Lunar: Black Star Rising
By Thomas Knapp
Chapter Twelve
Jean slipped into the small room where Taras was looking over the plans that his twin bother had contrived to repair the damaged space shuttle. Toras refused to elaborate as just what he planned to do if by some off chance they could salvage the battered craft, but they began to follow the plan regardless. Better to do something at this point.
"I heard Toras worked out something…" Jean commented softly, causing Taras to turn swiftly.
The elder twin sighed, then answered, "I don't like where this is going, to be perfectly honest. I'm worried about the kid."
"Why? What's wrong with Toras?" Jean asked. Taras's worry was quickly catching, as the elder twin did not appear to grow concerned over trivial matters.
"Oh yeah… you visited your carnival buddies last night, didn't you?" When Jean nodded, "Well… last night after dinner, Toras… blurted out his affections to our Miss Lemina…"
"Oh no…" Jean gasped. She could quite clearly imagine what happened next, but requested further of the story anyway.
"Once it finally hit him that Lemina was already… closely attached, he went silent. Didn't say a thing the rest of the night. He retired to his bedroom an hour early, but it was clear he didn't sleep, for this morning he emerged with this crazy scheme."
"What's so crazy about it? Will it work?"
Taras exhaled, and replied, "Yes… it should work… what disturbs me is HOW it will work."
"Go on…"
"I don't think any of your friends realized just what this plan would require. I just figured it out myself, and now it's really too late to stop it."
"You're dodging the question."
"I know I am!" Toras hissed, "Because… we HAVE to stop that damn rock, and this is the only way we can."
"What does this plan need to have work?" Jean reiterated.
There was a long pause, as Taras appeared to be warring with himself, trying to decide whether or not to tell Jean his concerns. Finally, he sighed, "My brother's intent, if what I am gathering is correct, will be to ram the shuttle into the planetoid, deflecting it from its current course."
"How can something that small possibly sway an object as large as the one you describe?"
"There is a fission reactor on board the shuttle. It's what was used to generate the power for our trip here. No doubt one the collision is made, the plan is to… detonate the reactor."
Jean's eyebrows furrowed, "What's a… feu…shun… reactor?"
"It's a type of generator that splits heavy metals at a very small level. The resulting energy from this process is enormous." He held up an eraser from the desk he was leaning over, and stated, "A piece of uranium ore this big can generate enough destructive power to turn everything within a 50 kilometer radius of here into blackened wasteland."
"Wow…" Jean gaped, "And THAT would be enough power to deflect that rock?"
"It should be… make no mistake, it's a desperate gamble, and a lot of things could go wrong along the way… but it's our only shot."
"I guess I understand why this is so crazy." Jean commented. "I mean, if something goes wrong, and the shuttle blows up HERE…"
Taras raised a hand to stop Jean, "That's not the only reason. If the shuttle manages to make it out of Lunar's gravity, and into space, there are still other factors to be taken into account. Someone would have to pilot the shuttle into the planetoid, braving all the dangers of outer space the entire way, and then detonate the reactor."
"But… how would they… no… he couldn't POSSIBLY be thinking…"
"Toras is the only one that could make the calculations necessary for the shuttle's intercept course. He fully intends to pilot that shuttle, and kill himself in the process."
"But why?" Jean gaped, "Surely a little bit of heartache wouldn't cause Toras to go suicidal!"
Taras nodded, "I agree. I personally feel that Toras has been mulling over this plan for some time now, and these most recent events have merely helped him reach this final decision."
"But still… to get so hung up on a girl… especially Lemina…"
"You don't know Toras like I do, Jean. It's not easy realizing that your first love has gone unrequited."
"First love? Oh come on…"
"Ever since Toras was barely able to walk, he was fascinated with the stories of the gleaming silver moon in the sky. Our grandfather had been alive during the last conjunction of the moons, and Toras was simply star-struck so to speak. Toras made it his mission to be one of the first to make to the Silver Star."
Taras looked out the window into the sky, and out to the Blue Star, and the invisible moon of his birth, "Where I joined the Black Star's military, he turned to the sciences. Toras gave himself totally to the studies he needed to have to be selected for the first inter-moon mission. Where most students spent 4 hours a day in classes, my brother was in the lecture halls up to 10 hours or more."
Taras smiled somewhat at the memory that worked its way to the surface, "Hell, he became a bit of an urban legend. There are rumors that at the end of one semester, he took THREE final exams AT ONCE so that he could be in time for an astronomer's convention that evening."
"I guess the point I'm trying to make is that getting to where he is now has been his LIFE, and as smart as he is, I don't think he ever really gave much thought to what he would do when it was over. Lemina's rejection I think served to enhance his… emptiness of a future, to the point where he is finally willing to end it all."
"The damn fool… there's a lot of life left in him to live… and he better not think that once we all get wind of his plan that he's gonna get away with it." Jean snapped angrily, "Where is that moron right now? I think I better have a talk with him."
Taras looked at the ceiling blandly, then answered, "Probably on the roof. But remember this… we don't have many other options. I'm sure that if it came to sparing the people of Lunar, the Black Moon, and the Blue Star, he'd jump into that shuttle come heaven or hell."
Jean sighed, "I know… but I gotta hope that there is another option."
"As do we all…"