Story:Berserkergang

One war is over. What now?.

Direct sequel to Specific Impulse, so read that before for best comprehension. If you haven't read Delta V, read that before Specific Impulse.

Prologue
The Black Cube headed back round towards the planet Aiston, still holding its precious cargo within. Despite its closeness to Cedris, the temperature inside remained only warm, and the Zeth inside stirred.

Rena opened her eyes and saw darkness. She felt the more gentle acceleration gravity of this craft and tried to stand up, careful not to push too hard and cause her to fall again. The blackness ensconced her, pressing and questioning, as she groped for a wall.

She touched a surface- smooth to the touch, like silk, that felt comfortably warm. Reaching out with both hands, she moved along this wall for what could have been one minute or twenty, until she reached a corner. She then sat down and contemplated events.

Irnos was dead. The CPR was destroyed. Xelass was alone on Aiston.

A light turned on. It seemed blinding when contrasted with the darkness of a moment before, and Rena shielded her eyes. After a few seconds, she could look, and saw a blue lantern hanging from the centre of the room, casting illumination throughout.

The room itself was a cube, as long and tall as it was wide. The walls were solid and smooth, with no features other than the lantern on the ceiling. There was plenty of space within.

There was a sound like clockwork working away, and something changed on the far wall. A square of the black material was replaced by a square of white which glowed slightly- a monitor. Nothing was visible upon it at present.

"Hello?" Rena spoke to it.

"Hello. Hello. Hello." The echo was not hers- it sounded wrong. It brought forth thoughts of a saw going through wood, of the buzzing of insect wings, and of a door squeaking as it opened. It seemed to savour the words, rolling them over within its electronic mouth.

"Can you understand me?"

"Can you understand me?" It answered. This time, its voice was less firm and more dispersed, less certain.

Upon the screen came an image of the stars. Rena didn't recognise them, but she understood- the voice was trying to learn Xelet from her. She pointed at it. "Stars."

"Stars." More decisive again. The image zoomed in on one.

"Star."

"Star!" It exclaimed. The image now became a number of planets she didn't recognise, of all shapes and types.

"Planets." She tapped one. "Planet."

They went on for a few hours, the voice becoming more and more confident and slowly working out the language. It asked her for the names of all sorts of things, a few of which she didn't recognise. It seemed to get the hint after she shrugged a few times.

And then it showed videos of actions, to get her to describe them. It was trying to learn verbs, adjectives, syntax.

She obliged, and it learned fast. Somehow, she managed to communicate across to it all the various cases and declensions. She wrote out the Xelet alphabet and taught it the various sounds and the sounds of combinations.

The images stopped, and the screen disappeared again. There was silence once more.

Then one of the walls became transparent, and she was looking down at Aiston. She saw the dust-choked atmosphere and the fires across the land that had been the CPR, the land obscured by brown, grey and bright orange. She clenched her fist and swore. "Fucking hell."

The voice sounded bemused. "Fucking hell." It repeated.