Mirikami, as was often the case, shifted the men’s irreverent interplay back to practical matters. “Ethan, go down and ring-up with the other TG1’s to compare messages. Then let us know the overall gist of the messages from each ship. We’ll be Jumping in another couple of minutes. We have nearly five days to sort out what they each sent to us and to each other.”
The desired Normal Space direction and velocity established, parallel to Koban’s expected orbit at White Out, they winked out of Normal Space again, for five days this time.
Shortly after the group Ring Tap was completed, Ethan and Carson, as the two senior TG1’s (plus being sons of four parents in leadership positions), reported excitedly to Mirikami. The captain then called a meeting, with selected participants coming to the conference room, and Jakob would broadcast to the remainder of the ship. Everyone would be interested in this.
All ten spec ops volunteers were invited to the conference room. They would be more stunned, and presumably pleased, at what they were about to learn than anyone aboard. The TGs would all discover how things at home were about to change in ways they never expected with their parents.
Mirikami started with the update from Heavyside. “Gentle Men, Ladies, we received updates from both of our other ships. The Avenger, at Heavyside, has confirmed what Colonel Trakenburg suspected and hoped was happening there. A cabal of people at the main camp, a number of scientists, base commander, and the top NCO were planning to venture into the realm of genetic engineering. They were essentially attempting to start a genetics program, much as we did twenty-two years ago on Koban, right under the noses of the Krall. On Heavyside, they need to fear the PU authorities. They still face imprisonment or death if caught.” He paused to look at their ten new volunteers.
“Colonel, Captain, and you other eight men just heard me use the name of our home world, Koban. It’s a Krall word that if they heard it used often enough might lead them to us. Be aware that the Krall associate it with a place they someday want to call their own home, and they don’t want it contaminated by humans. I’ll let some others fill you in on our history there. The ship you are in is actually named The Mark of Koban, and not simply the Mark.
“The ship was named for the tattoo marking I received from a Krall sub-leader, just before they departed Koban, expecting us all to die shortly after that. He thought that I was a worthy enemy, and hoped to find other humans to make their war worthwhile. My tattoo was made solid black at that time, as all of us now wear.
“For any of you to operate even simple doors on this ship, you need these tattoos as well. They actually contain some sort of quantum device or mechanism, which is a key to your using every piece of complex Krall equipment we’ve encountered thus far. Colonel Trakenburg and Captain Longstreet already have them. It doesn’t have to be placed at the base of your throat, although mine was placed there by the enemy, where they wear their own markings.
“I want to display mine to the enemy someday, as we defeat them.” He’d opened his tunic top to reveal the black oval. “You can place them on your butts if you wish. However, I wouldn’t care to drop trousers and turn my back to show them.” He got the chuckles he expected.
I doubt you will be the only spec ops forces to join us either. “Captain Renaldo sent us a message saying they had made contact with the people pushing for genetic enhancements at SOB-1 on Heavyside. She provided them with a data cube of our genetic upgrades, and some tissue samples to prove they work, and to help them get a head start on their own program. It will be conducted in secrecy from the PU government and out of the public eye, of course.”
He addressed a puzzled look he saw on Trakenburg’s face. “Captain Renaldo is Noreen Renaldo, Dillon Martin’s wife, and Carson’s mother. She kept her last name, per the usual social custom, and Dillon, breaking with that custom, kept his own last name when they married. Carson has the option I guess of using either last name, or both. It hasn’t been an issue on Koban, but we are breaking with so many three hundred year old customs it’s hard to keep track.” He grinned.
“Anyway, the Avenger has departed Heavyside, and like ourselves, is on her way home. We should arrive within a day of each other, if not on the same day. Like I did, she chose a departure day at the start of a long range message window.” He paused while there were some cheers from his crew, loudest from Dillon and Carson. Then he continued.
“The cooperation with another section of spec ops is gratifying to me, and eases one of my great worries for the future of our species. Not all of our genetic enhancement eggs are in just the Koban basket now. From Heavyside, humanity can take another independent step towards meeting the Krall head on, thus reducing the overall odds against success if Koban went down.” He bore a serious expression.
“However, we mere handful from Koban will have the greatest burden for years, in facing the Krall threat.”
Then in another turnaround, his face beamed with a broad smile. “That burden has just been eased a bit by the med labs and nanite technology we sent home with Captain Greeves.” Now he looked at the eight new spec ops men, who didn’t know who he meant.
“She’s Thad Greeves wife, and she really broke with the fem tradition and took his last name. Ethan over there is their son. He doesn’t care what you call him for a last name so long as it doesn’t make him late for a meal.”
The last was a reference to the large plate of breakfast food he’d brought with him to the conference room. The location for the TG1’s Mind Tap Ring had been in the mess hall. Ethan’s face turned red, which drew a laugh.
Mirikami was still primarily addressing the eight newest spec ops members of the group. They were volunteers, and taken aboard with little advanced information furnished. It was time to share more with them.
“Our TG1’s have a limited form of a mind reading ability, which requires physical contact, strongest with hand-to-hand contact. I know that Colonel Trakenburg and Captain Longstreet briefed you men about that capability just after we lifted off, which means you have had less than two hours to think about this. There’s actually a bit more to it than that, which even they didn’t know about.
