Infinite Day (101 page)

Merral spent the rest of the day in meetings and in trying to familiarize himself with the defenses. In an adjacent room was a high-resolution hologram of Mount Tahuma, and he spent a long time staring at it and making notes.

Viewed from above, the shape of the mountain reminded Merral of a badly drawn exclamation mark. The main peak—unimaginatively named Tahuma-A—was a jagged ridge of rock running north-south, about a kilometer long, that rose up five hundred or so meters out of a rolling, stony desert surface. At the southern end a gap existed, apparently where a fault had split the rocks, and then a small, almost sheer-sided subsidiary peak—Tahuma-B. The main defense command bunker was sited in the main peak, the Gate control core in the smaller one. The two peaks were linked by a narrow, sixty-meter suspension bridge, which gave the only access to the Gate control core.

A series of defensive rings was being constructed for five kilometers around the mountain: ditches, berms, electrified wires, and minefields. At key positions, firing points were being located; some manned, some automatic. On the flanks of the summits, artillery and missile positions were being placed in freshly dug emplacements. Looking closely, Merral found some novel features, the most striking of which were the numerous smooth, nearly vertical walls that had been created.

Merral was looking at them when Anya came in with a databoard. “Ethan's on his way to see you,” she said.

“Good. Just found out about the mirror-ice walls. A superlubricant surface with a coefficient of friction of around 0.01. Very clever.”

“Yes. Not even Krallen can climb that. But it doesn't last forever. They're preparing surfaces at Tahuma for it to be sprayed on. Most have already been done.”

“Good idea. Uses our better materials technology.”

“On that front, some more good news. New blades are being issued. A Mark 2 version with a tunable coating on the edge. Once we have a few contacts with the Krallen, we can adjust the blades to the best setting.”

“Will it work?”

“No one knows. The science is good.” She glanced at the hologram. “I suspect we'll only really find out there. If this is where they are going.”

The door opened, and Ethan came in and for some moments stood silently by the hologram. “Our last resort. What do you think, Merral?”

“There's an extraordinary range of defenses and weapons here.”

“We raided the past for ideas, as you did on Farholme. We haven't had the time to create some of the things that we would have liked, but we think this will protect the Gate control core.”

“It's impressive,” Anya said. “The compound has a lot of firepower. And it's flexible; we have a good field of fire.”

“Is that especially important?” Ethan stared at her with keen eyes, and Merral sensed again the sharpness of the man's intellect.

“Yes, sir. The Krallen were able to outflank us at Tezekal Ridge. They tried at Ynysmant.”

“Even the distorted version of events we had from the prebendant told us that. It was taken into account.”

They stared at the model in silence for some time.

Anya spoke quietly. “We could lose a lot of people here.”

He gave a heartfelt sigh. “I know, Anya. We've automated it as much as we can. Most of the units will be dug into bunkers and trenches. Gun points with slits too narrow for Krallen. We have field hospitals in place and a set of evacuation procedures. But yes, there could be losses. Big losses.” Ethan looked away. “When we voted not to use Project Daybreak, we knew there would be a cost. We've already paid something of that. We may have to pay more.”

Merral wondered if some of those who had voted against the bomb had now changed their mind.

Anya spoke again. “And all this is to protect what—one small room?”

“Yes. The Gate control core itself is the size of a table. But we have to stop them having it.” Ethan looked at Merral as if seeking assurance. “Of course, all this depends on the logic that they really do want the Gates. Otherwise they'll just hit it with some massive bomb or those dreadful kinetic energy weapons.”

“But it's more than just logic,” Merral said. “In every confrontation we have seen them spare the Gates. They need them.”

Ethan nodded. “That was one of the few things of encouragement from Nezhuala's message. His third demand: he wants Gate control.”

They all stared at the hologram.

“Of course, they may not get this far,” Merral said.

“Of course not,” Ethan replied.

“No, indeed,” said Anya.

But none of us really believe it.

33

T
he next day brought much-needed good news. Just before dawn, Merral was woken with news that the
Sacrifice
had arrived and was transmitting from shallow Below-Space well inside the orbit of Mars. After a flurry of calls and some urgent debate, the ship was ordered to fly to the relatively nearby Orbital Factory Four, which had the facilities to hide it.

Merral spent the day working on the models and plans for defenses and talking with anyone who had anything of relevance to say about Tahuma. He set up conference calls with the engineers at the site and began to ply them with questions and suggestions. More sniper teams were commissioned and began training.

There were no further messages from the lord-emperor.

The following day, as the
Sacrifice
began its docking maneuvers with Orbital Factory Four, Merral sat down with Vero.

