ARMS Domers Unite: (Book 6)

by Stephen Arseneault

  "Excellent."

  The comm closed, and a second channel was opened to the Retreat. "Colonel, just checking in."

  "Since we lost our contact, the DDI have been scrutinizing this place with a microscope."

  "Are you in any danger?"

  "They haven't found a thing, because there's nothing to find. Our only contact was directly with me, going through an ultrasecure channel with heavy encryption. I was assured that even if discovered they didn't have the gear to crack it. What's your status out there?"

  "Big developments. Some good, some not so much. Apparently one of the scientists from the original Earth science team that first traveled out here was in a stasis pod inside that facility. He's been awakened and is right here with us. Colonel Robert Thomas, meet the real Alexander Gaerten."

  Each of the men nodded into their cameras. "Alex will be helping us where he can going forward."

  "I take it he was the good news?"

  "He was. We discovered a room that housed the AI’s circuits. It got nervous and for a brief time decided we might be its enemy. As a result, we're now banned from going into the lower levels of the facility, and we've had to shut down our force of worker bots, including the Banshees and the Hailstorm."

  The colonel sat forward. "Any chance we can get the Hailstorm back?"

  "We'd have to come get your crew. You certain you could keep it hidden from the DDI?"

  "Space is a big place, Mr. Gruberg. You give her back and we'll keep her safe."

  "We'll consider that option, Colonel."

  A third comm channel was opened to the emperor of New Earth. "Mr. Gruberg, it seems your last attempt to meddle in my plans didn't go so well. The Denzee have signed an agreement to cease all hostilities. In turn, they are trading technology for mineral resources. We've already begun making updates to our fleet. And as a bonus, we will have the mines at Eden open in a few weeks. The Denzee will be providing more than adequate protection for our efforts there."

  "Good for you, Mervin. Then when they get their first crop from those plants on Gondol they can wipe you out all at once. You've made it easy for them."

  "They will not betray us in that manner."

  "You have their assurance? Their word? Written down and signed? I'm sure that will prevent them from breaking any promises. Look, they've already played you several times. I'd think you'd have wised up by now. The Denzee are not now and will never be your friends. At their first opportunity, you'll be crushed."

  "Yes, continue to wish for that outcome, Mr. Gruberg. For in your dreams is the only place that will come true. I feel like I'm sensing desperation in your arguments. You aren't giving reasons anymore, only opinions of how you would like us to act. Very telling."

  "Are you going somewhere with this?"

  "You’re now the leader of a group of outcasts. No one wants to claim you as their own. And now we have this humorous attempt to frighten the Domers into taking action with a report about toxic flowers on Gondol.

  "Your propaganda is already beginning to lose traction. In the coming days you will see many stories emerging that counter your claims, telling the public it is a hoax designed to cause war. And who will the people believe: their own government or an obvious propaganda machine being run by your military industrial complex? Or what remains of it."

  Harris shook his head. "I hope for the sake of all Earthers you don't get what you’re asking for. Be prepared to be stabbed in the back again. It's coming."

  With a huff, the emperor closed the comm.

  "Not liking Eden once again coming into play."

  "We need a plan," said Tawn. "We've been drifting since we went to Gondol and got trapped. We've lost our contact with the DDI. Now Bax is key to our success. I'd say we're spiraling out of control right now."

  The room was silent for several seconds, before Harris turned to Alex. "What was your specialty in science back in the day?"

  "I'm a physicist, although for the last twenty years we all had to be Jacks-of-all-trades. It was survival of all humanity at stake."

  "So you have an understanding of gamma rays?"

  "As much as one could have I suppose."

  "Mr. Morgan had a team working on a gamma ray weapon. We were hoping to harness a small nuclear explosion and make the output directional. Our initial design has one major hurdle to get over. Would that be something you'd be interested in pursuing?"

  "A death ray? Absolutely. Is there a lab where I can work on this?"

