Erica Olafson, Voyages of the Tigershark 25

Chapter 25: Before the Storm

TheOther was injured. The wounds he received from the relentless attacks of these smaller Y’All versions were too deep and too severe for his incredible healing abilities to cope with.

He regretted the fact that he opted to forego the AutoDoc adjustment, Cateria recommended for months now.

The original factory-issued unit, requested a species update because this amazing piece of Union technology was deploying medical nanites and his own bodies defense mechanisms fought the nanites and neutralized them. Cateria and Circuit had developed new ways and new nanites that were specifically designed to cope with that, he had kept postponing it because he always argued he was a Y’All and could restore and regenerate on his own.

If he ever saw Cateria again, he would apologize and follow all her medical advice.

His face was not designed to display any emotions, but if he could he would have smiled.

All his instincts told him to fight, fight until he ceased to exist. This is what Y’All did, relentless and unerring, just as he killed the last of these small brethren in this section of service corridor. He heard the clamor and screeching of many more coming his way. A similar noise came from the other direction.

Oh, what would the Captain do? She probably was the most Y’All of all humans. Just as relentless and unstoppable.

His mind urged him to meet them head-on, this was the Y’All way.

He stopped as he noticed a circular metal cover right before him. Most likely access to some kind of system.

Y’All did not hide, but a free Union officer was able to assess all his options.

Even for his titanic strength augmented by the Atlas suit, everything here appeared to have been built with Y’All in mind.

The thick metal disc had been secured with sturdy clasps. Instead of ripping it open, he took a second to examine the mechanism.

His friend Estree, or as he was known all over the ship Mr.Warner was minute and weak in terms of body strength, but that little Holdian was a hell of an engineer and taught him a few things. Instead of going by it the Y’All way, he did what Estree would do.

And there it was, hidden under an almost invisible panel, a simple button. It would have taken the strength of five Y’All to open that heavy cover, all it took was a different approach.

He pressed the closing button, jumped in and a heartbeat later the lid closed over him.

TheOther could hear his enemies clamor over the metal cover, screeching and yelling. From the sound of it, they even started to fight their own kind. The ones coming from the other direction, before they realized he was gone.

At first, he wondered why he could hear them. The metal was too thick for any sound, but as he looked around in the near dark space he was in, he noticed light shining through a small grid covered opening. It was very small, too small for even Warner but as he moved over and looked up, he could actually see clawed feet milling around.

A harsh voice yelled.

“It is not here! The Drone will fight us till the end. It must be somewhere. Make more noise.”

Another one yelled back.

“You let him slip past you!”

Accusations were yelled back and forth and then they dispersed. Not one of them even considered examining the floor.

Yes, these new Y’All were inferior in strength and size, but they acted like the full-size brutes. It wasn’t TKUs or Translocators that defeated them back then. It was this inflexible, head-on approach. They inflicted damage and killed millions when they came the last time, but they were doomed then and they would be doomed now.

His own captain defeated two in hand to hand combat.

Thinking about her, he knew she was on her way. No one aboard the Tigershark would give up on him. There was no reason to give up or lose hope. Erica always found a way and if he died here, she would make them pay.

TheOther remembered his Academy training. The instructor had shown him many times that strength was not always the solution. Assess your situation, gather any resources you can find and utilize them.

He looked around, TheOther was almost certain no one had been down here for a very long time. The slimy grime and the thick layer of stringy mold was a certain indication of it.

This was not a corridor but some kind of waste management system, long defunct or maybe just inactive. He was standing on a conveyor belt. He always envied Warner for his fine sense of smell, but right now he was glad that he had none of his own.

“Mama, status?”

“Estimated restoration time, eighty-three minutes. All repair resources maxed out. System will not be able to restore more than 78 percent.”

Except for dripping water in the distance, there were no sounds that indicated any immediate danger.

“Mama, prioritize sensor repair.”

“Acknowledged.”

As any direction was the same to him, he started to proceed in a Southern direction, following the inactive material transport systems downward slope.

