Kato's War

by Andrew C Broderick

  Kato and Martin walked the two blocks back to the hotel. Kato felt as though his heart had been sliced in two. It was even worse this time than after Susan’s death. He abruptly stopped on the sidewalk, and looked Martin square in the face. “Martin, I’m responsible for this. Zara came to save me. That’s why she’s even alive now, in the 24th century. The feud with Seung Yi was mine, not hers. He was my enemy,” he poked himself hard in the chest as he said this, “not hers.” Tears began to form in Kato’s eyes. “Zara was just an innocent kid when Seung and I duked it out in the business world. She was little more than that when he sabotaged my technology. I wasn’t the best father to her, and yet… she risked her life to save me. She gave up her life, really, since even if she succeeded she would never see Earth again.” Martin nodded. “She did this for me, Martin, and her reward is to be at the mercy of the most powerful enemy there is.”

  Martin pursed his lips and nodded sympathetically. Then he shook his head. “I really wish I knew what to say, buddy.”

  Kato sighed and looked down. “I honestly don’t know how I can live with myself…”

  Martin spontaneously hugged Kato, to strange looks from passersby. “Don’t give up hope, Kato. She can’t be at Ceres yet. Their ships aren’t that fast. There might still be some hope.”

  Kato hugged Martin back. “You’re a good friend. I hardly know you, but I can’t imagine what it would have been like going through this by myself.”

  Martin smiled. “Anything for a friend.” He paused for a long moment. “I don’t know how my getting back to Mars, and my job and everything, will play out. But, there’s nothing more important than this right now.”

  Kato smiled. “Thanks. That really means a lot to me.”

  Martin took a friendly but authoritative tone. “Now, what do you say we go back to the hotel, get beer and pizzas, and brainstorm this?”

  The crushed Kato nodded meekly. “Okay.”

  Chapter 26

  The hour was late but Kato was not tired. In Martin’s hotel room, the two men sat in dark, leather armchairs, at right angles to each other. Over the refreshments, Martin said: “Let’s go over what we know. Akio called you two-and-a-half days ago. At that point, he’d been in the grid for roughly fifteen hours.” Kato nodded weakly. “So,” Martin continued as he leaned forward, “Zara was taken roughly three days ago. Now, they’d have had to get her from Earth’s surface to the ETI, and then onto one of their ships. Not sure how long that would take; maybe a day or so. Now,”—Martin gesticulated with his right hand—“the ride to Ceres isn’t quick, especially on one of their ships. We’re talking a couple of weeks…” Kato nodded miserably. “So, she’s not there yet, and won’t be for a while.” Then he looked straight at Kato. “I know someone who works on the ETI!” he said excitedly. “In space traffic control, no less! He might be able to shed some light on things, from MX9's ship movements. A guy called Marc Ferris.”

  Kato shrugged. “Worth a try, I suppose.”

  Martin spaced out for a second and then said: “Get me Marc Ferris, Earth Transport Interchange. Patch Kato in too.” The progress bar dots marched. And marched. And marched. After a minute or so, they looked at each other in concern.

  Then, a tired voice asked: “Martin, what do you want, pal? I was asleep.”

  “I have a favor to ask.”

  “What?”

  “I need info on MX9 ship movements.”

  “Okay... why?”

  “I have a situation.”

  “It better be good. I'm in the middle of my damn sleep period and I'm due back on shift in four hours.”

  “I'll make it worth your while,” Martin said. “I'll bring you some Scotch next time I'm up there, or something.”

  “Nah, don't worry about it. Gimme a few minutes to get dressed and get over to Traffic Control.”

  “Take your time.”

  Hundreds of kilometers above Earth, Marc made his way out of his quarters and grabbed a moving handrail. He was propelled along the circular tunnel at running speed. A few minutes later, his iris was scanned, and he entered the cavernous Space Traffic Control Center. Marc never failed to be impressed by the space: it was hexagonal, about the size of a ballroom, and completely lined with lights, screens, and people floating near them. There were around thirty controllers. In the center was a mid-air projection of the entire vast ETI, with indicators showing incoming and outgoing ships. The whole place buzzed with energy. Marc floated over to a free terminal, using a handrail for guidance. It signed him in, and straight away showed a list of MX9's recent departures. “MX9's ships depart every couple of days,” Marc said to Martin. “They go in a continuous loop from Earth to Ceres.”

