The Orphan in Near-Space (The Space Orphan Book 2)

by Laer Carroll

  "Get out," he ordered.

  The cyborg did so. SHE didn't bother acting frightened.

  The two loungers stood upright. One smacked a long black club into one hand. It made a nicely menacing sound.

  The younger-appearing of the two young-appearing men spoke as they ambled toward her.

  "We're going to beat you to death, American bitch. Slowly. As a lesson to those who would aid the Glorious ass wipes against the true inheritors of the Chinese..."

  JANE slid forward in three pantherish steps. The club man was so surprised he did not try to lift a hand against HER before HER fist lashed out and crushed his skull. The attack flowed into a roundhouse kick which stoved in the second man's ribs and threw him to the grass-and-rock surfaced earth.

  The gunman yelled something. The cyborg snatched the club from the falling first man and threw it at the driver. It flashed end-first through the car's window and smashed his nose and face in. He died instantly as a bone shard penetrated his brain.

  The second killer was whimpering on the ground. The cyborg kicked him in the head, ending his career as a murderer.

  A car raced into the area, skidding to a halt, throwing up grass and dirt. A man and a woman jumped out of it and leveled pistols at the attack scene.

  Robot had weeks ago identified this couple as part of the team which shadowed Jane when she left the air base. She ignored them as they quickly approached, guns pointing everywhere except at her. She'd dropped back into her biological self and was busy directing Robot in a search.

  It was quickly over. The radio frequency ID chips the Glorious government had implanted in all its citizens, including the three dead men, showed that the men were low-level hired thugs. Anyone hiring them would be sure to mask their identity.

  Even if the hiring individual was identified and tied to a government that would not interest Jane. She already knew who her enemies were and had decided on ways to neutralize them. The attack only meant she would be embroiled in electronic "paperwork" for several hours.

  Or would it?

  Best to take the offensive. She frowned at the two approaching her.

  "The next times you guard someone do so more closely. Ordinary people won't even notice you. Your laxity forced me to deal with this annoyance."

  She made a sweeping gesture which indicated her three attackers.

  She frowned at the two. The man hurriedly holstered the flat black pistol under his jacket. The woman, whom Jane thought the superior, hesitated then did the same.

  The two surveyed the scene. The woman turned to Jane and opened her mouth to say something. Jane beat her to speech.

  "Can you make this garbage go away? I have important work to do. I have no time to take care of the bother of an attack which you should have prevented."

  "Of course we are at grave fault, honored guest. Can you forgive us? If we, ah, handle this without undue effort on your part?"

  Jane let herself seem to fume for a minute before allowing her frown to ease.

  "Oh, well. I suppose you people don't have an easy job protecting important people like me. Do your thing so I can be on my way."

  Jane's going along with the pretense that the Glorious teams shadowing her were protecting rather than spying on her avoided any time-wasting back-and-forth. She went to her waiting autocab and settled into its back seat. She took out her SuperSmart and began to read engineering documents.

  Fifteen minutes later the female "guard" approached Jane. She apologized again for their "failure" and time getting approval to let Jane go. Jane ungraciously thanked the woman and told the cab to continue to her home.

  <>

  The General put up his phone and sat in his den thinking.

  He might have been doubtful about what he'd just heard. The second or third most important matter he was dealing with, this genius Jane Kuznetsov, had just killed three big presumably experienced kidnappers or assassins. Without, as the Americans were wont to say, working up a sweat.

  But he'd seen the videos shot by his two agents with their coat-button disguised cameras when they'd picked up the genius in California. The girl had moved like some impossible motion-picture martial-arts warrior, so fast she seemed superhuman, so economically simple the fight seemed choreographed. He could easily believe the account relayed to him of this incident.

  Well, it was quietly taken care of and the genius would be back to work for the Glorious cause very soon. But, still, what other dangers did the girl's youth and beauty hide?

  "A problem at work, dear?"

