Void Ship Read online

  Zueros revealed his race were known as the Soloth, and that their home world was much further away from Unity space than the others. Specifically, even beyond Thousand Suns Space. That was why they were particularly interested in halting the advance of the Known Races into that area of the Orion Spur of the galaxy.

  “Wouldn’t you protect your home?” Zueros asked of Makera and Renwick while Amanda/Yan processed the DNA sample data.

  “I would,” said Renwick, “but not at the expense of billions of other lives.”

  “Those lives have not been destroyed,” countered Zueros. “They have merely been placed in isolation, to slow their progress.”

  “Which is much the same,” said Makera. “My people would never make such a choice. We would rather fight.”

  “As is your way, Ambassador. But wars are much more destructive than blockades. And the Void is a blockade,” said Zueros.

  “But what are you blocking?” asked Renwick. “Science? Progress?”

  “Interbreeding, for one,” said Zueros. “Light, for another.”

  “Light?” said Renwick, intrigued.

  “Why interbreeding?” asked Makera, cutting in before Renwick could start asking his questions about light. Zueros answered Makera’s question first.

  “Our people believed that it was the Preserver’s intent to create a Diaspora of DNA as a means of preserving themselves past the time when their civilization would dissolve due to internal pressures. They believed that they were strong, but not strong enough to survive their own flaws. By splitting their being into these four different pieces, they could preserve enough about themselves and their characteristics that they admired to lay a foundation for new civilization, one that they hoped would be stronger than their own.”

  Zueros continued. “Each of the races carry a significant piece of the puzzle, a set of characteristics the Preservers admired. Humanity though was the most surprising to emerge, Mr. Renwick, given your planet’s reputation as a genetic dumping ground.”

  Renwick looked up sharply at this. “Dumping ground, Mr. Zueros?” he said. Zueros nodded.

  “For many millennia the Preservers transported less-successful races to your world, to clear the way the way for more promising candidates. Imagine their surprise when you came out of your system fully matured, your divergent weaknesses creating a racially diverse unity that surpassed all their expectations,” he said. “Haven’t you ever wondered why the other Known Races have nearly uniform racial characteristics, while yours has so many differing combinations?”

  Renwick allowed Zeuros’ comments to pass over him, then changed the subject again.

  “You were speaking of puzzle pieces. How does this mosaic of races supposedly work?” he asked.

  Zueros actually smiled. “Humanity is the heart, the soul, the emotions and inspiration. The Raelen are the spirit, creatures of great passion yet also great vision. The Gataan are the body, young, strong, able and willing to do all the hard work of building a civilization,” he said.

  “The Trinity, plus one,” said Renwick. Zueros gave Renwick a look that indicated he had just unlocked a key.

  “That just leaves your people,” said Makera. Zueros nodded.

  “The Soloth represent the intellect, the thirst for knowledge, the leaders of this new civilization,” he said.

  “In your own minds, anyway,” countered Renwick. “Intellect without emotion, especially compassion, can be a dangerous thing.”

  “Which is precisely why I am here, Senator. I represent a group of my people who disagree with the course our society has chosen, one of repressing the other races. That’s why I’m seeking your assistance,” Zueros said.

  “You haven’t addressed interbreeding yet,” said Makera. Zueros shrugged.

  “It’s simple really. If the Known Races are genetically compatible, then it makes sense that interbreeding would lead to an increasing of each individual race’s abilities and strengthen their civilizations. That was seen as a threat by my society, and thus, another reason for the Void,” said Zueros.

  “You mentioned the Void was also designed to block light. How does that matter?” said Renwick, finally getting to ask his question. Zueros looked reluctant to answer.

  “Our galaxy is in a constant cycle of motion through both space and time,” he explained. “As our section of the galaxy moves through this cycle, it passes through areas of greater light and greater darkness. Our science indicates strongly that the further we move away from the greatest local light source, the mass of stars at the center of our galaxy, we pass into a time of less energy, and less progress, or perhaps even regression. As we cycle closer, into greater light, comes increased, measurable, energy emanating from the galactic core,” Zueros said.

