Beyond the Shroud of the Universe Read online

  “I don’t think we have a lot of choices,” Calvin said. “We have to take care of Terra first. Don’t get me wrong; I’d love to help the Aesir, and they need all the help they can get. Even with the information we gave them, they are going to be overwhelmed by the combined forces of the Efreet and Jotunn if they don’t get any help. Still, we have to take care of Earth first.”

  “I’m sorry,” Admiral Ackermann said. “Who were the Jotunn again?”

  “The Jotunn are frost giants allied with the Efreet,” Calvin said. “They stand about 16 feet high and weigh over a ton. Not only does their size make them difficult to stop on an individual basis, their ships are similarly oversized. For example, their battle cruisers are about the size of a Mrowry dreadnought.”

  “That is about 1.5 of your miles in length,” Captain Andowwn, the Mrowry attache to the Terran military, replied. A felinoid race, the Mrowry were the Terrans’ closest allies on the galactic stage, with the elven Aesir close behind.

  “That is…quite large,” the German admiral said. “We will need more ships if we are to meet them in combat.”

  “That’s the problem,” Calvin said. “Well half of it, anyway. As much as I’d like to help the Aesir, I don’t think we can. Unless something changed while we were gone, we barely have enough ships to defend our own planets in the face of this new threat; if we send some to aid the Aesir, we are leaving ourselves perilously open to attack.”

  Admiral Wright’s eyes found the only civilian in the room. Not surprisingly, he was tapping on a data pad. “Mr. Brown, could we get a status on ship production?”

  Andrew Brown jumped as his name was called. Brown ran the Fleet Material Management Network, or ‘Replicator Command,’ whose sole purpose was to ensure the Republic of Terra’s replicators ran as efficiently as possible. Products of advanced alien technology, the replicators could take raw materials and turn them into any finished product for which they had a blueprint. The biggest replicators could even produce super dreadnoughts, the largest class of ships.

  Calvin had first met Andrew Brown when he was the plant manager for Boeing’s Airplane Programs Manufacturing Site in Renton, Washington, during the war with China. Brown’s experience managing aircraft production facilities had been instrumental in his success with Replicator Command…although it looked to Calvin like Brown’s hairline was rapidly receding, probably due to the stress involved.

  “Ah, yes,” Mr. Brown replied. He tapped the pad two more times. “Our fleet remains at three ships, the cruiser Vella Gulf and the battleships Terra and Domus. We also have the former Efreeti cargo ship Spark that Lieutenant Commander Hobbs brought back, if you count it. Although we do not have many active ships, our ship building facilities are just beginning to hit their stride.”

  He looked at his pad. “The republic is up to five replicators—”

  “Excuse me,” Calvin interrupted. “Did you say five? You’ve been busy.”

  “Yes, we have,” Brown replied with a smile. He looked around the room and saw questions on several of the faces. “For those of you outside of Replicator Command, replicators range in size from Class 1, which can only make minor items, up to Class 8, which is capable of producing a super dreadnought. Class 1 replicators are found on some of the medium-size and larger ship classes where they are used to replace equipment that breaks. Class 8s are enormous in size, and are relatively static.”

  Brown’s focus returned to Calvin. “In addition to the Class 2 replicator on the moon and the Class 6 we got from the Mrowry, we also towed the Class 8 you captured back to our asteroid belt. I knew that wouldn’t be enough, so we made a Class 5 replicator with the Class 6, and another Class 6 with the Class 8. We sent the Class 5 to Domus so they could begin shipbuilding, and we stationed the new Class 6 in the asteroid belt with the Class 8. It took some time to do all of this, as well as to create the infrastructure required to operate them effectively.”

  He smiled. “I’ll tell you what, though,” Brown said, pausing for effect; “once you get a Class 8 set up, it can generate infrastructure fast. The amount of material it consumes in a day is nothing short of staggering…but you wanted to know about our ship status. All five replicators are now in operation making ships, and you will see a number of new ships very soon.”

