or more simply, she would take it and then destroy him.

“Maintain your
distance,” she said finally. “If they interfere in your efforts to capture the
freighter, fire a warning shot.”

“That might be
unwise Princess. My ship is no match for a Class 1 Trireme.”

“Leave that to me,"
she said irritably and cut the link.

Turning towards
her captain, Gabriella ordered him to dock with one of the defense stations in
order to affect repairs on her somewhat damaged ship. As the harried captain
hastened to obey, she turned to Sammael who was standing passively at her side.

“Are you sure
Semyaza is securely in our pocket?”

Sammael nodded.
“Definitely, Princess. He gave me his personal assurance that he would instruct
Asel to hand over the Overdrive if it came into his possession.”

“Sammael?” said
Gabriella.

“Yes, Princess?”

“Have you ever
known me to lie? And be honest.”

Sammael hesitated.
“Well, erm, various circumstances have sometimes dictated that you omit certain
truths,” he said cautiously.

Gabriella smiled
at him. “And do you think its beyond the ability of Semyaza to do the same?”

Sammael looked
uncertain, finally shrugging before answering. “I suppose not”

“Good. Then you’ll
understand that if Asel should take possession of the Overdrive, you are to
kill him.”

A flicker of a
smile crossed over Sammael’s face. It wasn’t everyday he was given an order to
kill a Watcher Prince.

“Yes, my
Princess.”

◊

Logan rubbed his
head. “God, haven’t felt this bad since we drank the bar dry that time and I
ended up in the dumpster.”

Tarquin slumped in
the command seat with his head in his hands. He looked up at the sound of
Logan’s voice. “Was that the same night we played nude beer-a-hole-golf without
the clubs?”

“Nah. Different
night.”

Tarquin shrugged
and returned his head to his hands with a groan. Two seconds later he brought
his head up with a jolt. One of his eyelids closed automatically.

“What is it?,"
asked Logan.

“The ships
reporting a large object moving towards us”

“How far?”
“160,000 klicks and closing, but slowly.”

“Could be an
asteroid?”

Tarquin shook his
head. “Don’t think so. Its approach vector is far too regular and its not
showing any spin. An asteroid would have picked up at least some spin during
its travels.”

“Then what is it?”

Tarquin shrugged
again. “Buggered if I know but the ship estimates its at least 50km long.”

Logan’s eyes
opened in alarm. “Good grief. Can’t be human then.”

“No," said
Tarquin. “Not human.”

“You don’t mean…”

“Yep. This trip
could be a first on a whole lot of different levels.”

Logan stood. “I
might go and check on Felix and see if he needs a hand.”

“Good idea.”

After Logan had
left the bridge, Tarquin settled back in his chair and began interrogating the
ship’s AI in detail. If the approaching object was what he thought it was, they
could be in a lot of trouble.

“And I thought
being a gladiator was action packed,” he said to himself.

◊

In the engine
room, Felix had just finished taking the Overdrive apart. Crystal, the only
other person present, was sitting in one of the cramped corners eating one of
the packaged meals. They both looked up when Logan walked in. He stopped dead
when he saw the Overdrive lying in pieces.

“Did you have to
take the whole thing apart?” he exclaimed.

“Well," said
Felix defensively, “if you want me to get us back to a recognizable part of the
galaxy, I’m gonna have to find out what’s wrong with it.”

“Yes, but did you
have to take the whole thing apart?”

“Yes, I fucking
well did.”

Logan put his
hands up in a placating gesture. “Alright, alright. No need to get excited.”

“I wasn’t getting
excited. I was getting defensive.”

Logan smiled.
“Well, that’s alright then.”

Felix put the tool
he was holding on the ground and glared up at Logan. “Did you come in here for
any particular reason or did you decide annoying me might be fun?”

Logan studiously
avoided looking at his friend and began intently picking at a bit of skin on
his finger. “You need to put the Overdrive together again. Right now.”

“What?”

“I said, you need
to put…”

“I know what you
said.”

“Then why did you
ask?”

“Shut up.”

Logan shrugged.
“Ok."

Felix looked down
at the product of 3 years of research and development lying in pieces at his
feet. “I thought I had a few hours. What’s the rush?”

“Tarquin thinks
there’s something moving to intercept us.”

“What?," said
Felix excitedly. “Is it a ship?”

“Could be.”

“Well, why don’t
we wait?” asked Crystal, speaking up for the first time since Logan’s entrance.
“They could help us make repairs, to say nothing of us making first extra
terrestrial contact.”

“Just imagine that,"
said Felix, an idiotic grin on his face.  “Us. Galactic explorers. Ambassadors
for the human race.”

“Yes, yes. Blah
blah,” said Logan impatiently. “Did you stop to consider that there’s a reason
why no ship sent to this part of the galaxy has ever been heard from again?”

“Well, yes,” said
Felix slowly. “Maybe ship malfunction or perhaps they encountered some natural
phenomena.”

Logan raised his
eyebrows at his friend. “Honestly, Felix. Sometimes I wonder whether they gave
you your doctorate out of sympathy." He put his hand up to forestall
Felix’s come back.

“I’ve spent my
entire working life assessing dangers and eliminating threats. Its what I do,
and right now I think that our best bet, what with an object 50km long bearing
down on us, is to put your toy back together and get the fuck out of here.”

“Shouldn’t we at
least wait and see what they want?” asked Crystal.

“You can hang
around if you want, but in the meantime, Felix can get the Overdrive up and
running.”

Felix shrugged. “I
can do that.”

“Good," said
Logan. “If you need me, I’ll be on the bridge.” He turned to Crystal. “What’s
the food like?”

“Alright,"
she said noncommittally. “It says chicken on the display but it doesn’t taste
like it.”

Logan grabbed a
bit of her meal with his hand, popped it in his mouth and chewed thoughtfully.
“That’s because its lamb.”

Crystal’s face
suddenly drained of color. “What?," she exclaimed.

Logan winked at
her. “I won’t tell Ram Terry if you don’t.” He turned and walked out.

Felix looked at
her and smiled. “Don’t worry. He’s joking. I think.”

Crystal threw the
package into a corner in disgust. “I’ve just lost my appetite.”

◊

Asel, locked in
his personal quarters aboard the Class 1 Trireme, The
Sweet Bejesus
,
contemplated his recent failures. Since arriving in orbit above Gitane, he had
repeatedly run through his AI’s recording of the battle between himself and the
unknown female on Fever. Obviously, the long kept secret of Shiva DNA had
finally been uncovered. But how did the Shepherds get it? He felt sure his
father, Semyaza, formerly the Areopagite’s chief genetic engineer, would never
have revealed that information. That meant that traitors existed either amongst
the Areopagite’s or amongst themselves.

He played the
recording one more time and studied the images frame by frame. The woman
possessed the speed, strength and field generative power of a first hierarchy
angel. Disturbing to say the least. He idly wondered if she also had the
ability to control Shiva and navigate Nospace as the Watchers and Areopagites’
could. He spent some time contemplating the effect on the galactic status quo
if this information should become common knowledge, before dismissing himself
as a fool. If the Overdrive data should be released to the galaxy, the secret
of Shiva DNA would become redundant. His father would doubtless be less than
impressed, having spent at least one century of his life working to perfect the
genetic manipulation process – first for the Areopagites, and then for their
rivals, the Watchers, whom he birthed and currently ruled.