Chapter Twenty-Four

A sense of tranquility imbued the flight. My emotional chaos transformed into existential nothingness. The sky and ground were equally darkened by the long eclipse and it seemed I flew alone through a void, the sole inhabitant of a barren and desolate universe. The stars not blocked by Companion shone bright and hard in the sky, but their cold light seemed to come from some far dais, where they sat in judgment.

Trusting to the autopilot, I climbed back to the main compartment and raided the first aid supplies. The painkillers did a fair job, dulling the screaming agony of my burned face and ruined nose to a dull and almost dreamlike memory of pain. An application of artificial skin acted as a bandage, though it left my nose with a distorted and bulbous look, as though I were a clown who had forgotten his face paint. It didn’t matter; this wasn’t going to be won on charm or the Tans’ beloved ‘reason’.

I returned to the pilot’s seat still more than an hour away from the facility. I pieced together almost all of the puzzle, everything except the Tans. Even those anonymous gossip tips to Seiko had been Pamela. No doubt laying groundwork so that the sudden revelation of my ‘criminal network’ would fit into an already existing narrative of hedonism and degeneracy. The Tans, though, baffled me. They had to have been established by one of the Founders. Maybe there was still a rogue Founder around. Do artificial intelligences fear death? When it came time to switch off and turn the colony over to the Firsters, did one rebel?

It seemed possible, but why build a secret facility? Why so far from the colony? My theory was nothing more than guessing, and even if I were right, how could they create a sanctuary for someone like me or Eddie? I didn’t doubt Terrance’s promise. He had been bargaining for his life, and Eddie, even though he rejected it, had treated the offer as legitimate. But a Founder willing to harbor murderers? That ran counter to every line of their code. It didn’t make sense.

The black void beyond the windscreen hid both truth and threats. My heartbeat raced and the night was suddenly frightening.

I switched on the flyer’s searchlights, letting the automated systems sweep across the ground far below. There was nothing to search for, but it dispelled the void and I needed reassurance that the world existed. I considered connecting Forge to the flyer’s main power but I didn’t. So far, within my ‘authorization’ it had behaved and performed exactly as instructed, but I had no trust left.

Finally I passed over the low mountains that screened the Tans’ concealed valley. As I approached the camouflage screen it parted, revealing the illuminated base underneath. I took the controls and manually hovered above the offered opening.

On the other side of that screen waited salvation or death. My numbness departed, leaving in its place a cold penetrating fear. All my options were bad, but this one had the meager virtue of being under my control. I switched the automatics back on and let the flyer land.

* * *

The camouflage screen closed above me as the flyer touched down. All around the tarmac’s perimeter lights switched on, flooding the field with harsh intense beams. The buildings looked much as they had the day before, and just a few hundred yards away the string of lights followed the path into the massive pit.

I watched as Tans, several dozen, poured out from adjacent buildings, armed with their dart pistols. Keeping their distance, none coming closer than 30 feet, they surrounded me. Hardgrave took up a position directly in front of the flyer, flanked by Tans with pistols at the ready, his face an angry twisted mask.

“You can exit now,” he said. A loudspeaker amplified his voice into a booming echo.

I switched on the flyer’s external speakers. “Not just yet, you need to understand a few things.”

“We are not going to negotiate.”

“Listen and then make up your mind.” I smiled, though there was no one to see it. “After all, that’d be the rational thing to do, don’t you think?”

My dig failed to provoke a reaction but he gestured with a hand for me to speak my piece.

“First,” I said, “here’s the voice of a friend. Say hello to Hardgrave, Forge.”

“Dr. Hardgrave, I am here and present in the flyer.”

At Forge’s voice a shudder swept through the line. Tans turned to each other, chattering in excited voices until Hardgrave silenced them.

“Before you people do something foolish,” I continued, “like rushing this flyer, there are a few more things I want you to know, and so that you all understand that I’m not lying, Forge here will speak up if I say anything that’s untrue. Isn’t that so, Forge?”

“That is what you have instructed.”

Hardgrave held up a hand, his voice loud. “You could have instructed Vulcan’s Forge to lie on your behalf.”

“Then you order it to be truthful, but nothing else, or I destroy it.”

Another shocked shudder moved along the Tan line. Whatever this thing was, every Tan, man and woman, wanted it back.

Hardgrave nodded and said, “Forge, on my authority as mission commander, you will represent no falsehood or distortion, confirming everything Jason Kessler speaks as factual with silent acquiescence and stating whenever he speaks a falsehood or distortion.”

Mission commander?

“Spoken just as I would have expected from a Tan.”

Hardgrave let the backhanded compliment stand and I continued. “I have attached explosives to Vulcan’s Forge. I can trigger these explosives manually. They will also explode automatically if there is a sudden change in my vital signs, so you can all put away your sleepy-time darts.”

