Star Carrier (Lost Colonies Trilogy Book 3) (37 page)

-67-

Vogel’s body lay still on the floor. Fully expecting to see a blurringly fast arm reach out and snip off my head, I stared at the variant.

The variant returned my stare with one of its own.

“Well?” I demanded, growing impatient. It seemed wrong to keep a man waiting for his execution. “What are you going to do about this?”

“I’ve been cogitating,” it said. “I’ve determined the situation is outside my parameters for action.”

“Hmm,” I said, mulling that over. “You were supposed to protect Director Vogel, correct?”

“Yes, that was an imperative objective.”

I glanced down at the cooling corpse. “It would seem that you’ve failed.”

“I have failed.”

“What’s your programming say to do now?”

“I was also instructed to assist in the capture of this facility.”

My mind raced. It wasn’t attacking me because Vogel had been struck dead before it could act. It was supposed to protect him, but apparently Vogel hadn’t given his pets any orders suggesting they should avenge his death if they failed to keep him breathing.

I let loose a heavy sigh of relief. My hands came out of my pockets, and they were empty.

The variant studied my hands with marked curiosity, but it didn’t do or say anything.

Assuming command of any situation was something I was born to do, so I took matters into my own hands. Experimentally, I assumed a tone I often used when instructing a new spacer recruit.

“Variant,” I said, “I need you to search this facility for dangers. Do not kill any survivors you find. Instead, you’ll note their position and report back to me immediately.”

It hesitated as if uncertain. Its numerous eyes flashed to me, then back to Vogel’s corpse, then to me again.

“My instructions are clarifications,” I told it. “Your current mission is to capture this facility. Follow my instructions in order to achieve that goal.”

That did the trick. It turned and left the control room. It clacked and clicked, the one injured leg dragging with a grating sound. There were sparks kicked up in its wake now and then. I noted it took special care to step over the touch-plate in the tunnel leading to this inner sanctum.

It was a relief to get that thing out of the room. With its brooding presence standing over me, it had been hard to think. I’d had no idea when I might accidently trigger a deadly response.

Left alone with Vogel’s corpse and the data injector, I regarded them both.

I hadn’t wanted to kill Vogel. I’d liked him in many ways, and he’d served me well. But I simply couldn’t take the risk. He’d clearly decided to become the Chairman’s replacement. I could never have allowed that.

In my judgment, it was this abominable machine that was to blame for Vogel’s death. It represented a dark temptation that was too great for anyone who was weak of spirit to resist.

Looking at the machine while I was alone in the room with it began to work on my mind. No one could stop me now, it was true.

Such power! Just thinking about it left me light-headed. To be able to influence the minds of every person on Earth at will… Any wish, any dream might be achievable.

These were exactly the kinds of thoughts that had intoxicated Vogel. Giving my head a shake, I drew my pistol from my pocket. The flared muzzle of my PAG looked ugly and mean.

Apparently, Director Vogel had been plotting for a long time. He’d planned all along to gain control of the machine if he was given the chance. Why else would he have reprogrammed the variants to become his personal guard? They weren’t instructed to protect me, only Vogel.

That was why I’d been forced to act. He had to be stopped, and this foul machine could not be allowed to update human minds ever again.

Taking aim, I placed shot after shot into the equipment. I knew enough of engineering to be thorough. I opened panels, found sensitive organics in tanks, and I methodically burned them.

The artificial wetware smoked and filled the chamber with a nose-curling scent. I continued my work, blasting critical components until my PAG was out of charge.

Then I left the mess behind and headed to the living quarters of the ancients who’d lived here. I found medical kits and doctored myself as best I could. Intelligent salves and bandages crawled over my skin, making the hairs on the back of my wrist stand on end.

After that, I located water and some food in the kitchens. Searching around the Chairman’s office, I found a computer desk that was linked to the outside world.

There were no editing facilities or mental reprogramming encoders. All that sort of thing had been in the secret lab.

Tapping at the desk, I found I was able to access Earth’s net and use my implant to make a call outside of the vault —but I wasn't sure who to contact.

The variant found me before I could decide who I could trust.

“Report,” I ordered it.

“I’ve found no living beings in this facility. It’s my belief they have all escaped or died.”

“All right then. It’s just you and me now. I’m going to have to contact the outside world and try to talk them into being reasonable.”

The variant shuffled its optical pickups. “That will be difficult.”

