Dangerous Evolution Read online

  “For now maybe, but humans have an incredible capacity for rapid development. You’ve made great strides since your fractious war; peace is quickly pushing you forward.”

  Del was right about that. Since the Diaspora War, mankind had enjoyed a healthy competition between the Sectors—driving growth and commerce. Even though the Sectors mistrusted one another, cross border trading and shared scientific progress were making us stronger. But fear of the Sentients is what made this tenuous fraternity possible. If they vanished, and we were left free to exploit their territories…well…all bets were off.

  “But what about changing the codes,” I asked. “Surely they’ve locked you out of something that important.”

  “That would be impossible. The coding is hardwired into the nullifiers; they have to be removed from the ship and disassembled to change them. Since the upheaval caused by the virus, I doubt that’s happened. My codes will work.”

  “Do you really think this is necessary?”

  “I do, Commander. It will force Thov to listen to us.”

  Despite my own reticence about toying with such power, Del knew how the captain would react far better than I did. If the ambassador felt this was needed, how could I refute it?

  “Very well,” I said reluctantly.

  The plan called for us to wait in the room while Del went to the armory and took control of one of the devices. We stationed Sa outside to keep watch, and the doctor nervously kept looking from side to side. If a relief guard or anyone else showed up, it would noisily lead them into the room, giving us time to set up an ambush.

  Del would have to avoid getting close to anyone as it moved through the ship. Even though all Sentients looked alike to humans, they could easily distinguish themselves from one another. Unfortunately, Seveq was a major planet, and that made the ambassador a powerful, well-known figure. Stealth and avoidance would be critical for it to make its way to the armory unnoticed.

  Our preparations complete, Del left, promising it would be back within the hour. Val, Stinson, and I sat down on the wall bench to wait.

  “So what do you think of your rescue so far?” I asked Val.

  She laughed, “Well it has been rather eventful.”

  The sound of her laugh brought a smile to my lips. Hell, almost everything she did made me smile. “What are your plans when we get you home?” I asked.

  “I appreciate your confidence, Ben, but I know our chances. If we get back, I intend to make the Permalife antagonist available to everyone. I think Lesa is wrong in her philosophy and methods, but there is real suffering going on because of my treatment. I recognize that, and need to do something to help.” She pushed my hair back and looked at my neck, touching the injection site. “I also intend to find a cure for this time limit Rroske placed on our lives.” Uncomfortable with the sudden intimacy of the conversation, Stinson got up and started looking through the two cabinets on the other side of the room.

  “Because I was always focused on my work, there is so much I never got to do,” Val said. Her voice became quieter, “I’ve had partners over the years, but never any serious long term relationships—or children of course.” Her face brightened a little. “Heck, even marriage looks more appealing now that I know I won’t live forever.”

  She looked at me, appalled. “Oh god, I am so sorry.” She grabbed my hand, the one with the wedding ring. “I am a thoughtless idiot. Please forgive me. I am so terrible at talking to people.”

  She looked down and away from me.

  I reached over and cradled her chin in my hand, pulling her face up to look at mine. “There is nothing to forgive,” I assured her, “It was a long time ago. Truly, it’s okay.”

  “But you still wear her ring,” she said somberly.

  “A remembrance of the past,” I said, looking down at the gold band, “Of what I had…of what I lost…just memories.” The old feelings welled up inside me, and it was my turn to look away.

  “Do you think you will ever be able to make new memories?” she asked.

  I turned back to her, and she took my hands in hers. I looked into those deep blue eyes and saw genuine compassion…no…it was even more than that.

  “Yes,” I said, feeling something strong pass between us as we stared at one another. “Absolutely.”

  Our discussion was interrupted by a frantic, rapid knocking on the cabin door. Then it flew open and Sa ran into the room.

  “It’s the captain,” Sa hissed, “Thov is coming down the hall!”

