The Phoenix Project (14 page)

    
Linda sat for a moment in thought. A
unanimous vote was never required, only a majority, but it did help.

    
“I agree,” she said.

    
“Are you sure?” Catherine asked.

    
“I’ve been doing this for ten years,”
Alexander replied.

    
“I still say you need to refine your
interpretations,” Catherine said. “Perhaps all of us should begin attempts at
foresight.”

    
“That requires experience.” Alexander
straightened in his chair at the perceived assault on his territory. Only one
councilmember saw and interpreted the symbols from the future. There were generations
of precedent to protect him.

    
“Nonetheless, you are unclear in the
meaning of these crises at a crucial time. All of us will assist you from now
on.” Alexander shrank back in his seat once he saw the agreeing nods from the
rest of the council.

    
“There will be that many deaths?” Catherine
asked. Alexander looked around abashedly before he answered.

    
“I will tell you what I saw but remember
that these symbols often figurative rather than literal. I must caution all of
you that we need more information,” he said in a small act of contrition. “The
first symbol I saw was the Earth on fire, then the Coalition’s flag in tatters,
limp on its pole. The final symbol I saw was the Alliance flag glowing in gold.”

    
“Tell us your interpretation of this.”

    
“The Earth was ravaged by fire. My
interpretation is that this is what the particle warhead can do. I believe that
they will use it. The Coalition’s flag on fire is our own assured destruction
if this occurs. If these events occur then this will lead to a golden age for
the Alliance,”
Alexander said.

    
“We won’t let that happen,” Victoria said from her
chair. She had chosen the name to reflect her own characteristics of the long
dead queen.

    
“Yes Victoria,
a world under the Alliance
must be aborted. I understand your interpretation, Alexander, but again, is it
accurate?”

    
“Do you have another interpretation?”

    
“No.”

    
“Then do you propose that we ignore this
because of my supposed incompetence in these matters?”

    
“Of course not, Alexander. I just recommend
caution. Starting wars brings uncertain outcomes.”

    
“Should we attack?” Napoleon asked from
Catherine’s immediate right.

    
“No. Alexander had said he needs to see
more, so we will talk to the head of the snake as dictated by our Prophet,” she
directed towards Alexander, who smiled with the recognition of his status.
“Council, shall we talk to the Prime Ministers?”

    
They bowed their heads in acknowledgement,
followed by Catherine depressing a key on the arm of her richly carved, high
backed mahogany chair. A round, black piece of instrumentation descended from
the ceiling until it was eye level with its viewers. The monitor was last used
ten years before as a direct line to the Ministers. The viewer immediately
brightened to the pedestrian look of five heads of state.

    
“Prime Ministers, what do you have for us
in response to our proposal?” Catherine asked in interest.

    
“We have reservations, Prime Counsel,”
Desmond said. Thin wisps of grey hair fell across his brow.

    
“Then you are forcing us into war,”
Catherine said.

    
“Is that your opinion? What does the rest
of the Council have to say?” Desmond asked. The faces of the five ministers
slowly revolved across the circular monitor. Her eyes locked onto his moving
image as she replied.

    
“I speak for the Council. Prime Minister,
why do you avoid a rapid response for our benefit?”

    
“Let me be candid,” Linda responded. “We
are speaking with you to gauge just how serious you are about a war.”

    
“Thank—you, Minister. In answer to your
question, we believe that Earth is best left to those most able to defend her.
We have knowledge of your future shortcomings and are understandably
concerned.”

    
“Your concerns are unwarranted,” Linda said.

    
“So you say.”

    
“Regardless of our future abilities Prime
Counsel, our current abilities are beyond dispute. We can and will defend
ourselves.”

    
“I am aware of that.”

    
“Then understand that we will not be budged
on this. Understand that you will take Outpost Fourteen only by force.”

    
“I do understand, Prime Minister. In light
of your stance, which I assume is unmoving—”

    
“It is,” Ahmed said for Linda.

    
“Then we will give you a forty—eight hour
reprieve. You will have time to reflect on this situation as will we.”

    
“Thank—you Prime Counsel, however it is
unlikely that this extension will change our minds,” Linda said.

    
“We will see.”

    
“My compatriots and I will contact you in
forty—eight hours, Prime Counsel.”

    
“Yes. Consider your position, Minister.”

    
The circular screen darkened and receded
back into the ceiling.

    
Elliot stood by Joshua’s chair on the large
rectangular bridge. They handed reports to each other, all involving the
construction of their new home on Earth’s surface. Madison had fled to her quarters with her
shift done for a moment’s peace after a hectic day. The two remaining senior
officers still had a few more minutes before the end of their shift. Joshua
gave Elliot the last report for the day. Elliot barely registered the words
before taking his electronic pen to the link and slashing his signature across
the bottom. He handed it back to Joshua who witnessed the signature with his
own and gave it to one of the many adjutants that had become a cloud of work
around them that afternoon.

    
Elliot put his hand out for another one on
reflex.

    
“You just got the last one.”

    
“That’s it?”

    
“Yeah,” Joshua replied with an amused
smirk.

    
“With three minutes to spare,” Elliot said,
looking at his watch. “Thank God.”

