No Marigolds in the Promised Land

by T S Hottle

  DAY 42

  CNV ALCUBIERRE -IN INTERSTELLAR SPACE

  45-Mandela, 429 – 1002

  In normal space, the shuttle sent by Tol Germanicus created headaches for Danaq and his fellow pilots. The shuttle was large, and by attaching to a freight dock on the side of the warp drive sphere, it threw handling off. Danaq complained that the Alcubierre felt like it had an anchor dropped onto something immobile. He found himself having to compensate for linear drift every time the ship corrected course.

  At warp, it did not matter. The shuttle's somewhat flat profile helped it stay inside the warp field. Otherwise the jump to FTL would have sheered it off and possibly the freight hatch with it. Unfortunately, there was no telling how another collision with a large gravity well would have affected it.

  "Should have asked for one more hyperdrone or a sensor probe," said Friese as she and Danaq sat playing chess in the Alcubierre's ward room.

  "Try justifying that to the Navy," said Danaq. "From what you told me, Liz had to be the carrot to that Germanicus guy's stick. I can't imagine Liz having to bat her eyelashes at this Red Cloud guy's…"

  When Danaq stopped, Friese realized she had a horrible poker face. She decided to play dumb. "What?"

  He shook his head. "You and Liz. And you probably think Liz is in love with you. I made that mistake. Once."

  "I'm not…"

  Danaq put up his hand. "I'm not judging you, but you do wear it on your sleeve." He took his knight and moved it deep into Friese's territory. "On this ship, it gets lonely. Basically, we're in sort of a bubble universe. We can't communicate outside the warp field, and we can't see anything at this speed. And we're in it for days, even weeks."

  "Makes me wonder why we even bothered with this sort of drive." Friese placed one of her remaining pawns in the path of Danaq's knight. "Maybe I'm biased, working with hypergates all my adult life, but it seems to me we're wasting time and resources. Wormholes are as close to instantaneous space travel as we can get."

  Danaq ignored her pawn and moved a rook toward her queen. "No, there's one other theory. And since we're trapped inside a bubble of real space with no way to talk to the outside world, I can tell you. You know about quantum entanglement. Right?"

  "Spooky action at a distance. What affects one particle affects any particle entangled with it instantly no matter the distance." She had a pawn in Danaq's territory that went toward his king. "I've heard that might be a way to create an ansible."

  "Oh, the ansible's happening. That's not classified, just under most people's radar."

  Friese had heard the rumors. The trouble was they were rumors. It would not have surprised her if the rumors had been deliberate leaked wrapped in a lot of conspiracy nonsense. Secrets leaked. Rumors hid in plain sight. Anything one might hear about the fantastical could be true, but so much misinformation surrounded it that it had no credibility. "I thought that was a sailor's tale, like the Taiyang Huo Corporation really runs the Compact."

  "Actually," said Danaq, taking the pawn blocking his knight, "if any company does, it's Dasarius. But not the Dasarius family. As for the ansible, yeah, it's a leaked rumor, but I've seen one. A prototype, anyway. Definitely not ready for prime time. We can do more using ships and drones to dump a planet's entire internet onto another planet's than we can with the current version of an ansible. It's like an FTL telegraph. Neat concept, but by the time you translate the message, you've already received and unpacked a data dump from another system. But quantum entanglement does something else."

  Her pawn moved closer to Danaq's king. "Like what?"

  Danaq's knight marched ever closer to Friese's queen, directly in the path of a bishop and a knight she had been ignoring since the start of the match. "Quantum entanglement is just that. Quantum. It happens below the atomic level. Which means…?"

  Friese nudged a rook she hadn't played for several moves into position. "Um… Quarks? Gluons? What about them?"

  "It means that you don't have to be entangled with normal matter. Dark matter will do." His knight moved in for the kill. "Imagine if you could swap places with dark matter light-years away instantly. And the universe is full of the stuff."

  "But we can't see dark matter." Her bishop took out his knight. She suppressed a smirk at Danaq's sudden confusion. "Not directly."

  "Not conventionally. But we can see it." His voice had become weaker as he studied the board for another piece to go after Friese's queen. The best he could do was take his other knight and start marching it across the board. "And quantum entanglement lets us detect it directly. Now, you have a supposedly empty space in a star system, and you want to put your ship there without anyone seeing it. Well, what's the difference if it transplants a rock of precisely the same mass or dark matter that doesn't really affect its surroundings anyway? Theoretically, you could cross the universe in the blink of an eye."

  "Undetected." Her pawn moved closer to the queen. Danaq seemed unaware of it and moved his last knight closer. "Which is why we're doing warp drive."

  "Oh, believe me, that little incident with the brown dwarf? When we start building warp ships, they're going to have to have EM and projection drive, or we're going to wind up with a lot of ships out in the boondocks trying to maintain orbit above dead stars and rogue planets. Unless one gets sucked into a black hole. But entanglement will let us do instantly what we're now trying to do with warp ships. Appear suddenly and without much fanfare. There are few surprise attacks from interstellar space because wormholes make so much noise across the electromagnetic spectrum that you might as well send a hyperdrone to the enemy with your coordinates. This ship drops out of warp with its radiation dissipated. Imagine if you're confronted with a fleet that just materializes out of nowhere."

