The Agathon: Book One (33 page)

“Mother?” Carrie said to the female who resembled the images she had of her. She was older though. Much older than when she died.

“Find us,” her mother said slowly. She raised a hand and let it glance Carrie’s cheek.

“Who?” Carrie said, as the touch flooded her memories of youth.

“Find us, Carrie,” she said again, before turning slowly and making her way back across the grass.

“Wait!” Carrie said, as she tried to follow. She couldn’t. Something was forcing her back as the wind began to pick up. She closed her eyes against it and tried to push forward. She couldn’t.

“Wait!” she screamed again. The storm increased in seconds, as she raised her hands against the debris that was thrown back at her. She felt a deep burst of energy inside her and took one last deep breath.

“Fuck you!” she screamed, looking at the sky as she was brought back to the present moment. Her eyes widened as a force exploded from inside her. Her hands glowed white as a tremendous burst of light erupted from their tips. She focused every ounce of everything she had left towards the cube. Arcing electrical forces met and exploded all around her. She continued her long feral scream as her entire body pulsed bolts of lightning into the chamber. A large cracking sound preceded an explosion that seemed to break the cube in two pieces. The force of it lifted Carrie clean off her feet and sent her sailing in
mid
-air towards the back wall. The last thing she saw before blacking out was a huge red fireball coming straight for her.

Engine room

20:29 Martian Standard

“
Tosh?” Young said, kneeling over him.

“Give him a second,” Brubaker said.

“How is he?” Young said.

“I’ve sealed the wound. There are no major arteries hit, he’ll be fine but he’s lost blood. I need to get him to the medical bay.” Young looked at Tosh as he slowly opened his eyes.

“Jerome?” he said. Young took his hand.

“How you doing there, big guy?” he said.

“Beyond this place there be dragons,” he replied. Young smiled.

“Yes, there are,” he said.

“Emerson?” Tosh said.

Young shook his head. “He’s gone,” he said.

“We have to get off this planet,” Tosh replied.

“Boyett agrees. She’s spinning up the main thrusters and running FTL systems checks. We could use you there until we get into orbit.”

“That’s out of the question,” Brubaker interjected. “This man is seriously injured, Mr. Young.”

Young sighed. “I understand, Doc, but if any more of those things get on board this ship, then we’re all dead.”

Tosh looked at Brubaker. “I’ll be okay, Michelle. Strap me up and get my chair.”

“This is crazy,” Brubaker said. “You have a hole in your shoulder!” Tosh began to move awkwardly to try and sit up.

“Christ,” Brubaker said, helping him. Young brought his chair and the pair hoisted him into it. He let out a cry of pain as they did so.

Looking at Brubaker he announced, “I’m fine,” and activated the
anti
-grav function. “What the hell was that thing?” he said to Young.

“We’re still working on that, but whatever it was Lieutenant Chavel taught it a serious lesson in plasma dynamics,” Young said, pointing to the broken tubes next to The Betty.

Tosh looked at the damage. “Shit,” he said. They made their way to an internal lift linking the gangways and lowered themselves to the engine room floor, where Tosh examined the damage to the engine.

“Verdict?” he asked.

“I could use Tyrell on this,” Tosh said, holding his shoulder.

“He is indisposed right now,” Young said.

“I see,” Tosh said, looking over to where Emerson’s body should have been.

“Tosh, I’m sorry about Landon.” Tosh looked at Young and nodded. “It should have been me,” Young said. “I’m the one who opened fire first.” Tosh waved the comment off and looked at The Betty.

“We have to get the FTL up and running,” Young said, trying to focus the old man’s attention.

“Will she still fire with only one injector?” Young asked.

“Hard to know really. We hadn’t anticipated this. There is no reason why it technically shouldn’t but...” Tosh trailed off as a small vibration started rumbling underfoot.

“Bridge to engine room,” came Boyett’s stern voice over the comms. She sounded older somehow. Young tapped a nearby panel.

“Young here.”

“Mr Young, how is Tosh doing? I need a point man down there and I need you on the bridge at the navigation array. We have detected seismic activity. It’s time to go.”

