Awakened Horror, page 11
I conceded the discussion with a shrug – who was I to argue with an old man who respected me only because I’d been of use in a moment of self-preservation?
“Raith … Raith! You need to see this!” Nerys called out.
I spun back around to see the helmsman pointing out the bridge window. I looked up to see that the asteroid halves had reappeared, racing along the surface of the vessel far faster than they had been earlier. Suddenly, its intention seemed very clear.
“What’s it doing with them now?” Nerys asked.
Moments later, the vessel pushed the halves away from its surface, shifting their newly formed momentum onto a new trajectory – toward us!
“Fire all our rail guns and gauss cannons! Split their fire between the two halves!”
The bridge erupted with activity as crew members rushed to their stations, targeted the asteroids and initiated the weapons. Within seconds, the rail guns began to fire, with streams of bullets streaking away from the ship. The Chupacabra shook, and two gauss cannon shells soared away from us. I watched as they raced across the distance between us and the asteroids, colliding with minimal effect on the half to the left, but it blasted a few small chunks off the half on the right.
“This isn’t very effective!” Nerys cried out.
I felt like time slowed as I watched the two asteroids rapidly approaching us. Time was of the essence, and we had limited weapon capability to counteract them. A call had to be made urgently.
“Concentrate all fire on the right-hand asteroid! We may not stop them both, but maybe we can stop one of them!”
The rail gun fire switched over to the right asteroid, and with another shudder of the ship, two more gauss cannon shells followed suit.
“And whether or not we take them down, we’re going to need to move out of the way in a hurry. Nerys, you need to be ready to shift us!”
“On it, Raith!”
The second set of shells impacted with the asteroid but had little effect.
“We need to move!” Nerys shouted.
“Not yet. Hold!”
The ship shuddered as another set of shells flew off towards the asteroid.
“Now?” Nerys asked, his voice panicked.
“Hold!”
The final set of shells collided with the asteroid, shattering it into dozens of pieces.
“Move us!”
The Chupacabra accelerated upwards, rotating as it ascended. I stumbled where I stood, both from the feeling of being compressed and the rotational force. As the ship rotated, Akka came into view. The solid asteroid flew into view first, spawning an eerie orange glow as it collided with the atmosphere, set alight by the friction. A bright flash illuminated Akka’s surface a few moments later as the asteroid struck. A powerful wave of energy erupted from the point of impact, travelling rapidly over the planet’s surface.
A wall of fire, vaporised water, and pulverized rock came straight after, blasting into outer space. A great fireball engulfed the planet as the destructive wave spread out from the impact site, setting the air ablaze with its intensity. We watched the shattered asteroid come into view, the burning atmosphere swallowing up its pieces, their impacts lost in the hellish destruction.
The bridge was silent, all transfixed with horror at the force on display before us. We were bearing witness to something that no human had ever seen before – after all, this was a phenomenon that hadn’t occurred since the extinction of the dinosaurs on Earth, so far as we knew. This was not just any force, it was nature’s atomic bomb; a terrifying, cataclysmic, world-ending force that could wipe out entire civilizations – entire species – capable of causing death on a planetary scale.
The unfolding apocalypse was a terrifying display of power, and I felt dwarfed by its sheer magnitude. What I was feeling, though, was not just a profound sense of insignificance, but a deep, visceral, existential horror that left me trembling. Sobs shattered the silence as the initial shock wore off, and I couldn’t control my own hot tears as they streamed down my face. I reached up to wipe them away with unsteady hands.
I glanced around the bridge and realised that not a single individual was unaffected by the destruction. Advisor or soldier, individual or clone, loyalist or insurrectionist – this planet killing, world-ending force had equalised us all.
Suddenly a terrible realisation dawned on me. The vessel had seen the asteroid and quickly determined that it could split it in two, redirecting the pieces away from itself to avoid an impact, and then send them back towards us. It had to have made that calculation within a few seconds – it had to have known it was making a planet killer.
“Raith,” Faberson said as he sniffed and wiped away tears of his own, “the dropships escaped the planet and have successfully docked with us. Norton has also reported that he has two observation satellites ready to go.”
“And the vessel has started moving towards us again,” added Nerys, his voice trembling.
The fire from the burning planet glowed in the darkness, and I couldn’t look away. All the plants and animals native to Akka, as well as all the introduced species and the remaining colonists, had been extinguished and vaporised right before my eyes.
“What range can Norton’s satellites effectively monitor this … Horror?”
Faberson typed a message on his communicator and awaited a response.
“He says between half, and one and a half astronomical units.”
I nodded. “Okay … Nerys, take us out to one au, please, and release one satellite, then take us out to one and a half au and release the second satellite.”
“On it, Raith!”
The Chupacabra moved, turning away from the burning corpse of Akka. The ship quickly surged forward, leaving the Horror and its destruction in our wake. I sank into the captain’s seat, my mind actively ticking over, assessing and considering.
I was still at a loss as to who’d created this behemoth or why it was so immense. I still didn’t know its full potential, where it originated, or how it had discovered us.
