NEBULAR Collection 6 - The Great Tremor: Episodes 27 - 30

by Thomas Rabenstein

  »I can hear you,« he answered quickly. »I’ve noticed horrified that your base has no artificial gravitation fields, which can compensate for fluctuations in the gravitational constant! It’s a miracle that you’re still alive.«

  »Not all of us,« Nok replied depressed. » We still don’t have a complete picture of the situation here. Is the shockwave on the way to the inner planets and possibly hitting Earth?«

  Klori’Tar took a couple of seconds before he said, »No, it only grazed your small solar system, but it could happen again. It’s unpredictable, neither in time nor in its effects. It could get much worse. You were very lucky.«

  »One can very well predict these phenomena,« Hassan objected vigorously. »Now, I know how they happen!«

  Klori’Tar made some quacking noises.

  »It seems that you have a Caravan Scout amongst you. But before you decrypt secrets which really intelligent species have racked their brains over for hundreds of thousands of years, you should definitely think about how you want to survive the comet storm, which will hit you in a few minutes!«

  »Comet storm?« whispered Nok.

  »Ma’am, the comets have different sizes and densities. Their course is parallel and precisely follows the shockwave. The comets will reach the Neptune system shortly. Some of the objects will collide with Neptune and Triton.«

  Nok wiped the blood from her lips before she said, »Thousands of spaceships are located around Triton; the entire space sector is occupied by the fleet! Where does this comet swarm come from? How is that possible?«

  »I should’ve remembered that you’re not familiar with such things because of your pre-tachyon reality. The shockwave has rolled across your comet belt, where it has caused a huge mess. It ripped many objects from their orbits which are now flying toward you. This process gave the comets high levels of kinetic energy. The objects follow the shockwave with a slight delay, like eddy currents. You must activate your protective fields and take counter measures. When the approaching mass and its kinetic energy collides with Triton, only a finely atomized ring of debris will be left of it.«

  Nok took a deep breath and slowly sat down on her seat.

  »We don’t have protective fields or shields. We have nothing to thwart off such a wave of comets. How much time do we have?«

  »Only seventeen minutes!« a space surveillance officer replied anxiously. »The tachyon portal is also located in the path of destruction. The probability of a hit by a comet is about seventy percent.«

  »Seventeen minutes are not enough to evacuate the moon and the system. We must prepare as much as possible to survive the impact.«

  »Impacts!« Klori’Tar corrected her rudely. »There will be more than just one!

  »If you’re unable to take appropriate defensive measures, then why don’t you ask for help from your friends? There must be some vessels in this fleet that have onboard weapons? I like to help and keep the corridor to Triton clear. Verzimut, my little helper, is already twitching to try out our anti-pole guns under these conditions.«

  Nok’s eyes glared.

  »We’re thankful for any help we can get, Klori’Tar.«

  »Ma’am, it’s possible that the other ships can’t receive our request for help. Communication is still impaired.«

  »Then, we can only hope that the ship commanders out there are drawing the right conclusions,« she said.

  Oh, my God

  As the Techno-Ferry materialized in the outer sector after a short tachyon transfer, the ship scanned the Neptune System with its superior technology. To Toiber Arkroid and his crew, the results looked like a vision of horror. Thousands of ships were fleeing the sector at high speeds or tried to reach Neptune’s shadow.

  »There are 34,485 units in orbit around Neptune and Triton. Thousands of ships have landed on Triton and the other moons,« announced Nautilus and dodged a group of bar-shaped ships, approaching on a collision course.

  »What’s going on?« Maya Ivanova yelled with slight panic in her voice. »Did they all lose their minds?«

  Magda didn’t pay attention to all these things. She sat with Paafnas in an armchair and looked fascinated at his suction cup fingertips.

  »I identified the bar-shaped ships,« Nautilus announced. »They’re arks and survival ships of the Sufriedes, who live near the middle star of the Orion constellation. These vessels are only used when the insectoid beings are facing an inevitable disaster.«

  »It seems that Scorge had broadcasted the news about the looming Great Tremor to each corner of the galaxy,« Vasina said dryly, nodding at Lucia Arkroid reassuringly.

