The Farthest City

by Daniel P Swenson

  Arbiter spread its fan. Despite its apparent lack of aerodynamics, it rose into the air and sped away. The crowd dispersed as the recycler waved them toward a door where the balcony attached to the disc.

  “Follow me,” it said.

  The recycler led them through the door into an all-too-familiar spherical space. Another circular platform. Overhead, the curved surfaces were lined with machinery. In a sense, they’d come all the way back to where they’d started this whole crazy journey. Or at least something like it.

  The recycler led them into the circle, then marched back to beyond the circle’s perimeter.

  “Where are you sending us?” Abby shouted.

  “Iron53Silicon27Carbon20meanradius5604equatorialsurfacegravity14.4siderealrotationperiod2.5, of course,” the recycler said.

  A box-like chine with several bifurcated arms manipulated a set of panels flickering with interactives.

  Chronicler touched Kellen’s shoulder. “Listen to me. Where you’re going, it will be difficult to survive.”

  “You said you were unregistered,” Kellen said accusingly.

  “I lied. In order to remain with all of you as long as possible.”

  “What is this place they’re sending us to?” Abby asked.

  “No time to explain,” Chronicler said. “Beware of malevolent chinery. Be safe. Be patient. We’ll come for you. Eventually, we’ll come for you.”

  “Be safe?” Abby asked.

  “You said you,” Kellen said. “Why not we? I thought you were coming with us.”

  “Ready to transmit,” the operator said.

  “Transmit,” the recycler said.

  Kellen tried to take a step toward Abby, but his feet remained planted as if glued in place. A force sought to press him down to the floor.

  “It’s happening again!” he shouted.

  The air shimmered as it had on the platform beneath Jesup. Light filled his eyes until he was blinded, but this time, there was no roaring in his ears, no pain. Time seemed unimportant, memories falling into bins and stacks cross-linked by long-ago emotions.

  What now? he thought. Where now?

  Chapter 14 – Codec

  Sheemi gasped, trying without success to fill her lungs. Voices called her name. She looked into Fu’s calm, compassionate face. Her vision dimmed, and everything went oozy.

  “Jimmy told us you’d gone EVA,” Jerrold said.

  “Get her back inside!” Neecie yelled.

  “She needs oxygen,” Ash shot back. “Use the aux.”

  The air came back, and she could inhale again. Air, lovely air. She’d never known how much she could miss it.

  They had her back in the lock. Someone detached her helmet, then they removed her suit.

  “Make way, people!” someone shouted.

  Ciib looked down at her. Good eyes, she thought again, kind eyes.

  “You did good, Sheemi,” he said.

  She smiled through cracked lips.

  “What was Enzo trying to do?” Colonel Go asked.

  Her body convulsed, teeth chattering. She waited for her body to calm. “Flickering hexagons. Never seen them before. He said they’re coming.”

  “Who’s coming?”

  Sheemi shook her head.

  “First Sergeant, I want Alpha out there now,” Go said. “Get cameras on that thing, feed it to Jimmy and Doctor Na. Tell me what we’re dealing with.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Mertik said.

  “Main engine,” Sheemi whispered. She was so tired now. She just wanted to sleep. “Limpet on the main engine.”

  “You hear that, Mertik?”

  “Yes ma’am. We’ll take care of it,” he said and left.

  Mertik spoke up again minutes later. “Ma’am, Doctor Na doesn’t know what it is, but he says it’s n-tech. Jimmy says it’s not on ship specs.”

  “Captain Alvares,” Go said. “Shut off active nav.”

  “Active nav off, ma’am.”

  “Sergeant Quid, take Tanamal to Major Veillon. He’s prepping the autodoc now.”

  Sheemi was lifted back into the air, and someone stuck her.

  #

  Sheemi woke up in a warm bunk with vague recollections of being patched up by the autodoc. She traced the edges of her bandaged side. She touched her belly. Worry flooded her mind, and her blood went cold. What if her baby…

  She struggled to get up, stiff and sore, finally managed to. She made it to the floor and raised the bunk shade when Major Veillon caught her and put her back to bed. She answered questions as he ran his instruments over her. He placed one over her belly, then handed her the earpiece.

