“Not you too Walker?”
“Sigmund we have no choice. We help the Aggies stop the Beleni are we run and keep running for the rest of our existence.”
“I say run and keep running.”
“Walker?”
“We have no choice Dag, we must help.”
“I agree. Sigmund you are outvoted.”
“Democracy,” said Sigmund. “Is overrated.”
“Only when you lose Sigmund.”
22
The Perseus had been outfitted with the super-radiant power source, quantum batteries, and enough memory storage to save several live streams of video as the ship made its way through the Beleni system.
The control room had been moved further toward the front of the asteroid to make way for the super-radiant power source amidships. A smaller ring of rooms in front provided all the living area the three needed. One thing that had been added was a wormhole weapon. A device that took advantage of a divide by zero moment in the wormhole drives underlying equations to create a miniature black hole. The hole then dissipated quickly, almost explosively, and the resulting plasma energy was directed at a target using a hollowed-out half-sphere of material.
Sigmund was unimpressed. As far as he was concerned he was sharing passage with a bomb. He wasn't expecting a very successful mission.
Sigmund had been wrong and the Aggies had been right. The mission was a success. Dag had vectored the Perseus perfectly thorough the Beleni system and then had gone back several times to look at things of interest.
Analyzing the results the Aggies picked out many things that they expected such as the same super-radiant power source and a gravity wave machine along with some things that needed further analysis. What was unexpected was the number of power plants and gravity wave machines. The Beleni had obviously been building for years to get so much finished. And it was also obvious that these machines were more than they needed, they could have only been created to project Beleni power and will upon others.
Other sites captured by the equipment on the Perseus were not as easy to analyze. They appeared to be unique to the Beleni. These were of greater concern. Dag received a call from Aggie Prime and Sigmund and Walker were with him.
"Dr. Mach I just want to say again how much the Aggies appreciate your cooperation. The information you have provided is excellent."
"Thank you Aggie Prime."
“We have not yet come to a conclusion about the discoveries though . . .”
“It's a giant spin-two drive,” said Sigmund interrupting.
“Was that you Sigmund? How do you know that?”
“He's intuitive,” said Walker.
“That's true Walker,” said Dag. “Is that why you said it Sigmund?”
“I just figure if they are trying to establish a galaxy-wide empire as you say, they will need the power to transport a ship from edge to edge.”
“That's rational, still we need proof. We are asking you three to take the Perseus back into their system with a particular focus on this site.”
“Back in? We just got back. I'm not up to riding that bomb any longer.”
“Now Sigmund we did it once, we can do it again. Okay Aggie Prime we'll get you more information.”
“Thank you Dr. Mach.”
Once Aggie Prime was offline Sigmund spoke up.
“Dag why are you doing this? We were used by the Earth governments, by the New Adowa government and now by the Aggies. Don't we ever learn?”
“No one is using anyone Sigmund, because we are all fighting the same enemy.”
Sigmund seemed sullen.
“Look if it makes you feel better this will be our last mission for the Aggies.”
Sigmund was still silent.
“And if it also makes you feel better we will get the Perseus restored to its original condition and get rid of the super-radiant power plant.”
“That would make me feel better.”
“Good.”
Deep inside the Perseus, a small, electrically charged black hole set almost motionless except for its spin. The sphere of the super-radiant power plant surrounding it was one-hundred feet in radius and was as perfect as had ever been engineered and like the black hole it was also charged but opposite. In this way, the electrical force on the black hole was uniform in all directions and its repulsive nature kept the hole centered.
Outside the boundary of the sphere was a powerful laser powered by the Aggie's quantum batteries. A very short pulse of light, shot at just the right angle, skimmed barely above the black hole's event horizon. Because of the spin of the black hole and the powerful gravity when that close, the pulse of light was whipped around the hole by the phenomenon of frame-dragging, the ability of a large mass to warp spacetime and drag it around itself, gaining energy.
The material of the sphere was transparent at the original lower and final higher frequencies of the light pulse (remembering that frequency is proportional to energy) and reflective in between those frequencies. The pulse of light once injected into the sphere at just the right angle gained energy from the frame-dragging. Reflecting off the interior surface of the sphere at such an angle that it would revisit the event horizon over and over again, each time gaining energy until it went flying back out of the sphere to deposit its now greater energy into the power conversion blanket that covered the black hole bomb. The power plant provided the energy necessary to cloak something as large as the Perseus.
After the Perseus reached the needed speed, Dag searched for a link into the Beleni system that would put the asteroid on a rendezvous course with the object of interest. Once the link was found he inserted the Perseus into the link's end bubble and they were gone. After a signal from Dag, Walker immediately began generating the intense bubble of negative energy that would surround and cloak the Perseus. It was only a moment after coming out of the link in the Beleni system that the Perseus would have been visible to a casual observer and they probably would not have believed their eyes when it immediately disappeared.
