“The sky is as bright as day,” said the trooper at the top of the hole as he pulled the older male up and into the free air.
“By Hrrottha, it has happened,” said Zzarr, looking up to the sky to the bright star that dominated it. It was painful to look at, and after a moment he was forced to look away. He looked through the spots over his field of view at the mountain valley they had entered. It was lit up as bright as day, more so if his memory hadn’t failed him.
“Why is the world still here?” he asked as his science councilor followed him out of the hole.
“We are seeing the light of the exploding star,” said the Scientist. “The radiation wave travels slightly slower than light, and will be along, soon.”
“Then we must pray to Hrrottha for the salvation of our souls,” said the Leader, feeling the joy of religious rapture coming over him. “For soon this world will fade, and we will face our judgment.”
“Shouldn’t we seek shelter, my Leader?” asked one of the troopers, as other people were helped from the hole.
“Blasphemy,” said the Staff Cleric, who was now getting back on his feet after crawling out of the hole. “The God will soon take us to his bosom, and who are you to try and escape his judgment.”
“I beg your forgiveness, your Excellency,” said the trooper, dropping to his knees.
“There is no time for argument,” said Zzarr, glancing back at the sky. He looked over at the Cleric. “Prepare for the ceremony. I want us to greet the God when he brings his hand down on the world. I want our place in paradise secured, while the nonbelievers are struck down to eternal punishment.” And I bet that the unbelievers believe now, and wish they had worshipped as we did. Too late, because our God is vengeful, and will not listen to the entreaties of those who turn to him in fear. They will burn, and their screams will be the chorus to our ears as we bask on the presence of our God.
* * *
“Why are you up here, First Councilman?” asked the Aide, finding Rizzit Contena on the rooftop of the Council Building. “Aren’t you afraid that the light from the star will kill you?”
“I couldn’t think of anything better to do with my time,” said the First Councilman, who was in the process of communing with his siblings, as he was sure most of the citizens of his country were doing. Maybe not most of them, he thought, looking down on a nearby church. Many of his citizens had flocked to the churches as soon as the news had come from the other side of the world of the bright light in the sky.
He looked back at his Aide, and could see that the male was terrified. “Nothing to fear from the light, Grozzit. It’s harmless in and of itself, though I wouldn’t stare into it if you wanted to keep your sight. No, it’s the radiation wave we have to worry about, and there’s really nothing we can do about it anyway.”
“You could have sought one of the shelters, First Councilman. With your rank, there was no way you would not have been admitted.”
And hopefully you with me, thought the leader of Tsarzor. But the future world will not need over the hill politicians, or political aides. The thoughts of his siblings came to him then, all in agreement with his thoughts, that the people of his nation did not need their elders looking over their shoulders as they rebuilt their world.
The sun was going down in the west, a large orange ball halfway below the trees of the large park in that direction. The sky was darkening, though there was still something strange about it. Rizzit turned around to look at the other side of the sky, the east, where a light was shining on the horizon that hadn’t been there on previous evenings. As the sun disappeared in the west, the light continued to brighten in the east, and what would normally be the coming of darkness was now merely a changeover of one day for another. Minutes after the sun had disappeared, the eye hurting light of the exploded star rose in the east.
It really happened, thought Rizzit, who, though he was sure it was fact, could not see it as real until it was seen by his own eyes. And thirty-eight hours before the invisible radiation strikes, he thought, and the dying starts.
His science advisors had told him that there would be some minor damage to the planet well before that wave arrived. The planet would go up in temperature, only a few degrees over several days, at most fifteen during the entire event. But that was enough to cause drought, famine, the melting of ice caps, all disasters that would bring pain and suffering to billions. Except they will all be dead by then.
Rizzit continued to watch the rise of the star, averting his gaze and looking out of the corner of his eyes to protect them from damage. He wondered why he bothered, but decided it was because he did not want to spend his last days blind as well as sick. The blindness might come soon enough anyway, when the radiation hit his nervous system. But until then, he didn’t see any reason to hasten the process.
The next evening he was again on the rooftop, watching as the sun set and the new, second sun rose, even brighter than the night before. Now only fourteen hours away from the front of the radiation wave, he knew that the rising of the true sun might be the last he would ever witness. He spent the night on the rooftop, watching more people stream into the churches, or loot and riot on the street, the disbelief of people in their own end manifesting in violence. His brothers joined him on the rooftop just before sunrise, wishing for them all to be together when the end came. They had decided they would not try to shelter from the radiation, but would greet it, taking in as much as possible in the shortest time in order to die quickly.
Or maybe not, as Kazzit, the financier, pulled out a case of syringes containing a drug that would ease them easily into the darkness of death, well before radiation could sicken them.
“We wait until the effects of the radiation are apparent,” ordered Rizzit to his siblings, who all nodded as they sent back their acceptance of his leadership to the end.
“But not too long,” said Mazzat, the general. “I don’t want to go out puking and shitting on myself.”
