Earth Song: Twilight Serenade

by Mark Wandrey

  “Not quite that bad,” Lilith said, “with the magnetar at noon, there would be approximately 0.3 lux of lamination.”

  Since Minu had no idea how much light a lux was, she didn’t have much to compare that with. So she continued to examine the planet below, its topography and layout of cities.

  They could see four of them. One was at the edge of the planet’s largest ocean which itself was maybe twice the size of Bellatrix’s equatorial sea. Another was in the mountains in the northern latitudes. Another was on a vast plain in the center of the largest landmass. And the final was a purely industrial affair midway between the ocean city and the mountain city.

  “Any idea what the populations were like?” Aaron asked his daughter.

  “Baseline suggests between five and ten million.”

  Minu shook her head. And like so many other worlds in the Concordia, it was just abandoned. It seemed like a perfect place for The People to fall back to if they were losing their war. So why didn’t they? There were never enough answers for questions in the universe.

  ‘More detailed analysis continue to become available,” Lilith told them. “There is no modern indications of habitation. The power signatures we picked up are transient and difficult to localize. Each habitation center has many.”

  “Where do you think we should land?” Aaron asked.

  Minu had been considering that since they’d left their other people where they’d been rendezvousing with the new ghost fleet. There were certainly a lot of possibilities.

  “I think the city in the center of the plains,” Minu said.

  “Why that one?” Lilith asked.

  “It looks like it might have been the biggest civilian population. I’d like to get a look at it and see if that was the purpose.”

  Aaron had been tapping on his tablet and finished with a flourish. On the map above, the plains city was now designated as Des Moines. Lilith cast a baleful look in his direction and couldn’t see the mischievous look on his face.

  All three of them rode down in the Kaatan’s shuttle from orbit. The warship was on automatic, it’s sensors working at full power and a squadron of six Eseel gunboats, now permanent escort for the fleet commander Minu, staying in a higher orbit with an eye towards whatever might come their way.

  The atmosphere was surprisingly dense, as Lilith had described it would be. Because of the Kaatan shuttle’s shields and drive Aaron could have flown them in as steep of an angle as he wished. Instead he described a relatively shallow approach that brought them in over a mountain range which gradually levelled out onto the planets vast open plains.

  Now below the planet’s dense atmosphere Lilith could tell more about the world’s biosphere.

  “The planet and animal life I’m scanning is scant,” Lilith reported. “Plants adapted to metabolize infrared and thermal radiation, animals that appear largely sightless.”

  “By scant you mean sparse?” Minu asked.

  “No, I mean in its diversity. The biosphere appears artificially crafted, similar to Bellatrix. There is ample quantities of life. Look at this.”

  A miniature of the common holographic displays appeared in the cockpit of the shuttle. It was artificially colored to make up for the rather dim planet’s surface. Now that they were over the plains they could see its lands were covered in untold endless rows of vegetation. Neat, orderly rows. And interspersed every couple dozen kilometers, robotic tending machines. And in the distance were truly titanic storage silos.

  “Damned farm factory!” Aaron said.

  “The capacity exceeds a hundred million for this amount of land,” Lilith confirmed. “Everything appears operational.”

  Minu pointed at the silo complex. “Put us down over there.”

  Aaron nodded and brought them into a wide sweeping turn, slowing for approach.

  “If there is anything hostile down there that doesn’t kill us, Selain will finish the job,” Aaron said.

  Minu only nodded. The Ranger had almost had a fit when Minu took off without her personal bodyguards.

  As they came around the true size of the complex came into perspective. Each silo was fifty meters across and they were arranged three deep, five kilometers long. Three hundred silos in that complex. Lilith had identified ten such complexes surrounding the vast plains.

  Aaron put them down on one of a series of ceramic concrete landing pads. The seemingly endless line of silos stretched into both directions and loomed two hundred meters above their heads. Production buildings abutted the nearest silos.

