Instantly, both Chief Frey and Dohane disappeared.
"Good work on the diversion," Flint told John grinning down at him from the science station. "Prophet to the bridge, please," he added calmly into the com.
"What happened to the crew?" Carl asked.
"They are still where we left them," Flint said. "Except they now don't have a ship."
"They're in vacuum?" John asked, getting his breath.
"We'll be back with the Relativity in milliseconds. Their time of course," Flint said studying the science stations display. "It was a risky partial translation, but we had no choice."
"What happened?" Carl asked staring at John.
"I can definitely say dinosaurs are hot blooded," John said brushing dripping bits of flesh and guts to the deck. "I assume the away team consisted of four."
Carl nodded solemnly, obviously shaken.
"Where are we?" John asked looking up at Flint.
"Prophet had to set a rather arbitrary intermediate translation point in deep space," Flint explained. "The jump to the Lár will take some time to construct."
"I'll show you the showers," Carl said giving John a hand up off the deck.
"We'll have a briefing in the mess in thirty minutes," Flint said as the turbo lift doors closed behind them.
Refreshed and in a clean TC CDU, John clutched a hot mug of fresh coffee from the ship's replicator in Carl's quarters. Multiple translations
were taking a toll on his sleep patterns despite the Family's medical enhancements.
He yawned as Carl showed him his observations of the Late Cretaceous in multiple displays floating around most of his quarters.
"I knew the away team well," Carl said sadly and oblivious to John's weariness.
"I'm sorry," John said flashing back to the grisly scene in southern Mongolia. He knew a project with such a time commitment would have resulted in deep friendships for Carl, that was just who he was.
"The atmospheric data are particularity interesting," Carl said quickly changing the subject and pulling a holo display in front of them.
"Cretaceous oceanic oxygen levels show a clear correlation to the detailed magnetostratigraphy."
John took a deep sigh remembering his guess of the Earth's Late Cretaceous magnetic polarity. He took a close look at the plots showing the correlation.
"I have no idea as yet why such a relationship would exist," Carl said. "But there are several papers in the Family library showing much more recent similar relationships that indicate biogenic silica and temperature flux are part of the answer."
John nodded his head in agreement pretending to know what Carl was talking about, although deep-sea sponges did come to mind. He took another sip of coffee, enthralled in the details of the displays. Carl, filling his idle time with worthwhile, one-of-a-kind research was not surprising.
He studied Carl's images of Late Cretaceous tectonic plate positions and noted that the mid Atlantic had widened significantly since he had observed it from Sam's sauna nearly eighty-five million years before.
"Although it seems to bust after Chicxulub," Carl said.
"What?" John asked.
"You know," Carl said. "The K-T boundary. The climate changed after the impact. Oxygen levels are through the roof all the way to the end
of the Maastrichtian then carbon dioxide concentrations explode in the earliest Danian."
John stared at the displays then turned to Carl. "Holy shit," he said softly. "How could I be so stupid? It all fits." He pressed Carl's com.
"Flint, we have to move up our briefing."
"Prophet and I will meet you in the mess," he said flatly.
John found Flint and Prophet waiting for them around a central table in the mess.
"Carl, meet the Eight Prophet of Possibility," John said introducing the Calma.
Carl, unfazed at the sight of the alien, extended a hand and Prophet completed the human ritual using his primary appendage.
"They call me Prophet," the Calma said.
"Now that social custom has been dealt to," Flint said. "I'm guessing you've seen something interesting in Carl's research."
"I know what Drac was trying to tell us," John said.
"Great news!" Prophet said.
"Drac was referring to the Chicxulub impact," John explained.
"The what?" Flint asked.
"Such an unlikely event!" Prophet said excitedly.
"About one in every fifty million years," John added for Prophet's benefit.
"It was an iridium rich meteor or possibly a comet that impacted in the Yucatan drawing an end to the Cretaceous," Carl told Flint.
"It was a global event," John said. "It spread iridium around the Earth as seen by a thin preserved shale interval known as the K-T or Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary."
"It was the dinosaur killer," Carl added, "and coincides with significant, global volcanic events."
"Or put the other way," John said, "it allowed mammals to take over and evolve as sentient. Us, damn it!"
