On the overhead screen, the planet shaper was approaching. The chimes continued to ring on the bridge. The Archie captain looked busy, and several screens changed to what were probably status displays, columns of strange pictographs that each blinked at a different rate. Matt thought the captain's gaze was accusatory, but he was probably putting human terms on the Archie. The chimes suddenly stopped, but Matt knew disaster was still imminent.
Matt turned to Rudy. "Is there enough bubble material to enclose this ship? We're screwed unless we come up with something fast."
Rudy's eyes widened. "I don't know, but I've got an idea. I only see one chance, and it's a long shot, but I think it's our best option. Can I have Abby give orders?"
"Quiet, everyone!" Matt said loudly. He was completely out of ideas, and he trusted Rudy's judgment as much as his own. "Go for it," he said to Rudy.
Rudy said, "Abby, tell the captain to take every remaining shuttlecraft and have them start forming very large bubble sheets. Have them try to enclose the planet shaper."
"But it can shoot through—" Bobby Joe started.
"Quiet!" Matt shouted. "Do it, Abby." Sweat felt cold along his spine, and he wished he knew more about what Rudy had in mind, but time was down to nothing. The only good thing at the moment was that to pursue the Archies' ship, the planet shaper had temporarily stopped seeding Earth's atmosphere. As the planet shaper turned, Matt realized it was doing so more slowly than he'd seen it turn before. Possibly the collective damage done by Richard and the other shuttlecraft was finally making it harder for the robot ship to function.
Abby gave the instructions to the captain. The captain aimed her eye–stalk at Matt for just a second, then began relaying orders. As soon as the first orders went out, Rudy had additional instructions to relay.
The planet shaper grew slowly in the overhead screen as it all too obviously began its approach for a final killing blow. Obeying their orders despite the changed threat, six or seven remaining shuttlecraft began to surround the planet shaper, each preparing to eject bubble material.
Matt and Rudy fixed their gaze on the screen. Rudy said softly, "If they're successful in getting a bubble around the planet shaper, tell the captain to change course immediately to keep us as far from it as possible."
"Won't it follow us?"
"I don't think so."
"We won't have time to try anything else." Matt took his gaze from the screen and looked at Rudy.
Rudy met his gaze with the same calm he'd shown in a drawn–out battle in Brazil. "I know. I don't think there's anything else we can try that offers better odds."
The shuttlecraft had all matched course with the planet shaper, but they maintained a cautious distance. Once they were all in position, they each accelerated toward the planet shaper. As soon as they were all dropping toward the surface of the silvery vessel, they began to eject bubble segments.
The bubble segments grew and grew until they each individually seemed to dwarf the planet shaper as it loomed in the view screen. A minute later the shuttlecraft and their bubble sections had cut their approach distance by half.
The Archies' ship shuddered again. Matt looked at Rudy and they exchanged worried glances as a new set of chimes started and then stopped.
Matt had begun to think the planet shaper being so close to the Archies' ship had made it focus all of its attention on the ship, but at almost the same time each shuttlecraft let its bubble material loose, the planet shaper fired on one of the shuttlecraft, disintegrating it. The huge ship fired on one of the other shuttles as it accelerated away, but the shuttlecraft had increased its range enough that it was only damaged rather then obliterated.
Another one of the shuttlecraft winked out of existence.
The bubble layers came closer at an agonizingly slow speed until they finally began to overlap and start to adhere to adjacent sections as though six clear sheets of fly–paper were surrounding a large bug. The planet shaper suddenly accelerated away from the center of the converging bubble sections, but it was too late. The process seemed to speed up then, as the sheets of bubble material sealed together. Seconds later, the flashbulb lights in four of the surviving shuttlecraft exploded light on the bubble surrounding the planet shaper, and the bubble material transformed into a crystal clear and hard shell like the one over Manhattan, but completely enclosing the planet shaper.
"Now!" said Rudy.
Abby instantly gave the command to the captain. The aspect angle of the planet shaper began to change slowly as the Archies' ship started to limp aside from the path it had been on. Matt found his fists were clenched, and he tried to relax them.
