Smith's Monthly #8

by Smith, Dean Wesley

  She smiled. “We’re going in alone, aren’t we?”

  “Well, that would figure,” Carl said. “Sounds like us.”

  Brian laughed, not wanting to tell her that she had guessed correctly. “Just put me through.”

  The admiral came on and said, “Yes, Captain.”

  The admiral clearly lived out here in this area of space, since his face was wrinkled and he showed his age. He hadn’t come in from Earth. Brian had met him a few times after missions and never really had gotten a read on the admiral’s age.

  He had on full uniform, including his admiral’s hat that looked more like a kid’s hat with a long point, only made out of pure white cloth like the admiral’s uniform. The hat actually looked almost silly.

  “Has Doctor Dalton come up with anything yet?” Brian asked.

  The admiral glanced over his shoulder, then turned back to the screen. “He believes a concentrated Electro-Magnetic-Pulse would shut the thing down safely and then conventional weapons could destroy it.”

  “If it’s running, how close can we get?”

  The admiral leaned forward and punched a board in front of him, showing the big moon. It took Brian a moment to see what the admiral was showing him.

  “All the Dog ships are standing off, away from the planet,” Brian said. “The thing is running.”

  “It would seem so,” the admiral said, nodding, a grim look on his wrinkled face.

  Brian nodded, then explained his plan and his reasons for it to the admiral.

  “That will buy you all time back here,” Brian said, “to rig up larger EMP weapons to stop it from a safe distance.”

  “Doctor Dalton believes the effects of the device will cover a sphere of two light years when launched and fully powered.”

  Now Brian was confused again. “Where is it going to get that kind of power?”

  The admiral leaned back, then said abruptly, “I don’t know. I’ll be right back with you.”

  Beside Brian, Carl’s fingers were moving at lightning speed over his board as the admiral’s wrinkled old face was again replaced by the map.

  “No sub-atomic reaction can produce that kind of energy,” Carl said, “since the field it’s generating would shut it down.”

  “They are using the moon as a spaceship,” Brian said. “How big is that moon?”

  “It’s actually about the size of Earth’s moon,” Carl said.

  “They are going to move something the size of the moon and power that weapon at the same time?” Brian asked. “That makes no sense without the very process they are shutting down.”

  Suddenly Carl and Brian looked at each other, smiling.

  “They have a shield that protects their own power sources,” Brian said.

  “Which means, given time, we can develop shields as well,” Carl said, smiling. “We just need to buy them time somehow.”

  “Exactly what I was thinking,” Brian said, smiling at Carl.

  Brian again signaled that Marian punch in a call to the admiral. As his face appeared, Brian said, “They have shields protecting their power sources.”

  “That’s what Doctor Dalton just told me,” the admiral said, smiling. “Can you buy us some time?”

  “We are thinking exactly the same, Admiral. I’ll be ready in ten minutes. Could you have Dalton send over targeting and frequency levels of the needed EMP blast?”

  “I’ll do one better. He’ll join you in two minutes. And I’m sending The Blooming Rose with you. You’ll run the first wave, she’ll target with conventional weapons once you shut the thing down.”

  “Yes, sir,” Brian said.

  It always worried Brian when Dot went into any battle, but he had learned to click off the worry and just trust her. And it only took him a second to do that again.

  He turned to Carl as the admiral’s face vanished from the screen again. “Can we focus an EMP wave tight enough to target that weapon?”

  ““I’ll have it ready in five,” Carl said, his fingers again flying over the board.

  Brian watched, amazed. He knew for a fact that Carl had lost both hands and one leg at seventy in a car wreck. Yet there he was moving so fast his fingers looked like a blur. It had to be really hard for him to go back to Earth after each mission, but never once had Brian heard Carl complain.

  A moment later, Dr. Dalton appeared standing behind Carl, looking sort of stunned at the sudden change of location.

  “They need to put a tingle or a noise on that transporter, don’t they?” Brian said, standing and shaking the doctor’s hand. “Great work.”

  “The other scientists did most of it,” he said as Brian had him sit down in Marian’s normal chair to Brian’s left.

  Brian introduced him to Carl and Marian, then Carl and Dalton quickly got to work on the calculations for the EMP blast.

  “That’s powerful enough to shut just about anything down in that weapon,” the doctor said, nodding, “even if shielded from most EMP blasts. And that sudden shutdown will collapse the building subatomic field of the weapon.”

  “And if it doesn’t shut it down and we bomb the thing?” Brian asked.

  “With luck, nothing,” Dalton said. “But it also might send a cascade wave through the area, in a radius of about ten light years. I suggested to the admiral that just as we are about to attack the weapon he move his fleet back four or five light years.”

  “Good idea,” Brian said.

  “Captain Leeds,” Marian said, as Dot’s face filled the screen in front of Brian.

  “Captain,” Brian said.

  Dot smiled. “Captain. Are you ready?”

  Brian glanced at Carl, and then at the doctor.

  Both nodded.

  “Give the machine five seconds to shut down,” Dalton said.

  Dot nodded that she had heard. “We’ll be exactly seven seconds behind you, on the same path. “Don’t go stopping suddenly or we all might be in for a mess.”

