Hammer of Fate

By Jack Dash

After breaking the peaceful ways of the Joon and devastating the home world of the humans, the Anvil of Change must now begin the next stage of his desperate struggle to save his people. Having manipulated the destiny of two species, he must journey to the home world of the Rakan and subjugate a people who are selfish and cruel beyond belief. Their lust for death and destruction must be shackled and controlled, but only after the most vicious of all the Rakan rises to power. Only then can the third of the prophesied masters of destiny emerge to unify his people and take them to the stars. Only in the depths of space can the Hammer of Fate be tamed and his armies bound to the will of the coming Forge of Time. Only then can the combined might of three worlds be amassed to fight the coming darkness.

Hammer of Fate is the second book in the Edge of Destiny series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jack Dash
• Release date: May 8, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476398778

Jack Dash

Jack started reading grown up books at the age of seven and has averaged four a week ever since. Not surprisingly his childhood dream was to become a writer himself but, as is often the case, life got in the way of his ambition and he finished up working as a costermonger on York market, a fish salter on Grimsby docks, a newsagent at the seaside and all that before attending York University to become one of its first computer science graduates. After university Jack went on to a long career in the computer industry, the last ten years of it running his own software company. When they started making computers that worked properly, Jack lost interest and sold his business to become a teacher. Jack taught at schools around the world, including the Lake District, Egypt and Hong Kong before early retirement to follow his childhood dream and become a writer.

Book preview

1: Beta Timeline, 2130

Eltwo Station, Earth Orbit

Jimmy tried to say something, but shock had scrambled his brains. Come on, pull yourself together, he thought angrily, you’re sitting in the command chair, for God’s sake!

There were only three other people on the bridge and it was Mica who spoke first, Is this for real?

Then everyone spoke at once, It can’t be.

It’s on the main board, man. It must be.

Come off it Mica, this is one of your pranks, right?

Jimmy found his tongue at last, "All right, calm down. We don’t know what the hell we’ve got here. Mica, this had better not be one of your jokes."

Mica shook his head, No, I swear to God the feed is live. I never touched it, it wouldn’t be the first time the tall Nigerian had spliced in a dummy feed but the shocked look on his face told everyone he was telling the truth.

Jimmy continued, Well check the calibration then, we might have gone negative, twisted into the past. This looks too much like the Nemesis impact to be a coincidence.

A relieved sigh escaped everyone’s lips at the obvious answer. But, looking again at the devastation on the main board, they realised that couldn’t be right. Jimmy realised it too, Okay, okay, this can’t be Nemesis, but let’s find out what we have here before we start panicking. Double check everything.

Glued to the screen in horrified desperation, the crew looked for something to tell them it wasn’t real, Come on, move it. Jimmy shouted as he stabbed a finger at the screen, "I’m not reporting this until I’m damn sure it’s for real."

The harsh words broke the spell and everyone jumped to it, checking and re-checking every step made over the last few hours, hoping to find it was just a mistake but they knew deep down that it wasn’t.

It all started with a twist. Punching wormholes through mirror space cut inter-planetary distances so dramatically that twister rings were everywhere now. Mars, Mercury, Earth and the Moon each had several rings in constant operation and twisting through space had become an everyday event. But this was no ordinary twist. It was a twist through time as well as space and Jimmy Dyson decided to inspect the ring himself. It had to be checked out visually before every power up and he liked to keep his hand in.

Powering up an external camera bot, he told his mule to plug the feed into his HUD. Mules made life in twenty-second century so much easier, intelligent super-computers the size of a watch, they took care of all the donkey work of daily life—hence the name—and used bio-film overlays etched onto contact lenses to project a virtual, three-dimensional Heads-Up-Display, into the wearer’s field of vision.

The feed came in and the bridge faded from view as Jimmy’s contacts darkened. The view from outside the station sprang into life and showed a naked sun hammering down onto the lunar surface below. The moon had no soft blanket of air to temper the harsh sunlight as it painted a white brilliance over the tortured landscape and slashed it into sharp contrast with stygian black shadows. In the fortnight-long lunar day, cold shadows crept slowly over the multitude of craters that pock-marked the ancient landscape and even though Jimmy was impressed by its stark beauty, the total absence of life always conjured up feelings of desperate loneliness.

