by Shawn Jones
Speral looked down and said, “Billions. Perhaps tens of billions.”
The number hung silently among the small group for several moments before anyone spoke. Only Cort was able to fully grasp the guilt Speral felt about her species’ eradication of another.
“I have a question,” Lex said. “You said they kidnapped young Nill and brought them to this planet. What happened to the Nill on your original planet?”
“That is one of our great mysteries. The Core does not know. We were taken long before it became self-aware, and we have never been able to find that world, though we have searched for a very long time. Now it seems we will never know.”
“That isn’t true ma’am,” the lieutenant said. “The H’uumans can still jump, and we plan on using them for all transport, civilian and military, so it is quite possible they will find your people.”
Cort looked at the woman and asked, “How do you know of our plans to utilize H’uuman jump tech?”
The lieutenant thought fast and said, “Because we would have to be stupid not to use it that way, sir. And you are not stupid.” Oh gods! That was stupid.
Cort looked at the woman and said, “Uh huh. Sure, that’s how you know. Just answer me this, do I have an intel leak somewhere?”
The lieutenant wasn’t about to betray a lifelong friend who worked for Rand Gaines, so she just said, “Sir, if my source were a threat to our security, I would not leave that person alive.”
“It’s not that big a secret LT, but I don’t want you sharing it again.”
“Yes, sir.”
Turning back to Speral he said, “Do you want to find your ancestors? I mean you personally, Speral. If you do I can work on making that happen. I can’t promise it obviously, but I can try.”
“I have often wondered about them Cortland. I am sure all Nill have. But I am Federation now. They are not my concern. You may be able to use that offer as a bargaining chip with the Nill though.”
Thirteen
Earth
“Detective Thorn, how soon can you be in my office?”
“If you can send a flight for me, I can be there this afternoon, Superintendent. Why do you need me?”
Dar Sike was looking across his desk at Lee Pan. “I have someone here who has information you need, and I would rather you be here to talk to him personally.” Looking down at his flexpad, Dar added, “I will have a flight there in ten minutes. That will put you here in two hours. We will see you then.”
Looking back up at Pan, Dar said, “Do you remember the first time we met, Lee? The day I cancelled the contract for atmosphere plants?”
Pan laughed and said, “If it were not for my synthetics, I think I would have had a stroke that day, Superintendent.”
“I half expected you to anyway,” Dar said. “Shall we have lunch while we wait for Detective Thorn?”
“I have learned to trust you about food, so yes.”
“Have you ever eaten SPAM?”
--
“When I sent the request to Dr. Pan for information about Cort’s transition, the science people looked into the actual mechanics of the transition,” Dar said.
Dr. Pan continued, “I have always been curious about the way he travelled through time, but until I took over Sciences for the government, I did not have access to the data. Addison’s transition was spatially anchored.”
“What does that mean?” Detective Thorn said.
“Let me back up,” Pan said. “The transition system worked using anchor particles to connect the general’s transition chamber to our space time. In the case of jump transitions, the anchor particles were time particles, allowing us to jump spatially.”
“Time particles?” Thorn said.
“Just accept them,” Dar replied, smiling. “You will have fewer headaches that way.”
“In the case of General Addison’s transition, the anchor particles were spatial, allowing him to jump chronologically.”
Thorn thought for a minute and said, “Okay Dr. Pan, so the jumps have two anchors, time and distance. To jump, you let go of one and ride the other.”
“More or less.”
“I am guessing then that you believe this is how people are being abducted. Some sort of jump system is being used to snatch people from specific locations.”
“One specific location,” Pan said.
“But people are disappearing from multiple locations.”
Pan belched and excused himself. “SPAM is evil, Superintendent. Evil. Where can I buy it?”
Pan poured himself a glass of water before continuing. “It would seem so, but using spatial anchor points my people have determined that they have all disappeared from the same locus. At least in terms of galactic position, anyway.”
“Okay, I think I follow you Doctor. The people appear to be disappearing from multiple locations, but on a galactic map, it would be the exact same spot. How could we get to the same point if the universe is constantly moving?”
“The universe is constantly moving, that is true. But the objects in the universe move at different speeds. So using specific alignments points, specific stars for example, we can calculate specific transition points, just as General Addison’s team did.”
“Okay. So the entity behind abducting humans is using our spatial relationship in the galaxy to pick points on Earth. Once those points have humans at them, they reach in and grab us. Is that about it?”
“That is exactly it, Detective. And I can tell you where and when it will happen next.”
“Wait!” Thorn said. “Did the abductees get taken across time?”
“I do not believe so,” Pan said. “We have not picked up that kind of tachyon burst.”
Thorn asked, “Okay. Where is it happening next?”
Nill
“I wish I could say I envy you General, but this time I do not. It is going to be hell in there.”
“Lex, I’ve left instructions with the others. If it goes south in there for me, you are in command. Not just of the war, of the whole federation.”
Lex was shocked. “What?”
“You get it. You get the burden of command, and you understand the problems I face every day. So if I fall, you take over. Understand?”
