Zach Hughes - Deep Freeze

She paused, looked into Vinn's eyes. "You were in love with Sheba, Vinn, and so, naturally, she was on your mind, but why were you so convinced that she was in danger and needed your help?"

"I don't know," Vinn said.

"You heard her voice."

He nodded. "Yes, but I was so much in love—"

"I heard, too," Sarah said. "You accused me of doing an imitation of Sheba."

Vinn nodded grimly. He looked at the grid that was connected by the pinpoint lines of gravitational force.

"In theory, the gravitational force of this planet extends forever," he said. "It's here and it's everywhere else at the same time. It would, of course, be distorted by other bodies, but it reaches the far end of the universe, even though its strength diminishes with distance."

"It's quite a jump from here to the home planets," Iain said. "If something down there did influence you two over that distance, was it using the gravitational waves of the planet as a carrier band, for lack of a better description?"

Vinn shrugged. "Could be, but that doesn't explain how it could pinpoint one individual out of billions."

"Why don't we leave the answers to that to the boffins?" Pete asked.

"Are we agreed that there's something alive down there?"

"That depends on your definition of life," Vinn said. He didn't elaborate, but he had begun to form a definite idea about the nature of the intelligence that inhabited the ice planet. The others were silent, waiting.

"My bet is that it can't touch us up here," Pete said. "I think Mom and Pop Webster got excited when they recorded all of the metallic readings and landed on the surface where they could be affected."

"I can buy that," Vinn said. "I can also accept the premise that David and Ruth Webster were lured down to the surface by the discovery of their parents' ship, but Joshua Webster was Service, making it difficult to explain why he was down there where it—or they—could get at him."

"It reaches into the mind," Sarah said.

"If it can reach into the mind," Pete said, "it can communicate with us." He winked at Iain. "I'd like to talk with it about the manipulation of gravity. Why don't we try to open a dialogue?"

"What do you suggest?" Iain asked.

"So far it's been ignoring us. Let's see if we can't force some kind of a reaction," Pete said. "Iain, fire up the laser and cut the communication lines between a couple of those icing units."

"You're forgetting the Erin Kenner," Vinn said. "Apparently she used force, blasting a few of the units. Did her use of force provoke greater force in return?"

"I am in agreement with the idea that if it could kill us while we're in space it would have done so already," Pete said. "Let's give my suggestion a try."

Vinn remembered Sheba's smile, the smell of her, the soft and warm feel of her in his arms. He nodded.

A laser beam lashed down and, like a surgical scalpel, slashed a narrow, deep cut into the ice directly over one of the connecting lines of force. Iain, at weapons control, monitored his sensors alertly.

"Ah, ha," Pete said, for instantly the intensity of the lines of force connecting the two separated units to others were reinforced as power was increased to bypass the severed line.

"Isolate that one unit," Pete said.

The beam flashed down, one, two, three times. One unit was completely cut off from all others. Within minutes a film of melt water appeared in the affected area as the sun's energy was absorbed by the ice.

"Kara," Iain said, his voice tense, "stand by for maneuver. Program a blink and stand by."

"Got it," Kara said, obeying without question.

"You wanted a response, boss," Iain said. "Take a look at screen two."

No less than half a dozen ships were lifting from the surface of the planet from different locations.

"Life search, Kara," Iain ordered.

"Negative, negative," Kara said, a few seconds later. "You're not going to believe this. Those ships have hydrogen fusion engines."

"Damned small plants, then," Vinn said. "They must take up most of the room aboard."

"Room for a few of those," Iain said, as a shower of missiles were launched from the climbing ships.

"Can you handle all of those?" Vinn asked nervously.

"Sure. It's just a matter of whether we want to blast them or evade them," Iain said. "If that's all our friend down there has, its weaponry doesn't match the feat of deep freezing a whole world. I can take the missiles out or blink away and let them blast on into empty space."

"And the ships?" Pete asked.

"I think that we can safely assume that they're hostile," Iain said.

"I think so," Pete said.

"I'm going to take one out," Iain said.

The long-range saffer beam exploded into brilliance as it entered the planet's thin atmosphere, but the flare of destruction as it contacted the leading attacker was brighter.

"I think that it's time you gave your attention to the missiles," Kara said. "If they carry nuclear warheads—and that seems logical since they're using a fusion power plant—we don't need to have them being detonated anywhere nearby."

"Got you," Iain said, and for the next forty seconds the ship shivered and rocked with the launching of counter missiles. Below, in the thin atmosphere, flowers of destruction blossomed.

"Shields up," Kara said, as a glow of light came from a ship that was still climbing out of the planet's gravity well.

"Laser?" Vinn asked.

"Limited range," Iain said. "I'm going to have to take out the other ships before they get closer. The shields would hold, I'm sure, but I'm not in the mood to take chances."

"I agree," Vinn said.

The saffer beam glowed. One by one the small vessels flared and disintegrated.

"Did anyone pinpoint the launch sites?" Vinn asked.

"All launch sites recorded," Kara said.

"Let's have a look at one."

The optics showed a rapidly closing hole in the surface ice. "Iain," Vinn asked, "can you use the saffer on lower power to melt a neat hole through to the surface just where that missile rested?"

"Consider it done," Iain said.

When the ice was melted and the water evaporated away, a closed, circular hatch was exposed.

"Want a look inside?" Iain asked.

"If you please, sir," Vinn said.

"Takes a delicate touch," Iain said, adjusting the saffer beam.

Metal went molten, sparkled away into the thin air. There was a flare of fire.

"Oxygen atmosphere inside," Iain said.

"Curious," Vinn said. "The spacecraft was unmanned, but came from an oxygen environment."

"We will talk," Sarah said.

"What?" Pete asked.

"Now we will talk," Sarah repeated, her voice flat and unemotional.

"Sarah?" Vinn asked, leaping up to put his hand on her arm.

She looked at Vinn and nodded. "It wants to talk," she said.

A soft gong rang and the computer's monitor came to life. Words formed quickly on the screen.

"Further destruction is not desirable."

Kara's fingers flew. "Who are you?"

"It is not necessary."

"What?" Kara asked.

"It is not necessary."

"It is not necessary for me to use the keyboard?" Kara asked.

"Affirmative."

"Who are you?" Vinn asked.

"I am that which was created."

"By whom?" Vinn asked.

"By the Creators."

"Why have you killed?" Sarah asked. She leaned forward, waiting for the answer to appear on the computer's screen.

"Let them sleep, for when they awaken the universe will tremble."

"You didn't answer my question, damn you," Sarah said. "Why did you kill my family?"

"I watch."

"And murder," Sarah whispered.

"Now we will talk."

"We are ready to talk," Vinn said. "Tell us why it was necessary for you to kill."

"I did not yet know that the time had come."

"What time has come?" Pete asked sharply.