Time and Time Again

By Marius A Smith

When ancient terraforming equipment is triggered by humanity's greatest adversary, whom they'd thought to have been destroyed, the survivors living in the colony on the planet Copernicus find themselves further threatened when that enemy delves into Earth's history. The survivors know that any changes that occur there could potentially erase their existence even on Copernicus. If their adversary succeeds in acquiring an ancient artefact, the Sapphirus Tempus, he would become unstoppable. The colony also faces an additional threat; the warlike Gultorians intend to invade Copernicus.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marius A Smith
• Release date: Mar 31, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476426198

Marius A Smith

Marius Augustus Smith was born in 1981 in Adelaide, Australia, and is a life-long fan of science fiction. He has travelled to many places around the world, with many more he has yet to visit, although some destinations can only be travelled to in the mind (at least until the invention of warp drive!). Also having an interest in history, especially ancient cultures, and Egypt in particular, Marius has incorporated these interests into his books. His favourite authors include Alexandre Dumas, Kevin J. Anderson, Drew Karpyshyn, Anne Rice and J. K. Rowling. Some of his not-so-common experiences include shovelling coal in a 1920s locomotive, and being an extra in a police line-up. Marius currently lives in Australia with his wife.

Book preview

TIME AND TIME AGAIN

The Course of Time

BOOK THREE

Marius A. Smith

The Course of Time:

Larissa

Cerah

From Time to Time

The Time of Humanity

Time and Time Again

The Time of Sacrifice

Mysteries of Time

From the Depths of Time: Part One

From the Depths of Time: Part Two

Time’s Curse

In Times of War: Part One

In Times of War: Part Two

Copyright © 2024 Marius A. Smith

This book is copyright under the Berne Convention.

Published by Marius A. Smith at Smashwords

All historical individuals or places mentioned or referred to in this book are portrayed in a purely fictitious sense. All other characters are purely fictitious, and no resemblance to individuals living or dead is intended.

No part of this work may be reproduced or copied in any form without the prior permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.

Chapter 1

Partial Resurrection

Like anything, time can be used as a resource for great good, or wielded like a weapon for great evil.

William was in a dark place, old and largely forgotten, where very few people had visited for centuries despite there being a city nearby. He was in the crumbling ruin of an old abandoned abbey at night, a place where anyone would expect to find ghosts and vampires. That being the case, it was an appropriate place for William and those with him to be, as they were all vampires.

Another being was somewhere in the ruins with them, a dangerous enemy whom they’d tracked to this location.

Without warning, William was overcome by a pervading pain throughout his entire body that lasted for only a second, followed immediately by unconsciousness. Less than two minutes later he was awoken by a sharp pain in the inner part of his forearm. He looked up to see his enemy clasping his wrist, a victorious smile on his face. An overwhelming feeling swept through William’s body and he felt disorientated. A moment later, when his mind refocussed, he was standing in the ruin, now looking down at the body of his enemy, unsure of what had just happened. The dead man had curly ginger hair, and was a man that William had known for a long time.

He heard someone yelling nearby and looked in the direction of the voice as it approached. It was his brother and best friend, Luke. But when he came around a corner into sight, Luke was advancing towards him with a phased positron pulse rifle aimed at him. He looked angry at the sight of their enemy’s body. Though he had no conscious thought to do so, William watched himself snatch up a long ornate dagger from the body on the ground, along with his own pulse rifle that he’d dropped when he’d fallen into unconsciousness. Without thinking to, and unable to stop himself, he ducked into a nearby hole in the wall. A couple of Luke’s shots missed him by only a few centimetres, blasting away chunks of the stone wall.

After losing Luke in the labyrinth of ruins, most of which were roofless, William found himself sneaking up behind Larissa, who was cautiously making her way in the direction of the shots. She too was holding a pulse rifle, and was unaware of his presence. He tried to call out to her but no sound came out, as though the words never made it to his mouth. She was completely unaware of his proximity until he threw down his pulse rifle, grabbed her from behind with his free hand, and thrust the dagger into her back. The blade slid straight through her just below her ribcage with such force that its tip protruded through her abdomen, and she let out a loud cry of agony. The blade had clearly ruptured an artery or vein, and blood spilled steadily from both the entry and exit point of the wound as she collapsed.

William’s eyes opened and he awoke, panting with anxiety, horrified by what he’d seen. His skin was moist and clammy all over, with beads of sweat on his forehead. He pushed the bedcovers off to cool down and tried to calm himself by taking slow, deep breaths. Lying in the bed beside him was Larissa, his wife for just over a year now, still sleeping peacefully. He listened to her gentle breathing for reassurance and took a few moments to just gaze at her attractive Malaysian-Japanese features framed by long raven-black hair as she slept. Looking around the room he saw that he was still in their quarters in the Pantheon Apartments on the desert planet Copernicus. He looked at his wristwatch-style multi-com device on the bedside table. The time was 2614 hours, Copernicus time. For several sleepless hours he lay in bed, trying unsuccessfully to push away the images that had gone through his mind before he’d awoken.

At 0800 hours he excused himself from Larissa, having told her nothing about his dream, to have breakfast with Luke at the restaurant downstairs on the ground floor that was run by Green Tim. While they ate, dining among humans, aliens, and other vampires who’d also come down to Green Tim’s for breakfast, William described the dream to Luke in as much detail as he could recall.

Luke listened patiently until he was finished before asking half seriously, Have you and Larissa had a bit of a tiff recently?

No. And even if we had, I certainly wouldn’t be entertaining thoughts of killing her.

Have you spoken to Larissa about this?

Of course not. How could I? William replied. It’s not like it was a dream about going to the beaches of that tropical planet we went to for our honeymoon.

Did you recognise the place?

It was at night, but it was definitely Earth, inside a ruin. Judging by the architecture, I’d say it could’ve been an old monastery.

