The Nepheals kept themselves to themselves during the whole meeting. Their long faces were worried. I remember wondering if they were really sure that they wanted to be a part of this whole thing.
However, the refreshments were very good. Nivala’s crew set to and demolished as much as we could. It was not our fault if the others appeared to find the food unappetizing. We certainly didn’t. I saw Zenzie taking three slices of chocolate cake. Chocolate was something she had only recently discovered. I got the impression it was going to be a lasting partnership.
Once most of the shuttles had left, our group was invited out onto the kelp raft. The Macers wanted to discuss something with us.
We clambered down the ladder and stepped happily back onto the soft floating platform.
There was another document. We stared at it.
“When we last spoke to Supreme Oznard, you agreed to undertake the policing of the Interstellar Alliance.” It was the same Macer we had met before.
I nodded. “Not the whole of it, though. I don’t think one ship can do very much over what …? Eighty-seven million cubic light years?”
The Macer spread his long hands in an unexpectedly universal gesture. “It is a start,” he said. “Everything must have a start, and you are the beginnings of the Interstellar Enforcement Agency.”
Sammy stuck his chin out. “Do we get paid?”
The Macer nodded. “Indeed you do. Each race is paying a certain quantity of credits into a common fund to finance the needs of the Alliance. You will receive a sensible amount from that each month.”
Seyal, Didjal and Eshaan looked confused. They were unfamiliar with the concept of payment. Zenzara skipped and nearly tripped over a loop of kelp that had become loosened from the rest of the raft. Anzany looked at Neema and smiled. It would give them the independence they craved.
Sammy strode up to the document. “Is the amount in there?”
The Macer nodded.
Sammy ran a finger along the lines until he located the place. “Rye, you get more as Captain, but …” he whistled. “That is a substantial amount. I’m in!”
I walked up to join him. He was right. That was good money. Two million universal credits annually per ordinary crew member, three million for all officers and four million for the Captain. That would give us all money to spend.
It was such a change. I had never really had any money ever to spend. All Spacelanders worked for their shipstation. We had accounts, and could use those to buy whatever we needed, but it wasn’t actually our money; it belonged to the family. Individual wealth had been redundant for centuries for Spacelanders. It was a new concept for us.
This was going to be extremely strange. As far as I knew, only Terrans still used the concept of salaries. So it would be ground-breaking for the rest of the Major Shells. I wasn’t even sure what you could actually do with money any more. Well, I knew you could buy hotel rooms, and restaurant services, but those were usually on expense accounts and so didn’t count. And where would an individual buy food? There were no markets or shops any more. It was just so … weird.
Which made me wonder what was happening back home. Did I still have a home? What would happen if I stepped onto Bellaris again? Would my mother have relented? Would I be welcomed or derided? I wasn’t sure I wanted to find out.
“There are two things you should know.”
I shook my head slightly. The Macer was still talking. I should be concentrating on what he had to say, not wool-gathering. I made an effort to look intelligent. “Yes?”
“The Terrans have developed a new weapon.”
I heard several gasps beside me. My own jaw dropped. “What?”
The Macer’s small face screwed up in worry. “Indeed. The evidence is overwhelming. I’m afraid there can be no mistake.”
“What is it?”
“The Omnistate refers to it as the RAMP missile. They developed it as a deterrent, but it has already been used in this new war with the Avaraks. One was dropped on one of the Gienak moons, three days ago.”
I wondered how they knew what had happened so far away so fast. Gienak was a good two hundred light years away. It is one of the systems in the Local Shell that the Avaraks had taken over for their mining colonies. It provides a high percentage of the Shells’ platinum and rhodium.
“What happened?”
“The effect was even more devastating than the Omnistate had predicted. The moon is no longer there. However, things are much more serious than the total destruction of one moon. This new RAMP weapon somehow attacks the very fabric of spacetime itself. Have you ever heard of the ultra-dense phase of the vacuum energy?”
“No.”
The Macer shook his head in a mournful sort of way, sad at my lack of knowledge. “Then I can hardly explain to you the danger.” He looked around, clearly trying to dumb down the explanation to my level. I could feel my imaginary hackles rising. Zenzara was laughing at me. She would be. Tyzaran children were started on quantum physics at age six. She probably knew all about this sort of thing. I glared at her, but that only made her smile more.
The Macer pointed to the sea. “Imagine that this sea is the space-time continuum. It is liquid, yes? Fluid?”
“It is.” I may have been a bit curt. I was still smarting at being found wanting.
“Imagine then, that I have an additive that makes it solid. Not only that, but that my additive propagates, so that even if I only pour one small drop into it, the whole of this ocean will suddenly turn solid, killing every single living organism inside it.”
I frowned. “Are you saying that one RAMP missile could congeal all spacetime? You can’t be right, surely?”
