Conflict!

by Dale Moorhouse

  All of this was being done using our shuttles, and we watched the whole process closely looking for profiteers. We didn’t find many, but when we did and alerted the locals, rough justice was administered until the practice stopped for a while. We were on the lookout for farmers, and we got many applications to immigrate from farmers all over the world especially from Africa where many countries were in almost constant revolution, persistent droughts had been even worse.

  Similar activities were occurring in South America where, with the coastal cities gone, there was little market for some of the foods produced and the distribution system was broken. We had as many applications from South America as we did from Africa and many more eager young farmers and their families were taking the gamble. The fundamentalist views of their former pope were not theirs. The church hadn’t re-established itself since Rome along with the Vatican, had been destroyed, so there was no conflict in opinions from their perspective. The older folks still had issues, but they weren’t likely to qualify anyway.

  We would keep an eye on this, and if there were something we could do to improve the situation, we would find the resources and take care of it.

  The last of the Warms, Colds and Weasels completed their move aboard Sunrise last cycle and a skeleton crew had remained on each of the two lizard species Arks and powered them up. They had deliberately kept their torches pointed towards the inner system until the massive engines were fully warmed up and ready for travel, it took them eleven cycles to accomplish. We had been monitoring the Squid domicile Ark, and their fusion engines had been cold since they had moved out to the Kuiper Belt almost two-hundred cycles ago. It was believed their engines took even longer to become operational, being of a much older generation.

  They were presently almost to the outer edge of the Kuiper Belt and ballistic which meant the Ark was gradually slowing down from the pull of all of the mass in the star system. By the time they detected the two lizard Arks were on a collision course, they would only be travelling at .01C while the pursuers would be at close to .15 C when they intercepted their target. The Warms and Colds had a small fleet of Swift Fangs with FTL modules installed and would jump back as soon as they confirmed the Squid Ark was permanently disabled or destroyed. It would be more than fifty cycles before we could expect their return.

  We didn’t have to wait that long, shortly after the pursuing Arks were spotted by the fleeing Squids the Squid Ark exploded and burned for close to two cycles. It was bright enough that we actually saw it on the big wraparound screen in Benji’s Place where we were having dinner. Ginger, who always seems to know what’s of interest in any direction pointed it out and said, “Well, that is a surprise, I wasn’t expecting that for another fifteen cycles or so. They must have had more methane aboard than we thought for it to be burning so brightly and for so long.”

  The Warms launched a couple of their Swift Fangs to examine the area, and when they reported in, they told us there was almost nothing left of the Squid Ark. The explosion had been apparently caused by multiple thermonuclear weapons arranged around the Ark and the methane in it must have acted as an accelerant or possibly fuel for the short-burning tiny star their Ark had become. They also told us they were going leave their arks shortly and their course was slightly altered so they would join Terra orbiting Sol in the liquid water zone in about two Terran years. A deca later, they returned to Sunrise.

  Our three Squids were sombre when I told them of their Ark’s demise the next cycle. Blue Point stared at me for a moment then said, “I guess I’m not too surprised, we are no longer a hardy, vibrant race. Also, you must know, there was little aboard for fuel and even less food. Some of them must have thought about what that really meant. If they had already stooped to eating the Droumb, then cannibalism wasn’t too far behind. Our kind were cannibals in our ancient past and only stopped the practice when we became well enough adapted to survive out of our oceans. I’ve suspected we were degenerating for some time now and while not conclusive proof, I find it pretty convincing.

  “We three are nearing the end of our life cycle. We have lived for over a thousand of your Terran years, well past the time we should have reproduced and died. We have nothing more to give you now except an apology for what our kind has done and to say we did not condone it. The Droumb you left in your care died last night, it is as if he knew the last of his kind had ceased to exist. He curled up in his bed and simply stopped breathing. I regret his passing, it was enjoyable to teach him and watch his progress. Now it is our turn.”

  With that, he went over to his companions and sat down, folding his walking tentacles under himself and went immobile. The three flashed the colours and patterns I knew as a farewell and the life monitors outside their cell went blank. The following morning those of us who had been around them the most had a small ceremony and then launched them on a course that would take them to Titan where they would return to a methane ocean. To give credit where credit was due, the three Squids had contributed much to help us in our quest to be free of the Plague. There were debts we all owed them, but part of me was glad to see this chapter in my life close, I doubted I would open it again.

  Sunrise left Shipyard Two this morning to take up a position near Terra’s crumbling moon. We were hoping our mass added to the spreading mass of the moon would have a calming effect on the tides that were still ravaging the unprotected shorelines of the largest ocean. After a few days, there was a noticeable lessening of flooding, so we moved to a new location we had calculated would still the waters a bit more.