Flint looked worried. "The Liaths are going to stop Earth humanity from evolving so their Mór will never combine with Auriane DNA. It would be the end of all we know."
"How could they achieve such a thing?" Carl asked.
"There are literally hundreds of possibilities," Flint said dejectedly.
"A small gravitational influence imparted to the meteor at a great distance would cause a miss. Highly probable as it is the most energy conservative," Prophet said.
"Do the Liaths have such a capability?" John asked.
"Someone must be helping them," Flint said thoughtfully.
"Or controlling them," John added recalling the forced nature of Drac's words.
"Can we contact the council?" Carl asked.
"The routines for the Lár translation are running and require the Relativity's total AI capacity. They cannot be interrupted and also prohibit any temporal communications," Prophet explained.
"Ah, what's a Lár?" Carl asked.
Flint subtly moaned. "And we can’t risk leaving any more footprints behind on the Relativity as it is. We will have to wait to notify the council until we return," he said ignoring Carl.
They all stood on the bridge waiting for the translation countdown to conclude in a few seconds.
To starboard, the ship's viewing angle obscured most of the Milky Way; only a single, delicate curved arm of stars filled the ship's main view screen betraying the spiral nature of their galaxy. John looked past the spectacle, staring into intergalactic space and wondering if the few dim pinpoints and smudges betrayed the nearby galaxies of the Local Group.
"Translation on my mark," Prophet said and then paused. "Mark!"
RefPlane: 1,472,609,517 BC
The view from the Relativity's bridge instantly exploded in light causing the bridge's main view screen to dim appreciably.
Carl looked at the spectacle that was the center of their galaxy in awe.
"Incredible, huh?" John asked him.
"There simply are no words," Carl said reverently.
"Status?" Flint asked Prophet from the command chair.
"Within five hundred Sol years of target," he replied.
"Excellent work my friend," Flint said. "One more simple translation and we are there."
"The Traveler's watch only took one shot, and we landed inside the Library ship," John said, not understanding why the Relativity needed three separate translations.
Prophet nodded then said, "The Traveler's watch was an exquisite piece of engineering and in many respects, more advanced than the Relativity's temporal drive. I would have liked to meet its maker," he added.
"A marvel in its simplicity," Flint said. "I wish we could have retained it for study."
"Initiating next target sequence," Prophet announced as he interfaced with the ship's navigation station.
RefPlane: 1,472,610,002 BC
The scene from the main view screen changed as they could now see debris suspended in all observable directions backlit by the brilliance of the Lár. Most debris was indiscernible except for the few obvious floating shapes of scattered dead mechs.
"There," Flint said getting up and pointing to the lower-right corner of the view, "the remains of the Library ship."
"Scans infer the Library is as it will be when rediscovered eons from now prior to the final battle for its remaining contents," Prophet said. "We are approximately forty-eight Sol hours post our previous departure and scans confirm—"
The ship's alarm whooped until Flint overrode it from the science station's panel.
"There's small craft with weak life signs at forty-eight thousand meters," Flint said from the science station. "It looks dead in space, although it has a slight longitudinal rotation."
"The life boat?" John asked hopefully.
"No signs of the lifeboat, however, this close to the Lár even the Relativities short-range scans are suspect," Flint said.
"The ship has cataloged it as an armed mech scavenger shuttle,"
Prophet added. "Hence, the Relativity's alarm. The gravitational event likely stranded it."
"A good place as any to start our search," Flint said still scanning the main display. "We'll need to get closer to use the ship's spatial transporter this close to the Lár."
"Not your TR?" John asked.
"It's too risky. At this distance to the Lár my TR and would need recalibrating and, that will take time."
"You'll need space suits," Prophet said dejectedly.
John suspected Prophet did not expect the Relativity to have suits to fit a Calma. "And weapons," John added remembering the viciousness of the Navis' scavenger mechs.
"Are you ready?" Flint said to Carl. He then looked at John and the Calma. "We need you both here on navigation as well as science stations.
Remember, activating weapons' systems, the auto doc or the temporal
transporter is a last resort; use of those will be nearly impossible to cover when we return the Relativity."
Prophet nodded and hopped onto the captain's chair and then interfaced his main appendage with the chair's command panel. "Scans indicate no operational life support," he announced flatly.
"I'm going," John said firmly.
