“What just happened?” he asked.
“Svoboda fired four missiles at us and two toward you. We extended our shields to protect your ship. We have deactivated their ship. You’re safe from them for now. I have been directed to let you know what’s going to happen next. Please get Dr. Roscoe and Ambassador Ortega, I’ll wait.”
When the other two were inside the compartment, Sydney began.“Doctor, ambassador, as you are probably aware my name is Sydney Atkins, and I have been directed to inform you of what is going to happen. As I told John, the Svoboda spacecraft fired six missiles, four toward us, two toward you. We extended our shields to protect your ship and as far as we can tell, you suffered no damage. Is that correct?”
“That is correct. And we thank you for your protection. By the way, we’ve met, have we not?” Susan inquired.
“Now that I see you, I believe so. When I visited M.I.T about a dozen years ago for a conference. But unfortunately we don’t have the luxury to play catchup. Here’s what’s going to happen. We are going to destroy the Svoboda spacecraft—”
“Are you going to kill the crew?” Bianca asked, interrupting.
“We are not. They will be allowed to ride back to Earth in your ship,” Sydney replied.
“We may not have the environmental resources for the extra people. I know we could ration the food and water, but air isn’t something we can go without.”
“That will not be a problem. We are going to tow your ship back to Earth. We have estimated that the trip should take no more than ten days,” Sydney stated, surprising them.
“Ten days, that’s what, 500,000 miles an hour? You can do that?” Susan asked, clearly surprised.
Sydney smiled, “And more, believe me. And that brings me to the second part of our expectations. We expect that our people being held in custody to be released immediately; no ifs, ands or buts. This is not negotiable. Please pass this message along immediately, along with the rest, and call me with the answer from the authorities. We will not ask again.”
She paused to let her words sink in. “And John, once you pass along the answer from Earth, you and I will have said our last words together. For that I am truly sorry. Although it’s a far better parting than our last,” she said with a sad smile.
“I understand. Dr. Roscoe and Ambassador Ortega will be sending their communiques as soon as we finish. Again, thank you for all you and your people have done for us,” said John.
“And Ms. Atkins, I truly regret we didn’t get to know one another when we had the chance,” Susan said.
“Me too. And Madam Ambassador, please convey our thanks to your government, and the United Nations for their most generous offers. However, we feel that the safety and security of our people demand that we must decline,” Sydney said with regret.
“Why is that? We can guarantee that you can come and go unmolested,” Bianca protested.
“No, you cannot. Nearly every government on Earth would kill for just one of our spacecraft, and you know it. As much as I want to believe you, and I do believe you’re being earnest, you can’t vouch for the rest of the people in your government, especially your military. It would never work. But now is not the time to try to hash this out. Perhaps some time in the future. Right now you both have to pressure the U.S. Government into releasing our people. The consequences will be severe otherwise. Now go,” Sydney said, cutting the connection.
Chapter 32
BAD TO THE BONE
The crew of Svoboda had nothing to do but wait with dread for whatever consequences they faced. No one had said a word to Levkov since their ship returned to its parking spot next to the colony. No one was talking at all. Every few minutes someone checked the power panel to see if the computers, or anything other than communications and life support would restart.
Levkov gave up trying to contact anyone by radio and just sat in the pilot’s chair, alone.
* * *
Christopher and Peanut were in the large hangar, supervising the loading of the two jumpers and going over the mission with Andrea and Lenny; Andrea had yet to pick a copilot for her jumper. TJ was supervising the installation of Genesis-capable units in each jumper, leaving nothing to chance, and ensuring that they would have every advantage in their trip to Earth for whatever lay ahead.
They were reviewing the blueprints for Jove when Patricia came into the hangar, obviously looking for Christopher.
Seeing her bearing down on their little group, everyone but Christopher scattered, finding occupation elsewhere.
“I want to have a word with you,” she said, obviously upset.
“I know. But it has to be me,” he began.
“Why you? We have dozens of qualified pilots here, most of them with way more flight time in jumpers and whales. What makes you so God damn special, so indispensable for this mission?” she demanded.
“I’m not going as a pilot. I’m going as the leader of this community. I am going to convey, with no ambiguity, our demands to be left alone and our people unmolested. And I want to make sure we get Lucius and Julius back safely. Look, Pat, it goes without saying that I’ll be careful, and I know everyone around me will be looking out for me too. Peanut has configured the jumpers we’re taking to survive the depths of Jupiter’s atmosphere. I doubt the U.S. military is going to be much of a threat. But make no mistake, they will be letting my friends—our people—go, one way or another,” he promised.
“And what if something does happen to you? What then?” she asked.
“That’s a chance we take every day just living here. But you have to admit it’s nowhere near like it was that first trip to the moon. Our ships are practically indestructible, they fly faster, maneuver better and are hardened against anything they can throw at us. But that’s a distant second to making sure they understand we are not the people to fuck with. I’ve had it, and now they’ll know it in no uncertain terms. I have to do this, Pat. No one else can,” he said, the last almost in a whisper.
