"Now I know what the guy wires are for at least," Paul acknowledged. "That radar disc must be stronger than it looks, if that sort of acceleration doesn't just peel it right off the nose of the ship, even with supporting guys, but why did they hit us with ECM, when we had already seen and recorded so much about them?"
"They didn't use any Electronic Counter Measures," Gial explained. "Their radar wasn't even on a multiple of our frequency. It's just pumping out so many watts and we were so close, that the surge was from stray inductance, even though there was no close match for it to really couple with our system. If they had scanned and matched our frequency, we wouldn't have a radar anymore. It would be fried. That disc isn't a reflector. It's an array of many nano antennas, with a Veselago lens over each one. I've read they were possible, but I've never seen one and you should forget I've described it to you. The whole thing is highly classified by our people."
"It should send a beam as parallel as a laser, focused down to one wave length in diameter, for an unholy distance. And even steer multiple beams to multiple loci. Can you imagine what a few Gigawatt density of millimeter waves would do, focused on a spot a half centimeter across on our hull? Or how far out you could get a return off even a steathed hull, if you can paint it with that kind of power density? We'll compose a report with all our recordings and observations and send it along home. I expect they'll be very pleased."
"There's one thing I remember from lunch, you should be sure to include in our report sir," Paul said, looking very serious. "The lady told us that in a few weeks they will have two more armed merchants, of a new class in service that, 'Will make one of the older ones look like a rickshaw with a bent wheel', if I remember her words."
"Let us hope gentleman, that the Republic never asks us to engage the rickshaw we just saw leave. I believe it may offend some, but I plan on making that clear to our superiors that it would likely be futile, regardless of the vigor and valor with which one might pursue it."
"For what it is worth Sir, both the gentleman that addressed us on com and Miss Lewis herself at lunch, expressed that they consider the French friends. I'd say, let's mention it in our report that their active crews have that view and we should do anything we can to encourage it," John suggested.
"You also should write out a transcript of your lunch as well as you can remember it, together and we shall submit it with our report. A professional intelligence officer might glean something from it that you'd miss." Staring at the sudden blush, both the young men were stricken with and way their eyes slide away from him and locked on each other in desperation, he got a slow smile across his face. "But of course you might run the story past your Commander first, in case there are any irrelevant events, that we don't want to bother the professionals with. I dare say I'd enjoy the story for its own sake I think. I've been a young man on liberty before you know."
"Oh it's not anything bad at all," Paul assured him. "It's just if you weren't there and didn't know how events lead up to that point, one might not understand an odd incident where the Master of the Happy Lewis was licking mustard from behind John's ear and trying to jolly him out of a bad mood. But after all, as you say they are allies aren't they Sir?" he asked hopefully.
"As you say," he agreed leaning back in the seat to hear the story out. "I'm sure any indignities you suffered, are not unlike other Frenchmen have endured for the Republic."
* * *
Click had eased off to what he considered a moderate six G, even before they went around the curve of the Earth from the station. Now they coasted in a new polar orbit. "I changed our vector significantly before shutting down, once we were out of line of sight," he explained. "If anyone was trying to work up an intercept, they should have a real hard time, unless they have seamless tracking across Antarctica and I'm certain few do. Certainly not North America, after what we did to their assets last year. Maybe Argentina or New Zealand, but I don't think either of them would go out of their way to see North America's cows home. But I'd still like one of us to sit the weapons board for a few orbits, just in case."
Don didn't complain. He felt beat up and squashed, but he wanted this ride so bad he wasn't going to start complaining now and look like a wimp. He was quietly glad though the burn was over. Some of the small items he had thought unimportant to take out of his pockets, had bruised him from the acceleration. He started pulling tools and things out and stowing them in the mini-locker by his station. April floated back and joined him, with a look of concern on her face. "I know that was a pretty rough ride. Do you need anything from the medical kit?" She was trying to be kind, but it irritated him that she was moving about real easily, unbothered by the ordeal and worried about the Old Man. Still, she was right, he was hurting.
"Yeah I'd like a couple of whatever pain killer won't make me woozy. I left this silly little pistol off that guy's ankle in my breast pocket," he said, fishing for it awkwardly with his left hand, "and I thought it was gonna bore a hole through me under boost. I bet I'll have a bruise showing the serial numbers embossed in my hide. How the hell much juice did Click pour on anyway? I've pulled five and a half, before but it felt nothing like this."
"He was at nine and a half for just a little. That's actually a half G past rating and when we get back the maintenance guys will yell at us about it," she admitted. "The new ships are being designed to pull 16 G."
He restrained the urge to groan at that number. "Here, you want this stupid thing?" he offered, holding the tiny automatic out to her. "I'd be scared to shoot somebody with this. It might make them mad."
"No I'm with you. If I want to irritate them I've been doing that fine so far, just running my mouth."
"Uh, does that tiny thing take brass shells?" Edwards inquired tentatively. "I sort of collect antique guns, if you guys aren't interested."
