The Sixteen Galaxies

by William Drayman

  “Oh,” Kestil replied, “That’s nice. Where do you suggest we go? The heart of the sun, perhaps? I know you’ll kill us if I try to portal us to Earth.”

  “The Earth is under my protection,” Truly replied, “And it is off-limits to you. I would suggest you take all your people to the ship I have just de-cloaked, which you placed near the dark side of the moon. I have decommissioned its weapons, of course. I have also fuelled your drives for one run to the nearest Independent Worlds’ planet. I suggest you observe how I destroy this fleet of yours, Kestil. You will see that you will need thousands of cycles to match my firepower. Across the Sixteen Galaxies, every ship we possess is in the process of being upgraded with these systems. I can assure you, should any Independent Worlds’ vessel enter Sixteen Galaxies space, which includes this galaxy, at any time in the future, it will be destroyed with no time allowed for evacuation. Now, get off those ships; you have one minute.”

  “If she found the escape ship that easy,” John said, “She could have found the fleet at any time. We’ve been played, Kestil. She drew us here to destroy us.”

  Kestil scowled at the deck. “I really hate that machine.” He looked at John. “Well? Don’t just stand there, Crabtree, get it done.”

  John put a hand to his ear. “Evacuate all ships, portal coordinates sent. He punched in some numbers on a console. He looked at Kestil. He saw the hint of a nod from his leader. All personnel aboard the fleet ships vanished, to reappear aboard the ship Kestil had hidden. John called for a holo-display of the abandoned fleet. They watched another flash of energy radiate from the lone ship in the centre. It looked to consist of millions of tiny needle-like spikes. Their entire fleet was torn into microscopic shards of matter in the blink of an eye. All that remained was a spectacular cloud of tiny dust particles.

  John turned to Kestil. Kestil gave him another nod. He waved to the officer who now sat behind the main control panel. “Get us out of here; destination Martok 5.” The hum of the drives ramped up, and Kestil and John made their way to the captain’s cabin.

  *****

  For a good few minutes, nobody spoke, or even moved, aboard Nuthros’ ship. They all came round slowly, and helped one another to their feet.

  Jack Short looked across at Nuthros. “What the hell just happened?”

  A holo-display appeared in front of them, and they all watched Kestil’s fleet hammered with the wave of EMP. They heard Truly give Kestil his marching orders, and saw the entire fleet of ships shredded into particles.

  The holo-display of the dust cloud was replaced by the image of another ship, which picked up speed before jumping into faster than light speed. A beam of bright blue light trailed behind it. The flash of light flicked away into the distance, and it dawned on them all that Kestil was gone.

  “Nuthros, I can confirm that Kestil’s ship has left the solar system,” Truly said.

  Nuthros smiled. “Thank you, Truly, thank you. I must confess, you had me worried for a minute there.”

  Hiram gave a short laugh. “You and me both. Truly, you are a wonder. The brilliance of your weapon system is breath-taking. If any Independent Worlds ship encounters one of ours, it cannot fire, for fear it will simply provide the hunted with the power needed to destroy the hunter.” He sobered. “I should be jumping for joy right now, but I can’t do it. Kestil was only part of the problem.”

  “Kestil still is part of the problem,” a new voice said.

  They all spun round to see David Markham come into the room, at a very slow pace. His face was pale, and there were dark shadows under his eyes. Christine ran to embrace him, and he held her close. He turned to Nuthros. “Kestil and John Crabtree used a small portal device to jump off that ship before it jumped away.”

  “Truly said he left,” Jack objected.

  “No,” Nuthros replied, “She said his ship left.”

  Jack laughed. “I can see why you guys made her a female... OW!” He rubbed his arm, which had received a solid punch from Mandy, who stood next to him.

  Hiram cursed loudly. “No prizes for guessing where they’ve gone.”

  Nuthros sighed. “Truly, you knew this would happen?”

