by Shawn Jones
“Okay, boss man, now that I have a shuttle full of your castoffs, what do you want me to do with all of us?”
“For starters, Lieutenant, you can lose whatever attitude you’ve developed. This isn’t the time or place.” Why couldn’t you have been a little slower, you dumb bastard?
“Yessiree.”
Cort messaged Clem and George, warning them to keep an eye on Schwartz, then ordered, “Schwartz, put your passenger in a FALCON and put a respirator on her. Then back your shuttle up to the deck of the Hellebore, offload everyone, and I’ll take it from there.”
“Yes, sir.”
Cort watched the shuttle sidle up to the Hellebore’s outer deck, and two CONDORs, who were tethered to the ship, held it in place while Schwartz and his Marines evacuated to the larger ship. When everyone was clear, he asked George if there was any need to keep the shuttle.
“No, Father. Lieutenant Schwartz is upset with me.”
“And it’s misdirected. He should be mad at me, you were following my orders. I’ll handle it.”
Cort grabbed one landing skid of the shuttle, and pushed it away from the joined ships. When it had drifted far enough toward the planet, the HAWC’s railgun appeared on his shoulder and fired one plasma charged round into the craft. Cort climbed back onto the Hellebore’s deck, and shut the HAWC down.
—
While Marines secured the HAWC and two Erom connected George’s gel core to the new ship, Cort approached Schwartz. “What’s your problem, Lieutenant?”
“You chose a fucking memory drive over your people, Mr. Addison.”
Even with muted telepathy, Cort knew Schwartz was done taking orders. He disabled the man’s weapons and augmented strength, and said, “You are relieved of duty. For the duration of this voyage, you are a civilian, and will be treated as such.” Maybe you will accidentally get eaten by one of my dinosaurs when we get home. Just feeding the pets. I win, Universe.
Turning to two other Marines, he ordered them to get Schwartz a simple tunic, and house him with refugees. His HUD blinked red; it was a priority message from George. Reading it, he turned around and looked at Threm. The view of the planet was changing. The conjoined ships were moving.
He rushed to the bridge of the Hellebore.
Bane was on the bridge with Kim, Biyadiq, and the children. “Where’s Shart?”
Dalek and Diane both looked at him with tears in their eyes. Diane said, “He couldn’t come. He had an alien on him.”
Biyadiq privately said, “He didn’t suffer, General; I put him to sleep before I neutralized the exo.”
“I’m sorry, kids. He was a good wolf.”
He wished he had more time to comfort the kids, but too much was happening. “Tur, take the kids to the command quarters, and keep them busy. Thank you for getting them here safely.”
The exos had kept the three Neanderthals and two Marines alive. They were using the host bodies to control the Remington. With the Hellebore still attached, and repairs ongoing, the two ships were accelerating toward c, the speed of light in space, and dilating time.
Cort looked at George and asked, “Can we stop it?”
Bloom said, “Sun is working to get our warp field online. When it is, we can detach. Until then, we are at their mercy.”
Cort swore. The Hellebore could detach from the Remington, but if it did so without power to escape, it would be at the mercy of the Ares guns. Thanks to the Marines from Threm, they were able to keep the enemy from reboarding the Hellebore, using the new synthetics and incendiary rounds. Until Bloom could engage the hull, the Erom ship was well and truly fucked. And so is my plan to colonize Solitude early. Fuck.
“They are on an intercept course with Heroc’s World, Father.”
Cort remembered his last conversation with Ceram. “Godsdammit. They know the Jaifans are their ideal hosts. Bloom, get this ship ready to go. How soon can we detach?”
Bloom studied Sun’s progress, and shared it with George, who put a timer on the main viewer. Cort also wanted to know when the ships would arrive at Heroc’s World. Another timer appeared, and the two readings were almost identical.
“What does that mean, George?”
“We will not be able to detach from the Remington until we are back in our target time, and near Heroc’s World. The exos are taking us home, Father.”
Gods damn you. I can still destroy them, though. And you can’t destroy me.
Clem walked onto the bridge and said, “We can hold the port. Captain Rai has assigned Marines to protect the mounting points, so we are good until we get to wherever they are going.”
“They are going for the Jaifans. If they get to them, it will be an instant army of millions.”
Remembering another part of Ceram’s dying words, Cort said, “When we pass the moment in the Gryll timeline that we left that universe, send Admiral Thoms a message. Make sure she knows about the exos, that they are on the inside of the Dyson sphere, and how to fight them.”
“Yes, Father.”
—
The conjoined ships neared the heliosphere of the Jaifan home system, and Bloom stood behind Sun and another Erom, ready to separate from the Remington on Cort’s order.
