The Aurora (Aurora Saga, Book 1) (38 page)
‘Now it’s time to die,’ Antaio said.
James smiled.
‘You’re right, but it’s not our time.’
Antaio’s eyes opened wide, just as a bolt of light leaped from the red eye, striking him. He glowed red before dulling to orange and fading away. The telementor fell to the ground.
‘You had me worried for a moment there, Kalrea,’ James said.
‘Once back on the
Aurora,
you were safe, James, but I was concerned you wouldn’t make it back.’
James
rushed over to the seatra,
‘Don’t worry about me, I’m more concerned about Kira!
Kalrea, how is she?
I’ll place her in the seatra
.’
‘
James! Kira
’
s dead. There
’
s nothing I can do,
’
Kalrea said.
‘
No, I’ll place her in the seatra. You can put her in suspended animation, until we can get help.
’
Londuo touched him on the shoulder.
‘
James, it
’
s too late.
’
‘
No it can
’
t be.
’
‘
I’ve scanned Kira
’
s body; she died three minutes ago,
’
Kalrea said. ‘I
’
m sorry, James.’
James slumped to the floor, his back against the seatra. He placed Kira gently down next to him.
She never hurt anyone, she was so gentle. Why?
He remembered back to the time when she was running around outdoors on Brinoli. He fought hard to hold back the tears.
I must be strong.
Londuo sat down on the floor alongside him.
‘
James, we both loved Kira.
’
She paused, staring ahead for a moment.
‘
We’ve
lost everyone. All my friends are dead too, James.’
James nodded slowly and
then took a deep breath.
‘I know, Londuo, I know.’
He felt Londuo’s
arm around him.
‘I can’t stop thinking back to the Treitan attack on Brinoli,’ Londuo said. ‘We didn’t stand a chance. They were suicidal; their cruisers came straight at us. We had a recall order, but it was too late. There was a blinding flash when their cruisers exploded.’
James looked at her.
‘The blast disabled my drive. The fighters that survived were picked off by the Treitans, one by one.’
She paused to take a deep breath.
‘It was like they were using us for target practice. I saw my whole squadron destroyed.’
James could see tears forming in her eyes.
‘James, I had to watch my friends die. Do you know what that’s like?’
James shook his head slowly. He took Londuo’s hand in his.
Londuo continued,
‘It was so horrible, James; they couldn’t do anything. I saw Gulino’s fighter cut to pieces. Frasin was ejected, but that made no difference; they still killed her. I’ve never felt so helpless. I wanted so badly to do something to stop it.’
James eyes glazed over.
‘Londuo, I... I don’t know what to say.’
They embraced each other.
‘I expected to be next. I had to be next! But they flew straight past me. The
Lonori
didn’t stand a chance, James. The last thing I remember was looking back. The
Lonori
was falling apart; it was unrecognisable.’
She paused.
‘Then something hit my fighter. That’s all I can remember; I must have blacked out.’
‘It’s all my fault.
Everyone dies around me, Londuo. Everyone! I nearly lost you. If I hadn’t believed Carol and come back to Qintaino, none of this would have happened.
’
‘
James, don
’
t be so hard on yourself. If you hadn’t come back, Earth would have been attacked by now. You
’
d be dead and we would have never met.
’
‘
That
’
s better than what
’
s happened here.
’
‘
No, it
’
s not, James. For me it
’
s more important that you
’
re here. I want to be with you!
’
Londuo wiped the tears from her face. She looked at her dirty and blood-smeared hand.
‘I must look a right mess,’ she said, trying to smile.
‘Just like the first time we met on Qintaino and just as beautiful,’ James said, trying to be more cheerful.
He wiped his eyes.
‘I’m going to make them pay for this.’
James felt a deep anger inside. He stood up and walked over to where the telementor lay. He picked it up.
‘Kalrea, intercept all transmissions intended for Antaio,’ James said. ‘Pretend you’re still under his control and do whatever they want you to do.’
Londuo went straight over to the monitor.
‘We’re heading for their carrier,’ she said, looking over at James.
