Jupiter smiled. “How did we come to be on the same side in anything?”
Lord Neptune said, “I am not on your side, Brother! Didn’t I just say I liked the kid. I mean, I like His Imperial Majesty.” He took up his trident, came, knelt down before Aeneas, and laid the trident down at his feet. “Send me to prison or have me rubbed out or brain-raped, whatever you like. You are in charge. But I can be useful to you! Lord Jupiter always wanted the throne after Tellus was gone: jealousy has driven him mad! I suggest to your Imperial Majesty…”
Aeneas said grimly, “I will inflict on you whatever next comes out of your mouth.”
“…that he be raised to a position of commander in chief for the next attack… and granted special honors and dignities, worthy of his…”
Lord Jupiter stood. “You do not trust me, sire! I see that. But inflict the doom Lord Neptune says! I will lead the next attack. I will prove myself to you.”
Aeneas said, “But you believe I am a murderer and a tyrant.”
Lord Jupiter threw back his head, “You believe all of us are tyrants! You have said so often enough!” He shrugged and raised his eyebrows, grinning broadly. “People usually accuse others of flaws they see in themselves, don’t they?”
Lord Uranus, who was now the only one still seated, said in meditatively. “I believe you, sire. Therefore I do not rescind my oath of fealty.”
Aeneas stared at him in disbelief. “You? But you are the one who said I did it.”
The mask took on a more serious expression than its default shape, and less haughty. “I said you have the means. You lack the motive. Lord Mars would have killed Lord Saturn without hesitation, and my brothers would not have cared one iota. So you have no reason to lie. Sire, we know Lord Tellus backs you: he is the one who gave you the superluminary science in the first place. He could be hidden as one of the servants, or as one of you. Or me, behind this mask. Or standing behind yonder tree.”
Lord Mars said, “Wipe your face, sire. Take up your crown. Duty calls. You may not like it. You may hate it. But duty is duty. Your folks are filth. We get that. You don’t like us. We get that, too. We don’t like us, either. But we are what you have to work with.”
Lord Mars raised his voice and looked around. “I move that the fate of mankind be what the Emperor decrees. Because this is not just about the superluminary science any more. His leadership has saved us. We acted as one. I don’t want to see the old squabbles come back.”
Lady Venus said, “Seconded!”
Lord Mars said, “I call the question, and move we vote by acclamation.”
Lord Uranus said, “No. Not by acclamation. The ballot must be secret.”
Aeneas said heavily, “Let it be unanimous! A single nay vote, and I give the crown to Lord Mars.”
They used an encrypted and anonymous channel on their rings to collect the ballots. But, instead of the vote total, Sig, the servomind in Aeneas’ ring said, Sir, there is an anonymous message sent you over the encrypted channel: ‘Saturn was not the traitor. You must retain the crown until he is found.’
Aeneas did not move for the longest time. Finally he bent, and picked up the crown, and straightened, and placed it on his head. He did not see the emeralds and gold that adorned it. He only felt the weight, the unrelenting and terrible weight.
“Our destiny,” he said in a voice from which all emotion had been scraped free, “Lies in the Luminous Blue Variable 1806-20 in Sagittarius on the far side of the galaxy from here, where the last Master Armature resides. The attack there shall be led by Lord Jupiter, as he has volunteered. In the meanwhile, I place him in charge of the militia. However, we have many battles before that, leading to that final climactic war…”
Episode 05 War Plans
Aeneas met with Lord Mars in the newly rebuilt Imperial mansion. Lord Mars was a little surprised to see that, once he was past the gold-drenched anteroom, the vast marble plaza of the receiving hall, and the looming statues of the Nave of Memories, Aeneas’ personal quarters consisted of inauspicious quarters, what one might expect of a burgher of simple tastes.
There was cot, a couch, a chair, a workbench. To one side was what looked like a cross between an automatic kitchen and a mad scientist’s laboratory. Here Aeneas prepared the various foods and nutriments the earthly as well as the unearthly biological systems living in his body needed. In the center was a fully equipped biotechnological operating theater, surrounded by holographic mirrors. To the other side, the far wall was glass panels containing living organs of various types, beating hearts and pulsating brains, grotesque and dripping. Beyond that, a sliding wall opened up into a shooting range. Here were stored also instruments for calibrating the various biological weapons Aeneas carried in his awkwardly tall body.
