Earth Star(38)

‘That’s a very old theory,’ said Devon.

‘The laws of physics haven’t changed in the last century,’ said Leveque, ‘and I have good reasons to take the work of Jorgen Eklund extremely seriously.’

‘Why?’ demanded Devon.

Leveque beamed at him. ‘Unfortunately I cannot supply you with classified information from Military records.’

I bit my lip to stop myself laughing and leaned to whisper in Fian’s ear. ‘I told you Leveque wasn’t making fun of you.’

Devon was virtually shouting now. ‘If it’s impossible for the sphere to have reached here by drop portal, then it’s even more impossible that it travelled conventionally. It would have taken …’ He broke off, but he’d already made a fatal mistake.

‘Precisely,’ said Leveque. ‘You agree with my other expert evaluation of the situation. The sphere must have taken hundreds or thousands of years to get here, in which case the aliens could have made huge technological progress since it was launched. It’s possible those advances include the discovery of portal technology, so we may have far more advanced craft arriving without any warning. In these circumstances, it would be highly inadvisable to commit an unnecessary act of aggression.’

Fian’s face looked ludicrously grazzed as he heard his warning described as an expert evaluation.

‘If you accept Eklund’s theory then you would get a warning of more alien craft arriving,’ said Devon. ‘It gives rigid limits on possible portalling distances as well as size, and the Search team have found no signs of alien portal relays in Alpha sector. Alien craft couldn’t just casually portal across whole sectors of our space. They’d have to repeatedly use a drop portal, emerge, gain power, refocus, and portal again. It would take days, if not weeks, for them to get across Alpha sector, and we’re watching for the telltale bursts of energy now.’

Fian startled me by suddenly joining in the debate. ‘If aliens don’t have their own portal relays, can they use ours?’

I gave him a grazzed look. Everyone else was looking at him too, and there was an odd silence in the room.

Fian flushed. ‘It’s probably impossible but …’

Colonel Torrek looked at Leveque. ‘Is it impossible?’

‘We usually use the standard portal system to send our ships as close as possible to their destination, and then send them the last step by drop portal, but bouncing a drop portal signal a long distance across standard portal relays is definitely possible. During the Artemis crisis, we sent our dart ships half-way across Beta sector, and we did it by bouncing their drop portal signals across Beta sector’s portal relays without their knowledge.’ Leveque stood up. ‘If you’ll excuse me for a few minutes.’

He left the room and there was total silence. Even Devon quietly sat down, which told me just how bad this was. It was five or ten minutes before Leveque returned, with an edge of grimness marring his usual relaxed expression.

‘Unfortunately, Captain Eklund is correct to be concerned. Aliens utilizing our portal relay network is not nearly as impossible as we’d like.’

‘Worst-case scenario?’ asked Colonel Torrek.

‘The alien sphere waits until Earth’s portal network shuts down during the next major solar storm and we’re at our weakest. The radiation means we can’t keep the solar arrays manned, keep fighters in orbit, or create outgoing portals. The sphere would attack to distract us, while its reinforcements portal in using our own portal relay network. We portal our forces into Sol system in response and there is a decisive conflict with significant implications for the future safety of all our worlds.’

Colonel Torrek pulled a face. ‘Meaning we’d have to win at any cost.’

‘Can’t we shut down the relay network as a defensive precaution?’ asked Devon. ‘At least, the network near Sol system?’

I was no good at science, so I’d been keeping quiet, but now I had to speak. ‘No! That would stop Handicapped newborn babies from reaching Earth. They’d all die!’

Devon gave me a look of pure disgust. ‘Insignificant given what’s at stake here.’

‘Shutting down the relay network near Earth would prevent not only alien forces but our own from reaching it,’ said Leveque.

‘We could abandon Earth,’ said Devon. ‘Only the Handicapped live here, so it’s an acceptable loss.’

Acceptable loss? My home planet! Everyone I loved! I half rose in my seat, but Colonel Torrek spoke before I could choose which furious words to say.

‘Earth has five inhabited continents and the highest population of any of our planets except Adonis and Zeus. I don’t regard it as an acceptable loss, and I’m not killing thousands of babies a day just as a defensive precaution. We’ve been discussing a purely hypothetical situation, because the aliens may not have portal technology yet, or may be friendly.’