by G. H. Holmes
"As a matter of fact, if the rate of expansion one second after the Big Bang would have been smaller by a hundred-billionth of a millionth, the universe would have collapsed again without ever reaching its current size. But we know that this didn't happen. It expanded at exactly the necessary speed.
"Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Ben bounced his fingertips off one another. "Let me illustrate. Imagine a soldier with a perfect gun, whose bullets are able to fly a perfectly straight line. Let's say that soldier stands at one end of the universe and aims at a stamp-sized target on the other side of the universe. He fires his shot—and hits his target!
"How probable is that?"
"It's totally unlikely, Sir," Cherry said.
"Fact is, all crucial forces are at a perfect equilibrium with one another."
"But who told the universe to expand at that rate?" Cherry asked. "And where did that power come from?"
Ben didn't answer. Instead, he said, "All galaxies move away from Terra Originalis, by the way."
Cherry wrapped a curl of her hair around her index finger and stared at no point in particular.
"Lieutenant, you may be familiar with the four fundamental forces of nature, such as gravity and electromagnetic power, weak power and strong power. Ever heard of these?"
Cherry nodded vaguely.
"Their existence is another inexplicable phenomenon," Ben said. "As it is, they relate perfectly with one another. They are balanced exactly right. If we had only a tiny bit less of the strong power at work in atoms, the entire universe would consist of nothing but hydrogen. A bit too much of that strong power, and all that hydrogen would have changed to helium and nothing else.
"And speaking of matter and antimatter: there had to be exactly the right surplus of matter over antimatter to get this thing going. A deviation of one particle in ten billion would have sufficed to forestall the genesis of our universe."
This was unbelievable.
Charity reflected for a moment. "But if it's so totally unlikely that anything ever came about," she exclaimed, "why does anything exist? What's the reason?"
Ben smiled. He crossed his arms before his chest and said, "A famous scientist from the beginning of the Space Age once wrote a book about the history of time. His name was Hawking. He said: 'It would be very difficult to explain why the universe should have begun in just this way, except as the act of a God who intended to create beings like us.' I think he was onto something."
Charity leaned back in the big seat, closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She relaxed, now that the G-word had been spoken. The hardness left her features.
There was a plan to everything.
She was not just a cosmic accident; rather, a place had been prepared for her. There was a reason why she existed. For a moment all was well in her world.
What he'd said was in her eyes another proof that Ben Harrow was no dangerous creature. He was nice. He acknowledged a power above him that he owed accountability. Cherry was sure, he'd never be another tyrant.
He was so special.
She looked at him again. "Sir, why are you so different?"
Ben gave her a sober look. "That's a long story, Lieutenant. I don't think it would benefit you to hear it right now. We need to see you into a hospital. A doctor needs to examine you." He looked at the main screen, where Cherry's fighter was visible at a distance. "We'll leave your jet here and return to Terra Gemina right away."
Cherry was surprised by this turn of events. She'd hoped to spend some more time talking to him; she was sure that he had enjoyed their talk, too. Why did he want to get rid of her already?
Probably didn't fancy talking about himself.
Too bad.
"This will not take long at all," Ben said. "We'll undergo a phenomenon that I call BPL, standing for billion points of light, and then we'll be in the Gemina system. Sit easy and don't get excited."
Ben's fingers danced over the tabletop as he fixed the coordinates for their return jump. They'd surface in the Twins system, but not too close to Terra Gemina. This way they'd have another hour together while they'd be flying conventionally, under just the ship's reactor power. Ben even contemplated a swing close to Terra G's twin suns, because he wanted to charge the tiles atop the Western Sun.
Ben wrinkled his brow. Was he doing this because he was an interested scientist? Or was he acting like a teenager, showing off his hot rod to the hottest babe in town?
Ben decided not to answer that question right away.
Chapter 28
Enveloped in a cloud of dancing sparks, Charity Jones felt as if she were passing through a spring rain. The experience refreshed her and her stomach told her that she was flying over a hump on a road. Cherry almost burst out laughing.
So this was what traveling on the quantum wind felt like.
She could get used to this. Easily.
A second later the sparks around her field of vision fizzled out and she was back in the cockpit of the Western Sun. Mesmerized, she stared at the main screen that filled the front wall entirely. It showed a close-up of the Twin Suns.
Were they really that close?
Her fingers dug into the armrests of her chair.
"Sir, aren't we way too near?" Cherry asked.
Ben's eyes, too, were on the balls of fire that filled the wall. The monitor had dimmed their brightness so that the onlookers weren't blinded by them. Instead, they could observe the specks, spirals and roaring rivers on the surfaces of both stars. Oceans of fire were churning. Fountains flared. Giant flames lunged up at them.
"I brought us here on purpose," Ben explained. "You have to know that the tiles atop this ship are capable of capturing large amounts of energy from stars—by close association with them. Matter of fact, they are able to store enough heat that they may look as if they're burning themselves." He shot her a glance. "Don't worry, they're made from a new material. They won't be consumed.
"The tiles I'm talking about.
