One of them nodded toward Fierce and thought out loud. “Should we feed this one, from our scraps?”
The other, the one who had been wounded scowled. “Shall we, of the mighty Nahphalim, show a kindness to the likes of these, that have caused so much trouble?”
That brought a shrug from his companion. “Some of our kind did share their world, for a time.”
That provoked the other to throw a large bone at his comrade, which skittered away, deflected by the shielding, prompting a comment. “You still wear your guardian? Are you afraid of this... insect?”
A wave of the hand. “Bahhh. It does bring a tingle of irritation. But if I disarm and you throw another bone at me, I will thrash you.”
That brought a round of belly-laughs as they recalled the many bouts of combat they had enjoyed, going back many years to their youth. It wasn’t long before they were both snoring away, without a care in the world. Until a sensor pinged in alarm.
The wounded giant looked down to see an odd device attached to his midsection. Fierce’s pid. He sat up and motioned to flick it away, finger poised behind a thumb.
Fierce called out in the language of the Nahphalim. “You’re dead if you touch the... bomb.”
The other lifted a palm toward Fierce, prompting Fierce to hold up an actual munitions-switch, thumb on the actuator button, as he stood to leave. “Your friend is also dead if you harm me. We call this a dead-man’s switch. If I’m harmed, the bomb explodes. If you follow me, the bomb explodes. If you touch it, well, you get it.” Fierce switched his gaze back to the other giant. “I should also give warning, if you scan the bomb, it will explode. And the device is powerful enough to blow a giant-sized hole right where your heart should be.”
As Fierce hurried off, the unencumbered monster moved back a short distance and muttered. “He deceives us. It is a communicator, nothing more. I will go find him.”
The beast with the bomb pointed his palm toward his friend, the blister rising. “If there is no reason for concern, you disarm your guardian and come remove it for me.”
Fierce began a run-and-walk that quickly put miles between him and the monsters, carefully choosing ground that would hide his passage, not slowing down until the night faded away to dawn. When he finally felt safe, Fierce allowed himself the luxury of a wide animal trail that he hoped would lead to one of the hiding caverns he had seen on the Dodge Chart. He missed his pid and could have kicked himself for not storing the Chart in his Ivees. No matter. It was good just to be alive.
After walking a mile or so along the comfortable path, he realized how tired he was, and decided to hole-up for a couple hours of sleep. Some wind-fallen trees made an adequate shelter, and a nice straight branch that would make a suitable bo-staff. With no sensors to establish a perimeter watch, he took off his Ivees and set them to signal if there were any intruders. He slept peacefully through two cycles, until something roused him, prompting him to roll to semi-kneeling position, right foot planted, staff in hand.
The being sitting leisurely in front of him was definitely not human, or of any other race he had seen or read about. Or, maybe he... yes, the being was male, was human, once upon a time. This being seemed slight of build at first, but, no, the large head gave that impression. The look wasn’t unattractive. It was more like how a baby’s head is relatively large compared to body size. He was about the same height as Fierce, though with no hair that could be seen, other than eyebrows and eyelashes. The sculpted perfection of facial features and complexion, skin that almost glowed, was... a bit disturbing.
Fierce mentally summed up his initial observation. Here, next to him, sat an all-too-perfect human being with an over-large bald head.
His voice was agreeable and fitting for his size. “Hi, Carl. Please put the stick away, I mean you no harm. You’re... Ivees were about to chirp, so I turned them off. There are Nahphalim in the area. They seem kind of angry. Best to let them cool off a bit.”
Carl, Fierce, put down his staff. “Who are you?”
With that complicated question, the being tilted his head to the side, to think for a moment. Then, smiling, he moved a hand toward Fierce very slowly to touch his arm. Fierce was suddenly in motion through the cosmos. Looking around in amazement, he noticed the Milky Way shrinking with distance, the relative emptiness of intergalactic space interspersed with stars, gas clouds, and an occasional galaxy. Soon, a ring galaxy took shape that he knew from astronomy classes to be Hoag’s Object. The feeling of motion continued, as he soared past the younger stars of the outer ring, toward the galactic center, filled with older stars.
