He went on, “They have railguns. We have them in development right now. Their missiles are still missiles with, it turns out, really powerful conventional warheads. They have nuclear weapons, but then so do we. Their energy weapons are scarier, but Jat and I now have some idea how they work.”
“My point is that we shouldn’t panic, and we can develop things to fight them.”
“You need money for that, son.” Harker interjected, “I’m working on it. I’ve been making some calls, and I’ve had my ear to the ground. It is sounding more and more like Vhel is planning to use the Elders vision of a tidy perfect world as his support for getting that raft of new planning regulations he wants passed. Not all of us in the business community fancy the idea of taking orders directly from Capital.”
“And,” he continued, “I don’t have to tell you that your bosses over at Combine aren’t entirely enthusiastic about the prospect of a world without weapons. But that isn’t all; political opinion is starting to divide, here and around the world. Not every country likes the idea of giving up its sovereignty. Some of those dictators in the east probably SHOULD, but they aren’t going down easy.”
“So what I can do is start putting together financing, backers, resources, and safe places to get to work. We’re going to need them. Even then, any kind of sneaking around on secret weapons projects is going to be very dangerous without some political backing here in Tadine.”
Jat took his turn. “Politics isn’t my area, but I think there may be some backing. Guess I can’t say much yet, but it is there. Hopefully they’ll keep their jobs long enough to help. I found a lot of things. I know how the Elder power sources work. We’ll need that if we want to match them. I’ve got a good idea about the FTL drive. By itself, knowing how it works doesn’t do us much good, but I’ve got ideas about that. We’ll see if they pan out.”
Karden spoke “Jat, did you just say you know how their power sources work? Not just theorize, but know?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
With dramatic flourish, Jat pulled a small gold disc from his pocket. “This, my friends, is an antimatter power cell.”
The group fell silent. The waves splashed in the fading light. The pause grew awkward, until Jat spoke again.
“I found it.”
“You FOUND it?” said Karden.
“And Neem and I took a look at it. Made him keep secret till now. Really smart design. Not much antimatter in there at all. Lots of containment and shielding. But then you don’t need much antimatter.”
Viris beamed at him. “Darex, you… hacked something! In real life! Ten years ago I would’ve been proud of you. Ah slag, I still am, but uh oh…”
Harker looked simultaneously impressed and worried. “Son, that is a whole lot of trouble coming our way. The Elders are going to notice that thing missing sooner or later.”
“I know,” said Jat.
He added with peculiarly convincing confidence, “Don’t forget, I’m the world famous eccentric physicist, Professor Darex Jat. Now I know how to build a cheap antimatter reactor. Feel safe yet?”
“I’m less than certain YOU should feel safe, Darex,” said Karden.
“You guys just do your part. I’ll figure out mine.”
“Speaking of figuring out,” added Viris, “I’ve made progress on their computer code. Not much yet, but getting there. There is no way to directly copy code OUT of Neem and Jat’s data holding medium, it is kind of like an old fashioned carbon copy. So what I’m doing is taking electronic patterns, a few at a time, and recreating them from scratch in a system we CAN use, then hoping I got it right. It is slow work, and I’ll tell you I’m going to need help to get it done while we’re still alive to cheer about it.”
“One of the key problems we’re going to come up against next is that their stuff was done by programmers thinking in an alien language, and coding accordingly. I’m getting some help in that area now.”
Tayyis smiled, “I’m doing what I can. Computers aren’t my expertise.”
“But languages are! Like no one I’ve ever seen!” said Viris, “It’s scary how fast you learn.”
Viris went on, “This is going to take time, like a lot of the other things we’re talking about. But once I get it copied and cracked, we’ll know a lot about the galaxy and what is in it, a lot more than they’ve told us. At least, if we’re right and what we took from that disc really is a program. Otherwise, it will be the most painful and least cost effective piece of media piracy in history.”
Neem ventured in, “What we saw on the Vigilant interfaced just like the video, zoomed in and out in the same way, pulled data the same. What we have might be a stripped down version, but I think it is, underneath, the same kind of program they use on their own ships.”
“We’ll see. I hope you’re right, because I really want to get those pricks!” replied Viris with a caustic smile, “I really want to smack them on their self-righteous snouts before they can get their jaws locked around us.”
“As I said,” she concluded, “If I’m going to do this, I’ll need help from some of my friends. They won’t all be nice people, but I guarantee you none of them want to live under the smug rule of these self-proclaimed Elders. Are the rest of you okay if I talk to them?”
One by one, with varying degrees of reluctance, the others nodded their consent.
“Thanks,” said Viris, “I’ll let you know when I’ve got something.”
Tayyis looked around the circle, “I suppose it’s my turn.”
“I’ve been learning the Elder’s language, training their junior staffers while they get settled in, and learning theirs in the process. I know what some of you might think, but languages are hard, especially when they draw from entirely alien cultural references. I’m not going to be fluent tomorrow.”
