Progeny (The Progenitor Trilogy, Book Three) (57 page)

              ‘This had better work,’ muttered Isaacs, as the moment of arrival drew closer.

              ‘Relax,’ said Steven. ‘We just need to bluff our way through.’

              ‘Oh right, and if they see through our act we’ve only got the guns of a warship about a million times the size of our own to deal with.  Forgive me if I’m not brimming with confidence.’

              ‘The IFF hacks should be convincing enough for the few minutes that we need, and we have a cargo of exotic spices, their sensors will tell them that much,’ said Steven.

              ‘Yeah, I just hope that their sensors can’t penetrate the compartments in the hull that have dozens of weapons hidden in them,’ Isaacs replied.

              ‘It’s worked so far,’ offered Anna. ‘The Nahabe confirmed that they weren’t able to penetrate them with their sensors.’

              ‘Look, we just fly calmly on in, like we went over before.  Tell them that we’re here to trade and head for the Bolivar City spaceport when they give us clearance, then when the
Uncaring Cosmos
jumps in to create a diversion we change course and head for the hidden landing field.  Both we and the Nahabe need to try and get a look at that giant ship and get the intel. back to the Commonwealth using the secure comm. unit.’

              ‘Just like that.  Okay.  Simple.’

              ‘Yes.  Just keep calm.’

              ‘Calm, he says,’ muttered Isaacs, and adjusted himself in his seat.  ‘Okay, exiting jump in ten seconds.  Hold onto your hats, everybody.’

              The
Profit Margin
emerged from its jump fifty thousand kilometres above the surface of Orinoco.   The world shone blue and green in the brilliant light from its parent star, the massive, bloated orb of the gas giant Tethys peeping out from over the limb of the northern hemisphere.  A large, glittering shape could be seen hanging in low orbit against the mottled backdrop of continents and cloud systems.  Even at this distance, it was clear that the vessel was truly massive.  It had a long, bulbous body of interlocking crystalline plates, from which sprouted five articulated arms that projected forwards from the ship.  Light sparkled off its jointed surface, like arctic sun reflected from an iceberg. As the
Profit Margin
rushed onwards, the massive vessel began to grow ever larger.

              ‘Jesus, look at the size of that thing,’ whispered Anna.

              ‘Look, is exactly what we need to be doing,’ said Steven.  ‘Let’s get as much information from the ship’s sensors on that thing as we can.’

              Anna nodded in affirmation and began to fine tune the ship’s sensor suite.

              ‘That thing is right in our path,’ said Isaacs. ‘It’s hanging in the sky directly above Bolivar City.’

              ‘Keep going.  If we change course it’ll arouse suspicion.’

              ‘Orinoco Traffic Control are hailing us,’ said Anna.  ‘This is it.’

              ‘Vessel
Arms of Orion
, this is Orinoco Traffic Control, said the stern, clipped voice.  ‘State your business and destination, over.’

              Isaacs took a deep breath.  ‘Orinoco Traffic Control, this is the uh...
Arms of Orion
.  We are on a trading run from Vreeth space.  I have a cargo of the finest Barrachak Cloudfrond for sale in this system.  Requesting permission to land in Bolivar City.  Over.’

              ‘Permission granted,
Arms of Orion
.  Be advised that this system is in a state of heightened military readiness.  Do not deviate from the prescribed course being fed to you now.  Failure to comply may be met with deadly force.  Your vessel will be boarded and searched by security personnel upon landing.’

              ‘Roger that, Traffic Control. 
Arms of Orion
out.’  Isaacs cut the link and let out a long sigh of relief.  As they had been speaking, the indicated route that Traffic Control intended them to follow had appeared in his HUD.  It looped around the leviathan before them, but still brought them within a hundred kilometres of the massive ship.  Isaacs allowed Orinoco Traffic Control to take over the task of piloting his ship and took his hands off the controls.

              ‘See?’ said Steven.  ‘Piece of cake.’

              ‘What was that they said about deadly force, again?’ Isaacs replied.