  Sensors on the shuttle’s exterior verified chemically what Lilith had already done remotely. The atmosphere, while cool, was ideal for human life.

  Minu grabbed her uniform jacket and slid it on over her tiger-striped jumpsuit before triggering the rear loading door to cycle open. Even expecting it, the blast of cold air was a surprise.

  “It is winter for this region, based on the world’s orbital inclination and position around the magnetar,” Lilith explained. “Summer will be quite a bit warmer, I suspect.”

  Aaron came up and took her hand as they began to walk down the ramp. But Minu suddenly stopped and turned back.

  “Just a sec,” she said and returned a moment later with a pair of shock rifles. She slung one and handed the other to Aaron. “Just in case.”

  Aaron checked the weapon’s charge and safety before slinging it and taking her hand once more. They walked down the ramp together and set foot on Midgard.

  Lilith walked out floating inside the zero gravity field projected above her blue crystalline mobility bot. As a group they went over to the structure. A door of the same size as found on the Kaatan opened at their approach, no locks in evidence.

  Lights were already on when they went inside, revealing massive processing equipment, all in excellent shape, and all awaiting something to begin working.

  “It’s like it’s waiting for something,” Aaron said in hushed tones.

  “Why are you whispering?” Lilith asked, her voice echoing off machines and pipes in the cavernous space.

  Aaron chuckled and shrugged.

  The three had spent an hour exploring the building when Lilith located a command center. It was a circular room whose walls were constructed of video displays. The three gathered there while Lilith brought up the facility’s computers. Just like the building, there were no codes for access. In only moments of interfacing with her augmented mind, her face showed surprise.

  “What is it?” Minu asked.

  “There are AIs operating these facilities,” the young woman said.

  “Can we use them on the ships?” Minu asked immediately.

  Lilith was silent for a time before answering.

  “No,” she pronounced finally. “It is possible they could do some of the non-combat work on the Kiile, but that is about it. And considering their utility here that would be a waste.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Consider this planet’s potential output. You and the Tog are making massive profits from the sale of foodstuffs. Consider the potential here.”

  Later Minu wandered out past the waiting shuttle to the edge of the nearest field. The plants growing there were similar to winter wheat hybrids on Bellatrix. The dim bluish light of the magnetar created the feel that you were watching an old Earth film using fake night filters. The wheat stalks had wide, pronounced leaves that reminded her of corn. They seemed to be following the movement of the star above.

  As she looked up the star flashed slightly, just as it did every twenty-two minutes. The atmosphere rippled in multi-color coronal discharges, a strange version of an aurora borealis. Aaron came up beside her and looked out across the field.

  “It’s not that cold once you get used to it,” he said.

  “Fifteen right now,” Minu noted. “Not as cold as a cave east of Steven’s Pass.”

  Aaron gave a half grunt, half laugh. They’d all had to cuddle together in a big pile in a cave one night of their Trials many
years ago to avoid freezing to death. Cold and shivering, only centimeters from her, it had been a long night for Aaron. He bent over and plucked a stalk of the wheat-like plant. With practiced ease he rubbed the seed bearing part between his hands, separating the chaff. He plucked one of the seeds and popped it in his mouth, chewing.

  “Tastes a little like soybeans,” he said.

  Minu nodded slightly and considered what Lilith had said about the planet’s food production. More than a hundred million beings could be fed. Only she wasn’t thinking about selling it. A breeze blew her coppery hair around her face, and she pushed it away without thinking. The faint blue sunlight made it look so red it was almost black. Aaron caught the look on her face and knew she had an idea.

  The shuttle slowed as it approached the vast firebase extending for many kilometers in all directions. It was a perfect match for the one where they had found the Kaatan Lilith called home. Except it held not a single ship.

  At the controls now Lilith used the shuttle’s systems to query the firebase computer. It was essentially shut down and would only respond to close proximity transmissions. After a minute she floated out of the pilots area with a considering look on her face.

