Starweb

by Warren James Palmer

  His attention was drawn back to the holo-screen and small icons at the periphery of the battle screen, which began to pulse and flash red. Gutner, the operant communications officer called out to him, ‘Captain, the sub-ether transmitters, they’re transmitting a repeating algorithm code. It’s like nothing we’ve seen before! The transmissions are creating waves of sub-ether interference!’

  Now what? Black thought to himself. As if the situation wasn’t bad enough, now Brabazon’s prized sub-ether transmitters were playing up. ‘Do we still have communications with the rest of the fleet and the home-fleet?’ he demanded, staring intently at the holo-viewer as the real-time battle information began to falter and delay.

  ‘We’re losing all communications,’ the comms deck officer replied. ‘The interference is blocking all the sub-ether transmissions with a rotating random frequency generator. We have some comms via our operants, but they are few and becoming fewer all the time. The nano-robots are rapidly taking out our operant people.’

  ‘Are the algorithms effecting just the Terran fleet, or the Starweb fleet as well?’ Black demanded.

  ‘The interference is blanket. It’s effecting the Starweb just us much as ourselves,’ came the answer. ’The artificial spike in the sub-ether that is the Starweb waveform, is being disrupted. We can feel it, and the webfighters are behaving erratically. Their connection to their AI controllers is being interrupted…’

  ‘Where’s it coming from? Is this some sort of operant mental concert? Like the one which was formed during the battle for Dyason?’ Black demanded.

  ‘Negative, Captain. The nano-bot infections are effecting all our mental operants. There’s not enough of us to form a mental-concert. This is purely a jamming transmission being output by the new sub-ether transmitters,’ Gutner answered, shaking his head.

  ‘Excalibur, do you have any idea who, or what, is behind the transmissions?’ Black asked the ships sentient computer.

  ‘The transmissions are part of a set of algorithms written by Professor Brabazon. They emulate the frequencies and output of a Terran mental concert. They are designed to block the primary Starweb connections with their fleet. The transmissions are also designed to inhibit the collective actions of the bio-nanobots,’ the calm female voice of Excalibur replied, in stark contrast to the increasing tension felt by those on the bridge and throughout the ship.

  Black’s heart beat a little faster. If this was Josh Brabazon’s doing, then maybe there was the tiniest sliver of chance that they may yet all prevail. He had a lot of faith in his genius friend. ‘Excalibur…’ he demanded, ’are you in communication with Josh Brabazon? Can we talk to him?’

  ‘I am afraid not, Captain,’ the sentient computer replied. ’The sub-ether interference created by the algorithms is also blocking my ability to communicate. The information I have given you was received by myself, moments before the jamming transmissions began. It arrived as an encoded packet, as part of the initial transmission.’

  ‘Get the Invincible on the screen,’ he ordered Gutner. ‘Find some way to punch through the interference. Use old-style radio comms, if you have to! The rest of the fleet has to know what is going on! This may be our one and only chance to turn the battle around and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat!’

  A snowy, broken image of the Invincible war room appeared on the bridge holo-viewer. The face of Delaware, the Admiral’s adjutant appeared on the screen. He looked wan and distraught. Behind him, the dreadnought’s war room appeared to be empty, devoid of controllers and crew.

  ‘Delaware… where’s Admiral Donahue?’ Black demanded. Delaware stared back at them with a blank expression. He blinked twice, but said nothing. ‘Delaware! This is Captain Black on Excalibur. Do you read us? Where is Admiral Donahue? We have vital information! Do you understand? Delaware?’

  The adjutant opened his mouth, then closed it, several times. It was as if he wanted to reply, but was struggling to find the words. The video signal faded in and out. Black feared they would lose comms with Invincible before they could pass on the information about the sub-ether transmitters. Finally Delaware managed to say, ‘She’s gone… they’ve all gone…It’s time to go…’

  ‘What do you mean?’ Black barked at him, trying to get some sense out of the man.’Gone where? Go where? Is there anybody else there with you? Delaware? Do you understand?’

  ‘She’s gone… they’ve all gone…It’s time to go…’ Delaware repeated in a dull monotone. They watched as he leaned toward the camera and cut the signal. The image of Invincible’s war room disappeared and was replaced by static.

  ‘Shit!’ Black blurted. ’Get them back! Get the connection back!’