All agreed with that as well, and they turned to watch as the sun rose once again in the east, wondering if this would be the last they would ever see.
“Councilman,” came a call over his portable com. “Councilman.”
“What is it?” he asked, pulling out the com and looking at the face revealed, that of another of his aides. “Why are you disturbing us at a time like this? And shouldn’t you be with your family?”
“Sir. You have to see this.”
“See what?”
“The artifacts, sir. They’re glowing.”
“They were already glowing,” said the incredulous leader. “What in the hells are you talking about.”
“You have to see for yourself, sir,” said the Aide.
“Come on,” Rizzit told his brothers, heading for the doorway to the stairs.
He headed for the top floor conference room, where he knew a wide screen TV was located. It was already on when he entered the room, his brothers on his heels. And there was a view of one of the artifacts. Rizzit stopped in his tracks and stared, unable to believe his eyes, and not sure what they were telling him.
* * *
Captain Mandy Albright sat in her command chair on the bridge of the William Clark and stared at the holo of the planet she had been placed to observe. It wasn’t a job she was going to enjoy, watching the death of that world. She wasn’t worried much about her own ship or her people. They were hiding in the shadow of the planet, and not much of the radiation wave would get through that mass of rock, if any. Their electromagnetic fields were up at half strength, just as a precaution. Otherwise, they were in their shipboard coveralls, concentrating on recording the entire process with their ship’s sensors and the satellite net that was orbiting the planet.
“Something’s going on with the artifacts, ma’am,” called out Ensign da Conti from his sensor station.
“Show me,” she shouted in her nervousness, then forced herself to speak in a normal tone. “Show us, Ensign.”
Da Conti nodded and a
shot of the nearest artifact, curving above the atmosphere to the port and one thousand kilometers in, appeared on the main holo. “It’s glowing at three times its former luminosity, and increasing.”
“Energy readings?”
“Ten times normal and rising. I can’t tell where that energy is going, ma’am, but so far it’s not directed at us.”
“What about the other artifacts?”
The viewer switched to another, showing the same effects, as was a third. The view swept back to a composite shot from the satellites, and Albright felt her breath catch. The entire planetary system of artifacts was glowing, and it was increasing by the moment.
“Time to radiation wave impact, twenty-eight minutes,” called out the Tactical Officer. “This can’t be coincidence, ma’am.”
“Make sure the Admiral is getting this,” ordered the Captain, knowing that he wouldn’t receive these images until he returned to normal space, though the grav pulse would tell him much sooner as it was relayed through the probes he had left in normal space, giving him a short synopsis of the phenomenon.
“Should we move back a bit, ma’am?” asked the XO, Commander Sekumbe, from his station in CIC. “I would hate to see what happened to Challenger take us to the same place. Especially since we would go along with the Clark.”
“Back us out of here, Helm,” ordered Albright, nodding at the suggestion of her Exec. “Twenty gravities. All stop at ten thousand kilometers from current position.”
“Aye, aye, ma’am,” called out the Helmsman, setting the ship in motion.
“Energy readings twenty times normal ma’am. They’re…they’re rising off the charts. Still not directed at us.” The tone of the young Ensign’s voice let her know that he didn’t feel secure just because it wasn’t currently directed at them.
Now the objects were glowing bright enough to hurt the eyes, and there was a strange ripple effect around the edge of the globe. The viewer performed an automatic step-down in brightness to protect the sight of the crew, and had to buffer again a few moments later. At that point the ripple effect had increased to the level that the surface of the planet was hard to see. And then, with a flash, it was gone.
* * *
“What is happening?” demanded Zzarr as he looked up at the sky. The group had gathered out in the open, awaiting the manifestation of Hrrattha that they knew was on the brink. His security had set up the portable communications gear they had brought up from below so they could listen to the casts from all the other nations as they discovered they were about to achieve paradise, or be pulled down to hell. The priests in the party had set up an altar and had been celebrating continuously as they waited for the end, the others of the large party moving in and out of the celebration as the mood struck them. All were looking forward to the coming dawn, when the hand of their God would strike, as it was just about to strike at their enemies on the side of the planet facing that God.
But now everyone was looking to the sky, moonless this night, filled with the stars of the Perseus Arm. Except that those stars were starting to fade for no apparent reason. Already they had lost half their luminosity, and what was left was fading with alarming speed.
“Look,” yelled one of the soldiers, standing on the side of the mountain and pointing to the north, where one of the artifacts rose into the sky. There had already been much discussion of that artifact when they had first reached the surface, most, including the priests, believing that the temples were finally awakening to the glory of their God.
Now the structure was glowing brightly along its entire length, its bluish light illuminating the mountains much like a full moon. It grew brighter, the stars faded completely, and the sky above started taking on a purplish tint.
“What is happening?” asked Zzarr again.
“It must be the coming of paradise,” shouted out one of the priests.
“What are you hearing on the media?” yelled Zzarr, looking over at his monitoring crew. “Are they screaming in panic as Hrrottha reaches for them.”
