The Madness Engine

by Paul B Spence

"Neutralize?"

  "They're planning to be the only military force on the planet, Alan," Drake said. "And they can do it. They have space-based lasers. They're going to prevent war. They'll also stop any warlords who try to harm people."

  "That's insane!"

  "What happens to the Earth if we let things go on as they have?" asked Tilda.

  "We'll all die," Alan replied quietly. "You're serious?'

  "Deadly," Drake said. "Did you think I was working completely alone?"

  "It didn't seem likely, no."

  "They're willing to stop all war. The Commonwealth will spread around the globe. We've heard your constitution. We intercepted the radio transmissions." Well, Hephaestus had, but Alan didn't need to know that. "Everyone was impressed. What do you say? The Commonwealth rules the planet peacefully. No war. Peace enforced by the JMC."

  "You wouldn't try to enforce policy?"

  "Only in regards to keeping the peace," Tilda replied.

  "Let me sleep on it," said Alan. "I'm president of our little Commonwealth, but I'd need to present it to the Council. I'd also like to hear what the other two communities have to say about it."

  "Of course," Drake said. "Take all the time you need. The supplies we brought are freely given, no conditions. If you want, I'd be happy to speak to the Council."

  "Maybe," Alan said. He ran his hand through his thinning brown hair. "Man, it never rains but it pours."

  "Sorry to hit you with all this at once," said Drake. "But the JMC intends to begin moving against military targets before the end of the month. We'd like to have the sanction of the ruling government."

  Allen laughed. "What if we say no?"

  "We're confident you won't."

  Θ

  "What am I looking for, again?" asked Geoffrey.

  He and Tebrey had been searching through the files recovered on the planet after the Theta attacks. Geoffrey couldn't believe that Tebrey had gone back down, wounded, and retrieved the files alone. He hadn't found any of the devices in the base. Geoffrey wouldn't have gone back down there with a platoon of marines.

  "Any reference to Jotnar, or the Engine, or anything Theta-related," Tebrey said absently.

  Geoffrey groaned and rubbed his eyes. He could read Swedislavic because of induction learning, but it was a chore. He was still bed-ridden in Medical. Naomi had come by to see him a couple of times, but most of the time he was alone. He'd welcomed the offer to assist Tebrey with the files. Now he wished he'd kept his mouth shut.

  "I think you gave me the boring stuff," Geoffrey said. "As far as I can tell, this is all just supply requisitions."

  "Those can be useful," said Tebrey. "Tells us how many personnel they had at the base, what equipment they may have needed."

  "Okay," Geoffrey said with a sigh. He skimmed through a couple dozen pages of reports about lutefisk, whatever that was. At the bottom of the stack he found a reference to a dimenzionální gränssnittsenhet, which, after a moment, he translated as dimensional interface device.

  That could only be the Engine, he thought.

  He read on. The program had had several bad setbacks in the beginning. The first volunteer to try the device had been killed, or changed, or something. Whatever vända sig till det onda meant. He thought it might mean turn or something. That made sense if it turned the user into a Theta. They had rebuilt the device and tried again, with the same results.

  Geoffrey read on in horror as page after page described attempts to make the device work, all with terrible results. Some of the people had been turned. Others had died in agony, screaming for mercy as their bodies were torn apart.

  "You have something, Meeks?"

  Geoffrey swallowed down the bile that had risen, and nodded. "Yes. I found the reports of the experiments."

  "And?"

  "It's pretty bad."

  "I've seen the video," said Tebrey. "Does it say how many machines they built?"

  Geoffrey nodded. "A lot."

  "How many, Meeks?"

  "They tried to make it work fifty-seven times. Each time, they used a new device. Not all of them resulted in Thetas, but most seem to."

  "Are you telling me there are fifty-seven of these damn things unaccounted for?" Tebrey demanded.

  "It looks like it."

  Tebrey sat back and rubbed his temples. "Does it say where they are?"

  "The report says they were to be destroyed, but we know at least one made it out. The Federation got ahold of one somehow."

  "I can think of how," Tebrey said. "The Enemy."

  "Why would Thetas need a machine like that?"

