The Prophesy: Book 4 - Armageddon

 

Ian sat on the Captain’s chair, and Harold took the Imperial chair behind him, while Enron took the Helm, Sitar the Strategic Station, Typhoon the Weapons Station, Paschal the Engineering Station and Thorsten the shields. Annabelle took Sickbay and Life Support, Timor Interior Security and Iridia sat at the Communications Station that resized instantly to fit her diminutive size. Harp took the Science station.

"Shields at full power! Yamato! Prime to disconnect the tubes! Alaric, report to the recovery hood, be ready to store tubes as soon as they port. For your own safety, use Spiders to do the manipulation! Banjo, Cello, Viola, your Centurie to porting duty upon disconnect of the tubes! Report to Yamato when ready! Samson to Interstellar Navigation! Synchronise with Enron and Sitar! Dunbar! To short-range sensors! Williams, handle passive long-range listening! Ready to Man the secondary Bridge! Rockhook! Secondary Helm! Greywolf! Secondary Weapons Station! Piano! Secondary Life Support! Violin! Secondary Sickbay! Golden Horn! Secondary Engineering Station! Lance-Master! Secondary Internal Security Station! Bushtail Fox! Secondary Strategic Station! Agramon! You have command over Secondary Bridge! Yamato, Banjo, Cello, Viola, report to Secondary Bridge for assignment once you are done with your task!"

Taking a breath, Ian continued dispensing orders at a very fast clip.

"No internal flying! All personnel on the ground! Take protective seats, tie up, and brace! Close and lock all bulwarks! Cap the waterways! Dampers at full power! Lock down Children in shelters! Deactivate Artificial Sun!"

As everyone scrambled, the intensive training the Atlanteans had received via telepathy paid off. Every house had a shielded, extremely reinforced room that had food and water, and special seats for each member of the family. As each one sat in a seat, it configured to supply proper life support and immobilise them should the damper fields fail. Even the animals in the Ark project had been conditioned to take shelter and tolerate safety nets for their own survival. Pterodactyls dropped to the ground at their winter nesting and huddled together as nets extended to cover them protectively; the animals returned to their den, and moved far inside, well within an area they usually did not occupy, and held their position, waiting for the signal that all was clear.

Outside, things were hectic. The Halley Comet was going to pass right between the Earth and the Moon, but that was not what had brought the red alert. It was the massive, excessively massive ball of ice headed to intercept the Moon.

"Identify!" ordered Ian.

"According to trajectory, it is Pallas. But it is not alone. Just behind it is a train of asteroids of varying sizes. From their shape, I see Juno, Vesta, Hygiea and bringing with it another train, Ceres. Some will hit the Earth, others will fly between us and the Moon, and Ceres and Pallas are headed for a frontal collision with the Moon," said Samson.

"What about the comet?"

"According to the model, its orbit will again be shortened. By and large, the model indicates it will be a very short seven days before it comes back to hit the Earth."

"Seven years, seven months and seven days said the Elohim Prophesy according to Gabriel. I think we have our explanation," replied Harp as he watched the projection unfold on the front main screen.

"We are seven months past my birthday," said Ian as he too watched the projected consequences.

"Minus a day, but then who would blame a prophet of such a minor error if such an error exists! After all, the calendar is not that stable of a measure of time!" commented Thorsten.

"Yamato? What is the current situation on the volume of recovery?"

"We stand at 95% of atmospheric recovery. The pressure is at 100 millibars and oscillating with crests at 300 millibars! The pumps are having issues."

"Do you have any suggestions?"

"Hold until the last minute! We can recover the entire system in less than five minutes, and then the Spiders on autopilot can place them in storage."

"Do you have any idea as to why the oscillations in atmospheric pressures?"

"As each meteorite impacts with the residual atmosphere it sends pressure waves that feed the residual atmosphere in the pumps. Add to this the sudden release of frozen water and its sublimation into vapour, sulphuric products, and the impact of disintegrating meteorites and you have considerable reasons for all these crests. Ah! That one must have been a bit bigger than the others! We had a crest at 500 millibars, but now the pressure is back down at 90 millibars. It is always like that. Big peak, followed by considerable drop."

"Okay. Samson, when do you expect Pallas to collide with the Moon?"

