Battle for Earth
Page 16
He looked us over real close. “They tell me you’re the crew that did all this. You and your Mr. T. I’ll track him down in a minute. I’m glad to make your acquaintance. General Fitzpatrick...”
He shook all of our hands as we gave our operative names only, which the reporters reported. After that he moved off to do whatever business is conducted by a major general. Mr. T showed up a few minutes later. He said he was tired and it was time to head back home. We slipped behind some bushes and ported.
After a nice nap I woke to Mr. T calling us to the living room. I thought I heard that Morse code sound, beep, b-beep, beep, of a special news report. That’s probably what actually woke me. The rest were in the kitchen making a snack. We all hurried to the living room. It might be good news for a change. The report had just started.
... in what the military is calling Operation BrightLight, all enemy nest ships have been either captured or destroyed. At approximately noon Eastern Standard Time a coordinated worldwide military operation against all enemy positions resulted in a decisive victory for humanity. Here is some footage provided by the EDF, the Earth Defense Forces, Coalition Office. It shows the synchronized destruction of a number of the enemy nest ships. We apologize for the quality of the video. The EDF did give caution, the enemy may still have reserve forces off-world. They gave their assurance of an ultimate victory ...
Everyone is looking at me. What was I doing? I’m so tired lately. Did I fall asleep again? I hope I wasn’t drooling or something. I heard part of the Intelinet news report. They called the operation BrightLight. That was cool.
“What you guys looking at? Operation BrightLight is a pretty good name, isn’t it?”
They’re still looking at me, all concerned. Fine, I’ll look for myself. Let’s see. Recorder settings, pull up the time stamp for the news report. Beep, b-beep, beep. There’s the start of the news report. Adjust the angle. And there I am mumbling. I’m sleep-talking for goodness sakes. It almost looks like I’m in a trance, eyes half closed. What am I saying? Volume.
Oh, I remember studying this stuff, the stuff I’m mumbling about. It’s from an article. I read that part of the article a bunch of times trying to better understand the basics of a nuclear detonation, prior to the BrightLight op. The thought of using nukes bothered me. I know, there was no other choice. I must have memorized part of the article.
No wonder they were all staring at me as I mumbled. “Immediately after a nuclear explosion there is a bright flash of light followed by a massive pressure wave that moves outward from the site of detonation. It accelerates the air following just behind the pressure wave to a very high velocity. That’s the blast effect. It’s all one enormous shockwave. There is tremendous heat from the nuclear fireball, intense lethal x-ray pulses, and deadly nuclear radiation. The bomb debris and contaminated material from the blast area result in fallout that is highly radioactive and can be spread over a large area.”
They are still looking at me. Let’s see if I can work up a good scowl. “So, I’m sleep-talking a little these days. I’m fine. Get over it.”
I hate being a part of turning anything into nuclear dust. Well, anything except maybe a bug queen. There is no way around it though. We have to do it. I feel a fit of inspiration coming on. It’s about time our little team had a name. Shockwave. It just seems appropriate after this mission. Shockwave is what we are, more than that, it’s what we must become.
CHAPTER FOUR
THE MARTIANS.
September 8 th We are about to have a short briefing session. Do you remember what I journaled earlier, how Mr. T thought U.S. officials knew something unusual was happening on Mars? Quite a few countries have at least tried to send ships to Mars. There were a lot of failures for one reason or another. Some missions were successful though. Now I’m sure the landing location and type of mission may have been a factor with regard to success or failure. You’ve seen the vids from all those rovers on Mars. Evidently there is more to the story. Let’s hear from Mr. T.
“The U.S. government has the location coordinates of the Mars base. A robotic rover was sent to Mars on the latest iteration of NASAs space launch system. The rover stood watch over the bug base for almost two months. Unfortunately, scanning quality across the spectrum was substandard, the transmitter barely functional. The bugs may have jammed the rover’s signal. Or there could have been interference because of base electronic activity.
“The enemy knew the rover was there, and monitoring. It would be hard to miss. Still, they just let it sit there. They didn’t seem to care. At times they even seemed to be taunting us. But they didn’t allow any overflights of their base.”
Mr. T brought up a grainy image of a bug waggling something at the rover and it looked like he was pumping his head up and down. “At this point, it would take us too long to mount a mission that could be a threat to them. It would take months for a conventional ship to reach Mars. By then it will all be over. Still, it’s probably not a coincidence that the rover went dark yesterday at 09:15.”
The bugs should be getting nervous. All those ships going dark at the same time surely rattled them.
Shockwave needs a precise location for the Mars base. The government has that information. But Mr. T hasn’t been able to wrangle the coordinates from them. It’s classified as “need to know.” And why would we need to have location information? The officials are aware we were behind BrightLight. That may not have sunk in yet. Or, they think a similar operation on Mars would be impossible. Actually, it’s probably all the gate keepers. It’s so hard to get through to someone who can actually make a quick decision.
Rock is right though. Better these walls to climb over than being jammed into a more direct chain of command. There isn’t time to become immersed in a conventional command structure, allow them to develop a complete understanding of our capabilities, and then utilize us effectively. We would lose the war.
