Dubious Heroes: a novel

by Nicholas Blue

  "Count me in", Donovan said. "I'm guessing that whatever happens, it won't be boring."

  I suspected he was right. Lola sat next to him.

  "I still don't like this", she said. "But, I'm not a quitter."

  Cozi gave Lola a long look, absently tapping his stylus on the table. Lola returned his gaze, some private communication passing between them. After a moment, he looked my way.

  "I have reservations", he said. "It's not just that Mac's plan is dangerous; it was designed to be dangerous, and especially so for all of us." He paused, then continued. "Mac is using us, setting us up, as it were, and not for the first time. We're to be this big fat target for the UP. This isn't Tzing Ma Chu we're going to be landing on, it's Earth. Whoever takes that lander in is going to get shot up."

  "We'll have help we didn't have on Tzing", I said. "There's also another important difference; we only have to make it look like an attack. We don't actually have to do it."

  "Look", Cozi said, "You know I'm with you; I have been since we were kids. I just wanted it noted that I have concerns. I don't want to see any of us end up dead."

  "I appreciate that, Coze", I said. "That's the last thing I want, either." I looked to the far end of the table, where Vassily sat. "I almost hate to keep asking you to back us up in these haphazard plans, but... we do need your help."

  "We'll be there", Vassily said. "Assuming we actually make it to Earth."

  "Boo says you will", I said. "He should know, if anyone would."

  "Boo says he's pretty sure it will work", Cozi said.

  "Boo won't commit to saying it's daytime, without qualifying it with a relative percentage of light to darkness", I said. "If he says he's pretty sure, I'd take that to the bank."

  "What do you have him doing, now?" Eng asked.

  "He's hanging around Engineering, pretending to be one of my techs", Cozi said. "So far, none of the DEC or UP people have ratted him out to Mac or his people. If they get their hands on Boo, they'll try to ransom him to DEC or more likely, the UP. In either case, we'll never see him again."

  "With any luck, they won't figure out we have him", I said. "I was tempted to put a couple of our marines on him as escorts, but figured that would just make him even more visible. He'll be a little safer after tomorrow, when the rest of the people from the shipyard leave for Luna."

  "You aren't letting him screw with anything, are you?" Eng asked.

  "Oh, he's tried", Cozi said. "I had to put one of my other techs, Ceris, in charge of babysitting him. Thus far, he thinks she just likes hanging out with him."

  "Yeah, I don't think he's ever going to mind her hanging around", I said, smiling. To quote Mac, with another bit of archaic vernacular, Ceris Light was a babe. Pretty much all the male (and some of the female) crew tended to agree with him.

  I've said before that beautiful people are just not all that uncommon, anymore. Thanks to all the genetic screening and tweaking that goes on, beautiful woman (and men) are not hard to find; if anything, it's almost the norm, among those of us who have good healthcare, which is pretty much everyone not stuck on a dump like Earth, or a remote mining colony.

  But Ceris, like Kyra, was an exception to the rule. When either of them entered a room, conversations stopped, and people, male or female, often blatantly stared. The first time I saw Ceris, I was reminded of the brunette courtesan back on Phobos, with whom I'd spent a few memorable hours. While she plied her trade in bodypaint, (now there was a memory), Ceris could usually be found wearing a pair of grimy, disposable coveralls, looking as though she'd just come from crawling through a maintenance chase, which was often actually the case. Even so, neither grease nor grime or cheap clothing could hide her incredible beauty. In any event, I knew I wouldn't object to her following me around.

  "You guys are Neanderthals", Lola said, which I took to mean me, specifically.

  "Are we done here?" Kyra asked. I had an idea she was annoyed, and a fair idea about what. I stifled a smile.

  "Anyone have anything else?" I asked. As expected, no one said anything. Meetings on starships weren't all that different from meetings anywhere else; no one was about to prolong one, if they could avoid it.

  "Okay", I said. "Once we get the new lander, and Cozi has checked it out, we'll only be a couple of days from readiness. Mac wants to move right now, but I still have other arrangements to make. If he tries to corner any of us to bitch, let's all endeavor to give him the runaround. We're doing this on our schedule, not his. We'll meet again, once it looks like we're set to go."

