“Professor, open a channel,” Novak said. “I suspect the interference will be fading by now. Cutting off all communication takes power that the Exterminators simply don’t have any more. I hope so, anyway.”
“We’re calling Leonidas?” Belinsky asked, turning to the controls.
“No. The surface. Specifically, that tower. I want to talk to our friend down there, one last time.”
“Ninety seconds before the first lasers can score hits on Leonidas,” Silva warned. “If you’ve got some sort of miracle in mind, you’d better make it fast.”
“Don’t worry, I will. Have you got through, Professor?”
“In the clear, contact established,” the archaeologist replied. “Won’t they be too busy to talk right now?”
“I don’t think so,” she said. Picking up a microphone, she said, “This is Commander Novak. Can you hear me?”
“I hear you,” the voice from before, now sad and weary, replied. “What do you wish to say?”
Taking a deep breath, Novak said, “You’ve lost. That much is clear. From where I’m sitting, I see no way of repairing the damage we’ve inflicted upon your power collection grid before you suffer an irredeemable blackout down there on the surface. I don’t know how Admiral Scott pulled it off, but it is now a fact. Do you dispute this?”
“No, I do not,” the voice replied. “You have destroyed the only guarantor of peace in all the galaxy.”
“Or the greatest mass murderers of all time. The question that now remains is simple. What is to happen next? What do you truly wish your legacy to be, assuming you wish to have one at all. Your ships are currently planning to destroy ours, and will certainly accomplish that goal in a matter of moments. We have no defenses that could possibly stop you, there’s nothing we can do to prevent you from wiping us out. What purpose will it serve?”
“Seventy seconds, Commander,” Silva warned.
“Revenge?” Novak asked. “Is that what this was all about, all the war, all the murder, the deaths of thousands of civilizations? If that was what you were seeking, then we were right to give our lives to defeat you. If it wasn’t, then what good will our destruction truly do?” She glanced at Joe, and added, “The four of us in this shuttle are the only ones who know why you did what you did, why you unleashed your reign of terror upon the galaxy.”
“A far greater terror threatens now,” the voice replied.
“Then you need to take one last action if you are to mitigate it, even in the slightest degree. Let us live.”
There was a pause, precious seconds wasted, and the voice asked, “Why? What purpose could that serve?”
“If you want your message to live on, then at least one messenger must survive. Right now, all that we’ll know is that we defeated a terrible existential threat to all intelligent life in the galaxy. That’s all that will come out of this. Let us live, and we will pass your message, your warning, to others. We’ll tell them about the great wars of the past, the horrors that were unleashed, and we’ll fight for that to change in the future, for a future which may be free of such wars, such tyranny. Your way is not the only way, even if your message has merit.”
“We dare not trust your words.”
“Thirty seconds and counting,” Silva said. “This one’s going to be close!”
“What choice do you have?” Novak pressed. “Tell me. When your world goes dark, what happens to your ships?”
“They destruct. All of them. To protect the secrets within.”
“I assumed as much. How many civilizations are currently under attack by your people?”
“A hundred and nine. Presumably they will bless their salvation…”
Nodding, Novak replied, “Aye, and they’ll arm their ships, and head out into space to find out what happened, determined to never let it happen again, determined to protect their people no matter what. That’s a great way to start another galactic war. One mistake, one slip, and we return to the bloodshed you fear. Unless someone lives to tell the tale, to pass the warning, to tell the galaxy why you did what you did.”
“It would be the task of eons to complete such a project.”
“Left alone, unhindered, humanity will reach across the stars. Do you insist that we do it with our weapons hot, looking for dangers and threats in every sensor shadow, or may we have the knowledge and wisdom to do it in peace?”
“Ten seconds,” Silva said. “If you manage to talk them out of a fight, we’ll be docking in two minutes.”
“Do you hear me?” Novak asked. “Come in, please!”
“It was a good argument,” Joe said. “If it is of any consolation, I and my people would likely have accepted it.”
Shaking her head, Novak replied, “Evidently it wasn’t quite good enough.” Looking around, she added, “Better hang on, everyone. Lieutenant, prepare for evasive maneuvers, for whatever it is worth. If there’s no other way, then try for the wormhole.”
“Energy spike from the leading ships!” Belinsky reported. “Nice try, Commander, a damned nice try.”
The seconds ticked down, Novak watching the monitor with sick fascination as the Exterminator ships prepared for what would be their final attack, a last act of revenge to bring to a close a war that had begun when the dinosaurs still roamed the Earth, when humanity’s ancestors were nothing but scurrying rodents, living in hiding from the predators that sought their destruction. Looking at the titanic works of engineering in this system, perhaps little had changed, only that humanity was now able to kick back, to make its presence felt.
Earth would live, even if they did not. That was sufficient comfort for her final seconds of life.
“And…now,” Silva said. “Plus one. Plus two. Plus three.” She paused, turned to Novak, and said, “They’re just sitting there. Power’s built up on their ships, but they aren’t doing anything. They’re going to let us through! They’re going to let us live!”
“We’re not home yet, Lieutenant, and there’s plenty of time for them to change their minds about their mercy.”