  ‘I’m sorry Captain,’ Gunter answered. ‘The signal’s been cut at their end. We’re hailing Invincible, but nobody is answering…’

  Black slammed his fist on the central console. ‘Shit!’ he exclaimed once more.

  The icon that represented the Invincible began to pulse on the holo-viewer. The live-time streaming data from Excalibur’s numerous own sensors showed the huge dreadnought, the fleet’s capital vessel, move away from it’s position in the centre of the cone-shaped TWDF formation. It slowly fell away and began to accelerate towards the Starweb hordes. The Invincible was following the example of the Ascension and so many other Terran ships. With her crew incapacitated by the nanobot pandemic, Admiral Donahue and the thousands of crew onboard were making their last voyage. Black, and all those on the bridge of Excalibur could only look on in dismay, as they watched all those onboard the Invincible make the ultimate sacrifice.

  Karine, Leopard class destroyer. In transit through the Sub-Ether.

  August 21st 2057.

  He sat up abruptly, all vestiges of sleep gone, washed away by the disturbance. Sandpiper opened one eye, looked at him and asked, ‘Wot’s up?’

  ‘Something just happened…’ Moss told his old friend. ‘The disturbance in the sub-ether, just spiked. It’s still there, like a beacon ahead of us. It’s coming from where those TWDF transmissions were emanating.’

  Sandpiper took his legs off the central console, sat up in the pilot’s chair and studied the Karine’s scanner read-outs. His hands flashed over the console and data appeared on the main holo-viewer. ‘We’re just about near enough now for the algorithms to decipher those TWDF transmissions.’ He looked at the graphical analysis displayed in front of them, and gave out a low whistle. ‘That’s not good….’

  Moss looked at the graphic display. His stomach suddenly knotted in anguish and he nodded gravely in agreement. ‘That’s definitely not good….in fact, that’s really bad….How long until we can drop out of transit?’

  ‘Another fifty-two minutes,’ Sandpiper answered, after checking the flight-path display. ‘It will be all over before we can get there…We’d better get the others up. They’ll want to see this for themselves.’

  ‘Don’t bother. We’re already here,’ Jenson declared from the cockpit doorway. ‘Jennifer gave me the nudge a few minutes ago.’ He dropped into a seat at one of the flight consoles and examined the data on the holo-viewer. Jennifer entered behind him, carrying a sleeping baby Arthur in her arms. She passed the infant to it’s father and Moss cradled his son tenderly.

  She sat in the the flight seat next to her husband and said, ’I felt the disturbance and the spike in the sub-ether as well. There’s no mistaking that waveform.’

  ‘Indeed,’ Jenson responded, cradling a mug of black-coffee and staring at the information displayed on the main holo-viewer. ‘Just for complete clarification, can one of you just give us a resume of what’s happened and where we’re at?’ he asked Sandpiper and Moss.

  ‘About forty-five minutes ago, we started picking up faint sub-ether transmissions on the TWDF bandwidth. The transmissions came from somewhere ahead of us, on our flightpath, but well short of our planed exit point.’ Sandpiper explained, his hands moving over the comms-console to call up the sensor information on the holo-viewer. ‘Moss w
as awoken by faint distortions in the sub-ether, and we’ve been monitoring the TWDF transmissions since then.’

  ‘Can we decipher the transmissions?’ Jennifer asked.

  ‘At first we could only decipher snippets. We were too far upstream in the sub-ether flow. Now we’re a bit closer, we can understand some, if not all, of what appears to be TWDF battle commands.’ Sandpiper continued to explain, bringing up the decoded messages on the viewer, as he spoke. ‘You can read the messages for yourselves, but in summary, Earth is under attack from a vast Starweb fleet, and the TWDF are taking a pounding…’

  They all looked at the extrapolated information that was being displayed on the main holo-viewer. The Karine’s computer displayed a three-dimensional analysis that left nothing to the imagination. There, just beyond lunar orbit, was the Terran Home Fleet facing a vast Starweb fleet. Behind these two colliding fleets was a smaller, ragged fleet of TWDF ships. Jennifer let out an involuntary gasp and Jenson blanched, when they realised the enormity of the situation.

  ‘They don’t stand a chance…’ Jenson exclaimed. ‘They’re overwhelmed!’

  ‘I’m afraid there’s more,’ Sandpiper interjected. ’There’s talk of some sort of pandemic overwhelming Earth and the fleet.’

