Greener Green III: Let Light Reign

by Peter Sowatskey

  I declared, "Hours up. Any complications would have shown by now. We do this tomorrow again. Just vitamin injections until you get up to standard. Here are your medical files. Carry them with you. Packet seals like this. Wear the Med data crystals wherever convenient."

  The woman looked at her husband, but couldn't restrain herself from rushing to me and giving me a hug. She almost came up to my chest. Then she collected her children and herded them out the door. The man said, "I'm Raslev. You are good at what you do, I think. I think you miss being a doctor. I saw how you became relaxed as you worked. We'll be here tomorrow. Thank you."

  He left and I had to find a chair; so to the point. I had been happy in my clinic over Irkilon IV. Maybe, when this is over I'll find another planet to save. Meanwhile I had to save the Universe, needed some help on that one.

  Jim, Hank, and Erlo were once again leaning on their table.

  "Do I disturb?" I asked.

  Erlo stood and pulled out my chair, "Heavens no. We were just astounding over the details in Dendon's data bank. We've incorporated it, and it has gone out to ARK I, Ranger HQ, and Intelligence Command for further piecemeal distribution. It is going to make our task a surgical one, instead of looking under every rock in one third of our Universe. Naturally it will be tested, but it goes hand in hand with what we know. But the Tactical Commands, and ourselves, will have to be careful that the ANNU KI don't know what we know until the tide has turned."

  I observed, "I have confidence in us. Do we get copied from other theaters?"

  Hank replied, "Not yet. I'll see what I can do about that through our channels. If an ANNU KI breeches security I want a Nav position on your Intra Universal ship. Promise me, Erlo."

  "I promise. You're all invited. Bartender, bring another round."

  Operational Area Moneslakia

  Chapter Sixteen

  Granger

  "Code Blue, Code Blue, report to HQ now."

  We'd just that moment entered present time. I jumped out of the right seat and slid around to Weapons, which became active as I sat down. The harness closed over my upper body. The screens showed multiple ANNU KI mother ships and a shipyard in orbit above them. None seemed under attack.

  Mary's voice came over the intercom. "Going down hot. Get behind me."

  Lil, in the left seat, answered, "Roger that." and we tipped over nose down and increased speed. I continued scanning, sweeping the comm bands to pick up and chatter, nothing unusual, conclusion, the emergency lie on the surface.

  I focused on HQ and saw a lot of coming and going by small craft, but none were firing on the complex, conclusion, the emergency lay in the complex. We'd know soon enough, unless we landed several miles beneath it.

  Way after the last moment, according to me, Lil and Mary nosed their ships upward while continuing maximum thrust. We equalized a hundred feet off the surface, whereupon they leveled off and sat down like feathers. I unknotted my guts along with the harness; and hurried to the rear ramp behind Lil. I thought to congratulate my pilot, but had lost the ability to speak, throat too dry. I grabbed my combat vest by the exit, as did Lil. Buckling up, I reached back for a canteen; first things first.

  I kept up with the two of them as they raced to the entrance. Evidently they'd paralleled my reasoning. We burst into the Solarium to find Betty and some tall creature engaged in a heated discussion. The three of us paused and listened.

  "I should have realized, Betty that Frizdier had too optimum a location to not be occupied by the ANNU KI. Why didn't the Ranger people have the Phaeton sensing gear?"

  "The ships hadn't been back for a retrofit."

  "Now I have three Carriers going into a trap. Get that lack of sensing equipment covered, will you."

  "Done. What are you going to do now?"

  "We can't retreat. But tell the Ranger ships to stand off and go into a probing mode until further notice."

  "Done. They agree. They've taken heavy losses."

  He noticed us and beckoned us closer.

  "Why Mary, Lil, you've grown, and you must be Granger. I've read your file. I'm Admiral Tildore Secallo. I have to ask a question of your Captain Tel, which he will answer affirmatively, no matter what, and that is; whether he's ready to blast out of here with two mother ships. If he isn't ready, and goes anyway, I have five ships at risk. Can you help me?"

