Enigma: The Final Battle

By Gerard Whittaker

Part three.
With Aeden under attack the Enigma must risk all to save the Universe, while a traitor plots to bring the Cosmic Guardians down from within, and galactic civilisation stands on the knife edge of extinction.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gerard Whittaker
• Release date: Oct 1, 2010
• ISBN: 9781452337852

Gerard Whittaker

Once I was a soldier, getting blown up a few times convinced me that a change of career might be a good idea.However, given some of the jobs I've done since, being shot in the chest could be preferable to being stabbed in the back. I'm happily married with my wife helping me proof read my books. I've studied military history, used most types of swords and medieval weapons. I spent a few years learning how to write and had my fair share of rejection slips. I'm still hoping to see my work in print. However, in the meantime, I want to share my worlds with the world at large. Perhaps someone might suggest ways to improve my writing. I've enjoyed writing "When Twilight Falls" intending to develop the story slowly with an ever increasing threat level. I've written about fourteen books so far, not all were completed. I was half way through a novel about an alien invasion with modern day US Airtforce taking on flying saucers. Then I saw a little film called Independence Day and sulked for a month. There are too many Sci-Fi books written for children in my opinion. So I'm trying to write for adults, if that includes a bit of sex then so be it. Heroes are just normal people in extraordinary circumstances. When they get the job done, they are still just your average Joe with all the weaknesses of you or I. For some reasons most of my worlds are not very nice, I suppose the good worlds don't need saving. So there is plenty of scope for temptation in many forms for the 'Heroes' to fall into. When you put yourself in their place, wouldn't you give in to temptation too? All the best to one and all. I wish you the best of luck in avoiding temptation. I've just uploaded a short novel called "The Streets of Bucharest". I'm still working on the full sized book and expect it to be online shortly. I'm sorry I screwed up not loading the full version. But I did give it for free to make up for my mistake. The Full version of The Streets of Bucharest is now online. It's only 40,000 words but I hope you will enjoy it. Just finished rewriting an old book of mine "The Bonds of Time". It was an experiment in erotic drama with a lot of BDSM thrown in. For anyone interested it also gives a short description of Aeden, a couple of years after the founding. It was not a very nice place when TIME was first being formed for self defense, and long before the Cosmic Guardians were even thought of to protect the Multiverse. Finished Isralla and now working on a sequel called Enryn, using a new slant, telling of a war from the Marines' point of view. I'm writing these with as little sex and as much action as the characters will let me. So if anything goes wrong, blame them! Date 13 December 2010 Thanks for the rating, for a writer who lives and works alone any kind of a pat on the back is very welcome. Sometimes I am intending to finish "Of Dusk and Dawn" in the New Year. But I admit to getting writer's block and being side tracked by Isralla and Enryn. I hope these books will keep you all amused till I can get back to D&D. A word of warning, I've finished a new book called "The Cloud Knights". A sort of cross between Biggles and Sharp, set in a crazy world you will not recognise. So if you like the idea of bi-planes versus airships, politics and treason, and a hero determined to rise from the ranks to become a Cloud Knight, fighting for freedom in a world where everything is for sale to those with the rank to claim it. Then you might like it! Currently working on a sequel called the Sky Knights, which will be big. And if that works I might round off the trilogy with the Star Knights. I also draw my own book covers using DAZ Studio which explains how I keep uploading new covers. Gerard Whittaker

Book preview

ENIGMA: THE VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED

PART THREE

THE FINAL BATTEL

BY

GERARD WHITTAKER

Enigma: The Final Battle

By Gerard Whittaker

Smashwords edition.

Copyright by Gerard Whittaker, 2010

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

PART THREE

CHAPTER ONE

ÆDEN

From the depths of Terra's seas the Enigma Jumped halfway across the Cosmos, appearing in deep space- to behold a spiral galaxy that covered a third of the heavens, glowing with the light of a hundred thousand million stars. A snowflake shaped space station, hundreds of miles across and constructed of asteroids on ten-mile long crystal spokes, shimmered in the enchanting glamour.

That'll teach that smug Christmas bauble who's boss, Wendy chuckled. I'll probably melt it down for earrings.

