All The Frail Futures: A Science Fiction Box Set

by J Battle

  If he wasn’t duty bound to follow the rules of engagement he would have arranged for his forward forces, when they were actually forward and not part of this ridiculous Crest, to shift close to the planet surface and catch whatever power had destroyed the earlier incursion by surprise.

  But no, he had to paralyze them with fear by his slow and cumbersome arrival; he could hardly call it an attack.

  When this was all over; when victory was achieved, then he was determined to retire. Seventeen campaigns he had fought on behalf of his people; sixteen of them victorious. Even the one he didn’t quite manage to win had involved the most elegant of strategic retreats and ended in little more than a stalemate.

  He believed that he now had seven sons; more than enough to carry on the family tradition. He wasn’t entirely sure of the number because it was not the usual custom for Hru-argh males to become involved in childrearing; in fact, Hru-argh females were also not at all keen on involvement in the process. But Hru-argh young are tough little creatures and seem to manage to grow to adulthood without much in the way of parental guidance.

  With the clash and groan of war far behind him, he could devote more of his time to the great passion of his life; the Sounding Stones of Perilhar. He had three of the resonant stones already; all he needed was to find the other eight and his collection would be complete. With the eleven stones arrayed before him he would be able to play the Lost Lament of Erl-dy-High and at last find something that he actually liked.

  Chapter 40

  Iron led Mimi into the engine room of Angel's Kiss, his hand clasped in hers, as it had been since he'd found her hiding in the rubble of yet another collapsed building only hours earlier.

  'This is the Engine Room. That big round thing is what makes the ship fly.'

  Mimi brushed her wispy blonde hair from her face. 'Oh?'

  'It's the engine.' Iron added helpfully, 'and that's Stave; he's an alien, and he's blue.'

  'He hasn't got any pants on.' She blushed at the very thought.

  'No, he never wears nothing. But, he hasn't got a... you know what; a thingy.'

  'Hasn't he?'

  'If you are making reference to my genitals, then I can tell you that I have a full set, displayed only when the moment requires it.' Stave didn't lift his head as he worked on the engine.

  'So...what does that mean?' Iron's expression was perpetually perplexed.

  Stave stood up and turned to him; then he noticed his companion who couldn't seem to lift her eyes above his waist.

  'I don't believe we have been introduced. My name is Stave.

  As he spoke he reached for her hands. 'And you are?'

  Mimi's pale skin was a perfect canvas for the flush that bloomed across her cheeks.

  'I'm...Mimi,' she squeezed out.

  Her legs seemed to weaken for a moment, but Stave’s grip kept her upright.

  ‘Have you seen her?’ The words so quiet.

  ‘No,’ she whispered, as if filled with loss.

  'Pleased to meet you, Mimi.' He released her hands and stepped back.

  'This is my Pa's ship,' said Iron, feeling a little ignored.

  'Is it the one he bought from that guy? The one with the glowing rings across his chest?'

  'Yes, and Stave is fixing the engines so that we can...fly a lot faster, aren't you Stave.'

  'Yes, when I've finished it will definitely be much faster.'

  'How does it work?' asked Iron, nodding at Mimi as if to show how technical he could be.

  ‘Well, if you really want to know, it's quite straightforward. As you know, in an infinite universe, anything that can happen, will happen. Therefore every part of that universe has the potential to be occupied by this ship. It is the job of the Shift engine to make that potential actual. To do that it creates wormholes between the current actual position and the target position, allowing the ship to move instantaneously from one to the other. Of course, wormholes above the microscopic level collapse in on themselves. Therefore the individual molecules of the ship are sent separately through a multitude of worm holes; all arriving at the same instant. Is that clear? Or do you want a more detailed explanation?'

  Iron stared at him for a long moment, then he nodded his head and smiled. The smile was quickly followed by a frown, and the frown by a shake of the head.

  'No,' he said, slowly, 'when I said how does it work, I meant do you press a button or throw a lever?'

