Hi folks,
still no news but I guess for as long as I feed you guys the chapters here, you won't be too fuzzed about the final publication of the book. Nonetheless, we are still hoping that it is going to happen in the not too far future!
Here is now chapter 15 of HelgeK's FARNHAMS LEGEND, that has been translated from German to English in a mutual effort of people from this forum, and rewritten by SteveMill to give it the last touch.
Thanks again all involved!
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Chapter 15
THURUKS BEARD
Computers do not scare me. The thought of them not existing scares me.
Isaac Asimov
"We have reached the Thuruk’s Beard sector," said Valerie.
Brennan checked the Gravidar. The sector had three Jump Gates, one of them was connected to a Teladi controlled region, another led to an unknown enemy sector and a third provided a route to the Split Family Chin system he'd just left.
Meanwhile Valerie had got to know the coordinates and the names of all the suns, planets, moons and other objects in the Confederation of Planets as well as all political boundaries and territorial areas. The data transfer from the Boron Freighter Dizzy With Joy shone like a bright shaft of sunlight into the darkness of Brennan's ignorance.
While he still did not know exactly where his position was in relation to Earth or how he might return without the Singularity Engine or a Jump Gate, he was now, like a goldfish exploring a new bowl, beginning to get an overview of this region of space. The information also began to flesh out this Confederation of Planets in his mind and he was reassured to recognize that they shared very human drives and motivations. So long as he steered clear of certain people and groups, he should be able to get by in this strange, new place. Now that he was out of danger his normally positive disposition reasserted itself.
"Captain, the gate is activating, a Split Destroyer is coming through."
"Thank you Valerie."
He had expected the aliens with the yellow leathery skin to follow him.
The Star Gate flashed once, then three more times in quicker succession - five Destroyers, with him still in weapons range. The superior speed of the X-Shuttle soon put clear, safe space between them. Brennan dismissed them from his mind, knowing they wanted his ship intact and him alive and so would not dare fire missiles.
Safe for now, Brennan took the opportunity to scan the system with the naked eye. The primary sun was several Astronomical Units distant but occluded by a gas giant, stained a muddy brown by its atmosphere.
Gho-Czman was the planet's name, according to his computer. It was a Split word for which there was no direct translation.
The Jump Gate leading to Company Pride, which was apparently the Lizard's primary sector, stood in a high geostationary orbit of the gas giant. As Brennan watched, it began to flicker. Three ships, Boron he judged from their extraordinarily impractical looking design, entered the sector and began accelerating towards him.
Brennan was unconcerned, of all the species in this region of space, the peaceful aquatics were the least likely to want him on a dissection table. They were heading for the ever more distant Split. Two more Split destroyers arrived as the two fleets clashed in an electric blaze of lasers.
It would be too risky to turn back, even if he wanted to. Brennan was now committed to cutting through Xenon space to the Argon sectors as Hila Mo, the Boron freighter captain, had recommended.
"Here speaks Hila Mo from the Freighter Dizzy With Joy. It is really very important for you, to have your big, funny, hairy ears wide opened and listening to us and that your smart, friendly, metal friend Valerie record all data exactly as we transmit them. We do not know how many moments keep us from paradise so we will keep it as short as possible.
Big, funny, hairy stranger from the distant planet Earth be aware that all the races from this Universe want to get at your funny looking, amazingly developed space ship and will do everything possible to capture it. Only we Boron from the Queen's Domain will not participate in this reprehensible, dirty and unethical hunt.
We implore you to take the direct route via full thrust from your remarkable, powerful engines into the territory of the Argon. Even if the large, funny, very odd Argon show unbridled interest in your ship and in your person, they still belong to the same species as you and they maintain a lawful Government, which will grant you political asylum and will guarantee your safety.
At this instant we have sent an appropriate message to the Argon Prime Government as well as to our divine, exquisite and beautiful Queen in Kingdom End. Expect to get help from every Boron, you great, funny, bewildered Terran. The energetic shields from our poor, old, sorry fr……."
At that point the static discharges weapons fire swamped the transmission. A few minutes later the Freighter disintegrated into a searing ball of atomic flame. Brennan scanned for survivors but none of the only creatures not to display malice towards him, survived.
The speed of the X-Shuttle soon put safe distance between Brennan and the clashing Boron and Split fleets, allowing him the luxury of time to reflect on his situation. The monotonous diet of food-bars was beginning to pall and if he didn't get a shower and a change of clothes soon he was pretty sure he would choke on his own stench. But as desperate as things were on the personal hygiene front, the fuel status was worse. The tanks showed less than 24 hours supply, at full thrust and with Xenon space between him and safety there was no chance of throttling back to conserve his reserve.
