NFI: New Frontiers, Incorporated: Book 2, the New Frontiers Series

by Jack L Knapp

  “People have been close to that for nearly a century now,” said Chuck dryly. “What makes you so sure yours will work?”

  “It’s not really mine,” Dolph admitted. “One of the Indian engineers found a way to stabilize hydrogen, pure H-one. The process strips the oxygen atom from pure water...it has to be pure, that’s the only real drawback; if the feed is contaminated, it either shuts down the reaction or the power plant kicks out high-speed protons. Anyway, we can inject the stabilized hydrogen directly into the center of the magnetic containment field. Once initiation takes place, our unit bleeds off enough energy to keep the field going. From that point on, the rest of what it produces is essentially free energy, and unlike the laser and pellet reactors, this one runs continuously.”

  “How long, Dolph?” asked Chuck, eyes glazing over.

  “How long to perfect this, or how long did the reaction last?”

  “How long before it shut down?”

  “Well, only a few milliseconds. But it was working. I’m sure the next one will work even better.”

  “What happened to the first one, Dolph?”

  “Ah...we had containment failure. It kind of wrecked the device,” Dolph admitted.

  “I don’t like the sound of this. How big is the device you intend to build?”

  “All up? We could probably fit it into a trailer. You know, one of the eighteen wheel kind?”

  “I don’t want to melt Sydney into a puddle, so don’t put it in a trailer. Build it into a ship, or at least into one of the modular bays. Use one of the converted Insect class birds, they should be big enough, and we can spare one. Before you try it again, though, take the ship into space. You may blow yourselves up, but at least you won’t take a chunk of Australia with you.”

  Chuck grinned as Dolph looked down, crestfallen. “You can still run your tests, but let’s err on the side of caution, okay?”

  “Well, you’re the boss.” Dolph sounded disgruntled. “But that’s not what I want to show you. How much power do you have available?”

  “We’re using two teakettles to power the base right now; that’s what the guys call the small modular reactors. We’ll need a third one after the next expansion. I could have one taken offline, but I’ve got to have at least one to run the base. We’ve got maintenance crews working on ships, I can’t shut that down.”

  “One reactor should be enough; this is only a model, after all, and anyway we’ll only need the reactor for an hour or so. The model is small, but even so, it’s big enough to propel that little ship of yours. Too bad you only have fuel cells; they just don’t have the necessary juice.”

  “The Lina?”

  “That’s the one.”

  “And it works?”

  “Sure does. I’ve brought a video. The directed impulse is a function of how much volume is contained within the space-time field, so it decays as an inverse-cube...”

  “Spare me, Dolph. Let’s take a look at this gadget, then you can show me the video.”

  #

  A thoughtful Chuck flew home that afternoon. He changed into shorts and a tee-shirt, then went to the children’s wing to see what Lina was doing. Frenchy was mock-wrestling with the twins, their high-pitched squeals of excitement revealing how much they enjoyed the play. Lina sat in an armchair, watching; this was obviously not a new development. Chuck bent over, and she raised her face for a kiss.

  “I think he’s holding his own, wouldn’t you say?”

  “You mean dad? Yes, for now. But they’re growing.”

  “Bobby is right in the thick of it.”

  “He always is. Walking still gives him trouble, but he adapts. He’s also very bright. He’s taught himself to read, Chuck.”

  “Really? I knew he was interested in books, but...”

  “I started out reading to him, to both of them. Now he reads to Robbie.”

  “Are you sure? He could be repeating what he heard you say.”

  “No, he’s using different books. He’s reading.”

  “I need to spend more time with them. It’s just that there’s so much to do, it’s one crisis after another, and there’s never enough time. Frenchy looks like he’s getting tired,” Chuck mentioned.

  “You’re right, time to end it. Okay, you two, let grandpa up! Bobby, show daddy how you read to Robbie.”

  Frenchy drew a glass of water from the tap before joining them. Robbie sat down and Bobby reached for one of the books scattered around the play area. The book showed evidence of much use; clearly, it was a favorite. They look for familiar things, Chuck thought. They know they’re going to love the way it ends. It’s a shame that life isn’t like that.

  “Whew. That was fun!” Frenchy sat down and took a sip.

  “I could tell. How’s everything going?”

  “Personally, I’m doing well, and the kids are too. Lina, she complains a lot...” Lina shot him a look. “Well, you do, sweetie.”

  “I’ve got reason! I look like a cow! I don’t walk, I waddle!”

  “Less than eight weeks to go,” Chuck soothed. “Walking is good for you.”

  “That’s easy for you to say!” Lina glowered.

  “What’s Will up to, Frenchy?”

  “Trying to keep the Australians calm. Have you been watching what’s going on, up north I mean?”

  “Not really. I’ve had my hands full. We’re filing the patents on the impeller system, so the secret won’t be secret much longer. Dolph also has a couple of new toys to play with, if he doesn’t blow himself up first. Disco is still not finished. I don’t know what to do about that, maybe replace the construction manager, but as far as I can tell it’s just bad luck, not mismanagement.

