Theogony 3: Terra Stands Alone (41 page)

“The dreadnought’s dead in space!” yelled the DSO. “The fighters did it!”

“That’s great,” said Captain Sheppard. “Focus. Fight the ship.”

“Yes, sir,” said the DSO, calming himself.

“That’s odd,” interjected Steropes. “The Hooolong ship just swerved a little to port, but then resumed its heading toward the planet.”

“Why would
Smetlurge do that?” Captain Sheppard asked.

“I do not know,”
Steropes replied. “Just a second...Oh, I understand now.”

“What?” Captain Sheppard asked.

“I believe that they still intend to ram their ship into the planet,” Steropes explained; “however, on their original trajectory, they would have missed the replicator that is in orbit over the planet. On their new trajectory, they will drive straight through it on their way to hitting the main city on the planet.”

“Will they destroy the planet?”

“Probably not,” Steropes said, estimating the impact. “The Chicxulub asteroid that hit Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula was about six miles long, and it didn’t destroy the Earth, although it did make the dinosaurs go extinct. As the ship is smaller than the asteroid, it is unlikely that it will destroy the planet...but it
will
inflict severe devastation. It looks like they’re going to miss the capital by several miles, but that won’t make much difference to the Drakuls there.”

The Overlord
stared at the tactical plot. “What is that ship doing?” he asked. It had originally looked like it was going to try to hold off the Home Fleet by itself, so that the Archons could run away. According to his senior advisors, the Archons would have had to start running a long time ago in order to have a chance of avoiding the Home Fleet. They had no chance of making it out of the system now. They were his...and he expected to have Archon for dinner tonight. Whatever the dreadnought was doing was a side show; there was no way that it could expect to hold off, much less defeat, the ships arrayed against it.

“Overlord!” exclaimed the admiral
who led the High Command. “You need to go to the bunker. I believe that the dreadnought intends to ram the planet.”

“What?” asked the Overlord. “What does he hope to accomplish with that?”

“I do not understand the food source’s thought processes,” the admiral replied, “but its trajectory impacts the planet just outside the capital. I expect that the crew of the dreadnought is hoping to kill you.”

“
It must be stopped!
” shouted the Overlord. “I will not allow the food source to damage our planet. All ships are to stop what they are doing and
destroy that ship!
”

“Do you mean all of the ships involved in combat at the stargate, or just the ships of the Home
Fleet?” asked the admiral, who had learned to ensure that he followed the Overlord’s directives to the letter.  His two predecessors had been less meticulous, making his ascent to his current position possible.

“
I mean every ship of the fleet!
” screamed the Overlord. “Every ship in our fleet is to chase that ship down and destroy it before it can hit our planet!
Do it now!
”

“Yes, Overlord,” the admiral said with a mental sigh. It was too bad, he thought
. We had the battle at the stargate won.

“They’re not going to catch the Hooolongs,” judged the DSO. “I don’t know why they broke off the battle; they can’t catch the
Hooolong’s Revenge.
”

“They’re not?” asked Captain Sheppard. “What about the second fleet?”

“I don’t think that the second fleet is going to be able to stop the Hooolongs, either,” determined the DSO. “The ship is going so fast now that it’s going to blow right through their missile and laser envelopes. They’ll get a chance to shoot at the
Revenge
, but I don’t think it will be enough to stop it.”

“The
Hooolong’s Revenge
is transmitting to the fleet,” announced the communications officer.

“On screen,” said
Captain Sheppard.

Smetlurge appeared on the front screen wearing a uniform. With no shoulders, his insignia flowed down his side. Whatever rank he was dressed as had a
lot
of stars.

“
As a race, our time is over,
” he transmitted. “
3,000 years ago, it took the selfless devotion of a race to eradicate the Drakul menace the first time. The Eldives gave their lives to make sure that the Drakuls were destroyed. Unfortunately, the Drakuls were allowed back into our universe, and now a similar sacrifice is necessary. We do this for you, that the universe may be a better place, and that no other race might have this stain on their hands. When you remember the Hooolongs, please remember us well.
”

“
10 seconds until the Hooolongs impact the replicator,” Steropes noted. “Five... Four... Three... Two... What the...?”

“What
?” asked Captain Sheppard. “What happened?”

“
The impact didn’t happen the way it should have,” Steropes said. “It was almost like the Hooolong ship ate its way through the replicator...the impact was far less than it should have been. The replicator is following the ship down toward the planet, as if there had been an impact, but it was weird...”

“Weird how?” asked Captain Sheppard, starting to get frustrated with Steropes
’ lack of information.

“Well, it was almost like
the ship was pulling the replicator along, and not that the ship actually hit the replicator,” replied Steropes. He paused and then said, “
Black hole!
They set off a black hole device and are going to hit the planet with it!”

“What?” asked Captain Sheppard. “A black hole? You mean like the
black hole we set off on Olympos?”

“Just like that,” replied Steropes. “No...
this one is even bigger. I don’t know if this one will go out on its own...we might want to back up from the planet even more.”

“Back up?”
asked Captain Sheppard. “Aren’t we already a lot further back than we were for the one that was set off at Olympos?”

“We are,” agreed Steropes; “however, this
black hole is bigger than the one that we set off on Olympos. I don’t know what the Hooolongs have done; this one may not self-extinguish. Smetlurge was their preeminent weapons scientist, and it appears that he has done something to the design of the weapon, or has set off several of them simultaneously. I can only postulate that he hoped that the black hole would last long enough to eat the replicator and still make it down to the planet.”

“
Is it going to catch the Drakul fleet?”

“That is unknown at this time,” replied Steropes
. “If they keep chasing him, it will be very difficult for them to get away.”

