The Forgotten Planet

“Well,” Philip started, “why don’t I bring this meeting to order? First off, I’d like to thank you all for making the trip over to meet with us. I understand you have some big plans in the works, and it’s my hope that we can join forces and better your odds of success.”

“Personally, I don’t see why we even need your help,” Adan practically snarled. “We’ve got a damn good plan and the personnel to pull it off.”

Philip smiled and leaned forward in his chair, his fingers steepled in front of his chin. The gesture reminded me of a Vox Master Trader – or maybe just an arrogant a-hole. It’s a fine distinction. “You do have a good plan,” Philip countered. “It’s daring. Ballsy even. But if you show up in that floating wreck of yours and try to pass yourself off as something you’re not, you’re sure to fail – regardless of how good a plan you have or how skilled you are in the con game.”

He was right of course. I still thought he was a prick though.

“Now, if you show up in this...” Philip pointed to the vid screen, and it switched from a pair of ancient twin skyscrapers to images and specs of a gorgeous ship that appeared to be a cross with a small trader vessel and an atmospheric fighter plane. Even Adan’s jaw dropped as he looked at the screen. “Then you can pass yourself off as anyone you like.”

The ship’s body was a pinched-nosed oval, with small, downward-angled wings and vertical and horizontal stabilizers on its tail. She was painted matte-black and had the sleek look of a craft that would have all manner of stealth technology incorporated into its design.

Philip continued, “We patterned her off an oceanic predator from Earth’s seas called the bat ray. She’s beautiful, right?” Even Adan couldn’t help but nod in agreement. “My girl’s got a ten-point-two-C A-Drive, second generation antimatter engines, and she’s rated for vacuum and atmosphere. It’s the fastest ship in the sector, and there isn’t a close second. We spent billions of man-hours in R&D on that baby. She’s the prototype, but I hope to have a fleet of little black darts up and running in the next few years. Throw that Betty of yours into her, and the sky’s the limit.”

My heart rate instantly skyrocketed so high that I heard my pulse in my ears, and that notice was quickly drowned-out by Black Francis.

’Fall on your face in those bad shoes,

Lying there like you’re TAME!’

I let the music fill my ears, since I hadn’t yet found the way to stop it when it came on uninvited. “Send in the strike force,” I told my digital wartime avatar, AKA Sir Lancelot.

Almost instantly, Philip’s wrister buzzed. He looked down at it confused, the said, “I’m terribly sorry. I told them to hold my calls.” He tapped the screen and practically hissed, “Lina, I’m in a meeting.”

It may have been possible to hack his com signal and listened in on the other end of the conversation, but it wasn’t necessary. I knew who was on the other end of the line, and I knew what they were seeing on their end – a rogue element fishing around in their systems.

I went into MachineSpace® to get a quick look at what I was up against. Instantly, I was standing on the parapet of Camelot’s tallest tower overlooking both my kingdom and my foe’s fortifications. The program simulated the green fields and blue skies, but couldn’t really reproduce tactile cues such as a cool breeze or the warmth of the sun. There were emersion rigs built for entertainment that could simulate that and more (much, much more), but the processing power for something like that was well beyond the means of my ’Seven.

The enemy castle was so vast that it seemed to stretch on infinitely in every direction. My small force of mounted knights had pushed past the main gate, but were meeting heavy resistance in the guise of infantry in leather jerkins armed with either halberds or crossbows. It didn’t look like my small band of men would last long without massive reinforcements, and there was no chance of that happening because I hadn’t coded anything refined enough for what I was seeing.

“What do you mean we have a breach?” Philip asked. After a moments pause he added, “Well, find out where it’s coming from.”

“Merlin?” I called, as I surveyed the clashing troops below. My wizard instantly appeared at my side.

“Yes Arthur?”

“Prepare the spell.” He nodded. His “spell” was my standard logic bomb that was a pretty good weapon of last resort for most situations. “Lancelot?”

He appeared at my other side. “Sire?”

“Can we take the castle?”

“No m’ lord. We have little in the way of siege equipment and our troops will soon be overrun.”

I sighed, though that was the answer I expected. “Can we hold the gate?”

“Only if we halt the assault, m’ lord,” Lancelot answered, “and even then, not for long,”

“Any good news?” I asked, not expecting any.

I was surprised when he smiled. “The enemy has a mechanical knight and a ballista nearby that are located in your corporeal universe and poorly guarded, m’ lord.”

“Merlin?” He was holding a glowing blue ball above his head, spinning it slowly as he incanted words into the swirling mass.

“Do you have anything to do with this?” I heard Philip ask. I had my eyes closed, but I assumed he was talking to me. I felt Vee’s hand on my shoulder.

“Galen?” she asked. “What’s going on?”

“It’s ready Arthur,” Merlin said.

“Go,” I told him.

Marlin flung the ball off the tower, and it flew at speed past the gates and clashing troops. No one on the battlefield paid the spell any heed.

I turned to my lieutenant and said, “Lancelot, let’s take the equipment and pull out.”

He looked relieved. “As you wish, m’ lord. Do we leave a spy behind?”

