“Draft an analysis of your findings and get it off to the interdiction crew in Earth orbit as soon as possible and send a copy to Ops so that all incoming crews get briefed on the danger,” said Christopher.
“And what are you going to do?” Sydney asked. Chuck sidled up to Christopher and laid his hand on his shoulder, which Christopher shook off as he stepped away from everyone else.
“Fuck!” Peanut said under his breath, knowing what was coming.
Christopher looked at the railgun, seething, “I guess we’ll just have to see, now won’t we?” He then turned and walked out of the hanger.
“Hey, Chris,” Chuck called out, but Christopher just turned around, pointing a finger at the group, “Just don’t! This is my problem now; I will handle this my way.”
“Just a minute,” Chuck started to say, but Christopher immediately interrupted.
“This is on me! I called the question on embargoing those assholes because they are nothing more than toddlers with guns. Now I see that they cannot be left to their own devices. The nukes were one thing, this is quite another,” he said, pointing to the railgun. “Now leave me the fuck alone!” he stalked off.
“Shit!” Chuck said, then left for the council’s office.
“Genesis, connect me with Patricia, private mode please,” Sydney said.
“Hey, Syd. What’s up?”
“I think we have a problem,” began Sydney.
“Something to do with the weapon test?”
“Exactly. Chris took off out of here under a full head of steam after he saw what this thing can do. Chuck took off after him, but Chris basically told him to fuck off,” Sydney explained.
“I’m guessing one or both are on their way to the council’s office. Let me call Margaret and warn her. Thanks, Syd.”
“No problem. I think I’ll head over there too, maybe I can catch whatever Chris has in mind. I’ll call Lucius too.”
“Good thinking,” Patricia said, then disconnected.
“Genesis, Lucius please.”
“Yes, Syd. What’s up?” he asked.
“Christopher saw the demo of the Navy’s new railgun and blasted out of here like he was going to take them on himself,” she explained.
“Son of a bitch! Any idea where he went off to?” asked Lucius.
“Not sure, but Chuck took off too.”
“Is Peanut still there?”
“Yeah, hang on. Genesis, please conference Peanut in on the call,” Sydney requested.
“What’s up?” Peanut asked, looking at her from across the hanger deck.
“I have Lucius on the line,” she said.
“Yes, sir. What’s up?” Peanut inquired.
“I’m guessing from Chris’ behavior that gun is a threat, at least in his mind, correct?” asked Lucius.
Peanut sighed, “Yeah. I wish I had never shown him the damn thing. I think he’s pissed enough to go way beyond waiting to call a question about this new development.”
“Any idea where he went?”
“Maybe to the council. But probably not; you know how he gets when he thinks everything falls on him. Someone better ride herd on him, otherwise I’m afraid he’s gonna head off to Earth on his own,” Peanut said.
“Okay, either of you find out where he is, let me know. I’ll see if he’s in the mood to talk. If I find anything out, I’ll let you both know,” he promised.
“Good thinking,” Peanut said to Sydney.
“Yeah, maybe,” she said, then disconnected.
Lucius considered wandering around the colony to try to “bump into” Christopher but he knew that wouldn’t fool anyone.
“Genesis?”
“Yes, Lucius? How may I be of assistance?”
“Christopher, please.”
“I am sorry, Christopher is not accepting any calls at this time.”
“Can you tell me where he is?”
“I am afraid that I cannot. He has invoked privacy mode at this time. When he cancels, I will inform him of your call.”
“Thank you, Genesis. That will be all.”
Seconds later, Patricia arrived in Lucius’ office.
“You heard?” she asked.
“Yes. I even tried to call him, but he’s invoked some sort of block,” he replied.
“Genesis?”
“Yes, Patricia. How may I be of assistance?”
“TJ please.”
“Hey, Pat. What’s up?”
“You wrote Genesis and now Chris has invoked privacy mode. I need an override, right now.”
“Whoa, I’ve never overridden the system,” said TJ.
“Can it be done, son?” asked Lucius.
“Of course. I built in several different override commands, but I’ve never had to use them. After all the upgrades over the years—well let’s just say this will be the first time to see if it works. Genesis?”
“Yes, TJ. How may I be of assistance?”
“Priority override, my authority.”
“Priority override active, TJ.”
“Genesis, what it the current location of Chris?” he asked.
“Christopher is in his personal lab. He has invoked full privacy mode.”
“Can you determine what he’s doing?”
“He is working on a variant of the compression G-wave technology that will disrupt matter at a distance of up to a kilometer away from the G-wave hardware.”
“That’s not a good sign,” said Lucius.
“Do you want to override privacy mode and speak to him?” asked TJ.
“No, thank you for the assist, TJ,” Patricia said.
“Genesis, cancel priority override, resume normal operations,” TJ ordered.
“Priority override canceled. Will there be anything else I may assist you with, TJ?”
“Negative, Genesis. That will be all. Um, Pat?”
“Yes, TJ?”
“When you have time, you will let me know what the hell this is about, right?”
Patricia chuckled as Lucius merely grunted, “Of course. Thanks a lot for the help.”
“Any time. Catch you all later,” he said, disconnecting.
