by Robin Miller
I said, "you can tell them that even though the park is not open, they can feel free to check it out, pick out their spot or whatever. He said he would tell them. I then went to the seventh floor store. I call it that because there really is no seventh floor, it’s just the space that was under the roof pool and had been forgotten until we put it to use. There were five people shopping at that time, all tenants of the hotel, all glad they didn't have to go out for the little things they needed. I look the store over to see it was in order, then went up to the roof pool and gardens. There were a number of people enjoying themselves, and letting their nude bodies get some sun, as was the custom on this planet. I checked out the condition of the plants, and it all look good. So I left to go to one more of my sites for a hotel and club, it was not far away, but already starting to get dark there. It was all the backside of a spaceship port, there were all near ports, and other than the ship's overhead there was no one around. So I use my telekinetic abilities to move the sand and dirt until there was a nice hole for the hotel basement. I still felt like I had something in me, so I made the hole for the club as well. I became tired but not wiped out, so I walked over to the new radio station, to see how it was coming inside. All the equipmentwas in place and looked operational, so I called the space station on it for a test, and was coming in clear. I told myself I would soon need to come up with 19 more announcers for the stations, but not today. I checked on three other radio stations on the way back to the port, two were ready, and one was not yet. It was about dark by the time I made it to the ship yards to find Owsee and the twins sitting next to the Trident. I landed and went to look the ship over. As I walked up Owsee said, "it's finished!" I said, "I thought you said tomorrow."
Prowler, "we thought the coils for the energy converters would come on a spool." Kitten, "but they were in ready to put in sections."
Owsee, "it went very fast."
I said, "well then, how about we take her out for a run?"
So we took off and headed for home. We didn't feel a thing on takeoff, and got up to near light-speed before I knew it, overshooting our town by more than 1000 miles and had to turn around. On the way back I got the handle of it and put us down in a field near the house. On the walk over I asked why we didn't get slammed into the walls when the ship took off so fast, or I put it in reverse. Owsee said, "gravimetric shift plates, they also keep you in place when you're hanging close to a sun."
I said, "tomorrow I’ll have to give her a real shakedown run."
Owsee, "it won't be at full power until you orbit the sun to charge up the systems, providing the shields hold."
I said, "that will be part of the test."
When we got to the house kitty said, "is that the Trident you have been talking about?"
I said, "that's the one."
Kitty, "I thought it would be bigger, still it 10 times the size of the barn." Owsee, "close to 20."
Kitty, "I’m making a seafood stew for supper, if that sounds good to you." I said, "that's why I got extra, sounds good to me," and we all went inside. I sat at my little bar with the opening to the kitchen, and asked how her day was, while making a drink for Owsee and myself.
Kitty, "it was an average day. We sold a dress, some children's clothes, a pair of boots, scarves, hats and three lightning-crystal pendants. Oh, and the owner of the hardware store is having a shipment of ax handles passed around town, so we all would have a good club."
I said, "that was nice of him."
Kitty, "how was your day?"
I said, "I think we saved the Stargate. When I left it there were no more robust around and the gate was alright. We got half of the mines out, and the Trident is ready. The food stands at my park are preparing for opening the day after tomorrow, and a number of storytellers have checked into the hotel." Kitty, "sounds like a number of things got done on your end as well. And how about you Owsee? How was your day?"
Owsee, "oh just fine, I got to do some work on the Trident and got a real workout putting those mines in place. There is nothing like launching hundreds of mines to make you feel glad to still be alive."
Kitty, "was it really dangerous?"
Owsee, "the only safe mine is the one you're not around, sorry to say." Kitty, "well you to be careful, blow the robots up not yourselves."
She got a, "yes ma'am," from both of us, and I walked into the dining room to see what the children were up to. They were on their computers as usual, and I asked what they were studying this time.
Kitten said, “the ships logs from the Trident.”
Prowler, “we downloaded them, but have just got around to taking a look.” I asked if they found anything interesting.
Prowler, "yes, the ship was one of three that was under attack by the CM. It was damaged and trying to land, that was the last entry. There is much more before that, but the pilot had timed to encrypt it, no telling how long it will take to break."
I said, "sounds like you found a challenge, good luck with that."
And I went out to the porch to sit. I opened up my laptop and started writing about my day. It didn't seem to take long to get caught up, and it felt like a slow day. I only went to war, put out some mines, and did a few things. Not much to write about, that everyone didn’t already know. Or perhaps preparing for, or going to, war had become way to common these days, a sad thing to say. After all, I left Earth over 30 years ago to get away from the wars and hardships of violence, and look at what these past few months have brought. Sure, I had more than I could ever dream for, now and here, but it was all getting hard to keep. But then what else was I going to do than fight to keep what was mine, and try to help others to do the same. I’m sure it will all seem important to someone, one day. Supper was ready and the stew was good. I didn't keep track of how many bowls I had, then ice cream and the leftover pastries from last night.
