Miranda's Demons

by Ian Miller

  Well said. But that won't stop me trying to work out the basis of this field. Trouble is, where do I start? It's like an ancient Greek working out circuit theory based on water flows, but having no idea how to generate electricity!

  "Of course, some of you will have observed that you cannot use the new drive you have because to do so would lead to your ships flying to pieces, or your own deaths from the acceleration forces. Commissioner Kotchetkova," and here Gaius turned towards Natasha and smiled, "made an impassioned plea to the local Ulsian community, and that plea has been answered. Each of your ships will be fitted with an Ulsian inertial equivalence unit, with which, irrespective of the ship's acceleration, you will sustain no more than one g downwards. You will fight the battle with the comfort of sitting in an office chair." Forced laughter rang out through the audience.

  "There is an added benefit," Gaius continued, "and that is the unit can convert your cockpit into an escape pod. If your ship is about to be destroyed, you have a reasonable chance of being ejected to safety. If it succeeds, you will be put temporarily into suspended animation while the system re-engineers itself, then you will wake up with some food and drink. Do not attempt to leave the pod. You will find you cannot easily, but if you try, you may inadvertently open the system to the outside. Most of these pods will be in a total vacuum, and death will be immediate. You will have noted I said these offered a reasonable chance; there is no guarantee of success, as it depends on whether the pod collides with anything else. Finally, on this subject, do not tamper with the units in your craft; their secret must be kept, and they are programmed to destroy you rather than yield their secrets."

  And that's telling me!

  "Now, in front of you are your own battle plans. You should all have a very clear idea of what you have to do. I want each of you to follow the plan, but remember, the plan only visualizes the first few minutes of the battle for each of you. You each have objectives; stay in your flights, and each of your commanders will have to decide how to achieve those objectives. Some objectives are more crucial than others, and your commanders will have to make on the spot choices of which targets to go for. Whether we win or lose now depends on whether you can take the opportunities as they come, and press home any advantage we get.

  "Let me be clear on this. Winning depends on doing sufficient damage to them that they can't continue in any meaningful way. Each of you must forget about the fact you cannot seem to destroy their ships. Your advantage is in numbers. You will bring death by a thousand cuts rather than any single king hit, unless you are extraordinarily lucky. Each cut is important. Hit them in a vital spot if you can, but whatever else you do, hit them, and don't mess around doing it. You're here to kick their arses, so as soon as you get the chance, kick. And once you've let go your ammunition, clear out as fast as you can.

  "Finally, good luck to you all."

  And we're going to need every bloody ounce we can get!

  Chapter 13

  Had there been an observer on the lip of a small crater on this asteroid, they would have seen nothing extraordinary apart from the strange structure inside the crater. This structure was effectively rails surrounded by giant coils. These coils accelerated a small wagon, and it ran along the rails until it stopped, at which point it released its load into space, in short it was a rather sophisticated catapult. At the base there was a robotic device that would pick up one object from one of two piles and place it on the wagon when it returned. The rail itself was mounted on a rather strange array of further rails, one structure that could alter the angle of the rail from about 20 degrees to the horizon to ninety degrees, and another that could rotate the whole device through a circle. Had the observer cast his eyes away from this rather strange crater, he would have seen a very limited view. In the very close foreground, there was dark grey rock, which was very pockmarked and covered by a fine dust. Had the observer picked up the dust and dropped it, it would drift very slowly but gracefully back to the surface, thus showing the very weak gravitational field, and all would drift down, leaving nothing suspended, thus showing there was no gas present. If the observer looked in one direction, the horizon was about two hundred meters away, and this was a ridge that marked the start of a new crater. At about seventy degrees to the right, however, the horizon was approximately two kilometers away, showing the asteroid to be shaped somewhat like an elongated potato. If the observer was to look up in any direction they would see numerous bright and dim points of light, and if they looked for any length of time they would see that the asteroid was rotating, with a period of approximately five hours. Had they been able to circle the asteroid they would see that there were five such craters containing the rail catapults.

  Had they searched into space for other asteroids they would have been disappointed. Some could be seen, but only as faint dots in the sky. Had they searched into space for vessels they would have seen nothing, but the vessels were there. Had they searched for enemy vessels, nothing would have been seen and they would have reached the wrong conclusion for the enemy was coming. Human senses were irrelevant to this battle, which would be fought almost entirely by instruments.

  Marisa Robeiro was barely awake when the klaxon blared. In her half asleep state, she tried to leap from the bunk, only to drift violently upwards and collide with the ceiling. A vigorous flailing, and she was speeding back toward the floor. Desperately she grasped the end of the bed and steadied herself, then, after pausing to breathe freely, she gave herself a more controlled nudge towards the door. She grabbed the head of her pressure suit, opened the door, and slithered out into the tubular corridor. Thirty metres away, at the end of this gigantic gun barrel, was the hatch she had to reach. She faced the hatch, held her arms up before her, and with an expert kick against a small protruding pad, she began drifting, like a diver about to enter the water, towards the far end. She swung herself around on the door, and gently flicked herself onwards towards the command centre.