Patricia looked at Lucius, shaking her head. “You know he’s going to go to Earth, and this time it’s going to be ugly.”
“He’s a stubborn son of a bitch, always has been. He’s also an angry son of a bitch, I saw his rage at his father’s funeral, and he was only ten. Whatever he’s planning, neither you nor I will be able to talk him out of it,” Lucius pointed out, shaking his head.
“I’ll see what I can get out of him tonight at dinner,” said Patricia.
“If he shows up,” Lucius ruefully replied. “Given what he did when Julius and I were being held, there’s no telling how he’s planning to impress on the world that he’s not happy.”
“But he can’t be making a weapon. He’s the one who proscribed having any weapons in the colony.”
“Maybe but look what he did to that Euro/Russian space craft. All he did was squeeze it down to practically nothing with what was technically not a weapon. Let me know what you find out. That last thing I want to see is Chris not only losing his temper but heading to Earth for a head to head confrontation. I want to head off any kind of risky venture Chris may be planning,” Lucius said as Patricia got up to leave.
“I let you know if I find out anything,” Patricia promised on her way out.
Christopher was closeted in his personal lab, a combined office, conference room, and design space. He was there was to calm down and regain some perspective. His anger over the destructive power of the Navy’s latest weapon and the obvious use to which it could be put had allowed the rage to break through his normal facade.
The last time he felt this way, he bullied his way to Earth to confront the President of the United States directly, flaunting the colony’s superior technology with a spectacular display over the White House. With a half d
ozen or so of those railguns protecting the airspace around the White House, to confront the President again called for far more extreme measures with corresponding increases in protection for any spacecraft sent by the colony.
It only took him fifteen minutes to adapt the currently configured G-waves into a molecular-level disruptor, something that would interfere with the cohesion of any substance at the molecular level, breaking the bonds between protons and neutrons in an atom’s nucleus. The necessary reconfiguring of the G-waves would only take moments, and since there were two jumpers with forward-mounted G-wave units, all he would have to do was equip them with the same strength shields as Chuck’s Jupiter Mission jumpers and he was, as they say, good to go. But should he? Did he really want to escalate his undeclared war with Earth, with the United States government?
“Genesis?”
“Yes, Christopher. How may I be of assistance?”
“Peanut, please.”
“Are you canceling privacy mode?”
“I am not, I am still not to be disturbed.”
“Understood,” the A.I. said, then connected Christopher to Peanut.
“Hey, buddy, everything all right?” Peanut asked cautiously.
“It’s all good. Just have a few things I have to work through. I need your team’s help.”
“Okay. This isn’t going to get my ass in any kind of trouble, is it?”
Christopher laughed. “Not at all my man. Do you know where the two jumpers we outfitted to take the two Earth ships back to the planet might be?”
“They’re parked in the hanger. Why do you ask?”
“How long would it take for you to beef up the shields so they could take the hit of a dozen or so of those railgun projectiles?” Christopher asked.
“For the record, you’re not fooling me, Mister Smooth! But to answer your question, I’d say no more than a couple of days. Now treat me like a fucking adult, why do you want the upgrades?” Peanut asked.
“I may have to visit Earth and I want to make damn sure those railguns can’t shoot me out of the sky. Now you know everything,” he spat.
“Hey, you son of a bitch! Do I deserve that kind of fucking attitude from you?” Peanut fumed.
Christopher was silent for a moment, then apologized. “Hey, man. I’m truly sorry. No, you don’t. And I forget sometimes that we’re all in this thing together. But when someone has to grab the shitty end of the stick, I grab it first because I don’t want anyone else to get their hands dirty.
“I’m tired of having to fight, to always be ready to fight. We came out here to avoid the bullshit, to keep our community from putting up with the racism, the bigotry and the millions of micro aggressions that every black man, woman, and child experiences in America. They can’t stand that we live here, they envy every advancement, and they hate the reminder at every turn that we’re better than they are. They’re like a yapping little dog, barking madly at us, even when we’re not around.”
“But you getting pissed off doesn’t help anyone, least of all you.”
“That is so true, my brother. But as much as my anger eggs me on, the truth is that I live for smacking white folks in the face anytime they think they can try to pull a fast one on me,” Christopher confessed, getting a huge laugh from Peanut. “What’s so damn funny?”
“You think that’s a secret? Way back when we started this whole thing, back when Chuck got out of the Navy, Riley and I were convinced Chuck was the militant one. But he was a pussycat next to you. Lucius told us about your father’s funeral, and we all saw how protective you were right from the start. And you know what? None of us disagreed with you. You don’t think we also wanted payback for the bullshit we all had to put up with growing up? Quit being such an asshole and let us help if you really think a statement needs to be made about these damn railguns. You’re not alone in this,” Peanut said.
It wasn’t that Christopher didn’t know or understand, it’s that he believed that he was sparing anyone else from the unpleasantness of direct confrontation, of being a part of his taking on the role of the colony’s Lord of War.
“Thank you, Peanut. Thank you for reminding me that we truly are family here,” he finally said.
