“You sure those weren’t the ones we tangled with?”
Tawn shook her head as she moved the camera view. “We only took down one and it’s over here. Swarming with Earther crewmen. And…”
Tawn shifted the view to a handful of Earther ships sitting in orbit. “Check out this one. That’s the hull damage we inflicted. Those two on the ground had to have gotten too close to the dome. Should we try to listen in on their comms?”
Harris turned the Bangor away. “We have to pick up the items the AI needs. Would love to know what the Earthers were planning, but whatever that is we can’t do anything about it at the moment anyway.”
Gandy said, “If we could get their base frequency down to the colonel, maybe they could do the decoding on their own.”
Sharvie replied, “Doubt they have the processing power down there to do that. Whatever that dog has in it is much different than even this ship has.”
Harris added, “And Farker stays with us. Any decodes will just have to wait.”
The Bangor was soon settling on the paved lot outside the warehouse on Domicile, having come down to the surface while still in stealth mode. No attempts were made by the Domicile authorities to contact or identify the ship. A comm had Bannis Morgan on his way to meet them.
After entering the warehouse, Gandy circled the remaining Banshee. “They’ve hardly touched it. And nobody is here. It’s too early in the day for everyone to have gone home already.”
Bannis walked through the door. “We had a visit from the DDI. They crawled all over it, arrested my mechanics, and shut us down. They were released the following day, but have asked not to have to come back.”
Harris held a finger up to his lips, gesturing toward Bannis’ comm bracelet. Leaning down, he whispered into Farker’s ear. Twenty seconds later the dog farked three times.
Harris said, “Looks like your comm is clear. I guess you’ve heard about Eden?”
“Only bits and pieces. I’m told our forces are washing their hands of the whole planet, turning it over to the Earthers to control. I heard your well blockers were discovered.”
Tawn nodded. “Can’t believe our politicians are doing this. Not only will the Earthers be pulling ore from the Rumford Mine, but ours as well. And we know what that ore will be used for.”
“I’m told they gave their word it would not be used for warships. Unfortunately, our people accepted that premise without insisting on any sort of verification. I’m beginning to think the entire senate is made up of fools, my friends included.”
Harris frowned. “One of the reasons we came back was to see what you could do about the situation, given your political connections.”
Bannis shook his head. “They are all running scared at the moment. The pacifists now control all the key committees. I expect our next budget proposal to slash defense spending by half. It really is the perfect storm.”
Harris opened a comm channel. “We have a list of equipment and parts we need for an important project. Any way you could help us get those in an expedited fashion?”
“Depends. Can I pass it on to my people to fulfill or is this a private matter?”
“Don’t think there’s anything illegal on there, but you might split it up just so anyone snooping around won’t have the complete list.”
Tawn added, “We found a mountain of bugs on the Bangor even though we thought we had swept it thoroughly. The DDI as well as the Earther spies have been following everything we’ve been doing. Three of the tracking bugs we found were Earther.”
Harris walked toward the personal shuttle the industry magnate had come in on.
Tawn asked, “Where you going?”
Harris replied, “Gonna have Farker check his ship for bugs. Mr. Morgan, can we scan your ship’s systems?”
Bannis nodded. “Please do.”
Fifteen minutes later, Harris stood beside the shuttlecraft. An even dozen, including an Earther device had been found. I’d say you are a popular guy in the intel circles.”
Bannis glanced down at the dog. “Would love to borrow your friend for a week.”
Harris shook his head. “He stays with me. Can I ask how long you think it will take to get the equipment and parts on that list?”
“One, maybe two days?”
Harris said, “Then you have me and Farker for one or two days. We can search wherever you’d like.”
“I’d like to begin with my home and then move to my office. The majority of my time is spent at those two places or on this ship. And I’d like to bring my security team along. Will give them a better idea of what to look for in the future.”
Harris returned a half frown. “Might be your own team that’s placing them. The arms of the DDI are long. Just know they will be listening with any chance they get. Shall we go?”
Bannis hesitated. “I don’t believe our efforts will be worthwhile. If we remove the devices, they will make every effort to install new ones. I would think a better strategy would be to use what’s already there to drive the information we want them to have.”
“Plant intel?”
“Precisely.”
Harris rubbed the back of his neck. “Not sure what we could tell them. And I have to wonder what good it would do anyway. They have to have known about everything we were doing on Eden. I don’t see where they made any effort to stop that assault.”
Bannis held up a finger. “It does make their motives suspect, but it could also be an inability to act against such a large force without the backing of the government. Small ops they could manage. Something that size… doubtful.”
Tawn placed her hands on her hips. “So we can’t rely on the DDI to defend us. And we can’t rely on our own government. I’d say we’re gonna be doing this ourselves.”
Harris nodded. “Which is why it’s important for us to get that equipment we came for. Any way to expedite that effort?”
Bannis stepped aside, opening a comm. His conversation was short. He lowered his arm as he walked back into the group. “The list is away to my most trusted. She’ll divide it up and see to it that it’s done as soon as possible.”
