What would she do if she were them? Sam’s mind raced through possibilities. Most of the human fleet was stationed at Earth, with a few warships scattered elsewhere in the system. She doubted the enemy would have enough jump-capable ships handy to easily strike Earth. But the rest of the system was incredibly vulnerable. It might have been better for all concerned if they’d gone to Mars or Venus, instead of jumping home…
“Stand by for transition to real-space,” Keladry said.
There was a small flicker in the ship’s power as it shot out of jump-space in a burst of energy. From Sam’s point of view, it felt like a momentary dizziness as the ship’s computers drew processing cycles to verify their location in space. Her mind was housed in a separate system on board her fighter, of course. But while she was projecting herself through the ship’s computer to this screen, what happened on board impacted her perceptions.
There had to be a way to stop the enemy fleet. They had enough ships to devastate every colony Earth had and wreak havoc on the planet itself.
“I did notice something interesting about the alien fighters,” Harald said.
“Go ahead,” Stein replied, gesturing for him to speak.
“Look at their trajectories,” Harald said. He sent a command to the computer, and a screen on the wall displayed the battle scene moments before the Intrepid jumped out. The enemy fighters were almost on top of the ship. They’d only been able to get grazing shots off at long range, but another few seconds and they would have been right on top of the Intrepid, blasting away at point blank range.
“See the acceleration pattern?” Harald asked.
Sam didn’t see what he was talking about at first, but she could tell Stein did from the way his eyes widened.
“They weren’t slowing down,” the Admiral said.
“Nope. Not even a little. They were on course to ram the ship. I don’t think the Intrepid would have survived that,” Harald replied. “A dozen or more impacts at that speed? Could the ship have taken those hits and walked away?”
“No way in hell,” Keladry said. “We’d have been blown to bits.”
“The enemy doesn’t care about losing a few fighters to win the battle, Admiral,” Harald said. “You do, and I appreciate that. But this enemy isn’t going to play both those rules. They know this ship is their biggest threat. It’s the only vessel Earth has capable of jumps. They might not be aware of that, but they do know we’re a potential problem for them.”
“How do we beat an enemy that doesn’t care about losing their people?” Stein mused.
“How do you win against any opponent who cares more about their cause than life?” Harald countered. “By being more ruthless than they are. And by not stopping until you’d wiped them out. This is a war to the knife, sir. They’re not pulling any punches, and we can’t afford to, either.”
Nine
But the enemy force hadn’t struck yet. Maybe they were as worried about the Earth forces as Sam was about facing the aliens again. For all she knew, it was their national holiday, and their pilots all had the day off! Sam chuckled a little at the idea, but it was a good illustration of just how little they knew about these beings. They were from another star. Which one? What sort of creatures were they? They’d never seen one, hadn’t captured a single being alive. Even on the broken remnants of the ships they’d destroyed, they hadn’t found a single body. It was like they vanished when they died.
Which was possible, she supposed. There were all sorts of strange explanations for the absence of actual aliens on any of the alien vessels they’d recovered. In the end, it all added to the mystery of the situation. They had little idea what they were actually up against out there.
The aliens simply hovered near their gate, which had shut off. No more ships came through, but they didn’t attack or even advance. They certainly had enough firepower to put a hurt on Earth’s fleet, so why did they hesitate? The working theory Sam heard was that the gate took a while to charge up. The aliens might be waiting for it to recharge so they could bring in more forces before they struck.
For whatever reason they’d been given a break in the action, it was time they badly needed. The Intrepid had damage to repair, as did the flight crews. There were new pilots to bring in so they could replace the dead. Harald was overseeing the latter while Keladry looked after the former. It left Sam with precious little to do. She hated being bored. It was worse than being in a firefight, to have nothing to do.
She glanced over emails. A bunch of spam - why did that never change? No matter how good their tech became, it seemed like those who wanted to send junk mail always adapted right along with it. A note from ground-side command, giving her an update on her citizenship status. Like all the other Valhallans, the UN had restored Sam’s citizenship in return for their service. Sam was a US citizen, though, and the United States was being really slow about granting her the same rights. The United Nations telling the world that these digital beings were human beings was great, but if her nation of origin refused to acknowledge her in the same way, where did that leave Sam and the other US Valhallans?
Once this conflict was over, assuming they won, they’d have to go somewhere. A lot of them might choose to remain in the service. Sam was considering that herself. But she wanted options for all of them. It would be nice if the US would step up and be an example for the world. Canada already had, announcing they supported the UN’s decision and would restore full Canadian citizenship to any Valhallan serving who’d been Canadian before death.
It was a hard thing for a lot of folks to swallow. Sam understood that. After all, the digital minds were merely uploads of someone who was dead. She’d even seen newscasts of protests in Dallas, Charlotte, Atlanta, and other US cities. Some people were saying that the digital minds couldn’t be human, since they didn’t have souls. The soul had already moved on, they said. The copy was just a program.