"In 2 hours, 35 minutes and 16 seconds. The differential speed will be 700,000 miles per hour, because the collision will be frontal. The Moon orbits the Earth at 2,288 miles per hour on average. Pallas is coming back toward us from its closest encounter with the Sun at an average speed of 697,772 miles per hour. The resulting collision will release the equivalent energy of 9.16×10¹⁸ megatons of TNT. It should weaken the Moon’s cohesiveness considerably and modify its orbit by bringing its perigee closer to the Earth, thus augmenting perigee gravitational interaction of the two bodies. It will not be enough to break the Moon to pieces, but the next collision will! It is Ceres, and it will be coming in to intercept the Moon at its new lowest point in the Earth’s gravitational well, where the Moon will have gained the maximum momentum. According to the numerical model, Ceres will shatter and be right in the trajectory of the Moon’s new orbit creating enough drag and gravitational tides on the satellite to shatter it by shredding. It does not stop there. Had the Moon been able to continue on its orbit without having to plough through Ceres, it might have escaped impact from Juno, Vesta and Hygiea, but unfortunately for our battered satellite, it will be broadsided by these three massive bodies, which will gradually change its orbit and bring it even closer to the Earth and finish it off."

"What is the timetable?"

"Pallas is now at 2 hours and 33 minutes; Ceres is 4 hours and 22 minutes, Juno at 4 hours and 29 minutes; Vesta at 4 hours and 33 minutes and Hygiea at 4 hours and 45 minutes to collision. I had the Pyramids confirm the estimates. They are good to the nearest minute."

"Okay. Estimate gravitational consequences on us?"

"The disruption of the Moon-Earth gravitational well will impact on the Earth by creating unprecedented gravitational tides on the Earth and on the Moon. We should expect Earthquakes of magnitude 12 or more. I would expect major tectonic motions, mostly along the deep fault lines. I am asking the Pyramids to do the estimates now. They are asking for a 10 minute calculation time."

"Granted. Yamato, have you followed the discussion?"

"Yes. All connectors are primed for release. I have assigned Banjo to tube A, Cello to tube B, and Viola to tube C. All Legions on standby for porting on release!"

"Internal security?"

"All personnel at stations; all non-essential personnel in shelters! Waterways secured. Artificial Sun deactivated and secured. Tessaracts secured. All life forms sheltered. Emergency teams on station, all levels. Bulwarks closed and sealed. Internal upper bulwarks extended. Internal atmosphere stabilised."

"Shields?"

"Full power on all external shields. Only the shields extending below the Sphere are still inactive. I primed them so the moment we have released the tubes and they are in, the shields will be activated adding their kinetics to the thrusters."

"Engines?"

"Heated, awaiting the signal to fire up."

"Weapons banks?"

"Ready and primed."

"Report on enemy activity!"

"The Soul-eater ships are converging on us but staying off the orbit of the Moon. The Scavengers are staying out of sight."

"Ignore both, it is no use firing at them given what is coming. I do not get why they still want to get in here."

"Who knows? Maybe they have a vendetta?" replied Harp, smiling.

"Or maybe they think there is a rescue mission to do," added Thorsten, winking at Harp.

"Where are Gabriel and Lucifer?"

"According to sensors, still in the Earth-Moon Lagrange point, even if it has shifted some since the impacts began."

***

"Jefferson? What are you doing here? And with Sven and Alexander, no less?" asked Harold as he saw the three Boys walk into the Bridge from the portal.

"What do you expect us to do? If Ian can do something, so can we! Assign us stations or we will take one!"

Harold looked at Ian, not knowing what to do.

"All right, Boys. Jefferson, sit with Typhoon, you have long range firing while Typhoon handles nearby objects. Remember! Fire ahead of the object and the further away the more forward the firing! Sven, sit beside Annabelle and take over Life Support. Alexander, sit beside me, keep an eye on that map. If you see a red line appear tell me immediately."

"What does this do?"

"It tells me that we are going to be hit. While Sitar, Typhoon and Jefferson try to find a way to prevent it by combining weapons, I will be busy planning evasive measures and giving Enron changes of trajectory."

"All right. I see a lot of yellow and green lines already "

"Green means the object will miss us, yellow means it will be close, red means it will hit us. My goal is to keep everything either green or yellow."

"Okay."

***

The Atlanteans kept the spaceship clear of direct impact, using all sorts of weapons from photon torpedoes to antimatter pulses to deviate the biggest pieces. Ian informed the population of Thebes of the outgoing battle with the elements and apprised them of the situation. As the number of small rocks was much more considerable than big ones, the most solicited defence was the shield. Sometimes, rocks managed to get through and hit the surface. Each collision resonated across Thebes, reminding everyone of the gravity of the situation. Fortunately, the hull, made of an orichalque polymer, never sustained any damage. The only issue was the progressive accumulation of aggregates on the ship’s outer surface.

"What do you plan to do about it?" asked Harold, as Ian told him of the report.

"We still are in a gravitational well Dad. I only need rotate the ship slowly on takeoff, and the aggregate will fall on the surface."

"And if that does not work?"

"If I increase the rotational speed until the centrifugal force exceeds the surface gravity, these pieces of shit will fly off in all directions. If I notice it is not working, I can simply apply a general negative gravity on the surface. That should do it. Personally, I would prefer rotation to any other approach, if only because it will expose each shield segment to some workout rather than just stress a single area. It goes for the reactors as well."

