CHAPTER 3 – THE CRUSHING WEIGHT OF POWER
22:44 (Kyoto Alpha Time)
Saturday, October 17, 4021
Office of the System’s Grand Administrator
Kyoto Alpha, Alpha Centauri A-IV
The videophone on the work desk of the Grand Administrator of the Alpha Centauri System buzzed, prompting Djael Anaker in extending an arm to press the ‘answer’ button. A still solid man in his sixties with gray strands mixed in his blond hair, Djael Anaker’s face reflected his present state of fatigue, his eyes red and underlined by deep pockets from lack of sleep.
‘’What is it, Miss Delmas?’’
The face of his secretary, filling the viewing screen of his videophone, also reflected fatigue. However, at 35, she apparently had more energy left in her than her boss.
‘’I am sorry to disturb you again, sir, but Admiral Nintsu and two of his officers are requesting to see you. They say that it is about an urgent matter.’’
‘’An urgent matter? That’s original!’’ Said Anaker sarcastically while smiling. ‘’Everybody who wanted to see me during the last three days claimed that it was for urgent reasons. Very well, let them in!’’
The Grand Administrator then rose from behind his desk, as much to be able to stretch his tired muscles than to greet his visitors. Admiral Nintsu came in first, followed by two other senior officers of the Navy. Like Anaker, they obviously lacked sleep and their royal blue uniforms were wrinkled from constant wear. The Grand Administrator shook their hands in turn and showed them a comfortable sofa in a corner of his office.
‘’Please sit down, gentlemen! Would you like some coffee or tea?’’
Nintsu replied to him with an apologetic smile.
‘’Thank you, but no: if I drink another cup of coffee, it will come out by my ears.’’
Djael Anaker laughed briefly at that remark: he was himself staying up only by consuming coffee constantly. Pulling up a chair to face the sofa where his visitors were taking place, Anaker looked at Nintsu.
‘’So, Admiral, what can I do for you?’’
‘’Grand Administrator, I believe that it is I who can do something for you today. To be more precise, Commodore Ferguson and his exploration cruiser, the MARCO POLO, which is due to arrive in Kyoto Alpha in about four hours, will be able to help you and your citizens.’’
Those words immediately stimulated Anaker’s tired brain.
‘’You have an extra ship available to help in evacuating citizens?’’
‘’Correct, sir! I gave orders for the MARCO POLO, which is just returning from a distant colonization mission, to land as quickly as possible in Kyoto Alpha and to then put itself at your disposal.’’
‘’Aah, a good news, at last! How many evacuees can this MARCO POLO take aboard?’’
A big smile appeared on Nintsu’s face as he answered Anaker.
‘’Eleven million, sir.’’
‘’ELEVEN MILLION?’’ Exclaimed Anaker, surprise on his face, while jumping to his feet. Nintsu nodded his head, then pointed his subalterns to him.
‘’I brought Commodore Kempten and Captain Grant with me so that they could brief you in detail about the capacities of the MARCO POLO. Commodore Kempten, you may start your exposé.’’
Kempten, a tall and lean man in his fifties, then read from a pocket electronic notepad, looking up from time to time at Anaker.
‘’The MARCO POLO is the first ship of a new class of exploration cruisers and entered service three years ago. It is just now returning from a colonization mission in the Mirphak System, 633 light-years away. In the case that preoccupies us all presently, the MARCO POLO is admirably equipped for your needs. It has a cryogenic sleep vault with a capacity of ten million cells, plus has an auxiliary quarters section that can lodge about a million more people, if packed to capacity. It also has huge holds able to carry up to 500 million tons of cargo and supplies, or even more if it takes off in overload condition. We as well have four heavy cargo ships that recently arrived from Earth with extra supplies for the fleet. As soon as they are finished unloading, that is in a couple of hours at the most, they will be at your disposal to be filled with emergency disaster relief equipment and supplies taken from the planet’s reserves, sir.’’
Anaker was left speechless for a moment, unable to believe his luck at such a desperate time.
‘’Commodore, tell me if I’m wrong, but I believe that preparing a person for cryogenic sleep and then putting him or her in a cryogenic cell is not a quick process. Will we have time to process and load ten million persons in the MARCO POLO’s cells?’’
Nintsu’s other officer, Captain Grant, then took on him to answer Anaker’s question.
