by P H Campbell
"Probably not," Sasha assured her. "She didn't seem the same to me. I think her personality was there, and her memories, but I don't know that it was her."
"If she was conjured using another energy source, and imbued with that energy's flavor, for lack of a better term, then you may be right," Seren agreed. "The second entity imbued her with its own energy. That entity was a lot different. Friendlier, more forgiving, or maybe understanding would be the word. I didn't exactly commune with it like I did the first energy."
"That second entity knew what needed to be done, and needed another energy point which you provided," Markov mentioned. "If the talk about time was as I understood it to be, it is likely the first entity deliberately preserved Miralenda, so she could provide herself as the second point for the entity making up seven five one charlie. It knew what would happen now."
"The second entity couldn't have created a second person?" Seren wondered.
"If I were to guess," Markov answered, drawing from his experience with energy fields, "the energy from The World was likely needed for the energy from UGC zero seven five one charlie to find The World. After all, that is where the entity that absorbed Miralenda first arrived."
"They did say th' entity had issues navigatin' three dimensional space," Koreen, the other engineer in the party, pointed out. "Maybe it was actin' like a beacon, so the energies knew 'xactly where ta go without all that figurin' out headings and shit."
Seren considered that and acknowledged that the engineers of her group were likely right. It wasn't an energy like anything in the reality they all occupied, so anything was possible.
"How long to home?" Seren asked.
"Three weeks standard," Looie told her.
"So, going to take on Fusions for hire to mine things?" Seren asked the Twins.
Looie looked at Ash, who looked at Looie with the same startled expression.
"What?" Seren wondered.
The two looked at Seren and said in unison, "We haven't even thought of that since we left."
"You're both going to be very wealthy young ladies," Seren remarked.
"Hey, we're physically older than you," Ash objected to the term "young".
"You were both artificially aged to puberty and decanted, so if you take your decanting date as your date of birth, you're twelve," Seren pointed out.
"Well, fuck," Looie sighed. "Our secret is out."
"We'll never live it down," Ash agreed.
"Let's get underway, guys," Seren requested. "We have a long trip to a new world ahead of us."
"It's not a done deal yet," Looie remarked when Seren left, which earned her a punch in the arm from her sister.
"Ow," Looie complained.
"Just try not to dent anything on the way to the jump point," Seren suggested.
"Don't you sound like a seasoned Spacer," Looie grinned, earning another punch to the arm from her more level-headed, and considerate, sister.
"Twice? Really?" Looie complained again.
"You deserved it," Ash asserted, putting action to Seren's words, getting clearance for departure, then raising ship when it came.
Seren left them to their tasks and joined the others in the lounge.
Several hours later, with little more conversation than acknowledging space traffic control direction, the two were approaching the H-Space jump point when Ash remarked to her sister, "We're going to have to name this ship someday."
"Why," Looie wondered.
"Well, if you like us being referred to as Shade Alliance Mining Ship eight seven three six nine four for the next hundred years, then we're fine," Ash retorted.
"You're right," Looie conceded. She thought about it then asked, "Any ideas?"
"I'll have to think about it," Ash decided. "It's more than just a mining ship. Even if it is a mining ship. A lot's happened, none if it actually mining."
"Maybe I should ask Seren," Looie volunteered.
"She's spent almost as much time aboard as we have," Ash nodded her agreement with the idea.
Looie got up and walked back to the lounge where the delegation was relaxing. They'd done all they could, all that had been asked of them and more. Now, all that was left was wait and see how their plans panned out.
"Seren," Looie interrupted, "I'm wondering if you have an idea about what we should name our ship."
"You two haven't named it yet?" Seren was surprised.
"We talked about it," Looie explained. "I wanted something lewd and Ash wanted something more respectable and then we found your planet's mayday and, well, we never went back to that discussion until now."
The perfect name popped into Seren's mind.
"Destiny," she said.
There were thoughtful nods of approval all around. That name embodied what that ship had done; It had altered the destiny of the of many worlds, and possibly the galaxy itself.
"I was hoping for G-Spot myself, but I like Destiny," Looie replied, then turned and headed back to tell her sister what her choice was, much to the amusement of the rest of the delegation.
On the surface of UGC 0751-C, the colony ship's transports were being taken in and the refugees were being herded into stasis pods as fast as was possible, given the task. Most of the crew had helped with the same task a decade earlier when the colony ship made its rounds of the UGW, gathering up all the Shade to transport them all to the home-worlds of the Shade Alliance. Unfortunately, most of those individuals rounded up back then were still in their stasis pods.
Despite that, there were plenty of pods to go around for the task at hand.
The problem was that none of the people who needed to be in stasis for transportation understood what was happening. Most of them resisted in some fashion, requiring a lot more person-power to get the job done. They were running later than expected, with shuttles still on the ground jamming in refugees until their N-Space engines groaned louder than usual under the strain. Everyone believed the destruction of the planet was imminent, the deadline for getting everyone off the planet had come, and was long past gone. The readings showed that the buildup of energies had slowed, but were still growing. No one wondered why that was. Most were grateful that they had more time to evacuate everyone. But as more people left the planet, the energy buildup increased. And that provided the required motivation to keep moving as fast as possible on the evacuation.
