Pandi felt a smile come across her face. “Die, you bastard,” said her vocal cords outside her conscious control, and her finger squeezed and held down the trigger.
The particle beam only had twenty centimeters to travel before it hit the face of the Emperor Alphonso Kitticaris. The flesh on his face converted to vapor as the beam of protons blasted through his skull, destroying his brain in an instant, even while that organ was thinking its last thought. That thought was disbelief that he was being killed. The beam hit the back of his helmet, normally a blow that would glance from the hard metal. But this beam continued for the more than three seconds that were needed to burn all the way through. By that time the entire head was vapor, even the hard carbon laced bone of the skull.
Pandi’s faceplate lowered as she pulled the trigger, protecting her from the superheated steam that came spurting from the Emperor’s helmet. She felt her own control returning with the death of the Emperor, and the filtration of her air by the suit that was quickly removing the pheromones from her breathing gas, while her system nanites cleaned up the chemicals that were flowing through her bloodstream.
Thank you, computer, she said, looking at the body before her, the suit still in the standing position that had been the last command it had received from the destroyed brain that had been its controller. But I have to ask. Die, you bastard?
It seemed appropriate, said the computer. Something that you would say. And I think it had the added effect that you would want.
Pandora nodded her head, then turned and knelt by Watcher, holstering her pistols, then reaching out to put her hands on his shoulders. “Are you OK?” she asked, retracting her faceplate once again.
“I’ll be fine, once this metal coffin releases me,” he said with a smile.
“We’ve won, you know,” she said, spraying more nanites on his suit joints to speed the process, not wanting her man trapped any longer than necessary.
“We still have work to do,” he said, his eyes unfocusing a bit as he linked into the com net. “We have to show these people that they are now free, and stop the bloodbath that is sure to occur when the downtrodden take on their masters.”
Let them kill the bastards, thought Pandi, before the memory of her not being in control returned. The complete and total helplessness, after only the briefest exposure to mind control chemicals. She could only imagine the people who had been exposed to the chemicals and more for years. They really had no choice, the most of them. So how can I blame them. The people here will, of course, especially people like Garcia, who didn’t submit.
“I think the vid of Kitticaris’ death will prove that they are no longer under the despot,” she said. “And the arrogant asshole was too much of a megalomaniac to set a succession in place.”
One of the joints on Watcher’s suit began to move, and less than five minutes later the armor began to open, freeing him. “Then let’s go talk to these people,” he said, putting his arm around Pandi’s armored shoulders.
* * *
Less than a second after the heart of the Emperor Alphonso Kitticaris, an organ that had pumped blood for over a thousand waking years of his ten thousand year existence, stopped beating, the bomb aboard Vengeance detonated with the fury of a hundred gigatons. Added to that were the fifty gigatons from the antimatter already aboard the ship, in engine storage compartments and missile warheads. The ship was not close enough to the closing Imperial ships to do much damage, mainly putting some heat and radiation into the hulls of vessels that were still in the vacuum above the atmosphere.
The crews and commanders of the ships stared in a shock that lasted minutes, realizing what could have happened to them if they had closed on the ship down in the planet’s atmosphere. Ten minutes later, a transmission reached the ships, and they were in shock again as they witnessed the death of the man who had ruled their Empire since long before any of them were born. Followed by a vid of the man they knew as the Abomination, telling them that they were now free people. Some, the less susceptible to the brainwashing of the Empire, took that message to heart almost immediately. Others would not be able to think with a clear mind for days to weeks, but eventually the message would get through.
Epilogue
One Standard Solar Year Later
President Tony Garcia looked up from his desk as the com chimed, the tone of the signal letting him know who was on the other side. He hit the commit, a smile on his face, and watched as the face of a beautiful red haired woman formed.
“My Lady,” he said, bowing his head, his smile growing.
“Now Tony. You know I don’t take with any of that putting on airs.”