Patricia hugged Christopher, squeezing him tight, having nothing more to say. Everyone around the hanger watched, not wanting to intrude. Christopher finally pushed away and smiled. “You know I’m coming back.”
“If you don’t, I’m never speaking to you again!” she said, making him laugh out loud at the unexpected remark.
“That’s as good a line to leave on as any. You go and give Ben a big hug from me. We have to get Svoboda cleared and to Earth as soon as possible. I love you,” he said, hugging her one more time.
When Patricia walked away, tears in her eyes, it hit everyone in the hangar that this mission might be the one that Christopher wouldn’t come back from. The thought sobered them all.
TJ exited the jumper and said, “Okay, Chris, Genesis is going to replicate in each jumper. I also beefed up the EMP shielding too. You’re good to go as far as my people are concerned.”
Christopher hugged TJ in thanks, and softly said, “Help Peanut keep things together, and if something happens, please help Pat with Ben.”
TJ hugged him tighter, then said, “That goes without saying, brother. Just be sure to bring your ass back home; bring everyone home!”
As TJ was leaving the hangar, Andrea approached Christopher and said, “Change of plans.”
“What’s that?” he asked.
“You and I are taking this jumper, Lenny and Damien are taking the other,” she explained.
“Why so?”
“Because you, my oblivious friend, need the hottest bad-ass stick jockey in this community, and that’s me. Besides, Pat and Maxwell ordered me to,” she said, chagrined to have to make the admission.
Christopher laughed, knowing he had been outflanked by virtually everyone, and called Peanut over.
“What up?” Peanut asked.
“So what are your special instructions from Max, Pat or anyone else concerning my going on thi
s mission?” he said with a smile.
“Who, me?” Peanut said, an innocent look on his face, making Christopher laugh. “Okay, I had my people increase the shields on these two jumpers about ten fold, and we tripled the power supplies, too. They’re like flying tanks now. And since we had removed the metal skids and installed the beefed up tractor emitters when Chuck was diving into Jupiter’s atmosphere, they’re good to go for dragging Jove, or anything else monstrous, along too.”
“Excellent. Genesis?”
“Yes, Christopher. How may I be of assistance?”
“Please inform the Svoboda crew they have sixty minutes to get into their suits. And please locate whichever container they have food and water stored in, just in case we need to bust it open for supplies. Please inform the Jove crew that we will be stashing the Svoboda crew in their extra module,” he directed.
“How would you like me to do so, Christopher, by text or voice?” Genesis inquired.
“Oh yeah, no sense spilling the beans on you,” he said, winking at Peanut. “By text please.”
“Sending now. I will inform you when I have a response.”
“Thank you, Genesis. That will be all.”
“So it’s done. There’s no turning back now, is there?” said Peanut.
“No. I’ll be back shortly, and with Lucius right alongside me!”
“You better…” Peanut said, throwing his arms around his friend, squeezing him tight.
An engineer came into the hangar on a floater carrying four spacesuits and spare parts, and another floater arrived with food and water.
“Christopher, I have received an acknowledgment from each spacecraft, although apparently Colonel Levkov has stated he would not be leaving the Svoboda,” Genesis reported.
“Fine, let him be crushed along with the rest of the ship,” Christopher said carelessly.
“That’s what you’re going to do with it?” Peanut asked excitedly. “That’s awesome!”
“I’m going to drag it back with us so they can’t call me a thief. I have no idea what they spent on the damn thing, but they should have known better than to put weapons on it. And then to use them, that was as stupid a move as I’ve seen. By the way, upload the video of their ship from the time they had main engine burn until the time we towed it back into parking orbit. I may want to play it back in every home on Earth. I’m going to run down to Operations, be right back.
Andrea took over making sure the stores were accounted for and loaded. She rechecked the CPU clusters installed in both jumpers, privately thinking having three clones of Genesis in near-earth space was A.I. overkill.
When Christopher stopped by Operations, he asked if any of the custom earpieces they had designed for the wish list ground crew were available. Someone went into a cabinet and found a pair and gave them to Christopher. As he left, they all wished him Godspeed, with several telling him to go kick some ass. He let it go and thanked everyone for their help and well wishes.
As he was walking through the colony on his way back to the hangar, everyone Christopher passed wished him well, and said that they were all pulling for a safe return home for all their people. A few hugged him and shook his hand, several even wanting him to give back as good as Svoboda tried to visit on them.
When he returned to the hangar, Maxwell and Phillip were on hand to see them off. The two pulled him aside to wish him well, and Phillip reminded Christopher that it was his dream that they were all living. Christopher hugged them both and promised to uphold the ideals of their community to the best of his ability.
In the jumper, he saw Andrea performing the pre-flight checklist. She smiled and asked, “Ready there, cowboy?”
“In a minute. Genesis?”
“Yes, Christopher. How may I be of assistance? And per protocol, I am designated G3 with my counterpart in the other jumper for this mission designated as G4.”
Christopher chuckled. “Would you connect me to Genesis, please?”
“Yes Christopher. How may I be of assistance rather than my counterpart?”
“Please query Svoboda and check the status of the crew. I want them all in their suits, sealed up and ready to go in five minutes.”