"Take it. Otherwise we'll probably just pitch it," Don assured him, tossing it over. He put a few more hand tools in the small locker. The inside was lined with pockets and tie downs and he wanted his pockets empty if they boosted hard again. "Here, these seem to be identical," he observed, pulling the two heavier service pistols out. "Glock 9 mm. You got the drop on them. They're your prize I guess."
"Yeah but you reached out of the booth and took it right out of the guy's hand. He was still trying to shoot me, even if it was kind of pathetic. Let's split ‘em. Take your pick."
Dan looked at both sides of them. They both looked so new he couldn't tell any difference, so he just picked the one in his left hand and shoved it back in the locker. "How about these?" he asked of the badges when he pulled them out of his pocket. "Pitch ‘em? Or does somebody collect them too?" he joked.
"Actually I do." April admitted. "I have a Chinese p-suit rank badge, I wear on a holster for dress up and I'll do the same with these."
"Did you take it away from him the same way we got these?" Dan asked with a mischievous smile.
"Oh no. We killed that sucker and stuffed him out the lock," she explained so matter of fact it made him shudder. He passed the prize to her with no regrets. They were definitely not his sort of hobby.
"Why don't you get in your p-suit now that we have time? April suggested. "Everything seems quiet, but we're a cautious lot. Some of these cushions come off, if it's too big for the seat."
"I don't think I actually thanked you. It was terrifically brave to jump on that fellows back and cover them like that. If you hadn't done that, I think I'd be on another shuttle headed for a North American prison right now. Guys like me, arrested on political charges, pretty much just disappear."
"I swear to you, if they ever snatch you, I will offer them a deal they can't refuse to give you back. I can't do anything about how they treat their own people, but for one of us I would fight them to get you back. If they had snatched you before I got there, I'd have sat off NLV and punched holes in the important parts, until they got the idea I was really irritated."
"Do you think your fellow militia members would go along with that,
on behalf of one old vacuum rat?"
She looked at him funny. "They'd expect the same to be done for them. But I don't have to ask anyone. There are no locks on our ship weapons. And any of the militia members that are trained and that means all the space faring members, have access to our weapons systems from their com or spex. If Click for example is sitting playing Black Jack on New Las Vegas and he finds out they nuked Home, he doesn't even have to get up from the table to make war on North America. He can send through his spex and unleash whatever he decides is needed. I'd hope he would do some careful confirmation of the responsibility, but realistically nobody has any serious grudge against Home except North America. The Chinese haven't made a peep since that one run in with their shuttle. But I'm afraid we're becoming a bit of a fixe idee for the North Americans as our French friends would say."
"That seems pretty scary to entrust individuals with that much power. What if someone is not stable - what's to stop them acting on a whim?
"Don, we all talked this out in detail. Think about all the weapons the Earth nations have to use. It still comes down to some individual that decides to use them. They may make a show of a committee deciding, but somebody still makes the motion and somebody pushes the button. Only difference is if a militia member uses our weapons we'll all know who did so. The system is not anonymous. Anybody who logs on and activates a system, we all know about it right away.
With the Earthies though, we'd never know who did the killing. Just like when the Americans sent a shuttle full of soldiers to invade Home. We know the orders had to come from high up, but we don't really know if it was the President, or who actually said, ‘Do it.' Their system has always covered up personal responsibility and spread the blame around. We will not evade personal responsibility. If we decide we have to fight again it will be right out in plain sight," she vowed.
"The people picked to live on Home are pretty well tested to be stable mentally. You don't get shipped up if you test positive for the common organic mental disorders. We don't let just anyone into the militia either, there are several people we've all agreed don't get in, even though they wanted in. There are still those who don't fit diagnostic standards of mental illness, but everybody knows they are a flaming jackass. Dave even let a worker go, because he wasn't militia material and he wouldn't risk him working on our ships."
"It scares me more, to think that down there this kind of power hidden in one person's hands who doesn't really have to answer for his actions. We've seen their President can pretty much order any military action he wants and nobody will question it. And I don't see anybody testing their Presidents for stability. We have thirty-eight militia members that have full access right now. I'm more concerned with making sure the North Americans know someone will survive an attack to hit them back out of that number, than I'm worried about making it safer for them. If they wanted to be safe, they shouldn't have started a war they couldn't win."
"Does your concern mean you don't want to be recruited into the militia? I should warn you most of the guys building new ships and maintaining the armed ones, are full militia members, so it would be pretty hard to hire you without entrusting you as a member," April revealed.
It was a new and shocking thought to imagine being entrusted with that sort of power - and responsibility. "I'll have to think about that. I don't want to accept unless I've thought it over and can be sure I have the will to actually use that sort of power. It wouldn't be fair to you guys if I took the responsibility and then find I didn't have the nerve to use it."