"Okay."

"Ian, I see three red lines!" said Alexander.

"Okay. Transmit the data to Sitar using that button there. Pump a bit of Magic in it and think ‘Sitar’. That is it."

"I got the data. Calculating. Typhoon, fire on my signal, Azimuth 30.34°, elevation 83°, photon torpedoes, range 4,822 miles. Fire! Azimuth 179.32° elevation 68.32° range 7,822 miles. Fire! Azimuth 88.77° elevation 15.22°, range 8,666 miles. Fire!"

"Estimated impact for the first torpedoes: three minutes, shock wave at one megawatt per square inch. Thorsten?"

"The shields are ready to absorb the impact."

Estimated impact for second salvo: 4.8 minutes. The estimated shock wave power is at 383,638 watts per square inch. Estimated impact for third salvo: 5.39 minutes. The estimated shock wave power is at 317,364 watts per square inch."

"Another red line just appeared. Transmitting!"

"I got it. Calculating! Azimuth 190°, elevation 1°, distance 500 miles. I suggest lasers."

"Acknowledged, Sitar. I am using lasers. Paschal, transfer 100 terawatts on laser grid!"

"Transfer completed!"

"Typhoon, fire on my mark. Mark! Ready to fire! Mark. The target has split. Take out the left one! Azimuth 189°, elevation 2°, distance 150 miles! Fire on my mark! Mark! Target destroyed."

"Not completely! Impact in two seconds!" said Alexander, "Velocity: 25,000 miles per hour, mass 50 tons, sector 4N180W according to that thing."

"Increasing shield to 200% nominal in grid area 4N180W!" replied Thorsten, upon hearing Alexander’s report. "Reinforcing damper to compensate impact!"

Harold listened to the constant exchange of data from all his Sons and he could not help but feel proud of them. Everyone did his best and integrated seamlessly in the Crew, even an untrained Boy like Alexander. Jefferson kept a constant barrage of anti-matter torpedoes headed out toward objects located at least 100,000 miles away, thus reducing the number of interventions from the other members of the defence team. Some big pieces of junk always managed to get through and were handled by photon torpedoes, while the smaller, closer ones were dealt with the lasers. Nonetheless, even with the combined defences, some garbage regularly made it through and hit the shields either disintegrating on impact or passing through considerably reduced in speed and mass. The intensity of bombardment could be heard through the shell, and clearly measured the intensity of the ongoing battle with nature.

***

"Imminent impact on the Moon! Pallas is at five minutes to impact!" interrupted Samson in the continuous data flow of the ongoing battle.

"Acknowledged!" answered Ian. "Yamato! Ready to disengage tubes! Four minutes to disconnect!"

"Acknowledged!"

Time stood still as everyone waited the four minutes, before Yamato replied.

"Tubes disconnected! Triggering explosive bolts! All segments separated properly! Port is starting! Five minutes to full recovery!"

"Impact! Impact! The orbit of the Moon is changing! Orbital speed slowing down! It is entering an elliptic orbit. Estimated perigee at 250,000 miles! Pallas has shattered. Some pieces are headed for the Earth in a spiralling orbit. Most of Pallas stuck to the Moon. Detecting severe fracturing and lava flow on lunar surface! The lunar orbit is degrading due to collisions with some chips from Pallas. Simulations state that in 30 orbits it will collide with the Earth should nothing else intervene."

"We all know more shit is coming our way so things will worsen, Samson," said Harold, ironic.

"Samson, what about those asteroids following in Pallas’ path?" asked Ian.

"It is on schedule. Ceres should impact the Moon in one hour 49 minutes and counting."

"Has the number of impacting objects increased, Alexander?" asked Ian as he kept track of the flying orders.

"The number of potential hazards has quadrupled. I see lots and lots of red lines!"

"Typhoon, can you keep up?"

"Barely!"

"Okay. Secondary bridge!"

"Yes, Ian?" asked Agramon.

"Have you your full complement?"

"All stations manned!"

"Take defence azimuth 0 to 179 on my mark! We are saturated."

"Port of tubes and pumps completed! Porting to Secondary Bridge!" said Yamato.

"Just in time! Assist Agramon in defence!"

"Yamato, Dunbar and Williams just ported on bridge," replied Agramon. Yamato to firing! Dunbar to Strategic! Williams assist me! Everyone! We assist the Main Bridge in defence. Prepare!"

A second later, all acknowledged their respective station was ready.

"Ready!"

"Transferring Azimuth 0-179.9 on my mark! Mark!" said Ian.

The right field of the ship became blind for the main bridge defence and appeared on the defence grid of the Secondary Bridge. The secondary Crew immediately understood they would have their hands full and began firing with all weapons, while the Main Bridge began focussing on the left side of the spaceship.

