The Pirates of Sufiro (Book 1) (Old Star New Earth)

by David Lee Summers

  "Nothing, sir." The communicator shook his head.

  MacPherson was not a man who showed strong emotion, but that last statement brought him to his feet. "That's impossible," he said. "The scan had to reveal something."

  "Nothing more than the information we obtained from visual analysis, sir." The communicator turned to face the captain.

  "Any energy readings to indicate some kind of shielding?" The Old Man started pacing.

  "Nothing, sir."

  MacPherson looked over the faces of his officers. "Opinions?"

  Shankar sighed. "For all we know the scan did some damage to the Cluster and its crew interpreted it as hostile."

  "That's true," said Shoukry. "However, we saw no evidence of damage on the cluster ship."

  "For that matter, sir," said Ellis addressing the captain, "we have no evidence the Cluster is even a manned spaceship."

  "You mean it might be an unmanned probe?"

  "We have no evidence to the contrary, sir." The officers looked from one to the other.

  MacPherson sat back in his chair facing the screen. "Communicator, get me command," he ordered.

  * * * *

  By human standards, Saturn is a beautiful world. Its rings encircle the planet gracefully and spokes of dust drift lazily through them. Violent storms play subtly across the planet's face. When humans finally started reaching out to space, the last place they expected to find intelligent life was Saturn's largest, most enigmatic moon, Titan.

  Indeed, humans had sent unmanned spacecraft by the darkly shrouded moon for years without realizing that intelligent life was most intrigued by the small frail craft careening by their home. Not only was Titan home to intelligent life, it was home to a vast confederation of intelligent species from throughout the known galaxy.

  Peaceful to a fault, the word "empire" does not exist in the Titan's language. Humans have never quite gotten used to their nature. Even their physical appearance is disconcerting to many humans. Titans are large, furry creatures. They look like immense teddy bears until they grin and show frightening serrated teeth. However, the teeth are merely used to eat the water and methane ice they use for survival.

  The Titans had been in space for nearly two thousand years. They realized early that uniting all the worlds that harbored intelligent life under one government would be impossible. However, realizing the limited resources of the galaxy and seeing the large number of rapidly developing societies, they worked to form a loose confederation with the worlds they discovered. Each planet in the Confederation still maintained its sovereignty, and the government could be used to solve interplanetary disputes. The system seemed to work quite well, especially since interstellar war was extremely impractical for most civilizations. This is not to say that conflict did not exist. Indeed most worlds maintained a military of some sort—many even maintained two or more. Fortunately, most beings sought out the Titans before engaging in any large-scale action.

  Interlocking pressure domes cover much of the surface of Titan. In these, residents from the many known worlds of the galaxy live and meet discussing policy and seeing to the mutual interests of the confederation. Few ambassadors have common atmospheric requirements. As such, identical tables exist in all of the pressure domes for use during meetings. At a table usually sits one person. The rest of the seats, benches and couches are filled by holographic projections of the other ambassadors sitting at the identical table in their dome.

  Three days after the Astrolus encountered the Cluster five other ships from other worlds of the confederation had encountered Cluster ships in scattered regions of the galaxy. Four of these ships, including the one from Titan, had been attacked.

  "It is clearly an act of war!" shouted the Rd'dyggian Ambassador pounding a massive six-fingered hand against the table.

  The Ambassador from Tzrn tapped four of her eight legs impatiently. "Clearly? I don't think anything is clear about this situation. We don't even know if we are dealing with one ship or an entire fleet."

  Valentin Lifshitz from Earth shook his head. "It's inconceivable that it's only one ship. That would go against every law of physics we understand."

  The Ambassador from Alpha Centauri rested his head on a tentacle and grinned in a way that was mischievous on his planet. "Your people thought the Raz'pohod field went against all laws of physics until just a few cycles ago."

  "We're not talking about the Erdon-Quinn drive; we're talking about the Cluster!" said Lifshitz, standing.