The people looked to Hardgrave and he nodded his consent. Slowly, and with a few Tans showing quite a bit of reluctance, they holstered their weapons.

“There’s more. If Forge moves more than 10 feet from me it will explode.”

Collectively the Tans stared angrily, but I no longer cared what anyone thought.

“I’m coming out. Unless you want to watch Forge go up in a million useless pieces, you’ll keep those guns holstered.”

Hardgrave nodded. I slipped Forge into a carry bag and picked up my detonator, a slim cylinder with a simple plunger button under my thumb. Slipping the bag across one shoulder I opened the flyer’s door.

My heart raced and my hands trembled as I climbed down from the cockpit. Forge’s weight in the bag pulled me off-balance and in my exhausted state I stumbled but kept my footing while the crowd gasped.

I held the hand with the detonator high in the air, making it plain to everyone with eyes. Despite my warnings, some trigger-happy Tan might shoot. If the explosives went off well, at this point I almost didn’t care. Almost. I only hoped that their need was strong enough to keep their anger in check. No one shot. Pulling my hand back down, I moved a few paces away from the flyer, toward Hardgrave. Fear and adrenaline gave me strength and I couldn’t resist taunting him.

“Are you sure you don’t want to negotiate?”

The Tans turned toward him with rebellion in the air. This was more leverage than I had expected. I doubted they would murder him to get it back, but they clearly weren’t going to back him up if he endangered Forge.

“What do you want?”

“The truth!” I shouted. “For once and for all I want to know what the fuck is going on and what escape Terrance offered Eddie!”

At Terrance’s name the crowd’s mood darkened. Hardgrave must have shared the news. I sensed a harsh anger and worried I might have already overplayed a desperate bluff.

I turned and shouted, “I didn’t kill him! I didn’t kill either of them!”

My words bounced off their hatred, and Hardgrave, while not smirking, stood with a posture reclaiming his haughty smugness. “You don’t have any friends here.”

Several voices shouted “Feral” at me, but Hardgrave silenced them with a dismissive wave of his hand.

“I don’t need friends! I’m going to get what I want, or I’m going to destroy Forge!”

“You’ll die.”

“That’s not a deterrent!”

The crowd took a collective step backward, except Hardgrave, who walked forward until he was within easy, and private, conversational distance.

“I think you will do it,” he said with a terribly sad and resigned tone.

“Damn right.”

He sighed. “Very well, follow me. After I am done, I hope you will surrender Vulcan’s Forge.”

“If I get what I want.”

He began striding off the tarmac and I stayed close. The crowd surrounded us, but none came within arm’s reach. Their faces, all in variations of that smooth golden complexion, watched me with mixtures of hatred, fear, anticipation, and curiosity.

“Mr. Kessler, I can guarantee you a safe, healthy, and long life where Nocturnia’s security forces will never find you. You’ll have all the comforts you desire.”

“I’m not trusting empty promises. Too many people are too good at lying.”

When he smiled, it was the sort of expression you might give a child when he failed to understand how the real world worked.

“Yours is a diseased culture, producing only violence and fanaticism. I’m going to offer you something better.”

“From the goodness of your heart.”

“No, our practical need for Vulcan’s Forge. I will do what I must to get that back. Mr. Kessler, humanity’s future may be in your hands.”

He led us away from the landing field, through narrow alleys, until we reached the lip of that deep pit. A safety rail encircled the pit and lights followed the spiraling paths along the wall to the floor more than 50 or 60 feet below. The walls were sheer, smooth, and perfectly vertical. A flat disc-like expanse of gray metal, easily a hundred feet across, nearly filled the pit’s floor. People moved back and forth across the floor, entering and exiting small temporary structures huddled against the wall.

Gripping the trigger, my fingers cramped and sweat filled the space between the cylinder and my palm, but I kept my hold tight. Hardgrave moved to a gate and I hesitated, realizing he meant to enter into the pit.

“There’s no need to go down there. You can explain it all to me right here.”

“I could, but the truth is so fantastic that’d you’d never accept it. Down there, and with Forge’s verification, you’ll know that everything I tell you is absolute fact.” He stood at the gate, waiting for me to join him, but I still suspected a trap.

“You could try me.”

“If you insist, but I doubt you’d be happy with the results.” He swung the gate open and stepped through, standing at the head of the descending path.

“You have your detonator, and no one is going to attempt to take it or Forge away from you.” He pointed to the pit’s floor. “There at the transit pad you will learn who we are, why we are here, and the truth behind some of the lies you’ve been taught.”

“And my escape?”

“Yes, once those things are understood then you’ll also understand our genuine offer of sanctuary.”

With my knees shaking and the trigger slippery with sweat, I followed him through the gate. As we walked down the path the crater isolated us from the strange sounds and smells of the night. It didn’t look quite like a crater. This was not the result of a meteor impact, and the walls were far too smooth for a natural formation. I touched the cool rock, cut without the trace of a jagged edge.