  The General turned toward his wife and smiled at her. It was hard as always not to. He'd picked a woman of extraordinary beauty, no difficulty for someone of his stature even when the two of them were young. But she'd turned out to be smart and lovable and above all trustworthy. THOSE attributes were uncommon and in combination astronomically uncommon.

  And she loved him, truly, not pretending to. That he'd not expected. He was not a lovable man. The things he had to do, to condone, to plan, made him hard as stone.

  "No problem, dear. Just something amusing a friend told me. You remember the young American we hosted at the Shen Yun performance?"

  "I do, indeed." She came and slid into his lap. "Everyone wondered if she was your mistress and that you were showing her off despite being in the company of your wife and daughter. As if you'd ever be so foolish. I was almost insulted on your behalf."

  The idea that he'd trade down for less than her did almost annoy him. Opening himself up to blackmail and the waste of time of managing two households!

  "Well, she was coming out of some glitzy event and walking to her ride when three muggers made the mistake of trying to rob and brutalize her. You know she's a soldier, a warrior of some renown in her service?"

  His wife nodded. Curious about the personable American she'd done a rare thing: gotten the girl's dossier from him.

  "In seconds they were bruised and bleeding on the ground. They're now in jail and sure to get many years in prison. Trying to rob an American when we are suffering so much from the loss of the American tourist trade, billions of dollars."

  She laughed, a wonderful almost bawdy chuckle so at odds with her dainty appearance.

  "We really must do something special for the woman. Their 'Thanksgiving' is coming up in a month. Maybe we could celebrate it too and invite her."

  "No, the Committee has decided to let her go home for a long weekend. The work she's done so far proves she's trustworthy and will return to complete her project."

  Beside, the Republic had already gotten from the project all the essential intelligence about the induced magnetism effect and the technology to exploit it. They'd been near to that information already, with their efforts back in the States, and Kuznetsov had sped up the effort a lot.

  The space jet process, on the other hand, was still being carefully guarded by Kuznetsov. Still, even that information the Republic could likely get if the woman remained in the US. Surely enough work by Chinese encryption experts could break the code she'd used.

  "But the thought is apt. Bend that formidable intelligence of yours to the problem of just what to do for the girl."

  She mock-slapped him. "WOMAN, you lout. Woman, not girl!"

  The General dumped her onto her feet and led her back to the bedroom he'd stealthily abandoned a half hour ago.

  <>

  By the last week in October Princess III had a completed space jet installed in its tail and checked out as well as could be on the ground. All systems such as electrical and hydraulic had been installed and tested rigorously. Its kerosene-burning side engines were tested, repaired, and brought up to their latest mechanical and software versions. It was ready to fly.

  Midmorning on a Monday Jane and Colonel Liu boarded the aircraft, clad in warm clothing under flight coveralls. Each had a mask with oxygen hoses. After the Colonel settled into the pilot's seat and Jane in the co-pilot's seat they plugged into an oxygen system that would provide an hour's use. The
y tested this out then unsnapped the masks to hang beside their faces. The masks were there only for emergencies.

  Jane became Jane+Robot+Princess. HER awareness flowed fully into HER new body then out into the air base. SHE examined the health of HER expanded body. SHE perceived a few problems. For the base problems SHE sent commands to have them repaired by base personnel. There were none for the plane. Those had all been taken care of in the days before.

  JANE became Jane. She still was not perfectly natural in her emotional responses in her cyborg state. People close to her would find her speech and interactions unnatural.

  The Colonel said over the radio, "Huiyang Air Base, Falcon 9X moving into place at main runway midpoint. Subsystem tests being done."

  "Roger, Falcon. We see you. We have Huizhou Area Air Traffic Control contact. Ready to switch you to them when you are ready."

  "Thank you, Huiyang."

  It was some ten minutes before all tests on their preliminary check list was complete. Liu moved them to the nearest entrance to the main runway, of which there were three. This one was directly across from the Falcon's hangar as the plane needed only a third of the runway's 7500-foot length.