  Chapter Nine

  I jumped up from the bench, pulling Val with me, and then slapped the door control panel—knocking it completely off its wall stalk. Sparks sputtered out of the empty mount before it shorted out entirely. “That should keep Thov from opening it,” I said, “…for a moment anyway.”

  “What are we going to do?” Sa said excitedly. “We’re trapped.”

  “Open this door at once,” the captain’s voice blared from the corridor. “Open it, or I will burn it open.”

  Thov’s voice dropped off, and I could no longer make out what the Sentient was saying. But I knew it had to be calling for reinforcements. Our odds for escaping this situation had just dropped greatly, especially if they managed to intercept Del. A real possibility now that the whole ship would be on alert.

  “Jeff,” I asked. “When you searched the cabinets, did you spot anything we could use as a weapon?”

  He shook his head. “Not unless we intend to knock them out with data disks.”

  Through the walls I could hear heavy footsteps coming down the corridor, followed by more voices. Then there was a loud clang and the door erupted in blue-tinged glow—growing brighter as the seconds passed. I felt the hair on my arms rising.

  “Everyone, get away from the door,” I yelled. They were burning through, and there wasn’t a damn thing we could do about it except wait for them to finish.

  Flakes of metal and plastic fell to the floor, leaving little smoking piles where they hit. Then a thick chemical smell began to permeate the room, making my stomach queasy and leaving a bad taste in my mouth. The door shimmered brightly, and thick smoke filled the air.

  It wouldn’t be long now.

  A loud explosion shook the room, and we steadied ourselves to keep from falling. Surprisingly, the door was still intact. What the hell was that? I walked over to the wall and listened for sounds coming from the corridor, but there was only silence. No…there were footsteps now. Someone was running down the hall. The sound stopped and someone pounded on the door.

  “It’s Del! Let me in! Hurry!”

  “We can’t,” I yelled back, “I smashed the controls. The door is so melted and warped now that I doubt it will ever function again.”

  “Stand far away from it then,” Del said, “I’m going to remove it.”

  Remove it? Oh shit!

  I lead everyone to the far corner of the room, then Stinson and I slid one of the cabinets in front of us for protection. We all crouched down low and covered our heads with our hands. “Ready!” I called out.

  The door exploded off its internal hinges, sending a large chunk flying across the room. Most of the smoke was instantly sucked out into the corridor and the air in the room cleared considerably. I looked out from behind the cabinet and saw Del rush into the room—carrying a bag I recognized as the one Stinson had used to gather Mendoza’s munitions on Seveq.

  That explains the explosions, I thought. Del reached into the bag, pulled out my TAC pistol, and threw it to me.

  “I found these in the armory,” it said. “They were keeping them for study.” The Sentient tossed a Snub Rifle to Stinson, who immediately checked the ammunition.

  “Still loaded with impact rounds,” he said, frowning, “I would have preferred a plasma clip.”

  “There are some explosives left as well,” Del said, and I noticed the Sentient’s limp for the first time. It was clear that the ambassador had to fight for these weapons, probably to make it back here as well.
/>   I heard voices yelling in the corridor.

  “Stinson, grab some grenades,” I ordered, then ran to the door.

  Peeking out into the hall, I saw Sentient soldiers approaching from both sides. “Give me two grenades,” I said. Stinson dropped them into my outstretched hand.

  I pushed the arming buttons and leaned out—rolling the explosives down the floor in both directions. Bracers fired, and blue blasts of electrical energy bounced off the door casing as I ducked back inside. There were a couple of loud yells, followed by the sound of retreating footsteps. The explosions were almost simultaneous.

  I looked out to see both sides of the hall blackened by the detonations—jagged holes punched in the walls and flooring. An ochre colored fluid began to pour out of a ruptured pipe, filling one of the holes in the floor.

  That should keep them from storming the room, I thought.

  Looking directly ahead through the doorway, I saw Thov…still alive. Two other Sentients lay unconscious nearby. Del must have used a sonic charge to clear his way in. I looked back into the room and saw the guard we’d subdued when first freeing Del.

