Dawn Page 2

  They were Qu’uda and something more, Ki thought. What would be their reception when they reached their home planet? Too bad the Qu’uda can’t take the library of Congress with them on their twenty-year trip home, he thought. That’d give them something to chew on.

  Several libraries had survived and were being translated into Qu’uda. That young man, Tim Van Minh, the one badly injured by a Qu’uda weapon in the battle for Defiance, had developed a system for transferring data files between our computers and the Qu’uda biocomputers. How long did he say this would take? Three months?

  Through a window at the rear dock of the Little-Egg, Ki watched the space shuttle approach. Its once-white body and wings had long black streaks from multiple re-entries. Its payload bay doors slowly folded open like a butterfly’s wings. It was ancient—one of the original space shuttles from the late twentieth century. They’d dug it out of a museum and fitted it with an aneutronic fusion drive to make it into a true space truck, one that flew constantly.

  Still, he thought. It’s small compared to a Qu’uda shuttle.

  The shuttle drifted slowly toward the long, corrugated tube fitted to the dock. As they merged, the tube shook and quivered as it inflated with air.

  “Sir?” a voice called. “We’re ready for you to board.”

  “Okay,” Ki said. “I’m coming.” Only a couple more hours and I’ll be back in gravity. God, he thought. I’ll never get used to this zero-gee shit. Until we get this station moved and operational, we’re still blind on the sunward side of Earth.

  Chapter Two

  Choices

  “So, the Others bore no hostility toward you?” Suh-Joh shifted the rear four of her six limbs on the polished red granite resting mound.

  Orange light glittered off the metal walls in the cave-like chamber she used as her command center. Brown curtains covered the doors and gave an illusion of privacy. Clusters of quills plucked from defeated enemies adorned the walls commemorating her hive’s many victories. The hum of the power generators and the sigh of the ventilation system were familiar sounds. The smell of machinery mingled with aromas of densely packed multitudes. The Mother’s Servant, an immense transport ship, was Suh-Joh’s home during her exile.

  “Perhaps, gracious Hive-Mother, the Others were defending themselves from the asteroid-ship aliens. We may have misunderstood them.” Son-Nih flexed his head close to the floor in a motion that showed his uncertainty.

  The old Chosen-Male warrior bore many scars of hard service to his Hive-Mother. He wore a garland of prayer beads that were the insignia of the warrior-priest caste; a disguise he had yet to shed from his last mission.

  “They used fusion weapons only after the asteroid-aliens attacked their orbital station.” He paused and his spines erected. “Still, it was obscene.” He rose with suppleness unusual for one of his age, which came from his use of the illegal life-extending juvenile hormones.

  Suh-Joh rose onto her two hind limbs and turned toward Nok-Joh, the pilot-navigator. “They refrained from attacking you and then tried to communicate with you?”

  “Yes.” Nok-Joh was a small, unripened female who had piloted the exploratory ship, the Good Child. She quivered with excitement, for she had just learned that Suh-Joh had not rejected her petition to be ripened. Her desire to become a Mother was apparent to all.

  “We sent them a learning algorithm for our language. They sent us water, water so pure it was safe for consumption without any treatment. That made possible our safe return.” She crouched lower on a crossed quill emblem in the floor covering that was the symbol of Suh-Joh’s hive.

  “Did they follow?”

  “They made no attempt to pursue us.”

  “I cannot return to Hool.” Suh-Joh squirmed as though uncomfortable. “If I do, the priests at the Shrine of the Mother will demand I ripen my successor, which means I die.” She raised herself, her belly plates clattering off the resting mound. “So, I must leave.” She turned to Son-Nih. “Which is it?” she said. “Invade Kamah and carve out a domain or accept the invitation of the Others on the distant world of water?”

  The colony world of Kamah teemed with daughters of the Hive-Mothers and their hordes of Chosen-Male warriors.

  Son-Nih lowered himself. “I cannot make that decision for you. I can only advise you on the facts as I see them. Should you choose Kamah, it will be bloody, very bloody.”

