Infinity lens singularit.., p.22
Infinity Lens (Singularities Book 2),
p.22
Lanson exhaled. Only a couple of weeks ago, he’d been in command of a Carbine class warship – the least potent frontline vessel in the Human Confederation fleet. Now, he was on the bridge of an alien warship that could likely outgun anything in the Sagh’eld fleet, whilst also being equipped with technology the HC military could only dream of possessing.
“What happens when we exit lightspeed?” Lanson asked. “What would the Infinity Lens show of our destination?”
“I don’t know, sir,” said Abrams. “I’d guess there’d be nothing to indicate our arrival point until we entered lightspeed for a second time. Then, the Infinity Lens would detect the creation of a lightspeed tunnel at one of the ten scattered destinations, allowing any pursuers with access to the Lens to determine where we’d ended up.”
“But by that point, we’d have created another nine false paths,” said Lanson.
“Yes, sir.” Abrams looked up. “In theory, that would make it almost impossible for the Tyrantor to catch us – as long as we stayed on our toes. However, experience tells me that for every technology, there’s probably another one to counter it.”
“It’s something we’ll have to learn – and learn fast,” said Lanson.
Returning to his seat, he sat for a while in silence, pondering everything leading up to this moment. He and his crew had stumbled into the middle of something – another species’ hunt for ancient tech – and now they were up to their necks in trouble.
“We need this warship,” said Lanson at last. “Without it, the Human Confederation will lose to the Sagh’eld.”
“We can’t return home, Captain,” said Matlock softly. “If the Tyrantor tracks us to our destination, we’ll have revealed humanity’s existence. Can you imagine what will happen if that warship fires its death weapon at one of our populated worlds?”
Lanson could imagine it very well, no matter how hard he tried not to. “We need to find out if HC territory falls within Sector 3,” he said at last. “If it does, we’re already screwed.”
“What if the Tyrantor doesn’t follow us, sir?” Matlock asked. “If there’s a Sector 3, then there’s a Sector 1 and a Sector 2. Maybe others. What if each has its own Infinity Lens, either activated or dormant? What if the Tyrantor finds them all? Eventually the species which created that warship will learn about humanity.”
“We can’t allow it to happen,” said Lanson.
“So how do we prevent it, sir?”
“The Ragnar-3 must be receiving data from somewhere, Commander. We’re connected to the Infinity Lens, we just don’t know how.”
“Then we should find out.”
Lanson nodded. “That’s exactly what we’re going to do.”
Standing once more, he gave the crew some additional orders. Then, he sat, and joined the others in searching for answers he hoped would be found somewhere within the Ragnar-3’s data arrays.
INFINITY LENS
Twenty-four hours after its departure from Ilvaron, the Ragnar-3 exited lightspeed in a place far from anywhere. Over the course of the journey, Lanson and his crew had learned much, not only about the warship’s operation, but about the wider picture into which they’d unwittingly stumbled.
“Six sectors,” said Lanson. His eyes were on the feeds, but his brain was elsewhere. “Six Singularity class warships, including the Ragnar-3.”
“And we don’t have the faintest idea how many of them are operational,” said Matlock. “Maybe they’re all long gone.”
“That’s a possibility,” said Lanson.
He quickly ran through everything in his head. The Ragnar-3 was receiving a continuous data stream from the Infinity Lens, which was in itself almost unbelievable since the updates were happening in real time. In theory, a comm couldn’t travel from once place to another without a delay, and yet here it was demonstrably happening.
In addition, the Ragnar-3’s Singularity menu was still locked down, and Commander Matlock had been unable to determine why the authorisation hadn’t been granted. She speculated that the warship’s crew might be required to authenticate at a specific location, though without knowing where.
However, the Ragnar-3’s data arrays did contain coordinates for locations within the other Sectors. Lanson strongly believed, these locations were other control stations like the one on Scalos, though he lacked proof.
Finally, Matlock had, only a couple of hours ago, tracked down the power source of the negation shield. To Lanson’s shock, the Ragnar-3 was carrying three Galos cubes, and the audit trail indicated it had originally been carrying seven. The logical conclusion was that each expulsion of the negation shield had depleted an entire Galos device. Having witnessed the power contained within these alien artifacts, Lanson was left wondering exactly what kind of firepower the Tyrantor was packing, if its attacks required so much energy to repel.
“So,” said Lanson at last. “We all agree we can’t return home and, while I’m tempted to employ the Ragnar-3 in the purpose of tracking down and destroying Sagh’eld warships, if we ran into more heat than we could handle, we’d have wasted an invaluable resource.”
“Does that mean we’re going to look for other warships like the Ragnar-3, Captain?” asked Abrams.
“That’s part of it,” said Lanson. “The Ragnar-3’s potential is locked down in its Singularity menu. We need to figure out how to access those additional capabilities, whatever they are. Plus, we need to locate some more Galos cubes to power our weapons and our defences.”
“A tall order,” said Matlock with a smile.
“I feel we’re on the cusp of something here, Commander. Our war with the Sagh’eld is as good as lost, and we’re risking bringing the Human Confederation to the attention of a new, clearly hostile species. And yet, I don’t think we have any choice in how we proceed.”
“Nor do I, sir.”
Lanson didn’t usually put his decisions up for discussion, but in this, the stakes were so high that he was pleased to know he and his crew were acting as one.
“Captain, I’ve just pulled some data out of the Infinity Lens, and put it on your screen,” said Abrams. “If you want a reminder of what we’re dealing with.”
Lanson looked. On his screen was a huge, dark, sphere, and it was marked with a label.
Singularity: Class 7
“Is that the place we departed?” asked Lanson.
“Yes, sir.”
“Are the planets just not shown or are they—”
“They’re gone, sir. That singularity must have pulled them in.”
“That can’t be right,” said Lanson, shaking his head.
Except, it had to be right, since he was staring at the outcome with his own two eyes. He recalled Sergeant Gabriel’s description of the massive cubes within the Scalos storage bays, and imagined once more what kind of effect they might have produced if detonated within the centre of a star.
It didn’t bear thinking about.
Lanson stared for a short time longer, and then switched his display to show something different. The species which had created the Galos cubes must have had some kind of grand plan – a reason to build devices with such enormous destructive potential.
Devices which could collapse a star, and seemingly defy the immutable laws of the universe.
Lanson knew he was in too deep, and yet he craved answers. Picking a destination, he turned in his seat and ordered Lieutenant Abrams to prepare the Ragnar-3 for lightspeed.
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Anthony James, Infinity Lens (Singularities Book 2)
