Prophet of ConFree (The Prophet of ConFree)

by Marshall S. Thomas

  "Is that what you call it?" Saka asked.

  "Happyland. Right."

  "A good name," I said. "By the way, Saka, have you met this Paula creature?"

  "Not yet."

  "Well, if she slides a hand along your inner thigh, I'd recommend resistance. I'm not sure what would have happened had I not asked her to remove her hot little hand."

  "If she tries that with me," Ice said, "I'll punch her right in the nose."

  Blackie charged in from the balcony and barked happily, licking Ice right in the face. "Doggy drool," Ice said. "Maybe it will clean up my wounds."

  "You know, I'm kind of worried," I said.

  "About what?"

  "What if Paula is right? What if we don't see any new visions? What if we don't get any new glimpses into the future? They've spent millions – maybe billions – setting up this institute and bringing in all this expensive hired help. And we don't produce?"

  "All right," Ice said. "Tell you what, why don't you worry and fret about that. Maybe the extra stress will produce a vision. As for me, I'm on borrowed time already. I intend to enjoy my tour in Happyland."

  "Yeah me, too," Saka said. "I'm a soldier of the Legion. Also living on borrowed time. I'll do exactly what they say. And if they want me to listen to these ding-a-lings, I'll do it. I've never been happier."

  Δ

  "It's like Paradise," Honeyhair said. Winter had arrived on Pandaravos, and Delta was strolling through the snow. It was Senday, an offday, and we were making the most of it. Oneday through Sixday we worked, but Senday was free. It had snowed heavily but silently the night before and when we awoke, we discovered Paradise. As far as we could see, everything was coated with a thick blanket of icy, bluish snow and sparkling icicles. The forests were a startling white, the fields were glowing white, the skies were full of icy white mist, muting the bluish star, and the lake was transformed into a startling blue mirror, stippled with white specks.

  "It's just like Magna 5," Ice declared, hand-in-hand with Kwan. Blondie took Honeyhair's hand. Her other hand was linked to Arie. Blackie took off, racing through the snow. Then he skidded to a stop, raised his head, and howled at the sky. In moments, he was answered by a far-off chorus of wild howling. He took off like a shot, heading towards the forest.

  "He'll be back," Doggie said. "He's done this before. He's just looking for some feminine companionship." He seemed happy for Blackie. His breath froze in the air as he spoke.

  Scout and Smiley started throwing snowballs at each other, cavorting around like kids. My right hand was free, so I nabbed Bees and pulled her in to join our group. She smiled. I didn’t want her to be lonely. It seemed that everyone else was falling in love and pairing up, even Blackie. Doggie, Scout and Smiley were attracting random Assidic honeys with no effort at all, and I'd bet there would be more weddings before our Happyland tour was over. The Prof seemed content in his role as a single father, and he was not looking for a mate as far as I could tell. I wasn't worried about the others – but I was worried about Bees.

  That night we threw a private party in our lounge, for Delta Squad and certified groupies only. Blackie had not yet returned from his adventure but everyone else was there, even Bird. The adult beverages were flowing freely, and we were all happy. I don't drink much, but even I was getting in the mood. Trouble is, I was still acting like an old lady, worrying again about Bees. Where was she? Was she enjoying herself or had she left already, bored? Ice was all wrapped up with Kwan, sitting in his lap and making out like a midschool kid. I wandered into the kitchen mod, which was deserted. Somebody was on the kitchen mod balcony, looking out at the starlit snow. Bees! Wait a mo – someone was with her. I froze, anxious to see who it was.

  Scout! It was Scout, standing there near Bees. They were both looking out at the view. It looked like they were talking. Was it my imagination, or was Bees standing closer to Scout than normal for her? She was usually pretty distant.

  No, there was no mistake. Scout had just moved a little closer. Bees moved her head to look at him. Gazing into each other's eyes. I was thrilled. Scout! Who would have thought it? Go, Scout, go!

