Star Viking (Extinction Wars Book 3) (16 page)

“Yes,” Ella said. “They know Creed is unbalanced enough to attack them and would suspect him of having suborned our artifact. He knows its name, after all, which they consider vital. For that reason alone, we must pick a different target.”

We went around and around with the debate. In the end, I put it to a vote.

Ella turned her thumb down. She wanted to hit the Saurians again. “We have a proven method for dealing with the lizards,” she said. “It worked last time. It’s always best to use what has actually succeeded.”

“Nope,” Rollo said, aiming the open end of his beer bottle at her. “I say we follow Creed. We’re all free because he had the balls to try outlandish feats, beginning in Antarctica. I say we should hit Sanakaht.”

“The tigers sent assassins at Creed, blowing themselves up to get him,” Dmitri said. “I think we should blow
them
up with thermonuclear weapons. I say we raid Sanakaht for supplies and then stomp them flat afterward.”

We all turned to N7.

“I began as the Commander’s adversary,” the android said. “Since then, I have learned to marvel at his ploys. Let us attack Sanakaht as he wishes.”

I faced Ella, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes,” she said tiredly. “Let’s attack Sanakaht.”

“Your wish is my command,” I said. “In five days, seven at most, we strike back at the tigers.”

It ended up taking thirteen days to coordinate everything. As D-Day approached, my fears increased.

We were about to transfer hundreds of light years into a planet’s atmosphere. I couldn’t conceive the technology such an event would take. The coordination was beyond phenomenal. It was the next thing to supernatural.

I wondered if I was getting religion. Wasn’t that crazy? But a small part of me wondered about the ethics of using such a spectacular machine as Holgotha in such a bloody, murderous venture.

Most of the time, endless work submerged my qualms. I preferred that to worried pondering. The rest of the days, I used my imagination, stretching it to its utmost.

N7 and Ella helped me. We had to envision the situation with gravity present. Holgotha would have to stay airborne. The day I’d spoken to him, he hadn’t seemed concerned about the problem. I didn’t know if that meant he hadn’t considered the situation in detail or if he simply already knew what he needed to do.

I’d find out on D-Day when everything was in place. The hour rapidly approached.

Finally, the missiles, the planetary beam cannons, the air-cycles and a Demar hauler moved into position. In the Asteroid Belt, we unloaded everything but the hauler onto the artifact’s surface. The spaceship would remain in the vicinity. At Altair, we’d seen that everything in a nearby radius left with the transferring artifact. Once the hauler reached Sanakaht with us, it would lift into a low planetary orbit, deploying drones to act as a temporary space force.

It took hours arranging everyone in the proper location. Before I trudged off to speak with Holgotha again, I wanted to make certain everything was ready for battle conditions.

We had a command center on Holgotha’s surface. We had missile launchers to strike outlying areas on Sanakaht and planetary beam cannons to hammer in a direct line of sight whatever would need it. Finally, we had Star Vikings. The former assault troopers wore their bio-suits, shouldered their light arms and waited beside the air-cycles.

With everyone waiting, I began the journey in my heavy vacc-suit. Walking alone, I headed for the curve that would bring me in sight of the black hole and then the small city on the inner circle.

In time, I waited before the wall. Would Holgotha be too immersed in his computations to remember the plan? Would I have to go over everything again?

No. I put my hand against the wall, and it went through. A vast sense of relief swept over me. I laughed aloud in my helmet. Then, I began the final trek to see Holgotha.

Soon enough, I stood in the same white chamber as before. It felt different without N7. The fantastic age of Holgotha impinged upon my senses. Who was I to try to trick an ancient Forerunner artifact? I felt like a bullfrog who had puffed himself up so large he might end up exploding.

“Why have you returned so soon?” Holgotha asked in his deep voice.

I stood, holding my helmet. I tried not to think how easy it would be for the artifact to snuff out my life.

“I’ve gathered the troops,” I said.

“A moment,” the artifact said. “Ah. I see. Time has elapsed since we last spoke.”

I reminded myself that Holgotha’s perception of time was different from mine.

“Yes,” I said, trying to sound more confident than I felt. “The assault troopers are in position.”

