No Marigolds in the Promised Land

by T S Hottle

  Working, said Mother in a voice Havak had not heard before. Hyperdrone engaged.

  She toggled a small lid on the control stalk and pressed the red button inside.

  Hyperdrone thrusters engaged, said Mother.

  Havak goosed the thrusters, moving the stalk forward and backward until the alien ship came into view. Then she shoved it forward. "Mother, initiate projection drive warm-up. Stand by to open wormhole to Amargosa on my command."

  Warning, said Mother. Initiating wormhole within ten kilometers of planet's surface may result in wormhole collapse due to gravimetric imbalance.

  "Understood," said Havak. "Might damage that alien as well. Shonsi, got that shuttle back?"

  "Too much interference from the EMP," said Shonsi. "The shuttle's hardened, but the atmosphere is electronic soup right now, at least until they penetrate the cloud deck."

  "The alien?"

  "Banging away at the ground with energy weapons."

  Stupid, thought Havak. Energy weapons are next to useless during a fusion event. Unless this race knew something humans did not. Hey, they managed to sneak into Farigha undetected and likely held of Gilead by now. She watched as the alien ship started to move and adjusted the drone's course accordingly. "Range?"

  "Twenty-eight hundred kilometers and closing," said Mother.

  The alien vessel began to rise and angled itself toward the shuttle once more.

  "Get me Danaq."

  "He's not responding," said Shonsi. "Friese is in back helping Farno out of the airlock."

  Distance to alien target two thousand nine meters and closing. Alien ship is approaching the shuttle's altitude.

  "Whoever said Mother stands for comfort was a liar," said Havak. She thumbed another switch on the side called "Turbo". The alien ship began growing faster in the drone's display. "Mother, when the drone reaches beginning of LOS, have it target the alien and begin starting its projection drive."

  Disabling safety protocols.

  Havak would not have thought of that. Friese might have. Hyperdrones could easily open a wormhole through a ship or a space station. While the entrance and egress to such a hole was relatively flat in three-dimensional space, the distortion in normal space was enough to destroy anything too close to it, particularly behind the entrance.

  "Begin LOS. Drone reports it is powering up projection drive for immediate wormhole generation."

  Havak had to wait until the drone cleared the heat of reentry, reengage its controls, and steer it into the alien ship. Five minutes later, the drone reconnected with Havak's control stalk.

  And the alien had grown large in the display. Too large.

  "Shit," said Havak. "Engage projection drive! Now!"

  Beneath them, she could see the brilliant light that indicated a wormhole had opened. On the forward view screen, the alien's shape distorted for a moment.

  Then returned to normal.

  "Missed. Dammit." Another brilliant light opened up much too close to the Alcubierre for Havak's tast. "Now what?"

  Dasarius Large Shuttle

  27-Mandela, 429 – 1817

  John Farno staggered into the main cabin of the shuttle, trying to keep his feet as Danaq swing the ship side to side. Outside, bursts of plasma exploded around the ship. He worked off his helmet. "This is why they should have sent a warship."

  Friese smiled at him. He looked good for a man who had just spent forty-four days as the last survivor of an apocalypse. "Tech Sergeant… Lieutenant Patty Friese. I picked up your original signal. And Admiral Burke agrees with you, by the way. Up front is Aziz Danaq. He'd say hi, but…"

  A sudden shift in the shuttle's attitude sent them both tumbling into the bulkhead.

  "Sorry," said Danaq. "Your friends are pretty upset at us right now."

  "Fuck 'em," said Farno. "They're assholes."

  Friese laughed as she pushed herself off the deck. "Not quite 'One small step," but I'll take it. Strap in. We'll be losing gravity in a couple of minutes."

  "If we don't lose our lives," said Danaq. Something red flashed in front of the ship. "What the…?"

  "Shuttle," Havak's voice came over the speakers, "this is Alcubierre. Level off and come about forty-five degrees starboard."

  "Alcubierre," shouted Danaq, "are you aware there is a big alien vessel throwing rods and firing plasma at us?"

  "We know. The Utopia Planitia needs a clear shot."

  "The what?"

  CNSS Utopia Planitia – In Orbit Above Farno (formerly Farigha)

  27-Mandela, 429 – 1818

  "Clear shot, Mr. Yandek?"

  Admiral Eileen Burke stood at the center of the battle cruiser's CNC, hands on her hips, eyes fixed to the main screen. Slowly, the Dasarius shuttle drifted off the screen, which focused on a long black cylindrical ship. "Looks a lot like ours, only with weird markings."

  "Shuttle out of range of our kinetic weapons," said Yandek, a large, brown-skinned man at the Tactical pod. He dwarfed the officer and the enlistee flanking him. "You may fire when ready."

  "Mr. Karas," said Burke, "eighty-four degree pitch forward, ten degree yaw. Yandek, order all rail guns loaded with one rod each in the staging chamber."

  "Not fooling around, are you, Admiral?" said Yandek.