‘What’s happening, Kalrea?’
‘They’re about to take us onboard the carrier,’ Kalrea replied.
James heard the harsh clank of metal clamps gripping the
Aurora’s
hull roughly. Then, like a helpless fly caught in a spider’s web, it was deliberately dragged into the internal bay of the carrier. The bay doors closed slowly behind them.
‘There are five Treitan cruisers out there. Two have their weapons systems activated,’ Kalrea said. ‘Wait; it looks like one of the cruisers is turning. It’s heading back to the
Rellopila
. James, once it docks with the
Rellopila
they’ll realise you’ve both escaped.’
‘I know what you’re about to say, Kalrea,’ James said. ‘There are too many to fight.’
He looked over at Londuo.
‘You’re right of course, but I have a plan to even up the odds.’
‘James, I have to remind you that we have no rear defences,’ Kalrea said.
‘I’m aware of that, but we still have the element of surprise. I need you to calculate how long it will take you to get the
Aurora
out of this ship. We have to do it as quickly as possible and before the Treitans realise what’s happening.’ James said.
‘I’m on it already.’
‘How long do you think we have before they discover we’ve not onboard the
Rellopila
, Kalrea?’
‘About eight to ten minutes at the most.’
‘Then we must act quickly,’ Londuo said.
James looked down at Kira’s body.
‘Kalrea, I want to bury Kira later, so I need to put her somewhere safe, please.’
A small door in the wall of the bridge opened.
‘You can place Kira in her kennel. She always liked that.’
James picked her up and walked slowly over to the kennel. He gently placed Kira inside.
‘It will take 15.43 seconds to clear the carrier. I’ll need to use all the event horizon drives to break free from the clamps holding us and then a single plasma torpedo to destroy the bay doors.’ Kalrea said. ‘James, as Londuo has already said, I suggest we act as soon as possible. The Treitan ships will enter light speed in about two minutes. We’re in the centre of the group of ships.’
‘Come on, James; we need to get into the seatra,’ Londuo said.
‘I know; one moment, please.’
He took a last look at Kira while the door to the kennel closed, before walking over to the seatra. Londuo had just got inside.
‘Kalrea, did you say we are at the centre of the group of Treitan ships?’
‘Yes, just behind the lead ship.’
‘Am I right in thinking that the lead ship ahead of us is controlling light speed synchronisation?’
‘Yes, James.’
‘Good, I want to wait until we’re travelling at light speed before we make our move.’
James entered the seatra. He looked over at Londuo while the lid closed.
‘I love you, Londuo.’
‘Love you, too,’ she replied.
The
Aurora
sat motionless inside the Treitan carrier.
Are you all right Londuo?
James thought.
Londuo started to become accustomed to the seatra.
Yes, I think so
, she replied.
It feels a bit strange
.
The Treitan ships have just entered light speed,
Kalrea informed James.
‘WEAPONS SYSTEMS ACTIVATED.’
Work out the optimum course to hit the event horizon drives of the lead cruiser, which is controlling light speed synchronisation,
James thought to Kalrea.
Done!
Kalrea replied.
Okay, Kalrea; it’s all yours.
‘PLASMA TORPEDOES GENERATED.’
James looked out from the rear of the ship. Just to the left was a control room. Through a large rectangular window he could see five Treitans slithering around the room.
James saw the
Aurora
jerk sideways, when all the drives started.
They’re asking Antaio what he’s doing,
Kalrea said.
They’re about to find out,
James replied.
A single plasma torpedo left the front of the ship and ripped the bay doors apart. James heard the sound of straining metal and then watched as a jet of flame from the drives struck the rear wall of the bay.
The blast shattered the control room window, instantly incinerating everything behind the ship. The noise from the drives increased, until suddenly there were three loud bangs that echoed from outside. James watched as the clamps snapped and tore and the
Aurora
moved rapidly away. It effortlessly pushed aside the remains of the bay doors and turned in the direction of the travelling ships. The drives pulsed for a second, allowing the
Aurora
to reposition itself behind the lead Treitan ship.
