Attack of the Dancing Rats

Boregard Hilsted of the Imperial Transport Defenders was at his station, Pod 18 of the void-fortress Triumph. So far this watch had been quiet, but Bo was staying alert. He knew how quickly the situation could change out here in the void. The Darwinites had lost several void-fortresses to the Wallaceans recently, so there was a critical need back home for the supplies the Triumph was carrying.1

"Anything to report, Hilsted?" Bo recognized the voice from the combox as that of Commander Bartoth. The pods where not equipped for video communication, since it might distract the gunmasters from the displays that would warn them of an approaching enemy. Audio, however, had been found to actually improve their attention.2

"No hostiles detected, sir."3

"Very good. Carry on, gunmaster."4

The Darwinite and Wallacean Empires had a history of bitter conflicts that extended back for generations. To most outsiders, the animosity between them was difficult to understand, since to them the two empires seemed culturally identical. However, any citizen of either empire could readily list the differences they thought made them superior.5

This particular war had started when a Wallacean duchess accused a Darwinite prince of cheating at a horse race. Questioning the integrity of a prince was a serious matter in itself, but the duchess had implied the horse that won the race was the product of artificial genetic enhancement. Both empires were fervent believers in natural selection, so using technology to design a lifeform was absolutely the worse thing a person could be accused of.6

The Wallaceans demanded that the horse be tested to determine if it was natural or not. The Darwinites replied that just asking for the tests was an insult. The Wallaceans said refusing the test proved the Darwinites were guilty and soon war was declared on both sides. 7

Of course, the real reason was territory. It was always territory, but both empires preferred to have some pretense for their hostilities that seemed more honorable. There are relatively few planets that are suitable for becoming earths. When a suitable planet was found, the Darwinites and the Wallaceans would both establish outposts on it. For a while they would be busy establishing their own settlements, but eventually the domains of their rival would limit their own expansion. At that point, war was inevitable. It was just a matter of waiting for a suitable excuse to start it.8

"You think that lady of yours'll still be waiting for you, Bo?" The voice this time was Rik Fairfield, a fellow gunmaster.9

"Sure. I got a message from Norina in that little voidling town where we loaded the cargo. She says she's counting the days until I get back."10

"She's got more patience than any girl I've known."11

"You've got to consider who she's waiting for, Rik."12

Both men laughed, but Bo was glad his enlistment was over at the end of this trip. It was difficult being away from the one he loved, especially on a void-fortress where outside communication was extremely limited. 13

Partly this was to keep their actions a secret, but the more important reason was to prevent the enemy from infecting their computers. A complex structure like a void-fortress depended on its computers to function and any message might carry a virus that would allow the enemy to take control of them. Only essential command transmissions were allowed and those were rigorously filtered to ensure they were safe.14

The only chance Bo had to exchange messages with Norina was when he got out of the Triumph in one of the voidling settlements. The voidlings were very strange. They actually wanted to live in the void, instead of on an earth like normal people. Bo had come to the void to fight for his empire, but he had no desire to stay there. The voidlings also practiced genetic manipulation as readily as they changed clothes. Many of them could not even be called human.15

These thoughts of Norina and the voidlings were quickly set aside by what Bo noticed on the scanner display.16

"Commander, possible hostiles detected at position one nine five three slash three eight two. I am trying to confirm and identify."17

Commander Bartoth ordered, "All stations, prepare for attack."18

Rik added, "I've got them, too, sir. They're coming up fast."19

Bo armed his pod's gun while he studied the display. "Sixteen units in a ring formation, sir."20

Another gunmaster called out, "Has anyone identified the hostiles yet?"21

Someone else shouted, "Whatever those blasted Wallies send at us, they're going to regret it!"22

Most people think their eyes simply send images to their brains as a grid of colored dots, like a camera sends them to a monitor. Actually, the brain first breaks the information from the eyes into a complex set of components, detecting lines and curves, edges and contrasts. Later these assorted components are combined to create the image the conscious mind experiences. The displays the gunmasters use were designed to shortcut this process by showing the input from the scanners already broken into those components.23

The scanner display would be a meaningless jumble to most people, but with proper training, it presented information faster and more reliably than any natural image could. Bo was an expert at reading the display, so he was certain he had identified the attackers correctly. However, it was so incredible he hesitated to say anything.24

"Sir, the hostiles appear to be rats."25

"Repeat that, Hilsted. Did you say rats?"26

"Yes, sir. Rats."27

The rats Bo was talking about were not animals, but small, one-person salvage vehicles. They had four mechanical grappling arms and their gee-drive was at the end of a long, flexible tube. Military models would have some token weapon, so their operators could not say they were unarmed, but nothing that could harm a void-fortress.28

Rik said, "I confirm that, sir. According to the display, those are rats."29

Bartoth grunted, "This smells rotten! Those Wallies aren't that stupid. Stay alert, everyone."30

