But she didn’t take it. “Sfganoff is our next scheduled port of call.”
“That is correct,” Reiria nodded. “I’m certain we’ll reach it before they do, of course.”
“How many did you spot?”
“We’ve confirmed the presence of 120 space-time bubbles. Their total mass is about 90 zesaboc (ZESAHBO). If it’s a fleet, that’s equivalent to four ïadbyrec (YAHDBYOOR, sub-fleets).”
Lexshue gazed at the ïac fadr (YAH FAHD, map of flat space) projected on the floor. At its center, there was a blue blip indicating the patrol ship’s location. A number of gates coiled like dark spirals.
The gates of normal space had next to no mass, but they radiated energy. As such, they were always repelling against solar winds. Consequently, it was common practice to place them on the outskirts of star systems.
However, when a gate was placed beyond an event horizon, it would receive energy pressure in excess of the amount of energy it radiated. In such cases, unlike the majority of gates, energy would get funneled from normal space to flat space. This phenomenon was referred to as the cigamh (KEEGAHF, volcano).
The energy erupting from the cigamh then became spuflasath (SPOOFLAHSAHTH, space-time particles — compressed fourth-dimensional space-time with about four times the mass of electrons). The spuflasath flowed from areas of greater particle-density to less dense areas, and popped back into normal space upon encountering another gate. Thusly did the energy that humanity once used for interstellar travel originate.
Space-time bubbles interacted with spuflasath space-time particles by absorbing them and radiating them back out, with the amount emitted greater than the amount taken in. That gap had to be compensated for by the energy poured into the space-time bubble engine. That was the toll they had to pay to flat space.
In addition to space-time particles, space-time bubbles also emitted saiserazz (SESRAHZ, mass-waves). Just like the electromagnetic waves in normal space, these mass-waves theoretically permeated all of space, penetrating space-time bubbles as well. Therefore, the presence of space-time bubbles could be detected even from extreme distances.
Around 60 degrees to the right of their current direction, an assemblage of mass-waves appeared and disappeared across three gates — Not even mass-waves could penetrate the gates.
Something out of the ordinary was upon them. The captain had no need to contemplate their situation to be sure of that.
If it had been an allied force moving a fleet that size, she would have been informed beforehand. If they had been thrust into flight just like that, it could only mean there was some emergency to deal with. If they weren’t their allies... then the ramifications went without saying.
She wanted to ask the mysterious group of space-time bubbles about their situation, but the physical laws of flat space unfortunately forbade it: mass-waves couldn’t be used for transmissions. The wavelength and frequency of mass-waves were both set in stone by the physics of flat space. If the mass of the space-time bubble could be changed, mass-waves could be viable as a means of communication, but gravity-control technology didn’t alter an object’s mass, and so it was of no help in this case.
The only effective method of establishing communications between space-time bubbles involved propelling space-time particles. This droch flactaider (DROHSH FLAHTEHDAR, inter-bubble communication), however, was almost unbearably slow, and useless unless the bubbles were very close.
“Do we know which gate they came through?” asked Lexshue.
“I’m having Rearguard Starpilot Rechecryac (RESHECRYOOA) do the calculations,” answered Reiria.
At last, Rechecryac, the fairly green young starpilot and rilbigac (REELBEEGA, navigator), made his report. “I’ve narrowed it down to 47 gates, but that’s all I can do.”
“Are there any of those 47 currently being used?” said Lexshue.
He looked up at Captain Lexshue and shook his head. “No, they’re all closed gates no one’s using at all.”
“What about gates that have inhabited planets within a light-year of them?”
Rechecryac ran a search of old documents pertaining to byrec ragrér (BYOOR RAHGREHR, exploration fleets) using his thought crystals. “There are none.”
“How about within five light-years?” Lexshue expanded the scope.
“There is one! Just one!” Rechecryac’s cheeks flushed red with excitement.
“Where?”
“It’s the planet Bascotton IV of the Bascotton Star System, 4.1 light-years away from Saudec Ceutesocnbina Céïcr (SOHD KYEUTOHSOHCNBEENA CAYC, Gate 193 of Caysh). It belongs to... the United Humankind!”