  Six shuttlecraft—small stubby vessels originally used to haul material from the surface to orbit and now armed with weapons created with technology taken from the archives beneath the Shrine of the Mother—headed away from Hool on long tongues of fusion flame. Young Chosen-Male warriors from many hives crewed the craft. They were the select of the select; fierce, brave and totally loyal. They were on their way to the system’s asteroid belt, seeking to find the renegade Suh-Joh in her mining and manufacturing complex.

  An old warrior-priest from the Shrine of the Mother led the expedition. None of the Chosen-Male warriors would let anyone from another hive lead them. The old priest had to be firm with the crew who openly showed they believed they were better qualified. The atmosphere in the cramped command module, boxed in by the austere, bare metal walls, was redolent with marker fragrances from many hives.

  “Something is wrong.” It was the pilot-navigator on the lead ship who pointed at the holographic display. “Look.”

  Within the scattering of pale yellow points that indicated asteroids, a red tetrahedron glowed brightly. “I do not see the cause of your concern,” the old priest said. “Explain it.”

  The pilot-navigator extended a limb as the image in the display expanded. The tetrahedron shape changed into multiple components: A round object changed to yellow, it was the asteroid from which metals were mined. Several tiny cubes orbited it. The image shimmered and briefly became fuzzy. “That is the limit of magnification,” he said. “See?”

  The old priest noisily exhaled through his breathing orifices. “What is it?” he said.

  “Where is the Mother’s Servant?” The pilot-navigator referred to Suh-Joh’s immense transport ship.

  “It is your role to answer my questions,” the old priest said. “Not to quiz me.”

  The pilot-navigator flexed slightly, showing barely a trace of submission. “Yes, honorable one. Little radiation comes from the mining and manufacturing complex; no one is there. The Mother’s Servant is gone. It means the heretic has fled.”

  “Then find her.”

  “Where?” asked the pilot-navigator. “Space is large and she left no scent to follow.”

  The old priest sighed heavily through his breathing orifices and emanated an aroma of frustration. “Send the ships out in a hemispherical search pattern, away from the system’s core. Set scanners at maximum to probe the greatest distance. Once we get a signal return, we concentrate our forces and pursue.” Though he may not have seen combat in space, battle experience made the course of action seem obvious.

  The pilot-navigator flexed low, almost to the command module’s textured metal floor. “Yes, of course, honorable one. Immediately.” He moved quickly, the spines and plates of his hide scraping and rattling against the communications console. He gave the orders. The shuttle surged with acceleration.

  In less than one day, a faint echo from a scanning beam revealed the location of the Mother’s Servant. The shuttlecraft changed their courses to converge on Suh-Joh’s ship.

  Soon the pilot-navigator detected they, too, were being scanned, the Mother’s Servant drive flickered into life. The giant ship began to accelerate. However, the smaller shuttles had higher velocity.

  It was apparent they would soon catch Suh-Joh’s ship.

  “Mother’s Servant,” the old priest spoke into the communicator system. “Prepare to receive emissaries from the Council of Hive-Mothers.” He repeated his demand several times.

  There was no answer. “Submit, or we attack.”

  Still no response.

  The six shuttlecraft moved into
a hexagonal formation onto a course to encircle the Mother’s Servant. “With our new weapons,” the pilot-navigator said. “We shall soon disable it. After all, it is slower and far less maneuverable.”

  The old priest said nothing.

  “Adjust velocity,” the pilot-navigator said. “Do not overshoot the Mother’s Servant. That would expose us to its debris-clearing beam on the forward part of the Mother’s Servant. That will be its only weapon.”

  The shuttlecraft drew closer.

  The Mother’s Servant was a ring connected to the central stem with three spokes. At the head of the drive stem was a globular fuel tank almost the same diameter as the ring.

  “Commence deceleration,” said the pilot-navigator.

  The Mother’s Servant’s main drive faded at the same time. Its maneuvering drives winked into life and the ship’s course shifted slightly. The main drive flared brighter than the sun. A violet beam of energy flashed into existence. The holographic display now showed only fragments where one of the shuttlecraft had been.