“Leonidas to Shuttle One, Leonidas to Shuttle One, do you read me?” Chen’s voice tentatively asked, echoing over their ceiling speakers. “If you can hear us, please respond at once, please respond at once.”
“This is Shuttle One, reading you loud and clear,” Novak said. “It’s great to hear your voice, Lieutenant. We request immediate docking clearance.”
“You’ve got it, Commander,” Chen replied. “Airlock One is all yours. We’ll be ramping back up to full acceleration as soon as you get back on board. Did you see the fireworks display?”
“We had a front-row seat, Lieutenant. See you in a few minutes. Out.” Turning to Belinsky, she said, “Keep monitoring the Exterminator ships. I need to know right away if there is any change to their posture.”
“Aye, Commander, but what exactly could we do if they did decide to bring us down?”
“Nothing, but at least we’d have a chance to come up with some good last words,” she replied with a smile, still watching the screen. There was a point of light at its heart now, slowly resolving into a recognizable shape, Leonidas up ahead of them, ready and waiting to give them a ride back to human space. That there was a chance that she might actually live through her visit to this system, her passage across the galaxy, was slowly starting to sink in, but she dared not believe that it could be a reality until they actually made it, until they’d left the system forever.
Turning to a side panel, she looked at the satellite swarm, tangled and twisted by the actions of the black hole as it curved around the star. It would remain in orbit for thousands of years, perhaps millions, absorbing sufficient mass to sustain it and prevent anyone else ever establishing a new swarm in this system, prevent anyone from making use of the relic technology left behind by the Exterminators. Assuming they left behind anything at all.
“Change to target aspect!” Belinsky reported. “Nothing bad, though. At least, I don’t think so. They’re turning around
, heading back for their homeworld. Looks as though they’re trying for a parking orbit. You think they might be able to power their planet from the reactors on their ships somehow?”
“I doubt they could even come close,” Joe said. “The amount of power they would have generated from that array would be many orders of magnitude higher than that produced by every ship they have in this system.” Shaking his head, he added, “They are giving us an easy way to safety. That is sufficient.”
“Docking in ten seconds,” Silva added. “Clamps out, thrusters on.” She leaned over her controls, carefully marshalling the computers to guide them safely to their destination, her reward a pair of reassuring clangs as the two hatches mated, the airlock sliding open instantly to permit them to escape. The quartet raced out into the corridor, then through the double doors onto the bridge, Scott turning with a smile on his face as they entered.
“Welcome home, Commander,” he said. “How did you convince them to let us escape?”
“I asked them,” she replied. At his expression, she added, “Really, Admiral, it was that simple.”
“Simple is not the word I would choose for it,” Silva said, taking her position from Rochford. “Outstanding shooting, sir. I could barely believe it when I saw it.”
“Neither could the Exterminators, evidently,” Scott replied with a smile. “Take your station, Commander.”
“Wormhole in five minutes, sir,” Cunningham reported. “There are three enemy ships holding station close to the entrance point. All the other ships are heading for either their homeworld or the shipyard.” Turning to him, he asked, “Could they have something else in mind, Admiral? Some weapon we don’t know about yet?”
“They’d have used it if they had it,” Silva said. Looking at the helmsman again, she added, “My congratulations on your promotion, by the way.” Looking at her console, she continued, “All weapons online. We’ve only got two missiles left, but everything else is set for full defensive fire should we need it.” She paused, then added, “One of them is turning our way, sir, but at this range, I…”
Before she could finish talking, the lights went out, every monitor going dark, the technicians frantically attempting to bring their systems back on-line, their controls rattling in the darkness. Novak reached under her console, pulled out an emergency lantern and flicked it on, hanging it over her console as she struggled to bring back the sensors, her efforts finally rewarded by the system rebooting, flickering back into life.
“What the hell hit us?” Scott asked.
“Cold restart, sir,” Novak said, looking at the first reports streaming into her console. “I couldn’t tell you why, Admiral. It’s as though the whole network was knocked out at once.”
“We’re holding course, sir,” Cunningham reported. “I’m not picking up the ships by the wormhole exit any more, though. They’re heading for the planet to join the others.” Shaking his head, he added, “I have full control again, Admiral, and I’m not picking up any sign of malfunction from the engines now.”
“None from weapons, either,” Silva added. “That’s not like anything they’ve thrown at us yet.”
“Energy spike from the planet, massive!” one of the sensor technicians yelled. Novak threw the data stream onto her console, looking wide-eyed at the display as the surface heat grew, faster and faster, the buildings on the surface already beginning to melt, the museum she had visited gone forever in the first few seconds. There could only be one end to the extreme power buildup, and it came rapidly, with a blinding glare, as the planet exploded into a billion fragments, joining the debris already orbiting the star, flaming rubble instantly cooling as it hit the vacuum of space, taking the hundreds of ships in orbit with it.
“Good God,” she said, shaking her head. “They’re gone. They’re all gone. I can’t believe it.”
“They didn’t want to risk anyone else making use of their ships, their relics,” Rochford said. “That’s the only explanation. Maybe it was a fail-safe built in. For all we know that’s going to happen to every one of their ships, all across the galaxy.”
