“These people don’t want your world,” Perry said. “In fact, they are on their way out. They have their own home light years away, and they’re leaving this system entirely. They said to attack your planet would be a waste of their time and resources. Why set up a new world when you have buildings and infrastructure on another world you already secured? Why risk open war with a race by attacking a colony when you can move peacefully? I don’t think they know that you have no contact with Earth. I suspect they believe that reinforcements would be called if they attacked you which is a risk they are not interested in taking at such a fragile point in their history.”
“What about their last attack?” Rhysman said. “They saw no repercussions from that.”
“There was a treaty from that,” Perry said. “You think they would sign a treaty with people who can’t fight against them? They haven’t touched this planet in seventy-five years. What do you think is keeping them away besides a sense of honor? Beyond that, though, these Voraster are a people who care deeply about life and its sanctity. They do not invade planets. They request them. Their new home was deemed theirs via a discussion with the Unified Planets. To you, they are harmless. They said they would be in considerable trouble with their own people for even coming over here. They want to go home.”
“You want me to release them,” Rhysman said.
“I want you to consider trying to make contact with their world if you can,” Perry said.
“We don’t have any means of off-world communication,” Rhysman said. “That’s why we never contacted Earth.”
“Then let them go back to their ship,” Perry said. “Let them try to repair their systems so that they can make contact. They have two engineers. They could probably make their own contact if you would only allow them to do so.”
“And if you’re wrong?” Rhysman asked. “You would be asking me to release some monsters to contact their high command to let them know that we are defenseless. Did you tell them we have no communication with Earth?”
“No,” Perry said. None of the trio could have told them that since they did not know the state of communications on the planet.
“If they have learned that though,” Rhysman continued, “then they could let their people know that we are, in fact, defenseless.”
“They don’t care about your planet,” Perry said.
“Exactly,” Rhysman said. “They don’t care about us. They care about themselves.”
“Well, they have no interest in harming you, attacking you, or invading,” Perry said feeling like his time here was waning quickly. “I came here to appeal on their behalf. I have done so. I urge you to consider my words.”
“And on what authority do you give them?” Rhysman asked. “Who are you? You have an jacket that is from here, but I can see your shirt and trousers are not like anything I’ve ever seen. The gentleman who was captured yesterday who appealed on their behalf was also dressed strangely. He escaped last night with three of the Vorasters. You know where they are, don’t you?”
“I admit it,” Perry said. “Had I not, I would not have been able to speak with them, and subsequently you, regarding them.”
“We have a third one of you in custody now, I understand,” Rhysman continued. “A woman who is also dressed very strangely. Our Society leader Andersoppen spoke with her last night. She was not very forthcoming with information such as who it was that assisted in their escape.”
“The woman is a friend of mine,” Perry admitted. “We act on the side of what is right. Whatever punishment you have in store for the Voraster or her is undeserved by any of them.”
“What is deserved?” Rhysman asked. “We have a system of laws and government here. We have rules that must be upheld. We cannot permit those rules to be picked apart and followed when convenient. If an individual has been detained, they are to remain there until deemed worthy to release. An escape attempt never bodes well for any detainee.”
“They were abused in their cell and informed that there would be no trial or determination of innocence,” Perry said. “They were told that no one would care if they lived or died, and threatened when they had done nothing wrong. They felt like their lives were in danger if they remained, and that nothing they said would benefit them. Therefore, they took their lives into their own hands since they would seemingly fall to no one else’s.”
“We do not abuse our prisoners,” Rhysman said. “We have that detention cell where we place them until they can be heard. They are always treated fairly and humanely.”
“The man you captured yesterday is my friend,” Perry said. “I trust him with my life. He is like a brother to me, and he would not have lied about what occurred with him. Look into my eyes and know what I’m telling you is true. Why don’t you talk to the woman held in there to see if she is being treated fairly.”
“As the President, I am to be separated from the prisoners,” Rhysman said. “It is believed that they could unfairly influence me as you are doing now.”
“Because you should only receive their words through a filter?” Perry asked. “That woman has no reason to lie to you. But I have reason to believe she fears for her life. Is that how you treat your prisoners?” Perry stood up. “I have said my peace, and I thank you for your time. I know that you have people to answer to, and I know that fear is running rampant here regarding these aliens. But do not let fear give way to evil. Yes, they landed in a forbidden zone, but they have done nothing to you to deserve death.”
“We do not kill anyone,” Rhysman said.
“Then perhaps that will be the test of whether my words are true,” Perry said. “My friend’s life was threatened. He was informed that he would be executed.”
“Impossible,” Rhysman said.
“I thank you for your time,” Perry said, extending his hand. Rhysman stood slowly and shook it with far less enthusiasm than when Perry arrived. His manner was that of a man with a lot on his mind all of a sudden. His reactions showed that he did not wish to believe what Perry had to say, but Perry believed he would hold onto this conversation. As long as it was not shared with Andersoppen, then perhaps all hell would appropriately break loose.
