Heirs of the New Earth (30 page)

After meeting with Ellison Firebrandt, Edmund Swan returned to Tim Gibbs’ apartment. He stepped over to the armchair opposite Gibbs and sat down. His friend sat, still and unmoving. Swan found himself thinking back to high school and remembered Gibbs as he was then—not too different in the past than he was in the present. He remembered Gibbs tinkering with electronics and computer equipment and talking about his perfect computer that could only be built from a black hole. “Did you ever dream that such a device would mean the end of humanity?” he asked, even though he knew Gibbs couldn't hear him. “Oh, I know what you're thinking, some humans will go on, including you. But, will you have that fundamental spark that makes you human?"

Swan sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. After a moment, he stood and looked in the refrigerator. After rummaging around for a few minutes and throwing out some cheese covered in green fuzz and an entire carton of something that almost made him throw up just by cracking the lid, he found a bottle of beer. The deputy sheriff pulled it out and examined it skeptically. After a moment, he unscrewed the top, took a swallow, and then made a face. He looked over at the limp form of Gibbs and held up the bottle as if asking for an explanation for the poor quality beer.

In spite of that, he took another swallow. Maria Gonzalez would be there soon. She was bringing a hypo-spray of Proxom. The resistance planned to inject Proxom into as many people as they could that were in the Cluster trance. At the same time, the
Legacy
would fire at the Cluster in orbit around the Earth, in an attempt to knock out the EQ signal that connected that Cluster to the ones at the center of the galaxy. Their hope was that it would throw the Clusters into confusion. By pulling as many of the human architects of the memory core away from the Cluster as possible, they hoped they might stop the Cluster. However, as Roberts and others pointed out, that seemed unlikely. It seemed that the Cluster probably would have all the information they needed stored and at best this action would momentarily confuse the Cluster. Still, as Jerry Lawrence pointed out, any time they bought was time for more help to arrive.

Swan took another swallow of beer and then prayed that more help was, indeed, on the way. His worst fear was that they pull Tim Gibbs away from the Cluster, the
Legacy
would fire and the Cluster would retaliate, killing Ellison Firebrandt and Carter Roberts.

The door chime sounded. Swan took another drink of beer, then set the bottle down on the counter. He opened the door for Maria Gonzalez, who wore a headset that put her in contact with other resistance leaders around the planet, and carried a hypospray of Proxom. She looked over at the counter. “Have you got another of those beers? I think I need it."

"I'll go look,” said Swan.

When Mark Ellis finally arrived at his front door, he was soaked from the storm. Out of habit, he wiped his feet on the sopping wet mat in front of the door and stepped inside. Kirsten jumped up from the kitchen table, ran to him and threw her arms around him. She backed off a moment later when she felt how cold and wet he was. “You better get upstairs and change into something dry, before you catch your death of cold."

"Would you mind putting on some coffee, or tea?” asked Mark as he sloshed toward the stairs. “Anything hot would be good now."

Eva started a pot of coffee as Mark went upstairs. He returned a few minutes later, wearing dry clothes and he dropped onto the couch. Kirsten sat down next to him and pulled him close. “How did the conversation with Richard go?” she asked.

"Not well,” said Mark. He shook his head. “I feel like such a fool.” He stood up and began pacing. “G'Liat had his own agenda all along. I need to find a way back to the Cluster as soon as possible."

Kirsten stood and put her hand on Mark's arm. “Mark, Coffin's gone,” she reminded him. “You can't help him anymore."

"I know,” said Mark, quietly looking down at the floor. Eva stepped up and handed him a cup of coffee. He drank it down in two gulps and handed the cup back to Eva. “The problem is that G'Liat's convinced Richard that the best solution is for the whales to replace humans as symbionts for the Cluster."

Kirsten looked up at him wide-eyed. “Would the Cluster consider that?"

"What the devil would that mean?” asked Eva, stepping back to the coffee pot and refilling the cup.

"I don't know—to either of those questions,” said Mark. He stepped back to the couch and sat down. On the coffee table was a wooden box. He opened the box and retrieved a cigar from within. Biting off the end, he thrust the cigar in his mouth and lit it. “What I did figure out from talking to Richard is that the Cluster is just as afraid of death as we are. All of us agree that if we can't destroy the Cluster, what we have to do is convince it that it has a reason to go on living."

