The view panned back until it could be seen that there were dozens of the so called enemy ships. And eleven of the bright pinpoints.
“Your fleet is outnumbered,” said the Monk, looking over at the woman. “Unless they are much more capable ships than their enemy’s.”
“They might be slightly better,” said the woman, a frown on her face. “But they are still heavily outgunned.”
“Yet they fly toward this enemy,” said Patrick with an answering frown. “To certain death. And for what reason?”
“To allow us to get what we came for and get away.”
“How many men on these ships?” asked the Monk, knowing he had no frame of reference for judging such vessels.
“Over a thousand crew on each one,” said Derrick, his brow furrowing in thought. “Twelve thousand, two hundred and fifty-one total, including the flag staff.”
“Derrick was in contact with this ship’s computers,” said the woman, looking over at Patrick’s questioning expression. “He was able to get a manifest for each of those vessels and perform a quick mathematical analysis. I am sure if you want he could give you the average age of the crew, as well as other demographics.”
“That is not necessary,” said Patrick, thinking about the sheer number of people on those vessels. “Twelve thousand to sacrifice themselves, just so you two can achieve and objective.”
“Not all will die,” said Alyssa, her own face troubled. “In fact, about a third will escape aboard damaged vessels, perhaps as many as half, when they break away.”
“And the enemy will chase them and destroy them?”
“Probably not,” said Derrick, looking back at the viewer. “The Theocracy Fleet’s mission is to support Colonel Nathan Chung and his force, so they will stick close to the moon until they secure their target.”
“And I am their target as well,” said Patrick in a sinking voice, realizing how much was being expended to secure his services. “And I suppose that if you let me go back to my home, he will just come and scoop me up. In a similar manner as he tried before.” He thought of all the dead and dying on the field of battle created by that force trying to get him. An uncaring group who would destroy as much as they needed to for the prize. “Only this time,” he continued, looking back at the screen, “they know who I am. And this time they won’t miss.”
“No,” said Alyssa in a quiet voice. “This time they will not miss, and they will be just as willing to kill anyone that gets in their way.”
The ship shook for a moment, a deep rumbling sound growing up around it. Patrick looked around, saying a calming mantra as he made sure that nothing was going to come down on him. He thought that since they were under water there would be no danger from tsunamis, as there would be at the surface. The cabin continued to shake, and he grabbed the arms of the chair to steady himself.
He was surprised at the response of the aliens to the shaking. Alyssa’s eyes were wide, and she ran to the forward area which was again a window. Derrick cursed under his breath and ran on unsteady feet to the other chair and plopped into it. Shadow showed the greatest anxiety, running for a padded cubby that had just opened in the wall, jumping in, and shivering on the floor.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, wondering if on the world of these people quakes were even more destructive.
The woman looked at him for a moment, then back at Derrick. “They’re getting stronger.”
“Of course they are,” said the man with a nod. “We knew they weren’t going to get weaker. They’ll build and build until the final one rips it apart.”
“Rips what apart?” he asked, feeling his own fear grow as he read the terror and concern in these people.
“Should we tell him?” asked Derrick, while the ship shook from another tremor.
“Rip what apart?” repeated Patrick, knowing that he had to know, just as he was sure he didn’t want to.
“Go ahead,” said Alyssa, holding onto a bar projecting from the wall while the ship shook around them again. “I guess it can’t hurt. And it might motivate him to help us.”
“In ten years,” said Derrick, waving a hand at the ocean outside the window. “All of this will be gone.”
“The water?” asked Patrick a sinking feeling in his stomach as he thought that the man didn’t mean that at all.
“No, you primitive,” said the man, pushing something on the board in front of his chair. “This whole thing.”
A swirling globe spun into existence in the middle of the room, between the chairs and the window on the ocean. Patrick recognized the form of the gas giant, Brahma, that his world orbited. He could make out his own world as well, close in to the gas giant. There were other world in orbit as well. As he watched, his world completed a circuit of the larger planet in less than a minute, instead of the several days it really took. He understood immediately that this was a representation, somehow created by the strangers’ technology.
“Your world, Vasus, is closest in orbit around Brahma,” said the woman, walking over and standing next to the representation.
A couple of large moons swept through her, and the Monk flinched for a moment, until he realized they would not hurt her. He put out a hand and grinned as one of the moons moved through it and continued on with no damage to hand or heavenly object.
“It’s a hologram,” said Derrick with a smile, nodding at the world. “It’s projected by beams of light controlled by our ship’s computer. It’s not real, but it’s a good representation of it.”
Patrick looked in wonder at the detail of the representation. When his moon came around again he looked closely at the surface features, amazed at how much it resembled the maps he had seen in the studies of scholars.
“Your moon was put in very close to the gas giant,” said Alyssa, walking over to the Monk. “That way they could place the most living worlds in orbit while giving them all at least days that weren’t too long or short.”
“You said placed?” asked Patrick, confused. “You mean someone put these worlds where they are now?”