  “What’s the prognosis?” Minu asked.

  “The firebase is essentially operational,” Lilith said. “It has a basic store of consumables and power. Not optimal but enough. It was not moved here with the ghost fleet, either. It was built here in orbit as a permanent facility.”

  “They meant to make a stand here.”

  “It would seem,” Lilith agreed. “Linking with the base’s systems I have isolated one hundred remote weapons and defensive satellites in low and extreme orbits around this world. All in safe mode.”

  “Damned fortress,” Aaron said under his breath.

  “We hit the jackpot,” Minu said. “Can we go aboard?”

  “I’d advise against it,” Lilith said. “We’d have to take the station out of power-down mode to get atmosphere and gravitics operational. I’ve confirmed everything is operational. Perhaps we should wait.”

  “I’ll take your lead on this, then,” Minu agreed. “Aaron, let’s get back to the fleet. Minu to salvage fleet.”

  “Cherise here,” came the familiar voice in the little shuttle’s cockpit, “you about done playing down there?”

  “Been a long day,” Minu said. “We completed our survey of the planet. It’s simply amazing! An entire world set up to operate an arm’s span from one of the most deadly interstellar phenomenon, and teeming with life.”

  In the day they’d spent exploring they’d found diverse plant and animal life. Plants designed to use what little visible light was available and the ample thermal radiation coming from the magnetar. Animals that were nearly blind but took advantage of sonar senses to find food and prey. But like Lilith said, not much diversity. Just like Bellatrix. The hand of the Lost was everywhere there. And the presence of bots left to keep the planet healthy was omnipresent.

  Minu took a moment to tell her about the planet and the firebase.

  “Well we’ve been busy up here while you played,” Cherise joked. “Ready for the ghost fleet breakdown?”

  “Please proceed,” Lilith said.

  “We have twelve Fiisk in various states. The best is better than our bes currently operating. Looks like it took a hit to its main computer. Our Kaatan CI is as excited as a computer can get.”

  Aaron gave a low whistle.

  “We have another five Ibeen, most in pretty bad shape. Bakook thinks we can put together two more, with some spares.”

  “Good,” Minu said, her tablet was out and she was taking notes. “What else?”

  “Sixty more Eseel, most are almost perfect. Don’t understand that one.”

  “They may have been used to maneuver the ghost fleet into the rendezvous with the magnetar,” Lilith postulated.

  Cherise continued: “There are also four more Kaatan. We were waiting for Lilith, but the CI thinks two, maybe three can be salvaged. One looks to have had its brains blown out. The CI says that could be a candidate to make it operational again as a Kaatan. I think it’s getting tired of playing brains for the Fiisk.”

  Lilith gave a shrug.

  “The last you are going to have to see to believe.”

  Lilith acknowledged a data transmission and brought the cockpit’s smallish holographic display alive. The object floated past a nearly shattered Ibeen, and it was bigger. Well, longer at least. And it looked like no Lost ship Minu had ever seen.

  Lost ships were always balls and spears, as she called it, or variations of that. This was reminiscent of that theme, but only in an offhanded sort of way. It looked like five elongated cylinders, flattened, and aligned on their long orientation, thin sides connected to form a pentagon. It looked hollow down the center and the entire design was deceptive to its true size.

  “How big is that?” Aaron wondered aloud.

  “Just under two kilometers long,” Lilith said, her eyes wide in wonder.

  “You know what it is?” Minu asked.

  “There were only four built. They were the core of The People’s defenses. That is a Guul Dreadnought. Do you know what condition it is in?”

  “The flyby we did with an Eseel revealed some damage, but nothing massive,” Cherise reported. “Frankly, none of us have any idea why it’s here.”

  “How badass is that thing?” Minu asked her daughter.

  “You remember the T’Chillen world killers?”

  Minu said she did. Who could forget the sight of them killing millions of Rasa from orbit?

  “The Guul were an order of magnitude more powerful. And yes, they could also devastate worlds.”