“But you’ll be fluent faster than anyone I know, or know of,” mused Karden, “and once you are…”
“I’ll train others, and we’ll be able to read the data in that program, but also much more,” continued Tayyis, “we could start intercepting their communications, see what they’re up to, as they’ve been doing to us for centuries.”
“And,” she added, “We’ll gain some insights into their culture, how they really think, react. How they speak to us in our language gives us an idea, but nothing like in the original. We may find too, that at least a few others out there in the galaxy use their language, and we might be able to open lines of communication with them.”
“At least one of the beaked race, the Ara’kaa, did.” said Jat thoughtfully, “We met one on that ship. I’ll tell you the story a little later.”
“There is one final thing,” said Tayyis, “the Elders are coming to trust me. If I didn’t know what they were planning to do to us, I’d feel bad about betraying that trust, but our civilization is at stake, at least as we have known it. The real destruction might take some time. I’m not young, it is possible I wouldn’t live to see it, but I can’t stand by and watch the future being stolen from those who will.”
Karden spoke last. “In my conversations with the Elder historian Anastasio, and others of their delegation, I have come to believe that there is a tremendous weakness at the base of their entire system. They rule, however indirectly, over a population that outnumbers them more than a hundred to one. They are thinly spread across the galaxy, with no economic base of their own. They tax, collect, rule, and spend, but they don’t seem to do much direct productive work themselves.”
“The result is that that they are dependent on the more than three hundred trillion under them to keep their star bases and their ships supplied. I think their means are more precarious than we might imagine. A revolt, or a disruption, something to interfere with their supply lines, and we might have a chance.”
The others were looking at Karden strangely.
“I think they keep everyone in line through indoctrination, isolation and fear. You know their plans for us involve keeping us down at
some safe, controllable level through gifts of technology we aren’t supposed to be able to understand, and interventions to make us more stable, docile, and harmless. In return they want resources, and obedience.”
“Multiply this process across hundreds of thousands of worlds, and you have their Protectorate, an empire in fact if not name. A galaxy of potentially restless subjects that control, ultimately, all the resources…”
“Karden,” said Harker, “are you saying what I think you’re saying? Taking the fight to them?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
Viris cut in, “No! We’ve been talking about coming up with ways to defend against them, hold them, or maybe raise enough resistance on a planet-wide scale that they give up. And, even THAT is a crazy goal… saving our entire world as six private citizens.”
“They aren’t going to give up,” rejoined Karden, “The Ara’kaa had multiple worlds and a Starfleet. They seem to have fought with everything they had, and lost. What chance do you think we have?”
“Weaker and less advanced civilizations, cultures, have lost time and again because they reacted according to their own rules, their own sense of what was possible and what was not, and conceded the initiative to invaders who played by newer and more potent rules.”
“Even with everything we’ve talked about, trying to catch up and beat them at their own game, as the Tadine did when the southerners arrived here centuries ago, though at a pace a hundred times faster, even if we succeed at all that, how are we going to match their resources?”
Again, a shocked silence settled upon the little group. The waves crashed out in the darkness.
“No, we can only survive by surprising the Elders with something they’ve never conceived was possible, by making them the ones playing by old and outmoded rules. We must cut the enemy off at their base, by toppling the system that supports them, or at least by cracking it so badly that however much they want to, they can’t come against us again. We don’t yet know exactly how to do so, but do so we must. We are in this for all or nothing. Where do you stand?”
Without hesitation, Neem said, “I’m in!”
Jat was next, “It’s insane, but then I’m supposed to be eccentric. Count me in too.”
Tayyis spoke. “I’ve already said what I think. Whether we can succeed or not, I’ll do everything, absolutely everything, I can.”
Harker had a weary expression, as if the reality of it all had hit him at last. “Well, I suppose the steps we were talking about were likely going to have the same consequences either way – failure means a bad end for us and lots of other people. I’ve always been a risk taker, and if you’re going to go in big, then go in big. You’ve got my support.”
Viris looked at them all, and laughed a harsh derisive laugh. “I’ve done a lot of crazy things in my life, but this is far and beyond the craziest thing I’ve ever heard of. I mean, I hate them and everything they want to do to us, but here we are, six people sitting on deck chairs, plotting to topple a galactic empire! Are you all out of your minds!?!”
She shrugged, “Oh all right, what else am I going to do for fun these days?”
18
President Vhel, Chief of Staff Wimier, and Domestic Policy Advisor Tarec sat in a bland conference room, watching a video report. Elder Ambassador Margaux was standing on stage with Sivax Cha, the year’s Coordinator of the Council of Nations, and the leaders of eight southern governments.
“It is with deeply felt gratitude that I thank the honorable Coordinator for the grant of a site for our planetary Embassy in the International Zone, and with happiness that I sign, on behalf of the Galactic Central Presidium, the treaties presented to me by the honorable leaders assembled here. Let me again express my hope for a new age of peace…”
Wimier turned off the sound and looked over at Vhel “That would seem to put us back a step or two.”
Vhel smiled in his foggy, serene way, “Mr. Wimier, I’ve known about this, ah, development for some time. It is in accordance with discussions I’ve had with the Ambassador.”