  The Titan at the head of the table, Teklar, held up a paw and made a rumbling noise that was roughly equivalent in meaning to a human clearing their throat. She had a thick silver-gray coat. She wore an orange sash indicating her status as a leader of her people. "We have indeed strayed from the point of the meeting. We are here to determine if we should take united action relating to the Cluster. From what we have discussed so far, it is clear that ships are being destroyed for no apparent reason. It is also clear that no one at this table can suggest a defense against them. However, no Cluster ship appears to have attacked a planet."

  "May I make a suggestion, Madame Ambassador?" asked the Rd'dyggian Ambassador.

  "Certainly," replied Teklar.

  "Ultimately, we are talking about defense against a common aggressor." The Ambassador wiggled a purple moustache-like growth on his upper lip. "For the moment, I'll put aside argument about whether or not they are warlike. However I think we should unite our fleets and pool our resources."

  "And who commands the united fleet?" asked Lifshitz, scratching the bald spot on the back of his head.

  The Rd'dyggian wiggled his moustache again. "As we have the most experience with military matters, I believe we should."

  The hall exploded with cries of "Outrageous!" and "Never!" A roar silenced the outburst. The ambassadors turned their attention back to Teklar. "Uniting the fleets is a good suggestion, but uniting them under one planet's authority is clearly out of the question." The Rd'dyggian folded his arms and glared forward.

  "Why not a new Admiralty made up of the senior admirals from all of the fleets?" asked the Ambassador from Tzrn.

  "Indeed a good suggestion," responded the Ambassador from Zahar. His translucent body wiggled. "They could manage the resources from the worlds of the Confederation and deploy ships strategically."

  Teklar called a vote and a resolution was passed that united the fleets of all the homeworlds under a central authority. Each of the ambassadors took the resolution home. Ten more ships were destroyed while the resolution was being debated. Some worlds wanted a declaration of war appended to the unification document. Ultimately, however, all agreed to the resolution as signed on Titan.

  * * * *

  It's a cluster . The words of John Mark Ellis resonated in Teklar's chambers a few days after the vote uniting the fleet was cast. She turned to her aide-de-camp. "This human understands."

  Teklar's aid shook her massive head. "The intelligence is reminiscent of a cluster of spheres. We can't assume he deduced the point of origin from one stray comment."

  "The comment is especially perceptive," said Teklar. "We can't ignore it. Ellis must be put into a position to help us." * * * * During the first meeting of the admirals on Titan, it was decided that ship construction needed to be increased so there would be vessels to monitor as many sectors as possible. Some worlds, such as Tzrn, had a limited number of ships due to minimal Erdonium supplies. As such, other worlds would have to help supply the increased demand. Admiral Strauss from Earth ordered Erdonium production increased throughout the Gaean Alliance.

  On Sufiro, Sam Stone was enthusiastic. "We're gonna win this war!" declared the new Governor of Tejo. "We'll supply you with ten times the Erdonium you're asking for!"

  Within months, new mines were opened and settlers were being recruited from other human planets. Sufiro had indeed increased its output of Erdonium ten-fold. Sam Stone traveled to Earth to accept an award for his outstanding patriotism. Sufiro's World had gone from be
ing just a place on the map to a fast growing, powerful planet. People flocked there to take advantage of the wealthy economy and easy life that implied.

  * * * * Juan Raton lay in his bed. His muscles ached from a hard day of plowing the fields of the family's homestead in New Granada. His wife lay snuggled up against him. Her warmth felt good to his tired body. He thought about the children and what it would be like for them growing up as farmers on Sufiro's World. He hated the Erdonium mines. He hated what they had cost him. However, they were thousands of miles away, on the other side of the planet.

  As his eyes closed for the final time, he heard a loud "whump" from the front of the house. Juan dislodged himself from the arms of his wife. She mumbled something and rolled over, pulling the blankets with her. He stepped out the front door of the adobe house into the chill night air, pulling his robe tight.

  He rubbed his eyes sleepily and then started as he noticed a large carryhover sitting just beyond the trees. Juan turned to go back inside and retrieve his hepler rifle when two men jumped him from either side. They covered his mouth and drug him kicking to the carryhover. He fought and almost broke free except that two other men leapt out from behind the stand of trees and grabbed his legs. They hauled him unceremoniously to the hover and tied him up. Once he was bound, they tossed him over into the bed of the carryhover.

