Prologue

“I’d never thought they’d be our distant relatives, it wouldn’t even occur to me,” Inga smiled, “but if you look at these lizards carefully, the analogy with our reptiles is obvious. There is a bunch of collages on the web where our new allies are almost hugged by the Komodo dragons. That’s really impressive.”

“Well, we’re not that dissimilar to them actually,” I also smiled, “We and the lizards share ancestors, and the oldest part of our brain came from reptiles in a not-too-much-modified form, so we have a chance to come to an agreement with them. The thing I love most about this story is that we have little to share with them. Warm oxygen planets are pleasant for them, of course, but they’d be perfectly comfortable living on Mars before it was terraformed.”

“Yes, their ability to adapt to external conditions commands respect, and we could use it, too…”

“It’s all about the way their civilization has developed. They’re so much older than us, but if we were going through technological progress in the first place, and we began to really understand genetics and biotechnology only much, much later, with the help of sophisticated scientific equipment, powerful computers and robotic laboratories, they were going through a biological process in the first place. The lizards began to work with inorganic nature only after they had hit the limits of living matter, but again through the prism of their biological approach. From here, they don’t like high-temperature technology because organic matter can’t stand heat. That’s why they don’t melt the armor, they grow it, and it is not clear at all what principles their engines operate on. It’s kind of gravitational, but by the way, they’re way behind us on this one. But they can make almost anything out of living organic matter.”

“To be honest, I don’t understand how they managed to hold out against the quargs for so many years.”

“It’s hard to tell, we don’t know much about them yet. As I understand it, the lizards had absolutely no intention of fighting anyone, just as we hadn’t it before we met the quargs. But unlike us, reptiles have never even fought each other. At least we knew what was happening when the quargs began to destroy our ships, and for the lizards, it was a real shock, they had never experienced such aggression and had no idea how to react to it. However, they were quick to figure out what to do, and the flexibility of their technology allowed them to respond well. Maybe that’s the answer to your question.”

We lay on the pool terrace, enjoying the gentle reddish rays of Barnard’s Star, and chatting lazily about recent events. The government of the planet Lantan, more commonly known as Barnard-3, has not forgotten its honorary citizens. As it turned out, the status given to us after the battle of the planet entailed a number of rights, such as a lifetime use of a cottage with a well-maintained garden, a swimming pool and all associated infrastructure in one of the most beautiful places of the planet – the foothills of the Central Ridge that cuts the largest continent practically in the middle.

I was granted ten days of rest by direct order of the Minister of Defence, which was binding and non-negotiable. On the third day of my walks with Inga on the mountain paths surrounded by cedars, I realized that Bronstein was absolutely right, forcing me to take my mind off the infinite whirl of activity in the capital and relax a little bit. I was slowly thawing, inhaling the scent of heated pine needles, bathing in a pool filled with water from a mountain stream, and enjoying the company of Inga, who did not dress in the usual service khakis, but wore light summer dresses or T-shirts and shorts, and sometimes nothing at all, if she was in the mood.

It was here, by a small mountain lake, where we came one night, that I decided that perhaps, in the foreseeable future, I would not have a better chance to dot the I’s and cross the T’s in my relationship with Inga.

“What do you think,” asked I, lying beside her by the water and looking at the first stars to light up in the dark sky,“three years is enough time for a man and a woman to know if they need each other?”

“Sometimes it takes a lot less time,” Inga grinned, “especially if the answer is negative. But if you’re referring to us, it was finally clear to me at Luyten-5.”

“And you never once tried to let me know?”

“That’s all I do all the time,” Inga smiled a little sad while looking closely at me.

Her statement made me a little confused. Since our first date in a cave on Ganymede, Inga has never once hinted to me that she wants to change anything in our relationship.

“I’m sorry, I must have been really stupid because of this endless war, since I haven’t been able to discern the obvious in all this time.”

“There was nothing to discern,” answered Inga while shaking her head slightly, “If you didn’t notice, then I did the right thing.”

“You speak in riddles.”

“I was afraid of this conversation, Igor. You’re a right guy, a very right guy, I’d say, too right. You were gonna ask me to formalize our relationship, right?”

“Yes, I was,” I didn’t deny it,“and I still want to. Right now, I’m asking for your consent to be my wife.”

“You…” Inga started talking by raising her voice a little, but stopped, turned away and then just seconds later, she kept saying, “You do not understand. I love you, Lavroff, but I’ll tell you no. You don’t need a family, Rear Admiral, I can see that. Not because you don’t love me. You love me, I’m not blind. But you have a goal, a real goal, that’s above all else. And that goal is not me, not the children I can give you, not our future together. To be honest, I’m not even sure I fully understand your goal, but you’re going to it nicely. You can only be loved for the way you do it, but in the same time it makes impossible to change anything in our relationship.

