Four Horsemen Chapter 4

Updated Sunday 15 May, 2011 12:18 PM

Four
(4)

Horsemen

Chapter Four

Once upon a time, in a future, far far away…

David Gideon brought the meeting to attention. This had been the latest one as such, but with various events lately, this was to be the most important such gathering to date. Discussion was varied, but those who had not been convinced before, had now changed their minds. No one now doubted that the Entity was the old enemy. And, likewise, it was highly likely that Earth was at risk. There were differences over when the Earth was at risk, as no one knew how fast the Entity could actually move, but that was all. Gideon then turned to the next item on the agenda, one that would put in danger the people’s lives who decided to go.

Verification. That was the mission. It would come down to who was willing to venture off & confirm whether the Entity was heading to Earth. In this regards, the captain of the James Cook was approached. Having been sidelined from further explorer missions, since his admission that the crew had panicked when they first contacted the Entity, she was eager to do what she could. Elizabeth Harvey also needed to prove herself, as every generation in the Harvey family had done for one thousand years, thanks to the stigma the family suffered by having a connection to Drache. This mission, however, seemed to mean redemption for what her ancestor had done long ago.

A few other people were also contacted by the Four Horsemen including captain Alfred Hussain of the Babylon ship X-60. Not knowing what his reaction would be, Gideon was pleasantly surprised that he got a yes immediately. It seemed that life on Earth was far too boring for him & anything, especially that which was on offer, was far better than staying on Earth. There was also a little thing about transport, & although Hussain no longer had control of his ship, he knew were it was. And in knowing were it was meant he could probably steal it if needed.

Although it was against Gideon’s better judgement, after several enquires with various government agencies, no one would lend them a ship. Especially a ship which was to spy on the Entity some 900 light years away. So Gideon consented to the theft of the X-60 wondering if he would be going to Hell for being an accomplice to a major sin. Hussain, on the other hand, saw no sin. It was his ship after all. Getting together a few trusted members of his old crew, Hussain assured Gideon they would be long gone before anyone on Earth would know anything about the missing Babylonian ship.

Thus, on the next day, Hussain & ten fellow Babylonians, along with Harvey & a similar number of Four Horsemen, took an ordinary shuttle to the X-60. It had been parked now for some time in an orbit around the Moon. Although this area was far from abandoned space, after all 5 million people lived on the Moon engaged in various duties, especially space ship construction, repair, & associated industries, there was so major police guard keeping a vigil on the X-60. In fact the authorities gave the X-60 no security at all thinking that no one would want to steal the ship as it was obsolete by Earth standards.

Yet the obsolete factor meant nothing to the twenty or so people now trying to get on board the Babylon explorer. Ironically, it was the most advanced explorer type vessel Babylon had constructed even if it was antiquated by Earth standards. But none of that mattered. The Four Horsemen needed a ship capable of reaching Babylon & only the X-60 was available. Besides which it was also equipped with a weapons suite which no Earth ship had. Considering the Entity could produce an army of monsters, this might become handy when the X-60 reached Babylon even if it maybe a futile gesture.

It took about a day, at Moon flight control, to realise that the X-60 had gone missing. Considering it was in the grave yard, waiting to be dismantled & melted down so that its metals & alloys could be used again, meant that no one really kept an eye on such things as there were hundreds of hulks waiting to suffer the same fate. Hussain had found that not a thing had been touched on the X-60. There were still plenty of supplies left, even though they brought a years worth with them, & the power plant was still operating with plenty of anti-matter fuel to get them to their destination & back again four times over. In other words, they had more than enough to complete their mission.

The biggest problem, however, for this new crew were their numbers. Usually a ship of this size would require at least 100 personnel. But the Four Horsemen did not have this luxury. If more people were approached, then the higher likelihood that their little scheme would have been discovered. Although the punishment would not be great or deadly, it would, though, ensure that getting to Babylon would be beyond their means. And that meant that they would be totally in the dark about the Entity as everyone else. Gideon thought about sending more of his group, but only ten had any skills that were ship related. Besides which, the number that were going were a quarter of the entire group anyway. It would be better if most would have to stay on Earth should their concerns turn out to be true.

