“Are you going to leave the Corps when your enlistment time is up in two years?”
“Leave the Corps? Never. This is my home. And all of you are my family.”
“How about you, Sitwell?” Purdis asked, addressing one of the other two fire team members. “Would you like to be home in fifteen seconds?”
“Who wouldn’t? But there’s no way I’m gonna step into that thing— unless I’m ordered to.”
“Clark?”
“Ditto for me. There’s no way I’m getting into that thing without orders. One little glitch and poof, you’re gone forever. Even if you don’t find yourself floating out in space somewhere, imagine suddenly finding yourself in another galaxy, surrounded by cyborgs.”
“I’d like to try it,” Purdis said.
“A few minutes ago you wanted to toss a hunk of Corplastizine into it.”
“A guy can change his mind.”
“Yeah, well just don’t go near that thing while I’m part of the same fire team. I don’t intend to spend a month in the brig for being an accessory to your stupidity. If you want to be a lab rat, I’ll tell the Sarge you’ve volunteered to take the first trip.”
“Hold on. I never said the first trip.”
~ ~ ~
“The cyborgs tried to activate the self-destruct mechanism while they were aboard the base,” Gavin said to Eliza during their morning briefing a few days later. “Our engineers have confirmed they made several attempts. Fortunately, our people had deleted the old computer instructions and installed a new set of programs consistent with the systems used aboard all of our ships. Also, our engineers have included a hardware requirement that the individual trying to initiate the process must have a CT or ID chip recognized by the system, and the individual must be authorized to initiate the self-destruct. Without that, the computer completely ignores them.”
“Were their efforts made before or after they began their evacuation?”
“After,” Gavin said, with a curious expression. “Does it matter?”
“Yes, sir. If it was before, then they never intended to occupy the ship for long. If it was after, then the goal all along had been to commandeer the ship, and they only sought to destroy it when they were unable to take it over.”
“You think they might not have intended to fully occupy this base as a mothership?”
“As we attempt to understand their motives and methods, we must consider all possibilities.”
“What possible reason could they have for trying to take the base if they never planned to use it?”
“In the absence of supporting information, I’d have to assume they intended only to deprive us of a valuable defensive platform in this part of Region Three. That would seem to justify the hundreds of cyborgs they lost in the attempt.”
* * *
Chapter Nine
~ April 27th, 2292 ~
“Good morning, Jen,” Admiral Holt’s image said from the large monitor that faced her office desk.
“Good morning, Brian. You look a bit— troubled.”
“Yes and no. I’ve just learned what happened to the CPO who disappeared from Lorense-Four. Larry Gavin sent me a vidMail with the information. Very soon after he disappeared from his assignment here, the chief showed up at the base where Christa is the temporary administrator. About a month ago, as Christa and a small team were exploring the new base, they stepped into one of the rooms where a Personnel CJ Gate was located. They didn’t know what it was at the time, but as they stood looking at the booth, the interior suddenly illuminated with a bright, white light, then dimmed to normal light levels. Someone in an EVA suit— someone who hadn’t been there seconds earlier— was then observed standing in the booth.”
“Our CPO I take it.”
“Exactly. The cyborg that SCI reprogrammed to work for us was part of Christa’s team exploring the new space station at the time. His internal chronometer is set to G.A. time, and according to Larry’s report, the CPO actually appeared in the booth at the new base eleven seconds after a flash was recorded by a yard shuttle in orbit at the reclamation yard there. The flash came from the vicinity of where the chief was examining a Personnel CJ Gate. It wasn’t discovered until they began checking all logs while looking for clues to his disappearance.”
“Is he healthy?”
“The doctors aboard the Koshi have reported he appears to be in perfect health.”
“Perfect health? No lingering aftereffects such as dizziness or difficulty sleeping?”
“Perfect health.”
“So then it would appear the CJ Gates are suitable for Terran travel.”
“Did you have doubts?”
“Not doubts, exactly,” Jenetta said. “Just concerns. The cyborgs are mostly machines, after all. And their brains are encased in a sealed metal container. Knowing that the CJ Gates aren’t deadly to biological beings is— important. It means that we might actually be able to adapt them for our travel use. Until now, I was really only confident they could eventually be adapted for sending messages and inanimate matter instantly. I didn’t want to count on them for travel until we knew it was safe.”
“I’m sure a lot more testing will have to be done before we establish that conclusively.”
“Yes, but this is a positive first step. Did Larry have anything else to report?”
“Yes, he said Christa was deeply concerned that the Denubbewa might be able to use the CJ Gates to infiltrate our new bases. She sent him a message as soon as the CPO appeared on her base. In that message she suggested very strongly that he immediately deploy most of his Marines to the seven new bases so the fourteen Gate rooms in each base could be well guarded around the clock.”
“And did he follow that suggestion?”
