Alicia Jones 4: Enigma (9 page)

Kristi yelled, “Those idiots did what!”

I shrugged, “They tried to pull our teeth.  And
succeeded… mostly.  I’m actually glad, I’m pretty sure the vote to
completely eradicate the Bug race will go through.  I’d rather be left
behind for that one.  Hey, I got that experiment building, let’s take a
day off, until it’s ready.  Unless you’re too busy?”

Kristi asked, “What do you have in mind?”

“Hawaii.  Luau.  Bikinis, grass skirts, dancing,
and the sun.  Oh, and lots of margaritas.”

Kristi beamed at me, like a proud parent, “Let’s go!”

We put on some swimsuits, saris, and a pair of sandals and
jumped into the sports shuttle.  We’d have to pick up the grass skirts
there.  It was still early afternoon in Hawaii when we arrived, and we took
a parking spot by the beach.  It was warm, but not too hot as we walked
out onto the beach and straight to the outside bar.

We weren’t really worried about a room, by the time it got
late enough here, it’d be almost dawn at home and we could just fly back and crash
there.

It wasn’t long before we were sitting out on some beach
chairs.  I got a few strange looks as usual, but ignored them, as I did with
the looks from the men around us that lingered a bit too long.  I needed
to relax, and have fun.  Maybe it was just as well I couldn’t even
participate at all anymore in actively defending Earth and our allies, but in
truth it did bother me a bit.  Did they not trust me?  Frankly, I
started to wonder if I could trust them.

If we dehumanized any intelligent creature to the point
where eradication sounded okay, then we were lessening ourselves as well. 
Losing a part of our souls.  It was bad enough they’d be using some of my
technology to help do it.  Ugh, enough thoughts about that, I was supposed
to be having fun. 

I took a nice long sip of my margarita.

I sighed when I heard a few disparaging comments about
aliens from down the beach, comments that were laced with colorful speech. 
I guess the shiny really was wearing off.  Then I got a little nervous, I
usually wore my protective bustier, it had become a habit.  Of course, I
couldn’t wear that while in a bikini and a sheer light blue sarong with white
flowers on it.

I relaxed after a moment though, they just seemed disgusted,
bigoted, but not violent, and only a few of them.

Kristi asked, “Want another one?”

I took the last few swallows, “Definitely, thanks.”

She grabbed the glasses and went for refills.

Eventually, I think it was somewhere around margarita three,
was when my mind finally shut off and I managed to relax and start having
fun.  We tanned for a while, talked about anything not work related, and
even went swimming for a short while.  When the sun started to get low in
the sky, some live music started and the food came out.

I had fun dancing, mostly with Kristi but I didn’t ignore
the people around me this time either.  Time seemed to fly as the sun went
down, and the tiki torches and a small bonfire was lit.  We never did get
around to picking up grass skirts, but we had a blast anyway…

The next day, or perhaps later that day I should say, since
we came in at sunrise, word came down on some of what was going on.

Al reported, “News indicates a decision has been made in
regards to the Gelnott.  They’re calling for a quarantine of the system to
be reevaluated in fifty years.  I was able to discover through the stealth
sensor net that Earth sent ten ships to force them out of space, and four platforms
to leave behind when they’re finished.”

I asked, “What about the Nairan, and Bugs.”

Al replied, “Still under consideration.  I have
finished delivering all missiles to the fleet admiral, I’ve also finished
removing the plasma cannons from our ships, and attack shuttles.”

I thought about that for a second, an attack shuttle without
anything to attack with is ridiculous.

“Al, recycle both shuttles.  Make one a taxi, and the
second another science shuttle.  How long on the experiment?”

Al said, “Just over eight hours.”

I nodded thoughtfully as I grabbed a coffee.  I also
grabbed two Tylenol, and a glass of water and left it on Kristi’s bedside
table.  Then I went for a nice long soak in the hot tub…

Kristi came out looking miserable an hour later.

“Don’t think that Tylenol and water earns you any
forgiveness for being an alien freak that can’t have hangovers.”

I smiled, “Noted and logged.  But I forgive you for
being prettier, and sexier.”

She moaned as she slid into the water and said something
very unflattering.

I laughed.