              ‘There’s a lot of other ships around the big Shaper one,’ said Anna, studying the displays from the ship’s sensors.  ‘I’m picking up ten carrier battle groups in the space around Tethys, including two around Orinoco at the moment.  Can’t see any other Shaper vessels, but I bet they’re lurking around somewhere.  There’s a lot of debris in orbit too, though most of it is around towards the far side of the moon.  Looks like the remains of the Commonwealth fleet as well as Orinoco station.  I can see a fair few civilian vessels besides the military craft.  There are a lot of freighters in formation with the Shaper craft, and more incoming from outside the system, judging by the drive signatures.  Some other traffic coming and going from Orinoco, but not as much as you’d normally expect.’

              ‘What sort of freighters?’ said Steven, leaning over to peer at the display.

              ‘Commonwealth built, mostly.’

              ‘No, I mean what are they carrying?’

              ‘Just a moment, we’re a little far away to tell...’ Anna replied and fine tuned the ship’s instruments.  ‘Hmm, interesting,’ she said finally.

              ‘What is?’

              ‘I’m picking up magnetic containment units and radiation signatures.  I’d say that all of those ships are carrying cargos of anti-matter.  They must be supplying that giant ship with it.’

              ‘What is it, some kind of doomsday weapon?’ said Isaacs.

              ‘It could very well be something like that, yes,’ said Steven.  ‘Quite what we do to stop it...’

              Anna was still fixated on the readings from the ship’s scanners as they attempted to scan the massive Shaper craft.

              ‘I can’t penetrate the hull of that thing.  No surprises there, but I am getting some energy readings from the ship.  Those bulbous sections amidships are putting out strong signals, and there are patterns of energy signatures running up to and along those arms that jut out from the fore section.  Could be a series of reactors linked to some sort of weapons system.  My guess is; that’s what they’re feeding it with anti-matter for.’

              As they drew closer to the monumental Shaper ship, they could pick out more detail with the naked eye.  The interlocking plates rose and fell like ranges of snow capped mountains, the bigger shards joined and interspersed by patterns of smaller, gleaming scales that shone like mother of pearl, though even the smallest of those was the size of a Commonwealth frigate class vessel.  The ends of the five vast arms, meanwhile, each subdivided into smaller and smaller shards, until the very tips shone with collections of needle-like appendages.  Where the arms met at the bow of the ship, a huge maw of armoured plates jutted forward like that of some ravenous sea creature.  Isaacs caught a glimpse of a looming, circular mouth filled with glittering crystalline teeth.  He got the distinct impression that the vessel was watching him.  There was something behind his eyes, some presence or other.  He felt the hairs on the back of his neck begin to rise.

              ‘I think... I think we’re going to need bigger guns,’ said Isaacs, as he pondered the great vessel.

              ‘Yeah, I think you might be right,’ Steven replied, his eyes similarly rooted to the alien craft.

              ‘We’re being probed by one of the renegade Commonwealth ships acting as sentry,’ said Anna.  ‘They’re hailing us and targeting weapons.  Putting them through.  Remember, nice and cool.’

              ‘Vessel
Arms of Orion
, this is the Freedom Alliance destroyer
Hatshepsut.
Please desist in your attempts to probe the large vessel in orbit.  Our guests are sensitive about such matters.’

              ‘My apologies
Hatshepsut
,’ said Isaacs, as Anna hurriedly switched off the
Profit Margin’s
active sensors.  ‘I was merely curious.  I’ve never seen a vessel that large before. Where did it come from?’

              ‘That information is classified.  Suffice to say that we have sought allies of our own.  Unlike the Commonwealth, we are not prey to malign alien influences and seek only partnership with the elder races, not subjugation.  A new order is coming.  You would do well to remember that.’

              ‘Look, I’m just a businessman.  I don’t want to get involved.’

              ‘Very good.  Then go about your business,’ snapped the voice aboard the
Hatshepsut
and cut the link.

              ‘Charming,’ said Isaacs.  ‘Are they still targeting us?’

              ‘Yes,’ Anna nodded.

              ‘Wonderful.  Then we’d better behave ourselves.’

              They sat in silence and watched the massive Shaper craft pass by on the starboard side of the vessel.  Isaacs felt it again, a probing presence in the edges of his consciousness.

