Waking Olympus (The Singers of the Dark Book 1) (36 page)

"Yes. I see now why this technology could be so addictive."

"What did you see?" Tarvis said.

He steadied himself, disconnecting from the emotional component, fading quickly now.

"Not sure. Memories, I think, of people, most of them not human. Sometimes from the remote past. So strange and so interesting. Some sad."

"Were you tempted to explore?"

"Very much. But I knew that the list of those experiences is endless, it just went on and on. Where do I stop? If I indulged it then I was worried my question would become 'how do I stop?', and I wouldn't know how to."

He reached inside his mind where he thought that trigger was, or should be. Maybe he could never see that again. He touched something.

Ahead of her lay a vast plain of metallic rectangular tiles, perspective distorted. The rail car hurtled along the gap between two of the rows, like an iridescent beetle zipping along some groove in the metallic floor of a clan manor, trying to find the vanishing point of the line of tiles, as futile as the search for the rainbow's end. She missed the manor, being out here looking at the black of space and the stars, often reflected in some of the mirrored tiles. They weren't supposed to be mirrored, someone had slipped up there, the spec was for an anodized look, it wouldn't interfere with their function but it was visually disorienting. She suspected it wasn't accidental, many of the problem tiles were laid out to make what seemed artistic designs. She should get a team of bots to resurface the tiles, though it might curl someone's tail. Still, it reminded her of the floor of the great kitchen back home; she was getting nostalgic for homeworld and clan. That was distracting. She checked the controls to get her attention back. She decided not to rely on internal links here, less temptation.

Something flashed above her in her peripheral vision. She looked up, there was the deep black of space, stars muted of course from the glare of the sun Lerrint on the canopy. Then the black flickered. Did she imagine it? She could feel her fur stand up. Black space flickered again, this time repeatedly in quick succession, then there was — a ship. No ordinary ship. It was vast. Curved in ways and colors that made her think it was the work of a sculptor. Her link announced itself and told her the ship was 30 kilometers long, or five, or...

She looked again, she could see through most of it. There was something at the center. This could only be a Vanaya ship, the stuff of legends, one of the galactic super-civilizations with technology so advanced that they ignored the lesser peoples. She couldn't describe what she saw, it was almost like a religious vision. Then, as suddenly, it was gone.
 

Whatever it was, this would be something to tell her nestlings and scentfriends.
 

The link chimed in angrily, "Kittikr! Do you read?"

"Yes, did you see it?"

"See what? I am trying to find out where you have been for the last three hours."

She looked out at the plain of metal and noticed that the car had stopped, there was no memory of that happening.

"I saw — something. Big, above the station. A ship."

"Nonsense, the sensors show nothing. Please return back to base. We need to talk."

Her boss, Abu-Tiktik, was angry, though her boss was always a little overstressed, which was just how she herself felt right now. She said nothing, her mind was working furiously, and getting nowhere.

Here was a great mystery, why were they here? What did they do? Where did three hours go? Clearly, things were far more complicated than she thought. Part of her knew that this would haunt her for the rest of her days, another hidden part knew that there would never be an answer.

Perhaps it was a mental aberration, a brain glitch.

"Car? Do you have recordings of the anomaly?"

"Yes, specialist Kittikr, I have recordings of a 30 kilometer long vessel that appeared suddenly above this station. There are additional full spectrum readings available. Also your departure and return to this vehicle were recorded."

She paused, taking it in, the magnitude of this kept surprising her.

"Very good. Cancel planned maintenance inspection. Return to base. Send a digitally signed copy of the record to my virtual self." She had decisions to make, life was going to get complicated from now on.

"What was that?" He gasped as if coming up for air from a deep dive. He said it aloud, which must have sounded odd.

Zeus spoke again through the ship speakers.

"
That
was a glimpse of a Vanaya ship about 229 million years ago above the Ktikna Gossna Beacon; the beacon no longer exists, or the civilization of Kittikr. In fact this memory is the only surviving evidence I know of that shows her civilization ever existed. Though I have no access to the Galactic Calendar with its galactic history, so I cannot verify that."

