by J W Murison
‘OK let me stop you right there Mr President, you are not getting our base, neither am I going to put my ships under direct American control. The simple fact is you still gave no real idea what you are going to do about the situation or even how to deal with it. That you are trying to circumnavigate the Earth Space Corps and dictate to the World why, how and what, is proof of that. That is not going to happen Mr President, but neither am I going to sit here and dictate to you either. I am going to show what I have already set in motion and my plans to build a fleet of ships to defeat them. After that you can make up your own mind whether you want to get on board with us or not.’
The president sat back, ‘OK make you pitch Captain Gordon, but tell me where my committee is first please.’
‘They are safe and sound sir and will be returned soon. By the end of this week I will have completed fully, one base designed specifically for defence on the Moon. That is on the dark side of the Moon. I also have a squadron of advanced space fighters under construction at our facility in Scotland. I also have forward operating bases being constructed on Mars and one of Saturn’s moons.’
‘OK stop there for a second will you, I need my secretary to take notes.’
‘Certainly.’
He went to his desk, ‘Janet come in will you and cancel all my appointments this afternoon. Could you also arrange refreshments please for four?’
‘Yes sir.’
‘You will need dictation equipment.’
‘Yes sir.’
She got a shock when she walked in and saw the two men in his office but covered it up. Steven began to dictate to the president. Colonel Howe set up a projector like screen that Babes downloaded images too. Steven gave the president a full briefing which lasted for two hours. Occasionally Howe would explain certain weapons they had been training on and tactics.
When he was finished the president was dumbfounded, ‘that is quite remarkable Captain Gordon and will be a quite an achievement if you can pull it off. What do you need?’
‘Materials sir; I only have enough to complete the first base.’
‘That could be costly.’
‘Not if you give me the location of every municipal dump in the USA and permission to fly in your airspace.’
‘You have it but why?’
‘We need things like wood, paper, glass, aluminium, steel, iron, ceramics, rubber, you know basic stuff. Our equipment can suck it straight out of a dump and turn it into anything we want and in any shape and form. What better place to get that stuff from for free than a dump, especially old ones. Some ships as I have explained will have to be built in space, which means space docks, accommodation, everything.’
‘Why not just mine fresh materials?’
Steven shrugged, ‘as you have said it is simply cost. Mining takes time and money. This type of reclamation costs nothing.’
The president suddenly grinned, ‘I have a few tyre mountains you may want to consider and I believe there's lots of space junk floating about in our atmosphere.’
Steven laughed, ‘that’s just what I wanted to hear, ‘so you are on board?’
‘The United States will give you any help you require Captain Gordon.’
Steven stood and they shook hands, ‘thank you Mr President.’ A second later they simply vanished.
Janet squeaked, ‘where did they go?’
The president pointed upwards, ‘what did you make of Captain Gordon Janet?’
‘A bit creepy sir.’
‘Oh! Why?’
‘He dictated to me for two hours without looking at a single note of any kind.’
‘I see what you mean Janet. I have met a lot of intelligent people in my time but Captain Gordon makes them look like chimpanzees trying to shove funny shapes into funny holes.’
These was a sudden commotion outside; Jeff knocked and walked in holding his nose, ‘our people have turned up sir.’
The president shook his head, ‘what the hell is that smell?’
‘I think its fish sir.’
Chapter 28
‘That’s the last one captain.’
‘Thanks Hailey.’
The freighter began to break orbit. Inside its hold there were hundreds of tons of metal salvaged from dead satellites. It had taken days of sifting through the garbage that circled our planet to complete the task. A few choice items from the space age had been returned to earth as Museum pieces. Most were small enough to beam down; they had tried to piggyback the ancient Mir Space Station but it had broken up on re-entry; a loss Steven felt keenly. A few companies back on Earth did kick up a stink about their satellites being stolen, but as they had been designated space garbage years before they were very quickly silenced.
The Earth Defence Ship the EDF Rodriguez, named after a Spanish entrepreneur who had left a vast fortune to the new Space Corps on his death; lifted up from Scotland. It was now the third one built and identical to the one they had reclaimed from the Black Planet. It turned towards Mercury and disappeared into the black. Steven watched it go and turned his mind back to his task in hand.
‘Satellite relays in position Stevie,’ Buzz told him.
‘The freighters?’
‘Will be by the time we hit that dump.’
‘Right Hailey take us down.’
He spotted the long line of freighters sliding into orbit before they were out of line of sight. They entered American airspace and hovered over the sight of an old dump outside Washington DC. ‘Everyone is in position Stevie.’
‘Begin.’
Buzz got up and went over to a monitor that displayed the inside of the freighter. A beam of light lanced out of Babes and into the dump. Another light lanced skywards. ‘Relay stations working captain.’ Hailey reported.
‘Thanks Hailey, what's happening Buzz?’
‘Nothing yet; Wait, here it comes. It’s working Stevie.’
He sat back with a sigh, ‘thank god for that.’
It took hours to fill every freighter, then hours for them to return to the moon, unload and come back. Steven knew it was going to take a mountain of materials and by the time the freighters returned to the moon that which they had dumped would probably be used up. It was a balancing act and Steven knew it. Trying to get the right materials to the right place at the right time to complete construction. It would take a week to clean out the huge dump, but all the bases on the moon would be furbished.
