Prophet of ConFree (The Prophet of ConFree) (56 page)

"I even considered sexual favors," Ice said, "but I knew the Professor wouldn't go for it."

"Please don’t think that Ice will be uninvolved in the operation. She will by my side every moment of the mission," the Prof said. "Well. Another problem I faced was that Scout got in my face, saying it was unconscionable for me to include Bees. I told him we needed a good medic in case somebody got hurt. He didn't have any good arguments against that. Then Bees found out about it – it wasn't me – and told Scout to mind his own business, or something like that."

"It was a little stronger than mind your own business," Scout said.

"Somebody's got to keep an eye on him," Bees said.

"So, bottom line," the Prof said. "Ice and I will keep Blackie company while you folks strike a blow for the people of ConFree and the AC. As to leadership. I am in charge, as long as the Q-link is functional. These Quantum links are instantaneous even if you are two billion light years away. But we do not know if they work the same way from one universe to another. So, if you should lose Q-link contact with me, General Huynh will be in charge. The ship is AC property, after all, and we are conducting an air strike against the D's, which is very much the general's specialty. So he's in charge."

The wall screen came to life. It showed Dragon Shoals again – what a spectacular view. The glory of the cosmos, all creation swirling in multicolored splendor, sparkling in eternal glory. We couldn't see the black hole, of course, but it was distorting everything around it, just like a great sinister dragon slowly coiling and uncoiling, watching us with cold unblinking eyes.

"See the diagram," Bird said. "We exit stardrive in the vicinity of Dragon Shoals. Then we activate the stargate autopilot. If it works as advertised, the Golden Lotus will then go into stargate mode. It will spiral in along the edge of the hole, and swirl around the gate like a twig in a whirlpool, and then hopefully eject itself on the other side. Into Mid Haven. After checking all systems to ensure we are still in one piece, we will go into DX stardrive, exit stardrive at the target, attack the target and do maximum damage in minimum time, and then hightail it out of there and back to the stargate."

"What’s the target?" I asked.

The screen changed to reveal a field of red, blue and yellow stars scattered through the vac. I did not recognize any of the star patterns.

"These stars are color-coded," Bird said. "The red stars contain Demon planets. The Blue contain Bright planets. The yellow contain former Demon planets that are now occupied by the Brights. You can see that the Demons are in big trouble." It was true. We could see at a glance that the red stars were greatly outnumbered by the blue stars, and a host of yellow stars lay between the blues and the reds, showing the Bright advance.

"We got this data from the Lotus's navigation starcharts," the Prof said. "Galactic Info loved it. This was our first look into Mid Haven, and it was quite revealing. You can see why the D's are anxious to leave, and desperate to establish a new home in our universe. One would think it would make more sense to flee to another galaxy within their own universe but, apparently it doesn't."

General Huynh stood up, and took the pointer from Bird. "Our primary target is Kratar," Huynh said, pinpointing the red star with the laser spot. "According to Louie, Kratar contains the primary industrial shipyards that manufacture their IDAG saucer starcraft. We have gone over the navaid groundscans from the Lotus and ID'd the factory. It should take only one quick pass to annihilate the factory, the industrial complex and everything in it. Thirty fracs over Kratar. We considered targeting their capital world, Blucator, but rejected that because it will likely be too heavily defended because of the war with the Brights. The factory complex may be defended as well, but probably not as heavily. Remember, we are a proper IDAG saucer and should pass as friendly up until we start firing."

Wonderful, I thought. Right into the mouth of hell. Unafraid. Back in ConFree, the usual gang of traitors was urging we talk with the D's. Talk! We'll give them something to talk about, all right.

Wonderful! And I'll be piloting. It's almost unbelievable.

"The alternate target will be Takapana," the general said, spearing the target with the laser. "This is only if events force us to call off the attack on the primary target. Takapana is the historical and spiritual capital of the D. If we have to go there, we'll erase their officer training academy. Louie says Takapana is considered the 'beating heart' of the Demon race, although I'd rather go after their saucer factory on Kratar."

