»As I predicted,« Hassan Khalil put in, »they’re building a Circle Fortress with the debris from Despina. They’re here for a long stay. They know the strategic importance of the Dimensional Shield and of the threat from the other side of the galaxy. They know more than we do about the Great Tremor. I don’t know where they get their information, but I doubt the Circle Generals really understand the consequences and the dimensions of the catastrophe we’re all facing. In their arrogance they think they can survive the Great Tremor and then rule over the entire galaxy.«
Nok Daralamai’s face was unmoved. She still didn’t trust this man, but right now she had no other choice.
»Is this your personal view … or did you get that from the Moxantans?« she asked harshly.
Hassan shrugged.
»You know what I mean, Hassan. Nuri also mentioned it. We’ve seen how you’ve selectively spied them out and penetrated their minds with your senses.«
»I just … know, Nok,« he replied, calm smile breaking across his face.
Nok gave Nuri and Khalil a strange glance.
»I wish the Conceptor on Sedna would help us; he could probably chase the battleships away. By the looks of it, we can’t count on that. As Commander Petrow mentioned in his report, the dimensional base has been inaccessible since the Dimensional Shield was readjusted, and Sedna disappeared from the standard universe.«
Nok seemed to search for words.
» Both of you possess extra-ordinary, albeit sometimes frightening, abilities, which I intend to use against the invaders. You two are my trumps – we’re playing a game of deception that could determine the fate of Humanity!«
»You mean that incident with the Quadranans?« Nuri quickly threw in. »Then let me tell you that …«
»… you can … no, you have to … use your powers and abilities to put them in their places!« she interrupted Nuri more harshly than she’d intended. »Your abilities may be the only things standing between life and death on this base.«
Nuri looked reserved. Her response was stern, but also uncertain, »I don’t want to be like them! I don’t want to kill others! I really don’t think that I can unleash my powers on demand. I don’t know why I reacted like I did on the Circle battleship.«
»I do …,« whispered Hassan Khalil to Nok and Nuri’s surprise.
»You?« Nuri looked at him with her big, golden eyes.
Hassan continued softly, »It happens when you’re tormented by strong feelings, or when stress is overwhelming … then strong emotions take over your rational thinking. Your reactions on the Boodrum were so intense that even I could almost feel them physically. The Quadranans provoked you and your impulses took over your mind. General Mindbreaker’s threats triggered your defense response.«
»You don’t know what you’re talking about!« Nuri refuted.
Nok was quiet. She seemed to be thinking.
»Hmm … maybe he’s right, Nuri. It’s probably an instinctive reaction.«
»Well, I don’t know,« Nuri replied insecurely, »I didn’t want this ability and I don’t want to use it! It’s devastating!«
»So are the attacks by the Circle battleships!« Nok rebutted. »I’ve got a coded non-tachyon message telling me that the fourth Circle battleship has taken up orbit above Earth, after ramming an industrial platform on approach. The Blosphor battleship is able to switch off Earth’s magnetic field! You can imagine how people are reacting to that.« Nok took a deep breath before continuing, »Shortly after that, extra-terrestrials invaded Greenland. We were helpless to prevent them from landing.«
Hassan Khalil stared into the distance. He seemed absentminded.
»Greenland?« Nuri asked, puzzled.
»Yes,« Nok replied in a husky voice. »By beings who call themselves Frigonans, different from Moxantans and Quadranans. They took a Human hostage, a young woman who functions as a liaison for them with Fleet Administration and the government.«
»They’re negotiating?« Nuri looked at Hassan Khalil doubtfully.
»Ahem, not really …,« he bowed, shaking his head. Nok knit her eyebrows; a moment later, she nodded.
»An army of robots landed on Greenland and began to build something big,« Nok explained. »According to Friedberg, it’s a Circle Fortress. Their second bastion in the solar system! So far, their actions on Greenland don’t make a lot of sense, but we fear the worst for Earth. The Frigonans – they look like little, prickly penguins – have already attacked and infested Humans …«
»What exactly are you expecting of Nuri and me?« Hassan Khalil asked directly.
