Children of the Void: Book One of the Aionian Saga (25 page)

Several hundred meters away on the opposite ridge, something caught the light. The object shimmered and danced like a pool of water, but was not lying flat like water should. With the aid of her armor’s enhanced vision, Tloltan took a closer look.

The object was metallic and supple, fluttering in the wind, and obviously not a natural phenomenon. It was impossible to gauge its size due to its fluid motion and Tloltan’s relative angle, but she guessed it was at least twenty meters wide, possibly much more. “What do you think?”

If it belongs to the Maodoni, it’s something I have no record of. More likely a human contraption. It resembles a device they’ve used in recent history to create atmospheric drag. Something they call a parachute.

Tloltan remained hidden in the shadows for some time as she contemplated her options. “I’m going to get a closer look.”

I don’t advise it. I could be wrong and it’s simply a Maodoni trap, though I’m not sure why they would employ such a tactic in this particular place.

Tloltan was already creeping out of the shadows and making her way through the cover of the rocks. “It’s more likely it came from the human vessel. If so, we can learn a little more about them, and whether or not they can help us.”

It’s a risk.

“It’s a calculated risk.”

The strange object continued to flutter in the wind as Tloltan approached, but otherwise didn’t move. As she got closer, she could see that it was much bigger than she’d first thought, and it was held in place by many cords leading back down into the rocks.

It appears my original assessment was correct. The object is almost certainly a human parachute.

Tloltan moved forward a little more confidently now, yet continued to exercise caution. Decades of experience had taught her to never take something like this at face value.

She came around the rim of the bowl above the parachute so that she continued to control the higher ground. Now she could hear the sound it made as it flapped in the wind. The cords that held it were pulled tight, leading down to something amongst the granite boulders.

Tloltan paused to observe her surroundings. If this was some kind of trap, then whoever had laid it probably counted on her attention being focused on the parachute. Once she had scanned the area as much as she could, she continued forward.

Whatever held the parachute in place was between the rocks, and Tloltan crawled up to the top of one of them to look down. Something was there, a black mass wedged between two boulders. She scanned her surroundings one more time, then lowered herself into the gap between the rocks.

It turned out that the black mass was a twisted body, with two arms and legs, and a head.

It’s the right proportions for a human, wrapped up in some kind of protective suit.

Tloltan crouched down and placed a hand on the entity’s chest.

There’s a heartbeat. It’s alive, barely, and certainly human.

Tloltan cut the cords attaching the human to its parachute, then gripped the human by its arms and lifted it up. “Looks like you’re coming with us.”

G
IDEON
AWOKE
WITH
a start, cringing away from an imaginary peril that melted from his mind and disappeared before he could identify it. Two of Valkyrie’s moons shone bright enough for him to make out his surroundings clearly. The camp was still and silent, save for the crackling of embers left over from various fires around the clearing. Despite the biting cold, it was peaceful.

Even though Gideon couldn’t remember a thing from the nightmare that woke him, he was still left with an uneasiness that made it clear he wasn’t going to fall back to sleep anytime soon. Takomi snored softly with her back to him, and he wished she would wake up so that he could talk to her. For twenty minutes, he watched her, hoping the rhythmic rise and fall of her shoulders would lull him back to sleep. Instead, his troubled mind turned back to his father, and the little blip from the drone that seemed to taunt him. Quietly, he rose to his feet and crept toward the center of the camp.

The orange glow of dying fires grew denser as Gideon moved his way in from the perimeter. It seemed that no one wanted to be the one at the edge of camp. The wavering light danced on the gun-smoke gray surface of one of the shuttles. Gideon found that his feet impulsively led him toward it, and he didn’t stop them.

At the back of the shuttle, Gideon spotted the dark figure of a person slumped against the bulkhead next to the rear door. As he approached, the figure stirred, then sat up.

Gavin McLeod’s faint Scottish accent gave away his identity. “Gideon?” he said, then immediately yawned. “That you?”

Gideon waved as he continued to approach. “Hey, Gavin. You’re not sleeping on the job, are you?”

“Huh,” said Gavin, stretching. “I woke up, din’ I? When you’ve pulled as much guard duty as I have over the last hundred and fifty years, you learn to sleep with one eye open.” He stood, scratching his ribs with both hands. “What you doing out and about at this hour?”

