Solbidyum Wars Saga 4: Too Late for Earth

by Dale C. Musser

  “According to the broadcasts we received next,” Wabussie continued, “it was about three months later that a large asteroid was spotted heading toward the Earth. Broadcasts said it was about 40 kilometers in diameter?” Wabussie said glancing from his vid pad to me. I was shocked.

  “Did they send up THORS’ HAMMER to destroy it?” I stammered.

  Wabussie looked down at his vid pad and said. “It says here that apparently all the devices and missiles that the Earth governments had for defense against asteroids and meteors had been used against the attack from the Chinese when used the moon rocks against Earth. The broadcasts said that THORS’ HAMMER was sent out, but it had used all its anti-matter and nuclear bombs and missiles in their attack against the Moon base and Beijing. They only had lasers, pulse weapons and particle beam weapons still functioning and those weren’t powerful enough. The standard missiles that the military was using at the time would not fit on THORS’ Hammer and there was no time to build or modify one.

  Even so, a crew of men loaded as many conventional nuclear war heads aboard the ship as they could so they could intercept the asteroid and blow themselves up as near to it as possible to divert it from Earth.” Wabussie stopped reading and stared at the vid pad.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “It says the ship blew up before it reached the asteroid.”

  “What? How?”

  “It doesn’t say, only that it blew up. There was some speculation they may have been arming the warheads before they reached the asteroid and something went wrong, but no one knows. Two weeks later, all transmissions from the Earth ended.”

  I sat there dumbfounded. This couldn’t be. How could they have been fighting for all that time in such a large war and have the war end, only to be destroyed by an asteroid just a few weeks later? What was left of the Earth? How much damage could have an asteroid that size done? The asteroid that hit Earth and wiped out the dinosaurs was believed to only be 4 to 6 kilometers in diameter; this asteroid was over 40 kilometers in diameter.

  “I want every one of our crew back aboard the NEW ORLEANS as soon as possible. Tell them to wrap up whatever they are doing, get someone to take charge of the tasks they were doing and to be aboard the NEW ORLEANS in 20 hours. Commodore, plot a course to Earth; I want us underway in 20 hours. Check out how close our route takes us to Alle Bamma; if it’s not too far, I want to stop by there for a day. Commander,” I said, turning to Wabussie, “I hope you do not mind my leaving you and Commander Sokaia in the hands of Captain Felenna to see to your return to the Federation aboard the MIZBAGONA. I’ll leave it up to you to return the solbidyum we recovered back to the proper authorities. I need to get to Earth as soon as I can to see what has happened and if there are any survivors.”

  “I understand Tibby. It will be no problem at all traveling with Captain Felenna on the MIZBAGONA; it’s a fine ship, perhaps not quite as luxurious as the NEW ORLEANS, but a fine ship nonetheless,, and Felenna is a good Captain. I wish I could be going with you, but I’ve already been away from my post with the FSO too long, and Commander Sokaia has been away from her troops as well; we both need to be getting back to our duties.

  “Tibby, I can’t tell you what an honor it has been being with you near the action on your missions. What the Federation owes you is far beyond the rewards you have gotten, even though I know you think you have already received too much. I truly admire you, and all of your crew for that matter. Thanks again for everything.”

  A few hours later found Kala and me seeing Commanders Wabussie and Sokaia off in the hangar bay. They had Logden with them, accompanied by two of my troopers for guards. He would be making the trip back to the Federation with them to stand trial for stealing the solbidyum shipment. As their shuttle departed the hangar in route to the MIZBAGONA, a message came through on my communicator from the Commodore.

  “Tibby, I’ve checked, and we will be passing very close to Alle Bamma on our way to Earth, I’ve charted it into our navigational plans, we should arrive there in two weeks.”

  “If we assume that we spend a day at Alle Bamma, how long will it be until we arrive at Earth?” I asked.

  “With our enhanced engines, running at max speed it should take us about six weeks.” He responded.

