The Last Starry Night

Trocmo pulled a nullpistol from his pocket and pointed it at them. “Please come with me,” he said. “And you can bring your wonderful bomb.”

“What are you up to now, Taco?” asked Gwen. “Still watching TV with the Warriors?”

“We aren’t scared of you,” said Srini. “If you don’t put down your gun, we’ll detonate this bomb.”

Trocmo rolled his eyes. “If you set off the bomb, what will you use to destroy the City of Warriors? And of course, you’ll kill yourselves. But I promise you, you won’t kill me. Please try to show a little sense, children.”

“Children!” snapped Gwen. “You’re no older than we are!”

Trocmo just sneered. “I am older than your civilization,” he said. “Now, come with me. We need to get to the City of Warriors and save the Earth. Don’t you want to save the Earth?”

“We don’t believe you,” said Azzie. “Why do you want to save the Earth?”

“It doesn’t matter what you believe,” said Trocmo. “But if you don’t come with me, I’ll slice off your legs and drag you. Is that clear?”

“Why are you so keen to have us along?” asked Gwen.

“I won’t answer any more questions,” said Trocmo. He fired, holding the trigger down, and traced a thin black line along the floor towards where Ngoc and Johnny were strapped to a couch. Azzie jumped up to help them. Trocmo laughed, and released the trigger.

“All right,” said Azzie. “We’re coming.”

***

Beyond the doorway was a very brightly lit corridor, with deep red carpets and walls paneled with wood. As they entered it, they felt gravity return, and they staggered at the sudden weight. At the end of the corridor a glass door opened into a huge circular room with a marble floor and a great crystalline chandelier hanging from the arched wooden ceiling. There was no furniture except for bookshelves along the walls. A number of humans were here, apparently shelving books. In the center of the room was a marble statue of a man holding the Earth on his shoulders: Atlas. They crossed the room and went through another glass door that opened into a smaller room, long and rectangular, also paneled and arched with wood, with a long table in the center that seemed to have been carved from a single massive log. Grotesque Gothic figures were carved into the walls. At the far end of this room they went through one more door and entered what had to be the control center for the ship: it was just like the hemispherical control rooms on the Warrior ships, but the couches and control panels – there were only three – were clearly made for humans, with simple buttons and displays. The great hemispherical window was utterly black. They were still in nullspace.

There were three people here, one at each control panel. One was tall and gangly, with greenish skin, and a flattish head. Another was a short man with a large round bald head, wearing a white coat and black gloves. These two turned to look at them as they came in. The third, a woman in a black shirt and trousers with very long fingers, did not turn.

“Welcome back,” said the tall man.

“It is good to see you again,” said the short man.

“Well, well,” said Gwen. “Taco, I should have known you were involved with these shady characters.”

Trocmo ignored her. “The bomb, Srini?” He held out his hand.

Srini gave him the can.

“Thank you,” he said. “Mekhro, take this one and make a dozen more just like it,” he continued, handing it to the tall green man. “We’ve got a bunch of them as backups for our own power source. And Preimo,” he said, addressing the short man. “Help me get out of this thing.”

The short man nodded and waddled over to Trocmo. He placed his black gloved hands on Trocmo’s head and closed his eyes. Trocmo said, “I hate this body. I’m only wearing it because I thought I would have to use it to get past the Warrior defenses.”

Srini’s eyes widened. “This body?” she whispered.

“The Warriors trust this boy,” said Trocmo. “To them, he’s just a rather stupid, harmless boy they use to study humanity. In this body, I can wander just about anywhere I like in the City of Warriors. But thanks to you, Srini, and your clever bomb, I won’t have to.”

“Trocmo,” said Preimo, “stop using your mouth. You cannot disengage from the body if you keep using it.”

“Sorry,” said Trocmo.

Another second passed, and then Trocmo collapsed into Preimo’s arms. Preimo spoke quickly to Mekhro in some strange language. The Mekhro took Trocmo’s body, lifted it easily over his shoulder, and walked out a side door. Preimo stepped to the woman with long fingers, who still had not moved, and placed his hands on her head.

Azzie said, “That woman is Trocmo, isn’t she? No wonder she said it was good to see us again.”

“This whole thing makes me feel sick somehow,” said Gwen.

“Well, sure,” said Srini. “I mean, if that woman just uses Trocmo’s body whenever she wants to spy on the Warriors, then what happens to the ‘real’ Trocmo then? Is his mind just put in cold storage, or what?”

The woman with the long fingers stood up and stretched. “Thank you, Preimo.”

“Of course.” Preimo returned to his console.

“Poor Trocmo,” said the woman. “His mind is long since burned away from the stress of being away from his body. Of course, he was already half-mad from being captured by the Warriors and interrogated.”

“Who are you?” asked Srini.