Unlike the Four Horsemen, the Entity had no such concerns where it would head next. Enjoying great power, thanks to the destruction of Babylon it, though, did not head off immediately to Earth. Instead it had a deepening desire to discover who it was first. This took several months as it contemplated such things. In many ways it became a philosophy as it argued back & forth its thoughts trying to come to an answer. Whilst it did so, the occasional Babylon ship, which survived the Entity’s initial attack, & the counterattacks against it, arrived to a nightmare. All of these ships knew something was wrong, although only a few had seen the truth at long distance the slaughter that took place. Still, upon seeing the destruction for themselves, they grew in both anger & fear.

This was like a huge beacon for the Entity. Although it may have been busy with its own thoughts, the scent of fear & hate was like no other. Immediately it pounced on its ignorant prey & consumed them without mercy. This happened on eight occasions over a six month period. Ironically, it was such actions which kept the Entity at Babylon far longer than it initially wanted. Although its thoughts troubled itself, it could have left Babylon long ago for its journey to Earth. But it never knew whether another vessel full of fear & hate might arrive. And every time it began to think about leaving, another victim would arrive to accept its fate.

So for about a year or so the Entity stayed at the site of its great creation. But instead of life, it only brought death. This would save, however, the fleeing X-60. By staying at Babylon for so long, the X-60, like the James Cook, was able to reach Earth unmolested. Far more importantly, the Four Horsemen had been alerted & had made their first all important decision. And now the X-60 was heading back to Babylon at around the same time as the Entity left Babylon for Earth. Hussain, though, had his own agenda, which was somewhat at odds with what the Four Horsemen wanted. Hussain agreed that the Entity had to be scrutinised, but warning Earth of its approach was not his intent. Instead he wanted to study the Entity in order to kill it somehow. But that somehow he did not know of yet.

Harvey, at the same time, had dual thoughts on the matter. Knowing it to be evil, & in this regards she was in league with the Four Horsemen, she nevertheless thought that if they could kill the Entity, long before it reached Earth, so much the better. It would also put to shame once & for all the family stigma. Gideon, however, said nothing about an attempt by the X-60 to kill the Entity. All he asked for was surveillance. He wanted information about the Entity, & far more importantly, whether it was heading to Earth. Although he did not say it exactly, Gideon believed that trying to kill the Entity with the X-60 was pointless anyway. The data which the X-60 brought to Earth, not too long ago, clearly showed that the Entity had far great firepower than even one hundred such Babylon ships. Thus attacking it with only one ship would be suicide.

Yet the X-60 was several light years from Earth & Gideon & hence out of his control. The new crew, a mix of humans from Earth & Babylon, got on quite well from almost the start. There were the occasional arguments at first, but nothing overly violent. Far more importantly, the crew quickly bonded. Considering the opposite societies that the crew came from, this was somewhat surprising. But Hussain had brought the most trusted & liberal of his original crew, whilst Harvey, no stranger to controversy, & the ten Four Horsemen, were tolerant of the different ways of the Babylon members of the crew.

It was in this light, then, that Harvey, after a few weeks into their mission, approached Hussain about the possibility of killing the Entity. This openness surprised Hussain, as such an approach would have never had taken place on Babylon. But just as important was that Harvey & Hussain were of similar minds. This gave him much confidence, then, that he did not have to go behind Harvey’s back in order to implement his plan. And this he would have to do as Harvey held the title of "captain" even though Hussain was on his ship. But like with the bonding of the small crew, Hussain had accepted the situation although it took an offer of sharing the captaincy from Harvey.

Meanwhile on Earth, the Four Horsemen did what they could in anticipation of battle. This did not involve weapons at this stage, but rather careful & meticulous study. Ever piece of information, recorded so far of the Entity, was painstakingly researched. Every frame of video & every piece of computer analysis gained from various sources, was given the fullness of attention. There was, surprisingly, a vast amount of information available to go through. Yet nothing seemed to stick out which gave a hint as to its weakness. Whether it be information from the encounter with the James Cook, or more importantly, the information gathered by the X-60, everything suggested that the Entity was invincible.

