Remnants: Broken Galaxy Book Five

by Phil Huddleston

  Damn good idea!

  I think I’ll do just that!

  Surface of Venus

  Sol System

  Commander Rauti was in his go-anywhere caterpillar aspect - six feet long with 40 legs, his body a hardened, carapace-like shell that could withstand nearly any environment. He gazed around him with radio eyes and was pleased. His Goblin detachment had successfully completed the first phase of their surface base on Venus. They were off to a good start.

  Had a normal Human been able to survive in the hellish atmosphere of Venus for any significant period of time, they would have seen two low mounds, crossing in their centers like the letter ‘X’. Each side of the ‘X’ was two hundred and fifty yards long.

  Beneath those mounds were the command and control centers, living quarters for his crew of 200 Goblins, and storage areas for their gear. That structure would be their home for the next 150 rotations of the planet. 36,525 Earth days. 100 Earth years. Venus rotated quite slowly compared to Earth.

  Gazing farther afield, Rauti contemplated the crop of microbots that extended as far as he could see. From horizon to horizon, the surface was covered with them. The microbots soaked up the carbon dioxide, converting it to oxygen and carbon nanotubes. Within a few more years, the self-replicating microbots would cover the entire planet.

  Rauti looked off to the west at the base station for the space elevator. The small mountain there had five tunnels exiting its base, equally spaced around the mountain. Each tunnel mouth had a tether coming out of the tunnel and running along the ground for a half mile, anchored to the surface.

  Lifting his eyes, Rauti looked at the top of the mountain. What had once been a mountain peak was now flat, chopped off to form the base station for the space elevator. Rising up out of the flat top of the mountain, the cables were combined to create the final tether. That was just a stub so far, ending a few dozen yards above the top of the base station.

  Looking up, Rauti adjusted the wavelength of his radio eyes so he could see beyond the dense atmosphere. There, far above, he picked out the other end of the incomplete tether. It terminated at a dumbbell-like structure in geosynchronous orbit. Four asteroids were clustered around the dumbbell structure, feeding raw materials to the microbots building it.

  It would take another fifty years to complete the space elevator. But that made no difference to Rauti. He had all the time in the world to complete it, because that was not the critical link in Rauti’s terraforming design. The critical link was still higher, well beyond the terminus of the space elevator.

  Adjusting his eyes again, changing to a wavelength that gave him more detail at extreme distances from the planet, Rauti looked with satisfaction at the beginnings of the Dyson shell. That was the structure that would someday block a significant portion of solar radiation from the planet, allowing him to cool it to a more reasonable temperature.

  The shell so far was only twenty miles in diameter, a round disk making a dark dot on the sun. Beside the disk were many smaller dots. Those were asteroids brought in to provide raw materials for the Dyson shell construction. Most of them were rocky asteroids, selected for their high carbon or iron content. A few were ice balls, selected for water and trace elements.

  It would take Rauti a full century to reduce the carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, complete the Dyson structure screening Venus from the Sun, and bring the temperature down to a reasonable level.

  But Rauti wasn’t concerned. He had plenty of time.

  Stalingrad System

  Dyson Ring

  Jim Carter was sitting in the easy chair in his apartment, reading on his tablet, when someone knocked at the door. Muttering under his breath, he got up and went to open it. A Goblin stood there - a large male android, one he didn’t recognize.

  He knew it was a Goblin for two reasons.

  One - it was naked. All the androids at Stalingrad went around naked. They seemed to abhor clothing.

  Two - he was the only Human in the entire Stalingrad solar system. So everyone else for a dozen light years was an android or some other kind of Goblin.

  “Yes?” he asked.

  “May I come in?”

  “Of course, please,” Jim responded. He stepped aside and let the android in. The android moved to the fireplace and turned, smiling at him. Jim, puzzled, stared at him in confusion.

  “How can I help you?”

  The android’s smile got even bigger.

  “Don’t you recognize me?”

  “No, I’m sorry. Should I know you?”

  The android moved toward him. It got closer, moving into his personal space. Jim recoiled, backing away until the wall prevented him from moving any farther.