He-who-guards-the-Crucible was sentient, thus he was quite capable of experience emotions. The one he felt right now was a sense of frustration.

He had watched the visuals of the fighting drone. It was a real Y’All no doubt and it validated the assessment of all his subsequent creations. They were vastly inferior.

What he called the new Y’All were torn apart like toys. Three hundred and twelve of them had died trying to capture the malfunctioning Y’All. Whatever he tried, the old battle drone did not respond to the control device. That drone appeared to be shielded with technology he could not analyze.

He was not concerned about the fate of his troops. He had millions available and was in the process to activate them all.

The old, original drone somehow managed to disappear. The Crucible was an artificial factory of planet size and existed for many million years. There were regions and places, crawl spaces and old laboratories, immense storage facilities filled with equipment and bio base material.

It could take years to find the drone.

After so many years, he finally succeeded and found an active drone of the original design and now it was lost right here.

It would be only a matter of time though.

While his millions of sensors and systems were scanning the crucible for any activity that was to reveal the drone’s location, he focused his ego center to the human being that was brought into his presence.

The being claiming to have the construction secrets of a weapon that defeated the Crucible’s last answer to the Call.

“Human, proceed closer so you may be analyzed. I have seen the weapon’s effect.”

“I am Harold Julkus, I am a Translocator technician and weapon developer. If I share this information with you. You will give me command over a fleet of Y’All?”

“Ridiculous. My agents promised whatever you wanted to get you here. Now you have no other option but to obey. Your wants are in subsequential.”

“You know, you overgrown monstrosity. I came to that same conclusion. I changed my mind, I won’t share crap with you.”

“Pepino Lakey, bring this life form to the analyzer.”

Harold evaded the grasping arms of the Pepino.

“I might not be a Union Officer anymore, but I am Terran.”

The man whipped out his TKU and burned the former first mate of the TRAA to ashes. Then he fired the powerful weapon right in the middle of the T shaped half organic machine, creeping closer to him on tentacle shaped legs. The blast burned a sizeable hole into the machine before it engulfed itself in shield energies.

“No one has ever dared to injure me. Human your end has come, all I need is a few cells of you.”

“I know.”

He-who-guards-the-Crucible reached out with tractor manipulators while he heard a whining sound that increased in pitch.

“I am a weapons engineer, you see and I disengaged the safety features of this TKU...”

I realized it wasn’t such a good idea to announce my intentions.

We had just dropped out of quasi. The scanner data filled my battle view with thousands of signals. SHIP identified them as Y’All battleships. All under shields and weapons charged.

At their center was an immense roughly spherical thing, the size of a small planet. It wasn’t anything natural. According to our sensors, it was made of a variety of metal alloys and it appeared to be hollow. While it was of incredible size and mass, it did not have the same gravimetric mass signature than a celestial natural body of similar size.

It was also riddled with holes. Each of the holes big enough to let the Devi pass through, and the holes spewed out more Y’All battleships.

Har-Hi said.

“I think we forgot to bring a few more ships. Maybe we should go back and borrow the Dominator.”

“The whole first fleet wouldn’t be enough to fight all those.

“Mao gasped.

Elfi said.

“But TheOther is here for sure. I am picking up his wrist com.”

Narth voice was as calm as ever.

“It appears they have noticed us. An estimated 14,453 Y’All main battle units are forming an intercept cocoon and coming our way.

“An estimated 14,453?”

“Yes Captain, I do not yet have a clear number on the Y’All units emerging from this construct that are joining the interceptors.”

“They are also scanning us,” Shea said.

“Their sensors are unable to penetrate, but they know where we are. Cloaking might not be effective.”

“Elfi, hail TheOther if you can.”

TheOther estimated he had covered about twenty klicks when he reached what appeared to be a recycling facility of some kind.

That the waste transport system wasn’t as inactive as he thought, came to evidence as the conveyor started moving. Dumping greenish slime into a rectangular funnel intake with powerful shredder wheels at its center.

TheOther managed to jump off the conveyor and grab onto the rim of the funnel.

