by Mitch Benn
- But why? asked Fthfth in distress. If their life was so perfect, why did they do this to themselves?
- The legend said they were obsessed with KEEPING their life perfect. Once you’re at the top, the only way is down. Except it isn’t, said Billy. There isn’t just down. There’s OUT!
- They destroyed themselves rather than risk becoming flawed and ordinary like every other planet in the universe, said Terra angrily. What is the matter with people?
Billy shrugged. - Once people decide they’re always in the right, it’s amazing just how wrong they can end up being.
- Fine, said Fthfth, but once the stupid g’shbks had destroyed their own planet, shouldn’t that have been it? Why is it wandering about trying to do the same thing to everyone else?
- Bad programming, said Pktk. You have to be very careful when you’re giving instructions to machines. They’re very literal. They don’t use intuition to work out what you mean, they just go by what you say. EXACTLY what you say.
- You think the Deliverers are still following their original directive? Terra said thoughtfully. If they were just programmed to destroy all life, they wouldn’t know that they were supposed to stop after one planet’s worth . . . But how is the planet moving?
Pktk went to the window. - What if there’s no planet left? What if they consumed the whole thing? What if the object up there is just a planet-sized clump of nanites? Shuffling through space under some sort of propulsion system the nanites are generating between them, looking for life to destroy . . .
Pktk stared up at the black orb, in awe and not a little admiration at how far the nanites had surpassed their makers’ expectations. Suddenly his eyes opened wide, his jaw fell open and his skin became the palest grey . . . He turned back to his friends.
- The G’grk! Their rocket! We need to stop them! We need to stop them firing their rocket!
3.25
Lbbp’s feet scampered down the Forum square steps, and his mind scampered in search of a way to convince the Gfjk that taking his adviser along on his sacred mission was really NOT a good idea.
The Gfjk was already striding across the square, towards the little lemon-shaped spaceship which had been set up on a podium. He waved regally at the crowd of supporters who had come to see him off.
What to say? What to say? He’d come so far – he’d almost persuaded the Gfjk that he was invincible, almost got him into the ship, blasting off on his suicidal quest – and now it turned out that the Gfjk was expecting him to come along? How could Lbbp talk him out of it?
As Lbbp’s eyes darted around the Forum square, an idea began to form in his mind.
- Luminescence, he called to the Gfjk, who now stood at the foot of the podium.
The Gfjk paused mid-wave and turned towards him. - Yes?
- I was just wondering – which of these plinths would be the best one to put our statue on?
The Gfjk blinked. - OUR statue? he said.
- Yes! said Lbbp happily. They’re bound to make one of us, aren’t they? After we save them all. I reckon – he looked slowly around the square – THAT one. In that corner. It gets the most sun. We can get rid of . . . whoever that is. He waved dismissively at the statue currently occupying the plinth, and in truth, he didn’t have the faintest idea who it was supposed to be.
- Erm . . . said the Gfjk uneasily.
- You’ll be in front, obviously, Luminescence. Hmm, I am slightly taller, but we can make sure they make you taller.
The Gfjk-Hhh squirmed at the thought of sharing plinth-space with this grovelling mortal. He liked the idea of being a statue – he’d had that silly hovering one re-modelled with his face – it had been one of his first acts as Gfjk – but so far there hadn’t actually been a proper statue made specifically in his honour. He didn’t like the thought that the first one, the first bespoke statue of the Gfjk-Hhh, would not depict him standing alone, but as part of some bizarre double-act. That just wouldn’t do. The Deceiver would be disappointed; should he let him down gently?
G’shb gently. Gently is for those with something to fear. Gently is not for Gods.
- Actually, Deceiver, I’m going on my own. Sorry, but that’s how it is. That spaceship is dreadfully cramped and I am NOT going to save my people while sitting on someone’s lap. I trust there are no objections?
Careful, thought Lbbp. I have to act just crestfallen enough to be convincing, but not so much as to change his mind. Lbbp made his biggest saddest face and said, - If you think that’s best, Luminescence.