  "Think, Geoffrey! With that many of the machines, the Enemy could make an army – an army of Thetas."

  "Oh, shit."

  "Imagine the devastation they could unleash with a weapon like that."

  "I'm trying not to," Geoffrey said. "Could this be Jotnar?"

  "I don't think so," Tebrey replied. "For one thing, I don't think this was a plan of the Empire. I think the Thetas planned this one. They manipulated the projects to make it happen. Also, Jotnar was said to be able to destroy a planet. This would kill the people, but not the planet itself."

  "What now?"

  "We keep looking."

  "That would be a lot easier if we knew what we were looking for," said Geoffrey.

  "Yeah, I for one would..." Tebrey trailed off, his eyes unfocused.

  "What is it?" Geoffrey asked.

  "We're too late," Tebrey whispered hoarsely.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  "I'm sorry to interrupt, Admiral," announced Marcus, the city MI, "but the traffic control MI noticed a ship entering orbit without authorization."

  Mandor put down his fork. He'd been deep in conversation with Lyra and David over dinner. "Why are you telling me? Notify customs."

  "The traffic control MI has, Admiral, but the ship is from the Empire, and its name triggered a search algorithm you had initiated."

  "I'm sorry – what search?"

  "The ship is a merchant vessel named Jotnar. It is the only time that name has come up in a search."

  Mandor stumbled away from the table, knocking his chair over.

  "Mandor, what is it?" Lyra asked, concerned.

  He ignored her. "Is the Arcadia in orbit, Marcus?"

  "Yes, Admiral."

  He locked eyes with Lyra. "Please get Ana and Hunter off this planet to safety. Tell them I'm sorry."

  "Mandor? What..?"

  He cut her off. "No time. Damn it, no time!" He brought up a memory of the bridge of the Arcadia. "Go!" he screamed, then apported into orbit.

  The alarms went off as soon as he arrived. His head felt like it was going to explode from pain. He'd never been good at apporting, and the Arcadia was sitting a full light-minute out from Dawn. He sagged to his knees amid the startled exclamations of the bridge crew.

  "Do you require medical attention, Admiral?" asked Isadora, the ship's MI.

  "No!" He pulled himself to his feet and over to where Torenth sat, amazed. "Move into orbit! Now!"

  "We'll need to file a flight plan," said Torenth. "What's this all about?"

  "No time! No time, damn it! Move this fucking ship!"

  Torenth exchanged a concerned glance with his XO, Deirdre Dominica. "Move us into orbit," he ordered.

  "Full speed, maximum burn," said Mandor.

  "Sir, our wake will damage many ships," Dominica said.

  "That's an order."

  She nodded to the helmsman, and the ship leapt into orbit at three thousand gravities. Smaller ships were thrown aside, some of them colliding. There were murmurs from the bridge crew; Mandor ignored them.

  "There's a merchant ship in orbit, the Jotnar. Find it and destroy it."

  "Sir, can I talk to you in my office?" asked Torenth.

  "No, you may not," Mandor said through clenched teeth. "Find that ship, now! The fate of the planet depends on it."

  "Got it," announced Chief Bharati, the weapons NCO. "It's breaking orbit an
d diving toward the planet."

  "Arm the primaries and take it out."

  "Captain?"

  "Do as he says," said Torenth.

  "Yes, sir, firing now."

  "Overridden!" Isadora announced. "I'm sorry, but if you fire the primaries along the current trajectory, you'll hit a population center. Millions would be killed."

  "Damn it!" Mandor shouted. "If we don't destroy that ship, everyone will die! Every fucking person on Dawn!"

  "I'm sorry, but I cannot allow you fire on the planet with neutron weapons. I am arming the defense lasers," Isadora said. "They have the range, but are much more precise than primaries. That will minimize casualties on the ground. I've also alerted the defense forces. They will evacuate the civilians to shelters." She sounded pained.

  "The merchant ship is entering the atmosphere," said Dominica.

  "Are we in range with defense lasers?"

  "They'll be less effective because of the ionization around the hull of the merchant ship."

  "Just shoot the damn thing!"

