by P F Walsh
Maja-Ben turned to Doris and said,
“You have to stay with the landcar. You can listen on the tac radio but I can’t allow you to come along, there may be weapons fire. I know how silly that sounds to you, but those are department rules and I’m sure you had the same on Earth.”
She nodded affirmatively but didn’t say anything. Maja-Ben got out of the landcar, drew his weapon, set the energy level at stun and moved to join the tactical squad as it awaited the signal to move in. It came, and they all slipped into the adjacent dark alley.
Doris looked at the navigation map display and saw that the target warehouse had a small section that was butting up against another warehouse on this street.
She thought,
“That might mean a passage between the two was there. Beztl was a snake, he would have an escape route.’
She slid over to the driver’s seat and moved the land car down to the doors on the next warehouse on her street. She got out of the Landcar, and took off her pants and opened her shirt down low. She stood there in tomboy panties and low-cut shirt leaning on the landcar, her purse with her weapons slung over her shoulder.
Shooting could be heard with shouts from the Tac squad to surrender. That was met by more weapons fire and it didn’t sound like stun level. After a few minutes a figure dashed out the nearby door carrying a hand weapon.
Doris called out to him as he got closer,
“Hey handsome, looking for a good time?” She smiled and stuck out her hip.
The man was momentarily surprised but recognition occurred instantly and he started to run past her saying,
“Not now wench.”
“Oh, c’mon baby.” As she grabbed his arm and pulled him into an embrace and fired her stun gun directly into his body. He froze and she held him up as though they were kissing as another figure ran out the same door. She yelled at him,
“Hey, I’m gonna be done in just a minute, honey.”
He stopped momentarily not expecting to see a couple embracing there and she shot him in the face with her stun gun. He dropped onto the sidewalk and she let the one she was holding up fall alongside him. She kicked their weapons over to the side out of reach to either and pulled out ‘Henry.’ Her ruse wasn’t going to work for more fugitives if they came her way. Things had quieted down from the warehouse and no more shooting was heard.
After a few minutes, Maja-Ben came out of the alley to find Doris standing there in her panties holding her .357 with two prone figures laying alongside her.
“Are you alright?” He asked.
“Yeah, sure. I’m good. Got a couple of runners for you.” She said as she pointed to the stunned bodies.
“I thought I told you to stay with the landcar?” He asked.
“I did, it’s right there. You didn’t tell me I couldn’t move it did you?”
“What are you doing standing there in your panties?” He asked.
“Well, the boys there couldn’t resist stopping for a quick kiss, and I stunned them.” She said.
“Doris, put your pants on before the rest of the Tac team shows up.”
“What, you don’t like me in Panties? They sure did.” She said pointing at the figures on the sidewalk.
“C’mon Doris, I love you in panties but I prefer it if the whole squad didn’t have that pleasure. “He said.
Doris reached into the landcar retrieved her pants and put them on. She buttoned up her shirt and just smiled at Maja-Ben who looked frustrated over the ease with which she brought down two armed suspects. On Hhearn, the Rules Enforcement Department did not have female police officers, although several had applied after watching Doris dispatch a threat at the Seeker landing. SIS had a couple of female investigators but not many.
As they drove back to the Office Maja-Ben kept shaking his head as Doris sat there smiling.
“How am I going to explain this to my Supervisor.” He thought.
After the Buried starship was retrieved and carted away, the Senior Councilor went back to his office with Sean and the Two Sisters of Mak’am.
Sean and the Councilor sat down but the Sisters remained standing. The Councilor began,
“I have read the reports of your experience at Denknish with the help of the Sisters you brought with you. I have asked you all here to discuss an idea I have that may be of benefit to the Sisters of Mak’am and to Hhearn. Sean, I understand that you can speak with them is that correct?” He asked.
“Yes Councilor, their Den Mother gave me that ability. They communicate telepathically and she did something to open my mind that allows me to speak to them and hear their reply.”
“Good, here is what I would like propose.”
The Councilor recapped the Sisters ability to detect subversion, criminal intent, and lies. He then described that he would like to establish a separate department within the justice system that would engage those abilities for the Rules Enforcement and SIS when they would call for it. Also, he envisioned their role as judicial advocates and a pair would be seated in each courtroom behind the witness stand to ensure truthful testimony since witnesses could not be subjected to truthmed under the law. This would ensure truthful administration of justice.
“So, I would like the Sisters to carry this offer back to Mother Primitia and ask her if she would agree to this service to Hhearn, and what manner of payment would she feel is appropriate? I think it is long overdue that we accept the Sisters into a more active role in our community.” The Councilor finished.
Sean had been sending what his ears had heard and when the Councilor was done, the Sisters nodded and bowed. They acknowledged that the Councilor spoke truth with clean hands.
When the two Sisters returned to the Den, they explained to Mother Primitia what the Councilor had asked.
