Dangerous Evolution (17 page)

“It is a Sentient warship, Lant class—the largest and most
powerful in our fleet. The good news, if there’s any to be had, is that if they
wanted us dead, we would be in little pieces already. They limited the attack
damage, taking great pains to avoid hitting life support systems or rupturing
the hull. They want us alive.”

I wasn’t as reassured as Del by that bit of information, “We call
them Asunder class dreadnoughts,” I said, “For obvious reasons. But how did
they detect us? Weren’t we stealthed?”

“We were, Commander. In normal space, they might have been able to
detect us—if they were close enough—but they shouldn’t have been able to track
us while still in Transit. I can’t explain it.”

A low-toned beep drew Del’s attention to its monitor. “Proximity
sensor. They are moving in to dock with us, aligning their ship with the hangar
bay.”

I watched the big vessel move slowly across the screen, the
exterior camera panning to follow its trajectory. “Just fucking lovely,” I
said.

High pitched static blared out over an open communications channel,
followed by four drawn out tones. A message was coming in from the other ship.

This is the Free Sentient Alliance warship Na’ardeen. Prepare to
surrender yourselves and your ship. We intend to destroy your vessel when our
business here is concluded. Any attempt at hiding, or mounting opposition by
force, is therefore pointless. We are coming aboard.

The channel went dead and I withdrew my TAC pistol, “What do you
think, Del?”

The Sentient was standing motionless, staring at the viewer with
its hands at its sides, “I think we should do as they say, Commander. They’re
right; we can’t escape, and fighting isn’t a realistic option. There are at
least five hundred Sentient soldiers on that ship—we would surely die.”

I could tell that Stinson was ready to fight if ordered, but his face
showed uncomfortable agreement with the Sentient. I exhaled out of frustration,
realizing that they were both right.

There was a hard bump, strong enough to shake the ship, followed
by the sound of grinding and tearing metal. Looking down the long corridor
toward the back of the ship, I could see sparks and smoke in the hangar.

They were coming in.

“They probably have to cut through some of the attack damage to
get a suitable docking seal,” Del explained.

“I’m going to get Val,” I said, and ran to the room where she was
hiding. The noises from the back of the ship were growing louder, and a rapid
banging joined in with the other sounds. I opened the door and leaned in. “Come
with me to the bridge,” I said, “The ship has been disabled by the Sentients
and they’re coming aboard.”

“
No
…” Val said in disbelief. She started crying and buried
her face in shaking hands. “Not again. I can’t do it again. I can’t…”

“It’ll be okay,” I assured her, pulling her hands down from her
face. “I’ll keep you safe, I promise.”

It was a promise I intended to keep.
Somehow.

She raised her head to look at me
, no, not at me…through me
,
tear soaked eyes pleading for help. But all I could do was take her hand and lead
her to the bridge to wait with the others. She was still wrapped in my coat, and
shaking…terrified; her trembling grew worse as we heard the footsteps coming
down the corridor.

I’d seen holo-captures of Sentient soldiers before—some from the
records of earlier contacts humans
had
survived—others from classified
monitoring stations based near The Verge.

Nothing prepared me for seeing them in person.

They were by far the largest Sentients I’d seen yet, and they were
fully augmented and weaponized. They radiated intense electrical energy,
undoubtedly derived from the implants bolstering their natural output.

There were seven of them in all, each with a red, six centimeter wide
ring of color around its neck—denoting their ranks as soldiers I surmised. Each
also had an arm encased in a metallic bracer, the weapons crackling with retrained
electricity—begging for a chance to unleash their deadly torrent of destructive
energy.

We gave them no reason to do so.

Five of the soldiers surrounded us on the crowded bridge, while
the other two scanned us for weapons, removing each as it was discovered. Once
they made sure we were completely unarmed, three of the soldiers left the
bridge and began to methodically search the ship.

“What are they going to do with us?” Val whispered in my ear.

“Silence!” one of the soldiers barked, and moved toward her. I
positioned myself between the two of them, halting its advance. The soldier
raised its bracer and pointed it at my head. I could hear it humming loudly,
and felt the hair rise from my scalp in response to the proximate current. I felt
Val grab my shirt from behind with both hands.

“Brave, but foolish,” it said menacingly.

“Enough!”

The soldier reluctantly withdrew, rejoining its companions as a
new Sentient entered the room. Other than the standard ocular implants, it had
no other discernible alterations. A wide, light blue band encircled its neck, bordered
by two smaller red lines; captain’s rank perhaps?

“Doctor Sa,” it said, looking at the figure now peeking out from
behind Del, “We have been looking for
you
.” It turned its attention to
Val, “You too, Doctor Evans, for much the same reasons.”

There was no question that
this
Sentient was angry, but it maintained
an austere professionalism nonetheless.

“What do you want with Miss Evans?” I demanded.

“And you would be…?” it asked, walking toward me.

“A friend. I was sent to retrieve Miss Evans after her kidnapping.
And you are…?”

“Captain Thov,” it said tersely, leaning in to stare at my face. I
could see the eyes slightly retract back into its head. “So you admit collaborating
with these assassins in their plan to exterminate us, and then helping them
flee from the crime?”

I stood my ground without flinching. If anything, I leaned in a
bit, closing the already small distance between our faces even further. “I
believe, Captain Thov, that you’ve been given bad information.” I kept my tone
strong, but respectful.

“Is that so?” The Sentient tilted its head up slightly, and then lowered
it back down again. It paused for a moment, and then smiled.

“
Commander Malik
. I believe I know more than you realize.”