Mars is next. But while we’re at it, we need to know a lot more about the Moon base. We don’t know the location of that base either. I’m not sure anyone does. Perhaps we should be more forthcoming about our ... capabilities. For sure, we need to talk to our general. Our general.
I haven’t been able to find out much about him other than he’s a special advisor to POTUS (President of the United States). He clearly has a good deal of influence. And Mr. T has the phone. A little chit-chat with the general about Mars? Come on, put it on speaker. There you go. Crud, I didn’t hit the stupid button. There.
General: “If we had to, we could get an armed ship to Mars in four months or so. Probably.”
Mr. T: “Shockwave can do better.”
General: “Shockwave. Clever name. How can ... Shockwave ... do better?”
Mr. T: “Remember all those bug ships that went away at 09:00 yesterday? It’s like that.”
General: “Mars is quite a hike.”
Mr. T: “Not for us.”
General: “Do tell. Let’s see what I can do about getting you some coordinates.”
***
*COMMUNAL: Communal recommends a minimum of 50 megatons to accomplish the objective. The low atmospheric pressure on Mars will impact the blast effect. We have analyzed the base information provided to Mr. T by the general. (*LOCK. We may or may not have reviewed additional information sent by the rover to EDF-Intelisat-12 as well*). See recommended coordinates for bomb placement which has been uploaded to www.shockwave.gov . Bombs away!
***
Well, that’s interesting Communal. I didn’t know we had a website. When did Mr. T have time to put that together? I’ll pass this along right away. 50 megatons. I’m not sure they make them that big. My whole life seems to be one big multitask project these days. I should let Mr. T’s AI help more often. Sorry. I’m rambling. Still tired.
The Intelinet outlets have been given more latitude with what they can show. There has been a lot of footage of those bug ships flashing out of existence. The news guys have been playing up the special ops te
am involved in the carnage. Isn’t that something? A grandad together with a few kids, we are being called a special ops team by the media.
* FLASHNOTE to Mr. T from Viz: We need a 50-megaton bomb. Communal has bomb placement information, which they forwarded it to our secure website, www.shockwave.gov. *
I need to let him know about the concern that Rock and I shared. Well, Rock shared the concern with me. Oh, Mr. T just hung up. He’s been on the phone with some scientist friends while we wait for the general to call back. Here’s your opportunity Rock.
Rock is on task. “A nuclear device will use plutonium-239 or uranium-235. They are not naturally occurring elements. Well, not generally. If we port a bomb to Mars, the fissile material needed will probably not be available to the quantum realm for entanglement. The closest supply would be Earth. We just don’t know how material that doesn’t occur naturally would be transported from here to there. Viz and I were talking.”
Mr. T rubbed his chin. “That’s good forward-thinking you two. I thought of that myself and did a little back channel investigating. The rover on Mars near the base was equipped with a nuclear device. It was an extremely large nuclear device. Unfortunately, the bugs fried the triggering mechanism. It won’t detonate. It’s like I said, they were taunting us. But the fissile material is still there. We’ll have to make do with what we can get.
“Viz, I did see your flashnote about the need for 50 megs. Communal must have had a tiny short-circuit though. There is no secure website for Shockwave. You only came up with the name yesterday. We do need a secure site though. That’s a good idea. A bomb of that size will need to come from Russia. The U.S. doesn’t have a nuclear device with that high of a yield. And now isn’t the time to put something together in a back room.
“Russia will cooperate. The composition of the nuclear material on the Russian bomb will match that of the material from the rover. Let’s just say, the rover was a joint project. Good job you two. Keep that kind of thinking front and center!”
The general is already calling back. That was fast. Mr. T put the phone on speaker. Let’s try some different AI recording functions.
* General
* Mr. T
* General
* Mr. T
* General
* Mr. T
* General
* Mr. T:
*
*
There was a rustling sound in the background. Then we were placed on hold. Time dragged on. But, you know, for the government it seemed as though things had been moving along relatively quickly. Even I knew this was a big ask. Mr. T has his eyes closed. A quick power nap. Not a bad idea.
***
+ BEGIN TIMELINE DROP. Drop by Viz.
Note 1: A disclosure.
Note 2: A similar drop disclosure was made earlier in the timeline. This one does have some different content though. Crud. I’ll have to figure out how there could be different content if it is just a duplicate drop. What was that? A massive explosion in the distance. Something-
This isn’t a science journal or a strict military journal. It’s hard enough trying to run and keep up with all that’s going on and make sure the important information gets into the Journal. Seriously, I am often, literally, running along and journaling. The science stuff is mostly correct. True, I should task the AIs, or at least Albert (my personal AI), to double check and suggest corrections. Especially when I’m trying to keep up with Rock and Roll, and all their chatter.
The problem is, the AIs are so stinking picky. On top of that, truth be told, I’m not sure Albert is completely sane.
Anyway, the Journal is too general to get into a lot of technical stuff. Hey, if you want to take the time to review the AI corrections and make any changes, you go for it, baby. Sorry if that sounds a little testy. I’m up late memorizing operations data. And, evidently, I’m a little cranky.
