A Leap Across the Abyss

“Yes, they could,” I agreed with the Admiral, “Perhaps even the ships of their masters will arrive, though I highly doubt that. But we’re not gonna sit back, either. I need to know what happened, and I’m gonna find that out. Make contact with Rear Admiral Yoon Gao. I need him and Colonel Mbia here as soon as possible with their best men. Mbia had already landed on Groombridge-2 once, and it’s time to repeat the feat. And let them take the captive toads, I’ve business with them. And I’ll also need the little recon ship found in the hangar of the captured cruiser.”

* * *

This whole thing with the Federation and lizards’ attack on Groombridge was caused by extreme uncertainty. We didn’t know how strong the local toads were, hence, we could not claim with certainty that a frontal attack on their planets by the combined forces of the Federation, the lizards and the Imperial squadron would give us an unconditional victory, so we wanted to provoke the toads to move first. The Empire had sent powerful ships to help us, but there weren’t that many, because they just couldn’t take away more of them from the front that was already starting to come apart at the seams.

A lot has changed on the other side of the portal in the more than six years I’ve been gone, and these changes were not good. To begin with, political control changed hands in the Empire. Emperor Yort, who was at a very respectable age when I was Brigadier General Dean, died three years after my transfer here, and the election of a new emperor was never possible. The rival elite clans were never able to find a strong but at the same time a compromise figure that would satisfy everyone. In the midst of the difficult war, the task has proved doubly difficult. It was the Regency Council that ruled the Empire, and Chief of Staff Marshal Klink served as Commander-in-Chief, but his position was precarious, and it affected the quality of the administration of the Empire. As a result, things were getting worse in that state, which was still big and powerful, but was constantly shrinking.

I was thinking about what happened three months ago, when, right after the first contact with the Empire, the question of negotiations came up, and I was trying to figure out where I’d made a mistake. The Empire met our embassy very well, and at that moment it seemed to me that all our problems were close to being resolved, but as time passed, I felt more and more that they didn’t care for us, although it seemed that contact with the Federation offered them virtually unlimited opportunities…

I decided to go to negotiations with the Empire on battleship Dragon’s Tail. It was a very impressive ship, and very unusual by human standards. Besides, I felt it necessary to show respect to our allies on this side of the portal, who were the most active in the construction of this ship, and to invite them with me. When Tobolsky read the list of persons I included in our embassy, he shook his head in surprise and looked up at me.

“Mr Lavroff, don’t you think that’s too much? I can understand why you included Governor-General Lit-ta in your delegation, although I would have thought ten times whether we should involve the lizards in the initial stage of negotiations with the Empire, but why do you want to drag a captive quarg with you?”

“I believe, Mr President, that the former commander of the Kappa Ceti defense system, and at the same time the first quarg with the correctly removed mental block, can tell our potential allies a lot of interesting things. They’re fighting a war with the toads out there, which we happen to have as well. The Empire certainly does not expect such a turn of events, and Mr Tsché knows a lot about our local «frogs». Besides, he’s almost no longer a prisoner. Almost immediately after the removal of the block, he applied for the Earth Federation citizenship. Given the extraordinary nature of the case, no one has taken a decision on the matter without consulting you. So if you agree, Mr Tsché will be sent to negotiate as a Federation citizen.”

A deep crease cut through Tobolsky’s forehead. There was something about the idea that he clearly didn’t like.

“The granting of our citizenship to a quarg will set a precedent whose consequences we will disentangle for many years. I’m not sure it’s right, but rather it’s the other way around,” answered Tobolsky with a doubt in his voice, “I would suggest another option. How many quargs have had their blocks removed?”

“Several tens of thousands.”

“Then it would be more appropriate to establish a new independent quarg state under our protectorate in the Kruger 60 system. Let your Mr Tsché be its citizen and perhaps its leader. Well, let him go to the talks as an Allied race representative, if you think that’s helpful.”