“He reports that within the hour he had deployed as many Marines as he could spare to six of the seven bases. He said the Ares then brought several platoons to the base where Christa is the administrator. Upon his arrival, Christa briefed him and Eliza fully. And following that briefing he sent new orders to each of the other new bases, warning them of the threat from the booths and ordering them to build and install a camera and sensor unit designed by the Koshi engineering staff in every single Gate room and to monitor the Gate rooms continuously from either the bridge or engineering. Larry sent a copy of the construction specs with his message.”
“I take it that cyborgs haven’t appeared on the bases, or you would have mentioned that first.”
“No, no cyborgs,” Brian said. “At least not when the message was sent several weeks ago. It looks like they chose to concentrate their efforts here, but if their arrival at the stations was timed to agree with the arrival here, that might no longer be true.”
“Has Loretta made any progress with the Gate transponders?”
“No, not yet. Raymond sent a few of his top people from SCI to see if they could help. They say it’s like nothing they’ve ever seen before. That’s certainly no surprise. Loretta has provided them with a number of damaged transponder units removed from smashed Gate booths, and they’ve been disassembling them and trying to understand the component functions. Loretta also has them studying the notes our people made while learning about Gate construction from Sywasock. Hopefully, they can provide us with some answers soon. When I mentioned to Loretta that I’d be speaking to you about the CPO matter, she said she’d like you to call a closed executive season of the A.B. for sometime next week to discuss progress on the CJ Gate issues.”
“Which day?”
“Whatever works in the schedule.”
“I’ll schedule it for as soon as possible. You told Loretta about the CPO winding up in Region Three?”
“Of course. He’s part of her staff.”
“What did she say?”
“She was naturally surprised, and glad that he was safe and healthy. And I— sensed— a satisfaction on her part that the booths seem safe for travel by biological beings like Terrans.”
“Safe for Terran travel is
n’t enough. We must understand exactly how the system works and know that our travel can’t be compromised by Denubbewa traveling at the same instant. There can be no chance that the signals could somehow intersect and be altered.”
~ ~ ~
“I’ve just received information from Quesann,” Captain Gavin said to the small group of senior officers and ship captains assembled in the conference room aboard the Ares. “As you know, the great distance separating us from Quesann means that all communications are weeks old because we’re limited by S-Band speeds. The message contains a warning that cyborgs may be able to use the CJ Gates in the stations and suddenly appear in our midst at any time. It would have been nice to receive that message the same day it was sent. Most importantly, the message includes proper procedures for deactivating the Gates by disconnecting both a transponder device and the power couplings. The procedures do no damage to the booths and they can be reactivated at any time in a matter of minutes. We’re ordered to deactivate all Gates until further notice. By now, all of the other space stations have received the message and begun deactivating their Gates. We can only hope that Quesann develops a procedure for using the Gates soon. Even if we can’t travel through them anytime soon, simply having instantaneous communications by sending a viewpad with a recorded message would have tremendous benefits.
“Since the last of the attacking cyborgs left this base, there’s been no indication they intend to return using the Gate booths, and in the daily reports I’ve been receiving, all seems well at the other bases. The ability to disconnect the transponder and power down the Gates will provide that extra layer of protection we’ve needed. As we all know, it’s one thing to be attacked from outside the base where we have defenses capable of repelling almost any attack and quite another to be attacked from within. We’ve been thinking of those cyborgs as mindless robots, but Admiral Carver wants us to remember that intelligent military strategists appear to be pulling the strings of these mechanical puppets. And those strategists don’t seem to mind wasting cyborgs if they believe it will wear us down and lead to our defeat.”
“Sir,” Commander Kalborne said, “have we learned why they chose to attack this base and ignore the others?”
“We’re speculating that the attack occurred here because, of all the former motherships, this base was the closest to Quesann. When the cyborgs got control of the ship’s envelope propulsion system, they immediately set a course that would have eventually brought this former mothership to Region Two. We believe Quesann was the target. There might be a different reason, but that’s the best we can come up with so far.
“Three destroyers will be arriving here within a few days. They represent the first warships to call this base their homeport. They will not patrol farther out than one day’s travel time until additional ships arrive, and there will always be at least one ship in port. The new base administrator is aboard one of the destroyers and he or she will accept responsibility for the base, relieving Commander Kalborne of that duty and allowing him to return his full attention to captaining the Ottawa. I don’t know who’s been named as administrator of this base, but they will certainly hold the rank of Captain and will serve a full duty tour of five years.”
“Will the Ottawa report to the new base commander or remain as part of your command, sir?” Kalborne asked.
“Given that we’re under sporadic but persistent attacks by a powerful alien race bent on arrogating this entire galaxy, or perhaps the universe, all ships other than the ones specifically assigned to the Base Protection Detail will report to me as the commanding officer of the Region Three taskforce. I may, at my discretion, temporarily assign ships to be part of the Base’s Protection Detail, but I will keep that to a minimum because we don’t know where we’ll be needed next. Once the three destroyers arrive at each of the new bases, all other ships will resume patrol duties. The ships still assigned to security at the former battle site will continue to guard that area against thieves and predators until all of the salvageable and hazardous material has been collected and transported to Lorense-Four. Any other questions?”