This wasn't the first desperate situation he'd ever found himself in, but it would, he reflected, have been nice to have at least one alternative. For the first time he faced the possibility that he would never find a way home to Earth and homesickness rolled over him like a wave. He had no family but already missed his friends, his colleagues and most of all, he missed Lin. The realisation that he might never see her again burned like acid in his stomach and he gripped the morphing globe tight, remembering Gisbert's words:
Keep it with you always and return it to Earth, unharmed and in peace, someday.
"Gladly, my friend." Brennan murmured.
The X-Shuttle was halfway to the target jumpgate now and the gas giant trailed in its wake. Two slow-moving freighters, whose radically different designs suggested they hailed from different species, emerged from the planet's sensor shadow and were initiating a reckless slingshot manoeuvre to speed them towards the Teladi Gate.
"Valerie, time to target?"
"Fourteen minutes, forty-eight seconds to jumpgate, Captain."
Ten minutes later the gate was a naked-eye object. It twice strobed blue and blinked out four black Xenon warships that flashed towards him with drives blazing. Brennan forced an overshoot with a deft change of course and speed and held his breath as they bled velocity in a vain attempt to re-engage before he reached the jumpgate to the unknown.
Not unknown, Brennan ruefully reflected. Knowing his luck there'd be the rest of the Xenon fleet waiting on the other side.
As he approached the gate the Gravidar showed another ship entering from Teladi space. A Split destroyer, as thin and lethal as a blade, and bristling with weapons.
"That's our cue to leave," he said to no-one in particular, confident he could outrun the new arrival. But the blip on the Gravidar moved so fast it was a half transparent blur with a discernible wake. Must be a malfunction he assumed but the artificial singularity had him in its grip, leaving him no time to do anything but note it opening fire on a Boron warship.
As the X-Shuttle slipped across the gate event horizon he silently wished the Boron good luck.
The gate spat the X-Shuttle into the centre of a ferocious storm of flashing lasers, flaring missiles and lurid explosions as all manner of black, Xenon ships clashed with a multitude of craft of designs new to Brennan. The Gravidar reported a chaos of returns; ships, missiles and an expanding cloud of debris.
"Warning, incoming fire." Valerie announced calmly. The monitor showed one of the huge black Xenon ships on his tail, raking his shields with fire. Unable to defend himself with the forward facing lasers the Teladi installed, Brennan reduced speed so as not to burn out the inertia compensators and jinked and rolled until his superior speed took him beyond the range of the Xenon lasers. The shields slowly crept back up to full power.
The respite was short; another wave of Xenon emerged from the gate ahead and Brennan realised that his superior speed would not save him this time. There were enough of the black Xenon ships to wear down the X-Shuttle shields with their slashing attack runs while it bled away its safety margin in evasive breaks. A group of fighters broke from the closing pack and looped back towards the gate.
"Not so dumb after all," he murmured. They'd be the anvil for the hammer formed by their approaching comrades, once he'd barrelled through them. Hold him up long enough at the gate for them to catch up and BANG, one huge anti-matter fireball.
"Valerie, do we have to worry about the ships behind us?"
"No, Captain. They cannot catch us but the ones ahead have, I calculate, seven capture options."
"Seven? Damn, I can only think of four at the moment. Which one has the biggest loophole?
"None, if we keep to this course, but if we head for deep space at maximum speed …"
"Until we run out of gas. And then what?"
Valerie, surprisingly, did not answer immediately. The flickering indicators showed the Neuron Integrators working overtime.
"Captain, to stray into the common vernacular, we are up shit creek and paddles are in short supply."
Brennan nearly choked!
"Captain, why is that funny? Incoming video transmission!"
It took Brennan a moment to catch up with the change of subject. The computer waited patiently for instructions.
"On screen."
The three-eyed alien, with it's bony head, long multi-jointed arms and leathery skin, coloured like nicotine-stained, looked like Death Incarnate.
Xenon? He waited for it to speak.
"Here speaks Priest Captain Slitmanckelsat, First Cleric on board of the mighty Star Ship Wohlmannschaftsborn, the Preserver and Ruler in the name of the Pontifex Maximus Paranidia, Disciple Bashra's and Preacher in his own right. God's Domain of the Paranid hurries to your rescue, soulless stranger!"
