Forge of Time

By Jack Dash

After the titanic struggle to bring about his birth, the Forge of Time grows up on an earth devastated by the fall, an earth ravaged by fire and flood and overrun by ice. The young man must grow up and learn to use his gift, for he is one of the few to have a nascent future sense. He must master his ability in order to defeat an implacable enemy hell-bent on consuming the home worlds of three species. To do so, he must rise from the ruins of earth and bend the fabric of time and destiny to forge himself an empire. He must tame the fierce Rakan, teach the peaceful Joon to fight and stop his fellow humans from squabbling amongst themselves long enough to defeat the destroyer of worlds, an enemy who has no conscience and but one desire: to consume everything that lives.

Forge of Time is the third book in the Edge of Destiny series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jack Dash
• Release date: Dec 20, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301709632

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

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After the titanic struggle to bring about his birth, the Forge of Time grows up on an earth devastated by the fall, an earth ravaged by fire and flood and overrun by ice. The young man must grow up and learn to use his gift, for he is one of the few to have a nascent future sense. He must master his ability in order to defeat an implacable enemy hell-bent on consuming the home worlds of three species. To do so, he must rise from the ruins of earth and bend the fabric of time and destiny to forge himself an empire. He must tame the fierce Rakan, teach the peaceful Joon to fight and stop his fellow humans from squabbling amongst themselves long enough to defeat the destroyer of worlds, an enemy who has no conscience and but one desire: to consume everything that lives.

By Jack Dash

Humour/Travel

Walking Like An Egyptian

Paranormal

Embers of Avarice

Science Fiction

Anvil of Change

Hammer of Fate

Forge of Time

Sword of Life

___________________

FORGE OF TIME

.

The Edge of Destiny

Book Three

.

___________________

..

..

.JACK DASH

Copyright 2012 by Jack Dash

Smashwords Edition III

ISBN: 9781301709632

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be copied or stored without the prior written consent of the author. The author has asserted his moral rights. All characters in this book are fictitious.

Acknowledgements

Grateful thanks go to my proof readers Margaret and Peter. Thanks to NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI) for the images used in the cover art. And finally to the Imperial House of Ethiopia for its majestic lineage.

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Epilogue

.

.

.

For my children

Who taught me far more than I ever taught them

Chapter 1: Alpha Timeline, 2093

Jufor Station

As soon as the rock hunt started, Melanie Bell’s telescope picked up a signal, Hey, listen up everyone. I’ve got something out near Saturn, she said as she checked the preliminary readings again, and it looks big, so get on it. She sent the image to the main board at the front of the bridge and it filled the large display screen with a view of space out towards Alpha Centaury. Saturn took up the right side of the display but a red circle surrounded what looked like a small dim star in the centre of the screen, It wasn’t there yesterday so we definitely have something. When can I get some interferometry, Kumar?

A couple of minutes, I’m still warming up Jufive, replied Kumar. Jufive station was still under construction but the scopes were already live. All the telescopes at Jufor had partners at Jufive because the computers could take the input from each pair of telescopes and use computer generated interferometry to produce a virtual telescope almost the size of Jupiter. For the rock hunt, however, they were only used as separate telescopes, coverage being more important than quality.

Melanie felt the excitement buzz through the bridge, every astronomer dreamed of finding something big and she was no exception. This could be it, she thought, a new moon for Saturn? A comet? A dwarf planet? I get to name it too and, if it’s a significant discovery, it might get me an Imperial Merit. Please let this be the one ... please.

Kumar interrupted her thoughts, Interferometry is coming online now, so re-task your scopes everyone.

Melanie flicked a couple of icons in her HUD and a few seconds later a fresh optical image appeared on the main board. The rock was a dark, greyish black and pitted with white craters, it appeared to be a cigar shaped object but, being end on, it was difficult to tell, What about a spectroscopic analysis, Lulu?

I’m working on it. Even with Jufive, the signals are faint. It’s gonna take a few minutes.