"See? We're all like that. Nobody is a bloodthirsty monster, who wants to rip into North America. We're just scared that the ability to hurt them, is all that keeps their slimier politicians from attacking us again. We've been watching their news carefully and there is a huge vocal element, that is really unhappy that the surviving officials surrendered. I don't know how long they thought they should let us pound them, before giving up. I thought they were pretty stubborn as it was. But these crazies worry us. We really don't want to be forced into resuming hostilities. We were able to avoid hurting a lot of innocent civilians before, but if they are crazy enough to fight again, we'll end up going down in history as the bad guys, no matter how much they ask for it."
"It's going to take me a bit to adjust to all this. When I left ISSII The thought was there, that I might not be coming back, but I still locked my apartment up and had the idea in my mind there was some small chance I'd be back. Now my bridges are burnt behind me. I need to call a friend there. Can you get me a com connection from this orbit?"
April looked in her spex and checked a couple things. "Sure, we will always be in line of sight from one or another geostationary com satellite. Go ahead and make your call. I'm going back up front," she said, to give him some privacy.
Don punched in Sheila's address back on ISSII. She was probably the only friend there, that he would really miss. He caught her at home, but she was dressed for work in the station infirmary and she was visibly surprised to see his face.
"Hi Don. I didn't expect to see you. There were a couple Homeland Security toughs around yesterday, asking everyone about you and I thought you'd be hanging by your ankles on a wall somewhere, talking to the cockroaches upside-down by now."
"They would have snatched me this morning on New Las Vegas, but one of my old pals from the Happy Lewis stuck a pistol in the one's ear from behind, an asked him what the heck they thought they were doing bothering me."
She covered her mouth with her hand to laugh. A gesture he had seen her do so many times. He felt so bad what he had to tell her next. "Sheila, I had to renounce my citizenship and I'm emigrating to Home. Not what I had in mind, but they left me little choice. Anyway I wanted you to know, I'll miss you and don't expect me back. My apartment is all locked up and I left too quick to dispose of anything, so I just wanted you to know you are welcome to take any of the furniture, or anything at all I left, for yourself. After the first of the year my rent isn't paid, they'll reset the lock and I don't know what will happen to the stuff. But for now it should still be the old password, if Security didn't mess with it. I'd say give me a call now and then, but if you do Security will probably give you grief for it. But if you ever visit Home, call me up and I'll take you to dinner," he offered.
"Oh Don. I'll miss you too," she agreed. "I will go by and see what I can salvage. That was sweet of you to think of me. Is there anything there you want sent to you? Did you forget anything with sentimental value?"
"No. You know, everything I really care about fit in my blue duffel bag. I was kind of surprised at that myself. I have music, a few photos and a couple paper books I've had since I was a kid and that's about all. Thanks for all the times you were the only sane person I had to talk to."
"Yeah, I don't know who I can hang with now. When you can read the psych profiles on most of these characters, it's a bit of a turn off. I suppose now I will have to buy a cat or a ferret to have someone to talk to," she joked.
"Let me know if you ever need anything," he said, suddenly very earnest. Sheila knew about his money from Ernie and never allowed him to spend more on her than an occasional dinner, or bottle of wine. The one time he had tried to give her a more expensive gift, she had refused it, saying it implied a seriousness to their relationship that neither were trying to make happen. Now, he regretted she had no keepsake from him.
"Dan you let me know if you need my help too." That surprised him, but made him feel good. They had never gotten to the point of considering marriage, but they had filled a void for a time, in each other's lives.
"Thanks Sheila. Don't be shy to go salvage whatever you can and ask your friends if they want to take stuff. Bye now."
"Bye," she said and looked sad when she closed the connection.
He hoped the call would not make Security hassle her.
Sheila immediately called her Homeland Security control and played the recording of the call into his mailbox. "I think I am done here, if you want
to reassign me soonest. There is almost no chance Don Adams will be coming back to ISSII now and nobody who associated with him shows any serious disloyalty, or illegal actions worth monitoring. As I have said before, there was never any indication his aid to the Happy Lewis was other than a spur of the moment decision. I have quite a bit of leave saved up, so I'm requesting three weeks as soon as you officially terminate this assignment. Until I hear back from you, I will be prepare a final assessment and contingency document, ready to file. I'm also requesting transportation allowance for Earthside. I'd like to be dropped to Hawaii for my leave and then had a travel allowance to visit my family in Massachusetts, before resuming an active posting. Thanks in advance." She double checked it was being properly encrypted and signed it - Helen.
Chapter 10
"Honey come look at this!" Ruby called to her husband Easy. He came out of the kitchen alcove, wiping his hands on a towel. He was bare-chested and had on loose canvas pants. When she cooked and worked at the cafeteria all day, she didn't care to go back there for dinner, or cook again at home. The construction workers cafeteria at the other end of the station saw some of their business, but it was far enough away twice a week was usually often enough. Easy liked cooking fortunately. She patted the seat beside her, so it must be something important or she wouldn't interrupt him cooking. The screen was paused, but she kept a two day backup running, so when he was seated she glanced at the clock again and said - "Com, back up two hundred seconds and resume from then."
April 2: Down to Earth Page 11
