Tethered Worlds: Unwelcome Star

by Gregory Faccone

  On the near side of the construction frame a Legion suit was just aiming his rifle when he exploded into a cloud of rotating bits and red crystals. The frame tumbled away from the explosion before regaining control and rocketing off with the other suit. Glick's pack jetted intense lines of burning propellant, and she blasted after him, rifle first.

  "Keep working," Jordahk yelled to Cranium. "Max, keep an eye out."

  Jordahk sensed the helmet starting to conceal them again, but their location was known, and they couldn't relocate.

  "The first pair are closing," Max said.

  Two red circles arose briefly over the outside edge of the egress above them. The suits probably took a good look before ducking back behind the machine, their indicators winking out. Jordahk didn't know where they would pop up next. The time necessary to reacquire them could be the difference between life and death. At least they couldn't approach from the rear where the egress was synced.

  "Max, can't you do something?"

  "Wixom's tapping into Perigeum eyes out there. The support ships have taken a beating. He's pushing through damaged security systems."

  Red circles redrew beneath the vertical horizon of the egress. Moving closer, they split, readying an attack from disparate angles. Two more markers out in space, one red and one green, were highlighted by bright puffs of rocket exhaust. They zigzagged wildly against each other. Glick had her hands full.

  Jordahk clutched the unfamiliar no-suit rifle. Their power was almost in the category of sniper guns, so they didn't have smart barrels. He lined up the reticule on his crystal pane. The egress horizon wavered from the helmet's field. He wasn't going to get a true shot, but it was worse for them.

  "I've almost got this," Cranium said.

  Jordahk hoped so, then rethought his strategy. He lowered his rifle and raised his left arm. A no-suit was a match for any conventional suit in space. He was greatly under-utilizing it. A sub-whispered command made a full metal shield unfold on his left forearm. Space lacked air for scutums. Every bit of metal, propellant, and spare ammunition added to mass and slowed maneuverability. Glick's high-speed suit carried no shield, relying solely on evasiveness.

  No shield was going to stop a suit rifle for long, but the Legion couldn't focus on them. Jordahk maneuvered close to Cranium and angled his shield toward the middle of the two red circles.

  "Wixom, do what you can with the helmet."

  From the Earth side, an approaching aegis cruiser grew, though still dwarfed as it neared the spatial transition generated by the mammoth machine. Visually, the hexagon was the same as before, but now everything past the centerline was Earth's identical egress.

  As the aegis passed through, a vaporous white line delineated the threshold. Even without air to carry vibrations, Jordahk felt a heavy rumble in his chest. It was an artifact of the tremendous dimensional shearing occurring at the event horizon. Everyone knew organic flesh was scrambled if passed through unprotected. Even shielded, as was the crew of the aegis, they experienced short-term nausea or vomiting. He had a taste just being nearby.

  The aegis cruiser was enormous. It was one of those specialty ships used in fleet engagements. It had greater mass than a regular cruiser, due in no small part to the sturdy hexagonal plates stored along its equator. The ship was configuring for combat, pulling apart at mid-line. The dark, hexagonal plates, controlled by energy-intensive generated fields, were already arraying themselves in front, forming a giant protective arc.

  Jordahk marveled as it went by. He admired Cranium's ability to concentrate. The ship eclipsed the two darting circles in space representing Glick and her apparently skilled opponent. For the first time, Jordahk thought she might be outmatched.

  Suddenly, the two Legion suits burst above the egress horizon. One stayed behind his shield and closed with speed and evasive maneuvers. The second charged in half-attack mode, both shield and rifle outstretched. He maneuvered less erratically to aim.

  "They're here!" Jordahk said.

  Cranium stopped cracking, drew his grister, and sprayed shots at the half-attack aggressor. The wavering field mattered little when one blanketed an entire area with ammo nuts. Shots sparked off the suit's shield, rifle, and nearby egress. Even a powerful grister was unlikely to damage an armored suit, but the trooper didn't know instantly what was hitting him. His first and natural reaction was to pull back behind his shield.