Lord Mars noticed the signs of disuse. Aeneas had not had time, of late, to pursue his hobby of body-tinkering.
The only decoration in the room was the ceiling. It was the bottom of a glass aquarium, which gave the room a wavering light reminiscent of the skies of Venus.
Sitting on the one chair in the room was Lord Uranus, or someone wearing his mask. He was garbed in a hooded robe like a Blackfriar monk. His hands were folded and hidden in his sleeves.
Lord Mars said sharply to Aeneas, “I thought this was a secret meeting.”
Aeneas said to Mars, “It turns out psychometry has other applications aside from astrology. I have no way to block a type of undetectable spy ray I have recently found Lord Uranus commands, and so it is pointless for me to hide my words from him.”
Mars was wryly amused to see Lord Uranus stand when Aeneas entered the room. He doubted it was courtesy being shown the sovereign. He assumed Uranus was mildly unnerved to have a nine-foot tall youth looming over him, looking down.
Lord Uranus said, “Sire, I was about the ask the same question. I was the one who sent that message secretly to your ring, telling you not to abdicate. There is clearly a betrayer among us. Why not he?”
Aeneas said to Uranus, “For the simple reason that if Lord Mars wanted all men dead, he would merely kill them all.”
Lord Uranus said, “What if he wanted to enslave, rather than destroy? He might betray your throne without betraying mankind.”
Aeneas laughed. “I wish he envied my throne! I tried to give it to him. Who better to lead us in war?”
Mars said, “The only time I pray with Brother Beast is when you talk like that. I know my limitations. I can destroy an enemy, but I cannot stand my brothers, and could not rule them.” He turned to Lord Uranus. “If you are spying on us all, who is it? Who is the betrayer?”
Lord Uranus said, “Someone who knows how to elude me. I suspect Lady Venus, whose technology operates entirely by thoughts, which my spy rays cannot pick up. Who else had the power to mesmerize Lord Saturn? But the young Emperor will not listen to my suspicions.”
Aeneas said, “I do listen. Most carefully. It would be irresponsible for me not to take precautions against a possible threat, merely because she is my mother and I love her. Of course I am on guard against her. What precaution do you suggest?”
Lord Uranus had his mask raise one eyebrow. “Kill her.”
“And lose the only one among us who understands every nuance of thought-science, how mental energy is generated, how it creates free will, how it bypasses linear time? I have already lost the ability to see into the past, or to change the rate of passing time. Do not ask the one-armed man to amputate another limb.”
“Then exile….”
“To where?”
And when Lord Uranus had no answer, Aeneas turned to Lord Mars. “My each move is fraught with danger. The smallest slip, and the race dies, every one of us. But if I am too cautious to move, the enemy without, or the betrayer within, will find time and chance to do us all in.”
Lord Mars said, “I stink at intrigue. That is why I stay out of it. I hope you are not asking who I think it is? Lord Uranus is my prime suspect. He is a sneaking snake.”
Aeneas said, “I did not call you here to hear suspicions but to plan strategy. I have two judgments to make, and I wanted both of you to advise me. Here is what we currently know about Luminous Blue Variable 1806-20…”
His ring glittered, and the information unfolded into their minds. The memories of the necroforms captured in the Xormxragon Dyson proved useless. Their masters had removed from them all knowledge of the universe outside the giant star Ara A. However, Urvasthrang, and he alone, knew something of the outside universe, and of the Luminous Blue Variable 1806-20.
The space vampires called it the Master Star, since a last working armature there alone had the range to open warpchannels from one end of the Milky Way to the other. Stars of normal size in the satellite galaxies outside Milky Way were beyond that range, but not LI 181, Leiden’s Star.
The Master Star in Sagittarius was at the core of Radio Nebula G10.0-0.03, in one of the largest H II regions in the galaxy, Westerhout 31. It was also one of the most strongly held and fortified regions of the space vampires.
