by Doug Farren
“I can’t believe this is happening,” Jay said again. “Our dream of becoming an advanced, peace-loving, space-fairing race was within our grasp and we’ve thrown it all away. If things don’t stop we are going to end up destroying ourselves. I feel so damn helpless.”
“I know how you feel Jay,” was CAIN’s only reply.
The car arrived at the airport and pulled up to a hopper. This craft had quickly replaced the inefficient, fossil fueled jet aircraft for virtually all world-wide travel. Its streamlined shape resembled that of a flattened football. It had no wings, relying instead upon a non-reaction field-type propulsion system. Moments later the hopper lifted straight up and quickly accelerated to just under the speed of sound. Old laws still prohibited any civilian craft from breaking the sound barrier over populated areas.
Jay spent the entire trip in silence brooding over mankind’s failure to remain in the Consortium’s good graces. Anita never left her keyboard as she attended to protecting her employees and company assets against the possible threats presented by the nullification of the treaties.
* * * * *
Despite what the UAN official reports said, the damage to the Joliot crater shipyard in the wake of the Chinese attack had been fairly extensive. The UAN governing council had met in secret session and had approved a plan to retaliate against the Chinese attack.
For the last several days a UAN submarine had been making its way silently through the depths of the Yellow Sea toward a specific point off the coast of China. It reached its destination two days after the World President had called for an immediate end to hostilities. The sub sunk to the bottom, paused for a half an hour, and then began retracing its path.
Six hours later, a signal was received by the device which had been left behind by the still departing submarine. Six doors silently flipped open. In rapid succession, six torpedo-like objects erupted from the exposed missile tubes and sped toward the surface. As each one lept out of the water a rocket motor ignited and a cruise missile took flight. Accelerating to three times the speed of sound and flying a mere six meters above the surface the missiles traversed the fifty kilometers separating them from land in less than a minute.
The city of Qingdao with its extensive shipyard and foundries erupted in six small but very destructive nuclear explosions. Each one hundred and fifty kiloton warhead carved out a ring of destruction five kilometers in diameter. The shipyard was instantly reduced to rubble. Two million men, women, and children were incinerated. Another two million died within minutes of the attack from the heat and radiation. The dying, the burnt, the blind, and the unscathed wandered the streets together trying to grasp what had just happened. The reaction from Beijing was swift.
* * * * *
Captain Stricklen was jolted away from his report by the blare of the ship’s general quarters alarm. He whirled around in his command chair in time to see the after-glow of a nuclear explosion on the main screen. The ship’s tactical computer had detected the explosion and reacted by automatically displaying the image on the screen along with all the pertinent details. It had also activated the general quarters alarm.
“Oh my God!” Stricklen exclaimed as his ship came to life around him. “Communications, raise fleet command and send them our sit-rep. Tactical, see if you can’t pinpoint the launch site for those missiles.”
Seven minutes later, the executive officer reported from his station in the tactical command center, “The ship is at battle stations sir. Shield is up and all reactors are hot and ready. Weapons are powered with the safeties on. We have two UAN heavy cruisers and three Chinese warships within range. All are powering weapons but so far nobody is shooting.”
“Good God this could get ugly,” Stricklen replied. “Any word from command?”
“None yet sir,” the communications operator replied. “Wait…General fleet broadcast coming in now.”
“Put it on the main.”
A second later, the face of Admiral Prescott appeared in a corner of the main screen. “The city of Qingdao, China, has been attacked with nuclear weapons. So far China has not yet responded but we are anticipating some sort of retaliatory strike. Emergency order six-six-six is now in effect until rescinded by fleet command. I repeat: emergency order six-six-six is now in effect until rescinded by this command. Fleet command out.”
The captain punched up the command reference and quickly scanned his orders. Before he had finished reading he was interrupted by the sound of an alarm. “Multiple launches detected!” the tactical station on the bridge announced. “ICBMs from multiple sites in China.”
“Weapons, target and destroy at will,” the captain ordered. “Keep a close watch on those other ships.”
The ES Australia’s long-range secondary weapons came online, locked onto their designated targets, and spoke with commanding authority. Each two second blast of laser energy destroyed a missile. And the Australia was not the only warship engaged in knocking missiles out of the sky. Three other ships had linked their tactical computers into the Australia’s command network. The four ships, operating as a single entity, required less than two minutes to destroy all of the ICBMs.
“Jim, any idea where those nukes that hit China originated?” the captain asked his executive officer.
“The most probable location was a subsurface launch about fifty kilometers off the coast. My guess is that it was a mobile subsurface launch platform.”
The platform had actually been developed by the United States. The idea was for a submarine to place the platform within close striking distance of a potential enemy and then withdraw. The platform's power supply allowed it to patiently, and silently, remain ready to deliver its payload at a moments notice for up to two years. If an attack was ordered, the enemy would not only have very little time to react to missiles fired so close to their shore, but any retaliatory strike against the launcher would not result in the loss of a submarine and its attending crew.
“Have you tried to locate the submarine that delivered the platform?”