  Jordahk brought up his rifle. "Wixom, angle the field, quick. Give me a clean shot."

  The pelted trooper came into focus. Sharply defined sparks flew off him as Cranium emptied a magazine in his general direction. Lining up the reticule, Jordahk couldn't get a shot past the legionnaire's shield.

  "Shoot through it," Wixom said.

  The surprise of hearing Wixom distracted Jordahk for a second, then he activated the trigger studs, and Max fired at the best instant. Energized particles created a magnificent, scintillating star at the front of his rifle. His thruster pack burst to life, jetting mightily to keep him more or less in place. The shot slammed into the Legion suit's shield, turning it into an inverted cone and stopping his momentum completely.

  "Holy ingots!" Jordahk felt tremendous current surging through his rifle.

  The bent shield could no longer cover the suit. Jordahk fired a second time. His target flew backwards before exploding in a round shock wave.

  The exchange bought the other suit time. He was upon them. The trooper penetrated the field, jet pack spraying propellant to aim his trajectory at Jordahk. They collided, clasping each other's arms so neither could bring his rifle to bear.

  Jordahk's thruster pack flared, keeping him from flying through the transition. Up close, the large size of the Legion armored suit was apparent. It out-massed the no-suit by three times at least. The legionnaire paid little mind to Cranium, who was armed only with a grister. Instead, he pressed Jordahk's arms back to break them. The servo enhancements of the Legion suit gave it incredible strength. Jordahk's arms were inched back farther until he was in pain.

  Cranium jetted up to the combatants, who were like two rockets attached at the nose. He grabbed one of Jordahk's arms in desperation, but could gain no leverage. Light surged through his octal tats as Cranium changed tacks and palmed the trooper's jet pack.

  "Hurry," Jordahk grunted.

  Something within still said he wasn't tapping the full potential of the no-suit. At this rate, he never would. Blood pumped in his ears. The numenium coupling sent a tingle throughout his body and the no-suit. For a moment Jordahk felt the suit was an extension of his body. His wrenched arms pushed back against the Legionnaire's.

  Cranium's face wore a crazy, octal expression.

  "Are you trying to crack his suit?" Jordahk said through clenched teeth. "We don't have time for that."

  "Not cracking, more like tampering. I just need to make his pack reset."

  As if on command, the trooper's jet pack sputtered a half second. Three seconds later, it did so again. Each time Jordahk gained ground in the propulsion war. Above, the mighty engines of the aegis pulled away into Adams Rush space.

  Jordahk glanced across the centerline. A grand ship was approaching. "That way. Quick!"

  He and Cranium's suits fired, turning all three of them. The data rider maintained contact to keep the Legion suit's pack malfunctioning. The trooper activated an emergency burn, causing massive amounts of thrust. But working against two suits and with the recurring malfunction, he lost ground. Jordahk felt the trembling in his chest again. The spatial vibration increased as they neared the transition.

  "Sorry," Jordahk said.

  White vapor gassed off the trooper's suit as it passed through the infinitesimally thin event horizon. A suit wasn't enough protection. The trooper shook violently as he passed through, then was still. Jordahk and Cranium's packs gushed a braking maneuver to keep them from passing through. The Legion suit, now technically many light years away, went completely inert. They watched it tumble toward Earth for a couple o
f seconds. The immense, approaching ship grew even larger.

  "Cranium, you've got to get that panel open."

  The data rider bolted ahead of Jordahk. "Just one more command, veritas, adam." Cranium reconnected and observed the panel with expectation. Nothing happened.

  "Coming your way!" Glick shouted over the comm. "The bastard's too damn good."

  Jordahk jetted faster to close the gap and get the data rider back under the field. He was almost there when red and green circles burst above the egress horizon into direct sight. Glick's Legion opponent was still riding the now-speeding construction frame.

  "I got it! I got it!" Cranium exclaimed. He looked down at the panel, which still remained stubbornly closed.

  Movement caught their eye on the other side of the centerline. The mirrored version of their access panel on the Earth egress opened. Light emanated from within, illuminating its edges.

  Cranium was dumbstruck. "M-mirrored."

