Earth Eternal (Earthrise Book 9)

by Daniel Arenson

  Marco frowned. "But I still remember him dying, remember his chest torn open . . ." He shuddered.

  "Ouch!" said Elvis, touching his chest. "Let's not remember that."

  Lailani nodded. "Because when saving him, I faked his death. I had to make sure the timeline remained intact. And that was just one small sortie into the past that changed one tiny thing."

  "I am not tiny!" Elvis said.

  "Actually, you are a bit scrawny," Lailani said, smiling for the first time that day. "But you're still much bigger than me, so just hang nearby and you'll always seem tall."

  Elvis slung an arm around her. "Happy to comply."

  Lailani leaned against him. Some color returned to her cheeks, and her voice was more steady. "Now imagine thousands of grays traveling back in time. That has the potential to create massive, destructive paradoxes. The Tick-Tock King can detect any potential paradoxes before they happen. He can then prevent them—calling back a certain saucer, maybe retreating a certain infantry company. And if a paradox does happen, he can alert his guys. He can have them fix it. Like I fixed the paradox by faking Elvis's death. The Tick-Tock King has all this power. Without him, the grays cannot time travel."

  Addy popped up from behind a fallen column. "No problem! So we use Lailani's hourglass. We fly with the mechas to the future. We smash their pyramid and kill that Tic-Tac-Toe guy."

  They all turned to gaze at the mechas. Kaiyo and Kaji stood nearby, towering over the desert.

  "It won't be that easy," Lailani said. "Many saucers defend Gehenna, city of the grays. Many grays fill Golgoloth, the pyramid in the city center. This is an enemy beyond any we have faced. The grays are smarter and stronger than the scum and marauders. Their cruelty . . ." She grimaced and doubled over. "It still burns me. I can still see it, feel it inside me. Pure evil. They are formed of pure evil."

  Marco knelt beside Lailani and held her close.

  "We've always been good at defeating evil," he said, embracing her.

  "Especially me," said Addy. "I'll fly Kaji, and Marco will fly Kaiyo, and we'll get the job done."

  "And I'm going with you," Elvis said, raising his chin. "Hell, I missed most of the Scum War and the entire damn Marauder War. I ain't missing this."

  "I'll go too," Lailani said.

  Epimetheus barked as if he too volunteered.

  They all turned to look at Petty. The president stared at them, one by one. His eyes were hard, his face stony, but Marco thought he saw something beyond that armor. Something sad. Weary.

  "I do not like sending young men and women to battle," the president said. "Every soldier who has died under my command is a burden on my shoulders. Yet again we face a great threat. This time it is not an alien threat. It is ourselves. This is a battle against our own future, our own souls. The enemy plans to strike us on our turf. So we must strike him on his. Captain Marco Emery and Captain Addy Linden will lead the mechas to strike at Gehenna, capital city of the grays. Each of you will command a company of elite infantry, which I will send with you—one inside each mecha. You will travel to the future. With the mechas, you will break through the grays' aerial defenses. And with your infantry, you will break in to the pyramid and slay the Oracle."

  Marco inhaled deeply. He looked at the ruins around him. At a city that had fallen again and again, suffering conquest after conquest, witness to genocide after genocide—yet always rising like the phoenix. He looked at the phoenix banners that waved over the city, emblems of the Human Defense Force. He looked at his comrades. At Petty, his president, his leader, a solid pillar in a crumbling world. At Lailani, a woman he still loved with all his heart. At Elvis, back from the dead, himself like a phoenix. Finally he looked at Addy—his oldest, his best friend, the love of his life.

  "I never wanted to fight," Marco said softly. "I wanted to be a writer. Yet the scum attacked. I wanted to find some peace after my military service. Yet the marauders invaded our world. I moved to an island, and I got married, and I wanted to forget about war. Yet now the grays have come. Perhaps it's my lot to always fight. To be a soldier. I love this world. Earth expelled me after the Scum War, but this is still my home. This is still where my heart beats. These are the people I love. So I will do this. One final time, I will fly to war. Because I would never run from a fight. Not when Earth is on the line."

