She smiled sadly, “I don’t know. It is out of my hands. I’ll know soon, possibly within a few days. What of the second number?” He shrugged, “Related. My aide. She is in fact somehow related to the Chamberlain Foundation. I think her assignment was no accident. I chose her, but I can now see that it was a stacked deck – she was the only viable candidate for the position. Very neatly done, and also very disquieting.”
She asked, “How so?” He grinned, “We tend to look at our present society as comprising large corporations making war on the government, sort of a binary set. Yet this foundation exists somewhere in between, somewhere else. It seems to be huge, nearly invisible and has been secretly acting to preserve the Federation from its own worst instincts. I admit to being highly intrigued.”
Chu-Hua fixed him a light supper and afterward retired to the den. She had a few papers to grade and he told her he wanted to acclimatize himself with the neighborhood. It was late spring, and a bit drizzly, so he dressed for what was to him an unusual opportunity to get wet while walking.
Over the centuries, Hong Kong had greatly expanded its territory, stretching west to engulf the former Macao Special Administrative Region. Virtually the entire cluster of islands and peninsulas were connected by underwater transit systems and covered by huge towers, frequently also connected. There were large open areas, parks masquerading as native forest, and it was into one of these that he headed.
The drizzle was blown around by gusts of wind, making for interesting walking, something he badly needed to do if he wanted to get his land legs back.
He wandered up a paved path and stopped at a vista point with a convenient bench. He sat and looked up at the amorphous gray mass, stitched with darker areas, and inhaled. It wasn’t particularly cold, and he smiled, thinking that losing the uniform wasn’t totally bad.
Someone appeared in the darkness, walking slowly up from the opposite side. As the figure approached it morphed into a tall woman, who sat down next to him, “Hello Admiral, enjoying your first night at home?” He grinned, “Miss Chamberlain, what a pleasant surprise.” She smiled, “You agreed to meet me here, so I hope your statement is only a half lie.” He grinned again, “How may I serve you?”
She looked around at the copse of trees beyond which a forest of silver towers rose up, their tops obscured by the clouds, “I am sorry to have to tell you this, but your wife is going to lose her position. The decision is a rather severe violation of the university’s own constitution, but the pressure was inescapable. It’s immediate, and while she’ll be given a month to vacate, in reality, she – the two of you – won’t have even that much time.”
He nodded, “I feared as much. They want me gone.” She said, “So do we. Sir, you can’t accomplish anything here, and even the effort to try will get you in deep, deep trouble, your son as well. Realistically, your only option is to relocate.”
He sighed, “My wife has put up with long tours of duty, she’s lived in substandard Navy housing all over the Federation, and this professorship was her reward, what she worked for all those years.”
Isabella nodded, “I have an offer to pass on to you, one that on third or fourth look will still look like a demotion, yet it...I hope you consider it. Both of you.”
He smiled, “Go ahead.” She said, “Maya has a vacancy in its history department. Your wife, if she applies, will be accepted, and the university will pay moving expenses, provide her with a nice residence.”
He nodded, “And...?” She said, “Maya has a relatively small but highly advanced tech industry. If you look, you might find something to do with your spare time.” He sighed, “Doing what, exactly?”
She stood, “Did you know that John Chamberlain taught at that same university? Same department in fact. Near there, your Hawk and Dresdens were developed. Good night, Admiral.”
He watched her walk back down the slope and when she disappeared, he rose up and headed back to his apartment, ponding how to broach the subject of the loss of his wife’s coveted professorship.
Perhaps he’d just let the university give her the bad news.
Chapter 56
Admiral Alexi Tretiakov, Fleet Carrier Gresham
The ancient bulk freighter Antonov sat motionless, nearly the best acceleration it was capable of. A line of shuttles hovered nearby, waiting to discharge their cargo of water into the immense ship, which had been hastily modified for this possibly last mission of its long life.
The Antonov had been tagged with ferrying reactor fuel to the X’Leem fleet. Alexi knew that this people had been stopping every ten to twenty years to refuel, using a variety of sources, including gas giants and less frequently, inner planets with surface water.
The X’Leem were now still several light years from their assumed destination, a solar system with a planet that Alexi already knew to be highly suitable to the species. However, for reasons not spelled out or even suggested, their liaison requested the refueling of one of the immense globes.
Although significantly smaller than the colony globes, the Sixth Fleet versions measured over two kilometers in diameter. Despite months of presumed unobserved observation by a series of Kestrels, Alexi still had almost no idea how many ‘people’ lived inside those ships, their living conditions, social structure or indeed, anything of substance. The X’Leem were being extremely secretive about their society. Alexi was reasonably certain that what they were hiding had to do with twenty centuries of travel fatigue plus a few additional millennia of highly structured insanity.
