Indomitus, p.15
Indomitus, page 15
‘I do not share your optimism, lieutenant,’ Kosa replied, the intervox crackling as she sighed. ‘We are not a stone skidded across an iced lake to reach the far side. The warp has no up and down, left and right as you understand these directions. We drift in all directions at once, sliding further and further from the Impossibility Boundary. More akin to being caught within a glass sphere, sliding around the interior until we detach from the surface, travelling without movement. Inexorably we are being drawn down to the base, deeper into the warp. The longer we remain, the greater the slope against us.’
One of the attendants at the navigational relays, close to the voxmitter where Kosa’s voice emanated, gave a choked cry and started to weep, bowing his head to the metal of the console.
‘Leave,’ snapped Admonius, striding across to the demoralised officer. ‘Take yourself to the prow Reclusiam and think on your weaknesses until you are fit to attend your duties without distraction.’
The deck officer offered no argument as he fled to the doors, trembling with emotion.
‘Any others, stand down now,’ Aeschelus told the rest of the crew, keeping his voice level. ‘We must be fully effective to exploit any opportunity that occurs. Your immediate duty is to be no hindrance.’
Three others turned from their consoles and followed, eyes gleaming with suppressed tears, their movements stilted with fear. Aeschelus saw worry in the eyes of more, but not so much that they were hampered by it. The noise of the doors closing broke the uneasy quiet, jarring Aeschelus back into action.
‘Vibrations,’ he said aloud, giving voice to the thought the moment it occurred to him.
‘Pardon, brother-captain?’ said Nemetus.
‘Vibrations.’ Aeschelus slapped his gauntleted hand against the arm of the command throne, the plasteel resonating from the blow. ‘Navigator, do we still have angular momentum carried from realspace?’
There was a pause of several seconds before Kosa replied.
‘As far as I can tell, the potential and kinetic energy is still caught within the Geller bubble. Yes. I would say that we do. But we have no way of using it inside warp space.’
Aeschelus ignored the Navigator’s assessment and continued with his train of thought.
‘And we are in the othersea? There is warp-stuff surrounding us, it is simply not moving.’
‘It is more complex than that, captain. You can’t think of the warp as a substa–’
‘Are we in the warp or not?’ snapped Aeschelus.
‘We are,’ said the Navigator.
‘What would happen if Astropath Fedualis transmitted a message?’
‘Nothing. Like the Astronomican, his thoughts move with the flow of the warp.’
‘Nothing at all? His message just disappears?’
‘Not disappears… Dissipates would be a more accurate description.’ The Navigator let out a wordless, contemplative noise. ‘Any effect on the warp would be so localised it would not help.’
‘Not enough to create traction for a translation?’ asked Praxamedes, catching on to Aeschelus’ idea.
‘No,’ the Navigator replied bluntly. ‘There would be a faint rippling effect, but that would be absorbed by the dispersing Geller field as we dropped back to realspace. We would rebound from the Impossibility Boundary.’
Aeschelus started to move around the strategium, flexing his muscles in the hope that it would help in flexing his brain matter. He was sure he was on to something, but could not isolate the concept.
‘Rather than translate, could we use that effect as propulsion?’ suggested Nemetus.
‘Not for long,’ answered Kosa, her tone miserable. ‘I am not sure Fedualis would be able to sustain a transmission state for any useful period. It would be like shouting at full volume without pause for breath. And where would we go? Without the power to translate, we are still prevented from returning to realspace.’
‘Captain, I have Astropath Fedualis requesting access to the strategium,’ announced the deck officer attending to the portal controls. ‘He wishes to speak to you.’
‘Let him in,’ replied Aeschelus. It was highly irregular for non-Chapter personnel to approach the bridge. Navigators, tech-priests and other Adeptus Terra functionaries kept to their own quarters.
The doors were in battle setting for the warp jump, so it took nearly a minute for the locks to grind open and the hydraulic rams to withdraw once more. When the doors parted they revealed the slight, robed figure of the astropath leaning heavily against the wall. He staggered into the command bridge, his breaths coming in stuttering gasps. Blind eyes roved the strategium until they fell upon Aeschelus.
