He was sure he’d never seen those words before. He sat down on his mat and contemplated their meaning. During the time he’d spent at the monastery, he had been a samanera, a novice. He had lived in accordance with the strict code of behaviour of the monastery, but he’d left before achieving the status of an ordained monk. Then the reference to fish – countless novice monks had struggled to solve illogical questions throughout the ages. Nevertheless, he was sure the riddle he’d been given had a significance for him alone. The Thiosh had summoned him to Europa; they were the fish that could never swim to the end of the ocean. They swam in a sea that had no shores.
Maura joined Geoff in the wardroom, where he was sitting hunched over his com-pad.
‘You’re doing a lot of calculations,’ she said. ‘What’s the problem?’
‘I’m checking on OPDEO satellite locations,’ said Geoff. ‘We need to release some helium and I don’t want them to detect our location.’
Maura rolled her eyes.
‘Okay, it’s like this. The fusion reactor makes helium as a by-product. We can store it as a cryogenic liquid, but we haven’t got infinite capacity. So we have to let it go. Satellites with spectroscopic detectors would see it and know where we are.’
‘You’re more of an engineer than ever I am,’ said Maura. ‘Do you think you could you summarise the status of Hesperian technology for me? You know, fusion reactors, robotics, space vehicle power units, materials, telecoms – that sort of thing. Perhaps write a report?’
This time it was Geoff who looked askance. Maura moved behind him and began to probe and squeeze his shoulder muscles.
‘Why do you want me to do that?’ he said. ‘If you’re thinking of telling Voorogg so he can design new weapons, then I won’t do it. In any case, the Thiosh can hack Earth’s computers and get all the information they need.’
‘Sure, but you know where the weaknesses are. It’d help the Thiosh.’
‘It would help the rebel Thiosh, you mean. If they destroy OPDEO, they could send robots and conquer the Hesperian Empire on Earth. They have no reason to love humankind. They’d probably carry on and crush the Khitans too.’
Maura twisted round to look Geoff in the eyes. ‘I only want to help the Thiosh negotiate again, from a position of strength.’
‘They could annihilate everything, make us all slaves, and rob Earth of its resources. How could you think of betraying . . . ?’
‘Can’t you see, we may have a chance to end the war?’ said Maura, flicking back her hair from her face. ‘It would be irresponsible not to take it.’
The canoe is travelling at speed. Kai steers with a single paddle. He weaves between boulders barely visible through the spray. A Khitan monk stands upright in the bows. He leans forward into the gale-force wind. Kai cannot see his face. His carmine toga cracks like a whip. The wind tears golden feathers from his helmet. They are chasing a beluga fish. It is longer than their canoe. The monk hurls a spear but it hits a sacred rock. Fire falls from the sky. The water boils and the canoe capsizes. Kai feels his lungs fill with water. A crocodile swims through the fire. It holds Kai in its mouth and swims to the land.
Kai got up from his bunk, tore off his clothes and entered his shower. He set the temperature control to two degrees Celsius and stood for a long time under the stream of cold water. He would not flinch from his duty.
Opportunities and Threats
Kai called together his companions. ‘Prepare for take-off,’ he said. ‘We are going home.’
‘Yes!’ cried Huang. He lifted himself from his flight chair and cracked his knuckles.
‘You mean Earth?’ asked Leona. ‘I’m not sure we’d even recognise it.’
‘Yes – we are returning to Earth,’ said Kai. ‘And I do not know yet what we will see. A lot may happen during our long journey, and we may find there is total destruction when we get there.’
‘Where exactly on Earth are we going to?’ Leona persisted. ‘We all have different homes.’
‘In time we may visit the places we truly call home,’ said Kai. ‘But there is something I must do first. It is a task I must carry out in the South Pacific Ocean.’
‘Aiya!’ said Huang. ‘We can find a desert island. Perhaps the war will not have reached it.’
‘The place I have in mind is deserted, it is true,’ said Kai. ‘But it is not a paradise.’
