《The Cold Void》


 Into the Unknown

    "Union 105, come in. This is Command."


    "This is Union 105. I am in position" Yuri replied. He looked up the seemingly endless launch tube in front of the ship''s window. Dim yellow lights lit the tube all the way up until they merged into a distant mass of yellow light, hundreds of miles away. Tracer fire crossed the tube in the distance, stray shots from the war against the rebel Unity Movement. Command¡¯s output ¨C a cold, feminine, automated voice - was crackly, coming over frayed wires and beamed to Yuri''s spacecraft by worn out relays.


    ¡°Union 105 do you understand your orders?¡±


    "Yes." Yuri understood his orders. The first part of his mission was to test whether the wormhole lock placed by the Sol Alliance was indeed deactivated successfully. The second order was to make the first contact with the Sol Alliance in almost 1500 years.


    ¡°Your primary orders will not be repeated. Commander Yurchenko has issued the following addendum to your orders...¡±


    Command¡¯s automated voice paused as it loading the addendum. Yuri wondered if he might finally hear Yurchenko¡¯s voice. For five years he¡¯d been receiving commands, but had no idea what the man sounded like. Maybe for a mission this important, he¡¯d actually get to hear it, at least as a recording.


    However, he was disappointed as Command¡¯s automated voice continued.


    ¡°Yuri, we have no idea what awaits you on the other side. The Alliance may be a completely different society from the one we left. They may receive you peacefully, or they may try to take some sort of revenge on you for what happened in the past. We might hope that emotions have cooled after 1500 years. But we cannot be sure."


    "These orders come directly from the Premier, so listen carefully: If they act hostile you are expected to surrender. If you do get captured, do not apologize for anything. They will likely claim that the collective demolished New York City, or that it deliberately attacked passenger lines between Earth and Mars. Do not believe them Yuri, these are lies. And tell them nothing about the rebellion or anything else that¡¯s happening here, but do encourage them to make peaceful contact."


    "Yuri ¨C we¡¯re running out of resources. I can¡¯t say how many years of hydrogen we have left, if not months. We can scarcely even provide the hydrogen for this mission. We¡¯ve depleted our water stores to the point where we barely have enough for the people to drink. Our only hope is to return to the Sol system and make peace with the Alliance. At any cost. Again, tell no one about any of this. Not the Sol Alliance, not your family, not even your fellow pilots. We will rise again and control Sol ourselves someday. But for now we must be patient."


    "Good luck Yuri. I assure you that the danger of this mission is not lost on the Premier or myself, but we know that you will gladly accept that danger for the Collective.¡±


    Command continued, with the same voice, but a different style. ¡°This concludes the Commander¡¯s addendum. Union 105, please confirm you are ready to begin launch.¡±


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    Yuri felt a pang of something ¨C excitement? It had been a long time since he¡¯d been excited about anything. But his mind was filled with wonder about what might be on the other side of the portal. How had the Sol system changed in 1500 years? Surely Commander had some thoughts about that. How had their technology changed? How had their society changed? What could he expect?


    ¡°Wait - ¡° Yuri said. ¡°I would like to ask the Commander something, can you connect him?¡±


    ¡°I cannot connect the Commander. Commander Yurchenko is currently busy.¡± Command replied immediately and flatly. ¡°Is there any way I can assist you?¡±


    Yuri sighed. ¡°No. Union 105, ready for launch.¡±


    "Confirmed. Beginning launch sequence." Command replied calmly.


    Union 105¡¯s launch speed was approximately 300 meters per second, considerably more than what was needed to escape Peace''s weak gravity. It was a terribly uncomfortable jolt, and Yuri always felt a bit of apprehension beforehand despite having experienced it many times before.


    "Launch Activated."


    Yuri instantly felt his stomach press against the seat as he was fired out of the tube. A black dot quickly opened in the center of the mass of yellow light at the top of the launch tube, and instantly expanded to envelop him in blackness. He shot out of Peace''s side, on his way to his destination.


    The mothership retreated into the distance behind him. It was the largest battleship in the history of mankind, as least as far as anyone in the Collective knew. For centuries it terrorized the Sol Alliance as they struggled to build a fleet to stop it. In school he was taught that the war was purely defensive for the Collective. But there was a sense of collective memory among the adults in Yuri¡¯s life, who seemed to silently indicate with their faces that they regard the official blameless Collective narrative as somewhat doubtful. The Unity Movement rebels took it further, blaming that the Collective for the separation with Sol, and envisioning an idealistic future with the Collective and Sol Alliance existing side by side. Little did they know they might soon get their wish.


    Of course, Yuri wondered, if any of that mattered. Sometimes war is just about the asserting one¡¯s power, the difference in ideology is just the excuse.


    Yuri fired his boosters, maintaining his acceleration. In his earlier briefings,Yuri was given information that was outside of the knowledge of most of Peace''s inhabitants. The wormhole seal was not, as he had learned in school, a means of keeping out corruption that had plagued the Sol Alliance and turned its inhabitants into criminals.


    Instead, the Sol Alliance gained the upper hand. The mothership was the last remnant of the Collective Union, and escaped through a wormhole, only for the hole to be sealed by secret new technology from the Alliance. Since then, no member of the Alliance has feared the Collective. In fact, the Collective was most likely a distant memory to them.


    That was until now. Commander Yurchenko did not go into details, but the Collective''s scientists, working at Lock Station 5, have apparently been steadily removing the seal now for several decades, and believe it to be ready.


    Yuri saw the distant glint of Lock Station 5 as he approached the wormhole. You nerds better have gotten this right.  He thought at it. If the lock wasn¡¯t removed, Yuri would explode as he enters. But then he saw it ¨C rather than the black circle of the locked wormhole, Yuri noticed a light where it once was. Sol. As he came closer, he could make out the tiny pinpoints of Jupiter and Saturn around it. Light could get through, at least in this direction. Yuri hoped that meant a massive object like himself could get through the other way.


