Excelsior

by Jasper T. Scott

  Alexander shot Carter a look, to which Carter made a dubious face and shook his head, as if to say that it was news to him.

  “Everything, even the time dilation, had to add up. Just over three months passed for the crew while they floated in water-filled tanks to protect them from the forces and radiation in the mouth of the wormhole. Time dilation due to gravity made those three months more than two years back on Earth.

  “But in order to give a more realistic length to the wormhole, we had to tell the crew that they would spend more than five months traveling to wonderland and back. As a result, when the mission allegedly returned, every clock on board, including the comm bands the crew took with them, was automatically reset to reflect that over five months had passed instead of three.”

  The mention of that time discrepancy set off fireworks in his brain, and Alexander tuned Wilson out. It took him a moment to figure out why that time discrepancy was so important, but then he remembered—the pocket watch. He had emerged from his G-tank for the last time to find that the mechanical watch Caty had given him showed only a little over three months had passed since leaving Earth, while every other clock on board the Lincoln had shown the anticipated time lapse of more than five months. That lined up perfectly with what Wilson was saying. Alexander’s entire body went cold, and he could feel the blood draining from his face. Alexander slowly shook his head and forced himself to focus on what Wilson was saying.

  “The virtual experience that the crew from Operation Alice shared was generated by an experimental technology code-named Excelsior. Using standard neural implants and injected nanites, people’s brains are stimulated directly in order to produce sight, sound, and sensation while immersed in an alert dream-like state. It’s a more vivid version of a dream, one that can be shared and sculpted by the thoughts and impressions of the people who are experiencing it. Information and observations that participants make about their virtual world are recorded so that the experience has real, invariant characteristics even though it is evolving in a very dynamic way.

  “Now, imagine what happens when you put a team of experts from various fields together and have them all participate in the shaping of the same virtual world. The result is that much more convincing, and the data gathered will look to other experts in those fields like it was gathered directly from a real world.

  “The only noticeable seam in the illusion is that what people see and experience tends to fit their expectations, which brings me to the first article of proof I have to back up my claims. I have multiple reports from the officers sent to Wonderland, making mention of strange coincidences they noted while exploring. I will disclose these reports separately for you to analyze and make up your own minds. Then there’s also the fact that no physical samples were brought home from Wonderland. They all mysteriously vanished after the crew emerged from their tanks for the last time, along with all of the ship’s internal and external surveillance footage. They assumed that was the work of the spy in their midsts. Then there is the fact that the Confederacy just lost their entire fleet while trying to travel through a wormhole that was never open to begin with. All of that points to one inescapable conclusion—the mission was a fake.

  “President Baker’s plan worked. The war is over, and we won. Yes, we lost millions of people because of it, and if the enemy hadn’t bought our bluff, they would have all died for nothing.

  “What I did, betraying the enemy surrender in order to ensure that no remnant of the Confederate fleet survived is perhaps worthy of judgment, but I would argue that the president did something far worse. He tricked an entire colony fleet full of innocent civilians into throwing their lives away for the promise of a better world that doesn’t even exist. If you want to point a finger at someone for war crimes, you can start with our commander-in-chief.

  “You probably want to know why I’m revealing all of this, since it certainly won’t help me to reveal that I was part of a government conspiracy. It’s simple. This confession was my insurance policy, and if you’re watching it, that’s because the president didn’t believe my threats, or he thought he could stop this information from getting out. Either way, I suppose that makes this more about revenge than coming clean, but you are welcome to ascribe more noble motives to my confession.” Admiral Wilson gave the camera a bitter smile and saluted. “Long live the Alliance.”

  The holo recording ended there and overhead lights swelled to full brightness once more. Alexander was left breathless with horror and shock. He couldn’t believe it.

  “Now you see what we’re up against,” Carter said.

  Alexander turned to face the other man. He could feel the anger and resentment bubbling over. He’d been played for a fool. They all had.

  “It is true?” he demanded.

  Carter blinked, taken aback. “Of course not! We went to Wonderland together, or have you forgotten?”

  Alexander reached into his pocket and withdrew his pocket watch. He hadn’t had the heart to look at it again after Catalina had told him she’d moved on, so he hadn’t reset the date yet, and just as well. Now he flicked it open with his thumb and turned it to face Carter.

  The ambassador shook his head, clearly baffled. “If I wanted to know the time, I’d check my comm band.”

  “This was a gift from my wife.”

  “What does that have to do with—”

  “Let me finish!” Alexander roared. “This is an antique. It’s hard to find mechanical watches anymore, but do you know what’s special about them?”

  Carter said nothing, just stared stonily at the watch.

  “They aren’t networked, so you have to change the time manually with this little dial here,” Alexander said, tapping the cog on the side of the watch. “Do you know how much time my watch said had passed when we returned to Earth?”

