Once through, they stared fiercely at him. “We should attack right now,” the captain insisted.
“Not here. Not yet. If you fight now, you’ll be fighting alone, and you have no idea what you’re up against. I have a feeling we’re only going to get one chance to do this right. If we lose, we condemn all our descendants to Oort domination. Your 2,000-year war might start all over again. Is that what you want?”
The two Harbok glared at him, but they did not need to answer. “You’ll get your chance,” Cass assured them. “Our mission is to alert Admiral Grayson. Ollie is with him. They’ll put all of us to work.”
At Emily’s suggestion, Cass waited to bring the other three crewmembers through the process until the ship reached hyperspace. The first Oort/host captives had died a few days after Douglas’ ship jumped into hyperspace. Logic suggested to her that the mind control might not reach beyond local systems, or if it did, it did not reach into hyperspace.
She was right. The three remaining crewmembers quickly understood what Cass was saying, and they had no difficulty imagining themselves attacking spires. However, when the ship dropped from hyperspace on the other end, they regressed. By constantly reinforcing concepts in their minds, Cass was able to help them work through the persuasion, but his faith in the crew remained uncertain. The compulsion was that much stronger in this system.
When they reached Grayson’s baseship, he and Emily joined Greg and Arlynn in a private meeting in their quarters. The four of them sat around the dining room table, and Cass launched into his prepared speech.
When he was done, Greg shook his head. “I’m certain you’re wrong,” he said. “I feel no compulsion at all.”
“In that case, let’s attack the main spire and see how it goes,” Cass countered.
“We’re here to open contact with the Oort, not to kill them,” Greg argued, frowning at Cass’ persistence.
“Okay, just take out one of the hundreds of small spires then, just to let them know we can,” Cass suggested.
“The Alliance does not condone genocide,” Greg replied with growing impatience. My goal here is to find a way to bring the Oort into the Alliance without them trying to dominate us.”
Cass looked to Arlynn who shook her head, letting him know that she was not on board with his request either. “Cass,” she said, “you know how much we respect you, but in this instance, I think you’re missing the point. We won the war. The whole idea behind the Alliance is to find ways for alien civilizations to come together, rather than fight. That’s what we’re doing here.”
Cass focused back on Greg. “Sir, look objectively at your argument. You’ve reached a diplomatic impasse with the Oortbok. A minor attack will prove to them that you’re serious about wanting to talk. It might help persuade them. I’m certain you see the logic, but you can’t bring yourself to do it. That’s because they’re manipulating your mind.”
Greg glared at him without speaking. Emily intervened. “Mom, Dad, the Oort are so amazingly good at this that you can’t even tell they’re doing it. You’re in the same situation the original Harbok explorers encountered when they met the Oort.” She leaned forward to emphasize her next words. “They lost their battle, probably without even knowing they were walking into danger. The cost was a 2,000-year war. We can’t give the Oort another win. Without being melodramatic, I’m telling you that we’re the last chance for our civilization. Admiral Douglas, after a lot of effort, saw through the compulsion. He considers it the greatest threat to civilization the galaxy has ever known. If the Oort come away from this with the secrets of our advanced technology, there will be no stopping them.”
That caused Greg to pause. In the end, he said, “Objectively, your arguments make sense. I still don’t agree.”
Cass and Emily worked hard on Greg and Arlynn, but they failed to convince them. They moved to Grayson’s office and attempted the same process with him and Angie, but again, they failed.
Emily and Cass stepped out of the office and talked softly. “Doctor Yarbo suggested that the big spire here might project a stronger effect,” Emily said. “Greg is not usually this intractable. In fact, he usually welcomes suggestions.”
“We need to get them into hyperspace where the persuasion won’t reach them. I think we’ll have better luck then,” Cass suggested.
When presented with the idea, Grayson objected. “It’s two days to reach the first jump point, then two more days to return. I’m not willing to abandon my command for that long.”
“Then take your command with you,” Cass suggested.
