Prophet of ConFree (The Prophet of ConFree)

by Marshall S. Thomas

  The ship jumped again, vibrating crazily, thumping heavily, then stabilized.

  "You sure it's working?" I asked.

  "Yeah, I'm sure. Because we're all still alive."

  "Like eggshells, huh? That doesn’t instill a whole lot of confidence."

  "No whining, please. This ship is functioning perfectly – eggshells or not."

  We were all going to die. That much was certain. We spiraled in, into the ultimate dark, into Satan's realm. I felt we were falling just like a meteor, leaving a fiery tail as our last trace of our existence, against the inky dark. My heart was on overdrive. I was thinking about Honeyhair, about Delta, all of them, Ice and Saka and Bees and the Prof and Arie, all of them, everyone I loved. All right, I thought. We'll die for them, it's all right. We'll die for ConFree, for all of our people, for all those women and kids, for the future. And we'll rate a line in the history books. But that doesn’t matter. It was freezing cold.

  Δ

  Six hours, and we were still in the DX stargate drive. I was sweating, inside my armor. Honey had to work overtime to cool me off. The ship continued vibrating heavily, every few fracs. Yes, we were still alive. Stop whining, Richie!

  "I think I'm gonna puke," Arie said.

  "Come into the medical office, and I'll help you," Bees said. "If anyone else feels bad, try opening your visor and feel free to puke if you must. Just be ready to close the visor if anything goes wrong. I've got bags if anyone needs them, just ask."

  "How much longer?" I asked.

  "About two more hours," the general said. "Is that right, Bird?"

  "Near as we can figure it," he said. "See, this is not regular DX stardrive, it's a special mode they use just for the stargate. I'll not try to pretend we understand it. We don't. If we survive this trip and return, we should be able to understand it. Meantime, we go on faith."

  "Can you hear Dragon Shoals?" I asked.

  They were silent, listening. They had turned off the sound effects long ago as it was driving everyone crazy. But I could hear it still.

  "It's just the vibration," Saka said.

  "No. It's Dragon Shoals," I insisted. "Listen carefully." Yes, I could hear it. A faint but very deep vibration, a deep bass growling, swirling around our outside skin and penetrating the quantum webbing and rushing over the inside skin. Sliding over it slowly, ever so slowly, like a great scaled snake, a massive cosmic constrictor gliding over us tenderly, toying with us, trying to decide whether or not to crush us out of existence with its mighty coils, trying to decide if we're even worth the effort.

  "I've got a splitting headache," Bees admitted.

  "Physician, heal thyself," somebody said.

  "Yeah me, too," Arie said. "Can I get sick leave?" Nobody answered him.

  The ship shook strongly, then vibrated, then there was a large bang and the ship buckled and jumped, slamming us around in our restraints.

  "What was that?"

  "Don't know," the general said. "The instruments appear the same. Doggie, when things calm down, please do a check of the corridor for any damage."

  "Right, will do." But things did not calm down. Things got worse. The shaking and bouncing around continued, almost without pause. The vibrations did not go away. I could hear Blackie, barking away frantically.

  "Is everyone all right? Doggie, is everyone all right back there?"

  "We're fine, Bees is fine. But I don't know about checking the corridor."

  "Don't do it. Stay strapped in."

  "According to the ship status, Dragon Shoals is still kicking us around. And the interior shell is still working like it should," Bird said. Another loud, scary bang rang out. More bad vibrations. I felt helpless. I may have been the pilot but I dared not touch anything while in stargate mode. We were all just passengers here, along for the automated ride. Anything we tried to do to alter the situation would likely just get us killed. Two more hours? I was getting a headache myself. Could we stand two more hours of this infernal banging around?

  "My medical equipment is all over the deck," Bees reported.

  "Just leave it, Bees," the general responded. "You can pick it up in two hours. Meantime, everyone stay strapped in and visors sealed."