Tobolsky was a far more sophisticated politician than I was, and that was his idea, which he came up with on the fly, which I thought was a good one. Not only did it remove from the agenda a host of questions that might have arisen about the bizarre status of the quargs as citizens of the Federation, it should have been much more comfortable for the quargs themselves. So I just had one more question for Tobolsky.

“Mr President, may I inform Governor-General Lit-ta of the contact with the Empire and of her invitation to the talks, or is it better that this information passes through diplomatic channels?”

The question got Tobolsky thinking.

“Igor Yakovlevich,” said he a few seconds later, “The information will go through the official channels, but you will inform the lizards as my designated head of delegation. You can’t directly address the Senior because it doesn’t fit your status, so Governor General Lit-ta would be the perfect contact.”

* * *

Lit-ta listened to me without interruption.

“Igor,” said she after a little pause, “thank you for informing us immediately of your contact with the Empire. I appreciate it, and I’m sure the Senior will appreciate it, too. I once invited you into my system, and you promised to come as soon as you could. It seems to me that now is the time to do that, especially since this visit is not too much of a burden for you, because you have set up a transport ring here.”

I didn’t think for long. Why not? Lit-ta obviously wanted to discuss something in person, and she promised to show me something interesting…

“I’m ready. When will you get a chance to spend time with me?”

“Fly in. I’ll always have time for you.”

“Then wait for me tomorrow. We shouldn’t delay our visit to the Empire.”

* * *

Lit-ta didn’t invite me to one of the giant quasi-living cities raised by the lizards on the surface and partly beneath the surface of the planets of Iota Persei. Apparently, she thought the lizards’ habitat might not be entirely comfortable for humans. We met on board Dragon’s Tail. This battleship was originally built for a crew of humans and the lizards, and was therefore well equipped to provide comfort for both races.

Lit-ta has been aboard my flagship several times and felt quite free on the ship.

“We have some very serious matters to discuss, Admiral,” after completion of the formalities the lizard moved on to business, “I invited you into my system for a reason – we can talk in peace here. I’d like to show you something, but to do that, we have to fly into the outer belt of asteroids.”

“That’s great, we’ll have a few hours for a thoughtful conversation.”

We set up in the study of my Admiral’s cabin, where there was a comfortable chair for me and some very specific furniture for my guest, as soon as a tail, especially as massive as the lizard’s tail, had certain requirements for furniture.

“Aren’t you afraid, Admiral?” asked Lit-ta suddenly.

I knew exactly what she was asking about, but I chose to ask her a follow-up question, “Are you afraid to let them in here?”

“I was with you in the Kappa Ceti system, and I remember perfectly well what protective fields and plasma cannons are. Your ships were somehow able to resist them, though at great cost, and our dreadnoughts were powerless until your guns knocked down the power shields of the enemy cruisers. And there were only two smaller ships facing us. Now imagine letting an entire fleet in here, armed much better than the local toads. They’ll be able to dictate any terms they want to us. Admiral, are you aware of that? The Empire has transport rings, too, and once we let them in, they won’t need us anymore.”

“They’re humans, like us, Lit-ta, and I’m sure we can make a deal. They’re at war there, and they’re not very successful either, which means we’ll need each other.”

“You’re humans, and it gives you a chance to come to an agreement, I won’t argue, although there may be options. But why would the Empire want us, Admiral? Now, in our alliance with the Federation, there is a certain balance of power, for which, by the way, we thank you again – hybrid ships with mixed crews have indeed become an excellent unifying factor. But now the balance would be lost. Humans will become much stronger than us, and lizards will cease to be full partners in the new alliance.”

“I believe it will be different, Lit-ta. Our interests don’t conflict with yours. The galaxy is huge and there’s enough room for us and you. Your biotechnologies far outpaced not only the Federation science, but the Empire science as well, so you’ll have something to offer the new allies.”