Grayson stared back at him with anger in his eyes. “Our mission objectives are to communicate with the Oortbok and to keep them isolated within this system. They won’t stay isolated if we leave.”
Emily watched, fearful for all of them, as Cass stood up and paced briefly with his hands behind his back. When his lips thinned and he nodded his head minutely, she knew he had reached a decision.
He turned to Grayson and focused only on him, excluding everyone else. “Sir, I know you don’t doubt my loyalty to you. I’m telling you that despite all your amazing accomplishments, you’ve already lost your war against the Oort. You no longer command your fleet. That thing out there does.”
Grayson stood up slowly, glaring at Cass. “You go too far, Lieutenant.”
“I know, sir. I believe so strongly in this that I’d go further if I could. I’d order you to leave this system, even if it’s just briefly, but lieutenants don’t order admirals. Can I appeal to friendship?” He motioned to the others in the room and said, “We’ve spent many wonderful afternoons around the barbecue discussing big ideas, huge ideas. This is the single biggest decision you will make in your life, sir. I know you well enough to know that you follow my logic, but because of the mind control exerted by the Oort, they’re preventing you from taking the next logical step. I’m asking for your trust. Trust me, sir, and I’ll help you save your command.”
Grayson stared at Cass. Without breaking eye contact, he leaned over the desk on clenched knuckles. He stared long into Cass’ eyes without speaking. In the end, he nodded. “Everything I am is telling me you’re wrong, Lieutenant, but you’re right about one thing: I respect you. I can be away for a few days.” He considered briefly, then nodded to himself. “We’ll take the baseship. My six prime ships can keep an eye on things while I’m gone.” He looked to Greg and Arlynn. “You’re welcome to come with us, or you can transfer to a prime ship.”
Looking to Emily, not Greg, Arlynn spoke for both of them. “We’ll come with you.”
Emily nodded and turned to Grayson. “We know that massive doses of the LifeVirus prevent the Oort from attaching to human bodies. I can’t imagine it coming to a worst-case scenario, but if it did, I’d feel better if everyone in your fleet gets a LifeVirus booster immediately.”
Grayson frowned. “Our Harbok crews don’t even know about the LifeVirus. We’ll give everyone else a booster.”
Cass, hesitant to push his luck, took the plunge once again. “Sir,” he said to Grayson, “I truly fear the power of this Overmind to manipulate. Worse, if it can manipulate, it probably knows our thoughts. I wonder if it will even let your bridge crew take us from the system?”
“I might not be fully aboard with this,” Grayson vented, “but no one will take over my ship. Until we reach hyperspace, your place and Emily’s is on the bridge, and you’ll be armed.”
He pulled weapons from a safe, handed them to Cass and Emily, then he strode from the office with Cass right behind him. When Emily looked to Arlynn with big eyes, Arlynn nodded solemnly. “Your place is on the bridge with Cass,” she said. “I’ll make sure the LifeVirus gets distributed.”
* * * * *
When Emily and Cass entered the bridge, both of them armed, the atmosphere tensed. After all, the bridge was staffed with military men and women who appreciated the limited number of reasons that someone would enter their domain armed. The atmosphere remained tense for the t
wo days it took to jump into hyperspace.
To Cass’ surprise, whatever hold the Overmind had over the everyone did not extend to preventing them from leaving the system, even though their purpose in leaving was, ultimately, to thwart Oort control. It suggested to him that the Overmind might not be driven as much by intelligence as by instinct. It might only care about immediate threats focused on itself. Departing baseships were not a threat. Still, as an experiment, this was just one statistically tiny sample from which to draw conclusions.
During the voyage, Cass and Emily repeatedly pressed the crew for answers regarding how to attack spires. They did the same to Greg, Arlynn, and Ollie, and they recorded the responses.
The moment they jumped into hyperspace, Cass and Emily felt the compulsion evaporate. None of the others noticed any change. This time when they met in Grayson’s office, Cass just had them view recordings of their earlier responses to his demands.