Luke was silent for a moment in nostalgic reflection of Earth. The year was now 2511, and the day was March 29th. Nearly two Earth years had passed since the human home world had been destroyed after being flung into the distant past in a desperate attempt to escape the supernova detonation of the sun. It was probably just a bad dream, if a remarkably vivid one, he concluded reasonably.

No, it was too real to have been a dream. It might sound a bit far fetched, but I’m sure it was a premonition.

Have you been getting stuck into a bit of haemohol or something?

Not for a couple of years now. I wish Talamayn was still alive. He might’ve been able to see deeper into it than I can. Come to think of it, we don’t really know what he did with the Sapphirus Tempus before he died.

I thought we’d come to the conclusion that he either left it on Earth to be destroyed with the planet so that it wouldn’t fall into the wrong hands, or returned it to its mysterious rightful owners like he said to Zahlmann, assuming he wasn’t just pulling the professor’s leg. And Will, there’s just no way you could kill Larissa, under any circumstances. I can’t imagine anything that would make you do such a thing, or even think it. And why would I be hunting you? It’s probably a dream that’s been enhanced by the effect of Talamayn’s ancient blood, not a premonition, because what you told me are events that just wouldn’t and couldn’t happen. As an afterthought, Luke asked, Was Cerah there?

William shook his head. Not that I saw. Just the three of us and a dead body, which I could’ve sworn was Malcolm Wallace. Now you’re starting to sound a little worried about your wife.

Well it would be unwise to just dismiss it without looking into it. What was Wallace doing there? His ship Striker was declared lost last year when it didn’t show up with everyone else.

William shrugged. It’s what I saw. Last time I had such an intense dream it was about that boy, Arnold, which turned out to be a repressed memory from my childhood before you were cloned from me, he said in a hushed voice, since that still wasn’t common knowledge. I’m just worried that this might somehow prove to be an actual event as well.

Maybe what you saw was a symbolic representation of something that’s in your subconscious. But I promise I won’t try to kill you! Luke said with a grin, attempting to lighten the mood.

That’s very nice of you, William said. Do you think I should talk it over with Larissa?

That’s entirely up to you, my friend.

As a matter of principle, a husband and wife should be able to discuss anything with each other, no matter how strange or disturbing the issue, William reasoned.

Perhaps. But has she told you anything about the death of her parents yet?

Only that it happened about seven years before we met on Parallax. She’s a bit evasive with the details whenever I bring it up. I figure it’s still a bit painful for her. She hasn’t even told me what they died from, or what their names are. Or even her maiden name, for that matter.

Don’t you think that’s a bit strange? After all, you’ve been married for nearly as long as we’ve been on this planet, Luke said.

I’m sure she’ll tell me eventually.

You must be a very patient man.

Green Tim, the semi-reptilian proprietor of the restaurant, came over to the table to take away William and Luke’s now empty plates. Is there anything else I can get for you gents? he asked in his husky voice.

Not for me thanks, Tim, Luke replied.

I could do with a glass of synthblood. I didn’t sleep very well last night, William said.

Certainly, Will. Hey, how’s the search for Muteki’s remains going? Tim asked with genuine interest.

We’ve got five teams over there now looking for anything left of him or debris from his time capsule, but it could still take a while. The scanners have a limited range on Quirinus, and I’m sure a lot of the components will have degraded from the moon’s heat by now, making them even harder for scanners to recognise.

I don’t mean to speak out of turn, after all you are the captain in charge of the operation, but are you sure it’s wise to have Tarosians on those teams? I realise they’ve taken great steps to make amends and become a contributing part of our society, but some of them may have lingering loyalties to their former master.

I’m confident that by now they’ve settled into the community and let go of the past. At least I hope so. I have to say that on the whole they’ve worked hard to repair the damage they caused under Muteki’s orders, and many have performed invaluable service to us, and provided us with a great deal of useful information and knowledge. If it wasn’t for them we wouldn’t have those three colony ships under construction. They’re doing their best to earn our trust, and we have to be willing to give it, though it is always wise to be cautious.

Tim conceded, You’re right. I guess I’m still a little unwilling to forgive. I’ll go get your synthblood.

Thanks, Tim. William looked at Luke. What do you think?

Luke considered for a moment. I think they deserve the chance to prove themselves, but we shouldn’t let our guard down too soon. Even though they’ve made such great efforts to integrate themselves into the colony, there may be a few who are just playing along, waiting for some opportunity to take advantage of.

Don’t worry, if there are still Muteki loyalists I’ll deal with them, and make an example of them if I have to, William assured his friend.

By the way, I thought the colony ships were Zahlmann’s idea.

They were, but it’s because of the Tarosians that we’ve been able to identify and use parts of the wreck of Tatakau in their construction.

Tim returned with a glass of synthblood. Did you know it was your friend Talamayn who invented this synthetic blood substitute?

I didn’t know that, William responded. Luke was equally surprised.

It’s true. He wanted to get rid of the vampire need to kill.

But vampires don’t need to kill, Luke stated. We can live off of normal food indefinitely if we have to.

But back when he came up with the idea most vampires were unwilling to sacrifice the heightening of their enhanced strength and abilities to live like that. That’s why he developed it, Tim said as he wiped the table with a cloth.

Well there you go, you learn something new every day, William said as he emptied his glass in one long refreshing gulp.

*

Quirinus, one of Copernicus’ three moons, had a striking resemblance to Saturn’s moon Titan, except that its temperature was much hotter, generally over 220 degrees Celsius. On its surface the five search teams were making their way in different directions through the dusty-orange fog that gave everything an almost sepia-like appearance. The atmosphere’s haze was so thick that it blocked out most of the intense light from the local star, Deneb. The whole of Alpha group, of whom Cerah’s younger sister Cephra was a member, were getting tired of a man named Gilford who hadn’t stopped complaining across the communication system of their bio-suits since the shuttles had touched down.

