by Adam Gaffen
“Yes, sir.”
“Inform Njord of our intentions and tell Bean they need to stop playing in, um, three hours.”
“Yes, sir.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Artemis City; Tycho Under
“First Councilor. You asked to see me. I presume you have succeeded?”
“Yes, Empress, but there are issues.”
Newling’s face clouded instantly.
“Issues?” Her voice was calm and level; never a good sign.
“Yes, Empress. I have acquired a quantity of the compound known as Agent 15, or BZ, sufficient to incapacitate the populations of every warren which is currently rebelling.”
“Wait. Incapacitate?”
“Yes, Empress. As Councilor Pitt pointed out at the last meeting, it is possible not all of our citizens are supporting the rebels. I held a further conversation with her, and she made the further point that loyal citizens are exactly those we should protect from rebels like these.”
“Hmm.”
Phalkon pressed her point.
“Those who survive, whose loyalty is proven, will be more loyal, and grateful to us for showing them mercy.”
“I suppose it’s possible. How long does this take to work?”
“The supplier says it is very quick; depending on the saturation in the air, a few minutes to an hour.”
“And what does it do?”
“There are many symptoms, Empress, including hallucination and loss of muscular control. At the higher dosages we plan to use, coma, possibly seizure and death.”
“I see the attraction. Even if they resist the coma, they will be incapacitated and unable to resist. Very well, Phalkon. I approve of your choice. But what is the issue?”
“Our supplier is encountering delays in shipping to us, Empress. It is an outlawed substance on Earth, and thus difficult to get off-planet, past customs and inspectors.”
“We have a Navy.”
“Which cannot land on the surface, due to the unnaturally high gravity.”
“Then have them send a shuttle or whatever they use for landings.”
“Yes, Empress. I will inform Councilor Atkinson of your decision immediately.”
The reason Phalkon had been able to acquire the BZ was it isn’t a particularly ‘nasty’ or quick nerve agent. While it is odorless and difficult to detect, the initial symptoms only present an hour or so after the exposure to a sufficient dose and are mild: an elevated temperature, flushed skin, and an inability to sweat. Other symptoms include blurred vision, confusion, and dizziness as the toxicity increases. After four hours the primary effects are on full display: delusions, hallucination, stupor, heat stroke, ataxia, coma, and seizures. BZ is easy to counteract, if the levels of acetylcholine in the brain are boosted, but the ability to recognize and act on the information is one of the things BZ strips away early.
It was perfect.
“THAT’S IT! IN THE PAST two hours, we’ve received messages from all of the wavering warrens, agreeing to join with us. Copernicus commed an hour ago, and then this.”
“What’s it, Caitlin?” asked Nour, joining her in the outer office.
“Armstrong has conceded,” Novak announced.
“Amazing! I didn’t think they’d give in.”
“We should tell Autumn,” Novak said, already on the move.
“We got them!” she said as she entered Autumn’s office. “Armstrong came over to our side! I think it was your testimonial about the mistreatment in the PRC that finally tipped it.”
Newling smiled with satisfaction. “Then we control all the warrens save Artemis City itself?”
“And Scipio City,” corrected Novak.
“And Scipio,” Newling acknowledged. “Great work! Now we can start planning for our moves against the...”
Her voice trailed off as Sharon and Nour’s headshaking grew synchronized.
“You two never agree. What?”
“Now is when we need to prepare for an attack,” Nour said.
“They’re desperate,” Sharon added. “Desperate people do stupid things.”
“What can they do? This is the Lifeboat of Luna!”
Tycho Under had been designed as a last-ditch refuge for the Lunar population, in case of disaster, and was dug deepest into the regolith of any warren: half a kilometer or more.
“Sharon, didn’t you tell me they don’t have any bombs capable of penetrating through the surface?”
“That’s what I believe, yes. The loss of the Grimaldi Research Center limits them to standard fission/fusion weapons.”
“Then what are you worried about?”
“The other warrens?” said Nour. “Cutting off our air? Hells, Autumn, they could march conscripts down the tubes and flood us in bodies if they wanted to!”
Newling’s pleased expression left her.
“What do you propose?”
“We need the Federation’s help,” Nour said. “We need eyes and ears, and intel about what your cousin is planning. I agreed with you, concentrating our efforts on the out-warrens was the wisest use of our assets, but it’s left us blind within the cubic they still control.”
“You think Stone can infiltrate Artemis again?”
“We can ask, but that’s not what I was considering.”
“Then what?”
“We need their electronic wizardry.”
“Ah.”
“Autumn, no offense, because your intel has been fantastic about your cousin, but we need more up-to-date stuff.”
“Ah.” Newling’s tone was much less frosty after the explanation. “Sensible.”
“Do you want me to contact them?” asked Nour, and Autumn nodded.
“You know what you need; best they get it direct from you. Also, ask them about establishing some naval coverage for us. If they can stop orbital attacks, we only have one threat axis to deal with.”
“I’m on it,” Nour said, and turned to leave.
“Oh, and one more thing?”
She paused, her hand on the hatch frame.
“Yes?”
“If Mac is available...?”