  Mandor watched on the display over Torenth's shoulder as lasers struck out from the Arcadia, leaving glowing trails in the atmosphere. They hit the merchant ship, but it kept falling toward the planet.

  "Hit ineffectual," said Bharati.

  "I see that. Keep hitting them." Mandor moved to his customary acceleration couch.

  "Captain, we're getting dangerously close to the atmospheric envelope."

  "Take us in, pilot," Mandor ordered.

  "Sir? The Arcadia isn't built for atmospheric reentry."

  "That ship is carrying a device that can destroy this entire planet."

  "Taking her in now," the pilot said quietly.

  Collision alarms went off, and the crash harnesses clamped down just before the Arcadia hit the atmosphere far too fast. The bridge crew were thrown against their harnesses, and alarms began to screech as damage reports poured in.

  "Keep firing!" Mandor shouted over the din. The merchant ship was starting to tumble as the laser fire took its toll. He couldn't believe the small ship was still intact. The Empire must have armored it before sending it in.

  "Admiral, I'm detecting dangerous gravitic anomalies from the Jotnar," Isadora said.

  "What?"

  On the screens, the ship suddenly disappeared in a searing blast of radiation. It its place was a spot Mandor couldn't focus on, a hole of infinite blackness. It shot toward the planet's surface, and a vortex of air followed it. Pulses of intense radiation blasted out from it as it hit the surface and disappeared.

  "Overriding engines," said Isadora.

  Mandor was pressed into his acceleration couch as the MI took the safeties off the engines and blasted them back into orbit. Normal gravity returned a minute later. Someone on the bridge was sobbing. Mandor didn't know if they were hurt or crying for the fate of the world they had just lost, and the billions of people about to die.

  Θ

  Lyra and David arrived outside of the Tebrey residence. The southern continent was shrouded in darkness.

  "Are we in the right place?" David asked.

  "I've only been here once," said Lyra. "I think so. That is as good as I can say."

  "What was going on with the Admiral?" he said.

  Lyra shrugged. "He was thinking about a weapon that destroys worlds. He must think it's on that ship."

  "They have that kind of tech here?"

  "Apparently they do now." She walked up to the door and knocked. As soon as she got close, she was sure she was in the right place. She could feel the minds inside.

  Tonya Harris answered the door. She was holding an antimatter pistol. "Who are you?" the woman demanded. The hostility in her voice was clear.

  "You know me. I'm Lyra, and this is my friend David," Lyra said. "We helped you and Ghost over to a ship at Steinway. We need to talk to Ana. Admiral Shadovsky sent us here."

  "Tonya, stop being overprotective," Ana scolded. She pushed Tonya out of the doorway. "Please come in, and don't mind my friend."

  Tonya holstered her pistol and stalked into the other room.

  I like her, David thought. His thoughts were tinged with humor.

  "Ana, Mandor is worried. He thinks Dawn is about to be attacked. He wanted us to get you, Amanda and Hunter off planet."

  "Tonya and Ghost, too."

  "That could be difficult. David?"

  "I've got it covered."

  "Okay, Ana, grab Amanda. We need to go now."

  Ana darted from the room and returned a moment later with her daughter. "I have other friends on this planet."

  "I'm sorry, Ana. We can't save everyone."

  Ana began quietly crying, but nodded. "I'm ready."

  "Okay, we're going to jump back to Aurora. We'll be landing next to the lake."

  Tonya and Ghost moved close.

  Lyra nodded to David, and then staggered a moment later, clutching her head. She'd fixed the location in her mind, but when she tried to apport, it was like hitting a brick wall. David had a fixed look on his face that she recognized: he was angry.

  "What happened?" Ana asked. "Why didn't we leave?"

  "Interdiction field," David growled.

  "What the hell is that?" asked Tonya.

  "It is a field that prevents dimensional apportation."

  "Is that...?"

  "Yes, Lyra, Firster tech."

  "So we aren't leaving?" Tonya said.

  "No."

  "Fucking figures." She ran from the room.

  "Where's she going?" Lyra asked.

  "Probably to get her armor," said Ana.

  Just then a feeling of wrongness swept over. Lyra felt ill. She knew that sensation well.

