Battle for Earth

by Hammer Trollkin

  “There were occasional odd energy signatures reported near the Moon and Mars. Just so, Earth government officials have known of unusual activity on there for at least 5 years as you can see from the briefing reports. We still don’t have a good understanding of what is taking place on the moon. Thanks to the brave astronauts that made the BugEye observation run possible, at least we have the Moon base location.

  “As far as this empire is concerned, we know very little, though we do know something of their plans and methodology. The bugs are an advance force sent by the rulers of a vast empire to investigate and soften target worlds. Those in charge of the Empire are NOT bugs. It is of utmost importance to quickly and effectively deal with what is taking place at the Empire base on the Moon.

  “The Moon base is large. And not all of it is underground. A portion of what they are building is in near-Moon orbit, geostationary Moon orbit. That orbital portion is certainly a recent addition. Perhaps orbit is not quite the correct term. The anomaly in space maintains a hovering position in tight alignment to the Lunar ground base. We would never see it from Earth. And we now understand its purpose.

  “The Empire is building what we will call an anchor point. It is an anchor point for a space portal. In sci-fi it would be called a wormhole or a stargate, something like that. BugEye didn’t last long. But it lasted long enough to take some interesting readings . Of specific import, Darkside base, the anomaly, is now emitting gravitational waves. It is important to understand matter and energy can warp space-time.

  “Those gravitational waves detected by BugEye are like ripples in space-time. The Empire is in the process of creating something that will warp space-time and the byproduct we have detected includes gravitational ripples. Those ripples are now barely detectable. That will change.

  “There will be another base at some distant location in Empire controlled space with a similar anchor point, also warping space-time. That distant anchor point will be aligned with this Lunar point and a connecting tunnel will be forced between the points. Just so, when the two warped points are brought together in alignment there will be a portal gate bridge between worlds.

  “It is a near certainty, this Empire has a complex interconnected web of portals aligning many points in space. Those act as bridges between the worlds of the Empire. Earth could soon be a short journey away from those Empire home worlds. If that happens, it’s all over.

  “The bug invasion has been difficult. Except for many happy circumstances we would have already been overcome by the bugs. They should have started with a larger invasion force. Their tactics have been poor, with the bugs relying on terror rather than a coherent military strategy.

  “They could have used their technological advantage and bombed us from space. Or exploited our reliance on electronic systems and subdued us by using an EMP. The bugs could have controlled us through our electrical and electronic smart-grid weaknesses. They mostly left our satellites alone, even military birds. I could go on and on recounting their many errors. The invasion has been thwarted because of those errors, and because they have underestimated us.

  “Even so, the Empire, with a portal near Earth, will be able to bring massive firepower to bear. We will be conquered, enslaved. ”

  It was quiet in the room as Mr. T gave his message some time to sink in. He continued.

  “The bugs are now being extremely cautious. Their technological advantage is still intact. Even with the few ships remaining to them, they could win a war from space. There are a few things in our favor. We have some ... technological capabilities ... that have worked especially well against them.

  “Knowing of the Darkside base and their intent to open a portal gate is key information. Having knowledge of an Empire, an enemy threat even greater than the bugs, is critical. If we can defeat their portal project, that will buy the time we will need to be able to face the real enemy.

  “We will need time to prepare, in order to defeat the Empire. Yes, it will be necessary to defeat the Empire. Even though they have been walking among the stars for a very long time and we have barely started to explore our own back yard, our own little Solar System, we will need to defeat them. ”

  Mr. T determined from his interviews with the bug queens, that we could not negotiate with the Empire. The Empire is evil. We need to end them, at least the evil rulers now in charge of the Empire. That is something we, humanity, would need to accomplish.

  Mr. T continued. “The Empire probably does not have ships that can travel faster than the speed of light. They are limited in that way until a portal bridge is built. But with an operational portal bridge between two gates, travel from point to point is instantaneous. It is like crossing a short bridge, or moving through a short tunnel. But, to set up a working portal gate, they need to send a physical ship and team through normal space to the final destination of the bridge run. That’s where the bugs come in.

  “The scientific community is of the opinion their ships can cruise at about half the speed of light. That’s fast from our technological perspective. We will continue to back-engineer the bug ships. That will change some things. It will open up our Solar System. I’m sure there will be a Disneyland or something on Mars within 10 years.

  “Yet, even at half of light speed, it would take a long time to travel between stars. Traveling from Earth at that incredible velocity, it would still take over 8-years to reach the nearest star other than our sun. Without a working portal gate at Luna the stellar distances work in our favor.

  “According to the best information available to us, the nearest Empire base with a portal gate that could be used to threaten Earth is ... let’s say ... 50 years away. The timeline could be longer, but we will be cautious with our estimates. We believe the stellar system where this bug invasion originated as Trappist-1. That is likely the location of the nearest portal gate to Earth, assuming we interdict successfully at Luna. Trappist is 40 light years from Earth.

  “I want to tell you now of a major technological advantage we do hold. Listen carefully. Until further notice, what you are about to hear can-not be shared with anyone outside this room. If that happens, it will be treated as treason against the United States of America. Is that correct general?” (The general just nodded a quick, yes.) “Life in prison, no chance of parole. At the least. Understood?” (Everyone in the room nodded yes). “I need to hear it.”

