Perishing Waste

Ian Miller

• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN:
  9781666737233
  9781666796476
• eBook ISBN:
  9781666796483
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Science Fiction
• Index: Literature

Earth's first off-world colony on Zhinu, twenty-five light years away and established more than a century earlier in 2235 AD, has mysteriously gone silent. Probes have identified small remnant communities, but the capital with its thousands of colonists has become a ghost town. Macpherson Yenko, famed yet controversial quantum physicist, joins the hazardous rescue mission to the remote colony . . . and finds himself uncovering the deadly truth that threatens the extinction of humanity itself.

1

Shrouds of Mystery

Yenko was seldom nervous, but he was now. The holographic image above his telecommunicator was none other than Zhou Li Qiang, the Director of the Astronomical Union based in Xianggang.

“Professor Macpherson,” the Director said, “we need your expertise in the field of Space-Time Kinematics.”

“My expertise?”

“Yes . . . Professor, what do you know of the Zhinu Project?”

The Zhinu Project. Yenko’s pulse quickened at the mention of the name.

“Only what everyone knows,” Yenko replied honestly. “The New World Colony captured my imagination as a boy. It’s why I pursued the study of Astrophysics. But I don’t know anything of its recent history. It’s all classified. I’ve tried many times to investigate, but I’ve been blocked on every attempt.”

“If you are willing to help me, your attempts shall be blocked no longer,” Li Qiang assured. “I have a Low Orbiter on standby to bring you to Xianggang.”

“A Low Orbiter?” Yenko whispered. On standby? To bring him to Xianggang? “I don’t understand. Space-Time Kinematics?”

“I can tell you no more at this stage, Professor,” the Director said. “Are you willing to help?”

“Help? Yes . . . Yes, of course! A Low Orbiter? I don’t understand.”

“It can be in Aidingbao to collect you before your afternoon is out.”

Normally, Yenko would be upset by someone calling his city Aidingbao. Edinburgh was its name in the Scot Province. But there was no place for offence when talking to such a high ranking official. Especially when a Low Orbiter was set aside to fly him halfway across the world to Xianggang. And it would only be a few short hours before he would learn the answers to one of the greatest mysteries of his time.

Zhinu. The New World Colony.

Macpherson Yenko surveyed the conference room. Large, floor to ceiling windows looked out over an impressive courtyard garden, beyond which he could see the skyline of Beijing. Only three days after landing in Xianggang, he had found himself on another flight to the Zhongguo Xin Shijie capital. Secrecy had cloaked every meeting, shrouded every conversation. Government Agents were everywhere. On more than one occasion, he had wondered if there was an international crisis going on that the world at large was unaware of.

Signatures were demanded of him agreeing to lengthy non-disclosure agreements, swearing him to absolute silence. But for the hope of discovering what had become of the New World Colony on Zhinu, Yenko would have walked away without signing a thing. He was, when all was said and done, a citizen of the Scot Province, not the global Zhongwen superpower, and did not respect their dominance over the affairs and culture of so much of the world. Security debriefings, interrogations more like, did nothing to allay his growing sense of unease. And nothing much at all had been said of Zhinu.

Seated now at a large, polished oak table with thirty other men and women, Yenko knew he was about to get some answers. Answers that would explain why he was there and what this all had to do with Zhinu. Some of those about him, he knew personally, others only by sight from global news reports. There were several provincial leaders of both the Qin One World Dynasty and the India Unity Party, the two major world governments sitting together around the one table. Yenko recognized some of his academic contemporaries, leading engineers, and theoretical physicists. Six men were obviously military officials. From both nations.

All stood to their feet in respect as Zhou Li Qiang, the Director of the Astronomical Union, entered the room, escorted by a small entourage of assistants, and took the head of the table.

“Thank you for your attendance at this gathering,” he began.

“Thank you for your attendance,” Yenko repeated silently. Who would be audacious enough to reject the invitation? Given the military presence in the room, he suspected that it would have been impossible to turn it down even if someone had wanted to. But like him, Yenko knew that none of those around the table would forfeit the opportunity to learn, at long last, the reason for the silence that shrouded the Earth colony on Zhinu.

