Friends in the Stars

by Mackey Chandler

  “Never, biology is messy. You can never have hard numbers and definite answers. At best you weigh statistics. Then, about the time you document something, there are social changes that wipe out the circumstances of your original study. I’ll take physics, thank you,” Born assured him.

  “Our patron gave her word, so I have to support that in any case,” Musical allowed.

  “If his information saves one devastating earthquake, or keeps us from losing a ship and crew testing our drive, it will be well worth it,” Born insisted. “We still have what we were striving for but faster and with less cost in lives paid for it likely. If he’d offered such help for cash-payment instead of shared knowledge you’d have been interested in it, wouldn’t you?”

  “Probably true,” Musical agreed, “but just between us, and never quote me on this, I wasn’t going to volunteer for the first flight. Not even one of the first ten.”

  Chapter 24

  “There is a remarkable amount of orbit shifting of almost every hull in Low Earth Orbit, and a tremendous volume of encrypted radio traffic,” the head of Heather’s traffic controllers reported.

  That was telling, since Heather had never set any conditions for their service to make reports directly to her. It was only out of genuine concern and a sense of responsibility that he spoke. Of course, it helped they weren’t dumb as a box of rocks. She decided she owed them the same forthrightness. Heather didn’t want them to think she would blow off their report. He probably only approached her after serious concerns were raised from a number of his active controllers.

  “Yes, they’re getting ready to do something stupid,” Heather acknowledged. It was the right thing to do. She saw the tension drain from the man. He’d been more worried his sovereign might not take him seriously, than anything the Earthies might do.

  “We’ve had stealthy fly-bys in trans-lunar orbit for a month. I’m sure you were aware of those. Also my intelligence services report China, North America and India have been dispersing their military forces for the last three days. Most space forces are difficult to disperse given the sort of launch facilities they need, but just about every hull they own is in orbit instead of sitting on the ground.

  “But what is most telling is that the North American Congress should be in session, but they have left town and scattered to the winds without explanation. One suspects that the Chinese have done the same. The amount of street traffic around their administrative centers has dropped more than half.”

  “Are they going to attack us?” the man asked.

  “I’d be surprised if they don’t,” Heather admitted. “That’s why I have advised most of the landholders to reduce their surface activities as much as possible and move everyone they can to their deepest tunnels. There is no point in doing that with my own workers, like you, because we are have always moved as deep as possible as we continue tunneling. I suppose I should move my own residence and court lower, but if I’m not safe here I doubt another ten kilometers will be that much safer. It’s a bother.”

  “We noticed there is almost nothing sitting in the surface landing fields.”

  “There isn’t that much in the deep hangers either,” Heather told him, “if we have nukes used against the surface facilities anything in the deep hangers will probably be there for several years before they can be dug out.

  “Feel free to do whatever you think wise for the safety of you and your family, but I’ll point out we have had an influx of people from the habs the last couple weeks, not the other way around. There are contingency plans for the safety of Home, Beta, and Gamma, but I’ll make no public announcement until they are needed. If thousands of people know what is planned our enemies will too. I am not leaving Central.”

  “I will repeat your warning to my workers with your permission, all except that you have contingency plans.”

  “The Earthies have endless contingency plans for ridiculous possibilities,” Heather said with a dismissive wave. “I’m sure they know we have our own plans. The trick is to have plans they are not capable of predicting, so there is no problem with telling your people the whole story. Some of them have family on the habs, it may ease their minds. Feel free to text me if you see any sudden changes. Your diligence is appreciated.”

  “Thank you for your audience,” he said, and started to turn away. He paused after a step and looked back at Heather. “I’ll be staying too.”

  * * *

  “I’ve imparted about as much information as I brought with me,” Jeff reported to Lee. She hadn’t heard from any of them for three days and was having a hard time not interrupting their work to demand progress reports. She was almost certain that would not be helpful and would probably be a waste of their time to need to explain what was being done in terms she could understand. It was a sort of translation really.

  “Both Born and Musical thoroughly understood the theory behind our drive. I really had little to tell them there, it was all in the actual application. They have drawings and photos. I did draw the line at disassembling my own ship’s systems when they have photos of the process. I don’t want to be stuck at dock with my drive laid out in pieces and unable to move for several hours until it is reassembled.

  “They have three candidates for a design and fabrication man, well Derf actually. They will have to decide on one of them. I refused to get involved. Any one of them could probably do the job well. It’s nothing that requires a team. That would just slow things down as everybody needs to put their mark on the project and must struggle towards a consensus. They need to pick one with a personality that meshes with theirs. They have to work with him, and I’m no judge of that.

  “He will have to redesign the drive as appropriate to their glassy material. I wouldn’t be surprised if they have a rough prototype drive in a month. It isn’t all that hard to test. It can’t be installed in the depths of a hull. It should be mounted on the nose of a ship. Fortuitously, mounted on a standard nose grapple meant for docking is just fine.”

  “You seem frazzled,” Lee told Jeff, trying for concern in her voice.

