*
Seth leaned to the side and reached across his body. After hours of imprisonment, it felt good to stretch. His arms and hands were stiff. Even his back ached. And he was still hungry, but that could wait.
“I wasn’t the first protester, was I?” Seth asked. “Just the first to make it on camera. The first to really get noticed by the public.”
Commissar Absalom grunted. He leaned against the bulkhead near the door. “I do not know what you’re talking about.”
“The Republic has done a good job. Or it was doing a good job. When I watched the news, it sounded like everyone was happy about the Fall. They all accepted it. I wondered how that could possibly be the case. But now I know. You just hid it. You covered up all the dissent because you wanted all the dissenters to think they were alone.”
The commissar was silent. Seth watched him as he thought. He was worried. That meant Seth was more right than wrong. Maybe some of the details were off, but there was enough there that he’d hit a nerve with Absalom.
“What are you thinking, commissar?” Seth asked.
Absalom glared at Seth through the energy field. “I am wondering how you could be so confident when I control your fate. If I gave the word, you would never see the light of day again.”
This sent a chill down Seth’s spine. The thought terrified him. If being stuck on Earth forever, was bad, living in a cell for the rest of his life was a hundred times worse. But that wasn’t going to happen. Seth was sure of it, so he hid his fear well.
“Are they using my words?” Seth forced a smile. “I thought saying that the Republic was taking the stars away from the people was dramatic. Maybe overdramatic, but I wasn’t going for subtlety. Are the new protestors copying me?”
Commissar Absalom clenched his teeth. He was trying to hold back his anger. It didn’t work. “How can you know what’s going on out there?” he shouted. Little specks of saliva flew into the air in front of his face. “It’s not possible! You’re nothing but a hell-bound liar! It’s--”
Seth breathed a sigh of relief. He was on the right path. Now he had to drive the point home. He had to scare the commissar even more. “Minutes after I was arrested, video of my outburst spread across the communication networks,” he said. “It was too fast for you to control. The media couldn’t suppress it, only try and spin it. They called me crazy. They might have even lied and said I was diagnosed with some kind of mental defect. But this just made it worse. The people were primed to turn on the Spatial Preservation Act. The more the media tried to control the narrative, the more they rejected it. Soon there were similar outbursts at smaller assemblies across the globe and--”
“SHUT UP!” Absalom screamed. He reached up and grabbed at his temples. “You are just guessing. You can’t possibly understand what I have to deal with.”
Quiet settled across the room. Seth knew he shouldn’t push Absalom even further. As he’d indicated, the commissar had the power to have him shipped off to a remote prison for the rest of his life. Even if that would be a terrible political move, Absalom might just do it out of anger. If Seth was going to out-wit the commissar, he would have to make sure the commissar kept his wits about him.
“You think you are some sort of freedom fighter,” Absalom said. “But with one stupid, fool-hardy outburst, you have undone months of work. It was not easy to get the people to accept the Spatial Preservation Act.”
Seth took a deep breath. He still had to proceed carefully. “So you admit that the Fall is unpopular?”
“The Fall? What a ridiculous name.”
“We flew among the stars. And now...”
Absalom sighed. “It is apt, but it fails to understand the complexity of the situation.”
Seth turned and headed towards the bench near the back of his cell. He was glad to be free of his bonds, but he didn’t want to stand anymore. He thought it might make him seem too confrontational. Even though he was sure he could manipulate the commissar, he wasn’t in control.
“You have a problem,” Seth said. “I’m that problem. Yes, I’ve guessed about most of it, but I know that I was transported across the continent for a reason. I know that you’re here for a reason. Clearly, I did something. Something...interesting.”
“I suppose it does not hurt to tell you,” Absalom replied. “That you have guessed correct. The Republic is so benevolent that, for hundreds of years, there has been no reason to protest.”
“Wrong,” Seth exclaimed.
Absalom held up his hand. “I don’t want to hear your theories. I’m talking about the truth. I’m talking about history. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is that the people have forgotten how to stand up to the Republic. And now, when it is ever so vital that they fall in line, I fear you may have reminded them of their power.”
It took all of Seth’s strength to resist celebrating. He wanted to cheer, to run around his cell and shout with joy. The people of Earth were waking up. This was what he always wanted to happen... Unfortunately, it took the end of space travel to do it. No amount of protest was going to wrestle control of the Heilmann Drive away from the Republic in the coming months. This victory was so pyrrhic that it wasn’t a victory at all.
For as long as he could remember, all Seth wanted was a revolution. The Republic had finally done something so terrible that the people were willing to fight back. But these means did not justify the ends. Seth now had a more important goal. He had to prevent the Fall. The protests would help, but they wouldn’t be enough.
“Time is short, commissar,” Seth said. “People are angry. They’re going to get angrier. It’s been less than a day. You can still spin this to save yourself a lot of trouble.”