This is from Gulino and Frasin,
James thought. The
Aurora
fired its remaining five plasma torpedoes into the rear of the Treitan cruiser, instantly destroying all its drives. The cruiser veered to the left, slamming against another ship, before exploding. Debris smashed against the front of the
Aurora
. Then, suddenly there was an explosion just off the starboard side. James watched on as two more Treitan cruisers exploded.
Dropping from light speed,
Kalrea said.
The carrier was now the only surviving Treitan ship. Its port side was heavily damaged by the debris and was slowly rotating out of control.
The Treitan carrier has just activated its defence systems,
Kalrea said.
‘INCOMING!’
Only a single plasma missile was fired from the front of the Treitan carrier, which flew harmlessly by. The
Aurora
flipped over to face the carrier.
They’re launching fighters,
Kalrea said.
Work out the optimum course to take out all targets,
James thought.
Already done
, Kalrea replied.
Do it!
The
Aurora
accelerated and passed rapidly over the top of the stricken Treitan carrier, destroying any fighters that emerged. Explosions lit its path.
I can destroy the carrier on the next pass,
Kalrea said.
‘PLASMA TORPEDOES GENERATED.’
This is from Kira.
The
Aurora
turned and accelerated toward the carrier again.
Finish this!
James ordered Kalrea.
The
Aurora
sat motionless in space. From within the seatra, James watched the scattered remains of the Treitan carrier as it tumbled past and disappeared into the distance. He felt immensely relieved that they had managed to defeat the five Treitan ships without sustaining any damage but, also, a deep sadness, because almost everything and everyone he had come to know in the last six weeks had been erased by the Treitans. The lid of the seatra rose up and James got out. He walked over to one of the console seats and slumped into it. He stared directly at the wall in front of him.
Londuo got out of the seatra and sat in the other seat.
Out of the corner of his eye, James noticed Londuo was moving her head slowly from side to side, so he turned to see what she was doing. Londuo was feeling a large bump on her left cheek-bone with her fingers, whilst observing the reflection of her bruised face in the monitor.
‘Oww! That really hurts,’ Londuo said suddenly. ‘Why did Antaio have to hit me so hard?’
‘Do you want something to clean your face?’ James asked.
‘No, it’s okay. I have some hiaki cloths in my pocket.’
‘I can’t believe everyone’s dead,’ James said. ‘Kalrea, you scanned all the wreckage of our ships at Brinoli and Satirel. Did any of our ships escape?’
Kalrea replied over the ship’s address system.
‘One is unaccounted for; it’s the assault ship
Polfin
. It would have been full of people.’
‘Where would they go?’ James asked.
‘I’m sorry James, but I’ve no idea. There was no secondary rendezvous,’ Kalrea replied.
‘Can we find them?’
‘We have as much chance of finding them as the Treitans,’ Kalrea said. ‘By now they could be tens of light years away, but we may get lucky.’
Londuo pulled out a hiaki cloth from her pocket. Her diary dropped out with it and fell onto the floor in front of them.
The diary!
James stared at it for a moment before saying,
‘With everything that’s been happening, I’d forgotten about the diary. Londuo, Kalrea needs the encryption keys from it.’
Londuo picked it up.
‘Kalrea, do you really need this diary?’
‘Yes, Londuo. If I’m right, then it will unlock the impossible.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘It will tell us the future,’ Kalrea said.
‘You both seem very sure that the diary James showed me is the same diary as this, but from the future.’
‘We are, Londuo,’ Kalrea replied. ‘Let me take the encryption keys from your diary and we’ll know for sure.’
Londuo held her diary ready to insert it in the memory slot of the console.
‘Okay. However, I think you’re both going to be very disappointed. It’s all yours, Kalrea, but no personal bits, is that clear?’ she said, moving it slightly away.
‘Yes, Londuo; very clear.’
James started to worry.
What if it’s all too late? We were supposed to read it weeks ago.
Eventually, Londuo inserted her diary into the console, and a few moments later Kalrea said,
‘James, Londuo, I now have access to all the data from the burnt out diary. Londuo, the diary from the future, it’s yours.’
