We emerged inside the vessel. Another AI greeted us. ‘Good morning citizens. The time is two fifteen a.m. You are cleared for departure to the Docks of Ascension. Travel time is one minute fifty seconds. We have cleared the launch tubes.’
There was a rumbling as the vessels real-space drives kicked in. I realised that, like so many things recently, this knowledge was not my own, but the knowledge Ascension had given me.
The vessel itself was quite small. We were standing in the vessel’s Command Centre. There was just enough room for three people to be comfortable in here. A large holo had been placed in the centre of the room. It was surrounded by a ringed handrail. There was a seat at the front, presumably where the helm would sit, and another at the back. Aside from this the Command Centre was bare. The holo showed us emerging from Ascension. The stations massive bulk began to make itself known. I could see those many sculptures rising from the stations skin. There were the horses galloping, there were birds taking flight and there were angels holding swords and pointing upwards. I realised just how little of Ascension that we had really seen. I thought on all the wonders that might have been. But these were marvels that I would never see.
We were moving at a colossal speed. This was made apparent simply from glancing at the holo as huge sections of Ascension blurred past us. It was magnificent. I wondered for a moment what the Xenith class vessel might look like from the outside. Whether it would be the sleek artistic shape that so much of Ascension seemed to take on. But my thoughts were interrupted as the familiar shape of the docks became clear on the farthest side of the holo.
Aeniah appeared to be all action stations. She sat down besides a console which had an array of screens banking at sharp angles on either side. Her hands moved so rapidly upon the touch and gesture response surfaces that I could barely make them out. She seemed at home in this environment. I supposed that weapons and tactics were sort of her speciality.
‘Sean, focal imaging detects four remaining crew members. The rest must have been killed by Dawn’s avatar. I am unable to get an image on Dawn. I want you to run a locale search for Adrian, try and find him.’ Sean responded to her commands without hesitation. Aeniah opened her mouth again to bark more orders. ‘Xenith class, activate defensive batteries and antipersonnel weapons systems.’
The AI responded with a neutral voice. ‘My apologies Madame Corinithia, but the Xenith class vessel is a high speed civilian transport vessel only. As a result this vessel is not licensed to carry offensive armaments. There is a weapons locker in an armoury vault at the back.’
‘That’s not going to be any use.’ Aeniah looked like she was thinking quickly. ‘George I need you to connect to the Promethean Layer, I am getting a lot of sub-quantum activity from those docks.’
I tried to focus on that star but to no avail. I had drawn upon so much of the Promethean Layer that any attempt to connect just brought an incredible amount of pain into my head. ‘I can’t. It hurts too much. I don’t think that I can do it.’
Aeniah flew out of her seat, raised her hand, and slapped me across my cheeks. ‘I have had enough of you right now George. All the way around Ascension I have had to listen to all your complaints, and believe me it took all the self control that I posses not to kill you.
‘You have been given a valuable asset. We are still in range of the Eye of Orion, and if you don’t connect Adrian is going to die. Now you have just ten seconds to get your fucking ass in gear before we dock. If those bastards cast an explosive inside our vessel we are all fucked and you can kiss goodbye to our species. Now fucking well connect or I will have your guts for garters.’
Her screaming pierced straight through my headache and made me feel a little dizzy. But I tried again. The pain was truly something. The stars brightness felt like it might sear my eyes of all vision. Contrary to my belief the star exploded into a full connection. Feeling the raw restorative power of the Promethean Layer course through me, my headache immediately dissipated.
In this connection I could really see everything. I could even see the Layer itself. It wafting tendrils penetrated everything. It pulsed in straight lines or folded in exact curves. It was every colour imaginable. It was the most beautiful thing that I had ever seen. At last I breathed, ‘Connected.’
‘Good timing because we are about to dock.’ Sean was staring into the helm cosole, conversing with it in some way. Aeniah pointed towards the door and I realised that she wanted me to man the airlock.