  I considered and said, "Yes. Let's be clear. You're telling me to resolve this?"

  He looked at me, the bulb in his forehead looked at me, changing hues as it did. After a long pause he said, "Yes."

  I broke away from them and sped to the computer console. The operator stood and I read her name tag, Ensign Maria Brunnel. I asked, "Essence Ensign?"

  "Yes."

  "Put some part of me on the Mother Ship Bridge next to Captain Tel."

  She hesitated for the briefest second, put her hand under my arm, and we both changed location to the left of Tel. He turned and looked at us and observed, "Learning new tricks, aren't we. Good to see you're back safely. Much turmoil greets you. But when does it not."

  I could feel amusement, "Indeed that's so for both of us. Good to see you too. What have you accomplished here?"

  "We, Sheila and I, have two ships fully manned with trained ANNU KI bodies and snake pilots, and we're part way done with the third. Sheila and I will be Captain and XO on all of the ships, simpler. How did you make out?"

  "One million three, in a Virtual World training camp with a thousand to one time speed up. You get bodies. Our people will be ready to go. I have a mission for you. You're to go to world 370744, two ships, exact enemy location coming later, and come out of Negative Space at the North and South Poles, main weapon fully charged, burn your targets to just short of the Magna layer, shift to the secondary targets and do the same. Understood?"

  "Understood. Order more beer. Now get off. We enter N Space in thirty seconds."

  "I'll get the beer, you just get back."

  He saluted, and we were back in the Solarium, her hand still under my arm.

  I ordered, "Message to the Carriers, circle target planet, locate enemy, report, stand off planet, and go into probing actions. Help coming in---."

  I looked at Maria. She said, "Six hours."

  "Six hours. At five and a half hours, two Carrier loads of Atomic Dampeners go onto the North and South Pole targets, respectively. Other carrier load of Atomics Dampeners split between two secondary targets. Set for penetration fifty feet below the targets. After primary and secondary targets removed; commence mop-up, or stand off a good distance and pick off escaping ships. There are no non-combatants here. End of message. Did I leave anything out Maria?"

  She gave me a searching, speculative look, "No. I'll send that now, and relay to Captain Tel the locations when Captain Nerre sends them. Anything else, Sir?"

  I thought to deny that, Sir 'business,' too late for that, I just said, "No. Thank you for the ride. Maybe we'll do that again."

  She just smiled and turned to her console.

  I walked back to the group by the entrance.

  The Admiral said, "Betty's been keeping me up to the moment. Well done Captain. We'll get you the insignia later. Oh, you have some, Betty. Stand still Captain, while I attach these."

  I caught a flash of amusement from Maria as he did so, served me right. Lil and Mary saluted when he finished. Then I saluted him. Pecking order established.

  He continued, "That brings us to the next order of business. Take your Virtual World up to the remaining Mother Ships. Think, Betty, of getting us more of them. Can do?"

  Betty acknowledged, "That's so. I'll have to put the Special Events Platoon in the mix. They have a few thousand in storage. Prestrillo has a few hundred in his 'parking lot' but no mother ships. Where do I turn first?"

  "Prestrillo. We need support craft. I remember we gave them to the shipyard AIs. Maybe they scrapped them. Maybe they made them better. We still need to think of planetary defense in case the enemy back tracks our ships. See what
you can come up with by 1600 Captain."

  Dismissed is dismissed. I saluted, along with Mary and Lil, and quick stepped out of the area and down the corridor, not slowing down before we were safely into Lil's ship and on our way upward to the Mother Ships.

  One's lights turned on and started blinking. We went toward it. A wide door opened in the upper hull and Lil steered in the bay carefully and sat the ship down. Orange lights flashed. Tel's voice came over the intercom, "Wait until they go out. Then it's safe, atmosphere wise. I can't get in your ship so you'll have to bring out your cargo."

  We waited, lights went out. Lil put the rear ramp down and we floated the Virtual World out on it's own anti gravs. It had its own power supply.

