Infinite Exploration

by D. L. Harrison

  “I’m not really sure what to do there right now. I have some ideas for shields and weapons, but since I’m not allowed to work on that stuff I’m going to send a report to mom and let her do it.”

  I snorted.

  “So, what makes the force?”

  She shrugged, “What makes the energy in upper sub-space?”

  “No idea.”

  She grinned, “Exactly. Me either, though we now know the energy in upper subspace is concentrated and more powerful around mass in normal space, and energy in normal space is what attracts the force in lower subspace to the corresponding inner solar system. We understand the relationship, but the source of either is another question altogether. Perhaps that will be revealed in the top level of upper subspace and bottom level of lower subspace, but we’re not there yet. I still have a lot to learn.”

  “Fair enough. Lots of mysteries left.”

  She said, “Brock invited me to the movies, can I go?”

  “Who else is going?”

  She said, “Just some friends,” far too casually.

  “Boys?” I asked, perhaps a bit too harshly.

  In my defense, I’d been a teen boy once, and they only had one thing on their minds.

  Diana whapped my arm, “Go ahead, as long as you take Darrell.”

  She rolled her eyes, enter the teenager. It was almost like my daughter was two people, a mature brilliant scientist who had an excited thirst for knowledge, and a young teen who was going boy crazy and thought she knew everything there was to know about life already.

  “Of course, mom. I trust my friends, but dad has enemies, and Darrell is my friend besides.”

  I ignored that, “Home by ten, or right after the movie is over if it’s later than that.”

  She sighed, and after looking at mom to see she wasn’t going to bail her out that time, she said, “Fine.”

  Diana said, “Have fun.”

  We finished up dinner, and we had our own movie night while waiting for her to get home.

  Being a parent was a hell of a thing. I was more worried about my daughter that night than I was about a universe hopping Keldet Empire. I wouldn’t change a thing though.

  Chapter Fourteen

  It was early the next day in the command center, and I sipped my second cup of coffee while Darrell briefed us.

  “There were two universes where I had to remove the Vrok from space and take out Stolthrim expansion fleets. A third universe needs more complicated assistance, maybe. Another Earth in space with Gray technology but you were killed by General Schaefer, or you met some other end perhaps. They’ve been at war with the Grays since, neither side able to defeat the other.

  “The Vrok haven’t attacked yet, but they’re still upgrading their fleets, and won’t be ready for another twenty-six years to expand. They have not attacked prematurely yet, like they did in several other universes and ours.”

  I nodded, “That seems like something you can handle too. Just take out the Grays.”

  He replied, “Unlike the other Earth which defeated the Grays without you, this Earth has not built automated platforms, which is probably why they haven’t won yet.”

  “Oh, so they won’t be able to guard the borders, which is why we need to be involved.”

  Darrell said, “Affirmative. Any universe requiring long term aid past a simple battle to secure humanity in that universe requires your input and approval.”

  “Take them out and put four million scout-destroyers on every border. I don’t think we should have any contact with Earth, they seem to be fine otherwise, right? We can handle the Vrok later, if they decide to invade in our direction, but quell any Stolthrim expansion fleets in that universe as well.”

  Cassie nodded, “Sounds good to me.”

  Darrell said, “I will see to it. That’s the last new universe that needs our attention. Now onto the Keldet empire with quantum universe jump capability. They’re home universe empire is huge, and it’s almost beyond the bounds of the hundred million light year radius of our stealth ship network.

  “They have nine more fleets of one trillion ships to enforce their will on the thousands of galaxies in their domain as well as to assist Keldet empires in other universes. They also have a hundred and sixty-four million more ships on forty-one borders, four million each, against surrounding empires.

  “Their planets number over a million, which is how they’re manning so many ships. We’ll have enough ships by tomorrow afternoon to remove them from space. I’d also advise we use the quantum pulses to prevent their ships from running, and that we put their planets back to the stone age.”

  “Reasoning on that last?” I asked.

  Darrell said, “If they build a small ship on a planet, they could jump it to another universe we’re unaware of and gather allies from other Keldet universes. There would be no way to stop them, unless we removed all technology and data on those systems from their worlds, as well as their production capabilities. Over time, they could uplift thousands of Keldet Empires with the jump drive to reclaim their home universe. I assume we’ll be leaving a hundred and sixty-four million ships behind to hold their territory and give the Earth there and other cultures a chance.”

  I nodded. We hadn’t done that since the Grays, knocked them back to the stone age that is.

  “Yes on that last, leaving the ships. I imagine the data on jump drive tech and designs is top secret, so destroying all military posts and bases on their planets should be enough. Can you verify that? If we don’t have to knock them all the way to the stone age, we shouldn’t. It would also avoid civilian collateral damage.”

  Cassie said, “I agree with that.”

  Darrell said, “I will investigate to confirm. I can gain access to their public data-nets on all their worlds. There is one snag to be dealt with, it seems they suspect it’s a version of humanity they faced yesterday in that Keldet universe.”

  I frowned, “How, and what?”

