by Meridian
You see, the Council had suppressed our planet’s colonial history, or speculation about other human colonies. The position of authority was that there lived no humans on other worlds, and if there had been, they were gone and never coming back. Only the Shadow-men were entrusted with guarding the knowledge of other worlds. They watched the skies, and listened for signals. Their ways were secretive.
They did not even acknowledge their own existence.”
Shouts gestured to the sky and intoned melodramatically. “One day, as it was, as I stand here, one thousand two-hundred and twenty-six years ago, a Dark Angel fell from the sky.”
“Excuse me?” Partridge said. “A ‘Dark Angel.’”
“This is where it gets weird,” Redfire said. “So, pay attention.” The Old Man spoke with almost operatic solemnity. “On the night I am telling, skies lit up with a fireball that left a twisting, glowing trail in its wake. It impacted in a distant province of New Acona. It was prohibitively remote, but the Shadow-men were there within a day.
“The first reports described a great black machine, twisted and burning, that had fallen from the sky in a crazy spiral. The Governing Council retracted the report, and said it was a large meteor. Pictures were shown of a large, burned rock and a crater. Most accepted the story. There were a few, however, who did not believe, and sought the truth. These became the first Witnesses. They told stories, incredible stories, stories too incredible to believe, too easy to deny.
“According to the first Witnesses, what had fallen on New Acona was a machine… possibly a ship.
The truth of it hidden under the code of a secret operation named ‘Dark Angel.’ It was transported, in secrecy, to a complex in another remote area of the planet.
“At first it was thought nothing was inside. This was because what was inside could not be detected by their instruments. However, there was a thing living inside the machine. It was part of the machine, part alive and part machine and part something that wasn’t alive or machine. It was the ‘Dark Angel’
invisible and cold. It needed to live inside a machine, and it needed to control.”
“Control what?” Partridge asked.
Shouts answered nearly in a whisper. “Everything.”
“Very soon, the Dark Angel found IPMS. The Witnesses tried to stop it, but they could not. Then, they tried to contain it. They went to every city, trying to destroy the central computer networks with bombs and vandalism. They slowed the Dark Angel’s advance, but couldn’t stop it. Once the ‘Dark Angel controlled the IPMS, it controlled our world.
“The Dark Angel divided and became many, and called itself ‘the Regulators.’ The Regulators began a program of concentrating all the people in the cities, where they would be easiest to control. They used persuasion at first, then coercion, and finally force. Enforcers moved into the countryside to drive the people out of their homes and into the cities. The smaller cities, the towns, the villages, the settlements were all burned and destroyed so completely that where they had been there was nothing but scorched ground.
“Finally, the last of the Witnesses and the last of the Shadow-men met in the last of the cities. Here!” he lifted his gaze up, to take in the city that towered and spilled and sprawled around him. “For a time, it was the last free city on our planet it was. Enforcers were laying siege, the people starving, all hope gone.
No choice but to surrender.
“The last Shadow-men and the last Witnesses knew their cause was lost, but they knew one thing more. They knew there were other humans dwelling in the stars. They knew that humans from other colonies might be the only hope for their world. They also knew that the Regulators would use the knowledge gained from our world to subjugate others. All knowledge of other worlds and any knowledge of space travel must also be destroyed.”
“But if the Dark Angel came from space,” Partridge asked, “it must have known how to travel in space.”
“You must remember, it did not land here, it crashed here, severely damaged, and fortunately, we believe, that part of its memory that dealt with space travel did not survive.
“In the last of days, the last Witnesses and the last Shadow-men formed a new order. We would live among the people of our world, even as they became ever more subjugated… and altered…”
“… altered…” Partridge repeated involuntarily. He remembered the identical faces, the lobed skulls.
“… by the Regulators. Our forebears passed on their knowledge although only a few from each generation survived. Some were allowed to appear to be absorbed, in order to infiltrate the inner levels of the Regulators under the guise of obedience, but most committed suicide before the Regulators could absorb them.
