Chapter 12 Memories
Andrews was having a heated exchange with Bryn.
“This is crazy we're following a criminal whose losing his mind god knows where, in pursuit of god knows what. He's going to get us all killed going after his next big score.”
A few others who had gathered around nodded in agreement.
“Are you crazy? He saved my life back there and in case you hadn't noticed we'd have all been dead two years ago if it wasn't for him.”
“But that was before he lost it.” Andrews twirled the forefinger of his right hand slowly round the side of his head. “The longer we stay down here the crazier he gets.”
Amelio nodded in agreement. “We should be fighting up there, especially now the zombie virus has knocked them off-line, not hiding down here like rats.”
“You’re the rats.” snapped Bryn throwing a punch at Andrews.
He ducked and threw one back knocking Bryn to the floor before jumping on him. Within seconds nearly half the crew we're embroiled in a free for all. Bryson, David, Carol and Lucy waded in and pulled the ring-leaders apart.
“What the hell has gotten into you people?” demand Carol.
Bryn wiped the blood from his lip. “He was bad mouthing the boss, saying he's crazy.”
“It’s true.” said Amelio. “He's lost it keeping us down here when we should be up there fighting with our brothers and sisters.”
Lucy shoved him in the chest pushing him backwards and put her face up against his. “Amelio, I'm ashamed of you turning on your own. If I can't trust my own team who the hell can I trust?”
He looked at his feet and said nothing.
“How about you Andrews, anything you'd like to add.” asked Bryson cocking his head to one side.
Before he could respond David tapped Bryson on the shoulder and gestured to them to turn around. While the argument had been raging he'd made his way over to them supported by Anna. He smiled at her and indicated he was more than able to stand on his own two feet. He pulled himself up to his full height, slipped his silver spectacles on, and examined them all closely before speaking.
“Your right, you’re all right in your own way. Yes, we could make a difference fighting topside right now. Hell, we could even take the planet back, but it wouldn't last, because what they're really after is down here and that’s how we end it.” he paused. “I don't blame anyone for thinking I'm crazy, after what just happened, and in case you’re wondering the alien bombardment may have been a falsehood, but Jasper wasn't lying about the alleged crimes. So I'm not asking anyone to follow me anymore, I'll go on alone if I have to and face whatever truths I have to face alone. You’re all free to go back to the surface if that's what you want.”
As if to reinforce the point the door slid open and the corridor beyond lit up.
Amelio, Andrews and eight others stepped forward. He handed them a data crystal. “This has been programmed with the quickest route to Luther and the rest back at base, don't deviate from the designated path.”
Amelio took it without speaking and slipped it into a free data port on the right forearm of his suit and activated it before holding out his hand.
He accepted the gesture taking his hand and shaking it. “Good luck, see you all topside.”
No more words were spoken until they had all disappeared out the door.
“Was that really programmed with the way back to base and if so how?” asked Carol.
“Why did you want to join them?” she shook her head before he continued. ”It was preloaded when I came round.”
“Seems that whoever or whatever is manipulating us down here has though of everything.” added Bryson.
He nodded. “From now on so everyone is clear this is strictly a volunteer mission your free to leave at any time and Bryson that order I gave you still stands.”
The others looked at each other.
“Need to know basis.” said Bryson. “And trust me you don't need to know yet.”
The mood was heavily subdued as their depleted force moved out and ventured deeper into the complex. No one spoke and they kept their thoughts to themselves as they worked their way down into the deepest levels of the subterranean maze. The corridors were becoming noticeably narrower with fewer doors.
Finally unable to take it no more Lucy broke the silence. “At this rate we'll end up in the core of the planet. Still at least we'll be warm,”
“That's assuming it has a molten core.” said Bryn. “Apparently only sixty-three percent of planets have...”
Carol threw a high-energy protein bar at him. “Enough with the science lecture already!”
Their laughter echoed up and down the small corridor.
“Thank god for that” said Bryson. “I was beginning to think you'd all died and been replaced by androids.”
Suddenly they stopped. The corridor had come to any abrupt end, with no visible sign of a door.
“End of the line?” asked Anna.
“I don't think so.” he said running his hand over the polished surface of the smooth marble like rock that blocked their progress. There was a slight click and a small panel off to their right slid open to reveal an illuminated touchpad dotted with alien hieroglyphs.
“Well that's progress of a sort, I suppose. Now all we need is someone who can read the ancient alien language of gibberish.” said Lucy frowning at the symbols.
David pushed forward to take a look, imitating a gangster from an old holovid he'd seen as a child. “Perhaps I should blow the bloody doors off!”
