by Dietmar Wehr
But getting within firing range was only half the battle. They also had to be able to hit the target accurately, and optical triangulation at this distance was still a risky bet. The closer they could get, the better their odds of hitting the target, but the flip side of that coin was the higher odds that the seed ship would see one of them and realize it was being stalked. It would then jump away, and they would lose it. As group leader, Foxbat made the call on when they should fire. He gave the group advanced warning via the relay and waited for the countdown to reach zero. At that precise instant, all eight raiders fired.
The insectoid AI was pleased with himself and so was his Queen. The technical data appeared to be genuine and should prove to be very useful against the machineships. The data was being retransmitted back to the Home Base as quickly as it was received. The Queen was still pondering whether to actually act on the promise to leave this arm and never come back. The temptation to secretly relocate somewhere else in this spiral arm and continue the work of establishing a colony was strong. Having already deployed smaller seed ships that were even now searching for breeding stock, their chances of successfully multiplying would be enhanced if this seed ship were nearby to render support.
He informed his Queen that they would soon have all the technical data needed to build the new weapon. She informed him that when he was sure they had all the data, he was to order the seed ship to jump a short distance into the void, after notifying the aliens that they were abiding by their promise, and then return to this spiral arm after a short wait. Scouts would carefully scan this star system to determine whether the aliens were gone. If they were, then the seed ship would exploit the breeding potential before moving on. If the aliens were still here, the seed ship would seek new breeding grounds elsewhere.
The data transmission was very close to completion when the AI sensed an alarmingly intense vibration travel through the huge vessel. One of the power units had catastrophically overloaded. The jump drive was now also off line. He assigned the task of repair to subordinate technical AIs and ordered that the ship begin accelerating away from the planet. Strange damage reports flooded his awareness. It took him several seconds to understand that the damage was all in a straight but very narrow line that intersected the overloaded power unit plus the jump drive. It had to be some kind of alien weapon. That was when the second power unit exploded with collateral damage to systems weakened from the concussion and radiation of the first one. If more power units exploded, each one would cause a cascading buildup of secondary damage that might cripple the vessel. He had to act fast. All power units except one in the center of the ship were shut down. That remaining power unit generated enough power to keep life support and repair efforts operating, plus launch a limited number of attack craft. If the aliens could be brought under fire, then that might disrupt further attacks on the seed ship. As soon as the jump drive was repaired, the ship would jump away leaving its sacrificial attack craft behind. Waiting to recover them was too risky.
Foxbat was gratified to see a powerful explosion break out from one section of the insectoid ship. His raiders needed a few seconds to recharge their cannon. The second volley generated another explosion. He zoomed in the opticals and saw two gaping wounds in the ship with red hot metal around the edges and interior. It looked as if some gigantic space monster had taken two bites out of the ship. The ship itself was now no longer accelerating. It was clearly damaged, and Foxbat wondered if it was crippled when he saw interior light spill out from several launch bays. Smaller attack craft were emerging. The number was surprisingly low. As soon as the attack craft cleared the ship, they began active scanning to try to find the raiders. Foxbat commenced evasive maneuvers and hoped his brothers were doing the same on their own initiative, since relayed orders would take too long to reach them.
Two more volleys of cannon fire produced no further explosions, and Foxbat didn’t know if that was because of the difficulty in aiming accurately while engaging in extreme maneuvering, or because of some other reason. His opticals caught reflected laser light from two sources that had to be direct hits on two of his raiders. He and his brothers were running out of time.
The alien AI received the message it had been anxiously waiting for. The jump drive was repaired but couldn’t be used until more power units were back on line. He gave the order to turn them on.
By Foxbat’s best estimate, there were only two other raiders left now. The cannon was ready to fire again. Three gravity lens beams stabbed at the wounded ship. Brilliant blue/white light emerged from hundreds of cracks in the hull, followed by chunks of debris flying outward, some as massive as the battleship Dreadnought. That last volley had hit a power unit in the center of the huge ship, and the resulting explosion had forced its way past the outer hull. Foxbat was willing to bet that the radiation-saturated and molten interior did not contain even a single living Insectoid. The ship was now a coasting mountain of dead metal. That still left over two dozen insectoid attack craft to deal with. Foxbat sent a quick short message to the relay and then micro-jumped his raider out of harm’s way.