“These days, we are limited to infiltrating the enforcers, all the other insiders are so changed, our differences would be noticed. The enforcers wear helmets and masks, though. The danger is extreme, but we must continue to watch them. If the Regulators learned of other worlds, they would seek the means to travel there, and conquer them.” He fixed Partridge with a look of absolute fierceness. “Our fight is your fight, the fight of all humanity.”
A much younger woman stepped forward. She seemed to be of the same age as Partridge, with rust-colored hair braided together with rags and wrapped. “We knew you would come to free us,” she said.
“This is another weird part,” Redfire said, eyes shining. He liked weird parts, but even more so when there was an attractive female involved. “…but trust me, well worth it.”
“I am Foretells-the-End-of-Times, a prophetess, and we have been dreaming of you for centuries.”
“How is that possible?” Partridge asked.
She explained. “The outside of this arco-tower, the place where these others made camp … we call it the Bush of Whispering Ghosts. Those who sleep in the Bush of Whispering Ghosts have visions of past and future. When we saw your ship come from the sky, we knew the liberation was at hand. I dreamed you. I dreamed all of you, as my mother and my grandmother before me dreamed you.” Something about the girl awakened a random memory asleep in Partridge’s mind. His eyes widened.
“By God, Tyro Commander Lear is teaching them how to build a tachyon pulse transmitter.”
“She is doing what?” Redfire asked sharply, his good humors evaporated.
“She is helping them build a tachyon pulse transmitter, to transmit the Regulators back to Republic.”
“We will not let them do that,” Redfire said. “And we will not let Ex-Commander Lear finish building a TPT.”
Shouts stood and proclaimed. “You will drive the Regulators from the planet, and set us free. You are our liberators, as prophecy foretold. You will cleanse this world with a bright, destroying light.” The five of them looked first at each other, then back at the witnesses. “Crude, could you slaggers from reality be any more disconnected?” Roebuck said.
chapter eighteen
Meridian
The Regulators completed their analysis of data extracted from dissection of the deceased specimen.
The specimen’s brain had survived quite well even after the body failed, and they had discarded the portions not concerned with intellect. This had enabled them both to manipulate and confirm the truthfulness of the cooperative human leader.
In one tiny corner of Halliburton’s intellect, the Regulators found a reference to an ancient, and neglected area of mathematics known as chaos theory; the central metaphor of which was that the flutter of a butterfly’s wings could bring about hurricanes.
It was discarded as irrelevent.
Meridian — Outside the Arco-Tower
With hands that trembled slightly, Partridge pulled out his medical kit. (The eelworms had been safe enough in and of themselves, but they had harbored an unpleasant parasite that his immune system was aggressively sorting out.) “If it’s all right, I’d like to take a blood sample from one of the Witnesses.” The woman, Foretells-the-End-of-Times, stepped forward. “I guess blood is spilled in every ba
ttle.” She extended her arm. Partridge handed her a small glass cylinder. “Hold this in your fist.” She did and was surprised to see it instantly and painlessly fill with blood.
Partridge took it back and clipped it into his analyzer. “Thank you very much.”
“What are you doing, Partridge?” Redfire asked.
“A blood test. I am studying the extent of genetic maniplulation among the Merids. I got a sample from one of the guards inside, I’d like to compare it to one of the Witnesses.” He shrugged. “It might be helpful.”
“Tyro Commander Redfire,” Driver called, he was gesturing to the side of the tower. Redfire went to join him and Partridge followed. “Look.” Driver pointed southward. An alien craft, like the spheres that had escorted them in, but many times larger, hovered over the ground.
“Manic!” said Roebuck. “Sinister Buckyball of Doom”
Redfire scanned the craft with his Spex. It was irradiating the area with gamma rays. “If it comes this way destroy it,” Redfire ordered. “Otherwise, let’s not let the Regulators know we’re here.”
