The six humans followed the Archie through the door, where they were joined by five more Archies, all armed. The procession turned down a hallway and walked about fifty meters before passing through another doorway.
This was the bridge. Matt had no doubt at all. The room was octagonal, maybe fifty meters across, and it had no ceiling.
Matt knew there had to be some surface covering the top of the room, whether it was a totally transparent layer, or a clear force field, or simply the very best holographic display screen he'd ever seen. Whatever the actual mechanism was, the bridge held a comfortable atmosphere while appearing to be open to the night sky.
The view was dazzling.
Roughly in the center of the display or directly above the ship was the Earth and Luna. They were far enough away that Luna was the brightest star in the sky, one with its circular disk just visible. The Earth was a blue marble streaked with white. The Milky Way angled across the sky, hints of reds and blues and yellows in pinpoints almost too tiny to make out, against what seemed to be a band of white clouds stretching out of sight at both ends of the window.
Julie gasped. "It's kind of a cosmic ticker–tape parade."
Matt could suddenly see the similarity—stars so dense that there had to be a legion of stars hidden by the closest ones. The swath of stars spread through the sky like ticker tape filling the gap between the dark buildings bordering a parade route.
Matt was finally able to tear his gaze away from the starry sky. The room itself was dimly it. Directly in the center of the room sat an Archie in a reclining chair tilted back far enough that it looked straight up into the expanse of distant suns.
"Abby," Matt said. "Ask for your language lesson now. And try to get it quickly. I don't know if there's anything we can do, but if there is, it's got to be done quickly. Maybe we can transmit a message from here to Earth if you find out enough about what's going on."
Abby nodded and spoke to the Archie. They moved off toward a corner while the other five Archies stayed with Matt and the others.
Rudy said softly, "I don't think there's much reason to communicate with Earth. They don't have any defenses that could help against something like this. If they're are still alive and we can't stop what's happening, all we do is give them a few hours or days of hell instead of five minutes."
"That's probably true, but maybe a few people could survive in orbit if they get enough warning. It's a tough call."
Rudy nodded.
Matt scanned the room. Eight other Archies on their own recliners surrounded the central Archie in an octagonal pattern, each looking up at the sky. Farther out sat still more Archies, but the ones on the perimeter sat in chairs that allowed them to face the walls, on which display after display showed views of the interior of the ship from various points of view, and magnified images of the stars. A couple of screens showed views of Earth, one of them showing the whole globe, the other showing a low–orbit scan of a brown and vermilion land mass.
#
"This is the mayor," Dorine said into the phone.
Barney's voice was calm as he identified himself, and Dorine felt grateful even before hearing his message. "The bomb squad's located the explosives in the Empire State Building. The guy was telling you the truth."
"And?"
"And I think we've got a good shot at disabling them. The control mechanism is an old, discrete job, and I've got a couple of guys with experience."
Dorine knew anyone who had that experience and who was still alive must have avoided a lot of mistakes, and that was a comforting thought. "You'd better give them a chance at it then," she said. "I'm not backing down."
"You got it." Barney didn't say it in so many words, but the pride in his tone of voice said, "That's exactly what I would do."
#
For a few seconds, the starry scene overhead reminded Matt of a night long ago when he had lain on his back past midnight and stared up at a sky filled with stars. The air had been filled with the sound of crickets and unidentified snaps and creaks as the wind flowed over his body. Far in the distance, a train had sounded its whistle, and the faint rumble of the cars sounded almost like distant thunder.
"Matt." Abby was next to him again, and the Archie was next to her.
"Yeah."
"It doesn't sound good."
"Go ahead." Rudy and the others moved nearer so they could hear.
"I talked with her some more—"
"Her?"
"If I've got the sexes correctly identified. Anyway, I'm getting more confidence in what they're saying. I think I understand the vocabulary we've got so far correctly. The message on the domes is meant to say, 'The ship is moving the city to safety.' She says they had expected the message would be easier to figure out than it was. And she says the Archies are in fact scooping up cities to protect them. There's another ship, built by someone else, that's apparently on a programmed course of locating worlds that fit some criteria and converting them for their own purposes. It's completely automated—no intelligence aboard."
"Converting. Like we would terraform another world? Change its climate and atmosphere so it would be convenient for us?"
Abby spoke to the Archie, then turned back to Matt. "Yes, something like that, except that whatever this planet shaper does also kills the indigenous life so it doesn't interfere."
"God. A robot ship converting planet after planet for their own purposes, and not caring what happens to anything living there?"
Julie said, "Sounds a lot like us and the rain forests."
"And who are the people who built this planet shaper?" Matt asked.
After consultation Abby said, "They don't know. Some other alien race. To the Archies we're an endangered species. They're preserving what life they can. If they're able to locate another Earth–like world, they'll eventually plant us there."
"But that won't help the Earth, for God's sake." Matt turned abruptly and looked at the screens showing the Earth from space. "There are billions of people down there. And it's our home. We can't just let some ship come along and do whatever they do to it."