  We watched our progress on an instrument panel monitor that showed our ship against the backdrop of a portion of Dragon Shoals. According to the image, all was well. Except that things were so shaky that I couldn't quite focus on the image. It kept bouncing around in my view, two three four images all mixed up. Oh great, now I wanted to vomit too. I closed my eyes. Maybe I should try and sleep. Try and sleep? Bouncing around in the chair, the restraints hurling me from side to side? I closed my eyes. They say a soldier of the Legion can sleep while marching. Wonder if it's true.

  Δ

  I could still hear Dragon Shoals. I swear I could almost feel that mighty dragon's claws, raking lightly over our eggshell skin, a very faint screeching. And the bumping – that was the dragon himself, nudging us playfully, or maybe even unconsciously, coiling himself gently around us, throwing his head back and belching a great gout of fiery black smoke, to swirl around us. This was his domain. What were we doing here? Maybe he was just playing with us, like a curious dog, wondering what this strange little creature was that had floated into his space, lost and doomed, like an off-course fly.

  A tremendous boom startled me awake. A new screen had appeared on the glassy instrument panel. It was flashing red – a universal danger signal. My adrenalin exploded. Our translation unit read the Demon script: STABILIZATION MOD DAMAGED. EXITING STARGATE.

  "Exiting stargate!" I exclaimed. "What the hell does that mean?"

  "The ship is getting us out of here before we become grape jelly," Bird said. "The stabilization mode is what protects us from the forces that are spinning around the exterior shell."

  "Attention all hands," the general said. "We are exiting stargate mode unexpectedly. Stand by!"

  Damn it! I sat in my chair like a dummy, not daring to touch anything. Bird and the general and Saka stared at the instrument panel, trying to understand what was happening. So was I, except I wasn't learning anything. The ship shook again, bad bad vibrations. Then a new notice appeared: AUTO EXIT STARGATE UNDERWAY.

  An instant later, the panoramic simport reappeared, and filled with distant, powdery stars. The shaking stopped. I took a breath, greatly relieved.

  "Attention all hands," the general said, "we have successfully exited stargate mode. Stand by for further info."

  "Where are we?" I asked. The view looked strange. We did not seem to be in the vicinity of Dragon's Shoal, which was crowded with stars and nebulae. This place looked very lonely.

  "All right, we've got a location here," Bird said. "The ship knows where it is, even if we don't. Let's see…here's the current starchart view." It appeared on the instrument panel. We peered at it, trying to decipher what it meant.

  "Mid Haven!" Bird exclaimed. "We're in Mid Haven, but not where we were plotted to exit. See those stars? We made it!"

  I felt great. I felt glorious! We made it past Dragon Shoals! That was the first great leap of faith. We were cruising Mid Haven vac.

  "Attention all hands," the general said. "We have successfully entered Mid Haven. Stand by for further info." We could hear the cheering from Delta, even without the tacnet.

  I looked out the simport. Mid Haven! There were plenty of stars out there, and milky clouds of gas, lovely alien nebulae with very faint colors. But it was mostly empty in comparison to our own universe. A lonely place.

  "All right, where are we?" the general asked.

  "That's our location," Bird said, pointing to the starchart display on the glassy instrument panel. And that was our target." His armored finger jabbed at another point. "We never made it there. We exited early for safety reasons."

  "But we still made it to Mid Haven," the general said.

  "Affirmative."

  "What’s wrong with the stargate mode?"

  "Just a mo. Prophet,
press that tab – Stargate Mode Status." I pressed it. Some alien script appeared. The translation followed: STARGATE MODE STABILIZATION DISABLED. RECOMMEND AUTOFIX. The word AUTOFIX was highlighted.

  "So should we go with the autofix?" I asked.

  "Oh hell no," Bird said. "I want to do this one myself."

  "Shut down, Bird, that's an order," the general said. "Prophet, touch the word AUTOFIX with your finger."

  "Yes sir," I said, and did it. The message changed: AUTOFIX UNDERWAY.