»I want the two of you to work together and find out why this treasure that Mindbreaker mentioned is so important and precious to them. Every byte of information we can get can be valuable.«
»The treasure is supposed to be in our hands?« Nuri asked cautiously. »The Quadranan demanded it from us.«
»That’s right,« Nok acknowledged, and looked to Khalil anxiously. »It must have something to do with the Octahedron, and more precisely its data bank. Let’s assume that the Generals followed the Octahedron into our solar system. They don’t know that the Octahedron dissolved after the data was uploaded, so they’re probably still looking for it. They’re digging for information in our data banks. The Moxantans have redoubled their efforts to crack our security codes and firewalls. Once they find out that the data bank is on Titan station, they’ll fly there and take it by force. We can’t stop them; we’re lucky that they haven’t broken our codes yet. They haven’t tried to get the access codes from me yet, and I don’t know if that’s good or bad.«
Nok had to force herself to address Hassan Khalil as a member of the Human species despite his transformation and infestation with degraded technology.
»Are you willing to work with me?«
Hassan Khalil seemed to look through Nok Daralamai. He sensed her unwillingness to accept him.
»Let me tell you something, Nok, something you’re not going to like. The Globuster ship’s soul that’s in me demands that I destroy this base. I’m supposed to eliminate all of you, including Moxantans and Trox, no exceptions. My own death would be acceptable to achieve the soul’s mission objective.«
Nok’s hand reached for her weapon, while Hassan slowly shook his head. Her hand movement slowed and stopped a couple of centimeters near her weapon. She wasn’t able to reach it.
›An energy field!‹ she thought, alarmed.
»I’m sorry, Nok, but I can’t let you shoot me,« he said calmly. »These and other totally absurd thoughts from the ship’s soul have been constantly trying to weaken my mind since I became one with the Globuster Lens. I’m much stronger and I control the ship’s soul instead. If not for that I’d have destroyed the base already.«
Khalil smiled and released Nok’s hand.
»The impulses tell me one thing, though: The Circle Nations are not pawns of the Dark Brotherhood … the soul wants them eliminated too! The Circle Fleet is here on her own account. They probably found our solar system by accident … or that the Octahedron brought them here unintentionally. That changed their plans, and the Circle generals are probably concocting a new one at this moment. They’re interested in the Dimensional Shield. They’ll put one and one together with what they’ve heard about the Great Tremor and change their tactics accordingly. I don’t think that the Dark Brotherhood will be happy with their presence and actions in this solar system. What we have is a third entity trying to make our lives miserable.« Hassan smiled, looking at Nok’s trembling hands. »Now, you can try to shoot me, but let me warn you: It’s not going to be easy.«
Nok’s face was petrified. She blushed in anger as she slowly pulled her hand back.
»… and which side are you on, Hassan? I don’t even want to know how you can manage to establish energy fields like this. We’ll talk about this later, don’t worry … but for now …«
»… I’ll assist your astrophysicist as best as I can,« Hassan Khalil insured her. »Be assured, Nuri won’t le
t me harm any of your crew or this base!«
»Oh … I’m not concerned about that,« Nok replied sarcastically, glancing at Nuri’s golden eyes. »Okay then. I’m expecting a signal from Friedberg to start a concerted action against the Circle. Be ready!«
A crash landing
Three members of a special commando moved cautiously across the snow covered plain. They were travelling on flat, snowmobile-like sleds and almost invisible in camouflage suits. Being spotted wasn’t their main concern, considering that high above them, the bolide Blosphor, was stationed in orbit.
Solar Fleet Command had to assume that the Blosphor was far superior to anything in terrestrial technology. It could probably detect the three men even at that distance. That was one reason the commando only consisted of three men – volunteers!
