SODIUM:3 Fusion

by Arseneault, Stephen

  The result was that I was quietly subdued and backup was called for. I then thought spoke to Paige to try to beat on his door. She complied and was quickly taken down by the second guard.

  While we both lay handcuffed on the ground with a knee in each of our backs the door to David Brenner's office opened. Two Generals and their aids then stepped out and looked down at us as they walked by.

  David Brenner then stepped up to the door and looked down at me. After shaking his head he instructed the guards to release us. We were then invited into his office as he assured the guards that we were harmless.

  David began with his normal pleasant greeting and then remarked that his time was short as he was expected at another meeting. But, he was curious as to what was so urgent that I had risked arrest for it.

  I then began to talk, trying to explain what Paige had just created. After a minute of getting nothing but a confused look from him I then asked him to participate in a short experiment. I had Paige stand between us with my back turned to them both. I then asked him to take an electronic pad and write down a number and to then show it to her. He remarked again that his time was short and that he had an important meeting to attend.

  I begged him to stay and that what I was about to show him was well worth his valuable time. He wrote down a number and showed it to Paige. I blurted out the number for which I got silence.

  We then repeated the process three more times with me repeating the number correctly after each time it was written. I then told him that just to eliminate any suspicion I would leave the room for a moment and then return with the next number. Again I repeated what he had written.

  David Brenner then said he'd had enough of the games and to just tell him what this grand discovery was. I turned to Paige for an explanation. Paige began talking about quantum entanglement and how she had been pursuing it for years. Even though modern science had long ago relegated it to being nothing more than a curiosity and a gimmick, she had continued experimenting.

  She then explained how she had fused three entangled particles together and then fused their three entangled mates together as well. David sat up in his chair as Paige was now speaking his language. She explained how she had integrated those particles into our audio processors and into a specific channel. Paige then asked David to whisper something in her ear... anything. He did.

  I then repeated back to him what he had said. David then stood with an amazed look on his face as Paige reminded him that the entangled particle link was instantaneous... over any distance.

  He then accessed his own implant and ordered an emergency meeting of the Senior Science Council. He escorted us out into the hallway of doors and into a large conference room just down the hall from his office.

  Within two minutes the 12 members of the Senior Council were hustling into the room and seating themselves at a large oval table. As soon as the last man sat David began to tell of the discovery.

  Paige gave another quick briefing of her work and the members of the council began to ask their questions. The questions went on for half an hour before David looked over at me and asked what part I had played in this immense discovery.

  I explained to him that I was only a bystander. I was then given the direction to return to whatever other important duties I had to do. I had basically been kicked out, but not before receiving a firm and again embarrassing thank you hug from my Great Uncle.

  I looked longingly at Paige as I walked out the door, wondering if I would see her again anytime soon. It was a long walk back to the DSims where I found Red hanging out with another crew. I had him connect me to the DSim for a few lonely scenarios to finish out the remainder of the day.

  The following morning I was disappointed when a new guy showed up to fill in for Paige. She was busy leading a new team of physicists and engineers in an attempt to recreate her instantaneous communications or what she termed as "QE comm".

  During her briefing she had explained to the Senior Science Council that it took four years to get the three pairs of entangled particles. It had taken her almost 120,000 tries before she had the pairs she needed to put her fusing theory into practice.

  I could not imagine having the patience for such an endeavor. Gimme-now or go away was more of my speed. I felt lucky to have had her by my side for as long as I had. She was indeed brilliant... like David Brenner.

  And like my Great Uncle she was kind and caring and unselfish. As far as I was concerned the world could not have enough people like her. Those types were the ones responsible for most of the great advancements of Mankind, the dreamers, thinkers and doers.

  I had arrived at the DSim that morning a bit early. I had hoped to have a few moments alone with Paige as she was normally the early bird. Instead I was greeted this morning by Chad. Chad was a tall dorky kid with a high squeaky voice. He was a chatty Cathy which coupled with his tone put me in a foul mood.

  After I sniped at him a couple times I had to stop myself. He was just here doing his job like the rest of us. I had no real cause to treat him in an unprofessional manner, even if I did have a strong desire to do so. I apologized after the second incident.

  Chad said that it did not bother him. He knew he could be a bit grating and talkative and I was not the first who had let him know. After that response we began to get along much better. Chad then showed that he knew his stuff when it came to being a handler. He had been the handler for the pilot of the first Defender that we had lost in battle. This was like a second chance for him to prove his worth to the program.

  Bigg soon showed up followed by Pop and then Whip. Bigg had spent the day with his son learning about the BHD drive. He was now well versed in not only how it functioned, but in how it was assembled, installed and magnetically balanced between the five rings that propelled a ship.

  Pop's day was spent with the reactor research group. They had been going over his ideas for an improved feed and had managed to get a prototype running that showed a 23% increase in power output. Pop was all grins.

  Whip's day had been less eventful. Her day was spent in study of tactical planning and more specifically on what were the best practices for weapons use that had come from the simulations. We still had very little real world weapons data as our engagements with the enemy fighters had been limited.