Rudy said, "Not only that, but the same thing could still happen again for all we know."
Abby stood there silently.
"Where is this planet shaper?" Matt asked. "How far away?"
Abby talked to the Archie again.
"They don't know. It's at least several hours away because it hasn't showed up in our solar system yet. Apparently the ship jumps through space when it's going a long distance, but when it gets here it moves more like we would expect it to."
The Archie said something to Abby and she listened for a moment as the computer analyzed it. "Apparently the Archie's ship has the same choices—moving fairly normally around the solar system, or, if the ship is well away from the sun, it can jump long distances. What we heavily damaged was their ability to make those long–distance jumps."
Matt said, "I'm sorry we damaged their ship, but I don't see that as an immediate problem."
Abby traded more words. As she did, the Archie scratched its rear with one back leg.
"They see it as an immediate problem. A major problem. If I'm getting this right, when the planet shaper gets ready to jump, they can watch which way it's going and then jump ahead to beat it. Without the ability to jump, they can't save anyone from the next place the planet shaper goes. They'll all be killed. It might take them long enough to fix the drive that the planet shaper will have time to destroy several more planets before they can resume rescue operations."
"Oh, God," Matt said softly. Finally he said, "Please tell them that was never our intent. We thought we'd be preventing the destruction of Earth."
Abby relayed that information and turned back to Matt. "They understand that now."
"Why don't they fight the planet shaper? Stop it now, and none of this would be necessary."
Moments later Abby said, "They can't. This ship has no weapons. It's designed specifically to rescue cities. That must b
e part of the reason the Archies seem uneasy with the changed situation. They're trained to do a specific job, and we're asking them to do a different one."
"No weapons? There's nothing they can do to stop the planet shaper?"
Abby talked again, then turned to Matt. "On or near their home planet, they are designing and building a ship, a destroyer, to eliminate the planet shaper. But the destroyer won't be ready in time."
"How soon will it be ready?"
"There's a chance I'm getting time units wrong, but I think she's saying a couple of years. I know it's more than a couple of months. Obviously far too late to help Earth."
"Unless the planet shaper isn't actually coming here after all. Maybe they made a mistake. Maybe that's why it hasn't showed up yet."
Abby talked to the Archie again.
"She says they haven't been wrong yet."
The Archie spoke to Abby again.
"She says even if the ship did have weapons, the crew is trained specifically for saving cities, not waging war. That's got to be why they seem more like bureaucrats than warriors."
Matt was silent for almost half a minute, furiously thinking of options. "I see two choices. One, roll over on our backs with our feet in the air like the Archies. Or, two, do something about it. We're going to do something about it."
"What?" said Richard. "We have no weapons. Haven't you been listening?"
Matt swiveled to stare at Richard. He moved one pace toward Richard and very quietly he said, "If I want complaints or negativity from you, I'll ask for them very clearly. Right now, I don't want them. Is that clear?"
Richard swallowed hard, then nodded. "Yes."
Matt turned to Abby. "Tell your friend we need an escort for Bobby Joe and Julie. They're going to the closest observation port."
As Abby spoke to the computer, Matt looked at Bobby Joe. "I want you to contact Manhattan, first to tell them exactly what's happening, and second to get an inventory of anything they can think of that might be useful. It's pretty unlikely anyone was transporting nuclear weapons through Manhattan when it was grabbed, but who knows. The Mayor is going to have to go on the air and ask for anything that can help. Take Julie with you and get enough of what's in her minivid sent down there so we won't have anyone wasting time not accepting this as fact. As soon as you've made the initial transmission, get back here. If I'm busy, try to set up a link between this room and Manhattan."
Abby touched Matt's arm. "She's agreed."
Matt looked at Bobby Joe and Julie. "Go."
Bobby Joe nodded. He knelt by the pile of their remaining belongings and picked up the new walkie–talkie and two old ones. He and Julie left, followed by one of the other Archies.
To Abby, Matt said, "Tell this Archie that we want to know everything there is to know about the capabilities of this ship, and how many smaller ships it contains, what they're capable of."
Abby spoke, then listened.
"She says it's useless."
"Tell her we don't care. The damage they've suffered to the ship so far is nothing compared to what we'll do if they don't cooperate."
As Abby spoke, Matt said to Richard and Rudy, "I want you two listening closely to whatever we learn about the Archies' capabilities. I'll want any suggestions you can think of for options, no matter how peculiar, as long as they're serious."
Abby said, "I don't think she feels it's of any help, but she'll tell us everything about the ship."
"That's fine. I don't care what she believes as long as she cooperates. Oh, and tell her I'll want to talk to the captain soon."
After a moment Abby said, "She is the captain."
Matt glanced back at the Archie occupying the central chair on the deck. "Oh. I had assumed the captain would be sitting up there."
"Apparently she feels this is more important."
"All right. What do we have to work with? Those lasers on the ships that cut Manhattan loose sound like they can be used as weapons, for instance."
