by Ricky Sides
“Yes we do. I haven’t dumped it yet. I was waiting for liftoff tomorrow,” she responded.
“It dumps in a fine spray about ten feet wide, correct?” Tim asked.
“Yes. Tim, what is going on?” she asked.
“We have a bunch of nuts out there that fired at us,” Tim responded. “Let me know when you are ready to dump the waste,” Tim requested.
“Anytime you’re ready. Just say when,” she responded guessing what he planned to do.
“Prepare for maximum acceleration. Now Patricia!” Tim said laughing and darted the ship over the heads of the assembled people on the ground. He shot the Peacekeeper to full altitude then and spun it on its axis as she climbed and the falling waste had time to spread as it fell. Applying maximum forward thrust on the electromagnetic engine, he sent the ship hurtling away from the group on the ground at breathtaking speed.
“That was mean of you, Tim,” Patricia said, but then her lower lip quivered and she burst out laughing. She left the room then heading back to bed.
On the ground, the people sprayed with the greenish waste coughed and sputtered. Several used the electronic devices to attempt to study the spray. A myriad of pictures were being taken and samples of the material scraped into containers of all shapes and sizes. “I always said I thought the aliens used organic based ships!” exclaimed one of the men. “Here is the proof! This is excrement dropped by the ship as it sped away. Earth birds do that too! Finally, I have the proof I’ve wanted all these years and there’s not a single television reporter to give that proof. This is so unfair,” he said, lamenting the irony of his situation.
“And I’ve got dozens of good clear digital photographs of the ship,” a woman exclaimed.
“I got the money shot!” another man exclaimed. “I got the entire encounter on video!” the man said joyfully. He was the happiest man in the world, for all of one minute and then he discovered that he’d left the lens cap on the camera. He sat down and cried like a baby then until one of the women sat down beside him and consoled him. She pointed out that he still had his encounter with the alien ship and that was something that no one could take away from him. He’d cheered up then and said, “Yeah, I know guys who’ve been doing this research for twenty years and never even seen odd lights in the sky. I’ve seen an alien ship and heard an alien voice. I have witnessed the power of their weapons, and learned the identity of their race. I’ve been sprayed by the ship, and witnessed it fly away at speeds no human body could take!” Then looking puzzled he asked, “By the way, what’s a Praetorian?”
“That’s an old Roman rank for some of their military officers,” said a man smiling. “I always thought that the Roman’s had alien assistance. This helps to confirm that theory.”
Tim flew the ship carefully away from the scene and selected another location for the remainder of the night. Everyone off duty tried to get back to sleep. As he lay tossing and turning on the hard deck of the ship, Cliff wondered what new discoveries, tomorrow would bring and how they might affect his future. He was bitterly disappointed that he would not have the opportunity for assignment to a ship such as the Peacekeeper but he resigned himself to the realities of the situation. He was hoping he could finesse the promise of a drone or two out of the council during this trip.
Chapter 22
The Peacekeeper arrived in the city of Millbrae early in the afternoon. With Cliff acting as guide, they flew directly to the local police station but they found that it was empty. They suspected that it had been left locked up for a considerable time, judging by the appearance of the front room they could see through the window. They proceeded to the facility where the metal alloy for the skin of the ship and the battery system had been fabricated. On the way there, they saw no sign what-so-ever of inhabitants. They found the facility locked up securely. The rusting chains and padlocks seemed to indicate that it had been locked up for several months at the very least. On the door was a public notice placed there by law enforcement. From the notice, they learned that an outbreak of influenza had rampaged through the city. Visitors were warned not to make contact with the inhabitants, and further advised to leave the city at once.
They cut the locks from the door and entered the facility. Jim sent Lieutenant Wilcox and his team in first to secure the building as a formality. Though he seriously doubted that any humans would be a threat, there was no way to know if someone had found an alternate means of entering the facility. Therefore, they observed the protocol.
A short time later, one of the lieutenant’s men returned and reported that they had found the power mains and had the power back online. Just as Cliff had predicted, the power was on in the area because it shared the power grid utilized by San Francisco, and power had been restored in that city for quite a while. The strike team member reported the building secured and Jim sent him to the ship to get Patricia and Pol. Their expertise on the prototype would most likely be needed to determine if anything they found inside was related to that program. Frankly, Jim doubted that he would recognize prototype parts if he saw them.
Soon he was moving through the facility, flanked by the scientists with Pete, Tim, and Cliff walking behind them. Three of Lieutenant Wilcox’s men stood guard at the open door. The rest returned to the ship for control room duty.
They made their way through a long hall bracketed by office doors to the heavy metal doors at the back of the hall. Opening those doors, they entered the factory area of the facility. They stood staring around the room for a moment and then Pol let out a squeal of delight. The scientist ran across the room and stopped beside a giant press, and was staring lovingly at the stack of parts resting on a heavy-duty plastic skid. “What are these parts, Pol?” asked Jim.
