Tides of the Continuum 1: Making History (7 page)

9

All around the table were silent for a moment, and then a hand rose. “I have one.” One of the dark-haired sisters spoke. “What about the planetary defenses? Do we have time to initialize the system?”

“That option is off the table. Our last report outlined a procedure for startup, which would take at least a month.” Peter Ambrose was well versed on the facts. He further explained, “There are twenty reactors to heat, two of which are in disrepair. There are three hundred energy pulse emitters, one hundred-thirty shield generators. All of which must be warmed up with the greatest care. One wrong sequence and the entire grid may destabilize.”

“To top it all off, we don’t have a month to spare,” chimed in the first officer, Paul Cutler. “Our estimates project the enemy will be within range of earth in a little over eight days.”

The conference room filled with even more tension as the leaders of the ship looked at each other solemnly. The fate of
Earth's six billion people was on these shoulders. A nervous cough, a chair squeaked, someone sniffed, and then it was back to work.

"What about a planet-wide evacuation?” asked Doctor Eliza Cruz. “We don’t have time to call for other cruisers, but we may have room enough for everyone on this ship, if we use all our ships as transports and possibly pressurize the launching and cargo bays.”

“Another bad idea,” Paul said derisively, “we’d likely encounter resistance from the masses, possibly even from the armies of the governments.”

“Why? Can’t you just beam all the people onto the ship?” asked Aurora.

Aurora's Hollywood skewed perception of space lightened the mood. There was a sort of snort from Buck as a few others chuckled at her question. “This isn’t
Space Train
, it’s real life.” Lincoln explained, “We can’t just beam anything anywhere. This is still the twenty-first century; we can travel to the next star relatively quickly, but teleporters will be science fiction for a few more years at least. We would have to load the entire population of Earth onto shuttles in just over a week. Given more time, we might possibly fit them all, yes, but we’d be in no position to fight the Ratahn. We’d be increasing the Legion’s mass by an estimated four hundred million tons with the people alone. And that would seriously diminish our maneuverability.”

Lincoln leaned forward, resting his elbows on the conference table. Putting his hands to his face, he slightly rubbed his fingertips along his brow and cheeks. "Come on people. We're better than this."

“There is only one solution to this problem.” Athena's disembodied voice drifted from above. “The option I compute, with the highest chance of success, and also the only one we have time to execute, is to set our course to intercept the threatening ships. It will draw the Ratahn forces from Earth, and give us a chance to neutralize the Black Core.”

Paul, scowling, spoke quietly to no one in particular, “Once again, our daring heroes risk all for a nebulous reward.”

Buck ran his hand through his bronze hair and asked, “But what of Ms. Dane’s dream?”

“Aurora’s dream didn’t tell us that we’d fail if we confronted our foe, but it was a warning to be careful. In her dream, she described two large vessels, surrounded by swarms of starfighters. The two giants were in close range to each other. If we keep our distance, sending our fighters and support ships, the outcome may be in our favor.”

Lincoln surveyed the grim faces of his colleagues. His eyes stopped with an apologetic look as he met Aurora's gaze. Taking a deep breath, he asked the room, “Are you sure you want to do this? We could very well be destroyed. Are we willing to take that chance?”

Athena's gentle voice didn’t pause. “I believe everyone here is prepared to do whatever it takes to uphold the motto of Earth Protection Force: To Mend
and Defend.”

“I think the risk is worth it,” said Lincoln. “All those in favor of Athena’s plan?”

The entire table sounded one synchronous, ‘Aye’. Lincoln asked for any opposed to say, ‘Nay’; none did. “Then it’s settled. Athena, make the announcement. Inform the crew that any personnel desiring to return to Earth should report to launch hangar alpha. Have shuttles ready for them.”

“Yes
, Sir.” said Athena.

A tone sounded in the conference room and Buck's eyes lit up. "Lunch!" he announced as he turned excitedly to Aurora. In mock-conspiratorial tones, he explained that the tuna on rye was a specialty of the food service division.

