The Pirates of Sufiro (Book 1) (Old Star New Earth)

by David Lee Summers

  Ellis grunted. "I've been wondering what defense you've set up for your people."

  Swan shook his head. "We haven't thought much about defense, to be honest. The way the Cluster takes out Navy ships, defense seems pointless."

  "I don't think so." Ellis took another swig of tequila. "We know they can destroy ships, but their capabilities have never been tested on a planetary scale."

  "I don't think we want them tested on a planetary scale." Swan laughed nervously.

  Raton rubbed the stubble of his chin and looked back to Ellis. "New Granada has few resources to set up a defense against anything like the Cluster. Tejo is the only place with factories for refining materials that we could use for shielding."

  "That's why I came," Ellis sighed. "The time has come to negotiate peace between the powers of Sufiro."

  "But the Cluster hasn't done anything," said Swan, letting rationality penetrate paranoia.

  "Besides," began Raton, through gritted teeth. "Tejo has yet to return any of our people."

  "I know," said Ellis, drawing little imaginary circles on the table. He sat back in the chair, took his cigar and flung some ash to the ground. "Either way, it's time to take positive action."

  Swan sighed. "I see your point, but it's not going to be easy."

  "I don't expect it to be easy," said Ellis. "But I would like this planet prepared when I take action."

  Raton leaned forward, his head inclined. "What sort of action? Firing on the Cluster?"

  "Nothing hostile, if I can avoid it," said Ellis. "If the Cluster continues to do nothing for another three days, I plan to board it."

  "How?" asked Swan. He had seen pictures of the enigmatic ships. The component spheres were absolutely smooth. There was no sign of a docking ring or even a rivet on the surface of the thing.

  "I'm not sure I know," said Ellis, taking another swig of tequila. "But at least it's something to do."

  Swan and Raton nodded in unison. They understood Ellis' position. Everyone on Sufiro felt like Ellis to some degree or other. They wanted to do something about the Cluster, but there seemed to be nothing to do. Ellis had decided on an action. Raton and Swan knew they would support it, but also understood the risk. The way Ellis looked, it was clear he understood what he was asking the two men to do. He wasn't just asking them, but the entire population of Sufiro as well. If the Cluster interpreted an attempted boarding as hostile, it may well unleash its death ray on the surface of the planet.

  Raton took a long swallow of beer. He looked into Ellis' eyes. "Amigo," he said at last, "I know you have our best interests at heart, but if the Cluster chooses to destroy this planet, there ain't no stopping it." Ellis began to protest, but a glare from the older man silenced him. "I will talk peace with Tejo because I must. But when the time comes for you to try boarding the Cluster, don't wait for us."

  Ellis turned to face Swan. Swan tried to smile reassuringly. "For all intents and purposes, our war is over. It's time for you to attend to the galaxy's war." Swan inclined his head. "After all, you came to Sufiro to get Erdonium for that war."

  "I won't endanger civilians!" Ellis pounded his fist on the table. The bottles rattled and clanked in reply.

  Raton grabbed his beer before it tipped over. "The civilians are in danger now, Mark. Do what you must!"

  Ellis blinked a couple of times. "I will," he said, at last. "But, please, try to keep your people safe."

  "We will," said Raton. "We'll do our best."

  Ellis drank with the two men for a little while longer. He rose uncertainly to his feet and staggered out the door, back to the launch. The launch lifted off in a blaze of fire and dust. Raton felt his heart beating loudly. He knew that they had to make peace with Tejo. Yet, he wasn't sure if Tejo felt they needed New Granada.

  * * * *

  Clyde McClintlock sat alone in his office. All the lights were turned off. The monitors were lifeless. The colonel was exhausted from battle and tired of staring at the images of the Cluster. He had his head down on his desk, but he did not sleep. Instead, he was thinking.

  Clyde remembered how excited he and his sister were when they got off the launch from Earth all those years ago. He remembered when his father assembled the prefabricated house on the empty plot of land the adults around him called New Des Moines. He remembered the hard work, but most of all, he remembered the joy of those times.