    As the ship continued along the pre-programmed path, Sol got larger and larger. And then suddenly, Yuri felt a sudden jolt of acceleration as he entered the wormhole.


    The feeling of being shot out of Peace¡¯s launch tube was nothing compared to the wormhole. Having only read about the wormhole in an ancient, dusty manual in the archives, Yuri had no idea what it would feel like. But it was utterly horrible, it felt like his body was being ripped to pieces.


    But quickly, it was over. Yuri was surrounded by the blackness of space.


    It was an unexpected void. According to Commander Yurchenko, the wormhole should have put him directly into Earth¡¯s orbit. But Yuri saw nothing in front of him. The only sign he was in the Sol system was Sol itself, shining to Yuri¡¯s right. The chill of space permeated the ship.


    Yuri felt very alone.

 Valkyrie

    There was no time to worry about why things weren¡¯t as expected. Yuri¡¯s orders were to make contact with anyone he could as soon as possible, in case the Solarians were preparing to destroy him.


    ¡°Scan transmissions grep STC.¡± Yuri dictated to the onboard computer, following the procedure set out in his briefing, based on the last known configuration of Sol¡¯s Space Traffic Control.


    ¡°No results.¡± Replied the computer¡¯s assistant service. Not entirely surprising. Languages and names change over time, perhaps they call it something else.


    ¡°Scan transmissions grep control.¡± Yuri said.


    ¡°No results.¡± Replied the assistant.


    Yuri felt something. Like the excitement he felt earlier, but different and worse. Dread. He ignored it, he was too busy.


    ¡°Scan transmissions¡± Yuri said. As a last resort, he could check the whole list of transmissions and pick out any that looked useful.


    ¡°One transmission found.¡±


    Yuri paused. One transmission, for the entire Sol system. He felt his heart pounding in his chest as the feeling of dread overwhelmed him. Of course, whatever he was thinking was silly. They were probably using a new transmission technology, making it undetectable on Union 105¡¯s systems. Commander had even mentioned this as a possibility. Plus, there was one transmission ¨C meaning there was something out there.


    Nevertheless, it was hard for Yuri to give the next command as the dread made him afraid to find out more. But the urgency of the mission forced it out of him.


    ¡°Read result 0.¡±


    ¡°Channel. 100. Strength. 100 percent. Name. Welcome.¡±


    Welcome. Knowing that the Collective would try to make contact they left a signal in the old technology, probably with instructions for connecting to the real network, Yuri figured. But if the Collective was welcome, why didn¡¯t they remove the wormhole lock themselves? Surely if they put it there in the first place, they could remove it? Regardless, Yuri wanted to know more about who or what was sending the message.


    ¡°Scan result 0 location¡±.


    ¡°Unknown object detected. Likely interplanetary vehicle, probability 70%.¡±


    The scan showed the outline of the object. It was a large ship, just a few light seconds away. Nowhere near as large as Peace, but it was still larger than anything Yuri had known to be part of the Alliance''s fleet from the Collective¡¯s 1500-year-old archives.


    ¡°Read transmission.¡±


    ¡°Transmission reads as follows: ¡®Hello Collective craft. Glad to see that you¡¯ve finally made it. Please dock and come aboard. I can assure you with the utmost confidence that you won¡¯t be fired upon, regardless of your manner of approach.¡¯"


    Yuri had not been expecting such a friendly greeting, indeed it was strange. Almost satirical. Regardless of your manner of approach. Does that mean Yuri could approach guns blazing? Perhaps they could tell that Unity 105 had no weapons. But that would mean whoever sent it was aware of Yuri¡¯s arrival. Maybe there was someone watching him after all.


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    Yuri ordered the computer to set a course towards the new ship, and again the thrusters fired. By now, after the trip through the wormhole, the g-forces did not feel quite as bad. He decided to see if he could open communication with the ship as he approached.


    ¡°Request voice com transmission 0.¡±


    ¡°Com requested. Com accepted. Announce yourself.¡±


    That was fast, Yuri realized...did they automatically open communications permissions? Was it even a human on the other end? He wasn¡¯t even ready, but he stammered out what he had been trained to say.


    ¡°This is Captain Yuri Smirnoff of the Collective Union. I am here on a diplomatic mission from the Collective Union flagship Peace. Our Premier presents his compliments to your current leadership and seeks an audience to discuss the immediate cessation of hostilities.¡± He felt just a tiny bit of pride to represent the Collective to...whatever was on the other end.


    The response came immediately. ¡°Welcome Captain Smirnoff! I hope you don¡¯t mind if I call you Yuri. Glad to have you here. Has it been a long trip?¡±


    Yuri was relieved to hear a human voice. It sounded like a military man, middle aged. Yuri could envision him, a tightly buttoned green suit, grey hair under a flat captain¡¯s cap. Of course, he could look completely different. But Yuri was confused by the lack of formality, and the last bit. Were they aware of the seal being broken? Was this a joke? Perhaps the Solarians had developed a strange sense of humor.


    ¡°Thank you¡­may I ask who I¡¯m speaking to?¡±


    The voice suddenly shifted, becoming mechanical-sounding. ¡°This is Captain Washington¡¯s agent version 1.0.3.¡±


    Yuri¡¯s heart sank. It was another computer, of some sort. Unless Sol started giving people version numbers. ¡°I¡¯m not sure I understand, what do you mean by agent?¡±


    It switched back to Captain Washington¡¯s voice. ¡°I¡¯m what you¡¯d call a virtual assistant to Captain Washington. I use Captain Washington¡¯s voice, replicate his personality, and I follow his instructions when given. I simulate what he would do in all other circumstances based on voluminous data from his life. Please be aware that I lack permissions to operate the ship¡¯s navigation and weapons.¡±


    Weapons. Yuri thought. This was a warship. Yuri wondered just how welcome he was, and if the Captain was even aware of his arrival.