  While the command centre was located in a small sized asteroid, there was nothing small about the centre itself. Everything had duplicate back up, and the centre received all available information from every location in the battlefield.

  The screens showed the black of space, with the usual mixture of brilliant and faint stars. Contrary to a widely held view, the asteroid belt was essentially empty space. Occasionally another asteroid might be visible as a faint point of light, and although there were quite a number of objects little better than large rocks, you knew they were there only because you were told. Around this asteroid there were nearby clusters of small asteroids, but the clusters were artificial and had been dutifully assembled for this battle. Looking away from the sun, to the left were two such clusters, in front and slightly to the left was another, while to the right were three more. These clusters each consisted of a collection of large rocks connected by steel wire to a central asteroid. On the central asteroid of each cluster was a giant rail gun. This line of defence was perhaps the most ancient known to man; they were going to throw stones at the enemy. The stones were larger and the slings more massive than anything in history, but they were still throwing stones. There were subtle differences between most of these and historical stones; these stones had been blackened to have the lowest albedo possible. A less subtle difference was that some were not stones at all.

  Slightly to the right, and four kilometers ahead, the Earth fleet was lined up, exactly as Marisa had described it to Troy. The two Ranhynn vessels could be seen, together with the captured M'starn vessels. In fact, these alien vessels were decoys; the genuine Ranhynn vessels and the two Ulsian ships, disguised as small asteroids, were away to the left, and above the planetary plane at a distance of three thousand kilometers. Also, above the planetary plane, were two wings of Terran ships not described to Troy.

  * * *

  At first, all Marisa could see was the black of space, with its thousands of unblinking little lights. She stared towards Gemini, but she could only see stars. Someo
ne mentioned Taurus, and again she stared.

  "What is it?" she asked. "I don't see a thing."

  "Watch Epsilon Tauri," someone said. "By my calculations, in about two minutes."

  She watched, but nothing happened. The two minutes elapsed, and nothing happened. Two and a half minutes. Three minutes. Then, suddenly, the star disappeared, to equally suddenly reappear, disappear again, reappear again, and this repeated three times.

  "Good work," she nodded to the young observer. "Key in the data to the computer, and give me an estimate of the trajectory."

  It appeared that, as predicted by Gaius, the enemy fleet was approaching very slowly. There was no point in using interstellar speeds when attempting to engage in battle; all that would happen would be that the targets move to one side, and the attackers speed futilely by, perhaps sustaining damage while doing so from mines left in their path. At such high speeds, even a rock projected into their path at the last minute could have the ability to cripple a ship.

  The planned response was simple; the Earth fleet known to be present began to retreat and move to the right, right defined as counter-orbital vector while facing Uranus. It was required to give the impression that they would try to avoid combat, and disappear off down the right flank towards Uranus. The M'starn took the bait. They had nineteen vessels in three wings; wings one and two, with six and seven ships respectively, swung around cautiously to attempt interception. The Terran fleet saw this, and began to retreat, and at the same time divided into two unequal wings. The M'starn wings began to close more quickly.

  Marisa placed her hand on the array of firing controls, and launched her first two rocks. These came from the left, and sped towards the starboard bow of the leading ship of the second wing. The leading M'starn ship swung its armament around, and fired. The rocks were atomized. More rocks were fired, with a similar result, but the rocks had done their job. The enemy ships were drifting sideways, with their noses pointed towards the perceived danger. Then, suddenly, one wing of the retreating fleet thrust forward, towards the exposed rear port side of the enemy vessels. Too late they recognized their danger; the Terran vessels scattered, and from all directions lunged towards the great black shapes. They zigged and zagged between the enemy beams, and occasionally one would be too slow or would guess wrong, and the glow of its disintegrating parts showed the price it paid. But many got close and began firing their missiles. Three missiles struck home; two sent their strangely charmed crystals speeding into the sides of one M'starn vessel to virtually peel the side off the ship.

  Then the Terran ships began to retreat, except for one. The timid Shultz twisted and turned as the beams tore past him. Closer and closer, until he disappeared underneath one of the leading ships. His craft was spun around, and as it drifted out past the rear of the enemy vessel, Shultz fired all his missiles into the motor area. There were two simultaneous flashes: Shultz's ship was vaporized, and the great M'starn ship sent out a tremendous jet of matter as it flung itself away, to disappear in the direction of Pisces.

  As the M'starn now concentrated on this new threat, another barrage of rocks approached the rear of their ships. Two struck the second ship from the rear, and gaping holes were torn in the ship. Cheers erupted throughout the command centre, as the ship seemed to rotate inertly in space. Marisa allowed herself to wave her arms in the air, and she almost began to drift upwards, as in her joy she had almost broken the magnetic hold to the floor. But there was more to do, much more. Her eyes returned to the screen, to watch the still inert ship rotating and drifting away from the fleet.

  Suddenly the truth dawned. It was a dead ship, but not because of the two rocks. No rocks could do that. It was a decoy, and that meant there were other ships elsewhere. The other fleet and Gaius covered left and right, above was Harry. That left behind and below, and there were numerous detectors behind. She peered at the empty vastness displayed on those screens being totally ignored by the remaining observers. Then she saw it; a brief burst of the drives.