Huang and Leona busied themselves with preflight checks. Two hours later they strapped themselves into their harnesses and Kai counted down to lift-off. They accelerated at six G. It was as much as their bodies could stand for any length of time. They waited until the last of their chemical fuel was completely consumed and then ignited the fusion ramjet; it continued to increase their speed, but at a gentler rate. They would reach Earth in six months. Meanwhile, there was much to keep Kai occupied.
Breckenridge punched the air. ‘Yeehah, at fuckin’ last!’ he yelled to no one in particular. The message on his com-phone told him the flare from the Aquila’s main rocket exhaust had been picked up by the surveillance computers. The latest image was only ten minutes old. The ship was following a course towards the sun, and the general’s staff officers were busy calculating its intended destination. The major ordered OPDEO’s warships patrolling the Solar System interspace to remain vigilant and to intercept the stolen ship as soon as they detected it.
‘Do we know where we’re going?’ asked Geoff.
‘I think we should keep heading east,’ said Maura. ‘There’s something making the sea temperature increase, and the current strength too. We need to get more data, if we can. Would you ever mind watching the auto-helm? I have to spend some time in my cabin. I have a real strong feeling a Thiosh wants to speak to me.’
Geoff felt frustrated he couldn’t take part in Maura’s telepathic conversations. Further negotiations with Voorogg would be risky. If he could hide his thoughts and Maura could not, then telepathy with him would be dangerous.
‘Don’t look so worried,’ said Maura on her return. ‘I’ve been sharing with Atherlonne. She’s a lady Thiosh, and she knew Mettravar. Rather well, I suspect.’
‘Did she say what she wanted?’ Geoff asked.
‘I think she’ll tell us later. We’ve been invited for a close encounter.’
They were passing over hydrothermal vents again, but the seabed here was very different from the Cronus Rift. The black sulphide smoke was similar, but this time it puffed out of honeycomb orifices in the walls of a series of passages. The forward camera showed they were passing through a steep-sided canyon. Geoff noticed a small red fish swimming ahead of them. Something about it made him think it was a robot.
‘That’s our pilot,’ said Maura, smiling. They soon reached forks in the passageways, and the need for a guide became more obvious.
A green light shone ahead of them and, as they drew nearer, they realised it was coming from inside a cavern. Geoff checked the biosensor signals measuring radiation, but he didn’t detect any harmful rays. Easing the whale-bot gently through the entrance, Maura scanned the sides for a suitable bay and brought the vessel to rest. The illumination was surprisingly bright. The entire surface of the walls emitted a uniform yellow-green light. ‘It’s organic phosphorescence,’ she explained. ‘It’s probably caused by extremophiles living off sulphur.’
Geoff couldn’t decide if the brightness of Maura’s eyes was an effect of the light from the observation windows, or the fact she was excited. ‘You’re beautiful even when your face is green,’ he whispered to her. Maura laughed and dug her elbow into his stomach.
Several dark shapes were swimming nearby. A half dozen mini crab-bots surrounded their craft and began to attach hoses and cables to connection points on the hull. ‘Looks like we’re due for a full service,’ said Geoff.
One of the bots was carrying a stack of rectangular boxes, some like suitcases and others like small chests. Geoff clicked on a viz-box button for the view from the tail-fin camera. The bot approached the side of their
vessel’s hull and opened a hatch they hadn’t previously discovered. After about thirty seconds, a message announced there was a delivery for collection. They had no idea where to look for it but, entering the wardroom, they found a panel had opened to reveal a dumb waiter compartment containing one of the boxes.
Geoff hesitated, wondering why the surface of the box was now completely dry. But Chen, curious as ever, immediately fiddled with the inset catches until he could open the lid. Inside were three small packages.
‘Aiya, presents!’ he exclaimed. Picking one up, he tore off the protective wrappings and uncovered a small, grey disc. ‘Go se,’ he said in disappointment. He tried the other packages and found they contained similar plasticised discs.
‘They must be important,’ said Geoff. ‘But I’ve no idea what they are.’
