WHAM

  WHAM

  WHAM

  WHAM

  WHAM

  WHAM

  The Daniel Boone veered out of the path of the oncoming asteroids.

  The bridge crew watched in silence as the kilometer-long behemoths continued their rush toward Earth.

  “May God help us,” Wilson murmured. The battle out here was over, but the war for Earth was far from finished. The mobile asteroids continued their deadly course. It was up to others now to stop or deflect them before it was too late.

  -30-

  On the far side of the Moon, three mass drivers were Earth’s second-to-last line of defense. The mass drivers were two-kilometer electromagnetic railguns, held in reserve for this final stand. They powered up, their capacitors humming with energy.

  Inside the fortified control bunkers, the operators worked hard, their screens filled with data from the sensors tracking the three asteroids hurtling toward Earth.

  “Targeting solutions locked,” the lead operator said. “Firing sequence initiated.”

  The first of the mass drivers fired with a thud that reverberated across the lunar surface. A slug, a dense projectile made of tungsten and depleted uranium, shot out of the rails at hypersonic speed, streaking away from the Moon and at the incoming asteroids. The other two mass drivers followed suit, their projectiles following in rapid succession.

  The slugs struck the lead asteroid with tremendous force, each impact sending a plume of rock and ice into space. Chunks of the asteroid’s surface were blasted away this way, but the mass of the asteroid was so great that it barely slowed its approach.

  Every ten minutes, the mass drivers fired again, each shot hammering the asteroids, trying to break them apart or, at the very least, alter their deadly trajectory.

  In the command center, the operators watched as the projectiles continued to chip away at the asteroids, but the progress was too slow. They were running out of time as these behemoths were traveling much too fast.

  Then, a new signal appeared on their screens—a swarm of staggered missiles had launched earlier from Orbital Space around Earth. The missiles roared past the Moon, their engines blazing as they accelerated toward the asteroids.

  This was Earth’s final gambit to stop the doomsday rocks before they reached their target.

  Time passed, but not too much now. The first missiles slammed into the lead asteroid, their nuclear warheads detonating in a series of brilliant flashes. The explosions were massive, each one sending shockwaves through the asteroid’s structure, fracturing it in ways the mass driver projectiles could not.

  The missile barrage continued, each wave timed to strike different points on the asteroid’s surface, maximizing the destructive force.

  In the control room, the operators watched as the lead asteroid began to break apart, the massive explosions tearing it into chunks. The Anza Drive fusion engines that had driven the rock from Saturn were obliterated in a final blast, sending the fragments tumbling through space.

  More importantly, the chunks of the asteroid shifted their trajectories. It wasn’t much, but it was enough that the chunks would pass the Moon and then pass the Earth.

  “Target one is neutralized,” said the chief operator on the Moon.

  There was no time to celebrate, though. The other two asteroids were still on course. The mass drivers continued to fire, their slugs aimed at the planet killers.

  More missiles roared past the Moon, their focus on the second asteroid. The first impacts cracked the asteroid’s surface. The missiles continued to strike the rock.

  With each detonation, the asteroid began to wobble. The shocks disrupted the Anza Drives. At that point, Valiants used ejection pods, leaving the mobile asteroid like rats leaving a sinking ship.

  As the missiles continued to strike, the asteroid veered off course by the smallest degrees. It was enough, however, so it would only graze the highest atmosphere, the exosphere, hopefully. That would count as a miss as far as those on Earth were concerned.

  That meant they could start targeting the last asteroid.

  This time, the mass drivers and missiles worked in closer tandem, as they’d worked it out from the two previous times. Even as one mass driver failed due to overheating, and the missiles dwindled to the last few, they deflected the last asteroid just enough… it seemed.

  In a sense, it didn’t matter as the one-kilometer object sped past the Moon at 51.3 kilometers per second. They were out of ammo to do anything more. The asteroid moved five times faster than any of the rockets from the fabled Apollo missions in the 1960s. The transit time from here to Earth wouldn’t give those in the orbitals much time, if they needed it.