  “So where are we in this supposed cycle?” asked Renwick. “How long is it?”

  “From your perspective, based on your distance from the core, a galactic cycle, or a galactic year, is about two-hundred sixty million Terran years. You are just entering the last, and the lightest, portion of this cycle. Thus our people felt the need to act now to suppress the Known Races.”

  “Before you were overcome by them,” said Renwick.

  Zueros nodded. “That was the fear.”

  “But you don’t share that fear,” stated Makera.

  “Oh, I do,” said Zueros, turning to her and actually smiling for the first time. “But my group, my school of thought on our world, feels that any parent race powerful enough to split themselves into four pieces and spread itself out amongst the stars is far wiser than we are, and that plan should be allowed to proceed to its natural conclusion.”

  “So, you’re an idealist,” said Renwick. “The worst kind of ally to have.” Zueros looked at him with a narrow gaze.

  “I hope this isn’t an indication of your cynicism, Senator. We will have to work together to succeed,” Zueros said. Renwick held up a hand.

  “Don’t get me wrong,” he said. “I’ll take any allies I can. It’s just that I’ve found that when it comes to having friends with ideals or friends with guns, the ones with guns usually win.”

  Before Zueros could respond Amanda/Yan broke into the conversation.

  “I have the results of the test,” she said.

  “And?” said Renwick.

  “It is as he says,” she replied. “His DNA is distinct from human or Gataan or Raelen, but unmistakably a branch of the same tree, with the equivalent point-two-five percent variable in the codex.”

  “So, Mr. Renwick,” said Zueros, leaning against the command console of the skiff. “You have a decision to make. Are we allies, or not?”

  “You’re the one who has guards at the door,” said Renwick. Zueros responded to this by going to the door and dismissing the guards he had brought, handing them each a credit counter full of cash. They weren’t happy, but they did as instructed.

  “We’ll need to use your ship, Mr. Renwick, if we’re going to get where we’re going,” Zueros said after they had gone and he had locked down the docking arm. Renwick put his hands to his hips.

  “Wait a minute, you’re claiming to be an advanced alien form a distant star. Don’t you have some kind high tech starship of your own?” Renwick said.

  “I did,” responded Zueros, a crooked smile crossing his lips. “But it was in the dry dock that you destroyed.”

  Renwick looked to Makera, then back to Zueros. “That was yours?”

  Zueros nodded.

  “I thought if Mr. Kish was aboard it would give you a more obvious target,” he said. “But I have to admit I thought you would rather steal it than destroy it.”

  “Sorry,” was all the chagrined Renwick could muster.

  An hour later and Renwick ordered the skiff out of Skondar, gladly leaving the slave station behind them. He was pleased to turn piloting the vessel over to Captain Aybar and Mischa Cain to guide them back to the Kali.

  “We’ll need to make all haste to Tarchus once we get back aboard the Void ship, Mr. R
enwick,” said Zueros once they were underway.

  “The Gataan home world? Why?” said Renwick.

  “The Kali is my ship,” interjected Amanda/Yan. “I say where she goes and doesn’t go.” Zueros bowed slightly to her in acknowledgement.

  “Of course. But I think for the sake of this mission perhaps we could all agree on one person to lead us.” Amanda/Yan looked at Renwick.

  “I trust him on diplomatic issues, and overall management of the mission. But on military issues, I’ll still be in charge,” she said.

  “Agreed,” said Zueros. He looked to Makera, who nodded yes.

  “Then I accept,” said Renwick. “But I think our first stop should be the emitter station, to shut down the Void.” Zueros shook his head.

  “You don’t understand me. We need to go to Tarchus because, as you said Renwick, we will need allies. We’ll need the Gataan, whatever is left of them.”

  “For what?” Renwick asked.

