The Trojan Horse

Another great story Chris.

 

Very well done.

junkhound

 

Thank You once again for sharing another great story!!
A part II maybe??Say set 25yrs in the future?Except we've taken their tech and run with it,advancing far beyond them in many ways.
Matt

 

A very good story, read it all at one time. Thanks

 

Really envoyin this and your other stories

 

Epilogue<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />

Washington DC
USA, Day 100

“Congratulations, Mr President.”

Toby scowled. He had never wanted to be President and he had never liked the thought of being in the public eye. He’d felt much more comfortable in the shadows, but President Hollinger had lasted barely long enough to appoint Toby as his Vice President before falling to whatever the aliens had done to him to make him leave his position on cue. His funeral had been quiet and low-key, as he had requested. Toby had seen to it personally.

It had been far from the only funeral. Hundreds of thousands of Americans had died in the time between the arrival of the Snakes and the destruction of their warships. The surviving Snakes had had to be moved to a compound out in Nevada to prevent them from being lynched by angry mobs, a consideration that hadn’t been extended to their collaborators. Toby had underestimated the power of mob rule, when a population had broken free of its shackles and set out to avenge itself on its tormentors. The collaborators had been lynched in the streets, hung from lampposts or thrashed out of town, often with the cooperation of local police forces. Even the pod people hadn’t been immune, although there had been some sympathy for the brainwashed tools of the Snakes. They’d been moved to their own compound until something could be done for them. Toby refused to believe that they couldn’t be freed one day.

He shook his head, tired. The American Government had been devastated by the aliens. Many familiar names and faces had been killed, either by the aliens or by McGreevy’s henchmen; others had been brainwashed into becoming pod people. A number of politicians who’d supported McGreevy had found themselves lynched in office, or forced to resign and flee, looking for a safety that had proved to be elusive. Toby had found himself a President without a Government, one that had needed to be rebuilt almost from scratch. It hadn’t been an easy task. No one trusted the government these days,

And America was one of the better-off countries. China and Russia were lost in civil war. The population of the Middle East was still slaughtering one another. Europe and Latin America, where there had been heavy fighting, was suffering from food riots and a near-total breakdown of public order. America had been gravely weakened by the fighting; many overseas bases had been withdrawn before the Snakes revealed their true nature, ships and planes had been decommissioned as part of the price for joining an imaginary Galactic Federation. It looked as if there would never be order in the rest of the world. There were parts of America that were still on the verge of social collapse, even with the help of alien technology. At least they were no longer dependent on old.

Toby’s father, whose body had presumably been vaporised when the nuke detonated, would have found it amusing. The Federal Government as it had been was now a thing of the past. Even if Toby had been inclined to resurrect it, the public would have refused to accept it, something the new breed of Congressmen and Senators were making quite clear. The population would never allow Washington to hold so much power again, not as long as the scars from the brief period of occupation and collaboration lasted. There would be no more government agencies thinking that they were above the law. The Castle Doctrine had been resurrected with a vengeance.

“I wonder if you should congratulate me,” Toby admitted. “I feel that there are times when everything is surging out of control.”

Jason Lucas shrugged. Toby had appointed him Secretary of Alien Affairs, a title that managed to imply that Jason had been spying for the resistance all along. It hadn’t stopped some of the more enthusiastic patriots from calling for his murder, with the net result that Jason spent most of his time out in Nevada, studying the Snakes and learning what he could from the few who were prepared to talk to humanity. Unlocking the secrets of alien technology would take years, but Toby knew that they had no choice. The Snakes were still out there – and God alone knew what else was heading towards humanity, out of the silent sky. Toby intended to be ready to meet them when they finally stumbled across Earth.

The Snakes had started constructing a lunar mining base, using human technology, by the time they’d been defeated. Toby had been quick to see the advantages of keeping and even expanding the base, using the captured alien ships to transport men and materials from the Earth to the Moon – and transport raw materials from the asteroids back to Earth. It would be several years before Earth could build its own shuttles, but once that particular barrier was cracked there would be an explosion into space. A few decades of development and humanity would be more than ready for the Snakes. A few centuries…and who knew? Humanity might be far stronger than the Snakes could ever hope to be.

