Lacuna: The Spectre of Oblivion (16 page)

Liao stammered in confusion. “Y-You’re my friend, but you’re also very knowledgeable about the Toralii, and so much more than that. It’s a huge galaxy out there, and we’ve only begun to understand a tiny bit of it. Your advice has been completely invaluable.”

[“So they tell me. Why, then, was I not invited to the briefing? Why do you spurn my council?”]

Liao frowned. “I’m sorry,” she said. “There’s so much going on, and it was Vong’s meeting. I just didn’t think to invite you.”

[“You are correct,”] Saara growled. [“You did
not
think. What else am I to do on this station? I am the de facto Telvan representative for your species. I am trying to help you, to guide your species away from the path mine took. Of becoming warmongers, murderers, hoarders of technology, a broken species without a homeworld due to our folly. I had to learn what transpired from James, and quite a shock it was to hear that you are making plans without me.”]

Liao blinked in surprise. “I assumed James would have asked you there if he wanted you. He’s your CO now; I thought that was the most appropriate course of action!”

[“Melissa, you are my friend. This fact transcends command structure.”] Saara’s judging gaze burned into her. [“I expected better from you.”]

Liao inhaled, closing her eyes and bringing her emotions under control. When she opened them, she had to fight to keep her breathing steady. “I’m very sorry,” Liao said. “Everything you’ve said is true. I’ve… I’ve been away from this for so long; it will take me some time to get back into the swing of things. I’m sorry we didn’t invite you, and we’ll make sure you are there the next time we have a briefing. I promise.”

Saara seemed reluctant, as though she had more to say, but eventually she nodded. [“Very well, Liao. I accept your apology and will attempt to move past this.”]

Liao sighed in relief, managing a soft smile. “Thank you, Saara.”

The Toralii did not smile in return, but turned and left, leaving Liao to watch her friend’s back as she walked away.

Chapter VI

“Curiosity”

*****

Operations Room

TFR
Sydney

Karathi L1 Lagrange point

One day later

The TFR
Sydney
appeared in the jump point without incident, and Captain Matthew Knight withdrew his key from the jump system, returning it to his breast pocket. His XO, Commander Peter Baker, did the same.

“Jump complete,” came the call from navigation. “We are in position at the Karathi L1 Lagrange point.”

Knight moved from the jump console to navigation, observing on the large monitors what the ship’s myriad of sensors were telling them. An image of the red ball of Karathi floated below them, a barren desert wasteland with very little life, high heat, and no significant resources, geological features or points of interest.

Nothing showed itself except the wreckage of the
Giralan
, once home to Ben, now a rusting wreck almost completely buried in sand.

“Launch surface teams,” he said, “and have them report in on the hour. Mister Baker, deploy strike craft in a standard seven point CAP. Navigation, clear the jump point.”

The Operations room lit up in a flurry of activity. Two Broadswords were launched, tiny ships sailing out through the void, hurtling silently towards Karathi. A flight of Wasp fighters launched from the hangar bay and began a wide arc, a standard patrol, and the ship slowly sailed out of the well of extreme microgravity, gently drifting through space towards the giant red planet. It was a standard deployment for a jump and, so far, everything had been moving smoothly.

A flashing light, red and urgent, on the communication officer’s console stole his attention. Almost immediately, the crewman at that station called out. “Captain, incoming transmission. We’re receiving a signal from…” The slightest pause, and then, “from a nearby asteroid belt, Captain.”

“What’s the nature of the transmission?”

“Unsure,” said the communications officer, a fresh faced midshipman named Finnis. “It’s a repeating signal, no discernible message. Looks to be a beacon of some description.”

Knight made his way over to the man’s console. “Any record of any beacons in this area when the
Beijing
was here last?”

“No, Captain. This one’s new.”

Knight considered, for a moment, then turned to his XO. “Sound general quarters, Mister Baker, and launch the remaining strike craft and gunships. Recall the patrol and charge hull plating. Marines to their stations. Let’s head into that asteroid field and see what we can find. Mister Cruden, set a course for that beacon.”

Baker moved over to Knight. “Did you want me to recall the ground team, sir?”

He shook his head, and together the two of them moved back to the command console. “No. It’s going to take us hours to get there and we need the intel from the ground. Keep the CAP centred on us, but let the ground team do their work. This could turn out to be nothing. Maybe Liao and her people just missed it or didn’t think to include it in their report.”

“Probably the latter, sir. You know how she is with paperwork.” Baker pulled up the long-range thermal camera output on the command console. “What the hell do you think is going on?”

Knight narrowed his eyes, looking at the radar output which showed tens of thousands of the rocky asteroids floating in space, vast expanses of nothing between them, then focusing on the optical camera pointed at the same region, a black blanket dotted with a faint sea of stars.

“I don’t know, but I have a feeling I’m not going to like it.”

*****

Captain Knight’s Office

TFR
Sydney

Later

Knight finished the last of the incident log, then set his pen down on the heavy oak desk.

He trusted Baker implicitly. The man had been his right hand throughout almost all of his career, always giving him good advice and keeping him focused on his job. Baker was much more cautious than him, a quality that served him well as the ship’s XO.

Perhaps caution could be wisely applied here.

As Knight always did when he wanted to think, he reached out for a memento on his desk, a full-sized Australian Football League ball, a Sherrin, oval shaped and elongated like an egg. He stood, standing over by the wall, bouncing it against the ground.

