Victor was very pleased with this. If his people had a little more respect for Taerg’s people, then they would be even more motivated to protect them. If anyone could earn their respect, it would be Taerg. Earn it, he certainly would.
It took significantly longer to divide the rest up into the two remaining divisions. Victor focused in on finding those who were not only meticulous and very particular but also who were creative, determined thinkers. If they did not know the answer to something, they would do everything in their power to find it. These were the sort that would be suitable for the research and development division.
After three months of testing, Victor had finished all the placements for the two remaining divisions. There were one hundred of the brightest, creative but particular and meticulous that Victor could find among the whole group. They were chosen to be in the research and development division and could now finally get working. Lieutenant Julia Dixon was one of them. Many villagers were accepted into this division. The remaining two hundred twenty-six individuals were assigned to the device construction division. When the time came, all of these would be needed to construct the devices. In the meantime, they needed to learn how to build devices. Victor and a few others could show them how to do that. As for the components necessary for building the instruments, all that they would need to do such building was aboard the Luminous. At the outset, the Luminous was the ship that carried all the equipment for Victor and his research while they colonized the moon. This is why he chose this particular vessel, when they made their getaway from the Venture. They had equipped him well with not only the components to complete his research, but also whatever else that would be needed for many decades to come. After all of this eventually ran out, he was provided with the technical manuals and equipment to make all the components from scratch. It was decided by the overall committee that all of the supplied components and equipment would have to be relocated to the office section of the hanger immediately. This would be their first task before actually dividing into the divisions.
Captain Anderson probably thought that Victor would not be able to accomplish his research here stranded in this part of the Nyloth star system, but he did not know Victor Marcus. He was not aware that Victor had already done most of his research, before he even left Homeworld. He was ignorant of the fact that so many of the colonists were willing to help defend the inhabitants of Paradise. He was completely uninformed regarding what was happening here. He would not realize these things until after he arrived with his fleet of warships. Then in the ensuing events, he would have a moment of clarity, it would be right there, staring at him and his angry face. His obliviousness, would be instrument of his demise.
Victor decided in his research to upscale the parameters concerning the strength of the shielding and the way the shields would be employed. He wanted to make sure that not even one ship of their little fleet, would be destroyed.
Instead of making a shielding device that would operate for each ship independently, he would design them to cover a much larger area. To include a whole group of ships. Each craft already had their individual shields, which would continue to function along with the group’s shields providing an extra layer to the shielding. It was decided that three squadrons would be suitable. Two squadrons of ten and one of twelve. Each ship would have a shielding device that could function for their entire squadron. All squadron ships could be controlled by this device. The squadron leader would be its master. When one device was depleted down to fifty percent another ship’s device would automatically take over. Thereby, continuously providing shielding for the whole squadron, allowing for that one device to recover. Theoretically, unless they flew into the sun, their shields would always hold. As long as they stayed within the squadron’s shielded area which was large enough for them to move around comfortably without bumping into each other, they were safe. The controlling shielding device would keep them there anyway. Additionally, because so many ships were in the group, the shots fired into their shields could be absorbed and harnessed to create power for the ship’s functions including regenerating the shields. The shields would also be multilayered with each layer having its own unique properties. The pulse device would be designed to be very powerful, completely disabling the enemy ships within range and all electronics on board, permanently. Trapping them in this area of space, leaving them stranded and unable to return to Homeworld. All electronics would have to be rebuilt in order for the ship to function again.
For both devices, Victor had already done most of the research. Just some upscaling, a little tweak here and there. All done for this new situation, and then they would function properly. The real challenge, was to make them work in conjunction with each other. How could the pulse device do its job without disabling their ships too? Presently it was a mystery. Victor knew this would be a very difficult problem to overcome. He knew it probably would largely be his focus, for most of what was left of the estimated seven years. At this point, he did not have the faintest idea how to overcome this problem. No matter how deeply he thought about it, the solution would not present itself. He hated coming face to face with his own limitations. Especially, when it involved his intellect. The truth though, was that no imperfect person could know everything. He knew, this time he needed to rely not just on his own mind, but on the one hundred creative minds of the research and development division.
In the past, when it came to his research, he was not very open to the ideas of others. They usually seemed foolish and even childlike to him. Village life had taught him that this was a fault in his personality. For this reason, he was determined from now on to hear people out concerning their opinions and ideas. He knew that humility would be the critical element in achieving the desired success with the great challenge before them. Finding the solution, was the heavy weight that rested upon the shoulders of the entire research and development team.
He voiced his concerns to Taerg, but he of course did not know how to help. He just told him that if anyone could do it, it would be him. However, with this one thing Victor did not feel so confident. He knew the answer would eventually come from someone, but he was not sure it would be from him. These two devices were not compatible. One needed electronics to function and the other destroyed electronics.