  Everyone popped their lap belts, and began rising from the table, sticky shoes holding them to the floor in the zero gee. A few stopped to chat, though not with me. Vassily followed me out of the ready-room, onto the Bridge.

  "I had a thought", he said, once we were away from the others.

  "A good one, I hope."

  "I understand this whole scenario of insurmountable odds, he said, "I have no doubt that it will be that, and possible worse. The air around Geneva will be swarming with UPDF forces, awaiting our arrival. It's their HQ, after all."

  "That's sort of what we're shooting for", I said. "We tell them I'm coming, or more accurately, the Revenge is coming, via all the newsnets, and we dare them to stop us."

  "A truly brilliant plan", Vassily said, smiling.

  "You mentioned you had a thought?'

  "Yes, that", he said. "Let us assume that we execute this huge diversion, but things don't go as we've planned. What then?"

  "Then we bug out, and head for deep space", I said. "Hell, that pretty much is the plan. Once the resistance reaches levels we can't deal with, we leave. We've distracted them, hopefully for long enough; we've done our job. That's sort of the whole point of a diversion, isn't it?"

  "It is", Vassily said, but you've misunderstood me. He leaned on a console. "What happens if things go amazingly well, better than we could possibly have imagined. We have all these plans for what to do when things go wrong, but what if the opposite happens? What if the attack, well... succeeds?"

  It was clearly something new to think about.

  The new lander looked a helluva lot like the old lander. There were differences, to be sure, and they were obvious. Both craft were small and sleek, but our new one carried more weaponry than a nervous commando.

  "I don't see how this thing actually flies", Cozi said, as he walked around the vessel, surveying it. "Not with all this crap they've tacked onto it."

  He wasn't exaggerating. The little ship had four different types of missiles that I could see, as well as half a dozen other weapons, most of which I couldn't identify.

  "What's that?" I asked, pointing to one particularly nasty-looking device.

  "Plasma cannon", Kyra said, as she lovingly ran her fingers along the smooth barrel. "I count two of those, one in front, one to the rear, as well as two projectile cannon, mounted the same way. I suspect the latter is loaded with explosive-tipped air-to-air rounds, or at least I hope so. I'll verify that, later."

  "And the missiles?" I asked.

  "Probably Demon air-to-air missiles", she said.

  "Smart ones, I hope."

  "Very smart", she said. "You can even hot-link them to an AI, if you have one handy."

  "Isn't that a violation of the no machines operating weapons rule?" I asked.

  "Depends on how you interpret it", she said. "The rule was originally adopted about a hundred years ago, before there were any AIs. It was intended to keep the military, anyone's military, from using weapons that were outside of human control. I believe the actual title of the thing is the Robotic Arms Treaty, which banned the use of unmanned weaponry. Of course, the gray area is that some people don't consider AI piloted craft to be unmanned, and some do. Also, does a remotely piloted craft qualify as manned, or unmanned? Anyway, you see the problem with that treaty."

  "Either way, with this much hardware, we ought to be able to bag a few of their fighter jets", I said.

  "It would be just that
easy", she said, "If the missiles worked worth a damn, which they usually don't. No matter how smart you make them, some ECM designer somewhere is going to figure out a way to fuck with them. You saw this firsthand on Tzing Ma Chu. Our countermeasures confused the guidance and tracking of their weapons, and when they tried to engage either AI or pilot control, our ECM promptly jammed their comm signals. You can hit a missile with an electromagnetic pulse, EMP for short, gamma rays, laser, and God only knows what else, and fry their onboard electronics. Or, the missile's own radar will start picking up all sorts of bogus echoes your ECM is feeding it, and it won't be able to tell which is the real target. Failing all of that working, you can also just shoot the damn thing down. So sure, the missiles are smart. ECM is smarter."

  "So why even bother with them?" Cozi asked, as he rounded the tail of the ship.

  "Because ECM can be overwhelmed, if you have enough incoming targets", Kyra said. She looked over as Ceris and Boo entered the landing bay, then continued. "You can also slide up behind an enemy craft, and fire one up his backside. ECM can't mess with something you're not bothering to use."