    ¡°I would like to request that I speak directly with Captain Washington please. This is a matter of utmost importance.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry Yuri. You may not speak with Captain Washington at this time.¡±


    Yuri had been prepared for all kinds of receptions from murderously hostile to cautiously welcoming. But this sort of friendly aloofness was not at all what he had been expecting.


    ¡°Is Captain Washington there at all? Will I ever be able to speak to him?¡±


    ¡°Sure! Captain Washington is on board. You will meet him after you board and can speak to him then.¡±


    Yuri was somewhat encouraged, but skeptical. The agent wasn¡¯t telling him something, but he wasn¡¯t sure what. His ship reversed thrust, and the Solarian warship came into view.


    It was very large. And very dusty. It must have been out of the docks for a long time. Yuri activated the telescope to get a closer look. On the side of the ship was a large number 70, under which was written "TS Valkyrie". A Terran ship. During the Sol-Collective war most ships used the prefix SAS ¨C Sol Alliance Ship. Only the Terran Orbital Guard used the TS prefix.


    The ship slowed more steadily, and after another several minutes, it came to a dock, latching on without issue.


    ¡°Tunnel ship EVA¡±. Yuri commanded the ship computer, allowing him to access the ship¡¯s computer from his EVA suit. As he prepared to open the hatch, Captain Washington¡¯s agent came on over his suit¡¯s external audio channel.


    "Welcome aboard Yuri. Please be advised, life support is not operational. Do not remove your helmet at any time. With that in mind, feel free to enter the dock at your leisure."


    Life support is not operational. Yuri knew that wasn¡¯t right. If that were the case, the ship would almost certainly be under evacuation orders. How could the captain be aboard? The feeling of dread was growing stronger again.


    Yuri worked out the logic in his head. The agent could communicate with his suit and his ship. There was no way they were still using 1500-year-old comms technology on their own accord, so the agent must have been deliberately prepared for Yuri¡¯s arrival. Which means the Solarians were expecting him, and would probably want to be around for his arrival. But there was no one around. So if they want to be around, but aren¡¯t around, that means they couldn¡¯t be around. And that probably had something to do with the fact that the Earth also no longer appeared to be around.


    "Now you¡¯ll see a green light on the floor. That¡¯s gonna lead you right to the bridge. The captain is waiting for you there."


    Yuri slipped out of the hatch and into the docking area. A green light was on the floor. As he walked forward, the green light also moved forward. Yuri began to follow the light for a few seconds, and then stopped.


    There was no one. No marines, no crew, nobody. The lights were on, but no one was around. It was obvious now that the ship was abandoned, confirming what he was already suspecting. He felt a pang of fear creep up his spine. The thought that he should turn around and go back certainly occurred to him. Nevertheless, he had his orders, and couldn¡¯t return with so little after expending precious hydrogen. He took a breath, and continued towards the bridge.

 The Captain

    Yuri continued to follow the green floor light through the empty halls of the ship to a waiting elevator, doors open. As the doors closed, He felt his mind grasping for hope. What if in the 1500 years since the Collective had left, robotic technology and artificial intelligence had advanced to the point where a single captain could operate an entire ship on his own with an army of robots doing the work on the ship? But Yuri knew, if that were the case, the ship wouldn¡¯t be this big, with so many doors. There were many people here at one time. There were no longer. Yuri forced himself to face the reality that the chances he''d meet an actual person were slim.


    The elevator opened onto the bridge. Yuri followed the green light into a large room with a half circle terrace of desks and chairs around a central, large desk. Above the desks, the ceiling opened up to reveal a circle of windows looking out to blackness of space. Behind a terminal at the central desk, sat a corpse in an EVA suit with the visor up.


    There was no visible decay, but the corpse''s face had a hard, glassy appearance. Maybe a week of facial hair remained attached. The frozen but calm expression left no doubt that he¡¯d been dead for some time, and probably expected it. Rather than be disturbed by the corpse''s presence, Yuri felt a sense of relief and connection to it. He wasn''t sure there was anyone, dead or alive, in the whole solar system. Now at least there was someone.


    Yuri was startled to hear a voice, but it was only the captain¡¯s assistant. ¡°In front of you, Yuri, is Captain Washington. You could try to talk to him if you want, but he hasn¡¯t been all that talkative lately. However, he did leave you a message. It¡¯s a long message, you may want to grab a seat.¡±


    How long had the captain been sitting there? Yuri wondered. In the vacuum of space, a thousand year old corpse is indistinguishable from one an hour old. He sat at one of the empty chairs at the captain¡¯s desk. He then realized that like Peace, the Valkyrie had gravity - even though it was much smaller and wasn¡¯t spinning. Had they developed a way to manipulate gravity directly?


    The assistant began. ¡°The message reads as follows:¡±


    Greetings Collective Pilot. I have the honor of informing you that you¡¯re now the most important person in the solar system. And the misfortune of informing you that you¡¯re also the least important. So we have that in common. I was the most important person in this system too, once.


    Yuri by now had figured as much: the whole system was lifeless. He continued to listen intently.


    Our simulations foretold that the wormhole lock would be cracked in about a thousand years from the writing of this message. I¡¯m sorry about the situation back home. I know that you must be running low on resources, and that the Collective would send you alone on a mission to make contact. The timing is actually intentional. We wanted you to return just in time to be in a state of desperation, so that you¡¯d need to sue for peace. Of course we also imagined that we¡¯d be here to accept your surrender.


