Eschaton 1 – The Other End of Time

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Dan

Dannerman settled the thing on his head as rapidly as he could; he wanted to see this linguistic marvel, wanted even more to find out just what the Frenchman had to say. The helmet didn't fit particularly well and it was heavy. The goggles-opaque eye-shields, actually-dug into his flesh over the cheekbones, but they did their job. He could see nothing but blackness, could hear the sounds from his companions only faintly through the thickness of the helmet.

Then the blackness dissolved. Dannerman was looking at a man dressed in an astronaut's EVA spacesuit, helmet tucked under one arm, and the man was looking directly back at him. It didn't look like a broadcast. It seemed that the man was standing before him, solid in three dimensions, seeming almost near enough to touch. When the man spoke he sounded as though the conversation was one-on-one. He said:

"Hello, ladies and gentlemen. You may recognize me. I am Colonel Hugues duValier, and I am speaking to you from the astronomical observatory called Starlab. I am not alone here. I am in the company of a person who has a message of great importance for everyone on Earth. I cannot show him to you at this time. However, he is a friend, and he has given me the responsibility-and the privilege-of delivering his message to you.

"You will remember that some time ago these two broadcasts of alien origin were received all over the world." A screen appeared beside the figure, displaying the two old space messages one after another. "Some people thought these were some sort of a joke. Others came closer to the truth, imagining that they were warnings of an extraterrestrial invasion. That is both true and false. There is a threat of invasion by evil people, that is true. What is false is that the evil ones are not the ones shown in the messages. The evil ones-the people who are even now planning to attack our planet and do us all great harm-are the ones who sent those first false messages in order to deceive you. These brutal creatures are called by a name which is difficult for me to say; it sounds like the 'Horch.' They possess a very high technology, particularly in weaponry. They have fought many wars, over long ages of time, and in them they have succeeded in destroying many other civilizations in other solar systems. Only a few races have been able to defend themselves against the Horch. Some of them are the people whose pictures the Horch sent to you-pretending they were enemies-but they are in fact the ones who can help you defend yourself against these attackers. Their name is even more difficult to pronounce; my friends here call them 'Beloved Leaders.' You already know what they look like, from the deceitful transmissions the Horch sent. What I will show you now is a picture of a Horch."

The image of the astronaut flicked out of sight and another being appeared. It didn't look like a picture. To Dannerman the creature looked as though it were actually standing there, no more than a yard or so away from him. It was taller than Dannerman himself, and gazing threateningly at him. It was certainly not from the gallery that had already been displayed, though equally ugly. Stocky body, wearing metallic armor. Long lizard head on a long and supple neck, with a lipless mouth filled with sharp teeth. Instead of arms it had two boneless limbs, like an elephant's trunk, fraying into half a dozen digits at the ends. In one "hand" it carried an axe, in the other a spiked club. It was, in fact, the very model of the kind of alien invader you would never want to see appearing out of your skies.

The image shrank to a picture inset on the screen and the colonel appeared again, looking grave. "I have been shown the evidence, which is indisputable, and so I now know what terrible things the Horch can do," he said somberly. "They will do such things to us, too, if we let them, and we have no defenses of our own that could withstand them. Still, we have been offered strong allies. With the help of the Beloved Leaders-as these friends are called-we can defend ourselves.

"Without them we are doomed.

"That is all I can say now. In twenty-four hours I will speak to you again, and then I will give you more details about the choices before us. Until then… please. Be warned."

The picture went to black. The message was over.

Thoughtfully Dannerman removed the helmet. "He spoke to me in English," he announced. "Rosie? Why don't you take a shot and see what he does for you?"

"Thanks a lot, Dan," Pat said with annoyance.

He shook his head. "You'll get your turn. Wait till we've all seen it." He settled himself on the floor and waited, staring into space.

Then Patsy, last to have her turn, took the helmet off and shakily, "Wow. That was an ugly one, all right."

Dannerman had been thinking. He said, "Something strikes me as peculiar. The astronaut spoke to me in English; was it the same for you Pats? Yes, I thought so. Rosaleen?"

"Why, yes. He spoke in Ukrainian. With a few Russian words, actually, but his accent was good. Why do you say that's peculiar? Clearly this is an announcement transmitted to everyone on Earth, like the others; naturally they would want it to be in languages everyone can understand."

"That's not the peculiar part. Did you see duValier's lips move?"

"His lips?" She looked puzzled, but Jimmy Lin was quicker.

"You're thinking it was lip-synched for each of us?" he demanded. "No. Forget lip-synching. Maybe you could get away with that for European languages. Mandarin Chinese, no. DuValier was actually speaking those words, Dan."

Dannerman nodded. "But that wasn't exactly what I was thinking. What I'm thinking is that it wasn't lip-synched, and that's the part that's hard to understand. Martin? Did this Colonel duValier know all those languages?"

Delasquez looked indignant. "That ass? No! I was astonished to hear him even speak Spanish. I do not even know how he succeeded in getting a spacecraft on course to Starlab, he is such a notorious fool."

Pat was looking at Dannerman expectantly. When he didn't speak she prodded. "What's your point, Dan?"

"I wish I knew. The whole thing sounds funny."

Patrice nodded. "I know what you mean. If I saw that on TV at home I'd turn it right off. 'Beloved Leaders,' for Christ's sake! Only-well, if what he says is the truth…"

Jimmy Lin finished the sentence for her. "Then," he said, "the world is really in the deep shit."