The doors to the conference room swished open and in came a steel cart pushed by a young man wearing white jacket and dark slacks.

"Wow! You guys get first class service in space," Aurora noted.

"Just because we are military, doesn't mean we are unsophisticated," smiled Eliza.

"Well, other than the imminent danger of complete annihilation, I think the food has me sold. When can I sign up?" Aurora elicited a few chuckles from the group.

The server placed plates of food in front of each of the senior staff. Several started eating immediately, and a few stood and stretched before reclaiming their chairs.

“Now, about this weapon,” started Chief Engineer Ambrose after the serving staff had exited, “do we know anything about it? Any hints or clues pointing to a possible weakness?”

Commander Cutler answered, “We have a partial schematic and reports from a dozen eyewitnesses of its power to manipulate gravity. Nothing we’ve found suggests anything like an unprotected thermal vent, or weak stabilizer, or that kind of thing. From what we know of this Gracchus character, he is quite the perfectionist. He doesn’t leave anything to chance, and there is no such thing as good enough.”

“Well, from what I see, one of the main design features of this weapon system may also be its best defense,” interjected Chief Ambrose. “From the drawings we have, it looks like when the system is running, the core of the weapon houses an artificially born singularity contained in a compression field. If we’re too close to the enemy ship when it’s damaged, the entire Legion could be pulled into the gravity well, or at least enough of it to mortally wound the ship. That’s a pretty good attack deterrent.”

“We also know that he is moderately paranoid,” said Dr. Cruz. “He doesn’t trust anyone he can’t control. He surrounds himself with bodyguards and keeps a firearm on his hip, just in case. There is even talk of a public double; a person who was surgically transformed to look similar to him, to be a target in public places. But then, his paranoia would prevent him from having such a person, for fear that the double would take over.”

Aurora cut in, “So basically, we are going up against the classic bad guy from every space movie.”

“Except this guy won’t hesitate to kill you when you’re tied up in his lair. You will never catch him spinning a monologue about his genius plan,” Lincoln added.

“I have an idea,” interjected Athena. “The enemy doesn’t know anything about my method of communication with our troops. If his androids have the same design as ours
, and if he has truly filled his ranks with androids save a few men, what’s to stop me from taking complete control of the whole fleet?”

There was silence for a moment. Amelia spoke next. “Can your matrix handle as many as fifty thousand extra androids?”

Athena paused, and then answered, “I shouldn’t have too big a problem with the entire load, providing they are all within my range. I must warn you, however, that I may only have control over the androids and not the Black Core."

“That takes care of the rogue androids, but doesn't account for the human factor. We need to at least consider restricting Gracchus. He is a control fanatic and won't be too far from the Black Core or its controls. We can also assume he wouldn't trust anyone else to pilot the ship on which the Black Core resides because they may use it against him." Buck said.

“But surely he must know he would be the prime target onboard the ship with a weapon like the Black Core.” mused Amelia. “Does he have a death wish?”

“He might,” answered Paul, “but then, sitting on top of the biggest gun will tell you who all your enemies are. They’ll be the ones pointing their guns at you. And who’s to say that he can’t somehow use this Gravity Field Manipulator to deflect our firepower?”

The room became silent. No one had considered the possibility that they couldn’t touch their enemy until it was too late. The thought made them nervous. They saw before them, on one wall, the incomplete schematic of the weapon, and next to it, was displayed a description of its probable capabilities. Among them was the capability to create multiple gravity distortions in two different places at once. This meant it could compress matter in one location while expanding matter in another. In theory, the Black Core could force negative gravity around itself, while simultaneously pushing a gravity-well deep into the fabric of space nearly two million miles away. “It could be ten times farther from Earth than the moon and still push the entire planet into oblivion, and the people of Earth wouldn’t even be able to see their attacker.” said Aurora.