But understand, Lavrov, I do not need a family that will be started just because «it is necessary», just because of your sense of duty and your notions of what a real man and an officer should do. That’s what I’ve been trying to get you to realize. I want to be with you, but I won’t be jealous of your goal. I know it’ll only make it worse. I’d rather wait a year, two, five, ten years if I have to. I’ll help you get what you want the way I can. And then when you realize that the goal has been achieved, and that it’s time to think about yourself and your future, then you ask me your question again, if you want to, of course. Then maybe my answer will be different, but for now, I’m sorry, but no.”

I hugged Inga. We lay silent for a long time, each of us thinking of its own. I knew she was right, and that I really couldn’t change anything about this rotten state of things while I’m facing an unfulfilled task that affects the lives of hundreds of billions of people on either side of the still-to-be-built hyperportal. But today was not wasted for me, it gave me a clear understanding of what kind of woman I’d made a friend of and how much I fear losing her.

Chapter 1

No one interrupted our vacation. There was an astonishing silence on the fronts, coming immediately after the battle of Iota Persei. The quargs never sent there a new fleet, which I estimate had every chance of successfully seizing the system, because we had too little strength left, and the lizards had yet to recover from the crushing defeat that destroyed their entire orbital infrastructure.

With the new allies, things turned out very interesting. The lizards were very clever creatures, they took our invitation to ride in the big troop transport with understanding, if not enthusiasm. We did not have to explain to them that here, on the ships of the friendly fleet, that appeared unexpectedly and very fortunately, they would not find anyone with whom to negotiate future relations of the races. The reptiles themselves realized that those who had come to Iota Persei in predatory metal ships and punched evil enemies were probably not trained in the art of diplomacy. The best thing they do in life is fight, not talk, and those who can negotiate, sit somewhere else, where they, lizards, are invited.

As a result, having left Iota Persei, our fleet did not go to the Solar System as previously assumed, but to one of the outer worlds of the Federation, which has never been attacked by the quargs. Friendship is a friendship, but it was clearly wrong to show reptiles the way to Earth at once, although it was still worth showing the lizards something, to create, so to speak, the right impression and the right understanding of who they would be dealing with.

The Teegarden’s Star system did not appear to have any value for colonization. The puny red dwarf in the constellation Aries glowed dimly twelve and a half light-years from Earth. It was about one-fourteenth the mass of the Sun, and it glowed a hundred thousand times weaker. It’s photosphere temperature was barely above 3,000 degrees, and from the point of view of comfort on planets, such a star was of no use. However, the attraction of this star system became apparent immediately after the return of the first expeditions sent there. Thanks to the gas giant with half a hundred satellites and two resource-rich belts of asteroids with several dwarf planets the size of almost the Moon, this hinterland has become a space Klondike.

Now, three small man-made suns were shining cheerfully in the orbits of two terraformed asteroids and the giant planet’s satellite, allowing the locals to ignore the inferiority of their star, and huge orbital factories and shipyard complexes formed one of the most powerful industrial areas of the Federation. That picture was really impressive. Almost 1,500 cargo ships in the system at the same time were providing a good idea of the scale of human activity in this nondescript corner of space, besides, the Allies would be very interested in the 14th Fleet which was guarding the system, because they haven’t yet seen our warships bigger than a cruiser.

After coming out of a jump outside the asteroid’s second belt, we released the lizards’ ship from the hold, and, suiting our speed to its slow movement, headed towards the gas giant, where the core of the industrial infrastructure of the system was located.

We’ve been coming here from Iota Persei for almost a month. Naturally, I’ve met the lizards more than once in that time. Of course, we didn’t negotiate seriously, but it was just necessary to build some bridges, to organize the negotiating process, and, after all, simply to understand how and in what language we will communicate.

The reptiles decided for us the question of the language of communication. Lizards have demonstrated to us that, after all, the biological path of development had its advantages. Using several types of paste as feedstock, liquid modifiers and some subtle manipulations, they grew the most unexpected appliances, often on their own bodies. The Allies began by securing their ship in the hold with a system of ropes raised directly from its armor and reliably attached to the walls, floor and ceiling. As a result their «walnut» hung in the geometric center of the room, fastened in place by thick and firm ropes going in all directions. And then, when I arrived on the transport that took the Allies in, from the ship, still, through the holes opened in the armor, appeared the lizards, that really looked very much like the Komodo dragons on Earth, only they were upright and not neglecting clothes. Except these clothes turned out to be a direct extension of their bodies, growing out of their skin and at the same time being a complex of equipment that allowed reptiles to feel comfortable aboard our ship. However, our atmosphere and the temperature of the air did not seem to strain them too much, in any event, they did not need any isolation suits. It was enough for them to grow filters in their nostrils that cleaned up the air from minor impurities, not so much the harmful ones, but just the unpleasant ones for reptiles. And the problem of communication they solved by creating flat excrescences on the lower jaws that were capable of making sounds very similar to human speech.

