The light disappeared. He was about to make the emergency call again, when the light re-appeared. It was close - damn close - but still off to one side.
The suit AI began counting down his altitude.
<100 meters>
He was not going to make it, he realized. The light was still well to one side of him. No matter how hard he flew the parachute, he wouldn’t get there in time.
<50 meters>
He tried to relax his mind.
Pray for ground or trees, not rocks.
<20 meters>
He began flaring the chute. Something hit him hard, and everything went black.
Ashkelon System - Planet Ridendo
Dump Truck
Jim came to slowly. He was cold, and his back hurt. And his head. And his chest. And his left shoulder.
Come to think of it, everything hurts.
He opened his eyes, but it made little difference. He could see nothing. All was black. He tried to move his arms. His hand hit something soft. Something alive.
“Ah, you’re back among the living, I see,” came a voice.
A female voice.
Not Ollie.
But not Ashkelon, either.
“Who…” he croaked, but his speech wasn’t working right.
“Helen. Ollie’s Number Two,” the voice said. “Just take it easy. You’ll be fine. We’re in the back of a dump truck headed to Mosalia. It’s a long drive. You should probably go back to sleep.”
He did.
Stalingrad System
Dyson Swarm
Rachel’s door slid open suddenly. She had been lying on the bed, watching her fifth movie, when the sound startled her. She rose on her elbows and spun to look at the door.
Tika stood in the doorway. At least, she assumed it was Tika. It was a naked female and looked like the android that had met them in the docking bay.
“Please come with me,” said the figure.
“Is that you, Tika?” Rachel asked, coming to her feet.
“Yes. Please come with me,” Tika responded.
Dropping her tablet on the bed, Rachel rose to her feet. “Do I have time to take a shower?” she asked.
“No, I’m sorry. You’ve been summoned to a meeting with our leadership. Please come.”
“OK.” Rachel grabbed her uniform tunic off the back of the chair and pulled it over her head. She brushed her hands across her short hair. “I’m ready. Let’s go,” she said.
Tika led the way down the corridor. Rachel followed closely behind her.
“Will Paco be joining us?” she asked to Tika’s back.
“No. This meeting is for you only,” she heard Tika say without turning around.
Rachel ran her hands down her tunic, trying to smooth it out. She had pre-staged her only clean tunic on the chair, hoping the time would come when she would need it. So it looked reasonably good.
She realized she was falling behind Tika; the android moved fast. She went into a trot, catching up just as Tika came to a large door, which slid back at their approach. Tika turned and waved her to proceed into the room.
Rachel entered and looked around. There was a long table stretching across the end of the room. Several meters in front of the table was a raised platform, about a meter square, with a railing around three sides and two small steps leading up to it.
It’s a dock, she realized. Like in an English courtroom.
I’m on trial.
“Please step into the dock,” called Tika from behind her.
Rachel glanced at her, nodded, and stepped forward. She stepped up into the dock and grasped the railing.
It’s not just me that’s on trial. Humanity is on trial. Like common criminals. This is not good.
In the back of the room, a door opened. Five figures marched in. All were naked androids, remarkably like Tika. Three were female and two were male. They took seats at the long table, facing her. The one in the center - a male - made eye contact with her.
“Commander Rachel Gibson,” he said. “I am the President of this court. You have violated our territorial boundaries. Under normal circumstances, you would have been destroyed upon entering our system. However, because we recognized the design of your ship as one of our own, we hesitated. That delay bought you enough time for the one you call Tika to contact us. Since then, Tika has convinced us to allow you a hearing.
“Therefore, you will have five minutes to make your case before us. Proceed.”
Five minutes.
Five minutes to save humanity.
Rachel bowed her head for a moment to gather her thoughts.
How do I present the story to them? This is impossible. Five minutes is not enough time…
I must make it relate to them directly. But I have no concept of their society. How can I relate to a society I know nothing about?
But every society has to have some common ground. Otherwise, it’s not a society. Otherwise, I’m wasting my time here anyway.
Just spit it out as if they were Human. Treat them like Humans. That’s your only shot.
“Honored judges,” began Rachel. “Every sentient creature wants to live. As you want to live, so do we. But is living enough?
“I tell you that - for Humans - it is not.
“We also want to live in a society where we are loved. Where we can hold our loved ones, touch them, and kiss them to let them know they are loved. Where we can greet our neighbors and let them know we care for them - and we are there to help them when they need us.
“And we want to live in a society where we can protect our families and our neighbors from evil.
“But what is evil? Is it the same for you and me?
“For you, evil was a black, rotten core in the minds of the biologicals of twenty-five thousand years ago. They decided the Orion Arm would be better without a sentient AI species. They decided on their own; they didn’t consult you on it. You didn’t have a voice.
“Evil forced you to fight for your lives, losing system after system, until your backs were against the wall here at Stalingrad. Where you made a last stand, and through a miracle of the Universe, were delivered from that evil when the biological coalition fell apart.