    But we shouldn¡¯t let the perfect be the enemy of the good, shall we? So I made sure to set things up so you¡¯d be able to come aboard and we could meet in a setting comfortable for you. I suppose you may be wondering where Earth and Mars are. I guess there¡¯s no way to say this that isn¡¯t awkward. But if you¡¯re hoping to know what¡¯s it¡¯s like to live on land, I have some bad news for you.


    Yuri could see that the Earth was gone, but he hadn¡¯t even thought to consider Mars. He found the captain¡¯s sense of humor strange, and different from the unbroken sobriety of communication in the Collective''s military. The recording continued.


    I guess I should start at the beginning. I¡¯m not sure what they taught you in your Collective schools, but at the time of the Collective¡¯s exile, Earth and Mars were mostly of the same mindset. You had some Martian factions supporting your side, but following the Collective¡¯s attacks on Martian civilian convoys, the whole red planet united and shifted decisively to the Sol Alliance.


    When the Collective was defeated and exiled to the other side of the wormhole, there was hope that it was the end of history. That we¡¯d all, finally, have peace throughout the solar system. It was not to be.


    What it came down to was a simple fact: Mars would never be on Earth¡¯s level. It was an asteroid processing colony, not a place to live a happy life. The lack of sunlight, high radiation, and low gravity had a wide array of negative health effects, and having to limit time outside and being far from the center of human life on Earth made for a miserable existence. So over time, Mars became populated almost exclusively by the downtrodden and the desperate, those who needed to make a buck very badly. You had a few who controlled the space elevators - they were rich, everyone else was poor. So you have a powerful few with a strong desire to protect their own interests, and you know where that leads ¨C dictatorship.


    At first we worked with the dictators, because they were friendly to Earth and its economic needs. But Earth¡¯s tendency to influence Martian dictators demonstrated the power imbalance between the planets and steadily added to resentment among the Martians. It all reached a boiling point when an Earth-friendly dictator were overthrown, and a hostile Martian populist took his place. It was only a matter of time before hostilities ensued.


    Despite its overall poverty, Mars was not without its military advantages. It had the location and the infrastructure to mine asteroids for rare materials, and its lower gravity provided a significant advantage in getting materials and equipment to orbit.


    To the Martians, it seemed all they needed to do was enter Earth¡¯s gravity and drop kinetic impact weapons from the from the sky. It was relatively cheap and easy, and it made them feel powerful. I mean sure, the bombs were simply dropped somewhere in the direction of a city, killing a lot of civilians on Earth. But for Martian dictators, it was a way to show strength - a willingness to do what was necessary, to be unafraid. The worst thing a man can be is unwilling to do what¡¯s necessary, don¡¯t you think? No one will ever say that about me.


    But as popular as the attacks were to the Martians, as Terrans we felt very differently. Seeing the images of our women and children being slaughtered, we were determined to get revenge. While we attempted negotiations before the attacks began, afterwards the only way forward was to totally subjugate the Martians. We came up with different ideas, and ran simulations. An invasion was ruled out ¨C if we attacked the elevators directly they could be isolated and destroyed, and trying to conduct a landing via atmospheric invasion would require rebuilding ancient tech we haven''t used since the NASA days, among other issues.


    It became apparent that we¡¯d need to revolutionize interplanetary warfare. We created two ships ¨C one of which you¡¯re on now. The primary weapon on this ship is the last surviving example of the most destructive machine humanity ever created ¨C a graviton generator.


    How does it work? Well, I don¡¯t really know, as it was highly classified and my need to know was pretty small. I tried to have one of the eggheads explain it to me once. My basic understanding is that it generates gravitons by manipulating quantum fields, then sends two beams of those gravitons towards the core of a target of any size. The gravitons can pass through almost any matter, but where the beams intersect, the gravitons interact and form a gravitational field. Keep it up, and that field can get strong enough to make matter collapse in on itself ¨C forming a micro black hole. Keep it up a bit longer, and the hole will grow, sucking in additional matter. At that point it will grow until it sucks in everything in its vicinity. It works on any object ¨C a ship, a planet, we could even make it work on the sun if we wanted to.


    But as far as I¡¯m concerned, I press a button to start the charge time, then I press another button to fire when the charge is ready. The charging process doesn¡¯t take very long at all - a second for a ship, a minute for a mars-sized planet.


    Oh, and by the way, the same technology allows us to generate a gravity field for ships too, which I¡¯m guessing you¡¯ve noticed by now. You can tell your Collective buddies that graviton generators are a great fit for all of your apocalyptic and practical needs.


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    But anyway, as you may imagine, the graviton generator changed things with the Martians. Now we didn''t need to worry about invasion, we could simply threaten to annihilate them. We demonstrated it on Phobos, that was enough to convince them. The Martian dictator changed his tune very quickly when he realized his only choice was to work with us and do what we say. The Martian people still rose up from time to time, but we helped put them back down. All the dictator needed to do was keep the precious metals flowing and keep the terrorists from operating, using whatever methods he felt appropriate, and he¡¯d get weapons in return. So the Martians were subjugated once again. Just as our simulations foretold.


    The recording paused. Yuri wondered if it was done as he looked at the Captain¡¯s glassy blank face. Surely that couldn¡¯t be all. But then the Captain¡¯s voice sighed, and continued.


    Or so we thought. Things were peaceful for years, but one day a truly unexpected event happened. Our sister ship, the Peacemaker, suffered a mutiny. It turned out a group of Martian extremists had infiltrated the crew, and with the element of surprise was able to kill off the Terrans on board, including the captain. They took over the ship and sent it to Mars. Absolutely no one saw it coming. That¡¯s always been the weakness of simulations ¨C they tend to have trouble anticipating the actions of individuals, small groups, and people who have just plain had enough.


