I sighed. "Hmm. I can always count on you to bring me back to reality, can’t I. OK, well, take us up to it so I can get aboard before he gets that skin back online."
Frig pulled up the wormhole generator controls on his holo-display. "No need for that, Sir. I can open a portal from our hold into that complex. You only need to step through. I will continue our efforts from here until such time as you signal that you require a pickup."
I replied, "And if the Duke gets the active skin back online?"
Frig smiled. "Then it will be to your benefit to shut it down from inside, Sir. You will not be able to signal me that you have the location, and I cannot open a wormhole for your exit with that skin being active."
I shook my head as I pulled on my helmet. "You just continue to be full of good news."
I turned back to Quan. "Quan, what can I expect as far as trouble once I am on that complex? Are there any soldiers? Colossun androids? Ion cannons on every hall? What should I be prepared for?"
Quan replied, "There are one million hardened androids aboard the complex. Until such time as you create a disturbance, you should be able to move about undetected with your BHD. If any interaction occurs, the androids and the sensors in and around the complex will be directed towards your elimination. As I stated, there has never been an incursion at the complex."
Several seconds later, a portal opened two meters behind me in the
Swift
’s hold. I blinked out and powered through.
I emerged in a vast chamber. Great support beams ran the full kilometer from what would be considered the ceiling, the outer wall, down to the floor, the inner wall. Every few kilometers, a large rectangular structure poked up from the floor. I powered towards the first structure and set down on its roof. A single conduit rose up from the center of the structure and intersected a much smaller building that was attached to the ceiling.
I spoke. "Frig, are you seeing this?"
Frig replied, "I am, Sir. I would believe the larger structure to be a power converter for the smaller one. Allow your gloved hand to drift into the conduit. I would like to know the power that is being transferred between those buildings."
After poking my hand through the conduit wall, I transferred the data to Frig. "You should have it. These buildings appear to be spaced about one kilometer apart. And they go on for as far as the eye can see. It’s hard to fathom the size of this place from out there at a distance."
Frig transferred a display image to my HUD. "The complex is midway between a small star and a standard planet in size. The surface running away from you should appear as flat due to the immense scale."
I nodded as I looked towards each direction. "A description of
flat
doesn’t do it justice. I’m going to power up to the building above me to check it out."
Several seconds later, I was drifting through the building’s floor. "I see a load of plating and... well, well. Are you seeing all these antennae? I would have to guess that this structure is a wormhole generator and the building below is a power converter for the brown dwarf. Can you open a microportal to here and scan to see where this wormhole generator might be connected to?"
Frig replied, "That is an excellent suggestion, Sir. In fact, if this proves fruitful, I might be able to conduct a scan through every open wormhole. We could possibly find the location of our people through that process without risking your—"
The comm went silent as the active skin surrounding the complex came back online. Thirty seconds later, a rumble moved through the complex as the active skin once again shut down.
Frig came over the comm. "Sir, are you still there?"
I replied, "Right where I was before. Are we going to have to deal with this constantly going up and down?"
Frig spoke. "I am scanning now for any signs of activity. The complex may well have overload circuits that automatically shut down without harming the equipment. If that is the case, the same circuits could bring the skin active again after some reset period has passed. Hold one moment while I scan the wormhole.
"I show that this particular building is active. There are 131,072 microportals open from this antenna array. I have selected a single portal for the focus of the scan. Data is coming through. Hmm. It looks like we have an individual in this case. The room surrounding them appears to be a den of sorts, with several other creatures asleep. I will try another portal."
After the sixteenth unsuccessful attempt at conducting a scan that resulted in more than the parameters of a single room, Frig changed procedures. "Sir, you may as well continue your investigations as I conduct a sweep of the open portals. If we can locate one that is located in free space, we may be able to identify its location by the star maps, as I mentioned earlier."
I replied, "If you hit on something interesting, just let me know. I’ll be heading north towards the Duke’s supposed lair, the control room. If I come across anything of interest, I’ll let you know as well."
I drifted outside the building and powered towards the north. For hours I cruised along at just above the countless power converter buildings. Frig continued his sweeps of the portal buildings, with every hit coming back inside an enclosed structure.
As I cruised along, I spoke. "So, just how many of these power portal combo buildings do you think this complex has? Easily millions."
