“What about you?” Po asked just before she went down.
“It's lies and the long white for me.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN:
Flutes and Genomes
“These two, no three, would have been evidence enough to remove Chancellor Dalton decades ago. All we ever found was their blood and medical scans.”
--Solstice 31 Incident Investigation Testimony Transcript: General Patricia Chase, senior member of the Earth Defense Coalition.
<<<>>>
“Why wear that clothes?” Kuss was scolding Jude as if the black habit she wore offended her. “You're not slave here. Beside, you need pockets.”
Jude froze for a moment and looked over at Cine, who also wore the habit and smiled. Cine had the veil up as well as the habit. Jude and Kuss could see the smile in her dark eyes without the benefit of her mouth.
She set down the cutting torch she was about to light. Cine lowered her veil showing the very white teeth of her smile. She reached up and drew the veil and head piece off in one swath motion.
Jude followed. Cine's smile was contagious. Kuss and Jude had them as well.
They reached behind their necks and freed a single button, and the habit fell to the floor. The both wore sleeveless, skin tight jump suits. These suits were full of tight pockets. Kuss recognized the flutes that ran along their left thighs. She was surprised to see how many knives they were sporting.
They both had long black braids that began as three separate ones. One began at each temple and another at their crowns. They scooped up their plasma torches and were up the side of the derelict machine like monkeys in the low gravity.
Soon hunks of metal were clunking to the floor in the area they had cut off.
They were laughing.
***
“Moon base, come-in. Tyrrell here with an update.” The comms on the Memphis bridge came to life.
“You guys miss us already?” Jimbo replied, looking up from the repairer schedule.
“Be advised. Ibenez and Elkin have released the hounds. They already have a zeppelin on Ronan's schedule. Weston and Shea are going to have a shopping list for you if we ever begin regular trade with the outside and Rand has not killed anyone yet even though Ronan's security forces are like first graders to her.”
“The politics settle down yet?” Jimbo asked.
“Not even close man. It's why I called really.” Tyrrell spoke to someone in whispers as an aside. “We wanted to ask if we could keep some more of the weapons. Maybe even a couple Warmarks.”
“I think it's a good idea,” Jimbo replied immediately. “I think Rand should come up with Cook and go over the inventory. The drop ship had a massive amount of gear.”
“It will also be a good test run for the Limo,” Tyrrell answered.
“We will have the garage airlock open when the Limo gets here.” Jimbo answered, “It will be a lot faster than cycling the main hangar.”
“Roger that.”
***
“Barcus, wake up. I think we are there.” Po said as he came back awake. “Here, drink this. Shaw said it was good for you if you didn't puke.” She handed him a thermos.
He looked over his right shoulder just then. Wex was standing just behind them. He knew she would be. She was wearing a black many pocketed flight suit. RAND was on the name patch.
He screwed off the top, and the cabin was filled with the smell of chicken soup. Wex inhaled deeply and says, “Shh. Bone broth. Your doctor is smarter than you know.”
Barcus poured some into the top that also served as a large cup. He breathed deeply from the steam and sipped as they approached the gas giant.
“It has seven moons of various sized.” Stu said, “It is eleven percent larger than Jupiter but is of the same type.” The display was filling with tactical information annotations the closer they approached.
“What we are looking for is on the direct opposite side away from Baytirus,” Barcus said. “It's a ship. A big one.”
“How did you know that?” Po asked. She was looking at him with a raised eyebrow.
“I have no idea.” He drank deeply now of the rich broth. He was starving. “The planet. The sight of it. It reminded me like I have been here before.”
Stu was making a broad arc around the planet when it came into his view. “What is it's designation?”
“We most recently call her, the Iosin.” Wex said.
They were approaching the ship at the thirty degree angle. It was configured like a single ring. There was a globe in the center of the ring connected by a single arm. A bicycle tire with a melon in the center connected by a long pipe.
It all looked like it was made out of dark gray stone.
Stats were sprouting all around the ship.
“Stu is this right?” Barcus was incredulous. “This says it's 3474.8 kilometers across.”
“I have double checked my scans. The scale is correct.” Stu added additional information. “The ring is 121 kilometers tall and 103 kilometers thick. The sphere in the center is 257 kilometers in diameter and has a mass and density reading higher than that of Baytirus.”
“Stu look at these readings, this can't be right; It's configured like a Mass-Harvester but ten times bigger.”
“The Mass-Harvesters are based on this basic design,” Wex said.
“Then that center core holds all the harvested mass?” Barcus asked.
They grew closer and closer. A great black wedge came into view as the only infrastructure on the massive ship.
A rendered, virtual model of the vessel appeared on the screen. It paused as if viewed from directly above. The globe in the center, the arm that attached it to the ring straight down to the 6 o'clock position, and the wedge, structure at high noon.
“Head there,” Wex indicated the wedge shaped structure. It zoomed in on the screen. “There is the main hangar. Land on the top most level. I have no idea what the condition will be in there.” The hangar bay openings were giant gaping maws of darkness. The bay that is farthest from the core is the one we want.