But I was sure of one thing: this machine, this vessel, it was here to kill, to exterminate. It was death, a destroyer of worlds.
Chapter 7
Live to Fight Another Day
2159, Common Era – Planet Akka, Frontier Space, the Republic of Humanity
The ship was safely back in warp – or at least relatively safe – and the command of it handed over to the team, Faberson and I went to the observation deck.
“Hey! What are you doing here?” a soldier snapped as we walked in.
“Stand down, soldiers. Raith and his family are free to go about as they please,” Faberson said.
“But –”
Faberson cut through his argument, “If you have a problem with this order, return with me to the bridge, and we can discuss it there!”
The soldiers looked at me with pure disdain.
“I don’t know what you did, traitor –”
“I saved your goddamn lives!” I replied as I cut the soldier off. “Now get out of here.”
As the soldiers begrudgingly left, Amorina and Zavis turned to me with looks of bewilderment.
“How on earth did you manage that?” Zavis asked.
“Tynan’s offensive tactics failed, and when they did, he became paralyzed, stopped responding and couldn’t give instructions. So, I stepped in and assumed control. That’s earned me some goodwill,” I replied as I gave a nod towards Faberson.
“Oh, Tynan won’t like that,” said Zavis.
“No … no, he will not.”
Amorina’s surprise subsided, and she rushed up to me, pulling me into a hug.
“I … I am so, so sorry!” she whispered.
My mind scanned its memory archives, searching for why Amorina would be sorry, and came up empty.
“Sorry for what?” I asked, my brow furrowed in confusion.
“I’m sorry for not trusting you, for getting angry at you when you were pursuing a truth that no one else could see, me included.”
The tension that had existed between us since our argument on Gaia melted away, and I felt a wave of relief wash over me, sweeping away all the doubt and concern.
“Thank you,” I said as I hugged her tighter. “That means a lot to me.”
I felt an insistent tug on my shirt and looked down to see Emma.
“I want hugs, too!”
“I think you forgot the magic word …”
“Please, I want hugs, too!”
“Well, when you say it like that!”
I scooped up my daughter and included her in our embrace.
“Thank you, Daddy!” she whispered.
“It’s my honour, sweetie pie.”
Amorina’s stomach gurgled suddenly, and the sound of her hunger filled the air. She pulled away and averted her gaze.
“Sorry!” Amorina said as she blushed. “We haven’t eaten in quite some time!”
“Well, go and eat!” I said, then added, “although I’m not sure where the mess hall is located.”
“I’ll show them. I’ll take them there personally and make sure they’re attended too,” said Faberson, whom I’d forgotten was still standing there.
I turned towards Faberson. “I would be so grateful if you could keep an eye on them,” I said, my voice full of gratitude.
“Of course.”
I turned towards my wife and daughter. “This is First Officer Faberson. I trust him, and he’ll look after you.”
“You’re sure you don’t mind if we go off and get some food? We’ve been so caught up in things that we’ve hardly seen you!” Amorina asked.
“I know,” I replied as tears filled my eyes. “I have missed you guys … so, so much! More than you know.”
I sniffed and wiped away the tears. “It’s important that you eat, we can catch up later, and we will – I promise! You’ve got to keep up your strength in the meantime, though.”
“Okay,” Amorina agreed. “What about you, though? You’re still so dirty and thin – how are you even standing right now?” she asked as her fingers lightly ran down my arms, feeling their thinness.
“I’m fine! Really, I am. I’ll eat and get cleaned up soon as well.”
Amorina looked at the entrance hesitantly.
“It’s fine – honestly! Get some food,” I insisted, putting Emma down.
“Okay.” Amorina smiled at me as she took Emma’s hand. “Alright, come on, trouble. We’re going to find some food.”
“I’m not trouble! I’m Emma!” my daughter replied.
“My mistake, it’s nice to meet you, Emma. I’m hungry!”
“You’re not hungry, silly! You’re Mummy!”
I smiled as I watched them exit the room with Faberson, and then I turned to Zavis.
“So,” he said, with a twinkle in his eye. “What did I miss?”
“I think the shorter answer here would be what you didn’t miss!” I replied as I walked towards my friend. “Honestly, it’s been hell, and you should be glad you missed it. Tynan has been fucking with me for eight months whilst you all slept.”
Zavis’s face contorted into a pained, sympathetic expression. “I am sorry to hear that, my friend.”
I stood there as his eyes examined me, no doubt registering the same gauntness that Amorina had noticed.
“Are you okay? You look terribly malnourished.”
“That’s because I am. But I’m okay … as much as one can be after months of imprisonment.”
Zavis nodded. “I can respect a brave face at the best of times, but while you’re busy saving everyone else, make sure you devote some time to saving yourself, my friend.”
I smiled and gave an acknowledging nod.
“Except … I didn’t save everyone else.”
Zavis shook his head. “Akka’s fall was not your fault. No one could have anticipated that …”
A shiver ran down my spine as Zavis trailed off, the images of Akka, shrouded in fiery hell, death and destruction, looped through my mind, still painfully fresh.
“Annihilation,” I whispered.
Zavis nodded solemnly. “Yes … exactly.”