Frog, as we christened it, is now a valuable part of the Enigma, Miles said coolly, and as such is protected by our understanding.

Oh, all right, but if you knew how much trouble it'd caused? I could have picked you up weeks ago; without any of this fuss.

Before War World? When you destroyed the solar system. That was you, wasn't it?

Just another chore Captain, she shrugged. It needed doing; there's no way to make it sound nice, is there?

We were on that planet a few weeks earlier, and while I'm glad the Others are dead, the cost was terribly high. He gestured to where June gazed through the Eye at the galaxy, as her daughters sat playing at her feet. Most of the women aboard came from one of their farms.

You took out the city? Wendy gasped in surprise. Well, you live and learn- if you live! Sorry, when I first saw them I misjudged… I thought you were just greedy. You did a damn fine job, but it didn't half stir them up; I had to delay the rescue for a week.

What rescue?

Twenty farms.

How did you know? June asked in awe.

The report came through a friend of mine called Jim, I didn’t bother to read the details; we had to sterilise the infection at once, before it could spread. We couldn't help those in the cities, it was too late the moment they entered, but there's no way we could let over a million women and children go to hell with their masters.

You saved them? he gasped. All of them!

It's what we do, Wendy said simply. And if not us, then who? There is no one else.

They floated up to the space station, watching in awe as a hundred work pods and robots manoeuvred a new moonlet into place at the end of a ten-mile long crystal arm. This rock holds the farms we rescued, still held in stasis. We had to snatch the farms whole until we can decide what to do with the slaves- there are still plenty of ‘Farmers’ left there.

Some kind of prison? June asked sourly.

No, a storage facility. If we tried to help them all at once we’d bankrupt Æden, but a few hundred at a time we can manage.

This is Æden? Hugh gasped.

Currently, it used to be a planet, until we got kicked off; the landlords woke up. But we've much bigger plans, at the moment we're building with asteroids- pretty soon we'll be using planets. She shrugged expensively, After that, who knows- maybe whole star systems.

Harris gasped, How on earth?

You saw us move one planet, Wendy said with a shrug.

Miles sighed, No, but we saw the splash it made.

We could have left it anywhere…! she said with meaning. Space or time, alternate dimensions- it’s all the same to us. We've got a cluster of nearly a thousand stars pegged out. All we have to do is use the stars to power an industrial sized Jumpdrive and seed them with as many well chosen planets as we wish- and we've got the biggest space ship you could imagine- fifty light years long.

Miles croaked, Why, what for?

Consider it a lifeboat, the Others could still win.

Æden could do...

Wendy chuckled, In fact Æden is nearer a state of mind than a physical place. It stands for total freedom to be yourself; life, health and love.

No wonder you hate the Others, June laughed as she held Miles's arm.

They're a cosmic disease, and we're the penicillin.

Nicely put, Harris applauded. But what are they?

More that just aliens, much more, she replied grimly. You’ve heard the titles before: The Precursors; the First Born; the Progenitors; the Aelder Gods; the Forerunners; the Creatures from Beyond Time; Those Who Feed in Darkness, and ten thousand more across the Multiverse. They come from a realm of darkness we can scarcely comprehend; we think they're refugees from a war before, and that created, the Big Bang- the predators who inadvertently started our Multiverse. Okay, we’re not really sure, it’s very hard to have a profound conversation with a creature that’s trying to eat you.

Miles gasped in incredulity, But they couldn't exist here, surely not...

Exist may be the only way to describe it, it sure isn't living. They managed to break through to this reality, in a hundred Universes, intending to absorb and enslave all they meet- until chaos reigns in darkness for all time.

Harris gasped in horror, What are they like?

Nothing you could possibly imagine, no two are alike, but were not sure if they're different species or not, because they're in a constant state of metamorphosis, as they mutate into something that can survive here- until their new body dies and they have to mutate again. They live in eternal agony.

Why? Marina begged. Why would they suffer so?

To cause our Multiverse to collapse back into the previous one, to recreate their home dimension.

I had to ask, Marina sighed.

Wendy shrugged off the darkness, and laughed, Now, let's meet Dad, shall we?

