Humanity Unlimited 1: Liberty Station

by Terry Mixon

  Her lips firmed into a thin line. “That’s not what I meant. With the amount of money you’ve poured into this project, that’s a tremendous sum. Tens of billions of dollars.”

  “If you take the research and side projects into account,” he said, “Project Liberty has cost me most of my personal fortune. Almost one hundred billion dollars. You didn’t know that I was broke? Well, one must keep up appearances. If the project fails, I go down with it. When my enemies finally grasp how deeply invested I am, they’ll swarm like carrion birds. Only success will save me.”

  She visibly gathered her wits. “But the return on your investment will be in the trillions. Personal wealth unimaginable to anyone alive. Even you, I suspect.”

  “Beyond a certain point, it’s really only keeping score. That said, there’s something magical about skunking your opponents so badly that they realize they were never in your league to begin with.”

  He stood and straightened his jacket. “Consider my offer. Thirty percent ownership of Project Liberty, or whatever I decide to rename it to because of this find, for you and ten percent for my son. Don’t worry about what he brings to the table. He’s quite resourceful. And very soon, unless I miss my guess, we’ll be fending off military incursions. He’s quite capable of taking the lead in that area.”

  She smiled. “And you get to pull him back into your life again. Is my cooperation in that area part of our bargain?”

  “I’d make it so, if I thought I needed to. You see him for who he is. In fact, you maneuvered him into accepting part of the deal. Well done, by the way. And much appreciated.”

  Miss Cook stood. “Now what? You need to check my guy and I need a contract to submit to Harry’s lawyer. And, since we’re going to be partners, you should call me Jess.”

  He extended his hand. “Clayton, then. I can’t tell you how eagerly I’m looking forward to working even more closely with you.” He gestured toward the door. “You should go give my son the good news. You’ll want to get the yelling out of the way before dinner. It’s bad for the digestion.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  It took a few hours, but Harry had spoken to all his teams. If he knew his shithead brother, there’d be an attempt at payback. He’d expedited the missions he could and delayed those that hadn’t kicked off.

  Liberty SOG employed half a dozen full-time strike teams. He knew enough reliable semi-retired pros to put another half dozen teams in action with a few days’ notice. He summoned those he could to join him here.

  Once he had things in motion, he called Rex in for a private chat. The scout had changed into a pair of jeans and a mind-numbingly bright Hawaiian shirt. He lounged back with one leg over the arm of his chair, chewing on something that looked like grass.

  Harry shook his head. “Seriously?”

  Rex grinned. “You know the deal. Blend in. Have you seen the tourists on the commercial side of the spaceport? Who knew seeing cargo launches to the space hotel would bring in so many retired Floridians.”

  “Apparently you did. I hope you enjoyed the break, because it looks like we have a new job.”

  The scout’s grin dropped away and he sat up. “That was quick. Where next? Libya? The Black Sea? Disney World?”

  “As if we’d ever be lucky enough to get Disney World. I’d love to see Jeremy try to crack their security.”

  “Give him a chance and he’ll make you proud. What’s up?”

  Harry considered how much he could tell his friend. He trusted Rex with his life and had done so for years. Still, he didn’t know how much of this fantastical story he’d believe if he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes.

  “I can’t tell you everything,” Harry said. “For now, treat this as a classified mission brief. We found something in the pyramid and something even bigger at the second site. Things I can’t fully explain either to you, but they’re seriously important.”

  “Like a supervillain’s lair? I’ve always wondered where they hid those things.”

  “Just about that unexpected. The bottom line is that it’s something worth killing over. I’ve made preliminary arrangements with my father to work in tandem with his people on certain aspects of something he calls Project Liberty.”

  “Hey! That’s our name! Did he steal it?”

  “Probably. In any case, our interests are aligned in this matter.”

  Rex’s eyes widened. “With your father? That’s some serious shit. Does it have something to do with that asshole brother of yours?”

  “Not really, but he might make another appearance looking for Jess.”

  The scout smiled. “Jess, is it? You know, I hear shared danger makes for hot sex.”

  He gave his friend a stern glare. “And lousy long-term relationships. Focus. I’ve summoned all available teams, including those on standby. We’ll work with my father’s security forces, but we don’t take orders from them without my say so.”

  “I’m totally focused. She’s hot. Besides, blokes like us don’t live long enough to have long-term relationships. As for the teams, that’s a lot of people. Why do we need so many shooters?”

  “That’s classified, too. The basic outline is a heist. Something large and valuable. While I’m not normally prone to grand theft, my mother was the one pulling Nathan’s strings, so I’ll make an exception. My father’s security people have been working on a plan for some time. We’ll integrate with them to make it happen, hopefully with me in overall command. This is going down in less than a week and once it does, I expect all hell to break loose.”

  A knock at the door interrupted them. Allen stuck his head in. “Sorry for the interruption, Harry. You have a call from that lady we rescued.”

  Harry stood. “I’ll be right there. Rex, get the team together and briefed. I don’t trust my father and I want to be ready to move at a moment’s notice. As far as I’m concerned, Jessica Cook is still our client. Get a two person guard detail ready for her.”

