Blue Dawn’s
smile grew even more dangerous now. ‘And in response to your
question as to where I am going to get more subjects for a second
wave of Project Ascension, the answer is quite simple. I have
already got them and I got them the same way that we got all of our
other citizens: promise them Ascension. Two thousand Xenith class
vessels are en route from the colonies. They will not be permitted
to board Ascension until you have taken out the Eye of Orion
network. You might consider my destruction of the Commercial
District spring cleaning. The infected have now been ninety eight
percent disposed of and I am already beginning reconstruction.
‘Oh and one
more thing. You might remember your little friend Adrian. Well
according to my present security feeds the remainder of the crew
has gone insane and he doesn’t have much time left. I am keeping
him secure but my avatar has already taken fatal damage. I would
run if I were you.’
That was about
all the convincing I needed. Blue Dawn had seemed to anticipate my
moves and had already produced a command module from the desk. She
handed it to me and with an unusual level of mirth stated ‘and
since there are so few of you left I can mass transport you to the
Xenith vessels interior. Mass transport in three, two, one.’
We emerged
inside the vessel. Another AI greeted us. ‘Good morning citizens.
The time is two fifteen a.m. You are cleared for departure to the
Docks of Ascension. Travel time is one minute fifty seconds. We
have cleared the launch tubes.’
There was a
rumbling as the vessels real-space drives kicked in. I realised
that, like so many things recently, this knowledge was not my own,
but the knowledge Ascension had given me.
The vessel
itself was quite small. We were standing in the vessel’s Command
Centre. There was just enough room for three people to be
comfortable in here. A large holo had been placed in the centre of
the room. It was surrounded by a ringed handrail. There was a seat
at the front, presumably where the helm would sit, and another at
the back. Aside from this the Command Centre was bare. The holo
showed us emerging from Ascension. The stations massive bulk began
to make itself known. I could see those many sculptures rising from
the stations skin. There were the horses galloping, there were
birds taking flight and there were angels holding swords and
pointing upwards. I realised just how little of Ascension that we
had really seen. I thought on all the wonders that might have been.
But these were marvels that I would never see.
We were moving
at a colossal speed. This was made apparent simply from glancing at
the holo as huge sections of Ascension blurred past us. It was
magnificent. I wondered for a moment what the Xenith class vessel
might look like from the outside. Whether it would be the sleek
artistic shape that so much of Ascension seemed to take on. But my
thoughts were interrupted as the familiar shape of the docks became
clear on the farthest side of the holo.
Aeniah
appeared to be all action stations. She sat down besides a console
which had an array of screens banking at sharp angles on either
side. Her hands moved so rapidly upon the touch and gesture
response surfaces that I could barely make them out. She seemed at
home in this environment. I supposed that weapons and tactics were
sort of her speciality.
‘Sean, focal
imaging detects four remaining crew members. The rest must have
been killed by Dawn’s avatar. I am unable to get an image on Dawn.
I want you to run a locale search for Adrian, try and find him.’
Sean responded to her commands without hesitation. Aeniah opened
her mouth again to bark more orders. ‘Xenith class, activate
defensive batteries and antipersonnel weapons systems.’
The AI
responded with a neutral voice. ‘My apologies Madame Corinithia,
but the Xenith class vessel is a high speed civilian transport
vessel only. As a result this vessel is not licensed to carry
offensive armaments. There is a weapons locker in an armoury vault
at the back.’
‘That’s not
going to be any use.’ Aeniah looked like she was thinking quickly.
‘George I need you to connect to the Promethean Layer, I am getting
a lot of sub-quantum activity from those docks.’
I tried to
focus on that star but to no avail. I had drawn upon so much of the
Promethean Layer that any attempt to connect just brought an
incredible amount of pain into my head. ‘I can’t. It hurts too
much. I don’t think that I can do it.’
Aeniah flew
out of her seat, raised her hand, and slapped me across my cheeks.
