Faster Than Light: Babel Among the Stars

8.

Therewere hundreds of official and unofficial events planned for the firstForbearance Day in 4192. Some of them were somber ceremonies, heldin quite remembrance of the end of an era. Others were raucousparties, full of drinks and drugs. All of them had one thing incommon: they were all tuned in to the live feed from Europa.

TheRepublic was storing the final three starships in the galaxy at theobservation station on Europa. It was also the site of the biggestparty of them all. Politicians, viewscreen stars, and high rankingmilitary personnel were invited to celebrate on the station. Naturally, everyone else in the Republic wanted to see what washappening on the Europa station, so cameras were deployed at all ofthe critical spots.

Therewas a main video feed from the dance hall on Europa, but that wasonly the beginning of the production. There were cameras everywhere. Some were in orbit above Europa, to give everyone back on Earth asense of perspective. Others were planted at the bars, so thatobservers could find out what drinks their favorite celebrity orpolitician ordered at such a monumental event. But the mostimportant cameras were set up inside the repair bays.

Atmidnight, the workers aboard the Europa Station would remove thecritical components from the last Heilmann Drive in the galaxy. Whenthey did this, it would end faster-than-light travel forever.Everyone wanted to see this. They wanted to know when to cheer...orwhen to riot.

Everything was going as planned, until the final hour of the night. Then the video feeds began to cut out. It started with the maindance hall. In one minute, music and images were streaming from thecameras. In the next, everything went black. Then, one by one, theother video feeds disappeared. The last one to cut out was thecamera inside the main repair bay. That was where the final ceremonywas to take place. That was where the last Heilmann Drive was to beremoved from the last starship in the galaxy.

TheRepublic announced that everything went as planned, and thatinterference from the atmosphere of Jupiter was to blame for the lossof video from the station. People who were there told a differentstory—one of chaos and panic—but no one was willing to say whatreally happened aboard the station that night.

*

Evenin Seth’s worst nightmares, he never thought he would wear aRepublic military uniform. He almost couldn’t believe hiseyes as he stared at the mirror in his room. It looked wrong on him,like it didn’t fit, even though he had it specially tailored.

TheRepublic’s formal dress uniform consisted of a form-fittinghigh-collared red jacket and slacks, a white sash displaying themedals earned by the officer, and black boots that reached nearly tothe knee. Seth’s was no different, except he had no pins on hiscollar to indicate rank, and the only medal on his sash was acivilian service pin. It looked silly, but Commissar Absalom and themembers of his squad insisted.

Justas Seth expected, Absalom didn’t remember anything about theirdiscussion the night before. He greeted Seth as a friend in themorning, and was excited to put the finishing touches on the last dayof the biggest project of his life.

Thelast three starships in the galaxy were now docked at the EuropaStation. One was the I.S.S. Jefferson, a large passengerliner. The second was the I.S.S. Illustrious, a militarycraft that doubled as a cargo vessel. When it was needed to enforceRepublic edicts, it served as a warship. Most of the time, though,it ran ore from various mining stations to Earth. The final ship wasthe I.S.S. Monitor, a science vessel which exploreduninhabitable worlds to find mineral deposits.

Becauseit was the smallest of the three craft, the Monitor wasscheduled to be the final ship decommissioned. It was the only shipthat could fit in the main repair bay, where the cameras weremounted. The Illustrious was crammed into one of thewarehouses. The Jefferson was docked at the space port outsideof the station. Both of them were scheduled to be disassembledduring the festivities leading up to the midnight deadline. Then,the workers would take apart the Monitor in front of theentire world.

Sethtold himself that those three ships were the reason he was wearing aRepublic uniform. Even though it felt wrong to him, even though itwas a betrayal of everything that he believed in, he was doing thisto save one of them.

Hereached into his jacket and pulled out a small laser pistol. Absalomgave it to him after the incident outside of the Mid-Canada zone. Itwas supposed to be the only weapon he had aboard the Europa Station. It wasn’t. He’d managed to smuggle a ballistic firearm—a smallhandgun—onto the station a few days prior.