The path maintained an easy grade and was wide enough for vehicles. Despite the bag throwing me off-balance the slope was wide and gentle, presenting little danger of me falling over the edge. The sound of a crowd drew my attention and from the pit’s rim dozens or even a hundred faces peered down, following our progress.

I stopped and stared back at the onlookers. The harsh lighting threw dark shadows across everyone, but even so their intent interest unnerved me.

“Mr. Kessler?”

I pulled my attention back to Hardgrave.

“I think the only thing keeping me alive is how much they need this.” I jostled Forge’s bag and the crowd gasped.

“No. If you were so cruel as to destroy Vulcan’s Forge even after learning its importance and the disaster that would befall us, no one here would ever murder you.”

“You’re too slippery with your words. I know execution isn’t murder.”

“All intentional killing is murder.”

He turned away and started back down the path, leaving me to follow. The faces continued peering over the rim, watching us all the way to the floor.

The path leveled out onto a hard-packed dirt floor free of stones, rocks, and moisture. Hardgrave circled the perimeter of the hole, walking beside the ‘transit pad’. It looked to be a single piece of dull gray metal perhaps a yard and a half thick and nearly filling the floor. Other Tans walked on it, crossing back and forth as they entered and left various buildings wedged between the pad and the wall. About a quarter of the way around the pad he stopped at a pedestal.

The pedestal flowed out of the pad as a single continuous piece without joints or seams. On top sat a more recognizable docking interface looking as though it had come fresh from any fabricator.

“Please connect Vulcan’s Forge to the interface.”

“No.”

He grew visibly frustrated, but maintained a calm even tone. “You aren’t going to believe the truth if you don’t have Forge’s verification.”

“No. I don’t trust you. Forge stays in the bag, disconnected from your systems, until I’m satisfied.”

“You won’t believe—”

“Then you had better do a damn good job convincing me. If I don’t have an ‘out’ then I have no reason to live.”

We stood there locked in silence and then he caved.

“Where do you want to start?” he asked. “The lies that you have—”

“Who the hell are you people?”

“We are the Celestial Renaissance Collective.” He paused a moment, smugly letting me drift in the meaningless words.

“Of the thousands of Arks launched by Earth before its destruction, you think Nocturnia alone succeeded in founding a new human population? You have been taught a lie. Hundreds of human colonies have been founded and are now thriving.”

“Hundreds?”

“At least. The Firsters knew this. They discovered our interstellar communications network, and reacting with primitive and childish terror, suppressed all knowledge of it.”

“Why? That doesn’t make any sense at all.”

“Have you found that your culture is overflowing with intelligence and good sense?”

“Don’t forget I have the detonator.”

“I haven’t, but everything you’ve done or claimed to have done you did for your own selfish pleasures, so do not play the offended patriot. We’re going to be honest here, so you should at the very least attempt honesty with yourself.”

I said nothing, glowering at him.

“Even without a stellar catastrophe it is unlikely humanity would have survived another century or two. Shortsighted, ignorant, and superstitious, humanity’s nations were wedded to their primitive economic systems, corrupt governments, and fairy tales. Worse yet, every single culture was willing to murder to defend such delusions. The brown dwarf did not destroy humanity, it saved it.”

“You’ve got a very twisted sense of salvation.”

“It is a far more rational understanding than your sin-eater fantasy.” He waved away my interruption and continued. “The majority of the Arks launched were, like Nocturnia’s, dedicated to preserving diseased cultural heritages. However, a few individuals of uncommon foresight took the opportunity of rebirth and gave humanity a new start, free from the old prejudices, free from the old hatreds, and free to promote a true flowering of humanity’s potential. Those precious few Arks formed the Celestial Renaissance. We are dedicated to liberating humanity from the chains of superstitious hatred and suspicion.”

I nodded. “Let me guess. People didn’t care for your new religion and shut you out, but not before your little cult got this place started. After all, every cult has to have its utopian compound. That’s why the Administration is so adamant about shutting down the Deep Space Network. Can’t have any more corrupting influences broadcast into the mix, can we?”

“You are close, Mr. Kessler, but it’s not as you have guessed. Yes, Nocturnia’s administration shut down all deep space reception out of fear. Every signal they found was ours, from nearby Celestial colonies, but we are not dissatisfied Ferals seduced by trickery. We are Celestials!”

He gestured to himself and to the scores of Tan faces peering over the lip.

“We are the new humanity, free from the accident of ‘race’, embodying an ethos that doesn’t subjugate, enslave, belittle, or disparage our brothers and sisters because of meaningless skin hues. Casting aside ignorant Bronze Age myths, we are truly human and truly free. We hope that eventually with our guidance Nocturnia will join us in true enlightenment.”