  "Hold all rail guns! Rocks first, quick missile reload!" she commanded, and carried out a quick calculation. She moved the target crosses to a new piece of screen, and systematically fired a barrage of rocks.

  The black shapes sped up from below, totally ignoring the rocks. One rock made a direct hit on the third ship, but this made little more than a dent in the side of the ship, which, like the other M'starn ships, was firing all weaponry at the Terran fighters. One after another of the Terran ships would suddenly become incandescent, before being extinguished forever. The second barrage of rocks was also ignored, as the M'starn ships switched their attack onto another wing of Earth ships.

  These looked like rocks, and travelled like rocks, but just as they passed within closest approach, the computer in each rock selected a target, and fired two missiles in close succession, each containing a one hundred and fifty megaton hydrogen bomb. Too late the M'starn recognized the danger. Their weaponry attacked the missiles, and scored four hits, but two pairs broke through, and the direct hits were scored in the motor housing area. Because the main drive units were still functioning, the disruption caused showers of quark jets tearing through the interior of the ships. The great black shapes became brighter than a thousand suns, only to disappear momentarily later into the black of space.

  As the earth fleet retreated to regroup, the cost became apparent. One and a half wings were totally destroyed or ineffective, while an equal number of ships were seriously damaged. Almost thirty percent of the defending fighters had been lost in a little over thirty seconds. While the retreating ships twisted and turned, Marisa fired four more rocks. This time, the enemy ignored the rocks, and concentrated on the fleet, which was now retreating at speed. It was then that Marisa launched six of the non-rocks, one from each cluster.

  This was the trigger for the next planned move, the fourth wing of the visible fleet attacked; their targets were the two vessels partly damaged by the first attack. At the same time, from the distance, the unknown blackened wing launched its attack.

  * * *

  Cornelius van Lugt had led his flight towards the M'starn fleet, and was wondering whether he had started too soon. That would have forced an awkward decision; proceed, and risk becoming entangled with their own hydrogen bombs, or turn back, and risk being caught going the wrong way when the signal came. And then it came. The blinding lights ahead were by far the brightest objects in view, and they would characterize not only the location of the enemy, but also the spread. He flicked the attack signal switch, and pushed the throttle fully open. He could feel the ship straining; the ship vibrated madly as the design was only intended to hold such power for a matter of hours. This was a one-flight ship, and the pilots could only pray that the engineers could count that far.

  He peered ahead into the blackness. Nothing! If they moved? But no, they could not move without firing their motors. He knew the direction they had come from, he knew their speed, he knew where they were at detonation, therefore they would be where expected. But why couldn't his sensors see them?

  There! A weapon being fired. More! They're close! There in front, were the huge black shapes. Cornelius quickly eyed the spread of the enemy, and turned slightly to port. His duty was clear. He had to select the most central enemy ship. There it was, swimming slowly towards him. Suddenly, there was a blinding light. The M'starn was beginning to fire his motors. The photochromic viewer had protected his eyes, but the brightness was such that he could see nothing else. The vibrations in the ship were dramatically worse; he could feel the front straining, but it was holding. Closer! The enemy was turning. He kicked the foot control, swinging the ship slightly to starboard, then he lifted the nose. His ship was speeding straight into the centre of the light. He fired both missiles. Everything went black.

  He felt as though he was waking up without having been asleep, and he seemed uninjured. There was a gentle cream glow around him. Was he dead? Was this heaven?

  "Welcome, Cornelius," a soft voi
ce said.

  "Where am I?"

  "In an escape pod," the voice said, reassuringly. "There is food and drink available to your right."

  "What happened? Did I get the ship?"

  "You did. Both missiles entered the motor regions, just as they were firing up their main drive. Their motors exploded. That destroyed your ship."

  "And the rest of the attack?"

  "Turn on the screen over there if you wish, and you can follow the battle. But do not concern yourself; for you it is over. Provided we win, eventually you will be collected."

  * * *

  Harry stared at the screen in front of him. The position was now clearer. Of the three enemy wings, one was intact, but had not committed itself to joining the battle. Apart from a number of inert decoys, which were now clearly identifiable, there remained one wing containing four ships, all damaged, while the remaining wing contained four undamaged ships. It was time to commit his ships. He signalled his suggested strategy option to Marisa, and waited. There was a pause, then the agreement came back. He signalled to Winters, then sent the battle stations signal through his ship.

  Both Earth fleets now committed themselves to attacking the undamaged M'starn wing. As they approached in a pincer type movement, the M'starn ships swung themselves around, and began firing. Five earth ships were destroyed as they approached on virtually straight-line trajectories, while the remaining ships twisted and turned, using their superior manoeuvrability to save themselves. Missiles were fired, but only two struck home. Still the attack was pressed, and more missiles were fired. Two more hits were made, and one M'starn ship had a weapons centre destroyed. But Terran ship after ship was struck, and they were forced to fall back, still firing but firing ineffectually.