  “It is a transport ship.” The pilot-navigator’s spines slowly rose. “It should not be armed.”

  “Obviously it is,” said the old priest. “That is the just the kind of unethical thing Suh-Joh would do.”

  “Now what is the Mother’s Servant up to?” The old priest stared intently at the holographic display.

  The pilot-navigator adjusted the long-range scanners. The Mother’s Servant was again changing course.

  “Take evasive action,” the old priest said.

  “They shouldn’t be able to hit us at this range—”

  “They have and can and will. If you value the spines on your hide, you’ll avoid that ship’s weapon. Increase velocity and get closer. That’ll make it more difficult for them to aim their weapon.” As the old priest finished speaking, the Mother’s Servant again flared brightly.

  The violet beam moved in an arc to touch a shuttle. A stubby wing disappeared amid a cloud of sparkling metal. The shuttle lurched and began to spin. The beam winked out of existence.

  “All craft accelerate at maximum velocity toward the Mother’s Servant,” the old priest said. “Get within range so we can grapple with them.” His spines rose in a combat posture.

  “We should use our missiles.” The pilot-navigator referred to the two missiles each shuttle carried. “They can reach the heretic’s ship.”

  “All craft, target missiles on the outer part of the Mother’s Servant,” said the old priest. The ring-shaped outer structure of Suh-Joh’s craft held the living quarters and other occupied areas. A strike there would cause the most casualties. “Launch when ready.”

  The holographic display showed a ragged formation of tiny slivers converging in a circular pattern on the large transport craft. The missiles closed rapidly.

  The rear of the Mother’s Servant flared brightly. The violet beam cut through the eight tiny slivers. Two missiles disappeared with bright flashes. Another shuttlecraft flowered into fragments.

  The missiles knifed into the Mother’s Servant. Six incandescent splotches appeared on the slowly rotating outer ring. A curved section of metal floated away amid a storm of flotsam. A cloud of vapor blossomed, briefly illuminated by electrical flashes dancing along jagged openings, and then faded.

  “Ah, our spines have slashed her,” said the old priest. “Now, closer and we shall finish her.” As he spoke, the main drive on the stern of the Mother’s Servant flared anew. The last thing the old priest saw was the world around him disintegrating into incandescent fragments.

  Alarms bleated. Orange lights flickered as the Mother’s Servant shuddered under six successive blows. Air howled and the pressure dropped. Distantly, a chorus of screams began.

  “All internal doors closing.” The warning echoed as a cavalcade of clanks rattled through the ship. Vibration from the ship’s engines rose and faded. “Another enemy destroyed,” a voice announced. One by one, the alarms fell silent.

  “Enemy reversing course,” said another.

  “Orthogonal course change. Target acquisition not possible,” a high-pitched voice said.

  “Enemy out of range.”

  Suh-Joh glanced at Son-Nih. “Well?”

  His eyes blinked open. “The attack is over. They have hurt us. How much, I do not know.” He rose and headed for the curtain-covered door opening. “I shall find out.”

  Suh-Joh’s command center was quiet. Though its thick curtains muffled the sounds from outside, the Cycle of Life prayer could still be heard, chanted many times for those who had died, filling the ship with its mournful sound.

  “Almost one-quarter of our warriors and crew are dead. And more will die,” said Son-Nih. “There is much damage to the ship’s structure. Should we jump through the space-time transfer point, our structure will fail. We must make repairs.”

  “So many of my brave warriors slaughtered.” Suh-Joh slumped lower. “How long to make these repairs?”

  “The engineers do not wish to say. When pressed, they showed me the many steps they must go through to restore the ship to deep space operating condition,” said Son-Nih. “They are concerned about the damage to its structure.” He flexed submissively. “They must fabricate many parts, some large. We need to set up our manufacturing facility on an asteroid. Without that, any repair effort is doomed to failure. If we survive.” He hesitated. “I fear they do not tell me the worst.”

  “There are many asteroids out here. What else?”

  “Water,” he said. “We lost almost all our water and air. We need volatiles, also.” His concern reflected the rarity of asteroids containing those precious substances. “Until we rebuild the Mother’s Servant and replenish our stores, we are very vulnerable. Some say we should ask the Hive-Mothers for mercy.”