  If he'd been paying more attention to them, his normal sensitivity would have told he'd lost them; he probably lost them at infinite.

  He went back to work and left them to wander off towards the elevator.

  The task wasn't difficult at all, and would only take a few more minutes. He'd retrieved his fabricator from his ship earlier and set it to convert the plentiful dust and sand carried in the surrounding atmosphere into the components of a compact Shift engine using a built-in template. With that task already completed, he merely had to bond it to the ship's engine mount and connect it to the ship's power supply. Then it was good to go.

  **********

  Dan stretched; feeling the fluorescent bands tighten against his skin. He was sitting on a natural step on the side of the hill overlooking the spaceship.

  ‘What are your plans now?’ he asked, turning to the small Sherdling beside him.

  Sublan considered his question for so long that Dan wondered if he’d actually heard him. He glanced across at Andreas who merely shrugged.

  ‘Circumstances have not developed in such a way that I feel it is necessary to make any alterations to our original and well considered plans.’

  ‘What about the attack that’s coming?’

  ‘It is no more than we anticipated. We had formed no expectations that the Hru-argh would leave us in peace but, whatever they do, we shall endure. It is the nature of the Sherdling, to endure whatever comes our way, and still remain unchanged; immutable.’

  ‘You can’t fight them; you don’t have the weapons, or the numbers.’

  ‘There is no need for us to take up arms against them; we shall merely avoid them. When they have exhausted their animosity and energy in fruitless search, they will leave and we will have prevailed.’

  ‘As simple as that?’

  ‘The idea is in fact simple; the application of that idea will result in necessary complexities.’

  ‘So you plan to hide in the underground tunnels?’

  ‘They will not provide a safe haven for the Sherdling. They will be discovered and scoured for hidden Sherdling. If none are found, they will make the assumption that we have secreted ourselves in a place than cannot be found. They are certain to flood the underground areas with some manner of toxic gaseous weapon that will destroy all life contained therein.’

  ‘Where will you be?’

  ‘This is a very large planet. We will find a hidden valley somewhere south of the equator where we can remain safe until the time of freedom and happiness is presented to us.’

  Dan had stopped listening to him.

  ‘What about the Evinesse? They’ll be wiped out by the poisonous gas. We can’t allow that to happen; we have to stop the Hru-argh!’

  ‘As you said earlier, Dan; we don’t have the weapons or the numbers to put up a fight, and neither do they.’ As usual, it was hard to disagree with Andreas’s considered words.

  ‘So we just turn our backs on them?’

  ‘That’s about the size of it, my friend. We have to get our priorities right. We have to get home and warn them of what’s out here; of what might be coming their way. We can’t get too hung up on this unimportant lump of rock’

  ‘This world has been your home for, what is now? Forty years?’

  ‘It’s just the planet my home orbits around; that’s all.‘

  Dan watched a crowd of Sherdling gathered around the base of the spaceship, being ignored by Stave as he examined the exterior of the ship. Suddenly he turned and his eyes caught Dan's. Even from this distance, Dan felt drawn to respon
d in some way.

  Did he trust the strange blue alien? He’d appeared from nowhere, with his offers of help and, so far, he’d followed through. But what were his real intentions? Who was this Heldon character and what part did the so-called Galactic Confederation play in this whole situation? As far as he could work out from what he’d been told by Stave and Sublan, the Hru-arghs were part of the Confederation and yet the Confederation was taking some clandestine action against them, but there was no obvious explanation of their reasoning.

  Amongst the Sherdling, he saw Mandy and her father. He’d been intending to go underground to find them, but it appeared that they’d found their own way to the ship.

  The decision, once made, was as obvious and certain as the sun in the sky.

  ‘I’m staying,’ he said and, not quite in keeping with his words, left them sitting on the side of hill.

  ‘But…’ He was gone before Andreas could present any sort of argument.

  They watched the trail of dust settle as he disappeared in to the distance.

