Stars in the Sand

by Richard Tongue

   “Very well. We’ll be waiting, Captain, and our shuttle is on standby. Spaceman Bradley thinks that she can duplicate your landing curve.”

   “Don’t attempt it unless I give you specific orders, Lieutenant. Is that understood.”

   “Yes, sir. When can you call again?”

   “Keep monitoring. I’ll attempt to call in four hours. Marshall out.”

   Singh took back the communicator, then said, “I will see that you are able to keep your appointment, Captain. If you would come with me?”

   He led them down into a large room, decorated with magnificent murals on every wall except that facing the sea, filled with plastic furniture. A quartet of mugs were waiting for them on a table, the smell of coffee rising into the air.

   “I thought you might care for something to drink. I’m afraid we have nothing stronger on the base.”

   “Coffee will be fine, thank you,” Marshall said, taking a seat. “You must know that we have a thousand questions to ask.”

   “I will not answer anything related to any current operations, Captain, and I presume – your present mission excepted – you will not provide any tactical information relating to your Triplanetary Fleet, either.”

   “That seems to be a good basis to begin with,” he replied. “This is Corporal Cooper, by the way, one of my staff.”

   “A pleasure, Corporal. If I may say, you seem rather more civilized than your reputation suggests. I followed your conquest of Ragnarok and Jefferson with some interest.”

   “Conquest? We liberated Jefferson from the Cabal, and last I heard there was a force of military advisors on the way. As for Ragnarok, they held a plebiscite and opted for Triplanetary membership after we helped prevent a Cabal-backed uprising!”

   "You must understand, the Cabal Fleet controls all formal news media. I only speak from what I have heard, though I am willing – for the sake of our present conversation – to accept your good intentions.”

   “Shortly you will be learning that we have conquered Hydra Station as well, I suspect.”

   “Interesting,” he replied with a smile. “Do you further realize that your Alamo has been destroyed?

   “Destroyed?” Marshall’s face grew pale.

   “In battle with a Cabal fleet, about a month ago.”

   His face cracked into a smile, “We beat that fleet, Brigadier. One of our ships were destroyed, but it more than paid its way to Valhalla.”

   “Interesting. I believe they are afraid of you, and your fleet.”

   Leaning forward, Marshall said, “Have you any information about a possible invasion of our territory?”

   “You will be surprised to learn that we do not have direct access to their inner counsels, but we have heard that a military build-up was under way, and they have been strengthening some of their supply depots on the path to Sol.”

   Cooper looked at Marshall, “That could mean that war is imminent.”

   “Or that it is months, or years away. We’re building up strategic supplies at Ragnarok, if it comes to that – for all we know, they are worried that we might be preparing to invade them.”

   “Are you?”

   “I’ve been away too long to know what the current planning is,” Marshall replied, “but when I left, that wasn’t Triplanetary policy. Our mission was information-gathering.” He gestured around,  “What about this station?”

   “Ah. You see the last resting place, Captain, of the Rakesh Sharma.”

   Marshall glanced around, “What happened to Captain Chambers?”

   “Who?”

   Cooper said, “I don’t think he means our ship, sir.”

   Nodding, Marshall said, “There is a ship of that name in the Triplanetary Fleet.”

   A faint smile crossed Singh’s lips, and he said, “I am glad to hear it. It is a proud name, worthy of such an honor. This version left Earth in 2058, a project of the Indian Diaspora. Our goal was to establish a remnant of our country out among the stars, as everything fell to pieces back home.”

   “Our goal? You were on board?”

   “I was much younger, then. I still remember my last look at Earth from Vostochny, those bleak wastelands. I understand it was destroyed.”

   “Not long afterward. There are no records of your flight, but we know of other, similar ships. Such as the settlement of Ragnarok, for example.”

   “We were willing to take a desperate gamble, but we had hoped for either a friendly welcome or a fair chance. Instead, we found the Cabal. We jumped into a system, were hailed, and they attempted to board us.” He smiled, once again, “That was a battle worth writing epics about. For three days they fought us, before we managed to leave the system. Our engines straining with one final effort.”

   “When did that happen?”

   “Sixty years ago.”

   “The turn of the century? How long were you in flight?” Cooper said.

   “Most of that time was spent in hibernation, Corporal. Our drive was not as good as yours. When we arrived here, it was apparent that our ship had fought its final battle, so the survivors, led by myself, decided to dig in. That was fifteen years ago. We had two goals – to hide, to protect ourselves from the hostile forces around us, and to defeat the Cabal and liberate the worlds it had enslaved.”

   “And since then?”

   “We managed to duplicate what you call the hendecaspace drive, with the...assistance of a former Cabal drive technician, and began our efforts. Progress has been slow, but we are gaining ground.” He took a deep breath, and said, “I know of your Confederation. You are not the first officer from your alliance I have encountered.”

   “There were others? From Hercules?”

   “No,” he said. “Not from Hercules. Over the years...but that is a discussion for another day. You are seeking to rescue your crew from captivity.”