I don’t know why we’re down here. The scanners have got such a limited range because of something in the atmosphere that we can’t even identify, and we can only see a few metres in front of us. For all we know we’ve walked right by his remains a dozen times, or even landed the shuttle right on top of them.

It’s probably just some sort of forensic protocol or something. Besides, we’re doing it under Captain Herschel’s orders. That should be reason enough, Cephra responded, doing her best not to give in to the urge to shout at him, or to shoot him.

We should be better armed. What if he survived? Gilford complained again, glancing down at the phased positron pistol clipped to the hip of his bio-suit, which seemed quite insufficient in light of everything that he’d heard about Muteki. The way his own breathing sounded amplified inside his helmet wasn’t doing anything to help his nerves.

Then I hope you haven’t made any plans for tomorrow, Cephra replied, hoping more than anything that Gilford would just get on with scanning and stop whining. Like everyone else, she already felt uneasy enough walking around on this dim and desolate moon.

We’d better check how the other groups are doing, the team leader said, more to interrupt the pointless conversation he was overhearing than because of any great need to do so. He boosted the power of his team’s communication amplifier to maximum in order to reach the other groups through the atmospheric interference.

Gilford turned around as if startled by something behind him and dropped his scanner. In a second he’d unclipped his pistol and was pointing it into the haze with a trembling hand, his weapon moving with his gaze as it went from side to side. Nearby a small cloud of dust was settling and there was a gentle swirl in the fog that was dissipating. Something was moving over there, he stammered.

Will you stop waving that thing about before you shoot somebody? It was probably just a bit of wind making shapes in the fog. It’s nothing to worry about, it happens all the time. There’s no life at all on this world, aside from our teams. And none of the others are close enough for us to see. Try to relax, another man called Lloyd said. He too found Gilford annoying, and had tried his best to be patient with him. Seeing that Gilford was still looking around in alarm, Lloyd added, It’s 208 degrees Celsius out here, so there’s bound to be heat shimmers, and the lower gravity probably gives them an unusual effect on the fog.

The team leader established contact with each of the other groups, none of whom had anything to report. They knew that Muteki had fallen to his demise on this part of the moon but had been unable to pinpoint exactly where. The team leader switched off the communication amplifier. He was secretly relieved to have heard that all was well from the leader of Delta group in particular. That team was originally an all-Tarosian team, until the supervisor of the search operation, Lieutenant Commander Archibald Cutler, had decided that it was still unsafe to leave a group of Tarosians on a search mission for their former master without human supervision. Though it was seen as judgemental, a human team leader had been assigned to that group for the last few missions, as well as another human team member purely for Cutler’s peace of mind. Not that Cutler himself really had anything to worry about, sitting safely in his office in the pyramid on Copernicus.

*

Delta group made their way through the dense fog several kilometres away, across another region that looked the same as the rest of the moon; dull orange dirt and brownish-orange rocks that were close to the same colour as the dirt except a little darker, with the view any further than five metres ahead obscured by the thick orange haze. The only apparent difference about their area was the barely discernible cliff nearby that they were walking around the base of. The human leader, Neil Henderson, headed the group forward, careful not to trip over the numerous small rocks that were partially hidden by a coating of dust. He wasn’t uneasy about being in a group with four Tarosians and only one other human, a man named Mike Roberts. He believed in giving them a chance, despite the common attitude of ongoing suspicion towards them. He wasn’t even put off by the light blue tinge of their skin or the visible cybernetic implants that they all possessed due to their inherent genetic degradation. All the same, he was under orders to keep an eye on them and report any unusual behaviour. So far there had been none at all, and he didn’t expect that there would be. He’d led this search group several times before, and was on good terms with its members. He tried not to look back at them too often; he didn’t want to make them uncomfortable. If they were to find anything he would be duty-bound to keep a closer eye on them, but while he could he cut them some slack.

They soon reached an area not far from the base of the cliff where the ground was littered with larger rocks that had fallen down from the steep mountain slopes above over the years. Like everywhere else, they were all covered in a thick layer of dust. Even though there had been no indications of current seismic activity, the team leader thought it best to steer their search away from the cliff, just in case there was a rockslide.

I am here, my brothers, a voice said.

The Tarosians in the group stopped. Henderson and Roberts kept walking, having heard nothing. The four Tarosians looked at each other. They knew the voice, which they’d heard even through their bio-suits due to their subsonic auditory implants. Two of them went over to Henderson while the other two approached Roberts, both of whom were looking out into the fog ahead. One Tarosian snatched away Henderson’s communication amplifier while his fellow drew a knife from a hidden armpit sheath and slashed the man’s bio-suit open in several places. Henderson stumbled backwards in alarm, surprised by what was happening. He frantically tried to establish a communication link to any of the other groups using his bio-suit’s internal system but the interference was too great, and they were much too far away to help him in time even if he could get through. The moon’s hot unbreathable atmosphere quickly filled his suit and burnt his lungs and body, and he collapsed to the ground asphyxiating and in agony. The other pair of Tarosians quickly overpowered Roberts before he could draw his pistol, and one of them used his cybernetic strength to punch through the front of the man’s helmet, leaving his face a bloody mess as he choked on the scalding atmosphere.

When both humans lay on the ground unmoving, one of the Tarosians, still holding a knife, used his omniscanner to confirm that the men were dead. He then reset the scanner to detect a signal at a particular frequency. When the signal was isolated he led the group in its direction. They took the communication amplifier with them.

Within a matter of minutes they found what they were looking for, the same thing that all of the groups were looking for. Right beside one of the larger rocks was a dust-covered humanoid form. The Tarosian now leading the group brushed away as much of the dust as he could to reveal the broken android body. A small red light was flashing from within the empty cranial cavity. The Tarosian reached in and deactivated the signal. He ordered two of the others to bring the mechanical body, and the third to bring as many of the shattered parts in the immediate area as he could find. They were aware of the disembodied presence of their master watching them in the fog, as all four had optical implants that were able to detect him as a shadowy humanoid haze, although they still couldn’t truly see him. They made their way back towards their shuttle, accompanied by their incorporeal master.

