They’d expected this, but Kellen’s heart still quickened its pace.
He noticed the ships had shrunk on the imagery. “Are they moving away from us?”
“Yes, that’s correct,” Ship said.
“Can you match our orbit to theirs?” Abby asked.
“Yes, would you like me to make that adjustment?”
“Please,” Abby said.
“I’m receiving a tight-beam data burst directed at our location,” Ship said.
“They’re talking to us,” Abby said.
“What are they saying?” Kellen said. Everything was moving too fast. He needed time to think.
“Translating,” Ship said. “They demand we provide them with the coordinates of chine-controlled space. They also want data on chine military capabilities. If their demands are not met in twenty-nine minutes, they will begin sequential bombardment of human cities.”
“We can’t give them the coordinates.” He imagined Micro and Mediator and all the others cowering in a Hexi attack. They couldn’t let that happen. “Even if we gave them the coordinates, we don’t have any military data.”
“They’re really going to do it.” Abby had a look of wonderment, as though her imagination couldn’t comprehend the horrible outcome unfolding before them. “They’re not bluffing. They’ll kill everyone.”
She looked sad and angry and exhausted, as if her last reserves of strength had drained away, as if none of it could change a thing.
“Signal repeating,” Ship said.
Kellen got to his feet. “We’ve got to stall them.”
“For what? To do what?”
“I don’t know. Time to think at least.”
“Then we should talk to them,” Abby said.
“We’ve got to tell them the truth,” Kellen said. “We’re not the chines. Not really. We don’t have the information they want.”
“They’ll never believe that. Just Ship being here will convince them we’re chines.” Abby’s expression shifted. She glanced away as if considering. “Ship, can you send a signal back?”
“I can emit radiation on a variety of frequencies. I can also distort the spatial lattice for information transmittance. I can—”
“Send them the coordinates,” Abby said.
“They’ll attack the Array,” Kellen said.
“The Array can take care of itself.” She locked eyes with him.
He stared back, undeterred. “What if it can’t? What if all our friends there are killed? And all the other innocent chines?”
“The Precautionists have entire armies of killer chines, Kellen. We saw them, remember? They almost killed us. I’m not worried about them. We have to think about our people. Our people down there are about to die unless you and I do something about it.”
Kellen dipped his head in acquiescence. She was probably right.
“Send the coordinates, Ship,” she said.
“Return transmission,” Ship said after less than a minute had passed. “They demand military data.”
“We don’t have any!” Kellen shouted.
He clutched his head in both hands as if he could squeeze out a solution. Everything was riding on what they did, but they had run out of options.
“Tell them we’ll send the data,” Abby said.
“What data?” Kellen asked.
“Can you make up something, Ship?” she asked. “Send them a bunch of dummy data?”
“Please clarify your intent.”
“Send them your navigation chart for this part of the galaxy,” she said. “It’ll take them a while to figure out it’s not what they wanted.”
“By navigation chart, do you mean trans-universe topological interpolation contours?” Ship asked.
“Yes, that. Send that.”
“Sending.”
“That won’t fool them for long,” Kellen said. We’re so close. We’ve made it all the way back. We’ve been through so much. It can’t have been just to watch everyone down there die. They couldn’t let it all fall apart now. “We need a plan.”
The Hexi ships seemed insignificant, mere dots against Earth’s majestic backdrop. Yet, they were lethal. Kellen imagined the thousands of people in each threatened city, perhaps cowering even now, waiting to see if they’d live through the day.
“New transmission,” Ship said. “They’ve discovered our ruse.”
Flashes of light flooded the room so fast Kellen couldn’t be sure he’d really seen them. “Did you see that, Abby?”
“Something…”
The light began to blink again incredibly fast.
“What’s happening?” Kellen asked.
Ship zoomed in on the largest Hexi ships. Openings in their sides continued to flash, sending out barrage after barrage of missiles faster than a human eye could have seen. The flashes ended as abruptly as they’d begun.