  For the first time, she heard the rapid whooshes of a baby’s beating heart. “Is my baby okay?”

  “Just fine,” Veillon answered.

  “How long have I been out? What’s happened?”

  “A day. But you need to rest through the next shift, you understand?”

  She nodded.

  “Someone will be by to talk,” he said. “They’ll answer your questions.”

  Listening to ship noise and snores in the dark, she let memories wash over her from when she’d noticed Enzo’s absence to her failed attempt to use his oxygen to seeing Fu’s face. The jumbled images and sounds made it difficult to think. What had she said to Colonel Go? What had Enzo done? She recalled the flickering hexagons, but what did it mean?

  As Veillon had predicted, Bravo piled into the tiny bunk space at the next shift change. Sheemi could only see the top of Fu’s face behind Neecie and Jerrold and Ash. Even Durskie had shown up.

  “We owe you, Sheems,” Ash said. “Enzo would’ve taken out a main engine. Might have even damaged the fusion plant.”

  “How did he get the mine?” she asked.

  “Clever bastard dismantled the armory lock and alarm,” Neecie said. “Walked right in, on vid too. Didn’t care who saw him. Someone stopped him on his way out, but he came up with some excuse, said the Colonel had sent him to fix something, then everyone got excited about finding the chines.”

  “Guess he figured it wouldn’t matter who saw him,” Ash said.

  “But why?” Sheemi asked. “Why’d he do it? He said, ‘They’re coming,’ but I didn’t know who he meant.”

  “Maybe he meant the chines,” Neecie said.

  “He was crazy,” Jerrold said. “Wasn’t he, Ash?”

  “Seems like it. They think he killed Don.”

  “But you stopped him cold.” Neecie grinned. “Enzo won’t cause trouble anymore.”

  “We’re down to just one tech, though,” Sheemi said.

  “Jimmy can manage,” Ash said, his tone not entirely convincing.

  They sat with her for a while before going back to their own bunks to sleep. She wanted to go out, but she’d promised Veillon she’d stay put, and she did feel tired.

  She stood in a forest. Dead Hexi lay about, and shrapnel zipped through the air. Sunlight on smoke, she walked through it with Brin, their boots squelching in the mud. He squeezed her hand. The world went white.

  Sheemi woke with a gasp, her skin clammy and cold. Her bunk shade was up, and Xin stood there, sympathy written on her face.

  “How do you feel?” Xin asked.

  “Better.” Sheemi swung her feet off the bunk and sat up, only wincing a little as she did it. “What’s for breakfast?”

  Xin laughed. “Same as every other breakfast, I’m afraid, but I’ll walk you down there if you’re able. Your friend Connor was here when I arrived. He left before you woke.”

  “Hmm,” Sheemi said. She wasn’t sure she wanted to think about him right then.

  She got up. Her side hurt like hell, and the rest of her wasn’t much better, but it felt good to move after lying still for so long. She dressed, and Xin walked with her to the mess. Something about the scientist seemed different—lighter, happier, almost glowing.

  The chines, Sheemi remembered. We’ve found the chines.

  Mertik passed them on his way out of the mess. �
�Well done, Sergeant.” She thought she heard a warmth in his voice.

  “Thank you, First Sergeant.”

  Sheemi ate a few bites but found she didn’t have much appetite after all. “So what have you learned about the chines?”

  Xin looked at her, eyes full of delight. “They’re on their way. They’re coming to us.”

  “Really?”

  “Do you want to see?”

  “Yes, yes of course,” Sheemi said.

  Xin opened a window on the table, showing the scope feed Sheemi had seen earlier. The same red-brown planet with its moon against a field of stars. For a moment, Sheemi felt queasy, remembering when Enzo had sent her spinning, the stars swirling. Xin adjusted the scope. The moon’s topography came into focus—long lines of mountains, occasional craters, but black with lighter streaks, like a negative of Earth’s moon. The lights were still there. It was strange knowing those lights hadn’t been made for human eyes.

  Xin pointed at a portion of the planet near where the moon was rolling imperceptibly towards them. “Now look there.”

