by Ricky Sides
“Let’s make it eight, to keep the loads from overburdening the trucks.” Turning to Patricia he said, “Get word to the base to have eight trucks ready to roll on my orders. Tell them they will be hauling an extremely precious cargo. I want a heavily armed escort all the way and I want four fighters escorting them. Let them know we’ll give the go ahead for the run the moment the deal closes. Warn them to beware Indiana, and tell them why. Inform them they will need a few tow trucks for the first run, because many vehicles are on the roads in Indiana. Security needs to be tight anywhere in that state.”
“Yes, sir,” Patricia said and left to send the message, followed by Lieutenant Wilcox who would act as her security.
“So, Pol,” Tim began as he sidled up to the scientist, “What’s the secret plan you are holding out on us?”
“Again you ask me this, Tim? I have been planning the negotiations and I haven’t had the chance to complete my feasibility investigation,” Pol protested.
“No you haven’t, but now you know how much alloy we’ll be getting immediately, so you should know if you’d have the material available,” Tim pointed out.
“That question I can answer for you. Yes, there is enough material,” Pol responded.
“Oh come now, Pol this is hardly fair. I want to know what you are plotting,” said Tim with a frown.
“My friend, you are like a young boy asking his parents what he is getting for Christmas. Do you know that?” Pol observed.
“Then don’t keep me in suspense,” Tim said badgering the scientist.
“But I did tell you that I don’t know yet if it is feasible. So why mention something that I don’t even know for certain can be done?” Pol countered.
“I really want to know, Pol. Come on, give me the secret,” Tim prodded.
“He is impossible, isn’t he?” Pol asked Jim.
“I’ve been aware of that fact most of my life,” Jim said smiling.
“Oh, all right I’ll tell you, but wait till the others are back. Otherwise I’ll have to explain it all twice,” Pol said in resignation.
A few minutes later, they saw Patricia returning with the lieutenant and one of the board members who had been sent to get them to return to the negotiations.
Back in the conference room, they settled on a deal. The peacekeepers got the entire current inventory of the alloy and a similar shipment the following month. After that shipment, five percent of the total output of the alloy would be reserved for the peacekeepers. Once a month they would have the responsibility to request the dimensions they desired. Failing to contact the company with a request on time would result in the shipment duplicating the previous months in dimensions. They had the responsibility to pick up their shipments on a monthly basis. If for any reason they defaulted on picking up a shipment then the company was at liberty to use the material as they saw fit and the peacekeepers forfeited that month’s shipment. The deadline for ordering dimensions was the tenth of the month. The deadline for pickups was the twentieth.
“We’ll have all of the paperwork ready for signing tomorrow. We’ll assemble our team of people in the fields needed this afternoon. After the signing, we can begin the training process. I suggest you contact your people to see to the initial pickup,” Bob Reager said smiling. He had just closed the biggest deal of his life, and as far as he was concerned, Pol was right. A few tons of alloy was a dirt-cheap price to pay.
Pol was happy. The peacekeepers would receive enough alloy to reopen the Carwell facility and manufacture another round of fighters to increase their wing strength at the three bases. They would be able to build a full sized battleship that a crew could operate and there would be sufficient material left from this shipment to construct a new patrol class ship, and still make the modifications that he wanted to make for the Peacekeeper. Of course, the council would have to approve that alteration but he didn’t anticipate any hesitation on their part.
***
That night as the crew sat talking Tim brought up the subject of Pol’s surprise. The scientist smiled and revealed his plan. “I want to build a module that the Peacekeeper can be attached to permanently. The module would have additional quarters for the crew, a larger infirmary with a better supply of medical equipment, triple engines, for carrying very heavy loads, and be capable of transporting fifty extra men into battle. It would also be armed to the teeth with one of the laser minigun variants, additional miniguns that could be serviced in flight, a bomb bay, and a cargo bay that would house munitions and other equipment as well as the battle bikes. I propose we redesign the current cargo bay and build additional sleeping quarters in that section of the ship.”