“Me?” said the woman. She smiled in a nasty way. “I think you know my name already. At least, Azalea and Ngoc do.”

Srini frowned. “Azalea and Ngoc? But...”

“You’re beastly, whoever you are,” said Gwen.

“Gwendolyn,” said the woman, “you surprise me. You’re smarter than you look.”

Beastly? Something unlocked in Azzie’s mind, a flash like a suddenly-remembered dream: Mama and Gwen and Srini lying dead, Johnny dead in her arms, and this woman standing over them, smiling.

“You’re the Beast,” said Azzie and Ngoc together.

“Very good,” said the Beast. “Your species may yet climb far enough out of the primeval ooze to be interesting.”

“What are you after?” asked Srini. “You’ve judged us non-sentient and condemned us to be ruled by the Warriors. Before that, you visited us on the Warrior ship and taunted us, and sneered at us, and grudgingly answered our questions. Why are your going to save the Earth now?”

The Beast looked at them critically. “I wonder if there’s any point in trying to explain,” she said. “Your minds are so young, so limited...”

“Try us,” growled Gwen.

“Very well. I am old, you must understand – very, very, old. I have been watching this universe age for billions of years. At first, things happened quickly – there was the big bang, of course, followed by the rapid cooling and condensing of matter and energy; clumps of matter congealing to form stars and galaxies, that sort of thing. But now things are a lot quieter. It’s rather like watching a pot of boiling water slowly cool off. After the boiling stops, there’s not much to see until it starts to freeze...

“I am a seeker of beauty. It’s built into my very being. And this universe is very beautiful indeed. But very little has happened for a long time, and so I put my finger in the pot to stir it up a bit.”

“You were bored?” said Azzie. “So you decided to interfere with us?”

“Oh yes,” said the Beast. “I arranged matters so that the Warriors’ new sky sheet would intersect Earth’s path. And I made sure that they invaded without checking to see if you were sentient first.”

Srini was aghast. “You caused all that pain... all that suffering... because you were bored?”

The Beast waved that aside. “I seek beauty. Pain is beautiful as well. Humans read books and tell stories about people going through painful experiences, don’t they?”

“Those are just stories!” said Azzie.

“I suppose you have to be very old to see the beauty in pain.”

“Or a twit,” said Gwen.

The woman smiled pleasantly. “Remember, I am just a Beast,” she said. “I am not sentient myself. In any case, it is time to put my finger in the pot again. I don’t really want all the humans to die, and the Earth has been freezing for days now.”

“Days?” said Srini. “That can’t be! It’s only been an hour or two since you judged humans to be non-sentient!”

“Really, Srini,” said the Beast. “Sometimes your stupidity is astounding. The World at the Edge is orbiting a black hole, remember?”

“What does that have to do with it?”

“Time runs slower near a black hole,” said the Beast impatiently. “Because the black hole bends space and time. Days passed while you wandered back through the woods and played with dragons. And the Earth’s low temperatures are becoming uncomfortable for me. Now, let’s get on with it, shall we?”

“Uncomfortable for you? Why?” asked Azzie.

The Beast just smiled. “Here we go,” she said.

The City of Warriors leaped at them, bursting into bright scarlet and copper as they came out of nullspace. They were skimming low over what looked like hemispherical peach-colored homes, strewn over and around sage green parkland. Above them, the sky was filled with city. It seemed that they were inside a huge ball, the inner surface of which were covered with skyscrapers, homes, parks, and roads. The air inside the ball was dotted with small black ships.

It was exactly as Azzie remembered it.

But seeing the houses under her made her feel sick. She desperately hoped that the Beast wouldn’t drop the bomb here -- there would be children...

The Beast strode across the control room and put her hand on Preimo’s shoulder. “Look for the business district,” she said.

Preimo did not answer, but the view shifted around them as he turned the ship. Azzie was surprised that she couldn’t feel the ship turning. She glanced at Srini, who seemed to know what she was thinking.

“This ship has some kind of artificial gravity,” Srini whispered. “That cancels out all the inertial effects from turning and stuff.”

Mekhro came back into the room, and spoke briefly with the Beast in another language. Then he sat down at his console again. The Beast went over to her console and pressed a button.

“Please bring ginger tea,” she said.

“At once,” said a voice from the console.

The ship banked up and left, heading for a soaring tower at the edge of a park.

There was a soft tone, and a hissing voice from the console. “Ah,” said the Beast. “The authorities are asking for identification.” The Beast turned it off.

How long before we are under attack? Azzie wondered.

The tower came up fast. It was crimson, with thousands of tiny black windows, and was rimmed all around with balconies. A few Warriors flying around it, like tiny beach balls.

“Now, Mekhro,” said the Beast.

The tall man tapped a button. “Bomb released,” he said.