Absalom stared at Seth, puzzled. “What are you talking about?”
“For the moment, I am the face of the uprising. I got within a few feet of the Chairman. I asked him the question on everyone’s lips. But I’m only the start. By the end of the week, everyone will forget about me. There will be a thousand faces like mine filling the streets. You need to use me while you still can.”
“Use you? Mr. Garland, you’re not making any sense.”
Seth took a deep breath. He hated what he had to do next. “Make me part of your team,” he said. “Let me take a look at the plans for enforcing the Spatial Preservation Act. Let me see the data from the scientists about the dangers of the Heilmann Drive. Bring me along when you decommission the starships. It will look like you are taking your criticism to heart. More importantly, it will look like I was proven wrong.”
Commissar Absalom was silent. He stared at the ground. Seth wondered if he’d overplayed his hand. Did he move too quickly? Did the commissar see through him? There was no way he could guess what Seth planned, but he could certainly deduce that there was an ulterior motive behind his suggestions.
“Your distaste for the Republic is well-documented, Mr. Garland. In light of that, am I supposed to believe that you staged this entire fiasco just to become part of a Republic task force? What are you playing at? Surely this is all a ruse to sabotage me somehow.”
Seth shrugged. “What could I be playing at? I assume that I’ll be under military supervision the entire time. What could I do to sabotage you?”
Absalom considered this. As expected, he could think of nothing Seth could do to stop the enforcement of the Spatial Preservation Act right under the noses of the Republic security forces. Still, Seth’s suggestion didn’t sit right with him. “Why do you want this?”
Now Seth really had to work. It was obvious Absalom wouldn’t take his offer at face value. He’d risked prison to stand up against the Fall. Now he was claiming that he would just turn his back on his own cause. Seth had to come up with a reason for getting arrested, for going through with a charade just to offer this plan.
“You got me,” Seth said. “This is really what I wanted.
I want inside access to the beginning of the Fall. That’s why I charged the stage. I wanted to be noticed, and now I am... You know why?” Absalom shrugged. Seth laughed, as if it was all so simple. “When this is all over, I’m going to write the definitive book about the Fall.”
“A book?” Absalom asked, incredulously.
“My education at RSIR is worthless now. I’ve spent the last couple years learning how to solve disputes on other worlds. Soon, there will be no other worlds. So I decided I would become a writer. What better way to start than by writing the definitive account of the Fall?”
Seth held his breath. He wasn’t sure if Absalom would buy it. The story felt ridiculous. But it was the best he could do on short notice. He started a series of protests so that he would be recruited into Absalom’s team, where he would get an inside look at the beginning of the Fall.
Finally, Absalom spoke. He didn’t even address Seth’s cover story. “You are right. If we integrate you into our team, it will show the people that the Republic listens. The Republic is transparent—a true government for its people.” A strange glint appeared in Absalom’s eye. It was almost like he believed what he was saying. “So, are you be willing to publicly state that you were wrong about the Spatial Preservation Act?”
“Are you asking me to lie?” Seth replied.
“We will give you access to everything you asked for. Once you see it, I am sure you will be convinced that I’m right. But if I’m going to consider your offer, I have to know that you will publicly denounce the dissent against the Act. That is the only way this will work.”
Seth felt sick to his stomach. He was about to betray everything he believed in. But it was the only choice. It was the only way he could hope to stop the Fall.
“Yes. Yes, I’ll do it.”
4.
The Heilmann Drive was not just an engine. It was also the most powerful weapon in the galaxy, capable of destroying entire planets. Any matter within the envelope of compressed space during a Heilmann Leap was fused and destroyed to provide the incredible amount of energy required to power the drive. A leap plotted through a planet would cut a swath straight through the core of the world, destabilizing its orbit. Even worse, a leap plotted through a star would create a chain reaction within the star that would destroy the entire solar system.
Fear concerning the Heilmann Drive pressed the early People’s Interstellar Republic to put strict restrictions on access to the engine. Only a handful of scientists and engineers were allowed to study the design documents . Heilmann Drives were constructed in shifts, so that no laborer would ever see the entirety of the device. Everyone who constructed, repaired, and even piloted a starship had to be a PIR citizen, living on Earth, under military surveillance.
This scheme of secrecy was successful in preventing the use of the Heilmann Drive as a weapon. In almost two thousand years, it was never used to destroy a planet or a star. However, the Republic’s complete control over the engine bred resentment throughout the galaxy. Many planets attempted to steal the plans for the Heilmann Drive, or bribe scientists to defect. Some even stole ships and tried to reverse-engineer the Drive.
No one was successful. The Republic’s stranglehold on the Heilmann Drive was complete. It lasted until the Fall and, in fact, was what made the Fall possible in the first place. If even one other world had access to the Drive, to the plans, or to a single starship, the Republic would have never been able to successfully stop faster-than-light travel.