Judas Unchained

Three new explosions blossomed, almost u

More supplies and apparatus came through the interstellar wormhole from its home system. It resumed its preparations for the next stage of its expansion into the human Commonwealth.

***

Barry and Sandy were so excited they barely ate a thing at breakfast, not even the scrambled eggs with crusted cheesefish that the chefbot had produced. Panda picked up on their mood and barked happily, wagging her tail as she went around the table, pleading for scraps.

“Can you take us up to the starships, Dad?” Barry asked as Liz put his plate in front of him. Sandy gasped, and paid very close attention.

“Oh, sorry, son, not today. The orbital platforms aren’t open to visitors.”

“I’m not a visitor,” he said indignantly. “You’re my dad, I’d be with you.”

There were times when Barry’s simple, absolute devotion brought a lump to Mark’s throat. “I’ll have another word with the boss,” he promised.

“Maybe we’ll smuggle you up one day.”

“And me!” Sandy insisted.

“Of course.”

Liz gave him an accusing glance across the table. He knew exactly what she was thinking: How are you going to keep that promise?

“Don’t do that,” Liz admonished Barry.

“What?” the boy protested, putting on his hurt i

“I saw you give Panda toast.”

“Aw, Mom, I dropped it, that’s all.”

“It had butter on it,” Sandy said primly. “And you fed it to her.”

“Snitch!”

“Both of you, shush,” Mark said. He tried to stop gri

No, home life was easy. It was the work that devoured all his time, and kept him away from the children. Except today. This was his day off, the first one in a long time. They’d arranged for the children to skip school so they could all spend it together.

“Can we go now?” Barry implored. “Dad, please, we’re all finished.”

Mark stopped reading the article about the political battle to lead the African caucus in the Senate. He glanced over at Liz for permission. She was holding her big teacup in both hands. Most of her French toast was still on her plate. “Okay,” she said.

The kids whooped and raced out of the room.

“Make sure you use your toothgel,” she shouted after them. “And don’t forget your swimsuits.”

Panda barked happily.

Mark and Liz gri

“Yes, I’d like to have sex, too, baby. If we’re not tired after today, that’s a definite.”

They shared a more intimate, playful smile.

Liz wolfed down the last portion of her French toast. “Humm, too much pepper. I’ll have to alter the bot’s recipe.”

He glanced at the broad picture window behind her, checking the weather. Liz always sat with her back to the window, no matter what room of the house they were using. “I hate this landscape,” she’d a

“Looks like a good day,” Mark said cheerfully as the sunlight shone on the rock and sandy regolith outside. “The tarn should be warm enough to swim in.”

“Whatever.”

“Something wrong?”

“No. Yes. This place. It really is driving me crazy, baby.”

He held up the paperscreen. News articles were still flowing down it. “We won’t be here for much longer, one way or another. The navy fleet should be hitting Hell’s Gateway any day now.”

Liz glanced at the open door, and lowered her voice. “And if that’s not enough?”

“It will be.”

“Then why is Sheldon building this fleet?”

“Because he had a healthy paranoia back when all this kicked off. In any case, he’ll probably use the starships even if we beat the Primes back to their homeworld.”

“Say again?”

“The Commonwealth is all humans have; we’re all bunched up in one big group. Wouldn’t it be fantastic to set up another human civilization on the other side of the galaxy? It’d probably be completely different to this one. We know how to avoid our mistakes now, to build something new. You’d have enough volunteers to make it viable; look how many people settle weird places like Far Away and Silvergalde.”

“Uh huh.” She sat back and gave him a calculating stare. “And would that include us?”

Mark’s enthusiasm went into an unpleasant nosedive. “I don’t know. How do you feel about it?”

“I feel very strongly that the children are brought up in the safety and security of the Commonwealth, providing it survives. Once they’re grown up, and responsible enough to make their own choices, they can start thinking if they want to go gallivanting off into the wild.”

“Er, right, Sure. But it appeals to me.”

“I can see that, baby. And I’ll be happy to talk about it later, say, in about fifteen years.”

“Ah. All right, I don’t suppose this will be the only intergalactic colonization attempt. I think we’re shaping up to live in a real golden age. The Prime attack might well be the best thing that ever happened to us; it’s shaken us out of our complacency. Just think of it, fleets flying off into the unknown. I bet we even go trans-galactic one day. That would be the ultimate, wouldn’t it?”

Liz gave him a tolerant smile. “I keep forgetting how young you are.”

“You mean you wouldn’t go?” Mark asked, surprised, and not a little upset.

“I hadn’t thought about it, baby, is the honest answer. But do me a favor, don’t mention this to the kids; their world is turbulent enough as it is right now without introducing wild ideas like this.”

“Like what?” Barry asked. He was standing in the door, his coat trailing from one hand.

“Tell you about it later,” Mark said automatically. He winked. “When your mom’s not about.”

“Don’t you dare,” Liz growled.

Barry giggled happily. “Sure thing, Dad.” He pelted off back into the house. “Hey, Sis, I know something you don’t!”

“What?” Sandy squeaked.

“Not telling you.”

“Pig!”

Liz gri

***

Mark had arranged to borrow a Ford Trailmaster7 from the garage. They all piled in, with Panda in the back, and he headed out of their big housing estate for the perimeter ring road. All the civil construction work had finished now. The town was as large as it was ever going to be, supporting twelve thousand technicians, scientists, and engineers who were busy assembling the starships in their orbital docks, and the crews who would fly them.

A bright sun shone down out of the light purple sky, glinting strongly off the town’s composite buildings. The ground between them was gritty sand scattered with flaking rocks; there wasn’t even a single weed growing anywhere. Nobody had gardens. H-congruous plant life wasn’t permitted here. Hundreds of modified gardenbots were on constant patrol in the town, spraying the sand with biological inhibiters that would prevent any kind of growth. Sewage from every building was simply tanked to Cressat, and from there back to Augusta, as was all the garbage. Nothing was allowed to contaminate the pristine environment.