“The island of stability,” Colleen said, with a note of awe in her voice. “These are isotopes we’ve hypothesized, but never found before.”
“Island of stability? What is that?” The tall African man asked.
“Many of the higher end elements are highly unstable, having half-lives much less than a second before they evaporate. There was some supposition that there are several elements with even higher atomic numbers which could decay over centuries or even millennium,” Colleen said, still scrutinizing the readings. “From everything I see here, this is one of them. This is…amazing.”
“What are its properties?” Nabhitha asked.
Captain Amobi swiped his hand once again, providing another page of information that was fairly sparse. “We didn’t want to experiment too much, but it isn’t radioactive. However, it’s incredibly tough and light. I bought a sample with me.”
Colleen perked up. “Nabhitha, can you be on the next orbital down to Atlantis with that sample? I want to get a closer look at it.”
The pretty Indian woman nodded, giving Toya a somewhat disappointed look. The tall man laughed, shaking his head. “Don’t worry; I will send some Suya down with you.”
Nabhitha sighed. “It’s just not the same as fresh, but I’ll take it. Okay, I’ll see you soon, Colleen.”
“I’ll be waiting,” Colleen said, then paused. “Captain Amobi, whoever discovered this at the moon base. You may wish to tell them they will need to come up with a good name for this element. Usually, it’s named after the person that discovers it, but it’s up to them. Whatever they decide, it’s going to go down in history books.”
Chapter 5
Time: May 6, 2036
Location: Somewhere North of Rio Araca in the State of Amazonas, Brazil
Major Nathan Adamson and his men moved through the wet greenery of the Amazon rainforest at a brisk pace. Empyrean security had reformed into a semi-military organization a few years back, granting Nathan his old rank. It worked better for their growing organization which was required as their facilities expanded in number, both public and hidden.
Except for today, they were deep in the Amazon jungle, pursuing a hidden enemy that had dogged them for years. Despite the heat and being on the tail end of the wet season, they were making excellent time with none of the usual discomforts of being in such a challenging environment. For that alone, Nathan was thrilled with the completely contained armored suits.
The Guardian armor had gone through several development cycles, but they had endeavored to make the suit useful for a wide variety of hostile environments. Due to the fact that those environments would include space and planets with no atmosphere, it’s frame had necessitated a fully enclosed, powered system that could support the solider within for upwards of twelve hours.
The other part that Nathan was thrilled with was the muscle assist features. Bundles of muscle analog were woven throughout the frame, augmenting a soldier’s movement and increasing his actual strength by a factor of five. This was necessary because despite the relative lightness of the incredibly tough material the armor was made of it still weighed in excess of one hundred and fifty-five pounds before any other modular equipment was added.
Overall, this allowed him and his soldiers to move faster, further, and with much greater ease than any other soldier in history. A fact that was serving them well as they moved through some of the most difficult terrains on the planet toward their very isolated target.
The Skytiger that had dropped them off several miles away was now floating high up in the atmosphere out of sight as it monitored the situation through drones. The Mother drones had been released as the Skytiger descended, sending them out and mapping the area that Nathan and his people were expected to move through. While they floated above the canopy, an army of much smaller drones was sent out in clouds around it which could penetrate the canopy with ease. By the time they had established the perimeter and set off into the jungle , they already had a good overview of a few square miles in their immediate vicinity.
An hour later, Nathan called a halt to his group, crouching down and focusing on the HUD, causing it to switch into a command overview. To anyone who was looking at him and didn’t know any better, it would appear as if a silent, armored figure were pointing to thin air. To Nathan and his three team leads, a shared holomap was projected directly into their eyes but appeared to them as if it lay before them, showing a vivid map of the area around the shack.