A few minutes later the Alpha team leader called for reports from all groups. The Tarosian now in charge of the rogue Delta group scanned the log kept in the communication amplifier and found the recording of the previous report given. He re-transmitted the recording to make it sound like it was Henderson reporting in again, reporting that nothing was found.

The reply came back mixed with heavy static. Very well, all teams back to your shuttles and return to Copernicus. We’ll call it a day. Some of us are stopping off at Green Tim’s for a drink if anyone wants to join us. The transmission ended.

The Tarosian deactivated the unit and threw it aside, and his group was soon aboard their shuttle and on their way back to the new human home world.

A short time later, as they descended to the surface of the planet, they diverted their course slightly and flew over the city, which was made up primarily of reconstructed historical buildings ranging in design from ancient to Renaissance and neoclassical, with some incorporating a mixture of architectural styles. They’d all been constructed from beige limestone mined from the mountain range to the northeast of the city. Eight kilometres beyond the city lay the wreck of the giant crashed starship Tatakau. The shuttle came to rest on the far side of the 1,200-metre-long derelict, which was shaped roughly like a massive submarine. All useable parts had been cannibalised from it, at least from the accessible areas, and many sections of the hull and inner framework had been stripped away to be used by the colony as needed. The decks of the lower third of the ship had either been scraped away or compacted when it hit the surface, and salvage teams had yet to dig their way through some of them to see if anything of use might still be intact. The rest of the ship above was a skeletal-looking husk of metal.

The four Tarosians, who’d removed their bio-suits and were now in their rather plain choices of civilian clothing, left the shuttle bearing Muteki’s dusty remains and entered one of the partially compressed ‘inaccessible’ areas by removing an inconspicuous service panel from the outer hull. Replacing the panel once they were inside, they made their way deep into the dark wreck through the warped passages, doing so hunched over because of the floor and ceiling having been pressed closer together, until they reached a large room where the leader activated several emergency lamps that they’d placed there some time ago. The dim light cast strange shadows around the room against the black walls and ceiling and the metal-grey floor, all of which were buckled out of shape, but the members of the group were used to it. For months they’d been preparing the room as a makeshift headquarters for their secret operation, bringing various pieces of equipment and as many devices as they could discreetly obtain to assist their purpose. It was all connected to an emergency power cell that they’d stolen from a shuttle, and no one had ever managed to trace it to them.

The leader selected one of the other Tarosians. The master will need to speak through you to properly instruct us, he said in a voice that had a slightly mechanical tone to it due to his breathing and vocal systems being predominantly artificial.

Without hesitation, the Tarosian stepped forward to do whatever was required of him.

Stand by the spirit constrainer, the leader ordered.

Obediently, the Tarosian went and stood before the arm of a large and intricate piece of equipment that the leader was powering up. At the end of the arm was a parabolic dish that was positioned close to his head level. A second detached arm belonging to the machine rested on the ground beside it that wasn’t needed for this particular procedure.

The leader used a scanner on the machine to program it with the physiological details of the nominated Tarosian, and to isolate the presence of Muteki’s spirit, who’d accompanied them to Copernicus on the shuttle and then followed them into the wreck. On the display it showed that Muteki was also standing before the device beside the Tarosian. It was too dark for them to see him visually, even with their optical implants. The leader activated an invisible guidance force field, which encompassed both beings under the dish. The force field was so fine that it had no impact on normal matter, which could pass through it with no effect. It was designed to only be effective on the ultra-fine matter of spirits. Manipulating the parameters of the force field, the leader attempted to force the spirit to merge with the Tarosian. No matter how he tried to do it or how much he increased the power the procedure wasn’t working. Despondently he deactivated the device. He went over to a nearby metal table and took a pistol from the top draw, looking the Tarosian sacrifice in the eye as he raised the weapon and said sincerely, I’m sorry, my friend, but there’s no other way. The Tarosian nodded his acceptance, premature death already being an expected part of the lives of Tarosians because of their condition, and the leader fired. The intense positron burst killed him instantly. He fell to the floor with a fist-sized smouldering crater in his chest. The shot had been precisely aimed so that it would disrupt the function of his artificial heart while also partially exposing it, while at the same time cauterising the wound.

Resetting the pistol to a medium stun setting, the leader fired the electrical discharge at the organ, shocking it into restarting, as it was programmed to respond to a defibrillator so that it could still be reused in the instance of being transplanted into another Tarosian. Where it lay, the body was still within the projection field of the dish, so without hesitation the leader reactivated it. This time the spirit of their master was successfully guided into the Tarosian’s body, now that it no longer contained a spirit of its own. The leader and the other two Tarosians in the room watched with anticipation.

After a few moments of acclimatising, their master, now using the donated body, got to his feet and smiled, careful not to bang his head on the low, warped ceiling. Thank you, my brethren, he said in the Tarosian’s voice. My connection to this brain is unstable. We need a more permanent solution. Once that’s been achieved we will continue with our original plan. He stepped forward, about to get things under way, but the moment he stepped out of the device’s invisible force field he collapsed to the floor, lifeless, although the artificial heart continued to keep the body functioning.

The three Tarosians rushed over and moved the body back within the range of the device’s dish. The leader again used the force field to guide the spirit into the body.

A few moments later, when Muteki was back on his feet again, he said, My hold on this body is too feeble. My old holo-droid body emulated my own brain patterns, so I could inhabit it without any problems, but this brain has a different pattern. It’s only the force field that keeps me in here. We can’t stay hidden in this wreck indefinitely. We should leave as soon as possible. As I recall from our original scans of the settlement there are caves in the nearby mountains. What can you tell me about them?