  Scout reached out for her tenderly, and gently drew her into his arms. Then his hands were at her cheeks. He leaned forward and kissed her. It was a long, soft, gentle kiss. And when Scout slowly drew away Bees reached out and embraced him and drew him back in for another kiss. The two of them looked almost holy, silhouetted against that sparkling backdrop of starlit snow, lost in love. I was so thrilled for them. I silently retreated back into the party. I knew I could stop worrying about Bees now. Scout would take good care of her, I knew.

  PART IV

  BLOOD OFFERINGS

  Chapter 15

  Golden Lotus

  "Prophet, it's Prof. You may want to look over today's edition of the Legion Tacmap. They have a few good articles that I know you would enjoy." The Prof was calling me on my comset. I was in the cafeteria having breakfast. Honeyhair had already left for the medunit.

  "Thanks, Prof! I'll do that." Prof knew that I enjoyed the Legion Tacmap. It was a news daily put out by some Legion combat vets who had somehow got into the news business and were taking no prisoners. I really did like their editorials although it was sometimes hard to tell when the news ended and the editorializing began.

  "Honey, get me the Legion Tacmap, today's edition." I said to my tacmod. She pulled it up on my comset and I looked over the little screen as I enjoyed my breakfast. The lead story had a big headline:

  CFW, AC, BPSA Sign Alliance

  Enemies Warned They will "Glow in the Dark"

  Quaba, CFW - 382/09/06 - Special from the Legion Tacmap – Representatives from the Confederation of Free Worlds, the Assid Confederation and the Biogen People's Solidarity Accord met in Quaba City today and agreed to a political and military alliance that binds these three nations together in joint action against any potential aggressor. The Triple Alliance pledges all parties to come to the aid of any member that is attacked by any hostile state.

  We quote the press release from Director General Tarantos Hannah of ConFree: "Our intent is to make it clear to all potential aggressors that a military attack on the AC or the BPSA will be considered by the ConFree Council as an attack on ConFree itself, and will be interpreted as an act of war against ConFree. The purpose of this alliance is to deter aggression. The AC and the BPSA have sealed their loyalty to ConFree with the blood of their gallant soldiers. They have marched shoulder to shoulder with us on the field of battle and stood the night watch with us. They have bled for ConFree. The ConFree Legion has a saying: bleed for ConFree, and ConFree will bleed for you. We are giving fair notice to anyone tempted to attack the AC or the BPSA. Try that, and your worlds will glow in the dark for a thousand years, and your oceans will run red with blood."

  The Legion Tacmap applauds Director Hannah's straightforward declaration, which has been disseminated throughout the galaxy. In the wake of the DG's statement, The CF Ministry of Interstellar Relations is frantically cranking out statements designed to "clarify" and "interpret" and "explain" and "analyze" the DG's declaration, but the Legion Tacmap is not even going to bother to report on such nonsensical distortions and propaganda. The DG meant exactly what she said, and her objective was to terrify criminal states like the UMC, the PPDD, the Holy Commune, the Gulf Union, and the Pegal Stelcom. The only language these criminal barbarians understand is the language of terror and violence.

  The Confederation of Free Worlds is blessed to have General Hannah as Director-General at this crucial phase of galactic history. She is fearless and brilliant, and always speaks the truth. The Legion Tacmap is proud of her, and proud of the ConFree Legion and of our steadfast allies in the Assid Confederation and the Biogen People's Solidarity Accord. We are not afraid of the truth. We agree with the motto of Galactic Information: Know the Truth.

  Now that's reporting, I thought. There's never any doubt about where the Legion Tacmap stands on the issues. I scrolled a bit f
urther down the page. The word Galinta caught my eye.

  Galinta Declared Secure

  Eden, Galinta – 382/09/06 - from our Legion Tacmap correspondent on Galinta. Commanding General John B Hood of the Allied Expeditionary Force on Galinta reported today that as of 0600 hours this morning the planet Galinta was declared officially secure. All major Demon installations have been destroyed, all Demon air-space assets have fled or been destroyed, and all organized Demon resistance has ceased. The allies now have vac, air and ground superiority. Although some scattered pockets of individual Demons are still on the run, they are rapidly being hunted down and destroyed. General Hood said he was proud and humbled to be associated with the gallant Legion and Fleetcom boots and vacheads who brought about this great victory and he reminded ConFree about the many heroes whose names have been recently added to the Legion Monument to the dead. He gave special thanks to our fearless allies of the Assidic Confederation armed forces and the Biogen People's armed forces.