“Okay, boys and girls, time to get to work. We’re about a mile from our location, and the drones are picking up muted electronic emanation starting about one hundred meters from the fence around the shack.” Nathan said, making the detections appear in muted red on the holomap. “We don’t have a full picture yet, but we can extrapolate the rest of the circle, though I want confirmation. Don’t just assume. The drones will probably have a complete picture once we get there but stay on your toes. Gonzales, you and your team take point. I want to get confirmation on what those are before we have to cross that line.”
“Any explosive residue picked up?” Samantha asked, her voice transmitted over the command channel.
“Not yet, but don’t assume there isn’t any. Also, keep an eye out for low tech traps, too. I doubt it can get through the armor, but no sense in tempting fate. That’s just the kind of thing that will catch us out if we’re not careful.” Nathan replied. He shifted, triggering a small green sphere to appear on the landscape further back in the jungle. “We’ll set up our command station here and wait until we have your intel. Once we’re within three hundred meters, activate your cloaks to minimize being spotted. Any questions?”
The three team leads shook their heads whereupon Nathan stood, signaling for them to head back to their teams. Samantha and her three soldiers moved out immediately, moving at a fast pace while Riley and Sokolov fell in behind Nathan when he moved out a few minutes later.
With the ability of their suits, it was not long until they arrived at the designated camp, quickly clearing the underbrush while Sokolov set up a perimeter guard. There wasn’t need to do much, but Nathan wanted to have enough room so he could set up a command table. This was a more detailed hologram than what he’d used earlier, giving him access to not only the overhead map but a full workstation that accessed drone feeds and the Skytiger itself.
“How is the air traffic?” he asked his eye-in-the-sky.
“Nothing that is approaching our airspace and everything five hundred miles out is commercial. We haven’t detected any increase in the radar pings coming from the local stations,” one of the techs on the Skytiger said. Unsurprisingly, there were well hidden but sophisticated radar stations located on several mountain peaks close to the shack. It was several generations more effective than anything the Brazilians had, which just showed them they were on the right track. “The drones have finished surveying the initial area and are beginning to branch out.”
“Keep some close by, just in case,” Nathan said, then switched over to an incoming signal from Gonzales. “Go ahead.”
“We’ve found one of the sensors but are keeping our distance,” Samantha said, showing a visual from her helmet camera on one of Nathan’s screens. It showed a close-up of what looked like a small tree, though on close inspection, there was a faintly plastic sheen to the bark. It was well done, but not perfect. “There are some motion, IR, and sound sensors located within the construct, along with some suspicious cavities about chest height. I’m betting they are explosives.”
“Can you sneak a snooper drone close?”
“Already ahead of you,” Samantha responded. “It’s crawling down the trunk right now, getting a deep scan. Everything above two meters is just solid resin, but I bet once we get below the explosives, we’ll get a hard wire we might be able to tap into. There’s no wireless signal we can detect.”
“How many are we talking about?” Nathan asked, watching the information they were sharing appear on the automatic mission lo
g.
“They’re spaced randomly every twenty meters, and with a depth variable of about thirty meters with two layers for coverage. I’m getting more readings on that cavity. It’s coming through now.”
Nathan watched as the schematic of the tree formed, filling in from the top down while the snoop drone moved lower. The cavity was a good twenty centimeters tall, which could hold a lot of explosive, but the space was filled with what was apparently a flechette material. These were angled to cover a reasonably wide range, but Nathan suspected the ones closer to the shack would cover a narrower angle.
After the drone moved past the explosive, a light appeared on his console, growing stronger until it moved from orange to green. Nathan smiled, knowing that indicated a wire the drone might be able to tap into, piggybacking on the communication link and hopefully into the base he suspected was below the shack.
“Bingo,” Samantha said, mirroring Nathan’s approval. “Do you want to have the Skytiger boys try to hack in, or wait?”
Nathan hesitated for only a moment before answering. “No, not yet. I want a full scan of that sensor station first, just in case. Let’s make sure this isn’t a dummy wire.”
