In the City of Tomorrow: Chapter 13

After the Steward left the inhabitants of the Sparrow remained on the bridge and watched the planet they were orbiting. Everyone expected something to happen but as the minutes ticked by they could see no activity.

“I still don’t see why we’re doing this,” Laura said at last. “The planet was perfectly good the way it was.”

Sergeant Howell nodded. “I agree. But remember why we were brought here, Mrs. Stryker. Once the Artilect finds your daughters he’s going to ask their permission to go to war. I thought it might be wise, before the war broke out, to see what kind of technology we’ve got on our side.”

“He’s got a good point,” Captain Max said. “The Emperor was able to do quite a lot of damage without 73rd century technology. I can only imagine what wars are like these days.”

“I think we’re going to be doing a lot more than just imagining, sir,” Jones replied.

“Still, Andy didn’t seem too worried,” Richard said. “I’m hoping that is a good sign.”

“We didn’t exactly have an in-depth discussion about it,” Sergeant Howell replied. “The Steward claims to have the ability to destroy and recreate an entire planet in a matter of days just in the name of convenience. That represents a great deal of destructive power.”

“It may not be as bad as we think,” Richard replied. “Supposedly this automated war has been going on for thousands of years and in all that time their technology level never changed. We may not encounter much resistance at all.”

Sergeant Howell nodded. “That may be, Richard, but I very much doubt they’ve faced an opponent like the Artilect before. Who knows what they might do when they’re backed into a corner?”

“I guess we’ll find out when the time comes,” Jones said. He looked down at his control display and tapped it gently. “Speaking of Jack, I think he’s gotten started.”

The first mate pressed a few buttons on the console and a diagram of the planet appeared on the forward viewscreen. As everyone watched, small red dots began appearing all over the planet.

“Those are satellites,” Jones explained. “They look like they’re about six hundred feet in diameter. They’re appearing by the thousands in different orbits around the planet.”

Laura looked out the window. “I really can’t tell that anything has changed.”

“Just give it time,” Captain Max said. “Jones, are you able to get any kind of reading on those satellites?”

Jones shook his head. “Not really. There’s a lot of interference right now – they’re putting out some type of radiation. I’ll see if I can compensate for it.”

Over the next thirty minutes the creation of the small satellites leveled off. Shortly after the last satellite was in place the objects began changing their orbits.

“Any idea what’s going on?” Captain Max asked his first mate.

“It’s hard to tell,” Jones replied. “I don’t think the movement is purely random – there’s definitely some sort of patten to it. It also looks like they’re beginning to release some type of radiation. But it’s not like anything I’ve seen before.”

“Something is certainly going on,” Laura replied. “The planet is getting a bit hazy. It’s like it’s shrouded in fog or something. I can hardly even see the oceans anymore.”

“Are you sure we’re at a safe distance, Captain?” Sergeant Howell asked.

“Jack seemed to think we’d be safe enough,” Captain Max replied. “Still, I can take us out a little bit further if you’d like.” He passed the request on to Eliza, who moved the starship out to a more distant orbit.

“Am I the only one who’s getting hungry?” Richard asked. “I feel like we’ve missed lunch. What time is it?”

“Now there’s a tricky question for you,” the captain replied. He pressed a few buttons and then leaned back in his chair and frowned. “Well, here’s the situation. As best I can tell we left this morning at 7 am and arrived in the future about a half-hour later. According to the ship’s clock it took us about four hours to get from deep space to this planet, and we’ve been orbiting for about two hours. That would make it early afternoon Tikal time – only there probably isn’t such a thing as Tikal time anymore.”

“I wonder what time it is locally?” Laura asked.

“I bet if we asked Jack he’d say it was up to us,” Captain Max replied. “For now I’m going to stick with early afternoon.”

“So we really did miss lunch,” Richard said. “Max, do you think that Eliza could–”

Their conversation was interrupted by a blinding flash of white light. Immediately Eliza spoke up through the overhead paging system. “Warning: increased radiation levels have been detected. Countermeasures are being taken. Please stand by.”

A moment later the bright white light dimmed significantly.

“What was that?” Richard said.

Laura pointed out the window. “Rick – the planet’s gone!”

Everyone turned and looked. The planet had been replaced with a blinding white star!

“Now that was a bit unexpected,” Captain Max replied. “What is it, Jones?”

“It’s not actually a star,” the first mate explained. “It looks like some type of plasma. It’s not energy, exactly – it’s more like an ultrahot form of matter. I think it’s being contained by the satellite network.”

“So the satellites are still there?” Richard asked.

“They are,” Jones said. “I’m going to guess that they’re responsible for converting the planet into this proto-matter – whatever it is – and are keeping the pieces together. Jack’s next step will probably be to take these building blocks and reassemble the planet to match our specifications.”

“Where’s he getting the energy to do all this?” Sergeant Howell wondered.

“I really have no idea,” Captain Max said. “Maybe after he’s done he’ll be willing to put us through a few science courses. After all, we’re going to be here a while. We might as well learn the basics.”

“And in the meantime. I suggest we get something to eat,” Richard said.