Vorpal Blade (ARC)

by John Ringo

  When Mimi was nine she had lived on Mendel Terrace, Orlando, in a small two-bedroom apartment with her mother, Loretta Jones. Mendel Terrace was less than a half a mile from the center of the Event that destroyed the University of Central Florida and, on that particular morning, Mimi had been watching cartoons when everything suddenly went black.

  Mimi's recollection of the subsequent period had been investigated several times. All that she could remember was being in a black space, then there was "someone," or more likely something, who was there, for some value of "there." The person, thing, entity or whatever, comforted her. And then she was back on Earth, in the darkness, lying in rubble with a new friend. The "friend" was a large brown spider thing that looked very much like a stuffed toy. It said its name was Tuffy, for values of "said." The best Mimi had ever been able to explain is that knowledge appeared in her head as if she had always had it.

  Mimi had then gotten up and gone to the light. The light, Klieg lights in fact, had been set up at the base studying the brand new Chen Anomaly. Mimi's brief period in some otherwhere had taken most of that day and it was nearly midnight when she stumbled into a group that was taking a break from studying the enigmatic black globe that was Ray Chen's final legacy. Among those present was William Weaver, Ph.D., who at the time had no idea of the wonders he was about to experience. Already worried about potential biological contamination a deputy sheriff, against Weaver's advice, had attempted to relieve Mimi of her new friend. Tuffy had extended two of his ten legs, extended or extruded some claws and zapped the deputy with what was later suspected to be about four thousand volts of electricity.

  After that, nobody tried to take Tuffy away from Mimi. Even her school had allowed the alien "friend"—the word "pet" was never used—to attend with her.

  During his investigation of the Anomaly, Weaver had experienced some very strange events. One of them was either a vivid hallucination or a period of time outside the universe, a place that had no definition of "real" for anyone, even the most out-there physicist. In that time of untime he had either met other "Tuffys" or had hallucinated them. However, some of the revelations that had come from the sojourn indicated to him that Tuffys were real, for values of "real," and that the being that rode on Mimi's shoulder was from that unplace. In fact, there was an argument he occasionally had with himself as to whether Tuffy was, in fact, God or at least some reasonable approximation.

  Whatever Tuffy might be, he was definitely smart. And he had helped Mimi to become smart as well. There were very few researchers that Mimi, and Tuffy, trusted enough to let close. But a few had managed to ask enough questions of Mimi to get a feel for what was going on between the two. Initially, from the point of view of study, Tuffy had simply acted as a helpmate, expertly creating scenarios for Mimi that had assisted her in her own understanding of the work placed in front of her by teachers. However, as time passed, Tuffy had begun using that basis to take Mimi farther and faster than the teachers believed possible. By the time Mimi had left the third grade she was already exploring algebra, trigonometry and the beginnings of astrophysics with Tuffy. As she passed through subsequent grades she accelerated faster so that by the time she was in the seventh she was at a college level in all of the hard sciences with a massive knowledge, as well, of history, psychology, anthropology and even theology.

  Mimi's aunt and uncle were very devout Christians and, in general, believers that the only book that people needed to read was the Bible. However, they had indulged Mimi's passion for eclectic reading, especially since a good bit of it was theological. Their minister, who had a Ph.D. in theology, had pointed out that knowing the details of other religions was not a sin and, in fact, vital for a truer understanding of Christianity. They had, however, drawn the line at certain texts on human physiology and aberrant psychology. So Mimi had just looked the data up on the Internet, easily bypassing the "child protection" programs with Tuffy's help.

  Lately, Mimi had become more helpful with some researchers. The reason was simple: money. The Wilsons lived in one of the less affluent areas around Dr. Phillips and Mr. Wilson was a carpenter whose income was enough to keep Mimi in relative comfort. But Mimi and Tuffy realized that in the near future they were going to need more money than that, if for no other reason than to keep up with Mimi's researches.

  Mimi had, therefore, begun to contact some very senior researchers and offer to assist them in knotty questions they were stuck on. Whether it was Mimi or Tuffy answering questions like the seven Millennium Mathematics Problems was never quite clear. But the questions were answered.

