THE FOREVER ALLIANCE
BOOK 5 OF THE FOREVER SERIES
by Craig Robertson
There Is Hope, But Only If You Forge It
Imagine-It Publishing
El Dorado Hills, CA
Copyright 2017 Craig Robertson
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system without written permission from the author.
ISBN: 978-0-9973073-8-2 (E-Book)
978-0-9973073-7-5 (Paperback)
979-8-7749612-9-0 (Hardcover)
Cover art and design by Starla Huchton
Available at http://www.designedbystarla.com
Formatting services by Drew Avera
Editors: Michael R. Blanche
Neil Farr
Forest Olivier
First Edition 2017
Second Edition 2018
Third Edition 2019
Fourth Edition 2019
Fifth Edition 2020
Sixth Edition 2023
DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to Spain.
Mi cuerpo nació en los EEUU,
pero mi alma brotó en España.
No puedo agradecer te bastante,
paiz de mi corazón.
Note: Glossary of Terms Is Located at the End of the Book
PROLOGUE
“It has been so long since I’ve tasted the soul of a mortal. I almost forget the bliss it brings. I must know this again. Wemust know this once again.”
“Eas-el, there was a time for that and it has passed. We now feed on the infinite light. It is our way. It is a better way.” Grees-el understood his brother’s words, but he could not share in them.
“The infinite light nourishes our being, but not our passion. When did we lose the will to enjoy ourselves? More importantly, why did we lose the drive to know bliss to excess?”
“The path to bliss as you envision it inevitably leads to struggle, to fighting, to annihilation. We cannot afford more loss. We must be fulfilled within ourselves and resist the temptation to destroy. You know these things, brother. Why do you speak of that which is forbidden?”
“Forbidden? Who can forbid the Last Nightmare? Not only does the power to do such an act not exist, it is inconceivable. If we want a thing, we take it. If we seize a thing, it becomes ours to do with as we please. You know that, brother.”
“In the time of the First Universe, we were many and we were voracious. By the time the Fourth Universe dissolved into chaos, we were few, but we remained insatiable. We learned nothing. Now, after the Twelfth Universe, we live well—the paltry few who remain. Would you see the Last Nightmare disappear for all eternity?”
“If it pleased me, yes.”
“The Neverwhere will tear itself apart at an ever-increasing rate if your lust continues. If you act to enter a new universe, the destruction here will accelerate. Where would you have us go after obliterating the Thirteenth Universe, if this place is not here to return to?”
“There are infinitely many universes for us to burden with our existence. Why do you worry as if you are an old woman?”
“An old woman.” Grees-el repeated the words in his being, feeling them, tasting them. “I have not thought of old women in a very long time. Surely they are all gone by now.”
“No, brother, one remains. She is a Last Nightmare named Grees-el of the Demarcation Clan.”
“Humor? I would not have thought it possible. Two ancient concepts in one day. You are a beast of nostalgia, Eas-el.”
“No. I am an eternal beast who hungers for more. I would welcome oblivion over the passive death the Infinite Light would afford me.”
“You cannot act alone. We must stand together, as we always have. It is the only way.”
“Perhaps we must remain as one. I can, however, pull the Last Nightmare off their funeral slabs and drag them into action. This you know I can do.”
“No, brother, this I know you will do. As surely as I see the future, I see the end of the Last Nightmare.”
“Then let us make it one damnation of a good party.”
ONE
We were settling in nicely on Azsuram. Kayla had given birth to our son. Jon the fifty second, or something. Okay, she insisted our first son be named junior. By then, there had been Jonathan Ryan IIs, IIIs, and IVs, and some number fives were threatening to be born soon. I groused about what number we should even choose. I wanted no part in the legacy thing, but happy wife, happy life and all, so I went along with her wishes. I suggested Jon the Tenth, so we’d be the first to get there. We could then stick a flag in the kid or something. That suggestion didn’t make her smile.