“Well,” she thought, “Integration into Hhearn society? This would be the first time that has happened in our known history.” She reflected,
“It’s what we have always wanted,” She thought, “It will keep our Sisters busy, and we can earn energy directly instead of snipping small portions from passerbys. We can get our ship repaired in case we decide to leave, and finally, the energy source column could be moved here to keep the Den warm and full of energy. This is good. I will speak to the Sisters and tell them we have found a permanent home and a new mission.”
The Senior Councilor brought Mother Primitia’s acceptance, their minimal needs for energy, and a ship repair for providing the service he wanted to the Council. The Council approved the project and a new department called Investigative Advocacy (IA) was created. Mother Primitia agreed to provide communication abilities to all investigators, judges, and their new department office staff who wished to have it. A large contingent made up of all those people, showed up at the Council Justice Center and were granted that skill. Mother Primitia began assigning Sister pairs to individual judges and pairs to be on call for investigators. The Courtrooms and interrogation rooms were all given energy panels they could plug in at their locations for the Sisters to draw energy while they were working. This was a major boost to truthful justice application and most wondered why they had not thought of this sooner, but then, no one knew they could communicate.
Mother Primitia contacted Sean and asked his help in moving the Column of Nourishment from their ship. Two Sisters and Sean went to the disabled ship to retrieve the Column. The two Sisters told him to bring a small canvas and a two wheeled dolly. The canvas he threw over the column and used the dolly to truck it out of the ship to a waiting landcar. They locked up the ship and drove back to the Mill where Sean moved the column inside into a room without windows, placed it in the center, and withdrew the canvas. The column began to glow as several Sisters slipped into the room and hovered around it. Sean took the canvas with the dolly and left the Mill. He was still the only human that had been permitted inside the Mill since it was taken over by the Sisters a few centuries ago.
On Denknish,
“Madam Speaker, thank you for
allowing us to land on your planet and for seeing me” Said Thomak-Vel with a small bow.
“You are welcome to our courtesy; it is nice to be able to extend it so easily after centuries of paranoia and war.” She replied and then,
“Why have you come here. Does your ship need repair?” She asked.
“Our ships always need repair Madam Speaker, but not today. I come with a request for help in a difficult political problem. I am told you are very skilled at such things.” He said with a slight smile.
“Ah, flattery, it will assumedly get you everywhere, but not necessarily here.” She replied with a smile. “Perhaps a bit more detail on how we may be of service with maybe the slightest touch on how that will benefit Denknish?” She said as she looked him over more closely. His appearance was appropriate but she could tell the garments were a bit worn, clean, but worn. The figure beneath was thin.
“Madam Speaker, if I may sit, I will reveal to you all that I can.” He asked.
“Yes, please sit down, some water?”
“That would be appreciated Madam Speaker, thank you.”
The Speaker signaled Mirrana to bring in a pitcher of cold water and glasses. She came in immediately with a tray and set it on the desk to the side. The Speaker noticed how wide the guest’s eyes opened when the pitcher was set down.
“Please pour yourself a glass and refresh.” She indicated. He filled a glass with water to the top and drank it all down. He set the glass back on the tray, as he did that, she could see that the palm of his hand was blue. That would be immediately noticeable when he went to strike hands in greeting.
“Madam Speaker, I have pledged to explain to you the whole truth and I will. I am a representative sent from a colony of rejects from the Council of Worlds member planets. All of us, including me have at one time or another, and in some way, broken our honor. They have dyed our palms in shame. As result, we have been shunned, terminated from our earnings, separated from our children and banished into a silent world of isolation within the Council planets. Many of us decided to leave the Council planets and join others on Mutus Colonium. It’s a small planet one could argue is really a moon or a large asteroid. Remarkably, it does have an atmosphere although a thin one. The planet is arid and receives no rain. The only water we have is deep within the planet. We are constantly digging for more to drink, and to sustain our cavern grown food. It is mostly mushrooms and darkplant, a native green growth that has a modest number of vitamins. In essence, we barely survive but we have the congeniality of those who will speak to us, and labor alongside us.” He recited.
“Why then do you come here? Are you petitioning for aid?” She asked.
“Madam Speaker, any aid would be most gratefully received, but that is not the reason I am here. On Mutus Colonium we all recognize our failings and every immigrant must agree to accept our re-institution of strict honor adherence. It is in that vein that I am sent. My message would not be heard on Hhearn. In fact, I believe they would confiscate my ship and imprison me, use the truthmed to find the location of my little planet, and begin to isolate it.
No, I am here to ask you to intervene with the Council and send them the information I am about to give you.” He said. He then proceeded to share with the Speaker the events they were aware of that must be stopped.