  I sighed. “I know I gave a departure time earlier of 20 hours, but if everyone gets back before then, I want us leaving as soon as the last is aboard. Maximum speed!”

  “It will be done; I’ll let you know as soon as we depart.”

  Just a little over six hours later I received word from the bridge that we were underway.

  Over the next few days my strength returned rapidly and my bruises faded. The nanobots in my body searched out damaged tissue and bone and knitted it together; a week later, other than for my missing eye, I felt pretty much like my old self again. The illusion of being returned to my earlier physical state was soon shattered when I decided to do some minor workouts in the gym. I began slowly practicing some Tai Chi moves and quickly discovered that my sense of balance was way off. I had a difficult time trying to keep balance on one leg while extending my other. I found a few other leg and arm movements demanding as well, and a few I was unable to do at all. Suddenly, I felt very tired and very afraid. I left my exercise and headed back to my suite, there I threw myself on the bed and stared at the ceiling. I was feeling lower than I have ever felt in my life. Earth was gone, or at least it sounded that way, and here I was, in an alien universe, disabled, or at least I was from my perspective. I knew I wasn’t really disabled, but I felt terribly impotent without my normal skills. I’m not sure how long I lay there cursing myself internally when I became aware that Kala was standing in the doorway staring at me.

  “You feeling sorry for yourself now?” She asked calmly.

  I was a bit embarrassed for her to find me like this, but I answered with a sigh, “I’m sorry to say I am. It’s all a bit much. All the events on Goo’ Waddle, Tanden’s death, Shydak getting away, my crash, and now finding out that my home world of Earth may have been destroyed!” It’s a lot to deal with.

  “You seemed to be dealing with it pretty well until you discovered that you no longer have the speed and agility you had before. Are you sure it’s not your masculinity that is troubling you?”

  Her words stung, but I knew she was right. The idea that I may never be able to perform at my previous level of skill with my martial arts made me feel like a cripple. I knew that was not true, but I still felt that way.”

  “Tibby, you’re going to have to give it time. It will take months of exercise for all your muscles and nerves to relearn all that was lost. Give it time; don’t give up.”

  “I rolled over, got up off the bed, walked to her, put my arms around her, and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips. “Thank you. I’m sorry I’m being so negative, but with all that happened in the past few weeks, it’s hard for me to be positive.”

  Kala squeezed me tighter and kissed me back and then pulled away. “Just focus on thinking about our family and raising our kids. That should give you something positive to think about.”

  “You’re right!” I said with a smile, “By the way, you never did tell me just how long you have been pregnant.”

  “How long WE have been pregnant!” Kala emphasized, “I didn’t do this alone, you know.

  I smiled, “No you didn’t. Okay then, how long have WE been pregnant?”

  “Ten and a half weeks, unless the med unit is malfunctioning. I should start showing soon now.”

  At that moment the door alarm indicated someone present at the door. Kala walked over and opened it. Jenira came bounding into the room, looking about futilely as though she expected to see some disaster. When she looked at me and didn’t see any problems, she relaxed.

  “What’s this here? Kala said looking at Jenira’s back.” As I looked at Jenira, I noted two handles extending beyond her shoulders, as she turned facing Kala, I noted that they were two short swords.”

  �
�Where did you get these?” Kala asked.

  Jenira began to pantomime and gesture an imitation of someone, and Kala and I began trying to guess.

  “Marranalis?” Jenira shook her head disappointedly and continued with her gestures.

  “Kerabac,” I guessed. Jenira shook her head again and began pantomiming more.

  “Padaran?” I tried, and Jenira clapped her hands and shook her head yes.

  “Tibby, we need to contact the learning band and download the Federation Sign Language for the Deaf so you can communicate better with Jenira.”

  “Whenever you think I am up to it, I’ll be glad to oblige.”

  I walked over to Jenira and looked at the swords, “May I look at them?”

