Traveler_Losing Legong

by Tim Dennis

  The slide disappeared. So did building number three. In the distance a large wooden sailing vessel skimmed along the treetops towards him. "No! Where's my manual link?" Myles ran out into the hall, but it wasn't a hall anymore. The entire floor of the building was empty from wall to wall.

  You don't have a link. You didn't take it with you.

  "There was an elevator. How do I get down?" The chute reappeared, at a different window this time. Myles took a deep breath and sat on the cold floor. He closed his eyes and talked quietly to himself. "I want a ship. I want it to come here, to me. I want that ship to be fully controllable by me. I want it to be something not threatening to Councilor Six."

  A new breeze urged him to open his eyes. The floor remained but the windows were now all gone, along with any part of the structure that had been above him. Myles rose to his feet and turned around. Where the meeting room had been now sat a three-person K-ship, door open, ladder reaching to the floor. Myles took one more breath and climbed in.

  Although it had looked like one of Krykowfert's, the interior of the ship was clearly of Earth. The walls were finished in wood and plaster, the seating upholstered in natural fabrics and where the trim wasn't wood, it was shiny metal. There didn't seem to be any controls at all.

  Take me up. I need to see Six. She needs to understand.

  The ship lifted away. In the place of the false windows of the K-ship were real windows of Earth. Myles knew this because he could feel a rush of air circulate as the ship gained speed. The windows glowed a faint blue and the breeze stopped. Upon reaching the upper atmosphere the ceiling became transparent, revealing the darkness of space above him. In the far distance Myles could just make out the silhouettes of several Ark ships of the type he'd seen at the desert landing. Between them and he, dozens of Destroyers and Rail-ships. As Myles watched hundreds of Drop-ships ejected themselves from the Rails, hitting the rarefied upper atmosphere above him, brilliant white trailing tails of fire.

  I've got to get to Six.

  His faux K-ship lifted higher, passing the incoming wave of Drops. As he left Earth behind the floor lost its opacity, showing him a field of slowing fireballs. As one they stopped. His ship continued to rise, but the Drops below him sat motionless, still several kilometers above the hazy surface.

  That's not clouds.

  The blue sky below turned milky making the Drop ships appear to float on a foggy, translucent sheet. Then, altogether as one mass, they rose. Myles estimated four hundred Drop-Capsules, their number increasing as more fell into the net. His own ship stopped moving, caught between the descending invasion and the repulsed first wave.

  Myles' ship now gave him a panoramic view, transparent on all sides, as it carried him out of orbit with countless other Legong ships. The hazy blue sheet thickened, surrounding the ships it carried as it reached up to ensnare more. The Drops coming from above had no way to reverse course. In reaction to his panic, Myles's ship shot up and out of the confusion, bringing him directly into the teeth of the Destroyers.

  He heard a hiss of escaping air and looked down. The ship had re-clothed itself, leaving only the original windows for Myles to see out. At his feet was a ragged hole, above him, a smaller, perfectly round one. Part of the wall glowed, materializing into little glowing balls, flying and crawling all over the interior structure. They gathered around the hole, pouring their blue beams into it. Myles watched one of the tiny sputties grab the one beside it, dissolve it into a fizzling mass over the gap. Another sputtie directed its beam at both of them, fusing them together at the ragged edge of the hole.

  A bang brought Myles's attention to the ceiling. Sputties had just finished sealing the first entry wound when a second formed. Through the new hole Myles could see a Legong Destroyer lining up for another shot. But it never fired. The expelled Drop invasion had been pushed back to the near-space fleet of Legong ships and once again surrounded Myles. The haze that lifted them thickened and broke apart into swarms of sputties.

  Shots were fired, but the sputties were enveloping the Drop ships, crawling over them like locusts. Where they could, the Destroyers picked off individual sputties with tightly focused particle beams, but for every one they destroyed, a hundred more swarmed around them.

  Where are they all coming from?

