by Saxon Andrew
Brian looked away and answered, “It’s on the way!” Grady looked at Taffy and she shook her head. Brian was lying, nothing was moving toward the Rabbit.
Just before the Rabbit left Earth’s atmosphere, Grady shoved the main thruster control halfway forward. The Rex Rabbit leapt ahead at a speed that caught the warships off guard; it blew past them in an instant but not before the warships opened fire. Three beams hit the Rabbit and it doubled its speed. The warships turned and went to maximum speed in pursuit. Grady looked at the temperature gauge and saw the needle was in the red…but it was dropping quickly as the cooling systems went to full power. The warships fired again but the Rabbit had moved out of the range of their blasters. Grady activated the FTL drive and the small ship flew away from Earth at an incredible speed.
Brian appeared on the monitor, “It appears your ship isn’t as damaged as you suggested.”
Taffy responded before Grady could reply, “You planned to have us incarcerated, didn’t you?” Brian stared at her in silence and her eyes narrowed, “You’re not going to assist Britannia. You send your fleet there to take the planet and follow the aliens back to their civilization in order to conquer it.”
Grady’s head went back, as Brian smiled, “You hurt me with your cruel words. I send assistance and you accuse me of this?”
“But you know they’re true!”
“Do you think you’re going to be able to escape from here?” Brian asked with a smile.
“Probably not, but at least we’ve delayed being tortured to find out what we know,” Taffy replied.
“Just how did you come up with these ridiculous ideas?”
“Just shove it, Brian!” Taffy answered.
Brian’s eyes narrowed, and his expression turned nasty, “I will question you personally. Trust me, you won’t enjoy the experience!”
“Sort of like the way you treat the aliens on Earth.”
“Oh no! You’re going to suffer a lot more than them!”
Taffy smiled sweetly and said in a cooing tone, “You have to catch me first, Darlin and I don’t believe I’ll consider your proposal, Honey. You’re just too ugly and mean.”
Brian’s face showed his rage just before the monitor went dark. Grady activated the scanner and saw hundreds of warships vectoring in on the Rabbit from all directions. “How did you know?!” Grady demanded as he focused on his faceplate.
“I’ll show you after you get us out of this mess, Grady!”
“You’re putting a lot of trust in my piloting skills, Taffy.”
“I trust you with my life, Grady. Now get us out of here!”
Grady stared at the tactical view on his faceplate and saw that Earth’s fleets made the same mistake the Union and Coalition made; they had the majority of their ships located in the plane of the planetary system with fewer above. The warships moving in from over them were stationed above Earth and had to try and catch up. Grady whipped the Rabbit left as hundreds of warships came rushing in to surround them. Grady suddenly pulled the steering wheel fully back and the Rabbit went vertical in a high-speed ninety-degree turn. Grady pushed the main thruster handle fully forward and the Rabbit flew out of the encircling warships before they could open fire. It accelerated at a speed that left Brian’s mouth open. The small ship disappeared from the warship’s scanners a few minutes later and disappeared high above the Solar System. Brian knew he was in trouble. That ship was much more than he suspected, and he was going to be challenged on how he allowed it to escape. He was right; a week later, he was executed after a lengthy questioning session.
Chapter Ten
Grady turned the ship slightly and poured on the speed. He kept the Rabbit moving vertical until it arrived above the galaxy’s plane. He leveled the Rex Rabbit out and turned toward the distant central black hole. Taffy turned to him, “You can slow down, Grady; we’re outside their scanning range.”
“I’m headed back to Britannia! I want to arrive before the Earth Fleet.”
“Why?”
Grady’s expression was showing disgust, “If what you said earlier is true, I’ve made it worse for the survivors by going to Earth. Now Britannia has two aggressive civilizations intending to take the planet.”
“It’s not your fault, Grady. You did what you believed was best.”
Grady looked at Taffy, “You thought going to Earth was a bad idea from the start, didn’t you?” Taffy stared at him saying nothing and Grady pressed her, “Didn’t you!?”
