Reality: The Struggle for Sternessence

by Daniel A. Liut

  Duncan looked at her with a reassuring grin. “Everything will be all right.”

  “Prisoners will not talk during the flight!” yelled the soldier in front of them.

  Both Erina and Duncan stared at him. “Is that clear?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The trooper stumbled as the helicopter took off.

  The phrase concentration camp came through again amidst the general noise. Mr. Moglontl’s lack of subtlety sounded quite intentional.

  Erina looked up, stunned.

  47.

  The trip gradually turned into a long, dull episode, complete with continuous droning turbo engines and little sunlight. Duncan and Erina were under constant surveillance by at least one soldier. Most of the others passed the time with loud, coarse conversation. Studying a chart off to the side, Mr. Moglontl seemed indifferent to the scene.

  The dullness was interrupted when a brusque bump made the aircraft slide sharply to one side. An explosion followed, and with it, a big hole opened on one of the bay bulkheads, close to the flight deck.

  Immediately, fifteen soldiers boarded the main cargo cabin through the opening. Behind the helmets of their airtight Establishment-type combat suits, bear-like features were clearly discernible. Faces and uniforms bore a uniformly gray appearance.

  The foes opened fire, and two soldiers fell down. The feline-featured Aquaelitian who had been watching over the two prisoners jumped on the back of one of the intruders, driving his combat teeth through the trooper’s uniform. But he was thrown onto the deck by a gunshot. Two more Aquaelitians were quickly dispatched. At that point, three of the attackers ran to the flight deck; from there, another shot rang out. The enemy seemed to have gained control of the aircraft.

  The remaining six members of the crew were forced to stand facing a bulkhead, their hands on their heads. Moglontl lay on deck, very close to Duncan. Between him and the Aquaelitian, a machine gun was lying on the deck. Surreptitiously, Duncan moved to pick it up.

  He was still trying to reach it when Moglontl popped up and jumped over the two soldiers who were aiming their guns at the prisoners. One of the enemy troopers reacted quickly. Using a device he was carrying on one leg, he completely immobilized the Aquaelitian with a sticky net. Another trooper pushed himself forward and placed a knife at Moglontl’s throat.

  “Finish him off!” somebody yelled, and immediately someone opened fire with a machine gun. The enemy trooper dropped his knife, falling motionless on top of Moglontl.

  Throwing himself down onto the deck, Duncan held on tightly to his smoking machine gun. He then rolled over three times and opened fire repeatedly at the intruders. Paradoxically, Duncan had never used a firearm before, even though on his Earth, these weapons were still widely in use. It was lighter than he had thought it would be, and it did not recoil as he had expected.

  In the confusion, two Aquaelitians recovered their guns. The situation had turned chaotic: shots from both sides, mixed up with yelling and moaning.

  Picking up the knife that had just been used against Moglontl, Duncan began ripping off the net that kept the Aquaelitian immobilized. Erina remained in shock in one corner.

  “All right, drop your guns.” One of the crewmembers seemed to have regained control of the situation. “Drop your guns, I said! Everybody, put your hands on that bulkhead. Now!”

  Two enemy soldiers were pushed against a bulkhead. Surreptitiously, one of them tried to open fire with a hidden gun he carried close to his knee, but Duncan shot it out of his hand, or so he thought.

  As the crew checked the enemy soldiers for weapons, Duncan looked through the hole opened on one side of the bay. It was too dark for him to grasp any detail. Perhaps it was the compartment of another vessel. It was as if the enemy incursion had come from a different aircraft, which had somehow docked onto the port side of the helicopter.

  “Okay, who’s coming with me?” Duncan said, jerking his head towards the hole. The invitation did not resonate with the crew. “Never mind, I’ll do it myself!”

  “There’s no need for that.”

  Duncan turned around.

  “There’s no need for that, Mr. Dahncion. You’ve done more than enough already.” The Aquaelitian’s change of tone made Duncan hesitate.

  “There’s still work to be done, Mr. Moglontl. Enemy soldiers may still be waiting for us behind this bulkhead.”

