Exodus - Empires at War 04 - The Long Fall (Exodus Series #4)

by Doug Dandridge

  Sean looked at his left forearm. It was in a cast, and he could tell by the shape that his hand was gone. So, I won’t be playing basketball for a month or so, he thought, not really looking forward to a regrowth procedure, but glad nonetheless that it could be done.

  “What about the kidnappers? Did we capture any?”

  “They fought hard,” said Agent Mays. “But we captured the ones the gas rendered unconscious. Seven of them. They are being transferred to Purgatory for questioning.”

  “There was a shape shifter among them,” said Sean, looking over at Sergiov.

  “We actually found three of the bastards, your Majesty,” said Sergiov, her frown turning upside down. “One of them was still alive, and we’re making sure it remains that way.”

  “I want to talk with it as soon as I’m able.”

  “Is that a good idea, your Majesty?” asked Mays. “We really don’t know all of its capabilities.”

  “I don’t have to be in the same room with it,” said Sean, reaching over and taking Jennifer’s hand in his right. “I would rather walk naked across a room full of Tau Ceti vipers.”

  “We’ll talk about it in the morning, your Majesty.”

  After everyone else had left the room he sat with Jennifer, her holding tightly onto his hand. They watched the news holo, and Sean flinched as the scene in the chamber played back before his eyes. He sucked in his breath as his image on the holo fired the X-ray laser through his own flesh.

  “How in the hell did GNN get this footage,” said Sean, disturbed that it had gotten out on the news net so quickly. Someone had received a lot money for that, and a few someones might be facing jail time.

  “That was the bravest thing I have ever seen,” said Jennifer, tears coming from her eyes again as she watched the holo. “And if I ever see you do anything like that again I will kill you, your Majesty.”

  The talking heads seemed to agree with his consort. The talk was all about how irrational and headstrong this Emperor was. “And to risk his life, and the continuation of the government, for a commoner,” said a member of the Lords who was a guest on the news show. “This shows to myself and many of the Lords that this man lacks the maturity to lead the Empire in time of war. Maybe in peace time, where he would have some room to grow. But in a war? He needs to turn the running of the Empire over to those with more experience and sit as a figurehead until he learns how to rule. And that means not going off on adventures that put him at extreme risk.”

  Jennifer was crying again, and Sean knew the comment about being a commoner had to hurt. He thought he might have a solution to that problem, but didn’t think the time was quite right.

  The Lord went off, and some more newsies came on and talked about his adventure to Sestius, another risk they didn’t think he should have taken.

  “Off,” ordered Sean, and the holo died.

  “Will this hurt you?” asked Jennifer, squeezing his hand.

  “Theoretically, no,” said Sean, shaking his head. “They can’t remove me from the throne, short of proving insanity. But it can erode the confidence of the common people.”

  “Well, this common person thinks you are wonderful,” said Jennifer, leaning over and kissing the Monarch.

  Sean returned the kiss, then yawned, then went under.

  “Did you see the news?” asked Samantha Ogden Lee, the Regent, as she walked into the room the next morning.

  “Last I saw they were raking me over the coals,” said Sean, looking up from his breakfast. Jennifer had left after he had fallen asleep. She was also still considered a patient after her ordeal, and was undergoing tests to make sure that nothing had happened to her that she wasn’t aware of. At least they’re sure she’s not a shifter.

  “Then you haven’t seen the polls this morning?” asked Samantha, smiling. When Sean shook his head she continued on. “The common folk think you’re a hero. Someone they would trust to fight for them, and someone they would follow into hell. You have a ninety-six percent approval rating among the commons, and eighty-seven percent among the nobles.”

  “That’s, that’s amazing.”

  “Highest approval rating ever. And the approval rating for your romantic involvement with the Doctor is almost as high. The public loves a romance, and one that would make you risk your life for the woman captured their interest.”

  “And the attack by the Lords?”

  “That really hurt them. The public seems to think it was unfair of the Lords to attack you at a time that you had been injured in rescuing your lady. Their approval rating is abysmal.”

  Samantha smiled as Jennifer entered the room. “And good morning to you, my Lady.”

  Jennifer looked at the Regent with a confused expression. Samantha turned toward Sean and the smile grew. “I think this is an opportune time to carry out your plan. You will never be in this good a position again.”

  Epilogue

  MASSADARA SPACE, JULY 30TH, 1001.

  It’s now or never, thought Jana Gorbachev, walking down the corridor like she belonged there. The Great Admiral had gone aboard the new station, leaving her on the flagship, where she was really nothing but another fixture to be ignored. And hopefully it will stay that way, she thought, walking in the open, trying to not appear like she was up to something. A couple of Cacada stared at her, but it was the normal predator stare at what they considered a prey animal, and not showing any untoward suspicion.

  The anxiety grew as she approached an area that was considered off limits to her. She moved into the shadows of a room before that area, taking a moment to make sure no one was watching her. There were some security cameras covering the room. She had set them to not look at this very area, but there was really no way to tell where the small dark domes were looking, and she stood for a moment to see if an alarm was raised. When that alarm didn’t come she opened the grill to the ventilation duct and crawled in, pulling the covering back behind her.

