Ascendancy: A Near Future Sci-Fi Thriller

by Randal Sloan

Brian laughed. “I’ll try not to. That’s gonna be awesome.” Too excited to stay in one place very long, he pushed on to the next thing, stopping to stare when he realize what it was. He had his own virtual firing range for Space Force weapons.

  Julie took back over. “Your extended Space Force family wanted you to have the chance to practice your target shooting. We wanted you to be able to be a fully certified honorary member of the team.”

  She led the way to the next thing. Her own excitement was nearly as bad as Brian’s. This one was a zero g version of the obstacle course the Space Forces had trained on, with kid-sized obstacles and distances involved. She turned on the VR for it so that it suddenly looked like real life space.

  “This is your very own Space Force training course. It was on one like this that our big brother beat me to win the big bonus. That’s when he told me about you.”

  Tim had come up behind them. “Don’t let her fool you. She kicked our tails, all of us, for over an hour. Something distracted her and I got a lucky shot in to win. But that’s how we wound up with an honorary sister, so I’m thinking it was a lucky shot indeed.”

  They came to the last area. It was another VR section, but this one was set up a little differently. When Julie turned it on, it showed a beautiful VR view looking out across the monk island. At the moment, it was set in the master monk’s special garden area that Julie had enjoyed so much. Julie explained for Brian and the others. “This is a VR simulation of the monk island where I trained for several weeks. We’re looking at the master monk’s garden right now.”

  Julie tapped a button on her VR. “It has other views. This was one of my favorite meditation sites.” The second view was from the rock on the plateau where Julie had first meditated when she got to the island. Before she left, Julie had taken a VR moving snapshot so she could carry it with her.

  Even in VR, it was spectacular. Off to the sides were the cliffs that dropped to the sea, with the mainland a smudge on the left horizon. The waves, as usual, were dashing themselves wildly against the cliffs, the spray shooting high into the air. It looked so real that Julie almost felt as if she could feel the spray in the air and smell the salt.

  Julie pointed to the chasm in front of them. “Down below us is the channel I had to swim across. It scares me even now to know that I was crazy enough to attempt it. Of course, it was at low tide when I did it, but it was still extremely difficult. But somehow I made it across, making me a high monk.”

  She switched the view once more. “This is my second favorite meditation site. Up on the mountain in front of us, way up high, is the nest of the eagles. They are something to see. If you watch this one for a little while, you’ll see her go flying by, hunting for food for her babies. One of these days I’ve got to go back to see how the babies are doing. Anyway, the idea is that you can come here to relax when you need a break from everything.”

  Doctor Ted came forward to join them. “All of this you’ll get to try out the next few days. But I think for now, you need to go rest awhile. We want you to be able to enjoy this, but we have to keep your health in mind at all times.”

  Brian nodded. He was used to having to plan around his physical limitations. “You’re right, Uncle Ted. It’ll be enough to know that it’s all here.” He turned toward Julie. “Thank you so much, sis. This is the most amazing thing I’ve ever had.”

  Once more tears in her eyes, Julie told him. “I just got you here. Zeke and the guys and girls of Space Forces did the rest. We want you to know that you are very loved.”

  Tim told him, “And your sister has insisted that I take the time off. So I’ll be here with you every day, along with the guys that will come in when they can. Of course, you’ve got your armor to work on learning to wear too, so we’re going to be very busy having lots of fun.” He gave his brother a space hug. “Come on, brother, let’s go see your quarters. I’m claiming top bunk for now, but when you get your space armor, I’ll let you give it a try.”

  Laughing, the two led the way back out. Julie was thrilled, her smile huge. This plan was really coming together.

  #

  The next few days were busy. Julie left most of the work with Brian to her uncle. He was the doctor and she knew he would move only as fast as was safe for the boy. She kept her involvement to checking in with him every evening. After the second day, he roped her into flying simulations with him in her corvette. She forced herself to fly at half her normal reaction time and at first Brian struggled with even that. But he kept getting better and better. She wasn’t really surprised on the third day when he beat her. One day Joe would have some real competition. After that she gradually upped her level until the point she was probably giving it two-thirds of her effort to keep up. Even more than before, she realized, Brian was an amazing young man.

  They had started testing Brian’s “armor” as they all called it. Brian’s early version was fitted with sensors covering much of its surfaces. The sensors let them determine the amount of stress Brian would experience on various areas of his body. As Zeke had figured out, they were giving Brian an exoskeleton, much as some animals and insects had. Just as Zeke had speculated, the problem was that without the full exoskeleton support, the armor could support Brian, but attempting to move in it was still too stressful on his body.

  Julie knew the only solution was a powered version of the armor, something she had been working on for multiple reasons. The key to that one was a small enough power unit that would attach to the armor. She wanted one for her shielded armor, but had decided that if she could get the power unit built, there wasn’t a reason to not make it powered, giving the wearer stupendous strength and durability. Scaling down her power system was actually more difficult than scaling it up, but she was making good progress. She had a lot of incentive to get it to work, first for Brian, but also something told her she would need it soon for the Space Force armor.