  Moglontl smiled kindly. “There is nothing special behind that bulkhead, Mr. Dahncion. It’s just another bay of this helicopter.”

  Duncan looked at him and shook his head. A female Aquaelitian, casually stepping in through the opening, startled Duncan. She glanced around swiftly, and approached him with a confident gait. Erina drew near to Duncan’s side.

  “Mr. Dahncion, Miss Erina, let me introduce myself again.” She raised her head and inclined it slightly. “I am Pan-Kaletectla, President of the United Republics of the Austral Continent.87 In the name of my people, and in my own, I welcome you to our country. I hope you’ll find the good will to overlook the grievances caused to both of you.

  “As I told you, Mr. Dahncion, we are living in critical times. We had to be sure about your identity. Before your arrival, your people had made contact with us, promising they would be sending a full tactical team shortly. Your two-person alternative plan did cause quite a headache to our Intel agencies. Your true nature was not at all clear, but not any longer.”

  As Kaletectla spoke, the Aquaelitian pseudo-prisoners standing in one corner removed their helmets, while the “casualties” from both would-be factions got back on their feet.

  _______________

  85 This included taking into consideration the influence (mainly estimated gravitational effects) of the uncharted nearby stars met during the navigation.

  Positioning computations, on the other hand, were conducted by means of at least three well-known charted stars, with sufficiently large angular separation. A minimum of four stars was typically used to minimize measuring errors and uncertainties. The principles of the positioning technique were the same used as in the good old days of tall ships.

  86 Upon contact with the planet’s surface, and now sheltered from detection, the capsule had automatically turned on a specially designed compact gravitational compensation system. Maintaining a constant 0.8Gs inside the cockpit, this system would protect its occupant(s) from the subsequent abrupt and violent deceleration. The planet’s acceleration of gravity at sea level was 0.8Gs.

  87 A shorter and more common name was the Austral Union.

  CHAPTER 9

  Long Shadows

  48.

  After a particularly hectic day, Duncan had had little trouble falling asleep. He had been living in Austral City for more than two weeks already, and during that time, he had learned how to adapt to the local culture—including his extra-large, extra-comfortable bed. Living in a twenty-fourth floor apartment on Crystal Springs Avenue was truly living in style.

  Austral City was reminiscent of many big metropolises of Duncan’s contemporary Earth, although somewhat older. The noise from the street below was loud, even on the twenty-fourth floor. The street vehicles were considerably larger and more powerful than those familiar to Duncan. However, it was not their noise that was stirring him from his sleep, but the stubborn ringing of a bell.

  After deciding he had had enough of the buzzing aggravation, Duncan got up. Now, he had to face the dilemma of trying to remember where he had left his bathrobe. The bell kept ringing and the dressing gown remained elusive. Finally, Duncan took a coat and put it on. It fell heavily all the way down to his knees.

  Opening the door, he saw Erina standing there, perfectly dressed and with a backpack on. She was staying in an apartment right above his. Erina gave Duncan an uneasy look. He tried in vain to compose his disheveled appearance by some uncoordinated movements of his hands.

  “Hurry up! We must get out of here!” she said before Duncan could think of anything to say.

  “Why . .
. wha . . . what’s going on?”

  “Don’t you know? We are under missile attack! We must go to a shelter at once!”

  Duncan’s eyes opened fully. “I’ll be back.” He rushed back to his bedroom.

  A couple of minutes later, fully dressed, he and Erina were on the elevator.

  “They said the missiles could be carrying lethal gases,” Erina stated, as she pushed the first-floor button.

  “Who said that?”

  “Someone from the military, on TV.”

  “Well, in that case, we don’t have much to worry about.” Duncan shrugged. “The anti-gas masks they gave us are safe. Let me help you put yours on.”

  Erina nodded and pulled her mask from her bag. Standing behind her, Duncan helped her strap it on.