- I do. Now stand over there. I must address my people.
The Gfjk-Hhh climbed onto the podium. Hissed cheers and applause ( you learned that from Terra, you cheeky f ’zfts, thought Lbbp) echoed around the square. The Gfjk raised a hand and the clamour subsided.
- Beloved children! he began. Above, you see the destroyer, the eater of worlds, the bringer of death whose coming was foretold . . .
Apparently, thought Lbbp. Not sure where, or by whom, but never mind.
The Gfjk went on. - But my coming was also foretold! Death is coming, and I am ready! Ready to destroy the destroyer!
Oh, just get in the ship, thought Lbbp. There must be a way I can speed this up. Once he’s . . . out of the way, there might just still be time to find a way to actually stop that planet, but not if he stands there making speeches until the thing is actually touching the ground.
Lbbp glanced up at the Black Planet. It all but filled the dawnward half of the sky.
An idea came to him. Just as the Gfjk was about to begin reciting another glowing tribute to his own wonderfulness, Lbbp roared, - LOVE AND GLORY TO THE GFJK-HHH!
The crowd, ever mindful of the necessity of appearing at least as loyal as the next Fnrrn, took up the chant immediately. The Gfjk’s words were drowned out. He raised his voice, but the impossibility of making himself heard became obvious. So, with a final regal wave, he climbed through the open hatch and entered the spaceship.
The chanting faded away.
There was a moment’s pause. The crowd began to look around, anxiously.
A voice came from inside the ship.
- Deceiver . . . ? Come here a moment.
Lbbp looked expectantly at his two escorts. They marched him to the podium and helped him climb through the hatch.
Inside the spaceship, the Gfjk-Hhh was sitting in the pilot’s chair and staring at the array of controls in front of him. Registering Lbbp’s arrival, he waved a hand in the direction of the console.
- How does all this work, exactly?
3.26
Colonel Hardison hadn’t expected a positive response from the Grand Marshal, but the fury his request had provoked startled him.
- NO, Ymn. Do you think we are fools? Do you think we are animals? The weaklings in Mlml and Dskt thought so, and it cost them dearly. It should have cost them their lives.
Hardison had received Terra’s panic-stricken message a few minutes earlier. His relief at finding the long-range communication network live again dissipated as soon as he heard what she’d had to say. Now he was trying to convey that information to his G’grk hosts, and it was NOT being well received.
- If you fire that rocket of yours, cried Hardison, not only will it NOT save Fnrr, it could doom this planet and every other inhabited world in this spiral arm!
Hardison found himself pinned to the spot by two of Zst’kh’s bodyguards, who grasped his arms tightly behind him. He’d made no threatening moves towards the Grand Marshal, at least he didn’t think he had – but the heated tone of the conversation was obviously enough to convince the guards not to take any chances. The Grand Marshal turned away and consulted with an armoured, war-painted drone officer. Hardison called out to him.
- That thing up there, it’s NOT a planet. It consists of tiny destructive robots, killer machines which shred all living things upon co
ntact. If you fire your missile, the sphere will shatter and the machines will be scattered through space! Fnrr will be covered in the robots immediately. Everything will die. Then the machines will drift through space, reproducing. There will be hundreds of Black Planets! No world will be safe! You HAVE to listen to me—
- And if we do not fire the Lance? What then? asked Zst’kh. We wait for the Black . . . whatever it is . . . to descend upon us? What do we have to lose by firing the Lance? What other solution is there?
Hardison calmed himself, then answered the Grand Marshal. - Terra says she thinks there might be a way to communicate with the planet, that it might actually be conscious, that if we—
- TERRA? snapped Zst’kh, cutting him off. That is the source of your information? The Ymn child? Tell me, Hrrd’s-nn, just how many times does the child think she can humiliate us?