Abby spoke to the captain and moments later turned back to Matt. "Aboard this ship are twenty smaller ships. If I'm getting this right, they have sixteen ships with cutters—–I suppose those are the lasers—and they have two spares. Then they have two lifters, much bigger ships."
"What weapons are aboard the lifters?"
The Archie's eye–stalk dipped a couple of times as it answered Abby's question.
"No weapons."
"Well, we have to find a way to stop the planet shaper."
After a moment, Abby said, "They really don't want to fight. The captain is sure they can't damage the planet shaper and she doesn't want to risk damaging the smaller ships. She's pretty clearly not equipped to deal with a military operation."
Motion to Matt's side caught his eye and he turned to see Bobby Joe and Julie returning with their Archie escort. Matt raised his eyebrows.
"It's going to be easier than we thought to set up a comm link between here and Manhattan," Bobby Joe said. "The nearest observation port is about a minute from here. I've got your optical walkie–talkie set up for line–of–sight transmission, and it's cross–connected to a regular walkie–talkie. You can talk directly from here, or we can relay anything you want. They're getting the Mayor now, and she should be online any time. We can transmit some video as soon as you want. And if you like, later we can set up one of the minivids so it transmits a frame every ten seconds from here in addition to voice."
"Perfect. Rudy, keep going with getting a summary of what's available. I'll talk to the Mayor."
Matt picked up one of the walkie–talkies and snapped it on. "Matt Sheehan here. Who am I talking to?"
"Barnaby Jolliet. The mayor should be on the line any second now. It may take her a minute or two to get fully awake."
Matt looked at his watch and realized for the first time that in Manhattan it was a little after one in the morning.
"Dorine Underwood here," came her voice clearly.
"Matt Sheehan. Good news, bad news, and a request for help."
"Shoot."
#
Twenty–eight minutes later, Dorine Underwood blinked at the camera lens as a hyperactive crew got ready for an emergency telecast. A police car permanently assigned to the Gracie Mansion had sped her downtown as fast as the driver could safely travel in low gee. The siren wailed as traffic lights automatically turned green in the path ahead. Others in her office had arranged the emergency TV crew, who knew nothing about what Dorine was going to announce.
Still others had switched on air raid sirens all over the island, the signal for everyone to turn on their television sets. As Dorine had sped through dark streets in the police car, she had occasionally heard the air raid wailings over the siren, and she felt she was in another dream, a dream like the one on the morning Manhattan had been lifted into the air, a dream like the one the morning she'd found out her son Terry had died in a traffic accident, broad–sided by a drunk.
In the studio, Dorine still felt not quite real somehow. Some of the things Matt Sheehan had told her were still spinning through her brain, edging their way from knowledge to fear. She didn't disbelieve anything he had said; it was just taking her a while to convert the information into reality.
On a monitor in front of her was a still frame of a starry sky with Earth near the center. The frame changed and she saw the ship's bridge with the human team and several of the huge spider creatures. On a monitor next to that one was her live image, looking far too pale for her heritage. She pushed a lock of hair behind one ear.
A technician finished the countdown.
"Hello, New Yorkers," said Dorine to the camera lens. She always started with a few words that could be missed by people suddenly saying or hearing, "Shhh. She's starting to talk," as the audience came to attention. "Obviously I wouldn't have scheduled this telecast for two a.m. if time were not critical.
"I'm going to give you an overview, and then I'm going to tell you what we must do next, and finally I'm going to show you some vide
o that will leave no doubts about what I'm saying.
"Put very briefly, we in Manhattan are all safe. No harm is going to come to us. The Earth itself is in danger, however. Sometime in the next hours or days, the Earth is going to be under attack, faced with weapons it has no defense against. That is the reason I am talking to you now. It's possible that we may be able to help in some currently unforeseen manner."
The view in the second monitor changed to show an airplane–window view of Manhattan under its taco–shell dome, and Dorine lost her next thought until she looked back at her notes.
"This is going to be a little difficult to accept, but perhaps no harder to accept than our current home. The alien race who brought us here did so not to keep us like zoo specimens or to experiment on us. They brought us here because the Earth itself is in immediate danger. A huge, automated alien ship built by yet another race is on a programmed course of destruction, converting habitable planets into planets that will one day comfortably support their own life. One of the things the ship does is clear the planet of other life forms.
"The ship we are on has as its purpose taking a city from each planet about to be destroyed, so they can eventually relocate the cities to other planets that will support life. For that reason, this ship is unarmed, except for the lasers used to cut cities loose from their planets, and the people who 'rescued' us do not believe the lasers are a sufficient weapon against this other ship—the planet shaper ship. An armed destroyer being built to overcome this—planet shaper—will not be ready in time to help the Earth."
Dorine carefully avoided saying outright that everyone still on Earth was probably doomed.
"We're at a turning point. We can either do nothing, in which case we'll never see the Earth again, and we'll eventually be deposited on some other planet to live out our lives. Or, we can fight. We can try to destroy the planet shaper. If we're successful, the Earth and everyone on it will be safe. We might not be successful. Certainly the odds are against us. But we cannot stand by and not try.
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