  “Why, to ward off the invasion, of course,” said Zueros.

  11.

  “Do you know of any other race that has a fleet powerful enough to stave off an invasion? One that is not only within reach of the Void, but actually inside it already?”

  Zueros was asking his question on the bridge of the Kali in front of her new command crew; himself, Renwick, Makera, and Yan, who had extracted herself from Amanda’s android body and was once again her old self, but with a surprising new wardrobe. The skin-tight body suit from her earlier incarnation was replaced now by a two-piece short skirt and cropped top, similar in style to Amanda’s dress, but which left her midriff exposed. The ensemble was completed by the knee-high black boots the android favored. Renwick found the change highly distracting. Behind them the other androids of the Kali went about their business in silence.

  Renwick leaned back in his chair, one arm raised over the back while he dangled a leg over the chair arm. “You’re assuming that in three centuries they haven’t degenerated into barbarism,” he said, trying hard to focus on Zueros and not Yan.

  “They haven’t, not totally,” said Zueros. “Our probes show that much.”

  “You’ve been monitoring them?” asked Makera.

  “Of course,” Zueros said as he shrugged off her question. “As I said, we have been monitoring all of you. But the Gataan are the only race whose territory is almost completely encompassed by the Void.”

  Yan crossed her arms. “You’ve been manipulating us from the beginning. You even manipulated my mission here. Did your people cause the accident here? Aboard the Kali?”

  “My predecessors must have, yes,” Zueros admitted.

  “That accident cost three of my command their lives,” she said. Zueros dipped his head in acknowledgement.

  “You have my apologies. But with all due respect captain, that was three centuries ago,” he said.

  “Not to me it wasn’t.” Renwick raised his hand to interject.

  “We won’t make any progress here until we choose to put the past behind us and focus on the here and now. And I’m trying to make a decision about what is best to do for all concerned now,” he said. Yan looked displeased but she withdrew from the conversation for the moment.

  “How can you know the Gataan will help us?” said Makera, her tone indicating she wasn’t sure she believed that they would.

  “I don’t,” said Zueros. “But I do know what they value. They’re starving for innovation, new technology and the like. They’ve been isolated for so long they believe the rest of the universe has forgotten them. This ship, and the wonders it brings, will be proof that they haven’t been.”

  “So you propose that we trade the Kali for an alliance with the Gataan? To fend off an invasion that we only have your word on?” Yan said, angry now. Renwick was pleased to see it. It was nice return to her old personality after the time she had spent inside Amanda.

  “The invasion is real, Captain Yan. And I can prove it to you.” Zueros asked to see the navigation console. Yan was reluctant but she showed him the apparatus. He sat down and after a few moments of manipulating the controls he projected a display onto the massive dome that served as a ceiling for the bridge of the Kali. He lit up set of local stars.

  “This is the approximate area of your current Known Cosmos. He magnified that until it filled the projection, then overlaid the Void in a gray gauze, so you could still see the stars through it. Then a blinking gold dot appeared.

  “That is the Kali, moving through Void Space on a general heading for the emitter station, which is located approximately here,” a green dot lit up on the display. “About six-point three light years from Tarchus, here.” A red dot appeared in the same general area of the emitter station. Now the view jumped back out and the three blinking dots got very close together. The display panned to the right and an orange dot appeared.

  “This is a target world within the Raelen Empire, the first target of the invasion fleet, in fact,” he said.

  “Can you magnify that location?” asked Makera. As if anticipating her request, the display zoomed up on the orange point. Makera studied it but said nothing.

  “Is that really your space?” asked Renwick. She nodded.

  “Zed Vadela Three. It’s our most distant colony,” she paused then before continuing, “The vanguard of the treaty area, leading to Thousand Suns Space,” she said.

  “The lynchpin,” said Renwick, quickly analyzing the scenario. “Cut off that colony and you cut off both the Unity and the Raelen from Thousand Suns Space, pinching them between the Void and the Soloth fleet.”