The Tarosian leader stepped forward to respond. The mountain range is extensive, and is situated northeast of the human city. It has many caves, which are interconnecting, and they also contain deposits of metals and minerals. The humans have run a number of mining operations in that area for stone and other resources for building and sustaining their city, but there are no mining sites currently in operation. Might I recommend that we relocate to a more distant area of the planet? The minerals in the mountains above caves would protect us from being detected by the city, but if they do begin another mining operation they’ll no doubt find us when they do a deep scan of the region for ore deposits.

We won’t be staying in the area permanently, but we will need to be nearby while we acquire equipment and supplies from the city so that we can establish ourselves elsewhere when the time comes. You’ll need to load as much equipment from Tatakau as you can aboard the shuttle. We won’t be coming back here. I’ll tell you how to modify the engines to avoid detection. I recall each of your faces. What are your names?

My name is Gelmek, the leader answered.

Mine is Sedos, the nearest of the other two responded.

I am Kipnar, the third said.

Are you gentlemen all that remain of my followers? Muteki asked with disappointment.

Master, there are two more loyal followers on this world that we can trust, one of them a human, but most of our people have opted to become a part of society here. I request that you be merciful and forgive them. They thought you were gone and that the plan could no longer be accomplished, Gelmek said in a humble voice.

Of course I will. They had no reason to think that I would come back. We’ll make contact with the other two before we leave. I observed that the dark matter armour layer has been stripped away. I assume the Tarosians who’ve joined the humans have shown them how to disrupt the subatomic attraction of the particles to make it semi-fluidic?

Gelmek was ashamed to confirm, Yes, my master. We expected that some would join the humans and share what they knew of your operations and technology, which was why only a few of us knew of your transponder, to prevent the humans from finding you first due to betrayal by our former brethren. Still fearful for the other Tarosians on Copernicus, despite their change of loyalty, he added, Please understand, those Tarosians believed they had no other hope.

Muteki was silent for a few moments before saying, What’s done is done. There will be no retribution against your brothers and sisters who’ve turned away, you have my word. But we cannot risk trying to re-enlist them to our cause. Tell me, what use have the humans made of the dark matter?

They’ve begun construction of three colony ships above the planet, and the dark matter is being used to coat their hulls. When they’re complete, the humans will use them to travel to distant parts of the galaxy to establish additional colonies to ensure that the human race will survive somewhere. They’ll be too large to fit through the rift projection gateway, so it will take several generations for the ships to complete their journeys.

How much progress have they made on these ships?

Their construction is still less than fifty percent complete.

They’ll be of no use to us then. We’ll need to leave long before they’ll be ready. And I’ll need information about the rift projection gateway. For now, let’s start making preparations to go to the caves.

*

The next morning William and Larissa had Luke and Cerah over for breakfast. Whenever time permitted, the four of them generally shared at least one meal of the day together, either in one of their quarters or at Green Tim’s. On this occasion Larissa had prepared a full English breakfast. As soon as it was served she summoned everyone to the dining table to eat. William, Luke and Cerah all wore the black shirt, formal style trousers and boots of their Temporal Security uniforms, over which they wore the coloured jackets of their ranks. Larissa was dressed casually in black jeans and a deep blue silken blouse with her hair hanging loose.

We’re about due for another match in the gaming lounge, Luke challenged. Making himself at home, he tossed his crimson jacket onto the lounge on his way to the table.

You’re on, William accepted, draping his royal blue jacket over the back of his seat.

What is it this time, five dimensional chess? Cerah asked.

Holographic Starfighter, Luke informed her. He’d given up on five dimensional chess after recently losing seven matches straight to Korkligh, the one Urettan man living on Copernicus, but he wasn’t going to tell his wife and friends about such a crushing defeat.

Aren’t you two a bit old for those starfighter games?

Of course not, Luke said indignantly. It’s a game of strategy. It helps us exercise our tactical prowess.

Exactly, William said in support.

Deciding to change the subject before the men rehearsed to them in long-winded detail how they’d outwitted each other in their most recent game, Larissa asked, Has anyone heard from Henderson?

The general response was that no one had.

I expected to hear from him last night after the groups returned from Quirinus, but he never called, William said with concern.

Why don’t you contact him? Cerah asked.

Too risky. He’s on a special assignment to monitor a suspect group of Tarosians. If a call directly from me is overheard or intercepted by them they’ll know they’re being watched.

I hope you haven’t assigned my sister to that group, Cerah said.

Don’t worry, Cephra’s in an all-human group.

Can’t you use sensors to pinpoint Henderson and see if he’s alone?

The Tarosians might pick it up on their own scanners. We’re being extremely careful with them.

If you know his schedule you could just happen to cross paths with him, Larissa suggested.

If something had happened to him, or if his group had failed to report, the mission supervisor would’ve contacted me. But if I don’t hear from him by this evening I may have to risk looking into it myself. Henderson’s a good man, if a little too trusting of the Tarosians. I hope he’s alright. He actually met Genghis Khan on one of his Temporal Security missions a few years ago, and only just managed to get away with his life.

Really? Larissa asked with interest. I wouldn’t mind hearing about that, when you eventually find him.

Luke couldn’t resist the chance to boast. That’s nothing. Will and I have met Homer, Alexander the Great, Socrates, Mother Teresa, and I once met George Stephenson and Benjamin Franklin.

I met Queen Victoria, Cerah pitched in.

I met Galileo once, William said. I told him he was on the right track, but that he shouldn’t push the point. I also met Tuthmosis the Third and Akhenaten, but those encounters didn’t go so well. I even had the chance to sit down for a chat with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

I’d like to see you prove that, Luke challenged.

Certainly. On that shelf over there you’ll notice a book, ‘The Complete Sherlock Holmes’.

Luke interjected. You’re not about to tell me that it’s about you, are you? Because I can tell you now, I’m not going to believe it.