Maura pointed to where Chen was already unpacking another box which had just arrived. ‘Well, if the discs are spare buttons for those new clothes, we’ll have to drill our own holes.’
Subsequent boxes contained food items. Chen tested the biscuits and chocolate. He smiled broadly.
The wardroom viz-box screen flickered into life, and short sentences appeared jerkily, like a message from an early twentieth-century ticker-tape machine. It was a welcome greeting from Atherlonne. Maura touched the screen to open the virtual keypad. She expressed their thanks for Atherlonne’s hospitality, and for the presents they’d received, but then asked what the grey disks were for.
Atherlonne:
There is therein some information which we give to you, to show our willingness to share our knowledge with your human race. They are computer memories of three kinds. One is of special interest for you, Maura. Genetic code controls our lives, as is the case for many hydrocarbon beings.
The second disk is meant for Doctor Kirby. It holds the coding which our robots use. Although he is an expert in this field, he may not know within our universe powerful artificial brains exist without the need for electricity.
The third disk is to help you to relax. There are some games for you to pass the time until we have to find another place where we can live in safety and in peace.
Maura (typing):
You are very generous, and we thank you for your hospitality. I offer our condolences that you have lost your leader, the Saazat, because of OPDEO’s duplicity. May we please ask a question about the future? There are matters of life and death that affect us all.
Atherlonne:
A risk to life is never far away for people who have come from other worlds. Dying is part of living for us all. Every organic creature shares this fate, but please ask anything you want to know.
Maura:
Okay – thank you for your understanding. It is a relief you have a refuge away from the Cronus Rift. We believe that OPDEO want to attack the Thiosh. They have weapons of mass destruction and are prepared to use them. Would this place, or somewhere like it, be suitable for all Thiosh?
Atherlonne:
To live we need some sulphur-bearing springs. This hydrothermal vent is small in size, an offshoot of a fissure far away. No more than seven Thiosh can live here. The Saazat built this place to share with me.
Maura:
I’ve telepathised with a Thiosh called Voorogg. He wants to make the Thiosh strong militarily, and then negotiate a peace treaty with OPDEO.
Atherlonne:
Voorogg did not accept the Saazat’s rule. The Thiosh do not have a single voice.
Maura:
So how will you protect yourselves against OPDEO?
Atherlonne:
We need another home where we can live. You could perhaps assist us in our search. At present time I cannot tell you more.
Mohawk was the largest battlecruiser in the Hesperian fleet. Even though it was highly automated, its crew numbered sixty-three navy personnel. It was armed with various directed energy and particle-beam weapons, as well as guided missiles with biological, radioactive, and fusion warheads. With its chemical, nuclear, and ion engine propulsion units, the entire Solar System was within its range.
‘You’re lookin’ pleased with yourself,’ said Clifton Tyrell to his co-pilot.
‘I just gotta message from my wife,’ said Ricky Carter. ‘My little ’un had a birthday yesterday and blew out all the candles on his cake. Not bad for a three-year-old.’ He pulled out a dog-eared photo of a toddler with fair hair and passed it to his commander.
Smiling, Tyrell returned the photo, steered the Mohawk into orbit around Vesta, and put the ship’s engines on standby. He was pleased that, for once, he was circling one of the larger asteroids. His patrol required him to keep his craft between Jupiter and the Earth. A simple concept but, if he stayed in an uncorrected orbit around the sun, his angular position would rapidly advance ahead of Jupiter’s. So, to maintain his station, he had to proceed backwards along his natural sun orbit, parking himself at one of fifty asteroids for three weeks at a time.
‘This is gonna be borin’,’ said Carter. ‘We’ll be circlin’ Vesta like we’re on a piece of string. It might look like a grapefruit but it’s got real gravity.’
‘At least it’ll be stable,’ said Tyrell. ‘Better than the last one, eh, Ricky? We nearly crashed into it twice.’
‘Say, what about that? A guy on Europa just sent us a message. P’raps it won’t be so borin’. The stolen ship’s headin’ our way!’