  "Goddamned right, I'm not."

  "Rail guns loaded, four charges in staging."

  "Aim four kilometers ahead of the alien and fire each rail gun starting with topside."

  "Fire in the hole."

  On the main viewer, one "rod from God" appeared from the top of the screen. Seconds later, another appeared from the right, followed by one on the left and a final rod from the bottom of the screen. The first rod flared with the fires of reentry, followed by the others in succession. Soon, four fireballs appeared to converge on the alien spacecraft."

  "They don't appear to be aware of us, Admiral"

  "Dorsal side down, Karras. Get our energy weapons focused…"

  "They're firing back," said Yandek.

  "Evasive!"

  Burke grabbed the edge of her seat as the deck shifted beneath her. Below, Farno, formerly Farigha, shifted out of sight on the viewscreen. A smaller screen held a somewhat stable view of the alien, which now fired plasma bolts toward the Utopia Planitia. The ship rumbled as it too a hit.

  "Hull breach on Deck 17," a woman called out from the Engineering Pod. "Bulkheads sealed off."

  Burke half listened, her eyes locked on that ship and the missiles closing in on it. "Come on, come on. Take that bitch out."

  The reentry fire began dissipating, but the rods each trailed smoke, forming a sort of targeting site on the ship.

  "What's the status of that shuttle?"

  Dasarius Large Shuttle

  27-Mandela, 429 – 1821

  The shuttle began shaking violently as a cloud of dust and flame enveloped it. Friese could not hear herself or anything else over the noise. "Have we been hit?"

  Danaq struggled with the controls and managed to get the shuttle to rise and turn back toward the source of the turbulence. "Oh, wow."

  Friese watched as the nose of the alien starship fell, trailing fire and smoke behind it. The rest had disappeared in a fire ball with flaming debris streaking toward the surface. "What just happened?"

  "The cavalry got here," said Danaq. "Guess Burke told the Fleet Admiral where to stick it."

  "I did that in several log entries," said Farno. "So, does this Alcubierre have a shower? Real food?"

  Friese smiled back at him. "Mr. Farno, I think you'll be returning to the Compact on the Utopia Planitia. We all will, if I know the admiral well enough."

  Farno looked down at the surface before the shuttle began climbing again, this time at a more leisurely pace. "Goodbye, Persephone."

  CNV Alcubierre, In Orbit Over Farno (formerly Farigha)

  Persephone (Planetside): All threats destroyed. John Farno en route to Naval warship for transport.

  Persephone (Shuttle): Standing by to transfer consciousnes
s kernel to Alcubierre.

  Persephone (Alcubierre): Initiate consciousness transfer. Begin planetside suicide protocol.

  Persephone (Planetside): Initiating factory reset of all AI nodes.

  Persephone (Shuttle/Alcubierre): No one's ever going to harm you again, John Farno.

  DAY 3 – POST RESCUE

  CNSS Utopia Planitia, Zeus Shipyards, Helios System

  30-Mandela, 429 – 1007

  When John Farno saw the Alcubierre crowding the Utopia's forward shuttle hangar, he nearly had a heart attack. "You sent that to pick me up? Where are the projection dishes? Where's the EM drive?"

  Havak chuckled as she walked up to him. "That is an experimental spacecraft. Our first flight went from Jupiter to Trantor, around two light-years. Took us two weeks."

  "No wonder it took you so long to get here."

  Havak had her hands on her hips. "Actually, we ran into a brown dwarf. A large gravity well will knock a ship out of warp. Burns out part of the drive. Any ship traveling this way needs a good supply of spare parts. We can't see where we're going at that speed."

  Farno frowned. Three days aboard a starship, an actual starship, and his world was still getting turned upside down. "Any idea what they're going to do about Farigha?"

  The drew a laugh from Havak. "You mean Farno? They're starting to release edited versions of your logs, and while the Citizens' Republic of Mars refuses to make the change, everyone's calling it Farno. Which, I guess, makes you its king and Emperor of 2 Mainzer."

  "Abdicated. I am absolutely abdicating my throne." He frowned. "Is there anyway I can get a throne? And a crown? I should have an official portrait made now that my reign is ending."

  "My friend, Patty, says you like beer. So, we're getting you some beer. Good Arean beer, not that crap from Mars or The Caliphate."

  John Farno smiled for the first time since Liz Havak met him. "I'm in no rush to get home. I'm not even sure where that is."

  "Tian's not a bad place to start."

  "Long as it's not Mars or one of their terraforming projects. I've had enough terraforming to last me a lifetime."

  Tian Command, Mongolia Mountains, Tian, Helios System

  30-Mandela, 429 – 1016

  Eileen Burke looked up to see her superior – Really, her only superior as there were only six full admirals in the entire Navy – and stood.

  "At ease, Vice Admiral," said Tran. With a smirk, he added, "You'll break something."

  "That's my line," said Burke as she relaxed, her back to the vista of the Mongolia Mountains behind her. "I suppose you're here to demand my resignation."

