The Terran Representative (11 page)

I sat in one of The Hive’s shuttles and watched its view screen. The Vantagax fleet had engaged with the colonists before we’d arrived. Yellow blips, the Vantagax ships, were overwhelmed by numbers of red blips, colonist ships. The red blips surrounded and buzzed around the yellow blips creating pockets of ships that looked like flowers on my screen. If I didn’t know there was a battle going on I would have believed it was a drawing by an elementary school student.

The shuttle video feed expanded in my HUD and zoomed in on the fighting. A Vantagax battleship cracked in half expelling a cloud of debris that was most likely a mixture of crew members and bits of ship. Kaur’s flagship grabbed one half and began to absorb it. I didn’t know how many ships the Vantagax had sent, but Kaur’s ship looked much larger than the last time I’d seen it.

Smaller ships flew around each side engaging the other. They weren’t dogfighting but looked to be more maneuvering to get better angles for shots. The Vantagax had figured out some way to counteract the overwhelming of their power systems as some ships fired their energy weapons. Other fired missiles that looped and honed in on their targets. The familiar tracer fire came from some ships as they broke up or sat dead in space, drifting. The smaller ones were set upon by colonist shuttles while the larger ones were consumed by Kaur’s ship.

I pulled back the zoom on the video feed. From our vantage point it looked like fireworks. I couldn’t make out the shapes of the ships or their movements but the pinpricks of light were visible to the naked eye. The dimensional portal with its endless light-sucking blackness made it easy to see the effects of the battle being played out in front of it. A creeping tingle went up my spine as I looked at the portal, and I shivered thinking about what may lay on the other side.

“Have they started trying to break the prisoner free?” I said.

A member of The Hive sat next to me piloting the shuttle. It tapped a few times on its console. A 3D representation of the moon expanded to float in front of us. A small blinking light appeared on the far side.

“An energy current is coming from the portal and aiming at this point,” said The Hive.

“And that’s where the entity is imprisoned?” I said.

The Hive member clacked its mandibles a few times before answering. “No,” it said, drawing out the “oh” sound. “At that point is a geological formation. The first geologists who surveyed the moon knew it wasn’t a natural formation because of its composition and age.”

“Did they investigate it?” I said. It seemed like that should have been the first thing done when finding something new.

“Sort of,” said The Hive. “There are unnatural formations all over the galaxy made by spacefaring races long since gone extinct or ascended. This formation was deemed unimportant, so it was catalogued and forgotten about.”

“If there were formations all over the galaxy why had the monument on Augustine been studied?” I rubbed my temple. It didn’t seem like the greatest time to be getting a lesson in galactic history, but The Hive seemed in no hurry to press forward.

“Because Terrans weren’t a known space faring species.There are no other known races that have developed FTL travel by themselves,” said The Hive.

“So what is the formation then?”

The 3D representation zoomed in on the blinking dot to show a rock structure that looked oblique. It angled back from the ground and slanted off to the right from our viewpoint just a little bit. There were no straight lines on it. Everything rolled or curved. Weathering didn’t appear to have had an impact on it as the rocks around it were pock-marked and worn in contrast to the near smooth surface of the structure.

“I think it’s a doorway,” said The Hive. I raised an eyebrow and gave the member of sidelong glance. Even after everything I’d gone through a small part of me still felt like it needed to jump to skepticism. The Hive member continued, “There are stories of gods locked away in a world that is cut off from everywhere and everything except for one entrance.”

“Like a prison cell,” I muttered.

“I think an ancient species locked away this entity in a different dimension. For some reason they were unable to separate the dimension from our own leaving this doorway.”

“And now the doorway is being targeted by Kaur’s benefactor,” I said, staring at the structure. “Not by Kaur?”

“Correct.” The Hive member looked at me. “Are you ready?”

I nodded. My hands and feet tingled. Now that it was time to get started I noticed how on edge my body felt. It was amped and ready to move. My feet tapped on the floor and my fists played my thighs like a drum, but breathing came in a calm and measured pace.