  Addy placed an arm around him, mussed his hair, and kissed his cheek. "I'm with you every step of the way, Poet. Always."

  Elvis and Lailani glanced at each other, then at Petty. "What about us?"

  Petty stepped closer to them. "Captain de la Rosa, Corporal Ray, you two stay here. With me."

  Lailani and Elvis began to object at once, speaking about how they'd never abandon Marco and Addy. Epimetheus barked along with them.

  "Enough!" Petty said. "It's too dangerous to send you two. I've already confirmed that with my physicists. Both of you, de la Rosa and Ray, have already time traveled, already messed up your timelines. It's too risky to send you on another journey through time. Not without risking paradoxes. You two stay here." The president smiled wryly. "If Emery and Linden fail, you'll have plenty of fighting on your hands."

  Lailani looked at Marco. He met her eyes.

  Ten years ago, she'd have howled in protest, Marco thought, insisting that she wants to go kill the damn grays. Now her eyes are haunted.

  Lailani stepped toward him. She embraced him.

  "Be careful, Marco," she whispered. "He's dangerous. He's smart. He sees so much."

  Addy raised her hand and flipped off the heavens. "Then see this, Tic-Tac-Toe. We're coming to kick your—" She paused and looked at Lailani. "Does he have an ass? Or are we back to thoraxes?"

  "Get some sleep tonight, Emery and Linden," Petty said. "You leave tomorrow morning."

  Addy's eyes widened. "So soon? Can't we at least spend a week here, getting drunk and eating chicken fingers? We do have a time machine, you know."

  "Not if the grays destroy our world," said Petty. "And they might strike any day now. Go rest. That's an order. You fly out at dawn."

  * * * * *

  They spent their last evening together among the ruins, having a campfire.

  Marco. Addy. Lailani. Elvis. Four last soldiers of the Dragons Platoon of Fort Djemila.

  "Four friends left," Marco said softly. "Most of the others are gone."

  "Well, aren't you a ray of sunshine," Addy said, but she quickly grew solemn too. They all stared into the fire.

  "I still can't believe you guys are captains now," Elvis said, breaking the silence. "I mean, you guys outrank Ben-Ari!"

  Marco smiled thinly. "Last I heard, she's a major in the reserves, and she ranks even higher in HOPE. She still outranks us. But she's busy commanding the flagship of humanity, seeking allies, leaving us here in the trenches."

  Elvis whistled softly. "Fuck. You guys have been busy during the past eleven years. Earth has been busy."

  Lailani leaned against him. "We missed you. A lot."

  "Aww, they're in love!" Addy said. "Look!"

  "Sorry, babe," Elvis said, "you missed your ride on the old love boat." He pointed at himself with both thumbs.

  "Damn," Addy said. "I'm heartbroken. I'm going to drown my troubles in food." She stepped aside, leaned behind a pile of fallen bricks, and returned with a rake. "Look what I got, bitches!"

  "Oh God," Marco said.

  Addy grinned. "You knew this was coming."

  She skewered hot dogs on the rake's prongs and roasted them over the campfire. They feasted. Elvis sang a tune, and they joined in. They reminisced. They laughed. They stared silently into the fire, afraid of tomorrow.

  Addy left the campfire, then returned again with a six-pack of beers.

  "Where do you keep finding these things?" Marco said.

  "I have a nose for it," Addy said. "You remember how I always found us food and drink at boot camp." She handed out cans of beer. "Let's drink. For victory. And for lost friends."

  Marco raised a
can. "For lost friends."

  Lailani stood up and raised her beer. "For lost friends."

  Elvis rose too. His eyes were damp. His pain was fresher. For him, most of the platoon had only died weeks ago.

  "For lost friends," he said, voice choked.

  They drank. They sat in silence, gazing at the fire. Addy curled up by Marco, and they wrapped a blanket around themselves. Lailani leaned against Elvis, and he placed his arms around her. They remained outside for a long time, not wanting to sleep, not wanting dawn to come.