“Boyett, this is Tosh. I’m good to go down here, there’s a lot of damage. I’ll need at least thirty minutes to spin up the thruster controls.”

“You have ten, Doctor,” Boyett said assuredly.

“Understood,” he replied. The comms clicked off and Tosh looked at Young.

“Get up there and buy me more time. It’s a fucking mess down here.” Young looked around at the smouldering consoles and cracked screens. He sighed, looking back at Tosh, nodded and made his way to the exit. The rumbling beneath his feet began to intensify.

27

The Forest

20:42 Martian Standard

C
arrie opened her eyes and felt a wave of nausea as the ground beneath her field of vision moved rapidly in front of her. She looked at the heels of her mode of transport and realised she was flung over Tyrell’s shoulder. She raised her hand to her head, which felt like it had been cracked open with a stone. She pulled her
blood
-soaked hand away and groaned, causing Tyrell to stop and place her on the ground with surprising dexterity. She looked up at the
tree
-tops and realised that they were back in the forest. The ground beneath her back was trembling.

“Tyrell?” she said, confused. Striking blue, human eyes gazed back at her.

“Can you walk?” he said to her, softly. “Your father is up ahead.”

“How did
you
-”

“We really do not have time to explain. This planet is about to
de
-form and jump from this system, but not before it destroys us and the ship first,” he said. “You have sustained a mild concussion and some minor injuries from the explosion, but other than that you seem fully functional,” he added. Carrie rolled over and looked behind her at the direction that Tyrell, or rather The Black inhabiting him, had taken her. They were near the edge of the treeline.

“Where is my father?” she asked.

“I left him resting against a rock. He did not have the strength to return and made it clear that if I did not I would not survive the day either,” he said. She smiled before feeling another tremor beneath her back. She slowly got to her knees, fighting off an urge to throw up as she did so and looked at her hands. They looked normal. The ground shook again as she caught something moving out of the corner of her eye. Tyrell saw it too.

“Carrie,” he said, motioning her to make haste. She nodded and began walking at pace towards the forest edge. She heard a clicking sound from behind her and knew what was following them. She glanced back and saw hundreds of
humanoid
-looking beings walking quickly towards them. They were flanked by at least three of the long, black worm creatures.

“Let’s go!” she said and broke into a sprint. Tyrell followed suit without hesitation and led the way. He looked strong as he took off at speed. She took a breath and followed as closely as she could. She heard a cracking sound off to her right as the trees passed her by. It sounded like the ground was opening.

“Carrie!” her father’s voice screamed off in the distance. She looked up and saw him standing in the clearing of the treeline. She ignored her aching arms and raced towards him. She covered the distance in a matter of seconds, as his outstretched arms embraced her as though she were a little girl. She threw her own arms around his waist and buried her head in his chest. He squeezed the air out of her lungs willingly for several seconds and kissed her on the head.

“That was really stupid, Dice,” he said through a crackling in his voice. His eye was filling with water. “You should have let me go,” he said softly.

“Ship needs its captain,” she replied, head still buried. Carrie looked at Tyrell’s confused expression.

“We must go, Carrie,” he said, motioning to the oncoming army of alien machines approaching.

“Shit,” said the captain, looking at the wide variety of alien faces approaching. Some tall, some bipedal, some with four and five appendages, some with multiple eyes and some with none. He nodded as they all turned and headed for the ship.

“The running lights,” Carrie said, looking at The Agathon. “I think they’re about to leave,” she said.

“Stop them, Carrie,” said the captain, as the trio broke into a sprint. Behind them the gathering army emerged from the treeline and began a pursuit.

Agathon Bridge

20:52 Martian Standard

“
Activate thrusters,” said Boyett from the centre seat.

“We’re really leaving them?” said Chavel from the flight chair. Boyett didn’t answer. She tapped a comm panel on the chair.

“This is Boyett. All hands secure stations, we are lifting off. This could be a bumpy ride so strap in,” she said.

“We really thought this was the place,” said Young from behind her.

“We’ll find another, Mr Young,” she said, without looking back at him. The bridge was sombre. Boyett knew the odds but what could she do?

“David,” she said. “Thrusters.” There was a moment’s hesitation from the flight chair, but a few seconds later his hands were moving across the controls.

