The Great Symmetry (34 page)

“Well, engineer?” Ricken was spraying directly on him now.

The letters on his console were invisible from Ricken’s angle.

“Uh, Captain, we have a problem,” Tal said. “I need to talk to you.”

“Fix it!”

“Can we talk in private, sir?”

Ricken was turning red. “Are you out of your mind? We may be blown up any second, and you want to have a private meeting!”

“I need to show you something. Life or death.
Listen−”

“Engineer−”

“Stay with me. Sir. First, look at this message. Come around here. It’s from Denison. It came in code, so none of the other ships out there have read it.”

“From Denison?!
Whose code?”

“Never mind that.”

“Whose code, engineer?”

“Our code, tearoff 2132.”

Captain Ricken reached out with a meaty hand and grabbed the front of Broker’s shirt, just below his neck. “And how, may I ask, did he know our codes?”

”Just read the message! If you want to hang me later, we’ll talk about it. Read it!” Broker gestured urgently.

Ricken shoved Tal Broker away
and moved around the console. His red shade gave way to purple as he read. “I will hang you, at that! Security, remove Broker to the brig! Our communications engineer is a spy!”

“Captain, the message! Seconds count!”

It was a miracle that Ricken’s eyeballs were still in their sockets.
”I don’t need to listen to you, spy. Now I know why I never liked you, worthless, cowardly worm, can’t even earn an honest living. I’ll see that you never enjoy any of the money he’s been paying you. And don’t call me Captain any longer.” Guards were taking Broker to the lift by both arms.

“Paul, listen to me.”

Ricken looked up. Nobody had used his first name in years.

Tal knew he had one chance to reach his captain. “
You’re angry, and rightfully so, but you need to trust Rod. I know you two crewed together, and I’m sure he never lied to you about anything that could be this important. I know he’s not lying now.”

“It’s a trick. Another devious trick to make me look like a fool.”
Ricken waved at the guards to continue taking Broker off the bridge.

“Stop! Paul – did you read the postscript?”

Ricken looked down at the display. “From one shabby donkey to another,” he recited. “Damn Denison! He had to go there! But this is such a ridiculous lead story. Major artifact discovery on Green?
We were just there, and it’s totally made up. How could that save any lives?”

“A shabby donkey. What does that mean?” Broker asked.

“It means I have to do it,” Ricken said. “I must be a true sucker. Open a channel to Abner House. Mohanty, tell
me what those ships are doing.”

Mohanty provided the update. “The ships are arrayed in an englobing icosahedron around Kelter, sir. They’re not moving, nor firing. Additional ships are deployed in proximity to each of the six outbound glomes
that have known destinations, and two others.”

The guards had released Broker, who sped back across the bridge. “Channel open. Main video.”

Suddenly Ricken was his engaging best. “Good day, sir. Please forgive the delay.”

The agent was nonplussed. “
It’s kind of an emergency down here. Maybe we can talk later, if we are still present in this world. I’m not even sure why I’m working right now.”

“Hold on!” Ricken told the man. “We have a truly amazing story from Green, about a major exo discovery, the decipherment of large quantities of Versari
writings.”

“Versari? That might be huge news! Send it right away!”

“In view of this item, I think we can obtain a bonus of at least five thousand credits.”

Broker was dumbfounded. Why was Ricken haggling over payment?
According to Denison’s message, seconds counted!

“I don’t care! Just send it!” The man seemed frantic.

“Done.” Ricken nodded to Broker, who sent the pulse. “It’s coming your way,” Ricken told the agent.

The story was sent. The fleet of warships watched, not moving, nor bringing their substantial armament to bear on the arriving trader.

True Story

The news was spreading through Kelter. With it came skepticism, criticism, and discussion. Soon it would be known if the jury-rigged True Story was going to hold up.

“A little ironic, don’t you think?” Evan prodded Axiom. “When we spread the real facts as widely as possible, we doom the entire planet, and now we try to save the world
with a lie.”

“It is not how I would have expected to do it,” the infoterrorist agreed. “We will have to come clean on our dishonesty, and apologize. After the D6 departs.”

“Apologize? For saving everyone?”

“Some humility is good. So that we do not re-learn the habit of making up the truth so quickly.”

They listened to the chatter around the situation room
. It brought good news. The story, of the parallel discovery on Green, was gaining momentum. Soon, it ruled. On Kelter, at least, their story was widely accepted.

A few skeptics held their ground. What were the odds, they asked, of the same discovery in the two widely separated places on almost the same day?

“Should we intervene?” Erickson asked. “We can shut the doubters down.”

“We let it run its course,” Rezar ruled. “To convince the Affirmatix above us, we must withstand
the most vigorous scrutiny. And we are doing just that. There is no way they would destroy an entire planet, and kill all of us, for something that might or might not be a secret anymore.”

Ultimately it did not matter, because the skeptics could not withstand the wave of belief that washed upon them. Example after example poured out, of momentous discoveries made even on the same day or hour, light years apart. Advocates pointed to cases where a single advance in the underlying science had led to apparently coincidental discoveries shortly afterward.
Anyone was free to maintain their position, but soon the skeptics were stranded and ignored in backwaters of the planet-wide conversation.

In the situation room, the most advanced graphical display
on Kelter portrayed the ebb and flow of the interactions. The counterterrorism team was expert in portraying the flow of memes in multiple dimensions. The hardest part was simply watching and not taking action, even as the True Story advanced. The governor’s directive not to interfere ran counter to decades of training and culture.

Above the largest table in the center of the situation room, the deep smooth magenta
shape spread in three dimensions, gradually swallowing other colors and textures, or pushing them to the far fringes of the floating image.

Evan exulted. “We did it! Kate, what an idea, and it’s going to work!”