  "Damn it!" Glick yelled.

  A star of light expanded on the frame. Jordahk's heart sank as he turned toward Cranium. A blast of sparks erupted off the egress right next to him. "Move with me. He saw you!"

  A scant second later, a line of white and red glitter flew out the back of Cranium's suit. He still wore the dumbfounded expression from his cracking misstep when he exploded.

  "Nooo!" Glick screamed.

  A long, brilliant trail flared next to her as the avian rocketed off. Jordahk saw the cobalt glow of its osmium cutting-edge. It was a device that relied on metal wings and hard air planes for violent atmospheric maneuvering. In space it only had its rockets, and was a much easier target.

  The zero-G frame maneuvered evasively, and the Legion suit, attached by his legs, fired a clean shot at the incoming bird. Distant sparks radiated from a direct hit. Amazingly, the jolted avian was not destroyed. It closed erratically, cutting straight through the construction frame, which exploded in a burst of propellant and spars. The trooper jetted out of the blast and set a new course.

  Flying straight through the explosion at high speed, Glick intercepted him with concussive impact. They spiraled off, locked in a death grip.

  Vittora was competent at espy warfare. She regained control of her remaining few after the destruction of the old command bot. It must have been doing some close range usurpation for the traitor, whose espies she now targeted aggressively. With both of them using bracers, locating each other would have to be done visually, and they were rapidly running out of remote eyes.

  Ermine was close. Their last espies tangled just 50 meters away. She remained still. Time was on the traitor's side if he had backup. She should have checked him out more thoroughly. A reflexive, recriminating head shake caused pain.

  Ermine had resources, but she was on familiar turf and confident in an even rifle match. But battered and cut off, this match wasn't even. She'd used, and would use, every trick to stay alive. Her husband was counting on her.

  "An espy has entered the target area," her AI link-said.

  Vittora was lying propped on her elbows, cradling the foamer. A small, dim VAD showed the positions of the enemy espy and her last.

  "Hold."

  A few seconds later, Ermine's floating metal marble had line of sight on a suspicious clump of branches. Her rifle fired from their midst.

  "Go now," she ordered her AI.

  In the distance, sparks burst as two espies took each other out. Thirty seconds later, she fired the rifle again at her best guess of Ermine's location. She would never be that sloppy, but did he know that?

  Then she saw him. He moved like a ghost, clothing colors matching the environment. His cunning impressed her in a treacherous sort of way. He was quite effectively getting into the best firing position to shoot at her rifle. Too bad for him she wasn't there.

  Her sniper gun had been trashed, but not the automount.

  It was getting dark as Ermine crept into position just meters from where she lay. This was going to be the last sunset for one of them.

  The crack of Ermine's rifle echoed as sparks mixed with rifle scrap flew off her automount. Ermine realized immediately it was a trap. His head whipped toward Vittora as he sprang to his feet. But before he could take his first bound, she let loose with a heavy trigger finger.

  A foamer wasn't an accurate weapon, but at this range it didn't have to be. Its smart shells exploded all around the traitor's body, covering him with hardening foam. Law enforcement, the primary users of foamers, would only fire short bursts to immobilize. Vittora was not law enforcement; she was justice.

  Ermine's free hand swiped foam away from his face before it hardened. The other aimed his rifle at her heart. She hit his hand, jarring the rifle free. It flipped, but didn't hit the ground before a hardened string of foam snagged it. An errant shot exploded before the traitor's face. He staggered, trying to swipe the suffocating foam free, but his partially encased arms could no longer reach. Just inches from his covered face, they strained in desperation, trembled, and finally went still.

  Vittora closed her eye to the sad end of a sad man.

  Just getting to her feet spiked pain. She gazed up at the egress, sensing something familiar. She said a silent prayer for her son as she hobbled toward the water. Upstream, a cloudy hemisphere of white sparkles sat where their cabin should be, and it was shrinking.

  "It's the First Cruiser," Max said unnecessarily.

  The ship kept coming, kept growing, but had yet to arrive. Jordahk stared at it without seeing. His shocked mind wrestled with despair.