‘’Sir, the cryogenic cells aboard the MARCO POLO are of the same model as the ones equipping our underground shelters and are thus interchangeable. I was part of the MARCO POLO’s design team and know it like the inside of my pocket. We will just need to exchange one for one loaded cryogenic cells from our shelters with empty ones from the MARCO POLO. With robots doing the bulk of the cells’ handling, that process could be very quick indeed.’’
Savage joy filled Anaker at those words: he was going to be able to save at least a few millions of his citizens from the mass destruction expected soon from the Morgs.
‘’Admiral Nintsu, you did tell me that the MARCO POLO will be placed under my authority as soon as it lands, right?’’
‘’Yes sir, and this until it takes off and joins up with its escort fleet for its trip towards Earth.’’
That left Anaker pensive for a moment before he looked back at Nintsu, pointing an index at him.
‘’Admiral, I want you to inform Commodore Ferguson that my office will take care of selecting and transporting the passengers and materiel to be loaded on his ship. I will also need some troops, so that they could form a security perimeter around the MARCO POLO’s landing pad and prevent possible rioters from boarding it. That cruiser will be vital in ensuring the survival of the Centaurian Race if the Morgs ever come and destroy this system, like too many of our other systems in the recent past.’’
Nintsu nodded his head firmly in response.
‘’Grand Administrator, I have available right now the 12,000 commandos and 16,000 combat robots of the 58th Assault Division, which is protecting the city’s spaceport. Admiral Garth also promised me to send a strong force to escort the MARCO POLO on its way to Earth.’’
‘’Excellent! One last point, Admiral. May I borrow the services of your Captain Grant for an undetermined period of time? I will really need his knowledge about the MARCO POLO.’’
‘’No problem, sir!’’ Replied Nintsu, who then looked at his subaltern. ‘’Captain Grant, you are now on detached duty with the office of the Grand Administrator and will act as his special liaison officer. You will have my full authority to requisition any personnel, equipment or supplies that you will deem indispensable for the loading up of the MARCO POLO. Do you have any questions, Captain?’’
‘’None, Admiral!’’
‘’Good! Grand Administrator, if you will excuse me, I will go attend to other pressing problems. Please don’t hesitate to call me if you need anything else.’’
‘’You already did a lot for me and my citizens, Admiral. I wish you and the fleet luck in the coming battle.’’
Anaker shook hands again with Nintsu and Kempten before escorting them to the door of his office. He then returned to his work desk and, with Grant watching him, activated his intercom.
‘’Miss Delmas, tell all my assistant administrators present in this building to come immediately to my office for an emergency meeting. The assistant administrators that are not here are to link up with my office via video-teleconferencing.’’
‘’Yes sir!’’
Then turning to face Grant, Anaker gave him a sober look.
‘’Captain, only fifteen minutes ago I was desperate about saving any of my citizens still present on this planet. Thanks to you and to Commodore Ferguson, we will now be able to save millions of lives. It may take a few minutes before I will be able to open the meeting with my assistants. In the meantime, you may start putting together a list of what is going to be loaded aboard the MARCO POLO.’’
Anaker suddenly had a thought and activated again his intercom.
‘’Miss Delmas, please send in Miss Himiko.’’
That done, Anaker gave a smile to Grant.
‘’Miss Yoko Himiko is one of my junior secretaries. I will assign her to you, so that she can help you by calling people and passing messages and directives around.’’
Grant looked back at him gravely.
‘’How old is Miss Himiko? Does she have children?’’
‘’Yoko is 27 years old and does have two young children. Why do you ask, Captain?’’
‘’Because I would like her and her immediate family to be able to board the MARCO POLO once all the loading is finished, sir.’’
Anaker nodded his head nearly at once.
‘’Yoko is a young, competent and likeable person who certainly deserves to live through this. You may invoke my authority to get her and her family to be evacuated on the MARCO POLO.’’
‘’Thank you sir! This brings me to another point about evacuees. When the Morgs invaded and then destroyed the Gliese 660C System three months ago, some of our ground troops tasked with protecting the landing pads used by our evacuation ships refused to board the ships when ordered to, and that because they wanted to stay with their families, which had been sent to shelters on Gliese 660Cc. The same thing could happen with the married soldiers of our 58th Assault Division if they are ordered to leave without their spouses and children.’’