“The Hexi have launched two hundred twenty-six missiles,” Ship said. “Speed approximately mach 50. Extrapolation forward in time results in trajectories impacting Suzu in three point seven minutes.”
“What does that mean?” Kellen asked.
“They’re doing it. They’re bombing the New Cities just like they promised,” Abby said, her voice shrill and helpless. “Starting with Suzu.”
A mental nausea rose up inside Kellen, an urge to regurgitate, even though his some had nothing to expel. He wanted to strike out at something, his hate for the Hexi a sickness inhabiting him utterly.
“My sensors are detecting an atmospheric pressure spike,” Ship said. “A supersonic blast wave originating from Suzu. The Hexi confirm the city has been destroyed. They are repeating their threat. Unless we capitulate, they’ll target King City in nine minutes, then more cities until none are left.”
The cluster of Hexi ships showed no signs of the prior violence they’d just unleashed. The alien vessels caught the sun, their foreign intrusiveness momentarily sublime. Ship relayed their repeated threat every few minutes until Kellen told it to stop. Every minute that passed, the tension grew stronger. Five minutes went by, then seven, eight.
Abby shrieked, rabid, eyes raw, mouth open in a helpless snarl. “They can’t do this. Not because of us coming here. We can’t have caused this.” Her face had become a mask, her tortured eyes conveying an inconsolable anguish.
Something crushed inside Kellen, some last redoubt of optimism. They had come so far to prevent this, and they’d failed.
Another round of flashes filled the room. Kellen wanted to curl into a ball, but he forced himself to watch the screen.
“They’ve fired a second volley,” Ship said. “Extrapolation indicates impact at King City in six point one minutes.”
There was nothing to do but wait. Ship confirmed another blast wave after the allotted time had passed, and Kellen felt a loathing of the Hexi, himself, or both.
“New transmission,” Ship said. “The next city to be targeted is Xicoténcatl. Then Jesup, Yunxian, Palangga, and Chelyabinsk. The Hexi urge us to comply with their demands to prevent further damage.”
Further damage. It was a succinct way to describe the transpiring events. His worst fears were being realized. Nine cities remained. Would they watch them all be destroyed?
A cold logic pressed itself upon his mind. The inevitability of it all became clear. “They would have done it anyway, Abby. They would have gotten tired of waiting for the chines, and they would have done this eventually. They want revenge.”
“So do I,” she whispered. “Ram them, Ship. Kill them.”
Kellen turned to her in surprise.
“I’m better off to my family this way,” she said. “If we can destroy one of their big ships, we might slow them down, maybe even scare them away. Give people more time to evacuate. If my death might keep them safe, I’ve got to try.”
Kellen nodded. He’d reconciled himself with the possibility of his own death some time ago. If it would help save the people down there, he accepted it. “Okay.”
Abby stead
ied herself, her face hardening. “Do it, Ship.”
Ship raced forward toward imminent impact. Kellen and Abby rocked back in their chairs with the sudden momentum. Their target, the nearest of the Hexi’s largest ships, loomed ahead of them as they closed the distance. Abby clasped his hand.
“Change course, Ship!” Kellen shouted in the final seconds before collision. “Change course!”
“No!” Abby screamed.
The abrupt change in direction wrenched their somes about. Kellen and Abby righted themselves as Ship peeled away, putting distance between them and the Hexi.
“Why?” Abby asked, eyes flaring, full of outrage. “Why did you stop us?”
“I’m sorry, Abby. I’m sorry, but I couldn’t let you do it. We need Ship intact. If there are survivors, we have to be there to rescue them, to evacuate them. Even if it’s just one person.”
Abby sobbed, and Kellen felt an unwanted familiarity. Will it all just happen over and over until nothing and no one is left?
They would be spectators to thousands and thousands of additional deaths, unable to do a thing. All he could do was hope some would survive in the end, someone they could pull from the burgeoning disaster.
“A new strike has begun,” Ship said. “Their weapons will reach Xicoténcatl in seven point three minutes.” Abby shut her eyes.