Perry exited to the secretary’s anteroom. He gave her a friendly farewell as he passed through to the main hallway. It was still quiet, and he knew all he had to do was reach the doorway. With a purpose, he strolled toward the entrance, but he noticed someone standing near the door had walked further back into the hall. He hoped it was merely a coincidence, but then, Harold Andersoppen walked around the corner and blocked his path flanked by two guards.
“I assume you’re Perry,” Harold said from a few yards down the corridor. “I’d be very interested in having a discussion with you as well.”
“I actually need to go at the moment,” Perry said backing away. “Perhaps I could come back later?”
“I won’t have time later,” Harold said walking towards him. “My schedule is open right now.”
Perry remembered the window in the anteroom, and he shot back into the little room with the secretary. The door had no lock, so he had to move quickly.
“Sir, can I help you?” the secretary asked, standing in alarm.
Perry had no time to speak. He ran to the window and looked it over. There was a simple lock in the middle, and it opened on hinges. As they opened the door behind him, he threw open the latch and swung the windows open. He jumped out and ran toward the nearest buildings. People ducked out of his way as he charged through them.
He glanced back to find a handful of guards bolting out of the building and following him. He shot between the nearest buildings and took his first right. He ran a little ways down and took a left to head toward the next street over. Once there, he crossed it at an angle and went between the next houses. He continued zigzagging non-stop for as long as he had houses to do so. Once he reached the outer edge of town, he ducked behind a building and listened.
No footfalls. No sound except his breathing
. The jacket was heavy and not made for running. He took it off and held it. He needed to return it just in case Andersoppen recognized it and decided to look for it later. He also did not want to sweat very heavily in it. He decided his next move was to head back to the barn and take cover for awhile. He did not feel like they would need plan B with the President, but he knew after he visited the barn, he should return to the town square for the President’s announcement later.
He was able to complete his mission to speak to the man, and they were uninterrupted the whole time. He hoped it did some good.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Oliver Mason Harper was in a panic. He poured over the manuals with Blake looking for a definitive explanation of the countdown timer that Blake had asserted was giving them the end time of the Terraformer, the device that Oliver and everyone else on their planet believed was the only thing keeping them together. Oliver has said that his maintenance shift was normally very quick, so spending so much time in here would be deemed unusual and demand an explanation. He needed something in writing showing that explanation.
“Why had no one ever looked that up before?” Blake asked. “I would have been curious about it.”
“Curious, yes, but I guess everyone figured someone else had already addressed it,” Oliver said.
“It is a fact that sometimes, no one does anything more than expected,” Blake said. “I’ll bet every one of you has stared that timer in the face and not a one gave it a second thought.”
“You’re right,” Oliver said. “I think I asked my dad about it once, and he said it was nothing to worry about as long as we kept our maintenance on schedule. And we did. How do you know it is a shutdown timer?”
“Because it makes sense,” Blake said. “Terraforming machines don’t need to run for a hundred years. Their job is to make a planet and be shut off to let the world fend for itself. I think it has been giving this planet a serious boost the entire time making things grow faster than they would normally, but I don’t believe it is necessary to keep the planet sustained.”
“Then why has everyone always said we need it?” Oliver asked as he put one manual down and picked up another. “That is what doesn’t make sense to me. Someone surely would have…”
“Like someone surely knows what the timer is for?” Blake asked. “You know, I could be wrong. It might be the time to change out a filter somewhere.”
“A filter?” Oliver asked.
“We just have to find it in these books,” Blake said.
“I think I have something,” Oliver said. He carried the book he had open to the readouts with the timer. The page he was looking at had a diagram of the panel with each section labeled as to what it meant. He pointed to the timer in the picture and then moved down to the legend below.
“It is a lifetime timer,” Oliver said in a hollow voice.
“There is a page number listed there after the label,” Blake said.
“Here,” Oliver said, handing the book to Blake. “I need to sit down.”
“This is not the end of your world,” Blake said. “The machine was made to shut itself off.”
“It feels like the end,” Oliver said. “All my life, this was what I was going to do. I maintain the machine. I have been teaching my children the same. What will they do?”
“Let’s see what this page says,” Blake said. “It is lucky they use actual books for this. I would have expected these to be stored electronically by this point in history.”
“I wonder if Harold actually knows,” Oliver said. “Has he been lying to us all this time?”
“I doubt it,” Blake said. “Everyone believes the same thing about the Terraformer. No reason to think anyone has been lying about it. They just didn’t know the truth.”
Blake opened to the page number listed next to the description and found the passage he needed. He set the book in front of Oliver on the floor and tapped the location of the information. Oliver looked down and read the text.
