“That’s true, General. I don’t think there has been an official Federation ship passing near Vega in fifty years, possibly more. But it’s still strange that the invaders ignore it. Could there be something they want on it so they’ll leave it intact?”
“I can’t imagine what they would want on Vega. To my understanding there’s not much there.” Custer said.
“Maybe the invaders know something about the planet we don’t.” Westphil said.
Van Holden sighed. He took another sip of the wine. “I should point out that this meeting is not just to discuss strategy. Gen. Custer, we have relayed your information and the hologram to the highest levels of the Federation. Both our civilian officials and our fellow military officials are very concerned. We three are here today to decide whether the Federation should go to red alert and be put on a military footing. An ancestor of mine was in the American Navy – he was a captain – in 1941. We don’t want another Pearl Harbor here. The evidence we have is minimal and certainly not conclusive. The limited information we have obtained from scanners sent beyond the galaxy can neither confirm nor refute the question before us today. Are we facing an invasion?”
Our superiors expect an answer. For myself, I'd rather be safe than sorry. I think our conclusion should be to go to red alert. We scramble every jet, every vessel, and prepare for possible war. We tell every member to bulk up planetary defenses. We send a fleet of our finest vessels to protect our outer perimeter, and we begin drawing up defensive strategies to combat an invasion. General, your feelings?”
“I agree with you. However, in a courtroom under examination, our evidence would not fare so well. A good defense attorney, or military strategist for that matter, could poke a dozen holes in our logic.”
“Better to poke a dozen holes in our logic than a dozen holes in our defense systems. Or a dozen holes in one of our inhabitable planets. And you, Admiral?”
Westphil didn’t reply immediately. He sipped his wine and leaned back in his chair. “Well, we could be wrong, and if so, we will look incredibly foolish. Three top military officials who predicted an invasion that never came. That won’t look good on the resume.”
Van Holden sighed. “Yes, but we have more important things to worry about than resumes.”
“How true. Considering what little evidence we have, and weighing Starret’s motives I think what he brought us is valid. It’s not false information. He really did get his information from a Crit. What that information tells us is that we should go to red alert. Immediately if not sooner.”
“Then it’s settled. A military armada will be on its way to Fort MacDonald immediately.” Van Holden said.
Chapter 31
The Black Ships, running smoothly and silently, oblivious to surroundings, headed for the outpost. They were flying blind. No communication was allowed. No sensors were open. Silence was considered imperative. There was some danger in this course of action. No commander of any ship likes to sail blind. But the commanders, the blind ones, considered the risk worth taking. The Federation must be surprised by the attack. Otherwise it might fail. They had noticed additional scans and probes coming into their space recently and it disturbed them. They wondered if the Federation was on alert for some reason. Such news was troubling. They considered their weapons and their military superior to the Federation but they needed the element of surprise on their side. So running silently was mandatory.
The three Federation military officials were correct. The fleet didn’t plan to incinerate Vega. But it would make a brief stop there.
Nearby, at least relatively close by in astronomical miles, the black comet sailed on in its deadly mission.
“They’re not human?” Belen yelled, her face contorted with shock.
“No. They are artificial or synthetic or something. But they are definitely not human. I should have known. I don’t understand how I could have been so stupid.” I said.
Belen shook her head. “But they looked human. The computers said they were human. They gave out human heat. They… they…”
“I’m not sure how scientific the ‘human heat’ part of your statement is, but every one of our instruments said the Molochs were human. And they were wrong. Shows what you get when you trust computers and freaking AI machines. The AIs can be just as stupid as their unartificial intelligent counterparts.”
“What do we do now?”
As if to answer her question, Clint Lamour and Eric Norton marched into the tent and saluted.
“You sent for us, sir?”
“Yes, I did. I want you to get a copter and bring me a Moloch. A dead one preferably. Although 'dead' is a relative term in this case. We just blew up about two hundred of them. Go out, pick one and take him to a transport.”
“A whole one or can he a bit maimed?”
“A half one will be fine with me. It would probably be OK to just grab an arm or leg, but let’s try to get most of the body, too.” I looked up at one of the screens. “A shuttle leaves here in thirty minutes but it will wait in case you’re a couple of minutes late.”
“Yes, sir.” they said. They saluted and left.
“How will that help?” Belen asked.