The memory of Urvasthrang showed what the defenses were: here was the dead supermagnetic gamma-radiating star called a magnetar, SGR 1806-20; two blue hypergiant stars; a supergiant O-type star; and three mysterious dying giants called Wolf-Rayet stars in the throes of pre-nova convulsions.
All were sources of high-energy electromagnetic radiation, and all were massive enough to house working long-range armatures, and therefore could deliver the magnetic, gravitic, high-energy, and plasma discharges across interstellar distances. Other of the young, massive stars had been Dysoned and weaponized, that full stellar outputs could be directed at a star system, to vaporize all its planets.
The magnetar released more energy in one tenth of a second than Sol had released in one hundred thousand years: a duodecillion joules.
Mars and Uranus studied the diagrams and three-dimensional, moving images of the Westerhout 31 region. In addition to star-based weapons, there were thousands of War Dysons and ringworlds, jovian battleworlds by the hundred of thousands, and terrestrial battleworlds by the millions, stationed either about the suns or in the cold night of deep space. Of smaller vehicles, the size of moons, asteroids or continents, no record was kept nor attention paid. They could be constructed as needed, more rapidly than an organism under attack by disease produced antibodies.
Aeneas said, “None of this information is current. What our captured vampire lord knows is centuries out of date. However, if we send in spyships first, the chance that the enemy will detect our interest and divine our intent increases. We also need to commit acts of piracy, preferably against weak and unwarned targets, to loot more technology and materials, particularly working warpcores. Without them, we have only one Dyson and three jovians.”
Lord Mars said, “In effect, we have a navy of four. What are their ranges?”
“Basically, the range of a warpcore increases by pi for every increase in mass by an order of magnitude. War Dyson has a safe operating travel range of six thousand light years, and the jovian armatures, ninety light years.”
Lord Mars said, “We jumped farther than that to reach Ara A from Alpha Centauri.”
Aeneas said, “A small G or K type star has enough mass to form a safe warpchannel of two thousand light years. The eleven thousand we reached was only because we drained all the energy from Alpha Centauri in one pulse of force, and even then, even with sufficient anchoring mass at the far end, that jump was an insane risk.”
Mars asked, “How insane?”
Aeneas sighed. “Enough to make me hope an assassin’s bolt would find me beforehand. The space-quake that tore the heart of Ara A and threw into orbit over twenty sol-masses of plasma to form that ring of fire we encountered, not to mention throwing up an atmosphere thick enough to carry sound, could have happened inside the warpchannel, to us.”
Lord Mars looked at Aeneas carefully. Small wonder Aeneas had such weariness in his eyes. He was fighting on without hope, and hiding from everyone how hopeless it was.
Aeneas continued, “Our options are piracy to increase our material, espionage to increase our intel, or a straight, blind attack to maximize the element of surprise. Each time we use a warpcore, there is a risk of detection by an enemy warpcore.”
Lord Mars did not ask about slower-than-light methods of detection. These lagged by minutes and hours in combat taking place across interplanetary ranges. As for interstellar ranges, the information arrived in time only to be of interest to historians.
Lord Uranus said, “Sire, I was the chief spy for Lord Tellus. I kept tabs on all my brothers for him. This is my area of expertise. Espionage even across interplanetary ranges is out of date before it was received. I urge a blind but swift attack.”
Lord Mars said, “And I was Father’s chief soldier whenever rebellion loomed. War is my area, and I say, going blind into any battle is begging for disaster.”
Aeneas said, “Your advice?”
Lord Mars said, “Slow and steady. As best we can tell, these creatures are not just a dying society, but a long-dead one. The undead creatures are corrupt, isolated, and disorganized. Assaulting stars where we are not expected will find them under-defended.”
“Go on.” Said Aeneas.
Lord Mars said, “Your success at Zeta Herculis showed how even a small group, small enough for Lord Pluto to hide, can seize control of a whole world, and remain unseen. Everyone but the enemy uppermost leadership seems to have used up their stores of life energy millennia ago. I can comb through the memories of Urvasthrang for likely spots where the locals have been comatose for millennia. And no one posts watchmen at a graveyard.”
