Barrington Bayley - The Zen Gun

An assortment of animals accompanied them: a rather scruffy enlarged mouse that scuttled alongside Crane, whiskers twitching; two dogs, a small horse and a sad-looking panda. Archier saluted smartly. Casually, the overlords responded.

“By space, but I need a pick-me-up,” Crane said, “Can we go and relax somewhere? Being on that barge is like riding a roller-coaster.”

“Of course, sir,” Archier said stiffly. He waved back the others of his command staff and conducted the overlords to the small travelator coach that was waiting. Only the mouse—adjutant to one of the overlords, he presumed—followed them, climbing in the back of the vehicle alongside Arctus.

They zipped into the innards of the flagship, arriving at a small reception lounge Archier used for informal Force meetings. Crane and Oblescu slumped down immediately on chair-couches, while Arctus opened up the hospitality cabinet.

“What would you like, overlords?” he asked softly. “Imbibables? Smoke? Sprays or airs?”

“Give me a hash fizz,” Oblescu said, “and make it good and strong.”

Crane nodded in answer to Arctus’ questioning trunk. The little elephant busied himself, pouring a delicate lavender fluid into three tall goblets and pressurising it with cannabis gas until it frothed.

Having quaffed and asked for more, the overlords relaxed a little. “Well, you’d better know the reason why we’re here,” Crane said, his tone one of tired resignation. “First of all, you know High Command doesn’t really exist anymore?”

Archier nodded, toying with his goblet. “I had guessed the staff has been sent out to the fleets.”

“Oh, it was only partly that. The Command was really shut down because the Imperial Council doesn’t trust it any more! Things are in chaos in Diadem, the Council itself has practically collapsed. The Whole-Earth-Biotists have come to the fore again. You might as well know there’s practically a civil war in the making. They’re talking about bringing back the Emperor Protector. This time he’s to be a Whole-Earth chimera. Genes from every permitted animal will be incorporated. If they ,get their way, that is.”

Archier took the news with as much equanimity as he could. He had Protector sympathies himself. He was, however, far from being a Whole-Earth-Biotist. He had taken it for granted that the Protector would have one hundred per cent human genes.

“But what has this got to do with High Command?” he queried.

“Aagh.” Crane gave a gesture of exasperation, which slopped fizz on his already stained uniform. “The Council ordered fleets Three and Twenty-Nine recalled so it could be sure of maintaining order. Then it came to light Seventeen and Twenty-Nine are riddled with Biotist sympathisers. Can you imagine what this did to High Command in the Council’s eyes? To top it all Carusier defected to the Biotists. An Admiral Overlord! Pending a review, the Council doesn’t trust Star Force at all now. It wants all the fleets kept out of Diadem, though personally I think only Seventeen and Twenty—Nine are affected.”

“ Only? ” Archier echoed. “Isn’t that enough?”

Arctus had stood paralysed with shock while the Admiral Overlord spoke. He turned and muttered something to the mouse, who shook his head dolefully.

“How could this happen?” Archier asked in anguish. He looked from one overlord to the other. “What went wrong?”

Oblescu jumped to his feet and paced the room. His face was distraught. “There are just too many problems! The fleets unable to handle things any longer, uprisings all over the place—Escoria hasn’t been the only one! We simply don’t have proper resources available any more! What with that and the lack of proper political organisation in Diadem… the state has been falling to pieces for some time. And now this latest disaster is one shock too many.”

“Disaster? What disaster?” Archier put down his drink.

“That’s the reason we are here,” Crane said. “Ten-Fleet has a rather special job to do. There’s something extraordinary been going on in a region some thirty light-years galactic west of here.”

He paused, as if wondering how to break the news. “We have a feetol research station not far from there. We think the work it’s been doing must have caused it. They weren’t trying to get into the Simplex… only to advance the state of the art, stretching recession lines still farther for a faster future generation of Star Force ships. They must have gone too far. Space has opened up. There is some sort of rent in it, about a light year across and getting bigger. Do you grasp my meaning? The Simplex is on the other side of it! The scientists say once three-dimensional space starts to tear like that it might all come undone.” He clapped a hand on his forehead. “Our universe could roll up like a scroll, as the saying is!”

While Arctus deftly and silently presented fresh drinks, Archier stared at Crane in bewilderment bordering on disbelief. “But I’ve never heard anything to suggest the feetol drive could damage spacetime like this,” he objected.

“No, no one thought it could.”

“Well what is required of me?”

“Ah. Well, the Council wants you to proceed in the direction of the rent and investigate. We didn’t want to send it over the spacewaves—the whole thing has been hushed up, naturally—so I had orders to deliver the message personally. Having done that, I personally plan to retire in some out-of-the-way spot.” Crane shrugged. “Of course, as you’re in Condition Autonomy, you can really do what you like. In fact, as we belong to a defunct command we don’t even outrank you any more!”

“I shall do what’s required,” Archier said slowly, “but this is a war fleet. I haven’t any real scientists with me, unless there are some among the passengers.”

“Yes, well I hadn’t quite finished explaining. We have others working on the scientific aspects of the problem. Your role is military. I said there was nothing but the Simplex on the other side, didn’t I? That isn’t strictly true. There’s some very strange stuff or entities or something coming through the rent, investing planets and causing chaos. We’re being invaded from another facet, in other words.”

“Then it’s true!” Arctus trumpeted, forgetting his place. “There are other facets!”

“Of course,” the mouse said in a measured, only slightly squeaky voice. “What else?”

“For the first time since its foundation,” Oblescu put in, “the Empire faces an external rather than internal threat. You’d think that would be enough to pull it together. Instead…” He trailed off.

“There’s been an odd happening here too.” Archier said. He explained about Earth’s moon. “Do you think there’s any connection?” he finished.

Crane nodded gravely. “There has to be. There isn’t any other explanation. Still, I’m surprised. This is so much further away than any of—the other phenomena we’ve heard about.”

“The influence is spreading,” Oblescu said.

“You call it an invasion,” Archier commented, “but is it really that? What is taking place, exactly?”

“Information is vague. We don’t think what’s coming through is even matter in the way we understand it. It’s not even composed of atoms. That would make sense, wouldn’t it? Other facets wouldn’t necessarily have the same composition as our own.”

Archier brooded. “I’m at something of a loss. My previous orders also had some urgency. The Oracle says there’s a weapon here in Escoria capable of destroying the Empire. Perhaps that’s more important.”

“Oh yes, we’re supposed to tell you the Oracle has made two more pronouncements concerning the supposed ‘weapon.’ It has been there a long time, and It has been disregarded because it is small . Make of it what you will. The Council wants you to give priority to the space rent thing. But as I said, since you’re in Condition Autonomy—”