Usurper of the Sun (27 page)
NORMALLY, THE LARGEST
screen at UNSDF Fleet Headquarters toggled between the ten most important of the thousands of feeds they received. For the past four hours, however, the screen stayed on a single feed that showed the orbits of the inner planets. The War Zone had the sun at the center, followed by Mercury in the ten o’clock position along its elliptical orbit. Earth was farther out, on the opposite side at four o’clock.
The Builders’ ship was at nine o’clock, heading for where Mercury would be on August 3. The trajectory was depicted by a solid red curve. Immediately next to Mercury was a dot representing the
Phalanx
.
The three ships in the First Armada—the
Rutherford
, the
Chadwick
and the
Curie
—were on the outside of Mercury’s orbit, on course to intercept the Builders’ ship.
The velocity of the Builders’ ship far surpassed the combat vessels. While the UNSDF called the plan an attack, Raul had summed it up best. It was an attempt to stop a high-speed maglev train by chasing the train on bicycles.
Analysts hypothesized that the Builders’ attack beam was generated by directing the blast from the nuclear pulse engine into a concentrated beam of energy. The engine was capable of pulsing three hundred times per second, giving the powerful beam almost limitless range.
The combat ships were equipped with three nuclear missiles and three spiderwebs each. The missiles and spiderwebs could both achieve velocities of fourteen kilometers per second. Assuming the weapons would be launched from outside the danger zone of fourteen thousand kilometers, it would take sixteen minutes to reach their targets, giving the Builders ample time to react and neutralize them with their beam. A successful attack was a long shot at best. Gloom hung in the air at UNSDF Fleet Headquarters. Then an attack specialist jumped from his chair.
“Why didn’t we see that they have a blind spot? Their beam only covers 120 degrees before the Torus blocks the path. All we need to do is approach from the side.”
“They’ll just turn the ship,” answered a supervisor.
“The ship’s rotating to produce artificial gravity in the Torus, a gyro effect. That makes turning the ship extremely difficult.”
“So we attack from multiple sides at once?”
“Yes! It has to work.”
In the throes of desperation, any alternative seemed a good one. The idea caught on, and a new plan was broadcast to the entire fleet. Each wave reprogrammed their ships accordingly. Once the strategy had been entered, the computers ran a quartermillion simulations of possible outcomes based on the foreseeable variables. Success was not guaranteed, but the calculations confirmed that one condition was absolutely necessary: the weapons would need to be launched in halves and reach the target nearsimultaneously, one toward one side of the Torus and the second toward the other.
Orders were given for the
Rutherford
and the
Chadwick
to launch their missiles and spiderwebs immediately. Provisional plans were loaded into the navigation system of the weapons with the final decision to be uploaded in-flight via laser transmission.
Both ships followed their orders. The automatic launch sequences for the five missiles and four spiderwebs were executed without intervention from the crew. At 8 am GMT on July 29, the number of moving objects in the War Zone shown on the overhead screen at UNSDF Fleet Headquarters increased from five to ten. Cheers and whistles echoed through the large room.
An order from UNSDF Fleet Headquarters also arrived at the
Phalanx
: “Contact Phase aborted. Vacate the War Zone pronto.” Reading the message, Aki felt powerless. Throughout the mission, every member of the
Phalanx
crew had refused to accept this scenario, though it was the most likely. Constructing the Ring with no regard to its detrimental effect on the earth; failing to respond to the ETICC’s messages of peace; the drastic measure of burning their own ship; their standard operating procedure of destroying every object that approached them—every action the Builders took made their message clear.
We are coming. We care about nothing else.
Nonetheless, Aki and her crew had chosen to ignore the irrefutable signs. Aki had clung to her far-fetched hope that the Builders would prove to be benevolent and curious.
Aki flipped the switch that activated the ship-wide comm system. “We need to decide whether we follow the advisory. What dangers do we face by staying?”
“For starters, the guided missiles could mistake us for the Builders’ ship,” said Joseph, the bodyguard. Aki had learned that his mood, as strange as it seemed at first, was lighter in tense, high-stress situations—as if danger relaxed him.
“That shouldn’t be a problem. Our ship emits an ID signal that the missiles recognize. They should also identify us visually. If the Builders jam our ID signal or the missiles’ visual capabilities, we’re still a hundred thousand kilometers away, far enough to prevent mistaken identity,” Igor said.
“What about the Builders targeting us in retaliation? Being the closest enemy ship makes us an easy target,” Aida said.
Since there was a chance the Builders could close the distance between the two ships, there were no guarantees that the ships would be far enough away to avoid triggering the Builders’ attack beam. Aki was pleased that her team was approaching the subject rationally.
“My gut says they’re not seeking out targets or bothering to connect their actions to ours. I think they’re ignoring us or oblivious, unless we get close,” Raul said. No one disagreed.
“Off the record, I do not want to terminate the Contact Phase,” Aki said. “If the Builders’ ship is damaged in the attack but still intact, staying here would offer the possibility of rescuing one or more of the Builders. Maybe they would be more willing to listen if we could demonstrate our intent.”
“Wouldn’t we be exposing ourselves to the nuclear radiation?” Joseph asked.
