by Robert Boren
To make matters worse, there was a massive explosion in a nearby building that seemed to be related. The initial comments from the Central Authority News Service was that it was a bomb placed by the Samson Corporation or somebody who supports them. Now they’re retracting that statement and saying the explosion was not related to the Samson Corporation. Which is it, you morons?
I hope Chairman Vermillion really was the person loaded into that small craft, and I hope he’s gotten away clean. We’ll never find out the truth from the subversives running the Aeon Press. Yes, that’s what I said. The Aeon Press. People of the Central Authority, you need to quit worrying about the Samson Corporation or the Clan, and start worrying about your own government, because they are dangerous.
Finally, we’ve gotten word that the HPDR and the Senate have quietly passed the unpopular law forcing people to wear a PA and use it for all data transactions, be they monetary or otherwise. Dictator Aeon has signed this bill, and citizens of Devonia Axxiom who don’t comply within the next forty-eight hours will be subject to arrest. Demonstrations are already starting on that world but are being met with harsh police responses. On worlds with more freedom such as Earth, leadership is saying they will not enforce the new law. Stick to your guns, but be ready. This is going to get worse before it gets better. That’s pretty obvious.
We are at a tipping point in the Central Authority. One little nudge and we’ll be in a true totalitarian society. What’s the only thing holding that back? Might be the Samson Corporation. Might even be Simone, who appeared to protect Earth from an attack right after the roof battle we discussed earlier. Who can we trust? Who’s siding with who? Who is really running things?
Time will tell. Until then, be very careful, and keep your PAs off your arms.
Ta ta for now.
Hamilton Zenos.
“Well, there you have it,” Sondra said. “Geez.”
“Butch, make sure the Chairman gets that file.”
Nolan glanced at me. “Don’t worry, Captain, Dojo already sent it to him.”
“Good,” I said. “Had any of you heard that the PA law got passed?”
“Not I,” Sondra said.
Nolan and Skip shook their heads no.
Andrea came onto the bridge, noting our expressions. “What went wrong now?”
“We were just reading the news,” I said. “The important article is still on the screen.”
“Hamilton Zenos again, huh?” Andrea asked. “I used to think he was a crackpot, but lately he’s been correct about everything.”
“So it would appear,” Nolan said. “The Central Authority is lying to us. They have to know people are seeing through it.”
“They don’t care,” Skip said. “They’ll do whatever nasty garbage they think they can get away with, and having everybody ready to stun if they make waves will help.”
“Nolan, is Earth’s system set up so they can’t stun them?”
“It is, Captain, and it would take a lot of on-the-ground effort to fix that,” Nolan said, “but if they’re going after Earth, they’ll hold something over their heads to force Earth’s leadership to undo the protections themselves. They know they can’t send armed forces down there in great enough numbers to survive. Earthlings, as crude as they can be, will never allow it. You’ll see a bloodbath of epic proportions.”
“The Central Authority could starve Earth out,” JJ said. “Not with food, of course, but with other goods that they need. Boron for their reactors, for instance.”
“If the Central Authority tries something like that, we’ll make it difficult on them,” I said. “We can.”
“Like jumping to Devonia Axxiom and blowing things up?” Andrea asked. “I hope not, because it won’t work. Not with the small number of ships we have, and who knows which side Simone will be on.”
I smiled, my mind working through a couple ideas.
JJ looked over at me, knowing I was in the private conversation. I nodded to her, flashing a don’t worry about it now look. She returned the nod.
JJ, Nolan, and I exchanged glances and got up.
“We’ve got a meeting. Andrea, you’ve got the ship.”
“Aye, Captain.”
We left the bridge.
“Wonder what’s up?” Nolan asked.
I chuckled. “There’s so many irons in the fire now that it could be anything.”
“Could just be the Hamilton Zenos article,” JJ said. “How’s he getting that info?”
“There’s a strong resistance network,” Nolan said. “I’d like to know how many Central Authority citizens have seen video of the rooftop battle. That’s got to freak some folks out.”
“People who don’t want to believe it won’t,” I said. “It’s been easy to fake video for hundreds of years.”
“Fake videos can be exposed if you know what you’re doing,” Nolan said. “Of course the problem is that deep-pocket governments can turn that on it’s head, and make video appear to be fake when it’s not, so you really never know unless there’s proof you have an original cut.”
We rounded the corner and walked into Vermillion’s office. He was there, motioning us into his small conference room.
We took seats around the table as Vermillion closed the door behind us. He took the seat at the head.
“Thanks for coming.”
“Did you see the news reports?” Nolan asked.
Vermillion nodded. “Hamilton Zenos gets too many things correct. I’m wondering where he’s getting the info.”
“I wasn’t suggesting anything,” Vermillion said.