Gideon put his hands on his hips and looked around. “Can’t sleep. Guess I’ve got a lot on my mind.”

Gavin rubbed his arms, trying to chase off the chill. “I hear you there. There’s a lot to think about. It’s enough to drive me mad.”

Crossing his arms, Gideon leaned against the hull across from Gavin. “So why do they have you guarding a shuttle anyway?”

Gavin matched his pose. “Beats me. Commander Devereux had some poor fellow in full Sentinel Armor guarding the thing, but Major Uritumbo came by and said it’d be better to have the armor out on the perimeter, said I’d do fine watching this bird, even with me bad leg.”

Gideon glanced over at Gavin, weighing his next words carefully. “Did they tell you what you’re guarding against?”

Gavin shrugged. “Not a clue. Seems like a poor excuse to rob an injured man of a good night’s sleep, if you ask me.”

“Well,” said Gideon, doing his best to sound casual, “I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep tonight. Why don’t I take over for you? I’m sure there’s a nice fire nearby you can curl up next to.”

Gavin looked over at him. “You sure about that, Gid? Guard duty’s pretty dull work.”

“I can lie awake on the ground somewhere else, or I can lie awake here. Makes no difference to me. Besides,” he said, patting his chest, “with my Sentinel Armor on, I don’t need a fire to keep warm. Just makes more sense to me.”

Gavin scratched at the stubble on his cheek. “You have a point, lad. I don’t see no harm in it, if you’re sure you don’t mind.”

Gideon gave him what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “Not at all. You need the rest more than me.”

“Well, I won’t argue with you,” said Gavin. “Heaven knows I’m as tired as a dog, and I’m freezing my balls off to boot.” He patted Gideon’s shoulder as he walked by. “Thanks, Gid. If you change your mind, come and wake me.”

Gideon nodded. “I’m sure I’ll be fine. Have a good night.”

“G’night, my boy. I’ll talk to you later, then.”

Gideon made a show of settling in for the night as Gavin hobbled off in search of a campfire. Once he was certain Gavin wouldn’t be back, Gideon stood and slipped silently into the shuttle.

The console booted up automatically as he approached, and soon the cockpit was filled with a soft blue glow. If anyone looked in this direction, they would know someone was inside at the controls. With a few quick commands at the console, Gideon had the shutters slide down over the windows. They made a bit of noise as the motors rolled them into place, but once they were closed, no light got in or out. Hopefully nobody paid any attention to the sound.

Within a few moments, Gideon found that the drone network was completely down, as if it had never existed. His gloves made a soft clinking sound as he manipulated the controls, searching deeper and deeper into the programing that should have linked to it. Yet no matter how many times he looked it over, he could not find any clue as to the fate of the network.

He sat back in his chair and closed his eyes, trying to think about what he would do if he was the saboteur trying to hide a whole network within the system. He leaned back into the console, exiting the program he had been searching.
 

The moment the program was closed, he had a revelation. He couldn’t find the drone network through that program because it wasn’t the real program. It was a dummy file, made to look like the real thing. The actual file would be hidden away somewhere, under an inconspicuous title. The saboteur wouldn’t have had a lot of time to write an entirely new program, and likely copied the real thing.

His instinct paid off. It didn’t take long to find another program hidden deep within the system that was nearly identical to the dummy program. It came as no surprise that the file was encrypted when he tried to open it. With enough time, he might have been able to crack it, but that wasn’t an option right now. If he wanted to open this file tonight, he needed help.

Gideon shut down the console and moved to the back door. Outside the camp was still exactly as he’d left it. As quietly as he could, he pulled on his helmet and visor.

“Pauline, can you locate Vincent Uritumbo?”

The calm voice of his AI spoke softly into his ear. “Major Uritumbo is sixty-five meters away.”

A glowing beacon appeared on his visor, and he snuck away in its direction. Weaving through a dozen sleeping figures, Gideon soon came upon a familiar giant in Sentinel Armor leaning against a rock. Vincent appeared to be asleep, but as Gideon approached, he saw that the big man was staring right at him.

