by Alex Deva
“Sir,“ he heard the pilot’s voice.
Of course. She could also access his video stream, but she had something he didn’t: a window.
He zoomed out, quickly, just in time to see the last half metre of airlock disappearing into an expanding disc of light.
He peered inside: it was empty.
* * *
Doina ran through the curving spoke, and stopped in front of the airlock door, breathing hard. She felt the starship engaging the unseen door mechanisms; she saw a sliver of gentle light, and then she saw two men, both dressed in Doi’s black uniform, coughing out grey fluid and holding on to each other.
Mark turned to her; he had red, teary eyes, and he seemed older.
“Hello,“ he managed, before she jumped at his chest.
The Albanian stood, noisily wiped his nose, and inspected the sleeve of his garment. He felt it with his fingers, pulled at it, and tried to look elsewhere. His eyes, nose and throat burned; out of necessity more than politeness, he coughed.
“Zi, this is Doina. She and our starship share a special relationship.“ Mark was smiling.
The big soldier came to attention and saluted, then quickly took the girl’s hand and shook it gently.
“First Lieutenant Erbardh Xhaka,“ he said, officially. “Request permission to come aboard, miss.“
“Granted,“ smiled Doina. “Let’s go. Aram’s been waiting for ever to come in.“
Mark looked up towards the airlock ceiling, and then waved at Zi to step into the spoke. The Albanian did not have to be told twice. He entered, Mark followed, then the inner doors closed.
“How are you feeling?“ asked Doina.
“Good as new,“ said Zi, rubbing his red eyes. “Never better. You did an astounding job, miss Doina.“
“You don’t have to call me ‘miss’ all the time,“ laughed the girl. “But I think it’s not me you need to thank.“
Mark did not understand. “What do you mean?“ he asked, contrived.
The girl reached out with her hands, placatingly, and said:
“Hold on just one second. Aram’s here.“
Then, the inner airlock doors opened, and in stepped Aram, fumbling with the catches of his dark green space suit. Zi immediately rushed to help. As soon as the helmet came off, the Dacian greeted him in Albanian:
“Përshëndetje, you great ass!“
Zi’s mouth opened in a large smile, and he gave the Dacian a huge bear hug.
“So nice to meet you in person,“ he said. “You bloody well ruined my virtual jaw. I actually felt bones break.“
From his back, Aram said: “Sorry.“ But he was looking at Mark. Then, finally free of the hug, he shook the Brit’s hand and said, softly:
“Had to be done.“
Mark looked at Zi and said:
“Don’t tell me you haven’t been planning on hitting me from the beginning.“
“Are you kidding? That punch is gonna sell my autobiography like hot bread.“
“Come on, you three,“ said Doina. “People are waiting.“
Aram caught up with Doina, as he was taking off his gloves. “Hey,“ he whispered, urgently. “Did you tell him?“
She shook her head.
Aram straightened up. “Right,“ he muttered to himself.
XXXIV.
Mark listened, without interrupting. Even when Doina explained that Toma was Keai’s current persona, and that the alien had built the starship, he did not interrupt. His face always carried a neutral, unreadable expression, which he maintained all the way. When the girl was done talking, he looked into her eyes and asked, deliberately:
“Are you alright?“
She smiled, and nodded as if to say I knew you were going to ask that. Then, she answered:
“Yes, I’m fine. A little shaken, but actually nothing bad happened. Besides, we owe Ileana your lives, so I can’t really complain.“
Mark finally turned towards the woman.
“What do I call you?“
“I don’t know. What would you like to call me?“ she joked. The Brit’s lips thinned, and he said nothing.
“Ileana will do fine,“ answered Toma / Keai after a second.
“Rank?“
“I’ve earned my bars, fair and square, sergeant. ‘Captain Toma’ also works.“
“I don’t have to call you sir. I’m retired.“
“Don’t the British SF call commissioned officers Boss?“
“You’re not British. You’re not even Romanian.“
“And yet I’ve lived in Romania longer than any Romanian has or ever will. By a factor of one hundred.“
Mark conceded with a small shrug. He looked around; Aram was leaning against a wall, watching something in the projected star field, trying to pretend he wasn’t there; Zi, on the other hand, looked as if he could’ve dug into a bag of popcorn. He was extremely caught up in the exchange. He hadn’t said a word, either — he probably felt that it was not his place. He opened his mouth for the first time only to say:
“Say it, or I will.“
Mark raised his eyebrows at him, and then slowly switched his gaze back to the alien.
“Thank you for rescuing us, although I fear that by doing so you have removed our one last chance at defeating the Squares.“
“I accept your gratitude, limited as it is. I must say it’s a step forward from… what was it, Aram? Breaking my fucking neck and feeding me my own brains?“
Again, Mark smiled a little. “Yes, that does sound rather like our ancient Dacian.“
From the side, Zi spoke again:
“Thank you, captain.“
“You are also welcome, lieutenant. You know, you remind me of someone I once met.“
“On what planet?“
Toma / Keai laughed.
“Yours, of course. His name was Hanno. He was a fellow SF, and every bit as crazy as you Rooks.“
The Albanian was very interested.
