“So…how big is the world exactly?” I asked.

  “Slighter larger than your Earth,” Venturi said, “and with a bit more mass.”

  “And the Forerunner artifact is somewhere in the center of that?”

  “Not somewhere in the center,” Venturi said, “but in the exact center.”

  “Journey to the center of the metallic planet,” I muttered. “Okay. I’m not sure what you’re expecting from me, but the answer seems easy enough. Take all your dreadnoughts, whatever other war-craft you can into hyperspace, and return there. Defeat the Karg fleet and annihilate the planet. That should close the portal and end of story.”

  “How much firepower would it take to destroy your Earth?” Venturi asked.

  “You’ve already destroyed it,” I said.

  “The nuclear warheads were less than pinpricks to the planet,” Venturi said. “The bio-terminator was meaningless.”

  “Not to billions of humans!” I shouted.

  The guards aimed their rifles at me and seemed eager to fire.

  “Put those down,” Venturi snapped.

  The rifles smoothly returned to their sides, and the tiger guards stared straight ahead.

  “You are failing to understand me,” Venturi said. “You humans lived on the surface of the Earth. How many nuclear devices would it take to split the planet open and destroy the core?”

  “Oh,” I said. “I don’t know.”

  “Notice the holoimage,” Venturi said. “Those craft coming through the rip in time and space are giant Karg warships. The particles falling from them are titanic landers. It is likely that millions of Karg soldiers are already garrisoning the spheroid.”

  “Wait a minute,” I said. “I think I’m finally getting this. You lost millions of legionaries when the Kargs blasted your dreadnought. Now you need replacements. You mean for us to do your dirty work, don’t you?”

  Admiral Venturi growled, with his facial fur bristling. “You have a high opinion of your soldiery worth. We are the Lokhars. We are the guardians of the holy objects. We will right this wrong you have started with the Altair system attack.”

  “Why did your oracle tell you to come to me?” I asked. “If you can take care of this, why are you here talking to me instead of getting ready to return to hyperspace.”

  “Have a care, human,” Venturi warned.

  “I don’t think so,” I said. “Your oracle says you need us. Can you image the gall? You obliterated ninety-nine percent of humanity. Now you want the last one percent to save your ass. That’s rich.”

  “Vain primitive,” Venturi said. “Your attack into the Altair system started this. Don’t you have any appreciation for what you’ve done?”

  “Not a whit,” I said. “We were doing well enough on Earth on our own. Then you Lokhars showed up and nuked us.”

  “We did it in order to save you from the ignobility of Jelk slavery,” Venturi said.

  “Is that the party line?” I asked. “It doesn’t impress me. Why didn’t you bring some starships and dreadnoughts and help us defend our planet from the Jelk?”

  “You were not part of the Jade League.”

  “That’s it?” I asked. “That’s your excuse? So instead you murdered my father and—”

  “Please,” Sant said. “Accusations won’t get us anywhere now. The Kargs are as dangerous to you, Commander Creed, as they are to us.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “Is that what you think? My planet smolders below as a radioactive wasteland you created. The last humans are hightailing it in crappy junk freighters. We’re almost kaput as it is. Now you’re crying because you might be in the same boat as us. Phht! I don’t care what happens to you.”

  “If we die,” Venturi said, “you die.”

  “You don’t listen very well, Prince. We’re already dead.”

  “The freighters still carry humans,” Venturi said, softly. “They carry millions of your kind. You are not yet extinct, although you could be in short order.”

  I stared at him. I got his point: no help from us, no more freighters for humanity. “Let’s get down to it then,” I said. “What are you willing to offer me in order for us to do what exactly for you?”

  “I am offering you the opportunity to save your universe,” Venturi said.

  I shook my head. “You’re going to have to give me something tangible.”

  “I am a prince of Orange Tamika. Our color is not ascendant.”

  “Maybe you’d better explain that,” I said.

  “Purple Tamika rules,” Venturi said, curtly. “We are presently outcasts, awaiting our chance for glory.”