A beautiful planet took shape, dazzling in shades of green and blue, then an inland sea near a glorious mountain range, finally a pasture with grazing animals. On the edge of the pasture was the most beautiful building Fierce had ever seen, made of enormous crystals generating a hundred different earth tones.
As he watched, the colors of the home brightened, and an opening appeared, from which a lovely lady, obviously of the same race, emerged, and ran to embrace her brother. “My brother! Have you come home?”
Fierce came to himself and noticed the being was standing next to him. “Dear sister, I still walk my path, though I hope to return home soon.
“I am pleased to introduce to you, Fierce. He has asked who I am. This seemed an appropriate manner of introduction. But now, we must depart.
“Do express my love to everyone, especially mother and father. Remember us in our journey, dear sister.”
With that, they were back on Cygnus Prime, though some would say they had never actually left. Fierce needed a moment to collect his thoughts. That had been something other than teleportation.
He looked to the being. “You sure are a long way from home.” Fierce decided to be cautious with his next question, half wanting another celestial trip, but knowing time was of the essence. “What shall I call you?”
The being again reached slowly toward Fierce, then stopped and smiled at the look on Fierce’s face. “Just kidding. I know time is of the essence. No more long journeys for now.”
Fierce was a little concerned. “You can read my mind?”
His lips pursed a little. “Only a little, when you project your thoughts. My name is... hold a sec. Yes, I think I have the pronunciation right for your language. My name is Gabriel. I don’t have a cool operative name, even though I am definitely on a mission. Maybe you can help me with a handle, like Fierce.”
That got Fierce squinting a little at the being. “You’re Gabriel, as in the Archangel?”
Gabriel’s hands came up fast, as though warding off a blow. “Me? That Gabriel? Of course not! Why would you think that? He’s famous. And you are so... funny. I was named after that Gabriel, though. His name was... trending, around the time I was born, after his momentous announcements. If you think hard, you’ll remember the announcements I’m talking about.
“Come, let’s walk a bit before we meet up with your... crew. The Dahnahaash are still too close for my comfort level. And, for now, let’s have you call me Gabe.
“Your translator device works quite well, by the way. I did take a moment to send it the basics of my language.”
Fierce shrugged. “Likely, you have something better than this translator.”
Gabe mimicked the shrug. “A thought exchanger would probably... freak you out. Well, maybe not you. I sense an interesting communication ability with you. But, if it’s all the same, I wouldn’t mind practicing with the spoken word. I have little opportunity to communicate this way, and it seems some adaptation is in order.”
As they walked along, Fierce decided he should find out what he could about this interesting person and his people. “Tell me about your people, Gabe. We call your amazing galaxy, which is quite a distance by our way of thinking, Hoag’s Object.”
“Yes. It is beautiful, isn’t it? We, in the Assembly, call it Mother’s Galaxy.”
“The Assembly? Do you hold a position in the government on your world
?”
“I suppose, in a manner of speaking. Everyone in Mother’s Galaxy is in the Assembly, other than the few Nahphalim and Dahnahaash that persist.”
“Almost everyone, in the entire galaxy?”
“Yes, of course. The Ahmtobim of Mother’s Galaxy are connected, able to voice their opinions, and vote. The Assembly Integrated-Mind works it all out; helps with any questions, facilitates debates, all of it. We do have a council that is empowered to handle the mundane aspects of governance. Minor decisions are made all the time outside the Assembly. But a major decision that could affect everyone, especially if there is no clear precedent, is set before the Assembly. There have even been times when someone pushed hard enough on an issue of limited scope, to trend-it high enough to gain review status.”
“I can’t imagine that. There must be trillions of you.”
