The crowed bayed. Lust and bloodlust was max-amped by overpriced or smuggled booze.
“We have scoured the world to bring you the most terrifying creatures the liberal Union media could ever imagine being outraged at! From the sparkling print yards of the great warships that patrol our skies, to the endless, urban, slum-steppes of Nuevo Madrid! We have brought you the unforgiving and unforgiven; the damning and the damned; the meanest, the toughest, the best damn pit fighters the galaxy has ever seen!”
The crowd cheered. Deep fryers crack-hissed on snack carts. Someone got punched in the face.
“Not since Imperial Rome have such terrifying and merciless athletes been called together to fight for the pleasure of others, so I must warn you all!” he pointed accusingly, “All you UNAID types, all you Mama’s boys, and all you whiny, whiny, Yankees fans, please be aware that feelings are going to get hurt today! So, don’t say I didn’t whip it out, wave it around, and warn you!”
The Yankees fans booed.
“You’re going to see take downs and knock downs; knock outs and tap outs; blackouts and extreeeeme paaaain. So without any further-forever taking, Ladies and Gentlemen of Villablanca, welcome to my night!”
Fireworks shot off, and the crowd erupted. Two men climbed into the ring from opposite corners. One was a crew cut, Hispanic tank, in shiny white shorts with matching wraps and gloves. Semper Fidelis Devil Dog was tattooed across his back. He grinned through his white mouth guard and raised his fist for the crowd. They cheered him on. Cheap, plastic white flowers were flung into the ring along with screeched Iloveyous!
In the other corner, a demon climbed over the ropes. The Anubis-pattern hunter fixed yellow, unblinking eyes on its opponent. Its fur gleamed blue-black, the ridge along its spine risen. Its frame was more human than canine, and more feral than both combined. Razor claws flexed within transparent gloves that suddenly seemed like half measures. Its dog tag trophies were daubed in bright red, matching its shorts. Its tail beat back and forth – like a cat about to play.
There was a commotion near the entrance. The music pound, pound, pounded on.
“In this corner, weighing in at one hundred and sixty pounds, returning for the third time in a row, we have Rock’em, Wreck’em, Ramirez!”
The commotion grew louder and moved toward the ring. The bookies looked up, eyes wide, cash tightened in balled fists. The announcer frowned.
“And in the other corner –“
MPs in full battle dress forced open a path to the ring. A small-made woman walked it.
“How’s the heart?” asked Koirala.
“Well, I still got one,” replied Diamond walking to the ropes and leaning over. “Though I guess in your book that counts as a weakness.”
“Nice little gig you got here. What is this, gambling; blood sport; unsanctioned use of genetic templates?” She looked up at the cages. “Are those whores?”
She side-stepped as one of the girls spat at her.
“Don’t piss off Vidya. She’s an insurgent.”
“I can see why you wanted your own ship. Do you take this whole illegal circus around with you, wherever you go?”
“What do you want Koirala?” people started booing. “I’m working.”
“It’s the Commodore.”
“Another full week to the second hearing. Don’t worry, I’ll be there.”
“He’s no longer under restriction, and he’s back in command of the Washington. We’re at high alert, and you are required on the bridge, officer.”
The booing grew. The crowd started jostling the MPs.
“Can it wait an hour?” Diamond looked about at the crowd.
“No, it can’t. Good thing it’s a very fast ship, yes? I guess then you won’t need us to give you a head start against the crowd.” she smiled and walked away with the guards.
A good God makes plans for his demise, and shares them with his staff. It’s the mark of a professional.
Civilian flights were grounded and space elevators shut down. Reassuring newscasters announced curfews, and khaki armored fighting vehicles enforced them. High school parking lots filled up with triage tents and warm blankets. Fire crews checked the seals on their CNB suits. Men in Black exchanged NATO phonetics over walkie-talkies held awkwardly. The sky was filled with stars and combat air patrols.
“Alright everyone,” began Cullins, “here’s what we know.”