   “That’s the goal. Then head home with the intelligence we have gathered from the Cabal.”

   “Which is?”

   He looked at Cooper, then said, “We have, at Hydra Station, a full Cabal military database, as well as access codes for the lower security levels.”

   Singh’s eyes widened. and he replied, “Fifteen years, and we have never come close to a breakthrough of that scale.”

   “We have resources you don’t.”

   “Evidently. I would be willing to make a trade with you, Captain. A name, a set of co-ordinates, and a codeword, for all the information you have gathered.”

   “Most of it isn’t here.”

   “We have a ship of our own, able to make the run to Hydra Station.” He chuckled, “The commander of Sinbad Outpost is eminently bribable, and asks no questions of his guests.”

   “One name?” Cooper said.

   “Understand the level of risk I am taking. It has taken years for us to begin to gather an intelligence network in the Cabal. Many of my friends have died in this enterprise. In exchange for your information – information that we might be able to use in strategic strikes against the Cabal, a goal that I believe is compatible with yours – I will give you access to that network. I can make no promises about what they will be able to do for you, that will be for the commander on the scene.”

   “And the co-ordinates?”

   With a smile, he said, “We were not the first occupants of this world. Upon our arrival, we located some interesting astrographic information, carved into the rock…”

   “A shortcut! A brown dwarf with a planet!”

   “I see you have made discoveries of your own.”

   After a pause for a moment, Marshall said, “We’ll need to refuel.”

   “That can be arranged.”

   “Then if I can borrow your communicator again, I believe we can formalize this relationship.”

  Chapter 18

   The colony dome and the landing pad were almost out of sight, dippin
g down under the horizon, as Cooper walked along the bank of the Subterranean Sea, Barbara by his side, The lights glowed and flickered across the sea, dancing into patterns that appeared and vanished almost faster than the eye could see; the effect was hypnotic, a dance of light that drifted across the crest of the waves.

   “Isn’t it everything I promised?” asked Cooper, glancing at Barbara in her suit.

   “It’s amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.”

   “According to the Brigadier, that’s some sort of life form. Feeds off the radioactivity in the water.”

   “And five billion miles from the star. Hard to believe. Where is it we are going?”

   “I’ll tell you when we get there.”

   Their feet crunched in the sand, leaving a series footprints as they went; they were obviously not the first ones to follow this route, a path worn into the ground by constant use. Looping around a huge pillar, he gestured up to a trio of crystals embedded in the rock, reflecting the blue lights from the sea.

   “When you said that you had arranged shore leave down here, I thought you’d lost your mind.”

   “I’m glad I talked you into coming,” he replied. “They don’t need us right now back there. The Captain’s having fun dickering with the Brigadier. We could be here for a while.”

   “Most of the people here seem rather more distant.”

   “I don’t think they get many tourists. Might change if we can get through here; this would be a great base.”

   She turned to him, and said, “I thought we were having a day off, not evaluating the strategic possibilities of this world.”

   “Sorry.”

   “Because if we are, I’ll get my datapad out and start taking notes.”

   “Come on. We haven’t got much further to go.”

   He trudged on, angling away from the shore, and in the horizon could just make out the wall of the cavern up ahead, a sheer cliff face with strange patterns appearing, faintly glowing in the rock, carved ten feet tall along the wall. Barbara walked behind him, looking up, shaking her head in disbelief.

   “What is it?”

   “Our old friends, the Neander. They were here, ten thousand years ago, more, maybe. About another two or three miles down the coast are the ruins of their settlement.” He gestured up at the wall. “This was their legacy, their message to us. Astrographic information, another three brown dwarves to add to our maps.”

   “How did we miss so many new systems,” she said, shaking her head.

   “It took them centuries to find them. We’ve only just entered our third century as a spacefaring race, remember, and for the first century the Moon and Mars were the wild frontier. We’re new around here.”

   She walked up to the rock, running her hand across the wall, “These are old, Gabe. While these were carved, our ancestors were hunting mammoths with stone-tipped spears. And all the time there was a civilization out here.”

   “Hard to believe, isn’t it. But here they are, real as life.”

   Turning to him, she said, “What else are we going to find out here?”

   His face fell, “After this mission, it won’t be we.”

   “This again?”

   “It’s a fact I’m having to face. I’m enjoying what I can, while I can.”

   “Damn it, Gabe, transfer to the Fleet! I had a word with the Captain, well, he had a word with me. You’d transfer over with a promotion…”

   “And do what?”

   “You didn’t do that badly on my right seat. How about retraining as a security technician?”

   “Not bad isn’t good enough, Barbara. I’ve got to be the best, or there’s no point me trying. I’ll work, work like hell, but I’m ten years behind the curve. I’m a trooper. It’s what I’m good at, and it’s what I do best.”

   “I hate to be the one to break this to you, but life isn’t always fair.”

   “No, it isn’t,” he replied. “Or they wouldn’t be about to throw me onto the scrap-heap.”

   “You know what, I’m sorry I said anything.”