  Arkroid’s wife didn’t pay attention to the developments outside the ship. She was worried about her daughter, but Paafnas took care of the little girl, shielding her from the growing tensions inside the command central.

  »I’m detecting large objects heading for the Neptune System!« Nautilus announced. »This is probably the reason for the confusion out there!«

  »More ships?« Pi asked.

  »No,« countered Nautilus. »These are comet fragments from the Oort Cloud. They’ll reach the Neptune System within minutes. The vector data of some comets suggest inescapable collisions with Triton!«

  »Where does this comet cluster come from all of a sudden?« Arkroid asked stunned.

  »Something must have happened during our short visit to Earth,« Herimos said. »An unknown force has thrown these comets from their original orbits and directed them toward the Neptune System.«

  »Several hundred ships are moving toward a line of defense and position themselves on an intercept course. They’re led by a unique ship. I detect the signature of annihilation,« Nautilus announced.

  »Klori’Tar and his Cobalt Hunter!« Arkroid shouted happily.

  »Respect! The Klorian wants to protect the base,« Maya commented dryly and watched the maneuvers of the small defense fleet tensely. »Most ships are fleeing or seek safety. These are fine allies,« she added sarcastically.

  »Most of these vessels are transporters or trading ships. Not too many of them are armed or could be categorized as warships,« Kuster~Laap corrected.

  Suddenly, the foremost comet glowed in a bright flash of light, brighter than the strikingly luminous beacon of Caravan Scouts in the background.

  »The first target was completely destroyed by annihilation,« reported Nautilus. »Klori’Tar uses his anti-pole gun.«

  Klori’Tar’s first shot was a signal for the few defenders of the Neptune System.

  As on a silent command, the ships fired their weapons at the approaching comets. Long-range missiles rose from the Triton Base and sought their own objectives. The Blue Moon activated her high-energy lasers and missiles to destroy scattered debris of exploded comet nuclei, which could still hit the base. The Dragon provided tactical aid by calculating the debris vectors and fired one plasma salvo after another. The bright glowing blue energy balls were fired at half the speed of light. Although, it seemed as if they had vanished, seconds later, it flashed far out in outer space. The Dragon had hit her selected targets.

  Once again Klori’Tar used his weapon and produced a thunderstorm of flashes before Neptune. The explosions were so strong that even the brightness of the solar protection field faded for a short time.

  A fragment, hurled away by the destructive forces, went astray and flew with a dangerous trajectory toward the tachyon portal. The Triton Hawks intercepted the approaching fragment immediately. Each of the twenty-two ships fired two nuclear torpedoes, which pulverized the target seconds later.

  Space around Neptune was vast, however. Some comets passed through the barrage of defensive fire and easily slipped by Neptune and its moons, without doing any harm. Five massive comet cores, each as large as the legendary Halley’s Comet, passed Neptune at about 180,000 kilometers and were diverted by the gravitational forces of the ice giant. They left behind their ionized trails whose particles vaporized slowly.

  »Maybe we’re lucky and the base as well,« Vasina h
oped.

  Arkroid smiled at her thankfully. To include the people on Triton was a noble gesture.

  Again, it flashed above Neptune. Klori’Tar had eliminated a comet just before it penetrated Neptune’s atmosphere.

  »Klori’Tar’s the anti-pole gun is a formidable weapon,« whispered Tranos. »Even the Atlantika doesn’t have such a strong presence.«

  Once again a comet approached at high speed, which was heavily attacked by the joint defense fleet, but could not be deflected from its trajectory. Pi and Arkroid groaned as they watched the comet crashing with lightning speed into a group of spaceships and then pursued its course.

  Nautilus noted after only two seconds, »Forty ships of different classes have been destroyed with their crews. There’s no hope for survivors in the core zone.

  Nautilus sounded depressed. The destructions, massive use of weapons and enormous explosions made the ship speechless. Then the comet storm was suddenly over.

