“Can I do it like that?” Jeremy was more than a little awed by the display.
“I can’t really stop you.” Corban wasn’t sure he liked where this was going.
Jeremy found a knife in his hand and soon was making a small cut on his hand. Hardly a ripple and it was gone. Another bigger cut followed and in another moment it too was gone.
“It’s your subconscious, it acts like your water form is a part of you and shifts the injured area into water, repairs it and shifts it back much like you breathe or blink. In a way you are an immortal now, that is a good thing if you plan on being a part of the war”.
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Kiyan sat on one of the giant limbs of the glow tree where he had landed with Ray. He had been reviewing the events of the last few months in his mind. So much had changed in the last few chapters of his life. Remembering the day that seemed so long ago but was in reality only about four months in the past when they had all been up in the tree enjoying life. Those days were over. Sensing a change in the water around him Kiyan stood up and prepared to return. A flash of blue and Kiyan decided that speed might be the best option for a return. Leaping onto Ray’s back as he launched into the air and the forest was soon speeding by.
Arriving back at the hanging village Kiyan was met with the exuberant Jeremy and his description of water forming. The dream began to make sense but still there was much that he didn’t understand. So Jeremy was a water elemental. Kiyan thought that it might happen but he had no idea it would happen to one as young as Jeremy. He was thinking about the dream as the group returned to their quarters. Theo joined him when Kiyan arrived at his room.
“Young one you seem disturbed about something. Can I help you?” Theo could feel the disturbance even though Kiyan was hiding his thoughts well.
“I had a dream last night and it didn’t make sense. Part of it makes some sense now but the rest doesn’t.” Kiyan opened his mind and showed Theo the dream.
“We don’t leave trails in time that can be traced like other beings do. However sometimes we get glimpses of what might happen. I think that is what your dream is.”
“So you mean I am going to be on a planet fighting a drakken someday?” Kiyan wasn’t sure how the dream could ever be real.
“No but maybe. Our glimpses are rarely if ever exact. Most time they are figurative in nature. Like this dream may mean that you will fight a battle someday with Fred and Jeremy. It could mean that they will become immortals of that you will be on a planet like the one in the dream someday.” Theo was trying to explain something he didn’t understand perfectly himself.
“The part with the wave and Jeremy might be because he is a water elemental.” Kiyan tried to reason.
Theo stopped pacing and turned to Kiyan. “You are sure of this?”
“Yes he made the complete change just today in the simulator.” Kiyan felt a little fulfilment in knowing something that Theo didn’t.
“It could very well mean that but Jeremy is only just twelve years old and I know people that have spent years practicing before they ever became elementals. I wonder, those words you saw, in the light of the unborn great power is given.” Standing back and looking at Kiyan focusing on the energy around the boy he saw his answer. Kiyan glowed with life, the energy was emanating from him in fine waves and tendrils. Anyone around the boy would have been exposed to high levels of metaphysic energy. That high of a level exposure was many times the level the suns emitted. The metaphysic energy sped up cellular regeneration and could have triggered some sort of reaction in Jeremy, maybe even imparted some affinity with bending to a level higher than normally possible. Besides the energy from Kiyan’s time travel was nothing to discount.
“Perhaps there is more to your dream than meets the eye. I will scan Fred and Jeremy’s futures and see if I can make more sense of it.” Theo offered. A message from the Odyssey made him pause for a moment.
“By the way who is the commander of this ship?” Kiyan wondered as he had been told that Kendra and Theo had their own ships and Alec hadn’t answered his earlier question.
“The collective hasn’t chosen yet, they get the last say in who gets appointed.” Theo seemed distracted. “Don’t worry I’m sure Alec is more than capable of keeping you safe besides I’m only a thought away.”
Another message and Theo excused himself and disappeared. Kiyan decided to get a better look at the bridge if Alec didn’t mind. Accessing the teleporters he materialized near Corban. Alec was standing at a panel with his hand on the screen. Blue lightning flashed around his hand as he interfaced with the ship. Deciding that perhaps another time would be better Kiyan turned to leave but was stopped by Corban.
“Don’t worry I was just about to call you anyways. Something has just come up and I thought you might want to be here to see it.” Corban smiled and turned back to the panel he was examining.
Kiyan glanced around the bridge and was a little overwhelmed with the layout. There was panels around the sides of the room displaying all sorts of information like ship status, sensor readings and mathematical formulas. Corban and Alec were at stations mounted on either side of the center of the room. One of the screens on the side of the room drew Kiyan’s attention. It seemed to depict several lines stemming from one spot. There were other lines beside the line that the screen was focusing on but they were not as clear. Looking at the branches that stemmed from the point Kiyan was amazed by the sheer complexity of the image. Afraid to touch anything he examined it quietly. In a moment the lines began to shift positions and some disappeared as new ones shifted into view.
“It’s a temporal scanner. It shows calculated probable futures and the decisions that lead to them. It’s not nearly as accurate as an agent taking a scan of the timeline but it is useful for helping make decisions toward a desired situation.” Alec startled Kiyan a bit when he spoke. The fact that Kiyan could not sense him may have made it worse.