Li Qiang continued. “For different reasons, you all have a seat at this table today. Allow me to get right to the point. We are soon to launch a Third Fleet to the New World Colony.” There was an audible, involuntary inhalation of air around the room. “But it will not be an easy venture. We are not at all sure of what is happening there. I have invited our leading Astrophysicist, Li Feng Mian, to give the background. The information you are about to learn has been withheld from the global media. I remind you all that you have signed comprehensive NDAs. What you hear today is classified Top Secret.”

A demure woman, perhaps in her late thirties, immaculately dressed in a white blouse and black suit, stood to her feet. Studying the room, she nodded in acknowledgement of many of the faces. Yenko knew of her, though not personally; she was a respected figure amongst the astrophysics community.

Confidently, she began her address as a panoramic video of a reasonably sized city played on the wall behind her. Towers of ten stories or more dotted the inner business precinct. About the city, large rural tracts boasted plantations of orchards and extensive grain crops.

Yenko’s heart raced in anticipation as he recognized the cityscape before him. It was the thriving heart of the Earth colony established on a planet circling the star, Zhinu, twenty-five light years away. In his undergraduate studies, he had taken part in collaborative studies with the university that had been established in Xin Beijing, the city that now panned in video form across the wall in front of him. Those studies had considerably advanced scientific understanding of Astrophysics, Space-Time Kinematics and Xeno-Biosphere Technologies.

“You are all familiar,” Feng Mian began, “with the New World Colony, first settled in 2235. The video you are now seeing has been adapted from documentary footage taken in Shi Yue, 2347.”

“October, 2347,” Yenko wondered silently. Not long before the information blackout.

“It is one of the last communications received from the colony. We have heard nothing of them since then and for the best part of a decade, we have suppressed reports until we can determine what has happened and what the implications are, if any, to our future plans for the ongoing colonization of Zhinu and beyond. We have sent probe after probe, but all we can discover is that the city is slowly sliding into decay. What you are about to see is Xin Beijing as it is today.”

A series of short video clips, taken from high altitude, told a shocking story of the New World Colony. The assembled gathering held its collective breath. Together, the videos spoke of a city lying in collapse, as if there had been a war or an earthquake or some other natural disaster. A deserted, decaying ruin, bit by bit being reclaimed by the surrounding landscape.

“No one walks its streets. There is no industry. We have witnessed life in the rural lands, but the farming communities do not have the technology of the city and we have no way of communicating with them. They are likely not even aware that our probes regularly spy on them from orbit.

“Five years ago, a joint taskforce was convened, drawing together senior political leaders from both global nations. Zhongguo Xin Shijie and Bhaarat Ekata sat side by side because the implications affect all.

“We must know what has happened. The population of Xin Beijing and its surrounding communities at the last census was 21,354. To the best of our estimations, fewer than fifteen hundred remain in three small farming settlements. They appear to go about their business, but never once have we observed them within the ruins of Xin Beijing.

“It is of international importance, and both Zhongguo and Bhaarat have put aside old tensions; they make little sense in the face of our need. As we speak, a third interstellar craft is being constructed in the Tiangong Space Station. It is only two years from completion, so now is the time to escalate preparation for the mission.

“This is no small news we are bringing to you. Preparations are well underway in assembling the Third Fleet that will join the survivors on Zhinu.”

Those around the table sat in silence at the shocking realization. Something dreadful had happened to Zhinu and Earth’s global leaders were mounting a Third Fleet to aid the outlying colony.

Li Qiang rose again to his feet. Bowing slightly, Li Feng Mian resumed hers.

“Those who are chosen,” the Director began, “will need skills that may not have been required in previous missions. We do not know what dangers await them, so we intend to pick an army of o...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgements
• Chapter 1: Shrouds of Mystery
• Chapter 2: Echoes of the Past
• Chapter 3: Fei Hung
• Chapter 4: The Destruction of Xin Beijing
• Chapter 5: Demons in the Dark
• Chapter 6: The Meeting of Worlds
• Chapter 7: Exodus
• Chapter 8: Possession
• Chapter 9: Alien Discovery
• Chapter 10: Räuber Mekförsen
• Chapter 11: The Cloaked Wars
• Chapter 12: Shield of the Weak
• Chapter 13: Aftermath
• Chapter 14: Justice and Mercy
• Chapter 15: Qi Yue 2, 2437
• Glossary