“Grady, you are a Colonel in the Union’s Navy and know far more about Britannia’s history than I do. You also know things about warships, fleets, technology, and information that I’ve never seen. I believed I was just being frightened by what Earth might prove to be when we arrived. I supported you in choosing to go to Earth.”
“That’s not an answer, Taffy. You were against it from the start! Why didn’t you tell me?”
Taffy lowered her eyes, “I was afraid of challenging you.”
“Why?”
Taffy shrugged, “You decided to do this during the time I was on probation. I avoided saying anything that could be taken as disagreement. I promised you I would do anything you asked without complaint or disagreement, remember?”
“Taffy, I had agreed to keep you on the ship before I told you about trying to find Earth!”
“Grady, you haven’t been faced with life and death based on how someone felt about you. You put me in that position and that’s not something easily ignored. I’m still not challenging your decisions.”
“Even after I told you how I felt about you?”
“Grady, your girlfriend’s feelings changed about you, didn’t they?” Grady hesitated and then nodded. “I want so much to believe you meant what you said but I can’t help but fear I’ll do something, or say something, and mess it all up; you’ll demand I leave if I do.”
Grady saw her expression and knew he had made a terrible mistake. “I’m so sorry, Taffy! I scared you in the beginning and I’m now paying a price for it.”
“I can’t help it, Grady.”
Grady put the RR on autopilot and turned his chair to face Taffy, “Tell me why you were against going to Earth.”
Taffy raised a shoulder, “I believe the original settlers of Britannia revealed everything you needed to know about Earth.”
“I’m not sure what you’re saying.”
“Grady, they left Earth in a ship without a stardrive and didn’t know what lied ahead of them. They didn’t know if they’d find a planet to settle, or if they’d run out of fuel or food before they found one. They launched and got away from Earth without looking back. It takes real courage to launch out into space not knowing where you’re going.” Taffy paused and then added, “Or, it takes a level of fear that makes staying at Earth too much to accept.” Grady nodded, and Taffy’s eyes softened, “Grady, the settlers deliberately erased everything in their data banks about Earth. They knew that thousands of years had passed on Earth while they were making the voyage to Britannia and they wanted to insure none of their descendants would ever attempt to find it; they knew Earth would be far more advanced technologically than it was when they launched.”
“But they could have fled Earth due to a natural threat to the planet, like an incoming giant asteroid that was going to hit the planet or the star could have been threatening to go nova, or…”
Taffy interrupted him, “None of those things are what caused them to run, Grady!” Grady stopped talking and she continued, “If it were a natural disaster they were fleeing, they wouldn’t have erased all the data from their computers, there would have been no reason to do so. They fled because of something that was going on that frightened them.” Grady’s head lowered slightly as he thought about what she was saying, then she asked, “You told me there was an image taken at the time the Britannia left Earth; is that image in the computer?”
Grady sat up and flipped a switch turning the computer’s audio back on, “Computer, do you have a copy of th
e image taken of Earth when the original Britannia Colony Ship launched.” An image appeared on the console’s large monitor and they saw Earth with two large ships in orbit.
Taffy asked, “Can you move the view in closer to the planet?” Grady turned to the console and turned a knob under the monitor. The Britannia had moved directly away from Earth and the Sun, so the planet’s dark side was what was visible in the image. There was a small sliver of sunlight on the right side of Earth, but the rest was in shadow. Grady moved the view in closer and Taffy said, “Hold it there and move it to the left of the clouds over the northern continent.”
Grady moved the image slightly and continued to move the view in closer. Suddenly, he saw a bright spot of light on the surface. He moved the view in closer and saw multiple bright spots on the planet. “See if you can isolate one of those lights?” Taffy requested.
Grady continued to move in on the brightest spot and suddenly saw a huge mushroom shaped cloud above the bright light. Grady turned to Taffy, “Did you know this was here?”
Taffy shook her head, “No.”
