by Gray Lanter
When we stepped out of the elevator, the admiral buzzed me. I told him I hoped he had good news.
“I don’t know, major. I wouldn’t bet on it. We have two ships coming up on us fast.”
“Black ships?”
“No. These ships are different from the ship of the gold guys. Different configuration. As for color, looks like they are tinged with silver and red.”
“Well, that tells us they have no color coordination. But there’s not supposed to be any other humans, aliens or anything else in this section of space.”
“No, sir, there isn’t.”
I gave a snort of exasperation. “The region is supposed to be empty, deserted. So who are these guys?”
“I don’t know, major, but we’re about to find out. As I said, they’re coming up fast. Real fast.”
“What now?” I said.
It’s one of those questions you really hate to ask in space.
Chapter 12
On the screen the silver and red ship zoomed through space smoothly. When I was told it was hailing us I was a bit curious. But our sensors told us the ship was not on red alert. The silver and red guys were not coming in with guns blazing. From what we could tell their weapons were on neutral. Their shields were down.
Which showed they had a degree of trust that was either a trick or at the high end of the incredulity scale. Militarily, it violated every code officers live by. You never approach an unknown ship with your shields down. You don’t know who or what is inside and they could be potential adversaries. Given the current state of affairs in the galaxy, the chances are more than 50-50 that they are adversaries and, if they see the shields down, they will blow your ship apart. But the silver and red ship was as disarmed as you could get in space.
“What do you think, Logan?” Astrid said. She had walked up beside me. I was so focused on the ship I hadn’t noticed her.
“They are entirely too trusting. I don’t even walk up to you unarmed, much less to a possible enemy. Admiral, could this be some type of trick? Some type of optical trick? Could their shields really be up and their weapons ready to fire? If needed, our weaponry can project second and third ships that are nothing but images. Could they be pulling something similar?”
“I supposed that’s a possibility, major. In space, you can’t discount anything. All I can say is our computers are telling us their shields are down and their weapons are on standby. Shall we accept their call?”
“Yes, let’ see who they are.”
The dark screen blinked and a tall, thin silver counterpart of the gold guys showed up. He appeared metallic, but a dark spot on his head seemed to be brown hair. Our MITTs didn’t have hair. Nor did they wear a military uniform on, which this being did. That surprised me. A green uniform with a few gold button and braids. Nothing ostentatious. Purely functional. His lips moved. He smiled when he saw me. Our MITTs didn’t have movable facial parts.
“I’m Major Logan Ryvenbark. This ship was on a private rescue mission when attacked. May I ask who you are?”
“General Avon Leckie.”
“I see you outrank me.”
“We wish you no harm.”
“Always happen to hear that line.”
He smiled again. “I’m glad your rescue mission was successful. I see you’re on another mission now. We’ve come to offer our assistance. Your enemies must be destroyed. And your enemies, major, are our enemies.”
“Glad to hear that too. But may I ask... what exactly are you? No offense.”
“None taken,” he said. “Our origin is long ago and shrouded in a bit of mystery. It may take a while to explain. I’m not sure you have the time. Besides, there are bits of our history that might be unsettling. Is this a good time to go into history or make battle plans?”
“Battle plans. Are you aware of our plans?”
He nodded. “I’ve made some shrewd guesses. We know something of humans and their civilization, and can make a few logical guesses of your mission. You think we look metal to you, akin to your silver. That’s not accurate. We come from a substance unknown on your home planet, but calling us silver is as good a label as any. We share a few traits with what you call robots, androids and artificials. We all have a certain degree of logic built into our circuits and some understanding of humanity. I assume because you are not headed back to your home planet you are contemplating an attack on the...” He used a word that must have been in his own language. I couldn’t comprehend it.
“We call them the Destroyers. If you’re referring to the gold guys, that is,” I said.
“I am. The safer call is to go home. But humans do not always take the safe way, do they?”
“No, they don’t. It’s one of the odd things about our race.”
“That’s a very admirable trait, major. Believe me when I say the Destroyers, as you call them, are not just a threat to your race; they are also a threat to ours. We are as anxious to see them removed from the universe as you are. It makes sense to join forces. You are... considerably outnumbered.”
“So will you be if you join us.”
“We were planning to fight them anyway, although perhaps not on this trip. We were expecting to do a bit of reconnaissance, but if a battle is coming we might as well join it. I assume you have weapons that will lower the odds to, say, 50-50.”
“More like ninety-ten actually. Let’s say we’re playing a long shot.”
He nodded, “I understand. You’re taking a great risk to save your race. Very admirable. Our motivation to take on the Destroyers is basically the same one. They seek to eliminate our race also.”
“They don’t seem to get along with anybody,” I said.
“That’s how they were created. They were built only to fight and annihilate other races. They have only one purpose – to destroy. Not to build, or to create, or anything else. Just to devastate. They leave a path of death in their walk. You cannot negotiate with them. But if you would like to join with us, we do have a degree of information about the race you call the gold guys. We also have information about the planet they are using as a base. Obviously, you might find such information worthwhile. We have dealt, or at least have some knowledge of you and our adversary.”
