Terra's World (18 page)

3.18

Terra switched off her slate, sat back in her chair and exhaled hard. She looked at her friends’ faces. She didn’t ask what they’d thought of her address. Their smiles told her enough, and it was too late now, anyway. So instead she asked:

- How long do you think it’ll take them to trace the signal back here?

Pktk looked blankly back at her.
- There’s no way to tell,
he said.
If they know what they’re doing, it shouldn’t take them long, but it’s more than likely that they
DON’T
know what they’re doing. No one’s made an unofficial transmission for an orbit, and the kind of creeps and lackeys the Gfjk’s surrounded himself with may not have any idea how to deal with it.

- That’s true,
said Fthfth.
Anyone who knows anything about science has either been arrested or is hiding out in a different country, like us.

- Like we’re supposed to be,
reminded Pktk.

- Well, if I get a vote in this,
said Billy,
I say we don’t hang about here any longer than we have to. What’s the next move?

Pktk had already made his next move; he’d accessed the database of all surveyed planets and was running through it, looking for a planet of the same mass and diameter as the Black Planet – these being the only halfway meaningful measurements they’d been able to take of it. He was watching the list of planets rush across his slate. Pktk was SO glad to have the Source back. He felt like he’d just regrown a missing limb (a friend of his had actually done that once; Pktk made a mental note to ask him how it had felt – if they ever met again).

- Right,
said Terra.
We’ve started the bdkt rolling. There are
people all over Fnrr working on the problem now, or I hope so, anyway. And the Source is up again, so we can be mobile. We can use our slates to access whatever information we need. I say we move out. We can find another empty apartment to hide out in. There are plenty of them,
she added grimly.

There was no dissent; the band of friends began to pack up their various odds and ends in preparation. Just as they were about to leave, there came a great blaring, trumpeting sound. It came from everywhere, from the streets, from the sky, from their slates.

Fthfth looked at her slate and groaned. Billy looked over her shoulder.

- Well, look who it isn’t,
he muttered.

The Gfjk-Hhh’s grinning face filled the slate, and also the screens of all the astroscopy lab’s computers.

- Beloved children!
it said.
Well, that was an interesting little speech by the Ymn, wasn’t it? I’m sure we all found it very entertaining. Like so many of the st’rss and f ’k-shnns she brought to us all those orbits ago. Because always remember, that’s what Ymns are. Deceivers. They have a word for it, you know. Lies, they call them, lies. Untruths, told to mislead us, to confuse us, to HURT us. Ymns are the bringers of lies! Let me hear you! Ymns are the bringers of lies!

To Terra’s horror, she heard the Gfjk’s words echoing around the city. People were chanting,
- Ymns are the bringers of lies!

- Yes, yes they are. And, beloved children, do not let an alien’s lies discourage you! We have come so far together, haven’t we? We’ve cast aside the old ways, the ways of division and conflict, and moved forward into a new age of unity and common purpose . . .

- Well, that’s one way of putting it,
snarled Pktk.

- Shh,
said Fthfth.

- And we have done this by placing our confidence not in the arid, dusty,
STERILE
ways of the scientists, the
CYNICS
. We have done this by placing ourselves in the hands of Fate!
Fate itself, which chose me to lead you! Fate, which returned me to life in your time of direst need! Exactly as promised!

Terra and Fthfth exchanged anxious looks.

- For was it not written that I should return to you, as Death itself came upon us from the skies?

- Was it?
asked Billy.

Terra gave a despairing shrug.
- Oh I don’t know,
she said,
he’s just making it up as he goes along now.

- But do not fear, beloved children! Do not doubt! I shall, this day, do battle with Death itself !
The Gfjk’s voice rose to a scream.
I will stay its path with my very word! The evil which bears down upon us will flee my radiance!

- And I thought he’d lost it before,
said Billy.
He is well and truly off with the pixies.

- The what?
asked Pktk.

- Tell you later,
said Billy.

- Stay by your visualisers! Gather in the meeting places! You will witness my triumph! My ascension! My
VICTORY
!

The Gfjk-Hhh’s face disappeared, replaced by Mlmln text reading
LOVE AND GLORY TO THE GFJK-HHH
. To Terra’s horror, this chant could be heard echoing through the city.

- I don’t believe it,
said Fthfth.
They’re not actually going for that, are they?

- Sounds like some of them are,
said Terra quietly.

- But
WHY
?
said Pktk, despairingly.

Billy had some thoughts on this.
- I’ve got some thoughts on this,
he said,
but let’s walk and talk.

- Go on, then,
said Pktk as they exited the astroscopy lab.

