Watches changed on the bridge, time flowed by, but I remained in my command chair, unwilling to leave. I did not sleep, I ate only what the crew members brought to me from time to time. I reached out mentally to Anya’s frozen body in the cryosleeper deep in our ship’s hold. She was alive, her mind slowly flickering in the cryogenic cold.
I thought about attempting to contact Aten, but decided that the dangers there outweighed the advantages. He would read my thoughts the instant I reached him and know that although Anya and the other Creators were ready to bow to his will, I was out to murder him.
Is there some way I can shield my thoughts from him? I asked Anya for her help, but her mind was so slowed by her frozen state that I doubted she could hear me.
We remained in superlight velocity as long as we dared, then slowed to relativistic for a quick navigational fix. The course Frede had plotted for us was designed to take us a considerable distance from the direct geodesic route to Loris. But the closer we got to the Commonwealth planet, the more we would have to adhere to a course that the Skorpis could intercept.
I knew what I would do if I were the Skorpis admiral. I would send a major fleet as close to Loris as I dared, keep it in superlight except for scout ships that hop down to relativistic speed, take a look around, and then power back into superlight once more. As soon as one of the scouts spotted us approaching Loris it could alert the main fleet with a gravitational pulse that could be detected in superlight. Then the entire fleet could go relativistic and catch us as we attempted to reach the planet.
They would have to face the massive defenses of the entire Giotto system, I realized. But, as I played the possible scenarios on the ship’s tactical computer, it seemed to me that the Skorpis might not only catch us like a minnow in a net, they might be able to surprise the Commonwealth defenses and overwhelm them. It was a slim chance, but knowing the Skorpis, I thought it highly likely that they would grasp at it.
I almost laughed aloud when I realized what was shaping up. Our “diplomatic” mission was going to lead to a sneak attack on the Commonwealth capital. Our effort to surrender and end the war was going to trigger the bloodiest battle of them all.
And there was nothing I could do to avert it.
CHAPTER 26
Part of me felt almost exultant. A tremendous battle loomed ahead of us, and I was created for battle. The old excitement simmered within, making my innards tremble with anticipation.
Yet another part of me was filled with revulsion. Not fear, but loathing. How many of my command had already died? And for what? How many had I killed, over the eons? I remembered assassinating Ogotai, the High Khan of the Mongols, my friend, my hunting companion. I remembered the slaughter once we had pierced the walls of Troy. And Jericho. I remembered Philip’s accusing stare as the blood filled his mouth and gushed from the slash in his belly.
When will there be an end to blood? The Golden One boasted that he created the human race to fight for him. Could we not overcome the aggression he had built into us? Could we not learn to live in peace?
Your sentiments do you honor, friend Orion. It was the voice of the Old Ones speaking in my mind.
I sat in the command chair on the Apollo’s bridge, but my eyes saw the depths of the oceans in which the Old Ones lived. And I was there among them, swimming in their midst, safe and warm in the bubble of energy they had prepared for me.
“My sentiments won’t solve the problem we face,” I said.
“The problem you face, Orion, not we.”
“You are not willing to help?”
I felt a slight tremor of disappointment among them. “You must solve your own problems, my friend. Otherwise they are not solved, merely postponed.”