“I’m as ready as I’m going to be,” I said. It almost felt like I knew what I was talking about.

The gentle vibrations I felt through the floor told me the engines were ramped up, and we started to move towards the action. The Hive member continued to tap on its console as I got up and moved into an open area between a set of seats that flanked each wall.

“When you appear be aware of materials around you,” said the member without looking back at me. “Expect Kaur to know what is going on whether or not she immediately pays attention. Head towards her ship. Don’t dawdle. You know what to do when you get on her flagship?”

I nodded. If I could have slept I would have dreamed about it; we’d run over the plan so many times.

“I won’t be able to get close enough to help you.” The Hive member looked back at me. “You’re going to be on your own.”

I nodded again and felt myself bouncing up and down on the balls of my feet.

The member nodded and the world around me disappeared into a cloud of golden yellow light and then the world around me returned in its now familiar way from Traveling. The nausea I’d first felt seemed like a distant memory. I could now concentrate on my surroundings without having to worry about vomiting onto my visor. The wonder of going from one place to another had almost worn off. It felt vaguely disappointing, but I didn’t have time to reflect.

Bits of debris floated around me. The Hive had beamed me into the middle of the battle between the Vantagax and the colonists. Energy beams arced past me. Missiles whizzed by close enough that I felt like I could reach out and touch them. If I hadn’t been in the vacuum the roar would have been deafening. As it was the only sound I heard was my own breathing.

My suit picked up The Hive shuttle I’d come from a few seconds before. A beam sliced down from another ship out of my view and cut it in half. The two pieces split apart before another set of beams came and sliced through it several times over again.

My HUD pinged me and directed me towards Kaur’s ship. I oriented myself and gasped. At this distance Kaur’s ship dominated my field of view. Shuttles that I knew could carry seven or eight people shoulder to shoulder looked like specks. The news stories on Earth had talked about Kaur’s ship being the longest manmade object ever built at over three quarters of a mile long. It now must have been at least twice that size. The waving tentacles looked like towering buildings on their own. How much material it must have taken to increase its bulk was mind boggling.

I pushed aside my awe and fired the jets on my suit The Hive had attached. They gave me just enough momentum to move towards Kaur’s ship. The suit corrected for debris in my path, and I zipped around it. Shuttles whizzed by in pursuit of their prey. A Vantagax cruiser loomed off to my left and blocked out the light from the system’s star. It fired on Kaur’s ship sending a new plume of debris into the area. Everyone seemed to be concentrating on something besides myself.

The jets puffed one last time, and I felt them detach. I turned myself feet first towards Kaur’s ship. I’d have to land on bare metal to have a chance. The Hive believed if I landed on the biological material I’d be eaten alive, consumed into the structure. I didn’t care to be an appetizer for a living ship.

“Just a little bit farther,” I said to myself as I neared Kaur’s ship.

As my suit calculated the distance to Kaur’s ship and the assistance I would need in landing so as to not break my legs, I looked out at the scene. Ships with varying degrees of damage moved about. The larger ones lumbered and struggled to avoid incoming fire. Smaller ones zipped about. Weapons impacted. Ships were destroyed. Escape pods were fired from the Vantagax ships; the occasional few disappeared into the vastness. The colonist ships veered and impacted into Vantagax ships. Preservation didn’t seem to be a concern.

Travel ended with an abrupt stop. My thoughts had drifted, and I’d ignored how close I was to Kaur’s ship. A jolt went up my spine and my legs screamed. My suit alerted me to an administering of first aid to stabilize the injuries. I didn’t want to look at the readout. As long as I could move that was good enough for now.

I let out a little laugh and looked around at my surroundings. The curve of Kaur’s ship bent away from me. A tentacle waved above me casting a shadow over my position. It struck out and slapped at a passing ship batting it into a cloud of debris.

My mag-boots kept me pinned to the side of the ship. I could reach down and run my hand over the metal. Each and every rivet and seam could be felt. My HUD pointed me in the direction of what should be an emergency hatch. In the other direction a wall of material pulsated and spat gunk. It rippled and shivered as something impacted into it farther down the hull. I could see and feel all of this, and yet it didn’t seem completely real. It didn’t seem like I should have been here.