***

As the battle with the falling debris intensified, more and more tremors could be felt coming from the Earth itself.

"Science station! Report on geological situation!" asked Ian at some point.

"The frequency of earthquakes has been doubling every hour, and their intensity follows a logarithmic curve consistent with a tenfold increase in power for each 20 earthquakes registering on our instruments. We are now at an average of 9.9 on the Richter scale. Indications are that the seismic waves are adding up and will reach a magnitude 12 on the Richter scale by the time Ceres hits the Moon. The combination of repeated asteroid collisions with the current disturbance in the gravitational interaction between the Earth and the Moon, added with the natural fluidity of the mantle, has made entire tectonic plates collide like marbles. It is too bad we do not have satellites; because I am sure we would see whole mountain ranges disappear while others would rise out of flat plains and compete with the Himalayas. Luckily, Thebes is dampened or we would all be seasick!"

"What stops us from leaving now?" Piano asked.

"We need the confusion the destruction of the Moon will cause to make do our escape undetected. Once this is done, and the Soul-eaters get engaged into this chaotic system to the point they cannot disengage, we leave. We may have to fight our way out, but at least they will be having a lot of problems following us," replied Harp.

Just as Harp finished his explanation, a tremendous tremor reached the Atlantean spaceship, which literally rolled on itself several times.

"The automatic transfer of control weapons worked, Ian. We have not lost any opportunity to disintegrate incoming objects," Sitar informed them.

"No damage reported!" said Timor.

"What caused this?" asked Ian.

"A magnitude 15 earthquake. Something massive hit at the antipode of the globe and created the earthquake. Expect aftershocks shortly!" replied Harp.

"Okay. What are the external conditions?"

"Currently, the crust is rupturing under us, we are seeing the mantle in some places. The average temperature on the globe is rising dramatically as the plates move violently. The Juan de Fuca plate sank below the North American plate completely, and the Rockies are now at least 40,000 feet higher than before. What was Cali has now folded and broken along the Baja sea arm and capsized into the mantle. The African Rift has split, and the residual oceanic water, melted by the sudden influx of heat, had begun a lost battle with the exposed mantle. Iceland is now undersea. New Zealand has split in half along the oceanic dorsal. Antarctica has split in three along the oceanic dorsal; one split going from the Atlantic basin to the Pacific basin and another split is travelling along the 80th East meridian headed for India. The Chilean coast is severely battered by several displacements equivalent to at least magnitude 12 earthquakes. Japan has moved toward the mainland of Asia by several miles, while all volcanoes have blown their tops. Hawaii is no more; the convection plume from the mantle has burst through the crust eradicating the islands. The Yellowstone caldera busted its cap; we are getting several million tons of pumice and ash on us. Luckily, the lack of significant atmosphere prevents the wind from playing a major role in this or it might be worse. By the way the Yellowstone magma plume is cutting through the continental crust like a hot knife through butter. The Hippy fault is opening from the Gulf of Mexico northward, at a rate of several miles per minute. There are other super volcanoes, including in Africa, but mostly, they are of little interest to us for now."

"Enron, power up thrusters to neutralise the Earth gravity. Prevent us from sinking."

"Hovering mode engaged!"

"Harp, estimate the probability of this planet to survive as an entity."

"If it was not for the spiralling Moon, I would say a pretty good chance, Ian. But with that behemoth coming down, the chances are slim. Even if it did, the impact would be such that the planet’s orbit would become elliptic rather than its current circular form."

"Okay. Have you had time to look at the impact of this on other planets?"

"Mars is even more battered than us, as it is closer to the source of asteroids. Venus did not escape collisions. The impact of a major meteorite blew off a good part of its atmosphere. I think the asteroid in question is or rather was Europa. We cannot be sure, since the onset of these events has severely perturbed the normal schematics of the asteroid belt. The asteroid hit Venus while benefiting from the slingshot effect offered by the Sun, much like Ceres will shortly, when it hits the Moon. I cannot see Mercury, since it is on the other side of the Sun."

"Okay. Samson, how much longer before the impact between Ceres and the Moon?"

"There is 22 minutes left before the collision. The Moon is already severely perturbed by the constant bombardment of its surface. It is now 90% melted. Our last seismographs have long been reduced to silence by the constant impact of meteorites."

"Is it the same with those we placed on the Earth?"

"The last ones still transmitting are in an old kimberlite pipe in South Africa. I am surprised this section has not sunk yet, but it is only a question of time. All the others have either been smashed or buried by lava. I am preparing the dispersion of the secondary net of seismographs, which will measure wave pressure in liquid lava," replied Harp.

A few minutes later, Harp came back with a complement of information.

"The last standard seismograph died. I am dispersing the thermophile seismographs. The data should be available in two minutes!"

"Thermophile?" asked Harold.