  “I’m glad you see it,” said Zueros. “And now to show you my sincerity,” he said. The display jumped back out, almost to the edge of the galactic arm, then panned down the arm, away from the core, past Thousand Suns Space; past vast numbers of un-surveyed stars. Then the display zoomed in again and a new purple dot appeared on the screen. But unlike the others, the dot continued to grow until it filed the screen, then it started to break up into individual dots. Hundreds of them.

  “This is the Soloth fleet, Mr. Renwick,” said Zueros. “An advance force, if you will. Still sixteen-hundred twenty three light years from the colony, but moving fast. They will be there in seven days.”

  “That’s impossible!” said Renwick. “It would take us months to make that journey!”

  “More than a year in our fastest ships,” said Makera.

  “This is the nature of your opposition, Senator, Ambassador. Do you want to take the risk that I am faking this, or do you want the best possible chance you have to defend yourselves?” he said. Renwick looked to Makera, and then to Yan.

  “We need to go to Tarchus,” Renwick said.

  “Agreed,” said Makera. He had never seen her shaken before, but clearly she was now.

  “Yan?”

  “The answers to the Void lie at the emitter station,” she said.

  “But there won’t be anything to save from the Void if we don’t go to Tarchus,” Renwick argued. Yan looked at him. She was clearly unhappy with the situation. Nonetheless, she walked slowly over to the main console where Amanda was stationed.

  “Change course, Amanda,” she said, “take us to Tarchus, maximum speed.”

  “We are already scooping as much dark energy as we can,” replied the android.

  “Then get with Mr. Kish and see if you can scoop more!” Yan said, angry. “We don’t have the time to waste.”

  “Yes, captain,” said Amanda.

  And with that Yan stormed from the bridge. Renwick could do nothing but watch her go.

  THEY WERE NEARLY A day into the three day trek through Void Space to Tarchus when Renwick heard the knocking on his door. He was halfway through his sleep cycle in one of the rest cabins. He expected it was Ambassador Makera yet again. He had already turned down her advances more than once. She still seemed unable to connect his rejection of her sexually with her actions in killing the soldiers aboard the slave station at Skondar. It was an alien thought process fo
r sure, and Renwick had no desire to delve further into Raelen psychology than he already had for the sake of the treaty.

  When he didn’t respond the knock came again.

  “Please go away,” he said, just loud enough for the person on the other side of the door to hear.

  “I need to talk to you,” came the soft response. It didn’t sound like Makera, so he quickly rolled out of bed, pulling on his tunic and pants, then went to the door and unlocked it. To his surprise it was the captain of the Kali on the other side.

  “May I come in?” Yan asked. He stood to one side and let her pass, then shut the door behind her.

  “I thought for sure that you were Ambassador Makera again, masquerading to get me to let you in,” he said.

  “I want to talk,” she said simply. He sat back down on his bed in the tiny room while she sat on the opposing berth.

  “What’s on your mind, Yan?” he said. She seemed hesitant to talk, so he prompted her. “Something bothering you?”

  “You mean besides the fact that I probably died three centuries ago, have been resurrected as a hologram, and caused the collapse of civilization as I knew it? No, besides that, nothing,” she said.

  “You didn’t cause the Void, Yan. The Soloth did,” he said gently.

  “So Zueros says.”

  “You don’t believe him?” said Renwick. She shook her head.

  “Not entirely. The way he manipulated my navigation console, I checked it later. There was no tampering. What he showed us was real. But I’m not sure I trust his motivations, or his honesty. There are things that don’t add up in his story.”

  “Such as?”

  “Such as that DNA test. I was inside Amanda, I was aware of it, but I couldn’t cognizantly interpret the results, it was like I was being blocked. I can’t verify it, therefore I don’t trust it,” she said. Renwick didn’t have an answer for her concerns, so he stayed silent for a few moments. She stared at the floor, saying nothing, so he prompted her again.