by Robin Miller
I said, "so I’m homesick for the stars, well that makes sense. And what about you, what makes you happy and content?"
Goo da wa, "people, and the small bits of their lives they share with me. It's as if I have been a thousand people, doing all kinds of things. I can travel without moving and be in battles without damage. You two have been a grand adventure for me. Most people can only hear what others say, I can also feel the moment as people recall it. I don't climb into people's minds, but I do see things as I'm told about them, as if I were there."
I said, "well reminding me not to talk about my love life, I may be jealous." Goo da wa, "I probably should not of told you, now you'll feel self-conscious." Owsee, "well you can still read me if you like, after all the years I have known you I have nothing left to hide."
Goo da wa, "you often have things hide, but I don't read minds."
I said, "my ship does, mine at least, all the time. And she knows how I feel about things, that’s the price I pay for having a liven ship."
Owsee, "it is a fine ship all right, but I would not want one in my head. I still like to at least try to keep some things secret."
We drank and talked for about an hour, then I went home. The children had worked out how far away each mine should be. I then told them about the water I wanted to use against the debris field, and how small the spray needed to be. Once we figured it out, we could tell right off itwould take too much time to do much good, and the numbers on how many mines we would need to protect the planet was not encouraging either. We would need 10,000,000 to do the job right, we would be lucky to make a thousand. But not all the news was so bad. We figured any of the robots that came straight down would be sure to burn up. Only ones caught in a long approach may make it down without burning, so we only had a thin circle to worry about, and that would only be if they hit us headon. I was still hoping they would miss us, and it may still be a few days yet before we could be sure where they would be a week or two. Then I came up with an idea, old ships. We could take some old ships and fly them by remote control with a bomb on each. The robots then come to the ships, and when it can no longer fly we just blow it up. I wish I could find some cheap old ships. As a matter of fact the best way to get them would be to tell the world about the threat, and have them donate their old ships to the cause. Fixing them up for their last flight could be done by spaceport and ship yards around the planet. But this would take telling them the threat was real, not just a possibility. To do that I need more information that would only come with time. Time that was get shorter by the hour. At least that's the way I felt, mostly because I was not sure yet how to deal with the threat. The idea about the old shipswas a good one, and we could always use mines. There was also my secret weapon, though I didn't know just yet how I would use it. Fighting a foe that has no fear is always the greatest challenge. I told the twins about the remote-controlled ship idea. They saw it was a good one, and I also said I would give the government the night to hash over the threat, and look to see intelligence from Plexon tomorrow to get a better idea of the course of the debris field the spiders were in. Knowing what the Plexons were going to do would help as well. I told the children to take the rest of the night off from the problem, and study something else like stories of the planet.
It started to rain outside, so I got a fire going in the living room, as Kitty sat on the sofa reading my last book. I could see she was about halfway through it as I sat down next to her, and asked how it read.
She said, "there is a lot in here that I didn't know about. I think I'm beginning to see how another war, so soon, would be hard on you."
I said, "war, at any time, is hard on everyone. And I'm sorry if I was short with you earlier, I'm just worried about this new threat, and I wish it didn’t have to be me that has to come up with a plan. I haven't even told the crew on the station about the problem yet, because I’m not sure what tosay."
Kitty, "I understand. I just didn't like the factthat the children knew more than I do."
I said, "better get used to that, they already know more about more things than I do. They're both like a sponge, anything they see, hear or read stays in their minds. I tend to forget more than I learn, and remember more than I want to." I took a sip of my drink as the sound of thunder outside made Kitty flinch. She put the book down saying, "I can't read during a storm," and turn the radio up a bit. We then listen to the last storyteller of the night. The Twins joined us, and we ate a bowl of nuts. The story was about the first ecological warriors to stand up against the corporate mining company, that was taking the water from their lakes. Draining some of them to their muddy bottom. He talked about how brave the people were at fighting with whatever they had, and how the CM eventually just gave up and left. It was sort of ironic that the story was about the one thing I wanted to put out of my mind for while. But instead of being annoyed, I was inspired by the story of how brave some of these people were. I made some notes I could use later, and when the story was over the children went to bed and I said to Kitty, "that story reminds me I'm not in this alone, these people are willing to fight, it's just a matter of telling them what to do. All I need is to know is, what that is, at least this time it's not abouthiding."
Kitty, "come to bed, you need your rest."
So I went to bed, but knew I was not going to get to rest, at least not right off. I had a dream I was standing at the edge of the world, and in space at the same time. I reached out with my hand, and light came out of my fingers, then arced through the debris field from one robot to the other until they were all fried. I woke up and my right hand felt full power and sparks were coming out of my fingertips. I sat up in bed realizing I had been dreaming I was awake, and my hand was normal. I always hated dreaming I was awake. I was glad it didn't happen too often.
Day 91
The sun was still trying to climb up over the horizon and the Songbird was not up yet. Kitty was asleep on the sofa but the children were not downstairs, so I got a cup of coffee and took a shower. The warm water felt so good I just wanted to go back to sleep under it, a feeling I quickly shock off. When I came out of the bathroom kitty was just waking up. She asked what I wanted for breakfast and I said fried potatoes, eggs and sausages. Then went out to the porch for a smoke and to do some writing.