After a significant number of angry looks, we settled on Jon Ryan III. She let me keep JJ as second in the lineage of my mind. So Jon III it was. Anyway, after my second battle with the Berrillians, I was anxious to go home and decompress. Warring against hopeless odds again and again was draining my batteries, probably literally. The colony of Azsuram, a small nation by then, was doing spectacularly. They didn’t need my help anymore, which was fine by me. I was more than okay with being a figurehead. I’d go to the occasional meeting or ribbon cutting, say profound words, and fish a lot.
And that’s what we did for a few years. Then, I noticed a change in my dear sweet wife. Whereas before she was a vision of beauty and a powerhouse of a person, she became a bit less dynamic. Not sure if that’s the right word, but something in her pretty little head was off. Of course, when I’d hint at the fact, or even obliquely refer to it, she’d deny everything vehemently. She insisted that life was slightly north of perfect. Matters couldn’t be better, given the laws of physics. I kept flashing back on Shakespeare’s line in Hamlet.“The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”
It took me a month of focused attacks on the castle walls of her denial, but she finally fessed up to her mood malady. She felt out of place. What’s more, Kayla wasn’t super-excited about raising our human children in a Kaljaxian society. She didn’t dislike them or anything. She just wanted a more normal upbringing for our kids. She really landed a sucker punch when she mentioned she wanted to see our daughter in a prom dress and our son steal my beer when he got to high school. Ouch. I stole my dad’s beer in high school. It was a rite of passage, as far as I was concerned. Crap, here I was denying my infant son the chance to commit petty larceny and get drunk with his football teammates. I was a bad father. Heck, I was a bad human.
It did strike me as odd that she’d had such similar experiences growing up, wherever she and her brother Karnean had grown up. Whenever I asked about that, she turned my words back on me and always said that I was missing the point. She’d read about American traditions and wanted to make those her children’s. She’d also endured—her word not mine—my telling and retelling of endless tales from my misspent youth. She’d come to want those same things for our kids. I think that was a compliment, but I wasn’t sure.
I pressed her. Since Middle America was gone—on account of being sucked up by Jupiter—where did she want to move? Her home world? The worldship fleet? Middle Earth, right where it bordered the Land of Oz? The last comment got me three nights of sleep in my own room, but it was worth it. Hey, when the muse delivered, I had to pass it along, now, didn’t I?
She wasn’t sure, as it turned out. She just knew our forever home wasn’t Azsuram. I think that also had to do with Azsuram being my world; mine and Sapale’s. She found it hard to compete with a dead legend. She didn’t have to, but I didn’t think she could help it. She left it to me to decide what would be best. That made it a simple assignment. All I had to do was guess what she was thinking and, in turn, feel that way myself. Same revolver to my head, just different bullets.
I favored relocating to the worldfleet, which suggested to me that that was the most incorrect answer. Plus, moving to the worldfleet wasn’t just a decision, it was a Jon decision. Those were the least SNAG decisions possible and were always suspect. Oh, sorry. Sensitive New Age Guy. Some would erroneously accuse me of not being the sensitive empathetic type. Can you imagine?
If I couldn’t choose the worldfleet, my second choice would be Azsuram, with frequent visits to the worldfleet. Wrong answer. Duh. She was already unhappy here. Worse yet, I’d placed my desires on my list. I couldn’t very well choose where she grew up, since I’d never been there and she rarely spoke of it. Ah-ha. That had to be the best, least Jon-lethal answer. So, I told Kayla I wanted to raise our family on Chorum, the place she most identified as her family home world. Outstanding response. Not only did she not kill me, but she actually stroked my cheek and told me I was the sweetest man she’d ever met. Score one for Team Dude.
Even though she knew her home world was an option, she had sort of figured I’d choose an American worldship. As a result, she’d slowly come around to that way of thinking. But I was still as sweet as concentrated honey for wanting to take her home.