»Bondifar, I hope your visor is down. That brown face of yours stands out for miles in this snow covered emptiness. If their robots have halfway decent visual detectors they’ve probably seen you already.«
Sawyer Main, commando leader, smiled and slowly drove his sled up a slope – as usual, he had taken the lead.
»Maybe the extra-terrestrials like brown-skinned Merinians,« Tiller Hosch mocked. »Then you’re in danger too, Tiller,« Montas Bondifar sniped. »Your face would either scare the extra-terrestrials to death, or they’d cage you for their galactic zoo.«
Sawyer was still smiling when he reached the top of the small hill. His smile disappeared suddenly as his helmet-integrated warning sensors began beeping.
He cursed under his breath. He forced himself to control his emotions and calmly observed the plain before him.
»We’re there! That’s where they are, about a kilometer ahead of us. This is the landing-zone!«
Main took a deep breath. Moments later, Hosch and Bondifar pulled up at his side.
»Holy eight-tentacled sea monster!« Bondifar cursed after he activated his detection equipment. »It’s like an anthill over there!«
He recorded and observed the extra-terrestrial activities.
»Would you’ve expected this?« Hosch asked while determining the landing-zone’s perimeter. »Circular and perfectly level. The diameter corresponds with the data from our surveillance satellites – five kilometers!«
»Did you doubt the data?« Main replied with a croaky voice. »Our satellites can detect the mole on your ass! We’re not here to confirm the data.«
»Right, Boss,« Tiller responded with a chuckle. »Why are we here then? You haven’t clued us in yet. Montas and I aren’t very nosy types, but I can’t believe that we’re supposed to storm down the hill and kill these bastards. I detected about eight hundred robots! Like I said, it’s an anthill!«
Sawyer Main ignored Tiller. The team’s orders were clear. Black, spindle-like objects protruded from the ice around the edges of the landing-zone, some of them open.
»This is an invasion! Do you know anything about these prickly penguins?« Sawyer wanted to know while observing the zone with his distance meter.
»Negative Boss,« Bondifar answered quickly, »but I think that these … uh … stinger beings have all retreated into their igloo pyramids. By the way, they’re called Frigonans. If you look closer you can see their glorified igloos at the edge of the landing-zone, not far from the spindles.«
Bondifar pointed at the closest spindle.
»It’s unbelievable how fast they built these igloos. Their robots do good work.«
»I say before we finish up here, we capture one of them and reprogram it for Tiller’s use. He needs some desperate help redoing his quarters. He’s terrific on risky missions, but his decoration and renovation skills need major improvement, Boss. Maybe he can learn something,« Bondifar suggested.
»Your germfree quarters would give me allergies, with all the cleaners you use,« Hosch disputed. »I have my own, well thought out system. I can find anything, everything has its place.«
»Cut it out, guys,« Main interrupted their debate. »Did you find the woman yet on your scanners?«
»Find a naked beauty in the middle of this Greenland ice desert? Tiller is the expert. That’s why we took him along, right, Boss?«
A strong sonic boom interrupted the men and made them shudder.
A glowing fireball appeared above their heads, getting bigger by the second.
»Another spindle coming down!« Main yelled, looking up. »And fast!«
»My computer has calculated the potential point of impact, Boss,« Bondifar announced.
»Where?« Main inquired, rolling onto his back to have a better view.
»You don’t want to know, Boss,« Tiller interjected, syncing his small neuronal computer with Bondifar’s.
»It’s coming down … right here, Boss!« Hosch yelled, terrified. He threw himself off his sled and crawled into a nearby indentation for cover. Main and Bondifar followed his example, covering their heads with their hands.
›As if this would help …,‹ Main thought.
Moments later, the impact shook the ground lasting several seconds.
A black spindle hit the ground, head on, fifty meters away, penetrating to nearly a third of its length. Ice and rock debris fell like rain around them.
A small rock hit Tiller’s helmet. He cursed and pressed himself closer to the ground. Seconds later it was over.
Cautiously, the men raised their heads. The black object had landed close by, almost too close.