“Yes, you seem to know a great deal about them.”
“But this is not a good time for a history lesson. Perhaps we should discuss strategy.”
I sighed. “General, I would like having an ally, but your appearance is somewhat suspicious. You fly out of the sky and offer us assistance and you seem to be very familiar with our enemies. I’m a bit cautious.”
“I understand that, major. It’s time for one of those command decisions that officers have to make. Now is the time for you to make one. I think we showed our good faith by approaching you defenseless. If you wanted to blow us out of the sky you could before we could react. It’s a sign of good faith.”
“I noticed that. I did appreciate it.”
“If you are worried we are allies of the Destroyers, I assure you they don’t use subterfuge. They simply attack and destroy enemies. But it is your decision.”
“Why don’t you give me a few minutes on this one?”
He smiled again. “Of course.”
“I’ll get back with you in, say, about ten minutes. I need to discuss this with my officers.”
“I’ll be waiting for your call. If you refuse, we will go our way and not bother you again,” he said.
The screen went blank. I didn’t say anything for about two minutes. For some reason the silver gleam of the general made me think about our own silver soldiers, the MITTs. I had been too casual and, well, indifferent with them. We had nicknamed the commander of the team Aaron, but I don’t think I ever used his name in talking to him. His two lieutenants were Sy and Mason. Very pleasant guys, if you could call the MITTs guys. They did seem to have different personalities, as impossible as that was to believe. Mason was like his commander, always eager for the next mission. Sy was more reserved. The
next assignment was more like a job to him, a job he fulfilled to the best of his abilities, but only a job. The MITTs seem to have as much camaraderie as did our human squads. In retrospect I guess I treated them like second-class citizens, or second-class soldiers. Now I regretted that.
I shook my head and looked toward the dark screen.
“Well, I wasn’t expecting that,” I finally said. I turned to my right. “Admiral, what do you think?”
“I think we should give serious consideration to an alliance.”
“You trust the guy?”
“There’s no reason not to.”
“Admiral, I beg to differ. There’s a thousand reasons not to. One is both races we are now dealing are, to use a generic term, metallic. Two metallic races in this area of the galaxy. That makes me think they might be second metallic cousins, and it gives me pause to make an alliance with the silver and red guys. I mean, they just pop up out of the blackness and fly in and say hello. Doesn’t that cause warning bells to go off?”
The admiral merely smiled. He doesn’t show much emotion. Robots are more animated than he is.
“Major, we came out here on a rescue mission. Belen’s exploratory company was sent to a planet believed to be in an uninhabited section of space. They planned on doing a routine planetary study. A dull and boring mission. Then they stumbled upon the gold guys, or rather the gold guys decided to stumble upon them. It became obvious the gold guys were not friendly so we were sent out here. Everything we have seen in this section of space has been unexpected. So there’s no surprise in getting yet another unexpected event. If there’s one race of metallic men, there can easily be two or three for that matter. Logically speaking.”
“We might have to stop speaking logically. Everything that has happened here has been illogical.”
“Not really. We know of other metallic races. The hostility to humans is odd. Currently it is inexplicable, but the race you just talked to doesn’t share it. That indicates they could become strong allies and we need some friends. Plus, the general said he had information about the home planet of the Destroyers. That information would be very valuable to us.”
“I guess so.”
The admiral glanced back and looked at a screen. “Their shields are still down. You could give an order and we could splinter their ship in three seconds. We could move so quickly that they could not mount a defense. They are essentially trusting us. Would you trust them that much?”
“No. Definitely not. But I only trust two people – Astrid and my golden Lab. And once in a while I have second thoughts about the Lab. Actually, the Lab isn’t technically a person, so I guess I only trust one person.”
“And that one person thinks we should trust the silver and red guy,” Astrid said.
I frowned. I had forgotten Astrid was at my elbow.
“You trust him too?” I said.
“Enough to invite him over to discuss battle plans,” she said. “Let’s speak logically again.”
“Not sure that’s the way to go. Logic doesn’t go too far in this part of the galaxy.”
She frowned and ignored me. Not the first time she has ignored me.
“Reason tells us that his story is true. It has the highest probability of being true, so we take a chance and accept it,” she said.
“Wait a minute. Forgive me for being picky here. But just how does his story stand up, logically? It seems to me there is nothing logical about it.”
Astrid gave a big smile. A triumphant smile. A smile that, when we’re having a disagreement, she gets when she knows she’s right and she can prove it. It’s really unnerving. I guess all husbands feel that way from time to time.
