Quarantine

  “Are they a risk to the station?” Christopher asked.

  “Not much a handful at a time. But if they decide to fire off several hundred at the same time, I can see how the sheer force of the projectiles could overload the shields. The good news is that getting out of the way of inbounds should be simple.”

  “Good!” Christopher replied.

  “I am concerned if a volley of the projectiles hit a jumper’s shields. Especially if it’s traveling at the higher speeds we’re getting used to running. The problem is that just one of those damn things hits with the force of an old-style locomotive traveling over mach one,” Peanut explained.

  “Are our people in danger?” Sydney asked.

  “Well—maybe,” Peanut replied. “That’s a lot of kinetic energy to dissipate. Enough of them could easily overload the current shields of a single ship.”

  “Could you wrap Chuck’s Jupiter-strength jumper shields around a couple of standard jumpers here to be swapped out on the next crew rotation?” suggested Patricia.

  Christopher looked at Peanut, raising an eyebrow.

  “I could have a team start tomorrow. But maybe you should drop by the lab in the morning if you really want to see what I’m talking about in terms of the wallop those projectiles pack,” Peanut offered.

  “Count me in. I also want to see if we need to impress upon the President the folly of using their railguns against us,” Christopher said.

  “You’re not thinking of going back to Earth to cuss someone out, are you?” Sydney asked, voicing everyone’s concern.

  “Not if I don’t have to. But if there’s an attack in our future, it will be better to head it off at the pass, so to speak. If we wait around until they think they can get away with shooting at us, things are not going to go well for them this time,” Christopher said. “Those railguns are mounted on ships, right?”

  Peanut hesitated, then said, “Genesis?”

  “Yes, Peanut. How may I be of assistance?”

  “Do you know where all the most powerful GST railguns are deployed?”

  “There are three mounted on U.S. Naval vessels, six deployed at Naval ports, with an additional five in concealed, secret locations for use against airborne targets around the Washington D.C. area. Their focus is the protection of the airspace around the White House,” reported the A.I.

  “Genesis, what is the estimated radar profile of the railgun’s projectiles head on?” asked Christopher.

  “A single projectile, head on, is undetectable. A flurry of fifty or more, in a dispersion pattern no wider than three meters will be detectable by our standard radar. Millimeter wave radar will better detect incoming projectiles, as long as they are traveling through a vacuum. They will not be detected at launch because of the absorption of the signal by the atmosphere of the planet, even more so by rain,” replied Genesis.

  “Thank you, Genesis. That will be all,” Christopher said. “Jesus Christ, it’s always something with these assholes. I simply cannot believe that their deployment is coincidental, they are most likely a first strike weapon for use against us. At least that’s how it looks to me.”

  “The station crew could hide behind the moon, but that would make it a lot easier for those on Earth to launch into space. Dodging them looks like the easiest way to stay out of harm’s way,” Peanut added.

  “No matter what, my hubby will find a way!” said Bernice, leaning over to hug Peanut.

  “How’s that old cartoon go? Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!” Peanut ruefully replied.

  “You have to admit, you and Chris have pulled countless rabbits out of your hats, Chuck too. The existence of this place is proof of that,” Sydney pointed out. “It’s kind of spooky and amazing, all at once.”

  “No doubt. In any case, I’m going to head out and get a good night’s sleep, tomorrow looks like it’s going to be a long day. Stop by around 8:30 if you want to see the latest round of tests of the railgun,” Peanut announced, as he and Bernice got up.

  Everyone said their “good nights” as Sydney also rose to head back to her quarters, calling it a night as well.

  * * *

  “Don’t,” was Slade’s singular reply to the President’s suggestion that she confront the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

  “That’s it? Don’t? Then I should let him carry out whatever plan he has for not only concealing the purchase and delivery of unappropriated railguns, but an attack on the colonists’ space station and ships as well?”

  “Lauren, you have no concrete proof that he’s going to attack anyone. He could claim to be a patriot, merely trying to keep America safe from its many enemies around the world; and you know he will. In any head-to-head conflict with the Chairman you’re going to be sucking hind teat from the start in a propaganda war,” Slade admonished.

  “How’s that?”

  “You have the misfortune of having a vagina, living at the pinnacle of man’s domain. It was a minor miracle you got elected. Had your opponent not been such a misogynistic crook caught with his hand in the cookie jar, the fact that he had a penis would have ruled the day and you would have lost,” Slade reminded her harshly. “You challenge the military with the slim evidence you have now, and you do your presidency more harm than good.”

  Wilcox sighed, “You’re right, of course. But I’m not going to let this country suffer because the military wants to engage in a perpetual dick waving contest with people who are clearly our technological superiors.” She banged her fist on the desk, “Sometimes I fucking hate this job.”

  Slade made no comment, aware of her frustration with the misogyny, just as was his over the omnipresent specter of racism.

  “You know I’ve got your back. You also know I’d kill a rock for you. You—no, we—have to be very careful. If Archer is double-dealing, if he is planning on taking on the colonists, then he must be stopped, preferably in the act.”

