by Jeff Sims
Jim, Gus, Russ, Ace, and Paul positioned themselves in front of a group of fighters. The other 36 pilots and 4 marines formed a semi-circle around them. The engineers and maintenance workers stood off to one side; well outside of the broadcast. When everyone was in their proper positions, Jim said, “Computer, reestablish the links to the major news outlets.”
…Connected…
Jim looked directly at the monitor and said, “Hello, my name is Jim Donovan. I was born in Akron, Ohio and lived there my entire life. Well, that is until aliens visited Earth and recruited me to be a fighter pilot. Beside me are Russ Brand, Gus Swanson, Paul Smith, and Edward Williams.”
He swung his arms around to include the fighters and continued, “As you are probably guessing by now the original Victory Games pilot simulator is based on real-life ships, weapons, and races. We were recruited because we were the best gamers on the planet at the time.”
Jim paused for a breath and continued, “The aliens only recruited two squadrons of Humans to be fighter pilots. If they had recruited us in the thousands or perhaps the tens of thousands then we may have stood a chance. But they didn’t and we didn’t. The Alliance was conquered and their navy was disbanded. Humanity stands alone now.”
Jim finished, “In the upcoming days we will set up a website for people to volunteer. We will also establish a personnel sharing program so that any current member of any military that wants to volunteer can do so. We will build an interstellar navy and we will defend ourselves when the enemy arrives at our doorstep.”
Jim cut the communication and looked around the hangar. There were 20 fighters sitting on the deck and another 20 in the elevator. There were 40 more on the space station. His mood started to slip when the reality of fighting a war with so few assets started sinking in. Fortunately, Ace pulled him from his reverie with a question.”
Ace asked, “Why did you only mention the fighter pilots. Why did you exclude the engineers and maintenance workers?”
Jim replied, “Showing a fighter pilot is inspiring. You can garner public support by telling heroic stories of our battles. You will have a little fame, but will otherwise be left alone.”
“And the engineers?” Ace asked.
Jim said, “Think about the stories that the engineers can tell. They can discuss repairing advanced electronics, quaternary bit programming, and taking advanced math classes from aliens. Those stories are…”
“Kind of boring,” Ace finished. He asked, “Is quaternary even a word.”
Jim laughed and said, “Yes, it is a word. It means a base four numbering system. And you missed the point. We have to keep the engineers’ identities a secret. If an unscrupulous rival government or corporation even thinks that one of our engineers understands even a tiny portion of this alien technology, those entities may try to kidnap that person.”
Ace responded, “Meaning that if we show the engineers identities then they could never return to Earth for fear of capture. Smart thinking, I guess that’s why they put you in charge.”
Russ said, “We are getting a lot of return messages. Most seem to want to know when the Hiriculans are coming or how much time we have before they arrive.”
Jim reestablished communication and said, “It is impossible to tell when the Hiriculans will get here for certain. Our estimate is that we have two years, three at the most.”
Jim paused for effect and finished, “The aliens gave us the technology to go to the stars. Now we have to build an entire navy and go to war to save ourselves and hopefully free them. We have an arduous task in front of us, but one I firmly believe that we can accomplish with your help. This is Jim Donovan from the space station Freedom.”
Jim cut the communication and turned to the crowd. He motioned for everyone to gather around him. He spoke loudly because they were still in the hangar bay.
Jim said, “First, and Alpha squadrons, you each get three weeks of leave over the next six weeks. Organize yourselves so that one squadron is always on the space station. You don’t have to be on active duty constantly, but you should make a couple of flights a day.”
Kip said, “Basically you want the governments on Earth to know that you have a squadron ready at all times should they try anything.”
Jim said, “Correct. Alpha Squadron, you take the first week off. You can leave whenever you are ready. You can fly your fighter down directly to your home. It will make a great show and give us some positive press.”
“How about the rest of us?” one of the engineers asked.
Jim said, “The 5 marines can also take their fighters to Earth.”
Jim did some quick math. He and Russ were staying on the space station for the time being. That left 32 people – 16 on the Sunflower and 16 on the space station.
He responded, “When the station reaches a geosynchronous orbit above Akron and we dock, everyone else can pile into two transports and take them down to Victory Games. I think it’s time to talk to Amy Weisman.
Russ said, “I am sure that Amy will appreciate the fact that we parked a space station directly above Akron and set its rotation to always stay directly over her head. It should make a great view.”
Jim worried for a moment that not all 32 wanted to go to Akron. However, he recalled that 16 of them lived in Akron and were employees at Victory Games. The others had technically relocated to Cleveland under the guise of working on a research project. Their vehicles were still parked at a facility located beside the Cleveland airport.
An hour later the station reached its final resting spot beside Earth. Mike and his group carefully slowed the station and aligned it into a perfect orbit. Russ then docked the Sunflower in one of the exterior bays.
