Darren Wearmouth - Critical Path

“What does that mean?” Charlie said.

“We still go if you are ready?”

“What does it feel like?” Denver said.

Hagellan fiddled with the cube and held a stumpy thick finger over a circular symbol. “You won’t feel a thing. We’ll be there in five seconds.”

Charlie nodded. “Go for it.”

Hagellan swiped its finger across the button, and the holocube flashed three times.

A blinding flash of light filled the cockpit, accompanied with an almighty bang, like somebody had just thrown in a thunderflash grenade the size of a garbage can.

Augustus leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes, wallowing in the feeling of a root high as the compound replenished his body and cured his aches and pains.

While he enjoyed the numb feeling, his thoughts entered a kind of meditative state, allowing him to put into logical place the events of the last month and all of their ramifications.

A smile stretched across his face as he thought about the time at Unity.

For a moment, he had got caught up in their pathetic games, nearly lost oversight.

Despite Charlie Jackson’s attempts, Augustus was still here, still on plan, albeit in a more circuitous route than he had intended.

While the remaining croatoans were rounded up, thinking they were going to be part of a glorious colonization and defeat of their enemies to the north, he would have time to go back to his original orders.

His original plan.

With the original allies.

A laugh escaped from him now as he thought back to all the time he had spent with Hagellan and the council, learning their secrets, gaining their trust. At no point had they ever known. Pride washed over him at a job done well. Painting himself as this loyal but bumbling ex-emperor had worked perfectly.

The croatoans had proved as easy to manipulate as humans.

Just like his real masters said they would be.

His right hand reached to the three-inch-tall, black prism-shaped object in his pocket. He leaned forward, the smile easing from his face. With object in hand, he stood up and locked the door. From the window he saw Zoe busying about the paddocks, organizing the ranks of croatoans. How easy it had been to inspire confidence.

That was one of the croatoans major flaws: without their strong council leadership, the average alien had little mind of its own and little conviction. Which, of course, made them good drones, good fodder.

And easily defeatable with the right approach.

With his Rambo-esque antics, Charlie Jackson had actually done Augustus a favor by killing all but one of the council in the explosion. Although there were more councils presiding over other planets and other galactic territories, this one had the most to lose, the oldest members, and Earth was the most prized of all of their colonies.

The only downside to Charlie’s premature actions was that Earth hadn’t been terraformed. But for Augustus’ masters, that was but a minor issue.

The intel he had recovered was of more use.

Augustus closed the blinds, bringing the room into darkness. He sat behind the desk and placed the prism on the top and squeezed the sides until it clicked. A small motor inside whirred. The point of the prism rose up half an inch, exposing a shimmering crystal-like cube inside.

A beam of light came from the crystal, creating a holographic keyboard with alien characters on the keys upon the wooden surface of the desk.

From the drawer, Augustus removed one of the farm’s communication radios. Although the croatoan system was down, it would still transmit, and the signals weren’t intended for an earthly recipient anyway.

Augustus tuned the radio to the given frequency and placed the transceiver next to the prism device. The transceiver crackled as the prism paired to its electronics. The creators of the prism had told him that a true life force existed inside, hence why it could connect to almost any electronic device. The damned thing was intelligent.

Given what he had seen in those early days, he didn’t doubt it.

The hairs on his arms and neck tingled as he brought his hands to the keys. It had been so many years since he had last done this. They had been waiting for him as they had done for hundreds of years before. Every time Hagellan took him out of stasis for education, he’d connect and send a report.

The scale of his masters’ plan blew his mind.

Their foresight planned thousands of years ahead, and so far, from what he had learned, they had never failed.

Even now, their prediction of the council’s demise on Earth had come true. Though he doubted they realized it would come from a single man called Charlie Jackson, but somehow, they had divined it with their algorithms and knew the Order of Things, even if they did not know the specifics.

And here Augustus was, in the middle of it all, part of the Order of Things.

Part of their algorithms and plans.

He tapped out the initiating sequence and waited. A minute later the crystal turned to a royal purple, reminding him of his imperial robes back in the day. A cone of holographic purple light flickered up from above the device, creating an inverse pyramid about a meter tall.

Lines of binary code flowed down the new display until a new form appeared.

His handler.

Drone 21.

These aliens, who called themselves the Scion, were a great binary hive mind, as much as Augustus could work out. He had first ‘met’ Drone 21 when Hagellan had first taken Augustus into the fold. The Scion had an inside croatoan agent working for them, and it was that agent who had handed Augustus the prism, and thus handed over his responsibility. It was Augustus’ job to end that particular agent’s life, having come to the end of his designated algorithm.

Drone 21 had promised the Augustus’ algorithm had no end.

That he would be until the end of time. If he did as they requested.

“Agent 3982, you have a report?” Drone 21 said.

“I do. I have the schematics and data you wanted. I’m uploading now.”

“No need, 3982, I’m transferring now.”

The crystal cube flickered as the data on the device was uploaded to Drone 21’s consciousness.

A few seconds later the holograph of the binary image stopped flickering. An almost-human-looking face turned its attention to Augustus. “You’ve done well, as the Order of Things had predicted,” it said. “Do you have additional information?”

“Indeed,” Augustus said. He summarized Jackson’s escapades and the events at Unity, finishing up with Hagellan’s plans to get to the jump gate.

“We will handle the destroyer,” Drone 21 said, “and Hagellan’s allies.”

“What are my new orders?” Augustus asked.

“Continue with your current plans. Extinguish the threat at Unity and await our arrival. If the Order of Things change, we’ll send you updated information.”

“And…” Augustus was going to ask about his future, his rewards, their promise to give him Earth entirely, but the image on the holographic display had already gone, and the crystal grew dark, cutting off both display and projected keyboard. With a whir, the top of the prism lowered and it became a trinket once more.

A knock came from the door.

Augustus pocketed the prism and picked up the radio.

“Yes?” he called.

The door opened and Zoe entered the room. Her eyes squinted as she looked around. “I thought you were talking to someone.”

He held up the radio. “Just giving orders to a nearby farm. There are a few survivors there,” he said. “What’s the status of those out there?”

“Inspired, sir. United. You’ve brought us all new purpose. With your leadership, we’re confident we can handle the threat you spoke of.”