The Lazarus Particle (41 page)

Even as Weller stood down, Fenton was sure he was going to inform either Commandant Soroya or Marshal Harm about his takeover. He had to move quickly.

“Helmsman?”

“Yes, Major?”

“This is Ensign Banks. He’s going to be feeding you coordinates to input into the star map.”

“Understood, sir.” The two greeted each other tersely as Fenton settled into the command chair. He couldn’t help smiling a little. He felt like a right badass. “Weapons, are we ready?”

“Trelleck here, sir. Locked and loaded per your instructions.”

“Very good. Helmsman?”

“Ready, Major.”

Fenton nodded. The moment was finally upon him.

“On my mark. Three… two… one…
execute.”

Banks of toxic clouds the size of continents scudded against each other beneath the dead planet’s atmosphere. Limned acid yellow and gaseous green, the two fronts mixed and swirled like the ugliest cat’s eye marble Fenton had ever seen. The surface itself was invisible beneath the impenetrable shroud, though he doubted it was any less ruined than the atmosphere. Beneath that roiling blanket of turbulence, nuclear winter would have long since ravaged any areas that somehow survived the initial bombardment.

How anyone could do this to another species, in times of peace or even war, he simply couldn’t fathom. The planet was dead. Completely, utterly devoid of life even at the most basic level.

Still, another part of Fenton—the scientist, not the humanist—could hardly have been happier. The storms were almost hypnotizing. They would contain no shortage of raw material for the nans to draw from. He grinned at the thought.

“Sir?”
The voice belonged to Trelleck.
“We’re ready down here whenever you are.”

Fenton nodded. “We’re ready up here, too.” Calling the command down the line, he watched as moments later a series of controlled bursts erupted from the prow of the ship.

“Stage one, off and running.”
 

The very words sent an electric charge racing down his spine.

Over the course of the next several hours, stages two, three, and finally four and five were deployed right on schedule. Indeed, the entire thing was going like clockwork right as third shift gave way to first shift.

“Wilkes,” Flight Marshal Harm barked behind him as he stepped onto the command module. “What in the hell? Who gave you authority to take command like this? And where the hell are we? I don’t recognize this—”

“Please stop talking, my love,” Commandant Soroya said as she stepped out of the same lift. She stood agog for several seconds, staring wide-eyed at the projection hub. “Is that… are we where I think we are, Major?”

“Yes, ma’am.” He nodded solemnly, hands clasped before him. “Welcome home, Madam Commandant.”

She narrowed her eyes. For a moment she looked as if she was about to cleave his head clean from his shoulders. Instead, she threw her arms around him. Neither of them spoke in that moment she clutched him so close, and that was just fine with him.

“When,” she said as she pulled away. “When can I see for myself?”

“It’s going to be a while. We’ve only just finished deploying the last wave of nanite pods. Now we have to give them time to do their work.”

“Well, you are the expert,” she allowed, “but I want to be among the first on the surface.”

He nodded. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“Very well. Thank you.”

“Seems like you’re really starting to get the hang of this whole ‘ranking officer’ concept, aren’t you, Wilkes?” Harm observed once his wife was out of earshot, having left them to consult with the various operators stationed around the command module.

“You know,” he said, a bit of a grin tugging at his lips, “I really think I am.”

It was two full days before Fenton deemed it safe to visit the surface. In that time, the once-annihilated planet underwent an astounding transformation. Soroya barely left the command module, so transfixed was she by the process healing her broken homeworld. Fenton was all too happy to explain how the first salvos of nanite pods were programmed to detonate at various elevations within the planet’s toxic atmosphere. The first would detonate at its outermost reaches, the second roughly midway, and the third just a few thousand feet above the surface. The nanites released would begin scrubbing the atmosphere, breaking down the toxic material so as to allow the latter salvos to reach the surface unhindered by compromised guidance systems or structural integrity woes.

The fourth and fifth salvos, meanwhile, carried much larger payloads of the nanites and were directed to detonate at the poles. Those nanites would then begin breaking down all the planet’s surface material, scrubbing it of radioactive fallout as the two waves worked simultaneously to reach the planet’s core, at which point they would literally rebuild the planet from the inside out. They would have additional assistance in the form of the first three salvos. Having cleared the atmosphere, they would then drift down to begin reconstructing the geographical landmasses that together constituted the surface of Shih’ra.

