Ancient Hunter
Chapter 60

“Gwen, Gwen Wake up!” a familiar voice called out.

I woke in the semi darkness reaching for my comms bracelet. I was on a bunk in Freyhilda’s barracks. Groggily I got dressed automatically strapping my Seven Double ‘M’. Freyhilda and her squad were still asleep. I could just make out their shapes in their bunks. As quietly as I could I walked over to the door nearly colliding with the table in the middle of the room. Skirting the table and the benches I reached the door without further incident. I pressed the console at the side of the door. It slid open flooding the barracks with light. Cautious still feeling the dregs of my interrupted sleep I exited the barracks and entered the corridor. Only when the door closed behind me I realised something was wrong. It couldn’t have been Xenai the Keepers had made it so that no one could read my mind. We were currently travelling through wormhole space. It was a journey of about twelve hours. That was the odd thing about wormhole travel no matter the distance it only took twelve hours. A mind -blowing fact that had the Fandarens puzzled. Of any one only the First Ones knew how it worked. Which I made start doubting myself. The Keepers have proved that they could contact me in hyperspace. Mouse had done that on the voyage to Melanos. Then they had also extracted or as they called it my essence from my body. I had been kidnapped and placed in a Cell Stitcher for transport to Alfheimir. Another of those mysteries I had yet to solve. Why I was kidnapped in the first place and why strip my body naked and leave me to die in the snow. None of it made any sense. It couldn’t be Moon Shadow I tried to contact her before I went to sleep.

“Gwen?” the voice called out again.

I felt a chill run down my back as the horror of the situation hit me. The voice was coming from inside my head.

“Who is this?” I demanded.

A light flicked in front of me. I stepped back my hand on the holster strapped to my waist. It flickered again transforming into a translucent image of Jennifer Valden, The First One from Saros.

“Jennifer?” I said surprised.

The image grew sharper finally forming into flesh and blood.

“That’s better we’re in sync now,” she commented. “I hate having to do that.”

I shouldn’t have been surprised anyone capable of creating worlds could easily be able to catch a ride of a ship travelling at impossible speeds.

“What do you want?” I asked her.

“To see you of course.”

I was sure that wasn’t the whole story. “And?”

Jennifer frowned. “To be truthful I was asked to.”

“By whom?” I only knew two First Ones her and Thomas the First One masquerading as the President of Saros. In truth they were watching over the Keepers and I had disrupted that. They were supposed to be creating a world as a haven for the Keepers.

I had no idea where that was. I’d been there twice, once when the Keepers had transferred my essence as they called it to a duplicate body of me. The second when Jennifer took me there to pick up my duplicate who had developed her own identity as Juliana.

“Someone who has taken an interest in you.” Jennifer didn’t seem happy about that. I was happy about it either.

“That hasn’t answered my question?”

Jennifer merely raised her eyebrow at me. “It’s not that I don’t want to I can’t.”

“It’s a secret?” That would be typical of the First Ones to be obscure.

“It’s not that, best I show you.” Another Jennifer stepped out of the first Jennifer. Then another and another until I was surrounded by Jennifers. So which one is me?” she asked.

I pointed to the one that faced me. “You are?” I sounded if I doubted myself.

“The truth is we all are.” a Jennifer behind me said.

I turned to face the speaker. All the Jennifers merged into the one I was facing.

“We don’t have names amongst ourselves. I know exactly who all the others are, I adopted my name to live amongst you.” Jennifer frowned again. “I seem to be going off topic. I came to tell you that I’ve made contact and they are going to help.”

I held my tongue. The First Ones had no concept of time. The Keepers were long gone as a race before the First Ones realised what had happened. I would have thought Jennifer in her Human form would understand that better.

“We are going to help it will take us time. We don’t have an objective.”

“We do,” I stated.

Jennifer smiled for the first time since she had arrived. “My precog was right about you, you are the key.”

I decided to tell her everything since it’d last seem her on Demeros.

Jennifer regarded my face when I finally finished giving her my report. For a First One she certainly learned to use Human facial expressions and she looked unhappy. “That’s not good,” she said stating the obvious. “They are starting to move. We’re no where ready to confront them?” Adding. “We don’t know how many there are?” Jennifer tapped her fingers to her lips deep in thought. An all to Human gesture on something as ancient as a First One. “The integration of organic carbon and silicates is a worrying development. If I guessing this correctly there may be fewer than I first thought to deal with.”

“How did you jump to that conclusion?” I demanded. She was talking about the lost Landottir as if they were a side-show.