“Yes?”
“Ask her to stay home. I don’t have enough analgesics for another visit from her.”
Nour laughed, waved, and walked away.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
TFS Enterprise
The daily wrap-up was taking place in Kendra’s Flag Cabin aboard Enterprise, mostly for her convenience. Although they had quarters aboard Njord, she and her family spent most of their time aboard the starship. As an additional benefit, it allowed Minerva and LJ to participate. Kendra knew how much she relied on Cass and wouldn’t dream of depriving Alley of LJ’s support.
“You want to run that by me again? Use small words if you have to.”
“What we think we’re looking at is confirmation of both the Silurian Hypothesis and a variation on panspermia.”
Kendra shook her head.
“No, that’s not any better. You’ve told me, but you may as well be speaking Martian.”
Cass blew hair out of her eyes.
“What don’t you get?” she said.
“I know, sort of, what panspermia is. Something like all life was seeded from somewhere, right?” Kendra got the faraway look she had when consulting her ‘plant on something particularly tricky.
“Like ‘The Chase’!” she exclaimed.
Now it was Cass’s turn to consult, then she nodded agreement.
“Something like that. Yes. Statistically speaking, the odds of the flora and fauna we found on Freyr having DNA and RNA is pretty slim. Since we’ve returned we’ve been testing it against Earth species, and it’s definitely related.”
“How related?” said a worried Alley. “We’re not looking at interbreeding, are we? If so, what about bacteria? Viruses? Did we just bring back a plague?”
“I can answer that,” Minerva said. “No, Captain. Using mitochondrial DNA testing to seek similarities to Earth species reveal
ed a divergence approximately sixty-five million years ago, plus or minus two million years.”
“Sixty-five million...” breathed Kendra.
“And that’s not saying whoever, or whatever, seeded Freyr brought Freyr’s goats and the rest; they brought something which evolved into Freyr’s goats in response to environmental pressures on the planet.”
“So no plague,” confirmed Alley.
“No plague, Captain.”
“Wait. Sixty-five million. Wasn’t that when the dinosaurs were killed off?”
“That’s correct, Admiral.”
Kendra turned to Cass.
“Dinosaur astronauts?”
“Not in the sense of T. rex in spacesuits, but yes. That’s the essence of the Silurian Hypothesis.”
“Dinosaur astronauts?” Kendra repeated, incredulous.
“About a century ago a couple scientists suggested, quite seriously, the possibility of advanced civilizations existing before humans and tried to explain how there probably wouldn’t be any evidence.”
“Small dinosaur astronauts?”
“Just a second, Cass. I know something about our current civilization, and the battles we’ve faced to reduce the impact we have on the planet. Plastics that last for thousands of years, that kind of crap. Surely there’d be something?” asked Alley.
“You’d be surprised. Yes, plastics will last thousands of years, but eventually everything gets churned back under, washed out to sea, buried, crushed, melted. Sixty-five million years ago India was an island. Twenty million years ago you could walk from London to Paris without getting your feet wet. Every time the planet shifts and the surface changes, the evidence of the past is nearly wiped clean. You know how many complete skeletons we have of the first humans?”
“Not offhand, no.”
“None. Fragments and partial skeletons is all we have to go on. The oldest nearly complete skeleton we have is only a hundred thousand years old. Now, multiply that by 650. How much of an advanced civilization, at least as advanced as us, do you think we’d find?”
“When you put it that way, none, I guess,” Alley admitted.
“Exactly right.”
“And we didn’t find any on Freyr, either” said LJ. “Neither Wolf scanned anything.”
“I wouldn’t expect so,” Cass agreed. “It’s not easy doing exoarchaeology from orbit, but anything they might have left behind has been sitting for the same amount of time there as well. Whatever it was is long gone.”
“So what do we do now?” asked Kendra, getting to the heart of the issue. “If these astro-lizards went off and seeded a bunch of planets, how do we go about finding them?”
“That’s a problem for the AI’s. We’re going to have to reconstruct the conditions in the local cluster at that time, then guess at what a sentient, warp-capable, warm-blooded, saurian explorer would look for in a planet.”
“So you’re saying you don’t know.”
“I don’t know,” agreed Cass.
“Plus we have the whole problem of the Union to deal with,” Alley reminded her.
“We’re working on it,” Kendra said. “I’m thinking much longer-term.”
“If we’re doing long-term then I have some suggestions.”
“Go ahead.” Kendra sat back and took a sip of her coffee, face wrinkling in disgust when she discovered it had cooled.
“First, if you’re that confident we’re going to be clear of this stupid war, we need to cancel any more Defiants. They’re not designed for exploration.”
“Agreed. Hecate has one hull in the initial phases of being laid down, but I think we can forgo any more.”
“Second, the Endeavours are going to be doing most of the heavy lifting in terms of finding the planets.”
“Why not the Enterprises?”
“Don’t rush me; that’s my third point.”
“Oh. Sorry.”
“The Endeavours have the longest legs of any ships in the fleet, and they can carry a Wolf or two if they need. They’ll be able to reach the potential planets most rapidly, eliminate ones which don’t pan out, drop a buoy, then move on.”
