Lord Banshee Lunatic (Nightmare Wars Book 3)

by Russell Redman

  The dream ended but I doubted such a society could survive much longer without drastic changes. It was almost as bad as extinction.

  In the second case, Wolong retained a small but well-equipped fleet. Mars instituted its own Directorate of Law with Officers of Truth imported from the Moon. Nursing long grievances, Wolong launched a massive strike against the Moon, killing his sister and destroying every city. The surviving Banshees were hunted and captured wherever they hid on the Earth or in the farthest reaches of the Belt. We were secretly smuggled into prisons hidden on the Earth and tortured to reveal our secrets. After the other Banshees had been murdered, Wolong kept me imprisoned for years.

  When he felt strong enough, he announced my capture and proposed that my trial should be held on Mars. Wolong had me escorted to Mars by a huge war fleet, half of the ships being Wolong’s personal force, sophisticated ships based on TDF designs whose officers were personally loyal to himself. His intent was to kill the Emperor, claiming both the throne and control of the Imperial fleet before his rivals had time to react. Spies alerted the Emperor to his son’s treachery, so Wolong’s fleet was attacked en route, with huge bounties paid as each of his ships was destroyed. Even the crews that surrendered were secretly slaughtered as traitors after they had been disarmed. Wolong himself escaped and fled back to the Earth at the first sign of trouble.

  I had been hidden in a prison on a supply ship that was a prize in the fighting but was never considered a sufficient threat to merit destruction. After my trial and execution, the Martian Government began to reform itself and that stricken planet began to recover from the long oppression of the Governors.

  Now defenceless, the Earth fell under direct Imperial control. Wolong’s ground forces were bombarded from orbit and he was hunted down in a planet-wide manhunt. Convicted of high treason, he died after an execution that was prolonged for months using the exquisite medical facilities available on the Earth.

  Shi Hong Di died of old age soon afterwards. His designated heir did not inherit his political foresight, nor his mastery of intrigue. The Succession War to replace him raged through all Human Space. Hope University survived, sometimes by fighting with superior Terrestrial technologies, more often by running desperately to safer locations. After the Martian Academy was bombed out of existence, Hope replaced it in Imperial society. When the fighting finally died away, Mars and the Belt began the long process of reconciliation. Together, they salvaged the last surviving scraps of human civilization from the devastation on the Earth.

  A common element of the three dreams in which we survived was the Succession War, a century of atrocities that devastated humanity until only the peacemakers were left to pick up what remained. I wrote up both cases in detail and sent them with my summary of the other nightmares. I spent the rest of the evening weeping uncontrollably. It was impossible to hope for a century of hatred, murder and treachery that left the Earth nearly sterile and the rest of human space desolate. I knew we could do better, but everything I saw on the news told me that the lies and atrocities on the Earth were getting worse. When I dared to check, the golden bricks of the Path were stepping stones floating on a raging ocean of innocent blood with black clouds of hellgate whipping low overhead.

  2357-03-29 21:00

  Open Questions

  I woke after a restless night to find a message from Sergei. He thanked me for my detailed narrative of the previous day’s activities.

  He mentioned that Eve’s curiosity had been tweaked by the claim that all Lunatics grew up wanting to be therapists working for Lunar Recovery. She found that, per capita, there was less demand for therapy on the Moon than in any region on the Earth, but more registered therapists by a large factor. Most therapists had a second job that paid their salary but persisted as therapists anyways. She attributed this to the burning desire that most Lunatics shared to be able to help their neighbours in their time of need.

  He then asked some questions that flattened me:

  We have noted the crushing darkness of your dream visions but also how poorly they anticipate the actual events we are experiencing. You have attributed the poor match to extraordinary people, yet our lives are filled with extraordinary people. It is not just military and political leaders who are extraordinary, although they fill most of the history books. Extraordinary people are everywhere: business leaders like the CEO of Connaught Freight Enterprises, courageous doctors like those organizing Hope University, and your anonymous transport driver yesterday. Our societies are glued together and animated by extraordinary people. Very few want to die fighting in a pointless, hopeless war.

  You have mentioned several times that you are basing your simulations on “realistic but optimistic” assumptions about how Martian and Belter societies work. We have been wondering what else might influence your simulations. Here are a few questions you might consider:

  1) Your understanding of Martian military society must be based on your experience during the Incursion. If we trust the legends, the fighting on Mars was exacerbated by your own very capable interventions. The war would have ended earlier and with much less bloodshed if you had not continuously upped the game, sometimes switching sides unexpectedly. If you base your models on the earliest stages of the war, when the violence was relatively contained, would the nightmares degrade to merely bad dreams?

  2) In Baintree’s report, you say that your ability to run these simulations was created by the Exterminators, who had a very particular kind of simulation in mind. They wanted you to be a fanatical warrior battling impossible odds to start a genocidal war. Are your assumptions biased by the missions the Exterminators intended you to execute?