It took three years before the answer came. He was right, it did not come from him. Many from the research and development division tried so hard to figure this out, to no avail. The answer came from this woman that was a villager chosen by the grand council. Her name was Ylil Dleif, a beautiful young woman that was always studying. Her long hair was always tied up, to keep it out of her way. Every once in a while a strand would escape and fall down over her eyebrow. She always had her nose in a data pad, usually examining something that Victor himself had written or had recorded audio-visually. Victor noticed that she could speak his language with only a very slight accent. This was remarkable. She would always politely smile at him as he walked by or if she was asking him a question. She also had a pleased but interested expression when he made his reply to her inquiry. She had a certain sparkle in her eye. What was that, excitement? She really enjoyed her work. Of all the people in the division, she impressed Victor the most. She was very detailed with her creative ideas. She thoroughly thought things out in advance, before presenting her ideas. This caused him to think of the way he was when he was younger. The freshness of it all. The excitement of learning new things for a good cause. Like Victor, she was not afraid to speak in a crowd and this is exactly where her idea was born.
They were having their weekly division meeting with everyone. Victor had a small working model of a shield device assembled. It had been constructed for this meeting. Also for the testing of future research and development ideas. After Victor and a few other division members reported their progress Victor said, “It looks like we are finished.” He reached over and turned the device off. “If anyone has anything left to say, now would be the time since we are all still here.�
� He looked over the audience. One person stood up. It was Ylil and she had an expression of shock on her face.”
“Turn it back on,” she said.
“What? Why?”
“Just do it.” Victor obligingly did so.
“Now turn it off.”
“Whatever you say,” he said as he turned it off again.
“I have the answer,” she said.
“How could you suddenly have the answer, from watching me turn the device on and off?”
“It was not from when you turned it on, but from when you turned it off.”
“How so?”
She bravely walked up in front of them all and switched on the device again. “Now watch the shield display when I turn it off.” She switched it off. Everyone was silent. “Don’t you see,” she said with a little impatience in the tone of her voice. While she pointed out what was very obvious to her she continued, “the shield display is indicating that they are still on.” There was the sound of people gasping in realization. Victor was one of them.
She turned it on another time and when she shut it off, Victor timed it. The shields remained on for thirteen seconds, before they began to fade. That was a significant amount of time.
“This is truly remarkable Ylil, thank you so much for pointing this out to us. We still have to test this out, but I agree, I think that you have figured out the answer.” Speaking more loudly to the whole crowd he said, “Everyone this is indeed a major milestone that we have achieved. We will remember this day when we speak to our children’s children and their children. We will say, “Ylil Dleif is the one who never gave up until she found the answer, to what some considered unanswerable. Please come to the front and give her the congratulations that she deserves.”
Ylil smiled, her face turned an even darker shade of grey and two little tears began to form in each of her pale orange eyes. She quickly blinked them away as she broadly smiled and accepted everyone’s congratulations. People were affectionately giving her the customary hug with a light slap on the back between the shoulder blades.
That evening there was a huge celebration. Everyone was cheering Ylil’s name. To her, all the fuss became too much, so she went off on her own to be alone. As she was walking along the outer perimeter of the moon base she saw Victor looking through a powerful telescope. It was pointed in the same direction that it was always pointed. She decided that she did not really want to be alone after all. She wanted to talk to someone. So she walked up beside him and said, “Hello.”
“Huh? Oh, it’s you Ylil. You got tired of the crowd?”
“Yes, all the attention was driving me crazy.”
“I know what you mean, I’m not afraid of crowds, but they do get on my nerves sometimes.”
“Like tonight?”
“Yes, like tonight.”
“Victor why do you look through this telescope twice a week, in that particular direction?”
“I can only do this usually twice a week because your moon is not tidally locked to your planet and so rotates as it orbits your planet. Sometimes we are pointed in the wrong direction or your planet is blocking the view. This is the direction of my Homeworld.”
“Do you miss it?”
“What? No, not at all.” No one had ever asked him this question, not even Taerg. “I am just looking regularly, because I want to see the fleet long before it arrives. You, must miss your family though. Your father, mother, brothers and sister must miss you a lot. Coming here is an admirable sacrifice that you have made Ylil, one that will be instrumental in the success of defending the planet below and this base. I am proud of you and I know, that if your family could know what you have done, they would be very proud of you as well.”
She moved up closer to him and said, “I am even more proud of you Victor. You have left all of your people, probably never to step on your home world again. You are a hero for my people, a hero from another world. Yet, you stand with us, to protect us. After this mission is completed here I will be able to visit and spend more time with my family again. Who will there be, for you Victor?”
