Termination Shock

by Gillian Andrews

  We walked on, coming after some time to the cells where we had been held before.

  A very worried Denaraz sprang to his feet as we walked up to the barrier. “He should not be in here,” I told them.

  “Admiral’s orders.”

  I tapped one foot. “She doesn’t want to speak to us?”

  “She told us to keep him out of the way while you were recuperating.”

  “And you have done that. Now, please let him out. We need to see the Admiral.”

  The boy Zenzie had attacked edged around her, trying not to get too close. Her crest flared and she hissed a little. He flinched. Denaraz gave me a questioning look. I tried not to see it.

  They opened the cell door to let Izan out. Then we were marched along the endless corridors. These battleships are leviathans. It seems to take forever to walk from one end to the other.

  Finally we made it to the bridge. We were kept waiting outside while the admiral was advised of our presence. After some minutes, we were ushered in front of her.

  She was standing glaring, arms akimbo. “What have you done?”

  I looked with some interest at the main visor. It was showing a close-up of the centre of the battle zone. I could see that there were still pods between the two forces. Great. It was taking her valuable time to get this chaos sorted out, then. What I wasn’t able to see were any signs of what was happening on the other battleships. Pity.

  “We are required by the Interstellar Alliance to requisition all RAMP missiles and to mediate a peaceful solution to your conflict with the Avarak people.”

  “And I told you before that I do not answer to your Interstellar Alliance.”

  “I think the situation has changed, though?”

  Ellison stiffened. “You deserve to be hung! You have interfered in a military Omnistate operation. You will be held accountable!”

  “Feel free.” I wasn’t particularly worried about possible future accusations. Frankly, I didn’t really expect to live beyond the day.

  That only stoked her anger. “What you did is treason!”

  I was confused. “We did as we were ordered. How can that be treasonous?”

  “Treasonous to the Omnistate!”

  “Oh. That. Well, I suppose, from your point of view, we were. But then, none of us are Omnistate citizens. We do not have to be loyal to them. In fact, we are paid not to be. There are almost always two points of view.”

  “How did you manipulate our secure systems like that? I need to know!”

  “They were not as secure as you thought. Congratulations on keeping control of Chibuzo, by the way. We didn’t think you would be able to.”

  Her teeth ground together. “Why should I not have you executed?”

  “If you do you will be declaring war unilaterally on the Alliance. Do you really want to do that? Are you authorized to do that?”

  She got a very nasty smile on her face. Something in my stomach suddenly felt hollow.

  “You think you have won,” she told us. “But you have forgotten one thing – the RAMP missiles on the other battleships.”

  “You won’t use those against ships,” I said confidently. “It would make no sense logistically. They are ship-to-planet missiles.”

  She nodded. “They are. However, if what you say is true, every use of a RAMP missile risks splitting the vacuum field and destroying the universe?”

  “You wouldn’t do that!” Now I was feeling a wave of ice sweeping up my body from my feet. Zenzara’s crest was so vertical it was twice its normal height. Denaraz had gone white.

  “Try me!”

  “You would risk total annihilation? Why?”

  “I thought you might enjoy watching it. If you are lying about the risks, your falsehoods will be revealed.”

  “And if we are not?” I could hear that my voice was tight.

  “I believe you are.”

  I looked desperately at the others. We had to do something! We couldn’t allow this to happen.

  Admiral Ellison pressed on the console, talking to one of the battleships. “Telzaria, fix target on the centre of the Avarak fleet and initiate RAMP Deployment.”

  “As ordered, Admiral!”

  I stepped forward. “Stop! You cannot do this! You mustn’t do this!”

  “You should have thought of that before you started to humiliate Omnistate troops!”

  I held my hands wide apart. “Look, we can tell you where we found weaknesses in your systems. Everything is negotiable. Let’s sit down and talk about it. Please order your ship to stand down, Admiral.”

  “I almost believe you. I would, if your whole argument about ultra-dense states and catastrophe weren’t so obviously fabricated. It puts you in a difficult position, doesn’t it? If you admit you lied, then there is no reason not to use the RAMPs. If you continue with this charade, the Avarak fleet will be destroyed.”

  “So will your pods.”

  “That is your responsibility. Not mine. You created this situation. Now, tell your ship and the Avarak fleet to move back to Veka, or I will fire.”

  I closed my eyes briefly. How had this gone so wrong? I was out of time, and out of leverage. The Omnistate fleet could not be allowed to get any closer to Veka. That would lead to RAMP deployment on Rhyveka. At the very best, the entire Avarak race would be wiped out. At worst, the whole universe would roll up on itself and disappear. Fine choices. What had happened to my life?

  “Put me through to my ship,” I told her, injecting a defeated tone in my words.

  Zenzara and Denaraz looked sharply at me.

  Sammy’s voice and face came up on the screen. “Yes?”

  I spoke as quickly as I could. “RAMPs to be deployed. Do what you must!”

