by Terry Mixon
Other people would be staying there as well. Commander Giguere and her officers, for one group. They’d be good assets for the resistance. Prince Derek, his human associate Jacob Howell, and their entire party had decided to remain. The resistance was close enough to Pandora to get them back home after their adventure.
Princess Kelsey had also decided to leave the human Clan prisoners they’d captured with the resistance, as well as the crazy Rebel Empire security officer that had tried to kill Veronica Giguere.
Not Theo 309, though. His intelligence was too critical to the survival of the New Terran Empire. He’d be staying with them. Though she did leave the scientists that had been working on the Singularity computer. They’d refused to cooperate, and she was tired of carting around a circus of prisoners.
To everyone’s shock, Commodore Murdock asked to remain as well. They’d promised her a new life, and she’d apparently decided this was it.
Finally, Doctor Lipp, her husband, and their minions were staying. They’d promised to drop them in the next safe system, and this was it. Perhaps they and the resistance could come to some agreement, but Angela doubted that. They were criminals, after all.
Ralph Halstead had decided to remain and had asked to work with Carl on the projects the young scientist was pursuing. With Carl’s enthusiastic endorsement, he’d been allowed to do so.
Angela was thankful that Kelsey had sent Persephone ahead to scan the closest system the resistance could access to Terra. It had no connection to known Rebel Empire space and was empty of habitation, but it was easily in range of a multi-flip point. If they could find one.
“All probes away,” Arianna Knox said. “We should have a full scan of the system in six hours or so. Do you think we’ll get lucky?”
Angela shrugged. “I hope so. The resistance knows there are no other far flip points in this system and no regular ones at all. It’s a cul-de-sac they never expected to be of use.
“The star is too hot for life to have developed, even if there had been a suitable world in the habitable zone. Basically, it’s a curiosity they never looked at again after the initial exploration.”
“But if it has a multi-flip point, it might go any number of interesting places,” Knox said with a nod. “Based on our limited experience, we have about a fifty-fifty chance.”
“Bump that up to a 100% chance,” Jevon McLeod said from the tactical station. “Probe three just picked up a multi-flip point about an hour from our current location.”
That made Angela smile. “Great news. Take us in, Jack.”
She turned to her executive officer. “I’ll leave this all in your hands while I go down and talk with my husband and Talbot in that makeshift lab. If there’s a way to Terra here, Carl will find it.”
The unspoken corollary was that if there wasn’t, Admiral Mertz was screwed.
34
Kelsey stood behind Mertz and watched as Athena approached the flip point leading to Terra with far more nervousness than she’d expected. This was it, the moment where everything would either come together or fall apart.
“Send the recognition signal, Wanda,” Mertz said, far more calmly than Kelsey would have been able to do herself.
“Signal away,” Wanda Dieter said from the communications console. “Response received. We’re to proceed through the flip point and receive instructions on the other side.”
“Well, at least they aren’t going to open fire on us right away,” Mertz said with a wry smile. “Take us across, Janice.”
While the helm officer worked her controls, he refocused his attention on Evan Brodie, the tactical officer. “Make sure to get good scans as we go, Evan. We’ll want to have as much information as we can in case we have to come back in force.”
That, of course, assumed that they’d be coming back. Or even leaving, for that matter.
The flip point was well covered with battle stations. Half a dozen of the massively armed stations orbited the flip point closely, ready to repel any attempt to access the system. Or to kill anyone that tried to leave it, she was sure.
The New Terran Empire destroyer moved between the stations, and Kelsey couldn’t escape the impression that they were looming over her, their electronic brains targeting the ship while preparing to open fire.
Only they didn’t. They allowed the destroyer through the defenses, and moments later, it flipped into the Terra system.
They’d finally made it.
The far side of the flip point was even more heavily armed and defended than the exterior side. A full dozen battle stations orbited the flip point at various distances. Some were close in while others sat farther away.
Scattered between them were dozens of warships: destroyers, light cruisers, and heavy cruisers. They were almost certainly computer controlled and not occupied.
Out of an abundance of caution, Mertz had previously ordered Wanda Dieter to retransmit their authorization as soon as they’d arrived. Whether the defenses were already expecting them or simply accepted the codes was unclear, but they didn’t open fire.
“Where do we go now, sir?” Hall asked from the helm console.
“Take us deeper into the system while we take a look around,” he said. “I’m sure the AI will have instructions for us before we get very far, but we’ve never been here before and need to get the layout of the system down.
“Where exactly is Terra in relation to this flip point? Where is the System Lord? How much mobile defense do they have wandering around that we need to be aware of? What other surprises do they have waiting for us?
“The AIs have done everything they can to keep humanity out of this system for so long that I refuse to believe they don’t have things waiting for us now that we’ve arrived.”
Wanda Dieter turned away from the communications console. “We have an incoming transmission from one of the battle stations, Admiral. We are to proceed to Terra at best speed and await further instructions there.”