  3) Baintree reported your claim that the Imperium has been running the same kinds of simulations with similar results. However, the worst violence is being incited by the Sultan Mustafa organization and is not normal factional rivalry. We saw the same self-destructive fanaticism at Valhalla. We believe it is evident in some of Viceroy Wolong’s advisors, in the behaviour of some of the hidden armies since they emerged, and in some of the officers leading the VPF rebellion. I wonder if the hatred I experienced on Mars had the same source? The rise of the Imperium dampened the factional rivalries and restored a measure of calm. If we could help the Imperium eliminate the Sultan Mustafa, would all of human space return to rational diplomacy?

  We do not have answers to these questions. They may be worth considering when you have the opportunity.

  Faced with questions that struck so directly at my fundamental assumptions, the Ghost would have burrowed into a remote sand dune to ponder the problems. In a sense, I was now buried in a Lunar dune that happened to have comfortable beds, regular food, and companions who might help me with my internal discussion.

  I would have to have a careful talk with Sa’id, probably also with Mindy. It might be useful to probe our new companion, when she was better rested, to find out if she had heard of the Sultan Mustafa or was aware of influence from any of the other factions or clans.

  When Sa’id arrived to assist with my morning exercise, I insisted on walking up and down the hallway half a dozen times as part of the routine. He had to push my field station on the wheelchair beside me. We had an intricate dance turning around at the ends of the corridor. He promised to get me a light power frame with a backpack for the field station ASAP since I was clearly ready.

  Mindy watched with open envy as we walked along the hall. She almost became sharp when she heard about the frame and backpack. When her doctors came around, they explained that her abdominal muscles were responding well but were still a few weeks behind mine. Worse, her internal organs were still fragile skins of tissue growing on the templates. They were developing nerves and blood vessels, but were still at risk of tearing and stretching if abused. Her diaphragm had been shredded and the many torn edges sutured together with glue. They had healed sufficiently for her to sit up, but the additional stress of walking would risk rupturing the weaker seams. Her exercise was
necessarily limited to upper-body and leg exercises in a frame that immobilized her ribcage and hips, with only gentle stretching and slow contractions for everything in between. It would be a month before she could walk safely with her own frame and backpack. They recommended that she take my laboured walking as a promise of things to come.

  They marvelled at my own medical case and my good progress. I took the warning they gave to Mindy to mean that I should return to my regular exercise for the rest of the session.

  I was halfway through breakfast when I realized the true significance of Sergei’s message: He was alive! THEY were alive and able to discuss my report! I straightened up so abruptly that Sa’id jumped to the field station to see what was wrong. I quickly assured him that I had just received some very good news.

  He told me over the comm not to get too excited but he also had good news. Something big was happening that might help me escape from the Moon. It was premature to say much but I could expect action within two weeks. I restrained my excitement through the rest of breakfast by resetting myself to the Ghost repeatedly.

  I returned to my room and chased everyone out, even Sa’id. He insisted that he would monitor my field station and would intervene if I got too stressed, but finally left to check on Mindy. After a few moments to calm myself, I composed a suitably subdued request to Sergei for an update on how the Rapunzel rescue had been resolved.

  It was some time before I received his equally subdued reply. They were still on the Rapunzel and the event was still in progress. Most of the crew from the rogue were safely in the Western Textiles ships.

  A few of the worst-injured had transferred to the Rapunzel. So far, there were no injuries that required advanced treatment available only in the lunar hospitals. The rogue ship was named the Anaconda. The crew he had met were unaware of what it meant. A few thought it so pretty they intended to name their daughters after the ship.

  The reactors in the ship were on again, so the rebels were in no danger of starvation or asphyxiation, but the risk to the Rapunzel was higher. They were playing very slow mind games with the remaining crew on the Anaconda. The rebels had apparently shot their captain as they took control of the ship. The captain was alive but was a hostage being held in the reactor room.

  He added that the crew of the Rapunzel were now experts in opening and closing doors. They had mastered the art of paralyzing armour and disabling guns, to the extent that their authorization permitted. They were studying together whether it would be possible to disable the weapons systems on the rogue ship, with the nervous assistance of Wep Sinbadson. There were many aspects of this project that required permission from the Admiralty, in case TDF ships had similar vulnerabilities.

  In the meantime, the four ships were receding from the Moon, far enough now that the Earth and Moon were clearly a double planet on the monitors. They were close enough to the outlying stations in L2 that there was discussion whether to return there rather than directly back to the Moon.

  The delay circled around issues of legal jurisdiction. The “rebels” within the ship were actually Wolong loyalists. When the captain had attempted to defect to Fenghuang, they fought back. The loyalists insisted that the defectors were the rebels, a case any lawyer could defend. When Wolong’s fleet decided on a cowardly retreat to the earth stations, they chose to obey his implied orders to attack the Lunar cities. The loyalists were junior officers and soldiers, not authorized to launch missiles, but they tried to punish Fenghuang and her rebels by ramming the ship into the port facilities at Copernicus City. By the time Wep Sinbadson turned off the drive, the loyalists had seized the treacherous captain, locked themselves in the reactor room, and turned off power to the ship.