Gandy asked, “Any chance of us getting that last Banshee operational?”
Harris glanced back at the warehouse. “Take Trish and see what you can do. If you need muscle, I’m sure these three would be happy to assist.”
Gandy, Trish, and the three Biomarine pilots headed for the warehouse.
Harris pointed toward the Bangor. “Let’s go sit in a bug-free environment for a while and chat. You can tell us about your struggles with the DoD budget. Are they seriously cutting it in half?”
Bannis nodded as they walked. “At the moment they are two votes shy of getting that passed. Heavy pressure, as well as generous incentives are being applied. They are basing our needs on our ability to defend against the Earthers with their current resources. With those cuts, it will put us about even with where they are.”
Tawn scowled. “Idiots. Don’t they realize the Earthers would still be fighting us right now if all things were even? They only stopped because they were losing.”
Bannis replied, “Also troubling is the number of New Earth diplomats and business persons we now have on this planet. The NE intelligence corps knows our exact status. We have our own spies there, but they are closely watched and any information is difficult and risky to come by. Here… we’re an open book.”
Chapter 21
_______________________
The last of Bannis Morgan’s subordinates returned to the warehouse carrying the requested items. The Bangor was loaded and the journey set. Just over an hour later the ship was settling onto the grassy field at Midelon. The items were moved into Trish’s amply outfitted shop.
Harris sat in the chair in front of the table in the bunker. The hologram image of Alexander Gaerten came to life.
“Welcome, Harris. Were you able to acquire the equipment I suggested?”
Harris nodded. “We were. We have it in our s
hop. We have tools there to work with.”
The image replied, “Take Archibald and position him where he has a full view of the shop. I will connect with you through him to provide instruction for the device assembly.”
Harris returned to the shop, picking up his faithful pet and depositing it on a table with a full view of the shop floor and its benches. A panel near the dog’s right hindquarter opened. A smaller hologram image of Alexander Gaerten appeared.
Gandy crossed his arms. “I was wondering what that module back there was.”
“Before we begin, in order to simplify our communications, please refer to me as Alex.”
“OK, Alex, tell us where to begin.”
The team worked through the Midelon night, only stopping for a break as the first light of day began to appear in the sky outside.
Gandy said, “This is supposed to have some effect on the boson field? So far I’m completely lost.”
Harris shrugged. “If you’re asking me, you’re asking the wrong person. Go ask Alex.”
Gandy stood in front of Farker. “Alex, how exactly is this contraption supposed to work? What’s it do?”
Alex replied, “Are you familiar with the inertial dampener on your ship?”
“Somewhat.”
The boson field ties all matter together. When a wormhole is created, two locations within that field can be brought close, allowing direct, instantaneous travel between those points. The inertial dampener divides those same ties along its own field, essentially making two boson fields where one does not interact with the other. This is accomplished in an indirect manner by separating the two, whereas the device you are piecing together, in theory, will negate the field within an area.”
Gandy asked, “What happens when the boson field is negated?”
Alex replied, “Theoretically, any wormhole generator within that new area would be unable to spawn a wormhole. However, there may be other side effects the theories do not reveal.”
“Such as?”
“Such as all matter within that void being instantly annihilated. Or perhaps it would explode outward, burning like a sun. We won’t know until it has been tested.”
Gandy stood still for several seconds. “I can’t say I like the sound of either of those.”
“Theoretically, it could also form a black hole, where all surrounding matter will be pulled in.”
“Not liking that option either. So how do we test this without killing ourselves?”
“Remotely. I propose it be flown to a location on the edge of the boson field for a trial run. I would also suggest we do so through a wormhole that is immediately shut down. Once that is done, a second wormhole can be opened at what we would consider a safe viewing distance.”
“Well, that doesn’t sound so bad. How far away is a safe viewing distance?”
“I believe a quarter light year to be sufficient. You asked earlier what the three devices under construction were. Two are measurement devices. They will record valuable information that will allow us to verify if the main device worked as theorized. The third is the actual boson field negator. We may be producing a small amount of anti-matter in the process of bringing it online. That is where the unknown factors will come into play.”
Gandy said, “I thought anti-matter was still theoretical.”
“It is. However, with this experiment, we may prove it to be real.”
Harris asked, “You understand any of that?”
Gandy half smiled. “Some of it. He’s basically saying it will work or we’ll all get sucked into a black hole. If it’s the latter, we’ll be dead in an instant, so I guess it won’t matter to us anyway.”
Harris chuckled. “Will matter to me.”
One of the Biomarine pilots tapped Tawn on the shoulder. “Miss Freely, if it’s all the same, while this is going on we’d like to be back at Eden where we can monitor the situation. We still have about sixty-five hundred people down there.”