"They appreciate heat. They can withstand the temperature of molten lava and are designed to float on it, are bottom-heavy so they redress on their own, and detect seismic waves by calculating the acceleration imparted on a three-axis gyroscopic system."

"What range of temperature are we talking about?"

"Oh, lava has a temperature ranging from 1,300° Fahrenheit to 2,400° Fahrenheit, so I designed them to be able to withstand temperatures ranging up to 3,000° Fahrenheit."

"Okay."

"You might be interested in knowing that Paschal and I added a graviton detector to these seismographs, realising that it might be useful to measure gravitational waves as well. It will let us detect passage of masses near the detector. It will work as long as the sensor is not destroyed. Ah, the network is linked. According to the calibration chart, we have just had a magnitude-18 earthquake. Enron, I suggest you lift up a few dozen feet. When this thing hits, the ground under us will have swells of several feet."

"Okay, Harp."

"Just for your knowledge, Lucifer and Gabriel are now out of the Lagrange point. They are in a spiralling orbit with Earth at its centre," said Samson.

"What about that other Soul-eater we trapped in a volcano?"

"Ninurta, the Elohim Spawn? It is long dead to consciousness. It lost all sense of reality and existence a few months ago," replied Thorsten.

"Anyway, the volcano that contained it no longer exists as a separate entity. Its mass collapsed in the magma of the mantle shortly after the intense bombardment began," said Harp.

"Good riddance!"

"I agree wholeheartedly Dad."

"Where are Diamondcutter and Amethyst?"

"Doing the rounds to reassure everyone. I asked them to do this."

"Okay, Ian, that is a good idea. I hope they have taken precautions."

"I have given them a special chair. It literally fuses to the structure of Thebes on contact and they are strapped into it with a five-point safety belt."

"Five minutes to impact!" Samson informed everyone on the command net.

Everyone watched Ceres, the giant proto-planet, head on a collision course with the Moon. The residues of Pallas and the ejected material from the Moon were being crushed between the two bodies as they converged. Repeated flashes of light indicated the magnitude of the energy involved. The total output was in the order of 5.90×10²² megatons.

"Polarise the screen!" ordered Ian, as the two masses were within a minute of colliding. "Filter at 80%!"

The insertion of polarising filters cleared the glare, and the filtering only left a few scattered sparks of light. Suddenly, a bright explosion was visible; it was bright enough the Atlanteans had to shield their eyes to prevent getting blinded.

"Filter at 99%!" ordered Ian, taken by surprise by the intensity of the light display.

"Is everyone okay?" asked Ian.

"I got some spots in front of the eyes, but otherwise, it is okay," said Paschal.

"We all have some, I think," said Harold.

"Things should improve shortly," said Annabelle. "If it does not, ask for a replacement and report to sickbay."

"Set Bridge to night vision!" ordered Ian.

Immediately, all light diminished and only the red glow of the stations and security markers lit up the Bridge.

"How is that on the eyes?"

"Much better Ian!" said Harp, as the others confirmed their assent to this comment. "The intensity of the light outside is about the same as the Sun seen from the surface of Mercury.

"IFR⁹⁹ ("IFR: Instrument Flight Rules") in effect! Close all external ports!" ordered Ian. "Annabelle, what is the number of blinded?"

"So far, none. No one was looking outside when this happened. There were some burns, but they are treated by biobed and should be back on duty in 10 minutes."

"Okay. Has everyone recovered their vision?"

"I still got some spots, but they are diminishing rapidly," Harold said.

"I have the same problem. Typhoon, can you still aim?"

"Yes, the digits are a bit hard to read still, but it remains feasible."

"Sitar?"

"Same here."

"Jefferson?

"I am fine, I was afraid to watch so I closed my eyes and put my hands in front of them. I do not have your issues."

"Alexander?"

"I was watching my instrument, and was not looking outside, so I only got the reflected light. I am doing fine."

"Samson, astronomical report!"

"Radar indicates the Moon is shattering completely. We will have the formation of a low-flying ring of debris. In fact the ring is composed of a massive piece and a long trail of debris following its orbit. Impact on the main lunar block by Juno in 20 seconds!"

The impact angle of Juno was much like an uppercut applied on the back of the rotating block, and shattered its rear end into a series of blocks that rose at an angle to fall back on the main block and into the Earth’s gravity well, giving the impression the Snake had a crest above its giant head. The light show, even if it was less spectacular than the one produced by the impact of Ceres, nonetheless reached a considerable intensity.

"Lateral cross-impact from Vesta and Hygiea due shortly!" Samson informed the others.

Just as someone was going to ask what Samson meant, Vesta hit the head of the Snake laterally, creating a jet of material that spewed from the combined mass of the asteroid and what was left of the Moon. The impact was such that the Snake-head wavered from its original path, thus getting in the way of Hygiea. A few minutes later, the other asteroid collided with the severely shaken lunar core, and created another jet of rocks. From below, the train of debris gave the impression of a wavering Snake in the sky, with a crest on its head and two giant, if ephemeral, wings bracing it from each side.

