“I will not harm any of our allies. But you must understand, Jace, that a Precursor AI cannot be… kept by humanity,” Khoth finished and there seemed like there must be a lot more to what he was thinking.
“Why not? You said we were your allies,” Jace pointed out even as blood dribbled over his lips.
This is bad. This is really bad. Gehenna? Where are you?
She didn’t answer, but he could feel her below them, almost as if they were going through a maze and she was the treasure at the end of it. Khoth brought out another bit of gauze and held it to Jace’s nose to staunch the blood.
“Humans are not… not ready to join the fight,” Khoth said simply, which really didn’t explain anything at all.
Jace, thinking of his own training in the Storm Spike and his father’s abilities to fly, couldn’t see how that was true. But from the donkey-look on Khoth’s face, it didn’t look like he was going to win this argument.
Gehenna told me that I’m special. The only one that can do this. I told him that. But he doesn’t seem to believe me. I wouldn’t believe me either.
“So if you want Gehenna for the Thaf’ell are you going to still help me connect with her?” Jace asked as more blood flowed and stained Khoth’s fingers.
Khoth went still and said nothing. His eyes though were filled with something. Sadness? Regret? What?
“You’ve broken the Rule of Duuskukeh once, Khoth,” Thammah’s voice was soft. “Are you honestly not going to do it again now?”
“I did not break the rule to save my sister,” Khoth told her. “I did what I believed was best for the Alliance.”
Thammah’s mouth tightened. “How do you know what’s best this time? Do you have a crystal ball?”
Jace knew that this wasn’t good. What was best for the Alliance probably didn’t include saving some random human! With a feeling of horror and foolishness, Jace realized by trusting Khoth he might have made the worst mistake of his life. The elevator started to slow, even as Jace’s nosebleed became more of a flood.
Jace… time… running… out, Gehenna’s voice was a bare whisper.
“He does not look well, Khoth,” Thammah’s voice was icy. “The connection will heal him, yes? That’s what you explained to me.”
Khoth responded to her in the Thaf’ell language. She snapped something back at him as her spine went ramrod straight and her eyes flashed. Khoth responded in a firm, if emotionless tone. Though Jace could not understand the words, he got the gist of it. Thammah wanted Khoth to save him. Khoth was reminding her of the greater good. Jace looked up into that strange yet beautiful face of Commander Khoth Voor.
Was I wrong about you? Are you going to let me die?
He knew he was dying. There was no time left. He had to get to Gehenna. He couldn’t wait on his parents. There was a breathless moment as the lift stopped. before the doors opened. Would there be a squad of soldiers, weapons drawn, waiting for them? Or would they be just ahead of the military response?
There were no soldiers, but Jace found himself sitting up more in Khoth’s arms, mouth opening, eyes widening and pain forgotten for a moment. The Osiris was before them.
“Impressive, isn’t she? And this is just a slice of her side,” Thammah said with a warm chuckle.
For a moment they likely shouldn’t have taken, the three of them gazed at the spaceship that was still mostly hidden by rock, earth and sand. Humans, Jace supposed, had dug down to what looked to be a natural cavern that the Osiris had punched through as it crashed.
The cavern was hundreds of feet long and twice as tall. The Osiris filled the entire far end and it was clear that, just as Thammah had said, this was simply a slice of the ship. The Osiris looked to be at a 45 degree angle. While scaffolding, opaque plastic and staircases covered much of the spaceship, Jace could still see sections of its skin, which was a deep, scintillating blue. It glittered as if the skin was studded with diamonds. As Khoth shifted Jace, the skin’s color appeared to change from blue to purple to red.
Unlike the Paladin-class ships that Jace had seen--and dreamed about--the Osiris had an architectural feel to it. The main body appeared to be an elongated ovoid from what Jace could see, but there were ribbon-like pieces that flowed out of the ship and curled back into it. The ribbons, of course, were more than large enough for blue whales to swim through and not touch the interior walls. He saw no windows, but he guessed that like the Storm Spike and Khoth’s ship, what was happening outside would be projected on screens to the ship’s passengers and crew.
“I have never seen a Colossus-class ship like this,” Khoth murmured as his brow furrowed.
Thammah let out a soft grunt. “And you’ve never seen what’s inside either. The Osiris is unique as far as I can tell.”
“Let us go to it. Gehenna is inside, yes, Jace?” Khoth queried as he carried Jace swiftly from the elevator.
The Thaf’ell ran as easily as if he weren’t encumbered at all. He held Jace tight to him so that he wasn’t jostled as much either. It was hard to believe he was simply going to let Jace die when he was taking such care of him.
He probably doesn’t want to die. If he has a choice, he’d save me. But if it is between taking Gehenna for the Thaf’ell or giving it to humanity… oh, boy, maybe I should remind him that I’m Gehenna’s chosen one?
That thought, again, sounded mad. And, again, Khoth had already stated that he thought that Precursor technology always worked the best for his species. Maybe when Gehenna had the two of them as choices she’d change her mind about Jace.
Khoth had dashed towards a large metal box covered in netting, ready to be lifted up to the scaffolding that covered most of Osiris. He and Thammah crouched down behind it just as several soldiers hustled towards the elevator.
