Rocket’s Red Glare

by David Hardy

  When he died, he would die with his middle finger erected.

  ○●○

  Three days passed before Charlie saw Sue Glass again. He had just clocked out for the night and was waiting to catch a vacuum tram when he noticed her out of the corner of his eye. Humans were hard to miss in a scrum of differently-shaped and clothed alien bodies. She still wore the same body suit and spacer’s jacket as before. A valise was clutched under one arm, and she was staring right at him.

  “Ready for that coffee?” she asked, walking up to him.

  “Yeah,” he blurted. “Sure.”

  Only, they didn’t head to any of the usual places Charlie knew. They passed through several ancillary corridors, caught a different vacuum tram at a different platform, and wound up in a part of the depot Charlie could not remember having visited before. In fact, the empty look of the place made him think very few sapients came this way, for any reason, at any time. His boot steps echoed off the lonely corridor walls, as Sue clipped along at a fast walk, forcing him to keep up.

  “What’s the hurry?” he said to the back of her head, while he was practically jogging. When his breath got short, Charlie reminded himself for the umpteenth time that it had been a mistake to let his Navy regimen go. He doubted he could now pass an astronaut physical, even if he somehow magically got back to Earth. It would take months to work back into flying shape. Especially at his age.

  Ultimately, they arrived at a nondescript doorway. Charlie was half bent over, panting.

  “Jesus... ” he wheezed. “Are we in a marathon?”

  “Of sorts,” Sue said, then used a spring-loaded lanyard on her jacket to unreel a tiny key card that she pressed to a blank spot on the wall next to the door.

  The door whispered open, and she pushed Charlie through.

  When it whispered shut, they were in total darkness.

  “Where the hell are we?” Charlie said, beginning to recover.

  “Nowhere,” Sue said in a low voice.

  “What about coffee?” Charlie asked.

  “I’m sorry I had to bluff,” Sue said, “but they were following me, and I didn’t have time to do much more than whisk us out of the way of their surveillance net.”

  “Who is ‘they’ and what the hell is going on?”

  “That alien who was in your apartment? Slurrngt?”

  “How do you know about him?”

  “Never mind how. What did he tell you?”

  Charlie was silent for a few seconds. Suddenly, two strong female hands were clutching the lapels of his coverall. When next Sue spoke, her breath was on Charlie’s nose. She did not sound happy.

  “There’s no time for second thoughts, Esterlan. Soon, they’ll notice both of us aren’t where we’re supposed to be, and they will act. Slurrngt and his associates will then disappear, long before being caught. And the window will close. If you ever want to have a life beyond this, you have to tell me what Slurrngt told you.”

  “He offered me a job. Piloting. Wouldn’t say for what. Sounded like an anonymous cargo run, but I am sure there was much more to it than that. He’s out to harm or embarrass some of his rivals. Said he and his ‘guild’ could crack the Aggregation policy surrounding the U.N. lockout that keeps Americans and American ships from using Earth’s gate. I didn’t buy it. Especially not when Slurrngt’s confirmation man turned out to be somebody I did not even know.”

  “Moore?” Sue asked.

  “That’s what he called himself. How do you know—”

  “Moore works for the other side,” she said.

  “The other side of what, for Pete’s sake? Would you kindly spare a few seconds to tell me exactly what the hell I’ve been dragged into?”

  “Politics,” Sue said deadpan. “Galactic Aggregation politics. Earth system politics. Both of them mixing together. Humans are a much bigger deal than any of these aliens will officially let on. Americans seem especially important – those of you in exile. Your State Department has been working with British secret service to find out why. We’re also working on a way to get you all home. If we can.”

  “So, who do I believe? You, or Slurrngt?”

  “We’re working toward the same goals, though Slurrngt does not yet suspect it. He thinks I’m over with Moore.”

  “And which ‘side’ does Moore think he’s on?”