  At that point, an eerie siren started blaring all over the city. They were still at the fifth-story level. The elevator was going down with a quiet floor-by-floor unnerving cadence. Slamming of doors and loud talking was echoing through the entire building. Finally, the door slid open, and Duncan and Erina plunged out into the street.

  “We’re lucky you were watching TV,” Duncan said. “Otherwise, we’d be struggling down the stairs right now.”

  The closest shelter was about six Australitian blocks away, equivalent to twelve regular blocks on Earth. They had not finished their first block when Erina and Duncan were forced to stop. A caravan of cars going down a wide avenue crossing Crystal Springs was blocking their way.

  “Put your mask on!” Erina yelled.

  “Hmm.” Duncan looked at the sky, trying to make out any sign of the incoming attack.

  “What do you mean, hmm?”

  “I forgot it in my apartment.”

  “What?” Erina said looking at the mask he was holding on one hand.

  “The filter! I don’t have the filter.”

  Erina sighed with irritation. “We must go back and get it.”

  Duncan shook his head. “We’re only five blocks away from the shelter.”

  “We are still too far away,” Erina objected. “We must—”

  An explosion interrupted her. A large truck, about one hundred yards from them, had blown up. People started running away in terror. Duncan held Erina and dragged her to the sidewalk. The street had become dangerous and chaotic, filled with panic-stricken citizens running for their lives.88

  “We must go back to your apartment!” Erina insisted. “We gotta grab the filter for your mask.” Both Erina and Duncan had seen several TV news programs with gruesome scenes of people coughing and jerking on the ground from the effect of the lethal gases released by missiles.

  Duncan looked at the fire ahead and checked his watch.

  “We must go back, Dahncion.” Erina took his hand. Although Duncan was finally letting himself be led by her, the crowd was making it hard to make headway in any direction.

  49.

  “You just wait for me here—”

  Duncan had not finished the sentence when the door to the elevator slid open and ten people dashed out desperately. As soon as it was clear, he jumped inside, and Erina followed him.

  “At least wait for me as I run to my apartment,” Duncan said curtly as the elevator went up. “We don’t want to miss our ride.”

  On reaching the twenty-eighth floor, Duncan rushed to his place. Within seconds, he was back, holding his mask with its filter on.

  The lazy trip down began right away, but between the fifteenth and fourteenth floor, the electrical power shut down and the elevator froze in its tracks. An emergency light automatically turned on. Duncan tried to force the elevator’s doors open, but to no avail. They were two-paned sturdy plates, with no place to clutch. He looked around trying to find some way out, but he failed to see any opening or hatch.

  “We’re stuck in here,” Erina muttered.

  Duncan looked at the ceiling, thinking of some way to get it open.

  “What’re we going to do?”

  “Just relax, and wait until it’s all over.”

  “This is hardly a shelter.”

  Duncan sat down on the floor. “You heard it yourself. It’s just a chemical-weapons attack. The only thing to fear is toxic gases, and our masks can take care of them.”

  “What if a missile hits the building?”

  “Unlikely. We saw the truck explosion. It was hit by a missile, all right. That was about two blocks from here. From what I’ve learned about these attacks, missiles are relatively few and well spread out, launched mostly to cause panic.” Duncan rested his mask on the floor to display confidence. Unstrapping hers, Erina sat down by him. “I hope I’m not making your life unnecessarily difficult,” she added, grasping her knees.

  “Why?” Duncan said.

  “You’re a soldier here, and I am not.”

  “A soldier . . .” Duncan rested his head against the wall behind him. “It’s good for a soldier to have someone strong around. The people who chose you for your transuniversal trip sure knew what they were doing.”

  “Don’t tell me you’re afraid.” Erina cuffed him lightly, with a joking smile.

  “In fear, defiance. O’sihn said once to me, as I discussed my fears with him.” Duncan paused.

  “You often talk of him—almost as a brother,” Erina said.

  Duncan chuckled. “He could be my father, in a way. He had a daughter about my age. She died in the war.”

  Erina extended her legs and leaned her head on the wall. “What does he look like?”