Colin boarded one of the transports. He probably could have used his authority to secure one of the four seats in the front. However, he found it sometimes better to just be seen as one of the group and ride in steerage instead of the lap of luxury. Besides, it was a relatively short flight. He could certainly sacrifice for this trip.
Colin sat down in one of the 5 seats on the left side of the rear cargo / transport area. There were 14 seats total in the rear of the transport – 5 on each side and two sets of 2 seats facing backwards on the wall that separated the front from the back.
He reached around, grabbed a restraint, and strapped himself in. It probably wasn’t necessary for this trip, but it was protocol and he didn’t want to be seen breaking a rule.
He rode down in relative silence. He listened to those nearest him and tried to share in their excitement, but overall he found that he was a little sad to be going back to Earth. No, he thought, sad wasn’t the right term. He was more glum or despondent.
On Earth he had a family that he rarely talked to and an ex-girlfriend that left him at the altar. He also had a job that he didn’t overly like. In space he had friends, responsibilities, and the opportunity to learn really cool things.
Another thought popped into his head. Maybe it was because Becky wasn’t with him. She had been by his side for the past year. She had been assigned to a different project, so even though she was on Earth, he wouldn’t see her that much.
They had become good friends. She laughed at most of his jokes and held her own in nearly any contest. He now wondered if she had become more than just a friend. Besides, he could see Becky during lunch or evenings. Maybe a little time apart was what he needed to sort out his feelings.
He shook himself out of his melancholy mood and focused on the task at hand. He wasn’t returning to his old life. He was returning to Earth for a couple of weeks to try to build an ion cannon. Then he was going to return to the space station and start designing fighters. That sounded pretty cool.
The two transports landed in the parking lot, very near the front door of the main Victory Games building. In fact, it forced the hundred or so on-lookers to scramble out of the way. Colin released his safety restraints, stood up, and grabbed his blanket.
He extended his arms and held the blanket over
his head. He looked around and verified that everyone else had their blankets ready. Colin doubted that the caution was warranted, but Jim had been very concerned about rivals knowing their identity.
The rear door opened and everyone exited. Colin followed John and Mike at a fast paced trot into the front of the building. He lowered his blanket once he was safely inside. This created an odd situation, because they were the only ones inside.
They patiently waited for the rest of the employees to scramble back inside the building. There were multiple rounds of hugs, welcome homes, and introductions. Colin eventually reunited with Becky and met Amy Weisman.
Amy said, “Is Victor Tyrano with you? I didn’t see him.”
Colin responded, “He should be here tomorrow.”
Amy remained silent, not frowning, but certainly not smiling. Her assistant quickly noted her expression and asked, “Where is he?”
Colin decided to blow her mind right away. He said as nonchalantly as possible, “Oh, he is in the Proxima Centari solar system with a group of aliens investigating what appears to be a habitable planet.”
Amy asked, “Did he have anything to say?”
Colin smiled and said, “Actually, he did. He apologized for stealing the truck and asked that the cost of it be deducted from his account. Apparently it is now stuck on Solaria.”
Amy asked, “What about kidnapping 16 employees?”
Colin shrugged and said, “Hmmph. He didn’t mention it.”
Amy said, “Switching subjects, I was surprised that you released all of the drawings for the key systems. That was a lot of intellectual property that you just let go. We probably should have had a shareholder meeting or something before deciding to do that.”
Colin waved dismissively and said, “Releasing the passwords shows our good intentions. Victory Games has a several month head start, so I doubt anyone can beat you to market.”
Colin instantly regretted saying ‘you’. He should have used the pronoun ‘us’ instead. Now he was stuck wondering whether he should correct himself. He decided against it. He made a mental note to say it correctly with his next sentence.
Colin continued, “Besides, we already know how to build one.” Colin mentally sighed. That still didn’t sound right. Oh well, he would try to get it right next time. He looked over to Becky said, “Show her.”
Becky said, “An ion cannon is very similar to the technology used to make the heating device. Victory Games already has everything that we need to build one. You just have to make a few tweaks. The only difference is that the collection reservoir is basically an unstable battery.”
She placed a small metal cylinder on Amy’s desk and continued, “However, if you stabilize the reservoir you get a battery. This particular battery can power a lamp continuously for a hundred years.”
Colin said, “I think that this should be our next project at Victory Games.”
Amy smiled.
…………………….
Jim and Russ returned to the space station and went to CTC to watch everyone leave. Jim was right; having the pilots land their fighters at their homes had certainly made an impression. Jim just hoped that it was a positive one.
The US military sent representatives to inspect the planes at a couple of pilot’s homes. So far though, they hadn’t tried to confiscate any of them. That was probably due to the fact that they already possessed all of the drawings. It would be difficult for the government to claim that they needed to reverse engineer a fighter when its citizens were actively trying to forward engineer it.
Russ said, “Boeing, Airbus, and Lockheed are calling non-stop. They want to build the fighters for us.”
Jim replied, “We could give them the contract, but we would have no way to pay them. Becky was right. We need to figure out the finances for building a navy fairly soon.”