The Macer bowed his head. “It is indeed what I am saying, although I do not believe that it is what the Terran Omnistate set out to do. Their level of technology is inferior to that of the Nepheals or the Tyzarans. However, it is what very nearly happened on the Gienak moon. This weapon is terrifying. It must be stopped. Immediately. The Terrans have no idea what it is they have unleashed. Each and every time it is used, there is a chance of total annihilation of our entire universe.”
His dark eyes seemed to pierce our souls. “The Nepheal have brought this to my attention. They have apparently been aware that such technology might be produced. As you know, they are the foremost scholars of the quantum world. Several recent Phaala theses have postulated the development of such a weapon, and they have expressed their concerns to us. The signature at Gienak is unmistakable. We have been given access to their theoretical work and are satisfied that there are no false assumptions.”
Suddenly the four million credits a year were looking mean. I gawked at him. “You expect us to waltz calmly up to the Terrans and remove their new secret weapon? To ensure it will never be used again?”
He seemed pleased. “Exactly!”
“How?”
“Excuse me?”
“How are we supposed to do that?”
The Macer shut his eyes and opened them again, several times in quick succession. “We do not know. It is indeed a challenging problem. We were unable to find any viable solutions in our conversations.”
“Great!” I turned to Zenzie. “Any ideas?”
She shook her head. Her eyes were very wide.
I looked at all the others. “Anybody?”
They were all in the same state of shock as me. Nobody had anything to say.
“Do you know how many of these weapons there are? Where they are being held? Are they on planet or on board ships? Where are they being produced?”
“It is believed that five prototypes were constructed … all of them at the Jupiter Military Base. Of those five, two were deployed at Gienak. One may not have been detonated; we are not sure at the moment. The other
three are thought to be distributed on three different ships. All are in convoy with the Eighth Omnistate Fleet, and are currently believed to be traveling from the Local Shell into the Bifold Shell.”
“Do you know their destination?”
“Given the hostilities, it seems likely that they will head to one of the Avarak outposts, possibly even Rhyveka itself.”
“How many ships form the fleet?”
“Thirty in total: Four battleships, ten light cruisers and sixteen destroyers.”
I blanched. One small patrol craft against thirty military-grade ships. Even the destroyers would be larger than Nivala.
The Macer was going on. “We know that the battleships are the Nanhai, the Chibuzo, the Telzaria and the Sanun. Three of those are believed to have one of the RAMP missiles on board. All must be stopped.”
“There is a difference between a policing unit and a full military presence,” I told him. This was getting more and more surreal.
“We are aware. However, at this moment in time, the Nivala and her crew are the only instruments we have that are authorized legally to act on behalf of the Interstellar Alliance. Your role was specifically agreed with all signatories.”
“Thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome.” His tone was so polite that I wondered if sarcasm existed amongst the Macers.
“We should proceed to sign these documents. After that, the Interstellar Enforcement Agency will have come into being and you can accept your first task. I myself am the authorized signatory on behalf of the Alliance.”
I found myself meeting Denaraz’s stare. He mirrored my own feelings. Total shock at the sheer size of the task ahead. He spoke. “How many of those who were at the previous meeting know about this new weapon?”
“At the current time, only the Nepheals. However, the destruction of the Gienak moon will be common knowledge very shortly. It cannot be hidden much longer.”
“I’m sure it can’t. You do realize that we may never come back from this mission?”
The Macer seemed to shrink in on himself. His limbs actually contracted in what I took to be pain. “It is a most unfortunate possibility. Yes, we are aware.”
I signed the document. “So we answer only to you? Not to Oznard?”
“Only to me. The Tyzarans will be compensated for their ship. The Nivala is no longer the property of the Tyzar Government.”
Zenzie wrinkles lightened. “So I don’t have to go back to be studied?” she asked.
The Macer appeared unaware of any such agreement. “The Nivala is now available for your use without any caveats,” he said. “However, all crew should sign the original document to witness it, together with the second document to regularize their position as crew members.”
I wondered if that would give Izan a problem, but he stepped over to the table and signed both documents with the rest of the crew members. Seyal paused before signing. “What about my son?”
The Macer took her quite seriously. “Your son is not old enough to be a crew member. However, all crew are entitled to accommodation and board for dependent family members. He may stay with you.”
Seyal’s face radiated pleasure. “Then we have our place in the Shells. Thank you.”
“You may not have it for long, Seyal,” I told her. “We are about to go up against a fleet of hostile military ships with universe-splitting bombs on board.”
She tskked. “We can solve that. We will make them stop, and then we will put an end to this silly war. I am not letting some expansionist bigheads ruin what we have just gained. I want my son to grow up in freedom.”
Anzany moved over to the Avarak woman and gave her a cuddle. “You are right. If anybody can do, Rye can.”
There was a general murmur of agreement. It was nice to be appreciated, but I couldn’t for the life of me see what hope we had of stopping a Terran strike force as big as this fleet was.
I gave them a shrug. “I guess we will never know if we don’t try. Let’s get back up to the Nivala and try to find these Terran forces. Mel and Anzany, can you dig up as much as possible about those ships and the others that constitute the Omnistate Eighth Fleet?”
