by Robert Boren
“How much do you know about the current situation in the Clan Zone?” XC22475 asked.
“I’ve learned a lot since the last chat I had with XC22272 and Elizabeth.”
“So you know our society is falling apart?”
“Yes, but I don’t know why,” Ecason said.
“It’s a complex set of issues, in my opinion,” XC22475 said. “The plague is a big part of the problem. It’s hit several of our key leadership planets. It’s as if this disease is smart enough to know where to hit us in order to bring down the society.”
“Is it a virus?”
XC22475 shook his head. “More like a parasite, but we don’t understand the situation well enough. It’s contagious and attacks the brain first. Everybody who has tried to diagnose the sick are stricken themselves. Their brain just stops functioning, and they can’t do anything. It’s like they’re in a trance.”
“Why do you think it’s a parasite?”
“In the last period of the infection, the patient’s intestines swell to the bursting point, and parasites leave them through the rectum.”
“What do the parasites do next? Infect others?”
“If they aren’t in a sealed lab, we don’t know what happens to them… they just disappear. If they’re sealed in a lab with the body, they devour each other to the last.”
“They’ve gotten into your leadership circles,” Ecason said. “Who’s left running the Clan Zone?”
“Most of the royal family is dead now. There are a few hundred royals in this complex, afraid to leave.”
Ecason froze. “The parasites are on this planet?”
XC22475 nodded. “We’re in the government’s secure bunker, forty kilometers underground. Sealed in. At the rate things are going, I expect to die here.”
“Is this in the other two zones also?” Ecason asked, sweat coming off his brow.
“We have reason to believe they exist in the Central Authority Zone. Our Space Forces have been attacking any ships trying to re-enter our Zone from the Free Zone.”
“Why do you think it exists in the Central Authority Zone?” Ecason asked.
“A group of Razor ships deserted, and were operating in the Central Authority Zone. Their crews were stricken. The group scuttled several of their own ships and tried to come home. We destroyed half of them. The rest escaped back into the Central Authority Zone.”
“You say they deserted. What were they doing in the Central Authority Zone?”
“We don’t know for sure,” XC22475 said. “but enough from me. You know something about this, and you told my brother. What did you tell him.”
Ecason sighed. “Guess it won’t hurt to tell you.” He told the story of the neighboring universe.
XC22475 sat dumbfounded for a moment, his face a mixture of pain and anger. “Why didn’t you tell us about this before? You might have killed everybody in our Universe.”
Ecason shook his head. “Let’s review. You guys kidnaped me and didn’t tell me anything about this situation all these years. Had you told me, I would’ve been able to help you. I would’ve suggested that everybody go on high doses of Vitamin D immediately. Then we would’ve had time to find the creatures and destroy them.”
“Okay, you’re right, but why did you keep it a secret?”
“I didn’t think any of the eggs could survive the blast,” Ecason said, “and even if they did, they’d have to survive entry into an atmosphere. To me the biggest danger was somebody deciding to go to their Universe again. Boron is a big draw. Why did you guys salvage the wreckage?”
XC22475 looked down for a moment. “Leadership wanted a chance to reverse-engineer your new drives.”
“And had you been successful, you’d have tried those drives out.”
“Sadly, that is my belief,” XC22475 said. “What do you suggest now, beyond the Vitamin D?”
“Quarantine every planet that has been infected. Even if it’s just a few cases.”
“What about the Central Authority Zone?”
Ecason chuckled. “From what Elizabeth told me, the leadership there is totally out of control. If you guys are selling Razor ships to Aeon, I’d stop that right now, because once he finishes with the resistance in the Central Authority Zone, he’s going to expand into the Free Zone, then into the Clan Zone. He’s power-hungry.”
XC22475 stood. “I don’t know if I can convince our leadership of that, but thank you for your candor. Let’s go back to the lab.”
Ecason followed him back down the hallway to the lab staging room. “What do you want me to do?” he asked as he went through the door.
“Sit tight until we’ve heard back from my brother.” The door closed behind Ecason, and he pushed the button to enter the lab. Elizabeth rushed over.
“Thank God,” she said. “I feared the worst.”
Ecason went to his chair and sat. “We’ve got a big problem.”
{ 9 }
Spies
E lizabeth sat, rolling her chair over to Ecason’s. “Want more coffee?”
“My heart is already fluttering. Best to lay off the caffeine for now.”
“What happened?”
Ecason told her about his conversation with XC22475. She listened silently.
“I almost feel sorry for them,” she said.
“I do feel sorry for them,” Ecason said. “Their governmental structure no longer exists. They could lose the entire society if they don’t wake up. One thing bothers me, though.”
“What’s that?”
“There’s been enough years for these creatures to reach full size. XC22475 didn’t mention any monsters running around on infected planets.”
“How big do they get?”
Ecason leaned back in his chair. “Six to eight meters tall.”
“So you think the mature individuals are hiding?”
