The Sparse Lands, page 17
part #6 of Steven Gordon Series
She would order every machine under her control to cease, and reduce themselves to their component parts. There would be no more trading with the other side of the galaxy and she would cease all building projects on Earth. Two minutes after she walked out it was unanimously voted that the fleet stationed with the Modloch forces should act as an escort.
chapter 34
Steven was a little perplexed at all of the attention. It had been one briefing after another, for a whole day. He had received his orders from Michael Montgomery, and then been handed over to one expert after another. They were now on their way to rendezvous with Ico and The Sir William Wallace. Big Willy would then cross deck all her recruits to a fast freighter, who would transport them to Federation One. Her compliment of fighting men and women would be made up by the Federation forces that were stationed in the Ambatta solar system.
The large fleet set off together. Babes took her navigational instructions from the lead vessel and sat in the middle all the way to the rendezvous site. They were allocated an hour to cross deck the troops from the Sir William Wallace. Babes and Ico docked together. Ten minutes later, a shuttle docked with Babes. Charlie was asked to receive their guest.
Jean was alone in the shuttle. She opened the door and invited Charlie inside. He was a little puzzled, then alarmed, when Jean took up a rather seductive pose against a bulk head.
‘Guess what I’m thinking soldier?’
Charlie frowned, his eyes flicking towards the cockpit.
‘Don’t worry, I popped over on my own, we are all alone.’
‘Uh! Right.’
‘You don’t look happy to see me. Guess what I’m thinking?’
Charlie suddenly felt irritated. ‘Jesus Christ Jean, what’s got into you? This isna the time or place.’
Her whole demeanour changed. ‘That’s what I thought.’
‘What now? Some feminine love bullshit?’ Charlie was getting annoyed.
‘You have a major problem Charlie.’ His frown made her smile. ‘Don’t worry, I’m not having a go at you. I’m not here to seduce you either. I’m here to tell you that you have a problem.’
Steven was in the middle of some hugging bliss. He only barely registered that the shuttle had departed after a couple of minutes on board. That all changed when Charlie appeared from nowhere and ripped Komoru out of his grasp. She screamed as she flew through the air to land on the large couch.
‘CHARLIE!’
Charlie took Steven by the throat and launched him onto the couch too. He advanced on the pair as they untangled themselves. Komoru fired orders at Ico desperately.
‘That won’t work Komoru, I also have my own dampening field. Ico can’t get a lock on me.’
Steven managed to catch his breath and made to launch himself at Charlie.
‘I will kill you if you try Stevie, and this stupid little bitch about two seconds later.’ Both captains suddenly found themselves paralysed. ‘You will find you can’t move. The ships have agreed to do this to save both of your lives. That way you will both listen to me without interruption. I gave them no choice in the matter.’
Charlie sat them both up and pushed them together. His eyes flicked from one to the other.
‘Playtime is over children. This shit is about to get really serious. When this mission is over; if we are still alive, I am going to resign my commission and go work for the Modloch Emperor. Why? That’s just what’s popped into your head, isn’t it Steven? Komoru on the other hand is jumping for joy inside. You see her little ploy worked. She told Jean about my mind reading abilities. On a foreign planet, where they were being watched twenty-four seven.’
Steven felt his blood run cold, and tried to speak, but was completely unable to.
Charlie raised his finger to his lips. ‘Shh.’ He turned his attention to Komoru. ‘You may consider yourself a victor. However, if your little talk was monitored, then the repercussions on Humanity will be devastating. Do you really think that these aliens will believe that I am the only Human in the whole galaxy with this ability? I will not be the only one to die, just the first. There isn’t a single government official out there who isn’t paranoid about their bosses finding out what they really think. There isn’t an Emperor, King, or a President, that would allow me or anyone like me anywhere near them. Especially if they discover how far away I can do it from.’
Charlie poked her in the chest hard. She tried to cry out in pain but was unable to.
