The Ninth: Invasion (26 page)

Klaus looked at him for a moment and started laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Galen asked nervously.

“You are the first person to be aware enough of the situation to ask me that.”

“So you have . . .”

“A couple times, yes.  However, most of your fellow directors have simply decided to resign.  Most of them are too cowardly to be a threat and aren’t worthy of my time.”  Klaus paused and smiled to himself.  “You’ll love this.  A few even believed they were
so
important that by resigning they’d force the rest to reconsider their view of this war.”

“Well, obviously that didn’t happen.”

“Obviously,” Klaus said with a grin.

“So what do you want from me?” Galen asked, starting to relax.

“Did you know you are a bit of a rare commodity these days?”

“How so?”

“Of the forty some-odd directors the Grand Executive assembled to deal with this mess, you are one of a very small minority.”

“In what way.”

“As the head of the PSF it is my job to keep the corporation safe.  My position allows me to keep tabs on just about everyone, but I’m not allowed to spy on meetings.  However, while I might not be able to listen in, I can watch those assembled leave.  It doesn’t take me long to guess what was discussed and who is on what side.”

“So?”

“
So
, when our precious Rita dropped the bombshell in your collective laps, I watched very intently as you all left one by one.  It was apparent most supported the war, and even more apparent when someone
didn’t
support it.  You, however, I couldn’t read.”

“I was just distracted by my daughter.”

“See, I was worried it would be that simple.  However, I decided to make sure.  I’m sure you remember our last little chat.”

Galen nodded.

“As I chatted with you, I confirmed what I hoped to be true.”  Klaus took a puff of his cigar and made a few smoke rings.

“And that was?”

“You don’t support this little war, but you are bright enough to keep that to yourself.  As far as everyone else is aware you are a happy little cog, proudly waving the banner of the ITU.”

“I don’t . . .”

Klaus raised his hand.

“There is no need to hide it from me.  I’m not here to make you . . . How did you put it?  Vanish?”

“Disappear,” Galen said uncomfortably.

“Yes, disappear.  I like that,” he said with a sinister grin.  “However, I have other uses for you.”

“Uses?”  A shiver ran down the director’s spine.

“I have need of a man like you, on the inside.”

“To do what?  A director like me has no real power.”

Klaus chuckled.

“I’ve got power.  What I need is information.”

“You want me to spy on the meetings for you?”

“I couldn’t care less about the bickering and plotting that goes on in your little meetings.  What I need is a man on the inside.”

“To do what exactly?”

“Listen, I’m a mercenary and I’m very good at what I do.  That means I prefer to use my fists, not my brains most of the time.  However, I’m not an idiot.  I know that I am a disposable asset.  All my mercs are.  And the nitty-gritty of the matter is this war isn’t going as brilliantly as the Grand Executive would have everyone believe.”

“Really?” Galen asked, trying to hide his interest.

“We hit them pretty hard at the start, but the Navy is a lot tougher than your analysts predicted.”  Klaus stretched and cracked his knuckles.  “To put it simply, we are getting more than we bargained for.  Double hazard pay doesn’t mean much when it’s paid out posthumously, understand?”

“You can’t mean you want to stage a coup-de-tat!”

“And replace the Grand Executive with who?  The rest of the Board is just as out of touch with reality as she is.  No, no.  I have no desire to switch dance partners.”

“You wouldn’t want to take control yourself?” Galen asked in honest surprise.

“Don’t get so overly dramatic.  My mercs and I are only here for the pay.  We leave the delusions of grandeur to the fools who keep us employed.  Beyond that, I doubt your trade captains would take that lightly.  Last thing my mercs need right now is a fleet of angry super freighters bearing down on them.  We just want to survive this and earn our payday.  And right now, the writing on the wall isn’t looking good.”

“So what
exactly
do you want me to do?”

“When the order comes down that the PSF are expendable, you let me know.  And if I’m out of the picture, you pass along a phrase to my mercs.”

“
When
?  Don’t you mean if?”

“Grand Executive Rita has a vision in mind for our little civilization.  If that vision has to be built on the corpses of each and every one of my mercs – I doubt she’d shed a tear.  That doesn’t work for me.  There is going to be a point, probably fairly soon, when she decides her plan is more important than our lives.”

