Earth Song: Twilight Serenade Page 22

  Two tense hours later the ride smoothed out and they could no longer feel anything. Lilith took a deep breath and slowly let it out in a long sigh.

  “Is the fleet okay?” Minu asked, know they were fine.

  “Fiisk Alpha reports some minor damage to the gravitic drive. That vessel absorbed far more abuse than we did.”

  Minu pursed her lips thinking about the wild ride they’d just experienced and how it must have been in the other side. But the Fiisk was currently unmanned, except for the Kaatan CI.

  “The Eseel had the least effects,” Lilith finished. “The Ibeen are a robust design, so I was less concerned about buffeting.”

  “Can we expect this to be so bad throughout the nebula?” Aaron asked.

  “Uncertain,” Lilith admitted. “I’ve gathered some baseline data that will help greatly in predicting the effects ahead of us, allowing me to slow the fleet as necessary. I may even be able to maneuver around the worst of it. I’ll send the Eseel ahead as to help feel our way through the nebula.”

  As the fleet settled into a more comfortable cruise and Lilith gradually increased their speed, Minu fell into a contemplative silence. Aaron, keeping their baby amused with part of his efforts, glanced at his wife then turned most of his attention to her. There was the beautiful woman he’d fallen in love with at first sight so many years ago watching the navigational map of the nebula fill in bit by bit, her eyes narrowed and that little cock of her head he found so adorable.

  He’d been with her as a friend at first, watching as she came into her own as a Chosen and then struggled with herself as she realized her abilities. Her abilities to lead men into combat and deal out death and destruction.

  Minu liked science and was a natural study. She was a kind person at heart, and the fact that she was so good at killing troubled her on a fundamental level.

  Then, in that dread art, she’d found her reason for being. To make humanity safe in the endless dangers of the Concordia. He’d once told Gregg that he knew Minu would be First one day way back during the trials as she was taking them all through by the sheer force of her will alone. He’d laughed it off. A female First? Hilarious. No one was laughing now.

  The look on her face spoke volumes to him. He’d learned as a husband to allow her those quiet moments when she was a hundred billion kilometers away, wrapped in the tenuous feelings of a growing idea. Just as he suspected she reached up and began stroking the brilliant blue sapphire which hung on the dualloy chain she always wore around her neck. A tiny smile broke his face. Minu had an idea.

  Chapter 26

  May 23th, 535 AE

  Aether Nebula, The Frontier

  The fleet had reached the area where the ghost fleet should have been almost a week ago only to find nothing. Not so much as a piece of charred hull plating.

  Lilith launched almost all the Eseel and sent them out in a search pattern. Not finding the fleet where it should have been disquieted her.

  They’d docked two days ago to transfer all the senior staff for a strategy meeting when Lilith could find no trace of the drifting ships that should have been there. Minu held a brief meeting with her Rangers to evaluate their training then turned her attention back to the current task.

  “There has to be a logical reason,” Lilith insisted.

  “Or an illogical one,” Cherise had said, getting a sidelong look from Lilith. Cherise always liked to consider the impossible, which sometimes annoyed Minu’s ever practical daughter who lived in space.

  “Like what?” Minu asked her old friend.

  “Well, I see a couple possibilities. Maybe something changed their course through the Aether Nebula.”

  “I detest that name,” Lilith grumbled, making everyone else smile. Minu had to admit it had stuck when Aaron had used it one day just after entering. She’d looked it up and liked it. All the Chosen liked using old names from Earth for things. It was part of the human condition, she supposed.

  Cherise continued without interruption. “The other is that we were beaten to the fleet, or it was simply never there and the data from the CI was incorrect.”

  “Lilith?” Minu asked, wanting her take on it.

  “While it is possible that the data was in error, I find it unlikely. The stability of the CI is not in question. We have to consider the possibility that we were beaten to the fleet, of course. However that is also unlikely. Consider that The People used this location on purpose. Once secreted inside the nebula-”

  “The Aether Nebula,” Aaron corrected.

  Lilith’s face gave a little twitch that made Aaron grin. Minu smiled a little, hoping he didn’t push her too far someday. Who knew what the girl was truly capable of?

  Lilith continued without using the name. “Once secreted inside the nebula the ghost fleet was all but invisible. If you consider that the previous two fleets were simply drifting through deep space and had not been located, we have to consider that either they were never found or no real efforts were made to locate them.”

  “So what about the option that it was moved?” Cherise asked.

  “I don’t see any logical reason for that,” Lilith said simply.

  “There may be no logical reason,” Cherise countered. Lilith’s eyes narrowed. “Sometimes life is illogical.”

  “I only find people illogical,” Lilith said.

  “And it is people we’re talking about here. Aliens, sure, but people who left these ships.”

  “Maybe we are missing a possibility,” a new voice suggested. Every turned to look at Kal’at who’d been mostly silent during the meeting. He was gazing at the huge holographic 3D map of the Aether Nebula which floated just off center of the CIC.

  “What do you mean?” Of all of them, Lilith had spent the most time with the Rasa scientist.