She couldn’t blame them for feeling that way, even. Did she have a soul? Sam had no idea. She felt the same as she had when she was alive. Would you notice if you didn’t have a soul? She thought one ought to, but she wasn’t particularly religious and didn’t know where the major religions of the world fell on that question.
In the meantime, her application for renewed US citizenship was still in limbo while they sorted out what the official policy was going to be. Sam was losing patience with the whole thing. Maybe it was time to look into moving to Canada? At least they seemed to want the Valhallans around.
One more email caught her attention. This one was from Samantha. Her twin. Her sister - sort of, anyway. Sam hesitated before opening the letter. To say their relationship was complex was the understatement of the century. Samantha was the physical human from whom she’d been copied, after all. Out of every Valhallan digital mind, only Sam still had a physical body back in the real world. All the rest were uploaded at the moment of their body’s death.
Their co-existence wasn’t comfortable. Not for Sam, and probably not for her ‘sister,’ either. But Samantha might have more insight into some of these worries. It would be good to use her as a sounding board, anyway. Maybe it would help. It wasn’t like she had a lot of other people she could go to for advice. Certainly not the pilots she was leading. Harald saw any attachment to the physical world as weakness, so he wouldn’t be much help.
Sam felt like the real world was still vital to her. She didn’t want to live a life separate from the real. She wanted to have an impact, to make things happen, to matter. That was the real reason she’d accepted the offer to become a pilot. In Valhalla, she could only make a difference in the shadow of the real world that was the game there. Nothing in the virtual world mattered, not really anyway. But out here, everything did. It was almost too much.
She opened the email.
Sam,
Hope this reaches you OK. I know you’ve been out on the edge of the solar system. That must be damned cool! I don’t know whether I should hope you find something or pray you d
on’t, if you know what I mean. Either way, I am confident you’ll come through it all. I mean, I would. And you’re about as likely to survive as I would be.
Well, I’m going to send this not really knowing when you’ll get it. But when you do, I wanted you to know that I’m here if you need me. Knowing you almost as well as I know myself, you won’t feel like asking for help, but I think maybe I understand better than most how you must be feeling right about now. And I’m here if you need me. When you need me. Call. I’ll drop whatever I am doing so we can talk.
Your sister.
Well, that was a kick in the pants if ever she’d read one. Sam scanned the letter a second time. At the bottom was a contact number - Samantha’s phone? Probably her private line. This was getting real. Sam hesitated, wondering if she ought to make the call or not.
On the one hand, she really wasn’t sure how to deal with this other self that had her life. Sam recalled everything about her old existence. Her home, her job, her friends, her family; it was all there inside her. But that was this other Samantha’s life, not hers. Her life started the moment her digital self was born, Sam reminded herself. And that was the cruelest bit, that she could remember everything of her old life, but never touch it.
On the other hand, the Intrepid would break orbit soon. Sam was sure of that. They had to get back out there to face the enemy as quickly as possible. She might die in the battles ahead, and it would suck to leave anything unsaid. There might not be a better time to connect with her ‘sister,’ at least not until it was too late.
She dithered about the idea a few more minutes, mulling it over. Which course to take?
“What’re you busy with?” Harald said from behind her, startling her.
Sam was in the ready room, the shared virtual space they all used together on the Intrepid. She, like most Valhallans, felt more comfortable in a virtual form than she did as just bytes in a computer system. Having the feedback from her ‘hands’ holding a ‘tablet’ and viewing the email as letters in front of her ‘eyes’ just felt right. Even if all of those things were just a simulation.
But the downside of being in the ready room was that it wasn’t private. Harald had come up behind her while she’d been engrossed in re-reading the email. She flicked to another screen, but looking at his drawn eyebrows Sam could tell that he’d seen it.
“No good will come of that, Sam. It’s bad enough you have a doppelganger out there. Best to avoid interaction completely,” he said. To Sam’s surprise, his words were calm, his tone pitched to comfort and cajole, rather than berate her.
“I don’t know. We’re out of Valhalla, now. Maybe there’s a chance for all of us to become something more?” Sam asked.
“Not for us, no. We’re the dead. We have no place in this outside world. Hell, I’m OK with fighting for humanity. They need us, and if they fall, our little virtual world dies too, so it’s in our own best interest to help,” Harald said. “But engage with them? What, you think we’re all going to go get jobs after this is done? Buy a nice house with a picket fence? Settle down and have kids?”
His voice grew harsher with each sentence, the last one tearing from his mouth with force. Something about his past had hurt Harald badly and scared the man more than he wanted to admit. Sam looked into his eyes and saw the terror etched there. Battle, blood, and death had never frightened him. What on Earth or beyond could be so terrible that he would quail thinking about it? She didn’t know, and he wasn’t going to tell her. Not today, anyway. Maybe not ever.