“Really? You’ll have to tell me more some day. When did he live?“
“Oh, about… three thousand years ago.“
Zi’s jaw fell.
“Carthagena,“ said Mark, softly.
“Precisely. The elite troops of Hamilcar Barca. He was one of the officers. And he nearly killed me.“
Zi turned towards Aram and asked:
“Did you know this Hanno?“
“Bit before my day,“ said Aram. “Even I am not that old. Which, I believe, was the point she was trying to make. Not very subtle.“
“It pays to be obvious, when you have a reputation for subtlety,“ quoted Toma / Keai.
“Napoleon?“ guessed Zi.
“No. Isaac Asimov. Yes,“ she added quickly, noticing Mark’s look, “I still remember that you are on the losing side of a war which is claiming thousands of victims every minute. About that — there is a plan, you see.“
“Other than the one we were acting on?“
“A plan that, in fact, encompasses your own.“
“Do Tiessler and the others know?“
“They knew of it thus far. I have not yet revealed its continuation.“
Mark considered. “Does it involve sending Doi to war?“ he asked.
“No, because that would rip apart the galaxy,“ came the answer. “As I am sure you were going to point out, had I said yes.“
“Good,“ said the Brit. “Then we’re open to hear it.“
Toma smiled. “I’m glad,“ she said. “Let’s get the others, then.“
They could not get a hold of Lykke Dahlberg; she was either simply too busy, or otherwise unable to talk. The priest Souček appeared on the screen, nodded gravely to everyone present and watched Toma / Keai with undisguised interest. Tiessler showed up too, haggard despite his best intentions, trying to rein in his impatience and his tiredness.
“Where are the rest?“ asked the alien.
“Lykke is our contact with the Yanks,“ answered Souček. “But I am her backup.“
“We don’t wa
nt the Yanks directly involved?“ she asked with some irony.
“No.“ The priest’s answer was bone dry.
“Well. You’ll do,“ Toma reflected. “I shall be brief, although the story is long and complicated. Soon after I arrived on Earth, about five thousand years ago, I encountered a number of spatial-temporal… let’s call them anomalies, with which the locals appeared to be rather puzzlingly familiar.“
“The Quickenings,“ said Doina. Everybody looked at Aram, who just crossed his arms and shrugged.
“There is no time now for me to go into technical details, and even if there was, I doubt I could explain them to you. Don’t mistake this for arrogance,“ the alien added, “as I understood as little of them myself at the time, as you would now. It took me a few thousand years to achieve some level of confidence in dealing with them. Eventually, my conclusion was that they were proof of either an alien visit, or of a much, much more advanced prior Earth civilisation. Given that your stellar system has been under observation for many thousands of millennia, the latter seemed unlikely. Not that the idea of a visitor so incredibly advanced comes with a higher degree of probability, but there was no other explanation.“
She made a pause, during which Souček asked:
“What was the purpose of this technology?“
“I really can’t say, and I really wish I could,“ said Toma / Keai. “Perhaps it was part of a shipwreck. Perhaps it was an experiment. Perhaps it was what destroyed them. Or perhaps they just kept their groceries in it. The only reflection I can make is that the local Earth population was compatible with it, and this compatibility degraded with every generation, to the point where I doubt that anyone alive today would be able to access it.“
“Except for you,“ grunted Tiessler.
“And that makes you unhappy.“
“What did you do with it?“
“Thank you for asking that; I was just about to say. Although, I believe, the answer is obvious.“
She looked around at everybody. Zi shuffled around nervously; Aram returned her gaze unblinkingly. Mark looked at Doina for confirmation, and the girl whispered:
“You used it in Doi.“
The alien nodded. “Yes. I embedded it in my Blank. It was, by far, the most difficult project I had ever embarked on — and you might appreciate that more if you had an idea of some of the other things I’ve built.“
“Like what?“ asked Tiessler.
“Colonel, I’d be really disappointed if you didn’t try.“
“So what can you tell us?“ insisted the German.
“That this starship can travel faster than light while ignoring time dilation effects.“
Silence claimed everybody the room. Zi had the most visible reaction, searching Mark’s gaze as if to ask is it really possible? Predictably, it was Souček, who had chosen to do God’s work through theoretical science, who spoke first.
“Forgive me, but that is literally the same as saying that two plus two equals five.“
“In fact,“ said the alien, “it’s more like saying that two plus two equals absolutely everything.“
“In other words, false.“
“And yet true,“ spoke Doina.
Mark looked at her questioningly, wordlessly encouraging her to continue.
“It’s true,“ repeated the girl. “I feel it now. Doi can travel much faster than I thought.“
It was Aram’s turn to speak.
“Listen, you keep revealing this starship bit by bit to us.“
“To Doina,“ said the alien.
“Yeah, well. So? When are you going to give us full control?“
“You have full control,“ said Toma / Keai. “You just need to learn how to ask for it.“
“We're asking,“ said Mark and Tiessler, oddly, in one voice. They looked at each other; Tiessler annoyed, Mark neutral.