  “While the ships of The People are composed of all kinds of material, a lot of it is still metal, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Have you had to adjust courses through the nebula in response to that magnetar?” He pointed a claw at the star several light years away which once every twenty-two minutes rotated to cast a scintillating lightshow through the nebula, causing Aaron to name it the Aether.

  “Very minimally,” Lilith said. “Not enough that a human would notice.”

  “But would that minimal difference add up over hundreds of thousands of years?”

  Everyone’s eyes got wider and they all looked at Lilith who, after a moment, began to look uncomfortable.

  “Yes,” she admitted. “I am sorry, I was foolish.”

  “No,” Minu said quickly, “no one expects you to think of everything.”

  “That’s why you have friends,” Cherise said. Lilith looked at her and Cherise winked and gave her a huge smile.

  “I cannot tell when you are being serious,” Lilith complained. Everyone chuckled and Lilith looked around suspiciously. She’d come far in human (and alien) interaction, but humor was something she struggled with and probably always would. Bakook just watched it all with disinterest.

  “Can you extrapolate based on the magnetar’s influence?” Minu asked, getting them back on track.

  “Yes,” Lilith said. A second later the swarm of distant Eseel began to change course. “It will take a day or more to reposition the search and correlate the results.”

  It was two days. They’d found the fleet just hours ago, sending everyone rushing to the CIC. Minu, Aaron, Cherise, Brian the head of the scientific team, Bakook, Kal’at, and Captain Pape all gathered as Lilith worked the displays within the circular space.

  They were much closer to the magnetar now. Close enough that when its frighteningly powerful magnetic field and gamma ray shockwave passed by the ships had to use shields to avoid damage to sensitive systems. Those flashes lit up space all around them, creating the effect of them floating in a rainbow kaleidoscope of milky fireworks every twenty-two minutes.

  “I found a cloud of accreted debris first,” Lilith told them, then nodded to Cheris
e. “It was all highly magnetic and that made it clump together. I reviewed the course it must have taken, did a baseline extrapolation on that and recalculated yet again. And here we are.”

  Lilith made one of her gestures and the space outside changed to show a cluster of ships. A trio of Eseel were circling the ghost fleet recording images and sensor data.

  “They are in an orbit around the Magnetar. A stable orbit, I might add.”

  “What is the chance of that?” Kal’at said in wonder. “A million to one?”

  “Far lower,” Lilith corrected. “The only possibility is The People set them on their original course on purpose.”

  “Then the ships may be worthless,” Kal’at said. “Every time the magnetar flashed it would irradiate the fleet.”

  “Sensor data from asteroids in the system seems to suggest this neutron star only bursts in a certain direction, or plane of eclipse. The fleet’s orbit is in a different eclipse.

  “So you mean they aimed the damaged ships here, from hundreds of light years away, so they ended up in an orbit around a magnetar that would keep them safe?” Minu asked.

  Lilith nodded.

  “But why?”

  “Safe harbor?” Aaron asked. He was sans baby this time. Mindy had been asleep when the call went out so he’d left her with the nanny.

  “That,” Lilith said, “is a fascinating possibility.”

  Over the next half hour the fleet slowed as it approached the magnetar star system. The flotilla of Eseel were spreading out to cover all the approaches to the hybrid neutron star. Then Lilith did a double take and turned to look at the growing map. There represented next to the magnestar, in addition to the ghost fleet, were a number of other targets.

  “Can you tell what they are?” Minu asked.

  “These three appear to be planets,” Lilith said and three of the points flashed green. “This one,” another flashed, “is too small and artificial.”

  Bran pointed at the planets. “Humans didn’t study magnetars overly much before we lost Earth. There weren’t any in our quadrant of space, and they’re hard to study for the obvious reason. But we had no reason to believe that they would harbor planets.”

  “The People didn’t study them extensively,” Lilith said. “There really isn’t much to be found of interest, normally. And because of their gamma ray and magnetic bursts, they are just far too dangerous.”

  The Eseel continued to relay data and the worlds quickly took shape. One was a ball of rock in an extremely eccentric and distant orbit. Readings indicated it might be rich in metals and that would half explain how it stayed in orbit of the star.

  The second was a highly unusual proto-gas giant. “This could be the remnants of a true gas giant with most of its gaseous mass blown away by the neutron star,” Bran suggested.

  The third took the longest to gather data on. Everyone kept waiting as the blue circle representing the world remained blank. Finally Minu spoke up.

  “Is there a problem?”

  “I’m triple checking the data.”

  “Why?” Kal’at asked, Dan nodding.

  “Because the results are too improbable.”

  “The latest in a long list?” Minu asked. “Spill it.”

  The circle became a planet. A planet with the haze of an atmosphere, topography, and… oceans.

  “Is that Bellatrix-like?” Bran asked, excited.

  “Yes,” Lilith said, “it is. It has an oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere and liquid water seas. The life belt your scientists called the Goldilocks zone, for some strange reason, shouldn’t even exist in this system. Neutron stars are remnants of nova. As close as this world is to the neutron star it should have been obliterated by the blast.”