  I filled the crew in on Paige's discovery and accomplishment and then gave the bad news that we had probably lost her to the realms of research. Everyone warmly welcomed Chad.

  We were soon connected to our DSim and heavily involved in destroying the simulated enemy while trying to protect ourselves. Chad quickly proved his worth. At the completion of our second scenario I was startled by a warbling sound from my implant. It was Paige. I rolled my eyes at how quickly I had forgotten that we had a direct channel to one another.

  I answered and Paige began to detail her morning’s events. The team had agreed to leave the one QE comm channel between us intact and when not in use for testing it was available to us. I was elated at the news and took a bit of comfort in the fact that she had insisted that I keep my end of the connection. It gave me hope that she might harbor some of the same personal feelings for me that I had for her.

  She said she was unsure of when she would be able to talk again as they had been busily ordering truckloads of the equipment used to create entangled particles.

  At about 40,000 tries per entanglement it looked like the fleet would not be rolling out this new technology to the masses anytime soon. I thanked Paige for keeping me in the loop and we ended the conversation with a prolonged goodbye.

  As I turned to tell the others about Paige, Red chimed in with a shocker. One of the crewmen on Defender A15 had taken ill and a replacement offensive specialist was needed. My first thought was that we were going to lose Whip.

  Then Red barked out that I was to report to conference room D422 to meet with my new team. I was being called up to active duty early because of the QE comm device in my head.

  Channel 1647 was goin
g to be tapped into by Battle Command at Paige's end and by the squadron at my end. We were to be a bridge for instant communications between the ground and our ships in battle.

  Chad had me unhooked and was congratulating me as we walked together towards D422. I was bothered that I had not been given the chance to say goodbye to my crew. Given that fact and that I was now heading into a completely new situation had my nerves on edge. Chad picked up on it during the walk and cut back on his normal chatter.

  Even though we had studied each position thoroughly I was not a weapons officer. I had little experience in the DSim on when to activate and deploy weapons when under the gun. I viewed my handful of scenarios training at it on level-one as wholly inadequate.

  When I arrived I was greeted by the A15 team and was immediately quizzed about the QE comm. I gave them my limited explanation after which we were thrust into a briefing of the upcoming mission.

  We had one week to train before an attempt was to be made at taking out the remaining two alien craft. I expected the new crew to be working me harder than a rented mule during that time. We practiced scenario after scenario of attacks against two alien fighters just to toughen us up.

  I was a wreck and made the same mistakes again and again. I began to doubt my ability to run my post. Was I going to be sent into battle where I would be a liability for my team instead of an asset? The thought clawed at my subconscious.

  The simulations were run with eight Defenders against two alien craft. Each time we had come away victorious but at the expense of more than half of our ships. It was beginning to look like a suicide mission.

  Chapter 9

  On the morning of the planned attack we were assembled for a short briefing in room D422. Word then came down that A15 was to be used as a communications ship only. We would maintain a station well away from the action but close enough to keep Command's communications with the other Defenders near instantaneous. I wondered what the need was with the fighting taking place so close to Earth, where our communications were already near immediate.

  I was then told that the purpose of our being there was to work out any kinks with using channel 1647 as our comm link. For A15 it would not be much more than a training run. Go, park, sit and be nothing more than a comm channel.

  From the conference room we were taken into the hallway of doors and walked to an elevator at one end. The elevator took us down what I would guess was another four floors. We exited into a heavily guarded holding room for a thorough bio-identity check before being led through a heavy door into another room. The room contained another track with six large doors on the walls.

  One of the doors opened and a mini-bus sized vehicle rolled out on the tracks. We boarded the mini-bus, were strapped in tightly and the door closed behind us. Once again we were in complete darkness. I could then feel the movement of the vehicle as it began to spin slowly. After it stopped I could hear one of the doors opening and could then feel the mini-bus moving through the door.

  After the door closed behind us we sat quietly for several seconds. Then the dramatic acceleration began. We were pressed back in our seats through five solid minutes of increasing speed followed by another five minutes of deceleration. I could only imagine how far we had traveled. Moments after the mini-bus came to a stop it began to once again spin. When finished, we were left completely disoriented as to the direction we had come from.

  The door opened to a soft light and several crewmen came in to assist us in our exit. The eight members of team A15 were then hustled into the next room where another complete bio-identity scan was done.

  We were next herded through several more hallways and elevator rides before emerging in a hangar at Regents Field. The hangar housed the Defenders for the day's mission. There sat our loaf of bread with a big A15 sign sitting on an easel beside it.

  The adrenalin began to pump as we approached our ship. The Sodium oxide coating was almost pure white... it was a breathtaking sight. When first told of the coating I wondered why the Defender would not ignite and burst into flames if it came into contact with moist air.

