He chose a position on an overhead gantry above the main generator. He needed to insulate himself from the metal walkway. He applied TK-force to the soles of his boots, slightly more than his own weight, and lifted himself off the surface. But trying to keep still in space was like walking on a tightrope. He was soon covered in bruises as he repeatedly floated up a few inches and lost his balance. He would keel over one way and then overcorrect in the opposite direction, swinging with ever-increasing amplitude until he crashed into the wall or the gantry handrail.
‘Geoff, what the feckin’ hell are you doing?’ Maura called over his com-phone.
‘Sorry, can’t talk now. Don’t touch any metal.’ Geoff turned off his phone.
He tried a different approach. He jumped normally. Yes, he could hold himself in the air using vertical TK-force under his arms, each side equivalent to half his own weight. In the low gravity, he could easily jump up two metres. As long as he kept away from obstacles, he had enough space to stay upright. But it took all his concentration to keep himself stable.
The ship was creaking and groaning. Geoff felt drips falling on his head as the joints in the hull were strained. He steadied himself, threw the harpoon, but it overshot. He spun round, losing his balance. He TK-ed the harpoon back into his hand and tried again. This time it bounced harmlessly off the conductors. Third time lucky? Yes, thank God! The harpoon simultaneously struck the high voltage terminal and the hull. A brilliant electric arc welded the missile in place. The circuit breakers operated, the lighting reduced to emergency low level but, as he’d hoped, the generator kept running. The harpoon glowed like the sun as it conducted high voltage electricity into the hull. With a sudden lurch, the whale-bot rose upwards.
Geoff floated over to the electrical cubicles and opened the main breaker. Working under the emergency lighting, he found a saw, hacked off the harpoon and reclosed the breaker. Nice job, he told himself as he limped back to the wardroom. And I’ve learnt how to levitate. I can fly even without wings.
‘What were you playing at, Geoff?’ demanded Maura. ‘You cut me off . . . Oh, you’re bleeding. And you’ve hurt your leg. Sorry, are you okay?’
‘I’m fine, just a few bruises. I couldn’t think what to do. Then I remembered that old book by Jules Verne. The crew of the Nautilus fought a giant squid. But that was on the surface of the sea, and they used axes.’
‘Of course, the Nautilus. It could electrify itself when it was attacked.’
‘Yes, but only the handrails below the hatches – in the book, anyway. What we did was much better!’
‘Thank you, Geoff,’ said Chen. ‘You do good job making squid go. We give it mighty shock. On Earth, men killed whales with harpoons, but your harpoon save our whale-bot.’
Geoff looked at the happy faces of his friends and envied them. He hadn’t sought it, but he sensed he’d emerged as their leader. They would expect him to solve their problems from now on. He had a feeling he’d soon be tested again.
Europa rotated within the magnetic field of Jupiter and its saltwater ocean was electrically conductive. As a result, the moon had north and south magnetic poles. This was of academic interest for Geoff and Maura, who measured the intensity of the field as part of their daily instrument checks. However, the practical benefit was they could plot their course using magnetic compass bearings.
‘You know, Maura, the ice cap’s getting thinner the further east we go,’ said Geoff.
‘It could be because of volcanic activity on the seabed. If we can find some more hydrothermal vents, perhaps the Thiosh could hang out there for a while.’
‘Well, at this rate we’ll soon be able to surface under the stars.’
‘That would be marvellous, altogether. Wouldn’t it be grand just to take a stroll on deck?’ she said.
Each day, Geoff noted a reduction in the ice cap’s thickness. They maintained a course just below its bottom surface until, at last, they found themselves in open sea as Geoff had hoped. Maura switched on the distraydar and programmed the autopilot to steer clear of icebergs.
They all put on pressure suits from the escape compartment and climbed out of the top hatch. The sea was smooth and calm, gentle waves glinting in the starlight. Once again, they saw the mesmerising skyscape. Jupiter was in a crescent phase, twenty-three times bigger than the Moon seen from Earth. A dozen or more of Jupiter’s other moons were visible, as were the outer planets, each easily identifiable by its colour; aquamarine Uranus, azure Neptune, and Saturn shining through its translucent rings, a golden sphere tinged blue-green like a ripening plum.
