Formation

  Forgotten Space, Book Two

  M.R. Forbes

  Published by Quirky Algorithms

  Seattle, Washington

  This novel is a work of fiction and a product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons or events is purely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2021 by Quirky Algorithms

  All rights reserved.

  Cover illustration by Tom Edwards

  Edited by Merrylee Lanehart

  Chapter 1

  Captain Nicholas Shepherd made his way from the main compartment to Foresight’s flight deck, his wife, Dr. Yasmin Shepherd, tight on his heels. He slid into the pilot’s seat and tapped on the primary system controls beneath his left hand. Yasmin stood beside him, her confusion when the voice had come over the ship’s loudspeakers still painting her face.

  “Cooperation. Facilitation. I require assistance. Hahahaha. Hahaha. Haha.”

  The voice repeated itself, in exactly the same words and tone as the first time.

  "Frank,” Nicholas said. “Can you tell if the message is a recording?”

  “Processing,” Frank replied. “Unknown.”

  “It’s on a USSF channel,” Yasmin said. “We should be able to respond to it.”

  “Most likely,” Nicholas agreed. “The question is, do we want to? We have no idea who’s sending the message, never mind where we are or the nature of that planet.” He motioned to the Earth-like ball visible on the forward display. “Considering what happened at the tower with Harry, for all we know this is a trap.”

  “A trap? We’re probably dozens of light-years from Earth. How could whoever is chasing us already be here?”

  “They were waiting at the tower. They were waiting behind the moon. Hell, they sent the trife to the Fort before we even got that far. How could they not already be here?”

  Yasmin didn’t respond, her face shifting to a more familiar thoughtful expression. “Aaron’s original plan for Foresight as he laid it out at the dinner was to scout the destination planets of the arkships, correct?”

  “That’s what he said. He also said it was a lie. A cover because he probably knew nobody in their right mind would believe him if he said it was about stopping a god from destroying all of time and space.”

  “That isn’t what he said,” Yasmin argued.

  “Close enough,” Nicholas argued. “He did say we needed to fight for the fate of all universes. You can’t hyperbolize that.”

  “What I’m saying is that he always intended to have a unit of the USSF’s top available Marines on board. Maybe even Caleb Card and the Vultures. But not in case Foresight ran into any problems during the scouting mission. That was probably the loosest strand in his web of lies. He likely already knew they would be needed on the other side of the slip. After all, he knew what else was supposed to happen in the future.”

  “Except it didn’t happen the way he thought or you and Luke would be on the Pilgrim right now. You wouldn’t be here with me and Luke wouldn’t be dead.”

  “Right.”

  “So then why would I need a unit of crack Marines? What’s the threat? An enemy that already knows we’re coming and potentially changed tactics from whatever Grimmel expected would happen here? Crack Marines, Yazz. We have one Marine, a bunch of kids, and no offense, a nerd.”

  “Don’t underestimate us nerds, Nick.”

  “When it comes to solving problems, I never do. When it comes to physical conflict, you aren’t my first choice. And let’s be honest. Gills isn’t exactly a Caleb Card level specimen.”

  “We have to work with what we’ve got. At least there’s Dag.”

  “Dag is pretty beat up. He can’t even walk in a straight line right now.”

  “Well, said nerd needs to see what she can do about that, doesn’t she?”

  “Cooperation. Facilitation. I require assistance. Hahahaha. Hahaha. Haha.”

  “We need to do something about that broadcast first,” Nicholas said.

  “Ask Frank if he can locate the source of the broadcast on the planet’s surface,” Yasmin said.

  “Why am I always the one who has to communicate with Frank?” Nicholas asked. “It’s not very efficient.”

  “You know why. It’s a security feature so nobody else can verbally tamper with its systems. I can access Frank through a terminal, but that’s less efficient.”

  “Can you program your voice in?”

  “I can once we have a little more time.”

  “We should add everyone,” Nicholas said. “I don’t think we have to worry about them being a security risk.”

  “Okay. When we have time. For now…”

  “Frank, can you locate the source of the broadcast on the planet’s surface?” Nicholas asked.

  “Processing,” Frank replied. “I am marking the most probable point.” A blinking red target appeared on the display, pinpointing the planet below.

  “Great,” Nicholas said, glancing at Yasmin. “How does this help?”

  “We can’t go to the source if we can’t pinpoint it,” she replied, frowning. “Why are you being so obtuse all of a sudden?”

  “I didn’t think we’d decided to go to the source.”

  “I didn’t think there was anything to decide. The message is clearly a call for help, and it’s in Grimmel’s voice. Either Grimmel sent us here because we’re supposed to go to the source of the message or the enemy put it there to trick us. Either way, we won’t know unless we check it out. The only thing I’m sure about is that we can’t ignore it.”

  Nicholas rubbed at his forehead. “The crew is exhausted, Yazz. Gills is totally wiped out. I’m running on a mix of adrenaline, fear, and anger. Those aren’t the best ingredients for a successful mission.”

  “The sensors are clear right now,” Yasmin replied. “Maybe we can hold off for an hour or two and give everyone time to recharge. It’ll also give me time to see what I can do for Dag.”

