The Agathon: Reign of Arturo (20 page)

Oliver smiled and went back to work.

“Yeah, yeah … okay, reboot your system on the count of three. Ready? One … two … three,” Oliver said reconnecting a small cable.

Aron did as he was told and reset the whole computer system. The whole process took about four minutes during which time there was total silence in the cockpit. The light that indicated the signal from The Agathon went blank. Aron drew a breath as the computer blinked back to life.

‘System ready’

All three looked at the screen as it ran through the start-up processes and seemed to be working normally. The various screens changed, eventually coming to the access portal requesting a password from Elstone.

“Try it now,” Oliver said.

The light from The Agathon’s beacon signal began to blink once more. Aron leant over and slowly put in his access code.

‘Access Aron Elstone granted’ blinked the screen as it allowed him in.

He turned to Oliver and slapped him on the shoulder, just hard enough to make him sway a little.

“You’re a good man, Oliver,” he said.

“Now what?” said India.

Aron thought about that for a moment, but there really was only one thing to do. He reached over and pressed the transmit button.

“This is the Earth One vessel, The Unity, responding to whomever is on this channel. Please identify yourselves,” he said.

The three Earth One colonists waited quietly as the static gave way to the sound of the female voice once again.

13

The Kandinsky

“W
e lost radio communications with The Unity, they are not answering our hails,” Escat said to Arturo who was now struggling greatly to contain his anger at the situation. If there was one thing that annoyed him the most, it was disobedience. It sowed dissent and weaved questions in his mind as to why. There was something going on, on board that ship. He was beginning to think it had been a bad idea to let Elstone anywhere near this project. He should have carried out the deployment himself, no matter how long it took.

What if they have made contact already and have jumped to sub light to find The Agathon and their own Utopia? You are a buffoon!
said the other voice in Arturo’s head causing him to turn away and grip his hands tightly together.

Go Away!
he thought angrily to himself.

“Chancellor, are you alright?” Escat said.

Arturo had heard him, but took a moment to shut his eyes and concentrate on regaining his faculties. The other presence slowly began to recede. He looked up at Escat and nodded taking a breath.

“Headache,” he said quietly, as if not to disturb the other one.

He could see the doubt and suspicion in Escat’s eyes and would have to deal with it soon enough. But not today.

“When was the last transmission?” he asked Escat.

“Seven hours ago,” he answered.

Arturo looked past the general to the small window behind his shoulder. He let the image of the streaking stars clear his mind. He needed to focus. Time was running out. The power reserves on the stations were far worse than was generally known. The only way to fully sustain the colony was either to recruit every last man, woman and child into the PODS, a decision he was seriously considering, or else …

“Sir, if they have made contact, all we have to do is destroy the ship,” Escat said pulling Arturo out of his contemplative moment.

Arturo did not answer. He was glad his old friend did not run the colony. It would have fallen long ago, with no Utopia in sight. Escat was becoming a little trigger happy these days and while that was a useful trait, it could also prove to be a very dangerous one. He looked at Escat’s eyes and saw a glint of something. It was betrayal. He knew it. Maybe not today, but it was there. Arturo would not stand for that. He thought about Escat’s own disposal. His old friend would need to be dealt with. They all would. But not yet.

“Don’t worry, General, you can have your prize, but I want Elstone alive,” Arturo said, making it more of an order than a request.

Arturo saw the look in the general’s eyes as he nodded his head. He was surrounded by traitors.

“We will rendezvous with The Unity as planned, at which time I will ask Elstone and Stanley to transfer to The Kandinsky for a debriefing. After that, you can use that ship as target practice if you want,” Arturo said.

The general smiled.

“Yes, Chancellor,” he said.

The Shuttle

A searing pain woke Carrie. She was on fire. Her left arm was smouldering and a thick acrid smoke filled the shuttle craft. She choked on the fumes and frantically patted small flames on her jumpsuit out
with her hand. She could feel the heat from the burnt skin boring a hole in her senses. She looked around the cabin and caught glimpses of the computers through flickering lights and white sparks. “Tyrell?” she shouted through her dry throat.