Chen waited until he had Geoff and Maura’s attention. He was holding a coil of wire and smiling broadly. ‘I make fishing line. Maybe I catch something.’
‘You could give it a go,’ said Geoff. ‘But be careful how you swing your hook around. If you get a fish we’ll scan it with the biometer and see if it’s edible.’
Chen switched on the torch built into his hood and concentrated on impaling a protein cube on the end of the hook. But before he even cast his line, a large fish jumped clear of the waves. ‘Aiya! Light attract fish. I turn on floodlights and get more.’
‘No, don’t do that,’ said Geoff. But it was too late. Just as Chen illuminated the whale-bot and all the sea around them, Geoff saw the OPDEO surveillance satellite tracking fast across the background of stars. ‘Oh shit. Everyone inside. It’s time to dive again.’
‘I think maybe they see us,’ said Chen. ‘Sorry.’
‘Yes, they may have done. The question is – have they got a sub nearby that can intercept us?’ said Geoff. ‘We’ll go deep and try to make as little noise as possible. Meanwhile, keep scanning the external mikes.’
It wasn’t long before Maura announced she’d picked up a new sound. ‘A sort of pulsing throb. D’you think it’s screw propellers?’
‘I’ve put the sonar bearings on the screen,’ said Geoff. ‘There’s something out there and it’s moving fast. Make a ninety-degree turn, Maura.’
Geoff watched the fuzzy image on his screen change course to follow their manoeuvre. ‘Okay, now turn the other way.’
‘Is it still heading for us?’
Geoff performed some mental calculations. ‘I’d say it’s steering the shortest course to intercept us. I’m afraid it’s a sub. Can we go any faster?’
‘Sorry. We’re the wrong shape for high speed.’
‘It is my fault. I cause trouble again,’ said Chen.
‘Don’t talk,’ said Geoff. ‘We’ll shut everything down and stay dead quiet. If we don’t make any noise, they won’t know where we are.’
The screen image of the sub had become sharper and larger. It was close enough for them to hear the rushing sound of its propellers from inside the whale-bot. Geoff felt the turbulence as the vessel passed over them. But then, nothing. Chen clamped his hand over his mouth and suppressed a nervous laugh.
‘That’s funny,’ said Geoff, frowning. ‘I think it’s lost us.’
But then the whale-bot lurched. Maura fell onto Geoff and they both toppled over.
‘What the feckin’ hell was that?’ Maura asked, massaging her elbow. ‘Did they hit us with something?’
Geoff levered himself upright and sequenced through the viz-box images from the cameras. ‘Christ, they’ve caught us in a trawl net. The sub’s got us in tow.’ He focused on part of the net and tried to wrench it apart with all the telekinetic force he could muster, but it was not enough. He guessed the mesh was made from high tensile steel.
‘They could have torpedoed us,’ said Maura. ‘But they obviously want us alive – and you know what that means.’
The following two days were some of the worst in Geoff’s life. The submarine increased its speed and, as a result, the whale-bot swung to and fro as they were pulled through the sea. The fluctuation of their craft was matched by the disorder in his mind.
Geoff was suffering a crisis of confidence. It was only six months since he’d met Maura, although it s
eemed like six years. Because of the choices he’d made, they were now ensnared in a rolling and yawing net, dragging them towards an unknown horror. The memory of OPDEO’s threat to torture Maura gnawed Geoff from within. She appeared calm but was saying little.
Chen somehow managed to take refuge in sleep. He’d revealed their position on the open sea, but Geoff didn’t think it was entirely his fault. OPDEO’s sub had arrived so quickly, he suspected it must have been tracking them already. Maura came and hugged him, but neither spoke.
Choices
At first, Geoff thought the explosion had happened inside his head, that the intensity of his thoughts had finally overloaded his brain. But from the shock registered on Maura’s and Chen’s faces, he realised they’d heard it too. He rushed to the control console, turned on the floodlights and flicked through the cameras’ viewscreens. The whale-bot was still inside the net, but no longer caught against the mesh. Geoff panned around, looking for the sub. As it came into view, he had a flashback to a horror film he’d seen in his youth, when a man was eaten by piranhas. A swarm of shiny machines were snapping at the sub with serrated teeth.