  “It’s a long story. I’ll try to be quick. The Aggregation isn’t just nursemaiding humanity into the galactic whole. They’re feeling us out. Trying to determine how useful we may be. And how much trouble we might cause. The United States’ defiance of the United Nations has the Aggregation puzzled. There are some species at Slurrngt’s level—”

  “He called them ‘middle children’.”

  “Right. Some of them see U.S. defiance as a positive. Others view it as a negative. There are Earth countries, through U.N. channels, working with Slurrngt’s enemies to ensure that any opposition the United States may pose... is nullified.”

  “Opposition to what?” Charlie asked.

  “We’re not sure. We just know that Slurrngt’s foes view Earth – its people, indeed our entire solar system – as a raw commodity. We’re beginning to also suspect they’ve played this game with other species, and other planets, before.”

  Charlie rubbed the heels of his palms into his closed eyes.

  “You’re giving me a whale of a story, lady,” he said gruffly. “Slurrngt couldn’t give me any proof he was telling the truth. Why should I trust you, if you can’t give me any either? Especially since you’re not at all what you first appeared to be when I bumped you over, a few nights ago?”

  “You don’t have to believe me. Just be sure you say ‘yes’ when Slurrngt re-offers you the job.”

  “I told him to leave me alone.”

  “He’ll ask again. Dave O’Connell is sure of it.”

  “Dave... Wait. Dave is here?”

  A small red light flicked on. Suddenly, Charlie realized he was surrounded by several people. All of them human. And there was one face he recognized without any doubt.

  “Been a long time, O’Connell,” Charlie said.

  “Mate,” the British pilot said, sticking out his hand.

  The two old friends shook strongly.

  “I didn’t realize the Royal Air Force had you on loan to their secret service.”

  “A lot has happened back home, since you’ve been gone. When they told me I had a chance to help out some old friends, you could not have beaten me away with a stick.”

  “Is everything this woman has said, true?”

  “It is. And no, Slurrngt doesn’t know we’re working together. Though I’ve been in touch with him. I’d have met you at the Deep Vacuum, except I saw Moore got there first – which told all of us that the surveillance on you has been even more thorough than we realized. Moore suspects I am here, even if he does not know where I am. Which means Moore’s contacts with Slurrngt’s enemies also know I am here. Even now they’re wondering where the bloody hell you’ve gotten off to. You and Sue. So, don’t take the piss. Get back to your apartment as quickly as possible. Sue will get to her place using her own route. And she’s right. When Slurrngt propositions you again, be sure to accept.”

  “Dave, I still don’t think I know what’s happening, but if you say it’s a good idea, I’ll take your word for it.”

  Almost immediately, Charlie was shown through a different door – putting him out into a different corridor from where he’d been before. The automatic guide on the wall directed him toward the nearest vacuum tram. After that, Charlie was slumped in a seat, watching the lights of the tunnel wall blur past.

  ○●○

  Three more days passed, during which Charlie saw nothing of either Sue or Slurrngt. By the fourth day, Charlie was almost ready to convince himself that the meeting with Dave O’Connell had somehow been a bad dream... when Slurrngt reappeared in Charlie’s living room.

  “I’m supposed to say yes,” Charlie said, walking in the door.
The alien was resting, six legs folded beneath him, on Charlie’s little two-man couch.

  “You spoke to your friend? The human named O’Connell?”

  “Yes, as a matter of fact. And I’d have preferred being able to talk to my friend a lot longer, about many other things. Except it seems I am being watched by someone or something I don’t quite understand, and who seems to cause Dave quite a bit of heartburn.”

  “I have the luxury of remaining visible on this depot in ways Mister O’Connell now does not. My enemies cannot openly move against me, and if they do, I would be well aware of their activity beforehand. So as to effect my swift departure from this place.”

  “I was told as much,” Charlie said, though he did not identify by whom. “But if you can slip in and out of my apartment like this, why can’t they? How do we know they’re not watching or listening to us right now?”