  I was cut off half way through the ‘must’, but I thought that Sammy and the others would have heard what I said. Our only hope was that they had perfected the dampening.

  I was manhandled away from the console. One of the soldiers clubbed me with the stock of his M487. My legs crumpled and I found myself on the ground. Zenzie crouched down next to me and attempted to help me up, staunching the blood with part of her tunic

  I tried to push her away, not very successfully. “I’m all right. Let me be!”

  Her face clouded over. “I was only trying to help,” she said crossly. “Fine! Get up by yourself!”

  “I will!”

  I scrambled to my feet and glowered at Ellison. The Admiral’s chin was up and she was reciprocating. “You shouldn’t have done that!”

  “You shouldn’t continue with this. It is madness!”

  She pressed the button again. “Countdown from ten, Telzaria.”

  “As ordered, Admiral! Ten …”

  I shook my head. In that moment I think everything that had happened in the last weeks ran through my head. Everything had shifted so far that I could barely remember back to the old status quo. The old days of Faraday. The old grievances that seemed so petty now.

  “Nine …”

  My eyes were looking around wildly now, trying to fix on a way to stop the unstoppable.

  “Eight …”

  A wave of disappointment swept over me. I had failed. And what a failure.

  “Seven …”

  Denaraz moved closer to Zenzara. He would try to defend her to his last breath.

  “Six …”

  Zenzie’s crest broke. It had been vertical. Now it simply folded into absolute acceptance of disaster.

  “Five …”

  “Four …”

  “Three …”

  “Two …”

  “One …”

  We waited.

  I co
uld hear my own heart thudding.

  There was a scratching sound on the tight beam. Then we heard a voice. “Admiral?”

  “Telzaria?”

  “Deployment unsuccessful.”

  I let out my breath in a long sigh. I hadn’t realized I had been holding it in.

  “What do you mean, unsuccessful?”

  The voice on the other end of the tight beam sounded confused. “I do not know, Admiral. It is almost as if there was some sort of interference between the RAMP missile itself and our orders. It was … deaf.”

  She swiveled to me. “What did you do?”

  I shrugged. “I did nothing. How could I?”

  “You are lying again. Your ship somehow managed to stop the missile launch.” Her eyes narrowed. “But we still have one left.”

  I had been afraid of that. I raised an eyebrow in Denaraz’s direction. He had been working on the electromagnetic interference technique. He might know if they could repeat the block.

  His face was ashen. I didn’t need him to answer my unasked question. It was clear for all to see. He didn’t think the second RAMP missile could be stopped.

  Zenzie gave something like a moan. She, too, was looking at Denaraz.

  I began to shake.

  “Please, Admiral. Stop this now. The Omnistate cannot hope to claim the whole local shell. It couldn’t even police such a vast expanse of space!”

  “I am under orders to ensure the capitulation of the Avaraks,” she said in a freezing tone. “And I shall carry out my job. I am an admiral of the Omnistate Fleet, responsible only to the Ethnarch himself!”

  My head was spinning, unable to process that all hope was lost. I launched myself at the Admiral in a last ditch attempt to stop her, but was immediately clubbed down again by one of the soldiers. Denaraz tried the same thing, and met with the same fate.

  Her finger was back on the console. “Nanhai. Arm and prepare the RAMP missile. Target the middle of the Avarak fleet. Advise when ready.”

  “As ordered, Admiral. Nanhai out.”

  Denaraz and I were dragged to our feet and put under restraint. At least they had left Zenzara free, though they were eyeing her uncertainly.

  Now the time dragged. I suppose a few minutes went by. It could have been ten hours. In my world the clock was frozen. Even my own body struggled to keep my heart pumping blood around my body. The sheer horror of what was about to happen was just too much for my mind to take.

  And yet, all too soon, the voice came back. “Nanhai standing by, Admiral.”

  “Countdown from ten. Mark!”

  “As ordered Admiral. Ten …”

  I was inside my own body, wrapped in darkness. I was shrouded and protected from the outside. I was floating.

  “Nine …”

  “Eight …”

  “Seven …”

  “Six …”

  “Five …”

  “Four …”

  “Three …”

  Then I saw Zenzara clutch at her head. She bent double as some sort of pain overtook her and I distinctly heard a whimper. Denaraz and I tried to throw ourselves towards her, but we were held back by our guards. Her face had gone white and the folds of her skin were deepened by the spasms she was undergoing. Her breathing was shallow.

  “Two …”

  “One …”

  The tight-beam gave another crackle and a clipped voice came through the speaker. “Deployment unsuccessful.”

  Denaraz’s shoulders slumped in relief. I guess mine must have too.

  The Admiral snarled.

  “Admiral?” The voice on the other end of the tight-beam sounded wary.

  “What happened?”

  “There must have been interference. The firing instruction did not reach the missile, Sir.”

  Ellison’s whole face was rigid. She was furious. She whirled round. “You may think you have won, but you can just think again! I will deploy those missiles! I can unload them manually through the cranes, and they can be encouraged to detonate by firing off a couple of kinetic missiles once they are in place.”