  "Well, that's a relief," the general said. "Now, Bird, check the status of the autocombat mod. I want to see if that's working." Bird did so and a message appeared: AUTOCOMBAT MOD 100 PERCENT OPERATIVE.

  "Good! Next question, is there any reason we can't go straight stardrive to the target stardrive exit point, or should we proceed to the original exit point from the stargate?"

  "I don't see why we can't do DX stardrive to the target from here," Bird said.

  "Good. Good. I was thinking the same," the general said. "First let's check all ship systems, and let the gang clean up the mess and take a little break.

  "Attention all hands," the general announced. "We will be entering stardrive shortly, headed for our target. Now's the time to clean up the mess, have a snack, take a potty break, whatever. Get it all done ASAP. I'll report when we're ready for stardrive."

  The general finally let me out of the pilot seat for the break, and I headed back to see the gang by the main entrance. Blackie leaped up and licked my face through the open visor.

  "Prophet! Way to go, man," Smiley said. "What's going down? Is everything fixed with the stargate drive?"

  "Good question, Smiley. Autorepairs are allegedly underway. I don't think we're going to wait for the stargate drive. My guess at this point is we're going to attack anyway. And hope the repairs will be done by the time we return to the jump-off point for the stargate. Bees, any intervention by higher powers would be greatly appreciated."

  "I'll be praying, Prophet."

  "Good work, Prophet," Doggie said.

  "Tear 'em up, man," Arie said.

  "Prophet," Scout asked, "if it’s the, uh, stabilization unit that's screwed up, does that mean we can't go into autocombat mode if necessary?"

  "Well, we checked the autocombat module and it is one hundred percent fine and dandy, according to the ship. So all we can do is assume it's going to work if we are forced to use it."

  "I guess this is another of those leaps of faith that the Prof was talking about."

  "Yeah, I guess so. Well, I got to go wee. Excuse me."

  Chapter 17

  Thirty Fracs Over Kratar

  "All right, check it again," General Huynh said. I pressed the tab again: AUTOFIX UNDERWAY, it read.

  "Damn it," the general said.

  "Everything else is fine," Bird said. "We're all set to hit the target. But once we hit it, we've got to hightail it, fast. We can go DX stardrive to the exact point that the autoprogram has selected for us to enter the stargate. But the stargate launch will probably not work if the stargate program is not up and functioning normally. And so far, it isn't."

  "This autofix seems to be taking its time," I said.

  "That's all I can get out of it," Bird said. "For all we know it’s just stuck and will never complete the task."

  "In which case…" I began.

  "In which case we're stuck in Mid Haven, forever. There's no other way out."

  "Well, I don't plan on cruising around here in the middle of nowhere forever," the general said. "We've got a mission to complete. And the longer we drift around like flotsam, the higher the chances that some Demon patrol will spot us."

  "So you plan to get started on the mission?"

  "I'm about to order that, unless somebody can give me a good reason why I should not. I tried the Q-link to contact the Prof, but it's dead."

  "I'm afraid I can’t come up with anything," Bird said.

  I pressed the tab again: AUTOFIX UNDERWAY, it read again. "Neither can I," I said.

  "Fine by me," Saka said.

  "Attention all hands," the general said. "Prep for stardrive. We are now launching DX stardrive to proceed to our target. When we exit stardrive, we will attack the target immediately. May God be with you all! Prophet, activate the DX stardrive."

  I did it, and we launched into the dark as a warm thrill ran lightly over my flesh. Into the future, into whatever is to be, victory or defeat, triumph or disaster, life or death. I was ready for it, whatever it was. I felt great.

  "No worries, Prophet," the general said. "This isn't the first time my wife has worn funeral clothing to bid me goodbye. She's done it several times before. And I've always returned. So maybe this time it will be the same."

  Honeyhair, I thought. God, I miss her! And if I die and she is alive, she will miss me, I know. It will be like a vacancy in her heart. I can only hope that whatever we achieve, it will slow down the D advance into our universe.