Thiswas it. This was the moment where he would set everything intomotion. Seth closed his eyes. He could still remember everything hesaw on the map of the Europa Station. He knew every corridor, everyservice hallway, and every duct. He could get anywhere on thestation, hopefully under the nose of most of the guards. And therewere a lot of guards. It felt like the entire Republic Military wasmobilized on the station.

But,at least for right now, Seth looked like one of them.

Takinga deep breath, Seth raised the laser pistol in the air. Then heslammed it against the wall next to the mirror. With a loud crackthe hilt of the gun shattered against the metal surface.

Sethwalked over to his desk on the other side of the room. He put thegun down and looked at the machinery inside. Republic-issue laserpistols were powered by a stable kinetic energy core. When worn in aholster, they could be recharged by movement—walking, running, orvibration.

AllSeth had to do was make a few modifications to the power structure ofthe pistol. It was a delicate process, but nothing beyond his skill. He rerouted a few of the wires back into the energy core. Thiscaused the core to vibrate on its own, attempting to recharge itselfin a feedback loop. Eventually, the heat sinks within the weaponwould fail and it would explode.

Thatwould take approximately two hours. Seth checked the time. It wasseven-thirty. The timing wasn’t perfect, but it would do.

Sethplaced the laser pistol back into his jacket. He stood up straight,looked back to the mirror, and smiled. Knowing that he was about tobetray the Republic made him feel a lot better about the uniform.

*

“Whydo you keep checking your tablet?” Absalom asked “The countdownclock at the front of the room should tell you everything you need toknow.”

Thecommissar’s voice barely rose above the pounding music in the dancehall. Even when he yelled, he wasn’t particularly loud.

Sethquickly put his tablet back into his coat. He didn’t even realizehow often he was pulling it out to check the time. It was probablyevery thirty seconds or so. It made him look suspicious. He didn’twant to look suspicious. As it was, he only had to keep up thecharade a little longer.

Why? Because the countdown clock didn’t tell him everything. Itdidn’t let him know when his makeshift bomb would detonate. Sethhad placed the hacked laser pistol at a junction near the rear of theobservation station. It was one of the weakest structural walls inthe entire building. When the pistol finally overheated anddetonated, it would create a large enough explosion to blow a hole inthe junction. This wouldn’t just create a vacuum, it would alsocreate a panic.

Sethsmiled. He would only have to pretend to be friends with thecommissar for a few more minutes.

“I’mjust excited,” Seth said. “That’s all.”

Thetwo men stood near the back of the hall, watching the dozens of menand women dance away the last hours of faster-than-light travel. AsSeth eyed the crowd, he realized that he recognized most of them. They were the elite of the elite in the Republic. After all, itwasn’t easy to get a ticket to the central Forbearance Daycelebration.

“Garland!” Seth turned to look for a familiar voice. At first he didn’tbelieve what he heard. But then he saw her. Willa Green, hisclassmate from RSIR, was standing in front of him. “Look at you,suddenly the paragon of the Republic. Whatever happened to--”

Sethheld up his hand, stopping her mid-sentence. He knew what she wasgoing to say. She was probably the one person in the galaxy whocould reveal his secret. He wouldn’t let that happen. “That’sall in the past. A long, long time ago.” He smiled. “How didyou get here? I mean, tickets were hard to come by. I didn’tthink that I’d see many RSIR students here”

Willalaughed. “Didn’t you know, Seth? My father is on the HighCouncil.”

“No. No I didn’t know that.” Seth steadied himself in his chair. Hethought back to all of the subversive things he told to Willa. Andshe never reported him? She never turned him in, to her father orthe military? It was really rather remarkable. “Please, Willa,let me introduce you to Commissar Phaer Absalom. He’s the onebehind all of this. He set the timetables, arranged theteams...everything.”

Absalomthrust out his arm and they shook hands. “Pleased to meet you,”he said.

“Samehere,” Willa replied. “And I have to say, while your militaryrecord is exemplary, I am most impressed with your ability to turnSeth into a model citizen for a few months.”