“And you want me to warn you.”  Galen leaned back and thought for a minute.  “I can do that.”

Klaus smiled and nodded to himself.

“I had a feeling you would.  I suppose I should say, in the spirit of full disclosure, that I’ve got a ship following a little CI trade ship.  Your daughter is aboard.  I
had
planned to blackmail you, but I glad that won’t be necessary any longer.”

“Is she alright?”

“Very much so.  I’ve taken care to make sure any patrols that would have stumbled across the ship have been shifted elsewhere.  I’m sure those arrogant CI fools think they have outwitted us.”

“What do you plan to do?” Galen asked nervously.

“Nothing now,” Klaus said with a shrug.  “The little trade ship is heading right for Eos.  I figured we could attack the ship and take her by force, but then she’d be on a warship in the middle of a civil war.”

“You’d leave her in the hands of our opponents?”

“Right now our beef is with the Commonwealth.  All the other corporations, CI included, aren’t getting involved.  Beyond that, Eos has that troublesome nebula.  Even in her more wild plans, I can’t see Rita making a move on the nebula.  I’m sure your daughter will sit out the rest of this little drama on Eos.  I doubt there is a safer place in all the Commonwealth for her to be.”

“I’m sure you have a backup plan in case that ends up not being the case.”

Klaus smiled and tipped his cigar to the director.

“You keep my mercs safe, I keep an eye on your daughter.  Deal?”

“Deal.  What’s this phrase I need to use?”

“When Rita orders the unthinkable call a code Omega Black.”

The others shifted nervously as Brent and Cassandra took their seats.  She started eating, not making eye contact with the others.  A few of the others were eating, but it was in slow motion, their minds obviously not on their meals.

“Okay, what’s wrong?” he asked.  “If you all stare any harder, you’ll bore a hole through my head.”

Cassandra was startled by his sudden question and dropped her utensil.  The troopers looked at each other, probably working out who should ask the question they were all dying to know.  Slowly their gazes fixed on Dante.  He shifted uneasily as he pushed his meal aside.

“Sir, do you remember the nurse?” he asked slowly.

“Which one?  They came and went like clockwork.”

“The first one.  The one who was screaming?”

“Oh yes, I remember her.  What was the matter?”

He shifted uncomfortably, and shot uncertain glances at the others.

“What is it, Dante?” Brent asked.

“Well it was you, sir.  You scared her pretty badly.”

“Me?  What did I do?”

“Well, you . . . opened your eyes.”

“My eyes?”  Brent tilted his head, not understanding.

“Before the jump your eyes were closed.  The nurse was taking your pulse as the Wall passed over you.  She said that on the other side of the Wall your eyes were . . . open.”

“So, I blinked?  That’s what terrified her?”

Dante looked at the others hoping for some help.

“Brent, when you put your arm through the Wall, what happens?” Ronald asked.

“It tingles a bit and disappears.”

“True, but it also becomes fixed in place; you can’t move the part that intersects the Wall.  What the nurse saw was your eyes closed on one side of the Wall, but open on the other.”

Brent was stunned as the implications hit him.

“Wait, you mean he opened his eyes
inside
the Wall?” Cassandra asked skeptically.

“If her story is to be believed,” Cain said casually.

“
She
certainly believed it, trust me.”  Angela sneered at Cain.

“Isn’t that impossible?” Cassandra asked.

“As far as I know, something like that is impossible,” Dante said.

“The jump drive opens a window between two points in space, commonly known as the Wall,” Brent said idly as he considered what the others had said.  “The two points are linked but until matter enters one side the two lack directionality.  Once matter is introduced it passes through at a constant rate, locking the directionality of the Wall.  Those tiny bits of matter in-between the two windows are frozen out of time.  Even the most advanced equipment detects nothing inside.  There can be no movement inside the Wall.”

Cassandra looked at him with a worried expression on her face.

“I didn’t know you were an expert on jumping,” Cain said, taking a bite out of his meal.

“How can you be so calm?” Owen asked.

“Not everyone is as terrified of jumps as you are Owen,” Doug said with a grin.  “It’s not like talking about a jump is going to summon one out of thin air like some kind of boogeyman.”

“Do you think the nurse is terrified of the Wall, too?” Hiroko asked, holding Owen’s arm.

