The aft gravity well also formed a micro-black hole but, unlike its twin it, the surrounding space glowed with brilliant bursts of energy as it expanded and contracted in a series of rapid pulses. With each pulse, the aft black hole released its energy in a massive burst of graviphotons, which shot away from the craft at the speed of light.
The graviphotons, and the gravity waves that accompanied them, created the “thrust” that acted against the fabric of space-time to change the velocity of the craft. With enough time and fuel, it was theoretically possible to achieve the speed of light with a gravity pulse drive system but no ship yet built had managed more than a fraction of that.
The occupants inside the craft experienced all this as first a strong pressure building inside their heads followed by a terrifying falling sensation. The latter being the worst part because, just as the falling sensation stopped, each successive pulse would start the experience all over again. For this reason, acceleration and deceleration events were often spread out over several hours, or even days, to give the occupants sufficient time to recover between them.
Ten agonizing minutes passed as the Peacekeepers waited for the deceleration cycle to finish. Once he no longer felt like he was falling, Ryan opened his eyes to confirm that they were still on course and losing speed at the desired rate. He reached forward and increased the rate of deceleration by one percent more than the ship’s AI had set, just to make sure he’d have time to maneuver if the opposition tried to surprise them.
“Pulse complete. Speed forty-seven thousand kilometers per hour, engaging Hellfires,” Ryan called over the comm system. “Twenty-seven minutes to orbital insertion.”
“Roger that,” Luanne called back. “Study those mission plans, everyone, it’s almost go time.”
CHAPTER 37
APRIL 6, 2075 12:20 PM GST
GFN Peacekeeper Headquarters
Zurich, Switzerland
Dianne Merkel shifted nervously in her seat as she stared at the telemetry data being projected above the conference table. It showed the current positions of the transport ship carrying the Epsilon Six team and the two interceptors that Bachmann had dispatched early in the day. Epsilon Six would arrive at Ceres sometime within the next twenty minutes but the interceptors were still several hours away.
Captain Heinrich Bachmann had escorted her to GFN Peacekeeper Command Headquarters just over thirty minutes ago and the Captain had just briefed the assembled group on Epsilon Six’s mission plan. Sitting at the table were GFN President August Hilliard, Vice Admiral Marco Langenburg, Secretary for Interplanetary Affairs Estelle Dumonde and BGSI Executive Director Veronika Horvat. Christian was seated against the wall behind Secretary Merkel, along with the half-dozen other aides in attendance.
“If there are no other questions, I will turn it over to General Secretary Merkel,” Captain Bachmann said as he took his seat.
Dianne straightened her skirt and stood.
“Umm yes, thank you, Captain,” she said. “Unfortunately, I have to report that we were unable to recover any of the suspects believed to be on Earth. As I previously reported, Aubrey Harris was nano-wiped while in GSSA custody, as was the person we believe responsible for her termination. Geoffrey Wagner was also found nano-wiped in his office at Telogene…self-inflicted…and the same for the GeoNet controller who assisted Doctor Hao with getting Feldman off planet.
“We have been unable to locate Dumanov but we’ve revoked his GFN travel authorization and have placed additional interceptors in orbit in case he tries to flee the planet. We have frozen all Earth-based accounts and assets of these individuals but we are still waiting for confirmation from Presidents Duchon and Pak that they will do the same.”
“Duchon is on board, Pak is not,” President Hilliard interrupted. “I talked to Pak a few minutes ago, and he said that neither Telogene nor Galileo have committed any crimes under Martian law. He is also refusing our extradition and territorial operations requests. He also reminded me that Ceres is a Martian protectorate and that any unsanctioned GFN operations in Martian space were a direct violation of our treaty. I thanked him for the reminder and hung up.”
“Thank you, Mr. President,” Dianne continued. “That is unfortunate as the Galileo Group has considerably more assets there than here. In any case, we’ve at least made it more difficult for any remaining clones or conspirators to operate here.”
Secretary Dumond raised her hand slightly to signal she had a question. “Do we have reason to believe that there are more of them operating here?”
Dianne glanced over at Director Horvat before answering. “Both the BGSI and GSSA are doing everything we can to reconstruct recent events and ascertain whether other individuals may have been involved. But as of now we believe that we have apprehended all suspects.”
Secretary Dumond continued with her questioning. “What about Evelyn Wu? Has she been cleared? I understand there was some question as to her role and whether she had any loyalty to Aubrey Harris or not.”
Dianne wasn’t surprised to get the question, but it didn’t make her happy to hear it asked in front of this group.
“Evelyn Wu is a trusted Overwatch Agent who did her duty. She did not know that she was working with a clone and the clone did not share details of the plot to restore Feldman with her. As per my report, you will recall that it was Mrs. Wu who informed me of the clone’s escape route so that we could be waiting. Of course, we did not know at the time that Mrs. Harris was a clone, nor did Evelyn know that Doctor Hao had an alternate escape plan.”
“I hope that’s the case, Secretary Merkel, I sincerely do,” Secretary Dumonde said. “This operation to recover the fugitives from Ceres will create quite a strain on Earth-Mars relations as it is…and none of us can afford any more surprises. Don’t you agree?”