  “Stogie and Frisbee left yesterday; we’re finally surveying the area around Mars. Most will live aboard Frisbee, including the science people. Stogie requires a crew of three, two pilots and a flight engineer for the teakettle, and they’ll be drawn on a rotating basis from the qualified people on Frisbee. Stogie is insurance in case something goes wrong and support for the main effort. She’s better able to get close to an asteroid because she’s smaller.

  “They’ll start with the Trojan asteroids, then go on to the main belt between Mars and Jupiter. With luck, there’s something we can use. Stogie is carrying plenty of supplies, so they could be away for six Terrestrial months. Anyway, that’s what I’ve been doing, trying not too let the house burn down. What’s happening north of here?”

  “Maybe a war. I read a lot of newspapers, and it doesn’t look good.”

  “Sure, you follow market reports, I knew that. But war...Frenchy, are you sure?”

  “No. But what I’m seeing is polarization, and it involves us, NFI I mean. It’s not something we want, but it’s there; if you’re not with us, you’re against us. Diplomatic pressure, a couple of military moves, that’s all it took. The smaller nations are afraid the same thing will happen to them that happened in Japan. Powerful nations have used the smaller nations as battlegrounds in the past, and the damage took years to rebuild. Japan is rearming, and I think that’s a red flag. They’re not trying to develop their own nukes, but they’ve got the knowledge, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they did. The Chinese are pushing ahead into areas claimed by several nations. They’re openly flying fighters off the artificial islands they built in the South China Sea. There have already been minor clashes between Chinese ships and Vietnamese boats. Vietnam says they were innocent fishermen, but they were probably spies. They don’t trust China. We don’t hear a lot about that, but it’s real.”

  Frenchy sipped his water, then watched Bobby pensively. “North Koreans are flying fighters off those islands too, and that may even be worse. Maybe this is Beijing’s way to rein Kim in, but I can’t see it working. North Korean artillery has fired at least a dozen shells at a small island near the Demilitarized Zone. It’s too small to have a name as far as I can tell. The South Koreans are worried and the US hasn’t responded, which makes the Koreans really jumpy. If th
ey start mixing it up, China may find herself dragged into a war. They might just be trying to pick up mineral and fishing rights in the South China Sea, but mix in the North Koreans and all bets are off.”

  Frenchy paused long enough to sip more water.

  “The Indians?” Frenchy shrugged. “There have been border clashes between them and the Chinese. The disputed area is close enough to Pakistan to pull them in if a war flares up, and all three have nukes. Saudi Arabia and Iran are bristling at each other, waiting to see which one will blink first. Australia doesn’t want to take sides, but she’ll probably go with Indonesia and India if she has to. Oz is buying fighters, modern tanks too. Infantry, artillery, they’ve got those, but their air forces and navy need upgrading. To be honest, they really don’t have much of a navy, but they’ve asked Will if they could use our ships if war breaks out. He hasn’t agreed yet, but this is now our only functioning groundside base, so we could end up in this whether we want to or not.”

  “Damn. You think it’s that serious?”

  “It’s serious. How serious?” Frenchy shrugged again. “I doubt anyone knows for sure. It wouldn’t take much. One act of stupidity, that’s all it would take. The smaller nations are afraid, with reason, so they’re picking sides. So maybe world war three.”

  “Damn. Will it spill into space, Frenchy?”

  “That’s the question, isn’t it? We’ve got better ships, but not many, and some are off in space, hauling supplies to Mars. The Russians and Chinese have a lot of missiles, nuke warheads, too. Giant was damaged by a conventional bomb; if they start shooting nukes, we’ll lose ships. Maybe all of them.” Frenchy looked out the window, lost in thought for a moment.

  “The North Koreans have a new long-range rocket, that’s confirmed, and they’re claiming they have a hydrogen warhead. Again.”

  “What do the Europeans and Americans say? They should know. Have the North Koreans really set off a hydrogen bomb?”

  “It’s not conclusive, that’s what the papers say. The Europeans say they detected a seismic event and the Americans confirmed that much, but they haven’t said anything else. The Americans have been pretty quiet, actually. Maybe it’s the election; as usual, they’ve got their knickers in a knot.”

  #

  Chuck remained thoughtful during the rest of the weekend. Could people really be crazy enough to trigger a world war? And did NFI really have anything to do with what was happening? He asked Frenchy about it, late Sunday afternoon.

  “I don’t think we’re the cause, but we might be the trigger. Look at the situation before we started flying spaceships. There was an uneasy balance, Russia on one side, the European Union doing business with them but not happy about the Crimea. But they needed Russian natural gas, so they couldn’t afford to put up much of a complaint. Down south, there was Georgia and South Ossetia. Then Putin moved north, pressuring the Ukraine. He’s also trying to be the power broker in the Middle East. Then we enter the picture, providing a needed service, but at the same time using the profits to really move into space. We did that, jumped past Russia, China, and the USA, but look at what’s happened since we began investing in the smaller nations. Japan was facing a declining population and a mountain of debt until they partnered with us. They got rid of all those dangerous fuel rods, then made a ton of money off the SMRs. Now they’ve got a space station and they’re servicing it with their own ships. They’ve added more technology too, new stuff and different. Robots, self-driving electrical cars, some biologic discoveries too. Their people are having kids again, the prosperity effect. But from China’s point of view, there’s a dangerous new rival in the neighborhood, and we definitely had something to do with that. They hated each other even before World War Two. China’s trying to follow the old Japanese plan to create a co-prosperity sphere, but this time dominated by China. A newly-prosperous and resurgent Japan is not in China’s interests.”