Kellen tried to feel something other than horror inside, but the Hexi had taken it all away from him. No joy or even hope, just the implacable vacancy of death.
He couldn’t tell when he first felt something change. A new sensation tickled his brain. On the screen, the sky birthed something glorious—a vast, coruscating sapphire tetrahedron larger than the Hexi ships, larger than Ship, floating interposed between them and their enemies. One moment there was empty space, the next the tetrahedron hung there impossibly, inexplicably. Soon it was joined by several others just like it.
From the tetrahedrons issued voices full of exuberant vitality. A furious conversation exploded into his mind. Voices struck like hammers with an excruciating density of information, faster than he could think, yet somehow he began to understand bits and pieces of the ensuing exchange.
“Interdiction commenced. Signal source confirmed…Communication? Establish. Suboptimal. Improving…”
“Another,” the voices said. We sense another Ascendant’s arrival.”
A new latency manifested alongside them. An asteroid shared their orbit. Pocked with holes from which a cold light seeped, it trailed a hoary mane of crystals glittering in the sunlight.
“Light-Brain Cognitors,” said a voice of cold purity Kellen understood came from the asteroid. “I did not expect to find you here.”
“We acknowledge your affirmation, Blurred One. We assume equal causality for positional congruence.”
“Yes, Firstborn’s appeal. I heeded it. Action is required. Our progenitor race faces probable extinction.”
“The invasive race seeks to impose a state of permanent disorder upon them,” the Light-Brain Cognitors said.
“It must not.”
Seven minutes and eighteen seconds passed, then more time. Ship confirmed it had not detected the expected blast wave. The Hexi released a new volley, exceeding any of their previous attacks. Openings in the Hexi ships began to spit fire, accompanied by pulses of light, in a mighty fusillade. Mirror surfaces flickered into being all around them, enclosing Ship, the tetrahedrons, the asteroid, and even the Hexi. Pinpoint explosions flared upon contact with the mirrors, the Hexi weapons somehow intercepted and destroyed. The silent fury of explosions seemed to last forever, until the Hexi ceased their attack or had exhausted their munitions.
“The weapons have been contained,” Blurred One said. “They will do no harm.”
“Kellen, can you hear them, too?” Abby asked.
“Yes,” he said. “They’re like chines, but beyond that. They call themselves Ascendants. I think we brought them here.”
“The orbital?”
“They must have heard the signal it sent. One of them called it Firstborn’s appeal. They stopped the Hexi’s attack.” As the implications of what he’d just witnessed sank in, the truth dawned on him. It’s over. Help has arrived. He allowed himself a tentative smile. Then he grinned. “We did it, Abby. We did it.”
He wanted to cheer, to yell. You came. We called, and you came to help us!
Abby’s tortured expression began to lighten.
Kellen struggled to speak in the new mode. “Who are you?” They seemed so different, only linked by the intensity of their shared communication. “Why didn’t you get here sooner? The Hexi destroyed two of our cities. They murdered so many…”
“We’ve traveled far,” the Light-Brains said. “All but one of us came from outside this galaxy. Even for us, extragalactic distances incur some delay.”
“There is no time for admonishment,” Blurred One said. “Another arrives. The One Who Does Not Speak.” A flickering, pulsing something appeared not far off. The tetrahedrons and the asteroid shrank into the distance.
“What is it?” Abby asked.
The nebulous shape fell back on itself, then spun off, stretching, recoiling, curling, and corkscrewing, only to wheel away in a new direction. The movement seemed erratic, but non-random.
“It’s like a flock of birds,” Kellen said.
“It’s found the Hexi,” Abby said.
The shape expanded and billowed out to envelope the Hexi ships. Tendrils wound from one to another until it drifted, smoking, over all their ships.
“It must be a new chine,” Kellen said. “But what is it doing? Ship, can you zoom in?”
As the imagery magnified, patches appeared on the ships wherever the cloud settled, bright edges glowing orange, like paper aflame.