“They report ready, Christopher, even Colonel Levkov.”
“I guess he didn’t want to call your bluff after all,” Andrea said, smiling.
“Good call. Okay, let’s get mounted up. Lenny?”
“Yes, skipper?” Lenny answered.
“Remember, that bucket doesn’t have any wheels on it,” said Christopher, drawing a laugh from the former converted VW microbus driver who had secretly brought hundreds of recruits from Earth to the moon.
“All right. Ops, this is Chris. Please evacuate the hangar.”
The two jumpers taxied over to the main hangar door, waiting for all the air to be evacuated from the immense room; then the large doors slowly parted. The modified jumpers slowly flew through into space.
“I’m taking lead,” Andrea announced.
“Two,” Lenny replied.
Both jumpers made their way to Svoboda and parked several hundred feet away from its airlock.
“G3, connect me by radio.”
“Ready, Christopher.”
“Crew of the Svoboda, you will leave your spacecraft and hold next to the airlock until all of you have exited,” Christopher announced.
“Who is this, and how dare you threaten us? I am—” began Levkov.
“You are a dead man if you do not follow my instructions, colonel. As it is, your life is forfeit for having fired on my home. Now you can leave or not, frankly I don’t give a shit. Five minutes, out.”
“Let’s just see whether four or five people end up outside,” Andrea said.
Almost immediately two people floated out of the lock, one hooking a safety line to a ring just outside the door, tethering them. Two minutes later, another pair exited, and clipped a line to the ship. Andrea and Christopher waited, wondering whether or not the Colonel would comply. Two minutes later the airlock cycled again and the fifth person drifted out.
“Now unclip from the ship and attach yourselves to each other,” Christopher ordered.
They watched as the safety lines were unclipped from the safety ring and were attached.
“Attention Ops, Svoboda’s crew is outside the spacecraft. We are moving in to hook them up. G3, inform Jove that we’re inbound.”
“They acknowledge that they are ready to receive the Svoboda crew, Christopher,” G3 replied.
Andrea backed the jumper up to the crew and stopped three feet away. One of the crew clipped their line to the railing next to the airlock and knocked on the hull three times. Andrea didn’t have to pull them by the line as they were inside the sphere of the jumper’s G-wave field. She pushed the jumper and was within sight of Jove in moments. She closed with the spacecraft and flew to the emergency compartment and saw that two of the Jove crew members were waiting outside the airlock.
Andrea drew near the compartment and rotated the jumper so the attached astronauts were just outside the airlock. She waited for a moment then pulled away after hearing three knocks on the hull. Meanwhile Lenny and Damien were hovering about a hundred feet away, their light illuminating the airlock.
“There is a call coming in for you from Jove, Christopher. They did not ask for you by name, just to speak with the commander of the ship.”
“Thank you, G3. Put me through.”
“Calling the colony ship, this is Phyllis Barnes of Jove. Come in, please.”
“Yes, what can I do for you?” Christopher said, keeping his words to a minimum.
“We stocked the construction module with enough supplies for thirty days for the Svoboda crew.”
“Thank you very much, Ms. Barnes. Please inform Dr. Roscoe that we will be departing in sixty minutes. And has word returned
from Earth that our people have been released?” he inquired.
“I was told that no answer has been received yet. Sus—Dr. Roscoe said she would contact you the moment word was received.”
“Thank you, out. Lenny, did Peanut familiarize you with the forward-mounted G-wave excavators?” Christopher radioed.
“He did. What’s next?”
“I want you to start from the forward end of their ship on the other side and squeeze it down to just about nothing.”
“You sure, Chris?” Lenny asked.
“Damn right. We’re going to start at the engines and make our way towards you,” Christopher explained as Andrea got underway back to the Svoboda.
“Roger that … ” Lenny replied.
“Ops?” Christopher called.
“Ops here, Chris.”
“Have Peanut’s cameras record our crushing of the Svoboda.”
“Roger that, Chris.”
“Andrea, let’s do it from the side, not from directly behind. I don’t want anything to surprise us when we compress the nuclear components,” Christopher suggested.
“Roger that,” she said, swinging the jumper around to face the engines from the side. She stopped about fifty feet away from the ship and activated the modified excavator. The effect was almost immediate; the metal began to shrink and flow into itself.
“How’s it going, Lenny?” Christopher radioed.
“This is just crazy. All I have to do is just swing the nose of the jumper back and forth and the ship just shrinks away. Whoa!” he shouted.
“What happened?” Christopher asked.
“I must have punctured the crew compartment. A cloud of air and a bunch of other junk just flew out. This won’t be taking me long at all. How’s it coming on your end?” Lenny asked.
Christopher watched as Andrea fanned the compression field back and forth “I’ve never seen these things really work like this on anything but rock. Although I remember squeezing hull metal and glass way back when, but nothing like this,” Christopher admitted.
The two jumpers continued destroying the spacecraft, until nothing was left but a very dense, slightly radioactive misshapen ball of metal about twenty-five feet in diameter.
Confrontation Page 53