Here Comes Earth: Emergence

by William Lee Gordon

  Every athlete experiences rare moments of perfect clarity and perfect performance. It’s almost like time was standing still as my arm projected the rock. I don’t remember the wind-up; I don’t even remember the throw. I just willed the rock to be there smashing up against the side of our assailant’s head.

  I never would have believed such velocity was possible and it could have been lethal had it hit, but I missed.

  It did come close enough though to cause the little puke to jerk his head back and throw off his aim – his plasma bolt missed Lt Henderson who pummeled him to the ground and beat the holy snot out of the little bastard.

  ∆∆∆

  There were a lot of dead Stigerians. The Noridian attackers (that’s who we’d determined them to be) had been indiscriminate to anyone in their path with the exception of the two remaining Coridians on the planet. Captain Silva, Semi, and her first protégée were at the retreat leaving only Selika (the second protégée) and Toni on Stiger.

  In Toni’s case literally every living being within a 100 yard radius of her had been slaughtered yet she’d never been targeted.

  Every Stigerian that worked on the same floor that the Noridian captive was being held was massacred yet Selika was found untouched, semi-hysterical in a corner.

  It turns out that The Accord had some strict prohibitions about Dynasty members killing each other off and although the occasional ‘accident’ might be overlooked wholesale slaughter was frowned upon.

  That same prohibition however did not apply to non-dynasty, non-protected, planet bound cultures like the Stigerians; or Earthers for that matter.

  That is not to say that open conflict against defenseless non-dynasty cultures was common or accepted without cost. In galactic culture force, even when used against the non-dynasty masses, was seen as a failure of leadership and carried a cost in respect from other dynasties. It was only used when the best interests of the dynasty were truly at stake. So although this slaughter was very rare it wouldn’t raise any eyebrows and the Noridians weren’t setting any precedents.

  To me it seemed like a really fucked-up way to run a galaxy.

  ∆∆∆

  Major ‘Iron Jaw’ Reynolds was very lucky to be alive.

  The Noridian weapons were apparently tied-in with their bioware such that they ‘saw’ targeting solutions instantaneously. He had been dodging obstacles at a full run when a plasma bolt, surely aimed at him, had passed through something (or someone) else first either deflecting or slowing it slightly. The result was a deep flesh wound to the left side of his abdomen that had actually scored a rib; which he promptly broke when he fell to the ground.

  The butcher’s bill for our side was horrendous.

  One hundred and eighty-three Stigerians and twenty-three of the Earth Team were dead. There were a large number of wounded but the majority of them were superficial, the results of flying glass or debris. With the exceptions of Lt Henderson, whom they missed because of my rock, and Iron Jaw, whom they wounded, every one of their targets suffered kill shots.

  Iron Jaw was going over the situation with us and I was getting a good understanding of why he was nicknamed ‘Iron Jaw’. With his chest wrapped in bandages he had propped himself up on a counter in the foyer of the same building the Coridian enclave was in.

  He had refused anything beyond basic first aid until the situation was sorted out, and when offered a blanket (because there were no shirts immediately available that would fit his barrel-chested torso) he shook his head and simply pulled on the dirty remains of his own scorched tunic. There were more comfortable sofa seats or benches but I suspect he wanted to remain visible to the team. I had studied the history and effects of leaders but I had never studied leadership itself. I was pretty sure Major Reynolds could write a textbook.

  “The Noridians were extremely ineffectual in their attack,” Major Reynolds was saying.

  I think several of us were incredulous at that statement. Someone spoke out, “Ineffectual hardly seems like the right word.”

  Major Reynolds, without emotion, calmly explained. “The fact that they took out the ship with what we think was a kinetic shot from orbit tells us that they couldn’t take the chance some of us might still be onboard and possibly escape. Their mission was to exterminate our entire team.

  “In addition,” he continued. “The three gunmen that stalked the city weren’t coordinating with each other. If they had followed even basic urban infantry guidelines we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

  “Finally, they waited to storm this building and rescue our prisoner until well after the other attacks were underway. That allowed me time to set my ambush with Delta team. If a professional had been planning the operation it would have happened simultaneously with the other assaults to maximize on the element of surprise.”

  “How many men did you lose, Major?” I asked.

  “Nine,” came the reply.

  I was doing the math in my head and realized that fourteen of our unarmed military had gone up against four Noridians; five if you counted our unarmed liberated prisoner. The price was nine of our guys killed and one wounded.

  “We may still have a problem or three,” the Major continued.

  “If that was a kinetic projectile that destroyed the ship it was launched from orbit. That means that a Noridian ship could still be there. Dr. Andretti tells me that it wouldn’t be uncommon for the entire crew to come planetside. That would explain the delay in freeing our prisoner; one of them would’ve needed to stay behind long enough to take out our ship but we can’t count on that.