Lincoln sat forward and said, “Athena, man all starfighters, support ships and external defense placements with androids. Identify places along the enemy’s path that may afford us an advantage in a fight. We’re going to war.”

-MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM 'BISHOP'

-FILTERING...

-DECRYPTING...

-TRANSLATING...

-DISPLAYING MESSAGE CONTENT:

-COMPOSING REPLY FROM 'ROOK':

I have encountered some obstacles

in the required adjustments. I need

more time.

10

People moved through the hallways like ant
s. Each uniformed insect had his own job and together they worked in unison for a common good. There were a few families who decided to move to Earth for the duration of the battle, knowing that the outcome could mean the future of the entire human race. The waiting game began for those on Earth. They waited for either the EPF Legion to return, or for the Ratahn to inflict revenge for a half-century old vendetta.

The EPF maintained a small emergency compound in the remote icy regions of Alaska. This they used for their protection. They numbered two hundred humans plus five hundred defensive androids.

In space, the Legion would set its course to intercept the Koratind Ratahn. The senior staff planned to force the conflict to take place at a location where, at the very least, neither the Legion nor their enemy had the advantage. “This binary star system is ideal,” said Buck, pointing to a workstation display. “Earth’s databases identify it as 36 Oph. Technically it’s a trinary system, but two of the three stars follow overlapping elliptical orbits. The third, 36 Oph C, hangs back about a sixteenth of a lightyear, or 400 billion miles, from the other two and doesn’t seem to have detectable movement. Right now 36 Oph A and 36 Oph B are just over twelve and a quarter billion miles apart. That should give us plenty of maneuvering room, should we need.”

Lincoln broke in, “And how much time will we have before they get too close for comfort?”

Buck tapped a few controls on the console in front of him before the screen displayed the information he wanted. “It looks like the last time they were farthest apart from each other was in February of 1931, and they’re on the same inward swing right now. Stellar cartography predicts they’ll be their closest range to each other in about September of the year 2148. And at that point they’ll still be almost six times the distance from Earth to its sun.”

“So then we have time,” said Lincoln jokingly.

“Well, yes,” answered Buck, carrying the joke. “But not much, only just under a century and a half. But I wouldn’t get too nervous until we have a quarter century left.”

Now curious, Lincoln asked, “What classes are the stars?”

Buck answered after briefly referring to the information displayed, “Both stars are class K1V, or a bit smaller, cooler and less massive than Earth’s sun. They have an average luminosity of slightly less than half of Earth’s sun and are in the orange to red color range. They’re dwarf stars, just like ours. The Visitors calculate orbit degradation will end in the two colliding causing a cataclysmic explosion in roughly ten million years, give or take a decade.”

Lincoln sighed. “It’s too bad we won’t be able to see it. How far are they from our position?” Lincoln turned from the monitor to face Buck.

“Presently 36 Oph A and B are just under 19½ lightyears away. At our top speed, we should get there in 3 days, 11 hours and 17 minutes.”

“Set course for 36 Oph, maximum cruise,” ordered Lincoln, impressed by Buck’s mental math skills.

“Aye, Sir. And what is to be done with our guest? She doesn’t have combat training,” said Buck.

“Aurora won't need to worry about it. I don’t plan on getting the main ship that close to the fray. Besides, if the battle ground starts to shift this way, we’ll put her in an android depository, or the brig.” They both chuckled as they thought of a modern woman being incarcerated in a Legion brig.

They had been designed to be completely unbreakable, even for a robot. The walls were poured cement, with reinforcing fiber, three feet thick. Formed on earth, then brought up after curing, the cells were veritable fortresses. The only access was a door in the ceiling, fifty feet above the floor. These cells were impregnable from either side of the door without Athena’s permission.

Lincoln decided he better talk to Aurora
. She busied herself in her room, securing her few belongings. From what she remembered of the television shows she had seen as a kid, sharp quaking of the camera along with people falling over guardrails usually accompanied space battles.

