Freedom's Last Gasp

by M. A. Rothman

  Tom leaned back in his chair. “I’m guessing CHD and GHD were Colonel and then General Heinrich Duhrer.”

  “And SGNP has to be that hag Natalya Poroshenko, the secretary-general. She’s a traitor to humanity and needed to find a grave years ago.”

  “This is getting deep and dark—quickly.” Tom shook his head. “The Radcliffes were killed when a missile struck their transport. So clearly, KBP is some kind of missile system.”

  “I can confirm that. Hang on a second.” Tina switched to another computer, tapped away, and then sent an image to one of the larger screens. It was some kind of schematic and system diagram. “Found it right there in the UNIB goody drawer. Everything you want to know about KBP.”

  Tom looked over the specs. “Kinetic Bombardment Project. A satellite-based system. Fifty-thousand-pound rods of tungsten, a guidance system, and a primary boost rocket good for a sixty-second burn. They have these things up in low Earth orbit, just waiting to be dropped. You don’t need a massive bomb when something like that is falling out of the sky.”

  He shook his head. “It’s brilliant. Nobody would suspect a thing, because anyone who’s looking for a missile attack would be looking for a launch to track—whereas this was launched years ago, each rod probably hidden in the cargo bay during a series of otherwise innocuous shuttle launches. With this, you wouldn’t see anything other than maybe a blip up in geosynchronous orbit. It would just fall using Earth’s gravity—then slam into its target at thirty thousand miles per hour.”

  Tom was going to have quite the report to type up. The colony needed to know about this.

  Tom rubbed his eyes. They’d been looking through incriminating records for nearly half a day, and he’d been writing his report as they went. His fingers were almost as tired as his eyes.

  Tina kicked him. “Holy cow. Tom… you need to look at this.” She transferred the document image to the main monitor.

  Tom scanned the text and felt the blood drain from his face. “Am I reading that right?”

  “I got a hit on Operation Clean Sweep. It looks like it’s a plan to attack the colony with nukes.” She scrolled down. “Holy shit. These bastards are onlining thirteen-megaton warheads. Sixty of them!”

  Tom turned back to his computer. “I need to get this information back to the colony now.”

  “What can they do?”

  “I don’t know. I really don’t.”

  “The doc says four shuttles will be used for the nukes, and four more are carrying forty soldiers apiece in full battle rattle. I’ll see if I can get more details about what’s going on. Where the shuttles are, where the warheads are, when they’re getting deployed…”

  “And if they’re in orbit already,” Tom added.

  “Yes. This may take me some time.”

  “Don’t take too much time,” Tom said, balling his fists. “Someone out there may be uncrating a nuke right now—and it’s headed for my home.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Priya was in the kitchen of her aunt’s apartment, reading an e-mail she’d just received from the David Holmes Academy.

  * * *

  Due to your performance during the fall semester, you have been placed on academic probation. Your privileges for attending campus-related activities and events are suspended for one calendar year, after which you can reapply with the Admissions Department. Any questions regarding these findings can be forwarded to the Council for Academic Progress.

  * * *

  “What!” she shrieked at her handheld, fury surging through her.

  Aunt Jen rushed into the kitchen. “What’s wrong?”

  “These idiots at the Academy evidently didn’t freeze my records while I was at the colony, so now they’re claiming I failed my last semester.”

  “Oh, dear. I… I did get calls about your lack of attendance. I’m sorry, Priya. I tried to explain to them…”

  Priya’s entire body shook with anger as she dialed the number for the campus. After all she’d been through…

  “David Holmes Education Campus, how may I help you?”

  “Please connect me to Colonel Jenkins at the UN Special Operations Command.”

  “I’m sorry, but we don’t have the ability to transfer calls to that part of the campus. You’ll need to reach out to them directly. Is there anything else I can do for you?”

  “Do you have their phone number?”

  “I’m sorry, I do not. Is there anything else I can do for you?”

  With a death-grip on her handheld, Priya growled, “No, thank you.”

  She quickly typed out an email to Colonel Jenkins and hit send.

  “Honey,” said Aunt Jen hesitantly. “I hate to ask this, but… are you sure you were at the colony?”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Priya asked hotly.

  “Well, like I said, I got some calls about how you weren’t attending classes, and when I tried to explain about the internship, they had no record of it. They even said that such internships aren’t given to juniors.”

  “Well, they’re wrong,” Priya snapped. “I’m going to campus to fix this.”

  She left the apartment and ran to the tube station. There was so much adrenaline rushing through her she couldn’t even feel the tingling in her legs anymore. When she arrived at the station, she took the stairs two at a time.

  The familiar hologram blinked into existence ahead of her. “Welcome, neighbor! It’s people like me who keep the tubes running efficiently and safely. Type *92-8374 on your SMS device to learn more about joining the team.”

  “Shut up,” she growled as she fast-walked to a control panel on the arrivals and departures platform. She pressed her palm to the touch screen so the display would switch to her normal settings. But instead of transitioning to her preferred aqua blue, the screen turned red, and a woman’s voice spoke.

  “Good afternoon, Priya. I’m Lexie, your tube assistant. You currently have authorization for zero different destinations on your account. Thank you.”