  "Actually, it would have been back in the bunker. But we can make you a spot in Trish's shop. There's a wall display there that has access to the data and the AI’s archives."

  "Hmm. Does the AI have access to this data?"

  "The AI has been working on it exclusively for the past several months. Mr. Morgan's team got dismantled."

  "Given our current situation with the AI, do you believe it to be wise to keep it in the loop, so to speak?"

  "Probably not. If you'd like, Sharvie should be able to help you set up a workstation that's completely isolated from the AI. We'll remove all access to it so you can develop in private. I would love to move that project forward. It’d be a game-changer against the Denzee or anyone else. And you might be interested in looking over our boson bomb.

  "As you know, this facility broadcasts a signal that allows our wormhole drives to operate in this space. We've developed a weapon that negates that signal so no wormhole can be opened, probably out to about a quarter-light-year, for about two hours. The negation field begins to shrink after that, and fully collapses after the two-hour timeframe."

  "Interesting. I would gladly look that over."

  "If you could figure out how to extend it in time or space, that would be fantastic. And take Mr. Morgan with you. He may be able to offer some good insights."

  Alex, Trish, and Sharvie assisted Bannis Morgan to the door.

  Harris turned back to Tawn and Gandy. "We're heading over to remove the AIs from the Hailstorm. We only need to pull the processor units, as the remainder of the ship can still be operated with manual controls."

  Tawn nodded. "The colonel will be thrilled to have her back."

  Later that day the Hailstorm was returned to the colonel's custody. A crew was picked up, flown in, and escorted out. Arrangements had been made to keep the heavily armed freighter in a secure location.

  Over the course of two months, Baxter Rumford managed to gather the ingredients needed for the herbicide run on Gondol. Her new efforts then turned toward acquiring ships for the product’s delivery. Meanwhile, back on Midelon, an effort was undertaken to build a mixing and refining facility that would turn the ingredients into the form required for dispersion, and a second effort began to define and build the actual delivery mechanism.

  A comm was opened to Bax by Harris. "The refining plant will be done in a week. Any leads on transport?"

  "Working on two. If either comes through, we'll be in business."

  "From the news reports we've received, it looks like the propaganda campaign was a bust."

  "Their counter claims placed enough doubt in people's minds that they just don't want to hear about it anymore. Standard burnout that comes from a message and counter message being repeated too many times. We're beating a dead bogler to even mention it now. I have a new campaign I'm mulling over that takes nationalism into account. That's always a good motivator."

  "From what I hear, our campaign at least slowed the call for dismantling any more ships."

  "It did, but that effect is starting to fade. Oh, and I managed to find Fritz Romero. He's the one working over the nationalism piece. Would have loved to have had him on my staff at Eden. He's a tireless worker."

  "Give him our best."

  "Just a moment. There’s an incoming comm from one of my ship leads."

  The display went black as the camera view switched to another channel. Harris waited patiently for several minutes before a smiling Baxter Rumford returned.

  "We got them. Two
mid-class freighters. Old, but usable. I'll need a day to collect the cargo, so... give me a comm back in twenty-four standard hours. We can set up the delivery then."

  The comm closed.

  Harris turned to Tawn, who was the only other one in the supply hut at the time. "We have freighters."

  "I heard. I know we've tried to leave the AI out of this, but we need those Banshees for a delivery. We can have twenty outfitted with spray-tanks again in a couple days, if we use the bots."

  "Wish we weren't so reliant on those things."

  "We can't do what they can in the super-short timeframe we need. You know what this means?"

  "Uh, no."

  "It means we have the herbicide and a way to deliver it—or at least we will in a couple days. Now the question is how. Last check still showed a hundred twenty Ratoons camping out at Gondol. We can't handle that many ships."

  Harris opened a comm. "AI? Can you give us a scan of Gondol? Push the results to my comm if you would."

  "One moment..."

  Harris pushed the data to the display wall. "Twenty ships? When did that happen?"

