Page 60 of Tears of Tungsten
Sphinx transmitted the general coordinates she was getting into each of our systems. “It’s very difficult to be accurate,” she said. “The anomalies of the quasar are throwing off all our sensors. But she’s here, in the singularity. I can feel it.”
In essence, the quasar was a gigantic trap for anyone who was not an apsid. The first layer of protection was the accretion disk, a corona of diffuse material with a temperature that rivaled that of the sun. Assuming we passed through that, we’d reach the supermassive black hole in the center of the quasar. In theory, if we went there, we would never be able to make our way out. The gravitational pull of the event horizon kept anything from escaping, even light.
But the Tartarus diamond cores of the chimeras were fueled by tachyons. Studies indicated that such technology could circumvent black holes, to a certain extent, which was what had given The Grand Judiciary the courage to make an incursion here in the first place. That attack had ended in failure. We wouldn’t be as arrogant or ambitious. We’d get in, grab Selene, and flee before the apsids could catch us.
That brought us to our final problem. The very center of a black hole contained a huge mass compressed in an infinitely small space, where the laws of physics as we knew them didn’t apply and time didn’t obey any rules. Theorists speculated that one such singularity was the home world of the apsids, and the unique nature of its energies had allowed this species to develop the way it had. But a human being had never set foot on a singularity so we didn’t actually know how we’d be able to infiltrate the apsid’s world, if it was even possible.
Even so, we kept going, following Sphinx’s instructions. Time passed by sluggishly. Moving along the flow of the accretion disk of the quasar felt odd, as if we were both fighting against a current, and obeying it. A bad headache started throbbing at the back of my skull. Cerberus kept in check, my always watchful guardian, but it was still irritating.
At one point, Brendan reached out to us through the coms again. “Be careful,” he warned. “I think the time distortion anomalies are hurting us.”
“Yeah, I could tell,” Pollux replied. “Don’t worry about us, Brendan. We’ll be fine. Just keep your eye on the prize.”
“Selene,” Brendan said.
“Selene,” I repeated.
“Selene,” Pollux and August echoed us.
Carrying the name of my beautiful Terran on my lips and her image in my heart, I guided the Cerberus forward, into enemy territory.
I didn’t scream when the forces of the event horizon finally pulled me inside the black hole. My heart was racing and I knew there was always a chance the chimera’s systems wouldn’t be powerful enough to withstand the power of the void. But I was a chimera tamer, so I embraced the danger and the pain. I clutched Cerberus’s controls as tightly as I could, forcing my strength into him, becoming one with the beast.
One thing most people didn’t understand was that chimeras didn’t choose their tamers at random. Their decision relied heavily on the mental stability of the chosen pilot, but also on the interior power of their souls.
I wasn’t known for being the most stable person in the world, but I compensated for that through sheer determination. The fires of Cerberus’s diamantine core burned brighter and we fought our way through the immense forces of the black hole, desperate to get to Selene.
In front of me, I could catch a glimpse of the others making similar efforts. A crimson aura pulsed around Brendan’s Typhon, occasionally shifting to green and blue. Scylla’s heads and tentacles snapped at the energy currents, as if she was trying to consume the universe itself. But it was August’s Charybdis that truly stood out. The glow of her metal shell was so bright it rivaled the power of the quasar. He was channeling his apsid abilities, perhaps in an attempt to make the trip a little easier for all of us.
For the most part, it worked, but Sphinx was still having a little trouble. She remained behind me, and the effects of Selene’s absence were truly starting to show. I slowed down a little, having already decided how to help her. “Grab my tail,” Cerberus told her.
She complied without hesitation, using me to compensate for her inability to keep up. She’d have normally found such a thing stupid or humiliating, but right now, none of us cared about such trivialities.
I didn’t know how long it took us to penetrate the external defenses of the apsids. Every second extended into an age and I felt like I was suffocating or dying, even if I didn’t experience any pain. It was when we finally emerged into the core of the black hole that we ran into the most serious obstacle.
Our hopes of trying to be inconspicuous had been for naught because the apsids did indeed have patrols. There were already fifteen crystallized apsid units waiting for us, a miniature army we couldn’t hope to beat with five chimeras.
I’d fought apsids before, but those teams hadn’t been as large, and we’d been on our own turf, not theirs. Still, some experience was better than nothing and it helped me remain calm.
Unlike us Chimera Warriors, apsids didn’t resort to metal to build their army units. When together, several apsids had the ability to concentrate pure photonic energy to create massive organisms that mimicked our strongest war machines. Crystallized apsid units didn’t have a set shape. They could look like humanoid beings, animals, or even amorphous space clouds. But one thing they all had in common was that they were large accumulations of energy with three or more cores of mass—the ‘pilots’.
Originally, this had made them unbeatable, since the old-fashioned weaponry ancient Terrans had used couldn’t fight off such things. But chimeras fed on energy and fire, so they could disrupt the currents of tachyons and photons that allowed apsids to fight together.
The problem was that the strategy didn’t really work here in the Apsid Quasar. We were surrounded by energy they could use to feed, and no matter how much power Cerberus and the others consumed, the apsids could still reinforce themselves with more.
Between that and the high number of units, we were vastly outnumbered. That was why I was so surprised when, instead of attacking outright, one of the units flew up to us and spoke out. “You don’t belong here, tamer. Leave now and your life may still be spared.”
The unit looked a little like a drone, perfectly circular in shape, limbless and headless. It did have eyes and a mouth, but they were located in its midsection. Wondering if those areas could be considered weak points, I prepared myself for the unavoidable moment when we’d have to launch ourselves into battle.
“I’m afraid we can’t comply,” Brendan said, just like I’d expected. “You’ve taken a member of our unit, and until you’ve returned her, we can’t ever go back.”
“Selene Renard belongs here now,” the apsid replied. “She has accepted it. You have no other choice but to do the same thing.”
“Never,” I snarled.
The Cerberus’s claws lit up with tachyon fire, responding to my anguish and fury. In front of me, Brendan, August and Pollux were already in motion, each of them targeting different groups of apsids. With a savage cry, Sphinx freed herself from my tail and joined in.
The twisted reality of the black hole flared with the potency of clashing energy particles. The Tartarus diamond core of my chimera reached into me, threatening to drain me dry, to turn me into a shell of my former self, to consume me just like we’d consumed the lives of the Terrans in the rebel settlement.
