Nebula

by Howard Marsh

  Prime Minister Akaree was silent for several seconds and then spoke directly at General Kragin. “We appreciate your advice, general. But the council needs more assurance than a simple conversation between you and Harry Ambrose. The data collected by our scientists do show that the regions set aside for us are adequate, but we wonder why we have been offered so much space on their world and have not been able to visit other areas to get a better impression of how the humans live and how they might interact with us. Did you even ask to see other places and meet other humans?”

  “We did,” replied Minister Naroo. “But we were told that this was not possible. No explanation was given.”

  “So they appear to be hiding something from us,” the prime minister continued. “Why would that be? What is it that they don’t want us to see? I’ll tell you what I think. I think that they are much weaker than what our military fears and that they have no planetary defenses at all. I think that we could overpower them easily with only one or two more attacks. And if that failed, we could launch a thermonuclear strike and spend a few hundred thousand of their years at near-light speed before returning to take control of the planet. Even if they did have robotic devices to dispense pathogens, we would have outlived them. So I say that we should reject their offer and proceed with the war.”

  Kragin couldn’t believe his ears. It was inconceivable that they could have made such a decision before receiving the report from his delegation. “Madam Prime Minister, I urge you to reconsider. Our forces have taken too many casualties. If the humans have even the most basic planetary defenses, the likelihood of our success would be low. I’ve had time to study the humans while we were on their planet, and they are very determined and very competent. We cannot underestimate them. If we proceed with the war, our species could be eliminated, even if we do eliminate the humans as well. The terms that the humans have offered us are generous. Peace with them is the only logical course, and we have our robots to assure that we still live with the humans in peace when they return and probe this system. You must think again before deciding to continue the war.”

  “We have thought enough, General Kragin. The time has come to act, and the only course is to finish this war on our terms.”

  “Has the decision already been made?”

  “Yes,” was the reply. “We considered all factors during your absence, and we have a unanimous decision of the council to proceed with the war, that is if Minister Naroo agrees. Her vote is the one that remains to be cast.”

  Naroo nodded her agreement, and Prime Minister Akaree smiled and stared defiantly at General Kragin.

  “This is a mistake,” General Kragin replied. “But if that’s the will of the council, I will meet with my senior commanders and prepare.” He then rose from his seat, bowed to the ministers, and turned and left the room.

  *

  The seven senior commanders sat silently as Kragin explained the position of the council and also explained what he had seen on Earth. “So, do we go ahead with the plan to continue this war as directed, or shall we proceed with the alternative that we have discussed previously?”

  General Grabatin spoke first. “We are in no position to continue fighting. The ministers do not understand how much damage our fleet has sustained. If the humans have any planetary defenses, we would be unable to defeat them and could lose what warships we still have. Our only option would be the thermonuclear strike, and even that could be blunted by heavy weapons on the planet or hidden in space nearby. And even if it were successful, we could never know if the humans did have many layers of robotic devices that could survive many successive strikes over hundreds of thousands of years. I say that we should proceed with our alternative plan.”

  “Any other comments?” Kragin asked. He waited several seconds and then continued. “Fine, then we are agreed. Our objective is to remove the ministers from power and to take charge of the government so that we can begin to work with the humans to move our people to Earth and to begin to prepare Mars for our eventual home world. General Korbu, have you made the arrangements with the security force commanders?”

  Korbu replied that he had and that they were prepared to act when the order is given.

  “Good, and are our infantry and space forces also onboard?”

  The others around the table nodded. General Darukee spoke for them. “All the commanders agree with the plan. There is no dissension. Some were concerned with this breach of policy, but all agree that it would be insane to continue, so they all support our plan to take control.”

  “So we proceed,” Kragin said. “Now what remains is to decide on the time to act and to develop the detailed plans to minimize bloodshed. The council protective force will be the main obstacle, and they will almost certainly be loyal to the ministers. Our first move will be to neutralize them, probably by a direct and massive attack on their headquarters and on the forces that are deployed at the council building. That will be your job, Korbu. I expect that it will be the only significant resistance that we’ll encounter. The rest of the operation will be to seize control of all communications and information systems and to place our troops at the key points in each of the inhabited ships. That will be the job for the infantry. The space force will provide transport and firepower to support our takeover of all the ships. We may encounter some resistance from the local police, but it should be minimal. We’ll broadcast an announcement that we have taken control of the government once the council’s protective force is neutralized, and that should put a damper on most other resistance. Please develop detailed plans for each of your parts, and we’ll meet again tomorrow.”

  *

  Back at Nebula Prime, they waited for word from the Chanreeks. Nothing came for several days, and that was interpreted as meaning that the proposal was being discussed but not yet accepted.