  Cranium was gone. Sudden combat death. He understood now how it could traumatize. He was just talking to the cocky data rider. The loss would wreck Glick, if she survived.

  Jordahk didn't think to his survival. With Crae-Tarn's helmet working again and only one person left to cover, he could slip away. A no-suit was hard to find even without it. On Adams Rush, the terminator was just touching the Thule-Riss Range. What had his parents gone through since he left? Were they fighting even now and still hoping against hope for a miracle? He felt a sudden inexplicable but undeniable thread of strength. He reached for it in desperation, and it brought him back to the fight.

  Across space, the advance of the Adams Rush Navy was halted. The huge shielding system of the aegis was fully deployed. Its hexagonal plates extended away from the hull, blunting a swath of incoming fire. It would take a miracle to dislodge the P-stars.

  "What now, kid?" Max asked.

  Jordahk drifted over to the event horizon, near the Earth side access panel Cranium had opened. A tertiary plasma feed. He could destroy every system attached to that particular feed, and it wouldn't disrupt an egress after sync. The plan had been a long shot even when they thought they could open a panel before sync.

  As he understood Ek-Hein's technology, a shot now would have to be energetic enough to bounce all the way upstream into the secondary plasma conduits. That might be enough to cause an emergency shutdown, or disrupt the sync. But even if he could get one of Ek-Hein's resonance shells to work—and that was a big "if"—and he could make it energetic enough, an autobuss could not shoot around corners.

  Jordahk looked around. "M—" he cleared his throat. "Max, is there any angle I can get on the panel from this side?"

  "From data I gathered during cracking, a suitable angle onto the plasma line isn't available this side of the transition."

  Just a meter from the event horizon, Jordahk could feel the dimensional shearing. He reached out a hand. "Max, do you think?"

  "Not a chance, kid. You need ship shields and a hard shell. I don't know everything this suit can do, but I'm pretty sure warm plasma isn't on the list."

  Jordahk was in the uncommon position of observing two planets from orbit at the same time. Earth was beautiful. The stark white and blues made Adams Rush faded by contrast. But the familiar mountain range below was tinged with violet, and the air down there was cool and fresh.

  "Some people live on stale, airless moons."


  "Ah, yeah," Max humored the verbalized musing.

  Jordahk grasped a legacy shell from his belt stor-all. He could feel it was almost something, almost not a useless hunk of platinum group metals. The no-suit exposed his autobuss, and he took it from his thigh, because he pretty much didn't know what else to do. Breaking open its breach with a mental command, he stared down into the empty legacy chamber. After a couple of seconds, he loaded the shell and flipped it shut.

  Jordahk had fired a legacy shell only twice in his life, but that was enough to know this one was different. The autobuss struggled to determine whether this one was functional or a useless ingot of bismuth. He tried futilely to make it believe. The exercise triggered compy activity.

  Like most people, he didn't care for self-determined activity in his compy, especially unauthorized. "What is—"

  Jordahk paused, examining the sensation. It wasn't Max or Wixom. It came from within the numenium coupling, but it wasn't the strange Judicum presence that had come to his aid at Max's restoration.

  "Just how many radiating personalities are in this thing?" Jordahk exclaimed.

  "It's not under our control," Max said distantly. "I don't think Wixom can access anything in the numenium coupling."

  A voice that reminded him of his grandfather sounded in his ear. "Ohrias."

  Then Jordahk saw what he thought to be a recording. He experienced it from the perspective of someone else. It was like a waking dream. Visuals were projected onto his crystal panes, but he experienced more than what was shown. A large room was lit from a single source. It was as if he knew what was around him in the room. He could almost smell it.

  Someone was sitting at a table surrounded by VADs. He spoke with the voice of Aristahl, but much younger and less mellowed.

  "Many have traveled too far down circus paths. Now scattered from Numen, the fuller picture of mystic divined as a group is fractionated and lost amongst individuals. We had only scratched the surface regarding the genesis of our breakthroughs, the relationship between the sub-quantum circus and the spirit fields of the brain."