  He laughed. “See you on the dance floor.”

  She smiled. “I don’t know. My dance card is pretty full.”

  With that she clicked off.

  That had been their ritual since their first night together dancing. So far it had pulled them through a lot of tight scrapes.

  Brian clicked on the com link to the ship. “Be prepared to lay down covering fire for The Blooming Rose coming in behind us on my command. Stand by for jump.”

  Carl nodded. “Course plotted and in. You have exactly five seconds to fire after we appear near the weapon. We’re going to be appearing right on the edge of those Dog warships standing off a distance from the weapon just to make sure we’re not affected by it, either.”

  “So all hell is going to break loose,” Brian said, nodding.

  “With luck, we’ll catch them by surprise,” Carl said.

  Marian’s voice over the com-link counted down from five.

  Five very, very long seconds.

  “Engage,” Marian said.

  Carl’s fingers flew over the panel and Brian took control of his ship.

  A moment later they were five years farther out from Earth, and five years younger than they had been a moment before.

  Around them was a small fleet of Dog warships, scattered in their standard, bowling-pin order, clearly just waiting to move.

  Brian targeted the large area that was the weapon on the planet below, focusing down on the very center.

  “Up the frequency ten percent,” Dalton said, staring at the readings on the screen in front of him. “It’s larger than we had calculated.

  Carl’s fingers flew, and an instant later he said, “Done.”

  Brian fired.

  The invisible EMP blast hit the weapon base without any sort of impact.

  Usually when Brian fired at something, things exploded. Not this time, but he kept firing anyway.

  He could see that the Dog ships were turning, moving to attack. But it was taking them seconds, so they had been caught by surprise.

&nb
sp; Dr. Dalton said, “The weapon is shutting down.”

  At that moment, a Dog warship opened fire, rocking the entire ship with two solid hits.

  “Screens holding!” Carl said.

  “Return fire!” Brian ordered over the shipboard com link.

  He kept The Bad Business moving ahead as right behind them Dot’s ship appeared and instantly started blasting the base. Her shots made an instant and clearly seen impact as the entire base started to shudder and explode.

  “Covering fire for The Blooming Rose,” Brian ordered all gunners.

  Dot ignored all the fire she was taking from the Dogs, as all of her weapons were trained on the planet’s surface.

  “Our screens at sixty percent,” Carl reported as more hits rocked them.

  He kept his focus on the base below, holding the intense EMP blast on the weapon on the moon’s surface.

  “Blooming Rose’s screens are at forty-two percent and holding,” Carl reported, his voice calm.

  Brian didn’t know how long Dot’s ship could hold out, but his gunners were doing a fantastic job of blowing up the closest Dog ships, creating a shield of exploding Dog ships for The Blooming Rose.

  “Weapon is shut down,” Dalton said, excitement clearly filling his voice.

  Brian cut off the EMP blast and moved his ship closer to Dot’s to help in the fight.

  A moment later Dot stopped firing at the planet and began firing at the attacking ships. Brian could see from the readouts that The Blooming Rose had taken some damage, but Dot’s screens were still holding.

  “The Blooming Rose has done it,” Carl said.

  Brian snapped open a link to Dot.

  “Let’s go dancing,” Brian said as her smiling face appeared.

  A moment later, Carl jumped them out of the fight.

  Brian just hoped Carl had jumped them in the right direction. He didn’t think he could get much younger and he knew Carl couldn’t.

  They appeared right beside the EPL fleet at the point where the fleet had retreated in case the weapon had exploded.

  A moment later The Blooming Rose appeared as well.

  And Brian let out the breath he was holding.

  On the view screen showing the Dogs’ weapon moon, a fireworks display was happening; then after a moment, the Dog ships close to the planet jumped back to their own fleet.

  And a few seconds later the moon exploded, looking like a small nova going off.

  Wow, there had been a lot of energy on that planet.

  “Are we safe, Doc?” Carl asked.

  Doctor Dalton nodded, staring at the screen in front of him. “We are far enough away to not be bothered by that.”

  Brian glanced at Carl, then turned to the doctor. “So it worked?”

  Dalton was still studying the readouts on the station in front of him, his thick eyebrows moving up and down as if they had a life of their own.

  After a long moment, he turned and smiled, his huge eyebrows now up at the edge of his hairline. “It worked perfectly. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t felt this good in years.”

  “Yeah, space travel will do that for you,” Carl said.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  February 12th, 2061

  Equivalent Earth Time

  Location: Deep Space

  DOT AND BRIAN came off the dance floor in the center of the large meeting room on the admiral’s ship, laughing and both out of breath. Around them the dancers kept going, and the laughter filled the room louder than most parties.

  The smells of the tables full of food against one wall still filled the air with ham and fresh bread. Not only had she danced too much, she had eaten too much, and maybe had a few too many drinks.

  Everyone was happy tonight. And drinking.

  She just felt happy to be alive. And with Brian.

  Dot fanned herself, leaning against Brian. Even young, those fast songs of the 1950s and 1960s were work. She liked the slower ones. She had many very fond memories of slow dances from the earlier times, and with Brian in the last few years.