  ‘Well, he can certainly run.’ Andreas heaved himself to his feet, the servo mechanisms of his suit whining under the strain. ‘What are we going to do about him?’

  ‘We have our own concerns Andreas Barr, as I believe you have already pointed out in clear terms to our departed friend.’

  ‘But we can’t just let him sacrifice himself in a futile attempt to help the natives.’

  ‘You speak as if he is separate from them, but surely you can see that that is not the case. He is as much one of them as he is human, and there may well come a time when he moves even closer to them and further from you.’ Sublan spoke quickly, as if he had more important things on his mind.

  ‘He’s still Dan Robinson. I knew him as a young man; when I was a young man I should say. He hasn’t changed a great deal in the time I’ve grown old. And there is still a human heart beating behind those alien rings.’

  ‘Focus on things that you can change; not on a lost cause. The Hru-argh will be here soon. It is time for you to leave, and for us. Our journey will be much harder than yours, though we cover no more than a tiny fraction of the distances you will cover. You could be home before the sun sets again on this planet.’

  Andreas was looking up at the clear blue sky.

  ‘There’s a plane coming,’ he said at last, and indeed, the sound of a jet engine was carried to their ears.

  ‘Who could it be?’ asked Sublan.

  ‘That’s a very good question, my new friend. I dare say that we will find the answer shortly.’

  Chapter 41

  'Look!'

  'I can see.'

  'No; over there. It's Dad's ship.' She pointed even though she was behind Jimmy's seat.

  Nigel released his restraints and bent closer, leaning against the back of Jimmy's chair. 'Are you sure?'

  'Of course I'm sure! He was always showing us photos of the damn thing. Land as close as you can, Jimmy.'

  'I have to land on the landing strip. It's just a couple of K from here.'

  'But we'll have to walk all the way back!'

  'Can't be helped.'

  'Wait a minute,' said Nigel suddenly, 'fly around again.'

  'Why? What...'

  'They're not people down there, unless they're dressed up or something. They must be aliens.'

  Jimmy instructed the autopilot to circle the area.

  'There's a man there, amongst them, and a women. So, whatever they are, they must be friendly; don’t you think?’

  ‘I wouldn’t be too sure about that,’ replied Jimmy.

  ‘Didn't you read about them when you did all that studying about this place?' Moira had also freed herself from her chair and moved to stand beside Nigel.

  'Nope; there was nothing in the literature about aliens, and there would have been. Maybe they've only just been discovered.'

  ‘Maybe they’re the ones who attacked us.’ Nigel was beginning to look a little nervous.

  'There's a skinny blue guy down there as well.' Moira screwed her eyes up as if that would help her see more clearly. 'He's with that big fat guy; can you see him?'

  ‘Should we go somewhere else? We don’t want to land if it’s dangerous.’

  ‘We don’t have much choice; we don’t have much fuel left and there’s nowhere else to go.’

  ‘But…’

  'Let's just land, Nige, and then we'll be able to find out what's going on.' Jimmy nodded in agreement with his own words.

  The plane leveled off and flew towards the west. Moments later it had trundled to a stop at the end of the short runway. Moira was more than a little relieved to find that there was a small, four-seater, bubble-wheeled vehicle parked beside a narrow concrete hut.

  'Why do you have to drive?' she complained as Jimmy took the wheel.

  'Just get on board.'

  'A gentleman would help a lady.'

  Jimmy resisted the temptation to question the presence of a lady and kept his mouth shut.

  When she'd dragged herself up into her seat, he pulled away from the hut and sought the smoothest path towards the distant ship.

  As they jerked along the rough ground, Moira reached inside her shoulder bag.

  'Are you ready bro?' she hissed.

  'What for?'

  'Well, if the ship's there, so is the guy who stole it from Dad. And I'm going to make him pay for it.'

  The narrow blade of the knife in her hand glinted in the bright sunlight.

  'You can't...'

  'Oh, but I can. Just watch me.'

  Nigel sighed and turned away from her, focusing his attention on the pointed nose of Angel's Kiss, less than a kilometer away.