Within seconds it was obvious that the planet shaper had not changed course to pursue them, but instead was continuing on its original course at the same speed.
"Yes!" cried Bobby Joe. He watched the screen a moment longer, as though to convince himself the planet shaper really was not following them, and then he turned to Rudy. "How did you—oh," he said, a wide grin suddenly forming. "I understand."
"You want to tell the rest of us?" Matt said.
Rudy took his gaze off the screen and looked at Matt. "The planet shaper's propulsion system is temporarily disabled. As long as it's inside the bubble, we're safe if we don't get too close. We know some of their weapons can act through the bubble material, even though they apparently can't destroy the bubble material itself. But I'm worried that there's still a chance it can break through that stuff, either now or later. We've bought some time, but we still need to destroy it."
"I know just the thing," said Bobby Joe. "If it can't use its interstellar propulsion system because it's too close to the sun, and it can't use the normal propulsion system because it's in the bubble, all we need to do is somehow stop it relative to the sun. Then we just sit back and watch it fall." Bobby Joe pointed to the display where the sun was visible. The cosmic disposal waited nearby if only they could use it.
Matt said, "All right. The planet shaper can't speed up or slow down on its own. Can it turn inside the enclosure?"
Rudy nodded. "It should be able to."
"Okay. Abby, have the captain tell one of the shuttlecraft to fly in a slow circle just out of range of the planet shaper's weapons. Have it deliberately keep edging into the area covered by the sensors we took out."
Abby passed on the instructions, and moments later Matt saw one of the shuttlecraft come slightly closer to the planet shaper. Seconds later the planet shaper slowly started to turn inside the enormous bubble as it tried to track the shuttle that kept flying toward its blind spot.
"All right," Matt said. "Tell her to have the shuttle keep moving until the dead sensor is directly in the middle of the shadow side of the bubble."
About the same time the shuttlecraft stopped orbiting the planet shaper and began to hover, and the planet shaper stopped rotating, Rudy said, "I think I see what you're doing. Great idea."
"And what is that?" Bobby Joe asked.
"Just a second. Okay, Abby, now have a couple of the shuttlecraft move off to a great distance and then approach the planet shaper through its shadow."
"Oh," Bobby Joe said. "A push. I like it."
Within a few minutes two Archie shuttlecraft approached the dark side of the bubble around the planet shaper.
"All right," Matt said. "Now have those two shuttlecraft position themselves next to the bubble and start accelerating as fast as they can. Have them retreat if the planet shaper starts to turn. We can't risk waiting around for this thing to fall into the sun on its own good time; I want to give it a strong push."
Abby looked relieved as she passed on the instructions. The Archie captain was not objecting in the slightest.
The shuttlecraft pushed against the dark side of the planet shaper's bubble until that side of the bubble rested against the surface of the planet shaper. Further effects of the push weren't evident for several seconds, no doubt because of the planet shaper's large mass, but the bubble–enclosed destroyer finally be
gan moving slowly sunward.
The giant screen plotted a course vector from the planet shaper. The course just missed the sun. The Archie captain chattered to her crew. One of the shuttlecraft repositioned itself against the bubble, and the vector slowly rotated until it intersected the center of the sun. The planet shaper began to dwindle to a point and slowly became a speck against the sun.
Matt finally turned to Rudy and said, "Okay. Now why?"
"Why no thrust? Plain old Newtonian physics. I don't know what propulsion method the planet shaper uses, but unless it operates on principles that are unknown to us, it relies on equal and opposite reactions. And recent events seem to confirm that."
Julie moved closer with her minivid to capture Rudy's explanation, and Matt saw her relieved smile.
"When you fire a pistol, you feel the kick. When you fire a rocket, the rocket moves one way because the exhaust gas is being pushed out the opposite direction. You're trading off high velocity for something small, like the bullet, for low velocity of something more massive, like the gun and your arm."