  Finally Lailani fell asleep, nestled against Elvis, and Epimetheus slept beside them. Yet Marco found no rest. He rose and left the campfire. Addy joined him, and they walked through the moonlit ruins of Jerusalem. She slipped her hand into his. The night was surprisingly cold. They found their way into a little garden of palm trees, and they paused and gazed up at the moon.

  "Hey, Poet," Addy finally said. "We'll be all right. Right?"

  He nodded. "Of course. We're always all right."

  She lowered her head. "Most of our platoon is gone. Even Kemi is gone. Poet, I don't want to be next." She turned toward him, held his hands, and looked into his eyes. "I love you so much. I'm happy with you. Finally, for the first time in my life, I'm truly happy. I don't want to lose this."

  "We'll survive this," Marco said.

  "How do you know?" she whispered.

  "Because the Leafs haven't won the World Cup yet," Marco said. "And you need to be alive to see that."

  "The Stanley Cup, silly. And they did win. Back in 1967." A tear streamed down her cheek. "We'll see them win next year. Once we come back. Once there's peace. We'll go to that hockey game. We'll see it live. We'll eat hot dogs and drink beer, and Lailani and Elvis will come with us. And we'll forget about everything. About the wars. About what happened in Haven. And we'll live happily ever after. You and me." She pulled him into an embrace. "You're the love of my life, Marco."

  He kissed her. "And you are mine."

  She laughed through her tears. "You're the poet, and that's the best line you can come up with?"

  He mussed her hair. "Oh, shush. I write novels. I haven't written a poem in years. Tonight, I'd rather kiss you."

  He kissed her for a long time under the moonlight. They lay down between the palm trees, and they made love in the shadows—slow, gentle, growing faster and more desperate until their passion flared, and he looked into her eyes and whispered, "I love you."

  She lay afterward in his arms, her head against his chest.

  "I want to stay like this forever," she whispered. "Here in your arms. I feel safe and loved. Never let me go."

  He kissed her cheek, and they slept.

  Dawn rose golden and cold over Jerusalem. A few camels chewed their cud under an old archway. Doves pecked for seeds outside an ancient church. Fighter jets shrieked overhead, and tanks rumbled over ruins. As the sun emerged over the desert, the soldiers of the HDF marched toward the alien mechas. One company, under the command of Captain Addy Linden, entered Kaji, the female goddess. The second company, following Captain Marco Emery, entered Kaiyo.

  With roaring fury and blazing fire, with smoke and dust that blew over the city, the two mechas rose. They soared, engines thrumming, bending the palm trees below, scattering bricks across the ruins.

  They flew into deep space. They flew until Earth was but a blue marble in the distance. They kept flying, leaving the heliosphere, for they would not rip spacetime within the solar system. They flew into the deep darkness.

  The Ryujin flew with them, a small starship, barely visible by the mighty mechas. When they reached interstellar space, they slowed to a halt.

  Inside the Ryujin's cockpit, Lailani pulled out her hourglass and gave it to HOBBS. The robot tilted it. The sand spilled. Ahead in space, a ring of blue lights shimmered. Spacetime tore open. The portal appeared, reaching forward a million years.

  Kaji flew into the portal first, vanishing at once.

  Kaiyo followed.

  Behind them, the portal closed.

  * * * * *

  Lailani sat in the cockpit, gazing at the hourglass.

  The last grains of sand fell and burned away.

  The hourglass dimmed.

  It rested in HOBBS's hands, empty.

  Lailani looked up at HOBBS. "The sand is gone."

  HOBBS lowered his head. "Yes, mistress."

  She looked back out at space. The mechas had been gone for only a few seconds. She watched the portal fade away, leaving Marco and Addy a million years in the future. Stranded.

  She looked at HOBBS again.

  "Why didn't you tell me?" she whispered.

  HOBBS would not raise his head. "I am sorry, mistress. President Petty forbade it. He programmed me to keep the knowledge from you. Sending Marco and Addy to the future used up all the azoth sand. We cannot reopen the portal. We cannot bring them back home. Petty said that if you knew, you would never agree to send Marco and Addy to the future."

  She gazed out into space. She couldn't speak louder than a whisper. "I told them I'd reopen the portal for them. That I'd give them a week, then reopen it. HOBBS. We've sent them to their deaths."