   Shaking his head, he said, “No, it’s my fault. I’m spoiling this by being depressing.” He looked up at the markings on the wall, solemn and ancient. “They’ve glowed all the time the settlement has been here. Some sort of bioluminescence, living off the radiation again.”

   “That something like that could evolve…”

   “No, it seems too perfect for that. I wish Carpenter was here.”

   “Fancy a threesome, do you?” she replied with a smile.

   “I think it might be artificial. Some sort of biotech. More advanced than anything we’ve ever come up with.”

   “What would it be used for?”

   He turned to her, and said, “Why does it have to have a practical use? It’s beautiful. Isn’t that enough?”

   “Well, enough for me, but for them…”

   Cooper glanced back, and saw another, slender figure walking towards them, uncertain in her spacesuit. Through her helmet, he could just make out the face of Ixia, looking up at the images with reverent awe.

   “Magnificent,” she muttered, barely loud enough to trigger the microphone pickup. “Magnificent.”

   “It’s amazing,” Barbara said. “I wondered if you would come out to take a look.”

   “I had to,” she replied. “I apologize if I am disturbing you.”

   “You have more right to be here than we do,” Cooper said. “This is your heritage, your history.”

   “To think that my people once walked among the stars, proud and tall, their ships sailing to new worlds. There are bodies of my people buried in this soil, over at the old settlement. I have been there to pay homage, but I had to come here also.”

   “I don’t blame you,” Cooper replied. “Your people will rise again.”

   She turned to him, and said, “I hope so. Yours is a vigorous and jealous race; I wonder how you will take the survival of my people.”

   “As a wonder,” Barbara said. “To speak to another race is a dream come true. I know that’s one of the reasons I signed on in the first place.”

   “That is my question, though,” Ixia said. “How will my people fare in this brave new world of yours? Will we simply become chained to your destiny, or will we be free to find one of our own.”

   “Driftwind is a free planet,” Cooper said.

   “They are tied to a dying world, and still scurry around in the mud. I would look to the stars. That is our future, if we still have a chance to take it.” She looked back at the ruins, the crumbling towers barely visible. “Or have we had our chance, and lost it. Our people were brought back from the very brink of extinction, and we squandered that gift through war. Perhaps we deserve our fate.”

   “We nearly destroyed ourselves. More than once. We fought back, pushed on, and made it out here into space, and now look where we are!”

   “On the verge of another war, with my people caught in the middle. Captain Marshall wishes me to testify in front of your Senate, and he thinks it will lead to the Triplanetary Confederation declaring war on the Cabal.”

   “Don’t you want that?” Barbara said, frowning. “We would liberate your people, and you must know us well enough to know that we will not enslave you.”

   Turning to her sharply, Ixia said, “I have killed. I have taken life with my hands. And I tell you with all my heart that it was wrong, and that if I could take it back, I would do so. Each life is unique, infinitely complex, an irreplaceable part of the tapestry of the universe. To remove one is to remove something special, something wonderful, something that will never be again.”

   She looked up at the symbols on the wall, and said, “Ten thousand years ago my people forgot that lesson, and the price they paid was death, misery and subjugation. My planet was little different than Driftwind, only that we were more numerous. Now it is a huma
n colony, and we toil in their fields, their mines, their factories. A servant class.”

   “That can change.”

   “And the cost will be how many dead? Hundreds? Thousands? Tens of thousands?” She sighed, then said, “Many of my people will follow you. To glory, to victory, to freedom. I am not naive enough to believe that I can stop what will come, but I can regret it.”

   “We might yet prevent war,” Cooper said, quietly. “No-one wants war.”

   “I hear you all talking. War is inevitable, you say. The Cabal must be stopped.”

   “They are planning to subjugate us. Would you permit that?”

   “You exchange one government for another, and are of the same race. In a century, a millennium, it will all be a distant memory. All you plan on fighting over is whether human space is ruled by a Cabal or a Confederation.” She looked up again, then said, “No-one cares who won my people’s war. At least they had sense enough not to preserve those memories, only those that were important. The knowledge, the legends, the stories. Not the wars, the battles, the victories. All of that is fleeting over time.”

   Barbara said, “What are you suggesting, then?”

   “I? I suggest nothing. I am here because I am in your debt, and I will see that debt repaid. I am here because I want my people to be free, though I mourn what will be to make them so. And perhaps, I am here because I fear you.”

   “Fear us?”

   “You are a young society, so vibrant, racing out to the stars that you believe are your birthright. I fear that we may be swept away in your tide, a footnote in history.”

   “Can’t we be partners, discovering new worlds and reclaiming those you have lost?”

   “Tell me,” she said. “How long before there is a human colony on Driftwind?”

   “I’m sure there will be a trading outpost, a research station,” Cooper said. “What’s wrong with that?”

   “Nothing. But people will bring their families, and will raise children. An outpost will become a city, and then another, and another, and my people will have no place in that.”

   “That won’t happen. The Senate would never do that.”