by Shawn Jones
The man finished securing Cort and jumped down from the top of the ship. Pence and his men walked to the airlock and began to cycle it open. Cort heard Lap’s voice. “Please wait. We do not even know if you can help us, Cort. You are asking us to violate our own laws on the chance that you might be able to stop the crystals.”
“If you don’t make an exception to your laws, there is no chance at all of us stopping them for you. Because we will not try,” Cort replied.
“Do you have any other requirements?” Lap asked.
“Yes. We need a history of your government and its constituent peoples and your laws. We also need any information known about every planet already taken by the crystals, including their histories. All of these things are needed immediately, so that we may decide if we are going to help you. Finally, if we agree to help you we will need complete cooperation, whether our requests violate your laws or not. We will try to minimize any internal conflict we might cause, but if it occurs we will not be held responsible for it.”
“Please delay your departure for one of your hours,” Lap requested.
“No.”
“Cort, it must be voted on.”
“Then vote. Right now.”
“It must be discussed,” Lap said.
“Speral, you have a decision to make. Take us home or lose your ship.”
“You are a bully, Cort.”
“Yes Lap, I am. And I am your only hope. Vote now or I leave now.”
“Stand by.” Two minutes later Lap spoke again. “We agree to your requirements, Cort. How long will it take you to decide if you will help us?”
“I will notify you once we have gone over the information you provide. Please give us summary responses to each inquiry, as well as complete files. We will give you a preliminary response quickly, and at that time we will give you a time frame for our involvement if we agree to help you.”
“Very well. Speral will provide you with a method of communication.”
“Thank you, Lap,” Cort replied.
“You are a curious being, Cort Addison. You are belligerent, yet calculating. Bazel believes you to be extremely dangerous because of these traits.”
“Bazel?”
“Yes, he is the aquatic octopod that was with me on the platform. He seems to admire you. That is unusual for his species. I believe his feelings influenced the vote.”
“I remember Bazel. Goodbye, Lap.”
“Goodbye, Cort.”
--
Argyre Site, Ares Federation
“Doctor Black, have your people come up with anything yet?” Cort asked.
“For which problem?” Black retorted. “You’ve got us working on weapons, on ship designs, on planetary structure, colony construction, and Gods know how many other projects. I’ve got three dozen men and women doing the work of three hundred.”
“I know, and I’m sorry, but there’s nothing we can do about that,” Cort said.
“Regarding the ships, there are three technologies we can use, but each has its limitations. There is the transdimensional system that Speral’s people use. It is an incredible system but is limited in that it uses reference points that determine where they can or can’t go.”
“What do you mean?” Rand asked from his office. He still hadn’t left Aeolis.
“It has to do with their beacons. When they transition into real space, the beacons somehow realign with their new location. From that point, they can transit back to the point they came from, or to their point of origin where the beacon was created. That’s the extent of their fine control. They can also input basic star chart coordinates into the beacons, but when they do so, they will transit to a random lagrange point in the desired system. Think of lagrange points as locations within a system where gravity is perfectly balanced between the systems bodies. It is more complex but that is the basic concept. Beyond that transit, they have to move with their regular drive system, which is time consuming. The advantage of this system is that it uses a relatively small amount of energy. As a footnote, for our purposes, this method is consistent with Burkhard Heim’s twentieth century theory suggesting magnetic fields can be used to enter other dimensions of space. I believe Cort’s old nemesis Doctor Natsumo was experimenting in this manner when Cort was sent to our time.”
Cort ignored the reference to his old friend and enemy and said, “What is our second option?”
“The second system appears more traditional in nature. The ships accelerate until they approach the speed of light, which takes about three hours, then quantized inertia allows for acceleration beyond c, the speed of light. I believe we would still be facing large transit times with this method, and I would want to study the system much more extensively before experimenting with it.”
“What about the third way, Doc?” Cort asked.
“It is actually related to Sper…” Doctor Black began before he was cut off.
“Mr. Addison, we have a transmission from Earth, sir,” a communications officer said.
“Queue it to me, please. I will check it after the meeting,” Cort responded curtly. He didn’t like being interrupted during meetings, and this was a very important meeting.
“Sir, it’s from Dar Sike.”
“Put it through to us now. Thank you.”
Dar’s image appeared on the screens in front of everyone in the meeting. “Cort, I hope this message finds you well. I believe it’s my move. Rook to queen’s three. Checkmate.” Dar could barely contain how proud he was in the image. “Seriously, though. What the Gods happened? We made it to the cavern just ahead of the Atlantans. Shortly after we got sealed in, our seismographs went nuts. Then the exterior sensors started picking up radiation. We are getting no signals locally, and the radiation is really messing with our gear. I tried to beam a signal to our satellite, but it’s gone. So we launched a beacon with this message on it. By the time you get it, we should have a better receiver set up. It is hell here, Cort. A cold, nuclear winter hell. Atlantica is gone, and I mean completely gone. I don’t know about the rest of the world though. The radiation is high enough that I’m only letting our people stay out for a half hour at a time, even in suits. The synthetics are doing their job well enough.”
