Read The Agathon: Reign of Arturo for Free Online Page B

may simply be drifting through interstellar space and it is so far away that we are just receiving their beacon now after all these years. We just don’t know,” he said.
    “They couldn’t still be alive, could they?” Aron asked.
    Arturo shrugged his shoulders.
    “Who knows,” he said.
    “Incredible,” Aron said genuinely blown away by the discovery.
    “There may, however, be a way of finding out,” Arturo said.
    Aron looked at the chancellor and had a feeling he wasn’t going to like this.
    “Your ship is the only one currently outfitted with a sub light propulsion system. I want you to take a small team and begin placing a series of relay buoys along a route that Vishal provided me with this morning, so that we can boost our communications relay. The mission could take several weeks, but if successful, we could finally be able to establish whether or not there is anyone alive on board that ship. But most of all, it will let them know that we are still alive. And we know what that means now, don’t we?” he said grinning.
    “Their Faster than Light drive actually works,” said Aron. He was suddenly struck with a dread that he had not felt before. If this lunatic finally got his hands on a functional FTL drive, then God knows what would happen to the rest of thecolony. He felt a sense of urgency.
    “Exactly,” said Arturo, “Your mission is to deploy the relay and report back to me immediately. Select whomever you feel will handle the voyage best. I leave complete discretion to you. I have one proviso,” he finished. Aron didn’t like the sound of that.
    “I want you to take Mr Stanley with you,” he said.
    Fuck
, Aron thought.
    “Sir?” he asked turning to the large man who glared at him.
    “Is that a problem?” Arturo asked staring at him.
    “No, sir, of course not,” Aron said trying to be careful not to sound insubordinate.
    “He could be a valuable asset should you run into difficulty,” Arturo said.
    Aron knew exactly why he was being sent. He would be ordered to assassinate him at a moment’s notice if things didn’t go Arturo’s way.
    “Yes, sir, of course that would be greatly appreciated,” he responded through gritted teeth.
    “Excellent,” Arturo said, “The mission details will be ready for your review by this evening. Please liaise with Vishal on the specifics. I wish you the very best of luck,” Arturo said, taking his seat and turning it away from Aron indicating that it was time to leave.
    “Yes, sir, thank you for your time,” he said turning and heading to the door. There was a moment’s hesitation from Stanley as he glared at him before stepping aside.
    That’s right, you big fuck, your time will come
, thought Aron as he moved past him and into the hallway. He moved down the corridor and into the lift. The doors hissed closed and he exhaled heavily placing a hand on the lift wall.
    “The Agathon!” he said out loud, “We’ve got you now, you old bastard,” he finished with a smile he couldn’t contain.

4
    The Agathon
    “W hat are you?” Carrie asked Tyrell from behind the glass wall in The Agathon’s brig. He lay on the single bed at the rear of the brightly lit room and stared up at the ceiling.
    “Doctor Tyrell, I asked you a question. I want to know what you are… where you came from and why that pool of black liquid was the only living thing on the surface of Mars before it was destroyed?”
    She had come straight from the conference to the brig despite her father’s request that she return to her quarters. There was dried blood still scattered on her torn jumpsuit from her battle with the Targlagdu that had nearly killed her. He turned his head to her and looked at her with completely black eyes. He sat up and stood. He gave her a smile and walked over to the glass wall.
    “You look tired, Carrie,” he finally said calmly, “You should listen to your father and get some rest. You are going to need it where we’re going.”
    “What the