  Now, Clyde sat alone. Major Ellwood had fallen at Camlan Pass. The image of her body lying on the ground covered in blood kept returning, haunting the colonel. He thought of bodies missing legs, arms and heads. Despite all of the training the Gaean Navy gave him, he could never have pictured sights so awful as the ones he saw three days before. Never before did he realize how much damage a hepler could do.

  * * * * Back aboard the Firebrandt, Ellis staggered out of the launch. A crew of three rushed around the vehicle and began servicing it. An energy conduit was attached. The launch was cleaned. Rubin, who had piloted the launch, led Ellis forward. He was a mere commander and did not rate a steward. Rubin, as first lieutenant, worked on filling that role even though it wasn't required. He helped Ellis out of his jacket. The commander sat down at his foldout desk.

  "May I bring you dinner, sir?" asked Rubin.

  Ellis shook his head. He contemplated another cigar and thought better of it. He was drunk and getting dizzy from lack of sleep. Silently, he cursed himself for not stopping at two drinks. Absentmindedly, he began to remove his jump suit.

  Rubin pulled the curtain around the bunk area so his commander could sleep undisturbed. As Ellis crawled between the snug sheets, he felt an odd sensation. It was as though someone was in the bed with him. He thought, perhaps, the wall was somehow radiating heat. He felt the wall. The metal wall was ice cold. Still, as Ellis rolled over, he could not shake the feeling that he was not alone.

  The commander had been a loner his entire life. He found the presence strangely comforting and began to think his feelings were a result of Manuel Raton's tequila. Images came vividly to mind. The images were like strong memories of things the commander had never seen. He "remembered" New Granadans being threatened with disciplinarians, as though he had been there. He felt the agony of being kicked and hit while he was down. The commander could imagine a hepler thrust in his back as he was being led to a carryhover, wondering if he would see his family again.

  He shook his head violently. Since it made him dizzy, he knew he was awake. Yet he couldn't stop the "memories." Suddenly, he imagined himself on a battlefield with mighty mountains on either side. There was a thunderous roar as he was knocked off his feet. Screams of horror and utter terror filled his head. Vast, frightening emotions filled his soul.

  Ellis looked up at the soft sound of the curtain around his bunk being pushed aside. "Are you okay, sir?" asked Rubin, a worried look on his face. "I heard you scream."

  The commander blinked a few times. "Must have been a nightmare," he said.

  "Aye aye, sir." Rubin quietly closed the curtain. Ellis heard his footsteps go aft.

  * * * *

  Clyde McClintlock screamed. Involuntarily, he dusted himself off. He sat in the darkness of his office, looking at blinking monitors. The colonel stared open-mouthed. He could have sworn he was back on the battlefield at Camlan Pass. Instead, he had fallen asleep at his desk.

  Wildly conflicting thoughts ran through the colonel's mind. He missed the simple pastoral days of his youth. He remembered no gross immorality in the people of New Granada. Yet he remembered his father talking about the sinner, Firebrandt. The more he dug through the layers of memory, the more he found that he missed the simple life in New Granada. The laws of Tejo were supposed to define life for people, make it simpler. In reality, they had only served to complicate his life. Clyde also remembered hearing how much his father had hated leaving New Granada. Yet, he felt a burning hatred for what the New Granadans had done to his troops.

  Now the Cluster orbited Sufiro. Everyone was in grave danger. The colonel
felt absolutely powerless. He reached up and turned on a small lamp on his desk. "Computer, call Anne McClintlock," he said, his voice barely a whisper.

  * * * * Once again, the commander felt as though someone were in bed with him. "That's why you came, wasn't it?" asked Ellis, softly. "You came because of the strong emotion generated by the conflict." The presence seemed to leave. Within moments, the commander felt overcome by the alcohol he had consumed. He fell asleep instantly.

  * * * * The image of McClintlock's sister appeared on the holo pedestal next to his desk. She wrung her hands and looked at her brother. "Hi Clyde," she said, weakly. "You look awful."

  He felt the bandage on his forehead. He knew he was still covered in scratches from the battle. "Hi Sis," he said, feeling a stupid grin form. "I just got scuffed up a bit, playing with the Grenades."

  "Don't use that word," she said angrily. "We were both raised there. Those are our people over there." She raised her finger at her younger brother. "How could you have gone over there and attacked them?"