  The screen went dark.

  Priya stared at it in shock.

  Then she pressed her hand against the touch screen again.

  “Good afternoon, Priya. I’m Lexie, your tube assistant. You currently have authorization for zero different destinations on your account. Thank you.”

  An older woman with an empty shopping bag was walking by, and stopped. “Oh dear, there must be some kind of glitch in the system. I’m going to the market—did you need to go there?”

  “No… thank you.” Priya backed away from the panel.

  Her head ached as the crushing reality of what was going on hit her. She was trapped.

  Her throat tightened as she hurried back down the stairs, and veered away from her apartment complex and headed toward the edge of the neighborhood where she’d gone once before.

  She felt as though the entire world was watching her. The people on the sidewalks gave her sidelong glances, and the curtains in the tiny bungalows along Haverhill Drive swished with the evidence of people peeking through windows. Did everyone know that she’d been marked as a pariah, an outcast?

  With more and more eyes seeming to focus on her, panic set in as she ran.

  This is a mistake. It has to be.

  She’d done everything she was ever asked to do.

  It was unfair…

  At the edge of her neighborhood, her lungs aching from the exertion, she ignored the warning signs and sprinted into the woods before collapsing at the base of an oak tree and sobbing.

  Harold shifted forms and settled across her lap, purring.

  “I can’t believe they did this to me. The school could have just been a mistake, but access to the tube—that has to be Jenkins, or those assholes in the intelligence building. Agent Ted. Maybe even the general. But why?”

  She threw her head back against the tree trunk. “I should have never come back. I should have stayed at the colony. I could have started my life over.” Tears streamed down her face. She ha
ted Earth and everyone on it. “I just wish I could talk to Terry. Or Tom, or Stef. Anyone from the colony, really.”

  Immediately, Harold began transforming again—this time changing from a cat into a communicator.

  “Harold? What are you doing?”

  She put the communicator to her ear. It was ringing!

  Priya held her breath and prayed. Praying for what, she didn’t know.

  “Hello?”

  Priya almost started crying again. It was Tom.

  “Hello.”

  “Priya? Is that you?”

  “Y-yes.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to compose herself.

  “How in the world are you calling? What’s wrong?”

  Priya forced a smile. “I used Harold to call you. And… I’m fine,” she lied.

  “Come on, you’re obviously upset. Tell me what happened.”

  And she did. She explained everything that had happened since she got back home—and how she was now stuck, trapped, like a prisoner.

  Tom was silent for a few seconds before answering. “I’m sorry, Priya. I really am.”

  “I know what these people think of me now—pulling my access to the tube tells me that. They’re vengeful. They lied to me. And they hold all the cards. Even though I did everything they asked, it must not have been what they wanted, or not enough, I don’t know. But I’m screwed here. I should have stayed at the colony. I just hope whatever I gave them is enough for you guys to… you know what I mean.”

  “I do.” Tom’s voice was warm, like a hug from afar.

  “I’m done with the UN, Tom. I’m done with Earth. I’m done with everything.”

  Tom hesitated. “What would you say about going off-grid?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You know what I mean. Listen, I’m currently only a few hundred miles from you—”

  “What?” Priya’s throat tightened with emotion.

  “Sorry I couldn’t tell you before. Just… hang on a bit longer. I have something I need to do first, but keep Harold close by. Now that you’ve reached me through him, I can probably do the same to contact you.”

  Priya wiped her face on her sleeve. “Prince Charming coming to rescue me?”

  “I’ll do what I can. Just don’t say anything to anyone.”

  “Are you kidding me? I don’t trust any of these people anymore.”

  Tom felt conflicting emotions. Priya was upset, and he wanted desperately to do something to fix that… yet at the same time, she wanted to go back to the colony—which made him irrationally happy.

  “Who was that?” Tina asked, not even looking up from her laptop.

  “Nobody important,” he lied.

  “Whatever.”

  Tom’s handheld buzzed with a text.

  Scrub the mission. Return right away using whatever means necessary.

  “Oh, damn.”

  “What now?” Tina asked.

  “We’ve been recalled.” Tom winced as he thought about what it would take to get back to the colony.

  Tina pumped her fist in the air. “Aha!”

  “What?”

  “I broke in.” Tina swiped her screen onto the main monitor. “Lookie there! Two of five shots remaining. Our toys are sitting in geosynchronous orbit fifteen hundred miles above us, with a roughly two-hour orbital period.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  Tina opened a desk drawer and retrieved a communicator—a colony communicator. He could tell by its markings.

  “Who are you calling?” Tom asked.

  She waved him away and held the communicator to her ear. After a moment, she said, “It’s Tina.” She seemed stiff, almost nervous. “I sent you data reports earlier about this. … Okay, sorry. I was able to hack in. … Yes ma’am, two rounds in the chamber, that’s correct.” Tina turned to look at Tom. “Yes, he’s here, and he got the order. … I’ll help with the IDs, no problem. Did you have a target—okay, I’ll wait.” Tina typed something on her laptop. “It looks like six minutes from release to impact. … Yes, ma’am, just tell me where and when and I’ll release.”

