The Dave Brewster Series

by Karl Morgan

  “I understand, Zee,” Dave said. “I already spoke with Fa-a-Di and Mencius on this trip. They’ve both promised to approve or deny the trip within twenty-four hours after they receive your update.”

  “Dave, what do we do if they deny the request?” Zee asked. “My agents have seen the devastation in the Clouds. The horrors of Bandabar have been visited on thousands of worlds there. While I can speculate how long before The Accord has to act, I would never suggest they would wait very long.”

  “I know, brother,” Dave sighed. “If a hundred or a thousand of those giant black planetoids shot into our galaxy today, none of us would survive very long. I hope you expressed that concern to Mencius and Fa-a-Di.”

  “Of course I did,” Zee said. “But let me tell you one thing, brother to brother. If they reject it, and you and Odo decide to go anyway, Tak-Makla and Nan will support you. Sometimes doing the right thing must trump the bureaucracy.”

  “Let us hope and pray it doesn’t come to that,” Dave chuckled. “Nightsky out.” A tone sounded on his control panel and he tapped a button. The ready room door slid open and a petite woman in uniform stepped in.

  “Ensign Dar Lini reporting for duty, Admiral Brewster,” she said as she saluted crisply.

  Dave jumped to his feet and rushed over and grabbed her in his arms, hugging her tight. It had been more than three months since their release from imprisonment on Solander and she had spent that time learning how to fit in with the crew and her new mission. Dave still recognized the scent of her hair and the softness of her cheek on his. When he finally let her go, she was blushing. “Lini, what a surprise!”

  “I’ve missed you too, Admiral. It seems so long ago,” she replied.

  “Lini, of all the people in the galaxy, you have to call me Dave,” he smiled. “So, are you assigned to Nightsky?”

  “Not really, Dave,” she smiled. “Originally I was assigned to Colonel Watson on this ship, but just today, I received a change. I’m supposed to travel with you and Odo Pak into the Cloud.”

  Dave felt very dizzy and stumbled back to the table and sat on one of the chairs. “What? That trip hasn’t been approved yet. Who made this decision?” Lini offered her assignment sheet to Dave who looked at it. It was signed by Mencius, President of the Free Society. “But why you?”

  “According to High Consul Gongaleg’s report, the natives speak the ancient Nan language. You, Odo, and I all speak that language as well. Dave, you seem upset. If you don’t want me on the mission, I understand that. I can ask for a reassignment if you prefer,” she offered.

  “No, it’s not that at all,” he replied. “Come sit next to me for a minute. Grab a coffee if you like first.”

  As she filled her coffee mug and added sweetener and cream, Dave’s mind was reeling. They spent a year on that horrible planet, lost, almost half a million years in the past. Now she was back in his life, but not behind the scenes. He loved her very much, but those crazy times were like a dream, and he had a wife and family in this time to care for. She sat across the table from him and sipped her drink. “Okay, Dave, please tell me what you want.”

  “First let me tell you I am very proud of you for following through on your desire to join my crew. When you walked in here, I was overwhelmed with emotion. My feelings haven’t changed since we were on Solander and they never will,” he began. “I agree with Mencius that you, Odo, and I are the ideal team for this mission.”

  “But?” she noted.

  “I still remember when Fola Untor had his blaster in my back on Zulanan and I asked you to move away. I swear I thought he would kill me then and there. That’s why I wanted you to move. When he shot you on that first day on Solander, I didn’t believe he was just going to stun us. Then when those carnivores attacked you, I thought I had lost you again,” he said. He took a long drink of coffee and continued, “All I want is for you to have a happy life, Lini. That’s why your mission shocked me so much. The last thing I want is for The Accord to grind you up and consume you. There is also a chance we will be stranded on Stit. Our friends may not be able to help us then due to The Accord. I don’t want you to take a risk for me again.”