  “Okay,” Martin said.

  “Let's have a look here...” Marc mused. “One left about four hours ago.” Martin looked at Kato, and raised his left eyebrow in interest.

  Marc narrowed his eyes as he browsed the huge screen in front of him. He continued: “Oh, look at this: it's traveling faster than usual. They usually accelerate at around point one G. This one's doing point five G, or five times the normal acceleration! They usually lumber along, but this one's not. Far from it!”

  Martin stared at Kato in disbelief. “That could be it!”

  Kato looked as stunned as Martin did. “It left four hours ago, and it's in a hurry,” Kato said. “I'll bet she's on it!”

  “Everything alright down there?” Marc asked.

  “Oh, yes,” Martin said. “Yes. Yes, it is. I think we’ve located her.”

  “Located who?”

  “Never mind.” Martin paused for a moment. “What's the ship called?”

  “Huo X-37-B. Huo just means 'cargo', so their names all start with that. They're designated by the code that comes after.”

  “What's its ETA?” Martin said, looking at the wall of the hotel room.

  “Okay, let's see...” Marc said. “Presently, Ceres is about three hundred million kilometers . Calculating displacement from acceleration... hold on... about five days.”

  “Five days!” Martin looked shocked. Kato stayed quiet. “Okay, that's all we need for now, Marc,” Martin said. “Thank you so much for your help, and sorry for waking you up.”

  “No problem.” The call ended. Kato and Martin stared at each other in silence.

  “Five days,” Kato said slowly. The weight of the moment could not be overstated. “She has five days. Unless Seung Yi chooses to meet the ship before it gets there, or they up the acceleration, in which case she has less.”

  Martin nodded slowly, pursing his lips while still looking directly at Kato.

  Kato focused on the floor. He then looked up. “How can we rescue her?”

  Martin thought for a second, as his brain's CPU worked. “They've already gone four hundred and ninety thousand kilometers, and they're going seventy kilometers a second.” He sighed. “That's quite a head start.”

  “Are there any ships that can outrun it?” Kato asked.

  Martin shook his head. “Sadly not. There aren’t many ships that’ll do more than half a G, including freighters, passenger liners and private ships...”

  Kato's face lit up. “Private ships! I took a ride to Earth on Gansevoort! I know that thing can outrun it, since it runs at a full one gravity; twice what their ship’s doing!” Martin nodded, his eyebrows raised. “Not sure how we'd do it,” Kato said, “but I'm gonna try and get a hold of Philip Gansevoort right now. Buzz, get me Philip Gansevoort.”

  The dots progressed across Kato's vision. Kato held his breath. A minute passed. “Unable to reach Philip Gansevoort. Would you like his voicemail?” Kato heard. “Dammit! Yes, voicemail. Philip, Zara's been abducted! Your ship is the only one I know of that can reach her! She only has five days until they get her to Ceres. It's imperative that you call me back immediately! Buzz,
end call. Send with high importance.”

  Kato sighed. Silence reigned for a long moment. “I feel so helpless,” Martin said. Kato nodded.

  Chapter 27

  Kato dreamed vividly of the gleaming ship Gansevoort slicing through space at great speed. It didn't seem to have a destination. “Incoming call from Philip Gansevoort,” Buzz said, back in the real world. Kato didn't respond. “Incoming call from Philip Gansevoort.” Kato suddenly awoke. “Kato here.”

  “Kato, great to hear from you!” Philip said, as though nothing unusual were happening.

  “You too,” Kato said. He suddenly felt the sickening rush of acids back into his stomach, as sleep no longer protected him from the awfulness of his situation. He sighed.