The bottle-neck was putting people into the stasis pods.
"The readings are going critical! Let's get these fuckers out of here now!" the captain of the colony ship shouted, urging his crew to move faster.
It wasn't orderly. It wasn't clean. There were a lot of injuries, but no deaths. They stuffed three million people into stasis tubes in a little over twenty-four hours before the colony ship took on the last of the shuttles and pulled away from the now-glowing planet. Shields, what of them they had, sprang into place and the colony ship groaned under the strain of pulling away at maximum acceleration – something they'd never done before.
"Faster, people, faster," the captain urged, watching the sensor screens, knowing that what borrowed time fate had provided was rapidly running out. The instant the colony ship – the last of the ships to depart the region – entered the safe zone, the planet exploded in a brilliant light so bright, it cast shadows on the system's sun.
"Brace for impact!" the captain shouted to all hands, and everyone grabbed a handhold, clinging for dear life.
But the expected shower of planetary debris failed to materialize. Slowly, the planet's blinding radiance faded until nothing but darkness remained where UGC 0751-C used to be.
"What the hell happened to the debris field?" the Captain asked, relieved that his ship had received no damage, but astonished that nothing at all had hit it.
"There wasn't any," the sensory tech replied, re-checking his scopes. "It's like the whole planet just vaporized. Sensors show that the amount of energy released was consistent with a one hundred percent conversion of planetary mass to energy."
&nb
sp; "How the fuck did that happen?" the Captain wondered, grateful that it had, since debris might have destroyed the colony ship, but curious how an entire planet could be converted entirely into energy.
The sensory tech shrugged, not even bothering to answer the captain's rhetorical question.
"What's the radiation level?" the Captain asked.
"Nominal," the sensory tech reported. "No radiation at all. All I detected was a massive wave of photons."
"I'm not going to French Kiss a gift horse," the Captain decided. "Helm, set course for home. Standard speed. Enter H-Space once we get the last of the refugees in their pods."
"You got it," the helmsman acknowledged.
The short trip in H-Space from UGC 0751-C to UGC 0052-A passed by in a flurry of activity inside Talon. Both Miralenda and Treah stripped off anything foreign which hadn't been created with them. For Treah, that meant she was naked, since that's how she arrived in Human form on her planet after transforming herself into a Human. For Miralenda, she had the clothing that Seren had envisioned her wearing. Aboard the Talon, that really didn't matter.
"This is the ejection lever," Treah pointed it out to Miralenda. "If for any reason we aren't ejected when we say so, count three and pull it. Be sure to be ready for that."
"Better safe than sorry," Miralenda agreed. "I'll see you later."
"I'm looking forward to this," Treah admitted with a smile.
The two got into the Superhawk VI's that sat back to back in the hangar bay, each launching out opposite sides of Talon. Once they were sealed in, the launch bay would depressurize and they'd launch. The World expected the delegation to return in about two more days, by which time the system would have two new points of light and be impervious to McGrew Portals forming anywhere near enough to The World to surprised their defenses.
At least that was the plan.
When Talon broke out of H-Space in the UGC 0052 system, he announced something very unexpected, but probably predictable.
"Weapon's fire detected," he announced, highlighting the region where the sensors detected the engagement. "Multiple unidentified fighters are attacking a habitat that strongly resembles the Botany Bay. The habitat is taking significant damage."
"How many fighters?" Katy asked.
"Sixteen hundred fifty-three," Talon reported.
"That's a problem," Katy mused. "Launch the Superhawks, then shields up. Let's go fix that problem," Katy ordered.
"Superhawks away, and on course to their destination," Talon reported as the ship shook. "Shields online."
"Let the girls know what's going on," Katy told him. "And make sure they get to where they need to go."
"Treah showed Miralenda how to eject, just in case," Talon reported.
"I wish they'd let me in on these little surprises," Katy remarked. "Secondary weapons free. Fire for effect. Don't hit the habitat."
"I have done this before, Katy," Talon replied drolly. "Engaging multiple targets now."
Like a thunderstorm, the Talon's weapons pods swung into action, spitting bright blue death toward the fighters assaulting the Botany Bay. Every shot was precise. Every shot hit their targets. Exploding fighters began illuminating the starry sky.
"Any ID on them?" Katy wondered.
"Nothing specific," Talon reported. "There are indications of Shade and UGW technologies."
"Merc's then," Katy concluded.
"That would be my assessment," Talon agreed while the battle raged outside.
"Well, let's see how invested they are in this fight," Katy mused. "Comm open, all frequencies, please."
"At your discretion, Katy," Talon acknowledged.
"Attention all fighter craft. This is Katherine Reynolds aboard the Scoutship Talon," she stated. "You are violating sovereign space protected personally by me. And you've pissed me off. You have this one opportunity to stand down and leave. Otherwise we will hunt you all down and destroy you. You won't get a second chance at this."
The fighters broke off from attacking the Botany Bay and began homing in on the Talon.
"Well, not too bright, are they?" Katy remarked.
"Almost suicidal," Talon agreed.
"Grant them their wish," Katy recommended.