  The Clay Mathematics Institute of Cambridge, Massachusetts, or the CMI as it is known in mathematics circles, identified seven problems in mathematics that had eluded scientists and mathematicians for enduring periods of time. The CMI offered a one million dollar award for each solution. Mimi, more or less out of the blue, had submitted solutions to four of the seven unsolved problems. Although the solutions had been available for review for more than the two-year required "review period," the mathematics community did not consider Mimi as "a member of the community" so she was slow rolled on the payment.

  Specifically, and relevant to the Higgs bosons, the Chen Anomaly, and the gates, was her solution to the Quantum Yang-Mills theory. Before the Chen Anomaly and the Dreen had come, the laws of quantum physics had been to the world of elementary particles what Newton's laws of classical mechanics had been to the macroscopic world for centuries: quantum physics had become the base theory from which to start in forming any new concept as Newton's laws had been a century before. Where Newton's laws described how things in the macroscopic world moved and reacted in general around mundane gravitational fields any odd things such as black holes required Einstein's General Relativity. Similarly, quantum mechanics described particle physics fairly well, until the Chen Anomaly.

  In the mid 1950s Yang and Mills introduced a remarkable new framework to describe elementary particles using structures that also occur in geometry and showed how to use the theory to predict particular elementary particle actions. Thus, Yang-Mills was more of a description of particle actions rather than an explanation of them. The theory had been verified experimentally but there was no underlying model that supported the theory.

  The theory itself is basically a gauge theory, like the Higgs boson theory that enables the prediction of particles which interact via the so-called "strong" force. The strong force interactions depend on a subtle quantum mechanical property called the "mass gap": quantum particles have positive masses, even though the classical waves travel at the speed of light, which is in contradiction, or at the least counter intuitive, to Einstein's Special Relativity. According to Special Relativity, a particle with mass can't reach the speed of light within the normal universe because it would take an infinite amount of energy, but some quantum particles appear to violate this. Hence, the "mass gap." Mimi's mathematical proof, finally, explained this violation.

  Mimi, or perhaps Tuffy, had surmised that the fractal path the Looking Glass bosons—or the LGBs as they were now discussed in math and physics circles—took after the Chen Anomaly was through a dimension of the spacetime continuum that was outside those governed by even the multiple manifold dimensions of string theory but was a modified string theory that resembled the newer membrane theories. Interestingly enough, the new "field" required for the LGBs encompassed the Higgs field that "permeates" all of the universe at any instant and therefore the Higgs boson was a subset or actually an unstable relativistic version of the LGBs. For the first time humanity had an understanding of the "connectivity" of the LGBs and how it worked. Best of all, this new "field" required a mass gap at its fundamental level. Eureka! Yang-Mills theory explained!

  Mimi had discussed this with her friend Dr. Weaver ad nauseum. Dr. William Weaver was first to surmise that the gates were Higgs bosons, which created an insurmountable amount of maulk from experimental particle physicists who assumed they knew everything and that the so-called Stan
dard Model of modern physics was an end-all-be-all description of the universe.

  In fact, the Standard Model was nothing more than matching experimental data with mathematical descriptions, not a true theory that could predict quantum actions. And Mimi, Dr. Weaver, and Tuffy were realizing that there were few scientists and mathematicians on Earth who would accept the subtle difference. Weaver and Mimi had used the analogy that describing light as photons or particles was still a "curve fit" to data and that light is light. That didn't go over well with the particle physicists either, as Feynman had told them all that light was a particle and therefore it must be. The Adar had often found this trait of human scientists who were supposed to be "open-minded" as an extremely hypocritical and humorous aspect of humanity.

  So, Mimi at Weaver's request had actually stopped referring to these different Higgs bosons as Higgs bosons when in fact they both understood that that is exactly what they were. Or better yet, the Higgs bosons were actually a nonstationary and unstable version of what the LGBs really were. When it came to fighting the inbred physics community, Weaver had often told Mimi that he preferred fighting the Dreen. Tuffy usually kept quiet on the subject.