Looking at Jim incredulously Pol said, “They are the bottom half of the scale models. They were fabricated in two halves. This is the lower,” he explained, and then he pointed to another huge press nearby and said, “And there is a stack of the top portion!”
“Why would they make so many?” Jim asked.
“Seeking perfection,” Pol said and pointed to several small imperfections on the surface of the top section. “When hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake on a government contract you send your best and that best had better be free of blemishes,” he explained.
“So we can’t use these?” Jim asked, teasing Pol. He knew that those imperfections wouldn’t prevent the scientist from utilizing them.
“Oh yes we can…,” Pol began and then he stopped and said, “Oh you are teasing me. Yes of course we can use them and we will.”
“Pol, aren’t these pieces a portion of the battery assembly?” Patricia asked.
Pol hurried to her side and smiled. “This is a most excellent find Patricia. Yes indeed, your memory serves you well. These are the baffle chamber assembles.” Pausing he added, “Now we just need to locate the deck plating and the two doors.”
“I found something over here,” Tim said and Pol moved over to join him.
“Ah they had one die set made to produce both of the doors from a single sheet of the alloy. How clever of them. See how they made the smaller door from the scrap on this end of the die?” Pol asked.
“What are these corrugated looking pieces?” Pete asked from about twenty feet down the room at another press.
Moving to join him, Pol examined the pieces and said, “That is the underside of the deck plate. They made both the upper and lower segments from one sheet of the alloy, as they did the doors.” Smiling happily he said, “We have found that which we need to manufacture numerous drones, provided the right chemicals are here. Of course, we will need additional components for the weapons, the drive, and communications, but all of that is much more common. These were the components that I held very little hope of acquiring.”
“Let’s try to locate the chemicals,” Jim suggested and they began their search. Soon they came to a storage room door that had chemical warning signs placed on its exterior. The locking mecha
nism was an electronic lock that required a code to open but while the power was off the door had come ajar, probably due to earthquake activity at some point in the past.
Pol entered the room and studied the contents for several minutes. When he emerged, he was still smiling so Jim assumed the news was good. “Everything we need is here gentlemen,” Pol said exuberantly.
“Pol!” Patricia shouted from far across the room. “I’ve found something that you have to see!” she shouted and motioned for him to hurry.
Running across the room, Pol and the others rushed to join Patricia, but she turned and ran when they drew near. Following her, they made their way into another room in the facility where the presses made the ones they’d originally investigated seem small by comparison. “Oh My God!” Pol said stopping.
“What are these? They aren’t full-scale pieces of the prototype. These are shaped wrong for that,” Pete observed.
“They appear to be that which Cliff spoke of yesterday. They appear to be the upper and lower sections of a fighter with short wings. Note the tear shaped design. And look at the bottom section!” Pol exclaimed pointing to one of the pieces.
“I don’t understand, Pol, what is it?” asked Jim.
“The battery cavity is there for our battery. They were stealing our ideas and making some sort of airframe!” Pol exclaimed angrily.
“Most likely someone in the Pentagon authorized the project,” Pete pointed out. “The question is this, can we use them?”
“Let us see if all of the parts are in this room,” said Pol and then he muttered to himself that he should have known something was wrong because there was far too much of the chemicals available for the needs of the company and that chemical was horridly expensive.
A search of the room revealed the upper portion of the ship and Tim lovingly ran his hands along the fuselage. “Now this is a sweet machine,” he said.
“Oh yeah!” Cliff agreed causing Pol to laugh despite his anger at the government for stealing their inventions to create a fighter of sorts.
“I see now that we will need to recruit some pilots,” Cliff said as he stared at the dozens of upper and lower halves of the fighters.
“Are these the battery baffles and deck plate seals?” Patricia asked from across the room.
Pol joined her and examined the parts. “So it would appear, yes my dear they are,” he said smiling approvingly at her. The parts were by no means identical to those in the other room since they had been designed for a very different purpose.
“Cliff,” Pete said to get the man’s attention.
“Yes, Pete?” the man responded.
“Have you California boys decided where you wanted to establish a base yet?” Pete asked.
“We had decided to make it near Los Angeles,” Cliff stated but then he added, “But under the circumstances it looks as if it’s going to be Millbrae at least for a while.”
Nodding his head Pete said, “It looks like we will be around a lot too. This is so big that it could take months to fully develop.”
“And we haven’t even gotten to the computers yet,” Patricia observed.
“You expect significant findings there?” asked Pete.
“Possibly the location where any completed units might have been sent,” Patricia said smiling.
“Completed units?” Tim and Pol asked simultaneously.
“Did you guys look at the serial numbers on the paperwork attached to the sections?” asked Patricia sweetly.
“Perhaps the other unit components were moved but not yet assembled,” Pol speculated.