“Thrusters engaged,” he said. The bridge rattled as the ship began to lift off from the surface.

“I’m sorry, Captain,” Boyett whispered to herself. She thought no one had heard, but caught Young’s eye as he moved across her to the navigation station.

“Bring us into orbit, Mr Chavel,” she said, sitting back into the chair. Chavel didn’t answer. He was looking at one of the screens.

“Lieutenant?” she said.

“Carrie?” he said out loud. Boyett followed his gaze, as did Young. The screen showed three figures crossing the open plain towards the now airborne ship followed closely by hundreds of other figures, some of which looked humanoid.

“Jesus!” Boyett said.

“I think that’s the captain!” Chavel said, turning his head.

Boyett looked at the screen in disbelief for a moment. “Land!” she said.

“Looks like they have company,” said Chavel.

“Get closer, David,” she said.

“Ferrate, open the main airlock doors,” she said.

“Done,” he replied, eyes staring at the screen.

“I don’t believe it,” said Young.

“I don’t like our chances if those things get on board,” said Chavel. Boyett leant on her hands as she tried to think.

“Engine room,” she said, tapping her comm panel.

“Tosh,” came the reply.

“I want you to run an ionisation charge through the length of the hull on my mark.”

“That will burn out a lot of the electrical systems along the outer decks, Lieutenant,” came his reply.

“No time, Tosh. Just get it done,” she said, leaving no room for questions.

“One hundred meters,” said Chavel.

“Medical to main airlock,” she said into the comm panel.

“Acknowledged,” came the swift reply.

“In position,” Chavel said.

“Swing her around, David,” she said. They watched the screen as the ship reoriented itself, giving access to the airlock.

“What’s she doing?” Boyett said, watching as Carrie stopped running and turned to face the oncoming hordes of life forms.

“Come on, Carrie. What the
hell
-” Chavel said.

“It looks like she’s turning to...” Boyett started but was silenced by what she saw next.

With arms outstretched the captain’s daughter had bolts of blue light coming out of her body in all directions. Young stood from his console, mouth open in disbelief. The energy struck several of the life forms, like a pulse gun lifting them clean off their feet. One of the long black worm creatures moved towards her. She reacted quickly, sending a bright blue bolt of energy its way. It struck the creature, which split in two with a burst of white light bright enough to make Boyett cover her eyes. The oncoming force stopped in its tracks, as Carrie turned and made her way to the rear of the ship. Chavel looked at Boyett, who looked back at him and shook her head, bewildered. Young’s face bore an expression Boyett had not seen him wear before. He looked horrified.

“Airlock closed. We have them,” Ferrate said. “Sir,” he followed, “on the ground,” he said. Boyett looked at the screens. The landscape below them began to crumble inwards as if being swallowed into nothingness. From the empty chasms huge dark metallic structures began to emerge. The army of life forms began to fall into the disappearing landscape.

“What the hell is happening?” said Chavel. Boyett looked at the screens.

“Full thrusters! Get us the hell off this rock,” shouted Boyett.

“Got it,” Chavel said, grappling with the flight controls. The landscape beneath them disappeared as the ship angled itself straight up. “Dampers are off, so this may be a little rough,” he said. He pushed the flight controls full on and Boyett felt the pull of several Gs as the ship began to soar upwards and away from the surface.

“Engine room, spin up the FTL, Tosh,” Boyett said after several seconds. The sky began to turn dark as the ship rose.

“That’s gonna be tricky, Lieutenant. We lost one plasma intake in the attack. I can’t guarantee she’ll fire at all.”

“Do what you can,” she said. She tapped a command into her chair and revered the angle on the main viewer. The planet began to fall away at speed, but it looked different. The surface was collapsing in on itself and was being replaced by enormous
cone
-shaped structures across its entire surface.

“I think you’ve stuck around long enough, Lieutenant,” came John Barrington’s voice from behind her. She stood immediately and looked at the captain.

“Captain,” she said, trying to stop herself from running over to him. He looked beaten. Tired. She looked into his empty eye socket. Carrie and Tyrell flanked him on either side. Chavel turned his head and smiled at Carrie. The bridge went silent. Boyett felt her eyes water and knew the captain could see it. He walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Very nice, Lieutenant,” he said smiling. There was enough sincerity in one eye to easily make up for the one missing.