  Zeke, on the other hand, was working with Future Tech Unlimited, and they were making good progress. Scott had immediately told them that he was there to work and not play, and since Brian was occupied during the day, they put Scott to work with Zeke. The two of them had already met with the key players from Future Tech, initially just Morgan and Paul. The team from Future Tech Unlimited had taken a shuttle ride up to the station, the first of many they would have to do Zeke was sure. He could tell they were excited from the flight when they arrived, but he hid a smile when he thought about how much more their experience would have been if they had flown up in Julie’s corvette.

  The group kicked a lot of ideas around that might someday develop into marketable systems, but they had finally decided they would build the core components first. The idea was to make the design as flexible as possible. Later they could decide on the system they would implement as a prototype. After a quick lunch, they excitedly sketched out the specs for that core system.

  They broke out the work to take advantage of the skills each one brought to the table. Morgan was working on the VR interface to the system, although she piggy-backed a lot of her ideas on the existing framework that Zeke had developed for his core AI. Paul was working on the server interface, something Zeke had absolutely no desire to do, leaving Zeke to work on the core code for the module.

  Scott was working on the task that Zeke told him was the most important in some ways, the gathering of information needed to build the knowledge bases the AI system would require to provide the correct response. As Zeke pointed out, the answer that the AI could produce was only as good as the information it had to work with, no different from a human being that had imperfect information, something many a general had regretted on the battlefield.

  Secretly, Morgan and Paul told Roger that there was no way they would have been able to integrate it all into Zeke’s core system without months of work, and they were all thrilled that they would be months ahead of any of their competition. They now believed that instead of being forced to move to a new field, or go out of business, their collabora
tion with Space Tech would instead give their company the edge they needed to grow their business. Zeke’s design of the core interface would allow them to almost plug and play any system they wanted to build.

  Julie had an idea of what she would like to have designed using their system. When she got a little closer with her plans, she knew she would have to approach them with her idea. What she had in mind wouldn’t be cheap to do, but she would gladly pick up the tab if they could pull it off. She just needed to flesh out her plans a little more first.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  The Medal

  Julie stared across the desk in her office on Space Tech Station, looking at the picture across from her without really looking at it. Just a few moments ago she had received a VR call from the office of the Presidential Chief of Staff requesting her presence at the White House, where they would be presenting to her the Medal of Honor. The President had decided that with the results of the political backlash against his competitors, and with the Organization in total disarray, this was the best time to have the presentation. For her, that had been bad enough for someone who still wanted to avoid the public attention she constantly had to endure now.

  But that was not all. She had been instructed to wear the dress uniform of her newly defined Space Forces, and when she called to order her uniform, she received a surprise. Space Tech Academy had decided to grant her an honorary degree due to the magnitude of her work completed to produce the power system and the space drives. The Space Force had then decreed that since she now had a degree and had completed time on active duty, that she was eligible for a promotion up to a full Lieutenant, immediately doing so. She was instructed to dress according to her rank. The only thing that tempered her response to that was Zeke had received his degree from Space Academy while he was still in his coma and he was also promoted to the rank of full Lieutenant. As her escort, he would be able to dress according to his rank too.

  Zeke must have picked up on her mood, because she received a mental prompt from him, “What’s going on?”

  When she explained what she’d just found out, he was equally surprised, but then he laughed and reminded her, “That’ll make it a lot easier for everyone since they’ll all be required to salute you when you’re in uniform. Of course, I beat all of them to the first salute, those many weeks ago when you first told me the news.”

  “Lucky for you, I was still out of it after all the events in Kinza, or you wouldn’t have gotten away with that one. You know that I still don’t feel I deserve to receive this medal, but I’ve given in to the inevitability of it at this point. But I’m dragging you alongside me, so you’ll have to deal with all the attention too.”

  “Yes, but I happen to agree with them that you do deserve this medal and so much more. Of course, I might be a little prejudiced when it comes to you.”

  Julie smothered a laugh that Zeke easily picked up in their link. “You can demonstrate that prejudice a little later.”

  At his return smile, she went on. “I’ll take care of the details of ordering our uniforms and our transportation. I’m actually looking forward to seeing you in the new Space Forces dress uniform.”

  This time Julie couldn’t keep the laugh away, feeling Zeke’s mental grimace at that. He really didn’t like wearing dress uniforms.

  But an idea had come to her while she was exchanging mental messages with Zeke. That had led to her making a call back to the office of the Presidential Chief of Staff. That was when she received the last surprise that made the others seem trivial to her.

  Julie’s call was answered by Phillip Madison, the Presidential Chief of Staff himself, instead of some mid-level assistant. She knew that Phillip had served as Mayor of New York City for a number of years before stepping down to serve with his good friend, President Scott. She immediately recognized him, having read up on the current political environment when she took over as CEO of Space Tech. She had also seen him from a distance at the last briefing she had with the President, although she hadn’t had a chance to speak to him in person. The call being answered by him was a surprise, but that wasn’t what had just blown her mind, leaving her staring at nothing. That call had triggered a strong reaction with her second sight.

