The Dead Sun(Star Force Series #9)

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Marvin caught up with our fleet before we reached Earth, but he didn’t say much to me before we reached home. I thought maybe he was ducking low for some reason. I knew that he’d been pretty sneaky in his handling of the Macro ships. He probably could have started firing earlier, but he’d wanted to make sure they were past his position. He’d attempted to cover his own butt first—then worried about saving ours.

Marvin himself was a valuable asset. I had to admit, I would risk our fleet to make sure he survived a battle. I’d often thought privately that in the harsh calculus of war, Marvin was worth an entire fleet—maybe even an allied world. Losing him might mean we’d lose this war in the end, at some future point when we needed a technical miracle and there wasn’t one to be had.


So I didn’t order him to explain himself. I didn’t remove his tentacles, or even yell at him. I ignored him, when possible, and spoke to him politely when I needed to.

After a while, he became braver and began attending staff meetings again. He soon became engaged in our discussions.

We were planning our next move, and the decisions weren’t easy ones. Jasmine, Newcome, Marvin and I were the top people in the room, and that was enough. Some commanders liked windy meetings with dozens of people presenting their views and experts who could be consulted if called upon. I preferred smaller groups—no more than five or six—and everyone could say whatever they wanted. When real decisions had to be made, I wanted diverse views—even if I didn’t listen to them in the end.

We were in orbit over Earth, and I knew my people were anxious to get off the ship and back down to their comfortable offices, but I had no intention of allowing that. The last time I’d spent any amount of time in my office, someone had blown it up. I felt relatively safe and in charge while sitting up in space.

Newcome was full of ideas today. He wanted to build a giant fleet, of course. He was as bad as Miklos on that topic. Neither of them would ever see enough ships in Earth’s skies.

“There isn’t any choice, really,” he concluded, using exactly the same words he’d used to begin his speech. “We have to build ships. More ships than we’d ever expected to build. All other activity must stop.”

I frowned briefly. “All other activity? You mean we shouldn’t build up our ground forces or our defensive batteries on the Moon?”

“A few side projects might be worthy of consideration, but with very few exceptions, I think we must build nothing but ships. All our economic activity—certainly, all our Nano-factory output—must go into the fleet.”

“That seems a little extreme,” Jasmine said. “We don’t even know if they’re really coming yet.”

“How do you feel about another test?” I asked Newcome. “Another run out to the Thor System to fire off one more probe? Shouldn’t we double-check Marvin’s results?”

For the first time in ten minutes or more, Marvin shifted one of his cameras to me. He’d been watching Admiral Newcome when the old blowhard had started his pitch, but when it became long-winded and dull, his attention had drifted. Surprisingly, the newest object of Marvin’s scrutiny was Jasmine. He had as many as seven cameras watching her, and a few more floating around under the table. I’d checked.

Could he know she was pregnant? He wasn’t a dog who could supposedly sniff out such things. She wasn’t showing yet, either. It was only her second month in the first trimester—or was it the third month?

“Did you get that, Colonel?” Newcome asked.

I sucked in a breath and looked away from Marvin’s roving cameras. I turned back to Newcome, who must have asked me a question. Everyone was staring at me expectantly.

“That’s a good point, Admiral,” I said forcefully. “An excellent point.”

He frowned. “What exactly do you mean—”

“I mean,” I said loudly, “that if the enemy is out there festering and building up, and if we can’t get to them through the ring, we’ll have to fly to their lair directly and root them out. That does mean we’ll have to build a lot of ships.”

Newcome beamed.

“Unfortunately,” I said, “we can’t afford to do that.”

His face fell.

“Why not?”

Miklos cleared his throat. I looked at him and nodded.

“Because we can’t take the risk,” Miklos said.

“What risk?” asked Newcome.

Miklos frowned. “I would like to follow your plan, Admiral, really I would. But let us consider the possibilities. The enemy might be out of ships. In that case, if we hit them right now we should win. But we can’t. Everything we’ve sent through the last ring in the chain has been destroyed.”