  **********

  They found the blue alien waiting on the side of the hill leading to the spaceship. He was alone; sitting on a small domed rock. He stood to meet them.

  ‘Good afternoon, new humans. My name is Stave, and I bid you welcome.’

  Jimmy looked back at Nigel, as if he expected him to respond. Nigel stared right back at him; you’ve been the leader so far, he seemed to say.

  ‘For goodness sake!’ snapped Moira, then she smiled at Stave.

  ’Hello Stave, my name is Moira, and you are something of a surprise, I must say. Are you native to this planet?’

  Stave returned her smile and walked closer. He took her hands in his; his long index fingers touching her pulse. ‘No, Moira. I am not from this planet. Perhaps one day I may be able to show you the beauty of my own world.’

  ‘That would be nice,’ replied Moira; on the verge of falling into his oh so deep purple eyes.

  ‘Oh…No,’ she whispered in response to his barely heard question; tears misting her eyes.

  ‘My name is Nigel, and this is Jimmy,’ said Nigel; oblivious to his sister’s sudden distress.

  With the introductions complete, and all hands clasped and queried, Stave slipped easily into to seat beside Moira.

  Moira had a sudden thought and shivered at the chill that assaulted her spine despite the heat.

  ‘If you’re not from this planet, you didn’t attack it, did you?’

  ‘No; of course not. I’m here to help you and the other humans. To help you return to your home.’

  ‘Home?’

  ‘Yes, home.’

  ‘To the Solar Union?’

  ‘If that is your home; your birth planet.’

  ‘It’s not a planet; it’s a solar system. Our home planet is Earth, but we can’t go back there. I’ve never been there.’

  ‘Then I will take you back to your Solar Union, but we don’t have much time. There is soon to be another attack from the race that destroyed your settlement. We must leave before they arrive.’

  He glanced back over his shoulder. ‘Where did you fly from?’

  ‘From the equatorial anti-matter plants,’ replied Jimmy.

  ‘And the craft that carried you here, does it have a payload?’

  ‘Yep; it’s packed with anti-matter.’

&
nbsp; Stave nodded. ‘That is very interesting; perhaps we can make use of this fortunate development.’

  ‘That ship; do you know who claims to own it?’ Asked Moira, leaning closer.

  ‘Yes, in fact I do. A gentleman named Andreas Barr professed to be its owner, and I saw no reason to doubt his veracity.’

  ‘Andreas Barr? Can you point him out to me?’

  ‘He will not be hard to find; there are few human males here, and he is somewhat older and considerably more rotund that the others. Do you have business with Mr. Barr?’

  Moira looked straight ahead. ‘You might say that.’ She said, after a long pause.

  Chapter 42

  Dan ran; fast and tireless across the heat-struck land; paying little attention to the barren scenery. Behind him the devastated settlement faded into the heat haze; before him the cave he sought was kilometers away.

  He knew that he was doing the right thing; the thought of going back to the safety of the Solar Union and leaving the natives to their fate at the hands of the Hru-argh repelled him. He might not be of much use to them, but at least he could warn them; if they would listen to him.

  He glanced up at the plane, flying low overhead, and wondered for a moment where it might have flown from. Were there still people alive in other parts of this world? He accessed his implants and learned that it was a transport plane from the equatorial anti-matter plants, and that the flashing red lights along its side indicated that it was fully laden. But it was of no real concern to him. Not now that he had made his commitment to the people of this world; to the Evinesse.

  He ran for hours, pounding the baked dirt with his bare feet, oblivious to the extraordinary fete he was undertaking as he covered the near one hundred kilometers in less than four hours. The sun had set before he reached the small cave that now seemed such a distant memory. So much had happened since he'd last stepped into its gloom, with his artificial legs.

  He continued down the slope, panting a little after his exertion, and soon reached the underground watercourse. He stopped at his sleigh for a moment, but it contained nothing he now needed, so he turned and made his way south with the cooling water to his right.