Flint hesitated to look John in his eyes, but then nodded and said,
"We'll head to the weapon's bay. We should find suits there." He stepped in the turbo lift followed by John and Carl.
"The Lár will make even short-range transport risky and erratic,"
Prophet warned them. "The overheads are low so crouch prior to transport and good luck."
"I didn't think Prophet would believe in luck," John said as the lift's doors swooshed shut.
"Nor did I," Flint replied worriedly.
They materialized in a low passageway where debris of various sizes hung on the bulkhead over their heads. John watched as fine gray dust illuminated by his helmet's lights swirl in front of his faceplate as Flint examined his tricorder in the background.
"The fine particulate partly consists of inactive nanotech," Prophet said through their helmet's com.
John hoped they stayed that way.
"Prophet, I'm getting two distinct life signs in different parts of the ship," Flint said. "Can you confirm?"
"Negative, excessive interference," Prophet replied. "However, reference schematics for this type of ship indicate the passageway you are in should intersect a large compartment ten meters in front of you."
"That looks to be the location of the most accessible life signs," Flint said pushing off in zero-g down the passageway, holding the tricorder in front of him.
As they reached an open hatchway to the compartment, Carl backed against one side, his disrupter rifle at the ready. John, floating above Carl, took the opposite side with Flint behind him. John glanced at his phaser, checking its maximum power setting.
Carl took a quick look into the darkness behind his rifle's tactical light. "Looks filled with lots of junk. No movement," he said.
"Go!" Flint said and then Carl entered the compartment followed by John and Flint, all scanning the area with their lights. Satisfied there was no immediate threat, Flint scanned his tricorder over the debris until stopping at one of the several heaps clinging to the side of compartment.
"There," John said pointing a gloved hand at what looked like the end of a stasis chamber poking out from another the pile of debris.
It took only seconds for them to clear the wreckage and flip the chamber over.
"Fuck," Carl said dejectedly as they saw a large blast hole had ruptured its seal.
Flint peered into the opening. "Empty," he said and then pushed off to another heap of debris. "The weak life signs and EM readings are under here."
"Another stasis chamber?" John asked.
"We'll know when we move some of this junk," Flint said tossing pieces of debris down the passageway and with John and Carl's help, soon uncovered a hatch.
"It appears to be an airlock," Prophet said though com static, "that is not on the reference schematics."
"Why would a mech ship have an airlock?" Carl asked.
"Good question," John replied.
"Thanks Doc," Carl said with a subtle grin.
"Let us find out," Flint said as he cranked what must have been the lock's manual cycle initiator.
The hatch opened and they illuminated with their tactical lights yet another smaller hatch with a large portal centered within it.
"I am guessing a life boat," Flint said.
"The design is consistent with your interpretation," Prophet said.
"But not consistent with boats of the Library."
John's heart sank at Prophet's news. He floated to the portal and tried to peer in, but heavy nano dust covered it. He wiped some off with his gloved hand and cast his helmet's beam into the darkness. Ahead, the small space had several panels with indicators alight and blinking.
Casting his light to one side, he perceived peripheral movement on the other, but before he could warn the others, a mech pincher attacked the port. He instinctively pushed off and bounced into Carl and then the both spiraled past Flint until he caught their legs.
"It's a mech," John said as they all recovered. "Did you see that Prophet," he asked.
"Negative," Prophet replied.
Flint advanced to the side of the port.
John could see the mech was attempting to bore through the port with some kind of appendage tool.
Flint slowly angled his helmet's cam and light into the lifeboat before quickly swinging back around to the side of the hatch.
"What was it?" Carl asked.
"Part organic and very ugly" Flint said with a shudder. "Prophet any records on this type of mech?"
"It is a nano commander, a specialized keeper," Prophet replied.
"The controller and programmer to the dust that surrounds all of you. You must escape before it can make physical contact its brood."
"Why isn’t it doing so already?" John asked.
"The ship is dead, so it would have lost contact with its brood after seeking shelter in the lifeboat," Prophet said. "Please direct a cam on the port again."
John shown his light on the hideous creature trying to drill through the port.
"I estimate you have less than five minutes before it can make contact with its brood," Prophet said.