The first couple of weeks, we had a lot of trouble building up our allies’ vocabulary and trying to explain to them the grammar of English, which was particularly difficult, given that we didn’t have the right people. But our students turned out to be very diligent and very intelligent, so the diplomats who came from Earth to the Teegarden’s Star system were satisfied, they could begin negotiations right now.

But before I gave the Allies into the grip of our negotiators, I decided to find out something for myself and ask the lizards some questions about topics that had long been of interest to me. These guys have been dealing with the quargs a lot longer than we have, and they could have known a lot about them.

The main lizard in the Iota Persei system was a female named Lit-ta. She held a position similar to the Governor-General of the British Empire. In the Iota Persei system, her authority and powers were absolutely indisputable. Outside the system, her power ended, but I understood, given the circumstances, reptile chiefs have given her the necessary authority to negotiate at any level.

Both Lit-ta and I were acutely aware that my rank as Rear Admiral and my position as commander of a small fleet fell far short of her status, but the lizard leader didn’t think it was possible to show off, knowing perfectly well thanks to whose help she and the other inhabitants of Iota Persei were still alive.

“Rrrearrr Admirrralsss,” Lit-ta pronounced it slightly roaring and hissing at the same time, tilting her head to the side, “You’rrre not the mossst sssenior here, by rrrank or age. You’rrre verrry young, but the ssseniorrrsss obey you. Why?”

“I was appointed to command the fleet by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Earth Federation, Marshal Tobolsky. His orders are binding on all Army and Fleet officers. Under my command, the officers of my fleet obey his orders.”

“That’sss ssstrrrange… Our… sssuprrreme commanderrr would never appoint a juniorrr officccerrr to command the ssseniorrr officerrrsss. It’sss neverrr possssible forrr usss.”

“Lit-ta, can a male be appointed to a higher position?”

“He can, there’sss no prrrohibittttion. But it’sss verrry rrrarrre. They can’t cope… Can’t keep theirrr emottttionsss in check, they’rrre too aggrrressssive. But they’rrre good sssoldierrrsss.”

So we spent hours talking like this, and the lead lizard has never been bored with it. She would regularly summon me to her hold if she thought I hadn’t come to talk for some reason in a while. It’s hard to tell what was going on in her head, but I got the impression that not only did she want to know as much as she could about people before serious negotiations began, but she was just being very friendly to me. It was possible I was wrong. You can be a man, a reptile or a quarg, but if you climb that high, any sympathy or friendships are forced to take a back seat, giving way to cold-blooded reckoning. And yet on a secondary level, the personal attitude of the interlocutor plays a role. When I asked my questions, I was not absolutely sure, but I was counting on a good lead lizard’s attitude.

“Lit-ta, tell me, what do you do to the quarg prisoners?”

“Prrisonerrrss?” She moved her head a little bit and squinted, “We don’t take prrrisonerrrsss. Actually, they never tried to sssurrenderrr to usss.”

“Haven’t you ever taken over their planets?”

“No. They’ve taken overrr ourrr planetsss. We haven’t. We don’t need them.”

“But haven’t you ever had wounded quargs? Because you fight ground battles with them, and you probably win them regularly. Then you must have wounded enemies.”

“Ourrr weaponsss leave no wounded. Everrryone diesss, and verrry quickly. But you’rrre rrright, Igorrr. We trrried to capture living enemiesss. It’sss not working. They die almossst immediately. The block in the brrrain goesss off. They know we can gut their brainsss out and take out everrrything they know. That’sss why they die rrright away.”

“Can you read people’s thoughts, too?” Lit-ta’s information was of great concern to me.

“We don’t rrread thoughtsss, Igorrr. We can extrrract informatttion from the brrrain. But it’sss a long processss that rrrequiresss special trrraining and kills the perrrssson being quessstioned. But the quarrrgs know we can do it and they die.”

“What’s this block in the brain of a quarg, Lit-ta?”

“It’sss a biological conssstraint. We also know how to ssset one. We can also rrremove such a block, unlessss, of courssse, an orderrr for unconditional death is issssued.”