  “That’s cutting it a little close,” she said, tiredly. “And who do we trust? I don’t have enough friends like Annette scattered throughout the government or the military. And setting the FBI or CIA on someone’s ass is dangerous. I have no idea who I can trust.”

  “What about Tanya? Do you trust her?” Slade asked, naming her personal Secret Service agent.

  “I should, but I also know that every little thing she sees and hears gets logged, including observations on my mood, my behavior—whatever, all filtered through the eyes of someone who has never walked a minute in my shoes. I’m going to have to give that some thought,” she confessed. “I’ll talk to you later, I’m going to take a walk outside.”

  Slade immediately got to his feet. “You okay?”

  “I’m fine. I just need some air.”

  “Want some company?

  “Nope. I will say this though, I picked the wrong millennium to quit smoking,” she replied, drawing a chuckle from Slade.

  He followed her to the office door, opened from the outside by President Wilcox’s personal agent.

  “I’m going outside,” she informed her.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Agent Miller replied, then whispered into her hand microphone alerting Command.

  Agent Miller accompanied Wilcox to the door leading out to the garden, holding her position just outside the door. The reinforcements for the rooftop detail arrived to canvass the buildings around the White House as traffic and pedestrians were quietly diverted away from the side of the White House where President Wilcox was taking her walk.

  The President spent an hour outside, walking the Rose Garden. When she returned to the office, she had made up her mind that there would be no mutinous behavior on the part of General Archer as there had been in the past concerning the colonists and their assets. The only thing she hadn’t decided was exactly how.

  Boogie Wonderland

  The two jumpers were flying in formation above the South Pole of Titan with the mission team on the lookout for a good place to land.<
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  “A little windy out there,” Piper announced, as the jumper’s controls slightly shimmied.

  “We gonna have any trouble on the ground?” asked Sam.

  “Good question. We’ll have to wait and see, but I’m pretty sure the winds up here are a lot stronger than we’ll find closer to the ground,” she replied. Triggering the radio, she asked, “How’s it looking to you all? See any prospects yet?”

  “Not so far. But we did capture half a dozen samples of the atmosphere. In a couple of them you can see a slight orange tint of the hydrocarbon mush. It’s going to be pretty dark down on the surface, everyone better stay sharp,” Sam warned.

  “Hey! I think I found something,” Lois announced. “Can you hover right here for a moment?”

  “Lois found something, we’re going to hover here,” Sam radioed.

  Lois said over the open channel, “Okay, this looks like the lake, Ontario Lacas, the Cassini mission discovered right below us. Drop us down to a mile above the surface, Ben.”

  As the jumper dropped deeper into the atmosphere, with Piper flying right alongside, the light grew dimmer. “Okay, we’re five thousand feet up. It feels a little windy outside. You have enough light, Lois?”

  “Between what’s coming from the sun, infrared, and radar, I’m getting enough detail. Turn sixty degrees to starboard and proceed dead slow,” she requested.

  Both crews watched the enhanced video feed on the large displays over their forward view ports.

  “Let’s follow along that dark patch there,” Lois directed. “That’s the shore of a lake, a hydrocarbon soup. I don’t see much erosion, but the shore should give us a wide range of samples. What does everyone else think?”

  “Fine with me,” Benjamin replied.

  “Me too. Anyone have any objections?” asked Piper.

  Hearing no replies, Benjamin brought his jumper down with nary a bump and said, “I’m dialing down the artificial gravity to give you some time to get acclimated before heading outside.”

  “The air out there looks like thick smog. Not a lot of light either,” said Sam, breaking out lights to carry outside. “Did the ground feel solid, Piper?”

  “No settling at all. And the breeze is a lot less than it was higher up,” she replied.

  “It’s cold, almost two hundred degrees below zero, and that’s centigrade,” Lois interjected.

  “Chilly!” said Joy with an exaggerated shiver.

  Lois gathered the equipment to take outside, including a small weather station to anchor about a hundred feet away from the jumper. In the other jumper, Sam had a dozen sample containers.

  Benjamin locked the control panel, then turned to face the others. “So, who’s going out first? Just so you know, I have no preference.

  “How about I give Lois a hand collecting samples and setting up the weather station, then one of us can swap with you,” Joy suggested.

  “That’s fine with me. I’ll monitor your helmet cams, and let’s get on the same frequency with the others. I want everyone ready to assist anyone who has a problem,” he said, getting up to don his suit.

  “The atmosphere is about as dense as what we’re used to, just no oxygen to speak of. If the shit hits the fan out there, I’ll open both airlock doors to get anyone inside, then flush and replenish the atmosphere once everyone’s safe,” he explained.

  “Smart. Let’s hope it never happens,” said Joy. As they began to pull on their space suits they helped, double-checking each other. Benjamin returned to the front console to check the radio and the feed from the women’s helmet cameras.

  Once the women were ready, they entered the airlock together. Benjamin cycled them through and when the inner door opened again, he loaded the sample containers and the weather station into the lock, then cycled it once more. He returned to the pilot’s seat and watched the display from the cameras as Joy pulled a floater from the storage bay underneath the jumper and the two began to load it up.