  “Yes,” was the resounding reply. All caught on an AI recording no doubt.

  Mr. T continued once more. “We can travel great distances without their type of portal. Almost anywhere. Instantaneously. There are limitations. Those limitations do not impact our plans to eliminate the Darkside threat. We will leverage that strategic advantage. But we will not underestimate our enemy. They have dominance in space. Their base is well defended. They are dug in, and ready for us. They also have a lot of hostages. That may have been their main purpose in moving people off-world, presumably to their Moon base. They are hostages.

  “If the portal gate remains in enemy hands, most of the inhabitants of Earth will be moved through Darkside to another world. Other ... beings ... will then come through the portal gate to live on Earth in our place.”

  The dissertation provoked a lot of questions. And plenty of statements. But the meeting is finally winding down.

  The team already knew of that 50 year window as well as the apparent cruising speed of a bug ship, pegged at 50%-light. The math wasn’t hard. But at first, the 50 year window didn’t make sense. If the nearest enemy base is 40 light years away, at 50% of the speed of light (.5C), it would take at least 80 years for another invasion force to reach us. Why the 50-year window?

  I came to understand relativistic effects start to greatly increase above .5C and become extremely problematic as the velocity of matter moves past .7C or .8C. The 50-year assumption allows for a maximum of .8C. Beyond that velocity, it seems unlikely the energy cost curve can be overcome; too steep. That’s all wrapped up in the E = MC2 equation.

&nb
sp; By my way of thinking, the equation seemed to show that as mass increases, size increases, and as a result more energy would be needed to push something like a ship. I ran that conjecture past Rock. His explanation gave me a headache, of course. He talked about the changes that would take place as observed by someone on the ship approaching light speed, and how the observation would be different if someone was observing remotely.

  The increase in mass is more a function of energy, with the change in the size (okay, change in mass) of a ship not exactly a factor. That energy requirement would increase asymptotically as velocity increased. Asymptotically? See what I mean about getting a headache? I said I thought asymptomatic-whatever was more of a medical thing. He then said asymptotically is the adverb of asymptote. At that point I started rummaging for a Tylenol.

  He scowled a little and said to think of it this way. The mass curve was more exponential than logarithmic. That’s not so hard to grasp. Why didn’t he say that in the first place? More incremental energy would be required at higher velocities. The mass curve steepens for sure at .5C and takes off fast after .7C or .8C. Isn’t that what I said in the first place?

  Anyway, it would become very difficult to travel at velocities more than .7C or .8C. Of course, our science guys were amazed the bugs could travel at .5C. We had to consider the possibility that the Empire had access to faster ships. Somewhere along the way, at some planning session, they decided to use 50 years for strategic planning models. They assumed a maximum velocity of .8C. Like I said, beyond that, the mass curve was considered too steep to climb. Clear as swamp mud?

  As I look over at Para and the twins, they all look kind of glassy-eyed too. It feels like a hundred years have been poured into the last week. We really have been through a lot. I suppose reality is starting to hit home. This whole thing has only just started. We’re moving toward an interstellar war. A good bit of the war effort could fall on us, Shockwave, a few kids and a grandad with some unique abilities.

  Hold on. A shift. The mood in the room has changed. The government and military folk look a little nervous. These are smart people. I wonder why it has taken so long to understand. Even if we destroy this portal, the enemy will merely come back and try again. The next time they will be sneakier about it. They will set up their base a little further out. Be a little quieter. Utilize a better invasion strategy. Then they will come at us ... hard. We will need to be decisive as to what we do next. They will never leave us alone.

  Mr. T finished up. “We will reconvene Monday, September 18th, 09:00. Study the information in the folios you will receive as you exit the conference room. Share it with your colleagues the information in the folio. Say nothing about our instantaneous travel capability. Bring back some good ideas. We’ll call an end to the meeting, 11:43. Thank you ladies and gentlemen.”

  From the briefing packet, the consensus is Mars Base was a staging area for their ships. True, most of their ships were based there. But Darkside is the primary base. This invasion isn’t over. Not by a long shot.

  CHAPTER SIX

  BY THE DARKSIDE OF THE MOON. THE BIG PICTURE.

  September 17 th I’ll give a weekend wrap up. Ms. Findley really knew how to cheer us up after that long meeting on Friday. It was lunchtime when the meeting finally ended. She had some awesome hamburgers, fries, and milkshakes set up in the lunchroom. I don’t think that’s an office manager’s job. Isn’t she great?

  We took the weekend off from work. All of us went home and told our folks we had a short break between assignments. We spent some real quality time with our families. Then I was talked into going surfing. Yeah, I’ll write a little more about that in a minute. We caught a decent movie and dinner with the folks. Some of us attended church. I slept in till almost noon on Saturday. That felt good!