“I've seen that one and he never said that, you've got it all wrong as usual.” chided Carol.
Ignoring them all he ran his fingers over the touchpad and instinctively hit a series of symbols. There was a slight rumble as a crack appeared round edge of the hitherto solid wall and it slid backwards and then sideways to reveal an opening.
Bryson turned inquisitively to him. “So where did you learn gibberish and alien gibberish at that?”
He smiled. “I guess I didn't get to rob the graves of the Talmari ancestors without learning a thing or two.” and stepped through onto the platform on the other side of the opening.
Once they were through the door closed behind them. “I hope you can remember the code to get us back out.” mused David, as they inspected their surroundings.
The platform was set back into the side of a perfectly round, smooth tunnel, that stretched off into total darkness either side of them. Two polished metal rails of some sort appeared, from what they could see, to run the length of the tunnel. One set in the ceiling the other the floor. There was nothing visible on the platform to indicate where the tunnel might lead.
“Looks like some sort of fast transit system.” said Lucy. “Do we wait for a train or walk the line?
Bryson tossed a protein bar onto the rail that ran along the floor while Bryn leaned around the edge of the platform and shone a light down the left hand portion of the tunnel. There was a brief flash as an arc of energy vaporised the bar leaving a faint smell of bananas.
“No walking then.” added Lucy staring at the thin wisps of vapour rising for where Bryson has tossed the bar. Suddenly she felt a blast of warm blast of air come swirling down the track towards them, blowing the vapour's away. Instinctively she leap forward and pulled Bryn back just in time. A sleek, white, windowless bullet car decelerated to halt beside them and the doors slid open. “So I guess we're taking the train.”
Inside the narrow express car the furnishings resembled those in the mess hall they'd left behind. The chairs, which once again seemed to grow organically out of the floor, were four abreast with a narrow gangway running down the middle to two single seats at either end. Where a small window gave a view of the tunnel ahead. The soft cream coloured seats reclined slightly backwards and were warm to the touch. They could be rotated to face either widow apart from the end seats. There were no controls in the cabin suggesting that the system was completely automated. In total the car cou
ld seat about twenty people. A small rectangular screen was situated either end above the window. While concealed lighting in the ceiling diffused the whole vehicle in a soft warm glow.
“Bags the front.” said Lucy grabbing one of the end seats facing the window. “At least it'll make me feel like a pilot again, even if I'm not driving this thing.”
“How do you know that's the front? Both ends look the same to me.” asked Carol
“Cause that's the way all the seats are facing, trust me, no likes travelling with their back to the cockpit.”
He smiled. “Well I guess we follow Lucy's lead take a seat and see what happens.”
A few moments later, when they'd spread themselves out and settled into their seats, the doors slid shut with a slight hiss. Safety belts slid silently and organically out of their seats and secured them in place. Then suddenly and without warning all the seats apart from Lucy’s, rotated one hundred and eighty degrees and locked into place as the car accelerated back in the direction from whence it had came.
“Oh crap...”cried Lucy as they hurtled into the tunnel.
Strange unrecognised digits flashed up on the screen above the window they were facing. They presumed from the G forces exerted on them and the speed with what little of the tunnel they could see flew past them it was reading either speed or distance or perhaps both. Eventually they felt the car begin to decelerate, as a rapidly growing pinprick of light appeared to come racing towards them out the endless dark visa of the tunnel. They glided smoothly to a halt as the safety harnesses melted back into their seats leaving no trace of their presence and the doors slid open with another low hiss. They stepped out onto a platform identical to the one they'd left behind.
“Is it me or does everyone else think we've just been round in a circle and back to where we started?” asked Carol observing their surroundings.
“Only one way to find out.” he stepped up to where the door should be and worked his magic. Uncovering an identical touchpad before running his fingers over it and triggering the sequence to open the door once more. As the door opened a shaft of bright light flooded the doorway, overpowering the more subtle lighting of the platform. “Looks different to me.” he said stepping through.
They were in a large chamber that dwarfed the one they’d found with the rotunda like structure inside earlier. A number of galleries ran around the edge of the chamber, but it was the centre of it that held their attention.
It was dominated by a massive pyramid shaped crystal tower that pulsated with pastel hues of light like a gigantic mineral heart. At each corner of the pyramid a rotating blue orb was set on a small plinth and as they craned their necks to look upwards they could see a slowly rotating green orb suspended above its apex. Along each side midway between the orbs were what appeared to be large tablets or screens that pulsated with strange alien hieroglyphs.
As they took it all in Lucy was the first to speak. “What the hell is that?”
“Haven't a clue.” said Bryson. “But I’m guessing it's what Malstrom are really here for.”