‘Captain…’ The words were a feat of effort judging by the twisted expression of the astropath’s face. ‘Captain, I warned you! I told you it would be folly to travel to Casparill.’
‘You have no business here, Fedualis,’ growled Admonius, intercepting the astropath with an outstretched hand. ‘Return to your chamber and await instructions.’
‘You cannot hear it,’ wheezed Fedualis, pushing helplessly against the Judiciar’s immovable arm. ‘The silence. The silence swallows everything!’
‘Remove yourself from this chamber, or be removed,’ growled Admonius, taking Fedualis’ robe in his grip.
‘Wait!’ Praxamedes moved towards the pair. ‘Fedualis, tell us about the silence.’
‘He is losing his mind,’ said Admonius. ‘Weakness is spreading all across the ship.’
Aeschelus did not know whether to take this last remark as simple commentary or a more pointed warning.
‘Fedualis, what can you tell us about the silence?’ Praxamedes asked again, ignoring the Chaplain-in-Waiting’s remonstration. Admonius flashed a look at Aeschelus, perhaps thinking the captain would rebuke his subordinate. He did no such thing, but instead nodded to Praxamedes to continue. The Judiciar’s frown deepened.
‘Did it start when we jumped?’ asked Praxamedes.
‘No.’ The astropath turned his dead eyes on the lieutenant. ‘No, it came just before. It woke me from a dream. A dream of death!’
Fedualis became frantic, trying to pull himself from the grasp of Admonius, lunging towards Aeschelus.
‘I had forgotten! How had I forgotten? Death. Death, but not the end of life. Annihilation, sweeping aside everything in its path. Total obliteration, stretching across the galaxy. Ending. Everything is ending!’
A wordless moan echoed from the intervox, across which Kosa had apparently been hearing the exchange,
‘That matches what we saw,’ groaned the Navigator, sounding like she was on the verge of breaking down. ‘Nothing. Nothingness every…’
A noise like scuffling broke the feed, followed by urgent whispering. A scrape of metal and a gasp came quickly after.
‘Captain, it is a miracle!’ gasped Kosa. ‘A miracle! I can see something. A pulsing, a movement.’
‘I hear screams!’ wailed Fedualis, tearing his robe as he wrenched himself from the fingers of Admonius. He stumbled towards Praxamedes, almost flailing into his arms. He seemed half-terrified and half-elated. ‘Death! Screams of death!’
The astropath started laughing manically. Behind him, Admonius raised a fist to club him into insensitivity but Aeschelus spoke out before the blow fell.
‘No, we need him conscious!’ He thrust a finger at Nemetus. ‘Attend the warp engines.’
The lieutenant moved across the strategium while Aeschelus steadied himself, trying to ignore the hysterical outbursts from the astropath.
‘Too far,’ said Kosa, her voice drifting away from the vox pickup, becoming fainter. ‘We are moving past it. A hole–’
‘Sorry, captain. Kosa is not herself,’ Qurius, the youngest Navigator’s voice cut across. ‘This nothingness, it saps the soul. She has exposed herself too long.’
‘I feel it too,’ groaned Fedualis, pushing himself away from Praxamedes. He appeared cogent for the time being. ‘Our souls are not reflected back from the warp! What is it, to live without our animus, our spirit, the light of the Emperor within us? It is the edge of the abyss, neither life nor death but the state of betweenness.’
‘He’s gibbering,’ said Nemetus, but Aeschelus did not think so.
‘Navigator Qurius, would an astropathic pulse push us towards the opening?’
‘I am not sure I have the skill to ride such a subtle wave, captain,’ he replied. ‘But it is worth trying. I think the flash that Kosa saw was a warp drive breaching.’
‘A ship breaking into this nothingness? Is that possible?’ said Aeschelus.
‘No, I do not think so, captain. It was very sharp. A detonation I would guess, opening a hole that we can use to break into realspace. The breach will collapse soon.’
‘I can do it,’ said Fedualis, straightening his torn robe. He looked sheepish and glanced nervously at Admonius. ‘I am myself again, Judiciar. I can do it.’