  “What…?”

  The big male android kept coming. It reached out both arms and put them around Jim’s neck.

  “What are you doing?” he exclaimed in shock.

  The android winked at him.

  “Hello there, big boy,” it said.

  Chapter Three

  Stalingrad System

  Dyson Ring

  “Don’t ever, ever do that to me again!” Jim said, for the second time. “You scared the ever-loving crap out of me!”

  Rita sat in Jim’s easy chair, still laughing. Jim was too upset to sit. He paced back and forth across the living room of their apartment, wearing a path in the carpet.

  “Oh, I wish you could have seen the look on your face,” Rita said. “I thought you were gonna faint dead away!”

  Jim paused in his pacing and shook his fist at her in mock anger. “One of these days, Rita. One of these days!”

  Rita - still in her male android body - smiled. “Oh, this is fun. Wow - think about it. I can sneak up on you anytime, in any kind of body I want, and you’ll never be the wiser!”

  Jim glared at her. “Just keep it up, babe. Just keep it up and see where it gets you!”

  Rita purred softly, in a seductive voice. “Why don’t you come up and see me sometime…”

  Jim, exasperated, shook his head again. “What would I have to do to get you to switch back to your normal body?”

  “Um…cook dinner? For the next three nights in a row?”

  “Done. Just please put yourself back to normal.”

  “Normal? What’s normal, babe? I’m a Goblin now. Normal is whatever I want it to be…”

  Jim growled. “You know what I mean. A female.”

  Rita grinned mischievously.

  “You want tall or short? Blond or brunette? Maybe a ginger?”

  Jim rolled his eyes. “How about the way you were when we woke up this morning?”

  Cruiser EDF Asiana

  Enroute to Ashkelon

  “Thanks for the lift, Admiral.”

  Admiral Dewa Shigeto smiled back at Luke Powell from the head of the wardroom table. “Happy to do it, Captain! Sorry we had to double you up with Ensign Brady, but at least we squeezed you aboard!”

  Luke smiled at the young Ensign at the other end of the table.

  “No problem. Ensign Brady has been telling me all about his days at the Naval Academy.”

  The young ensign blushed at the attention from his seniors.

  “Any of those stories you’d care to pass along?” asked Mark Rodgers, winking at Luke from across the table.

  Luke grinned as Ensign Brady flushed an even deeper red.

  “I’d better not,” said Luke. “Roomies have to respect each other’s confidence, you know.”

  Ensign Brady turned to his meal, hoping the arrow of attention would move in another direction. Mark stifled a laugh and mercifully changed the subject.

  “So does Bonnie know you’re coming along with us?”

  Luke nodded. “Yes, I sent her an ansible message as we were launching.”

  At the head of the table, Admiral Shigeto’s face turned a bit serious. “Captain Powell, you know we’re thinking about revising the fraternization rules in the Fleet.”

  “Yes, sir. I’ve heard.”

&nbs
p; “If we decide to make the change, couples will no longer be allowed to serve on the same ship or under the same commander.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “That would mean you and Admiral Page would have to be in separate commands.”

  “Yes, sir. We’re reconciled to that possibility.”

  “OK. Just thought I’d highlight that for you.”

  “Do you know when the decision will be final?”

  “Most likely at the New Year. So you’ve the rest of this year before we’ll have a final decision.”

  Across from Luke, Mark leaned back with a grin. “Enjoy it while you can, Captain!”

  Luke nodded, musing.

  Enjoy it while you can.

  But that’s assuming I even get a slot in the peacetime navy. Dragon is still in the docks at Dekanna, shot to pieces. Bonnie is being replaced by Shigeto, so she won’t have much influence on policy anymore.

  I may never get another ship, much less have to worry about being under Bonnie’s command.

  “…vacation?”

  Luke realized Shigeto was still talking to him. He quickly tried to reconstruct the thread of conversation he had missed.

  “Uh…yes, sir. Bonnie and I’ve decided to go to Stalingrad. Along with my daughter Tatiana, her husband Mikhail - Misha, as we call him - and their new baby, Marta. We’re going to visit Rita Page and Jim Carter. At least, that’s the plan so far.”