  The inhabitants of the Mmrrreeowwn Ark had finished their move aboard Sunrise some time ago, and the Confederation Council agreed with our plan to move the Ark to our position and take our place, allowing us to move Sunrise back out to Saturn. We were also going to leave a thousand of our shuttles behind, giving the Terrans who chose to remain, a safe haven while the surface of their planet calmed down and cleared. The surface temperature on the planet was only warm enough for crops in the tropical zones, and there was not nearly enough space or food there to sustain more than a fraction of the population who’d survived. Moving to the Ark was the only long-term chance for survival as the planet continued to cool and even the tropics would be too cold to grow crops in another Terran year.

  India and their partners in the Eastern Consortium, China, Canada and Russia would be the custodians of the shuttles and Ark, and several of our shuttle pilots volunteered to stay with the Terrans until their replacements were adequately trained. In the meantime, we needed to prepare for our search for a new home.

  45

  GINGER, FREDERIK AND SOL SAT in my office with Silent, Winston and me to discuss another forward mission and select the leader. Frederik volunteered to lead it, and since he had been the one to encounter both populated star systems on the first expedition, he was the logical choice. His mate and cubs were going with him. Many of the mated crew members were taking their mates as well. A little shuffling and training had the new crew members qualified at their posts.

  We decided to send Frederik in Panther forward in ten cycles on a two-hundred cycle mission. He was to retrace his steps on his first mission looking for Plague sign, scout the two F and G class stars he had found outside the galactic arm and most importantly, make contact with the inhabitants of the populated systems he had discovered. His ship would carry a full complement of AI fighters and a mix of AI and crewed Swift Fangs. Panther would be out of refit and shake-down in five cycles giving him five cycles to provision and prepare. All of the ships he was taking with him had the latest shields, stealth, weapons and communications gear we had and every system was battle proven. My greatest hope was he wouldn’t need the weapons but having and not needing is a better position to be in than needing and not having.

  ◆◆◆

  After Frederik left, I got the latest numbers from Terra, and they didn’t look at all good. The Northern regions were coming into summer now, and the cloud cover wasn’t as bad as it was fart
her South. We were able to capture hundreds of elk, caribou, moose and bison. They were struggling to survive, so we harvested them for their genetic material as well as food. We intended to preserve both predator and prey species by freezing their fertilized eggs along with as many other support species we could and leaving half of the yield with Terrans on the Ark and taking the rest forward with us when we left. Our stocks of grains and various other plants and trees were growing as well. We planned on leaving half of that behind with the Ark. We would continue our efforts until the end of fall or the weather stopped us.

  The death toll on Terra had grown to over six billion confirmed dead, four billion or more from the KEW strikes and immediate aftermath but at least a billion more had perished from the violence and starvation that occurred after the breakdown of governments and civilization. China had the highest population at just over one and a half billion before the strikes. That had been reduced to just over three-hundred fifty-million. Most of their industry had been along the coast and was washed away. The Americas, except for Canada, had lost over three/quarters of their population while Europe and the rest of Asia had lost a little over half. The Indian sub-continent had fared well in comparison losing only eighteen per cent to the tidal surges that had come in under their shields. Australia’s relatively unpopulated Northern coast had suffered, but the rest of the country had come through ok, as had New Zealand although Aukland and Hamilton had taken some damage.

  The only real hope for the Terrans Terrans was to evacuate to the Ark and motherships the Warms and Colds were leaving near where the moon used to be. In a little more than a Terran year, the Warm and Cold Arks would be available, and the three Arks and two motherships would be able to sustain close to a billion people.

  The problem of transporting them from the surface of Terra to the Arks was still the main issue, and the only two motherships that had a reasonable chance of landing and lifting off again were destroyed when the Squids tried to destroy our shipyards. India and China were going to have to help make up the shortfall. Both had well-developed space agencies and their assembly and launch sites had survived the KEWs and flooding. The Europeans and Russia could also contribute but preferred working to support India and China’s efforts, restarting their own programs would take too long.

  The Weasels have been refitting many of the shuttles for Terran transportation in cooperation with the European/Russian Consortium and China with Eastern Consortium. The refitted shuttles can now transport three thousand people with twenty kilos of personal belongings each. The quarters for the warrior Centuries had been converted to seating areas and the two lower decks as well. Sacrificing space in the storage hold and the addition of a second floor on the cargo deck did the trick but it also reduced the shuttles’ endurance such they are now only capable of three round trips between Terra and the Ark that replaced the destroyed moon before they need to be resupplied with fuel, food and water.

  The Confederation was bringing pilots up to Sunrise for training, and some of them wanted to stay. We told them that once Terra’s population had been rescued, they could apply for immigration and they would be moved to the front of the queue along with any other Terrans who had contributed to disaster relief. For now, they would have to perform their tasks as assigned. Most accepted this as only right—the few who argued were taken back dirt-side and marked down as not acceptable.