“That extra bit explains how we know what our two other ships have been doing, even though we are hundreds of light-years apart. A surprising long-range mental connection can exist as well, but only between two TG1’s, under very limited conditions, and it is very brief.”
He saw the flash of distrust return instantly to Trakenburg’s eyes, and he continued quickly to allay that feeling. “We discovered, quite by accident on our journey to Human Space a couple of months ago, that TG1’s can somehow link briefly with the minds of other TG1’s that they know, for a moment as we enter or leave Tachyon Space. The messages seem to exist in that alternate universe for as long as five days. We set up a contact schedule, which was the message window that I mentioned for our day of departure. If messages are not received in that time span, they become garbled and lost. The exciting aspect is that separation distance in Normal Space does not appear to matter. Only that the target of the message, the other TG1 you intend to reach, is known to the sender’s mind. Our TG1’s were jointly listening and sending as we entered and exited Tachyon Space today.
“We frankly don’t know how it works, but we assume that their minds have some sort of modulating effect on the lowest energy, nearly infinite velocity tachyons that harmlessly pour through us and the ship as we enter and exit the Jump Hole. Their thoughts seem to be impressed into that immense flow of a vast sea of low energy tachyons that we know is there.
Distance is of course irrelevant to an infinite velocity tachyon. If the mind patterns of the parties are familiar to each other, communication is possible. Data is also transmitted and received very fast, because the entry into a Jump Hole is quick, and so is a White Out.
“Believe it or not, that is how we obtained the information I’m briefing you on today. Stuck down in the gravity well on Poldark, we were out of that communications loop for two months.
Happily, we have caught up on the news.
“Let me tell you the part of that communication that will ease your suspicions concerning this mind reading ability, and all of the other capabilities of the TGs and TG1’s.” He paused, employing his often-criticized waiting for the other shoe to drop method of ensuring total attention.
“Thanks to the nanites and new med labs we sent home to Koban, our genetic modifications, all of them, can now be given to any human who chooses to accept them. That means us SGs can now catch up with our kids, and so can you ten men.”
Longstreet spoke first, hardly able to hold back his enthusiasm. “You mean more than just the muscle mods from the clone genes I was expecting, but the superconductor nerve mods, carbon fiber muscles, and nano tube reinforced bones?”
On a rising tone of voice, he added, “Then, as a bonus gift, we get to read minds as well? Damn, do I at least get a donut while I have to wait for all this crap?” That cracked up the entire room.
Laughing along with them, Dillon added some more icing to the cake. “Joe, there are three gene mods that the TG1s with us don’t even have yet. We learned that they have been applied at home to our people there, to SG’s like us included. They not only worked but they were implemented in much less time than our previous mods. They have transitioned SGs into TG1’s in a few weeks, and TG1’s into what are being called TG2’s in two weeks.
To do so many mods, starting from scratch with you men, we may need to do these in several stages, but we have now mastered all of the various processes.” He listed the three new mods that had been waiting in the wings.
“There is a set of genes to furnish us with ultrasonic hearing, possibly not as keen as that of the Krall, but we at least won’t need ears that pop out of our head to hear those frequencies.
“We will be able to smell the world almost the way the tiger-like rippers do, and we will have the night vision of those same predators. They partly use more of the ambient low light than we do, and their range reaches well into the infrared. It also includes the fringes of ultra violet frequencies.
“Understand this truth, my normal human friends. If you choose to become a Kobani, it means you will become one real dangerous badass in combat.” He didn’t think a sales pitch was needed, but there it was anyway.
“Excuse me, Dillon. I think we ten may have a problem.” It was Trakenburg. Doubts and sour notes were often ready at hand for him. He felt relief that he and his men were being included, but the vision and nerve mods worried him. “We have eye implants for IR vision, and a retinal data display that is interfaced with our onboard AI. We have platinum alloy overlays for nerve system control of our Booster Suits. I think they might get in the way of some of your gene mods.”
“You may have a valid point about the vision modification.” Dillon nodded. “We’ll have to study those before we mess with something you have that works. It does what we can’t duplicate biologically, with your internal data projection system.
“However, I’m on the design team for the mods, and the parallel nervous system of organic superconductors won’t care about those extra wires under your skin, any more than yours or our existing original nerves care. You automatically learn to use the faster responding superconductor set.
“Besides, I don’t think you will need the wire overlays to control those Booster Suits once you can see how much more you can do without wearing the suits. The suits can’t make you move as fast as the superconductor nerves and new muscles will, and I’ll bet you’ll find that even if the suits add extra strength, they will nevertheless slow your reaction speed down. We will have to see how that works out as we go. You may find ways to use both.”
The colonel was satisfied. “Fair enough. I also want my men to know that their acceptance of any of these gene mods is entirely their own decision.”