  We had quickly learned that an extreme high temperature ionized bonding process allowed the coating to bind with the aluminum shell of the Defender in a way that repelled interaction with water. It was one of the only pieces of technology on the ship that I could grasp. That understanding was the first and only benefit I had ever derived from my chemistry degree.

  We boarded the Defender from the rear and made our way to our stations. It still felt strange to me to be sitting at the offensive post. Chad quickly had me buckled in and connected. The handlers exited, the door was closed and the Defender powered up. This was it. We were going into space to battle an enemy that to date had us outclassed and outgunned.

  I went through my checklist and reported my station status to the pilot. We had 40,000 rounds of tungsten coil gun pellets and a complement of eight BHD tipped active-skinned nuclear warheads.

  One new addition to the warheads had been an improved sensor that would allow better tracking of the alien vessels. The BHD warheads were now essentially fire and forget. The warhead would detonate if it came within 500 meters of its intended target. The advance would make my job much easier if my station was called upon. Pop up a screen, select a target, activate a warhead for delivery and then press a flashing yellow holo-button.

  The squadron of eight Defenders lifted from the ground and slowly made their way out of the hangar. Other than the slightest sensation of movement the experience was no different than that of a DSim.

  We taxied to a point, tilted straight up and within seconds we were leaving the atmosphere. We quickly reached a rendezvous point 150,000 km from the Earth. Orders were given and the seven Defenders advanced on the alien targets as our ship sat idle.

  Once the Defenders were within 40,000 km my combat display lit up. All 56 of the BHD warheads aboard the seven ships were fired at once. The image on my holo-display was insanity.

  The BHD nukes had immediately locked onto their targets and were closing in rapidly. The alien fighters began immediate evasive actions. The actions taken were unexpected. The fighters dove straight down into the atmosphere and headed towards the largest undefended city on the ground.

  Ground fighters would be scrambled to defend them and they would be no match for the alien craft. As a consequence of their tactic the BHD nukes all activated their fail-safe modes. The nuke would disarm, the sensors would disengage from their intended targets and the BHD drives would take the devices back to Regents field where they would land harmlessly.

  Nukes going off over a major city would not bring victory. Before my commander had the chance to stop me I took the initiative to launch two of our BHD nukes. They would sit silently for ten minutes with the active skin shielding their existence.

  I was quickly chastised for the move. The ground commander came on asking why I had wasted two of our weapons. I said that I had done it as a precaution in case the alien craft headed our way. Only moments had passed before the announcement was made that they were indeed coming after the seven Defenders that had fired upon them.

  I watched in anger as all seven ships turned tail and ran. They had already been given orders to evade and return to base. As the alien fighters shot up through the atmosphere they both made a hard turn and headed in our direction. Their angle of attack prevented us from returning directly to Regents field.

  As our pilot turned us away from the oncoming ships and accelerated I launched another BHD warhead with a one minute activation delay. I had programmed it to turn on and then seek out the nearest enemy fighter.

  Again the battle commander came on the comm asking what I was doing. I told him I was protecting my crew and taking a shot at eliminating the enemy. He again reiterated that our orders were to evade the enemy and return to base.

  I suggested to our pilot to take us for a swing around the Moon where we would have a chance of evading the attackers and then returning to Regents Field thr
ough our initial rendezvous point. I was initially denied my request until I told him of my plan.

  I reasoned that we had the two BHD warheads sitting there that we could possibly use against our pursuers. After a few moments of thinking about it he changed course for the Moon. At the same time that we turned the one minute delay on the last BHD warhead concluded and the warhead went active. It immediately turned and began its pursuit of the nearest alien fighter.

  We now had the two fighters chasing us and one BHD warhead chasing them. As soon as we passed behind the safety of the Moon we began a long arcing curve of a turn to get ourselves lined up to return to Regents Field through the initial rendezvous point.

  The two BHD warheads I had left in waiting had also been programmed to activate and seek the nearest alien craft. I had our pilot slow our speed slightly to allow our pursuers to think they were catching up. The closer they came to that point the better chances we had to unleash my surprise.

  The alien fighters slowly closed in on us as the one BHD warhead closed in on them. We passed the rendezvous point and seconds later the two BHD warheads activated. The alien fighters were caught between the three warheads. The fighters turned in opposite directions and began making sharp directional corrections.

  The BHD warheads were relentless in their pursuit. Again the alien craft had the turning radius advantage over us but the warheads continued to challenge. My battle display was a mosaic of wide turns and flashing beacons. The fighter with two BHDs in pursuit soon met its fate. Two bright flashes told the story as the fighter was turned into small bits of space junk.

  The second fighter began moving from side to side using its gravity weapon from about two kilometers distance. The tactic worked as the BHD soon lost its only sensor and the alien fighter was free to move away.

  I got on the comm and begged the battle commander to allow us to pursue. I was denied. We returned to Regents Field, landed and taxied into the hangar. I was dejected. On one hand I felt vindicated for my use of the BHD warheads while on the other I felt that I had not gone far enough. Had I launched one or two or three more we might have taken out the remaining alien fighter.