  Δ

  We were using the D’s tactics against them. We exited DX stardrive almost within Kratar's atmosphere, and dropped immediately into the at, our initial antimats launching once we reached effective range. They were targeted directly on the IDAG starcraft factory, so we figured even if they blasted us out of the sky within a few fracs of our stardrive exit, we would still have erased the factory and could die happy. As we dropped into the atmosphere, flaming like a meteor, I got a good view of the world of Kratar. It was stunningly beautiful from space, a blue-green paradise with lots of startlingly blue oceans. No wonder they settled there; no wonder they resented the Brights attacking them. And it must hurt, having to migrate to another universe. Yeah, and it will hurt worse when we cripple their main saucer production facility.

  The general was piloting this segment. He was the fighter pilot, and my main contribution at this point was to keep my hands lightly on the controls to ensure the DX connection was still there.

  I watched our missiles falling almost straight down. The ship produced a monitor on the main instrument panel that showed us a birds-eye view of the factory and the installation.

  "Look at all those ships!" I cried out. The factory was surrounded by huge storage yards completely full of presumably brand-new IDAG starcraft. There must have been hundreds of them!

  The Golden Lotus jerked once, sharply. The general was now in manual control, spiraling us in towards the target, unleashing another barrage of antimats, then another. The factory erupted in a blinding flash, dazzling the monitor. Then the yards went up as well, multiple titanic blasts, the entire installation blown to atoms, all those parked saucers blasted to bits, giant ugly black oily mushroom clouds erupting into the sky, wreathed with swirling orange and gold flame, millions of phospho tracers ripping everywhere. Then the general took us down almost to the deck, whipping over the target spraying antimats and opstars, and we left giant nuclear blasts in our wake, annihilating everything. Thirty fracs over Kratar. And Kratar's saucer factory no longer existed.

  An alarm sounded from the instrument panel. We could see it on the intruder alert monitor. Four Demon saucers, coming at us from high altitude.

  The general stayed low, treetop height, shooting off towards a range of black mountains, doing a series of violent maneuvers to shake off the pursuit.

  "They've launched!" Bird called out. "Time for autocombat!" Our techs had done great work in allowing the Golden Lotus's autocombat unit to target D saucers as enemies and not as friends. An important detail!

  The general responded wordlessly, activating the autocombat mode and popping straight up in a vertical climb. He was going for the vac, where we could launch into DX stardrive. He didn't seem worried about the enemy missiles. I could see the missile tracks on the monitor, coming after us. Then the view spun around wildly in the simport. The maneuvers slammed us around in our restraints but we were still alive – a good sign that the stabilization mod was working in autocombat mode. The view out the simport was swirling around so fast that it mad
e no sense. Clouds whipped past, we seemed to be firing, we were heading right for the forest, then the forest was above us, rising, falling, more firing, the mountains whipped past us in a blur, now we were shooting into the clouds, now falling wildly, more firing, and then aiming right for a river cutting through a field, then up, up, up – an enemy saucer shot right past us, almost colliding.

  Another alarm. Red alerts flashing. "We're hit," Bird said, calmly. "Shielding no longer 100 percent effective. Better get out of here."

  And yet another alarm. "More enemy," Bird said. "Seven more enemy IDAG starcraft approaching and firing." My adrenalin was at max.

  "Hit! Another hit!" Bird said. "Shielding now at sixty eight percent."

  The general deactivated the autocombat and we headed straight up, spiraling up towards the vac. We were going so fast that the skin began to glow and we were leaving a fiery trail.

  "Four enemy ships pursuing. They've launched! Sixteen missiles are locked on us. All right, our defenses have deflected four of them away from us, hot deceptors launched, drawing these missiles away from us, two continue on course, nearing us, oh shit."

  The Golden Lotus shuddered as a sharp crack rang through the ship. More alarms. "Two antimat hits, partially effective," Bird reported, "shields down to thirty four percent, heavy damage, ship is compiling a damage report and autorepairing what it can. How about stardrive?"