“The ancients,” said Derrick, nodding his head. “They placed the suns in orbit around the black hole, the worlds in orbit around the suns, at least some of them. And they put the moons in orbit around the giant worlds.”
“How could they do such a thing?” asked the now awestruck Monk. He wasn’t sure what a black hole was, but he knew stars were huge to dwarf the planets that orbited them. And planets were complete worlds. “Why did they do such?”
“As to how,” said Alyssa, “we think they controlled the forces of gravity in a manner in which we can only guess. And energies that we can only imagine. As to why? I guess the real question would be why not, when you control such forces. I guess it made them want to play at being God, and so they did.”
One of the smaller inner moons started to wobble on its closest approach to the planet. A couple of revolutions and it was wobbling severely, then shaking. Then it suddenly came apart into a myriad of different sized particles. Some fell into the gas giant in trails of fire, while more spread out to form a ring around the planet.
“What happened?” asked the Monk, horrified at the destruction of the small world.
“There’s a point beyond which no moon can survive the gravitational pull of its primary,” said Derrick, standing up himself and walking over to look at the new ring. “It’s called the Roche limit. And here we go again.”
The next moon in came too close and repeated the performance. And Patrick noticed that his world was also closer in to the gas giant, and he had a bad feeling about what was next.
“The ancients put these worlds into place,” said Derrick, running a hand over the expanded ring around the planet. “But they weren’t stable orbits. Not by any means. The ancients had the technology and the power to pull planets back into orbit. With their guidance these systems would last forever. Or long enough to might as well be forever. But without them.” The moon now expanded in the holo, and had slowed down, and
had become the central player of the piece.
Patrick noticed that his moon was now covered in clouds. He could see the red glows of something through the clouds. An angry red, like fire.
“Eight years from now and the gravitational forces are causing volcanic eruptions on your world,” said Derrick in a clinical voice. “The coasts are swept by tsunamis like you have never seen, tides move hundreds of kilometers across the lowlands, while forests and grassland burn under the magma released to the surface.”
“No,” said Patrick, looking at his burning world and not sure what to believe. He still sensed no deceit in these people, though he wished to God he did. The view swept back again.
“And then,” said Derrick, as the moon moved into its last orbit and came apart. Again large chunks fell in flaming trails into the gas giant, and smaller particles became parts of the expanding ring.
“Why?” asked Patrick in a quiet voice. “How? And how can we stop it?”
“We cannot,” answered Alyssa, walking to him and putting a hand on his shoulder. “You cannot. But there is maybe one thing that can.”
Another holo faded in as the tragic vid faded out. This showed a strange looking object, cylindrical in its body, with paddle liked projections around the circumferences front and rear. The rearmost portion of the thing was rounded, while the other end sported a long boom with a ball on the end. There was no sense of scale, but Patrick had the impression that it was very large.
“This object is five hundred kilometers from front to rear,” said Derrick, his eyes unfocused as if he were looking at something in his mind. “Two hundred in diameter across the widest point. There are sixteen of the objects in orbit about the central black hole.”
There was that word again. Black hole. Patrick didn’t know what it meant, though it brought forth an image of something unapproachable. And then he knew what it was, as if the information had been placed in his head. His mind rebelled at the concept, though he also knew that it was horrible fact. And something he would look into later.
“What are they for?” he asked, staring at the object rotating in the middle of the air.
“We think these are the graviton projectors the ancients used to configure this system and make sure that everything stayed in place,” said Derrick.
The view swept back and showed fifteen blinking dots in a circle around something. The Black Hole?
“Gravitons?” asked Patrick, amazed again that as soon as he asked the question the knowledge was in his brain. Something the strangers had done to him while they improved him? Or something he had always possessed that proximity to this technology was unleashing. He decided to not mention it just yet, in case it was the latter and his hosts grew alarmed that he had it. Because so far it had been very useful.
“Let’s just say that the machine generates gravity and pulls objects, sometimes from long distances,” said Derrick, giving Patrick a curious look. “I don’t think his interface is working.”
“The central computer is logging a link with him,” said Alyssa. “We’ll check on it in a bit.”
So much for something intrinsic to keep hidden, thought Patrick, then clamped down on the thought. There was no telling how much this, computer, which if he was correct was one of the spirit like intelligences of the ancients, could read from his thoughts. He would have to be careful from here on.
“So can we get these machines to work?” he asked, steering the subject back to the matter of his greatest interest.
“We would probably have to go to one of the machines,” said Derrick, as the holo again zoomed in on one. “Or to its central control center, which should be in the region of the hole.”
“Then why haven’t you done so?” said Patrick, wondering how he could get these people to do what was obviously the right thing, since it involved the salvation of his world.
The holo changed again, this time showing a space ship boosting in space, its fusion flames bright at the stern. Patrick looked into the computer and was told that this meant the ship was in short range operation, since the fusion/ion drive was not as visible, and was used for most of a journey because of its efficiency.
