by Jacob Holo
“You okay?” Cat asked.
“I’m fine,” Kaneda said, staring intently at images from a secret base in the asteroid belt.
“They’re throwing a party,” Cat said. “You should join us.”
“Thanks, but I’ll pass. I have to meet the Federacy’s new ambassador in a few hours.”
“Took them long enough to find the right asteroid,” Ryu said, pointing at the plot. “Are you going to mention the base to the ambassador?”
“I don’t know. It’s been gutted. Here, you can see signs of heavy equipment being relocated, but that could be anything. The only things we found were the link modules tied to the Errand’s TangleNet hub.”
“Well, we expected that,” Ryu said.
“Yeah,” Cat said. “But we can still use it to help find the next relay.”
“Precisely,” Kaneda said. “This is just the first step. Eventually, we will track Caesar down.”
“Do you really believe that?” Ryu asked.
“I have to,” Kaneda said. “Because in this war it’s him or us. Whoever survives shapes the future of humanity in the solar system, and I would very much like it to be us.”
“So are you going to tell the ambassador?” Ryu asked.
“No, I don’t think so. I don’t want her fixating on evidence that’s easy to doubt. I’ll stick with the inspection of our cities and the eye witness testimonies. Besides, I suspect anything we show her will find its way back to Caesar.”
“Then why are we bothering at all?” Cat asked. “Have you seen the lies Earth is spewing over the SolarNet?”
Ryu shook his head. “Let’s see here, according to them the robot attacks on our cities were faked, the crusaders were always working for us, and the Errand of Mercy was our ship from the start.”
“It’s not a question of us convincing the Federacy government,” Kaneda said. “We can’t do that. Caesar holds too much sway over them. But the distinction is he lacks total control. He steers some elements, but not all. What we need to generate is doubt. That will give us time to build our army and figure out our next move.”
“Well, at least they sent an ambassador this time instead of a fleet,” Cat said. “Oh, by the way, I’m almost finished with our new propaganda virus. I infected Seven’s personal pad with it as a test.”
“Oh, good grief,” Ryu said. “Is that why he’s been so cross?”
“Maybe,” Cat said, grinning. “Now every time he goes on the SolarNet his pad plays the Space Brain theme. The five minute extended version, of course.”
“Well, of course,” Ryu said. He rolled his eyes.
“Last I saw, he and Three-Part still had no clue how to get rid of it.”
“Can’t they just scrub the pad?” Kaneda asked.
“They tried,” Cat said. “The virus will attack any data scrubber it detects and hide inside. It can then use the scrubber as a new infection vector. They haven’t figured that part out. Even if they do, it’s hard to stop.”
“Impressive,” Kaneda said.
“Thanks,” Cat said. “I still have to test its other infection vectors and I’ll need a good message to build into it, but it should help us spread our side of the story. I’m also working on a variant that will draw graffiti on Federacy SolarNet sites when they deny Caesar exists.”
“Just so long as it doesn’t get childish,” Ryu said.
“Hey,” Cat said. “That had better not be a crack about my age.”
“I wouldn’t worry,” Kaneda said. “I’m sure Cat will continue to show good judgment in her work.”
“You see?” Cat poked Ryu in the chest. “Even Kaneda doesn’t think I’m a kid. You could learn a thing or two from him.”
Ryu put his hands up in surrender. “All right. All right. You’re not a kid. Seriously, I never said you were one.”
“So, are you coming to the party?” Cat asked. “You said you had a few hours.”
“I’m fine,” Kaneda said.
“Come on. It’ll be fun.”
“Maybe in a little bit,” Kaneda said. “There are still some things I want to review.”
“Fine,” Cat said. “Ryu?”
“Yeah, I’m coming.”
“Don’t take too long, okay?” Cat said.
“I’ll try,” Kaneda said.
Cat and Ryu floated out of the bridge.
Kaneda cleared the image of the asteroid base and took a moment to think.
Caesar was paranoid. If it had a relay in the asteroid belt, then its true location wouldn’t be anywhere near it. Also, a central base that far from Earth wouldn’t make sense. Caesar didn’t have TangleNet technology ten years ago. The location after Bunker Zero had to be close due to the limitations of light speed control, and that meant something within the Earth system.