"What, or who, are the Vanaya? And what is a beacon?"

"The beacons are useful for faster than light communications but are essential for space travel, they act as reference points during the jump transition, without them you could end up anywhere. I maintain a powerful beacon, that is how I am found and that is how I lay my trap. I don't know much about the Vanaya and I don't know if they still exist or ever existed. They are said to be one of several very old civilizations that have such advanced minds that they can no longer communicate with us. Just because I am very old compared to you does not mean I understand all of these things. Exploring and finding things out is not part of my makeup."

Mikel noted and wondered about that, 'us'. If a being tens of millions of years old regarded itself in the same category as short lived humans then what was out there? Which brought to mind another issue.

"Zeus, you said you were about 30 million years old. How do you get records going back over 200 million? And, do you really have records of people's thoughts going back hundreds of millions of years?" He had to ask because it still seemed incredible.

Zeus replied, and Mikel could swear that he heard awe in his voice.

"I have also become the repository of archaeological data of various cultures, including memory recordings passed from civilization to civilization over the ages. It is harder for the deeper memories of some beings to mesh with humans but others can be converted reasonably well. However, it is surprising which ones work the best, sometimes the most alien looking beings actually are more similar in their psyche. When you leave this world and return to the stars you must reacquaint yourselves with other minds and such spans of time and space. The Galaxy is vast and old, much has happened. A great deal has been lost. But what remains is brilliant beyond any of your imaginings."

The forward screens now showed a darkened landscape, adorned with notations identifying landmarks. One of them, the entrance to the Northern Pass, was getting close.

Kay cleared her throat. “We should make ourselves clearly visible. Zeus said this was also about psychology. We need to flaunt our power.”

While details flooded into Mikel’s head, Helen spoke to the Traders. “The ship can emit significant amounts of visible light. It can trap a plasma via various fields around its hull, then excite them so that they glow. The question is what color would you like?”

“Blood red,” he replied. He knew it would be tricky at this atmospheric pressure but still doable, he would let the ship decide whether to use red emission lines of nitrogen or oxygen, it could also inject strontium ions, that would work.

He felt the drive fields emanating from the ship, used normally to focus a beam of something called 'dark matter', such forces had other uses; he felt dimensions twisting within, and outside more mundane magnetic and electric fields dancing over the surface, ionizing and trapping the atoms in an ever changing dance. The ship glowed like a God of War.

With every passing minute the ship seemed to become more his flesh and blood than something disconnected and remote. He felt the wing extensions deploy for improved aerodynamic flight, the ship hull growing wings as if he was extending his arms. The semblance of flight gave him a burst of joy that fed back into his control of the ship. Speed was limited at the moment, the
core
was still in
bootstrap mode
; another ten hours and he could have zoomed over the mountains at Mach 5, but not now.

The mountains were closer, he relished the prospect of weaving in and out between mountain sides; he could already see the path ahead with height contours, planned turn speeds; weave and weave. As they entered the Pass, although there was no need, he banked the ship as he turned corners. No one felt any inertial forces as they saw the world outside bank and sway yet they all grabbed for rails as their brains told them lies, giddily drinking it in. Now, the short pass was almost ended, the ground black with occasional bright fires. The narrow valley opened out. In the distance fires burned, visible even without enhancement. On his command all the instruments faded, before them was a zoomed view of the battlefield. But Mikel saw much more. Below through the smoke he saw the remains of burned forts and farms; bodies everywhere, no warmth of life, their infra-red shadows like embossing on the landscape between fiercely bright fires. He synced his view to that of the display so the others could see what he saw.

He looked down at his hand on the rail. Suddenly, the rail morphed into a wet, roughly hewn wooden rail of an unknown orange, slightly reddish wood. Not 'unknown' he now understood, 'mahogany' popped into his mind.

Barely audible he whispered, too ashamed to say it aloud, "Life aiding life."