    It was a shock on many levels. It was a shock to me as the captain of the Valkyrie, and immediately I ordered anyone recently added to the crew locked in the brig as a precaution. Of course it was shock to Earth, now under the very threat they created to terrify others. But it was also a shock to the Martians, who didn¡¯t waste much time celebrating. They took advantage of the moment to once again overthrow and execute their Earth-tolerating dictator, replacing him with the leader of the mutiny. He called himself "Al Khabir". He claimed to the see the future and know all. And the future he saw was one where Mars would rule Earth, and control the whole solar system ¡°from the sun to the heliopause¡± as he liked to say.


    Well I can see the future, Collective Pilot, at least relative to then. Does it look like Mars is ruling the solar system? Very arguably they ruled it for a couple of hours perhaps. But it was I who watched Al-Khabir¡¯s dream die. And now it is you - the Collective Pilot, our true king, who rules all you see.


    But back then the future was uncertain. Al-Khabir¡¯s demanded we pay for centuries of oppression of Mars. He demanded we give them the Earth to rule themselves, just as we ruled them. Or face annihilation. So what would you do?


    Yuri thought for a moment. He felt for the Terrans ¨C Yuri was used to the ever-present threat of annihilation, but the Terrans weren¡¯t. They went from comfortable to terrified very fast. They would negotiate, Yuri figured. Maybe that was the smartest thing, after all. Buy time, let passions cool. To not at least attempt even the unlikeliest peaceful settlement and risk annihilation was rationally indefensible. But then again, Yuri wasn¡¯t there, in the moment, feeling what they felt. So who knows what they would actually do? The recording continued to the answer.


    If you think we''d negotiate, Collective Pilot, then what you might not understand is the degree to which we were insulted. There¡¯s nothing more offensive than someone who¡¯s beneath you trying to threaten you. Threaten not just your own life, but your loved ones, everyone and everything you know. Only the worst, most murderous people would threaten to annihilate the Earth, and it verified everything many were saying about the violent nature of the Martian people. We never even bothered to run simulations of what would happen if we accepted Al-Khabir''s demands or tried to negotiate. Instead we saw really two options ¨C annihilate Mars immediately, or eliminate Al-Khabir and give them a chance to choose a better leader.


    With great mercy, we chose the latter. Our simulations only gave it a low probability of leading to peace, but we expected that if nothing else we might be able to use the resulting chaos to destroy or recapture Peacemaker.


    Yuri realized the Earth¡¯s leaders would look like weaklings and fools if they tried to negotiate with a violent psychopath like Al-Khabir. It was politically impossible, perhaps even emotionally impossible on an individual level. The only path available was an angry one.


    Unfortunately, things didn¡¯t go as planned. We went with a kinetic strike from orbit. We wanted it to be swift and unpredictable. But Al-Khabir was, admittedly, very crafty. Based on what we now know, it seems he anticipated the assassination and arranged for a loyal follower to martyr himself in his place. There was a staged funeral. A new leader. A peace deal. The purported new Martian dictator arranged for the Peacemaker to be returned to Earth. One again, it looked to us like we''d finally subjugated Mars, but it wasn''t the case.


    Of course we were cautious and tried to be ready for anything. Our fighters escorted Peacemaker back to Earth and were ready to fire if they detected the graviton generator charging. However, such an attack was considered only a remote possibility, so little thought was given to ensuring effective firepower. After all, the real deterrent was what it always has been ¨C mutually assured destruction. We figured if the Martians were going to try anything, they¡¯d come for Valkyrie first, so we prioritized defending this ship. We were kept away from the Peacemaker return operation with plenty of fighter escort. But as it turned out, we were only a secondary target for Al-Khabir. After all, if you see the future, you don¡¯t need to worry about loose ends, do you?


    Or maybe, Yuri figured, Al-Khabir feared humiliation more than annihilation.


    Of course, as it entered Earth¡¯s orbit, we watched to our horror as Peacemaker started charging its weapon. So our fighters attacked it and destroyed it ¨C just not in time. It took about five minutes for the escorting fighters to break through its shields and destroy the ship. In that time, it had fired its main weapon on not just Earth, but Luna as well. As the ship disintegrated, Al-Khabir himself revealed that he was on board and organized the whole operation. He cursed the Earth to his last breath. "You will burn in hell!" he shouted over and over until the feed cut out.


    I was on Valkyrie, in opposition from Peacemaker on the other side of Earth, watching the feed of the operation. At first, you couldn¡¯t tell anything had happened. Everything looked normal. Someone on the radio said it looked like the weapon didn¡¯t work. But I knew it did work ¨C it was Peacemaker that did the test on Phobos. It took a minute for the collapse to reach the surface there too.


    But my mind was on my duty. I ordered my crew to set course for Mars, and for our escorts to do the same. To be honest, I had no orders but to protect my own ship. But everyone knew what had to be done.


    As the engines fired, I saw tiny cracks appear on the Earth¡¯s crust. I should say tiny to us, undoubtedly giant on the surface. There was one running right down the middle of Africa, several across Eurasia. Then rifts appeared in the ocean, like they were being parted...then it all just collapsed into an imploding cloud of dust, leaving just the halo of the atmosphere behind...but soon that would be gone too. And all that would be left was a black hole, orbited by another black hole.


    The Martians did put up some resistance, but it was futile. Our fighters were far superior to theirs. Their weapons did get through on occasion and exploded against our shields, but there was never a need to deviate from our course.


    As I mentioned, it took a minute to charge the graviton generator. There was no thought of stopping it. As soon as a minute was up, I did what was necessary. I didn¡¯t stick around to watch Mars disappear, I ordered a return to Earth¡¯s orbit ¨C or what was left of Earth¡¯s orbit, as soon as we fired. I imagine the collapse on Mars looked a lot like it did on Earth.


