by Andrew Beery
“Report!” he barked at this First Officer.
“Sir,” Commander Herringbone answered crisply, “Preparations are proceeding without any difficulties. We should be compliant within two days.”
“’We should be compliant within two days’,” Nicked-Tail mocked. “Are we little fry just hatched from our eggs that we should be told what to do?” He slammed his fist into the table top and immediately swore as his now fully organic neural link to his host obediently fed the pain centers of his brain.
To change the subject he asked another question. “How are our assets on board the Yorktown, Mador and the Relentless?”
“Our agents report all three ships underwent extensive searches when a few of our remote control nodes were discovered but as you know the technology used was from one of our client races and is unlikely to be recognized as from the Syndicate. Our people planted the idea that the devices were of Agur origin,” Herringbone answered.
“Have all the units been discovered?”
“Negative sir. All three ships still have several units actively deployed and responding to control signals. We will be able to severely hamper their operations when you deem the time is right.”
Nicked-Tail turned to face the other man. “Damn shame we could not get anyone aboard the Exeter… Still, when the time is right Admiral Kimbridge will be forced to watch as her precious home world burns in the same fires of hell that spawned her. When the time is right she will weep and nash her teeth and know that there is not a thing she can do to prevent the Modos from assuming their rightful place in the order of the universe. When the time is right she will beg for mercy and there will be none!”
“And then?” Commander Herringbone prompted.
“And then, my fine Commander… we will teach the Agur what it means to toy with the Modos and the Uruk!”
***
Head Archivist Sna’st looked up from his antiquated 2-d status display. His eyes were tired. In point of fact his whole body was tired. His people had long ago perfected techniques to prolong life indefinitely but he had not availed himself of them. In point of fact, very few of his people did. Life in this plane was simply an extension of life in higher planes. The Creator’s plans required temporal life to be finite… who was he to argue with the Creator?
He watched the machinations of the two proxy factions, the Galactic Coalition and Modos Syndicate. His was a race sworn to impartiality and yet he found himself cheering (albeit silently and to himself alone) for the Coalition faction. He could not help but think the universe would be a better place if their ideals were more uniformly adopted.
It appeared that both groups would complete the agreed upon modifications to their respective ships. The Modos faction had attempted to retain some Uruk technology but a series of stern warnings from the Agur had finally dissuaded them from continuing down a path that would lead to their disqualification. The Agur had the advantage of being able to see with equal facility the current timeline in both forward and backward directions. That ability allowed them to examine in minute detail everything each side did to prepare for the coming battle. Unfortunately once the principle participants were inserted into the timeline several million years into their past… this ability to read the timeline would disappear.
He reached forward and toggled a display to zoom in on a particular section of the GCP vessel known as the Yorktown. A member of the crew was spraying a nanites infused powerful but short-lived oxidizing compound on a small black cube that rested inside a small electronics bay. The cube did not resemble any of the other equipment but that was not surprising as it was based on a borophene semiconductor technology not in use by the GCP. Unfortunately for the GCP, the device did not represent a violation of the engagement rules.
The one advantage the humans and their allies had was their ability and predilection to innovate. While it was true that neither side could directly use technology developed by their respective benefactors… the humans had consistently sought to reverse engineer the new technologies they were introduced to. The result was pure human technology was centuries more advanced than it would have been had humanity not encountered the Heshe. The human understanding of nanomachines was but one example.
Sna’st’s monitoring systems could see the nanites infused within the oxidizing spray going to work on the borophene mesh that formed the foreign device’s circuitry. The devices that had been intended by the Modos to subvert the GCP’s control of their own vessels was in fact being re-wired and co-opted by the GCP against the Modos. It was an intriguing turn of events.
He signaled his assistant in the adjoining room. It was a very young female today. She could not have been a cycle over four hundred. He suspected his second was trying to reinvigorate his old friend. The young lady was indeed attractive with wrinkles on her face and forearms that were bespoken for pleasures best enjoyed by those much younger than he.
“O’tha dearest, please raise the shields on the temporal transport systems. Bring the power up to 103% on all systems. Synchronize their interlocks with ours here.”
There were sounds of shuffling in the other room and then O’tha shuffled into the Head Archivist’s office carrying a small translucent control pad. She smiled at the older man as she entered. The sway of her little nub tail was intoxicating. Not for the first time Sna’st wished he was several thousand years younger.
As she entered she waved a deliciously wrinkled hand over the device and a three dimensional control panel seemed to float above it. She carried out his orders and then placed the pad on his desk. All this without saying a word. The women of Agur rarely spoke out loud but when they did the men present were wise to listen.
Sna’st focused his attention on the floating display. Everything was as it should be. In point of fact, everything was as he knew it would be. He had lived this particular moment in time longer than most humans lived. He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt what must happen next. He reached forward with an ancient finger and pressed a small button. Thousands of small devices screamed in protest as unimaginable energies flowed through them. Each device lasted but a fraction of a millisecond under the energetic onslaught but they accomplished their mission. The world came to an end.
