Peggy Sue (The T'aafhal Inheritance) (39 page)

All eyes were riveted on the Captain. All eyes that is, except JT’s. His attention was distracted by a silent alarm from his tablet. As he looked at its display his brows knitted, then anger flashed across his face. He looked up and the Captain asked him, “something you wish to share, Mr. Taylor?”

“Yes, Sir. Our instruments have just picked up a radio signal from the planet below.”

“I thought they didn’t have radios,” said Chief Engineer Medina.

“Evidently they have at least one,” JT replied. “And this one uses the same frequencies and modulation scheme as the alien probes we encountered on the Moon and at Beta Comae.”

Startled gasps were heard around the room. Lcdr. Curtis looked at the Captain who returned a subtle node. She spoke for the first time, stating the inescapable conclusion. “That means that the bugs are in league with the Dark Ones.”

Most of those present started talking at once. After giving the announcement’s shock half minute to play itself out, the Captain again called for attention. “If further proof of treachery was needed I believe the transmission provides it. The Ktchzz are in league with the Dark Ones.”

“You’re sure, JT?” asked Rajiv.

“Absolutely. You can verify the signature with the ship’s computer.”

“Peggy Sue?”

“Yes, Dr. Gupta. The signal matches those of the alien probe ships with the probability of an identification error less than 0.05%.”

“Regardless of whether the attack and rape by the Ktchzz warrants a retaliatory strike this settles the matter—we cannot continue our journey and leave a known enemy in our rear,” the Captain said. “Peggy Sue, I want you to plot a strike with antimatter warheads that will annihilate everything in the Pzzst capital city.”

“Four air bursts of 20 megatons each, in a staggered pattern will sterilize the valley over an area of 60 kilometers by 20,” the was the computer’s emotionless reply.

“Bridge, Captain,” he called over his comm pip. “Take us out of orbit and set course for the alter-space transfer point to Epsilon Eridani. Peggy Sue, fire as the launchers come to bear…”

Destroyer of Worlds, Earth’s Solar System

The kilometers long planet killer rippled into 3-space, 300,000 km above the plane of the ecliptic and on the far side of the Sun from its target. Earth was in Northern Hemisphere winter, its north pole tilted away from its star by 23 degrees. As soon as the ship emerged, it was obvious that the third planet was inhabited by a technological civilization—a civilization that yammered incessantly across much of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Great!
Thought the ship’s captain,
the search is over and the eradication can begin.
The first swarm of impactors released by the Destroyer of Worlds would strike mostly in the northern temperate zone, each missile roughly the mass of a 200 meter in diameter iron sphere.

It was not the impactors’ considerable mass that dictated their destructiveness, but rather their velocity with respect to the target. The destroyer emerged from the transfer point with a velocity of 800 km/sec relative to Earth, far higher than the impact velocity of orbital debris from within the solar system. This meant that each artificial asteroid would be carrying
^1.07×1022
Joules of kinetic energy when they hit the top of the planet’s atmosphere—at surface impact, the blast of each equivalent to roughly 2,500,000 megatons of TNT.

Such an impactor striking sedimentary rock creates an initial crater over 30 km wide and 11 km deep. Vast quantities of rock are melted and 90 cubic kilometers of melted and vaporized material ejected. Viewed from a distance of 100 kilometers, the 42 km in diameter fireball appears almost 100 times as large as the Sun. A twentieth of a second after impact, an exposed observer’s clothing ignites and they suffer third degree burns over much of their body. Trees, grass and plywood burst into flames.

Twenty seconds after impact a magnitude 8.9 seismic shockwave arrives. By this time general panic has ensued as even well-designed structures suffer great damage. M
asonry and wood frame buildings are destroyed along with their foundations.
Serious damage is done to reservoirs and underground pipes. In areas with deep soil, sand and mud are ejected in fountains, in solid ground sinkholes and large cracks appear. But the worst is yet to come.
 