  “Jeff,” I called out, “We need to make an exchange.”

  He looked at me quizzically; I nodded to the captain’s inert form, then back at the soldier.

  “It would be a step up,” he agreed.

  While Del stood guard with a combat rifle, we dragged the soldier out into the hall and dropped it. Then we picked up Thov and carried it back to the room—placing the Sentient on the ground where Sa and Val knelt down to check its condition,

  “How bad is it hurt?” I asked.

  “Not bad at all,” Sa answered. “In fact, the captain is regaining consciousness as we speak.”

  “Del,” I said, “Maybe you should talk with Thov as soon as it comes around. This is our chance to convince it that we’re not responsible—to put an end to this madness.”

  Del looked at the unconscious captain, the destroyed room, and the wreckage in the corridor. “It might be even more difficult now.”

  The ambassador had a point, attacking and kidnapping someone was probably the worst way to open their mind to your cause. But I still hoped that the truth might win out in the end.

  Thov started to stir, coughing and flexing its limbs. Val and Doctor Sa moved away, then Del grabbed the captain, propping the Sentient up against the wall in a seated position. Thov opened its eyes, and I saw them extend and retract as it struggled to bring them into focus.

  “Ambassador…what happened?”

  “I knocked you unconscious to keep you from doing something stupid.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  Thov grabbed its head with both hands, rubbing its temples, “Haven’t you done enough already? Is there no end to your treason?” The captain tried to rise, using sheer anger to power its assent—but ended up weakly sliding back down the wall.

  “I will see you dead for what you’ve done…Ambassador,” it spat out.

  “No, Captain Thov, now you will shut up and listen.” Del grabbed the other Sentient by the throat and leaned its face in close; I could make out a dull, red glow emanating from the ambassador’s eyes, the color reflecting eerily off of Thov’s face. The situation reminded me of Harrakan Station—of when Del killed Woz. I turned away to look back down the hallway.

  “I have armed a Mass Nullifier, Captain. If you don’t call off your soldiers and listen to what I have to say—this ship will be vaporized long before it has a chance to reach the rest of the fleet.”

  “Are you mad?” Thov’s asked incredulously. The captain tried to get up, but Del’s grip kept it from moving. Realizing it was trapped, Thov spoke more softly, “Del, I know you’ve lost everything. So have I. My family also perished on Seveq. If you really aren’t involved, help me get out of here. We will make these humans pay.”

  Del’s face was emotionless. “If the humans were responsible, don’t you think I would be helping you?”

  I stopped following the exchange when the ceiling above my head exploded, dropping melted plastic and burning wires into my hair. Sentient soldiers had formed makeshift barricades past the grenade damage, and were firing at us from both directions. I leaned out to return fire; Stinson began shooting as well.

  We took turns firing down opposite sides of the passageway—scoring several hits—but the Sentients responded with a withering barrage. Their attacks were widening the hole Del had blown into the room, increasingly limiting our available cover.

  I dipped out to the left and sent a plasma bolt straight into the chest of a very surprised Sentient, and when I ducked back out to fire again, I noted that it was still standing, frozen in death. The Sentients were replenishing their numbers as fast as we could shoot them; every dead or wounded soldier was dragged behind the barrier and replaced with fresh troops.

  I saw Stinson drop an empty ammo clip to the ground, and before he could ask, Val threw him a fresh one—already pulled from the bag and waiting. “That’s the last one,” she said, keeping her voice low so the Sentients couldn’t hear.

  Even though I knew it was fully charged, her statement made me look down at the power indicator on my TAC pistol. The gun would hold out through a long engagement, but there was no way we could hold this room firing from only one position. Hell, I doubted we could hold it no matter how many guns we had.

  “What else is in that bag?” I asked her, ducking back into the room as the bracer fire grew more intense.

  “Two of these,” she said, holding out a pair of grenades, “and this…thing.” It was a wrist-knife, similar to the one Mendoza had used to kill Rroske. If our defense comes down to that, I thought, we might as well use it on ourselves.