Frig replied, "If the dispersion remains constant, upwards of twenty billion, Sir."
I shook my head. "What? Twenty billion? How are we going to manage that?"
Frig dispatched a diagram to my HUD. "I have limited the scan to look for a portal endpoint that appears to be in free space. I am piecing together an algorithm that should automate that process. My initial calculations place the scan rate at twenty-eight buildings per second. However, I am working to increase that rate as we speak."
I replied, "Twenty-eight per second doesn’t seem bad. How long will it take to scan them all?"
Frig laughed. "The math places that final scan to happen just over 633 years from now. I am, however, working to increase that rate. I have successfully opened one hundred thousand wormholes simultaneously with a single generator. If I can replicate that with the scanning abilities of our sensors, I believe I can reduce that time to a minimum of two and a half days. A conservative guesstimate would place that number at several weeks."
I continued to fly my way towards the northernmost region of the complex. One day turned to two days, which turned into three.
On the fourth day, Frig came over the comm. "Sir, I have had a successful hit. It is a location in the Andromeda galaxy. It is not our people, but it does show the promise of our current technique. We are now covering forty thousand portal buildings per second, and that number is increasing. I am working outward in a spiral pattern from the original building. I now place a conservative estimate for completion at nine days from now."
I replied, "That is awesome, Frig. If you come up with anything else, let me know, as I have been bored out of my skull flying over these endless buildings. I should reach the northernmost point of this structure sometime tomorrow. So far, every new building has looked exactly the same as the one before it."
Every fifteen minutes like clockwork, the active skin came on and was quickly overloaded by Frig. On the morning of the day I expected to reach the northernmost point of the complex, I had the first vision of something that was different. A wall extended from the floor to the ceiling of the structure.
I pulled up and stopped just short of reaching the solid barrier before me. "Frig, I have a wall in front of me. Ask Quan why it’s here and what I can expect to see beyond it."
Frig replied after receiving an answer, "The wall is the outer layer of protection for the Duke’s domain. It is made up of layered Tantric that is just over a kilometer in thickness. Beyond the wall, you will find the million-android army that is there for the Duke’s protection. Some of those androids will be on patrol. Avoid the active androids if you want to avoid sensor detection. Beyond the army, you will find another wall of similar thickness, with the Duke’s essence lying behind that."
I spoke. "OK, I’m expecting the next skin activation any minute now. After that, I’ll pass through the first wall. In the meantime, ask Quan what I should expect to see when I reach the Duke’s final area."
Frig again replied after receiving an answer, "In the final room that contains the Duke, you will find a vast system of memory stores and processors. The Duke is actually a single core just as we have here; the extra processors and memory serve to expand his memory capacity and speed. Without them, he is identical to Quan in every respect."
I replied, "How go the hits on portals?"
Frig posted a table to my HUD. "We have identified portals to thirteen galaxies, none of which had Humans on the other end. We did receive a hit on a Grid station that housed a multilegged insectoid, similar to a Gorthian worm, with sixty legs down each side of its torso."
I replied, "That sounds like a centipede; it was an Earth insect from back in the archives, usually only a few centimeters long."
Frig posted an image. "The Harmath are two meters in length. Easily as large as you or me. They appear to have mandibles that are used to grab and hold prey, and barbed stingers on their tails. Their front legs appear to double as arms, with hands and fingers that are not unlike our own. They carry axes, Sir. All of the species in this galaxy are armed with either bludgeons or slicing weapons."
I looked over the Harmath. "We’ve had to fight worse. What galaxy were they located in?"
Frig replied, "According to the records on the Defender, it was simply known as NGC300. Quan calls it the Saw Blade. It has many similarities with the Triangulum, Sir. It has a distance of only seven million light-years from Earth."
I spoke. "So, I think I’m seeing a pattern here. The Duke’s home galaxy is pretty far out. All the War of Wars galaxies seem to be clustered together. I would guess that was for security purposes. Probably why no new sentient species have popped up out here also. Just a peaceful, quiet hideaway where he can conduct his dirty wars with impunity."
