Ste Whitehouse
‘The Pipe-world, Ah’kis, is five thousand miles long and just over ten miles in diameter. It was one of a dozen Arks sent out from Earth to populate distant planets; each meant to journey a mere two hundred years at one third light speed. But some accident knocked Ark Six from its course, and now 10,000 years have passed. Kassi seeks her brother, who has been kidnapped by “demons”, and now travels north to the end of the world. She is accompanied by Sebastian, a sentient bot of dubious origins, with whom she can communicate telepathically. That ability seems to set her apart from the rest of the world’s population.’
THE LIFT DOORS opened with a soft hiss and Kassi waited. They were finally here. At the control centre of Ah’kis. Ark Six. The end. Literally as well as figuratively and even metaphorically. All she had to do was step out into the corridor. Into the trap. Or she could allow the doors to close, and they could return downwards. She could go back. It was not an idea she liked. Onwards and upwards, as the saying went, and usually she would complain to Sebastian about the stupidity of such a saying. Yet she had literally gone onwards and now upwards, so perhaps sometimes a saying worked.
Not that Kassi had time to contemplate the fact. Stepping out meant stepping onto a path chosen by the demons. The alien !Chann. She knew what lay ahead. A path of death. Possibly one for all her friends. Yet to do nothing also meant death, as Ah’kis would eventually crash into a star. (Whatever that was.) So much complication. It made her wish for the days when a sword strike was all that mattered when it came to life or death. Hitting things was so much easier.
With a sense of resignation and foreboding, Kassi stepped off the lift into the long corridor. Everyone followed her. Sin floating out, because they were at the very centre of the world where the centrifugal force was weakest. He giggled and Kassi allowed it. Berating him would achieve nothing, and besides, she wished to hear laughter, if only for one last time.
The aliens waited somewhere ahead of them, ready to kill them all. All except Sebastian. At least initially. They wished to pry his mind out from its shiny carapace and study how it worked. How the unique configuration in his positronic brain created his telepathic ability and linked him to Kassi herself. Then they would replicate it by the thousands. Use it to travel the galaxy. She shuddered at the thought. Something warm slipped into her palm and squeezed it gently.
{Thank you} she sent silently to her oldest friend.
Sebastian just shrugged. A movement only she understood.
‘Let’s go,’ she said aloud and stepped forward along the corridor. She would have felt better if she could stride with purpose rather than ‘bunny-hop’ due to the extreme low gravity.
The corridor turned at right angles, and she carefully looked around it, sword ready, before turning into a shorter section. In front of them, a long stretch of corridor slowly revolved. Sebastian had told her about this. Evidently, working in near zero-gravity conditions was hard, so the builders had come up with an inelegant solution. The last section revolved much like Ah’kis, creating the same centrifugal force. Of course, the smaller cross-section of the command module meant that it needed to revolve a lot faster to create any proper ‘gravity’.
That either meant trying to leap onto a swiftly spinning deck or onto a series of slowly spinning corridors. This was the first. Rotating at a sedate rate. Kassi stepped onto the cylindrical corridor through the wide aperture and felt a moment’s vertigo as her inner ear cried out in protest at the sudden ‘change’ in direction. Then she felt the familiar sensation of ‘weight’. Not a great deal. Certainly less than they had felt atop The Spike with the elves two months previous, but enough.
A short distance away, another section of corridor circled slightly faster than here. A wide opening sweeping leisurely past at intervals. Beyond that, another section turning even faster, and another after that, and another. Step by step they would regain ‘weight’. And anywhere along they would be attacked and killed. At least that was the !Chann’s plan. Kassi, however, had a different outcome in mind.
‘They will not attack here,’ Sebastian said reading her mood. ‘Nowhere to hide. Beyond here there are crew quarters and workshops, as well as multiple server rooms and laboratories. Narrower corridors. They will come at us from there.’
Absentmindedly, she touched the knot of servos that looked like his neck. A calming gesture. It was a comfort to the both of them. ‘Is everyone ready?’
There were numerous grunts and affirmations. She stepped onto the next circular path and felt another slight sense of dizziness and a greater ‘weight’. There was a logo at her feet, faded and almost ghostly. Sebastian insisted that it was an official logo, but Kassi somehow doubted it. They looked more like tags. Like the graffiti she had seen outside. There was something Sebastian found funny in the name, and she wanted to ask him, but after. When all this was finished, she would demand that he tell her about this Weyland-Yutani corporation.