“More like quintillions. What? It looks as though you think that’s a lot of people. It’s a whole galaxy, there’s a lot of room. Anyway, the need to debate a universal decision, where there is some polarity within the Assembly is quite rare. It’s all comes down to a matter of the heart. I’ve only been involved in two such events in my lifetime.”
“Twice? It must still be quite a task to mount that sort of effort, what, every fifty years or so?”
“No, not so difficult, or all that often. It’s more like every 1,000 or your years, give or take. And, as I said, it’s a matter of the heart. That which is true quickly trends to the top. Consensus has always been reached quickly within the Assembly.”
“2,000 years? Amazing. From my perspective, it almost sounds like everyone has their BID connected to their pid, streaming to a massive quputer, using a QuIM system with massive bandwidth.”
“That’s a lot of acronyms. What’s a BID? Oh. Yes. Actually, it is quite like that, with BIDs and pids and QuIM. See, humanity is almost there. And, then, there is that matter of the heart.”
“Matter of the heart. You have a universal law written on your heart?”
“Very good. You understand. Of course, it must be a very good law, and the people need to be willing to be guided by it. There really is only one such Law.”
“The concept, and, actually, the reality of such a Law is familiar to me. But you make it sound so universal among your... people. Do you have free will?”
“Great question! Free will. Volition. Those are subjects with some depth. I bet your philosophers and theologians have a lot of fun talking about that sort of thing. Actually, I myself have enjoyed listening to various groups within the Assembly debate the nuances. Just me talking, the Law doesn’t impact free will. We have a choice in the decisions we make. The Law written on our hearts is from our designer, our maker, giving us the best opportunity for purpose, joy, and above all, love. What better source for such a Law, than from the architect of our souls?”
“Have you never done anything wrong, then, contrary to the Law? Maybe stolen a cookie from the cookie jar?”
“Cookie jar? Oh. I’ve never seen an actual cookie jar, but stealing something, no. I don’t think I’ve ever stolen anything. Thievery of any kind is wrong. My desire is to do what is right.”
“What if you’re starving?”
“The King will provide.”
“Ummm. What about lying?
“Ummm. Deception is wrong.”
“Okay. Pretend an evil government has taken over. Well, we better pretend we’re on Earth and an evil government has taken over. They are rounding up people that hold an ideology contrary to their way of thinking and are killing them for only for that reason. Ten of them are being hunted and you have allowed them to hide in your basement. The police come knocking at your door, asking if you have seen any of those enemies of the state. Do you lie, or tell the truth, sending them and yourself to a horrible death?”
“That’s terrible. Who would do such a thing?”
“Oh, trust me. That sort of thing has happened on Earth.”
“Yes. I suppose it has. And I have already broken the law of an evil government, by hiding you, an enemy of the state. Sorry, I’ll focus on the issue of lying. I would follow the Law written on my heart. Oh, don’t look so dejected. If it makes you feel better, I am certain I would deceive the authorities in order to save the lives of the people. Just so, your deception of the Dahnahaash, with the bomb scare, also seems justified. That was masterful. War complicates things. For me, it is good to know there is a power outside of oneself to help with such decisions.”
“Some would not like that answer, feeling Law is more... absolute, more uncompromising.”
“And with that, free will has completed its circuit.”
They walked in silence for a while, Fierce deep in thought, when a massive impact of energy struck their location, tearing the surface of the planet to shreds for miles around. Molten rock steamed and flowed freely into the surrounding valleys.
***
THE GIFT
Tee said the words again, with more conviction in his voice. “Hang on, girls, Grandad is coming to get you.”
He turned to his port-tech, thanked him for his clear outline of the situation, and dismissed him. Then Tee spun on his heals and ran to the ship.
The ship opened to him and exclaimed, “Back so soon?”
Tee wondered that he had not thought to ask. “Do you have a name?”
The ship’s AI chuckled. “Of course. The ship and I, we are Mahtanah.”
