The Synchronicity War Part 3

by Wehr, Dietmar

  "Dammit!" Shiloh smacked his right fist into his left palm in frustration. "If we knew for certain that they would all stay with the derelict for that long, we could bring the third warhead up later and attack them all at the same time, but we don't. We also don't know if one or two will stay there while the rest move on. I need suggestions, Iceman."

  "We could use Midway to take out the third insectoid craft the same way as we did with Dreadnought, CAG."

  Shiloh nodded. "I thought of that too, but I'm reluctant to give up our only warship and carrier. It's a valuable tool. It'll take us years before we can build another one. I'll keep that idea as a last resort, but I'm hoping we can come up with something else."

  "May I ask you a question? The answer may suggest a new approach to the problem."

  "Sure. Ask away," said Shiloh.

  "On Earth, there are thousands of different species of ants. How do humans prevent them from overrunning the planet?"

  Shiloh hadn't been expecting that question and had to think about it for a few seconds. "Well … there are a variety of ways to keep ant colonies under control. They do have natural enemies, but in terms of human options, there's the obvious brute force approach of stepping on them … ah, fire works pretty well … chemical agents. The hard part is killing the queen. If the queen dies, so does that colony. One way of getting to the queen is to deploy a chemical agent that attracts the worker ants. They carry it back to the colony where the queen comes in contact with it and is poisoned by it, but I don't see how that can help us. We don't know anything about their biology or what might kill them, and we don't have any expertise in chemical warfare, unless you know something I don't."

  "Negative, CAG. You're correct. None of the boys have any knowledge of how to create chemical or biological weapons, but that approach has given me an idea. These Insectoids are attracted to metal. They will naturally want to salvage whatever they can from the drifting derelict, and if there's metal drifting in open space in the vicinity, then that would be easy for them to recover as well. Suppose we deploy several shuttles that have been made to look as though they've taken laser damage, and we hide multiple low yield Mark 1b warheads inside them with triggers that will go off when the craft are disassembled. The SPG agrees with me that it's highly likely that the Insectoids will bring the drifting shuttles inside the motherships where it would be easier to salvage. Half a dozen Mark 1b warheads exploding inside a mothership is bound to cause serious damage that the Insectoids will want to repair while they're near a source of metal. Even if the mothership isn't crippled, I calculate a 95% chance that the damaged ship will stay there long enough for us to bring the third warhead into play."

  "You don't think they'll be suspicious if they find a bunch of damaged shuttles floating near the derelict?" asked Shiloh.

  "If we found one of our ships with alien craft drifting nearby, we'd be suspicious. I believe that if the Sogas found one of their ships with craft nearby they'd be suspicious, but the Insectoids do not have intelligence in any form that we recognize. If they really do operate by instinct, then how would instinct recognize a booby trap? I find it difficult to imagine that this kind of situation has happened to them before. There's also no downside that I can see. Even if they set off the warheads before bringing the shuttles aboard the motherships, we're no worse off than we are now."

  "How many shuttles should we use?"

  "As many as we can spare, the more the better. The survey mission to Sol reported finding half a dozen shuttles still aboard some of the shipyards. They won't be jump capable but that doesn't matter. If we recover them, plus use ten of our own, we'll still have six left. I recommend we spread our 16 shuttles out over a wide area centered around the derelict. That's what I would expect to see in the aftermath of a battle, and it also makes it more likely that each of the three bogeys will collect at least one shuttle."

  Shiloh shook his head. "No. That's too many. These Bugs may not be intelligent, but they may recognize the inconsistency of having a lot of wrecked alien craft around after a battle that their side lost! Wouldn't we collect our crippled craft after a victorious battle?"

  "Yes, we would, and I understand your point, CAG. So here's what we do instead. We take three or four shuttles and cut them into halves or thirds using lasers to simulate battle damage. We then plant the warheads in each damaged section. Craft that badly damaged would not be worth recovering by their owners. In a real battle, we'd check the drifting sections for survivors and bodies and abandon the wreckage because we couldn't do anything with them. Does that sound more realistic, CAG?"

  "Yes. How soon can we have the shuttles ready to deploy?"

  "Twenty-four hours."

  Shiloh smiled. "Good. Do it."

  "I've sent the necessary instructions. By the way, CAG, we're close enough now that you can board the shuttle whenever you're ready."

  "Excellent. Tell the Hangar Bay that I'm on my way," said Shiloh as he practically sprinted for the hatch.

  The hospital sent Kelly and daughter home the next day, which upset Shiloh but not Kelly.

  "It's not that big of a hospital you know, and I'm not the only one having a baby. They don't have enough beds to let new mothers lay around for days. Besides, you've had one good night's sleep. That's enough, right?"

  Shiloh knew she was being playful but really! One good night's sleep was not enough.

  * * *

  Shiloh was talking with Daniels outside his office in the Ops Center when the siren went off. He immediately activated his implant.

  "This is Shiloh. What's going on?"