Not only were they astonished, they were embarrassed. When Grayson pushed through the last vestiges of compulsion, the knowledge seemed to age him right before Cass’ eyes. The look he exchanged with Cass spoke volumes of regret, thankfulness, and determination.
Ollie, in particular, was furious with himself. He paced the office like a trapped animal, banging his fists together and muttering under his breath, which coming from a Harbok meant that everyone heard clearly.
Cass repeated the process with the bridge crew. One at a time, angry and frightened looks let him know that they knew.
Emily stayed on the bridge while Grayson ushered his senior people into his office for a private meeting. “Our first objective is to secure this ship,” he said. “Second, we secure the rest of the fleet. Only then do we focus on mission objectives. Those objectives have changed. This is no longer a diplomatic mission,” he said looking hard at Greg. “It’s a military mission with the objective of taking out whatever is creating this persuasion.”
“Sir,” Cass said, “I have a recording of what we discovered inside a spire. You’ll want to see it. I believe we’ll have to take out every single spire on the planet.”
Grayson gave him a piercing look. “From what I understand of the Oort-host relationship, losing contact for more than a few days with whatever is controlling them kills them. You’re suggesting that we kill every Oortbok on the planet?”
Cass winced, but his lips pursed in determination. “Every single spire. If that means everyone on the planet dies, I’m afraid so. I’m not saying we have to do it on every Oort planet, though we might. The issue as I see it is this: do the Oort actually read minds, or do they just send persuasion? If they read minds, they’ll have pulled from us the technology behind our fast ships and our snowflake. We do not have a defense against either of those things. We can’t give them time to get them operational.”
He lowered his eyes for a moment, then straightened back up. “I might be wrong, sir. The very fact that this ship was allowed to leave suggests to me that the Oort might not be reading our minds. But,” he added, “we can’t operate under that assumption. We cannot afford to be wrong. The Oort have, after all, conquered every single civilization they’ve encountered.”
“Nearly conquered,” Ollie corrected him.
“Yes, sir,” Cass agreed, nodding to him. “You Harbok have managed to keep them in check for thousands of years. But, sir, what would have happened had you, personally, found this system without knowing about the mental persuasion?”
It did not take Ollie long to reach the same conclusion Cass had reached.
Cass shifted his gaze around the room to each person. “This is the only world on which we’ve seen the single, big spire. Evidence suggests that it is home to something that’s a lot more powerful than whatever is in the smaller spires. Professor Yarbo refers to it as an Overmind.”
He gave them another moment, then continued, “I’m An’Atee. As such, I treasure life. Despite that, I see no option that does not have us taking out the Overmind. And on this planet, we have to take out all the spires if we’re to have any certainty that we succeeded. That’s how much this Overmind scares me.”
He took a deep breath and, looking at Grayson, added, “I believe the fate of civilizations across the galaxy rests in the actions we take during the next few weeks.”
Grayson’s shoulders began slumping with the weight of so much responsibility, but then he straightened to his full height. “We won’t let the galaxy down,” he said. Turning to Captain Yng, he said, “It’s your ship. How do you want to go about securing it?”
Yng stared long into Grayson’s eyes as he considered, but when he spoke, it was to Cass. “You’ve had time to think about this, Lieutenant. What do you suggest?”
Cass frowned. “Sir, I came armed for a reason. Whatever we do, whoever we ‘convert’ among the crew, we have to keep in mind that when we reenter the Oortbok system, we’re going to lose some converts. The persuasion is that strong there. We’ll have to keep the conversion process ongoing and repetitive.”
He closed his eyes for a moment, hating what he was about to say, but he had to say it. “Sirs, we might not have seen the full power of this creature. In fact, we probably haven’t. Even if we keep everyone on the bridge converted, the Overmind can still reach into the rest of the ship. The bridge, Engineering, Weapons, and the Armory have to stay secure at all cost, and we have to secure them against a potentially armed uprising of farmers, factory workers, scientists, and our own fighter crews. The best way we can do that is to convert everyone on the ship and do our best to keep them converted.”
