We needed a chance to regroup. We needed a chance to mourn. We needed a chance to think. We needed a chance to process everything that had happened in the last… had it only taken 35 minutes?
I couldn’t let myself dwell; I still had a job to do…
“Major Reagan?” I heard Silva’s voice in my ear.
“Reagan here.”
“Major, it looks like you stirred up a hornet’s nest down there. Apparently a lot has changed since we’ve been gone and I’m still trying to make sense of it but it looks like Colonel Memphis has been promoted to General and is in charge of some kind of global security or military.
“Everything you guys did was caught on camera and of course he recognized you. He’s already gone on record calling you a traitor to Earth and demanding your immediate surrender.”
“Silva, I’d appreciate it if you’d set up a briefing room for us with some view screens where we can all watch the feeds and figure out our next move. Please have your people learn as much as they can about the current political and military structure on Earth so we can know where to start.”
“Consider it done major but you and your team need to clean up and get some rest.”
“We’ll get to that but first I’m going to need a preliminary assessment of the situation.”
I paused and then spoke again, “Silva, I can’t order these things from you but I would greatly appreciate your cooperation.”
After a moment he said, “Of course,” and the line went silent.
I hadn’t realized we’d returned to the landing bay until the side door slid open and we stepped out into the ship; or at least all of us except Kamiko did. She was still in her shuttle seat staring off into space with an unreadable, emotionless expression on her face.
Even after I walked back and had stood in the doorway a moment she still didn’t seem to see me.
I finally said in what I hoped wasn’t a harsh voice, “Captain Kamiko, I need you to exit the shuttle.”
Without looking at me she stood up with her rifle and walked into the bay.
ΔΔΔ
When we landed at the Coridian ship we were directed to a room I’d never been in before. It was in effect a planetary command center. There were a number of Coridians manning view screens and monitoring activities on Earth and there was a large table in the middle of the room that currently displayed a holographic image of the downed Noridian ship.
What made it different from any command center I’d ever been a part of was that it was eerily quiet; the people manning the view screens communicated with each other through their bioware and the only sounds were the muted voices coming from the screens themselves.
As soon as I realized what it was displaying I walked over to the central table. It was obvious that the Noridian ship had been trying to pull up when it crashed. There was a long gouge of destruction cut into the Earth prior to it coming to rest; the front end buried in a 50 foot high berm of its own making.
Fortunately she’d come down in the countryside and I realized that this was the first good look I’d had of the ship we’d left Earth in. She was roughly circular and about 200 yards across – but she was much too thick and irregular to be called a saucer.
Except for a large indentation where my team’s portion of the ship had detached itself for our original excursion it looked amazingly intact – at least from what I could tell. One of the Coridian males walked over and started dispassionately pointing out details. Apparently there was a fair amount of external damage; I was shown where sensor, communication, weapon, and shielding appendages should have been attached to the huge hull.
Almost as an afterthought he pointed out where the Coridian rescue shuttle was docked. I asked what they’d found only to have this ongoing nightmare confirmed – we’d lost them all.
What was left of my team was spread out across the room, watching the various Earthnet news feeds. Eventually Silva walked over to me and again suggested that we get some rest. He assured me that his team would keep gathering information and have a full report for us the next morning. He also promised that he would wait for us to make the first contact with Earth authorities. We could rest and approach the situation tomorrow, together.
I made sure the bodies of the fallen were being treated with respect and then acquiesced.
I felt dead as I walked into the cabin that had been my home for the last several months. I was exhausted and numb. I removed my clothes and took a waterless shower before I went and sat on the edge of my bed. I had just lost another 18 of the people I was responsible for, eighteen friends. I’m not sure how long I sat there, replaying the events in my mind over and over.
Eventually I realized that my door had been buzzing and the last thing I wanted to do was open it. I also realized that I’d removed my earpiece and it might be important so I really had no choice but to let them in. I gave the verbal command and was surprised when it turned out to be Julie walking into my room.
I also had a fleeting moment of embarrassment as I realized I hadn’t bothered to dress after my shower but I was just too numb to care.
Without saying a word she laid me down on the bed and pulled the covers over me. She then walked to the other side and climbed under the covers herself, holding me from behind, one arm under my pillow and the other across my chest.
“They were my responsibility and I let them die,” I said after a long interval of silence.
“You couldn’t have done anything about it,” she whispered back.