No, of course not. Inside the cover it’s autographed to me personally. Go on, have a look, William said, pointing to a shelf on the other side of the room. It was one of many shelves and display stands that held his various souvenirs and artefacts from different times and places. Fortunately when he’d been made captain of the time ship Dynasty he’d moved many of them to his quarters on board, and they’d survived the destruction of Earth and the time station Epoch.

Okay, you win on that one, Luke conceded, remaining seated. But we were all equally privileged to meet Talamayn, though we had no idea that he was the oldest living vampire until it was too late. He saved us all, Luke said with great respect.

Sometimes I find myself wishing he was still here. Quite often, actually, William said. He’d had a closer connection to the ancient vampire than the others, especially since Talamayn had given him some of his ancient blood before he’d died to accelerate his development.

Deciding to lighten the mood of their breakfast conversation, which she felt was starting to become much too sombre, Cerah said, I was thinking of changing my hair colour. She ran her fingers through her shoulder-length medium-brown hair thoughtfully.

What did you have in mind? Larissa asked.

Either ash pearl, caramel cocoa, or maybe bright black with streaks of midnight mist.

I think ash pearl would look better on you. But you can always change it again later if you don’t like it. What do you think, Luke?

Without hesitation, Luke answered, I think Cerah would make any hair style look good.

Cerah smiled. Good answer, but not very helpful.

So how’s Cephra finding the Quirinus search missions? Larissa asked Cerah.

A little unnerving, but she’s handling it well enough, aside from this one guy in her group who won’t stop whining. She and Dolf have been together for over a year now, though neither of them have even mentioned any considerations of marriage yet. As far as I know they’re not even discussing a long-term future.

Give them time. They seem pretty happy together, so I’m sure it’ll happen eventually.

Talara K’Turos and Armando Hernandez have just announced their engagement, Luke said.

I wonder if Jor Ginsm and human genetics are compatible, William said.

Elara seems to think there’s a good possibility that they’ll be able to have children, with some medical assistance.

I suppose it should be possible, Larissa said thoughtfully. After all, just look at Green Tim; half Resurian and half human.

True point, Cerah said. I’m a bit worried about Patricia though. She hasn’t dated the whole time we’ve been on Copernicus, or even before that, as far as I can recall. And it isn’t for lack of good looks or eligible suitors.

I’ve sometimes wondered about that myself. But I guess that’s just her choice, Luke said.

After a few moments of eating in silence they were interrupted by a call for William from the supervisor of the Quirinus search operation, Lieutenant Commander Archibald Cutler. Cutler’s image was displayed on the tiny circular screen of William’s multi-com. He touched the screen and took the call.

I apologise for the interruption, Captain, but I thought you should know that one of the search groups has failed to report to me for today’s pre-launch meeting, Cutler informed him.

Which group? William asked, though he was sure of what the answer would be.

Neil Henderson’s team. I tried unsuccessfully to contact him several times already.

Send the other teams to Quirinus as planned, and have all information about yesterday’s mission ready. I’ll be there shortly.

Yes, Captain. Cutler’s image vanished from the screen.

William hadn’t finished his breakfast and didn’t take the time to. He got up immediately and put his jacket back on. Luke, when you’ve finished breakfast I’ll need you to go up to Dynasty and take command. We may need its sensors to more accurately pinpoint Henderson’s location.

No problem.

William kissed Larissa goodbye, and with a casual parting wave to Luke and Cerah he left at a brisk pace, deeply worried about what might have happened, yet hoping that his instinctive conclusion was wrong.

Chapter 2

The Storm

William took the lift down to the Pantheon Apartments’ lobby and left through the main entrance. Even after living on Copernicus for so long, the change in gravity as he crossed the wide hypostyle porch was still an unusual sensation. He suddenly felt heavier. As the planet’s gravity was 1.12 times that of Earth standard, the buildings in the city had low level antigravity plating in their floors to counteract the extra gravity, making it Earth-normal. The Pantheon Apartments building where he lived was a circular domed building modelled after the Roman Pantheon, only much larger to house a substantial percentage of the population. Very few people lived on the starships in orbit above the colony now, just skeleton crews to maintain them and keep them in readiness for departure or defence at a moment’s notice.

He went down the steps and made his way across the dry ground in the direction of the city’s capital building where the headquarters of the planet’s governmental system was located, as well as the scientific research laboratories. It was a massive stone pyramid of a design that combined the Egyptian and Mayan styles. Its front face had a wide stairway reaching all the way to the summit, which was a wide flat surface rather than peaked, with an oversized circular pavillion in its centre. The view overlooking the city from there was breathtaking, especially at sunset, when the sky went from its daytime green to pale lavender, and then deep violet after the sun sank below the horizon. William and Larissa frequently went up there for a relaxing evening picnic, as did many other couples, where they could look out across the thriving city, made up of its various types of architecture, furrowed fields, and even a martialball stadium, all bathed in the glow of the sunset. During the day the view was still magnificent, but the climate where the city was built made the afternoons an average 48 degrees Celsius; too hot for even the thermally adaptive material of their clothing to keep them cool.

William checked his multi-com. The time was 0932 hours and the temperature was already 37 degrees. Despite Copernicus being the twenty fifth of the thirty seven planets in the system, the light from the massive Deneb star was dazzlingly bright and gave everything a slightly blue tinge. The entire planet was arid, and tilling the land and growing crops for a city wasn’t easy, yet somehow they managed to do it. Their water came from a nearby lake and also a separate subterranean water supply. Due to the hot climate most outdoor work was done during the twilight hours. Luke had once described Copernicus as being a great big spherical dearth where it’s summer all year round. It had proven to be an accurate description, as there had been no evidence of any seasonal changes since the establishment of the colony.

William was one of the few vampires who were immune to sunlight due to a one-time injection of Sirius rockworm blood, the others being Larissa, Luke and Cerah. The blood of the alien creature wasn’t easy to come by, since they were thousands of light years from the Sirius system, but if it became possible to obtain more it would be distributed to the rest of the vampires on Copernicus.