Still, he worried. There was so little known about his new dependents that his head spun. He had to figure out a way to transport an unknown number of beings, possessing a largely unknown biology, diet and atmosphere requirements plus an infinity of other needs causing his head to spin back the other way.
It took another forty hours for the transfer, and the immense freighter finally accelerated, heading for the Void.
The X’Leem had continued to send out fighter patrols, but this intensely regulated and authoritarian society seemed to be having a spot of bother – the number of fighters, how long they were out and the way they operated varied considerably.
Their other large ships had maneuvered into clusters surrounding the three globes. Small vessels, similar in size and function to shuttles, went back and forth between them, but again, their former precision seemed to have departed. The admiral’s staff surmised that the species didn’t want those large warships wandering around.
Alexi authorized the freighter to jump into close proximity of the X’Leem. He warned them ahead of time, but they still reacted when the freighter appeared out of nothingness. As a guess, they had just learned an important reason why the colony ships died. It was one thing to process the intellectual concept of FTL; entirely another to see a four million ton freighter materialize in front of you,
Over the next two days Alexi and his people watched in amazement as their visitors swarmed the old ship, rapidly set up equipment to transfer the fluid into their small shuttles, which moved over to the exterior of one of the globes.
Some of the shuttles began transferring the water into the ship while others began spraying a fine mist of steam onto the exterior.
One of Alexi’s engineers snorted, “Son of a bitch! Triple duty as shield, drinking water and fuel.” Alexi asked, “How thick would it have to be to be effective, and to be sufficient for one of their crossings?” The engineer shrugged, “Unknown, but...at least one hundred meters, possible far more. They could extract it from the inside of the shield, probably start from the stern. Their personal usage would be recycled, but the engines no.”
The freighter was rigged to blow, and had a minimal human crew, which remained inside the bridge area. The engine room, including the jump drive system, was closed off, and Alexi had requested that the X’Leem not enter those two areas. He’d know if they tried, and he’d ensured that the results would be painful.
Alexi said, “It looks like an ant colony, they’r
e just swarming the ship. This is incredible.”
The X’Leem representative to Alexi passed on the information that they would require another three loads. He also passed on a laundry list of needed supplies, largely metals. Quite a lot.
The representative disappeared back into her quarters, causing everyone to relax. He spoke more like a robot than an individual.
Alexi read through the list, asked his people for their opinions, plural, and was quickly told, “This list tells us a great deal about their level of technology. Nothing here suggests they use plastics, nearly everything is recyclable. They clearly know metallurgy, probably close to our own levels, but I don’t see anything that suggests they have polymers or ceramics, even carbon fiber. This list is amazing for what it doesn’t have, and for what it tells us about their technology.” He added, “They are going to learn a lot from the Antononv’s structure.”
Another engineer looked closely at one section and commented, “Judging by this list of metals, we might be able to learn something from them. Hell, I don’t even know what some of these are. They’ve been running these ships in the most hostile of environments for many centuries, meaning they’re doing something right. As a guess, during some of their stops they would have had to replenish more than just water, perhaps mine for certain elements, and that in itself suggests they either have large areas devoted to that equipment, or they build it as needed, and recycle. Fascinating. My first question, however, is how they get back. As a guess they could head in a straight line, but even that, with minimal stops equates to at least three hundred years, and that is if we supply them en route.”
Alexi shook his head, “I don’t know if those ships can make the return trip. I haven’t been able to determine what happened to the missing globe, or what happened to the three missing colony ships. It is possible they simply suffered catastrophic damage.”
His aide raised her hand, “Sir, I’ve got a report that suggests one of the colony ships got caught by the sixth fleet - either portion of it - in a system. Based on the debris field, this would have occurred roughly two centuries ago. We’re still looking at stellar data, but we only go back about four hundred years, so anything that happened before that is your guess.”
Alexi asked, “What about fissile materials for their weapons?” She asked, “You mean, replenishment?” He nodded. She said, “They use Plutonium 239 for their weapons, and the material is quite stable, with a half-life of over twenty-four thousand years; however, over time Plutonium 240 tends to build up and it is highly radioactive, a huge consideration on these ships, so as a guess they have the ability to separate out the heavier element. We actually don’t know, as we haven’t had to face their weapons, but the colony ships did, so we assume the home world can.”
Alexi asked, “So, they haven’t had to replenish or replace the fissile material; probably. What would they do to reduce or eliminate radiation damage?” She said, “Shielding, possibly a magnetic storage chamber. We don’t know, and we haven’t measured any significantly hot spots on the exterior of their ships, so whatever they’ve come up with, it has been highly effective.”
