The Phoenix Project (62 page)

    
“Something on Earth, Ma’am,” Maria’s sensor
analysis officer reported from the second tier of the
Excalibur’s
bridge. “Shall I put it on the main screen?”

    
“Yes, let’s see it.”

    
The Ensign complied and the screen switched
to a view of the distant planet. Its blue and white appearance was marred by
an expanding circle of energy that originated somewhere near the center of the United States of America.

    
“Eli,” Madison whispered.

    
“Can we go back or at least send some
help?” Joshua asked.

    
“No, we can’t go back.”

    
The Council of Twelve stood in a small room
aboard the Coalition carrier
Brontes
near the top of the tall ship. The
Twelve watched through a large window while the blue—white wave expanded across
their enemy’s continent.

    
“It’s almost beautiful,” Catherine said.

    
“Yes,” Alexander said. “Prime Counsel, we
must nominate a new candidate to apprentice with you. With Nadine’s betrayal it
is important for us to maintain the appearance of continuity for the public.”

    
“And you believe that you are the best
candidate?”

    
“I have been a member of this Council for
over ten years now and apprenticed to one of the most esteemed Council members
in the history of this government. You have said yourself that Aristotle was a
good man.”

    
“He was indeed,” Catherine said, and turned
away from the spectacle taking place on Earth, “and you believe that qualifies
you? Invoke one of my long dead friends and I will fall in line to your aspirations?”

    
“Of course not, Prime Counsel. I’m merely
giving you my resume.”

    
Catherine smiled at his attempted
manipulation of her.

    
“You have certainly learned a great deal in
your position over the years, but Aristotle was never as conniving as you are.
He was also content to be a servant of this Council rather than lead it.”

    
“All of which are points that lend to my
abilities to improve upon my mentor’s teachings and lead this Council. Don’t
you agree?”

    
Catherine’s smile dropped from her face.

    
“I’m afraid not. Your fate was decided
months ago, Alexander.”

    
He watched in surprise as the rest of the
Council gathered behind her. The ancient group of eleven people dressed in dark
robes was framed by the window showing the face of the Earth being devastated
by the expanding cataclysm.

    
“Do you think that I haven’t been aware of
your constant attempts to replace me by ingratiating yourself with other
elements of this council? They informed me every time you tried to sway them,”
Catherine said.

    
Alexander’s face changed to one of
betrayal. He looked at the faces of his associates within the council.

    
“Do you want me to apologize?”

    
“You should,” Catherine said, “but not for
the reason you think. A person worthy of replacing me would never have been as
careless or as arrogant as you are. If Nadine, for instance, had wished to
supplant me I would never have known until it was too late.”

    
“You still need me!” Alexander exclaimed.

    
“For what?”

    
“I interpret the symbols when we see across
time.”

    
“Which is why we have all been interpreting
them for the last few months. We are your replacements.”
    

    
“Fine, I will resign effective
immediately,” Alexander said. “You’ve won, Catherine.”

    
“I can’t allow you to resign. You may have
limited uses but you still have one thing that we need.”

    
“Oh?”

    
“Your death.”

    
“What? I don’t understand,” Alexander
stuttered.

    
“You never had the ability to plan for the
long term, Alexander. We must ensure that no one ever makes the connection
between the detonation of the particle warhead and our complicity in that act.”

    
“You gave me those orders! All of you voted
for it,” Alexander said.

    
“And the roads from Peter and the warhead
lead to you. You should have seen this coming.”

    
“Anyone who uncovers this will still make a
connection from me to you!”

    
“Dead men tell no tales, Alexander. We have
credible deniability. If that happens, the story will be that a rogue element
within the Council did this secretly behind our backs and you will not argue
with that assessment.”

    
“You can’t!”

    
“Our hands must have at least the
appearance of cleanliness, not for our sake, but for the public’s confidence
in us. I’m sure you understand.”

    
Alexander was unable to reply as he felt a
sudden wrenching pain spread across his chest. The eleven collectively seemed
to stare past the surface of his chest and into his body as they crushed his
left ventricle. Alexander tried to fight their attack but was unable to stand
up against their combined effort.

    
Spasms of pain contorted his body before he
felt his heart give out and then he collapsed onto the floor. Alexander’s face
became still and looked at peace as he breathed his last breath. Catherine
glanced at the body for a moment before stepping over it to gain access to a
panel mounted on the wall.

    
“Please send a medical team in here
immediately. Councilmember Alexander has collapsed,” she said.

    
Four medics dressed in sterile white
bounded into the room immediately. One grasped Alexander’s wrist for a moment
and shook his head to the questioning stares of the rest of the medical team.
The Council feigned concern as the body was settled onto a stretcher and taken
from the room.

    
“We’ll inform you as soon as we know
anything Prime Counsel,” the medic said.

    
Catherine nodded and sniffed. “I feel
everything happening on Earth was too much for him. Please take care of him,
poor soul.”

