Erasure
© 2026 by Walter Reimer


Traffic had been temporarily cleared from Terran orbit, and those persons who complained were told, in no uncertain terms, to comply or die. That was sufficient to shut the mouths of most of them. Others insisted that they would contact the Imperial Government, even though the government had ordered the move. Half of Sol System’s defense force was in synchronous orbit over the continent of Noram, with the new battleship Righteous Sword part of the formation.

“Are you certain this is necessary, Admiral Gromov?” The young Indochinese leopard in the gold-piped black uniform asked diffidently, glancing away from the battleship’s flag plot to look at the Admiral-General.

The tiger smiled and nodded. “Yes, Majesty, it is.” He gestured at the holographic globe of Terra, which bore several gold spots. “Each of those areas must be destroyed before you can continue with your plans to green Terra. We’ve very carefully calculated how much energy will be required, and there won’t be any lingering radiation.”

Vladmir put his paws on the plot console, looking up at the image of Terra. “Do it,” he said.

“Yes, Sir.” Gromov turned to one of his subordinates. “Execute the plan. Targets as assigned.”


***


Sol beat down at what had been the city of Atlanta, and within a containment area that had been guarded for centuries, something rustled in the kudzu forest. A misshapen snout emerged, looking skyward as if sensing something wrong, some type of threat it couldn’t fathom.

It was still looking as the sky suddenly brightened and grew brighter.

“Target destroyed,” the Righteous Sword’s Weapons Officer said as the glowing spot on Terra’s surface began to fade.


***


One by one, the target indicators on the globe winked out as biohazards and radiation sources were destroyed by bombardment or by clean antimatter weapons. The calculations made by climatologists and the AIs had been passed on to the military, balancing the need to erase the contaminated areas with the need to protect the planet’s atmosphere.

The battleship’s captain walked up to the young Emperor and said, “All targets destroyed, Sir. Avril and Shamir are assessing the results,” and as he finished speaking the two AIs’ avatars appeared, the mare and the wolf both in uniforms.

“Hello,” Vladmir said. “How did it go?”

Avril replied, “Everything was within limits, Majesty. Power required, heat dissipation – all accounted for.”

“And your plan can go forward much easier now,” Shamir added.

The teenaged leopard looked from the AIs to the Admiral-General. “Thank you,” he said.