  “All targets neutralized,” said the lead operator on the Moon, his voice cracking from the strain. “Humanity is safe from extinction. The Earth is safe.”

  The room erupted with cheers.

  In Command Central on OS Aphrodite, it was the same. Petty wept with joy. Huber beamed like an idiot. A few personnel readied for a last attempt to nudge the final asteroid off a bit more.

  Far away on the Daniel Boone, Admiral Wilson sank into his chair. It was all he could do to breathe.

  On the bridge of the Enkidu, John Steele grabbed Colonel Garvey’s wrists and began to do a jig with his older friend, spinning around and around.

  “We did it,” Steele shouted. “We saved Earth. I bet we also just won this damn war.”

  Colonel Garvey, just like CEO Petty, had tears in his eyes. “I have finally become a space marine in truth, as I fought in space.”

  “You sure did, sir,” Steele said.

  Meanwhile, deep in the Enkidu, Naram Sin listened to the rejoicing even as he endured the witch with her wild ideas trying to persuade him.

  At this point, Naram Sin just wanted Valiant vengeance for the death of all his friends.

  -31-

  In Command Central on OS Aphrodite, CEO Petty stood before a screen, sobered from his earlier cheering.

  Two of the three asteroids had been deflected—one of two smashed into chunks, and the chunks were clearly no longer on a collision course with Earth. The other might brush the exosphere, which shouldn’t do much of anything, although it was too damn close for anyone’s comfort.

  The third asteroid still partially remained on a collision course. It would certainly brush the mesosphere at the very least. That was below the thermosphere and exosphere. The mesosphere was where most meteors burned up and became “shooting stars.”

  The one-kilometer monster barreled through space, heading for Earth. The calculations had been done, redone, and checked again. The margin was agonizingly slim that it would miss hitting the Earth.

  The orbitals in direct line of sight had fired their railguns and launched their last missiles. This was it, payday one way or another.

  Huber stepped up to Petty. “What’s the distance to the asteroid?”

  Petty shrugged helplessly.

  An operator nearby had been listening. He leaned over and spoke quietly. “It’s seventy kilometers and closing fast, sir. Estimated contact with the mesosphere in ninety seconds.”

  The asteroid from Saturn’s rings was already glowing faintly, as the first wisps of Earth’s atmosphere brushed against its surface.

  Huber could see it: a massive rock becoming fiery as it plowed through the faint, upper atmosphere.

  It seemed as if the asteroid had targeted Aphrodite. The displacement in pressure in the thermosphere—where orbital stations circled the Earth—caused a shockwave through the thin atmosphere.

  The shockwave struck OS Aphrodite, causing it to shake, the vibrations intensifying as the asteroid passed.

  Petty might have fallen down except he steadied himself at a console.

  The asteroid seethed and bubbled, molten rock sloughing off in streaks of liquid fire as it left the thermosphere and struck the mesosphere. The temperature soared so a tail of vaporized debris fanned out behind, a terrifying plume that lit up nearby space.

  Those in Command Central watched, hearts pounding, as the asteroid skimmed Earth’s upper atmosphere, its molten surface flaring as it met resistance from the mesosphere.

  The rock, easily over a billion tons in weight, hurtled through the thin atmospheric layer, compressing the air in front of it. The friction between the asteroid and mesosphere transformed the once silent asteroid into a blazing, incandescent inferno. Its surface, once cold, now melted and vaporized, leaving behind a trail of fiery debris that burned with intensity.

  The night sky over the Northwest Territories of Canada was transformed into a living nightmare as the heavens blazed with the asteroid’s passage. The searing brightness outshone the stars and Moon combined. The asteroid’s trail carved a brilliant scar across the sky—a streak of molten rock and plasma that radiated heat. The air crackled with energy as if the sky itself was set on fire.