"Why don't we hit them both?" I asked.

The Professor stood to respond to me. "We go after one significant target, hit it, and then return here to report it. Entering a natural stargate is a near-suicidal act of faith. Coming out the other side is another. Entering another universe is another. Attacking a formidable enemy in his own home universe is another. Surviving the attack against unknown air defenses is another. Making it back to the stargate in one piece is another. Surviving the stargate jump a second time is another. In case you lost count that's eight near-suicidal acts of faith. I know because I counted them
.
Think hard about that. You have all volunteered and I am assuming you are all fully prepared to die, and are not really planning on returning. I greatly regret that I cannot be with you. You are all gallant heroes, and generations of future school children will read about your exploits in awe. You will never be forgotten – Ice and I will see to that. But I would advise all of you to consider yourselves as being dead already – but being greatly privileged to accomplish one great deed for your native peoples before you disappear into history. No, Prophet. There will not be two targets. We only need one. And when the D's hear about it, whichever target it is, it should shake them to the core."

Privileged, I thought, yes. That's exactly how I feel. I wouldn't trade this for anything. Three years ago, I was rolling around in the grass with DeeAnn, and my most important objective was to get her panties off. What the hell happened to me? I got deflected, somewhere along the way. And now here I was with this squad of heroes. I knew I didn't really belong here, but that didn't matter anymore. I was here, and they had accepted me, and I was going to pilot them right into hell, and feel good about it. And dying – that didn't really matter, did it? What mattered was doing the right thing.

Δ

Goodbyes are never easy. We were down in the hole, lined up before the
Golden Lotus
in our armor. It was cold. Honeyhair and Blondie and Lan Hwa were saying goodbye to their men, for what was probably the last time. Lan Hwa was in Assidic funeral clothes, a white gown with black scarves, gasping and sobbing in Saka's arms. Golden Lotus was also there – the girl, not the ship. I had never seen her before. She was a heart-stopping beauty, hanging off the general's armor in obvious distress. She was in funeral garb, too. The girls were all crying. Honeyhair was almost fused to my armor, arms flung around my shoulders. She had given me a national service medallion for luck, carefully hanging it around my neck. Then she had dissolved in tears. I breathed in her lovely scent, for maybe the very last time, and I could feel the tears blinding my eyes. Damn it! What the hell could I do?

The Professor and Ice and Kwan were there, and Kwan had a firm grip on Ice as if to ensure she didn’t try to stow away on the ship. But Ice tore away from Kwan and tearfully embraced Bees and told her she would be praying to God for survival and victory.

Arie had to force Blondie to let go of him. It was time to go. Time to go. The Professor saluted us, and we all saluted back.

"Death!" Prof shouted.

"Death!" we all shouted back. It was the ancient battle cry of the Legion. Then we walked up the ramp into the
Golden Lotus
.

Δ

Once in the vac, all was calm. I was in the pilot seat on the left. The general was beside me. Bird and Saka were behind us in the observer's seats. Doggie, Scout, Smiley and Arie were in their positions near the main entrance. Bees was near them in a room she had set up as a medical cube. We were all in A-suits. The security team had their E's strapped to their armor and ours were within reach. For now, we had visors up but were prepped to snap them down in an instant should anything go wrong.

The wide, panoramic simport gave us a spectacular view. Our own awesome universe, our own Milky Way galaxy, our own little slice of infinity, burning with billions of glorious stars and vast shimmering clouds of starstuff, God's nurseries where the stars were made.

I was calm. What a view! We would do our duty, no matter what.

Doggie entered the cockpit with Blackie. Blackie barked, wagging his tail. What the hell? I stared at him. Doggie smiled.

"Blackie is part of our squad," he explained, happily. "And nobody said he couldn’t go. He's our mascot. He should be with us." Blackie nuzzled me. Doggie had him on a leash.

The general laughed. "All right," he said. "I guess it's too late to send him back. Just keep him on the leash, and make sure he doesn't touch anything. And the cockpit is off limits for him."

"Yes sir," Doggie said, with a big smile. "Thank you sir!"