  ‘What sort of pandemic?’ Jennifer demanded, her eyes wide.

  ‘At the moment, we don’t know. There’s chatter about nanobots, but how that relates to a global pandemic, we can only guess. We simply don’t have enough data at the moment. We’re still too far away, but whatever it is, it’s incapacitating ships crews and pilots. They’re not in fighting form,’ he replied, shaking his head sadly.

  ‘Oh my God, this is horrific!’ she exclaimed. ‘Just what hell has been happening whilst we’ve been away?’

  ‘What about this spike in the Sub-Ether?’ Jenson demanded, his face pale and intent. ‘Is there some sort of attempt to block the Starweb communications going on? Something like the mind-concert we used in the battle for Dyason?’

  Moss nodded, ‘Yes, I think that’s what’s happening. The wave-form is very similar to the one we created to block the Starweb’s connection with their fleet, but there are some differences. It feels…unnatural…’

  ‘How so?’

  ‘The shape of the wave-form feels like it’s been created artificially. By some algorithm, rather than by a concert of human minds. It’s very linear, without the imperfections that mark a human-mind concert. ’ Moss answered thoughtfully, pointing to the graphic display of the wave-form on the holo-viewer. ‘It has a style—a signature if you like, that feels a lot like the handiwork of Josh Brabazon.’

  ‘That would make sense, I guess,’ said Jenson. ‘He’s got the experience and the kit in the form of those sub-ether transmitters. It would be in-character for him to do his utmost to thwart the Starweb fleet. The question is….will this form of sub-ether jamming work? Will it turn the tide for the TWDF fleets?’

  ‘It would be dangerously optimistic to believe so. When we engaged the Starweb around Dyason they were totally unprepared for their centralized control over their ships to be jammed. It cost them dearly…so, we can expect lessons to have been learned.’ Sandpiper added thoughtfully.

  ‘You mean minions that can think for themselves? Rather than mindless and incapable, without their Starweb overseers?’ Jenson asked.

  ‘Yup…’ Sandpiper replied, nodding. ‘If I were in their shoes, I’d make sure that this time, all their ships could fall back on internal AI processing, if the sub-ether link to the master Starweb AI cores were severed.’

  ‘Perhaps Brabazon has another trick up his sleeve? To tip the odds in favour of the TWDF?’ Jenson mused. ‘Although it would have to be a bloody big trick to make any odds against an invasion force as gargantuan as that! Moss, are you able to make mental contact with Josh Brabazon?’

  ‘Negative,’ Moss replied, shaking his head gently so as not to disturb the sleeping baby Arthur, who was still cradled protectively in his arms. ‘Up until now, we’ve been too far upstream in the sub-ether for any mental contact. Our dimensions were too far out of sync. Now, that we’re closer it should be possible. But, that jamming wave-form is just as good at blocking human operants, as it is at blocking the Starweb network. It’s indiscriminate.’

  ‘What about Excalibur? Is she with the fleet,’ Jennifer asked, looking anxiously at the holo-viewer display. ‘And, have you tried contacting her?’

  Sandpiper’s hands moved over the console and the display zoomed into the ragged remains of the TWDF fleet tailing the Starweb hordes. He pointed to a small icon in the rear of what remained of the formation. ‘She’s there, according to the data we received before the signals were blocked,’ he replied. ‘So far, she appears to be in one piece, but who knows how long that will continue. There’s no sign of the Dominator or Valvia, I’ve checked…’

  ‘They’ve probably been sent to defend Heligsion and Dyason,’ Moss said gently. ‘I’m sure they’re OK. I think we’d feel the disturbance if they were gone.’ He knew how his friend felt about Colmarrie, the Dominator’s amazonian second in command. ‘Colmarrie, will be OK…As for contacting Excalibur directly, I’ve tried. No joy, I’m afraid… Either we’re being totally jammed, or she’s not responding.’

  Sandpiper nodded, but said nothing. Moss noted the strain in his face, not something he’d seen in his unflappable friend before.

  ‘So, what’s to be done?’ Jennifer asked quietly. ‘We have to do what we can, but it’s hard to see how the Karine can make a difference. By the time we get there, the fight will be over…’

  ‘Certainly, if we go in all guns blazing, we’ll be space-dust within minutes,’ Jenson mused aloud, shaking his head slowly. ‘As capable as the Karine is, we’re no match for those hordes…We’d be just a pointless casualty.’