  “Sorry, I was at a charity function in New York,” Philip said. “That's why I couldn't call you back...”

  “That's okay,” Kato said weakly.

  “So, Zara's been kidnapped?” Philip said.

  “Yes.”

  “How do you know she's in space?” Kato related the story so far.

  Philip's tone became serious. “Oh...” Kato thought there was something plastic about his manner. The same thought had bothered him when he was with Philip in person, but he had pushed it aside. Kato was left to reiterate his request. “So, given how fast Gansevoort can fly, can we use her to rescue Zara?”

  Silence.

  “Well, two problems come to mind,” Philip said. “One, I have a flight to Mars scheduled tomorrow, and two, the ship might be damaged in the process.”

  Silence again.

  “But... can't you reschedule your passengers?” Kato protested. “Zara's in grave, immediate danger!”

  “Well, I would, old boy, but I'll have a sheikh on board with his family and entourage. They will account for all but four of the passenger spots.”

  Kato was momentarily too shocked to speak. “But... you said you were honored to have us aboard! That we were the most important people ever to have flown on her!”

  “Kato, passage on my ship is always an option if you have the money,” Philip said, “but I don't do unscheduled runs to who-knows-where!”

  Kato began to yell. “Her life is in danger, Philip! And all you can think about is pleasing a goddamned sheikh! Stop being a flying cocktail party for once and give a damn about something other than your status!”

  “I'm really sorry, Kato, but business is business. Let's talk later, shall we?” The line went dead.

  “GODDAMN!” Kato yelled. “Martin! He says he's not going to help us because he's flying a frickin’ sheikh to Mars and can't take time out of his schedule!”

  Martin looked disbelievingly at Kato. “You gotta be kidding me!”

  Kato shook his head. “Nope!”

  “Now what?”

  Kato's shoulders slumped. “I don't know.”

  Kato slumped on his bed, having retired to his own room. The world whirled around him. Was she already dead? If not, what was she going through? What if Seung Yi was already on the ship torturing her? Kato tried to push these thoughts away and come up with other possibilities for rescue. Threaten the Yi Dynasty somehow? Intercept the ship with a fast-moving scientific probe? Scientific… hot damn! He was up and pounding on Martin’s door within seconds.

  “I’ve got it, dude!”

  Martin opened the door, with a faint whiff of resentment at being awoken again. “What?” Movement was heard in a neighboring room.

  “Use IIX!” Kato half-yelled. Heads popped out of other doors.

  “What?” Martin repeated, looking nonplussed. “Okay. Come in.” He and Kato sat in opposite armchairs. Martin was in pajamas, and Kato still wore his rumpled street clothes.

  “Let’s use the IIX”, Kato said excitedly. She’s the fastest ship in existence. If anything could make it there in five days…”

  “Whoa, slow down,” Martin said, raising a hand with his palm out. “You don’t just take IIX for a spin. She’s probably the most elaborate machine ever built by man.”

  “But you’re the expert!” Kato interjected.

  “Yes, but only on the warp drive,” Martin said. “There’s thousands of hours of preparation needed for a mission. The smart skin’s also got to be checked; every molecule. The zero point source has to be rebuilt. Comms, computing cores, displays, fore and aft power ducts all have to be tested…”

  Kato paused for a long moment. Then, looking up at Martin, he said: “The next mission’s in ten months?”

  “Yes. To a star system that has an exoplanet very much like Earth, actually.” Martin smiled, and basked in wide-eyed scientific glory at this thought. Then he returned to Earth, and looked at Kato. “What you’re proposing is impossible in the time span of a few days,” he said, matter-of-factly. “Even if IIX were flightworthy, we don’t have exact control of where she warps to anyway. It’s not an exact science—yet.”

  “They managed to find our ship in the middle of nowhere…” Kato trailed off weakly, his expression bereft.

  “Only by accelerating for a day using the ZPR engines to fine tune their position and match your speed.”