“Yes, sir. But I do not like it, so do me a favor and make it out okay.”
“That’s the plan.” Turning to the major in charge of Badger company Cort said, “Let’s move out.”
Major John “Bump” Hearns called out, “Let’s roll, Badgers! Time to clean up.”
“OORAH!” came from over two hundred voices.
“By the way Speral,” Cort asked the small woman beside him. “What did Jeff think of you coming out here?”
“To borrow a phrase from you Cortland, he was less than pleased. In fact, he demanded I not leave Mars.”
“Yet here you are,” Cort said as he pulled the mask of the FALCON over his face.
“Yes. He was sleeping soundly when I left. Hopefully he will not follow me here.”
Turning to Lex, Cort picked up a shield that was designed to absorb bursts from the Tapon energy weapons. “If he does show up, keep him out of our way.”
“Yes, sir.”
--
Thero walked deeper into the cave system and found Siyan. “They are coming, sir. I estimate two hundred of them.”
Siyan looked at the map of the caves, indicated a spot well inside the main tunnel, and said, “When they reach this point, collapse the cave.”
--
“I show charges up ahead!” Bump called out. “Disable them!”
Cort lowered his shield just enough for a Marine behind him to fire small plasma slugs into the charges, rendering them useless.
“How the hell did they get in here?” Cort asked as the group began moving again. “They are taller than us.”
“But they are thinner,” Hearns said. “Bending over just a bit, they can probably move through here pretty quickly.”
“Especially since they don�
�t have to worry about booby traps,” Cort added.
“Booby traps, sir?”
As so often happened, Cort felt out of place. So many of the phrases from his time had not survived three centuries of human growth. “An old saying. Hidden traps. Things like the charges.”
“Ah.”
--
“They have disabled the charges, sir.”
“Then we must fight them, Thero.”
--
“Here they come!” Hearns yelled. “Shields up!”
The shields were made from the same material as the FALCON 4s, thousands of alternating layers of copper and graphene that directed the energy from the Tapon weapons into each Marine’s FALCON powerpack. Cort was in the front of the group and his shield was hit with so much energy from the initial blast of weaponry that he seemed to actually feel the force in his arm. Within seconds, the shield overloaded his battery and began to disintegrate.
As the barrier broke down, Cort dropped to a prone position and raised his weapon. The latest Multiple Ammunition Tactical gun was a far cry from the model Amber Hansen had left in his cave centuries before. The new model, known as the MATE, or Multiple Ammunition Tactical Energy weapon was still able to fire a variety of rounds, but the source of those rounds had changed. Inside the stock of the weapon were several removeable molecular capacitors which supplied power to an ammunition printer, which was housed under the firing mechanism, much like a traditional magazine would have been. The printer converted energy from the capacitors into ammunition which was inserted into the firing chamber before being charged and fired from the coil gun barrel.
What this meant for the Tapons was death. A safety feature of the weapon kept the capacitors from overloading by converting excess energy from the FALCONs into plasma. That plasma left Cort’s weapon in a near constant stream, killing Tapons by the score with their own redirected energy.
While Cort fired from his belly, Hearns stepped over to him, carrying his own shield. As he absorbed the energy of enemy fire he stepped forward over Cort, putting himself at the front of the advancing column. Once his shield was depleted, Bump dropped in front of Cort, who had stopped firing.
The dance repeated itself, a little over two meters at a time, for the next three hours. By the time Cort had advanced to the front of the company for the third time, six Marines were dead and eight were seriously wounded, but the Ares fighters had moved nearly a kilometer into the cave, their progress slowed only by the bodies of their enemies.
--
“Siyan,” Thero said. “We are losing ground.”
“Yes. We have lost the planet again,” Siyan said. “But this time there will be no reprieve.”
“What should we do?”
“The White Council was sure we would prevail now. I do not think they understood Addison.”
“What do we do now, Siyan? The Ares warriors are just a few thousand meters away, and we cannot stop them.”
“How many of our fighters are left?”
“We have a few thousand perhaps.”
Siyan turned to the sealed vault behind him. “Thero, order a full retreat. We will not reclaim our past home, but neither will the Nill have it. The warriors will leave through the Core. Once they have all fallen, we will sterilize the planet.”
“How, Siyan?”
Siyan dusted off a round section of the vault and tried to rotate its cover out of the way. When the small disk would not move, he broke it with the butt of his weapon. Then he pulled a small ornate pendant from his neck and inserted it into the opening he had exposed. Turning to an aide nearby he held out a small icon and said, “Order everyone through this tunnel. It is long, but it will take you to the Core. Once there, find this image and it will lead you to the outside. You must fight until the last of us are dead.”
As primates began to pour by them, Thero turned back to Siyan and asked, “What of us?”
“If you will trust me but a little while longer Thero, I would have you by my side. I have known of the White Council for most of my mature life. I was selected for my position almost at the time I was able to mate. But even for me, they have been a distant body that seemed beyond reality. I would like you to be with me when we meet them.”
--
“They have opened the hidden tunnel!” a tech called out. “Gods! It is ten more kilometers long.”