‘Sir, I’ve lost the distraydar signal,’ said Carter. ‘The target was closin’ fast and then a huge lump of space rock got in the way. The renegades are deliberately keepin’ the rock between them and us. Shall I set a course to go round?’
‘Negative,’ said Tyrell. ‘We can’t risk them slippin’ past on the other side. We’ve gotta keep ahead of them. Fire the retrorockets to reduce speed. They’ll have to veer round the rock soon. As soon as we get a clear view we’ll fire the fusion missiles in fan formation, two waves of eight.’
‘Yessir – sixteen missiles primed and loaded.’
‘It’ll be a shame to lose the ship, but OPDEO command says it’s too big a risk to try to board it. The renegades have some new psychological weaponry. We can’t take any chances. We’ve just gotta take them out – period.’
Leona watched Kai aim the Aquila’s gigawatt laser at the rock in their path. Its central area glowed white with an ever-expanding periphery until the whole rock exploded, splintering into a billion pieces. The shaft of blue laser-light momentarily illuminated a sphere of expanding debris.
Huang covered his face as if blocking a punch, but the Aquila sailed through the gap left as the debris dispersed. ‘Hi-yah!’ he shouted triumphantly.
But the consequence continued to play out in Leona’s mind. The impact of the debris caused the stern section of the Mohawk to break away, instantly emptying the ship’s accommodation of its life-sustaining atmosphere. Those crew members, who had instinctively held their breath, vomited blood and passed out. The others who’d allowed air to leave their bodies, lost consciousness ten seconds later.
Debilitated by the unfolding horror of her vision, Leona allowed herself to drift under the acceleration of the fusion ram-jet, to the back of the command deck. She lay in shadow, appalled by the scene playing out in her mind. The unconscious bodies of the Mohawk’s crew swelled to twice their normal volume, tearing open their flight suits and bursting their skin. A final image burnt into her memory: sixty-three ruptured corpses, doomed to circle the sun until the end of time.
Safe Havens
Geoff joined Maura on the bridge. He took her hand. Even in the green bioluminescent light, he saw she’d been chewing her nails. He asked her why she was worried.
‘Leona’s been in contact,’ she said,
‘Where are they? What are they doing?’ he asked, anxious for news.
‘They’re actually heading for Earth.’
‘I thought they might do that. Has Kai got a plan?’
‘Leona doesn’t know. He doesn’t share his thoughts anymore. It’s like he’s
built a wall around himself.’
‘You told me before they were attracted to each other.’
‘Leona’s upset. Kai destroyed a Hesperian battlecruiser.’
‘Did he, by God!’
‘There were no survivors, and he didn’t wait to find out if it was hostile.’
‘It almost certainly would have been.’
‘Maybe, but Leona thinks Kai has changed. She told me something odd happened to him when they landed on Euphrosyne. It’s as if he’s become fanatical, or on a crusade or something. She’s very anxious about it.’
‘Hm, has she talked to Huang?’
‘She doesn’t get on with Huang either. He just wants to fight Hesperians.’
‘That fits,’ said Geoff. ‘Maybe the war has made our Khitan friends aggressive.’
‘That may be part of it. But the old Kai was too noble, too spiritual to be violent. Leona knows a lot about Afrikan culture, and she thinks he’s been possessed.’
‘Oh, come on, no one believes in evil spirits anymore, do they?’
‘Leona does.’
Leona longed to find out who Kai had spoken to on Euphrosyne, but he refused to discuss either the past or the future. Earth was now only half a million miles away. He’d already manoeuvred the ship to travel stern first so the ramjet would slow them down, and he’d changed course to use the Moon’s gravitational pull for further deceleration.
The tension on the control deck was palpable. During a morning status meeting, Huang had demanded to know how they would land. ‘The Aquila was not designed for re-entry. It will burn up.’
‘That is correct,’ said Kai. ‘Now please attend to your duties and allow me to attend to mine.’
The Hesperian Dilemma Page 11
