Hunter Legacy 11: Home Is Where the Hero Is

by Timothy Ellis

  The last civilians turned out to be senior management for the Gaia government, here to learn how their respective departments might be challenged by what we thought was coming.

  Annabelle and Jack took us through the events of the last year. Once again, I stood at the back, and observed reactions. Unlike the last times, they played up the Midgard war, and at its end, I emphasized their prophecy for the benefit of the Council. They needed to know there was more than one Prophesy in play.

  My major medal ceremonies and promotions were played, also for the benefit of the Council. Objectionable wasn’t happy, but there was nothing he could object to. Most of the rest of the Council looked at me and nodded respectfully after each of the two highest medal awards, my Knighting, which hadn't been mentioned before, and then Dukedom.

  I was in 'slinky red', revealing nothing except my four stars. No way was I going to flaunt my awards, as some people might have done.

  Eyes opened wide when Hunter's Run was proclaimed a Duchy, and wider when Outback joined the Duchy. The Keeper confirmed he had left instructions for Outback to join the Duchy, as Prophesy had dictated he must do. We didn’t allow questions about Prophesy at that point, and I waved Annabelle and Jack on.

  The evidence we had collected fifty two years into the future was presented and shock rippled through those who hadn't seen this before. The Japanese Ambassador's pronouncement accepting the time travel rocked them, as did the French reaction to seeing their planets wiped clean. We showed actual vid of how Paris looked now, and how it looked in the same places in the future.

  They overviewed the entire campaign against the Pirates, and showed some of the captured ships. When he saw the number and size of the ships under my command, Objectionable showed fear for the first time. Only for an instant, but fear I definitely saw. I made a note to try and figure out why he'd felt that way. For everyone else, the size of my fleet was a good sign that if the Darkness could be fought, we had the means to do so. This wasn’t the case, but I saw no harm in civilians thinking that way. As an added extra, we included vids of the American fleet at Miami, and Repulse and Warspite in Avon before the first battle there.

  And finally we came to the only uncovered issue.

  I took back the stage, after thanking Annabelle and Jack, who took seats with the rest of the Alpha team.

  "Keeper," I said to him without looking his way, "please tell us about Prophesy."

  "Boss," interrupted Amy, "Can I ask why you use Prophesy as a verb, instead of as a noun? I've noticed it before, and it's been bothering me."

  "There are only two people who have read Prophesy," I responded. "The Keeper, and this morning, Colonel Jane on my behalf. I received a short summary of the highlights. I'll let the Keeper explain."

  I nodded towards the Keeper and stepped back to allow him take the center stage.

  "There are two versions of Prophesy. The short one says, 'When the three who dream come to Gaia on the red arrow, then must the preparations for Darkness begin.' You could call this the noun version, since it’s a prediction predicated with an event. This was necessary. It provided leaders with something to wait for, along with the earlier signs to do with Admiral Hunter here, all of which have now happened. But this version was created by a Keeper, not by the original author."

  He paused, looking around the room.

  "Prophesy however, is not a prediction. It is a descriptive documentary of a series of events, written at such a time as they could not possibly have been known. As such, its use as a verb seems more appropriate than in context as a noun."

  Ten books? Maybe not a verb as such, but certainly verbiage.

  "While we cannot be sure, the only reasonable explanation is the whole document was channeled. The man who first typed Prophesy by hand, was spiritual, and some of his spiritual writing is still used here and now. And as Admiral Hunter can attest, there has been a large amount of activity by higher beings such as Kali over the past year, including saving the Admiral's life, from which the channeling could have been made."

  To everyone's surprise, with quite a bit of shock mixed in, two large statues materialized, one on each side of the stage. They were predictable enough, since there were already versions of these on my ships, but not even I had any expectation of them doing something so dramatic. It wasn’t their style to usually be this kind of obvious.

  There were a number of 'what the fuck's' from around the room, said more in quiet awe than anything else, and we ignored them. Spiritual people do still swear at times, including me. Objectionable looked like he'd been pole-axed. Given I suspected he was the representative of those who were not spiritual, this was a level of in-your-face he wasn’t equipped to handle. Not many were of course. Even spiritual people rarely encountered anything this overt.

  I could hear a chuckle in my head. Kali had obviously enjoyed the reaction.

  The Keeper bowed to each of them, as did several of the Councilors. He looked upward.

  "Thank you for joining us, Kali and Ganesha."

  He turned back towards the councilors.

  "There are several things I can say about Prophesy," he went on. "As well as providing the signs, it has provided instructions for the Keepers. Outback joining the Duchy of Hunter's Run was one such instruction. But unfortunately, it does not provide us with any more information than we already have."

  "What?" came from a number of people.

  "Prophesy does not tell us what the Darkness is, when it will appear, or where."

  I could see a mixture of emotions from some of the four stars, which I understood since it now appeared coming here had been a big waste of time.

  I stepped forward.

  "However," I interjected, "we do have a positive lead."

  This got everyone's attention.

