Authors: Steve Wheeler
‘Could it be that some of the original scientists were not dead but, rather, in cryno sleep when their laboratories were encased and taken on board the Hauler for the journey to Hades? Certainly, such a scenario would explain what has been happening, although the more disturbing aspect may be that some or all of the scientists made good their escape, and are now somewhere else with very potent biological weapons, based on a fusion with the urchins.’
Everyone went very quiet as they digested this latest possibility, then the colonel spoke up. ‘I agree with Stephine. I have been analysing the images we kept of the part of the Hauler we sent into the sun. I found no evidence that any human-compatible lander spacecraft were still present, which suggests someone used them to escape the Hauler. It is only a supposition though. The areas where they would normally be stored were heavily modified by whatever occupied the Hauler. The landers
could
still be there.’
Major Michael Longbow sat in his command module on
Basalt’s
bridge deck, frowned and scratched his head as he digested the information. ‘This is not good. OK, command decision time. Colonel, if we broke this segment into three, would the Compressors be able to destroy them individually?’
‘Um, stand by.’
As he waited for the colonel’s answer, he switched channels and asked, ‘Fritz, can you configure one of the Harpoons to lock onto the core and retrieve all the information from it? I now believe the core may be totally compromised.’
Fritz grumbled under his breath at yet another interruption, but replied calmly. ‘Yeah, should be able to sort that. I shall get Patrick to do it, though. Need another ten minutes to sort the antimatter packets.’
At that moment, the colonel came back on the comms. ‘Yes, the Compressors would handle the three sections. With that in mind, I shall now use a drone to move the captured material we have in hand to a safe distance and dispose of it.’
Michael Longbow nodded and ordered. ‘Right, here’s what we are going to do. As soon as
Crystal
returns, we are going to create a killing field. Stephine, you will command one group; colonel, you take the second; I will take the third. The antimatter packets will be spread to create two rings around the segment. As soon as those outer parts of the segment — and whatever is lurking under the surface — is gouged aside by the first set of ten antimatter packets, the second set will be launched and spaced out so that the urchin-type creatures will hopefully attempt to grab them. Patrick and
Crystal,
you will need to control them. No matter what happens as soon as anyone sees the core, yell and concentrate weapons while Patrick fires the Harpoon onto it. As soon as the data is lasered back, we then destroy everything including the core. Colonel, when you return, can you disperse your Compressors to form a field beyond the killing field and that way we can push everything against them. I just had another disturbing thought, people. We have not had a visit from any of our friends or counterparts in Admin procurements or weapons research. What’s the bet that someone already knows what has occurred? OK, team off.’
~ * ~
Two
Marko was attached to Stephine’s group to the right of
Basalt,
with the colonel’s group on the other side, so they had a fan-shaped firing base a kilometre wide.
The first wave of antimatter packets contacted the surface of the fragment and all reacted at the same instant, cutting two rough rings right around the centre of the cone’s remains some seven metres across and three metres deep. They could see the writhing masses of biological material rapidly filling the spaces and repairing itself just as the second wave of antimatter arrived. The effect was immediate and dramatic. The enormous urchins inside the segment erupted outwards to get at the antimatter, tearing the whole structure apart. Just as the tendrils reached up to touch the antimatter packets, the containment fields of the antimatter all collapsed, obliterating large swathes of urchin flesh.
The Cactus Core suddenly popped out above the separated segments, and Patrick wasted no time in hitting it with two Harpoons. Sacrificial drones swept in from the larger craft to push up against one of the three masses, as everyone continually fired upon their designated targets to prevent them from reforming into one mass. The pressure of the vaporising material, together with the drones, gradually pushed the three masses towards where the Compressors waited. Marko had no idea what was happening to the Cactus Core as he was working hard with Stephine and Julie Mapp, pushing their target mass as far to the right as possible. Stephine activated one of the Compressors and it closed on the twisting, writhing mass which had systematically destroyed the drones.
‘First Compressor five minutes to detonation. Shields closed and get clear,’ the colonel yelled.