The wait seemed like forever. Kumar tracked the object and he put a second window on the main board showing a graphic of the object’s predicted trajectory. The graphic showed an animation of the solar system with the new object labelled as G9367. The outer limits of the expected trajectory were shown as two green arcs with the area between them—the danger zone—painted in faint red. The red area narrowed as more readings permitted a better prediction.

Melanie held her breath and gripped both arms of her seat as she watched the display. The animation ran and the planets orbited to show where they would be when the G9367 crossed their orbits. Jupiter lay well outside the red zone. So did Mars, but earth fell well within the red zone and Kumar said, Oh golly, we have a definite possibility of a collision with earth here.

The room was silent until Harry shouted out, "Size looks to be about twenty klicks by four, this baby is big."

Lulu added, Initial spectroscopy looks like ice.

Without thinking, Melanie said, That makes the mass about 200 billion tonnes. To say she did the calculations in her head would not be entirely accurate, she heard the numbers and knew the answer. She didn’t have to work it out. Melanie Bell had inherited her father’s brains and, thankfully, her mother’s looks. All the data suddenly came together and crashed into Melanie’s mind like a hammer blow.

Thinking of her wish a moment ago, she whispered to herself, Oh no, dear God no. I never meant this! She looked at Harry in second chair and he looked back, his face white. Almost whispering, Melanie said, Are you thinking what I’m thinking?

Harry nodded, It’s been a cushy job for the last couple of years, but I think that rock of yours has just changed everything.

Melanie nodded agreement but didn’t voice her thoughts, not wanting to make them a reality. Her brain froze up at the implication and she had no idea what to do. She was too young and too green for a command position and she knew it. She was well qualified to work on her project—over qualified if anything—but she struggled with being in charge of an entire station for eight hours a day.

She had command of the graveyard shift and her day had started out the same as any other – not that night and day had much significance in space. Away from the earth’s daily cycle, the clock was just an agreed way to share out the hours.

For her project work, Melanie sat at station twelve. Each station had three displays, but they weren’t really necessary, she only used them for parking data she wasn’t actively using. She dealt with everything else in her HUD, the heads up display projected into her field of vision through bio-film contact lenses by her mule – a portable, artificially intelligent computer and her constant companion.

Half way through the shift, Melanie’s mule chimed to get her attention and then said, It’s time for the switch over, Melanie.

Melanie nodded at her mule’s avatar in her HUD, Thank you Peggy. Melanie left her station and took the command chair in the centre of the room and spoke the much resented words to her team, Okay folks, it’s time to hunt rock.

Groans filled the room with Kumar complaining loudest, as usual. A rail-thin Sikh with his hair tucked inside a yellow turban, Kumar voiced everyone’s feelings, Why do we have to spend so much time looking for comets? We have the best telescopes in the system and we’re doing stuff they could do just as well on the moon.

Come on Kumar, said Melanie, You already know the answer.

Kumar replied in his upper class English accent, Yes, yes, I know. The bloody emperor pays the bloody bills so he calls the bloody shots. But we’ve been looking for three years and the biggest rock we’ve found is smaller than my car.

With a sharp look, Melanie said, Just remember, Kumar, if it wasn’t for imperial sponsorship we’d all be back on earth working for grant money. At least we get half the scope’s time for our own use and rock hunting is payback. So let’s earn our keep and we’ll have less of the bitching, okay?

Melanie could hear Kumar chuntering to himself as he switched programmes but she ignored him. Kumar was a good astronomer but he objected to wasting time, as he saw the comet hunt. Melanie looked at the fourteen empty seats around the bridge, puzzling again over the waste of space.

Commissioned three years ago, Jufor Station was far too big for the job they were doing, most of the station was unused and no one could figure out why. Enclosed by a five-hundred-metre wide, spherical MEC shield, the station had a hundred and sixty floors and the twelve habitation floors had sufficient accommodation for five thousand people. At the moment there were no more than two hundred aboard and Jufor had been called an imperial folly on more than one occasion.

Orbiting Jupiter at the frontier of mankind’s push into space, scientists were desperate to gain access to Jufor and submitted thousands of projects but, despite all the room on the station, only eight projects a year were approved. The European Union, The United States and the Soviet Union each received one allocation each, the empire two and the last three were allocated by merit rather than politics.

