Earth Star

9

The Ark team leader sat down, and Colonel Torrek nodded at me. I stood up and gave my carefully prepared speech to a meeting room packed with Military officers and civilian experts.

‘The History team have found no indication that anything like the sphere has visited Earth in the last nine hundred years. Researching written records is complicated by translation problems, since Language was only formally ratified as a common tongue as late as 2280 in some areas of Earth. We’re now working well before that, when there were thousands of languages in use, each evolving over time. Not only does no one speak any but a handful of these any longer, but we don’t even have computer translation for the uncommon ones.’

I paused. ‘Since translations will take far too much time, we’ve opted to pay special attention to historical images, art in all forms, even cave paintings. We’re collecting as many potentially relevant images as possible, and the Threat team are helping us analyse the results looking for hot spots on locations and dates.’

I sat down again, and pulled a face at Fian who was sitting next to me. He grinned back at me, and mouthed a couple of words that looked like ‘well done’. There was some incomprehensible scientific report next, so I let my mind wander for a few minutes, before discovering the report had somehow turned into a verbal fight between a civilian adviser from the Physics team and the ever-relaxed Threat team leader, Commander Leveque. The unfortunate Military officer in notional overall command of the Science teams made a last attempt to keep his civilian adviser in check, before giving up and listening with a look of despair on his face.

‘Perhaps I should remind you, Professor Devon,’ said Leveque, ‘that Colonel Torrek makes the tactical decisions, not you.’

I exchanged startled glances with Fian. So this was the Gaius Devon who’d come up with the new portal theories.

‘But a pre-emptive strike against the sphere is the only sane course of action,’ said Devon. ‘It’s sitting up there in Earth orbit to test our defence capability. You have to blow it up now to prove we aren’t an easy target.’

‘Premise One of the Alien Contact programme states an unprovoked attack should be avoided,’ said Leveque.

‘Premise One was written centuries ago by people who didn’t have a genuine alien threat on their doorstep,’ said Devon.

Leveque’s smile widened. ‘Which meant they were in a position to think calmly and logically rather than rush into precipitate action that could later prove regrettable in the extreme.’

There was no doubt who was winning this argument. Devon’s face was turning an ever-deeper shade of puce, while Leveque’s smile kept growing more maddening, and his sentences more ornate.

‘You have to attack now!’ Devon turned to Colonel Torrek. ‘You can’t keep listening to that coward.’

I gave a shocked look at Leveque to see how he felt about being called a coward in front of every senior officer in the base. He seemed to be struggling not to laugh.

‘I have every confidence in the personal courage of Commander Leveque,’ said Colonel Torrek. ‘You might note he wears the Thetis medal. He would have qualified for the Artemis, if he hadn’t been incredibly lucky and escaped totally uninjured.’

‘With respect, sir, that was good planning not luck,’ said Leveque.

‘Chaos take your Military medals,’ said Devon. ‘My evaluations show we’ve a good chance of destroying the sphere, so do it.’

‘And what happens if we try and fail?’ asked Colonel Torrek. ‘Even if we succeed, we’ll have committed an act of war. The cross-sector Military was founded to prevent any repetition of the wars fought between humans before Exodus century, not to deliberately start wars with aliens, and I’m advised the sphere may not represent the current technological level of the alien race.’

‘Oh we’re back to that again,’ said Devon. ‘It’s ridiculous to think the sphere could have got here by any means other than a drop portal. That’s how we always get to new star systems, isn’t it?’

‘If it used a drop portal,’ said Leveque, ‘it must have been one of dimensions above the maximum possible size according to Jorgen Eklund.’

Fian leaned forward in his chair as he heard his great-grandfather’s name.

‘That’s a very old theory,’ said Devon.

‘The laws of physics haven’t changed in the last century,’ said Leveque, ‘and I have good reasons to take the work of Jorgen Eklund extremely seriously.’

‘Why?’ demanded Devon.