He mused, “Compared to us, this people is an odd combination of backward and advanced. If the two of us can ever get to know each other, it should be interesting.”
She looked at a screen, one showing the freighter, crawling with rapidly moving and oddly shaped shuttles, “The last few years were far too interesting.” He smiled, “Yes. I have often thought on this subject; for the colony ships, two thousand years of flight and fight, never knowing if they would succeed in breaking away, and at the end, when they could run no more, they turned to fight, right in the one spot in this entire region of space where humans happened to exist. The odds for that must be incalculable, yet it happened, the colonists died because of us, and now their pursuers have a remote chance to survive, one they might not have had if not for us.”
She cocked her head, “Thank you sir, I have never thought of this in that particular way. Oddly, it makes me feel better.”
He nodded, “God’s hand has given us this responsibility and we must not fail in our duty.”
She once again froze, “Sir, you mean to say that...” He interrupted, “I mean, we are going to do everything possible to help this race survive. Everything.”
The X’Leem appeared on the bridge, wearing what was essentially a space suit, and asked, “Sir, what can you tell me about your...freighter.”
Alexi turned to face him, or her – he didn’t know, “What would you like to know?” She asked “Is that ship typical? How do you use them? How old is it?”
He nodded, “That ship is quite old, nearly one hundred of our years, perhaps one hundred and ten of your years. It is typical of the type and is used to transport products between our various worlds.”
She asked, “One hundred years? That is considered old?” Alexi suddenly understood, at least part of the question. Speaking carefully, he said, “Yes. There is a tradeoff between the cost of building and operating a craft, and the benefit to society from using it. At one extreme, the craft would be inexpensive but unreliable and very short lived; at the other end, it would cost so much in human resources that it would never return a positive benefit.”
The X’Leem was silent for a long moment, “Are there then other craft that...consume more of your resources to build, but which would then...function for a reasonable amount of time?” Alexi realized that the innocent question about a nearly derelict freighter was rapidly evolving into a highly complex issue, touching on capitalism and the profit motive, how a society is organized and functions, cost-benefit analyses and perhaps most dangerous of all, on technology advancement.
The X’Leem hadn’t been told that humans had only lived in space for some five hundred years, had only reached past their own atmosphere six hundred years previously. One of the reasons that ship was there was because its technology was obsolete, not because it was merely old. It was deemed a better use of resources to just build new.
He sent up a prayer and said, “During your voyage, has your people been able to continue to advance their knowledge of science and technology?”
The X’Leem once again pondered on the question, “Yes.” Alexi was now curious, “At the same rate as prior to the destruction of your world?”
She was quiet for over a half-minute, “I do not understand the question.”
Alexi recognized the answer as meaning he’d asked a question she was not going to answer. However, he thought she did understand.
She settled that question a moment later, “Will you send others of your freighter, or is that the only one?”
He answered, “This craft was nearby and available; may I ask, is the need for water urgent?” She stood for nearly a minute, “Sir, there are...problems.”
Alexi turned to his aide and quietly ordered, “Send a courier to Jupiter – we need two more freighters.” He turned back, “I have ordered two additional craft. Sir, is there anything else I can do to assist your people?”
She said, “I shall speak to my...superior. I shall return in twenty of your hours. When may we expect the craft?” Alexi mentally added two days transit time to the inevitable bureaucratic drag and said, “Perhaps five days? Approximately.”
He already knew that she was not going to understand his inability to provide a more accurate arrival time. The X’Leem were an extremely regimented, top down society in which orders were expected to be carried out exactly as given; in which the conditions downstream and upstream were always well understood at both ends and everyone was highly indoctrinated in their role, their position in the colony.
He almost smiled – he’d just thought of this people as a colony, an ant colony.
Space-faring ants with guns.
Chapter 57
Warrant Officer Eliot Kana, the Grant
Captain Padilla commed Kana, “WO Kana, please see me in my quarters.”
If only for the abrupt tone of voice, Eliott k
new this to be important, and promptly walked rapidly forward and up into officer country; on Dresdens, a relatively small region. He knocked and was permitted to enter.
His captain, Commander Robert Padilla, looked up from his desk and got right to the point, “How long will it take us to get underway?”
The Stone was currently alongside an FFC, taking on stores and reactor fuel. Kana knew his very young captain could have gotten that information after five seconds on his pad, so he figured there must be something else, probably not good.
Kana said, “Sir, thirty minutes.” Captain Padilla nodded, “We may have a problem. Well, a bigger problem. The Gresham reports that one of the X’Leem destroyers has gotten underway, escorted by a small quantity of fighters. Thing is, this movement is not on their schedule, and there appears to be increased activity across the board. Admiral Tretiakov thinks it might be something along the lines of a mutiny.”
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