“Then why did you ask to see this image?”
Taffy sighed, “Grady, when you’re caught between two fears, you find yourself paralyzed. Something had to happen to make the Britannia leave. The country that built the colony ship didn’t expect to win the war we’re seeing on the image of Earth.” Taffy paused and shrugged, that war probably decimated the planet and accounts for why Earth’s warships aren’t as advanced technologically as you expected them to be. It probably took thousands of years for Earth to recover from the nuclear war.”
“How do you know that the builders of the colony ships didn’t expect to win?”
“Grady, if they expected to win, it would have been the other side building colony ships. The ones that feared losing the coming war the most are the ones that built the colony ships. I also suspect those colony ships are what precipitated the war. The more powerful nations saw that the colony ships could found a colony and one day come back and seek revenge. Didn’t you wonder about that Commodore’s expression of relief when you told him about Britannia’s warships being destroyed by the aliens? Does it make sense now?”
Grady nodded, “He saw the colony as a possible threat.”
“And I’m not sure he really believed you were being honest with him.”
“What?”
“Remember, the Earth warships that surrounded us think they surprised us. You told him our ship was a scout, remember?” Grady nodded. “He probably thought we came to scout Earth’s defenses and told him a made-up story that the fleet was destroyed and the aliens attacking to remove his suspicions. They fully intended to torture us to determine the real truth about why we showed up at Earth, Grady.”
“They launched that fleet to remove our fleets if they still existed and, if we were being honest, they would take on the aliens,” Grady replied.
“Launching that fleet was the first clue we were in big trouble, Grady.”
“Tell me why you say that?”
“Grady! How long do you think it would take the Union or the Coalition to get a fleet ready to launch; you had all the data in your computer where you worked? They launched a fleet within an hour of us being surrounded by their warships; that had to mean Earth was always prepared to attack a possible foe or target of interest.”
Grady lowered his head, “I missed everything; I saw nothing and made a horrible decision on going there.” He looked up at Taffy, “That’s why you activated the optical system when we started moving toward Earth?”
“Yes. I hoped I was wrong and Earth really was sending that fleet out to defend the survivors, but I didn’t believe it. I looked closely at Earth as we moved in for clues about what was happening on the planet.”
“What did you see?”
“I’ll show you,” Taffy replied as she pulled up the optical recordings.
The giant city appeared on the monitor and the view moved across it, “Weren’t you surprised that there was so little aerial traffic above that giant city?” Grady nodded. “This city is at least six times larger than the Union’s capital and traffic above the capital was always heavy.” Taffy froze the image and turned to Grady, “That could only mean the city-population’s freedom of movement was tightly controlled.”
“They could have had a huge underground mass transit system,” Grady suggested.
“That still wouldn’t have removed the necessity of aerial transportation.”
“Why?”
“Do you see any haulers or trucks carrying freight above the city?” Grady glanced at the image on the monitor and, after a moment shook his head. “That is an absolute necessity in a city that large, Grady, but there aren’t any heavy haulers above the city. That would have to mean that all the support structures in the city were built to handle a specified area and the local population in each area was restricted to that area. It’s a way to maintain control of the city.”
Taffy moved the view in closer on one of the small ships flying above the city, “Take a close look at that craft, Grady, and tell me what you see.”
Grady stared at the small ship and said, “It appears to only have room for one person on board and it stays above the streets.” Grady moved the view out and then looked at Taffy before saying, “They also appear to be equally spaced out above the city and remain over the same area; none of them are flying across the city.”
“Grady, I focused on this city because we were being led down to it. But before I left orbit, I took an image of five-cities on the continent, all of them had this same pattern of small ships above them. That indicates that all their cities are organized the same way.”
Grady nodded, “It would seem you are right about that.”
“Are you interested in what the purpose of those ships might be?” Grady nodded. Taffy fast-forwarded the video and stopped it when the Rabbit was twenty minutes above the city. “I was watching the video and thought I saw a lightning strike at the edge of the monitor. I ignored it and continued recording until it dawned on me that it was a clear day above the city. I rolled the recording back and zoomed in on the bright light I saw at the edge of the city. Here’s what I found.”