  “Throw the grenades to me,” I said, and Val hesitantly lofted them into the air. “Del,” I called out, pulling the ambassador’s attention away from Thov, “If you can’t convince the captain of our innocence, we may have to try using it as a hostage.”

  “They won’t negotiate, human,” Thov spat out disgustedly. “They will kill us all first.”

  “Call this off, Thov,” Del said, reasserting its grip on the captain. “If you won’t listen to me, I’ll broadcast the cure to the rest of the fleet and destroy this ship. Hopefully, one of the other captains will be more reasonable.”

  “Captain Thov,” I said, leaning out to throw a grenade before continuing, “I have evidence that fully exonerates us. I can show you an unedited video confession by Doctor Rroske—one which proves that Rroske and the Pure Way fabricated the virus. Would that convince you?”

  “How can you do that?” the captain asked, the Sentient’s question partially drowned out by the loud grenade explosion coming from the corridor.

  “I have a recording device implanted in my head, documenting everything I see. Rroske admitted it all to us, and I can show you its confession. Beyond that, there is an infant being held in Rroske’s laboratory that will further corroborate what we are trying to tell you.”

  “Captain Thov,” Del said officiously, “I know you to be an honorable person. We will surrender on your word that you will hear our evidence. And consider it seriously.”

  I leaned down low and threw out the last grenade, watching it gently arch upward before bouncing off the ceiling and dropping behind the Sentient barricade.

  Nice.

  “Del…,” I began, “I don’t think that’s a great idea. In fact, I think it’s a crappy idea. A quick look around the room told me everyone else agreed.

  “Thov is from Seveq, commander, and the captain of a Sentient ship; the captain’s word is the only guarantee we need. I’d bet my life on it.”

  “You are betting all of our lives on it,” I pointed out.

  Before Del had a chance to reply, the wall next to me blew apart, knocking me to the ground and sending dust throughout the room. The lights in the room started flickering—the intermittent darkness punctured by flashes of light from the intense bracer fire. The effect was like a murky
kaleidoscope held by a shaky hand. The door opening was much wider now, and I had to scramble to get behind an intact portion of the wall for cover.

  “It all comes down to trust,” I said, “and our time is running out Del.”

  “Well,” the ambassador said, “What will it be, Captain Thov? Will you join me in saving our people, or doom them through your obstinacy?”

  Thov spat out a mouthful of dust and looked at me. “If you fail to prove what you say human, I will kill all of you myself.”

  I believe you would, I thought.

  Thov then looked back at Del, “All except for you, Ambassador, first I will make you disarm the nullifier, then I will abandon you on Seveq, to die with those you’ve killed.”

  The captain paused for a moment, and when the Sentient spoke again, it was with a command voice steeped in authority. “I agree to give you this chance. Release me and help me up. I need to get to that console.”

  Del pulled Thov to its feet, then escorted the captain across the room. The Sentient propped itself up on the pedestal’s edge and waved a hand over the control surface. “Lenic, I assume you are in command of the force destroying the corridor on Level J2.” There was a cascade of static, and for a moment I feared the console might be too damaged to function properly.

  “Who is this?” a voice barked.

  “This is Captain Thov; call off your attack. Immediately.”

  “Captain…what’s going on? Where are you?”

  “Stop firing now, Lenic.” Thov employed a tone many captains would envy, and Lenic heard it clearly.

  “Yes, captain!”

  A final few blasts sailed through the ragged opening into the room, and then everything became silent. “I really hope you know what you are doing,” I said to Del.

  “Commander Malik, let me remind you that it was your idea to speak with the captain.”

  “It was,” I agreed. “But I didn’t expect it to occur under these circumstances.” I lowered my weapon, and placed it on what was left of the wall bench. Stinson did the same.

  Regaining a little more vigor, Thov walked over to the gaping hole and yelled out, “Lenic! Bring two soldiers and get in here…now.”