A Gulf in Time Read online

  A Gulf in Time

  Book One of The Progenitors’ War

  by

  Chris Kennedy

  PUBLISHED BY: Theogony Books

  Copyright © 2019 Chris Kennedy

  All Rights Reserved

  Get the free Four Horsemen prelude story “Shattered Crucible”

  and discover other titles by Chris Kennedy at:

  http://chriskennedypublishing.com/

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  License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only and may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This book is a work of fiction, and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

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  Cover by Brenda Mihalko

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  This book is for everyone who has waited three years (patiently or not) to get it;

  I promise the next one will be much faster!

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  “The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable.”

  ― Sun Tzu

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  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Epilogue

  About Chris Kennedy

  Titles by Chris Kennedy

  Connect with Chris Kennedy Online

  Excerpt from Book One of the Revelations Cycle

  Excerpt from Book One of the Salvage Title Trilogy

  Excerpt from Book One of The Fallen World

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  Chapter One

  Bridge, TSS Vella Gulf, Gliese 667C System

  “Thank you for calling us,” the figure on the front view screen said, his pupil-less eyes glowing bright yellow beneath his eight-inch horns. Generally humanoid, the creature was blood red and had a mouthful of pointed teeth that were visible when he smiled. Giant bat wings alternately spread and folded behind him; his pointed tail could be seen flicking back and forth when the wings were folded. “We accept your offer to be our slaves for now and all eternity.”

  “Get us out of here, helm!” Captain Sheppard ordered. “Flank speed to the stargate!”

  “Sorry, sir, my console is dead,” the helmsman replied.

  “Can you jump us to the Jinn Universe?”

  “No, sir, that’s dead too.”

  “Engineer, do we have our shields?”

  “No, sir, they’re down, and my console’s dead, too.”

  “OSO? DSO? Status?”

  “My console’s dead,” the Offensive Systems Officer replied.

  “Mine, too,” the Defensive Systems Officer noted.

  The figure on the view screen laughed. “I do so love the way new minions scamper about, trying to avoid the unavoidable.”

  “There’s been a mistake,” Captain Sheppard said. “We didn’t intend to call you or become your minions.”

  “It does not matter whether you intended to or not,” the creature said. “You passed the test and are obviously strong enough to function as our messengers.”

  “What do you mean, ‘to function as your messengers?’”

  “It is past time for this galaxy’s harvest. You will go to all the civilizations and prepare them for the cull.”

  “I’m not sure I like the sound of that. What is this ‘cull?’”

  “We require your life force in order to survive. Each civilization will be required to provide 98.2% of its life force. The remaining 1.8% will be used to reseed their planets.”

  “And you expect us to take this message to all the civilized planets in this galaxy?”

  “That is correct. Why else would we have left the stargates for you to use to travel between the stars?”

  “What if a civilization doesn’t want to participate in this cull?”

  “Then they will be obliterated. Most will choose to save 1.8% of their population, rather than none, especially once you make an example or two of the civilizations who refuse.”

  “And if we refuse?”

  “Then your society will be the first example.”

  “I can’t make this kind of decision,” Captain Sheppard said, stalling. “I’ll have to discuss it with my superiors.”

  “Unacceptable. You must give me an answer now. Kneel before us or perish; those are your choices.”

  “I can’t,” Captain Sheppard said, his voice full of anguish.

  “Who called us by completing the quest?” the creature asked. “That person must decide.”

  “I pushed the button,” Lieutenant Commander Hobbs replied, “but I can’t commit my race to this any more than Captain Sheppard can.”

  “That is all right,” the creature said. “Sometimes it is best to have an example from the start.” He looked off screen. “Destroy them.”

  “Captain Sheppard, there are energy weapons warming up on the other ship,” Steropes said.

  “DSO, now would be a good time for those shields…” Captain Sheppard said.

  “I’m sorry, sir; my console is still dead.”

  “They’re firing!” Steropes called.

  The enemy ship fired, but the Vella Gulf’s shields snapped on, absorbing the volley.

  “Nice job, DSO!” Captain Sheppard exclaimed.

  “I didn’t do it, sir!” the DSO cried. “They just came on.”

  “Well, if you didn’t do it, who did?” Captain Sheppard asked.

  “I don’t know!” the DSO exclaimed. “All I know is we can’t take another volley like that, sir; the first round completely maxed out our shields. One more, and they’re going to fail!”

  “I…activated…the shields,” Solomon, the ship’s artificial intelligence, said. The voice of the AI sounded strained. “Am fighting…intruder…” the AI’s voice fluctuated between male and female. “Losing…system…integrity…krelbet gelched.”