“I’ve got all kinds of questions,” I said. “Valla Cappos, for instance. What the hell is going on there? I don’t believe that Clan members are hiding out and killing anybody who might run into them. They’d simply leave the area before they’d engage in that kind of game.”
Vermillion chuckled. “I’m not even sure the Magellan III was destroyed. We had conversation about that early during the summit. Nobody has any evidence. No debris in orbit. No distress transmissions. No reactor emission profile.”
“You think they’ve fled,” Nolan said.
“No comment,” Vermillion said. “Adding one more bit of conjecture on top of what we already have isn’t going to help.”
“Unless it’s the truth,” I said. “Right now the Central Authority is lying about a lot of stuff. The Summit, the kidnapping and rescue, the rooftop battle, and the explosion at our offices on Devonia Axxiom.”
“What’s the meeting about?” JJ asked.
Vermillion smirked. “I sent messages to my Overlords contacts, and got a return message.
“Just one?” JJ asked.
“It was an Overlords response, probably from Simone herself,” Vermillion said.
JJ chuckled. “Are we gonna have to drag every bit of this out of you?”
“Okay, sorry. They’d like to have a conference with
us.”
“Not in person, I hope,” JJ said.
“Video. We both agreed to bounce the stream around so neither of us gives up our position.”
“When?” I asked.
“Five minutes.”
“Now?” Nolan asked. “Wow.”
“We need to be very careful in this meeting,” Vermillion said. “We can’t provide too much info, and we have to remain on the same page. This meeting is step one, and if it goes well, it will lead to more detailed talks. Neither of us trust each other, with good reason.”
“What about the bad stuff?” JJ asked. “The stun attacks, for instance?”
{ 6 }
Rebel Summit
N olan, JJ, the Chairman, and I sat in the conference room, Drake connected as well. We waited for the scheduled video call with the Overlords.
The screen at the end of the room flashed to life, with a standby message.
“Bouncing around this much messes a little with the video quality,” JJ said.
“It’ll stabilize,” Nolan said.
Simone’s face appeared, a man with black hair and a goatee next to her. Simone raised her eyebrows when she saw us.
“Hello, Simone,” Vermillion said. “Long time no see. You’re looking well.”
“As are you, Mr. Chairman,” she said. “Captain Clarke. I hope we can get off on a better foot.”
I smiled. “Thank you.”
“For what?” she asked.
“For protecting Earth. That goes a long way with me.”
A slim smile cracked onto her face, making her look even more beautiful, her features like porcelain, her hair brilliant. “I was wondering if you would figure that out.”
“Well, whatever reason you had for doing that, Simone, we are grateful.”
She nodded. “This is Kaleb, my second.”
“Good to meet you,” Vermillion said. “You know JJ and Nolan, correct?”
“JJ,” she said warmly. “I was very fond of your father.”
“He was very fond of you too,” JJ said, “as was I.”
“And Nolan. Sorry for the misunderstanding.”
Nolan smiled. “I would’ve had the same reaction.”
“We’ve hurt each other too much,” I said. “We had our reasons at the time. Now we’ve got a mutual problem to solve. I hope we can work together to solve it.”
“You thought we were working with the Central Authority behind the scenes,” Vermillion said.
“I thought you were helping the Prime Minister to make an alliance with the Clan.”
Vermillion nodded. “And the Prime Minister was using you to destroy the Samson Corporation. You figured this out more quickly than we did.”
“What happened to the other summit attendees?” Kaleb asked. “One of them was an ally of ours, and we’re very worried.”
“Sorry, I don’t know,” Vermillion said. “They drugged me. I wasn’t aware of who else was being held.”
“We didn’t see anybody else being held at the facility,” Nolan said. “We had enough time in there.”
“Did you tell Simone about the Clan hardware we found?” JJ asked.
“Not yet, no,” Vermillion said.
“Clan hardware?” she asked, concern on her face. “Military hardware?”
“We took four prisoners during the rescue mission, so we could interrogate them,” I said. “Our Neanderthal heard Clan implants. It was easy to confirm.”
“Were they real?” Kaleb asked, his expression frightened. “There have been some knock-offs made.”
“They had Clan serial numbers,” Nolan said. “I believe they were the real thing.”
“So were the prisoners Clan people, or Central Authority people with Clan implants?” Simone asked.
I sighed. “We really don’t know. They were programmed to appear to be your people.”
“Programmed how?”
I took a deep breath. “If your name was mentioned, they grew very agitated. If your name was used in a disparaging way, they attacked. It looked like rabies. Foaming at the mouth, uncontrolled behavior, and so on.”
Simone and Kaleb exchanged a worried glance.