“There are thirty Ares ships around the planet, Father.”
Cort look at the image. “Good. As soon as we fall away, send them an order to destroy the Remington on sight.”
The chronometers showed the time in the universe around them. Cort watched as the conjoined ships approached their target. When Cort gave the order, tethers fell away, and mounting arms exploded, just as Bloom activated the Hellebore’s warp field. A second later the Remington stopped just outside the ring of ships protecting Heroc’s World.
George started to send the message Cort had ordered, but stopped himself when he picked up a signal from the ships surrounding the planet.
“Father, there is a new problem.”
“What now?”
George activated the bridge speakers and Mike Rage’s voice spilled into the room.
“Cortland Addison, this is President Mike Rage of the Terran Alliance. You are ordered to power down your ship and surrender, immediately. You have been tried in absentia and found guilty of crimes against humanity. If you surrender immediately, your family will be granted safe passage to Heroc’s World.”
“What the hell?”
The Remington opened fire on the ship nearest it, and was immediately destroyed by the Terran fleet.
“Bloom, get us out of here. Head for Solitude. What the hell is going on, George?”
George looked at his father and said, “We must have missed something. This is paradox.”
“Try syncing with your core on Solitude.”
George connected to himself, across the galaxy. The minute it took to sync to his planetary core seemed like an eternity to the people on the bridge. Finally , he looked at Cort and said, “Solitude is safe, and preparing for our arrival. We did not create paradox. After Mother followed us to the Gryll universe, General Rage incited an open rebellion.”
When George’s words sank in, Cort said, “We are at war with Earth then, and Heroc’s World is being held hostage.”
“That is correct, Father.”
You haven’t won yet.
Epilogue
By the time the Hellebore arrived at Solitude, Cort knew all there was to know about the ongoing civil war. After Kim followed him to the Gryll universe, Mike Rage had taken control of Earth and a dozen other human outposts by using the loyalty of his officers to maneuver them into key positions. His plan was to blockade Heroc’s World, and win enough conservative humans over to his side, to try Cort in absentia, and declare the Human-Jaifan alliance null and void. Ares citizens who were loyal to Cort had escaped to Solitude, Heroc’s World, and Threm. The rest of the Ares Federation planets had either joined with Mike Rage, or had been abandoned in the onslaught of war.
When they arrived at Solitude, Admiral Jade Jones, General Jane Munroe, and
Admiral Bazal joined Cort on the Hellebore. Rand Gaines, the civilian superintendent of the Ares Federation, was being held prisoner on Earth.
After brief greetings, Cort said, “Ladies, we have a lot to go over, but Admiral Bazal has been waiting over three hundred years for this moment, so the debriefing can wait.”
Both women looked at Bazal happily, and the octopod said, “You are right, Cortland. The wait has been so very long, and the cost…” Bazal held a tentacle up to the wall of the tank. It didn’t have sucker cups like a terran octopus. Rather it had long ridges that ran the length of a terminal pad.
As Cort held his own hand up to the tank, he said, “It has been worth it, to repay you for your friendship, Bazal.”
Cort sensed that JJ and Jane were happy for Bazal, but that was all he sensed. No firm thoughts. And nothing from Bazal. After recovery from his surgery, a heightened sense of empathy was the only telepathic ability that remained. Once Salana had repaired the damage to his brain, she had pumped him full of new synthetics that seemed to hold the constant metamorphosis his brain was experiencing in check.
With Bane between her and JJ as they walked to the area where the other Octopods were being kept, Jane asked, “Where is Kim? Are she and Dalek okay? Oh! And Diane!”
Cort said, “They are fine. They’ll join us in a little while. Let’s give Bazal his moment first, though.”
The Admiral of Cort’s Navy, JJ said, “Why don’t you tell me about the new ship then?”
He had already sent a full report of what happened in both the Gryll universe and the past, to JJ and Jane. But seeing the imagery of the ship and being on it were two different things. While Cort talked about ship’s drive, they passed Bloom and two other Erom. Bloom left xyr comrades, and joined Cort’s party.
JJ said, “You have a beautiful ship, Bloom.”
“Thank you, but it belongs to the Federation now. General Addison has promised us a planet in exchange for it.”
Jane raised her eyebrow, and Cort said, “I had hoped to give them Mars. They are perfectly suited for it. Since Mike’s little power play, though, it will have to be our second planet, Reticence. George says they can already breathe there, and the Erom are very in tune with agriculture, so it will be a good fit. I want to set up farms just like we have, had, on Mars.”
“In exchange for the planet and the colony, we are going to teach you about our ships, and how to build them.”
JJ smiled. “I look forward to that. This damnable war has left our interstellar fleet useless.”