The planet carrier’s senior staff sat around the board room table. Tablets brought up readiness reports. Eyes darted back and forth scanning virtual screens. Coffee mugs steamed and plastic was stripped off water bottles.
“Five hours ago, we lost all contact with battle group Victorious. We have no eyes on the scene and won’t have any till probes reach there next week.
“The Victorious was carrying forty percent of Admiral Sun Tzu’s processing capacity. Its loss has seriously reduced our available operations per second, and with that our ability to fight a Transcendent foe. Simultaneously, every Sun Tzu avatar, both here and at home, has gone comatose. This doesn’t add up. Even a stock market computer can keep operating on less than twenty percent. Fleet Control has interpreted this as a sign that Sun Tzu is under a full scale attack by the enemy Transcendent. They believe what we’re seeing is him pulling all available resources. He’s like a sick patient, sleeping all day.”
A hand went up.
“Captain Barnes?”
“Sir,” she cleared her throat, “this may not be the time or place for this question, but Fleet Control ‘intreprets’ this? Don’t they actually know?”
“A good question,” Cullins folded his arms and nodded. “And I’m sorry to say that you’re suspicion is correct, they don’t actually know.”
Murmuring.
“This is what happens when Posthuman minds design Posthuman minds,” he shrugged. “There’s a kernel in him that was built by Chinese and American designers hundreds of years ago, but that’s lungfish ancestry to him now. No Transhuman alive today can understand his design, or that of any other Transcendent. They themselves are at loss to even begin explaining their design to us. We really have no idea how they work – only that they do work. Except for him, right now.”
“But Sir,” a young officer with VIEGAS on his patch, “How come the other Transcendents aren’t helping with this? Cai Shen manages the interstellar markets. Ch’in Shu Pao has the biggest security and surveillance contracts. They’re even more powerful than Sun Tzu is – was.”
“Another good question. Cai Shen – and all the rest – have refused to get involved. They’re concerned that what’s affecting Sun Tzu will affect them. I don’t understand any of it, but it’s something to do with how they merge.”
“Do they think Sun Tzu is merging with the enemy?”
“Yes Mr. Viegas. And if he loses, they think they would lose too.”
“Sounds like they’re just cowards.”
Heads turned and looked back at the doorway. A giant stood there, one eye puffy and swollen.
“Nice of you to join us Jack. Personally, I think you’re right. They’re watching their champion fight something that’s defeated Posthumans before, and I don’t think they’re seeing him winning,” he put his palms down on the table and leaned forward. “This view does not leave this room. Morale is key. This is our first real fight since Tennyson, and it’s started badly.”
He waved his hand over the table and a hologram sprang up. It showed the long curve of the Kuiper Belt, anchorages and defense stations marked in bright green. The rogue world Kali was painted red.
“Fleet Admiral Haisley is now in command of the Union Expeditionary Force. He’s in the Kuiper Belt aboard the Norman Schwarzkopf, the new flag ship. Haisley is expecting an incursion by an Invader fleet to come from Kali. We could be looking at Tennyson repeated– an extermination campaign. If we were there, these are exactly the rules of engagement I’d prefer,” there were nods around the table.
“However, we’re five months sunw
ards. Haisley wants us to stay put. The Washington is the biggest capital ship left on Paradiso. We’re to support operations planet-side.”
“Are we in command?” Diamond put his boots up on the table.
“They dropped the charges because of extenuating circumstances Jack, they weren’t exonerating me. The Green Zone is in charge. We’ve been seconded to Planet Command under General Wong. Wong is expecting insurgent attacks to be stepped up planet-wide, coinciding with an actual invasion of the planet. All ground and air assets have been placed on high alert.”
“I’ve been looking over that Sir,” said Barnes. “Some of it doesn’t seem to make sense.”
“Go on.”
“Many units, especially armor, mech and heavy infantry units, are being redeployed to remote locations. These aren’t their designated alert posts. A lot of them are guarding – well, nothing.”