“Either that, or they’re working with what’s left of the Clan leadership, either via the creatures mind control or consciously.”
Elizabeth eyed him. “Consciously? You mean some Clan leaders are using this in a political struggle?”
“We don’t have any way of knowing. We need to know what XC22272 finds out, but he may come back from C1121-B and infect this facility.”
“We should start taking Vitamin D in large doses,” Elizabeth said. “Do we have some?”
“We do, but we’ll run out quickly if we increase the dosage by much.”
***
Simone sat in the captain’s chair on the Spitfire bridge, reviewing more Central Authority documentation. Her PA buzzed.
“Great, they’ve got a time locked down.” She accepted the call. “Katerinolia, how are you?”
“I’m fine. We’ve got a few possible times for the meeting.”
“What’s the soonest?”
“Two hours from now. Then every two hours after that, for the rest of the day. Does that work for you?”
“I’ll check with Captain Clarke,” Simone said. “Can I get back with you in a few minutes?”
“Yes, of course. I’ll await your call.”
“Thank you.” Simone ended the call. “Silver, you know what to do.”
Captain Clarke called her in a moment. “Simone, you’ve heard from them?”
“Yes, the earliest available timeslot is two hours from now. What do you think?”
“Works for me. I’ll have Butch check with Chairman Vermillion.”
“Could I come to the New Jersey for the call?” Simone asked.
“Of course. I’ll send the Zephyrus over.”
“That would be great, Captain.”
“Consider it done.”
“Yes, please,” Captain Clarke said. “We’ll need to get you trained on the flight suits, Simone. That makes it easier to
get back and forth.”
“When we have time, I’d be very interested.”
“Let’s talk about that after the meeting,” Captain Clarke said. “Did you get Andrea?”
“How soon do you want to be picked up, Simone?”
“I have some questions from my studies. Do you have a little time before the meeting?”
“I do,” Captain Clarke said. “I’ll send Andrea over now.”
“Thanks, see you soon. I’ll let Katerinolia know.”
“Perfect,” Captain Clarke said. He left the call.
“Silver, get Katerinolia back please.
“Please.”
***
Stuart Cain watched the long-range scans as Forestall entered the Free Zone. “So far so good.”
Zindra turned towards him, her blonde locks swaying. “Should we be on battle station alert, Captain?”
“Yes, send out the order.”
The bridge door opened, X22945 entering with Admiral Boeraton.
“It’s time to contact the Prime Minister,” Boeraton said. “Are we in the Free Zone yet?”
“Just entering it now,” Cain said. “We can come out of the jump. This is a good place.”
“Do that, then,” Boeraton said.
“You heard, Zindra.”
“Aye, sir.” She spoke into her PA, the static charge hitting them as the ship dropped out of the jump.
“Stay on battle stations, and increase scans,” Cain said.
Zindra nodded, speaking into her PA.
“I’ll send a message with status,” Boeraton said. “We’ll have to wait a few minutes for a reply. If we’re lucky, the Prime Minister won’t want to chat.”
Cain smiled. “I’ll open the channel.” He spoke into his PA, then glanced over at X22945. “Nervous?”
“We know what happened to U67444 in the Free Zone,” he replied. “We might be in danger.”
“Status sent,” Boeraton said. “Monitor for response.”
Cain nodded. “Monitoring, Admiral.”
“Not much traffic in the neutral route through the Free Zone,” Zindra said. “Are you seeing the same, Kymm?”
Kymm looked over at her from the pilot’s station. “I am, and it makes me nervous. Last time I was in the Free Zone this area was very busy.”
“How long ago was that?” X22945 asked.
“Six… no seven years ago,” Kymm said. “I was on a diplomatic ship at the time.”
“Interesting,” X22945 said. “The problems in the Clan Zone started about five years ago.”
“Ah, reply just came,” Boeraton said. “Drat, he wants a meeting.”
“We’re being hailed, Captain,” Kymm said.
“Put it on the main screen.”
Kymm nodded, the main screen lighting up, Prime Minister Aeon and General Corsi sitting side by side, their faces filling the screen.
“Greetings,” Aeon said. “You’ve made it to the Free Zone. Good.”
“Any new instructions?” Boeraton asked.
“There are five Clan-Identified Razor ships headed your way,” Aeon said.
“What?” Boeraton asked. “Why?”
“Our partners asked that we use them for secret diplomatic missions to their zone,” Aeon said. “You are to be the flag ship, but they will be there to insure you aren’t blown out of space.”
“I know of those ships,” Cain said. “They’re the earliest models we have. There are weaknesses.”
“Only if you plan on taking on Samson Corporation ships,” General Corsi said. “We have no indication that the rebel forces are operating in the Free Zone.”
“This is actually good news,” X22945 said. “I remember the arrangements we made in the original Razor purchase agreement. This might keep us alive. Our trip will be treated as a commerce trip, given the serial numbers of those ships.”