‘Hǎo jíla!’ cried Chen. ‘Gods be praised, Thiosh send shark-bots to rescue!’
They watched one of the robot fish bite a chunk out of a hydroplane. It was joined by the familiar outline of a crab-bot, flickering in the blue light of its cutting torch. Geoff noticed debris floating around. It must have been the explosion of a torpedo they’d heard. The sub had destroyed one of the machines.
Maura clasped her head and slumped into a seat. ‘I’m hearing a voice again, Geoff. It’s a Thiosh.’ She became absorbed in her thoughts, but without the evident pleasure she’d shown during her first Thiosh encounter. Geoff watched her frown and gesticulate as she expressed herself telepathically, sometimes clenching her fists and banging the arm of her chair.
Turning back to his viz-box, Geoff saw the crab-bot abandon its attempt to cut through the sub’s hull and begin work cutting through the blades of the screw propellers. Two shark-bots swam to the net and slashed through the mesh with their teeth until there was a hole wide enough for the whale-bot to escape. Geoff powered the craft through the gap and out into the ocean.
Maura roused herself from her trance. ‘Voorogg spoke to me,’ she told Geoff. ‘He’s the leader of the militant group who opposed Mettravar. I think they’re able to conceal their thoughts from other Thiosh. They were about to rip the sub apart, but I persuaded him to hold off.’
‘What? How d’you do that?’
‘I told him about OPDEO’s weapons of mass destruction. When I explained what OPDEO could do, he accepted he needed better weapons than just the cutting equipment he’s got at the moment. Then, he’ll either be able to fight OPDEO or negotiate peace from a position of strength.’
‘Oh, great, so now we’ve started another arms race.’
‘Hey, hang on,’ said Maura, prodding Geoff with her forefinger. ‘Don’t I deserve some praise? I thought I handled it rather well.’
Geoff backed off, massaging his chest. ‘The rebel Thiosh killed their own leader. How could you reason with them after that?’
‘I stopped them killing the sub’s crew. OPDEO would have gone berserk if they’d done that. And now we’re free again, instead of being dragged along like a pike fishing lure. Come on, cheer up!’
‘I don’t like you letting an alien put thoughts in your head,’ said Geoff, rubbing his beard.
Maura gave him a hug. ‘It’s okay, you needn’t be jealous of a sulphur-eating fish. But all I want is to get away from here. Can they still follow us?’
‘No, we’re safe for the moment,’ said Geoff, his voice muffled by Maura’s hair. ‘Now Thiosh bots have chewed lumps out of the sub, it won’t be able to steer, and its propellers won’t be a lot of use.’
‘But OPDEO know we’re here,’ said Maura, breaking free. ‘They could send something else. Quick, let’s wag our fluke and get out of here.’
Kai pondered the significance of the encounter he’d had while he was away from the Aquila. He was aware the others must have picked up one side of his strange conversation with the Virtuon, as it had described itself, but they didn’t question him. He was grateful they seemed prepared to wait until he shared his experience with them. They must have sensed he needed time to think.
Leona was blacking out the observation windows to prevent any passing Hesperian destroyer from seeing them. Kai was scanning radio frequencies for a signal with the patterns he’d detected before. Then a babble of Hesperian speech bombarded his ears. He sat rigidly in his flight chair. Leona put her hand on his shoulder and asked him what was wrong. He smiled grimly and gestured for her to sit down next to him. Then he took off his headphones and summoned Huang from the exercise room.
‘There is terrible news from Earth,’ he told them. ‘The Empire launched a nuclear attack on New Amsterdam City, three hours ago. There was no warning. A source in the Septagon said the city was totally destroyed.’ Leona gasped and put her head in her hands.
Kai continued. ‘Once they were alerted, other cities in the Federation defended themselves with anti-missile lasers. They destroyed hundreds of Khitan warheads before they reached their targets.’
‘What of the Empire?’ asked Huang. ‘Have the Hesperians hit back?’
‘It is hard to tell. There is massive radio interference affecting all Khitan communications. I think the Empire is using electronic countermeasures to block the Hesperian missiles. There seems to be an impasse after the initial attack, but it will not stay that way.’
