"I'm very impressed, Captain. And hopeful that you can actually destroy the Denubbewa."
"I have to go now, Sywasock. I have a great deal to do, and I've been down here too long. We'll be coming up on a wormhole transition sector soon and I have to be on the bridge to help coordinate the jump. You're sure there's nothing you need?"
"I'd like to have a tour of your ship."
"I'm sorry. That's not possible."
"I understand, Captain."
"I'll come down again when I can."
* * *
Chapter Thirteen
~ January 3rd, 2291 ~
"You were down there a long time, Captain," Mollago said as they sat in Christa's office.
"I was trying to draw him out and determine how truthful and cooperative he's being."
"And is he being truthful and cooperative?"
"It's difficult to tell. The information he's providing might be true, but it might not. Since he's a cyborg, there're no physical telltale signs of lying. But just in case he is lying, I've spun a few lies of my own."
"Such as?"
"I told him we use wormholes to travel throughout G.A. space and that's how we can cross great distances so quickly."
"And he believed that foolishness?"
"I don't really know, but a lot of people do still strongly believe that wormholes exist naturally and that wormholes can even be established artificially, although no one has yet proven they could open one that would allow solid matter to pass through." Christa chuckled as she remembered something. "When I was very young, a teacher stood in front of the class and held up an apple. She then took a pen and pushed it through the middle of the apple. She said that she was showing the theory behind wormholes, because by going directly from point A to point B, we saved a great deal of time. I held up my hand and she called on me. When I stood up, I said that geometry shows us the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, but did she think the universe was shaped like an apple. She hesitated for a second before saying that it might be. So then I asked her, if when we look through a telescope at a far distant star, are we seeing something that's actually underneath us? And if it isn't, I asked, how can we reach something faster by going into some hole than we could by going in a straight line? She hesitated and then said that the theory was known as an Einstein-Rosen bridge, but it hadn't been proven yet and that it would be up to my generation to prove it or disprove it. So I asked her how we could prove something didn't exist if it really didn't exist. She thought for another moment and then told me to sit down. I'm sure that whenever I raised my hand after that, she had to take a deep breath before she called on me."
Mollago chuckled. "Is that a true story, Captain?"
"Yes, with one caveat. It was my sister Jenetta who actually attended school when she was young. I have all her memories of the event and actually feel like I was there, but I hadn't been cloned yet. It's a strange feeling to know I was there and yet know I wasn't there."
"I tend to forget you're a clone."
"So do I, most of the time. I'm a real person after all, not a robot or cyborg or anything. And Jenetta's memories fill my head so I feel like I had a childhood and grew up like any normal person."
"What else did you tell the prisoner today?"
"I told him we had discovered wormhole entrances while we were testing our ordnance teleportation device a few annuals ago."
Mollago chuckled before saying, "Ordnance teleportation? He didn't buy that one, did he?"
"He said the Denubbewa already suspected we had something like that because it was the only way we could have blown up their ships when we didn't have any vessels within billions of kilometers of the target."
"Okay, I can see how they might be susceptible to believing that because of the lack of visual evidence. But wormholes?"
"Don't laugh. A great many folks still believe that old theory. Einstein's Theory of General Relativity does sort of allow the possibility, which is in contradiction to his Theory of Special Relativity and his belief that nothing could travel faster than the speed of light. Laboratory experiments by research scientists have seemed to transport magnetic signals through an artificially created wormhole. I remember reading how excited the scientific community was when the Chinese government on Earth reported that they had successfully transported a single photon from Earth to a satellite in space. People allegedly began predicting that we'd soon be able to send people into space, or to a moon or other planets without a spaceship. But in almost three centuries since that Chinese claim, no one has yet been able to transport a solid mass and have it arrive intact. And after hundreds of years of looking, scientists are still searching for the first provable evidence of a natural wormhole."
"So the burning question remains: Is the alien claiming to be an Elobian really going to cooperate with us and tell us everything he knows?"
"Only time will tell. I really just want to get him, the other cyborgs, and that ship to Quesann so I can turn the problem over to SCI."
~ ~ ~
"Good morning, Lori," Christa said when the ship-to-ship laser communication connection was established.
"Good morning, Christa. How's everything going?"
"Fine. How about with you?"
"Everything's normal. What's new?"
"I just received a message from the SC Transport Ship Edison. They've been dispatched by Admiral Holt to take our prize back to Quesann."
"Really! Where are they?"
"I estimate from their reported coordinates that we'll meet up in about four days. I sent them coordinates for where they can take the Denubbewa ship off our hands."
"Okay. Then what do we do?"
"The Edison's commanding officer didn't have any new orders for us, so I guess we tag along and go back to Quesann until some new strategy is developed for finding Denubbewa ships sheathed in Dakinium."
"There does seem little sense in remaining out here."
"No sense at all. We can't rely on finding Denubbewa ships by watching for distant stars that suddenly go dark momentarily."
"Yeah. How are you doing with your prisoner?"
"He's told me a lot. I don't know how much is true, but it's an interesting story."
