Manhattan Transfer

by John E. Stith

  Abby sighed. "All right. You ready for the inventory?"

  "Shoot."

  "Each shuttlecraft has a high–power laser. The Archies say they've got power to run them almost continuously for a long time. I didn't figure out what a long time was except that it's at least longer than a month."

  Rudy looked up. "Even if we can't cut through the outside surface, we might be able to heat the interior enough to cook whatever's inside—depending on the reflectivity of the surface."

  "Okay," Matt said. "What else?"

  Abby looked at the short list she'd written on the floor. "Enough bubble material to cover another hundred cities."

  Richard had been lying flat on the floor with his eyes closed. He opened his eyes suddenly and said, "That could make a good defensive barrier for this ship if it's impervious to the planet shaper's weapons."

  Matt shook his head. "The point is not to defend this ship; what we need to defend is the Earth. We'd need a lot more. What else?"

  "They've got more of the black material they inject in the cuts to go under the cities. Again enough for another hundred cities or so. They're more concerned about using it up than they are about using the lasers."

  "That's because they don't think we can destroy the planet shaper. Can we just get close to the planet shaper and push on it? If this ship has more thrust, we could just keep them at bay until some other weapon is available?"

  Abby talked with the captain again. "No luck," she said finally. The captain is sure that if a ship this large gets close to the planet shaper it will be fired on. And even all the shuttles together don't have the combined thrust of the planet shaper."

  "How big is that thing anyway?" Bobby Joe asked.

  After conferring with the captain, Abby said, "Apparently it's about a tenth of the size of this ship. Oh, and she also says they have virtually unlimited fuel for acceleration for both this ship and all the shuttlecraft."

  "Take a look," Bobby Joe said suddenly. "The movers are here."

  Abby looked at the large screen Bobby Joe pointed at. The huge octagonal port on one wall of the huge chamber below was open, revealing the stars beyond. Eight black shuttlecraft in formation moved slowly through the opening, several of them visibly shaking in the fast–moving air that shot toward freedom. The port slowly dilated closed as the shuttlecraft formation drifted carefully inward.

  An adjacent screen showed the dead city, its life–support tubes separating from the dome and retracting into the ceiling.

  #

  Fawn Terricole called nine–one–one on an antique Mickey Mouse phone so old that it had to have one of those interface boxes so it could be connected to the phone line. She could feel her heart beat louder as the ring sounded in her ear. She rubbed a smudge off the white in Mickey's eye.

  When it was her turn to talk, she said, "What if we were to disguise the Earth, so it already looked like whatever those people want it to look like? Then they wouldn't have to change it."

  #

  "Any way to tell what the odds of success are?" Matt asked Rudy.

  Rudy shook his head. "Apparently this city should have a mass that's no more than a few percent of the mass of the planet shaper. But a bullet is a smaller fraction than that when you compare it to a human body. Relative speed and internal shock waves are the key, and that's what we're taking advantage of."

  "But we're firing a bullet at a tank."

  "Right. But penetration isn't the only way we can win. Ever see a picture of someone without an air–bag who hit the windshield but didn't go through? Even if all we can do is suddenly slow down the planet shaper, that might be enough to do a lot of damage to whatever's inside. If we've got enough kinetic energy, we might slow it down the same way a brick wall slows down a car."

  #

  Francesca Abdalla spoke precisely and slowly into the phone. "Use the bubble material to cap as many cities on Earth as possible before the ship arrives. That way at least the people inside could survive."

  #

  The eight black shuttlecraft had surrounded the dead city and hooked support lines to points around the perimeter. Abby held her breath as the eight ships rose until the lines were all piano–wire tight.

  They held that formation for almost thirty seconds, and finally the domed city started to move slowly upward. Abby realized she'd been holding her breath the whole time. Oh, please, let this work.