“Yes sir. There are no subs anywhere in the area that are detectable by our sensors. The UAN does have several old German-built fuel cell powered boats that cannot be detected by our sensors. There’s no radiation leakage from a fission or fusion plant and those boats are dead silent.”
“I wonder why the UAN hasn’t launched.”
“After what we did to the Chinese? As long as we have ships in orbit their ICBMs are…Sir! The Chinese cruisers have opened fire. One is targeting Riyadh and the other two are firing on the UAN cruisers.”
In the city of Riyadh (the designated capital of the United Arab Nations) buildings, people, and vegetation suddenly erupted into flame as the powerful lasers of the orbiting Chinese ship struck from above. Superheated air and water caused bodies and buildings to instantly explode. Steel support beams melted and entire buildings collapsed. People ran screaming for shelter. Cars burst into flames as the asphalt around them boiled.
In addition to the lasers the orbiting warships had also opened fire with their missile batteries. Six missiles streaked through space, screamed through the atmosphere, then detonated against their assigned targets. The EDM ships were unable to intercept any of the missiles. Several pinpoints of light appeared on the surface indicating the detonation of nuclear warheads—the city of Riyadh ceased to exist.
Of the four ships that were linked into his command net, two were within weapons range of the Chinese warships. As the senior commanding officer, it was Captain John Stricklen’s decision as to what to do next. The directives contained in emergency order six-six-six were quite clear. “Designate the Chinese ships as hostile and open fire with the main guns.”
The safeties were lifted on the Australia’s main batteries and, as soon as they had a lock, the two big MPL-HV Mark-I lasers threw one point two gigawatts of destruction apiece at the Chinese shield. The shield resisted the onslaught by deflecting the energies back into space. A half second later, the guns of the battle
ship ES Ticonderoga joined the attack. The battleship mounted four MPL-HV Mark I lasers. The Chinese shield was no match for this amount of raw energy and it started to leak.
The cruiser halted its attack on Riyadh and tried to bring its main guns to bear against the Australia. A single laser struck the Australia’s shield and was easily deflected. The hull of the Chinese cruiser glowed white hot in places then finally failed. As the ship was breached, the atmosphere rushed out in an explosive decompression. Without the armor to protect it, the inside of the ship became a raging inferno as the laser energy ate its way into the heart of the cruiser.
Superheated air rushed through the passageways incinerating everything in its path. Emergency bulkheads clanged shut in an attempt to limit the damage but they also fell victim to the laser’s irresistible power. Layer by layer the laser burrowed into the ship’s interior until finally hitting a target that reacted violently to the heat. A missile magazine exploded blowing out an enormous section of the cruiser. The explosion also made its way into the engineering section in the heart of the ship fatally damaging the ship’s shield generator.
The moment the shield collapsed, the tactical computer aboard the Australia shifted its sights to one of the other Chinese ships. While the main guns now pounded against another full-strength shield, the secondary guns (mostly eight hundred megawatt HPL type 2 lasers) took on the task of ridding the now defenseless ship of all offensive weapons.
The Chinese ships had concentrated their combined firepower on a single UAN heavy cruiser. Its shield was heavily loaded but so far it seemed to be holding. It failed, however, when three eight megaton missiles detonated against it. In a brilliant, actinic flash of nuclear fire, the UAN ship was reduced to a radioactive cloud of debris.
The remaining UAN cruiser had all weapons locked onto one of the Chinese ships while the other Chinese vessel was under attack by Stricklen’s battle group. A third ship, the ES Bridgeport came within weapons range and the tactical computer assigned its weapons to the same ship that was under attack by the UAN cruiser. A few seconds later the shields of both Chinese ships failed.
“Put me on the UAN command frequency,” Stricklen ordered. A second later he transmitted a warning to the UAN cruiser. “UAN cruiser, this is Captain Stricklen. You are to stand down immediately or you will be fired upon. Take no further hostile action against any ship. This is the only warning you will be given.”
The UAN cruiser remained silent and unresponsive. Suddenly, the command channel roared to life with the voice of the World President. It was apparent that he was broadcasting on all major command frequencies. “Attention all military units. This is President Shaun Steeples. By order of the World Government, all hostilities will cease immediately. The ships and military of the of the Earth Defense Ministry stand ready to enforce this order by destroying or disabling any military unit that fails to comply.”
That had been the gist of emergency order six-six-six. The World President’s broadcast, along with the display of overwhelmingly superior firepower by the EDM, had, for the moment, caused a brief end to hostilities. All across the surface of the Earth and throughout most of the solar system, the weapons of humanity stood poised to annihilate each other. It was only a matter of time before everyone started shooting at everyone else.
35
Humans vs Humans
Following through on his promise, President Steeples had actually submitted his letter of resignation to the full World Council. The United States immediately raised an objection and put forward a motion giving the EDM and therefore the World President additional authority concerning when it was allowed to engage hostile forces in order to enforce peace. The United States argued that the resignation of the World President at this time of crises would only serve to make matters worse.