Reiria came by her side and whispered, “I think we’ve crossed paths with a business rival of ours.”
In the past, the Abh sailed their secret, giant ship, the Ablïar (named, of course, after the surname of the Imperial Household), through eight different closed gates, wandering the universe as armed merchants. Though technically “merchants,” relying on imports for food and quotidian items was not very wise when they didn’t know when they would encounter any trade partners. After all, everything needed for everyday life was produced within the ship itself.
The one thing they considered of equal value, the main product they paid for, was information.
The history, technology, scientific papers, and artwork of each human society became commodities. These human societies, separated as they were by dozens and sometimes even hundreds of light-years of nothingness, craved information regarding their far-flung brethren, and the city-ship Ablïar would provide that service as the only line they had, however fraught with uncertainty.
The Abh might not have put much stock in the idea of “mutual support,” for trade with them was decidedly one-sided: they showed what they could supply buyers with, and gave it a price. Despite being merchants, they took a dislike to hairsplitting bargaining, quickly leaving star systems whenever negotiations broke down. And whenever they felt they had been taken for a ride, they would also leave — but only after exacting what, in their eyes, was a fitting revenge. Often enough, they would come to realize that it had been an unfortunate misunderstanding, but by that time they were already hundreds of years away from the ones they ought to have apologized to. Though the Abh did hold justice and fairness in esteem, they didn’t respect those lofty ideals quite enough to go out of their way to retrace their steps to express their regret.
Among the terrestrial worlds, the Abh earned themselves a reputation for haughtiness and recklessness. It was after the founding of their Empire that the Abh expanded, but that prior, mercantile era saw the birth of their initial incarnation out of some unknown star system.
Finally, the Abh, who had gathered up the essential kernels of all human science, established the Clofairh Fadhotr (CLOHFEHRR FAHDTHOHT, Theory of Flat Space Navigation). They chose a star system in which to settle so they could conduct experiments to open the gates. When they succeeded after 50 years of experimentation, they decided to monopolize the technology.
Up to that point in time, every human world was separated from each other by vast stretches, so interstellar war simply could not occur. But the fazz fadhotr (FAHZ FAHDTHOHT, flat space navigation technology) had now made it possible. Of course, this didn’t change how vast space was, but humans are ingenious at finding cause for war. If multiple different societies got their hands on the technology, it would inevitably lead to a large-scale war, and managing it monopolistically was the only way to prevent that.
Nonetheless, there was scientific theory, and then there was technology. It wasn’t a scandal, so even if they laid down an airtight gag order, there was no doubt somebody would find out eventually. That was why the Abh then decided to uphold the monopoly by uniting all of humanity... by force.
According to statistics, when the Founding Emperor, Dunei, decreed the founding of the Empire, the total population of the Abh numbered 272,904. As the estimations of Abh population scholars had it, though the margin of error was sizeable, t
he total human population of the cosmos was over 100 billion. A people of fewer than 300,000 was to conquer and rule over all of humanity, 100 billion strong. Haughty and reckless, they truly were.
Unfortunately for them, however, they were not, in fact, the first among humanity to step into the realm of flat space. One settler civilization, in the Soomay Star System, managed to stumble upon a way to utilize flat space by pure chance. The Soomaynians didn’t monopolize the technology. With great generosity (and a not-so-generous price tag), they shared it with twenty other systems.
Upon incorporating five star-systems into the Empire, the Abh noticed there had been prior visitors to flat space. This caused them dread and discomfort. The policies of the Soomay Star System were needlessly complicating the political situation of the universe, or so reckoned the Abh.
They asserted that universal affairs were best at their simplest, and that the simplest state would involve a single, all-encompassing system of government. The race that carried the burdens of the universe on its shoulders could only be the Abh, as surface peoples did not love space as they did. Landers had only to pursue happiness on their own worlds, for the entire cosmos to get along in perfect bliss. Sadly for them, the other interstellar nations had their own thoughts on the matter, so the contentions of the Empire had no persuasive power.