“Most people in the Central Authority Zone believe the Clan uses those pieces for vision enhancement,” Kaleb said. “I spent time in the Clan Zone as a spy, posing as a manufacturing expert at one of their freighter plants. That hardware is being used to keep the population in line. It’s more than just the eyes, too.”
“We found that out,” I said. “We found one for each eye, and one for each adrenal gland.”
“We think the Prime Minister is in a panic, but we’re not exactly sure why,” Vermillion said. “Were you allied with him?”
Simone shook her head. “He was very alarmed when the Overlords began to win elections. I believe he decided to keep his enemy as close as possible. It was his idea to put the Overlords into the job of Security for the zone. Nobody was more surprised than I was.”
“If I were him, I’d be terrified right now,” Vermillion said. “He’s got outdated Centurion-class battleships. You’ve got cutting-edge Razor ships, and we’ve got the New Jersey-class ships.”
Simone chuckled. “We have a small handful of Razor-class ships. Most of our fleet was orbiting Earth, and we lost one after taking fire from a railgun.”
“Wait, are you saying that the Razors we’ve been fighting were not yours?” I asked, my heart pounding.
“That is correct, Captain Clarke. You’ve fought us, at the Mars Space Dock, and orbiting Earth a little later. That second engagement was regrettable for both of us.”
“Yes, it was,” Vermillion said, his brow furrowed. “How many Razors does the Prime Minister have?”
“You’ve hurt him,” Simone said, “but he’s still got at least twenty that we know of, and more are coming off the assembly line at a rapid pace.”
“Where are they being built?” Nolan asked, “If you can answer, that is.”
“The Clan Zone,” Simone said. “I initially thought the Samson Corporation was facilitating that production. That’s why I ordered your arrest.”
“Clan collusion,” I said, my mind reeling.
“You’re starting to understand, Captain Clarke. We’ve been had. Both of us.”
“Why did you have Razor ships?” Vermillion asked.
“Initially it had to do with the Overlord’s new role as Central Authority Security,” Simone said, “and we did the initial testing on the ships. They have a lot of problems, as I’m sure you know, but their potential in large enough numbers is terrifying.”
“I don’t suppose you know the location of the plant?” I asked.
Simone shook her head. “It’s more than one, and no, the Clan won’t disclose the location of military vessel production to the Central Authority. They aren’t required to do that, according to the treaty, but that’s a joke, because selling each other battle ships is also prohibited, and they’re obviously selling battleships to Aeon.”
“Aeon might be a Clan plant,” Nolan said.
“No, he’s in this for himself,” Simone said, “and he’s using everybody around him. Few of them realize it.”
“You did, eventually,” Vermillion said.
“Yes, and I’m ashamed of this whole incident, Mr. Chairman. Should have known better, and for that I’m sorry.”
I leaned back in my chair, thinking.
“You’ve got something to say, Captain?” Simone asked.
“We ran into a Clan ship while we were hiding out, after shooting our way off Earth.”
Simone’s eyes got wide. “Clan ships, in our zone?”
Kaleb glanced at her, then back at me. “Where?”
I looked at Vermillion, and he nodded.
“Valla Cappos,” I said.
Simone’s face went white. “The Magellan III. The missing salvage ships.”
“Yes,” Vermillion said.
“They fired on you?” Kaleb asked.
“They did, but there were circumstances. They didn’t expect us to be there. Probably would’ve killed us if not for a few Neanderthals.”
“Neanderthals?” Kaleb asked.
Simone smiled. “I was wondering why you had one.”
“He was wounded in the fight, so we took him onto the Zephyrus and patched him up, expecting to return him there before we left. They fired on us, both on the ground, and in orbit as we were trying to escape.”
“So the Neanderthals saved you?” Kaleb asked.
“They attacked the Clan patrol as they were engaging us,” Nolan said.
Kaleb shot a glance at Simone. “Aeon just put strict new restrictions on Neanderthals, after that phony incident the media cooked up.”
Vermillion looked like he wanted to get up and pace, but fought it.
“Are you okay, Mr. Chairman?” Simone asked, seeing his distress. “You still handle stress the same way.”
Vermillion smiled. “I’ve missed you, Simone, and that’s the truth.”
“Likewise, Mr. Chairman. What were you going to say?”
“There’s only one reason for restricting Neanderthals in our zone. The Clan is either already here in large numbers, or there are plans for them to arrive soon.”
“Yeah, what he said,” Kaleb said. “It might already be too late.”
“What did you plan to do?” Simone asked.
“Originally we thought they could only use natural worm holes, and since Valla Cappos is near one, we planned to do a survey of others, looking for evidence,” I said.
“Originally?” Simone asked.
“We no longer believe they could take over the Central Authority Zone if they had to rely only on natural worm holes,” I said. “We now believe they have worm hole projection capabilities beyond what they’ve purchased from the Samson Corporation.”