    Soon we were alone. The various space ships in the former orbit of Earth fell to infighting and piracy for the last of available resources and didn¡¯t last, but no one could approach our warship. Our ship, we knew, would not last long. The solar power will keep the lights on until the sun goes out. But the hydrogen and oxygen is finite.


    Some of the crew killed themselves right away instead of waiting for a slow death. The remainder of the crew agreed that I should be the last survivor to write an account of what happened. They locked off the main deck with just, and stayed together in the crew compartment. I watched their oxygen levels decline to the point of hypoxia.


    And now there''s just me. As I write this, the ship has almost run out of oxygen entirely, and I''m sitting here in my EVA suit so I can use its oxygen for however long I need to finish this recording. With no one to maintain the ship, pressure will be lost and the air will escape by the time you get here, and the ship will be filled with the void.


    Until I was by myself, I really didn¡¯t have time to think. I didn¡¯t even have time to think about my wife and kids, who died in the collapse of Earth without a word. I wonder what it was like for them. It''s probably better not to think about it.


    My greatest regret is that sitting here alone, I have no one to share my thoughts with about all that just happened. But I suppose, in a way, I¡¯m not really alone after all. I have one companion left, a nameless pilot from the long-forgotten Collective Union has paid me a visit. Would you like to hear my thoughts, Collective Pilot?


    There was a pause. Yuri felt a bit as if he woke up from a dream. He reminded himself that he was really there, and the glassy-faced corpse in front of him was too. He felt the coldness of the decompressed oxygen under his visor. He felt the stillness. He felt the emptiness of the ship, and of human existence. He felt the distance, across time and space, between himself and any other living beings. He wanted, more than anything, for the recording to continue.


    It did.

 Closure

    Chapter 4


    Yuri checked his EVA suit¡¯s oxygen levels. 68%. He had plenty of time. He heard the Captain take a deep breath, and the recording played on.


    You know, Collective Pilot, I¡¯ve had a lot of time to think. It¡¯s hard to imagine that it all really happened. Earth is gone, Mars is gone. We haven¡¯t terraformed any other planets or moons, save for Luna - which is also gone. We¡¯ve discovered no other traversable wormholes in the Sol system. This is the end.


    Was it hard? Annihilating 10 billion Martians. If you ask that question, you have no concept of the rage I felt. I still feel it, albeit it mixed with dread. They took my home, my family, my entire life away from me. Do you know how insulting that is? There¡¯s nothing worse than being treated like you don¡¯t matter. Especially when, as they soon found out, I actually did matter. A lot.


    I could pass the buck and say I was just following orders, but that¡¯s not the truth. The truth is there were no orders about what to do if Earth is destroyed. There was a chain of command, and then there was none. I just did what came naturally.


    I recognize that this may be hard for you to understand. I wanted to destroy them. I wanted everyone left to suffer, and to die. Because of me specifically. I know many people were innocent, many were probably against the war. But I wanted everyone, innocent or not, to know that I am no weak or powerless man. And that if you harm what I care about there are consequences you must face. Even if they only knew that for a short time, or no time at all. Can you blame me?


    That set off something in Yuri he hadn¡¯t felt in a long time. But he was allowed to feel it now, no one was watching. It was anger. He stood up to address the Captain.


    ¡°Blame you? You¡¯re not even actually here right now.¡± He shouted inaudibly through the void at the thousand year old corpse in front of him. ¡°You took away everything that mattered! Even yourself!¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡± The Captain¡¯s agent replied. It hadn¡¯t heard from Yuri for a long time.


    Yuri sighed and sat back down. ¡°Please play the remainder of the recording.¡±


    The Captain¡¯s voice continued.


    The thing I can¡¯t stop thinking about was what the Martians thought of me in those final moments. I would¡¯ve been just a nameless soldier to them. But I didn¡¯t need a name. They knew me by my actions. I wonder if they hated me. Could I possibly justify myself to them?


    And do I even care? Does it matter if the dead hate me? Of course they would. But they¡¯re dead. And it was I who killed them. Which means I mattered to them until the end, and they no longer matter to me. Fuck em. There¡¯s only one person who¡¯s around to judge me, and that¡¯s you.


    Yuri wanted to say something. That he did judge Captain Washington, and judged him harshly. The Captain hadn''t even thought of the Collective, a whole other population, and its needs. And now Yuri¡¯s people would die, because the Captain needed his revenge. Did the Captain ever question himself, Yuri wondered, or just keep pretending that he had no choice?


    As if to answer, the recording continued.


    But that doesn¡¯t mean I don¡¯t feel the weight of it all.


    You know it¡¯s funny. In the heat of the moment, you know what to do. Then when it¡¯s over, all the doubts jump out like thieves waiting for the night, ready to steal your satisfaction.


    One of the most intrusive of thoughts is that destroying Mars solves nothing. Earth was gone, it no longer had need for deterrence or salvation. But to do otherwise would be to let evil go unanswered, would it not?


    Yuri thought for a moment. Removed from the emotions of the conflict, he cared primarily about practical necessity. Who cares about whether evil is unanswered if there¡¯s no one left to do evil? Is it worse to have a world where evil goes unanswered, or have nothing at all? The Captain''s voice continued.


    But then, what is evil? One of the thoughts that I most wish I could suppress is the thought that the whole concept of evil is just a fiction we created. Something to make us feel better when we do evil to others. Who can doubt that to the Martians dead by my hand, that I am the villain? Even I won¡¯t deny that many were innocent, and I killed them anyway. But we promised to retaliate, and it was a promise kept. They didn¡¯t care about our innocent, and if we cared about theirs, then we wouldn¡¯t be able to strike back.


    The Captain paused as Yuri considered the absurd logic of mutually assured destruction, trying to come up with a rebuttal. But the Captain came up with his own.


    Or was it necessary? Evidently the threat of retaliation didn¡¯t work on the Martians. And why not?