  Jenira got a serious look on her face for a second. bit her lip in contemplation, and then reached back over her shoulder and extracted a single blade with her right hand. She cautiously brought the blade around, laying the flat side of the blade with the sharp edge facing toward her body in her left hand and extended her arms out, moving the blade toward me. I carefully accepted the blade and examined it. It was a slightly curved blade and looked very much like the smaller Japanese swords I had seen on Earth; each had about a half meter long blade. I carefully moved my finger across the edge of the blade and was shocked as I realized this was possibly the sharpest blade I ever touched. The entire sword was well crafted and sturdy; and while not overly ornate, it obviously was of high quality and expensive. Carefully I handed it back to Jenira in the same manner that she presented it to me.

  “Be very careful with those,” I admonished her. She returned the sword to its scabbard with a smooth move that shocked me. I had expected she would struggle with it, since it was on her back, and it required her to reach over her shoulder to accomplish the feat. “Those are extremely sharp blades.” Jenira nodded but didn’t smile. “You don’t practice with those blades, do you?” I asked, as visions flashed in my mind of Jenira making clumsy swings with the swords and slashing whoever was practicing with her.

  Jenira shook her head “no” and then signed something with her hands. I looked at Kala, who translated. “Jenira says they use practice dummy swords for sparring, never the real thing.”

  “I’m glad to hear that. I was envisioning my crew hobbling about the ship looking like me in a few weeks if they were using real swords like these.”

  “Tib, you know what I think you need-- if you’re feeling up to it, that is? I think we need to go to the lounge and listen to Kerabac and A’Lappe performing. Who knows, if you feel up to it, we may even be able to dance a slow number or two.”

  I had to admit that Kala’s idea sounded good to me. Kerabac and A’Lappe made a fantastic duo. That, coupled with the fact that Kerabac had a singing voice similar to the old Earth singer, Nat King Cole, made listening to him a real delight. I could see Jenira’s light up when Kala suggested it, and I suspected that Jenira liked listening to them as well.

  Since I was still a mass of scars, even though the nanobots were slowly doing their work at removing them, I decided not to wear the short-sleeved shirts I normally did when going to the lounge. I opted to wear one of my dignitary cut suits with the Nehru style collars instead. These would cover the scars, and the only visible evidence of my crash would be my eye patch. Kala picked out a lovely short, tight-fitting dress in a shimmering aqua fabric that took my breath away. She noted me staring at her and said with a grin. “I decided I should wear this now because in a few more days, I won’t be able to wear anything like this again for several months.” “I suddenly got a mental image of Kala wearing the same dress, only with a large protruding stomach and wearing fuzzy bedroom slippers; I had to grin.”

  “What are you thinking Tibby?” Kala said with an amused look.

  “Oh, I was just thinking that I can’t imagine you wearing anything that you would not appear attractive in.” And that was no lie; I think Kala would look beautiful in anything or nothing at all.”

  We could hear the sounds coming from the lounge before we reached it; Kerabac’s rich voice, accompanied by A’Lappe’s instrumentals, echoed. As we drew closer, I could hear that Kerabac was singing one of the Nat King Cole songs I had taught him while we were on the planet Alle Bamma months earlier. It was the song NATURE BOY, another of my personal favorites. As we entered the room, I suddenly realized that he was not singing the words exactly as I had taught him; he was substituting for the normal lyrics and sang, “There was a boy, a very strange enchanted boy, they say he traveled very far, to every star, that man has ever seen,” He went to sing the rest like this, “A somewhat modest guy who opened every eye, for very wise was he. And then one day, while we were far away, I came to hear him say, and these words he spoke, Of many things, of men and kings, these words he said to me, the greatest thing I’ve ever learned is the love that now within me burns and just to love and be loved in return.” I thought he had finished the song just as Kala and I were taking a seat at an empty table by the stage, but Kerabac continued on.