“I should have known,” I insisted. “Jaki had planned to suffocate us the first time our group left the ship. I should have remembered that; I should have planned for it.”
“You couldn’t have known Matt. You can’t anticipate every move of an evil mind.”
“It’s my job to anticipate those exact things Julie, to think through every contingency, to prepare for everything. I don’t know how… “
“Matt, do you believe that Iron Jaw was a good soldier?”
“Yes, I was proud to know him.”
“And do you think Hiromi and Captain Garvais and the others were good soldiers to?”
“I trusted all of them.”
“Then you have to realize that none of them anticipated it either. You did the very best you could in an almost impossible situation and they did the same.”
We were silent for a while and I think I might have dozed a little but now I was shaking uncontrollably. I felt Julie’s arm tighten across my chest and I could feel her pressing against me and holding me tight.
I fell into a fitful sleep and awoke well before morning. Sometime during the night Julie must have removed her clothing because I could now feel her warm skin pressed up against my back.
I slowly turned over to face her.
ΔΔΔ
“Dr. Decker, your video of the Noridian treachery has set a new world record for going viral,” Silva was saying.
Four of the six remaining members of my team, well… six if you counted Toni and Silva, were gathered for a breakfast meeting and a briefing on the situation planetside.
“This has contributed at least in part to the upheaval of authority in a lot of countries,” he continued.
“While General Memphis still commands a large number of international forces there are a number of wannabe civilian leaders popping up claiming to speak for large swaths of the world population.”
“What about Dr. Derrick Helmer?” Julie asked.
“He is one of the larger wannabes,” Silva responded. “And he seems to be loosely aligned with General Memphis but with all the new protests and unrest the French government has gone AWOL and that’s kind of pulled the rug out from under him.”
“Who’s in charge of US military forces?” I asked.
“It’s pretty patchwork, major. The Pentagon and MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, FL were both taken out by kinetic strikes so the Joint Chiefs and U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) are both gone. U.S. Central Command (USCENTC
OM) is gone. U.S. European Command (USEUCOM) and U.S. Pacific Command (USPACOM) are both gone along with a bunch of others. The only Command Authorities we know for sure that are still in place are General David Patrón’s U.S. Africa Command (USAFRICOM) and General Jerry Gordon’s U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM). There may be others but we can’t confirm them.”
“How did this happen?” Dr. Decker asked and put voice to the same question I had on my mind.
“From what we can tell,” Silva said. “While Dr. Helmer was working with Jaki to unify world-wide civil authority under the auspices of the French Prime Minister, Colonel Memphis must have guided or directly aided her forces in taking out command and control structures in the United States. Some entire bases were obliterated by orbital strikes but other HQs were taken out by insertion teams suddenly appearing in the HQ and assassinating everybody in the command structure from the 4 Star’s on down. If they didn’t find the officers there they went to their homes. Many of those officers lost their entire family. I hate to say it major but with Jaki’s level of technology and the intelligence Memphis must have provided it wouldn’t have been that hard to do.”
“So Memphis isn’t just misguided,” Julie said. “He really is a full blown traitor.”
“He and Dr. Helmer have both betrayed us,” I said.
“I guess Mark was right about him all along,” Julie responded.
That reminded me to ask, “Silva, now that we have communications again have your people heard anything from Dr. Spencer or Dr. Spelini?”
“No,” he responded. “But that doesn’t mean anything. They had a long way to travel and could very well still be in route.”
“Major,” Toni interjected. “We all hope that Mark and Anzio are safe but I really don’t think they’re going to be able to do anything to help us.”
“Us?” Julie asked.
Toni sighed. “I wish it could be us,” she said. “We have to assume that Jaki got a message out to other Noridians and that means that a whole lot of them are going to be showing up here sooner rather than later.”
After a pause she looked at me and continued.
“Your people have made incredible sacrifices and shown a dedication to your principals of independence that only those of us that have lived on your planet and gotten to know you would believe… but as great an effort as it was you still couldn’t keep the warning from getting out to Noridia.
“They’re coming major. And this time there will be no pretense; they will either declare you a protectorate or destroy your world – and they won’t even stop long enough to ask you which you prefer.”
“How can you be so sure?” Dr. Decker demanded.
“Because they’re out of options and out of time. Noridia has to make the Earth Problem go away now - before they attract anymore galactic attention. They will act first and then give apologies if necessary, but they will not allow formal evidence of their past transgressions to get out.
