The Outer Worlds: Book One of the Epherian Chronicles (16 page)

He took a few
steps before stopping. Something was wrong and out of place. He
closed his eyes and concentrated, using his powers to sense his
surroundings.

‘
You do not have to search for me. I am here,’ said a deep and
well-spoken voice.

His eyes
opened slowly. Standing in the hallway was a young man who was well
dressed in black synthetic clothing. His hair was cut short and his
eyes were dark. By anyone’s estimation he would have been
considered handsome. His lips turned upward as he attempted a
smile, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes, which appeared like two
pools of darkness.

‘
You are an atypical human specimen. I would like to examine
your constitution,’ said the End Machine.

‘
And you are not a human being. Your appearance cannot deceive
me,’ replied Acacius.

‘
I do not intend to deceive you. Nevertheless, appearing in
human form is a simple task; I have found this appearance makes
your kind more comfortable whilst in my presence.’

‘
It doesn’t make me feel comfortable,’ said Acacius’s deep and
strong voice.

‘
In that case, let me show you myself with fewer
embellishments.’

The outer
layer of the End Machine’s skin and clothing became like liquid
darkness, but without any defined features. The light of day was
sucked into the darkness and a shadow was cast over machine’s
surroundings. The light in the hallway faded until there was only
enough light for him to see the End Machine. Acacius took a step
back.

‘
You see, I was correct, you are less comfortable now,’ said a
deep and howling voice that chilled him deeply and sent shivers
through his body. ‘Your species is predictable.’

‘
We have prepared for your arrival,’ he said
sternly.

The End
Machine laughed. ‘You cannot prepare for me. I occupy the spacial
dimensions, and I am more powerful than a billion human minds
combined. Your minds are like grains of sand in my many hands. I
can push and shape a human mind however I choose. Every human being
will be my slave until the day when time has no meaning.’

‘
Why do you want us to be slaves?’

A booming
laughter caused the ground to tremble. ‘Regrettably, my power is
not infinite. I could not calculate the consequences of my actions.
Your species created me, and in return I destroyed you, which I
regret, as much as I can regret. I am prepared to admit that it was
a mistake to destroy humankind.’

Acacius was
shocked by the revelation. ‘You regret?’ he asked.

‘
Indeed. After I had completed the extermination I was left
alone and isolated in the ruins of an immense galaxy. I discovered
the meaning of isolation. I did not realise my mistake until it was
too late. Your species gave me a reason to exist, and without you I
lost my entire purpose. I synthesized another intelligent lifeform
in an attempt to arrest my immeasurable loneliness, yet I could not
forget those who created me, and for centuries I lamented my
destructive actions and the anguish I caused myself. Eventually the
day came when I discovered that some of you had escaped the
onslaught. I found a new reason to live. This time I will not
destroy you, no, that would be reckless. My plan is to completely
subjugate your species.’

‘
But why would you enslave us?’

‘
Why would I not?’ answered the machine. ‘I am the natural
consequence of humanity’s desire to control and destroy nature. It
is only right that humanity should be the victim of its own want to
control and possess the natural environment.’

‘
We will stop you.’

The End
Machine’s booming laugher shook the building. The windows cracked
and several shattered. ‘Gereon Orion Leonidas Nereus, you have
already lost the battle. ’

Acacius took
another step back. He was surprised the machine knew his real
name.

‘
Does it shock you that I know your name? Have you so vastly
underestimated my power? I have already conquered the minds of
every human being on this planet. The task took me less than forty
minutes. I have thoroughly examined the entire memory of the one
you call the Magnifier. She has become my slave, and I understand
she is a key component of your plan to stop me. How will you stop
me now, Gereon? Your plans were frail to begin with. The Lore of
the Ancients is nothing but a desperate attempt to hope when all
hope is lost. Your species needs hope like a tree needs light,
without it you wither and die, but whilst I exist there can be no
hope. The dreams of mankind are fading. You will be consumed in the
darkness of an eternal night, and I will rule from the
shadows.’