  “No, Nuthros, I did not,” she replied. “Kestil disguised the portal as a mobile communications device of Earth design. It was only good for one use, though, and I recorded its signature. I could not locate the ingress point in time, though. He will build more, I have no doubt. But, if he uses one, I will locate him. He has lost all power from space, and he is fully aware of what I will do to any ship that enters this solar system.”

  “So,” Hiram said, “Truly has reduced Kestil’s power a hundredfold, but he’s still here, along with John Crabtree.”

  “It is just as Truly predicted,” Nuthros replied, “The war will start on Earth.”

  “Indeed,” David said. “And whoever wins that war, wins humanity’s fealty. Whoever wins that will gain their creativity.”

  “And whoever has that,” Hiram said, “Wins everything.”

  *****

  John and Kestil appeared in the middle of a small clearing surrounded by deep forest. John pulled out his 9mm automatic and swept the treeline in front of them. He turned to Kestil. “Where are we? This place looks kind of familiar.”

  Before Kestil could answer, a voice called from deep in the trees. “You boys put your weapons on the ground nice and easy, like. Hands above your heads and turn round real slow. I can kill a man from a mile away, and I’m a hell of a lot closer than that.”

  John smiled and placed the pistol on the ground. “Barney? That you, you old coot?”

  There was a brief pause before Barney Cantock walked slowly out of the tree-line behind them, a Springfield Armory M1A levelled at the pair in the clearing. “John? That really you?”

  John turned round. “Sure is, Barney. You’re a sight for sore eyes.”

  Barney slung the rifle over his back and ambled over to embrace his friend. “Damn fine to see you, brother.” He took a step back and eyed Kestil warily. “Still got your new buddy with you, I see.”

  John patted Barney’s shoulder. “Relax, man. Kestil’s got our best interests at heart.”

  “Yeah?” Barney replied. “Well, he ain’t as powerful as he was, I reckon. You boys been all over the internet; big fight in space near Earth, according to the scientists. They say they don’t know who beat who, but seeing as how you turned up here, it seems to me like you got your asses handed to you. That was your fleet that got shredded, wasn’t it? You sure you picked the right side, John?”

  Kestil laughed. “That was twenty three ships. We have thousands. That loss was a blip, no more.”

  Barney nodded slowly. “Uh-huh.”

  John regarded Barney closely. “You want to give in and let Sertan and the tree-huggers win, Barney boy?”

  “Hell no,” Barney replied.

  “I can assure you, Barney,” Kestil said, “I have plenty more tricks up my sleeve. I have lost support from space, but that is a small matter. The real fight is for Earth, and that will be done right here, not in space. Down here, we hold all the cards.”

  “By the way,” John said, “How the hell did you know we’d be here?”

  Barney shrugged. “Got a text message thirty minutes ago. All it had on it were the grid references to this clearing. I got a perch two hundred yards off. Had no idea what I’d be met with.”

  “We need to press on, gentlemen,” Kestil said. “I have a container of equipment underneath Barney’s cabin for us; portal devices, weapons, and so on.”

  John looked at Kestil. “You’re always prepared, aren’t you?”

  “Always,” Kestil replied with a smile.

  John banged his hands together. “Right; let’s get started.” He pointed south. “I know your cabins just over yonder, so let’s grab a bite to eat, and I’ll get the boys together.”

  Barney frowned. “You sure, John? The government told us when they released us, any more contact with you and Kestil he
re will be a federal offense. I ain’t got no liking for how they treated us last time.”

  “The United States government will be no bother to us, Barney,” Kestil said.

  “Oh yeah?” Barney replied. “And how you figure that?”

  Kestil smiled casually. “Because, Barney my friend, I own the US government.”

  *****

  David Markham stood at the viewport, his brooding gaze fixed on the nearby planet. He had been there for hours, hands clasped behind his back; motionless. His eyes saw what any human eyes would see; a bright blue jewel of a planet, back dropped by an endless void. But what his mind could see was a very different matter. Organically hyper-linked to The Entity, David knew, and could envision, everything. However, to an advanced being like David, such knowledge brought with it both awareness and empathy.