  "In a previous meeting, we decided to send ships to the six known systems which my nightmares suggest could be the entry point into our space by the Darkness, to gather data so we could attempt to identify the where and when."

  I nodded to the Keeper.

  "One of our instructions," he said, "was to seek that data, and we did so a year ago before the Door closed on us, within hours of Jon Hunter leaving Gaia."

  "The data arrived yesterday," I continued, "and instead of a month's data, we have almost a full year. Colonel Jane is overseeing the conversion of this data into something the three of us 'dreamers' can view. If we can find the image of the system at the instant the darkness appears in our nightmare, it can be dated. We will then know where and approximately when."

  This information changed the whole atmosphere, which had been bordering on depressive, and now changed to cautious optimism.

  "Questions?"

  Fifteen

  "What do we know about the Midgard Prophecy?" asked the American Indian councilor.

  "Not much," speculated the Keeper. "But I think it's safe to say, Prophesy is the same, but the Midgard Seers only saw a truncated or summarized version of it. They made a lot of incorrect assumptions, and allowed madness and greed for power overcome sound judgement. That being said, the Midgard war was a necessary evil, and Midgard played its part in Prophesy."

  My guess was, and the Keeper couldn’t just come out and say it, Midgard had a copy of only the first few books. Up to whichever one showed them winning their way to Avon. Had they known what followed, they never would have started the war.

  "So the war could have been prevented?" asked a different councilor.

  "Yes. But to have done so would have been disastrous. We are all here now because of the war. And being here now was necessary. So for that matter was refusing to allow the injured Jon Hunter to return to Gaia while the Door was open last. He had to perform the role his legacy had prepared him for, or we would not again be here now. He has had a difficult year, as have those around him, but it was absolutely necessary."

  His eyes swept the room, daring anyone to question his answer. No-one did.

  "What can we do?" asked the Aboriginal c
ouncilor.

  I nodded to Jane, and the meeting of the four stars on the way to Outback was replayed for everyone. As the best summary of our options at this time, I could see it was compelling viewing for those who hadn't been there.

  "What is our role in this?" asked the American Indian councilor.

  "Gaia is our bolt hole," I said, "assuming the Darkness comes up the spine. It provides a place the Human race can survive in, with a defendable entrance. The three inhabited planets can easily take up to five billion people each. Gaia itself, utilized wisely, can feed all those people, without compromising itself. Beyond that, potentially many billions of people can seek refuge here on stations. The means to move those stations exists, although this will require a huge building effort along the spine. We also have the specifications to build food production stations."

  I paused to gather my thoughts.

  "Gaia's role is to provide housing for the billions coming, in a sustainable format, which ensures what happened to Earth never happens again. It needs to provide space based food production to augment planet production. You also need to build Hubs, to join together stations which arrive singly or in small groups. And you will need to police the system effectively, since a large number of displaced people are going to turn up feeling dispossessed, or believing they have the right to rule. Ultimately, the council is going to need to come to grips with being a sector level government."

  There was silence. Objectionable broke it.

  "You mentioned the need to police, and yet you will be taking Galactica with you? What do we do without her?"

  "I can replace her with a Missile Cruiser. And I think we can also rustle up a squadron of light fighters."

  I looked at Walter Harriman.

  "General Harriman. Would it be possible to call for volunteers among your Talon squadrons to immediately move here to take up a role as system police, under the council's supervision?"

  "It would," he replied. "I'll send off the orders immediately, and have at least a Squadron here within two days."

  "Thank you General," said Objectionable, still not looking happy. "There is one thing I don’t like in all of this. So much depends on Admiral Hunter. What happens if he is killed as soon as the Darkness appears?"

  "Then leadership falls to the senior Military officer in each sector," answered Marshall Bigglesworth. "We have a basic plan. No one person is vitally important to the plan. Admiral Hunter has committed himself outside of our space, should the Darkness appear there. The rest of us here come into play should the Darkness appear inside our space, or when it reaches the Hawaii system heading up the spine. That is our first major choke point, where a good part of our forces will be waiting. If we fall there, those who remain will take up the challenge."

  "There are a number of choke points along the spine," I said. "Each one will be prepared as best we can. The last ones if the Darkness comes up the spine, are Midnight, Bad Wolf, Nexus, and Outback. Each of those systems provides the Darkness with a single entry point, and if the Darkness can bleed, we will make it bleed in each of them."

  I sighed, without realizing it was obvious to others.

  "What Jon?" asked Aline.

  "If the worst comes to the worst, Outback will become the staging area for stations and ships, waiting for the Door into Gaia to open again. If need be, we'll need to hold those choke points for as long as necessary to give our people time to escape. When the door opens, Gaia will turn from a system with a few million to a system of more than ten billion. You must be ready to cope with the influx. You may or may not get military ships to help you at the time. But given as much of humanity which can be made mobile will come through that jump point in a five day period, you must be ready to receive."

  "And if no-one comes through?" asked the Indian councilor.