  Again, no answer. Carter regarded him unblinkingly, waiting for him to finish.

  “I’ll give you a hint. Admiral Wilson just told us.”

  Carter’s eyes widened fractionally, and Alexander nodded. “That’s right. Three months.”

  “Coincidence—” Carter spluttered.

  “Speaking of coincidences—I was one of the ones who wrote about the sheer number of them on Wonderland. I also mentioned the missing samples. If Wilson was lying about all of that, then he’s remarkably good at backing his lies with facts. He mentioned you were the president’s man on the inside. Is there something you’d like to confess to before I tell everything I just told you to the press?”

  “You do that and you won’t just be court-martialed, you’ll be executed.”

  “Since when did it become illegal to tell the truth? Besides, after Wilson’s confession, I think people might just believe me, don’t you? And if that’s the case, then it won’t be my head on the chopping block—it will be yours, right alongside the president’s.”

  “You fool! Do you have any idea what’s at stake here? Even if you were right, stop and think for a minute! If a conspiracy like this comes to light, the Alliance will be overturned. Our soldiers will all drop their weapons and desert! We’ll be plunged into anarchy. We won’t win the war, we’ll lose it. Millions more people could die, and all the ones who already died will have died for nothing!”

  “Maybe, maybe not. Everybody keeps saying that the war is over, but all I see are more bodies. Maybe if we all start telling the truth, people will wake up and realize how stupid we’ve been.”

  “Yes, after thousands of years of going to war, humanity will finally see how destructive it is and stop the fighting once and for all. Grow up, Alexander.”

  “Admit your involvement or I’m going public with what I know.”

  Carter gritted his teeth. His face turned red, and veins began pulsing in his forehead and neck. “You want me to admit it? Fine! It was all ruse, one giant bluff that led to victory. In the grand scheme of things, is that really so bad?”

  Alexander smiled. “I left my wife alone on Earth because of Operation Alice. S
he almost died when fighting broke out. She had a son without me, and she ended up being physically abused for years by the boy’s father until she finally had enough and decided to join the colonists headed for Wonderland. During the recent fighting in orbit, her shuttle was forced to crash-land in the ocean, and she spent weeks in enemy territory, living in wretched conditions. She was lucky she didn’t die in the fighting, or during the crash-landing, or in captivity. By my count that’s four times that your lies almost killed her.”

  “Allegedly,” Carter said, backtracking.

  Fury overcame him. Alexander’s arm snapped out and his fist knocked Carter’s perfect jaw out of alignment.

  “You hit me!” Carter exclaimed.

  Alexander shrugged. “Allegedly.” Then he hit Carter again before the ambassador could recover. The plenipotentiary of the Alliance fell off the couch with a thud and lay spread-eagled on the deck, unconscious and drooling.

  Alexander stood up and shook out his fist. He loomed over Carter with a scowl, waiting for him to get up for another round, but the other man didn’t even stir. Watching the diplomat, he felt his hatred and disgust grow. Korbin had been right. The Confederacy wasn’t the enemy. The Alliance was.

  *

  Alexander had Ambassador Carter placed under arrest and then he went to meet with the press alone. Reporters from both World Alliance News and the Confederacy’s equivalent, Central News Group, were there. He gave his evidence to corroborate Wilson’s confession, and now all of two hours later, he sat in his quarters with Caty and Dorian, watching his face appear all over every news channel in the world. Alexander, the Lion of Liberty, denouncing his own government.

  World Alliance News showed an aerial view of a large demonstration outside the newly constructed presidential palace. Demonstrators’ holo signs called for everything from Bakers’ resignation to the death penalty for him and his co-conspirators. The coverage went from there to current investigations into Wilson’s death. Previously ruled a suicide, it was now cast into doubt due to the circumstances. Forensic experts from all over the Alliance were coming forward, suggesting that it would have been impossible for Wilson to hang himself in his own cell using nothing but his uniform. Impossible or not, Wilson’s confession implied that he had threatened the president, so his subsequent death was highly suspect.

  Catalina squeezed his hand and turned to him. “Let’s turn this off,” she said.

  Alexander regarded her with a frown. “We need to know what’s happening. This could kickstart another war, and if it does, we’re sitting right in the middle of an engagement zone. The fate of the entire world is at stake. Don’t you want to know the outcome?”

  She shook her head. “No, I want to know our outcome. We’ve spent enough of our lives worrying about war. It’s time that someone else worried about it for a change. You deserve a break. We deserve a break. The world can wait.”

  Alexander smiled wanly and nodded. He waved absently at the holoscreen to turn it off, and the lights in the room swelled to their normal brightness. Dorian clapped his hands together, as if he thought that was a neat trick. Catalina regarded her son with a smile.

