"I would like to thank, by the way, my son Hugh, as well as other brave young people and citizen journalists including Allyson Chery and Louisa Teer, who have made this information available to us at great risk to themselves.
"I want to share these videos with you today. First, we have training videos of the paramilitary separatist armies being amassed by the millionaires."
Linda paused for a second, so that when the video went to post there'd be a bit of silence to splice in Hugh and Louisa's clip of the Aristillus military parade.
"Such is the blood lust of the separatists that they're training not with so-called 'sporting firearms.’ They're not even content to use military guns. No, such is their anger and hate that the plutocrats have developed new weapons, optimized for killing. Large weapons, more brutal and terrifying than anything ever developed on Earth.
"Weapons have no place in a civilized world, and for generations we as a society have been moving toward the goal of a world free from violence. When these billionaires arm themselves, and it's more than just a case of illegal weapons ownership. It's more, even, than a case of incipient rebellion. No, the transgression goes beyond laws, to a violation of ideals. The billionaires are not just breaking regulations - by creating especially barbaric, cruel tools of slaughter they are rejecting international norms. They are rejecting the very idea of community. And this, this in the end, is their biggest mistake.
"My fellow citizens, we have been peaceful. We have been patient. It is clear, though, that the time to act is drawing near. We can not tolerate the billionaires sitting on their vast piles of stolen wealth, their mountains of machinery, labor, and - yes - even gold, when so many here in California - and the rest of the United States - suffer. It is clear that we can not tolerate the few stealing from the many. It is clear that - no matter how peaceful or patient we are – that the millionaires and the thieves are not peaceful, and that they are preparing to wage terrorist attacks and - yes - even war. And this, in the end, is why we must act.
"And so our forces are on their way, even now, to the moon, to the very heart of the expats' illegal empire. There they will land, and they will ask - with open hearts and open hands - for the lunar rebels to rejoin America, rejoin the Earth, rejoin the human community. And once they do, we will be on the path to restoring California, and to restoring the world.
"My fellow citizens, wish us luck."
She held her pose for a moment before the camera light died. As it did Elliot, her press secretary, whooped. "You killed that. Absolutely killed it. Congratulations, Senator." He grinned. "Or should I say, future Mrs. President?"
Linda gave Elliot a severe look and shook her head. "Don't say that!" Linda looked around - anyone could be listening.
She paused, then allowed herself a small grin. She had killed that speech. And she'd stolen the president's thunder. When this went live in a few hours, she'd be all over the blogosphere - and she'd be there before the president even got on the air.
Her biggest coup, of course, was that she'd positioned herself perfectly. If the raid worked, the voters would remember that she was on TV, just hours beforehand, calling for armed intervention.
And if the raid failed, then Linda had been the one talking about a peaceful resolution and calling for a vote.
Her small smile widened. Yes, she given the president all the rope she needed to hang herself with.
Chapter 122
2064: level three, Aristillus, Lunar Nearside
John gripped the wheel of the Double Door panel truck as he accelerated. "I don't know, Blue. Try the glove compart-"
Blue held up the phone triumphantly. "I found one!".
John reached out and took it. He swiped it on. "Call Mike Martin."
"Morlock Engineering Main Office. How may I help you?"
John swore - without his own phone, he was using Mike's public number, which redirected to the office.
"This is John Hayes. I need to speak to Mike Martin, immediately."
"I'm sorry, sir, but Mr. Martin is in a meeting right -"
"This is an emergency; get him on the line!"
Blue tapped him on the shoulder. John turned. "What?"
"Our exit." Blue pointed a paw. John slammed on the brakes and took the corner dangerously fast. The oversized tires and their grippy contact patches slipped and the vehicle fishtailed. A moment later it straightened, and John pushed the accelerator.
Blue barked "left!" and John slammed on the brakes a second time and took the corner.
Mike answered the phone. "Hello?"
John upshifted and accelerated. "Mike, it's John."
"John? You landed?"
"Mike! Listen! There's a PK invasion -"
"I know. We're in an emergency meeting about that right now - we've only got weeks to prepare. Look, let me call you back-"
"Mike, it's not weeks away. It's landing, right now. It's going to be coming in through lock #912. Maybe others." John held the phone between his cheek and shoulder as he used two hands to steer around a cargo truck carrying a huge pallets of iron pipes.
To his credit Mike didn't waste time asking how he knew; instead he immediately spoke to someone in the room with him. "The invasion is happening - right now! They're going to be entering through lock #912. I don't know. Do you have any way to shut down all your locks remotely?"
John sped along the highway as he waited for Mike to finish. A flatbed truck ahead of him, loaded with sheets of polished green olivine counter tops changed lanes. John slammed on his brakes and then pulled around it and accelerated again. He turned. "Blue, listen to me."
Blue turned and gave John his full attention.
"When you get in there, lock the Den up tight, and don't let anyone in or out. And I mean anyone. No matter who they say they are."
Blue nodded.
John looked in the rear view mirror and saw Max. "And Max -"
"I know. Keep the pack safe."
"Right."
Mike came back on the line. "OK, we've got the locks all shut down. Some of our militia units are in training sessions right now, so we should be able to mobilize them quickly. Let me put you on hold."
John saw a sign on the tunnel wall and braked hard, and then took the next right, into an unmarked B-sized tunnel. How long ago had he last been here? Just six months - and yet it felt so much longer.