“You have other machinery on my surface areas.”

“A few missile batteries,” I said.

“They are of grossly inferior design compared to me. I do not want them on my surface lest some come to believe they are mine.”

“As soon as we’re at Sanakaht, the majority of the hardware will leave.”

“You will remove the inferior machinery off me at once,” Holgotha said.

I stood there blinking. “We, need the machines.”

“That was not part of the bargain,” Holgotha said.

“Why are you being so stubborn?” I asked. “Those items were implied. We’re not like you, Holgotha. Humans need their tools to amplify their abilities.”

“Inferior equipment breeds inferior results,” the artifact boomed.

“Don’t you think we know that?”

“Not necessarily,” the artifact said.

“That’s why we’re making this run in the first place. We need superior equipment.”

“Why do you seek Lokhar weapons then? You should espouse for the best Jelk equipment.”

“We’ve made our plans,” I said. “For us, they’re quite elaborate tactical ideas. We’ve trained for Sanakaht. Now, with the entirety of our equipment, we’re hoping to get started.”

“When?”

“Now,” I said. “When did you think?”

“I see. Very well, give me the galactic coordinates of your destination point.”

Closing my eyes in frustration, I realized I should have brought N7 along. The android waited at the command center. I wanted him ready to make decisions the instant we appeared in the planet’s atmosphere.

“Are you familiar with the Sanakaht star system?” I asked.

“By the entomology, that sounds like a Lokhar name.”

“Right,” I said.

“I am unfamiliar with Lokhar galactic coordinates.”

“Come on,” I said. “You’re trying to stall. I thought your given word meant something.”

“Holgotha does not stall,” he said. “You are besmirching my honor with such words.”

My facial skin turned cold with fear. I sensed his anger, and I didn’t like it. What did I really know about the artifact? The answer was practically nothing. I hadn’t expected a sense of advanced computer honor.

“You’re taking my meaning wrong,” I said.

“I have correctly analyzed your words. They have incensed me.”

“You know, the trouble is I expected you to act like me.”

“Me respond like an animal?” Holgotha asked.

“There you go. I’m a biological being. Therefore, I expect sentient objects to act in a similar manner.”

Holgotha grew silent for a time. Finally, “Yes. My memory files agree that many creatures act in the way you describe. I do not act in that manner, however. I am Holgotha, a thinking machine of the First Ones.”

“So, what I’m suggesting is that you take the Lokhar name and correlate it with your ancient star coordinate name.”

“What does that have to do with your accusation of my stalling?”

“Very little,” I said. “I’m trying to drop the subject because it has made you angry. I don’t want to offend you.”

“This is your attempt at an apology?”

“I’m sorry I insulted you,” I said. “Just so you know. No one else has gotten that much from me.”

“I accept your groveling,” Holgotha said.

I almost shook my head in annoyance. Instead, I sighed. Very well, let him think I’d been groveling. Let’s just get started already.

“Where is the star system Sanakaht?” Holgotha asked me.

I told him the best I could figure it.

“A moment while I correlate,” he said.

I waited twenty minutes, which surprised me at first. Then, it made me nervous. I began to sweat. That made my symbiotic skin shift in delight under the heavy vacc-suit.

“I have the old galactic charts,” Holgotha said.

My head snapped up, and I chuckled nervously. His talking after being silent so long startled me.

“That’s great to hear,” I said.

“I cannot find the Sanakaht star system, though.”

“That’s what the Lokhars call it,” I said. “You should be able to find what the First Ones named it.”

This time it took the artifact twenty seconds. “You mean the star system—” He gave me an unpronounceable name.

During our attack on the portal planet, I’d had a chance to view what might have been First Ones. They had looked like giant centipedes. I hadn’t liked the thought of that at the time. Could what I’d seen have been a representation of a serpent?

I knew which side snakes were supposed to be on, and it wasn’t the side of the angels. Now, hearing the ancient unpronounceable name, I shifted my shoulders uneasily.

“Where on the planet should we land?” Holgotha asked.

“Not on the surface,” I said. “You’re going to appear in the atmosphere.”

“That is acceptable,” the artifact said. “Now give me the coordinates for the exact location on the planet.”