  Tel and Shelia came into the bay, followed by two more figures. Tel informed us, "The two ships you sent out are on course. Shelia and I are linked to all of our other selves. Something Betty came up with. So that's your World."

  I explained, "It's simple to use. You type in what skill set you need, and how many of them. You get back a printout of a crew. Leads come out to attach to a finished body, you enter the crew member’s name, and they go into the body, automatically."

  Shelia smiled, "We'll progress much quicker without having to do our own training. Fellows, take it to Med Bay, and put it to use." They left and she continued, "We have no built in social space. Evidently the ANNU KI didn't socialize. Just work and sleep. I understand now why our swamp rat fought so hard to get out on a mission of his own. We'll adapt empty storage rooms eventually. You are going out again for more of us, Granger?"

  "When you get down to a hundred thousand, let me know."

  Everybody got a chuckle out of that

  I went on, "I need a rough idea of the time span to get a crew embodied and up to speed, Tel."

  "I'm going to give you an outside number, seven days, combat ready. There are just so many rejuvenation chambers per ship. That's the slow down."

  "I'll see if there's a way around it. Do you have any idea how I can make this planet secure? I have to know by 1600."

  Tel laughed, "I used to smoke something which made me feel that powerful. Tell whoever wants you to do that, I'll take a pound or two off their hands."

  "I'll pass that along, sometime. Been up to the shipyard?"

  "No. Too busy, no invitation."

  "I think I'll go ask them if they have any ideas. They got through a slice of time with too many zeros to think about. See you two later. Come down for a beer when you get the next one started."

  We parted company, got out the door without scraping, and slowly gained altitude in the direction of the shipyard. Suddenly we had four small ships bracketing us. A voice came over the intercom.

  "We know you are friendly, but what do you want in our space?"

  "A miracle. I have to make this planet secure from attack."

  "Move it."

  "Please explain."

  "Create another planet opposite the planet here. Mark it as quarantine planet, result of microbiological attack. Put an Invis shield around this one. Tactic used by us for long time."

  "Can you do this? Can I speak to your leader?"

  "You have been away on patrol, didn't read memo, like you say. Are you three, download capable? If so, prepare."

  My mind expanded to encompass more time and space than I'd ever considered, filled with techniques and concepts I'd never dreamed of. I leaned back against the seat to allow it to find its niche. Opening my eyes I saw Lil and Mary had leaned back.

  I offered, "We could talk endlessly about this data. When it's found correlation I'll ask one of you on the planet to sit down with me. I see you can do what you mentioned. Would you please do it, so I can tell my Admiral the problem is solved?"

  "Certainly, two days. Suggest you find a space along Captain Nerre's reverse trajectory beyond here that she could have come from."

  "Brilliant. We'll go do that now. Thank you."

  We returned to our landing space, in no hurry to get there. I realized suddenly it had been a long time since breakfast. We took time to refuel.

  Inside the Planetarium we found the Admiral at a desk with Melin. We reported that the problems had been solved; write up on his desk tomorrow, except for a small detail.

  "I don't read write ups any more. If you say it's handled, that's good enough for me. The Mother Ships will arrive over target soon. Coordinate with Maria,"

  Upon approaching Maria she said, "I've found a dead planet back along Nerre's trajectory. The Rangers say they will handle the subterfuge, and lay mine fields. Is that sufficient for you?"

  I looked into her eyes, felt weak in the legs and said, "More than sufficient."

  I looked away, found an unoccupied trio of chairs, and arranged them around her station. Lil, Mary, and I sat.

  Maria informed us, "It's six minutes to our Mother Ships arrival."

  Mary asked, "Have any attempts to lift been seen from the imbedded ANNU KI ships?"

  "From the reports, no. I've been feeding events up to the Tel and Sheila in orbit above us. They say your V R World is working fine. I'm going to create a large display of Frizdier, look above, toward the entrance."