  "Tejan interests were at stake." He said the words, but for the first time, it felt like nothing more than a justification.

  "The only thing that was at stake was Rocky Hill's bank account!" She closed her eyes, trying to calm down.

  "We're the ones that lost," he said, numbly. "Now, I've got the Cluster to deal with." He tried to discern where she was from the background. He didn't think it looked like her house. "Are you safe?"

  "I'm in one of the shelters your goons rigged up. I don't honestly know if I'm safe or not." She shook her head and then tried her best to look him in the eye. "Clyde, I want you to think about what happened in New Granada. I want you to think about father and his love for that place."

  "That's almost all I have been doing for the past several hours," he said. "I've been trying to rationalize what we did in New Granada. Right now, it doesn't seem right."

  "I knew that all along," she scolded. Clyde put his head down on his arms again. "Clyde." He heard her voice, but didn't look up. "Clyde, if the Cluster ever leaves, promise me one thing."

  "What's that?" He looked up.

  "Make things right." He saw her reach over and sever the connection. Clyde turned out the desk lamp and returned his head to his arms to continue thinking.

  * * * *

  The tequila had done wonders for the commander. He slept nearly twelve hours. He woke, staring at the faintly illuminated ceiling. His mouth felt fuzzy, but his head was clear. His mind reeled with the images and emotions he felt the night before. He wondered if the Cluster or the tequila had formed them. He padded across the way to take a shower. Showers aboard star cruisers were an application of EQ technology. The dirt was shifted into the fourth dimension. Water was too precious aboard a space ship. Still, the ship's captain had privileges beyond those of mere crew. He washed his face in the warm water allowed him alone as captain and contemplated the beard. It seemed to be growing nicely. He wasn't sure if he liked it, but decided to let it grow a while longer.

  He padded back to his bunk and dressed himself then walked back to the mess. Adkins smiled when she saw him. "You look much better, sir."

  "Sleep can do wonders," Ellis muttered. He ordered breakfast.

  Rubin walked into the mess. "Ah, you're awake, sir," he said. "Good news. The Tejans and the New Granadans are talking to each other."

  Ellis nodded approval. "But are they making progress?" he asked as a bowl of oatmeal and a cup of coffee were laid before him.

  "Some," said Rubin, sitting. "However, it doesn't sound like much in the way of any permanent accords."

  Ellis sipped his coffee and looked reprovingly at his first lieutenant. "You're monitoring their communications?"

  "Aye, sir," said Rubin, shrugging.

  "Good man," said Ellis. He wasn't smiling. Rubin took the compliment in the spirit it was intended. He was beginning to learn that Ellis was a man whose compliments were to be taken at face value. At times he seemed cynical, but his emotions were genuine.

  The commander finished his breakfast and walked forward with Rubin following behind. He saw the image of the Cluster on the holo viewer. Again, he was struck by the eerie, dreamlike qualities of the ship. Suddenly, he was struck by a feeling that he should not attempt to board. The commander moved forward and sat, as if in a trance. He shook his head. "Put up a schematic of the Cluster," he barked.

  "We don't have much, sir," protested Weiss. "Just a crosssection with estimated measurements of the orbs."

  "Put it up," said Ellis. The front screen was changed to a simple white-on-blue schematic of the ship. Ellis pulled out a cigar, lit it and contemplated the image. "What are you?" he said aloud. "I feel like a rat in a maze, running around, playing your game." He blew a ring of smoke. He smirked at the analogy. Adkins sat at the gunner's rig, ready to fire at the Cluster if it made a threatening move. "Adkins, what do rats in mazes think of their human captors? How do they perceive the maze?"

  She looked around, perplexed. "Why would anyone put rats in a maze?"

  Ellis smiled. "It's a historic reference. Experimental psychologists used to test theories on laboratory animals. Most of the animals were rats. A common test was to run a rat through a maze."

  "But that would be cruel, sir," she said, indignant.

  "Would it?" asked Ellis. "Do you know what a rat feels?" Again Ellis looked at the schematic. He sighed, wondering what a rat would think if it saw the schematic of its maze. Would it make sense? Would it inspire the same emotions as if the rat were, in fact, in the maze?

  "Prepare my launch," ordered Ellis, suddenly.