Bouncing an oval-shaped ball was a particular skill unique to Australians who had played the local brand of football, the AFL, as the ball had to be bounced much like in basketball. Typically performed while running, it could also be done while standing—not straight up and down like a basketball, but forward, using the oval shape to return it to one’s hand. A much more challenging task than the American version, but one that focused his mind and allowed him to think.

Knight had played on a team once as a reserve for the Geelong Cats during his teenage years before enlistment. No star of the track and field, his position was brief and unmentionable, almost entirely spent warming a bench, but it was a stint he had always treasured. He’d played a grand total of eight minutes on the field, but those eight minutes were some of his fondest memories.

No longer a member of the club and those days far behind him, Knight had kept his jersey safely stored in his home on Earth, and he took the ball with him when he was away. It was a useful thing to remind him. Once a Cat, always a Cat, he liked to think.

Thump, thump, thump went the ball and his mind turned over. What was the signal, and what was it doing there? What was transmitting it?

He didn’t like this. It was a simple beacon floating out in the middle of the asteroid belt, but for some reason, it nagged at him. He tried to rationally explain it: a warning against a navigation hazard, perhaps, or even a Forerunner probe that had malfunctioned or was transmitting some kind of alert.

But alerting what?

The door to his office creaked and opened, so Knight caught the ball and stepped back to his desk. Commander Peter Baker stepped inside, a folder in hand.

“Playing footy in your head again?”

Knight gave his old friend a smile, cracking open the fridge. A bottle of the famous scotch each of the Pillars of the Earth carried was resting on a shelf, an option briefly considered but ultimately passed up. They were, after all, still on duty. Instead, he withdrew a tray of ice cubes, a container of water, and a pair of chilled glasses. “You caught me.” Setting them out on his desk, Knight twisted the tray, dropping a heaping of ice into each container.

“If the crew knew you did that, they’d think you’re mental.”

Knight poured out water from the steel container, the ice clinking as it filled. “Good thing nobody tells them then.” He picked up a glass, offering it to his XO with his left hand, the scar from a surfing accident years ago giving it a rough, calloused surface. His tone became more formal, and it was down to business. “So Peter, I heard the report came in. What did our teams find on the
Giralan
?”

Commander Peter Baker took his glass. The two men clinked their drinks together, then both sipped at the cool, icy water. “Nothing,” Baker answered, “absolutely nothing. The coordinates the
Beijing
gave us were accurate, but when our marines arrived, there was just this great big hole in the ground. The whole ship appears to have been taken.”

“The whole ship?”

“Yes, sir. There was plenty of debris still around, buried in the sand, but the body of the ship appears to have just been taken away. That area gets quite bad dust storms, apparently, so don’t read too much into this, but we couldn’t find any evidence of salvage equipment or cutting tools or anything like that. To be honest, Captain, it’s like the ship just lifted straight out of the ground in one piece.”

“But Liao described that vessel as a derelict, almost rusted through. Apart from the information in its datacore, I can’t imagine there’d be anything of any value remaining.”

“Me neither. It’s a mystery for Fleet Command, I’m afraid.” Baker sipped at his drink again. “What’s the word on the beacon?”

Knight put his glass down on the desk, inhaling. “Not a lot, to be honest. It just appears to be a repeating, long-range signal sitting out there in the middle of nowhere.”

“You seem worried,” said Baker. “I would probably have just left the thing alone.”

“Yeah, well, my mum always used to say I was a curious one.”

“You know what they say about curiosity and cats, sir.”

“I’ve heard that one before.” Knight tapped a finger on his desk. “I hate to say it, but I’ve felt very strongly that, ever since the attacks on Earth, we haven’t known enough about our enemies or our friends. We’re going into this blind, stumbling through the dark, and so far things have turned out pretty good for us more or less. The problem is that the floor is covered in razor sharp glass, and just because we can’t see it, and just because we haven’t stepped on any, doesn’t mean it won’t cut us.”

“So you’re saying,” Baker said, “that we need to shed some light on this situation.”

“Correct. Even if it hurts our eyes, we have to see the universe as it really is. Otherwise, we’re just going to continue to stumble and eventually we’re going to cut our feet up. We’re going to fall.” Knight deliberated for a moment. “But for now, though, have our men continue to comb through the debris of the
Giralan
. Let’s see what else we can find.”

*****

Operations

TFR
Sydney

Later

“We’re entering the outer regions of the asteroid belt now, Captain. Distance to the beacon, ten minutes.”

Knight studied the radar screen closely. “Very good. Start decelerating; we don’t want to overshoot.”

“Confirmed all engines reversed, Captain. We should pull up right beside it.”

He could feel the shift in the gravity as inertia pulled him backward, the reactionless drives unable to fully correct for such a high amount of decelerationHe and Baker leaned forward slightly to compensate. “Good,” he said, “make sure we get as close as possible. We’ll be doing an EVA to study it.”

“Did you want to bring it on board, Captain?” asked Baker.

“Depends on what we find,” Knight answered. “I’m definitely not ruling out that possibility, though.”

“I’ll set up Engineering Bay One as quarantine then, along with a clean room path directly to it. As a precaution.”

“Agreed, quarantining this thing, if we do bring it aboard, would make total sense.” Knight smiled thankfully. “That’s what I pay you the big bucks for, right?”

“You’d be lost without me, sir.”

“That I would.” Knight tapped at his command console. “How long until we can see this thing on radar?”

“Two minutes, Captain. We should be able to get a simple reading now, but the asteroids are interfering with our long-range radar.”

That was to be expected. “What about thermals?”

The tactical officer considered. “Something so small won’t appear very hot on our cameras, but it might help us figure out what kind of power source it’s using.”