  Harry continued to monitor information from Robby, using a series of robotic relays that jumped from the Chanreek robots beyond the orbit of Jupiter to small relays that Nebula placed in concealed locations in the asteroid belt and then to Mars, where the transmissions were sent back to Earth through Nebula’s microwave links.

  On the sixth day, Harry received first information about the coup and the seizure of power by General Kragin. The military plan was kept secret, even from their own robots, until the moment that they acted. Then, all the information was uploaded into the robot network, simultaneously with the broadcast to the population.

  When Harry informed Billingsley and Seduro, they thought at first that this meant that the proposal would be rejected, but Harry calmed them down and explained his previous conversations with General Kragin. He told them that the military seemed more willing to accept the proposal and end the war than the civilian ministers were. Brad backed him up on this, explaining how Prime Minister Akaree and Minister Naroo were far more hostile than the general when they met at the Chanreek fleet and also here on Earth when they inspected the resettlement regions. But things were still tense, as they waited for a direct reply from the Chanreeks, and Brad and Haverford intensified their preparations for an attack even though neither of them expected that to happen.

  A message from the Chanreek fleet finally arrived two days later. It explained that General Kragin was now in charge of the government, and that Nebula’s offer had been accepted. Very little was said of the events leading to this change of government or of the current status of the former ministers, but the implications were that the military was now firmly in charge and that they were fully committed to working with the humans in peace. What remained unsaid was that the civilian ministers apparently had decided to reject the offer and proceed with a direct attack on Earth, and the military opposed this strongly enough to remove them from power.

  Brad and Harry weren’t as surprised as Seduro and Billingsley by this news. Their negotiations during the meeting at the Chanreek fleet gave them a clear impression that a rift existed between the military and civilian leadership, and the degree of difference seemed to
be even greater, judging from remarks by General Kragin and Minister Naroo during their visit to Earth. The mood projected by General Kragin throughout the discussions, and again on Earth, gave them an impression that the military might be more open to the offer, having suffered first hand in the previous battles and fearing more devious tricks by the humans if they did attack Earth directly. Harry and Brad hadn’t expected an open revolt by the military, but regardless of what went on back at the Chanreek fleet, the outcome appeared to be positive.

  Nebula now prepared for the arrival of millions of Chanreek civilians and military personnel, but they still also were concerned about some sort of trickery by the Chanreeks, possibly a sneak attack while the human forces were not ready. So Brad and Haverford continued to prepare to defend Earth even as they also prepared to provide a more peaceful escort of Chanreek refugees to their temporary home on Earth.

  The human governments and populations knew of the plan, but now they would become more involved in carrying it out. One important part of the plan was to conceal the true state of Earth’s defenses until the Chanreeks were settled on Earth and to allow only unarmed Chanreek ships to come any closer to Earth than the orbit of Mars. It was important to hide the true nature of human technology and to keep the new arrivals isolated in the resettlement regions, with Nebula providing security and transport, and with the nations standing aside while this occurred. Seduro met with the heads of state and told them what they could and couldn’t do. They were not pleased with this intrusion into their power in their own countries, but they recognized that they had no choice but to obey. Nebula was now fully in charge on Earth and in space all the way to Mars.

  Messages were exchanged between Nebula and the Chanreek military leaders to iron out all the details, and all parties agreed with little difficulty. The Chanreek military force would stand back, beyond the asteroid belt, with only a minimal number of armed escorts accompanying the transport ships to the rendezvous point near the orbit of Mars. Nebula agreed to allow the refugees to bring a small security force with small arms, mainly to enforce civil order and to protect the civilians from the “vicious beasts” that Naroo and Kragin reported to have seen in the wilderness areas.

  A peace treaty was signed at the Nebula base on Mars, and a Chanreek delegation, led by General Kragin, took the opportunity to explore the planet that would be made into their new home world. Brad and Harry accompanied them and noted that they seemed pleased with what they saw. They spoke a bit about the terraforming plans and suggested that both humans and Chanreeks could participate on Earth and on Mars to build a suitable world and to establish commerce and intellectual exchanges between their people. They even discussed the establishment of human-Chanreek universities and industries both on Mars and Earth.

  The first Chanreek transports arrived at the American Southwest Resettlement Area one year after the signing of the treaty. The arrivals at the Russian Northeast Resettlement Area and the Canadian Northeast Resettlement area followed within several months.

  Less than three years later, the entire population was resettled, and life on Earth began to return to normal, with the only major changes being that Nebula was now firmly in control of the human governments, more or less in a federal type of structure, and the Chanreeks were well on their way to establishing their own governmental authority that spanned the three regions. The Chanreek military still maintained control, but they were gradually preparing for a transition back to civilian authority with a new set of ministers who were open to cooperation with the humans. Work to terraform Mars began only one year after the final arrival of the Chanreek refugees.