  “Dave, I did not ask for this mission, but I am very happy to have it,” she smiled. “I have faith that the Source knows what it is doing and this mission is part of its plan. Stit being a Nan planet is a remarkable coincidence, just like when you and I met Zeet in the Source. You, Odo and I are being drawn to that planet. We must obey the Source.” She stood and walked around the table and began to massage his shoulders. “Dave, darling, I will always love you. I think it would be a mistake to take me off this mission, but you are my commanding officer. If you say that I should stay here, I will do that. In my heart, I want to go to Stit, but not to rekindle what we had on Solander. I want to fulfill my destiny and do my job as part of your crew. But you decide, Admiral.”

  Dave stood and turned to face her. He was smiling ear-to-ear. He extended his hand and said, “Ensign Dar, welcome to Nightsky and welcome to the mission to Stit.”

  She threw her arms around his neck and kissed his lips. She quickly disentangled herself and said, “Sorry, Admiral. Force of habit.”

  §

  “Mencius, are you out of you mind?” Fa-a-Di growled. “How could you put Dave and Lini through this again?”

  “Calm down, brother,” Mencius laughed. “Odo, Lini, and Dave are the only ones who know the language on Stit. We certainly can’t send a million com-links along so everyone can communicate. Any significant sign of new metal could bring The Accord back! Besides, if that planet is a natural Hive, it would help us deal with The Accord.”

  “I’m sorry,” Fa-a-Di apologized. “I guess the parallels between Stit and Solander are too close for me. After all, it’s only been a few months since they escaped that hellhole. But what about Darlene’s feelings?”

  “I’ve already spoken with her on my decision, Fa-a-Di,” Mencius replied. “I think we all understand the risks of action or inaction in dealing with The Accord. Once I gave her all the facts and told her Odo would be there too, she calmed down and accepted it. Personally, I don’t believe Stit is a natural Hive anyway. Such a planet has natural defenders and yet, Stit was ravaged by The Accord. If my theory is correct, our team will only be there a week or two. At Odo’s age, he can’t afford to be away from a Hive too long.”

  “Okay, I just hoped Dave’s relationship with Lini would fizzle out so he would not have problems with Darlene. Now those two will be together again with his wife a hundred thousand light-years away. I just hoped for more time,” the Gallicean said.

  “Me too, brother,” Mencius replied. “I’m still stunned by the reports from Dave and Zee on The Accord. We must never allow what happened on Bandabar to happen anywhere else. Zee is keeping his agents away from the Beings of The Accord, but they have estimated there are many millions of those creatures. I shudder to think what would happen if they invaded today.”

  “There is some good news on that front, Mencius,” Fa-a-Di said. “My brother-in-law had an idea about how to construct a singularity weapon. He has shared it with the Maklakar and they are working on a prototype. It will take some time though. I just hope and pray we have that to spare.”

  “Excellent, I’m glad to hear that,” the Kalidean replied. “Please have him contact my people too. We would be happy to work with them. I have also been thinking of our friends in the Andromeda Galaxy recently. If The Accord was considering invading this place, that galaxy may be at risk as well, so I’ve been sending reports to the Lagamar-Nan Alliance for them to be wary.”

  “Given the relative distances, I think we will be the primary target,” Fa-a-Di noted. “However, if we are able to deflect them, Andromeda seems like the next obvious target. I will be sure to pass any information I have to my people on Lagamar Boley.”

  “A wise decision, friend,” Mencius replied, then laughed. “I just recalled it wasn’t long ago we were on trial on Earth Prime. At that mome
nt, we thought the Society of Humanity was the biggest problem we had. Now look at us.”

  “Nothing ever gets easier, old friend,” Fa-a-Di laughed. “That’s why we like to drink whisky! It helps us forget the load of crap we’re swimming in at the moment.”

  “Very true, General,” Mencius laughed. “Of course, you know how life is. Thankfully, it’s about the voyage, not the destination, because none of us ever reaches the end of our challenges. We just keep on plugging away. Take care. Kalidus out.”

  Chapter 5

  Dave, Lini, and Odo were back on the beach in front of High Consul Zee Gongaleg’s home on Tak-Makla, the constructed Hive planet. Dave had been pleased that his wife understood his mission, although he did not know that Mencius had contacted her in advance. Odo was looking remarkably well for a man nine thousand years old. Living on Zulanan was definitely agreeing with him. Still, Dave remembered how Odo had almost died on Nanda when he had been separated from a Hive. He personally reached out to High Priest Obu Neela of Lagamar Ulu to keep an eye on Odo and yank Odo out at the first sign of deteriorating health.

