Solbidyum Wars Saga 4: Too Late for Earth

by Dale C. Musser

  The area of the ship where Piesew had taken our guests was laid out with a large common area room fashionably appointed; around it corridors went off at opposite ends with apartment like accommodations at each end. Each apartment had its personal bath facilities, and the suite of rooms had its exclusive pool. All in all, the accommodations were much like the suite of rooms I had aboard the DUSTEN when I first arrived in the Federation after I had discovered the TRITYTE, albeit the room was on a slightly smaller scale. Piesew, in his impeccable fashion, arranged for staff members to be present to see to their needs and instruct them on the use of items in their suite. It was about three hours later that everyone assembled in the main dining room under the starlit transparent dome. Lights suspended in the air, by means I didn't understand, lit the floor at places providing enough light to see clearly when required. However, as we were in orbit around Mars, the light from the Sun and the reflection of light from the planet provided more than ample light for the dining room. The view of the planet was spectacular, and Commodore Stonbersa saw to it that the ship was positioned appropriately in orbit so the sun side of Mars was always in view.

  The Commodore was present when everyone arrived and made a brief welcome to them all again. I was impressed that he remembered all of their names and that he made an effort to speak to each of them at least once, calling them by their names. Kala noted my amazement and said, “I hope you can do as well with their names as the Commodore is doing.”

  “Not a chance,” I replied with a grin, “That’s what I have you for.”

  “You better not flub this, Tib, I will be very embarrassed if you forget their names.”

  I had to admit I wasn’t sure if I was up to that task or not.

  Once the Commodore had welcomed everyone, he announced that he would not be attending the meal with us but would be on the bridge and that Captain Kerabac would be standing in for him at the meal. I suspect that the real reason was that Kerabac wanted to meet our guests and didn’t have the opportunity to do so earlier; now the Commodore was switching places with him so he might meet everyone.

  Piesew had arranged for an attendant for each person at the meal, and they directed the guests to their seats. I was seated at the end of the table with Kala to my right, and Kerabac sat at the far end of the table. Captain Slater was to my left, A’Lappe was seated next to him with Doctor Yamaguchi seated on the opposite side of A’Lappe. Doctor Volkov, was seated next to Kala, and across from A’Lappe.

  “First Citizen,” Captain Slater began.

  “Just Tibby, please.” I said

  “Tibby then, we are totally amazed at your ship. Most magnificent, incredible, actually! It’s an entire flying city with everything anyone can think of on it. I was shocked, that there are not more people aboard!”

  “The ship is designed to carry several thousand, but we have slightly less than a thousand aboard,” I replied, just as the attendants began placing some appetizers in front of everyone.

  “A’Lappe tells me that even though this ship is technically a luxury yacht it also is armed like a war ship. Is that common in the Federation?”

  “Not really, though most ships have some armament on them to protect against pirates. This ship was originally designed for an industrialist who was trying to gain a government contract for space weaponry, and he built the ship to both demonstrate the weapons and to serve to entertain his guests.”

  “So then you didn’t have this ship built, you acquired it from someone else?” Captain Slater said between spoonfuls of his appetizer.

  “Correct, the original owner was murdered shortly after a giant solar flare wiped out his industrial complex; I had just come into an incredible wealth and was in a position to buy it, so I did.” I explained, as I heard one of our guests down the table exclaim. “Oh my! This food is delicious; I’d forgotten how good real food can taste!”

  “This ship must cost a fortune, how were you able to afford it?” Captain Slater inquired.

  “It all had to do with the derelict ship I found back on Earth,” I replied, “that and the cargo aboard it.”

  “Ahh, yes, the solbidyum,” Doctor Volkov, interjected, “A’Lappe informed us about it when we were on tour. A most interesting substance; Iggy is all excited about it and has been chatting furiously with A’Lappe and Cantolla about it. Your A’Lappe claims it was formed inside a black hole under the intense pressure there.”

  “I’m afraid I can’t elaborate on that; I’m not a scientist and most of what A’Lappe talks about is way over my head.”

  “I see that Piesew made our learning headbands available for you all to learn the Federation Standard Language.”

  “Yes, a remarkable device, I wish I’d had something like this when I was in college,” Dr. Volkov said.

  By now everyone had finished their appetizers and Piesew was having the main course placed on the table before us.

  “Are these steaks? Real steaks?” Lt. Ray Stevens asked.

  “Indeed they are, Lieutenant. It's from a creature called a fubalo, much like a cow but larger. The steaks taste the same though, only I think they are a bit tenderer.”

  “What exactly is your background, if I may ask?” Captain Slater inquired. “We’ve heard A’Lappe and Cantolla say that you arrived in the Federation from Earth a few years ago, even though you left Earth 60 years previously. They said you found a space ship in a swamp and it had been there over 600 years.” From down the table I could hear several of my guests making sounds of delight as they bit into their steaks.

  “That’s pretty much correct.” I responded. “I was fishing and came across the ship sunk in the mud. I accidentally boarded, and without knowing what I was doing, activated a homing device that ended up with me being taken to the Federation.”

  “What did you do before that event?”