But The Hive had put its confidence in me. Without knowing it the Vantagax Republic and the Confederacy had done the same. Countless others, without realizing it, had pinned their hopes on me reaching Kaur. I stood on the hull of a madman’s ship watching a space battle of, to me, epic proportions. It hadn’t been anything I’d ever dreamed about, but who didn’t want to be offered the chance to save the galaxy?

I turned and clomped towards the emergency hatch.

The emergency hatch door closed behind me. The airlock cycled. I waited for the red light to turn green letting me know that the cycle was complete. My body was so amped that I felt like I could smash my way through the door. Nothing could stand in my way. Not crazed colonists, beings from another dimension, militant birds, bullshit politics or even metal.

I lashed out and punched the door.

The jolt of hitting the door shook up through my arm, into my core and then spread through the rest of my body. The pain didn’t hit for a split second but when it did it exploded. I screamed and danced around, shaking my hand. My suit administered pain killers, and I realized it was the drugs from my landing that made me feel invincible. I overrode the suit warnings and manually gave myself a little more.

The green light flashed then dinged. The door hissed and slid open. I raised my arm and readied my arm cannon. Not that anyone would have known, but it would be embarrassing to die in the airlock without firing at least one shot in self-defense.

Nothing stood on the other side of the threshold. I popped my head out and looked one way then the other. Lights illuminated the corridor every ten or so feet. Mist bubbled out of the HVAC systems. It slid down the walls and hugged the ground. Something grew from the ceiling and gently waved back and forth in the air currents. A slick green slime coated sections of the floor. My suit told me the relative humidity neared one hundred percent. The temperature was seventy and the atmosphere mimicked that of a jungle. Not knowing what else was floating around the air I didn’t bother to take off my helmet.

I released mapping drones and sent them down the corridors. Their results popped up on my HUD. Some corridors ran like what I’d seen before: straight with hallways branching off at equal intervals. Others ran at odd angles, sometimes heading up or down or ending for some unknown reason. One corkscrewed up like a spiral staircase for several hundred feet. The ship had taken on a new shape and layout while in the other dimension.

The Hive had given me some promotional material it’d found in the Sol System. It was a digital pamphlet of the layout of Kaur’s flagship, meant to educate people about the vessel. I knew it wouldn’t be one hundred percent correct, but I overlaid it with my readings on the off chance it was still somewhat accurate. To my surprise the corridors towards the ship’s bridge seemed to be clear of obstruction or odd corridor alignment.

I headed off at a slow trot. The material coming down from the ceiling reached out towards me as I passed it. At one point I leaned in and got as close I could without it touching me. It reached out and stretched itself, drawn to me somehow. The ones around it curled at the end like they grasped for me, and I became aware of the fact that they looked like miniature versions of the tentacles on the outside of Kaur’s ship.

As I made my way towards the bridge voices echoed and bounced around, but I didn’t see anyone. At one point shadows, elongated from the light source down one of the hallways, passed in front of me. I pushed myself up against a wall and held my breath. My arm cannon was at the ready. No one came around the corner.

I shot my head out around the corner then pulled it back. The hallway was empty. Whoever had been down it must have turned down another passageway. It seemed odd that I hadn’t encountered anyone, but I counted it as my good fortune. Perhaps they were off in the shuttles or out sacrificing captured Vantagax. Whatever the reason it benefitted me, and I didn’t give it much more thought.

I let out a sigh and tried to move. The wall held me fast. I looked behind me. The wall was covered in the slime, and it wouldn’t let go. I pulled as hard as I could and managed to get a little distance between myself and the wall. The slime clung tight. My suit labored and whined as it assisted me in my escape. Strands of the slime snapped like rubber bands as I inched forward. With a surprised grunt I broke free and tumbled forward, pulling myself upright just before ending face first in another pool of slime.

As I continued I became aware of a constant hum. It was the same as what I’d heard when Kaur had first appeared. I also felt it resonate through my body. If I stood still the hum vibrated through the floor and up through my feet. My suit didn’t register it, but I knew it was there.