Mirikami stepped in again, to reassure them. “Please understand. We have thousands of people on Koban that have opted not to receive any of these mods. Others that wanted children only accepted the minimum number of clone mods that enabled that to happen in our gravity. We respected their wishes, and we will respect yours. They have paid personally for that choice by suffering under the gravity of Koban. Our 1.52 g’s is seven percent higher than what you experienced for your Heavyside training. You may already have noticed that we have increased gravity internally to 1.25 Earth normal. By tonight, it will be at what we consider normal at home. We need to readapt from Poldark’s low gravity.
“Incidentally, the talk about the gene mod improvements led me off track. Mentioning the people that refused our genetic mods helped me to recall other news.”
No dramatic pause this time. “There is a second habitable planet in the Koban system, which Captain Greeves started exploring when she returned, just before we started training with you men on Poldark. She named it Haven.
“It has gravity slightly less than Earth’s. Its name is appropriate, because it is where we will send some of our people to live. Those without gene mods that want out of Koban’s gravity well. It’s where the three alien races that the Krall enslaved will live, if we are able to rescue any of them. The biggest news to report is that there were representatives of two alien species living there already, in small numbers.”
Sarge, who had been quiet, spoke up immediately. “I’d love to meet an alien that isn’t out to kill me. It could be an interesting conversation if someone can translate.”
“Sarge, once you have the ripper frilling mods, you can sit down with them and ask your own questions, mind-to-mind. Maggi implies the Torki in particular are easy to work with, even if they are giant purple crabs with yellow legs.”
Mirikami enjoyed the startled looks on the ten spec ops men, as they wondered what kind of bizarre new life they had agreed to accept. Their reaction to these aliens might be a chance to see how the rest of humanity would react, once there were aliens to meet that didn’t want to kill you, or wouldn’t try to eat your nasty flavored butt if they needed food, and then complain as they chewed.
“For my part,” Mirikami continued, “Using our original genetic procedures, I was prepared to try the risky muscle and bone mods to increase my ability to handle the acceleration a Krall ship like this one can dish out. That was before we had the new nanites. Our previous roadblock to risk free full genetic upgrades has been removed. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I damn well intend to be a TG2 when I take the Mark of Koban out after those Krall bastards.”
“Can we newbies get all of the mods in time for that mission?” Longstreet asked. “I damn well want to go. I joined you for the opportunity to fight them on their turf, even though I expected to be a physical liability. I was going along as an advisor in exchange for what I could teach you. This is more than I expected, but exactly what I wanted.”
His sentiments were echoed by Trakenburg and the other eight troopers. Not that Mirikami and his team were surprised by their attitude. The interview Mind Taps had revealed that all of these men sincerely wanted TG ability, but had come anyway despite thinking it could not be achieved, being limited to the less effective clone mods.
“I’ll have some of our TG1’s provide each one of you with one-on-one briefings of what the Mind Tap ability is like to use, and they will spend hours with you in the next five days passing along the history and specifics about Koban. I want you prepared to meet our rippers, how they look, think, and act. They are our most important partners on Koban, and if you hadn’t figured it out yet, some of our most vital genetic enhancements were derived from them. Thanks to rippers, you will be faster, stronger and more deadly than you ever imagined. Oh…, and you’ll be able to Mind Tap.” Their eyes reflected their eagerness to get started.
“Another cooperative species, not as intelligent as the rippers but smarter than any animals you have encountered anywhere else, are the wolfbats, a large flying mammal and a predator. Their genetic contribution is providing us with the means to hear into the ultrasonic range. Our TG’s carbon nano tube
reinforced bones come courtesy of a dinosaur-like raptor, which can run at speeds and leap heights you wouldn’t believe in that gravity.
“Carson and Ethan told me a short time ago that an unexpected offshoot of the wolfbat modification is still being investigated. It seems the hearing mod gradually changes how efficiently people organize and save information in an organic superconducting neural network. It appears to be a result of how efficiently the wolfbats store and retrieve mental pictures. It was evolved to process echolocation data, and to organize the massive amount of information they receive.
“We can’t process echolocation sounds, which we can’t make anyway, but the superior data organization realized in the much larger human brain leads to an improvement in our memory storage and learning, with faster recall.”
Thad told them, “Not only will you love Koban’s beauty, but being a full Kobani means you can go outside and enjoy its beauty with far less risk. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a dangerous place even after you have these mods. Don’t face off against a white raptor unarmed, or try to pet a rhinolo.
“However, it’s probably no more dangerous for a TG on Koban than it was for the weak, naked apes we once were in the forests and on the plains of ancient Africa. After you’ve lived on Koban, I think you’re going to find there aren’t many dangerous species you can’t get away from, or even beat one-on-one when you meet them. It will make being friendly and trusting safer.”
Mirikami wrapped up the briefing. “We have some planning to do, Krall targets to consider, and we need to set a time table for conducting our first raid to hurt the enemy. I hope the aliens on Haven will be able to advise us on where we should go first. Let’s split up into groups and get started.”
****
Five days later, the Mark of Koban performed a White Out a thousand miles above the equator of its namesake. The blue seas a shimmering contrast with the lush teal foliage, the occasional red-browns of deserts and dunes, with the white capped gray mountains and volcanic ranges. The additional view screens they’d had installed around the ship furnished the entire complement with the images. It was Home for most, and a new home for ten.
Koban: Rise of the Kobani Page 53