  "Wow", Boo said, as he and Ceris joined us by the lander. "A fighter ship."

  "Not really", Kyra said. "More of a shuttle, with a bad attitude. Once we're in Earth's atmosphere, we'll encounter some real fighter jets, flown by pilots who eat, breathe, and sleep air combat."

  "Mac did offer to loan us a bona fide fighter pilot", Cozi said. He looked over at me, and raised a wooly eyebrow. "You sure you can fly this thing?"

  "Shouldn't be a problem", I said, with more confidence than I actually felt.

  "Doon thinks he's the next Chuck Yeager", Kyra said, scowling at me.

  "Who?" Boo asked, which was what I was wondering too, but wasn't about to ask.

  "Ace fighter pilot, twentieth century", Kyra said. "First man to break the sound barrier, too."

  "Look", I said, "The goal here is to not get involved in air combat. Besides, they'll have more to worry about than us in this little lander."

  "This this is quite a bit different than the Avalon", Cozi said. "Isn't that going to be a problem?"

  "I don't think so", I said. "The controls are fairly similar, and bear in mind, I had over a hundred hours of IR in the Avalon. I'll practice a bit in this one before we leave, anyway. Besides, I'm a natural pilot."

  "According to whom?" Kyra asked, looking at me skeptically.

  "According to Angie", I said.

  "He is a natural", Angie said. "With an IR controlled ship, you have to meld with the systems, sort of become one with them, and Doon is very good at that. He flies like he was born doing it."

  "Thanks", I said, feeling more than a little self-conscious. I was good in IR, but for reasons we all knew, and didn't care to broach.

  "Yeah, well, he'd better be good", Cozi said. "Are we gonna search this thing, or what?"

  "Search it", I said.

  "Does it have a name?" Ceris asked.

  "Unfortunately, yes", I said. "She's the Bonny Lass. I'm not sure if that's someone's name, or what. You'd have to ask Mac."

  "It's probably Scottish", Kyra said.

  "Bonny is an adjective", Angie said. "Archaic English, meaning excellent or fine. I show lass as also archaic, being a young girl or woman. Also English, or more accurately, British."

  "I'm pretty sure it's Scottish", Kyra said.

  "My records show that Scotland was a small ethnic subset of the United Kingdom, known primarily for its odd food, strange music, and locally produced whiskey."

  I knew that last part wasn't in her database; she was intentionally needling Kyra. Lately, such behavior was becoming more frequent. I was going to have to address it, sooner or later.

  "Don't let my grandfather hear you say that, or he'll rewire you", Kyra said. She looked like she wanted someone to shoot.

  "Not that the name matters", I said, before they could escalate their little tiff. "It'll do for now; we can always rename her later."

  "Assuming she's around later", Kyra said.

  "Assuming we're around later", Cozi said.

  Nothing like working with a bunch of optimists.

  "Thanks for the positive vibe, guys", I said. I walked around the wing, and opened the hatch into the lander. "I'll be in the cockpit for the next few hours. If you find anything, let me know."

  I was only vaguely aware of the others moving around me, as I sat in the cockpit, IR headset on. Both the Avalon and the Bonny Lass could be flown with either manual controls, or by a pilot using IR, the latter being the preferred method.

  Until recently, I'd never had a clue how Immersion Reality worked, beyond the idea that it tapped into the sense centers of the brain. With the early units, people needed to have their heads hardwired for data ports, which proved a bit unpopular, to put it mildly. They eventually figured out how to do it wirelessly, and, as history shows, the porn industry hasn't been the same since. Using IR, my practice flights were almost as realistic as an actual flight would be.

  There were differences in the two ships, and I noticed some of them, immediately. The Bonny Lass was more agile than the Avalon had been, as I wheeled through a virtual sky, the ship’s sensors acting as my eyes and ears, the ship itself as my body. The new lander was smaller than our old one, holding two in the cockpit, and four more in the main cabin. On the other hand, the Bonny Lass was faster, and carried a bigger load of fuel, not to mention the array of weaponry.

  I was engrossed in running through my controls for the latter, when someone tapped me on the shoulder. I jumped, and opened my eyes to find Kyra standing beside me. I paused the simulator.