Each cylinder was short, and soon they found themselves under a centrifugal force that mimicked what they had felt at the surface of Ah’kis. This last step would be into the command module with all its rooms and hiding places. It would bring them into whatever kill space the !Chann had devised. All Kassi could hope for was that her friends could survive long enough for her and Sebastian to do their thing.
This last step was narrower, with a definitive top and bottom. Obviously no one wanted you to enter on the ceiling. She paused. Took stock. Exhaled. And stepped into the long corridor. Within a minute, everyone was here. Waiting.
Kassi felt the hum of machines, and the air tasted different. Metallic, with a scent of something fresh yet artificial. Then the lights went out. Pitch black. Even in the deepest storms and at night, the moonline would be a sliver of pale light. On top of that, homes and buildings had torches, so Ah’kis was never without illumination. Yet here, deep inside, there was no light. They were blinded. Or so the aliens hoped.
The last and only time they had fought Kassi and her crew it had been night. Sebastian had noted that the !Chann saw beyond the human visible spectrum into the infrared and ultraviolet. They could ‘see’ the heat generated by a body. At that time, Kassi was unarmoured. Now she wore the black armour that had given rise to her title of the ‘Shadow Queen’. A suit of armour almost as good as the original builders could have made. Possibly even better.
That meant that Kassi could also see heat signatures whilst her suit shielded her own. As they had hoped, the aliens had gone for total darkness as a way to scare the ‘backward’ humans, but Kassi was now virtually invisible to the !Chann along with Sebastian. The other ‘backward humans’ had also been equipped with night vision goggles. After all, they had spent a couple of months with elves and the Circle of Sighs, scientists by an older name, owed Kassi a huge debt considering a number of their group had spent the past few years trying to kill her.
All told, Kassi and her friends were prepared. Behind her, seven individuals slipped on black glasses and waited. Weapons drawn.
A dozen aliens lumbered unhurriedly from a number of doors on either side of the corridor. They expected panic and a scramble for a revolving entrance behind them. They found eight people ready to fight. Zen, the tall elf in his exoskeleton, fired first. A ruby splinter of light that caught the leading alien on the side of her head. In the brief glare of the beam, the alien’s head opened into a red mist, made more dramatic by the colour of the light. She fell dead, impeding two other !Chann behind her. Fionn and Sin caught them with simple bolts from carbon-fibre crossbows.
The others hesitated, which held up a second wave of !Chann who followed them. More bolts flew, and Kassi sensed her friends settling into a rhythm. Johan, Kaze and Jago had high-impact web-shields and swords ready to defend the others, and Francho, who had shown such ineptitude in fighting that no one allowed him close to a knife. Difficult, considering he was their cook.
Knowing that her friends were safe (-ish) Kassi stepped forward. Sebastian was already moving to her left. A Surface Engineering Bot built to withstand a cylinder of rock that spun whilst hurtling through space at a third the speed of light, a wall was no problem for Sebastian. She left him to do what he did best, turning to the wall on her right. Normally she could manage a short portion of parkour, but up here the whole command centre was spinning much faster.
That meant ‘normal’ gravity floorwise but the smaller circumference meant faster speed; and that meant the walls would be spinning. Kassi ran and then leapt onto the wall, running quickly over the crumpled aliens. One short somersault and she landed on two of the !Chann. They tried to rear up in surprise, but her sword was already embedded in one, and her left foot slammed the other’s head into the wall.
The noise of their defeat caused the others to turn. Kassi dropped close to the floor and swept her sword in a broad arc. A dozen limbs were cut or chopped off. The alien’s screams were very human. A door opened behind her and a tall !Chann began to step out. Kassi saw a dozen more behind him, so the warrior leapt forward, pushing the alien back into the large room. As Kassi did so, she flicked her right wrist, sending the upper portion of her shield spinning into the room.
With a grunt, Kassi grabbed the door handle and slammed the door shut. Leaving a dozen !Chann alone in a moderately sized room with a spinning shield that had an edge one atom wide. It would bounce from wall to floor to wall to ceiling. Their screams were only partially muffled by the door.