  “The colors are factions?” I asked.

  “He speaks so crudely,” Venturi told Sant.

  “He is a primitive,” Sant replied.

  “Yes, true enough.”

  “Are you finished slapping yourselves on the back?” I asked. “If you can’t offer us anything concrete because you lack the power, maybe you should take me to Purple Tamika and I’ll talk to them.”

  Venturi stiffened and his slit pupils widened in what I assumed was outrage.

  “My prince…” Sant said.

  “No,” Venturi whispered, “no. I have taken my last insult from this primitive.”

  “Remember the oracle, my prince,” Sant said. “We must bargain with them despite their vulgarisms.”

  Prince Venturi remained motionless for several seconds. Finally, he said, “His words are incredibly demeaning. I desire to rip him apart and put his head on a spike.”

  “Yeah, and I’m the savage,” I said.

  Venturi roared louder than I’d ever be able to yell. It hurt my eardrums and I felt my body tighten. Was that an ancient atavistic dread on my part? He exposed his fangs and I could look down into the blackness of his throat. His bearing transformed with startling swiftness into something feral. With catlike speed, he rushed me and swung his baton at my head.

  I’d already shaken off my dread, and I reacted like a trooper. Using the neuro-fibers in my muscles, I dodged the blow and grabbed the offending arm. He was big and heavy, and I felt the coordination in him. Just the same, using a combat move, I took the admiral down onto the deck plates. He grunted painfully. I drew my Bowie knife, deciding to slash his throat. He might keep his heart in a different place than a human would.

  “Creed,” N7 shouted, “don’t do it!”

  The battle madness departed me as swiftly as it had come. I dropped the knife. It clattered on the deck. I released the admiral. Looking up, I saw the guards aiming their rifles at me.

  “High Lord,” Sant said, rushing to the fallen admiral.

  “No,” Venturi said, brushing aside the doctor’s hands and standing on his own. He looked down at me. “Impressive,” he said. “I’d heard about your battle speed. It is not regular human reflexes, is it?”

  I shook my head.

  “Stand,” Venturi said.

  I did so, wondering how he could become so calm so fast.

  He bent his head, growling to himself. Finally, he regarded me, and the shine no longer radiated quite so powerfully from his eyes. “You are a warrior race, an ancient project, I believe.”

  What did that mean?

  “I know about the neuro-fibers,” Venturi said. “No Lokhar would have allowed such sacrilege to his body. Nor would we don your filthy bio-suits, living tissues wrapping over our body like a cocoon. Our honor is too great.”

  I bent down and retrieved my Bowie. No one objected, so I sheathed it. Maybe I should have cut his throat after all. I was sick of his boasting.

  “You are right in a few particulars,” Venturi told me. “We lost many shipboard legionaries in our brief contact with the Kargs. Those legionaries were elite soldiers, among our best. But the problem goes deeper than that. Lokhars find it difficult enough to operate in hyperspace. It would be even worse for our individual legionaries.”

  “Why don’t you just say it?” I asked. “You want us to fight for you. See, it’s not so hard.”

  Venturi raised a heavy paw. “Let me finish, I implore you. We do not have time to quarrel. You hate me and I loathe you. That is clear enough. Sometimes, however, enemies join forces to defeat a worse evil.”

  “You can talk,” I said, “and I can listen. Agreeing is another matter.”

  “Of course,” Venturi said. He turned away, and he studied his baton. Soon, he pointed it at the ceiling. The fuzzy holoimage faded. In its place appeared a sharp metallic cutaway of a different spheroid. He hefted the baton before regarding me.

  “This is a diagram,” he said. “We do not know what the portal planet contains. The centurion suggested it had many failsafes and guardians. Likely, it also now possesses millions of Karg soldiers. I will take Indomitable to our great space dock for speeded repairs. Meanwhile, our leadership will summon the other two dreadnoughts. Once ready, the flotilla will return to hyperspace, with Indomitable leading the way. The plan is simple but desperate. We don’t know how many Karg vessels will have reached the rip into our hyperspace. Whatever the number, the three dreadnoughts will fight their way to the planet. Then we will launch legionaries in a vast space assault.”