  “We also can’t communicate with Major Reagan. Their assault team took out the Coridian communications equipment when they were freeing their pal so we’re going to have to wait for their return and hope they don’t get surprised.

  “We also have to figure out what to do with our prisoners.”

  Of the five Noridians three were dead. Only the gunman that had been after Julie and I and our original prisoner were still alive. He went on to explain that the prisoners were currently sedated and under guard.

  Julie now spoke up for the first time. She had been very quiet since the incident and hadn’t left my side; going as far as to grab my arm when they tried to separate us to clean her up.

  “How did they find us here?” she asked.

  Iron Jaw ground his teeth and said, “We don’t know. All we can go on is what Dr. Andretti says and she is guessing that either Silva was wrong when he said the Noridians couldn’t trace their ship or more likely, that they guessed several locations we might head to and sent small teams to all of them.”

  “Which means,” I said. “That when they don’t hear back from these guys they’re going to know we’re here.”

  There was heat in Julie’s voice when she said, “We need to find some guns and blow them to pieces when they arrive.”

  Major Reynolds was shaking his head. “The weapons the Noridians were carrying with them are bio-locked and as truly hard as I find this to believe Dr. Andretti insists that there are no Coridian or Stigerian weapons here and that they don’t even have the designs to make any.

  “We could probably figure out some basic design parameters ourselves but there’s no real time for that – let alone testing and training.

  “What we are going to do is arm ourselves with swords and knives. Dr. Andretti has found some Stigerians that are willing to manufacture these items for us. We can also develop some defensive and advance warning procedures. They won’t find us unprepared again.”

  What I assumed were Stigerian medical personnel were now surrounding Major Reynolds so Julie and I started walking slowly through the foyer. I didn’t know where we were going but I sensed that Julie was perhaps still a little dazed so I just went along. Including when she stopped and put her arms around me, head to my shoulder, holding on tight.

  We stood like that for a moment; silent. I had the same deep feeling again that I needed to protect her but this time it wasn’t
a surprise; it was like I’d always felt that way.

  Without lifting her head she said, “They’re going to come after us. How can we defend ourselves with just swords and knives?”

  “It’s better than rocks,” was the only thing I could say.

  Chapter 30

  Major Mathew Reagan, US Army

  The ship we boarded to travel to the retreat was very different than the one we’d travelled on thus far. From the outside it looked more like an oversized US Space Shuttle except without the wings, tiles, or seams; it was totally smooth.

  The inside was roughly triangular with a casual sitting area up front and rows of curved seating occupying the widest portion in back. In the front of the cabin where I would normally expect to find the door to the cockpit was just a wall with a view screen.

  Semi’s First Protégée Dien and two female Stigerians were escorting us to the retreat. While the Stigerians provided refreshments Dien was explaining that ‘First Protégée’ was indeed a title but it was one she had given herself. Semi was gracious enough to mentor her and this was her small way to show appreciation and respect.

  While she was polite and answered almost every question I threw at her she reiterated that I would have to speak with Semi about communicating with Earth.

  I was feeling a little irritable until I heard a little voice in my head whisper, ‘Do you miss her already?’

  With years of practice it wasn’t that hard to slip back into a professional mode of thinking and the truth was I didn’t need the distractions right now.

  A trip that would’ve taken our fastest rocket months took the Coridian shuttle only a few hours. Once we had arrived on the airless moon we were escorted from the pressurized landing bay to a small area that had both steps going up and going down. We went up a few steps into what had to be the most breathtaking observation deck imaginable. The room itself was shaped like a small dome, with a slanted two-thirds of it totally transparent. There were tables and comfortable seating for maybe a dozen people but no one was sitting or talking right now.

  Dien had explained to me that the retreat was located near the terminator of one of the smaller tidal-locked moons of a double ringed gas giant. What I hadn’t realized is that this meant that nearly a third of our view would always be taken up by the unfathomable colors and depths of the gas giant itself while the other two-thirds encompassed a massive set of rings angling through our vista. Vivid colors I couldn’t begin to describe would actually change hue depending on whether they were being lit by the star of this system, the reflected light of the planet, or the dim reflections of a million far away stars.

  None of us had spoken yet and I think I had subconsciously started counting the many moons circling this planet when Semi said, “Welcome to my retreat.”

  Anzio was quietly muttering something in Italian when I said, “Thank you Semi for sharing this with us and thank you for giving us a moment to take it all in.”

  She smiled and nodded to me before stepping over to Anzio, taking his hands and whispering back to him in Italian. I’m not sure what she said but judging from Anzio’s smile it was nice.

