Collision with Chronos

“I was impressed, however, by how much they could help us,” Heshke added.

Brask gave a smile of wintry sarcasm, and Limnich replied: “Whatever their intentions were, their scheme has come unstuck this time. Surely you’re aware, Citizen Heshke, that we’ll never give up our efforts to hold Earth for True Man. The son doesn’t desert his mother, even to save his own life – and no matter how dire the peril to them both. We’re building up our power to defend our birthright. That defence will be total – desperate, perhaps – but overwhelming. Titan-Colonel Brask here, as it happens, is in charge of the formation of the Titanium Legions of Kronos, named after the ancient god of time, that will enable us – already are enabling us – to strike across the centuries. He can tell you that we’re not beaten yet.”

“But you know the nature of the catastrophe that’s coming!” Heshke exploded. “It’s a natural catastrophe, not due to any living enemy. How are you going to deal with that?”

“We already have a plan,” Brask told him loftily.

“And what’s that? I’m fascinated!” Despite being in the presence of such charismatically high rank, Heshke couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of his voice.

“Our aim is to effect the total annihilation of the enemy’s biosphere. By means of a massive nuclear attack we’ll eradicate all life, so that not a microbe remains. Their time-system is associated with the existence of life: consequently, by removing that time-wave, which will die with the death of alien life, we remove the impediment to our own existence.”

Heshke twisted around to look questioningly at Hueh Su-Mueng. But the Retort City technician merely shrugged. He turned back to Brask.

“If you’re letting off thousands of fusion explosions —”

“Hundreds of thousands,” Brask interrupted tonelessly.

“— if you’re doing that four centuries in the future, what happens when our time reaches that point? Aren’t we going to be headed into all those explosions?”

Brask smiled faintly. “That’s one of the peculiar things about time. By the ‘time’ we get there the effects will have died away – provided we do succeed in cancelling out the enemy time-front. If we don’t, it won’t matter anyway.” Noting Heshke’s incomprehension, he added: “I know it sounds odd, but that’s how time works, apparently.”

Heshke looked again at Hueh, who nodded. “He’s quite right – provided the reversed time-system were to be destroyed.”

“Can you now doubt our determination?” Limnich said in his low, fruity voice. “The coming struggle may be the acme of our glory. Let all who come against us know—” He clenched his fists spasmodically, and Heshke thought he actually saw him, as in fact Limnich had done many times, draw himself back from the edge of madness.

Are we an insane race? Heshke wondered darkly. Perhaps so. Perhaps it’s good that all is lost. And, in those very thoughts, he thought he detected then the emergence of the death-wish that Blare Oblomot had once claimed pervaded Titan mentality.

“Thank you for seeing us, Planetary Leader,” he said humbly.

“Your adventure has been so extraordinary that I could do no less,” Limnich responded with a touch of graciousness. He rang a little gold bell that lay on his desk. “Escort these two back to Bupolbloc,” he ordered to the extra guards who came in.

In the subterranean levels of Bupolbloc, as Heshke and Hueh were being taken to their adjacent cells, the archaeologist suddenly pulled up short. Coming along the corridor, also under escort, was someone who, after a momentary start of false recognition, he realised was a person he had met but once: Blare Oblomot’s brother, Sobrie.

“Oblomot!” he exclaimed.

The other looked at him for a moment, and then smiled bleakly. Their guards made to goad both of them along, but Heshke turned angrily. “I demand to be allowed to talk to this man! I’m not exactly a prisoner, you know!”

“True,” said one of the guards indifferently. “Citizen Heshke is in custodial detention only. And he has the ear of the Planetary Leader.”

The guards eyed one another for a moment, and then one of them pushed open a door. “In here.” And because they didn’t want to split the escort, Hueh Su-Mueng was prodded inside too. The guards stood by the door, eyeing their wards, swinging their batons.

Heshke found it easy to ignore them. After some diffidence he explained how he had seen Blare die, but Sobrie merely nodded dismally: he already knew.

In a rush of words Sobrie told him everything that had happened: his involvement with the Panhumanic League, his part-Amhrak girl friend, their arrest and how they’d been brought here to Bupolbloc in Pradna.

“They’re trying to make a deal with me,” he finished bitterly. “They want to mop up the Panhumanic League once and for all. If I put the finger on enough League members who haven’t so far defected they’ll let Layella live on the Amhrak reservation instead of … putting her down like a dog.”

“Could you do that?”

“I could, but … oh, God. …”