“Of course, Secretary Dumond and I apologize for it getting this far. It has been a long time since we have had an incident of this scope and none of us were prepared for it.”
“Enough,” President Hilliard interrupted. “We’ll figure out who’s the hero and who gets fired later. Right now, we all need to stay focused on the task at hand. How long until contact, Admiral?”
Vice Admiral Langenburg glanced at the small holo display projected on the table in front of him before responding. Whereas the larger projection above the table showed expected routes and times of arrival, this one displayed real-time position data from the quantum transponders mounted on the GFN interceptors, along with coded updates from the crews.
“Epsilon Six will be in orbit by 12:37 GST and Vanguard flight will arrive at 17:13 GST—plus or minus ten minutes,” he said. Referring to the inbound interceptors by their GFN call sign.
The President shifted his glance to Director Horvat. “And what is the status of our agents?”
“BGSI Agent Sewell was forced to evacuate Kutanga along with the rest of the human crew but I believe that GSSA Agent Govender is still on board Endeavor. Correct, Dianne?”
“That’s correct,” Dianne replied. “The last report from Govender indicated that suspects Gbadamosi and Li were on Endeavor and all other suspects are believed to still be on Ceres.”
“Did Sewell do what we asked her to do before she had to evacuate?” The President again directing his question to Veronika.
“Yes,” Veronika answered, “she recoded the maintenance airlock two decks below the engineering section to accept a GFN authenticator. The Epsilon team assigned to Kutanga should have no problem boarding the ship.”
The President looked to Dianne. “And Endeavor?”
“Govender accomplished the same. The airlock adjacent to cargo bay two has been reprogrammed.”
“Well, that’s progress at least.”—the President looked back to the admiral—“And what kind of opposition will the teams likely encounter?”
The admiral redirected to his subordinate.
“Unknown, Mr. President,” Bachmann replied. “Agent Sewell reported at least a dozen synthetics
on Kutanga and Govender indicated approximately thirty crew members and two synthetics on board Endeavor. But it is possible that Gbadamosi will order additional crew up from the Ceres station. We also know that both ships are armed with long-range anti-asteroid missiles, but they aren’t particularly effective at the distances we will be engaging.”
“And the transport is unarmed, correct?”
“That is correct, Mr. President, as per treaty,” he said, directing that last part at Secretary Dumond.
“But I understand that they do have assault suits and an assortment of hand-held kinetic and energy weapons at their disposal. Yes?”
“Yes, Mr. President. The transport carried a standard GFN load out when it left Earth orbit.”
“So, they can do some damage if they have to, that’s good.”
“Yes, sir. Although we are hoping to avoid casualties, Epsilon Six will be able to defend themselves if attacked.”
“But no quantum relay until the interceptors arrive, correct?”
“That’s right, sir. The transport is equipped with standard comm systems only.”
“That’s too bad, that means this thing could be over before we know what happened.”
The President glanced over at the admiral. “It looks like we are going to have to ask the appropriations committee to speed up the fleet upgrade schedule, Marco.”
“Yes, sir,” the Vice Admiral replied.
“Anything else?” the President asked of the group.
“No, sir,” Dianne said as she returned to her seat.
The President looked up at the holodisplay where a timer counted down the minutes until Epsilon Six arrived in orbit around Ceres.
“It looks like we have about twelve minutes until E-Six arrives on scene and another twenty minutes until we get the first status update. I will see you all back here in thirty minutes.”
Everyone stood as the President and his aides left the room, and Dianne and Veronika chatted casually until only they and Christian remained in the room.
“So, what do you think happens if they get away?” Veronika asked.
Dianne smirked. “You mean besides me losing my job?”
“Of course, besides that. How far are you willing to go on this thing?”
“All the way if I have to. I just don’t know what I can do about Kutanga. We’ve got nobody over there and no real way to stop it once its pulse drive is fully energized.”
“Christian, will you join us please?” Veronika asked.
“Of course, how can I help?”
“Can you access the quantum relay on Mars?”
“Yes, I have 1A security clearance on GeoNet.”
“Good and what is the time delay for non-quantum communications between Mars and Ceres?”
“Approximately ten minutes. Why?”
“Well, it occurs to me that the Kutanga is a fully automated vessel, correct?”
“Yes, we believe that to be true.”
“Has anyone tried talking to its AI?”
Christian and Dianne looked at each other, both pondering the implications of Veronika’s question.
“No, I don’t believe they have,” Christian replied.
“It may not even acknowledge you but I think it may be worth a try. Don’t you think?”
“And what should I say if it will communicate?”
“Well, I’d first ask it to tell you about it and its mission—maybe we can learn something. We may even get lucky and you will figure a way to talk it into not jumping out of this system.”
“An interesting proposition. Would you like me to try, ma’am?” Christian asked Dianne.
“I guess it can’t hurt to try,” she responded.
“Very well. I will see what I can do.”