  "Aye aye, sir," said Weiss. He began sending the necessary commands through the ship.

  "Destination, sir?" asked Rubin, turning around. "Firebrandt's homestead," said Ellis.

  Half an hour later, Rubin shuttled Ellis to the planet in silence. The B-Com hoped his commander was okay. Ellis seemed strangely distracted. Rubin was also concerned about the commander's scream the previous night. It did not strike the B-Com as a simple night terror. In fact, he had never heard a yell of such terror in his life. He followed Ellis' directions to the homestead and carefully settled the launch to the ground.

  Firebrandt met Ellis at the front door. Firebrandt looked worn. His long hair was loose about his shoulders. His shirt was rumpled. Ellis knew his grandfather would be working on the defense arrangements with Tejo. Because the ship had been monitoring communications, he knew that Governor Hill had approved sending materials to build planetary bombardment shelters. Ellis asked how it was going.

  "The Tejans talk about giving us materials to help defend ourselves as though it's pay back for their enslavement of our people." Firebrandt led Ellis into the living room. Roberts sat, stoic in his hover chair.

  Ellis stepped over to the large chair near one end of the room and fell into its soft cushions. He looked toward the corner of the room where the ceiling met two of the walls. He studied the juncture for some time. In the background of his thoughts, he heard Roberts and Firebrandt speaking to him. The captain stepped over to his grandson. "Are you okay?" he asked.

  The commander looked up into his grandfather's strong, gray eyes and shook his head almost imperceptibly. "I'm not sure whether or not boarding the Cluster is something I should do." His voice was unusually weak.

  "Because we're not sure we can get the defense arrangements made?" asked the captain. "Son, I thought Manuel got you straightened out on that point. Don't worry about us. It's your duty to find out all you can about the Cluster."

  Ellis shook his head, listlessly. "You don't understand." The commander looked as though he was fighting his own emotions. "While I want you to be safe, that has nothing to do with the feelings that I've been getting."

  Firebrandt's thick eyebrows came together. "Feelings?"

  "It's as though all of my emotions have turned against the whole idea of my boarding the Cluster." Ellis rubbed his hands together. "Every time I look at the Cluster on the ship's holo, I
feel as though I'm being manipulated. I know this may sound crazy, but I think they've been trying to contact me through my emotions."

  Firebrandt sat down on the couch opposite his grandson. He heard Fire step into the room. She noticed the solemnity of the people in the room and moved quietly to the couch, next to her father.

  Ellis looked down at his hands, then back up to his grandfather and mother. "Last night, I had an experience. I'm not sure whether to call it a dream or a vision or what." The commander sighed and told his family about the terrifying images that seemed played out for him the previous night. "It's as though they were trying to tell me the reason why they came here. It's almost like they communicate through emotional response."

  "Combined with some form of visual imagery." Roberts was nodding as he moved silently forward in his hover chair.

  "Are you sure they were trying to communicate with you?" asked Fire. The three men looked at her. "From what you described, is it possible they were simply sending

  communications home? Maybe you just picked up on it."

  The commander's face drooped. "I suppose..." He hit his knee with startling force. "No, it can't be. The presence, the feeling of warmth, it just felt too personal."

  A worried look passed the captain's face. He stood and put his hand on the commander's shoulder. "There's something I have to ask. Are you sure they were trying to communicate at all?"

  Ellis sat back, folding his arms, defiantly. "You're thinking that I've been working awfully hard the last couple of weeks. Possibly the strain has gotten a bit much for me and I'm imagining or dreaming all this. That's what you're thinking, aren't you?"

  "I think it's a possibility we have to face." Firebrandt stepped to the fireplace. He studied a rack of pipes there for a few moments. He picked out the old battered one. Fire realized she had never seen him smoke any of the others. He opened a jar and filled the pipe with tobacco, then stood silent for some moments, holding the pipe. "If the Cluster did contact you and you personally, you have to find out why." Firebrandt lifted the pipe to his lips and lit it. "If they were warning you off, the danger of trying will be great. If you were imagining the contact, I recommend getting a couple of good nights' sleep before trying to go over there." Firebrandt held out the pipe and looked at it. "And cut back on the nicotine consumption."