"Don't worry Heiny, Dr. GooYee has kept us in the loop about your requirements," Dr. Mkkell said.
"Stop calling me Heiny!" Heinbaum bellowed.
Heinbaum had been consumed with his analysis of the Asiddian emitter lens ever since McPherson had figured out how to remove it from the end of the spine fragment. His experiments had determined it took ten megawatts of electricity to activate the laser beam, but Heinbaum was frustrated by the ray's fundamental behavior on the materials it impacted. No physical substance of any kind seemed able to withstand the destructive power of the red ray except the Asiddian spine material.
Only the Heinbaum/McPherson Defensive Shield provided any protection and even it reacted oddly. Instead of absorbing the power of the beam to strengthen its shielding as it did with the cutter, heat and MA rays, the PDS reflected the darn thing. Realizing he had reached an impasse in his analysis, Heinbaum reluctantly called for advice from the Chrysallaman metallurgists, Dr. Davidd Mkkell and Dr. Thann HannBrr.
Rolling his eyes at Heinbaum's reaction, McPherson asked the Chrysallamans, "What would you fellows like to see first?"
"I want to focus the Asiddian ray through this," HannBrr replied.
Reaching into his lab coat pocket, HannBrr retrieved a triangular shaped clear prism. One of the corners of the triangular sides of the prism was cut flat on an oblique angle.
Working with keen concentration, HannBrr fixed the prism in a clamp on the work bench and aligned the Asiddian emitter lens so that when it was activated, the red beam would enter the prism through the flat side with the oblique angle. He then lined up mirrors on each side of the prism and angled them toward the white erase board on the nearby wall.
Heinbaum uncharacteristically kept his mouth shut while HannBrr worked on the setup, but McPherson could tell the skinny scientist was intrigued. Longarrow manned the HKG generator and poised his finger over the activation switch. The switch was rigged with a Deadman's control. Spring loaded to remain open, the switch required 30 lbs of pressure to close the lever connecting power into the emitter lens. If the person pushing the lever released the pressure, the switch automatically opened and shut off the current.
Mkkell offered an explanation as HannBrr was completing his arrangement. "The theoretical purpose of the prism is to divide the destructive beam into its constituent wavelengths so they can be analyzed separately. The beam itself is too deadly for analysis, but by splitting it into its core elements, we may be able to determine its fundamental properties."
The only response from Heinbaum was a nod.
HannBrr finished his work and backed away from his apparatus. Motioning to Ernest, he said, "Mr. Longarrow, if you please."
Ernest pressed the power switch to activate the Asiddian laser and two circles of light approximately four inches in diameter appeared on the surface of the white erase board. The color of the left-hand circle was magenta. The color of the right-hand circle was yellow. Mkkell walked to the erase board and placed the sensor probe of his portable spectrographic analysis tool into the beam of magenta light. After a momentary pause, the device pinged and Mkkell pushed one of the black buttons on the unit's control pad. He then walked through the magenta beam to the stream of yellow light and duplicated his sensor readings on it.
Returning to the work bench, he signaled Ernest to cut the power from the HKG. Pulling a small USB thumb drive from its slot on the spectrographic tool, Mkkell handed the drive to Heinbaum and said, "I think the information you need to uncover the secrets of the Asiddian ray is contained in this memory chip. Please let us know if you need any further help."
Heinbaum hesitated a moment as he looked at the thumb drive. Suddenly he stood and said, "Captain, would you please rustle up some lunch for all of us. The good doctors and I have much to discuss."
McPherson just shook his head in disbelief and left for the cafeteria.
***
Madelyn Amsley handed the crew roster email she'd received from Yuri-Milost to Tom for his approval, waiting as he reviewed the list. She saw him initial his approval and the hesitation as he handed it back to her.
"How in the world does Colonel Yuri-Milost develop a trusted relationship with a Second Lieutenant and a Lance Corporal after she's been on this base for less than 30 days?"