  "Huiyang, switch us to Huizhou, please."

  "Huizhou Air Traffic Control. This is Huiyang Military Base. We have a Falcon 9X experimental aircraft ready for takeoff."

  "Huiyang, Huizhou. Is their posted flight plan still current?"

  "Huizhou Air Traffic Control, this is Falcon 9X, tail number B-7033X, Colonel Liu, captain, Captain Kuznetsov, navigator. We are on main runway ready to take off on a test flight. Yes, the flight plan is still current."

  A different voice came on.

  "Falcon 9X. You say you have The Dragon on board? Don't let her do anything crazy."

  "Yes, Supervisor Yang. I am here. And I love you too."

  There was laughter on the voice channel. Then the original voice came back.

  "Falcon 9X, Huizhou. That flight plan is still good. Be aware of two civilian passenger liners near your western flight path."

  "Huizhou, Falcon. Yes, we see them on radar. We'll avoid."

  "Falcon, Huizhou. Proceed."

  "Huizhou, Falcon. Proceeding."

  The Colonel slowly pushed the twin throttles forward. The business jet began to move, faster, faster. Shortly Jane felt the plane go light on its wheels. The Colonel had the flaps down to keep the plane on the runway. Moments later he leveled the flaps and the little plane lifted sweetly into the air. It swiftly rose to 5000 feet, nearly a mile in the air.

  Liu turned from west toward the south, then directly south, then curved around to the east. Ahead lay country less populated than that to the west and Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Macau.

  Down below Jane could see the Xizhi River snaking away to the east in the long valley in that direction. Then to her right she saw the metroplex of Huidong City. It had a population of about a million people.

  Liu was at 10,000 feet and still rising. Ahead below was the ten-mile length of the Baipenzhu Reservoir. Above that landmark he made a loop to go back west toward their air base.

  The next oval circuit took them to 20,000 feet. There the Colonel leveled off. Air pressure was less than half that at ground level. Air jets were decreasing in efficiency, while space jets were becoming more efficient. At that height space jets beat out air jets.

  "Pilot, commence space jet tests."

  "Acknowledged, Captain Kuznetsov. Commencing thirty-minute loiter period."

  During that time Jane switched on the space jet housed in the tail nacelle then increased its power in slowly increasing jumps. The plane smoothly sped up. Every few minutes she'd say "Ah hah!" or "Interesting" or "Hmm."

  After a quarter hour Liu's curiosity got the better of him. He asked what she was finding out.

  "Good stuff. For instance, you know the jet is made up of several rings? Each one pulls in virtual air or pushes it further backward. The 'air' speeds up so the rings need to be further apart. Some of the measurements suggest better placements.

  "Another example is that the rings heat up the more power is given them. That decreases their efficiency and in extreme cases endangers the rings."

  "Is that dangerous to us?"

  "No. I put in limits so no increase goes above five percent. So far we're far below that limit."

  The pilot nodded. "So, good stuff."

  "Oh, yes. And I'm finding out more good stuff. So another fifteen minutes and we're done for the day."

  Finally Jane was done and they began to descend. She kept the space jet on all the way done, monitoring its increasing loss of efficiency. Discovering, as she'd calculated, that even at ground level the space jet continued to supply useful thrust.

  <>

  Through the rest of the week they continued the space-jet tests. At the end of each Jane closeted herself to make calculations and issue change requests to do things such as change ring placements. The test engine had been made so that such adjustments were easy, or at least possible. Technicians worked late at night making each day's changes.

  On Thursday evening Jane called a meeting for 10:00 the next day.

  She took the dais stand and spoke into the microphone.

  "OK, people. Good news. I'm done with the space jet tests. I've finalized the design for the optimum model for this size craft. I've sent out a request for a new engine. It should get here the end of next week and we'll swap out the test engine for the production engine. Congratulations. The Glorious Republic has joined the space age.