But not quite. Thanks to the X-60, there was much information about the battles between the Babylon military & the Entity’s armies of monsters. These monsters were of various creatures. Some appeared like a dinosaur, with various mechanisms attached, so it could move & fight. They appeared, in many respects, like a cyborg. Similarly in the air & space, a monster could fly & fight. And these, it was noted, were vulnerable to normal weapons. Well not normal, but any energy weapon &, needless to say, nuclear weapons. Why the Entity relied on such armies, no one knew, but it was very certain that these could be destroyed. The only problem was that the Entity could immediately replace its losses with little effort.

Another problem, one which the authorities on Babylon did not care for, was the damage done to the environment. Considering the situation, which the Babylonians found themselves in, few could blame them from using nuclear weapons, but the aftermath meant they guaranteed their own destruction anyway. This was obviously counterproductive to say the least. Furthermore, it never defeated the Entity anyway, so there seemed little point in repeating the strategy on Earth. And this was besides the point that no one on Earth, let alone the Four Horsemen, had any nuclear devices anyway.

So Gideon concluded that the right strategy required was to destroy the Entity, before it could unleash its armies of monsters, because clearly, once that happened, all hope had been lost. As said, this seemed impossible to do. The Babylonians had tried every weapon which they had, some far more powerful than Earth every had, & yet the Babylonians had been annihilated. Maybe the Earth body politic has been right after all. Maybe, by being such a hostile people, they had brought their destruction upon themselves. Maybe the only right strategy was not to offer any hostility. Maybe it was not to attack. Peace & harmony did seem to work throughout the galaxy, this was certainly the case for Earth & her neighbours, so maybe the same should be applied here too. But to Gideon, watching the various frantic battles taking place between the Entity & the Babylonians, such thoughts of peace & harmony were far from what the Entity practiced. No, this Creature was pure evil. And evil did not care for the ways of peace. All it knew was the ways of death.

Whilst Gideon & his comrades tried to find a way to kill the Entity, the Creature in question was moving fast towards Earth. Having increased in power & strength, this meant that it could travel faster. Much faster. Previously, it could barely make it to 300 times the speed of light. Now it could reach 1 000 times the speed of light. In doing so, it could keep up with the fastest ships Earth could build. Alas, that meant the X-60 was clearly outclassed. In hindsight, Hussain & Harvey should have stolen the James Cook, but it was in refit & thus out of commission. Even Gideon thought that another ship, other than the X-60, should have been taken, one like the brand new La Perouse, but in all reality this would have been impossible. Although it was fully fuelled & supplied, as the La Perouse was about to go on its maiden mission, stealing it was really impossible. Thus, at the time, the X-60 was the only option regardless of the drawbacks of the ship.

Still the Entity did not care for such matters. Travelling at maximum speed towards Earth, it actually stopped a few times when something interested it. But it was not for exploration or out of curiosity, but rather because it could sense the opportunity to harvest. Alas for the Beast, there was not a lot on offer. A few planets had small research colonies & the like, but none of them were of human origin nor was there a large number of souls to consume. Needless to say, it was not overly slowed down as a result, & any resistance, as previously, was pointless. Yet it would serve as an opportunity for the X-60 to get a good look personally at the Entity for the very first time.

Harvey was almost asleep in the Captain’s chair when the scanner officer yelled excitedly. At just over 210 light years from Earth, the X-60’s scanners had picked up the signal which they were looking for. Both Harvey & Hussain had seen this signal before, but both were shocked as to its strength. To Harvey it appeared that it had grown enormously, which Hussain concurred with, although the recordings in the computer’s data suggested that, although indeed stronger than previously, it had not grown as powerful as Harvey pointed out. It seemed a little inconsistency & not one worthwhile arguing over.