Sid Tulane caught his attention, ‘sir, a call coming in from Captain Gairloch.’
Steven rubbed his temples, ‘OK I will take it in my quarters.’ He went below and activated his screen.
‘Steven my friend, where have you been?’
‘On duty I’m afraid, how are you? You look like you are putting on weight.’
Gairloch laughed, ‘how could I not. My Emperor has put in a request for more seeds, would that be possible?’
‘I don’t see why not. I will put the request in.’
‘Keep him happy Steven and you will be able to ask what you will after you have defeated the Albany.
Steven couldn’t help but smile, ‘I will keep that in mind.’
‘I finally visited the country of your birth and drank from a highland spring. You were right, I have never tasted water so good. The Heather I think is an acquired taste but I do know a race that would love it.’
Steven laughed, ‘how are the recruits coming along?’
‘It was difficult to begin with but they seem to be getting the hang of it. We need more men Steven.’
‘They are coming your way in the next few days.’
‘Let me guess, politics.’
‘As always. They are forming councils, asking for volunteers from their armed forces, tripping over their own feet, standing on one another’s toes; you know?’
‘We don’t really have that problem, the emperor commands and we obey but I have seen it in other planets and cultures.’
‘Well don’t worry. They have come up with a scheme whereby th
eir personal will be seconded to the Earth Space Corps and they are choosing men right now to meet your requirements.’
‘That’s good to hear Steven.’
‘How is your health?’
‘I have been very lucky so far. I was hit twice this week. Once in the arm and again in the leg. The wounds are healing slowly. I will let you get back to your duties, visit soon.’
‘I will try my best.’
The following week another dozen freighters came online and Komoru and Ico swung into action on garbage detail. They hit the outskirts of Moscow where they began to draw a large crowd. The army rushed to intervene and kept them back. The atmosphere seemed to take on a picnic like quality. A special request had been made by the Russians. When the freighters went to dump their loads Komoru ordered the special project to begin.
‘Lewis is the area clear?’
‘Yes Miss Komoru.’
‘The redirect the stream and tell it to pick up organic material please.’
‘All done.’
The beam began to light up an area cordoned off by the army. Grey briquettes about the size of a common brick began to appear. They soon began to stack up. The government had asked if they could supply them with a smokeless fuel for their old power plants. The people quickly saw what was happening and a souvenir grab began. Komoru had to stop the process when a stack of these briquettes collapsed and buried a dozen or so people. There wasn’t enough soldiers to prevent the grab and they had to dig out the buried people. Luckily no one was seriously injured. It wasn’t until the following day that they managed to regain control of the situation. At the end of the second day there were so many bystanders that she used sonic bombs to settle the dump in case anyone ventured into it.
‘How far has it settled Lewis?’
‘About three millimetres Miss Komoru.’
She was shocked, ‘is that all?’
He shrugged, ‘das all.’
‘Oh we are going to be here forever.’
Chapter 29
Buzz sauntered on to the bridge, ‘so what we doing today Stevie?’
‘Heading for Mercury.’
‘Did you hear from the Rodriguez?’
‘Yup sure did. The mission has been a complete success.’
Buzz nodded, ‘that’s a weight of our minds then.’
‘Yup, I wasn’t sure if it would have worked.’
‘Has the freighter got everything they need on board?’
‘They sure have.’
Buzz nodded again, ‘how long ago did we send them out?’
‘About six weeks I think, the same day we started garbage detail.’
‘Oh yeah I remember now; bloody garbage detail.’
‘Now now Buzz, I know you all hate it but it is important.’
‘We got mountains of stuff now, literally.’
‘I know but we barely have enough for a tenth of a battle fleet.’
Buzz rubbed the back of his neck, ‘jezz.’
‘Hey we now have ships with atmospheric capabilities, manned with crews and going at it full blast,’ Steven reminded him.
‘Yeah I know we don’t have to do it anymore. Word is the fighter base on the moon has all its fighters ready.’
‘That’s good, anything for me?’
‘The newly formed council committee, whoever the bloody hell they are, are demanding your presence again.’
Stevens face darkened, ‘oh what the hell for now!’
‘PR, recruiting drive.’
‘Ach away to hell. We have every member of all the armed forces of every country on Earth already signed up to join us, and that includes their Navy’s.’
‘Yeah this has something to do with appeasing the citizens of Earth Stevie.’
‘Haven’t got time to play the celebrity Buzz.’
‘You already are one, hell we are all celebrities, they have plastic dolls of all of us now. Don’t get how yours is the same height as me though.’
Steven laughed, ‘yeah I wondered at that as well. Did you see the Lewis doll?’
They both laughed, ‘I got the whole set,’ Buzz admitted.
‘Yeah well plastic dolls or not I, we don’t have the time for this. Any word from Komoru?’
‘They should be back by the time you finish breakfast.’
‘That’s good, did they get a good haul?’
Buzz stretched a kink out of his neck, ‘Hundred thousand tons of precious metals, and they are towing it straight to the Space dock.’