Chapter Seven – Vaalbara
A wave of nausea passed through the Yorktown. It lasted only a fraction of a second but even crewmen who had been asleep woke up with a start. Cat and everyone else on the bridge of the GCP Yorktown gasped. One moment the stars were there… the next they were not. Instead the forward view screen was filled with a deep purple undulating haze. It reminded Cat of the transdimensional conduit between the alpha and beta-verses but it was much deeper in color.
“Report,” she barked at the sensor station just off to her left.
“I don’t know what to make of these readings,” Lieutenant Kipling started to say. Before she could finish Captain Kirkland was at her side. He reached forward and tweaked a display.
Ken looked over at the Admiral. The look on his face was one of shock. “Admiral, if I’m reading this correctly we are traveling through a temporal vortex the likes of which we’ve never seen.”
“Specify”
“Admiral… The vortex is massive beyond belief. The entire Agur system is traveling with us. As best I can tell we’ve already traveled backward something in excess of a million years and are still accelerating!”
“Are we able to communicate with the other ships?” Cat asked.
Commander Ben bent over the communications station. “Negative Admiral. There is too much space-time distortion even for quantum-entangled communication links. Whatever is going on, we are in it alone until we are out of this conduit.”
Cat looked at Ken. “Any idea when we might arrive at ‘whenever’ it is we are going?”
Ken shook his head. “There is simply no way to tell Admiral. We have already travelled close to 50 million years into the past. It’s anybody’s guess how much further the Agur are going to take us.”
“So we agree it’s the Agur and not the Modos doing this,” Ben asked.
“I don’t see them having the tech to pull this off,” Ken answered.
“True,” Cat acknowledged. “On the other hand I would not have said the Agur could have done this two weeks ago.”
“Point taken Admiral,” Ben said turning he faced Ken. “What are your orders Captain?”
Ken walked three short steps to sit in his captain’s chair. “My orders Commander… are to sit tight and see what happens. Take the ship to condition yellow. It’s still morning ship’s time so I want duty cycle one to remain at post for another six hours. Cycle two and three are to stand down. Get some rest – get something to eat. We may be at this for a while.”
“Understood Captain,” Ben acknowledged. He toggled ship-wide comms. “Attention crew of the Yorktown. This is the First Officer. We are currently traveling through a temporal conduit. We don’t know how long we will be traveling nor do we know ‘when and where’ our destination is. We are a ship of exploration so this should not be unfamiliar to most of you. The captain has ordered Condition Yellow. Be ready to go to Condition Red at a moment’s notice. We are currently duty cycle one. All other cycles are to eat and sleep so they are fresh when their cycles report. Duty cycle two is to report to their stations at 1600. That is all. First Officer out.”
Ben turned to face Ken. “Sir, as I have second shift, I’m going to stop by the mess hall, get a cup of hot chocolate and kibitz with your wife.”
“Enjoy yourself Commander but get some rest too.”
“My cybernetic systems don’t really require rest.”
“It’s your organic components I worry about,” Ken said.
“My mother said the same thing,” Ben commented as he stepped into the turbolift.
Cat smiled at her friend’s easy banter. The Captain and his new First Officer made a good team. Cat hoped Commander Trifa and Captain Vigit were doing as well. Inevitably her mind wandered to Jason Ruck. The Mador was out there too. He would have tried to contact the Yorktown and been equally unable to. If things went badly they might never talk again. They might never hold each other again. They might never kiss again. It was not a welcome series of thoughts. At the end of the day, she knew she loved the Captain of Yorktown’s twin. At some point in the not too distant future… (or perhaps in the very distance past, she mused) they would have to do something about that.
***
Twenty eight minutes into the third watch the Yorktown emerged from the temporal conduit. The duty officer, Lieutenant Commander Scott immediately signaled a red alert and notified the Admiral and Captain. They met Commander Ben as the three of them jogged down the corridor of what the crew called Officer’s Country and arrived at the turbolift at roughly the same time.
The bridge was organized chaos as the more senior first shift personal made their way to the command deck and replaced their third duty cycle counterparts. Cat knew that some ships didn’t rotate shifts on a Red Alert but the Yorktown had practiced such turnovers until they could be accomplished with little difficulty.
The viewscreen showed a warm yellow sun and a totally unfamiliar pattern of stars. Cat nodded to Ken as he took his seat in the command chair. Ken pressed a control surface on the armrest of his chair and a small 3D holographic display appeared in the air directly in front of him. He used swipes of his hand to reposition some floating displays. He quickly reviewed the ship’s status. All departments reported their systems green. The new power systems had survived completely intact. The ship’s AI which had finally adopted a new name, Yorky, had managed the ship’s systems faultlessly.