“I'm going to get Betafor sent down to us. What do you think?”

“We need to use every resource we have.”

“Can we trust her?”

Vero stared at him. “Of course not. But having Lloyd stand over her with a big gun may curb her worst habits. How are you going to manage her?”

“How do you mean?”

“The original agreement was that she would be released from serving us when we got back to Farholme.”

“That agreement was broken by her attempted murder.”

“Just so, but we are now going to ask her to risk her life with us.”

“
Aah
. She may refuse?”

“She has nothing to gain. We need either a carrot or a stick for her.”

Oh dear.
“Vero, you do realize that you are often . . . incomprehensible?”

There was a forced smile. “My friend, I understand myself. That's all that matters. Look, do you trust me?”

“
Trust
you? Yes, I just sometimes don't understand you.”

“Then leave her to me. I'll negotiate with her.”

“Very well.” Merral shrugged.

“What else are you ordering off the ship?”

“Just Betafor. Any other suggestions?”

“Yes, Lezaroth's armor for you.”

“Let me guess. It will boost morale?”

“And annoy him. If he is still around. And why not try to get those two surface skimmers down here? With pilots and every last bit of ammunition. They are no use up there.”

Merral stared at Vero. “We both seem to be agreed that this will come to a head down here.”

“Yes. The Gate system is the key and he must have it. But he's going to have to fight for it.”

After Vero had left, Merral called Laura. He congratulated the captain on getting the
Sacrifice
safely to Earth and then asked for his armor, Betafor, and the skimmers.

She smiled. “Sounds like you're planning for a fight.”

“I'm hoping to be pleasantly disappointed.”

“Yeah. Nezhuala will just turn up in Earth orbit and ask for a dinner invite? No chance.”

“Have
you
got any plans?” he asked.

She gave him a pout of feigned unhappiness. “Well, tourism is off. I'll stay by the ship; there are a lot of engineers planning to poke around. Going to put a full atmosphere casing around the ship. I want to keep an eye on them.”

“Good idea. And, Laura, make sure that whatever they do, you can fly within an hour.”

“I plan to. It's a pity we're low on ammunition.”

“'Fraid you'll have to make do with what you have. It'll take at least a month to get any replacements made. And, Captain, things are moving fast. They may be here in a fortnight. Or sooner.”

“So I gather.” She gave him a look of fragile amusement. “Well, if you need me to fly anywhere, I'm ready.”

“Thanks for the offer; it may be needed.”

“Pleasure. By the way, I hear that you managed to get justice for Captain Huang-Li.”

“Let's say, Laura, that the
process
of justice has begun.”

“Thanks, Merral.” The smile slipped. “But I'm sorry about what happened to you. And . . .”
No need to say the name: Gerry Habbentz
.

“Yes. . . . It was a . . . yes . . . a mess.”

Shortly afterward, the
Sacrifice
docked and Merral watched on a remote camera as foil sheeting was extended around her hull.

I'm sure we will use her. And my armor and the skimmers. War came to Farholme, then Bannermene, then twenty-two other worlds, then Ramult and Harufcan.

It now comes to Earth.

The following evening Merral was with Vero at an ADF briefing, listening to a discussion on space tactics, when a woman in uniform rushed in and pointed her diary at the large wallscreen.

“This . . .
this
—” she stammered in agitation—“has just come in. Just beyond the orbit of Jupiter.”

The screen was filled with darkness and stars—stars that shifted in and out of focus. Then they locked sharp, and suddenly in the midst was a long needle that gleamed a dark, metallic gray. A flashing trelliswork of blue lightning played around it.

Vero was standing up. “
No!
” he shouted. “It can't be!”

A sudden hubbub of voices broke out.

Commander Seymour, his face drained of blood, turned to Merral. “Do you know what it is?”

I do know. And I now know what Jorgio feared. But I must have it confirmed.

“Someone give me a length of the thing.”

A calibration scale slid across the image. “Four hundred fifty or five hundred kilometers.”

“You mean meters?” someone said but was corrected.

Merral got up and walked to the image, people parting ahead of him. “It's called the Blade of Night.”

He saw small pinpoints of light around it, like tiny sparks.

“See the accompanying ships?” He was aware how oddly flat his voice sounded. “That gives you the scale. We assumed it was fixed in orbit around Sarata.”
We never considered that it could be moved. How have they done that?

Vero was digging his hands into his hair. “You fool, Verofaza!
This
is what the strategy is all about and I never realized it.”

Merral turned around to see that Ethan had slipped into the room. There were more voices.

“It's moving our way.”