  He motioned, and the lights dimmed. “If you look at the screen, I can show you what I mean.” He tapped on his pad, and a picture of a tube in space appeared on the screen. “This is the Class 8 replicator four months ago. For scale, do you see these little points of light?” He indicated a group of about 50 small dots. “Those are Reliable-class shuttles, and each is over 200 feet long. The replicator is over two miles long.”

  There was a collective intake of breath. Even though the officers knew the replicator was big, few realized just how enormous it really was.

  “For the record,” Brown continued, “the dots represent one day’s worth of production.” The crowd gasped again. “Of course, that was one day’s worth before we had all of them to help tow asteroids to the replicator. We actually ran out of raw materials at 8:00 in the morning. If we hadn’t, we could have built several hundred more that day.” Another gasp.

  “Here’s the Class 8 today.” The picture changed, and the crowd had its biggest gasp yet. Emerging from the replicator was a ship that dwarfed it. “The super dreadnought Thermopylae should be ready next week. It is fully three miles long and masses over 10 million tons.”

  “Oh, man,” Calvin said. “I am soooo ready to have that on my side.”

  “In addition to the Thermopylae,” Brown continued, bringing up the next picture, “we also have the battleship Hood within a week of completion at one of the Class 6s and the battleship Yamato finished at the other.” The picture changed to a battleship alongside one of the replicators. “Now that we have everything in place for mass production, we will have the makings of a fleet soon, but even with a Class 8 replicator and two Class 6s, it still takes time.”

  “Time we don’t have,” Calvin said. “And, even when we get them, they won’t be able to make the jump to the Jinn Universe until we get the metal required to make their jump modules…and the time required to refit the modules into the ships. Also, we’re still working on developing effective weapons and tactics for fighting the Efreet, but we haven’t figured them out yet, either. And even with implants, training the crew isn’t going to happen overnight. The bottom line is we simply aren’t ready for a fight with the Efreet.”

  “Speaking of which,” Admiral Wright said, looking at Brown, “Do we have a source for getting the unobtanium, or whatever the hell you need to make the jump modules?”

  “The caliph in the anti-Keppler-22 system has said he would be happy to let us mine it there.”

  “Anti-Keppler-22?” one of the wet navy admirals asked.

  “Anti-Keppler-22 is the system in the Jinn Universe that corresponds to Keppler-22 in our universe,” Brown explained. “The problem with getting the needed material from there is the system isn’t close to here, and the material decays in this universe if it’s untreated. Somewhat explosively. If a ship left anti-Kepler-22 with 100 pounds, there would only be 10 pounds remaining by the time the ship arrived here, if the ship wasn’t destroyed in the attempt. It has to be kept very closely confined and processed immediately, or it is quite dangerous.”

  “How much do we need for a jump module?” Admiral Wright asked.

  “We need a little more than a pound of the metal for each module,” Brown replied, “and the larger a ship is, the more modules it needs to be able to jump; for example, battleships need eight.” He sighed. “I hate to suggest it, but I think the best thing we could do would be to send the Class 2 replicator from the moon to Keppler-22 ‘b,’ or, even better, to jump it into the Jinn Universe and have it make the jump modules there. It could also fashion more of the transportation rods needed to jump people between the universes while it’s there.”

  “What about the indigenous people on Keppler
-22 ‘b’?” Admiral Babineaux asked from down the table. “Will they mind if we set up on their planet?”

  “I doubt it,” Calvin said. “The people there are the equivalent of the Mayan Indians of a millennia ago. They still think of us as gods or demi-gods when we go there. They shouldn’t be an issue. I don’t think there’d be a problem with running the replicator in the Jinn Universe, either. I’m sure the caliph would love to have us there to help defend the system while his nation learns to defend itself.”

  “As I understand it, we can’t stay in the other universe long-term, though, can we?” Admiral Wright asked. “Isn’t there some sort of disease or something you get?”