  However, what Mimi actually did generate was the theoretical prediction of Yang-Mills. The theory that fell out of the math she had uncovered was not only the theoretical prediction of the Yang-Mills gauge but a whole heck of a lot more. It had become known as the "four plus one plus six formalism" where there were the four dimensions of space from membrane theory, one of time, and six other dimensions that varied between forms used in both string and membrane concepts. But it was Mimi's mathematical wizardry that tied them all together including the LGBs and that not only described the Quantum Yang-Mills theory but predicted it.

  The CMI had continued to slow-roll her in the payout until she had finally used one of her two ace cards. Her number one ace card of course was Tuffy, but she didn't go that far. Her second ace card had been Dr. William Weaver who, other than Mimi, was the planet's expert on the LGBs. Although Dr. Weaver had been spending most of his time of late learning the application of the LGBs and not the fundamentals, he was very politically connected—perhaps even more so now that he was a navy officer. When the director of the CMI received a phone call from the national security advisor—as a favor to Weaver—the CMI finally got off their dime and at least paid Mimi for the one solution. Mimi still puzzled over Weaver's remark about the "stagnant inbred not invented here eggheads." Weaver had also used several other "Southern" euphemisms and metaphors that Mimi's aunt wouldn't allow her to repeat. Tuffy had told her not to give it much thought.

  The industrial complex on the other hand, had no such "not invented here" problem. Clever entrepreneurs used any good source of information from which to make money and in Mimi's and Tuffy's cases they were crawling out of the woodwork to pay them. Mimi had been integral in the reverse engineering of the Adar miniature power supplies for communications implants, which left her with one percent of a patent that one of the major cellular networks owned, not to mention a slice of just about every battery being made in the market.

  There was one armored glass manufacturer that asked her to help them decipher a problem with a new polymer manufacturing process. After a few months of her working with the company, a new patent for an aluminum, titanium oxide, and magnesium sulfide compound layered in precise alternating optical thicknesses was developed that ended up being as strong as aluminum or better and optically transparent. The company gave Mimi seven percent of that patent. Dubbed "aliglass" since "transparent aluminum" was too over-the-top, the material was beginning to replace glass in every skyscraper in the world, not to mention parts in most armored systems. It was a somewhat lucrative contract.

  Each time Mimi and Tuffy would be involved with such solution endeavors Mimi always refused the aid of a contracts or patents lawyer or accountant. Tuffy seemed to have a preternatural knowledge of the actual value attached to a piece of information and the team was very good at writing iron-clad contracts. And when the negotiations were face to face, even the toughest corporate lawyer found negotiating with a soft-spoken fourteen year-old—who just might have God riding on her shoulder—extremely disconcerting.

  Some of the money they earned they gave to the Wilsons in thanks for taking care of Mimi. Most of it, however, was spent on books or put in the bank. At this point, Mimi had a bank account that would have made any accountant smile. The time had come, though, to spend some of it.

  Which was why Mimi, wearing a light blue dress and dress shoes, was sitting on her bed with her hands clasped in her lap, looking out the window and lightly tapping her thumbs together. At her feet was a packed suitcase.

  Tuffy had changed over the years. Actually, most of the changes had occurred quite recently. His once stubby limbs had increased in length and now had definite little claws that glittered a silvery purple. His fur had also darkened to almost midnight black that flashed purple in the right light. In addition, he had developed eyes or eyespots that were a bright emerald green. Around the eyespots were patches of purple fur, sometimes blue, that were narrow and curved.

  The changes had baffled most of the researchers who were trying to study him until one of them, a female, had pointed out that Tuffy now looked, "well, cool." When Tuffy had first appeared, and for many years thereafter, Mimi had needed comfort. She was a child and needed a teddy bear, or spider in this case, to hug and keep away the nightmares.

  Puberty had changed that. Mimi had suffered few of the extreme mood swings of that period in life, but she had changed, nonetheless. She had "put away childish things" and in keeping with that, perhaps, Tuffy had morphed to be more of what a young teenager, recently a child but now exploring the world of adulthood, needed, somebody cool and Tuff looking.

