1:4:2 Tarthesis (Part 9)

The evacuations were all going to plan; across the planet, the ships were filling and they were almost all ready to depart. Thanks to Destiny acting as a relay station, each ship was ready and knew exactly what to do once they had departed. There were just two minutes left before The Razor’s attack was set to begin. Woolsly sat alone in his office. He had been in the exact same position for the last ten minutes, not even flinching when his assistant came in and frantically screamed in his face about how he needed to evacuate before she realised he was a lost cause and left him. He had a terminal open and connected to Destiny’s network. On its screen, two boxes; one and zero. All he had to do was press one of two buttons followed by the enter key but he wasn’t sure he had the conviction to do what he thought was right. In the top corner, the countdown; the same countdown that followed him on every clock, including his watch, since the Lore announced it. His finger hovered over the 0 key. It lost altitude as the timer neared a minute and a half remaining. By a minute dead, it had collided and used the momentum to propel itself to the enter key.
“Cowards.” He turned his chair and faced out onto his domain. The shuttle that was formerly a part of his police station lingered in the sky. He closed his eyes and smiled.

There was a deafening crash followed by a moment of silence. Then the screaming began.
“What just happened?” Lore tried to focus on the flashing monitor but found it almost impossible to decipher.
Treenam… Their escape pod just lost power… In fact, all of the ships… All of them, dead.” Destiny couldn’t believe what she was seeing. “There was a command pulse sent from Treenam. A single bit of data to be distributed to all of the shuttles. It was nothing, just a number. Zero.”
“Had that data point sent any other files?” Char started searching the logs before even asking Destiny.
“No. But the message wasn’t directed at their communication centres. It was aimed at their secondary stabilisers.” Destiny continued her search.
“They must use the same computer to run their entire propulsion assembly. A single zero in the wrong place would obviously be crippling.” Lore shook their head slowly. “Have Treenam reported any fatalities?”
“None yet but they’re going to.” Destiny went back to scanning the ship network. “There were only two ships in flight when the signal was sent: Treenam and Farnam. Neither ship has an intact hull. There’s nothing we can do.”
“We’ve got time machines on our wrists. We can do whatever we want.” Lore started typing in the coordinates, eyes bloodshot and wide. They felt a hand on theirs but when they looked there was nothing.
“We can’t. We really can’t be risking messing with time like that. There’s already twenty six of us running around, that’s way too much strain. Remember your training.” Char took Lore’s had in hers. There was a pale green glow in her eyes. “I’m sorry.”
“Zero.” Destiny cleared the viewscreen to show the planet around them.

The warheads hit a second later seeding the atmosphere with the chemicals needed to revert it back to its native form. The skies darkened before settling to their original black. Lore, Char and Destiny sat watching as the life signs in Treenam and Farnam slowly dwindled to nothing as they choked on the air they used to breathe. No one spoke until they heard the sound of fists rapping against The Destiny’s hull.
“Dee.” Lore spoke softly.
“Do you want to get them or should I?” Char looked over at the door.
“I think we all should be there.” Lore took Char’s hand and led her to the canteen. “It’s time.”
They didn’t even need to ask; the clones all unfurled their helmets and held them in the crooks of their arms as they led the way down to the cargo bay. Four a side, they formed a corridor for Sky and Blue to walk down. They all put on their helmets and saluted in an unexpectedly well co-ordinated military presentation. Destiny appeared from the floor before joining the display. Lore lowered the ramp and their hood before taking Sky’s hand. Char did the same for Blue. Together they walked those last few steps down the ramp, the clones behind them. They were outside The Destiny. The air around them was murky, they were both in their masks; the whole crew was standing in the fog. Sky and Blue went round the group, embracing each crew mate as they said goodbye. They nodded before walking over to Dee and Syn. The whole situation was familiar, to Lore and Char it was like reliving a long past memory or a severe case of deja-vu but then, something changed.
“I’m sorry.” Dee bowed her head. “Most of them have gone to a better place.”
Lore just nodded. “You know our comm code. Call us if you need us and we’ll be there.”
“Thanks.” Sky and Blue spoke together.
“And thank you.” Sky smiled. “For everything.”
Dee rested a hand on Sky’s shoulder as she turned them to begin the walk back to her ship. They began their journey back to Treenam, vanishing into the fog.

There wasn’t a dry eye on the ship. Destiny cleared the statistics from the viewscreen and replaced them with a scan of The Occam’s Razor. The scan started flashing, indicating an incoming transmission.
“Destiny, this is Quart of The Occam’s Razor extending an invitation to you and your crew to come and join us. We have collected your ships including The Vengeance and we are ready to help you proceed deeper into the nebula.”
“Thank you Quart, we will be with you shortly.” Char closed the channel.
“Destiny, ready the engines. If you can, reactivate the colony ships before we go.” Lore spoke softly.
“Already done. They’re on their way now and the natives are starting to leave their zones.” Destiny throttled up and followed her plotted course to The Razor.
“Occam’s Razor?” Char looked over the ship’s design. “What’s that mean?”
“It may refer to an old human idea that the simplest answer is most likely the correct one.” Destiny responded.
Lore scoffed. “Rather ironic isn’t it?”

The ship’s schematics didn’t do it justice. From bow to stern it was nearly as big as Simplicity but lacked the firepower or the aggressive angles that made Simplicity so imposing. The ship seemed optimised for two very different jobs: Mass transport and Speed. Its rear end was mostly engines and along its sides, four large hangar bay doors on each side; each looked large enough to house around two Destinys. Destiny pulled up along side and waited. Slowly, one bay door slid aside and a flight path was sent to her. Walking into one of The Destiny’s rooms that was bigger on the inside was disorienting but flying into a ship’s hangar and finding it the same was somehow not as bad. Destiny set herself down along side The Vengeance.
“The ramp is being overridden. I’m guessing these are the Lore’s without boundaries.” Destiny chuckled at her own, obscure joke.
“Let’s go meet the creators then.” Char shrugged.
“Again.” Lore smiled, jumping at the door.
Before the ram could fully deploy, the clones were stood alert and ready in the cargo bay; Lore and Char joined them. “Stand down. They should be friendlies.”
At the bottom of the ramp, a strange mirror. A Lore, a Char and four clones. “Welcome to The Republic.”
Lore and Char looked to one another, confused. “Republic?”