  “Just six more months,” Alexander said.

  Catalina turned back to him. This time she was frowning. “What if war does break out? Can they keep you in the Navy?”

  He shook his head. “No force on Earth is going to take me away from you again.”

  She cracked a smile. “You promise?”

  He nodded. Leaning toward her, he took her face in his hands and kissed her, long and hard. The taste and smell of his wife intoxicated him, carrying him away on a cloud of hope. Catalina was right. They’d spent enough time worrying about the rest of the world, serving their country. It was time to be a little selfish.

  The future would take care of itself. For now it was just the two of them—Dorian made a noise and he corrected himself—the three of them, he thought, smiling against Catalina’s lips.

  “What is it?” she asked, withdrawing just far enough to look him in the eye.

  “I was just thinking about us. We got what we always dreamed of—a family. We made it.”

  “Twelve years late,” she reminded him.

  “Time is an illusion,” Alexander said.

  Catalina smiled. “And love is the only truth.”

  Alexander nodded. “Let mine be yours.”

  “About damn time, Alex,” she said, and pulled him in for another kiss.

  Epilogue

  Alexander lay in bed beside Catalina, wide awake and watching her sleep. He’d forgotten how beautiful she was.

  On her side of the bed Dorian lay in his crib, also sleeping soundly. Alexander had asked a few junior ratings from engineering to fashion that crib for Dorian. Catalina was a civilian, so she didn’t belong with the fleet, but for now Alexander would rather stretch the rules to have her aboard the Hancock, than send her stateside where civil unrest was still in full swing in the aftermath of President Baker’s arrest.

  Alexander’s comm band trilled, interrupting his thoughts. He muttered a curse under his breath and lunged for the end table where he’d left it. Fumbling around in the drawer, he pulled out his comm band and brought it up to his lips.

  “What?” he answered, getting ready to bite the caller’s head off.

  “It’s Captain Tristan, sir.”

  “What are you doing up at this hour?” he asked in a fierce whisper. He climbed out of bed and went to the office adjoining his quarters so he could speak without waking Caty or Dorian. “No, never mind,” he went on as he waved open the door and breezed through to his desk. “What are you doing calling me at this hour?”

  “It’s important, sir.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “We received a transmission from a Minister Wang Jun, who is claiming to be the Confederate Chancellor’s direct representative. Apparently the Chancellor wants to re-open peace talks.”

  “Then why isn’t he calling Acting President Luther?”

  “He wants you to negotiate the treaty. According to Mr. Wang, any man who would rather betray his country than his conscience is a man who can be trusted.”

  Alexander snorted. “They got it all backward, Captain. I didn’t betray my country; my country betrayed me.”

  “Semantics, Admiral. What would you like me to tell Mr. Wang?”

  “They’re still waiting for a reply?”

  “Yes.”

  “Tell him I’ll be right there to speak with him in person.”

  “See you soon then, sir.”

  Going back to his quarters, Alexander crossed over to his locker and pulled out a fresh uniform. He was halfway through getting dressed when Caty woke up to ask what he was doing.

  “The Confederacy wants to sign a peace treaty. Apparently I’m the only one they trust enough to negotiate the terms.”

  “What?” Catalina asked, sitting up and rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “Where are you going? It could be a trap, Alex.”

  “Relax, I’m not going anywhere—” He said while yanking on his boots. “—just to the bridge to answer their transmission. If I do meet with anyone it will be in neutral territory, under tightly-controlled circumstances.”

  “Okay… but be careful what you agree to.”

  “I will, darling,” he said, now buttoning up his uniform. Once dressed, he crossed over to her side of the bed and dropped a quick peck on her lips. “Go back to bed.”

  “I love you,” she said.

  “Me, too,” he replied as he headed out the door and ran down the corridor to the nearest elevator.

  Less than five minutes later, Alexander stepped out of that elevator and onto the bridge.

  Captain Tristan stood with his hands clasped behind his back, staring out over the moonlit waters of the Indian Ocean. The rest of the bridge crew sat at their stations, almost too busy to notice his arrival. A petty officer standing guard by the doors announced him—

  “Admiral on deck!”

/>   Everyone looked away from their stations to offer a brisk salute.

  “At ease,” Alexander said. “Report, Captain,” Alexander ordered.

  Captain Tristan turned from the view and nodded. “Good to see you, Admiral—Lieutenant Campos, get Minister Wang back on the comms.”

  “Aye, Captain… connection established. Transmitting.”

  “On-screen,” Tristan replied.

  Alexander stopped beside Captain Tristan, and watched as the viewport directly in front of them faded from moonlit waters to the unsmiling face of Chinese man with narrow, aristocratic features and hawkish light gray eyes.

  “It is the lion himself. A pleasure to meet you.”