  As fighting ceased around the major population centers, surviving civilian residents of Eden and other settlements began straggling in from exile in the forests or from Demon kill camps, and brought with them grisly horror stories of the Demon occupation. We do not intend to repeat the horrific details of the D treatment of human civilians except by advising all Legion troopers to exterminate any surviving D's like the diseased cockroaches they are.

  In view of this significant defeat of the D's the question arises how the Demon high command will react. The Legion Tacmap has learned from sensitive sources that the Demon offensive on the Omni world of Traunair has stalled after heavy O resistance. Our sources reveal that ConFree assisted the O's with highly classified targeting information on the D's that allowed the O's to turn the tide of battle against these vile invaders. It is remarkable that ConFree would pass sensitive military technology to our historical enemy the Omni horde, but in this case it may be justifiable. If both D planetary invasions fail, we can only hope that the D's will cease their efforts to establish a foothold in our universe. The alternative would be a third attack, which could come anywhere. The Legion Tacmap urges all ConFree nationals to remain alert. With victory in Galinta, let's bring our troops home to the Cluster as soon as possible and position them to react rapidly to deter any further Demon attacks.

  Δ

  "Good morning, Prophet," the Professor said. He had asked to see me so there I was, in his office. The Prof seemed to be in a good mood.

  "Good morning, Prof. How are you?"

  "I'm fine. How'd you like to go for a ride in an IDAG saucer?"

  "Wow! I'd love it! Are you serious? Why me?"

  "There are several excellent reasons why I am asking you. First, the Demons have the same DX brain structures that we noted in you, Saka and Ice. Presumably the Brights also have this structure. Second, we'd like to see if the craft acts any differently if it’s being piloted by someone with a DX brain connection as it does if being piloted by someone without such a structure. Third, we don't dare ask Louie to sit at the controls, or even enter the craft. Fourth, we are now ready to do this. You've been on our schedule for some time. And fifth, you are my friend and I'd like to give you a thrill."

  "I am stunned, Prof. And grateful! Are there any preparations I have to make?"

  "No, just follow me. We're leaving right now."

  Δ

  We took an aircar to Site S, parked in the bunker, and took the elevator down into the hole. It was cold down there – colder than I remembered. I was in my Legion coldcoat because it was snowing lightly outside. Once in the cavern, I was again overwhelmed with the sight of that glorious, sinister saucer. It was grounded and had an Assidic starforce symbol on the fuselage. It had a name, too, up near the front, written in Assidic script. The Prof translated it for me – Golden Lotus, it said, with a little pix of a stunningly lovely Assidic girl. Other than that, it was pretty much the same as it had looked before.

  We walked up the ramp into the spacecraft. Two A's in full battle armor met us at the doorway.

  "Prophet, we pause here for a moment," the Prof said. "We're monitoring this ship every microfrac. Now we'll see if there are any changes as a result of your entry into the ship." We were standing in an outside corridor that appeared to run around the ship. The faintly glowing ceiling was close to my head.

  "No changes so far," someone said.

  "All right, follow me," the Prof said. "Remember, touch nothing unless we tell you to do so."

  "Right."

  We walked along the corridor to the right, passing mysterious little symbols that were affixed to the corridor wall on our left. The Prof later told me they were door symbols – touch them and the invisible doors would open in the corridor wall. The right wall was seamless and featureless.

  We entered an open control center that interrupted the corridor. As I stepped into the blue-lit dark, the Prof signaled for me to stop. Two figures were strapped into command chairs, facing an array of strange oblong screens that were reflecting green light.

  "No observed changes," Bird said. "How ya doin', Prophet?" He was one of the two men in the chairs.

  "No changes, fine," the Prof said. "Prophet, this is the cockpit or control center of this craft. The controls are remarkably few but remarkably effective. Once we gained an understanding of them, we made some changes to allow humans to sit here and control the craft. The pilot chairs are ours and we’ve modified the controls a bit to allow humans to more easily manipulate them. Otherwise it works as it was designed."