“I need to get to the computer files and see what I can learn,” Patricia stated.
***
The crew had a meeting in the cargo bay late that night. The computer search had indeed revealed some interesting information. Seven units of the little fighters had been assembled and mated with their engines, which had been modified to fly at an unspecified altitude and speed. However, studying the information available on the configuration, Pol speculated that the fighters might be able to reach four hundred feet and should be able to travel in excess of five hundred miles per hour. The assembled fighters had been transported to a location whose coordinates indicated that they were in southern California.
It was decided at the meeting that the California peacekeepers would establish a base in Millbrae, at least until such time as the resources at the factory had been fully exploited. They would provide security for the facility. Cliff sent a message ordering his men to proceed as soon as possible to Millbrae aboard the transport vehicles that other peacekeepers had acquired for them while they were in training.
Other peacekeepers, who were willing to relocate for the length of time needed to get the factory up and running, would be brought into the city. Pete and Bill had already compiled a list of men and women with factory experience who would most likely be interested in the project.
The components for the drones would be shipped to Pol’s workshop back at Base 1 where they would be worked on at the scientist’s earliest possible opportunity. A convoy of several peacekeeper trucks would set out tomorrow for their location. That convoy was already in Texas where they had delivered some equipment to the Texas peacekeepers. Pol was to train his two assistants, who’d been assigned to him in recent months, in the manufacture and testing of the drones. Sufficient quantities of the chemicals needed to construct the batteries of the drones would also be shipped to Base 1.
Sufficient materials to construct a dozen drones would be left here at the facility. Pol would begin to work on those in the days ahead. The Californian’s would be bringing the components that he’d need to manufacture the miniaturized lasers and the control systems from the stores of supplies that Pol’s assistants had helped to organize back at the base. The assistants would ensure that everything was shipped that would be required. The western peacekeepers would utilize the dozen drones manufactured here.
Tim chaffed at the delay, but it would be a few days before they would be able to proceed to southern California to attempt to locate and test fly one of the assembled fighters.
***
The plans that they had made that night in the cargo bay went into action and within days, the factory was a bustling beehive of activity. The skills of the former factory workers were a blessing. They understood things relating to the operation of the machinery that none of those present during the initial discovery would have ever discovered. For example, an electrical charge was sent through the material being pressed. That electrical charge stopped as the press bottomed out and the product retained its shape thereafter. To join the segments of the special alloy they need only put the parts together and then send an electrical charge through the entire assembly. The alloy edges melded together as a specific voltage passed through the assembly. The team accidentally sealed shut the two doors on the first drone when they assembled that unit. They learned the correct process after that failure by investigating the computer files of the manufacturing team who had made the same mistake.
The drone materials needed to assemble the western peacekeeper’s drones were set aside and the remainder of the completed subassemblies was sent back to the base.
A thorough search of the records, computer files, and the facility itself revealed enough raw materials on hand to manufacture dozens of additional drones and still create a small fleet of an additional forty fighter aircraft.
This led to a discussion about the direction that the development program should take. Pol’s suggestion was to use what fighters were available already, which included the seven supposedly in southern California and the twenty-four sets of components already pressed. He wanted to reserve all of the raw materials exclusively for additional drones. Tim and Cliff countered that fighters had capabilities that the drones could not match when it came to speed, ceiling cap, and firepower. Since the aircraft were larger, they would be able to carry larger, more powerful lasers and bombs.
Pete and Jim settle
d the debate by suggesting that they shelve the decision until they had actually tested one of the previously assembled aircraft. Pol requested that no further aircraft be produced until they had fully tested the design. Both Jim and Pete agreed to that stipulation, adding that in all fairness, the work on more drones should also be halted so that the council could make an intelligent decision based on the facts.
The next morning the crew boarded the ship and headed out seeking the stored aircraft. The flight to the southern California location took seven hours, but when they arrived, they readily spotted a huge hangar. Tim circled the place several times while Pete studied the area. No one was present at the site, which consisted of the hangar and a small cinderblock office building. A twelve-foot tall electric chain-link fence surrounded the buildings. The gate had been left unsecured and there was no sign of recent vehicular traffic nor was any vehicle present.
Pete gave Jim the nod, indicating that everything looked good to him. Jim told Lieutenant Wilcox to prepare his team, to which the lieutenant replied that they had been ready for action for an hour. Pete reminded him to check both buildings and search for paperwork and computers. The lieutenant had saluted and then departed for the cargo bay.
Tim feathered the Peacekeeper in for a landing inside the fence, with the nose of the ship facing the two buildings. This would enable the entry team to safely exit the ship and prepare themselves before they became exposed to the buildings. Strike force one went for the hanger and sprinted around the right side of the ship. Strike force two would enter the smaller office building and examine it. They ran around the left side of the ship and sprinted to the building.