  Friese took Danaq's queen with her pawn. "Checkmate?"

  Danaq laughed. "I was always bad about watching the pawns."

  Naval Headquarters, Bellingshausen Island, Antarctica, Earth

  25-Mandela, 429 – 1203

  Tran Vu stared out at an unusually blue ocean of Bellingshausen Island. The sky had cleared to a deep cloudless blue. On the rocky shore, penguins frolicked in the sun. Never mind that day-long darkness would descend on the island within three months.

  Tran decided it was time to end the Navy's idiotic tradition of putting its headquarters in bland, remote locations. He would go before the Security Council and demand that Naval HQ move to someplace with major space access like Vancouver or Pyongyang, maybe somewhere in Central America. While growing up in Vietnam, he never imagined the highest achievement of his career would have him serving in a frozen waste off the coast of Antarctica.

  He was still facing the view outside when Major Liu's reflection appeared in the window.

  "Sit down, Major," said Tran. He did not turn around but waited as Liu's visage sank behind him. "You have some powerful friends, Major. Very powerful friends. Wouldn't you agree?"

  "Yes, sir," said Liu. "Now do you see why we need to proceed as I suggested?"

  "Yes," said Tran.

  "Then we will let Admiral Burke have enough rope to…"

  "Admiral Burke will proceed precisely as she intends, Major," said Tran. "With no interference from you and your masters." He turned and leaned on his desk toward Liu. "But I am still a Joint Chief, Major. And as long as you wear that uniform, you will obey my orders. And you and your fellow lackeys will respect my office. And that of the Air Marshal, the Commandant of Marines, and Cybercommand's G-5. Do you think you can do that, Major?"

  For the first time ever, Tran saw fear in the Major's eyes. "Sir, I…"

  "The next words I hear come out of that mealy mouth of yours had better be 'Yes, sir,' or the civilian agents you met before will be back. And this time, you won't be getting any help from Quantonesia. Am I clear, Major Liu?"

  Confusion clouded the Major's eyes. Finally, he said, "Yes, sir."

  "Good." Tran stood and turned back to admire the rare beautiful day on Bellingshausen Island. "Now, have
the Buran fueled, crewed, and ready to go by this afternoon. Inform the captain he is to standby to travel to Farigha on my order." He saw Liu's reflection in the window stand. "And if I do not find out through independent channels that this has been done, you'll be buried in a hole so deep, Sol will be a white dwarf before you find your way out. Dismissed."

  He watched Liu leave the room without a word. Tran focused once more on the penguins frolicking the sun.

  It was indeed a beautiful day on the island.

  Solaria, Farno (formerly Farigha)

  Log Entry: 25-Mandela, 429 – 1207

  Just once I would like to find out that someone thought to start digging tunnels between domes. After all, it'll be at least a century before Farigha is habitable, maybe longer given that 2 Mainzer is a red dwarf. I headed out on the afternoon of 20-Mandela with three rovers, two following 57, my favorite and Persephone's, to the pit stop 200 kilometers beyond.

  The power there was unstable. Fortunately, there was an older rover with a decent fusion core. It had about year's worth of hydrogen left. I suggested we put solar wrap up to augment the power, assuming Admiral Burke follows through on her threat to get a "secret ship" here. Persephone nixed that idea.

  "The idea of hiding in the pit stop is to camouflage you from the aliens," she said, appearing in solid mode for the first time in a couple of days. "Solar wrap on the rocks above would be a big arrow toward you."

  "What about the rover tracks?"

  "Leave that to me."

  We set up the pit stop so I could at least live there comfortably. Persephone fabricated a holo emitter that would allow her to be solid. I thought it was a waste of power, but she wouldn't hear of it.

  "I need to be human once in a while," she said, "and you need companionship."

  While I and several drones Persephone controlled turned the pit stop into an emergency bunker, Burke's hyperdrones paid a couple of visits. Until we setup Persephone's holo emitter, I had to communicate with Burke from Rover 57, which had its own emitter.

  On the first, Burke outlined how they would rescue me. She expected the ship to arrive in three days time, barring anymore "technical difficulties." That still made me question why they didn't send a projection drive ship instead. I'd have been gone a month ago. I would have to get aboard a shuttle as the Navy could not risk losing the ship in a landing. A shuttle didn't even have to touch the ground. It could hover long enough for me to climb aboard. That was fine. I was willing to run and jump aboard a shuttle if it meant getting off this forsaken rock. She also warned me the ship would be cramped. It did not even have EM drive, so no sudden jumps across the 2 Mainzer system to get away from the bad guys. I said fine. Just get me home in one piece.

  On the second drone visit, I was informed that the ship was now 37 hours out, and that I should be in Solaria when it arrives. I asked what I should do if our friends arrived. Burke said power everything down and wait for their signal. She had it on good authority that a Zephyr-class cruiser was standing by in case this went south on us.

  "Lovely," I said. "Why didn't you send that three weeks ago? Or better still, when the colony went silent."