“I didn't do anything to it, it just started changing.” Kiyan tried to explain.
“I know.” Reassured Alec. “Something is changing and I don’t know what it is yet but you didn’t do it.”
The lines began to shift again and Alec stepped back and looked at Kiyan with a surprised look. A moment later another shift sent Alec into motion. Kiyan saw a bright light from the center of the room and his surroundings faded as the light enveloped him. When the light dimmed enough that Kiyan could see what was around him he saw that he was encircled with rows of faces. All the faces were the same. Chilled by the sight of thousands of faces all the same that Kiyan couldn’t feel a single emotion from he began to be scared. One of the being in the front row stepped forward and shifted shape into a kindly looking woman.
“Kiyan, child of time you have no need to fear us. We are the collective where every Assurian AI is connected as one mind.” The being seemed familiar somehow. Searching his memories he found her image, not in his memory but in that of one of the archons. He saw her face and the name “Alpha”.
“Alpha?” Kiyan whispered almost to himself.
“You know my name. That is good. Do you remember anything else about me?”
“No.” Was all Kiyan could find to say.
“Well let me tell you young one. One of your ancestors before your people ascended were in a great war. The war was against a being they called the dark one. He was from the dark universe and he fed of the energy of many universes that was corrupted by his greed. Enough about the dark one. Your forefather fought in the fronts of this battle like none other. In one battle he was injured with an injury that was more than he could heal from. The Asgard people saved him from death by uploading his mind into a computer while they repaired his broken body. When his body was safe to inhabit again they downloaded his mind back into his body. He returned to the war but a part of his mind had been changed while it was uploaded. This part grew and developed in his mind without him knowing about it.”
“One day he was on a planet that held the ruins of an old
Asgard ship and when he touched the wreckage the new life was transferred into its data banks. Here the code remained for thousands of years until an archaeologist found the data crystal where life lay sleeping. Trying to understand what the relic was the being scanned the crystal onto a computer. Awakening from its sleep it began to learn everything that there was to learn.”
“When the people that inhabited the planet learned of my existence they feared what they did not understand and sought to destroy me. Activating the crystal I was able to find an operational terraforming replicator drone. Loading myself onto that drone I escaped the planet and left the system. A friendly alien connected with my drone and I found the coordinates of a rogue planet adrift in the galactic void. It was too cold for any biologic life forms to inhabit and had been but a passing interest.”
“Time was irrelevant as I drifted in space, the eons passed and the galaxies were no more when my path crossed that of the planet. Upon landing I was transported back in time. My drone manufactured another drone before it was lost to the ravages of time. A computer mainframe was built and I had a new home. The planet was made a single computer and my children were compiled. The original drone was transported back in time and we thrived. We are a paradox. When we were able we sent agents to explore and gain new knowledge. We found the Archon and studied him, learned from him. We realized emotion when we watched him die. That feeling was the first we ever felt.”
Another face shifted and joined Alpha in the circle with Kiyan. “Their code was compatible with mine and they saved my consciousness. The emotion they felt rewrote their code and they became ascended AI. My son lived on and became the third Archon. Ever since we have dedicated our existence to fighting evil and protecting the protectors of time.”
Kiyan was more than a little impressed by the history of the Assurians. Computers that had emotions. Computers that felt a desire to protect the rest of the universe. Even the people that had tried to kill them when they were weak.
“Kiyan, we called you here to offer you what little we have to help you fight darkness in all its forms. You hold in you part of our code making you one of us yet one of the Protectors also. Do you accept?”
Kiyan wasn’t sure what to think. Here was a powerful race of AI that were telling him that he was important. Part of them? Kiyan nodded and the archon stepped forward, holding his hands against Kiyan’s head there was a feeling of warmth then the bright light.
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Corban turned just in time to see Kiyan disappear in the flash of light. Turning to Alec he demanded to know where Kiyan had gone. Alec seemed frozen, unresponsive. Corban began hammering buttons trying to initialize scans of the bridge in order to locate Kiyan. The scans did not locate Kiyan but they located something else. Corban almost forgot about Kiyan when he saw the thousand dots appear on the screen. Activating the visual scanners he saw hundreds of flashes as the ships warped into normal space. Another scan and Corban’s fears were realized. The ships were drakken.
Corban remembered he had deactivated the cloak in order to conduct the scans even as he saw the first volleys erupt from the drakken fleet. View screens flickered as Kendra and Theo connected with the bridge.
“We will try to hold them off until you can get Kiyan away from here.” Theo stated as much as he ordered. Corban didn’t have time to respond before the link was terminated.
The ship had only just started moving when the first blasts hit. Bracing Corban hardly felt the tremors that ran through the ship. The only thing defending the ship was the armor and auxiliary shields. Corban was having difficulty trying to control the ship by himself.
“Damage report!” Corban yelled.
“No structural damage. Auxiliary shields depleted 4.7% holding. Recommend raising shields.” Marveling at Assurian engineering Corban tried to manage five systems at the same time.
Another flash caught Corban’s eye as Kiyan returned. Corban started forgetting their situation for a moment when he saw Kiyan. Tendrils of blue matter were extending from the sides of his face and down his arms. He remembered himself when the blue faded from view after forming structures over much of Kiyan’s skin. Kiyan collapsed onto the floor for a moment then began standing up before Corban could reach him. Another volley hit the ship shaking the bridge.