  Juan found himself on his back looking up at the stars. He landed on his tailbone and was in pain. Struggling, he sat up and looked around. He saw two of his neighbors. Fire lit their eyes in the dark. Juan screamed his fury.

  Back at the house, Armanta Raton felt around for Juan. When she realized he wasn't there, she sat up. "Juan?" There was no reply in the dark.

  SHOWDOWN

  Edmund Swan collapsed to his knees, vomiting. His vision

  blurred and his hands trembled. A few moments later, he began to recover and a kaleidoscope of thoughts rushed through his mind. It seemed to Swan that humans invented a new way of dealing death every day. Sometimes, it was a new application of laser or EQ technology. Other times, someone found a way to kill someone with ordinary household appliances. Swan felt he had seen most of the ways a man could die. He was a deputy sheriff in Tucson, Arizona. Each time he answered a homicide call, his reaction was the same.

  A hover with red and blue lights flashing on all sides descended from the orange sky. Nearby, a purple haze rose from an ancient power plant. The orange and purple met in a swirling green eddy. When the hover landed, a woman stepped out and walked over to Swan. She handed him a rag and he wiped his face and patted his uniform. After taking several deep breaths he looked up. She had dark brown hair streaked with silver. Her eyes were steel blue. She reached out a hand and helped him to his feet. She was his boss, Sheriff Wilmot. "You okay?" she asked.

  Swan shook his head. "It's never easy, you know." "No, it's never easy. In fact, it gets harder each day." Her eyes bore into him. "At least I don't go puking all over the sidewalk. You're my best officer except that you can't keep your lunch down. What's the matter with you?"

  He indicated the buildings around him in a sweeping gesture. "The problem is all this ... this city." He looked up. "You know Tucson used to have a blue sky."

  Wilmot sighed. Swan was being sentimental. He wished for life, as it was a thousand years before. She had seen holographs of the desert around the city. There used to be blue sky and giant Saguaro cacti. Luckily a few of the giant cacti remained, but most were in the private gardens of wealthy people. What used to be two distinct cities, Tucson and Phoenix, now covered all of Southern Arizona.

  Wilmot looked back to Swan. "Are we going to get onto this murder investigation or not?"

  She bent over the body and studied the lacerations with care, reciting her observations to Swan. He recorded her voice with a chip in his belt. His surgically implanted computer-controlled mechanical eye recorded her movements as she examined the body. When she stood at the close of her examination, Swan turned away and closed his eyes. "I think the time has come to hand in my resignation."

  "What!" Wilmot turned suddenly. She had not exaggerated when she said he was one of her best officers. She knew a number of the others dealt Aquillan love crystals or Dracan incense. Swan didn't. He was a rare honest cop on a dishonest world.

  Swan swallowed then turned to face her. "I've been offered a job as the Tejan Marshal on Sufiro's World. The sky's a little on the greenish side for some people's taste, but I think I could get used to it."

  "Sufiro's a pretty tough place. Are you sure about this?" She knew he was, but she would not give him up without a fight.

  "It may be tough, but it's sparsely populated. There are only about five million people on the whole planet." He grinned slightly. The mechanical iris of his left eye narrowed. "There's even a plant that looks a little like the Saguaro cactus."

  "What about the tensions between the two continents?"

  "Mostly, it's just that—tension. New Granada was founded forty-eight years ago by a wandering band of criminals. The usual group of missionaries, traders, and farmers followed. Mostly, it's very primitive—adobe houses and the like.

  "Tejo on the other hand, was founded twenty-six years ago. Many of the people are miners. They all use modern tools and equipment." Swan shrugged. "Both continents are sparsely populated by very diverse people who don't talk to each other. It doesn't sound like there's much trouble at all."

  "I don't want to see you go," said Wilmot grudgingly, "but I can't think of a better man for the job." She looked at the remains of the man behind her. "Just don't vomit on any dead men."