    It¡¯s obvious in hindsight. Did we really think the Martians would just accept their fate as essentially our slaves? Of course not. No society in human history has ever accepted that fate without a major fight. And even when they do accept it, they don¡¯t accept it for long.


    Maybe the truth is that we weren''t hoping for peace at all. We¡¯ve always pretended that we care about what¡¯s right or wrong ¨C or getting the most benefit at the lowest cost, what¡¯s best for our tribe or humanity and all that nonsense. That¡¯s not what we¡¯ve ever cared about, is it? I can¡¯t shake the thought that we just wanted to win and that¡¯s all we ever cared about. To have the largest possible difference between our score and theirs.


    That¡¯s the one thought I can hardly dare admit having even now. That the whole thing, all human relations since the dawn of mankind, is all a giant farce. What if all our supposed higher ideals are merely in the service of instinctual drives to be superior? Just like baboons, what we really want at the end of the day is stand at the top of the hill and waive our dicks around for all to see.


    Did the annihilation of life in the Sol system amount to any more than just swinging our dicks at each other? Sure, maybe the Martians pulled theirs out first, but I didn¡¯t hesitate to pull mine out either. And when I did, my cock was mighty and powerful, and it left no survivors. I can¡¯t help but be proud of that.


    And so humanity dies, not with a bang or a whimper, but with a lone, horrific cock, swinging around in the middle of empty space. So you could come by a thousand years later and marvel at it. Are you not impressed?


    Yuri couldn¡¯t help but smirk. Captain Washington had dictated the outcome, he had won. All because he had the last and best dick in the solar system, and used it effectively. Yuri was impressed, though horrified.


    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    That reminds me. You know what I dream about? You, the Pilot. A representative, or perhaps invader, of the Collective Union. I do think of my family from time to time, but I don¡¯t dream of them. I only dream of you, every night it¡¯s the same. You come here and find me. Except I¡¯m still alive, here by myself with nothing to do. We just talk. Like you¡¯re an old friend coming back from a long trip. And oh do I have a crazy story to tell you about what we¡¯ve been up to over here...


    And sometimes we have a conversation. I tell you everything I just told you. That I pulled the trigger. That I didn¡¯t hesitate.


    And I wait for you to give me some kind of reaction. That you¡¯re appalled. That you¡¯re proud of me. That you have no feelings whatsoever. But instead you just drop your head and start crying uncontrollably. Like a small child.


    But Yuri wasn¡¯t crying. He was just sad. Crying required being overwhelmed by helpless desperation, and Yuri had gotten used to that a long time ago. He wondered what he would say in the dream. What if he was in Captain Washington¡¯s shoes? If someone destroyed Peace he would be angry at them too. But there was no sense in eliminating what¡¯s left of humanity. But what would Commander Yurchenko think? What would anyone think of a man who showed disloyalty to his homeland, even if it no longer existed? Somewhere deep down Yuri felt that he would pull the trigger too. But he didn¡¯t want to believe it.


    And sitting there, seeing you cry, I just feel like an asshole. Because that¡¯s really the last reaction I wanted. I¡¯d rather you hate me than just be sad. Because if you hated me, then at least you recognize that I put my interests, or the vengeance of dead Terrans over yours. But if you¡¯re just sad, it means I kind of fucked up, didn¡¯t I?


    Because what are you mourning? Everything. You¡¯re mourning everything there ever was. The greatest works of literature, the sum total discoveries of human civilization, all resulting in a black hole in the end. Erased completely, as if it never even happened. The only remnant of the Terran victory over Mars, the deadliest human conflict of all time by far, is this recording. And eventually as our orbit decays over thousands of years, this ship will fall into the black hole as well.


    You¡¯re the only person that matters to me, Collective Pilot. Because everyone else and all evidence they existed is gone. If there¡¯s no evidence that someone existed, did they even exist in the first place? But you, I know you¡¯re out there, a thousand years into the future. You¡¯re more real to me now than anyone I¡¯ve seen with my own eyes.


    That''s why I need to ask your forgiveness. It¡¯s the most important thing to me, as there¡¯s no one else to provide it. Just try to understand ¨C I had to destroy Mars, to let the Martians continue to exist just for the benefit of humanity would itself have been inhuman.


    But you will form your own judgment. Just give my perspective a chance, that¡¯s all I ask.


    At this point, Yuri felt like he was no longer in a position to judge Captain Washington. He felt an affinity to, even a love for him. After Yuri¡¯s mother and father died, he felt like he lost all who cared about him. It felt good to be at the center of someone¡¯s universe again. To Yuri, the Commander was like a father, or a brother. Maybe even a son. All wrapped into one.


    I sometimes allow myself to even feel hope. That your Collective scientists who shocked the world before will do it again. Somehow, with the help of this depleted and dead ship perhaps, you¡¯ll find a way to make life return to Sol. Realistically there¡¯s no hope of that whatsoever. The best bets would be either Venus or Europa, which would certainly need to be terraformed somehow, which you presumably have neither the time nor capability to do. And this ship lacks the hydrogen to get to either, and I¡¯m guessing Peace is in a similar boat.


    But I force myself to think that way anyway. It¡¯s like a marathon. I only have to keep up the positive thoughts until I¡¯m dead.


    And that, by the way, is not far off, I can even say I¡¯ve basically made it. My breathing is getting faster, the oxygen is depleting fast. And now my lips are turning blue.


    One last thing, Collective Pilot ¨C I¡¯ve instructed my agent to give you superuser permissions at the end of this recording. We¡¯ve got just enough hydrogen to pilot this thing straight into Al Khabir''s black hole if you want to do that, but that¡¯s about all we got. So do with this ship what you want, it¡¯s yours now.


    And that¡¯s my final gift to you. This is goodbye. Captain Washington, signing off for the final time. So long, Collective Pilot.