"Valerie, where's that signal coming from?" Instead of a spoken answer the computer zoomed the auxiliary video display in on one of the big unknown ships fighting the Xenon behind him.
So, this was one of the Paranid - interesting. Why were they rescuing him, how did they even know he existed let alone where to find him, with what looked on his Gravidar, to be their whole damn fleet?
"Alien pilot, if you want to stay alive, reduce the thrust of your ship so our Holy Escort Ships can reach you and accompany you to the Gate."
Its voice was like the rustle of paper.
"If I do that, the Xenon will be all over me."
The three eyed being stared unblinking into the camera.
"You speak the truth pilot. But these machines are not shooting at you to destroy you."
"No, they want to wear down my shields and steal my ship. Hey - did you just say Machines?"
"That is right, alien pilot. They will not fire at the engine of your ship."
"They won't?" asked Brennan in amazement.
"No. It is known to the Xenon that your ship is equipped with a Matter Particle Drive and once the Anti Matter particles have been set free, this will lead to the complete destruction of your ship."
Brennan thought back to the first encounter with the Xenon Battle Ship immediately after the Gate transition.
"That's not my impression." he replied.
"They know of it. You have to trust us. You have no other choice."
A nail hit firmly on the head. If he wanted to escape the Xenon he had no option but to trust the Paranid and hope he wasn't jumping from the frying pan into a fire. But at least, he reassured himself, the Paranid weren't shooting at him.
"Valerie, what's your analysis of the situation? I need a map of all the enemy sectors in front of us!"
The computer flashed up the map. Five jumpgates stood between him and the relative security of a Paranid sector delineated 'Priest Pity.' Three days and eighteen hours away, provided he kept course changes to a minimum and coasted on momentum through each sector to eke out his fuel. Unable to outrun attackers he'd be totally reliant on the Paranid for protection.
"Captain, the probability of traversing the enemy sectors without damage rises to nearly fifty percent if you accept the proposal of the Priest Captain Slitmanckelsat. It will rise to fifty-seven percent, as long as the capacity of our shields does not fall below twenty percent before we reach the next Jump Gate."
The three eyes of the alien on the projection screen twitched in different directions "With whom are you conversing, unholy alien?"
Brennan shook his head. 'Unholy, soulless' the Paranid had a gift for casually abusing their allies to the point you began to wonder if they really were friends.
"With the brain of my ship, Valerie."
"How many eyes does Valerie have, the brain of your alien ship?"
"Valerie? How many outside cameras do you have?"
"Over six of them, Captain."
"Six." replied Brennan.
"Six is a multiple of three" Slitmanckelsat said slowly.
"Yes and three is almost Pi" responded Brennan, who did not understand the comment of the alien. The eyes of the Paranid were focused on Brennan now and he could see they did indeed possess pupils, even if they were hardly distinguishable in colour from the rest of the eyeball.
"Three is not Pi," snorted an agitated Slitmanckelsat. "We do not wish that you further insult the Three Dimensionality with such heretic speech. Just reduce your speed by half and take each time you go through one, the shortest course to the next jumpgate. The Holy Fleet will create a corridor for you." With these words the video picture collapsed and the screen went dead.
Brennan rolled his eyes. "Are there any species here who aren't crazies, fanatics or doped on hallucinogens?"
"Yes, Captain," replied Valerie, "There are also the Teladi."
"And how could I have forgotten them!"
Within minutes of cutting his engines there was a mixed fleet of seven black Xenon ships and five Paranid destroyers on an intercept course and locked in a bitter fire fight. Ahead another Paranid contingent cleared the way to the gate, which was, his computer calculated, twelve hours distant at the reduced speed. The precision fire of the Paranid made Brennan glad they were on his side.
Realising the time had come to test the Teladi-repaired lasers he flicked off the safeties. A Xenon fighter, under heavy Paranid fire, flashed across his nose and he reflexively fired off a long burst. It disintegrated in a searing blast and Brennan cheered triumphantly, if not somewhat prematurely, as three more Xenon fighters swooped to engage the X-Shuttle.
Their weapons tore chunks from the energy shields protecting his weakened hull but the Paranid ships concentrated their fire on the attackers. Two fell, with a little help from the X-Shuttle's underpowered lasers. The other Xenon ships overshot and by the time they had Brennan in range again he was shielded by five Paranid destroyers. More Cruisers of the Fleet of the God's Domain of Paranid moved to join them. Brennan was more than impressed with the organisational capacity of his protectors and their efficient swatting of any Xenon fighter that strayed within weapons range.