Sethlaughed nervously, but didn’t say anything. He was afraid ofslipping up and incriminating himself somehow.

“Don’tworry,” Absalom said. “He’s been great.”

Willaturned to look at Seth and smiled. “So... Do you want to dance? Or are you only here on business?”

“I... Uh...” Seth pulled out his tablet again to look at the time. Thepistol should have exploded by now. He would have heard it. Thedetonation of a kinetic energy core would not go unnoticed...and ifit did, it would be useless to him. “Maybe later. I don’t thinkI’ve had enough to drink to start dancing.”

“Suityourself,” Willa said, rolling her eyes. She headed for the dancefloor. “Maybe I’ll be available later. Maybe I won’t.”

Onceshe was gone, Absalom looked over at Seth. “What was that about?”he asked. “She seemed nice. When this is all over, you and I aregoing to have a lot of free time on our hands. I would not mindspending time with one like her.”

Sethsighed. “She’s not my type.”

“Youare so strange sometimes, Mr. Garland,” Absalom replied, then wentback to sipping on his drink and scanning the crowd.

“Ifyou say so.” A sense of dread was beginning to set in for Seth. If his makeshift bomb didn’t explode, he had no idea what to do. He needed to pull the guards away from the ships and it was the onlyhope he had. He couldn’t hope to fight past all of them on hisown.

Aftera few more seconds of silence between the two men as they listened tothe pounding music around them, Absalom struck up anotherconversation. “I should apologize for last night,” he said. “You were right. I should never let my personal beliefs inform howI do my job. Or even why I do my job.”

Sethlooked over at him, stunned. He’d figured that the commissarsimply didn’t remember what they discussed. Instead, he felt badabout it. He actually listened to Seth. “Wow, I--”

Suddenly,a deafening crack!split the air. It was so loud that it cutthrough the drumbeat of the music on the dance floor. It rattled thewalls and shook the rows of glasses on the bar nearby.

Everyonein the dance hall stopped. They started to look around, as if theycould find the source of the mysterious sound. The DJ near the frontof the room turned off the music.

“Whatis happening?” Absalom said, an almost palatable sense of despairin his voice. Seth didn’t dare respond. If he spoke, he fearedthat he could not stop himself from gloating. A deathly silencefilled the hall. And then the sirens started up.

Redlight flashed through the room, bathing everyone in crimson. Blaringklaxons droned from the speakers on the ceiling. Everyone began topanic, moving back and forth across the hall. Some of them hit theground, covering their heads as if the base was under attack.

Itwas, but they had no way of knowing that.

Aloud voice followed the klaxons. “EMERGENCY,” it said. “EMERGENCY, STATION HULL BREACH DETECTED ON LEVEL TWO. PLEASEREMAIN CALM. IN THE EVENT OF DEPRESSURIZATION, SECURITY AIRLOCKSWILL BE CLOSED. PLEASE REMAIN CALM.” Despite the reassurances, this automated message only made the chaos worse.

“Shit!”Commissar Absalom yelled, pushing himself up. He reached into hisjacket and pulled out a small earpiece. As he limped towards thecenter of the room, he pressed it into his ear and started yelling. “What is going on? Someone get me a status report.”

Sethcalmly followed him. For just a second, as the commissar wasdistracted, he closed his eyes. He pictured the map of the EuropaStation in his mind and considered the distance between the site ofthe explosion and the guards posted near the remaining starships. How long would it take them to abandon their posts?

“Geteveryone down there!” Absalom yelled. “Make sure that thisstation is secure!”

Thecommissar tapped the receiver in his ear and looked back at Seth. Hewas panicking. He didn’t expect this.

Itwas just like Seth thought. The reason he’d been put in charge ofthe enforcement of the Spatial Preservation Act was because hebelieved in it. He was one of the few people in the galaxy outsideof the High Council who thought that it was the right thing to do. But he was young, and he was inexperienced, and he didn’t know howto handle a real crisis.

“Issomeone trying to board the station?” Seth asked, feigning naivete.

Absalomshook his head. “I do not know. I have no rims-damned idea.”