Anaker had a pang of the heart on hearing that: he could understand too well what a soldier would feel at being ordered to basically abandon his wife and children to near certain death while he himself fled. The danger of seeing sizeable portions of the 58th Assault Division, which originated from this planet, mutiny and refuse to leave was thus a very real one indeed. That had to be prevented at all cost, lest crowds of panicky rioters be able as a result to break through the security perimeter around the MARCO POLO and storm the ship.
‘’Captain Grant, contact the commander of the 58th Assault Division at once and tell him that he has my express permission to collect immediately and bring aboard the MARCO POLO the spouses and children of his soldiers. That permission will not however include other family members, like parents or siblings. Just spouses and children! Am I clear on that, Captain?’’
‘’Very clear, sir. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, sir.’’
‘’You will thank me when we both meet again…in the afterlife.’’
Grant nodded soberly at that: he already knew that he would most probably die in the next few days. A young and very pretty Centaurian woman then walked in the office, an electronic notepad in one hand.
‘’You asked for me, sir?’’
‘’Yes, I did, Yoko. This is Captain Grant, from Admiral Nintsu’s staff. Consider yourself attached to him as his executive assistant until further notice. Captain Grant has my full support and authority in executing the tasks I gave him. Make sure that whoever will get a message or directive from him understands that.’’
The young secretary hesitated for a moment, looking briefly at Grant before looking back at her boss.
‘’Sir, could I ask for one hour of free time first, so that I could see my husband and children before they go to one of our underground shelters to be put into cryogenic cells?’’
‘’You won’t need to, Yoko.’’ Said gently Anaker. ‘’Call your husband instead and tell him to come here with your two children and with a few bags packed with essential items: you and your family will be evacuated to Earth once you are done helping Captain Grant.’’
Tears nearly came out at once from Yoko’s eyes, prompting Anaker in walking quickly to her to press her into his arms, consoling her with soft words.
‘’Yoko, you are a good girl and you and your family deserves this. You now have ten minutes to go call your husband and pass the message for him to come here with your children. Then, come back to assist Captain Grant with his job.’’
‘’Ye…yes sir! Thank you so much, sir.’’ Could only say the secretary before walking out of the office. Anaker then turned around and pointed an index at Grant.
‘’That goes for your wife, children and grand-children as well, Captain. Call them now and tell them to get their asses here.’’
Grant gave him a stunned look before smiling, gratitude in his eyes.
‘’Thank you, sir!’’
Anaker replied with a sarcastic smirk.
‘’Don’t thank me for that, Captain: I am simply acting like a typical politician ensuring the loyalty and dedication of his staff members by distributing favors, and this at a time I most need their help.’’
The first of Anaker’s assistant administrators showed up a few minutes later, as Grant was finishing his calls to his adult children. Ten more minutes later, with six of his assistant administrators physically present and with eleven others in contact with him via holographic video link, Djael Anaker opened the meeting by rapping his knuckles on the long table of his conference room, adjacent to his office. He took a minute to tell his assistants about the imminent arrival of the MARCO POLO and its capacity to accommodate eleven million refugees, a number that stunned and pleased them. Anaker then looked at the men and women around the table.
‘’Now, the population of the Greater Kyoto Alpha region is a bit under three million people. Even if we manage to transfer to the MARCO POLO’s cryogenic vault all the citizens presently inside the city shelters, that would still leave place for seven million more people in cryogenic sleep, plus another million people made up of infants, toddlers and their mothers, to be accommodated in the auxiliary quarters of the MARCO POLO. This leaves us with one critical question: what criteria will we follow to decide who will be part of those seven million spots left in the cryogenic vault of the MARCO POLO? Please think this over for a few seconds before starting to present your suggestions.’’
The first to raise his hand was his employment minister, Rolf Magnusson.
‘’Yes, Rolf?’’
‘’Djael, if I understand this well, our refugees due to go to Earth may still be redirected to another habitable system in order to establish themselves in a world away from the Morg threat, right?’’
‘’Yes! And…?’’
‘’Well, the population of Kyoto Alpha, while reasonably diverse in terms of work skills and qualifications, is still heavily skewered towards the service industries, the academic world and the administrative and commercial trades. You would find very few if any representatives of the agronomical or industrial trades in Kyoto Alpha, thus may end up with an unbalanced society if forced to settle another planet. What I suggest is for us to select a number of small centers of population or region where those agronomical and industrial trades would be more typically found. We could select and then transport to the MARCO POLO the populations of, say, small fishing communities, mining towns, farming regions and industrial centers.’’