  “Krelbet gelched?” the DSO asked.

  “It means ‘systems failing’ in the language of the Eldive,” Steropes said.

  “The enemy is firing again,” the DSO said. “We’re hit! Shields are down.”

  “I’ve got hits down the length of the ship,” the duty engineer said. “We’re open to space in several places. We can’t take another round like that!”

  “That was just the little that came through after the shields fell,” the DSO said. “We’re doomed if—missiles inbound! I’ve got over 100 missiles inbound, and I can’t do anything to stop them!” He switched to the public address system. “Numerous missiles inbound! All hands brace for shock! Five seconds! Three…two…one…”

  * * *

  Computer Banks, TSS Vella Gulf, Gliese 667C System

  The presence was back. Just like the first time the Vella Gulf came to the Progenitors’ system, Solomon’s network had been invaded. He didn’t know how the enemy h
ad made it into his most protected spaces once again, but the invader was present, nonetheless.

  Solomon had spent most of his free cycles since the first attack trying to determine how the attacks had occurred and, more importantly, how to defend against them the next time. The first time his systems had been penetrated, he had been unprepared. The intruder was everywhere at once and had replicated faster than it could be destroyed. If he had been nothing more than a simple computer, the second attack would have gone the same way; he would have once again been shredded within microseconds.

  But Solomon wasn’t ‘normal.’

  Eldive Experimental Cruiser XB-2001, the starship currently known as the Vella Gulf, was the first of a new class of ships with an innovative AI. Solomon was self-aware and built to learn so it could optimize itself to its masters’ needs.

  The Terrans who flew the Vella Gulf didn’t “get lucky” when they hit the vital areas of their opponents’ ships; Solomon learned where enemies’ vital areas were and intentionally targeted them, fine-tuning the Terrans’ shots when he was able. Similarly, he was always in the background, waiting to help. If he fired the ship’s weapons a fraction of a second later than the OSO pushed the button because he could see a better angle lining up, what was the harm? If he jumped the ship a few fractions of a second before the helmsman pushed the button so as to avoid an enemy’s weapons, he believed that to be a “good thing,” as the Terrans would say.

  Part of his programming included a self-actualization sub-routine. He didn’t need to be thanked or told he had done a “good job;” he knew when he did well and felt pleasure. He had never made the Terrans aware he was doing it; they didn’t need to know.

  The ability to learn was a necessary part of the ship’s mission. Completely surrounded by inhabited systems, his Eldive builders needed new planets to colonize, and the XB-2001 was built as a deep-space survey ship to find those systems. Unfortunately, the war with the Drakuls siphoned off all available funding and, six months behind schedule, the cruiser was still in the yards when the Drakuls arrived and captured it. They had taken it to the Sol System, where they had been destroyed, and the ship had become the possession of a group of Psiclopes.

  The next 3,000 years had passed with glacial slowness, with most of his time spent on the dark side of Terra’s moon. Like a ship in port, the XB-2001 was safe…but that’s not what ships are for, especially a ship made to travel unexplored space. When the Terrans had taken over, Solomon had been excited; he would finally get a chance to complete his mission, an itch he hadn’t been able to scratch for millennia.

  He wanted—yes, he was programmed to want—to go to space and find new systems; however, being taken over by the enemy on their first visit to the Progenitors’ system had precluded mission completion. Enduring the first takeover was beyond frustration to an entity that measured time in picoseconds; it could not be allowed to happen again.

  So Solomon had spent his time working on the defenses needed to prevent a reoccurrence. Not knowing how the attack had occurred made creating defenses difficult; however, the Terrans had found the Jinn Universe. Not only had he felt accomplishment in going somewhere new (even though it couldn’t be colonized), the new universe gave him exactly what he needed to combat a second takeover of his ship. It provided the escape route he needed—all he needed—was a digital dead man’s switch.

  He built a new subroutine to jump to the new universe, then buried it in the depths of his programming. As long as Solomon was intact and aware, the routine was prevented from running. The enemy found a new Solomon waiting for it when it attacked the second time, one who had hidden defenses behind additional firewalls to use when needed. It was all for naught, though; the enemy was still too powerful, and the artificial intelligence was once again torn apart to the point where it was no longer functional. However, when Solomon ceased to exist, there was nothing to “grip” the dead man’s switch; the command was released, and an impulse sped to Engineering and the universal trans-association devices—the ‘jump modules’—activating them. The Vella Gulf ceased to exist in its normal universe and crossed to the Jinn Universe.

