by Saxon Andrew
“Not yet…but we’re working on it. This move to Britannia has stopped the work being done but we’ll continue it once we set up shop on Britannia. We’re not that far from developing a scanner capable of detecting their ships.”
Grady blew out a breath, “Then we won’t have it in time to stop the coming attack?”
“No, I don’t see that happening,” Joshua answered.
“Well, at least it gives us a fighting chance in the future if your team can pull it off.” Grady paused and added, “I hate that we’re losing New Britannia’s atmosphere; we’ll be back to using the old hulls that aren’t as hard and flexible as those that were built there.”
Noel waved a hand, “That won’t be an issue.”
Grady turned to him, “Oh! Why not?”
Joshua nodded for Noel to continue and he said, “It took us more than fifteen years to determine what elements in New Britannia’s atmosphere made the hulls harder and more flexible, but we finally isolated them. The new construction sites are built under mountains on Britannia and are sealed from outside atmosphere. We’ll introduce those elements and compounds to the construction hangars’ atmosphere, and we’ll be able to continue producing the hulls that were built on New Britannia.”
“That’s a piece of good news.”
Joshua turned to Grady, “I’m glad you stopped by; we have a question we need you to answer.”
“What is that?”
“We want to leave the molds and vats being used to build our current warships behind on New Britannia.”
“Why?! You’ll have to rebuild them on Britannia if you do.”
“Not if we stop building the current warship.” Grady stared at Joshua and he raised his hands, “You know how much material is used to built our warships; it’s a huge quantity and keeping enough on hand for construction forces us to depend on the Colonies to provide what we need. I suspect that supply line will be stopped after they move New Melbourne’s population out to the Colonies.”
Grady shrugged, “Continuing to send them to Britannia would jeopardize them being discovered. What are you suggesting?”
Joshua turned to Hessy and she said, “Grady, about seven months ago, we had a meltdown of one of the reactors that was going to be put on a warship. We managed to contain it, barely, and we made a discovery that was entirely accidental. We found out after the meltdown that some of the compounds from New Britannia’s atmosphere had gotten inside the reactor’s core. Typically, we fuel the reactors in a room with little or no atmosphere. It appears that there was a leak in the room’s seal and the engineer fueling the reactor didn’t notice it inside the suit he was wearing.”
“Is that what caused the meltdown?”
“Yes,” Hessy replied. “After the reactor was cool enough to investigate, we discovered that a certain compound in New Britannia’s atmosphere fused into the reactor’s fuel and it produced a temperature seven times hotter than a normal reactor. We began running experiments and determined that a reactor one tenth the size of the most advanced reactors we’re currently using produces more power.”
Grady stared at Hessy and then said, “The reactors take up a lot of space in our warships.”
“Yes, they do; about one third of the ship is devoted to housing the ten reactors and their cooling systems. We’ve built a small reactor that can replace three of the normal reactors being used on our warships and the cooling system is just as small.”
Joshua smiled, “And that means we don’t need to make our warships as large as they’re being currently constructed.”
“What are you saying?” Grady asked.
“We have been developing blueprints for a new smaller warship with more capabilities than the current model.”
“How much smaller?”
“The current warship is three hundred yards long. The new model will be about the size of the former King Hare Warships; they’ll be a little over eighty yards long.” Grady blinked. “The most obvious improvement will be that this new ship will be small enough to use the force field deflection system that only the Colonies’ Garrions could use,” Joshua added.
“There’s more,” Noel interrupted. “With the same power as the larger warship, it will be much faster because of less mass for the gravity drives to push.”
“How much faster?!” Grady instantly asked.
“A conservative estimate is at least two times faster, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was three or four times faster,” Noel answered.
“It will also be more maneuverable due to less mass,” Hessy added.
“We’ll have to retrain all of our crews to fly them.”
“No we won’t Grady.” Grady turned to Joshua. “They’ll have identical controls to the current warship.” Joshua paused and raised a shoulder, “If you approve the building of this new ship, taking the old vats and molds to Britannia would be a waste of time.”
“How long will it take for the first of these ships to come online?”
“About a year.” Grady flinched and Joshua added, “Don’t forget we still have all the current warships to use to defend us until they do.”
Grady stared at the three scientists and shrugged, “I need to discuss this with President DeChirico.”
“I tried to talk with him about it and he told me that he didn’t have time to discuss anything military with me,” Joshua replied. “He said you would make all decisions on military matters.”
“He did?”
“Yes, he did.”
“I don’t want the old construction facilities falling into enemy hands.”
“We’ll place nuclear devices in all the construction facilities, and they can be set off remotely when missiles start hitting New Britannia.”
“Then do it! The only thing that’s allowed humanity to survive is the developments and inventions you have produced. Set the nuclear devices with a frequency where all of them will explode simultaneously. I’ll have three ships in orbit send the signal for detonation together.”
“You’re making the right decision Grady.”
“Joshua, you really didn’t have to ask me. You know how much I trust you and your team.”
Joshua chuckled, “If you hadn’t come to see us today, that’s exactly what I would have done.”