Behind them, the water tank vibrated, showing Bazal’s growing excitement at reuniting with the remainder of his species. Two Marines saluted the party and opened the door to the octopod holding area. The others stepped aside and made way for Bazal to enter first.
“Bazal has known much more of our history than he has shared with us. Three hundred years ago, he and I agreed the best thing to do was to keep it secret. What a strange journey.”
The others nodded and watched as Bazal moved his tank into the room, with Bane right behind him. With his tank beside a much larger one, he climbed out of his, and entered the other. Inside it, five of his lost species waited for him. The surge of energy from the reunion that had been over three centuries in the making, filled the bay with so much telepathic energy and emotion that every being in the area openly wept. All except Cort. His emotion was because of the loss of his link to Bazal.
He ordered the tank to be electronically isolated to protect the crew from the telepathic energy, then led JJ, Bloom, and Jane out. In the hallway, Jane wiped tears from her eyes. “That was incredible.”
Cort led them into his office and motioned them to sit down. Bane whimpered and Cort nodded at him, sending the wolf running from the room.
“What’s he in such a hurry for?” Jane asked.
“Diane and Dalek. Shart is dead. Bane wants to be around the two kids all the time, it seems. I suspect I’ve lost my wolf.”
“But gained a daughter.”
Cort smiled. “There is that. As I recall, you drink whiskey, Jane,” Cort said as he went to his sideboy. “But you are a teetotaler, right JJ?”
“Teetotaler, General?”
“You don’t drink. Is water okay?”
“Water is fine, sir. Thank you.”
“Water for you, Bloom?
Cort handed the others their drinks, grabbed his own, and sat down facing them. He took a sip of the amber liquid and sighed. “I’ve got a helluva story for you.”
“How do we handle telling people you changed the past?”
“I don’t know, Jane. I just don’t know.”
“It doesn’t really matter, Cort,” JJ said. “One, you are a military dictator. No one else has any say in it. And two, it’s already done. So we just have to decide how best to handle it.”
“Openly,” Cort said. “We will not discuss my newfound empathic abilities, but other than that, most of it is going to be public. Except for military secrets, Dvok’s involvement, and the Erom tech.
“Is that a good idea, sir?” JJ asked. “I mean about being open? People are going to be very upset. You’ve dabbled in manipulating time, after all.”
“I’m sure. But we would have a really hard time hiding this. The people we rescued know what happened, so we either have to lock them away, or trust them. I won’t do either. The best way to control information is to be the first to release it. So that’s what I’m going to do. Doctor Biyadiq is giddy because of the possibilities here. We have samples of human history dating back to the Australopithecine era. All of the genetic damage done by early iterations of synthetics will be repaired.”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” Jane said. “This is going to jump biological science foreword by decades.” She put her drink down and said, “Cort, I’m sorry about Ceram.”
Cort sobered at the mention of his friend and pain dulled his expression. The door opened, and Diane and Dalek ran inside with Bane and Kim. “Admiral Jones, General Munroe, I’d like you to meet my daughter, Diane.”
Diane walked to the two women and shook their hands. Kim hugged the women.
Kim was about to speak when Jane said, “I’m sorry about Faulks, Kim.”
“It’s not your fault. Just something that happened.”
—
Cort walked into the bay and looked at the Octopods in the tank. He wished he could still commune with Bazal, so he wouldn’t have to disturb the dance that was happening between the species. If he hadn’t known there were six of them in the briny water, he would thought there were a dozen, given the mass of tentacles and bodies.
But there was a grace about the mélange playing out in front of him. It was a visual representation of the telepathic communion he had shared with Bazal for so long. Seeing it in that way filled Cort with a sense of nostalgia.
The mass separated into its parts, and Bazal made his way back into his own tank. When he moved closer to Cort, he said, “Thank you, Cortland. I can never express our gratitude for what you have given us.”
“What I just saw. That was what we do, did, mentally, wasn’t it?”
“Yes. We are able to express it more completely with the interaction you witnessed.”
“Is it like that for everyone?”
“For our species, yes.”
“I mean for us? You and me.”
“Yes. My bond with you was different than what I have with others. It was much more like that of my species. I… changed my bond to you.”
“How?”
“I do not know. But with other species, I control the link, and it’s just a way to communicate with, or read those I touch. And even when it is mutual, I never let the other species see into my emotions. I opened my being completely to you.”
“The loss is greater than I realized then.” Cort touched Bazal’s tank again. “But it was still worth it, old friend.”
“Thank you, Cortland. I too, feel lesser for not having you share my mind.”
Cort
walked to the door, turned, and said, “Go back to your friends. I have a war to plan.”
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