The member countries of the American Alliance quickly indicated their approval for the resolution. Other countries followed suit with the exception of China and the UAN. President Steeples reluctantly withdrew his resignation and called for a vote on the proposed resolution. It passed over the objections of some of the members of the council.
President Steeples issued a series of executive orders. The EDM presence in near Earth space was doubled. All nations were warned that the EDM would react to any hostile actions with swift and deadly force. All armed ships would be escorted by an EDM vessel.
These actions kept the waring parties from initiating large scale hostile action against each other near Earth. The war, however, went on. UAN and Chinese ships constantly met each other in battle away from Earth. Colonies were attacked as well as military bases on other worlds. On Earth, small battles erupted as the UAN and China resorted to gorilla warfare tactics. Submarines from both waring nations sank the ships of the other.
Try as he might, President Steeples could not get China and the UAN to agree to a cease-fire. The experts agreed that the war had originally started because the American Alliance had decided to withhold the advanced weapons technology it possessed from the other nations of the world. But, the war had grown beyond the mere desire for advanced military technology. Both sides had lost many lives and the war had taken on a whole different meaning.
The World President did meet with the American President to discuss the possibility of sharing some of the advanced military technology with the other nations but, in the end, it was decided that doing so at this time would only make things worse. The only thing that could be done now was to limit the damage and hope that the lust for revenge would eventually burn itself out.
* * * * *
Ever since the attack on Qingdao, Jay had been unable to concentrate on any of the projects he had been working on. He would sit for hours in his office staring out the window. Although his love for Anita never wavered, Jay had begun to withdraw from society. Anita took the unusual step of consulting with CAIN concerning Jay's condition. The machine told her that he believed that Jay was on the brink of a nervous breakdown.
Jay repeatedly denied that anything was wrong and simply stated that he was feeling tired and a little upset over the war. No matter how hard Anita tried, she could not get her husband to seek professional help nor could she get him to talk about what was bothering him. Knowing that CAIN was Jay's best friend, Anita asked if he would try to talk to him. CAIN agreed.
CAIN found Jay sitting in his office facing the window. Jay had heard the knock on the door and had ignored it. He had also heard the distinctive snick of the electronic lock as it retracted and then the heavy footsteps of the avatar as it entered the room. Jay could not ignore his friend so he gave his chair a slight push and allowed it to slowly spin away from the window.
The avatar CAIN now utilized was based on an advanced humanoid robot built at a Shandarian factory. This machine was capable of facial expression and had a very lifelike appearance. CAIN sat down in one of the visitor chairs and said, “Anita is worried about your mental health and frankly so am I. You appear to be depressed Jay. Is there something you would like to talk to me about?”
Jay looked at the avatar and laughed. It was probably the first time he had truly laughed in several weeks. “A real psychologist would not have been so direct,” he said. “But thanks for trying. I'm fine CAIN, I've just been feeling a little tired recently.”
“I do have access to the world's complete knowledge base concerning the diagnosing and treatment of mental disorders. But I must admit that a good portion of it does not seem to make a lot of sense.”
“In that I don't think you're alone,” Jay said becoming more animated. “So tell me doctor Freud, what do you think is wrong with the patient?”
Jay could not help but laugh out loud once again as the avatar rubbed its chin as if it was stroking an invisible mustache and replied in a German accent, “Hmmm ... Let me see. The patient appears withdrawn and prefers to avoid social interaction yet he denies that a problem exists stating, instead, that he is simply feeling 'tired'. The patient is prone to long periods of inactivity where he h
as been observed to stare off into the distance. The accepted diagnosis of these symptoms would be that the patient is suffering from a case of clinical depression with a high risk of a nervous breakdown.”
Jay leaned back in his chair. His smile had faded. “You really think I'm that depressed?'
“Yes. I am worried. So is Anita. Perhaps it might help if you simply told me what has been on your mind for the past week.”
“You're still accessing those psychological databases,” Jay replied smiling slightly. The avatar remained silent.
Jay stood up and faced the window placing his hands behind his back. “I remember how happy I was back on the Starfire when we learned that the stardrive had actually worked. Humanity had finally unlocked the means to travel to the stars. I was ecstatic when we made contact with the Tholtarans. When the World government was formed I thought humanity was on its way to a peaceful future and I thought I had been instrumental in helping humanity get onto the right track.”
Jay turned around and waved his arm in front of him as if he was addressing a vast audience. “Now look at us—we haven't changed at all. Instead of working towards mutual peace among ourselves we have taken our lust for war to the stars. We have embraced all the new technologies we have unlocked not for peace but for war. It is quite conceivable that the Human race will obliterate itself using technologies that I helped create. I thought I was freeing mankind from the bonds of this planet but instead I have given it the means by which they can destroy themselves.”
The avatar's super-human eyes picked up on the tears forming in the corners of Jay's eyes. The edges of his lips quivered as he fought for control over his emotions. CAIN instantly understood now what was wrong with Jay and he desperately searched his immense knowledge base for a solution. The avatar stood up, walked over to Jay's side, and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “You cannot blame yourself for how your gifts to humanity have been used. The current war is not your fault Jay.”