Theogony 1: Janissaries

by Chris Kennedy

  “Is there anywhere else besides China that we can get them?” asked the president.

  “Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, Tanzania, Greenland and the U.S. had mines in the past, but they were closed when China entered the market in the 1990s and undercut everyone else’s prices,” replied Commerce. “These mines could be restarted…for a price. There is also a deposit located in Afghanistan that has never been exploited. We could help the Afghans open a mine there. We could also get the REEs from the tailings of uranium and gold mining, both in this country and abroad. Some nations have stockpiles of REEs that we might be able to purchase parts of. There is also a large amount of previously used REEs that we could get from recycling used electronics.”

  “That gives us some opportunities outside of the Chinese,” said the president. “Let’s get to work on all of these. If we can get a six-month head start on the rest of the world, we can hopefully corner the market on them. Are there any other opportunities?”

  “Well,” said the Secretary of Energy, “you can also get the elements from nuclear fuel reprocessing. Nuclear fission of uranium and plutonium both yield all of the rare earth elements as byproducts. The only problem is that the radioactivity of the fission process is such that extracting the REEs hasn’t been either safe or economical.”

  “It will be a whole lot more economical when the government invests in helping to develop better technology,” said the president, looking at both Commerce and Technology. “Make it happen!” he ordered. “In fact,” he continued, looking around the room, “let’s put some effort into all of these avenues, but try to do it quietly. I don’t want any of the other nations outside of Olympos to know about what we’re doing. Talk to our Olympos partners and see what they can do to help. I will also ask the Psiclopes to see if they have anything available to help with the radioactive separation problem.”

  Heads nodded around the room as each member of the cabinet thought about ways that they could help acquire more of the REEs.

  “Now,” said the president, “what else did they need?”

  “Antimatter,” replied the Secretary of Energy.

  “Well, we can generate that,” asked the president, “can’t we?”

  “Yes and no,” answered the Secretary of Energy. “Yes, we can make antimatter, but it is one of the most costly things to produce. In all of the world’s efforts so far, we have produced about 20 nanograms of antimatter in total. That is 20 billionths of a gram. It is hard to make, hard to contain and hard to store, needing both extreme vacuum and a magnetic field. If we decided that we wanted to go into the business of antimatter production, we could make it for about $25 billion per gram.”

  “To put that into perspective, sir,” said Calvin into the silence that followed Energy’s appraisal of the situation, “each of our grenade throwers uses one gram. The cost to fuel one of them would be the same as to buy 167 new F-22 stealth fighters, and that’s old technology.”

  “Well, there’s no way we can afford to do that,” said the president, looking at the Secretary of Commerce who shook his head. “Even once we get the economy up to a war footing, that’s out of our reach. The Psiclopes are going to have to help with that. There’s just no way we can do it on our own. Even as a planet.”

  “I think they can handle the antimatter generation and weapons creation,” replied Calvin. “The only problem is that they won’t transfer a lot of their things…”

  “…until we have a planetary government,” finished the president. “I got it. Anything else?”

  “One last thing, sir,” answered Calvin. “I said earlier that we ‘may’ be able to use their matter transmitter, which would let us transport at will. The only problem is that you have to have a nano-level detailed scan of the person being transported, and they don’t have one of those kinds of scanners with them. We would need to get to a planet that had one to get scanned first, or bring back that kind of scanner, which I understand is not cheap. We may get that technology at some point...but probably not very soon.”

  “Damn,” said the president, “I was looking forward to getting to say, ‘beam me up,’ and actually getting to do it. I hate traveling.”

  “Me, too, sir,” replied Calvin, who was about to get back onto a plane to go back to Seattle, completing his fifth transcontinental trip that month. “That’s it, sir. That’s all we were able to get from them.”

  “OK, then, you’re dismissed, as is everyone else that isn’t working on how to develop a planetary government, which will be our next topic of discussion,” said the president.

  Calvin came to attention, executed an about face and left the room, starting his long journey back to Seattle. He was really starting to hate travelling, too.

  KIRO-TV, Channel 7, Seattle, WA, November 7, 2018

  “In national news this evening, the Commerce Department has announced a new initiative to open up new sources of rare earth elements,” read KIRO’s anchorwoman, Anna St. Cloud. “Secretary of Commerce Nicholas David announced the government’s plans earlier today.”

  The camera cut to Nick David at a podium. “One of the biggest lessons learned from the recent Sino-American war was that China has a stranglehold on rare earth elements. They produce over 90% of the world’s supply. We need to develop alternate sources, so that a foreign country cannot determine the future direction of the U.S. economy.”

  The camera returned to Anna St. Cloud. “The Secretary of Commerce announced that the government would be re-opening the Mountain Pass rare earth mine in California, as well as the Diamond Creek and Lemhi Pass mines in Idaho. The government will also be taking over many recycling programs that recover rare earth elements, among other initiatives.”