“Where’sthe breach? Is it anywhere near the ships?”

“No,thank Aesu,” Absalom said. “It will take at least five minutesfor anyone trying to enter the station via the breach to get close tothe ships.” Seth nodded. That was pretty close to his estimationas well. “And if anyone tries it, the guards are already on theirway.”

Sofar, everyone was playing into Seth’s hands. The military waspulling their men off of the repair bays where the ships were docked. They were moving towards the site of the hull breach, where theywould find nothing but the scattered pieces of a laser pistol. Thedance hall was in disarray. Lockdowns were about to begin across thestation, but Seth knew how to circumvent every emergency door thatwould stand in his way.

Sethclosed his eyes and began to count down in his head. He had to timeeverything just right. He wanted the guards far enough away from therepair bays to be able to get out in front of them, but not closeenough to realize that the explosion was a ruse.

Absalomlooked up at Seth. “What are you doing?” he asked.

“I’mthinking,” Seth replied.

“Aboutwhat?”

Ratherthan answer, Seth started to walk towards the commissar. His heartwas racing. He was really going to do this. With each step, hemoved closer to the point of no return. He would either leave thisstation on a starship or as a corpse. His eyes flew open as heapproached Absalom.

Sethreached up and he grabbed the commissar’s earpiece from the side ofhis head. There was no turning back.

“Hey!”Absalom shouted, but Seth just walked past him, into the coweringcrowd on the dance floor. “What was that about? Mr. Garland! Ineed my earpiece!”

Sethplaced the device in his own ear and tapped the button on the side,connecting him to the guards positioned around the station. He tooka deep breath. “Help!” Seth shouted. He didn’t even have tosound panicked; that was coming quite naturally to him. “Anyonewho can hear me! This is Civilian Liaison Seth Garland! Thecommissar is down! We need backup in the command center!”

Then,before anyone could respond or ask for details, Seth threw theearpiece to the ground and stepped on it. The delicate electronicscrumbled beneath his shoe.

Absalomstared at Seth from the back of the room. Seth could see a horriblerealization wash over the commissar. His shoulders slumped and hisface transformed into a scowl. He was being betrayed. For just asecond, Seth thought he might give up. He might not fight back. Hispained expression was filled with disappointment and defeat.

Butit wasn’t going to be that easy. The commissar’s despair turnedinto anger. He gritted his teeth together and reached into hisjacket, where he kept his laser pistol.

Beforethe commissar could open fire on him, Seth dashed further into thecrowd within the dance hall. Most of them were already on the floor. The sight of the commissar readying his weapon caused even morepeople to dive to the ground. This didn’t leave Seth with muchcover.

Sethlooked off to the side. Willa Green was nearby, glaring up at him. She was the only one in the room who expected this. He’d even toldher that he planned on stealing a starship. She did nothing to stophim, telling no one, protecting his secret. Seth was grateful forthis, but not grateful enough to keep him from doing what he didnext.

Hemoved closer to Willa, then reached towards her. Before she couldreact, he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her up to her feet. Catching her by surprise, he twisted her around and pushed her infront of him. Seth thrust his gun over her shoulder and pointed itat the commissar. Willa was larger than him. This made aimingdifficult, but it also made her an ideal human shield.

“Seth!”Willa yelled. “Hey!” He twisted her arm harder, silencing her.

“I’msorry,” Seth said. “Don’t worry. He won’t shoot you to getto me.” Seth looked up at Absalom. “Will you, commissar?”

Absalomstared at Seth and Willa across the dance hall. “Stand down, Mr.Garland,” he hissed. “You cannot possibly think you canaccomplish anything here.”

“Ican prevent the Fall!” Seth proclaimed. “I can savecivilization.”

“Don’tbe so overdramatic,” Absalom replied. “Put down the gun. Don’tdo anything to make this worse.”