  Nicholas leaned back in his seat and stared at the planet. “There are no good options right now, are there?”

  “It doesn’t seem like it. I don’t think we were supposed to arrive in such lousy shape. We need to make the decisions that give us the best all around chance for success. We have to figure this out, Nick. We have to solve the riddle.”

  “Running Gills and the others back out there as tired as they are isn’t going to give us much chance of success. If we can buy them some time, we need to do it. But I also don’t like sitting here like a small fish in a large pond, waiting for a bigger fish to come along and swallow us up. Whatever the slip drive is, we already know an alien power source is running it. How do we know the enemy doesn’t have the same technology?”

  “They don’t need it if they’re already here. And if they aren’t, then they might not know where we’re headed. Besides, didn’t Grimmel say we’re worms on a hook?”

  “So we want the bad guys to find us like this? I don’t think that ends well.” Nicholas used the control interface to zoom out the projected grid around Foresight, expanding it for hundreds of AU. “It looks like this planet has a moon, too. We can duck behind it and use it for cover while we take a break. It’s about an hour away at gentle acceleration.”

  “That sounds promising,” Yasmin said.

  “Frank, set a course for the designated target,” Nicholas said, marking the moon on the grid. “Keep max acceleration at one G. No time limit. Keep us out of sight of the planet.”

  “Confirmed, Captain Shepherd,” Frank answered. “Course plotted.”

  “Time?”

  “ETA fifty-three minutes and twelve seconds from navigation confirmation.”

  “Navigation confirmed. Let’s go, Frank.”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  Nicholas felt the slight pressure as Foresight’s main thrusters fired. The burn remained gentle enough that the sense of it faded once the vectoring jets pushed them around to face the moon.

  “Frank, inform me immediately if anything shows up on sensors. And I mean anything.”

  “Confirmed, Captain Shepherd.”

  “Does that mean you trust the neural network now?” Yasmin asked as Nicholas climbed out of his seat.

  “It got us this far, and I can’t be behind the stick all the time. I’m exhausted too.” He wiped a stray strand of her hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ear. “You should get some rest while you can.”

  “As soon as I’m done with Dag,” she countered. “If there’s time.” she shrugged, looking doubtful. “I’ll be on the lower deck if you need me.” She started to turn around. “Oh, and…” She looked back at him. “...we should also look at more of the files Grimmel left us on his hard drive. There could be more information about the planet and what we’re up against.”

  “We will, but I think it’s better if we disseminate the data among the crew and go through it that way. It’ll get it done faster.” He tipped his head slightly, giving her a serious look. “Are you sure you won’t try to get a little sleep?”

  “I’m sure I won’t be able to.”

  Sighing heavily, Nicholas knew better than to argue. He nodded and ushered her from the flight deck as the broadcast repeated again.

  “Cooperation. Facilitation. I require assistance. Hahahaha. Hahaha. Haha.”

  Chapter 2

  “Dag, where are you?” Nicholas asked as he and Yasmin returned to the main compartment.

  The small bot appeared fro
m beneath one of the seats, limping over to him and tilting his blank face up slightly, as though he were asking Nicholas what he wanted. “Yasmin’s going to fix you up as best she can. Go below decks with her.”

  Dag responded by turning to limp toward the ladder leading down.

  “There you go,” Nicholas said, turning to Yasmin. “If you get tired—”

  “I’ll be fine,” Yasmin replied, cutting him off. “You need rest more than I do.” She went up on her tiptoes, kissing him softly before following Dag to the ladder. She appreciated Nick’s concern, but there was no point lying down when her mind wouldn’t calm anyway. Keeping her head and hands busy was the next best option.

  She glanced over her shoulder to watch Nick scale the ladder to the upper deck before descending to the hold. Left alone there with Dag, a sudden surge of emotion threatened to send her collapsing on the deck and sobbing in absolute despair. She fought against it, doing her best to refuse the indulgence. It seemed pathetic, really. Half the people on the neural network dev team had lost someone close to them, and both Bonnie and Jameson had lost children. Both of Jameson’s little boys died from the sickness, his teenage daughter killed not by the trife, but by looters who had broken into his home in the chaotic aftermath of the initial attacks. She couldn’t imagine what he had gone through, and he had handled it with strength and composure, showing up every day to work on the project. Putting in every ounce of effort to keep humankind moving forward.

  She owed it to him, to everyone, to do the same, despite the depth of her loss.

  Her baby. She missed Luke so damn much.

  The hardest part of it was coming so close to getting out of Fort Hood and away from the trife alive. One more test flight. One more patch. One more night. She had told Luke so many times that once they were onboard the Pilgrim she would make up for all the time she had lost with him because she had dedicated all her time to the project.

  She had convinced herself there would be time for them. She would have another chance to be just a mother again. Another opportunity to say I love you. How naive and selfish she’d been. Now, she might never know if Luke knew how much she loved him. Not because she hadn’t said it, but because she didn’t feel confident in how well she had shown it.

  Now there were no more chances.

