Kinder des Schicksals 4 (Xeelee 9): Resplendent

purpose,’ Luca said,
wondering. ’Even the shabbiness.’
    ’This is a machine built for war, Novice.’
    A junior officer called the troops to order. On their crude seats,
just blocks of asteroid rock, they fell silent.
    Teel stood up. She said clearly, ’Eighteen thousand, three hundred
and ninety-one years ago an alien force conquered humanity’s home
planet. We are here to ensure that never happens again.’ She held up
a data desk and read a single short obituary, a summary of one
ordinary soldier’s life and death. Here was another memorial, Luca
supposed, for those who had fallen - and again, not strictly
Doctrinal. Then Teel went on to a kind of situation report,
summarising incidents from right around the Molecular Ring that
circled the Galaxy’s centre.
    The troops listened carefully. Luca watched their faces. Their
gazes were fixed on Teel as she spoke, their mouths open like rapt
children’s, some of them even quietly echoing the words she used.
When she finished - ’Let’s hurl the Xeelee starbreakers down their
own Lethe-spawned throats!’ - there was cheering, and even some
tears.
    Teel invited Dolo to get to his feet. As an emissary of the
Coalition, he was to make a short address to these far-from-home
troopers. He was greeted with whistles and foot-stamping. Luca
thought he looked small and out of place in his pristine Commissary’s
robe.
    Dolo talked in general terms about the war. He said that the ’Ring
theatre’ was a testing ground for future operations, including the
eventual assault on the Xeelee concentrations in the Core itself -
which, he hinted, might be closer than anybody expected. ’This a
momentous time,’ he said, ’and you have a momentous mission. You have
been commissioned by history. This is total war. Our enemy is
implacable and powerful. But if we let our vision of the universe and
ourselves go forth, and we embrace it entirely, those who remember us
will sing songs about us years from now…’
    Luca let the words slide through his awareness. When the troops
dispersed he found a way to get close to Teel.
    She said, ’So do you think you have seen the comradeship you
envied so much?’
    ’They love you.’
    She shook her head. ’They think I’m a lucky commander. I’ve ridden
this Rock four times already, and I’m still in one piece. They hope
I’ll give them some of my good fortune. And anyhow they have to love
me; it’s part of my job description. They won’t let their brains be
blown out for a stuffed shirt - ’
    ’No, it’s more than that. They will follow you anywhere.’ His
blood surging, longing to be part of her life, he said
recklessly,
    ’As would I.’
    That seemed to take her aback. ’You don’t know what you’re
saying.’
    He leaned closer. ’You’ve known there is something between us, a
connection deeper than words, since the moment we met - ’
    But here was Dolo, and the moment was already over. The Commissary
held up a small data desk, ’Novice, tomorrow we have a chance to
advance your education. We will accompany a press gang.’
    ’Sir?’
    ’Be ready early.’
    Teel had taken advantage of the interruption to slip away to join
her troops. Luca saw how her face lit up when she spoke to those with
whom she had fought. He was hopelessly jealous.
    Dolo murmured, ’Don’t lose yourself in her, Novice. After
tomorrow, we will see if you still envy these troopers.’

 
III
     
     
    The blue planet came swimming out of the dark.
    Dolo said, ’You know that planets are rare here. This close to the
Core, with so many stars crowding, stable planetary orbits are
uncommon. All the unformed debris, which elsewhere might have been
moulded into worlds, here makes up huge asteroid belts - which is why
the rocks are used as they are; they are plentiful enough.
    ’This pretty world, though, was discovered by colonists of the
Second Expansion - oh, more than twenty thousand years ago. Almost
inevitably, they call it New Earth: names of colonised planets are
rarely original. They brought with them a very strange belief system
and primitive technology, but they made a good fist of terraforming
this place. It lies a little close to its sun, though…’
    Luca didn’t feel able to reply. The world was like a watery Earth,
he thought, with a world-ocean marked by tiny ice caps at the poles
and a scatter of dark brown islands. He felt unexpectedly
nostalgic.
    Dolo was watching his face. ’Remember, though you are a Novice,
you