I asked Kitten how her lesson was today and she said, "enjoyable, we worked on some very fast music while trying to keep it looseand light. Muser has an interesting way of looking at music, he always challenges me."
Kitty, "sounds like your get along with him well."
Kitten, "oh yes, not only am I learning new things, but Muser makes it fun, and you should see what he has done with the back of the music store. The studio sounds great, and looks good as well."
I said, "good to hear it, I’ll need to put some time aside to check it out." Kitty, "and did you learn anything new yesterday Prowler?"
Prowler, "I learned that the Tridents were one of the few races to sell weapons to the ecological warriors during the fight with the CM, and that Newtonian is very hard to weld."
Owsee, "hah! You got that right."
After desert Owsee went to spend some time with Goo da wa, and the Twins played around with trying to crack the Trident code. Kitty and I sat around talking in the living room with the fire place burning. There was a light rain outside which reminded me of my dreams, but I didn’t tell Kitty of them.
Kitty asked why, now that the Trident was repaired, I didn't take the ship out tonight to attack the scraping robots.
I told her, “even the Trident would not have much effect on the vast field of debris or the robots clinging to it. Maybe if we had it a week ago we could've made a big difference, but now it's not worth losing any sleep over. The ships we will send to blow up will do more damage than all the attacks so far.” She asked, "then why all the attacks if they're not doing any good?" I said, "I didn't say we were not doing any good, just that it's so small we may as well be saving our ammunition, except for the hope that it’s giving the people. I had to make them believe they could make a difference, even if it was a small one. When it comes down to smashing the robots with club's people will ask, "what did we do to prevent this?" They need to know they tried, and kept on fighting!"
Kitty, "so is it going to be bad?"
I said, "I don't think so. We have done some damage and we will do more, but if the power goes out, the water stops running or someone gets hur
t, people need to know we tried to stop them. The firepower of the three parts of the space station will make some difference, and I only tell you because I think you should know, but the techno-sages gave me something that may make a big difference. But I can't talk about it, and you must not tell anyone I even have something. A lot of people are afraid of the techno-sages and what they can do, or anyone that deals with them."
Kitty, "I can understand that, and being left in the dark, for now."
She got up and went to get us another drink. I let my pipe and stared into the fire, there was a flash of light from outside, and moments later the thunder. I said, "if it could only rain all over the world when the robots got here, they may all short out, but that's not going to happen on this planet."
Kitty, "as much as I hate the rain storms, I think I rather have one than the metal spiders."
We listened to the radio for awhile, then the children said they were going to bed. We said goodnight and I added, "get some good rest, I'm moving the space station tomorrow, and I need you at the helm."
They went upstairs to their rooms with a, “yes father, good night.” Kitty and I went to bed soon as well, and after awhile we went to sleep, enough said.
I woke up in the middle of the night to a bad dream I could not remember. As I walked in to the living room I saw that Kitty had moved to the big chair by the fire place, and was curled up asleep. The rain had stopped, and there was a cool breeze that had that fresh smell to it, so I stoked the fire and went to sleep on the sofa.
Day 97
The morning sun woke us both up, and I wanted pastries for breakfast, so I got on my speeder and went to the bakery in town. I could have gone in my ship, but I wanted the wind in my face. I got enough for all of us, and after a short chat with the folks at the bakery, I flew back home. As I pulled up, I saw Owsee on the porch with a cup of coffee, and said, "how do you do that? I just went to the bakery."
Owsee, "I heard you leave, I hoped you were getting pastries."
I said, "you’re a food psychic, that's what you are. Don't worry, I got plenty," and I took the bag in the house with Owsee close behind me. Kitty called the children and we all helped ourselves. Even Gripper was in time for a few pastries. Kitty had got caught up with the scarf orders the night before, so we said have a good day, and the rest of us went to the station in the Trident. The fleet was almost ready to go. I dropped Owsee, Gripper and the Twins off at the station, and said I was going to fly the Trident to the sun to recharge her.