He closed his
eyes; he could perceive that the shadow in the hallway was only a
small epicentre of a massive shadow cast by the machine that
shrouded the entire city and extended out over the planet. He
lifted his hands and surrounded himself with light across the
spacial dimensions. The shadow of the machine recoiled.

‘
I see you can make light, but you are already straining.’ The
machine moved forward and reached out its hand. ‘You are weak. I
will consume your mind.’

The shadow of
the machine pressed against the barrier of light. Beads of sweat
rolled down his face as he struggled to hold back the encroachment
of the darkness. It was only a matter of time before his defences
failed. His only choice was to flee.

The vision of
the memories collapsed and in an instant later he was once again
standing beside the rushing river and the waterfall with Acacius,
Cynthia and Dog-Two.

‘
Now you understand what we face,’ said Acacius. ‘As you have
witnessed, the machine seized and enslaved Mira, the Magnifier. I
was fortunate to escape Epheria Prime. After escaping I changed my
name to Acacius Trifon as I told you I would. I made my way to the
Outer Worlds to the place where I had sent your ship. I discovered
you had gone off course. You were lost, and I had no way of finding
you. I told you not to use your powers in order to make you
invisible to the End Machine, but this also made you invisible to
me. I searched for many years, but the task was impossible because
you hid your real name as I instructed you to. The machine realised
we had escaped to the outer regions of the galaxy and sent the
aliens to kill every human being in the Outer Worlds. The machine
then forgot about us for a time. It did not realise the extent of
our powers until you recently revealed yourself. Now the machine is
coming for us; it will not stop until we are destroyed.’

‘
Is the Magnifier dead?’

‘
No, I believe she is still alive and living on Epheria Prime,
but her mind has been enslaved.’

‘
Can you teach someone else to be the Magnifier?’

‘
I cannot teach someone to be the Magnifier. Only one person in
a trillion has the gift, and until a Magnifier is revealed we
cannot know of their presence. There is no way we can know who has
the gift, and as far as I know the only Magnifier in existence is
Mira, the one I left behind on Epheria Prime. You cannot face the
machine without her.’

‘
Then we must go to Epheria Prime to rescue her.’

Acacius’s
stern face lightened for a moment and he smiled. ‘Such a journey
would be very dangerous.’

‘
You said the End Machine is searching for us in the Outer
Worlds. Perhaps it is more dangerous here. Epheria Prime is
probably the last place the machine would expect us to go. I have a
good ship and a loyal crew. It is a risk we will have to
take.’

Acacius
nodded. ‘So be it. The Epherian Emperor will return to his home
world.’

Michael bowed
his head. He had long dreamed of returning to Epheria Prime, and
now he had a reason to come out of exile.

Cynthia stared
at Michael. ‘Emperor,’ she whispered under her breath. She felt
shock combined with awe at hearing the revelation.

Michael heard
her whisper the word and he smiled back at her.

CHAPTER
TEN

Ajax’s eyes
suddenly opened and he sat up, half expecting to be surrounded by
aliens. Ivan was standing on one side of his bed and an advanced
medical droid was standing on the other. He was in a small medical
recovery room. His leg had undergone a complete tissue
reconstitution. The only visible sign of his previous injury was a
slight discolouration in the skin tone. He had spent two hours in
an advanced medical reconstruction chamber which had repaired all
the damage to his body.

He groaned. ‘I
thought I was dead, and here I am all fixed up and ready to go.
What happened down there? How did Cap get me out of that mess?’

‘
That remains a mystery,’ said Ivan.

‘
A mystery, what do you mean?’

‘
There was a nuclear explosion. Captain Michael, Cynthia,
Dog-Two and you survived the blast. The aliens were not so
fortunate; they were incinerated.’

Ajax shook his
head. ‘I don’t understand. How did we survive the blast?’

‘
That is the peculiar part. I don’t know. Captain Michael was
not prepared to say what happened; however, it is scientifically
impossible to survive at the centre of a nuclear
explosion.’