  Venturi clicked a button. A shimmering shield appeared, protecting, it would seem, the cutaway planet.

  “The assault ships will have to travel slowly enough to slide through the defensive screen. If they have too high a velocity, the shield will stop them. Our ships will deposit ten million Lokhar legionaries onto the surface. Their task will be to fight downward toward the center of the construct.”

  “Ten million?” I asked. “Is that what you said?”

  “That is the extent of our three dreadnoughts’ carrying capacity, along with the assault ships and fighter protection they will need. The Kargs will no doubt attempt to stop us. It may already be too late, but surely the oracle would have said as much if that was so.”

  “Ten million,” I said.

  “I doubt ten million legionaries will be enough,” Venturi said. “In fact, by its words, the oracle indicates it won’t be. This will not be a classic assault, as perhaps you’re envisioning. We already know that ten million is far too few for such an attack. We would need one hundred million to launch a full scale attack and win our way down into the portal planet’s center.”

  “So what kind of attack are we talking about then?” I asked.

  “This will be a commando raid.”

  I laughed. “You’re joking, right?”

  Venturi’s eyes glowed. “I have told you once already, I do not kid or joke.”

  “Okay, okay, a commando raid with ten million legionaries. I doubt you’ve ever made a regular attack with so many soldiers.”

  “You are correct. We have not.”

  “But you want to call it a commando raid, huh?”

  “The ten million legionaries will not be making the raid,” Venturi said. “The oracle intimates that they would not be skilled or hardy enough to reach the Forerunner artifact.”

  “For that,” I said, “you need us, right?”

  “Yes,” Venturi said, softly. Unconsciously, it seemed to me, he stroked the teal-colored medal pinned on his uniform. It glittered darkly after his touch. “For that, we need one hundred thousand assault troopers with neuro-fibers and symbiotic suits.”

  I stared at the bastard, and things began to click into place.

  “That’s why you want our captured Jelk battlejumper,” I said. “It has the neuro-fibers and surgery centers. And it has the genetically engineered bio-suits.”

  “Yes,” Venturi said.

  “Do the symbiotic suits work better in hyperspace than powered combat armor?”

  “That is an intelligent question,” Venturi said. “And the answer is yes.”

  “How about that,” I muttered. “There’s something I don’t understand then. Why did you unleash the androids against my ship? Why start out trying to kill us if you need us?”

  “Naga Gobo did that on his own volition,” Venturi said. “He did not do so at my orders. He did it as a Starkien, a double-dealing pirate.”

  I wondered if I could believe that. Maybe it didn’t matter anymore—if what the prince told me was true.

  “One hundred thousand Earthers,” I said. “Supposing I agreed to this madness, it would take time to get that many people ready. At present, only one hundred and fifty of us are trained as troopers.”

  “I will aid you, of course, “Venturi said. “Even so, you would have two, perhaps three weeks.”

  I laughed. “That’s insane.”

  “No, that is desperation. If we wait any longer, it will be too late. The Kargs have unimaginable numbers. We must destroy the portal planet before they move those numbers into position. I would think the opening has also caught them by surprise.”

  “Once we do all that, how do we escape from the portal planet?”

  Venturi shook his head. “This is a one-way mission. There will not be any escape for any of us. The Kargs will surely realize what we’re attempting to do. They will pour everything they have into stopping us. It will be a nightmare. But with the Great Maker’s blessing, we just might be able to succeed.”

  “You’re asking me to join you as a suicide trooper?” I asked.

  “For the sake of our universe,” Venturi said, “yes.”

  “No,” I said. “I don’t give a shit about the universe. I care about the human race. If they die, let the whole universe die with it. You murdered us. I don’t mind seeing you murdered in turn. Let the Kargs pile onto every sentient being that didn’t come to our aid.”