David swung his pack off his shoulders onto the floor and began to undo it. “In that case I guess we plant a few charges and run.”
The pulsing colours became deeper and moved faster.
“I'd put the boys toys away if I were you.” said Lucy running her hands softly over the shimmering energy barrier that encased the giant structure. “I think you’re making it angry.”
“It’s a thing, not a person, you can’t make a thing angry.” he complained.
“Welcome” said a soft, ageless, female voice, which seemed to radiate for nowhere and everywhere at the same time. “I thank you for returning the Guardian safely to me.”
“Okay, now this is getting really creepy, who said that?” asked Carol.
“Well seeing as you’re in charge of communications and intelligence.” Bryson reminder her. “I was kind of hoping you'd know.”
“No one likes a smart arse.” she reminded him.
“Okay people that's enough.” it was the first time he'd spoken since they entered the room. “Please identify yourself.”
“Welcome back Guardian, you must join with me to so that I can complete the synchronisation, your species was new to me and the first synchronisation was incomplete.” the voice was soft and insistent.
“No, I asked you to reveal yourself.” he replied fighting the hypnotic effects of the voice.
“Forgive me Guardian.” the voice intoned. “Your species is more familiar with physical representations.”
An avatar of a nubile young woman with hazel eyes and long flowing black hair, that ran half way down her back, materialised in front of them. It was like no other avatar they'd seen before. Unlike the holographic smoke and mirrors they were accustomed to it was a fully functional representation of what appeared to be flesh and blood.
“Is this acceptable?”
Bryn blushed and looked at his feet shuffling uncomfortably, Bryson coughed politely and look at the ceiling, Lucy caught David staring and elbowed him fiercely in the ribs.
“It's an amazingly accurate anatomical representation for an avatar.” said Anna bringing her medical expertise to bare on the situation.
“Yes, its...er... Well actually.” he was lost for words.
“There is something wrong with this physical representation?” she rolled her eyes up into the top of her skull so only the whites were showing momentarily as if accessing her memories. ”Ah, yes, forgive me, my cultural database indicates your species prefers to wear clothes and reserves its natural state for more intimate moments.” she blinked and suddenly her nakedness was concealed by a simple pale blue silk dress hemmed with ornate silver stitching.
Carol heaved a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness for that she was starting to make me feel inadequate.”
“Who are you and why did you bring us here, wherever here is?” he pressed.
“All of the Guardians questions can be answered by joining with me and completing the synchronisation.”
“Trust me I'm not your Guardian and I have no intention of synchronising with you, whatever that is, so why don't you start at the beginning by answering my questions.”
She rolled her eyes briefly into her skull once more and nodded. “Very well. It is unlikely you would survive an enforced synchronisation. Therefore we must attempt persuasion by answering your questions. What do you wish to know?”
“Where are we?”
“You are at the heart of the ark. It is what your species would know as an ark of the ancients.”
“But that's a myth, a legend.” blurted Bryn.
The avatar turned towards him. “To you perhaps, but my presence would indicate otherwise.”
“Wait a minute.” said Carol. “The legends refer to ‘the Ark of Ancients' you said 'an ark', are you implying there's more than one?”
The avatar smiled and nodded. “When my creators outgrew this galaxy they left me and my sisters behind. To watch over the planets they had seeded with life for a time when those worthy to follow them would evolve. This ark contains, but a small fraction of the sum of their knowledge. They recognised the folly of placing too much knowledge and power in one place lest it fall into the wrong hands.”
“So this structure is an ark?" he asked pointing at the crystal pyramid behind her.
She shook her head. “It is merely the heart of the ark. The device that controls it all. The planet itself is the ark.”
“And who are you exactly?”
“I am the essence of the ark, what your species would refer to as its consciousness. I control its functions and protect the knowledge contained within it.”
“So you’re a machine intelligence, an AI?”
“I am many things and known by many names, if it is a name you seek,” she rolled her eyes up once more before continuing, “you may call me Gaia.”
“Very well Gaia, you called me the Guardian just now, who or what is the Guardian?”
&n
bsp; “A physical avatar, one who is dedicated to serve and protect the ark. One who can walk among organics and carry a portion of my consciousness as the eyes and ears of the ark. To watch and wait for the time when those worthy to follow evolve. You were selected to become the new guardian.”
“Clearly we're not worthy then.” muttered Lucy.
“You have yet to be judged.” replied Gaia turning to face her. “Your greatest test is yet to come.”
He held up his hand to silence Lucy. “Why do I have no memory of any of this?”
“Time is short perhaps a visual representation of events will help expedite things?" queried Gaia.