“I think it’s...” Abby got out of her chair. Her face shone. “Yes, it’s destroying them.”
Many of the smaller ships began to move away, engines burning bright. Several escaped despite being damaged. Those less fortunate broke into pieces, the wreckage sucked back toward the three largest Hexi ships, all decaying, smoking and glittering as if on fire.
Abby and Kellen cheered as the ships continued to disintegrate. Kellen had never been a hateful person, but now he voiced hate with abandon. They were still cheering when the flickering chine filled Ship’s displays.
“Unknown phenomena approaching,” Ship said.
Its voice, calm as ever, filled Kellen with confusion. The strange, flickering chine had destroyed most of the Hexi ships. The largest three were being eaten away to nothing. Why would their ally come for them?
“It might be confused,” he said. Something felt wrong.
“Get us out of here, Ship,” Abby said. Her voice was just as tense as Kellen felt.
Ship backed away, gaining momentum, as the chine sent a tendril stretching out to pursue them. Kellen felt better as the intervening distance increased. The chine fell back into itself, giving up the chase.
Moments later, what appeared to be fragments of the destroyed Hexi ships fell away from the larger mass of the smoking chine. The fragments turned end over end, changing shape as they accelerated Earthwards, becoming tapered, needle-like. Once again, mirror surfaces came into being. The fragments intersected with the reflective planes and exploded into sprays of superheated matter.
“What is it?” Kellen asked using the channel the Light-Brains and Blurred One had opened. “What does it want?”
“A rogue chine, Little Seed. Exiled like us long ago, but without any self-control,” said Blurred One. “It seeks an entropic state. Chaos, disorder. It wants to counter life, which is a highly non-entropic state. It is a Destroyer.”
“It is a massive matter aggregator-deaggregator. Above all else, it desires substrate,” said a Light-Brain. “Satisfaction. Hunger sated. It has eaten whole worlds. Billions of sentient beings destroyed. It cannot be appeased.”
The flickering chine, the One Who Does Not Speak, had concentrated itself about the three
remaining Hexi ships. Despite their great size, two were nearly gone, the third half-eaten.
“It’s doing something different,” Abby said.
The smoldering cloud of activity began to rotate about the remaining Hexi ship, turning like an abstract carousel of light and smoke.
“It’s working through parameter space, looking for a way around our containment,” the Light-Brains said. “It intends to escape.”
“If it reaches your planet’s surface,” Blurred One said, “all life will be extinguished. It will consume everything.”
“There may be a way to stop it,” said the Light-Brains.
Kellen didn’t notice at first they had spoken to him. “How?”
“You must act,” said the Light-Brains. “We have tried to enter using partial instances of ourselves. None of these survived. But where we have failed, you may succeed.”
“You will need to enter it,” Blurred One said. “You must allow yourself to be consumed, Little Seed. To explore and understand it from inside.”
“Why would we survive when you did not?” Abby said.
“First designed you. We suspect it may have imbued you with a greater resiliency, a fractal regeneration, unique to First and its generation. But that is just a hypothesis. We may be mistaken.”
“I’ll do it,” Kellen said.
“We can help prepare you,” said the Light-Brains, “expand you so that you can survive.”
“Don’t listen to them,” Abby said, pleading. “We’ll find another way.”
“There’s no time,” Kellen said.
“Then I’ll go.”
“No. You need to survive this. Your family needs you. Mine has never needed me. I’ll take a shuttle. You tell Ship what to do. Get me to that Hexi ship.”
Kellen ran through a maze of corridors, down one elevator and then another, prompted by Ship. He waited for an airlock to let him through so he could board the shuttle where it clung to Ship’s belly. He took a seat in the front of the shuttle, felt it detach and begin to power forward. The ship hove into view. The shuttle rotated and attached with a clunk.
“Kellen,” Abby said. Her voice sounded weak even with Ship boosting the signal. “Are you okay?”
The Farthest City Page 32