  "We will all be dead. Humanity will be dead. Each time the Door opens from now on, one of three things will happen. One. No-one comes through, meaning you are all that’s left. Two. Billions pour through from the moment the Door opens. Three. The Darkness pours through the moment the Door opens."

  A number of the civilians shuddered.

  "How do we defend against the last?"

  "You don't. But I have some ideas to prevent that scenario from happening."

  Objectionable stood, and I turned to face him.

  "This is unacceptable. I insist this system be sealed behind you when you leave, so nothing can come through ever again."

  Sixteen

  I found out where Miriam and Eric had been, which had made them almost be late for the meeting.

  Miriam and I were sitting in a nice restaurant down on Gaia Five, enjoying the long delayed Valentine meal I'd promised her. It was just the two of us, and no-one except Jane knew where we were. She was dressed in a lovely pale green evening dress, and I was in a medium gray lounge suit, over a red shirt, minus necktie. The single red rose I’d given her was sitting in a small vase in the center of the table, and the heart shaped box of chocolates was sitting next to her. So far at least, I seemed to have done Valentine's Day correctly. Albeit months late.

  "We were in your room on Galactica," she said with a grin, "playing Wing Commander. If it hadn't been for Jane, we would have been late for the meeting."

  "Who let you in there?"

  "Your mother of course."

  "Figures."

  "I know you sent us both a computer which could run those old games for Christmas, but it's not the same thing as running them on your rig."

  I opened my mouth to tell her I hadn't sent her anything at all, and shut it again immediately. What was the point in spoiling the moment?

  "Different? How?"

  "Your rig evolved. The computers we received were custom built to the end result. Yours though shows how you built it, and the mismatch of parts which you cobbled together over time. I also loved your gaming chair, antique as it looks, with its joystick and keyboard mounted on the arms, and the multitude of screens around it. I could spend days in there, forgetting the rest of the universe."

  "I did."

  We both chuckled.

  The main course arrived, and conversation lagged as we ate. After, while we waited for dessert, the topic went back to the afternoon's meeting.

  "What gives with that councilor who demanded the system be sealed when we left?" she asked me.

  "I'm guessing, but I think he represents the non-spiritual people who live here, who are so used to being hidden from the universe, they can't cope with the whole concept of things changing. He certainly ended the meeting on a way out note."

  "Was that his intention?"

  "I thought so. But it won't change anything."

  "Is there any way to seal up the system? From either side?"

  "I can think of some ways."

  "Name one?"

  I thought for a moment.

  "In theory, on this side, we could build a Dyson Sphere like station around the entire jump point, so anything jumping in, would hit a solid object on down jump, or be shredded by as many internal guns as would fit. But there are so many potential problems with doing it, I'm not sure it's feasible. And it would certainly take months or even years to get the engineering right and build it. Fine if the Darkness is years away, we may solve the issues by then. But if we don’t have years, whatever we put in place for next year, may not work because it was hurriedly designed and built."

  She went blank while I was saying all that, but was nodding before I finished. She'd obviously been looking up what a Dyson's Sphere was.

  "What do you see as the main problem with it?"

  "Two actually. The first is that continuous impacts on the inside of the sphere for five days straight, repeated over a number of years, could weaken the structure enough that without yearly strengthening, it would one day break."

  She nodded.

  "The other is what happens when the interior becomes full of debris. The nature of the jump point would expel to the originating side any debris in the jump
point itself, giving warning on the other side, and allowing strategies to be tried to break whatever was destroying the ships going through. Eventually, something would work. And there is a very real possibility the entire structure would suddenly jump to the other side, if enough debris was crushed together so everything touched the sphere itself, as if solid."

  "That’s a depressing thought."

  "Especially if after a few years, complacency and cost cutting stopped or reduced maintenance to the point where a weakness forms."

  "And once there is a breach?"

  "All is lost."

  She shivered.

  On that somber note, dessert arrived, and our spirits were restored. Conversation turned to more general matters. I had a second dessert while she lingered over coffee.

  Jane picked us up at the spaceport using a Lightning, and we were back on board by midnight.

  Back in my suite, the dress slipped off her easily, revealing lacy underwear underneath. My suit took longer, and for a moment I regretted not having been a bit more creative with my briefs. They didn’t stay on long enough to have bothered about though, and with both our underwear in a pile on the floor with the rest of our clothes, such things as what they looked like were quickly forgotten.

  Angel came in sometime later expecting to curl up next to me for sleep, but left again when neither of us would stay still for more than a few seconds at a time, constantly threatening to roll on her by accident.

  Eventually, both of us intensely satisfied, we went to sleep.

  Miriam was still there when I woke in the morning, as was Angel. We both made a point of stroking and tickling her to make up for last night, before showering together. We shared a light breakfast in my dining room. I was back in 'slinky red', and Miriam was in civvies.

  On the tip of my tongue was the question of how Aline felt about all this, but I didn’t have the guts to ask it, and I sure didn’t want to spoil what we’d just shared.

  Jane finally interrupted the conversation of two lovers, who hadn’t quite finished getting ready for a new day.