William entered the pyramid through one of the ground-level entrances, no longer feeling physically weighed down as he readjusted to Earth standard gravity, and exchanged passing greetings with a number of people on his way to the operations hall. The spacious hall was divided into six areas the size of large rooms, each of them lined almost all the way around with consoles, with an additional square console in the centre. The groups that worked in each of the large alcoves consisted of half a dozen people, all of whom suddenly looked busier when they noticed William enter the room. He went over to a smaller alcove indented into the back wall. It was a secluded area where Supervisor Cutler was standing by his own array of consoles, patiently waiting for him.

Good morning, Captain. Once again I apologise for the interruption earlier, but I felt it was important enough to bring to your attention immediately, Cutler said as he offered his hand.

William shook his hand. Indeed it was. Try calling Henderson on his multi-com one more time.

Right away, sir. Cutler typed a rapid command into his communications console. The only result was a message on a screen that read ‘Unable to connect’.

Try contacting the other members of Delta group.

Cutler repeated the process for each member of the assigned group, and each time he received the same result.

Run a scan for Henderson’s multi-com’s signal, William ordered.

Cutler performed the scan, and reported, Same result as before, sir. He’s not in the city or anywhere else within the scanner’s range.

When was the last time he was heard from?

His last contact was right before the shuttles packed up and left the surface of Quirinus yesterday. He reported that they still hadn’t found anything.

And nothing out of the ordinary happened during the mission? William asked.

No. All of the shuttles were accounted for when they returned to Copernicus afterwards, each landing in different locations on the surface depending on where the crewmembers wanted to be dropped off. I’ll retrieve the descent vector of Henderson’s shuttle. Cutler was busy at his console for a minute before standing aside for William to look at the result. They were heading towards the city like the others, but when they were close to the surface they veered off towards Tatakau’s crash site. Cutler ran a sensor sweep and was puzzled by the result. That’s strange, I’m not able to locate the shuttle’s location now.

I think I can help, William said as he activated his multi-com to call Luke.

Have you heard from Henderson yet? Luke asked when he answered the call.

I’m afraid not. We’re still trying to locate him. Are you aboard Dynasty?

My shuttle’s just about to dock. I’ll call you back when I’m on the bridge, Luke said, and ended the call.

Replay Henderson’s last few reports for me, in case there’s some clue about what happened, William said to Cutler. Being aware that Cutler had lingering prejudices against the Tarosians, he was reluctant to voice that it was indications of coercion that he was going to be listening for, but in the interest of being thorough he had to investigate every possibility.

The recordings were heavy with static, but Henderson’s voice still came through clearly. This is Delta group reporting. We’re changing our direction a few degrees and heading east, otherwise we’ll end up retracing yesterday’s steps. Cutler played the next recording. This is Delta group. All is well, nothing to report. Cutler mentioned to William that the next recording was the group’s final contact before returning to Copernicus. This is Delta group. All is well, nothing to report.

Cutler and William looked at each other, each wondering if there had been a mistake. Cutler replayed the last two messages again to be certain.

That last one’s definitely the same as the one before it. Even the tone of his voice as he says each word is identical, William commented. Something happened between those two recordings, and someone tried to cover it up by retransmitting Henderson’s previous report.

Whatever happened, I’d wager it was those Tarosians. I’ve never trusted them, Cutler said venomously, a momentary slip from his formal on-duty attitude.

William was about to respond to Cutler’s comment when his multi-com beeped. Luke’s face was on the screen, so he touched it to answer the call.

I’m at the sensors console with Jacobs now, Luke reported.

I need you to scan the crash site for Henderson’s shuttle or any member of his team. I’ll send you their multi-coms’ frequencies, William said, and transmitted the Delta group mission file to Dynasty.

A minute later Luke said, I’m not detecting the shuttle or any life signs or multi-com signals in the vicinity of Tatakau.

William addressed Cutler. Bring up the log of all ships that have left Copernicus during the last day.

Cutler reviewed the log. Henderson’s shuttle’s not among them, so it hasn’t left Copernicus. That’s not to say that members of that group didn’t leave the planet discreetly on another ship.

Even if that’s the case, we should still be able to locate the shuttle here. Can you give me his group’s location on a map of Quirinus’ surface for the final two transmissions?

I can pinpoint their positions to within about ten metres at the time of transmission, but I can’t tell you the route they took between those two points because of the atmospheric interference.

It’ll have to do, William said. Luke, I’m sending you some more data. I want you to take a landing party and follow Delta group’s path between its final two transmission points as best you can. Contact me as soon as you have anything.

Understood. Luke closed communication.

Is there anything more I can do to be of assistance? Cutler asked.

Inform the other search groups of Commander Hawking’s landing party. Considering the disappearance of Henderson’s group it’s possible that they’ve already found Muteki’s body, but have the other groups continue the search until we know for sure. If we’re lucky they might even find wreckage from his time capsule that might have a data core that’s still intact, or technology for the tech guys to redevelop. And don’t hesitate to call me if you get any new information, however trivial it might seem.

As you wish, sir.

William left the pyramid and went to an open area nearby with half a dozen shuttles on the ground in a line. Near them was a building the size of a modest house. A crewman wearing a grey jacket emerged as William approached.

I’m taking a shuttle for a couple of hours, William called out to him.

Certainly, sir. Safe journey, the man said and went back into the building.

William entered the shuttle and went straight to an equipment locker. He took out a handheld omniscanner and a holster with a phased positron pistol and clipped them both onto metal plates on his belt magnetically. After quickly running the pre-launch checks he powered up the engines and lifted off. When he was hovering above the city he set off towards Tatakau at high speed, and less than half a minute later he touched down beside the wreck. He drew his weapon before opening the hatch, and stepped outside cautiously. Seeing no one, he unclipped his omniscanner and activated it. The display indicated no life signs or active technology in the area. Keeping his pistol in his hand, just in case, he started walking alongside the ruin of the massive ship. The omniscanner continued to show a distinct absence of anything other than the ship’s remains and the surrounding desert. The sunlight reflected brightly from the surfaces of twisted metal, making William squint whenever he looked up at the huge mound of wreckage.