  “And now I give to you, that very special boy, who’s traveled very far, to nearly every star, and found that special love has he. And at his side we stand in pride for such a man as he.” As he ended the song, he motioned with his hand toward me and suddenly the entire room stood and cheered. I looked at Kala who also stood and looked at me, smiling. By her side, Jenira was bouncing up and down grinning.

  “You set me up,”… I said looking at Kala.

  “Actually, it was Kerabac and Jenira’s idea; they wanted to do something to cheer you up.”

  I couldn’t help but smile while I fought back some tears. I felt like I should say something, but at the same time I didn’t really feel worthy of saying anything. One thing was very sure; that was the love that I felt in my heart from my crew.

  After things died down, Kerabac and A’Lappe went on performing with some relaxing tunes while people milled about chatting and visiting. A large number of the crew stopped by our table to say they were glad to see me up and about again and to express their concerns and wishes. At some point someone set a glass of afex in front of me. Afex is a beverage much like beer back on Earth; until my arrival in Federation space, it had been considered a drink of the common man and typically was not drunk in public. However, my ignorance of customs had brought about a change in people’s thinking. Now afex is consumed everywhere, at any occasion, and by just about everyone who consumes alcoholic beverages. I took a few sips of the afex, enjoying its coldness, just as Kerabac and A’Lappe began playing another of my favorite Nat King Cole tunes “When I Fall in Love"; and even though I wasn’t sure how strong my legs were, I wanted to hold Kala in my arms and dance with her.

  “Come on Kala,” I said as I started to stand up, “Let’s see if I can still dance.”

  Kala smiled and got up from her seat. “My, you must be feeling stronger if you want to dance.”

  I took Kala in my arms, and we began a nice, slow dance. I wanted to try some of the fancier steps that Kala and I had used in the past, but though I remembered the moves they didn’t go as smoothly as they had before my accident. I was hoping no one was noticing my difficulty when Kala said. “Relax Tibby, there is no need for you to show off fancy dance skills every time you take the dance floor; you’re doing fine and are still the best dancer in the room. Don’t push yourself so hard.”

  “It shows?” I asked incredulously.

  “Not to the people watching you, but I can feel it in your body and movements. Your muscles are quivering, and you do not have the relaxed look on your face you usually do when dancing. You look like this is the hardest thing you’ve ever done, and it’s taking all your concentration. Just relax.”

  I realized she was right. I was focusing so hard on my movements that I was all tense and tight.

  “I’m sorry Kala. I’m just not… well… this is all new and awkward for me.”

  “Kala smiled, kissed me on the cheek, and snuggled tight in my arms. “It’s all right Tib, ev
eryone is still here for you.”

  After we finished dancing, Kala suggested we return to our suite, saying she wanted to …“Test out the rest of my body and make sure it was still working.” I must confess that I was rather concerned about that myself and hoped I didn’t disappoint Kala. I was afraid that all my scars might put Kala off once we were nude and in bed, but she didn’t seem bothered by them. Rather, she spent a great deal of time tracing them all with her fingers as she examined them.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, “Memorizing them?”

  She got a crooked grin on her face, but didn’t look up as she kept tracing them. “They are already starting to fade away. In a few more weeks they will all be gone. The nanobots will remove every trace of scar tissue, and you will look just like you did before.”

  “Except for the eye, you mean.”

  “You’ll have that back soon enough. Only about 5 more weeks and it should be ready for implanting.”

  “I wonder what it will be like getting a new eye. Will I see things the same way with it?” I never got to finish that thought, nor did Kala answer, as she was kissing along one of the long scars that ran down my torso. However, the question about how the rest of me was working was answered and to both my and Kala’s delight, we discovered that there were no deficiencies in that area of my physical performance.”

  The next morning I woke to find myself feeling totally invigorated, and I was starving. Kala must have awakened before me, as I found she was gone. I called for Piesew, who appeared seconds later.

  “Good morning sir. Is there something I may do for you, First Citizen?”

  “Good morning, Piesew, I’m starving! Could get me something to eat? Do you have any idea where Kala has gone?”