‘The Khitans tried a pre-emptive strike,’ said Leona. ‘I was afraid the Hesperians would start a war. I never thought the Empire would attack first.’
Huang seemed unperturbed. ‘I think this is good news. The Empire has acted strongly and with success. They have taught the Hesperians a lesson they will not forget, and now the fighting has stopped.’
‘No, Huang,’ said Kai. ‘The deadlock will be only temporary. Each side will find new ways to attack the other, until either the Federation or the Empire is destroyed.’
‘We should warn the Khitan government,’ said Huang. ‘They need to know there are Hesperians with paranormal powers. If Geoff and Maura find a way of teaching others in their Federation how to use telepathy and telekinesis, that could change the strategic balance. It would be best if they perish in the Europan ocean – if they are still alive.’
‘Shut up, Huang!’ shouted Leona. ‘That’s an evil thing to say. Maura believes every form of life is precious and Geoff works for the UN, on a committee dedicated to peace.’
‘Leona is right,’ said Kai. ‘New Amsterdam City has been destroyed. I fear millions have already perished. Saazat Mettravar wanted peace on Earth as well as on Europa. There may be other Thiosh who could help stop the war.’
‘Why should Thiosh defend the Hesperians?’ said Huang, his eyes blazing. ‘They should be fighting for the Khitans. And what about you, Leona? You are Hesperian, but I know you have spied for the Empire. You are in a difficult position, I think.’ The thought seemed to amuse him.
‘I will follow Kai,’ said Leona. ‘He is our leader now. As you said yourself, Huang, without loyalty there is no honour.’
Kai was alone in his cabin. He was sitting perfectly still, cross-legged in the lotus position, the feeble gravity of the asteroid sufficient to hold him to the deck. He pictured Maura in his mind and she responded joyfully. She told him how pleased she was that he could telepathise again, and assured him that Geoff, Chen and herself were all well and in good spirits. But she quickly detected that Kai was carrying the burden of bad news. He told her about the outbreak of war, and they shared each other’s anguish as they considered the tragedy unfolding on Earth.
Kai thought again about the conversation he’d had with the Virtuon. Intelligent beings with knowledge and resources beyond the imagining of mere humans. Is it possible that aliens could end the enmity between Khitans and Hesperians?
Maura flipped on the whale-bot’s autopilot and turned to Geoff. ‘It’s terrible. New Amsterdam City has been destroyed. The Khitans knew about OPDEO’s plans and decided to hit the Federation first.’
‘Oh Christ!’ said Geoff. ‘My sister was in New Amsterdam. Why didn’t the missile defence system work?’
‘I guess they were caught by surprise.’
‘The Hesperians will hit back. They will certainly knock out the Khitan base on Mars. That was the main purpose of their presence on Europa.’
‘The Khitans are jamming the distraydar at the moment,’ said Maura.
‘I could help the Federation. I know about electronic countermeasures.’
‘Don’t try and join forces with Flannery and co. They’re trying to kill us, remember?’
Geoff gripped the finger Maura was wagging in his face. ‘Don’t do that, please. I’m worried about my family.’
‘I worry about mine too. But Voorogg will make the Thiosh strong. If they can neutralise OPDEO on Europa, the Federation will no longer have military superiority. It won’t be able to destroy the Khitans on Earth, or Thiosh on Europa.’
‘No, wait, we are Hesperians. What’ll happen to us if the Khitans and the Thiosh destroy the Federation?’
‘Sometimes you must choose between the least of two evils,’ said Maura.
Kai opened the locker above his bed and took down the ancient paper book of Khitan scriptures. He sought comfort in a favourite text but, opening the book at random, an unfamiliar passage caught his eye.
Space, time and matter are under my command. I am the tea master and the assassin. I change the essence of all things, material and immaterial. The knowledge of my existence is too much for Man. The heathen seek to destroy the Way of Truth. No one can see the path of the eagle in the air, or the snake on the ground. Likewise, the path of the sage is invisible. You, samanera, shall rule the fish of the endless ocean. I shall be your mind and your shadow.
The Hesperian Dilemma Page 10