  The duct was large enough for a Cacada technician to crawl through, so they could make repairs if bots couldn’t do it. It was an easy crouching walked for her to the next junction, past the open seal, then to the ladder leading down. She climbed down the several levels, tense, waiting for the alarm she was sure was going to sound any moment. She let out a deep breath when she reached the level she wanted, then crawled into another duct. Jana had a strange thought, wondering if the Ca’cadasans had entertainment vids, something she had not seen since coming into captivity. If so, she wondered if they had any vids about people using ventilation ducts to get away, something that was a regular trope in human stories.

  Still no alarms went off, and she found the grill she had been looking for. It was another tense wait to make sure no one was in the room she wanted. Not that there was any reason for Cacada to be in that room before they moved the materials that were being temporally stored there.

  Jana moved the grill and crawled out into the room, keeping to the shadows of the large metal containers that took up the chamber. She reached back into the duct and pulled out the package she had left there on an earlier trip. It contained what she thought she needed, and she prayed it had all she needed.

  The box she had targeted was near the wall, and she looked at the manifest to make sure that it contained what she thought, and was shipping when she had planned. She breathed another sigh when it matched with what she had entered into the computer. She opened the box and looked in, finding what she expected, a number of armored suits for the Ca’cadasan ground forces. She opened one of the suits, then climbed in and closed it behind her, initiating to breathing system. From there it was a bit of a struggle to actually use the arms of the suit to close the box. Then she lay back and waited. The next part of her plan depended on the inherent laziness of the large aliens.

  She didn’t have too long to wait. She could hear the males moving around outside the box, and then it opened. “I wonder why this box was left open?” said one of the males.

  “Somebody checking the ma
nifest and too lazy to close it,” said another male. “What does it matter.”

  They closed the box, and soon Jana could feel it moving. That went on for some minutes, then stopped, and she heard more males speaking and knew she was on a shuttle. A short time later the shuttle moved. The inertial compensators were not well tuned in the cargo compartment, and the changing accelerations almost made her sick to her stomach. That could not dampen her elation. I made it, she thought. There was still a ways to go, but she had made it off the flagship, and that was a very big step.

  *

  “These are the aliens, my Lord Great Admiral,” said the Low Admiral in charge of the station, leading Miierrowanasa M’tinisasitow into the chamber.

  The reptilian odor was the first thing he noticed, coming to his nostrils before he caught sight of the creatures. There were reptiles or similar creatures among the slaves of the Empire, and they were not among his favorites. Then he saw the creatures, a quintet of sturdy looking scaled creatures who looked back at him with turreted eyes. They had formidable looking claws on each hand and foot, and moved in a slow and deliberate manner. He wondered if their thoughts were as slow as their physical motions, then decided they couldn’t be that dense if they were traveling in space.

  “They call themselves Knockermen, if I am getting it correct” said the other Admiral. “They are in revolt against their own government, some form of not empire. That government is friends with the humans. They speak the language of the humans, or at least a couple of them do.”

  “Very good,” said the Great Admiral, who could speak that language himself. “And what can we do for you beings? An enemy of the humans is sure to be a friend of ours.”

  The Knockermen spoke among themselves in a low rumbling tone, before one of them turned his full attention to the Great Admiral. “The humans are the problem,” said that spokesman. “They play with powers that they don’t understand, and threaten the entire galaxy with destruction with that be damned wormhole generating station of theirs.”

  “What about their station?” asked the Great Admiral, his ears perking up. “And how does it threaten the galaxy?”

  “The ancients built a station around the same black hole, and many stars that were incapable of exploding did so, including the one our original home world orbited.”

  Sounds like superstitious nonsense to me, thought the Great Admiral. How can a star too small to go supernova explode? Still, we might be able to use their superstition to our advantage. “That is horrible. We, too, wish to keep these evil creatures from destroying the Galaxy. But as long as they have that station we are at a disadvantage. There is not much we can do about it at the moment.”

  “We could show you a way to get on that station,” said the spokesbeing, his eyes moving quickly in his turrets. “Would that help you to destroy it?”

  “It would indeed,” said the Great Admiral, feeling his excitement rise. “Come. Let us get you beings some refreshment, and then we can talk about how to prevent this great evil from being done to the Galaxy, and the civilized beings in it.”

  The Great Admiral smiled as he led the Knockermen into another room, where they would have a choice of food and drink, thinking all the while how he would deprive the humans of their wormholes.

  The End

  Appendix A: Glossery

  Aether Paddles: Grabbers. Units that utilize the space warping powers of energized superplatinum to grip the actual fabric of space and pull their attached object along. Used in everything from battle armor to large ships.

  Augmentation: Also known as Enhancement. Retroactive genetic and biological engineering of humans. Through the use of nanotech enhancements are made to the human genome, resulting in faster and stronger people with the sensory systems of the best found in nature. Upgraded glandular systems. Ninety-five percent of augmented also have reduced lifespans, though some exceptional genomes do not experience this, and pass their traits down to their descendants.