It’s like all the Rock and Roll stuff. I have the Journal filter their technical talk. I do that using an algorithm specifically designed to translate their yacking, toning it down to an elementary level. Half the time they’re spouting off lines and lines of equations to get their point across. And every year it gets worse. If I’m not careful, this could become a math journal, for goodness sakes.
I knew they were always good at math; from the time they were little kids. But I didn’t know they could have entire discussions using just math. In all those symbols and lines they see amazing things. They consider the makeup of other realms. Yeah, good for them, I'll stick to using math when I have to. END TIMELINE DROP. +
***
Rock and Roll are on their computers. No doubt researching all things quantum. Rock has a little smile on his face, totally engrossed. Whatever he’s reading must be super exciting. Let’s take a peek. Oh, for goodness sakes. It’s some mathematical formula taking up pages and pages. Looks like gibberish and squiggles. He’s certainly enjoying it though. Back to my seat.
On the way, let’s see what Para’s reading. Some dumb glamor magazine or something. I’ll give her a good scowl. And she stuck her tongue out at me! Back at you Para. We’re so bored.
Where’s Muncle? He was here a second ago. There he is on top of the refrigerator. He’s gnawing on a banana, must be bored too, doesn’t even like bananas.
What’s that flashing? The AI logged off? I didn’t know an AI could get bored. Oh, it looks like I set the thing on a 10-minute off cycle. The general’s back. Finally.
The general cleared his throat. “The U.S. does not currently have a nuke with that high of a yield. Our largest is the MK-41 with a yield of 25 megatons. I might have a work-around. What is your maximum payload capacity?”
Mr. T looked at Rock and Roll. “What is your combined maximum weight limit for porting?”
Rock had that look of his, like he was about to correct a mistake. Mr. T saw it too. “I understand it isn’t the weight, exactly, that matters. It’s mass. But I’ve heard you use weight to get a general feel for a port lift.”
Rock turned to Roll. “Capsule?”
Roll thought for a split second. “4,152 pounds.”
Rock glared. “Really? Exactly 4,152 pounds?”
Roll shrugged. “Give or take a few ounces. Hey, sometimes details matter. Add 500 pounds for cargo.” He whispered to Rock. “You know, for us, and such.”
Rock and Roll turned to Mr. T and said at the same time. “4,652 pounds. We could do 5,000.”
Mr. T shook his head a little and smiled. “Did you hear that general?”
The general had heard. He had heard it all. “5,000 pounds. They will have to strip it down. You don’t need a full casing, do you? You’re not going to drop it from an aircraft?”
Mr. T shook his head. “No. The outer casing should be stripped, if you don’t mind. We need the best yield to weight ratio we can manage.”
The line was quiet for a minute and then the general came back. “Okay. I have a friend who was involved in that ... special project. You remember our discussion. I’ll call back shortly.”
I assume that special project was the bomb on the rover near the Mars base. Break time. I’m not going to miss this opportunity for a nap.
The general called back in less than 10 minutes.
Mr. T said hello and put the general on speaker. “A friend has your device in stock. I would like you to meet Alexei. Alexei is on t
he General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and adjunct officer in the Earth Defense Force Cabinet.”
Mr. T seemed to recognize the name. “It’s good to know you Alexei.”
Alexei had a kind sounding voice. “Is good to know you. Alexei is prefer drop bomb on bug, not bug drop bomb on Alexei. How you receive bomb?
Mr. T had a suggestion. “Could we come and pick it up in an hour or so?”
Alexei didn’t sound surprised at the short time interval. “Is excellent. We provide location coordinates. You provide transportation. Yes?”
Mr. T sealed the deal. “Yes. We’ll be there ... uhh ... we’ll have someone there to pick up the package in exactly one hour. Thanks.”
The general passed along the location coordinates for a storage facility. A warehouse. The bomb would be there, somewhere near Vladivostok, in Russia. Our general obviously knew Shockwave had a special mode of transportation.
Mr. T used the “p” word, porting, with the general on the line. But it wasn’t time yet to disseminate that information broadly. So, Mr. T brought along a little distraction, just in case anyone was observing. We popped into the bomb warehouse under invisibility cloak. No human guards. They were probably in the area, just outside the warehouse.
Mr. T triggered his little distraction. He said it was a miniaturized EMP generator. As on the bug ships, the pulse messes up any electronics, like cameras and what have you. This one was a lot smaller than the devices used on the bug ships. No sense doing too much damage.
Rock and Roll took one look and shook their heads. We popped back to the lab. New plan. I needed to go, so we could be cloaked. Rock, Roll, and I made the round trip in seconds flat.
I wonder how much a big bomb like that weighs. Oops, I wonder how much mass a big bomb like that has. The twins said it maxed out their lift capability. Good incentive to practice with more massive objects, right guys? I still suspect the Russians were able to watch what happened, despite the EMP. If so, it would have looked like a flash from the EMP, a short pause, and then the bomb just disappeared. Poof. We ported the bomb to the desert location where we handled the other nukes for Operation BrightLight.