Even if you were selected, you only got to run your research programme for half a shift. The other half you had to use your telescopes to hunt for rock. Even so, every vacancy that came up had over two hundred applicants, mostly from professors and senior researchers at the world’s major universities, quite a few came from industry and a few from independent applicants. Much to the annoyance of the universities, the lucky applicants were mostly selected from the independent applications and every successful candidate had to submit to a gruelling inquisition to make sure they weren’t spies or government stooges.

Melanie could hardly believe her luck when they selected her for shift supervisor. She suspected her father had pulled a few strings, but he swore he hadn’t. She was well qualified for the job, but she was only twenty-five when she applied, short on management experience and never really expected to get the job.

Six telescopes orbited alongside the station, each one protected by a MEC shield tuned to be transparent at the scope’s operating frequencies but opaque at all others. The shields blocked out extraneous radiation, meteorites and, in particular, Jupiter’s titanic magnetosphere.

At her orders, each member of the team reconfigured their scope, targeting it along the ecliptic towards Alpha Centauri and began scanning the outer solar system. All imperial telescopes spent half their time searching the skies for rogue comets, some of them scanning high above the ecliptic but mostly, like Jufor, they had orders to search the skies out towards the sun’s nearest neighbour, hunting for the imperial obsession.

For years the emperor had claimed a huge comet would strike the earth before the turn of the century and being one of the most powerful men on the planet and certainly the wealthiest, he had money and influence enough to indulge his fantasy but so far, the emperor’s obsession had produced little in the way of results. But Melanie’s discovery had just changed all that. She turned to Susan in the auxiliary chair, Get Jeb up here right now, and you’d better wake Paul up too. Jeb and Paul ran the other two shifts.

Forgetting all his gripes about wasted time, Kumar said, The latest results show the trajectory will definitely bypass Jupiter and Mars but earth is not so lucky I’m afraid. The probability is now up to 67% and there’s still a wide margin of error in that.

The minutes ticked away in silence as they watched the danger zone narrow every few seconds as more data came in. Then Kumar said, We have enough for an accurate prediction now. The red zone suddenly jumped and almost narrowed to a line, Oh crikey! The probability’s up to 97%.

Melanie felt her stomach tighten, What about the moon?

No good, she’ll be on the other side of the earth. Oh God.

Jeb floated up the entry tube and he could sense that something was wrong as he walked over to stand behind Melanie, What’s up girl?

Tall, black and stocky, Jeb looked nothing like the pretty, blond woman sitting in front of him, but she was the closest thing he had to a daughter and he put his hand on her shoulder affectionately.

Melanie reached up to take the hand as she said, Jeb, I think we just found Nemesis.

Oh Jesus.

I don’t have the experience for this Jeb, you’d better take over.

No one has the experience for this, girl.

You’ve got thirty years more than I have, papa bear, said Melanie, using her pet name for him as she stood up. In the two years she had known him, Jenny had had more affection from the gruff old man than she’d had in her whole life from Frank Bell, her real father.

Sitting in the now vacant command chair, Jeb said, Okay Melanie, okay. He checked the incoming data against the details he had held on file for the last three years and said, That’s close enough for me, girl. Listen up everyone, until we find otherwise, object G9367 is officially designated Nemesis.

The fateful words brought silence to the room and Melanie nudged Lulu, taking second chair, as Jeb’s deep voice rolled on, Okay people, this is what we’re here for, so let’s just relax. Keep your eye on the ball and do your jobs. Earth is gonna want all the data they can get, so let’s make sure we ain’t found wanting, stay calm and work the numbers.

Turning to Melanie he said, I want outside confirmation on this, send alerts to the main earthside scopes.

Melanie gave instructions to her mule as Paul came up the gravity chute. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he looked at the main display and suddenly woke up, Are we sure about this?

Kumar said, Yes, look, he pushed the latest reports from his HUD onto the main board.

Paul saw the numbers and said, We need to contact earth, fast.

Jeb said, I already did that, I expect confirmation in an hour or so.

