Home (Book of the Guardian 1)

by Ben Winston

  John thought about it for a moment before nodding agreement. Gloria looked at both of them.

  “That makes even less sense to me then. If they were more evolutionarily advanced than the base human they came from, then why shouldn’t they be allowed to live among us? They would be a great help in almost every field of knowledge we have.”

  “Because our entire history is filled with examples of what happens to the less advanced race when they mix,” Mary said. “Neanderthals, Trinil man, Amerindians. It didn’t even stop once we became aware of it, nor did it remain an evolutionary issue either. Even groups of the same race that were more technologically advanced than others would invariably destroy a less advanced group.”

  “Why? If both parties are aware of the problem, shouldn’t they be able to stop it?” Gloria asked.

  “I think they could on a personal level; one-on-one types of situations. However, if there were a group of them all together, I doubt it would turn out very well for the civilians,” John said. “If they are supposedly so much more intelligent than civilians, then they should know that they cannot grow as a race without unenhanced people. Remember, enhanced also means sterile.”

  “Well, not sterile, but definitely lethal to an unenhanced body,” Mary corrected. “The Biomites would lose contact with the controller and begin cremation of the ‘dead’ body. Which, it most likely would be, since enhanced sex is rather ... primitive. An unenhanced human wouldn’t survive it.”

  Out of the blue, Gloria snapped her fingers and pointed at John. “That’s who you remind me of! You’re almost a dead ringer for those paintings of J. J. Aster we have hanging on the walls of the Postal House.” She grinned at him. “I’ve always thought he was pretty handsome too. But you know, I’ve always thought that picture had to have been from before he was enhanced, since marines are all big and bulging with muscles.”

  Both John and Mary laughed, and dinner proceeded wonderfully. After dessert, and the table had been cleared, the three went upstairs to the girl’s suite and watched as John piloted the big barge out onto Glass bay to watch the setting of the planet Bethel. Bethel's Anvil had no moon of its own, but well above the giant planet in the sky was the bright speck of the planet, Bethel's Hammer.

  The smart folks at the Royal Academy on Centauri calculated that once every seventy-five thousand years, Bethel's Hammer and Bethel's Anvil passed close enough to disrupt gravity as well as the tectonic stability of both planets.

  Bethel's Hammer was airless now, but ruins and fossils discovered on it prove that it had an atmosphere at one point. It was due to pass ‘The Anvil’ relatively soon; in about another eleven thousand years or so. John wondered if he’d still be around to see it.

  “Well, as much as I hate to do it, I have to go home guys,” Gloria said. “You’ll be back by Sextent’s Eve right?”

  Sextent was the modern word for Sixth Day, or Saturday as John remembered it. Gloria was talking about Friday night. “Absolutely,” John said as he got up to get the big barge moving again. “Could you call home and ask your father to turn his dock light on for us?”

  During the evening, John had learned more about the girl’s families. He recorded the entire conversation for later investigation.

  Gloria did as he asked, and with his enhanced sight, John watched Bailey who was sitting on his back porch having a drink with an older version of Gloria. He answered the phone, and John could almost pick out what he was saying to his daughter, but not quite. When they’d hung up, he even watched him carry a lantern down to the dock.

  “John, Dad has a meeting in Threshold and will be late getting back on Friser He asked if you could pick up the Med-Techs at the landing docks before heading out to the cove?” Gloria asked, frowning.

  “Sure, I can get them when we pick you up. Pack a bag, and we’ll meet you and the Techs on the main dock when you get off work,” John said reasonably.

  Mary, however, saw her face. “What’s wrong, Glow-bug?”

  “Daddy rarely has meetings and he never has them on Friser Day. I think we should pick up my mom too, if he’s gonna be late, she’s gonna be pissed.” Gloria countered. “It’s just weird.”

  “Glow-Bug?” John said grinning.

  Gloria rolled her eyes. “Pet name. Mary’s is Merry-Bee. We’re gonna have to think one up for you!”