Jimmy fought off the moon’s hypnotic beauty and adjusted the camera controls in his HUD. Stroking his fingers sideways, the camera panned around and the moon slipped away to the left as Eltwo Station glided gracefully in from the right. He still marvelled at the station. The MEC shield outer shell of the five-hundred-metre wide, matt-black sphere had been created entirely out of pseudo-matter and it was nothing more than a wall of pure energy.

The view was so realistic, Jimmy often found it difficult to remember that it was only a virtual image created by his mule. Even though he felt like he was floating in space outside Eltwo, in reality he stood behind the command chair on the station’s bridge. Okay, I’m closing in on the twister now. He said, to no one in particular. There were only three other people on the bridge and they could all see the camera feed displayed on the main board, a large display screen at the front of the room, and they could see exactly where he was heading.

Jimmy manipulated the virtual control and flew up and over the station until the fat doughnut of the Mars twister ring came into view, floating two-hundred metres above the station. Jimmy had a fondness for the old ring but, even though it was soon to be replaced, it still had one final task to do before being decommissioned. The ring’s fusion reactors were supplying power to the small, experimental twister mounted on top of the old ring. The Mars ring had a ten-metre barrel through the centre and even though the temporal ring only had a ten centimetre barrel, it used as much power as the big ring. Twisting through time took a lot of energy.

Jimmy zoomed in on the small ring, looking for damage after the last twist. Sensors would have highlighted any problems, but it was best to be sure. The temporal twister was one hell of a piece of engineering, but she was a temperamental bitch at the best of times and needed a close watch. He adjusted the camera to scan around the ring, looking for signs of a fried circuit or the tell-tale pitting left by micro-meteors. The ring was protected by a MEC shield most of the time, but it stood naked for a few hours for its pre-twist servicing. Jimmy completed the circuit around one surface and then checked the other side before calling it a day. The ring was good to go.

Jimmy flipped a switch in his HUD and cancelled the outside view. He blinked a couple of times to adjust to the interior lighting, but it felt good to see some colour again, there was little of it outside. The bridge was a lot smaller than it looked on paper, being the top deck of a sphere, the curved ceiling didn’t give much headroom around the edge. With a cramped galley at the back and twelve chairs around the perimeter, the bridge always felt cramped to Jimmy, especially as he so was tall.

Every chair in the room faced the main board, which only functioned as a central focus to keep everyone on the same page and wasn’t really necessary. Unlike the early TV dramas, the only equipment needed by the station personnel was a comfy chair and a cup holder for the coffee. Apart from the emergency backups, all station controls were virtual and projected into everyone’s HUD by their mules.

Technically at least, Jimmy was in charge of the temporal project, but that was like saying the captain of a ship was in charge with an admiral on board. Jimmy might give the orders, but Frank Bell told him what orders to give. Eltwo was an experimental station and, tucked away behind the moon, it was the perfect place for Frank to do all his dangerous twister experiments, especially with the station’s protective shield. Eltwo was the first station to use MEC shielding for its hull instead of the steel plating used on the other Lagrange stations.

Jimmy activated Frank’s avatar in his HUD, Hey Frank. Just to let you know we’ll be twisting soon. Frank liked to be told when a twist was imminent.

Lost in his virtual world, Director Francis William Bell sat in his office six decks below, handling three tasks at once, as usual. He had attention deficit disorder and coped with it by multi-tasking and he was always at work, sometimes even in the middle of a conversation. It was one of the quirks you had to get used to when working with the famous gravity man. Frank had been the world’s foremost physicist for most of his long life and, to say Frank was smart, was like saying Pluto was a little on the chilly side.

Frank nodded at Jimmy’s avatar in his HUD and continued to work as he spoke, Okay, thanks.

When you dragged me into this project, Jimmy replied with a little annoyance, You didn’t mention how much waiting there would be.

The comment took Frank by surprise, "Dragged you? Hah! You stalked me for six weeks, begging me to give you the project. Frank checked the twister readout in his HUD, Anyway, the capacitors are almost charged. Maybe you’ll get lucky this time."