    
“You looked about ready to split in two.”

    
“I still am.”

    
“I thought so. It’ll be good to get you off
my ship and back on a base.”

    
“I’m such a pain in the ass you want me off
your bridge and off your ship?”

    
“Nah, Madi wasn’t peeing on your leg.
You’re always welcome here.”

    
“So what’s the problem?” Elliot asked.

    
“You know.”

    
“What?”

    
“You’ve never spent more than a couple of
hours on a ship since,” Joshua stopped at the stifling sensation of having his
foot caught in his mouth. “Since ten years ago. Sorry, Eli.”

    
“Don’t worry about it,” Elliot said through
stiff lips.

    
“I didn’t mean it that way.”

    
“I said don’t worry about it,” he said giving
Joshua’s shoulder a friendly push with his left fist. “My shift’s over. It’s
time to turn in.”

    
“It’s only five in the afternoon. Why don’t
you come and join Madi and me for dinner?”

    
“I’m a little more tired than I thought. I
think that I’ll just head in for the night. Some other time?”

    
“Sure.”

    
Elliot turned away and headed towards the
rear exit of the buzzing bridge. Once he was out of Joshua’s sight, he exhaled
a long breath of air.

    
“I’m a horse’s ass,” Joshua said to
himself.

    
Elliot dragged his feet through several
corridors, pausing on the way to enter a lift which took him to his temporary
quarters aboard the
Endeavour
. Lily’s
face flashed across his mind’s eye. Elliot quickened his pace towards his
quarters in spite of his fatigue. Joshua was right. He never spent more that a
couple of hours on a ship now whether it was a warship or a liner. All at once,
he realized what had been draining his energy these last few days.

    
He opened the doors to the dark interior of
his quarters and stumbled to the bedroom in the dark. He touched the mattress
to ensure it was where he believed it to be and collapsed onto it. He half—heartedly
made a brief struggle to find comfort before finally stopping in the best
position on the dark sheets.

    
Her face flashed across his mind again. In
an effort to prevent the memory from further intruding on a good night’s sleep,
Elliot threw a pillow over his eyes and tried to relax.

    
Then his memory flashed to Lillian’s smile
and the whole experience flooded back on him.

    
He crossed his arms over the pillow and tried
to sleep.

    
Nadine awoke in her quarters covered in
sweat. She grabbed a clock which displayed
 
7:04 AM. She was on duty in less than an hour.
She fell back into her wet bed in relief. The damp sheets confirmed reality in
contrast to the nightmare she had just endured.

    
In her dream, Nadine had confided her misgivings
to Catherine. She was talking to the Prime Counsel of her discomfort with
getting involved with a Defensive. Catherine regarded her with a frighteningly
intense stare, but Nadine just kept babbling out her confession. Once she had
finished, Catherine lunged at her. Nadine narrowly avoided her attack and fled
from her office. She looked over her shoulder to see that Catherine had claws
gleaming on her wrinkled hands. Her skin had turned white and her eyes had
taken on the cloudy blue hue of death.

    
As she reached the door to her quarters,
Catherine leaped on top of her and tore at her clothes. Nadine had screamed in
terror as Catherine’s rank breath blew across her face. Her razor claws tore at
Nadine’s skin, removing it with every graze. Nadine’s terror climaxed as she
lay in a pool of blood marked by the increasing bits of skin collecting in it.

    
In desperation, she grasped the door knob
with bloody hands and managed to open it. She pulled herself away from the
Monster Catherine and slammed the door.
 
Pain contorted a face that was now nothing
more than a blood soaked mess. Nadine slipped on her wet, red feet and left
prints across drawers and closet doors. All of her clothes were gone.

    
She saw a Coalition flag on her wall and
grabbed it as a growling came from beyond the locked doors of her quarters.
Nadine wrapped herself in the white, red, and gray striped flag.
 
Nadine lay weeping on the floor while she
heard the sound of paws marching back and forth outside the door.

    
Nadine cringed when she heard the cry of a
baby from beneath the flag. She lifted the flag to see a mewling baby by her
side. In empathy for the whimpering child she lifted it to her breast and kept
it close to her to protect it from padded feet outside the door.

    
To her surprise, the baby stopped its
wailing at her comfort and looked into her eyes.

    
“What have you done?” it said in the deep
rumble of a demon’s voice.

    
It was then that she had had woken up in
her bed. The words the demonic child had said to her repeated themselves over
and over again in her mind.

    
“Only a dream,”
was what she said to
herself to remove the horror of that vivid nightmare. Nadine couldn’t get the
image of that baby with a disturbing distortion of its features mouthing those
words to her.

    
With a trembling hand, she grabbed her
bathrobe off the floor and headed for the shower.

    
The military balance of
2299 was preserved through decades of cold war. The populace of both nations
had become comfortable with the guarantee of mutually assured destruction
should any war begin. Families watched the Interplanetary News Network while
eighty battle groups watched over the Alliance’s
interests. One hundred and twenty battle groups comprised the Coalition fleet.
Each group had forty ships while the Alliance
had eighty. As one can see, simple math would lead one to believe that there
was no balance here: the Alliance
was outnumbered.