  The robot nodded. "To save humanity, yes. We sacrificed the few to save the many." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "I am sorry, mistress. I wish I could have told you."

  Lailani stared out at space. The portal was gone. Marco was gone. Addy was gone.

  Her tears fell. Her chest felt empty.

  I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

  She lowered her head, covered her face, and sat silently in her starship, alone in the vast darkness.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  The Lodestar flew toward it—the largest structure Ben-Ari had ever seen. She stood on the bridge, gazing at the megastructure, her eyes damp.

  "A Dyson sphere," she whispered. "An entire solar system enclosed within a metal shell." She couldn't help it; she laughed in awe. "It's amazing. It's the most amazing thing I've seen."

  It floated ahead, a metal ball in space, dotted with lights. The structure itself was simple enough, an unexciting sphere. If she hadn't known its diameter, Ben-Ari would have shrugged, perhaps thinking it a mere satellite. But the size. The size of the damn thing. It spun her head. The sphere ahead was larger than a planet. Larger than a star.

  It enclosed an entire star system.

  Here was the fabled Lemuria, home of the Galactic Alliance. If the stories were true, the Alliance headquarters were inside this sphere.

  The professor stood beside Ben-Ari, so giddy he was positively hopping.

  "A Dyson sphere! An actual Dyson sphere!" His eyes were like saucers. "Incredible! Did you know, Einav, that science fiction authors as far back as the 1930s theorized that Dyson spheres might exist?"

  "I did not," she said.

  The professor nodded vigorously. "It's true. You see, even back then, scientists understood that advanced alien civilizations would require massive amounts of energy. The best place to find such energy? Their stars! At first, civilizations would place solar panels upon their planets. That way, they could begin to collect some of their star's energy. But very soon, as the civilization would advance, their energy needs would grow. They would begin to place solar panels in space, to let them orbit their star. Over time, more and more solar panels would be raised. Eventually the most advanced civilizations—truly technological empires—would want to harness every last drop of energy their star provides. The solution? A Dyson sphere. It's a shell that encompasses the entire star. On the outside, it's dark and cold. But the inside! Ah, the inside is coated with solar panels, letting no photon escape into interstellar space. The entire energy of the star—contained within the sphere, powering the civilization within. The sphere before us has the diameter of Earth's orbit around the sun. Astounding!"

  Ben-Ari stared at the massive sphere as they flew closer, though massive seemed an understatement.

  "I can barely comprehend building something so big," she said.
"Earth would be invisibly small against this sphere, like a grain of sand on a beach ball. How does one build anything so large? Where do you get all the material?" She blew out her breath. "The Galactic Alliance must truly be astoundingly powerful. We'd seem to them like apes."

  The professor nodded excitedly. "Like worms! Have you heard of the Kardashev scale?"

  Ben-Ari nodded. "Yes. I've been studying it as part of my classes." She had been spending many evenings studying electronic courses from Galactica University, working toward her undergraduate degree. "On the Kardashev scale, there are three types of civilizations. A Type I civilization can collect all the solar energy reaching its planet. A Type II civilization can harness the total energy of its star."

  The professor nodded. "Very good, Captain. What we see here is a Type II civilization. The Galactic Alliance has managed to build a Dyson sphere, to collect the entire energy of its star. Thus, they are comfortably a Type II civilization."

  Ben-Ari winced. "And Earth isn't even a Type I civilization yet. To qualify for Type I, you need to harness the entire solar energy reaching your planet. Earth only collects a small portion of its solar energy, letting most go to waste. We still burn fuel half the time."

  "We were on our path toward becoming a Type I civilization before the scum attacked," the professor said. "Sadly, they set us back a century."

  "I just hope the Galactic Alliance is forgiving. I'm not too excited about showing up, waving, and saying we're a Type Zero." She frowned and turned toward the professor. "Is there a Type III civilization?"

  "In the books, yes," said the professor. "A Type III civilization can harness the entire solar power of its galaxy. No such civilization exists in the Milky Way. As far as we know, none exists in the cosmos. At least none that we've detected."