“I like how you’re thinking.”
“Then, third, the Enterprises follow up with a heavier exploration team.” Alley looked between Kendra and Cass. “Well?”
“I’d actually suggest a step four,” Kendra said. “We need full-on exploration ships, big ones, ones which can stay in orbit indefinitely, if we want them to.”
Alley arched an eyebrow. “Bigger than a half-kilometer Endeavour?”
“Bigger. A couple kilometers long, maybe half a kilometer wide. Warp capable, of course, but carrying at least a wing of Wolves and half that of Direwolves.” She delivered the staggering dimensions with a bland matter-of-factness.
“Kilometers. Kendra, are you insane?”
“Not that anyone can prove. Think about it, Alley. We need ships which can basically act as mobile bases, carry their own fabricator, Wolves, Direwolves, build whatever they need, and spend however long it takes to establish a viable colony.”
Cass and LJ, to Alley’s shock, were both grinning.
“You, I understand,” she said, pointing to Cass. “You’ve lived with her for nine years; that’s plenty long enough for you to catch whatever’s infected her brain. But you!” She whirled on LJ.
“Me?”
“What’s your excuse?”
“Alley, imagine if we didn’t have to worry about returning to Njord for resupply, for parts, for crew rest. My staff are skilled, but if a Wolf loses an engine it’s a total rebuild, not something we can fix.” Her face was alight. “Alley, we can go and see anything in the galaxy!”
“Two kilometers?”
“Maybe more,” Kendra said. “I haven’t worked out all the specs yet. Come on, Alley! It’s going to be an adventure!”
“You know what my first commander taught me, Kendra?”
“What?”
“’An adventure is something terrible that happened to someone else a long time ago and far, far away.’ He was right, too. I’m perfectly happy with Enterprise, thank you.”
LJ’s face fell, then she rallied.
“That your final word?”
“Somehow, I don’t think you’re going to let it be.” Alley’s response was tart but she softened it with a smile. “How are the beasts adjusting to Njord?”
“Diana?” Kendra called in the station AI.
“Admiral.”
“Condition of the Freyr’s goats?”
“They seem content with their situation, Admiral. The younger ones have discovered the lower gravity and are jumping on everything. Repeatedly. And at least two pairs have engaged in what appeared to be mating activities.”
Kendra grinned at the clinical terms.
“I’ll bet that was a sight, six legs and all that.”
“There are recordings if you’re interested in viewing them,” Diana said, and Kendra could swear she heard a sniff of disapproval.
“No, I’ll leave that to the exobiologists. So we might have our own colony of Freyran Freyr’s goats. That could get interesting.”
Alley stood, followed by LJ.
“If there’s nothing else tonight, Admiral?”
“No, Alley. Thanks for coming.”
“You are the Admiral,” she said, chuckling. “It’s one of those prerogative things. Goodnight.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Habitat Njord
“Admiral to the CCIC!”
Whitmore’s voice was urgent, but not panicked, so Kendra didn’t quite run. Quite. It was definitely a fast trot, though, and she was shouting, “Make a hole!” to clear the corridors between her and her destination.
The Command, Control, and Intelligence Center was full of activity and Kendra immediately sought out Whitmore through the controlled frenzy.
“What’s happening?”
“We have a launch from Scipio City,” Whitmore said without preamble. “A Copernicus. The C
AP already called it in and are tracking it, cautiously.”
The CAP was a mix of Wolves and Direwolves, but neither were a match individually for a Copernicus.
“What‘s our status?”
“Primary weaponry is online, but we don’t have a shot, Admiral. He’s stooging around the far side of Luna.”
“Zeus take it.”
“There’s something odd about this, too,” Whitmore continued.
“I don’t like odd. Odd gets our people killed. What, precisely, is odd about it?”
“Diana, give me a hologram,” Whitmore said by way of answer.
“Yes, Colonel.”
Luna and the space within a half light-second appeared.
“Normal procedure for the Copernicus cruisers is to boost into orbit, then vector onto their expected course. He’s not doing that; in fact, it’s like he’s waiting for something else to happen.”
“We can’t know, but we can speculate.” Kendra was struck by a thought. “Where’s Nicole?”
“She’s with her family,” Whitmore said. “I thought she could use some time.”
Kendra hesitated, torn between her impulse to agree and the need for better information. She compromised.
“What about Taylor?”
“He’s still being debriefed by Montana’s people.”
“Get them both. Keep an eye on that Copernicus; I think you’re right. Something’s up.”
Kendra left Davie to organize and turned back to the hologram. There was something off, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. Not quite. It was just there, tantalizing her, refusing to drop into her head long enough to focus.
Orbits. What about the orbits?
“Davie!”
Whitmore was over in second.
“Where are their dreadnoughts?”
“What?”
“The al-Battani and El-Baz. Where are they? Aren’t they usually stooging about over Artemis City?”
“Oh, Oberon’s balls! Diana!”
“Retrieving data. No data. Searching.”
“You mean we have two warp ships unaccounted for?” Kendra snapped. “How the frak does that happen?”