“We are still prepared to allow Earth the protection of Coridia. I know it’s not your ideal solution but it may be your only way out.
“Major, your society is in turmoil, your armies are defeated, and your enemies are on their way. Will you accept our hand of friendship? Will you accept a Coridian protectorship?”
Chapter 38
Dr. Mark Spencer
I felt stupid, uncomfortable, and more than a little foolish standing by myself in the middle of the Al-Drek Circle while my friends sat on the benches that were scattered around the perimeter.
I had walked to the middle of the pavilion and started speaking conversationally about our situation and need. That was twenty minutes ago.
I had started speaking louder and louder until I was shouting my demands for them to speak with me.
Semi and Ashima were now both standing, obviously concerned. I don’t know if they thought I was losing it or if they’d just never heard anyone address the Lower Houses so sharply – for all the good it was doing. I was still standing by myself talking into thin air; the only response the pleasant sound of an occasionally chirping bird.
I was tired and I was frustrated. I’d never asked to be put into this situation and I was feeling the unbearable weight of potential failure. I stood silent for the next five minutes just trying to organize my thoughts.
I suddenly felt the urge to hear Julie’s voice – I needed reminding of something I could count on, something that was pure and good.
I took the holorecording device that the major had given me from my pocket and sat it on the ground.
Her life-size image appeared and that sweet voice filled the clearing. It was just as I remembered it; at the end of the song her eyes found mine and locked. I knew the last few lines were meant for me and even though I was terrified I was letting her down I was also somehow buoyed by her faith in me.
The song ended and the image disappeared.
“That was beautiful,” said a voice from behind me.
ΔΔΔ
I spun around to find the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen standing before me. Wavy blonde hair, classic bone structure, and my height… yes her features were perfect but her beauty was different than that of Jaki, or Semi, or Ashima. She was radiant.
Almost as if some invisible power was emanating from her; her glow wasn’t visual so much as it was felt.
I must have been standing dumbfounded because she laughed.
As the initial shock of seeing her was wearing off I was becoming more aware of my surroundings. Aware that Anzio was now standing up with what was probably the same stupid look I’d had plastered across his face. Aware that Semi and Ashima were now on their knees with their heads bowed. Aware that I could no longer hear the birds or any other forest sounds.
I’ve always prided myself on staying cool and collected in the face of the unexpected and I lived up to that now as I said, “You must be Malatina.”
With a wide smile she responded, “Yes, I am.”
She nodded at the holo device and said, “Is she a friend of yours?”
It was my turn to nod as I said, “Yes, and she… I mean we… all of us, we need your help.”
“Unless you are a perfect being Mark everyone needs help. May I call you Mark?”
“Yes, of course, but I mean that my people are in a dire situation and you could help us.”
“Yes, but we could help many different people, in many different places, at many different times. Are you more worthy of help than all the others?”
“Umm…” This wasn’t going the way I’d visualized it. She stood silent, politely awaiting my response.
“I think it depends on what you mean by worthy,” I finally said. “In some ways yes, in many ways no, but does it really matter if we’re slightly more worthy or slightly less worthy than someone else? Wouldn’t you want to help everyone?”
After a moment she said, “Mark, you appear to come from a primitive world. There are many things you do not understand.
“Know this… the Lower Houses live on a different plane of existence from your world. We have our own duties and responsibilities; we have our own worlds and systems. If we got involved with every problem of lower mankind we would never be able to tend to our own.
“So I ask you again, what makes you worthy of our time? What of value can you offer us for our efforts?”
Ok, now we were back on track to where I had visualized the conversation going. Oh, not exactly but I knew that dynasties had to contribute something unique and valuable in order to move up the galactic hierarchy and I’d figured it would be no different for us.
So I mentally crossed my fingers and played my gambit; the only possibility I’d been able to think of.
“Malatina, we give to you and all of galactic society a gift of beauty. We give you the gift of our music. You’ve heard but one song; know that our world is full of music and most every one of us appreciates and contributes in some way to our songs. Our musicians number in the hundreds of millions with every
one of them creating their own unique beauty. We will leave it to you and others to consider its value, all I ask of you right here right now is to listen to our predicament and consider helping us.”
A long silence passed while she continued looking at me.
“Very well,” she finally said. “I will listen to what you have to say but we should move to better accommodations…”
Here Comes Earth: Emergence Page 33