I thought about it for awhile. Well why not? Blackie saved my life once. Maybe he will do it again. Or maybe I could save his.

"Control, Lotus," the general said. "Testing Q-link. Do you read?"

"Lotus, Prof. I read you ten high. By the way – we're missing one wolf. You don't happen to have him, do you?"

"That's a ten, sir," the general replied. "He must have stowed away. But we don't mind, really."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that."

"Attention all hands," the general said. "We are about to initiate DX stardrive to our launch point for Dragon Shoals. Visors down and stand by."

I touched the DX stardrive lever. It felt good. I was supremely confident.

"Go ahead, Prophet. You're the pilot," the general said.

I went through the procedures. I entered the coords. I activated the jump.

For an instant nothing happened, then there was that silky jolt, the stars all disappeared from the simport, and we were once again racing through an inky infinity. It was silent in the cockpit. The glow from the oblong cockpit instruments cast us all in pale green. We were in DX stardrive.

"Control, Lotus. We are in DX stardrive, no problems to report."

"Thank you, Lotus," the Prof replied. "The Q-link is functioning perfectly. Good luck to you."

We spent a lot of time scanning the instruments, looking for problems. We didn't find any. The factory that built her had done a good job. But we were going to blast it to bits. What supreme irony.

Δ

We exited stardrive a good nineteen hours later, further from home than I had ever been before. Dragon Shoals was 13,880 light years from Algenib. Our stardrive exit point was within the danger area on our starcharts but outside of the suicide radius, as they called it, where there would be no possible escape. It was an easy vac ride to the DX stargate mode jump-off point. We were on course, all right.

The stars looked a bit different out here, so far from home. Maybe it was just my imagination, but I felt I was in an alien place already, some place I did not belong. I felt instinctively that all those magnificent stars and nebulae cared not a whit for the presence in their infinite space of sub-microscopic particle creatures like us, alive or not. I knew they could annihilate us in a microfrac, unaware and uncaring. I strained to make out the presence of Dragon Shoals. I knew it was up ahead, all around us, ripping spacetime to shreds, pulling everything towards it. I saw billions of stars, and unending vistas of glittering molecular clouds, wonderful wedding veils of starstuff.

Bird turned on the speakers so we could hear Dragon Shoals itself, speaking to us, growling at us, rippling and roaring and lapping, as if an infinite, unending starry ocean was crashing over a titanic coral reef. I imagined I could hear the screeching protests of dying stars, being ripped to atoms. What a chilling sound. And who were we to challenge this mighty beast? And suddenly it started to come into a dim focus. A glittering, golden red-eyed dragon swirled in the sky like a great snake, covered with agate scales, blue and green and crimson and gold and silver, opening its giant webbed wings, covered with filmy silky hairs. Drawing in its breath, gushing out a fiery torrent of plasma and ashes and black smoke, twisting and fluttering like an evil bat, reaching out with its great sharp-clawed paws to seize me and tear me limb from limb. I raised a hand to ward off the plasma – what a foolish gesture. I was nobody, a gnat, caught in the breath of a god. I was doomed and finished. How could I kill a dragon? It was my DX dream – and now I was experiencing it in real life!

"You all right, Prophet?" the general asked.

"No, I'm fine. Fine."

"Delta, Bees. Please. Let us pray." We were silent. Let Bees do her thing. Why not? If the dead can walk, maybe we particle creatures can challenge dragons as well.

"Lord, Deadman, and all the spirits that are burning in our hearts," Bees said, "we pray to you and to all those who have gone before. We pray for the strength to persevere in the face of all obstacles and to do your will at all times in this your holy mission. We pray for victory against Satan and his demons. Saint Michael the Archangel, we pray to you and your heavenly host of militant angels, defend us in this day of battle, be our safeguard against the wiles and wickedness of the devil, may God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God cast into hell Satan and all his evil demons who prowl through the galaxy seeking the ruins of souls. We pray for victory and for deliverance from hell, but mostly we pray for victory. If we are to die, let us die together, fighting to the last, may God's will be done. Amen."