I ran towards the door and it opened just in time for me to fly through. In a matter of moments I was pounding down the connecting corridor and into the room labelled Air Lock. The air lock door opened without the long delay that I was accustomed to on Eternis System vessels. In fact the Xenith class vessel operated with all the comfort and efficiency that I had come to expect from Ascension.
I pressed the red button and a holo resolved telling me that pressure equalisation was underway. Through the clear Perspex of the outer door I could see the ship passing through Ascension’s outer membrane and into the stations atmosphere. The Perspex door opened. I was standing feet away from an almighty fall. Trying not to look down I focused my eyes on the infected crew members. They seemed enthralled at the sight of the vessel. With my enhanced vision I could make out the self inflicted damage to their faces. A cold lifeless figure was lying in the middle of them. It was Blue Dawn’s avatar.
The Xenith class lowered itself into the closest docking bay to them. They seemed to surge towards us. I carefully checked that Adrian was not among their group. Seeing him missing I drew the Promethean Layer into me. Folding the energy in such a way as now felt natural to me. In a time that was shorter than I could tell you my hand filled with an orb of intense light. I must admit that I did marvel at I for a little while before I threw it down at the infected.
An incredible burst of shock wave threw me backwards and my head impacted upon the inner door of the airlock. I felt a wetness dripping down my face. I knew that I was bleeding. But the pain that was beginning to come forth into my head washed away as the Promethean Layer accelerated my healing to near godlike capabilities. I was able to stand after just a few seconds.
The orb of light had done far more damage than I intended. The infected were certainly very dead. One of the huge docking clamps had been bent out of shape. Jagged edges of metal penetrated outwards from it bulk.
I scanned for Adrian using the Promethean Layer. The Xenith class was almost touching the floor of the docks. Its black shining floor reflected the curved architecture of the vessel. I saw the red throbbing glow of a live body. My eyes seemed to focus on the object and zoomed. I could just about make out the face of Adrian hiding inside one of the motors for the docking clamps that had not been damaged in the explosion.
‘Adrian come out of there. Its George, everything is going to be okay.’
Adrian emerged from the depths of the motor. His face looked visibly panicked. He ran with a limp towards my outstretch arms. There were tears of joy in his eyes. My heart soared to see that he was going to be okay.
Our hands met and clasp each other firmly. I hauled him onto the airlock platform with ease. I slammed my hand against the control pad which winked from green to red. The Perspex closed and a holo resolved telling us that the air lock was equalising its pressure with the Xenith class.
The airlock door opened. And with an arm around Adrian for support we hobbled together towards the Command Centre. The doors swept aside to unite us with Aeniah and Sean.
‘Good, you made it safely,’ was about all that she said before she turned to Seand and said, ‘I have no intention of staying here any longer than I possibly have to. If you would be so kind, please get us the hell out of here.’
‘Yes Sir,’ and this time Sean’s voice had reached a level of excitement that I had not realised any person could reach.
The vessel surged backwards and exited Ascension’s outer membrane. Once it had a safe enough room to manoeuvre the vessel
spun about its axis and faced away from Ascension and began its journey into the stars. The AI cut into what would have been our moment of euphoria.
‘This vessel has now exited Ascension management control. You are now three thousand miles from the station. You have reached the minimum safe distance for an FTL jump. Please state your intended destination.’
‘Hercula,’ I said joyfully, we were nearing our journey’s end.
‘Hercula, Advanced Archaeological Site of Interest, Salem system. Searching for available FTL gateways. Gateways found. Spooling drive systems. Drive systems spooled. Journey time: one day, eight hours. Faster than light in 3,2,1.’ Everyone was thrown off their feet in the process of FTL translation.
We got to our feet happily enough. The world seemed a better place now that we had left Ascension. Our journey was simpler and clearer. I had been united with Adrian. There seemed as though there was nothing at all in the entire world that could ever go wrong.
Aeniah ran over to me and gave me the strongest hug that I had ever felt. I had released the Promethean Layer during my return to the Command Centre and without it I felt that she might break me. There was such a warmth to this gesture though that I put those fears aside instantly and returned her gesture with all the strength I could muster.