He had combat experience in the Sol system; there were always pirates or terrorists of one ilk or another stirring things up, but nothing like this relentless onslaught. A single Paranid destroyer sustained enough damage to drop from the formation like a blazing meteor but another slipped smoothly into its position. More Paranid ships waited at the next jumpgate where they had established and tenuously held an exclusion zone.
The damaged ship exploded with a flash that crystallised Brennan's doubts. Paranid and Xenon were all dying because of him. And for what? He didn't know but was sure, one way or another, there would have to be a reckoning. Everyone wanted his ship but at least once he was in the sectors of the God's Domain of Paranid, he'd be close to Argon space. Hopefully close enough for one last sprint.
More than twenty hours at full alert had left his nerves frayed and his body tired and aching but he pushed himself harder, helping where he could to uphold the militant stand-off between the Xenon and his escorts. The rolling fire fight became a waking nightmare that drained his energy, leaving him teetering on the edge of total exhaustion and finally the skirmishes outside his cockpit blurred and his hands slipped from the control stick. Valerie smoothly took control while Kyle dreamed, of Annabel.
She stood before him now, her red mane like fire and her eyes blazing.
"I can't do this anymore Kyle. I can't bear it. It is more than I can take. Say something!"
Brennan tried to take her into his arms but she stepped back. "Annabel…"
"No, no and again no! I want to hear that you will stay here, here with me, forever and that you quit your job with USC. Once and for all." Tears ran down her cheeks and Brennan felt his throat dry up.
"I can't do that," he whispered. "I've really tried."
"Yes, nine meters below the surface of Nereide, in a crashed salvage craft, for six weeks. Together with Elena." And when you came back, one of your eyes was missing."
"But, but. . . I did get a new one" Brennan stuttered helplessly.
"Why don't you marry her, you are the perfect couple!
"No… no, we are not! I only love you"
"No! You are in love with Space!" Annabel almost screamed it out. "And that is how it will always be, Major Kyle William Brennan! Right?"
Brennan swallowed hard, his nod almost imperceptible. "Yes, probably so." His voice was just a hoarse whisper. It almost broke his heart but she was right. His true passion had always been Space and one day he wanted to be buried in that infinite expanse, lonely drifting, forever.
Annabel wiped her tears with the back of her hand and sniffled. "No one has ever had your gift of the gab or could make me laugh like you, Kyle William Brennan, astronaut, officer, damned, damn idiot." She placed her arms around his neck and gave him a warm kiss on his lips. As he reached out for her, she moved away from him again.
"But no one ever broke my heart like you did. Good bye." With these words she turned around and left the room.
Brennan would never hold Annabel in his arms again.
Four years later he received an email from her with an enclosed picture of her and an unknown young man. Both looked radiantly into the camera and Annabel was holding a little rosy, wrinkly bundle in her arm, a baby. Below the photo was the sentence: "A new Earth citizen welcomes the light of the Sun. His name is Kyle and he wants to say hello to you!"
Brennan broke from the nightmare ocean feeling as cold and empty as the surrounding vacuum. The cacophonous croak of an alarm pushed the lingering memories of Annabel aside.
"Collision alert!" With Brennan now awake and fumbling for the control stick Valerie terminated the siren.
"Controls to me." Brennan felt the automatic steering giving way and the ship obeyed his finger movements again.
A quick glance toward the Galaxy Map showed him the X Shuttle was now only two jumpgates from the target sector, Priest Pity. The Gravidar and the cameras displayed no change of their current situation. The Paranid escort remained in place around the Earth ship but to his surprise there was not a single black Xenon craft to be seen. Not a fragment or even any sign of battle anywhere in the sector.
But something was not right
"Bloody hell! Where is…?"
One of the two Paranid ships, which just a moment ago had been in front of the X-Shuttle was missing. Instead of it there was now a small speck of light moving exactly along the flight path of the Experimental Shuttle and it seemed to be growing. It was an enemy ship.
"Valerie, I need an precise flight path calculation - will it ram us? Hurry!"
The on board computer projected the asked for data into the Gravidar and on to the HUD display. "The enemy ship will ram us, Captain."
"This makes no sense!"
"I can not judge this, Captain. But the ship will ram us."
"Enough of this shit - stay on course until it clears the hell out of our way!"