Russ said, “We really have no choice. Every government will have to pay a tax for protection. Then we will use that money to buy things and pay people. Even if we build the ships and fighters ourselves, we are still going to have to purchase tons and tons of equipment, food, clothing, and etcetera.”
Jim said, “Switching subjects. I just checked our net worth from the licensing agreement for the smart clothing. Our patent has revolutionized the clothing industry. We are billionaires.”
Russ laughed and said, “Well, that’s good I suppose. I wonder if we will get sued for conflict of interest when we buy our clothes for our naval personnel.”
Jim said, “Speaking of personnel. Do you have a status?”
Russ said, “I haven’t checked it yet. Hold on.”
Russ brought the new recruitment website up on one of the monitors. They both reviewed it and Jim commented that the engineers had done a great job designing it. Russ ran a report that listed the job function and number of volunteers for that function. The names scrolled and scrolled and scrolled.
Russ said, “We have more volunteers than we need.”
Jim was about to contact Paul and order him to set up a vetting and initiation process, but he realized that he had just given him a couple weeks of well-deserved leave. Besides, the military portion could wait. They really needed scientists, engineers, skilled assembly craftsmen, and chefs … well just about every civilian function.
Jim sent Colin a message to contact him when he was able. They needed to start the hiring process today. If they were able to vet and hire 30 people a day, it would take almost a year to fully man the space station. They were going to have to do much better than that.
For some reason this made Jim very angry. Today, right now - he had thousands; no he had tens of thousands of fully trained volunteers ready, willing, and able to fight against the Hiriculans! However, it would be years before they would have enough ships to do so.
Chapter 21
The Travesty exited hyperspace beside Uranus and a few minutes later micro jumped to the familiar spot beside the moon. The control board started blinking immediately upon arrival.
Victor announced, “We are being scanned and several lasers have targeted us.”
Victor really didn’t have to announce that though. He could have just spoken the words in a normal tone of voice since he and Crista were the only two beings in the control room. The others were lounging in the combination entertainment / communication room.
Crista made a mental note to remind him of this particular shortcoming on Wednesday at 5:14 pm exactly 5 months from today. With luck, she would be able to combine it with something else that he had done wrong.
Crista asked, “Should we activate our electronics package and hide our presence from Earth? I think it is better when we arrive unannounced.”
Victor said, “No. We can’t use our electronic package to hide anymore. Earth has significantly updated its scanning capabilities since our last visit.”
Crista had already activated the control to turn on the electronics package and had initially chosen the third highest setting. She watched the board for a moment and saw that they could still be detected. She then tried the highest setting. It failed as well. Victor was right; they could no longer hide their signature from Earth’s sensors.
She then turned off the electronics package and said, “Okay, if it doesn’t work then I won’t bother to turn it on.”
Crista asked, “If they’re so advanced now, why didn’t traffic control contact us and give us a route to Earth?”
Victor looked over at her and said, “We are literally the only moving ship in this entire solar system. It is extremely unlikely that we will bang into anything.”
…Incoming communication from CTC…
Victor responded, “Computer, define CTC for me. I am not familiar with that acronym.”
…Command and Traffic Control…
Victor responded, “Acknowledge the call and place it on the main monitor.”
The screen updated and showed Jim Donovan and Russ Brand. It looked like there were several others in the CTC, but Victor didn’t r
ecognize any of them.
Jim said, “I would like to extend an official welcome to the planet Earth and the space station Freedom. Did Lorano finish his business on New Earth?”
There was still quite a lot of debate about whether to name the new planet Earth 2 or New Earth. Lorano insisted that both names were as grossly unoriginal as the name Earth and that the humans would be much better off with a name like C3PO; or failing that, at least naming the thing something relatively creative.
Victor responded, “He lectured to us in length about it. I didn’t really pay attention though. Please feel free to ask him about anything that you want to know. I am certain that he would be thrilled to discuss it with you in great detail. We have to make a quick stop in the Earth’s greater exosphere and then we will dock at the station.”
Victor moved the mini-freighter to a location that was relatively close to the station but still far enough away that a distracted driver wouldn’t accidentally drive through it. He looked over at Crista, thought for a moment, and then moved a little farther away from the station.
Satisfied that they were well out of the way of every possible shipping line, Victor contacted Lorano and told him that they were in the proper position. Lorano checked their location on his communication pad. He then looked over at Clowy for a moment and instructed Victor to move the mini-freighter a little farther away from the station.
Lorano said, “Okay everyone, we are in position. Put on your helmets, lock your boots to the floor, and attach your breathing tubes to your suits.”
Everyone signaled that they were ready to unload the satellite. Carank exhausted the air from the main cargo bay into the storage bladder. Once the air was fully evacuated, Carank activated the control to open the main cargo bay door.
They each grabbed a section of the hyperspace communication satellite and pushed. Unlike the first one, this one slid out of the bay without issue. Carank then closed the cargo bay door and refilled the main cargo bay with air.