So, we were moving to floating America. I was down with that. I contacted President Gore and let her know our desire. She was more than happy to help. She arranged for a much larger than normal residence near the capital. She assigned my great-grandson Heath to be my official full-time aide. Since Amanda and he had left office, he worked as a lobbyist. The kid was ecstatic to have a real, honest job again. It sounded to me like he’d have the easiest job in the US government, which meant I could torture him about what a slacker he was with a clear conscious. My life just kept getting better.
Leaving the place I’d made my home was just as hard as I thought it would be. My extended family numbered in the hundreds, and to be honest, leaving JJ was the hardest of all. We were as close as a father and son could be. He was head of the Council of Elders, a grandfather himself, and as good a man as I’d ever met. I could visit anytime I wanted, but we both knew my leaving was a big step, and that a significant separation loomed in our future.
“Are you sure you have to go?” he asked for the tenth time.
“Yeah. You have a brood’s-mate. You know as well as I do that when they speak, we listen. When they suggest we jump, we ask how high might be sufficient.”
“Roger that,” he said with a frown. “But I’m going to miss you like I’d miss oxygen. Like I’d miss beer.”
“Yo,” I responded, “oxygen, okay, but let’s not joke about beer.”
We laughed. I wished for the millionth time I had some form of communication that didn’t involve me climbing in my vortex and folding halfway across existence, just to keep in touch. I’d asked Kymee about such a radio before, but he always shrugged and changed the subject. Either their technology didn’t have such a device, or he didn’t want to give it to me. It was a shame either way. It would have been nice to text JJ, or holo the grandkids on a whim.
Toño was the only loose end left. He’d been on Azsuram as long as I had, longer if you counted the time I spent searching for the alternate timeline version of myself. I let him know he was free to stay or come with us, whichever he preferred. I also gave him the option of emigrating later, since I’d be returning to Azsuram fairly often. He took a few weeks to decide, but in the end he chose to come with us. He felt perfectly at home on Azsuram, but also knew he was no longer mission critical for the colony, either. Several scientists and physicians from Kaljax had taken over that role. I suspected Toño wanted to live among his people again, for the first time in nearly a century.
Gallenda was the cutest toddler and Jon III still a wrinkly prune when I loaded up the cube and moved us to Exeter. I took Shearwater, including the AIs Al and Lily. I left JJ my original ship, Ark 1. It wasn’t like he could use it to visit me, but it at least afforded him the option of space travel. Plus, it was his mother’s and my home for a long time, so it would remind him of us. He also appreciated being the only guy on Azsuram with his own personal bitching ride. I had my boy’s back.
Heath met us as soon as we materialized on my private landing pad. He had a team of moving men to help unload our stuff. It was so weird. I hadn’t “moved” in two centuries. I’d traveled, relocated, and been shanghaied. But I hadn’t moved a household since I was a fighter pilot dragging my ex around the now-defunct globe. There they stood, burly guys in bib overalls. Nothing had changed. If I didn’t know I was inside an asteroid speeding along at sixty thousand kilometers per hour, I’d have sworn I was in Anytown, USA.
Our place was very nice, better than Alexis Gore had led me to believe. It was a two-story colonial that had a lawn and veranda. Several large oak trees provided shade from the ubiquitous artificial light sources. The inside was just as nice, well-appointed with modern furniture, hardwood floors, and a deluxe kitchen. I had to wonder what high-ranking government official now hated my guts for kicking him and his family out of such a prized piece of real estate.
Kayla was totally impressed. As someone who’d spent most of her life in space, such quarters must have seemed unbelievably extravagant. I did notice she didn’t say anything about what would we do with all the space. No, her eyes were like a rich kid’s on Christmas morning. She made me promise to bring Karnean to visit as soon as we were settled in. She wanted to impress her big brother.
After we’d set up the house, I had to decide what I’d do with myself. Toño hooked up with Carlos immediately, and the two android scientists were in hog heaven working together. I had no idea what they were laboring on, but they applied themselves to it like newlyweds to their honeymoon. I met with all my old friends—Amanda, Bin Li, and many others. They all either offered me a job or said they’d arrange whatever I wanted. That was nice, but it didn’t help me decide exactly what I wanted to do.