- Well,
began Billy as they passed along the corridor,
some people just . . . like to believe. Somebody comes along with all the answers, it’s easier just to sign up and swallow it all wholesale than to think things through for yourself. Saves effort. Understand?

- I think so,
said Fthfth as they found a functioning grav-chute and stepped into it.

- The other thing you have to remember,
said Terra to Billy as they descended,
is that until not so long ago this society had no concept of fiction, let alone deception. The idea of something being made up is still quite new, so the thought that someone would deliberately and maliciously make something up just for personal gain is . . . well, alien to them,
she concluded as they arrived at ground level.

- Literally unimaginable,
pondered Billy as the strode to the exit.
Tell you what, when I get a minute I’ll have a word. Talk them through it.
He winked at Terra as they passed through the door into the deserted street.
Where to now, then?

Pktk was about to reply when a pinging noise interrupted him. For a moment he was confused, then he said, -
Of course! My comm! My comm is working again!
He rummaged in his bag for the gadget; finding it, he looked expectantly at the screen. His face paled, and his jaw dropped.

Terra had never seen Pktk look so stricken.
- What? What is it?

Fthfth peeked over Pktk’s shoulder and smiled.
- It’s his mother calling,
she said.

Billy patted Pktk on the shoulder.
- Better answer it, mate. Get it over with.

Pktk turned away, in search of a little privacy. Fthfth chuckled at his predicament, then suddenly fell silent.
- Look . . .
she said feebly.

Billy and Terra looked.

Above the city spires, like a dark second sun, the Black Planet hung in the evening sky.

Not a word passed between the friends, but they each knew what the others were thinking: we haven’t been taking this seriously enough. We’ve been treating it like a game, like it’s all about getting the better of the Gfjk-Hhh. But it isn’t. We might all be dead by the morning. There may not even BE a morning. This could be the last day this planet sees.

This could be the end of the world.

They walked on in silence.

3.19

-
S
o talk me through this ‘Mission Control’ of yours, Luminescence – who are all these people and what do they do?

- They’re here to control the mission!
The Gfjk-Hhh grinned.
My mission! My mission to save my people!

- I see,
said Lbbp thoughtfully. He looked around the equipment that had been loaded into the Forum. On close inspection, it looked to be a pretty random selection of hardware. Just how much of it would be of any use when co-ordinating a space mission, he didn’t care to guess. Lbbp was fairly certain that at least one of the bulkier machines was in fact one of those big old-style protein manipulators. He turned to address the Gfjk.
And how do you intend to do this, Luminescence?

- Isn’t it obvious? I shall take to the stars! I shall confront the Black Planet! We will meet as equals. The destroyer and the saviour. Death itself, and the immortal redeemer, face to face. I think you’ll agree that this will stand as my finest moment, in this life or the . . . other one,
said the Gfjk, his vocabulary failing him at the last moment.

Inwardly, Lbbp was punching the air in victory. Outwardly, he looked admiringly at the Gfjk.
- Magnificent, Luminescence. Just magnificent. When will you be, erm, taking to the stars?

The Gfjk paused to consider this, then,
- Why, immediately, of course! Why keep history waiting?
He turned to one of the technicians.
You! What’s your name?

- M-me?
stammered the technician.
My name is Fshnk, Luminescence.

- Very good, Fshnk. Send word, I will take off as soon as possible. Prepare my ship.

An awkward silence.

- Ship?
asked Fshnk.

Another awkward silence.

- I have
GOT
a ship, haven’t I?
said the Gfjk quizzically.

Fshnk looked anxiously around him at the other technicians. They gazed blankly back at him.

- Um . . .
began Fshnk.
Not as such, no. Not one of your own, anyway, Luminescence.

The Gfjk, who had been striking a suitably heroically erect pose, slumped.
- No ship?
he said weakly.

- Well,
said Fhsnk, his mind racing to think of a solution while the Gfjk’s temper held,
we could see if the Space Navy have one, but they’re all . . .

Lbbp coughed. This oversight couldn’t be allowed to stall things, not when he was so close. -
Er, Luminescence,
he said,
I’ve got a ship you can borrow.

3.20

C
olonel Hardison, shielding his eyes against the glare of the setting sun, gazed up at the Lance of the Occluded Ones.

It had been hauled to the launch pad by a hundred-strong team of G’grk drones, using ropes and rollers, like something from an old movie about the building of the Egyptian pyramids. Hardison had watched with more than a little amusement. He was sure the G’grk had some sort of GravTech contraption somewhere around the place which would have made the job much easier. But of course, he thought to himself, the G’grk do enjoy their ceremonies (especially when the Occluded Ones had been invoked, of course), and even when they used advanced technology they seemed uneasy, even suspicious of it.