  The shockwave from the asteroid’s passage slammed against the surface of the Earth like the fist of an angry god. The forests of the Northwest Territories were no match for that. The trees, some hundreds of years old, bent and twisted under the immense pressure, their trunks groaning before finally snapping like brittle twigs. The splintered remains were flung across the landscape. The frozen tundra quaked as the ground convulsed. Entire swaths of wilderness were flattened in an instant.

  The winds that followed were ferocious. Gale-force gusts tore through what remained of the forests, scattering debris like confetti in a hurricane. Fires ignited, the intense heat from the asteroid’s trail setting dry brush and ancient timber alight. Fierce winds whipped that into an inferno. The air was thick with smoke and ash, a choking blanket that descended over the land.

  In remote towns and settlements, the human response was one of shock and terror. People, roused from sleep by the distant thunder of the asteroid, stumbled outside, drawn by the unnatural light flooding their homes. Their faces reflected the fear that gripped their hearts as they gazed skyward, eyes wide with awe and dread.

  The shockwave hit the towns so windows shattered, glass exploding inward with lethal force. Structures groaned under the strain, many walls and roofs buckling as the pressure wave rolled through. People were thrown to the ground, their breath stolen by the power of the blast. The ground trembled as many died by flying glass or wood splinters.

  Yet even as the destruction unfolded, the asteroid continued its path.

  The worst was over. The asteroid’s journey through Earth’s atmosphere was nearing its end. Soon, it began to pull away from the planet.

  It skipped across the atmosphere like a stone on water, the mesosphere bending its path just enough to deflect it back into space. The fiery trail it left behind slowly began to fade.

  The sky returned to its rightful darkness, the light of the asteroid’s passage dwindling to a distant glow before disappearing altogether.

  The Earth had survived its passage, although parts of it burned like mad and would for some time.

  Up on OS Aphrodite, Petty exhaled, the tension draining away. That was the end. They had done it. The Valiant threat was over for now. The asteroid that might have been humanity’s doom was now leaving into the void, taking with it the last vestiges of a war that had nearly destroyed them.

  Petty faced Huber.

  Huber shook his head in disbelief.

  “What do you think the Titan colony is going to do now?” Petty asked.

  “We’re getting reports of Valiant survivors,” Huber said. “For one thing, there are all those auxiliary vessels. What’s left of our space force is rounding them up. For now, they’re sending the Valiants to the Moon.”

  “The Moon…” Petty said. He couldn’t forget what he’d seen just now. If all three asteroids had hit the surface, humanity would likely be gone, a memory only. He squinted at Huber. “We have to end this war one way or another.”

  “I agree with that,” Huber said.

  “Any ideas how we do that?” asked Petty.

  Huber rubbed his chin, a sign that the little big man had begun to apply his powerful intellect to the problem.

  -32-

  Deep inside the Enkidu, Marshal Naram Sin sat in a corner, staring at the floor. He was sunk in gloom and defeat, wondering why he had listened to the crazy woman.

  Eury had been the sister of one of the Evil Seven. She made all kinds of wild accusations, claiming her brother Sarus had been innocent. The data that she had shown him about an Earther from 9600 BC—

  Eury said the Chief Marshal had destroyed the evidence through remote control, and then tried to hide that he’d ordered it done.

  Had Assur truly been that evil? Had he slain his own mother? That was what the crazy woman said.

  Naram Sin looked around.

  The others sat nearby, a few playing card games. The bridge officers lived on the Earthmen’s sufferance because they hadn’t checked out every location on the Enforcer. It didn’t surprise Naram Sin that the Earthers hadn’t found this spot yet. The crazy woman had lived here for eighteen months without any of them spotting her. She’d been alone the entire time. It was a wonder she hadn’t gone mad.

  Naram Sin glanced at her.

  Eury did look half-crazy—her hygiene wasn’t the best. But what she’d said…

  She caught him looking at her.

  Naram Sin quickly looked away.

  Eury got up, came over, and sat beside him.

  Naram Sin shifted uncomfortably.