I released Aeniah and to my infinite surprise found myself hugged again. This time it was by Adrian. I was so happy to finally have some contact with the guy again. It had been so long since we had even spoken that this action started to fill me with tears.
Then everyone was in tears. Adrian was in tears, Aeniah was in tears, I was in tears. Even Sean seemed to weep as his eye blinked rapidly. We were all hugging, laughing and shouting for joy. We all grabbed Sean out of the air and hugged him much to his displeasure at being thrown around.
After about ten minutes or so of tribulations Aeniah suggested that we have a drink. I do not think that I had ever moved as fast in my life as I did then to get my hands on a nice cold beverage. The communal area of the vessel was small but it felt almost like home. Aeniah put in our orders to the machine which began the processes of filling the glasses. I had let Aeniah choose for me and she soon handed me over a blue frothing cocktail. Adrian had gone for the same drink as me. We all placed our glasses into the air and knocked them against each other for health. Adrian and I gulped down a sip of our drink at the same time. And at the same time we grimaced at the amount of alcohol Aeniah had put into the drinks.
‘Oh stop being such babies,’ she said and we all laughed.
Later in the evening we had all become quite drunk. Aeniah was regaling us with stories of the United World that were so fantastical that it was almost impossible to imagine. We were all laughing about one of her tales about the time when she was a general and how she kept swearing during an interview with a colonial leader. It was the first time that she had ever let her guard down and we were all taking in her amazing personality.
After several more alcoholic cocktails Aeniah suggested that we watch one of the movies in the Xenith class’s entertainment catalogue. She promised us that United World movies were a good deal more entertaining that the stuff she had had to put up with on Bataga. After some argument we agreed not to watch an action movie, we had all had enough of that to last us a lifetime. Instead we agreed to watch a romantic movie. To Adrian and I it seemed like something out of science fiction but the movie was great. It was about a girl and guy, who despite being from different nations made it together. Everyone was already quite emotional before the movie had started and we were almost cracking up afterwards. The story was so heart warming that I declared that it must have been the best movie ever made. Everyone agreed and we all proposed a toast to the long dead director.
Shortly after the movie’s close Aeniah announced that she was going to get some sleep. Sean stated something about an information packet download to get Blue Dawn’s datamine out of his head, flew off towards the Command Centre.
When Sean’s muttering had been muted by the closing of the Command Centre’s doors I realised that they had left Adrian and me alone.
‘You want another drink,’ I said. At least that is what I hope I said, my words had begun to slur a long time ago. Adrian just nodded in response and shuffled down into the seat.
I went over to the machine that had provided Aeniah with the drinks. My vision was blurred from the alcohol. I struggled to make out the information on the screen. I fumbled my unresponsive hands against the touch pad until the picture of the cocktail came up. I pressed the image twice and the machine began to create the beverage.
It took a few moments to produce the two sparkling drinks. I hoped that my fumbling might have managed to reduce their alcohol content. With clumsy hand I picked up both of the drinks and placed them onto the table besides Adrian. He picked up his glass and pushed it to his lips just as I threw myself besides him.
There was an awkward moment of silence as neither of us knew quite what to say. I sipped upon my drink. He sipped upon his and the silence continued.
I was the one who eventually broke the silence. ‘Adrian,’ I stuttered, ‘I’m so sorry about what happened. I just, I, I thought you were behind me. I didn’t want to, to leave you. I just, I just thought that it would never end, what we had I mean. I’m sorry you had to be apart of this mess. I’m sorry that all these bad things have ever happened to you. I never loved anyone else as much as I loved you. I am so, so sorry. I...’
Adrian interrupted by wiping away the tears from my eyes. He spoke to me slowly and carefully emphasising all the right words. ‘George, it doesn’t matter now, nothing of Earth matters anymore. You came back George, you came back for me. In spite of everything you came back.’
We held each other then, in that small room. The systems hummed all around us like a choir singing out to the heavens. Our hands met and joined in the most triumphant gesture of absolute certainty. We were together and alone at the end of the world.
Our moment of bliss ended as we went to sleep and for the first time in years I dreamed. I dreamed of something special.
16