Tawn nodded. “Take a handful of MREs with you. I don’t know how long it will be before we make it out there. If you’re running out, make a jump back to the Retreat to restock. They should have plenty. When we get you back, I’ll have Sharvie scrub your flight logs to have them show the three of you have been doing nothing but observing from Eden space. You never went anywhere else. Got it?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
As the others continued work on the anti-boson device, Tawn returned the Biomarines to their ships. Minutes later they were lifting through the cold thin atmosphere of the icy planet on their way back to the space surrounding Eden.
The Bangor landed and Tawn walked into the shop. “Don’t know what good they’ll be able to do there. As much as they were doing here, I suppose. I swung by before my jump back. Status remains the same. A standoff.”
Trish said, “We get this one panel cover on and we’re finished.”
Harris asked, “We’ll be ready to test?”
Alex replied, “Low level testing may begin when the panel is applied. Adjustments will have to be made before full deployment and testing can take place.”
Gandy stood. “We’re good. Light her up.”
Power was applied to each of the recorders.
Alex said, “Internal tests reveal no issues. Please apply power to the negation unit.”
Trish flipped a toggle switch. A green, bar indicator showed the device was coming to life. As the status bar reached half way, the negation unit began to hum.
Gandy stepped back. “Is it supposed to do that?”
Alex replied, “The theoretical design gave no indication of such a vibration.”
As the indicator reached three-quarters, the device began to slowly wobble and the hum became more pronounced.
Harris said, “Should we turn it off?”
Gandy shook his head. “I’m not touching that thing.”
The one-meter-cubed box began to walk itself across the floor, backing Trish into a corner. Harris moved to free her, stepping close to the unit as he picked her from the ground behind it. Small violet tentacles of light stretched out from the box, seeming to caress the calf of Harris’ left leg.
Harris scowled as he was held in place. “Thing’s got a hold of me.”
Trish was set on the floor by Harris, where she hurried toward the door as he continued to try to pull away.
Tawn asked, “Alex, what’s happening?”
As the indicator reached 100 percent, the negation unit began bouncing off the floor as the frequency of its vibration dropped rapidly. The energy beams holding Harris in place turned from violet to red. Harris let out a howl as a bolt of electricity raced across the beams from the box.
“What the… turn this thing off!”
As a second jolt shot across to Harris’ calf, a shockwave emerged from the unit, knocking the others down as it crashed into them and slammed the walls. Items on shelves fell to the floor. The unit shut down.
Alex was the first to speak: “I believe the initial test was a success.”
Harris struggled to walk across the room with his now numb leg. “A success? That thing nearly killed us!”
“You were not in danger. The shock you received was mild. Any effect will be temporary.”
Tawn grabbed the edge of a table, pulling herself to her feet as she chuckled. “You’re walking like you just rode a bull at a bogler rodeo.”
Harris stopped, looking down at the biosuit that covered his numb limb. “You think this is funny?”
Tawn laughed. “It’s getting funnier.”
Alex said, “I have analyzed the initial recordings. The data appears to support the theory behind the device.”
Trish said, “I have a question. Why is it we have triple the parts? We building more of these?”
Alex replied, “When the device is fully powered up, its circuits will begin to deteriorate. The duration of the field negation will depend on when the device reaches a condition of critical failure. The data from that live test will tell us
how long the effects will last. The device itself will be consumed.”
Harris took a seat in a chair as he stomped his numb foot on the floor. “So after this test we have two of these devices to make use of?”
“Assuming the remaining parts are fully functional, yes. Each can be put through a test similar to what we did here. The recording devices can be used again. We only need assemble the negation units themselves.”
Trish patted her brother on the back. “That means us. Mr. Gruberg, maybe if you go walk around on it the feeling will come back.”
Tawn chuckled. “She’s trying to say your whining is disruptive. Come on, I’ll take you for a walk.”
As Harris stood, Alex spoke: “Trish and Gandy Boleman, you as well as Sharvie Withrow have been added to the friends list for the outer room of the facility. When we are finished here, you will be welcome in the outer room, where the next level of investigation into your trustworthiness can begin.”
Gandy replied, “Thanks, I guess.”
Sharvie asked, “Could I come over while they are doing the assembly? Or do you need to stay here to communicate through Farker?”
“I am capable of both at once. You are more than welcome in the outer room. Trish, Gandy, I will continue to be available for assembly instruction.”
Gandy replied, “Good ‘cause I’m sure we’ll need it.”
Trish picked the first piece off the floor as she turned toward her brother. “Bet you a beverage I can finish mine first.”
Gandy dropped to his knees as he pulled the first two parts of the device together. “You’re on.”
Harris wobbled as he and Tawn walked out onto the grass in front of the shop. “You can let me go now. I can manage.”
Tawn chuckled. “I’m thinking of putting on my helmet so I can get a recording of this. The colonel and the other Bios would get a huge kick out of it.”
Harris stumbled, catching himself just before hitting the ground. “I just hope they’re still alive down there. I feel responsible for getting them into this mess. They could have been out at the Retreat, slowly moving more of us out there to live in peace.”
ARMS Harris' Revenge Page 20