‘I have had enough of you right now George. All the way around
Ascension I have had to listen to all your complaints, and believe
me it took all the self control that I posses not to kill you.
‘You have been
given a valuable asset. We are still in range of the Eye of Orion,
and if you don’t connect Adrian is going to die. Now you have just
ten seconds to get your fucking ass in gear before we dock. If
those bastards cast an explosive inside our vessel we are all
fucked and you can kiss goodbye to our species. Now fucking well
connect or I will have your guts for garters.’
Her screaming
pierced straight through my headache and made me feel a little
dizzy. But I tried again. The pain was truly something. The stars
brightness felt like it might sear my eyes of all vision. Contrary
to my belief the star exploded into a full connection. Feeling the
raw restorative power of the Promethean Layer course through me, my
headache immediately dissipated.
In this
connection I could really see everything. I could even see the
Layer itself. It wafting tendrils penetrated everything. It pulsed
in straight lines or folded in exact curves. It was every colour
imaginable. It was the most beautiful thing that I had ever seen.
At last I breathed, ‘Connected.’
‘Good timing
because we are about to dock.’ Sean was staring into the helm
cosole, conversing with it in some way. Aeniah pointed towards the
door and I realised that she wanted me to man the airlock.
I ran towards
the door and it opened just in time for me to fly through. In a
matter of moments I was pounding down the connecting corridor and
into the room labelled
Air Lock
. The air lock door opened
without the long delay that I was accustomed to on Eternis System
vessels. In fact the Xenith class vessel operated with all the
comfort and efficiency that I had come to expect from
Ascension.
I pressed the
red button and a holo resolved telling me that pressure
equalisation was underway. Through the clear Perspex of the outer
door I could see the ship passing through Ascension’s outer
membrane and into the stations atmosphere. The Perspex door opened.
I was standing feet away from an almighty fall. Trying not to look
down I focused my eyes on the infected crew members. They seemed
enthralled at the sight of the vessel. With my enhanced vision I
could make out the self inflicted damage to their faces. A cold
lifeless figure was lying in the middle of them. It was Blue Dawn’s
avatar.
The Xenith
class lowered itself into the closest docking bay to them. They
seemed to surge towards us. I carefully checked that Adrian was not
among their group. Seeing him missing I drew the Promethean Layer
into me. Folding the energy in such a way as now felt natural to
me. In a time that was shorter than I could tell you my hand filled
with an orb of intense light. I must admit that I did marvel at I
for a little while before I threw it down at the infected.
An incredible
burst of shock wave threw me backwards and my head impacted upon
the inner door of the airlock. I felt a wetness dripping down my
face. I knew that I was bleeding. But the pain that was beginning
to come forth into my head washed away as the Promethean Layer
accelerated my healing to near godlike capabilities. I was able to
stand after just a few seconds.
The orb of
light had done far more damage than I intended. The infected were
certainly very dead. One of the huge docking clamps had been bent
out of shape. Jagged edges of metal penetrated outwards from it
bulk.
I scanned for
Adrian using the Promethean Layer. The Xenith class was almost
touching the floor of the docks. Its black shining floor reflected
the curved architecture of the vessel. I saw the red throbbing glow
of a live body. My eyes seemed to focus on the object and zoomed. I
could just about make out the face of Adrian hiding inside one of
the motors for the docking clamps that had not been damaged in the
explosion.
‘Adrian come
out of there. Its George, everything is going to be okay.’
Adrian emerged
from the depths of the motor. His face looked visibly panicked. He
ran with a limp towards my outstretch arms. There were tears of joy
in his eyes. My heart soared to see that he was going to be
okay.
Our hands met
and clasp each other firmly. I hauled him onto the airlock platform
with ease. I slammed my hand against the control pad which winked
from green to red. The Perspex closed and a holo resolved telling
us that the air lock was equalising its pressure with the Xenith
class.