  On Saturday, I got up and had a quick breakfast. Well, it was noon, so I guess it was lunch. It made me feel a little guilty having all this leisure time. An alert message keeps screaming in my head; we should be hitting Darkside by now. I hate this. We’re either running as fast as we can. Or, sitting on our hands. It did feel good to catch up on some sleep though. Para wasn’t around when I got up. Where did she go, I wondered, as my s-loop chimed.

  ***

  SURFING WITH ROCK AND ROLL

  Rock called just after breakfast/lunch with what I took to be a birthday surprise. “Let’s go surfing.”

  I explained in my most practical voice. “We don’t surf ... dude.”

  He wasn’t having any of that. “Oh, but you’re going to be wound-up over this kind of surfing. Come over to the shop.”

  In my dumb little head, I was like, why not, I’ve been shot at, kind of blown up, and stomped by giant bugs. Surfing sounded rather ordinary. Perfect. Since we were wee kids, we have been going boogie boarding, so we all have wetsuits. The water along the Washington coast is cold even in the summer. We usually end up by the jetty near Westport. Boogie boarding isn’t surfing, but there are some similarities. Why not have a try at surfing?

  It was surprising how fast life had gone back to a semblance of normalcy with the departure of the bugs; including the crowded roadways. We would probably just port though. Little did I know; the twins had a different type of surfing in mind. I moseyed along to the twin’s shop.

  Well, it’s actually the shop for the mobile home park. It’s a huge metal building. I’m not sure who had it built. It’s way too large for the needs of the park. Whoever built it must not have had a good eye for scale. The twins aren’t complaining; worked out great for them. They have had use of most of the shop building for years. No one minds. A lot of tenants have received help repairing all sorts of equipment and gadgets curtesy of the boys.

  Anyway, remember when I said the twins had been working on a space ship? Well, they don’t have a fully functional ship, not exactly. Just a capsule with a rocket of sorts. I have to admit, it’s a sweet space capsule. Roll has always done well in shop classes. He even managed to spend extra time with one of the shop teachers for some special experimental jobs program, resulting in Roll becoming a decent welder. I don’t even know how they were able to integrate the composite materials into the design.

  The capsule is well built. It has a nose cone that is heat resistant, but no actual reentry shield at the base. They won’t need that until they have the fuel and staging all worked out. The thing is air tight. It has heating and air conditioning. Oxygen flow. It’s a nice three seat job.

  They have a working rocket engine, though that won’t be completely ready any time soon. The fuel is tricky. Getting the fuel to the rocket engine in sufficient quantity to attain the required delta-v to bust the gravity well of Earth, that’s even trickier. No one wants to get blown up. The reentry shielding is another problem. It gets extra hot during reentry. Burnt to a cinder hot.

  I suppose they have a better solution now anyway. They can port something the size of the capsule, though it’s close to the maximum of their combined lift ability (without a heat shield). It definitely takes both of them working together to port the thing. They’ve been practicing so they can “carry a little extra payload.” That would be me. Extra payload my foot. Anyway, here’s their idea of surfing. Yes, I did try it. Once. That was enough, thank you very much.

  This is how they do it. They get the capsule all nice and warm, oxygen flowing, then hop in. Next up is a port to an orbital position near Jupiter. From there they need to do a series of porting adjustments to set up a highly elliptical orbit.

  Rock gets all excited just talking about it. “We need to hit the sweet spot to surf. There are a few basic calculations needed. This surfing thing is really just a matter of some basic math.”

  Roll rolled his eyes. “Yeah, just some math. And a tiny bit of engineering to be sure the capsule is airtight; heat, ventilation, and lighting; the guidance system, you sure don’t want to end up to close to a Van Allen belt; shielding from radiation and magnetic fields; radar. Then, there are the pressure gauges, oxygen feeds. We’ve go
t to have our tunes! Well, I could go on and on now, couldn’t I?”

  Rock raised his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay. Math and a little bit of engineering and such.”

  So, they teleport out to Jupiter. It’s a good thing they’re smart. Because it’s cold out by Jupiter. The capsule has a good heater. Also, Jupiter is big. Incredibly big. A lot of gravity. Crushing gravity. There is the magnetic field; 20,000 times greater than on Earth. A super powerful radiation belt too.

  They port in close enough to get a good gravity tug from Jupiter. As they skim the gravity well of the planet, they have to make some adjustments to set up the right angular momentum to gain that elliptical orbit. It’s a little technical but that’s the gist of it. As the capsule moves around Jupiter it goes incredibly fast. It’s bumpy. I thought I would die!

  Roll said, “You have to hit just the right spot. We call it threading-the-needle.”

  Yeah, I went “surfing” with Rock and Roll. It’s a wild, bumpy ride. Way worse than any fun ride you’ve been on at a theme park. Crazy kind of stuff. I was sure I was going to die. I’ll never do it again. Besides, what if NASA or the bugs or someone saw us ... threading-the-needle. It’s a good thing Mr. T has a lot of stuff for them to do. We really do need to keep them extra busy and out of trouble. Boys!

  ***

  + BEGIN TIMELINE DROP. This is a drop.

  Source: WalkMate VidPro Recording.

  “Grandad, do you know who the new guys are?” Liz asked.

  “I’m not sure. Better go now, your sensei is calling,” Grandad responded.