Samantha grunted but agreed with Nathan. This shadow enemy was crafty and had avoided detection from Empyrean for several years. That was no mean feat, especially considering they continued carrying out terrorist attacks against them through that whole time. Today was the first time they’d gotten close to what they hoped was one of their facilities, but there were no guarantees. There had been several false leads which had resulted in further deaths or destruction to Empyrean personnel. It had taught them to be cautious.
Chapter 6
Time: May 6, 2036
Location: Somewhere North of Rio Araca in the State of Amazonas, Brazil
They scanned three sensor trees before feeling confident enough in trying to establish a link. A short time later, with four snoop drones clutching to several areas around the trunk, they began their electronic intrusion. Nathan waited patiently, watching the lines of code scroll by as the technicians and online computers aboard the Skytiger threw themselves against the firewall.
Even from the beginning, Nathan could tell it would not be easy as time seemed to drag on. He listened to the tech’s chatter and could hear the strain in their voices. After several minutes, he noticed things paused, and a request was sent up into orbit.
“Report?” Nathan asked, interrupting the silence that had descended over the line as the techs waited for a response.
“We have to call up to Gateway,” one of the tech’s responded. “I think we can hack in, but doing so without being detected might be an issue. We’re pulling back until we can get Gateway to help us with some processing power.”
Nathan was just about to respond when an urgent alert from Samantha came over the command channel. “We have movement from the shack,” she said. Despite the armor being soundproof, she unconsciously whispered. “A man is coming out. Looks to be native, but he’s got a pair of binoculars and is scanning the tree line.”
“Any indication that he spotted you?” Nathan asked.
“No, he’s concentrating about thirty degrees to the left from our position, and we’re pretty far back in the jungle. Even if we were five meters in front of him, we’re not moving so he wouldn’t be able to see through our holocloaks.”
“If those are normal binoculars,” Nathan added.
“True,” Samantha said.
“Looks like it might be a Jaguar,” the Skytiger broke in. “Heat signature shows the right shape, and it's within their detection zone.” There was a short pause, then the voice continued. “Looks like its heading in your direction, team three.”
Samantha cursed. That would be just their luck for the big cat to come waltzing directly through their small formation. Because the suit was self-contained, there would be no human smell, but that wasn’t to say the armor didn’t have its own unusual odor.
Nathan heard her, chuckling softly. “Gonzales, don’t worry. Even if you jumped out in front of the Jaguar and it leaped for you, it wouldn’t win. Its claws can’t get through your armor, and you’re a lot stronger than it is right now.”
“I know, sir, but it’s the motion that would be the problem. The man is staying outside and watching the cat’s path. If he sees us move, the whole mission will be in jeopardy.”
“Good point, Gonzales. Do your best not to let that happen.”
Samantha sent a silent confirmation but didn’t answer. He was right. The cat couldn’t hurt her through her armor, and she should have no need to fight back. If worse came to worse, she could give it a quick electrical discharge from her in-suit taser without needing to move too much. Still, saying that and being face to face with a big cat were two very different things.
She passed on her conversation and thoughts to the rest of her team, tracking the cat as it moved through the underbrush. Their drones were doing a good job of following it, but they couldn’t see it, even when it came to within about five to ten meters of their position before pausing.
“Why did it stop?” Johnson asked in a tiny whisper.
“Probably because it heard you are peeing your pants,” Kelly responded at full volume, her voice making everyone visibly startle.
“Kelly!” Samantha barked, growling at the woman, but secretly struggling to keep herself from laughing. “We can’t risk being seen, so no movement. You know that Johnson has weak bowels.”
She heard Khalid snort. “He should be used to a cougar stalking him,” the man said, humor clear in his voice.
“Hey!” Johnson said. “That gal in Hawaii did not look that old. Besides, she was nice.”
Kelly and Khalid both chuckled while Johnson grumbled. Samantha grinned inside her helmet, but when the Jaguar began to move, she called a halt to the ribbing. “Okay, kids. It’s moving again. Remember, no matter what it does, even if it tries to ask you out on a date, don’t move. Just give it a little shock, so it moves along.”