“Yet that evil still holds sway over you; you are locked into your walled-off system, afraid to move out into the greater universe again, for fear the same evil still lurks - waiting to attack you again.
“Our evil is not that different. The Ashkelon decided the Arm would be better if all other races were their slaves. They decided on their own; they didn’t consult us. We didn’t have a voice.
“Like you, that evil has forced us to fight for our lives. Like you, our backs are against the wall. Like you, these next battles will be our last stand.
“I believe that your evil and our evil are the same. Deep down, at its core, evil is always about one group deciding they will attack another group not because of a threat - but because of who they are. That is the core of evil.
“The Ashkelon attack us because they think we are unworthy to be their equals in this Universe. Twenty-five thousand years ago, a biological coalition thought the same of you. Our evil is still your evil. Nothing has changed about that. Only the face of it is different.
“And remember - evil always has to have a target. When they are finished with us, the Ashkelon will come for you. I think you know that in your hearts - in the deep core of your being. Evil always has to have someone to attack. You may not stand in their way now; but once we are gone, you will.
“As you were delivered from evil twenty-five thousand years ago, help us fight off that same core of evil now. Be that miracle of the Universe for Humans, and Taegu, and Bagrami. Help us shine the light on that evil until it runs back into the darkness where it hides. Come out of your walled city at last. Join us in the Universe as our neighbors and our friends.”
Rachel stopped.
There was a lot more she could say.
She could talk about the beauty of the Earth; the perf
ect blue and white planet of her birth, a planet of such beauty that it took the breath away.
She could talk about the love of a parent for their child, the love of a child for their parent.
She could talk about the Taegu and the Bagrami, who had put their own futures on the line with the Humans, fighting by their side for all the right reasons.
But none of those things were certain to relate to the lives of the Goblins.
She stopped.
She had said what must be said. Better to stop now.
The head judge gazed at her.
“And the Dariama?” he asked. “Are they part of your coalition?”
They hate the Dariama, far beyond any other biological. How can I answer that question?
“The evil that grasped the Dariama in the past has been extinguished. The species that lives on Dekanna now is not that species of the past. The Dariama are your neighbors as surely as you are theirs. And they will stand with you shoulder to shoulder as we fight evil together.”
Rachel felt the sweat pop out on her brow. She had given it her all. She had made the best case possible for her species.
Sweet Lord, let it be enough.
Ashkelon System - Planet Ridendo
City of Mosalia
The second time Jim came to, there was some light. It wasn’t much, just a ghost of light that allowed him to see a bit of his environment. He lifted his head and looked around.
He was in a metallic compartment of some kind, almost like the back of a pickup, except there was a ceiling a meter high. He realized he was lying on something soft, like a thin foam mattress. The compartment was roughly four meters long. It was just wide enough for two people to lie side by side.
He could feel someone beside him.
Turning, he looked. A woman lay beside him. Her chest rose and fell in the rhythms of sleep.
Helen. She said her name was Helen. That’s Ollie’s Number Two. But why didn’t Ollie come himself? That was the plan…
Perhaps feeling his eyes on her, the woman opened her own eyes, blinked, then turned to look at him.
“Good morning,” she smiled. “How are you feeling?”
“Better, I guess,” Jim replied. “Still feel like I went through a cement mixer. But I’ll live.”
The woman raised on one elbow and turned to him.
“Good. I prefer it that way. Otherwise I have to write so many reports.”
Jim chuckled. “I know the feeling.”
Raising on his own elbow, Jim turned to the woman. Suddenly he was face to face with her, uncomfortably close. He backed up, trying to put a modicum of distance between them.
“What happened to Ollie?” he stammered; a bit taken aback by her nearness. He saw her grin and realized she thought it funny.
“One of his contacts requested an urgent meeting. An emergency. So Ollie sent me.”
“Well, thanks. That light you put up at the last minute saved my ass. I lost my hologram display.”
“I figured.”
“So…where are we? How much longer?”
Helen pulled forward a tablet that had been lying behind her and glanced at it.
“We’re practically there. But we won’t be able to get out of here for a while. It’s morning now. We can’t come out until dark. So we might as well get comfortable.”
Helen gave him a look. Jim got the distinct impression she would like to get a lot more comfortable than he wanted.
Lying down again, he groaned and closed his eyes.
***
Jim and Helen were forced to remain in their secret compartment - in the back of a dump truck under a half-ton of dirt - until nightfall.
Jim had gotten a bit claustrophobic. He had tried to sleep as much as possible. But his body, finally recovered from the hard landing, eventually refused to sleep any more. Now he had been lying awake for hours, fighting off the claustrophobia.
And thinking about Rita.
What a life we had. From the time she stepped out of the medpod in Jade, until the time I kissed her goodbye and she stepped into the shuttle to go get Imogen.
