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—”
“I’ll do as the Council says, of course,” Archier said curtly. “Just as long as they are aware of what my previous orders were.”
“Yes. Look, do you mind if we rest up on the flagship for a few hours? Then we’ll make off on the Barge again, and find some little retreat for ourselves.”
Archier was puzzled. “You’re not going back to Diadem? Don’t you want to do what you can to help the Empire?”
“I’ve already told you, we’re not trusted! We’ve been dismissed! They wouldn’t even have given us this little job if it had had any political overtones.”
“I see. Well, my adjutant will take you to some staterooms.”
Crane rose. He and Oblescu sauntered to the door, followed by the mouse. Before he left, Crane turned casually.
“If you make a good job of this, young feller, I dare say you’ll receive promotion when a new High Command is put together. How do you fancy being an Admiral Overlord, eh?”
He laughed. But Archier could not raise a smile.
When he informed his command staff of developments, Archier was met mainly with stunned silence. Gruwert, however became excited.
“It has been disregarded, because it is small,” he repeated. “Now there’s something to think on! You know what this means? The ‘weapon’ isn’t a weapon at all! If it were a small weapon, it couldn’t destroy an empire, that’s obvious. And ‘It has been there a long time’. What are the most dangerous things; politically, sometimes lying dormant for centuries? Ideas, of course! What we are faced with is a political idea that’s about to burst forth and give us trouble. Pre-emptive annihilation is the best way to deal with a threat like that!”
“Do you mean of all Escoria?” The image of a giraffe, relayed from The Peaceful Star, turned to him in Archier’s conference room.
“Certainly, if we can’t track it down and stamp it out any other way.”
“Actually, the rumoured weapon has become a secondary consideration,” Archier said, surprised by the Fire Command Officer’s reaction. “Don’t you think we should address ourselves first to the invasion from the Simplex?”