Londuo looked shocked.
‘It can’t be, unless… you’re both right. But… that means I must have travelled in time!’
‘Yes, Londuo.’
‘Why would I want to travel in time? And how is it possible?’
James felt anxious.
‘What does it tell us?’ he asked.
‘Everything that’s happened since you left Earth is mentioned by Londuo, in an entry she made six weeks ago when you were still on Earth.’
‘This means I… I mean the other Londuo, was also back on Earth then,’ Londuo said. ‘I don’t believe this. The other me must still be on Earth now!’
‘It mentions the attack on Dagnamk and the fact Londuo would be seriously hurt,’ Kalrea said.
James suddenly felt a sinking feeling deep down inside.
No. No,
he thought.
Kalrea continued speaking,
‘It also tells us of the attack on Brinoli.’
James’ mouth fell open.
‘No. No. No!
This cannot be happening. Why didn’t we read the diary sooner?
’
And aiming blame towards Kalrea, he said,
‘
why couldn’t you decipher the diary earlier? We could have saved tens of thousands of lives!
’
James held his head in his hands.
It
’
s all too late!
He said,
‘
Londuo was trying to warn us about the attack.
’
‘
I
’
m sorry, James,
’
Kalrea said.
‘
No, I
’
m the one that
’
s sorry. It
’
s not your fault, and I apologise. You did everything you could to decipher the diary. I should have got it from Londuo. It
’
s my fault.
’
James felt really depressed.
‘
I
’
m responsible for all those people
’
s deaths. Why did I not insist on Londuo giving me the diary?’
‘
James, it
’
s no one
’
s fault,
’
Londuo said.
‘
I believe fate has a way of guiding us. Our destiny was to meet. If not, I
’
d have never fallen in love. Don
’
t you see?
’
‘
I understand what you
’
re saying, Londuo, but it doesn’t make me feel any better. The other
Londuo in the diary
tried to send a message to save us, but we failed.
’
‘
James, that
’
s not what the other Londuo wanted to tell us. Yes, she did want to warn us, but there
’
s more.
’
James and Londuo looked at each other.
‘
Go on, then,
’
James said.
‘
The other Londuo wanted to warn us about the Paradoxica, James.
’
‘But I’ve never heard of this Paradoxica before. What is it?’ Londuo asked.
James answered,
‘It’s an inner-space which was discovered by Ka Glia Plyane, when he was testing the Plyane hulls at Normia. He thought it could be a way of travelling vast distances very quickly. The
Aurora
and
Pulsora
were built with the scientific purpose of exploring this inner-space, but when the war with the Treitans started, they became fighting ships.’
‘So it’s like a kind of hyperspace,’ Londuo remarked.
Reading data from the diary, Kalrea explained,
‘The Paradoxica is over eight million sykals old and exists outside our dimension of space. It was built for the exploration or colonisation of other worlds throughout twelve galaxies. However, when it was first tested by its creators the main process core burnt out. This damage affected the method of entry into the Paradoxica, which was originally intended to be via a transponder onboard a travelling ship. A ship would have used the transponder to enter from any point in space and wormholes within the Paradoxica would have acted like funnels guiding the ship to any chosen planet. The test failed and the creators were left with no way of entering the dimension of space where the Paradoxica exists. The Paradoxica remained unexplored until Ka Glia Plyane discovered by accident that it was possible to enter it by travelling on a special type of ship. This ship would have to be able to change its hull resonance at a molecular level to reach what is called critical phase.’
‘It’s the Plyane hull, isn’t it?’ James said. ‘The
Aurora
has already come close to entering the Paradoxica on two occasions: once at Normia, and the other time when we were fleeing from Dagnamk. In both cases, the hull of the
Aurora
heated and almost reached critical phase. Is that how the
Aurora
will manage to end up inside the Paradoxica?’
