Anvil Of Stars Part 19

Tortoise sharpened all its pa.s.sive sensors. The star sphere divided to show the bombs.h.i.+ps, the planetary surface, the heavens beyond, then concentrated on the bombs.h.i.+ps. sharpened all its pa.s.sive sensors. The star sphere divided to show the bombs.h.i.+ps, the planetary surface, the heavens beyond, then concentrated on the bombs.h.i.+ps.

"Still no defenses," Hakim marveled, head shaking.

"Maybe they're cowards," Jennifer said.

Martin looked around the room, suddenly disliking his companions intensely. He shuddered the feeling away and settled into a restless neutrality of emotions, waiting. The War Mother floated near a wall, still as a monument. After all this is over, can we take a mom with us and set it up in the middle of our town, on the new world, on a pedestal? After all this is over, can we take a mom with us and set it up in the middle of our town, on the new world, on a pedestal?

The view changed. They saw the bombs.h.i.+ps up close, all six of them, one by one. Martin recognized Theresa's s.h.i.+p. He fought to keep the neutrality, but his chest seemed stuffed with straw and his palms were damp. No defenses. No defenses.

"This is cruel cruel," said Andrew Jaguar. "We have to do do something!" something!"

Martin said nothing. There was nothing for them to do; best to keep them all in one place, all vigilant, all aware of what was happening.

The bombs.h.i.+ps had descended to within four thousand kilometers of Nebuchadnezzar's surface. Still, the planet had not changed its aspect; dusty brown with gray patches and green mineral stripes and black spots of reservoirs. Atmosphere clear and calm.

"Hakim," Martin said softly, "report on seismic disturbances."

"Nothing new. Same low-level rhythms," Hakim said.

"Project it for us."

The traces of crustal and mantle activity moved in graphic display beside the star sphere.

"Can you turn it into sound for us?" Martin asked.

"I will have to increase its frequency, repeat it like an echo."

"Fine," Martin said.

So treated, the deep susurration of Nebuchadnezzar became very like a heartbeat, booming and ticking, the repet.i.tion false but still informative, ears providing a more natural interpretation of this information than eyes. Martin quickly picked up the actual rhythms of sound as the series of beats rose at once to a higher frequency, dropped back, rose, dropped.

"Small s.h.i.+p between Nebuchadnezzar and Ramses is firing thrusters," Jennifer reported. With a scowl of concern, Hakim projected the picture, checked the images and interpretation, nodded, glanced at Martin, eyebrow raised.

A very small reaction.

"Pod release in ten minutes," Harpal said, stating what they all knew, tracking the numbers on their wands.

The room fell quiet. Three of the four couples stopped making love. The fourth became subdued, though still active.

Martin felt sick.

Nebuchadnezzar's heartbeat changed. Hakim cycled the signal through several enhancements and interpretations, meaning little to most of the crew, and said, "Subsurface activity seems to have decreased."

"Decreased?" Martin asked.

Seen in the star sphere, Nebuchadnezzar's atmosphere s.h.i.+mmered. Something sang through the Tortoise's Tortoise's hull, between a bell tone and the screech of a fingernail on slate. hull, between a bell tone and the screech of a fingernail on slate.

Martin's entire body tensed and he rubbed his eyes with one hand. n.o.body moved. The War Mother did not move. Seconds pa.s.sed.

"Jesus Christ," Harpal Timechaser murmured.

"Quiet," Martin said.

The fourth couple had separated and put on overalls. It would not be decorous to die naked and in the clinch.

Long minutes pa.s.sed. Two minutes to releasing the pods and scattering the mines.

The atmosphere rippled again. The simulated beat changed abruptly to a chirp-thud and another bell-screech hurt their ears.

"The planet's crust has risen and fallen a few centimeters," Hakim reported.

"The entire crust?" Andrew Jaguar asked, incredulous.

"All that we can see," Hakim said. "I presume the entire-"

The surface of the planet seemed to shatter, hot white lines racing from the poles to meet at the equator, marking off jagged polygons, then dying into racing small reddish lines, fading again to normal brown.

Hakim's face blanched. "I don't know what that was...The mines are released."