The Abh also knew well enough to honor vested interests, so they refrained from meddling with the star systems that had bought Soomay’s technology, but they had no intention whatsoever of mimicking Soomay’s behavior. So, when they came across a terrestrial world that had no knowledge of flat space navigation technology, they proceeded to conquer it with no reservation.
Human societies unfolded exactly as they had feared. Each interstellar nation seemed intent on finding points of conflict with each other, opening hostilities for reasons impartial parties couldn’t comprehend. The Empire observed these epoch-forging wars with relish, and took to viewing the nations conducting them as children indulging in a bizarre pastime. But when they could no longer avoid it, they, too, became another participant in the strife.
In wartime, the Abh knew neither mercy, nor bounds. Once war was declared, any possibility of a compromise was lost. They would not lay down arms until they had robbed the enemy of their navigational capabilities, dismantled it, and subsumed their entire star system into the Empire.
This viciousness sparked equally severe counteraction. Many of the Empire’s most distinguished members, including two emperors and seven crown princes, scattered across space.
However, it was always the Humankind Empire of Abh that sang the song of victory in the end. This Empire, ruled by an almost alien race that didn’t see war as an extension of diplomacy, was deemed by the other interstellar nations as an enigmatic threat.
The nations continually united and divided, but overall, they tended to decrease in number. As of now, there were only four distinct, sovereign nations remaining, excluding the Empire. In order of power and influence, they were the United Humankind or “UH,” the Hania Federation, the Greater Alkont Republic, and the People’s Sovereign Stellar Union or “PSSU.” The United Humankind, the largest of these, had a population of 600 billion. Taken together, all four had a population of 1.1 trillion. While each of these states differed from each other in small ways, they had all been founded on constitutions that championed democracy.
12 years prior, the four nations convened at the United Humankind’s star system of Nova Sicilia to forget their squabbles and sign a pact. They were now military allies. While which nation they’d formed an alliance against wasn’t spelled out, it could only be the one nation they hadn’t invited — the Humankind Empire of Abh.
The Nova Sicilia Accords styled its signatories the “Member-Nations of the Nova Sicilia Treaty Organization.” However, since they preferred to self-identify as democracies, the Empire called them the Brubhoth Gos Synr (BROOVOHTH GOHS SYIN, Four Nations Alliance or “FNA”).
The point of the alliance was to make the Empire feel the heat and take a more conciliatory tack. And yet, the Empire reacted favorably to the Nova Sicilia Accords. That was because their enemies had all but declared themselves as such, and, as a consequence, universal affairs had gotten very simple indeed.
Since that time, they looked upon each other with scorn, but while relations between the Empire and the Nations of the Treaty remained antagonistic, they were peaceful. However, over the past year, that low-key rivalry steadily grew into something more serious. According to the statements of the Treaty Organization, what caused tensions to ratchet up was the Abh Empire’s conquest of the Hyde Star System.
Lexshue saw through that flimsy pretext. The Conquest of Hyde had occurred seven years ago. The Treaty Organization issued its perfunctory tandem statements of protest at the time, but went completely silent about it afterward. And yet, it seemed they’d conveniently rediscovered that the Conquest of Hyde was an unforgivable act of belligerence a year or so ago. There weren’t any recent developments of note on the Countdom of Hyde; any new developments of sufficient importance can only have happened within the FNA.
“So that’s it,” murmured Lexshue.
Reiria raised an eyebrow. “What is?”
Lexshue smiled wryly. “Oh, nothing. It’s just that the FNA has really been keen on starting a war, judging by their actions. Am I wrong? All of their demands have been over-the-top; they want us not only to relinquish control over the Countdom, but to give them a corridor into Empire territory so they can ‘guard’ it. They must know the Empire would never make concessions like that.”
“But what of it?”
“In other words, they’ve made their preparations, so all they need is an excuse.”
“Ah, I see. They must have spent quite some time preparing.”