Lord Uranus said, “When all one’s slaves lack free will, laxity of the secret police is an inevitable temptation.”
Aeneas said, “An interesting thought! And one we should keep in mind!”
Uranus said, “Majesty…?”
“You said it yourself. Let us not be lax. We in this War Dyson are like a hare who has mesmerized a quintillion sleepwalking wolves, whom we command to our bidding. But remember what happened what the light of Sol, the vampire-destroying light, touched the Great Eye of Zeta Herculis. Secret commands buried too deeply for Lady Luna to detect sprang to sudden life. Lord Uranus, your task is twofold: first, to establish proper and secret precautions against an enemy, external or internal, from waking the hordes of undead in the War Dyson against us.”
Lord Uranus said, “Sire, you know the astronomical scale of the Dyson makes that simply impossible. Our whole World Armada is less than a freckle on a whale here.”
“Concentrate on points of failure, on engines, powerhouses, weapons, or other places an insurrection must seize. Our betrayer will seek secretly to suborn the undead we have suborned.”
The mask of Lord Uranus changed, and looked at him with new respect. “Meaning that there were not countless thousand of undead technicians fully knowledgeable about the warptech? That was a deception? A lure?”
“An exaggeration. But, yes, it was bait. I expect the traitor to make his move at some point before we assault LBV 1806-20. Once we have the Master Armature in our possession, we can put ourselves beyond the reach of the space vampires forever. The betrayer cannot risk that.” Aeneas turned to Lord Mars, saying, “For this reason, I wish any acts of piracy and looting to be carried out as swiftly as possible. We must be audacious enough to keep the enemy out there, and the betrayer with us in here, both off balance.”
Lord Mars saluted. “Sire, I have just the plan, if you can make it possible.”
Lord Uranus said, “Sire, I also have a plan, which, unlike attempting to spy on a Dyson sphere, is feasible. The traitor is one of ten people. Nine, if you are convinced to trust Lord Mars.”
Aeneas raised an eyebrow. “Eight. You do not trust yourself?”
“Nine. Your mother may have long ago implanted commands in my brain of which I know nothing, sire. I would be a fool to trust me!”
Aeneas sat down on the cot. “Tell me
your plans, good my lords.”
When Lord Mars told him the military plan, Aeneas smiled. But when Lord Uranus told him the espionage plan to uncover the betrayer among them, Aeneas threw back his head and laughed as heartily and loudly as ever had done even Lord Jupiter.
Episode 06 Star Pirates of Canopus
The Lords of Creation met in council some days later, atop the green hill in the middle of Heaven Lake on Second Earth. The miniature sun was down, and the War Dyson had risen in the east. The north pole of the curve of the Dyson’s metal silhouette was reaching the zenith, but its southern hemisphere was still below the horizon. It filled over half the sky: the white clouds of heaven were between the advancing lip of metal and the purple western horizon. By some trick of optics, its seemed like a cope of metal slowly being pulled across the dome of heaven, like the visor of a helmet shutting. The three miniature suns of the World Armada, although below the horizon at this latitude, were reflected in the brass-colored hull of the Dyson so clearly that the other half of the sky was blue. As faint as the moon seen by day, Second Saturn, his rings, and his larger moons, large crescents and small droplets, orbiting with Second Earth, were visible against the blue backdrop.
Two of the three bands of the Tipler armature circling the Dyson were above Earth’s eastern horizon, forming a great cross curving across the bronzed surface. They were in motion at nearlightspeed, so that the advancing side of the rings were tinted blue, and the retreating side was red.
The circle of thrones was beneath the circle of trees. The chair of Lord Saturn was empty, draped in black, as no successor had yet been selected from his sons or daughters to take his place.
Aeneas said, “My lords and ladies, I gathered you to witness the first step of the renewed war. I regret that all this was done by surprise, and I hope this will be the last time I am required to act without consulting you.”
Lord Mars did not smile, but his eyes glinted. The others exchanged dubious glances, misliking this tone.