“How are the nanites not harmed in the detonations?” she wondered.

“It’s not really a detonation in the traditional sense. The pods themselves are the nanites. Basically, they reach a certain preprogrammed point, perform the action required, in this case rapidly dismantling, and then proceed to the next part of their programming.” He cupped and then spread and waggled his fingers before him in a very loose and vague approximation of the actual action.

Soroya was silent for several seconds as she considered the statement. “That any one man could wield all this power…” She couldn't even finish the thought, shaking her head incredulously.

“Now you see why I couldn’t let Morgenthau-Hale have it. Once I understood what it was fully capable of, I knew it would make them into monsters, if they weren’t already.” Clearly, Fenton had his doubts on that point.

“Then why bring it here, to us? How can you be so sure we will not become monsters ourselves?”

“Honestly, I can’t. But your sister put in a good word for you after Roon hired her to spring me from custody.”

Not surprisingly, that seemed to catch Soroya like a backhand to the face. “Xenecia put in a good word for
me
?”

“Surely did. Said if there was anyone I could trust with something like this, it would be you. Don’t get me wrong, she didn’t gush or anything. But once I realized Shih'ra would be the perfect staging ground for the ultimate test of its capabilities, well, I guess it just seemed like fate.” He turned to look at her directly, smiling a little. “I still have a hard time believing you two are sisters. You’re so different. Aggressively different.”

Soroya laughed knowingly at the observation. “Yes, it is true. The two of us have never seen eye to eye on much of anything. We had many other brothers and sisters, of course, though they perished defending our world from the Tyroshi Menace. We were the only children of our line off-planet during the struggle.”

Fenton nodded somberly. “I’m sorry to hear that. I had a sister, but she passed when I was a teenager. A congenital defect. I think in a way that’s why the nanite project was so appealing to me, at least initially. I realized the medical implications before anything else. The nanites could have fixed that defect painlessly, almost instantly.”

“And because of that drive, Dell DeCoud remains defiantly among the living.” She raised her hands to encompass the view offered by the projection hub. “And now, this.”

“And now, this,” he repeated. After several moments, Fenton broke the reverent silence that had blossomed between them. “I think it’s about time we go take a look, don’t you?”

“I thought you would never ask.”

The flight to the surface was a solemn, silent affair. There was none of the revelry of the descent to Eden Prime, no laughing or
ooh
ing and
ahh
ing among the shuttle’s passengers. Only the weight of the moment pressing down upon them all. The sense of expectation was electric, practically palpable. As much as Eden Prime had been historic, this was a whole other animal, as it were.

As they touched down, no one moved to stand. It took a moment for Fenton to realize they were waiting on him to take the lead. Looking to Soroya and Xenecia, he gestured to the descending ramp. “I think it’s only fitting the first feet to touch this soil should belong to the people it gave life to.”

“And we feel it only fitting the man who gave it life again should join us.”

A bit surprised, Fenton looked to Xenecia.

“Please,” Xenecia confirmed. "Come."

He nearly made a joke about thinking her repertoire lacked that word entirely but caught his tongue just in time. “I’d be honored,” he said instead.
 

At the bottom of the ramp, the three stood stock still, breathing deeply of the planet’s reconstituted air. Fenton had to admit there was something a little intoxicating about it. Maybe just knowing he had helped to restore it, but still.

“It’s breathtaking,” he finally said. Before them a wispy field of silvery grasses spread for kilometers beneath a warm golden sky. Beneath it, a glittering green lake reflected the twin suns the planet orbited. The larger was twice as big as the smaller and pink like a grapefruit. The smaller was pink as well, but of a softer, more subdued shade.

“It is,” Soroya said, her voice thick with emotion. “Every bit as beautiful as I remember it.”

Perhaps the most surprising moment came when Xenecia leaned in to kiss his cheek. “Thank you, Fenton.”

Petrified at first by her movement, he just laughed afterward as the others joined them. “And thank you for not using those flechette rounds.”