“Can he remain undetected?” I asked.

He paused before answering. Then he sighed. “It’s possible m’ lord.”

“Do it.” He nodded. I opened my eyes and realized that everyone was starting at me. The jig, as they say, was up. I looked over at the room’s false panel and the fifty-caliber automatic turret unfolded itself and took aim at Philip. His steely glare vanished, and his eyes widened in shock. I fought the impulse to smile at that little victory. As one, all the heads in the room turned and looked at the gun, then back at me. Moments later the office door blew open and a black armored kill-bot entered the room, both forearm gun articulations locked on Philip. The machine was roughly Terran-shaped, all weapons and sharp angles. The crowd head-turning thing repeated itself again with the bot. Only Adan was smiling.

“Philip, I don’t know you very well, but so far I don’t trust you – or particularly like you for that matter.” He didn’t look hurt, but I did get a snort out of Adan. I continue, “I sure as hell don’t remember telling you about Betty – which means you’ve either hacked our system or you’ve got some side deal going on with Max and Russ.”

His mouth opened, but no words came out.

“This is a bad play Galen,” Russell said, fixing me with a less-than-friendly look.

“Good. Bad.” I shrugged and added, “I’m the guy holding all the guns Russ.” The gun on the killbot’s left arm focused on Russell. “The fact that you’re not backing my play makes me think you’re in on it too.

Russell’s frowny-face deepened, though Philip let out a chuckle and leaned back in his chair. A smile now played across his stupid, handsome face.

“You’re amused?” I asked.

“A little bit,” he held up his hands disarmingly, “but I mean no offense by that.” He reached for a crystal decanter on his desk. “It appears that your skills more than live up to Russell’s description.” Philip leisurely pored himself a drink, then held the bottle in my direction. I shook my head and he continued. “Honestly, I appreciate your position and your candor, but I assure you there’s no conspiracy. I just asked Russell to allow me to broach the topic of the wormhole generator, and it appears that in my zeal to make a deal I may have gotten a little ahead of myself.”

Before I could say anything, Vee asked Russell, “Why did you even tell him about Betty.”

“We needed supplies and a better ship to make your plan work,” he answered. “It was the only thing, other than an AWOL Servine operative, that we had to trade.”

“Well sorry, but Betty’s not available. Now if you’ll excuse us,” I said, standing up, “I think we’ll be leaving.” Vee and Adan were on their feet and ready to follow. Russell looked furious and Max confused.

“Wait, Galen please,” Philip said, his hands held up defensively. “I don’t want your prototype. I just want the schematics to mass produce them.”

That made me pause. There were no guarantees that the plans as currently written would actually work. And I wasn’t sure that it mattered if they did eventually get a working prototype. Once the technology was out in the open, sooner or later everyone would get their hands on it. I just wanted to keep away from the Salarian Empire as long as possible.

“I’ll supply you with the ship and equipment you need, and if there’s trouble, I can use my fleet to clean-up any resistance and clear a path for your escape.”

I sighed and looked over at my brother. “Adan?”

He shrugged. “It sounds reasonable, as long as the ship we get is that fancy bat-jet.”

That just about make Philips eyes bulge out of his sockets, but he remained silent.

Adan noticed too and smiled before continuing. “But Betty’s your girl, so it’s up to you.”

I looked at Vee, who was on my right hip with her retractable claws bared. She just winked at me.

Philip put a hand to his ear, and then spoke into his wrister, “No, stand down.” He listened a moment, then looked annoyed. “I said, stand down dammit.” He looked up at me and said, “So, can we work this out?”

“The problem, Philip, is that I don’t know a damn thing about you or your operation. I’m not exactly sure that I can trust you.” I stole a glance at David, and he looked furious. But he was glaring at Philip, not me. I didn’t know what to do with that information, so I just filed it away.

Philip sat back in his chair and gazed at the ceiling for a few moments. Just as I was beginning to lose patience, he leaned forward in his chair and caught my eye.

“Well then,” he smiled broadly, “let me fill you in on the big picture.”

“I’m all ears,” I replied. I sat down and Vee followed suit. The guns however, stayed pointed at Philip and Russell.

Philip nodded. “My story starts in 2234 of the standard Gregorian Calendar, and Phase one of the colonization push was just wrapping up. I was a Rear Admiral in Earth’s Galactic Navy, and my upcoming command was to lead the colonization effort into the Nuvian system.

“That’s a bunch of crap on so many levels,” Adan said. Philip just smiled back at him.

“It may not be bro,” I replied. “Vance told me some things.” Adan still didn’t look like he was buying it, but he nodded.

“Do you know much about that time period Galen?” Philip asked.

“Probably not as much as you,” I admitted.

“Well, in the decades since first contact with the Servine, our Navy made contact with a number of new species and expanded our sphere of influence hundreds of light years in every direction. We even confirmed the existence of the Zeta Reticulans, who’d clandestinely conducted scouting operations for the Salarians on Earth since the mid-twentieth century.”

“They scouted Earth before my people made contact?” Vee asked.

