The Shadow of the Moon-Lydia's Tale

Chapter Nineteen

'I'm staying with you both and the Fleet. I'm here to do what has been asked of me.' She studied the Aephren as if willing it to give up its mysteries then looked up and smiled at them both, 'It seems it will hold on to its secret until the last moment. Let's go, we should face our fate together.' 

As they walked onto the upper deck a hush fell over the halo crews below. As they turned and stared at Lydia, Faulke could feel their hopes jump as their emotions called out to her.  

If Lydia was aware of the fact she did not show it. Faulke watched her. She moved to the edge of the Command Bridge and stared out of the screens at the assembled star fleet. In that moment he was reminded of the stained glass effigy of the priestess in Father Rytt's ship. In her lay the same deep, breath-taking beauty that the image held. It was if the visit to Alamut had released something from within her. A flux, an aura glowed around her, was it the dress the Seer had given her or something else? He could not distinguish. Faulke took a slow breath and as gently as he could reached out to her mind. 

Lydia rounded sharply on him, her vapid eyes fixed upon him. 'Faulke, you don't need to do that. I have vanquished my spectre. You need not worry any longer.' 

'The figure in the boat?' 

The Professor was my father Faulke, he died not knowing who I was. I was so frightened of his reaction that I held back from telling him. And then it was too late. The Nergalrhod has given me the chance to see him again. He was there Faulke, in the temple, just as I remembered him and he was happy. I think I've misjudged her Faulke, I thought she was cruel and harsh but that was not the way Milo described her. Milo was taken from me before his time, but has now returned to me. The Nergalrhod kept her promise so now I must see this through. It is my own choice, it was not part of the bargain we made.' She took his hand in hers, 'Don't worry I'm not afraid, not now.' 

'The Aetheron?' Her hand felt cool against his, he could smell the intoxicating scent of her skin. 

She held it up and twisted it's glistening shell in the halo lights. 'There is still time for it to come true and to help us. We will just have to wait.' 

A silence had fallen around them, like the breathless air on a summer's day that foretold the coming of a storm. The crew had turned their attention back to manning the halo's, ready to take reports as they were instructed. The Commander, Faulke and Lydia looked up at the towering screens over them, out into the depths of space, and waited.  

Whatever Lydia had expected to see, if was not this. Around them on all sides of The Revenge hung the monolithic majestic ships of Earth's fleet. Gigantean beasts of almost incomprehensible size they waited in formation with the Revenge at their centre, their noses turned inward toward the point in the void where the Swarm was expected to appear -a pack of giant silent titans waiting for the battle ahead.  

Slowly Lydia became aware of movement in the empty space before them, she could sense some of the crew had seen it too. At first it was just a haze, then the moon of Ax beyond appeared to waver and quiver. She watched, heart in mouth as The Swam began to emerge from the Extensivity. Gradually it came. At first its shape was hard to define, a bubbling mass of black shells, like million beetles swarming over a carcass of a dead beast. The churning sphere trembled and vibrated as it grew and grew. Lydia gasped, the sheer scale of the thing was terrifying and yet it still grew larger.  

Steadily it completed its transformation into their space, a malevolent monster of fearsome proportions, far greater in size than they had encountered at Rama. It stood off the Fleet, taunting them- as if to say 'flee now, there is no hope.' 

After what felt like an interminable wait, it began to disintegrate. Rapidly the Swarm ships peeled off, shed like endless snake skins from the core to line up opposite them. Countless numbers of ships, a host so numerous they obscured the stars beyond, leaving a suffocating veil of darkness to fall over the Earth fleet.