Paul replied, looking a little uncomfortable, No, I didn’t mean confirmation Jeb. I meant we need to let the emperor know and it’ll take you three hours to get through to the right people, I can do it in five minutes. I know you’re the head of this rig Jeb, but, the truth is, I work directly for the emperor and this discovery is why I’m out here. I’m not taking over, but I can speed things up, get you what you need.

Damn it Paul, we’ve known each other for three years and this is the first I hear of it?

Let’s do the soul searching later. Right now, we need to get things moving.

All right, all right said Jeb, do what you have to do but we’re having a serious talk about this later.

Who have you notified so far?

Only the main observatories.

Rubbing his forehead Paul said, Ah, now that’s a little unfortunate.

Why?

It’s going to cause a panic, said Paul, the procedures say that I should’ve been notified straight away, why didn’t that happen?

Melanie said, a little defensively, I sent you word as soon as I knew what we had.

Jeb added, Contacting the other observatories was my decision. Come on Paul, we need confirmation for something this big, you know that.

Sighing, Paul said, Well, nothing can be done about it now, I suppose. I’d better get through to earth and start the damage limitation.

Recalling who dumped this mess in his lap, Jeb looked over at Melanie and said, Thanks!

Melanie shrugged, Sorry, boss.

_______

Chapter 2: Beta Timeline, 2126

Kelem, Ethiopia

Abeto forked a little hay into the manger below, the harvest had been poor again and the cattle had to go short. Abeto’s breath steamed in the cold air and he felt sorry for the beasts having to spend the night in a freezing barn, but at least they were out of the wind. The cattle needed mucking out and he was not looking forward to it. Not allowed to work outside in the fields, most of the indoor jobs fell to him and, for the most part, he did them willingly. But he hated mucking out.

He fed the rabbits, noticing one of the bucks was big enough for the pot. I’ll tell mama after dinner. Climbing down from the loft, he fed the goats and pigs from the leftover bins brought home by his grandfather and finally he fed the rats. Rats bred quickly, ate anything and provided a good source of protein and soft leather. Squeamishness played no part in a famine diet – if it had its back to the sky, it was food.

Chores done, Abeto pulled up his hood and fastened the shoufa across his face to keep out the ash. Hastily fastening the barn door behind him, he braved the cruel wind and ran across the yard to the porch. Quickly, he hung up his coat and shucked off his muck covered boots before going into the house.

Shut the door boy, keep the heat in. His father shouted, a tall, gangly man with copper hued skin, he was a mix of native Ethiopian and European stock but he looked old for his years. The shouting brought on a coughing fit, silicosis was a common complaint among those who worked outside in the ash-laden air.

Abeto slammed the door shut and headed for the table but his mother scolded him, Abeto, you wash up before you sit down. He had a quick wash in the sink before sitting down to a bowl of boiled barley with a few vegetables and a little goat meat. It had been the same meal for the last two nights, but it was hot and filling, and he was hungry. He was always hungry.

The stone-built house consisted of one all-purpose living area with two small bedrooms off the back wall and Abeto’s cot in the loft. One corner held the cooking area with sink, dining table and a coal burning stove. In the opposite corner, two sofas and a coffee table formed a seating area around a log fire and a large screen next to the data hub.

Nothing in the house was new. Everything was scavenge, supplied by Abeto’s grandfather who traded it from migrants fleeing the ice or from city-miners who raided the abandoned towns the migrants left behind. Apart from what came down from the moon, mass-produced consumer goods were a thing of the past and recycling had come into its own with a vengeance. Nothing was discarded, no matter how damaged. If it didn’t rot, it was stored, just in case it came in handy to fix something else. Cupboards and shelving lined every wall and they were all stuffed to overflowing with scavenge.

The door opened and Abeto’s grandfather came in with another blast of cold air. A heavyset man of Scot’s decent, he had greying black hair, emerald green eyes and a strong face. Abeto had inherited his grandfather’s looks, with a touch of his father’s copper hued skin that gave him a rather swarthy look and, at fourteen, he was already taller than the Scotsman and he was fast catching up on his father.