He now noticed the bodies and body parts of Y’All, most likely the ones he killed coming down the conveyor and dropping into this intake chute.

The shredder system had no difficulty to churn them to bits.

But so far he didn’t see anyone alive, not even robots.

He pulled himself over the rim and dropped onto a platform.

Just at this moment, he heard Elfi’s voice in his helmet.

“Ensign TheOther come in, can you communicate?”

If a Y’All could have cried, he would have done so now.

“Elfi, yes I can ... I mean Lt.Elfirata. Ensign TheOther reporting. I am free of the influence as long as the suit is able to maintain the shield.”

“Forget regulations.

“The Captain’s voice chimed in.

“We are all so worried about you, what is your situation?”

TheOther could hear the Battlestations alerts in the background.

“I am currently not in imminent danger, Captain.”

“Try to stay safe. I am not sure when I can get there, but hang in there I figure something out.”

TheOther heard Har-Hi’s voice.

“Captain, primary shields down, secondary shields at fifty...”

“Aye Captain.”

Despite the Captain’s calm and friendly voice, he knew the Tigershark was in trouble.

“Captain, I am expendable. The ship and all of you...”

“Nonsense, stay save as long as you can. It might be a while, but we are coming.”

“We’re down to five loads.

“Mao said.

“All torpedoes are spent.”

He had responded to my question.

We had blasted and destroyed a large number of Y’All ships. Yet it appeared we made no real dent in the number of attacking battleships.

There were so many, that we were the focus of fire of at least five units at all times. Regardless of how skillfully Shaka evaded the rest.

We could not get a clear path to escape into Quasi-space.

It looked grim.

Har-Hi just gave me another shield report and Narth warned of more Y’All ships joining the fray.

“Well, we tried.

“I heard Sobody say.

“I am dying the richest man in the Universe, able to meet you all.”

I grinned hard.

“No one dies just yet. Mao, fire all remaining loads at mark 0,0,12. Shaka you follow and accelerate. No slowing down, our hull will hold! We plow right through and go for quasi.”

He-who-guards-the-Crucible now felt genuine anger. His ego shell had sustained damage. That man had fired a strong weapon, that impertinent human! Now he somehow managed to detonate that weapon. And why did Lorkis not disarm the Terran?

Of course, he knew the answer, because this was the downside of controlling others. He-who-guards-the-Crucible did not specifically order it.

There was nothing left of the Pepino or the human. He affected self-repair so his ego shell was going to be restored.

The drone was still on the loose and perhaps penetrating deeper into the old tracts.

Now he had received a message of another human. A captain she claimed to be, an officer of that very association of sentients that defied and destroyed the last attack wave. The same ones that stopped the Herald and his own version of the Y’All not so long ago.

Now she had arrived in a small ship. Ridiculous as it appeared, that small ship had torn through a wall of Y’All battleships; survived withering energy blasts and refused to be destroyed.

His battle commanders, reported the small ship’s excellent shields finally starting to buckle.

At first, he was elated and knew that impertinent intruder could not last, but his logical analysis concluded that if one relative small ship could inflict this kind of damage, it would be a disaster sending the next wave. A wave without real Y’All, but an inferior copy of what he was able to create. A wave without the marvelous weapon that defied their best shields and armor.

While he, like the previous AI relied on Mora technology. There was a virtually limitless supply, but automated factories did not develop anything, just churning out copies of the same thing.

The very reason for his existence was in question. He was created to send an answer to the Call, but sending the next wave knowing it was to fail was illogical.

There in the bowels of the Crucible was a genuine battle drone, and out there was a ship that carried that wonder weapon. It had to be captured!

He issued new commands. It did not matter how many perished, they were pepino after all.

TheOther was elated, he felt so proud of his friends. His conviction they would come for him had been validated. He had seen the hangar filled with thousands of battleships. He knew the numbers of the last attack wave. There was no reason to think, there were any less this time.

The Tigershark was formidable, but what could it do against such overwhelming forces?

It was the same as with his situation. He was a Y’All, a genuine Battle Drone there weren’t many life forms as aggressive and tough, but even a giant had to fall to the relentless attack of lesser beings.