After a few moments of silence, Zavis cleared his throat.
“Anyway … I heard you say to Amorina that Tynan destroyed a Republic fleet? An entire fleet with a single ship, presumably this one?”
“Yep.”
“How could he … wait –” I saw a flash of recollection in Zavis’s eyes. “He used a Firecracker, didn’t he?”
“Yes. Yes, he did.”
“Fuck.”
I rarely heard Zavis swear, but you knew when he did that the gravity of the situation was severe.
“It’s not like the Republic didn’t want him dead already, but now … now they’ll want to eviscerate him.”
I nodded, and we stood in silence for a few moments. Zavis stared into space, and I watched his face. His eyes darted back and forth between invisible things, and his face twitched and shifted as if it were a physical manifestation of his thoughts.
“You mentioned earlier that Tynan completely locked up and became unresponsive. Can you elaborate on what happened there?” Zavis asked, breaking the silence.
“Honestly, I’m not really sure. When we arrived at Akka, he made a broadcast –”
“Yes,” said Zavis. “We had the fortune … or rather misfortune as it may be, of hearing that particular speech.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, well, as you would’ve heard, he was very confident in that transmission and overly confident in his ability to harm the Horror.”
“The Horror?” Zavis asked, tilting his head quizzically.
“That vessel we were facing.”
“Ah.”
“I wonder if … when all his attacks failed, I wonder if that overconfidence caught up with him? Maybe his inner doubts confronted him with a sense of failure, or he was afraid, and those emotions combined to overwhelm him?”
Zavis gave a slight nod, lips pursed in concentration. “It’s a possibility. I wonder if perhaps his wiring isn’t quite right. Have you noticed any odd behaviour or comments from Tynan?”
“Yes! We pulled up a picture of Akka in its prime, and he commented on its beauty.”
Zavis raised an eyebrow. “That’s very unusual for Tynan.”
“I know, right? His speech was also … I don’t know, tripped up a few times? He was listing things but using different list notations for each item.”
“That sounds like something is amiss in his mind. Anything could have or could still be happening. How many people do you think suspect … or know that he isn’t quite right?”
“Anwir, Phobus, and Lorcan definitely noticed, although Tynan killed Anwir. I’m sure all the bridge crew know something is up.”
Zavis nodded, his movements slow and deliberate. “Did Phobus or Lorcan pay any attention to you?”
“Not initially, but after Tynan locked up, Phobus looked at me and … it was as if he recognised me … or something within me, and he told me to lead them – the bridge crew – which I did.”
“If I may offer some advice?” Zavis queried.
“Of course.”
“Tread carefully, Raith. Phobus and Lorcan, by now, know their experiment hasn’t delivered the desired results. They could try again, but I think they also realise that the more they pry your head open, the greater the chance they’ll kill you, and there’s no guarantee another Tynan clone would turn out any better.”
“If you think it’s unlikely they’ll open me up again, what do you think they’ll do instead?”
“You said Phobus looked at you as if he recognised something. I think they can see Tynan in you. Not your face, obviously, but within your personality. I know you’re afraid of that, but it’s foolish to deny the truth of things. I believe they’ll try to bring Tynan out within you.”
I shuddered as the end of Zavis’s sentence echoed in my mind.
“They’ll try to bring Tynan out within you.”
The implications of those words alone were terrifying; that Tynan – the real Tynan – was still inside me and somehow … able to be resurrected. I shuddered again, and my heart sank at the idea that they were trying to realise my greatest fear. Just thinking of what Tynan 2.0 was already doing, how much worse would things be if they could awaken the original Tynan?
“We can’t let that happen!” My voice shook with the fear I was trying to contain.
“I believe we’ll do everything in our power to see that it doesn’t transpire, but we cannot bury our heads in the sand either.”
“How do we avoid this?” I demanded.
“I think the best way forward would be for them to destroy themselves.”
I didn’t answer, focused on how that was such a stereotypical answer from Zavis. His genius in defeating the Empire had been to realise the importance of outsmarting them instead of relying solely on strength. That realisation ultimately led to my creation and the eventual downfall of Tynan. But was it the right solution this time? To play the long game via subterfuge and sabotage?
“How well do you think you’d be able to manipulate Tynan into distrusting the advisors, or vice versa?”
“I mean … maybe?” I responded with doubt in my voice.
“You don’t think this is the right approach, do you?”
I glanced away. “Was it that obvious?”
“I can read you very well, Raith. I’ve known you all your life.”
“I know. Look, I’m not saying it’s the wrong approach.” I sighed. “I just feel that the longer we take to stop them, the more harm they’ll inflict on people.”
“I understand that. I also don’t see many choices before us, Raith. We are in enemy-controlled territory; we don’t have friends, and we don’t have allies. Your actions earlier may have earned you some good graces, but enough to save our skins? Unlikely.”
It’d be nice to think that I had earned the permanent loyalty of the crew, but I also knew allegiances didn’t change that quickly – not permanently, anyway.
“Our best bet is to play them against themselves. If Tynan is a loose cannon already, this works in our favour because the advisors don’t have control over him.”