The Enigma Jumped inside the hundred-mile wide Admin sphere, seeing not the expected barren rock but a flourishing eco-system of blue sky and a bright sun, with small clouds casting shadows on the rich land. She flew over miles of forest and farmland, passing by a small walled town and on towards a large mansion standing high on a hill about a mile beyond.

Wendy chuckled at their shock, These rocks are free, so we’re only picking the big ones, and Time doesn’t think small.

The Enigma glided down over the fortified wall, to land in front of the manor house on the firm grass and crisp gravel. Smiling mischievously Gwen put them down next to a green Land Rover. Same Gravetic grid as on the Enigma, theoretically we could turn the station into a thousand spaceships.

A simple brass plaque on the house's oaken door said: 'TIME'. A much newer plaque below it said: 'Department of Cosmic Guardians'.

Wendy led them out of the Enigma as a score of six-inch high fairies swooped around her head, laughing in glee; most were dressed in short silken costumes, sometimes adorned with fresh petals. Several wore tiny rapiers, made from needles, and saluted Wendy with a flourish of steel; however, one figure hung back, sullenly.

Tansy, Wendy sighed with gentle admonition, won't you greet your friend?

However, Tansy fled sobbing into the forest, fluttering between the trees on gauzy wings.

Miles chuckled, Well Pelle, now do you believe in direct power to speed? After all, you've seen the fairies.

What was that about? June asked.

She's just learned that I created them by accident, Wendy apologised.

I'm getting fed up of saying this, Miles sighed as he held June's hand, but- what the hell...

You know we can design Biroids from scratch on a computer?

Well, I suppose...

Æden has never needed to create Biroids, we're up to our ears with surplus stock now, she sighed. We buy them from Terra's version of Exchange and Mart by the hundred- for many it's either us or termination- Terra doesn't like the idea of them being released and forming their own culture. It nearly happened once, there were quite a few casualties.

Miles mused, An army of Biroid Sparticuses? It'd scare the hell out of me.

Wendy chuckled, And you've never seen their combat models- Marines and Bodyguards- all with built in weapons and armour.

Sounds nasty, Harris said with a burr in his voice.

We are, I was created a Biroid- and adopted. She glanced at Marina with meaning, It took years of hard work and a lot of love to make me truly human; there were far too many shitty little programs springing up, telling me how to behave.

June asked, But what has this to do with fairies?

"Biroid's are the art form on Terra, Wendy said grimly. You wouldn't believe some of the new models. While most are merely aesthetically pleasing, they would far surpass any so called supermodel on Earth, some are in the worst possible taste- not all the genes are human."

Hybrid, Chimera? Harris spluttered.

That and a damn sight more, Wendy said grimly. Angels, Elves, Mermaids, Dryads, Succubus… You know how good man is at creating fictional monsters? Well, now he can take them from the page and into real life. If you’ve got the money you can own a whole herd of centaurs, or what ever else takes your perverted fancy.

June asked nervously, Are there any limits?

I did once hear about a Dragon, and yes, it did breath fire. Tansy's the smallest intelligent life form that can breed true- so far.

Harris moaned, You're not trying to...

I was doodling once with my Miska, and we designed fairies, just for fun; I thought we'd deleted the patterns, but some moron transferred them to the vats...

Miles sighed, Oh boy!

With Hugh and Marina in attendance, Erin stepped from the ramp and saw the familiar sights around her, as though from some long forgotten dream.

She glanced to the right, expecting to see the town's crenellated wall a mile in the distance, and sure enough, it was there. A short flight of wooden steps led up to the wall that surrounded the house- somehow it seemed strange not to see the honour guard of Roman Legionnaires standing watch. A small swimming pool was housed in an annex of the three-storey manor house- surrounded by sun beds. Through the half open garage door the grill of a dusty Rolls Royce peered- one that had been mothballed before she was born and all but forgotten. Two names had been crudely carved on the inside of the garage door- she did not need to be able to read them- her own hand had carved one.

A young man called from the wall, If you'll hurry up the dinner won't burn. He saw her staring, and laughed, Hi there, I'm...

John, she gasped in wonder.

The two sides of her personality clashed, as one set of memories struggled with a set long buried; the collision drove Erin to her knees as her mind seemed to explode in slow-motion. She sank limply to the grass as her husband watched in shock.