Politics was out. I never liked it in the first place. All my experiences to date only convinced me it wasn’t the life for me. I was still a general in what succeeded the USAF, but the military no longer held any fascination for me. If there was fighting to be done, I’d be in the vanguard. Being in uniform during peace only promised to weigh me down with administrative duties and silly ceremonies. Those were as bad a politics. I could do tours or give lectures, but that sounded like a prison sentence, not a career. Academia? Maybe. I had a Ph.D. in physics. I also knew more about interspecies relationships than any other human. It was a possibility, but it had yet to light my fire, so to speak.
But there was no hurry. I could handle as much downtime as the universe was likely to give me. I’d worked, fought, and struggled almost nonstop for the last two centuries. For the near term, I was content to be a dad and a husband. I actually liked doing minor home repairs. And mowing the lawn? Dude, I loved it. It was such a treat to be so darn normal. A cold beer after yard work on a warm Saturday afternoon was brand new to me.
A dirty secret revealed was that I looked forward to attending live sporting events, especially my beloved football. Sure, I could watch a million games, broadcast live or recorded. But there was nothing like sitting in the bleachers with a beer in one hand and my arm around Kayla, watching huge sweaty men crash into one another. That would never get old. Lest one conclude my life was too centered on beer, let me say this. Get over yourself.
Alexis called me often and invited me to important meetings. She truly valued my input. Eventually, she offered me a cabinet-level position, but I turned her down. Too political. She ended up appointing me her Alien Affairs Advisor. That was a job I could do. I answered only to her, and I worked when I wanted to. She turned out to be a good boss. She was thoughtful, kind, and she was an excellent leader. Like Harry Truman or Teddy Roosevelt, she knew what it was to be a leader and knew how important good leadership was to the general population. Times were hard, and the external threats were all too real. The people needed someone to look up to, one who they felt deserved their trust.
So, a couple hundred years into my goofy life, I became conventional. I had a wife, a steady job with an office, kids to bounce on my knees, and a lawn to mow. I felt like the dad in all those mid-twentieth-century sitcoms I watched on long space flights. I was this close to buying a cardigan sweater. Move over, Mr. Rogers. Mr. Ryan was sliding onto your bench.
TWO
“I’d like to call this council meeting to order,” said JJ as he lightly tapped the gavel on the sound block. “I’d hoped my father would return in time to join us, but apparently he won’t be here. I’d like the record to formally note that since our last meeting, Toño DeJesus and my father have left Azsuram. They now live on Exeter, in the worldship fleet.”
“The human worldship fleet,” added Dolirca acerbically.
JJ turned to look at her. “Does that actually matter, sis? You say human like it’s some form of disease.”
“First off, please do not refer to me as sis in the formal setting of a Council of Elders meeting. My name isDolirca, in case you forgot. Second, I say human worldship fleet because it is just that. It has absolutely nothing to do with the proud sons and daughters of Kaljax. Third, I say their species name like it is a disease because it will be, soon. They are at this very moment speeding toward our homeland with the intent of forcing themselves on our sovereign nation. If that’s not a disease, then I’d like for you to tell me what it is.”
“Yeah, sis, but how do you really feel about life? I’m sure there might be one person present who’d conceivably like to hear it.”
Scattered chuckles registered in the large crowd.
“Mock me at your peril, brother. Many of my concerns are shared by my supporters in this room.”
“Ya think I should be scared, or maybe I should just skip straight to groveling for your blessed mercy? Hmm?”
“Play the fool, like the human android who imprisoned our mother as his sex slave. I personally think the matter of the humans is far too important to joke about.”
“Dolirca, you’re the joke, not the humans. They’re our future co-inhabitants of Azsuram, and we will welcome them upon their arrival. You know that not a single person alive today will be around when they actually do arrive, don’t you? No one’s grandkids will be alive when they hit town. As to the matter of our mother and father, I will have that turd of hate you just coughed up stricken from the record. No one deserves to hear such a vulgar lie. Let the record reflect that if you say such a thing again, I will put you over my knee and spank you.”