Leveque beamed at him. ‘Unfortunately I cannot supply you with classified information from Military records.’

I bit my lip to stop myself laughing and leaned to whisper in Fian’s ear. ‘I told you Leveque wasn’t making fun of you.’

Devon was virtually shouting now. ‘If it’s impossible for the sphere to have reached here by drop portal, then it’s even more impossible that it travelled conventionally. It would have taken …’ He broke off, but he’d already made a fatal mistake.

‘Precisely,’ said Leveque. ‘You agree with my other expert evaluation of the situation. The sphere must have taken hundreds or thousands of years to get here, in which case the aliens could have made huge technological progress since it was launched. It’s possible those advances include the discovery of portal technology, so we may have far more advanced craft arriving without any warning. In these circumstances, it would be highly inadvisable to commit an unnecessary act of aggression.’

Fian’s face looked ludicrously grazzed as he heard his warning described as an expert evaluation.

‘If you accept Eklund’s theory then you would get a warning of more alien craft arriving,’ said Devon. ‘It gives rigid limits on possible portalling distances as well as size, and the Search team have found no signs of alien portal relays in Alpha sector. Alien craft couldn’t just casually portal across whole sectors of our space. They’d have to repeatedly use a drop portal, emerge, gain power, refocus, and portal again. It would take days, if not weeks, for them to get across Alpha sector, and we’re watching for the telltale bursts of energy now.’

Fian startled me by suddenly joining in the debate. ‘If aliens don’t have their own portal relays, can they use ours?’

I gave him a grazzed look. Everyone else was looking at him too, and there was an odd silence in the room.

Fian flushed. ‘It’s probably impossible but …’

Colonel Torrek looked at Leveque. ‘Is it impossible?’

‘We usually use the standard portal system to send our ships as close as possible to their destination, and then send them the last step by drop portal, but bouncing a drop portal signal a long distance across standard portal relays is definitely possible. During the Artemis crisis, we sent our dart ships half-way across Beta sector, and we did it by bouncing their drop portal signals across Beta sector’s portal relays without their knowledge.’ Leveque stood up. ‘If you’ll excuse me for a few minutes.’

He left the room and there was total silence. Even Devon quietly sat down, which told me just how bad this was. It was five or ten minutes before Leveque returned, with an edge of grimness marring his usual relaxed expression.

‘Unfortunately, Captain Eklund is correct to be concerned. Aliens utilizing our portal relay network is not nearly as impossible as we’d like.’

‘Worst-case scenario?’ asked Colonel Torrek.

‘The alien sphere waits until Earth’s portal network shuts down during the next major solar storm and we’re at our weakest. The radiation means we can’t keep the solar arrays manned, keep fighters in orbit, or create outgoing portals. The sphere would attack to distract us, while its reinforcements portal in using our own portal relay network. We portal our forces into Sol system in response and there is a decisive conflict with significant implications for the future safety of all our worlds.’

Colonel Torrek pulled a face. ‘Meaning we’d have to win at any cost.’

‘Can’t we shut down the relay network as a defensive precaution?’ asked Devon. ‘At least, the network near Sol system?’

I was no good at science, so I’d been keeping quiet, but now I had to speak. ‘No! That would stop Handicapped newborn babies from reaching Earth. They’d all die!’

Devon gave me a look of pure disgust. ‘Insignificant given what’s at stake here.’

‘Shutting down the relay network near Earth would prevent not only alien forces but our own from reaching it,’ said Leveque.

‘We could abandon Earth,’ said Devon. ‘Only the Handicapped live here, so it’s an acceptable loss.’

Acceptable loss? My home planet! Everyone I loved! I half rose in my seat, but Colonel Torrek spoke before I could choose which furious words to say.

‘Earth has five inhabited continents and the highest population of any of our planets except Adonis and Zeus. I don’t regard it as an acceptable loss, and I’m not killing thousands of babies a day just as a defensive precaution. We’ve been discussing a purely hypothetical situation, because the aliens may not have portal technology yet, or may be friendly.’