Instead, far more important things were at hand. Now that the X-60 had spotted the Entity, it was now time to investigate. As per their orders, the X-60 soon changed course & headed for the star known as Crux. It was a typical type of star with no known civilisation based around it, even though it had its own solar system with seven planets of various sizes that included three gas giants. Although unknown to Hussain, Harvey informed him & the crew that the Hydrus Federation had a research colony of 2 000 personnel on the third planet. Although the Babylonian crew members had never heard of the Hydrus, they were soon told that they were a member of the Planetary Association & thus friendly with Earth.

But such things about alien civilisations were far from the thoughts of any of the crew members of the X-60. Instead they all thought that the colony personnel were more than likely dead. If they were, then it would answer one of the questions that they were asked to find. Ten light years later, they would soon know as they jumped into the Crux solar system. The Entity, meanwhile, had been busy at work. This soul harvest, however, had been a difficult one. The Hydrus engineers had overdone themselves when they built the research colony. Having drilled large deep tunnels into the surface of the planet, only a fraction of the colony was on the surface. Most of it was deep underground. As such, this gave much protection to the Hydrus personnel whose main purpose was to study the red giant star called Crux. This same construction also meant that any attacker would have a hard time getting at the colony personnel.

This arrangement, however, was not meant to ward off any enemy other than radiation. The red giant star, coming near the end of its life, often gave off deadly waves of radiation. These were usually predictable & so protection was sought in the depths of the planet. It was a simple & highly successful design which was often copied at other research colonies where the environment was hostile to living creatures. As it would happen, then, the Entity arrived at Crux due to the smell of life. Knowing a good harvest was there for the taking, it decided to attack & feed for possibly the last time before its arrival at Earth. But the Hydrus, unaware of what the Entity was even though Earth authorities had passed on information about the Entity to other civilisations, sensed that something was far from all right, with this unannounced visitor, & hid deep underground as if expecting an attack.

And attack the Entity did. Yet it was far from successful at first. Only a handful of unlucky souls were caught in its first attempts, which only made the Entity angry. But by now it could smell the fear associated with the Hydrus personnel & this only renewed with vigour its attempts to get at the living. It was around this time that the X-60 entered the Crux system & began a long distance surveillance of the Entity. At first Harvey could not understand what the Entity was doing. It seemed frustrated & annoyed. So much so that it ignored completely the last surviving Babylonian ship.

Hussain noted this too & began to discuss with Harvey an attack plan. Harvey was not overly keen on the idea, but Hussain had a good point. Unlike previously, the Entity always seemed to know of a ship’s presence. But not this time. This time it was too preoccupied. So Hussain told Harvey of his plan. It was risky, but sounded sensible enough. It would, however, require the destruction of the Crux solar system. Yet it appeared that this sacrifice would be required in order to kill the Beast. Besides, the Hydrus personnel were probably all dead anyway, yet their deaths should not be forgotten. Their sacrifice could be just the thing which was required for victory.

Everyone soon got ready on the X-60. Harvey took the Captain’s chair whilst Hussain took over the weapon’s consol. Every other crew member were at their stations ready to give battle as surely a battle was about to commence. The X-60 was soon flying at maximum sub-light speed. Most of its electronics & so on had been switched off. Only a few scanners continued to operate so that the ship’s target could not be missed. It was coming in silent so as to avoid giving away its location to the Entity.

At around this time, however, the Entity had harvested the last Hydrus soul. They were not as satisfying as those on Babylon, but it was enough as an entree for now. It was only at this moment, though, that it realised something was coming its way. It was not a new sensation, as the Entity soon knew that this sensation was a ship with humans was on board. Strangely, however, from the Entity’s point of view, it began to wonder what it was doing here & why was it flying straight at itself. Although the Entity felt no fear, it did start to think that these humans were conducting an audacious attack, in the middle of no where, for no apparent reason.

Hussain could not care less what the Entity was thinking, but soon the scanner operator said, with much alarm, that the Entity had spotted them & was beginning to move quickly in their direction. Harvey was at one moment excited with anticipation & then scared the next. Hussain was not much different, but kept his entire concentration on the weapons consol whilst ignoring everything else. Harvey, though, could be soon heard ordering him to fire the weapon. But he waited, anxiously, until the opportune moment. It was almost too much for Harvey, & was about to order the ship around. Hussain, however, the second before she gave her withdrawal order, pushed the button to fire the missile.