Two and a half minutes after impact, material ejected from the crater begins falling to Earth. Mostly fine dust but containing some larger objects, it will eventually cover the ground in a suffocating blanket 7.5 meters thick. Finally, five minutes after impact, the blast wave arrives with 910 m/s winds, finishing the destruction of any buildings and bridges. S
teel-framed office buildings undergo extreme distortion and bridges collapse. The works of man are not the only things ravaged: up to 90 percent of trees are blown down, with the remainder stripped of their branches and leaves.

 The final crater is 50 km in diameter and a kilometer deep, with a 100 meter thick layer of molten rock at its bottom.
This is the damage caused by a land impact—for a water impact add the ravages of a kilometers high tsunami. Trillions of kilograms of water are thrown into the sky. Once in the atmosphere, the water vapor combines with compounds containing chlorine and bromine from vaporized sea salts, destroying the protective ozone layer. Everywhere, harmful UV radiation blankets the planet’s surface.

All this from a single impact. The captain of the Destroyer of Worlds ordered the release an opening salvo—a score of such objects, with an ETA at Earth in six and a half days.

Main Lounge, Peggy Sue

The meeting broke up with small groups of people conversing in whispered voices. Olaf Gunderson stood to one side of the room, a large sad figure. Lcdr. Curtis walked over to him and said. “You seem unsettled, Olaf.”

“Events have rushed ahead so quickly, I can’t help but feel we have decided to destroy the natives in haste. I am not used to making decisions so rapidly.”

“You might think the decision a bad one, but I wouldn’t express such thoughts around the crew or the Marines,” Gretchen advised the scientist. “As you said, events are rushing toward us and we don’t have the luxury to ponder each decision at length.”

“I did not know that the Captain could do that. Order the ship to bombard a planet without help from the crew.”

“The Peggy Sue is capable of sailing without a crew, though having humans in the loop for various functions makes her more efficient. But I suspect that isn’t your point.”

“No, Gretchen, it isn’t,” the big biologist said, chewing on the tips of his mustache. “I didn’t realize that the Captain had such absolute power—that alone he could destroy an entire world on a whim, if he so chose.”

“You are correct in that the ship will do whatever the Captain orders—that’s the way the computer is programmed. But you are wrong if you think that Captain Sutton ordered the attack on his own as a demonstration of personal power.”

“No?”

“No, Doctor. He may have asked our opinions but he is in command—in the end the decision, and the responsibility, is his alone. The Captain ordered the computer to strike so that none of the crew or other officers have that blood on their hands.”

“It seems a terrible burden for one man to bear. I’m glad the decision wasn’t mine to make.”

“Duty is the great business of a sea officer; all private considerations must give way to it, however painful it may be,” Gretchen quoted.

“And who said that?” Olaf replied.

“Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson, who was also tested by the burden of command.”

Beta Hydri – 61 Vir Alter-space Transfer Point

The first of the ships in King Lewnhallooshna’s fleet emerged in Beta Hydri 3-space, approximately 2.5 AU from the star itself. It was followed closely by another dozen bursts of radiation, signaling the emergence of the rest of the fleet. Immediately sensors scanned the electromagnetic spectrum, locating local astronomical objects while hunting for their intended prey.

“Great King, the rocky world nearest the star shows signs of recent antimatter detonations,” reported one of the ship’s officers. “It appears that the alien ship has bombarded the inner planet,”

“Is the prey still orbiting the planet?” asked Lewnhallooshna.

“No, Sire. The prey has departed on a course probably toward another alter-space transfer point.”

“What is the location of that point and how long ago did the ship depart?”

“The most probable point lies 3.5 AU from the star at an angle of roughly 90 degrees from our present vector. Assuming they maintained the course they were on 20 minutes ago they will arrive at the transfer point in 103 minutes.” At these distances, the light the fleet was viewing reflected off the Peggy Sue 20 minutes ago. This meant that their intended target was 20 minutes farther along its trajectory than the observed position.

“Commodore Ooshlewnnalloo! Calculate a firing solution for the plasma torpedoes. Transmit it to all ships and immediately fire a volley!”

“I hear and obey, my King,” replied the King’s favorite offspring, bending to his task. In less than a minute the intercept point was calculated and the broadside was on its way, hurtling toward the unsuspecting Earth vessel.