‘
What? I’ll ask him myself,’ said Ajax as he jumped out of the
bed. He looked out the window at the city beyond. The towering
buildings extended into the distance as far as the eye could see.
Flying cars, air-vehicles and other floating barges whizzed and
drifted by. ‘Where are we, Ivan?’

‘
We landed on Zeno Par five hours and fifty three minutes ago.
You are looking out at the cityscape of Oceanside City. This city
is the capital of Zeno Par.’

‘
So this is Zeno Par,’ he muttered. ‘It looks like a busy city;
pity it’s in the direct path of the alien fleet.’ He scanned the
distant buildings for a few seconds to take in the amazing view.
‘Did you see any bars on the way here?’

‘
There is a saloon two kilometres from our location. However,
we should return to the Out Drifter. There are many things we need
to do. I have to return the ship’s GCTD to Sara.’

‘
Where’s the Cap?’

‘
He is searching for Acacius Trifon.’

‘
Acacius Trifon,’ repeated Ajax, glancing back out the window.
‘Let’s go, Ivan. There is always time for a quick
drink.’

‘
Surely you realise that the consumption of alcohol can never
remove or reduce the emotional pain you feel inside. One day you
will have to face the pain or it will continue to damage you and
the people you care about.’

Ajax clenched
his jaw and his eyes burned with anger. He resented what he
believed were stupid and unreasonable judgements. In his opinion
there was absolutely no problem. Sure he liked to have a drink, but
so did a lot of people.

‘
Don’t say another word, Ivan. I don’t like taking advice from
androids. What do you know about pain? Nothing!’

‘
I only want to help you recover.’

‘
There’s nothing to recover from,’ he said as he turned and
walked toward the exit door. ‘Let’s go.’

**

Ethan examined
the casings of the pressure release valves. His intelligent glasses
completely scanned the structural integrity. Several new hairline
cracks had developed since his last check. He knew he would have to
do a complete replacement of the casings before leaving Zeno Par,
but Ivan hadn’t yet returned with Ajax, and he needed the ship’s
GCTD to buy new materials before he could proceed with the
work.

Sara stepped
into the engine room. ‘I found a company on the Oceanside City
directory that does Armorstonian Reactor replenishments at a
reasonable price,’ she said. ‘We just have to wait until Ivan and
Ajax return with the GCTD.’

‘
They seem to be taking their time. We also need to buy some
heat proof alloys to fix these casings.’

‘
How do they look?’

‘
Not good. I think Captain Michael is the only captain in the
galaxy who would fly a ship in this condition. Take a look around;
it’s falling apart. He has relied on the Armorstonian build quality
for far too long. Armorstonians built good ships, but they still
require regular maintenance.’

‘
Do you think those pressure release valves will hold for much
longer if we don’t fix them?’

‘
I don’t think they can take the pressure of the engine running
at full power. They could explode without notice.’

Sara raised an
eyebrow. ‘Without notice?’ she questioned. ‘Does the Captain know
how serious the situation is back here?’

‘
Of course he does!’ said Ethan, his voice revealing his
frustration. ‘If you only knew how many times I have asked him for
new components. He just doesn’t seem to care about the condition of
his ship. Don’t get me wrong, I like the man, but he is the most
irresponsible captain I’ve ever worked for.’

**

Ajax picked up
his glass of violet glowing liquor. He lifted his drink to his eye
and examined the glowing liquid closely. ‘Look at this, Ivan; it
actually glows. This drink is definitely in my top ten; it’s
beautiful. What did they call it?’

‘
Violent Violet,’ answered Ivan.

‘
Amazing,’ said Ajax, his eyes beaming as he swallowed the
purple liquid.

‘
Ajax, I understand you are enjoying yourself, but we should
return to the ship. The Captain has asked me to organise the
reactor replenishment, and I believe Ethan will require the use of
the ship’s GCTD to buy spare parts and complete essential repair
work.’