  The peace and unity of the Sixteen Galaxies society he was now part of gave him a measure of comfort, but the planet he watched at the moment tore at his very soul. Figures that were cold statistics to most, stung his mind like a white-hot flame. He not only knew the numbers, but felt the associated pain.

  He felt the gnawing hunger of 805 million people, felt the darkness of depression that shrouded the lives of 350 million people, shivered in the cold experienced by over 100 million homeless, and he mourned for the 56 million people who lost their lives every year.

  The pain, the hatred, the suffering and the death of this benighted world clashed violently with the wisdom and compassion he shared with The Entity. He knew this planet was a write-off; a reject. Another one of the 93% that had failed to develop to integration. But, it was also his home, and his people. Humanity was a special case, and it needed saving, even if, objectively speaking, they didn’t deserve it; David had been born for exactly that reason.

  Which was why he stood here now, absorbing all the pain and misery, until he could assimilate it into a background noise. At that point he would start to project, extrapolate and plan for the conflict ahead. He knew he could never prepare in time, but that didn’t bother him. In warfare, nobody was ever really prepared.

  *****

  Christine watched David from a table on the other side of the deck. Her boyfriend had always had a remoteness about him, and she was used to that. Now, though, the distance between them felt like a chasm that threatened to keep them apart forever.

  Throughout their relationship, Chris had always been the one to carry the emotional load. From a kiss to an embrace, she was the instigator every time. Although David’s looks and intellect attracted women like moths to a flame, he never so much as acknowledged their existence. Christine was the only woman he spent time with, and he spent a lot of time with her. She wondered, though, if that meant what she had always assumed; that he loved her.

  She knew she clung desperately to him, and she knew why. It was in the hope that he might one day engage with her at a personal level on his own initiative. But, he never had, and it left her feeling distant from him. She felt even more distant, now. If he’d never really loved her before, what chance was there that he would love her now? Was he even human anymore?

  Her musing was interrupted by Nuthros, who sat down beside her. A cup of steaming coffee appeared before him. He took an appreciative sip, and sighed in satisfaction.

  Chris raised an eyebrow. “You drink coffee? I had no idea.”

  “Well,” he replied, “It has no caffeine or other harmful ingredients, but Truly assures me it tastes the same as the coffee she makes for you.”

  “Maybe I’ll get Truly to do that to mine, too.” She trailed off, and her eyes wandered back to David.

  Nuthros followed her look. “You worry about him, don’t you, Chris?”

  “David?” She shrugged. “Of course I do, I love him.”

  “But you wonder if he loves you.”

  Not so long ago, such a comment would have infuriated Chris beyond belief. But she was getting used to Nuthros reading her emotions, now. In a way, she thought it was a wonderful gift; so much heartache averted by way of misunderstandings. She gave him a sad smile. “I wonder if he ever did, to be honest.”

  Nuthros nodded. “David was always different, Chris. Though he didn’t realize it at the time, his mind worked at a level much higher than mortal men. Now, it works at a level much higher than anyone’s except Truly’s.”

  “Too high to love a mere mortal woman?”

  “You speak of love as though it were an emotion of lesser beings only, Chris. That is simply not true. Humans have some very strange ideas about love, to be honest.”

  “Have you ever been in love, Nuthros?”

  Nuthros gave a gentle laugh. “With an individual in particular, you mean? No, not me.”

  “But your parents were.”

  “No, not really.” Chris saw his hesitation for what it was; Nuthros trying to put a principle far beyond her comprehension into words she could understand. “In our society, a couple may decide to vow themselves to one another to have children. That vow binds them to one another for the duration of their children’s developing years. But, after that, they rarely stick together. The fact is, we all love one another equally as a society, not on an individual basis.” He saw her flinch and raised a hand. “It is not something that would make any sense to you, I realize that. However, there may well come a time when you understand the concept.”

  Chris inclined her head politely. “So, if David is even more developed than you are, he would have no capability to love someone on an individual basis.”

