Spinward Fringe Broadcast 7: Framework (53 page)

“We can fight,” Eve said. “My Fleet numbers
in the millions.”

“They can be anywhere!” Hampon cried. “They
aren’t even from this galaxy. The worlds they rule have been under
their control for hundreds of years, and every guess we make points
to them having faster than light technology for even longer. They
may have even been in space long enough for it to inform their
evolutionary path, thousands of years. This is what humans fear,
the ravenous foe that appears out of nowhere. The one we cannot
fight, where fear is the only correct emotional response. We put
ourselves here, to clear the way so they can have Pandem, and we
make sure people like those Freegrounders can’t stand in the way.
The Victory Machine was so adamant about them, the well-intentioned
ones who would puff up their chests and declare a ‘just war’
against the edxi. Maybe they would make a few kills, perhaps they’d
even fight off the first wave, but that would bring more
retribution, more consumption.”

Vessels of all shapes began emerging from
the main ship by the dozen, all directed at the planet. “What are
they going to do on Pandem?” Eve asked, looking at Clark, whose
fists were clenched.

“They are taking it as a brood world,” Clark
said.

“Interesting thing about edxi,” Hampon said,
smiling and nodding at Clark. The robots had managed to clean him
and another brought a long white cloak fringed with silver.
“They’re mindless animals, like a cross between something insect
and lizard for the first thirty or forty years. Mothers lay dozens
of eggs, and they wait for them to mature before dropping them on a
planet like this, where there’s a good hunting ground, water, and a
lot of land. They return decades later as their fittest, surviving
young are entering maturity and becoming intelligent. They demanded
three worlds just like this so far. The other two will be ready
within the year. The Order’s recruiting centres are spreading by
the day. Even on worlds where they are on the verge of declaring
war on Regent Galactic and the Order of Eden, we have places where
people can go and step onto the path to immortality, to eternal
grace.”

Eve watched the vessels as they moved
towards Pandem. The mother ship kept launching them, and there were
hundreds. Her stomach was becoming increasingly uneasy as she
remembered the people she saw briefly when she visited. The girl
with the beautiful eyes would become prey along with all the rest
of them. “Hell,” she said to herself quietly. The mindless, savage
young of the edxi would hunt and eat.

“It was a big hit with other religions,”
Hampon said. “It’s a perfect fit for ours. We won’t tell anyone
about this, of course, but word will leak out. It’ll be rumour, a
dark myth. We’ll tell our followers that rebels destroyed Pandem
while we keep prying eyes away. Regardless, this is the place
followers think of when they fear they are not achieving enough in
the Order. This is the rumour that will make them serve us until
they are worn down to the bone.”

“The Holocaust Virus did enough damage, we
have to suffer this now?” Wheeler said. “I remember the galaxy
before you turned most of my favourite cities into ghost towns, it
was a good place to be.”

“That’s something that couldn’t have worked
out more perfectly,” Hampon said. “The edxi would have demanded
death, and were on the verge of invading, starting with the worlds
that were hardest hit by our virus. We did it for them, and when
they saw the death toll brought on by the Holocaust Virus, they
were impressed. Humanity will survive in spite of the cost. It’s
what we do.”

“You enjoyed it,” Clark said. “You enjoy
this.”

“This is power, boy,” Hampon replied. “This
is the quest for the ultimate, most primal good, self preservation.
Who else could do this?”

“Someone who didn’t enjoy it,” Clark said,
taking a step forward. “I know everything you know, and I can feel
myself breaking inside. You are eager. You are evil.” He took
another step.

“Gua-“ was all Hampon managed to say before
Clark raised his hand and stopped his mouth from working.

“I’m going to rewrite you, Hampon,” Clark
said. “I know how the work has to continue, and I’ll do it without
taking pleasure. I even know the next thing you were going to do,
and you were going to send Wheeler. I’m going to send you with him,
as his lap dog, and you’re going to love it.”

“No,” Hampon managed.

“You saw what Freeground did to me, how they
programmed me to fight for my nation without question. I can’t
think of anything worse.”