  “I’ve taken care of it,” Slurrngt said. “Both times I’ve been here.”

  “Ah,” Charlie said, shaking his head from side to side. “Did I ever tell you there’s a good reason why I never bothered with an intelligence career in the Navy? Secretive games like this really leave a bad taste in my mouth. Honest. I’m no good at them. I never have been. When I was a kid, the adults always knew they could count on me to fess up, if ever my brother and two sisters had been messing around while our parents were out for the day. Mom and dad didn’t even have to threaten, or bribe. It all just... came out. The minute they got home. I was spilling my guts. My siblings hated me for that. And learned to never let me in on anything, past about age thirteen.”

  “I’m sorry if you feel imposed upon,” the alien said. “Mister O’Connell has been known to me – to us – for some while now. He insisted that if we were to choose one American, that man should be you.”

  “Dave and I have seen a lot together. I can’t trust you or your guild any farther than I can throw you, but Dave? I can trust him. He says I can trust you too. Though I am still not convinced why. It seems the Galactic Aggregation hasn’t been entirely honest in its approach to integrating Earth. Do I understand that right?”

  “Yes,” Slurrngt said, after a short pause.

  “Somehow there are Aggregation people and Earth United Nations people working together, to keep the United States under the U.N.’s thumb. Is that also right?”

  “If the context of your curious phrase ‘under thumb’ means the U.N. is collaborating with Aggregation interests – specifically my enemies – to hamper the United States, the answer is also yes.”

  “So why go out of your way to help?” Charlie said, putting his hands into the air, palms forward. “What’s in it for you guys?”

  “Mister Esterlan, during our last conversation, you explained to me that your Navy work meant much more to you than money. I believe I understood the moral reasoning at the root of your motivation. And can only respond by explaining my own. You see, there are those of us who believe that the Galactic Aggregation has lost its way. We’ve done what we can to alert the old-sapients to the problem. But sometimes it seems as if even the old-sapient species are not only blind to the issue, they are part of it. It’s been too long since they themselves were young in the galaxy. The affairs of emerging worlds like Earth only earn old-sapient notice if a world poses a threat to the Aggregation’s status quo.

  “Rather than do the right thing, too often the powers of the Aggregation merely do what is comfortable.

  “Some of us have elected to change the equation. Not with broad strokes, mind you. But by carefully choosing the times and the ways in which we can make a difference.

  “Our opponents view us as troublemakers. Idealists who are unwilling to embrace the fact that the Aggregation simply is, and always will be. Good, as well as bad. Upset the balance too much for the sake of principle and everything comes apart. For everybody.

  “Which, I suppose, makes sense... from a certain point of view.

  “But sometimes, beings of good conscience can’t settle for what simply ‘makes sense’. Not everything can be reduced to decisions of pure expediency. There is a crucial question of character involved. A question which we – my comrades and I – believe you and your United States understand exceptionally well. Enough to take your own stand, even though it has come at great risk, as well as great cost.

  “We would aid you in this matter. And in turn, we believe that you can also aid us. Does that sound like a fair bargain to you, Charr-lee?”

  Charles Esterlan, once and former astronaut, swallowed the lump in his throat, and said, “When do you need me to start?”

  ○●○

  It was a curious ship, seemingly cobbled together from the pieces of three different Earth craft. Some of her was new to Charlie – equipment that Slurrngt’s people had recently obtained. Other pieces of her were original vintage, dating to the several asteroid expeditions which had been diverted for interstellar sorties... and never made it back to home port again.

  The flight deck was going to take some getting used to. Charlie’s piloting chair was equipped with a full-surround holographic system which did not correspond to anything he’d trained on or used in the old days. There was also the matter of the self-aware computer matrix, which Charlie had also not had on any previous flight. The ship literally talked to him, and gave intelligent responses to his status queries and technical questions.