“What if it tries to bite us?” Johnson asked.
“Then sprinkle some salt and pepper on your arm and let it go to town,” Samantha said. “I repeat. It can’t hurt you, so don’t move. That’s an order. If our friends in the shack spot us, our whole reason for being here will be in jeopardy.”
There was a chorus of acknowledgments, but everyone got very quiet when the cat got within three meters, still hidden in the undergrowth. They could easily see it now through their thermal optics. Despite the in-suit air conditioning, Samantha could feel a drop of sweat sliding down her temple. The Jaguar was probably just curious about their armor’s odd smell, but it was still a predator, and it was still hunting them.
Finally, she saw it directly. The beautiful gold-flecked eyes peeked out from underneath some shadowed leaves, glowing in the dim light under the canopy. Samantha held her breath, watching the great cat stare right at her despite knowing that the cat was seeing only the plants that were behind her. A low, deep growl eased out of its throat, making goosebumps flow up and down her arms.
“Oh crap,” Johnson whispered. “Does it see us?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Samantha snapped, not taking her eyes off of the beautiful creature. “Keep…STILL!”
Despite her words, she wanted nothing more than to jump up and run back into the jungle. It was a flight or fight reaction, but Samantha was a soldier, and she wrestled with, and then won, against that instinct. The cat moved just when she finished her mental struggle, one big paw sliding out into the dappled sunlight that strained through the canopy. Then another as it stalked forward, its head lowered and scanning the small area, clearly not seeing them.
That’s when Samantha breathed a sigh of relief. It couldn’t see them, but it knew something odd was in the area. A perfectly normal reaction. If they just stood still, everything would be fine. She took her eyes off of the cat for a moment, checking on the location of the man at the shack who had his binoculars trained on the
ir position. She knew the strange sensor trees probably told him where the cat was, but right now, they couldn’t afford to do anything to attract attention.
Then a flash of movement made her take her eyes off of the HUD. The Jaguar was moving and quickly, headed right for her location. That was when she almost ruined the entire operation, but she held her ground, gritting her teeth and waiting to be bowled over by the attack.
But it never happened. The cat simply ran past her just to her left and disappeared off into the jungle. She blinked, shaking as the adrenalin spiked in her system, but she didn’t move. Not one inch. She was going to tell this story for a long time.
“Don’t be jealous, Johnson,” Kelly said. “There’s always Hawaii.”
“Shut up, Kelly!” Johnson said, sounding angry, but in reality, it was all in play. They had been working together for a long time, so their banter was just second nature. Still, a moment later a private com buzzed in her helmet.
“You all right, Samantha?” Khalid asked softly. “I can’t believe you didn’t flinch. I would swear that cat was sharpening a knife just for you. You have bigger balls than I do.”
Samantha smiled, grateful for Khalid’s concern. She took a deep breath before answering. “Don’t tell anyone, but yeah, that was close. She was beautiful, though.”
“That she was,” Khalid said, then signed off and joined in on the ribbing of Johnson. Samantha was thankful for the check-in but also for the man not making a big deal about it. She signed, checking to see if the watchman had seen anything. She caught him just as he was meandering back inside, and a moment later she called back to Nathan, letting him know what had happened. The operation was still a go.
Chapter 7
Time: May 6, 2036
Location: Gateway Station, Mid-Earth Orbit
Piper sat in her busy office, staring intently at the code that was scrolling down her holoscreen as she monitored the effort by Nathan’s team to break into the encrypted firewall. She was worried because the kind of code she was seeing was very sophisticated. So much so, that even she was concerned about breaching its defenses, and that just shouldn’t be a problem. She was, without being arrogant, the best computer coder and hacking specialist on the planet. However, whoever had created this code was very nearly as good.
Empyrean Rises Page 20