Amsley looked like a very efficient, no nonsense school teacher. She was a 35 year old African-American 5 feet 4 inches tall. She wore oval shaped, steel rimmed reading glasses which hung around her neck by a black, jeweled cord attached to the temple covers. Her auburn hair was always in a bun pinned at the back of her head.
Narrowing her deep brown eyes in thought, she said, "I don't know. You want me to make some discreet inquiries?"
Nodding, Tom was about to add something when they were interrupted by the chime of the intercom in her Bluetooth earbud.
"General Blunt's office, Amsley speaking. Yes Doctor. No, I'm sure he'll want to speak with you."
Nodding her head at the phone, Amsley said. "Dr. Heinbaum sounds excited. Wants to speak with you."
"Yes Dr. Heinbaum."
"General, my Chrysallaman associates and I have made a breakthrough with the defensive shield. Would you have time to come to my laboratory for a demonstration?"
The veiled excitement in Heinbaum's voice was palpable, and Tom said he'd be there shortly. He smiled at Amsley.
"It must be something real important if Dr. John Heinbaum refers to Chrysallamans as his associates."
As he opened his office door, he said, "Check out the backgrounds and history of the men Yuri-Milost added to her roster. Get me everything including who they've been fraternizing with since they arrived at the Base."
"Yes Sir."
***
Almost nothing Heinbaum did surprised Tom anymore, but the selfie stick caper was a notable exception. Tom walked into the scientist's lab and stared in open mouthed amazement at the scene. Heinbaum held a 4-foot selfie stick and was trying to frame a photo of himself perched on the shoulders of the Chrysallaman scientists, Mkkell and HannBrr, like some kind of football coach who'd won a championship game. Longarrow and McPherson stood beside a nearby work bench making suggestions about proper lighting and background.
Walking over to McPherson and Longarrow, Tom said, "You know a psychologist could write a couple of volumes about Heinbaum and still not adequately explain his eccentricities."
"You're right General," McPherson replied with a grin. "God cracked Heinbaum's mold before he made him."
Noticing General Blunt had arrived, Heinbaum said, "All right, gentlemen, I have quite enough shots for my scrapbook. Put me down."
Handing his cellphone and selfie stick to Longarrow, Heinbaum said, "General. Thank you for coming on such short notice. My team has made a monumental leap forward on the defensive screen, and we wanted you to be the first person to see it in operation."
Gesturing to McPherson, Heinbaum said, "Captain, if you please."
McPherson walked to the end of the room where he stood with his arms crossed. Blunt noticed McPherson had a MA pistol holstered at his hip. Mkkell and HannBrr placed a small table about 15 feet in front of McPherson. On the table were a MA pistol, a Chrysallaman ray pistol and the Asiddian laser emitter wired to an HKG.
Longarrow walked to the gun table and said, "The original PDS design provided complete protection from the Chrysallaman cutter and heat rays and the human MA ray. The mechanism would not only shield its wearer from those rays, it would absorb the power from the rays and use it to strengthen the shield."
Heinbaum said, "Ernest, do your best John Wayne impersonation."
Longarrow picked up both the Chrysallaman and MA pistols. Jutting out his chin and narrowing his eyes in an attempt to mimic John Wayne's face, he said in a gravelly voice, "Young fella, if you’re looking for trouble, I’ll accommodate ya!"
He then fired the pistols at McPherson. The growling hums of the powerful rays were loud in the confines of the lab. Instantly a clear bubble of shield protectio
n appeared around McPherson neutralizing the deadly rays. Putting down the useless weapons, Longarrow looked back at Heinbaum and shrugged his shoulders.
Walking over to the white board, Heinbaum drew a bubble shaped curve with a scout saucer inside it and said, "The reaction of the original shield to the Asiddian laser was to reflect the ray instead of absorbing its energy. Since the shield didn't or couldn't use the Asiddian ray's power to strengthen itself, it had to rely solely on the power from the FLIT gen black hole to shield the saucer. The combined power of three rays was enough to begin overheating the FLIT gens."