‘Exactly,’ Kalrea said. ‘If everything the diary says about the future is true, it will happen again; in six days’ time, we will return to Dagnamk in an attempt to kill the Treitans, using astoflorinic gas. We’ll attack, but there will be too many Treitan ships. The
Aurora
will be struck by missiles, which will make its hull reach critical phase and we’ll end up inside the Paradoxica.’
‘But I don’t see why the other Londuo wants to warn us about the Paradoxica,’ James said. ‘It just seems to be used to travel from place to place very quickly.’
‘Because the damage to the core of the main processor also changed the Paradoxica’s spatial properties. It can now be used to travel in time, and according to the diary, it seems that the
Aurora
has already been inside it in the past. Let me ask you a question about the Treitans, James. According to what you know, why did the Treitans become a war-faring race?’
‘From what I can remember you telling me, the Treitans were attacked by a ship, which released a virus into their atmosphere. The ship destroyed a large part of their home world, Polimop, but the Treitans survived. I’m afraid I can’t remember exactly when it was, probably around 2300 sykals ago. It’s a pity that the attack wasn’t successful!’
‘The Treitans were actually attacked, by the ship, 2345.62 sykals ago,’ Kalrea added.
‘I wasn’t far out with the date, then,’ James remarked.
‘James, what would you say if I told you that the ship that attacked the Treitans was the
Aurora
and the virus used was astoflorinic gas?’
‘No way!’ James said, completely stunned.
‘Well it was. This is what happened in the timeline described in the diary. The James and Londuo in the diary used the Paradoxica to travel back in time to attack Polimop, in an attempt to destroy the Treitans before they had even thought of attacking the Qinant race.’
Londuo shook her head before saying,
‘That means the
Aurora
, from the other timeline, caused the Treitans to become what they are today; to want to conquer other races!’
‘Hold on, Kalrea!’ James said. ‘I can understand why the
Aurora
, from the other timeline, went back in time to attack Polimop; this is because the Treitans were at war with the Qinants, right? But what started the war mentioned in the diary?’
‘You’re right, James. The answer to everything lies in what originally changed the Treitans into a war-faring race?’ Kalrea said. ‘You see, the Londuo from the other timeline made an important discovery. She saw two ships within the Paradoxica, which appeared to be almost identical to the
Aurora
. She only saw them for a brief moment because of a thick mist. She spent a lot of time thinking about those two ships, and eventually she realised that they were identical to the
Aurora
but didn’t have any weapons.’
‘No weapons! What difference does that make?’ Londuo asked.
‘Think about it. The
Aurora
and
Pulsora
were original designed and built as science ships, so the Paradoxica could be explored. Therefore, we can assume that once completed, those science ships would have entered the Paradoxica.’
‘What?’ James said. ‘So the other Londuo saw the
Aurora
and
Pulsora,
built as science ships, inside the Paradoxica? How could they have been there? Unless...’
James paused for a moment.
‘Unless they travelled back in time and somehow changed the timeline, causing the start of the Treitan war.’
‘And that’s what the other Londuo wanted to tell us,’ Kalrea said. ‘She mentions that the Treitan home world, Polimop, was attacked by two ships. Those two ships caused a massive explosion in the upper atmosphere of Polimop, destroying eighty percent of the surface of the planet. She believes those two ships were in fact the original
Aurora
and
Pulsora,
built as science ships.’
James was confused.
‘Why would the original
Aurora
and
Pulsora
do that? They had no weapons, so how could they have attacked the Treitans?’
‘The answer lies in why the other Londuo ended up on Earth in 1964.’
‘The other Londuo arrived on Earth in 1964?’ Londuo repeated surprised.
‘Yes.’
That’s forty, fifty. Add five,
James thought, before saying. ‘That’s fifty-five Earth years ago!’
Kalrea continued,
‘As we now know, the other James and Londuo used the Paradoxica to travel back in time to attack Polimop. The
Aurora
barely survived exiting the Paradoxica with two of its event horizon drives being damaged in the process. After the attack on Polimop, the other James and Londuo were supposed to return to their timeline, but this time the ship sustained severe damage when it tried to break free from the Paradoxica.’