We pretty much blew off the whole day until my experiment
was ready, and luckily she was fully recovered by then.

We had the display on the house wall screen.  The
shuttle launched out in the void, and moved away from the ship.  The lab
ship itself went to FTL for a few seconds to give the experiment plenty of
room, since the shuttle didn’t have FTL.  It left a few probes behind to
run scans from a theoretically safe distance.

Kristi asked, “So what’s going to happen exactly?”

I smiled, “I’m going to turn the shield on slowly, and see
what it does.  There are a whole series of things the ship will do if we
lose contact with it.  Al, get started.”

At first very little happened, a luminescent light
surrounded the hull, slowly getting brighter.  I heard Kristi gasp as the
ship wavered and became amorphous, and partially transparent.  I wanted to
laugh, but held it in.  In theory, the ship was still in normal space,
creating a gateway in all directions into subspace.  Surrounded by
subspace, yet not really inside subspace itself within the shield.  It was
a difficult concept.  The field itself stopped that subspace from
destroying the ship.

Al said, “As we feared, quantum communications using
frequencies has failed.  However, the direct quantum entangled particles
between the shuttle and the lab ship are still working so we still have a data
connection.  I’ll continue to increase power.”

The ship continued to waver and disappear, and then it
wasn’t visible at all.

I pondered that, “Al, fly one of the probes through where
the ship should be please.”

He did, and it just kept going.

“Can the test shuttle detect anything?”

Al paused for a moment, “Negative, it’s completely blinded
as far as sensors go.  Even the normal cameras can’t see past the bright
white of the shield itself.”

Kristi grunted, “You’ll probably have to figure out some
type of exotic scanning particle.  Something similar to the shield
itself.”

“Yeah, well at least we’re just blind.  I’d expected to
be blind and dumb.  Okay, I’m pretty sure we took some normal space with
us, or the shuttle did.  I’m wondering if we just reduced power on the
shield, if it will reappear in normal space.  Let’s try that, Al, lower
the power slowly, I don’t want the ship destroyed if I’m wrong.”

The ship slowly appeared, looking nothing like a
shuttle.  It looked bizarre, twisted, and still mostly transparent. 
Then it slowly started to come into focus as the power lowered.  There was
a flash of light on one side, and then it was perfectly solid again.

One of the probes surrounding it, at least two light minutes
away, exploded.

“Al, what the hell was that?”

Al was silent for a moment, and then replied, “One of the
emitters had a fault, which caused an imbalance in the shield.  I cut all
power to the system when it flashed like that.  It appears to have created
one of those waves that the Drenil made.  Less controlled perhaps, but
very similar.”

I frowned, the shield is the weapon we saw the Drenil
use?  I thought about that for a while, until Al spoke up again a few
minutes later.

“The nanites have repaired it, shall we try again?”

I nodded, “Yes, go to half power, full power being when the
ship was entirely gone.”

I watched as the ship wavered slightly and I could see the
milky way through it.

“Now try and hit it with a probe.”

The probe exploded when it reached about a half mile
away.  Damn, I wished I still had plasma weapons, I’d like to see what the
shield makes of it.  I was pretty sure it wouldn’t have an effect. 
Damn the council anyway.

“Al, restore just one of the plasma cannons, and inform the
council it’s for shield testing.”

Al replied, “Working.  This should take several hours.”

“Alright, try to move the shuttle with the gravity drive.”

The shuttle just disappeared off sensors.

“Stop, what happened?”

Al replied, “Calculating… the ship moved four thousand light
years in two seconds.”

That was… across the galaxy in just fifty seconds. 
Slower than a wormhole, but then the ship hadn’t been fully inside subspace
either.

“Alright, try putting the shield to full strength, and then
use the drive for one second, then come out and figure out where the shuttle
is.”

Al replied, “Just a minute Alicia.  Okay, it moved
approximately ten thousand light years.”

Kristi grunted, “That sounds about right, it would take ten
seconds or so to transverse a wormhole across the galaxy.  But at that
speed how the hell can you be accurate as to where you stop, especially if you
can’t see.”

“Al, do the scanners work at any power level?”

Al replied, “Negative, but a visual of normal space is
possible up until fifty percent power.”

Kristi shrugged, “It’s neat, but with a wormhole you can
take other ships with you.”