Jimmy checked his own readout again, the ring was eighty percent powered, They still have another ten minutes to go. I spend half my life waiting for that bloody twister of yours to charge up, and the other half fixing it before we can twist again.

Frank was used to Jimmy’s complaining before a twist, it was just his way of coping with the anxiety, "Yes, but you get to look into the future Jimmy, the future! Surely that’s worth a little inconvenience?"

That’s what you’ve been saying for the last two months Frank, but I ain’t seen squat so far.

Frank tried again to lift Jimmy’s mood, Come on man. You hit near the sun with that last twist. You might get close to the earth this time. Now stop being so pessimistic and go find me something to justify all the money I’m spending.

Jimmy sighed, and returned his attention to the main board which was currently split into three sections, bottom left showed the twister ring to Mars orbiting above the station, the bottom right showed a close up of the tiny, temporal ring mounted on top of the Mars ring. The top half of the screen showed a long view of Eltwo Station from a distant observation camera.

Jimmy sat in the command chair, it was elevated so he could see over the two auxiliary command chairs in front and the whole bridge at a glance. If he ever found anything significant with the temporal twister, all the seats on the bridge would be filled with people handling cameras and image processors and such like, but handling routine twists to Mars only needed three people and the temporal twister didn’t need any more. Which meant the bridge only had four staff most of the time, not counting Frank who occasionally came up to watch a twist.

An icon flashed in Jimmy’s HUD telling him the capacitors were at full charge, Are we ready to twist, people? he shouted in mock enthusiasm, and received three bored affirmations from his team mates, Okay then, cameras at the ready. Final check on traffic?

Lulu, sitting at station three, double-checked to make sure there were no shuttles in the vicinity and sent Jimmy the green light. The main board switched feeds to show a close-up of the temporal ring as Jimmy said, Stand by, three … two … one, and … twist.

Always disappointed at the lack of theatrics, Jimmy watched the little ring punch a hole through mirror space, the other half of the universe where space is contracting instead of expanding. It took the combined manipulation of powerful electric, magnetic and gravitational fields to produce a twist—none of which were visible to the human eye—and even though a temporal twister ruptured the very fabric of space, time and possibility, a twist was always a spectacular disappointment.

Jimmy called Frank again, Twist confirmed Frank. We’re through.

Okay Jimmy, send me the feeds when they come in. One of the Net’s main attractions for Frank was that it let him maintain a virtual presence in several places at once, which suited him just fine with his disorder and gave him plenty to keep his busy mind occupied. As well as monitoring progress on the bridge, he was attending a virtual meeting on earth and catching up on his paperwork.

Jimmy said, Will do. They were testing the temporal ring’s ability to see into the future. They had successfully twisted into the past a few times but now they were trying to get a glimpse of what the earth would look like twenty years into the future. Unfortunately, the earth moved a long way in twenty years and it was a complicated task to work out where the twist would end up. They had made nine attempts so far and the last twist emerged just outside Neptune’s orbit, which was a near miss as far as Frank was concerned, but Jimmy was hoping to get even closer this time.

Okay, send in the cameras, said Jimmy, put the feeds on the main board and let’s see what we got this time. The main board quartered, showing images from the four cameras as they slipped through the cylindrical MEC shield that lined the twist and emerged twenty years into the future.

Jimmy watched the displays, hoping the twist had opened up closer to the sun and, in superstitious hope, he spoke the same pessimistic words he had on the last twist, I expect we’ll see nothing but vacuum again, terminating close to earth is just too much to ask, and it seemed to work because the twist emerged right on the money.

Everyone on the bridge watched expectantly as the main board displayed the feeds coming through from the four cameras on the other side of twist. The first image hit the display and Jimmy did a double take, What the…

The second and third images hit the display and Jimmy still could not believe what he was seeing. The fourth image of the future earth hit the screen and it finally sank home. A visceral fear knifed into Jimmy’s gut and all but petrified him as he shook his head in disbelief. Oh God, no. This has to be a mistake.