  The screen showed the magnetar’s system in relation to the galactic eclipse, then showed a graphic of the star giving off a gamma ray burst with data appearing in a window. Then the planets were added in familiar orbits, but all ninety degrees off the normal eclipse.

  “It’s like someone stood the system on its edge,” Kal’at commented.

  Dram pointed. “But the star is rotating in the normal eclipse of the galaxy!”

  “Correct,” Lilith agreed. “It is as if the planets were turned on their edge.” The star burst over and over, always the planets were out of the danger zone of the burst.

  “Was this all designed by The People?” Minu asked in an awed voice.

  “We know they did planetary level engineering,” Kal’at said, “your planet is proof of that. But this seems even beyond them.”

  “In a brute force sort of way,” Lilith agree, “but not if they took advantage of the supernova. If they were prepared for it.”

  “Or caused it,” Minu agreed and added. They all thought back to Planet K and its sudden but unexplainable supernova while they had been there fighting the Mok-Tok.

  Minu thought of what it would take to find just the right planet, Bellatrix-like, with the right atmosphere, gravity, water, and all. Then have it around the right sun, one that could produce a neutron star. Then force it to go off at a time of your choosing to create a star system suitable to your purposes. And of course, protect that life-bearing world from being completely obliterated when the most powerful explosive force in the universe rolls over it. And the blast of the star’s exploding creates the nebula to hide it all.

  “To what advantage would this be?” she wondered.

  “Further data is available,” Lilith said and more details appeared next to each world. “The small rock is actually incredibly rich in heavy metals and other metals and radioactives.

  The proto-gas giant is indeed the core of a gas giant. There are some very rare chemical elements only found in the center of a gas giant. They take eons to form from the intense pressure of the planet’s atmosphere. All can be artificially produced, at great expense. Likewise mining those elements from a gas giant is just as difficult in technology because of the atmosphere.”

  “Unless you blow off the atmosphere,” Minu said.

  “Like diverting a river to wash away dirt off a hill to get at the minerals underneath,” Aaron said, snapping his fingers. “Boom, instant riches.”

  “And the Bellatrix-like planet?” Minu asked.

  “A place to live,” Lilith said. The planet detail had continued to increase and now cities were being displayed.

  “Are there people there?” Minu asked.

  “We are getting some energy readings, but only minor ones.”

  Minu reached into the special pocket on her uniform and drew out her PCR, portal control rod. Even though they were almost a light year away, the device could sense and report on a portal even that far away, if you knew how to ask it the right question.

  She activated the script control and used that part of her brain which the Weavers had changed to manipulate the control and got her answer. Nothing.

  “There are no portals down there,” she told them all.

  “So the only way to get on and off was by spaceship,” Bakook said. “And who would look for a star system with valuable resources in the middle of a nebula almost impossible to navigate and having a deadly magnetar at its center?”

  “Brilliant,” Lilith agreed. She looked at even more data. “The positions of the planets are also ideally set within the gravitic sheer plane of the neutron star. Gravity should be normal, unlike many other places in the system. The survivable world also has a very powerful magnetic field itself as well, likely keeping much of the magnetar’s radiation from reaching the surface.”

  All the while they discussed the planets Lilith had Eseel racing around the system gathering data, and she was ready for her last revelation. Minu jumped her by a bit by remembering something.

  “What about the artificial point you found?”

  Lilith smiled at her mother, admiring her ability to catch details.

  “Yes, that,” Lilith said, her voice betraying some excitement. The map zoomed out from the world capable of bearing life to show the artif
icial point orbiting it. The map zoomed back in to show a massive construct. It was a central structure with innumerable arms extending in all directions out from it like branches on a tree. Minu, Aaron, and Aaron’s eyes got big. They’d all seen one before.

  “What is it?” Kal’at asked.

  “That,” Minu said, “is a firebase just like were we found this ship.”

  Naturally Aaron had gone ahead and named everything. The star was officially Aether in the human database. The inhabitable world he’d named Midgard. The remnants of the gas giant were Asgard, and keeping with the theme he’d dubbed the metal rich planet Niflheim.

  “Should have named the bloody star Valhalla,” Aaron joked that evening in bed with Minu while Lilith was still grumbling about the silly names.

  “We already used that name in Bellatrix for our gas giant,” Minu reminded him.

  “I know, that’s how I got to Asgard for this ex-gas giant.”

  “So what’s the plan in the morning?”

  “We’re going to let the Beezer and techs start investigating the ghost fleet.”

  “And what are we going to do?”

  “We’re heading for Midgard, and that station.”

  Chapter 27

  May 24th, 535 AE

  Midgard, Aether System, Aether Nebula, The Frontier

  Aether put out a surprising amount of light for a neutron star. Combined with the thermal radiation of its super dense surface and gamma rays Lilith had to run the shields full time as they descended down into the system.

  Then they passed the radiation plane, as Lilith called it, and the radiation dropped incredibly, and the amount of light the start gave off increased even more.

  Midgard got steadily closer and they could begin to see details in real time. It was mostly thermal imaging and radar returns as there was almost no visible light, even on the dayside.

  “Most be like a nearly moonless night on Bellatrix down there even at high noon,” Aaron said.