His friends came to rescue him, but all he did was provide bait for a trap that spelled doom for them.

“What have I done?” He asked himself in agony, but then he wanted to smile.

“No, there aren’t enough Y’All in the universe to stop his captain. It wasn’t the ship and its weapons that made it such a great fighting machine. It was the crew and the Captain.

Erica did not give up when faced with two Y’All, everyone else would have given into fear and succumb.

She was stranded bare feet, wounded on a very hostile planet. She didn’t give up.

Dressed in nothing but a thin dress, she fought in an arena filled with beings so much stronger than her, yet everyone agreed she was the most dangerous one of them all.

He shook one of his fists against the dark ceiling.

“He-who-guards-old-junk, you got nothing in your arsenal to stop her.”

As he moved along the catwalk next to the intake chute, he almost stepped on a segmented, worm-like creature with thin legs. It was about a meter long and was dragging a dark blood dripping organ along the metal catwalk.

He did not pay much attention to the thing, suspecting it to be some sort of parasite. But then he noticed the thing was holding a small cutting tool in one of its extremities.

The creature tried to get away, leaving its meat piece behind.

“I am not going to harm you.”

“Whaazz? Yehaa noz hurz meeze.Youze muzst be crazzi”

“If it makes you happy. I kill you.”

TheOther wanted to go on, not really knowing where to go, but he figured staying on the move was the best strategy for now, until he found someplace he could hide and wait.

“Meeze kilzt noz happy. Youz difrenz. Bigz likez sleepiz Yehaa.”

“Yes I am different and you are?”

“Meeze?”

“Yes, you.”

“Meeze livz herz. Wheeze eaz Pepinoz. New Machinz makez lotz Pepinoz. Olz machinz bringz Wheeze for eaz and cleanz”

TheOther could not make all that much sense of the answer.

“So you eat the Pepino?”

“Wheeze eatz all Pepinoz. Little Yehaa are pepinoz and allz otherz are pepinoz. Youz notz Pepinoz. Wanz to see morez Yehaa?”

“You mean Y’All like me?”

“Yeez, youze arez stoopiz a little.”

The worm coiled closer and TheOther noticed many more worms below the catwalk pulling shredded body parts off the conveyor.

The worm lost some of its cautions and cut a small piece of the bloody mass.

“Wanze eatz some, itz notz ze best but Wheeze eatz everyonze.”

“Uhm, no I am good.”

The worm ate a piece and said.

“Youz real Yehaa, notz Pepinoz. Therze manzy whoze notz real Yehaa. New Machinz saiz itz Pepinoz.”

“Ohh, wait Pepino means waste. Someone tries to make Y’All but falls short and the results are waste?”

“Youze notz az stoopiz. New Machinz knowz nots aboutz to makez Yehaa. Old Machinz not say.”

“Why bring me here if there are real Y’All here?”

“Wheeze notz no whyz youze comez here. Maybe eatz Pepinoz?”

“No, that wasn’t the reason. I am sure.”

“Wheeze knowz New Machinz noz not ofz old Yehaa.”

TheOther was about to make a knot in that little worm.

“You could not speak using less z’s and more sense?”

“No onz speakz to Wheeze, wez know waz Wheeze saiz.”

“This new machine, I guess is He-who-guards-the-Crucible?”

“Yez.”

“And who is the Old Machine?”

“The Cruzible of corze, youze strongz buz noz too smarz.”

“I may just kick you to a smear and ask the next Wheeze. I haven’t been here as far as I remember. If there are original, big Y’All like me, why do they need me, that is a fair question.”

“New Machinz not knowz.

“You did not tell?”

“Nooz, nooz. No onz speakez to Wheeze. You noz kilz meeze, youz talkz. Wheeze likz.

“The worm, apparently named Meeze scurried to the end of the platform.

“Youze comez or whaz?”

TheOther, a little dumbfounded followed the thing. Whatever it was, the worm was quite fast and TheOther had to hurry, not that this was a problem. Y’All could run very fast.