Flint adjusted his phaser and fired a short pulse at the port where the creature was drilling. The transparent material in front of the borer glowed orange then cooled causing the mech briefly to stop its drilling.
"You have only slowed it progress," Prophet said.
Flint fired again. "The other life signs are below the deck where we transported onboard," he said. "I'll hold this thing off as long as I can."
"We are not leaving you," John told him.
"Transporter is currently non-operational due to excessive radiation," Prophet said through worse com static.
"The influence of the Lár on the transporter should weaken soon and the remains of the Library are close," Flint said. "I have options."
John knew he was stretching the truth.
"Can’t we just blast it to hell as it comes out," Carl asked.
"You would be far too late." Prophet said. "You would be consumed."
"Fuck," John yelled in his helmet in frustration. "Let's go," he told Carl.
John glanced at back Flint before following Carl down the passage.
"Just hurry," Flint said firing again at the port.
Carl and John retraced their path to the low passage.
"Prophet, any idea as to the route?" John asked as Carl was tossing more junk back the way they came.
"Negative, none that will allow you to arrive at the life signs in under three minutes.
"Here," Carl said as he pointed to a jagged opening he uncovered leading to the next deck. "We should just fit."
They cautiously passed through the opening and into a large compartment exposed to space by several immense holes where debris was slowly leaking into space as the ship slowly rotated about its longitudinal axis.
"Look," John told Carl pointing out a container floating near one of the hull's breaches.
"The damage...observing seems to...resulted from debris impacts after...event," Prophet said through increasing static.
Carl scanned the tricorder around the chamber and gave John a gloved thumb up.
"Flint, I think we found a stasis chamber," John said.
"Copy that," Flint replied calmly.
"Prophet how's the transporter?" John asked.
"Still non-functional," he replied barely discernible.
"Prophet," John asked as he came along side the chamber, "do these suits have maneuvering thrusters?"
"Affirmative," he said. "I...sending...your heads up."
"What do we do now?" Carl asked.
"We fall," John said grabbing the chamber and jetting it gently through a hull breach to clear the ship.
Rotating slowly behind him, Carl followed. "Doc, EM activity has jumped orders of magnitude," he said.
"The brood lives," Prophet confirmed through the interference.
"Flint!" John shouted into his com as they jetted slowly in an arch around the mech ship into view of the Relativity. There was no answer.
"We'd better hurry," Carl said. "Look!"
A large swarm of gray masked much of the mech ship from view as it closed on them.
"Prophet," John said hopeful the Calma could hear him. "Open the aft docking doors and match the Relativity to our trajectory as best you
can and then prepare for immediate translation as soon as we clear the atmospheric containment field."
John looked back at Carl; the large gray mass now completely obscured the mech ship. "We've got one shot. Grab the chamber."
"Rodger that," he said. "I'm right behind you."
"On three, full power to suit's jets!" John shouted as he tweaked their aim at the Relativity with small bursts.
"One, two." He looked at Carl. "Three!"
They had not perfectly synchronized their thrust, and both began to spin around the chamber.
"Initializing tractor beam," Prophet said clearly.
Their spin slowed to a sluggish tumble as the gray mass of nanos drew close.
"Ten seconds...," Prophet said over static again.
"We are still too far," Carl said.
"We'll make it," John reassured him as the Lár and Relativity slowly spun into view.
"Prep...deceleration," Prophet said. "Two seconds..."
The last thing John saw was the Relativity's aft shuttle dock accelerating at them at a colossal rate.
RefPlane: 500,000 BC
John felt pressure on his back. "Doc! You okay?" John heard Carl say as his helmet twisted off.
"Apologies for the unorthodox docking," Prophet said standing over him. "Unfortunately, excessive g-force can cause blackouts in your species."
"Do tell," John said as he slowly got to his feet, thankful for the Relativity's artificial gravity. "Flint?" he asked.
Carl shook his head looking to the deck.
"No life signs remain on the mech shuttle," Prophet said stoically inspecting the stasis chamber.
"Does it look familiar?" John asked hopefully and trying to push away the feeling of emptiness overwhelming him.
"It is the same model that we loaded onto the lifeboat," Prophet said studying the stasis chamber's iced-over portal. "It should be opened at Trua's medical facility. First translation in less than three Sol minutes."
John gazed at the chamber, "Let's hope we're in time."