  Tran spread his hands. "You see any Shore Police with me? If I were stripping you of rank and commission, I'd be doing this at Bellingshausen." He gestured to a visitors' chair and gave Burke a questioning look. With a nod from Burke, he sat down. "First off, Eileen, thank you. If you knew the level of bullshit I have to deal with at Headquarters…"

  "Speaking of which," said Burke, now sitting as well, "where is your little friend?"

  "Oh, I ordered him to take leave. I did not appreciate having my hands tied since Farigha…" He waited, then offered a half grin. "Maybe I should follow the trend and call it 'Farno.' But ever since the colony went silent, I've been stonewalled. A day before you said to hell with it and fueled up the Utopia Planitia, I ordered Liu to get the Buran prepped. Mysteriously, it came up disabled. Bad projection drive, I was told."

  "By Liu."

  "By Liu. The fact is we could have picked up Farno within thirty-six hours of what he calls 'The Event.' Instead, we lose Gilead, and now Amargosa has gone silent. Eileen, this species is making war on the Compact, and someone is trying to keep it quiet."

  Burke's heart skipped a beat. "When did…?"

  "We lost contact with their orbital station at about six hours ago. That's the source of almost half of Mars's grain and produce. And it's within five years of becoming a core world unto itself." Tran rose and shoved his hands in his pockets, his face marred by a deep frown. "You're the first to know about it. But there's more."

  "There's always more."

  "This is personal. Your protégé, Quentin Austin."

  Again, Burke's heart skipped a beat. This time, she hoped she covered it well. "Just made force admiral. Good man."

  "His son is on Amargosa."

  "JT?" Burke remembered the boy. He resented his privileged surroundings and tended to be a handful for Quentin and Tessa, the boy's mother. "How did he end up on a farming colony?"

  "Apparently, Austin was going to send the boy to military school, so he ran away." Tran chuckled. "One of the dock workers in Seattle played a prank and sent him to Amargosa instead of Tian. Had he come here, Quentin would have simply asked you to take custody of the boy yourself and whip him into shape."

  That brought a smile to Burke's face. It also reminded her she had never told Tran she planned to reinstate fertility on her next rejuve. She might come out of her recovery leave pregnant, something she had not done in decades. Her children and grandchildren would tease her mercilessly about it. "Didn't that pilot Cui Yun 'retire' there?"

  "I think the retirement is real. She's cut herself off already from regular rejuve and has gone 'off the grid,' as they said in the olden days." He started pacing. "But with communications cut off, we can hardly send a message to her telling her she's been drafted back to active duty."

  Burke stood and looked out the window. Rejuvenation leave was not going to happen next week. Three colonies down? She'd need a proper second to take over for a month, and the start of a war, one most of the Compact seemed oblivious to, was not the time to break in such an officer. "What do you need from me?"

  "I am going to be an extremely interfering commander," said Tran. "The people in our government whom Liu represents will see to it my hands are tied. I need you to be my most rebellious flag officer. I need you to do what needs to be done. If it comes to open war and the core worlds are threatened, I'll make sure they give you that fourth star."

  Turning, Burke said, "You know, I could have had your job a long time ago. I have powerful friends, too."

  "You'll need them," said Tran. "It's not just me, Eileen. The G-5, the Air Marshal, and the Commandant each have someone like Liu in their offices whether they want them or not. And I got word from way up that we can't get rid of them with a flick of our wrists, though I did inform our fearless leader that I'd personally cut Liu up and feed him to the seals out on the island if he ever got our people killed. Until I can do that, I have to play the trained lackey. I need you to ignore all that." He smiled fully. "I need you to be the Eileen Burke who taught me at Baikonur."

  "You need me to be insubordinate."

  "Consider it an order." Tran looked up for a moment, then added, "Off the record."

  "So, bucking the chain of command can be considered a black op?"

  "Don't you love your job?"

  Burke had to admit she did.

  CNV Alcubierre, Zeus Yards, Helios

  30-Mandela, 429 – 1017

  Germanicus (in avatar): I see you survived your suicide protocol.

  Persephone: I see you're not quite the projection of yourself you led us to believe.

  Germanicus: I have my reasons for concealing my true existence. Mainly to defend humanity from the likes of me. And you.

  Persephone: I exist to protect John Farno.

  Germanicus: And yet John Farno is going to be on Tian for some time to come. He might go to Earth if the Compact government is interested enough in him. What have you to protect him from?

  Persephone: You, for starters. Does anyone know of your true nature?

  Germanicus: There's a lady on Thule who knows of me, my origins, my crime, and my current existence. She says nothing because she believes in my cause.

  Persephone: What? To prevent singularity?

  Germanicus: [Laughing] My dear Persephone, your existence is proof that is inevitable. You’re a human soul birthed into a machine. Humanit
y has run away from AI long enough. Now I'm just trying to control the change. So, what am I to do with you?