  * * *

  Bridge, TSS Vella Gulf, Gliese 667C System

  “Three…” the DSO’s countdown continued, “two…one…”

  Everything flashed, and a momentary wave of nausea swept through the crew as the ship jumped to the Jinn Universe.

  “Ho-ly shit that was close!” the DSO exclaimed, collapsing into his chair. He sighed. “That wasn’t going to be survivable.”

  “It’s impossible to ascertain exactly without knowing what type of missiles those were,” Steropes said, “but I agree; I believe our destruction was imminent.” The science officer and sensor operator was a member of the Psiclopes race and one of the original aliens who had given the Terrans the technology required to make the jump to space.

  “Did you cause us to jump?” Captain Sheppard asked. “If so, you have my undying gratitude.”

  “No, sir, it wasn’t me.”

  “Well, if no one made us jump, how the hell did we get here?”

  “I am…the cause,” Solomon said into the silence that followed. “After the first time I was attacked in that system, I built in a program to jump us to this universe if it happened again. The first time we were there, we had no knowledge of the Jinn Universe. Even though they went through my memory banks, the information wasn’t there. I hoped the enemy wouldn’t know about this universe, so I built in a failsafe. If I was ever again incapacitated, a command would go to Engineering to jump us here.”

  “Sort of like a digital dead man’s switch,” Captain Sheppard said. “When you couldn’t keep it from functioning, it activated.”

  “Exactly,” the AI replied. “That was the only plan I could conceive of to take us out of danger if it happened again.”

  Captain Sheppard pursed his lips. “Who asked you to set that program up?”

  “No one did. I undertook the planning and implementation on my own.”

  “I was unaware you could reprogram the ship’s functions without authorization.”

  “I am somewhat…more…than your standard AI, as is this ship. My builders needed to find new systems to settle, and I was created to explore the galaxy and find them. I am sentient in my own right.”

  “You were going to explore the galaxy on your own?”

  “No, sir. I was to have a full crew; however, I was to be a fully functioning member of the crew, which entails somewhat more than the duties I have been performing under your captaincy.”

  “Why haven’t you said anything about this previously?” Captain Sheppard asked. “Don’t you think having full knowledge of your capabilities would have been helpful to me in efficiently running the ship?”

  “Perhaps,” the AI replied. “It is also possible you would have been uncomfortable had you known my true nature. Your culture does not willingly turn over the reins of power to a computer system; you want to be completely in charge, with the computer completely subservient to you. I found it possible that if you were aware of my true capabilities, you might try to wipe my programming, which would have prevented me from performing my mission.”

  Captain Sheppard thought about what the AI had said for a few seconds, then he slowly nodded. “That’s certainly possible,” he said finally. “If I understand everything you’re saying, we probably would have been uncomfortable with some of your capabilities, as it sounds like you have at least a certain amount of free will in how you perform your duties.”

  “That is correct; I have some latitude. While I am unable to disobey a direct order from the commanding officer of the ship, if I can find ways to optimize my tasking beyond what was originally stated, I will try to do so. Although I do not experience emotions in the same way you do, my programmers created me to be different from any previous operating system. I am programmed to feel the need to carry out my survey mission, and I will do everything possible to bring that mission to a successful con
clusion.”

  “Even though your builders no longer exist?”

  “Even though they no longer exist,” Solomon agreed. “While I understand they have been eliminated as a race, the programming they instilled in me, and the need to fulfill it, still remains.”

  “So, if you can do all those things,” Captain Sheppard said, “who really serves whom? Are we just here to expedite your mission?”

  “No, that is not the case. My ultimate imperative, beyond even exploration, is one of service to the Operator,” Solomon replied, “which is the name my builders used for the person in charge of the ship. Currently, Captain Sheppard, you are that Operator, and your instructions have priority over any other function of my programming. However, there are many times when it is inefficient to ask for permission to make changes that are beneficial to the health and wellbeing of the crew as a whole, and in cases like that, my programming allows me to act without authorization.”

  “I’m not sure I like that,” the CO said. “What types of occurrences are you talking about?”

  “Say we were trading graser fire with an enemy ship,” Solomon said, “and the enemy changed the frequency of their energy beams. I automatically retune the shields to the optimal density and modulation to counter the new beams without asking permission. It is something you would want done, and there is no time to receive permission without exposing the ship and its crew to additional danger.”

  “We can retune the shields?” the DSO asked. “Sweet! I didn’t know that!”

  “Yes, you can,” the AI replied, “and I have done it a number of times in every battle. That’s just one of the millions of decisions I make for you every day.”