They didn’t hang around to watch the action. The ship put on speed and swept up, over the tower, towards the center of the ball. They slowed, and the ship turned so that they could see the tower again. There did not seem to be anything happening down there.

“Srini,” asked Azzie, “how long until...”

“Give it five or ten minutes,” said Srini.

“Incoming, ten o’clock,” said Gwen. Azzie looked: a black spherical ship coming up from the left, very quickly.

“Destroy it,” said the Beast. Mekhro tapped some buttons, and they saw thin black bolts sweep across the Warrior ship. It split neatly into sections and spun away.

“Good,” said the Beast. “Preimo, head for that park.”

The ship dropped quickly toward the city’s surface again. For Azzie, the fact that she could not feel the motion at all made it seem like they were just watching some kind of movie displayed on the hemispherical walls. A small woman entered with a tea tray, walking with some difficulty. As the ship skimmed over a huge park, dotted with trees and carpeted with green-gray grass, the Beast took a small cup and thanked the woman.

“Tea?” the Beast said to the girls and Ngoc. None of them answered.

The parkland gave way to a huge lake.

“Mekhro,” she said, “drop another one here.”

“Done,” said Mekhro.

“Beast,” said Preimo, “the Warriors are getting more serious. There are three ships coming up behind us, and half a dozen hovering over us.”

“They are afraid to shoot and hurt the city,” said the Beast. “You need not fire on them. Continue.”

Their escort of Warrior ships continued to grow. A couple of times they tried to block the ship’s path, but Preimo began to fly so erratically they found it hard to get in the way. The Beast had a third bomb dropped over a busy intersection of cars, and the fourth over what looked like a huge sculpture garden. So far, there was no sign that the Warriors had noticed the gravity bombs at all. Every once in a while, Preimo would turn the ship and look back at the crimson tower, now rather far up the side of the ball. There was no sign of anything happening.

“Srini,” said Azzie, “Is it possible that you’re was wrong about these things?”

Srini shrugged. “That’s always possible. Do we want them to work, or not?”

“Not,” said Gwen emphatically.

“I agree,” said Azzie. “I think that this Beast could stop the invasion in any number of ways, but she just wants to see more suffering.”

“You’re right,” said Srini. “I’m sure you’re right.”

If the Beast heard them, she made no sign.

At last the Warriors started firing. They used nullcannons, firing long thin bolts of darkness. Preimo flew even more erratically, to make it hard for them to aim.

Mekhro said something to the Beast in their language. The Beast strode back and forth, obviously becoming angry.

“I think she’s wondering why the bombs aren’t working,” said Srini softly.

“We are running out of alternatives,” said the Beast quietly. “If your bombs do not work, children, we will have to resort to more drastic action.”

“Why? What?” asked Azzie.

The Beast put her hand on Preimo’s shoulder. “Smash this ship into something that looks valuable,” she said.

“What!” cried Ngoc. “You will kill us all!”

“To save the Earth,” said the Beast. “Actually, I will not die, because I am not even on this ship. I am embedded in a cliff on a world orbiting a black hole. This body will die, but I have others I can use.”

“What about your friends here?” asked Srini.

“So concerned for others,” said Preimo. “Worry about yourselves.”

Preimo banked the ship and swept down towards a huge network of suspension bridges hanging over a collection of squat cylindrical buildings. If they struck the bridge right, it would collapse on the buildings.

The Warrior ships seemed to see what the ship was doing. Several of them tried to cut them off, but they darted around them.

“Ready,” said Preimo.

“Dive,” said the Beast.

Srini said, “Look at the tower!”

Azzie didn’t have to ask what tower: instinctively she knew it was the crimson tower. It was almost overhead now. It was collapsing -- falling in on itself slowly, raising a cloud of salmon-colored dust. Gwen gasped. And now with disturbing speed the buildings around the tower were also collapsing, falling toward the red rubble, as if a reversed shock wave were knocking them in towards the bomb. Azzie could see that the area around the bomb was being pinched, as if a sinkhole were opening up under the city.

“Pull up,” said the Beast.

Preimo pulled out of the dive so quickly that Azzie actually felt the ship tremble. Then he turned the ship so that they could see the lake they’d dropped the second bomb into. The center of the lake was a magnificent whirlpool.

“Excellent,” said Beast. “Enough. Return us to the sky sheet.”

Preimo tapped the keys.

At that moment, something in the fabric of the city’s tiny universe gave way. The sinkholes made by the bombs became much deeper. The ground under the ship leaped up, reaching out in huge grotesque tendrils, hurling houses and towers down in ruin. Around them, the single great hypersphere of the City of Warriors foamed into a multitude of tiny bubble universes, shattering like stained glass. The ground welled up and enclosed them, buffeting them with a wall of wind and leaving them flying blind, burying them with the dying city. And then the ship’s engines pulled them out into nullspace, and silent darkness filled the windows again.