Eva sat down in the armchair next to the couch and set the coffee cup on the table in front of Mark. “Wouldn't it be better to destroy the Cluster?"

Mark nodded slowly. “I'm inclined to think that would be best.” He removed the cigar from his mouth and knocked some ash into an ashtray. “The problem is that we're not sure the Cluster can be destroyed. G'Liat thinks the answer is to find a new symbiont for the Cluster. I think the answer is to convince the Cluster that it can live without symbionts."

Kirsten sat down in a chair at the kitchen table, avoiding Mark's cigar smoke. “Where's G'Liat gone?"

Mark shook his head. “His henchman—Rizonex—picked him up out at sea and took him somewhere. I think it's now a race. The question is, which of us will get to the Cluster first."

"Well, I think I might have something that will help,” said Eva leaning forward. “This afternoon, we took Samuel Coffin's body to the hospital morgue. On the way, I was thinking about the fact that emotions seem to attract to Cluster. Proxom suppresses emotions, so that would seem to be why people on Proxom are not susceptible to the Cluster. Thinking along those lines, I realized that if I could suppress the action of the amygdala in the brain, it would free up emotions.” She sat back and folded her arms.

"What's the amygdala?” asked Mark as he returned the cigar to his mouth.

"It's linked to the limbic system,” explained Eva. “It helps you push fear to the back of the mind, it helps you repress sexual desire at inappropriate times. Basically, it's the part of your brain that keeps your emotions in check—keeps them from overwhelming your day-to-day activities."

"Aren't there dangers to suppressing the amy ... the amig ... the part of the brain that suppresses emotion?” asked Kirsten, with a somewhat frustrated look.

Eva nodded slowly. “It's believed that a malfunctioning amygdala can lead to disorders such as schizophrenia, anxiety or depression..."

"Disorders where people suffer from an overload of emotion,” said Mark around the cigar.

"Precisely,” said Eva, standing. “However, I can give you a controlled dosage of drugs that will suppress the amygdala without leading to those disorders.” She retrieved her medical bag and pulled out some small vials. “I was able to retrieve some while we were at the hospital today."

Mark laid the cigar butt in the ashtray to allow it to burn out. “I've got to see if I can get to the Cluster before G'Liat does. If you think this might work to get the Cluster's attention, I think we need to try."

"You've already shown a certain tendency to get the Cluster's attention,” said Eva. “Let's hope this enhances it."

Kirsten stood up. “Mark, don't you think we should talk about this a little more?"

He was already rolling up his sleeve. “Unfortunately, it's a race. It's a race to get there before the Cluster finishes its project at the center of the galaxy and it's a race to see if I can talk to the Cluster before G'Liat finds a way."

Kirsten tried to think of something more to say. Instead, she stepped over, took Mark's right hand and kissed him as Eva applied the hypo-spray to his left arm.

Maria Gonzalez paced back and forth in Tim Gibbs’ apartment, talking to other resistance leaders around Earth. She worried that their numbers were shrinking so fast and she worried about what the Proxom injections were going to do to those people who received them. Some speculated it would revive them. Others speculated it would kill the bodies while leaving their minds trapped in the Cluster. Either way, she hoped the resulting confusion would do more good than harm.

She raised her finger to the earpiece as the signal came in and pointed to Swan. “Get ready,” she told him. “All teams are in position.” She signaled the
Legacy
and told them to stand by.

Just then, the door flew open and two Rd'dyggian warriors stepped into the room. The shorter one, in more traditional Rd'dyggian robes, leveled a weapon at Swan.

"Drop the hypo-spray,” called the tall one, dressed more like a human—wearing a black turtleneck shirt and slacks. Maria couldn't help noticing that he didn't wear a translator box. Swan looked at her, then looked at the two Rd'dyggians, evaluating them for a moment. At last, he dropped the hypo-spray, apparently deciding that there was no action he could take without getting one or both of them shot.

"
Legacy
fire in five,” called Maria.

She raised her hands as the tall Rd'dyggian crossed the room in five steps. He patted her down, found one hepler pistol, dropped it to the ground and stepped on it, crushing it under his weight. He examined the headset with his pitch black eyes, but let her keep it. The tall Rd'dyggian said something to the other in their native language just as he left the room.