“Always before they shunned anything carbon based. Destroying it wherever they encountered it even to the tiniest microbe. The ‘Cleansing’ they called it.”

I felt shocked by her revelation. “Not a thing survived?”

“Unfortunately so,” she replied. She looked at me.

Which had me wondering if she had an ulterior motive in her interaction with me.

“We can counter that,” Jennifer commented. “But what concerns me is their use of Builder technology. I don’t know how they got hold of it?”

“Those hull punching ships?”

“Builder explorer ships,” She gave me a look. “Have you forgotten what you told me?”

“No!” I protested. “The technology that makes no sense. I’d only assumed that they were the same as the Stepping-Stones?”

“You assumed correctly.” Jennifer paused. “There should be a hub somewhere?”

“Hub?” I asked.

“It’s a large ring like structure works the same way the Stepping-Stones do but in this case as a ship.”

“We did scan them but couldn’t find an engine?”

“There aren’t any.” Jennifer paused. “What’s those words. Ah yes ‘point and click’?”

I tried to follow the logic and failed. I decided to ask a question unsure if it would be the right one. “If the point is at the front? What happens when the point is buried underground as opposed to the hull of a ship?” I wasn’t sure if she’d answer that.

Jennifer raised her hand an image of one of those ships appeared over it. “The ship is launched base first. There is nothing to slow it down in space. When it enters an atmosphere the base heats keeping the nose cool.”

“But these hit the hull point first?”

“A risky stratagem, If it penetrates into a solid object anything projected would be destroyed.”

I filed that information away in my mind certain I’d be telling this to Xenai as soon as I could. “So we look for this hub?” I said getting it straight in my head. “If its anything like a Stepping-Stone just as impossible to destroy?”

“Leave that to us,” Jennifer assured me. “My next task will be to convince the Collective to assemble at this Graveyard place. They are scattered about the galaxy the words needle and haystack come to mind.” Jennifer regarded me carefully. “I’ll get back to you hopefully before you reach your destination.” With the she vanished.

I wondered why talking her always left more questions than answers.

I hurried to find Xenai she wasn’t on the bridge but Lieutenant Thorda was and she told me that Xenai was in her quarters. I knew where her quarters were I just hoped she hadn’t gone to bed. I didn’t want to disturb her sleep even if mine had been. Hesitantly I pressed the chime on the panel beside the door. Her intercom came on.

“Gwen?”

Of course she would know it was me I was the only one she couldn’t read my mind.

“It’s me.” I said stating the obvious. “I need to talk?”

There was a pause before Xenai answered. “Come on in Gwen.”

The door slid open and I entered. Xenai was seated on the couch in the middle of her room. On the table the couch surrounded was a cup of coffee. Xenai sat in front of in a pale silvery green nightdress.

I started with an apology. “I’m sorry to bother you it is urgent.”

“Don’t be if you are here than it is important,” Xenai assured me.

I felt easier with that. “I had a visitation from Jennifer.”

Xenai sat up straighter a look of alarm flashed across her face but she quickly masked it. “Oh?”

I explained how she had roused me from my bed and appeared in front of me in the corridor outside the quarters I was sharing with Freyhilda’s squad. “Mother knows how she found me or even how she appeared here?” I winced at that I shouldn’t have invoked the Mother of All that was too Valkyrie. I wasn’t a full Valkyrie I had some of the blood through my great-great grandfather.

Xenai regarded me carefully. “So you keep stating she is an Ancient.” The T’Arni word for the First Ones. Xenai indicated the couch opposite. “Please sit.”

I sat on the couch facing Xenai. “I don’t know if her info is any good to us?”

“It will help a lot in determining our strategy. A pity you didn’t ask more questions?”

“I would have.” I admitted. “But she vanished before I could ask them.”

Xenai considered my words. “Have you contacted your Keepers. They might give us more of a hint at what we’ll be facing?”

“I can’t contact them. I can in hyperspace but not here. I have tried several times.” I doubted that Moon Shadow and the remaining Keepers would be any good. Any I could have relied on were missing. “I don’t know how the physics of a wormhole works?”

“No one does and we’ve been studying them since we first learned about them.” She gave a sigh. “There’s nothing we can do at the moment. I’ll see if I can get some info when we exit to normal space.” She looked at me. “Head back to bed, that’s what I intend to do. We have plenty of times for plans.”

I took that as a dismissal. I took my leave and headed back hoping for an interruption free sleep.

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