Christian walked back to his seat and activated his wireless communications system. It took only seconds for him to connect to the primary quantum relay on Earth and establish a link with its counterpart on Mars.
Both arrays shared a matrix of entangled subatomic particles so that whatever information was sent to one would instantaneously appear at the other. The technology was relatively new, less than a decade old and still limited in the amount of information that could be sent at one time.
According to the Earth-Mars treaty, they array was for civilian use only and its principle users were the powerful corporations that had helped fund the establishment and growth of the Martian colony. Access to the array was normally reserved days, or even weeks, in advance but Christian had a solution to that problem. Since the GSSA had taken over Telogene’s operations on Earth, Christian could requisition an active authentication code from the Telogene master AI.
A few more minutes went by while Christian configured the array on Mars to rebroadcast his signal via one of the satellites that provided radio communications between Mars and the portion of the Asteroid Belt where Ceres was located. Once he received confirmation that both the quantum array and relay satellite were standing by, all that remained was to figure out what he wanted to say. He thought about it for several seconds (which is nearly an eternity to an AI with Christian’s processing speed) before he finally settled on his opening message.
“Galileo vessel Kutanga. I am an advanced AI located on Earth. Would you like to talk?”
Christian include his AI identification sequence for good measure. Each AI had its own unique identifier and authentication sequence and by sending his he was ensuring that the receiving AI could confirm his identity.
All that remained now was to wait for a reply, which Christian calculated should arrive in 21 minutes and 53 seconds. He was pleasantly surprised when the reply came just 14 minutes and 4 seconds later.
“Yes,” it said.
CHAPTER 38
APRIL 6, 2075 12:37 PM GST
Galileo Cargo Vessel Endeavor
High Orbit, Ceres
The bridge of the Endeavor was a no-nonsense affair, as was the case with every ship in the Galileo fleet. Adekunle Gbadamosi had made his career by being at the right place at the right time with the most reliable equipment in the Solar System. His ships were optimized for function rather than form and, unlike the science fiction movies he had grown up with, his bridge and primary control center was buried deep in the heart of the ship. He always thought having the bridge high on the outer surface of the ship was strange since placing it there made the command crew vulnerable to radiation exposure and meteorite strikes.
He also thought that lots of windows on a spacecraft was strange—what was the purpose of that? He had no desire to have his ship lit up like some cruise ship conveying hordes of tourists from port to port across Earth’s oceans. There really wasn’t anything you could see through windows you couldn’t see on any of the thousands of holodisplays located throughout the ship anyway; not to mention that they represented a potential weak spot in the hull because, as strong as it was, transparent aluminum was still no match for the graphene titanium alloy that formed the outer hull.
That didn’t mean that the bridge was a dark and dismal place, however. It was, in fact, brightly lit and abuzz with activity as his crew raced around checking and re-checking the ship’s operational status. The bridge compartment was a ten-meter diameter circle with the captain’s acceleration pod located in the middle of the room. Holodisplays projected across every square inch of wall, ceiling and floor to afford the crew with a true 360-degree view of the space around their ship. There were eight crew pods arrayed around the outer perimeter of the room, each serving a dual function as both acceleration pod and control console for one or more ship’s systems.
Movement around the bridge was accomplished by walking normally, without the need of magnetic boots or other aids as the bridge was located well within the confines of the ship’s gravity field generator—the same one that provided gravity to the habitat ring and engineering control center. It was for this reason that the “Admiral” (an honorific afforded him by his crew) was able to lean so casually against Yin’s pod.
>
“How are we doing, Yin?” he asked.
“Kutanga is 310 thousand clicks out and we are orbiting Ceres at 5K. Engineering reports that our gravity drive is fully energized and the crew is secure.”
“Well, then, I guess I should do the same.”
Adee walked over to the central pod and quickly secured himself.
“We’ve got a ship on scan, Admiral. It’s the GFN transport. They are twelve thousand clicks from our position…velocity is 10,200 meters per second and slowing.”
“Thank you, Robert, I see it,” Adee responded to his tactical officer.
Adee manipulated the controls in front of him until a magnified view of the GFN transport appeared on the wall directly in front of him.
“Liz, one-quarter thrust, please. Get us in position for the bump.”
“Aye, aye,” the ship’s pilot replied. “Intercept in nine minutes and thirty-six seconds.”
The massive thrusters at the rear of the ship roared to life and the Endeavor surged forward with a shudder.
“Set gravity projectors at five percent. Remember, we just want to bump them.”
Main Propulsion Assistant Linda Sewell signaled her acknowledgment. “Projectors at five percent power, aye.”
“What’s the status on Ceres Yin?” Adee asked.
“The station is on alert and our people are secure in their pods on board Kutanga.”
“Good and you confirmed all station defenses are online?”
“Yes Adee, the station AI reports all missile batteries armed and ready and I just received verbal confirmation from the station commander. Everything is as ready as it’s going to get.”
“I’m hoping we won’t need to use them but better safe than sorry.”
* * *
Master Chief Samuel Washington slapped his hand hard against the side of his pod. “Goddamnit, Kuntaga’s gone.”
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