  On the star field above, the planet shaper was much closer, and the set of expanding circles was cycling even faster than before, no doubt indicating they were moving faster and faster. The path through the circles was closer to a straight line again. The Archie captain had explained that once the city moved outside the ship, it would no longer be subjected to the gravity/inertial field established inside the ship. From that point on, the city would fly an independent path, a straight line at constant speed determined by the ship's motion at the release point.

  By that time, the Archies' ship had to be on a perfect trajectory. The ship could swerve away from the impact point, but the city would be a bullet in a vacuum. If the planet shaper's instruments picked up the approaching mass and changed its course, the bullet would be wasted, the chance forever lost.

  The Archie captain sounded more optimistic than she had earlier. The dead city emitted no signals that might help the planet shaper detect it, and the black material absorbed signals that might be generated by the planet shaper.

  Abby felt a strong sense of accomplishment that, aided by the computer, she was getting better and better at understanding the Archie captain. Communication had passed beyond the essentials, and she was learning even more about the Archies, who called themselves something that translated to omni sense.

  On the Archies' home planet, the competing life forms usually had one or two prominent senses, but the Archies were the only species to possess vision, hearing, and smell. Abby was relieved that omni sense didn't rhyme with dickhead, or Bobby Joe's designation would be tougher to ignore.

  The city rose still farther, and Abby could see part of the black cone beneath it. Below it in the goo was a deep cone–shaped depression that might take days to fill up.

  The dead city continued rising, and the bottom point of the black cone rose past the level of the plain. The domed mass rose smoothly until minutes later the entire city, looking vaguely like a monstrously large snow cone, began to drift sideways, maneuvering through the maze of life–support tubes carrying nutrients to the still–living cities.

  The overhead display showed the set of circles concentric once again. The sun was no longer in the display. If the Archie ship was on course, they would be speeding into their own shadow as they raced closer and closer to the planet shaper.

  Once again the huge octagonal opening on one side of the ship dilated. The dead city and its eight pallbearers slid into space. The eight shuttlecraft moved into a ring surrounding the lip where the bubble met the black cone, and they pulled the city through the portal. The dark point of the cone was aimed directly at the planet shaper, and the dome over the city was lit by brilliant sunshine. The octagonal portal dilated closed as the eight shuttlecraft started to drift away from the motionless mass.

  The Archie commander chattered to one of her compatriots. A view of the city appeared on another wall screen and abruptly began to shrink as the ship veered away. The bullet was on its own trajectory.

  Chapter 17

  Urban Disintegration

  Stars shifted in the huge overhead screen as the Archies' ship veered away from the path of the dead city. The planet shaper was an immense silvery mass consuming the central quarter of the screen. Reflections of stars rippled across its contours. At the edge of the view, the dead city floated into view, accompanied by four Archie shuttlecraft assigned to give any necessary last–minute course–correction nudges.

  From near the center of the bridge, Matt watched the screen, and for the moment nothing else in the universe mattered. He wished he could view the action from a point al
ong their previous trajectory, so he could watch as the dead city approached the planet shaper head on. The drawback was that, had the Archie ship stayed on the same course, it would not survive. It was a big enough target that the planet shaper would probably see it too soon as it flew out of the sun, since it would eclipse the sun in plenty of time for the planet shaper to notice it. Right now, the Archie ship should be small enough to be nothing more than a comet as far as the planet shaper was concerned. And even if the planet shaper didn't react to it in time, a collision would probably destroy the Archie's ship with no real guarantee of destroying the planet shaper. Matt felt as if he were trying to win a battle against a tank while equipped only with a passenger car.

  The rest of the team watched the screen without speaking as the Archie captain chattered into her control panel. She had taken the central chair, and the other nine Archies had all changed positions in series, as though the eight seats surrounding the captain were in pecking order rather than assigned to specific functions. The Archie who had been the last one ejected from a chair had left the bridge.