Besides, he wasn’t wrong. The sort of future he described wasn’t possible for any of them now. They were no longer human beings, at least not in that respect. What use would she have for a house with a picket fence? And having children was lost to her. That other Samantha might have kids someday, but she never would. The thought stung a little, although it was an idea she’d grown used to. Something of that pain must have shown on her face.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you, Sam,” Harald said. “I want to keep you from being hurt. That’s all I want for you. I have so damned little left worth fighting for, but I still have that. I’m sorry.”
Before Sam could reply, Harald flashed away, gone from view. He’d left her alone with her thoughts and the email. Sam wondered - should she go after him, or call Samantha? Her finger hesitated over the call button on her tablet. For a long moment, she didn’t think she had the strength to make the call. Harald’s admonitions echoed in her ears.
When she finally pushed the button, the call connected almost immediately.
Ten
Thomas was sipping coffee when the call came through. He knew right away this was the moment he’d been dreading. They knew the alien force wasn’t going to wait around forever. It was only a matter of time before they struck. The lingering question was where they would hit.
“Admiral, incoming transmission from Mars. You’re gonna want to see this, sir,” the watch officer told Thomas over the intercom.
“I’m on my way,” Thomas said.
The call wasn’t a surprise. He knew it was coming. That’s why he was sitting there drinking coffee instead of getting some rest like he probably should have been. He’d ordered downtime for his crew, both physical and digital alike. But Thom hadn’t elected to take his own counsel and sleep. He shook his head ruefully. The coffee would have to do, for now at least.
The Intrepid was quietly nestled in orbit around Earth. There was no acceleration to give them a sense of artificial gravity, which made it easier for him to get around instead of harder. Thomas was an old space hand, able to move quickly in zero gravity. He all but flew from the officer’s mess hall up to the bridge. The doors parted. He entered to find only a minimal watch crew on duty. Again, something he ordered. They could recall the rest of the team quickly enough if it became needful.
“Report,” Thomas said.
“Mars got hit hard, sir,” Edwards said. “It’s probably easier for you to just see the transmission yourself.”
“Put it on the main screen,” Thomas said. Then he had another thought. “Did they send data on an engagement?”
“Yes, sir. We have full telemetry on the entire fight. Due to communications lag, everything is sixteen minutes old.”
Time lag. Radio waves took a while to travel from Earth to Mars or vice versa. It was possible for the Intrepid to cross in a fraction of the time it took a message to go from one planet to the other. But it also meant that whatever had happened on Mars, they were far too late to respond by the time the signal reached Earth.
“Then put the telemetry up on the holo-projector as well. Synchronize it with the action on the screen,” Thomas said. Every new bit of information that he could get about the enemy’s ships and capabilities was a boon. The more he could learn about their tactics, the more likely he wants to defeat them when they inevitably struck again.
The screen on the bridge lit up with faces, images, and more. It showed multiple vessels all trying to talk to one another, and video plays from each of their point of view in different slices of the screen. The hologram projector gave a more comprehensive look at the entire battle as it unfolded.
Three of the smaller alien ships, each about the size of an earth cruiser, appeared abruptly above Mars. The timing, coordination, and course accuracy were terrific. Two of the ships appeared close enough to the space station floating above Mars that they were in able to impact it with waves of charged particles released by their exit out of jump-space.
Thomas watched as both waves collided with the structure at nearly the speed of light, tearing its frame into wreckage and bits of molten metal. Just like that, a massive structure that had taken almost a year to complete and all five hundred souls on board were gone.
But the enemy didn’t stop there. Mars had six human ships in orbit. Each of them was on high alert, ready for precisely this kind of attack. The hope was that six ships would be enough to repel a small incursion like this.
All thr
ee alien ships launched wings of fighters. The fighters dove in at the human vessels, tearing away with beams of charged particles. The human ships were mostly armed with large missiles. Those were excellent for dealing with other large ships, but next to useless against fighters. And there was no carrier full of Wasps at Mars to deal with the alien fighters. All the human vessels had to defend themselves were anti-missile systems.
They lashed out with those, cutting down enemy ships. Thomas watched and nodded with appreciation as he saw the six human vessels come closer together so that their anti-missile defenses could better coordinate. Even more alien fighters were blown apart. The defense was working. Meanwhile, the Earth ships were firing missiles at the three alien cruisers as rapidly as their tubes could load. The rockets were still crossing the gap between the two forces, but in less than a minute they would tear viciously into those alien cruisers.
Thomas had a sinking feeling in his gut as he watched the battle play out. He was missing something. He could sense that. But what was it? What had the human captains not seen in time to save themselves?
Because he already knew how this battle had played out. If the Mars defense had been successful, Edwards would have been jubilant. Instead, the man was somber, his lips pursed, and his eyes downcast.
Then he saw it. Thomas knew what the aliens we were about to do. What they had done, nearly half an hour ago, he corrected himself. Because everything he was watching had already happened. The damned light lag had cost them dearly. If the Intrepid had been able to jump in, could Thomas and his ship have been able to make a difference? Would he have been able to spot the alien strategy in time to warn the other ships and save them?
He didn’t know, and it was futile to speculate.
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