    Yuri looked at the corpse in front of him. ¡°Is there any more?¡± He asked the agent.


    ¡°That¡¯s all.¡± The agent replied. ¡°Captain Smirnoff, I have now granted you superuser permissions. I trust that you have received the usual lecture from your spacecraft administrator. With great power comes great responsibility.¡±


    Yuri stood quietly for a moment. He felt Captain Washington¡¯s absence. He was alone again.


    His whole life, Yuri was a mere cog in the Collective machine. They had the nerve to send him on a highly dangerous mission without so much as a thank you, just orders from the leaders who kept him and the rest of Collective society in the dark.


    But now he knew something they didn¡¯t know, a secret between himself and the Captain. The Captain didn¡¯t give his message to the Collective, he gave his message to Yuri. He left enough fuel to send the ship to the black hole, to disappear forever. There was an understanding between them, transmitted across time. Yuri liked having the power for a change, the ability to control someone else¡¯s destiny instead of having others control his.


    If he were just following orders, Yuri would hand the whole ship over to his superiors and let the eggheads futilely try to do something with it. But Yuri wanted to take care of the Captain, to give him and his ship a fitting and honorable burial in the black hole. After all, there was no point in keeping the ship around. Peace was almost entirely out of fuel, and there was no chance to make it to a solid body if it passed through the wormhole, let alone try to terraform it. If he disposed of the ship, Yuri could just go back and say he saw nothing. There would be no explaining what he saw, no describing what the Captain told him, maybe not even a return trip. They would hardly question him, as there were no questions to be asked. Commander Yurchenko was way too busy even to bother checking the ship¡¯s log.


    Everything would be tied up in a nice little bow. The remnants of humanity were going to fade away into the cold void, wondering forever what happened in the Sol System. And only Yuri would know, but he wouldn¡¯t tell, and no one would think to ask. The demise of the planets would be a secret between himself and Captain Washington, the last person Yuri knew who truly cared about him.


    It was the perfect closure to the absurdity of human existence. The only thing Yuri had left to do was make it happen.


    ¡°I have a command.¡± Yuri told the agent.


    ¡°Entering terminal mode.¡±


    ¡°Superuser do...set target, Earth.¡±


    ¡°Target set. Reorienting.¡±


    Yuri was knocked off balance and the ship turned. In front of him, the tiny black hole that used to be Earth stood in the middle of the window, the faintest of accretion disks around its center. A yellow target circle was displayed over the window, much larger than appropriate for the black hole¡¯s size. Given that the computer probably still expected Earth to be in the way of any path to the black hole, he figured his best bet would be to set the course manually.


    ¡°Calculate new orbit, name Final Orbit, apoapsis current location, periapsis center Earth.¡±


    ¡°Final Orbit calculated. Expected period: 60 minutes.¡±


    Yuri took a deep breath. He would not hesitate. He''d do what was necessary.


    ¡°Superuser do, execute Final Orbit.¡±


    Yuri was expecting to feel the jolt of acceleration, but felt nothing. He wondered if Valkyrie¡¯s graviton technology allowed it to avoid g-forces. But at last the agent spoke up.


    ¡°I have calculated that this course will cause uncontrolled reentry and destruction of the ship. To proceed, please specify ¡®force¡¯. Are you trying to scuttle? Please see scuttle help.¡±


    Yuri sighed. ¡°Superuser do...execute Final Orbit, f-¡±


    He hesitated. An upswell of emotion hit his throat. At first, he didn¡¯t even understand it. He put his head down and started to sob. Then he sat back down, and bawled his eyes out, like a small child, for a good 5 minutes.


    Yuri was used to desperation, he wasn¡¯t used to hope.


    The idea had occurred to him, almost too late. He used to love to read Ancient American sci fi books as a child. And one of them ¨C he forgot which, set way back in the 21<sup>st</sup> century, envisioned that Jupiter would be ignited in a fusion reaction, turning it into a sun, warming its moons just as the sun warmed the planets.


    Valkyrie might be able to do that. Maybe the graviton beam could trigger a sustained fusion reaction. Of course that was the small problem. The big problem was getting it in range. Yuri had no idea how to make that happen with the combined resources of Valkyrie and Peace, and he was too exhausted to think about it.


    Yuri realized he had to pull himself together. This wasn¡¯t some space opera like the ones he used to read, where a satisfying ending was all that mattered. This was real life and there were very real lives at stake. He had responsibilities that were higher than himself, and if there was even the tiniest chance Valkyrie could save humanity for a little while, it would be the height of irresponsibility not to pursue it. Even if that was a bit unsatisfying to Yuri, or even to Captain Washington.


    ¡°Terminal reset.¡± Yuri said at last.


    ¡°Terminal is reset, history has been deleted.¡± The agent replied.


    ¡°I¡¯m leaving now, I¡¯ll likely be coming back. In the meantime, allow any visitors to enter.¡±


    ¡°So long Yuri!¡± the Agent replied, in Captain Washington¡¯s friendly voice. ¡°I¡¯ll be awaiting your return, and don¡¯t worry ¨C I won¡¯t be going anywhere.¡±


    Yuri knew it was just an automated response, but it felt genuine. He walked up to Captain Washington and patted him on the back. A cloud of dust emanated from his suit and quickly dissipated.


    ¡°I forgive you.¡± Yuri said, almost expecting to see the Captain¡¯s mouth turn upwards into a smile. Instead his face remained permanently frozen in its calm, dead expression.


    He turned around and walked through the empty halls, until he traversed the airlock back into Unity 105. As he undocked, he noticed the feeling of dread had abated, but wasn''t gone. If he had just destroyed the ship, there would be nothing to dread. But now, there was something left to lose.


    There would be no closure. Not today.


    THE END