All the craft rolled away and powered their engines to maximum as they needed at least five kilometres of separation. The Compressors went off one after the other, shredding the masses of horribly contaminated material down to individual atoms. Once the all-clear was given, the colonel then had them form a series of sweeps looking for and destroying any remaining material.
Many long hours later they held station off
Basalt
while the exposed surfaces of every craft and ship were minutely inspected by engineering drones for any possible contamination. Being the last in the queue Julie and Marko were finally cleared. They individually docked with
Basalt,
landing on their platforms and rotating back inside the hangar. After powering down their Skuas they went for a long shower and a decent meal.
As they were emerging from ablutions, Major Longbow made an announcement. ‘Crew, we managed to procure total data from the core.
Chrysanthemum
has also arrived in the system and will be joining us shortly. I have briefed him and he concurs with the decision to destroy the core. He has started to upload all the core’s data as well. There is a lot of useful information, but we will not know about the personality of the Hauler until
Chrysanthemum
decodes it for us. Stephine, you are the last in the queue.
Crystal,
you are cleared to dock when ready.’
‘My thanks, Michael. I shall join you shortly.’
Marko walked up the long spiral staircase to the bridge deck feeling very tired, but enjoying the exercise. He looked at Michael Longbow and frowned. ‘Boss, you don’t look too hot. You all right?’
‘No, Marko, I’m feeling bloody awful. Jan, can you meet me in Medical, please. Harry, get a message to the colonel and to Stephine to hold their positions.’
Over the next half an hour they all, one by one, succumbed to a nasty flu-like virus. Marko felt as if something was slowly grinding on his bones, he ached so badly, but what concerned him most was a harsh burning sensation on his chest. He stripped off his suit and could see five tiny raised lumps on his skin and was reminded of the time years before when an octopoid had touched him in the same place. The tiny lumps itched horribly and he fought the urge to tear his skin apart scratching them. Jan was affected worst of all and, as Marko leant against the medical bulkhead, Ernst whistled up a medical drone to assist in getting her into a cryno unit.
As soon as she was in the unit, and being chilled, Ernst took a blood sample from Marko and, after a few moments, gave his opinion. ‘Marko, it appears that the nanotech for your arm has halted the spread of this virus in your system. It is a manufactured virus — and virulent is the least of it. We need time. Please ask all those who are mobile to get to the cryno chambers themselves as we need to chill them down, otherwise they will probably die. I’ll give you a cocktail of vitamins to boost your system so you can help me and Topaz.’
As Ernst positioned himself against a large medical supplies dispensing cabinet and rapidly loaded what he needed into himself, Marko selected Stephine’s private channel. ‘Stephine, this is Marko. I have not seen the ACEs. Are they with you?’
A very tired sounding Stephine answered. ‘No, Marko, they all elected to go with Colonel White. Glint, are you OK?’
The ACE answered immediately. ‘We are all fine, thank you, Stephine. Marko, the colonel has a most interesting ship. We are learning a great many fascinating things. You really should have a look at this ship when you get better.’
Oh, shit, Marko thought. Glint does not use that sort of language. He is much more direct — and how the hell does he know that I’m not well? Ernst pressed a unit up against Marko’s right arm medical shunt and he felt slightly better. Not much, but enough to function. Marko reached out and tapped Ernst beside where the private circuit communication glasses were normally kept. The panel popped open presenting Marko with the glasses. As he put them on, Ernst advised, ‘We are secure, Marko.’
With a rising panic, Marko quickly said, ‘Glint and the ACEs have found something on the colonel’s ship and he knows that we are unwell. How would he know that? How can we communicate with them, without the colonel knowing?’
The machine was quiet for a few seconds, before replying. ‘That would be basically impossible, I am afraid.
Crystal
is a remarkable information-gathering AI and would know immediately. I think it best if you disappear. I shall log that you have been placed on ice. Topaz will get that new suit for you; meet him in the cryno chamber. With the exception of you, no other biological currently on
Basalt
is awake as they are all in cryno sleep.’