Chapter Eighteen
Book Two
“Colonel Chen Yee, the party is depending on you to do this great feat for the benefit of all China. We cannot allow the dogs of the West to dominate all space, we must have the secrets within that ship so our glorious revolution will continue into the next century.” Snapped the stiff PLAAF General Guang Pan.
The Colonel remained rigid as he was verbally dressed by the General and would never interrupt a senior Peoples Liberation Army Air Force Officer.
“Do you have any questions before you launch?” He demanded.
“No sir, I have been trained for every contingency. We will succeed.” he said crisply.
The two stood alongside the launch site of three Long March 2F Rockets (LM) at the Jiuquan launch center with the rest of the crew standing behind the Colonel.
“Then go and accomplish your mission.”
The General saluted the crew, and the salute was rigidly returned. Once completed, the crew jogged off to the crew house to suit up for launch. The General went to the launch control center in his car to watch the launch in just a few hours.
One of the LM’s contained the crew capsule, the second a powerful cutting laser, the third one a descent shroud with ablative coating to protect the contents during re-entry. This would use up this year’s production of lifting rockets. Their goal, orbit with and board one of the latest ships that the U.S. had brought back that were parked in orbit and cut free the AI cube and send it back down to land in China. None of the ships for sale had been offered to China.
Both Hhearn and Denknish had provisions in their sale of Starships the buyer must agree to. Disassembly of the AI or the transition engine was forbidden and they were sealed with auto-destruct capsules within to melt critical components from duplication. China would not agree to this and wanted an AI whole. They believed they could somehow download the code for examination. Their extensive experience in hacking and stealing technical plans and information from other countries was legendary. They were convinced they could do it again without initiating the self-destruct mechanism, and gain knowledge that the other nations on Earth wouldn’t have. A machine that thinks could be a powerful agent within a weapon.
The launches were sequenced ten minutes apart. Each payload reached high orbit and the computers on board began to locate and assemble the three payloads near the cluster of U.S. Ships. On launch, alarms went off in the Cheyenne Mountain Norad control center. Multiple launches in close order were a trip algorithm for a nuclear assault. The communication lines heated up between all the defense systems and the White House. Quick analysis revealed the rockets were heading for orbit and not intercontinental. Still, three rockets in sequence had never been done by anyone. What were the Chinese up to?
Lt. Colonel Bossi was the senior man on intercontinental missile flight interpretations, and he began to relax a bit once their destination was orbit.
“What are they doing?” He wondered, “If you do three, you get egg roll?”
He kept watching as the three payloads began to move to muster together in orbit. That little itchy thought that sneaks around in your mind suddenly jumped up with a question.
“Hey Jankus, where did the President park those new starships?” He yelled out.
In seconds he had the answer on the big screen. The Chinese were syncing an orbit with one of those ships.
“Contact the White House immediately, looks like some kind of hijack or assault on one of our starships.” He yelled. “Keep sharp watch on the board in case this is a ruse.” He added.
Are those ship manned with a watch?” He yelled out again. “We need the contact freq!”
More scrambling, this time longer until one of the comm techs sang out,
“I got it, sir!” and patched it over to Col. Bossi.
Aboard the newly purchased orbiting starship, alarms were going off and the Denknish Officer who was on watch pulled up the alarm code which was a collision alarm code.
He began pulling more information and saw the rate of closure was very slow and there were multiple contacts close by. He switched to a camera view of the targets, zoomed in and saw that the cluster was three men in vacuum suits pulling along two packages, one small and one large, all heading slowly for his ship. About then, the comm started ringing incessantly. He grabbed his translator, put it on, and opened the comm.
“Officer of the watch Manyuu answering.” He said
“Officer Manyuu, this is Colonel Bossi U.S. NORAD Center speaking, our space monitoring center has identified three space launches from nation China that has synced with your orbit. We believe they will attempt boarding or damaging our ship you are in, and advise yo
u activate defenses immediately. This is an unauthorized approach. No permission to board has been given. Evade or defend, weapons are free. I repeat, weapons are free. Do not allow boarding or damage.”
“Yes sir, I copy. Instructions received.” Officer Manyuu, a war veteran knew what this was all about, and took just a moment to run several options through his head, one of which was to destroy the whole cluster. He chose one.
“Well, boys, I have a surprise for you.” He said to himself, and passed a data packet to the other two purchased ships and synced them together. Then, he activated all three ship engines and using local thrusters, raised their orbits up one hundred miles out of assault range. He zoomed his camera back in and watched as the thruster backwash had tumbled the whole group into chaos and pushed them heading down at a rapid orbit decay rate. He smiled.
With the velocity they were now moving, there was no way they could avoid re-entry.
“Children shouldn’t be allowed to play in space.” He thought.
“Norad Control, this is Officer of the Watch Manyuu. Space junk pushed to re-entry. A crew ship still in rapidly decaying orbit and could be retrieved.” He sent.