  “Well, any vacation is certainly well deserved,” added Shigeto. “What Bonnie and her fleet accomplished at Dekanna was a flat-out miracle. And your role…well, I have to tell you, Captain. I’m not sure I would’ve had the balls to stick my shot-up destroyer in front of an enemy battlecruiser cube to protect my flagship. You deserve everything that’s coming to you, sir.”

  Luke acknowledged the compliment with a dip of his head. “Well, actually, Admiral, to be honest - if I’d had more time to think about it, I probably wouldn’t have done it!”

  Shigeto laughed along with everyone at the table.

  “I suspect that’s a common theme, Captain. I wonder if any of us would put ourselves in that kind of harm’s way if we stopped to think about it!”

  Luke, embarrassed, attempted to change the conversation. He looked across the table at Mark.

  “So where is your lovely wife this evening, General?”

  Mark looked a bit sour. “Call me Mark, please. I haven’t been an active General for nearly three years. And Jilly thinks the baby is running a slight fever, so she didn’t want to leave her alone.”

  “Would you like the ship’s doctor to take a look at her?” asked Shigeto.

  “No, sir, I don’t think that’s necessary, at least not right now. It seems to be just a slight fever. Nothing serious.”

  “Well. Let me know if you change your mind. We’ll get Dr. Warner to take a look.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  “Mark, I understand you know Jim Carter quite well?”

  Mark half-smiled. “Yes, sir. He’s my brother-in-law.”

  Shigeto looked surprised. “Oh, really? I did not realize that. I knew you were taking care of his child for him, but I didn’t realize…”

  “Yes, sir. Jilly - Gillian, my wife - is Jim’s sister.”

  “Ah. That explains it.”

  “But…to be honest…I knew Jim before. Or should I say…I chased him. Before I met Gillian, I mean.”

  “You chased him?” Shigeto spoke in puzzlement.

  “Yes, sir. I was in charge of tracking him down three years ago when he was attempting to hide Jade.”

  “Amazing. And did you track him down?”

  “Yes, sir. But I didn’t keep him long. He escaped.”

  “Ah, yes. I remember the story now. He escaped custody and that led to the big battle at Dutch Harbor.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Were you there? At Dutch Harbor?”

  “Yes, sir, sort of. I was not involved much in the actual fighting. I was up on top of the mountain most of the time.”

  “Except when you and Gillian were ejected out of an exploding C-37, right?” said Luke from across the table, grinning.

  Mark grimaced. “Well, yeah. How’d you know about that?”

  “Bonnie told me all about it.”

  Mark waved a hand. “Well, except for that one little detail, I didn’t have much involvement.”

  “Oh?” Luke continued. “Bonnie said you drove up to Jade in a Stryker combat vehicle and pulled her, Jim and Rita out of the wreck about thirty seconds before the cruise missiles hit.”

  “Well, I guess it might have been thirty seconds,” shrugged Mark. “It seemed like a lot less at the time!”

  ***

  After dinner, Mark Rodgers returned to his cabin. Gillian was sitting on the couch crying. Surprised, Mark went to her, sat beside her, and put his arm around her.

  “What’s the matter, Jilly? What happened?”

  “Nothing,” sobbed Gillian. “Nothing happened. I just…I just know Rita is going to take her! We’ll lose her!”

  Mark looked at the two-year old sleeping in the bunk in the corner of the cabin. He rubbed Gillian’s back, trying to soothe her.

  “We don’t know that, Jilly. Jim and Rita may take her away, or they may not. Don’t get all upset before you know anything!”

  Gillian tried to choke back her sobs, wiping at her eyes. She bowed her head and stared at her lap.

  “No. I just know. I just know they’ll take her.”

  “No, you don’t,” said Mark. “You’re letting your imagination run wild. You know no such thing.”

  Gillian shook her head. “No. As soon as Rita gets acclimated to her new…state…or whatever you call it…she’s going to want her daughter. I know it.”

  Mark pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around her. “Jilly. Calm down. First of all, there’s absolutely no indication that Jim and Rita will take Imogen permanently. And second, we knew up front that we were doing this for Imogen. Not for ourselves. So whatever is best for that child, we have to do it.”