"Wow! A flying Snake!" said Sven, always the Poet.

"Maybe, but it will not be flying long. Estimate to collapse on the Earth?" asked Ian.

"Seven days," replied Samson.

"What is the situation with the Lagrange point?"

"It is gone. Lucifer and Gabriel are headed for a fiery death," answered Harp.

"How is the Snake developing?"

"Drag is stretching it. There are numerous collisions between debris of varying size. Bigger pieces are sinking faster than smaller ones, creating a differential density gradient," replied Samson. "The Snake should bite its tail in three days."

"Meaning?"

"The head will have caught up with the tail, but, because it is spiralling downward, it will be below the tail end by about 20,000 miles. As it passes under its tail, it will attract the material down, increasing its rate of fall and tightening the spiral."

"Impact on Earth gravitational well?"

"Major tidal waves are racing around the globe, slightly behind the Snake’s head and its mass. As the Snake spirals downward, the effect is increasing exponentially," Harp said.

"Long range sensors! Report on the Soul-eater activity!"

"They are converging on the system. They should be here within a few days. No signs of the Scavengers."

"Damn it! I was hoping we would be gone by the time they reached the planet."

"Life is like that. It loves curved balls!"

"Shove it, Paschal!"

Everyone snickered at the exchange.

"Sitar, strategic suggestion?" asked Ian.

"Let us keep to deviating the pieces of junk using either lasers or grazing photon torpedoes. We cannot hope to escape detection, since we stick out like the nose in the face. But we can give them the false impression we are stuck here to attract them to their end. And it is always nice to have some cards up our sleeves. They have no idea we have antimatter mines, and other niceties waiting for them. Lasers and photon torpedoes are easily escaped but antimatter mines, gravity mines, and time-wrap mines have really cute effects on an unsuspecting ship! Give thanks to Paschal and Thorsten for developing these things!"

***

The hours passed by and the Snake kept extending both lengthwise and laterally. Incoming asteroids kept adding to the mayhem, twisting it left and right, up and down, adding their own mass to the ribbon of detritus. Meanwhile, other objects streaked between the Earth and the Snake, either slowing or speeding up its fall, but never stopping it. A hail of rocks pummelled the Atlantean spaceship, and the lasers had completely taken over the defences, as photon torpedoes were more than likely to detonate too close for comfort. It is not that a photon torpedo detonating outside of the shield, right next to it, could do much damage, but the hail was so intense it was becoming impossible for a torpedo to even pass through the energy shield before blowing up.

"Earmuffs!" ordered Ian, as the sound level increased even more. "Jefferson, neutralise the sound by emitting same-frequency, same intensity negative sound waves!"

"I have been doing that already! If it was not for that countermeasure, we would be deaf by now!"

"Okay. External damage?"

"None to report. The shell is not even scratched. However I recommend we start rolling to clear the debris that is accumulating between pylons."

"Enron, engage left thrusters in an arc, to initiate a roll!"

"Sequence Delta engaged. Firing five seconds, interval two seconds. Push at 3% of nominal."

A few seconds later, the giant sphere began rolling on the Earth’s surface, swimming in the lava that was now the planetary surface.

"Rolling! One arc-second per minute! We are moving from our original position at about 350 miles per hour, direction due south," reported Enron.

"What a way to swim!" said Alexander, much to the amusement of others.

"When do you plan to order lift-off?" enquired Harold.

"One hour before the Snake crashes."

"Is that not pulling it close?"

"Yes, but by then, the Soul-eaters will be fully engaged with us, caught under the umbrella of the Snake, and very few of their ships will be able to disengage in time. Furthermore, the Snake will render the detection of this behemoth impossible."

"I see."

"Sitar, have Paschal and you completed the assembly of the antimatter planet-shattering bomb?" asked Harp.

"Yes, but from what I see we may not need it. That huge mass coming our way from the outer solar system should clean up the slates! It had been hidden by the Sun, but damn it, it is big, about the size of the Earth itself! It grazed the solar surface producing a huge solar flare that will roast anything from the Sun to this orbit when it reaches us. Luckily we are in opposition to its current extension, but it will catch up with us in a few days. And the slingshot effect is to behold."

"Can you identify?"

"No, Ian. It is unknown. However, the orbit puts its apogee at somewhere in the Oort cloud, about half to three-quarters of a light-year away," Samson said.

"That sure is not precise!"

"What can I say? I got other issues!"

***

The Matriarch was surprised to receive the visit of Diamondcutter and Amethyst in her nest. She kept patrolling its vast expenses nervously. She was well aware of the outgoing battle with the meteorite rain and, recently, the displacement of the strange spaceship that was carrying her and her brood.