When Pol first said this, there was a moment of silence and then the questions began. “How big are we talking here?” asked Tim.
“Two hundred feet long, seventy feet wide at the rear, and tapering down to thirty feet at the nose, an overall fourteen feet tall. They would back the Peacekeeper into the nose of the module and then permanently seal it in position. The extra walls would provide additional protection should we take hits from large caliber machineguns and other rounds,” Pol explained.
“You say permanently attached. That would render our belly gun and tail guns useless. And what about our engine? How would our engine be able to provide lift, if it is enclosed in the module?” Jim asked.
“The rear and belly guns could be transferred to the module. The engine would not need to provide lift or forward motion. The three module engines could do that and I can take them out of sync enough to permit us to target aircraft at altitude which is something that the Peacekeeper can’t do now,” Pol pointed out reasonably.
“How long would the construction of the module take?” Pete asked.
“Eight weeks is my best guess if the manpower needed is there,” Pol stipulated.
“Lieutenant Wilcox, I’d like to hear your opinion of this project,” Jim said.
“Sir, my men would love to have sleeping quarters. The deck gets old if you know what I mean. And the other modifications sound wonderful. Still, I can’t help but feel a bit sad at the prospect of losing the ship in the configuration that I’ve come to know and love. But that’s just me. I wouldn’t want my opinion to cause a conflict on the topic,” he said sincerely.
Jim turned to Patricia and said, “Patricia, if not for you and Tim, this ship would never have been found and the peacekeepers as we are today wouldn’t even exist. Because of that, I want to know the truth about how the two of you feel.”
Patricia looked at Jim and then she looked at Pol. Finally, she looked at Tim for his support. For his part, Tim remained neutral when he said, “Patricia, you have every right to give your opinion regardless of what anyone in this room thinks. You just go ahead and say what’s on your mind.”
“I wouldn’t mind a module that we could use occasionally when needed for specific missions. In fact, I think I’d like that, but to permanently attach this ship to it. No, I find that distasteful.” Looking at the crew she said, “I’m sorry. I know that’s a selfish decision, since I have a cabin,” she said, looking at the lieutenant who gave her a nod of understanding. “And I’m sorry, Pol, for speaking against your plan,” she said sounding distressed.
“No apologies are necessary,” Pol said and he meant it. “Of course I’d want everyone to be happy with the plan.”
“I’m afraid I have to agree with Patricia. As the pilot, I can say for a fact that at times finding an area to land the Peacekeeper is a difficult thing to do. Now imagine a ship of a size Pol described. My God, we’d need a football field to land and I can’t count the times that maneuverability was critical in surviving an encounter with Marauders. I am concerned that with such a big ship we’ll lose much of that maneuverability,” Tim said in conclusion.
“I do have a compromise suggestion,” Patricia stated. “Why don’t we take Pol’s battleship drone, use the current configuration for the drive and weapons systems, and add an upper deck. The Peacekeeper could
then be attached to the module and detached when the big ship isn’t needed and then flown as a drone for backup. The guns are already in place, as is the bomb bay. Though we might have to add that third engine to support the added weight,” Patricia said.
Pol jumped to his feet and Tim frowned. He was afraid that Pol was about to lash out at Patricia and he could tell from the expression on her face that his wife feared the same reaction. However, Pol ran over to Patricia and kissed her cheek and then he grasped her hand in his saying, “Patricia, what a brilliant suggestion! I wish I had thought of that myself. I was also feeling a bit nostalgic about losing our prototype. You know, I think this solution will work, assuming I can find the correct voltage to make the material separate once it is joined and then ensure that it is only applied in the appropriate seams. I think it can be done. Oh yes, I’m sure it can be done!” Pol said jubilantly.
