Chapter 18
Techno-Wizardry
That night, sitting with her friends after dinner, Lexi told them about her dampener epiphany giving credit to Urania for priming her thought processes. Ron, looking concerned, asked, “No more Panties?” Since the Ostrieachians already retired for the evening they didn’t need to get into an explanation of what he was talking about.
Geena said, “I’m going to ignore Ron and be the cheer-leading section for a moment. That’s an amazing concept, Lexi, but I don’t follow how you can make it work.”
“It’s not simple by any means, love,” Lexi said. “Today’s dampeners generate an energy field that propagates along the structural members they’re bonded to. They stiffen the ship, making it less prone to turbulence. They make the ship behave as though it is about forty times as massive as it really is. I’m going to redesign the field, incorporating what I learned from both the shield redesign and, believe it or not, the ray-gun technology. They’re currently different technologies, but combining the concepts from each is going to yield improved shields and improved dampeners. I think they should be pretty much resistant against even our primary beams.”
Urania said, “One of the improvements is these won’t block our weapons as the e-shield does. I imagine we’ll want to keep the wall shields active because they disperse impact energy before it reaches us. That being said, we won’t need them if what she’s planning works.”
Ron said, “When do you think you’ll have them ready, kiddo? We’re going to have to test them, too.”
Lexi shrugged. “I’m sure my subconscious has been working out the particulars all day. I may have them ready tomorrow. If not, then the next day. Then we draft the Ostrieachians to install them for us. They’ll have a much easier time dealing with the four-foot ceilings under the floor and in the attic than we do.”
“And testing?” Geena prompted.
Lexi shrugged. “Unless we set off an explosion against the hull, which would alert the people upstairs, we can’t really test the dampening properties. As far as shielding goes, how does a hand Zapper on maximum compare to Accord primaries?”
“Hard to say,” Ron said. “Both will punch through an unshielded starship hull. Urania?”
“Our primaries are on the order of ninety times as powerful. The rim Zappers are twice as powerful as Accord primaries. The hand units approximately a tenth.”
“That’s how we test them,” Ron said. “The three of us suit up. We aim at the same spot on the hull, with a Zapper in each hand, and try to burn through the same spot. I don’t want the Ostrieachians involved, so sixty-percent is the best we can do.”
Geena nodded. “I’m good with that.”
***
Later, after he was alone with Lexi in their cabin, Ron squeezed her.
“What was that for, lover?” she asked.
He bent forward and kissed her forehead. “I’m sorry. All of this time and I never knew. You always make this stuff, I think Geena referred to it once as techno-wizardry, seem so easy. It never occurred to me that it was a struggle. You do amazing things. We take you for granted, kiddo. We shouldn’t do that.”
Lexi snuggled up against him. “Honestly, sometimes it is easy. Almost easy, anyway. But no, it isn’t always. Understand, love, this is my job. It’s what I’m cut out for. Even on Earth, I was planning on a career in space propulsion. I enjoy it. The more difficult a problem is, the more I enjoy it.” She laughed. “This one was a blast and a half. Go to sleep now, sweetie. I have yet to feel like I’m being taken for granted.”
***
Overall, it took close to four weeks, but all of the technical refinements were ready. The hyper-drive itself was almost straightforward in comparison to the dampeners. She admitted to herself that she had been thinking about the drive off and on over the months, whereas she had never given the dampeners a thought. After all, despite her earlier comment, who wouldn’t want to shave a couple of days off of travel times through hyperspace.
While she was working on beefing up the drive, Lexi did make some adjustments for performance. On the interactive boards, at least, there was nothing from that perspective preventing them from capturing the pirates’ hardware assets when they left with the captives. Ron and Geena worked steadily on implementing her design changes as Lexi rolled them out. Rebuilding so many of the major systems on the ship was a big job and took up most of their time. The two of them spent a lot of time in the crawl spaces above and below the living areas along with the Ostrieachians.
They dismantled the existing hyper-drive, storing the components in the cargo hold. Eventually, once the new design was proven, those pieces were to be sold, probably to commercial interests on Ostrieachia. That’s where the old dampeners wound up too. Once the new drive was installed and the power flows tested, Denem stopped by and took a look at it. “It’s tiny, Ron.”
“Hardly that,” Ron said. “But, yes, it is smaller than our old one.”
Denem shook his head. “It’s not quite as large as the drive unit on Flagon. I know that one was tiny. Do you really expect this to be effective for a ship the size of Urania?”
Ron grunted. “Sure. Why not? Size isn’t everything. Look at the two of us. I’m more than twice your size. You’re far more agile, you have claws and you have fangs. I would not want to fight you hand-to-hand.”
Denem smiled and nodded.
***
Over wine that evening, Ron said, “Denem was curious about the rebuilt hyper-drive. He thinks it’s is too small to be useful.”
Straight-faced, Lexi said, “It has to be small. I need the extra space for my lingerie collection.”
Ron stated, “You don’t have a lingerie collection, kiddo.” He sounded interested though.
So close together their voices overlapped, Geena opened her eyes wide and asked, “You have a lingerie collection?”