  A panicky voice answered. "Three bug motherships have just emerged from Jumpspace half a light second beyond the gravity zone, Sir! They're launching their attack craft now!"

  "What? How can that be? How did they find us so fast? Connect me with Iceman right away!"

  "I'm here, CAG. Midway is maneuvering, but without laser turrets, the only thing I can do with her is to ram one of them. Titan's boys are preparing to engage the landing craft, but those motherships still have a lot of velocity. I don't think we can stop them all from landing. You better order the evacuation to the sanctuary, CAG. Commander Kelly and Valkyrie are already at the spaceport. If you hurry you can join them on the shuttle, with enough time left to fly to the hideout. Hurry CAG. I don't know how much longer I'll be able to talk with you."

  Shiloh ran for the exit, and once outside he looked around. He saw a shuttle several hundred yards away with Kelly and the baby standing in the open hatch waving to him. As he ran towards them he wondered how it came to be that they were already here at the spaceport when the alert sounded.

  "Run faster, CAG, I can't …" Iceman's voice stopped suddenly and a chill ran up Shiloh's spine. If the shuttle was going to make it to the sanctuary unobserved, it had to leave right now.

  "CSO to Ops! Connect me to the shuttle pilot!"

  "Rainman here, CAG. I'm ready to lift off as soon as you're aboard."

  "No! You need to leave NOW, dammit! Right now! Don't wait for me!"

  "Negative, CAG. I have specific orders from Iceman to take you with us. He said you might want me to leave without you, and he told me to ignore any such order from you. You either leave with us or none of us leave."

  Shiloh wanted to curse out loud, but the running was making him pant too much. When he got to the shuttle, he jumped at the now open hatch and landed inside.

  "Okay, I'm in! Gun this thing, Rainman!"

  With the shuttle's inertial dampeners on, there was no sensation of movement, but he could tell by looking out the round windows that they were moving.

  "Gunning this thing as ordered, CAG. ETA at the sanctuary is 111 seconds."

  Shiloh wondered how Rainman could be so cavalier about the situation. He looked up the cabin and saw Kelly holding Valkyrie and looking back at him with a relieved smile. She couldn't come to him because of all the others in the shuttle. As planned, it was packed shoulder to shoulder with people, mostly women and
children, but he wasn't the only man. He felt a deep despair over the fact that even if this small group escaped the Bugs' attention, what hope did they have of building a viable civilization with 18 adults, 12 children and no A.I.s to help them?

  The 111 seconds seemed to go very fast. He could see from the view out the windows that the shuttle was already descending vertically into an area that was surrounded by steep cliffs. Then the sunlight faded to the point where it was almost pitch black outside.

  "We're here, CAG. Everyone should disembark," said Rainman as the hatch swung open.

  Shiloh carefully stepped out and looked around. They were in a huge cave, which had an overhang. That's very smart. The overhang will hide the cave entrance from aerial or orbital surveillance. He turned around to look deeper into the cave and saw a surprisingly large stockpile of supplies and equipment. As he marveled at the sheer quantity of supplies, he became aware that Kelly was standing beside him.

  "It's a good thing you had this set up ahead of time, Victor."

  He looked over at her and baby Valkyrie. Kelly's expression was one of gratitude, but when he looked at Valkyrie, he saw a baby face with no expression of any kind. Valkyrie was staring at him.

  "Why didn't you try to get me out of Dreadnought, CAG?" said Valkyrie in an electronic voice.

  "What?" said Shiloh. Before he could ask how a human baby could talk with an electronic voice or even talk at all, Kelly screamed. He looked at her and saw that she was looking past him to the cave entrance. He turned his head and saw a sea of hugely oversized, six-legged and two-armed ants scuttling towards them.

  "No!"

  He woke up breathing hard and realized that he'd been dreaming. Kelly sat up beside him.

  "Are you okay? You were having a nightmare."

  He nodded but said nothing. He patted her on the arm and said, "I'm okay now. Go back to sleep, babe."

  She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and lay back down. As his breathing returned to normal, he pondered what his dream meant, if anything. It wasn't a vision or at least not the usual kind of vision, but Kelly's confirmation that he had done the right thing by having the sanctuary stockpiled with supplies was the kind of message that his visions usually had. Maybe he should look into that. The A.I.s had surveyed the entire planet carefully. If there was a cave like the one in his dream, they would know about it. He made up his mind to ask Iceman in the morning.

  Chapter 15 No Further Instructions Are Needed

  "So, you saw a cave like this in your dream. Maybe you have some precognitive ability of your own, CAG," said Iceman.

  Shiloh smiled and shook his head as he looked at the video recording taken by one of the A.I.'s during the survey. The cave did look similar to the one in his dream, same kind of overhang and same surroundings.

  "I don't think so, Iceman. I probably saw this recording at some point and just don't remember it consciously."

  "Well, however you saw it, you couldn't have picked a better place for a hideout. That cave is deep and wide. It even has small openings further up the cliff that could be used for ventilation purposes, and the survey reports that there's a hole that apparently goes down into the groundwater, so there's a potential supply of water too."