  Darrell said, “Our ships weren’t compromised. I can only assume they monitor their universes like we are with stealth networks. The destruction of that Keldet Empire came right on the heels of them ordering Earth’s destruction.

  “As to what. One of the nine, trillion ship fleets, is in Sol, and several million of their ships are within a light second of Earth with their weapons systems hot. It’s a clear message to us, attack them in their home empire and they will destroy humanity in that universe. The Earth there is not an FTL society, they are the equivalent of us in the year two thousand and ten. I’m pretty sure they don’t even know an enemy fleet is in their system, at least not the general populace and I haven’t had time to penetrate NORAD yet.”

  Shit.

  “Options?”

  Darrell said, “Even at ten to one odds in our favor, we couldn’t stop them from getting several subspace energy beams through, and all it would take is one to make the planet uninhabitable.”

  I looked at Cassie, who shrugged helplessly and looked as sick as I felt.

  It seemed the only way to take out that major threat and enemy was to sacrifice an Earth, that wasn’t an option. There had to be a way to save it.

  “Jessica, ask my wife to join us, please.”

  I just hoped she’d be able to come up with an idea, the fact that Darrell was at a loss wasn’t a good sign. But then, while he was amazing in a lot of ways, he lacked the creativity of humanity.

  Jessica nodded and sent the message, then said, “Sir, one of the Chinese home fleets with our matching technology is getting rather close to the station.”

  I sighed, and then closed my eyes. I needed to shift my attention back to our universe and the problems in it. Life didn’t pause while I was mucking about saving other Earths in other universes.

  “I thought tensions were fading?”

  Cassie said, “The Interstellar Union is discussing the treaty, and that did cause the tensions over the concern of genocide in the population to lessen slightly over time. I think the
y all think it a good idea, most predators find genocide distasteful and wasteful, but the slowdown is because they’re worried about setting a precedent. The Union was never meant to be a body that could put any laws or rules above other species, and it was to be a joint effort merely to acknowledge and pay for our protection while also opening free trade between all members.

  “They’ll figure it out I think, since all the delegates are waiting for their home world’s approval. In a way, that treaty will be between all worlds that agree, not a part of the Union at all, that’s just the convenient place to come together and declare it.”

  I nodded in understanding.

  Cassie said, “But… I don’t think this is about that at all. China is testing the waters to see your reaction, call it playing chicken with another government. They have the only ships equal to ours that can be used offensively against us, since the ones you sold are locked down. At least until the other three ship building countries manages to steal their technology.

  “Anyway, I think they’re testing you by flying by a little too close, and it has nothing to do with the tensions about the genocide question. How close will they get Jessica?”

  I frowned, “Do you think the council is behind it?”

  Jessica said, “At their closest, they’ll be in weapons range for a couple of seconds, then they’ll be around the moon and moving toward Earth orbit. It’s a standard patrol, they just plotted a course that comes a bit too close to the station. At the very least, it’s rude.”

  Cassie replied to my question, “I don’t know. I don’t think they would purposefully raise tensions between us and China though, that doesn’t make sense. You’re the only balance to their more advanced ships right now.”

  “They seem hypocritical, more concerned about controlling their own people than their primary mission in this day and age. Maybe they’re hoping the Chinese will get rid of two problems for them at once. Suggestions? All I can think of is jumping in ships to get between us, which would be an aggression.”

  Cassie sighed, “Maybe, but its far more likely they’re just pissed at losing their Technomancer spy and the U.N. blowing off their requests for sanctions against you. You destroyed their shuttle and they were made out to be the bad guys. You’ve also cut off access to their government employees at all levels from the station and won’t allow them access to purchase any future upgrades. Not that we’re letting any of them buy upgrades anymore, but they don’t know that yet.

  “It’s possible they think this is their best opportunity to remove you from the board, as time is in our favor, but it’s far more likely they’re just trying to posture and make you overreact to the slight.”

  It was probably just posturing. I had destroyed that shuttle, but they’d tried to steal from me first. I knew that’s how the game was played, but until then no one on Earth had gotten close to succeeding in espionage, so I’d ignored the pitiful attempts. It was a lot harder to steal technology from a space station than on Earth against other countries.

  I nodded, “But how can I take that chance with three million citizens, never mind the Earth itself and all the other Earth’s we’re now protecting. Stupid posturing stand-off? That is most likely, but a risk, and at the same time a horrible reason to escalate the stand-off. Time?”

  Jessica said, “You’ve got five minutes before they’re in range. Sorry I didn’t notice it sooner. They adjusted course after dumping off most of their acceleration coming in system.”

  Damned stupidity. It had to have been planned, their ships didn’t have to patrol that way anymore after all, they could just jump the ships anywhere in system.

  “Warn them off, remind them they’ll be violating our space and suggest a new course.”

  Diana walked into the room.

  “Hey, Darrell can fill you in on the problem. I’m dealing with a stupid problem right now. We’ll talk about it in a minute.”

  Jessica said, “No response and no change in their vector,” while Diana tilted her head and was obviously viewing something on her augmented reality screen while silently listening to Darrell’s briefing.