"On the couch, both of you,” said the remaining Rd'dyggian, gesturing with his weapon.

"Gonzalez's signaled from the ground, ‘fire in five,'” reported Anne McClintlock from the computer console, her hand to her own headset.

"Set five minute countdown,” ordered Ellison Firebrandt. “Roberts, do we have a targeting solution yet?"

Roberts changed the view in the hologram. The Earth was replaced by a close-up view of the Cluster in orbit. “Since the Cluster doesn't have a radio per se, their transmission isn't a particularly tight beam. Also, we don't want to scan actively since active scans have been known to trigger attacks.” Roberts floated into the holographic tank and changed the light frequency displayed. Most of the Cluster was a dull red, but one orb stood out in bright green. “This orb,” he said, pointing, “seems to be emitting in radio frequency. I'd focus the attack there."

"Very good,” said Firebrandt. He stood at the wheel console and checked the readouts. They were coming within firing range quickly. Roberts drifted out of the holo tank.

"Three minutes,” said Anne McClintlock.

"Give me a forward view—real projection,” ordered the captain. In the holo tank, the magnified view of the Cluster was replaced by a view of Earth. The Cluster could be seen in the distance, ahead and below the ship. Firebrandt adjusted his course, then looked over at the gunners’ rigs. He saw Juan Raton, his shirt torn, sitting at one rig studying the display. Roberts floated forward to the modified rig and activated the guns.

"Mark the target orb on the display,” ordered the captain.

Anne typed in a command on the computer console. The orb in the display glowed green; the other orbs mostly obscured it. Firebrandt started bringing the ship around so that the target orb was directly ahead.

"One minute to firing time,” reported Anne.

"Acquiring target,” said Roberts.

"I'm getting it, too,” said Juan.

The target orb was now centered in the display. Firebrandt applied a gentle thrust and brought the ship steadily, but slowly closer. Anne started a ten second countdown. Roberts and Juan reported they were both ready. When Anne reached the end of the countdown, the captain growled, “Fire."

All of the guns on the
Legacy
opened fire. The Cluster absorbed all of the energy from the hepler guns. However, the overlay of false-color that indicated the radio frequencies faded away. “Cease fire,” called the captain.

"I'm not reading any EQ or radio emanations from the Cluster,” said Anne.

Firebrandt brought the lateral thrusters on-line and turned the
Legacy
to starboard, getting her away from the Cluster as fast as possible while simultaneously praying for deliverance and cursing the powers that kept his ship from jumping away from danger.

Immediately after Eva Cooper gave Mark Ellis the injection, he didn't feel much of anything, other than a little annoyance at the pain in his arm. “It'll take a few minutes to take effect,” explained the doctor. “Maybe you'd better sit down."

Mark nodded and Kirsten led him over to the big armchair and he sat. As he looked around the room, his eyes fell on the kitchen area and he grew annoyed at the clutter in the sink. “Why hasn't anyone cleaned that up?” he asked irritably.

"We haven't exactly had time,” said Kirsten. Her eyes narrowed. “There's been a lot going on, especially with Coffin's death this morning."

At the mention of Samuel Coffin, Mark's eyes grew wide. “Why wasn't I here?” he asked. “He was my father's best friend and I wasn't here to say good-bye to him. What kind of friend am I?"

"You're a very good friend,” said Kirsten, kneeling down next to the armchair. She took Mark's hand and began patting it. “Coffin would have wanted you to talk to Richard—it was what you needed to do. Without the information you gained, the Earth had no hope."

"Does it have any hope, now?” asked Mark, despondently. He waved Kirsten away from him and the corners of his mouth turned down. “What kind of hope does the human race have if we can't even take time to say good-bye to our friends? Coffin taught me so much ... so much...” Mark put his face in his hands and unrestrained tears began to flow.

Eva knelt down next to Kirsten and helped her to her feet, then saw the moisture in her brown eyes. “It's the drug,” whispered Eva, reassuringly. “Mark can't control his emotions. They'll be a constant flood until it wears off and his amygdala takes control again.” Eva led Kirsten away.