Kinder des Schicksals 4 (Xeelee 9): Resplendent

me, we’re
doing our best.
    ’And remember this. Knowledge of the future does not change
certain fundamentals about the war. The Xeelee are older than us.
They are more powerful, more advanced in every which way we can
measure. Logically, given their resources, they should defeat us,
whatever we do. We cannot ensure victory by any action we make here,
that much is clear. But we suspect that if we get it wrong we could
make defeat certain.’ His face closed in. ’If you work here you
become - cautious. Conservative. The further downstream we look the
more extensive our decisions’ consequences become. With a wave of a
hand in this room I can banish trillions of souls to the oblivion of
non-existence - or rather, of never-to-exist.’
    ’So you don’t wave your hand,’ said Tarco pragmatically.
    ’Quite. All we can hope for is to preserve at least the
possibility of victory, in some of the futures. And we believe that
if not for the Mapping, humanity would have lost this war by
now.’
    I wasn’t convinced. ’You can change history. But you will still
send Tarco out, knowing he will die. Why?’
    Varcin’s face worked as he tried to control his irritation. ’You
must understand the decision-making process here. We are trying to
win a war, not just a battle. We have to try to see beyond individual
events to the chains of consequences that follow. That is why we will
sometimes commit ships to a battle we know will be lost - why we will
send warriors to certain deaths, knowing their deaths will not gain
the slightest immediate advantage - why sometimes we will even allow
a victory to turn to a defeat, if the long-term consequences of
victory are too costly. And that is at the heart of the charges
against you, Captain.’
    Dakk snapped, ’Get to the point, Commissary.’
    Varcin gestured again.
    Before the array of futures, a glimmering Virtual diagram
appeared. It was a translucent sphere, with many layers, something
like an onion. Its outer layers were green, shading to yellow further
in, with a pinpoint star of intense white at the centre. Misty shapes
swam through its interior. It cast a green glow on all our faces.
    ’Pretty,’ I said.
    ’It’s a monopole,’ said Dakk. ’A schematic representation.’
    ’The warhead of the Sunrise torpedo.’
    ’Yes.’ Varcin walked into the diagram, and began pointing out
features. ’The whole structure is about the size of an atomic
nucleus. There are W and Z bosons in this outer shell here. Further
in there is a region in which the weak nuclear and electromagnetic
forces are unified, but strong nuclear interactions are distinct. In
this central region’ - he cupped the little star in his hand - ’grand
unification is achieved.’
    I spoke up. ’Sir, so how does this hurt the Xeelee?’
    Dakk glared at me. ’Ensign, the monopole is the basis of a weapon
which shares the Xeelee’s own physical characteristics. You
understand that the vacuum has a structure. That structure contains
flaws. The Xeelee actually use two-dimensional flaws - sheets - to
power their nightfighters. But in three-dimensional space you can
also have one-dimensional flaws - strings - and zero-dimensional
flaws.’
    ’Monopoles,’ I guessed.
    ’You got it.’
    ’And since the Xeelee use spacetime defects to drive their ships -
’
    ’The best way to hit them is with another spacetime defect.’ Dakk
rammed her fist into her hand. ’And that’s how we punched a hole in
that Sugar Lump.’
    ’But at a terrible cost.’ Varcin made the monopole go away. Now we
were shown a kind of tactical display. We saw a plan view of the
Galaxy’s central regions - the compact swirl that was 3-Kilo, wrapped
tightly around the Core. Prickles of blue light showed the position
of human forward bases, like Base 592, surrounding the Xeelee
concentration in the Core.
    And we saw battles raging all around 3-Kilo, wave after wave of
blue human lights pushing towards the core, but breaking against
stolid red Xeelee defence perimeters.
    ’This is the next phase of the war,’ Varcin said. ’In most futures
these assaults begin a century from now. We get through the Xeelee
perimeters in the end, through to the Core - or rather, we can see
many futures in which that outcome is still possible. But the cost in
most scenarios is enormous.’
    Dakk said, ’All because of my one damn torpedo.’
    ’Because of the intelligence you will give away, yes. You made one
of the first uses of the monopole weapon.