Seth’seyes glanced around the room at the dozens of men and womensurrounding him. “I lied to everyone,” he announced. “Theplans you showed me weren’t the real plans. There aren’t anycomplete plans of the Heilmann Drive anymore. When the Republictakes apart the last one tonight--”

“Lies!”Absalom shouted and, for a second, Seth wondered if the commissarknew the truth. It was entirely possible that even he wasn’t awarethat the plans were fake. “Don’t listen to him! Someone stophim!”

Themen and women in the dance hall were the elite of the Republic. Theywere all here, on the Europa Station, to celebrate the end offaster-than-light travel. If there was any group of people wholegitimately supported the Fall, it would be these people. And allit would take to stop Seth was one of them. Just one had to standup, get behind him, and disarm him. Even Willa could probably pullaway from him if she really tried.

Butnone of them would. Either they were too afraid...or somehow theyknew he was right.

Sethbegan to back towards the door on the other side of the room. Hisright arm was getting tired already. It wouldn’t be long before hewould have to let go of Willa and give Absalom a straight shot athim. He would have to be quick.

Thecrowd parted as Seth pushed through them. No one tried to trip him,or grab his gun, or free Willa. It didn’t matter why. Maybe theywere secretly on his side. Maybe they were just cowards. He made itto the door without a single person getting in his way.

CommissarAbsalom didn’t chase after him. It wouldn’t have done any good. His bad leg made him slower than Seth and his hostage combined. Hejust looked around, at all the people in the hall, and shouted,“Someone stop him! Anyone! Don’t you see? He’s mad!”

Helooked like a broken man. It wasn’t just Seth who betrayed him,but everyone in the room. No one else truly believed in the Fall. He was alone.

“Youwere right about one thing,” Seth shouted before he left the largeroom. “You will never be on the right side of history.”

OnceSeth and Willa were in the hallway, Seth pointed his gun at thecontrol panel next to the door. He squeezed the trigger and lookedaway. BANG! Sparks flew from the panel. Just as Seth hoped,this activated the security airlocks. The station computers believedthat depressurization caused the damage to the panel. Thick metaldoors descended from the ceiling and sealed off the dance hall.

Sethdidn’t know how long that would trap the commissar. Undoubtedly,someone had the override codes for the security airlock doors. Andit would only be a matter of time before the guards who went to checkon him in the command center realized that they were duped. By then,Seth hoped he would be far, far away from Europa.

BeforeSeth could appreciate the first taste of his victory, he felt a sharppain in his gut. Willa slammed her elbow into his stomach and pulledaway from him. She grabbed for his wrist and tried to knock his gunfrom his hand.

Winded,Seth could only stumbled away from Willa. But it was just enough,and he was out of range of her clumsy fists. He recovered quickenough to steady his grip on the pistol. His hands shaking, hepulled it upward and pointed it at her. Almost immediately, Willastopped trying to fight him. She stood very still, but expressed heranger in another way.

“Howdare you do that to me?” Willa screamed. “I thought we werefriends!”

Sethnodded. “We are friends. You’re stronger than me. You couldhave overpowered me any time you wanted, but you waited until we wereout.”

Willagaped at him. “You... You think I just let you do that? I wasscared! You have a gun!”

“Everyoneis scared,” Seth replied. “Not me. I’m sick of it. Thefuture is no place for fear.”

“Idon’t even know what that means!” Willa exclaimed.

Sethstarted to lower his gun. “You should come with me. RSIR is donefor. I could use your help.”

Whilehe wasn’t willing to admit it, Seth didn’t know what he would doonce he’d taken the starship. If he had someone along with him, hecould at least discuss it with her.

“Areyou crazy?” Willa said. “No! I’m not going to hijack astarship with you! Why would you even--”

“Fine,”Seth replied, and tried to tell himself that he didn’t want her tocome along anyway. “Then get going. I’d appreciate it if youdon’t raise an alarm, but I guess I can’t keep you from anythingonce you’re out of sight.”

“That’sit?”

Sethrolled his eyes. “What? Do you want me to try and convince you tocome along? Or shoot you? Because I don’t have time for either.”

Thatwas all Willa needed to hear. She turned around and fled down thehall. Seth didn’t watch Willa go. He’d already spent too muchtime bothering with her. He had more important things to do.