No answer. She looked up at the flight chair of the shuttle craft and saw Tyrell’s outline slumped over the chair. Getting to her feet, she climbed into the seat next to him and punched in the emergency atmo venting command. The air in the small craft began to clear as the electrical fire was extinguished. She covered her mouth as the smoke filled air was replaced with freshly circulated atmosphere. Her arm hurt, but thankfully the burst of adrenalin was helping her cope while she got her bearings. She looked up through the windows of the shuttle craft, and squinted at the sight before her blurry eyes. She rubbed them and allowed the smoke to clear before letting her mouth open in total astonishment.

There, filling every corner of her vision, was a turquoise blue planet. One solitary ring of ice and rock circled its equator. It was gigantic. What she thought was a thin atmosphere at first, became what looked like a solid piece of perfectly formed glass, completely encasing the entire planet. She was sure that it had to be close to the mass of Earth’s own sun.

“Impossible,” she said quietly to herself.

Light from a nearby star bounced off the glass casing, forming numerous rainbow like colours across its surface. It looked like a rare gem being displayed to a cosmic collector.

She turned to Tyrell and placed a hand on his arm.

“Tyrell,” she said giving it a gentle push.

Still no response. She tried again, only this time slapping his face.

“Tyrell!” she said raising her voice.

He stirred, opening his eyes. He mumbled something she could not understand before coughing and looking at her. His eyes looked normal. They looked at hers with confusion, and for a moment she thought that maybe The Black had lost its control over him.

“Doctor Tyrell?” she asked.

“Help me,” Tyrell whispered.

Carrie began to sense the old Tyrell’s thoughts as they flooded into her mind. There was terror, loneliness and fear. They lasted for only a few seconds as they faded into nothingness. His eyes filled with black fluid and turned colour once again to the familiar look of The Black. The old Tyrell was gone.

“Carrie,” he said sitting up straight and looking out at the planet.

She did not answer. The old Tyrell’s panic and desperation had raised the hairs on the back of her neck.

“We have arrived,” he said smiling.

“Where are we?” Carrie asked looking down at the navigational computer. It was displaying an error flashing red at the bottom of the screen.

‘Cannot locate star fix’

She frowned and tried rebooting the system.

“Your computer will not be able to find our location, Carrie,” Tyrell said looking calmly at her.

“That’s not possible, Doctor,” she said.

Tyrell smiled.

“Turn the shuttle around and see for yourself,” he said.

Carrie did as he asked and fired the manoeuvring thrusters to turn the shuttle so that it faced away from the planet. She stared wide eyed into the darkness. There was a single nearby star glowing yellow in the night sky. Nothing else. No planets. No stars. No nebulae, no nothing.

“Where are we, Doctor?” she said looking into Tyrell’s black eyes.

“Between galaxies, Carrie,” he said.

“What do you mean?” she said not believing it.

“The last hiding place of the others,” Tyrell said.

She looked back at the emptiness and suddenly felt more alone than she had ever felt in her life.

“That’s not possible … you mean another dimension?” she said.

“No, Carrie,” he replied, “We are in the void. The space that separates galaxies themselves. This lone star is the only solid matter that exists,” he said.

She could not believe they had travelled that far. To have left their own galaxy and reached a point where nothing existed but this one planet, was beyond her comprehension. Yet, there she was. She turned the shuttle craft around to face the planet once more as the emptiness was starting to make her feel nauseous.

“We couldn’t have travelled that distance in this shuttle,” Carrie said, “How will we get back?”

Tyrell pointed to the planet through the front facing windows.

“There are far bigger things for you right now, Carrie,” he said, “you need to bring us down.”

Carrie looked at the planet and began her scans of the surface. She had analysed hundreds of planets while under the supervision of Tyrell before the world had ended, but this one was different.

“I am not getting readings, Tyrell,” she said looking at her computer.

