technology. I felt hungry for more information. I wanted it all. Maybe they had more amazing inventions that were just as dramatically useful. Such tools could win my war for me.
“And the rings?” I asked quickly. “Did the Blues make the rings?”
“No,” he said, “they have always been.”
I blinked at him. The implications of his words were huge. If they were ancient, and no known race had built them, then perhaps they were owned and operated by some other even more technologically advanced people. Maybe they had built this highway of rings through our local star systems, but rarely came down to this abandoned region. It was a frightening thought. Someday, these unknown ancients could return to pull up the weeds that had grown in their forgotten backyard systems.
“So, there must be some other race,” I said. “An ancient civilization which built these rings.”
“Possibly. You speak of the unknown with great certainty. I’m not sure if that is a strength for your species or a weakness.”
I chuckled. “Neither am I.”
Our conversation continued, but I’d already gotten most of what I could from Marvin on the subject. I was able to piece together the nature of our doom, the beginnings of it. A race of beings that lived upon a gas giant developed technology and began to explore the universe beyond their thickly-clouded planet. They didn’t like space travel, possibly it was uncomfortable for them. So, they had built very advanced, independent robotic machines to explore the stars. We’d done the same with probes and the like-just on a smaller scale.
These robots had to be independent so they could function on their own in distant star systems. At first, I imagined, these machines had dutifully brought back information on the neighboring systems and life forms. Perhaps they’d discovered Earth long ago and visited my world for centuries, capturing humans among others.
But at some point along the line, the Macros had evolved into something else. Maybe they’d been corrupted by some outside influence. Maybe some disgruntled Blue programmer had released a virus that allowed them to go rogue. Marvin wasn’t sure, and I doubted even the Blues knew exactly how it had happened.
The Blues had panicked. To their credit, they tried to do something about it. They tried to stop the monster they’d unleashed. They’d set their obedient Nano ships on a mission to stop the Macros. The Nano ships had quickly armed the biotics they’d discovered and helped them resist the Macros when they inevitably came calling.
One thing disturbed me, now that I had a much clearer picture of the war and how it had started. Where were the Nano ships? They’d vanished through the same ring I had taken, leaving the Solar System and never returning. I could only imagine they had gone to another inhabited system somewhere, perhaps using a ring we’d not yet discovered in the chain. Maybe they were battling the Macros there now, even as they had over Earth.
I left Marvin and walked the ship until I was in the gaping hole of a launch bay under the prow. The ship was heading away from all three of Alpha Centauri’s suns, gliding toward the ring that led to Earth. I gazed out at the stars ahead of us, where there were no suns or planets in sight.
Stars are brighter when seen from deep space. There were whirling nebulas, and deep colors. I stared at a million, million stars. Many if not most had planets. What was going on out there? I felt that I had to learn about them all-even though I knew I never would.
Cover
— 48 When we finally flew through the last ring-the one that led us to Earth’s Oort cloud, we took it slowly and painstakingly. First, I eased the cruiser down to a crawl. We swung the engines around and applied heavy thrust to reduce speed for the last entire day. The great ship shuddered and shook as we braked with all her power. When we’d stopped near the ring, I sent through several men on flying dishes to scout. I didn’t want to rush through, only to find a dozen mines Crow or even the Worms had put up in the meantime, or to learn there was a human fleet waiting there for us. I knew we would look like a damaged Macro cruiser to anyone who scanned us. Possibly, the Macros had already brought the war home to Earth. I didn’t want anyone to mistakenly fire on us.
The men on the dishes flittered ahead bravely, acting as our scouts. The mission was led by Kwon. I couldn’t spare any other officers, and I trusted him to follow my orders to the letter. He was to get to the other side, use passive sensor arrays to scan the system, and then return without making any transmissions. I wanted to know what was going on, and I didn’t want anyone to know I was back yet.
Sure, I was paranoid. I believed losing ninety-plus percent of one’s force would have transformed any commander. We had all become hard-eyed veterans. We were survivors.
The waiting was hard. The ship sat parked in space, and that never felt good. Without velocity, which took time to build up, any ship was vulnerable. There was nothing to do about it, so we waited, fully suited-up and tense. Every eye was wide and glassy.
Kwon’s voice came in snatches as he crossed the ring from elsewhere back into our space. He must have been transmitting the moment he came through. “…repeating that, sir. Enemy signatures in system. What are your orders?”
“Kwon, download the data,” I said.
I leaned over the new command table we’d built as the data came in. I’d taken the time to fancy up the bridge over the last few days with the help of the nanites. We had a nice steel table that grew up out of the floor in a single piece. The surface was a perfectly made, dull metal finish. We hadn’t been able to duplicate an Earth style screen, but this sheen of nanites was trained to form beads and give us a good representation of the external environment. I felt right at home with the interface. As an improvement, it responded to touch. Most of my bridge crew had never flown a Nano ship and were unused to the technology, but I figured they could learn. One of the key advantages of this type of system was the lack of a glass surface. This screen couldn’t break.
The first contacts that came up were the sun and the planets. Much smaller green and red beads appeared. The green ships were all clustered near Earth. The red beads were out past the orbit of Mars. Nothing moved, as this was a snapshot, not a live feed.
“What are those enemy contacts?” I demanded. “Macros?”
“Yes sir,” Kwon said. “Three cruisers. There is evidence of more of them, but they are drifting hulks.”
My eyes scanned the scene. We were coming into the middle of a battle. Had the Macros already hit Earth? How many millions had they killed this time?
I counted only seventeen ships around Earth, and they looked small. When I had left, Crow had been building fast and there had been at least thirty. We’d taken a beating too.
“I know where they are,” Major Sarin said suddenly, reaching out to touch the beads of reddish metal. “That’s the new asteroid mining facilities. We were just beginning to explore out there for easily accessed minerals. They must have found the mining expeditions and blown them up.”
I nodded. I knew the Macros were big on chewing metal out of asteroids. I’d seen the vast machines they used for the purpose up-close and personal. Knowing to some degree how Macros thought, I figured they must have clashed with Earth’s forces then retreated when they took a loss or two. The only reason they would retreat was the discovery of a higher priority target or to wait for reinforcements. I hoped it wasn’t the latter.
“Any signs of mines, Kwon?”
“No sir. Orders?”
“You are to get your ass back aboard this ship. Get in front of the launch bay, and prepare for a rough landing. We’ll scoop you up under heavy acceleration. Turn your dish into the braking position and try to match our speed so you don’t get smashed.”
“Yes Colonel, Kwon out.”
I nodded toward Major Welter, who waited anxiously at the helm like a concert pianist who was dying to play.
“Get us underway,” I said. “Take us through the ring.”
“Watch this,” Welter said. He reached out and tapped a single control-point. The ship smoothly accelerated forward. “I’ve been working on my hotkeys,” he explained proudly.
We headed into home space knowing we were outgunned three to one. No one complained, however. I was proud of them all.
“No one transmit anything,” I ordered. “All external transmissions are on blackout. No radio beyond suit-to- suit.”
