Crystal Venom (51 page)

A slight thump on the side of his helmet got his attention. He felt a piece of vine when he reached up with his hand, then saw Dana and Dane slowly flapping their wings and gripping the other ends of the dangling length. He grasped on, tied a loop through the antigravity harness and a moment later was flying over the tops of the fungal forest being towed by two winged men. He smiled to himself at the totally glorious incongruity of it all. Looking over to his side, he saw a most peculiar flying creature before he recognised Glint wrapped around the Jim monitor, holding station beside them, looking just like a gunmetal-coloured dragon wrapped around a black ball.

‘Jim is excited about the image you make, Marko,’ Glint called out. ‘Says that this afternoon’s segments will break all viewing figures when he gets back, as he knows of nothing like it in the past.’

Marko laughed, feeling exhilarated by the day’s events. ‘Yeah, that would be right. Hey, what happened with
Basalt
?’

‘They had to fight their way down as the three elements of
Rick
are fighting each other and, although the Ricks were distracted, they did not recognise
Basalt
as either friend or foe and shot up its engines anyway. Imagery on its way to you.’

The data files arrived in Marko’s inbox so with nothing better to do he started sampling them. Looking through, he suspected that Stephine had had something to do with what had happened as the action began shortly after
Blackjack
arrived back at the moon. The part of
Rick
she had docked with started arguing with the other two that what they were doing was wrong.

The arguments became steadily more heated until the two segments, who believed that they were doing the right thing, fired on the engines of the third. It had retaliated with its enormous planetary bombardment particle beams flashing across space slicing away the main propulsion systems of the second segment. That segment then launched a suicide attack using all its separate weapons platforms and independent systems onto the first segment, which had been subsequently severely damaged. The last segment had then turned and fled up to the local LP to jump away, damaged from long-range strikes but still mobile, only to be met with a furious devastating attack from the unknown Cruiser, which, after destroying the segment, then jumped away, leaving an expanding debris field.

Marko let out a great sigh and wondered again what would become of them all. He pulled up the images of the unknown heavily armed Cruiser and looked at it closely. He thought that it was probably octopoid in origin.

Dana called out, breaking his reverie. ‘We are all to go to ground, Marko. Stand by for landing and we will hide below the ridge line. Our council have gladly agreed to give safe harbour to
Basalt
and everyone in its crew. It has also, with considerable regret, allowed the bombardment of the dirigible crash site with one of your more exotic weapons.’

Moments later they were all sitting down in a ravine, as the two Hangers also swept overhead and came to a halt, hovering above the ravine floor. Marko, with his arm around Glint, watched the mountains as, moments later, the double magenta flash of the Compressor lit them up. Marko felt deep sorrow for the annihilation of all life in a 250-metre radius of the crash site, together with the levels of devastation further out. But he also gave a silent thanks that his children would be safe as the ground jolted a little and the blast wave roared above them.

Minutes later Veg broadcast instructions. ‘All crew and Avians stay where you are. Transport is on the way.’

They watched as the Hangers lifted off and held station above them, along with
Blackjack
arriving to orbit high in the sky.

~ * ~

Six

Days later, after a great deal of discussion and information-sharing between the groups involved, the fate of the Avians who had been taken from the moon was announced. As the refugees were leaving on board
Rick’s
carriers for the distant world, they had been unwittingly but deliberately infected with the pathogens and virus that were lethal to the octopoid races. According to the surviving
Rick
segment, who was repairing himself as quickly as possible, the three colonies were all prospering and in time, he assured everyone, he would remove the weapons from them. None of the
Basalt
crew trusted Rick, but they all wanted a lift home, so they smiled in agreement, although Marko suspected Stephine and Veg had put him on severe notice.

~ * ~

A week later everyone from the Monastry, plus the crew of
Basalt,
were gathered in the fan-shaped amphitheatre, seated and quietly talking among themselves as the eternal teenager, Fritz, walked in. He had been locked away in the amphitheatre since
Basalt
had landed in a deep shaft on the northern side of the mountain, even eating and sleeping there. He went up to the keyboards of the magnificent pipe organ and proceeded over the next hour to enthrall his audience with a selection of his favourite pieces, before he rose and announced that a piece that he had composed would be played for the first time especially for them.

As he started to play, even the smallest of the children were in a state of rapt attention and Marko had a great deal of difficulty tearing his eyes away from his genius friend for even an instant to look around him: he was feeling a pang of sadness that Jan was not with him to experience it. The music swept them on a journey of grandeur, and they passed by exploding stars, and experienced every emotion any of them had ever had. The music burrowed right down until it seemed that they were examining the tiniest struggling flower on a mountaintop while a huge storm raged around them. The conclusion left them all in a state of ecstasy with tears rolling down their faces, and huge, almost painful, smiles on their faces.