  “On it.”

  He followed Allen back to the sitting room and picked up the phone. “Rogers.”

  “Harry, it’s Jess. We need to talk about something that came up in the meeting after you left. Do you have a few minutes?”

  “Sure.” He gave her the team’s suite number and hung up when she ended the call.

  * * * * *

  Harry opened the door when Jess knocked. He’d changed into khakis and a dark shirt.

  She took a moment to admire the view. “You clean up nice. Now you look like a secret agent.”

  He smiled. “I’m sure that isn’t quite the case, but thanks. We searched the rooms for listening devices. All clear, and one of my people is here 24/7. Let’s go and have that talk.”

  Harry led her back to the room they were using for conferences and closed the door. “I haven’t told them anything about what we found. I’ll eventually need to, but I’d rather do it once I know what’s really going on.”

  Jess sat and crossed one leg over the other. “I’m seriously considering taking your father up on his offer. Not that it’s any of my business, but what happened between the two of you?”

  “We don’t have enough time to explore that. Suffice it to say, he’s not the humanitarian of the year. He’s done things that hurt people. Saying he’s good in comparison to the other corporate oligarchs isn’t saying much. He’s a mile better than my mother, but he’s still a son of a bitch. Be very careful of any offer he makes you.”

  “We discussed the framework of a deal already. No agreement or anything, just an idea of what he’s looking at paying. An offer that includes you.”

  His expression soured. “That fails to fill me with joy. I’m not quite sure how this happened.”

  “Maybe you just wanted to keep him from taking advantage of me. In any case, he’s offering an interest in Project Liberty.”

  “The mission to Mars? Honestly, I’m still not really seeing the return in something like that. How much money could mining in space bring in?”

 
She decided it was time to pull the curtain back a little. Harry’s father was offering a stake in the project, so he deserved to know what that meant.

  “Let me lay it out for you. The most common asteroid is a C-Type. That stands for carbonaceous, by the way. Those make up something like 75% of all asteroids. The outer part of the asteroid belt and beyond may have an even higher percentage of them. That’s the critical takeaway from this. They’re extremely common.

  “While the specific breakdown of each asteroid is different, even within a narrow classification like this, we can make some basic assumptions about them. First, the average density is between 2.9 and 3.5 grams per cubic centimeter. About forty percent of the density of iron, give or take. You with me so far?”

  Harry tried not to smile. “Barely. I’m not an engineer, Miss Scott.”

  “A gratuitous Star Trek reference. Nice, but my Scottish accent stinks. Anyway, let’s assume a median of that density and a decent size asteroid. Say 1,000 meters, or maybe a bit larger for the math. 1,050 meters at that density would be about two billion metric tons of material. There are roughly a thousand asteroids of that size in near Earth orbit by current estimates. Again, once someone is out there looking for them, they will almost certainly end up finding more.”

  He nodded. “Okay, I’ll grant that’s a lot of material. It would cost a mint to mine it, wouldn’t it? Also, you’d need to get the ore back to Earth. That seems like a limiting factor to me.”

  “It is. Iron makes up a bit more than twenty percent of the total material. 440 million metric tons. The cost of extracting the raw ore here on Earth varies, but it usually sells for around $50 a metric ton. That makes the iron on the one asteroid worth twenty-two billion dollars. That, of course, doesn’t count how much it would cost to ship it into orbit for use in space, which is a lot more expensive.”

  “That’s a lot of money,” Harry admitted. “You’re not talking about bringing it back to Earth? Isn’t that where the market is?”

  “I’ll get to that. That one element is literally only the tip of the iceberg. Let’s talk platinum. They’ll be able to pull about 2,000 metric tons of that out of the asteroid. That’ll be worth about 80 billion dollars. And there are many other valuable minerals. It only makes economic sense to ship the most profitable back to Earth. We can use the rest much more efficiently in space.”

  He considered that for a moment. “It looks like you’re thinking big.”

  “We are. On average, each metric ton of raw material will bring in about $1,500. A few decades ago, that number would’ve been somewhat lower, but scarce minerals are getting even harder to find.

  “So, let’s roll this up. One asteroid. Two billion metric tons. Three trillion dollars. It would be more if we selected an asteroid even heavier in platinum group metals. It might approach twice the value.

  “As I said, we’d only ship the most valuable elements to Earth for sale. We’d use most in space to create infrastructure and habitats. This would fuel the spread of humanity to every part of the solar system. It would free humanity from the bonds of Earth. Hence, Project Liberty.”

  Harry was quiet for a while. “Ambitious. How long would it take to mine something like that?”

  “When the prospective mine is fully operational, which might take a few years, we figure it can process between 50 and 100 million metric tons per year. So, that one asteroid would take 20 to 40 years to fully mine. And the best part is everything is useful. No waste.

  “The majority of the output could go right into setting up other mining sites and habitats. There’s a significant amount of water tied up in these kinds of asteroids too. That means air, water, and fuel. Life for people in space.”

  He took even longer to digest that. Jess sat back and let him think about it at his own speed.