Hmmph. That was a joke, guys. Double hmmph. Maybe it shouldn’t be? I need a Victoria’s Secret catalog.
Chapter 19
Penetrating the Base
Lexi’s technology upgrades were fully developed and installed. None of them thrilled her as much as developing the handheld ray-guns had. Still, it was new technology which made it fun. To the extent possible, everyone spent days practicing with Glocks in lower gee in the cargo hold. They had yet to introduce the Ostrieachians to the Zappers. Other than that, they were ready to go.
The relatively straightforward plan developed by the Samues had been discussed over dinner the prior two nights. No one raised any questions. Even Denem, who clearly still disbelieved that so small a ship could loft such a large mass into hyperspace, ceased making objections. He was sure the plan would fail but gave up trying to convince Lexi, Ron, and Geena.
The team was rested and fed. All eight of them gathered in the command bay in spacesuits, armed with Zappers. The Ostrieachians were all wearing external comm headsets that connected to Urania’s virtual private network linking them to the internal comm-gear the Aeolus team wore.
Denem was looking closely at his weapon, his curiosity evident. “I’ve never seen anything like this. I didn’t even think it was possible to build a beam weapon into a handheld device. I understood that the power supply alone is supposed to be impossible. None of our spies, and yes, I’m sure you all know we have spies, ever mentioned the Accord having hand beamers. What do you think, Agart?”
Agart was Flagon’s second pilot. He pulled his Zapper and looked at it curiously. He was already standing next to Lexi. As he pressed it against her side, he said, “I think we want to stop this here, boss.”
Denem nodded. “Not your decision to make, but my thought exactly, my friend. I need you all to carefully, very carefully, place your weapons on the floor.” His Zapper was already leveled at Ron, who he considered to be the most dangerous of the group. He was satisfied that Agart had the second most dangerous covered. He didn’t expect any trouble from Geena when two weapons were pointing at her friends. His own
people, especially Kalia, could be a problem but what could he do?
“What are you doing, Denem?” Kalia asked, horrified.
He shrugged his ears, holding his Zapper steady. “Taking command of this ship. I know it talks, but it can’t possibly be alive. It’s just another example of how advanced Accord technology is over our own. You see, I work for the people over our heads. I can pretty much guarantee they wouldn’t be pleased at having their expensive base destroyed which I do believe these people can do. I’m also fairly certain my friends haven’t seen anything like these little toys before either. These should be worth a great deal to me. In fact, the other tech I’ve seen on this ship is worth billions. Our world as we know it is doomed, Kalia. The Unity is going to take over and when that happens I’ve been promised a position of true power.”
Geena calmly looked at Lexi. None of them had made any move toward disarming themselves. “You and Jis were right about him.”
Lexi shrugged, “Yes, but I didn’t pick up on Agart.”
Agart had a brief moment to utter, “Huh?” as Lexi twisted toward him, her cupped hands slamming together over his sensitive ears, rupturing both eardrums. Clamping onto his ears, she forced his body toward the floor while giving his head a quick wrenching twist. Ostrieachians are more flexible than humans, but not enough to save him. The sound of his neck snapping was shockingly loud.
Denem was firing his Zapper without effect. Ron calmly stepped forward and took it from him. “Definitely secret agents, Lexi,” he said matter-of-factly. “I want a decoder ring. Well, it’s nice we have a brand new holding cell. I figured we’d need one someday. I wasn’t expecting to need it so soon. Unfold it for me, would you please, Urania? Back in a minute guys.” He held Denem with both hands behind his back, cognizant of the danger the man’s claws offered. He wasn’t kidding when he said he wouldn’t want to fight the man.
“I am so very sorry,” Kalia said. “I never suspected Denem of treachery. I’ve known him most of my life. We were even lovers for a time, years ago.” She shook her head and looked at Lexi and Geena. “Do any of our weapons work?”
“Yes, and no,” Geena said. “The Zappers are all biometrically locked while on Urania. It’s too freakin’ dangerous to hand someone a gun that can cut the ship in half from the inside. They will unlock once we climb out onto the hull.”
They all watched as Lexi bent over, lifted Agart and headed towards the rear of the ship. “Where are you taking him?” Zagem asked.
“Med-bay. Urania, run me a complete analysis down to the DNA level please. I want to know if Ostrieachia is another Forerunner project. It’s out of position if it is, but let’s check anyway.” Lexi had a theory that the ancient race generally credited with seeding humanity across Accord space was selecting what worlds to seed following a pattern. Ostrieachia didn’t fit the pattern as she perceived it.
Once Ron returned, Kalia asked, “Who’s staying behind to crew the ship?” Then, as all three humans turned to look at her, she smiled and said, “Of course. Never mind. Sorry, Urania. Denem apparently forgot about her too, or rather, apparently, didn’t believe it.”
Using the eight anti-personnel Zappers that ringed the ship’s periphery, Urania had already surgically carved an enlarged pocket only slightly larger than herself, reaching up to within five feet below the lowest tunnel running under the base. She let one of the large chunks hit her as it fell. They all heard the loud thunk as it hit, but no one felt a jolt. Her hull remained undamaged. “I did that on purpose. Dampeners work pretty well, Lexi,” Urania remarked. She put out the wall shield to intercept any other falling material.