“Mahtanah, will you go on an important mission with me?”
“I will. Do you have a mission objective and destination?”
“I’m afraid we’ll be flying by the seat of our pants on this one. The destination is Cygnus Prime.”
“Seat of our pants? Perhaps we should interface and rely less on words.”
Tee was busy for a moment on his pid, sending a general message that he was taking the ship out again, return time unknown. “Yes. Get us started, best speed to Cygnus Prime.”
Mahtanah streaked into space and forged ahead at FTL 1,000. “Very well.”
The rim of the ship glowed with power as the negative vacuum generators poured energy to the warp drive. Mahtanah announced their velocity would increase as soon as they crossed the bounds of the heliosphere.
Tee touched the center sphere to better communicate with Mahtanah in a mix of words and impressions.
What is our ETA for Cygnus Prime?
12 hours.
Can the velocity be increased?
I can see you are not happy with our best speed. Perhaps you have not correctly described your requirement.
Four light years in 12 hours is amazing. But I’m worried about all those soldiers trapped on Prime.
A suggestion may be warranted, if you don’t object. You have used terms like best speed and velocity. We could just teleport to Cygnus Prime immediately, if that fits in your plans.
You can teleport?
Of course. It requires a great deal of energy, but I do have the capability. One moment. Very good. I have received permission to upload our entire capabilities package.
Ouch. Let me have a moment to... absorb all this information. You can do all of that? Please, for this mission, if you have a way to better accomplish something I request, let me know.
Very well. Shall I conduct a flash-port recon prior to a full untangle at Cygnus Prime?
That would be perfect. Report when you have intel.
There are two Dahnahaash war ships in the Cygnus Prime system. Additionally, I have received word they have broken the Ancient Treaty by firing upon one of the Ahmtobim. We will probably be attacked when we enter the system.
Can we survive a pitched battle?
The ship and I are quite old. I incorporated the latest technologies in my last download. Again, our systems are quite old. Intel regarding Dahnahaash advancements is somewhat limited. Our survival is... uncertain.
Then we attack without warning and destroy one to even the odds.
They are already warned by the flash-
recon. I will not hesitate to defend us. Yet, there may be Dahnahaash soldiers on board, which makes me reluctant to attack and destroy without warning. This is not yet all-out war, despite their breaking of the treaty.
Those ships destroyed an entire Solar League battle group. They murdered humans as well as the Karrin stationed on Jasmin. If that isn’t an all-out war...
Yet, imagine your interstellar war on an intergalactic scale with weapons 100 times more powerful, and troop movements numbering in the billions, or trillions. It would actually be much worse than that.
I can imagine. Hold! This looks interesting. What do you know about reticulation shells?
One moment. The technology was developed after I went into hibernation. Yes. It seems, the Ahmtobim of Mother’s Galaxy have perfected a means to travel great distances using reticulation shells and a method that has some similarities to... let’s call it quantum tunneling. The shell is not the person. The effect, I see, is quite realistic.
Why not just teleport, and be there physically?
You humans already take your flawless method of quantum teleportation for granted. It really is a marvelous capability. For everyone else, the entanglement process, to gain perfect replication at the destination, is very complex. And it is a costly proposition, from an energy allocation standpoint. Travel using reticulation shells is almost always more practical. And much safer, for the traveler.
Can you spin out a dozen reticulation shells of this ship that look real enough to spoof the Dahnahaash?
Why, that’s... an amazing strategy. With some dynamic shield emitters, I can almost certainly... spoof the Dahnahaash scanners. We would not want to go beyond ten emitters I’m afraid. Will ten spoofs and a real work for your OpOrd?
You catch on quickly. Eleven ships should do the trick. Can you fit 300,000 soldiers on board?
Can I fit 300,000 soldiers on board? Ahhh, a jest.
Invasion: Journal Three (Shockwave Book 3) Page 37