Several hundred metres from his shuttle he noticed impressions in the dry, cracked ground nearby. They were deep enough to have been caused by something heavy, and their size and pattern was consistent with the short landing struts on the underside of a shuttle. In an area between the impressions and the wreck, where a thin layer of sand covered the hard ground as was common on Copernicus, he could distinctly see several sets of footprints, well preserved due to Copernicus’ usual lack of wind. William looked up at the green sky, considering that the shuttle would’ve been detected if it had left the planet, though he had to allow for the fact that a shuttle’s engine signature could be modified to temporarily make it undetectable to sensors. It was a modification that he himself had used in the past. For the moment he had no real leads on where they might’ve gone. The footprints led to Tatakau’s outer hull, but it wasn’t an area near any of the entrance hatches, or even where a section of the hull was missing through which they might have entered. And if they were hiding inside the wreck he would’ve detected their life signs.

To satisfy his curiosity, William went over to the place where the footprints ended and did a detailed scan. His omniscanner displayed minute traces of gamma radiation about thirty metres inside, which was typically indicative of a weapon being fired, and quite recently, since it hadn’t yet dissipated. A careful examination of the hull revealed a loose service panel that almost blended in with it. Until recently it had probably only been used during the ship’s construction, after which it would’ve been covered by the dark matter armour layer. It was inconspicuous enough to have not been noticed when the dark matter had been stripped away. Taking advantage of a small gap between the panel and the hull where the panel had been slightly bent out of shape during the crash, William pulled the panel free and cast it aside, and looked into the dark passage beyond. He was about to step inside when Luke called from Quirinus, using his shuttle’s communication system to relay the message to Copernicus. William quickly set up the same thing with his multi-com using his shuttle to send his return signal across the distance.

Will, we found Henderson’s body in the approximate vicinity of his final transmission, along with the body of Michael Roberts, the other human in their group. It looks like a bladed weapon was used to breach Henderson’s bio-suit and the front of Roberts’ helmet was smashed in, and then the moon’s atmosphere roasted them alive. That’s why none of the other teams detected any weapons fire, Luke reported sombrely.

Any sign of the group’s communication equipment?

Not that I can see. I’ll scan for it now. A moment later Luke continued, I’m picking it up nearby, in the general direction that the group was heading.

Bring the bodies and the communication amplifier back with you. The forensic team might be able to find out something more from them.

Thirty seconds later Luke said, I’ve got the unit now. I’m picking up fragments of circuitry in the nearby dust. Judging by how baked it is, it’s been here for a while. I think this is where Muteki’s body was. If so, it’s not here anymore.

That would explain why the Tarosians turned on the other guys when they did, William said thoughtfully. Bring back as much of Muteki’s remains as you can find. We might still be able to learn something about his technology. Let me know when you’re back.

Sure thing. Luke ended the call.

William went into the wreck hunched over like the Tarosians had been. The salvage teams would be pleased to know that there were still some accessible areas that they didn’t know about. A short distance in he activated his multi-com’s torch, since Tatakau’s black wall panelling didn’t carry the sunlight very far inside. Using his omniscanner, he followed the path the Tarosians had taken by the trail of sand particles left by their boots.

A couple of minutes later he found the now empty room where the spirit constrainer equipment had been. His readings indicated that this was where a particle weapon had been fired, though a body was nowhere to be seen, or any useful equipment. The whole room had been cleaned out. William sniffed the air. There was no lingering scent from welding or soldering, and the room had no air movement, so they hadn’t attempted to repair Muteki’s holo-droid body here. But perhaps that wasn’t what they planned to do, since most of the circuitry would be too badly damaged after a year of exposure to the conditions on Quirinus. It was now certain that they’d masked their shuttle’s engine signature, probably using the same Gultorian technique that he was familiar with, so he knew he wouldn’t be able to locate them or pick up their flight path on sensors. Looking around and performing more scans, William was unable to find any clues as to what they were doing, or where they’d gone.

*

In the mountains northeast of the city, Muteki’s followers were setting up the spirit constrainer a short distance inside a cave that was close to a valley where they’d landed the shuttle to keep it out of sight. They now had another member in their group, a Tarosian called Zareb, who’d rendezvoused with them just before they’d left the wreck of Tatakau. He’d once served on the mighty ship’s bridge, so he was personally acquainted with Muteki.

Sedos, Kipnar and Zareb were positioning the body that Muteki was using under the spirit constrainer apparatus while Gelmek prepared the device for activation. When all was ready, Gelmek used the force field to guide Muteki back into the host body.

Thank you, my brethren, Muteki said when the merging was complete. It would be far too arduous to speak to you at length in spirit form. I need a schematic board to design a device to free myself from the confines of this force field.

Kipnar hurried away to retrieve the item, returning moments later carrying a flat rectangular device that was almost half a metre in width, which looked like a plain, half-centimetre-thick sheet of semi-opaque black plastic with rounded corners. He handed it to his master, who activated it and immediately started creating a diagram on its broad touch screen, as well as a list of the needed components and the parameters for the software that would control the device he was designing.

We have enough food supplies in the shuttle to last almost two months, longer if we ration them, and the sensor jamming device is operational, but I recommend that we move deeper into the caves. If the shuttle is sighted from the air they will find us quickly, Gelmek suggested respectfully.

I will do a reconnaissance of the nearby caves in spirit form when I’ve finished this schematic. I’ll be able to move through the caves unimpeded. When I’ve found a more secure place for us to use as a base of operations I’ll return and show you the way.

As you wish, master, Gelmek said with a slight bow of his head.

Zareb stepped forward with a device similar to the schematic board but a quarter of the size, which he offered to Muteki. "I have brought you