  John just shook his head. “Don’t hurry on my account!”

  Once they had dropped off Gloria, and John and Mary were alone, she finally got the chance to question him as to why he hadn’t told Gloria the truth.

  “She failed the background check. She’s a third generation immigrant, and before that, there is virtually no trace of her family, except that her grandfather was declared missing and presumed dead almost a year before the records show he arrived here.”

  “So what? I know she’s trustworthy!” Mary said.

  John nodded agreement with her. “I feel that way too, but there is far more at stake here than you know. Although I really am retired here, I do still have a job – a last mission if you will, to perform.

  “Mark told me that there is a Tammerain Invasion Armada massing just out of scanner range from the border. Intel knows that they have been getting data on our movements because of their reactions. They believe that there is a spy manning a directed tachyon comm relay here. In fact, they believe that they are using the base below us,” John explained.

  Mary nodded slowly. “He wants you to find the spy or prove one isn’t here.”

  “Exactly. They were thinking that one or more of the beings we won this planet from might either still be here, or has returned. However, I think people would have noticed a seven foot tall lizard buying supplies in town. Which means ...” He paused.

  She answered him. “Which means that they have to have a human doing it for them.” Suddenly, the light came on for her. “You think its Gloria's Dad?”

  John shrugged. “We just don’t know. Her family history does seem suspicious, but so do a lot of other people’s. It's certainly not enough for me to base any accusations on. However, I do know there is a relay base here, and it’s in the abandoned base below us.”

  “How?” Mary asked.

  “I went out for a jog last night. I was in the preserve when I almost literally ran into a Lizard. I killed it before it could report my presence, but they have to be wondering what happened to it by now,” John said.

  “No body was discovered in the ...” Mary began, but looked thoughtful.

  John nodded. “Yes, I started the fire to destroy the corpse. Lizards have no bones, so the fire should have destroyed all the evidence.”

  Mary nodded. “So, you know there are lizards less than a half mile from us, and you want me to sleep out here?”

  “This luxury yacht is fully loaded. It has lasers, ground to air missiles, depth charges, and torpedoes. It also has an anti-boarding field which has been on since we left Gloria's dock. They can’t even get close enough to us to place a mine on the hull.”

  “Wow, so that’s the real reason you got this barge. What else does it have?” Mary asked.

  “Under us is where most of the combat systems are. There is also a combat dive suit as well as a DSV that can detach from the hull. In case you haven’t figured it out, I have a dedicated, stand alone, subspace comm and a limited AI that is interactive, as well as full-spectrum holographic generators in all interior areas. It has two military grade reactors, one for the barge, and the other for the DSV that can cross-connect in the case of emergencies,” John explained.

  “In other words, I’m safer on here than on land,” Mary said flatly.

  John twitched his eyebrows at her. “Pretty much.”

  “So,” she said, approaching him sexily. “You really think you’re smarter than I am?”

  “Well, I don’t know about smarter, but I did get you alone, and out here where you can’t get away. That is, if you actually wanted to.”

  “Who's to say I hadn’t planned it this way t
o begin with?” she replied, pulling his head down to her own, and kissing him. (It was safe to do so since saliva didn’t contain any biocytes.)

  Once they broke the kiss, John replied. “Then I would say, great minds think alike.”

  John and Mary watched the very rare full setting of Bethel before they went back inside to go to bed. Since john didn’t need to sleep yet, he held her until he knew she was out. Then he very gently got out of bed, and returned to the foul weather bridge.

  Placing his hand on the kick plate under the console, John saw, with his enhanced vision, a light scan his hand and he felt the computer scan his enhancements to verify his identity. He felt the machine accept him, and the kick plate moved in further, and the floor under it dropped down in a narrow set of steps leading down.