Yng turned away, momentarily in shock at the scale of what Cass proposed, then he turned back to Cass. “Very well. I’ll see to it. I have to convert 75,000 people. I need you and Emily to train a cadre of trainers who will spread out through the ship.” He considered, nodding his head from time to time as he calculated, then he focused on Grayson. “I need a week, sir. Maybe more, but at least a week.”
“Get started, Captain,” Grayson said. “I’ll work on a plan to secure our prime ships when we return, then we’ll attack this Overmind. From the looks of things, we will not have the advantage of surprise. It might know our every thought, our every intention.”
Chapter Thirty-eight
Eight days later, the baseship jumped back into the Asval system. Cass felt the compulsion right away, recognizing it for what it was. He and Emily, in constant contact with their cadre of trainers, kept up monotonous litanies to fight the persuasion, and those trainers did the same to their charges. Recordings of the litany sounded periodically throughout the massive ship to reinforce the trainers’ efforts.
Grayson called his senior prime ship captain whom he had left in charge during his absence. To his amazement, he received no reply. When the other five prime ships also failed to respond, Grayson sat in stunned disbelief for a time, then his eyes lifted to the ceiling in deep concentration.
When his attention returned to the bridge, the entire bridge crew except for the two pilots had swiveled around in their seats and were looking at him. Greg and Angie stood beside him, just as dumfounded as he was.
He looked at Greg and said softly, “The Overmind has them.”
When Greg and Angie both nodded grimly, he spoke louder, taking in everyone on the bridge. “Steady as you go, folks. We’ll deal with this, beginning with ourselves. Review the mantra in your heads and keep reviewing it. Stay focused. Do not give in to the Overmind.”
In an aside to Angie, he said, “Get Cass up here.”
To Greg, he asked, “Do you feel it?”
“I do. Just a general feeling of discomfort, like I just made a bad decision or something.”
A pilot called out, “Permission to turn back, sir.”
Captain Yng stood up and stepped forward to the two pilots. Standing between them with a hand resting on each of their seats, he demanded, “What’s going on?”
“Sir, what we’re doing is wrong!”
“I feel it too, sailor. Get a gri
p. That’s an order.”
The pilot closed his eyes tightly and gritted his teeth. “Still wrong, sir,” he called.
“Do not turn back. The Overmind is in your mind. Fight it!”
When the other pilot began squirming in his seat, Yng directed another crewmember to call up reserve pilots. In response to Grayson’s hard stare, he said, “It’s spreading, sir.”
“I feel it, but I can overcome it.”
“Could the Overmind be focusing harder on those most directly threatening it? At the moment, that would be our pilots.”
Suddenly, the first pilot hunched over in his seat as if he had been punched in the gut. A moment later, his nose began bleeding. Captain Yng looked to the other pilot and said, “Confirm we’re on automatic pilot.”
“Confirmed, sir.”
Yng stepped back and motioned two other crewmembers to remove the pilot. Before they had him out of his chair, the second pilot cried out and lurched from his chair. Through gritted teeth, he gasped, “Relieve me.”
Yng slid into a pilot seat himself and reached his hands out to the fan-shaped armrests, but he did not touch any controls. Grayson moved forward and stood with his hands on Yng’s seat. “Talk to me,” he demanded.
“Jeesh!” Yng exclaimed. “The moment I sat down, the persuasion magnified into a compulsion. It wants me to take off the automatics and turn us around.”
The other two pilots were laid out on the deck. Both of them recovered quickly, sitting up and looking at each other, shaking their heads in shame. The first pilot wiped at his bloody nose and stood back up, then stepped back to his seat. “I’m not that easy,” he said loudly with a determined thrust to his chin.
When he was back in his seat, Yng gave him a minute, then asked, “Can you relieve me?”
“You’re relieved, sir,” the man said, looking straight ahead and sitting stiff as a board. “I’ll hold on as long as I can.”
The other pilot tapped Yng on his shoulder and nodded. Yng traded places with him, then returned to his own elevated seat and wearily climbed in. He closed his eyes for a time, then looked to Grayson.
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