  Nuthros fiddled with the cup on the table in front of him. Chris waited for him to gather his thoughts, as she had learned to do from Truly. Anger, frustration, and a host of other emotions broiled in her mind, but she held them in check. Nuthros gave her a searching look. “He will love you far more, and far deeper, now, Chris. The only thing is, he loves everyone alive to that same level.” He gestured toward David. “As he stands there, he feels the pain of loss every time someone on your planet dies, as though it were the loss of a close family member. When you consider that a person dies on your planet nearly every half-second, is it any wonder he is still adjusting?”

  “He feels every death on Earth like that? How does it not tear him apart?”

  “That is almost as far beyond my comprehension as it is yours, Chris. It must be very unpleasant indeed. David has accepted his role, though, and he is coming to understand what must be done to change your world. His intellect allows him to cope with the pressure. He has forsaken many of his rights as an individual to shoulder the burden of the years to come. He has indicated he can deal with that. It’s really a question of whether you can deal with that.”

  Chris sat and contemplated the situation for a few minutes. “I would like to go home to Earth, Nuthros.”

  “I know that, Chris. Consider this, though. Kestil understands nothing of David’s significance, yet. That will, undoubtedly, change. When it does, he will see you as an important asset in his war against us. We cannot allow him to gain such leverage. You must not go to Earth until Kestil is out of the picture.”

  She nodded slowly. “So, I’m stuck on board this ship, then.”

  “Not at all, Chris. Kestil is locked out of all the Sixteen Galaxies territory, and he is confined to this one planet.”

  “What are you saying?”

  Nuthros gave her a big smile. “How would you like to live on another planet for a while?”

  Chris returned her gaze to the viewport, to find David nearly at her side. He came right up to her and took her face in his hands. He bent down and tenderly kissed her, before he turned to Nuthros and placed a hand on the alien’s shoulder. “Don’t be so certain you comprehend the true scope of love, my friend.”

  Chris and Nuthros exchanged a puzzled look.

  David pointed to the viewport. “That planet is not a fit place for you, my love. But, I have to do my best to save it. I would ask that, in the meantime, you stay on Kareetha, and wait for me there. I have obtained permission fo
r you to become a full citizen of the Sixteen Galaxies.”

  Chris shook her head. “I’m not leaving you, ever.”

  David pulled her to her feet and held her close. “You will be with me, Chris. As soon as you are implanted, we will never be apart again. Once you are on Kareetha, you will understand. You have much to do, and an important role to play. I cannot tell you more at this point, because you are not ready. But, in the days to come, you will see why Truly brought you here.”

  “What possible good can I do, David? I’m not like you.”

  He stood back from her, and held her gaze. “You think so little of yourself, don’t you?”

  She nodded. “I am nothing without you.”

  David held her close again. “The day will soon arrive when you will finally understand; I am nothing without you.”

  *****

  A young officer hurried through a web of pipes and tanks. He threw nervous glances at the mysterious forms inside the tanks as he passed them. He walked over to where a short, thin man with olive complexion and drab black hair stood at a console. The thin man peered closely at a holographic display. He smiled in satisfaction and made some tiny adjustments. The officer gave a nervous cough behind him. The smile on the thin man’s pinched face turned into a scowl. He didn’t turn to face the young officer. “Yes?”

  “Sorry to disturb you, Researcher Prestern, but I have a link from Supreme Commander Kestil.”

  Prestern didn’t reply, but held out his right hand. The young man dropped a cube into his hand and scurried off.

  Prestern placed the cube into a slot on a nearby console. A small hologram of a still-shot of Kestil appeared above the cube. Some symbols scrolled across below the image, and Prestern touched some pads in a corresponding pattern. A tone sounded and the image of Kestil came to life.

  “Kestil, my dear boy,” Prestern said, “How goes the campaign?”

  Kestil bowed. “I’m sorry to report the loss of my fleet, Prestern. Truly bested me, yet again.”

  Prestern nodded. “I see. Well, it was always a risk. Her capture would have accelerated my work considerably. But, no matter.”