‘From here?’ said Praxamedes.
‘As good a place as any, lieutenant.’
‘Do it,’ Aeschelus said sharply. He balled his fists, helpless in the face of these immaterial obstacles. He loathed having to put the fate of the ship in the hands – or minds – of these psykers, but there seemed no other option.
All eyes turned to the astropath as he steadied himself, standing a little apart from Praxamedes and Admonius. The two Space Marines were tense, their postures instantly recognisable to the captain, ready to strike. Golden light flickered across the dead gaze of Fedualis, seeming to bring movement to the orbless sockets. His lips started to move, silent at first, his voice becoming a murmur. Aeschelus recognised the same kind of identification stream-syllables the astropath used before formal broadcasts, not only sending this detail to any would-be receiver but using the act itself as a focusing mantra. Several times he repeated the nonsense words, voice growing in strength.
‘Navigator, can you see anything happening?’ Aeschelus kept his voice quiet, the vox capable of picking up even the softest tones. It seemed an intrusion on the astropath to speak louder. ‘Can you see any effect?’
‘Nothing yet, captain,’ Qurius replied. There followed a bump and some whispered cursing.
‘I see it, captain,’ said Kosa, her voice husky. ‘The tiniest ripples of thought. It is not enough.’
Admonius leaned in closer to Fedualis. ‘Think harder, astropath.’
It seemed such a ludicrous thing to say, Aeschelus almost laughed. A strange detachment afflicted him as he watched the unfolding scene, as though he was starting to float away, like fighting in a zero-gravity encounter without anything to mag-lock onto. Stray thoughts from training, mundane moments of his life crowded into his mind, distracting and yet comforting. The captain shook his head, trying to focus.
Fedualis was standing as stiff as a boarding pike, trembling slightly inside his dark green robe and hood, the glow of his false eyes bright and mesmerising. There was a beat to the emanation, a rhythm to their aura that synchronised with Aeschelus’ pulse. He found himself again trying to remain present, to keep his thoughts honed to the unfolding event. Slowly, as one wading through sucking mud, he came to the conclusion that he might be suffering the soul-draining effect the Navigators had described. He came to this point without conclusion, feeling nothing at the realisation of this fact.
‘That is better,’ announced Kosa, her voice suddenly stark across the intervox, startling Aeschelus. The only sensation he could liken it to was the half-waking feeling he had encountered when he had been using his catalapsean node to rest portions of his brain on extended combat duty. Like surfacing from a daydream, the strategium swum into view after a few seconds of vagueness.
The nimbus of Fedualis’ energy was dimming and he struggled to pronounce the words of his mantra. Aeschelus shared the feeling of strength leaching away, the flicker of the golden light becoming a physical rendition of his own wavering attention. Fighting back a dizziness that should have been impossible to his enhanced physiology, he passed his gaze over the bridge crew. Most were standing slack-jawed and vacant. Only the Space Marines still moved with any purpose, and even they were sluggish in their actions.
‘It. Is. Working.’ Kosa’s voice was forced. She laughed, short and sharp. ‘We are moving…’
Praxamedes turned to the warp engine controls with stilted movements and Nemetus stepped away, returning slowly to his place at the Geller field console.
‘Traction increasing,’ Praxamedes managed to report, bending close to the screens as though he had trouble seeing them.
‘Shock wave!’
The Navigator’s shout was a clarion call, rousing the Ultramarines from their soporific state for a few seconds.
‘The catastrophic breach has sent out a pulse,’ Kosa explained hurriedly. She started crying, sobbing between exclamations. ‘It will hit us. Send us away from the hole. Void-cursed! So close. So far.’
‘Can you move us through it?’ Aeschelus asked, addressing the question to anyone that cared to answer. He checked on Fedualis. Sweat streamed down the astropath’s wrinkled face, each bead a glistening drop of molten gold.
‘Geller field absorbing most of the output,’ said Praxamedes. ‘Kosa was right.’
‘Incoming shock wave,’ warned Qurius. ‘Hitting us now.’