“I’m not talking about going through that trapped ring. I’m talking about flying out there—”

“Correct,” Miklos said. “Let me finish, please. You’re advocating a flight to their reported position in open space. But consider this: it will take at least six months to get there. Even if we launched today, the enemy would have time to rebuild, and they’d see us coming as well. Worse, we’re not entirely sure where the enemy is. There is a cluster of dark planets and chunks of ice in that region, and they could be on any one of them. We’d have to go out there and search around for them. They would see us coming, and our advantage would be lost.”

“I agree,” said Jasmine.

I glanced at her, as did Marvin. She looked smug. It took me a second to figure out why—then it hit me. If the monster fleet didn’t get built and sent into the dark, I couldn’t be on it and gone for months. I released a small sigh.

“What do you suggest, then?” Newcome asked. He frowned and looked bitter. I knew that he’d been counting on a big budget boost to play navy with. He liked building ships much more than he liked using them to attack—attacking had a way of blowing up ships, which decreased their number rather suddenly.

Everyone looked at me to see if I was about to say something, but I waved them on.

“Keep going, Miklos,” I said. “Lay it out for us.”

“As I was saying, we can’t take the chance. If we built and launched such a fleet, and the enemy has been watching us, they could simply choose the perfect moment to use the ring and attack us. Our fleet, heading into space directly, would be out of position and unable to return in time to defend Earth before they got here.”

Newcome sat back in defeat. “So, you’re suggesting we just build up and wait for their next attack? We can’t win that way.”

I leaned forward. “Newcome, you’re right about that. I want to thank you all for your insight and input. But I’ve become convinced that we only have one course of action: We have to break through the ring and take them out. We have to do it soon, before they have time to rebuild the fleet we destroyed.”

“We could have just stayed out there in the Thor System if we were going to have to fly back,” Jasmine said.

I glanced at her. Her mood had deflated again. I knew it was because we were talking about immediate, dangerous action. Was her judgment being clouded by her physical state? It was hard to tell with Jasmine. She played her cards tightly, even when her emotions were running high.

Marvin’s cameras were all over Jasmine and me. I knew he was watching us closely. He knew something was up. It was irritating.

“Marvin?” I asked. “Do you have something to add?”

“As a matter of fact, I do,” he said. “I think I’ve been remiss. I’ve left an element out of this discussion that I didn’t realize until this meeting might be crucial.”

I frowned at him. “What are you talking about? What element?”

But I realized what he was going to say as soon as I’d asked him. He was going to bring up Jasmine’s pregnancy. No one else knew. Not even her doctors. Well, the nanites knew. They were the only doctors we really needed anymore, anyway.

Marvin was about to bring this up, I felt certain. He’d been looking at Jasmine oddly the entire meeting, even though she’d barely spoken. I felt a hot rush of embarrassment. Marvin was like a kid sometimes. He often said embarrassing things in public, airing the family laundry.


I tried to think of a way to head him off, but everyone was expecting his report now. How could I tell him to shut up without looking crazy?

“Prior to this meeting,” Marvin said, “I’d believed the recent enemy activity was obvious and that was what this meeting was going to be about. Now, I realize I’m in the position of having to enlighten everyone present.”

He’d lost me again. I now had no idea what he was talking about, but I didn’t think it was the baby—not this time. I felt a surge of irritation. How was I going to tell the world I was about to have a bastard child with one of my subordinate officers? It would have every news-vid drone humming worldwide. I wouldn’t be able to take a piss without causing a media sensation.

“Out with it, Marvin,” I said. “What strategic element are we missing?”

“Why, the comets, of course.”

“Comets? What comets?”

“They’re really just chunks of ice at this point. No trails yet, they’re too far out, but they’re coming in fast, and our telescopes picked them up two days ago. They’ll pass the orbit of Tyche in about a month.”

I frowned fiercely at him. “Put up a display or something.”

As if he’d prepared for this all day—and perhaps he had—he displayed a diagram on the table under our elbows. The surface we were all leaning on lit up, dropping its faux wood fa?ade and turning into a starry background. At one end of the table was the Sun, under Newcome’s arms. He lifted them as if he might be burned by the glaring star.