They nodded.
“Zenzie, can you start to study the physics behind the RAMP missiles? See if there is anything we can do to neutralize them? Izan, perhaps you could help her with that?”
Denaraz inclined his head, as did Zenzara.
“Seyal, we need you to find out anything you can about the lead up to this weapon. What they wanted to do, who designed it, where we can find them, and the recent history of the Omnistate so we know exactly what they are laying claim to?”
She flushed with pride. “Of course I will.”
“That leaves Sammy, Neema and I to run the ship, with Didjal in the Engine Room.”
Eshaan seemed dejected. “There is nothing for me?”
“The walls of the Nivala are pretty empty, Eshaan. We need some inspiring artwork, don’t you think?”
Its face cleared. “Definitely. These are important times. I shall document the history of the ship in paint.”
“I know they cannot stay with the ship forever, but it would be wonderful to be surrounded by your swirling colors wherever we go. Your paintings make me feel more alive. They really are inspiring. And I think we are going to need some inspiration.”
Eshaan stood a little taller. “It will be an honor.”
Chapter 15
The Nivala dropped into orbit around one of the uninhabited planetoids inside The Lakshmi Disc, on the border between the Bifold and the Local Shells.
The Lakshmi Disc is a cloud of ejected material surrounding an ancient blue hypergiant called Zuben. Zuben is a dangerous part of the Shells to be in, because it is due to go supernova any time in the next million years. OK, I know that means that the odds are against it being today, but it could come to pass. Zuben is one of the most brilliant stars in the Major Shells, and its bright blue shroud of ejected material is shaped like four arms, which is probably where the name came from.
Because Zuben is such an oversized star, it has any number of large planetoids still in orbit around it, now shrouded by the ejected nebula. That makes detection unlikely. It is a good place to hide a ship and it is also close to the main shipping lanes connecting Gienak and Raksora with the Avarak star Veka and its chief planet Rhyveka.
We got Nivala as safely tucked up as possible and then all met in the mess hall.
I couldn’t help giving a gasp as I walked through the door. The wing part of the room had been left bare, with just the viewports. However, all of the other walls were now covered with a huge mural.
It started on the right wall, passed behind me to the door and then continued on along the left wall, until the viewports designated the start of the wing section.
It was the scene of the Avaraks saving Nivala from the Terran attack, back in the Adhara Corridor. It felt just like stepping back in time. The scene was so true to my memory, so fluid, so vivid and so impacting that I almost flinched at the explosions taking place amongst the Avarak Fleet.
The others were gazing at it too. There must have been around a full minute of silence, before we all burst into spontaneous applause. It was one of the most magnificent paintings I had ever seen. The colors! The depth! The movement! It was spectacular.
Eshaan edged backwards, embarrassed by the fuss. It tried to disappear into the corridor, but Didjal blocked its passage and pushed it firmly back into the room. There, it had to endure our attempts to shake its hand, slap it on the back and generally importune it.
Finally the noise subsided. We all moved to the large table and took our places.
I invited all the participants to speak up and tell us of their findings, but truth b
e known, we had little more than we had started with six days before. We knew that the developer of the new missiles was a Terran scientist called Chandrayanan. We knew that he was based on the secret science lab on the Sivetas space station. Sivetas is a system between Sol and Tyzar, in the Local Shell. It was way too far away from our current position even to contemplate a visit. We knew that the technology involved manipulating zero point space at a quantum level.
Luckily, Zenzara and Denaraz had worked well together, and had come up with what they considered a weak point.
Denaraz explained. “They were in such a hurry to build five of these things that they had to take shortcuts on the electromagnetic shielding. There is no way that current state-of-the-art Omnistate missile housing would provide a sufficient shield. Not for this device. They should have waited and designed something bespoke that would truly isolate the missile from EM pulses. This technology is more susceptible to such things. We don’t think they did that. While nothing can stop the chain reaction which changes the state to ultra-dense, it ought to be possible theoretically to block the chain reaction from ever taking place. If we can find something to give us a sufficiently strong EM pulse.”
That was great news. Denaraz held up his hand. “Note that it only might work, and it definitely won’t work on newer models if they design a better housing – which they will. It is only a short-term answer, at best.”
“I’ll take it.” It was the first good news I had heard for a long time.
That took care of Seyal, Zenzara and Denaraz’s research. We all turned to Mel and Anzany.
Mel handed around a list. “These are the ships in the Eighth Fleet. You will see that Admiral Ellison is listed as Fleet Admiral.”
Ellison! The Admiral from the light cruiser that had tracked us down when we had taken refuge with the Rastin on that small uninhabited planet. The Admiral who had been tasked with finding Cunningham and the secrets of the ZEPH drive. Would Bull Cunningham still be with her, on board one of those ships? It seemed unlikely, but I found myself hoping he was. My teeth grated together at the thought of coming across him again.
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