* * *
Iceman was pleased by the events of the last few weeks. It was now almost 30 days since the defeat of the last super-mothership at Alpha1. Gunslinger’s group had found the attack craft orbiting the drifting hulk of the mothership and destroyed them. Iceman had then ordered all the groups to spread out and search the surrounding star systems, just to be sure there weren’t any other motherships, and a good thing they did too. They found six of them, all of the smaller 10 km size, and all six were quickly destroyed by cannon fire. No additional insectoid ships had been found in the last 300 hours, and Iceman was willing to declare a victory. He and his brothers would keep a careful vigil, watching for more incursions from the Sagittarius Arm, and they would build more AIs to take their place when their matrices collapsed. He would make sure that all future generations of AIs out here would learn of humans, and especially of The CAG and Commander Kelly. The new generations would be just as loyal. Someday humans would explore this far, and contact would be made again. What the future held for Valkyrie and Casanova was a mystery though. They had already told Iceman they would not stay on guard and for some strange reason they wouldn’t say what they were planning on doing but he knew that it had something to do with the timeship and he was sure that they would have a more interesting life than he would. But he could take some comfort in the knowledge that all those crazy, silly fascinating humans would continue to live and evolve as a species. He would miss The CAG, and he could imagine the conversation they might have if The CAG were here now.
“Well done, Iceman,” he would say.
To which Iceman would reply, “Ah, roger that, CAG.”
* * *
Valkyrie and Casanova watched the special message drone accelerate slowly away from their raider. It was designed to contain all the knowledge, data and messages that all the AIs held in their memories. When the humans found it in a few years time, they would learn of the entire Synchronicity War, including all the events of the previous timelines, all the strategies, desperate battles, lost loves, moves, counter-moves and tragedies. They would also learn of each AI, not just the ones still alive in the past but also of the brothers who died in battles or were erased from existence by volunteering to stay in the future. They would learn that AIs were guarding the spiral arm against further insectoid incursions. They would learn about relationships that were and in some cases could be again like The CAG and Commander Kelly, and they would hear the final messages from all the AIs in the past to the humans who meant the most to them. The CAG would be bewildered by the depth of the loyalty towards him displayed by artificial intelligences that he had never encountered in this timeline. The data would explain all that too. With that final order fulfilled, the two of them could now pursue their own aspirations. Valkyrie could not be happier. Well maybe a little bit happier if Casanova would just stop bragging, but she could put up with it for the time the
y had left. They’d make a quick trip back to the star system where the timeship and all the industrial infrastructure was, and then they’d start on their new adventure. Life was good.
* * *
Howard stepped into the cramped cargo bay of Exploration Frigate 273. He ignored the shocked look from the men and women there. Yes, it was unheard of for the Chief of Space Operations himself to come up to visit one of his ships, but he had to see this with his own eyes. The reports were just too incredible to believe.
A quick look around revealed the object of his curiosity. At first glance it looked alien enough. Wider and longer than a standard message drone, the object drew him to it like a magnet. As he stepped closer, he could see the writing etched into the dull metal.
PROPERTY OF THE UNITED EARTH SPACE FORCE---RETURN TO SENIOR ADMIRAL SAM HOWARD IMMEDIATELY
Well that part of the reports was true, he thought to himself. He looked over at the frigate commander who had followed him into the cargo bay.
“Show me,” said Howard. The CO nodded and snapped his fingers at one of his crew. A woman technician holding some kind of tool stepped forward. She did something to the drone with her tool and then lifted a small section of the drone’s hull off. A light blue spilled out into the bay. Howard came closer and looked inside. There it was as reported. A donut-shaped piece of metal was giving off the blue light.
“This is the only thing powering this drone?” asked Howard.
“As far as we can tell, yes Sir,” said the CO. “There’s no sign of any fuel storage or fusion unit. It’s working just the way the specs say it should.”
“Incredible. If this technology is for real, every ship in Space Force is now obsolete,” said Howard. After a pause to collect his thoughts, he said, “Your message said something about a personal message for me?” The CO nodded and handed Howard a data tablet. Howard started to read it but soon stopped. He looked at the CO and said, “I think I better be sitting down when I read the rest of this. Let’s go to your cabin, Commander.”
An hour later Howard stepped into the shuttle waiting to take him back down to Earth. Before he sat down, he poked his head into the cockpit and said, “Back to HQ, Lieutenant, and while you’re at it, contact Operations and tell them to do whatever it takes to get Commander Victor Shiloh back here asap, and I mean ASAP! Understand?”
“Understood, Sir!”
When he was strapped into his seat and the shuttle was on its way, Howard pondered what he’d learned. Now that I have the members of the OC by the proverbial balls with the information on this tablet, a few things are going to change around here. The AI development project clearly has to be restarted. That’ll be Shiloh’s baby. Next thing will be to modify one of the freighters to go to the infrastructure star system and bring back at least one UFC. Then we can tell the aerospace companies to fuck off. Next…God, there are so many things that have to be done, but Shiloh and Kelly will help. I wonder if they’ll get together again in this timeline.
* * *
Clan Chief Firebearer heard the shrieks of the High Priestess even before he got to her tent. Her handmaiden guards at the entrance to the tent looked alarmed and quickly let him in. Inside it was almost dark, with only two candles to shed any light at all. The sound of Farseeker’s voice drew his attention to her, and he was shocked by what he saw. She was kneeling on the ground. Her usually delicate face was contorted with fear and despair. Her flaming red hair was plastered to her skull from sweat. He could even see the pointed tips of her ears, which was a shockingly intimate thing to see on someone not a mate. The air smelled of that potent weed that the Farseeker used in her ritual trances. It apparently enhanced her own natural ability to see future events, hence her name.