  "Meanwhile, next week we're going to be replacing the kerosene-burning original engines with air jet engines. They arrive Monday early. Get here early. Now, take off. Have fun. Rest up."

  There was a cheer and everyone rose and left with much chatter about what they were going to do.

  The Colonel stayed behind. When he and Jane were together he spoke quietly.

  "It seems to me your job here is essentially done. That means the Republic has all the information they want. They could dispense with you. Or force you to continue to work under slave conditions. No more nice apartment. Or other perqs."

  "Why, Colonel. You sound as if you're disloyal to your country."

  He looked around at the now vacated room. Jane grinned.

  "Oh, don't worry, my friend. Every time they bug this room I debug it. I am far brighter and accomplished at cyber security than anyone else alive."

  "You're arrogance continues to surprise me."

  She sobered.

  "I know it seems that way. But when I speak the simple truth it is not arrogance."

  "I am loyal to the Glorious Republic, not the corrupt bureaucrats who run parts of it. I worry they might...hurt you."

  Jane's eyes glinted and she smiled--if that stretching of lips which might be a tiger anticipating a juicy meal could be called a smile.

  "Anyone trying to hurt me will get a rude surprise. I just might have to turn a city or two to ash to make them rethink their efforts."

  "There's that arrogance again. I don't know whether to believe your fantastic claims. Or worse, believe them and hear that you would kill millions. Would you really do that?"

  "No. But I would target any military units that I considered a threat. As for the claims. You've known me long enough to know I can do what I say. Do you really believe I would come here without ways to guarantee my safety and those I care about? Consider this. Knowing what I've done, can you doubt I have weapons so dangerous that I'll not let anyone on this planet know about them for at least a century?

  "I AM The Dragon, my dear friend."

  Chapter 20 - Thanksgiving

  Work proceeded. The space jet was replaced with a final design. The conventional jets were replaced with air jets. Tests were done. Air jet changes were requested and installed. More tests were done.

  Princess was now, at the beginning of November, ready to achieve orbit. Its environmental system was not quite ready. It was nearly so, however. Its ceiling of 50,000 feet befo
re modifications already worked in an atmosphere with 10% of the air pressure at ground level and temperatures of -70 degrees Fahrenheit.

  Engineers expert in such matters were contracted to give guidance to make the spacecraft fully ready for space. The full-time engineers working at Huiyang Air Base ordered suggested parts and installed them. Among others were blank replacements for the passenger windows. To allow view outside the aircraft for passengers at higher altitudes was a dangerous luxury.

  Tests were made at 100,000 feet where air pressures were 1% of sea level. Princess could travel at over 10,000 miles per hour. Its massive loads of superbatteries could take it around the planet ten times over.

  So far it had not traveled nearly that far. It had only gone east to the edge of the air space of the Philippines, south to the edge of Vietnam, west to Kunming at the edge of the western border with the "Imposter" Western Chinese Republic, northwest to Chongsying just across from the border from that western country, and northwest to Hangzhou near the border with the northern Imposter centered on Beijing.

  Authorities were satisfied that Princess was space worthy. They OK'd her to go into orbit and circle the planet.

  <>

  Then in the middle week of October the Colonel and Jane boarded the craft, he again as pilot and Jane as navigator. With them was Jane's chief engineer, a terrified little woman who nevertheless insisted she was going aboard.

  A representative of the External Intelligence came onboard too, sent as a reluctant volunteer by the General who headed that organization which had "invited" Jane to come to China. A billionaire president of a Glorious Republic electronics firm took the third passenger seat, making Jane wonder how big a bribe had gotten him passage aboard her craft.

  She was polite to them all and ensured each of them had their seat belt securely buckled. She also gave each of them a stout paper bag to catch vomit if that became necessary during the free fall part of the flight.

  She thought the billionaire might back out at that announcement, but he stayed aboard.

  Back in the cockpit in the copilot's seat she gave Colonel Liu a nod and said, "Ready for takeoff, Commander."