  For the few moments of their conversation it occurred to me how right they looked together. All Noridian women are tall and Semi was taller than most but Anzio still had several inches on her. He was also showing more confidence and natural flair than I’d ever noticed.

  They shared a final laugh and then she moved on to great Dr. Decker. All in all she was a very lovely, very gracious lady.

  ∆∆∆

  “Semi, we need to get a message to our people back on Earth and we were hoping to pass it through some of your people there.”

  We had retired downstairs to a dining area and were speaking over what was actually a quite good dinner.

  “Major, we would be happy to assist you,” she replied. “However, I’m not sure that your people are going to trust a message coming from us or that we’ll even be able to get it to the people that need to hear it.”

  Captain Silva interjected. “Major, I can provide a conduit to Military Intelligence and I’m assuming you have some one-time codes that could validate your identity?”

  When I nodded Semi picked up the thread again, “Good, then when we return to Stiger you can use our equipment there to send your message. In the meantime though I’d like to speak to you about your situation and how we might be able to help each other.”

  I was open to any and all ideas and suggestions and, as I suspected, Semi was focused on convincing us that our best interest could be served by aligning ourselves with the Coridian Dynasty.

  I had jokingly made a comment that they should be careful; there were a number of people on Earth that they might not want as part of their family…

  “Major, permit me to outline your options as I see them,” Semi said and then paused.

  After I nodded assent she continued. “You could of course agree to become a Noridian Protectorate but I think you’ve seen how ruthless they can be. Earth would lose its independence and you would not be in control of your own destiny as far as galactic society goes. The worst part though would be suffering from the Noridian arrogance and disrespect. Although I am sure they would give you technology that would seem like riches I suspect that Earthers would always be impoverished by galactic standards.

  “A second option would be to choose to become a protectorate of the Coridian Dynasty. Different dynasties are by definition differing cultures and I think you’re realizing that the Coridian Dynasty has a much different temperament than Noridia. Earth would feel like a partner with us rather than a conquered people.”

  “But we’d still lose our independence, wouldn’t we?” I suggested.

  “As a dynasty protectorate, yes, any achievements Earth attains would be attributed to the Coridian Dynasty but the better that Coridia does the better Earth will do also – something that wouldn’t be true if you were aligned with the Noridians.”

  Despite the nature of the discussion I was very appreciative of Semi. Dealing with Jaki had an oily feel to it whereas I felt that Semi was making a genuine effort to lay out the facts as she saw them, but that was the rub; should I accept her point of view as our point of view? I wasn’t ready to do that yet.

  “Semi, something’s been bothering me,” I said. “I’ve asked this question a couple of times now and I’m not satisfied with the answer. I understand that Earth is a dynamic technological culture that is growing at a faster rate than anything you’ve experienced before but I feel there’s more to it.”

  Semi lightly brushed her lips with her napkin and said, “Major, that deserves a straightforward answer but I’m in the habit of having a local tea after dinner. Might we return to the observation dome and continue the conversation there? Oh, and Dr. Spelini I would be honored if you could join us. Perhaps between the three of us we can come to an understanding…”

  ∆∆∆

  The tea was really very good but I would’ve preferred coffee. The view was still as incredible as ever but this time it had been set to music. I recognized it as an Earth composer but it was Anzio that named the score; The Planets by Gustav Holst.

  After we had again admired the view and the music for a few moments Semi broke the reverie by saying, “The answer to your question is that if Earth becomes a protectorate of Noridia they will forever bury any question of their genetic wrongdoing. Only Earth’s protector could raise an issue like that and they’ll hardly raise it against themselves. That is certainly the foremost reason they want control over Earth.

  “On the other hand if you were aligned with Coridia we could raise the issue for you. We could take it to The Accord and if nothing else assure that the Noridian Dynasty never becomes a Lower House. I think that would bring some justice for the murders of your space platform personnel. In addition, of course, the Coridian Dynasty would be spared the threat that a Noridian Lower House would entail. In other words major we both win.”

  After a moment I said, “
Ok, you’ve given us two options, now give us a third.”

  She paused with the teacup halfway to her mouth and cavalierly said, “I don’t think there is a third option; at least not a practical one.”

  “There’s always another option,” I said. “We could accept the protection of no dynasty and go it on our own. How else could we make sure that Earth remains independent?”

  “Major…” Semi stopped when Anzio quietly interrupted, “Semi, you need to understand that Major Reagan he is very serious. We Earthers, as you call us, are a very stubborn people. We value our freedom and independence and it would not do Coridia well to underestimate that.

  “I think perhaps that you see us through your eyes, yes? And you think we will think the same way you do. What needs to be is for you to have a paradigm different. To see things from our viewpoint – and that view it no includes us giving up our sovereignty, capisce Semi?”