Grandfather sat down with a gruff apology for being late and put a bag of apples on the table, I took these in payment for a wee job today, Nadir.

Thank you papa, replied Abeto’s mother with a smile, fruit was a rare treat, Who on earth did you get them from?

A trader from the south, and I managed to get these for you Negasi, he put a small bottle of pills on the table, they might ease your lungs a bit.

Abeto’s father read the label and said, My God, they must have cost a fortune, where did you get the money Jock? They spoke a polyglot of English, Amharic and Arabic.

Same fellow, his transmission was shot and he needed it fixed in a hurry. I just hope the pills are genuine or I’ve done a full day’s work for a few scabby apples, his accent had diluted over the years, but Jock still had a Scottish twang in his speech.

After dinner, Abeto did his homework on the computer and ate his apple with relish while mother cleared the dishes. Jock tinkered with an old mechanical clock, he had three more on the shelves and was hoping one of them had the right parts to fix it. Batteries were not easy to come by, so mechanical clocks were worth good money.

After finishing his homework, Abeto downloaded the news-clips from the satellite link and queued them up, weather clip first, The weather will continue cold and blustery, a map covered in areas of blue and white showed they could expect a low of -7oC during the night and a high of 4oC, Atmospheric dust is expected to be high tomorrow and outdoor activity should be kept to a minimum. Face masks are advised.

The face masks provided for dome dwellers didn’t last long enough to make them worthwhile for those who worked outside full time and they had to make do with a scarf or shoufa, to keep out the ash.

After the weather, the next news clip showed the president inspecting the new hydroponics plant at Washington Dome and a cast from the moon showing the opening of a new crater-dome. Another dome on the moon for rich, white folks, Abeto’s father said bitterly, why can’t they build one here, where it’s needed?

Being white himself, Jock said a little defensively, They’re not just for white folk Negasi, they take anyone and you know it.

Negasi cleared his lungs before speaking, I don’t see them recruiting around here.

You wouldn’t leave your farm, even if they did.

Abeto’s mother jumped in, Now don’t start again papa. We’re not leaving and that’s final. Leave it be.

Jock growled but said no more and they watched in stony silence. When the news was over, Abeto said, I need to watch a couple of documentaries for my history project, is that okay papa?

His father nodded, If it’s for school I suppose it’ll have to be, but I want to watch the game at nine so you’ve got until then.

Abeto accessed the hub again and downloaded the programmes he wanted from the Net as his grandfather went back to his clock and mother took out her knitting. His father worked a leather harness, repairing the frayed stitching, Does anyone else want to listen or shall I put my plugs in?

His father said, There’s been nothing good on the TV since the fall, nothing I want to be reminded of anyway, so you put your plugs in boy.

Abeto took out his earwigs and pushed them into his ears before he ran the first programme, a compilation of the news broadcasts over the last thirty years, mostly by Louise Joplin. She had attained cult status over the years and many people credited her with keeping the people’s morale up during the difficult years after the fall. She pulled no punches and told the news straight, no matter what the government wanted. No matter how bad things were, every broadcast she made, she always managed to find something good to report, some glimmer of hope, no matter how small.

Abeto ran the documentary and it started with the fall itself, it showed the devastation caused by the comet Nemesis and the subsequent toppling of the earth. It followed on with the Long Night, the twenty years of darkness caused by ash pumped into the air by constant volcanic activity. Abeto made notes and copied clips into his project file for his presentation.

Despite the odds, three million people survived the fall, but that was nowhere near enough to sustain a technological society and repopulation became a top priority. Regeneration therapy was offered as a reward to any woman who had ten children and they were encouraged to start early.

Men and those women who didn’t want so many children, had to earn their regen by having a critical skill or by exceptional public service. Unless you were rich, of course, and could afford to pay for your regen privately.

Louise Joplin was one of the first to be offered a regen for her services, but she publicly refused it, saying she would do her bit and earn it the same as any other woman. She gave birth to ten children in twelve years, two of them on live TV, and she became the role model for most of the female population.