  Looking down the passage, John could see the floor lowering down as the center 'stabilzer' extended further downward, making the hidden room large enough for a human to stand in. Even before the floor stopped moving, John was on his way down the steps. At the bottom, he stopped in amazement at all the equipment and technology crammed into this small area.

  Immediately to his left was the control systems for the DSV that could double as yet another set of controls for the barge. In front of him was a full console suite to control all the sensors and weapons systems available on the vessel.

  When he stepped away from the steps, they folded back into the wall, and the hatch above him that he’d just entered through, closed and sealed. As he faced the rear of the craft, right beside the steps was a holo-screen. Basically, it was a holo-tank turned up on its side. It displayed three-dimensional images in a way that made them look like the image extended outside the hull of the craft. Currently, it was displaying a slowly rotating view of the entire barge, with notations on which systems were currently active.

  Further down the aisle, John found the weapons lockers. They were fully equipped with just about every weapon John might ever need. He took out a small, slug thrower modeled after a far older weapon. He thought he'd be able to teach Mary how to shoot it tomorrow. Then he picked up a largish pulse pistol for himself. He would put the weapons in the night stands in his suite. He hoped he'd never need them, but he'd rather have a weapon handy than be caught completely naked.

  Across the aisle, was a larger locker that held two sets of Marine battle armor, and two sets of 'wet' armor. Briefly, Jon wondered why he had two sets of each of these, but shrugged it off as not important for the moment. This is where the small aisle ended, but there was a hatch that looked more like it was an airlock door. Which, of course, is exactly what it was.

  The computer system told him that behind that lock was access to the main power systems for the DSV as well as the yacht. There was also access to both outboard stabilizers that housed most of the weapons systems for the barge, as well as some of its other service equipment.

  Satisfied that he had reviewed the hidden aspects of the barge, John sat down at the control console. There was no time like the present to start the mission Mark had asked of him.

  He had the computer ready a tethered probe that could be lowered down and do a visual inspection of the outside of the base. John doubted that he would find anything, but maybe he could get lucky and at least detect some power readings. That way he'd have an idea where to start - after all, that base had been huge.

  He set the probe loose, and turned his chair around to watch the holo-tank as the probe relayed its findings via the tether.

  For few moments, the only things displayed were location information as the probe made the trip down to the depths where the base had been. Very slowly, and at first computer enhanced, the outline of the base began to form. There didn't seem to be any surprises, as it looked pretty much like you'd expect an abandoned base to look.

  The probe reported the interior in this area as being flooded, and several holes were shown in the exterior bulkheads. The 'moon pool' that John's long ago quarry had used was open, and the room flooded. John sent the probe up into the room, and the place had definitely been flooded and abandoned for a very long time.

  John hadn't expected to find anything this easy, but the attempt had to be made. The base, located on the edge and down the side of an underwater cliff, extended down deeper as well as into the side of the cliff. John knew he wouldn't be able to use the probe to check out those areas. The best this probe could do would be to give him a good, close-up scan of the external, exposed parts of the base.

  He was unsurprised, an hour and a half later, when his probe hadn't found anything he considered to be out of the ordinary. The Lizard he killed hadn't been wet, which meant that they weren't using the water as a gateway to the base. He saw pretty much what he expected see; schools of fish, old and corroding structures, and no energy signatures.

  Recalling the probe, he decided he would get some rest, and figure out how to proceed in the morning. He bundled his findings, and set them for burst transmission back to Mark and his people. With one last look around, he grabbed the two weapons, and returned to the main deck.

  On his way to the upper deck, he stopped in the galley to get a beer and another energy bar. Very quietly, he placed the weapons in the bedside drawers, then went out on the deck to sit in a lounger. The sky was getting brighter as Bethel completed its short 'night' and prepared to rise once again.

  He remembered that the last time he was here, which lasted for almost one local year, that Bethel never actually completely set during what passed as summer here. It wasn't unusual to get three or four harvests per season out of the locally adapted crops. He'd have to see how well those hybrids Mark mentioned will do.