“As for us, we are good. I’ve got three thousand Addisons here with me. Lex did a great job of getting everyone here. He reminds me of you. I’m glad you warned me to restock the cavern though. It seems to have saved our lives. Get back to me as soon as you can.” Dar paused. “If you can.”
The message ended and no one spoke. Cort saw tears in Rand’s eyes. “This changes things. How hard is it to clean up radiation these days?”
Verne looked up from his desk and said, “You can’t be serious.”
Cort smiled. “Why not? We’ve got transport, no one else can claim the land, and we have squatters there already. And the resources we would have available to us would be incredible. What’s it like back there right now?”
As the words sank in, Black said, “The northern hemisphere is in bad shape. There’s been an average temperature drop of about ten degrees Celsius, less sunlight is getting through, but it’s hotter. The ozone layer was significantly damaged. Difficult but not impossible to grow food. Fresh meat is out of the question though. Radiation is the big problem. From the human standpoint, synthetics will negate most of the effects of exposure, but the planet itself doesn’t have them. Only humans.”
Cort interrupted Kim when she started to speak. “I want you guys to work that out. Annexing part of Earth is a big endeavor, and I was just thinking out loud. I do think it would solve a lot of problems though. But that is a civil matter, and out of my realm. If we don’t annex it, we are going to get our people and bring them here. I’m going to excuse myself and Rand now. We both need to compose messages to Dar. What I do expect from you is a theory on how to stop the crystals, and a better colony structure. I would like some ideas by tomorrow at this time. Thank you all.”
Cort got up and left, leaving
Kim in his office. The others saw Rand power off as well. Rhodes said, “I would not want to have to compose that message.”
“Neither would I,” Kim said. After a moment she continued with, “Okay, how do we kill a living crystal?”
Earth
Dar watched Cort’s first message three times before he could open Rand’s. There was so just too much to take in. He tried to be angry with his own twelfth great grandfather, but he just couldn’t find the hate he needed for it. Cort closed with telling him there was more in a second message, but he wouldn’t be sending it until the next day. “Dar, there’s a lot more going on with the aliens that I will tell you about tomorrow. I hate to put you through this, but I need you to deal with your grief now. Starting tomorrow, we have to come up with a plan. Listen to Rand’s message, compose a reply to either or both of us, and wake up tomorrow ready to deal with a new reality. I’m sorry, Dar. This isn’t how I wanted any of this to turn out.”
After watching Rand’s message, Dar recorded a message for his grandson first. “Rand, I do not know where to begin. Your sister made her own choices. I think Cort is right when he says that Clare could not understand who he is. Only a person who places no value on his own life can realize the value of the lives of others. I doubt Cort would have handled the situation with Clare otherwise.”
Dar choked up as he continued. “But your mother had no say in the end of her life. She devoted her life to all of us. Even to the baby. A man shouldn’t have to lose his own children, Rand. I’ve lost a daughter and a granddaughter, and your father was like a son to me. Cort gave your mother back to me for a time, and he gave you back to me as well. I cannot forgive him for their deaths, because I cannot blame him for them. I love him, Rand, as much as I have ever loved anyone in this family. I am glad that you feel the same. Make sure Cort knows it, son. None of us can imagine the burden he carries on his shoulders. And no matter how broad they are, I think they are weary. I can hear it in his voice and see it in his eyes. He needs us Rand, and we cannot fail him. Goodbye, grandson. Take care. I love you.”
Dar called Lex and played the messages for him. Then he found a bottle of Cort’s old Whistle Pig and a pair of cigars. He and Lex then shared their memories of lost loved ones.
The next morning Dar found the second message from Cort waiting for him. After watching it several times also, he poured himself another whiskey.
--
Ares Federation Headquarters
Cort felt Kim’s fingers tracing the scars on his back. Taking a deep breath he turned on his side and asked, “So what did you guys decide about Earth?”
“Let’s not talk shop yet. How are you?”
“Kim, I need to talk shop. You know that, don’t you? What did you guys decide?”
Kim regarded him for several seconds before kissing his forehead. “We want to leave it up to the people there. If Dar and his people want to stay, we will annex the North America. We don’t want Europe though. If they don’t want to stay there, Speral will send us whatever ships we need to move them here.”