  Bolthole: Imperial industrial system in the process of being established a thousand light years outside the boundaries of the Empire. Planned as a unassailable arsenal and last refuge of the Empire.

  Capitulum: Capital City of the Empire, home of the House of Lords and the Imperial Palace. 3 billion citizens living in 375,000 kilometers of city.

  Catastrophic Translation: The movement of an object from any of the hyper dimensions to normal space through hitting a hyper barrier or losing its protective hyperdrive field. The result is a translation in which matter is disrupted, resulting in the probably destruction of the ship and all aboard.

  Class III Systems: Mostly agricultural worlds, 763 worlds in 748 systems, with a combined population of 88 billion.

  Class V Systems: Economically important and military systems, 307 planets with 5.5 billion citizens.

  Cloning: Reproduction of organic material by the artificial stimulation and growth of cells. Cloning of food and body replacement parts is widespread, but the reproduction of a complete sophont is illegal in any of the human polities, due to the fact that clones are somehow different. Human clones completely lack a conscience, no matter their upbringing or training. It is unknown why.

  Com Net: Network established on all Imperial planets allowing all citizens access to communications and data services anywhere on the planet.

  Core Worlds: Class I. The oldest and most developed of the planets of the Empire, with populations in the billions. Population is restricted, as are births, and by law fifty percent of the land area of the world must remain pristine wilderness. 98 inhabitable planets in 91 systems, within two hundred and fifty light years of the Central System. 380 billion citizens.

  Cyborgs: Living beings with integrated mechanical and electronic systems, such as fiber optic nerves and communication implants. Technically, all humans in high tech society are cyborgs, incorporating as they do data and com implants, and nanite augmented immune systems. True cyborgs have much more intrusive implant architecture, including biomechanical nervous and muscular systems. All enhanced soldiers, such as Rangers, Naval Commandos and Marine Recon have passive implants such as bone reinforcement.

  Developing Worlds: Class II systems. 294 inhabited planets in 277 systems, with a population of 185 billion (21 billion alien) citizens.

  Dole, The: Living wage payments to the great majority of citizens of the Core Worlds. Supervised robotic factories produce the products needed to sustain society to the point where employment is not possible for most Core World citizens. The Dole allows them to survive with some luxuries such as in house entertainment, but not much else. Citizens who wish to improve their lot compete for the jobs that are available.

  Donut, The: Massive century long engineering project, an enormous space station in orbit around the Supersystem central black hole, using the swirling gravitational energy of a sixty solar mass charged hole to generate wormholes.

  Exploration Command: Subdivision of the Fleet tasked with exploring new worlds, making scientific discoveries, and expanding the Empire into unexplored space.

  Fleet, The. Term of respect an endearment for the naval forces of the New Terran Empire, a force which has never lost a war, and is responsible for guarding the people of the Empire.

  Frontier Worlds: Class IV. 8,462 planets in 8,147 systems, with a combined population of 6.9 billion citizens.

  Gravitons: Messenger particles of gravity, detectable in all levels of space, including subspace and hyperspace. The manipulation of gravitons is responsible for artificial gravity and the use of hyperspace and subspace.

  IIA: Imperial Intelligence Service. Imperial Security Service responsible for intelligence gathering beyond the boundaries of the Empire. By Imperial decree they are allowed some investigative powers within the Empire, mostly those involving threats to the government.

  IIB: Imperial Investigation Bureau. Imperial Security Service responsible for counterintelligence and criminal investigation within the boundaries of the Empire.

  Imperial Alie
n Systems: 7 aboriginal systems with 3.2 billion beings. Ten alien protectorates of 89 systems, 262 billion aliens.

  Implants: Electronic devices attached by nanotech to the brains of Imperial citizens, allowing them to contact com and data services, as well as emergency services. Range from basic to Governmental that allow access to classified databases and vital command and control services. By Imperial Privacy Laws the tracking feature of implants can be disabled by citizens concerned about being monitored. Convicted criminals have this feature removed.

  House of Commons: Second House of Parliament, made up of elected members of the common people, based on the population of the planets of the Empire. 2,647 total members. All appropriations and infrastructure bills originate in this house.

  House of Lords: First House of Parliament, made up of hereditarily appointed nobles, as well as high ranking members of the major churches of the Empire. 961 members. All military bills, intelligence bills, and treaties originate from this house. Prime Minister comes from the Lords.

  House of Scholars: Third House of Parliament, made up by appointed and elected members of scientists and academics. Most members are from first tier Universities, with a small number appointed by the Lords and the Emperor. 400 members. All science, technology, medical and educational bills originate in this house.

  Hyper Barrier: Effect of gravity wells on objects traveling through hyper. Vessels striking the barrier are translated out of hyperspace catastrophically. The radius of the barrier depends on the mass of the object generating it, black hole, star, planet or smaller object. For a black hole the barrier can be thirty light hours or more from the center mass. For a planetoid it might be light seconds. The higher the dimension of hyper the further out its barrier. Star systems typically have a hyper I barrier of from three to five light hours, depending on the mass.