Victim of Circumstance (The Time Stone Trilogy Book 3)

by Robert F Hays

  “Anything else?” Colin said.

  “Yes, Prime Minister Young of Casia is online and wants to talk with you.”

  “Ok, put him on,” Colin sighed.

  The image on the screen changed. Colin’s father suddenly appeared.

  “Hi dad,” Colin said. “Sorry I screwed up.”

  “Screwed up?” Jim said. “You got landed in an impossible situation and you pulled it off. The analysts back on Pellan reviewed all of the video and audio records you sent and were flabbergasted you survived so long undetected.”

  “My fault Mr. Young,” Ida said. “I screwed up.”

  “No Ida,” Jim said. “The analysts said the odds on something giving you away were ninety nine percent. It was inevitable. Enough of that. I have something else to tell you. Some idiot let the cat out of the bag. We know who it was, and the Bund now know of your planet’s existence but not location. They’re demanding that we hand over the planet to them. If we do, they’ll negotiate a peace.”

  “No dad. If they try occupying this planet, there’ll be a war. The Europeans, Pinoy, Thai and Khmer will all fight. It’ll be a massacre. A blind army armed with spears and bolos charging laser pistols and pulse rifles.”

  “They don’t know where you are, yet. There are thousands of star systems they’d have to search. We have time. Ida? Do you have all the samples ready from the lady you said was immune?”

  “Yes, I have blood as well as bone marrow and lymph biopsies.”

  “Launch them on an orbital drone and I’ll get our corvette to pick it up.”

  “Mr. Young,” Ida said. “That would be dangerous. If this virus gets to an inhabited planet, it’d be a disaster.”

  “The Surgeon General has sent a research lab to an uninhabited moon around an uninhabited planet. Top secret. He didn’t even tell me where it was.”

  “But the lab personnel would be exposed.”

  “The whole thing is remote controlled. The technicians will be on Pellan.”

  “I’ll put the drone in orbit this afternoon,” Colin said.

  “One other thing,” Jim said. “Military intelligence says you no longer have to go on limited transmission. As the existence of the planet is now known the parallel space transmissions won’t give them more information than they already know. They’ll just bounce them off of half a dozen relays to confuse the origin.”

  “Good,” Colin said. “We’re going to need a lot of information from Pellan.”

  “That’s it for now, out here.”

  “End transmission,” Colin said and turned to Farren and Hansel. “We’ve found a way to use the bridge but we still have to be careful. The people I told you about, the Alliance, if they knew about this place they’d be here in a few warms.”

  “They would fight us?” Hansel said.

  “The fight wouldn’t last long. They have the visions too. They also have weapons like we do.”

  “They would take our land?”

  “My family has a friend named Halbert. He had a farm that took much effort to build. When the Alliance took his town, called Hebram, soldiers showed up at his farm, put him on a cart and sent him across the dark to where we live. He had to start his farm all over again.”

  Hansel bowed his head. “Our farms and factories took many generations to build. We went through terrible times to get to where we are. We cannot start again.”

  “Our people will take care of you.”

  Farren turned to Hansel. “So, now do you believe them?”

  “They have things well beyond our knowledge. It’s logical that they know things we don’t.”

  “And you now think the visions are normal?” Farren said. “I believe them but I’m still nervous.”

  “The visions they tell us come though the eyes,” Hansel said. “Since I retired I have thought much on that. What are the eyes for? The ears are for hearing, the nose for smelling but what of the eyes? Are they just to release the waters of emotion? God has placed many things on the head and body, all with an important function, except the eyes. They’re very sensitive things and we protect them. When the wind blows dirt in your face your eyelids close. When I move my head to where the sun warms my face, I feel pain. Why would the body be so protective if the eyes had no function?”

  “When I told of my visions your son beat me,” Malia said.