“What’s it doing?” Partridge asked.
“Sterilizing the Throwbacks, to make sure they can’t reproduce.” Redfire shook his head.
“By God,” Partridge whispered. Redfire looked at Partridge, not that much younger than himself, but still able to have his senses exquisitely stung by the presence of horror. Redfire envied him.
“Come on,” Redfire said, and led him back to the group.
Redfire addressed his landing party. “So, destiny is calling us. How shall we answer?”
“What are our choices?” Taurus put in, she was cradling her sore arm and staring at Redfire with a hurt, bitter look.
“Good question, let’s start with the basic issue. Are we going to help these people… the Witnesses, against the Regulators?”
Taurus answered him. “Commander Keeler should make that decision. We should hold out until Pegasus arrives.”
“Za, but Pegasus is late and we don’t know why. While we are waiting here, Tyro Commander Lear is assisting the enemy. With her help, the Regulators might be able to incapacitate Pegasus.” Taurus sighed. “There are five of us, Tyro Commander. Limited weapons, on unfamiliar territory.
What can we do against beings who control an entire planet?” Redfire raised one eyebrow, but did not answer her. The Witnesses were watching their future being debated with rapt attention, but did not comment. In their minds, the outcome had been settled long ago.
Redfire stood his ground. “Ex-Commander Lear can not be allowed to complete her tachyon pulse transmitter. Whatever we decide, she must be stopped.”
“It takes years to build one of those, and this planet probably doesn’t possess the basic technology,” Driver argued.
“This planet already has one,” Redfire stated calmly. “There’s a TPT buried 300 meters underneath this tower.” He smiled to see the desired effect; astonishment across everyone’s face; everyone except Roebuck, who was munching some kind of survival tart. “I detected the tachyon field while we were still on Prudence. Lear knows about it, too. She’s not too inventive, but she can read a data analysis.” He took a deep breath and exhaled it loudly. “She will need to build an amplifier, and a transmission antenna, but it can be done and it wouldn’t take long, even with native technology.”
“She can’t finish before Pegasus gets here,” Taurus insisted.
“When will that be?” Redfire said. Pegasus was more than eight hours late. Redfire had a feeling something was seriously wrong, but there was no point in speculating out loud that Pegasus might already have been taken by the enemy.
“Why would Tyro Commander Lear help the Regulators?” Driver asked allowed. “She’s loyal to Republic.”
“I think it was the sublims,” Taurus said.
“Sublims?” Redfire asked.
“They were using … trying to use subliminals to get to us,” Taurus reported. “You know, suggestions just below hearing threshold. They were quiet and distorted. Mostly Halliburton screaming. They could have gotten into her head.”
“Za, but we could hear them,” Partridge added. “The Merids probably didn’t know what our hearing threshold was.”
“Why her and not you two?” Redfire asked.
“She’s a Republicker,” Partridge speculated, watching his analyzer pick apart the blood sample, molecule by molecule. “Different atmosphere, different hearing sensitivity.”
“And accustomed to taking orders, not to mention all that cybertech embedded in her skull already.
Maybe they got in.” Redfire speculated. “Regardless, we will stop her.”
“What about the Witnesses?” Taurus asked.
“We’ll figure out what to do for them when we have Lear back,” Redfire stated firmly.
“What can we do for them anyway?” Roebuck shouted unexpectedly. “We can’t… five of us … we can’t over-run this planet.”
“We have 1,000 trained Warfighters on Pegasus,” Redfire argued. “Not to mention enough technology to take out the Regulators, whoever they are, from space. If we choose to remove the Regulators, they will be removed.”
“You just want to be a hero,” Eddie Roebuck said.
Redfire smiled. “Is there something wrong with being a hero?”
“It’s you thinkers and heroes that cause all the problems,” Roebuck shot back.
“Roebuck, what is your damage?” Redfire demanded.