"That still doesn't answer my question," Matt said, but he already had an intuitive feel for what Rudy was explaining.
"I'm getting there. The equal–but–opposite–reaction holds true for an open system. If you stand on a frictionless flat car and fire a bullet down the tracks, you and the flat car will start moving the opposite direction. But if you have a closed system, things change. Suppose you're in a box car and you fire a bullet at a target mounted on the wall. The instant you fire the bullet, the car starts to move backward, but as soon as the bullet embeds itself in the target, that equal–but–opposite energy cancels out the reverse momentum, and the car stops."
"It's like trying to run on ice," said Bobby Joe. "If you can't push the ground out behind you, you can't go forward."
"Exactly," said Rudy. "As the planet shaper tries to accelerate, the body of the planet shaper pushes against one side of the bubble, and the thrust force or reaction mass presses equally on the other side of the bubble. The planet shaper now has no more propulsion than a rock."
"You're a genius," Matt said. He was finally letting himself hope that they had really defeated the other ship.
"Nope. I just got to thinking about some of the ideas that people sent up from Manhattan. We never would have succeeded without the people down there suggesting protecting the Earth with a bubble. I just twisted the idea a little."
The group watched in silence as the planet shaper moved faster and faster toward the sun. When the shuttlecraft had pushed it past the orbit of Venus, moving faster by the second, the shuttle began to slow down. The bubble–enclosed planet shaper sped faster and faster by itself, slipping steadily downward into the sun's gravity well. One of the large wall screens filled with a heavily magnified image of the planet shaper inside its bubble, becoming smaller and smaller against the huge mottled disk of the sun.
Next to Matt, Abby said softly, "Please, God. Don't let it get loose. Don't."
Bobby Joe and Rudy bet each other on the range at which the destruction would be visible, both feeling that no material built by humans or Archies could last long enough to disappear inside the sun before vaporizing.
"As far as I know," Matt said, his voice shaking slightly, "Richard will be the first person buried in the sun. Maybe we should have a moment of silence to reflect on his efforts and for those of the Archie pilots who died today."
Abby told the Archie captain what they were doing. The Archies may well have had no similar custom, but they, too, were silent until the humans began speaking again.
"Look!" Bobby Joe said to Rudy.
The bubble surrounding the planet shaper was glowing brighter and brighter. Just seconds later the bubble vaporized and the planet shaper exploded like a firecracker tossed into a blast furnace. The largest pieces exploded in a short series of additional explosions as the incredible heat churned metal into mist.
A couple of the Archies leapt high in the air and clasped all eight pairs of hands together before falling slowly back to the floor. Bobby Joe and Rudy screamed and yelled, but Matt paid little attention. The instant after the planet shaper exploded, he looked at Abby, who looked at him at exactly the same time.
Matt moved closer to Abby. His knees felt weak. He reached out toward her and she moved closer.
"Thank God it's over," she said.
As the Archies chattered loudly and Bobby Joe screamed, Matt and Abby wrapped their arms around each other and hugged tightly. Abby was trembling. A moment later Matt pulled back far enough to see her eyes and said, "Maybe it's just beginning." He kissed her on the lips, and she responded with the same enthusiasm that he felt.
A long moment later, Abby suddenly pulled back, frowned, and glanced at Julie, who, despite having Rudy's arm around her, still held her minivid aimed at the center of the bridge.
Abby brushed a lock of hair away from her eye. She started to talk but had to clear her throat and try again. "Aren't you, ah, aren't you worried that your wife might see this when we get back?" She wiped a tear from the same eye.
Matt frowned for a second until he understood. He smiled. "I don't give a damn what she thinks."
"But I thought—"
"Two days before I reached New York, she said we were through. At the time, it seemed like bad news." Matt grinned even more broadly.
Abby choked. Matt couldn't tell if she was laughing or crying, but the way she kissed him, he decided it didn't matter.
Matt held her tightly for he didn't know how long until finally Julie and Rudy approached.
"Can we interrupt? The mayor's on the line." Julie grinned as she handed Matt a walkie–talkie.