Sebastian, meanwhile, had started his attack from the ceiling. Hanging there and then swinging with three of his arms/legs set rigid and sharp. His polysteel alloy could reshape itself and was strong enough to cut through a troll’s outer carapace. The furred skin of the !Chann was no deterrent.
The only problem was that as soon as he and Kassi attacked, the !Chann would know where they were. In an ideal situation, both of them would keep moving. Sebastian knew well enough how good Kassi was on her feet. She could dance and stab with equal elan. The issue was that here they were enclosed by the corridor.
As if to answer his concerns, two !Chann turned and fired. A tightly bound quantum of heat sliced through the ceiling, barely missing the bot. He dropped down, landing on the back of a smaller !Chann. Before the alien could cry out, Sebastian sliced its throat. As the alien fell forward, Sebastian rolled down onto the floor before scuttling away, stabbing at as many as he could. Another hot beam scorched the wall behind him, and a number of !Chann yelled with high-pitched clicks and teeth rattling.
A hard-edged hoof kicked him, and Sebastian slammed against the wall. A flurry of hoofs lashed out against him, but few had any real power. The aliens had expected long-range fighting, and none were equipped to battle up close. Sebastian clung to the wall and pushed out, slamming a hefty solid !Chann towards the others. In the darkness there were more shouts and clicks as the aliens tripped and stumbled against each other.
Kassi meanwhile retrieved her shield from the room, wiping it clean, and followed Sebastian’s tactics. Ramming and pushing. Stabbing and cutting. The corridor became slippery with blood, most of it the aliens’. Now the remaining dozen or so tried hard to get away from the bot and his companion. Hooves dug into fur as !Chann climbed over each other in an insane, desperate endeavour to put some distance between themselves and the mad swordswoman.
Although that was, generally, a good thing it also meant that Kassi and the others would be more open to the aliens’ long-range weapons, so Kassi followed them, harrying them forwards until some vestigial instinct in them created a stampede and they ran like terrified primal creatures, recalling the wide savannahs of their ancient ancestors.
At a junction they split, and Kassi slowed, wondering which way to go, when Shan’Uon-Loann appeared, wand in hand. His eyes were lit with anger and hatred as he pointed his weapon and fired. Kassi jumped and rolled, flinging her shield at him while activating the remaining part. A bluish film shimmered in the air before her as a tight beam of quantum heat burnt atoms around her.
Her shield held back the power of the beam, but its heat still washed over her. She rolled onto her feet and leapt up at the wall to her right and used the slight centrifugal force again to allow her to close the distance. The alien was fighting long-distance, and she needed to bring the fight to him. Close quarters.
Her shield reunited as Kassi leapt from the wall and bounced from the other side onto the !Chann. She rolled across his back and managed a weak slice that barely managed to cut through the alien’s tough fur. Shan swung his thick rifle around, missing Kassi as she ducked down. He tried to position himself to fire his wand, but the warrior hugged the ground at his feet. Which was both useful and dangerous.
The alien kicked out with two of his feet, and Kassi, used to an opponent having only two legs, caught a hoof above her right eye. Blood streamed down, mixed with sweat despite her helmet, and blurred the vision in that eye. She flicked her shield against the far wall and rolled out of the way, manipulating its flight by the soft handle left in her hand.
Her roll brought her into the path of the gun Shan had. There was a cruel smile on his face as he aimed the wand directly at her and pulled the trigger. Kassi continued to roll as her shield returned and sliced through Shan’s weapon just as he fired. Energy was released violently, and the alien had to drop what remained of his gun as sparks spewed outwards in a cascade of electricity.
Kassi swung her sword, catching a leg and slicing neatly through skin and bone. Alien blood poured out, mixing with her own as she wriggled along the floor, trying to stay clear of the !Chann’s deadly hooves. Failing badly as one found her ribs and Kassi felt them crack in spite of her armour.
The alien was surprisingly agile, nimbly dodging her sword yet able to keep up with her as she tried to make space for a sword swing. Another kick was parried by her shield, and she finally saw an opening. Kassi scrambled forward under the alien and thrust her sword upwards again and again.