Clanging and banging started and got louder as I got closer to the bridge. I expected to see people in metal suits marching or exposed pipes rattling back and forth, but I saw nothing of the sort. The sounds seemed to emanate from nowhere, yet they were all around me. I focused on the layout from the mapping drones. The Hive had warned me of the entity and how it would invade my thoughts. The banging or the hum or the voices didn’t need to concern me. I couldn’t concentrate on them. What I needed to focus on was my path to the bridge. How far did I need to go? How many turns did I need to make? What entrance would I come through?

The noises stopped.

Something dripped, but I didn’t hear the banging. The hum disappeared. I quickly looked up and down the hall. Nothing had snuck up on me while I’d been concentrating on the layout. I was as alone now as I’d been the entire time since I’d gotten on Kaur’s ship.

Before I could be distracted again I raced ahead. I tried to run on the balls of my feet to make less noise. The slime puddles and tentacles forced me to dance around them to avoid their grasp and touch, but as I continued on they became more numerous. The tentacles became thicker and longer. Their attempts at grabbing me became more forceful. The slime puddles were larger and looked deeper. As I passed them they seemed to bubble up in the middle and lean towards me.

I shimmied past an exceptionally determined set of tentacles and backed away from them with my arm cannon raised. My imagination told me that they’d shoot out and snatch me as soon as I turned my back on them. They’d drag me into their mass and consume me just like the material on the outside of Kaur’s ship.

A door hissed open behind me. I whirled around ready to fire. Nobody stood on the other side. I had activated it. My readouts told me that I’d made it to the bridge. With a hesitant step I entered. The battle going on outside the ship played across the view screens. I spared a few seconds to see the Vantagax ships continuing to try and take down Kaur, but their numbers were dwindling. Most limped along, trying to continue the fight,while some looked like they were attempting to retreat.

In the middle of the room, on a raised dais, someone sat in a large chair. Their back was to me, but I saw strips of flesh peeling from a bald scalp: Kaur. I gritted my teeth and raised my arm cannon. My breathing steadied, and I felt a calm wash over me.

The emergency hatch door closed behind me. The airlock cycled. I waited for the red light to turn green letting me know that the cycle was complete.

My body was so amped that I felt like I could smash my way through the door. Nothing could stand in my way. Not crazed colonists, beings from another dimension, militant birds, bullshit politics or even metal.

I lashed out to punch the door and stopped halfway.

It felt familiar. This had happened before. I dropped my arm to my side and looked around the airlock. It looked almost like any of the other airlocks I’d seen since I’d woken up. I remembered reading somewhere that déjà vu happened when the short term and long term memories got confused and jumbled up.

The green light flashed then dinged. The door hissed and slid open. I stopped thinking and readied my arm cannon. Nothing stood on the other side of the threshold.

I popped my head out and looked up and down the corridor. Lights flickered every few feet. Mist bubbled out of the HVAC system. Something grew from the ceiling and gently waved back and forth in the currents. Slime coated the walls. It looked so familiar. I swore that I’d been in this kind of environment before.

My mapping drones were released and sped down the corridors. The results popped up on my HUD. They showed me a maze of irregularly shaped hallways. Some ended for no apparent reason while others twisted and turned in corkscrew patterns. It made no logical sense, but the ship’s layout had been altered. To what end I didn’t know.

One of the drones stopped sending me readings. Raised voices filtered down the hallway from the direction of the lost drone. Another drone blipped then stopped. Voices came from the direction of that lost one. I took cover behind the bulkhead of the airlock and glanced up and down the corridor.

Colonists rounded the nearest corner. All of them clutched guns with white knuckle ferocity. Their clothes were in tatters. They had open sores on exposed skin. Faces were covered in the strange symbols. Their voices sang with manic enthusiasm. Another group came from the other direction. They looked and sounded almost identical to the first set of colonists.