“Housing?”
“Geodesic domes. Our engineers think we can build them large enough to encompass small cities if necessary.”
“That’s a good idea. I can’t imagine it wasn’t thought of before now, though,” Cort said.
“It was a few decades ago when the colony was new, but they decided against it because of what the colony’s purpose was back then. Now we have the tech and the manpower to make it happen. It would be even more efficient if we could get the structures made on Earth and shipped here. But we don’t have much in the way of bargaining power.”
“What?” Cort sat up and looked directly at her. “How can you say we don’t have bargaining power? We’re the ones that have an alliance with the aliens, not earth. We have all the cards. Hell, we can probably get what we need from Lap and his government. We don’t need Earth at all, and frankly I don’t care if we let them fall back into the stone age. I’m worried about three thousand people in North America. I don’t give a rat’s ass about the rest of humanity.”
“We didn’t look at it that way. You should bring it up at today’s meeting.”
“No, but you can. Verne is right. I need to step back from the civil side of the government. I can’t preach one policy and enforce another. You should use Europe as a bargaining chip. I have a new mission anyway. Running, or even helping to run a system government isn’t in the cards for me. I have a war to fight.”
“Is it going to take you away from here?”
“Unless and until the crystals show up in our system, I will be gone a lot, so yes.” Cort saw the hurt in Kim’s eyes as they watered up. “But when you can, I want you to go with me.”
Kim’s tears ran down her cheeks as she said, “Just try and stop me.”
“We’ve got a lot of work to do before then, though. We have a fleet and a weapon system to build. Did you come up with anything there, I mean a way to fight the crystals?”
“Doctor Black has some interesting ideas. He’s talking to some audiologist and the Research and Development people. I think he’s working toward something to do with resonant frequencies.”
“Is it live or is it Memorex?” Cort quipped.
“I don’t understand. Memorex?”
“Let’s just say it was before your time,” he chuckled and kissed her. “I’ve gotta pee. What’s for breakfast?”
“I’m not sure. What are you making me?”
Seventeen
Ares Federation
“There’s no reason we can’t build the domes here and on Earth,” Doctor Black said. “Kim’s engineers think we can start fabricating the panels immediately. They will need a heavier radiation coating on Earth than they do here. Speral has a cargo hauler that will transport the components both to Tharsis and Earth.”
“Have we gotten a reply from Dar about that yet?” Rhodes asked.
Cort said, “No, but I wouldn’t expect them to make the decision that quickly. They are going to want to discuss it pretty extensively.”
Right on cue, Kim said, “I think we should look at another possibility. We have pretty much the only claim to Atlantica.” Anticipating Verne’s protest she raised her hand in the monitor and said, “Hear me out. I know we don’t want Europe, but we could give it to the Asianic Alliance in good faith and offer to help them clean it up so long as they accept our claim to North America. Speral thinks we can clean up the majority of the radiation damage using their technology. She says it will take about three years, so I suggest we build just one dome near the cavern and focus on cleanup”
“Speral has a cleanup method that will work on that scale?” Rand asked.
“She says she does. Since Cort pushed his terms on the Collaborative Government, we have access to a lot of knowledge and technology we didn’t before.” Kim pulled up a file and sent it to the others.
Verne was impressed and said, “This should work. Using ion exchange is an old theory but until the last few decades, we have not had the power capability to utilize it on this large a scale. Really, we still don’t, but Speral’s people do, and with most of North America virtually uninhabited we can drop these things everywhere.” He paused and thought for a moment before continuing. “I think we can use this to solidify our claim to North America and possibly get even more concessions from the other two alliances.”
“More concession, Doc?”
“If we annex North America, we need a way to ensure its safety. Our orbital platform system could be used to protect a planet as easily as a continent.”
“Our orbital platform system was set up to defend us from Earth, Doctor. That threat is gone now,” Rhodes said.
“Cort? Do you agree with Mr. Rhodes’ assessment?” Verne asked. “Are we safe?”
“Not at all. We have the crystal, which doesn’t appear to be an immediate threat, but we also have nearly a thousand other new species to consider. And that’s just the aliens. The other two alliances wi
ll go along with us as long as they fear us, but don’t doubt for a moment that if they can make their own alliances with the aliens or somehow circumvent us, they will.”
Rand spoke again. “Actually, they can’t circumvent us in regards to the Collaborative Government. I’ve been studying their laws. We are fairly unique in that first contact is usually not made until a planet is united. As a result of that, their laws assume the emissary from a new species speaks for the entire race. In our case, that is Cort. In all matters regarding the Collaborative Government, Cort represents humanity. There is a downside to that though. If Cort dies, humanity still has to fulfill his agreements.”