“She’s right,“ said Doina. “It’s like learning to ride a horse. You have to walk before you can gallop.“
“You already can gallop,“ said Souček. “But no horse can fly faster than light. And no starship, and not anything else.“
“Wrong,“ said the alien. “We’ve had faster-than-light communication for a long time. That’s how you were able to visit the Complex.“
Souček opened his mouth to speak, but said nothing.
“I know what you want to say, and you’re right, mr Souček. Information is one thing, matter is quite another. But they are similar in one regard: both appear impossible to circulate faster than light… until they do.“
The Czech did not appear convinced.
“Have you tested this?“ asked Tiessler.
“Once,“ answered the alien.
“And?“
“It worked. Well, sort of.“
The German’s expression was completely transparent.
“Well, colonel. If you must know, I made a replica of the Blank’s engines, wrapped it in the alien magic, put a clock in it, and sent it away.“
“Where to?“
“Just beyond the Kuiper belt. Of course, it wasn’t called the Kuiper belt at the time.“
“Were you in it?“
Toma / Keai reached out with her hands. “The whole thing was this big, colonel.“
“And?“
“It jumped there — my Blank was waiting some distance away — waited a bit, and then jumped back. The clock showed a little shift, but not what I might have expected. The kit came back in one piece, intact and undamaged.“
“Why did you not do a manned test?“
The alien stopped a little, frowned, and then confessed: “Because I only have magic for one… thing. I haven’t figured out how to replicate the technology, and by the time I’d fitted it to the Blank, I couldn’t… Well, it was too late for tests.“
The implication hung in the air.
“Yes. To the knowledge of the Builders, which is undeniably extensive, this starship is the only object in existence currently capable of faster-than-light travel.“
“While possibly killing everyone on board,“ said Aram.
“No,“ said Doina. “Doi would never kill us.“
Tiessler looked at Mark as if to say and that is why a kid doesn’t make for a good starship commander. Mark’s returned gaze was, once again, neutral.
The alien spoke again: “You’re right, Shipmistress. Doi would not knowingly harm you. But it can be destroyed — even if not easily, and it can, despite everything, self-destroy.“ To frozen glances, she continued: “I have never lost a Blank before, manned or unmanned. I am remarkably good at my job. But then, faster-than-light engines are… quite new around this part of the Universe. So a measure of… risk management is in order.“
“Assuming it works,“ began Tiessler. “And assuming it doesn’t explode the moment you turn it on. And assuming it doesn’t take the nearest four planets with it. How do you intend to use this against the Squares?“
“How would you use it?“ countered the alien.
The German smacked his lips, but took no time replying. “I would jump around them so fast that it would appear there’s a thousand starships shooting at them at the same time.“
“Won’t work,“ said Mark.
“Of course. It would break,“ and now Tiessler dipped his words in heavy, poignant irony, “the fragile balance of the galactic cold war.“ And then, he looked elsewhere.
“Your solution?“ asked Souček.
Again, the alien eschewed the answer. Instead, she turned towards Mark.
“I already know that I chose you well,“ she said. “And yet I want to test you again.“
The Brit lowered his head briefly, thinking. He looked at Doina and Aram, and spoke, mostly to them:
“We stick to the plan. We fly to the Saudade Conglomerate, we find Ambassador Jox, get whatever they have against the Squares, come back to Earth, and then, in order to avoid involving the Builders, we use it with an Earth piece of kit to scare the Squares away.“
The alien beamed. “Than
k you for proving me right once more,“ she said. “Yes. That is precisely my plan.“
XXXV.
The Builder herself could not go, of course. The appearance of a Builder ship would’ve been too much anyway, but it was next to impossible to fit the “alien magic“ on a human vessel, assuming an appropriate one existed. Tiessler had clung to the argument with desperation. Sending a Builder starship, he said, to purchase anti-Square warfare would be tantamount to blowing up the Square home world. Why not refit the FTL adaptors to the Monnet? The cruiser was perfectly capable of sustaining long trips in space. It had a wonderfully trained military crew, it would avoid involving the Builders, and most importantly, it was evidently and unambiguously human.
Keai had listened to the argument with some patience, and then, to general surprise, agreed entirely. The only problem, the alien said, was that refitting the tech would, one: cripple the starship, two: cripple the cruiser, and three: take a hundred years or so.
Everybody suspected the alien of lying — at the very least, about number three — but nobody could possibly prove it. And anyway, even if the refitting should have taken weeks instead of centuries, it would still have been potentially too late.
The thing with Blanks, explained Keai, was that the galaxy was not exactly unfamiliar with them. People more or less understood that, yes, the starship itself might be of Builder design, but her crew never was. Going on a simple fact-finding mission in a Builder starship might just keep them on the safe side of starting all-out war, particularly if the actual fact-finding were done with some measure of discretion and diplomacy.
Tiessler insisted then on sending reinforcements. The starship was huge, for its crew of only three; surely a small group of, say, fifty people, under the command of a voluntary officer, would come in handy at some point or another. It was, after all, a perilous trip.
He was voted down; even Souček agreed that, should the mission be successful, getting so many people to stay quiet about Builder involvement would be next to impossible. They would write books, he said; sell autobiographies and interviews. No, better to keep the crew to an absolute minimum. People who already were involved. People who were already in place.