“That’s what they told me,” Novak said, quietly. “I still don’t quite believe it, though. One final act of destruction.” She looked down at another display, an amber light winking on and off, the ship’s database reporting that it was almost full, that storage capacity was down to emergency backups. Someone had flooded new information into the ship, files she vaguely recognized, and she opened one to confirm her suspicions.
“Professor,” she said, turning to Belinsky. “Come and take a look at this.”
The archaeologist walked over to her, looked at the display, and said, “Another Godel code.”
“If I’m right, the Exterminators sent us a couple of billion codes before detonation. Maybe more. It’s going to take months just to work out the scale of what they’ve given us.” Turning to Scott, she added, “I guess they didn’t want to be forgotten.”
“Not much chance of that,” Silva replied. She paused, then said, “They listened to you. They really listened to you.”
“I guess they did,” Novak said.
“What is all of this about?” Scott asked.
“The end of a hundred million-year war, Admiral. The fighting is over. Now it’s time to bury our dead, and see that this can never, never happen again.”
Epilogue
Leonidas hung in front of the wormhole, a dozen ships flanking her, all of them carrying representatives of the One, ready to accompany them on her long journey home. Most of the crew were already asleep, waiting for the turbulent passage, this time confident that nothing harmful would be waiting for them on the far side. Scott walked onto the bridge, nodding at Joe, standing by the command chair, then turning to the helm.
“Are we ready for the transfer?”
“Eight minutes, sir,” Cunningham replied. “Just getting the rest of the squadron into formation. They’re going to wonder what the hell happened when we get back home.” With a happy sigh, he said, “One more month, then a long, long leave. Somewhere nice and sunny, nice and peaceful, where I don’t have to run to an alert station every few minutes.” Tuning to Scott, he added, “Not that we’re going to have to do that any time soon, I guess.”
“I certainly hope not, Lieutenant. I think we’re due for a nice long spell of peace.” Looking around, he turned to Joe, and said, “This is the last chance for you and your people to change your mind, you know. That wormhole will be useless in a couple of days. We’re going to struggle with the transfer even now.”
“Our physiology is quite different to yours, Admiral,” Joe replied. “We may be able to attempt the transfer for another few months. Besides, there will be another path home, the long way around the spiral arms of the galaxy, even if it might take us a century to get there. The wonders we would see on such a journey could make it all worthwhile. Perhaps you will convince my people to be wanderers yet.” His eyes gleamed, and he added, “To be able to physically meet other intelligences, talk to them face-to-face in real time, is a true wonder.”
“Admiral?” Novak asked, rising from her station. “Could I see you for a moment?”
“Of course,” Scott replied. “If you’ll excuse me, Joe. Clyde, you have the deck. Feel free to begin transit just as soon as we’re ready. The sooner we’re on our way home, the happier I’ll be.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice, skipper,” a grinning Rochford said, taking the command chair as Scott led the way into his office. As soon as the doors closed, Novak handed him a datapad.
“My resignation, Admiral. To take effect when we get back home. I know that technically I’ve got another seven months before the end of my tour of duty, but I’m owed at least four months of terminal leave, and by the time we get home, it’ll only be a matter of another seven weeks or so. You’ve got the authority to release me early.”
“Sure, but for what reason, Commander?” Scott asked, perching on his chair. “You’ve got a fantastic care
er ahead of you. Odds are another promotion in a year, and there’s an excellent chance that you’d make Admiral before you turn forty, especially with the fleet buildup. If you want a break from space, then take that leave of yours, or put in for a ground assignment. I’m sure you’d be able to write your own ticket to the Academy. They’re going to be desperate enough for instructors for the next few decades or so.”
Shaking her head, she added, “It isn’t that, sir. I suspect I’m going to be heading out into space quite soon, once we get back. Professor Belinsky thinks he should be able to get the funding for an expedition, and I’d like to be a part of it. I’d like to help lead it.” She paused, then asked, “Have you looked at the reports we brought back from the Exterminator homeworld, the reason why they subjected the galaxy to millions of years of terror.”
“I don’t agree with those reasons for a second, and I think I know you well enough to know that neither do you.”
“No, sir, I don’t, but I understand them, and I understand what lay behind them. Tell me the truth, sir. How long do you think it will be before the Senate decides to launch a peacekeeping expedition to those xenophobic aliens we encountered? Months, a couple of years at the outside, as soon as it becomes clear that the Exterminators are no longer a threat. Then the Terrestrial Commonwealth starts to turn into the Terrestrial Empire, a piece at a time, perhaps so slowly that we aren’t really aware of it, but it will happen, just the same.”
“You’re probably right about that.”
“There has to be a better way, sir. I told the Exterminators that if they let us live, if they spared Leonidas and her crew, then I would do what I can to see that the message of their madness was not forgotten. That they survived the consequences of runaway aggression, a bloody war that destroyed all life across most of the galaxy. We can’t go through that again, and we cannot perpetuate it.”
“You should run for office.”
Darkspace Page 18