“Well, at least we know what he was talking about when he said the stain would be on their hands,” Captain Sheppard said. “I guess the implication is that
what we did to Olympos isn’t going to look very good on our record once all is said and done.”

“
That is true for some of the minor races,” Steropes said. “Many will fear you for having done it. The Archons, however, will likely see you as a race that is not afraid to make the hard decisions, or to do what must be done. The Mrowry will be less enthusiastic, because their population is afraid of the device. On the good side, the Aesir will love it. They were the first race to come up with an expression along the lines of ‘an iron fist in a velvet glove.’ They are not afraid to use force when it is required...and sometimes when it’s not.”

He paused before adding, “
The universe is filled with races that would rather run and cower than make a difficult decision and follow through. You will be seen as a race that is willing to do its part. There may be some skittishness that such a young race has possession of the bomb and has shown a willingness to use it, but others will approve.”

Captain Sheppard shrugged. “
I guess it doesn’t matter; what’s done is done. What was it that Stalin said? ‘A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic?’”

“
I don’t know if he was ever proven to have said that,” replied Steropes; “however, when he was asked how long he intended to continue killing people, he said, ‘As long as it is necessary.’ With the Drakuls, that quote goes a long way.”

“Holy shit,” mumbled the DSO. “The black hole just went off
, and the Drakuls are gone. With the exception of the unpowered dreadnought off the starboard bow, they’re
all
gone.”

* * * * *

“Oooooh,” Princess Merrorritor said as
Calvin pulled the rod out of his backpack. The rod glowed a bright cherry red. “That’s pretty! What else is it going to do?”

“I don’t know,” Calvin said. “I wasn’t told what would happen once I brought it here, only to find rock formations like this one and bring the rod to them. The alien that gave me the rod said that I would know what to do.”

“Do you?” she asked.

“Do I what?” Calvin replied.

“Do you know what you’re supposed to
do
, you silly,” she asked.

“If it was supposed to just flash into my head,” Calvin said, “I must have missed it.” He
turned the rod around in his hands and inspected it thoroughly. The only thing that seemed different was that one of the buttons was now glowing, too.

“Maybe you should push that button,” the princess suggested. “Was it glow
ing before?”

“No, the button didn’t glow before now,” Calvin replied. “I’m going to push it, but before I do, I’d like you to move back a little ways, in case
something bad happens.”

The princess laughed. “You
really are silly,” she said. “A computer that is millions of years beyond you gives you something, and you’re worried that it’s going to hurt us? If the computer had wanted to kill you, or even just to hurt you, couldn’t it have done that to you while you were on its planet? Why would it send you on a quest, just to kill yourself?” She laughed again. “Daddy is right; you humans
are
funny.”

Calvin’s face went a little red at having his wisdom chastised by a child. “When you put it that way,” he said, “it does seem
a little silly. Still...could you just move back a couple of steps, just in case?”

The princess sighed but moved a few paces away. She
growled in frustration; now she couldn’t see as well. “I moved,” she said, tapping her foot as Calvin continued to look at the rod. It
seemed
warmer, but he couldn’t tell if its temperature had risen, or if he was just imagining it.

“Are you going to push the button, or just look at it all day?” She looked around. “We’re going to have to go soon, or it will be dark before we get back.
We’ll be in trouble if we aren’t back in time for dinner, too.”

“OK,” Calvin said, “Stop bugging
me. I’m pushing it now.” He pushed the button, holding the rod at arms’ length. The glow faded.

“That’s it?” asked the princess in disappointment. “It didn’t
do
anything.”

Calvin
looked at the rod more closely. It looked the same as it had before the trip to Clowder Rock, except...“Hey, there’s a new symbol glowing on it,” he said. The symbol was located next to the button he had pressed, in between the button and the end of the rod. It looked like two wavy lines, one on top of the other.

“What does that mean?” the princess asked.

“No idea,” Calvin replied. “Maybe Steropes will be able to interpret the symbol.”

“Well that’s lame,” said the princess with a
sniff.

They walked back toward the house, the princess asking questions throughout. Once she decided that Calvin really didn’t know any more about the rod than what he had told her, she
started asking questions about what life was like on Earth, and if there were any fun animals to hunt.

As they rounded the final bend in the pathway, Calvin almost ran into Steropes, who was hurrying to meet them. “You have a visitor,” he said. “An Aesir is here to see you.”

“I love the Aesir!” the princess said. “They are so much fun! Well, they’re not really very much fun at all, when you first meet them. They’re all boring and...distant...yeah, that’s the word daddy uses. They’re all boring and distant when you first meet them, but after you get to know them, they can do sooooo many cool things. They are so much fun...even if they are still kind of distant.”

Steropes held up a hand to get the princess to stop. “The princess is correct in that the Aesir do tend to keep to themselves
,” he said. “Even at the height of the alliance, they only interacted when they needed to, and foreigners weren’t welcomed on their planets. They are a very honorable and peaceful society, but they are also very private. It is extremely rare for one to come here; his mission must be of the utmost importance.”

“In that case,” said Calvin,
“we ought to quit wasting time and get back so we can find out what it’s all about.” He began walking toward the emperor’s estate house. As Calvin looked toward it, he saw the Aesir come out and begin walking in long strides toward them. He looked humanoid in appearance, although shorter and thinner than was normal for a Terran. The Aesir’s pale green skin was a giveaway that the creature was definitely
not
a Terran.

“Oh,” said
Steropes added, “there’s one other thing that you should probably know about the Aesir before meeting them...”

Calvin saw one of the Aesir’s ears, poking through the long
blonde hair that he had drawn up in a ponytail. The ear was very definitely pointed.

“...they’re elves.”

# # # # #