Janice Hall twitched a little and cursed under her breath. “The computer just received course and speed instructions, and we’ve begun moving. I realize that we set up the computer to respond as if it still had primary control of the ship, but that creeps me out.”
So far as the Rebel Empire had been concerned, the human crew aboard the ship was running things, but it was obvious the AIs preferred to deal with their electronic minions and had sent instructions for the ship to carry out the directions rather than the crew.
Of course, they could immediately override the computer, and any of the really dangerous commands had been disabled long before they’d arrived in the system, but Kelsey had to agree with the helm officer. This was definitely creepy.
“Where do they seem to be taking us?” Mertz asked. “Are we going directly to Terra, or are they taking us on a more circuitous route?”
“We’re headed directly in, sir. We’re also moving at maximum military power. I’d estimate we’ll be in Terra orbit in about five and a half hours. Right now, it looks as if the planet is almost on the other side of the sun from our current location.”
Evan Brodie scowled at his console and looked back at his commanding officer. “We have an escort. They’ve detached three heavy cruisers to follow us in and have moved them into bracketing positions at close range. If we try to do anything at all, they can easily destroy us.”
“Are we going to be able to launch any stealthed drones?” Mertz asked.
The tactical officer shook his head. “Not a chance, sir. They’re far too close. They’d detect any probe leaving the ship immediately.”
That made Kelsey curse. They’d been planning on seeding the Terra system with stealthed drones to get a complete layout of everything they’d have to deal with. They’d also hoped to send a few on to Terra before they arrived so that they could make plans on how best to carry out their mission while still seeming to carry out the one assigned to them by the AI.
She moved to stand next to Mertz’s chair and spoke to hi
m in a low voice. “Do you think the AI was at the flip point? Those instructions came in pretty fast.”
He shook his head. “No. I’d bet those instructions were left there because it expected us to arrive about now. After all, if we didn’t show up shortly, we’d have exploded somewhere else. We had a lot of incentive to be on time.
“If I had to make a guess, the AI in command of this system is going to be in one of two places. It’s either going to be concealed at one of the gas giants and controlling all of the system defenses from that remote location, or it’s going to be in orbit around Terra.
“I’m betting on the latter. After all, that’s where the fighting was taking place. It would probably want to have a good eye over what was occurring down on the surface.”
She considered that for a long moment and then sighed. “It would be better for us if the AI was out on one of the gas giants, so we have to plan for it being in orbit around Terra. That’s going to make things really awkward, particularly with our nursemaids keeping us from performing any sleight-of-hand.”
He turned his chair to face her. “This was never going to be easy, Kelsey, but we’ll find a way to do what we need to do. For one thing, we’re going to have to disperse the drones all over Terra. We’ll be able to get our people off the ship to explore the Imperial Palace. We’ll find the vault.”
“What if they used planetary bombardment and the vault no longer exists?”
That was the worst-case scenario. They’d have come all this way to get a device that was long dust. Then they’d have to find a way to outsmart the cybernetic overlord that had commanded them here and escape again without the override they all so desperately needed.
That she and her people so desperately needed.
Their best hope for success was her doppelgänger, she supposed. If the other Kelsey could find a way into the Terra system, she could bring forces here that the computer wouldn’t be expecting. If there was a lot of activity in Terra orbit, it was still going to be dicey, but at least they wouldn’t all be doomed out of hand.
“Well, I suppose it’s a little late for me to complain now,” she said glumly. “I hope to hell that other me is as resourceful as you say, because if she’s not, we’re in for a universe of hurt.”
Talbot made his way down to the makeshift lab that Carl had set up in Persephone’s hold. Unlike the one on Audacious, this one didn’t contain all of the experiments and personnel that he normally had. His task here was brutally straightforward.
Now that they’d found a multi-flip point, he’d send probes through to determine what frequency bands led to different destinations and then explore them. As they knew from experience, those destinations might have other branches that led to even more systems.
Exploring them was only half the battle. Once they’d determined where the varying branches led, they needed to know how difficult it was going to be for a larger vessel to traverse them.
Persephone was a small ship that could make its way through all of the branches in the various multi-flip points that they’d discovered. Even with a specialized flip drive his friend had designed and built for her, Audacious was much too large to risk on some of the narrower channels they’d seen.
If they were unlucky, they wouldn’t find a path to Terra at all, but if fate were cruel, it might give them a path that only the Marine Raider strike ship could take. That would let them into the system but deny them the majority of the force they’d brought with them.
“How’s it going?” he asked Carl as he sat down.
The young scientist was working on a dedicated computer station, his hands flashing across the old-style keyboard. He barely glanced over at Talbot.
“We’re just about ready to send the first probe through. That’ll show us what the default destination is and give me a bunch of readings about what frequency bands are available and how we might use them to explore alternative branches. With the experience we already have, I should have some initial data fairly quickly.”