  A revolving planet burst into being, 'X' marked the spots to be targeted. Blinking dots approached the North and South poles. I became vaguely aware of the Planetarium filling with people. Some the like of I'd never seen. The blinking dots and the large 'X' marks suddenly merged. I quit breathing. Lil nudged me on my right. I guess to see if I still lived. Tel's experiences with me flashed through my mind. Nerre had placed the Phaeton sensing equipment in good locations on Frizdier, from the clear representation that I had my eyes fixated on.

  Suddenly two 'X' marks disappeared. The other two made attempts at movement, but the mother ships were over them before they succeeded. A short while later they disappeared too. The Solarium reverberated with sound. I made most of it. I kissed Mary, Lil, and Maria. I looked around for someone else to kiss, saw an eight foot tall bear with hands and a face near me, and quit my kissing, but not my good feelings. Masses of smaller ships rose from the planet to attack our ships. Our ships went down to meet the attack.

  I sat down and watched men and women die. We were blue, them brown. Browns kept shooting upward, in waves after waves. Blue weaved in among them. Hours passed. Someone brought food. I ate it, I guess. We were at the four hour mark when it became gradually apparent that we dominated the skies. Now you had to search for a brown mark. I kept track of the poles, expecting to see volcanoes. None occurred. Perhaps the ice caps had been a factor.

  When the print outs came to me about casualties and losses I put them in my pocket. I didn't want to know yet. Tomorrow I would look at them and mourn. Tonight we had won. Mary and Lil pulled me outside, after I asked Maria to excuse me. She said she'd stop by the table when she went off duty.

  Outside some one had started a huge fire and food tables appeared, laden with delicious smelling dishes. A stack of beer cases slowly diminished to be replaced by another. Howl, we did, the night through.

  Sometime Maria came and collected me at the table. She helped me to her room. Then we went to a beach shack on an island. Some other people down the beach waved, but didn't come close. She and I had our world, and clung to each other with no thoughts beyond us.

  I awoke alone in Maria's room, not knowing whether night or day reigned. I felt fine, alive, and young. Putting on my uniform I found the printouts. Reminded of what they represented, didn't rob me of my good feelings.

  Reading the print outs as I walked I eventually found my way to the Planetarium. Another Ensign held Maria's post, Greta.

  She informed me, "Ground resistance is still fierce, sixteen hours after the attack, and twelve hours after ground troops landed. Ranger reinforcements have arrived using our Battle Suits. Our ground losses are light. Reports indicate we will have to take every square inch."

  "Send this message:' Hq aware of situation. Suggest blanket clearance of spots of most resistance, in
stead of hand to hand. Planets are easier to rebuild than soldiers and airmen.' Send it over my name and rank. Also send to the Commanders the question if whether 10,000 more Workers are needed. After that alert the Workers to expect that level of commitment. I'll be in Lil's ship changing."

  Outside to the left I saw that the fire pits had been laid for a fresh fire. What the hell, there would certainly be something to celebrate, maybe being alive and safe, however fleetingly, would be enough. No Lil in her ship, so I did the routine. Freshly uniformed and chewing on a rations bar I went back to the computer terminal, and Greta, to await developments.

  She handed me printouts. The first read, 'We will have problem resolved before Workers could get here. However, advise preparation of same. Those Workers here are making victory possible. Nerre.'

  The second one read, 'Willing to go fight, but need large ship for long distance transport of two person fighters. Had Conference with Rail Gun Dock commander, result, it needs major alteration for use. We have plan of such a transport vessel, two, one self protect able, eight months to build, one, needing protection, three months to build. Awaiting instructions.'

  I looked up. Greta suggested, "Time Drop Bay, eight months versus one week. Maybe Ted Marcus is back from his vacation."

  "We get vacations?"

  "Sure. It's all in the TO&E. I'll get you a copy. Actually there are blanks the Admiral wants you to fill in."

  "There goes my vacation. Get Marcus or some of his people here and make it happen. Tell the Workers to stand down, and then provide you with a list of raw materials. Then get them. Should keep you occupied for ten minutes. Do I sound tense? Please forgive me if I do, and don't take it personally. Do you know where Lil and Mary are?"