I frowned, “Yes, but this way the ship is immune to all
known weapons, except perhaps gravity which is covered by the internal gravity
shield.  Not to mention a weapon that makes our enemies’ and allies’
current shielding obsolete.  I’m sure we can work out precision flying
once we figure out how to scan both subspace and normal space while submerging
into subspace.  Plus, on a real ship we can always switch back and forth
between anti-mass FTL, wormholes, and whatever we’re going to call this. 
Subspace drive?  Being blind
is
kind of a deal breaker
though.  Any ideas?”

Kristi asked, “How do you think the Drenil do it?”

I shrugged, “Who knows, maybe they use their body’s natural
senses to see.”

Kristi frowned, but didn’t comment.  Despite me being
right about the ship going into another layer of space, apparently the
trans-dimensional body idea was still too wacked out.  I had to admit it was
also highly doubtful.

“There is that other exotic radiation?  The one the
Drenil ship put out, the one we haven’t seen yet despite going in and out of
the subspace layer like they do.  Maybe that’s how they scan while inside
subspace?  Al, bring the test ship back, and I want to build in a
secondary shield, I’m not entirely comfortable with the idea of having a single
point of failure when it comes to blowing up.”

Kristi sighed, “That’s a definite possibility.  But we
have no idea how to create that exotic radiation, for all we know it requires a
specific element to work, like in the anti-mass coils.

“Agreed, but I still want to go for a ride when we build in
secondary emitters and a secondary modified wormhole drive.  Al, there
hasn’t been any radiation internally has there?”

Al replied, “No, the shield has kept it all out, including
radiation in normal space when the shield is on minimum power.”

I speculated, “Perhaps if we try shooting different
particles into the shield from the inside, maybe the exotic radiation is caused
when certain particles from normal space are destroyed?”

Kristi replied, “Worth a shot, go for it.

“Al, build a particle generator as well, we can try all the
ones we’re aware of once all the updates are complete.  And if the second
round of testing works, I’m getting in the shuttle.”

Al replied, “Will do.  Twelve hours and forty minutes
until completed.”

Twelve hours, I was kind of excited.  It was probably
dumb, or at least a little crazy, but I wanted to feel what it was like to be
surrounded by that space.  Still, it should probably wait until tomorrow.

“Al, when it’s ready tonight, test it out, both shields, and
run the same tests we just did in addition to a low powered plasma
attack.  My ride can wait until tomorrow.  You can also shoot some
particles at the inside of the shield, see what happens.  Oh, also see if
you can aim the shield imbalance weapon, and determine if you can control the
area affected in direction, distance, height, and width.”

Shelly contacted me, and had been thrilled about the new
computer design, but it also took the wind out of her sails.  Once that
was on the market, all other computers would slowly be phased out, so there was
no point in her tweaking the A.I. matrix further. 

I wondered how many people that would annoy.  Not to
mention the quantum level fabricator, I couldn’t imagine how many more
breakthroughs that would lead to.

For instance, a research medical doctor may figure out how
to repair DNA with it, and actually halt or even reverse aging a bit, enough to
extend life some amount.  I wasn’t really interested in medical tech
however, and wouldn’t really know where to start.  I was sure someone else
would though.

Point was, Shelly had given her notice, although she
promised to come to us first if she ever found another research project that
caught her eye.  Right now she worked up a package to sell her A.I.
enhancements complete with a new quantum computer.  Once that was rolling,
she’d be gone, and well on her way to being a billionaire.

The only research person left in our company was Caroline,
besides myself and Kristi, so I decided now was a good time to go shopping for
new employees.  I was once again checking up on those who had submitted
grant applications to see if anything caught my eye.  After a lot of
sifting, I pulled two likely names, except just like last time I needed to go
talk to them.  The grant requests were vague, to prevent anyone else from
stealing their research ideas.

The first was Jason Matthews, who had a PhD in cybernetics
and robotics.  Considering his fields of study, it was almost certain he
was looking to create more lifelike robots, but I also wouldn’t assume. 
He was in Denver, so instead of going to visit, I had Al send him a message
which invited him to visit and pitch his needs in person.  I thought it
might be good if he saw the place, it might be easier to convince him to sign
up for a job, assuming I wanted him after the interview of course.