Xenecia smirked, taking in the scene before them. “I suppose this does make for a better bounty, all in all.”

Two more shuttles landed in short succession behind them. Fenton was briefly surprised to see several more Shih’rahi descending the ramps. Soroya and Xenecia moved to greet them, speaking quietly while the wind buffeted their backs. They gestured to Fenton and he unconsciously drew himself up.

The party moved to greet him. At its head was the most elderly Shih’rahi he had ever seen. Granted, the only Shih’rahi he had ever seen before that day were Soroya and Xenecia, but this one was much older, wizened but still agile even as he poked along with a stick, sounding out the ground ahead of him before stepping upon it. A few feet before Fenton, he stopped, kneeling slowly. The act was obviously painful and complicated for him. Fenton moved to stop him, but Soroya and Xenecia shook their heads.

The elder began speaking in the only tongue he knew, slowly, haltingly. Soroya translated.

“I am but an old man, the oldest left of our kind I am told. Today, however, I have witnessed the first true miracle of my long life. Because of you, Fenton of Wilkes, my children’s children will know the lands of our ancestors. You have returned to us what was lost, and for that I bless you and all of yours that follow in your name. You are the true savior of the Shih’rahi. We shall sing your name to the heavens above for as long as we persist upon this mortal coil.”

Fenton was so overwhelmed he was unable to summon even a single word by way of response.

Of all the people to step forward, he would have least expected Xenecia. Leaning in, she whispered, “If you have nothing to say, a kneeling bow is as high a compliment as there is in our culture.” She even demonstrated for him. “As so.”

Fenton hesitated a moment, wondering if Xenecia was putting him on. He emulated her bow as best he was able.

The elder smiled. He rose and turned to leave. The others in his party followed suit. Apparently the ceremony was over. Not that Fenton wasn’t grateful, but the idea his name might echo through all eternity was a little daunting somehow.
 

Then again, maybe being an enduring folk hero wouldn’t be such a bad gig after all. Probably wouldn’t ever have to buy a drink on Shih’ra, for starters…

“This changes everything,” Roon marveled. “It’s one thing to make a new planet, but to heal the broken ones, to give them back to their people. It’s incredible. Absolutely incredible.”

Shaken out of his momentary trance, Fenton realized this place meant something different to each of them.

For Roon, the very prospect of it was an advocate’s wet dream writ large as the stars.

For Marshal Harm, it portended a new era of military breakthroughs on a scale previously unimaginable.

For Soroya and Xenecia and the elder and all the surviving diaspora of Shih’rahi refugees, it was the ultimate gift, the homeworld they were certain they would never set foot upon again.

And for Fenton? For Fenton it was all so much deliverance, the crowning achievement of a lifetime dedicated to peace through scientific exploration. He had earned this, and he intended to savor the marvelous recreation they stood upon down to the very last element.

41 • INCURSION

Pruitt was in his element. Oh, there were many waters his responsibilities as a Tier One special envoy required he be able to navigate comfortably. The dulcet, humdrum creek of duty. The narrow, streamlined straits of command. The choppy, unpredictable rip of corporate politics. The wild whitewater rush, both thrilling and terrifying, of capital-class combat.

It was the wide open ocean of code where he felt most at home, however. Upon that vast, fluid body he was a digital brigand capable of wreaking untold havoc.

“Pruitt,” Commander Orth’s voice sounded behind him. “Status report.”

“I’m deep inside
Leviathan’s
core programming, sir,” he reported. His fingers tripped rapidly, expertly over the touchscreen array. “Laying down the last lines of code now. Annnd… I'm out. Completely undetected.”

“Excellent.” Orth clapped his shoulder approvingly. “I know what I’ve asked has not been easy going for you, Ensign. Your continued service is most appreciated in these difficult times.”

“I appreciate you saying that, sir, but it’s really not necessary. Your method of command has never been cause for question in my eyes. I do not find it to be in breach even now.” He exhaled, seeming to deflate almost a little. “Though perhaps that’s because I’d come to think of the station as home.” His status as a special envoy hadn’t been enough to keep him from losing as many friends and close acquaintances as everyone else who survived the assault on Orbital Station
Tau
.