“It’s possible.”  Angela rubbed her chin.  “There was a lot of concern in the sickbay, so she could have already been upset before the jump without me noticing.”

“Now, that makes a lot more sense,” Humphrey mumbled as he started eating heartily.

“Seems like the matter is settled in your mind,” Rhea said mockingly.  “What brilliant conclusion have you reached?”

“Think about it for a moment,” Humphrey mumbled between bites.  “Which is more plausible?  A nurse who is terrified of jumps to begin with imagines she sees something strange after we barge in and set the entire place on edge, or that Brent broke every known lawn in the universe
while
unconscious?”

“When you put it like that . . .”

“How long does it take to blink anyway?” Penny asked.  “Couldn’t he just have opened his eyes really quickly once he got control over them?”

“A fraction of a second at most.”  Sanderson nodded.  “That could give the impression that he moved them inside the Wall.”

As the others continued their discussion Brent ate silently.  It had been a long time since he’d gotten a burst of information like that.  He had enjoyed his first experience with the Wall on the jump from the academy to Deriso, but he hadn’t understood it.  It was just a strange and fascinating phenomenon.  Now his mind fully understood the principals of the jump drives.  He knew how they worked, how much energy they needed, and their limitations.  From his memories of the ship on the night they left Deriso, Brent was able to determine the size of the jump window, the maximum distance a single jump could travel, and the strength of the generators that fueled the drive.

A cold shiver ran down his spine.  How exactly did he know all that?  He’d always assumed there had been an accident or something that explained his memory loss and tried not to think about it.  A small pang of pain jittered about his mind.  He suddenly remembered what he had been looking for when he collapsed.  He had been looking through his personnel file that had been filled with names and dates that made no sense to him.  His mind raced with a single question, who was he exactly.  A warm hand rested on his shoulder.  Breaking away from his thoughts, he turned to find Cassandra looking at him with a concerned expression on her face.

“Are you okay?” she whispered.  “You’ve been terribly quiet.”

The rest of the troopers were still chatting, but the topic wasn’t the nurse anymore.  They were talking about the cramped conditions of the ship.  Cain and Angela were heatedly arguing while the others fanned the flames.  Brent had been so wrapped up in his own thoughts he had missed the entire conversation.

“What did they decide in the end?” he whispered back.

“That the nurse needs a long vacation.”

“I hope this doesn’t change your opinion of me.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that,” she said with a smile.  “You’ve done some strange things before; I’ve gotten used to it by now.”

“What are you two whispering about over there?” Cain shouted.  “Sweet nothings being passed between lovebirds?”

“Like you’d have any clue what that would look like.”  Angela let out a laugh as she spoke.

“I’ll have you know I wooed many girls back on the academy,” Cain said defensively.

“Now who’s delusional?” Angela asked.

“It’s true,” Brent said.

“He’s got a thing for working girls,” Cassandra added with a smile.

The troopers burst into laughter as Cain was taken by complete surprise.

“It’s good to have you back, sir.”  Dante contentedly took another bite of his meal.

“Speaking of that,” Tyra said as she folded her arms.  “Now that you’re back with us and free of sickbay, where are you sleeping?”

Penny and Marie shrunk in their seats a bit.

“What kind of question is that?” Brent asked nonchalantly.  “As far as I know, my bunk is still a shallow indent that would be uncomfortable even for an infant.  I don’t have any choice but to join the citizens in the cargo bay,”

“We could order them to undo what they did.”  Tyra cast a glance at the girls.  “Or do you just want to sleep in a real bed?”

“Don’t tell me you’re envious, Tyra!”  Rhea chuckled.

“Who wouldn’t be?” Kindra asked with a wide smile.  “A full bed instead of a filing cabinet; sounds like a dream to me.”

“Well, forgive me for not having a luxury liner on standby,” Cain said sarcastically.

“That’s right, you
should
be sorry.”  Angela grinned at Cain.

The troopers burst into laughter.  A tone from the P.A. interrupted them.

“Attention all hands, this is the captain speaking.  Jump in thirty seconds, be advised.”

Cain quickly got up from his seat and rounded the table.  Wedging himself between Brent and Cassandra he turned an overly intense stare on Brent.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Cassandra asked irritably.

“Settling this thing once and for all,” Cain said with a grin.  “I’m not going to let a single detail get by me.  Blink if you can.”