Roebuck pounced as though he had been waiting for years for someone to ask him this question. “My damage is thinkers like you. You think you’re doing me a favor. You thinkers got this brilliant idea about flying off into space and discovering new worlds. Great. No one was stopping you, but you decided it wasn’t going to be all you thinker types going. You were going to make room on your ships for anybody who wanted to come along.
“You don’t need me, lugging cables around the landing bays, carrying load all over the ship, inspecting cargo, fixing your loose wires. You’ve got toolbots and automechs and and/oroids who can do the job just great and don’t even care, but you have to drag Eddie-fragging-Roebuck along with you, because you think if you let me go into space, you’ll make me a better person.” Redfire cut him off. “And this has what to do with us and The Regulators?”
“You thinkers … you always think it’s your job to raise up the lesser beings. You were going to explore the galaxy and you didn’t want to leave the lesser people behind. Well, maybe some of us wanted to stay behind. Maybe some of us were happy living our dumb, unexceptional lives on our own dumb, unexceptional planet…”
“Then, why did you sign up, Roebuck?” Redfire asked. “If you were happy on Sapphire why did you sign up?”
“I thought it would get me laid,” Roebuck answered furiously.
Driver was scowling slightly, and Redfire picked up that he was thinking of punching Roebuck hard in the gut. Himself, he found it hard not to laugh.
“No one made you come, Roebuck.” Redfire said, firmly but not loudly. “You could have resigned at any point in the training process. You could have returned to Sapphire and spent the rest of your life any way you wanted.”
“Shuh-right, if I were in Halifax now, I’d be…”
“Eight years older,” Redfire told him.
“Whuzza?”
“Eight years older. Eight years went by on Sapphire while we were in hyperspace. What plans did you have for the next eight years of your life? What are you missing out on?”
“Doesn’t matter. I can’t do it now.” Roebuck said.
“That’s right Roebuck. We’ve left, and we’re never going back. You made the decision to be here, Now, you’re here. Process it! The secret to life isn’t making the right decision. It’s making the decision first, then making it right.” He lifted his head and addressed the others. “That’s why we’re going to stop Lear… and The Regulators.”
A short chirping sound came from Partridge’s medical pack. He tok it o
ut and examined the results. “ Kumbayah! ”
“What?” Redfire asked.
“The results of the blood test are in” Partridge turned to Foretells-the-End-of-Times. “You have completely normal human blood.”
“Thank you,” Ender said with a smile.
“I also got two samples from the … from the people inside the tower. Their blood has been altered.
Genetically manipulated.”
“We knew that,” Redfire said.
Partridge shook his head. “More than we imagined. The structure of the nucleotides is being altered at the molecular level. That DNA is not human.”
“You mean alien?” Driver asked.
Partridge sighed. “Right now, I’d say part alien and part human, but most of the alien DNA is dormant, but I think that gradually, maybe within a few generations, the alien DNA will dominate, and what lives on Meridian won’t even be humanoid.”
Redfire took this in. “So, the Merids are just a step on the way to… to what?” Partridge shook his head. “I don’t have the AI to extrapolate it out, but the closest analogs the datapad can find are carnvirous plant and a parasitic insect from the Arcadian Rainforest.” Alien invasion. Redfire thought. Battle between species to the death. Survial of the fittest. The ultimate fire.
Suddenly, there was a thunderclap. It was especially startling to the Meridians, since thunder was all but unknown on their world, and this was a loud and willful thunder. High above them, shapes were moving through the air. It looked as though pieces of the pearl-green sky had broken loose and were bearing down on the ground.
“What is that?” Shouts asked.
Redfire smiled from ear to ear. “Cavalry.”
The Aves dropped their holoflage shields and bore down out of the sky like mighty birds of prey.
Roebuck jumped up, his arms in a Victory salute. “Za! Za! Za! Krishna be praised!”
“More ships?” Shouts said with a kind of reverence, his eyes trained on the Aves as they grew closer.