Erin was carried into the house between Hugh and John, and placed on a couch in the well-lit library, as the household gathered around her family.

George entered the room, grunting in annoyance on seeing a perfectly healthy young woman faint. Wendy dear, did you have to park that thing on the lawn? he sighed. What’s the point of having space docks, and bringing the ships home with you? He walked to the fireplace and reached for a weapons rack on the mantelpiece, withdrawing his triangular sword of glittering crystal. Now, what’s up with her?

Mindwipe dad, Wendy said calmly. This is the second fit in two days.

He hurried over and ran the glowing pommel of his sword over Erin; it blazed red on touching her forehead. Nasty, some creep really screwed her up.

Hugh gasped, Can you help? Lady Wendy said she'd need specialist...

Chuckling, George said, This is a bit more powerful than the portable healers. He let his pommel glow for a minute or two, bathing Erin’s face with a red glow, and then smiled slightly as he examined her scar; feeling the angry flesh with callused fingers- but a delicate touch.

That's it, Wendy chuckled. But he's not finished yet.

George laughed, She'll not need this, will she? He slashed out with his sword at arm’s length, the needle tip slicing down the centre of her scar with surgical precision from forehead to jaw; a little blood ran free.

What the hell are you doing? Hugh gasped in shock.

Only sterilising the infection, about fifteen years too late, I’d say.

Trust him, Julia chuckled, he's doctor, of sorts. We used to have a scam, I'd carve em up and he’d sew em up- we were a good team.

However, even as Julia said it, Miles realised that there was a hole in her life; something was missing that had left her little more than the shell of a once vibrant woman. She was tiny, elfin, with bronze hair and green eyes; her beauty was still there, but the inner fire had been extinguished.

George examined Erin's face, and sealed the wound with a crimson flash from his sword- the angry red flesh flowed and knitted into smooth skin.

Hugh knelt next to him, and gasped on seeing her face whole and healthy for the first time. I owe you, he said simply.

Not at all, could you let a work of art rot? Well neither could I.

She's been having trouble with her dreams lately, kept seeing impossible things- and now this.

In this line of work, George grinned, there are no impossibilities; what did she see?

Herself in a Western, some kind of wagon train being attacked by Aztecs, and a Quetzalcoatlus flying overhead.

Just a left over from a trip to Tenochtitlan, Miles assured them.

So you've been there too.

Hey, Dad, John said nervously, there was that time Jennet and I went walkabout; we ran into a bunch of Aztecs trying to invade North America.

Yeh, I remember grounding you for a month, George chuckled.

Well- we had to cast a hologram to scare them back South.

You didn't mention that in your report.

I, ah, didn't want to worry you. Thing is, she cast a Plumbed Serpent, a Quetzalcoatlus from our biology homework.

So that's where Jim got the idea, he said absently.

We mentioned it, but he wanted to raise a real one from the egg.

Brave man.

Thing is, we had a Western wagon train attacked by Aztecs and a Quetzalcoatlus; rather a coincidence, don't you think?

One in several billion, George agreed as his curiosity was aroused. Was she there?

That was a long time ago, John mused.

About all of sixteen years.

There were a few girls that age, but I... He froze in shock for a few moments.

John, what's on you mind? Julia snapped. I haven't seen you this white in...

John looked dumb struck, as an awful yet wonderful thought became a potential reality. The idea was totally impossible, insane, and crazy- but it felt right. To reveal his guess would hurt his mother more than he could endure, but if he was right! Mister Fitsymonds, he gasped, is Erin your real daughter? I hope you don't mind me asking, but...

Oh no! Julia gasped in terror. Not again, I can't...

Miles whispered as his worst nightmare became real, Erin was rescued from a burning car sixteen years ago, I adopted her soon after. He said calmly and surely, She had, and still has, amnesia.

George gasped in impossible hope, Could it be?

She died, Julia screamed in anguish. My daughter is dead!

No mother, Erin said firmly as she struggled to sit up, I'm not dead. I've come home.

Time seemed to freeze as the words shook everyone in the room. Hugh felt his heart lift on realising that Erin was now whole- her past revealed. However, what of her future? Their future? Could she still be the same person?

Computer, George snapped, "run a scan