Extinction

-33-

“Socorro, disable channel requests from Star Force,” I said, growing tired of denying beeping calls from every ship in the Fleet. “Open channel to the Macro command ship.”

“Channel request accepted.”

“Send them this: All Earth Rogue targets will be destroyed.”

“Incoming message: Yes.”

I thought about that one, rubbing my chin. What would get them to go away so I could stop firing?

“Request operational command for removal of rogue targets.”

There was a long wait on that one. I wondered if the Macros had ever faced a similar situation. Perhaps other races had never been so eager to destroy themselves at their whims.

“Socorro,” I said, noticing the firing had stopped. “Retarget larger installations that have not been completely destroyed. Fire on one every minute.”

“Acknowledged.”

The ship shuddered again as the turret moved and my ship’s beam cannon stabbed down at Earth, punching through the atmosphere. There were enough clouds and smoke now that they obscured the beam, but I was sure they were still effective.

“Incoming message: Rogue targets must be completely removed.”

“Agreed,” I said quickly.

“Incoming message: Operational command given to indigenous forces.”

With that, they moved on. Maintaining their triangular formation, they drifted slowly over Japan and out over the Pacific.

“Socorro,” I said quickly, “Retarget only empty, destroyed facilities in remote locations.”

“Retargeting complete.”

A dozen sites were still on our forward screen. I left them that way. In rotation, we would pointlessly pound buildings that we’d already destroyed. I suspected that from here on out, the loss of life would be minimal.

After a few more hours, the Macros had completed two, slow patrolling orbits over the globe. No one else fired on them. The earthers had at least learned that was a bad idea. We continued to sit over China, beaming dead horses tenaciously.

Without further communication, the Macros left orbit and headed back toward Venus. I kept up the pretense of bombarding China for many hours, until the Macros were out of sensor range and the bulk of our planet was between their retreating ships and the crippled nation.

By that time, Sandra had calmed down. She was horrified, naturally, but she didn’t seem to blame me any longer. She looked drained and tired. Gone was the easy smile and manner of the college coed I’d fallen in love with. I hoped she would bounce back one day soon. This war was taking a toll on everyone’s spirit.

“You had to do it, Kyle,” she said after she brought us a round of drinks. They were soft drinks, this time. I’d long since run out of beer and I hadn’t had time to restock during our brief pause at Andros.

“Thanks for understanding,” I said. “Socorro, open a broadcast channel to all Star Force ships.”

“Channel open,” said the ship.

“I’m sorry you all had to experience that engagement,” I said. “For many of you, it was the first time you’ve fought in this war. Keep in mind, we are still in a war. We have a treaty presently with the Macros, but it is more to our advantage than to theirs. We had to fire on Earth forces to maintain that treaty. We are not yet ready to fight them on even terms. From their point of view, the Chinese military went rogue. If we had attacked the Macros, even if we had destroyed them all, we would have surely doomed Earth and our entire species.”

I took a sip of soda. I looked over at Sandra. She gave me a flicker of a smile, the best she could do.

“Socorro, open all channels for requests,” I said. “Close ship-to-ship group-link.”

“Permissions set.”

Crow was the first one to call me. He was in a petulant mood. “You could have told me what you were about, mate,” he said.

“Be glad I didn’t,” I answered. “Do you really wish you had okayed that order?”

“You did the right thing—I think. But you should have told me. Crow out.”

I huffed and ordered my ship to return to Andros. We still needed a number of repairs. I didn’t even look to see if the others followed me. They could do as they pleased for now.

Sandra surprised me by climbing into my lap and putting her head on my chest. She didn’t say anything.

I didn’t want to blow it, so I just patted her awkwardly. I’d thought maybe she’d want to break up after this expedition, but instead she appeared to understand I’d made the best of a horrible situation.

Kerr called me next. “The Chinese want blood, Kyle,” he told me. “Fortunately, they no longer have anything to avenge their dead with. I know what you did took huge balls, and maybe it had to be done. But I wouldn’t open any fortune cookies for the next century if I were you.”

“Thanks for the advice,” I said.

“One more thing,” he said. “We’ve got a fix on the second ring—or at least the spot we suspect a second ring exists.”

“I’m listening.”

“Have you ever heard of Tyche? It’s a theoretical planet out in the Oort cloud.”

“Let me guess, it’s right where the rest of the Nano ships flew out and vanished?”

“You are a prophet. Yes, Tyche has historically been an explanation for an effect, an odd clustering of comets and other crap out in the farthest, darkest regions of our star system. People thought a big dark planet might be hidden in a far orbit, disturbing the ice chunks that fly around out there. But now with new evidence, it seems that it must be another of your rings, like the one you found on Venus.”

“The Venus ring has its mysteries as well,” I said. “For example, I don’t know how we could have missed it all these years.”

“I shouldn’t be telling you this stuff,” said Kerr.

“But you’re going to anyway, because I gave you a wealth of free data. And because I’m one of the few people who can actually make use of your intel.”

“Yeah, something like that. Venus has a thick crust, about thirty miles deep. We don’t think the Venus ring came down from space and sank into the planet. Instead, our theory states it was already inside the planet, and it was recently pulled up out of the crust into the open.”

“Huh,” I said, thinking that one over. It would explain a lot. “Any clue as to who built these rings or when?”

“They’ve been around for a long time. Maybe it was the Blues. Maybe it was someone else we’ve yet to meet.”

“Encouraging, given the friendly nature of everyone we’ve met out here so far. What about the atmosphere of Venus? Why hasn’t it all escaped into the void on the other side of the Venus ring, where the blue giant reigns?”

“We are still theorizing on that point. I suppose for now, it’s enough to know that only a cohesive moving body like a ship can activate the ring and be transported to another star system.”

“Yeah,” I said. “As usual, we know how the tech functions, but we have no understanding of the principles behind its operation. Nor can we duplicate any of it.”

I told him then of my theory we were like Plains Indians who’d learned to use rifles and horses, the tools of a more advanced enemy.

“At least we’re still on our feet and fighting,” he said.

“Right, but do me a favor.”

“What’s that?” he asked.

“If they come and offer us a pile of blankets—just say no, okay?”