"All eleven s.h.i.+ps in the outer solar system have turned on thrusters," Jennifer said.

Martin surveyed the room, working to steady his breathing. "Something's up," he said.

The star sphere followed the progress of a pod of mines from a bombs.h.i.+p. The pod dropped, exploded in a puff, and thousands of mines spread out in a s.h.i.+mmer, disappearing rapidly. Thirty seconds later, ma.s.sive blossoms of light spread across the atmosphere. Spinning fireb.a.l.l.s cascaded like fireworks, dazzling the eye, too many to count.

That was not supposed to happen.

Some of the bombs.h.i.+ps seemed to ignite with burning halos.

"Strong traces of anti em reactions," Hakim said. "Extreme gamma ray production, split nuclei forming alpha particles and larger ions. Cherenkov in the atmosphere...I think perhaps the entire planet is made of anti em..."

"No," said the War Mother. All faces turned to the painted robot. "The sensors do not support this interpretation."

"Still, there are anti em reactions," Hakim said, voice trembling. "The mines have detonated prematurely..."

"Have any mines reached the surface?"

"None," Hakim said.

"Are the bombs.h.i.+ps pulling away?"

The star sphere showed that the s.h.i.+ps were indeed pulling away, four of them surrounded by glowing halos. The halos faded as they gained alt.i.tude.

"Four of our craft show strong anti em traces," Hakim said.

"That doesn't make sense," Martin said. "Is there a layer of anti em in the atmosphere...?"

"Not possible," Hakim said, looking to the War Mother for support. The War Mother agreed.

Tortoise had pa.s.sed beyond Nebuchadnezzar and was now dipping below the ecliptic. The bombs.h.i.+ps, one by one, had dropped their loads. Three of the s.h.i.+ps, upon spreading their mines filled with makers and doers, had produced merely the flowering of immense atmospheric explosions across thousands of kilometers, leaving turbulent scars on the planet's surface. had pa.s.sed beyond Nebuchadnezzar and was now dipping below the ecliptic. The bombs.h.i.+ps, one by one, had dropped their loads. Three of the s.h.i.+ps, upon spreading their mines filled with makers and doers, had produced merely the flowering of immense atmospheric explosions across thousands of kilometers, leaving turbulent scars on the planet's surface.

The fresh scars made very little difference.

The planet looks like one huge scar, smoothed over by time.

"It's been attacked before, hasn't it?" Harpal Timechaser asked.

Martin shook his head. "I don't know."

"That's it. We drilled on that. Nebuchadnezzar has been attacked before. It's always survived."

But three of the s.h.i.+ps' weapons had found their marks and dropped to the surface, leaving no flowers of radiation behind; falling and entering, unseen from this distance but tracked by the bombs.h.i.+ps responsible. These s.h.i.+ps rose from their close approach, clearly visible to anyone watching on the planet, to Tortoise, Tortoise, but minus halos of light. but minus halos of light.

The bombs.h.i.+ps began their acceleration to be picked up by Tortoise. Tortoise. Nothing followed them; nothing attacked. The defense craft around Nothing followed them; nothing attacked. The defense craft around Tortoise Tortoise stayed in formation, unchallenged. stayed in formation, unchallenged.

"How long until we pick up the bombs.h.i.+ps?" Martin asked.

"Twenty minutes," Hakim said. "They have to accelerate and decelerate on combat schedule-they will be almost out of fuel. We could be more leisurely about it, perhaps." But he didn't sound convinced. Unexplained things had happened; not all the mines had made it to Nebuchadnezzar's surface.

Martin bit his fingernail.

"We've gotten ourselves into something," he said softly.

"What?" Hakim asked.

They waited, the crew in the cafeteria silent, or whispering softly. Harpal approached the star sphere, examining the planet closely. "We've failed, haven't we? The seeds from the outer cloud will have to do the Job now."

"That will take years," Martin said. He turned to the War Mother. "We can't get volatiles from Nebuchadnezzar. We'll have to move on to Ramses and try again. Do you know what happened?"

"There is deception here," the War Mother said.

"No s.h.i.+t," Harpal said.