“What is it, Gideon?” The voice was deceptively soft coming from Vincent. It carried just far enough to reach Gideon’s ears, and not an inch farther.

Gideon paused, looked around, then went down on one knee close to Vincent. “I need Alexia’s help. I found a hidden file on the shuttle—I think it’s from the saboteur.”

Vincent nodded, then slowly stood. Without a word, he crept over to a person sleeping nearby. In the faint moonlight, Gideon could see that it was Alexia, also in her Sentinel Armor. Vincent gently shook her awake, placing his finger to his lips as her eyes flickered open.

Alexia looked puzzled, but didn’t make a sound as she stood, rubbing her eyes. She winced as she pulled on her boots, either from the cold or from sore feet, or both. Vincent and Alexia followed Gideon back to the shuttle.

“I should have a word with Gavin,” said Vincent as they slipped through the door. “He was all too willing to give up his post.”

A twinge of guilt struck Gideon. It was never his intention to get Gavin into trouble. He didn’t have time to worry about it, however, and Gideon got to work under the blue glow of the console.

To her credit, Alexia had followed the two of them back to the shuttle without question. Now that they were alone, she stood next to Gideon and watched as he pulled up the files he’d discovered. “I assume you woke me up for a good reason,” she said, covering a yawn with her hand.

Gideon moved over to allow her a better view. “Sorry about that. I think it’s safe to say it’s a good reason.” A moment later, he had the dummy file pulled up, and explained to Alexia what he had found.

While Gideon worked at the console, Alexia watched with her chin resting in her hand, eyes looking tired but intense. “Mind if I take a look?” she asked, and Gideon moved out of her way. By the way she flew through menus and lines of code, you would have never guessed she’d just been rudely awoken. Despite Gideon’s aptitude for computer programing, he soon found he couldn’t keep up.

“There it is,” she said, leaning in close to the monitor. “It’s buried deep, but it’s right there. Someone knew what they were doing.” Alexia turned and looked up at her husband. “Either Devereux’s lost his touch, or he lied to you.”

Gideon looked back and forth between the two while Vincent contemplated her last statement. “Did I miss something?” Gideon asked.

Vincent looked at him sideways and let out a long sigh. “After you left the tent, the rest of us went with Devereux into another shuttle. He checked the systems for a while and told us that the drone network hadn’t been severed from our end, and was likely jammed by the aliens that attacked us.”

Gideon blinked. “But... couldn’t he have made a mistake?”

Alexia leaned her head at him with a sad expression. “No offense, Gideon, but you’re nowhere close to Devereux when it comes to coding. If you found a dummy file that easily, then he would have found it.”

“Well, he’s got a lot on his mind right now,” continued Gideon. “He was probably distracted.”

“There’s one way to find out,” said Alexia, and she spun around in her chair and typed away. It only took her a second to find what she was looking for. “I knew it. Take a look at this.” She turned sideways in her chair, pointing at some figures on the screen. Vincent and Gideon leaned in.

“The computer says this bird is about out of fuel,” she said, “but take a look at her payload weight.”

Vincent grunted. “Either the three of us weigh seven hundred kilos”—he stood and took a deep breath—“or Devereux’s betrayed us.”

The full implication of that last statement hit Gideon like a gust of foul wind. It took the oxygen right out of his lungs, and his legs shook beneath him. He fell into the chair next to Alexia as hot blood rushed to his face. “Devereux killed her?”

Vincent went to place a hand on his shoulder, but Gideon threw up his arms. Cold sweat trailed down his back, and he fought to breathe. He stood and walked to the back of the shuttle, but Vincent blocked his path.

“Where do you think you’re going, Gideon?”

Besides Joseph, Vincent was probably the only person who could have stopped Gideon at that moment. “I’m going to find him, and I’m going to...”

“You’re going to what?” said Vincent, in his controlled, commanding tone. “Fight him? Kill him? He’s surrounded by guards in Sentinel Armor right now. He’s probably wearing it himself.”

Gideon glared at Vincent. He couldn’t believe the big man wasn’t racing him to Devereux’s tent. “So? We have armor too. We’ll wake up Connor, and Padre, and the rest and take them all down. He killed my mother.”