  Who, then, held legal jurisdiction? What charges could even be considered? Most critically important, how could open conflict be avoided as the two sides disputed their claims?

  If they took the ship to L2, additional complications ensued. The legal status of L1 and L2 were themselves still unclear, with Wolong, Fenghuang and a variety of factions who declared themselves loyal only to the Emperor all claiming jurisdiction. One of the Western Textiles ships accompanying the Rapunzel declared that their immediate loyalty was to Fenghuang as commander-in-chief of the Lunar Viceregal Fleet, but the second ship was part of Forward Command and owed allegiance directly to the Emperor. The Emperor himself had not yet given a ruling on the many associated issues.

  Even the space-based TDF was debating whether it was now loyal to the Terrestrial Council, to the earth-bound TDF Command, or to the Admiralty on the Moon. They were having an increasingly difficult time adjudicating the ever-more strident ownership claims as their own authority fell into dispute.

  About the only thing that everyone seemed to agree on, other than Wolong and the Sultan Mustafa, was that they did not want the decision to be made by force of arms.

  Sergei noted that the crew of the Anaconda were not the only casualties of the debacle that ended the blockade of the Moon. Wolong had stopped trying to escort convoys from L1, not trusting his fleet or allies that far from his direct control. His blockade had shrunk to a blockade of the earth stations. Millions on the Earth would face starvation if food shipments could not be restarted soon.

  In the Banshees’ opinion, it would be some time before prosperity returned to the Moon. Lunar trade was dominated by trade with the Earth. Piracy within the Earth-Moon system was dropping, but only because no freighters attempted to run Wolong’s blockade. Nor did anyone dare to consider trade missions to Mars or the Belt.

  Military escorts were required for the little trade that was moving. The Directorate of Commerce was organizing trade amongst the Moon, L1 and L2 using convoys of freighters under Imperial and TDF protection. The facilities in Leading and Trailing, the Lunar L4 and L5 complexes, were serviced only when warships were available to protect the freighters. TDF ships from the earth stations were being repaired at the shipyards in Leading, but even they moved in convoys.

  It was a sobering letter. I replied that I did not greatly care how they resolved the jurisdictional disputes but I did suggest that Sergei, Leilani and Doctor Toyami leave the Rapunzel at L2. They should try to return to the Earth rather than the Moon because we needed to go there ultimately. They might draw less attention if they travelled on a ship friendly to Wolong. Given the dismal state of commerce, they might have to hide while waiting for suitable transportation.

  Feeling greatly relieved, I called Sa’id back and started discussing how he, Mindy and I might travel to the Earth without taking on undue risk, politically or medically. There were a lot of issues and we had not even raised the possibility with Mindy. He just smiled like the Cheshire cat and said that Mindy might know more than I did. She had fastened on my promise to restore her fortunes and was insisting that we all travel together. That left me puzzled but reassured that Sa’id had the issue in hand.

  2357-03-29 23:00

  Rags

  At lunch, we gathered again, including our anonymous fourth inmate. She remained bad-tempered, contradicting almost everything anyone said. She could at least eat a normal diet, which left Mindy envious again. She refused to discuss political or military issues and was bewildered by Rags endless fascination with clothing. She left early, returning to her room to nap some more on her orderly’s advice.

  The rest of us decided to nickname her Hotstuff because of her temper. As nicknames go, it was not actually offensive but we would have to be careful not to use it in her hearing until we knew how strongly she would object. In the laughter, Rags let slip that he had been nicknamed Hottips earlier in his career but refused to elaborate.

  Mindy and Rags were content to chat, so I asked them what they had been watching for entertainment. I was not surprised that Mindy was a news junkie and Rags was not. I was more surprised that both watched the economic reports intensely. I did too, normally, but had not had enough time recently. It was refreshing to hear intelligent analysis of the Lunar economy, of corporate allian
ces and fiscal motivations. Rags knew far more than his clothing obsessions would have suggested, although most of the companies he mentioned did service the textile industry to some degree.

  I tossed out the idea that Martian styles would sell well on the Moon. I got in return an hour-long discussion on how they could do it, how lunar styles could be adapted to the cooler environment of Martian cities, and how to transfer money between the two economies. Rags knew a LOT more about Martian financial arrangements than anyone I had met in years, far more than a lunar clothier could have learned, more than either Mindy or myself. It was a fun discussion and I suspect that we three inmates recognized by the end that we had all lived on Mars at some point in our lives.

  We had to break so that Mindy and I would have time to rest before our next round of exercise. I spent a very relaxing couple of hours, watching three different economic feeds simultaneously. One was celebrating the resumption of trade as convoys of freighters were escorted in from L1 and L2. They gave excited announcements of each incoming ship, its cargo, and the exports it would carry away. I could recognize where each incoming ship had picked up its cargo but there was no mention of outgoing destinations, probably for security reasons. Regardless of their destinations, they would first gather into convoys under the protection of the TDF and Lunar Viceregal fleets.