  Chapter 28

  June 22nd, 535 AE

  Ghost Fleet #3, Aether System, Aether Nebula, The Frontier

  Aether fundamentally changed the rules of the game. Minu had kept them moving as quickly as possible while they salvaged the ghost fleets in deep space. Their energy emissions would be a beacon from light years away that would eventually draw attention. Lethal attention.

  Aether made it all different. There was no way they could be noticed. Deep in the nebula, the magnetar sending powerful waves of magnetic energy and gamma ray bursts, the ghost fleet was unnoticeable. Invisible. Utterly undetectable. The salvage fleet took a much needed breather, slowing their pace and working to consolidate their prizes.

  The first week everyone wanted to visited Midgard, as it was officially known labeled. Many found it strange and exotic. Its perpetual darkness and animals that had no fear of the new visitors disturbed the Beezer. They retreated to the vastness of space and back to work after just one visit.

  In response to her calls another Ibeen arrived full of human and Beezer personnel. She’d left with a few people many months ago and now there were more than a thousand beings in her fleet operations. Cherise was not only a huge help, she was essential.

  Their stores were being so rapidly depleted that Minu sent Cherise planetside to investigate the vast caches of foodstuffs. She brought with her a Ranger medical technician and a pair of crystalline medical bots. She returned with tons of grains, tubers, and carefully frozen sea foods. The seafood was fish and several varieties of exotic and delectable crustaceans.

  “There are dozens of warehouses full of this!” Cherise explained as they sampled the food.

  “And it’s all edible?” Aaron wondered, trying a bread made from some of the grain.

  “Except for a fungus and some kind of a sea slug. And the medical database says those will do fine for the Rasa.”

  “They are delicious,” Kal’at hissed around a mouth of fungus slug stew. “It will go wonderful with the squidge we harvest on Romulus!”

  By the end of the second week the evaluation of the ships had been completed. It went much quicker than Minu had hoped. There were none of the earlier booby-traps found on the second ghost fleet.

  Their efforts would yield them two more Ibeen for a tot
al of five, three more Fiisk for a total of six, and three operational Kaatan. The latter was the most exciting to Lilith, naturally.

  The best news, at least partially, came when Lilith pronounced the Guul as viable.

  “As we suspected from superficial examination, the dreadnought is substantially undamaged. It saw extensive combat during the retreat. I believe it was brought along to act as the main siege engine against the enemy’s home worlds, and never reached its intended target.

  “The Guul is designed for assault, not defense. It depends on squadrons of fighters and Eseel to keep enemies at bay. It would only enter a system once space superiority is assured. Its primary weaponry is all energy based, and defenses missile based. Forced to retreat, the Guul expended its defensive missile magazines and became progressively vulnerable. Then it ran out of fuel.”

  “All ships use EPCs for fuel,” Aaron pointed out, “why didn’t they just refuel it?”

  “Because the Guul doesn’t use replaceable EPCs. It uses fusion power plants. Twenty of them, four per section, to recharge massive banks of EPCs which in turn power the offensive armament and propulsion. Those reactors operate on deuterium. The Guul’s deuterium tanks are empty.”

  “So they mothballed it here,” Minu said, half to herself.

  Lilith nodded in agreement. “That is my theory, yes. The People had some strategy to come back and salvage these losses. Except for some of the debris fields, most of what we found is either salvageable, or could be used to cobble together operational ships. The Guul would have been the center of a new fleet of ships returned to life.”

  “Can we make use of it?” Minu asked.

  “Like all the ships we’ve come across except the one Kaatan, there are no combat intelligences,” Lilith reminded her.

  “I know, but besides that?”

  “The Guul uses the same defensive missiles as I do. We have adequate stores to give it a basic loadout. Kal’at assures me he almost has the fabrication plants on Kiile Alpha operational, at which point we could fabricate unlimited amounts of missiles. The combat damage is negligible. The only real problem is the deuterium.”