As he explained what happened, Heinbaum drew a depiction of the Asiddian laser hitting the bubble shaped curve and deflecting away at an angle.
"The change GooYee made to the geometry of the shield caused it react to the laser beam like a flat plane mirror instead of a bubble. It was the reflection of the Asiddian's own laser beam which caused the initial damage to the Asiddian battleship."
Erasing the bubble shaped curve, Heinbaum drew a vertical flat line. He then depicted the Asiddian laser beam striking the flat plane and reflecting back at its source.
"The ships were so close to each other, and the reflected beam impacted the Asiddian battleship. Burned a nice deep hole in it. Even with the geometric change though, the FLIT gens again overheated as they fought the power of twenty combined laser beams. Colonel Jenson was forced to withdraw once more. If his team hadn't destroyed the Asiddian power generators, the end result might not have been in our favor."
Gesturing at Mkkell and HannBrr, Heinbaum said, "These two gentlemen provided me with the common sense street-smarts I needed to solve the shield's problem handling the Asiddian laser beam."
Tom noticed both Chrysallamans smiled at Heinbaum's compliment. It appeared Chrysallamans liked to have their egos stroked as much as any Human.
"Please observe," Heinbaum said as he gave a thumbs up to Longarrow.
Ernest shifted the Asiddian emitter on the gun table so it was pointed at McPherson and pressed his finger on the activator switch. The red laser lanced at McPherson. At the point of impact on the shield, the red beam appeared to form a dim circle of light. Half the circle was tinged yellow and the other half tinged a purplish-pink. There was no deflection or reflection of the beam.
"I may start calling you Houdini instead of Heinbaum," Tom said as he patted the scientist's shoulder. "What did you do?"
"I combined Dr. GooYee's idea of shield geometry with the insight of Drs. Mkkell and HannBrr on light refraction. In layman's terms, I finagled the shield to act like a prism. The prism shield divides the Asiddian laser into its component wavelengths rendering it harmless. Our FLIT gen is then able to absorb the power of the bifurcated beam and use the power to strengthen the shield. There is an added benefit."
Seeing the interest in Tom's face, Heinbaum looked over at McPherson and said, "Gentlemen, let's treat General Blunt to the proverbial icing on the cake."
Ernest picked up the Chrysallaman cutter ray pistol and walked over to the adult human skeleton hung from a roller stand. It became obvious the skeleton had been rigged because he placed the ray pistol in a specially fitted sling in the bony right hand of the skeleton and pointed it at McPherson. Walking back over to the table, Longarrow picked up a remote control and pushed one of the control levers.
The cutter ray pistol in the skeleton hand fired at McPherson, and the PDS shielded him with its clear bubble of protection. McPherson drew the MA pistol from his holster and fired it at the skeleton. McPherson's MA ray went through his PDS shield as if it was nothing but thin air and destroyed the cutter ray pistol and the skeleton's right arm.
Blunt understood immediately. "You modified the PDS so we can fire our weapons through it!"
"Correct."
Tom motioned McPherson to join them and said, "Now if we can just find a better way to wear the PDS than as a necklace, I can really celebrate."
"Already done," Heinbaum replied as McPherson walked up.
"Captain, why don't you show the General your new PDS."
Grinning like a Cheshire Cat, McPherson unbuttoned the top four buttons on his shirt and bared his chest. There was no PDS pendant hanging around his neck.
The frown lines between Tom's eyes deepened, "Where is it? I know he has a pendant on him somewhere."
McPherson tapped his chest over his sternum. "Installed two days ago by Doc Satterfield. Can't tell it's there except for a small raised place."
Tom was amazed. Looking closely, he could see a faint rectangular outline under the skin covering McPherson's breastbone. Heinbaum explained the laparoscopic surgery and special surgical glue Satterfield had used. The whole procedure took less than 30 minutes and recovery time was minimal.