  “Yes sir,” Calvin replied. “The two universes aren’t completely compatible. Just like some of the metal we need from their universe breaks down here, silver and gold from here break down in their universe. Something also happens to people who stay too long in the opposite universe. Eventually, they sicken and die. We can operate the replicator in the other universe, but any Terrans manning it will have to come back to our universe periodically, or they will die. One of our pilots, Lieutenant Dan Knaus, was trapped in the other universe for a couple of months, but he crossed back and forth several times and doesn’t appear to have any long-term health issues.”

  “Got it,” Admiral Wright said. “Although the situation won’t be remedied within the next couple of months, we’re making progress on our lack of ships and jump modules. But I think you said that was only half the problem?”

  “Yes sir,” Calvin replied. “In addition to not having enough ships capable of taking the fight to the enemy, the other part of the problem is that we don’t know the nature of our enemy; we don’t know what we’re trying to defend against. We don’t know for sure what’s on anti-Earth and anti-Domus although we have anecdotal evidence that the Efreet are across the shroud of the universe from Earth.”

  Admiral Wright raised an eyebrow. “Shroud of the universe?” he asked.

  “Yes sir,” Calvin said. “That’s what the Sila call the boundary between our two universes. They think of it as a veil that can be pierced, and, to answer your earlier question on what we ought to do, I think we need to pierce it here on Earth and find out what the hell’s on the other side.”

  “Wouldn’t it be better not to antagonize them?” Admiral Babineaux asked. “Perhaps they don’t know we exist. Shouldn’t we build up our strength first and then cross over in force?”

  “No sir, I don’t think so,” Calvin replied. “Captain Nightsong, one of the Aesir, was here several hundred years ago, and he said there unequivocally are Efreet on anti-Earth. Even worse, they already know we exist too, because some of them have crossed over in the past. If anti-Earth is really the Efreeti capital, as we’ve been told, then it’s better if we find out first, before they find out about us. I’d rather negotiate with our ships holding their orbitals than vice versa.”

  “They may know we exist,” Admiral Babineaux said, “but it is unlikely they know we are the same people who destroyed their ship. They probably don’t even know about the attack. How could they? Wouldn’t the Efreet have to use our stargate to get to their capital to tell them?”

  “We have been told the Efreet don’t have faster-than-light drives, but we don’t know that for sure,” Calvin replied. “Are you willing to bet the future of the Earth on that, sir? I’m not.” He turned to Admiral Wright. “Honestly sir, I think we need to mount a small operation across the boundary to find out what we’re dealing with, not only here, but on Domus, too. That is the only way we’re going to be able to prepare for them.”

  “I take it you are volunteering to lead this mission?” Admiral Wright asked.

  “Yes sir,” Calvin said. “My platoon has the most experience with cross-boundary operations. The first few times you go beyond the shroud, you are violently sick when you get there. I wouldn’t want to take a bunch of people who had never been to the Jinn Universe before and have them throwing up while we’re taking enemy fire. My troops have been there, and we are acclimated to the jump. We can do this, sir. And then, once we determine the nature of the threat, we need to do the same on Domus.” He paused, then added, “It’s the only way to be sure.”

  Bachelor Officers Quarters, NAS Oceana, Virginia Beach, VA, September 30, 2021

  “Did you get authorization for us to go?” Captain Paul ‘Night’ Train asked. The executive officer (XO) for the special forces platoon Calvin commanded, he had arrived at Calvin’s room with a six-pack of beer shortly after Calvin returned from Nigeria. He twisted the top off one and toasted, “Cheers!”

  “Cheers,” Calvin returned. “Yeah, the admirals had to discuss it for about three hours to come to an agreement, but they finally bought off on it.” The XO frowned, and Calvin grinned. “Hey, the Terran Security Council discussed it for two whole days, and they never actually came to a conclusion. Only having to discuss it for three hours was a huge win!”

  “Still, it was obviously the right thing to do,” Night said. Due to a combat wound sustained earlier in his career, his voice was gruff at the best of times; it got worse when he had to deal with stupidity. Or politicians, who were usually the ones committing the stupidity. “How could they not see that?”