“What do you think our chances are?” Talbot asked. “Both to find Terra and to get a passage big enough for Audacious?”
Carl stopped tapping his keyboard and turned to face Talbot. “That’s really hard to say. Finding a specific system through one of these is pretty much a crapshoot. If there’s a rhyme or reason to it, I haven’t found it yet.
“Of course, the same is true of regular flip points. If you come across a new one, you really don’t have any idea where it’s going to end up. I suppose one of the positive aspects of the multi-flip points is that we can explore a number of branches without spending a lot of time doing so.
“With all of the back and forth of traversing one branch and then looking for new branches, a single multi-flip point might have dozens of potential destinations. We really didn’t spend a lot of time exploring the one we found leading to Icebox and Pandora.”
Talbot nodded. “That’s all true, but we have a very specific task in front of us. If we can’t get to Terra, we’ll be of no use to the admiral. If we can’t get Audacious through the flip point, we’ll be a lot less effective in assisting him in any case.”
“That’s out of my control,” Carl said with a grunt. “If one of the branches leading from this multi-flip point doesn’t lead to Terra, we’ll have to explore some of the destination systems and the linkages beyond them to try to find one that does.
“In the end, we might come up dry. There’s no guarantee that any multi-flip point or far flip point will lead to Terra, or how long it will take us to find one if it does exist. I’ll do the best I can, but I can’t make you any promises.”
The screen in front of Carl changed as data began flowing across it. His young friend leaned forward and examined it closely.
“The initial probe is back. It doesn’t look like the default branch leads to Terra, but at least it didn’t lead to an occupied system. I’ll have Fiona go over everything I’m recording, and I’ll wager she can locate the system on the other end fairly quickly.”
He tapped on the controls. “My best guess is that this multi-flip point has five branches. I’ll refine the data, of course, but I might as well start sending probes down the various branches to see where they end up. Thankfully we have enough to do that all at once rather than reusing the same probe over and over.”
Talbot was tempted to continue talking and exploring what might happen with his friend, but he didn’t want to distract him. Instead, he leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes, resting while he could.
A few minutes later, Carl grunted.
Talbot opened his eyes and sat up. “Did you find something?”
“You could say that. I found a branch leading to Terra. I had to go through the multi-flip point to one of the destination systems and then send the probe down another branch, but we have a problem.”
He turned to face Talbot. “The branch leading to Terra is perhaps the narrowest that I’ve ever seen. There’s no way in hell Audacious is going through that particular passage.”
“Perhaps one of the other branches on the Terra side will lead to a system that we can get to. We’ve seen how there’s some duplication in the process.”
“No dice. While there are other branches leading out from the Terra side, every single one of them seems to have a very narrow frequency band. On top of that, it only has three branches leading out.
“I’ll program the probes to explore them, but I’m very much afraid that we’ve found a passage we can only use with Persephone.”
That was bad news. The only possible ray of hope was the possibility of finding a far flip point in the Terra system. Looking for it would be dangerous and far from assured of success, but they’d have to try. The admiral was counting on them.
“Gather what you know and come with me,” Talbot said. “It’s time to brief Kelsey and get to Terra.”
35
The trip in to Terra took a seeming eternity for Jared. Without being able to deploy any stealthed probes,
the data they were getting from the home world of humanity grew sharper only at a snail’s pace.
When they were a few hours out, they’d begun detecting orbital platforms circling Terra but couldn’t determine anything about them, other than the fact that there were a lot of them. They ranged from moderate size to extremely large. Far larger, in fact, than anything he’d ever seen before.
More interesting to him was the fact that at least some of them appeared to be powered. He had no doubt that a number of the stations ahead of them were things like the planetary bombardment platforms used on Harrison’s World, but that couldn’t be the whole story.
Since the AIs had gone out of their way to subjugate Terra, it only made sense to Jared that they would have blasted any center of resistance. What was left to threaten? All they could hope for at this point was that the Imperial Palace still stood. If it didn’t, the vaults below it were almost certainly destroyed, and their mission was doomed.
“We have an incoming communication from Persephone,” Wanda Dieter said. “It’s at high bandwidth and has video.”
Jared smiled. The fact that his sister was able to communicate with him via high speed indicated that she had found a way to get to Terra.
“Put it on screen,” he said, sitting back in his chair.
Kelsey’s image appeared on the main screen, and she smiled. “As you’ve no doubt determined, we’ve found a way to get to Terra. That’s the good news. The bad news is that it’s a very narrow branch on a multi-flip point. There’s no way that Audacious can make the trip. In fact, there’s some risk simply taking Persephone, not that I’m going to let that stop me.
“If you can, let me know that you’ve received this message. If not, I’ll assume that you’re in a position that you don’t dare attempt to transmit. In any case, we’ll be in the system in the next few hours. I want to take the extra time to make all the preparations that we can think of, since there exists the possibility that this is a one-way trip for us.”