Hardison closed his eyes and sagged, despairingly. Mentioning Terra by name. Big mistake. The Grand Marshal drew close and hissed, - She might have worked her alien tricks to cloud my grandfather’s mind, but not me. Oh no, Ymn, not me. He turned and barked at a waiting officer. The warhead! Load it! Now!
Zst’kh turned back and addressed his bodyguards. - Confine Colonel Hrrd’s-nn to his quarters. Seeing that Hardison was about to protest, he went on. Unless there is somewhere else you would prefer to stay, Hrrd’s-nn? The stockade, perhaps?
Hardison blanched. He’d seen the inside of the G’grk stockade.
- Good. Be content, Ymn. You will have a good view of the launch from your quarters.
- At least let me contact Terra! Hardison pleaded. Let me tell her I’ve failed. Let me tell her you’re going ahead with launching the Lance—
The Grand Marshal smiled, a thin lipless smile. - I think she will know, he said.
3.27
Terra stared glumly at her comm. Her inert, silent comm.
- They’re not going for it, are they? They’re going to fire that thing.
- What did you expect? sneered Pktk. It’s the G’grk. Any excuse to blow something up.
Terra turned on him angrily. - STOP it, Pktk! Stop it with all the G’grk stuff ! They’re NOT stupid. They had us BEATEN, remember? They’d WON. The only reason we’re not all G’grk child soldiers now is because old Grand Marshal K’zsht decided he’d had enough of war! If the G’grk are dumb animals, then who are we? Who are OUR people? We’re the ones who let dumb animals conquer us!
Pktk stood up. - What do you mean, ‘our people’? This isn’t your battle, Terra! This isn’t even your world! Why did you even come back here?
Fthfth and Billy looked at each other with alarm. This wasn’t good.
- I came back because I was worried about you! said Terra, wide-eyed and red-faced with fury. I was worried about all of you! I’d lost contact with you and I was scared that something might have happened, and something HAD happened, and I dragged myself all this way across space to try to HELP, and I STILL can’t find Lbbp, and we’re all going to die before the morning unless we can stay friends and find a way to stop that thing in the sky so WE DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!
A leaden pause.
- I’m sorry, Terra, said Pktk humbly.
- And anyway, said Fthfth. Billy’s right. It’s us in clever old Mlml who are currently being buried under ancient prophecies and superstitions while at least the G’grk are doing something. It’s just a shame it’s something so . . . G’grky.
Terra decided to change the subject. - Fthfth, she said, any progress on finding the frequency the nanites are using?
Fthfth gave her an equivocal look. - Good news and bad news on that one. Yes, I’ve established the frequency, but the signal itself is, well, it looks like a—
Pktk cut in, - It’s a psychic frequency. The nanites communicate telepathically.
Terra thought this over. - Makes sense. They’re thinking as one. Like individual cells in a planet-sized brain. So can we talk to them? I mean . . . think to them?
Pktk grunted in frustration. - I’ve already made a telepathic transmitter, it’s how I sent you that dream message. But I left it in Lsh-Lff . . .
Billy perked up. - Since you’ve built one already, how long would it take you to make another one? Not long, surely? This is you we’re talking about, Pktk.
Pktk frowned. - It’s impossible. I could rig up the transmitter and the signal booster, but we’ve got no way of plugging in, of getting my thoughts into the system . . . I used an interface in Lsh-Lff and there are no interfaces left in Hrrng! Remember? They’ve all been smashed!
Terra stood up. - Not all of them, she said. Come on, we’ve got to move again.
3.28
- There, Luminescence. All programmed and ready to go.
Lbbp stepped back from the console of his little ship. He’d overridden the biometric security system (well, it was his ship; his presence on board had been enough) and had programmed an intercept course with the Black Planet. He took a sorrowful look around at the ship’s interior. They’d had some good times together. He’d been right over there when he’d heard that sound. Pip p-pip. The sound that had led him to her.
He hoped she was somewhere safe.
He remembered that nowhere was safe.
- Thank you, Deceiver, said the Gfjk, sitting back in the pilot’s seat. You have been a . . . good friend.