The Lance itself, after all, had been built not by G’grk technicians (Hardison assumed that the G’grk did have technicians, although now he thought about it he hadn’t met any) but by Dsktn scientists, under circumstances which didn’t bear thinking about. The fact that the scientists might have known that their own country was one of the missile’s possible targets couldn’t have made the work any easier. Hardison wondered if they’d thought of sabotaging the weapon, and if so, would the G’grk have been able to spot it?

So, he summarised to himself, basically, our only hope for survival is an enormous missile, built by resentful slave labour, which is about to be fired by technophobic tribal warriors in the vague direction of the ghost planet which, should the rocket miss, fail to detonate, or just turn out not to be powerful enough, will kill us all before the morning.

An even more sobering thought was, it now occurred to him, that this still wasn’t the craziest strategy he’d ever been a party to. He’d got mixed up in much dumber situations back on Earth. He shuddered at the memory.

Somewhere behind him, back in the command centre, the warhead was ‘brewing’. Hardison squinted as he looked up at the black disc in the sky.

What
ARE
you? he wondered.

3.21

T
he people of Mlml, it seemed, had missed the Source almost as much as Pktk had. Ever since it had come back online, it had been ablaze with activity.

Debate was raging on every discussion site or conversation page over whether the Gfjk was truly the reborn saviour of Mlml or a demented fraud. Reading her slate, Terra was encouraged to note that a slight majority seemed to be coming down on the ‘demented fraud’ side.

She and her friends were in Pktk’s family apartment. The Gfjk had, as yet, no reason to suspect Pktk’s or Fthfth’s involvement in Terra’s little insurrection; as such, Terra had reasoned, his custodians wouldn’t think to watch Pktk’s old residence. They’d opened the door with Pktk’s key tube and made themselves at home.

The place was comfortable at least, and extensively decorated; Fthfth had been giggling almost non-stop at the sheer quantity of holographic portraits of Pktk dotted about the rooms and corridors: baby Pktk; Pktk’s first steps; Pktk’s first day at the PreAc; Pktk’s first go with a gravity pod . . . Pktk registered Fthfth’s mirth but did not respond; he just shuffled past her, his head lowered, muttering crossly, -
Not my fault, I didn’t put them up.

Terra, catching Pktk’s eye, said,
- So tell us again about this thing the G’grk have built.

Pktk’s tense comm conversation with his mother had not consisted entirely of frantic admonishments, fretful pleas to come back to Lsh-Lff and mumbled apologies. Almost entirely, but not entirely entirely. There had also been time for Pktk and his mother to bring each other up to date on what was being done about the ongoing Black Planet situation.

- Well,
began Pktk,
they’ve constructed a massive rocket called the Lance of the Occluded Ones.

Terra flinched at a sudden flash of memory – the ugly steel shaft protruding from Lbbp’s shoulder, dark blue blood, so much blue blood . . .

Terra contained her distress; Pktk didn’t notice it and carried on.
- They say it’ll be ready to fire at the Black Planet just before it arrives.

Fthfth snorted.
- How do they know? There are no detailed scientific records of what actually happens when the Black Planet does whatever it does. We don’t know how close it has to get! We don’t know whether it smashes right into you, grazes the atmospheric lid or whether it can wipe everything out from half an optical away!

Billy shrugged,
-
Well, it’s a start, isn’t it? And even if it doesn’t blow the Black Planet up, it might slow it down, or blow it off course, or . . . something. And it’s more than anyone else has come up with.

- Give it time,
said Terra.
We’ve got the whole scientific community of Fnrr on our side now. Someone will think of something. Someone
HAS
to think of something.

- Somebody
DID
think of something,
said Billy.
The G’grk thought of blowing the thing to bits. Not exactly Nobel Prize-winning stuff, I’ll grant you, but if it does the trick I bet you won’t be complaining this time tomorrow.

Pktk looked up from his slate.
- It’ll never work,
he muttered.
The G’grk won’t have built it themselves, they wouldn’t know where to start. They’ll have stolen it from somewhere. They probably don’t even know how it works. They’re more likely to blow themselves up with it than—

- You know what I think?
said Billy, his temper starting to fray a little,
I think you and all your clever mates just can’t stand the idea of the stupid, primitive G’grk being the ones who actually get their act together and save everyone, that’s what I think.

Terra, Fthfth and Pktk exchanged embarrassed glances. They weren’t going to admit it out loud, but Billy had a point.

No one was sure what to say next, so it came as a great relief to everyone when both Pktk’s and Fthfth’s slates started making high-pitched pinging sounds, one after the other. They both checked their devices excitedly.

- The database search is complete!
announced Pktk.

- I’ve got a message! From the Ff-Shkrr observatory!
said Fthfth delightedly.