‘Your childish little game might have just cost us any hope of becoming a part of this Federation, and maybe even the lives of every Human being. Their paranoia will never allow them to accept us now. They won’t even meet a Human face to face after this.’
Charlie poked her again and again and again. ‘I want to snap your neck so much it physically hurts.’ He could now read the terror in her mind and was satisfied. ‘Should we, by some minor miracle, never hear any more about this, you will never interfere with me again. You will never talk about me to anyone. You will forget my very existence, because if you don’t, and I ever find out you are talking about me, on any level, about anything, even once, I will hunt you down and crush that scrawny neck of yours. As I have said, I will leave after this mission. That should sway your childish inclinations to dig my grave even deeper.’
He turned his attention back to Steven. ‘As of now old buddy, you may consider me semi-retired. No more help. No more reading the intentions of our allies or enemies. You are completely on your own. I hope it works out for you.’ He stood. ‘They have agreed to let you remain like this for twenty minutes. Please contemplate what has just happened, and what the future will bring both of you. I sincerely hope you will both be very happy.’ He hesitated. ‘If you survive this next battle of course. With somewhere in the region of ninety to a hundred thousand ships about to go into battle, and you two being a major target for the enemy, I doubt it very much. Have a nice day.’
chapter 35
Steven slowly began to regain control of his body. Komoru was petrified that Charlie would return. The ships were both silent.
Buzz was the first to be able to get through to him.
‘For God’s sake Steven, get yourself into gear. They are waiting for us.’
‘Tell them we need a further ten minutes please.’
‘Right.’
Steven took a deep breath and wiped the tears from his face. He was able to slowly get to his feet and turn to face her. From his pocket he took a small box and opened it. Her eyes flew wide. It was the most beautiful ring she had ever seen in her life. She cried out in anguish as it began to dissolve in front of her eyes.
The lid snapped closed. ‘Steven!’
He shook his head, ‘It was Charlie who suggested it you know. He thought I should ask you to marry me again, to show you how much I love you, he knows more about women than I do. I know you dislike him, hate him even, but how could you Komoru? How could you do that to a member of my crew?’
‘He hurts you. Embarrasses you.’
Steven smiled wanly. ‘Yes I know. He boots my arse every now and then. I need it. I need him. I need someone who isn’t so enamoured with me that they will never tell me what I am doing wrong. You all protect me, even you. He doesn’t. He shows me the error of my ways. In his words, we are responsible for more lives than the people on these ships. We are responsible for billions of lives and creatures on our home world. I learn ten times as much from him as I do from any other person; he doesn’t mollycoddle me. He is my friend. He isn’t doing it out of avarice, he doesn’t do it to embarrass me, or through contempt. He does it because he is my friend. He does it because he knows how to teach people quickly. Men like me. He has been doing it for years. He doesn’t need us Komoru, we need him.’
Steven wiped away the last of his tears. ‘My job today is to tell you what is happening. A huge war is about to break out, and we are stuck right in the middle. Fifty thousand ships are about to invade the Ambatta solar system. The Modloch are going to attack those ships with a fleet of thirty thousand. We were not to be involved. However, the Grand Commander has manoeuvred the Human race into a predicament whereby we will not escape unscathed.
‘They have prepared a number of treaties to be signed. One before the conflict starts. They are going to hold off signing the second until the battle is over. We are the only Ambassadors they trust. We will proceed to the Ambatta home world with a fleet of ten thousand ships from the Earth Defence Force as an escort. We will be allowed inside the asteroid field, the only ones allowed inside. We will arrive there a few days before the enemy arrives.’
Komoru was struggling with everything that was happening. She tried to throw her mind at what she was hearing.
‘Where are they getting fifty thousand ships?’
‘The Haspsopot fleet is thirty thousand strong. You know the rest. Their fleet was aimed at the Modloch empire, but was still years away from being able to make the attempt. They have agreed to attack the Ambatta, if their allies help them fight the Modloch.’
