Origin Mystery 3 - The Atlantis World by A. G. Riddle

Author:A. G. Riddle [Riddle, A. G.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi
ISBN: 9781784970130
Published: 2014-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 29

The guards led Ares to a large stateroom that was much grander than his captain’s quarters on the Helios. They were treating him like a member of the admiralty. He tried the data terminal, hoping for answers, but it was off. What were they hiding?

The expeditionary fleet had known about the sentinels for over a hundred years but had assumed the spheres were simply relics of a long-extinct civilization, possibly science buoys studying stellar phenomena.

They were clearly much more.

The door opened, and his wife, Myra, stepped inside, tears welling in her bloodshot eyes.

Ares ran to her but stopped short. He stared at her protruding belly, trying to comprehend.

She closed the distance between them and hugged him tightly. He hugged her back, a million questions fighting a war in his mind, with a single thought winning out: I am alive, and she is here.

They moved to the couch, and she spoke first.

“I found out right after you deployed. I submitted several requests to override the comm silence order, but they were denied.”

“I’ve only been gone point one years.”

She swallowed. “They wanted me to tell you. You’ve actually been gone for point seven years. Missing, assumed killed in the line of duty for point five. We had your funeral.”

Ares stared at the floor. Gone for over half a year? What had happened to him? He should have been able to exit the medical pod in the life raft when the wave had passed, once he had stopped porting between the life rafts in the chain. But awareness hadn’t returned to him. It was as if time had disappeared, and his mind had broken from reality.

“I don’t understand.”

“The doctors think a part of your mind essentially shut down—it happened to all the officers. The others are still in a vegetative state, but physically, they’re fine. The doctors are very concerned about you. They want me to… assess you.”

“For what?”

“Any mental changes. They think the experience may have changed you—psychologically.”

“How?”

“They’re unsure. They think the experience may have expanded your mind’s pain tolerance and even permanently altered your brain wiring, making you capable of all kinds of… I don’t want to repeat it. They’re worried.”

“There’s nothing wrong with me. I’m the same man I was.”

“I see that. I’ll tell them. And even if there is… an issue, we’ll fix it—together.”

There was something different about him. Ares felt a low simmering rage growing inside him.

His wife broke the awkward silence. “After you went missing, I transferred to the Pylos. They searched for point two years. The funeral followed, but I convinced the captain to allow me to take one of the survey clippers to continue searching. I used up all my leave. I think fleet medical thought if I searched long enough, until I was satisfied, it would be healthier for me and for the pregnancy.”

“You found me?”

“No. I probably never would have. With the wide expanse of space and with the raft’s emergency signal off…”

“I had to.”

“I know. The sentinels would have found you.”

“I don’t understand.

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