‘’That is a most eminently logical and practical idea, Rolf.’’ Replied Anaker, while the others around the table nodded their heads in agreement. ‘’Let’s thus select a few such towns and regions along those guidelines. Personally, I would recommend first the population of New Trondheim, one of our most important fishing ports and fish processing centers. It has a population of about 160,000 people, if I remember well. We could also load aboard the MARCO POLO some of the more recent fishing vessels docked in New Trondheim, to ensure that we end up with a sizeable fishing capability.’’
Heads nodded again around the table, with others then presenting in turn suggestions on which population centers or regions to evacuate to Earth. After nearly one hour of such selective picking, Anaker ended up with a list totaling well over eleven million people in terms of population. His minister of health then raised a point.
‘’Sir, some may think of me as a bastard for saying this, but do we want to select for evacuation even the elderly and retired in those population centers we chose? Shouldn’t we select only people that are still reasonably healthy and productive?’’
Anaker gave a somber look at the woman in her fifties, who was a medical surgeon by profession.’’
‘’Miri, I would call you a realist rather than a bastard for raising that point, which is eminently valid. The time for hard choices is now and there is no way nor time to avoid it. Since I suspect that debating this could take a lot of precious time, I will thus present myself a basic rule concerning that point. You will then be free to vote for or against it. What I propose is that every evacuee must be either a productive adult under the mandatory retirement age and with no criminal record, or a child or teenager of those selected adults.’’
After exchanging glances, his assistants collectively agreed to his idea. That was when Captain Grant, who had been silent up to now and working on his electronic notepad, spoke up.
‘’Sir, if I may, I believe that I have found a way to add another five million or so refugees to the maximum number approved for loading on the MARCO POLO.’’
‘’And where do you propose that we put those extra five million people, Captain?’’ Asked Anaker, skeptical. Grant smiled in reply.
‘’In the cargo holds of the MARCO POLO, sir.’’
01:29 (Kyoto Alpha Time)
Sunday, October 18, 4021
Main Habitat, H.S.S. MARCO POLO
‘’ATTENTION ALL HANDS! THIS IS THE CAPTAIN SPEAKING! WE WILL ARRIVE IN KYOTO ALPHA IN APPROXIMATELY ONE HOUR. THE QUARTERS REASSIGNMENT MUST BE COMPLETED BEFORE LANDING.’’
Ann Shelton let out an exasperated sigh on hearing that intercom announcement and continued transferring her belongings into the master bedroom of her luxury suite. The chime of the entrance door then rang, making her nearly run to it to open it. She smiled on seeing that it was Vyyn Drelan, who was loaded down with her own bags.
‘’Let me help you, Vyyn. I suppose that you have been reassigned to my suite?’’
‘’Correct! I was also told that two more persons will occupy this suite with us.’’
‘’Well, in view of the circumstances, it would have been dumb to leave the guest bedroom of this suite empty.’’
Grabbing two of Vyyn’s bags, Ann then led her to the main bedroom, where she dropped the bags on the big bed.
‘’At least, with such a large bedroom, we will not be in danger of suffering from claustrophobia. The view of the beach is also very nice.’’
The chime of the entrance door then rang for a second time.
‘’Those must be our new co-occupants. Unpack your things while I go open the door for them.’’
Going again to the door and opening it, Ann found herself facing two big, powerful men whose muscles and closely cut hair signaled them as probably being Navy commandos. The taller man nodded his head and smiled to Ann while presenting his right hand for a shake.
‘’Hi! I’m Sergeant Mark Dempster, of the ship’s security battalion, and this is my partner, Corporal Tony Vinelli. We have been reassigned to this suite.’’
‘’And my name is Ann Shelton. One of my friends, Vyyn Drelan, also was reassigned to this suite. But please, do come in! The guest bedroom is the second door on the left after entering. It is all yours.’’
She then led the two men to the said bedroom, which also had large windows giving a view of the beach. Dempster nodded his head as he eyed the room, visibly satisfied.
‘’This is quite nice indeed. It certainly beats our previous bachelor apartments.’’
‘’Glad to see that you like it.’’ Replied Ann. ‘’If you don’t mind, I will go finish moving my things.’’
‘’Go right ahead, Miss Shelton.’’