When they were ready to hyper out, she planned to carve her way both closer to the surface and to the center of the flight deck. There were no tunnels under the flight deck. “Everything is holding stable,” she reported. “I don’t detect any settling or cracking. Now let’s see what happens with the ion drive.”
She slowly rose to the top of the cavern, only to stop and settle back down to the bottom after holding there two minutes. “That was really awkward. The n-space drive just isn’t designed for hovering, or really, for vertical ascents. Besides, the turbulence is going to be too intense for you guys to go EVA. There’s nothing I can do to reduce it while holding position.”
Lexi shrugged, “It’s a shame, but we expected that. So let’s try the anti-grav field.” Along with Ron and Geena, she spent days crawling around Urania’s underbelly, mounting the projectors that generated the field. Lexi designed them to be plug-and-play compatible with the shield nodes, primarily because they had extra node housings.
The dampener-technology-based shields they were now using were sufficiently more effective than the prior version. They retained the existing nodes even though the theoretically were no longer required. Pulling some of them out reduced the redundancy factor but did not otherwise weaken the ship’s protection. The next version of the anti-grav nodes would be incorporated into the gravity-technology-based wall shield nodes. It was far simpler and faster for now to keep them as separate units.
Urania quickly learned that using the anti-grav field wasn’t as clean an ascent as it was on the ion drive. No one said anything as the ship momentarily scraped against the nearby wall. The grinding noise echoing throughout the ship was horrendous, but like when Urania let herself be hit by a chunk of the falling ceiling, no real harm to the hull was done. Once she was in position below the base and able to hold relatively steady, Urania said, “There seems to be a knack to this. Whatever. We’re here. It’s your show now, Ron. Ready to breach the tunnel?”
Ron looked at his fellow infiltrators and said, “Let’s do it.” Urania waited patiently as the six members of the assault team exited through the airlock and climbed to the top of her hull. The ceiling of the cavern was no more than five feet above her position, forcing the three humans to stoop slightly as they clambered to the front of her hull.
No one made mention of the fact that she altered the normal gray color of her hull to solid black although both Ron and Lexi fully appreciated it. On the highest level of the curved hull, inside a holographic oval that appeared to rise slightly above the surface, was a stylized bat on a field of yellow.
Sometimes Urania’s sense of humor seemed to be a disturbing combination of Lexi’s and Ron’s. Of course, there was no telling how much influence the Xeas commodity traders, the original users of the educator, the device suspected as the source of Urania’s sentience, might have had. Although, none of those people were known for their sense of humor. Urania lighted the target spot with her hull lights. Ron nodded to Lexi. She would go first, followed by Geena and the three Ostrieachians. As the strongest in the group, Ron would go last with the plug. At Lexi’s nod, Ron said, “Now, Urania.”
Chapter 20
Command Central
Urania bored a vertical shaft through the five feet of solid granite and near-hull metal over their heads. Just as the Zapper cut out, Lexi was airborne, suit thrusters propelling her through the wall shield and into the shaft above. She briefly thought, Yeah, we still need to have wall shields. Do we still need e-shields as well? The wall shield was touching the base of the granite and at maximum hardness, holding the atmosphere inside the tube. Since it only held things away from Urania, Lexi had no trouble flying through it, even at that intensity. She crouched at the edge of the top of the tube, alone and undetected as far as she could tell. Holstering her Zapper, she said, “We’re good. Come on up, Geena.”
Within minutes, Geena and the Ostrieachians were up and spreading out along the utility tunnel. Ron launched, and holding steady at the base of the tunnel, wedged the plug he carried into place. He hit the activation switch creating a perfect seal. None of them expected to be leaving this way, although the plug could be released by entering a short code which they all memorized.
Following the betrayal of both Denem and Agart, before leaving the ship, Lexi asked each of the remaining Ostrieachians point-blank before they left th
e ship, “Can I trust you?”
She received three affirmative responses, Kalia adding, “With your life. You are the only chance my world has of survival. I will never, I can never, betray you.”
Lexi nodded, satisfied. Jis said Ostriechians were hard to read. She didn’t find that to be the case. But of course, what do I know? Looking directly at Kalia, she said, “Wow! Thank you. I’ll do my best.” She hugged the smaller woman before she said to the others, “They’re OK.” Becoming attuned as she was to the Rose of Light, she knew none of them lied. They weren’t, as Agart and Denem were, or rather had been in Agart’s case, in the employ of Unity. That ability was beginning to feel normal to her. She shrugged mentally afterward. Better than feeling creepy. She had struggled with that briefly.
In the poorly lit utility tunnel, Ron looked at the group. “We’ll comm once we have Command Central under our control. You guys work your way closer to the flight deck. We’re going to have to move fast once we have the CC.” He gave Lexi a quick hug even though it was somewhat ridiculous in a spacesuit. With a nod to Geena, they took off down the corridor, following the schematics Urania projected to the contact lenses worn by all three of the Aeolus team.
Aeolus Investigations Set 2: Too Cool To Lose: The Continuing Evolution of Lexi Stevens Page 10