“Captain,” said Tyrell quietly. The captain nodded at him.

“We have to leave this system,” Barrington said loudly to the bridge crew, “These are not the signal makers.”

Tyrell looked at Boyett.

“David, get out of the flight chair before you crash into something, and take navigation,” Barrington said. Boyett nodded and suddenly felt a real sense of relief smother her. Chavel locked the controls and moved over to the navigation station. Boyett slid herself back into her flight seat and released the control lock.

“There will be plenty of time for explanations as to what many of you will have seen today, but right now we need to survive,” Barrington said, sitting in the centre seat. He took a breath and tapped the comm panel.

“Engine room, report,” he said.

“Eh Tosh here, is that you, Captain?” he said.

“It is,” he said.

“Good to hear from you,” Tosh said.

“I need FTL capability fast,” he said.

“Sir, I’m working on it but there are a lot of damaged systems down here. We currently have no direct link to navigation, so if we jump now God only knows where we’ll end up.” The screens above them showed the planet disintegrating and forming into a twisted shape that looked like a collection of engine parts all stuck together.

“It’s changing,” Carrie said from the rear of the bridge.

“The Targlagdu will not allow our escape,” said Tyrell from beside her.

“The what?” Boyett said. The captain waved it off.

“You and Emerson put your heads together and spin up the FTL ring now or we’re all dead,” he said forcefully.

“Emerson is dead, sir,” Tosh said. “But your point is well received. I will begin FTL ring prep immediately.”

After a moment’s silence the captain responded, “Understood.”

Barrington turned and looked at Boyett.

“How many did we lose, Charly?” he said.

“Probably best if discuss it later, sir,” she said.

“We have incoming!” Chavel shouted, turning to the captain. They raised their eyes to the centre screens, which showed varying angles of the planet. It had now completely changed shape and looked like it was moving.

“It’s definitely closing on us, sir,” Boyett said, looking at the growing twisted mass approaching the ship.

“David, where are we on the FTL?” the captain said.

“Ring deployed, sir. She’s heating up now, one revolution per second.”

“Engine room,” Barrington said into the comm panel.

“You’ll have it in three minutes, Captain. Engine room out,” Tosh said, sounding a little more than harassed.

Engine Room

21:17 Martian Standard

“Jesus, the man’s only back from the grave five minutes,” Tosh said. “Where are we on the flow regulators, Roach?” he shouted across at a
weary
-looking engineer covered in scrapes and bruises.

“Way above the red line, Doctor. The anterior intake valve is completely fused, we have to rely on the backup which has never been tested with only one plasma injector. I don’t recommend this,” she said. Tosh looked at The Betty as the spinning orb began to glow. He had a feeling this was going to be his last few minutes in this world, but he had to admit that the bang this baby would make in deep space would be a sight to see from outside the ship.

“Open them up to a hundred and twenty percent,” he said, smiling, thinking of Emerson’s reaction to that one. The young woman looked at Tosh and raised her eyebrows. Tosh returned her gaze with an expression that told her it was their only chance. She nodded quietly and made the adjustments. Plasma flowed into the engine as the orb’s light filled the room with a light blue.

“Well then,” Tosh said, crossing his arms. “Your move, Betty.”

Bridge

Carrie took a seat next to one of the diagnostic consoles and looked on at the screen.

“Two minutes,” Chavel said. The view screen on the left of the bridge showed the exterior of the ship. The FTL ring was now circling the ship at speed and the hum of the vibration gently flowed through the bulkheads. All eyes were on the centre screen. The planet had split down its equator and was beginning to open up.

“What the hell is it doing?” her father said, turning to Tyrell.

“Looks like it’s going to swallow us whole,” Boyett said.

“Will the FTL fire inside a planetary body?” the captain asked, looking at Young.

“I honestly don’t know,” Young said, eyes on the screens. The
planet
-sized mass of twisted metal was almost upon them. It looked like an angry mouth with jagged,
continent
-sized teeth ready to chew them up.