Garcia smiled again. It was one of the things he loved about the lady that was one of the advising pair of the Confederation. “And what can I do for you today, Pandora?”
“I’d prefer Pandi, but you’re moving in the right direction. We just wanted to see how everything was coming on that planet of yours.”
Much better, thought Garcia, looking at the holo picture on the wall that showed his inauguration, and Watcher and Pandora Latham standing with him on the podium. And so much better now that we are no longer an Empire, but only one planet among many in the Confederation. No longer hated by our neighbors. “Everything is going great,” he answered, truthfully. “The children are absorbing the new sciences and technologies like it’s their mother’s milk. And even a stodgy old engineer like myself is finding that I can learn new things.”
Garcia looked past the com holo, to the wall holo that gave a view of the city, which was back to its beautiful self, improved really, without all the propaganda boards floating through the sky. “And what might you be doing this fine day?” he asked.
The woman smiled, and the holo expanded to show the busy bridge of a ship behind her. “Why, what I always wanted to do. Explore the stars. And bring the light of civilization to those who have lost it, just like my evangelizing daddy wanted to bring his doctrine to his neighbors who didn’t believe like he did. Only we’re actually giving them the truth.”
Garcia wasn’t really sure what the woman was talking about. He knew that she was from another era, from the time before humanity had made it to the stars, millennia before the rise of the first Empire. Some of her notions were foreign to him. To anyone not of his time. But he really knew all he needed to know about her. She was the definition of a good woman. He smiled at that last thought. Even if she does like to kill things a little too much. But most of the things she kills need killing.
“Drop on by the system when you have a chance,” he told her. “And I’m looking forward to the convention coming.” They were going to enact and actual constitution, all of the worlds and kingdoms already involved in the Confederacy. Making things official, as she liked to say.
“See you then, Tony. I mean, Mr. President.” The holo went blank, leaving Garcia to his own thoughts once again. We did it, he thought, turning his chair and gazing out the window that looked over the parks of the city from his small office. It took some outside help, of course. He looked up the mountainside, to the palace of their former master, which had been converted into a museum, lest they forget the horrors of the past, and for some reason repeat them.
We will never forget, thought the President of Kallis, his eyes now wandering up to the huge globe of Odin, dominating the sky. Let any tyrant that tries to take our freedom from us remember that as well. We will never forget.
* * *
“Three inhabited planets,” said the science officer of Confederation Exploration Ship Enterprise.
Some on the Donut, including Watcher, had wondered at the significance of the name, which Pandi had taken from an obscure show that dated back to two dimensional video. But to her it fit, though her mission was pretty sure to extend past five years.
“Any signals?” she asked the large being that towered over everyone else on the bridge. He was a dracocentauroid, his race known as Phlistarans, and despite his looks he was a gentle and intelligent
creature. And it’s about time we only worried about the minds of our co-sentients, thought Pandi, looking into the mild brown eyes.
“One of the planets is broadcasting on the FM band. Another on a more primitive AM, while the third is devoid of signals, though the probes gave us this image.”
The holo showed a large ziggurat rising from the flood plains of a wide river. Small figures walked up the side of the structure in a line. They looked human at first glance, but a sweeping close up showed that they were not. The view moved to the top of the ziggurat, and Pandi gasped as she saw one of the beings open the chest of another and rip out an organ that, though not looking like a heart, was pumping out an orange fluid, indicating that it served the same function.
“Oh my,” said Pandi, watching the scene. “Another primitive culture.” She thought of how they would approach that culture. Because, unlike that old TV show, their prime directive called for total interference, the raising of people from their primitive superstitions back to the enlightenment of technic civilization.
And you’re about to get a rude awakening on how the Universe really works, she thought, looking into the alien face of that bloodthirsty priest as he raised the heart to the sky.