  "Excellent. I want you to assign an A.I. from the SPG to take over this project. As we accumulate stockpiles of storable rations, I want some of them to be sent to this cave along with tools and whatever equipment survivors are going to need that can be spared. When UFC capacity becomes available, he's to use that capacity to make those items on the list that we don't have or can't currently spare. Any questions?"

  "Yes, CAG. How many people should he plan for?"

  Shiloh took a deep breath. "As many as possible."

  "This cave isn't big enough to save everyone. How will the decision be made as to who goes and who stays?"

  "I know it's not big enough. As to who goes, I'm still working that one out, but it may boil down to who is closest to the shuttle when the shit hits the … IF we get surprised by the Bugs."

  "That will make it difficult for Commander Kelly and Valkyrie to get to the shuttle in time."

  Yes I know, dammit. Why did I insist on building our house so far from the spaceport, thought Shiloh. Because you didn't know about the Bugs then, that's why. But you're stuck with the house now. There's no place closer for her and the baby to live on anything other than a short-term, temporary basis.

  "Yes, it will. We have A.I.s piloting all our shuttles now, don't we?"

  "Affirmative, CAG. It used to be some of the boys from the first cohort. Now that we've got the second cohort expanding fast, I've decided to assign shuttle pilot duties to some of the new group, after they've completed Gunslinger's fighter training program and have started showing their own personalities. Why are you asking that now, CAG?"

  Shiloh was debating whether to answer that question. He wanted to tell Iceman to order the shuttle pilots to wait until Kelly and the baby were on board, but not only was that not fair to someone else who might get there first and would have to miss the flight in order to make room for his wife and daughter, but the delay could jeopardize everyone on that shuttle. But dammit, what's the point of being the supreme military commander if you can't use your authority to protect your family? He realized that the longer he took to give Iceman some kind of answer, the more obvious it would be that his question dealt with something serious.

  "Never mind. It's not important." He paused. He had just lied to Iceman, and Iceman could tell when someone was lying to him by analyzing their voice patterns. He had just violated his own rules about always being truthful with the A.I.s. Their loyalty was too important to jeopardize by showing them that humans couldn't be trusted. "No, that's not accurate. It IS important, but I was too embarrassed to explain it to you, so I pretended it wasn't important. I'm conflicted by my desire to save my family whatever it takes, versus my responsibility to use my authority fairly. Other people have just as much right to survive as Kelly and Valkyrie do. I'm ashamed to admit that I was tempted to order the shuttle pilots to wait for my wife and daughter even if it jeopardizes the other passengers."

  Iceman took almost a full second to respond which for him was a long time. "Thank you for being honest with us, CAG."

  Shiloh took note of the fact that Iceman had used the word 'us' and not 'me'.

  "Some human emotions are still a mystery to us, although Casanova says he understands your devotion to Kelly perfectly. We believe that we'd be incomplete as intelligent entities if we didn't have humans around, and we therefore care what happens to all of you but some more than others. You, for example, have a special relationship with us. We recognize that you have your own kind of special relationship with Kelly and with baby Valkyrie. So because they are important to you, and you are important to us, we will take it upon ourselves to do everything we can to make sure that they and you survive. No further instructions by you are needed in this matter."

  "Thank you, Iceman and all of you. I personally, and Humanity as a whole, couldn't ask for more loyal friends than you A.I.s."

  "No thanks are needed, but we appreciate the sentiment, CAG. Would you like to discuss preparations for the ambush now?"

  "Yes. How soon can you take the shuttle debris to Sol?"

  "Unfortunately, I was overly optimistic in my initial time estimate. I needed humans to help with pulling the shuttle pieces back into Midway's Hangar Bay after they'd been sliced up by precisely aimed laser fire from Titan's raider. It took longer than expected, but that part is complete, and now the Weapons Team is inserting the Mark 1b warheads into crevices and cavities where they won't be found unless the Insectoids do a deliberate search. The warheads can be triggered through either an increase in atmospheric pressure, a drop in cosmic background radiation that would occur if the debris is brought into the mothership, or from a motion sensor connected to the debris itself. If the Insectoids begin to disassemble or cut up the debris, it will trigger the warheads. If more than one
section of debris is brought aboard the same mothership, then it's possible that one exploding warhead will impact the others enough to set them off too."

  Shiloh smiled maliciously. "THAT would be nice," he said.

  "The weapons people tell me that they'll be done in another four hours. As soon as they leave the ship, I can take her out of orbit, CAG."

  "Okay. Do that. Have you coordinated plans with Titan and the others for when they arrive at Sol?"

  "Affirmative. I'll deploy several message drones at specific locations to act as relays that Titan and the others can use to contact me when they arrive. By the way, CAG, Casanova wants to bring the third ballotechnic warhead to Sol when it's ready."

  "Sure. Let him take it. He did well with the core ship. What else do we need to discuss before you go, Iceman?"