  Zee was briefing the team before their trip to Stit. “There are quite a few survivors on that planet, although they tend to live in small villages scattered around the planet. Most of the planet’s crust and upper mantle have no extractable metal. The one exception is a massive volcano near your destination. The cone is more than twenty thousand feet tall and seems to be almost pure iron. The locals have been mining that for some time, so their infrastructure is advancing rapidly. My fear is The Accord will notice that metal source and return. You need to find out why that volcano erupted and warn the locals of the danger they are in. Due to the proximity to the volcano, a good-sized town is nearby. We estimate five thousand residents. Many more live in the area, farming or ranching, not to mention those working in the mines. Your primary mission is to engage the locals and find out what they know about The Accord. My agents will be monitoring you around the clock. At the first sign of trouble, we will extract you. We will not have the opportunity to warn you though. One second you will be there, and the next you will be here again. I think that’s about it.”

  “Zee, have you found any evidence the planet is a natural Hive?” Odo asked.

  “No, we have not. However, our agents are not in a great position to tell one way or the other. They have noticed many lines of Universal Power emanating from the planet, but nothing powerful enough to prove a Hive conclusively,” Zee replied.

  “The atmosphere and climate are okay?” Dave asked.

  “The atmosphere is breathable. But I’m glad you brought up the climate, Dave,” Zee began. “The planet has a very unusual orbit. There are no moons, but the planet seems to wobble and change course continually, although it still circumnavigates its sun on about the same period as Earth. My agents have noticed odd extremes in weather, so we have asked your people to include a variety of protection in your packs. If you learn anything about that, it might be helpful to know.”

  “Anything else, Zee?” Dave asked.

  “Good luck with the mission and please be careful,” Zee replied. “The other good news is we haven’t seen any Beings within The Accord transport themselves as if they had a Hive. If they choose to follow you to Stit, it will likely take days or weeks for them to arrive. That will give us time to extract you and hopefully rescue some of the Nan living there. I guess that’s it.”

  “Let’s load up, team,” Dave said. He grabbed his backpack and slung it onto his back, strapping it on carefully. “Each of our packs includes a flyer unit. That should help us get around more quickly.” He clipped two blasters to his belt. His three daggers were secured there as well. Lini’s pack was similar to Dave’s, but Odo did not carry any weapons. Dave checked each of his team members and Lini checked Dave’s pack. When everything seemed to be secure, Dave turned to Zee and said, “I guess that’s it, old friend. We’re ready whenever your Hive is.” As Zee touched his com-link to advise The Hive, Lini grabbed Dave’s and Odo’s hands and squeezed them tightly. The group disappeared from the beach, just as a light rain began to fall.

  “Godspeed, my friends,” Zee sighed and turned to walk back to his home.

  Lini fainted, but Dave held her until he could sit her down gently on the thick grass to recover. They were on a tall hill overlooking the volcano to the north and the city to the south. To the east and west, the line of hills continued to the horizons. Seeing no immediate danger, he knelt next to Lini, holding one hand and patting her on the cheek with the other. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes and smiled. “Sorry, Admiral, I guess I fainted.”

  “It’s okay, Lini. Traveling by the tekkan Hive can be disorienting. And stop calling me Admiral. I’m Dave,” he laughed.

  She stood slowly and looked at the world around them. “Thank God this place isn’t like Solander!”

  “Dave, can you sense it yet?” Odo asked.

  “The energy in the atmosphere is amazing. This place must be a Hive,” he replied.

  “That’s true, but it’s not a good thing,” Odo warned. “If the guardians were unable to stop The Accord, all of our planets and Hives are in serious danger.”

  “I think we need to figure out what happened here first, Odo,” Lini interjected. “Remember the example of my home world. Perhaps we were fortunate that the Galliceans never tried to repeat their attack on the planet. But most of the Nan were killed, and none of us knew the true nature of that world.”

