Prelude
CITY OF CHICAGO, EARTH, UNITED EARTH ALLIANCE
22:00, DECEMBER 14TH, 2224, TERRAN STANDARD TIME
Nothing lasts forever.
That was something that Alan Bradley, President of the United Earth Alliance, knew all too well. Stability was an illusion – the universe was in constant shift, constant change, constant chaos.
In the beginning of the third millennium, the leaders of the West thought that their position as masters of the world was unassailable. Then the Third World War had erupted. Millions had died in a conflict that had reduced the Earth nearly to rubble.
Only Arthur Devereaux had been able to drag a new world out of the chaos. The signing of the United Earth Treaty, and the discovery of cold fusion, had brought an end to a war that had raged for almost a century, and started to rebuild a world left in ruins. Everyone had thought that the hard times were over, that the Alliance would last forever.
Then the Arcean probe had crash-landed in the Sahara. Alliance workers had recovered it, learned its secrets, reverse-engineered the hyperspace communications relay, and said to the galaxy, "We are here."
That change had brought more changes – a steady cascade of new and frightening developments. Contact with the Arceans, and, through them, the Altarians, the Drengin, the Yor, and the Torians. The founding of the United Planets. The plans for the great Terran Stargate.
And the Lunar Revolution.
Bradley remembered the horrors of the Revolution. Human against human, brother against brother, the worst and bloodiest war in the history of humanity. The wreckage from the battle still orbited the planet, to heavy for Terran junkers to clear away. His own brother had died aboard the UES Destiny when it had self-destructed to stop a Lunar fleet from destroying a convoy of refugees.
It was only in the past few years that the smoke had cleared. Humanity had once more nearly destroyed itself – and once more come out alive. The world was slowly being put back together. The loss of infrastructure was tremendous, the work would take years – but it could be done.
And now Bradley held in his hands the final change. The discovery that would change humanity’s fate. No more would the United Earth Alliance exist on the fringes of the universe, barely holding itself together. The time had come for a new revolution. Earth’s time had come.
It was time. He stepped forward into the Chamber.
* * *
In the darkest reaches of the universe, something stirred.
Something had changed, it realized. Something phenomenal. Something it had been waiting for, for over a million years.
It reached out. This was its chance.
It reached out, and touched the universe.
* * *
CHICAGO, EARTH, UNITED EARTH ALLIANCE
22:02, DECEMBER 14TH, 2224 TERRAN STANDARD TIME
"Master!"
Techer, First Class Henry Williams spun his hoverchair around.
"What is it, apprentice?"
"There’s something with the hypernet," Apprentice Techer Hans Geitrich replied, "I’m not sure, but there’s something a little… off, about the packet logs."
"Can you trace it?"
"Sorry, master. It’s so small I’m amazed I was able to even pick it up. It’s… it’s probably nothing. ‘Nets naturally fluctuate, right?"
"Bullshit," Williams said, "I’ve taught you better than that. You know damn well whether it’s a random fluctuation or something unusual."
"Sorry, master, I just…"
"Lying to one’s self is the gravest crime a techer can commit, Hans. Now, let me use your terminal. Let’s see what the problem is."
* * *
The Senate Chamber took up the majority of the Hall of Legislature. A hundred seats lined each wall, and in each one sat a member of the Federalist Party.
It was a shame, Bradley thought, that the Senate had become nothing more than a tool of the Presidency. But it was necessary. Democracy was fine, but until the world was put back together, it would only get in the way.
He looked out over the Senators, and, in the galleries, the others who had gathered to watch him speak. The time was now.
"People of the Alliance," he began, "a new age is upon us. Tomorrow, the sun rises on the first day of humanity’s ascension to the stars!"
* * *
"Alright," Williams said, "you’re right, there’s something wrong here. I’m not sure what."
"Do you have any ideas?"
"I’m going on a little bug-hunt. You stay here."
Geitrich nodded, and sank back into his hoverchair as Williams’ eyes assumed the characteristic glaze of the Trance.
* * *
"The gift our allies in the Arcean Empire have given us is beyond even what they intended. One of our own, the brilliant Doctor Rebecca Marshall, has combined the Hyperspace technology of the stargate they showed us, with our own cold fusion technology. People of the Alliance, I give you…"
Bradley keyed button on the lectern, and a holographic image sprung to life above it, a beautiful array of wireforms and numbers that would reduce any techer to tears.
"…Hyperdrive!"
The ovation was enormous. Bradley reveled in the applause, watching as each Senator realized the implications of the word. The ultimate advantage for humanity – the ability to travel between any two stars, faster even than a stargate could bring them.
The future.
Doctor Marshall made her way towards the podium, ready to accept her reward. She stepped up next to Bradley.
And then everything went black.
* * *
Williams’ eyes were glazed over. His fingers danced on the keys like leaves on the wind. He saw not through his eyes, but through his fingers, through the screen, through the terminal. He saw the data, not as a graph on the screen but a real, tangible thing. He was in the Trance.
Nothing escaped his notice. Everything was taken in, processed, and dealt with in an instant. It was the mark of a techer, the ability to transcend the interface and deal directly with the data. The screen and the keyboard were nothing more than nerves.
He stood in a sea of data – the mighty Hypernet, linking every relay on every planet in the known galaxy, traveling on its own through hyperspace. All around him drifted other users, the packets of information drifting in tangible form.
He concentrated. He was here to hunt.
The data twitched. The sea rippled. Something had changed something else.
He moved towards it. Whatever this thing was, he had to confront it. He could see what was happening, knew that it had taken something.
He shot towards the disruption like a bullet through the air, propelling himself forward. It was in his reach. He could catch it.
Something changed. An explosion. An explosion of information. Everywhere, the same message, the same piece of data.
Williams swam through it. He had to reach the end. He had to stop this thing.
Then he saw it, and he knew he would not survive.
* * *
"Goddamit!" Bradley shouted, "What the hell is going on?"
"Mister President! Mister President!"
Bradley looked up. It was a marine, one of the honor guard who’d be assigned to the ceremony, gripping a light source.
"What is it, private?"
"Sir, it’s Master Williams. He’s gone into catatonic shock."
"Sir!"
Another marine rushed in behind the first.
"Sir! We’re receiving reports of power failures throughout the city. We’re receiving nothing over the hypernet. The techers say the damned thing is down."
"Down?" Bradley shouted, "The entire hypernet is down?"
"Yes, sir. There’ve been reports of machinery malfunctions throughout the city, as well. And there’s… something else."
Bradley rolled his eyes.
"Go on, private."
"Sir, it’s hard to tell without appropriate communications, but we think that just before the ‘net crashed, the hyperdrive specifications were sent out."
"To who?"
"To everyone, sir."