‘Thirty thousand ships! The Modloch will be slaughtered. Our people won’t attack because they attacked first.’
‘Ten thousand of the Ranagata are going to defect to the Modloch fleet before the battle begins.’
‘How do we know this?’
Steven lifted his arms into the air and let them fall by his side. ‘Charlie was there, at a meeting between the Emperor and the Ranagata President. He forced their hands a little after an assassination attempt that he was able to stop.’ Steven rubbed his face. ‘Babes has transferred the full details of what happened to Ico. Please, return to your ship and review the information there.’ She opened her mouth. ‘Please, we need to get going. The fleet is waiting for us.’
Tears were streaming down Komoru’s face. She closed her eyes for a moment. They snapped open again. ‘I can’t beam across. Ico won’t let me. I can’t go like this.’
Steven asked Babes; she refused. It was a part of the bargain they had made with Charlie. Komoru realised she had no choice. She reached for Steven, but he stepped back.
‘Charlie’s lessons can be very painful Komoru. I’ve learned the best way to survive them is to simply swallow your pride and get on with the job.’
chapter 36
Komoru’s room was far more traditional than Steven’s. It was quite spartan but still managed to have a feminine feel to it. Lewis was one of the few people who had been in it, and even then, rarely. Ico had agreed to let him talk to her. The lift slid down silently.
‘Miss Komoru.’ The place was in darkness. ‘Lights, please.’
He saw a small form huddled into a corner on the floor with a duvet over it.
‘Go away Lewis.’
‘No.’ He walked over and sat on the floor. He pulled the whole mass, duvet and all, on to his lap. ‘We are approaching the field. You need to get up, get dressed and take command.’
‘I can’t.’
‘It is a simple case of you have to. The Ambatta are expecting two Ambassadors, not one. They need two to witness it.’
She pulled the cover from her face. ‘Look at the state of me.’
‘Ico can fix that in a few minutes. I don know about the smell though.’
‘I smell?’
‘Real bad Miss Komoru.’
‘I am a mess.’
‘You sure are. Captain Gordon gone and broke your heart?’
‘Yes.’ She sobbed.
‘Dumped you?’
She sniffed, ‘No.’
‘Then what he do?’
She sniffed, ‘I was bad Lewis.’
‘What you gone and done?’
‘I did something stupid. Vindictive. I wanted to hurt Charlie.’
‘Ow! That’s the wrong guy to hurt Miss Komoru. What you do?’
‘I told Captain Jean that Charlie could read minds.’
‘Maybe that ain’t so bad. He would have to tell her one day himself anyway.’
‘I did it while we were on the planet Gisha.’
Lewis went very still for a moment as he absorbed it. ‘Oh, that bad Miss Komoru. They could have been listening to you.’
She took a deep breath, ‘I didn’t think.’
‘Damn right you didn’t.’
She turned her tear stricken face up towards him, ‘You too Lewis?’
He grabbed her head and pulled it into his massive chest. ‘You done bad. You got to put it right again.’
‘I am afraid of him.’
‘Maybe you should be. What is Charlie going to do now?’
‘He is leaving as soon as this mission is complete. He is going to resign his commission and work for the Modloch Emperor.’
‘He bout the only guy that could protect Charlie. Hope if he finds out, he don kill him.’
‘Is it that bad Lewis?’
‘If this gets out, then no place safe for Charlie Miss Komoru, not even home. He’ll be in a lab, or in a box. We’re the only people who know. We don care, because we know he don use it on us. Not never.’
‘We can talk to one another using our minds only anyway. I suppose it isn’t too big a leap to be able to read the minds of others.’
‘Ico and Babes pick up our thoughts all the time. We don think nothing about that, we just ignore it.’
‘That’s true, but he is different.’
‘Cos he can walk and talk? Cos he can talk to people the ships can’t?’