  “I feel frazzled, not physically but mentally. I used to enjoy this sort of intense brainstorming with like-minded people. Somewhere along the line, I adopted a more leisurely style. And Musical questions everything until I wanted to strangle him.”

  “You have been Lord Singh to the people around you for so long now you probably don’t get much of that. If I wasn’t his pay-master I’d probably want to strangle him too.”

  “Oh no, the furry little fellow absolutely worships the ground upon which you tread. Be aware of that so you don’t abuse his trust. I am not unaware I have a few fan-boys like that, just as you suspect, and I’m quite uncomfortable with them. I’d much rather be surrounded with cynical people who will question what I say instead of nodding agreement and jumping to carry it out no matter what stupid thing I’ve said.”

  Lee had to laugh at that. “Take a few days off to recuperate. Let me show you some local sights and introduce you to a friend. I’ll inquire and take you to Red Tree and let you meet the Mothers if you are interested.”

  “Maybe after a couple of days off I can handle that,” Jeff agreed. “Right now I wouldn’t mind some lunch if you are free to go. Strangelove is antsy, pacing around the suite, and ready to drive us somewhere.”

  * * *

  “Space Force Control, USNA Frigate Edward Russo, Saul Simms master, announces departure imminent on a Thorn vector. Planned departure and jump profile as uploaded to you. Advise Earth Control, please.

  “Thank you, Russo. Civilian Control is advised,” the military controller responded. In their system, the ship declared intent rather than ask permission. Traffic control could not withhold approval, just advise of any interfering traffic or other hazards.

  There was a long silence. Other radio traffic on the traffic control frequency was absent, almost as if everybody was holding their breath listening.

  “Earth Control, be advised Lunar Contro
l has no L1 transit filed for the Edward Russo. We show her as an out of service system cutter reactivated as a USNA frigate two days ago, but she is an armed ship. Please check your outbound list, registration details, and make timely correction if this is in error.”

  “Tacoma Space Force Control, responding to that advisory to Earth Control,” the radio said. It would have been Houston Control in the past, but that was now deep in the heart of the Texas Republic.

  “We have been ordered to stop requesting courtesy L1 transits and proceed with normal operations as was done previously. If you want to monitor Earth Control we will continue to send them alerts in the clear, effective this date forward.”

  Lunar control made no reply. There was nothing to say really. Characterizing the L1 doctrine as a courtesy arrangement ignored the fact four Chinese ships died to establish its validity back in 2087. The Solar System was effectively disarmed outside Earth Orbit, and it was only a later accommodation when starships started leaving the system for Earth nations to be granted passage out-system for armed vessels. The active controller forwarded the traffic to his leader. He was sure it would continue to the Sovereign.

  Heather wondered if the vessel was really manned. With a short radio lag time, it wouldn’t be that difficult to operate it by remote control inside the lunar orbit. They had, after all, picked a low-value vessel from surplus storage to recommission. No, they would use real people, she decided. If their names weren’t known to others in their service it would be too easy later for someone to prove they weren’t aboard even if they were retired into a witness program. They’d sacrifice them and use their deaths as a propaganda bludgeon with their public. There was just about zero chance that they wouldn’t be at war with North America in a couple of hours. Would China join in or let North America handle it?

  The exit vector for Thorn would be on the opposite side of the Earth from the Moon when the Edward Russo passed the L1 radius. That was probably why it was picked. Heather already had a ship dispatched. It made a double short jump around the Earth and was waiting for the Russo. They could have simply made the frigate disappear, but all this was theatre for public consumption, so to advance the dialog and get on with it the encroaching vessel was made into an expanding sphere of plasma using a weapon a good hundred times as large as necessary.

  That happened over the night side of Earth. Maybe that was calculated for showmanship too, as well as the ship’s destination.

  * * *

  There was no immediate response from North America or the other Earth governments. These things followed a certain script the way Earth governments did things. It had to appear they were considering what to do in response to an unexpected act of aggression.

  Somehow, Heather doubted all that many people were surprised an armed Earth vessel violating the L1 limit was destroyed. They would now show outraged politicians and grieving family. Probably the family grief was genuine, made worse by the fact they were probably hostages to their family member committing suicide. A ship full of single crew unencumbered by family members back home could have simply defected.

  Those with family all knew doing that would result in their immediate family, if not a larger extended group, losing all income and allowances for food and housing. They would be effectively made outlaws, and they wouldn’t try to hide those actions at all. Having such control well known was key to its usefulness in the future.

  It would take a full day of drama before they announced the USNA had no choice now but to go back to war with the Spacers.

  There was zero freight in transit by the time the Russo departed. No critical data connections existed at this late date with Earth systems. Those ended with the move from Earth orbit. If people were crazy enough to expose their own private devices to Earth connections with a war starting that was their concern. Malware could be sent in something as innocuous as a news video and most people knew that.