  Abby stood next to Matt, near enough that her shoulder bumped his upper arm. Matt looked at her and she deliberately edged slightly closer so their arms touched. Abby looked at him and held his gaze without moving away.

  Matt put his arm around her shoulder. In response, Abby leaned against him for a moment.

  Motion on a large wall screen riveted Matt's attention, as it suddenly presented the view Matt had wished for earlier. Without being consciously aware of the action, he moved away from Abby and toward the screen. The planet shaper was dead center, growing noticeably. The view must have been coming from one of the shuttlecraft escorting the dead city. He hoped the craft could get free safely.

  The planet shaper grew larger in the screen, the bright sun reflecting off a half–dozen curved stretches of the ship's hull. As the image grew larger, a small dark spot formed near the center of the brightest reflections, and Matt realized the spot was the shadow cast by the dead city. The planet shaper just kept getting bigger and bigger, as though a specimen under a microscope. Its surface showed no features, just seamless reflectivity, as the mirrored star field continued to distort while they grew closer. Matt thought of a knight in shining armor faced by a pencil hurtling through the dark. And he remembered pictures of straws of hay shot into oak trees during tornadoes.

  The Archie captain spoke, and a louder chattering response sounded from speakers somewhere in the room. The view in the wall screen suddenly began pulling to one side faster and faster as the shuttle pilot veered to safety.

  On the ceiling screen, the four escort shuttlecraft split off from the dead city, which seemed to be only seconds from impact with the planet shaper. The planet shaper turned, or seemed to turn, but when Matt saw the star field behind the planet shaper moving more quickly he realized that they were almost even with the planet shaper, watching it from the side as they passed. Matt held his breath.

  The black cone of the dead city occulted a strip of stars as it sped toward the planet shaper, its dome gleaming in the sunshine to its back. The cone was no bigger than an arrowhead about to hit a body. At just about the same instant that Matt felt the Archie's ship was directly even with the planet shaper, the gap between the dead city and the planet shaper closed to zero.

  Matt had watched enough movies that he was expecting an enormous explosion with billowing clouds of flame and fireworks sparklers spinning off in all directions. That never came.

  Total silence accompanied the view. The impact point was out of sight, occurring between two of the clover leaves, but suddenly there was no doubt about whether the city hit. The planet shaper suddenly began to turn like a giant pinwheel.

  "Yes!" Bobby Joe shouted as a spray of material jetted out of the gap where the impact must have occurred. Bits and pieces in the spray glinted brightly on the sun side and started to fade as the Archies' ship's velocity carried it past the planet shaper.

  The Archie captain chattered and received two replies. The view of the planet shaper magnified until it nearly filled the screen. As they watched, the ship's rotation slowed, then stopped.

  "Oh, God," Rudy said softly, and Matt knew exactly what he meant. The only way the ship would stop rotating like that was if it had been powered to a stop, with thrust applied in the right direction for the right amount of time. The planet shaper was obviously still operational.

  Within minutes they had confirmation that the planet shaper was still decelerating at just about the right rate to bring it into orbit around Venus.

  "Decelerate," Matt said to Abby. "We've got to stop and go back. To catch up with the planet shaper."

  It took Abby a moment to get the captain's attention. The captain's first response, relayed through Abby was, "Waste. Why bother?"

  Matt's first reaction was to threaten the captain that he'd twist her head off if she didn't. He tightened his self–control and forced himself to say, "Tell her we'll explain later, but to just do it." Maybe later Matt could think of a good reason. At the moment, he felt like he was David and had just found out Goliath was wearing full body armor.

  "Okay." Abby exchanged several sentences with the captain and she finally sighed, the said, "She's agreed. At least she's lost nothing irreplaceable and this ship suffered no damage."

  As the view from a returning shuttlecraft showed the enormous dark octagon of the Archie's ship, the planet shaper was already just a dark speck against the sun.

  #

  Stuart Lund flipped on a light as he moved toward the stairs. Climbing the stairs gave him the impression that full gravity had returned, he felt so heavy as he moved.