A sudden throbbing rumbled through the ship. The throb turned to a lifting surge, a swell that was felt inside the mind rather than by the body.
‘We’re being carried away!’ wailed Kosa.
‘No!’ roared Aeschelus. It felt as though the Ithraca’s Vengeance was pitching sideways, flung back across the warp, though his rational mind knew such a thing was entirely a construct of his imagination. Waves of psychic force lashed at the Geller field, sounding alarm chimes across the stations.
Inspiration struck as the captain watched amber and red lights spreading over the Geller field displays. He charged across the strategium, barging Nemetus aside when the lieutenant failed to clear the way. Without a second thought for the dazed lieutenant, Aeschelus opened the runepad cover on the emergency shutdown. He punched in the deactivation codes. Sirens wailed from prow to stern along the ship, warning of the Geller field collapse.
‘Are you insane?’ roared Admonius, stomping towards the captain.
‘We can ride it!’ exclaimed Praxamedes. ‘Warp engine has traction, ready for translation.’
‘No!’ Qurius’ injunction was a shriek. ‘We will be sheared apart if we translate.’
Before the captain could issue any further orders, he felt a coldness sweep through him. A whisper flowed across the strategium, bringing gasps and cries from the human crew and mutters of discontent from the Space Marines. Everything was swallowed by a deepening twilight. The air fogged with purple and green and leering faces danced across the dead hololith screens.
‘Warp intrusion,’ shouted Admonius, his tempormortis flaring with pale light as he raised the ceremonial hourglass like a lantern. ‘You have doomed us, you fool!’
Flitting shadowlights moved through the walls and terminals without hindrance, forming brief figures and bestial shapes. They spiralled around Fedualis, fanged maws wide, claws glinting with golden light. One ghost passed directly through Aeschelus, its mouth emerging from his chest, a twitching serpent tail lashing past his nose before it disappeared.
He felt terror.
Not his own; he was biologically incapable of such a depth of dread. Like hearing an echo rather than a spoken word, he felt panic and horror second-hand, catching its wake from the apparitions that flooded across the strategium. Infected by this malaise, some of the human crew screamed and wailed, falling to the floor or burying their faces in their hands.
Pure fear.
Not mortal fear. The dread of immortals. The collateral emotion of fleeing warp-entities. This was no attack, it was a stampede.
Given movement by the inflowing warp-stuff, Aeschelus’ thoughts fired quickly again, the link between body and soul briefly restored. He understood in a moment that the stillness had becalmed the creatures of the warp every bit as much as the ship. Given sudden form and motion again, the Neverborn filth were fleeing for survival, trying to escape the zone of warp silence.
Admonius’ blade hissed from its sheath, but before he could strike at the swarming apparitions, they were gone. There was a few seconds of release, before the stultifying pressure started to build again.
‘Captain…’ Kosa’s voice was strained, barely audible among the cries and whimpers of the traumatised deck crew. ‘Captain, the breach is closing.’
‘Can you steer us?’ Aeschelus demanded, moving towards Fedualis.
‘Barely,’ said Kosa.
‘Push, by the Emperor’s might. Push!’ the captain exhorted the astropath, though whether his words could be heard he did not know.
Admonius stepped up beside Aeschelus, the waning light of the hourglass bathing both captain and astropath. Though it might have been the movement of shadows across his creased face, it seemed as though Fedualis twitched, as though taking in a deep breath.
‘Almost at the breach boundary.’ Each word from the Navigator was forced. ‘Almost… No! We are slipping away!’
‘Engaging warp drive now!’ Nemetus’ cry was unexpected, followed a second later by the blare of horns as he engaged the main warp drive. The whole vessel bucked, artificial gravity plates screeching beneath the feet of the crew as they tried to compensate for the sudden shift from warp space. Terminals exploded, showering sparks across the strategium, while secondary alarms hooted and wailed their warnings from a dozen different consoles and the servitors grumbled the woes of their slaved systems. Everything juddered, throwing loose items to the deck, toppling a couple of deck officers who had been attempting to cross to their consoles. Aeschelus’ armour creaked and moaned as reality rushed in where only the warp had been.
