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From the viewing gallery of Korolev Station, Brooks could look at Earth, the Moon, or the stars.
He chose the latter, staring out at the expanse of darkness, lit by tiny lights. Some of them moved; stations in the solar system, orbiting the Sun or Earth at distances still beyond the comprehensible.
Beyond them, the stars, in distances so vast that kilometers no longer even made sense to measure them.
From the surface of the homeworld, with the naked eye, he could recall that the furthest visible star was Cas, almost 40 quadrillion kilometers away.
It staggered him, awed him, enticed him.
And terrified him.
The incredible distances of utter emptiness, hostile to all life like him, was not all that lay out there. Stars and black holes were not the only objects to fear.
Out there were monsters.
A shiver went down his spine.
He heard the door open softly behind him, and recognized the footfalls of Admiral Vandoss without having to turn.
“Admiral,” he said by way of greeting, the formality seeming appropriate right now.
“Captain,” The man replied, stepping up next to him.
It had been four hours since the tribunal had concluded. The whole event dropped, as Freeman had withdrawn his charges . . . No settlement on his actions, no denouement for the whole thing. Perhaps some still questioned his actions, but none apparently wanted to continue the event with all that had come out.
What a perfect end for Freeman, Brooks thought. He’d been a pawn, played right into the Director’s hands. Questions had been raised about his performance that would not be settled now, forever leaving a question over his conduct.
And Freeman had achieved his true aim, it seemed; forcing the Shoggoths to share what they knew. Or at least one further step along that route.
He knew that the short-sighted might see Freeman as having gained little, but in reality change operated on long time scales. The idea was put out, in front of major governmental figures; the Shoggoths were holding back. They knew more, they had admitted it, and were aware that their conduct was questionable. That they would ‘consider’ the request was merely a formality before they eventually gave Freeman what he wanted.
He glanced to Vandoss, but the man seemed lost in his own thoughts.
They studied the stars for a time, and the Admiral’s face had a sadness upon it.
“I miss being out there,” he admitted. “You don’t know how lucky you are. I was in my eighties when we first broke the light barrier. You weren’t even born yet, as I recall.”
“No, I wasn’t,” Brooks said. “I was born seven years after E-Day.”
Emergence Day, when the first manned ship had left the Sol System. Later, when they’d met the Bicet, the aliens had told them that they had observed the test, and called it the Emergence of the Climbers – the latter being their term for humans, directly translated, since they had evolved from tree-dwelling apes.
Ever since, even humans had called it E-Day.
They’d had no idea then, what dangers had awaited them. They’d all hoped for alien life, though after the Great Silence of centuries there was little hope of it being intelligent.
But they’d all underestimated just how hard it was for even intelligent species to become space-faring, to develop high technology. For some species it had taken a hundred thousand years of civilization before developing things as advanced as metallurgy.
Others they had met would never have been able to leave their world without help, to wonder at the marvels of the universe.
And not through faults of their own. No intelligent species truly seemed to lack imagination. But conditions, the material realities of their world, were not always kind.
Maybe the universe did not intend for anyone to leave their world, he sometimes wondered. He did not believe in any greater being with a plan . . . but then he had seen greater beings for himself.
Not loving gods, but unfathomable entities, greater than any god humans had dreamed of in long-gone days. They were, according to Kell, beyond life and death. Beings that lived on a scale that humanity could never understand. And they had no love for mankind, not even hate. Humans were . . .
Unimportant.
A part of him wondered if maybe Freeman had been right to force the Shoggoths to share their knowledge.
He felt cold suddenly, and wondered if Kell had joined them, the ambassador’s ghastly presence sucking all heat from a room; but a glance around showed that they were alone on the Viewing Deck.
It was just the realization, he supposed.
They lived, Kell said, because they were so unimportant. But if they became too loud, they would draw the gaze of things that they had no defense against.
“I am worried about what Director Freeman plans to do,” he said aloud.
Vandoss said nothing, the lines on his face tightening, and he stared out at those stars. Their heatless light seemed so much colder than he remembered.
“He caused me a lot of concerns,” Vandoss admitted. “But for all his bluster and failures to follow things as they should be – like going over my head – he does have his moments.”
Brooks wasn’t sure what to make of that, but right now he did not want to inquire deeper.
“I saw the extra fleets when I came in. Are things that serious with the UGR?”
“I don’t think so,” Vandoss said. “They’re clearly behind the coup in Corvus, and I can’t believe they thought they could sneak that one by us. The show of force was a good idea – they’ve been treading more carefully since then. It also conveniently coincided with this. When the fleet has to show the flag, it makes people give us a deal more respect, as they should.”
Brooks hated that it was a political ploy. He understood why they happened, but after recent events, he did not want to think his own branch of service succumbed to the same vices as someone like Freeman.
“So it’s nothing, then? This coup?” he pressed.
“I wouldn’t say nothing,” Vandoss said. “They’re installing a pretty extreme faction into Corus Prime. But they’re unpopular, and I think in time they’ll collapse – fascists are shit at economics as well as basic logic.”
“But if the Glorians were to start anything, are our fleets ready?” Brooks asked.
“Of course they are. Do you think I run a loose ship?” Vandoss laughed. “Their fleets are inferior to ours, and we outnumber them. If they attacked us . . . the only bets would be on how fast they’d fall.”
Brooks did not reply, but he did not like it all the same. It was true; the Sapient Union had vastly more resources and ships than the Glorians. But in space, it wasn’t hard to accelerate a projectile to a speed where armor was little deterrent. Enough Glorian vessels firing enough mass drivers, and SU ships would be holed. There was no hand-waving it away, no defense. A single ship might be able to evade, but when you had fleets . . .
A lot of people would die if conflict broke out again. Even if they were Glorians, those poor stupid bastards were still just further pawns in the hands of heartless sociopaths, thrown to the slaughter at their whim.
Other Terrestrial 