They collected the closed gates drifting across normal space, and experimented with opening them. Meanwhile, they had no way of knowing whether there were any gates in flat space placed at points that suited their purposes unless they tried opening them.
How many gates must they have looked into to find one under Abh control? In addition, to carry a gate that met their requirements through normal space to a point near a peopled planet — or, to put it differently, a point near a gate already in use...
In order to do such a thing, they would have to wait for the gate to close again. When an open gate was left to its own devices in a low-energy state, it naturally turned into a closed gate. However, its half-life is 12 years.
“It’d be a miracle if this plan of theirs didn’t take at least a decade. Well, their miracle, our nightmare.”
Reiria agreed. “They started this endeavor before the birth of the Countdom of Hyde, of that we can be certain.”
“Yes, and that whole Hyde issue is a very recent one. In fact, the Nova Sicilia Accords might have been signed with this scheme in mind.”
“What I don’t understand,” said Reiria, his hands outstretched, “is why they would bother with such transparent lies.”
“Oh, the only ones they’re fooling are themselves.”
“You mean this is an act of self-delusion...? I’m afraid I’m no closer to grasping their motivations.”
“I’m not exactly an expert on their inner psyches, either. I just figure they’d like to believe that justice is on their side.”
“What an honor — to them, we must be the embodiments of evil!” Reiria’s moustache curled as he sneered.
Now Lexshue raised an eyebrow. “What, Reiria, you didn’t know? We’re born aggressors and mass murderers. You need to sit down and read a UH textbook one of these days. You’ll learn all about how every calamity was perpetrated by the Abh...”
At that moment, she was interrupted by a drociac (DROHKEEA, communications officer) assigned to the investigation mission who had something to report. “There’s been a shift in the fleet of enemy space-time bubbles!”
The young linewing starpilot had prematurely identified the space-bubbles as “enemies,
” yet no one intended to correct him.
Lexshue’s eyes fixed on the unidentified space-time bubbles. “Each individual bubble split into ten. They’ve changed course and are heading toward us. Judging by their total mass, I think it’s actually a single bubble, belonging to a gairh (GERR, assault ship) class vessel.”
The velocity of space-time bubbles was solely based on mass. There was no avenue of technological improvement on that front; it’s simply how physics works. As one might imagine, the lighter the mass, the faster it went. Because typical fleets were accompanied by massive vessels like battle-line warships and isadh (EESAHDTH, transport freighters), they were even slower than patrol ships. But it was a different story for fleets composed only of smaller vessels like assault ships.
It was now clear: the objective of the group of space-time bubbles that had split into ten was the capture of the Goslauth.
“When will our guests enter the range of the hocsath (mines)?”
The communications officer soon worked it out.
“Around 21:15 ship’s-time.” They had about four hours.
“Vice-Captain,” said the captain. Her voice turned far firmer than before. “Initiate ïocsdozbhoth mata (YOHGDOHZVOHTH MAHTA, Stage 2 War Preparations). I plan to shift to ïocsdozbhoth casna (CAHSNA, Stage 1) at 20:30 ship’s-time. Senior gunner, give me your tactical analysis. We need to know what our chances of victory are.”
Even as Lexshue handed down her orders, concern for the non-personnel onboard — the young noble of Hyde and the princess — flashed through her mind.
Jinto was grappling with the riüérh cnassotr cénrur sazoïr (REEWEHRR CNASSOHT KENROOR SAZOYR, quartermasters’ academy school rules). If what the recruiting office had told him regarding starpilots was to be believed, all students were expected to drill these rules into their brains before their first day. But it was impossible! Jinto cursed using the dirtiest word in all of Delktunian.
When he’d been handed the ghaich (JESH, memory crystal) at the office, he’d had no inkling of just how much text it had been hiding. It had obviously never occurred to whoever compiled this list of rules that deleting outdated ones was a possibility. Instead, they resorted to smoothing it all over... by introducing even more, supplementary rules. The imperial-calendar date of each amendment was listed alongside all the dozens of screens’ worth of rules.
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