"Mr. Longarrow designed the new PDS implant with a flash memory and Wi-Fi support. From now on, any advances or upgrades in shield development can be uploaded wirelessly," Heinbaum declared.
"How fast can we get these things installed on our personnel, vehicles and spacecraft?" Tom asked.
"All the spacecraft have been upgraded except the Salterr. Colonel Yuri-Milost will transmit the upgrade to it as soon as she returns to the Chrysalis System," Heinbaum responded. "Satterfield is training four of his associates on the PDS implant surgical procedure. They'll then train other doctors around the World. I estimate six months to equip the current FORCE troop level."
Chapter 16 - Treachery
Hubert Rash widened his sensor scan as the Verbinna FLITed its third and final leg of the journey from Earth to the outskirts of the Chrysalis system. The IFF beacon on the Salterr was detected almost at once and within seconds, the Verbinna floated 500 feet away from its sister ship.
"Welcome back Verbinna," Doug said.
"I come bearing a gift," Yuri-Milost responded. "Dr. Heinbaum upgraded the Shield. It's now proof against the Asiddian laser beam weapon."
"Great news! What's the procedure for installing the upgrade?"
"It's all software. We need to dock. I'll send Lt. Rash over with the thumb drive, and he'll supervise the installation and testing."
"Initiating docking maneuver now," Doug responded.
"Roger that."
Clicking off the FLR, Yuri-Milost looked at Rash and said, "You know what to do."
"Yes Your Grace. I mean Yuri-Milost," Rash stammered.
"Your Grace is now the preferred way of addressing me within the protected walls of my ship, Deacon Rash," she responded.
Bowing his head, Rash was about to take his leave when Quentin DeLoth walked into the master control room carrying what looked like a small stainless steel thermos bottle. The bottle was about two inches in diameter and eight inches tall with a ratcheted thumb lever on top. Rash took the canister, put it inside the breast pocket of his jacket and left for the docking portal.
Taking the co-pilot's couch, DeLoth asked, "Why not just kill the beast and be done with it?"
"Death is too easy," she replied. "It's my judgment that torture, a lifetime of slavery and then an ignominious death in the fires of Hell are the proper and adequate punishment and divine retribution against the Beast and its followers."
DeLoth began double checking his instrument readings, hoping Your Grace wouldn't see the deepening lines of concern etching across his forehead.
***
Whatsit met Rash at the docking hatch and escorted him to the Engineering deck. He thought it was odd the way the Human seemed to stay at least two feet away from him as they made their way down the passageways of the ship. Rash acted like he was annoyed by Whatsit's presence. His responses to any of Whatsit's questions or comments seemed dismissive. Very strange.
When they entered the Engineering deck, Miguel hustled from his seat at the FLIT gen monitor panel and shook Rash's hand.
"Dr. Miguel Roemer at your service Lieutenant. This is Dr. Jamins GooYee. What do you need to input the new shield software?"
Whatsit noted that Rash nodded his head toward GooYee but angled his body in
a way indicating he didn't want to touch him. Whatsit was beginning to develop a distinct dislike for the mousy human.
Rash didn't answer Miguel directly. "Give me a moment to orient myself with your equipment, and I'll tell you what I need."
Miguel was amazed by the man's response. As Rash walked around looking at the various control panels and machinery, Miguel looked pointedly at Whatsit and raised his eyebrows. Every scout saucer was equipped the same way. Humans had followed the Chrysallaman example of plug and play when they did any modification. If Rash was a member of a scout saucer crew, then he was familiar with the layout and the purpose of every piece of equipment. Something was amiss.
Whatsit began striding toward Rash as the man reached the air purification system. Reaching inside his jacket, Rash pulled out the stainless steel canister. Whatsit doubled his speed, but just as he grabbed Rash's arm, Rash thumbed the release valve on the canister and a clear mist sprayed into Whatsit's face. The effect was instantaneous. Whatsit collapsed into unconsciousness.
Dawn of Chrysalis (The Origin of F.O.R.C.E. Book 2) Page 19