  Or he might just be aging. Nobody really knew. Except Tuffy and, maybe, Mimi, and they weren't talking.

  "Okay, okay," Mimi said with an exasperated sigh.

  She got up and walked into the living room where Mrs. Wilson was vacuuming with the TV on in the background.

  "Aunt Vera," Mimi said over the sound of the vacuum.

  "Mimi," Vera said, shutting off the machine. Vera Wilson was a heavyset woman in her forties, currently wearing a muumuu since the Wilsons kept the thermostat high to save energy. "You're dressed nice for school."

  "I'm not going," Mimi said. "Tuffy has told me I have to go visit someone. Today."

  "You're . . . what?" Vera Wilson asked, confused. Since taking Mimi in she had found her to be a very biddable and charming young lady, the daughter she'd never had. Mimi had never asked to skip school and had certainly never back talked or said anything this . . . strange. "What do you mean you're not going to school?"

  "Tuffy has something that I need to do," Mimi said, calmly but definitely. "I need to go visit someone and then . . . well, I'll probably be gone for a while. But there will be adults who will talk to you about it. But I have to leave now, this morning; we have a transfer from the gateport at ten. And there's a taxi on the way."

  "Young lady, you can't just walk out of this house . . ." Vera Wilson started to respond angrily.

  "I don't want to make you mad, Aunt Vera," Mimi continued calmly. "But I really need to go. I'm not running away. Some adults will come explain, I'm sure, but I'm not sure what I can say to you about it. You remember when Dr. Weaver came to visit that one time and he said it was 'confidential.' It's secret like that."

  "Well, if the government wants you to go, why didn't they tell me?" Mrs. Wilson asked, confused.

  "They don't know I have to go," Mimi said. "But Tuffy says that if I don't, it's not going to work."

  "What's not going to work?" Mrs. Wilson said, totally out of her depth.

  "The thing I can't talk about," Mimi said as the taxi honked its horn. "That's my ride. I've gotta go. I'll write and I'll probably be back, maybe soon for a week or so, if you'll let me come back. But it's time for me to do the things I'm supposed to do. I think
, it's sort of like being called by God, Auntie Vera. I have a calling. And the first place it will take me is San Diego."

  Aunt Vera looked at the cool looking spider thing on Mimi's shoulder and sighed. She'd had a very confusing, but interesting, conversation with Dr. Weaver at one point when he visited Mimi to thank her for her help. After that she'd had to wonder: Do angels always appear in a cloud of light? Or, as Dr. Weaver had pointed out, "Well, we got the big light. And the city was certainly smited or smitten or whatever . . . I don't know exactly what Tuffy is, but from what I went through, an angel in heavy disguise is a pretty good description."

  But God sure worked in mysterious ways. You just had to have the patience of Job and trust that it would all come out right.

  "You write, you hear?" Aunt Vera said, tearing up. She and Herman had never been able to have children and Mimi had been, in a way, a gift from God. Now, it seemed, the time was come to lose the gift. She'd thought they'd have more years. She hugged the girl to her and sniffled. "I got the hang of that e-mail thing. You be sending me e-mails, you hear, girl? And come home when you got a chance. This is always home."

  "I will," Mimi said, sniffling herself. "But where I'm going, well, I don't think there's e-mail."

  2

  Welcome to the Space Marines,

  Please Keep Your Hands and

  Feet Away From the Monsters

  Private First Class Eric Bergstresser parked his Jeep outside headquarters and got out, stretching his back.

  Berg's first intimation he was being transferred had been the previous day when his team NCOIC, a staff sergeant, had dragged him out of morning PT and told him to "get his ass up to battalion." Upon reaching the battalion headquarters he had been put through "the one fastest post-clearance in history" according to the gunnery sergeant from S-3 who had walked the private through, then handed him orders to proceed, via personal automobile, to Bravo Company, Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance, which was based, oddly enough, at Newport News Naval Base.