  Kato sighed. The room was silent for a minute. “I’ll tell you what,” Martin conceded. “I’ll talk to Lana Kasun. She’s Director of Space Engineering at the MSF. She’s overseeing the refit of IIX, and will be able to tell us what state she’s in. Although, IIX is on Mars, and we’re not, which poses a slight problem, too.”

  Kato nodded. “Fair enough.”

  Martin looked off into the distance. “Message to Lana Kasun. Hi Lana, can I please get a quick update on the IIX prep status? Thanks.” He turned to Kato. “There. It’ll take a while to get the answer back, with the light time delay.”

  “Okay.”

  “You look exhausted, dude,” Martin said.

  “I am.”

  “I’d advise you to get some rest, but I don’t think you’ll listen.”

  Kato shook his head. “I can’t, man. Every minute counts.”

  Martin sighed. “I don’t have kids, of course. I can’t imagine what you’re going through…”

  “You’d never have invented the warp drive if you did. You wouldn’t have had time!”

  Martin smiled. “Didn’t stop you turning society upside down with nanorobotics while Zara was little, did it?” he said. “I’ve read the biographies.”

  Kato leant forward in his chair, elbows on his knees, and pursed his lips. He swallowed. “I wasn’t the best dad to Zara,” he said morosely. “I spent far too much time at work, and didn’t spend the time with her that I should have. You can never make that time up.”

  Martin got up, opened the minibar, and produced two small bottles of Scotch. He grabbed glasses and ice, and poured them both a drink. Handing one to Kato, he said: “Here. There’s no situation that this can’t improve.”

  Kato smiled weakly, took a sip, and set the glass down. He began to massage his forehead and temples.

  “Reply from Lana Kasun, with attachment,” Martin heard.

  “Play it to both of us, and show the file.”

  A large spreadsheet appeared, visible to Martin via his brain implants and to Kato via his contact. “Basically,” Lana said, “the skin check is already about half complete.” She had the crisp tone of an on-point, no-nonsense manager. “No defects found. It survived the warp very well. The warp drive teardown hasn’t yet begun. Gravitometer re-cal is about twenty-five percent. Core systems recheck is underway. The results of that are good; nothing really looks like it needs replacing. The zero point unit’s completely torn down. We’re waiting on new ablators.” Lana’s tone turned to annoyance now. “Hard to believe, but our order hasn’t yet been filled by MX9. They’re still making deliveries to Marineris Light and Power, but we haven’t received ours yet, despite putting in the order six months ago. Anyway,
that’s where we’re at. Hope you’re enjoying Earth. Lana out.”

  “Crap,” Martin said loudly. He shrugged. “I guess that confirms it. Most of the ship’s in good shape; except for that energy unit. It’s completely dismantled.”

  “What are ablators?” Kato asked.

  “They’re huge, heavy chunks of iridium,” Martin said. “Twelve of them are needed for a zero point unit. They’re used as a catalyst. Here:” A slowly-spinning 3D object appeared in the men’s vision. Kato studied its simple shape. It was a thick vertical gray metal bar, which was bent like a boomerang—except that all its surfaces were completely flat. It was thicker at the center, where it bent, and thinner at the ends. It slowly rotated so that it was side on, and Kato could see that it was roughly half as thick as it was wide. “It’s about three meters tall,” Martin said. “They’re extremely heavy, of course, with iridium being so dense. One ablator, of the size we use, is about twenty-two tons. They’re gradually burnt up during the energy harvesting process. Hence the need for periodic replacement. Warp drives use so much energy, so fast, that new ablators are needed for every round trip on IIX.”

  Kato nodded, looking completely overwhelmed. “How does zero-point energy work?”

  Martin shrugged and grinned. “I honestly don’t know! There are around thirty people in the world who truly understand it. Five of those are German. Of course, the plans are well known, so any organization with sufficient technology can build a zero-point source. There’s a big difference between building and understanding, though.”

  Kato nodded.

  Martin continued: “The size and shape of the ablators have to be very exact for them to work. There are different sized zero-point sources, of course, and hence different sized ablators. The ones we use are actually one of the commonest.”