The tunnel was empty, but John kept his speed low, knowing about the curve ahead. And then he was at the curve, and through it, and the highway behind them was out of sight. He slowed further - and there, on the left, was the unmarked warehouse door. John stopped the truck.
The truck's doors flew open and Max and Blue jumped out and landed on the sidewalk. Just two? John turned and saw Duncan still in the back seat, looking back and forth, torn between heading back to the Den and staying with John.
John was about to yell at him to go, but Max beat him to it. "Duncan! Move!"
Duncan unfroze and leapt out of the open door of the truck, landed lightly several meters away. Someone inside the Den must have been watching - the warehouse door was already rolling up. Duncan started to say something, but there wasn't time. John hit the accelerator.
The private side tunnel curved again and then joined a class C highway tunnel. John merged into traffic, heading for Mike's house.
Mike came back on the line. "John, you still there?"
"I'm here - what's the status?"
"We've got troops headed to the surface. Just one company, but we're -"
John saw a gap in the traffic and whipped the wheel hard to the left. The phone flew from its perch. "Shit!" Behind him a highway traffic enforcement vehicle flipped its lightbar on. John ignored it an accelerated.
He stared to call for Blue to find the phone and then remembered that the Dogs weren't in the truck with him. For the first time in six months the Dogs weren't anywhere nearby. He blinked, and then spared a glance for the phone. There it was, on the floor. He tapped the truck's autopilot on and swo
re as it slowed. John ducked, grabbed the phone, sat back up, and took the autopilot off.
"Mike, you there?"
"Yes."
"Tell me where are you, right now."
"I'm in the Morlock offices. Why?"
John slammed on his brakes and pulled across two lanes of traffic, barely slowing in time before he hit the ramp. Behind him the traffic enforcement car shot past the exit. "Mike, listen carefully, I need you to -"
The phone went dead.
"Mike, can you hear me? Mike?"
John pulled the phone away from his head, looked at it, and saw that he had zero bars.
Shit.
It was starting.
He pressed harder on the accelerator but the truck was already maxed out.
Chapter 123
2064: Trentham Court Apartments, Aristillus, Lunar Nearside
Louisa's phone died. She looked at Hugh, and saw that his must have died as well, because he was putting it away.
"My phone just died." She checked it. "There's no coverage."
Hugh nodded. "Yeah. Don't worry about it."
"What do you mean, 'don't worry about it'?"
Hugh shrugged. "Listen, it'll all be over -".
"It will? What will? What's going on?"
"We've got to stay inside. There's some stuff -"
"Hugh, I swear, if your mother told you something and you're not telling me, I'll - I'll -" Louisa's glare was intense. "Damn it, Hugh, What is going on?"
Hugh deflated under her assault. "The US and the PKs are launching an invasion. I think it's starting now."
Louisa shook her head. "Damn it. This is terrible. I mean, it's good for Earth, of course - but this was ours. Our story. There's so much more we could have done." She thought for a moment. "We'll work it out. We can roll with this."
Louisa turned and yelled over her shoulder. "Allyson, Selena! Get the cameras - there's about to be combat."
"Wait, no! We have to stay here, where it's safe."
Louisa didn't even bother hiding her scorn. "If your mommy wants you to stay safe, then stay. Some of us, though, are journalists. And I'm getting this damned story."
Chapter 124
2064: storage room near lock #912, Aristillus, Lunar Nearside
Dewitt's slate beeped as a pop-up from the airlock administration interface appeared. "Remote Maintenance Request: tier 2 admin attempt to set state to 'offline.’ Approve?" He clicked "Deny.” The pop-up disappeared.
A moment later the pop-up reappeared. Damn it. How many times was he going to have to do this? He looked at the interface more carefully. and saw a check box for "do this every time.” He checked the box, and then clicked "Deny" again. The dialogue disappeared and stayed gone.
And then he felt it - a distant yet undeniably solid impact.
Dust sifted off the light panels overhead and fell slowly in the low gravity.
Then another impact, the kind of impact that only a huge ship landing on rock could make.
Then a third impact.
Then a fourth.
Dewitt used his slate to bring up a view from the airlock's exterior camera. The camera showed the stark white plain. In the left foreground were three cargo containers butted front to back with a pile of equipment stacked on top. Beyond the pile of containers he could see a PK ship, and to its left and right two more.
As he watched, another ship slid into view from above and settled onto the surface. Another rumble rolled through the floor.
The invasion was on.
Colophon
This book was created with FSF emacs, Apache OpenOffice, Ubuntu Linux, and various open source fonts, scripts and other tools.
My thanks to all of the hackers who help create and maintain these tools.
About the Author
Travis J I Corcoran is a Catholic anarcho-capitalist, a software engineer, and a business owner. He is an amateur at farming, wood turning, blacksmithing, cooking, throwing ceramic pots, and a few other things.
He lives on a 50 acre farm in New Hampshire with his wife, dogs, livestock, and a variety of lathes and milling machines.
Travis has had non-fiction articles published in several national magazines including Dragon, Make, and Fine Homebuilding.
“The Powers of the Earth” is his first novel.
About the Aristillus series
The Aristillus story is continued in “Causes of Separation”, which is available at Amazon.com and elsewhere.
Please help me write more SF novels
There are three ways you can help me bring you more great science fiction stories:
Go to Amazon.com right now (no, seriously, RIGHT NOW) and leave a review of this book (even really short like “loved it”).
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The Powers of the Earth (Aristillus Book 1) Page 53