Brent started blinking spastically as he matched Cain’s grin.  The other troopers chuckled as Cain sighed.

“Not
now
; when the Wall comes!” Cain said.

“I know, just having fun at your expense for a change.”

Noticing Cain’s annoyed shifting, Brent closed his eyes.

“Wait a second, how am I to know when to open them again?  I can’t really see when they’re closed.”

“Good point.”  Cain folded his arms.  “How about you hold out your arm like you did in the cargo bay.  You should get a rough idea of when the Wall comes that way.”

The Wall appeared on the opposite edge of the room, slowly edging toward them.  The small green smudge he had noticed in the stall was much larger now.  It did in fact look like a small fog with a twinkling light in the center.  Remembering he was being tested, Brent held out his arm and closed his eyes.  The time seemed to drag as he waited for the Wall to make contact.  Finally, he felt his fingertips tingle.  He got used to the speed of the Wall and prepared to act.  A thought flashed across his mind.  If he kept his eyes closed on purpose no one would know.  Brent quickly disregarded the idea.  He wanted to know for himself if the nurse had been correct.  Moreover, Angela would probably notice if he felt guilty afterwards.

As he felt the first hints of tingling on his eyelids he tried to open them.  Nothing.  They were completely unmovable.  He took comfort in the idea that he was normal in some ways.  Suddenly, he could see the green fog ahead.  For an instant, Brent could see perfectly.  He massive expansive of space loomed all around him, with the tiny green fog the only imperfection the darkness.  He couldn’t move any part of him as he took in the brilliant dancing green fog.  As the instant passed, Brent was once again in the dark.  His mind raced to make sense of what had happened.  Had he opened his eyelids?  As the Wall passed, he quickly opened his eyes.  He half expected the Wall to still be in front of him, but thankfully the ship was solid.

“Well, that’s a disappointment,” Cain said with a sigh.

“I didn’t see a thing.”  Tyra shrugged.

“That nurse must have been seeing things.”  Angela returned to her meal.

Brent rubbed his eyelids as he thought about the moment of vision.  As his fingers moved on the outsides of his eyelids, the lights shifted.  Suddenly he realized what had happened.  In the instant after the Wall had enveloped his eyelids, he could see as if they weren’t there.  An instant later, the Wall passed through his eye, sending it to rejoin his eyelids on the other side.  It was a strange thought that his eyelids and his eyes were separated by about three light-years for an instant.

“Well, I hope that satisfies your curiosity.  Brent isn’t a monster,” Cassandra said, impaling her meal.

“Cain, is Eos in a nebula?” Brent asked.

Cain gave him an odd glance.

“Why do you ask?”

“There seems to be a green fog ahead of us.  The only thing I know of that would look like a fog in space is a nebula.”

“I’m surprised you noticed.”

“You can blame the stalls.  A bead of water was suspended in the Wall.  If it weren’t for that, I would have missed the green smudge entirely.”

“There’s really a nebula ahead?  I wouldn’t have guessed,” Humphrey tried to sound interested as he took a bite of his meal.

“Is it dangerous?” Owen asked, a little pale.

“Not if you know your way,” Rhea said.

“So you knew about it?” Tyra asked.

“Of course.  Core Industries’ main world is nestled deep inside a nebula.  They were the only ones willing to risk colonizing such an inaccessible world.”

“So it
is
dangerous.”  Owen looked overly concerned.

“Very,” Rhea said with a small smile.  “The nebula causes all kinds of problems with the jump windows.  If any part of the window comes in contact with the nebula, it collapses.”

“Collapses?” Owen asked nervously.  “What happens to the ship?”

Hiroko soothingly rubbed Owen’s arm trying to relax him.

“That depends,” Rhea said.  “As I understand it, when the Wall collapses, it basically cuts everything on either side of it in two.  Jumping into the nebula without knowing where safe pockets are could do anything from slicing off a tiny bit of the ship to cutting it in half.”

Owen turned as white as a sheet.

“That’s enough,” Hiroko said angrily.  “We get the idea.”

“Why would anyone
intentionally
live inside such a thing?” Sanderson asked.

“That’s simple, protection,” Cain said with a smile.  “There isn’t a pirate, outlaw, or rival corporation who’d dare deal with the nebula.  CI has complete dominion over the nebula and everything inside it.”