“When can we disconnect power from the three active booths here on the base, sir?” Major Lee asked.
“It’s already being done. Commander Carver has assigned an engineering team to each of the three booths that have been reported as still operational. When they complete that task, they’ll examine the eleven booths that were deactivated in the early hours of the attempted takeover and disconnect the power supplies to those booths.”
“Is that even necessary, sir?” Lee asked. “I regret that we had to damage them if Space Command intended to make use of them in the future, but my people did a real number on them. They aren’t useable.”
“You did what you had to do, Major. No one blames you for damaging the booths. It was necessary to prevent the cyborgs from bringing additional forces into our base. The reason for the engineering teams being assigned to disconnect the power to those eleven booths is that we’ve learned that the booths report their location twice each day. This means the Denubbewa are probably able to track our position with that information. As we begin the voyage back to where the base was located before the takeover, we want to ensure that the Denubbewa don’t have any idea where we are. Once all Personnel CJ Gates are disconnected, the rooms will be sealed to prevent anyone from entering and possibly reactivating a booth. And once the rooms are sealed, there will be no further need for Marine sentries at the doors. All Gate rooms still have the cameras and sensors we installed there so they can be monitored should movement be detected in the room.”
“Couldn’t we just disconnect the booths from the antenna on the exterior surface of the base?”
“They’re not connected to the exterior antenna array. Quesann has learned a great deal about the booths, but there’s still much we don’t understand. We know the Dakinium hull doesn’t interfere with Gate travel, but we don’t understand how the signals are able to pass through it without being hindered in any way. In time, we’ll learn all the secrets and then we’ll be able to use this new technology to our advantage. But first we have to show the Denubbewa that attacking us was the biggest mistake they’ve made in the thousands of years they’ve reportedly been conquering nations far less powerful than their own.”
~ ~ ~
“I wanted to brief you on the findings and speculations of the teams researching the transponder devices associated with the CJ Gates,” Admiral Plimley said to the members of the A.B. meeting in closed executive season a few days later. “By studying damaged units from destroyed booths, we’ve been able to construct precision engineering documents so we can begin manufacturing our own at any time. However, we shouldn’t really do that until we’re sure we won’t be opening a door the Denubbewa can enter at will. As we witnessed recently around Lorense-Four, they’ll exploit any Gate they can contact. However, a full and complete understanding of the operation of the equipment still eludes us. The language used by the Gate transponders is the original Locculo. We really have no idea who the Locculo were, where their territory was located, or anything about their language, so we’re working to reverse-engineer the instruction set.
“With the invaluable help of the scientist cyborgs working with us, we’ve developed a working hypothesis regarding the system operation. It appears that the transponder units installed in the Gates are capable of self-identifying their location in this galaxy. That’s not a difficult task. The tiny satellites long used by SCI to monitor traffic and communications in areas under observation and report back to their HQ have that same capability. The SCI satellites can even move slightly to maintain their assigned location or a revised location as needed. Sywasock believes that when Denubbewa ships arrive in new sectors of space, they immediately begin seeding tiny satellites that act as collection points for the data being transmitted by any nearby transponders. The data is then transmitted to a master satellite via a minute artificial wormhole close to their base of operations. The n
ew data then updates the previous information in a master computer. Sywasock believes the galaxy is filled with these tiny satellites, giving the Denubbewa an amazing network that’s protected against malfunctions and enemy attacks through redundancy because there are always other satellites to accept and transmit all received data. The Denubbewa therefore have the ability to maintain contact with all stationary CJ Gates on a planet and all operational Gates on ships. This is important because the wormholes require a specific direction for transmission and acknowledgement by the receiving unit.
“We’ve learned that in support of this operation, the booths report their location every eleven hours, sixteen minutes, and thirty-eight seconds. This ensures the system always has an approximate location for the Gates. When a jump is initiated, the system first establishes contact between both locations. Once the two Gates are in contact and have completed what’s called ‘handshaking,’ the transfer process can begin. Both ‘send’ and ‘receive’ Gates become interlocked until the transmission is complete. It’s an excellent system design, and accidents are minimized.”
“Clever,” Admiral Woo said.
“Yes, Lon,” Admiral Plimley said.
“And necessary if they’re to effectively send their cyborgs to any ship or Gate instantaneously,” Admiral Holt said.
“Yes,” Admiral Plimley said.
“So if Sywasock is correct,” Jenetta said, “finding one or two of those tiny satellites and destroying them wouldn’t interfere with their use of Gates and the movement of cyborgs?”
“No, apparently not,” Admiral Plimley said. “We’ll have to establish our own network of satellites with encrypted access codes and a unique instruction set if we’re to establish a CJ Gate system in G.A. space that prevents the Denubbewa from gaining access while ensuring they can’t interfere with our transfers.”
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