Lbbp paused. He didn’t think he’d ever heard the Gfjk use the word ‘friend’ to describe him, or anyone. - Thank you, he said, almost reflexively.
The Gfjk smiled warmly. - No really, he went on. I couldn’t have done any of this without you. And I know how hard it is for people to be themselves around me, I do. All the ‘Love and Glory’ this and ‘Luminescence’ that. But I feel I’ve really got to know you, Lbbp.
His real name now? Not ‘Deceiver’? Curiouser and curiouser.
The Gfjk went on, softly. - And more than anyone else, Lbbp, I think you’ve got to know me.
Lbbp peered at the ridiculous robed figure sitting in his pilot’s seat. Is there hope for you? Is there still a residual quantum of decency in there somewhere? Is it just the power that’s sent you so crazy? Could you be saved?
Lbbp felt a glimmer of sympathy for the damaged individual he saw before him, and a twinge of guilt at his betrayal. The Gfjk spoke again.
- Will you do something for me while I’m away?
- Of course, said Lbbp.
- Will you make sure the custodians don’t slack off in finding that Ymn child? She very nearly ruined my special day. I’d like very much to meet her and her little friends. I’m going to make them watch while I turn her slowly inside out.
No, thought Lbbp, you’re a thoroughly irredeemable little sh’znt and I’m going to be happy when you’re dead.
- I will, Luminescence. Love and glory!
- Yes, yes, love and glory, said the Gfjk with a wave. He turned back to the console. Lbbp could hear the gravity engines warming up. He climbed out of the hatch and slammed it shut.
Lbbp backed away from the ship as it rose silently into the air, to the sound of rapturous hisses from the loyal onlookers. He watched as it dwindled into a dot in the deep red evening sky. He felt his two escorts grip his arms, and smiled at them.
- Back to Mission Control then, boys?
3.29
- Back! Back! There’s someone there! hissed Terra.
- I knew there would be, whispered Pktk.
They had scampered through the streets, ducking from doorway to doorway, across the short distance from Pktk’s home to the tower where Lbbp had raised Terra from infancy. Terra had fumbled in her rucksack and found the keytube that released the front door of the building. She hadn’t used it for two years; occasionally, back on Earth, she’d held it in her hand and looked forward to the day when she might use it again. She’d never imagined using it under circumstances like these.
The rest of the little gang had glanced around nervously while Terra rummaged. The streets were deserted, but a visualiser set into the wall next to the door showed them an image of the Gfjk-Hhh’s grinning face (along with the Mlmln text ‘Love and Glory’), as if to remind them of their vulnerability.
Once safely inside, they had found the grav-chute and ascended to floor 6-green, being careful not to bash their bag full of equipment against the sides. Now, peering round a corner, they saw a white-robed figure standing guard in front of Apartment 4.
- New Believer, not a custodian, mused Terra. Wonder why?
- It sounded like there was something going on in the Forum square, said Fthfth as quietly as she was capable of being, which was quieter than Pktk expected. Maybe all the custodians are there.
As the robed figure turned, looking first one way down the corridor and then the other, they saw a pulse-orb, holstered on a belt around his waist. Custodian he might not have been, but he was armed nonetheless.
- What do we do? whispered Billy.
- I don’t know, said Terra, watching the figure intently. Maybe we could . . . Wait! Is that—?
To the alarm and confusion of her friends, Terra stood up straight and walked round the corner.
- What are you doing? whispered Fthfth.
- Come back! said Pktk.
Terra walked slowly towards the robed figure. She took her hat off. - Yshn, she said. It’s me . . . It’s Terra.
Startled, Terra’s old schoolfriend lowered his hood. He gazed at her wordlessly for a moment, then fumbled with the comm on his belt.
- No, don’t, said Terra calmly. Wait.
- I have to report you! said Yshn. I have to report you to His Luminescence!
On hearing this, Fthfth groaned quietly.
Terra’s friends emerged from their hiding place and stood behind her as she continued:
