by S F Chapman
As many teenagers had done before him, he contemplated his own insignificance compared to the nearly boundless cosmos that stretched out above. The cold windy air seemed to sharpen the reality of one’s place in the grand scheme.
His philosophical introspection was interrupted by a peculiar sputtering orange speck high in the western sky.
Something was plummeting from above.
The smoldering ember grew steadily brighter as it arced down towards the steppes.
It seemed to be a large falling star, perhaps a meteor or a bit of space junk burning up in the atmosphere.
He hastily plotted the path of the heavenly invader, it seemed destined to impact the capital city he concluded in sudden panic.
With growing fear he followed the hurtling fireball.
The Spanish teenager cringed when the tumbling incandescent object exploded into scorching white light just above the city.
An angry and seething bubble of ultra hot gases expanded rapidly outward over the Maasai steppes and blasted against the base of the staunch peak.
The ensuing torrent of trillions of high energy gamma rays swiftly dispatched the lone backpacker perched on the high vantage point of Mount Meru.
Twenty-five seconds later the shock wave from the terrible blast tore his lifeless body apart.
22. News Item: ARUSHA DESTROYED!
Dateline: 2nd of August, 2445; Nairobi, EurAfrica, Earth
The EurAfrican capital of Arusha is no more!
A tremendous explosion destroyed the city and severely damaged most of the neighboring suburbs last night. The city of Arusha and its nearly nine million residents were utterly wiped out by the blast.
Several badly injured survivors have reported seeing an odd shooting star plunging towards the doomed metropolis seconds before the destruction.
New Roman and Free City investigators are racing to the scene of the catastrophe. The Warlord Syndicate has pledged to aid any survivors.
Many in East Africa are already blaming Dimitri Verhovnyi and Outer Reaches terrorists for the horrific devastation.
Amidst the chaos of the disaster, this much is certain: at 9:23 pm local time, a tremendous aerial explosion destroyed the EurAfrican capital city.
After carefully scrutinizing all available information, scientists at the University of Nairobi released some preliminary data about the dreadful event. At about 550 meters above the spires of the opulent city, a magnetic containment bubble that had apparently contained slightly more than 500 grams of antimatter ruptured. The almost instantaneous annihilation of the small mass released nearly 90 petajoules of energy producing an immense explosion similar in size to a large old-style nuclear bomb.
The origin of the antimatter that destroyed the city is uncertain, however Dr. Hekima from the University of Nairobi noted that the radiation signature emanating from the strange shooting star that preceded the blast was remarkably similar to a small sample of anti-tauons that he had recently obtained from the late Dr. Jana Fesai of the Lunar Ultra Energy Research Laboratory.
Those who wish to contribute to the relief effort may make donations to the Free City Aid Society.
23. Calamity No one had left the Student Union, Desiree suddenly realized, even though the meeting had jerked to a halt hours ago when they had first learned of the calamity.
Her head throbbed with a headache that felt as if thin, sharp knives were being jammed repeatedly into her skull. Her eyes were dry and itchy; she and nearly everyone else in the room had run out of tears long ago.
The video loop of the explosion began again, she’d seen it countless times already but she could not turn away.
The unfathomable disaster in East Africa had caused her poor little sister, Sabra to curl up on the floor next to her, shaking and whimpering like so many others in the meeting room.
Hours ago, many had wondered out loud as to who would have done this horrific deed. Now the weary and dumbstruck group endlessly endured the traumatic reoccurring communal nightmare that the video loop had come to signify.
Desiree stared at the video screen and steeled herself again for the replay of the atrocity that had repeated every twenty-seven seconds for many hours.
From high above and a bit to the north, an East African weather satellite had, by chance, recorded the disaster before the immense flash of the explosion had blinded the indifferent robotic observer.
A few thin clouds hovered to the south above the plains when a tiny red dot appeared at the left edge of the screen. The celestial visitor slowly moved about a quarter of the way across the screen before suddenly dropping out of orbit and racing downward towards the doomed city.
Desiree flinched just as the red speck reached the center of the metropolis. A rapidly spreading circle of white mercilessly consumed the city almost instantly before the satellite camera failed.
And it was over.
She had no idea when she would be able to summon some tiny reserve of inner strength to stagger out of the meeting room and bring an end to the unremitting ordeal.
The video loop restarted.
• • •
The radiation meter was still off the scale.
Constable Jones stared grimly out of the thick bulletproof viewport of the antique Armored Personnel Carrier as he drove slowly through the carnage. A sullen and moody red sun was just rising over the scorching dusty gray ruins of the Arushan Outer District neighborhood.
He had been trained to use the heavy old vehicle years ago should disasters arise in the capital city. His superiors had surmised then that riots, or much less likely, a volcanic eruption might someday menace the megacity.
But he knew this was neither.
His latest crew of five ragtag volunteer rescuers sat quietly behind him, likely all contemplating their certain impending demise. An hour earlier at the comparative safety of the Armory, they had watched in stunned silence when he returned with the previous crew of mortally radiation-sickened rescuers and, by then, the three expired ‘survivors’ that had been pried out of the wreckage.
Everyone seemed to sense the futility of the rescue operation, but the radiation levels were so high that any attempt to escape by fleeing would certainly be fatal as well.
In a strange twist of luck he had survived the blast because he had forgotten to salute his Commander when the pompous old fool had unexpectedly stopped by his office in the early evening. As punishment for his minor lapse in protocol, the old man had ordered him to stay late and tend to some filing in the basement Records Room. Although the building had collapsed around him, he’d managed to crawl out.
He’d been the only survivor at the district headquarters and had since put himself in charge of the hopeless rescue effort. Like most of the residents of Arusha, he was merely a serf; his life meant nothing.
Three trips earlier, he’d spotted a few ghastly looking victims staggering around what he presumed was the site of the tourist hotel. The crew had spent twenty minutes collecting the survivors and loading them into the vehicle while he waited inside. When they reached the Armory, the rescuers were nearly indistinguishable from the victims.
Unquestionably he too would soon suffer the same fate.
• • •
“This will lead to riots,” Chief Inspector Helga Bennet muttered to herself as she sat alone in her somber darkened office.
She undoubtedly held the dubious honor of being the first person in Free City to learn of the catastrophe.
It had all started hours ago, while she was engaged in a heated late evening conference call with Inspector Second Class Zara Kamchatka in Nairobi and Liaison Agent Hugo Mackillroy in New Rome regarding the investigation into the assassination of Madame Kufuzu.
Mac had definitely linked the murder to some sort of plot that was a foot to kill the Warlord of EurAfrica. He and Zara had been arguing about who would track down a few feeble leads in Arusha when it happened.
Helga had recalled that the image on her desktop screen of the wilily w
oman Inspector in East Africa had strangely flicked and briefly faded before returning to normal. When the unusual communication anomaly had passed, Zara had an uncommon look of terror.
“There was a flash and now the ground is shaking!” she’d yelled before fleeing.
While Zara was escaping from the trembling building in Nairobi, Mac had quickly checked the seismic and satellite information for East Africa and relayed his findings that indeed some sort of huge blast had occurred in neighboring Arusha.
Helga had notified the Prime Minister of the disaster shortly afterwards and set about shifting through all available details. Information quickly surfaced about the extremely high radiation levels near the blast. Helga sent Zara to the University of Nairobi and a High Energy Physics Professor there confirmed her fears that most likely stolen antimatter from the Lunar Lab was to blame for the destruction of the EurAfrican capital.
In the ensuing hours, Helga had talked to dozens of Inspectors and Agents on Earth and elsewhere; all reported the horrified shock and revulsion of the locals upon learning of the sneak attack.
Disturbingly, several incidences of vandalism and vicious vigilantly justice had already surfaced in outlying areas.