  I could see from Denaraz’s face that such a sequence would be enough to deploy the missiles. I deflated even more. We had done our very best, and luck had been with us, but it still wasn’t going to be enough.

  I put my head up. I would try again to convince her. One last time.

  “Admiral Ellison. You must believe me. What you have been told is true. If you deploy those missiles, you risk annihilating the entire universe. I beg you to reconsider.”

  She gave me a scathing look. “I shall deploy one immediately. That will clear us a path to Rhyveka, where the other will make a good-sized dent in their civilization.” Her body language became crisp. She had made up her mind. I blew out air and shook my head. This was a debacle. Far from stopping the RAMP missiles, we had actually contributed to their immediate deployment.

  My eyes went over to Zenzie, still bent double. I wanted to telegraph my apologies to her. She was too young to die. Something inside me broke at the thought of all she would miss. I felt responsible.

  Denaraz was looking at her too, but I saw that she was straightening up. Her face was still pinched with pain, but she had a determined look on her face that I knew well.

  Her voice cut through the blackness in my mind. “You will not do this!”

  Admiral Ellison stared at her. “What do you mean, I will not do this? Do you really think you can stop me?”

  Zenzie made as if to listen to something inside her. Her head tilted on one side. She met my worried gaze and gave me a tiny smile. And then she began to disintegrate in front of my eyes. The molecules in her body splayed upwards and outwards, making her three times the height and width of her normal self.

  I squinted. What was happening to her? I struggled to get to her, but couldn’t; my restraints were still holding. It looked to me as if the individual cells within her body were separating, moving further apart from each other. You couldn’t actually see through her, but she began to shimmer against the background. Like a heat haze on Mallivan. Her head went back and she suddenly lifted some inches off the ground, her arms and legs bending backwards as she did.

  Denaraz gave a strangled cry and threw himself towards her again in an attempt to protect her. He was held back by three guards, but continued to struggle to free himself and go to Zenzara.

  Her voice began to echo around us.

  “The Chakrans have determined that this weapon may not be used. You are endangering the vacuum energy, their habitat. This will not be permitted. Your actions have become a risk to the entire universe. This will not happen. All RAMP missiles shall be destroyed.”

  The Admiral, who had been staring open-mouthed at this new apparition, closed her jaw with a distinct click. “Who … ? What …?”

  Zenzie fragmented even more, until her body occupied the whole space between the decks. Now I could see through her. It was a very strange sensation.

  “Both missiles will be directed into the blue hypergiant nearby. I believe it to be known to you as Zuben. The individual molecules of the missiles will burn up there. This is a safe way to eliminate the threat.”

  “Stop this girl!” snapped the Admiral.

  Many guns immediately targeted Zenzie.

  A blue pulse propagated outwards, with her as its center, and the guns simply expanded outwards until they disassembled. All the internal parts fell quite uselessly to the floor.

  “I am the Chyzar, and I represent the Chakrans. The Chyzar may not be touched. If they so wish they can do the same with all your ships. Do you wish them to open the molecules up to the vacuum outside? To open pores large enough for men to slip through?”

 
Ellison’s eyes now held a tinge of fear. “What are you?”

  “This body contains a Chakran Nexus and represents the Chakran entities. It may not be attacked.” Zenzara gave a quick outward burst that threatened to reach the surrounding troops. As they stepped hastily back, she deflated slightly again. She stared at the Admiral, unblinking.

  Ellison signaled to the men around us. They released Denaraz and I and stepped away from us.

  Zenzara inclined her head in recognition of this. “You will meet the Avaraks on board Nivala. These representatives of the Alliance will act as negotiators. You will discuss the end of hostilities. You will stop your insane attempt to claim living space as your own. All space is their habitat. One single Chakran may be spread over millions of light years. Your space is their body. You will not dare to claim such as your own. You have seen that they can separate your very molecules.

  “Through your abuse of the local environment you have forced them to take notice of you. And they do not appreciate your stupidity. Outside your star’s boundaries you will travel with respect for the environment, or your fleets and worlds could be held responsible. Tell that to your superiors in the Omnistate. Keep your technology pure and do not contaminate the vacuum energy. If you do, they will act again. Is that clear?”

  Admiral Ellison was hyperventilating. But she managed to nod.

  “Very well. They will withdraw, but they may act again at any time they see fit. I am their eyes and their ears. And do not forget … even the very molecules of your planet may be expanded. They do not wish to interfere, but do not goad them any further.”

  Zenzara began to come together again, her molecules contracting down to their normal size. As she shrank back to her own volume, men rushed towards her from all directions. Zenzie’s body ballooned in size again – a sharp burst outwards which frightened them back to the periphery once more.

  “Do not touch the Chyzar!” The voice admonished again. Zenzara hung for a moment at the bloated size, as if to check the resolve of the men around her, then she resumed her shrinkage down to her normal self.