_______

2: Alpha Timeline, 1936

Kachulifar, The Waist

Velaan Yu Daaheel squatted in his leafy nest on the tall steel-frame tower. The top of the tower poked out of the vine-leaf canopy and he watched the children playing tag. Living an arboreal existence in the vine forests of Hoomaji, evolution had given the Joon a body-form akin to the great apes of earth, apart from their lizard-like heads and colour-changing skin.

The children leaped from one branch to another with ease and their skins quickly changed to blend in with the variegated leaves. Velaan was pleased to see the young ones so happy but he felt a little sad because he had never had the chance to play when he was young. His farseeing ability was so great that it had nearly cost him his sanity and his only recourse had been to stay in the caves where the volcanic fumes dulled his future sense.

Velaan looked up through the transparent dome overhead, the light of an artificial sun floated outside the dome, making the stars invisible in the infinite darkness of space. He could see a dozen moons though, illuminated by reflected sunlight from inside the dome. There were more than seventy moons orbiting Kachulifar, all of them gathered from the Waist, the gravity-neutral zone lying between Alpha Centaury and Sol.

Kachulifar itself was only a recent addition to the Waist, it used to be a moon of Hoomaji, home world to the Joon, and it was, technically at least, no longer a moon but a small planet in its own right now. Velaan looked at the moons, and felt the usual misgivings. He had already sent Nemesis, largest of the comets, on a trajectory towards earth but in this timeline at least, it was intended only to threaten earth, not destroy it. In the beta timeline, his alternate self had sent the massive comet on high trajectory that would take it behind the sun and give the unsuspecting humans no more than a month’s notice of its arrival.

Velaan was relaxing before beginning phase two of his plan to save not only his own people, but the humans too, paradoxical though that might seem after arranging to all but wipe out the beta timeline humans, but it was necessary to force their development or they would not be ready to meet the challenge that was coming.

Velaan stood and stretched his muscles, lost in thought he’d been sitting in the same position too long. He knuckle-walked over to the edge of the tower and climbed down the steel girders to the ground. His mind skimmed the future, subconsciously choosing the actions that would take him safely towards his destination. The Joon did not plan things like the humans did, sitting down and considering alternative actions. They looked at all the future possibilities and chose the one they wanted before following it back to the present. All they had to do then, was make the necessary choices to get them to the future they wanted. For the Joon, déjà vu is a way of life.

Velaan entered a large cave carved into the rock, which served as the control room, and the walls were covered with bank after bank of computers and display screens. His entrance was expected of course, everyone had foreseen his arrival and the countdown was already well advanced. Velaan had come to give his assent to the launch, but everyone knew exactly the words he would say, Everything is ready. It wasn’t really a question because he already knew the answer.

The project leader said the words he knew he would say, Yes master, all we need is your launch command. The conversation had been foreseen by all present and the words were not really necessary, but they would be said in one form or another in many parallel timelines, even if not in this one, and the outcome would be the same. It was the way things were for the Joon and did not seem strange to them. They found it difficult to see how the humans coped without a future sense and pitied their blind stumbling. The Joon found it strange that humans relied on the memory of past events to guide their actions, it was like walking backwards.

Velaan said the fateful words, You have permission to launch, and the project leader issued the command. Pilot computers aboard most of the moons in orbit powered up the fusion generators and gravity spinners embedded in the ice. Slowly, but surely, the moons inched away from Kachulifar, again becoming the wandering comets they had once been. The comets headed into space where they merged into formation and began the one-and-a-half light year journey towards earth, following in the footsteps of Nemesis. Nemesis would arrive at earth in 2097, by human reckoning, and the newly-formed comet storm would get there fifty years later in 2147.

Velaan freed his mind to make a final check on the trajectory. Following the alpha timeline forward in time, he was well satisfied with the results of Nemesis and the subsequent comet storm in the alpha timeline.

He skimmed sideways through the possibility dimension to check the results in the beta timeline and quickly skipped past the Nemesis impact. Having orchestrated the tragedy, he knew full well what would happen there and he didn’t want reminding of it. He pushed further into the future hoping to be able to finally see what happened when the comet storm arrived. Pushing into the future as hard as he could, Velaan just managed to get his first glimpse of the comet storm arriving at the beta timeline earth.