“Well, Taerg’s family treats me like I am part of their family.” He smiled and continued, “The children call me uncle.”
“She took his right hand and put it on her heart. Then she put her right hand and on his heart and said, “No Victor, I will be there for you. Always.” Victor could see tears welling up in her eyes and this told him that she felt very strongly about this. This was not merely professional admiration. She really had feelings for him. How could that be? When he first arrived on the mothership here, he felt he was getting too old for this sort of thing. Now, since he lived on the planet and on this moon for some time, he felt many years younger. Victor looked at her. He could see that she was worried about how he would respond to this revelation of her feelings for him. So, he took her right hand off his chest and held it in his left hand. He put his other hand on top of her hand, so that her hand was enclosed in both of his hands. He smiled and said, “I feel the same Ylil.”
As they walked hand in hand along the perimeter, he held their hands up and said, “Shouldn’t we have a chaperone?”
She giggled and replied, “You will now walk me to my module, give me a polite kiss goodnight and tomorrow we will.”
He smiled and said, “Okay.”
The kiss goodnight made Victor’s heart beat fast, but they did not get carried away. They were now in view of others.
They knew it would not be long before everyone knew. For the next couple of days, they would be the talk of the moon base. This did not concern them because they were proud of their blooming relationship. From this night onward, they both had a little more bounce to their step and a bigger smile.
The tests on Ylil’s solution were a resounding success. Victor already knew they would be. It was agreed that the pulse device had to be fitted on the nose of each vessel, where there were no electronics. When it was a particular vessel’s turn to activate the device, that vessel would normally pull out ahead of the other ships. The shields would switch off and the pulse activated.
The pulse was designed to only project forward in the direction the ship was pointing. This was so that none of their ships in the group would be affected by it. The pulse could be shot out through the shields, as long as they were turned off and thereby disconnected from all electronics. For thirteen seconds the shields would still function, even though they had been turned off. After the pulse was activated for three seconds, it was put on standby to recharge. As soon as it was put on standby, the shields were reactivated. As long as they did not fire the pulse on their own ships they would be okay. Safeguards were put in place so that could not happen.
The enemy had pulse technology too, but it was very weak compared to this. Their pulse devices would not even have an effect, on their almost indestructible shields. Everything was starting to fit into place. All they had to do now, was get to work building the devices. They would keep building them until the enemy came. They needed as many as possible, to make the moon and especially the planet more secure. The planet would be a very difficult challenge, because there were villages scattered everywhere, all over its surface. There simply would not be enough time to construct and plant many shield devices in each of the thousands of villages on the planet.
Two days later Victor and Taerg travelled to the planet to see the grand council, to fill them in on the big news. They received it well. They seemed very relieved and they had refreshments brought in, while they made plans for the busy months ahead.
* * *
In the meantime, on the other side of the cluster of star systems called Nyloth, the mothership Venture finished the reverse burn above Homeworld. Captain Anderson staggered angrily out of his life pod. The fact that his head was aching and he felt nauseous made him angrier. He quickly got dressed in his uniform, poured a cup of malt drink and hurried to the bridge without taking a shower. That would have to wait for later. He was not surprised to see several angr
y faces staring back at him through the view screen. He put on the realest fake smile that he could muster. He decided he would just look at one of them. The one he knew was in charge. “Prime Minister Gordon, what a pleasant surprise. How may I be of assistance?”
“Well, Captain we have received a message from Victor Marcus that is accusing you of breaking our laws concerning colonization of the moon above the planet that he calls Paradise. He indicated that the people of the planet do not want their moon colonized. Since we greatly respect Victor Marcus, we need to ask you, are these things true?”
“I myself respect Victor Marcus as well, but I need to inform you that in this instance his accusations are wildly incorrect. You see, the people of the planet, are our people. You, gentlemen, are the leaders of our people. So, I was merely following your orders, in regard to the colonization of the moon. The people of the planet are natives that live primitive lives in villages. We estimate that there are four billion individuals that inhabit the planet. They have plenty of room for expansion, on the planet itself. In fact, it would be many centuries before they filled it to capacity. There is no need for them to worry about the moon. I offered to their ambassador an appealing compromise. We would not interfere with their life on the planet and we would protect them from any threats that may threaten their security. A very generous offer. However, before they even had the chance to relay this offer to their leaders, Mister Marcus programmed the ship to come back here. I do apologise for not being able to thwart his actions.”
“How could these people be our people?”
“According to Mister Marcus and the decrees given to me from their grand council, they are descendants from the same people that we separated from on our initial mission to Homeworld. Now, I realize that our early history has been somewhat obscured from …”
Tomorrow's Paradise World: Colonize Page 10