“Wimier, there are things in motion you haven’t been privy too, for security reasons,” cut in Tarec.
“Security reasons? I’m the Chief of Staff, Tarec!”
“Yes, but I’m referring sensitive matters of domestic policy. Need to know basis.”
“I am getting tired of this attitude of espionage. What is going on?”
Tarec merely looked at Wimier with a cold expression.
The President was staring absently at the now silent images on the screen. “Mr. Tarec, tell him.”
“We’ve had enough of this pointless argument from clingers to outmoded beliefs. I’ve… we’ve taken all the various policy proposals that we had in the works and prioritized them, come up with a schedule of exactly what needs to happen first. And I’ve added provisions, with some advice from Ambassador Margaux, to make it very difficult to undo them once they are in place, provisions that shouldn’t be too obvious at first.”
Wimier considered. “Advice is wonderful, but I can guess that isn’t where Margaux really comes in.”
“Elder Ambassador Margaux,” replied Tarec, “is a very popular figure right now. What he says carries weight, and in a desire to please or at least not antagonize him and the Elders, legislators are looking less closely at what they vote for. The vote on the treaty showed that. Moving the Elder Embassy to the International Zone makes him look more impartial and less of a personal ally of the administration.”
He continued, “Ambassador Margaux is going to give his very public and positive backing to the new legislation, and to clinch things, he’s going to tie its passage to the delivery of the first pieces of Elder technology for our use.”
Tarec’s lean face made what might have passed for a smile. “The Councilors and Senators won’t know what hit them.”
“I think some of them are smarter than you give them credit for, Tarec. They’ll know what hit them sooner or later,” said Wimier.
“By the time they do, it’ll be too late. What they think will no longer affect what actually happens. The stupid squabbling that has blocked us for years is soon going to end. And…” Tarec looked over at Vhel. “Sir, may I speak freely with Mr. Wimier?”
“Very well, Mr. Tarec.”
Tarec focused his cold eyes on Wimier. “What I’m about to say is very sensitive, more than anything you’ve ever heard. I need to know… are you still with us?”
“I… yes, of course,” replied Wimier, taken aback by the tone.
“ARE you?”
Wimier wondered if Tarec thought he could break him through sheer force of personality. He turned to the President. “Sir, I’ve been with you from the beginning, you know where I stand.”
“Mr. Tarec, I’m sure we can trust Mr. Wimier, please go on.”
“Yes sir.” Tarec resumed, “Wimier, if anything goes wrong with our legislative plans, we still have a contingency. What we’re trying to do is so important it can’t be allowed to fail, and we need to be willing to do anything, absolutely anything to make sure it doesn’t.”
“The Elders are going to back us, Wimier, and if after all our work, the legislators balk, we’ll have the Elders to make sure it happens anyway.”
Wimier stared at him. “What about the military? There hasn’t been a military insurrection against the civilian government since the unification, but they might draw the line at aliens.”
President Vhel turned to Wimier with sudden lucidity. “Mr. Wimier, you needn’t worry. If you will, recall the videos and speeches the Elders have made. They encourage us to disarm and follow the ways of peace. I am making demobilization of the military, in coordination with other world leaders, a centerpiece of this program. To, ah, forestall efforts by reactionaries, we will however simultaneously be strengthening the internal peacekeeping capabilities of certain other key departments.”
///
Weeks later and hundreds of kilosteps away, Pavol Harker sat in an upper floo
r office overlooking his corporate campus, with senior executives from Combine Defense Technologies and several other major aerospace and technology companies. He had his computer monitor turned so they all could see, and the sound up. News feeds played on the screen.
“Well, there it is, they passed it!” he said, “After all this time, they finally got some big nails in the coffin. With the new Economic Oversight Boards and the Windfall Profit Redistribution Committee, it’s going to be harder to do business, especially for us. Then there are the disarmament treaties in the works.”
“People are already talking about how military hardware, heavy equipment, power generation and all the rest of what we do here are going to be obsolete. Thanks to Vhel, Margaux and their high-sounding talk, a lot of people are sitting around waiting to see what the Elders give us.”
Everyone was listening to him closely.
“I think we all know gifts like that come with strings. Now might be a good time to talk about them.”
///
In a dark, cluttered room full of computers, parts, dirty clothes and empty food containers, Viris Nane carefully transcribed bits of electronic charges onto computers. She kept up simultaneous text conversations with several people operating under anonymous screen names. From time to time, one of them gave her a completed transcription. She added them to the growing pattern.
None of them knew quite what they were looking at, and they were all working from what amounted to photos or freeze frames, but the copies had to be correct, every time. She knew some of them were doing it for no better reason than curiosity, their desire to crack this problem, or hopes for some kind of payoff from what they found out, but motives didn’t matter right now, only that they were some of the few people in the world with the skill to handle this so quickly.
She sipped the last of a lukewarm drink, stopped, and cursed under her breath, “Got to start over on that one. Slag! Here goes another hour…”
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