“You’re kidding me, right? I don’t have that kind of information.”

“How will I know where to appear, then?”

Then it struck me. I wondered how any of us had missed it. How indeed would a machine know where to transfer hundreds of light years away?

“Can you see where you’re going before you move?” I asked.

“Of course,” Holgotha said. “It would be foolish to travel in this manner otherwise.”

“Can you show me a map of the planet as it is now?”

“I can,” Holgotha said.

“Right,” I said. “Let’s do it then, and I can tell you.”

A minute later, I viewed Sanakaht through Holgotha’s screen. The world had green continents and big lakes, no oceans that I could see. I didn’t ask him how he could scan this distance. Frankly, I doubted I would have understood the technology that did it. Since I saw the effect of the tech, I figured that was good enough.

“Can you give me a closer scrutiny?” I asked.

He did. I examined several cities and finally fixed upon a shipyard. There were tigers and machines everywhere. I counted the missile batteries and the orbital platforms, trying to memorize everything. Next time—if there was one—I’d bring N7 along with me.

Finally, I showed the artifact the spot to transfer.

“When do you wish to relocate?” Holgotha asked.

“Can you give me an hour to leave here and reach my people on your surface?”

“Yes,” the artifact said.

“Well. That’s it then. I’m going to leave. An hour after I exit the building, transfer to the atmosphere of Sanakaht.”

“When will you wish to return?”

I blinked several times. Why hadn’t I thought of that before? Been too busy, I guess. “I’ll walk back here and tell you.”

“And if you die on Sanakaht?” Holgotha asked.

“Then N7, Rollo, Dmitri or Ella will come and ask you to return to the solar system.”

“Noted and accepted,” the artifact said. “I will be observing your action on Sanakaht. Afterward, I will make my decision whether I will remain among your savage species.”

“Sure,” I said. “I look forward to your decision.”

“We shall see,” Holgotha said.

“Yeah,” I said, mainly so I’d get the last word in instead of Holgotha.

***

I reached the mobile command post on the surface of Holgotha. A thought kept troubling me. Would the artifact keep the right side “up” when he appeared in the atmosphere? Gravity would pull at us then. If the donut-shaped artifact transferred the wrong way, we’d all fall off onto Sanakaht. That would end the Star Viking raid right there.

For the next twenty-three minutes, I fretted over the problem.

“You should have set up a communication system with the artifact from here,” Ella radioed me.

I should have done many things differently. Thinking myself imaginative, I’d failed to consider too much. Humanity wouldn’t survive on luck, although we needed it.

“Ella,” I said. That was as far as I got.

Space began to blur. At first, just the edges seemed fuzzy. Soon, everything became blurry and indistinct. Then colors flowed out of the darkness of space. The pin-dot stars swirled, spinning faster and faster.

I heard a garbled message in my headphones. Then, sounds dwindled into nothing. The space merging became painful to look upon, so I closed my eyes. Vertigo hit me. Nausea caused stomach acid to burn the back of my throat.

Last time—seven years ago—I’d blanked out as this happened. Now, I fought to remain conscious. I wanted to man the guns right away on Sanakaht.

Around me, assault troopers began thudding onto the metal surface. Some of them thrashed about. What if the nuclear warheads went off accidentally?

If they did, that would be game-over. Since I’d be dead then, I wouldn’t have to face the shame. So, I quit worrying about it.

At that point in my thinking, a yawning abyss seemed to grow before my strained senses. What mechanics did the artifact use to make the transfer?

The First Ones knew so much more than we did. What had made them so smart? Could the tigers be right about the beginning? Had a creator formed everything? Wouldn’t those in the beginning be the best, with everything running down afterward? That was an old ontological argument: the wound-up clock. God set it up, all wound-up, and since then the universe wound down toward entropy. Things went from extreme order to disorder, taking a long time to do it in.

Ella didn’t buy any of that. She believed random chance plus long time-periods created order.

At that moment, I didn’t care. I hurt. My symbiotic suit squirmed. Then everything changed. Something dragged against me, pulling down, clawing at my atoms. Finally, I realized what had happened. I’d come to a place with gravity.