  Only after minutes of silence, Nautilus summarized, »Various changes in the mass spectrum of the ice giant, but also the changes in the chemical composition of its atmosphere, indicate a previous gravitational anomaly. The Neptune System was probably struck by an overlapping front when we visited Earth. It must have come from the direction of the Oort Cloud. It seems that the comets were dragged along as the wave passed through that sector.«

  Pi read the horrible statistic, »Thirty-two comets were destroyed. A much larger amount of fifty-nine objects raced by Neptune and its moons. They are on the way to the inner sectors of the Solar System. Nine comets hit Neptune’s atmosphere. Two of them hit the moons Nereid and Proteus, causing heavy destructions. Triton and the ships that had landed there were spared thanks to Klori’Tar’s efforts.«

  »If Klori’Tar hadn’t helped us then Triton Base would now be history very likely,« Maya commented and looked at the floor.

  Arkroid’s glance suddenly became hard. He looked at the box with the Jamal-Combs. His mouth was dry and his voice was rough when he said, »The time has come. We must now complete our mission and put an end to all of this.«

  »If the beacon counter is right, then we have not reached zero yet,« Kuster~Laap reminded them.

  Vasina seemed nervous.

  »I don’t know if this is the right time or how important the timing really is, but we shouldn’t release the Jamal-Combs too early. We don’t even know how to use them correctly. We need to talk about this or did Boiltos tell you how?«

  Arkroid’s cheeks twitched slightly. He knew that the crucial moment was imminent. Either they were successful, or the galaxy would be haunted by a never before seen disaster.

  »The keys do not need a lock in the traditional sense,« said Arkroid. »These characteristic mental properties that were used by the Cysans to locate the last key precisely on the planet India will also trigger the events that’ll prevent the Great Tremor.«

  »I can see the parasite galaxy already,« Nautilus announced.

  At this moment, the ship understood itself as one physical unit again. The tracking and scanning instruments were the ship’s eyes. »I can’t see a way by which we can prevent the dimensional breach of the alien galaxy at this point in time.«

  »Do you not believe in our mission?« Vasina asked with a wavering voice.

  »I have strong doubts,« Nautilus replied frankly.

  Herimos growled, »On the one hand there’re five artifacts in the form of jewelry-like combs, and on the other hand, the tremendous power of this advancing parasite galaxy. Every normal, thinking, intelligent being develops serious doubts when faced with this scenario. I’m also not immune.«

  Arkroid raised his hand to calm down his team members.

  »The one who wants to stop a powerful opponent needs a good plan and above all: knowledge! I’m privileged to have received a few insights into the future and I felt like someone who has caught a glimpse through a keyhole. Nevertheless, this awareness has shaken me. Because if you don’t have these insights then you live in anticipation of what will happen the next day. If certain events occur, which affect your life seriously, then you blame it on fate, or if you don’t believe in it, you say that it just happened by chance. But if we look at future events just for a couple of seconds, as I have seen by means of Boiltos’ mental conditioning, then you’ll be a part of that future, and it begins to change. Things happen precisely as you’d expect. Belief in one’s destiny suddenly gives way to knowledge. The secrets of time are suddenly presenting themselves as an open book, in which you just turn the pages back and forth.«

  Vasina held her breath. She had never heard Arkroid talk like that.

  »If you read this book, you should be careful not to skip a couple of pages and go too far ahead. Because when you’ve reached the end and flip back to the first page you find yourself suddenly in a different story.«

  »You crossed this red line when you asked Klori’Tar to deliver your message,« Maya summarized. »Now you go back a couple of pages and you’re no longer part of the same story.«

  »The future has changed; I have to follow the laws of time. I have no other choice. That’s why I picked up my family. I’ll leave the Solar System very soon. However, there are effects and events, which appear in a highly persistent manner. They act like rocks in the stream of time and are resistant to tampering. One of these events is our mission. We are still the Protectors and will prevent the catastrophe now!«

  »How is that to happen?« Vasina asked sternly.