Returning to the master bedroom, Ann was alarmed to find Vyyn sitting on the bed, crying. Hurrying to her friend and colleague, Ann sat beside her and passed one arm around her shoulders.
‘’What’s wrong, Vyyn? Why are you crying?’’
‘’It’s…it’s my family.’’ Said the Centaurian between sobs. ‘’The full reality of this situation is now hitting me and I don’t know if my parents and my siblings will be selected to board our ship. Even with the millions who will be able to come aboard the MARCO POLO, this will leave close to two billion Centaurians at the mercy of those Morgs. Two of my brothers are married and have young children. The thought of possibly losing all of them is making me sick.’’
Ann didn’t know what to say to that at first. Statistically, the chances of Vyyn’s relatives being selected among the lucky ones to board the ship were quite small indeed. In fact, Ann didn’t know yet according to which criteria the refugees would be selected among the general population of Alpha Centauri A-IV. She finally spoke softly into her friend’s ear.
‘’Don’t lose hope about them, Vyyn. The fleet may yet be able to repel that Morg attack. You saw how powerful our combat fleet is in this system.’’
Vyyn was finally able to control her tears and turned her head to look at Ann with red eyes.
‘’Thanks for trying to comfort me, Ann. We now can only hope the best for the men and women of our combat fleet, as we all depend on them right now.’’
02:10 (Kyoto Alpha Time)
Command bridge, H.S.S. MARCO POLO
‘’Commodore Ferguson, this is Captain James Grant, temporarily attached to the office of Grand Administrator Anaker. I was put in charge of planning and coordinating the loading of your ship once you will have landed in Kyoto Alpha.’’
‘’Thank the stars!’’ Replied Henry Ferguson with true relief while looking down at the viewing screen attached to his command chair. ‘’I was getting worried about how we would be proceeding with the loading once on the ground. I still don’t know exactly what is due to be loaded in my holds. The only thing I know is that I will be filling my living quarters and my cryogenic vaults to the maximum. You do realize that we will have to separate from the mass of refugees the mothers of infants and toddlers, along with their youngest children, who don’t support well cryogenic sleep?’’
Grant, whose head was visible on Ferguson’s side viewing screen, smiled at his question.
‘’That is already being taken care of, Commodore. Apart from infants, toddlers and their mothers, which are being brought to the passenger terminal of the spaceport, over half a billion Centaurians have already been put into cryogenic sleep in the underground shelters, with more being processed continuously. I had fifteen million loaded cryogenic cells transported into hangars near the landing pad assigned to receive your ship. We will be able to bring them aboard your ship as soon as you land.’’
‘’Fifteen million cells? But, our cryogenic vault can only accommodate a maximum of ten million cells.’’
‘’I am well aware of that, Commodore. Know that I was part of the design team that built your ship. Since each cryo cell can function independently for two months on its own individual power source, or indefinitely if plugged to an external power source, I have thus filled cargo containers with five million loaded cells. Those containers also have portable generators and computers that will help supervise and sustain those cells for at least two years without any human supervision. I would have filled more cargo containers with cryogenic cells, but we had to leave enough space in your holds for the materiel and supplies necessary for so many people. Grand Administrator Anaker passed orders as well for two civilian cargo ships that were still on Alpha Centauri B-III to similarly load up with containers full of cryogenic cells and then join us as quickly as possible.’’
‘’A truly excellent idea, Captain Grant. What about the materiel and supplies to be loaded on my ship? Do you have a list of those already made?’’
‘’Yes, Commodore! Much of it will consist of the prefabricated buildings, equipment and supplies that had been planned for the second phase of Mirphak III’s colonization plan, to which we added more supplies, parts, vehicles and construction equipment, plus all the emergency disaster relief materiel we could spare here on Alpha Centauri A-IV. Finally, on the late suggestion from the secretary of the Grand Administrator, we rounded up all the baby supplies that we could find in the shopping malls of Kyoto Alpha. Without her, you would have found yourself stuck with nearly half a million babies and without baby food or diapers.’’
‘’Ouch! That would have been quite messy indeed. Captain, you truly are taking a big weight off my shoulders. I will never be able to thank you enough.’’
The face of James Grant, which had kept a neutral expression up to now, then reflected sadness, with his eyes becoming moist.
‘’Commodore, my family will be coming aboard your ship. You can thank me by bringing them safely to Earth.’’