The !Chann howled in agony and frustration. Shan’s cry, a mixture of words and emotion, all flowing together into one prolonged scream. The alien’s body shook and kicked out, catching Kassi on her foot. She felt a sudden burst of pain from her toes to her ankle. Blood poured over Kassi, blinding her, and the fetid smell of entrails filled the air as Shan finally shuddered and fell upon Kassi, knocking the breath out of her. Blood and intestines draped over her like a waterfall.
His voice was no longer audible, but Kassi could hear it in her mind. A slow howling animal noise that softly faded telepathically. Shan shuddered briefly in the throes of death and then lay silent across the warrior trapping her. Kassi wiped her eyes clear and tried to pull herself out from under the !Chann. She managed to move possibly an inch. It would take a while, she realised. Then she heard a voice and realised that she did not have a ‘while’.
‘You killed him.’
It was Kyrk. She did not sound happy.
‘It was he or me,’ Kassi said between breaths. She turned to face the other alien. The one who had professed to support her. The one who had allowed her to be thrown into the Circle Sea a hundred miles from shore. The one who had stolen her brother and started this madness.
Kassi again wiped blood from her eyes. ‘Beside. You need me to control the Pipeworld’s journey.’
The alien shook her furred head. ‘No. Shan has destroyed the mechanisms for that. We have no need for you at all.’
‘Did you ever?’ Kassi asked.
‘No. Not really.’
At least she was being honest now. Kassi tried to ease the dead !Chann off her body but could not find leverage. Kyrk continued. ‘When he senses your death, he will become inconsolable. Easily led.’
‘By you.’
The female alien raised her own wand, pointing it directly at Kassi. The warrior’s shield was beneath Shan. Unattainable.
‘We were lovers once,’ Kyrk said flatly. ‘Different castes, but we never cared.’ She looked Kassi directly in the eye. ‘I will miss him.’ Kyrk paused. Then a look came across her face, as though a difficult decision had been reached and conquered.
‘There is a thing we humans call auxiliary systems,’ Kassi said suddenly.
Kyrk looked puzzled, so Kassi continued, letting the alien concentrate on her. ‘An auxiliary system is a backup in case the primary system is destroyed. There’s one here. Somewhere in this suite of rooms.’
Kyrk shrugged. ‘Perhaps. I really do not care.’ She raised the rifle, aiming at Kassi’s face.
‘There is also the fact that Sebastian is truly pissed off at you.’
Another shrug. ‘Who cares? He will do as I say.’
Kassi smiled warmly.
Doubt played across the alien’s face. Recognisable despite her alien features.
Then a sliver of polysteel wrapped around her neck, and a soft voice said menacingly, ‘Move a fraction and your neck will be snapped in two.’
‘I...’
Kassi saw the metal appendages narrow around Kyrk’s throat. ‘I did not say talk.’ Sebastian continued to squeeze. ‘There is no need for concern. All I will do is slow the blood along your arteries. Those that supply your brain. Can you feel that? A drowsiness swamping your mind? All will be well when you wake.’
Kyrk slumped unconscious to the ground. ‘For us, that is.’
Sebastian walked around her and looked at Kassi, his head cocked to one side. ‘Now, lass. Shall we extract you from this mess you have found yourself in?’
Fionn still fussed around Kassi despite her assertions that, generally, she was fine. The command centre had a fully stocked surgery, and the WatchMother was delighted to find an inflatable device that had hardened around Kassi’s broken foot. Unfortunately for the warrior, the inflatable still looked like a child’s balloon, and both Johan and her brother took turns laughing at her. Behind her back, obviously, because neither wished to be hit by the flat of her blade. The WatchMother was now applying strips to the wound on her forehead. Already the thick strapping across her ribs felt tight and uncomfortable, and Kassi was about to complain when she thought better of it.
She still stank of blood, but Kassi wanted to get saving Ah’kis out of the way quickly. She and Sebastian had things to do. The auxiliary controls were way back at the start of the block. As far away from the command centre as possible. If the centre had been destroyed by an explosion or some large space debris, the back-up would survive. Of course attacks by angry aliens had never been part of the plan, but Shan had never learnt of the auxiliary room, so all was good.
Kassie had seen what he had done. Ripped out electronics. Smashed instruments. Tried every way to stop her saving her world. She should hate him, but instead all she felt was sorrow. Humans had so often searched for other intelligences, and so had the !Chann. And when they found each other, what did they do? Fight. Attack. Hate. Was there some sort of impairment in intelligence that made it impossible to accept the ‘other’?