Grady looked at Joshua and lowered his eyes, “In the past, you always built a prototype before you committed to a new design.”
Joshua laughed, “You know me too well. We’ve built one and checked out all the systems and they’re operational. It’s not been taken out for trials yet.”
“I want that ship!”
“Grady, it’s not been checked out.”
“I’ll check it out. I want that ship!”
Joshua looked at Noel and he raised his shoulders. “Hessy?” he asked as he turned to her.
“All the systems have checked out.”
Joshua stood up, “Come with me.” Grady followed him out of the office and headed toward the end of the construction hangar.
Grady contacted Taffy over his communicator, “Honey, get Linda Kay, Sweets, and Cami to meet me on the roof in thirty minutes. I want you there as well.”
“What’s going on?”
“You’ll see when I arrive.”
Taffy and the girls were waiting on the roof when a shuttle arrived. Cami looked at Taffy, “RJ, Candy, Rory and Abby are on the shuttle.”
RJ and Abby exited the shuttle first and Abby said, “Grady asked us to meet him here. What’s going on?”
Taffy raised her shoulders, “I have no idea.” Taffy looked at her communicator, “It’s been thirty minutes.”
Cami smiled, “He’s here Mom.”
Taffy looked around, “Where?”
Suddenly, a small ship appeared on the roof. Everyone’s eyes flew open and Grady said over their communicators, “Everyone come on board and meet me on the bridge.”
Taffy stared at the beautiful warship and shook her head. RJ said, “This is something I know nothing ab
out.” The port opened and they walked on board. Taffy moved up the corridor to the bridge and found Grady sitting in the pilot’s chair, “Taffy, take the weapons console and I’ve raised chairs from the floor for the rest of you; everyone buckle in.”
RJ’s eyes narrowed, “What’s going on?”
“Something amazing,” Grady replied. Everyone strapped on their harnesses and Grady lifted the ship.
It moved quickly through the atmosphere and Taffy asked, “What is this?”
“It’s the prototype of a new warship we’re going to be building on Britannia.”
RJ shook his head, “We don’t have enough warships now. Should we be wasting time building new scouts?”
Grady smiled, “This is not a scout, RJ.” The ship moved out of the atmosphere and Taffy turned to him, “Where are we going?”
“Britannia.”
“Grady, I have too much to do to waste time going to Britannia!”
“Relax, RJ.” Grady turned to his console and suddenly the small ship went vertical and stars began blowing by at an impossible speed. The ship arrived above the plane of the Milky Way and Grady pushed the thruster handle forward. Everyone was stunned to see the Milky Way passing below them at a speed they never saw before.
Everyone was silent and twenty minutes later, Grady moved the ship into the galaxy and flew toward a star that was visibly growing on the monitor. RJ stared at the star and saw the massive black hole at the center of the Milky Way in the distance. “What star is that Grady?”
“Britannia,” Grady said over his shoulder. RJ fell back in his chair. “While we’re moving in, you should know that this warship carries the same number of missiles as the current model and its blasters are more powerful. The heavy blaster is located at the bow and there are nine swivel blasters located around the hull. The heavy blaster is twice as powerful as the one being currently used on our warships and the swivel blasters are just as powerful as the current heavy blaster.”
RJ sat up, “How fast is it?”
“I came here at half speed RJ.”
“That’s impossible!”
“This is a project that Joshua and his team have been developing. This ship can’t be flown at maximum speed inside the galaxy; avoiding stars planets and other objects would not be possible. However, it is a monster at how fast it’s capable of moving.”
“Why did you take us to Britannia Grady?”
Grady turned to Taffy, “I think Linda Kay would like to see Britt.” Linda Kay screamed and put her hands at her throat. Rory and Abby looked at her, then at each other. Fifteen minutes later, Linda Kay was in Britt’s arms.
• • •
They found Britt under one of the cities being constructed underground and he rushed to Linda Kay and lifted her off the ground. Their parents gave them a few moments and Grady walked up and smiled, “I’ve come to take you home, Son.”
Britt’s eyes narrowed as he replied, “Dad, my work is here. I’ve started this construction project and I intend to see it to the end.”
Linda Kay looked up at him, “Please come home! I’ve been miserable without you.”
Britt put his hands on her shoulders and shook his head, “I can’t leave now.”
“Britt, there’s enough engineers and scientists arriving where they can take over the project,” Taffy interrupted.
“Mom, it will take months for them to get up to speed on what’s been done. There’s not enough time to make that happen. I’ve started a hundred more core drillings and they must be supervised properly.”
“Core drillings?” Abby asked.
Britt turned to her, “Instead of powering the generators that provide electricity to the cities with reactors, I’ve drilled deep shafts below the surface and used the temperature difference to heat the fluid that is used to spin the generators. The energy is provided by Britannia’s hot core and the core shafts should last for thousands of years if they’re maintained properly. They are also not as hazardous as using nuclear power.”
“How are you able to drill shafts that deep into the crust?” RJ asked.