  The clearest thing she had seen yet, she foresaw that this man was going to be the next President in four years after President Scott finished his second term. Prior to the change in the political climate after the attack on her corvette, Julie had had a bad feeling about his successor, foreseeing the Presidency being occupied by a man she had expected would try to oppose Space Tech. Julie breathed a sigh of relief at the realization of what this change meant. She had no doubt Mayor Madison would be a very good President, much like the one they both served now. Not a vision, still she had absolutely no doubt about the outcome.

  Of course, the man on the other end of the call had no idea what was going through her mind, but he gave an easy smile when he answered. “Philip Madison, Presidential Chief of Staff; it is my pleasure to speak with you, Miss Randolph. What can I do for you?”

  Julie quickly got a grip, although internally she was still shaken. “I’m calling about the Medal of Honor ceremony. I wish to have something added to the ceremony. Something that is, shall we say, a very strong request.” Smiling, she told him what she wanted.

  Phillip gave her a big smile of his own. “I don’t see that to be a problem. I’ll have to run it up the ladder but I’m pretty sure we’ll get agreement.”

  He grew serious once more. “I’ve read your file and talked to others about you. I’ve also seen what you’ve done since. I would consider it an honor if I get the opportunity to speak to you when you attend the ceremony.”

  Still shaken by her near vision, Julie placed her hand over her heart. “Sir, I would be honored to meet with you. We both are working toward the same goals, just walking the different paths that have been chosen for us.”

  Phillip nodded. “Then it’s settled. I’ll be looking forward to it with much anticipation.”

  Julie gave him one last smile. “Thank you again for taking my request. It’s very important to me.” She ended the call with a half bow, a monk bow. The bow of one who wishes to offer blessing to another. As she disconnected, she saw the recognition in the man’s eyes. Somehow, he knew the meaning of her bow.

  Still in shock as a result of her last conversation, Julie nevertheless sent the electronic reply with their intention to attend. Knowing she would be traveling as Julie, she called Caitlyn to make arrangements for her Space Tech Forces to escort her from the airport in Washington to the White House as both an honor guard and a true security force.

  After a moment of thought, Julie sent additional information regarding her attending party. She wanted to have her two Majors as well as the Air Force Liaison and the Special Envoys to attend the presentation. Unsurprising, she quickly got back an affirmative response. The man ran a tight ship. That was exactly the kind of man you wanted running your country.

  She also made arrangements for a tailor to alter their dress uniforms and to attach the Lieutenant bars as well as the pilot wings they had developed for the Space Force. She believed the Space Force dress uniforms would make a very significant impression, and she really did look forward to seeing Zeke wearing his. She knew he would be looking good. That would make it worth it just a little bit.

  #

  The end of the week quickly arrived. Julie’s little group traveling down to Washington had grown, of course. The Space Force teams had taken alternate transportation and were already in place awaiting the arrival of Julie’s party. That left her group including Uncle Ted, Carla, both of the Special Envoys, and Caitlyn along with Joe as their pilot.

  Joe was thrilled to have the privilege of flying them down. He was also in dress uniform, along with his own set of wings. Julie itched to grab the controls when they boarded, but she quickly got over her feelings when Zeke distracted her as he came aboard in his dress uniform.

  Uncle Ted laughed whe
n he saw her expression, telling her, “You two certainly make a handsome couple. I think those new dress uniforms bring out the best in both of you. No one there is going to pay any attention to anyone else at the ceremony but you two; which is the way it should be.”

  “Maybe, but you and Carla make a pretty good couple in your uniforms too. I guess this is the first time I have ever seen you in your uniform and both times with Carla, she was not in uniform either. But I’m glad that you two will be there for the presentation.”

  “Oh, neither of us would have missed this presentation for anything. And although I know you don’t really feel you should be getting this, we all know it really is deserved. I also know you aren’t done with all you have to do, so don’t be surprised if you wind up getting another medal or two before you’re done; you and Zeke both.”

  Julie sighed at that. She suspected he was right. “We’re only doing what we have to do, Uncle Ted, you know that.”

  Ted nodded, but didn’t say anything as Joe announced the completion of his preflight check. Ted quickly busied himself strapping in to his station as Joe called in to Space Tech Station Control.

  “Control, this is Aspirations, preparing to undock.”

  “Control acknowledges. You are clear to undock.”

  “Roger Control, we are undocking now.”

  “Acknowledged Aspirations, safe flight and happy landings.”

  Expertly completing the undock, Joe quickly had them on their way. The trip down to the White House went as smoothly as Julie had ever seen. Joe managed to fly them to the airport in style, albeit a little more sedately than he would have wished. As soon as they entered the US airspace, a large fighter escort met them, the group asking Joe to join their formation in the position of honor. Joe easily assumed that position as he switched to rocket thrusters.

  They were given priority on their approach to the airport and landed without incident. Their Space Force escort met them immediately upon landing, as well as a full military escort. Julie and her party found a secure limousine waiting and it wasn’t long before they were all aboard and en route, with the escort forces assuming positions around them. Motorcycles preceded them, clearing the way, and the lights were controlled all the way for their trip to the White House. So the journey was completed relatively quickly. When they arrived at the White House, they were waved directly through the gates.