The Tabit Genesis (37 page)

Laser fire is visible only when the medium it travels through is filled with dust.

An observer from one of
Tabit
’s rings might have seen several points of light in the black of space, each lasting a second or two. They would have also seen the simultaneous obliteration of a House Alyxander pleasure barge as its unarmoured hull plating vaporised in a spectacular plume of white-hot debris. A secondary explosion from within broke the barge into three incinerated segments, each one hundreds of metres long.

Two more points of light appeared, and the largest chunks were blasted into clouds of shrapnel hurling towards the
Tabit
.

‘That debris field will hit us in twelve minutes,’ Lieutenant Andrews warned. ‘Ring One and bow-ward. Too much for point defences.’

Vespa’s teeth were clenched tight.

‘How many are still on board?’

Senator Tice was beyond livid.

‘What was that asshole brother of yours thinking?’

‘
I said how many!
’ Vespa shouted.

‘Twelve thousand,’ Lieutenant Andrews said. ‘Excluding Navy personnel.’

Thirty-three minutes remained in the deadline. They had managed to get forty thousand off, but the hangars were overwhelmed. It was time for the triage to begin.

‘That’s not enough time,’ Vespa grumbled. ‘It was never going to be enough time. Lieutenant, start directing people in the rings towards the life pod batteries. When those are expended, it’s survival suits for everyone else. Make sure some of the queued shuttles are prepared to make EVA pickups.’

‘Yes, ma’am,’ Lieutenant Andrews said.

Vespa glared at Senator Tice.

‘My brother provoked Maez to discover their weakness,’ Vespa said. ‘Now we know what to shoot at. We’re going on the offensive to buy ourselves more time. Captain Jankovich, focus on neutralising those Lightspear clusters. You now have total control of Orionis’s arsenal – don’t make it easy for the bastards. If they want to hurt the
Genesis
they’ll have to get in close to do it. I never dreamt I would say this … but the
Tabit Genesis
is indefensible. Abandon ship.’

There was a chorus of solemn, affirmative responses.

‘Agreed.’

‘Chancellor,’ Colonel Tors said. ‘We have to move you
now
.’

‘Not yet, Colonel,’ Vespa said.

Another barge exploded. Then another. The House Alyxander ships were vaporising at random as the entire Lightspear fleet unleashed beam fire upon them.

‘You’re not a military officer,’ Colonel Tors insisted. ‘The rules are clear on this. Let’s move.’

Vespa sighed, taking a look around.

‘The toll will be more than any of us can bear,’ she said. ‘But Orionis shall persevere.’

‘
Sacramento
here,’ Captain Jankovich said. ‘It’s been an honour to serve.’

Maez enjoyed watching those barges die.

Their destruction served notice for those Orionis ‘firstborns’ to take him seriously. And who better to warm the Lightspear’s guns on than House Alyxander? But the time for games was over. It was time to prosecute the King’s business and then start the journey home. If Myrha was not released, they would be making stops along the way, perhaps even paying the
Archangel
a visit. Now there was a challenge worthy of House Obyeran …

… Maez happened to be looking at the danger just as it happened.

Six, eight, and then an entire squadron of his Lightspears exploded as a hail of rail fire converged on four separate deltas. The Navy cruiser
Sacramento
, which had moved close to the
Tabit
to help ferry passengers, instead decided to fight. She was supported by the moored Geneva-class destroyers, still in port, their guns coordinating as a single battery.

Tabit
’s orbital turrets had fired as well. Each delta had faced a minimum of ten shells per ship, all approaching from different trajectories. The Lightspear point defences were overwhelmed. Maez could see the rounds heat up as they approached, streaking across space as the Lightspear beams tried in vain to vaporise them before impact.

Now one hundred and forty Obyerans had died under his command.

Maez channelled his rage into the skills his father had programmed him with.

First, he disarmed Orionis. Lightspears decimated the orbital turrets, then filled space with electronic noise to fool Navy sensors, blinding the frigates and corvettes. One by one they were melted into slag, withering under the staggering firepower of the Lightspear fleet. They swarmed the
Sacramento
with surgical precision, melting her railguns and missile bays. They razed the destroyers, severed their moorings and sent them adrift, crashing into the fragile shipyard that had constructed them.

By the time the last Navy gun ceased, the
Tabit Genesis
was unapproachable. Debris clouds from the decimated House Alyxander barges hammered its hull with deadly shrapnel. Huge strips of metal plating, some of it welded when humans still walked the Earth, were blasted away from the superstructure; ominous jets of gas sprouted from ruptures on all three of the
Tabit
’s rings.