  “I spent several years in the Navy and managed to get my college degree in engineering while in the service. After the Navy, I went to work for the City of New Orleans in their flood-control department, designing and maintaining the pumping systems that kept the city dry.” I noted a sad look cross over Captain Slater’s face as I mentioned the last.

  “It’s all gone now, New Orleans the town, everything really. New Orleans was abandoned about 40 years ago after several hurricanes in a row nailed the city square on.” He continued, “It just got to be too expensive to keep rebuilding and finally the government said ‘enough’, and everyone moved out. They did disassemble the French Quarter and moved many of the buildings to a new historic district called New, New Orleans, but the project never was finished, as the war broke out and all resources were diverted to the war effort. ”

  “The war? What can you tell me about the war? The information we retrieved from our satellites indicated that Russia and China had allied somehow in the beginning, but obviously at some point Russia changed its mind.”

  “They did. Russia was looking to expand its empire to the south and west, while China was looking to expand to its south and east into the Pacific. It was a good plan on their part because the USA was weakened greatly by a number of years of economic hardship brought about by several consecutive administrations that encouraged businesses to spread abroad instead of investing in America. The same administrations totally botched up relationships with their allies and suddenly NATO was ineffectual in holding back aggressors. China was doing very well having taken over North and South Korea, as well as one-third of Indonesia and a quarter of the Philippine Islands before America and its allies were able to overlook their differences and join forces again. Even then things weren’t going well; the USA had lost its ability to lead and every nation in NATO wanted to be in command. The turning point came when Russia found out China was planning on taking over Russia once they had achieved their goals in the Pacific. China was planning to make a strike on the U.S. mainland and wanted Russia to go in on the attack, but at the last minute, Russia backed out, leaving the Chinese to attack alone. Russia realized its risk
from China and signed a treaty with the European Nations and the USA to go join in the fight against China.”

  I suddenly noticed that I wasn’t detecting any accent when both Doctor Volkov and the Captain were speaking. Then I realized they were both speaking using the Federation Language.”

  “You’re using the Federation Language!” I stated the obvious.

  “Yes, Piesew demonstrated the learning device you have aboard and we all availed ourselves of them. They are amazing devices,” Dr. Volkov stated, as he dabbed some juice from the corner of his mouth with a napkin. “I understand that Cantolla was responsible for their development. I am most eager to speak to her about it.”

  “Indeed, they are wonderful devices, but they do have their limitations. Cantolla and A’Lappe have been working to refine them, and almost daily they find a way to make it possible to learn more and more with them. However, back to what you were saying, Captain; what happened when China attacked the USA?” By now, the Captain had completely devoured his steak and was sipping on some wine.

  “It was a huge shock to America; China had been boasting for years that one day it was going to take on America, but America never believed it would happen, or that if it did, that they wouldn't hit the U.S. mainland. The Chinese stealthily moved several nuclear subs in close to the U.S. mainland on both the East and West Coasts and into the Gulf of Mexico as well. The one in the Gulf of Mexico was spotted and retreated before launching its missiles, but the US didn’t take its presence seriously. The sub in the Atlantic and the one in the Pacific launched nukes simultaneously, but fortunately the U.S. missile-defense system caught them before they made land and blew them up. What wasn’t expected that anyone might sneak a sub into the Sea of Cortez; it was their attack that galvanized the United States into a firm resolve to bring an end to China's aggression.”

  “We’ve heard about China’s attacks on Earth from the Moon and how THORS’ HAMMER wiped them out on the Moon.” Kerabac interjected.

  “They weren’t completely wiped out, they were only disabled. Since the asteroid ended life on Earth, we have received transmissions from surviving Chinese on the Moon. General Ming, who was leading all the Chinese aggressions on Earth, apparently escaped the destruction of Beijing and the following destruction of China and had fled Earth with a number of his bodyguards on a space craft they had hidden away for an emergency. Apparently, the Chinese had two bases on the Moon, one a hidden research facility deep under the Moon’s surface. The base was not set up with any armament that we know of, and when Ming arrived, he took shelter there with the scientists already at the base. After Earth was gone, the Chinese colony began broadcasting messages aimed at the Earth hoping someone there survived, but no one had. It was only when the Earth was nearly between Mars and the Moon that signals reached us. We responded and got replies back saying things on the Moon were extremely desperate and they were running out of food and other supplies. We were told that a rebellion was taking place against Ming after he declared himself Emperor of the Moon. At some point he began killing off those he didn’t feel were essential to his survival, and a rebellion was going on. The last broadcast we received sounded like there was chaos and a blood bath in progress, and then all transmissions stopped.”

  “How long ago was that?” I asked.

  “About 18 months ago.”

  “Do you think they all are dead now?”

  “No we don’t think so. We’ve detected some electronic signals coming from the Moon’s surface, but they seem to be directed toward satellites still in orbit around the Earth and not toward us. We suspect that Ming won and killed off the people we had been communicating with there. As far as we know, Ming was never told by the scientists we were in communication with that they had made contact with us.”

  “So you believe there are still people living on the Moon?”

  “Some, but we have no idea how many. When we first contacted them, we were told there were nearly 400 there, but the last we had heard there were less than 200 and Ming was still killing people.”