“More than a little. If their engine becomes disabled, incapacitating their attack beam, I think going in for a rescue will be safe. If that happens, I could not live with myself if we stood by and did nothing.”
“Commander, it’s a noble and worthy cause. What else are we doing while we’re out here? Might as well have a good view,” said Igor.
“The UNSDF will benefit from the close-up footage, even delayed, as long as we stay out of their hair,” said Raul.
“Let’s go with, ‘UNSS
Phalanx
requests to hold position for battle status observation and possible rescue mission after attack.’”
Everyone agreed. Aki sent the message.
JULY 29, 11 AM GMT
THE FIRST ARMADA
deployed its weapons. One round of missiles and spiderwebs approached the Builders from one side and the second round was closing in from the other. The telescope on the
Phalanx
had not made visual contact with the weapons, partially because the weapons were designed to be nigh undetectable. All that could be seen were heat signatures in the form of tiny points of infrared light amidst the cold of space.
By 10
PM
GMT the missiles had crossed the hundred thousand–kilometer mark. The missiles would arrive at the target in just three hours. The Builders’ ship showed no signs of change. Headquarters feared that the Builders might halt their rotation, enabling them to turn around, but there were no signs of that maneuver.
“Are you asleep?” Raul asked Aki on a private channel, his volume turned low.
“No, I’m up.”
“You haven’t slept for days.”
“I’ve napped in spurts. I’m alert.”
“If you say so. I was worried since you didn’t come out for dinner.”
Aki realized she hadn’t eaten. She entered a command on her screen to warm her food.
“Don’t worry. I’m fine. A little disappointed, that’s all.”
“You have a harder shell than I thought,” Raul said.
“It thickens with age. How are you and the others holding up?”
“Aida is kind of down. The others are doing better than she is.” Aida had shared Aki’s dream of connecting with the Builders. Aki would never forget her stern determination when Aida had told Aki how much she wanted to be part of the Contact Team. Her positive personality had been an asset.
“I’m bummed our job has gone from being ambassadors leading humanity’s first contact with an alien intelligence to spectators to the destruction of that same alien intelligence,” Raul said.
“Maybe
your
shell is more delicate than mine. Observing will be handled by the automatic computer system.” Aki took a sip of the creamed stew the alimentation system served her.
“I don’t get it. How could this tyrannical consciousness evolve to the level of an interstellar civilization?” Raul asked.
“Maybe tyranny is the key to their success.”
“What, it’s crappy luck that we’re on their list of solar systems to conquer?”
JULY 30, 12:55 AM GMT
EARTH WAS ON
the brink of its first interstellar war. The initial cluster of missiles was twenty thousand kilometers from what the UNSDF considered to be the Builders’ blind spot. The spiderwebs had already expanded and were on course to impact with the vessel. The nuclear missiles each contained four independent warheads that would separate from each other and fly distinct courses as they approached the target. The changes in trajectory were limited, because expanding that capacity would have required more fuel and reduced the carrying capacity of the missiles. The UNSDF had determined that the ability to destroy was more important than the ability to maneuver.
The main body of the missile was designed to confuse the Builders by exploding into fragments of radar-scattering flak. This flak, along with a decoy heat source, had been designed to create diversions sufficient for stealth bombing.
The fact that the missiles were loaded with multiple warheads and configured with decoy devices had been hidden from the public. At the demonstration, the four missiles had been programmed to hit in synch, the precaution taken in case the Builders were monitoring radio transmissions.
The War Zone display at UNSDF Fleet Headquarters showed the alien vessel surrounded by numerous blips closing in on the target. The ship showed no signs of reorienting itself to destroy the missiles that were approaching its blind spots. On the
Phalanx
, Aki sensed that the battle was going to be unpleasant.
Then the nuclear pulse engine went dark again. Unexpectedly, the spokes connecting the center of the ship to the surrounding Torus disappeared. The center of the ship separated from the Torus. The iris reappeared and the vessel assumed its attack position.
The center spun. The attack beam fired in multiple directions in rapid succession. Every missile and spiderweb was disintegrated, nothing but clouds of slowly dispersing vapor that floated along the original trajectories. Within several minutes, the center of the ship returned to the Torus, extended its spokes, and the two pieces rejoined as if nothing unusual had occurred.
“If this is their way of communicating, their message is obvious. Humanity is so low on the evolutionary scale that we’re not even worth acknowledging,” Raul said. Aki hmmed in agreement. He continued, “Their reaction is to destroy anything of ours that impedes their mission. They see us as annoying houseflies that won’t leave them alone. Even if we execute our best attack, they take one swing and splat!”
“Now is the wrong time to be cynical, Raul.” Aki was thinking along similar lines but felt that voicing negativity when the situation was this dire was inappropriate.
“Okay, fine. Let’s look at the situation logically. They only acknowledge us when we get in their way. Is that communication? No. As I see it, there’s no way for us to get through to them. Damn, this situation seems familiar.”
“Familiar? How so?” Aki asked.
“Forget about it,” he said dismissively.
“
IF WILLING TO
assist by observing, comply by advancing to twenty thousand kilometers from the alien vessel. Please respond,” said the message from UNSDF Fleet Headquarters. The question was simple but reaching an answer forced Aki to risk her crew.