Devon frowned. ‘Tactically though …’

‘Tactically,’ said Leveque, ‘it should be blindingly obvious that if the aliens can use our portal relay network to reach Earth, they can also use it to reach any of our other inhabited worlds. We can’t shut down the whole network, and blocking them reaching Earth would just divert an attack to another planet we’re completely unprepared to defend. If we have to fight a battle, we must fight it here in Sol system.’

‘Can we make the portal relay network more secure?’ asked Colonel Torrek. ‘Distinguish between our signals and alien ones?’

‘We can,’ said Leveque, ‘and we must. Not just because of these aliens, but any others we may meet, however changing the entire portal relay network will take years.’

‘The current aliens are enough for me to worry about,’ said Colonel Torrek. ‘We’ll end this meeting now. Commanders Leveque, Stone, Shirinkin, and Major Tell Dramis, please join me in my quarters for a command meeting. Major Tar Cameron, set us up a live link with the General Marshal.’

Colonel Torrek stood up and went out of the door, and the four named officers followed him. Devon turned to face Fian.

‘Your name’s Eklund,’ he said. ‘You’re related to Jorgen Eklund?’

‘Yes,’ said Fian.

‘So you’re the one who’s been telling them that outdated rubbish.’

Devon moved towards us and I stood up to face him. If the man who was prepared to discard Earth as an acceptable loss wanted a fight, I was perfectly ready to give him one, but suddenly everyone in the room seemed to be standing and the officer in charge of the Science teams was blocking Devon’s path.

‘This meeting is over,’ he said.

‘I’m not done here,’ said Devon.

The officer shook his head. ‘I think you are.’

Devon hesitated for a second, then turned and walked out of the door. I realized I’d been holding my breath, let it out in a sigh, and turned to look at Fian. I discovered he was the only person still sitting down. He was looking a little pale but quite calm. Leaving the room immediately after Gaius Devon would obviously be a bad idea, so we waited a few more minutes before heading back to our quarters.

It was two hours later, when we were having a snack meal from our food dispenser, that we heard a little chorus of chimes. Two civilian and two Military lookups were announcing emergency mail.

Fian’s gaze went from his civilian to his Military lookup in indecision. He went for the civilian one. ‘Oh chaos!’

I was checking my Military lookup. ‘Our Military mail is the same except it has an extra bit about this being the official cover story.’

I turned on the wall vid. One of the Earth Rolling News presenters appeared, wearing a bemused and thrilled expression.

‘… warning of a rogue comet approaching Earth. This has a trail of large asteroids, which may survive entry into the atmosphere and cause significant damage. We repeat there is no cause for concern. The Military have built an emergency base on Earth, and are portalling ships into orbit to destroy any dangerously sized asteroids. Earth Africa solar array is now off-line so the power beam is available to assist if necessary. Power is being supplied to Earth Africa by relay from Earth Asia and Earth America.’

He paused. ‘The Military report the situation is currently under control, but there may be problems if a significant solar storm interrupts their blockade. The underground caverns of Ark are being prepared for possible use as an emergency shelter. Those will be familiar to many people from school trips. Individual mails will be sent giving details of what should be taken with you to Ark, and which Ark portal address you should use.’

The vid went split screen, the other half showing a rotating picture of Earth.

‘Ark is located under Earth Australia. In the event of an evacuation to Ark, all inter-continental portals on other continents will be continuously locked open to Earth Australia destinations and there will be no portal charges for journeys. Please read your instructions carefully and respect luggage restrictions.’

The image of Earth now changed to a random view of the famous monument marking humanity’s first off-world settlement on Adonis.

‘For those wishing to evacuate off world, all Earth off-world portals will be locked open to worlds in Alpha sector. You may portal to an Alpha world with no charge, and then continue your journey as normal from there. Education Earth advises arrangements are being made for Earthborn norm children to stay at their Alpha world orientation schools during the Ark evacuation.’