Soon, only the crippled
Sacramento
and the
Tabit
remained. The space around her hangars was littered with destroyed shuttlecraft; people died as cloud after cloud of debris struck. Maez tallied his own losses: ninety-seven Lightspears destroyed, and just five survivors among their crew.

He turned his fury towards the crippled Navy cruiser, limping just a few hundred metres from the
Tabit
’s hangars, surrounded by tugs and shuttles of her own, desperate to save themselves.

Vladric Mors had demanded that the
Tabit Genesis
be destroyed. How convenient then, Maez thought, that the
Sacramento
and her fusion reactors were so close by.

Vespa’s last memory was authorising transfer of the government capitol to the Navy shipyard at Amnisos. And before that, the declaration of martial law for the Inner Rim.

She was about to address the people of Orionis when a horrible sound burst her eardrums. Twisted metal fell from above; then a revolting, nauseating feeling rushed through her as the station’s rotation changed direction, yanking everyone and everything off their feet; the floor dropping away and then rushing up to meet them over and over.

Colonel Tors had been begging her to leave. One minute sooner would have been enough. Vespa saw the colonel slammed against the ceiling; her head flapped against her shoulders, held in place only by skin.

Then, the terror of pitch darkness, and the roar of air escaping a breach.

When her eyes opened, the first colour she saw was gold, then the upside-down face of torment: the Angustia of House Alyxander, embracers of human suffering. The comforting blue light of ORPHUS was among them.

Darkness again.

Vespa awoke, as she knew she would, to catch her final, familiar glimpse of the
Tabit Genesis
: her rings breaking apart, and the entire ship twisting in a lazy corkscrew; a massive metal tomb devoid of light and life, a silhouette set against the dead skies of Eileithyia.

‘Rest, sister,’ she heard Arturus say. ‘And let the new dreams come.’

For a time, the
Lycidas
fascinated Adam enough to make him forget that it had killed Pegasus. But now, as he coasted through the circular hallways leading to the observation bubble, he felt the same suffocating anxiety as he had when his father was dying. He would trade all the luxurious amenities of the
Lycidas
to return to those humble days, when he was just a miner providing for his family.

The source of his angst was the three-hundred-cubic metre steel tank currently being lowered into the Zeus atmosphere. Nicknamed ‘Orpheus’, the Merckon scientists intended to capture a live hunter with it.

Using Viola’s research of the creature’s anatomy, they had worked day and night for weeks to build it. The main caveat for the trap’s design was the Arkady’s hypersensitivity to electromagnetic fields: active emissions could not be used to target them. Every drone that used a radar or radio frequency was attacked by hunters and destroyed inside an hour. Drones with passive sensors could never find targets. And pilotless, AI-controlled mechs angered the hunters; one was snatched from the rig and hurled down into the depths.

As far as anyone knew, the only reliable method for drawing hunters to the rig was to use Adam as bait.

The next design challenge was an arrest mechanism that could stop a hunter within the high gravity, high wind environment of Zeus
without
using conventional power-assisted projectiles. Arkady hunters repeatedly demonstrated their cunning ability to evade fire-control systems; thus Orpheus could not use electronic tracking systems or ‘active energy’ delivery mechanisms. So Merckon’s engineers built a harpoon system that relied on a multitude of nanoscale spring coils that, in aggregate, stored enough mechanical energy to launch the grapple and tow cable with as much force as a subsonic railgun slug.

The catch, however, was that the weapon would have to be manually aimed and fired.

After analysing the radar imagery of the Pegasus ‘incident’, the scientists concluded that a mature hunter could survive a puncture wound – and that several thousand volts of sustained electrical current would paralyse the specimen without killing it. When the harpoon struck the target, the voltage would be applied; then the winch would pull the crippled beast inside and seal. A turbine-driven air filtration system attuned to the local atmospheric molecular composition would pressurise the tank and simulate a jet stream inside to keep the creature from asphyxiating.

The goal was to keep the hunter alive for ten hours. It was not expected to survive longer. A host of passive
and
invasive scientific instruments designed to study the creature’s unique biology lined the inside of the tank.

To Adam, this plan amounted to the human equivalent of kidnapping, torture and murder. Viola also loathed the plan but was powerless to stop it. The
Lycidas
was not their ship. Merckon had the numbers, the incentives, and the weapons to put a stop to anything that would interfere with their interests.

Adam would have to play his part whether he wanted to or not. So instead of trying to fight the plan, he and Viola secretly planned for its failure.

Their preparations began with Adam learning how to fly the MGX-10 Avalon inside the
Lycidas
’s
ventral hangar bay. Excluding his family and Viola, the security detail was the only crew that tolerated his company. When Adam expressed interest in the gunship, they let him sit in the cockpit and explained the craft’s capabilities. With their blessing, Viola gave him access to a training sim and encouraged him to learn how to fly it.