Two guards standing on the second balcony
raised their rifles. Clark leapt up and crossed the distance so
quickly that Eve almost missed it. The guards were in his hands
like dolls an instant later, and he threw them to the deck hard
enough to rattle it under Eve’s feet. “You don’t want to challenge
me,” Clark said as he let himself drop to the ground. “The galaxy
hasn’t seen anything like me yet, and I hope it never does again.
I’m taking this freak’s place,” he said as he crossed to where
Hampon stood as though stuck to the ground. His eyes were filled
with fear, and Eve couldn’t help but smile.

“Help me,” Hampon said as Clark’s enlarged
hand engulfed most of his head. His long, black claws dangled past
his chin.

“Goodbye, Hampon,” Clark said. “Your hateful
personality might remain, but you’ll aspire to different things.
Things that will keep your urges working in the right
direction.”

Clark closed his eyes and Hampon shuddered
for long seconds before he was released. “Take him, get him close
enough to Jacob Valent to kill him,” he said to Wheeler. “If Jacob
doesn’t die, then he’ll get too close and discover the edxians too
early. It’ll lead to those things taking their ships into the core
worlds. Lister’s going to be in a daze for a while, but he’ll
follow you.” The Beast named Clark slowly moved to the seat in the
middle.

“What’s to stop me from dropping him in the
nearest sun and moving on?” Wheeler asked.

“I can find you,” the Beast said. “I can
find anyone within the reach of the Order of Eden network, just
like Hampon. I know how to rip you to pieces, Wheeler, you’re an
inferior model. Never forget it. I’m also in debt to you, so when
you’re finished delivering Hampon, go do whatever you want. Start
over with one ship, and an idiot first mate. Don’t come back to the
Order unless you’re ready to serve, and don’t go back to Freeground
for any reason.”

“Fair enough,” Wheeler said, grabbing
Hampon’s arm. “This way, Freak. Time to get back to the Ferryman, I
miss being on my own ship.” He nodded at Eve briefly and said,
“nice meeting you, Goddess, good luck with the new regime.”

Eve stared as the Beast sat down on the edge
of the black seat. She didn’t know what to say, and didn’t have the
first clue as to what to do or what to expect next. She glanced at
the body at her feet and had a thought. “I know he was a clone, but
can I cremate him properly? There are people who may want to pay
respects. He had a short life, but he was revered.”

“Take the Order, take your Fleet,” Clark
said. “The galaxy won’t understand this. There will be war whether
they find out about this or not. I want you to fight alongside me.
So we can keep them from interfering with this,” he said, gesturing
towards Pandem. “No one can interfere. If you want to save humans
from themselves, like I overheard when I was in your head, then
that’s how you do it.”

“By killing them,” Eve said.

“By only killing when we must, so our real
enemies don’t take too many. This isn’t a choice I could have made,
but it was the right choice. Now we have to deal with it. Someone
has to keep convincing the Order that they’re on the true path, so
your success has to overshadow what we lose. We need a goddess. You
need to give them immortality when they excel, and send them to
hell when they fail.”

Four guards approached with a stretcher and
waited for her orders. Eve looked at the Beast once more and
nodded. “I’ll be your goddess. I’ll help you fight this war.”

“I’ll be watching,” said the Beast.

“I know,” Eve replied. She motioned for the
soldiers to pick up the Child Prophet’s body and they efficiently
loaded him onto the stretcher and followed her out of the
chamber.

The need to avoid people in order to keep
life simple hadn’t plagued Ayan since she was at the Academy, at
least not to the extent that she experienced as she walked past
Liam Grady, who was supervising the storage of survival supplies as
they came in from the shuttles. He wasn’t just dealing with the
Triton’s extra supplies, but the towers of crates they’d extracted
from the Enforcer. Getting past him wasn’t hard, but when he smiled
at a glance in her direction, she couldn’t help but grin back and
blush.

“I don’t have time for this,” she grumbled
as she marched up the entry ramp into the Clever Dream. Its engines
were still cooling from three quick runs to the Triton.

“Pardon, Miss?” asked Sergeant Jenny Machad.
She and Victor were relentless in staying within sight.

“Nothing,” Ayan said. “Just talking to
myself.”