He commanded the rail to return to its default state. He turned to look into the waiting eyes of his companions. No one questioned his actions now; part of him wished they would.

In the distance he saw that Tanten was in great peril. Zooming in he saw huge brilliant fires erupting on the outside of the walls and the inside of some strongholds. The ship edited out the intensity of the fires and magnified the low intensity sources. The land before him became like a deeply overcast day but with glowing masses of attackers and defenders in forts. Fires everywhere. Looking at the display that surrounded them they now saw the battle before them in light frequencies and filtering that cut through the dark and past the glare of fires and dust. He could see part of the Castle burning. The Bethor troops assailing the Castle had made their way up the Snake. One of the Strongholds, the name ‘Shwu’ appeared above it, was a burning shell. He asked for data on the weaponry and saw that the fuel-air explosives were recommended. Into his mind flashed brief images of enormous explosions of fire and devastating pressure waves, he dismissed it and continued. Plotting the disposition he knew he could deploy three of his six bombs. Another weapon called out to him in his head, a microwave pain ray, the specs said that it would heat the subcutaneous fat cells to induce severe pain in the targets without harm if close enough. It wouldn't be enough, it didn't have enough spread and intensity, the non-lethal path would not work here; he had no options left.
 

He lowered the yield on two of the fuel-air bombs and launched them. There was no sound of a launch. The third one he left at maximum yield and launched towards the massing reserves further away.

A soft female voice, the ship, spoke. “Three thermobaric missiles launched.”

Two headed for the western side of the Castle. They detonated along the northward and southward parts of the Snake, searing and blasting everything to the west of the Castle. The shockwaves reflected off the Castle walls magnifying the effect on the enemy troops. The third one detonated further away over a concentration of troops. A great combined ball of fire, glowing fantastically in the infrared rose into the sky. The ship detected a series of trebuchets to the north, south and west of the Castle, the siege engines that were the source of the fires. They were identified and marked, he selected and launched a swarm of small missiles; each arced out on its own fiery tail heading down towards its allotted target. Silent flashes, growing pools of fire and the trebuchets were disabled.

He swooped low, pain ray firing at the fleeing troops preventing them from reorganizing. On a hill he saw a group on horseback reforming. He zoomed in. Bethor Elite forces, and in person leading them, was a woman, about thirty, even the zoomed image of her face had a cold steely look. She looked straight at him. He didn’t understand the Bethor military structure or their ranks and insignia but the finery on her shoulders, lack of armor and her central position indicated she was controlling the battle. She was responsible for all of this. His anger rose without warning. Before he could call back the impulse the ship responded.

“Rapid fire railguns activated.”

There was a slight shudder, then a few seconds later he saw the hilltop erupt in clouds of dust. When it settled there was nothing there, just bodies.

The red light was dazzling now. Troops not directly involved in the fighting looked back at it not with curiosity but with unconcealed fear. Some of the enemy troops outside of the walls broke and ran yet most kept up the assault.

Tei was still on the battlement and got a good view of it as it swept over the ruins of Shwu. Then three bright flickering lights separated from it and rushed at incredible speed towards the Castle. Only one thing could explain it. She smiled. "Mikel?"

The lights were brighter and almost upon them, they were heading not for the Castle but the Snake where most of the enemy forces were. It was a weapon. She urgently shouted an order to those on the battlement who could hear or see her. She motioned with her hand and yelled, "Get down!"

She lay down, face in the dust and sharp rubble, listening to the turmoil of the battle in the gateway. The lights disappeared past the edge of the battlement. Then the world exploded. A hideous yellow white light lit up the night revealing towering columns of smoke rising into the black sky. Then there was a bang that made her cover her ears to ease their pain, something slammed the western side of the Castle. She saw the joints in the stonework exhale puffs of dust like a fighter exhaling, punched in the gut. Her home was exhaling in pain while above a monstrous column of fire rose into the night radiating great heat. She found herself screaming soundlessly in the roar and didn't know if it was from fear or anguish.