  Perhaps in answer to his question, the ship, now sealed tight once again, rolled and twisted away, pointing his window at a nearby Drop-Capsule. The swarm was leaving it, flying away in a mass far greater than that which had originally wrapped it. As they streamed away towards another victim he saw it. The Drop-Capsule was gone, leaving behind shards of metal and pieces of internal equipment, floating in place with the bloated bodies of a dozen young Council Guard troops. Myles turned away, but the entire ship was translucent again, and every angle presented the same vision. Above, below, and all around, nothing but Drop-Capsule carcasses and bloating bodies.

  You must communicate with Six. You must make her understand.

  Surely she can see this for herself.

  You must try.

  Myles turned away from the dissolving fleet. He wished his ship towards the Rip and in an instant he was there. At either corner of the pursed mouth of the Rip mased hundreds of thousands of sputties. Destroyers piled a fusillade of missiles into them. The Rip wavered, twisted and rolled. For an instant it slammed shut but a pulse of high-energy particles emitted by one of the Destroyers fried a large mass of Sputties and the Rip opened wide again, violently snapping from side to side, extending beyond its containment frame.

  Another bang sounded. A wave of particles hit his own ship, crushing the top third almost onto his head. Again the hiss of escaping air, but no friendly blue sputties. The Rip was out of control, tearing at the containment frame and whacking the Legong Frame Ships into oblivion. Still the Destroyers fired.

  Are you mad? Let them close it!

  Myles picked out Six's flagship, edged his own towards it. Barely recognizable, twisted and holed in many places, it spun lifelessly, a silent parade of young men and woman drifting out into cold, empty space. Again Myles tried to turn away. The space between the Rip and Earth glowed with the energy of uncountable Sputties, not a Legong ship left intact. At the Rip the fight continued, but the outcome was clear. Every ship the Sputties attacked simply became more Sputties. Not the large, sophisticated devices he'd seen before, but tiny things, their only purpose to consume and convert. Even if Earth had only sent a hundred, there must be millions by now. Myles' curiosity got the better of him and his ship maneuvered itself closer to Six's Mission Control.

  Do you think we'll see Six? I meant out there. Floating with the others.

  He peered at the hulk, looking at the shocked, puffy faces, wondering if he knew any of them.

  Look- something's moving.

  A gun turret not a hundred meters away turned and locked onto Myles's ship. One last bang and the crushed hull above him shattered. Myles fell to the floor. He looked away from the ship-less thousands, back towards Earth. The was no hiss. There was no hole. There was no ceiling. Myles looked at his hand.

  A little swollen?

  He looked back out a window, or at least thought he did. He couldn't be sure if his head was moving or just his eyes. Maybe it was the ship itself. No longer aware of his body, he floated up, or the ship floated down. He felt cold. His eyeballs hurt, and his ears, but other than that dying didn't seem so bad. A single Sputtie, larger than the others, hovered outside his window. It turned, exposing a hole in its underside.

  Myles fell backwards, coming to rest against what remained of the wall behind him. His body was more puffy now, and he felt a stretching sensation. He looked down. The dart was mostly silver, at least that bit protruding from his chest. It glowed, or hummed, or felt warm. It something-ed. Then a brilliant flash of light.

  51

  "We're getting nothing at all from the Bell's links." The Young Council Guard looked to her Lieutenant for guidance. A moment ago Six's fleet had consisted of almo
st a hundred ships, mostly involved in the blockade of Earth, or held in reserve alongside Six's Command Ship near the Earth-side of the Rip. Here, on the Legong-side of the Rip Six had left only enough ships to maintain the Containment Frame and relay communications. Now there were no communications to relay.

  "Let the Rip widen, re-establish direct implant links." A month ago the Lieutenant had been the manager of a Resource-Shuttle, ferrying supplemental protein supplies from Farm Ark Four to the surface settlements. Today he was in charge of intra-Rip communications. A simple, routine job.

  The Lieutenant and his five crew watched their f'window as the order was relayed around the Containment Frame. One ship floated serenely at each vertex of the Frame, allowing themselves to drift apart, loosening the Frame and permitting the fiery Rip to wiggle and expand within it.

  "Steady..." Said the Lieutenant.