I smiled thinly. This creature was a master of understatement.

Each person I thought of I quickly rejected. Star Guard wasn’t going to be happy with me. They would consider me a mutineer, a murderer who was clearly deranged.

Chloe? She’d been randomly close, then distant. I didn’t think this would be the best moment to reestablish our relationship.

Eventually, I sighed and contacted my parents. My father was a government official, after all, and he
might
help me.

Without much real hope, I reached out with my implant and attempted to open a session.

There was a brief hum before he answered.

“William?” my father asked in a voice full of apprehension.

“Can you come through and fully connect?” I asked.

He didn’t. He stayed invisible even though I’d left the option open for him to appear as a hologram in the room with me.

“Father,” I said, “I need help. I need you to use the Sparhawk name to help me get out of a difficult situation.”

“Difficult?” he asked, suddenly incredulous. “You’ve assaulted a building full of fantastically important people, William. You’ve broken laws you didn’t even know existed! I’ll be lucky to keep our seat at all—our entire House is ruined!”

My eyes closed, and I felt remorseful. It was one thing to make a brave stand, paying the ultimate price. But when these acts damaged your entire family, the guilt was harder to bear.

“I’ve done… questionable things, father,” I said. “But they had to be done.”

“Talk to me. Tell me what it will take to get you out of that vault. Are there hostages?”

I glanced out into the passageway. One of the oldsters lay there, crumpled. The variants had been thorough.

“No,” I said. “No captives, no hostages—no survivors.”

“Good God…” my father said in a lost voice. “What of the machine? Show me the machine!”

I hesitated. “It’s been destroyed,” I said finally, not knowing what to say other than the truth.

“Destroyed?” my father asked. “Are you certain?”

A crushing sense of disappointment came over me. Was that what he was really asking about? Could my own parents be such low creatures that they wished to assume the mantle of power?

“I’m certain,” I said, “I performed the task myself.”

“Show me,” he said in an odd tone.

He appeared then, in his robes of state. It was his formal attire, not at all unusual as he was a Public Servant.

Walking down echoing chambers, I reflected on what a dusty life these oldsters had led. Too aged to enjoy the fruits of their labor, they’d held on to life and power, but for what purpose? To squat down here in these tunnels, afraid to go out?

They’d spent many decades deciding the fate of others without participating in the events they manipulated. It seemed to me to be an odd, unnatural existence.

My father followed with ghostly steps. In a way, it was nice that he was a hologram. In this form, he could walk at my side, free of his hover-chair.

When we reached the control center, he marveled at the details. He saw Vogel’s corpse and the wrecked equipment. He took it all in, inspecting the room at length.

“The data core has been disabled,” he said. “The engram projector and the backup units—all destroyed. You’ve been quite thorough, just as you said.”

“I don’t like to do things half-way.”

He turned to me then, and there was a strange light in his eyes. “Unbelievable,” he said. “I never thought I’d see this day, William. It’s the end of an era.”

“Now that it’s come to pass, how do you feel about it?” I asked him.

Slowly, a smile dawned on his features. It was unlike my father’s usual smile. This time, the expression was an honest one. It was a smile that came from the depths of his being.

“I feel like a creature let out of a gilded cage,” he said. “I speak for all of us William, and we are all in your debt.”

“All?” I asked.

He tilted his head and nodded. “I have a confession to make. You’re not just talking to me. The entire Ministry is watching this, experiencing it. We had to know the truth. I hope you’ll excuse the deception.”

“Under the circumstances,” I said, “it’s understandable.”

Then my father approached me. My eyebrows shot up in surprise. I had no idea what was going to happen next.

He embraced me. He
never
did that—certainly not when others were looking.

That let me know that I’d done the right thing. My government and my people weren’t all against me. Even if they weren’t entirely happy with the drastic actions I’d performed down here in this pit, they seemed to understand them.

Hugging my father was an odd experience as neither of us could really feel the other. Despite that, his image was so solid, so real to my mind, that I felt a tingle when I touched him. It was as if my fingers really
were
contacting the fabric of his robe.

I didn’t care if he was a figment. For the first time in many years, I had my father’s full approval. I was basking in it as might any lost son who returns home at long last.

-68-

At the request of the government, Star Guard allowed me to enter their dungeons. I walked along dim-lit tunnels to the lowest, most secret tunnel of all.