“What makes you think their bioengineering is inferior to ours?”

“Because they developed along our path, Lit-ta. Let me tell you a little secret. Our analysts believe that if humanity’s progress continues on the same path as it does now, we can reach your level of working with living matter no sooner than 300 years from now, if not more. The thing is, we’re used to solving all problems with the help of machinery, and that’s how it’s going to be. Bioengineering is evolving as a purely complementary activity, so it is not progressing so fast. In the Empire, the situation is exactly the same. Your technology will be a revelation to them, though perhaps less so than to us.

Think of the same hybrid battleships. If you hadn’t grown armor and engines in space, we would have been working on building each ship for at least six months. And Dragon’s Tail was built in three months, and this is far from the limit. The last battleship of this type was commissioned 48 days after it was laid.

And the reconnaisance?! Can you imagine the effect of combining Imperial camouflage fields with your engines? Think of Yoon Gao hybrid recon ship. It seemed like a real breakthrough compared to everything we and you had before we met, and our electronic warfare systems are nothing compared to what the Empire has. I’m counting on your technologies as one of the great trumps in the coming negotiations, Lit-ta. Now we have a unique situation where we all need each other. Perhaps, in time, even the quargs will find a place in the new alliance, though it will be more difficult with them, but it is not a question of today.”

The lizard began to think, looking at me with an unblinking gaze.

“You’re going to do us a favor again, Igor,” finally said she. “You informed me immediately of your contact with the Empire, and now you’re offering us a real way to integrate ourselves into a new alliance that will allow us to play a prominent role in it. Why are you doing this, man?”

“Because I see good for us all, Lit-ta. Lizards are very convenient allies for humans, just as humans are for lizards, and I want this situation to last as long as possible. Do you remember a world without war, Governor General?”

“I do,” responded Lit-ta after a little pause, but she didn’t go into details.

“And I don’t. But I’ve been told a lot about how it was, and you know, I hope to see this for myself as soon as possible. My children should not lead battleships and aircraft carriers into battle. I want a completely different fate for them, and for that to become a reality, I believe it is right to lay the foundations of mutual benefit in relations between our races.”

“I’ll tell the Senior what you’ve said, and I don’t think there will be any delay or difficulty with our decision to negotiate with the Empire. As I understand it, we’re almost there on our journey,” Lit-ta’s changed her subject, “Have you forgotten what a space suit looks like, Admiral? We’re going to have to walk on the surface of one of the asteroids.”

* * *

The asteroid looked, frankly, peculiar on the projection screen. In fact, it wasn’t really an asteroid, but rather an asteroid stump. Once upon a time, this massive rock block had almost a spherical shape and a diameter of about 300 kilometers, but now there was only a little more than half of it left, and it seemed that once, quite a long time ago, a stone ball had been cut in half with a very sharp and hard object, leaving behind a perfectly plane surface resembling a petrographic cut. It was unclear where the other half of the asteroid had gone, at least, the scanners did not see it in the immediate vicinity. It’s been clearly not a year or two since the event that gave the asteroid its current appearance. The surface of the cut, which had once been smooth, was now covered by numerous traces left by the impact of rock fragments of various shapes and sizes, which were abundant in the outer Iota Persei belt. There was no doubt that the asteroid was being used extensively by someone at the time of the accident. On the surface of the cut, in many places there were stains of the entrances to the tunnels going deep into the rock, which were almost identical in shape and size. The asteroid was pitted with these passages, but the lizards have been unable to determine their purpose.

“It’s a pretty old story,” said Lit-ta looking at the screen. “About 120 years ago, some 30 years before we started to develop Iota Persei, a rather nontrivial astronomical event took place here, I would even call it extremely nontrivial.”

“What happened here?” I asked with genuine interest.

“Our observers near Lambda Aurigae have recorded the appearance of a new star system consisting of three low-mass sub-brown dwarfs, one light month from Iota Persei.”