Rats might be poorly armed, but they were small and exceptionally maneuverable, so hitting them with the void-fortress's guns was difficult.31

Bo grumbled, "I can't even hit one of those blasted things!"32

Rik teased, "Remember, shoot where they'll be, not where they are."33

"I'm not some blank-slated rookie, Rik. But look at them! I've never seen movements that erratic."34

"They aren't even trying to fire on us. Just jumping all over the place and waving their arms. What do you think they're doing, Bo?"35

"I don't know. Dancing?" As he said this, he had a vague feeling there was something odd about the scanner display.36

By the time gunmasters are assigned to active duty, reading a scanner is second nature to them. They are no longer conscious of the display. They just experience images of whatever is being scanned. Therefore, Bo had to concentrate hard to see just the display without interpreting it.37

When he did, Bo realized there were patterns in the display that were not apparent in the movements themselves. It seemed like it might be some kind of message. He had no idea what it was saying, but since he could recognize patterns, he could guess where they would move next. That meant he could finally blast those stinking rats.38

At least he could have blasted them if his control panel had still worked.39

"Commander, controls in Pod 18 are locked. I repeat, Pod 18 is locked." 40

There was no reply from the combox. When the pod's computers detected the virus hidden in the message the rats were sending through the scanner, they had blocked communications with the rest of the fortress to keep it from spreading. Bo knew this would only delay it for a short time. The enemy program now had control of all of the pod's computers. In a few moments, it would find a way to remove the communications block and the Triumph would be lost.41

Everything on his panel, even the power switch, was computer-controlled. He had no way to shut down the program. However, there was one thing he could do. On the ceiling of the pod was a release lever, a purely mechanical device not tied to the computers. The thought of dropping away in the pod terrified him, but he had to do it. Bo reached up and pulled down hard on the lever. His pod slipped away from the Triumph, physically breaking the communication link with the rest of the void-fortress.42

Of course, the pod did not actually drop. The Triumph was traveling through the void with a constant acceleration of one gee. When the pod was released, it just stopped accelerating and continued moving at the same velocity. Bo knew this, but to his earth-evolved brain, it seemed the void-fortress was a stationary structure in normal gravity and he was now falling from it into a bottomless pit.43

Dealing with his fear of falling was now Bo's biggest problem. The Triumph could not stop for him, its mission was too important, but Commander Bartoth would ask headquarters to send someone to rescue him. The pod had its own life support system and a small nuclear reactor to power it. He could survive in the pod until help arrived, even if that took days.44

Although his control panel did not respond to his input, it still showed Bo what was happening. He watched as shots from the Triumph destroyed several of the rats. The rest fled, rushing past him as they accelerated in the direction opposite the void-fortress. The Wallaceans could only target their lethal message toward one scanner at a time and the gunmaster of the next one they chose must have detected the pattern before it was too late.45

The panel also told him there would not be enough time for him to be rescued. The pod's reactor was considered very safe. Its designers claimed it was impossible for it to ever explode. However, they underestimated what a hostile program in the computers that ran it could do. Bo could see he only had a few moments left to live.46

By the time it exploded, the pod would be too far from the Triumph to do it any damage. At least Bo had saved his comrades. He thought about how he and Rik had once gotten so drunk in one of those voidling towns that they woke up in jail, with no idea how they had gotten there. The constable was a pleasant fellow, even if he looked like he had a few bulldog genes mixed in. He said he had not arrested them, just detained them for their own safety. Then he gave them some soberjuice and sent them on their way. Back then, it had seemed like a good adventure, but now he wondered if a few more brain cells would have been enough to let him detect the pattern on the display in time.47

Bo tried to push these regrets from his mind. To the science of his day, consciousness was no longer the mystery it had once been. It was well known that it continued to exist even after the body which produced it had perished. However, without a body, consciousness became static. The last thing anyone experienced while they were alive was what they would continue to experience for all eternity.48

The voidlings were not satisfied with this. They misused this knowledge to grow new bodies for those who died to bring them back to life. As much as Bo longed to see Norina again, he would never consider anything that unnatural and disgusting. Instead, he would spend his last moments thinking of her, remembering the joy he felt when they were together and in that way she would be with him always.49

The universe Bo believed in was neither kind nor cruel. There was no Fate or Destiny to blame for what happened. There were only organisms struggling to survive in an indifferent environment. 50

Long ago, his ancestors had lived in a world without any place high enough that someone could fall for as long a time as Bo had drifted in the void. However, food often spolied in that world and if it was eaten, it produced a sensation very much like falling. A significant number of those ancestors had survived only because they happened to react to a prolonged feeling of falling by violently ejecting any food they had recently eaten. 51

That is why in the instant his body was consumed by the nuclear fireball, Bo's last thought was not a memory of his beloved Norina, but the retching feeling he was about to be turned inside out.52