I bit my lip debating whether or not I should fire. The airlock wouldn’t provide a real hiding space. I supposed I could close the door and drain the atmosphere. Perhaps I’d be able to walk along the skin of the ship and find another entrance but then the ship would most definitely be alerted to my presence. If I waited they might turn around and go back the way they came, but that didn’t seem like it would happen. The colonists moved with purpose. They had a destination in my mind.

The boom of a gun followed by the almost instantaneous ricochet of a bullet just missing my head brought me out of my thoughts.

Both groups of colonists yelled and pointed in my direction. Each group had perhaps five or six people in each. My arm cannon whomphed as it fired. I didn’t think; it just fired. The first colonist it hit cartwheeled backwards intothe group behind him. I turned to the other group who had gotten two more shots off. My heart pounded as I fired on them. The arm cannon’s energy projectile cast blue light and long shadows as it traveled in slow motion towards the colonists.

Time had slowed. I could see every bit of ooze dripping from the colonists’ sores. Their fingers moved in tiny increments to pull the trigger of their guns. Wrinkles on their faces from angry scowls appeared as clear as day. My arm cannon whomphed another time. Its projectile came from the barrel in slow motion. My gaze followed what I thought was the projected path to see who would be hit.

Kaur stood with her arms crossed behind the colonists. Her sealed mouth curled at its sides in the barest of smiles. I raised my arm cannon as another bullet from the colonists behind me whizzed by my helmet.

The emergency hatch door closed behind me. The airlock cycled. I waited for the red light to turn green letting me know that the cycle was complete. My body was so amped that I felt like I could smash my way through the door.

I looked around the airlock. My arm was raised, cannon ready to fire. I lowered it and exhaled. It felt like I’d been doing something else a second earlier. This whole situation felt familiar, like I’d done it before. I remembered reading somewhere that déjà vu happened when the short term and long term memories got confused and jumbled up, but this wasn’t déjà vu.

I put my hand over my arm cannon. The barrel felt warm. I hadn’t fired it outside the ship. Flashes of fighting against colonists came back to me. It felt like I’d been winning maybe. At least not losing, but Kaur had been there.

The green light flashed then dinged. The door hissed and slid open. I stopped thinking and readied my weapon.

A group of colonists, at least fifteen, stood on the other side of the door. They leveled their weapons at me. Time slowed down. I could see every bit of ooze dripping from the sores on their faces. Their fingers moved in tiny increments to pull the triggers of their guns. My arm cannon whomphed as it fired without me thinking about it. Its projectile came from the barrel in slow motion blue light projecting onto the walls and casting long shadows.

Kaur stood with her arms crossed behind the colonists.

The emergency hatch door closed behind me. The airlock cycled. I waited for the red light to turn green letting me know that the cycle was complete. My body was so amped that I felt like I could smash my way through the door.

I slammed my fist into the emergency override button to prevent the airlock from opening. There was no mistaking it; I had just gone through this before. There would be a fighting force on the other side of the door. They’d be looking to fight, and Kaur would be with them. I’d gone through the same situation at least twice.

Something slammed against the door. Angry voices raged on the other side. I couldn’t make out any words. It sounded like angry animals bellowing at each other. The banging continued as I reversed the airlock cycle. The atmosphere exited, and the noises stopped.

I slid to the floor. The Hive had warned me about the mind tricks that could be played. I’d known about them when I’d entered Kaur’s ship, but I’d been so amped I hadn’t paid attention except for one point: banging pipes and voices and that damn hum.

I looked up to the airlock door and saw Kaur’s face plastered to the window. Her breath fogged the glass. I screwed my eyes shut and focused on what I’d been doing when the banging and the hum had stopped. The world around me fell away. The colonists vanished. Kaur’s face disappeared. The airlock receded.

Alone in my little cocoon I concentrated. There was nothing. It wasn’t the flat blackness of the portal or the darkness of space. It was me and the absence of a world. That was it until a small pinprick of light appeared. I reached out and started to fall forward. The pinprick rushed towards me and grew in size. The light shone so bright it hurt my eyes, yet I continued to rush towards it. It beckoned, and I followed its siren call.