The active skin enabled and was quickly shut down. I powered forward and drifted through the kilometer-thick wall, emerging into the heavily armed area surrounding the Duke’s lair. As Frig had stated, active androids were immediately visible on the grounds surrounding the Duke. Making use of a motion sensor, I set my HUD to highlight any movement with a flashing yellow circle. I worked my way across the ten kilometers of fortified space in a slow and easy fashion with my BHD working at a minimum setting.
As I approached the final wall, Frig came over the comm. "Sir, I now have three hits in the Saw Blade galaxy. From the imagery that I have watched, each of the species appears to be new to their surroundings. This could very well be the galaxy where our people were sent. Each of these Grids is located in the same galaxy arm, but they are several light-years’ distance from each other."
I replied, "OK, well, I’m almost to the Duke’s inner area; any idea what I should look for when I am in there?"
Frig spoke. "I would first look for the Duke’s core. If you are able to find it, we may take the opportunity to destroy it. Or, we might look to free our people first. That is something we have not discussed."
I replied, "If you find where our people are, this place is coming down. We’ll turn that containment structure on full and let it rip this complex apart!"
When I entered the Duke’s room, I found his core to be sitting on a stone platform in the middle. The walls were lined with electronic devices that continuously flashed light as the Duke’s core followed the action around each of his fighting species. Thousands of holo-displays showed the active species from various perspectives. A well-worn path in the floor told of millions of steps that had been taken, walking the perimeter of the room, looking at the various displays.
A single android body stood in a corner with its head opened and waiting for a core. At some point in the distant past, the Duke had walked the room as he looked upon his wards. I lowered my active skin level until I stood on the floor of the great room.
I spoke. "Frig, are you seeing this? You find our people, and I will blow that core into a million tiny bits."
Frig replied, "I see it, Sir. I have four new hits in the Saw Blade galaxy that I need to investigate."
I looked over the images from several of the displays on the near wall. "Make it quick, Frig. It’s making me nervous being so close to the Duke and not being able to pull the trigger. Every second he lives is a second available for him to somehow escape this."
Frig was silent for several seconds. "Sir! I found them! They are on a Grid in the Saw Blade as I suspected. I have sixteen hits in that galaxy. It would appear that there are more than just four species there. There are four groups of four. I have a firm location for ours, Sir."
I let out a long sigh of relief as I gazed at a hideous creature on one of the displays. It was now time to destroy the Duke.
Before I could act, an alert flashed on my HUD as Frig came over the comm. "Sir! You must get out of there! A fleet of ships just uncloaked around the containment structure! It is now offline, Sir. If that skin activates while you are in there, you will not be able to get out!"
I shook my head as I began to turn around. "OK, well, I’m taking out the Duke now. If that skin activates, I’ll just have to figure out how to shut it down."
As I raised my weapon, I was startled to see the Duke’s core was no longer sitting on the stone pedestal. I managed a glimpse of the Duke as his android body blinked out. Half a second later, a strong ion bolt impacted my partially active sodium skin, sending me violently backwards into a cluster of electronics on the wall. I blinked out fully.
I then received a general hail over my comm.
I heard the Duke laugh. "Oh, Mr. Grange! How exciting! I thought you to be dead, and yet here you are in my castle! Attempting to end my million years of reign! My emotion circuits are running at full with all this excitement! Tremendous!"
I replied to the voice in the otherwise empty room, "The game is over for you, Duke. I am here to shut you off permanently. Now, if you would be so kind as to blink back in, I’ll finish up and be on my way."
The Duke again laughed. "Mr. Grange. I do love your calm demeanor. However, there are a million androids surrounding this room, and each is equipped with an active skin like your own. And... ah! The active skin of this complex has now come back online. You are now trapped between these inner and outer walls."
I replied as I drifted to one side of the room, "Well then, I guess I better make the best use of what time I have left, Duke. I might have trouble destroying you, just as you will have trouble destroying me. But all this around me? I think it’s time to curtail your activities. Say goodbye to your monitoring of your wars, Duke!"
I pulled the trigger on my coil gun. The stone pedestal exploded, and with it the Duke’s interface to his complex.
The Duke growled. "That was totally unnecessary, Mr. Grange. Had you surrendered peacefully, I would have allowed you to return to your people to assist them in their coming fights. However, if you were to give up now, I may still allow it."
I let out a laugh of my own. "Sorry, Duke. One of us is not leaving here, and I’m going to do my best to see that it is you."