  Arkroid smiled at her reassuringly and then commanded, »Nautilus! Open the box and remove the Jamal-Combs!«

  From one second to the next, the exposed Jamal-Combs reacted and flooded the command central with a bright and warm glow.

  »Oh my God!« said Maya before she and the rest of the crew were feeling the pulse of the universe.

  Something’s wrong with these robots

  »Proteus was hit hard,« a space surveillance officer announced shocked. »The destructions on the surface are enormous. The base was spared because it is located on the other side of the moon.«

  The officer checked more data and continued, »Close to the impact site, several extraterrestrial spaceships had landed and were destroyed. Their debris is scattered all over the surface.«

  Nok Daralamai looked through the officer. Without any emotion, she listened to the shocking news. The long list seemed as if it was written by the grim reaper himself. At that moment, the voices of the command crew moved into the background. Nok wished not to have the command and having to listen to these messages. Everyone in the control central expected of her to maintain her composure and project confidence, but seen from their point of view, it could hardly be worse.

  The voices in the room became distant noises and Nok thought, What has happened, that the world has changed so much? Yesterday, we were naive and still believed to be alone in the cosmos, then the Globusters appeared and then the cosmic threat by the parasites galaxy. An invasion by four alien nations was prevented with great difficulty. Then this fleet of extra-terrestrials came to seek protection from a disaster whose consequences we barely comprehend. Ironically, we are to protect these beings, although we need urgent help ourselves. Now many of them are dead ... I’m responsible for this station, its crew and all the guests who stay in this system.

  Nok looked up. Her eyes expressed sadness when she said, »In light of these losses, we must thank Klori’Tar. Without his commitment, Triton and the refugee fleet would’ve been hit even harder. We wouldn’t have survived. When his arrival in the Solar System was to be a time stamp so-to-speak then we owe him big time.«

  Hassan Khalil nodded slightly but was deep in thought. Nok looked at him attentively. She could not shake the feeling that Hassan Khalil could see behind the curtain and perceive relationships that were incomprehensible for everyone else.

  »He’s done his best,« Hassan acknowledged in a quiet voice. » However, he can’t save us from what comes next.«

  Scattered comet fragment
s were still passing Triton, remnants of powerful explosions that the Klorian had produced with his anti-pole weapon. Although, some small comet fragments smashed on the moon, they could not do much damage. Some fragments that were flying by too close were destroyed by the Hawks or the base defense weapons.

  A far-reaching cloud of debris marked the sector where a comet had collided with a bunch of refugee ships. Many ships had been destroyed. Although, the impact energy, equivalent to thousands of fusion bombs, left very little hope for survivors, ships from all nearby sectors rushed to conduct rescue operations. Rescue units of the Solar Union worked in unity with units of the extraterrestrial fleet.

  Nok closed her eyes. Humans and extraterrestrials are cooperating. It would be a good and hopeful start of a new era if it weren’t for …

  »There’s more bad news. I’m sensing strong energy fluctuations of the beacon. It seems to collapse! That means that …«

  »I know, Hassan. It means that the time has come,« Nok said. »What’s supposed to come after the catastrophe?«

  »The shockwave and the comet storm were not identical to the Great Tremor,« Hassan replied depressed. »You have to prepare the people of the base and the crews of the extraterrestrial fleet for the worst. I don’t envy you, that’s a task and a half.«

  Nok just nodded.

  »I’m afraid we’ve exhausted all measures. On Earth, the Moon, and Mars, just like in our base and on the ships out there, we have to wait and see and react accordingly,« she answered.

  Nok signaled Hassan to come closer, then she whispered, »You made an observation. I’m not a telepath, but I can see it in your eyes. What did you find out, when you visited the Fronites?«

  Hassan’s eyes flickered. He seemed to think how to put his observations into words. When he finally did, he also whispered, as if he didn’t want to scare the crew. Nok noticed his glance at 40028. The Techno-Cleric hovered in the background and it almost seemed as if Hassan didn’t want the robot to hear his words.

  »This shockwave, this space-time warping … it didn’t seem to me as if they were part of an astrophysical phenomenon.«