- The what?
asked Billy.

- It’s another Preceptorate – university, sort of thing – on the other side of Fnrr. They were the first ones to notice the existence of the Ymn race, for what it’s worth.
Terra smiled.
Perhaps they’ve figured something out about the Black Planet.

Terra went to read over Fthfth’s shoulder. This normally annoyed Fthfth intensely, but on this occasion she was too excited to notice.

- It’s from Senior Postulator V-Kst V-Shft, head of the Ff-Shkrr Astroscopy Hub! Wow! She’s amazing! I read this fantastic article she wrote about the atomic decay of—

- What does it SAY?
Interrupting Fthfth in full academic enthusiasm flow was always a bit of a risk, but Terra felt it necessary, what with the impending end of the world and everything.

- Oh, yes . . . Hmm. She’s sent me a recording. They were scanning the Black Planet for any signals it might be giving off—

- There aren’t any,
grumbled Pktk.
We
checked.

- —and
SHE SAYS
,
continued Fthfth, ignoring him,
that they picked something up. Here you go, listen to this.
She tapped her slate to activate the sound file.

A faint hiss was heard. Pktk was unimpressed.

- That’s nothing,
he said.
Background static. Stellar radiation, reflected from the sun
.

- I thought you said it didn’t reflect the sun?
said Terra thoughtfully. Pktk fell silent. Fthfth went on:

- This is it, slowed down sixty-four times.

A lower-pitched hiss, sounding oddly like breath.

- Still nothing,
said Pktk.
What are we listening for?

Fthfth held up a not-now hand and said,
- And this is that sound slowed down
ANOTHER
sixty-four times.

The sound was no longer a hiss. It now resembled a heartbeat. Pktk’s eyes widened.

- That’s not stellar radiation. It’s too uniform.

- Sounds like a pulse,
said Billy quietly.

- It’s a signal,
conceded Pktk.
That’s a signal. Something is communicating with something else.

Terra turned to face him.
- Communicating? Communicating how?
she asked eagerly.

Pktk’s interest had clearly been piqued but his enthusiasm did not yet match Terra’s own.
- No way to tell, really. Could be some sort of automated system; a relay between. . .

- But something could be
ALIVE
up there?
Terra interrupted.
Something intelligent? Even if it’s just artificial intelligence?

Pktk was still cagey in his response. -
Terra, just because the signal seems to have some sort of pattern, it doesn’t. . .

Terra was unfazed.
- But communication implies intelligence, doesn’t it? Who could they be trying to communicate with? Us?
She had hopeful visions of messages being exchanged, language barriers being broken, accords being reached . . .

But Fthfth shook her head.
- The signal’s far too weak
.
Postulator V-Kst said their scanners only just picked it up at their maximum sensitivity.

Terra paced the room, her mind racing.
- So they’re not trying to talk to us, but they are talking to each other . . .
she said.
There are things on that planet that are talking to each other.

She wheeled round to talk to the others.
- If they’re talking to each other, then we can talk to them. We can communicate with the planet.

- What’s that going to achieve?
queried Pktk.

- I don’t know!
shouted Terra.
But it’s got to be worth a try! We could warn them about the G’grk rocket, persuade them to turn the planet round . . .

- What makes you think they’re controlling the planet, anyway?
asked Pktk crossly.
And who
ARE
they? We have no idea what we’re dealing with.

- Woah, woah, calm down,
said Billy, sensing the mounting tension.
There’s something we’re forgetting about here. Pktk, you said that database search-thing you had on the go had come up with something. Have you even bothered to check what?

Pktk’s irritation abated. He lowered his eyes.
- Not yet,
he mumbled.

- Well, then,
said Billy,
off you go and sort that out. Fthfth,
he turned to her,
if that IS some sort of communication network up there on that planet, can we hack into it? Listen in, maybe even get a word in ourselves?

- I . . . might be able to work out what frequency they’re using,
said Fthfth.

- Sounds like a plan,
Billy said encouragingly.
Get cracking.

Billy exhaled and turned to Terra. She was smiling. ‘What?’

‘I’m glad you’re here, Billy Dolphin,’ she said.

So am I, thought Billy. He went to the window. The Black Planet dominated the darkening sky. Unbelievable as it may seem, thought Billy, so am I.

His thoughts were interrupted by Pktk’s voice.
- Hm. Perfection.

- What is?
asked Terra. There were many words she could think of with reference to their current situation and ‘perfection’ wasn’t one of them.

- The planet. Or it might be, anyway,
said Pktk, reading from his slate.
Its mass and diameter are an exact match for the planet Perfection, which disappeared eras ago.

- Perfection?
chuckled Billy.
Bit pleased with themselves, weren’t they?