Since then, he had spent nearly all his time on board mastering the Avalon, and hardly any on the rig itself. Merckon owned the trawler, and the
Lycidas
had enough
Three
on board to burn non-stop to the Inner Rim and back. There was little else he could do to make himself useful, and the scientists had no time for his questions. They were too busy transforming the rig from a mining station into an armed research platform.

That was just as well. Adam hadn’t been able to bring himself to return to Zeus since Pegasus had died, and Viola was the only person on board who didn’t think of the Arkady as monsters. There was no one else to turn to, his mother least of all. She had become even more unavailable, absorbed in her own dark thoughts, losing weight by the day and obsessed with her new habit of smoking narcotics. Whenever Adam asked what was wrong, she claimed to miss his father, which angered him since he knew that was a lie.

Ever since Merckon had entered their lives, his mother had never spent another moment alone with him or Abby. Both had sensed on numerous occasions that there was something urgent she wanted to tell them. But she never did … because of Captain Mohib. He held some power over her, and it was clear that power extended beyond the traditional role of starship command. Everyone on the
Lycidas
who was enthusiastic with their work and the mission got along with the captain. Abby worshipped the man to a sickening extent.

But Adam didn’t like him. Neither did Viola nor his mother. And no one had the courage or even the desire to challenge him, especially now that his moment of triumph had arrived.

‘Adam?’ a familiar voice called out behind him.

He turned and saw Abby floating there, dressed in her Merckon uniform.

‘I’m not going to be late,’ Adam said, rolling his eyes.

‘I didn’t come here to nag you,’ she said, looking sheepish. ‘Can we talk for a minute? Before we go in?’

‘Now?’

‘It’s never a good time,’ she said, lowering her voice, glancing around. ‘Or place. Ever, with Mom. And now, I think I know why: Captain Mohib isn’t who he claims to be.’

‘Well, duh,’ Adam said.

‘I know you
suspect
they have a history, but he slipped. He said to me, “You have your mother’s eyes.”’

‘So what?’

‘Well, it really bothered me because—’

‘That’s really creepy, you know that?’

Abby sighed impatiently.

‘Mom despises him but still does everything he asks,’ she explained. ‘She denies ever having met him before, but … she’s never been a good liar.’

‘Your eyes are green,’ Adam suddenly realised. ‘Hers are dark brown.’

‘I took some of Mom’s hair and sequenced it,’ she whispered, gently letting her greaves make contact with the deck. ‘The
Lycidas
taught me how. She was born with green eyes. Like mine. So was Dad.’

Adam blinked.

‘Are they really our parents?’ he asked.

‘Biologically, yes,’ she said. ‘But … I don’t believe the surname “Lethos” is ours. Adam … they had their appearance
changed
. The
Lycidas
told me something else. We aren’t ghosts. We … are
firstborns
!’

She paused to let it sink in. But Adam didn’t care. His father had once explained what amniosynthesis was. It was just a different way for people to be born.

‘So what if we are?’ Adam said.

‘Don’t you see?’ Abby implored, eyes darting around again. ‘It explains why they always discouraged any talk of travelling to the Inner Rim … why Mom refused help for Dad even near the end. They were
running
from something to protect
us
. Something even worse than Ceti. And I think Captain Mohib knows what. I have memories from before we settled here … just flashes here and there, but I always felt we used to have a better life. Mom always told me I was mistaken. But we weren’t meant to be miners.’

‘Speak for yourself,’ Adam said. ‘So who’s Captain Mohib, really?’

‘I don’t know,’ Abby said. ‘But he has far too much influence with Merckon to just be a freight captain.’

‘This doesn’t change anything,’ Adam said. ‘We’ve never been able to trust anyone but each other.’

‘About that …’ Abby said, looking downwards. ‘I haven’t been the best sister to you. I’m sorry for my behaviour. Some of the time, anyway. When you weren’t acting like a little—’

‘—Brat Face,’ Adam offered.

She flashed a brief grin.

‘For what it’s worth … I don’t agree with what they’re doing here either.’

She pushed herself forward, latching onto him in an embrace that left them both floating through the hallway.

‘I love you,’ she said, squeezing tight. ‘You’ll always be my little brother. Please be careful.’

‘Ladies and gentlemen?’ Captain Mohib announced, his champagne pouch raised before him. ‘Orpheus is in place.’

The bubble observatory erupted in cheers. All the mission personnel were present, dressed in white and green jumpsuits, embracing one another beneath the distant glare of the Orionis sun.

Adam tethered his greaves near the entrance and kept quiet.