  The view through the Rip wavered, shimmered and vibrated. The stars visible through it blinked out of existence, leaving an unnaturally empty blackness. A second later the Rip snapped shut. A hundred crew spread over a couple dozen ships watched in stunned silence.

  As suddenly as it shut it brightened into a ragged ribbon of quivering light stretching beyond the confines of the Frame, curling and whipping itself across space then disappearing again. Before new orders could be issued the Rip snapped back into existence, a single wavering strip a hundred meters wide and two thousand meters long. The band hung without moving for a few seconds then twisted and split open, letting a hoard of five thousand glowing blue balls shoot through into Legong space. The Rip faded, wobbled and flashed into a great circle, pinched in two places by swarms of Sputties. The Containment Frame was gone, along with half of the ships charged with maintaining it.

  Bento stood in the open doorway of her college history professor's house. It'd been eight years, and he was older than she expected, his hair grayed by the stress of railing against a society that didn't want to know. She'd tried to explain what little she knew, but she was out of arguments and out of time. "Now. Please." She said.

  Two teenagers stared wide-eyed as a third child, barely six, sniffed and fought tears. Like the Tugots, he was on her list because she knew him. Someone thought that would make it easier. It didn't. The Professor turned to hug his partner. The Two S.I. Guards stepped past Bento into the room.

  "They're coming too, all five of you." Bento said.

  The Professor's eyes widened and his brow furrowed. His partner reached for her youngest. A man, much like the Professor, but older and pale, picked his way down the stairs. For a moment everyone stood still.

  "What's going on?" The old man asked.

  The Professor looked to Bento.

  "Who is this?" Bento asked.

  "My mother died last week. My father's staying with us for a while."

  Bento walked over to the old man. She wanted to say something, to make it OK that she was taking the old man's family away from him. Instead she issued an implant order to the second Guard. The Guard hesitated, looking at the house full of people.

  "We'll make room." Bento said aloud to the Guard. "Get them situated, then pick me up at the Cafe." She turned to the Professor. "One bag. Total. You've got five minutes."

  She didn't wait for a response, stepping out the door into the sunlight. A single Guard stood at the bottom of the ladder of the largest K-ship she'd been able to get her hands on. The Guard and a couple bystanders stood a few meters away from the ship, in the middle of the street trying to get a look at the sky beyond Caldera's City Center. 'Her' Ark was up there, unloading a few thousand hastily gathered Legongs into Farm Ark Four. But that's not what they were staring at. A few degrees above the horizon hovered a wavering, oblong ball of night sky, burning its way across the clear blue, its boundary marked by a sparkling ring of bright white. Legongs had only recently learned what a Rip was, and until today few had seen one.

  Bento left the Guard and sight-seers and jogged up the street towards Harry's Cafe. She found him behind the counter, hurriedly making a coffee drink and running it out to the deck. He waved at her to follow, but she stayed inside. She'd seen enough of the wild Rip. "Harry!" She shouted.

  He came back in, walking sideways in an attempt to keep one eye on the sky. "Did you see that?" He asked.

  "That's the Earth-Rip." Bento said. "The Frame is broken. We need to talk."

  The gun up at the shuttle station snapped off a volley of projectiles and a large rock exploded barely a kilometer above their heads. "Why so serious?" He asked. A dozen customers came running back into the cafe as hot debris from the shattered meteor rained down on them.

  "Hey-" One of the customers shouted. "Bento must know something." They surrounded her and Harry with a barrage of questions.

  "What's that thing up in the sky?"

  "Why hasn't the Council issued any statements about Earth?"

  "What's Krykowfert doing about all this?"

  "That's the Earth-Rip." She said. "You can't usually see it from here, but it's gotten bigger. The Council hasn't said anything because Earth is attempting to eject us from their space and the Council is using force to try to stay. And Krykowfert isn't doing anything because the Council's forced him out. He hasn't got any power. Not anymore." The burst of information had the desired effect. The group stood numbly processing.

  "What do you mean Krykowfert's got no power?" Asked Harry. "He's got you rounding up rebels and shipping them to the penal colony."