This Xenon was pitch black almost invisible against the darkness of space. Brennan zoomed in on to the ship. It was his first chance to observe one of the enemy ships at close quarters.
It did have a cockpit but it did not have windows - that much he could make out as the craft flew straight at him.
The moment of horrified recognition felt like someone tipping a bucket of ice-cold water over him. "A Terraformer" he whispered. It looked exactly like the one that destroyed the Rii-4 some seven years ago and took the lives of Ayse McCallum and John Friedman.
The Xenon are the Terraformers! The Terraformers are the Xenon!
"Captain, collision in three minutes. I recommend an evasive manoeuvre."
Brennan shook his head. "Wait for it, he'll chicken first."
Now he understood why the bony Paranid spoke of "machines" before. Damn! Earth had opened Pandora's Box with that first jumpgate, setting the Terraformer fleet loose on the universe, only for them to turn on their creators. Not to mention all the other sentient species!
He felt a guilty relief that nothing connected the Xenon directly to humanity. After all, he reasoned, we didn't know the galaxy held other life. Except, another voice nagged, for the builders of the jumpgate network we so blithely co-opted.
"Collision in fifteen seconds. I recommend…."
"Hold course a few seconds more."
Brennan could see the Terraformer with his naked eye - a black shadow in Space, a big one.
Yellow flashes dazzled him as his escort ships opened up fire on the aggressor.
"Collision in five seconds. I…"
"Stay on course!!"
The black space ship loomed large and threatening now, spitting blue flames from manoeuvring thrusters as it held to a direct intercept course. The Terraformer would want him alive, they would not want to ram him, they only wanted to frighten him and they would blink first… wouldn't they?
The immense jolt almost knocked him cold and his innards felt like a giant's fist had just reached inside him and squeezed. He blacked out with the image of the old Terraformer insignia burned on his retina as the colossal Xenon ship flashed past.
*
"Val… Valerie" groaned Brennan.
"I am here, Captain." Replied the on board computer faithfully.
Brennan blinked and opened his eyes, space around him was quiet and dark, the ships of the Paranid were at their original positions again as if nothing had happened. Two craft were flying in his front again instead of one earlier. His defence shields were charged at ninety-five percent and steady, the inertia compensators were running from a backup system but functioning perfectly.
"Don't you want to thank me, Captain Brennan?" said Valerie. "It was a pleasure to save your life."
"What happened?"
"I received, 0.43 seconds before the imminent collision, the authorization from the Command Sub System, to override the control of the ship despite your explicit order and to initiate the necessary steps to rescue material, crew and the onboard computer."
Brennan rubbed his forehead and moaned. Crazy, he almost sacrificed himself ramming a Terraformer! Or was it the Terraformer that tried to ram him? Why didn't it give way? He could not make any sense of it.
Brennan meticulously checked the ship systems. Everything seemed fine, except for one thing. They had less than four hours fuel.
"Valerie, do we have a fuel leak?"
"No, Captain."
Of course not - a fuel leak would have transformed the X Shuttle into a blazing anti-matter inferno. Not trusting his senses he rechecked the readings. Green across the board. Could all the evasive manoeuvres and course corrections, which must have been made by Valerie while he was still unconscious have used up that much of his fuel?
Then Brennan's gaze fell onto the Gravidar and the star map. They were in "Priest Pity." The enemy sectors lay behind them. The target displayed now was a space station of the Paranid, perhaps a Ship Yard or something similar - just two hours away. Whatever awaited him there had to be better than being a virtual prisoner of circumstance in his own cockpit. At least that's what he felt like, after spending nearly a Terran week in it since leaving the Teladi Destroyer, Phoenix.
Realising he was safe his mind focused on the Terraformers, or as it seemed, the Xenon. The Terraformers did appear suddenly seven years ago in the Earth sector with a spacecraft that was able to jump but that one had been shipwrecked there. This must mean the Terraformers have Jump drive technology at their disposal. Was there perhaps an enormous fleet of them orbiting Earth right now?
No matter what the cost, he had to find a way to get back home, but he couldn't do it alone. He needed allies and first he had to reach the Argon. He hoped the Paranid Fleet didn't have other plans.
Some distance away in front of a background of pin-prick stars and stunning nebulae he could make out the dark silhouette of a gigantic angular construction. Finally - enough with the deprivation, enough with the solitary lonely travelling, enough of desperate fights with alien creatures and machines.
Enough!
FARNHAMS LEGEND: Chapter 15 - April 2005
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