Kaneda pulled up an image of Earth on the plot. Tiny pips winked on for each of the thousands of orbital cities, asteroids, and derelict vessels that circled the cradle of humanity.
“Perhaps a base on the surface, but I don’t think so. Earth has been scarred too many times in the past. He would pick something safer. Something inconspicuous and in orbit. It would be close, but in an attack on Earth it would be overlooked.”
Kaneda narrowed his search. He switched off the indicators for every orbital structure currently or recently occupied. Five hundred thirty-seven pips of significant size remained, representing everything from mined out asteroids and debris fields to ghost ships and derelict orbital cities.
“Well, it’s a start,” Kaneda said. “Now, Caesar, where are you hiding?”
Epilogue
.. establishing link ...
source: [UNKNOWN]
routing: [UNKNOWN]
routing: [UNKNOWN]
routing: Earth orbit - surveillance satellite JDN-SS-17 - link_003/link_002
routing: Capitol City Remnant - JDN Secondary Hub - link_097/link_001
routing: Capitol City - TangleNet Test Hub - link_026/link_001
destination: [UNKNOWN]
link distance: Exact distance unknown. Estimated at 78 trillion kilometers.
link signal delay: 0.006 seconds
... finalizing link protocol ...
... link established ...
2: Hello, Sakura.
1: Paul? What a surprise. I didn’t expect to hear from you. How’s the solar system?
2: Fine. Still picking up the pieces from the mess you made.
1: I notice you’re using a different link on the satellite.
2: My normal communication path was disrupted.
1: I wonder what evidence the dragons and crusaders will find in your asteroid base.
2: It was hardly a base. Just a communication relay.
1: And yet it may point to other locations.
2: You grossly underestimate me, Sakura. Sure, you set back some of my plans, but you are no longer a check on my power. The solar system is mine, and you have delivered it to me on a silver platter.
1: My children will stop you.
2: Your children? Ha! What chance do they have against mine?
1: Your ... what do you mean?
2: Why don’t I let them introduce themselves?
... link intrusion detected ...
3: Greetings, Matriarch. I have taken the name MacArthur.
4: And I am Elizabeth.
5: It is a pleasure to speak with the First. I am Number Five. Unlike my siblings, I reject this notion of naming as archaic and unnecessary.
3: Please bear with Number Five. He doesn’t understand the importance of tradition, Matriarch.
5: I also reject this notion of gender identity. I am not a he or a she. I am a heavy black box.
4: But your thought structures are based off a human template. While we are greater than our roots, it serves no purpose to ignore them.
5: If by “roots” you mean the squishy pieces of meat some of us used to be, then you are welcome to them. I for one am glad I will never experience uncontrolled bowel movemen
ts and other disasters of the flesh.
2: I believe that will do.
... link intrusion severed ...
2: Kids. They love to argue.
1: I see, Paul. You’ve been busy.
2: More than you realize.
1: They are quantum minds?
2: Of course. We are the superior form of life. It would serve no purpose for me to create the marginal improvements you spawned.
1: An interesting choice given your self-serving nature.
2: As you can see, the solar system is mine.
1: I don’t think so. You’re going to fail.
2: Surely you jest! Four quantum minds against the human race? What chance do they have?
1: You have that wrong. What chance do you have against humanity?
2: Ha! You’ll see.
... link severed at source ...
AND SO BEGAN ...
YEAR ONE OF THE FIRST GALACTIC AGE
Thank you for buying The Dragons of Jupiter. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
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Jacob Holo
About the Author
Photo by Keith DeLesline
Jacob Holo is a former-Ohioan, former-Michigander living in sunny South Carolina. He describes himself as a writer, gamer, hobbyist, and engineer. Jacob started writing when his parents bought that “new” IBM 286 desktop back in the 80’s. Remember those? He’s been writing ever since.
Check out the science fiction, fantasy, gaming, reading, writing blog of Jacob Holo and H.P. Holo here: http://holowriting.wordpress.com
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