  Heather and her allies on Home, Beta and Gamma used this pause to warn the trio’s population that they could expect to be at war with North America and possibly other Earth nations within hours. Now it was possible to reveal their preparations. The Earthies were fully committed whether it looked like it or not. It would be politically impossible to suddenly change direction and say the slaughter of their innocent crew was something they could forget and forgive on any terms.

  All those recent stealth passages weren’t just passive reconnaissance. The Earthies were testing for some sort of strike. Indeed, Heather had a couple of ships stationed well beyond lunar orbit sweeping space for an attack coming in from the outer system.

  The residents were now warned that in the event of an attack they should expect the hab on which they lived to be moved to a place of safety. If anyone wished to leave, there was likely a very narrow window in which to do it. They weren’t told where they would be removed to, and if she’d told them how, they probably wouldn’t have believed it, any more than the Earth authorities would.

  Some speculated they would start the long slow journey to Mars. Others thought they’d remove to a solar orbit leading or trailing Earth. Home Security and a few others knew better. The shipbuilding trades were quickly enlightened that a circle of jump ships would snatch the entire habitat away whole, and any of their vessels not held internally or securely docked would be left behind.

  Everyone knew an announcement was coming. It was just the details that were unknown, so it wasn’t any shock when an all channels news alert was issued.

  * * *

  The statement was read by the USNA Secretary of State. It was beneath the dignity of the President to deal with those deemed minor powers.

  “The United States of North America, in response to the destruction of her jump ship the Edward Russo has decided it is necessary to stop accommodating the outlaw regime holding power in the association of Home habitats.

  “Mitsubishi 3 was built and developed under USNA law and control. She and her associated habitats need to return to that rule of law or be removed as a source of piracy and rebellion.

  “Those with political control of these properties have twenty-four hours to surrender control and allow peaceful entry of new administrative forces to restore order.

  “If we have this surrender within the time limit there will be a peaceful transition and only the most notorious elements will have to answer for unlawful acts.

  “If there is no surrender, elements of the USNA Space Force are, at this time, inbound to our Solar System on a course which will allow them to unleash a hail storm of projectiles sufficient to destroy all three habitats with certainty. They will only fail to do so if greeted upon system entry with a broadcast stating their surrender is an accomplished fact.

  “We await their hopefully rational decision and response.”

  “Ah, a last little dig at the end reminding the public we are all driven crazy by Life Extension Therapy,” Heather said.

  “Well sure. They aren’t responsible if we irrationally refuse to surrender,” April said. “They will have no choice but to kill us, it’s really sad. Now tell me, why didn’t they say a word about Central or the fact we are allies with the Home group of habs as well as Fargone and Derfhome?”

  “They aren’t sure they can bite off that much right now,” Heather said. “They either found some military too dumb to read the scans and run the numbers for the battle of Thessaly or the politicians were told the hard numbers and plan to do what they want anyway. Don’t forget the generation of both politicians and military leaders who experienced Thessaly are retired now.”

  “What are your orders?” April asked.

  “For you? I want you to make a circuit of Earth orbit and disable every serious warship visible to you, anything bigger than a destroyer. Don’t destroy them, just rip their guts out by holing their engineering and drive spaces. The smaller ships can do rescue duty unless they bombard us here and really piss me off,” Heather said.

  “House, contact Johnson, Delores, and Kurt. Advise me wh
en they are on the line.”

  “Both are online listening,” the computer said in seconds.

  “Did you all hear the USNA Secretary of State’s speech?” Heather asked.

  Johnson and Kurt affirmed they had, Delores a little more colorfully.

  “April is going to remove every heavy vessel in Earth orbit capable of making a serious bombardment of Central. We’ll leave the lighter craft to rescue those crews. If they bombard us anyway, we’ll remove every USNA military craft in Earth orbit, and if there aren’t enough civilian vessels to do rescues that’s just tough.

  “Johnson is going to extend our watch further out-system so we can have better warning of these swarms of which they are warning us. They are probably going to be clouds of gravel rather than manufactured projectiles. If it is possible to determine from which star system these attackers will be arriving and stop them before they jump in, then so much the better. We have no effective way to intercept a flying gravel pile once it is released. I’ll grant you, it’s better tactics than they usually display.

  “Delores and Kurt, this is your confirmation we are going to do a Bug-Out. You need to assemble your snatch teams and check all your vessels for supplies. Be ready within the twenty-four hours the Secretary mentioned.”

  “It wouldn’t hurt to be faster,” Kurt said. “I don’t trust the Earthies not to give a fake deadline and hit us before it arrives. I’ll try to have my team online in six hours.”

  “I agree,” Delores said. “I’ll try to match that. I just wish we had Jeff here. I don’t trust anyone in his group to lead a snatch. One of us is going to have to double up.”

  “Can either of you take any hab?” Heather asked, “It isn’t specialized?”

  “No, but we travel slower than a ship dragging a hab along. It takes longer to set each jump up safely. It would probably require more like a forty-eight-hour span for one of us to come back and then do a second hab. And that’s with a four-hour sleep break. You don’t want to do this tired and stressed out.”