  She still couldn’t believe she could dance again. It was all such a dream at times.

  They dropped down into chairs next to Dr. Dalton, who had just finished a conversation with Admiral Lincoln, who nodded to them as he left.

  Dalton was smiling wider than she had ever seen a man smile before.

  “So what’s the great news?” Brian asked.

  “Too much to believe,” Dalton said, his smile getting ever bigger.

  “You got to tell us before you explode,” Dot said, laughing. It was a lot of fun to see a person so full of pure joy.

  Dalton nodded and took a deep breath and then said quickly, “The admiral just got word from the League authorities that I will be allowed special permission, even though I am not married, to stay out here and continue my work as a young man again.”

  He said it so fast, he clearly couldn’t believe it was true.

  Dalton again opened and closed his hand, staring at it, clearly still stunned that he could do such a simple movement once again.

  “Fantastic news,” Doctor, Brian said.

  “Wonderful, Doctor,” Dot said, patting his arm. “The EPL needs you to help develop those screens.”

  “The admiral said I could continue my own work as well,” Dalton said.

  Dot smiled. She wondered what other fantastic things he would come up with, now that he had the freedom.

  And the time.

  And the belief in himself again.

  “I have some applesauce to wear off,” Brian said, smiling at Dot and pulling her to her feet.

  She laughed at the impish grin on his handsome, young face, as a slow song started.

  One thing about being young again with an old mind, you treasured every moment and every dance.

  Right now, after escaping death once again, she wanted to treasure far more dances with the man of her dreams before she returned to that old body.

  THE THIRD MAJOR MISSION

  Six Months Later

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  September 3rd, 2021

  Actual Earth Time

  Location: Chicago

  THE YOUNG, STRONG Lieutenant Kennison gently nudged Captain Brian Saber in his nursing home bed, pulled back the light brown blanket and sheet covering him, and then easily picked Brian up with strong arms.

  Brian was going on a mission.

  Brian could feel the excitement surge through his old body yet again.

  A mission, a chance to live again, to be young again.

  He made himself take as deep a breath as he could without setting off a fit of coughing. His stroke-crippled body just couldn’t take much at this point, but the promise of a mission always got him excited.

  The Shady Valley Nursing Home room hadn’t changed since Brian fell asleep at 10 p.m. Now his old clock on the wall told him it was a little after one in the morning. If he survived this mission, he would be back in fifteen minutes. But he might be out there in space for a month or more, if he was lucky.

  The young lieutenant turned for the room’s sliding glass door. Behind him Brian caught a glimpse of Captain Dorothy “Dot” Leeds being carried from her room across the hall and into his room by Lieutenant Sherri.

  She followed Brian and Lieutenant Kennison out into the night air of a Chicago late summer night. The air was thick and heavy and the smell of freshly mowed grass surprised him.

  The light nightshirt Brian wore to bed was almost too much for the warm night. He used to love being out in nights like this when he was younger and married. Now it made it hard for him to breathe, but he wouldn’t be out in the humid, thick air long enough for it to matter.

  Overhead, he could see the full moon, bright in the night sky. He and Dot were both far too old to ever walk under that moon, even on a warm night. But at some point in the near future, he hoped they would be together, staring up at some moon, somewhere in this sector of space.

  No one talked.

&nb
sp; He could hardly speak anymore, but none of the other three bothered either. It was all business for all of them.

  They were on a mission.

  Around the country right now his crew, and Dot’s crew, were going through the same routine.

  Damn he was excited.

  He always felt this way going on a mission.

  The four of them neared the center of the courtyard of the nursing home. He could feel the humidity forming slight sweat on his face and neck, but there was nothing he could do to wipe it away.

  The full moon was so beautiful on a clear summer night. He hoped he would see it again later.

  Then a yellow beam struck them from above and lifted all four of them up easily into the big intergalactic transport ship.

  The cooler, thinner air of the ship covered him and behind him he heard Dot say softly, “See you on the other side.”

  He would have answered her, but he couldn’t talk louder than a whisper at a good moment. He couldn’t walk or even lift his arms at all either. A stroke a little over a year ago had taken most of those skills.

  She knew that and didn’t expect an answer from him.

  They were both very much in love.

  At some point soon he hoped to ask her to marry him and live out on the frontier, not ever having to return to earth and their old bodies. He hadn’t gotten around to it yet, but hoped to very soon.

  She hadn’t brought it up either, but he knew she was just old-fashioned enough to not do that. And since they hadn’t talked about it, he wasn’t sure if she understood the rules of living out at the edge of the EPL space. They really needed to talk about it.

  And he needed to flat ask her to marry him.

  But right now they were still frontline fighters. And clearly they were needed.

  Lieutenant Kennison put Brian down in his sleep coffin in a private cabin off to one side of the big hallway and stepped back and snapped off a salute. “Good luck, sir,” he said.

  Then he lowered the lid until it latched over Brian and the light went out.

  Brian would have loved to salute the young man back, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t even wipe off the drip of sweat threatening to run into his right eye.