  A comm was again opened to the AI. "Do we know where all the Denzee ships are right now?"

  "One moment... for Ratoons, I show twenty at Gondol, one hundred twenty at Eden, and seven hundred twelve at Jellon."

  Harris scowled. "Their numbers are growing."

  Tawn asked, "Why would they leave Gondol like that?"

  "Don't know. Maybe they think we won't attack after getting our butts kicked last outing. Whatever the reason, it works for me."

  The following day, two freighters were escorted to the ground at Midelon. The small army of bots were finishing up their work on Banshee spraying tanks and were charged with running the refining process on the millions of tonnes of herbicidal agent to be sprayed into the atmosphere of Gondol. The bots worked with efficiency and speed, completing the assigned task two hours ahead of schedule.

  Harris walked into Trish's shop where Sharvie, Trish, and Bannis were assisting Alex with the gamma ray project. "How's it looking?"

  "Fascinating," Alex replied. "We've identified a series of tests we'd like to conduct in simulation. Sharvie is working to move the necessary software onto our systems so that our work remains isolated from the AI."

  "The herbicide is ready for delivery. The bots are filling the tanks as we speak. Trish, when we lift off, which may be in the next few minutes, I'd like you and Sharvie to deactivate the bots for me."

  Trish nodded. "Consider it done."

  Harris chuckled. "You people are too easy sometimes. I was expecting a grumble."

  Sharvie said, "We have something to occupy our minds. And Alex is pretty entertaining for being over eighteen hundred years old."

  "Hmm. Another wannabe comedian. I'll have to up my game."

  Twenty minutes later, the Biomarines were slipping through a wormhole into Gondol space. A boson bomb was deployed and the twenty-four tankless Banshees, followed by the Bangor, raced in. Two Ratoons came out to fight as the other eighteen turned and fled. The gang of Banshees made short work of the defenders, allowing the herbicide tankers to enter the Gondol atmosphere without incident.

  The Banshees sprayed their loads in a fine mist for most of two hours before a second boson was deployed. By then, three-quarters of the planet had been covered.

  Harris grinned as the negation field again spread wide. "This has gone better than expected. No casualties, and the payload has been placed exactly where we wanted it. We should have more outings that go this smoothly."

  Tawn propped her boots up on the corner of the console as she leaned back in her chair. "I could get used to it. Although it has been a bit boring. When you're fighting for your life, time seems to go by a lot quicker."

  Three hours after the effort had begun, the last of the tanks was empty. A run to free space was followed by a jump home. The skies of Midelon looked particularly inviting as they landed in the grass beside the bunker.

  Tawn followed Harris into the supply hut, where the others were just starting a meal. "Product was delivered and we didn't lose any ships. Took out two Ratoons and the others fled."

  Harris asked, "Anything exciting happen in the three and a half hours we were gone?"

  Gandy replied, "Yeah, these four people bored me to tears. I had to stand over their shoulders while they all commented on some simulation they were running."

  Alex frowned. "We tested out two of our theories. Both failed. We have another running right now that will take until morning. So no issues with dispersing the herbicide?"

  "None," Harris said. "The ships ran the grid pattern we laid out." He pulled up a list on his arm pad display. We dumped the precipitate of about forty million pounds of minerals that yielded a mix of ammonium nitrate, triple superphosphate, calcium cyanamide, and a touch of magnesium. Sounds like a nasty mix."

  Alex returned a confused look. "That was your herbicide?"

  "That's what it says here. Is there a problem?"

  "I would say so. You listed the ingredients common to fertilizer."

  "That can't be right."

  "Was that the complete list?"

  "It's what I was given."

  "You may have just accelerated the growth of the plants on Gondol."

  — Chapter 15 —

  * * *

  Harris' face grew red as a comm was opened to the AI. "I have good word that ammonium nitrate, triple superphosphate, and calcium cyanamide with a touch of magnesium is a fertilizer."

  "That would be a correct statement."