They were closer now. Light reflected from the planet shown into the bays. They were full of ships. Hundreds of ships. Many kinds and sizes. Some of the Barcus even recognized from history books.
“There is gravity in the ship in this bay. .97G at this level. Set it down Stu as far back as you can.” Wex said as they passed the plane of the opening to the hangar. As soon as they did, lights began to come on all abound. They began to glow as if they were being turned up with a slow dimmer. The lights revealed how deep the space was. They kept flying in. There were ships parked along each side of various configurations. None of these Barcus recognized.
The back wall of the hanger was about two kilometers in. Floor to ceiling had to be 500 meters at least.
“Barcus, we have atmosphere, pressure, and the right O2 air mix,” Stu said.
“How? That door is still open to space, to vacuum back there. I can see it.” Barcus stated.
“We passed through a gravity wall. It keeps the atmo in but allows ships to pass through without having to cycle an airlock.” Wex said, matter of fact.
“Where did all these ships come from?” Po asked, “Do they work?”
“I don't know those answers. But so far the Iosin seems functional.” Wex said as she pointed, “Stu, do you see that upper most shelf there. The empty one. Let's park there.”
Barcus was dumbfounded. The ship was so big he was in shock.
“I don't want anyone to panic when the Iosin scans us. It will scan us all, even you Stu.” Wex turned and was headed for the ladder. “If the ship is awake and doesn't decide to kill us. It will be interesting.”
Po and Barcus exchanged glances. Barcus knew she was lying again.
Wex was down the ladder before they were unstrapped from their five point harnesses.
The ramp was lowering as Barcus helped Po down. When it had completely dropped a piling rose up from the floor, and a flood of light briefly illuminated Wex.
A voice spoke from all around them in a language only Wex understood.
But Barcus somehow knew it was a greeting and a welcome home.
When they stepped forward, they were flashed as well. Then all of the STU was illuminated for an instant.
“Welcome to Iosin.” The voice sounded all around them and inside them.
***
Richard Cook slid the Limo into the moon base garage airlock smoothly. “Damn, this little shuttle is sweet. It only took us three hours to get here. And in comfort.”
Rand was not interested. She was scanning the area. Memorizing the features. Trying to understand why she felt uneasy.
The chamber was pressurized, and the inner door indicator turned green. They opened the gull wings and got out. When she opened the inner door into the hangar, she knew why she felt uneasy.
She saw the Warmarks.
They stood there at attention in a row. Some stood open, ready for a driver. Others loomed as if they were ready for the world to attack. Hagan was inspecting the Warmarks with Valerie Hume. There were cases of various weapons and attachments open there as well.
Ever since she had heard that the things had been on the Ventura, hidden on the Memphis, she had felt uneasy.
She was a senior security chief on the survey ship. The single largest security issue had not been entrusted to her. Hagan had not known, and neither had Worthington.
What else was kept a secret?
She and Cook moved toward the Memphis and Cook moon hopped to the open ramp on the pinnace as he waved.
Rand greeted Hume without wanting to interrupt.
They had the control panel open on one of the Warmarks and a case open at their feet. It was not a weapons or accessories case but some kind of specialized medical device and supplies.
“It has an entire suite of specialty sensors that cannot be accessed unless you have the tailored HUD upgrade.” Hagan was telling Hume.
“And you just injected? Not knowing what would happen?” She said. “That massive upgrade usually require a full med review prior to the update.”
“Please, understand. I was already dead.” Hagan looked lost at that moment. But only for a moment. “I was going to launch the drop ship toward the planet. I was going to fly them all down on remote together. With the grave-chutes deactivated, into an unpopulated area. I didn't want anyone to find them. Much less, use them.”
He seemed ashamed for his cowardice. Rand thought it was the bravest thing she had ever heard. Maybe because she knew that Hagan understood how lethal the Warmarks were.
“The thing is, the Echo system must approve the Warmark control upgrade nanites and must be within range on install. Otherwise, they will kill the host outright.”
Hume looked up at Rand, shaking her head. Rand said, “It's true. Warmark piloting is an exclusive unit.” She tapped the control screen, and nothing happened. “With good reason.”
Hagan looked from one to the other, “Echo has already asked Worthington for volunteers.”
“I'm in.” Came from Rand and Hume at the same time.
***
Jude and Cine had stopped working above and turned off their work lights, just to listen.
CHAPTER TWELVE:
Change of Plan
“The existence of the Iosin seed ship remains classified. It's origin and capabilities are also classified. Most classified of all is the fact that we have had no idea where it is for the last thirty years.”
--Solstice 31 Incident Investigation Testimony Transcript: General Patricia Chase, senior member of the Earth Defense Coalition.
<<<>>>
Barcus stood at the edge of the landing pad and casually sipped his chicken broth. There was no railing. It was about 300 meters down to the deck below. Wex and Po silently stood a few steps farther back from the edge.
His eye caught movement on a lower landing pad.
The looked like spiders of various sizes. Very much like the Emergency Modules.
Po asked, “Didn't you say this ship has been parked out here for hundreds of years? How is it so clean?”