Sigmund started the monitoring system and switched one of the telescopic views up to the wallscreen.
The wallscreen soon showed a pinpoint of light to which the Perseus was bound. That pinpoint was from a moonlet orbiting the fourth planet from the star of the system (the Beleni were on the third). As the Perseus got closer it soon became apparent that the moonlet was artificial, that no natural moon could have such a smooth, solid surface.
“We've got to get a reading from the inside Dag, that's the only way we can tell.”
“Walker, anything we do to deconstruct the inside of that sphere would have to be active and not passive. And any active scan would give us away.”
“That's only if someone were looking for such a signal.”
Dag considered.
“Okay, at closest approach we will radar that thing and see what we get. Get the transmitter ready but you know this will only work if we are able to penetrate that material. It could be a dangerous waste of time.”
“It will penetrate the material Dag.”
“How do you know Sigmund?”
“There's only one way to build a spherical wormhole generator to power a spin-two drive. I've seen it dozens of times.”
“Sigmund, I know you already know what it is but let's confirm it for the rest of us, okay?”
“If you insist Walker. But you are only putting us in harm's way to confirm something we already know.”
“You already know.”
“That's what I said.”
At closest approach Walker released the radar dish of the Perseus. The dish pushed its way through the negative energy bubble until it had a direct view of the moonlet. Several radar grams were developed and the radar was retracted. They had apparently gotten away with it.
A quick Em analysis showed the moonlet to be made up of three different materials arranged as concentric spheres and in the middle some kind of object that the Ems could not analyze.
“I bet
it's a Faraday room,” said Sigmund.
“A room inside your wormhole generator and a Faraday room, whatever for?”
“Well Walker if this moonlet can generate negative energy bubbles then it can propel itself as Dag told me.”
“You mean when we used negative energy bubbles to land the JS1 on Adowa and take off again?”
“Exactly Dag.”
“How could they control it Sigmund?” asked Walker. “The Faraday room makes them blind to the outside.”
“We aren't blind are we? Even though we have a bubble which makes us invisible to the outside and should, therefore, make the outside invisible to us.”
“Okay, you're right it could be done.”
“Alright you two, I'm about to link us out of here. Walker get ready to quench the cloak.”
A moment.
“Now Walker.”
Just then the Perseus was rocked by a huge explosion, the asteroid began to tumble.
“Dag, from what I can tell the rear third of the asteroid has been blown away.”
“Understood Walker. Get ready I'm going to link all three of us out of here and then put the Perseus on automatic.”
Working as fast as he could Dag had the Perseus programmed and had opened the link in less than a second. The three rushed through the three-dimensional bubble of the higher dimensional link end.
Finding themselves on a planet's surface with a thin atmosphere and in a driving sandstorm, the three found each other through their radio-comms, although even that wasn't easy with all the electrical interference.
“Where are we Dag?”
“We're on that planet we were passing. I didn't have enough time to find a link back home so I took the first local link that came up and looked like it wasn't suicidal.”
“Are you sure this isn't suicidal?” asked Sigmund.
“It was the only chance we had.”
Then overhead there was a bright flare that developed a long flaring tail before it disappeared.
“What was that?”
“That Sigmund, in all probability was the Perseus meeting the moonlet.”
“That's the program you wrote before we linked out?”
“Exactly. I figured if we couldn't take back the information we had gathered to the Aggies we would dispose of the problem ourselves.”
“I have to say Dag I think that was the boldest, most independent thing I've ever seen you do.”
“Well Sigmund my old friend I have been paying attention to you, and to Walker.”
“At least if this is suicide, it's not for nothing,” said Sigmund.
23
The three had nothing but their built-in technology. Most importantly neither one of them had their triage kit. An accident could mean the end.
They began their exploration of the planet. Walker with his more powerful radio transmitter used it in a simulated radar mode to scout ahead. He would transmit at full power briefly and then wait for an echo. After facing several directions he pointed to the other two and radioed.
“In that direction at about four kilometers is a mass, probably a hill or mountain. It might offer us some shelter from the storm.”
The three trudged off in that direction with Walker in the lead. Because they were walking into the wind and dust it took them over half an hour to cover the distance. Within fifty yards of the object, Walker stopped.
“Uh-oh,” he said.
The other two looked up and saw a large cubicle mass ahead of them. They were facing one side of the cube which looked to be about three-hundred feet wide and maybe fifty feet high.
“What do we do now?” asked Sigmund.
“We continue,” said Dag. “If it's occupied they probably already know we're here and there is nowhere to hide.”
The three approached what was obviously a manufactured structure. When they were close enough they started searching for an entrance.
“I suspect it is not occupied or we would have been confronted by now,” said Dag.