“They’re not following the plan?”
“No Sir,” she shook her head. “The redeployments are on Planet Command’s authority.”
“Odd. I’m guessing General Wong has his reasons, but I’ll chase it up with him. My job right now is to get us ready to fight threats both planetary and orbital. Air Support?”
“Sir,” a crew cut, severe-faced man in a flight suit. VAUGHN.
“Commander, your first priority is to keep this ship safe.”
“Loud and clear. I’ve already got our pilots on rotation for round-the-clock patrols.”
“Good. Go ahead and send tech teams out to the strato-platforms. Let’s set them up as tankers and rearming points so we can expand our reach.”
“Affirmative.”
“Lieutenant Grimes?”
“Commodore,” a pasty white man with pasty white job.
“I don’t expect to be using strategic weapons in this fight, but I want to know I can count on my nukes and goo if I need to.”
“We have your back Sir.”
“Special Operations Forces?”
Koirala nodded.
“Unless something specific comes up – and it will – I’ll need you on Search and Rescue. We’ll have downed pilots to worry about, and so will Planet Command. The Washington’s altitude gives you a two hour rapid insertion time to anywhere on the planet. You’re the first responder.”
“Understood.”
“I think that’s everything from me. Do we have any questions?”
“Yeah,” Jack waved his hand, “I got questions. Big questions.”
Cullins sighed. “Of course you do.”
“What about our code walls? Isn’t anyone worried about that? Our information backbone has been lured away and kicked in the balls, and the beings who can help, are acting like the war is already lost. How can we even trust our own information systems anymore?”
“We can and we can’t. Every AI we have is uniquely encrypted. A Transcendent could crack them, but it would take time. Then, it would have to crack the next. And then the next, and so on. At Tennyson, we only had eight or nine major code walls. Here we’ve got over sixty. We were always expecting a battle with a Transcendent – and Sun Tzu prepared us to fight it alone if we had to. He knew this might happen. The best weapon he gave us was a code wall around every major system. The Washington even has its own wall.”
“Yes, but look at how well Sun Tzu’s doing right now. If something could engage him – do you think a few code walls would slow them down?”
“We would notice if they started going down,” said the pasty Grimes.
“Really?” Diamond cocked his head like he was sizing up prey. “Really?”
“No, Lieutenant Grimes is right,” said Cullins. “We would notice. On that note, let’s keep an eye out for anything that seems odd. It will certainly attack our systems. The question is which, and how effectively. We have no hard data on where that might lead, so let’s try gathering some.”
The Commodore looked around the room.
“Any other questions or comments?”
“Sir,” said Viegas, “While we’ve not been able to locate and identify the Xeno-Transcendent for these past six months, I think we might get a chance soon.”
“Explain.”
“It was hiding from us because we had the advantage. Now it has the advantage. Hiding might have impeded it or been costly. If it feels less threatened, it will be less likely to hide. We might start seeing the signs and traces that Doctor Jovanka expected.”
“We can only hope for a break like that. If it’s arrogant enough to think we can’t hurt it, it’s in for a shock. Good point, let’s keep an eye for the signs. Is there anything else?”
The command staff of a warship said nothing.
“Alright then. Let’s win this war.”
Vidya II
“I don’t understand,” the graying-blonde ashed her cigarette. “Why are you volunteering for this? I thought you hated the UEF. I thought you hated him.”
Vidya Patel, veteran of Madam Clare’s Gentleman’s Bar, touched up her lipstick. “I don’t hate him.”
“Oh yes you do,” said Madam Clare. She took another puff. The smoke curl rose across six dressing room mirrors. Other girls sat on stools, juniors brushing on foundation and styling their hair. The seniors swapped dirty jokes, chewed gum, and read fan-fic romance novels. “You tried to cut his balls off. That’s hate, girl. Are you trying to do it again? Stop trying to kill my customers.”