A clip summarised the advent of the new ice age. The lack of sunlight had frozen the planet and, every year, the glaciers forced their way closer to the equator until only the Green Belt was left, a strip of land no more than three thousand kilometres at its widest point. The people of the world were forced to migrate to the Belt and the city domes had followed them.

There was a clip on geo-political changes. There were no countries as such, anymore. The ice had buried most of them and, according to the politicians at least, the world regarded itself as one nation now. Not that there was much choice about it, American survivors outnumbered the rest of the world by more than two to one and President Goodman had magnanimously assumed the leadership of humanity. No one really argued, the only hope of a decent life was inside a dome and the Americans maintained absolute control of the technology.

Under the state of emergency, Goodman stayed president for ten years and saw the consolidation of the human race under one leadership and then she instigated mandatory inquisitions—the inquisitors being almost perfect lie detectors—to keep all public servants and politicians honest. After that, she repealed the state of emergency and called elections. For her services to humanity, she was unanimously voted a regen but, for some reason, she turned it down and retired. She died quietly a few months later, some said she took her own life but there was no real evidence of that.

When Abeto had finished, his mother said, Time for bed young man, you need to be at your best tomorrow, and she shooed him up the ladder to his cot. Thinking about the examination he had at school the following day, it took Abeto a while to get to sleep but he drifted off, eventually.

_______

Chapter 3: Gamma Timeline, 2130

The Waist

Velaan Yu Daaheel returned to the Waist, it had been almost a century since his last visit. Long enough to have two children, a blessing he knew his alternate self in the beta timeline had not enjoyed. Meneleena, his eldest child, wanted a look at the humans so Velaan brought him to Kachulifar at the Waist. His future sense was almost as strong as Velaan’s and he would have no problem reaching the earth.

Kachulifar had changed during his absence, the domes had grown in number and size as more children had been born and the domes now overlapped so that Hoomaji’s erstwhile moon had a planet sized shield. The forests had spread until they merged into one great forest that covered the planet. It was wonderful to see and his son was delighted.

After the welcomes and the private talks were done, Velaan took his son with him and climbed the steel tower to the platform at the top of the canopy, his ape like body and long arms pulling him up slowly and without strain. A fresh nest of leaves had been prepared at the top and they settled in and watched the children playing in the canopy for a while.

Velaan quieted his mind and sang the ritual song of farseeing with his son, "Floating on the rolling breath, I sing the holy song. I cast my mind to what may be, flying rivers of choice and destiny…"

His mind calmed and he withdrew into the centre of his being and surrendered his mind to the All. His consciousness withdrew to a single point, he seemed to stand still in time and then the point flipped over and became everything that was, is, or ever will be.

He touched the totality of everything and it was too infinitely big for him to bring anything but a pale shadow of it back to his limited, everyday mind, but he came back far enough to keep the freedom and still be himself. He crooned directions to his son and pushed his consciousness out into the darkness of space, towards a bright star called Sol and a planet earth, home to the humans.

Earth

They arrived at earth, a troubled planet in every timeline, the humans seemed to be a magnet for disaster. He took his son into the past, to show him a little of human history. Velaan showed him the super power confrontation in 1962 and he found it difficult to explain why humans were so aggressive, I don’t understand father. Why do they fight, it’s so foolish, can’t they see that both sides will lose?

No, they can’t. They cannot see the future and so they can convince themselves it’s possible to win.

Meneleena said, Why don’t we tell them.

Velaan smiled at the innocence of youth, Firstly, they would not believe us and secondly, they would probably make war on us too. Now watch and see what happens.

Meneleena saw the peace efforts fail and President Kennedy launch a pre-emptive attack on Cuba, not realising the Soviets had already completed the installation of nuclear missiles on the island, We could have told him what would happen and then he wouldn’t have done it.

As I have said, he would not have believed us, now watch further. Missiles were launched from Cuba and the Americans retaliated with a full nuclear strike against the Soviet Union, who reciprocated in kind. Both countries were devastated and Velaan skimmed the worst of the deaths in the nuclear winter that followed, We can stop now if you wish.

No father, I want to see it all.