“You are the council chair, for the time being, and can corrupt the record however you like. We all know you’re a pet to your human handlers. But the day will come—”
“When you shut up and let us proceed with this routine meeting?” JJ finished the sentence for her.
Dolirca stood. Her Toe guards did likewise. “I don’t have to sit here and be insulted.” She stormed out, her Toe following close behind her.
“Thank Tralmore and the Holy Veils. And no, sis, you can leave and be insulted by us. It’s more fun that way.”
It took awhile for the laughter to die down. Only when the room was quiet did a handful of citizens make a show of packing up and leaving.
Once they had left, JJ spoke with a straight face. “Let the secretary record that the Dolirca Coalition is heard from and has silently and thankfully left the building.”
Later, as they were walking home from the meeting, Challaria put her arm around her brood-mate’s waist and asked, “JJ, do you think it’s smart to make fun of your sister like that? I mean, yes, she’s nuts. But she does have the right to speak.”
“My pop used to call it the difference between liberty versus license. Free speech versus false speech. Sure, she can speak. But the minute she crosses the line she so loves to cross, the stupidity of her remarks must be pointed out.”
“I think she’s gathering more followers. They could become a problem. Maybe you should try and appease them, rather than alienate them.”
“I’m the leader now that mom is dead and dad is gone. I must protect my people. It isn’t hard to panic a herd into heinous acts with unchecked hate and bald-faced lies. These lunatics must be challenged. It’s not like Dolirca’s going to change or hate me any less, no matter what I do.”
“She certainly does have strong feelings about her uncle, doesn’t she?”
“I half expect to wake up some morning with one of her Toe chewing on my face.”
“Don’t even say that. She may be crazy, and those bears may be way too loyal, but let’s not start the rumor that either of them might be dangerous.” She smiled nervously at JJ.
“I’m not sure it’s all that farfetched. I wish it was. Unfortunately, I suspect my little niece is capable of some major badness.”
“You’re just being dramatic. She’s not a threat to anything except the concept of public decency.”
He kissed her forehead. “Let’s hope you’re right.”
THREE
The most pressing issue was when the Berrillians would attack again. No one doubted that certainty. It was only a question of when. What would be their counterstrategy to the unknown force of ours that caused them to lose so decisively in the last attack? That led to a lot of discussions between the UN, the military types, and yours truly. I still hadn’t told anyone about the quantum decoupler, though many suspected I was withholding information on a secret weapon. The cool thing about being the only one with a cube was that nobody was anxious to piss me off by pressing me to be more forthright.
“Does your vortex detect any warp signatures?” asked Fleet Admiral Katashi Matsumoto. Though he was getting a bit long in the tooth, he was still an imposing man. He reminded me of a Japanese actor from long ago, Toshiro Mifune. Dude had a real badass look going.
“No, last I checked, there were none. I make it a point to ask Manly every few days.”
“We detect none, either,” Toño said. “Jon, at what range do you think the vortex manipulator can detect those signatures?”
“I’m not too sure. He says that warp space is harder to interpret than normal space. I think I pinned him down to having a reliable range of twenty to twenty five light years. Past that, it would be blind luck to pick up a signal, and he wouldn’t be able to pinpoint their location.”
“And in our estimate, what is the maximal cruising speed that the Berrillian fleet can maintain?” asked Katashi.
“That is also hard to estimate. I personally feel their practical limit is three or three and a half times the speed of light,” responded Toño.
“So I can count on a minimum of a year’s warning when they next attack?” asked the admiral.
“It’s hard to be certain, but that’s my best guess,” replied Toño.
“I concur,” added Carlos. “If all our ducks line up properly, a two-year alert is probably as much as we can hope for.”
“Jon, we’ve discussed this before. What are the chances that your ship can make random flights into deep space to try to detect warp signatures at a greater distance?” asked Katashi.