“I’m not trying to kill him. I trust him, now,” Vidya blotted the excess with a tissue. “He’s not like the other UEF; he wants the best for us. I trust Diamond.”
“His balls trusted you.”
“That was different, that was then. I’m not trying to be idealistic, but I can’t sit here and do nothing. I hate the UEF, that hasn’t changed at all, Clare. But they’ve done things that are good for us. I think some of them, like Jack, are really trying. I’d like to take this chance to help Paradiso.”
“That’s completely idealistic. If you had said this was about his dick, I’d be less worried. I know what they say about the ‘big-black-one.’” She stubbed her cigarette and lit a new one. “You need to just relax, girl. Do you want to take some time off? Go home. Spend some time with your little brother. Fuck someone, but not for the money. Fuck no one. Whatever works! You need to realize when you have something good going, and not to mess that up.”
“Something good going?” she looked up sharply from the mirror, eye-liner in hand. “Our planet is at war. One side wants to make things how they were. To make us poor again, afraid. The other side wants to destroy everything we care about, but give children, food and old people, medicine. How can I just sit on the side and profit?”
Clare looked away.
“I’m sorry,” Vidya put her hand on the madam’s arm, “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“I know,” Clare nodded and folded her arms. “But you also did.”
“I need to be closer to what’s happening to our world. I’m picking a side, and I want to make things work.”
“So you’re picking the UEF?”
“I’m picking Paradiso. Just not the Paradiso that would stone us by day, and rape us by night.”
Clare said nothing. A rack with silk wraps and robes was wheeled in. Girls began picking out outfits, and posing with them before a floor-length mirror. Someone smacked someone else’s behind, loudly.
“Have you picked anyone else?” asked Vidya.
“Elise.”
“Elise?”
“She likes him,” Clare gestured, “they get along well together. They’d make a good team.”
“Elise will be a little out of her depth, don’t you think?”
“You mean she’s stupid?”
“She’s not stupid!” she glanced around the room quickly. The other girls looked away, but fell silent. “This will take serious requirements. He’ll put her in danger. She’s just a young girl, how do you think she’ll manage?”
“I’m hoping she won’t. That way, he can’t use her for anything
dangerous. What? Did you think I was a mercenary?” the old blonde’s eyes hardened. “To put my girls in danger just because someone flashes around lots of coin to recruit ‘assistants’ from me? Do you think I want you in danger?”
“Well I’m going to go, whether you send me or not.”
“Really?” her lip curled, her hands were on her hips. “You’re just going to walk out? After all that I’ve done for you?”
“Don’t try to guilt-trip me. It’s weak and it’s not you. If you send Elise, then you guarantee that I leave. I need to take care of her. I don’t trust anyone else with that, and neither should you.”
“This is what happens when I let you two fuck together.”
Vidya’s face wrinkled. “You’re really crude, sometimes.”
“You’re telling a whore that she’s crude?” Clare’s face was red.
Vidya stood, and put her hand on Clare’s arm.
“Hey, it’ll be alright. You can refuse this; you don’t have to send anyone. He’ll understand. I understand.”
“But I thought you wanted to go?” her eyes were red.
“I also don’t want to hurt you. You have done a lot for me, and my brother. I won’t forget that. But if you send anyone, it should be me. I’ll be fine. And I can take care of Elise, unless there’s someone better.”
“There isn’t. You and Elise are the only volunteers. Everyone else knows when they have a good thing.”
“I don’t understand,” she broke the embrace. “Why would you not want me to go? You don’t have anyone else!”
“Because you won’t avoid a fight! You will get in danger! You’ll make sure of it!”
“I’ll protect Elise. I promise.”
Clare held her gaze.
“You promise.”
“Yes. Nothing is going to happen to her.”
“Fine. If anything does, I’ll cut off your balls.”
“I can live with that.”
A junior came up and held up a red and black cheongsam.
“No,” Clare shook her head. “Please get the blue one that’s hanging in my office.”
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