    
The medic retreated from the room and
Catherine turned on a gnarled heel to address her council.

    
“Now,” Catherine said cheerfully, “I need a
new apprentice and we need a new Council member. I nominate Tabitha.”

    
“She was Alexander’s apprentice,” Victoria said. “From
what I understand she is ever bit as manipulative and conniving as Alexander
ever was.”

    
“Yes, but she’s better at it. I miss having
a formidable opponent, and she seems capable of giving me the kind of arguments
Aristotle once did.”

    
“I’ll second the nomination,” Napoleon
said.

    
“Motion carried,” Catherine said. “We have
a great deal of work ahead of us gentlepersons. We have an empire to
consolidate. Now that the Alliance
members here and on the colonies have been apparently betrayed by their own
government, they’ll be looking for a viable alternative.”

    
“There is the problem of the new Alliance fleet, Prime
Counsel. New reports say that they will escape,” Cleopatra said.

    
“Then they have escaped to a distant and
soon to be conquered star. I doubt they will survive the rest of the year. Even
if they do, there is nothing they can do here. It would have been nice to have
gained their technology, but that goal was never an essential one.”

    
“We will need to take precautions anyway,”
Louis said.

    
“Agreed. I have someone among them who will
ensure that they fail,” Catherine said.

    
“And this is?” Napoleon asked.

    
“None of your concern. Rest assured that
the Alliance
will fail one way or another.”

    
“There is also the matter of your daughter.
She did escape from MERA,” Henry said.

    
“She escaped to Phoenix, and I doubt she left alive,”
Catherine said. She motioned her head towards the particle wave that was beginning
to broach the shores of the American
Sea.

    
“But what if she has and what of her child?
What if it survived as well?” Henry asked and stopped as his eyes became
unfocused. “I’m troubled by a vision I had of the future last night.”

    
“Yes?”

    
“I saw a boy with Nadine’s face and steel
eyes. Twelve stars burn behind him.”

    
“Then we will make sure to discover
Nadine’s fate,” Catherine said. “If she is alive she won’t be for long.”

    
“We have arrived at the end of the Sun’s
gravity influence,” Maria’s helmsman reported.

    
“Lathiel, are your engines ready now?”
Maria asked once she had turned her earpiece on.

    
“Yes Admiral. Just give the order,” she
heard his voice say through the intercom.

    
“Then do it before the rest of the
Coalition fleet catches up with us.”

    
The threesome watched the screen in
interest. The emitters on each wing of every ship in the one thousand strong
fleet began to glow with an unearthly radiance. Maria began to hear a great hum
which was felt throughout their ship as well as every vessel in the fleet. The
deck itself began to vibrate as the modified engines accumulated phenomenal
amounts of power. The engines glowed with a current of energy until they became
almost too bright to look at. Lathiel and Ranik split their attention between
the engines and the panels in front of them as they monitored the accumulation
of energy within the towering wonders of technology.

    
“Signal the rest of the fleet to activate
the graviton emitters,” Ranik said to Lathiel while he monitored a diagram of
the building power supply. “Now!”

    
Lathiel depressed a button on his station the
moment he heard the order from his cousin and Ranik pressed a switch on his
console.

    
The emitters on the ships flashed an
intense white light. The entire fleet turned into a thousand tiny stars and
disappeared.

    
It took over half a day for the energy wave
to encompass the Earth before meeting itself on the opposite side of the
planet. During that time the wave blasted across North
America. Entire cities fell in seconds. Many forests were blown
down and lakes were displaced from their beds. People hidden in bunkers felt
the ground shake and some were horrified to see their places of refuge come
down around them. But the wave did not stop there.

    
It went on across South
America, hitting its thick rain forests with the force of a
massive hurricane and shredded ancient Incan ruins. The cities there found the
wave had lessened its devastating force by only a marginal amount. But the wave
did not stop there.

    
It crossed the Pacific and Atlantic oceans creating massive tidal waves across both
bodies of water. When it reached Europe, Africa,
and the Eastern Asian coasts it smashed the population centers without mercy.
What was worse for those populations near the ocean was that once the energy
wave had left, an even deadlier one of water followed it just hours later.
People coming out of their shelters to begin the overwhelming task of
rebuilding were caught in a tidal wave one hundred feet high. Many drowned in
the deluge before being able to return to their shelters. But the wave did not
stop there.

    
The blast descended on MERA headquarters as
an avenging angel for releasing it in the first place. The old gothic building
that had housed the Council for centuries fractured and then exploded as the
wave pounded the stone walls with incredible force. The Council Chamber’s
windows shattered and the old high backed chairs were blown over while the
walls disintegrated.

    
The wave dissipated across the lands of
Asia and Asia Minor having finally expended
much of its power. The shockwave became a shrinking circle as it came upon the
opposite point on the planet from where it had begun. It shrunk to one hundred miles
in diameter and then fifty. Finally, somewhere in southern Russia, the
wave collapsed back onto itself and vanished.