  We have recruited immigrants from almost all of Terra. We now have enough farmers and others who can help steward the growing of plant-life and food animals when we find a new planet to settle. All-in-all we have taken nearly seven million aboard Sunrise, and our population was a pretty even mix of five species. We had taken care to mix up and distribute all five groups, so there were no conclaves exclusive to any particular species. I’d been surprised at how few Weasels, Mmrrreeowwn, Warms and Colds there were. With the populations of each Ark added to those of their motherships, there were roughly six and a half million of each aboard Sunrise. I’d expected higher numbers even though millions had died in ending the Plague, but it is what it is.

  There is plenty of work to do and plenty of workers to do it. Within the first hundred cycles, we had members of all species working in the farm fields, distribution hubs, factories and in virtually every capacity. We had Weasels preparing and serving food in refectories and Benji’s Place which was now a chain throughout Sunrise. For some, it provided a nice break from the refectory or preparing one’s own food. We had Terrans running factories managing members of all species. We had worked hard to make sure that opportunities were available to all regardless of species, and this trickled down through the various species’ populations.

  It wasn’t all roses and violins. We had some Terrans try to start labour unions. When we tried to get them to tell us what it was that they thought was missing, or they were somehow being cheated out of, they were never able to articulate it. We finally took the agitators on visits to the homes of managers and directors as well as council members. That shut them up for the most part. There were a few that insisted that someone somewhere was getting rich on the backs of others. They were eventually told to shut up and go away. The few that kept agitating were finally taken aboard Swift Fangs and back to the Ark where they were given the same choice as any other offenders on the Ark; out an airlock, the surface of Terra or shut up and do your job. We left them on the Ark.

  One-hundred cycles before New Year’s Eve, we held several plebiscites dealing with our political structure, and most responses were favourable towards our form of representation and government. By then, most of the Terrans had been assimilated and knew they had a voice from the smallest farm community to the largest housing structure. Having the same housing, good food to eat and plenty of it, no diseases or genetic maladies to contend with and the ability to change jobs and long lives to enjoy went a long ways towards the final vote of the plebiscite. The one sticking point was the children being raised and educated in the creches.

  I was addressing a meeting in one of the Ark housing complexes when the issue came up and was asked why it was necessary. I answered, “In most countries on Terra the school systems weren’t geared towards individual students abilities or their pace of progress. Some people, regardless of species, simply progress at different rates. In the creches, students are encouraged to work together to solve problems and are taught to help their team members but not carry them. If a student is not doing well in the group he or she is in, they are placed in another group that may be moving at a slower pace. The opposite is true for quick learners. They are put in increasingly faster groups until they have to struggle a little to keep up.

  “When you visit a creche you will find there are no grades, learning groups in classrooms may include younger and older students. No stigma is applied to any group they may be in. There are no advanced classes and there are no remedial classes. Many of the slower learning students go on to be scientists or engineers that make great contributions to our society.”

  I was just leaving the podium when all hell let loose. I found myself thrown to the ground, and two of my escort team threw themselves over me. Several bursts of automatic weapons fire hit my covering escorts, and the remainder of my squad fired back killing the assassins. When I was allowed to stand up, I saw dozens of nicks in their armour and grim determination in their eyes. We were fortunate the idiots had been firing away from the crowd, and none of the attendees was injured.

  My guard ruthlessly hunted down the planners and supporters of the assassins and discovered that Helen, Hell on Wheels, Wheeler had survived the cataclysm on Terra, she’d been at Cheyenne Mountain at the time with most of her cabinet. She and her followers had been trying to undermine the current government of the Ark modelled after the Confederation Council, wanting to establish a new United States in a part of the Ark she wanted to be exclusively American. When her pleas for American Nationalism failed amongst her former constituents, she resorted to violence as her predecessor had done but picked the wr
ong person to begin her revolution with.

  The Terran Council put her on trial along with her henchmen, all were found guilty. Hell-on-Wheels had asked for her jury to be a jury of her peers, and we let her have her wish. All of our immigrants from the US got to vote, and to my surprise and her chagrin over 95 per cent found her guilty, 91 per cent agreed her sentence should be death. The verdict of her helpers came in with slightly lower percentages, but the death sentence was passed and approved by the Terran Council. My last official act as Warlord was to see the executions were carried out.

  In full armour, I walked her out a hangar bay door in full view of her followers and supporters also found guilty. They were horrified when they found hundreds of armoured warriors behind them preparing to send them to the same fate. Over the next five cycles, the rest of her supporters were rounded up, and those that chose to resist or stated they wouldn’t abide by the laws of the Ark council were given a choice, out the airlock door or back to Terra—the Ark had held a plebiscite and voted to refuse them. Most chose Terra, not realizing it was going to be a much slower and more painful end.

  ◆◆◆

  Frederik arrived back from his mission this morning and came to my office as soon as Panther was docked in Shipyard One. He dropped a copy of his AAR and ship’s log with Silent and Winston then knocked on my door jamb before entering. He wasn’t smiling when he sat across from me, I waited for him to speak. “Ser, I have good news, bad news and worse news.”