The End
Books by Doug Dandridge
Science Fiction
The Deep Dark Well Trilogy
The Deep Dark Well: An Adventure 40,000 years in the making. Pandora Latham was a Kuiper Belt Miner from Alabama. She’s used to landing on her feet, even when the next surface is through a wormhole, halfway across the Galaxy and 46,000 years in the Future. Pandora must discover the secret behind the end of civilization, and the enigma of the Immortal Watcher, the last survivor of the Empire that once ruled the stars. Her decisions will set the path for Galactic recovery, or a continuation down the roads of Barbarism.
To Well and Back: Pandora Latham is back, working Watcher’s plan to restore Galactic Civilization. But first she has to deal with the Xenophobes of the Nation of Humanity, back in the Supersystem with their sights set on making the Galaxy their own. Pandora is angry at the hyper religious Nation, and you don’t want to make a woman from Alabama angry.
The Exodus Series
Exodus: Empires at War: Book 1: The introduction to the Exodus Universe. Two thousand years prior mankind fled from the Predatory Ca’cadasans, traveling a thousand years and ten thousand light years to a new home. Now the greatest power of their sector of space, things seem to be going well for the New Terran Empire. Until the enemy appears once again at the gates. And the years have not softened the aliens’ stance toward Humanity.
Exodus: Empires at War: Book 2: The saga continues. The Ca’cadasans attack at the moment when the government of the Empire is at its most chaotic. There are other enemies as well, waiting for their chance to fall on the overwhelmed humans. And a young man with no ambition for power finds himself in the position he most dreads.
Exodus: Empires at War: Book 3: Sean is rescued, but he is not about to go back to the safety of the capital without striking back at the Ca’cadasans who have invaded his Empire. But will his decision put the lives of thousands at risk, as well as risking the safety of his own Empire, by depriving it of its leader.
Exodus: Empires at War: Book 4: Sean is crowned Emperor, and attempts to organize the Empire for war against the Ca’cadasans. But he finds that planning battles and winning battles are two different things. Defeat follows defeat. Can anyone snatch victory from the jaws of defeat? Or will the new Emperor fail before his reign even really begins.
Exodus: Empires at War: Book 5: Ranger: Cornelius Walbroski enters the rigors of Ranger training, becoming one of the augmented warriors of the Empire. But his first assignment, Azure, is one of the most deadly planets in the Galaxy, even prior to the coming of the Cacas. Can Cornelius survive his first mission? Or will promising career end before it really begins.
Exodus: Empires at War: Book 6: The Day of Battle: Sean and the Empire need a victory before human morale goes completely into the black hole. He develops a plan to bring the Ca’cadasans into battle in space of his choosing. But the Cacas are not an easy opponent, and they have plans of their own, for the Donut.
Other Scifi
Diamonds in the Sand: When a perfectly healthy scientist falls dead of an apparent heart attack, it is up to Sarasota Police Detective Lieutenant Gary Lariviere to find out what really happened. The scientist was working on Nanotechnology, a secret desired by everyone from the Government to the Mob. There are too many suspects, including the woman that Gary comes to love. The Army had made Gary better than human, but had they prepared him for the terrors that had been unleashed by the new technology?
The Scorpion: The Scorpion had been the world’s deadliest living terrorist. Kestral McMann had been in on the kill. Now The Scorpion is back as a mind upload, using clones to penetrate the tight security of an isolationist United States. McMann is the only man who can stop him. But can McMann survive the threat of his own side, and the insane President who leads the Nation, in time to stop The Scorpion from plunging the Great Satan back into the Stone Age.
The Shadows of the Multiverse: Something has been periodically wiping intelligence from our Universe through the ages. It’s back, and it’s up to three unlikely heroes, the Captain of a Battle Cruiser, a Physicist turned Archeologist, and a Child, to save the intelligence of the Universe from Monsters from another Dimension. Can they learn to use the powers of their unusual Quantum Minds to defeat creatures that have been playing the game for billions of years?