Owsee said, "just don't go too close, the new welds have not been tested yet." Laureate was the fourth planet from our sun, so ittook me a good 10 minutes to get there. There was a large, almost molten asteroid orbiting close to the sun, so I took up a position near it to shield myself from the full force. My liven ship was not far away as I charged the Trident to full power, it didn't take long. When I got back to the station Owsee called me from the Plexon heavy fighter, with Gripper, and said, "good to see the welds held, now let's see if she can fight!" So we headed for our target, that was for us less than an hour away. I put the ship on autopilot, but didn't trust it and stayed awake. Even with the fighters at full speed we were only going half of what this ship could do. The ship Gripper and Owsee was on my have been able to keep up, but neither of us wanted to leave the fleet behind. But as our enemy became close enough to see, I jumped out in front and rushed to get to them. Firing as I went, time after time, after time. The blast reached deep within the field, destroying many. The fleet swept in and unloaded what they had then the Plexon heavy fighter. I fired until my power levels were down but not out, then we all went home. I could hear the chatter on the radio about the Trident, they were all impressed. I left the fleet early to go charge the ship up again, at the sun. After charging up I docked with the station, and had a smoke while waiting for Gripper and Owsee. As soon as they got there we went to put the rest of the mines out, with the help of a few volunteers. It went much faster this time, and noone got tired out. Then we separated the parts of the station, and put them in new orbits that would be best for firing from, without being in the path with the M.E.R.S.. It was then time to do the same with the station on lunar one. The miners had all had enough warning, and were either kicking back in the quarters or had taking a shuttle to the planet. She shuddered a bit on takeoff, but we didn't break anything, thanks to extraordinary skills of my two children. Landing or trying to move a space station of this size was never the intentions of its makers, and only the low gravity of this moon even made it a possibility. With all three parts of the station now in their orbits, it was time to start bringing up the remote controlled ships. I had the communications officer call the ports below to tell them to stand clear, as we were going to start launching the ships soon. While he was doing that, and getting confirmation from all of them, Owsee, Gripper, the Twins, and I went to lunch. The chef in the mess hall was making stuffed steaks and fresh vegetables in a cheese sauce, I enjoyed it.
While we were eating I told Gripper, “we should give all the pilot's the rest of the day and night off, as we are just about out of ammunition, and there is nothing else they can do until after the debris field has passed. The fire power of the stations will be our last great blast of hope.”
He said he had been thinking the same thing and I added, “matter of fact, anyone that's not in engineering, fire control or the bridge may as well take some time off too. Not all the crew, but let's be open to sending people down we don't need right off. They may want to be with their friends when, or if, the scrapers come down.”
He said he would see to it shuttle control get's the word. The chef made chewy bars for dessert, a pilots special, and they all went fast. We then went to the bridge to start bringing the ships up. According to the remote transponder codes, we had over 10,000 ships, near a thousand cities around the world. We programmed the computer to bring them up a thousand at a time, and watched the monitors closely as the fleet of bombs came up, and headed for the spots they would wait at. I can remember forgetting to breath a few times, as I watched the flickering white lights of the screen, hoping none of them fell on anyone. Each old ship was packed with enough explosives to wipe out a good city block, and there was a good chance some of them were repaired properly. But the new program ran just fine, and all the ships held together to go right where we wanted them. Over the next five hours we brought up all 10,000 plus ships without a single one dropping from the sky, thank goodness. We were as ready as we were going to be, and there was still a goodfive hours before show-time. We would send some of the ships to meet them before they got too close, but as for what to do right now, it was time for supper. So I went down and brought Kitty up to the station, there was too much going on for me to eat at home. Owsee and Gripper had gone to the other stations to be in command, and as soon as I got back we sent the first wave of ships toward the debris field with the metal eating robots. I was going to wait longer, but did not want to bunch the ships up. We programmed the ships to blow up as soon as they hit the field. The next wave, less than half an hour later, was to blow up shortly after they entered the field. The wave after that would go just a bit deeper before exploding. Kitty brought us some sandwiches from the mess hall, and they hit the spot. Over the next two hours we sent wave after wave of ships toward the debris field. By the time we had used up all the ships the debris was less than an hour away, and it had been a long day for each of us, I was putting fire-powder in my coffee to stay awake. The robots were less than half an hour away before they came within range of our guns, and all three stations opened fire with all they had for up to 20 minutes. The space and the sky above the planet was full of fire. When we could do no more I went down to a desert, on the planet, near the south coast, and got out the gift the techno-sages gave me. I walked alittle ways away from my ship, and sat on the stand with the large glowing spherein my hands. The sky was starting to light up with all the falling and burning debris the metal spiders would be in. I thought about my dream, and the s
torm I wanted to conjure up with all its power. The sphere seemed to glow even brighter now as the skies darkened with a mighty storm. The thunder was upon me, and I reached out with my mind to send the lightning into the metal robots that were coming down. There was a mighty crash in the sky like a thousand lightning bolts striking at once. I felt a surge of power from the glowing sphere, and night became day, as the world-sky was filled with lightning. Even the beach around me was melting as slowly sank into a pool of glass. Then it was dark again, and the sphere was dark and out of power. I was nearly unconscious, but a short time later I found myself on my ship. She had scooped me up out of the pool of death I was sinking into, and my Elvinware had protected me once again, even the special gloves I wore had come in handy. She took me to the station, and I had her drop me off on the bridge. I found out the rest of the debris field had past, and was on a course to our sun. Still feeling like some kind of zombie, not fully in touch with this reality, I asked Kitty and the twins if they wanted to sleep at home or on the ship tonight. They said the station would do for tonight, so I said good, and went to quarters. Somehow I managed to get my boots off before collapsing on my bed.