‘Good, once we have the haul from Mercury we can go into full production.’
‘Yeah I've seen the skeletons of the two new battle cruisers; is it me Stevie or do they look smaller than The Burning Wind.’
‘Identical, but built to human scale, and they will pack the same punch.’
‘That’s good to know.’
Steven laughed, ‘well we just didn’t need ten feet of head clearance in every corridor. I reduced it to seven feet which will save us tons of material.’
Buzz nodded thoughtfully, ‘how did the meeting go with all those admirals and generals?’
‘Not good,’ Steven admitted, ‘I ran circles round them last night. I think only one or two even made an effort to read the materials I sent them.’
‘So you kicked their arses in the simulator.’
‘The most embarrassing thing for them was that Gairloch blasted them as incompetent fools.’
Buzz laughed, ‘he was observing right.’
‘Yup. I slaughtered them, then he slaughtered them and then he beat me.’
‘Beat not slaughtered!’
Steven grinned, ‘at the end of the battle he only had ten percent of his forces remaining.’
‘That wouldn’t have pleased him,’ Buzz grinned back.
‘He praised me to the high heavens; he has had a lifetime to study tactics and has been a soldier all his life. He is also considered one of the best in his own galaxy. He admitted that if the situation had been real he would have backed off due to the high casualty rate.’ Steven laughed, ‘he told me that if it all went pear shaped the emperor would give me a job.’
‘Sounds good to me,’ Buzz grinned.
‘You're pussyfooting around something Buzz, out with it.’
The smile disappeared, ‘I'm worried we got all our eggs in one basket, you are making the Moon a big target.’
‘I know but we just don’t have the resources to do anything else at the moment Buzz. Plus keeping this stuff away from the Earth will prevent a thousand different possible disasters happening there. Don’t worry as our strength grows I will begin to disperse our assets.’
Buzz stood, ‘breakfast time then.’
When they returned Komoru was waiting for them. Steven couldn’t help the smile that split his face when she appeared on screen. ‘Good morning, have a good trip?’
She smiled back at him, ‘I could do with a day off.’
‘Oops.’
She laughed, ‘it’s OK, I'm going to take a day when we get back from this trip.’
‘You ready?’
‘Yes let’s go get it done.’
The two ships disappeared into the black. An hour later they were approaching mercury.
‘Captain!’
‘Yes Hailey.’
‘Why is this metal only found on Mercury?’
‘You know how the solar system was formed right.’
‘Big bang.’
‘Everything was thrown out away from the sun. How far it was thrown depended on the density of the material.’
‘You mean like blood in a centrifuge.’
‘Exactly. It coalesced in bands and began to collide eventually forming the planets.’
‘I get that but why is it some alien planets have this material on them and we don’t, that I don’t get, shouldn’t they all be the same?’
‘There will be solar systems out there exactly like ours, some have more than one sun, maybe more than one explosion from different quarters, you know
.’
She blinked, ‘oh hell I should have thought of that. We are coming up on Mercury now sir.’
Come to stop twenty miles from the freighter and put her on screen please.’
The freighter leapt to life on the forward screen. Buzz burst out laughing, ‘what the hell is that?’
‘That’s what we are here to pick up.’
Chapter 30
This was their first real space mission and it had lasted over six weeks. All the men selected were Astronauts. Commander John Logan’s heart beat faster as they manoeuvred onto the cobalt blue slab of metal. It was three hundred meters deep, five hundred meters wide by five miles long. The surface of Mercury shimmered far below. This was the last slab and they would be heading back today. They skimmed across the surface of the slab. Below them green arrows pointed the way. When they began to flash he slowed the platform down. He had to make a small lateral adjustment.
‘OK that’s us bang on boys, deploy.’
The platform had been towing a large box. His operator flicked a switch that lowered it onto the surface of the slab. Two got out and checked that there was contact with the metal on all four corners. They confirmed contact and explosive bolts secured the large box to the slab of metal.
‘All secure.’ The two men reported.
‘Unwrap her,’ John ordered and the cover was removed to reveal a gleaming engine. ‘How you doing at the other end Mark?’
‘That’s it now John, all secure.’
‘OK everyone evacuate.’
The two platforms lifted off the massive slab to a safe distance and the engines ignited. Under computer control they manoeuvred the slab to where the others were waiting. John thought from the end that it looked like a weird rubix cube. As soon as the last great slab of metal was in place they sprang into action again. The freighter moved over the mass and opened the loading bay doors. The two teams shot inside and collected the braces that would attach this last piece to the whole; and the race was on. The two crews shot out of the bay with two braces apiece and raced for either end on the slab. The Astronauts laughed and whooped. Unsavoury remarks were exchanged as each raced to complete the task first. The braces were extended fully and joined in the centre of the new slab. They were then extended to the braces in the adjacent slabs. Bolts were fired into secure them then all of the men worked on a massive hand crank to pull the slab tight into the pile. Johns team won by ten seconds, which gave them the overall highest score. Despite the moaning from Marks team John realised they had taken the whole task from a couple of hours to just under thirty minutes. They recovered the small engines and flew back to the freighter.