Jim looked at Tim who nodded, and then he saw Pete smile and nod. He said, “I think it’s settled then, Pol. As soon as you can demonstrate attaching, separating, and then reattaching the ship, you will have our blessings to begin. Use a drone for testing. You won’t need a scale model of the battleship to adequately test will you?” Jim asked.
“No, no. A simple box style arrangement that the drone could be slid into would work just fine,” Pol assured him. And that’s an excellent suggestion too my friend,” Pol said happily. Pol was in his element. He thrived on a challenge and he was determined to make this idea work.
Chapter 4
Reager Industries moved quickly to get the Brentworth facility back in operation. The workers returned the first week of the peacekeepers stay in the city. First, they cleaned the facility and the maintenance crews checked the major machines lubricating them and checking them for operational worthiness.
Almost universally the workers seemed to be in great spirits and happy that things were beginning to return to normal at last. By the end of the third day, the factory began to process the ores and manufacture the alloy. Bob Reager and the board of directors were there as the first sheet of the alloy was cut and landed in the stacker. The operator stopped the process at a gesture from Bob who then cheered the success of the workers and congratulated them. The peacekeepers then got a glimpse into exactly what Bob was hoping to accomplish as he said, “Today Saginaw, and the UP. Tomorrow Detroit, and in the months ahead we will see a return to a more normal lifestyle for much of the country. You workers who are part of the initial startup of this facility are paving the way for a return to normalcy for your children and your families!”
Cheers and more than a few tears greeted that comment and Bob continued, “Reager Industries can’t thank you enough for your contribution to this startup. Be sure you clock in and out, as you would in normal times. We can’t pay you now but accounting is keeping track of what we owe everyone. Soon, we will work something out and pay that is actually worth something to you will be forthcoming. Meanwhile you should all report to the food depots with your pay stubs. The people there will issue food for you and your families, since you can’t be here and tend to gardens.”
Cheers greeted this news as well and then Bob added, “The board of directors has decided that any employee wanting one of the new automobiles will be able to purchase one at cost, payroll deducted over five years. The employees here, and in the Detroit auto facility will be the first Americans to be able to obtain one of the new vehicles.”
Again, cheers greeted that announcement and Bob said in conclusion, “We as a company must remember that quality is essential in all of our products, so I want you all to remember that as we begin the recovery of our company. Remember that the peacekeepers gave us this opportunity to resurrect our company. Once a month they will be getting a shipment, custom cut to order. Let’s try to demonstrate our gratitude, by ensuring that their shipments are always above average in quality.”
***
The peacekeeper convoy with their heavy escort arrived in four days and reported to the Brentworth facility. They reported nothing but minor clashes with a few bands of men in Indiana as they had struggled to clear the roads with the tow trucks. Clearing the highways had been time consuming but working day and night they managed the feat by sleeping in shifts when they could.
Pol took two hours off the teaching as the first truck was loaded and personally oversaw the loading and strap down process, insisting on extreme precautions to protect the material from possible damage. The truck drivers complained that all of the straps he was insisting they use were not necessary, but Pete overruled them and personally. He informed the truckers that if they had an unavoidable accident and lost part, or all of a shipment he would understand. However, if they lost part or all of a shipment because they were too lazy to take the precautions that Pol said they should take, then they would cost the peacekeepers a precious cargo because of their laziness. That, he would not understand. Going a step further Pete spoke to the Brentworth facility-shipping supervisor and requested that he contact the base in the event that a driver refused to secure a load properly.
After that one problem, things went smoothly. All eight trucks were loaded and ready to roll out the next morning. The entire convoy would proceed directly to the Carwell facility in Millbrae California. Cliff Barnes, the leader of the California peacekeepers, already had a team at the facility going about the reopening process. The same team who had originally gone to Millbrae to operate the factory was already en route, and should arrive by the time that the alloy could reach the facility. They had orders to run up the bodies for another one hundred fighters, and begin the assembly of engines and lasers. However, they were not to begin the final assembly process until Pol arrived. This time he planned to design the engines and controls differently to fix the problem of dealing with the air-to-air threats.