“What are you doing?” asked Lincoln

“I’m making sure none of my stuff gets busted in the fight. Haven’t you ever watched
Space Train
? Every time the ship got hit with a torpedo, it shook like an epileptic hippo!” Aurora was convinced that these people didn’t get television in space.

“I think I have seen that one. You mean the one where all the aliens look like humans with makeup, and their teleporter is actually a bundle of Christmas lights wrapped around a florescent light bulb?” Lincoln teased. Aurora’s eyebrows knit together and her usual breezy smile fled
. Upon seeing this, he continued, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you. I just meant that they didn't understand real space flight, let alone a battle. Everything Hollywood put on film originated with nerds who never had girlfriends, so they made up secret clubs with secret codes to attract other nerds who never had girlfriends thinking they were actually being cool.”

Aurora laughed out loud at his remark. She’d never heard it put that way before. He was right, though, she realized, about the nerd clubs. There had been a few student organizations on campus that were completely off the wall. Lincoln continued, “If this ship ever encounters a battle, there shouldn’t be any erratic movements. We have too much mass to be jarred easily. We also have a neat device, which dampens inertia. That’s how we can accelerate to light speed and beyond in seconds without being turned to jelly the instant we jump. Currently we’re traveling at maximum cruise, and I’ll bet you dinner you didn’t even feel us start up. Am I right?”

He was right again. If he hadn’t told her that they were moving, she would have had no reason to think it. This experience was turning out to be less of a joy ride and more of an awakening. Aurora absorbed so many new things so fast; all her preconceptions of the future were being flipped completely upside down.

She stood up facing her friend, waiting for the macho talk to begin. He would undoubtedly tell her that she should have returned to Earth, for her protection, or that she must stay out of the way of the seasoned warriors as they fought. But Colonel Lincoln Smyth was full of surprises today. “I’d like to take you to the armory, to issue you a weapon. That is, if you don’t mind carrying one. You seem like the kind of woman who likes to defend herself, not just cower in the corner.”

All Aurora could say was a stuttered, “Okay, thanks.”

On their way to the armory, Aurora envisioned the war movies she had seen, the space movies, and the ones that dealt with strategy. She tried to remember the plans and maneuvers. When they arrived at the armory, her thoughts left her. Lincoln handed her a very stout concussion pulse rifle, three battery clips, and a shoulder strap to hang it all over her back. Lincoln gave her a small palm-size pistol and explained that it was very dangerous to artificial soldiers, but nearly harmless to humans. It attacked by use of directed microwave spurts, not visible to the eye, but lethal to a positronic network. She was given a homing beacon, first aide kit, and five small oblong objects called EMP grenades, which had an effective range of fifteen feet in all directions. These articles were safely and neatly packed into a sort of mission satchel she could carry over her shoulder.

“This will probably be your only warning,” Lincoln advised, “but if you should ever have to use any of the EMP grenades, you'll get a little dizzy for a second, but any and every piece of electronic equipment within its blast range will be ruined beyond reasonable salvage. This nondiscriminatory weapon hates all technology, ours included. If your comlink is fried, you’re out of luck. Athena can’t talk through rocks, which is just what your comlink will be as good as.”

“I get the picture. What about my weapons, will they still work?” asked Aurora.

“Your weapons are designed to be EMP resistant, not EMP proof. The rifle is shielded to withstand a pulse from close range. Your first aid kit is immune; it’s all chemical, not electronic. Your stinger, the small microwave pistol, will be immune to a blast, even at point blank range. Its design doesn't rely on computerized circuitry. And, as I said, your comlink won’t have a snowball’s chance of surviving the pulse. One more thing dealing with an EMP grenade, get rid of it before it goes off. There is a concussive burst, which will definitely cause nerve damage to your hand and wrist. Any other questions?”

“Yeah, one more thing that’s been bugging me,” began Aurora. “If, according to the traditional laws of robotics, androids aren’t supposed to be able to harm humans, why do you guys design weapons that can defend against them?”