24. News Item: Sabbatical for beloved professor
Dateline: 3rd of August, 2445; Free City University, Free City, Earth
Free City University’s much-idolized Professor Malcolm Evans of the Department of Advanced Applied Molecular Biology unexpectedly announced today that he would begin an unscheduled sabbatical effective immediately.
The revered instructor revealed that he and two associates would be tending to an unusual and pressing new opportunity at an undisclosed research site in the remote Trojan Asteroid Field.
School of Biology officials wished Professor Evans well in his upcoming endeavor and announced that Professor Suzuki would take over his teaching responsibilities for the rest of the academic year.
Classes will proceed as normal beginning next week.
25. Extortion “My requirements are modest, for now,” the fuzzy video image of Dimitri Verhovnyi continued, “I must receive a good faith payment of one million Standard Units from each of the six fiefdoms by midnight Titan time or I shall let loose further destruction.”
Ryo paused the recording that Helga had forwarded to the Seiran and studied his horrified crewmates. “The message is three days old.”
Keira stared at the old Investigator in panic, “Did everyone pay him off in time?”
“Fortunately yes.” Ryo glared at the frozen image of the madman, “EurAfrica was the only fiefdom that didn’t comply immediately; mainly because the capital city is in ruins. To stave off potential bombardment, the New Roman City Council sent the bribe for their entire fiefdom.”
He rubbed his forehead in dismay, “Helga said that the Free City Municipal government sent an offering as well, apparently to avoid any ambiguities that could lead to the fair city’s demise.”
Lev’s head slumped onto Keira's shoulder. He had barely spoken since they had learned of the catastrophe that had claimed the jewel of EurAfrica.
Ryo sighed, “I’m sorry to say that there is more.” He restarted the recording.
The Outer Reaches Warlord sneered, “If anyone should foolishly attempt to circumvent my wishes or harm me in any way, dozens of these devices will rain upon the fiefdoms in a most malicious torrent of death.”
The message ended abruptly.
“Could he really have so many weapons?” Keira asked.
Lev shook his head, “No, judging by Carla’s original Gravitational observations, probably only 3 or 4 of the Tau blockbusters.”
Ryo nodded in agreement.
“But,” Lev added ominously, “he may have plenty of the more common and difficult to detect standard matter/antimatter weapons that were leftover from the Second Amero-Asian War.”
Ryo stared pensively out at the rubbly vastness of the Asteroid Belt, “I’m afraid that this puts an especially keen edge on our hunt for the pirates and the Butin Belle.”
“Right now, we’re the only people who could put an end to this madness.”
• • •
“Son of a bitch!” Olin Gristle protested loudly when the message light on the control panel of the Butin Belle began to blink again. “How many friggin’ times is he going to check up on us?”
Fortunately due to the time delay of many hours, the nagging Warlord could not communicate directly with Captain Gristle.
Olin steadied himself and viewed the latest of the eight messages that Dimitri Verhovnyi had sent in the past dozen hours.
“Gristle, I need those devices now!” the Warlord shouted in panic. “If someone discovers that I’m bluffing...” his voice trailed off in despair. Dimitri forced an uneasy smile, “Let me know as soon as they’re ready.”
The Captain shook his head in contempt, if the Shipjacks had managed to get the Lightning to the rendezvous in the Asteroid Belt on time then his slaves from the lunar lab would have had more than enough time to build Dimitri’s weapons.
After several seconds of irritation, Gristle deleted the message. He wouldn’t even bother to look in on Boz and the slaves on the Lightning.
Persistent pestering on behalf of their jittery employer would not go well with his recalcitrant First Mate.
• • •
“Yes, Prime Minister,” Chief Inspector Helga Bennet assured the head of the Free City government at the hastily arranged meeting, “the Inquisitor’s Office is tracking down the explosives.”
The venerable leader nodded, “We have a second group attempting to covertly stop Dimitri Verhovnyi.”
