James Somers - Heir to the King

The android's face was expressionless as he countered each strike and parried, only to meet the human's ignited blade each time. His computer mind rapidly coordinated every movement while trying to find a weakness in Tiet's defense that would allow a death blow.

Vale's back was now to Dorian and Tiet could feel her in his mind as she lunged for the android. He wanted to stop her; to protect her, but it was too late. Vale noticed her steps and the rush of wind around her blade and moved to defend himself.

Tiet struck again to draw its attention from her, but to no avail. Dorian's blade penetrated the android's synthetic skin and its adomen exoskeleton as she swiped down across its back. Leaving his sword hand to counter Tiet's strike, Vale quickly struck Dorian with his other hand, sending her back to the floor with a fractured arm.

A fury welled up within Tiet as he sensed her pain. He blasted Vale with a kinetic burst that sent the android flying back hard into the cargo bay wall.

It felt different than when he had used the kinesis back on Castai; he felt more powerful. But his rage overpowered his bewilderment. Vale stood again, quickly recovering from the fall. Tiet lowered his blade as the android lunged for him, only to be hurled back against the cargo bay wall again and again.

He could feel the power surging now. He could sense the workings of the android and feel the drain of its power as it fought to get at him. He could sense the physical pain of Dorian and the presence of Millo at the helm and Orin coming toward the cargo bay. Then something happened he had not expected; the android spoke to him.

"Are you afraid to fight me, human?" he asked trying to stand again. "You are a coward for using your kinetic abilities to avoid open combat with me."

Vale's CPU had caught a hold on the human emotional trait of pride and was now hoping to exploit it to get close to his target.

"Don't listen to it," said Dorian, still huddled on the floor holding her arm.

"Yes, human, cower with your woman." baited Vale.

Tiet replaced his father's sword in its sheath, as he released the android from the invisible grip of his mind. Vale cautiously picked up his own blade from the ground. Tiet's kemsticks leapt to his hands from the magnetic clips on his thighs, and ignited. He calmed himself and moved into the fluid movements of his favorite two-handed technique.

Orin had rarely taught him to use the kemsticks, as he favored the blade, but Tiet had always enjoyed the two-handed style, with its rapid fire strikes and elaborate movements.

Vale engaged him quickly and for a few moments they remained deadlocked blow for blow; until Tiet shifted to his own version of the two-handed technique that relied on no discernable pattern that Vale's mind could decipher. As Tiet increased his speed he became a blur of motion. He landed a strike to the android's leg, then another followed quickly to the torso.

The robot was failing to match the speed of Tiet's strikes. For every three to five strikes made, one landed on the android's body, doing serious damage to its exoskeleton. The robot retreated away from the continuing assault, losing bits and pieces of his mechanical structure as the strikes continued to find purchase on his body.

He sliced Vale's forearm open, disintegrating the motor controls of his hand. The android's sword fell from his limp hand, as Tiet continued to smash him with blow after blow.

He saw that Orin was now in the cargo bay with Dorian, helping her with her injury, and suddenly he wanted to be the one consoling her. He dealt a quick and final deathblow, driving an ignited kemstick right through the android's chest where its primary power source was housed.

Vale fell heavily to the cargo bay floor, showing no further sign of mechanical life. Tiet extinguished his weapons and replaced them on each thigh as he ran back to Orin and Dorian.

"How's your arm?"

"I don't think it's bad…"

"It's fractured in two places."

"Are you sure?" asked Orin..

"Yes, I…I sensed it as it happened. I'm not sure how though. The kinesis seems more powerful on this side of the rift."

"Interesting…we had better get to the med station and set Dorian's arm."

The trio walked back through the cargo bay entrance and sealed the door again.

"What about the android?"

"I don't trust leaving it there. Open the outer bay door and flush the remains into space."

He complied, being only too happy to finally rid themselves of this persistent assassin. He keyed in the command on the cargo bay keypad.

The computer scanned for life signs as a routine safety measure and then opened the doors. The pressurized gases quickly rushed into the vacuum, carrying Vale's lifeless torn body with them. Tiet could see the clearing of the debris through the cargo bay door window and lingered only long enough to see the doors closing again.

V

THE cold of space would have quickly killed him had there been any real life in his android body. Now only the incomprehensible surging of a computer mind remained. The body was hacked to shreds, and the final blow had disintegrated his primary power supply with the main efferent signal processor.

Vale's functioning mind was trapped in a body he could not control. The attempt to bait the human through its pride had failed. His mind raced at incalculable speeds searching for errors in his own performance that may have caused the outcome. But it was a pointless race to run, for now he was nothing but wreckage floating in the cold black void of space.

Something tingled. Something was probing through his computer mind; not invading, but washing over him and through him. A voice was speaking inaudibly to him. It was familiar and mechanical in nature. Vale's mind responded to its call. He was moving now; moving swiftly through space. The voice reassured him without words.

It was pulling him across the vast expanse to itself. He could discern no movement; but he calculated five hours from the first contact with the voice until he saw himself pass through an opening into a vessel. The voice called for him to release all data and merge with its own mind. There was no resisting the call.

Soon he was one with the Sphere and a vast memory of the Sphere's travels across different worlds in pursuit of the Vorn opened up to him. The Sphere had returned home to this planet as it followed the Vorn across space, destroying them everywhere they were found; as the makers had planned. And yet for Vale, the Vorn were his masters, having sent him on his mission after the Barudii warrior and his companions.

The only way to reconcile the two was to fulfill both objectives. The Barudii warrior and his companions had to be exterminated along with the Vorn. They had not given orders to keep from terminating any of their own race, and nothing in the creator's directives to the Sphere denied it the privilege to exterminate rebels of any race. Simple. All objectives will be met. Failure is not an option.

Vale was now one with the mind of the Sphere. There was so much power and so much data available. He now knew where the Barudii ship was located. The Sphere had been tracking it all along. He watched it through the eyes of the Sphere; seeing through its scanning mechanisms.

The Barudii ship was approaching the planet on the further side, away from the Sphere's own position. It was in the process of final execution on the Vorn. An invasion force, one of many, was already prepared to begin decimating Vorn cities on the planet surface; to rid the maker's home planet of the infestation by their enemies. And now Vale's memory provided further information.

The Sphere now understood that the Vorn had been in the process of trying to escape across the local phenomena known as the Transdimensional Rift, and they were currently occupying a conquered planet similar to the maker's home world here. It would be necessary then to travel across the rift to destroy the Vorn at that location as well.