And then…they could make contact with the Pacifists, try and bring the Snake Empire down from within…

But that was a dream for the future. Toby knew that he might not live to see that day, the day when humanity would avenge itself upon the Snakes. All he could do was prepare for it as best as he could. Whatever else happened, the human race would not be fooled again. The next aliens they met would be encountered when humanity was in a position of strength.

“I think you’re doing fine,” Jason said. “Perhaps we needed this harsh lesson.”

Toby looked up, surprised.

“SETI thought that an alien race that managed to reach space would have to be peaceful,” Jason reminded him. “No one would come ninety billion light years to start a fight, they said; it seemed impossible to believe that they would be as violent as us. And that belief almost killed us. If they’d kept their true nature hidden for a few more months, who knows how badly they could have ****ed us?”

“True,” Toby agreed. The radio telescopes kept swearing that there was no sign of any alien civilisation near Earth, but Toby had no faith in that conclusion. He wouldn’t feel at ease until humanity had scouted the nearby stars and confirmed that they were barren. Who knew? Perhaps they would find races out there that were friendlier than the Snakes.

He glanced at his watch. “The ceremony is in thirty minutes,” he said. Outside, on the White House lawn, they’d raised a single slab of alien hull metal. Using lasers, they’d burned into it the name of every resistance fighter who’d been killed in the war. There would be many names missed, Toby knew, even in America. Far too many people had simply vanished without a trace. “You said it was urgent?”

“I did,” Jason agreed. “The scientists at Nevada have made something of a breakthrough. You’ll remember how the Snakes got here in the first place? The Pacifists screwed up the control routines for the wormhole, under the impression that it would destroy the entire fleet?”

“I remember,” Toby said. “Why…?”

“The scientists started crunching numbers,” Jason sad. “The Snakes invented the generator, only to discover that it took a vast amount of power to make it function. Their starships have to store power for weeks before they can jump to another star system. It limits their tactical capabilities against other space-faring races…”

“But not races still trapped on their own planets,” Toby said, impatiently.

“The wormhole they formed by accident was a great deal more powerful than their average wormhole,” Jason said. “The scientists believe that the wormhole was actually drawing power from the fabric of space itself, once the energy patterns had been shaped into a wormhole. Looking at the equations, the wormhole actually became continuous; they could have gone far further than they ever dreamed of going, without needing the vast power reserves they had to build up for their interstellar hops.”

He leaned forward. “The possibility is there in the maths,” he said. “We could build a wormhole generator that could put anything they ever built in the shade.”

“We could get to them,” Toby said. The prospect was dazzling. “And they’d never see us coming.”

“A few decades of work and we would be ready,” Jason said. “And if they never develop it for themselves…”

Toby smiled. “Let me have the full report as soon as possible,” he said. “I’ll review it after the ceremony.”

Alone again, he gazed down at the President’s desk. His father would have been shocked to see Toby running the country, but then…they’d made up since the aliens had arrived. It was something to be thankful for, now that the war was over. And his father wouldn’t have wanted to grow old and die in bed.

Shaking his head, he stood up and left the Oval Office. There would be enough time tomorrow to consider what Jason had told him, and the implications for humanity’s new space program. A substantial proportion of the government’s remaining funds were already being spent on space; it would just have to be increased, along with what private funding could be diverted by offering companies tax breaks to invest in space. And then…he smiled and nodded as Gillian met him, wearing a black dress. Tomorrow, they would have time to think about the future.

Now, it was time to bid farewell to the dead.

The End​

 

Great read, thanks Chris

 

Thoroughly enjoyed the book, Chris. Thanks for posting it. I just hate it though, when a book I am enjoying, ENDS!

 

This story would definitely make a great part two,payback is a biaatch.

 

what he said^

 

Thank you. I really liked this one.

 

Thanks everyone - I've posted a snippet of the possible next book on my blog: The Chrishanger

Comments welcome.

Chris

 

Definately interested in your Magic. An in the previous blog your Magic Rules make sense as well.

Looking forward to this upcoming story!!

 

I like the snippet hope you write it

 

Which one?

Keep an eye on the blog. I will be posting more snippets and background notes.

Chris

 

you have sucked me right in with your space stories , I will read the other one today

 

Thanks. A third snippet and some background notes have also been posted.

Chris

 

I read the dauntless snippet,I think it would be a great story,I love your space stories and thank you for taking the time to write your stories and share them with us. you rock

 

thank you so much for a very great story..first I,ve read of yours.. looking for more..cheers
gord in canada