«I would have thought everyone was immobilised?» asked the Matriarch after the presentations were made.

«We were instructed by the Heir to inspect the occupied section of the ship and reassure those that needed reassurances. How are you doing, Matriarch of the Seraphrims?»

«Honestly? I am anxious! I can feel the gravity well get savagely assaulted, and there is a big collision coming up.»

«Yes, we know, it is going to destroy the main satellite of this planet.»

«No, that has occurred already. The one will destroy this planet. Why are we still on the surface, even if we seem to be moving at a very slow speed toward the Equator?»

«I have no idea,» replied Diamondcutter, «but I am sure Ian and the others know what they are doing.»

«Ian? Is it not the one that invited us into this ship? The youngest one?»

«The he is the youngest one in command, yes. He captains this ship.»

«Your people will always surprise me!»

«Is life not a constant surprise, Matriarch? For instance, you are a surprise to us, even if the Atlanteans’ ancestors met yours.»

«How so?»

«Well, you graze planets; you manage to travel from star to star without the use of a spaceship, you manage to survive the bitter cold and lack of atmosphere of the inter-sidereal space, you navigate without apparent engines, and detect planets of choice without apparent instruments. These are but some of the questions we have concerning your people. We have only Ian’s account of what you told him about the capacity to leave a planet but it was far from exhaustive.»

«I can answer those questions. Let me tell you the story of my life, it will help you understand how things work.»

«Go ahead, we have some time before I have to continue the rest of my rounds.»

«Let me see. When I was born, the Matriarch of the nest had selected a planet that comprised vast reserves of silicon, with just the right mix of other elements to let my nest Brothers and Sisters grow together and not compete much. We began feeding on the planet, which was devoid of life due to excessive solar radiation, an event that helped us considerably. We could let free our insatiable appetite. We drilled tunnels deep within the crust, chewing up ever-bigger tunnel. As we fed, the Matriarch gave us our education on the history of our species, what could be done, and some basic ethics. We learned of the Enemy, of the Atlanteans’ efforts at saving our species, of their sacrifice for our kind, and the gift of survival. I must thank Harp for his new gift to our people. Sight is such an impressive sense! Anyway, back to the story. The Matriarch told us to feed until we grew big and had enough reserve for a long period without food. We fed and fed, doubling in size every five years as measured by this planet’s orbit. Each time we increased in size, our outer shell cracked, and we left it behind, adding another layer of silicon to our exoskeleton. The last 100 years were spent accruing what your people call orichalque. That period is very dangerous for us. We must stay hidden, deep within the planetary crust. Gradually, the orichalque isolates us from the planetary gravity well, and we find ourselves walking on the roof of the tunnels we have been digging, being pushed ever harder away from the core well.»

«That is very interesting!» said Amethyst.

«The orichalque, as you certainly know, is a very special mineral. It not only isolates the bearer from gravity, but it gives us armour against anything space can throw at us. During that period, the Matriarch fine-tunes our senses, so we can detect gravity, orichalque, and mineral compositions of planets from a distance. The Day of Dispersion is both a sad day and a great day for us. It is sad because we know we will never see each other again and we will lose our Matriarch, but we know it is also the day we will begin our trip to create a new nest.»

«How do you exchange genes? It must be rather difficult to do so in the wide expenses of space.»

«Matriarch Amethyst, we are all females, except for rare cases. The males never leave the nest, never know the joy of space but also never know the agony of separation from each other. They live in what you would call a Convent, and are shared by all of us. We leave the nest with our eggs fertilised.»

«What happens to the Matriarch once the nest is vacated?»

«I have no idea.»

«And what about the males?" asked Diamondcutter.

«They return to their Convent never to be seen again. Once their task is done, they are ignored by us.»

«I thought you would tell us they die off. It happened in many species on this planet, from Salmon to Spiders and Bees.»

«It might well be the case with them too. Nature tends to repeat methods and to be economical of its means.»

«The Matriarch might well have enough sperms to fertilise more eggs. Females can lay eggs until death in beehives, without ever needing to be re-fertilised,» mentioned Amethyst.

«That might be so, and a planet can supply quite a number of generations » said the Matriarch.

«You mention you get ejected from the gravity well in what you called the Dispersion. How do you navigate interstellar space?» wondered Diamondcutter.

«By displacing the orichalque concentration on our outer shell we can change our gravitational balance. We use gravitational wells to swing us in our chosen direction, and then go in a prolonged sleep until we near another gravitational well.»

«That is called hibernation. Many animals can do this.»

«Ah, I thought it was only we who did. Anyway, there is an advantage, we consume next to nothing during that period, and we have ample food reserve in our shell to sustain ourselves for billions of years in that mode.»

«And when you have found a satisfactory planet?»