And wished he hadn’t.

_________

3: Beta Timeline, 2130

Eltwo Station, Earth Orbit

Frank strode through the departure lounge like he owned the place and, as director of the entire Eltwo research facility, he more or less did. Deep in thought, he paid no attention to the respectful greetings from the dozen or so passengers waiting patiently for the shuttle to earth. As the most pre-eminent physicist of his day—or ever, according to Frank—he was the centre of attention wherever he went and, most of the time, he enjoyed it. But not today. What Jimmy had found was far too important for petty vanity. Frank had spent the last forty-eight hours on the bridge—without sleep—verifying the discovery. They had checked dozens of nearby timelines but every twist showed the same terrifying results.

Frank approached the boarding gate and the door shield irised open at a command from his mule to reveal a gangway to the shuttle, but the pilot blocked his way, I’m sorry Director. The ship isn’t ready and I’m afraid we’re not boarding yet. You might be more comfortable in the departure lounge, until then.

Frank looked at the pleasantly filled, navy-blue jump suit, noting the pilot’s pretty, blue eyes and blond hair as he said, I’m sorry to disrupt your routine Jenny, but you have new orders. You’re taking me to earth. Immediately.

Surprised at the change in orders, Jenny Rothwell said, But what about my other passengers?

They can take the next flight, give them a free drink for the inconvenience if you like, but we’re leaving right now and no arguments, and he brushed past her into the shuttle. Jenny knew the director had enough clout to commandeer her ship, but she had her mule check with flight control anyway, just to be sure, and received an alpha-one launch window by way of confirmation.

A few minutes later she said, Leaving Eltwo Station now, sir, as the ship eased through the docking bay shield.

Frank replied, Good, now get me to earth as fast as you can.

Yes sir. Jenny loaded the flight plan or, more accurately, she made sure the ship’s mule had anticipated correctly, the mules continually monitored all human conversations—with appropriate privacy protocols—and networked with each other to smooth things along. By the time an instruction came, it had been at least anticipated and, more often than not, already executed.

Jenny felt quite pleased at the sudden change to her routine. Exciting though it first seemed to be piloting a space ship, shuttling people between Eltwo and earth every day had rather lost its charm after nine months and she had come to realise that she was no more than a glorified bus driver. The high-speed run would make a pleasant change in routine and she might even get a stopover on expenses. As the ship rotated into a new trajectory, Jenny watched the black sphere of the station twist away in the rear view display, a second display showed the stark, black and white relief of the lunar surface below as the ship spiralled into a trans-lunar orbit and rocketed towards the distant horizon. She could use her HUD to give herself a full 3-D immersion as she often did, she enjoyed the sensation of flying over the moon, but the director was in a serious mood and she didn’t want to be distracted.

Her display screens showed six views around the ship and they would give her plenty of warning of nearby ships. Not that it really mattered because her mule would give a proximity warning in plenty of time. I don’t know why I’m even here, my mule could pilot the ship all by herself, she thought as she said to the director, Earthrise coming up if you’re interested, sir.

No thank you, I’ve seen it a hundred times and I must finish my notes. Just get me earthside fast.

Yes sir. Redlining the spinners now. If fast is what you want, then fast is what you get.

Jenny flicked the controls in her HUD and the computer ramped up the fusion reactor to maximum, generating enough electricity to power a small town and the gravity spinners drank every last watt. Paying no mind to the physics involved, Jenny pushed the ship to maximum acceleration. Space twisted and the ship slid down the artificial gravity well, accelerating at ten-gee towards the ice-covered planet below.

After making sure the ship was on course, Jenny stepped back into the main cabin to check on her VIP. He was lying back in his chair, hands flickering across his HUD as he muttered to his mule. She had to admit, he was not particularly attractive, with a small build and long, unkempt white hair surrounding what could at best be described as a lived-in face. She watched him absentmindedly nibbling on some sandwiches, eating in the determined way of regen recipients. A side-effect of the life-extension therapy was a high metabolism.