‘We don’t normally throw early celebrations,’ Captain Mohib said, as the voices lowered. ‘But your effort deserves an exception. Corporate is so pleased with your progress they’ve upped the ante: for every hour we keep our specimen alive, each of you will earn an additional
ten per cent
of your base mission pay.’

Excited murmurs filled the room.

‘Some of you are about to become very wealthy,’ Captain Mohib announced, ‘and your discoveries will keep paying dividends –
Merckon
dividends – once the Arkady’s secrets are unlocked.’

More cheers and backslapping ensued. Adam suppressed a yawn.

‘Now, every mission has its doubters,’ Captain Mohib said, looking towards Viola. The room silenced. ‘But we should
welcome
scepticism. It inspires diligence in our preparations. Our mission does raise ethical questions … Dr Silveri is right to ask them. Is it ethical to capture an alien life form so we can learn more about it? I’ll answer simply with this: the Arkady have a homeworld. We don’t. In the universal ecosystem of life, we are but one small creature in a galactic sea, and we must feed. Life is an invasive species. It began on Earth when a comet brought microorganisms that spawned from elsewhere in the cosmos. What we do, we do for our own survival. We
must
unlock the secrets of the Arkady. Our lives depend on it. Gavin and Karyn? Please join me up here.’

Adam frowned as they walked to the podium. These two had allegedly demonstrated the highest piloting proficiency in the EVAM simulator, and would be the ones who manually aimed and fired the harpoon. Of course, the training was in itself a competition that had brought out the worst among the scientists, because the winner would draw additional ‘hazard pay’ for taking the risk.

To help mitigate the danger, the EVAM mechs were armed with 30mm Gatling guns that fired hollow-point slugs, plus white noise pulse emitters that would cause the same carnage the
Lycidas
’s radar had wreaked on Pegasus.

To Adam, the measures were illusory compensation for the electronic blackout requirement of the mission. Nothing, not even the new security cameras Merckon had installed, could be operational. And the manned EVAMs themselves would have to be placed on passive standby, running life support and little else. Adam had tried warning them that even with the reduced EM signature, the Arkady would see the EVAMs as clearly as they had his own mech. But no one took his opinions about anything seriously.

The
Lycidas
would be unable to see or hear what was happening on the rig until contact was made, or a ‘contingency’ forced them to abort the mission. Only then could radio silence be broken, at which point the research vessel would activate its powerful radars to drive the Arkady away.

Captain Mohib raised a hand towards the two beaming scientists.

‘To the best of the best,’ he said. ‘We’re in your capable hands. You are leading Merckon – and all of mankind – into a new frontier. Cheers!’

The group shouted encouragement as they converged on the pair with celebratory hugs. Viola moved away from the crowd, towards the exit.

‘Hey,’ she said, with a warm smile. ‘You okay?’

‘I’m fine,’ Adam replied. ‘Just don’t know what the point of me being here was.’

She nodded towards the podium.

‘Control,’ she said. ‘That’s all.’

‘I’m tired of it,’ Adam said. ‘When this is over, I want to leave. Or for the
Lycidas
to go.’

She gently turned his shoulders away from Captain Mohib’s stare.

‘Good things come to those who wait,’ she said.

Whether the implication was really there or not, a glimmer of hope rose in Adam’s heart.

‘How long?’

‘Let this run its course,’ she advised. ‘Never quit on hope, Adam.’

Captain Mohib nearly startled him.

‘And how is our little mech pilot doing?’

‘Fine,’ Adam said.

‘Let’s have a chat,’ the captain said, forcing him away from Viola. He placed a hand on Adam’s shoulder as they walked.

‘You’ve always provided for your family,’ he said. ‘I admire that. This is a chance to secure their welfare permanently. Your mother and sister could live more comfortably than they ever imagined. But that depends entirely on you. Do your part and they’ll never have to worry about money again. Cross me, and I’ll make them suffer.’

Adam could only nod.

‘I’m glad we understand each other,’ the captain said, before frowning suddenly. His eyes were darting back and forth as though reading something. Then he left in a hurry, pulling himself briskly away.

Viola said nothing, motioning for Adam to keep silent.

He looked up towards the Orionis star. The Inner Rim was out there somewhere, huddled close to her for warmth. Adam wondered if he would ever see it, that faraway place that produced monsters such as Captain Mohib.

‘Come on,’ Viola coaxed, tousling his hair. ‘Let’s get ready.’

Dawn Lethos/Dayla Straka was smoking in her cabin; green smog streamed from her mouth, snaking towards the air ducts above. She needed more of the drug to get high, and wished something stronger was on board.

Captain Mohib walked in without knocking. He sat at the table, while she kept staring blankly at the bulkhead in front of her.