  “I don’t know,” Calvin replied. “Some of them were more worried about letting the Efreet know we exist.”

  Night snorted, spraying some of his beer. “Really?” he asked. “According to Captain Nightsong, they’ve known about us for hundreds of years. They know we’re here. It’s time for us to find out more about them.”

  “No kidding,” Calvin said. “Still, they came to the right conclusion in the end and authorized us to go.”

  “So what’s the plan?”

  “Well, I’d like to go as soon as possible, before they change their minds,” Calvin said. “We will go across with Captain Nightsong. Apparently, he knows an out-of-the-way place we can cross over and not be detected. The only holdup is manning and arming the troops.”

  “The manning is all set,” Night replied. “The platoon is over at Dam Neck where they have been training with the SEALs. I spent most of the day with them and can tell you even the newbies are working out pretty well.”

  “Good,” Calvin said. “The only problem we’re going to have is that some of the new folks haven’t made a cross-universe transit before. We’ll have to send over our experienced people first to cover them while they…adjust.”

  “Yeah, I remember how I felt on my first jump,” Night said.

  “Since it sounds like the platoon is ready,” Calvin said, “we’ll use tomorrow to make final preparations, and we’ll go the day after that.”

  “Sounds good, sir,” Night said. He stood up and walked to the door. “In that case, I’m going to turn in.”

  “G’night,” Calvin said. He started to shut the door, but then he remembered something. “Hey, Night…um…when we came down, do you remember me bringing down my Progenitor’s Rod?” The rod had been given to him by an ancient civilization, along with a quest. “I swear I had it in my hand when I walked off the shuttle, but now I can’t find it in my quarters.”

  “I think so, sir,” Night said. He thought for a second. “Yeah. You definitely had something golden when you walked across the tarmac. I was walking behind you, and the sunlight kept flashing off it into my eyes.”

  “Damn,” Calvin said. “For the life of me, I have no idea where it went. I thought I put it in the closet here, but now I can’t find it.”

  “Maybe I was wrong, and it’s still on the ship,” Night said. “I’ll help you look when we get back. Sure would suck to lose it. It’s not like you can go pick one up at the corner market.”

  Chapter Three

  Cockpit, Shuttle 02, Enroute to Fredensborg, Denmark, October 2, 2021

  “Hey, sir,” Shuttle 02’s pilot, Lieutenant Kenyon ‘Bucket’ Salo, said, “Wouldn’t it be easier to just replicate a bunch of jump modules, equip all of our ships with them an
d then jump in there and kick the ever-lovin’ shit out of the damn salamanders?”

  “Perhaps,” Calvin said.

  “Then why the hell aren’t we doing that?” Bucket asked.

  “Because we don’t have any idea what’s there,” Calvin replied. “We don’t know what types of ships or what ground forces they have, and Fleet Command wants us to jump across and find out…as quietly as possible. If we jump a ship over, they’re definitely going to see us coming.”

  “So?” the Weapon Systems Officer (WSO), Lieutenant Neil ‘Trouble’ Watson, asked. “If we jump in there and hold the orbitals, what are they going to do to us? I’m sure they’ll get the message when we drop a few rocks on their heads.”

  “What if their reply to our message is to jump into our universe with a few nukes and set them off in our cities?” Calvin asked.

  “Can they do that?” Bucket asked.

  “We don’t know,” Calvin replied, “and that’s why we’re going. We don’t know anything about the forces there, either on the ground or in space. Wouldn’t it be better to know we can win before we jump in there with all of our forces, rather than jumping in blind and finding ourselves vastly outnumbered?”

  “Yeah, I guess it would,” Bucket said.

  “That’s our mission today,” Calvin said. “We’re going to jump over and get the lay of the land. Once we’ve done that, and once we’ve determined the Efreet don’t have the capability to nuke the Earth, then we’ll replicate a bunch of jump modules, equip all of our ships with them and jump in there and kick the ever-lovin’ shit out of the salamanders.”