  “Why do you think they were sending signals to a satellite?” I asked.

  “We’re not sure. The Chinese had many satellites in orbit and we have no idea what half of them were for.”

  “I think we need to go check it out. What do you think, Kerabac?” I asked.

  “I don’t know, Tibby. These Chinese sound a lot like the Brotherhood to me; do you really want to help them?”

  “I doubt that most of the Chinese there were a part of the war and were simply doing what the government told them.” I said.

  “Your assessment sounds right,” Captain Slater voiced, “at least based on our conversations with the scientists we spoke to on the Moon. However, Ming and his henchmen were rapidly eliminating them and only keeping those alive that were vital to the survival of the colony. Our contacts said Ming was making slaves of everyone and that they lived or died at his whim. It’s difficult to guess what things are like there now, but I don’t think there is much the few survivors there could do against you or your ship if you went there, but I would be cautious.”

  “How was Ming able to enforce his will over those there? Didn’t they outnumber him?” Kala interjected.

  “Ming has his bodyguards, a brutal lot from what we have heard, and they are totally loyal to him and he sees to it they are well cared for. They are all highly trained military personnel, whereas the scientists on the Moon colony are not. One of the last reports we had indicated that Ming was killing off the male scientists while keeping the females alive to service his troops and to maintain the hydroponics garden. He is one of the most ruthless men history has known. At one point in the war it was rumored that the Chinese leaders were willing to surrender and sign a peace treaty; Ming had all those that wanted to surrender assassinated and took the families of many of the other leaders as hostages to insure their cooperation. If you go to the Moon, you will be received with a mixed reaction. The scientists and colonists still alive will welcome you as a savior, while Ming and his cohorts will view you as the enemy and will either fight you or try to steal this ship. If you go, I suggest you go with your best security people maximally armed and ready for action. Ming is not to be trusted under any conditions.”

  I turned to the others of the Mars party and asked, “Do you all agree with this assessment?”

  “Definitely,” “Oh Yes!” and other affirmatives were voiced around the table.

  “I see,” I said somberly. “I still think we need to go to the Moon and check things out. I want to check out things on the Earth as well. If there is any chance at all that someone is alive at either location, I want to help them.”

  “That’s admirable, Tibby. However, there is no way anyone there could have survived on Earth. The atmosphere is totally toxic right now, and no human could breathe it and survive.”

  “It would be nice if we could see if any of the seeds and genomes survived in the 'Seed Vaults' in Svalbard and Antarctica.” Dr. Nelson said eagerly.

  “Seed Vaults,” I said, “I heard of those, but in my time there was only the one in Norway that I knew of”.

  “There was a second built in Antarctica as a backup measure in the late 2020’s’, Ruth continued. “The original program was just seeds of plants from all over the planet, but both facilities were expanded to maintain tissue samples of all living creatures we could obtain. With the seeds and tissue samples there you could repopulate the Earth once more after it becomes habitable again, or you could seed a new earthlike planet elsewhere.”

  Suddenly, I felt very excited; it still could be possible to preserve and renew all life forms that had inhabited the Earth; all was not lost after all. With the NEW ORLEANS it would be possible to ensure the continuation of the life forms of Earth by taking the seeds to another world where they may grow and the species continue.

  “Do you think we will be able to find the vaults?” I asked. “Things down there look pretty unrecognizable; how would we ever fi
nd them?”

  “I doubt we will be able to locate the one in Svalbard,” Dr. Nelson replied, “things on the top end of the world were pretty devastated by the asteroid. However, things in Antarctica were relatively unscathed; the sea level is higher and the ice there is thicker than it was, we believe, but the location of the vault was high enough above sea level and the temperatures there quite low, so everything should still be safe and viable. I think we can locate the vault there.”

  “I would love the opportunity to obtain some mineral samples," Doctor Ichiro Yamaguchi said, “If you go, I would appreciate it if you could bring some back for me; I would like to see what the composition of the asteroid was that wiped out life on Earth.”

  “If I go there you’re welcome to ride along and collect them for yourself,” I said. “However, this brings up another matter. How well are you situated for survival here? Can your colony make it on its own? From the sounds of things, you are barely hanging on yourselves, and while we can certainly help you in some areas with supplies and equipment, is that what you really want to do?”

  “I must confess, Tibby, things are not going well for us; we’ve already lost a lot of our people and the long-term survival of the colony is in doubt. To survive we need to have births taking place and there have been none and it is doubtful there would be enough in time for the colony to survive more than another 30 or 40 years at best.”

  “I would like to offer you the opportunity to leave Mars. I have plenty of room here on my ship for all of you and I can transport you to the Federation worlds. Once there you may be able to generate interest within the Federation to terraform Mars and bring back a serious group of colonists to inhabit the planet. I certainly have enough wealth to back you and provide assistance if there is any interest at all.”

  I could see the members of the Mars colony look around the table at each other with stunned looks on their faces.

  “Tibby, I can’t answer that question for you right this moment, we would need to discuss it among ourselves, but I can certainly see merit in your proposal. Can we have a day to think about it?”