“You were right,” I said. “I don’t believe you.”

I stepped away from him, swiveling my head for anyone approaching, but no one threatened. They came from other colonies? Other worlds? What sort of idiot did Hardgrave think I was?

“Did I not say you would reject the truth, that you would find it too fantastic to accept?”

“I’m not ignorant. I know that no one, not on Old Earth and not here, has ever invented faster-than-light travel. Your story is impossible.”

“It is possible and the method lies directly behind you.”

“You not only perfected humanity, you also invented –” I glanced at the ‘transit pad’, “– what, star gates?”

I barely suppressed my snickers.

“We invented neither. The Aguru, our founding computer intelligences, devised our society. No human tainted with centuries of cultural baggage could have possibly performed such a feat. As for the gate network? We don’t know who created it, but it spans the local galactic neighborhood, and it is how we came here.”

My snickering stopped. Either Hardgrave was insane and believed this wild tale or it was true. Far above us the Tans watched in silence. No one laughed, no one jeered, all of them held their breath.

I shook my head, unwilling to accept such a tall tale. Hardgrave gestured to the bag.

“Forge can prove it,” he said. “Let us connect it to the transit pad. You will have the proof.”

I kept shaking my head at him.

“No. You haven’t earned the trust,” I said. “You make your magic teleporter work and maybe I’ll start to believe you.”

Hardgrave’s perpetual cool shattered.

“We can’t, you ignorant Feral! Your murderous countryman trapped us on this backward world!” He pointed a long index finger at the bag. “That is our only hope of ever returning home to sanity.”

A short bark of a laugh escaped from my lips, but the crowd’s angry mutter terrified me into silence. Hardgrave’s story began taking on a terrible reality.

“Eddie stranded you?”

Hardgrave snorted. “Before stealing Vulcan’s Forge, he sabotaged the transit pad. Some of our best minds suspect he might have crashed the entire network. Our entire nation was crippled and humanity’s future imperiled all for the sake of greed.”

He took several deep breaths, regaining his calm facade.

“We need Vulcan’s Forge and now you know just how badly.” He raised his voice, making sure everyone watching heard. “Return Forge to us and no harm will come to you. I personally and on behalf of the Aguru guarantee your safety and well-being. We will give you a new home.”

“Exile.”

“Refuge would be more accurate, but only if you give us Vulcan’s Forge.”

“You’re a fifth column, here to sabotage our culture and turn us into you.”

“That is our mission.”

“You can’t do it without native help and you recruited Eddie and probably others.”

“He proved to be far more treacherous than we had anticipated.”

“Traitors generally are.” I smiled, all the pieces falling into place. “If I give you Forge you go back to trying to subvert Nocturnia, but if I destroy it you’re fucked.”

“This is not just about the Celestials, this is about humanity. You’ve seen the records and you know humanity’s endless appetite for war and destruction. If this is not stopped, the murder simply continues on an interstellar scale. Give us Vulcan’s Forge and not only will you have sanctuary, you will be preserving humanity’s future.”

“This still is just a story, and one you haven’t proven at all.”

“I suspect you believe more than you’re admitting, but give Forge to me and keep the detonator. You’ll see the truth and if you don’t, then destroy it.”

Exiled traitor or reviled patriot, which did I want to be? As the question tumbled through my thoughts I set down the bag and stepped back, letting Hardgrave claim it. I fidgeted with the detonator as he removed Forge and placed it into the socket on the pedestal.

Anticipation filled the now-silent night. The world held its breath. In the crowd above every face watched intently. It began snowing, and the flakes, light and fluffy, danced as they fell. Several Tans had rushed out and together with Hardgrave they manipulated Forge’s interface. My thumb circled the button, ready to destroy their prize.

I looked down at my hand and the plunger switch, but what purpose would that serve? The Tans might not kill me but the Administration would certainly exile me. Why destroy it? So Nocturnia might be saved from itself? Perpetuating this asinine moralistic high-handed culture?

Light appeared on the pad, glowing directly from its gray metal surface. Brightly colored spots and dozens of hues chased each other around the surface like manic children as the crowd let loose a deafening cheer. The moment of decision had arrived.

Even as a refugee I wanted to live.

Hardgrave turned and looked at me, holding his breath as I fondled the detonator’s trigger. Then I took it from my hand and disconnected it. I de-powered the dead man’s switches and transmitters.

“Vulcan’s Forge is yours,” I said, my head suddenly light as adrenaline drained away, leaving me drowning in a flood of pain. I stumbled and Hardgrave rushed forward to catch me before I fell onto the transit pad.

“We’ve got you,” he said. He gently set me down next to the pad and footsteps ran toward us.

“Be good to your word,” I muttered, slurring my speech. The world spun and turned black. I never saw Nocturnia again.