Its eyes must be linked to their intelligence net,
I
thought.
It had been scanning my face for identification.

Our conversation was interrupted by a member of the search party
returning to the bridge. “Captain, we found an injured human in a stasis
chamber, one of their females. She is nearly dead. Do you wish to leave her on
board to be destroyed with the ship?”

Thov backed away from me, and then thought for a moment before
replying. “No. Bring her on board the
Na’ardeen
. Rroske still might be
able to use the body in its search for the cure.”

“Yes, Captain,” it waved its bracer arm in some type of salute
then left.

Probably to prepare Mendoza for transport
, I
thought.
At least she will be with us, and alive.

“So Rroske still likes to cut open sentient life forms and study
them does it?” Sa spat. “It was the only
scientist
I ever knew that was unethical
enough to do so.” Sa was angry, emboldened by the mention of Rroske.  

Thov looked over to launch a rebuke, but it died in its throat
when it recognized the Sentient standing with Sa. “
Ambassador Del
. I
would never have expected to find you involved in this plot. I heard the rumors
when you stole this ship and vanished, but I didn’t want to believe them.”

“Then don’t believe them, Captain. The Science Council wouldn’t
listen, so I left on my own to find a cure for our people—not out of guilt.”
Del looked squarely at the captain; I could tell that they were familiar with
one another.

“You know me, Captain Thov—
have
known me for a long time.
Do you really think I would do anything against our race?”

Conflict played across the captain’s face—a struggle between its own
anger and its respect for Ambassador Del I imagined. Duty won out over its personal
feelings.

“As much as I would like to believe that, Ambassador, I’m afraid
that Doctor Rroske and the Science Council have established another
explanation.”

“Then they are wrong yet again. Neither I nor the humans had anything
to do with this virus.”

“I would like to believe you, Ambassador, I honestly would. But it
doesn’t matter what I think, my duty is to take you back to Dre’nthe. It’s up
to The Consensus to decide your fate, not me.”

“Dre’nthe?” Del replied. “I thought you were headed to human
space.”

Captain Thov did a poor job of hiding its surprise, “How did
you…never mind. We are actually going to the Sens system first, then we will
join the fleet sent to punish our enemies. After we accomplish
that
mission,
we will return to Dre’nthe.”

“Mission…slaughter you mean,” Del said disgustedly. “But why Sens?
There is nothing there but a massive gravitational singularity.”

A black hole
, my mind translated.

“According to Chief Scientist Rroske, there is something there
that can help cure the virus as well.” Del opened its mouth to speak, but
before it got the chance, Thov gestured to the soldiers. “Take them to the lab
and secure them—including the one in stasis.” Thov held up a hand as the
soldiers moved to comply. “Except for the ambassador; place it in a crew cabin
and post a guard.”

They huddled us all together and lead us away, pushing with their
non-lethal hands. Despite all the shoving and jostling about, Val never let go
of the back of my shirt. We stepped through the docking portal—its jagged edges
and burnt metal confirming Del’s speculation about the Sentients cutting their
way through—then entered the Sentient warship.

The
Na’ardeen
was typical of the Sentient design I’d seen
so far. There were rounded edges wherever they could be functionally incorporated,
and oblong doors and arches leading into every room. It would be easy to say
that white was the dominant color, but more precise to say that it was the
only
color. The ebony Sentients stood out starkly against the environment, like enormous,
black insects in a sea of milk. Their sheer numbers, moving rapidly throughout
the ship, added to the impression.

We were lead down corridor after corridor, each one
indistinguishable from the next, so deep into the bowels of the huge ship that
I began to wonder if even our guards were lost. Finally, we arrived at an
oversized portal and one of the soldiers stepped up to a control pad to wave in
a code.

Nothing happened. It looked irritated, and tried to open the door again
with the same result. It angrily made a different gesture over the control surface
and spoke.

“Doctor Rroske. Remove your internal locks and open the door.
Now.”

It was clear that the soldier had little patience for Doctor
Rroske; it stood rigidly with its bracer crossed over its chest, waiting. 

“One moment,” came the acerbic reply.

The door opened within a few seconds, and Rroske stood in the center
of the portal, blocking access I noticed. The doctor was as large as the
soldiers, and in a strange way, even more disturbing. I got the distinct impression
that even the other Sentients found it an unpleasant character.

“What is it now, Gwil? Ah…our guests have arrived.”

“Rroske,” Doctor Sa said in resigned recognition.

“Doctor Sa. So you
were
aboard. Good. When I gave Captain Thov
Evan’s tracking information, I could only be certain that she would be found.”
It looked at each of us in turn. “I’m happy to see we’ve collected quite an
eclectic group.”

“
You
have her tracking signal?” I said.

“How do you think I arranged for her capture the first time,
human? Or how we detected you in Transit?”

“You were behind the kidnapping!” I surged toward the Sentient,
but two of the soldiers grabbed me.

Rroske turned sideways, opening a path into the room. “Put them in
a containment field,” it said calmly.

We filed in through the doorway and I scowled at the Rroske as we
walked past; another soldier followed us in, pushing the stasis pod containing
Mendoza.

“Where do you want this?” it asked.

Rroske looked inside the chamber, then checked the readout on the side
display. “I don’t think this
thing
will last long enough to be of any
use, but put it in the storage locker. I may be able to salvage something.”

They put us together in the far corner of the large room, then one
of the soldiers placed a portable shield generator on the floor and activated
it—sealing us in. The crowded room was full of assorted medical equipment, and
five Sentient-sized tables sat along the wall opposite where we were being
held.