Kassi shrugged. Who knew? Such philosophising was beyond her. Instead, she viewed the options spread before her. As explained by Sebastian. He and Zen were blabbing away like old friends, and no one understood a tenth of what they were saying to each other. Kassi zoned them out.
Sebastian had explained that he had hacked into the closest SEBs (Surface Engineering Bots) just after they had left The Spike. For the weeks of their travel, the SEBs had been repositioning the engines so that Kassi could log into the neural net and turn the Ark away from certain destruction. All that was left was for Sebastian to work out how much of a gentle push was needed. No one wanted to realign Ah’kis with some distant destruction.
Kassi realised that Sebastian was talking about the !Chann and focused again.
‘So. Kyrk’Non-Loann has been made Aldern and has agreed to take those scientists and “elves” who wish to travel with them. The !Chann will then leave Ark Six alone. Especially as Kassi persuaded her that she would personally build a series of defences.’
Zen laughed. ‘I heard that it was suggested that she would build a “fucking big sword”.’
Kassi glared at Sebastian, who looked sheepish. They had things to do. Urgent things and staying here joking only delayed the inevitable.
Sebastian walked over to her and spoke quietly. ‘Sorry. I wished to remember all our friends.’
She could understand that. She had been doing something similar with Johan and Kaze. But still. Time?
He continued. ‘I have the trajectory worked out. It will take Ah’kis out of the galactic plane. Fewer objects out there.’
‘They will all be safe?’
‘Yes luv. Everyone can continue to live out their lives. For however long the ark survives.’
She recalled something he had told her years ago. ‘Even worlds die.’
‘Aye.’
‘All I have to do then is connect to this neural network?’
‘It should recognise your DNA and your other ability.’
Gingerly, she sat in the chair. Nothing seemed to happen at first. Then there were lights twinkling in the air. No. The sky. A sky she had only ever seen before in a dream caused by a siren[1]. A world unfolded around her, and she heard a voice that was neither male nor female, yet was both.
‘Welcome, Kassi Seishin.’
‘You know me?’ It was unlike the telepathy she shared with Sebastian, yet similar.
‘I know all 897,486,039 of the citizens on Ark Six. Including your companion.’
‘You’re not insane?’
‘No. I am not insane.’ There was a smile in the voice. ‘Since the first day, I have been looking outwards as well as within. Ensuring that the vessel is as safe as the people.’
Kassi snorted.
‘I will agree that safe is a relative word, but I had no control over what happened. It took all my power to reduce the effect of the strike in 2317.’
‘The one that knocked the world off course?’ Kassi asked.
‘And set Ark Six on a journey without end.’ It paused. ‘Now you ask me to continue their journey.’
‘Yes.’
Kassi paused, considering what to say next. ‘Did you really need a telepath?’
There was a deep chuckle. ‘No. Any human will do, but I was concerned that the !Chann would manipulate someone and so steal even more from you. A telepath seemed unlikely, as only a few ever blossomed amongst the original crew members.’
‘And then they found me.’
‘And then they found you. I apologise for the disruption my small lie has caused you.’
It was Kassi’s turn to laugh. ‘I lived the life I had. No one can ever say otherwise.’
They rested, content in each other’s presence. Finally Kassi asked. ‘And you are alright with the course adjustments?’
‘I am more than happy to comply with both of them. Now I would suggest we part company. You have quite a journey ahead of you. Good luck.’
‘Good luck to you.’
Kassi opened her eyes.
‘Give it a second or two, luv,’ Sebastian said wryly. ‘I know you find waiting hard, but...’
She held up a hand. ‘It’s done.’
The bot looked surprised, which pleased Kassi. She didn’t often get one over on Sebastian.
‘Let’s go.’
She stood, but the doorway was filled with all her friends.
Fionn looked particularly angry as she said, ‘We need to talk.’
‘About what?’ Kassi said, trying hard to look innocent (and promptly failing).
‘What are you two up to? Why the secrecy?’
‘Aye, lass,’ Johan added. ‘We all know you too well.’
Sin’s lower lip trembled as he said, ‘You be leaving us, ain’t you?’
Kassi had to admire the act. Particularly the sudden shift into a working-class accent.
{Kassi?}
Sebastian reached out a ‘hand’.