"Bombs.h.i.+ps are returning. Something's wrong," Hakim said. In the sphere, Martin could see them outlined by tiny sparkles of white light.

"What's the discharge?" Martin asked the War Mother.

"Not known," the War Mother said. "The effect produces intense gamma rays, much like anti-matter reactions."

"Do we keep the bombs.h.i.+ps out?" Hakim asked.

Martin masked his face with intense concentration, eyebrows knit, lips tightened and pushed out, breath harsh in his nostrils. "That doesn't make sense," he said.

The six bombs.h.i.+ps drew closer to Tortoise, Tortoise, came into position for pickup, signaling their status on noach. All were intact, all weapons dispersed. The first s.h.i.+p in line-up for retrieval was William and Fred Falcon's. William's voice came over the noach. came into position for pickup, signaling their status on noach. All were intact, all weapons dispersed. The first s.h.i.+p in line-up for retrieval was William and Fred Falcon's. William's voice came over the noach.

"Mines discharged. I've got sparkles all around me. I think I picked something up in the upper atmosphere. Why would my mines discharge? Tortoise Tortoise?"

Martin asked, "Is it possible the mines were defective?"

Hakim shook his head. "Nothing has ever been defective on the s.h.i.+p."

"We've never been in combat. Could something on the planet deactivate the mines?" He turned to the War Mother.

"No conclusions are possible. Deactivation of the mines is not inconceivable, but simple deactivation would not cause an explosion. The atmosphere may contain seeker and doer systems designed to attack incoming weapons, but we have detected nothing of that nature. s.h.i.+elded anti-matter dust does not seem a likely possibility."

"The weapons could be disguised, or hidden, like our own s.h.i.+ps," Hakim suggested.

"That is possible," the War Mother said.

"Then they do do have defenses," Harpal said. "Maybe the defenses are trying to break through to the bombs.h.i.+ps-maybe they're carrying some back with them." have defenses," Harpal said. "Maybe the defenses are trying to break through to the bombs.h.i.+ps-maybe they're carrying some back with them."

"Are they carrying anything?" Martin asked.

Hakim examined the bombs.h.i.+ps again. "There is no atmospheric residue around them. We are trailing a residue ourselves-a very faint cloud of discharged ions and molecules...That is all I detect. I do not know what the sparkles are. The craft look clean otherwise."

Martin grit his teeth, relaxed his face, opened and closed his eyes slowly, found his chest bound with tense muscle, relaxed the muscle and exhaled.

"Bring them in, one at a time," he said. "Fred and William first. Keep them isolated in a one way field-nothing gets out."

"Martin, I don't feel very good," Fred said over the noach. "My skin's changing color, or my vision is going bad. William's sick, too."

Something was very wrong. Don't let them in. Don't let them in.

Hakim and Jennifer floated nearby. "Bring Fred and William in," he instructed the War Mother. "Isolated, like I said."

The bombs.h.i.+ps took formation behind the Tortoise Tortoise's aft homeball, awaiting instructions. Fred and William's craft was first in line.

Hakim inquired on the other bombs.h.i.+ps: "Theresa, Stephanie, any reactions? Problems?"

Their s.h.i.+ps also sparkled as if surrounded by fireworks. The other four did not sparkle. Martin thought: The mines from these s.h.i.+ps did not explode in the atmosphere. The mines from these s.h.i.+ps did not explode in the atmosphere.

Stephanie Wing Feather responded: "I feel a little ill. We might have been swept by radiation. The fields should have kept it out, but there was such a burst from our mines..."

"Theresa?"

"I'm okay. I'm a little dizzy but I'm not sick."

The first bombs.h.i.+p entered the hatch. The arresting boom, glowing with a bubble isolation field, reached out to attach to the craft.

Hakim switched the star sphere to a view of the weapons store. Martin's eyes narrowed.

The War Mother said: "There is danger of-"

Time ran out.

The arresting boom touched William's bombs.h.i.+p. The star sphere filled with light and winked out, leaving dark dazzles swimming in their eyes. Hakim cursed loudly in Arabic.

A violent shudder slammed the crew against the walls. Fields rose instantly between them, suspending them from further harm, but already there were screams of pain and smears of blood.