  “No,” Suh-Joh said. “That way is certain death.”

  Suh-Joh lowered her head to the floor, the position of complete submission. “Oh, Spirit of the Mother,” she said. “I beg of you, have mercy on this humble child and all those around me.” It was the opening of the prayer of the Chosen-Male warriors going into battle, those prepared to die.

  Chapter Three

  The New Frontier

  “Commander Mapes.” Carver Washington’s voice echoed through the assembly room for the Human Confederation.

  They were in a hall with its elegant marble floor of black and white marble, with pink granite columns supporting the overhead dome. On the open floor before the circular rows of seats in the center of the Rotunda was a worn bronze emblem—the seal of the former State of Ohio.

  Over a hundred delegates, a spectrum of ethnic faces serious and intent, leaned forward to watch the newly elected Speaker of the Confederation announce Ki Mapes’s promotion. Carver towered over him, his bulk contrasting with Ki’s slight build. “It is my pleasure to confirm your appointment as commander-in-chief of the Space Force. The defense of Earth, is now in your hands.”

  Commander Ki Mapes stood straight and erect. Light gleamed off his nearly bald, mahogany brown head. His cheekbones were prominent in a thin, almost aquiline face. His tan uniform, crisply pressed, bore the four-star insignia of commander-in-chief.

  As Carver’s words droned on, Ki’s mind wandered. The world’s defense has been my game for some time now, he thought. They’ve just got around to acknowledging it. I guess the newer members of the Confederation want to have a say in who’ll be over their heads with all that firepower.

  Once the former Qu’uda battleship—the Little-Egg-that-Flies—had been moved to the L-1 Lagrangian position on the sunward side of Earth, it was named Defense Station Number 2, or DS-2.

  Ki’s crew worked on converting it into a space station, making its huge fuel tanks into docks for future spacecraft. We’ll launch more converted submarines, changed from ocean-going to space-going craft, he thought. That’ll keep the Tacoma boatworks busy for years.

  The demands for materials on DS-2 just kept growing and hauling everything up from Earth was ti
me consuming. That forced Ki to look elsewhere. Billy’s data download from the Qu’uda ship revealed a large number of asteroids in near-Earth orbits, some of which posed a potential collision danger in the distant future.

  Removing that danger, Ki realized, will be another project. I want to move two small asteroids to the Earth-Moon L-5 Lagrangian position to get metals, minerals, water, and organics for an orbital manufacturing center. And then, he thought, we’ll get a metallic asteroid to make the next space station, DS-3.

  “Congratulations.” Carver Washington enveloped Ki’s hand with a huge brown, callused one of his own, followed by a bear-hug.

  “Thank you,” Ki said. “I am deeply honored by this appointment. I will keep the trust you have shown.” He spoke sincere words of comfort to those who were uncertain about promoting a former US submarine commander to control the space-based military. The needed words flowed freely from his heart; he truly believed he had been given a position of trust and intended to fulfill it to the best of his ability.

  “You think you can build these weapons?” Ki asked.

  “Yes, sir,” said Tim Van Minh.

  The slightly built Vietnamese man smiled a crooked smile from a ruined face. One-half of his body had been seared by a glancing blow from a Qu’uda beam weapon. After he had recovered, he’d met and married Sally Butterworth, which had restored peace to his soul, for she’d convinced him he was a complete man.

  “You see,” Tim said. “The info in the Qu’uda download solved the difficult theoretical problems. Now the rest is just engineering.” A half of a mouth smiled.

  The laboratory was crowded with electronic equipment to the point of being almost impassable. Somehow, Tim navigated his way through a warren of stacked data acquisition and processing modules. The room was warm, almost stuffy, with the steady drone of cooling fans and faint electronic beeps. Diode lights flickered on and off in random patterns of red, green, and white. At the far side of the laboratory was Sally, tall, red-haired, and freckled. Only Tim could match her math and engineering skills. Their love for each other burned brightly and openly.