I couldn’t do the same with the second.  Cindy Delouse
was a research neurologist and located in Chicago.  Her grant request
referenced applied memory research.  Honestly, I wasn’t sure what that
would turn out to be, but her brilliance was obvious from the grant
application, and her current grant was running out shortly.  I had Al send
her a message that I’d like to speak with her in person, and hear her pitch,
hopefully she’d call me back.

It got a bit late in the afternoon, and I just sort of sat
there at loose ends for a moment or two.  Kristi was off with Joe who’d
come back to town a few hours earlier, for a night on the town followed by
couple activities that didn’t involve a third wheel.  I didn’t begrudge
them for a moment, or what they had together.  I was bored however, and
the idea of making dinner and eating alone didn’t appeal to me at all. 
Going out also held no appeal, and it was too early to try and make nice with
Nadia after the crap that the council pulled.

I knew she wasn’t responsible for it, and didn’t like
it.  But she was far from innocent.  She did go along with it after
all, and threw me under the bus for some political reason I wasn’t privy too.

I decided to visit my parent’s home again and changed into a
comfortable pair of jean shorts, a pink tee that wasn’t too tight, and a pair
of open toed sandals.  I jumped into the sports shuttle, and wondered if
Tina would want to go out afterwards tonight.  It was just a few minutes
to Texas after all, so why not?  I was also curious if the protesters were
still there, so far there weren’t any at my own house, or my place of
work.  Not that I was complaining there wasn’t.

I landed in the backyard and barged into the back door like
I usually do.  It was still my house, the one I grew up in, and I hardly
needed to knock.  However, when I turned around and closed the door, I
heard a loud commanding voice yell at me.

“Freeze!  Police!”

I froze, what in the hell?

Then I heard, “Alicia?” in a wondering and questioning
voice.

I turned around slowly and looked down the barrel of his
nine millimeter.  He was a deputy with the sheriff’s department, and had
very familiar brown eyes, although I hardly recognized the rest of him. 
He used to be a skinny cocky kid that always got into trouble, the last time I
saw him was in my early teens before I went off to college.  Now he was
broad, muscled, definitely in shape, and his strong face and jaw only held the
faint remnants of the skinny boy he’d been.

I would have blushed, but I suppressed it, and I also felt a
sharp stab of guilt from checking him out like that.  Truth was though, he
was also my first kiss when I was just thirteen, and I’ve always had fond
memories of him.  He’d been one of the few people my intelligence hadn’t
bothered at all.

“Hey Billy, good to see you.  They let you have a gun
and be deputy?  Speaking of which,” I waved at it and trailed off.

It was his turn to blush, but being that he’s human, he was
screwed and I saw it.  He lowered the gun and holstered it.

“Bill now.  Good to see you too,” he drawled, “Sorry
about that.  Came out to the house because of them protestors.  They
haven’t been on the property at all, but they blocked the driveway and gave
your dad a hard time getting back on the property before finally moving. 
Heard the back door and assumed…”

My mom came in the kitchen interrupting his speech, and she
gave me a hug.  I swear she had creepy mom radar, because she took one
look between us and I could see her mind turn and click as she turned to Billy
and asked, “Can you stay for dinner?”

I almost rolled my eyes at my mom’s obvious attempt at
matchmaker, but then my stomach also had butterflies at the idea of getting to
know him again.  The childhood crush was long gone, but enough good
feelings remained that I was very curious about what sort of man he’d
become.  I was sure the fact that he was insanely attractive had nothing
to do with it.  Or the smile in his eyes when he didn’t take his eyes off
of me while he answered.

“I’d love to stay for dinner, unfortunately I’m on shift
until midnight, so… a raincheck?”

He finally looked away and at my mother, when she answered.

“That’s fine Billy, we’ll be sure to let you know, and
thanks for coming out.”

He gave me one more look and then said his goodbye before he
headed out the door.

I actually had a great time with my family that evening. 
I also managed to drag my younger sister to the bar, and we actually bonded a
bit over drinks and boy talk.  Something we’d never really quite managed
before when we were younger.  As for the protestors, we’d taken my shuttle
so they never saw either of us leave, or come back…