There, I found Zye’s cell. It was the last one in the row, and the jailors didn’t want to venture near it.

When I got close, I understood why. The bars shook, and a wisp of dust from ground stone drifted out into the passage. I winced when a primal roar erupted from the cell along with another bout of enraged pounding.

“Zye?” I called out. Several long moments of silence dragged by. Suddenly thick, scuffed fingers seized the bars in the door of the cell. With wide eyes amidst thick, matted black hair, she peered through the bars at me.

“You’re a trick,” she hissed through clenched teeth, “a phantom of the mind.”

“No,” I said. “I’m your captain, and I’ve come to release you.”

She shook the bars again, growling in ferocity. “Do not torment me!”

“I’m not. It’s real,” I said, and I touched the magnetic lock with a pass key the jailors had given me.

The door sprang open, and Zye launched herself upon me. Her hands were around my neck, and her face loomed close, nostrils flaring in anger.

She looked at me, up close, for several seconds. It was only then that she began to melt—to believe.

“Captain William Sparhawk? You’re real,” she said. A single tear rolled down her cheek. “It’s been so long… how long has it been?”

“Several months,” I admitted. “I’m sorry. It took a special action on the part of my government to pardon you.”

She hugged me then, and I felt my ribs being squeezed under her arms. I hugged her back just as tightly.

“You’re real,” she said, repeating herself. “This is twice now you’ve brought me back to the living.”

“I’m going to have to stop, or it will turn into a habit.”

She laughed, and we both walked out of that place and into the light. Behind us, many others were released. Some of them could barely walk. They hadn’t seen the sun in decades, and their eyes had to be shielded from its radiance.

***

After releasing Zye, I had one more visit to make. This one was even sweeter.

Heading up into the mountains, I flew an air car, piloting it by myself. The route took me far to the north, and I landed in a broad swathe of green grass.

The footmen rushed to meet me. I brushed past them and continued striding directly to the front entrance.

Chloe of Astra must have been alerted. She met me at her massive doors, and she looked at me in shock. She’d shooed away her doorman when she’d heard I’d come calling, and sent him off muttering to the back of the mansion while she answered the door in person.

“William…” she said. “This is such a surprise.”

“You told me to look you up when I got back,” I said. “Well… I’m back.”

I grinned, and she returned a flickering smile in response.

“Did you really destroy the machine, William?” she asked, almost in a whisper.

“I did,” I assured her. “Weren’t you there when my father inspected the place?”

“Yes,” she said. “I witnessed the entire thing. But I didn’t know if it was all propaganda or not. Some said it was a stunt, something done to put us all at ease. Are the oldsters—are they really dead?”

“Like a nest of spiders who’ve been burned out of their webs,” I told her.

She stared at me then for several seconds, lips trembling, eyes tearing up. “I never thought this day would come. I found out about the machine two years ago. I—I was threatened, that’s why I considered resigning my seat at the Ministry. I was also told to leave you alone.”

My mind immediately moved to the question of
who
might have threatened her—and I knew the truth in an instant.

My beloved Aunt Ellen must have done it. She’d never approved of my relationship with Chloe, but she’d become dismissive about it a year or so back. I realized only now that she’d done so
after
she’d forced Chloe to back off.

“Lady Grantholm,” I said angrily. “That woman…”

Chloe lifted one small hand and put it over mine. “She might have done it to please the Council and the Chairman. Those people terrified everyone in the government. But it’s all right now. We can be together.”

Not wanting to blow a good thing with a display of temper, I allowed her to lead me into her house. We took to the stairs straight away, without preamble.

As we headed for private doors that would shut the world away from us, I stopped suddenly in mid-step. Keeping hold of her wrist with my good hand, I slowly pulled my Lady toward me to embrace her. Looking into the glow of her beautiful face, I smiled and held her close.

“You know,” I said, “I think I’ll stick around this time. I’m getting tired of the stars.”

She looked up at me as tears welled in her bright eyes.

“I’d like that very much,” she said and our smiles became kissing.

When we were finally alone behind closed doors, we touched. She had that old sense of intensity for our love-making again. It was a feeling we’d once shared, and that I’d thought had been lost forever.

The End

From the Author:
Thanks Reader! I hope you enjoyed
STAR CARRIER,
the third book in the Lost Colonies Trilogy. If you liked the trilogy and want to read more stories like it, please put up some stars and a review.

-BVL