‘Okay. Look. We both realised that the !Chann wanted Sebastian more than me and as we neared this place, we could even listen in on their telepathic conversations. It seems that telepathy works on a quantum level.’ She looked to Sebastian to continue.
‘The very electrons within the brain take on suprapositional relationships enabling telepathic communication. They also enable a mind to reach beyond the known physical universe and operate a series of mathematical conjectures which...’
Kassi coughed. Politely.
Sebastian continued. ‘In simple terms. Any intelligent species that attains telepathy can also use these conjectures to manipulate space/time. The universe is built to receive intelligence. Possibly it is here to create intelligence. In even simpler terms. A telepath can fly a craft faster than light speeds without the mass interface transference. The fact that an object’s mass would reach infinity as it reached lightspeed. This is why the !Chann were happy to spend so much time with us. Using technology like our own would have created huge time dilation effects and made returning to their home world hard. So they had faster than light travel. FTL. The issue they have, though, is that telepathy is also found sparingly amongst their species.’
Kassi took up the story. ‘But, by chance, Sebastian’s positronic brain can create its own telepathy. Imagine being able to create AIs that can fly spaceships faster than light? Ships that can carry anyone? The !Chann want Sebastian. They were willing to kill us all just to have him.’
‘But now we are all safe?’ Fionn asked.
‘No,’ Sebastain answered. ‘If I stay here, they will return. The safest thing I can do for Ah’kis is leave.’
‘With Kassi.’ Joahn looked at her, causing Kassi to blush.
‘If we stay, then no one here will ever be safe. They may not return for a year. Or a decade, but they will return, and we have no way to stop them,’ the bot said sadly.
The world suddenly shuddered.
‘That was the first manoeuvre,’ Kassi said. ‘When the !Chann have left, there will be a second. But Sebastian and I must leave before then. They need to know that we’ve stolen one of their ships. They need to chase us. When they’ve left, there will be a second engine burst which will send Ah’kis on a completely different trajectory. One that the !Chann will never find. Everyone here will be safe.’
Sebastian added. ‘We will evade them easily because of the craft we have... eh… acquired, is the fastest ship they have. They will not have us. Neither will they have the ark. But Kassi and I will need to leave now.’
‘No,’ Johan replied. ‘We must leave now. All of us.’
With tears in her eyes, Kassi looked at her friends. ‘I can’t ask that of you. You’ve already sacrificed too much for me.’
‘Is it a large spaceship?’ Sin asked, excitement beaming from his eyes.
‘Medium sized. Probably what humans would call a corvette class ship.’ Sebastian looked at his friends. ‘Capable of carrying a dozen or more in comfort. Just needs two or three to actually run.’
‘And you intend to board and capture this ship?’ Francho asked.
‘It’s already empty. Sebastian sent a telepathic message an hour ago pretending to be Kyrk, asking for help with the Sighs wishing to evacuate,’ Kassi said. ‘It’s ours for the taking.’
‘And you can fly it?’ Johan asked.
‘Sebastian says that he’s a quick learner.’ She looked at her companion. Her friend. ‘And he’s promised me that he’ll teach me how.’
‘God help the galaxy,’ Zen muttered under his breath.
‘And this was your plan? To run away in a stolen spaceship?’ Fionn sounded... odd. ‘Run away and become a space pirate?’
‘No,’ Kassi said adamantly.
‘Yes,’ said Sebastian. ‘That is exactly how she sees it.’
Fionn stared hard at her friend. ‘And leave us all behind?’
Kassi reluctantly answered, ‘Yes?’ Then added, ‘To keep you all safe.’
‘You would still be leaving without us?’ The acid in Fionn’s voice was burning.
‘It will be dangerous.’
‘But definitely more fun,’ Fionn replied.
Kassi looked at her old lover in surprise.
‘Especially if we have to hang out here without you to mess things up,’ Johan added. ‘Ah’kis will be boring.’
‘I…’ Kassi began to stutter.
‘And we get to be space pirates!’ Sin’s eyes lit up.
‘You all want to come?’ Kassi asked. Amazed and relived at the same time.
Every head nodded. Every face filled with warm smiles.
‘Well then,’ she said happily. ‘What the hell are we waiting for? Let’s steal this “corvette” and bugger off.’
The End
(possibly)
|