Helga’s bushy eyebrows arched up, “The CRAMP, I assume.”
“Indeed; we’ve loaned them a particularly fast prototype interceptor spacecraft.” The Prime Minister winced, “Let’s hope they are successful.”
• • •
“With the receipt of the good faith payments, all have avoided destruction for now,” Dimitri derided as he began recording his second proclamation.
“Each fiefdom must now send an official delegation to the Titan Palace to pay tribute to my elevated status as the Supreme Exalted Ruler of All Humanity.”
He smiled menacingly, “Fiefdoms that fail to deliver suitable offerings and envoys shall risk punishment.”
The door to his chamber creaked open.
Dimitri frowned, his concentration on the extravagant demands had been broken. The Warlord of the Outer Reaches, recently self-appointed as Supreme Exalted Ruler of All Humanity swiveled around for the source of the unwelcome interruption.
His slave girl cowered at the door obviously aware of her unfortunate transgression.
“GET OUT!”
The heavy door slammed shut.
Dimitri fumed as he collected himself.
He restarted the recording, “With the receipt of the good faith payments...”
• • •
“You will work here,” Boz pointed to the well-equipped maintenance compartment.
Jana nodded as she appraised the facility located off of the labyrinth of passageways somewhere in the huge robotic space tanker. “Where do we get parts and supplies?”
The First Mate spread his hands, “Scrounge whatever you want from this heap. We’ve got three and a half trillion Units of stolen hardware here that ain’t never gonna be seen again.” He smirked at his lone prisoner, “You and your friends will of course have a grouchy pirate or two tagging along when you hunt for parts.”
“Naturally,” Jana nodded.
They drifted into the workroom.
“What is it that you would like for us to build, Boz?”
The First Mate tapped on a wall mounted display screen and a see-through image of a small and sturdy looking sphere appeared.
Jana studied the image of the complex device for many minutes. She pointed at the tiny speck in the center of mechanism, “This is anti-tau iron.”
“You’re not as stupid as you
look,” the pirate mocked.
Just as Jana had feared, she and the others were now expected to create an unimaginably destructive miniature weapon. “Where are we going to find tau iron?”
“We brought it all with us from the moon lab, sweetheart,” he gloated.
• • •
The trio onboard the Seiran had spent twelve grueling hours scanning the miniscule sector of the Asteroid Belt for any signs of gravitational abnormalities and the elusive Butin Belle.
Ryo looked up hopefully at Keira as she concentrated on the wide sweep radar screen. “Anything?”
She shook her head in dismay.
“Lev?” the old Inspector called back to the young man awkwardly pressed into the tightly packed gravitational survey compartment that had been hastily added to the ship.
“Nothing.”
Ryo slumped in defeat. All of humanity depended on their uncertain luck in locating and stopping the fugitives and hopefully retrieving the stolen antimatter.
Keira stared at him sympathetically. “If I was going to hide out from the law,” she pointed at the vast and slowly tumbling multitude of mountain-sized boulders that stretched out beyond the porthole, “I’d do it out there.”
26. News Item: Megalomaniac of the Outer Reaches
Dateline: 8th of August, 2445; Vesta, The Asteroid Belt and Jupiter Colonies
With the heinous obliteration of Arusha and the unforgivable slaughter of so many Africans only a week ago, the fury of the inhabitants of Vesta in the Asteroid Belt and Jupiter Colonies has risen to a most vindictive level.
Scores of angry miners ransacked the local headquarters of the Outer Reaches Trade Representative last night, killing two scummy henchmen of the villainous Warlord who were unfortunate enough to be in the offices at the time of the riot.
Indifferent Vestan police officers watched the mob carry out the lawless deeds. Several patrolmen reportedly loaned their weapons to the miners to aid in the summary justice.
Many of the rioters vowed to take up arms and storm the far off Titan Palace with the hopes of casting off the tight new noose of tyranny that has recently slipped around the neck of humanity.