Bridge, Peggy Sue

Having delivered a death blow to Queen
Tzzztchk’s
Empire, the Peggy Sue was making a straight run for the transfer point to Epsilon Eridani. Given that Beta Hydri massed 1.1 times Sol and Epsilon Eridani only 0.8, the transfer point in this system was out more than 3 AU. The ship should reach the transfer point in under an hour and the Captain was on the bridge, starting preparation for the transit.

“Are all systems set for entering alter-space?” Jack asked. This might all become routine some day, but leaving the normal Universe behind for the strange dimensions of alter-space still gave Jack butterflies in the stomach.

“All systems are online and reading nominal for alter-space entry, Captain,” reported Chief Engineer Medina. Jo Jo’s main task was to get things ready, since the actual shift from 3-space to alter-space was handled by the ship’s computer.
Speaking of which
, “Peggy Sue, are you ready for entry?”

“Yes, Chief Engineer. I am ready to initiate alter-space transit as soon as we reach the transfer point.”

“Very good, people,” Jack added.
I guess there is nothing left to do except wait.
 

“Sir,” called JT from the navigator’s station. “I just picked up a gamma ray burst from the transfer point to 61 Vir. Something just jumped into the system.”

“Can you identify the signature? Does it match any of the craft we have already encountered?”

“No Sir. In fact there are multiple entry signatures… I count ten or more ships. They must have all jumped at the same time to arrive that close together.”

“Could it be a response to the message sent by the Tzzztchk?”

“That doesn’t make any sense, Sir,” JT replied. “Even if they have some kind of FTL communication relay, the alter-space transit from 61 Vir should have taken more than a week.”

“Mr. Taylor is correct, Captain,” the ship’s computer added. “They must have followed us from 61 Virginis and been in transit for the past 10 days. This form of hyperluminal travel has rules that are quite immutable.”

“None the less, we have multiple arrivals into the system,” the Captain said. Looking at his display, Jack noted that they were almost 3.5 AU from the new arrivals.

“Sir, now I’m picking up more radiation, both X-ray and gamma, but it doesn’t look like an alter-space arrival.”

What the?
“Sound General Quarters! Shields to full, Mr. Medina. Helm, take evasive maneuvers,” Jack yelled. “We have incoming fire from the other transfer point!”

As the crew reacted to Jack’s shouted orders the space outside the ship suddenly flashed brighter than the Sun. In an instant, the ship’s transparent nose became opaque, the view of actual space replaced by computer generated imagery. At the Helm, Bobby put the ship into a tight corkscrew, barely avoiding another blast according to the computer display.

“What the hell was that?” shouted JT.

“It would appear to be a salvo of concentrated plasma bursts. There is an antimatter component as well,” reported the computer.

Another close blast and a shudder ran through the ship.
That can’t be good,
Jack thought,
we shouldn’t feel anything through the deck gravity compensators.
With a touch of panic in his voice, Jo Jo shouted, “Captain, the shields are down to 20%, another close hit and we will take physical damage!” 

Another, stronger shudder. If the deck gravity failed the alien fire would not need to blow Peggy Sue out of space—the ship’s violent evasive maneuvers would smear the crew all across the interior.

“Peggy Sue, get us out of here!” the Captain yelled as indicators on the engineering displays lit up with damage alarms.

“Searching for an available transfer point,” came the computer’s unruffled voice. “Altering course vector and initiating… now.”

A final sharp bump and then quiet—the ship had escaped into alter-space. After a few brief seconds of calm, damage alarms began sounding and status displays everywhere glared red. They had escaped the alien bombardment, but the Peggy Sue was badly damaged and fighting for her life.

Part Three

A Thousand Fearful Wrecks

Chapter 19

CIC, Peggy Sue, Alter-space

The Captain and First Officer Curtis were coordinating repairs from the CIC abaft the bridge. Billy Ray had the Conn while the rest of the ship’s officers were off assisting the damage parties that rushed to repair the results of the sudden and unexpected alien attack.