“We are going to send the not working Moloch to your medical labs on the ships and to Dr. Meadows for an extensive examination. There is a slim chance that the Molochs might not be totally synthetic or artificial. Some races have mixed their artificial creations with things that breathe oxygen. So they might be a mixture of lab work and good old fashioned genetics. If so there is a chance, a slim once, that the mist will take out some of them.”
“You’re not grasping at straws, are you Logan?”
I looked at her. “To be honest, yes, But straws are all I have right now. Admittedly I don’t have much science knowledge in this area. But some animal diseases can be transmitted to humans. Some can’t. If the Molochs are a mixture of lab creations and some race we don’t know about – some race that breathes oxygen – then there is a possibility that the toxin could affect the non-lab part of them. I’m hoping for some type of flesh, something that is reasonably close to humans. Close enough that the toxin will mow them down or at least slow them down. I don’t give it high odds but it’s something I have to try.”
“Can we do anything else?”
“I’m running the Earthmovers 24 hours a day. Perhaps we can't build three Grand Canyons, but we can get a pretty big hole dug. When the Molochs charge through the valley they will take a long, long fall. It should render them inoperative.”
“Could some of them climb back out?
“Not when we pour in gasoline and every other flammable liquid on the base and light it. I’m getting the pillboxes lined up. They have incredible fire power. They can be overrun, but the Molochs will lose a lot of men doing it.” I bit off the end of a cigar and spit it on the ground. “You know how many days it will take for the Aristolans to get loaded?”
“About three more days. We have the atomic bombs, too, don’t we? That should stop them?”
“No, not all of them. We have small atomic bombs. The blast will disintegrate hundreds of thousands, perhaps a million, Molochs. But will leave a million left. And leaves us vulnerable. Even the faith of the Aristolans can’t stop a million opponents.”
Belen took a long look at me. “You really think their faith could stop an army?”
I gave a crooked smile. “Belen, don’t you believe your faith? Don’t you believe Psalm 91?”
“Sometimes, my friend, I can’t tell if you’re being serious or sarcastic. This time I’d like to know which is which.”
“I’m being serious. My two friends, Rem and Jade, are also Christians. I served about three years with them. Jade said something to me once that stuck in my mind. She remarked that she couldn’t believe for anything else. Her faith was stretched as far as it would go. She couldn’t believe for curtains for their house. She was at her faith limit. That sounds strange, even bizarre, to anyone who is secular and know
s nothing about faith or Christianity. But I have served with so many Christians, most of whom were honorable men and women, that what she said didn’t seem all that odd to me. I understood what she meant.
“Do I think our Aristolan friends could stop a regular army, one of average size and average strength? Yes, I bet they could. After all, Dalvros is seven thousand years old. He had to exercise some faith to keep healthy for all those years. Something Jade taught me, too, is that people think faith is something unsubstantial. It’s not. Faith is a substance. A substance we can’t see, but a very real substance. A substance that can wipe out an army if used properly. But just as Jade had reached her limit that day, I think two million savage opponents might be over the limit of the Aristolans. So let’s go with bombs and bullets.” I sighed. “I have to wonder if that’s why the other race here created so many Molochs. Perhaps they knew too the Aristolans could defeat hundreds of thousands of opponents. So they created two million. It’s just a guess but…”
“What do you plan to do?”
“Make another plan since the first one didn’t work out too well. And I will pass the word that the transports and the Earthmovers will work 24 hours a day. I don’t know how much time we have, but we are not going to waste a second.”
I ordered the camp on high alert, grabbed a bottle of bourbon, and went to my command headquarters. Six screens displayed various sites. The Molochs remained desultory. They were not marching our way. They looked like cows chewing their cud in a field. Fine. The longer they stayed there, the better. The Earthmovers, looking like gigantic bugs, hummed away. They didn’t look impressive, but they had already dug a hole a half mile deep and ten miles long. The shuttles moved steadily. One had just landed and Aristolans were boarding.
I shook my head. If the Molochs, or rather whoever created them, wanted to destroy the unfallen race why not attack now? Didn’t they know that the Aristolans were already exiting? Did they have another surprise waiting for us? An underground Air Force that the earth split apart for as jets zoomed toward Belen’s ships?
Or maybe they knew they had already failed. Even if they attacked they would never kill all the Aristolans. Their plans for extermination had not succeeded so would they give up?
Another screen showed our robots building the pillboxes. Another half day and they should be completed. That gave me some degree of comfort. I twisted the cap on the bourbon off and poured some in a glass. My AI computer was named Syd. So I said hello again.