Pete pointed out that they wouldn’t have the miniguns to use on these fighters. They only had forty left. Most of the remaining miniguns had come from the one hundred units that the government had set aside for Project Phoenix Rising. The rest had been found at bases around the country and some of them were not in great condition. Pol asked if they had ever checked the factories that manufactured the weapons and Pete said that they had. Pol had then asked if they had checked the computers for information on possible storage and Pete said he would have to check into that.
***
For two weeks, Pol and Patricia worked diligently teaching the experts provided by Reager Industries everything that they needed to know to utilize the battery, engine, computer, and alloy technologies. At Pol’s suggestion, men and women covered every step of the training with cameras filming the process from multiple angles and perspectives. Pol requested and got the assurance that he would receive copies of the final product of the videography. By the end of the second week, the trainees could successfully build the batteries and the engines, and they could easily join pieces of the alloy. They had also learned to connect the alloy to the batteries and run output cables.
Patricia’s trainees learned to rig computer operating systems integrated with the global positioning system. That computer system also monitored power levels and forward speed. She taught them how to link the system to a small monitor that could be operated off the power supplied by the battery. That monitor would display power level, forward speed, and at the touch of a button, the location of the vehicle could be displayed on a state map that changed when the operator entered another state. The map also had the in and out zooming capability. This gave the operator the ability to see the entire United States map or just the map of a single city by using the plus or minus keys on the monitor interface. Patricia reminded the trainees that they would need to warn owners to stop the cars to utilize maps in order to avoid serious accidents. This caused the trainees to laugh because as a rule you had to warn customers about everything to avoid liabilities. One trainee pointed out that the contract being prepared for signing at purchase already had a clause in it that said the operator was solely responsible for en
suring that there were no people, pets, flowers, wild animals, food crops, or large bodies of water under them when they landed.
The computer operating system connected to a special electronics package that controlled the engine and the emitter. The control system managed the altitude of the vehicle, as well as its speed and direction. The vehicles would have an altitude range of ten to twenty feet when the drive system was activated, which was accomplished by turning a key to the on position. A dashboard-mounted lever would raise the ship from ten to twenty feet incrementally giving the operator a wide range of altitude preferences from ten to twenty feet. Warnings in the purchase contract reminded drivers to beware overpasses. For safety reasons, the vehicle had to reach a ten-foot minimum altitude before any forward progress would initiate. It would also have to come to a complete stop before descending below ten feet. To land you simply came to a stop and turned the key to the off position. The computer automatically descended to a feather light landing and then shut everything down. The startup of the system took only moments, so starting the vehicle wasn’t like booting up the home computer.
The rest of the computer interface was dependent upon which navigation system that the company opted to employ and Patricia instructed the computer trainees on various techniques from a straight keyboard interface to a manual switching system that could be operated with a gas and brake pedal and a steering wheel. Using the controls tilted the emitter, thus causing it to move backward and forward, and from side to side.
All of the emitters were in reality emitter arrays with two emitters. One emitter maintained altitude and that emitter was in a fixed position. The other provided forward momentum or braking and steering power. When they used the gas pedal, the emitter would angle toward the rear of the vehicle and the power fed to the forward momentum section of the emitter array. How far they depressed the pedal would determine the power fed to the emitter, which in turn increased the speed. The settings on the motor capped the speed at one hundred miles per hour. When the operator took their foot off the gas pedal, the power fed to the emitter stopped and the emitter returned to the neutral or vertical position. When the brake was applied, the computer tilted the emitter forward and fed power to the emitter as it monitored the forward momentum. The power fed to the emitter decreased as the ship came to a smooth stop. When the vehicle came to a complete stop, the emitter returned to neutral or the vertical position. Braking was slightly better than the average automobile and adjustable to stop even faster, but stopping too abruptly caused too many problems inside the vehicle, so there were practical limits to that tweaking.