Peanut let out a silent sigh of relief. “Yeah, that’s all well and good, but you scared the crap out of Sydney, you pissed off Chuck going off half-cocked, and I’m sure word has gone out that you’re on the warpath again, so there’s no telling what Pat has in store for you. So maybe you should get the hell out of your little hole there and go mend some fences, or at least let people know you’re not ready to—whatever you were thinking about doing. Because whatever it is you were planning, there’s enough of us who trust you and support you no matter what.”
“Sorry, man. I just want to shield everyone else from any acts of violence or war on my part,” Christopher chuckled.
“I think we’re all beyond that now. This is our home and there’s no reason for us to put up with any nonsense up to and including landing on Earth and grabbing takeout! And maybe you’re right. Maybe it is time we unambiguously make that point. I’m more than willing to do my part!”
“For now, just give me enhanced shields on the two jumpers. I’ll take it from there,” Christopher said.
“Okay, but I don’t want you buggin’ out all on your own,” admonished Peanut.
“I did say two jumpers, Peanut. Look, I gotta go.”
“All right, I’ll let you know when the jumpers are ready.”
It Was A Very Good Year
When the Titan Mission team woke up, they all had different tasks ahead. Benjamin and Piper arrived in the hab’s makeshift commissary finding Joy, Virginia and Lois already eating. Piper asked, “Where’s Sam?”
“When I called, I got some mumbling that sounded like it was coming from under a pillow. I guess he’s sleeping in,” Lois replied.
“He’s entitled to sleep in. We don’t have a hard and fast schedule to keep around here now that we’re back. Speaking of hard and fast, how did you two sleep,” she said, directing the question to Benjamin and Piper with an innocent look.
“Well, you’re half right,” Piper replied, getting the expected laughs from the others as Benjamin turned a deep red. “Nothing fast about it. That’s why we’re late.”
“Good to hear,” said Joy, twisting the knife a bit. “What are you up to today?”
“I’m doing the complete checkout of our birds in case Ops needs them somewhere down the line. I want them completely checked out and ready-to-go just in case,” Piper replied.
“I’m going to help Piper get the jumpers back to standard configuration, then I’m joining the water collection team for the rest of the day. I want to get a close look at the whole system,” Benjamin replied.
“The three of us are going to get everything ready for the tests we’re going to run on the samples,” Virginia said. “Unless you can use a hand?” she asked Piper.
“I don’t think so. We got a lot of the hard work done last night. I want to do all the system’s checks and get the checklists over to Ops before the end of the day. If I get done early, I’ll come by and lend a hand in the lab.”
“Me too,” promised Benjamin.
They sat around chatting until Piper and Benjamin finished breakfast, then they all dispersed.
Once the bunks and extra equipment was removed from their jumpers, Benjamin headed off to Ops to see where the action was. When he arrived, he watched as a new piece of ice was being maneuvered into place at the input port. He could see the exterior valve’s connection leading into the hab’s main storage tank.
He tapped a man in his mid-to-late forties on the shoulder and inquired where the heating element was.
“It’s that silver collar around the intake port. Once the asteroid is in place, it heats up to 75ºC and the liquid is sucked into the port for filtering,” was the reply.
“Using a G-wave to direct the liquid?” Benjamin as
ked.
The tech turned around to see who was asking the questions. Recognizing Benjamin, he reached back to shake hands.
“Yep. Your dad’s invention is truly the coolest thing since sliced bread. My name’s Everett. I’ve seen you around, and I heard you are one of the best pilots in the colony, but I think this is the first time we’ve spoken. Normally I’m in Environmental, good to finally catch you,” he said.
“Me too. Funny how in a population of twenty-eight-hundred, there’s people I haven’t really met yet,” Benjamin admitted.
“Seems counter intuitive, doesn’t it? You here to observe? I heard about your Titan Mission; pretty cool. You find anything like, alive?”
Benjamin chuckled. “Not so far. The rest of the team is getting ready to begin running all the samples through the lab.”
“Did you find anything bizarre?” Everett asked.
“To me, the one thing I couldn’t figure out was these balls on the bottom of one of the hydrocarbon lakes. We brought back samples, so hopefully we can figure out how they were made.”
“Were there a lot?”
“They stretched across the whole lake bed—well, at least as far as we could see.”
“Were they some kind of life form? Sounds kind of weird.”
Benjamin laughed. “We were hoping. But they looked like the same substance as the lake bed. But Lois is going to examine and test them six ways from Sunday. If there’s something alive, she’ll find it!”
“Can’t wait. Hang on,” Everett said, answering over the Ops net in his earpiece. “Roger, that. Heater temp is holding steady at 75º, clear to engage.”
Benjamin looked at the screens in front of Everett. One showed a huge chunk of ice dwarfing the two jumpers maneuvering it into the containment area before the collector. Everett flipped a switch and Benjamin could hear the Ops channel chatter.
“. . .three meters, slow forward velocity. Slower—slower and stop forward motion. Everett, this is Ops control. Is the collector fired up and ready to melt?”
“That’s affirmative. Heater’s holding steady at 75ºC, bringing up the collector field—now. We have water! Collection has begun, standby. Environmental, are you receiving?”
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