‘Yes, something like that, and he can see through your clothes. I sometimes think he is looking…’
‘He can see heat, and x-ray, but he can’t strip away the layers of your clothing, Miss Komoru. He can see if you got a bullet in your gut, but not your boobs, your skin or flesh. Don know where you got that from.’
She snapped forward and looked at him. ‘Ico told me.’
‘Maybe you miss-understood, my heart.’
‘Ico, you said he could see people without their clothes on.’
‘He can my heart, but in the fashion Lewis just described to you.’
‘You never told me that.’
‘I thought it would have been obvious.’
Lewis burst out laughing, ‘You been thinking Charlie been perving all the ladies!’
Komoru cringed, ‘Yes.’
‘He’d laugh at that.’
‘He has had lots of partners, he isn’t a nice person Lewis.’
‘Miss Komoru, you been a victim of scuttlebutt. His friends say that, they say it in fun. To tease him. Charlie ain’t been lucky in love like we have. He could have Himari any time he wants, he ain’t done it. The doctor, she have the hots for Charlie for a long time. Charlie came clean about something that would have affected their relationship if she had ever found out later. It cost him. He had to do extra duties. Charlie liked the doctor, I know, he told me. He was thinking of her heart Miss Komoru, not his own. You been seeing Charlie in a bad light, you never saw the good things he done.’
‘She still hates him.’
‘No she don. She hates what he did. Not Charlie. She knows he was right; she just don like it.’
‘She can’t come to terms with it. Neither can I.’
‘I don think Charlie can either. He says he has, but I spent a few weeks with the man, he has nightmares. Bad ones.’
‘Do we really need him Lewis?’
‘Charlie won his place with the crew, and the ships Miss Komoru. He was lost when he came here. He keeps Steven on the right tracks, reads the minds of the people that would do us harm, like the Evolka. He keeps us one step ahead of the opposition; saves our lives. He found a way to help Humanity get a bank account. Saved lots of lives that day maybe. The Ortea as well.’
‘Of course, all those bricks. Who would have known they would prove to be so popular?’
‘Charlie did, he saw the potential. With the Ambatta too. He knew what to take to the Grand Commander. I want Trinnie to live Miss Komoru, and her family.’
‘It has started a war Lewis.’
‘He helped create a situation where the Modloch are going to help the Ambatta. Forty thousand ships against forty thousand. Then you got ten thousand from us, and the rest of the fleet in reserve to help the Modloch. We ain’t even got any numbers from the Ambatta yet. Ain’t no battle ever set and cut Miss Komoru, but we got a damn good chance now, so have the Ambatta. It ain’t all Charlie, but he played a big role, Miss Komoru.’
She groaned, ‘I hate being so wrong Lewis.’
‘You ain’t used to being wrong Miss Komoru. You don like it none, no one does. But you gonna have to take responsibility. Ain’t no one indispensable Miss Komoru, Charlie be the first to tell you that. You and Steven, you still learning the ropes. We lose Charlie now, it could cost you your lives. This ain’t the time to lose him.’
‘The thought of apologising to that man infuriates me.’
‘You ain’t mad at Charlie no more Miss Komoru, you mad at yourself.’
She went silent for a while. Eventually she sighed, ‘How come you are so smart Lewis?’
‘Like Charlie, I got a life time of heartache and strife behind me.’
She turned and reached up to touch his face. ‘Never forsake me Lewis. I would be lost without you.’
‘Ain’t never going to happen Miss Komoru.’ Lewis took a quick look around. ‘Now, time for you to get onto you feet. We got a big battle ahead. If you ain’t at your best, then none of us might survive. We need you.’
chapter 37
The fleet received instructions from the Ambatta. A single Ambatta fighter left the field and rendezvoused with the fleet. It led them a few thousand miles further along the field. As they approached, they could see a large hole a hundred miles wide. The fleet strung itself out into the formation suggested by the Ambatta, with Babes and Ico in the middle of the formation. The Ambatta fighter swung into the middle of the gap and the Earth forces followed without a pause.