  “But…,” Gillian sobbed, “…if they take her…if she goes off to the stars with them…we’ll never see her again!”

  Mark held his wife, holding her tight. He looked across the small cabin at the wall. Gillian had mounted a viewer there for watching vids and showing pictures. And she had loaded the viewer with pictures of Imogen, their foster daughter.

  The daughter of Jim Carter and Jim’s wife Rita.

  Rita, who had been Fleet Admiral of the Earth Defense Force, fighting the Ashkelon in space.

  Rita, whose body had been so damaged by poison that the Goblins had transformed her into an android to save her.

  Rita, now a Goblin.

  The Goblin who might take Imogen away from them.

  She might take our sweet Imogen. Take her away to who knows where. We could lose her forever.

  We’ll just have to bear that.

  ***

  27 lights away, Lieutenant Colonel Oliver “Ollie” Coston sat on the edge of his bunk in the Human embassy at Ashkelon, his head in his hands.

  Helen.

  His thought processes were muddled. He was drunk. And not just a little. Ollie was thoroughly, professionally drunk.

  Helen. I miss you.

  Heaving a sigh, Ollie lifted his head. He found he had a bit of trouble keeping it steady. He leaned forward and placed a hand under his chin, steadying his head enough to focus on the photoframe across from him on the desk.

  Helen.

  The photoframe showed an attractive female Marine lieutenant, in the prime of life. In the background was a rifle range. The woman held an M7 rifle across her body with one hand. In the other hand she held up a scoring sheet, with “249/250” in large black letters, circled. She smiled at the camera, clearly enjoying the moment. Over one corner of the photo frame was draped a Navy Cross.

  Why’d I let you go on that mission? Why didn’t I force you to stay with me? It’s my fault. I could’ve said no
.

  There was a gentle knock on his door. Ollie stared at the door stupidly, not sure what to do. He was far too drunk to get up and answer the door. In fact, he was too drunk to even tell his personal AI to open the door. He gave it a try anyway.

  “Quantico…open…open the…”

  Before he could make another attempt, the door clicked.

  Ah. Bonnie.

  Ollie knew it was Bonnie, because she was the only person who could override his door control. The door swung in gently and his commanding officer, Admiral Bonnie Page, poked her head in cautiously around the edge of the door.

  “Are you decent?” she called out.

  Ollie tried to respond, but all that came out was a grunt. Bonnie peeked in farther, saw him sitting on the edge of his bunk in the darkness, and pushed into the room.

  “Oh. That again,” she said. Bonnie came on into the room and stood in front of him, shaking her head.

  “I came to ask if everything is ready for Admiral Shigeto’s arrival tomorrow.”

  Ollie attempted to nod, but his head wobbled too much. He had to grab his chin with his hand to steady up.

  “S..ready, milady,” he managed to get out. “Ever…thin…ready…”

  “Good,” said Bonnie. She stared at Ollie. “You’re off duty, Colonel; and I know what you’re going through. So I’m not going to rake you over the coals about this. But…”

  Bonnie turned and looked at the picture of Helen Frost in the photoframe, then turned back to Ollie.

  “…you need to get hold of yourself, Ollie. It’s not your fault Helen died. She knew what she was doing. Her plan was a good one. You did the right thing to approve it. You did everything right, and she did everything right. But it just didn’t work out. The enemy gets to play a card in these things too. You know that.”

  Bonnie squatted down and faced Ollie. He wasn’t just her Security Officer - he was a friend. She reached out both arms and put her hands on his shoulders.

  “Ollie. I know you loved her. I know it hurts. But get a grip on yourself. People die in war. You didn’t kill her.”

  Ollie gazed at her dully. “Aye, milady,” he stuttered.

  Bonnie released his shoulders, stood up, and shook her head, knowing it wasn’t going to be that easy.

  “Shigeto’s arriving tomorrow, Colonel. And a week later, we’re leaving for Stalingrad. I need you on your ‘A’ game, Ollie. Get your shit together.”