“Full ping! Put it on the tactical map!” Hearns ordered. After the updated map appeared in the visor of his FALCON mask, he called Cort. “General, I think this is bad. Really bad. The tunnel they are fleeing into leads to the capital city. To the temple, sir. I think it leads straight to the Core.”
--
Siyan played with the key in his hand hesitantly. He was either about to meet his gods, or he was about to find out that his entire adulthood had been a waste. Like the first lock, this one was covered with a small disk, but in this case, the cover turned almost freely. He looked at the smaller opening for what seemed to Thero to be an eternity. Finally, Siyan pushed the cylindrical key into the recess that matched it.
“It cannot be!” Thero exclaimed under his breath as he took in the scene before him.
Before them were eleven beings, each wearing a necklace of the same icon Siyan had handed the aide. Siyan stepped into the room and fell to his knees. “I have failed, White Ones. Our world, even our species, is lost. Forgive me.”
One member of the council stepped forward and placed her hand on Siyan’s shoulder. “Rise, young one. We have all failed. It is not your burden.”
Siyan stood and looked at the woman before him. She was clearly old, but he had no clue what her true age was. If the legends were to be believed, she was as old as the conflict. It cannot be though. Millions of years? Surely not!
Thero was less impressed by the Council member’s ancient countenance than he was her general appearance. She was pale and nude except for the pendant around her neck and a small dagger at her waist. She was nearly two meters tall, still shorter than he, but much taller than any of her kind he had seen before. She was facing Siyan, which meant Thero saw her from an angle. The view he was afforded clearly showed the six spines lying against her back. Were she but a meter shorter, she would look like any female Nill he had ever seen before.
--
“Ares, this is Bump. We are approaching the end of the known tunnel. What are your orders?”
“Stand by, I’m moving forward.” Cort had fallen back in the combat order to carry a wounded Marine to safety. Once he maneuvered his way back to the front, he found the major standing in front of one male Tapon.
“Are you Addison?” Siyan asked.
“I am. Who are you?”
“My name is Siyan. I have been waiting for you.”
Cort didn’t reply, so Siyan continued. “I know you are going to kill me, General. You can do nothing else. But you must know the truth before I die.”
“Make it quick, Siyan.”
“Do you know our past, General?”
“Yes. You captured and enslaved the Nill. With the help of the Core, they rebelled and kicked you off the planet.”
“The traitor Speral has told you much.”
“Watch your tongue, Siyan. She is my friend and I can make your death very painful.”
“I apologize,” Siyan said. “It is unfortunate that she was banished from Nill. She would be interested in what I have to show you.”
Speral stepped forward and said, “I am here, Siyan.”
“May I see your face?”
Speral pulled the mask of her FALCON back and looked at Siyan.
“It is appropriate that you know the truth, white one.”
“What truth?” Cort asked.
“There were those among the Nill who did not wish to revolt. There were some even who worked against it.”
“So?” Cort asked.
“They are known as The White Council. A small group of Nill who have safeguarded the Core computer for eons, until we could return and reclaim our
planet.”
“I do not believe you are being truthful, Siyan,” Speral said.
“Your beliefs are irrelevant, white one. They have asked to meet with General Addison.”
Cort studied the ape for a moment then said, “Where are they?”
Siyan said, “Just inside. I would like to ask them if Speral can join you in meeting them.”
“That is Speral’s choice, not theirs.” Turning to the small woman beside him Cort said, “It is up to you.”
“I will accompany you, Cortland.”
Looking at Hearns Cort said, “Wait here. I’ll keep my comm open, and if anything seems funny send in a squad or two.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Okay, Siyan. Lead the way.”
Once inside the council chamber, Cort looked around the room slowly, sending a vid feed to Hearns, then he looked down to Speral. She was silent and had been since entering the room. Finally, he looked up at the tall female in front of him and spoke. “I am Cortland Addison. What is your name?”
“I am Careo. Why do you have a child of the Nill with you, Cortland Addison?”
“White One,” Siyan said, “she is an adult. The Nill have changed in the time you have stood your vigil.”
“Careo, how old are you?” Cort asked.
Careo thought for a moment and said, “I have not thought about that for so long. Do you know, Siyan?”
“White One, you were spawned nearly three thousand orbits ago.”
Speral said, “That is not possible, Cortland. She would be a thousand Ares years old.”
Cort remembered the day he and Sköll met Clare and the security team outside his cave on Earth. “Speral, remember my past. My age is impossible as well.”
Looking at Speral, Siyan said, “Possible or not, that is her age, white one.”
“Do Nill also not wear the ocular bridge anymore?” Careo asked.
Cort said, “You do not wear one, either.”
“The White Council rebelled against the Core, General Addison. We have no need for a link to it. Why does she not wear one?”
“I was rejected by my species, Careo.”
“Then why are you here?”
“The Ares Federation accepted me. They are my people now, so I fight beside them. My knowledge of the Core and this planet is beneficial to us. Why do you wear the ceremonial dagger?”