  When she put the communicator back in the drawer, Tom said, “The governor?”

  “Yes.”

  “How the hell did you two have a conversation when she’s twenty-something million miles away? The light speed lag would be almost five minutes for a round trip.”

  Tina grinned. “That communicator is an entangled communication device. At least, that’s what your brother said when he gave it to me. It enables real-time comms with the colony—if it’s critical.” She motioned toward the door. “Anyway, I’ll keep working here. You and your team need to get going.”

  “Hold up,” said Tom. “What about those shuttles? We don’t even know where they’re launching from.”

  Tina grabbed his arm, pulled him close, and pressed herself against him. “I know you’re devastated because you’re not going to be able to shoot anyone, but you need to leave.”

  “Wait, I need help reaching someone. Do you—”

  “It’s not in this room.” Tina shoved him toward the door. “Get your perfect ass out of here. I’ve got real work to do.”

  Back on the tube station platform, Priya waited. She’d been waiting for half an hour, and so far, there’d been no sign of him.

  Back at the apartment, she’d left a simple note for her aunt: Thank you, and all the best. She said nothing more—that would only risk getting her aunt in trouble.

  The sound of rushing air came from the doors to the tube. Could this be him?

  The doors slid open, and Priya couldn’t keep the smile from her face as Tom stepped out, wearing Army fatigues.

  She walked up to him, snaked her arm around his neck, and pulled him in for a brief but firm kiss on the lips. “Thank you for coming.”

  Tom smiled at her. “And hello to you too.”

  She frowned. “What happened to your eyes? They’re brown now.”

  He winked. “I know blue suits me better, but I had to make a change. I’ll show you why.” He walked with her over to a control panel and placed his hand on the touch screen.

  “Good morning, General. I’m Lexie, your tube assistant. You have authorization for one-thousand four hundred and fifty-three destinations on your account. Which would you like to go to?”

  Priya laughed.

  Tom said, “Two passengers for DHEC Cape Canaveral. Priority override omega.”

  “Two passengers for the David Holmes Education Campus at Cape Canaveral. Please confirm.”

  “Confirmed.”

  Air rushed behind the tube doors. “Establishing vacuum. Queuing priority request for direct transportation link between Coral Springs-North Junction and the main terminal at the DHEC-Cape Canaveral.”

  Tom turned to Priya. “You still want to go back to the colony?”

  She linked her arm through his. “Yes.”

  “Good. Because our transport is on the tarmac getting fueled.” Tom handed her a badge with her picture on it. “You’re now Margaret Huber, product inspector.”

  Priya clipped the badge onto her lapel and looked up at him. “I miss your blue eyes.”

  “Honestly? Me too. And my hands feel funny.” He pulled at a thin layer of rubberized skin on his palm. “It’s a good thing the general and I have roughly the same size hands.”

  “Link complete. The car is arriving in three… two… one…”

  A minute later Priya and Tom were rushing down the tube in a two-passenger capsule. Priya’s heart was racing—not because she was scared, but because she was excited.

  Tom reached out and took her hand.

  Priya smiled. No matter what was happening between them, she knew now that in Tom she had someone she could count on.

  Terry stood at the viewing window in the air traffic control tower. Beside him, Gene, the on-duty orbital traffic controller, was rotating through floating screens of radar and orbital images.

  Terry felt a tension in the a
ir. Word had filtered through the population that the governor would be making a colony-wide announcement—which usually happened only for the yearly State of the Colony report. So everyone knew something was up.

  In his ear, he was listening to Ian Wexler’s sandpaper voice reporting on the security management channel. Ian was in charge of the early offloading of the mining interns, and anyone else from Earth.

  “Scanned the last of them—it looks like we’ve got a clean crew in Departures, no detected contraband. Sam, what are we seeing in Dorm Block E?”

  “It’s taking a bit longer than I expected to do the scans. These guys left behind a ton of crap.”

  “Ya, well, that’s what you get when you roust a bunch of kids and tell them they have to pack four months of crap in ten minutes.”

  Terry whispered into his lapel. “Make sure you’re thorough, guys. Remember, seven of our own ended up being traitors to the colony. People you and I broke bread with and trusted. I don’t trust any of these assholes, so dot your i’s and cross your t’s. If you find anything that doesn’t look right, make sure my ass hears about it, you got me?”

  Several voices gave affirmation.

  Terry switched his comms to address only Ian. “Ian, you hear me?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Good. When you’re done there, I need you to take a team and clear out the trash from the stockade. Take the seven traitors to Departures and make sure they’re on that damned shuttle. We don’t need their overhead in the colony. Let the Earth officials sort them out.”

  “Amen, brother. But you know the shuttle captain is going to take a dump on that plan. He’ll give me some crap like he doesn’t have the seating configuration to accommodate another seven passengers.”

  “Let them roll around in the aisles for all I care. And tell the captain we don’t give a crap what he does once he’s out of orbit and on his way to Earth, but if he pulls anything like dumping passengers on the tarmac or any other bullshit, we’ll shoot him out of the sky.”

  Ian chuckled. “I’m sure I can get that message across. Anything else?”