The air had that fresh smell to it you only get after a rainstorm. I sat down with my ThinkPad and got caught up on my writing. I could start to smell the sausage and potatoes cooking, as the sun found its way over the horizon. Owsee walking over from the barn, and his studio apartment above, and said, "morning! Sausages and potatoes for breakfast if my nose is right."
I said, "and eggs, how did you sleep?"
Owsee, "once I got home I was out in no time. Stayed at the bar until after the last storyteller on the radio was done."
I said, "we stayed up for that too, he told the story well."
I then told him my idea about the remote-controlled ship's we could blow up. He thought it was a good idea, and said his port would do whatever he could to help. I said I wanted to check on the course of the debris field with the robots in it, before I tell the world what we are up against and plan to do.
He said, "good idea, but then how come you were so quick on building mines?" I said, "because they take longer to make, and we can always use them. I feel this is not the last war we will be in."
Kitty called us in to breakfast, then asked what the two of us would be doing today.
Owsee said, "I need to get the banks mining crew started on a few places, including land bought for your husband's hotels and clubs. As well as trying to get some work done at my port."
I said, "I'm not sure yet what my day will be like, but the space station could use two more engineers to work on the fighters, if the Twins are looking for something to do."
They both said it would be a pleasure to work with their fellow engineers again. I thought it was nice they felt that way about the crew. Kitty said that anything beats staying around the shop all-
day, but just don't take them out of the solar system.
I said, "don't worry, I won't take them out of the solar system until they can fly a fighter themselves."
Kitten said, "we are nearly tall enough," to which I replied, "the two of you are growing up fast."
The food was passed around, and there was small talk about the storytellers we heard last night.
Then Owsee said, "how long do you think it will take you to be sure whether or not the debris field, or the metal munching robotsin it, will come close to our planet or not?"
I said, "all I need is to find out the direction, and speed of the field, plus the gravitational influence of all the stars and planets between here and there. I'll probably have to make a trip to take some readings."
Prowler, "the station has an astrophysics lab with three probes at its command, they could do the job."
I said, "sounds like you have just been reassigned to astrophysics." Prowler, "it's a big job."
Kitten, "we work better together."
I said, "by all means, you're welcome to join your brother in astrophysics, two heads are better than one."
Owsee, "well, now that we have a team for astrophysics, how long will it take you to figure out if the field is coming our way?"
Prowler, "oh, we already know it's coming our way."
Kitten, "yes, the techno-sages would not have stopped to warn us if it was not a threat."
I said, "the big question is when."
Kitty, "and how prepared we can be by that time, right?"
I said, "yes, I guess that's what really matters."
Owsee, "you all make it sound like once there is a plan it's as good as over." I said, "well I'm sure we will have to do a bit of thinking on our feet, and with any luck we may come up with some new ideas along the way, but when it's all said and done just doing our best is all we can do."
Owsee, "well you certainly sound a lot more relaxed about the whole thing." I said, "well now that I know I will soon find out when, it's like getting the land for my clubs, for me the deal is have over. I can start putting the responsibility for getting things done on others. At least that's what I'm telling myself this time around, because it's likely no one will die. Not like the swarm that wanted to eat anything, include us!"
Owsee, "they are still a big threat, but you're right, it's not like anyone will die if we’re carful."
Kitten, "as long as their programming has not changed."
I said, "now let's not start looking for a reason to worry. We will be getting reports from Plexon about them to confirm their behavior."
Then Gripper stopped by to see if there was any change in the duty schedule today.
I said, “I will be recalling fighter pilots as soon as I can confirm the danger we were in, and that the Twins and I will be in the astrophysics lab for a while doing that this morning.”
He said, “I will need to move 50 ships that have been refitted with the extra ammunition, and swap them with ships from lunar-one to be refitted.” I said, “I suggest you do that, and after I recall the fighter pilots, set up a flight program for new and returning pilots.”
He said he would prepare for that, and that he would see me on the station. Then just before he left he said to Kitty, "oh by the way, Nursa said we would be delighted to come over tonight."
Kitty, "well then we will see you shortly after dark, war plans permitting of course."
Then Gripper left for his ship, and it was not long before the rest of us were done with breakfast, and heard Grippers ship take off.
Owsee said, "I need to get started myself. I'll see you later," and he was out the door.
I told the children to grab their bags, as I gave Kitty a kiss goodbye and a, "see you later."
We got on my ship and soon overtook Grippers on the way to the station. We flew around him once, just for fun, then I spiraled away toward the space station in style. Upon landing I asked the Plexon engineering chief how the work on the fighters was coming. He said, "41 done, another 5 within the next hour or two." I said, "good, we will soon be able to swap 50 for the ones on lunar one. What word do we have from Plexon on our problem?"