The three spread out, inspecting the structure in the infrared to discover seams in the structure that would radiate at a different temperature, maybe indicating an opening.
“Over here,” called Dag on the comm-link.
The other two joined him.
“See the outline in the infrared?”
“Yes I see it,” said Walker. “It looks to be about forty wide by thirty feet high.”
“Wait,” said Sigmund off to one side. “This looks to be a human-sized door.”
The others moved to look also.
“So it is,” said Walker. “Now how do we open it?”
“I suspect it is encrypted,” said Dag. “Walker if your Emmie is still working give it a try.”
Walker brought his Emmie up to the door. After a few seconds scanning for the frequency and then decoding the door popped.
“Okay, who's first?” said Walker.
Sigmund was backing up so Dag took the lead. It was dark inside but the temperature was higher. Dag scanned the walls in the infrared until he found a recessed panel.
“Walker over here I think we have a control panel of some kind.”
Walker moved to Dag's location and once again allowed his Emmie to scan the panel.
“Let's see Dag, how about we start with lights?”
Walker punched a code into the panel which had lighted after detecting his presence. The lights came on. The building was filled with machinery. Stacked on wire grid shelves all the way to the ceiling. Other than machines there was a huge amount of cables and piping.
“What do you think Dag?”
“Looks like pumping equipment Walker.”
Sigmund poked his head inside the door and seeing the light slowly entered.
“You think they are looking for water?”
“They are going to terraform this planet,” said Sigmund.
“How do you know?”
“Pumps for moving a liquid of some kind. Piping for the same. I bet we find installations like this all over the planet. Probably a great deal of water in the ground.”
“That would explain it Walker.”
“I know Dag but does he always have to be right.”
“Gentlemen, intelligence is no substitute for experience.”
“You know some of this equipment, maybe even the building, didn't come through a link. If that's true, they must have set down a ship on the surface of this planet. If we could just find it.”
“I'll have the Emmie scan the buildings net for some planet-wide plan.”
“Dag don't you think that this place at least has some kind of intruder detection?”
“Probably Sigmund.”
“Then don't you think that the Dhalkans will respond in some way?”
“Probably Sigmund.”
“Then don't you think that we shouldn't stay here?”
“We'll just be a couple more min . . .”
They heard a noise outside that was not the ever-present wind.
“What was that?”
“I don't know Sigmund. Walker are you finished?”
“Yeah Dag, I think the Emmie has the information.”
“Kill the lights and let's get out of here.”
With the lights down the outline of the slightly open door was much brighter than the inside of the building even with the dust storm. All three met at the door. Sigmund found himself in the lead.
“Remember we don't have our triage kits.”
Sigmund hesitated.
“Maybe you should go first Walker, you're vision systems are better than mine.”
“Sure Sigmund, no problem.”
As soon as Walker's head was out something slammed the door almost beheading him. Sigmund pulled him back inside.
“Walker are you okay? What was that?”
“Yeah, I'm fine. I think it was some kind of kinetic weapon blast. I heard it released about fifty yards away. I couldn't get out of the way before it slammed the door.”
�
��Now what do we do?”
“Walker does your Emmie have the plans for this building?” said Dag.
Walker brought them up.
“Okay here is this door,” he said pointing at the screen. “There is another exit on the back wall here. If we hurry.”
And he was off with Walker and Sigmund chasing. Walker's Emmie popped the backdoor and they were out, skirting the wall to the corner.
“There's no cover,” said Walker.
“We'll have to rely on the storm for cover,” said Dag. “Let's go.”
In a flat out run, the three were faster than humans but they were slowed by the limited visibility.
Dag was in front when the shot landed about ten yards ahead. The kinetic energy weapon through up an explosion of sand and rock showering the three and making it impossible to see. Dag dodged but didn't slow.
Another shot hit about five yards to their side knocking all of them sideways with the ejected material. Each of the three hit the ground and rolled until they could catch their feet and start running again in the direction they had been thrown.
“Dag we should have been out of range by now if they are humans,” said Walker over the radio.
“If they haven't genetically altered themselves Walker or are using a robot patrol.”
“You think Ems may be working with them?”
“Some Ems will do anything for money.”
Two more times the kinetic energy weapons hit close to the three but eventually they seemed to have lost our out-distanced their pursuers. After five minutes with no new explosions Dag slowed.
“I think we've lost them. Walker did you leave your Emmie on? Does it know where we are in relation to the Dhalkan installations?”
“Emmie shows us as being seven miles from the previous building and about twenty-five miles to the next along this heading.”
“Okay Walker you've got the Emmie, you lead.”
It was an hour later when the three arrived in the vicinity of the next installation. They halted at a distance to observe.
Sigmund was getting anxious. “Dag we can't wait here forever, my energy level is low.”
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