She hoped he would make a pass at her. Not because of his looks—which didn’t even enter into consideration—but, wealthy and powerful as well as being the world’s foremost physicist, he certainly qualified as good breeding stock and she needed a sperm donor for her first child. Under the re-population programme, she could qualify for a free regen by having ten children. Bell would be sterile of course—another side effect of extension therapy—but like most male regen recipients, his sperm would be on deposit and custom required him to grant her the use of his sperm if they had sex.

Few men refused the accommodation because the state encouraged children and provided generously for them. The father was not required to take any part in the rearing of the child, unless he chose to. Most did take an interest but many maintained no more than a casual oversight – such were the results of the desperate need to repopulate the human race. If not actually coerced, women were strongly encouraged to have as many children as possible and that oh so tempting reward of regeneration therapy ensnared most young females. So, every time Director Bell flew with her, she took good care of him, smiled a lot, and lived in hope.

Three hours later, Jenny’s mule spoke in a carefully sculpted female voice, Excuse me Pilot, we have arrived at midpoint and the ship is about to invert.

Thank you Miriam, please proceed. The gravity spinners shut down and then powered up again in reverse, now decelerating the ship as vigorously as they had accelerated it. Had the passengers been exposed to these titanic forces, the fragile occupants would have been crushed like a hammer-hit fly, but damping spinners kept them at a comfortable earth-normal gravity and the ship flew on, reducing speed until it approached earth at a leisurely Mach five.

Jenny said, Approaching earth atmosphere Director. That’s the best run I’ve ever made, I hope it was fast enough for you.

Looking up from his report Frank said, Yes, thank you Jenny. Kampala please, London Dome.

Aye sir, London Dome it is, closing the windows now.

Engrossed in his work again, Frank didn’t notice as the transparent wall shields rotated to an opaque white to keep out the intense light of re-entry. Sensing the first wisp of atmosphere, the onboard mule extended the outer MEC shield to create an aerodynamic envelope and then notified the pilot. Seeing the computer had initiated the descent correctly Jenny left her cabin at the stern. Crew, galley and toilets were at the rear of the ship while passengers sat up front with big windows and a good view.

Jenny picked up Frank’s empty cup and poured him another tea. Placing it on the table in front of him, she smiled her best smile and said, We’ll be landing in ten minutes sir.

Frank’s chair straightened up as he picked up the cup and blew on it before taking a tentative sip, Thank you, why don’t you join me for a drink, I’ve finished my notes.

Jenny said, Thank you sir, yes I will.

There’s no need for protocol in private Jenny, please call me Frank.

Surprised at the familiarity, Jenny smiled again, Thank you Frank, and walked over to the bar to get a drink. She had grown up with stories about the famous Frank Bell, the gravity control that drove her ship and the shields that protected it, not the least of his many discoveries.

She pulled over one of the free chairs and took a cushion from an overhead locker and sat down, Am I allowed to know what all the rush is about?

Frank made a wry smile, Top secret I’m afraid, sorry.

Nodding in acknowledgement Jenny replied, Fair enough but, just for the record, I know how to keep my mouth shut and I’ve grown bored with the moon. Please remember me if you ever need a personal chauffeur.

Hearing the hidden message, Frank looked at her afresh, she was too tall for him of course, there were few women who weren’t, but he liked what he saw, There’s every possibility of that, my girl, send a request to my secretary. Roxy handles everything for me.

London Dome, Kampala

The ship left a burning arc as it descended across Africa, screaming through the atmosphere towards Uganda and its capital city, Kampala. At Kampala, the ship slowed to a halt and hovered over the large, transparent dome on the outskirts of the city. The ship’s mule waited for a pause in conversation and said, Excuse me Pilot but we have arrived at London Dome. Like all the other domes that had survived the fall, London had been forced to move steadily southwards by the encroaching ice sheets until it reached the equator. Several cities had been willing to accept the dome, but the London authorities had decided on Kampala and it now sat on the outskirts of the large town built from the ruins of the city that had been demolished when the earth fell.