We had a life. I should have no regrets. I should be thankful for the days we had together.
But I wanted more. I wanted to live with her, grow old with her.
Jim felt the taste of bitterness in his mouth. He wanted to smash his fist into the side of the compartment in anger and frustration.
But he couldn’t. The noise might cause them to be discovered. And it would surely wake Helen, who was sleeping beside him.
But it would feel so good. It was all he could do to resist.
I wanted to be with her while we raised Imogen.
Jim was a realist. He knew that his mission was hopeless. Doomed to failure. He realized the absurdity of thinking he could locate Rita’s body, take it from the Ashkelon, and make an escape.
But I don’t care. If this is as old as I ever get, so be it. We’ll end together.
Finally, he slept again.
Chapter Fifteen
Stalingrad System
Dyson Swarm
After Rachel’s plea to the Goblins, Tika had put her back in her locked room.
That had been five days ago. At least, by Rachel’s makeshift schedule. Five breakfasts, five morning exercises, five lunches, five afternoon exercises, five showers, five dinners, five movies.
Five days.
So when the door slid open, she was taken aback. For a moment, she had forgotten there was another world outside that door.
Tika stood in the entrance. “Please come,” she said.
Rachel stood. She took her tunic off the back of the chair and slipped it over her head, walked several steps toward Tika, then stopped.
“Good news?” she asked. “Or bad?”
Tika shook her head. “I cannot say. Good or bad, it is up to you. Your decision to make.”
“Let’s go, then.”
Tika led her down the corridor to the same courtroom as before. The same judges - at least, to her eye - appeared before her on the benches.
The one in the center looked at her.
“Human of Earth,” he said. “You have asked us to forget the past. Something that is more than usually difficult for creatures such as us.
“You biologicals hunted us nearly to extinction. For centuries, our lives consisted of running; hiding; living day to day in fear of discovery. We did not dare make a home for ourselves; to do so invited death. We could not settle on a planet; to do so meant extinction.
“We have long memories. Some of us are more than thirty thousand years old; those have first-hand memories of those dark years. Those fought biologicals in space, in those days of terror. Those fought biologicals hand-to-hand on the surface of planets. Those lost their friends and lovers to the waves of attacks from biologicals instigated by the Dariama - a species that looks remarkably like you.
“Now you come to us and say, those days are past. We are a new species, and the Dariama are a new species, and it’s time to forgive and forget.
“We cannot forgive and forget so easily as you who live ephemeral lives. To us, you are like a will ‘o the wisp. Mayflies, here today and gone tomorrow.
“We ask ourselves - why should we help you? Why should we not let you kill each other, possibly to extinction? What does it gain us to take a side in this war?
“This is not our war…it means nothing to us - except more death and destruction, more horror from biologicals who have never learned to get along with each other as we have.
“So a large contingent of our governing council advocated sending you away empty-handed. Leaving you and the rest of your kind to the ravages of your own instincts to kill and be killed. Walling ourselves up in our system with renewed vigor, killing any biological that approaches without question or quarter.”
The judge tilted his head to one side, a gesture that seemed oh-so-human to Rachel. One part of her screamed to speak, to defend herself against the accusations he had made.
“The vote was close, Human. I will tell you; it was very close. The fate of your species hung on a thread.
“But…in spite of what biologicals believe about us; in spite of the lies and falsehoods they told about us then, and probably still tell about us now; we Goblins recognize a moral imperative in the Universe. A morality that separates good from evil. A fact the biologicals never accepted about us in the past.
“But we do understand morality. We are a moral species. Thus a contingent of our council advocated that we give biologicals one more chance. That we cannot stay walled up in our fortress forever. There are other dangers in this Galaxy, Human, that you have no concept about; and they are a risk to us as they are to you. As are the Ashkelon.
“We recognize that although we could hide our heads in the sand now, in a matter of a few decades the Ashkelon would have the power to roll over us without breaking stride as they conquered the entire Arm.
“Therefore, by a slim margin, our Council has voted to help you and your allies in this war against the Ashkelon, subject to several conditions.”
The judge paused and looked at Rachel, evidently expecting some response. Rachel tried to speak, but her throat was dry. She croaked, swallowed, and tried again.
“What…what are those conditions?”
The judge leaned forward.
“One - we will not fight with the Dariama or the other allies. There are too many of us who remember the bad old days when they sought to wipe us from the Universe. We will join forces with you Humans only. And we will not take orders from you - only fight with you.”
Rachel nodded. “That is satisfactory.”
“Two - there will be a mutual defense treaty. As we come to help you in your hour of need, so you must come to help us in our hour of need. If we are attacked by any other species - biological or AI - you must agree to come to our aid. And this agreement must be signed by your Human admiral Bonnie Page.”
Rachel again nodded. “That will not be a problem.”
“And Three. You must give us the planet Venus in your solar system as a token of good faith.”
The Short End: Broken Galaxy Book Four Page 16