  Eury stared at him. “You don’t believe any of what I’ve told you, do you?”

  Naram Sin shrugged. “I know the Chief Marshal did underhanded things, but to suppress something as vital as what you’re suggesting… Why would he do that?”

  “Don’t you understand? The fleet’s purpose was to destroy the human race. He was going to wipe out our kindred. That was what the asteroids were for.”

  “I know what they were for,” Naram Sin said.

  “And you agreed to it?” Eury said, sounding outraged.

  Naram Sin turned his head, staring at a bulkhead. “The Chief Marshal came to this decision after I told him what my calculations showed.”

  “What was that?” Eury asked.

  “That even if we won, the Valiants would be swept under by human DNA. They would have subsumed us and thereby conquered us. You know that Valiant women have borne Earther children?”

  “Of course I know,” Eury said. “They did that because we’re the same species, the same genus, if you will. We’re all the same.”

  “How can that be?” Naram Sin cried. “We’re blue-skinned, and they are a mixture of many different colors, many different shades.”

  “How can that be so difficult to understand?” Eury asked. “So we’re a color they don’t happen to have. Otherwise—”

  “No! We’re bigger, smarter, and more technologically advanced.”

  Eury shook her head. “You’re not stupid, Naram Sin. You’re probably the smartest among us. You know that what I’m saying is true.”

  Naram Sin squinted at her. “Rim Sin created the Valiants out of the People. Otherwise, we were much like the humans. It was only this genetic shift that made us so strong and smart. Another reason the human DNA would have subsumed us is that we would have returned to our normal patterns over time.”

  “What are you talking about?” Eury asked.

  “I’ve studied Earth data on this,” Naram Sin said. “If left alone, specialized breeds will eventually revert to the common stock from which they came. It’s only human ingenuity that often keeps the specializations of various species intact like special breeds of dogs, cattle, or pigeons.”

  Naram Sin wrapped his arms around his up-thrust knees as he sat on the floor. He studied Eury. “I still don’t get your point.”

  “It’s easy,” Eury said. “We must make peace with the Earthers. Notice how they haven’t immediately destroyed the auxiliary vessels. That means we can hope for real peace.”

  “So you say.”

  “Do you think I’m lying about the Triton data? Do you think I’m making this up like the Chief Marshal did all his life? He lied to us and set us on this terrible war. Look, the Vims are still out there. You realize that, don’t you?”

  “Of course,” Naram Sin said. “That’s part of the reason why we’ve done this.”

  “No, we’ve done this for vainglorious reasons. We should make peace with the Earthers.”

  “After this last attack, will they let us?” Naram Sin asked.

  “That is the question,” Eury said. “But how can it hurt to attempt it? We’re almost defenseless back home.”

  “The Earthers lost heavily too,” Naram Sin said.

  Eury shook her head as if this was hopeless. “Can’t you see? We’re destroying each other. We’re fracturing, going backward. Earth isn’t as industrialized as it used to be because of the war. The Titan colony has wasted so much time and effort trying to kill the humans when we could have been expanding. Why don’t we both grow in cooperation with each other?”

  Naram Sin was scowling.

  “Look,” Eury said. “Don’t Valiant men often fight against the person who later becomes his best friend? When you were younger, you fought and showed each other that you were tough. That way, you could respect each other. Finally, you became friends. The fighting was almost a rite of passage. Maybe that’s what this has been with Earthers and us. Maybe after fighting hard against each other, we can make peace and become friends. We know the cost of war—it’s horrific, brutal. Our colony is not growing like it should.”

  “You’re repeating yourself,” Naram Sin said.

  “I know,” Eury said. “Why can’t you see that we have no choice? You’re supposed to be brilliant. You can see this move and that move and predict the outcome. Why can’t you see that if we don’t do this, we’ll end up dead or in prison camps for the rest of our lives? I’m offering a way of hope.”

  “Hope,” Naram Sin said. “You’re asking me to crawl on my belly and lick the humans’ hands.”