The airlock
door opened. And with an arm around Adrian for support we hobbled
together towards the Command Centre. The doors swept aside to unite
us with Aeniah and Sean.
‘Good, you
made it safely,’ was about all that she said before she turned to
Seand and said, ‘I have no intention of staying here any longer
than I possibly have to. If you would be so kind, please get us the
hell out of here.’
‘Yes Sir,’ and
this time Sean’s voice had reached a level of excitement that I had
not realised any person could reach.
The vessel
surged backwards and exited Ascension’s outer membrane. Once it had
a safe enough room to manoeuvre the vessel spun about its axis and
faced away from Ascension and began its journey into the stars. The
AI cut into what would have been our moment of euphoria.
‘This vessel
has now exited Ascension management control. You are now three
thousand miles from the station. You have reached the minimum safe
distance for an FTL jump. Please state your intended
destination.’
‘Hercula,’ I
said joyfully, we were nearing our journey’s end.
‘Hercula,
Advanced Archaeological Site of Interest, Salem system. Searching
for available FTL gateways. Gateways found. Spooling drive systems.
Drive systems spooled. Journey time: one day, eight hours. Faster
than light in 3,2,1.’ Everyone was thrown off their feet in the
process of FTL translation.
We got to our
feet happily enough. The world seemed a better place now that we
had left Ascension. Our journey was simpler and clearer. I had been
united with Adrian. There seemed as though there was nothing at all
in the entire world that could ever go wrong.
Aeniah ran
over to me and gave me the strongest hug that I had ever felt. I
had released the Promethean Layer during my return to the Command
Centre and without it I felt that she might break me. There was
such a warmth to this gesture though that I put those fears aside
instantly and returned her gesture with all the strength I could
muster.
I released
Aeniah and to my infinite surprise found myself hugged again. This
time it was by Adrian. I was so happy to finally have some contact
with the guy again. It had been so long since we had even spoken
that this action started to fill me with tears.
Then everyone
was in tears. Adrian was in tears, Aeniah was in tears, I was in
tears. Even Sean seemed to weep as his eye blinked rapidly. We were
all hugging, laughing and shouting for joy. We all grabbed Sean out
of the air and hugged him much to his displeasure at being thrown
around.
After about
ten minutes or so of tribulations Aeniah suggested that we have a
drink. I do not think that I had ever moved as fast in my life as I
did then to get my hands on a nice cold beverage. The communal area
of the vessel was small but it felt almost like home. Aeniah put in
our orders to the machine which began the processes of filling the
glasses. I had let Aeniah choose for me and she soon handed me over
a blue frothing cocktail. Adrian had gone for the same drink as me.
We all placed our glasses into the air and knocked them against
each other for health. Adrian and I gulped down a sip of our drink
at the same time. And at the same time we grimaced at the amount of
alcohol Aeniah had put into the drinks.
‘Oh stop being
such babies,’ she said and we all laughed.
Later in the
evening we had all become quite drunk. Aeniah was regaling us with
stories of the United World that were so fantastical that it was
almost impossible to imagine. We were all laughing about one of her
tales about the time when she was a general and how she kept
swearing during an interview with a colonial leader. It was the
first time that she had ever let her guard down and we were all
taking in her amazing personality.
After several
more alcoholic cocktails Aeniah suggested that we watch one of the
movies in the Xenith class’s entertainment catalogue. She promised
us that United World movies were a good deal more entertaining that
the stuff she had had to put up with on Bataga. After some argument
we agreed not to watch an action movie, we had all had enough of
that to last us a lifetime. Instead we agreed to watch a romantic
movie. To Adrian and I it seemed like something out of science
fiction but the movie was great. It was about a girl and guy, who
despite being from different nations made it together. Everyone was
already quite emotional before the movie had started and we were
almost cracking up afterwards. The story was so heart warming that
I declared that it must have been the best movie ever made.
Everyone agreed and we all proposed a toast to the long dead
director.