Grady watched as the view zoomed in on the city from high above and he saw the view move down to street level. The recording started moving and he saw an alien running down the street pursued by ten-soldiers. The alien was at least a foot taller than the humans he was passing, and it was clear he was faster than the guards pursuing him. Taffy said, “Notice what the people are doing as the alien runs past them.” Grady looked closer and saw that the humans on the street were turning and running away from the alien at their fastest speed. His eyes narrowed, and he suddenly saw a brilliant beam stab down and hit the alien. One of the small aerial craft had moved in high above the alien and fired at it with a bright beam weapon. The alien fell to the ground writhing in pain, as the soldiers chasing it rushed up. One of them put a helmet on the alien’s head and stood up. The soldier was wearing an identical helmet and he nodded to the other soldiers. One of them pulled a hand weapon and fired it hitting the alien. It spasmed off the ground and started writhing. The soldier with the helmet nodded again and the soldier shot the alien again. This continued until the alien stopped moving. The man with the helmet was clearly furious. He removed the helmet from the alien’s head and then kicked it in the head with a heavy boot. The alien’s head spattered, and he moved away from the dead body with the other soldiers. He looked up and the small ship fired a much brighter beam and vaporized the body.
The video stopped, and Grady looked at Taffy, “What was that alien doing on Earth?”
“Grady, I have images of more than a million of them scattered around the city. And there are soldiers located at every major intersection in the city. This image told me all I needed to know about Earth.” Taffy fast forwarded the video and stopped it. Grady saw a large group of aliens from several different species walking out of a tunnel carryin
g large bags over their shoulders. They had chains around their legs and Taffy stopped the recording and said, “Keep your eyes on the tunnel.” She started the video running and Grady turned his eyes back to the tunnel, where he saw a long line of humans emerge behind the aliens carrying bags over their shoulders to be loaded on a truck. Grady looked up at Taffy with an angry expression and she said softly, “That’s what the survivors on Britannia have to look forward to if Earth takes control of the planet.”
Grady stared at the monitor and then looked up at Taffy with an expression that showed extreme anger. She saw it and realized that he was not angry at what he saw; he was angry with her. “What’s wrong?!” she asked.
Grady stood up and his hands were gripped into tight fists. He went around to the front of Taffy’s chair, put his hands on the chair arms, and leaned in close to her face. He glared into her eyes and snarled, “YOU SUSPECTED THIS, DIDN’T YOU?!” Taffy quickly nodded and moved her head away from him as she leaned back; she was frightened by what she saw in his face. “YOU SUSPECTED THIS, AND YOU KEPT YOUR BIG MOUTH SHUT AND ALLOWED ME TO TAKE US…” he pointed at the image on the monitor, “…INTO THAT!”
“But I was scared that you would…”
He screamed into her face, “THERE IS NO FEAR IN LOVE, TAFFY!! THE ONLY FEAR IN LOVE IS OF LOSING THE ONE YOU LOVE, AND YOU ALLOWED ME TO TAKE US INTO A SITUATION WHERE WE COULD HAVE BEEN TORTURED, KILLED, OR OUR SHIP DESTROYED! YOU WERE MORE FRIGHTENED FOR YOUR OWN LIFE THAN MINE!!”
Grady glared into her eyes and Taffy lowered her head. Grady slammed his fists on the arms of her chair and she flinched. He stood up and went to his chair. He sat there fuming and Taffy said in a small voice, “I’m sorry, Grady.”
Grady shook his head, “If you had shared your feelings about going to Earth with me I would have done it differently. I wouldn’t have gone straight in but would have moved high above the star and tried to sneak in and take images of the planet. I’d have been prepared to run at the first sign of trouble and a fleet of Earth’s warships wouldn’t now be headed toward Britannia!”