She was sensing something from the surface, but could not make out what it was. There was definitely something looking at them. She felt like she was in a dark room surrounded by strangers with all of their eyes fixed firmly on her. She closed her mind to it. After she had been nearly killed by the last planet she had connected to, she thought it best to go it alone for the time being.

“Bring us closer,” Tyrell said.

Carrie frowned and turned to Tyrell. She had had enough of being led and suddenly felt a real sense of anger towards the alien being that had killed her mother. She turned to the computer and suddenly shut down the engines and quickly locked out the controls with a fractal encryption code. The shuttle went quiet as the hum of the engines ceased. She turned in her chair and looked at Tyrell folding her arms. He looked at her with his black eyes and raised an eyebrow. She reached under the console and pulled out a pulse gun and aimed it
at his head. Chavel had made sure to let her know where all the weapons were on the shuttle craft. She suddenly felt a longing for him.

“Right,” she said, “Let’s talk.”

Tyrell looked down the reflective surface of the barrel of the gun and turned to face her.

“What are you doing, Carrie?” he said calmly.

“I want answers, Tyrell, or I am going to end this right here and right now,” she said.

Tyrell smiled. She wondered if the black alien fluid now coursing through his veins even knew what a smile was. The real Doctor Tyrell almost never smiled and she felt unnerved. She gently rested her finger on the trigger. Tyrell placed his hands on his lap and gazed gently into her eyes.

“And then what Carrie? Head for home? It could take several billion years. Long time to be in a shuttle all by yourself. That is, of course, unless the Targlagdu finds you first. Which it will. Believe me, it will. Will you land on the planet? The others will not open the shield without making contact with me first. You could try it yourself, but they do not like outsiders and will probably vaporise us anyway in the next several minutes if they do not hear from us. But go ahead. Shoot me. Then you will never know what you really are. What your true nature is,” he said.

Carrie thought about that for a minute. He was, of course, correct. If she killed him now, she was dead herself.

“Fuck you,” she said raising the pulse gun to his head.

She wasn’t being rational and she knew it, but she was done being controlled by this thing. She had just left her family behind and was now thinking it was a mistake.

Tyrell frowned and tilted his head. For a moment, she actually thought she might do it. Several seconds passed between them, then Tyrell raised his hands.

“Okay, Carrie. Please be calm. There is no need for this irrational behaviour. You are a scientist and this emotional outburst is not in
keeping with your personality. Lower the weapon and ask me what you want to know,” he said.

She thought about firing anyway. Suddenly thoughts of The Black liquefying her mother enveloped her. Tyrell had explained that it had been an accident. But so what. Maybe she should die. She was a freak after all. An aberration. The Agathon crew feared her now. Maybe she was destined for it. Doctor Tyrell was still alive. His mind was in there somewhere and he was begging for help. She should set him free.

“Carrie, the others know what you are,” Tyrell said, “That is why I brought you here. All your answers are on the planet below.”

“Are they the Signal Makers?” she said.

Her hand was beginning to shake now.

“No,” Tyrell said, “The origin of the signal that destroyed your planet does not originate on this world. The others know where they are. They know what they are. They know what you are.”

“What the fuck am I!” Carrie shouted suddenly losing control.

She could not help it. All these riddles and half answers were driving her crazy. She suddenly felt a familiar tingle run down her spine as the electrical energy within her made itself available to her if she wanted it. Tyrell clearly saw what was happening and leaned back into his chair.

“Be calm, Carrie Barrington, be calm,” he said softly.

Carrie took a deep breath and let the air draw deeply into her lungs. She felt a tear roll down the side of her cheek and slowly lowered the gun.

“The others once inhabited the world you found me on,” Tyrell said.

Carrie looked at him and let him continue. His voice was calm. She felt the energy inside her subside and let her gaze drift to the view of the planet outside the shuttle.

“You have seen them, haven’t you?” he asked, “In your dreams, you have seen them.”

Carrie looked up at him and suddenly knew what he was talking about. The city on Mars. The bright vast cityscape with great shining towers that reached to the clouds. She had seen them.