  "I've been asking that," said Burke's interactive hologram, "since the day I went to the Fleet Admiral about it."

  LOG ENTRY: 22-Mandela – 1208

  I need to find a way to upload. If Burke sends a warship, I can live in its systems indefinitely. Apparently, Germanicus wrote in algorithms that can bypass the security on Navy vessels. That alone should disturb me, but I can't do anything about it until I get off this planet. Once off, I'm sure I can find a place to host me, perhaps a sympathetic scientist to create a synthetic body that will allow me to protect John Farno at all times. I'll know more when this mysterious ship arrives.

  DAY 44

  SOLARIA, FARNO (FORMERLY FARIGHA)

  Log Entry: 27-Mandela, 429 – 1019

  I am so screwed. Our alien friends came back, and this time I was out in Rover 57. I have no way of warning Admiral Burke that her secret ship is flying into an ambush. Shit. And I'm pretty sure they spotted me. So right now, Persephone and I hung out under a rock outcropping, hoping the air recycling and the fusion core didn't give us away. We waited until their ship passed over the horizon and high-tailed it back to Solaria. Persephone had a pair of aerials follow us to obscure our tracks.

  Why the hell didn't I move into the pit stop full time?

  We're trying to figure out what eyes and ears we have out there to spy on them if they land, but I seriously doubt I can rig up another improvised nuke to get rid of them. Anyway, such a blast is likely to bring a whole platoon of those things down on me. I could be wrong, but vaporizing a group of sentient beings might be considered an act of war.

  Then again, so is destroying all life on a terraforming project. Perhaps I'll pass that memo back to Admiral Burke on the next hyperdrone. Assuming I survive this.

  Log entry: 24-Mandela, 429 – 1032

  Maybe I can do another improvised nuke. Persephone is mapping a route back to the pit stop that includes plenty of caves and overhangs we can hide beneath. We're assuming the aliens are not going to waste smart dust on a planet that has otherwise shown no signs of life.

  Of course, one scan of Solaria will reveal a fully functioning dome with power, air, and heat to support a settlement of primates. So, who setup the dome since their last visit? One more reason to bug out.

  Trouble is Burke's hyperdrone, if they don't blast it out of the sky, will not have time to upload my log entries. Too bad, because I know Cybercommand, our branch of spooks in the military, is going to want this kind of intelligence if we're facing a new hostile species.

  Tian Naval Command Headquarters, Mongolia Mountains, Tian, Helios System

  24-Mandela, 429 – 1214

  Eileen Burke's joints ached. Every time rejuvenation wore off for her, her joints ached worse than the last time. She would have to apply for a month's leave soon and go back into the tank for a fresh round of gene resequencing. Doctors claimed they could now make it last ten years this time instead of the usual five. She had heard that before her last rejuvenation, her sixteenth since her thirty-second birthday.

  Rejuve usually took a week to perform, though doctors also claimed they could shorten the process to three days. It took another week to recover as it was like having the worst flu virus in human history when one first emerged from the tank. She always took a month because, like most people, especially those over seventy, the process left her with too much energy. She always came out of recovery too hungry, too horny, and too restless to concentrate. Rejuvenation would require she find a world with interesting food, a playmate with a lot of stamina (usually a fellow rejuve undergoing the same recovery process), and something strenuous to occupy the rest of her time. Once, she roped an old Academy lover into to going to Dakota with her to rough it in the forest with her. She still had the scars from fighting with local wildlife bare-handed and refused to let rejuvenationists remove them.

  She now looked at such a scar running the length of her forearm and wondered if it should not be removed. Combat had seen the worst done to her, making her stronger and more resilient than her younger fellow officers. But flag rank might be softening her, she feared. She looked out the huge picture window in her office at the spread of the Mongolia Mountains, Tian's longest chain. One could get lost in those mountains for years if not careful.

  Eileen Burke took that as a challenge. The desk behind her reminded her that duty would not permit a months- or years-long disappearance in one of the few remaining unexplored regions of any core world. Besides, how stupid would it look if a vice admiral got lost in the forest less than thirty kilometers from her own headquarters? Even if it was on purpose?

  "Bessie."

  "Yes, Admiral," said the feminine voice over the speaker.

  "Send to Fleet Admiral Tran," Burke continued. "Request rejuvenation leave to commence one week after recovery of the Farigha survivor. Upon approval, book me
two weeks at the Sinclair Clinic in Metropolis, then two weeks at the Dionysus Resort." She smiled to herself. Much of what took place at Dionysus would be illegal on even the most permissive worlds. One had to sign a waiver before entering the resort.

  "Request will be sent on the next packet to Earth," the AI Bessie announced. "Do you have a preferred doctor at Sinclair?"

  "Wu," said Burke. "Get me Dr. Wu. And tell him…" She could not believe what she was about to ask. "Tell him I would like to become fertile again. Very fertile."

  "May I remind the admiral that childbearing might interfere with the duties of a flag officer?"

  "The current Secretary-General of the Compact nurses her baby in her office in Quantonesia," Burke snapped. "Besides, Tran owes me the leave time anyway."