«We move in such a way as to slow down and penetrate the planet’s surface. For instance, I intercepted this planet at a very flat angle, bounced off the atmosphere several times to slow down, and ultimately penetrated it with just the proper angle to enter underground by about 200 times my body length. When I came to a stop, I disengaged my outer orichalque shell, and went wandering in search for a proper nesting site. I still have enough orichalque in my current shell to resist to predators, but not enough to get ejected back into space.»

«How do you detect the composition of a planet?»

«Oh, that is rather simple. Each atom has a specific resonance in one dimension, I think your Prince of Magic calls it the ninth, but I cannot be sure. We have a name for it, which translates into the Music of the Spheres. We can isolate each of these frequencies and weigh them comparatively. This planet had just the right composition, the right balance of orichalque and silicon, and the several hundreds of other isotopes.»

«Are these planets rare?»

«Not really, but there are many planets whose composition contain too little silicon, especially giant ones, and others who have next to no orichalque. This issue needs to be weighed carefully.»

«Can you detect a planetary composition from inside here?»

«No, there is too much orichalque interfering with it. Sorry.»

«It is all right. Can you also detect life?»

«Yes. There are many forms of life. Our species tries to stay away from the Enemy, which is mostly steel, but we interact with others. I admit life, advanced life, is much rarer than what we initially thought.»

«That is due to the depredation of the Soul-eaters. What types of life have your people met?»

«Silicon, evidently, but also we can detect carbon, sulphur, and methane-based. These last ones are generally found in big gaseous planet.»

«That is interesting. I wonder if Ian would be interested in this fact?»

«We will see. Did you detect any on the outer planets while coming here?»

«No. There might have been some traces of life on the biggest satellite of the biggest of them, but it was carbon-based. There were no life forms on the big planet. It might have died out. These life forms require a lot of energy, and the planet is far from the source.»

«The Ancients label that planet Jupiter. And I read somewhere that its biggest satellite, Ganymede, is covered with ice with a potential for liquid water under it kept warm by gravitational tides. That might be interesting to look into. The Ancients were never able to send a ship to verify before blowing each other up.»

«The Ancients?»

«The Ancients were the dominant life form of this planet before they blew each other up using nuclear weapons. We are their descendants, in a way. There are Ancients still, named Humans, but they no longer constitute the dominant species, Atlanteans do. I think the Patriarch will have a story to tell you, one day.»

«It is always a pleasure to see the Patriarch.»

«So, how do you like your new eyes?» wanted to know Amethyst.

«It is strange. Sometimes, I close them to recover my bearings. But the Prince of Magic told me this would be the case. After all I was born blind and I have yet to fully adjust. Depth is one of my biggest issues, as well as recognising an object whatever its position or distance. But I am learning. Colours are so beautiful! And for the first time ever, I can see the geometry of the nest. One of the visitors once said it was beautiful. I admit it is pleasing to the eyes.»

«That will improve, I guess.»

«What came as a surprise was the loss of equilibrium when I initially moved quickly. It felt like there was a conflict of information between one sense and another. I still do not understand how you manage to stand on the rear legs! It must take a lot of careful adjustments!»

«I guess so! After all it takes us several months to learn how to do it! It is a constant learning, from rotating to get on our belly, to crawling on it, then walking on all fours, then just sitting up, followed by the first tentative steps, to the capacity to run and finally jump. And we have some rather strange conflicts of information as well. If the environment moves suddenly, we fall over rather disgracefully. And I am not talking about being on a ship and suddenly walking on land and having the impression the Earth is rolling underfoot! Or the loss of balance when we have no close references to help us control our equilibrium, or the continued spinning produced by a quick rotation until we fall over.»

«Oh! I thought I was developing a sickness or other!»

«No, no! It is totally normal!»

«Do you regret accepting eyesight?» asked Diamondcutter.

«Certainly not! It has given me a new way to discover the world. I still use sound a lot, as well as touch, and, ultimately, these later senses will always be dominant, at least for me.»

«Has anything bad happened to your eggs since the red alert was sounded?»

«No. In fact, the security net supplied by the Prince of Magic has maintained them totally immobile, which is perfect. I did not feel the usual accelerations produced by changes of movement, but we do move, that, I am sure of."

«That is the dampers. They neutralise the acceleration felt by actually accelerating every particle on board in the direction of the global acceleration. It is not easy to implement Paschal told me, but it seems to work. Anyway, Matriarch, feel free to visit the Bridge, should you feel the need to get a better grip on what is going on. I am sure Paschal will explain things much better than I ever will be able to.»

«I may do so when things settle some.»

«It will be a while, according to the precognitions we have had.»

«I have all my time.»

«We must continue our patrol, Matriarch. It was nice talking to you.»

«It was nice talking to you, Patriarch and Matriarch of the Dwarves. Feel free to visit any time.»