Then Earth appeared, outlined and limed in green. That was about where Newcome’s coffee cup was resting. At the opposite end of the scene, several feet away, appeared a set of seven shadowy objects. They were dim but slightly brighter than the tabletop. Looking like shadowy stones, they spun slowly on their axes. I watched them twinkle with cold light. They were very close to Jasmine, who touched them and made spreading motions.

We zoomed in sickeningly. The image became distorted, and the objects transformed into spiky balls of dark ice.

“At this distance, the imagery is an approximation,” Marvin said smoothly. “Also, I’ve warped the scale somewhat to get everything onto this surface.”

“But you’re sure they’re out there?”

“Yes. Check any astronomical online log. They are the focus of intense interest in the community. Surely, you all peruse such sites with regularity?”

There were blank looks all around.

“Marvin, these aren’t ships,” I said. “Why do you think they’re a danger?”

“Two reasons—the second of which only came up today. First, it is very odd to have seven comets coming in from the Oort Cloud to the inner planets of this star system in such close proximity. It’s almost as if they’re flying in formation.”

“Yes,” said Jasmine, “but it could still be a natural phenomenon.”

“Certainly. That was my theory until I noticed this. I will now time-shift the objects back two days and project their paths.”

The image shifted. The objects did as well.

“They changed course…” Jasmine said.

“A slight correction. I think they will perform another such correction closer in, before impact.”

“Impact with Earth, you mean?” I asked him.

“Yes.”

We watched as he fiddled with the screen controls. I was stunned. The evidence was clear: the Macros were throwing chunks of ice at us—planet-killers.

I felt my heart begin to speed up as alarm spread through my body. How could we have missed something like this? How long would we have been in the dark if Marvin hadn’t spoken up today? The thought was chilling.

“Once I saw these inbound objects,” Marvin said, “it became very clear to me why the Macros sent so few ships through the Thor ring to attack us. If you subtract the length of time it took these comets to reach this position from their starting point, I would say they were launched approximately four months ago. Calculating the normal Macro rate of production for two months, the fleet we encountered in the Thor System would closely match the fleet they should have been able to build up in the intervening time.”

I glared at him, full of shock and anger. I didn’t like what I was hearing. None of us did.

“You’re saying that there’s a fleet involved here as well?” I demanded. “In addition to the comets?”

“Why yes, isn’t that clear?”

“But where are the ships, Marvin?” Jasmine asked. “Are they too far out and dark to see?”

“Probably. I expect them to be hiding behind the comets, undetectable, until they get closer.”

“How do you know they have ships out there at all?” demanded Newcome.

Marvin craned his cameras toward Newcome. “I employed a series of logical deductions. They sent only a few ships through the Thor ring to attack us, despite having had a very long period in which to build them. Where are the missing ships? Also, what is the source of thrust that is driving these comets? I would say the answer is clear: the ships are behind the comets and providing propulsion.”

I nodded. I found his logic inescapable. I looked around the table at a circle of long faces. Everyone else was thinking the same thing: There had to be a fleet out there behind the comets. It made too much sense.

I looked at Marvin suddenly with a new suspicion.

“You knew this was coming, didn’t you? That’s why you wanted to send the probe so badly.”

“Not exactly, sir.”

“Explain yourself.”

Marvin’s tentacles lashed for a second. He must have been doing some deep thinking.

“Are you familiar with timer theory and interrupts?” he asked me finally.

“Of course, they’re standard elements of any processor. But I don’t see what that has to do with—”

“Indulge me, Colonel. When compared to human software, Macro programming is somewhat similar in design. They operate on the basis of preprogramed triggers—thresholds which will cause action when crossed. But they also have built-in timeouts to prevent them from getting stuck waiting forever for a trigger that doesn’t come. When an expected stimulus doesn’t materialize for a long period, they are kick-started into action independently.”

“All right, I get that. But what has it got to do with the current situation? Are you saying the Macros sat on the far side of the ring for so long they must have been caught in an endless loop?”