"Their energy output can be weaponized. It feeds a whole arsenal of guns, though I have to admit that I haven't studied all of those yet. I'm new to this vessel myself."
Charity noticed that the stars on the screen were getting even bigger. Was Ben Harrow flying towards them?
"But if we get any closer, Sir, won't we burn up?"
"Relax, Lieutenant. I didn't bring you in from the cold to get you fried in the Gemina system. You are safe. Imagine a deep freezer hanging right under a white-hot stove top. That's us. We're sitting in the deep freezer while the top of our craft lights up like a star.
"That's why I christened her the Western Sun."
He gestured at the screen. "We'll pass through the middle between those two stars."
Cherry swallowed. "Has that ever been done before, Sir?"
Ben's eyes were on the tabletop in front of him. He was making sure everything was working right and that all values were within specs.
He glanced at Cherry. "There's a first time for everything, Lieutenant."
His statement did nothing to calm Charity. But what had she expected? She was dealing with Ben Harrow, the ghost of Harrow's Dale, a former emperor, a sort of demigod, twice her rescuer. Doing extraordinary things was probably an everyday occurrence with him.
The surfaces of the Twin Suns now occupied most of the screen. They loomed like walls to the left and right of their window into space.
Despite the ship's interior being a "deep freezer," it was getting hot in the cockpit. Cherry said nothing. Not tasked with anything, she sat in her chair and watched Ben out of the corner of her eye. Seeing him work, confidently and with great concentration, she imagined he could do anything he set his mind on.
Her gaze went back to the screen. It now showed a canyon with yellow flaming walls and a dark-blue middle. The view was fascinating. Cherry had never seen a star this close before. Any other craft would have burned up, she realized, but not that of Ben Harrow. The surfaces of those two suns were bright yellow,
marbled and streaked with orange and brown.
Her face began to glisten with sweat; she wiped it off with her sleeve.
A glance at Harrow revealed that he was completely unbothered by the heat which filled the cockpit. He was a picture of cool concentration.
Ben gave her a quick look and saw that she was beginning to suffer. He engaged the SuperDrive and sped up the Western Sun. The ship raced through the cleft between the two stars and swung away from them.
"If you need something to drink or a towel, Lieutenant," Ben said, "feel free to just get up and take care of yourself. You know where everything is. I'm sure you looked around when you had the chance. We're on our way to Terra Gemina now."
"With your permission, Sir, I'll go and get some more to drink."
"Granted."
Cherry got up. The door slid open and she disappeared through it.
Studying the gauges and meters, Ben was very pleased. Cho and Guofeng had not exaggerated when they said that the tiles atop the Western Sun were one-of-a-kind. All energy banks of the ship, including weapons systems, showed that they were fully loaded. Ben would have loved to take a look at the top of his spacecraft. It probably resembled the surface of a living sun right now.
This was all very interesting.
Ben wished he had the time to dive into the ship's electronics, something he hadn't done yet so far. He'd get the chance to do it once Charity Jones was safely back in a hospital down on the planet. She was doing remarkably well for having spent more than three days out in the Void, but a doctor still had to examine her. Ben could have done it; he could have scouted out her entire body chemistry, but he wasn't about to. That was the job of a disinterested person.
Ben realized that he could get used to having Cherry around. He found himself thinking thoughts he hadn't thought often in the last three hundred years.
A sliding sound came from the door and when nobody entered, he said, "Permission granted, Lieutenant Jones."
She came and sat back down in the nav chair, just like before.
The heat was no longer oppressive.
Ben saw that she had washed her face; her hairline was still wet. She surely drank something, too. But, adhering to protocol, she hadn't brought a bottle along into the cockpit with her.
The monitor now showed the star-filled expanse of the Twins galaxy as they journeyed towards Terra G.
"There are two things that need addressed," Ben said in his most impassive voice.
"Sir, yes, Sir?" Cherry said. She swallowed.
Ben steepled his fingers and swiveled the chair around to face her. "Who ordered you to go to Kasaganaan?"
Cherry's gaze fell to the floor. Her cheeks pinked.
"Well?" Ben said.
She looked up at him. "Nobody, Sir. It was my own decision to leave the hospital. I took my x-jet and took to the pylon road without any clear order."
"You went absent without a leave!"
I flew off because I wanted to see you again, she didn't say. I ruined my career because I wanted to be close to you. Even to catch only a glimpse of you from far away would have made me happy beyond measure. To sit here with you and to talk to you is more than I ever dared to hope for. You have no idea what this does to me.
Then she remembered that right now he was a general and she was a lieutenant, junior grade. She cast her gaze back down and sat there, deflated.
"Why?" Harrow's voice was not tender.
"I wanted to be with the most important people in my life," Cherry replied.
"And so you gave yourself permission to go AWOL. And to steal government property." Harrow's face was stern. "You understand that this will have consequences?"
"Yes, Sir," Cherry said dejectedly.
Her shoulders slumped even more. But what had she expected? Even if she would have made it over to Kasaganaan in one piece, she would have been there without an order. And unless she would have done an exceptionally heroic deed, she would have had to face consequences in any case.