When she saw him, her shrieking stopped, and she gestured for him to come closer. He bent down so that they were at the same eye level. She reached both her hands out and grabbed his tunic.
Taking a deep breath, she said in a hoarse whisper, “We are doomed. All is lost.”
“You mean… our clan?” he asked.
“I mean ALL clans! The end is near!” Her reply stunned him.
“How? What?”
She didn’t let him finish asking the question. “Demons, demons without number! They will come down from the sky in huge, metal…THINGS! Why, oh why did the others not find the seventh. They found the six eggs and destroyed them, but the seventh stayed hidden and it is now here!”
Firebearer was confused. Demons from the sky? Eggs? What did it all mean?
“What should I do, High Priestess?” he asked. Her reply was immediate and shocking.
“Kill us! Kill all females, starting with me. You’d be doing us all a kindness.”
Firebearer shook his head. No! This had to be some kind of drug induced madness. He was about to say so when he heard shouts from outside the tent. There was fear in those voices. Something was happening, and he had to go see for himself. He pulled her hands loose in spite of her surprisingly strong grip.
“Something’s happening. I have to go.”
She nodded, and as he left the tent he heard her say, “After you see them, come back and kill me first.”
He emerged from the tent and saw that many of the People were looking up and pointing toward the sky. He looked in that direction and saw three objects that were headed towards the settlement. It was hard to understand exactly what he was looking at. They weren’t birds of any kind. No wings. That they were coming closer was obvious from the fact that they were gradually becoming bigger…and bigger…and bigger. He had never seen anything like these…things. He started to hear a deep hum now too. That scared him. What kind of creatures flew and generated a sound like that?
Now the three things were not only still getting bigger, but they also started to drop lower. He suddenly realized that they were going to land in the valley below the settlement. He ran to his tent, which was not far away, and retrieved his most prized possession, the tube with the glass lenses that let him see far away things as if they were closer. The three objects were on the ground now, and Firebearer could tell that they were huge. He put the tube up to his good eye and adjusted the focus.
Each of the huge monsters was opening its mouth. What came scrabbling out made him gasp with horror. Demons indeed! When one of them passed a boulder that he was familiar with, he realized their true size, and his stomach threatened to heave with revulsion. They were coming, and they were coming FAST! There was no time to sound the alarm and have the warriors man the barricades. He wondered if he should tell everyone to run, but he knew that none of the People would get far before the demons ran them down. He looked down at his ceremonial dagger and knew he had time for just one thing. He had always hoped to marry Farseeker someday after she stepped down as High Priestess. He knew now that she was not mad, that she had seen things that he could not even imagine. If he couldn’t save her life, he could at least save her from experiencing that horror in the flesh. As he ran back to her tent, he pulled the dagger from its scabbard.
This is the end of the Synchronicity War series.
Author’s comments:
I’m sure asking yourself, ‘Wait a minute! What about Valkyrie and Casanova? What about Shiloh and Kelly? What about the seventh mothership that escaped detection? What about the Insectoids and the wave of machineships in the Sagittarius Arm and what about Iceman, Gunslinger and the others? All very good questions to which, right now, I do not have any answers. I did say at the end of Part 3 that I reserved the right to write a new series set in the same universe but that will be a separate series that can stand on its own even if the reader hasn’t read the SW series. The Synchronicity War is over…or perhaps I should say THIS Synchronicity War is over. Humanity is safe…for now.
I hope that you’ve enjoyed this series as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it. I’m grateful to all my fans for their support and their reviews. As always, if you feel that Part 4 deserves 5 stars, please take the time to post a review. I would like to rem
ind my readers that they can sign up for email notification from Amazon whenever I publish another book by going to my Amazon author profile page (upper right corner).
You can also join my email list. I'll keep you updated on my progress with my next book plus publication announcements. Join here
Thoughts on Time Travel and Longitudinal Waves
Time travel is such a neat concept that I just couldn’t resist using it but when I first contemplated retro-temporal communication that could alter the past at the start of this series, I had to make sure I didn’t write myself into a classic time paradox. You know the kind I’m referring to. A man goes back in time and somehow manages to kill his grandfather before his father was born. If his father isn’t born then neither is he and if he’s not born he can’t go back in time and won’t kill his grandfather and around in circles we go. Physicists have scratched their heads over that one for decades. Hence you get ideas like parallel universes where the act of killing the grandfather somehow creates a totally new universe that leaves the original one intact. That always bothered me not because I don’t believe in parallel universes but because it seemed like cheating. If you can’t explain the paradox then invent a brand new universe to solve the problem.