  * * * *

  Edmund Swan floated next to one of the starliner's windows. Most starliners that went to the frontier conserved fuel by not running graviton generators. Actually, the ship was so old and dented, Swan wondered whether the graviton generators even worked. He watched Sufiro's World move beneath him. There were two large continents surrounded by great green-blue oceans. He held his breath, anticipating the shuttle flight that would take him down to the larger of the landmasses where he would assume his duties as the chief law enforcement official. The oily-chemical air he inhaled stung and he began coughing, longing for the fresh air below.

  An adolescent boy with long, dark hair approached. Swan didn't remember seeing him during the voyage. He scratched his head, feeling the short, blond, almost military crew cut that was fashionable in Tejo. The boy's clothes were light colored and loose fitting, more appropriate to desert life than air-conditioned mines and office buildings. Swan examined the boy with his steel gray left eye. Just ahead of his field of vision floated words that said that the boy was covered in seeds and pollens indigenous to Sufiro's World. The starliner was being stocked with provisions for the return to Earth. The boy must have come from the provisioning ship that was alongside.

  The boy stopped and tilted his head curiously as he looked into Swan's eyes. Most people who had artificial eye implants colored the new eye to match the old. Swan never bothered. He knew he wasn't fooling anybody, especially when each eye dilated differently. Swan's natural eye was a soft brown, in sharp contrast to the steel gray of the left eye. The boy held out a small, white envelope, then nudged it closer as Swan stared into the boys matching brown eyes. Finally, the boy let go then turned and left the way he came. The envelope floated motionless in front of Swan.

  He snatched the envelope out of the air and ripped it open, removing the yellow, tattered paper inside. It read:

  Señor Swan,

  I have heard of you and your arrival at Sufiro. I understand that you value freedom and justice. If what I have heard is true, please arrange to meet me once you have learned the truth of Sufiro.

  Gracias,

  Sheriff Manuel Raton.

  Swan rubbed his naked chin; his brow wrinkled at the archaic language. He knew Spanish from his classical studies training in college. He did not know people on Sufiro still used the language. Similarly, it had been years since he had heard of "The Rat." Raton was somethi
ng of a legend. He was virtually the only law in New Granada. Rumor said he was sly and could be dangerous. Swan was not sure that he wanted anything to do with any truths Raton wanted to talk about. The marshal folded the note and put it in his breast pocket.

  A voice sounded over the intercom, announcing that the launches would be leaving for the planet soon. Swan breathed a sigh of relief but regretted it when he felt the oily-chemical air on his tongue again. He looked at his reflection in the glass, seeing the smooth lines of his tight-fitting gray suit coat, marred only by the bulge where his pistol was. He was ready for his first encounter on Sufiro's World.

  * * * *

  The first truth Edmund Swan encountered on Sufiro's World was that it was hot. Sweat trickled under his svelte gray suit. The second truth he learned was that Sufiro's World was populated by a large number of small insect-like creatures attracted to human sweat.

  A hulking man with light brown hair cut to the same nearmilitary perfection as his own met him at the shuttle port. Like Swan, the man wore a fashionable gray suit, but without the bulge that betrayed the existence of a pistol. The man's smile seemed too big for his face. As he got closer, Swan realized that the man had a diamond set in his right front tooth.

  "How are you doing, Mr. Swan?" the man asked too loudly. He reached out and grabbed Swan's hand, locking it in a death grip. Before Swan could answer, the man continued. "I'm Sam Stone, Governor of Tejo."

  "Pleased to meet you," said Swan. After a few moments of violent shaking, Stone released his hand and led Swan to a hover outside the port. He looked forward to the hover trip. There had been no windows in the launch. This would be his first view of the capitol. As they flew over Tejo City though, Swan was dismayed to see that it extended in every direction, as far as he could see. Swan realized that most of the five million people on Sufiro's World must live in Tejo City.

  "What do you think of our little town?" Stone's thunderous voice startled Swan.

  "It's not what I expected." He fought to keep the disappointment out of his voice.

  "I'm sure it's not like Earth cities, but we're growing each and every day!" Swan wondered if Stone ever stopped smiling.