  "She's a remarkably hot ship," the other man at the controls said, turning to look at me. He was an Assidic.

  "Prophet, this is General Huynh Le Sa, commander of the Assidic Starforce."

  "Sir! Pleased to meet you sir!" I saluted him.

  "The pleasure is all mine, trooper. Please have a seat behind us and we'll get rolling."

  The Prof and I strapped into two more command chairs that were set up behind the two pilots.

  "That's the antigav readout," the Prof said, pointing out a section of the instrumentation panel. "And over there is the antimat power monitor and the air and vac flight controls. The pink glow is from the DX stardrive. We haven't dared tackle that one yet, but we've done the rest."

  "Have you actually flown this craft yet?"

  "We've been doing that for weeks."

  "Control, Lotus, we are ready for launch," General Huynh said.

  "Lotus, Control. You are green to go. Escorts are standing by."

  "Ground, attach cables and activate."

  Bird touched something on the panel and a huge panoramic cockpit viewscreen appeared, revealing the cavern and a ground crew who were scrambling under the craft.

  "It's a simport," the Prof said. "Kind of like ours. The exterior appears seamless from outside."

  "Cables attached."

  "All right, buddy, let's do it," the general said. Bird activated another control and the landing skids and ramp slid back into the ship and we floated upwards a bit, riding the antigrav. I could see a visual representation of that on a color graphic at the controls.

  "Ship sealed."

  "Activate winches."

  "Winches activated, exit doors opening." A massive set of metal doors slid slowly open on one side of the cavern as a winch pulled at a cable that was attached to the ship. It was all dark inside there.

  "We don't want to try and control the ship inside the cavern," the Prof explained. "The cables will pull us along to the exit shaft."

  We entered the darkness, floating along at the end of the cable.

  "We're still under the mountain," the Prof said. "When we come to the entry/exit shaft, we'll detach the cable and just float up."

  "Who's Golden Lotus?" I asked.

  "My wife," General Huynh replied. "She's beautiful and deadly. Just like the ship."

  More giant doors opened ahead of us, and we entered another looming cavern. This one had a massive blast-proof roof, which slowly rolled back as we watched
, revealing a huge shaft leading upwards where a faint beam of sunlight twinkled.

  "Lotus, Control. Cables released. Good fortune to you."

  We rode the antigrav slowly right up that huge shaft, and out into the sunlight of a lightly snowing sky. It was a spectacular view from the cockpit behind that amazing panoramic simport. We hovered over the shaft and watched giant clamshell blast doors sliding shut under a camfaxed exterior to hide our exit.

  "Blue Flight, Red Flight, Lotus. Are you there?" the general asked.

  "We're watching you, Lotus. It's a beautiful day out here. Come on up and play."

  "On our way," the general replied.

  It was indeed beautiful out there. The star Algenib burnt a pale blue in the sky, tinting the gently falling snow a faint blue-white. The world below was covered with glittering snow and ice, an enchanted kingdom. No wonder the A's loved their native world.

  We began to move. Slowly at first, soundlessly, gently, sliding forward, then fast and faster. And faster. Shooting along like a meteor, parallel to the ground. Some movement appeared on a wide monitor on the control panel.

  "See that?" the Prof asked. "That's Blue flight. Assidic fighters. See how easy the D's spot us?" The three enemy fighters were shown as red dots, along with some alien text that presumably described them.

  "Blue, Lotus. Got you on scope." Now we shot abruptly up to the sky, almost straight up. The simport revealed only sky now. We were far above the weather. The sky began to darken as the atmosphere became thinner.

  "Blue, Red, we're losing the at. See if you can catch us. Prophet, the Reds are Fleetcom fighters."

  Up, up, up. There was no sensation of speed or even movement. Normal grav seemed to continue. We were in space now, Algenib's blinding blue-white glory glittered to one side, as a star-spangled magnificence lit up the rest of the vac.

  "Blue, Red, Lotus. All right, we initiate test. We have you on scope. Red, go to cloaking, please."