  "They're outside," David said. "At least three of them. I think they're Ancient Fallen."

  Lyra brought her green soul-fire into her hands. "Ana, take Amanda and hide."

  Garage, Hunter thought. Ghost, go with her.

  Ana and Ghost ran from the room.

  Tonya came back in wearing her powered armor. "What have we got?"

  "Trouble."

  "Ya' think?" She drew her rifle and knelt to brace her aim.

  "Been a long time, hasn't it, David?"

  He smiled grimly. "I guess we'll see if I still have it."

  The front of the house exploded. Three armored figures wreathed in darkness darted forward, sending waves of destructive black flames ahead of them.

  Lyra met the assault with a wall of soul-fire, and was almost bowled over. They were powerful, these Ancients. They were more powerful than almost any she had ever met.

  David dove through the black flames, protected by his own green soul-fire. He tackled the first Dark One, and they disappeared into the yard.

  Pulses of star-fire hit the two Dark Ones, but they ignored the attack and surged into the living room, swinging clawed limbs at the defenders. Tonya cried out as the black fire hit her and knocked her back. Hunter hit one of the Dark Ones, and it staggered back from the blow. Lyra remembered being told that neo-panthers had been engineered to assault Homndruu in armor. She'd seen those aliens; they were huge.

  Hunter screamed as the black fire hit him, but swung again at the Dark One, tearing open the armor. Lyra sent pulses of soul-fire into the rent, and the Dark One began screaming itself as the fire ate it from the inside out.

  "Behind you!" Tonya screamed.

  Two more Dark Ones had entered from the back of the house. Bolts of dark fire blasted Lyra from her feet. She writhed in agony as she burned. She struggled to bring her own fire back. The pain was worse than she'd ever felt.

  Go! she thought to Hunter and Tonya. Get them out of here!

  Then the first Dark One she'd been fighting lifted her and flung her through a wall.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Tonya stumbled through the falling rafters.

  The house was coming down around her, burning in a few places but mostly just rotted away by the extreme entropy of the Thetas' black fire. She didn't know
where Hunter was, but she could feel his pain. She thought he was fighting the Theta who'd flung Lyra away like a ragdoll.

  She half-fell through the door into the garage.

  Ana was crouched behind Ghost, holding Amanda tight to her chest. Tonya felt something loosen in her own chest. She would die to defend this woman and child if she had to.

  We might yet, Ghost thought to her. She was worried about Hunter.

  Tonya drew her positron pistol and backed away from the door. The medical suite in her armor was warning her that she urgently needed medical attention. She was bleeding internally. She overrode the system and had it inject her with a massive dose of painkillers. She also had it inject anti-shock drugs and begin adding blood to her system from the reserve.

  The door exploded, and a Theta staggered in. It was wounded, but not enough. It gestured and sent black fire into her even as she fired her pistol. The blast of antimatter tore a hole in its side, but the fire hit her, and her gun exploded. She was flung back, screaming, as the fire ate through her armor.

  She'd fought Thetas before, but these were in a class of their own.

  It hit her with another blast of fire and she screamed in agony.

  Then Ghost hit it and drove it into the wall. They wrestled around the room as Ana desperately tried to protect Amanda. Ghost suddenly screamed as it grabbed her by the throat and raked its claws down her belly, ripping her open. Blood sprayed across the room. Tonya screamed and attacked it with her combat knife, but it swatted away her like an insect.

  She hit the floor next to where Ana crouched in terror.

  Suddenly, the room lit up as Hunter apported in. He was burned and bleeding from a hundred cuts, but he was also very, very angry and wreathed in blue-white flames. He leapt forward, catching the Theta from behind and flinging it across the garage.

  He apported and was atop the Theta before it could get up. His flaming claws tore the Theta to shreds, and he stumbled back over to them, the fire dying. Help her, he thought.

  Tonya forced herself to crawl to Ghost; her legs wouldn't work. Ghost was covered in blood and horribly burned. Tonya tried to apply pressure, but didn't know where to begin.

  Ana pushed her aside and pressed medical nanopacks across the wound.