  It was no different than military jets buzzing the international line along their border, or China sending Migs to buzz one of the United States’ aircraft carriers in international waters. Typical posturing crap that countries did to each other. It was obvious I was on China’s crap list as much as they were on mine, even more than the rest of the eight who I dealt with at arm’s length now.

  Thing was, it was different. The station was a country, not a warship only manning military personnel. I had three million citizens, my closest friends, a sister, a lovely wife, precious children, and my own skin to worry about. Not to mention all the lives I safeguarded in this universe and others. I wasn’t inclined to play these stupid games, but every thought I had was an obvious overreaction, and if I jumped the station to avoid it altogether, that would only embolden China to do something even more outrageous next time.

  Those ships were like mine, if they got within weapons range, they could open fire and send out quantum pulses to prevent me jumping away. Not to mention prevent me from jumping in backup. If I allowed this, I was allowing them a position of power where I was at their mercy, if only for twenty seconds. That was unacceptable.

  Jessica said, “Three minutes.”

  Cassie sighed, “The vampire council member in China won’t take my call.”

  Jessica frowned, “Someone moving in the tunnel toward the center of the station. Fast. They’ll be here in fifteen seconds.”

  Clever. Was this an assassination attempt by the council, or was this incoming vampire here to tell us what the hell was going on to avoid an international incident? If it was an assassination attempt, they were hoping to make me delay my response because of the Chinese ship stand-off, for the few moments it would take a vampire to run two point five miles.

  Fortunately, I had an obvious response for that, without hurting our uninvited guest, just in case they weren’t an enemy.

  “Armor up everyone in the core, now.”

  Everyone in the command center was covered by nanite suits and powerful shields as the wall nanites became suits to protect us. Similarly, anyone else in the core labs or my daughter, son, or nephew as well as Jayna and her husband would be covered as well if they were in the apartments.

  The vampire ran into the command center and stopped short as he took us in. He was six foot one, medium build, with dark brown hair and brown eyes. He was wearing an expensive looking suit, it wasn’t Armani, but it wasn’t off the rack either.

  He didn’t have a weapon in his hands, but that didn’t prove a thing, there was no such thing as an unarmed vampire. Without the suits and shields, one could kill me in a blink, with their bare hands.

  Jessica said, “Two minutes.”

  Cassie hissed, “Abe. Talk fast, or die,” as the doorway behind him just disappeared as nanites flowed, the command center no longer had an exit.

  There was too much going on, and Abe’s presence wasn’t helping me figure out what to do about the Chinese ships just two minutes out of weapons range. There were only ten of them, but ten dreadnoughts out-massed my station five to one.

  Jessica said, “Their shields just went active.”

  Great, now I couldn’t even take them over, which was one of the options I’d considered, but had discarded already. So I guess it didn’t matter, except it was an obvious escalation in this game of chicken. They were trying to force me to flinch.

  Abe said, “Cassiopeia. I came here to beg you to reconsider, my old friend. We’ve known each other for a very long time, you know what will happen if you continue to disobey the council.”

  Cassie hissed, “And is this game part of that. Is the council so reckless now they’ll risk their own purpose to control their own members?”

  “Screw this game. Jump in ten thousand ships and block their vector at the edge of my space. Don’t fire unless they fire first, or if they violate our
space. Just for fun, jump another hundred thousand ships, just above Chinese space in international space, to really make our point. Abe, tell the damned council if they come after Cassie again that I will burn them all. Use nations to play games with me again, and I’ll burn you all. You’ve lost sight of your purpose and mission, if you think this is at all okay. You could start world war three, and if that happens whole worlds could burn, you moron. You are no longer welcome on my station, enjoy your trip back to Earth.”

  He tried to avoid it, but despite his speed the floor swallowed him up, created a life pod, and jumped him to orbit. The pod shot down out of space from there, and after letting him out of it I jumped the pod back to the station.

  Jessica said, “One minute, they still haven’t deviated from course.”

  I shrugged, “I’m done with that, you have my orders. Just let me know if you have to burn them out of space.”

  Cassie shook her head, “You’re losing it.”

  I nodded, “No doubt.”

  Cassie shut her eyes, “And how exactly are you going to burn them all?”

  I shrugged, “I thought Darrell might help me with it. He can control suits just as well as ships,” then I shook my head, “That’d turn the whole world against me. I’ll figure it out.”

  Cassie asked, “Don’t you think you’re overreacting?”

  I tilted my head, “They just declared war on us, and risked a shooting war between Astraeus and China to do it, not to mention putting fifteen thousand space faring species and seventy-six GALAXIES at risk, because if Astraeus goes we’re all screwed. And that’s just what they know about. What about all the other Earths we’re protecting? They put all that at risk to control you. One person. That is not at all sane. I don’t think I’m overreacting at all. Old Abe is lucky I let him live to deliver my message.”

  Diana cleared her throat, “I agree, Cassie. Your council is way out of line and has lost sight of their purpose, if as my husband said, they believe anything about what just happened is at all okay.”