The Ascendant Stars - Michael Cobley [69]
‘We shall be at the anomaly in 235 seconds,’ said the ship sim. ‘And you might be interested to learn that I have solved the mystery of these gutted worlds.’
‘Which is?’
‘They are all that remains of the Planetoid Armada of Prince Koyulta-Hidak.’
‘I’m sure this revelation would be a weight off my mind,’ Robert said. ‘If I were familiar with the reference.’
‘The Prince was the hero of an entire cycle of legends from one of the more recent subsided universes,’ the sim said. ‘In his final and ultimately tragic battle, he led an armada of three hundred – or five hundred depending on the version – armed planetoids against a terrifying enemy called the Qaw Eveth. Translated it means Sun-Hydra. Analyses of these planetoids reveal the remains of interior workings as well as regular-shaped openings and shafts in the surface crusts … ah, a complication.’
Robert groaned. ‘Is it catching up to us again?’
‘The problem lies ahead – a second megavermax has just appeared from behind one of the planetoids near our target. It appears not to have noticed our approach.’
‘Well, that’s a—’
‘Now it has. You may have to complete the journey by lifepod, I am afraid.’
Suddenly, Robert’s couch began to descend, making a quarter-turn to the left as it did so.
‘What … is going on?’
‘A high-risk ploy,’ the sim said. ‘Which I would only put into operation were it improbable that this craft will reach the anomaly.’
Moments later he was enclosed in the tiny cockpit of a lifepod, complete with U-shaped steering column, a narrow panel of glassy touch controls, and a small screen to one side. Panic gripped him, along with a weird, hazy fear. Then there was a jolt and a sudden weight on his chest as the pod leaped away from the Construct scout. The screen flickered on, showing one of the planetoids dead ahead. Almost a quarter of its outer shell was missing, a gaping ragged-edged hole exposing shadowy recesses. And an odd purplish glow.
‘The autopilot is set to take you into the anomaly and land where there is suitable atmosphere,’ said the ship sim. ‘Tactical updates indicate that the Heracles is about to jump out of this tier and I hope to follow, if I can evade this insistent vermax … ’ There was a burst of static. ‘Good luck, Robert Horst – it has been instructive being you … ’
The ruined planetoid gaped before him. He tightly grasped the steering column with both hands even though the autopilot was in control. In the cockpit’s cramped silence his quick breathing seemed magnified as the pod plunged into the shadowy interior of the planetoid and swooped round to fly along the inner surface. The anomaly’s purplish glow seemed set against an uneven greyness, less than 150 kiloms away according to the side-screen display. The distance counted down and had reached just 10 kilometres when a small glittery object flew up into the hollow planetoid through a hole roughly a hundred kiloms beyond the anomaly. For a second Robert laughed out loud, sure that it was the Construct scout, then swore in shock when an area of the planetoid shell exploded inwards. Shattered pieces of rock kilometres across flew upwards amid an eruption of dust, grit and debris, and through it moved a gigantic, black serpentine form.
The megavermax towered up and up in pursuit of the Construct scout, which sharply changed direction, diving towards the inner surface. It looked as if it too was heading straight for the anomaly.
‘What … are you doing?’ Robert muttered, almost wishing he had control of the pod.
Five kilometres from the anomaly, four, three. This was insane, Robert decided as he watched the scout arrowing towards the intercept with that vast shadow hurtling in its wake. At two kilometres the Construct craft veered off, away from the anomaly and in the opposite direction to the pod. And when Robert looked over his shoulder he saw … another vermax behind him, vast, inexorable. Seconds later it collided with the one chasing the scout. Together the colossal monsters ploughed into the inner crust,