              ‘Did you hear that?’ said Anna, suddenly.

              ‘Hear what?’ Steven replied.

              ‘It sounded like... I don’t know... words coming through on the comm. system,’ she said awkwardly.

              ‘It’s not active.’

              ‘I know.  I must be imagining things.  Cal, did you...?’

              Isaacs heard it again: whispers from some terrible mouth struggling to form unfamiliar sounds in the darkness.

              ‘It’s that ship,’ he said, casting it an accusing glance out of the starboard window.  ‘It’s trying to get inside our heads.’

              ‘Blot it out, try to ignore it,’ said Steven.  ‘As far as we know they can’t read minds.  It’s probably just curious about us.  Don’t do anything stupid.’

             
Pathetic creatures. 
The sibilant tones were clearer now. 
Free yourselves from your limited existence and embrace perfection. Allow us to remake you ane
w.  And then it had them in its grip, their minds held in its powerful embrace.  There were images too now, flashes of shapes moving in the jungles of the world below them, humans and aliens that moved with the precision of automata, the dim light catching the outlines of the crystalline machinery that pierced their bodies.  He saw men and women disassembled and reformed, their limbs and organs replaced with pulsing machinery.  He heard the screams, saw them struggle as the blades and needles descended.  Saw bodies and machinery fused together into heaving masses, about which the parasites of the Shapers scurried like termites about their nest. Isaacs gasped in horror, and heard the others do likewise.  Despite having witnessed similar things first hand, the enduring horror of the images and manner in which the Shaper craft forced them into his consciousness made him reel.  Somehow he knew that what the ship was showing him was going on right now on the moon below.  He knew that those screams were still piercing the air and that no-one would answer them.  And then as quickly as they had begun, the images ceased and the voice receded.  The ship had released them.  Isaacs was left with the mental image of something ancient and powerful moving off into the distance.  It had lost interest in these puny beings and decided to leave them be.

              Isaacs was jolted back into reality and realised that he was hyperventilating.  He looked around at the others and saw his own horrified expression reflected back at him.

              ‘What the hell just happened?’ said Anna, weakly. ‘Did you just see...?  God, it was horrible.’

              Isaacs nodded wearily.

              ‘I think it was just curious about us,’ said Steven.  ‘Thankfully, we don’t seem to have been interesting enough to hold its attention.  Those images that it was projecting seemed real enough, though.  God know what we might be heading into.’

              The massive vessel steadily slipped behind them.  All the while, the guns of the defensive fleet around it remained firmly trained on the
Profit Margin.
Orinoco filled their forward vision.  Below them, the dark smudge of Bolivar City could just be made out against the landscape as it sprawled against the coastline.  The
Profit Margin
began to reduce its speed as it entered the landing pattern and spiral down to the spaceport, orientating itself to enter the atmosphere tail down in an aero-braking manoeuvre.  Gradually, the shields began to glow faintly from the friction with the thickening gases.

              ‘Any moment now...’ muttered Steven.  ‘Any moment...’

              ‘New contact!  Right behind us!’ cried Anna.  ‘It’s the
Uncaring Cosmos
, right on schedule.  She’s firing on the lower sentry vessels!’

              ‘Break out of the landing pattern!’ cried Steven.  ‘Cal, you need to do it now!’

              ‘Easier said than done,’ muttered Isaacs, taking over control of his vessel once more.  ‘We’re in the middle of an atmospheric descent.  Hang on...’

              Grabbing the controls, he gunned the engines, throwing the ship forwards and out of its tail down descent.  The ship was now ascending again.  Isaacs pushed the nose down and continued to accelerate until the ship was standing on its head and heading straight for the city below.  Above, just beyond the reaches of the atmosphere, the
Uncaring Cosmos
had engaged two former Commonwealth destroyers.  Brilliant beams of energy lashed out from the gunsphere, raking the flanks of both enemy craft with punishing fire as the other ships sought to engage this new threat that had appeared in their midst.  Shaper craft, detecting the Nahabe vessel as it had made its final approach, were already inbound.  Their ghostly shapes were already emerging on all sides as one of the renegade destroyers exploded amidships in a wash of energy and radiation.