  Duncan sank one hand inside a pocket. “Here he is, this big guy in uniform.” The picture had been taken moments before boarding the vessel that would land on the surface of Iluminia. Duncan was standing by the captain, wearing an uneasy smile. “Last night I came across this picture card. I had forgotten I had been carrying it all the time.”

  “He looks like someone special,” Erina said.

  Duncan pressed on the side of the card, and a new picture materialized. “Yep, and here are O’sihn and Laida.” Duncan was holding Clara in that last scene. He kept on pressing the card, and Clara kept appearing in many of the ensuing images. He finally reached a picture in which Clara was putting a helmet on his head. That picture, the last one of the set, would remain despite Duncan’s pointless pressing to jump to a non-existent next.

  “I guess this is the last one.”

  “And it’s a very good one,” Erina said approvingly.

  “Clara . . .” Duncan shrugged slightly. “She’s a very valuable member of our team.”

  “Don’t be unfair. She’s also been the only human being in your life since you came to this universe.”

  “True,” Duncan said. “But, we belong to different worlds—different universes.”

  “Is there anything wrong with that?”

  “No. She is a very talented woman, but . . .” Duncan turned towards Erina. “But there is nothing like a woman from your own world, a woman who is strong, intelligent, and . . .” he sighed slightly, with a half-smile, “and, beautiful . . .”

  Erina took one of Duncan’s hands. Putting the other on top of hers, Duncan looked into her eyes.

  At that point, the lights of the tubes on the elevator’s panel ceiling started twinkling back on. The power had been fully restored, and with a jolt, the elevator began moving down again.

  The enemy attack was over.

  50.

  Changing positions, adding and subtracting blankets, even counting the blue blinks from her desk-side communicator, nothing seemed to work. Clara started to wonder if it would not be better to give up her exhausting attempt at getting some rest. But there was still some time before her next watch on the bridge, and there was a long day ahead. She had to try to get some sleep.

  As she gradually relaxed, her breathing was becoming deeper and quieter, until someone knocked at the door. Clara looked at her watch and slid nimbly off her bed.

  “Open door,” she thought, and sighed, standing disheveled in front of it. The opening system immediately complied wi
th her mind instruction.

  “I’m afraid I woke you up.” Laida grinned.

  “No, I was in bed, but not sleeping. Please, come on in, commander.”

  Laida hesitated but stepped in.

  Clara offered the only chair in her small quarters. The X.O. took the seat as her friend reclined on her bed.

  “What brings you here, Commander?”

  “Neither of us is on duty right now, so I thought it was a good time to pay a visit to an old friend.”

  “Thank you, Commander.”

  “Like I said, we’re not on duty now,” Laida insisted, raising a friendly eyebrow.

  Clara smiled. “Would you like a cup of seeb?”89

  “Only if you are frank and tell me if you weren’t planning to do something else before your watch.”90

  “My only plan was trying to catch some sleep, but it wasn’t working. Your visit is quite welcome.”

  Laida inclined her head graciously. “We haven’t had much of a chance to talk since our last mission.”

  “I know.”

  “I’ve got some good news,” Laida continued. “Task force thirty-three has finally managed to gain control of quadrant AC27.”

  “Hey, that’s really good news. How did you learn that?”

  “We docked with a dingy91 a couple of hours ago. From it, we got an encrypted message from Admiral Pardo giving us the green light92 for the last phase of our mission.”

  Clara sighed and passed a steaming aromatic cup to her friend.

  “It smells good.”

  “At last, some breathing room,” Clara added.

  “Well, yes, though this also means we’ll have to be more careful now. The enemy may turn more unpredictable.”

  “Tweesser?”93 Clara offered a pot, which had a feminine touch.

  “Hmm, yes.” Laida dropped two spoonfuls in her cup.

  “Anything new about Dahncion?” Clara added casually.

  “Not much. He seems to be doing well in Aquaelight, winning the trust of the natives, according to Intel. That’s pretty much all I’ve heard about him.”

  “Haven’t we been able to make contact with Foxso’l yet?” Clara asked.