  A cluster of pinpoint white lights blinked every few seconds. They reminded her of when she and Brin used to climb up on the roof to watch fliers touch down, red and blue flashes in the sky.

  Xin grinned like a schoolgirl. “They’re moving towards us. In an object much smaller than Dauntless. Roughly half the size of the shuttle.”

  Xin refocused again.

  An object filled the view, a complicated-looking chunk of machinery sporting multiple fins and antennae and other parts whose functions Sheemi couldn’t guess. A bright white exhaust cone trailed behind it.

  “I’ve never seen anything like it,” Sheemi said. “When will they arrive?”

  “Two hours,” Xin said, “at their current rate of travel.”

  What would happen when they arrived? Were they prepared to defend against an attack? Could they survive one? Maybe it was her training that made her anticipate the worst. “Are we sure they’re friendly?”

  Xin shut off the vid. “They’ve been flashing us with lasers for the past four hours. It’s nothing we can translate, but they’re friendly.”

  “Because we don’t know what they’re saying?” Sheemi asked. It seemed like a lot of assumptions.

  “If they wanted to harm us, I’m sure they could do it at a distance. No, they’re coming to talk. And that reminds me, I’m supposed to meet Gavin in the lab.”

  “You go ahead. I’ll catch up with you,” Sheemi said, grateful for Xin’s care and attention.

  Xin hurried off with a spring in her step. Sheemi was sure Xin blazed with curiosity and the knowledge she’d soon quench that fire with the ultimate confirmation. No more theories. They’d be meeting the chines face-to-face. Even a soldier like her felt some amazement.

  Sheemi dumped her tray and walked slowly toward the lab. Her side throbbed, but she shut the pain away in a box, a skill she’d learned long ago. Crew passed her going both ways, everyone bustling about. She got smiles and pats on the back. Even Captain Rollins said, “Well done, Tanamal.”

  By the time she arrived at the lab, her spirits had risen higher than any time since boarding Dauntless. Gavin was engaged in an animated discussion with Colonel Go. Xin and Omeri scanned incoming data. Meszaros, in a corner, stared blankly, viewing something in virt.

  Sheemi recalled the scientists back on Earth, the dying Hexi on the floor, and the electrified clamps. How would chines say hello?

  Colonel Go left, and Gavin came over. He seemed nervous. She wasn’t surprised. He was about to go down in history as the first human to speak with a chine in over two hundred years.

  “They’ll arrive in an hour.” He sat down heavily. “We’re going into the axle along with Colonel Go and Bravo to meet the chines when they dock. Not much for me to do until they arrive. They’re moving the shuttle to the auxiliary dock now to make room near the ring. Colonel Go has people on EVA to literally wave them to the dock.” He laughed. “Can you believe it? We’re meeting the chines at long last, and we’re resorting to hand-waving. So much for advanced communications.”

  Sheemi wanted to ask what he planned to say to them, but he stood up.

  “Time to suit up,” he said to Meszaros.

  “Good luck, Gavin.”

  He winked, and they left. The lab seemed empty despite the remaining scientists. The throbbing in her side worsened, and she began to rue her decision to get up so early. Despite the excitement, she decided to head back to her bunk. It would be over an hour before she heard anything anyway. The ring was surprisingly empty as she walked back. Falling into her bunk, she felt the delicious warmth of sleep pull her under.

  Major Veillon woke her later for a checkup. When he was done, she dressed and returned to the lab. She was surprised to see Fu and Ash stationed at the lab entrance with their Ks. The science team was inside with Jimmy and most of the officers.

  The chine occupied one end of the lab, its body an upward thrust of curved metal perched on four sickle-shaped legs tapered to sharp points. What looked like wings but seemed too heavy to ever fly were folded along its back. A cluster of lenses and lights visible at the top might have been eyes.

  The officers hung back, allowing the scientists full access. Gavin typed at a console. The wall vid lit up, and lines of text and symbols scrolled down the wall. Everyone turned to the chine as if they expected a reaction, but it remained unresponsive.

  Sheemi edged behind the others until she stood next to Xin. “What’s happening?” she whispered.

  “We’ve tried speaking to it, verbally, but it hasn’t responded so far. And it won’t respond to radio waves or laser. Gavin is trying other modes of communication.”