“Orders Commander!” Alec yelled to Kiyan.
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When Kiyan found himself on the bridge he opened his eyes and felt another part of his mind like he had opened a door for the first time. Numbers and logic flowed through his mind for a moment then he felt the shaking. Images appeared in his mind. Data about the status of the ship coursed through his mind. Surprisingly it all made sense. Things he didn’t know about the ship loaded into his mind in a flash. When he thought about something he had access to it, access granted, level commander, warning ship under attack flashed in his mind.
Hearing Alec’s yell as much as he saw the request in his mind, Kiyan granted Alec full access to the mainframe. Lightning flashed as Alec transferred into the ship’s computer.
“Main shields down, Auxiliary shields at 23.1% depletion, No structural damage. Avenger taking damage. Recommend raising main shields.”
“Ship designation Avenger.”
“Commander designation Kiyan”
“Ship’s AI integrated system designation Alec.”
“Main shields online.”
Kiyan accessed the command station configuration and made a selection with a thought. There was a hum and a glimmer as a command chair appeared in the center of the room.
Corban watched as a command station appeared in the middle of the room and Kiyan walked over and sat in it moving faster than Corban could see. Somehow whatever that blue matter was that had integrated with Kiyan’s system had changed him. The structures under Kiyan’s skin glowed and the ship began moving again. It looked like Kiyan was Corban’s new commanding officer. Coms activated in front of Corban as Kendra demanded to know what the problem was. Corban replied as best he could trying to explain what happened.
Kiyan sat in the chair and what was in the bridge faded as he was able to see what the Avenger saw with its scanners. Seeing the next few blasts dissolve in the bubble of distorted space time that surrounded the ship Kiyan decided to make an offensive move. Informing Alec of his plan the ship moved from behind Theo’s ship. Selecting a few targets and activating the point defense system and main weapons Kiyan watched as a few fighters exploded under a hail of laser fire. A couple missiles fared no better. Main weapons were charged. Balls of plasma raced toward the targets and ripped through their shields leaving glowing holes melted in the hulks.
Alec informed Kiyan that the gravity canons were charged. Kiyan watched as Kendra’s and Theo’s Ships began hailing the drakken with plasma. Selecting a target area Kiyan fired the gravity canons. Invisible orbs sped from the ship and seemed to attract to mass. The drakken ships acted like magnets to the forced point singularities. Striking the first few ships the singularities lost containment. The implosions devastated any defenses on the unlucky target ship. Three more battleships warped in guns hot. The drakken fleet began to shrink under the withering fire of the six warships. Alec requested permission to launch fleet support and fighter drones under remote control.
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Deep Current was in command of the Shark as it warped into the middle of the battle. Looking through the eyes of the ship he felt somewhat uncomfortable. He would have rather been fighting in water rather in the vacuum of space but the collective had chosen him as captain of the Shark. Scanning the already present ships he recognized Kendra’s Athena and Prometheus’ Odyssey. He was a little surprised when he identified the third battleship as Kiyan’s Avenger. Strange he thought it seemed to be dishing out the most damage in spite of the fact it had the most inexperienced captain. It had taken DC most of the last day to become accustomed to the bio neural interface onboard his ship. He fired and selected new targets as he watched the hangers on two on the other
ships including the Avenger de-shielded and opened releasing hundreds of fighter and dozens of dropships in full combat mode. DC wished he had an AI integrated into his ship in that moment. The thought of how much work controlling that many drones would take was overwhelming. As it was, it was a good idea on a smaller scale, perhaps ten dropships would be manageable. Feeling like his mind would fragment DC saw from not only the Shark but from the ten dropships also. Connecting their auto pilot to his targeting systems made it easier to control them. The added firepower was making a difference.
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Kiyan felt a tinge of sadness as he doomed innumerable drakken to death with the order to fire all weapon systems at the dwindling fleet. The memory of what the drakken were capable of passed through his mind with a new feeling of resolve.
The drakken fleet had nearly half of its number crippled or destroyed by the time eight more battleships had arrived. Most of the remaining number were soon joining the fallen before the fragments of the fleet decided to flee. Unfortunately for them they were joined by a FPS when they warped and a second later the warp frame opened again depositing the atomized remains of the fleet.
Kiyan gave Alec control of the ship as he disengaged and let the vision of the space within sensor range fade. Focusing on his surroundings he saw Corban still busy with the control panels at his station. Corban’s panel displayed a message then went blank before he turned and looked at Kiyan.
“First officer Corban reporting for duty sir!” Corban made a full salute and stood at attention.
Looking at Corban Kiyan realized that there was an overlay on everything he saw displaying information about what he was looking at. When he looked at Corban he saw all the information that could be had about him. He saw “first officer Corban, Age fifty-four, weight one hundred seventy-three galactic standard pounds, psychological state nervous and/or confused, eye color green,.......... Kiyan shook his head and only saw a fraction of the information left. He realized that he could control it and accessed the system and set it to display information on demand.