  In the other jumper, Sam and Virginia were preparing to go outside while Piper collected several more atmospheric samples. When the two were ready, Piper helped load the equipment into the airlock for Sam to unload when he exited the jumper. After he unloaded the lock, he set it to cycle for Virginia. Moments later, Lois and Joy showed up, pulling the floater behind them.

  By the time Virginia joined them, nearly all the equipment was loaded on the floater. A few minutes later, they hitched their safety lines to the floater and set off away from the lake to set up the weather station well away from shore.

  “How is it out there?” asked Benjamin.

  “Breezy and noisy!” Joy said. “I can hear wind blowing past my helmet.”

  “Me too! I’m used to EVA around the colony, loading and unloading materials for the hab and it’s always silent except for Ops over the radio,” said Sam.

  “Be advised that if you get a tear in your suit, head inside immediately. The atmosphere will also choke you in an instant, there’s no oxygen out here at all,” Lois announced.

  They pulled the floater along slowly for fifteen minutes, everyone watching the ground, until Virginia asked, “How far are we from the shore, Lois?”

  “About a hundred meters. We’re about halfway there,” she replied.

  They kept pulling the floater away from the jumpers’ landing site until they were far enough to unload and anchor the mini weather station’s legs into the packed soil without fear of the lake’s fluid covering the unit. Working together, they completed testing the unit in less than thirty minutes. Both Piper and Benjamin began receiving the data from the unit as soon as it was powered up.

  “I wonder what this place smells like?” said Lois. “These hydrocarbon compounds are organic; they have to smell like something!”

  “I’m sure you’ll find out how it smells when you come back inside. The airlock and your suit should carry the odor even after it’s cycled,” said Benjamin.

  “I just hope those traces of the atmosphere don’t stink up the jumpers, that’ll suck!” Sam added with a laugh.

  “Hold on, everyone, I found some rock. Let me get some samples,” Lois called out.

  “I’ll give you a hand,” offered Joy.

  Sam and Virginia handed two sample containers to the crouching pair. “Need a hand?” Sam asked, while Virginia steadied the floater in the light wind.

  “I’m good,” Lois replied, chipping away. “Got a little frost in the cracks, probably ammonia, maybe some water. Can’t tell until we get inside. Hand me another, Sam. Good thing these containers are insulated.”

  Once Lois retrieved the rock samples, they proceeded to the shore of the lake.

  “It’s kind of soft underfoot, squishy even, just below the surface. And it’s getting softer the closer to the shore we get,” Lois said, reciting for the record. “Let’s get another batch of sediment samples here, then we can sample the liquid.”

  When they arrived at the shore, Sam and Lois began securing samples of the liquid, with Sam venturing out several feet into the lake.

  “Careful there. You never know what’s lurking under the surface,” Benjamin warned.

  “Like what? Sea monsters?” Sam replied. “It’s not even slippery, more like muck. But I get your point. Hey, how deep do you think this lake is?”

  “Don’t know, Sam. Maybe we can look once you all are done taking samples,” Benjamin replied. He wished they had sonar equipment, but immediately realized what a waste incorporating such equipment would be in a spacecraft, they definitely weren’t designed to be used that way, though.

  “Hey, what is that liquid made of?” Piper radioed.

  “Looks like ten percent methane, but mostly ethane. There’s a lot of trace elements that I’d have to run through the equipment inside, this hand unit isn’t that sophisticated. I will say this, the contents of this lake could fuel all the Earth’s energy needs for a couple of centuries. Not much use for the colony except for some manufact
uring, the hydrocarbons could be cooked into plastics and the like. We already process organic garbage that can’t be used anywhere else into methane, but since we never really had a supply of raw hydrocarbons like this available, no one has put any thought into using them,” said Lois. “This stuff could open up a whole new area of manufacturing back home.”

  “According to data from Cassini, one of the lakes was over a hundred meters deep,” Benjamin said, reading data from the screen. “I’m curious to see if there’s any artifact on the floor of a lake. Maybe not life, but with organic compounds all over the place, I’d love to look and see if we can find something truly exotic.”

  “Like what? A big, black monolith?” Sam said.

  “Hells yeah!” Virginia excitedly added. “That would be proof of all kinds of things: life off Earth and from outside the solar system.”

  “I think that would just be creepy. Finding signs of some interstellar intelligence that’s been operating here that we had no idea existed? It gives me the willies just thinking about it,” Joy confessed. “It’s hard to imagine life forms with a metabolism formed of hydrocarbon-based biochemistry.”

  “Okay, that’s about fifteen liters total of this stuff. That’s plenty to test and a bunch to take home for further analysis. Plus, I’m beat.” Lois announced. “Let’s get cleaned up and the equipment stowed, unless anyone can think of something else to add?”

  Having no objections, they guided the floater back to the jumpers and started unloading the collected samples. When the floater was empty, Sam stowed it, then waited for his turn to enter the airlock. When he got inside, Virginia helped him remove his helmet. Once it was off, he could smell a faint, strange odor. Seeing him sniffing and the strange look on his face, she said, “Yeah. I can’t tell what it smells like either, but it’s definitely odd.”

  “There’s nothing toxic in here with us, is there?” asked Sam, while he and Virginia were helping each other remove their suits.