He nodded.
“Then observe events as they unfolded two and a half of your earth years ago.”
A large holovid projection hovered in the air above them. It showed a small unmarked cargo hauler landing in a jungle clearing. The cargo ramp came down and one of Malstrom's heavily armed black ops squad came jogging down the ramp lead by an unmistakable figure in his trademark cloak and silver spectacles. There was an audible gasp amongst the audience and Bryson's hand moved to his holster and griped his pistol.
The projection showed them moving swiftly through the jungle as he took them to the small underground complex they had used as a base of operations for the best part of the last two years. It showed him accessing the hidden entrance and leading the team inside. The perspective changed to reveal events as they unfolded in the main chamber. The squad were busy unpacking and establishing a base of operations when a concealed door on the far side of the chamber opened. A tall, pale, blued skinned creature, covered in fine blue fur shot through with black bands, and a bare tear-drop shaped head emerged. As he attempted to speak to it one of the squad lunged for this rifle and fired several shots into its chest. He turned to shout at them to ceasefire and in that instance concealed automated defences opened up turning the entire chamber into a kill zone. In less than a minute it was over the entire squad was down. He'd seen himself take multiple hits before he fell. The playback terminated.
“Did I just witness my own death?” he asked coldly.
Gaia turned to him. “You believed you had uncovered the ark of the ancients. As the freelance relic hunter known as Ford you stole and sold many pieces of alien technology to Malstrom and this information you sold to them also. You were paid to lead the expedition to this planet and acquire the ark for them. As you saw they killed the previous Guardian when she attempted to make contact and I was forced to eliminate the threat. You were part of that threat.”
“Did I die?” Ford's voice was thick with pent up emotion.
She continued, as Bryson slowly drew his pistol and activated it. “I needed a replacement Guardian and you were deemed the most suitable candidate. You were damaged, but salvageable. Kept in stasis and allowed to heal.”
“Did I die?” he repeated.
“You were given a new life. Regrettably a rogue radio transmission awakened you before I could complete my synchronisation with you. Your memories were fragmented. Unable to recall your past or determine your future you interpreted your role as Guardian by using the resistance to try and drive Malstrom off the planet. I have been trying to re-establish contact with you ever since.”
“So you're saying he's the one who brought Malstrom here and he's been using us ever since.” demanded Bryson his outstretched arm shaking as he pointed his pistol at Ford.
Gaia turned to Bryson. “Yes. He brought them here and he is responsible in no small part for the occupation. However he is also responsible for saving your life, all of your lives. I believe it is what you call a paradox. The time has come to decide if you wish to act upon the order he gave you.”
“What order Bryson? What the hell is she, it, talking about?” demanded Carol.
Bryson kept the gun trained on Ford, using his other hand to steady his arm. “Before we came down here he told me when you find out the truth about me, if you don't like the answer you have my permission to pull the trigger, in fact it’s an order.”
Ford stepped towards Bryson.
“This is crazy, put the gun down Bryson.” said Anna. “He isn’t the man who brought them here, he's the man who saved us all.”
Ford kept moving forward till he reached Bryson and taking hold of his hand placed the gun against his forehead. “Your call Bryson, I've already died once what have I got to lose a second time around?”
Lucy interrupted. “Kill him how and you’re only doing Jasper’s work for him.”
“You want to know why I took the job as Chief of Security on this 'quiet' little planet.” he squeezed the trigger gently. “I couldn't hack it out there in the big bad world, lost my nerve. Felt sorry for a perp one day and offered him a chance to surrender when I should have took him down. Lost some of the best men I ever served with as a result.”
“This is different.” shouted David. “Your different, we're all different, we've taken on the bad guys, the really bad guys, and done things none of us thought we were capable of.”
“But what if I get this wrong? How many good people will die this time?”
Gaia spoke. “Billions. Billions will die whether you act or not, but by your actions you determine the meaning of your life.”
“Not helping.” said Bryn.
“I guess it’s not over till the avatar sings.” quipped Ford, sweat beading around the muzzle of the gun pressed against his forehead.
Bryson pulled the gun away firing three shots high into the air. “Whatever you were is in the past Ford, what matters now is how you, we all, face the future.”
Ford breathed a deep sigh of relief and turned to Gaia. “Synchronisation it is the then.” Gaia smiled and nodded.
“Now hold on there a minute Mr. Relic Hunter don't we get a say in this.” demanded Carol.
He smiled and turned towards her. “Ford is dead and I'm nobody. I've been living in limbo the last two years. One way or another I need to end it, end all of it.” he turned back to Gaia. “Let’s finish this.”