Two guards stood beside Trent Davi and Remmy
Sands along the side of the main hallway in the Clever Dream. She
pointed at them with her index and middle fingers and said; “You
two, with me.” She looked to their guardians. “You two are back on
regular duty.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” the guards replied before
filing out of the Clever Dream.

Remmy Sands and Trent Davi followed Ayan
into the captain’s quarters, where she sat down on the edge of the
large bed and motioned for them to sit on the seat in the middle.
Jenny sat down on a small sofa-seat at the side, pulling her
sidearm out and letting it rest on her lap, while Victor stood
beside the door, his rifle held across his chest.

“The Sunspire dropped you off here,” Ayan
said to the pair sitting in the middle of the room.

“Yes, Ma’am,” Remmy Sands replied, “and it’s
good to see you. If I can take a moment to say, you’re more
beautiful than in any of the holos.”

“Oh my God!” Ayan said, “I don’t have any
bloody time for this!” She was aware that she was more aggravated
with her own distractions than with the flattery from the small man
who offered it. “You, Sands, I’ll have you shut up until Davi fills
me in.”

“I prefer Remmy, actually,” he replied
sheepishly.

Ayan shot him a warning look and pointed at
him, ignoring a snicker from Jenny’s side of the room. She looked
to Trent Davi and took a breath. “So, what’s the Sunspire doing
here, who’s commanding her, and where are they now? I can’t raise
them on comms and their transponder isn’t showing up in the
area.”

“You can call me Davi, Commander,” he
replied calmly. “She’s Captain McPatrick’s command, and I’m afraid
they wouldn’t tell us a thing. We were shuttled to a station on the
edge of the Rega Gain system, they bought us a ticket to Tamber,
gave us a few local credits, and we came here. All I can say for
sure is that they moved on, out of the system.”

“Captain McPatrick?” Ayan asked as she
looked it up on her comm unit. To her surprise she discovered that
it was Oz’s uncle. She’d heard of him, a severe man who was the
very example of a Fleet commander, but she’d never met him. “What’s
his mission?”

“I can’t say at this point, Ma’am. They
stopped telling us anything once our mission came to an end, and
they put us into isolation,” Davi said. “We’re scapegoats for
action that went sour.”

“I was there for the whole thing,” Remmy
said cautiously. “Saw more first hand than my friend here, I can
explain.”

“It’s true,” Davi said. “He’s got more of
the story than I do.”

“Then let’s hear it, but keep it short,
we’re expecting an invasion sometime after oh-nine-hundred and I’d
like a few hours’ sleep before then,” Ayan said, loosening her
collar and leaning back. The mattress adjusted to support her.

Jason Everin entered quietly and took a seat
across from Jenny on the other side of the cabin, looking the
newcomers up and down.

Davi and Remmy looked at each other warily
for a moment. “We’ve got the very best timing,” Remmy said
sardonically.

“Could’ve been worse,” Davi replied. “We
could have landed after the action.”

“That’s better, in my book,” Remmy said.

“What? Miss the fun? I’m here to sign
up.”

Remmy shook his head and returned his
attention to Ayan. “It’s like this: the Puritan Party got into
power awhile ago thanks to a whole bunch of voters who thought they
would deliver on making Freeground safe again, protect us from evil
viruses and big bad military machines run by bigger corporations.
They did, sure, a little, but they really only finished plans that
were already in place by Freeground Fleet, and then instituted a
whole bunch of rules that would get us citizens breeding, staying,
and not looking at the awesome imported entertainment coming in
from the universe.”

“They censored pretty much everything, with
the main focus being news,” Davi said.

“Right, news, like that was what they were
really afraid of,” Remmy said, rolling his eyes. “One of the
biggest things they didn’t want people to see was the crew from the
First Light. We’re big fans, by the way, because you let the genie
out of the bottle, saw the galaxy and survived. They wanted to turn
the clock back, to when everyone thought Freeground was the safest
place to be and didn’t want crazy stuff like talking pets and the
Stellarnet. It didn’t work. People left in droves since they knew
that the galaxy wasn’t as nasty as they wanted us to believe. A lot
of people even paid their hundred thousand and headed to a Regent
Galactic world, something we’ve just started finding out in the
last few weeks.”