  “You would let the universe die?” Venturi whispered.

  “That seems to bother you, huh?”

  He just stared at me.

  “Well,” I said, “if you’re so unbelieving, change my mind.”

  “You want us to torture you?” Venturi asked.

  “How about instead of that, you offer me something worth my while,” I said.

  “What do you desire?”

  “Okay,” I said. “Now you’re starting to sound reasonable. You want me to sacrifice myself for you. I want you to sacrifice Lokhar hardware and money to save the human race.”

  “Meaning what?” Venturi asked in a guarded manner.

  “Meaning a fleet of warships that you hand over to us,” I said. “And you give us the antidote to cleanse the bio-terminator from our world. Then—”

  “You want more?” Venturi asked.

  “Hey, you’re asking me to die to save the universe. Why shouldn’t you have to pay for that?”

  He mumbled quietly.

  “I want automated factories set down onto Earth and other technologies that will give us equality with the rest of the Jade League. Oh, and that’s something else, too. I want membership on the League, voting membership.”

  “I am the prince of Orange Tamika. I am not a magician.”

  “Better pull in some markers then,” I said.

  “What does he mean?” Venturi asked Sant.

  Sant shrugged.

  “It means you’d better call in all your favors,” I said. “Talk to Jade League members. Tell them the score. If you can guarantee these things and show me that it’s going to happen—by starting with the fleet of warships—” I took a deep breath. “Do these things, O prince, and I’ll join your crusade against the Kargs. I’ll sell my life as dearly as possible, because I’ll have something to fight for then.”

  Admiral or Prince Venturi of Orange Tamika stared at me. He kept blinking those tiger-eyes of his. He finally turned away and began to pace. If he’d had a tail, I’m sure it would have been lashing.

  “Yes,” he whispered. “I can see your point. The oracle believes in you and in humans, it appears. That will have to be how I convince the others.” He laughed sourly. “This will stick in the craw of Purple Tamika. Yes, maybe that will make my death worth it.” He faced me. “I agreed to your terms, although I may not be able to convince the Emperor.”

  “Well you’d better,” I said. “Otherwise, we’re going to sit this one out. Tell your Purple Emperor that.”

  Venturi faced Doctor Sant. The lean doctor bowed low. Without another word, Venturi headed for the exit, taking his honor guards with him.

  -12-

  Several hours later, I was back on the battlejumper with a mass of Lokhars headed by Doctor Sant. He would be my liaison with the tigers.

  I’d already contacted Ella and told her to forget about destroying our warship. Seven Lokhar pinnaces guarded the battlejumper. They were lozenge-shaped craft, each of them one-sixth the size of our Jelk vessel. The pinnaces used heavy particle beam cannons as their main armament, making them short-range warships. The Lokhars also left two hundred of their stubby fighters and several supply vessels. It amazed me how much hardware sat in the dreadnought. If the Jelk showed up, the Lokhars would help us give them a fight.

  Indomitable already accelerated for the Pluto jump point. When it returned, I was supposed to board with one hundred thousand Earth assault troops.

  I had several weeks to forge an army of commandos to save the universe. Talk about your melodrama. It sounded crazy, but so did aliens nuking the Earth into oblivion. So did a Rumpelstiltskin-sized extraterrestrial changing before my eyes into an energy creature. Why then couldn’t there be hyperspace and rips into a Hell dimension?

  At my order, Ella, Rollo and Dmitri lifted from Earth in the assault boats, returning with the troopers.

  I sat in my room, thinking. Somehow I was in charge of humanity—me. I’d been a callow youth, spending a good part of my teenage years in prison with cons. Most of that time, I’d read books, history in particular and military stories and biographies the most. The rest of the time, I’d defended my honor with my fists and my wits. Unfortunately, in prison, a shiv or five-to-one odds quickly rendered fists unimportant. That’s where wits came in. I’d read history in the prison library and in my cell, and learned about hard reality the rest of the time.