  Frenchy paused to gather his thoughts, then continued.

  “France, too. They were brokers as well as customers, and they made money by shipping cargoes in our ships. Some of the fuel rods were theirs, but some came from Germany and the US. Just like Iceland and Finland, they got prosperous fast. The Finns made enough to build up their air force, I knew that much, but maybe they invested in their ground forces too. But they didn’t keep all the money we paid them, they bought subassemblies from south of the Baltic. Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, and Poland all profited. We had money, we spent it, the money got spread around, so a lot of different economies boomed. As for the countries around the Baltic, they’re a lot more confident now, no longer quite so fearful that Russia will try to do what she did in Ukraine.

  “There’s also an American brigade in that area, so the tripwire is back in place. It’s assigned to NATO as a cover, but it’s American and everyone knows it. There are NATO air defense units too. So yes, I think we had a part in this. We never intended any of this to happen, but when the US booted us out I had no choice. I had to find people we could work with, then the money rolled in, we spent it...” Frenchy looked away. “That earlier balance was based on fear and weak economies, so when that changed, suddenly governments were no longer afraid. They were still cautious, so they improved their financial and military positions. While that was happening, Russia’s economy imploded when the price of crude oil dropped. China had a housing crisis that left her economy barely treading water. We were the Robin Hoods that took money from the big nations and spent it in the smaller ones. The dynamite was already there, but I think we lit the fuse.”

  Chuck’s voice was soft. “Is there anything we can do? Anything we should do?”

  “No. With luck, they’ll jockey around and find a new balance.”

  The conversation was interrupted by a knock on the doorjamb.

  “Yes, Bert?” The man was normally a silent presence, there, but almost invisible unless Lina or the children needed to go somewhere. A combination driver and bodyguard, he was awesomely competent.

  “You need to turn on the idiot box, Frenchy. There’s trouble brewin’, ay.”

  Frenchy found the remote and turned the television to a news station. The speaker was Asian, Japanese according to a note at the bottom.

  “...was attacked this morning. According to sources, the flight was intended to demonstrate the principle of freedom of navigation. The ministry will only confirm that our missiles were fired defensively. Four JM-56 fighters have returned to base. Others may have diverted to coastal airfields because of damage, but the ministry refuses to comment at this time. Back to you, Colin.”

  The Australian announcer was slow to resume the broadcast. “As you just heard, a Japanese flight reported being attacked early this morning in the South China Sea. The exact location has not been released. A fishing boat in the vicinity reported smoke trails, but whether they came from missiles or shot-down aircraft has not been determined. Chinese sources have not responded to requests for information, but the Chinese Ambassador has been called to the Japanese foreign ministry. A source close to the ministry says that a protest will be filed. Others speculate that Japan may even break off diplomatic relations with China.

  “In local news, a storm is bearing down on the south Tasmanian coast...”

  Chuck looked at Frenchy. “It’s started, then?”

  “Maybe. It depends on what happens now. I wonder when this happened?”

  “He didn’t say. Wait, there’s more.” The announcer reappeared; a banner scrolling below his face announced Breaking News in large red letters.

  “Sources in South Korea confirm an earlier announcement that North Korean military forces have again shelled a small island northwest of the city of Incheon. South Korean officials have announced only that a small observation outpost has not reported in since the shelling. Forces along the Demilitarized Zone remain on high alert, and military officials report movement of armored vehicles north of the DMZ.”

  Chuck glanced at Frenchy. Shoulders slumped, facial wrinkles s
uddenly pronounced, Frenchy said, “The Chinese might have been willing to back off. The North Koreans may believe this is their chance. They’re far behind the South Koreans economically, they can’t even feed their people. The south has a strong economy, and this time they’ve got well trained and well armed ground troops. The only real thing the north has is the bomb. I‘m afraid they might use it.

  Chapter Thirty-three

  No further reports came in during the night. Nations around the world held their collective breath, waiting. Chuck kissed Lina and the twins, then headed for his office. He began making calls as soon as Lina took off.

  Wolfgang had rounded up as many pilots as possible. Some were off duty, others were flying. Some of these were in deep space, between Luna and Mars. The others were waiting in the employees’ lounge when Chuck walked in.

  “Thanks for coming. I hope you’ve been following events to our north. NFI’s situation has changed, and some of you may choose not to continue as you have been.”

  He paused long enough for his audience to consider his statement.

  “We’ve got enemies. They’ve tried to force our ships to land, tried to hijack one, and on two occasions military aircraft have behaved aggressively. During one such attempt, a missile struck Giant, severely damaging her. This attack also resulted in contaminating Giant with radioactive particles. One of our people has been killed, another severely injured. It may get worse before it gets better.”