»Lucky!« Main announced with relief.
»You can say that again, Boss,« Tiller agreed. »That thing could’ve fallen on our heads … couple of meters more in this direction and …«
»Quit whining,« Main scolded. »I meant we’re lucky to observe this landing craft from our position.«
Bondifar dropped down, rolling around in the snow. Glowing hot rocks embedded in his clothes steaming away as he did so.
Main coughed feebly.
»I hope that you recorded the event, Hosch. Point your camera at that thing! Bondifar, stop playing in the snow!«
»Certainly, Boss. I recorded everything. My X-Ray analysis is inconclusive,« Tiller replied quickly. He repeated his measurements and analysis several times. »The hull’s made of an unknown alloy. I can’t get results from my spectrometer.«
»Maybe your box is defective?«
»Impossible, Bondi. My equipment works flawlessly. It’s like when they tried to analyze Vasina’s shield. Maybe our devices are too low-tech for these types of analyses.«
»What else can you tell me about the spindle?« Main inquired. »Is there any radiation?«
»The hull is very hot from the entry into the atmosphere … at least four hundred degrees Celsius, but falling rapidly,« Bondifar reported.
»No wonder,« remarked Hosch. »It wasn’t exactly a soft landing. The question is, why they landed like this?«
»The hull material seems to be accelerating the heat loss,« Bondifar ventured. He pointed up to a flash of light illuminating the sky. Several kilometers away, another spindle had entered Earth’s atmosphere. They felt the impact moments later.
»Another landing, or should I say controlled crash? Luckily, this time farther away. The spindles are 30 meters tall by 8 meters in diameter at the thickest cross section. The cross section is shaped like an octahedron, like the mothership. I don’t think they’re spacecraft in the usual sense,« Bondifar speculated.
»Not an auxiliary craft?« Main asked.
»Unlikely. They fall to the ground and drill themselves into the rock. They’re landing modules, only transporting materials and personnel … at least that’s my take.«
A loud, creaking noise sounded from the spindle. Steam hissed from countless crevices and small openings. The larger openings emitted a blinding green light, disabling the scanners.
»Switch to normal view!« Main commanded.
With a loud bang, a large hull section was thrown open and landed on the hard ground, still attached to the ship by big hinges, forming a ramp. There was movement on the brightl
y lit ramp. Four differently designed robots stalked down the ramp on thin legs.
»More robots!« Hosch announced disgustedly, as he ducked for cover. »We have to stop this invasion!«
What the men saw next almost made them disbelieve their eyes.
Moxa
When Nok, Nuri and Hassan entered the command central an occupier moved to block their path. The Moxantan informally addressed Nok Daralamai without acknowledging her commanding rank.
»Circle General Mindbreaker is still expecting your answer, despite the sudden termination of his invitation!« the being stated.
›There’re three individuals! He should have said: the Circle Generals are waiting for an answer. Do the Moxantans not know that?‹ Nok wondered.
She knew better, but she couldn’t bring herself to cooperate so readily with this obnoxious under-leader.
»I’d really like to talk to the Quadranan Circle Generals. I’m inviting them to continue the talks on my base.«
Everyone who knew the commander could hear the ironic undertone in her voice. The skeleton crew inside the command central stopped working and watched her anxiously. The Moxantan underling clearly didn’t catch the nuances in her voice.
»I’ll tell the Circle general,« he snarled, teetering agitatedly on his legs, »but I don’t know if you’ll survive the next meeting.«
»We’ll see,« Nok replied disparagingly, walking around him.
He, however, moved in front of her again, pulling a ridged-looking weapon with his arm-like trunk.
Nok noticed how Hassan Khalil straightened up. He seemed ready to deal with the threat – his way. Nok just faintly shook her head in response.
»I have received a report that three of my soldiers behaved erratically. They entered an airlock and ejected themselves into space. They died instantly!« the under-leader announced.
NEBULAR Collection 4 - Second Reserve: Episodes 17 - 21 Page 28