  Chapter 18

  Once the relocation had begun, Harry’s job was done, and he said goodbye to his friends in Nebula and returned to the university, where he was welcomed back with open arms. He was now a celebrity since the story of his exploits was publicized, with embellishments that he found amusing if not completely outrageous. He was bombarded with requests for interviews, all of which he declined, and he’d even heard that a movie about him was in the making.

  At first, he plunged back into his research and tried to recapture his previous life, but after a couple of months he concluded that it no longer interested him as it had before. He needed something else to do, something more exciting, maybe even a bit dangerous, and he also missed being part of Nebula and the interactions that he had with General Kragin and other Chanreeks that he had met. He decided to try to get back into the action and contacted Brad to learn what was happening and how he could rejoin Nebula.

  Brad returned his message almost immediately. “What took you so long?” he began. “I’d been expecting something like this since you left. Once you get a taste of adventure like what we had, it’s hard to go back to the sheltered life. I’d have thought that one or two weeks would have been enough. We have a place for you that I think you’ll enjoy. It’s been waiting for you. I’ll send a runabout to pick you up.”

  The small runabout settled down just outside Harry’s research building, and a crowd of students quickly assembled around it. Everyone knew of these spacecraft by now, but they were still rare enough to elicit a high degree of excitement, and to be able to see one this close was something that was not to be ignored.

  When Harry emerged from the building, the crowd realized that he was the one that the ship had come for. They parted to let him through, and he approached the runabout and waited for the entry port to open. He was surprised when he saw Yuri standing in the open doorway.

  “Hello Harry,” Yuri said with a big grin. “I understand that you want to go for a ride.”

  Harry returned the grin. Then he walked into the entry and gave Yuri a big hug. “It’s great to see you again. Let’s go.” And that was it. They both retreated back into the runabout. The door closed, and it rose vertically for several seconds before dashing away toward the ocean.

  *

  Harry found himself part of a human-Chanreek enterprise that was established with financial support from Nebula and from a few of the wealthy human nations. Manufacturing had already begun for the equipment that would be needed on Mars. It seemed that Seduro had set aside a position for him from the very start, probably realizing that life back at the university would soon bore him and that he’d return to Nebula as a permanent member of the senior leadership. After all, he earned it, and he was one of the few humans who had close contact with Chanreeks at the highest levels.

  Relations between the two species improved rapidly as they cooperated in the terraforming effort and other cooperative ventures, and they soon learned to trust one another. Even the human populations in the nations began to take active interest in working with the Chanreeks, both for terraforming and for building advanced technology industries.

  The combined human-Chanreek terraforming effort resulted in progress that was much faster than originally expected, and in only one short decade, the first Chanreek settlements were established. They still required environmental housing with life support for their living quarters, but they could work outside for up to five or six Earth hours, even with only minimal breathing apparatus. The projections were for mass relocation from Earth to Mars to start in another five or six Earth years.

  *

  Harry saw that this phase of his work would come to an end soon, and he started to think about what to do next. So he contacted Brad once again and asked to meet with him and get some more of his advice. The two of them had formed a friendship during the war and afterwards. They rarely met face-to-face, but they kept a steady dialog through the network that Nebula had established.

  Brad flew to the facility where Harry was working and after shaking hands and exchanging some small talk on what they’d both been up to, Brad switched to the topic that had brought him here. He had a proposal for something that could keep Harry busy and happy for a long, long time.

  “Well,” Brad began, “we have a new project that might interest you. But it’s something that will be a permanent assi
gnment with no possibility of turning back once you start.”

  “So, you’re going to shanghai me again?” Harry asked with a grin.

  “No, not this time. This time you’ll need to be fully aware from the start, and the choice will be yours and yours alone.”

  “OK, what’s it about.”

  “General Kragin and I and a few others have a plan to refurbish some of those Chanreek ships that were contaminated and set out on an expedition to explore deep space, maybe even into other galaxies. We figure that there are probably other worlds out there where humans and Chanreeks could live, and after the Chanreek experience with that supernova, we both thought that it would be prudent to search before something happens to the sun or some nearby star that could require us to leave as they had to leave. We’d travel at near light speed, so time isn’t an issue for us, but we’d have to leave everyone here forever. The gravitational drives have been improved, so our speed would be even closer to the speed of light than before, and we could travel for millions of years without aging too much. If we did find a planet of interest, we could return and help lead a larger expedition with settlers for the new world. If we didn’t find a new home world, we’d still make discoveries beyond imagination and might even meet some other intelligent life forms. Would you want to join us?”

  “Whoa,” Harry exclaimed. “When you said you had an interesting proposal, I never expected it to be anything like that. Let me think about it for a couple of days. It does sound interesting, and there really isn’t anything here that holds me back. But let me mull it over a bit before I jump into the unknown again.”