“The Mark XIX Terraformer has an intended lifespan of one hundred Terran years using the internal power supply provided. While this can be augmented or increased, one hundred years is far more than the Mark XIX requires to terraform a world into Terran conditions. The minimum required time to bring a planet of similar size and composition to Terra to a self-sustaining capacity is approximately ten Terran years. In order to maximize the effectiveness of the Mark XIX, a minimum of twenty Terran years is recommended to bring the planet to a guaranteed state to support human life. Before settling on a newly terraformed planet, we recommend sending science teams to verify the atmospheric conditions of the new world. After atmospheric viability is determined adequate for human settlement, the Mark XIX can be safely shut down with no adverse effects. However, the Mark XIX will continue to function at maximum terraforming capacity for thirty additional Terran years to allow for colonization efforts to use the natural resources provided since the growth of all natural resources will be accelerated during that time. After fifty Terran years of continuous operation, the terraforming output of the Mark XIX will decrease steadily as its internal power supply is drained. The countdown timer measures the remaining time in Terran units. Once it falls to zero, the system will shut down allowing your new home to live and grow on its own for many eons to come.”
Oliver stared at the book for a long time without a word. He sighed.
“My grandfather was on the Mirificus,” he finally said. “He was older when he had my father. I never knew him. I have to wonder if he knew about this, but it was one of those things that never came up. One of those things that you think that you’ll talk about someday, but then, someday never comes and you never think about it. It gets lost to time. How many things have we lost over the years?”
He looked to the doorway from the Terraformer room that led into the rest of the ship.
“You know, we used to have guards stationed in there,” Oliver continued. “We were afraid of someone sneaking into the old wreck and somehow finding their way into the back side of the Terraformer, but over the years, it never happened. Not even once. So we moved them out. No one cares about the old girl anymore. She brought us across the galaxy and dropped us here, and just got left out in the yard to rust and decay.”
“The power in this room and outside,” Blake said. “Is it produced by the ship?”
“I think so,” Oliver said. “I’ve always been told it was, but I suppose everything is suspect now.”
Oliver stood up and smoothed out his trousers. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“I need to tell Harold,” Oliver said. “We know it isn’t serious. It’s just something that will happen, and life will go on.”
“When you speak to him, I would ask one thing,” Blake said.
“You aren’t coming?” Oliver asked.
“No,” Blake said. “I actually have to climb through the ship to take care of something else. Tell me, what do you think of the Voraster crash?”
“I believe that it was an accident,” Oliver said. “I don’t think they were trying to destroy our Terraformers, and based on this, they really couldn’t have. Where they landed isn’t helping them, but my hope is that they’re released.”
“I don’t think they will be,” Blake said. “I was held with them for a time, and your leadership is not interested in what they have to say. I think it would be worthwhile if you added into your report that the Voraster ship could not have harmed us in any way, no matter how close they got to the Terraformer. Be sure to emphasize that they are not causing the shutdown and they did not drain the power cells. The manual itself shows that it will last a hundred years, and that’s what your entire celebration is about. If you don’t tell them and this shuts down first, the Voraster will be blamed for it. The truth and their lives are in your hands as well.”
“What are you going to do in there?” Oliver asked.
“I think that to keep you out of trouble, I’d rather not say,” Blake replied. “It’s
probably bad enough that I was here with you. You might want to keep that to yourself as well. Just mention that you saw the timer with twelve hours remaining, and you decided to look it up.”
“I will,” Oliver said. “Thank you.”
“Thank you,” Blake said. “When you leave, will they care if I go out the back door?”
“I’m not sure,” Oliver said. “I’ll just tell them if they ask and mention I locked you out. If they question me further, I’ll say you’re odd and leave it there.”
“That works,” Blake said. He walked to the back door that led into the shipwreck beyond and opened it. The musty scent of years of neglect washed over him. He waved his hand in front of his face. “Well, that’s unpleasant. Take care, Mr. Harper. Perhaps, we’ll meet again.”
“Good-bye, Blake,” Oliver said. “It was good to have met you.”
Blake walked through the door into the ship, and the doors closed behind him. There were faint lights intermittently in the uneven halls. While the Terraformer room was in good shape, the rest of the ship was definitely not. He walked along a decrepit hall in an effort to find the ship’s edge to see if Rallafin had managed to get over there. Every turn he found that might get him closer to the outer wall he took. It was more a matter of following his nose, but he did use his scanner on a couple of occasions as a compass to keep his path as direct as possible.
Eventually, he saw a light and went towards it. He found himself about five feet above the ground but at an opening large enough to accommodate a person. He leaned out and looked up and down the side for his Voraster comrade. Rallafin sat casually along the edge of the ship about a hundred feet further down. He climbed out of the ship and walked down to get his attention.
“Greetings, Blake,” Rallafin said. “So here we are at your wreck. What do you propose?”
“I suggest we crawl back in the way I got out, and do our best to reach the engine room,” Blake said. “Hopefully being that close to power, we’ll have enough for communications if it’s even possible.”
False Invasion Page 12