Lamb
06 Jan 2024Ryuko Ntsikana
Part Thirty-Four
Lamb
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His engineering coveralls had seen better days as Carlos sat on the recliner in his daughter’s stateroom, sipping on a cold beer. Yatziri sprawled herself across half of the couch, with her booted feet draped over one of the arms and her eyes looking up cockeyed at the monitor on the wall, where Monty was in full view.
Zarathustra occupied the opposite recliner with Avery standing next to her. Carlos motioned to her with his glass. “The androids you provided helped prepare the designated ship that Inspector Gladsen will be using. Everything has been tested. The moment your surprise is activated the event will be a matter of minutes. The exact number will be less than ten, but anything more finite than that is not possible to predict, considering what it is you are hoping to accomplish.”
“More concerned with getting back aboard our carrier safely once we have her,” Monty commented.
“I have a team that will be outfitting your ship with a few additional surprises,” Zarathustra added, nodding at Monty.
“Chief Bowen has his team working double shifts preparing a swarm that should keep any pursuing ships occupied long enough for you to make it back with her,” Carlos noted, sipping on his beer.
Yatziri tilted her head up to look at Carlos. “Rex is going to fly through the roof of this ship once he learns the truth.”
“I will be in direct control of the ship,” Avery stated flatly. “Regardless of his justifiable displeasure. My concern is the variables.”
“The two carriers will be in a never-ending standoff. Unfortunately, there was no other way,” Xochitl said with a hint of sadness.
“There is concern about reintegration,” Avery replied, looking up at the monitor.
Monty nodded. “The symbiote was confident of its own end-state result. The nearer the two are to one another, the more it can exert its influence. The concern is with the host. As there is no historical precedent to make a model on.”
Xochitl swirled her drink for a moment before looking up at Monty. “Based on the history of the symbiote, what it has imparted to us, and conceptualizing the changes that may or may not have taken place inside of Zooey, I am the only logical choice, per my design, to attempt a physical abduction of her.”
“From what is known of the sciences involved, the end results of the reunification could be extreme.”
“There was no other choice,” Xochitl said, looking down and shaking her head.
Carlos looked down his glass at his daughter. He hated everything about the situation, but what had been done was done. This moment was what it was, and there was nothing he could do to change that. His eyes lifted to Avery, who subtly nodded. The vote had been cast.
Though a member of the clan, Rex was not an elder. The presence of one who was not an elder during a vote was unorthodox, but so was the situation. Carlos was absent, as were a few others, but the decision of the majority was unanimous and thus final. Once Zooey had been secured and the symbiote next to or integrated with its essence, the drones Zarathustra and the engineering department had prepared would disable Monty’s ship, and a coded snippet, prepared by Avery, would activate the surprise on board. Both Monty and Xochitl knew of the graviton generator and what it was for, but assumed it would be used to remove the other fleet carrier and its inhabitants.
All agreed that the symbiote and its essence, whether reformed into a whole or not, could not be allowed to continue. None were greater than the whole, and it posed a threat too great to not only the clan but all. Monty would not need to initiate the sequence as it would be done for him, without Xochitl’s or Monty’s knowledge.
A beam of concentrated gravitons would be discharged into the reactor’s plasma stream. The end result would take only minutes, as the immense gravitational field it would generate would cause the reactor to fail and explode and as a result the birth of a miniature small sequence star would form. The star would not be able to sustain itself against the immense gravitational event and would then collapse into a singularity. It would last only seconds before dissipating, but it would be enough to consume the ship and everything near, including the symbiote, Zooey, Monty, and Xochitl.
Rex felt himself visibly shaking. This was not a mutiny but an assassination. He knew it had to happen this way as tears silently streamed down his face. This was the governing form chosen for this ship, its crew, and the families onboard. No one was greater than the whole. Looking up and across the circle, his eyes met those of Xochitl’s mother, Miahuaxihutil. The look in her eyes caused Rex to think back on the recent events with her daughter. He then knew the end result had always been hinted at. Xochitl knew that she was the only sacrificial choice, to give the whole its chance of survival.