  "They're not rebels, Harry, they're neuro-aberrants; and it's not a penal colony." Bento hesitated, struggling with her next decision. The immediate threat of meteor debris over, Harry's patrons began filtering back out to the deck.

  "That's Earth space?" She heard someone outside ask. Then it came. First one, then each of the others, fell into implant connections. Harry wavered, his eyes rolled back and his spine stiffened.

  "Harry!" snapped Bento, slapping his face to knock him out of his connection.

  "They're invading!" He cried.

  "They're not invading!" Bento replied. "They're trying to close the Rip. They've destroyed Six's landing fleet."

  The crunch of boots on gravel announced the arrival of two of Bento's Eden Project Crew. Her K-ship thrummed in the distance as it lifted from the Professor's street. "Feric is recalling all Eden crews." Said one of the Guards.

  "That means me, Harry. We're going to Eden." Said Bento.

  "Now?" Harry asked. "Surely Krykowfert's going to sort out this Earth business. You can't go to Eden with what's going on now."

  "I told you Harry. Krykowfert is out. Six is running the show."

  The wavering Rip had opened enough to allow a flood of implant-messages through. There wasn't a citizen of Legong that wasn't related to someone in Six's Colonial Guard. Everyone knew someone on the Earth-side. All at once, every human being on Legong received a final goodbye from a parent, sibling or child. Harry's patrons shuffled back into the cafe, silent and numb.

  "What's wrong?" Harry asked, prevented from his own connection by Bento's insistent, harsh tones.

  Bento issued an implant-order and the two Guards lifted Harry by the armpits.

  "We're going to Eden." Bento turned and marched out the door.

  "My cafe!" Harry protested, pointing at the structure they'd built together.

  "Your child!" Snapped Bento, pointing at her belly. Something, someone, they'd also built together.

  Bento's K-ship hummed to a landing in Harry's Cab-lot with open door and extended ladder. She stood on the loose gravel as the Guards shoved the numbly confused Harry up and in. The dark spot in the sky grew wider. A few of Harry's customers followed them out. The news of the destruction of Six's fleet brought about a reactionary flood of questions and now hundreds of thousands of Legong were learning how Rips worked, even if they didn't want to. Bento looked up at the growing scar of night sky, then at the growing crowd of Legongs before her, doing the math in her head. Maybe there would always be room for one more, but not eight. B
ento climbed into the ship and launched, leaving friends and neighbors in the dust of Caldera.

  Most of the sky around Snotty Rocks was obscured by hillocks and spires, so Midgfet and Fernstrom climbed one of the more gently-sloped rises to watch the Rip grow. The chaos of the initial attack had come on too quickly, but the fight over the Rip Legong-side was ongoing, and news had poured into the net from panicked young Guards and leaderless mid-level officers. There wasn't time to issue a blackout. Every one on Legong knew of the looming catastrophe, but despite Traveler's earlier efforts, few understood exactly what was happening.

  Midgfet and Fernstrom found a flat spot on the top of the rounded hilltop. If one is forced to watch their own approaching doom one may as well take a front row. Fernstrom looked over at his friend. "Poor King Mallick." He said. "That's got to come down as the shortest reign in history."

  Midgfet laughed and smacked him on the back. It was noon and the sky was filled with stars, not a single recognizable constellation among them. Every few seconds a corner of the Rip pinched closed, and a bit of blue peaked out from behind. The color reminded Midgfet of the pale, hazy blue of a polar winter's morning. She didn't know what a Sputtie was, or that thousands of them were expending gigajoules of energy in an attempt to save Legong, as the remnants of the Legong fleet fought to stop them.

  "Look!" Fernstrom pointed up at a K-ship, shooting across the sky like a meteor in reverse. Two more shot past.

  Midgfet looked down on the Center of Snotty rocks, where, in the canyons below, Cokely had the local citizenry organized into Makers-teams, carving tunnels into the bottoms of hills. It might not be useless, no-one on Legong really knew. The sky lightened. It was half blue again, punctuated with bright flashes. Midgfet reached out and took Fernstrom's hand. She squeezed it, he squeezed back and gave her a wink. "King for a day? Well, that's more than most get."