The missile needed little encouragement to begin its short mission. Likewise the X-60 did not hang around for long. By the time the missile had almost hit the Entity, the X-60 jumped to Warp Speed & away from the Crux system. The Entity realised, almost too late, that a missile had been fired directly at it. Like previously, it gave little concern & once again surrounded itself with its blue mist. But as had happened a few times previously, when more crafty Babylonian captains tried fruitlessly at Babylon, the missile detonated just before it reached the Entity. Hussain had planned well from the lessons he had seen at Babylon. Now, he hoped that the next important step in his plan would work.

The Entity realised, at the exact same time as the missile detonated, that something was different this time around. Instead of a thermonuclear explosion, one which never overly bothered it before, this explosion was something different. This was huge. This one might actually succeed where all others had failed. Immediately it took every action which the Entity thought might help it survive; from vomiting forth its armies of monsters, to surrounding itself completely in its blue mist, to hardening its surface into a protective shell. Yet the anti-matter warhead, which Hussain had built, was equal to a supernova. Such was the force involved. Within a second, the blast was so large that the crew on the X-60 could no longer see visually, or even pick up on its scanners, any evidence of the Entity.

As the force of the explosion continued, the Entity disappeared within it. A few seconds later, the planet Crux Number 3, the one which had the Hydrus research colony, had also been engulfed by the explosion & was quickly being ripped apart thanks the power of the supernova. A few minutes later, other planets were being treated the same way, whilst the gas giants exploded themselves in response to the heat blast, coming from the supernova, touched their volatile gases. But, if the explosion to date appeared impressive, that was nothing compared to the reaction of the red giant, when the force of the artificial supernova began to impact the old star. Already near the end of its life, & thus unstable, it too went through its death woes & lost all stability. Not long after, it collapsed in on itself, concentrating its force until it obtained critical mass. Once it reached this level, it too exploded in a manner similar to the first supernova caused by Hussain’s missile.

The crew of the X-60 watched on in horror. It did not matter whether they were from Earth or Babylon, the sight before them was of complete destruction, even greater than that on offer by the Entity. No one had seen anything like it & immediately Harvey wondered if it was all worth the destruction. But it did appear that the Entity was destroyed. And with that thought, the crew began to relax as Harvey gave to orders to return to Earth. Alas, as Harvey was issuing this order, the scanner operator announced that he had something on his display. Hussain could not believe it & pushed the operator aside to see for himself. At first he did not know what he saw, but as the ship moved further away from Crux, the signal became clear. There was no mistake. The Entity had, not only survived the horrific explosions, but was catching up to them fast.

Harvey ordered the ship to go faster, but they were travelling as fast as they could go. Hussain realised that it was pointless, but Harvey would have none of it. Ordering this manoeuvre & that manoeuvre, there was no mistaking the fact that the Entity would catch them in a matter of minutes. It was around this time that they all felt, not only fear within themselves, but that of great anger coming from somewhere else. Obviously this was the Entity. And with this realisation, Harvey knew there was no hope whatsoever. Her partnership in this business had ensured their ruin. She should have realised this from the start, but her desire to cleanse, once & for all, the Harvey curse had led to her own & her crew deaths.

Still, not everything was lost. The X-60’s computers had recorded everything that they had done so far & so the crew of the X-60 had one last duty to perform. Now going back to her original mission, in the last minute that she had left, Harvey quickly sent all of the ship’s data to Gideon on Earth. It would take a week or two for the message to get to Earth, but that would be some time before the Entity would arrive. With the alarm now out, especially in regards to the fact that the Entity was indeed heading to Earth, a solution might be discovered which could defeat the Entity. Harvey never knew when she died as she thought about the life she had experienced. It was a good life, for the most part, & yet strangely, even though she was about to die, she had never had lived with so much purpose as she had now. For her, at least, the family curse was no more.

On to the Finale

Hit Counter