  On the second floor, he navigated his way through the leftover construction materials and entered his office. He felt like lying down on the cot and sleeping for a year.

  On the table was a gift–wrapped present with a card. The pink paper with small pictures of babies was almost certainly inappropriate for any gift for him, but supplies like wrapping paper were scarce, and the choice didn't bother Stuart.

  He picked the card off the top of the present. It was snagged on something, and a hair–thin fiber snapped as the card came away in his hand. He opened the card. The sloppy handwriting said, "You almost made us blow up the Empire State Building. You've got ten seconds."

  Stuart instantly knew what the note meant, but he made no effort to run. Instead, with a tired sigh, he sat down in the chair next to the table and rested his face in his hand.

  When it came, the explosion shattered windows three blocks away.

  #

  Kay Arknette turned down the sound on the Mayor Channel and moved to the utilitarian black desk phone. She felt self–conscious as she called nine–one–one. This was not the kind of thing a grade school teacher did. Finally, after the go–ahead, she said, "I think if it's either us or the Earth, we should ram the planet shaper with this ship. If we're not sure this ship can do enough damage, wait until the planet shaper is close to Venus or Earth and ram it from above. It might survive hitting us, but I'll bet it won't survive the impact when we both hit the ground."

  It wasn't until Kay had hung up the phone and let her breathing slow down that she had a sudden additional thought. If they did run this ship at a very high speed directly toward the planet shaper and the planet below, and if the planet shaper was able to suddenly move out of the way, then they would lose everything.

  #

  It took several hours to lose the velocity that it had taken them several hours to gain, but finally the Archies' ship was moving toward the planet shaper again. By that time, the planet shaper had almost reached Venus.

  Abby had been doing a terrific job of getting more information out of the Archies. The team was incredibly lucky to have someone as talented as her. One of the mysteries she'd recently found an explanation for was the lack of Archie response to their earlier transmissions. Having only one native language, the Archies were extremely inept—Abby's word, not the Archies'
—at communicating with other species. Their monitoring equipment checked for physically observable problems associated with the life–support systems, such as the water supply flooding a city, but they hadn't been listening for any transmissions, figuring they wouldn't be able to understand them anyway.

  It seemed to Matt that they could have done better than they expected. Their expectations were chains more effective than any prison could be.

  As Abby continued to talk with the Archie captain, Matt approached Bobby Joe. "There's something I don't understand. I've been thinking back to school and seeing diagrams of transfer orbits. In this ship we don't seem to be paying any attention to stuff like that. What is it that I'm not getting?"

  "Energy. This ship can accelerate so fast that orbital mechanics are noise–level concerns. When it takes you months to go from one planet to another, you have to factor in where the planet's going to be when you finally show up. When you can get there in hours, the planet has hardly had time to move."

  Matt nodded. He had a stiff neck from looking up at the overhead screen so much of the time. Centered in the display were the magnified images of the planet shaper and Venus. Venus was a yellowish ball of gas whose image suddenly transformed into something more like Jupiter's. The image now showed what seemed to be huge spirals of light clouds over a darker planetary body.

  "I didn't think the planet shaper was close enough yet to start doing anything," Matt said.

  "I don't think it did anything," Bobby Joe said. "I bet the Archies just added ultraviolet conversion to the spectrum they're viewing with."

  Beyond the planet shaper and Venus was a bloated reduced–intensity image of the sun. The surface brightness had been decreased so it was only marginally brighter than Venus, and a huge sunspot showed near the equator. A slow–motion prominence had erupted near the bottom of the disk and was arcing out from the sun to what seemed to be half the radius of the sun itself. The diffuse halo around the sun, what Bobby Joe had identified as the corona, billowed out to about twice the sun's radius, transforming the sun into a cosmic fried egg, its yellow yoke surrounded by translucent egg–white.