  “I remember,” Hansel sighed. “He was a new Pastor and quiet zealot over defending us from evil. If I had known then what I know now I would’ve stopped him. For that, I’m sorry. He was acting on what he believed to be in the Bible, but the more I read, the more I think it has been altered over time.”

  “Possible,” Colin said. “Have you ever heard these words: Day, night, east, west, summer and winter?”

  “No,” Hansel said. “What do they mean?”

  “Those words are in the Bible,” Colin said. “Day, you call ‘the warm’. Night you call ‘the cool’.”

  “Really?” Hansel said. “Are you sure?”

  “Positive,” Yuri said. “My parents were very religious. They made me read the Bible every night.”

  “Then it has been altered,” Hansel said. “And what of the missing parts? Did the Bible you read occasionally stop mid-story and mid-sentence?”

  “No,” Yuri said.

  “I have some news for you,” Colin chuckled. “Did you know the book shelf in your main room has a gap at the top, between it and the ceiling?”

  Hansel thought for a moment. “No, I thought it went all the way to the ceiling.”

  “Look there,” Colin said. “I think you’ll find the missing parts. There are quite a few manuscripts.”

  “Good heavens,” Hansel said. “I take it that the visions told you this.”

  “I took the pills,” Tanni said. “How long does it take?”

  “With that boy Jael it took two weeks,” Ida said. “It should be about the same. After that it’ll take a lot of therapy.”

  “I forgot about Jael,” Colin said. “What can we do about him? Offer to take him with us too?”

  “He’ll be re-infected,” Ida said. “I’ve been looking up the medical database on that type of retrovirus. When his mother touches him he’ll catch it again and lose his sight. The only permanent cure is the production of antibodies, and that takes a lymph node implant.”

  “He’ll be all right,” Hansel said. “Before we left, I told his mother to keep his eyes covered until I found out what to do.”

  “Will I lose the visions?” Tanni said. “Do I have to stay away from our people always?”

  “No,” Ida said. “I’ll be giving you the medicine that we take. It won’t be as efficient as one designed for that particular virus but it’ll do. It prevented us from catching it.”

  “Will I take this medicine all my life?”

  “No, the disease can’t exist for long periods of time outside the human body and only humans get it. Once it’s removed from the entire population there’ll be no further need for the medication.”

  “The thing I’m worried about is shock,” Colin said. “Having the visions for the first time.”

  “You said I could hold Ken’s hand.” Tanni turned nervously to Ida. “That’s still all right, isn’t it? You weren’t just saying that I could court him because of the situation.”

  Hansel burst out laughing. “They’re not married,” he said. “They’re soldiers. They are brothers and sisters but not of the same parents. I have read of this in that book on McArthur. They told us they were married so we wouldn’t be offended.”

  “Relief,” Ida said. “We don’t have to pretend any more.”

  Tanni’s face lit up. “That means I don’t need permission to court Ken.”

  “Now hold on a minute,” Ken said. “I’m a soldier. I’m not planning on getting married for a while.”

  “You don’t have to get married,” Farren said. “You don’t know our customs. In courting, she cooks you food and if you like the food, you give her presents. You c
an talk together, but in sight of others. Then you decide to be betrothed or not.”

  “It’s sort of like going steady?” Ken said.

  “Sounds like it,” Colin said, “going steady with a chaperone.”

  “Colin,” Malia said. “You said we were betrothed but I won’t hold you to the declaring of betrothal.”

  Colin exhaled heavily and shut his eyes a moment to think. “I have much to do before thinking of a commitment to a woman. I’m a soldier. It may take many sun highs.”

  “I’ll wait,” Malia said.

  Chapter 20

  Jim sat back in an armchair and surveyed the racks containing over a hundred miniature Time Stones. “I was wondering what I’d use this room for,” he said. “I thought it’d be another guest bedroom. I didn’t figure on so many guests.”

  “The future of human civilization is right here,” Halbert said and reached for a pitcher of fruit juice to refill his glass.