He started the story again. ‘The Military are warning of a rogue comet approaching …’

I turned off the wall vid. ‘So, the Military have decided to evacuate people into Ark during the next solar storm. They’re sending the norm kids off world to safety as well.’

Fian made an odd, shocked noise. ‘This is just like one of the nardle conspiracy theories that Krath’s dad talks about. The Military using a cover story.’

‘I wonder who invented the story.’

‘Can’t you guess? Doesn’t this sound suspiciously like what happened on Hera? Drago must have suggested the cover story, but the evacuation is really happening because of you.’

I shook my head. ‘I only told them about Ark. Colonel Torrek decided to go ahead with the evacuation because of what you said about the portal relays.’

Fian laughed. ‘We’re both to blame then.’

My civilian lookup chimed and I picked it up. ‘It’s Lecturer Playdon.’

I accepted the call and transferred it to the wall vid. Playdon’s shocked face looked at us. ‘Jarra. Fian. This evacuation to Ark … The alien contact is here!’

I nodded. ‘I’ve got permission to give you limited information. There’s an alien sphere in geostationary orbit above Earth Africa. It’s small, so probably unmanned.’

His head snapped backwards as he gave a startled look upwards. ‘Above … above here then.’

‘A bit north of the Eden Dig Site,’ I said. ‘Don’t worry, sir. It’s not responding to our attempts to talk to it, but it’s done nothing hostile. The Military are just worried it may make a move during a solar storm when we’re at a disadvantage. That’s the reason for the evacuation to Ark.’

Playdon shook his head. ‘Embarrassingly enough, I didn’t even know Ark still existed. I had to look it up.’

Fian grinned. ‘Using Ark was Jarra’s idea.’

I laughed at the expression on Playdon’s face. ‘I had the advantage of local knowledge, sir. I’d been there on a school trip.’

Playdon took a moment to recover from that before he spoke again. ‘You know, Jarra, given your uniforms, I really feel you should stop calling me sir.’

I glanced downwards. ‘Oh those. They decided to make us real Military rather than civilian advisers, so we could be given Military tactical information.’

‘Since you appear to be a Major …’

‘Jarra’s a Major, but I’m only a Captain,’ said Fian, going into a martyr act. ‘Jarra’s a team leader, but I’m only a deputy.’

I threw a cushion at him.

‘Team leader?’ asked Playdon.

‘I’ve been put in charge of the History team,’ I said. ‘The Military want to know if there’s any hint the aliens visited Earth before. If you think of anything in pre-history that might be relevant, please let us know.’

‘I will, but … What happens if there’s an Ark evacuation? Will you two be going there?’

I nodded. ‘Combat personnel and civilian advisers portal to a base in Alpha sector. The rest of us move to a temporary base in Ark.’

‘Each dig site has space allocated in Ark,’ said Playdon, ‘so the dig teams can evacuate together if they wish. I’ve already told the class they can go off world and visit their families for a few days, but I’m planning to go to Ark myself. I missed the Solar 5 rescue through taking the class to Asgard, and I’m not going to miss this.’

He paused. ‘That reminds me. The Cassandra 2 team have just arrived at Eden Dig Site. Their team leader, Rono, said to say hello to you two, and ask Jarra if the dig site was safe from crashing spaceships.’

I giggled. ‘Rono was a bit shocked when he found out Solar 5 crashed on New York Dig Site because the Colonel was the pilot and he’d been there for my grandmother’s Honour Ceremony.’

‘I know. Rono told me about it at great length when you were in hospital, Jarra.’ Playdon had one of his evil smiles now. ‘When this is all over, I’m going to tell Rono the Military decided to evacuate the population of Earth into Ark because you went there on a school trip, and watch the look on his face.’

He paused. ‘I’d better let you get on with your work. Fian, try to keep Jarra out of trouble.’

Fian nodded. ‘I’ll do my best, sir.’

‘Captain Eklund, please stop calling me “sir”!’