  Co-anchor Bob Brant took over. “In local news…

  KGB Headquarters, Moscow, Russia, November 8, 2018

  “There is something very strange going on with the Americans,” said the KGB chairman, deep in thought. “First the mission to the moon and then the two centers of excellence located next to each other. Hmm…they are certainly up to something, but what could it be?”

  The head of the Foreign Intelligence Service looked at the rest of the intelligence officers assembled in the headquarters conference room. All of them seemed to be looking at their notes. There was nothing else to look at; there were no windows, as the conference room was buried deep within the building to keep anyone from spying on it. Seeing that no one else was going to offer any suggestions, he said, “I agree, sir. Perhaps they are using these things to cover up something else?”

  “Well, of course they are using them to cover up something else! The question is, what? They didn’t just come up with a ‘mission to the moon’ out of the blue! Nor did they just decide to host two centers of excellence without at least talking to their allies, first. The cover stories are weak. There is obviously something that they are hiding. It also probably has something to do with the new push to collect rare earth elements and heavy metals…” the KGB chairman was one of the few remaining members of the KGB that was a veteran of the Cold War and the spy wars with the United States. He was excellent at piecing together different sources of information to come up with a coherent picture.

  “Perhaps they are working on some new battery or source of power,” he finally said. “Regardless of what it is, if they get it, it will not be something beneficial for us. We need to get people into these programs and find out what it is that they’re hiding. I wish the president had chosen to participate in the moon mission, but I understand why it wasn’t politically feasible at this time.” He was well aware that the U.S. had accidentally sunk a Russian destroyer during their war with China. Even though the U.S. had offered to pay for it and to pay damages to the families of the sailors onboard, it remained something that the Russian Parliament still tried to use to its advantage.

  “We have one agent watching the special forces soldiers to try to find out what they’re up to,” said the operations officer. “So far they’ve only he
ld one meeting and are exercising at a hangar on one of their bases.”

  “Good,” said the KGB chief. “Continue to try to penetrate both centers of excellence to see what they’re up to, but exercise caution. We don’t want them to know that we’re on to them.”

  Snoqualmie National Forest, Washington State, November 9, 2018

  It was Friday evening, and Ryan was just finishing cleaning up the dinner dishes when there was a knock at the door of his cabin. As the cabin was in the middle of a national forest, it was unusual to have guests, especially as darkness fell in the mountains. After a hard week of training at the hangar, he didn’t think that any of the platoon members would have come by unannounced.

  He was surprised to open the door and find Brontes waiting for him. Not only had his contact with her been limited, it was also extremely unusual for her to recognize a convention like knocking on the door. She usually just showed up where she wanted. “Come on in,” he said. “Please have a seat,” he said, pulling out a chair. “Can I get you something to drink?”

  “No, thank you,” she replied.

  After the refusal, she didn’t say anything else for nearly 15 seconds as she looked at her hands, contemplating something with herself. Ryan gave her the time to come to a decision on her own. Finally, she looked up and said, “You are still not being told everything.”

  Ryan laughed. “I hope you didn’t come all the way out here just to tell me that,” he said, “because that is hardly news. Even though Arges said he would tell us everything, we know that he hasn’t.”

  “I am in a difficult position,” began Brontes. “I have a legal and moral obligation to obey orders; however, I cannot stand by and just watch some things happen without affecting my place on the Wheel.”

  “Wheel?” asked Ryan. “What wheel is that?”

  “It is a belief of ours, but that isn’t important right now. We can talk about it at another time if you want to,” replied Brontes. “There are a couple of other things that I need to discuss with you before my presence is missed. Not all of these will make sense now, but I promise that I have your best intentions at heart and will explain them to you later when I am able. Can you trust me for now?”

  “I guess,” said Ryan, understanding very little about what was going on. Obviously there was a lot more taking place behind the scenes than the Terrans were privy to. A crack in the unity of the Psiclopes was something to be encouraged; it could only help the Terrans.

  “That is good enough for now then,” replied the Psiclops. “The first thing you need to know is that the medibot doing your implants is able to do many more things than just putting in the implants.”

  “It is?” asked Ryan, wondering where this was going.

  “It is,” confirmed Brontes. “Our ship was intended to spend long periods at the edge of civilization. As such, the medical section onboard was equipped with all of the latest technology, so that it would be ready for any exigency.”

  “It would be ready for any what?” Ryan asked, wondering if the Psiclopes were ever going to learn to speak plain English.

  “It had to be ready for any need or possibility,” explained Brontes, “from conducting major medical procedures to developing indigenous life forms into effective warriors, somewhat like what we are doing with you now.”

  “Do you mean the implant operations that we are going to have?” asked Ryan. “I don’t know what all we’re getting, but it definitely sounds like we will be more effective warriors after the operation.”