  ‘We have to try to make it to Excalibur,’ Jennifer told them firmly. ‘On our own, there’s nothing we can do that will make any sort of difference. With Excalibur, maybe we could be of more use.’

  ‘If she survives the battle…’ Jenson pointed out with a worried frown.

  ‘I’ve got every faith in Black and the crew,’ Moss added, nodding in agreement with his wife.’They’ll survive somehow, I’m sure of it. We should try to make it to Excalibur. There’s a chance that between us all, we could then come up with a plan. Honestly, I don’t see what other option we have?’

  ‘They’re all part our family….they need us…’ Jennifer said bluntly.

  Sandpiper and Jenson nodded in agreement. There really was no other option, family took precedence. Decision made, the group began to discuss the best way to leave the sub-either conduit and find Excalibur without becoming victims of the Starweb hordes themselves.

  Between lunar orbit and the orbit of Mars

  22.32hrs, Universal Standard Time. August 21st 2057.

  The Invincible, pride of the TWDF fleet, the Terrans newest and most heavily armed dreadnought, tumbled through space. It floated without power, a short distance from the rearmost vessels of the Starweb hordes. Webfighters flashed passed its gargantuan hull, unmolested by its gun-turrets and chain-guns. No Flyships or Snubfighters screamed out of their launch tubes to engage the Starweb fighters. No nuclear tipped missiles left their shackles, fired their motors and locked onto targets. The Invincible was lifeless and no longer a threat to anything. As a consequence, the Starweb dreadnoughts, cruisers, destroyers and fighters ignored the once proud ship. It was no longer of interest.

  Miss Smith and Bishop Dydnski stood in the centre of the Invincible’s war room and gazed at the huge holographic projection in front of them. They watched with detached interest at what remained of the Terran fleets, as they struggled valiantly to make any sort of impact against the overwhelming masses of the Starweb forces. Around them lay the bodies of the Invincible’s command staff. Not all of them were dead; mostly those that took the easy way out, a bullet from their own side-arms. The live ones twitched and convulsed as the bio-nanorobots changed
their core DNA. Some lay in a pool of crustacean soup, the tiny arachnids multiplying exponentially, invading the ships systems and networks as they did so. Admiral Donahue sat slumped in her command chair, a neat bullet hole in the centre of her forehead. Her adjutant Gunter, twitched and convulsed on the floor beside her, his side-arm lying beside him, evidence of whom had delivered the fleet admiral’s final “coup de grace”.

  ‘Isn’t this all a bit macabre?’ Miss Smith asked, her gaze taking in the gruesome sight of Invincible’s war-room. ‘Do we really have to be here? Couldn’t we just as easily do this from elsewhere? Like a nice beach, or lake, or anywhere but here?’

  Dydnski sighed, glanced at his daughter and replied, ‘Have you no creativity? No sense of the theatrical? An appreciation for the art that is derived from our talents… our hard work? We have shed sweat and tears to reach this point. Of course, we have to be here to witness the fruition of our labours.’

  Miss Smith rolled her eyes and casually ground her heel into the outstretched hand of a prone, comatose member of Invincible’s crew. ‘If you say so,’ she replied dryly. ‘So when’s this all going to kick off then? I really don’t want to be here any longer that is absolutely necessary…’

  The bishop sighed theatrically once more and pointed to the holo-screen. ‘It’s happening now, dearest child. Look, you can see the Starweb fleet is beginning to behave erratically.’

  ‘They’re always erratic…it’s hard to tell the difference…’ she responded icily.

  Dydnski didn’t rise to the bait. He knew his daughters moods well enough. In truth, she knew exactly what was happening out there amongst the stars. After all, much of what was happening was as a result of her own actions. This was just family dynamics at play, as it always was when they reached this point.

  Josh Brabazon’s sub-ether transmitters were pumping out their jamming algorithms, severing the individual elements of the Starweb fleet, from their collective AI controllers. However, unlike the last encounter with these bipeds, during the great battle for Dyason, the Starweb fleet was prepared for such an event. Internal processors fired up and singular vessels began to use their internal artificial intelligence to make autonomous decisions. After a brief wobble, the hordes continued their slaughter of the Terran fleets.