“This is fantastic!” agreed Denison, who had recently been summoned to the command center for his knowledge of the code to Ricken’s ship. “I had hoped to write some real news, but it’s even better to be part of it.”

“And Affirmatix, they are so going down,” Evan declared. “We won’
t be frightened rabbits any more. We’re going to take it to them. They won’t even be a Sister by the time we are done with them. We’ll make sure everybody in civilization knows what they did.”

“That could be a bigger task than you imagine,” Axiom told him. “Regardless of the facts as you see them, their marcom department is bigger than you.
I have lived with a version of this question for many decades. Tell me, what did they do, that can be proven and will depose them from the sisterhood?”

The old man might have been right before, but he could still talk the crazy. “They killed thousands of sailors,” Evan exclaimed, “on the ships of the Kelter defense force!”

Axiom shrugged. “It will somehow be painted as a response to an act of war, by Kelter.
Just enough to create ambiguity. The merchants of doubt are experts at creating holes in reality just large enough to wiggle through, and evade responsibility. Besides, bitter history tells us that anyone who wears a uniform accepts a target on their back, a red shirt that tells you they are expendable.”

Evan refused to be deflected. “There has to be a way to make them pay!”

“Perhaps there will be. It will be a longer road than you imagine, that is all.” The infoterrorist’s expression reflected long
experience.

“I’ll tell you something I take personally,” Evan said. “The vaults. Not enough to just go hunting us down, they had to destroy the Valley of Dreams. Our friends, from a million years ago. Real people who cared and loved just as we do. Anyone who doubts that can read Kate’s books. For my part, I will make sure everyone knows about that crime.”

“Evan, I hope you get the opportunity. But hold for a moment. Look, on the big screen.”

No matter what people thought on the surface of Kelter, all that mattered was the response of the Affirmatix fleet. Now, it was on the move.

The twenty ships that composed the D6 had been deployed in a rough icosahedron around Kelter, close to the needed position to activate the weapon. For the D6 to function, the hedron needed to be precisely spaced around the geoid of the surface below.

Each of the ships was making fine adjustments to its course. Within an hour and a half, they would be in a perfect icosahedron around Kelter. Exactly, to the meter.

As required to activate the D6.

The Last Minute

The expected time was now widely known. All life on Kelter was expected to end at 1433 Meridian time on Day 311. Within thirty minutes. All over the planet, in every time zone, people considered the moments that remained to them.

#

For Jasper and Frederick, blackness was just beginning to give way to the beginnings of dawn in their living room window. They had both slept poorly, and by common consent had gotten up and made breakfast during the deepest part of the night. The talk on the newscasts was even grimmer than when they had tried to go to bed. Now they sat, looking out their picture window to the east. A constellation of bright stars, not usually part of Kelter’s sky, still shone above.

“Should we wake up the kids?”

“No. Let them sleep.”

“Did you give each of them a kiss?”

“I did. You?”

“Yes. Both of them.”

Jasper and Fred held hands and waited.

#

Ellen’s problem was solved. For weeks she had contemplated the best method. She wanted it to be over, but she was afraid of the pain. Anything sharp was horrible and would make her feel sick. Jumping off things didn’t work too well on Kelter. You just ended up in hospital, if that. Drowning would bring the moment of panic at the end, and pool time was too expensive.

She wondered if she would feel it. The fire would simply be everywhere at the same moment, according to the talking heads.

Nobody would mourn her. They would all be gone as well. Before, Ellen had imagined in great detail how her parents would react, hoping that it would hurt them. A lot. When she left them forever, would they finally learn their lesson?

Now, that was moot. It wasn’t as satisfying. In fact, it kind of defeated the purpose.

As the minutes ticked down, Ellen realized that she wanted to live.

#

Ashley tried to coax more speed out of the vehicle as it tore across the empty plain, altitude 500 meters. Somehow she had scored one of the very last choppers available in Redoubt. About twenty-eight minutes remained before the end. Would she make it on time? It would be tight.

She was getting close to civilization now. The first outlying structures were appearing on the horizon and rapidly approaching.

Trent, her only son. She had been unable to reach him by phone or messaging
. The lines were overwhelmed, or perhaps nobody was maintaining the system any more. Ashley hoped desperately that Trent would be at home, that she could see him just one last time.

More buildings, and some traffic. Ashley didn’t drive much these days, typically relying on transit, but she could handle the chopper with no problem.

The best way was to cut through the utility area and go straight to an entry that was close to Trent’s apartment. She swept to her right, pulling around the corner of a large greenhouse.

She didn’t even see the other chopper coming.

#

The special midnight service was very well attended. Marisa was humbled by the task of comforting her community, on what could be the very end of their days.

It was easy to speak of lofty things, positive visions of their spirits, and the good that so many people had done. Perhaps that would suffice. She considered whether she should draw the attendees away from the fear, or whether to face it head on.

Marisa walked to the podium, and hush descended.

“Friends. We know that our time may soon be upon us. If the projections are accurate, the fire will arrive in as little as twenty-seven minutes. It is a terrifying prospect. I am deeply afraid.

“I cannot provide any assurance that it will all be okay. Of the future of each of our spirits, there is no certainty. But there is one thing that I hope that everyone will consider for just a few moments. That is this: If the worst does not occur, then how will you make the rest of your life happier, and kinder?

“Because today is no different than any other day, in one basic sense. You never know. Every day could be your last. I hope that each of you has had some chance to make peace, to express love, and to be with the ones you love. Tomorrow, if it comes, provides you with the same opportunity. Tomorrow will be the greatest gift we will ever receive. Let us all greet the new day in that spirit, if it comes to be.”

Marisa hoped she was doing justice to the moment. She would check the recording and see how she sounded, whether she was connecting with her flock as well as she could.