“There are maintenance bots. Thousands of them I bet. Millions maybe.” He looked at Wex. Anger in his eyes, “These bots. Their designs. The EMs are based on these. This ship. The grav-tech harvester ships are based on this design.” Barcus was stating this, not asking.
He tipped up and emptied the Thermos and looked out over the giant hangar bay. It probably had a hundred ships in there.
“Dammit.” He said and threw the thermos out into the hanger.
It had barely come to rest when a few small bots scurried out and collected it and the handle that had broken off.
“What's Wrong?” Po wondered. She reached for Barcus, but he ignored her. He got up right into Wex's face.
“This is what they wanted. Isn't it?” his whisper was a growl. “They were tired of a trickle and wanted it all.”
“Yes.” Wex said, not intimidated, “Instead of them. I'm giving it all to you.”
“Why?” Barcus asked, his hand was on the hilt of his Telis blade. Po's hand gently surrounded that wrist.
“Because of the long white. My one chance to end the war.” Wex turned and walked away.
***
Worthington had called everyone into the conference room. Everyone was there except Elkin, Ibenez, Tyrrell, Weston, and Shea. They were still on the planet.
He began, “I know everyone has been wondering why we decided to delay our departure.”
Kuss suddenly raised her hand. Jimbo paused and gestured to her with his chin.
“No. No one wonder. If Worthington say delay, it's for good reason. No questions. Tell us or no, we still do what you need.” She sat back.
“Yes. Thank you, Kuss. I appreciate that.” He pressed a control, and the eleven Warmarks came up on the presentation board behind him for everyone to see. “Most of you look at this and see just another modified maintenance suit like the one that Barcus uses. More attachments, but basically the same.” He looked around the room, “You'd be right and wrong.”
“Warmarks individually are a devastating weapon. We have eleven.” He pressed a button, and Lifeboat 4 came up, “We also have their drop ship. And a full complement of weapons. Some of which not even Master Chief Randall as seen. Half of the weapons have been banned by treaties on all the united colony systems.”
He let it sink in a minute before continuing. The weapons and specs were cycling through.
“Add on to that an ECHO. An Extreme Combat Hellfire Operations system and fully trained team.” He knew everyone was remembering the squad of soldiers that had been assigned to the Memphis and killed that day. Everyone thought they were Marines. They were Black Badgers.
“Echo is not the chattiest or most forthcoming AI system I have ever worked with, but it has shed a lot of light on recent events.”
***
Barcus and Po were following Wex to the front wall of the bay. It wasn't vertical, but curved and slanted at about 45 degrees. They stepped into a clear globe with a dark wide flat floor. Barcus felt a tug in his brain. Not his vision really but some other sense.
It was an elevator. He knew somehow.
It slid smoothly up the side of the hanger until it entered the ceiling through a tunnel. A few hundred floors slid by as they moved up and forward. They could see they were rapidly decelerating, but did not feel it.
The globe came to rest up through the floor in the center of a room about forty meters across and was a perfect dome with no visible light source. Nine white sofas were arranged in a circle here. There was not a single particle of dust.
Barcus thought to himself, this was just like the HUD dome in the STU. Just the thought activated it.
Unlike the STU, the floor disappeared as well.It was as it the three of them were floating in space. Perfect 3D in every direction. He gasped at the beauty of it all. He could feel the heat of the distant sun and know its temperature. He just KNEW the precise distance to the gas giant a
nd the makeup of its atmosphere and even that it was called Afreet. He could feel the solar wind on his body and hear every band of RF and even sense the silence when there was none. He was alive and swimming naked in outer space, and it was like he had been blind his whole life and could now see and feel and hear and taste... everything.
“Barcus, what's wrong?” Po had worry in her voice. “Please sit before you fall over.”
Barcus looked at Po then like he was seeing her for the first time. The slowly descended to one of the lounges there and slumped back. “What's wrong?” She was very worried, “Please, talk to me.”
“She can't... see any of it, Barcus.” Wex was there now. Looking. She drew in a deep breath and Barcus knew it was the pleasure of the comfortable coolness of space that she was feeling.
“I'm all right.” Barcus stammered, “Why can’t she see this?”
“She’s not a Scarecrow.”
***
Worthington stood, “For the last few decades the new colonization expansion has begun. I don't need to explain that to any of you because we all served on a deep space survey ship with the specific mission to check out planets that might be good for colonization. Better than the last expansion.” Worthington paced back and forth as he spoke. “We wanted to avoid the overpopulation pressures that caused the last wave of colonization, wars and subsequent isolation.”
“So we no leave Earth again in a state that looks like house after frat party over,” Kuss said, and everyone laughed.
Cook said, “Kuss at a frat party? They never had a chance.”
“Focus,” Rand said as a bit of anger slipped into her voice.
“That is actually the general idea.” Worthington continued, “The last time the uncontrolled exodus destroyed the economies on Earth. Faction wars over race and religion sky rocketed as colonies were created to be 'Pure' in several ways.”
Solstice 31: The Solstice 31 Saga, Books 1,2,3 Page 80