  Brontes smiled. “There is no doubt that having implants will make you more effective as a warrior. The ability to communicate instantly, across great distances, will allow you to coordinate your actions with a far greater precision than most cultures you will face. The implants will also allow you to interface with your weapons systems and use them to their fullest extent. The best part of having implants, which I don’t think any of you really understands yet, is that it will allow you to acquire information and skills from the computer system. This information will go straight into your brain nearly instantaneously via the implant link. For example, all of the tech manuals for your new weapons can be downloaded to your brain through the implant. Once it is there, you will have the ability to recall any of the data you require.”

  Ryan liked where this was going. “So, if I needed to fly a space fighter, I could download the instructions and be a pilot?”

  Brontes shook her head. “It is not quite as easy as that. There is a difference between knowing something and having the experience and muscle memory required to do it effectively. For example, when Calvin is flying an airplane and he wants it to climb, he pulls back on the stick. How hard and fast he pulls back is determined by how much he wants to climb and how fast he wants to get there. It requires the actual experience of flying the plane to understand the forces involved. It is one thing to know ‘pull back the stick;’ it is another thing entirely to know how far and fast to do so. Similarly, you could download knowledge on a new form of martial arts. Simply knowing the moves to take down an opponent is not the same as understanding when to use them or having trained with them to the point that you have the muscle memory required to use them effectively.”

  “I get it,” said Ryan. “We can get the information downloaded to us, but it is just knowledge. We have to practice it in order to have any skill at it.”

  “Exactly,” confirmed Brontes. “Still, it will accelerate your acquisition of these skills beyond anything you currently have access to.”

  “Awesome,” replied Ryan. “The first thing I’m getting is a dictionary so that I can understand what you and Arges are saying.”

  Brontes giggled. Wow, thought Ryan, they actually do have a sense of humor. “I’ll endeavor…I mean, I will try to keep my words understandable,” said Brontes. “Better?”

  “Better,” Ryan agreed.

  “OK,” said Brontes, “The implants will let you do all of those things. The medibot, however, is capable of more than simply installing the implants. It is also able to do major bio-modification, as well.” Seeing Ryan’s question forming, she continued. “What I mean is that it can give your body anything from enhancements to complete cyborg replacement.”

  “Cyborg replacement?” asked Ryan. “What is that?”

  “That is where your brain is transplanted into a mechanical robot shell,” replied Brontes. “There are many combat models available for those who choose to do that. Some of them are quite powerful.”

  “Umm...I’m not sure I’m ready for that,” said Ryan.

  “Most intelligent beings are not,” Brontes agreed. “There are, however, many enhancements that you can get that are not that...permanent. Arges does not intend to tell you, but you can ask the system for the ‘Warrior Package,’ and it will give your body a number of enhancements that will make you a far more deadly and skilled warrior.”

  “What type of enhancements are we talking about?” asked Ryan, worried about losing his humanity. He didn’t want to wake up and find out that he was now Robosoldier.

  “The system can do nearly anything our doctors can. It can sharpen your vision, giving you the best eyesight your species is capable of. It can enhance muscular strength and endurance, giving you the ability to carry more weight and for longer durations. It can enhance your reflexes, helping you to act faster than your opponents. Depending on how far you want to go, you can also have your bones strengthened with nano-metallic alloys that will give them the ability to withstand shock and stress, as well as a subcutaneous bio-plastic injection that will strengthen your skin. Both of these will allow you to avoid some combat damage and mitigate that which you cannot avoid.”

  “Oh, I’ve got to get some of that!” exclaimed Ryan. “Why weren’t we told about this?”

  “For two reasons,” explained Brontes. “First, there is the prohibition against technology transfer to worlds that don’t have a planetary government. Depending on the options chosen for warrior enhancement, you c
ould turn yourself into a cyborg that would be nearly unstoppable with your world’s current armament systems. Think ‘Terminator’-style enhancements. If the entire platoon received this modification, it would be able to beat any army on the entire planet, vastly changing the world’s balance of power. As some of these modifications are permanent, we wouldn’t be able to undo them once we got back from the mission. To give them to you means that we have to be sure about how you will use them or, at the very least, that the need is dire, which I feel it is. As I have already told you, I have seen the Drakuls in action. They are twice as big as you, more than twice as strong and utterly devoid of conscience or morals. You will need every advantage you can get to defeat them. Not transferring this technology to you unnecessarily handicaps you in your fight against them.”

  “Makes sense,” said Ryan. “And the second reason?”

  “We’re running low on materials for the rep…” Brontes answered. “I mean, we’re low on supplies,” she finished weakly.

  “You know,” said Ryan, “I wanted to be a spaceman when I was growing up, and I read an awful lot of science fiction when I was a little boy. Why can’t you just admit that you have some sort of replicator or fabricator, or whatever it is that makes your equipment for you?”

  Brontes sighed. “Because I’m not allowed to talk about it,” she said, confirming its existence. “That would definitely be a breach of my orders and would make the men angry at me for doing so.”