"I'll wait until we can sit down at dinner and you can tell me the whole story."
"It'll take a month of meals. Jenetta wanted you to come to dinner at her home before we left, but I guess you were too busy with the new command. Maybe we can get together there the day we get back. Then I won't have to repeat the story after I tell her."
"You'll probably have to tell your story a dozen times over, so one less time is good."
"Yeah."
"Okay, Christa, have a better one. Ashraf out."
"You also. Carver out."
~ ~ ~
There was nothing to do but wait when the two squadrons arrived at the rendezvous point before the Edison.
A few hours later they received a narrow-band encrypted message from the Edison requesting that they turn on their running lights for several seconds so the transport could get a fix on their location. Once they had a fix, the Edison contacted them by laser signal as the ship headed in their direction.
"Good morning, Christa," Commander Garth Ginsburg, Captain of the Edison, said when his ship arrived near the large cluster of small ships. "I understand you have a vessel you want us to haul to Lorense-Three."
"Hello, Garth. Might I ask what your orders are?"
"Just to eject the ship we were transporting and rendezvous with you immediately, if not sooner, to take a disabled vessel on board and then return to Lorense-Three with the vessel. I was told you'd supply any information I required. How large is the vessel we're here to pick up?"
"The vessel is a Denubbewa warship. It's quite large, but you should be able to squeeze it in if you don't have any other vessels in your hold."
"Denubbewa? Is it in pieces?"
"Negative. The vessel is disabled but undamaged."
"
Where is it? We don't see any Denubbewa ships on our sensors."
"It's here, but it's sheathed with Dakinium."
"Sheathed with Dakinium? I don't understand."
"This is three levels above Top Secret, but there's no way it could be concealed from you. The Denubbewa apparently have Dakinium— at least enough to sheath one warship. We must get this ship back to Lorense-Three immediately so the scientists there can begin performing tests on the hull."
"I see. But we still can't see the ship."
"Open your hull and we'll push it in."
"Uh, what kind of ship are you in, Christa? I thought the Koshi was a Scout-Destroyer, but the number of lights we see suggest that you might be in a Denubbewa mothership."
"I'm in a Scout-Destroyer. The lights you see are from two SDs and forty-eight CPS-16s. All are sheathed with Dakinium."
"Fifty vessels? No wonder you give the appearance of a mothership. And please don't try to push the Denubbewa warship into our hull. We have our own people suiting up and they'll be out there in a few minutes with donkey tractors. Moving even a small ship into our hull is a practiced skill, and bringing a monster of a ship in is limited to senior chiefs. All of our people must finish a hundred hours in simulators and pass a grueling five-hour weightless test before we let them anywhere near a real ship. My chiefs all have several hundred hours of experience. So you folks can just sit back, relax, and watch the show."
Christa laughed and said, "Okay, Garth, it's your baby, and believe me when I say you're welcome to it."
"Thanks, Christa. Uh, where is it, by the way?"
"I'll have the CPS-16 that dragged it this far position itself on the opposite side from you and light it up so it's outlined." Christa turned towards the com chief and nodded. The chief petty officer immediately relayed the message.
About fifteen minutes later, Ginsburg said, "Okay, Christa, thanks. We see it and our people are headed that way on the tractors. That's a really big boy. It's going to be a tight squeeze."
"Yeah, I'm just as glad we didn't have to push it into your ship. I don't think I have enough credits in my account to pay the repair bill if we miscalculated."
"Well, you're still young. You'd have had a lot of years ahead of you to pay it off."
"How long before we're ready to head for Lorense-Three?"
"Oh, probably about three hours."
"After you have the ship secured in your hull, I'll send over all my Marines."
"Marines? What for?"
"To guard the Denubbewa prisoners inside the ship."
"Denubbewa prisoners? You're holding prisoners in there? How many?"
"No more than a few hundred."
"Hundreds? Are you serious? I don't have sufficient staff to guard hundreds of cyborg prisoners. We'll have to space them."
"Most of them are deactivated— sort of. And the rest seem to be sleeping. Some of my Marines are already guarding the Denubbewa aboard the ship, but I want to send the rest of the platoons over so they'll be there to relieve the ones on duty. You only have to feed my Marines. They'll perform the guard duty."
"Does Quesann know you're bringing Denubbewa prisoners there?"
"Do they know? I'm operating on their orders. I bet SCI can't wait to start their interrogations. If it eases your mind at all, I gave my people instructions to immediately destroy any Denubbewa that attempts to break free of confinement."
"That helps a little— if the Denubbewa can be stopped."
"My Marines searched the two holds when the Denubbewa were first located. There were no weapons there, other than the ones in the hands of my Marines."
"I don't think I'm going to sleep soundly until we get to Lorense-Three and unload our cargo."
As the Edison crew opened the bow of the ship, the brightly illuminated interior appeared like an enormous flashlight in space that had just been turned on. It was an interesting sight as the practiced donkey tractor operators guided the Denubbewa warship into the hull and secured it. The show ended when the Edison resealed the hull in preparation for its return to Quesann.