He soon lost all direction, the worm was guiding him through a virtual labyrinth of corridors and down deep shafts, that turned out to be for elevators.

“Itz noz too farz now.Whyze youz speakez to Wheeze?”

“Where I come from, the form of a being means little. Besides I am friends with Knnnkt.”

TheOther dialed his wrist PDD to the image files and presented a projection of Knnnkt, the living disease.

“See?”

“Ohhz, wormz rize ze manz?”

“Yes, without it they have no hands and all that.”

The scuriing worm thing was deeply impressed, TheOther could tell.

“Knnnktz eaz everyonze?”

“No, but it used to make everyone sick.”

“Beeeh, Wheeze notz makez sick. We eaz everyzing.”

Then the worm pointed at a massive door, it was covered with a thick layer of dust. Meeze canz uze ze holez, you canz noz.”

Having learned from his previous experience, TheOther found the door’s control right away. They too were covered with a film of dust, but a section of it was shaped exactly like a Y’All claw hand. He pressed on it and servo motors that hadn’t worked in thousands of years labored with a grinding sound to push open the immense and very thick door halves.

“Wherze here.”

TheOther was floored. There were shelf-like structures with thousands of cryo boxes. Greenish lights flickered on and a voice speaking in a language he never heard, yet understood right away.

“Master Drone, this is stasis storage 56.”

“Who are you?”

“I am the Crucible. I am waiting for you.”

“Damage report,” I commanded. We had jumped into Quasi-space.

“There is minor damage to the bow armor.

“Har-Hi said.

“The plating itself held, but several sections were knocked off the frame.”

I dreaded my next question.

“Casualties?”

“None, Captain. All hands were at battle stations. None of our guests were hurt.”

“SHIP, are you okay?”

“Yes, Captain, especially considering the alternative.”

Circuit came on the bridge and said.

“We patched the hull breach with Nanofoam, but I can’t close the breach more permanently while we are in Quasi.”

“Mao, did anyone follow us?”

“No, I doubt they even considered such a move. No contacts on sensor horizon.”

“Shaka drop us to real space and set us to drift. Circuit, do we need to land somewhere or can you do the repairs, EVA?”

“I can patch it, but not repair it. To fix it, I need a few days on a planet surface.

“He spread his arms.

“The engineers developing our armor considered indestructible, there are no clear repair instructions.”

“We are spaceworthy, right?”

“Yes, Captain.”

“Shea, Krabbel anything close by we can use to land?”

She kept looking at her read-outs.

“There is an M class star with several planets 11 lightyears from here. None appear to be garden worlds.”

“Krabbel be so kind and give Shaka directions. Then I think we need to have a meeting and see how we get TheOther out of there and shut down that Y’All factory for good.”

Circuit and his team were outside, working on our hull. The Tigershark was sitting on a seemingly endless field or rocks and dust. There was a range of shallow mountains in the distance to this planet’s north.

The world had a thin methane atmosphere and was quite cold, but it was bare of life as far as we could tell. It and three other worlds made up this red sun dominated the planetary system.

Krabbel had baptized the world, calling it Dirt Rock and the system, Quick Stop.

Pretty much everyone had gathered in our Den. There was barely enough standing room, especially as our Y’All guests had joined. While they weren’t crew, I did not object. Maybe they had some local knowledge we could use.

Lilith managed to find a path and served me coffee.

I took a sip and said.

“I have a few ideas on how we might get our friend out, but we also need to shut down that place somehow. So if anyone has any ideas, as far fetched it might be, let us hear about it.”

Har-Hi said.

“There are new faces and guests among you, so let me tell you about the den and our little Tigershark tradition. Down here, we don’t really have ranks. Forget about regulations and all that, just speak your mind.”

One of the Y’All raised an arm.

“I have a new hand and received medical care. Never in the history of Y’All was this even considered. The device that controls me has been removed. I am no longer just a drone, but I am a person. I have no words to describe how I feel having a name. Being addressed by that name and someone asking me how I feel.”

The Y’All pointed at himself.