What had she been thinking?
"I will talk to your uncle, Lieutenant," Ben said. "I will recommend that he relieve you of your aviator duty and find something else for you to do. Something that puts less demand on a sense of responsibility."
Cherry cringed. She'd always thought of herself as a very responsible person. Ben Harrow's words stung. Pain stabbed her eyes, but there were no tears.
"The Space Navy can't afford a pilot that goes AWOL in her jet," Harrow went on. "What if every pilot did what you did? We'd have chaos in this Space Navy. Don't you agree, Lieutenant?"
"Yes, Sir," Cherry whispered.
Ben disliked having to be so clear about it. But there was no doubt in his mind that Admiral von Schwarz would fire his niece for absconding; he had no choice. Ben meant to prepare her for the moment when that would happen.
They were approaching Terra Gemina when tiny explosions on the mostly black screen caught Ben's eye.
"What's going on?" he wondered out loud.
Bleary-eyed, Cherry looked at the screen and noticed tiny flare-ups. Firebugs seemed to swarm around the planet.
"What is that, Sir?"
Ben pursed his lips. Then he said, "We're looking at a battle."
Chapter 29
Ben Harrow and Charity Jones were still thousands of klicks away from Terra Gemina when six enemy fighters noticed them and broke towards them. They appeared on Ben's tactical display.
"It seems the fears of your uncle have come true, Lieutenant Jones. A force has come from Kasaganaan and is making war on our home planet."
Who were the attackers?
And did they know who he was?
Did they know about the Western Sun?
"A force from Kasa?" Cherry said. "But why are they fighting us, Sir? There is nothing special about Terra G. We're not known for rare stuff."
Ben rubbed his nose. His eyes were on the red icons symbolizing the alien jets drawing near. "Perhaps they're after me."
Of course! How could she forget?
Touching virtual buttons, Ben tried to hail the tower at the spaceport in Gemina City. But he got no answer. He worked to get into the command net of the Gemina Space Navy headquarters and for a moment a multitude of voices emanated from the speakers in the cockpit. They were those of fighter pilots in distress calling for their wing mates to do something; others were the calm voices of officers passing on orders. The two-person crew of the Western Sun listened to the chaos and felt the fear of those speaking.
Suddenly a familiar voice broke through. "Ben Harrow, is that you? Thank God you're here." Admiral Daniel von Schwarz sounded weary. "The command net computer patched you through to me. Headquarters planet-side is history."
"Daniel, what's going on?" Ben asked.
"The battle has been raging for three days, Ben. Three days already. They came from Kasaganaan and attacked us without warning. Yesterday we evacuated the Council and our families and took them to a secure location."
"What's with the city?" Ben said.
"The Marines are fighting an alien race that calls itself the Vamrah. They dumped several divisions of infantry on us, it seems. They took the city. It's down to urban combat, but our troops keep hanging in there." The Admiral inhaled deeply. "The Vamrah look like ants by the way."
All doubt left Ben's mind.
This was all about him.
He now saw clearly that something had survived the war against Magog, one hundred years ago. The ants that had attacked Neo-Ba were back. They'd come to get him. Somehow they'd found out who and where he was.
His nemesis now had a name.
Then he thought of the advanced technology he'd encountered on Kasa. He thought of his old jet from Neo-Ba and wondered if the Vamrah weren't only pawns themselves, merely part of a greater scheme. They were hardy fighters, but they were not known for exceptional brilliance like the one he had encountered in his adventures in the last few days. Whoever stood behind them: the Vamrah were the clear and present danger
right now and had to be dealt with.
"How's our space defense doing?" Ben said.
"They are fighting like heroes," the admiral replied, "but they are outgunned. Ben, I beseech you, do what you can."
Harrow swallowed. Terra Gemina was under attack because he hadn't moved on. Keenly he felt the obligation to liberate this planet. Or to die trying.
"I will fight," Ben said. "But there's something else, Daniel."
"What, Ben?"
"I found her." Harrow glanced at Cherry. "My search was successful. Lieutenant Jones is back among the living."
A sigh of relief came through the speakers. "That's good news for once. Thanks for finding her, Ben."
Harrow's eyes were on the big screen, where a swarm of space jets was closing in. No longer were they just five or six. Close to a dozen was coming at them now. Dancing lights on the tabletop along with chirping sounds indicated that the Sun's computer was busy calculating target solutions.
"A wing of enemy fighters is upon us," Ben said. "In a minute we'll engage them. The Western Sun is joining the battle. Harrow out." Ben immediately killed the connection.
He turned to Cherry. "Lieutenant Jones, we'll be riding the quantum wind incessantly for the next few hours. If you feel we're approaching your limit and you can't handle it any longer, you are under orders to tell me. Understood?"
"Aye, Sir."
"Until then, please buckle yourself into your seat and try to go with the flow."
Cherry immediately obeyed. The harness was hidden in the top of the back rest. With nervous fingers she pulled it over her head and buckled herself in. Her chest heaved with a deep breath.