  The self-aware computer was also the only reason Charlie could launch with a one-man compliment.

  “Our little contribution to the ship’s design,” Slurrngt had said proudly. “My species has always excelled at artificial intelligence programming. It wasn’t terribly difficult to adapt one of our generic low-range shuttle brains to your hybrid ship’s various Earth-made systems. We just had to get the crosstalk synced – Earth tech to our tech, and back again.”

  Now Charlie hung in space, one thousand kilometers distant from the mouth of the first gate he was to pass through.

  Damn, he thought. It’s good to be back in the saddle again.

  Charlie’s computer, using the alias Astrobee, was busily negotiating with the gate’s resident automated traffic control. There were several ships queued to leave the system. Charlie’s intent was to slip into the queue like any other gate customer. Though human-built craft were quite rare in Aggregation space, they were not so unknown as to trip the gate’s profile alarm. Especially since Astrobee was programmed to pass itself off as human-designed flight control software. A bit like an adult speaking in four-year-old, Slurrngt had bragged.

  Charlie himself, readopting his old Navy call sign of Wildcat, never had to utter a word. He simply studied the gate-hopping route he’d been given. While also wondering about the cargo which had been brought aboard, even before Charlie’s introduction to the craft.

  That cargo rested in the belly of the ship, and would be released only when Charlie had reached the point in the flight plan which called for the bay doors to be opened, and for the computer to jettison the bay’s contents.

  What, precisely, this was expected to accomplish?

  Slurrngt knew. And he wasn’t telling.

  Minute after minute, Charlie’s ship edged closer to the gate. Like a pentagon with mile-long sides, the alien-built device made everything that passed through it seem small. How the gate worked, like the omni-gee motors, was a mystery which Earth’s best minds were still working to solve.

  One moment, you were on the gate’s threshold. Then, you were exiting the threshold of still another gate, somewhere else in the galaxy.

  Easy peasy.

  Only, it could not be that simple. Human physicists speculated that even a modest gate voyage must consume the energy output equivalent of a substantial supernova for the instant the gate was in operation. But how the gates were supplied with such fantastic amounts of power, and from where, was a technological puzzle liable to intrigue generations of the finest minds humanity could produce. Even Slurrngt had admitted that his people were stumped, even though they’d had
a several-hundred-years head start on the problem.

  The trip itself was painless. A thing not noticeable at all, except for the sudden shift in star patterns. When Charlie finally crossed over, Astrobee had to quickly connect to the traffic control network on the other side, establishing a fresh set of coordinates on the three-dimensional galactic grid, then putting the ship into the queue again for the wait until the next opening to go.

  Charlie wondered if it might be possible to daisy-chain gates, so that a ship could travel across multiple legs in one gate event.

  Querying Astrobee merely yielded a response indicating that such a maneuver was not allowed.

  Not allowed? If the problem didn’t boil down to physics, it surely boiled down to bureaucracy. Governments – all governments – simply loved to place arbitrary rules on things.

  It took the better part of an Earth day to make three gates. At which time Charlie was growing weary and decided to put the ship into a parking orbit so that he could go back to the diminutive pilot’s cabin and get some sleep.

  He did not expect to find Sue Glass waiting for him. But she was there.

  “The hell—” Charlie yelled with surprise, backing up several steps.

  “It was the only place I could stow away,” she said.

  “Without Slurrngt knowing?” Charlie said, his pulse gradually settling back to normal.

  “Getting past Slurrngt and his people was the easy part. Getting past that damned computer they installed? Now that was hard. Especially considering the fact that this craft launched carrying my equivalent mass in kilograms beyond the manifested total mass. That’s bound to throw off maneuver fuel usage estimates by a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of one percent.”

  “I told Astrobee to knock off giving me mass and fuel warnings which amounted to so little difference,” Charlie said. “Now I know what the real error was. Care to tell me why you’re here? Slurrngt was quite emphatic that this is a solo mission.”