  Jim looked across at Halbert as he sat back in his own armchair. “How’s the booze situation going?”

  “Haven’t touched a drop in over a standard year.”

  “Do you miss it?” Jim said.

  “Not getting drunk, but I do miss kicking back with a beer and conversation. My doctor said to give it another year and he’ll try to adjust my metabolism so I can have the occasional one or two.”

  Jim looked down at the beer in his hand. “It does make things pleasant all right.”

  “Has the High Command given you the schedule for the invasion?” Halbert said.

  “Not yet,” Jim sighed. “They’re still working out kinks in the delivery system. If the Bund’s planetary defenses spot them coming in, there goes the invasion. It appears to be our last chance to stop the war favorably. Every government in the Commonwealth is almost out of money, including Casia.”

  “So we just give them that new planet and call it quits.”

  “Then we’d have to find homes for the people they’d deport.”

  The door slowly opened and Michael entered the room. “Here it is,” he said, handing Jim a plastic case.

  “The last one,” Jim said and opened the case to retrieve a black pyramid and place it on a shelf with the others. “Any problems?”

  “None,” Michael said. “That crewman on the ship from Verloren just handed me the case at the spaceport and said ‘here’s that box of Dutch butter cookies your father wanted’. No one even gave us a second look.”

  “Success,” Jim said. “I just hope no one gets suspicious about so many cheap souvenirs coming through customs.”

  “Peter’s crew fixed the spaceport software,” Halbert said. “When the luggage scanners detect them they’re listed as either underwear or shoes.”

  “Dad, which is the one I carried?”

  Halbert picked up a data pad and looked at it. “It was number C6.”

  “That one there,” Jim pointed.

  “I’d like to know what they do. I shitted bricks for two weeks getting it here. What is it? Does it produce some sort of ray that disintegrates cities?”

  “No son,” Jim said. “I can tell you now. It, in itself, isn’t a weapon, it contains a weapon. Remember what the original Time Stone did, how it got us here?”

  “Yes, it was a gate to a parallel universe where time didn’t exist. It held us there until Dr. Redmond found a way to release us.”

  “Well, doc’s lab technicians found a way to recreate it on a much smaller scale. These are miniaturized versions of the original. They do exactly the same thing but have a lot less capacity.”

  “So, each one is holding something in a parallel universe? What is it?”

  “It’s more who are they. Each holds two battalions of Commonwealth Rangers or Home Guard soldiers, their vehicles, equipment, heavy weapons and ninety days supply of food, water and ammunition. We have here the gates to over two hundred thousand troops.”

  “What?” Michael said. “I almost lost two thousand men and women down a garbage chute into space?”

  “They would’ve been found,” Halbert said. “It might’ve taken a year of searching but they would’ve eventually been picked up.”

  “They’re the invasion force that’ll attack the Bund’s home planet, Germania,” Jim said.

  “How’re they getting them there?”

  “We have no idea,” Jim said. “Another group in the military is working on it. Our job is to just assemble the things and wait for them to be picked up.”

  “It won’t be easy,” Halbert said. “The Germania planetary defenses can detect anything approaching the planet larger than a walnut. They have to defend themselves against us trying to attack them with small neutron bombs.”

  “Gawd,” Michael said. “What about security? With all the leaks in the government, how’re they keeping this thing a secret?”

  “I’m only one of two members of any government that knows about it,” Jim said. “The only ones in the know are a few Generals, Admirals, technicians and a group in the Secret Service.”

  “It appears that your father is just about the only high ranking elected official that the High Command trusts,” Halbert said. “Most of the Generals and Admirals don’t know what’s going on either but we do have their full cooperation.”

  “And the cooperation of the Secretary of Defense.” Jim added.

  “But over two hundred thousand soldiers just disappeared, won’t someone notice?”