  “That’s an interesting theory, my dear,” the elder replied. “Since the Hive itself was never in danger, The Accord was able to do what they wanted to do. I hadn’t considered that.”

  “Enough speculating, you two,” Dave said. “We need to confirm the Hive and talk to the people here. We can ask them about the guardians and the rest when we find some locals. I think we should walk too. If we’re flying around, they might mistake us for The Accord.” The group headed southward, toward the city. Several ranges of smaller hills separated them from their destination.

  Zee had been correct about the climate. When they arrived, it appeared to be mid-morning. The sky was clear with only a few wispy clouds. The temperature was around seventy degrees. By the time they reached the peak of the next range of hills, a mass of dark clouds filled the sky and a cold rain fell on them. They donned their helmets to keep the rain off their heads and continued. As they crossed the next narrow valley, the sun was approaching its zenith high above the dense cloud cover. Amazingly, the speed of the sun’s passage accelerated as though the planet’s rotation was quickening. The sudden movement was very disorienting and the trio had to sit down to avoid nausea. It felt as though they had stepped onto an invisible moving belt that was pulling them forward. Within a few minutes, the sensation faded and they were able to continue moving. By the time they crested the next hill, the clouds were gone and the temperature was soaring over one hundred degrees. Dave signaled them to crouch behind a long stone wall that cut across their path.

  “What’s wrong, Dave?” Lini asked.

  “This wall is the first sign of humanity we’ve seen. Hold tight,” he replied and stood up to glance over the fence, using the helmet’s equipment to analyze the area. After this hill, the last two rises were covered with grazing animals that looked like tiny goats. They were about the size of large house cats. He could see several small farms on the broad plain just past the final hills. Beyond that, the city stood brilliantly lit by the sunlight. It appeared most buildings were made of stone. That made him realize they had seen almost no trees in this area. The hills were covered with grass and weeds, nothing else. As he looked to his left to examine that area, a giant dog-like creature rushed from his right side, jumping over the wall and knocking him to the ground. Lini screamed and Odo pushed himself against the wall to get away.

  The animal was the size of a Shetland pony and its front legs were standing on Dave’s chest. It was growling and baring its teeth. Lini kicked the beast in the side and it turn
ed to attack her, then suddenly stopped growling and began to wag its tail. “Odo, take off Dave’s helmet,” she ordered. The beast continued to hold Dave down while it whimpered and cried at Lini. It paid no attention to Odo who came around in front of the animal and gently pulled Dave’s helmet off. When it saw that Dave was human, it began to lick his face and sat next to him.

  Dave sat up and rubbed the dog’s ears. “Well, I’ll be damned. I thought this thing was going to kill me for sure. What’s going on, Lini?”

  She sat on the other side of the dog and petted its head. “It didn’t make sense this animal would attack you and not those goats. So, I figured it thought you were a robot since you’re covered in body armor. When it saw your face, it knew you were okay.”

  “So, the dog is the shepherd of those goats,” Dave realized. “What a strange place! Giant dogs and tiny goats. I wonder what’s next.” Dave pulled a meat ration from his pack and gave it to the dog which chewed it ravenously. When it finished, it licked Dave’s face again and jumped back over the fence to guard its flock.

  “Are you okay, Dave?” Odo said. “That had to be a frightening experience. Do you want to continue forward?”

  “I think we should camp here tonight,” he said, clapping Odo on the back. “As soon as we cross this wall, we’re going to get a lot of attention, and I don’t want to be wandering around on some guy’s farm in the middle of the night.”

  §

  Colonel Nik Paka and Admiral Veek Alar were questioning the only brain-robot that had been captured alive. Its guardian robot had been smashed by a plasma bomb from their star cruiser and its arms and legs had been removed as a precaution. “What is your name?” Veek asked.

  “Why have you done this to us?” it replied. “We are of The Accord. You must serve us, not endeavor to kill us.”

  “I am Veek of the Bandabar Fold,” the admiral said. “What is your name?”

  “I am Pik and I am of the Accord,” the robot said. “Would you like to be of The Accord?”