One of the males monitoring the news looked up, an expression of surprise on his face, and sent his feed to one of the speakers.
“We are not sure what is happening,” said the voice of a male speaking the language of the Tsarzorians. “But it appears that salvation is at hand. The Gods have taken pity on us.”
“No,” yelled Zzarr, shaking his tentacles. “This cannot be. Their Gods are fiction. They cannot be saved.”
“Calm, Leader,” said one of the priests, hurrying over to Zzarr. “This is just the start, and surely the Tsarzorians are mistaking their temporary deliverance for salvation. When Hrrottha appears in the flesh, they will realize their error, before they are consumed with terror.”
The Leader looked back to the now purple sky, devoid of stars. The purplish light of that sky now cast strange shadows across the landscape, making the familiar world look as alien as anything on another planet.
“Of course,” said Zzarr, trying to believe his own thoughts, his own words. “Of course, this is just the beginning.”
* * *
“Something is happening,” called out the Sensor Officer, switching the viewer from the shadow of the planet to the station. Part of that station was now glowing, as bright as a star in the day sky. Not the entire construct, but only the one side, pointing like a search light toward the shadow. Where something else was happening.
“They’re bringing the whole damned planet into this dimension,” said Captain Gertrude Hasslehoff in a quiet voice.
She stared at the shadow, as the shapes of the artifacts rising above the world first began to glow, brighter every second, and with that light they solidified into the forms she had seen in the dimension of normal space. Their light fell on the world, quickly turning shadow into detail, like a sun rising over hills. She wasn’t sure how long it took, and really didn’t concern herself with that. The ship’s memory would tell them later to the micro-second. However long it took, it seemed like seconds before Klassek was there in front of them in all its glory, lights of cities standing out like glorious gems on the night side, while the sun like spotlight of the station illuminated the day side.
“We’re picking up signals from the planet,” said the Com Officer, a look of disbelief on his face. “They’re all talking down there. No one knows what happened, but they’re vocally throwing around their opinions. Or thanking whatever of their gods they believed in.”
“They saved the whole damn planet,” she said in a louder voice, looking around at all of the incredulous faces of her crew. “The sons of bitches saved the whole damn world, and everyone on it.”
At first there was silence, everyone staring at her. A cheer came over the intercom, joined by another, until a rising crescendo of yells and calls of joy echoed through the ship.
Hasslehoff sat in her chair as the bridge erupted around her, tears rolling down her cheeks. They set this up thousands of years ago, put all this effort into this project, so that a world would not die.
“What’s next?” asked Commander Ungra from engineering. “What happens now?”
“Now, we hug this world for all its worth. When they return to normal space, we go with them.” She looked at the planet for a few moments more before looking back at her Com Officer.
“Get First Councilman Rizzit on the com,” she ordered. “We have a lot to talk about.”
* * *
Rizzit looked out of the window of the conference room to the purplish cast sky. The strange object hanging there was not a sun. He could tell that in a moment. It was too large, though he knew it was much closer than their star. It was providing the same function as their sun, sending life giving light onto the world. He could feel the warmth on his face.
“What happened?” asked the Aide.
Rizzit looked at the faces of his brothers, knowing through his link that they had come to the same conclusion, reading his thoughts while he read theirs. “They saved us,” he said. “All of us.”
“Who?” demanded the frightened looking Aide. “The humans? The Gods?”
“It wasn’t the humans,” he said, looking back at the viewer that still showed the artifact, its bright glow now having backed off to its rest state, that which it had manifested at the time the blue giant had blown. Holding its power, waiting. To bring them back? He had to believe that. “It wasn’t the Gods,” he continued, looking the Aide in the face. He looked back out the window at the bright object in the sky. “They might seem like Gods to us, as advanced as they are. Even the humans might consider them Gods, though I doubt they would go that far.”
“First Councilman,” called out another Aide, running into the room. “One of the human ships is on the radio. They wish to speak to you.”
“Who?” asked the surprised leader, not sure how the humans would have followed them here.
“It’s their missing ship. The Challenger.”
The one that disappeared, thought Rizzit.
It wasn’t destroyed, thought Mazzat, the general. It was sent here, wherever here is.
“Let’s go talk with them,” he told the second Aide. “I think we have a lot to talk about.”
Chapter Twenty-five
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Arthur C. Clarke.
“Raise the electromagnetic field to maximum,” ordered Captain Albright, staring at the spot that the planet had once existed at but now no longer did. “I want cold plasma injection, now.” She looked around the bridge, noting that no one was in armor, which would help to protect them from the coming radiation storm.
“As soon as you get my ship’s protection squared away, everyone get into their armor.” She linked to the ship’s medical bay a moment later. “I want our nanite stores under maximum radiation protection protocol, set for maximum reproduction.”
Radiation was one thing that could purge their systems of working nanites, the fast moving particles not only damaging their cells but also battering the nanoscale robots. And the robots were really the only thing that could repair the damage to their cells, so they would be in great need in the near future.
Exodus: Machine War 1 Supernova. Page 30