~ ~ ~
"I've just received orders not to approach the shipyard until I receive further orders," Commander Ginsburg said to Christa and Commander Ashraf in a secure, three-way conference call. "I'm to stop at least a thousand kilometers out."
"Do those orders extend to us as well?" Christa asked.
"Neither you nor your squadrons commands were mentioned."
"I assume they're trying to sneak you in," Ashraf said, "so no one will know you're transporting a Denubbewa ship."
"That would be my guess," Ginsburg said. "Third watch is always the slowest time of day there, even though the shipbuilding continues around the clock. Most of the clerical staff only works one watch, and even the freight-haulers bringing in materials and support products are usually nowhere to be seen between midnight GST time and six a.m. That's probably when they'll have me enter the shipyard."
"It might be more than that," Christa said. "They may want to check the Denubbewa ship for explosives before you enter the yard."
"If the Denubbewa were to denote a WOLaR while inside the Edison, we could be burned to cinders, but the blast should be largely contained by our Dakinium-sheathed hull," Ginsburg said.
"Yes, but what if the detonation occurred after you moved the Denubbewa ship out of the Edison?"
"Well, I suppose it would depend on how well they constructed their Dakinium shell. If the plates aren't secured together as they are on our ships, the blast could possibly cause a chain reaction which might destroy the entire yard."
"Christa might be right about the reason for your orders," Ashraf said. "It makes a lot of sense when you realize that the successful execution of such a Denubbewa plot would set our ship production back at least a year."
"I guess we'll just have to wait and see what HQ has in mind," Christa said. "I've still got Marines on your vessel so I'll hang around to collect them after security from the yard shows up."
"I'm happy to say you were absolutely right," Ginsburg said. "The cyborgs under guard never gave us the slightest problem. I had my Marine security force on standby alert for the entire trip, but they were never needed at all."
"They'll be SCI's problem within a few hours," Ashraf said.
"Hopefully," Ginsburg said. "What now for your squadrons? Going out hunting again?"
"I'm sure the situation will be reevaluated before we deploy again," Christa said. "The latest news I've received states there have been no reported sightings of Denubbewa ships since before we began our mission."
~ ~ ~
"We've just completed our final wormhole transit," Christa said to Sywasock as the door to the holding cell closed behind her and the guards were unable to hear anything she said. "We're only a dozen light-years from Quesann."
"Then you really were serious when you told me about using wormholes?"
"Of course. We couldn't travel from one end of our territory to the other in mere months if it wasn't for wormholes."
"With the knowledge and technology you have available to you, one might ask why you haven't conquered the entire galaxy?"
"I've told you. We're not conquerors. We only want to live in peace and raise our families. Most of the advancements we've made were accomplished in the name of science to make our lives better, not to dominate others."
"The Denubbewa are just the opposite. They work to make advances in order to conquer. They have no wish to make the lives of the conquered better."
"Tell me, Sywasock, if you can: why do the Denubbewa want to conquer the galaxy and then the universe? What pleasure does it give?"
"Pleasure? It gives no pleasure."
"Then why do it?"
"Why? I suppose it's because— they can."
"That's it? Because they can? But the Denubbewa aren't robots. They have biological brains."
"Whether mechanical or biological, a brain is a brain. When the brain has been stripped of all previous knowledge�
�� or never had any to begin with— and is filled with programming intended only to advance the goals of the senior Denubbewa leadership rather than the individual, one loses the ability to reason and simply becomes an automaton. Surely your society has experienced something like that, albeit on a smaller scale. On my home world, we had what you call politicians. They were very adept at convincing the simpleminded and uneducated people to ignore their own wants and desires and instead devote themselves to what they deceptively called 'working for the greater good.' Of course the 'greater good' to those politicians was anything that enriched the politicians themselves or gave them more power. More power allowed them to control the lives of many more people and thus enrich themselves beyond all dreams of avarice. Our politicians would first enter office as average citizens and be paid a modest, but sufficient salary for their efforts to represent the people. But by the time their political career was over, they had mysteriously amassed vast wealth.
"I've mentioned that during my time as a cyborg, I've heard things that have led me to believe the original Denubbewa were not cyborgs. They were, and possibly still are, completely biological. If that's true, that might be the justification for what the Denubbewa do. All wealth is perhaps being passed back to the original home world. On my world, we also had people we called puppet-masters. They weren't politicians, but they pulled the strings of the politicians and amassed ever greater wealth with each generation, and all without exposing themselves openly. But everyone knew they were there and who they were. I suppose the people who control the most senior cyborgs are like that."
"Yes, the situation is similar on my birth planet. But every so often the people have risen up and violently overthrown the political aristocracy at the top, along with their puppet-masters. And even the puppets at the bottom— usually the uneducated and the students— have finally realized how foolish they've been and how they've been duped. Perhaps that will eventually happen to the Denubbewa."
Changing of the Guard (A Galaxy Unknown - Book 11) Page 16