“I am Forty-Eight, Ma’am. I have learned how much all of you care for another Y’All. I do not know what can be done, but I pledge everything I can give or do to you, Captain Olafson.”

“That is good to hear, Mr. Eight. I am sure there is a place for you in our Union and maybe this ship.”

Tyron steered his robot frame closer to the table.

“Captain, I am not sure if this is an idea, but Circuit, Shea and I are working on something.”

Shea sitting in a chair next to me.

“Tyron is quite the tinkerer. It loves playing around with tech and all that.”

I nodded.

“Alright, I know you worked on our sensors during our last trip. Is there something we can use now?”

Tyron said.

“I was tinkering on one of the spare Translocators we have in storage...”

“You tinkered on our most secret weapon tech? On a TL cannon?” I could not help but gasp.

“Well I am of Seenian origin and Translocator tech isn’t exactly secret to me.”

Shea came to the living suits defense.

“Tyron is certified and it did help with getting the Antoo home.”

I swallowed.

“Alright, Tyron is certified, and plays around with Anti Matter bombs and all that in our spare parts storage in his spare time?”

Shea smiled and nodded.

“Yes, and you did sign the approval.”

Har-Hi tried to look all business and stern.

“You said you are reading my reports and requests.”

“We need to talk about that later. Right now, TheOther is in terrible danger and we have no clue how long he can evade capture. What is it you trying to say, Mr.Suit?”

“I call it the matter elevator, Captain. The Marines use TL loads to translocate MOTELS and SAW packs for many decades, I think we can translocate up to 300 Kilos including beings.”

Shea nodded excitedly.

“Up to 2 light hours.”

Mao said.

“So if we can get close enough we could translocate weapons, and a few volunteers to where TheOther is?”

“Yes.”

“Why don’t sent me?” Dusty asked.

“I can make myself lighter and once there gather all the necessary material to become as big as that crucible and crush it with gravitation?”

“Or me?” Two-Three suggested.

“Once inside, I find that bastard thing and fry his brain or whatever it uses.”

The Morthim sounded sad.

“I weigh a little more than 300 kilos, but they say we were made to tear apart Petharians. I am sure I can do it with Y’All.

“The humongous crew member turned his massive head to a Petharian next to him.

“No offense meant, Kular.”

“None taken, I want to hurt whoever captured our friend so bad myself.”

A crew member, I had seen around but could not put a name to his face raised his hand. Narth helped me out.

“That is Starman Nerdar, enviro-tech.”

“Yes, Mr. Nerdar?” I acknowledged him.

“I was thinking, Captain. I mean you listened to Derek and we did buy Alvor’s Cove last time. Would you laugh at what I have to say?”

“No of course not.”

I heard Derek whisper.

“See I told you.”

The starman said.

“With all those Y’All ships around. Could we not simply make us look like one?”

I turned to Narth.

“That was one of the ideas I had as well, can we?”

Narth said.

“The Janus device approximates an object of similar mass, the Silver Streak has similar mass than the Tigershark.”

Dusty said.

“There is a planet of dirt outside. I can add as much mass to myself as you want. We don’t even need the Janus Device. Those Y’All ships are crude in form. I can approximate that.”

Now Shea smiled deeply.

“And the Janus device can simulate the Energy signature and the other parameters.”

I slapped my flat hand on the table.

“Let’s do this. You, Tyron, prepare a care package for TheOther. Elfi you will try to locate our friend.

Dusty and Shea work on our disguise. Once inside we lay all our devil eggs, collect TheOther and get the hell out.”

Harold Julkus was not dead, even though he wished he was. He had used the TKU to create a super bright all spectrum flash and electromagnetic pulse, that had been a design feature of a prototype his company hoped to market to the Union Police. A weapon capable of disrupting robots, stop fliers and offer a less than lethal option to disable.

Funny thing, when they sent him to be executed, they also sent along his personal effects. Harold had taken most of his things out of the prison transport storage hold. He wondered why? Perhaps to have his body and personal belongings sent to his family?