Marko groaned. ‘That is very bad. I shall keep these glasses on so we can talk without being listened to.’
He walked slowly down to the cryno chambers, stripped, then climbed into an open unit with Topaz helping and the waiting prototype suit formed around him. Sealed up, he activated it, and waited. It insulated him completely from the cold of the chamber and, of course, none of the systems could get at his permanent medical shunts. Marko decided that Patrick must have overridden them, as they did not attempt to interface.
He found himself moving and realised that the AIs must have activated the emergency evacuation system for the chamber. He was moved quite quickly down through the floor and into a long-term survival pod.
An image of Ernst appeared in Marko’s glasses. ‘Marko. We have overridden the systems; Patrick suspects that something is wrong with the fuel feeds for the Wormhole generators. Suffice to say, if we activated the feeds we would not make it back to any of our bases any time soon. He believes he can circumnavigate the software changes, but it will take time. It would seem that the colonel wants us out of the picture.’
A terrible cold feeling bit right into Marko’s inner being as he realised just how bad the situation was. He felt a tiny spark of fear as he asked: ‘What’s happening with Stephine and Veg?’
Topaz answered through the Ernst comms system. ‘They have just come on board. Veg is already very ill. Far worse than anyone else. Stephine is also badly affected. They are both making their way to cryno and I have sent engineering drones to help them as they have both just collapsed unconscious. It would seem that they have been infected with something much worse than the rest of you. I have instructed the drones to load them into cryno units. We have isolated the virus that you have. Give us a couple of hours and we will be able to help you greatly.’
‘Thanks, Topaz.’
‘Marko,’ Topaz continued, ‘I am sorry but the colonel has just reported an incident on board
Crystal
that has resulted in the deaths of the two salvage personnel who were with her. She must have placed her own AI on board this ship ... whatever it is, it is mimicking Michael and Harry perfectly. I believe that this is a subterfuge to keep the Hauler,
Chrysanthemum,
from knowing what is occurring here. She has also begun communications with
Chrysanthemum,
so a great deal of data is now open to her. She has total access to the
Cactus
3 core. Unfortunately, I am not able to access any of it.’
Ernst interjected. ‘There is a problem with Patrick. He is becoming very slow. Actually, this may be of advantage to us. He is losing interest in monitoring any internal sensors and also losing control of external door sensors. Topaz and I believe that you must take control of
Crystal,
eliminate or neutralise the colonel and learn what is happening. We shall work on getting Patrick back to normal, repair the Wormhole generator problems and also check for any other anomalies while we are at it.’
Marko felt a slow rage building inside him. ‘Fuck! Fuck, fuck, but I feel like shit on a stick! OK, OK, I’m onto it. So, how come you two are not affected?’
‘I am sorry,’ Topaz replied, ‘but I cannot answer that. It is possible that the colonel simply did not consider what our capabilities are. Time will tell.’
Marko pushed open the chamber cover and then the access door to the pod. As he moved, he activated the chameleon ware of the suit. Harry and Veg had been working with him on the suit with him for months and they’d made it more like Veg and Stephine’s suits. Much sleeker and a lot more compact than the Administration originals; it was also superbly quiet. He walked down to the engineering deck and looked out through one of the viewing chambers.
Crystal
was holding station only a couple of hundred metres away with the huge bulk of the Hauler
Chrysanthemum
hanging above.
He walked across to the opposite side of the deck and opened the small airlock, manually rotating it through. He climbed out onto the external shell and pulled himself around the large curved hull of
Basalt
until he could see
Crystal,
then he stood up and ran across the hull plates, building sufficient speed to launch himself across to
Crystal,
hoping like hell that it would not move in the few minutes it took for the flight across. He didn’t use the small thrusters built into the suit and fervently hoped that
Crystal’s
sensors could not pick him up as he landed with arms outstretched among the rear rocket nozzles of the colonel’s ship. He decided it was now time to create a little constructive mayhem of his own.