Thank you Miriam. Jenny checked the shuttle status in her HUD, I’m requesting an entry slot now Frank, it should only take fifteen minutes at this time of day. Miriam had actually sent the request as soon as the ship approached earth, but the mule followed its programming and maintained the pretence that Jenny was in control. Every pilot knew the reality, but appearances had to be maintained in front of passengers, especially the important ones. People still preferred to think a human was in charge.

The shields rotated from white back to transparent, revealing the grey-white landscape below. North and south as far as the eye could see, the ground was covered in ice. Twentieth-century scientists had long argued about the possibility of a snowball earth, an earth covered in a blanket of ice, but, for twenty-second century humanity, it had become a cold, hard reality. The fragile belt of green girdling the equator now provided the only home for the last remnants of humanity, a few million people engaged in a desperate struggle for survival in a world turned frigidly hostile.

Looking out at the ice Frank muttered to himself, As if we don’t have enough problems.

Jenny said, Sorry?

Just talking to myself girl. It’s a common fault of the old and they don’t come much older than me. Now, don’t bother with security, I’ve cleared you to go through the dome.

Surprised, Jenny said, Through the dome? Sorry, I mean yes sir, main shield entry it is.

At Jenny’s instruction, the ship’s mule surrendered to London traffic control and the ship descended rapidly to the city’s dome where it slowed to a halt. The shields kissed, merging like two soap bubbles as the ship slipped through to join hundreds of transports weaving through the city’s enclosed atmosphere. Descending the last few hundred metres the ship finally landed on top of the tallest building in the city.

City Hall Frank, eight hours door to door. Was that fast enough for you?

Yes, and thank you, now keep your ship handy, I’ll be needing you again in the morning.

Oh goody, a stopover on expenses, she thought to herself as she said a cheerful, Yes sir.

Still dressed in his Eltwo command-red dungarees, Frank left the shuttle and walked across the roof to the elevator where he descended to level 98 and the offices of Presidential Envoy, Carl Hoegan.

Frank spoke to his mule, Albert, tell Carl I’m here, please. Frank’s current mule had an avatar matrix based on Albert Einstein, the only person Frank considered of the intellectual calibre to handle his affairs.

In a mild German accent, Albert replied through Frank’s earwig, Here I am, the greatest mind the world has ever seen and you treat me like a common secretary.

With a wry smile, Frank replied, The second greatest mind if you please, Albert. Ignoring the rebuff, Albert coordinated with the town hall mule and Carl’s secretary was waiting for Frank as he entered reception. Frank was one of Carl’s oldest friends and she showed him straight in and seated him with a cup of tea as Carl finished his virtual meeting. A tall, well-built man of Dutch extraction, Carl had received his regen just after Frank and had the same half-starved appearance.

Carl said goodbye to the two images in front of his desk and they winked out of existence as he leaned over to shake hands, Hello Frank, your message said you have something vital to tell me and it had better be good, that was an important meeting I had to cut short.

Frank shook his head, Good? No, I’m afraid not. This is about as bad as it gets and I need your help.

Carl sat down again, Don’t you always, what is it this time?

I need to shanghai the president and you know what I’m like with politicians.

Carl shrugged his shoulders, I’m not much better myself these days. I fell out with the president remember, that’s why he shoved me out here in the boondocks.

Presidential Envoy to London is hardly a non-job Carl.

Are you joking? I spend all my time ass-kissing the Brits and trying to stop them winding up the French. You call that a serious job?

Maybe not, but I really need your help on this one Carl.

Carl shook his head, What is it this time?

Without being overly dramatic, it’s about the future of mankind.

Carl was used to Frank’s ways, Okay Frank, I’ll bite. What about the future of mankind?

Frank made a helpless shrug, I’m afraid we don’t have one.

_________

4: Alpha Timeline, 1963

The Waist

Velaan was going home. It’s more than fifty years since I left Hoomaji, he thought and suddenly realised he was using imperial years instead of the seasons of his home world. I’m even starting to think like the humans, it’s a good thing I’m going home. With the improved gravity spinners, it would only take half the time to get back home as it did on the outward journey from Hoomaji to the Waist. At a hundred years old, Velaan had spent half his life away from home and he was looking forward to going back. He settled himself into