From where she stood next to Nataw, Kee smiled. “You met him in the future, and he chose not to kill you. I think Govan will be reasonable, provided we’re talking to the version of him who spared you. If we’re about to talk to a version of him that doesn’t know anything about that, it could become messy.”
“Great,” I thought back to her.
Tiger, meanwhile, had begun to sniff Nataw and Lee, starting with their butts and crotches.
I wondered if he’d still do that if he understood that they were older than our universe. Then it struck me that, given his understanding of English, he might have decided to start there because he’s a dog.
Nataw watched him and then scratched Tiger behind the ears. Then he said a word that my implant translated as Hideaway’s name in the language of a long-fallen galactic empire. “[Hideaway]. You’re a long way from home. I never liked the Abominators, but I did like what they did with your people. Dogs for hunting dinosaurs. Who’s a good boy?”
Tiger leaned in to the head scratches. Continue reading Engine: Part 8
As the stone touched my gauntlet, I connected with it and through it the Galaxy Core Device (GCD) itself. How did it feel to use a device that could destroy galaxies and create new ones?
You’d think it would be a moment of enlightenment or maybe ascension, since you assumed powers that you’d normally think were reserved for gods.
What surprised me is how normal it felt. I’d been absorbing knowledge from my implant on demand for years now. I’d been training with Kee to understand what Artificers could do for years and while I’d only been interfacing with Abominator and Artificer technology with those skills for a few days, it felt natural. Continue reading Engine: Part 1
I couldn’t see any hint of a connection to the energies that Artificers used, so I knew that the sword wouldn’t do much of anything.
Thanks to the suit, I wasn’t short of normal ways to hurt people. I fired off a series of goobots. For all I knew, these guys were important to history in some way I wasn’t aware of.
The gray lines spread out from the bots, covering them in layers of sticky goo. They twisted, pulling against them, finding that they were stuck, then changed tactics. Continue reading Magnus: Part 3
Our first problem with following Magnus? The window. Amy and I rose to find Sean, fists clenched, staring at the window and the empty room behind it.
The window wasn’t moving at all.
And look, that wasn’t as stupid as it seemed. The frame around the window might have been made of metal. It wasn’t, but it could have been.
Colored black, but it appeared to be ceramic to me.
With a wordless scream, Sean punched it. His hand bounced off, and Dayton said, “Whoa, dude. Let them try.”
Sean wasn’t listening. Continue reading Stage Three: Part 5
Victor’s mouth opened without saying anything. He closed it, sighed, but asked, “Do you think it’s possible?”
I looked over at Cassie, who’d frowned but then started talking, “It depends. We’d need to make sure our birthing chamber has the right templates available. I’d say yes if we had the one you’d used. We all know what happened to that one, though.”
Over the implant channel, Sean asked, “What happened?”
“It’s not in working order,” I said. Continue reading Stage Three: Part 4
Jaclyn added, “I’m not pulling you all again—not unless we know what we’re running into.”
We didn’t. Due to limited fuel supplies, a limited number of bots, and any hints that the place existed, Hal hadn’t sent any down here.
“Everybody flies?” Haley asked.
It wasn’t a bad idea. Between camouflage and not touching anything, we’d avoid a lot of potential triggers.
A voice said, “I’m here to bring you to Magnus.” Continue reading Stage Three: Part 3
Then he started laughing. I’m pretty sure I even heard a “Mwha-ha-ha” somewhere in there. Then the communication ended, leaving me to hope that it was an ironic “Mwha-ha-ha,” because an unironic “Mwha-ha-ha” would be a cliche.
It called up mad scientist vibes at best and at the most horribly wrong end, it reminded me of how Artificer technology had been designed to destroy civilizations either through madness or temptation and runaway self-interest. Continue reading Stage Three: Part 2
Inside the room, we found the welcome committee. They were prepared for us, but there’s a difference between sending a bunch of guards to stand in the entrance in case someone gets through and executing a well-planned ambush.
This was not a well-planned ambush.
The guards here, and there were more than 20 of them, all of them with automatic weapons, weren’t in the best shape. Continue reading Stage Three: Part 1
The world around me blurred as Jaclyn began to move. I might have felt grateful that I’d already been floating, but I didn’t have time. Still, if I’d been tied behind Jaclyn without armor and pulled forward, I could have died simply from faceplanting, but more likely by being ripped in two by the rope around my waist.
Fortunately, I wore armor with an anti-gravity pack. The armor had inertial dampers and anti-collision protocols. Also, we’d staggered everyone so that nobody flew directly next to anyone.
We’d even used redundant cables for everyone because you never knew if one might break. Continue reading Stage Two: Part 10