Billions died in the nuclear exchange and the war continued after the holocaust. Even though it was portrayed in heroic terms afterwards, it was a long and protracted war of attrition. Finally, the Americans were victorious but at such cost, it could hardly be called a win.

Europe was devastated in the conflagration, as was China and India. Neither side could afford to leave any significant threat intact. When it was all over and peace finally declared, America called a United Nations assembly and proposed a world government to deal with the aftermath, with itself in effective control. In the grip of nuclear winter, no nation had the strength to oppose the Americans and the world united in a common cause.

Meneleena saw the devastation, This is madness. Why do the humans kill each other like this?

Velaan had no answer and they watched as mass migrations ensued and, despite all efforts to maintain order, chaos reigned over most of the planet for the next three decades. With American oversight, the Peace Corps did its job well, and the world became used to living without the ever present threat of war. After a few failed insurrections, the imposed world government eventually became a living reality and the earth slowly recovered.

Velaan pointed out that the aftermath of the war spawned innovation on a scale never seen before. Velaan showed his son that the humans diverted military research into peaceful projects, medical research to deal with the effects of radiation and agriculture to keep everyone fed but, most significantly, the scientists were given free reign without the need for secrecy.

Skipping to the twenty first century, Velaan showed Frank Bell working on gravity control and MEC shielding, If not for the war, these inventions would not have been made and none of what I have done to save our people would have been possible.

So some good has come out of it.

Yes, the humans always seem to find disaster one way or another, but at least something good has come out of this conflict. Come now, see what I did to alter this timeline.

Meneleena watched as the human astronomers discovered a massive comet storm heading directly for earth, These are your comets father?

Yes, I collected them at the Waist and sent them to earth to bring about the crisis that you see.

You are well named the Anvil of Change, father.

Velaan blew air through all his flutes, the Joon equivalent of a sigh, and his voice acquired a mournful tone, I know.

_______

Chapter 4: Alpha Timeline, 2093

The Imperial Palace

The emperor enjoyed a rare moment of solitude. He nursed a glass of his favourite brandy and luxuriated in the warmth of a log fire. One of the logs hissed and spat a spark onto the carpet, adding another burn. A gentle cough in the emperor’s earpiece told him his mule needed to speak to him. He knew it must be urgent, otherwise the mule would not have disturbed him in his private study, Yes, what is it, Hobson? He said irritably.

I’m sorry to disturb you sir, I know how you treasure these moments.

Thank you, now tell me the bad news.

Very good sir, you have received a communiqué from a Professor Paul Johnson at Jufor Station, the message was rather brief, sir. All he said was Nemesis.

The emperor threw back his head and exhaled loudly. After a moment’s pause, he said, Now comes the moment of truth. Very well, assemble my Privy Council.

Adding concern to his voice, Hobson said, Very good sir, I shall have them assemble in the council chamber in one hour. Enjoy your moment of solitude while you can sir, I don’t think you’ll be getting any more for a while.

Thank you, Hobson.

You are most welcome, sir.

The news channels waited in a frenzy of speculation. As the minutes counted down to the broadcast, fifty select journalists sat in the richly decorated briefing room waiting in eager anticipation. Summoned at two hours’ notice and told the emperor himself would speak, they could smell a good story.

A fanfare boomed out as the twelve-foot doors opened and everyone stood as the imperial party entered. The honour guard marched in first, twelve, two-meter tall Juntu warriors, each as black as midnight and thin as a rake, wearing a lion skin cape with the black mane forming a ruff around the neck. Another two warriors entered in stately progression, similar in dress to the warriors but instead of a ceremonial spear and shield, one bore the imperial crook and the other bore the imperial flail. Next came the master of ceremonies swaggering his long staff of office as he walked ahead of the emperor.

The emperor himself wore knee length black cavalry boots with tight, yellow jodhpurs. A gold-coloured waistcoat covered a pale yellow shirt and he wore a golden disc bearing a roaring lion on a thick golden chain around his neck. His red and gold cloak, inlaid with sunflowers, swayed from side to side as he walked into the room. The Juntu warriors took their place around the base of the steps and his symbol bearers stood either side