“For a moment consider the alternative that the general is on the side of the gold guys and is merely trying to gain entrance to our ship to gain information about us and to deceive the commander. There’s really no reason for such an action. As you have noted Logan, the gold guys seemed perfectly confident of their abilities to kill humans. They’re not worried about weapons. Besides, I’m sure the general’s ship can scan us and provide ample details about our weapons and everything else about our ship. There is no reason to offer us an alliance unless they are sincere. The Destroyers are about to launch an invasion to eliminate all of humanity. They must be convinced they have the men and the weapons to do just that. They’re not worried about one ship. We avoided their drone. They probably think we are headed back to our home planet. The only logical reason for the general’s story is the obvious one – he is telling the truth. The hostility of the gold guys may not just extend to humans; it may extend to anyone who is different than they are.”
“So you think we should invite him over for a conference?”
“And offer him tea, but I doubt he drinks it.”
I sighed. “I suppose we could make him an offer.”
Astrid smiled. “He seems to be a trusting sort. He’ll probably come over alone, without any guards, and say hello. That should convince you of his good intentions.”
Chapter 13
Astrid has this amazing percentage of being right about ninety-nine percent of the time. And she was right about the silver and red metallic general. He agreed to board our ship alone. He also said he would send us information about the Destroyers’ home planet. Which sounded fine to us. He sent the information and after our computers checked and determined it was harmless, we accepted the gift.
The general’s ship’s weapons remained on neutral as he came over. He was taller than I thought. Six-five. At six-four, I was almost able to look him in his metallic eyes.
Metallic men, of course, do not give off charisma or any other emotions the way humans do. Some men project intelligence. Others project confidence. Others diffidence. Some display rock-solid honesty.
It was utterly irrational, but I felt a sense of the latter when I shook the general’s hand. Irrational because metallic guys can’t project human emotions. Even AIs can’t. But this guy seemed to. I shook my head. Another surprise of space.
We ushered him into a conference room. The admiral, Rab, Astrid and I sat around the circular table.
“To begin the conversation, would you explain how you came to all this knowledge about the gold guys?” I asked him.
“I don’t think we have the time to go into all the details, major; much of the story is covered in shadows and mystery. It would take days to discuss even the small elements of the story that I know,” he replied.
“Can you give us the condensed version?”
He gave me a smile. “Let’s say the Destroyers are an offshoot of my race or my race is an offshoot of theirs. We may have been created by the same people. We don’t know much about them except their names which, roughly translated, means the Shadowers. We believe, but this is only speculation, that they were human or humanoid. But either something went wrong with us or with our... half-brothers. They have a passion to kill humans. We do not. We think such a genocide would be repugnant and appalling. We are convinced we must do everything we can to stop it.”
“Where are the Shadowers now?”
“I have no idea. It’s been a long, long time since anyone has ever heard from them. They may have disappeared or they may be hiding. We don’t know.” He tapped the desk. “But shall we get down to business?”
“Yes,” I said. “Just one last question. We’ve seen one ship. You have others? And if so, how many?”
“Yes, we are separated from our main force. We do have other ships, but the precise number is one piece of information I prefer to keep confidential for now. However, I can tell you they are so far away they will not be able to help us in the upcoming battle.”
I nodded.
He had sent us information about the gold guys’ headquarters, on a planet named Baldorn, and we had told him of our MITTs deception. He seemed to approve of the plan.
“I need to see a hologram of the planet,” he said.
I nodded, flicked a button and a large blue and green planet
appeared hovering just over the table. The general stood up and pointed to one of the northern continents.
“It is our belief that the Destroyers are not quite ready to launch their invasion, but they are very close. Several of their assembly plants are on this section of the planet running day and night with robotic workers and scientists. Our information is not complete. We don’t have anyone on the planet, but our knowledge is gleamed through surveillance and shrewd guesses. Our information on their weapons is not near complete, but we do know they have extremely powerful and accurate lasers, powerful enough to slice off pieces of planets. Fortunately, all their armada is not around this planet but has been sent to other solar systems to prepare for the upcoming battle.”
“Any defenses on the planet?” I asked.
“Not defenses per se. The Destroyers obviously thought there were no enemies within a few dozen light years, so why bother? But they do have ships on the ground that can take off quickly. Possibly a few circling the planet, but no planetary defenses. At least that’s what we believe. But our data is limited. That must be kept in consideration. I’m telling you what we believe, not what we know. But given what we know about the planet and their lack of defenses, there is a chance we might succeed in our attack and get out alive.”
“Good to know,” Rab said.
He pointed to the same spot on the planet again. “If your subterfuge is successful I’m guessing this is the spot where your MITTs will be taken. In addition to the assembly plants, there are a number of scientific facilities there with Destroyer scientists supervising the production. I’m guessing they would take the MITTs to the scientists if they spare them. If your MITTs can cause some disruptions here then...” the hologram twirled around and the general pointed to land on the other side of the planet. “Our ship can attack here. Two attacks on the planet simultaneously should create some confusion among the Destroyers. At the same time, if your ship can zoom in from hyperspace, you should have time to release your planet buster and zoom back into hyperspace. Our ship will join you. If we are fortunate, your bomb will obliterate the planet.”