Philip nodded. “They actually crashed one of their ridiculous saucer ships in the Nevada desert, and the regional government reverse-engineered some of their simpler systems. It jumpstarted our space program hundreds of years.” He took a sip of his drink and said, “Anyway, Phase Two was devised in order to maximize our current holdings. You saw the results of that program earlier today.

“The O’Neill Cylinder,” I answered. “That much is in the Depository.”

“You have a copy?” he asked. I nodded and he said, “Good for you. Most Terrans don’t.” He gestured at me with his glass and said, “But I bet you don’t know about Phase Three.”

I didn’t, but it wasn’t much of an extrapolation. “Dark-body bases powered and lit by massive fusion reactors,” I said.

His smile wavered slightly. “You don’t disappoint Mr. Castell. This base was intended to be the first of many hidden military outposts at the fringes Terran territory. By the end of the twenty-second century, we were aware of the Salarians, and they were aware of our growing influence, and so we needed options in case they decided we were in their way.”

“So how did you end up is this system with the original prototype?” I asked.

“Well, that’s a funny story. We were supposed to go to another system entirely, but I never got the okay to leave. We had everything ready: support ships, equipment, supplies, and construction materials. We were loaded and manned with a full crew, and were literally days away from embarking when the entire program was cancelled.”

“The war?” I asked.

“Correct. The Lizards started pushing into our territory through the Zeta and Vox borders, overwhelming the first colonies that were hit. Terran Command made a massive push to prop up the next layer of colonies, and our men and equipment were being reassigned to frontline duties. So really, I made the obvious choice.”

“You protected the colonies the way you were ordered?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

“And be slaughtered? Hell no!” He inclined his chin towards David. We heard the reports coming in from the front line. Waves of capital ships, swarms of fighters and support craft. Truth be told, the lizards tech wasn’t anything special, but their raw numbers were staggering.”

“My officers and I had done our duty in numerous brush-wars with less-than-friendly minor Races like the Zetas and the Fey. This was our plum assignment for a career of loyal service. Don’t let this young face fool you kid. I’m old enough to be your granddad’s granddad.” He took another swig of whiskey before continuing. “My officers were with me, and we felt no need to tell the colonists our orders had changed.”

“I’m guessing this isn’t the Nubian system?” I asked

“That’s correct. It’s the Cambrian system. This location was one of the more remote Phase Two sites, and we assumed no one would come looking for us here. Especially after we decommissioned all the local gates.” He favored me with another broad smile. “And that plan seemed to have worked out just fine.”

“Then in 2321 a Cindar mining ship stumbled upon our location. We easily captured their ship – we were keeping constant vigil at the edge of our system. I’m a military man after all, and old habits die hard. We learned of Earth’s destruction from the miners, as well as the conquest of the old Phase One colonies.”

Like my homeworld Palance. I ground my teeth and let Philip continue.

“We started sending scouts out, little by little, exploring the surrounding systems, and eventually using the wild ’holes in the area to raid the shipping lanes. We quietly built a few more of these little spheres, and then started hitting Vox convoys and mining vessels. Our problem now is that we’re limited in our scope by the few wild wormholes available to us. But with jumpships...”

He let the thought hang. He had a nice little empire started, and with a wormhole generator on each ship he could hit trade convoys anywhere in the galaxy. Theoretically at least. I still wasn’t sure of the range of my invention, and I wouldn’t without proper testing. On top of that, it wasn’t anywhere near a guarantee that negative mass particles would hold the artificial ’holes open.

I still didn’t like Philip. He was both a coward and an ass as far as I was concerned, but he was Terran, and I figured a Terran organization of any kind was better than none at all.

“I assume the coordinates from the record match your star charts?” I asked.

“Well, it matches my memory,” Philip replied with a smile. “Our charts began to degrade once we started poaching ships.”

I saw Vee smile out of the corner of my eye. Damn if the Servine weren’t efficient.

David spoke up for the first time. “It’s not just profit that we’re interested in here. Not all of us were keen on this independent colony plan, even from the very beginning. There’s still a bit of racial pride among some of us,” he stared at Philip, who smiled but didn’t meet his gaze, “If Earth really is still out there, we’d like to give any aid that we can.”

I nodded. I wanted to speak with Vee and Adan in private, but if I had David and Philip left the room, we would lose all advantage. The two of them as hostages was all I had. I looked at Vee.

“I’m good if you are Tiger,” she said.

I nodded and turned to my brother. “Adan?”

He gave a two-handed thumbs up. I didn’t bother asking Max and Russell. I wasn’t even sure if they were part of our crew any longer, and at the moment, I didn’t much care. I had the only two opinions that mattered. I dropped control of the kill-bot and returned the turret to its wall enclosure.

This was it. If Philip wanted to kill or imprison us, this was his chance. Instead, an almost-imperceivable shift in Philip’s posture occurred – like an invisible weight had lifted from his shoulders. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. At the same time, Frank Black finally quit hollering in my skull, and I was left with a dull ringing in my ears.

“Alright then, I guess we’ve got a deal,” Philip said. He flashed his big, phony smile.

He then suggested a celebratory meal, but I for one wasn’t hungry. Instead, I felt like I needed a handful of antacids and a shower.