In orbit, listening to the direct feeds, as arranged from the Jim monitor, the three surviving Rick proxys and the considerably diminished but still great ship,
Rick,
listened in awe. When the music stopped playing and the spatial analysis of the mathematics it contained was complete, the senior of the proxys let out a long sigh of contentment.

‘So,’ it said, ‘the little man was the final key to the entire conundrum. Remarkable, truly remarkable, that he created the ultimate component of the very long-range navigation mathematics that we have been searching for for so long. Almost makes the whole debacle worthwhile. That was a most unexpected outcome.’

~ * ~

Appendix One

Glossary

ACE (Artificially Created Entity)

An ACE is often a pet or helper. An ACE may have animal or human DNA, in any combination, and is frequently cybernetically enhanced. They are normally fully sentient, serve their creator in an indentured capacity for a fixed time period, then are free to make their own way throughout the Sphere or beyond.

The Administration

The governmental military forces and bureaucracy of the Sphere of Humankind. Bureaucracy everywhere, even in the far future, is the same.

The Games Board

The media group concerned with the procurement and production of reality audiovisual. The Games Board was created to stage strictly regulated Conflicts and to promote them through their extensive marketing and broadcast channels, notice boards and other media. The Games Board controls everything about the Conflicts, from weapons development to final approval of the Conflict itself. If the Conflict is sanctioned, the Games Board will provide funding. Unsanctioned Conflicts are also overviewed by the Games Board, broadcast and marketed, with the understanding that should they get too big, the combined forces of the Administration, Gjomvik and Games Board forces will end the Conflict with overwhelming force. Small controlled unsanctioned Conflicts are encouraged as they are good for business and keep all humans entertained.

The Gjomvik Corporations

The business and trade corporations of the Sphere of Humankind. Big business in the far future is the same as big business today. The Gjomvik Corporations are controlled by large family groups or appointed individuals. They provide the main source of funded mercenary groups which participate in the sanctioned Games Board Conflicts, plus most of the weapons, craft and support.

The Haulers’ Collective

The long-range carriers of all trade and information, the Collective comprises huge ships capable of transporting great quantities of trade goods or whatever else is required. They also actively map the Lagrange points and collect fees from all ships using those navigation points. They explore far further out from the Sphere and are humankind’s first line of defence.

The humans

Unaltered humans are Type S (Standard), but the heroes of the Conflicts are often augmented humans (Type A). Some AI (Augmented Intelligence) units are human, and may look like machines or even like Type A humans. Other types of humans include:

Type AM — Type A human, military

Type AE — Type A human, explorer

Monitors and Expeditors — Type A humans augmented to fulfil specific

functions required by the Games Board.

ICE (Intravenous Combat Enhancement)

Type AM and AE humans possess additional bioware and one feature of this is ICE, drugs which improve strength and speed. When the crisis is over, the user must have food and long periods of rest.

Lagrange points (LPs)

Lagrange points are spread throughout space as navigational nodes where a ship uses its wormhole generators function. They are usually plotted and owned by the Haulers’ Collective.

The octopoids

An ancient alien race now splintered into diverse groups. The primary group just wants to be left alone to regress to their original semi-sentient selves. The secondary group wishes to take back their areas of influence.

Species Type Investigation (STI)

STI is a complex series of blood tests used to determine whether someone is human and, if so, what kind of human they are.

The Sphere of Humankind

The Sphere is the primary area of influence of humanity (approximately fifty light years across).

~ * ~

Appendix Two

Initialisations, Acronyms and Abbreviations

ACE
Artificially Created Entity

AG
Antigravity

AI
Augmented Intelligence

AV
Audiovisual

ESF
Earth Solar Flare (day/year zero for all of humanity; the event which forced

humankind’s exodus from Old Earth in the Sol system)

GB
Games Board

HUD
Heads-Up Display

ICE
Intravenous Combat Enhancement

LP
Lagrange Point

RV
Rendezvous

SNCO
Senior Non-Commissioned Officer

STI
Species Type Investigation

Sub-AI
Powerful computer system, just below sentience

~ * ~

Appendix Three

Games Board

The Articles and Rules of War

1. Conflicts.
   

All parties engaging in Conflicts involving in excess of 100 combatants must gain approval for the Conflict and subsequent marketing.

Parties engaging in Conflicts involving fewer than 100 combatants may also apply to the Games Board for approval and certification provided that Conflicts meet the requirements of the Marketing Interest Index.

Following approval, funding will be negotiated with each party.

1. Weapons.
   

All weapons systems and munitions types must be approved by the Games Board.

Approved weapons are listed in Schedule B.

Proposals for new weapon designs must be submitted to the Intersystem Games Board Weaponry Wing with supporting documents proving their necessity in a Conflict. Weapon development without a specific known Conflict application does not require Games Board authorisation until used in a sanctioned Conflict.