  He had a feeling the old timers might not take advantage of the new seed, but properly phrased, it might be a good deal for him. Free seeds, a guaranteed harvest, and an indemnity clause for the land itself. Maybe he should take the 'rep' to the Tidewater Cafe' so the old-timers can listen in as well.

  Of course, if he didn't find that damn base, there might not even be a growing season next year. The exterior scans didn't show anything. He hoped that Mark and his analysts were having better luck in the burn area.

  Bethel had just broken over the horizon, when John put his head back, and let himself go to sleep.

  Chapter 07

  He was awakened by soft kisses on his lips. Of course he already knew who it was. When he opened his eyes, he saw a mussed and rumpled looking Mary standing there, wrapped in a blanket, and smiling at him.

  “Why'd you get up to sleep out here last night?” Mary asked as she sat on his lap and leaned in to cuddle.

  “Actually, after you went to sleep, I did some work, then decided to have a beer before I lay down again. I was just so comfortable, I fell asleep right here,” John replied. “Besides, It’s been awhile since I've slept with an unenhanced woman. I didn't want to twitch in the middle of the night and hurt you.”

  “Liar, I know for a fact that your controller won't let you twitch like that!” Mary countered, playfully. “Wait, what's the model number of your controller?”

  “DLCCM eighty-four-one-ninety-two,” John replied. “It hasn't been upgraded for a couple hundred. I didn't like what I was hearing about the newer modules - to many firmware glitches.”

  “John! Digital Logistics has been out of business for over five hundred years! Why don't you have the new Enhanced Cybernetics PL-1000 Series?” Mary asked. “They haven't had any issues with that for a hundred and fifty years!”

  John smiled softly. “When they tried to remove my enhancements, they recommended waiting to upgrade until they could isolate why I couldn't be decommissioned. So, even if I wanted to upgrade, I can't until they complete their investigation.”

  “After a year and a half, they still haven't isolated it?” Mary asked incredulously. “Bullshit! Come on, I'll make you breakfast, then I would like to speak to Mark if he has a moment.” She got up, and pulled on his arm.

  Chuckling, John helped her pull him up. “Why do I have a feeling th
at you're about to get the head bio-mol folks at the center chewed out?”

  “Because you're a very smart man. Christa! I'm a rookie and I'd have had this figured out by now!” Mary said, frustrated.

  When they sat down for breakfast, John sent a query to Mark. Mark's image appeared in one of the chairs at the table with the couple. “Good Morning, John, Mary. How are you this morning?”

  “We're good, Mark. How are you? You look like you didn't get any sleep last night,” John replied.

  “Sleep? What's that?” Mark asked sarcastically. “No, I didn't actually. We've been going over all the information we've been getting in. We've found a few interesting things.”

  “Uh, sorry for interrupting, but are you sitting down to breakfast too?” Mary asked.

  Mark grinned at her. “No, this is actually Supper considering the time of day. I actually forgot to eat since lunch yesterday. I got a nutrient warning so here I am. You know, I was actually going to call you guys later anyway.”

  “Well, before you sign off, I need to talk to you as well,” Mary said in a friendly manner.

  “Sure thing, beautiful. Which reminds me, have you thought about where the best place would be for an enhancement center? Bethel's Anvil really should have one, and not just because you're there, either. I've been told that a lot of lives have been lost because of putting the wounded citizens in stasis for the hyper-jump,” Mark began but stopped when he saw Mary nodding her head and grinning.

  “I was going to send a message to the Governor about that very thing,” Mary replied.

  “I recently had reason to speak to the Dean of your University, Mary. When I asked about you, he had nothing but raves for your work there. In fact, he told me he was hoping that you would accept the offered fellowship, and return to Bolovier’s World to do research,” Mark replied, beaming in pride for his newest friend. “Any praise coming from him is rare in the extreme, you've made quite an impression there.”

  Mary looked a little stunned. “Dr. Colmier said that about me?”