"My pleasure," Talon replied.
The fighters were in full pursuit of the Talon, coming in on all sides, their weapons splashing against the Talon's shields. Talon executed a spiral maneuver that ended up putting all the fighters in pursuit of the spiraling Scoutship. Leading the fighters a short distance behind them, they headed for the planet, but it was only to ensure that they would bunch together the fighters in a line.
"Arm main gun," Katy ordered.
"Primary weapon locked, targets are in range and in field," Talon reported.
"Fire main gun," Katy ordered.
Talon spun end for end, putting nose to the rearward side and fired it's devastating main gun. Fifteen hundred fighters were vaporized in an eye-blink.
"Well, that was easy," Katy remarked.
"Message from Treah," Talon reported.
"Yes, Treah?" Katy asked.
"We have some unwelcome company over here," Treah mentioned.
"Talon…" Katy said.
"Superhawk defenses are engaged," Talon reported. "Their shields are holding."
"Let's get over there and clear their skies," Katy told her ship.
"Course set and executed, full emergency combat power," Talon stated.
Katy had to hold on as the inertial dampeners allowed a little more than usual gees through for an instant.
"Are your inertial dampeners needing adjusting again?" Katy asked.
"It would seem so," Talon replied. "I'll add it to the 'to do' list."
Pushing the engines up to almost light speed, the Talon was able to dispatch the fighters harassing the Superhawks in moments. Unfortunately, the timing for doing that where they did it was very, very bad.
"Katy, get out of here now!" Treah stated urgently. "Ejecting!"
"Talon…" Katy said, but it was too late for her to finish her sentence.
The girls had ejected upon reaching their destination, timing their ejection with what was by then an uncontrollable release of energy heading through the dimensions toward them.
The skies lit up beyond blindingly bright all around the Scoutship.
On the surface of the planet, two new suns appeared, one in the far north, one in the far south. They were so blinding that none who witnessed the event directly could see for long minutes afterward. The main casualties of that were the Electrians and those at Topside Village. The Magentians were mostly inside dwellers, and only a few of them were blinded by the light.
Fortunately, the blindness wasn't permanent for anyone, though it took long hours for their eyes to stop seeing spots before them. The bright light in the skies quickly faded into two new stars, both fairly red and relatively dim, but visible both day and night. Many expected the stars to fade like the suns had, but they persisted.
At Topside Village, the mostly unused McGrew Port suddenly and inexplicably melted down for no clear reason. It hadn't been active, but the mechanisms were destroyed never the less. There were still a few UGW personnel left on The World, suddenly bereft of a way home. But they knew that the delegation would soon return, and the Twins would come back in their mining ship. It would take longer, but they'd eventually find a way home
No one knew what to make of what had just happened, but they kept panic to a minimum, partially because so few had seen it, but mostly because nothing untoward happened afterward. Whatever had caused the two new stars to appear in the sky, it hadn't caused more than superficial, and temporary, damage to anything other than the McGrew Port equipment, and the short-term night vision of most of those who had seen the flashes.
The World didn't exactly hold its breath for what was to come. They knew things would happen in the skies above, and they expected the delegation to return soon. The fright from the display in the skies gradually ga
ve way to eager anticipation to find out what the outcome of the odyssey the delegation had undertaken had been.
Of Katy and Talon, none knew what had happened to them. After the twin explosions in the sky, no one reported any contact with them.
CHAPTER 16
The Destiny arrived in The World's system two days after the explosion in the sky. The Twins had tried to raise Katy and Talon, but there was no response. There was, however, a plea for help from the Botany Bay.
"Shit," Seren muttered as the details were relayed of what had happened two days earlier.
The Botany Bay was in bad shape. Though it wasn't leaking anymore, the attack had damaged the critical systems for food processing, and replacement parts weren't available. It was Looie who came up with a solution that was more immediate than calling Cinder and begging for help.
"We have a mining ship," she pointed out. "It can mine, refine and fabricate. We can fix their replication machines, and those can then use raw materials to fix themselves."
"Tell them," Seren replied. "And call Cinder. She should know what happened here. If Talon is missing, we're going to need another method of defense."
The Fusions were more than willing to agree to any terms Looie laid out. In the meantime, Ash contacted Cinder over QUESTOR and advised her of the situation.
"Do you need help?" Cinder asked once Ash relayed the details of the situation.
"We can use the Destiny to mine and fabricate a lot of what we need, but we could use help with the medical side," Looie decided. "There are a lot of wounded here. And we don't have enough stasis tubes, or power, to keep them on ice until we can get more help. Oh, yeah, and fighters. Lots and lots of fighters."
"I'll send what I can, but it won't be much," Cinder told her. "We need what you have, too."
For once, Ash had an idea.
"Mom, send the fucking colony ship back," Ash stated plainly. "They have all the stuff we need to fix this planet, the Botany Bay and still send it back with most of that capability intact. It's only a day or two away heading back to you guys. It has a QUESTOR receiver, too. You can send a carrier or two in the meantime."
"I'm getting too old for this," Cinder shook her head, realizing her daughter was right. "They'll be there ASAP. Let the Fusions know."