“Well, the easy answer is because some robots aren’t designed the same as the rest of the androids out there.”

“Right, I got that part down already, but make me understand what makes them different. Why would I need to kill an android to preserve my own life?”

“You see, any robot designed to use deadly force is an aberration of the template. They have unique programming. Assault capable robots don’t have the same brain structure, even on the microscopic level. They aren’t one hundred percent stable either, only about one in a thousand attempts to make one successfully generates a tactical assault robot. Their mind had to be coded from scratch, whereas the average android’s mind is pretty much an evolved duplicate of the original android given to us from the Visitors."

“Why is it so tricky to create one?”

“We think that’s done on purpose, a failsafe put in place by the Visitors to keep it from happening. If someone had an army of millions of androids capable of human murder, well let’s just say there would be a new king in town. And since tactical use robots have no morality, they follow all orders from their superiors, without question. They are the perfect soldiers, but hard to come by and valuable enough not to send in by the thousands. Chances are slim of any of us ever fighting one, but just in case we do, we’d like to be ready. So keep your weapons handy. Anything else?” He looked at her wryly, and got a negative nod.

“Nah, I think I got it all. Bad robots exist, so use my pistol on them or EMP, but don’t keep it in my hand.” She said, and then asked, “Where will I be locked up during the fighting?”

Still expecting some kind of macho response, she was surprised upon hearing his reply. “You can do what you want during the fighting. You can choose to support a defense squad in the case of an intruder, or you can hide in the brig, where you’ll most definitely be safe. The choice is yours.”

Aurora thought for a minute. The idea of being locked up
in a jail was not very enticing, but then again, she didn’t like the thought of being shot either. “I guess I can stay out of jail and help where I can. Where do you want me to take position?”

Lincoln shrugged, “I really don’t thin
k the battle will head this way, but if it does, we could use you with an intruder response group. As large as this ship is, it does have its weaknesses.” They spoke as they walked toward one of the maglevs, the carriages for traveling through the ship. “I won’t yet assign you to a squad, mainly because you haven’t had any combat training. For the time being, you can stick to Ops.”

Perplexed, Aurora looked at Lincoln. “Ops? What’s that?”

Lincoln clarified, “Ops, Operations Center. It’s the area that was called the bridge on
Space Train
. They got their term from the navy. We got ours from what it is: the operations control center. However, the Legion isn’t controlled completely from Ops. There are a few things that are independent from the main bulk of our control; Athena alone controls those systems. Some of them are life support: temperature, humidity, and our air mixture. You know, those kinds of systems.”

Aurora nodded understanding. They passed by one port of a hanger bay. She looked in as they walked by, and then returned for a second look.

There were hundreds and thousands of man-shaped androids, scurrying about, each with a specific job to accomplish. She watched as groups of small starfighters ascended into the air, then moved to a better launching position, descending back to the deck plates to await the order to fly.

There were other larger ships, cargo transports of a sort, being loaded with tons of small glowing canisters. Lincoln told her that the canisters were filled with protomatter, the basic power source for the fleet. The transports were to act, after a fashion, as roving gas stations. From the looks of the preparations Aurora could see, the crew of the Legion was gearing up to fight a battle more frightful than any Earth had ever witnessed.

The resulting firestorm would probably be visible from Earth through long-range telescopes, though probably not for twenty years.

Aurora finally began to comprehend the true purpose of Earth Protec
tion Force. These unsung heroes would endanger their own lives to keep her home planet safe. She felt awed as she considered the job description for the Official Protectors of Earth.

In the maglev, Lincoln spoke to the ceiling. “Athena, we're going to fight a battle with other men and androids. We may lose all our forces in the heat of it. Do you know what must be done in that case?”

Athena responded, “I understand what I may have to do. I am prepared to execute my orders, even at the cost of my own existence, but I hope it doesn’t come to that.”