  "Why did we just deliver fertilizer to Gondol?"

  "Was there no 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid?"

  "It's not in the list you gave me."

  "You are only looking at the accelerant list. The toxin portion of the mix is 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid."

  "This is what I was told was in the tanks we delivered."

  "One moment."

  Harris growled as he looked at the others. "I'm not liking the sound of this."

  "It appears there was a mix up. The 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid component was not delivered. The worker bots performed the mix with what was available in the proportions as directed. Is there a reason the 2,4-D was not provided?"

  "Open a comm to Bax."

  A split screen appeared above his arm pad. "Pass me the list of ingredients for the herbicide."

  Seconds later, the list appeared.

  "This all you have?"

  "That's what I was given."

  "There's a huge component missing."

  "Will it make a difference?"

  "It makes all the difference. We just fertilized that whole planet. We need two million tonnes of something called 2,4-D."

  "Let me check on that."

  Harris turned to the others. "This is disastrous. We'll have to go back."

  Bax returned. "You won't be going back anytime soon. A quick check shows half a million tonnes to be all that's manufactured in a given year... on the entire planet."

  "So this herbicide would never have happened anyway. AI, again, how'd this happen?"

  "I delivered the list to your comm. My logs show two data files attached with that message."

  Harris shook his head. "I only have one... no, wait. It shows two now. That's not right. I know it was only one."

  Tawn placed her hand on his shoulder. "Doesn't matter. There's not enough of the herbicide to do what we need anyway. We couldn't buy it if we wanted to. AI, search the Domicile archives for other herbicides. What else could we use?"

  "One moment..."

  Harris rubbed the back of his neck. "I think my head’s about to explode. AI, with the current delivery as it stands, is the expected harvest still three months away?"

  "Simulations show an acceleration to possibly five weeks from now for harvesting to begin."

  "And how long does it last?"

  "Six days."

  "And how long to process the toxin?"

  "As sh
ort as a single day. And I've completed a search of herbicides. The closest is only 40 percent as effective and requires a fermenting process that takes several weeks. We do not currently have the materials to build a processing plant. If we were to acquire those within the next few days, we might complete the process with as much as a week to spare."

  A new list appeared on Harris' comm. "I've taken the liberty to forward it to Miss Rumford as well," the AI added.

  Bax shook her head. "We're talking days? No way I can get this in that time. And those freighters I leased are no longer available. They were being sold off and I managed the lease on the day before delivery. Can't get them back."

  Harris closed the comms and walked out into the Midelon sun.

  Tawn followed. "What are we gonna do about this?"

  "Nothing we can do. I'm 100 percent certain I was given that single list. That AI purposefully did this to us."

  Tawn crossed her arms. "That doesn't make sense. What purpose would that suit? The AI doesn't support the Denzee."

  "Maybe it got hacked and we haven't realized it. What better way to take advantage of the situation than to pull crap like this?"

  "We can have Sharvie check for that."

  "That AI isn't going to allow her the access she would need for that. And if it was hacked, it won't be telling us it was. From here on, I think we have to consider it compromised."

  Tawn chuckled. "Because of one mix-up?"

  "It wasn't a mix-up. I know there was only a single data file attached. Don't know how that machine got into my comm files, but it did. This is a disaster. We now have five weeks before all of Domicile is poisoned."

  "We'll figure it out. That's what we do."

  Harris opened a comm to the emperor.

  "Mr. Gruberg, I wasn't expecting you so soon."

  "Look, there's been a new development. The harvest on Gondol will be ready in about five weeks. When the Denzee process that toxin, they're gonna use it on Domicile. I just know it. That will leave you vulnerable to their next strike. With those two planets gone—heck, even with just Domicile gone—the Denzee will rule this space. You've chosen the wrong side here and you're dooming us all."

  "I was just informed of your kind efforts to fertilize Gondol for us. That doesn't seem like the effort of someone who wants to stop this."