Orion Among the Stars

Watches changed on the bridge, time flowed by, but I remained in my command chair, unwilling to leave. I did not sleep, I ate only what the crew members brought to me from time to time. I reached out mentally to Anya’s frozen body in the cryosleeper deep in our ship’s hold. She was alive, her mind slowly flickering in the cryogenic cold.

I thought about attempting to contact Aten, but decided that the dangers there outweighed the advantages. He would read my thoughts the instant I reached him and know that although Anya and the other Creators were ready to bow to his will, I was out to murder him.

Is there some way I can shield my thoughts from him? I asked Anya for her help, but her mind was so slowed by her frozen state that I doubted she could hear me.

We remained in superlight velocity as long as we dared, then slowed to relativistic for a quick navigational fix. The course Frede had plotted for us was designed to take us a considerable distance from the direct geodesic route to Loris. But the closer we got to the Commonwealth planet, the more we would have to adhere to a course that the Skorpis could intercept.

I knew what I would do if I were the Skorpis admiral. I would send a major fleet as close to Loris as I dared, keep it in superlight except for scout ships that hop down to relativistic speed, take a look around, and then power back into superlight once more. As soon as one of the scouts spotted us approaching Loris it could alert the main fleet with a gravitational pulse that could be detected in superlight. Then the entire fleet could go relativistic and catch us as we attempted to reach the planet.

They would have to face the massive defenses of the entire Giotto system, I realized. But, as I played the possible scenarios on the ship’s tactical computer, it seemed to me that the Skorpis might not only catch us like a minnow in a net, they might be able to surprise the Commonwealth defenses and overwhelm them. It was a slim chance, but knowing the Skorpis, I thought it highly likely that they would grasp at it.

I almost laughed aloud when I realized what was shaping up. Our “diplomatic” mission was going to lead to a sneak attack on the Commonwealth capital. Our effort to surrender and end the war was going to trigger the bloodiest battle of them all.

And there was nothing I could do to avert it.

Chapter 26

Part of me felt almost exultant. A tremendous battle loomed ahead of us, and I was created for battle. The old excitement simmered within, making my innards tremble with anticipation.

Yet another part of me was filled with revulsion. Not fear, but loathing. How many of my command had already died? And for what? How many had I killed, over the eons? I remembered assassinating Ogotai, the High Khan of the Mongols, my friend, my hunting companion. I remembered the slaughter once we had pierced the walls of Troy. And Jericho. I remembered Philip’s accusing stare as the blood filled his mouth and gushed from the slash in his belly.

When will there be an end to blood? The Golden One boasted that he created the human race to fight for him. Could we not overcome the aggression he had built into us? Could we not learn to live in peace?

Your sentiments do you honor, friend Orion.It was the voice of the Old Ones speaking in my mind.

I sat in the command chair on the Apollo’s bridge, but my eyes saw the depths of the oceans in which the Old Ones lived. And I was there among them, swimming in their midst, safe and warm in the bubble of energy they had prepared for me.

“My sentiments won’t solve the problem we face,” I said.

“The problem you face, Orion, not we.”

“You are not willing to help?”

I felt a slight tremor of disappointment among them. “You must solve your own problems, my friend. Otherwise they are not solved, merely postponed.”

“Yet you threaten to wipe out any species that tries to use a star-weapon.”

A patient sigh. “Our ethical code demands that we leave younger species alone to work out their own destinies. But that same code cannot allow stars to be wantonly destroyed. A species willing to use such power is a danger not merely to itself, it is a danger to the entire continuum.”

“Meaning that it’s a danger to you.”

They fluttered their many tentacles, colors spiraling across the breadths of their huge, undulating bodies.

“Yes,” they admitted at last. “Such a species would be a danger to us and everything else in the continuum.”

“Does your ethical code allow you to help me to prevent this catastrophe?”

A long delay, while they swam about me and flashed colors at one another.

Finally, “Orion, you are laboring under a misapprehension. You apparently believe that if you could eliminate one of your species, this one you refer to as Aten, or the Golden One, that his demise would solve your problem.”

“Won’t it?”

“No. We fear not.”

“But—”

“Your species is very violent, Orion. It is part of your makeup. Even you, who are struggling to overcome this heritage of blood, can think of the solution to your problem only in terms of murder.”

“Aten must be stopped. He is killing his fellow Creators. He seeks—”

“We know. We have seen it in your mind. But suppose you succeed in murdering Aten. Do you believe that will end your war? Hundreds of billions of humans are struggling against one another. They use weapons of constantly increasing power and horror. Will the death of one of you stop the death desires in your entire species?”

I had to think about that for a while. The Old Ones respected my silence.

Choosing my words carefully, I said, “The first step is to stop the fighting, to put an end to this war. That by itself will not end the violence in the human psyche, but it will stop the killing. Then perhaps we can learn how to live in peace.”

“Do you think that is possible?”

“Do you see a better path?” I countered.

“No,” they answered. “Quite frankly, we do not.”

“Then help me to reach Loris.”

“The Skorpis will be waiting for you. There is nothing we can do to protect you from them.”

“Can you at least transport the cryosleep capsule my ship is carrying safely to the planet’s capitol building?”

They seemed to confer among themselves again, then replied, “Orion, that is a task you must accomplish for yourself.”

“You won’t help even that much? In the interests of peace?”

“You must accomplish peace by yourselves, Orion,” they answered. “It is your task, not ours.”

I would receive no help from the Old Ones. None at all.

“Your arrival in the Giotto system will set off a massive battle,” they warned.

“The last battle of the war,” I said, resignedly.

“Let us hope so.”

I said, “Thank you.” Bitterly.

“Farewell, friend Orion,” they replied. “Farewell forever.”

Before I could ask what that meant, I found myself back on the bridge of the Apollo, with Frede staring at me oddly.

“Don’t you want to eat?”

I saw that she was holding a tray of steaming food before me.