"Yes, ma'am," Matt said into the mouthpiece. He tried as hard as he could to get rid of the stupid grin he felt on his own lips, but he couldn't.
Dorine Underwood's voice was ragged, from either emotion or transmission distortion. "Thank you, Matt. I'll have a lot more to say later, but you did good. You did very, very good." The line was quiet for a moment. "We're all very grateful. You should see the streets down here. I haven't ever seen anything like this."
"Thank you, Mayor. We're amazed, too. When you talk to people, let them know that it was their ideas that made it possible. We were so scared up here, we couldn't have done one percent of this on our own."
"Bull. But that's a generous thing to say. Lord, this is a proud day."
Abby touched Matt's arm again, and he said good–bye to the mayor. The bridge finally started to calm down as the Archie captain pointed her eye–stalk at Matt. She chattered into the translating computer. Two of her legs twitched.
Seconds later the translating computer said, "You possess our thanks. We are very–very–very happy to stop. We are ready to help. We possess no experience in placing cities where they came from, but we are ready. What first should we do?"
Abby put her arm around Matt's waist and squeezed.
As Matt looked at the captain, Bobby Joe raised his hand. Wearing his most serious expression, Bobby Joe said, "Let’s buzz Brooklyn."
THE END
BONUS: Immediately following the About-the-Author section is the start of REUNION ON NEVEREND by John E. Stith.
About the Author
Science–fiction author John E. Stith's works include REDSHIFT RENDEZVOUS (Nebula Award nominee), MANHATTAN TRANSFER (Hugo Award Honorable Mention), REUNION ON NEVEREND, and RECKONING INFINITY (on Science Fiction Chronicle's Best Science Fiction Novels of the year list, on the Nebula Award preliminary ballot). His other novels are SCAPESCOPE, MEMORY BLANK, DEATH TOLLS, and DEEP QUARRY. ALL FOR NAUGHT includes a Nick Naught novella and a novelette.
His website is www.neverend.com.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/John-E-Stith/42551523421
Naught for Hire: www.facebook.com/NaughtForHire
Original Tor Books and Science Fiction Book Club cover for Manhattan Transfer. Art by Darrell Sweet.
BONUS
Excerpt from the s
tart of REUNION ON NEVEREND by John E. Stith
First published by Tor Books
Prologue
Kentin Farlon turned swiftly toward the chamber behind him and cocked his head in hopes of hearing the sound if it came again.
Except for the quick echoes from his own scuffing feet, the interior of the museum was quiet. As it should be. He listened intently as he took several deep and controlled breaths, willing his heart to slow down. Nothing.
Nerves, he told himself, feeling embarrassed even though no one had seen him flinch. He was entirely too jumpy lately. Nothing was going to happen.
Kentin Farlon resumed breathing normally and turned back to lock the museum's entrance, the door he had just let himself through. He needed to be open for the public in an hour and still had his morning routine to finish. He switched the overhead light–strips from "dim" to "full." The chamber he was in and the two adjoining caves filled with light. Kentin felt better. He'd been born in the underground city of Neverend and had lived there all his life, but he still felt reassured by the bright light.
He moved to the right–hand cavern network and began his morning rounds, inspecting the displays in each of eighteen caves. Dark basalt walls and ceilings reflected a dull gleam through the clear protective coating. He heard no more suspicious sounds.
Kentin moved from the level floor in the early tool display room, up three steps, and onto the irregular, nearly level floor of a smaller cave containing artifacts from a site on Ooberhallew. No holograms here—here were actual artifacts, lifted carefully from their shroud of compacted soil on the distant planet, gently cleaned, catalogued, recorded, and then sent on display. Sent on display the way history should be displayed—with tangible, physical, real objects. No visitor to the museum could look at these mortars and pestles and decorated shells even older than early human life and not feel humbled. Sitting on cushioned supports inside transparent display cases, they seemed to say, "Be careful. Whoever made us thought the culture would last forever, and it didn't. Yours may not, either."
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