  “Okay, I know why a normal person might think this is a good idea, but what does my father get out of this? Control of humanity? Something else? He doesn’t do charity.”

  “You’d have to ask him. I assume he’s doing this because it’s in his own long-term interest. It’ll make him the wealthiest man who ever lived. Anyway, that’s enough detail for you to understand the scope of the project. Your father is offering me a thirty percent stake in Project Liberty. You’d get ten percent.”

  “Wow. That’s a lot of money. He has to have something else up his sleeve. Make sure you get the contract examined closely.”

  “I will. As long as the details check out, I’m going to accept the offer. Even a minority stake in something like this would give me so much more input going forward.”

  Harry gave her a skeptical look. “I hope it works out the way you expect. I need to go confer with my father’s security people. If he can’t get the engine for this thing, the project is deader than the guy in the pyramid.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Getting onto the spaceport wasn’t as difficult as Nathan had feared. It wasn’t on total lockdown. His new team had an ally inside that helped get them into the area around the hotel, though he’d said he couldn’t get them inside.

  Nathan wasn’t convinced that was true. With the right motivation, the man could probably come up with a way.

  First, though, he’d listen to what the man had learned. He sat behind his borrowed desk and adjusted his backside to ease the discomfort. The woman’s shot had only grazed him, but it hurt and it was his ass. The bitch would pay for that when he caught her.

  His mother’s spy wasn’t much to look at, scrawny and short. The bones of his dark face stood out as though someone had starved him for a month. Not even the pricy suit he wore could make up for the air of starvation that seemed to hang over him.

  Nathan’s temporary headquarters were inside an unused office with a view of the hotel. One of his men had found a spot on the roof to use as a sniper hide, though that really wasn’t anyone’s idea of a good plan. The odds of successfully extracting were slim if every security guard was on alert.

  Two of his people flanked the man as he sat gingerly in front of Nathan. Their silent presence kept the man a little on edge, just as Nathan intended. The sweat on the man’s forehead was a pleasant addition to the proceedings.

  With a studied, cold expression, Nathan gestured for the man to speak. “Tell me everything you’ve learned about the mercenary and the woman he came in with. Leave nothing out.”

  The man’s smile was fleeting and perfunctory. “Of course, sir. They came in early yesterday morning with Mister Rogers. The hotel is in lockdown. We moved all the guests to other accommodations. The elder Mister Rogers and Miss Cook were in a secured conference room all morning and part of the afternoon.

  “The owner’s son spent a short while there, but retired to a suite occupied by his companions before lunch. I was unable to gain access to the conference room, but I did manage to spy on some of the other occupants as they left.”

  He slid a data chip across to Nathan, who handed it off to one of his people. The man booted a tablet and loaded the video. It showed a guard escorting two women. The women wore lab coats and carried a pack as though it contained something very fragile. The clip lasted less than ten seconds.

  Nathan wasn’t impressed. “That’s all you have? Who are they? What’s in the pack?” He, of course, already knew more than he’d said, but the little bugger needed some extra motivation.

  The sweat on the man’s face grew heavier. “I’m sorry, sir. I don’t know. Security around Mister Rogers is exceptionally tight, and the two women are isolated. I did manage to get a list of the equipment they brought with them, though. It’s also on the chip.”

  The mercenary found the file and opened it. Nathan scanned the list. It looked as though they might be setting up a clean room, though some of the equipment just didn’t make sense for something like that. He’d need to have a technogeek look at the list.

  “And when did my brother leave?”

  “He’s still here, sir. Mister Rogers indicated that they would remain for at least
several days and possibly much longer. It appears that the two of them have some type of arrangement. One of my associates is procuring some equipment and clothing for them. It’s being charged to Rainforest.”

  That made no sense at all. Nathan knew his brother hated their father as much as he did, though for all the wrong reasons. He wasn’t sure what had convinced Harry to rescue the woman, but he certainly wouldn’t be doing long-term work for their father.

  Nathan leaned forward and smiled coldly. “I want you to get something into their rooms. I’ll give you a device to plant.”

  The little bastard had the gall to shake his head. “They aren’t allowing anyone into the rooms. Not even maids to clean up. As far as I can determine, someone is always present there. It just isn’t possible.”

  “I’m not interested in excuses. I want results. You will make that happen. I’ll leave it to you to fill in the ‘or else’ part.”

  The frightened man nodded. “I’ll try.

  “You better do more than try, little man. Get him out of here.”

  Once his men had roughly escorted the weasel out, Nathan pulled out his phone and dialed his mother’s private number.

  “This better not be bad news,” she said after a single ring.

  “I’m sending you a video of two unknown women. They seem to be part of whatever scheme father has cooked up.”

  “How so?”

  “I expect their identities might provide a clue. I also have a list of equipment and a mystery.”

  “Don’t drag this out, Nathan. What mystery?”

  “The one where dear Harry and your ex-husband are working closely together.”

  The connection was quiet for a minute. He could imagine his mother wracking her brain for the cause of such an unlikely alliance.

  “Get me some answers.” She hung up without another word.

  * * * * *