  “Huh?”

  “Graphical language,” Xin said. “We didn’t expect them to speak to us using sound, although it was worth trying. Now Gavin’s trying to see if it will respond using symbols.”

  The chine turned, seeming to focus in on Gavin. Then it appeared to study the symbols on Gavin’s wall vid displays. The chine pointed to Gavin, then to the display.

  Gavin pointed to himself and to a stick-figure symbol.

  The chine pointed to itself, then it unfolded a translucent panel from its back where its appendages joined together. The panel illuminated and displayed a symbol of its own. The symbol was like characters she’d once seen in an ancient Chinese painting, only more complicated and overlain with black and white pixels. Gavin started typing again, producing a long table of words in one column, some of which had matching symbols in the second column. Human, chine, ventilation, power, door, water and more.

  “Those are chine symbols we deciphered back on Earth,” Xin whispered.

  It seemed like an odd selection of words to Sheemi, but the chine seemed excited, waving its forelegs as if it were gesturing. Gavin’s table appeared on its panel, but with a few more chine symbols filled in.

  Gavin and the other scientists grinned.

  “Progress!” he said to Colonel Go. “But it will take some time before we can communicate freely. I’ll start by introducing some more sophisticated codecs. If we can identify some underlying graphemes, we should be able to speed up the translation process. A full grammar mapping may not be ready for a day or more, though.”

  “Good work, Doctor,” Colonel Go said. “We’ll leave you to it. Contact me when a full exchange is possible.”

  Salvation would have to wait a little while longer, Sheemi guessed. But so far so good.

  “Colonel?” a female voice said over the comm. Janik, Sheemi thought, one of the junior navs.

  “Yes?”

  “N-layer turbulence detected at Dec plus one-thirty four-forty-nine, RA zero-twenty two-six, delta two point zero niner AU,” Janik said. “Might be someone inserting in-system.”

  “Reduce power on main engines to minimal, and get me scope on the point of greatest turbulence,” Go said.

  “Nothing,” Janik said. “Wait. We’re getting something. Single ship on s
cope. Near side of planet Ae. I’m showing twelve bogies flagged on trajectory for moon.”

  “We’ve got multiple launches off moon surface. It’s either fight or flight,” Alvares said. “Looks like flight. They’re moving away from the ship.”

  “Three more ships on scope, ma’am. Same location as first. More bogies released.”

  “Those are Hexi ships,” Alvares said. “Look at the reflectance.”

  “Scope the moon,” Go said.

  The officers rushed off to Command while the scientists looked around in confusion.

  The Hexi. Enzo had meant the Hexi. They’re coming, he’d said. This was his doing. The traitor had brought the Hexi down on them all.

  The comm sputtered to life again.

  “Emergency status, all personnel prep for IFD.”

  “Bogies intersecting departing vessels,” someone shouted. “Infrared’s lighting up. Energy discharges two to five petajoules. They’re hitting everything in orbit. They’re shooting down the chines!”

  “The chine vessels are gone. They didn’t make it.”

  Sheemi couldn’t understand it. They’re mistaken. Surely the chines could defend themselves. They’d sought out the chines to help defend them. They were advanced far beyond anything the humans could claim. They couldn’t be so easily defeated, could they? The chines were superhuman, invincible. They’re supposed to save us. The fragile hope she’d nurtured began to fade.

  “Another Hexi group just appeared point-one AU from us. Dec minus eight-fifty three-fifteen, RA thirteen-twenty four-thirty-one. Two Hexi ships. Weapons discharged,” Janik warned. “Bogies are delta-dot negative, delta-dot is negative. ETA forty-two minutes.”

  “Damn,” Colonel Go said. “They must have scoped us. How long until we’re IFD-capable, Jimmy?”

  “Twenty, thirty minutes.”

  “That’s too long,” Go said.

  “I know. I’m working on it.”

  “Ciib, Rollins, move everyone into the bus. We’re getting out of here.”

  “What about our guest?” Gavin asked.

  “Try to explain, warn it,” Go said. “Get it locked down in a safe position, then get yourself on the bus.”