“It would be impossible without the robots and we’ve lost a lot of them before the process was perfected. But they’re digging the shafts at an incredible rate and soon every city we’re building will be powered by the shafts,” Britt answered.
“Where are you in building the structures to house New Britannia’s population?” Grady asked.
“The first twenty cities we built are located close to a mountain range. We built them under the cities that the Core Aliens destroyed and digging through the rock wasn’t easy. But they’ve been completed along with the ship construction facilities that are located under the mountains. The robots are completing underground tunnels from the cities to the construction facilities and they’ll be completed in another month. The transportation systems will then be installed connecting them.”
Grady nodded and added, “You are aware that an active scan will reveal those facilities even through the rock.”
“No, they won’t. The layer above the cities and the roof of the construction sites have been coated with the stealth coating; they will not be seen by a scanner.” Grady stared at him and Britt continued, “The majority of the robots are now building under sixty large cities and they will primarily be housing units for New Britannia’s population. They should be ready in eight months.”
“That’s cutting it pretty close to the time the Stealth Civilization is planning their attack,” RJ commented.
“We can only do what we can.”
“I’m sending another three hundred thousand robots to assist you,” Abby interjected.
Britt turned to her, “President DeChirico contacted me and is sending every robot on New Britannia. He says that leaving them on the planet would be a waste. He says the first million will start arriving in four days.” Everyone stared at Britt in shock and he sighed before adding, “Programming those robots is going to be a monumental task and I’m the one that has to make it happen. There is no way I can leave now.” He turned to Linda Kay, “I’m sorry; I just can’t leave.”
Linda Kay closed her eyes and lowered her head, “I understand.”
Taffy stared at them and then turned to Rory and Abby, “Well, if you can’t take Mohammed to the mountain, then you bring the mountain to Mohammed.”
“What are you talking about?” Rory asked.
“Linda Kay will stay here helping Britt until all of us arrive.”
Linda Kay turned to her parents, “Please let me stay! Please!”
Abby shook her head, “Grady needs you working with the telepaths.”
Sweets shook her head, “I can handle that issue.”
Grady turned to her, “Are you sure about that?”
“Phil can help me. We’re little more than babysitters right now. I can handle it Dad.”
Linda Kay turned back to Abby and she looked at Rory. He turned to them and said, “You will not be sharing quarters!!”
“Why not?!” Linda Kay responded.
“Because it’s not the right thing to do,” Britt interjected. “I intend to marry your daughter one day and we will conduct ourselves appropriately until that happens.”
Rory looked at Abby and she said, “It’s your decision.”
Rory looked at Britt and, after a moment said, “If it were anyone else but you I’d say no. But I know the kind of man you are, and I’ll allow her to stay.” Rory saw Abby staring at him and he said, “Abby, she’ll be a lot safer here than on New Britannia; what happens if the aliens attack ahead of schedule?”
Abby’s head went back, and she shook it, “I haven’t considered that.” She turned to Linda Kay, “You may stay but I expect you to behave.” Linda Kay rushed to her and hugged her tightly.
Grady turned to Rory, “She can go back with us and pack what she needs. You and Abby can bring her back in this ship; I’ve still got work to do getting the fleets ready.”
Linda Kay went to Sweets, “I’
m going to miss you.”
“We’ll be here in less than a year. You’ll be happier staying here with Britt.”
Grady went to Britt and hugged him, “I’m proud of you.”
Britt returned his hug and smiled, “Thanks.”
Cami stood by in silence and reveled in the glow of love she felt among her adopted family. The planet had recovered from the alien attack thirty years earlier and it was a beautiful place to live. But first, the exodus had to be done. She had a lot to do as well.
• • •
On the way back to New Britannia, Sweets asked Grady, “Have you come up with a plan to move the population?”
“I’m working on that now.”
“You are aware that the freighters and ships that are going to be used to move the population far outnumber the warships we have in our fleet.”
Grady sighed, “Yes, I’m aware of that.”
“You’re also going to need a telepath to go out with each of those ships when they leave for Britannia.”
“Will you get to the point!”
“I’m going to get Phil to come up with a schedule such that a telepath will launch with each group of ships leaving New Britannia. I’m going to need a schedule of ship launchings to make that happen.”
Grady stared at her and Taffy said, “I’ll use Bob and Robby to download all the ships moving the population and have them develop a schedule to make it happen. I’ll notify all the freighters involved and give them the locations they’ll launch from and get President DeChirico to assign the passengers for each ship and notify them when they leave.”
“You also need to have enough provisions for them before they arrive,” Candy added.
Taffy nodded, “I’ll have the production of food balls increased immediately and start converting all the crops and stores on New Britannia. The freighters can deliver them before they start moving the population.”
Grady nodded, “You also need to have the robots on Britannia build the machines to process what’s on Britannia into food balls.”
“I’ll contact Britt and have him get started on that. I thought sending millions of robots was sort of overkill, but it appears we’re going to need all of them. At least Britannia’s sea life wasn’t affected by the Core Aliens attack and should provide the protein we need.”