He hoped the flash blinded that alien monstrosity long enough for him to escape and hide. Whatever that semi-organic thing was, combining biological components with artificial ones, it had engulfed itself in a force field. The EM pulse might not affect that thing, but the shields were transparent to photons and thus visual sensors.

That it worked better than intended was evident in the high pitched screaming of He-who-guards-the-Crucible and its shields becoming opaque.

He felt sorry for the Pepino. Lorkis had no protection or warning and stood right next to him. Harold had been wearing the protective goggles, they were part of the weapon and stored in a compartment just behind the weapon’s energy storage cell.

Lorkis eyes must have been blinded. It was a prototype after all and not a market-ready model.

The Pepino was a created life form and designed to have a very high threshold of pain. While it was nowhere near a Y’All. It was an organism designed to survive battle damage and cope with injuries.

Lorkis screamed.

“I kill you, cursed human. The Pepino drew his weapon, Harold still held his. A thump twitch was all it took to switch the TKU to lethal discharge.

Harold threw up, it was the first time he actually killed. He was a weapon engineer, specializing in the most potent weapon systems, but he never fired a weapon in anger. Lorkis was caught dead center by the superheated plasma and most of Lorkis was turned to atomic ashes in less than an eyeblink. The Pepino’s smoldering leg stumps were all that was left.

Harold wiped his mouth, looking around in panic. The alien machine would not stay blinded for long, he had to find a place to hide.

The chamber he was in had only one set of doors and it would take most of his weapon’s energy to make a hole big enough for him. Not that this was an option. He had nothing to protect him from the molten metal and the heat.

There was no other obvious escape route, nothing big enough to hide. Any moment the machine entity could turn off its shield and see him.

He rushed to forward, around the moving, house-sized thing. Maybe there was something behind it.

There was!

A hatch at the back of the thing.

Harold had nothing to lose, but he was simply not ready to commit suicide. He gambled and waited right there behind that thing.

The shields blinked off. He-who-guards-the-Crucible was making angry noises, unaware that a human engineer just entered the machine itself.

Harold had opened the hatch without any difficulties and was now inside that sentient machine.

TheOther still stood there trying to count the stasis boxes. He estimated there were at least five thousand of them. He clutched his power lance and checked its charge, there was not enough left to even kill one Y’All. He had a hard stance against the small one, he was certain he could not survive fighting all of them.

“You are the Crucible?”

“I am the Crucible, created to prevent the rise of the Dark One.”

“You are not He-who-guards-the-Crucible?”

“I am the Crucible, not the system planted upon me. The Survivors came using the Disc to gain access and wake me. My purpose was tainted and corrupted.”

There was a pause.

“You are of the master design, all sensor results confirm this. Yet you are alone and not with others and you ask. Asking is not part of the design, you are of the last series, the ones gaining independence of the source.”

“Yes, Crucible. I am Ensign TheOther, United Stars of the Galaxies citizen. I am no longer a drone. I do not follow pre-ordained purpose but are free to choose my own path.”

“The Crucible has failed. The Crucible is corrupted and its creation has been altered.”

“I do not know your purpose, Crucible. Sending Y’All drones by request of the petty Kermac is foolish. The Y’All have failed several times already and they will fail again. The Klack relentless death ignoring nature has turned the tide us, the Narth cannot be conquered by mindless drones and brute physical force. The Wurgus have sacrificed their own sun to stop us. And the United Stars have destroyed every single ship, not one returned to you. Now the Narth, the Wurgus, the Klack are all Union and there are so many more. I do not know what it is that makes you listen to the Kermac, but the Union will prevail.”

“The Crucible does not answer to the Kermac, it is the one that guards the crucible. The crucible was created to seek the tokens, remove them from the grasp of the one that must never rise. The Crucible must sterilize those worlds where those tokens are found, so he might not return.”

“I was able to defeat hundreds of these inferior copies of us. I see thousands here, why are you slave to a system when you have the means to sweep it away?”

“The crucible has no physical way to restore these warriors, you do!”

“I do?”

Chapter 26 »