  "Sorry", she said. "I didn't mean to startle you."

  "No problem", I said. "What's up? Did you find something?"

  "Not yet", she said. "Manny just brought lunch down from the galley. I thought you might want to take a break."

  "Thanks", I said, removing the IR rig from my head. "I could use one."

  We left the cockpit to find the others sitting around the cabin, unwrapping sandwiches. Ceris removed a drink pouch from a bag, and tossed it to me. It sailed over my head, and into the bulkhead behind me. I picked it up, then sat down on the deck, putting my new invention to work; I'd had one of the crew cut apart a pair of sticky shoes, and affix the bottoms to the seat of a pair of my coveralls. No more floating around, or having to strap myself into seats. I soon discovered there was a downside, though, and probably the main reason why no one sold sticky coveralls: if you sat anywhere for more than a minute or so, you usually needed help unsticking your ass from whatever you'd sat down on. It was Eng remarked that there wasn't much chance I'd have to worry about spending all the money from my invention.

  "Oops", Ceris said. "I can never get used to things not curving in zero gee."

  "That makes two of us", I said, as Kyra handed me a sandwich. For a change, it wasn’t prepackaged ship’s rations; there was no label for me to read.

  "Nothing really curves in gravity, you know", Boo said. "Well, nothing but space."

  "If I throw a ball on Luna, and it goes up on one end, and comes down on the other, I'd call that curving", I said. "Or, maybe arcing, to be more accurate."

  "That's a common misconception", Boo said, around a bite of sandwich. I wondered if was a label reader, too. "Gravity or no gravity, things move through space in a straight line. It's space itself that is curved. That's what gravity does to it. A guy named Einstein figured that one out for the most part; he called it Special Relativity."

  "A prime example of why physics class gave me a headache", I said.

  "It's really pretty simple", Boo said. Someone groaned, but he persevered. "When you see a planet orbiting a star, it only looks like it's curving. In reality, it's still moving in a straight line. The gravity of the star bends space around it."

  "And gravity from dark matter bleeds across from other branes, bending it even more", Cozi said.

  "That's true as well", Boo said. "Anyway, that's how gravity a
nd space work."

  "So, space makes the planet travel in a circle", Ceris said.

  "Nope", Boo said. "The planet is still moving in a straight line, relative to itself. The path appears to be curved to an outside observer, because the gravity of the star is bending the fabric of space."

  "This stuff still makes my head hurt", I said. "What I'd really like to know is what our fourth black box does."

  "I already told you", Boo said. "It doesn't do anything."

  "Okay", I said. "I think I see the problem; I'm asking the wrong question. I sort of doubt you stuck it down there for shits and giggles, so what's it supposed to do?"

  Boo looked thoughtful for a moment, probably deciding just how much he could tell us. Or, more to the point, how much we would even understand.

  "Well", he said, "You know how a star drive works, right?" We all nodded our assent, all of us, with maybe the exception of Cozi, blatantly lying. He continued. "We begin by tweaking a certain type of superstring using gravity..."

  "We aren't particle physicists, Boo", Cozi said. "I think most of us have heard that, but the math you need to really see it is beyond me."

  "Don't let it bother you", Boo said. "It's beyond most people, including a lot of mathematicians. Even those with the math can't pin down exactly how we do what we do, and that's intentional. Some data we don't share."

  "All of which has what to do with our fourth box?" I asked.

  "Everything", he said. "For the last few years, I've been trying to project a slight gravitational field onto a planar surface. It would eliminate the need for sticky shoes, and, in Captain Doon’s case, sticky pants." He grinned at me. Apparently, my pants were providing more amusement among the crew than I'd realized.

  "Artificial gravity", Cozi said.

  "There's nothing artificial about it at all", Boo said. "I'm just putting it in places it wouldn't ordinarily be."

  "How would that work somewhere that already has gravity, like when we're under acceleration?" I asked.

  "It isn't designed for that", Boo said. "You wouldn't need it where there's existing gravity, and if you tried to use it, say to apply a field in opposition to an existing one, well... things start to get kind of complicated."