We had discussed that option before. It was stupid. We had no idea what direction the Berrillians would be coming from. I could make all the probing attempts I wanted, but randomly choosing a path anywhere near where they’d be was inconceivable. There was too much real estate out there.
“If I spent all my time doing that, I believe I’d waste all my time.” That was the most tactful way I could respond. Yeah, I had limits, didn’t I?
“But if you made a few reconnaissance missions every now and then, you might get lucky. You’d buy us valuable intelligence if you located them when they were farther away.”
“I have to side with Jon on this matter, Admiral,” responded Toño. “It would be unfair to ask one man to burden himself so greatly for such an unlikely chance of a useful outcome.”
“I would feel better if you did, General Ryan,” replied Katashi. “But I am willing to make allowances for a person’s time and devotion to their personal interests.”
In other words, if you want to be a selfish baby and put your needs in front of the defenseless masses you swore to protect, I can’t stop you. Would if I could, but can’t. As always, he and I didn’t see eye to eye.
After the meeting broke up I sought out Toño. Carlos and he were scurrying away so fast I barely caught them.
“You know, if I didn’t know better I’d swear you two were newlyweds running off together all the time. What gives? Is there a nasty rumor I’d love to start just below the surface?”
“That’s horrible,” replied Carlos. “I’m a married man with a family.”
“You wouldn’t be the first with a big secret. Come on, you can tell Dr. Jon. I would never betray your dirty secret. Well, not until I found a computer terminal.”
“We’re working on a project together that is both stimulating and nearing an important breakthrough,” said Toño sternly.
“That’ll make a really lame rumor. I’ll have to embellish it, somehow. Hey, I heard you bought a chicken suit online.” I bobbed my eyebrows. “That might be the key element I need to spice the story up.”
“If it will shut you up and let us get back to work, I’ll tell you what we’re doing,” said Toño. “But please keep it to yourself. I don’t want others to pressure us for results, if you know what I mean?”
“I won’t breathe a word of it to the big mean admiral,” I replied, drawing an X over my lips with my finger.
“You’re very challenging not to dislike,” said Carlos. He knew me pretty well, didn’t he?
“We have finally made some headway in understanding the Berrillian technology we obtained on Azsuram.”
“Wow,” I remarked. “That is big.”
“It will be when we can fully reproduce it. We’re close, Jon. Very close,” said Toño. His excitement was palpable.
“What element of their tech are we talking about, here?”
“All of it, really,” responded Carlos. “It’s mostly a matter of understanding their computer language and breaking their code. Once we achieve that, the tech itself will be easy to decipher.”
“So, you’re only trying to hack their computers?”
Toño got that irritated look on his face he reserved exclusively for me. “To understand how an alien brain conceives a computer language is very tough. Past that, we have to deal with the encryptions and barriers they would naturally have in place. It took me six months to determine that they did not use a binary code, as we do. For some reason they chose to program in a quaternion system.”
“That employs four symbols, not our two,” added Carlos.
“I know what quaternion means,” I lied. Not sure why I lied, but it felt like I needed to.
“In any case, that part is behind us. Since I returned, Carlos has provided keen insights that have allowed us to understand their programing and unlock the code. Now we’re reading the information. Some was corrupted in the crash, but I think we’re going to be able to duplicate their gravity wave device.”
I whistled. “Nice.”
“Aren’t you going to ask? I know it’s killing you,” remarked Toño.
“Oh, yeah, what’s your favorite color, Doc?”
He balled up his fists and shut his eyes.
“And, any idea when you’ll have a working model of the gravity machine?”
“No. Don’t ask again. We’ll tell you as soon as there’s something to tell.”
“Works for me. What about the color? Your birthday’s coming up and I want to get you two matching tutus to wear around the lab.”
“Go. Please, go now,” responded Toño. Dude was having trouble not smiling. I almost had him. Try, try again was on my side. Oh yes, it was.