On the screen, the copter flew low over the Moloch camp. It stopped in the center of all the dead bodies and what looked like a pooper scooper dropped from the copter and hauled in a dead Moloch. Then zoomed away. OK, Dr. Meadows, the ball and the dead Moloch are in your court now. You’re not going to be sleeping much the next few days. But then, neither am I.
Chapter 32
The next morning, drowsy from lack of sleep, I poured a cup of coffee and said hello to Syd, our AI computer.
“How is the day going, Major?” Syd asked.
“I’ve had better ones.”
“How can I make this day a better one?”
“Syd, you have all the details of our attack strategy and all the details about the atomic bombs we carry. How much of an impact could we make on our enemies, taking into consideration that we cannot let the radiation from the atomic blasts hit our camps?”
“From the information I have, Major, the Moloch army stretches for forty-two miles long and about twenty miles wide, with some fluctuation. The mini-atomic bombs you have would have a destructive circular range of ten miles. But you could not explode the bombs near the front of the Moloch army or the radioactive aftermath would extend into the Aristolan territory, rendering them dead of radiation sickness in a matter of days.”
As Syd spoke he flashed up simulations on yet another screen. A red atomic blast shook the blue Moloch army as I watched but the radiation waves flowed over most of the Aristolan land. He moved the explosions back ten miles and the resulting radiation waves dissipated halfway through the Aristolan land.
“So if we drop them fifteen miles into the Molochs, that should give us enough explosive power to dismantle or cripple fifty percent of their forces?” I said.
“Let’s be optimistic and make it sixty-five percent.”
“That still leaves a lot of Molochs.”
“Yes, but the bombs will take out the front of the army and will slow down the rest of the troops. The radiation won’t bother the Molochs, but marching on ground recently devastated by atomic bombs will not be easy. I don’t think they will be charging too fast. Of course the downside is that they don’t get tired. Once they start heading our way, they will march night and day. This is one army that doesn’t march on its stomach.”
“They must be directed in some way. How are their masters communicating with them?” I said.
“Don’t know yet. We are monitoring the area, but as yet haven’t picked up anything.”
“If the masters are communicating with them, and we discover how, we might be able to intercept or stop the communication. We could render the army harmless or direct them to fight one another.”
“Which is a long shot. We don’t know how they are communicating, yet. Even if we did, it would be in their language and probably in some type of electronic code, which we don’t have time to decipher.”
“You are tied in with Dr. Meadows’ computers, aren’t you?”
“Due to the wonders of modern technology, yes.”
“Carmen programmed you, didn’t she? I recognize the sarcasm.”
“A wonderful lady but the sarcasm is my own, Major.”
“Anyway, do we know exactly what the Molochs are? Synthetic? Artificial? Some type of mutant?
“You’re asking me a question I don’t yet have an answer for. This is an alien planet, and there are a number of alien products in the ‘flesh’ of the Molochs. Products that I have not yet analyzed. I cannot put a name on the Molochs yet. I can only tell you what they are not. They are not synthetic creations as we understand the term. The same is true for Artificial. As we understand the term, they are not artificial. They are not robotic…”
“As we understand the term.”
“Precisely.”
“Is there any trace of anything human or sentient alien life in them?”
“Difficult to tell. Well, impossible to tell. I would need a more complete medical breakdown, and such advanced medical facilities are not on the planet. Since they are not human and were created, the question is, what were they created for? What use are they? That is, again, a question I can’t answer. Their creation defies logic. It is almost impossible to determine when they were created. They don’t seem to age. They could have been created two days ago or two million years ago.” There was a pause and a sound I wondered if was an AI chuckle.
“You have several Christians on your squad don’t you, Major?”
“Yes, I do. Very good men.”
“After the advent of Christianity, the Middle East Patriarchs liked to take a theological subject and write tomes and tomes on it. And they would conclude, ‘It is a mystery.’ The creation of the Molochs, ‘It is a mystery.’ and not likely to be resolved any time soon.”
“But if we are sure they were created, then there must be another race on the planet. We suspected that, but doesn’t this prove it?”
“It’s evidence of another race, yes. They could be very old, Major. The race that created them could have died out long ago, leaving only their bizarre progeny.”
I puffed some more on my cigar and sipped some more of the bourbon. I hated to think I had been a fool, but the evidence was shifting in that direction.
“OK, back to the bombs. Maximum impact?”
Deadly Voyage (Logan Ryvenbark's Saga Book 1) Page 21