And then the ship on the holo dented in a couple of places, then crumpled inward, until it was a glowing ball that continued to contract until it had disappeared. And with a flash of energy a blast erupted from the point in space.
“This Theocracy ship tried to approach one of the graviton beam projectors,” said Derrick, his voice now animated and excited, as if discussing a new toy. “It was crushed to neutronium, and when the graviton projection ceased it exploded back into normal matter, or should I say energy. I’m afraid the same would happen to us if we approached one of those things.”
“So what’s the solution?” asked Patrick, hoping that there was one. He had to save his world, no matter the cost.
“We kind of hoped that you would be the solution,” said Alyssa, rubbing her hand over his back. “You seem to have the ancient gene, or the protein sequence, or whatever it is. We’d hoped that you would be able to access their tech, and maybe get us onto one of those projectors, or the control station.”
Patrick thought about that for a moment. These people could be using him for their own purposes. In fact, he was sure they were doing that, and he would have done the same in their place. But they also could be telling the truth about saving his world. And if, as he had thought earlier, he would sacrifice everything to save his world and everything he knew, why wouldn’t he take this chance.
“Ok,” he said, looking up and making eye contact with Derrick, then Alyssa. “I’m in. As long as we do everything we can to save my world.”
“Great,” said Alyssa, a smile on her face. “We leave in forty-five minutes. So let’s get ready.”
“What do I need to do?” asked Patrick, looking over at the woman, now aware of his own nakedness.
“We need to get you equipped and ready,” she said. “Weapons, mission suit, everything.”
“I don’t know much about your weapons,” said Patrick, frowning.
“I think we have something you can use,” said Alyssa with a smile. “So let’s get ready.”
“Why so soon?” asked Patrick, feeling a bit of panic in the back of his mind. “I need to prepare myself.”
“What’s to prepare,” said Derrick with a shrug. “You just need to tag along and let us handle the action. But we need to take advantage of the distraction the battle will bring.”
“My body,” said Patrick, looking down at his improved body. “I need to meditate and coordinate.”
“Don’t worry,” said Derrick. “What could go wrong? Just follow our lead and everything will be OK.”
Patrick thought the man was asking for trouble with a statement like that. What could go wrong indeed.
Chapter Ten
The outfit they gave him fit like a second skin. It moved like silk over his flesh, and kept him at a comfortable temperature. He was told it also had certain protective qualities, though he was told it would still be best to take cover if someone was shooting at him. But what surprised him most were the weapons they gave him.
“I hadn’t hope to see this again,” he said, swishing the katana through the air.
The Republican operatives looked on nervously as he spun the blade of the ancients in his hand, then slid it into the sheath on his back in one easy motion.
“It doesn’t feel right,” he said, frowning. “I mean, the blade still feels perfectly balanced. But I don’t feel right.”
“Then don’t swing the damned thing around in the ship,” said Derrick, narrowing his eyes. “There’s no telling what damage you could do with that thing in here.”
“Isn’t your ship proof against a sword,” said the Monk with a frown.
“Not against that thing,” said Derrick. “We’re not even sure what it’s made of. Or even if its matter as we know it.”
“You have studied such things?” said Patrick, adjusting the ancient
shield on his arm.
“Sure,” said Derrick with a smile, adjusting his web gear and checking his short rifle. “If you call subjecting something to every test known to your science and still not coming up with anything useful, then yes. We’ve done a lot of study on things like that. We don’t think they were really intended to be front line military weapons, but they sure seem to be good ones. That shield will stop any material projectile and radiation known. In fact, the shield absorbs the kinetic energy of anything hitting it. Don’t know where that energy goes, but it goes somewhere else.”
That made sense to Patrick. He could recall the impacts of maces or war hammers in the hands of strong men striking the shield, and his feeling little more than a touch through it.
“We ready,” said Alyssa, walking onto the bridge in her own combat outfit.
Shadow trailed her, a suit of similar material fitting his form while he flowed over the floor. His paws were covered by the suit, but Patrick could see a number of slits near the front of the coverings that looked to be access points for his claws.
Patrick looked at Alyssa with appreciation. She filled out the form fitting suit with as nice a body as he had ever seen. She was a little heavier than the women he was used to, though that was because of her muscle, not fat. He realized that all of her people were bigger boned and more thickly muscled than his, due to the heavier gravity on their planet. But he also knew a good looking woman when he saw one, and he was seeing one now.
“Are you ready, Monk?” she asked again, getting his attention. “Or do you need time to put your tongue back in your mouth?”
Patrick smiled sheepishly while he nodded his head. He wondered if all women in her culture were so straightforward, or if she was exceptional in that respect as well.
“Then let’s get to it,” she said, getting into her seat.
She nodded at Derrick as he climbed into his chair, and Patrick got into the third chair that had seem to have magically grown from the floor.
Theocracy: Book 1. Page 9