“No. I don’t believe they can be so easily disabled. They were up to something, I’m sure of that. I reasoned that since they couldn’t be doing nothing, they must therefore be doing something. With that basis for a theory, I began to examine possible activities they could be engaged in for such a length of time. After analysis of all their possible courses of action, a long range normal-space attack topped my list. All I had to do was look for their fleet. Once we sent the probe through the ring, I knew where to look. Finding the ice chunks and figuring out their purpose was then a simple matter.”

I nodded. “I see. What I’m hearing is somewhat different than your carefully spun version of events. You suspected this was coming, and yet you said nothing.”

“On the contrary, I was working on an unproven theory. I have many of them—thousands in fact—that are currently under investigation. Would you like a full report on each, Colonel?”


I sighed and shook my head. I really didn’t want to hear Marvin’s list of predictions. I suspected most of them involved our doom.

“Very well, sir,” he said when I passed.

In a tired voice, I asked my next question. “Okay Marvin. I’m willing to swallow the idea that you figured all this out only recently, but how could you not know we were in the dark about the comets? What did you do when you figured that out?”

“I’ve been studying Antarctic microbial life forms over recent days. I only left my specimens when you summoned me to this meeting. Due to my isolation under a glacier, I was unaware of Star Force Command’s ignorance of the true situation.”

“You were studying microbes in Antarctica?” Newcome demanded incredulously. “Under an ice shelf, no less? Why?”

Newcome was still a little new to Marvin’s behavior patterns. To the rest of us, that part of the robot’s story hadn’t come as a surprise. Marvin had been fascinated with microbial life since he’d taken his first wobbling steps.

“The specimens are unique,” Marvin said brightly. “They have a very unusual cellular structure. I wanted to preserve their evolutionary adaptations—if only in a virtual form in my brainbox.”

“Preserve them?” Jasmine demanded. “Why do they need preserving?”

I knew the answer to that one.

“Because he thinks we’re all going to die,” I said, putting my hands to my face and rubbing my eyes. “Everyone on Earth is going to die, right Marvin? Even the microbes?”

“That is a likely outcome of the Macro attack,” Marvin said agreeably.

“And when were you going to tell us that part?” Newcome demanded.

“Please keep in mind that I’d assumed you already knew,” Marvin said. “The conclusions were so obvious—I didn’t think all five billion of you could miss them.”

His subtle way of calling us a race of dummies didn’t do anything for the group’s collective mood.

“Look, Marvin,” I said. “In the future—if there is a future for anyone sitting here today—I would appreciate it if you would immediately relay data concerning enemy activity to us.”

“So noted, Colonel Riggs.”

I let out a huge sigh. “All right then. Let’s get our heads around this. How long until they get here?”

“Seventy-nine days, two hours and an unknown number of minutes.”

“Missed it on the minutes, did you?” Newcome asked sarcastically.

“Due to certain heat distortions and poor optical triangulation at this distance, I can’t be as precise as—”

“Forget about that, Marvin,” I snapped.

“Comment deleted.”

“Let’s talk about this new situation. We’re going to be under attack in just over two months’ time.”

“No, sir,” Marvin said. “That isn’t entirely accurate. We’ve been under attack for several months. Most of us were simply unaware of it.”

“That’s great, Marvin. Just great. And how many ships do you think they have hiding behind the comets?”

“I would estimate—and I must emphasize, this is a very rough estimate, with no more than a ninety-two percent confidence rating—that they have the production capacity equivalent of four thousand, three hundred cruisers headed our way. That number could vary based on their precise fleet composition, of course.”

“Of course,” I echoed.

The meeting went on, but I don’t remember the rest of it. We planned, we talked—but mostly we stared at those graphics depicting twirling, black chunks of ice.

It was hard to believe this fresh calamity was real. While we’d been farting around on Earth, toasting one another over our newfound peace and freedom, the machines had been out there in the cold darkness, building and building. They’d prepared for their eventual victory, even while we partied. It was an old story in the history of warfare, and the kind of trap my species was apt to fall into. But now the lions were awake, and they were hungry.

The party was over.