  Halbert chuckled. “We have a couple of computer gurus playing the Old Earth game of three card monte with them. The government computer tracking system is so screwed up they’re easy to hide. Currently the bulk of the governments think the units are in movement, out on maneuvers, stood down for reassignment or recently posted to some remote moon.”

  “They’d better come up with the delivery system quick,” Jim said. “That many missing is sure to be noticed sooner or later.”

  “More sooner than later,” Halbert said. “You can only keep friends and relatives from complaining for a time. Vmail saying ‘your son, daughter, husband or wife is on a training mission and will be out of range of communications’, will only work for so long. The first battalion was picked up a month ago. I’d give it another month before people start contacting their governments and asking, ‘where the heck is my Johnny?’”

  “So, a group of technicians just walked into army camps and zapped up two thousand men at a time and no one noticed.”

  “That was Peter’s Secret Service team,” Jim said. “We have no idea how he did it, but he did it.”

  “But they’re ground troops,” Michael said. “What about the fleet?”

  “Neither side can afford another battle like Rennes or Casia,” Jim said. “Not just the loss of life, another slugging match like those would cost so much in destroyed ships and equipment it’d bankrupt both sided. It’d throw both the Commonwealth and Alliance into a major economic depression.”

  “Better to bypass the Bund fleet,” Halbert said. “Attack their capitol with ground forces.”

  “I got it,” Michael said.

  “Just remember,” Halbert said. “Not a word outside this room. It’s one of two fully secure rooms in the house. What happens here could end the war.”

  Michael nodded. “By the way, mom says lunch is ready.”

  Jim stood. “Grab the glasses and that pitcher. Autoserves are banned from this room.”

  The threesome walked into the hall. “Computer, secure the room.” Jim called. A humming sound caught his attention so he turned briefly and saw one of the household robotics dutifully scrubbing the tiled hallway floor.

  They proceeded down the length of the hall and down a set of stairs to the first floor.

  Jim stopped as a thought suddenly came to mind. “Michael,” he said. “Go tell your mother we’ll be another half hour. Something important has come up.”

  “What is it?” Michael said.

  “Just tell your mother.” He turned, beckoned to Halbert and proceeded down a
side hallway.

  “What’s up,” Halbert said but Jim didn’t reply.

  They stopped in front of another door. “Voice authorization, Jim Young, open door.”

  “Voice print authorized,” the computer replied and the door slid open.

  The two entered.

  “So, what’s up?” Halbert repeated.

  “That cleaner autoserve in the hall upstairs.”

  “What autoserve?” Halbert said.

  “The one in the hall just down from the other secure room.”

  Halbert chuckled. “Only an Old Earth man would notice. To us they’re part of the landscape. There could be a dozen charging around and we would not even see them. What about it?”

  “It was there yesterday,” Jim raised his head. “Computer, when was the floor of the east wing hall, second floor, cleaned last?”

  “It was last cleaned ten days ago,” the computer replied.

  “When is the next scheduled cleaning?”

  “In six days time.”

  “Damn,” Halbert exclaimed.

  Jim walked to a flat screen monitor. “Monitor three, security camera second floor, east wing hall.”

  The scene of the hall appeared on the monitor.

  “It’s just sitting there,” Halbert said. “It’s not doing its job.”

  “I’ve got a feeling that if we went back up there it’d instantly jump back to life and start working again.”

  “Sounds like a government employee,” Halbert said.

  “Computer, which autoserve is in that hall?”

  “There are no Autoserves in that hall.”

  “What is the object on the floor at the end of that hall?”

  “There is no object in the hallway.”

  “Your computer system has been hacked,” Halbert said. “That thing is a robotic spy.”

  “By who? I know it’s not you, you already know what’s in that room.”

  “Greenberg?” Halbert said. “Your head of security?”

  “Nope, if it was him, he would’ve tapped into the secure rooms and listened in on our conversation there. There wouldn’t be a need for a spybot, or whatever you call it.”

  “So, the house system is screwed, but the top secret security system isn’t,” Halbert said.