On the display in front of him, Ken manipulated an active scan of the star system they found themselves in. Right now the display was somewhat limited. Automated optical recognition systems had identified a planet orbiting near the primary that was an exact match for Mercury in both size and general orbit. Nothing else showed up using optics. Such systems were limited to line-of-sight as well as speed-of-light limitations. Ken reached a hand forward and actuated a virtual control that launched thousands of minute hyperjump capable sensor probes.
Each of the probes jumped to positions within five light minutes of each other in an ever expanding sphere that slowly covered the entire star system. Every five minutes the probes were programmed to jump out another five light minutes. Each of them was tied into an FTL quantum entangled communication link to the Yorktown. Within seconds the display hovering in front Ken began to fill out.
“We have the Relentless, Mador, and Exeter located in system,” Ken announced. “No sign of the Syndicate taskforce.”
Ben, who was busy working at another station, looked up. “Captain, Admiral… I think I know why we lost communication links with the other ships. Entanglement was not restored when we re-emerged in this time-frame. I think all we need to do is reseed the FTL comm systems across the fleet.”
Cat nodded to herself. It made sense. The quantum entanglement that made FTL communication possible worked because the signal travelled through a higher or extra-dimensional plane. The Agur technology could very easily disrupt that extra-dimensional plane in such a way as to disrupt the entanglement as well.
“Ken,” Cat began as she walked down to his command chair, “Jump a probe next to each of our ships. Signal them with standard radio. Let them know what’s going on. Tell them to capture the probes and use them to reseed their comms.”
“Already done Admiral! I’ve also instructed them to feed their survey data from any probes they’ve launched directly to Yorky for integration. Between the Mador, Relentless, Exeter and the Yorktown we should have a pretty good idea of what’s out there in a few minutes.”
***
An hour later the picture of the solar system was essentially complete. As Cat had previously suspected, the GCP team had been temporally and spatially trans-located to the Sol system some 3.2 billion years back in time.
The asteroid belt located in Cat’s time between Jupiter and Mars was occupied instead by a frozen, rocky and barren planet roughly one and a half times time size of Mars. Mars itself was a water world with a thick breathable atmosphere and a single massive moon. Earth was almost unrecognizable. It was in slightly tighter orbit around the sun and had not one but two rocky satellites. Neither was as big as moon that Cat had trained on as a cadet and yet together they were easily 15% more massive. The planet Earth was dominated by a single large continent. Both Mars and Earth were teeming with microbial life in their oceans but their land masses were essentially barren.
The real jewel of the solar system was Venus. To Cat’s eye, the planet looked more like Earth of the 22nd century than the actual Earth in this solar system. There was a single small moon in a tight orbit. Several large land masses could be seen through the wispy white clouds that surrounded planet. Oceans occupied three fifths of the planet’s surface. More startling than any of this was the abundance of life on the planet. Where the land masses on Earth and Mars had been barren, Venus was rich with greens and browns. Life on Venus had progressed from single-celled organisms to more complex plants and animals.
Cat stood in the main conference room. One of its walls was dominated by a large nanite-infused sapphire glass window. The protective blast shield was retracted and the view that it afforded was of Vaalbara. That was the name scientists had given Earth’s first big supercontinent. Big was of course a relative term. The landmass was barely the size of Texas and was the result of extensive volcanic action. The black sand beaches, as seen from low earth orbit, attested to the supercontinent’s fiery birth. A few of the meandering archipelagos just south of the main land mass had pristine white sand and were surrounded by a brilliant aquamarine blue. All-in-all, it was a beautiful if somewhat barren world. The atmosphere was rich in Nitrogen, Oxygen and had relatively high levels of CO2 as well. Fortunately for humanity, the abundant marine flora had begun the task of converting the carbon dioxide into additional oxygen. Humans would be ha
rd pressed to live on the planet without some type of oxygen concentrator and CO2 scrubber. It would be simple enough to rig something up that could be worn in a backpack. The real question would be if a visit to the surface was even wise.
A single cough could introduce lifeforms to the planet that should not exist for billions of years. The entire course of human evolution could change by virtue of a sneeze. On the other hand maybe that sneeze was exactly what the Creator had directed occur to set off the change of events that led to humanity? Billions of years was an impossibly longer period of time for mankind but to a being as infinite as the Creator, a billion years might be little more than a day. Who could say? She shook her head to clear her thoughts.
Captains Kirkland, Ruck and Takei stood next to her. The four of them gazed out the window as they talked. She had called the Yorktown taskforce together as soon as they reestablished communication. There was little danger of the Modos forces mounting a surprise attack. The sensor probes would warn of incoming vessels and a wide net of hyperfield suppression buoys prevented any ship from jumping close to Earth without the proper authentication codes.
“What in the heavens must have happened?” Ken asked.
Jason looked over at his friend and raised a single eyebrow.
Ken caught his expression and pointed to the window. “Three fully habitable worlds… Mars, Earth and Venus...,” He began.
“And a rocky world where there is now an asteroid field,” Vigit continued.
Hikaro shook his head, “Correction - Now there is a planet where later there will be an asteroid field.”
“You know what I mean,” Vigit protested.