Afterlife: What if you didn’t believe in the afterlife of the World’s Religions? And what if science offered you the alternative, survival within the Virtual World of a computer, where your mental abilities are magnified and you can do anything you want? And what if the World decided that your way was wrong, and declared war on you, meaning to destroy your reality? What would you do? Afterlife, a tale of survival at all costs.
We Are Death, Come For You: When aliens strike the Tau Ceti colony, humankind knows that something bad is on the way. They prepare as best they can, but will it be enough against superior technology? The aliens are death worshippers, and only the extinction of the human race will satisfy their evil intent. There are wonders of tech on the horizon, but can they be deployed in time? Or will humankind have to depend on the smallest of their techs to save them?
Fantasy
The Refuge Series
Refuge: The Arrival: Book 1: A nuclear war in Central Europe opens the gates between dimensions, sending millions of Earth Humans into a land of myth, archetypes and fantasy. The Evil Emperor of the Ellala Elves sees the humans as energy to fuel his transformation to immortality. But the humans have brought their own weapons with them, as well as a race of Demigods who will battle the fantastic armies of Refuge. The war is on, and only one side will ultimately survive.
Refuge: The Arrival: Book 2: The Ellala have a plan to destroy the human military and capture the civilians. And the humans find that their weapons will soon cease to function. So it’s use it or lose it for the Earth Humans, and they use it with a vengeance. Tanks against Mages, Attack Helicopters against Dragons, and Nuclear Weapons against Death Gods. And the other peoples of the planet come forth as allies to the humans that they see as the fulfillment an Ancient Prophecy. But will it be enough?
Refuge: Book 3: The Legions: The human invaders are now without their technologies, at least those using explosives and internal combustion engines. But they still have knowledge of many other techs, especially the arts of warfare as practiced by the greatest infantry of the ancient world. Will it be enough to stand up to the half lich Emperor and his magical forces.
Refuge: Doppelganger: Set thousands of years after the arrival, Kurt von Mannerheim, the Immortal Emperor of the Imperium of Free Nations, must give up everything to save his Empress, the Elfin Princess Gwenara Elysius von Mannerheim. The world is at a crisis point as the Evil Tarakesh Empire, under its Immortal Emperor Heinrich Stuppleheim
, prepares to overrun the world with its Nazi Ideology. And Kurt must face a creature of legend that may prove too much for even his physical and mental abilities.
Other Fantasy
The Hunger: Abused wife, drug addict, prostitute; Lucinda Taylor had been victimized by men all her adult life. Left for dead by her pimp, Lucinda was turned by a passing vampire. When he is destroyed she becomes a free agent, slaking her hunger for blood on the bottom dwellers of society, the type of men who once victimized her. The crime boss of Tampa is her next target, and the City by the Bay is about to become a bloodbath. But can Lucinda avoid those who are hunting for her; the Priest, the FBI man, and a pair of Vampires who would like nothing better than to send one Avenging Vampire forever into the dark?
Daemon: A Steampunk Fantasy. The world is dying, the victim of the magic used by society for the last three hundred years. Daemon Corporation thinks they have the answer, stealing the life from other worlds, bringing from other dimensions the intelligences that inhabit them for sacrifice on Earth. But something has come with them, a force that is killing the employees of Daemon Corp. It is up to Forensic Mage Detective Jude Parkinson to find a way to stop the unstoppable, while keeping the head of Daemon Corp from silencing him to keep the dark secrets of the company out of the public eye.
Aura: Triplets are born on a world where the magical Aura decides the fate of its owner. Ariel is a girl with more than double the normal Aura, destined to become a mighty Priest or Mage. Aiden has a less than normal Aura, and is destined to be a soldier or laborer. While Arlen has no Aura at all, and is seen as an abomination in the eyes of the Church of Baalra the Dragon God, which has no power over those with Negative Auras. Fate will rip the siblings apart, then bring them back together as they battle to defeat the Dragon God and leave the Evil Empire, before Ariel is taken as the Avatar of Baalra, his mortal vessel on Earth.
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