Chief, "I have had no word from them, neither as the captain of the cargo ship." I said, "well then I‘m going to send a probe, the Twins and I will be in astrophysics."
And we went off to get started. The lab was just one deck below the bridge. The Scopes could see across the galaxy, but the best way to measure the gravity currents was to send a probe, so reprogrammed a course and sent one out. We then dug up everything we had on the systems from here to there, and put a model together on how the planets were moving. Our telescopes were a great help in making it real-time accurate, and from what we could tell the debris field was less than a day from Plexon. At least that wasour best first guess. We would know more the longer we looked at it. We were ableto make our model show us where each planet or moon would be over the next week. We then had to figure the speed of the field and the pull the planets that may be in its path. There was a lot to think about, and the probe would take a good three hours to get near Plexon. I told the Twins I was going up to my quarters for a smoke and left them to work with the data the probe was sending back. Of course our information would come much quicker if I could of just patched through to a Observatory on Plexon, but they didn't seem to be cooperating with their information at the moment. So we would just have to get the answers our self’s. I got myself a couple coffee and lit my pipe, then called the Plexon head of interplanetary trade. He was the only member of the Plexon government I knew. I asked him what the government was going to do about the metal eating robot spiders coming with the asteroid field. He said their scientist had determined they will burn up on reentry. So they are just moving all the space stations, and ships out of the way until they pass. I said I hope you're right about them burning up. He said we have a large planet and the air is dense, they will burn alright. I thank him for his time and bid him the best of luck.
I wish it could be as easy for Laureate, but this planet is not as great as Plexon. And this plan of doing nothing, from a planet thathas the most firepower in this part of the galaxy, is not going to help us at all. I can only hope a large part of the debris field was caught by their planet. I then gave the planet Tronex a call, and tried to learn what they were going to do, but could not get much help from the people that would even talk to me. So I called Gripper and asked him to find out what he could about his home planet's plans.
He said, "I still know a few people in planetary defense. Somebody is bound to have some information."
I asked him to let me know as soon as he knew something. Looking out my port window I could see the cargo traffic was light, only two ships taking on water and one bringing up crystals to go to Plexon. This may be the last Plexon cargo ship for a week or so, until the shipping lanes open up again. Even this ship will have to take a detour to get back to Plexon safely. I sat down and enjoyed my smoke and coffee, then Gripper called me to tell what he found out. He said that Tronex is still not sure the debris field will come close to them, but they are preparing every ship they have to attacked the robots if it does.
I said, "we sent a probe to gather information on the debris field, and the solar systems. We're still putting it all together, butit looks like Tronex will be in its path."
Gripper, "well then we will be in it all right. How about Plexon? What will they do?"
I said, "their plan is to do nothing. Just let the debris field pass and hope anything that comes will burn up."
Gripper, "not much of a plan, leaves more for us to shoot at. Don't suppose they would think of taken a few shots at it as it passed by? Will we help Tronex try to fight the robots?"
I said, "better to start fighting them as far away as we can, so we can do some damage before they get close, just like we did with the swarm."
Gripper, "maybe if we help Tronex before the spiders get there they will help us before they get here."
I s
aid, "my thoughts as well, let's hope your government feels the same way." I then went back down to astrophysics. Our model was becoming more solid by the hour, just by what the telescopes could pick up. It was sure Tronex was in for it in two days. That gave us a little time to prepare, but not much. I was so hoping for information on whether or not we could get hit. But we needed the final readings from the probe to be sure. So far, a best guess was five days and we take a hit. But a lot of things could change that, include a war on the field. If we shot it up enough we may move it just a little, but no matter how we do it I want to destroy all the metal spiders. Even if we had to follow them pasted our planet, I don't want this threat ever to come back. Our probe finally passed Plexon, and was getting some good readings on the debris field before it stopped working, a snack for the robots no doubt. But we had what we needed, and soon could see the route the debris field would take and what would be in its way. First there was Plexon, with a great part of the debris being pulled down onto that planet, then it would come close to a Stargate and station only a day away. We would have to try to do some about that. Then another day away it would be at Tronex. We would do what we could to cut them down in space, but it would then take another four days to get to us. So we have at least a week to fight where we could, and get ready for the rest. The major problem is the size of the debris field, near 20,000 miles across and likely to grow as it comes. The only good news was that it looked as if it may miss our first moon, where my ice mine is. But it looks like the second moon will be in the path of some of it, I would know more as the days went by. We would have to do what we could to keep the robots from the moon as well.
It was getting close to noon, and I now had enoughinformation to address the people, and I decided to do it from the bridge. Icalled down to our main radio station, and told Newsy to stand by for a special report, then I told the announcers in our communications room to do the same. I had the bridge put me on all channels and station wide, and after asking for their attention I explained the threat and problem that was coming our way, and some of my thoughts on how to fight it. I asked for people to come together, and do what they could or picked up the slack for those that would be put to work in the war. I asked for pilots to come back for duty, and people to donate their old ships to be used as remote control mines. I reminded the people how brave the ecology warriors were, and how I had seen their bravery in our last war.