“Precisely,” Aeon said.
“Anything else?” Boeraton asked. “How’s the war going?”
“We’re still running into massive resistance on the planets,” Aeon said, “and we lost two valuable bases since you’ve been gone. It wasn’t all bad, though. We learned a new tactic.”
“That sounds positive,” X22945 said.
Boeraton smiled. “May we ask what that is?”
“I don’t see why we’d need to keep it secret,” Aeon said. “I’ve got to leave the call, but General Corsi can explain. You’ll need to stay on impulse power until the five Razors arrive. General Corsi can provide the timing data as well. Good day. Nice job.”
Aeon got up and left. They could hear footsteps and then a door closing. General Corsi pulled at his collar, as if he was too warm.
“A little hot in there, Corsi?” Boeraton asked.
X22945 laughed nervously.
“There have been leaks,” Corsi said. “I suspect I’m being tested.”
“Us too, probably,” Cain said.
“Watch what you say,” Boeraton said.
Corsi shook his head. “They don’t suspect you guys. You’ve been out of the loop. They know you can’t be the source.”
“Except now we’re going to hear things that could get us into trouble,” Cain said. “What did you guys learn?”
“Common sense, frankly. We were patrolling all the habitable planets around the two bases we lost. The enemy tried to land some cloaked devices on the surface of Toatoiana. We picked up the heat signatures as the devices broke through the atmosphere. We flooded the area with fighters.”
“What happened?” Cain asked.
“The cloaked devices shot down a third of the fighters in about two minutes. The rest jumped to safety.”
“They were fighters?” Boeraton asked.
“We don’t know, because we couldn’t see them,” Corsi said, “but if I had to guess, I’d say they were some kind of drones, because they can maneuver in ways that would kill human pilots.”
Boeraton got up, walking to the screen. “So now if anybody spills the beans on this, we’ll be considered possible leakers.”
“Don’t worry about that story,” Corsi said. “Hamilton Zenos already published accounts of the base attacks.”
“We should’ve killed him when we had the chance,” Boeraton said. “We need cloaking capability, and we need it fast. Our mission might be the most important one going now.”
“To be honest, the cloaking capability isn’t what scared me the most about these devices.”
“What, then?” X22945 asked.
“They had at least five hundred of them, based on my analysis… likely more. I doubt they lost any of them in this engagement.”
“Oh,” Boeraton said, walking back to his seat. “How good is your analysis?”
“Pretty good. We know the volume of fire we received.”
“Has Pentant Simtar pulled anything yet?” Cain asked.
“This part is classified,” Corsi said. “So be careful with this info. They’re having a joint congressional meeting with the rebels soon, and they weren’t successful in removing all our operatives in their purge. That might be our best hope.”
“Interesting,” Boeraton said.
“How long do we need to stay on impulse power?” Cain asked. “We’re in a dangerous neighborhood.”
“Twenty-two hours,” Corsi said.
“Dammit, that’s a lot of exposure,” Cain said.
“It will be okay,” Boeraton said. “Anything else?”
“Nope,” Corsi said. “Don’t know if I’ll see you again. Good luck, and safe travels.” His face disappeared from the screen.
“This is bad,” X22945 said. “Corsi’s head is on the chopping block, and he knows it.”
“Sure looks that way,” Cain said.
“We’re being set up,” Boeraton said. “Bridge crew, consider thi
s meeting classified, please.”
Kymm and Zindra nodded.
“Thank you,” Boeraton said. “I’m going to my quarters.”
“I guess I’ll go too,” X22945 said.
The two men left the bridge.
“Are we in as much trouble as it feels like?” Kymm asked.
Cain shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m going to my stateroom. Everybody stay on alert, please.”
“Aye, Captain,” Zindra said.
Cain left, walking down the long hallway to his stateroom, going inside and locking the door. He went to his desk, opening the safe with his fingerprints, pulling out a small tablet and a token. Then he navigated to his notes, looking for some data he got from Bryce Cannon. “There it is,” he said, setting the tablet down and slipping the token into his comm unit, dictating a message.
“I probably just signed my own death warrant,” he said to himself as he pushed send.
***
Captain Clarke was waiting for Simone to arrive from the Spitfire.
Captain Clarke’s heart skipped a beat.
“Something wrong, Captain?” Sondra asked.
“I need to run back to my stateroom,” he said. “See you in a few minutes. You have the ship. Skip, take the lead on bringing Andrea into the bay, please.”
“Aye, Sir,” Skip said.
Trey rushed off the bridge, grabbing a tin can to his stateroom, getting inside and locking the door.
“They can’t tell where we are from this, can they?”
“Yeah, but can they see it?”
“Sorry, I’m nervous.”
Trey laughed. “It’s not that easy.” He opened his safe, pulling out his token, then starting the old comm system and slipping the token in. The message from Bryce was the only one listed. He opened it.