  She wiped her eyes to clear the gathering moisture. Jameson had swallowed all of his pain and trauma because the project was more important than their individual losses, and the same held true for her now. Nick had pulled her out of her initial despair, but he had enough to worry about without needing to keep an eye on her. She had to stand on her own and put everything she felt to positive use.

  “Dag, I need some tools,” she said, looking at the small bot. “You must have a maintenance kit or something, right?”

  Dag didn’t react.

  “Tools,” Yasmin repeated. “So I can open you up and take a look at your servos. I’m more of a software engineer, but I built my own robots when I was a teenager. I belonged to the robotics club. My friends and I used to have our robots fight one another.” She smiled in response to the memory. “I was the first one to introduce a bi-pedal bot to the fights. Everyone else always went with tread and armor to make their bots more durable. But that also made them slow. I’m sure you know about that. You’re quick and nimble.”

  Dag continued staring at her.

  “My bot won the championship. I’m not bragging. I’m just saying, since it was bi-pedal and you’re bi-pedal. I think you’re the superior design though.”

  Dag still didn’t move.

  “Why am I talking to you?” Yasmin said, shaking her head. “You probably understand what I’m saying, but you’re programmed to listen for orders, right? Dag, get me tools to fix you.”

  Dag remained fixed in the center of the lower deck.

  Yasmin laughed at the futility. “Fine. I’ll find them myself.”

  She remembered Nicholas had said Dag came from one of the drawers at the back of the hold, closest to the firewall between the deck and the large thrusters. She walked back to the area, pausing as Dag approached a door on the opposite side. He pulled open the door and disappeared inside the dark compartment, returning a moment later with a toolbox in his arms.

  “So you were listening to me,” Yasmin said as Dag placed the toolbox in front of her. She bent down to open the lid, revealing a complete set of the tools she needed inside. “Perfect.” She picked up the toolbox and carried it to the nearest bulkhead, where she sat with her back against it and her legs crossed before motioning to Dag. “Come here.”

  Dag didn’t hesitate this time, limping across the deck to where Yasmin sat and standing directly in front of her. She leaned over slightly and reached out for the bot, putting her hands beneath its arms and lifting. She was surprised how impressively light the bot was, even for his small size.

  “Okay, let’s see what we can do for you,” she said, stretching Dag out across her lap. She examined the construction of the bot’s knee joint before reaching into the toolbox to pick out one of the screwdrivers. She paused when she looked down at Dag, her mind picturing Luke as a baby, resting in her lap. “You are not going there, Yasmin,” she said to herself. “Dag’s a machine. A killing machine.”

  She set to work, opening up the armor plating that surrounded the robot’s internal skeleton, surprised to find it was made of the same alloy as Foresight’s hull. That explained Dag’s light weight, at least. While the skeleton remained undamaged, the knee joint had gotten bent when the armor was dented.

  “We need replacement parts,” she said, lifting Dag off her lap. “An actuator for your knee. And either new plating for the exterior or I’ll have to hammer the old stuff back into shape.”

  Dag limped back across the deck, looking like a robotic zombie with one leg’s inner workings fully exposed. He ducked into the same compartment as before, emerging with a small box that reminded Yasmin of the kit her father used to store fishing gear in. He placed it within easy reach beside her before climbing back into her lap and lying down.

  “A machine,” Yasmin reminded herself. “Not a baby. Not a puppy.” She laughed, opening the box and lifting up three rows of small, hinged compartments filled with different parts. It didn’t take long for her to realize they weren’t all compatible with Dag. She glanced at the other drawers along the bulkhead. What else had Grimmel provided? She would take a look once she had finished with Dag.

  She bent over the small bot, taking apart his leg at the knee. She began reconstructing the joint, losing track of time as she worked, her mind focused completely on getting Dag operational again. She found the effort therapeutic, only noticing how stiff she was once she had finished with Dag and set him upright on his feet.

  “Go ahead, try it out,” she said.

  Dag walked a few steps before jumping at the bulkhead, planting his feet on it and springing off, landing in a roll on the floor and coming up in an impressive hop that put him right back in front of Yasmin.

  She laughed in real delight to see the small bot moving so much better. “Not exactly good as new, little man, but pretty good if I do say so myself.”

  “I’d call that better than pretty good,” Nicholas said, stepping off the ladder, a mischievous grin tipping up one corner of his mouth. “Caught you talking to him.”

  “You did not.”

  “I heard you. You called him little man.”

  “I did not. You misunderstood me. Why are you up already?”

  “What do you mean? It’s been three hours.”

  Yasmin flinched in surprise. “It has?”

  “Yes. We’re stationed behind the moon and everyone’s gotten at least a couple of hours of sleep.”

  “I can’t believe it’s been three hours,” she said, closing the toolbox and the parts bin. “Dag, can you put these back for me, please?”

  Dag picked up the toolbox and bin, tucking one under each arm.

  “Uh-huh.” Nicholas watched him disappear back into the compartment before grinning at Yasmin. “Talking to him again.”

  “I gave him an order.”

  “You said please.”